Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief

1. Tokens of Trust:An Introduction to Christian Belief 3. A Man for All Seasons (and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord) Sunday, February 8, 2009 10 to 10:50 am, in the Parlor Presenter: David Monyak

2. Primary Reference • Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, London, 2007

3. Primary Reference • Tokens of Trust: An Introduction to Christian Belief, Rowan Williams, Westminister John Knox Press, Louisville, London, 2007

4. The Most Revd. Rowan Williamsis the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury. He was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 27th February 2003

5. Born 1950 • Studied theology at Cambridge • DPhil at Oxford 1975 • Priest 1978 • 1977 to 1992: taught theology at Cambridge and Oxford • 1986: Lady Margaret Professorship of Divinity at the University of Oxford • 1991: Bishop of Monmouth in Anglican Church of Wales • 1999: Archbishop of Wales • Dec 2002: confirmed as the 104th bishop of the See of Canterbury • Considered by many the best Protestant theologian in the world today • Also a noted poet and translator of Welsh poetry

6. Tokens of TrustAn Introduction to Christian Belief • Jan 25. Who Can We Trust?(I believe in God the Father almighty) • Feb 1: The Risk of Love(maker of heaven and earth) • Feb 8: A Man for All Seasons(and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord) • Feb 15: The Peace Dividend(He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again) • Feb 22: God in Company(And I believe in one catholic and apostolic Church) • Mar 1: Love, Actually(I look for the resurrection of the dead)

7. Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. • Collect for Christmas Day, Book of Common Prayer, p. 213

8. This Week:3. A Man for All Seasons(and in Jesus Christhis only Son our Lord)

9. The Kingdom of God

10. The Kingdom of GodAn Astounding Claim “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell …” (NRSV Colossians 1:19) • How on earth did such a claim come to be made about Jesus? • In the Jewish world of Jesus’ day, many of people were thought to be divinely anointed messengers of renewal – but none attracted this kind of language

11. The Kingdom of GodThe Kingdom of God Breaking In • Jesus stressed in his teachings: • the kingly rule of God was about to arrive and break into the human world • To become a citizen of this new kingdom ruled by God, simply say “yes” to what Jesus was saying and offering • Your life will begin to transform, and reveal to the world a foretaste of God’s rule

12. The Kingdom of GodThe Kingdom of God Breaking In • The Beatitudes (“blessed are …” 5th chapter of Matthew) tell us about the transformed lives of the citizens of this new kingdom. They are lives that display: • dependence on God’s goodness • forgiveness • single-mindedness • longing for peace and for justice • patience under attack

13. The Kingdom of GodBelonging to God’s People • Different Jewish groups had different ideas about who belonged to God’s People: • Those who are obedient to the sacrificial laws, and the rules of the priestly class, or • Those who obey all the details of the oral law, or • Those who isolate themselves in the desert from a corrupt world in order to live communal lives of strict purity • Jesus’ radical claim: You will belong to God’s people if you accept my promise and invitation

14. The Kingdom of GodBelonging to God’s People • This claim by Jesus – You will belong to God’s people if you accept Jesus’promise and invitation – was not only radical, but seemingly blasphemous. • Jewish scripture repeatedly stresses Israel was God’s people only because God had chosen it – because of God’spromise and invitation

15. The Kingdom of GodBelonging to God’s People • This claim by Jesus – You will belong to God’s people if you accept Jesus’ promise and invitation – was not only radical, but seemingly blasphemous. • Jewish scripture repeatedly stresses Israel was God’s people only because God had chosen it – because of God’s promise and invitation

16. All the Fullness of God

17. All the Fullness of GodAdoption Into God’s Family • But there’s more. • Accepting Jesus’ promise and invitation did not merely make you a “citizen” of God’s kingdom, a “member” of God’s people. • When Jesus’ disciples asked him how they should pray, Jesus told them to begin with “Our Father …” • That is: we are not just citizens living under the new government of God; we are adopted into God's intimate family.

18. All the Fullness of GodNot Merely a Teacher • Such claims by Jesus were politically and religiously explosive. • The suggestion of some that Jesus was just a wonderful teacher who “went to Jerusalem to deliver a course of lectures on the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man (motherhood and apple pie, as it were), and met with an unfortunate miscarriage of justice” simply doesn’t wash.

