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Easter 2008

Crosswalk The official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina

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Conflict & compromise

Profound disagreement, bitter struggle, intense debate—in the midst of these the Nicene Creed took shape

What’s in a heresy?

In every era of the Church’s life, people have offered alternative ways of believing. Here’s a look at heresy—what it is and how it works

Saying yes to the mystery of life

Well-known author, teacher, and Benedictine sister Joan Chittister reflects on truth, mystery, and the meaning of belief

Devotion & trust

When we say “We believe” we are speaking not of hard facts but rather of allegiance, commitment, and holding dear

Visit our diocese online

www.edusc.org

Creeds– What we believe

Easter 2008

Crosswalk

Bishop’s desk

FROM THE

Crosswalk

Official Publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina 1115 Marion Street Columbia, South Carolina 29201 803.771.7800/800.889.6961 803.799.5119 fax dioceseusc@aol.com Crosswalk E-mail Address phill@edusc.org Bishop The Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr. Executive Assistant to Bishop Henderson Jane B. Goldsmith jgoldsmith@edusc.org Canon to the Ordinary The Rev. Michael A. Bullock mbullock@edusc.org Assistant to the Canon to the Ordinary The Rev. d’Rue Hazel dhazel@edusc.org Assistant for Administration Roslyn Hook rhook@edusc.org Canon for Finance and Administration Julie Price jprice@edusc.org Director of Finance and Insurance Cynthia Hendrix chendrix@edusc.org Canon for Communications, Editor of Crosswalk Peggy Van Antwerp Hill phill@edusc.org Canon for Youth Ministry The Rev. L. Sue von Rautenkranz suevon@edusc.org Assistant for Communications and Youth Ministry Bethany Human bhuman@edusc.org Archdeacon and Senior Pastoral Assistant to the Bishop The Ven. Frederick C. Byrd fbyrd@edusc.org Assistant to Archdeacon Byrd Bonnie Blackberg bblackberg@edusc.org Visit us on the Web at: www.edusc.org COVER PHOTO:

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Around the Diocese

Easter, 2008 Alleluia, Christ is risen!

Save the date—October 17-18

Sisters and Brothers, dearly Beloved,

“Equipped for action: Changing Lives” is theme for this year’s Leadership Conference and Convention

Why creeds? Creeds give Christians their identity by shaping and forming authentic understanding of Jesus Christ and, thus, our own existence and our purpose as the Body of Christ—corporately, and individually, as members of it.

Challenges Has there ever been a period in the Christian era when Christian doctrine, expressed clearly and forthrightly in the creeds, has not been challenged by some dramatic shift in thinking, or by some unusual epoch or event? Challenges— some of which have led to a deeper and broader understanding of Christian faith and doctrine, and some of which are new or revived examples of earlier heresies— are rife—in the Middle Ages, in the Reformation, in the Enlightenment, and— within the memory of some of us—as a result of the implications and development of the thinking of Darwin and Einstein.

Thus it is critical for us, in the earliest years of the 21st century, and for all who strive to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ, to know what we believe. The clearest expression of authentic Christian doctrine is found in the creeds. To know and understand both the content and the development of the creeds is to be prepared for challenges to the faith in our own time. To be unaware, unsure, or shaky in our understanding of doctrine is to be unprepared—unprepared for challenges, whether new or revived in different guises—and unprepared to guide accurately and authentically those committed to our charge.

Remembering who we are Let us remember, however, that we are not saved by doctrine, authentic or not. Holy Scripture, symbolized liturgically during Lent, especially Holy Week, demonstrates that we are saved by the passion, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, into which we are baptized when we commit ourselves to Jesus Christ as Lord. So it seems clear to me that the only qualification for joining the Christian community is to respond to Jesus Christ in trust and love; to witness in word and action to the “good news” of the biblical story; and to join with other members of the faithful community in the knowledge, understanding, and recital of creedal statements that remind us of our identity—all, to be sure, by the grace of God. Among the important consequences: revelation of the acts of God, past and present, to love and redeem God’s people.

Thus creeds are the focus of the articles in this issue of Crosswalk. My hope and prayer is that they will clarify our understanding of creedal statements in the history of Christianity and suggest their rightful and helpful place in the practice of our faith and worship—and thus strengthen us for this spiritual journey which we call life.

With prayers for a continuing, joyful celebration of the resurrection of our Lord, I remain Faithfully yours in our Lord,

Everyone’s invited for a whole day of workshops (18th) AND some good old-fashioned Great Gathering spirit!

The Diocesan Leadership Conference for 2008 will be held in conjunction with the business portion of the 86th Convention in October. The leadership training / convention program, which will take place at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center on October 18, will offer an inspirational speaker, workshops on a variety of topics, and many surprises—AND EVERYONE’S INVITED!! Details to come.

October 17-18 is also the weekend of the USC–LSU football game, at home in Columbia.

Because hotel space will be limited, it is essential that you arrange for overnight accommodations NOW. Three hotels have blocked rooms: Hampton Inn (803.231.2868), Rodeway Inn (803.779.7790), and Comfort Suites (803.744.4000). Additional info is available on the diocesan Web site, www.edusc.org.

Meet our new canon to the ordinary, the Rev. Michael Bullock On February 1, the Rev. Michael Anderson Bullock joined Bishop Henderson’s staff as canon to the ordinary, succeeding the Rev. Mark Clevenger, who accepted a call to serve as rector of St. Anselm’s on Long Island. Crosswalk sat down to chat with Canon Bullock, and here’s what he had to say.

CW: What is a canon to the ordinary? (And, for that matter, what’s an ordinary?)

MB: The word canon has a Latin root, canonicus, meaning one who lives under a rule of life. In Anglican usage a canon is a person who may be lay or ordained and who traditionally serves on a bishop’s staff or a cathedral. ÔÅçåíáåìÉÇ=çå=é~ÖÉ=NQ

Please send all Crosswalk address corrections, deletions or additions to:

Trevett’s Mailing Service

Upper South Carolina VII

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CLAIMING CHRISTIAN IDENTITY

Crosswalk

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Easter 2008

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By Philip H. Whitehead

Creeds are often a source of controversy among Christians. The extreme Protestant (Reformed Church) view claims that creeds represent an instrument of ecclesiastical tradition and power; they conjure up a negative view of a catholicism shaped too much by philosophy and too little by the Bible.

Despite the fact that we are philosophically and theologically on the edge of a postmodern era, with its abhorrence of absolutes and a concern “more for the trees, than the forest; more for each blade of grass than the whole lawn,” we cannot ignore that creeds affirm a much larger picture of reality. Creeds lift the backdrop on a magnificent drama of God, while we, perhaps unaware of the glorious drama behind us, tap a little soft shoe of our own existence stage left.

Response vs. belief Luke Timothy Johnson, a New Testament scholar and Roman Catholic theologian, in his earlier years had a personal preference for an existential understanding of faith as “response to God,” as opposed to faith as “belief in God.” This is an important distinction as we Christians now come to the end of the modern era, an era in which “right belief ” often determined whether or not one was identified as either saved or damned. The Jesus Seminar, a group of distinguished scholars organized in 1985 to “renew the quest of the historical Jesus and to report the results of its research,” holds: “The Christ of creed and dogma, who had been firmly in place in the Middle Ages, can no longer command the assent of those who have seen the heavens through Galileo’s telescope” (Luke Timothy Johnson, The Creed [2004], p. 4).

Fingers crossed Assent to a belief, even if it is a simple assent to “Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior,” plays a very important part in the history of Christianity. There is a distinctive way in which Christian thought defines itself in relation to the events in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.

The events were understood to be God’s decisive acts in history and thus to be affirmed in a credo, a statement of belief. Any faithful Roman Catholic or staunch Protestant will say that to speak publicly a creed does not guarantee salvation, but it is said with fingers crossed, believing, at least partially, that it does.

“Hammered” truths Creeds in Christian history are the product of concerns to affirm theological truths that have been hammered out on the anvil of interpretation and meaning when the good news of Jesus, the Christ, confronted Jewish piety, Greek philosophy, and Roman law. There are instances in the Christian scriptures when the familiar question “Master, what must I do to be saved?” is answered by the equally familiar words

“Believe only in (on) the name (person) of Jesus Christ.”

The implication is that belief saves.

The litigious nature of Roman society lent itself nicely to the development of statements of belief. Creeds were the product of the desire to speak a universal truth so that wherever witness to Jesus was made, questions about his relationship to God, his own nature, and the work he accomplished would find agreement among all Christians.

