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| The Holy Prophet Samuel Judge of Israel |
Thoughts on New Year's Eve Vigil Mass may be found at Sancta Maria Dei Genetrix (Θεοτόκος). This New Year's morning my Filipina wife again wanted to attended church services at the Weddington United Methodist Church with her niece. I am glad that I accompanied her and took notes during the sermon given by Rev. Dr. Terry Moore. The following is a summary of that sermon. Any errors are of course my own.
The title of today's post is Renovamen Nostri Testamenti which means Renewal of Our Covenant. Using the Revised Standard Version, Rev. Moore read from 1st Samuel 7:3-6:
3 Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ash′taroth from among you, and direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So Israel put away the Ba′als and the Ash′taroth, and they served the Lord only. 5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.
The idea of re-commitment and renewal of vows is not new. Married couples may renew their marriage vows, particularly for reconciliation after going through a time of grave upheaval and stress, or on special anniversary occasions. Such re-commitment forges a stronger bond of love between the spouses. In the same way New Year's day can be a time to renew our relationship with God. Typical New Year's resolutions rarely go well. Promises to diet sensibly or to exercise regularly regularly all too often fall by the wayside. Instead, what is necessary is a taking of one's inventory, a repentance in the manner suggested by John Wesley. But how do we recommit our covenant with God? Eli's sons (with whom Samuel the prophet had grown up after Hannah left him as child with Eli) were violators of the covenant with God. They were not just in the world but of the world. How then shall we be in the world but not of it?
Israel had picked up worship of the ancient Canaanite fertility gods and goddesses - Ba'al, Astheroth, Molech, etc. The Israelites' identity as children of God was almost lost. As a result of their infidelity, they had been defeated by the Philistines in 1st Samuel chapter 4 and the Ark of the Old Covenant had been stolen from them. It was not until King David in 2nd Samuel chapter 6 that the Ark was finally recovered and returned to Jerusalem. So what now was Israel to do? Samuel tells them:
If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ash′taroth from among you, and direct your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
The Message version paraphrases this as follows:
If you are truly serious about coming back to God, clean house. Get rid of the foreign gods and fertility goddesses, ground yourselves firmly in God, worship him and him alone, and he’ll save you from Philistine oppression.
Indeed, Deuteronomy 6:4-5 gives the most important commandment which Jesus repeats in Matthew 22:35-40 and Mark 12:28-34
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
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| IDF Soldier Wearing Tefillin |
What Samuel did was simple: he gathered the people together and they prayed. He poured water as a libation to the Lord (perhaps symbolizing the Baptism for the repentance of sins that was to come in the New Covenant) and the people confessed, saying, "We have sinned against the Lord."
In Exodus chapter 19, Moses leads the children of Israel out of slavery in the land of Egypt to Mount Sinai in the wilderness. In Exodus chapter 20, before continuing onward they are given the Ten Commandments. And the people promise that whatever the Lord says, they would do.
Likewise, after the wanderings in the desert and before entering the Promised Land, the Twelve Tribes of Israel renew their covenant with God in Joshua chapter 24. Verses 14 through 18 state:
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if you be unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; 18 and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land; therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
Here the children of Israel made their re-commitment. Likewise we are walking into the New Year as Christians. In the same manner we need to recommit. It is time to take an honest look at our lives.
ASIDE: This reminded me of the 4th and 10th Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous as well as the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The 4th step says, "Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves," and the 10th step says, "Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it." The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes further:
1423 It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father from whom one has strayed by sin. It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's personal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.
1424 It is called the sacrament of confession, since the disclosure or confession of sins to a priest is an essential element of this sacrament. In a profound sense it is also a "confession" - acknowledgment and praise - of the holiness of God and of his mercy toward sinful man. It is called the sacrament of forgiveness, since by the priest's sacramental absolution God grants the penitent "pardon and peace." It is called the sacrament of Reconciliation, because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: "Be reconciled to God."He who lives by God's merciful love is ready to respond to the Lord's call: "Go; first be reconciled to your brother."
Recommitting our covenant vows to God should not be something we do just once a year but any time we commit mortal sin - a sin leading to death as 1st John 5:16-17 describes. END ASIDE
John Wesley reworded a Puritan covenant to be renewed at the first of the year once we have taken an honest look at our lives in the previous year. This renewal is a a turning back, a repentance. Repent comes from the Latin word repaeniteo which means, "I regret again." The root word poena meaning punishment is apparent, and thus the word to repent implies a turning back, a change in direction, and that is the substance of the Covenant Prayer which John Wesley formulated. Rev Dr. Moore then had the Congregation sing the song, "In a Bleak Midwinter," calling emphasis to the last stanza:
What can I give him
Poor as I am
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man
I would do my part
What can I give him
Give my heart
Finally he led the congregation into a Confession of Sins and a recitation of a prayer similar to the following used in the Book of Offices of the British Methodist Church, 1936:
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen
After this there was Communion. Rev. Dr. Moore explained that this was an open communion intended for any Christian regardless of denomination. Now here comes the hard part where some well-meaning people who do truly love the Lord (at least that is what I sensed at the Weddington UMC) may get hurt feelings. It is NOT my intent to hurt feelings or to shove supremacy of one Christian denomination over another. Nevertheless, paragraph 1400 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church states the following, and I am Catholic:
Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders." It is for this reason that, for the Catholic Church, Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible. However these ecclesial communities, "when they commemorate the Lord's death and resurrection in the Holy Supper . . . profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his coming in glory."
More can be read about this in Paragraph 17 of Dominus Iesus by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (that paragraph can likewise be easily taken in the wrong way). Therefore, while the neighborliness and friendliness of these Methodists is something which Catholics would do well to emulate, and while I have great admiration and respect for Rev. Dr. Terry Moore specifically and the Weddington UMC in general, I did not receive Communion there, nor with all due respect to my very kind hosts could I. Maybe one day valid Holy Orders and a Valid Eucharist will be restored to the UMC in general so that Jesus' prayer in John 17 that we all be one will be fulfilled.
ASIDE: I wonder sometimes at certain Novus Ordo Catholic Parishes whether their Communion is valid as well - this isn't just a Methodist problem. END ASIDE
POST SCRIPT: Frankly, when the usher arrived at the pew where I was sitting and had to repeat his request for me to go up and receive, and I had to say, "No," I felt badly for him because he was just doing his job and he wouldn't have known about any of this - my apologies to him for any discomfort he may have felt.
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