Angela Center

Integrating: spirituality, psychology, social responsibility and the arts

What's New

Reflection for May 28 2006

Calendar

Psychotherapy /      Counseling Services

Conference Facilities

Registration

Contact our Staff

News

AC Press

HOME

What a contrast between today's 1st reading from the Book of Acts and today's 2nd and 3rd readings from the writings of John. The 1st reading from Acts sounds like a Vatican consistory, a gathering of the hierarchy to elect not a pope but a 12th apostle to fill the place (or vacant diocese?) of Judas. Scripture is consulted to justify the election; criteria are then established (the candidate had to be an associate of Jesus from the start of his career and a witness to his resurrection). Two men were found to meet those criteria, Barsabbas and Matthias. A prayer was said, votes taken and Matthias received the majority.

Now we're talking about the period immediately after Christ's Ascension and prior to Pentecost - and already the Church according to Acts has become a hierarchical institution! And that's what it remains throughout the Book of Acts, an organized community systematically planting parishes throughout the Mediterranean world. Even St. Paul, who had a pretty independent streak, claiming to be an apostle by Christ's direct choice, continually returns to Jerusalem to get the approval of the college of apostles (if not Cardinals) for his preaching and practice. Indeed, in Acts we are witnessing the growth the early Church as an organization driven by a sense of world wide mission and designed to insure that, radical though its doctrine may be, a correct (or should we say official) understanding of it be maintained.

But then (and throughout this Easter season by the way) we switch to our 2nd and 3rd readings from John and enter an altogether different environment - not global in ambition, not caught up in issues of administration. We enter into the atmosphere of a Johannine community that lives apart from the "world" and emphasizes mutual love; a community that's not caught up in philosophically abstract or mystically obscure or royal definitions of God but simply says of him: "God is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him." In John's writings the Church is seen and experienced as an organism more so than an organization, a vine whose members draw upon their Eucharistic attachment to Christ.

Of course, John's community did have its difficulties. For one thing it emphasized God's being Love so much that it insisted on God's having actually pitched his tent among us in Jesus; that in Jesus we had not simply a teacher but an electric embodiment of God's Love in the flesh. This belief in God's incarnation turned off a lot of people whose respect for God couldn't tolerate the thought of his belittling himself to go about washing people's feet. Also, to emphasize love and to think of the Church as a vine is fine and dandy, but sooner or later somebody is going to have to take charge if it hopes to survive the wear and tear of time and human contentiousness.

And so, according to biblical scholars, this simple and caring community of our 2nd and 3rd readings began to align itself more closely with the organized and mission conscious community of Peter and Paul and the Book of Acts. The result? Our New Testament embraces both communities as one, thereby insuring that the Church remember it's a vital organism and not just an organization; that while it must speak with authority to maintain its visibility and clarity, it must also and essentially present itself to the world - like Christ - as the embodiment of Love. Therein lies the whole enchilada.

-- Geoff Wood