WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Why Ash Wednesday?

The economy seems to be solid and slowly growing.  Advances in readily available technology have given us a growing variety of options for how each of us can focus our lives more and more on material things.  I remember a friend of mine telling me that for years he had not been able to park his car in their garage because of all the non-automotive clutter.

So, we are presented daily with more and more ways to satisfy our personal appetites, and even to develop new appetites.  Is there an upper limit?  For some, it is simply the limits of time and money.  For all of us, however, there remain choices to be made.  One of the choices always is to skip some particular material temptation, or not.  Whether that will be a hard-to-make choice depends on the extent of our self-control.  Putting it another way ----- when are we willing to try some self-denial?

What are "self-control" and "self-denial"?  Are they not the same thing when we are facing "temptation"?  A popular definition of both terms is:  to exercise the ability to override impulses

in favor of longer-term goals.  The heart of the problem seems always the same ----- the conflict between short-term rewards (which we seem hard-wired to greatly value) and longer-term goals  (which often seem to have no present value ----- only a future value).  A slice of just-baked apple pie placed right in front of us, in other words, is simply a lot more compelling than a long-term desire to be slim.

But our abilities for self-control and self-denial must be kept strong.  There will always be times when we need them.  We understand that one cigarette, or one more glass of wine, or just one hour of procrastination, will have no material effect in the long run.  Except that, the first exception may lead to another, and eventually we find ourselves in some place we never intended to be.

Fortunately, conscientious practice of our Christian faith could reinforce our ability for self-control and self-denial.  It helps us find the necessary balance that each of us needs in our daily lives.

We were not the only ones who needed self-control and self-denial.  Jesus was able to demonstrate and strengthen his self-control and self-denial by fasting in the desert for 40 days.  The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke describe his 40 days of fasting before the beginning of his public ministry.  During this time of fasting, Jesus endured temptation by the Devil.  Indeed, sometimes don't we feel we are being tempted by the Devil as we attempt some kind of self-denial !

But, more importantly, the attitude of Jesus during his gruesome crucifixion, is perhaps the greatest story of self-denial in human history.

Importantly, one way to control our personal appetites is by giving ourselves to the needs of others.  Giving of ourselves to the needs of others is actually another form of self-denial ----- denying ourselves of the luxury of just coasting through life.

The strengthening of our own discipline for appropriate denial of appetites and the giving of ourselves to others are so important to Christians, that long ago we adopted an annual period of reflection on the nature of Jesus Christ's self-denial sacrifice.  We call this time Lent.  We observe Lent for the six weeks leading to Easter Sunday.  This year Lent extends from Ash Wednesday on March 6, to Easter eve on April 20.

During Lent, believers prepare themselves for Easter by paring down their lives through fasting, giving up luxuries, showing penance for their sins, and "giving alms" (donating money, time and talent to charities, or taking part in charity events).   All of these actions are forms of "denial of self".

Ash Wednesday derives it's name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of worshipers as a reminder and celebration of human mortality, and as a sign of mourning for Jesus' sacrifice and our repentance to God.  Ash Wednesday is not only a day of fasting, but also a day of contemplating one's own self-centered transgressions ----- a day of repentance.  The first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday) comes the day after Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"), the last day of the "Carnival" season, famously celebrated each year in New Orleans.  The day before Ash Wednesday, therefore, in popular lore, is the last day to indulge in the vices and luxuries one has planned to give up for Lent.

Abstinence and fasting during Lent is a form of penance, but we also need to use this time to reflect on and take stock of our own spiritual lives.  Perhaps Lent is not just about "giving up things".  It may be a good time to begin practicing some new, longer-term, positive attitudes, as well as denial of some of the material values and appetites our modern secular culture makes seem so appealing.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this Spring at CPC.

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: There Are Two Ways To "Get Right" With God. One Way Works ...... The Other Way Does Not

Most of us will admit that from time to time we do or think wrong things.  We understand that God may not really approve of such behavior on our part.  How do we "get right" with God?

In the Book of Luke, Jesus offers us this helpful parable (Luke 18: 10 - 14).

          "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax

            collector.  The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank

            you that I am not like other men ---- robbers, evildoers, adulterers ---- or

            even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "

           "But the tax collector stood at a distance.  He would not even look up to

            heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "

           "I tell you that this man [the tax collector] rather than the other, went home

            justified before God.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and

            he who humbles himself will be exalted."  