19. All the Fullness of GodNot Merely a Teacher • Jesus’ words and actions did not engender many comments like: • “How interesting!” • But far more often: • “How dare he!” • “What on earth are we dealing with?”

20. All the Fullness of GodNot Merely a Teacher • His disciples ask: • Who is this that even the winds and the waves obey him? • His enemies ask: • Who is this who forgives sins?” (Only God can forgive sins)

21. All the Fullness of GodAn Angelic Power? • Very early on, Jesus’ followers began to use extravagant language as they struggled to understand what they were dealing with. • There was speculation in Jesus’ day of angelic powers who were granted a share in the glory of God. • In Hebrews, Paul’s letters, and John’s Revelation you can find some imagery of this sort used to describe Jesus.

22. All the Fullness of GodMore Than an Angelic Power • But writer after writer in the New Testament clearly felt the need to go beyond this language of angelic powers: He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:3-4 NRSV)

23. All the Fullness of GodLORD Jesus • Before Jesus’ followers found some philosophical concepts and terms to express who Jesus was, their hearts and imaginations had already reached a conclusion. • When Stephen, the first Christian martyr dies, he prays “LORD Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59 NRSV) • In the Hebrew scriptures, “LORD” was substituted for the proper name of God, which was too holy to be spoken

24. All the Fullness of GodLORD Jesus • Within a time period of 30 years or less after his death, Jesus is spoken of as though he were completely with God, able to do what God does, and so correctly addressed as if he were God • From the hymn in Philippians 2:6-11 (PrePauline; may have dated to the late 30’s), we have: … at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11 NRSV)

25. A God of Relationship, Inner Movement

26. Relationship, Inner MovementJesus’ Relationship with the Father • In Jesus we see: • divine purpose, power, and action but also: • humility, responsiveness, receptivity • Jesus prays to his Father and puts his will and his decisions at the service of his Father. • He is in a relationship of dependence on the one he prays to as Father

27. Relationship, Inner MovementA Flowing Out and Reflecting Back • Therefore, if Jesus is God, then our concept of “God” must include more than: • power and initiative. It must also include: • receiving, reflecting back in love and gratitude • God as Father and as God as Jesus suggests God’s love is: • both a giving and receiving, • both a flowing out and reflecting back, • both an initiative and a depending • “God” is not the life of a heavenly individual on his own, but mysteriously, a life involving relationship and inner movement and differentiation.

28. Relationship, Inner MovementA Flowing Out and Reflecting Back • When Jesus as a “Son” turns towards his Father, he mysteriously embodies a divine, “reflecting back” response of love to the divine “flowing out” initiative of love from the Father. • This “twofold” movement within God would seem to be part of the eternal nature of God. • Implication: • Jesus, the “Son” of God, did not begin when Jesus was born in ~4 B.C., but always was and is, part of the relationship, inner movement, and differentiation, within the life of the eternal God.

29. Relationship, Inner MovementThe Eternal Logos of God Made Flesh • So in John’s gospel (the oral tradition of a community of Jesus’ followers written down some 60 years, at most 70 years, after Jesus’ crucifixion), we read: • John 1:1-3, 14: In the beginning was the Word*, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (NRSV) • *Word: the Greek Logos, God’s “word” = God’s mind and purpose made manifest = God’s living energy streaming out from him

30. Relationship, Inner MovementLiving In God’s Image • This picture of God’s life involving receiving as well as giving, depending as well as controlling, has implications for us as God’s adopted children. • We all live in relationships where we are: • givers and / or receivers • depending and /or controlling • We can reflect the life of God in every aspect of what we are. We are part of God’s image: • when we acknowledge our dependence or offer thanks, and • when we are making decisions or showing God's love to another.

31. Light of Light

32. Light of LightThe Formula of the Creed of Nicea • It took more than three centuries to put what we find in the scriptures about the relationship between Jesus and God the Father into a “formula” would not break down under the scrutiny of then contemporary philosophy: • We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,the only-begotten Son of God,begotten of his Father before all worlds,God of God,Light of Light,Very God of Very God,begotten not made,being of one substance with the Father,by whom all things were made.

