(prayer)
You may be
familiar with the phrase 'Biblical Canon'.
Canon comes from a greek word
that means 'measuring stick' or 'rule'.
It has come to refer to a collection of books or other artistic works
that are held together by a common theme.
It is usually reserved for significant collections.
The biblical
canon is a phrase that refers to which books are included within the
Bible. The word Canon was first used by
Christian scholars to refer to scriptures, but the concept of a set collection
of sacred writings is much older - certainly, it existed in pre-Christian Judaism.
//
The Christian
Canon includes the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), which was
"Scripture" for Jesus and his disciples. For the first generations of Christians and
most certainly for the Apostle Paul and the other New Testament authors, the
Canon of the Old Testament was the Greek language translation of the Hebrew
Bible known (later) as the Septuagint.
The
traditional story is that Ptolomy II of Egypt commissioned the translation for
the benefit of greek-speaking Jews living in Alexandria, where there was an
extensive library.
Whatever the
actual origin of the Septuagint, it is known that references to it were being
made by the 2nd Century BCE. By the time
that Jesus was born, the Hebrew Bible was fairly accessible within the greek
speaking world.
//
We can easily
appreciate that, since the books of the New Testament were written in greek,
that the Septuagint was used by the writers of the various works of the
NT. In fact, it is quite obvious in some
instances that when the NT quotes passages from the OT, they are from the
Septuagint. Christian leaders of the
first few centuries after Jesus when determining the official canon of the Old
Testament used the Septuagint as their guide.
//
There was more
dispute about what should be considered the scriptures of the New
Testament. This process took centuries -
as some writings were considered canonical and others heretical. It was as early as 393CE that the current
books of the New Testament were being used by the Christian Church although it
became part of the official Catholic Canon in 1546, (The Council of Trent), the
Canon of the Church of England in 1563 (Thirty-Nine Articles), the Canon of the
Calvinist traditions in 1647 (Westminister Confession of Faith) and the Eastern
Orthodox Canon in 1672 (Synod of Jerusalem).
These Councils
didn't end the debates. Martin Luther -
for example - tried to remove the NT books of Hebrews, James, Jude and
Revelation but that never even caught on with his followers - although he moved
them to the back of his German bible translation.
//
With the
exception of the Protestant traditions, the OT Canons not only included the
proto-canon of the Hebrew Bible, but also several deutero-canonical books (that
were also in the Septuagint), most of which date from the last couple of
centuries before Jesus, but are not generally included in the Jewish
Scriptural Canon. In the Protestant Traditions, these books are
referred to as 'The Apocrypha'. Luther
said, that "although not equal to sacred Scripture, they are nevertheless useful
and good to read." Luther moved these books into an appendix at the end of
his Bible - a tradition that was later followed by the compilers of the King
James Bible.
//
It all comes
down to where we find our authority!
//
Unfortunately,
most modern publications of Protestant Bibles do not include the Apocrypha - as
is the case with the blue New Revised Standard Versions we have in the pews
here at St.David's.
But within the
Revised Common Lectionary, there are the
occasional invitations to include a reading from the Apocrypha.
//
You may have
noticed that (when Marion was reading earlier) that there was no page number on
the screen for the first reading. The book
of Sirach is a deuterocanonical (apocryphal) book. It is not part of the official protestant
canon of the OT. But it is nevertheless
useful and good to read. And so we did!
//
//
Sirach chapter
24 contains a very similar theme to the canonical book of Proverbs, chapter 8: it
speaks about "Wisdom" - personified as female - as being with God 'in
the beginning' as the first creative act of God.
·
Sirach 24:9 - Before
the ages, in the beginning, [the Most High] created me.
·
Proverbs 8:22 - The
LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts long ago.
'Lady Wisdom'
is a wonderful an ancient tradition within our faith.
I absolutely
love the image that - within the Hebrew Tradition - all of the subsequent
creative activities of God were done within the context of wisdom - that behind creation there is a wise perfection that is
hinted at in all of the ways we imperfectly relate to the world.
//
There is a
similar way of speaking that is found in greek stoic philosophy dating from
about three centuries before Jesus - it was referred to as the Logos.