“Catholicity” The word that needs serious attention is the word catholic. The Christian family believes and considers itself “the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” The word catholic means both “universal” and “authentic.”

While there were local creeds, there was an ultimate concern to affirm Christian truths throughout the Roman Empire. The threefold test of catholicity, laid down by St. Vincent of Lérins, offers the best understanding of the term: catholicity means what has been believed everywhere, always and by all. But catholicity also means the authenticity of belief and practice in the Church. The authentic faith is to be learned by studying the historic creeds and engaging all disciples of Christ in discussion of their meaning in each successive generation.

The first creed The first of the Christian community’s creeds were baptismal creeds, meaning essential beliefs affirmed by the newly baptized and eventually by catechumens, or adults in an extended discipline of prayer and teaching in preparation for baptism at sunrise on Easter morning.

St. Ambrose speaks of the Apostles’ Creed (390 A.D.), an outgrowth of an earlier Roman creed. It was developed in three units based upon the threefold baptismal command of Jesus, recounted in chapter 28, verse 19, of Matthew’s Gospel. This first of the catholic creeds was attributed to the apostles, although it was not composed by them. Its content was theological, including such beliefs as Jesus’ descent into hell and the communion of the saints. The Apostles’ Creed is included in the liturgies of most Christian churches and serves as one of the four catholic creeds by which Christians confirm their communal identity.

“Conciliar” creeds In the words of John Macquarrie, “The structures in which the catholicity of the Church gets embodied are primarily the catholic creeds.” In addition to baptismal creeds, there are “conciliar” creeds, those creeds developed out of the theological and spiritual struggles of an ecumenical Christian council. While the councils were ecumenical in intent, the battles that took place there were often so serious as to divide the Eastern bishops from the Western bishops.

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Seven councils, three creeds There were seven ecumenical councils occurring between 325 and 787 A.D. Out of these seven conciliatory councils there developed an additional three catholic creeds: The Nicene Creed (325 A.D.) was formulated at Nicaea (in present-day Turkey), and further developed at Constantinople (381 A.D.). Its primary concern was to establish orthodox belief and to condemn Arianism, a theological position that rejected Christ as wholly God and wholly man. It is sometimes referred to as the NiceneConstantinopolitan Creed. (Read the original, 325 version on page 5 of this issue of Crossswalk.)

The Athanasian Creed (after 428 A.D.), was produced in Gaul (possibly in what is now Arles, France). It affirmed the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation and included specific articles of damnation. It was popular in liturgies of Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican services and remains among the four historic creeds in The Book of Common Prayer (p. 864). This creed is called Athanasian because in early times it was attributed to St. Athanasius, a fourth-century archbishop of Alexandria. This attribution has since been discredited. ÔÅçåíáåìÉÇ=çå=é~ÖÉ=NP

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Easter 2008

SQUARE

Crosswalk

circles, MARRIED

bachelors, DEAFENING

Why the creeds are

By Timothy M. Ervolina As a lover of both irony and whimsy, I am forever amused by those Christian fellowships that lay claim to being “non-liturgical” or “non-creedal” (or both). Every worshipping body has a “liturgy,” whether or not it is in rubrical, written form, since “liturgy” is the very act of worship. And the notion of “non-creedal” Christian fellowships should be placed alongside square circles, married bachelors, and deafening silences: they simply don’t exist.

Belief statements Every Christian fellowship has a defined set of beliefs, even if those beliefs are as simple as “we have no creed but Christ” (itself a derivative of the earliest Christian creed, recited by Martha of Bethany: “I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.”) Creeds are belief statements, laying out the parameters of personal and corporate definitions of faith. If you believe anything at all about God or Jesus or the Bible, you have a creed. If you worship, you have a liturgy.

In the catholic tradition, the personal statement of faith, the Apostles’ Creed, is part of the baptismal rite, and the corporate statement of faith, the Nicene Creed, is part of the eucharistic rite. The question for Christians is: are the creeds essential to a life of Christian faith?**

Stuff that matters In the 21st century, it may seem that statements of belief from the third and fourth centuries are little more than pieces of meaningless tradition, formed as they were in the theological and political controversies of the earliest years of Christian history. Who really cares—to recollect the essential controversy that produced the Nicene Creed— whether or not the Son is of a “homoousias” (“similar”) or “homoiousias” (“same”) substance with the Father? Since nobody believes in a three-tiered universe any more (heaven, earth, and the underworld), are the statements that the Son “came down from heaven” or “ascended to the right hand of the Father” not just mythological filler? In addition to all that, there’s “begotten, not made,” the virginal conception, “the resurrection of the body,” and all the other obscure theological minutiae of the creeds. Does ** For the purpose of this article, the term creeds is used to refer to the two great ecumenical creeds, the Apostles’ and the Nicene, or Nicene-Constantinopolitan, Creeds. On the later so-called catholic creeds, see the article by Philip H. Whitehead on page 3 of this issue of Crosswalk.

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silences . . .

ESSENTIAL

ONE IOTA OF DIFFERENCE

The essential controversy which produced the Nicene Creed was the heated argument over the question of whether the Son is of a “similar” substance or of “the same” substance as the Father. Since there was only one Greek letter, iota, that separated the word homoousias (“similar”) from the word homoiousias (“same”), it was said that there “was only an iota of difference.” mÜçíçW=«=píÅÉäá~=ö==aêÉ~ãëíáãÉKÅçã

any of this stuff really matter? Why can’t we just chuck it out the door of the narthex, along with indulgences, priestly celibacy, and other long-ago-shed beliefs and practices?

Vital purposes In spite of—or rather, because of—their esoteric nature, the creeds serve several vital purposes for a life of Christian faith. First, they set the boundaries of doctrine, beyond which teachers and preachers of the faith must not go. While the creeds are silent about the nature of biblical authority or the Christian communion (Anglican and otherwise), sexual mores, and Church polity, they are explicit about the nature of God and Christ. This is one reason the Nicene Creed is recited after the sermon: even if the preacher expresses that he or she believes something apart from the Creed, the congregation answers, “Well, Preacher, you may believe that, but we believe…”

Boundary marker In this laying of boundaries, the creeds have a second purpose: to define heresy or unorthodoxy. One may argue from scripture that homosexuals should or should not be ordained to ministry, but neither position can be construed as heresy, since the argument is outside the boundary of doctrine. One may find the argument of pre-millennial dispensationalism delusional (I do!), but it is not heretical, since it defines itself within the creedal statement that Jesus will “come in glory to judge the living and the dead.” The creeds are ecumenical documents, laying the foundation for unity among the various and unfortunate divisions in the Church. They give great latitude for interpretation or even reinterpretation, but, like any boundary, crossing over takes one to another place altogether.

Defining our witness The third, and most important, purpose of the creeds is evangelical. That is, the creeds define our witness to the world about who God is for us. In an age dominated by post-modernism, mocking the very notion that “truth” may be defined, the Church stands firm on a few ancient, unchanging beliefs laid out in the creeds. The world might be fascinated with the crucifix as an art form, but the creeds define its real purpose: that Jesus was crucified “for our sake.”

The world may love the idea of the revolutionary Jesus, struggling against the corrupt and oppressive Roman Empire, but the creeds call him "Lord" and "Son of God." The world may fret about whether climate change or nuclear holocaust will destroy life on Earth, but the creeds proclaim that someday there will be a "resurrection of the dead" and a "world to come."

By defining the essentials of Christian belief, the creeds help us to explain what we believe to a world confused by religion and hungry for Something to believe in.

Worth believing As essential as the creeds are to a life of faith, they cannot take the place of our relationship with the One we believe upon. We do not come preaching a creed, but preaching Christ crucified, died, buried, and risen. The gospel is not about Church polity or which bishop has allied with which province. The gospel is about a risen Lord whose followers treat others with compassion, accept those who are different from them, who struggle for justice and whose faith is alive and powerful. And that's worth believing. qÜÉ=oÉîK=aÉ~Åçå=qáãçíÜó=jK=bêîçäáå~=ëÉêîÉë= ~í=píK=j~êíáåDëJáåJíÜÉJcáÉäÇëI=`çäìãÄá~K

Crosswalk

conflict

Easter 2008

& compromise

The shaping of the Nicene Creed

By D. Jonathan Grieser “We believe in God the Father, the Almighty”— the words of the Nicene Creed seem to be a firm anchor in the restless seas of the Christian faith. They define the content of our faith and draw a sharp line between the orthodox and the heterodox. But far from being etched in stone by the hand of God, or even by a council of bishops, they were the hard-fought result of a shaky compromise, the product of decades of conflict, and indeed, they did not bring an end to theological conflict in the early Church.