In one sense, the Pharisee certainly was a good man.  When he says he gives a tenth of all he gets, that means he's generous to the poor.  When he says he doesn't commit adultery, that means he's a faithful husband.

But, let's look at the Pharisee's prayer ---- whenever we write a thank-you note to someone, aren't we thanking them for things they have done for us?  However, this Pharisee says, "God, I thank you," and that's it.  That's the last reference to God in the prayer.  This prayer is all about the Pharisee himself.  This is self-worship.  Underneath the veneer of God-centeredness is utter self-centeredness. Underneath the veneer of all that God-talk and all the God-activity and all the morality, is adoration of self.

The Pharisee's view of acting morally right and being righteous seems to have two characteristics: 

1.) His understanding of sin and virtue is completely external.  It's completely focused on behavior and the violation of, or the keeping of the rules.  It is not looking inside.  It is not looking at character.  Sin is perceived completely in terms of discrete external actions.  Notice, he doesn't say, "God, I thank you that I am getting more patient.  I'm getting to be a gentler person.  I am able to love people I used to not be able to love.  I'm able to keep my joy and peace, even when things go wrong."

 2.) The Pharisee says, "I am not like other men," implying, "I am so much better." ----- is he perhaps looking down on those 'other men'?

Now, consider the tax collector.  What can we learn about repentance from his attitude?

If you think of sin as completely external, and compare it to the external sin of others, as the Pharisee did, there is always somebody who has committed more sins than you.  You are only ever a sinner, you are never the sinner.  The Pharisee is thinking of his sin in comparative terms.

On the other hand, what the tax collector is saying is, "All I know is I am lost, and where everybody else is, does not matter."  The tax collector is not just looking at the actions he has done wrong, he is not just looking at his discrete external actions ---- his whole understanding of himself is that he is the sinner.  It is a part of the identity he was born with.  He asks for mercy.  He sees that he depends on God's radical grace, on God's unwarranted forgiveness.  He cannot cure the problem himself ---- it is beyond his own will power.

The attitude of the tax collector shows us that real repentance involves real sorrow over our sins, and over the way it grieves God.  Fake repentance is merely sorrow over the consequences of sin and the way it has grieved you.  Self-pity may appear to be repentance, but it is not.

Jesus says the tax collector went home "justified" before God.   What does Jesus mean by "justified before God"?  What is "justification"?  Scholar and Presbyterian pastor Timothy Keller says that in this parable, Jesus introduces us to a universal problem ---- the problem of our righteousness, and then Jesus gives us two figures, each of whom represents a particular solution to the problem.  One solution does not work, says Keller.  The other one does work.

The Pharisee is trying to justify himself by his good deeds and by his conscientious religious practices.  He is keeping God's rules, but in such a way (focusing on the external) that it makes him feel good about himself.  So, he can say, "Now, God, you owe me."  He is keeping God's external rules as his way of getting "right" with God.  His purpose is his own benefit, not really living for God's purposes.  He is not depending on God's radical grace.  The tax collector, on the other hand, shows by his words and actions that his commitment is not just to things he will do or not do for himself.  He is utterly depending on God's mercy. 

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage in you some personal growth this year at CPC.

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Church and State ------ How Christianity and Islam Have Handled That Relationship Is At the Root of Mid-East Politics

Central to both Christianity and Islam is the belief that God intervened in human history.  Furthermore, that God revealed himself to mankind at a specific time and place, directly and decisively, once and for all.  Does this suggest there will be harmony?  Let's take a closer look.

On the one hand, Christians believe that God, in the form of Jesus Christ, became a human being and redeemed human nature by taking it on for himself.  This was how the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was born.

On the other hand, to Muslims as well as to Jews, the notion of the Trinity seems blasphemous because it detracts from the absolute oneness of God and thus opens the door to idolatry.  Muslims believe that the word of God was communicated to a human being.  And, they believe that the chosen human being was the prophet Muhammad, who thus became the "messenger" of God.

While Muhammad is believed to have possessed some special talents, no Muslim believes that he was anything other than a man, or that he actually was the author of the Word of God (which in time was transcribed as The Koran, or Qur'an).  They believe he merely passed along the Word of God initially by reciting it to his fellow human beings. 

Thus, Muslims do not regard themselves as followers of Muhammad, but only as people who have accepted the Word of God as given to Muhammad, and surrendered themselves to God's will.  "Islam" translates as "surrender," and a Muslim is one who "surrenders."  The importance of Muhammad is that he was the human vehicle through which the Word was communicated.

