About Me...what is an 'evangelical-catholic?'

Elk Grove Village, IL, United States
I was born & raised in rural mid-Michigan (M-go blue!). Life & work have taken me to many different places. God has too, as I've come to learn that faith is a pilgrimage. I very much resonate with the label 'EVANGELICAL-CATHOLIC.' I was raised Baptist, but found myself drawn to the Sacraments & Liturgy of the Church. I appreciate very much the words of the Augsburg Confession: "...nothing has been received among us, in doctrine or in ceremonies, that is contrary to Scripture or to the church catholic." Evangelical-catholic is a term of self-designation used by Christians coming from a broad spectrum of theological perspectives and commitments, ranging from Lutherans, Anglicans, and various Evangelicals yearning for greater catholicity .....to faithful Roman Catholics longing for an evangelical renewal of the Church. Perhaps beneath the apparent denominational differences there lies a common...groaning of the Spirit of God, who is seeking to draw the members of Christ’s mystical body into a communal life that is both fully catholic and fully evangelical. One can always hope and pray!

Monday, March 9, 2009

Lent 2, Morning after thoughts

Well, the main thing that is still swirling around in my mind this morning from yesterday's text(s) concerns the last verses of the Genesis 17 reading, vss 14 & 16:

15 God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

We are told over and over again that the ancient culture that produced the Bible was a male-dominated patriarchal culture. And this is certainly true. And yet knowing this fact, one must be all the more struck by the detail of these two verses. In the narrative, God has just appeared to Abram and given him these wonderful covenant promises. Furthermore, Abram's name is changed to Abraham so as to further bring home this idea of "new responsibility, new relationship & new destiny" that I talked of yesterday. Great. One could even add, in a male dominated patriarchal society, "'nuff said." Yet for God in His goodness, it wasn't 'nuff said. He also turns to Sarai, and in some sense gives her equal billing as Abram. Yes, he shall be the father of nations and kings shall come from him, but she will be the mother of nations and kings shall come from her.

This is neither the first nor the last specific mention of the role of women in God's salvation covenant history. From a purely biological perspective, one could say "of course women are needed in the process," but it goes deeper than that. In this male-dominated patriarchal society of *human* origin, God breaks in and CHOOSES certain women BY NAME to have special place in his covenant purpose.

May we always see God as a God who "breaks in" to our arbitrarily established 'world,' for it is in this 'in-breaking' that His covenant purposes to reclaim a people for Himself moves forward.

cheers,


TM
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