The Creed of Nicaea This is the first creed of Nicaea, 325 A.D. We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is coming to judge living and dead.

And in the Holy Spirit.

And those that say “There was when he was not,” and, “Before he was begotten he was not,” and that, “He came into being from what-is-not,” or those that allege, that the son of God is “Of another substance or essence” or “created,” or “changeable” or “alterable,” these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.

From Documents of the Christian Church, Second Edition, Selected and edited by Henry Bettenson (1967), p. 25.

Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. In the year 312, on the eve of the Battle of Milivian Bridge following which Constantine became senior ruler of the empire, it is said that he received instructions in a dream to fight under the cross of Christ. Emerging victorious, he attributed his triumph to the Christian God and soon after, in 313, issued the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity. The bust of Constantine pictured at left resides in the National Museum in Belgrade.

Who was this Jesus anyway?

Christians in the third and early fourth centuries were in bitter conflict over the nature of Christ. Was Jesus human or divine, both, or some third kind of being? Was the Logos, the Word, the second person of the Trinity, of the same nature as God the Father? Was the Logos created by God? These and many other questions led to sharp divisions. Conflict came to a head when Arius, a leader of the church of Alexandria, clearly and forcefully articulated a biblically based theology that denied the Son’s equality with the Father. Arius and his followers used scriptural passages such as Wisdom’s speech in Proverbs 8:22: “The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.”

The inconceivable Both sides emphasized the transcendence and otherness of God. For some, it was inconceivable that God the Father could be at any time without God’s Word and Wisdom, that is, without the second person of the Trinity. For Arius, it was inconceivable that God the Father could have any equal. In addition, the phrase “eternally begotten,” which had been introduced in the third century by Origen, seemed nonsensical to Arius. If the Word was begotten of the Father, then by definition, there had to be a time when the Word did not exist.

Enter Constantine In 325 Emperor Constantine intervened directly in the christological conflict provoked by Arius. He convened a council of bishops from throughout the Roman Empire to decide the matter. This was in itself revolutionary. Constantine had legalized Christianity only a decade or so earlier, an act that finally brought to an end the persecution that had been introduced by his predecessor Diocletian. At the same time, he and his family, especially his mother Helena and sister Constancia, had begun building churches and patronizing the Church. This dramatic shift in fortunes was beyond anything any Christian had expected or hoped for. When Constantine convened the council, many of the bishops in attendance bore on their bodies scars from torture they had received under the earlier

imperial administration, and all of them remembered vividly the persecutions of the past.

“Of the same substance” Although he attended the council, and according to contemporary accounts, presided over it, Constantine was as yet unbaptized; he would only receive the sacrament on his death bed in 439. But it was apparently he who proposed the compromise formula that eventually held the day—the Greek word homoousion, meaning of the same substance, was agreed on as the proper way to describe the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. Arius was condemned, as were those few bishops who refused to sign the document, and everyone went home. Back home, many of those bishops had second thoughts. While there were any number of objections, these tended to boil down to two: 1) of course the term homoousion was not biblical; 2) for many Christians the notion of God the Father and the Son being of the same substance did not adequately protect the absolute sovereignty and transcendence of God.

Fixed form In fact, the Nicene Creed is not directly a product of the Council of Nicaea at all. Conflict would rage throughout the fourth century, and it was at a later council that the form of the creed we have was finally fixed. The words that we recite in the creed bear witness to that bitter fourth-century conflict. All of the clauses in the creed that relate to Jesus Christ address Arianism: “begotten not made, of one Being with the Father, Through him all things were made.” Indeed, the creed of Nicaea goes on to include several anathemas—or condemnations—of Arius’s position: And those that say "There was when he was not," and, "Before he was begotten he was not," and, that "He came into being from what-was-not," or those who allege, that the son of God is "Of another substance or essence" or "created," or "changeable," or "alterable," these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes. ÔÅçåíáåìÉÇ=çå=é~ÖÉ=NP

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Easter 2008

Crosswalk

Swimming outside the MAINSTREAM

What HERESY’s all about

By Nicholas M. Beasley The catholic and orthodox faith summarized in the creeds is the deep, central current of belief in the life of the Church. In every era of the Church’s life, people have offered alternatives to the ways of believing that are held up by the Church. Heresy is the formal denial of any defined doctrine of the catholic faith; it is a persistent and intentional swimming outside the mainstream of the Church’s faith.

councils of the Church. Much of what we know about the ancient heresies comes from the writings of the opponents of heresy, the bishops and theologians who are the heroes of the orthodox faith.

St. Augustine’s writings reveal Pelagianism; Ireneus’s book Against the Heretics shows us what certain Gnostics believed; Athanasius’s answering of his arguments shows us the errors of Arius. The only real gift of heresy is its stimulation of a renewed account of the Church’s authentic faith.

Fantastic, dull, flat, or boring . . .

Lessons from history

Some heresies, such as the many varieties of Gnosticism with their bizarre portraits of Jesus, are weirdly fantastic, far less plausible than the faith we have received. Others are hyperrationalistic, reducing the rich complexity and creative tension of the historic faith to something flat and dull.

Heresies that reduce Jesus to a mere teacher or the beauty of Trinitarian doctrine to simple divine unity are examples of boring, rationalistic heresies. Both the fantastic and rationalistic heresies can be found in just about every era of the Church’s life, from the early Church into our day. While teachers of heresy often imagine they have discovered some great new truth, they usually offer a warmed-up version of something very old. In heresy, there is nothing new under the sun.

Between the classical period of Christian theology and our day stands the Reformation, and with it a reminder that the boundaries of heresy are often in play.

During that great struggle, reformers charged Catholic traditionalists with the Pelagian heresy of worksrighteousness. Catholic traditionalists equated any number of reformed positions with heresy, particularly Protestant eucharistic theology. The danger of making the charge of heresy too frequently and too lightly is real; once the word is spoken, conversation and charity are likely near their end. Most of the time, heresy pertains to the central affirmations of the faith found in the creeds.

Ancient heresies The ancient heresies were focused on two great creedal truths in particular: the doctrine of the Incarnation and the doctrine of the Trinity. Both are truths of enormous beauty; both are beyond our usual categories of analysis. The Church’s creeds and the writings of our authoritative theologians seek to articulate, using human language, the deep mysteries of Christ’s being and the triune life of God. Even as we claim the catholic faith, any appropriately humble and orthodox approach to Christ and the Trinity immediately confesses the insufficiency of our concepts for explaining the life of God. Heresy, in contrast, can often be distinguished by its pride and selfsatisfaction. Heresies such as Arianiam (denying Christ’s divinity) or Docetism (Christ merely seemed to be human) are arrogant attempts to reduce the faith to the simpler categories we prefer.

One real gift Heresy is made known when it is condemned by a council, historically a great gathering of bishops. Few of the documents created by the heretics of the early Church have survived their condemnation by the

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In our own day . . .

In our own day, the charge of heresy is infrequently made in mainline circles. The difficulties that currently occupy the attention of the Anglican Communion are seen by some as matters of ethical and moral discernment, well-apart from the core doctrines of the faith. Others are sure that our debates are rooted in divergent narratives of what the Church stands for at its most basic level. Both groups should be aware of the faithful relationship between orthodoxy ("right belief") and orthopraxis ("right practice"). Believing rightly should shape our lives toward the purposes of the Kingdom of God. A people who claim that Jesus Christ brought our humanity into communion with the divine should also be a people who do the work Christ gave us to do, feeding the hungry, tending the sick, and making peace at our own expense.

Seeking the center of faith You are not likely to be charged with heresy in your congregation; there is a great rule of charity in the Anglican tradition. Though some of our individual doubts about aspects of the faith are heretical, charitable practice permits much diversity of belief for individuals in our Church.

A HERESY SAMPLER

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Adoptionism is the belief that Jesus was not really God but a man to whom special graces and powers were given and who was “adopted” by God as God’s only son.

Apollinarianism, named for Apollinaris, bishop of Laodicea in Syria , ca. 361, emphasized the divinity of Christ at the expense of his full humanity, teaching that Christ had a human body but not a rational, human mind. The mind of Christ was wholly divine.

Arianism, named after Arius (ca. 250–ca. 336), a priest from Alexandria, was the principal heresy that denied the full divinity of Christ. Arius taught that the Father and the Son did not exist together eternally and that the Son was a divine being created by the Father.

