Eldership in the Church

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Fr. Peter

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them-not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 1 Peter 5:1-4

It is my belief that one of the things lacking in the Church today is the sense of eldership, not just from the clergy, but from the laity.

There are few passages of Scripture that more clearly show the importance of eldership in the Church than this periscope from 1 Peter. It is to the elders that Peter is writing to, and he does not hesitate to call himself a fellow-elder. To fully understand this concept of elder it will be helpful to gain a better understanding of the background and history of this important office in the Church. I will preface this by saying that the elders should be chosen from the most worthy of people in the Church and not just because they are willing to serve. They need to understand the importance of this role and, like the clergy, need to live spiritual lives that set the example for those they have been chosen to lead.

Jewish Background

Eldership has a Jewish background. The Jews traced the beginning of eldership to the days when the children of Israel were on their journey through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. Moses felt that the burdens of leadership were too much for one person to bear and so seventy elders were chosen and set apart to share in the administration (Number 11:16-30). After this elder became a permanent part of Jewish life. They are friends of the prophets (2 Kings 6:32); as the advisers of kings (1 Kings 20:8;21); as the colleagues of the princes in the administration of the affairs of the nation (Ezra 10:8). Every village had elders at the gate to distribute justice to the citizens (Deuteronomy 25:7). The elders were the administrators of the synagogue; they did not preach, but they saw to the good government and order of the holy place, and they exercised discipline over the members. The elders would have formed a large section of the Sanhedrin, which was the supreme court of the Jews. In the Book of Revelation, we see in the heavenly places twenty-four elders around the throne. As we have seen elders were woven into every aspect of Jewish life, civil and religious.

Greek Background

Eldership has a Greek background. Elders in the Egyptian communities handled the conduct of public affairs, but life our city councils are today. Women who had suffered assault will appeal to the elders for relief and justice. They handled the issuing of public edicts, leasing land for pasture, and for taxation. Even in the pagan communities elders are found who handled discipline.

What is apparent is that long before Christianity took it over elder was a title of honor both in the Jewish and the Greco-Roman World.

Christian Background

In every community that Paul went to it was his custom to ordain elders to run things for him. On the first missionary journey, elders were appointed in every church (Acts 14:23). Titus is left in Crete to appoint elders in every city (Titus 1:5). The elders had charge of the financial administration of the Church; it is to them that Paul and Barnabas delivered the money sent to relieve the poor of Jerusalem in the time of famine (Acts 11:30). The elders were councilors and the administrators of the Church. They can be found taking a leading role in the Council of Jerusalem when it was decided to open the doors of the Church to Gentiles. At this council, the elders and apostles are spoken of together as chief authorities in the Church (Acts 15:2, 16:4).

When Paul came on his last visit to Jerusalem, it was to the elders that he reported, and they suggested the course of action he should follow (Acts 21:18-25). One of the most moving passages in the New Testament is Paul’s farewell to the elders of Ephesus. Paul sees the elders in Ephesus as overseers of the flock of God and the defenders of the faith (Acts 20:28-29). In the Letter of James, the elders had a healing function in the Church through prayers and the anointing with oil (James 5:14). In the Pastoral Epistles, the elders were rulers and teachers, and by the time of the letter they were paid officials (1 Timothy 5:17).

When a person enters into eldership in the Church, no small honor is conferred upon them, and they should remember that they are entering into the oldest religious office in the world with a history that can be traced to Christianity and Judaism for four thousand years; and no small responsibility falls to them for they have been entrusted with being a shepherd of the flock of God and a defender of the faith.

Today’s Challenges

One of the greatest challenges of the Church in the 21st century is leadership both clergy and lay, but the laity will play a much larger role as more and more churches move to part-time (or tent making) pastorates. The words of Peter are important for us to think about as we think about leadership in the Church.