33. Light of LightThe Formula of the Creed of Nicea • Jesus is: • “begotten,” a unique “product” of divine life, • “generated” within God by the unconditional love of God the Father • apart from / before the whole of creation • The relationship between this “product” of divine life and God the Father is: • like child to parent • like the light of a light – like the flames of two candles, in which the flame of one candle is used to light the other candle

34. Light of LightThe Formula of the Creed of Nicea • Light of light: • The God the Father = the flame on the source candle • The Son = the flame on the candle lit, “begotten” by the flame of the Father • The Father gives all he is and has into the heart of this outflowing ‘product’, the ‘generated’ reality, the flame of the Son • The flame of the Son truly shares the living flame of God’s nature with no qualification or lessening; he is ‘of one substance’ with the Father

35. Light of LightGod is “Christlike” • Why God is trustworthy: • What God is, revealed in Jesus incarnated as a human being, is simply what God always has been and always will be. • “God is Christlike and in him there is no un-Christlikeness at all.” (Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey and John V. Taylor) • In Jesus, we can see embodied God’s nature as the outpouring and returning of selfless love

36. Light of LightGod’s Outpouring of Selfless Love • We see the outpouring, selfless love of God in different ways, like we see a great river in different landscapes: • God’s outpouring of love into the world, as seen in the life and death of Jesus; • God’s outpouring of love in making and sustaining creation; • God’s outpouring of love in the eternal truth of the Father’s “generating” the Son.

37. The Human Jesus of Nazareth

38. Jesus of NazarethBoth God and Human Being • In the gospels we read how Jesus suffered and wept, slept and awoke. He was vulnerable and mortal. • Yet we also see in Jesus the incarnation of the eternal Logos of God, proclaiming the kingdom of God was breaking into creation, forgiving sins, healing the sick, commanding the winds and the waves.

39. Jesus of NazarethBoth Human Being and God • How do we mesh these two pictures together: Jesus as a human being, and Jesus as the Son of God? • As early theologians of the Greek Church loved to note, the same person who weeps for his friend Lazarus is the same person who raises him from the dead.

40. Jesus of NazarethGod and Human: Analogy from Music • An analogy from music: • When you look at a great musician playing a piece of music, you are looking at one human being playing at the limit of their skill and concentration. • All their strength, their freedom, and even their love, is focused on bringing to life the work and vision of another person, the composer. • As the vision and imagination of the composer comes through, it does not displace the human particularity of the performer, but might be said to ‘saturate” the performer's being for the time of the performance.

41. Jesus of NazarethGod and Human: Analogy from Music • Now imagine an entire lifetime given to such a performance. • Throughout his life, Jesus, the human being, “is performing God’s love, God’s purpose, without a break, without a false note, without a stumble; yet he is never other than himself, with all that makes him distinctly human taken up with this creative work.”

42. Jesus of NazarethGod and Human: Analogy from Music • When early Christians said they could not imagine sin in Jesus, they were saying “there is nothing in this performance that blocks out the composer.” • When early Christians said Jesus was fully human and fully God, they were saying “the humanity of the performer is most full and real in the performance” of the composer’s work.

43. Jesus of NazarethBorn Through the Spirit and Mary • The Creed of Nicea tells us: “by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary” • We see in this phrase two ways of looking at Jesus’ birth, both of which need to be affirmed: • 1. Jesus was born through the Spirit of God • 2. Jesus was born through the human being Mary

44. Jesus of NazarethBorn Through the Spirit and Mary • Jesus comes into being on earth because: • 1. God breathes into the world his breath (= “Spirit”), just as he breathed into the first human being in the Genesis creation story • 2. Mary’s human openness to God’s inbreathing: She said “yes.” • “Jesus begins to be as a human being because of this meeting of God's free grace and Mary's grace-filled human readiness and openness.”

45. Next Week

46. Next Week • We have now talked about WHO Jesus is • But WHY exactly is this life, Jesus’ life, required?

47. Next Week:4. The Peace Dividend(He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again)