Docetism put forth the belief that Jesus was not a real human being and that his physical body was an illusion, as were his earthly suffering and death. The Docetic Jesus was pure spirit.

The term Doceticism is derived from the Greek, “to seem.”

Nestorianism, identified (although probably erroneously) with Nestorius, fifth-century patriarch of Antioch, is the doctrine that Jesus Christ had two separate natures—one human, the other divine

Pelagianism held that human beings, through right action, could obtain salvation, apart from divine grace. This heresy is named for Pelagius, a late-fourth- and early-fifth-century teacher about whom little is known.

Crosswalk

Easter 2008

The tip of the iceberg . . .

Reflections on the Trinity

By Thomas C. Davis “When Jesus became God”—or “When God became Jesus”—or “When the Father and the Son made the Holy Spirit.” These are heresies. Each one of them has spent some time in the sun. The first is Adoptionism. The second is Arianism. (See “A heresy sampler” on page 6.) The third is simply foolishness, although I heard it first in a Trinity Sunday sermon by a venerable priest many years ago. I also heard the lay person in the pew behind me mutter, “Heresy.” Unfortunately the priest could not hear what I heard, but I took heart in knowing that sometimes laity know more theology than priests do. None of these three ideas is unknown in Christian history nor in popular theology.

Unitarians We are all unitarians in the sense that it is impossible to think or talk about the Trinity except in a very abstract way. Someone said that Catholics are unitarians of the first person; Protestants of the second person, and Pentecostals of the third person. I think that the Trinity is the Church’s considered way of dealing with our experience of Jesus. Were it not for him, the Church would never have needed to alter the radical monotheism we inherited from Judaism. The disciples were convinced, even to the point of martyrdom, that their companion, friend, and teacher, whom they dared to call the Messiah, had conquered death, and that he was a continuing presence in the life of the Church.

and more fully the mystery and the wonder of God as the Holy Spirit continues to work within the Church. I do not think the Church fathers meant that God is three separate personalities. Nor did they mean that God is one personality playing three different roles or acting three different parts. Nor do they mean that God was creator in the Hebrew Bible and redeemer in the Christian gospel and Holy Spirit in the life of the Church. We have no way to speak about three-ness and one-ness in the same sentence. We do know that the face of God toward us is always Jesus. The Holy Spirit witnesses only to him.

xqzÜÉ= qêáåáíó= áë= íÜÉ= `ÜìêÅÜÛë= ÅçåëáÇÉêÉÇ= ï~ó= çÑ ÇÉ~äáåÖ= ïáíÜ= çìê= ÉñéÉêáÉåÅÉ= çÑ= gÉëìëK= tÉêÉ= áí= åçí= Ñçê ÜáãI=íÜÉ=`ÜìêÅÜ=ïçìäÇ=åÉîÉê=Ü~îÉ=åÉÉÇÉÇ=íç=~äíÉê=íÜÉ ê~ÇáÅ~ä=ãçåçíÜÉáëã=ïÉ=áåÜÉêáíÉÇ=Ñêçã=gìÇ~áëãK

John and the risen presence of Christ

In the beginning . . .

The Gospel of John, my own favorite certainly, differs from the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. No Gospel is simply biography. Each Gospel was written and read through the lens of the resurrection and the gift of the Spirit. But John is essentially christological—a profound meditation on the person and nature of Christ, written late enough, I think, to reflect the experience not just of the first disciples, but also of a second generation of Christians whose whole experience of Christ was his risen presence. Jesus is the light of the world, the way and the truth and the life, the resurrection, the alpha and the omega, because those are the ways in which generation after generation of Christians have encountered him.

The disciples remembered how very human their friend was. They were with him when he ate and when he slept, when he washed and when he worried, when he laughed and when he cried. And yet, they also experienced him as perfectly transparent to God’s love and obedient to God’s purpose.

What we call Christology, then, is simply the expression of our corporate and continuing experience of Jesus. It is, of course, the Holy Spirit who now looks like Jesus and talks like Jesus and is the means of his presence as he promised.

John the Evangelist says that there was never a time when the Trinity was not the Trinity. The birth narratives in Matthew and Luke attempt in story form to describe the connection between Jesus of Nazareth and the eternal God. He is not God pretending to be a man. And, he is not a man pretending to be God. The first would be a stage play. The second is the original sin.

The use of the terms Father and Son in the Trinity does not imply either subordination or superiority. To speak of God as creator, redeemer, and sustainer is true, but those are abstract words. I do not speak of my parents as creator or redeemer or sustainer although they played all those roles in my life. I call them mother and father because I was not manufactured, but conceived in love and rescued more than once in love, and sustained always in love.

Tip of the iceberg The Trinity is like the tip of an iceberg. It is as much of God as we can see.

There must be a great deal more. Nothing in orthodox theology says what we see is the whole of God, but that what we see is an accurate picture of God. We will never discover that God is four persons or two persons. But we may experience more deeply

It’s about love The Trinity functions in love. Jesus Christ is begotten not made—that is, the Jesus we know is the product of love between the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

That seems crude only to people who would like to keep their religion pure and spiritual and other and never let it be earthy and human and sacramental and real.

Genesis says that God made humanity in God’s image and likeness. We are one and we are many. Any group larger than one or smaller than the whole of humanity is not God’s image or intention. God is three distinct persons and yet one, and we are Trinity, distinct persons and yet one humanity.

The Rev. Thomas C. Davis is a retired priest of the diocese.

7

Creeds - we believe.qxp

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Page 10

Crosswalk

Easter 2008

qçÖÉíÜÉê=áå=íêìëí=~åÇ=ÇÉîçíáçå=K=K=K

What does it mean to say, “ W E BELIEVE ” ?

By John S. Nieman

Other articles in this issue of Crosswalk probe the history of the doctrines church. Many assume the meaning of that phrase is self-evident. But, in fact, that evolved into the clauses of the Nicene Creed that is familiar to us. those two powerful words warrant careful examination. Who are “We”? And Extrapolating meaning from those clauses is an what are the implications of believing in something or important theological exercise that points us toward someone? The meaning seems clear enough on the the basic content of Christian faith. Together, those surface. Yet what most 21st-century Westerners mean by “believing” very likely is quite different from what clauses make up the objective part of the creed. That people 1,600 or even 500 years ago meant by it. is, they constitute the object of our belief.

Significantly, the creed does not go too far in parsing the meaning of its own affirmations. Rather, “We,” not “I” it establishes an extraordinarily wide boundary that Why do we say, “We believe” instead of “I believe”? Why defines the theological territory Christians in every is the Nicene Creed framed in the first person plural, rather age are invited to explore.

“We believe . . .”

But in addition to its objective side, the creed also incorporates an essential subjective side. The Nicene Creed is not simply a series of statements about the Godhead, the Church, and Christian destiny. It also implies a community that affirms those statements. What exactly are we doing when we say, “We believe”?

The phrase “We believe” begins each of the main clauses of the Nicene Creed. We believe in God. We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic

than the first person singular, as is the Apostles’ Creed, for example? The Nicene Creed did not emerge like the other creeds before it. Many other, localized baptismal creeds predated the Nicene Creed. Each of these was used in the context of an individual’s initiation into the Church through the sacrament of baptism. The bishop would ask the individual, “Do you believe in God?” And he/she would answer, “I believe in God.” In like fashion, he would ask about Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and the candidate would respond. It was out of that baptismal context that the first creeds naturally evolved using the first person singular.

The Apostles' Creed, which is the heart of the baptismal covenant in our Book of Common Prayer, appropriately takes that same form. It is directed to the individual and his or her relationship to God and the Church. μÅçåíáåìÉÇ=çå=é~ÖÉ=NO E=éÜçíçW=gçÜå=_ÉíÜÉääF======

9

Easter 2008

Crosswalk

Love Letter

By Madeleine L'Engle I hate you, God. Love, Madeleine.

I write my message on water and at bedtime I tiptoe upstairs and let it flow under your door.

When I am angry with you I know that you are there even if you do not answer my knock even when your butler opens the door an inch and flaps his thousand wings in annoyance at such untoward interruption and says that the master is not at home.

I love you, Madeleine.

Hate, God. (This is how I treat my friends, he said to one great saint.

No wonder you have so few of them, Lord, she replied.)

I cannot turn the other cheek It takes all the strength I have To keep my fist from hitting back the soldiers shot the baby the little boys trample the old woman the gutters are filled with groans while pleasure seekers knock each other down in order to get their tickets stamped first.

I'm turning in my ticket and my letter of introduction.

You're supposed to do the knocking. Why do you burst my heart?