The Perils and the Privileges of Eldership

Leadership in the Church is a mission and a ministry and needs to be looked at that way. A person should not be elected, or selected, to serve in leadership just because they are popular and will gain the most votes. The life and example of the leader are essential in their role as they will set the example of those that will follow. It’s not just about passing the budget it is about leading the entire church both spiritual and physical.

In the passage quoted above, Peter sets down in a series of contrasts the perils and the privileges of eldership. What he points out is applicable not only to eldership abut also to all Christian service inside and outside of the Church.

The elder is to accept the office, not under coercion, but willingly. This does not mean that one should seek or grasp after the office or enter it without self-examining thought. Any is Christian should have a certain reluctance to accept high office because they should be aware of their unworthiness for that office. Peter does not say that a person should be conceitedly or irresponsibly eager for office; but that every Christian should be anxious to render such service as they can, although fully aware of how unworthy they are to render it.

The elder is to accept the office, not to be a petty tyrant, but to be the shepherd and example of the flock. Human nature is such that for many people prestige and power are even more attractive than money. There are those who love authority, even if it is to be exercised in a narrow sphere. The significant characteristic of the shepherd is his selfless care and sacrificial love for the sheep. Anyone who enters office with the desire for pre-eminence has got the whole point of view upside down. Jesus said to his ambitious disciples, “You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But is shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44).

One of the interesting phrases in this passage is the phrase “petty tyrants over those allotted to your care.” This phrase that has been translated “those allotted” is curious in Greek; it is ton kleron, the genitive plural of kleros that is a word of extraordinary interest.

It begins by meaning dice or lot. It is used this way in Matthew 27:35 telling how the soldiers beneath the Cross were throwing dice to see who should possess the seamless robe of Jesus.

Second, it means an office gained or assigned by lot. It is the word used in Acts 1:26 telling how the disciples cast lots to see who should inherit the office of Judas.

It then comes to mean an inheritance allotted to someone, as used in Colossians 1:12 for the inheritance of the saints.

In classical Greek, it very often means a public allotment or an estate of land. The civic authorities distributed These allotments to the citizens, and very often the distribution was made by drawing lots for the various pieces of land available for distribution.

Even if we go no further than this, it would mean that the office of eldership and, indeed, any piece of service offered to us is never earned by any merit of our own but always allotted to us by God. It is never something that we have deserved but always something given to us by the grace of God.

What an idea. What a condemnation. It is our task to show to people God’s forbearance, his forgiveness, his seeking love, his illimitable service. God has allotted to us a task, and we must do it as he would do it. That is the supreme ideal of service in the Christian Church.

One of the lovely things about this passage is Peter’s attitude throughout it. He begins by taking his place beside those to whom he speaks. “Your fellow-elder” he calls himself. He does not separate himself from them but comes to share the Christian problems and the Christian experience with them. But there is one difference; he has memories of Jesus and these memories of his color this entire passage.

Peter describes himself as a witness to the sufferings of Christ. Although we may think that since Peter denied Christ he was not, in fact, a witness to his sufferings but he followed Jesus into the courtyard of the High Priest’s house and it was there that, in a time of weakness, he denied the Master. After the trial was over, and they were leaving Jesus out, we come to see one of the saddest verses in all of Scripture: “And the Lord turned and looked at Peter… and Peter went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22L61-62). In the one look, Peter saw the suffering of the heart of a leader whose follower had failed him in the hour of his bitterest need. Peter is the witness of the suffering that comes to Christ when we deny him, and that is why he was so eager that his people might be staunch in loyalty and faithful in service.

He describes himself as a sharer in the glory that is going to be revealed. This statement looks back and forwards at the same time. Peter had a glimpse of that glory during the Transfiguration. But he also knew there was glory to come, for Jesus had promised his disciples a share in his glory when he comes to sit on the throne.

There can be no doubt that when Peter speaks of shepherding the flock of God, he remembers the task that Jesus had given him when he had told him to feed his sheep (John 21:15-17). The reward of love was the appointment as a shepherd, and Peter is remembering it.

