The CATHEDRAL TIMES The weekly newsletter of the Cathedral of St. Philip · Serving Atlanta and the World · March 22, 2020
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLY RELATIONSHIP By the Very Rev. Sam Candler, Dean of the Cathedral Our Lenten adult program this year was to focus on specific words of our tradition. Obviously, our schedule has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, and my own presentation will have to be delayed. Instead, however, I will present this short synopsis of my presentation (“Righteousness and Holy Relationship”) as my weekly article for The Cathedral Times! Words of our tradition. One of my own challenges, in teaching and preaching, is to rescue, and even salvage, classical Christian words. Yes, I am trying to save some of our Christian vocabulary, words with old meanings that seem irrelevant to many in our world today. The word “salvation” is itself actually one of them. So is “creed.” Even “sin,” I think, can be re-defined and re-imagined. In particular, I want to rescue the word, “righteousness,” from its rather legalistic and transactional baggage. For many religious people, “righteousness” means following and obeying every religious law that was ever devised – probably not a pleasant task, and certainly impossible. For too many of us, though, we have been taught that if we complete some spiritual transaction the right way (say the proper words, perform the proper prayer, feel the proper emotion), then we will be legally designated “righteous. I have come to believe, however, that when the Bible uses the word “righteousness” in some of its most important passages, in both the Old and New Testaments, the Bible is really talking about “relationship,” and “right relationship.” Simply put, people who are described as righteous are in holy relationship. For instance, the verse from Genesis gets repeated often, “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). We tend to think of that statement as a form of divine legal transaction. Certain parts of our tradition have taught that somehow Abraham believed the right way, and thus the legal and formal transaction was made valid. He would receive progeny and land. But, no: think about what it means “to believe” someone. Good belief puts us into relationship with that someone. Good faith puts us into relationship. How did belief make Abraham righteous? By simply putting him in relationship with God. It’s as simple as that. Faith puts people in relationship, and relationships save us. Relationships save us. Community saves us! It is holy and right relationship that means righteousness for us. So, I have taken on a new practice. Whenever I read the word “righteous” in scripture, I substitute the word “relationship.” “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as relationship.” Or, from Habbakuk 2:4, “Those in relationship live by faith.” But the substitution really works in Matthew 5:20, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus was talking about what it means to fulfill the law and the prophets, but he certainly did not mean trying to outperform the Pharisees in being obsessed with every detail of the laws! “Don’t think that I have come to abolish them,” he says; they will be fulfilled! But they will be fulfilled by living in relationship with God. Try reading Matthew 5:20 this way: “Unless your ‘relationship’ exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Because the kingdom of heaven—the community of heaven—is continued on back page...