How can I write you to tell you that I'm angry when I've been given the wrong address and I don't even know your real name?

I take hammer and nails and tack my message on two crossed pieces of wood: Dear God is it too much to ask you to bother to be?

Just show me your hindquarters and let me hear you roar.

Love, Madeleine.

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10

The Nicene Creed

my life with

By Peter Trenholm

My first serious encounter with the Nicene Creed was probably like yours: at about age eleven, I was required to memorize it in order to “pass Confirmation.” This crucial step of my Pilgrim’s Progress also necessitated my learning—by rote—the Ten Commandments (the longer version); the 23rd Psalm (I prefer to this day the King James’s version—and still wonder why my dinner would be served in the presence of my enemies); the General Thanksgiving; and éÜ ç íç W = _ É íÜ ~ å ó = e ìã ~ å the Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions of Men. Curiously not mandated was the Apostles’ Creed, apparently because, those being the days of once-a-month-communion, it was said (read) three out of every four weeks and therefore assumed to be as familiar as the Lord’s Prayer, which also escaped mandatory, qualifying recitation.

Three things mystifiying Several things about the usage of the Nicene Creed have long mystified me. First, why even cradle Episcopalians do not seem to grasp fully that it is a creed and therefore contains the fundamental core beliefs of the religion many of whose other particulars they so vehemently defend or vigorously proselytize.

Second, why, as a creed, it is placed—as if we are unsure of its value—in an odd corner of the eucharistic rites, an afterthought to the sermon or a warm-up for the Prayers of the People. I would think it should follow the Gospel, the way it once did, or else be at the beginning of the service—or at the end, a proclamation that stands alone. And third, why it is never—or very rarely—the subject of a grand sermon or even a lowly homily. Why is it never seen as a useful subject of discussion at some other forum within a congregation’s numerous occasions for dialogue: study groups, Sunday school instruction, or Lenten study. It isn’t as if there is nothing in the creeds worth talking about on, say, the Fifth Sunday in Pentecost, or the Third Sunday in Advent. I’d bet that in a pool of ten random Episcopalians (is there another kind?), six could recite the Apostles’ Creed letter perfect (if you gave then an initial hint), whereas only two could stumble through the “main event.”

Creedal ironies I suppose here is as good a spot as any to remark, as many have before me, on the curious, ironic fact that both the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds make an odd point of including specific reference to Pontius Pilate, a petty Roman puppet at best, and a somewhat pathetic historic icon of Roman law and power.

Presumably this insignificant footnote to history is there to challenge doubters of the reality of the passion and its aftermath.

Nor even is Pilate the end of the Nicene Creed’s ironies. There are, in fact, actually two Christian creeds with the Nicene title, one issued by the Council of Nicaea in 325 and a longer formula (in regular use in our Eucharist—and also known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed). Historically “our” creed has been presumed as having been written by the Council of Constantinople in 381, although scholarship has questioned this origin. But both versions were compiled with the same intent, and the fact that the one we use accomplishes that intent in 33 lines and 266 words makes it a masterpiece of judicious prose and literary economy—a statement obviously meant to be said—probably often, presumably loudly.

—continued on page 13

Parish profile

Crosswalk BODY

Easter 2008

P • A• R• T• S

Church of the Good Shepherd, Columbia Who: Church of the Good Shepherd, located at 1512 Blanding Street, Columbia, S.C. Phone: 803.779.2960. Web site: www.goodshepherdcolumbia.org/. Rector: The Rev. Dr. James F. Lyon IV. Average Sunday attendance: 175.

When: In June 1900 the Rev. William Postell Witsell accepted the call to become rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd, in Columbia, after having served as the first resident rector of the Church of the Resurrection, Greenwood. He devoted his great energies to the building of the new church building at 1512 Blanding Street.

The church was built based on plans by architect J. Hagood Sams with the assistance of a building committee. The cornerstone was laid by Bishop Ellison Capers on St. Andrew’s Day, November 30, 1900. After almost a year of intensive work, the Church of the Good Shepherd was completed.

The structure of the building is cruciform, which is the oldest form of Episcopalian architecture in South Carolina. The modified Gothic design is characterized by rows of Gothic windows along the nave with a lofty spire that reaches heavenward. Broad steps lead to the narthex and transept doors, with turrets gracing the body of the church.

Inside, turn-of-the-century influence can be seen in the open-beam ceiling. The long center aisle, representing the straight and narrow path of the Christian, leads to an impressive altar made of Italian marble. The original altar was bequeathed to St. Mary’s Church on St. Andrews Road, in Columbia, for a memorial chapel. The great stained-glass window above the altar, given in 1893 as a memorial, was moved from the original church building, on Barnwell Street, into this new building.

How: As do all congregations of Upper South Carolina, Good Shepherd follows the rubric found on page 13 of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer that says, “The Holy Eucharist [is] the principal act of Christian worship on the Lord’s day and other major Feasts.” In observing this rubric, our principal service on these occasions is a Solemn Mass, which means that the priest who is the celebrant is attended by a subdeacon and a server. The service is complemented by liturgical music, incense, sacred bells, and congregational hymns. This ceremonial practice is based on the centuries-old customs of the Church. Baptized Christians who believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament are invited to receive Holy Communion.

Why: Good Shepherd was originally formed to serve a community comprised mainly of railroad employees of limited resources—machinists, mechanics, and other workeers—who were ready to receive the message of the gospel and respond to it.

From those early beginnings, Good Shepherd developed a reputation for outstanding pastoral care to all citizens of Columbia under the leadership of the Rev. Lewis N. Tailor, who served as rector from 1925 until his death in 1947.

With the principles of serving people of modest means and providing exceptional pastoral care, the parish made a natural transition into the Anglo Catholic tradition of the Anglican Communion. The Anglo Catholic tradition, reinvigorated by the Oxford Movement in England (1833–1845), asserted that the catholic Church— Roman, Orthodox, and Anglican— comprised the Body of Christ, and as the Body of Christ, is the vessel through which the Lord’s sacraments are administered.

Good Shepherd, then, seeks to practice in this tradition by maintaining a balance between orthodox catholic worship and pastoral outreach to its parishioners and the community—all in an effort to fulfill the Great Commandment to love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

We pursue these principles in many ways. We support Harvest Hope Food Bank in Columbia, supplying funds and food on a regular basis. Our rector, with our lay

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people, has been a prominent leader of diocesan Home Works trips, supporting an ecumenical ministry devoted to repairing homes of the elderly and disadvantaged (www.homeworks-sc.org/).Trips have ranged as far away as Boone, N.C., to Johns Island, S.C. Good Shepherd has also provided leadership in pursuing ecumenical relations, between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church by participating with St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic churches, both in Columbia, over the years in a variety of services. These ecumenical services include Ash Wednesday, held some years at St. Peter’s, and some years at Good Shepherd. Together we have prayed the Living Rosary at Good Shepherd and at St. Joseph’s. The Benediction of the blessed Sacrament has been observed several times at Good Shepherd as an ecumenical service with our bishop, The Rt. Rev. Dorsey F. Henderson, Jr., presiding, and the Roman Catholic bishop, The Most Rev. Robert J. Baker, bishop of the Diocese of Charleston, preaching.

This profile is a collaborative effort. Ms. Christi Stewart, former Crosswalk intern, brought it all together. Portions of the profile are taken from The Episcopal Church of The Good Shepherd, by Agnes Lee Clawson (and are used with permission); the “How” section was written by the Rev. Dr. James F. Lyon IV for the Good Shepherd Mass Ordo (and is used with permission); all other portions are by Good Shepherd parishioner Mr. Robert C. Clawson.

11

Easter 2008

Crosswalk

“We believe”

—ÅçåíáåìÉÇ= Ñêçã= é~ÖÉ= V

The faith of the Church But the Nicene Creed emerged out of a very different context and for a very different purpose. The Nicene Creed was never intended to be a baptismal creed. It was intended from the beginning to be a corporate expression of the faith of the whole Church. The Council of Nicaea represents the first attempt to offer a creed that would summarize the faith for the entire Church, not simply for the church in a given location. It was an attempt to represent the growing drive toward catholicity in creedal form. The creed produced at the Council of Nicaea—and subsequently revised at future councils—represented the conviction that the common acceptance of a creedal formula would lead to further ecclesiastical unity, and help solidify political unity.

Specifically, its theological understanding of the relationship between the Father and the Son was presented as an agreed upon statement —albeit fragile!—of faith for the entire catholic Church.