When Peter speaks of Jesus as the Chief Shepherd, many memories must have filled his mind. Jesus compared himself to the shepherd who sought at the peril of his life the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14; Luke 15:4-7). He had sent out his disciples to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:6). He was moved with pity for the crowds, for they were without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34).

Above all of this he compared himself to the Good Shepherd, who was ready to lay down his life for the sheep (John 10:1-18). The picture of Jesus as the Shepherd was a precious one, and the privilege of being a shepherd of the flock of Christ was for Peter the greatest opportunity that a servant of Christ could have.

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Joy and Judgement

Posted on September 7, 2015 by Fr. Peter

When invitations to a great feat, like a wedding feast, were sent out the time was left off of the invitation. When everything for the feast was ready, servants would be sent out to let those invited know it was time. This parable reminds us of the great feast that God prepared for us, long ago, and sent out his servants, first Moses and those with him, then the prophets, both of whom initially invited the Jews, and the third group represents the Apostles being sent out to the Gentiles. We see the shift of the invitations from the Jews, who ignored God’s call, to the Gentiles, who accepted it.

Two things need to be pointed out.

This parable has a local meaning to it. Its local sense was a driving home and an accusation against the Jews. The guests who when the time came refused to come, stand for the Jews. Ages ago they had been invited by God to be his chosen people; yet when God’s son came into the world, and they were asked to follow him, they contemptuously refused. The result of this refusal was that the invitation of God went out direct to the highways and byways; and the people in the highways and the byways stand for the sinners and the Gentiles, who never expected an invitation to the kingdom.
The parable has much to say on a wider scale.

It reminds us that the invitation of God is to a joyous feast as joyous as a wedding feast. God’s invitation to us is to joy. To think of Christianity as gloomy giving up everything that brings laughter and the sunshine and happy fellowship is to mistake its entire nature. It is to joy that the Christian is invited, and it is joy we miss if we refuse the invitation.

It reminds us of the things that make us deaf to the call of Christ are not necessarily bad in themselves. One man went to his estate; the other to his business. They did not go off on a wild carousel or an immoral adventure. They left to administer their business life. It is very easy for us to be so busy with the things of time that we neglect the things of eternity, to be so preoccupied with the things which are seen we forget the things that are unseen, to hear insistently the claims of the world that we cannot hear the soft invitation to the voice of Christ. The tragedy of this life is that it is so often the second bests that shut out the bests, which it is things that are good in themselves shut out the things that are supreme. A person can be so busy making a living that they fail to make a life; they can be so busy with the administration and the organization of life that they forget life itself.

It reminds us that the appeal of Christ is not so much to consider how we will be punished as it is to see what we will miss if we do not take his way of things. Those who did not come to the feast were punished, but the real tragedy was that they lost the joy of the wedding feast itself. If we refuse the invitation of Christ, some day our greatest pain will lie, not in the things we suffer, but in the realization of the precious things we have missed.

It reminds us that in the last analysis God’s invitation is the call of grace. Those who were gathered in the from the highways and byways has no claim on the king at all; they could never by any stretch of imagination have expected an invitation to the wedding feast, still less could they have ever deserved it. It came to them from nothing other than the wide-armed, open-hearted, generous hospitality of the king. It was grace that offered the invitation and grace that gathered them in.

Don’t be like those who refused the invitation because we are too busy, accept the invitation with grace and enter into the feast of joy with joy.

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Church as a Reflection of the Community

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Fr. Peter

When churches were being built in America they were often built in communities by people who live in those communities. What happens when the church no longer reflects the community?

Ron Edmondson asks this question in a recent article on the website Ministry Matters. In the article he lays out three options, and he stresses the fact that these are only his opinions but I think they are good ones.

Become like the community
Leave the community
Slowly die in the community

There is a lot of great information in the article and I suggest giving it a read.