Logos could be translated as ‘grounding’, ‘speech/word’, ‘reason’,
etc. The concept of ‘logos’ is much
older and was developed by philosophers like: Heraclitus and Aristotle. It was also incorporated into Plato’s
teachings on ‘forms’ first described by Socrates. Plato envisioned that everything we
experience and know is but an imperfect representation of some ‘ideal
form’. Plato’s argument was that behind
what we are able to learn from words and our ability to reason was an ideal
‘logos’ - a perfect 'reason' or 'word'.
//
Appreciating
that the early Christian church was made up of people from Jesus’ own faith
tradition (Judaism) and people
from the non-Jewish world (who were much more familiar with Greek than Hebrew
culture. [Remember: all of the NT books
were written in greek].
//
The gospel of
John begins with words that parallel both the first creation story in Genesis
and the wisdom traditions that we find in places like Proverbs and Sirach - but
he uses language that would resonate with his greek speaking audience:
1In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was
with God, and the Logos was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing
came into being. What has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
//
The fourth Gospel goes on
to say that John the Baptist was not this logos-light, but came to testify to
the true light which was coming into the world.
As we heard this morning, 10[the logos-light] was in the world, and the world came into being
through him.
You can see the parallels
between the Hebrew wisdom tradition
and how the gospel of John uses the Greek logos
tradition.
Using this poetic language,
the early church was being taught that there were some universal things about what they believed about Jesus that
transcended any of the traditions they may have grown up with. They were emerging into a 'new tradition' - a new authority -
because this word-wisdom-light became
flesh - in
Jesus of Nazareth.
//
The platonic thinkers
within the early church would see how Jesus allows the world to see the
fullness of God. “No one has seen God”, John (chapter
one, verse eighteen)
says, “it is Jesus who has made God known”.
//
The gospel reading
describes Jesus as being full of grace and truth and how this supplements what
the people have learned through the laws of Moses.
And it is from Jesus’
fullness that the people experience the constant gifts of God - ‘grace upon grace’ they text puts it.
//
On this 11th
day of Christmas, we continue to celehrate the central gift of the season: that
the human and divine worlds intersected - that the Word became flesh. That - in Jesus - God touched the human
experience in a new and unique way. From
that, the gift is that we (too) are given a new means by which we can connect
to God... through Mary's child: Jesus' life, his death, and life beyond
death. The gracious gift of Christmas is
new reminder that we are not alone.
//
Two days from
now (January 6th) is the Day of Epiphany - it always falls on the 12th day
after Christmas and marks the start of a new season of the church year. The season of Epiphany will take us right up
to the start of Lent - which, this year, begins on February 18th.
The central
theme of Epiphany is an illumination of the loving grace of God. It starts with the most familiar part of the
Matthew Christmas story: young Jesus being sought out by the wise ones and
being lavished with regal gifts. There
(again) we see wisdom and grace along side each other.
//
As we start a
new calendar year, it is a natural time to take stock of where we are in the
midst of our life: how connected to the grace and wisdom of God do we
feel? To paraphrase the old hymn: is it well with our soul?
I would hazard
a guess that most of us would appreciate a fuller experience of spirit and
purpose in our lives. I think that there
is great hope in our scripture readings today.
Wisdom is given by God as a gifted presence in the world - taking root
in God's people. Within us (at some
level) dwells the Wisdom of God, Most High.
Holy Word
taught and mentored among us for a while - and through that teaching and
inspiration we have received grace on grace.
//
Connecting to
Spirit always fall short - it is always an imperfect quest. That is not to be viewed as negative. It is simply a reality.
Having aonging
for a deeper spirituality is not a result of weakness or a lack of faith on our
part. We are made to always be able to
discover more about God, no matter where we are at a particular point on our
faith journey.
Wisdom and
Word may be eternal, but we are flesh; even the flesh that is our mind (that
enables us to learn and think and feel and seek understanding to our
experiences) has limits. Longing to know
and feel God more is a sign of a healthy faith.
//
Grace is known
to us in this: God reaches into our imperfect spirituality and finds us and
welcomes us as kin.
//
This is a time of transition. As the hymn says...
When the kings and the shepherds have found their way home, the work of Christmas is begun.
//
Grace upon grace.
This is a time of transition. As the hymn says...
When the kings and the shepherds have found their way home, the work of Christmas is begun.
//
Grace upon grace.
Thanks be to
God.
//
Let us pray:
Gracious
God, bless and keep us in your love
united. Amen.
***Offering***
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