Wider community

of the earth (except in photographs taken from outer space), I accept that the earth is indeed round, and will use that acceptance to construct further knowledge about the world around me. It is a statement about the world that my mind accepts as factually true.

"Credo" That use of the word believe is very different from the meaning of the word in the creed. The original Greek word that begins the creed, pisteuomen, essentially means "we entrust or to commit ourselves to." It was translated accurately into Latin as credo, which is a compound word that means to put one's heart to. The Nicene Creed, both in its original Greek form and its early Latin form, was a statement about commitment, about where we put our ultimate trust. In a nutshell, it said that we put our trust in the Triune God. It was not concerned with addressing intellectual uncertainty, which is a thoroughly modern problem. It was, rather, a statement indicating full allegiance, a commitment of one's entire being: heart, mind, body, and soul.

"Believe" / "belove" When the English word believe was used in translation of the creed in the Middle Ages, it was just the right word. The word believe has a close etymological relationship to the word belove. It meant "to hold dear" or "to treat as beloved." The object of the verb was almost always a person.

To believe a person was to orient oneself toward him or her with an attitude of affection, trust, and endearment. To believe someone was to treat him or her as beloved.

A helpful exercise to get a sense of the power of this meaning is to say the creed like this: "We love God, the Father, the Almighty. We hold Jesus Christ dear. We trust the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life." That likely evokes a very different sensibility in most of us than what we are accustomed to when we say the creed. To begin the creed with the words We believe is to enter more into a statement of devotion toward and trust in the Triune God than into intellectual declaration about divine facts. That is not to say that the creed does not represent deep intellectual content.

Any reflection on the history of the development of the creed shows that intellectual debate about the fundamental content of the creed was extraordinarily intense. But our early Church ancestors who hashed out the precise words of the creed inhabited a world in which the heart and mind lived in much closer relationship than they do in our postEnlightenment world.

It is that Church, the Body of Christ, that worships together. Christianity is not a religion of individuals. It is a religion of a community that extends far and wide. To be a Christian is to be part of that communion that stretches around the globe, as well as back and forward through time. The creed's first word expresses the radically countercultural conviction that it is not possible to live fully as a Christian apart from the Christian community.

There are very rare instances of Christians who have lived in utter solitude, such as some of the desert fathers and mothers, who lived alone in caves. But even they clearly understood their extreme solitude as a gift to the wider community. Medieval anchorites, such as Julian of Norwich who lived alone in a cell, also had a very important connection to the wider Christian community. Julian had two windows, one opening to the world through which she was able to converse with others, and one opening to the church to which her cell qÜÉ=káÅÉåÉ=`êÉÉÇ=áë=åçí=ëáãéäó=~=ëÉêáÉë=çÑ=ëí~íÉãÉåíë=~Äçìí=íÜÉ=dçÇÜÉ~ÇI=íÜÉ was attached and through which she could `ÜìêÅÜI=~åÇ=`Üêáëíá~å=ÇÉëíáåóK=fí=~äëç=áãéäáÉë=~=Åçããìåáíó=íÜ~í=~ÑÑáêãë=íÜçëÉ ëí~íÉãÉåíëÒ=EéÜçíçW=gçÜå=_ÉíÜÉääFK partake of the sacraments.

The context of our call as Christians clearly is the Christian community, the Church. Although we are clearly called to exercise our ministry in the world, that Wilfred Cantwell Smith pinpoints the difference beautifully. To say "we believe" ministry is always the ministry of the Church.

1600 years ago meant, "given the reality of God as a fact of the universe, we hereby proclaim that we align our life accordingly, pledging our love and loyalty." Today, many who say the creed mean something like this: "given the uncertainty of God as a The "We" that begins the creed expresses the fundamental conviction that the fact of modern life, we report that the idea of God is part of the furniture of the Christian faith is not the sum total of the religious convictions of individuals. The universe." The first is a pledge of heartfelt allegiance to the God proclaimed by the Christian faith is rooted in the Body of Christ as a whole of which each one of us as Church in the context of a general acceptance of the reality of many gods. The second is an act of the mind in the context of a general uncertainty about the reality of any an individual is a member. The Christian faith is, in that sense, catholic.

That understanding forms a backdrop for approaching the meaning of the word god. (See chapter 6, "The English Word 'Believe'" in Smith’s Faith and Belief [1979].)

St. Anselm captured well the relationship between the heart and mind when he believe. Many contemporary people have an individualized notion of what it means to believe something, a notion that is intimately connected with an evolving sense of the defined theology as faith seeking understanding. The idea is that of an established, autonomy of the individual rooted in the Renaissance and blossoming in the committed relationship—in this case, between ourselves and God—in which we seek Enlightenment. To believe something, for most of us, is to give our intellectual assent to grow in understanding. The creed, especially in its historic context in the liturgy, is to it. To believe a statement about something is to accept that the statement accurately a testament to that kind of devotion and eagerness to grow in the knowledge and love reflects that which is, in fact, the case. "I believe that the earth is round" is a statement of the Lord. qÜÉ=oÉîK=gçÜå=pK=káÉã~å=áë=êÉÅíçê=çÑ=eçäó=qêáåáíóI=`äÉãëçåK that essentially means that, although I have not actually seen for myself the roundness

"Heart" / "mind"

"Believe"

12

Crosswalk Catholic creeds — ÅçåíáåìÉÇ Ñêçã é~ÖÉ P The Chalcedonian Creed (451 A.D.) was produced in Chalcedon, in Asia Minor, across the Bosporus from the great city of Byzantium. This creed affirmed the Nicene-Constantinople Creed as a sufficient statement of the orthodox teaching of the Christian Church and confirmed Mary, the mother of Jesus, with title "God-bearer."

Shaping of the creeds

—ÅçåíáåìÉÇ Ñêçã é~ÖÉ R Heresy

The debates that led to and emerged from Nicaea often seem far removed from the 21st century, matters best left to aged theologians or dusty books in libraries. But it was not so in the fourth century. Debates over Arianism raged in the Church and at the imperial court. The fate of the Nicene compromise was very much in jeopardy throughout the fourth century. Arius was condemned and exiled, but because of changing fortunes at court, he was allowed to return to Alexandria about 334.

Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria and great defender of Nicene orthodoxy, was sent into exile at least three times.

Syllabi for reflection

Learning from the past

The creeds render an outline, a reminder, a formula for studying the full Christian story, as that story deals with creation, the work of the patriarchs and prophets, the advent of the Christ, and a vision of hope. They challenge the Church to review the power and integrity (truth) of the scriptures, and they serve as syllabi for reflection on the issues of early Christian thought and today's alternate stories of reality, human values, and creation's purpose.

But this was not a debate only for bishops, theologians, and emperors. It raged even in the streets of Constantinople. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the leading defenders of Nicene Christology in the late fourth century wrote "If in this city you ask anyone for change, he will discuss with you whether the Son is begotten or unbegotten. If you ask about the quality of bread, you will receive the answer that 'the Father is greater, the Son is less.' If you ask the bath attendant to draw you a bath, you will be told that 'there was nothing before the Son was created.'" When our Church is in the midst of sharp conflict over doctrine and practice, we do well to remember that the great confessions and definitions of our faith were themselves the products of bitter conflict. qÜÉ oÉîK aêK aK gçå~íÜ~å dêáÉëÉê áë ~ëëáëí~åí íç íÜÉ êÉÅíçê ~í píK g~ãÉëI dêÉÉåîáääÉK

qÜÉ oÉîK aêK mÜáäáé eK tÜáíÉÜÉ~Ç áë ~ êÉíáêÉÇ éêáÉëí çÑ íÜÉ ÇáçÅÉëÉK

My life with the creed

Our life, our hope

The Nicene Creed is, simultaneously, a stark rejection of early and prolific heresies, an affirmation of the Church’s true faith, a crisp biography of Christ’s life and achievements, and a powerful endorsement—the kind that brooks no dissent—of the doctrines of the Church. They’re all there: Incarnation, Resurrection, Atonement, Ascension, and the Trinity. Overall, by committing us to three separate but interconnected “We believes” in God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—we thus aver our Baptismal Covenant every Sunday.

The last third of the creed concerns the Holy Spirit as “Lord” and “giver of life” and our acknowledgment of that Spirit as being contained in the Trinity. We also recommit ourselves to adherence to the Church and its sacred process of apostolic succession, by which bishops are regarded as succeeding the apostles through their commissions, and their having the same functions as the apostles. (Does this mean that bishops are born, not made?)