When Your Church no Longer Reflects Your Community

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Ken Burns Civil War

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Fr. Peter

The documentary film, Civil War by Ken Burns, was my first real experience with the Civil War and is probably the reason I am as interested in this period of American history.

Originally produced in 1990 it aired to 40 million viewers on PBS and was honored with more than 40 awards. The film uses more than 16,000 pictures, paintings, and newspaper clippings as a backdrop to tell the story of America’s bloodiest war. The film was remastered in 2012 but remained in standard definition and in 2015 it was remastered again in high definition digital and will air starting on September 7th.

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What religious freedom isn’t

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Fr. Peter

The idea of religious freedom is a bedrock of the American experience but has been used by both sides in a way that I do not think it was intended. America, whether we like it or not, is a pluralistic society and finding the balance between the rights of one religion, while not infringing on others is perilous at best.

The editors of New Century have penned a piece about this topic and I think it is spot on.

These days social conservatives are all about religious freedom. As the wider culture has tacked left, the right has shifted to a rhetoric of conscientious objection. The free exercise of religion, once championed most prominently by minority faiths and their liberal defenders, has become a prime conservative talking point.

While some liberals are broadly dismissive of such arguments, we Century editors are not. Religious freedom is a bedrock of American pluralism and its fertile religious soil. When religious rights conflict with others, such as the right of LGBTQ people not to face discrimination, finding a solution will not be easy. Competing rights must be balanced, which requires that we seek creative compromise. (See this issue’s news story.)

Yet some advocates of religious freedom seem to have something in mind besides free exercise for all. For example, some Christians trumpet religious freedom but seem uninterested in the rights of Muslims near Dallas who face fierce opposition to their plan to build a religious cemetery or in the rights of Apaches in Arizona who are fighting for a sacred site threatened by mining interests. When Christians decline to defend such groups, they betray their selective dedication to the religious freedom cause.

Read the Rest

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Faith Without Works is Dead

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Fr. Peter

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

Martin Luther was not a fan of the Letter of St. James mostly for the reason that it sort of took the wind out of the sails of his argument that we did not need works for salvation. I love the Letter of St. James for many reasons but mostly for the exact reason Luther did not, it requires us to actually have to do something with our faith. It is simply not enough just to have faith we have to be moved to do something with it or we are doing it wrong.

In response to the question from the young man asking Jesus about salvation, Jesus told him to love God and love neighbor. We do not love our neighbor by ignoring his situation. We do not love our neighbor by blaming him for everything. We do not love our neighbor by not sacrificing the gifts that God has given to us to help him. I will point out that the last part of that passage, and the one often left out, is “as yourself.” In other words, treat others as you want to be treated. Want people to ignore you? Ignore them. Want people to step over you if you ever, God forbid, find yourself on the street? Ignore them. I will also add that we love God by loving our neighbor the two go hand in hand.

This is not to say that our worship should not be beautiful and edifying but that worship, no matter how beautiful it may be, is empty and worthless unless it send us out to love by loving our neighbor.

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The Amazing Story of Deborah Sampson

Posted on August 28, 2015 by Fr. Peter

Hunting around for something to watch on television I stumbled upon the program Mysteries at the Monuments. I like history, so the idea of finding out of the way monuments and showing their story was appealing to me. On this particular episode, there was a story about a bronze statue located in front of the public library in Sharon Massachusetts. Dedicated one of its famous residents, the figure depicts a Revolutionary War hero. What makes this sculpture unique is that it represents a woman, dressed in uniform and carrying a musket off to war. That woman was Deborah Sampson.

Deborah Sampson was born in Plympton Massachusetts in 1760. Her mother was a descendant of William Bradford, once the Governor of Massachusetts and her father was a descendant of Myles Standish, the military leader of the Pilgrims. Patriotism was in her blood from both sides of her family.