On the other hand, Jesus of Nazareth was born into a community whose religion was an expression of its national independence, at a time when that national independence was in the process of being crushed by the Roman Empire.  Given the overwhelming power of the Roman Empire, a revival of the Jewish religion in its nationalistic form was bound to lead to disaster --- and it did so forty years after Jesus' death.

In his book, Faith & Power:  The Politics of Islam, Middle Eastern scholar Edward Mortimer suggests that Jesus offered a way out of this blind alley by expounding a non-political interpretation of Judaism:  "My kingdom is not of this world."  Claiming not to be the national warrior leader (Messiah) whom Jewish prophets had predicted, Jesus offered salvation only in the world to come, to be achieved by individuals through faith, hope and charity, rather than by the nation through organized  revolt.  By implication, salvation in this sense was not reserved for Jews only.  After Jesus' death, Christianity became an invitation to all who suffered under the Roman Empire to hope for a better world after death.

Yet the notion of a non-political religion was a novel one, which the Roman Empire itself could not take at face value.  The expression of allegiance the Roman Empire expected from its subjects was to acknowledge the divinity of the emperor.  Christians who refused this were persecuted, with varying degrees of intensity, until the day came  (three centuries after Jesus) when the emperor himself became a Christian.  Once that happened, Christianity was no longer non-political.  A Christian ruler was naturally expected to follow Christian precepts, to advance true Christian doctrine, and to suppress heresy.

It was more than a thousand years before a school of political thought arose suggesting that religious belief was a matter for individuals, with which the state need not concern itself.  All this time, says Edward Mortimer, Christians kept alive the notion of "the church" as something distinct from the state.  Though church and state might be composed of the same people, they had separate leadership whose roles were in theory distinct and complementary, even if in practice overlapping and often conflicted.

While for many centuries a number of European countries declared their monarch to be the head of the Christian church in that country, as countries evolved a parliamentary form of government, the power of the monarch was diminished and "the church" became less and less an agency of the state.  Even our Founding Fathers included in the U.S. Constitution wording that to this day requires the separation of church and state.

Because church and state have been moving apart over the past 200 years in many Christian societies, many people of Christian background have expected something similar to happen in the world of Islam.  But Edward Mortimer says that involves a profound misunderstanding, since in most Muslim societies there is not and never has been such a thing as a church.  Mortimer believes that the community of believers founded by Muhammad was virtually from the beginning, what we should call a state.

Therefore, it is fair to say that the conflicts today sponsored by many Muslim groups flying the flag of Islam, are simply attempts to get or retain political power.  They seem to be using dedication to their particular interpretation of the Word as sort of a smoke screen to boost their political power.  While not all Muslim groups are motivated in this way, the radical Muslim group ISIS is a fine example of how extreme the political side of Islam can become ---- they even describe the territory they now have taken and rule, as "The Caliphate Restored."

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this winter at CPC.

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WEEKLY COMMENTARY: Year 2018 Outreach by CPC's "Members In Mission Team"

Last December, WEEKLY  COMMENTARY began a two-part report on this team's activities in 2018.  Now that the team's financial year is complete, we can take a final look at their outreach in year 2018.  After a short overview, we will look briefly at some of the entities which were granted CPC funding, and what they were trying to accomplish. 

What are the team's resources?  The CPC Session gave the team a 2018 budget of $68,604.  Importantly, the team is also blessed with a long-standing endowment of more than $4 million.  However, the team has disciplined itself to spend no more than a portion of the annual income from this Mission Endowment Fund.  For 2018, they declared that limit to be $400,000.  This endowment arose from the bequest of Lena Willis, a CPC member who passed away in 1994.  She gave CPC a gift of $3 million to be used to support the Church's mission activities.  We were directed to pay particular attention to care for New Jersey's homeless.  But, through prudent funds management and a generous stock market in the intervening years, the principal value of the Fund has grown by 25%, despite our generous annual grant giving.  

Therefore, the total financial resources of the Members In Mission Team were $68,604 plus $400,000, amounting to a grand total of $468,604 for 2018.