We also reaffirm our faith that our life is in and through Christ and our hope in the resurrection as the acceptance into eternal joy—all this in 33 lines. The Nicene Creed eclipses all the other great documents and declarations of history in its absolutism, its literary refinement, and its power to demand and secure commitment.

—ÅçåíáåìÉÇ Ñêçã é~ÖÉ NM The covenant averred

A new theology Originally written as a refutation of those tenets that the Church could not tolerate in its early years if it was to survive as a distinct, focused, new church and clearly understood to be a new and necessary theology, the Nicene Creed was written to include unmistakable references to the composers’ repudiation of the prevalent heresy of Arianism by using the word homoousios, which defined the relationship between the Father and the Son within the Godhead, which we believe, still, as the Son’s being “eternally begotten of the Father . . . begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.”

Appended originally were four anathemas against the Arians, which, though once considered an integral part of the text, have since been blessedly removed. (The original creed of 325 is found on page 3 of this issue of Crosswalk.) There follows a short biography of Christ, beginning with the Incarnation and concluding with the certainty of the Second Coming.

Developing personal faith Read aloud or silently every day, the Nicene Creed becomes a proxy for the development of personal faith—in several ways. When we are small, new Christians, we hear about God and creation, and the stories of the Garden of Eden and Noah, and Joseph and his coat leave us scared but curious. Later, we hear the Jesus part, and if his unique connection to God is bewildering (as it may be for the rest of our lives), he is still a very human person in his miracles, parables, teachings, and fondness for strange associates. (I’ll confess I am puzzled by his odd way of choosing his friends.)

It is perhaps not until later in life that we fully encounter the Holy Spirit, whom time and events can

Easter 2008

—ÅçåíáåìÉÇ Ñêçã é~ÖÉ S

Those of us who have taken ordination vows do have an intense responsibility to teach and share the catholic and orthodox faith. Heresy may be inadvertent. Preaching on the humanity of Christ may easily lose sight of his divinity and temporarily err into Arianism. Trinitarian prayer and contemplation may so celebrate the diversity inherent in the life of God that we border on tri-theism.

We will be forgiven when our best efforts go slightly astray if we are always seeking the center of the faith. For believers, doubts about the faith are subjects for prayer, study, and spiritual conversation. Moments of unbelief may well be actions of the Holy Spirit, as God invites us through them away from misunderstanding and toward the deep current of the faith.

Slipping into the current In our postmodern age, many voices tell us that there is no truth in the universe, only self-interested descriptions of reality. Christians simply cannot believe that. There is truth in the universe, truth that makes us free. We need only to slip into the swift, yet gentle, current of the Church's faith and practice, letting God teach us all that we need to know. qÜÉ oÉîK aêK káÅÜçä~ë jK _É~ëäÉó áë êÉÅíçê çÑ íÜÉ `ÜìêÅÜ çÑ íÜÉ oÉëìêêÉÅíáçåI dêÉÉåïççÇK make especially significant and immediate, for it is to the Spirit we most often pray for solace, mitigation, healing, cure . . . or release.

Encapsulating history The Nicene Creed is also an encapsulated history of the Church itself, with its references to the rejection of early dissent and its overall sense of a gradual, yet deliberate, codified emergence of faith and doctrine over centuries of worship and canonical usage, adaptation, and change.

And if you have an enquiring mind, you are, on occasion, left to wonder what, exactly, is meant by “true God from true God”; or to whom we are referring when we read “Through him all things were made.” We had been talking homoousios, but are now on the cusp of the Incarnation.

Moving the ribbon Finally, I find that read quietly and alone—read as straightforward prose, as a decree, the Nicene Creed has an altogether different effect on my private worship and where I go from there. Some phrase will send me searching through my Book of Common Prayer for a passage of the Psalter, or a collect that seems, that instant, to be particularly apt or right for the Church season, or even my mood.

I’ve moved by ribbon from the Great Litany to the Nicene Creed, Holy Eucharist I.

jêK mÉíÉê qêÉåÜçäã áë ~ ãÉãÄÉê çÑ qêáåáíó `ÜìêÅÜI ^ÄÄÉîáääÉK

13

Easter 2008

Crosswalk

Around the Diocese

ÔÅçåíáåìÉÇ=Ñêçã=é~ÖÉ=O

The word ordinary also comes from Latin, ordinarius, meaning an overseer who keeps order. The term refers to the one who has jurisdiction or authority. In the case of a bishop, the ordinary is the one who has the authority to ordain. So the ordinary is the diocesan bishop, and the canon to the ordinary is the person whose ministry is directly answerable to the bishop and who usually functions as a kind of chief of staff or bishop’s executive.

CW: What are your main responsibilities as canon to the ordinary in Upper SC? MB: Bishop Henderson has given me three basic responsibilities to exercise on his behalf. One is that I am to oversee the deployment of clergy in the diocese.

Right now, there are eight congregations in various stages of searching for clergy leadership. That’s about 12 percent of the congregations in the diocese that have significant deployment needs. A second responsibility pertains to congregational development, everything from providing guidelines and resources for healthy established churches to assisting in the fruitful establishment of new congregations. And the third responsibility I have is, as the bishop so euphemistically phrases it, “troubleshooting.”

In all these capacities and responsibilities, my job is to help the bishop succeed in his ministry among us. I find this both exciting and a humbling privilege.

CW: With Bishop Henderson approaching mandatory retirement in 2011, what do you see as the primary goals of your ministry as his canon to the ordinary?

MB: Of all the ministries my position as canon to the ordinary touches, the fact that Bishop Henderson must retire within three years (according to the canons of the Church) is the lynchpin. I cannot tell you how respectful I am of the bishop’s willingness to address the close of his episcopacy among us. It takes courage and maturity to take the lead in moving toward one’s ending. His retirement is, in reality, a death— for him and for the diocese; and I admire his forthrightness in calling us constructively and faithfully to this historical moment.

More to the point, I believe that I can be helpful to the bishop in providing him with some perspective, as he does the hard personal work of leading us to that time when he will depart Upper South Carolina; and I think that I can also be helpful to the diocese as a whole in connecting our common life and ministry with his own trajectory. Over the last two years (when I was serving as an officer of the Diocesan Executive Council) and in these initial months as a member of his staff, the bishop and I have spent a good amount of time together focusing on the very real opportunity his retirement offers us all. I say this because times of transition are the only times when real, lasting change can be implemented. Even though transition time makes most of us a bit crazy, I personally want these last laps of his episcopal race to lead to a fruitful finish—for him and for the diocese. And Bishop Henderson has been very clear about the characteristics by which he wishes his episcopacy to finish. He wants to hand off to his

14

successor the healthiest diocese possible! And I want to do everything I can to assist him in that hope and prayer.

CW: After years of parish ministry, what prompted you to accept the call to this new ministry?

MB: The shortest response to this question is that it is hard for me to decline my bishop’s request. Having said this, it took me a while to accept the bishop’s offer. After 27 years in parish ministry (preceded by five years in school ministry), I felt comfortable in that arena, and I dearly loved St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, Columbia, the parish I was serving at the time of his call. Truth to tell, I was also a bit afraid to make the change, and it was acknowledging that fear that ultimately pushed me to say yes. It seemed to indicate that I needed to grow in this direction. Now I can say that I feel that I am in the right place at the right time. I am grateful for the opportunity.

CW: Anything else you’d like us Upper South Carolinians to know?

MB: Without sounding self-serving because I am now a member of the bishop’s staff, most of us in the congregations don’t realize how faithful and competent the bishop’s staff is. One of the reasons for this is that my colleagues stay below the radar because what they do—and do so well and often under great pressure—is done for service and not recognition. I have discovered this personally from the “inside.” Confronting the steep and at times daunting learning curve I continue to face in my position, my staff colleagues have been so personally gracious and professionally supportive of me and what I need to do. And as I watch them do their work, the same grace and competence is what they provide for the members of the diocese. It is a good team.

Four ordained to the priesthood, February 2

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On February 2, in a glorious celebration at Trinity Cathedral, Columbia, Bishop Henderson ordained Mark Anthony Abdelnour, Alfredo Pedro González, Joseph Kershaw Smith, and Joseph Stewart Whitehurst to the sacred order of priests. The Very Rev. Donald W. Krickbaum, dean emeritus of Trinity Cathedral, Miami, preached.

The Rev. Messrs. Abdelnour, González, Smith, and Whitehurst are serving at St. Bartholomew’s, North

Augusta; St. Mary’s, Columbia; St. Matthew’s, Spartanburg; and St. Thaddeus, Aiken, respectively.

