Julie’s News from Maryland

I saw an AP news article yesterday that summarized the recent revision in Roman Catholic teaching about limbo. The report states that “there was reason to hope that babies who die without baptism can go to heaven.” Apparently, the Pope urged further study about limbo due to the growing number of children that are dying prior to baptism.

There are so many things to say about this. I think the first thing I wonder about is how, exactly, does anyone study limbo. Do they go there and do archeological research? Do they interview unbaptized babies that had near death experiences? How does one study limbo?

Secondly, it would seem that they are not quite ready to throw out the limbo idea entirely. They say that there is “reason to have hope” for these children, which seems just shy of giving us the go ahead to believe that they are in heaven. I guess since we can’t know for sure, the best we can do is hope. Because, you know, God might not be able to “save” unbaptized babies - God can only do so much.

All sarcasm and skepticism aside, I have to admit that I didn’t actually read the report, I only read the news article. I suppose this could be a move in a new direction for Catholic theology.  This could have larger implications in relation to theologies around Original Sin and how that impacts one’s salvation (or lack thereof, as the case may be).  If unbaptized babies are no longer at risk, does that mean that we are no longer at risk either?  What does that mean for the need for baptism or why baptism is important?  It will be interesting to watch and see what happens next.

It is good to think carefully and revise our theologies occasionally. My systematic theology professor last week really challenged the ease at which I just accept the Chalcedon doctrine of the dual natures of Jesus. He pushed me to think about why I just accept that as truth, even though the concepts and terminology they use are really foreign to 21st century science and reasoning. It never ceases to amaze me how much Catholic doctrine I absorbed as a kid and just have kept in my lexicon. My professor was right, I need to think about this question in a new way. He’s offered to bring some articles with updated ideas about the nature of Jesus for me to read. I’m looking forward to reading about it and might just write my final paper for the class about it. I might end up not changing my theology at all, but at least I’ll have thought about it and considered some different ideas.  

Those familiar with my musings here might remember that I occasionally wonder about the practicality and theological significance of prayer.  What good does it really do?  For whom is it good - God?  The other for which the prayer is uttered?  Ourself?  Can we change the mind of God?  Is prayer about changing ourselves to make us more aligned with God?

But, in the wake of the terrible terrible tragedy at Virginia Tech today, all I can think to do is just pray.  Pray for those that were hurt or killed.  Pray for those that were there but got out ok.  Pray for the gunman that killed himself.  Pray for the families of the student victims.  Pray for the family of the gunman.  Pray for the police officers, fire personnel, and parametics/EMTs that responded.  Pray for the medical professionals that treated those that were hurt.  Pray for your children. Pray for your family.  Pray for yourself.  Pray.  Pray for peace. Pray for comfort. Pray for courage. Pray for mercy. Pray. 

I led the final rehearsal this evening for the Stations of the Cross mime that I’m directing at my field parish.  The performance is on Good Friday and I’ve been a bit worried about it.  We’ve had a couple of rehearsals, but until tonight we had not had the entire cast in one place at one time. Coordinating our schedules has been crazy.  We were able to all be there tonight, but then I learned that all the space where we could rehearse would be filled with classes and other activities tonight.  We decided that we would rehearse outside in the places where we’ll be performing (we are walking through the neighborhood as we do this), but it rained all day with more rain forecasted for the evening.  I arrived at church for our 8pm rehearsal anxious about how we were going to rehearse outside in the rain.  Amazingly, everything worked out just fine.  It wasn’t raining when we gathered, so we were able to walk the neighborhood.  It was too cold and wet to rehearse outside, but we were at least able to figure out our starting positions in each space.  When we returned to church we learned that there was no class in the sanctuary as we had originally thought and the choir was finishing its rehearsal, so we got to practice the performance inside the church, where we’ll be peforming some of the stations. 

The rehearsal went really well and it is really coming together.  I am beginning to have confidence that this is really going to be a powerful and moving experience for those that join us on Friday.   God is good.

Ah, it is nearing the end of the semester - papers are due, Holy Week is upon us, and finals are looming.  As a result, I’ve seen some of the most creative examples of procrastination ever.  A fellow student that is working on a budget project with me sent me an amazingly detailed financial analysis, complete with various calculations in numerous columns in a spreadsheet.  It was so obviously a homework avoidance activity that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when I saw it - as the author laughed when I pointed it out to her.  Something about studying the vague worlds of Christian ethics and the problem of evil and suffering in the world just drives our brains to want to do calculations that actually provide solid answers.  Yes, indeed, 2 + 2 still equals 4.  Thank goodness there are some reliable answers to some equations.

Another great diversion on campus today is the mystery of the shells.  A bag of clam shells was found hanging on the outside door of one of the housing buildings on campus.  No one seems to know from whence it came or where it was intended to go.  There is now much conversation in email about what kinds of shells they are and what the intended purpose for them is.

And, naturally, blogs (reading and writing) are one of the most common forms of homework avoidance.  I spent all day Friday reading and posting to avoid an ethics paper.  In fact, I’d venture to guess that if you’re reading this now chances are you are avoiding doing something else that probably needs to get done.  =) 

These examples, of course, are only the procrastination events that I’ve noticed; I’m sure there are many others.  Please, feel free to procrastinate some more and spend a few minutes sharing any particularly creative examples you’ve come across lately.

Tonight I want to start by playing a little game. I’m going to say the first line of a song and you see if you can say the next line:

Twinkle twinkle little star….

Ok, here’s another:

Wop bop a lou bop….

We all have tons of songs in our memory.  If we hear the first line of them, we know the rest.  We also know tons of  songs that are associated with particular people or characters.  When I mention Darth Vader or Jaws, can’t you just hear the theme songs for those people in your heads?  Or what about the Spongebob theme song – who knows how that starts?

Well, in Jesus’ time, they had hundreds of songs in their memory too, and some specific songs that the Jews knew were called Psalms – they’re in our bible, by the way.

We began our service tonight with another song, though you might not have recognized it as a song.  It went like this:

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

That’s what the people said as they were waving their palms while Jesus was riding into Jerusalem on the donkey.  They were saying the words of Psalm 118.  This is one of the songs that they knew and they knew that it would apply to Jesus, the king, just like we know the song for Jaws and Darth Vader.  As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, the people knew to sing this song for Jesus.

The question I’d like to ask today is what song would you sing for Jesus if you saw him today?

Would it be a country western song – a Johnny Cash tune perhaps? A pop song? A song you learned as a child in school? Something from our hymnal?  What song would you sing if you saw Jesus riding into town today?

As we look for the resurrected Jesus, alive and in our midst this week and beyond, let’s be mindful of how we would greet Jesus. 

And you know, I think we greet Jesus every day.  As we walk the grounds of the Close, as we stroll the streets of Manhattan, as we go to work or school.  Every day we meet Jesus.  How do we greet them?  What song do we sing?   Is it a song of grumpiness?  Is it a song of self-concern – a “get out of my way I’m in a hurry” song?  Or does it reflect the same song that we’d sing for the Jesus that might be riding in on a donkey?

Maybe this week, in our hearts, we can sing that song we would sing for Jesus and greet one another.

Amen.