Theology Update for the Week of May 21

Dear friends in Christ,

Testaments, Old and New. The Sunday class on May 21 at 10 a.m. continues its study of how the Hebrew scriptures are interpreted within the New Testament itself. In this session, we look at the way in which Psalm 22 appears in the passion narratives – that is, the stories of Jesus’ crucifixion and death – of the gospels of Matthew and Mark. The most obvious reference to the psalm is in Jesus’ cry from the cross: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” We also see, however, other ways in which the psalm influenced the early church’s understanding of the death of Jesus Christ. Looking forward, the topic for May 28 is the use of the book of Genesis in the epistles of Paul and James. Both classes meet on the fifth floor of the parish house.

The Origins of the Prayer Book Tradition. The Book of Common Prayer is arguably Anglicanism’s greatest contribution to the Christian Church. On June 4, at 10 a.m., the Rev. Dr. Kevin J. Moroney, Associate Professor of Liturgics at General Seminary, leads the Sunday class through a discussion of the background and structure of the first two editions of the Book of Common Prayer, published in 1549 and 1552. This study reveals how the theological issues of the English Reformation influenced Thomas Cranmer and others as they developed this foundational text for nearly all subsequent Anglican worship. The class meets on the fifth floor of the parish house.

Two Testaments in Two Classes. On Tuesday, May 23, and Thursday, May 25, at 6:30 p.m. in Andrew Hall, Father Spurlock offers a two-session class on the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, including the Apocrypha. This class is designed to give readers of the Bible a quick survey of the overarching narrative sweep of scripture, and an understanding of each book’s place in it. The Old Testament will be covered on Tuesday, May 23rd; the Apocrypha and New Testament on Thursday, May 25th. Because of the amount of material to cover, these classes will last more than one hour, but not more than two.

Christ the Lord ascended into heaven: O come, let us adore him. Thursday, May 25 is the Feast of the Ascension. On the fortieth day after the Resurrection, in the sight of his disciples, Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. Saint Thomas celebrates the day with a Solemn Eucharist at 5:30 p.m. In an article last year, The Long Form of Mark vs. the Short Form of Ascensiontide, theologian Douglas Farrow wrote of the importance of Christ’s bodily ascension for a proper understanding of the world, Christ’s place in it, and our place in it. In addition, he rightly points out that, without a developed understanding of the Ascension, we have an anemic understanding of the Eucharist and of Christ’s coming again in glory. In considering the grand sweep of history, we are woefully myopic if we do not place it in context with the knowledge that the “Ascension and the Parousia [Christ’s return] bracket and define the present age.”

In Scripture, the event of the Ascension is found in the “longer ending” of Mark (Mark 16:9-20), Luke 24:50-53, and Acts 1:6-11. The latter description makes Farrow’s point, when two men say to the gathered apostles, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Farrow is wrong about one thing, however, when he writes that it is not a civic holiday. Our otherwise secular Babylon, New York City, at least, gives the Ascension its most exalted of honors: alternate side parking is suspended. Happy Easter – the Lord is risen!

Yours in Christ,
Joel