Two Upper SC youth on national EYE design team EYE—the triennial Episcopal Youth Event—is scheduled for summer 2008 in San Antonio, Texas, on the campus of Trinity University. Two Upper South Carolinians are on the national design team and already hard at work: Lisa Bailey, from Trinity ^í=íÜÉ=bvb=éä~ååáåÖ Cathedral, Columbia, and Ryan ãÉÉíáåÖ=oó~å=_ÉåáíÉò Benitez from St. Bartholomew’s, ÇáêÉÅíë=~=ëÅÉåÉ=Ñçê=íÜÉ North Augusta. Congratulations ïÉäÅçãáåÖ=îáÇÉç EéÜçíçW=gçÉ=_àçêÇ~äFK to these great young people!

EYE was established by the 1982 General Convention to be “a gathering of young people and their advocates from throughout the Episcopal Church to inspire and empower youth as Christian apostles.

EYE is designed to be an immersion experience in the Baptismal Covenant to extend the mission and ministry of the Church.”

Gravatt to break ground for new chapel, April 19 More than four years after the fire that destroyed Cullum Hall and the Chapel of Transfiguration, construction of a new chapel will begin this spring, with a groundbreaking set for April 19th at 5 p.m. Everyone is invited!

Gravatt’s board of directors has been working with LTC & Associates of Columbia to draw up plans for the chapel, which will seat 180 people. Recently Pizzuti Builders, who were responsible for the 2007 remodeling of Cole Lodge and addition of bathrooms to Stewart Hall, were signed to build the chapel.

The original chapel was completed in 1989 with a generous gift from the Bailey Dixon family to honor his friends at All Saints’, Clinton: John Glover, Clyde Ireland, and Michael Turner. The new chapel will honor these three individuals as well as Bailey Dixon. Two major gifts have already been received to fund the rebuilding of the chapel. The diocesan ECW has graciously made the chapel one of their mission projects for the year.

While money is in hand for the building itself, additional gifts are being sought for chapel-related projects (furnishings, landscaping, and so on). If you would like to make a gift toward the Chapel Fund, please send your check payable to the Bishop Gravatt Center, Attn: Chapel Fund, 1006 Camp Gravatt Road, Aiken, SC 29805, or contact Lauri Yeargin at 803.648.1817 for more information.

Crosswalk

Around the Diocese Upper SC to bring Cursillo to Church of the Advent celebrates Central Ecuador the spirituality of art

By Chip Smith

By Jane Sexton Long

Upper South Carolina's Cursillo community has been given approval to export Cursillo to the Diocese of Central Ecuador. This happy circumstance has come about as a result of a September 2007 trip to Quito, Ecuador, which was designed to gather information and expand our relationship with Central Ecuador.

Thanks to a connection with diocesan missionary Cameron Graham and her husband Roberto Vivanco, Happening had already been exported to Quito, with Happening Uno having taken place during the summer of 2007. Because of the extraordinary spiritual impact of

Easter 2008

member and retired music teacher, gave a workshop on shape notes and folk music. The Rev. Roy W. Cole, assistant rector at the Advent, explored spirituality through the medium of watercolor.

The Rev. Michael Sullivan, formerly canon for mission and outreach at Trinity Cathedral and now rector of St. John's, Lynchburg, Virginia, was both keynote speaker and presenter. Sullivan is the author of Windows into the Soul: Art as Spiritual Expression. jëK=g~åÉ=pÉñíçå=içåÖ=áë=~=ãÉãÄÉê=çÑ=^ÇîÉåíI=pé~êí~åÄìêÖ

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Happening Uno, the Cursillistas who traveled to Quito in September discussed with Bishop Henderson the possibility of exporting Cursillo to Ecuador and soon had received permission from Bishop Henderson and Central Ecuador's Bishop Wilfrido Ramos-Orench, as well as the enthusiastic approval of the National Episcopal Cursillo Committee.

Cursillo has now begun work toward the goal of having a Spanish-speaking Cursillo weekend in March 2009 at the Bishop Gravatt Center.

The weekend will include candidates from our diocese and 10 to 12 candidates from Quito.

Once the weekend is over the Ecuadorian Cursillistas will start planning their own Cursillo weekend in Quito.

Art, music, and spirituality joined together for a spectacular event at the Church of the Advent in Spartanburg in January. On January 11 an enthusiastic crowd attended a performance by the Davidson College's symphony orchestra and its 18-member jazz ensemble.

Workshops exploring different aspects of spiritual reflection were featured on January 12.

Among the presenters was retired Advent rector the Rev. Dr. Clay Turner, who is a potter. The Rev. Dr. William Greeley, rector of the Advent, discussed the history of chanting and how it is used in our liturgy. Ms. Sue Zoole, well-known regional writer of icons, created sacred icons on tin; Dr. Brennan Szafron, director of music at the Advent, explored the spirituality of images in modern hymns. Ms. Carolyn Roberts, Advent

M O N E Y

lå=Üáë=ÄáêíÜÇ~óI=g~åì~êó=NTI=_áëÜçé=eÉåÇÉêëçå=ï~ë=ÑÉíÉÇ=Äó=íÜÉ=éÉçéäÉ çÑ=`Üêáëí=`ÜìêÅÜI=i~åÅ~ëíÉêI=ïÜç=ïÉêÉ=~äëç=ÅÉäÉÄê~íáåÖ=íÜÉ=áåëíáíìíáçå çÑ= íÜÉáê= åÉï= êÉÅíçêI= íÜÉ= oÉîK= aÉÉÇáÉ= mÜáääáéë= j~êëÜ~ääK= hìÇçë= íç= çìê ÄáëÜçéI= íç= íÜÉ= Åçããìåáíó= ~í= `Üêáëí= `ÜìêÅÜI= ~åÇ= ÉëéÉÅá~ääó= íç= íÜÉ ÖÉåáìë= ïÜç= ÇÉëáÖåÉÇ= íÜÉ= ÄáëÜçéÛë= çåÉJçÑJ~JâáåÇ= ÄáêíÜÇ~óJÜ~í= ãáíêÉ EéÜçíçW=gçÜå=t~äâÉêFK

T A L K

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15

Easter 2008

Crosswalk The official publication of the Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina

Diocesan calendar

May 3

Bishop meets with deacons

10

Happening reunion, St.. Luke’s, Newberry

4

11 18

York Place Founders’ Day

Bishop Duvall’s visitation to Good Shepherd, Columbia Bishop Henderson’s visitation to Christ Church, Greenville Bishop Henderson’s visitation to Trinity Cathedral

21-23 Piedmont Convocation residency 26

Diocesan House closed

Episcopal Diocese of Upper South Carolina 1115 Marion Street Columbia, South Carolina 29201

June 1

4-6 7 8

18-20 19-22 22

23-29 29

qÜÉ= `çìåÅáä=çÑ= káÅ~É~=EíÉãéÉê~= çå=é~åÉäF=Äó=jÉäâáíÉ=pÅÜççä= ENTíÜ=ÅÉåíìêóF= «qÜÉ=^ÄçìJ^Ç~ä=fÅçå=`çääÉÅíáçå=L=mÜçíç=«=eÉäÇ=`çääÉÅíáçå= L=qÜÉ=_êáÇÖÉã~å= ^êí=iáÄê~êó= k~íáçå~äáíó=L=ÅçéóêáÖÜí= ëí~íìëW=çìí= çÑ=ÅçéóêáÖÜí Bishop Henderson’s visitation to St. Philip’s, Greenville

Province IV Synod, Kanuga

Diocesan Executive Council, All Saints’, Clinton

Bishop Henderson’s visitation to All Saints’, Clinton Cursillo #111

Reedy River residency

Bishop Henderson’s visitation to St. James’, Greenville Provincial Youth Event, Bay St. Louis, MS

Bishop Henderson’s visitation to Christ Church, Lancaster

July 3

Deans/Lay Wardens to meet with Bishop Henderson

5

Bishop’s Interview and Discernment committee

4 8-13 13 20 27

Aug 3

Diocesan House closed

Episcopal Youth Event, San Antonio, TX

Bishop Henderson’s vistation to St. Barnabas’, Jenkinsville Piedmont Convocation Meeting, St. Margaret’s, Boiling Springs

Midlands Convocation meeting, TBA

Gravatt Convocation meeting, All Saints’, Beech Island

Catawba Convocation meeting, St. Matthias’, Rock Hill Reedy River Convocation meeting, Church of the Redeemer, Greenville

DEADLINE for next issue of Crosswalk: May 15.

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