Reading about the horrors of war, the patriotic Deborah decided that she had to try and enlist. Enlistment of women into the army was prohibited so she cut her hair, bound her breasts with bandages, took on the name of her deceased brother, and enlisted in the military as Robert Shurtliff Sampson in 1782. She had no trouble, she was five feet eight inches in height, unusual height for a woman in the 1780’s. She became part of a light infantry company of the 4^th Massachusetts Regiment and was sent off with the regiment to fight.

On July 3, 1782, outside of Tarrytown New York, Deborah was wounded with two musket balls in her thigh and a large gash on her head. Knowing that if she were transferred to the hospital should be discovered, she begged her comrades to let her die rather than be sent to the hospital. They sent her anyway, and after her head was bandaged, she left the hospital. She treated the musket ball wounds herself with a penknife and a needle and thread. She was only able to remove one of the balls since the other ball was too deep.

After her recovery, in 1783, she was promoted and served as a waiter to General John Paterson. During this time of service, Deborah was stricken with malignant fever and was sent back to the hospital. Unconscious when she arrived the treated physician, Dr. Barnabas Binney. While the doctor was examining her, he noticed the bandages around her chest. Assuming it was from some other wound; he removed them and was taken by surprise by what the bandages were hiding. Knowing that she would be discharged immediately, the doctor did not betray her and took her to his home where his wife and daughters nursed her.

In September of 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, and the war was over. Dr. Binney asked Deborah to deliver a note to General Paterson, and she thought for sure that her story would get out and she would be thrown out of the Army. This was not to be and on October 25, 1783 she was given an honorable discharge at West Point New York from General Henry Knox, given a sum of money to cover her medical costs, and sent home. She boarded a ship from New York to Providence Rhode Island and walked the rest of the way home to Massachusetts.

Deborah Married Benjamin Sampson in 1785 and had three children. The family fell on hard times and in June of 1792 Deborah petitioned the Massachusetts State Legislature for a pension for her service in the Army. In granting her a wounded soldiers pension the Massachusetts Legislature wrote that she, “exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by discharging the duties of a faithful gallant soldier, and at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex, unsuspected and unblemished.” She was given a pension of 34 pounds plus interest dating back to her time of discharge.

The family was still on hard financial times and in 1804 Paul Revere wrote to Congressman William Eustace asking him to petition Congress to grant Deborah a military pension writing, “I have been induced to enquire her situation, and character, since she quit the male habit, and soldiers uniform; for the more decent apparel of her own gender…humanity and justice obliges me to say, that every person with whom I have conversed with her, and it is not a few, speak of her as a woman with handsome talents, good morals, a dutiful wife, and an affectionate parent.” In 1805, Congress granted her a military pension of four dollars a month.

She continued her fight for the pay that was supposed to have been given her as a veteran of the war but was being withheld because she was a woman and in 1809 she petitioned Congress again asking that her pension given in 1804 would be retroactive to the date of her discharge. The petition was initially denied in until 1816 when the Congress approved her request, and she was granted a full and complete army pension.

Deborah Died of Yellow Fever on April 29, 1827, at the age of 66. Deborah remembers not only for her fighting, and the fact that she was wounded and treated her wounds, but the fight that she waged the war for equal treatment not only for herself but for all veterans of the war.

I am glad I stumbled across that television program and glad was I was introduced to this heroine of the American Revolution. I took some time the other day and stopped by her final resting place to say a word of thanks and to offer a prayer. This simple patriotic woman, defying the odds and the establishment, did what she thought was right and fought for her country.

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Churches and Their History with Slavery

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Fr. Peter

Historian John Fea recently pointed out an article in the New York Time about how one Rhode Island Church is coming to grips with their past history of slavery.

We cannot gloss over our past nor can we replace it but we can, and should learn from it and provide the ability for others to do the same.

Here is a little sample from the article and link to the entire piece. It is well worth the read.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — One of the darkest chapters of Rhode Island history involved the state’s pre-eminence in the slave trade, beginning in the 1700s. More than half of the slaving voyages from the United States left from ports in Providence, Newport and Bristol — so many, and so contrary to the popular image of slavery as primarily a scourge of the South, that Rhode Island has been called “the Deep North.”