You might be interested in the range of where the team committed these grant funds in 2018:

     ---- 22.3% ($104,500) Youth development projects 

     ---- 18.1% ($85,000) Providing temporary or permanent shelter for the homeless

     ---- 16.0% ($75,000) Pre-K education for disadvantaged children

     ---- 12.7% ($59,500) Food and simple clothing for the homeless

     ----   7.6% ($35,000) PCUSA programs for national disaster relief

     ----   7.4% ($34,000) Non-U.S. economic/social 3rd World Development

     ----   5.9% ($27,604) Presbytery's annual Per Capita Assessment

     ----   5.0% ($25,000) CPC Capital Campaign (also pledged $25,000 for each of the

                                                next four years)

    ----    3.0% ($15,000) Nadia Ayoud (our missionary in Greece assisting refugees from the 

                                                Middle East

    ----     2.0% ($8,000) Short-term personal financing to prevent homelessness

        -----------------

       100%  ($468,604)

After that "global" view of the Mission Team's 2018 work, it would be fair to ask who specifically 

received these grants, and could we say something about what the recipient will try to do with the money we have given them.  But the limited space required of WEEKLY  COMMENTARY severely limits us from us from substantial answers, so please be guided by the following:

1.)  Youth Development (22.3%)

             ---- Greater Life (Newark, N.J.) $30,000.

             ---- Restore Ministries (Elizabeth, N.J.) $25,000.

             ---- E'port Center Tutorial Program (Summit/Elizabeth) $12,000.

             ---- YMCA (Summit) $10,000.

             ---- E'port Center School Bus Replacement (Elizabeth) $10,000.  A dependable school                          bus is essential for most of E'port's youth programs, year-round.  E'port has

                        been using an unreliable 14-year old bus.

             ----  CPC Deacons Summer Camp Scholarships (Summit) $10,000.

             ----  Institute of Music For Children (Elizabeth) $5,000.

             ---- CPC Vacation Bible School (Summit) $2,500.

2.) Shelter (18.1%)

             ---- Habitat For Humanity (Summit) $30,000.

             ---- Family Promise (Union County) $25,000.

             ---- Homeless Solutions (Morristown, N.J.) $20,000.

             ---- Home First (Union County) $10,000.

3.)  Pre-K  Education For Disadvantaged Children (16%)

             ---- E'port Center (Elizabeth) $50,000.  Overhead expense of four daily classrooms for                           60 youngsters engaged 8 A.M. to 3 P.M, five days a week..

             ---- The Leaguers (Newark) $25,000. Daily 8 A.M.-3 P.M.classes for these youngsters.

4.) Food and Simple Clothing For The Homeless (12.8%)

             ---- Bridges $20,000.  Frequent sidewalk distributions (Newark, Irvington  and NYC)

             ---- E'port Center Food Bank Acct. $16,500.  Food Pantry and sidewalk distributions in

                               Elizabeth.

             ---- CPC Hands-On Mission Team $10,042.  Sidewalk distributions / Midnight Runs.

             ---- S.H.I.P. (Summit)  $7,000.  Daily cooked meals served

             ---- Community Food Bank (Hillside, N.J.) direct payment of $5,958.

5.) Disaster Relief (7.5%)

             ---- PCUSA (national) $15,000.  Calif. forest fires and Hurricane Michael.

             ---- PCUSA (national) $20,000.  General Mission - Unified Giving.

6.) Non-U.S. Economic / Social Development (7.3%)

             ---- NOMI (Southeast Asia) $20,000.  Programs to combat human trafficking.

             ---- Haiti Partners (Haiti) $10,000.  Community development and education.

             ---- Domasi Mission (Malawi) $4,000.  A secondary school for girls.

7.) Presbytery's Annual Per Capita Assessment (5.9%)

             ---- Funding support of national Presbyterian Church programs and offices  $27,604.

8.) CPC Capital Campaign (5%)

             ---- $25,000 pledged for 2018.  Will pledge $25,000 for each of the next four years.

9.) Overseas Missionaries (3%)

             ---- $15,000 contribution to the work of our Missionary Nadia Ayoud now based in                                       Greece and working with recent refugees from the Middle East.

10.) Short-Term Personal Financing To Prevent Homelessness (2.0%)

             ---- $8,000.   Sudden job loss, or a brief medical absence from paid employment,                                        might cause a family to default on mortgage payments, rent payments or                                    otherwise lose their home.  In worthy cases, Down The Block (Millburn) will                                provide short-term personal financing to prevent such homelessness.

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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal spiritual growth this Winter at CPC.

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