That history will soon become more prominent as the Episcopal diocese here, which was steeped in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, establishes a museum dedicated to telling that story, the first in the country to do so, according to scholars.

Many of the shipbuilders, captains and financiers of those slaving voyages were Episcopalians. The church, like many others in its day, supported slavery and profited from it even after the trans-Atlantic slave trade was outlawed and slavery had been banned in the state. Among the most notable Episcopalian slaveholders were Thomas Jefferson, who was active for some time in the church, and George Washington.

Read the Rest

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Donald Trump and the Bible

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Fr. Peter

In a recent interview on the Bloomburg Networks “With All Due Respect,” GOP Presidential candidate and member of the Presbyterian Church Donald Trump was asked to identify his favorite verse from the bible. He was asked this because he claims that after his own memoire, the bible is his favorite book. Now I don’t really care what religion the President of the United States adheres to but I would like to suggest a verse for The Donald to consider as his favorite in the event that he is asked this question again. Actually each of the presidential hopefuls could select this as their favorite.

Although I don’t agree with, well anything, that The Donald has to say, I appreciate the fact that he, unlike so many others, is not making religion an issue in the campaign.

“You know that those who are supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. But is shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be a slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44).

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Mindfulness and Email

Posted on August 26, 2015 by Fr. Peter

As a follow up to last week’s essay on mindfulness I thought I would share some thoughts on mindfulness in communication especially email. Email is here to stay and there is no way to avoid it. It can either control you or you can control it. Blind communication, like email and social media, can be very harmful because we are not sitting across from the person and cannot read their expressions to get the full meaning of the message at hand. If there are questions it is best to ask before assuming anything because we know what happens when you assume.

So I came across this article by Soren Gordhamer about mindfulness and email and there are four steps to a better, more relaxed you when it comes to this form of communication. I have been guilty of sending emails that probably should have waited a day and I am sure I will do it again, but I will try and keep these tips in mind.

Attend to Objective First. One of the complaints I often hear is email, and social media for that matter, suck your time away. This is true if you let it. So just like anything else we need to have a plan. Answer old email first them move on to writing new email. If you need to save email into folders that allow you go back at another time, once you have the information necessary, and then answer them. Just another world here, ignoring them will not make them go away.
Give it a Day. This is a lesson I need to learn. Giving the email a day prior to answering it will allow us to really give this some thought. Very often our gut reaction is not the best reaction. Write the email but then save it. The next day, after we have cooled down, go back and read it again. If you still think it is fine then send it. I once wrote an email to everyone in the company complaining about an issue. It was a long and rambling email and I was upset about the issue. I clicked send and immediately regretted sending it. I wanted to get it back but there was no way I could. Funny thing is, due to a fluke in the system the email actually was never sent, so in a sense I was off the hook, but I did learn a hard lesson.
No Email Will Make Us Happy. I used to constantly check email. I have it on my computer and on my phone and I was constantly refreshing to see if new messages arrived. I had become a slave to email and it was controlling me. This is not a good situation to be in. How much time did I waste constantly checking email only to be disappointed that none had arrived. Set a schedule and stick to it and you will be a much happier person.
Email is a Tool – And Only a Tool. Email is one form of communication and is instant and easy to send but it should never replace personal, as in in person, communication. A good rule of thumb is that direct, face to face communication, will often remove any doubt about what the meaning of the conversation as about. Follow up with an email just to clarify a point, but it should not replace face to face communication.

The bottom line in all of this is that email, and social media, do not give of a license to say what we want just because the other person is not right there in front of us. Mindfulness and political correctness, as I mentioned in the previous essay, it is a reminder that there is another person, created in the image and likeness of God, on the other end and that person, and their feelings, need to be respected. The Gospel tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, that is not political correctness that is doing what Jesus commanded us to do..