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Thursday, February 19, 2015

Fifty Shades of Deception

Grace Episcopal Church
Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Grace Notes
19 February 2015

Fifty Shades of Deception.  That would be truth-in-advertising for the top-grossing film released last weekend, a film with sales propelled by a viewing audience 68% female.
Let’s look at a little history.  In 1958 the first contraceptive pill was released, becoming widely available by the mid-sixties.  In 1965 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the government cannot regulate contraception, including in its ruling (Griswold v. Connecticut) that, although a right to privacy is not mentioned in the Constitution, it’s in there within the overlap of other named rights.  In 1968 Pope Paul VI issued his encyclical Humanae Vitae, in which he predicted that the separation of sex from the potential for reproduction would lead to a deconstruction of human personhood.  Now, in the sixth decade of the sexual revolution, we are at a time when millions of women somehow find an expression of liberation in the story of a young woman being completely controlled, objectified, and subjugated by a powerful man with unlimited resources.
Porn has gone mainstream, and how many people even notice?  The deception is actually quite subtle; it is shaded.  The female character’s name is Anastasia Steele.  Her first name is the Greek for “of the resurrection,” and her second refers to an element strengthened in fire.  The male character is Christian Grey, the implication being that one can bring about the shaded “resurrection” of another whom he controls and forges.  The fantasy is that life without limits—Grey as all-powerful, super-rich, super-intelligent, etc.—is the definition of freedom, and that liberation is to be experienced when we discard limits.  What a cruel deception this is, one described in detail in Romans 1.18-32.
Liberation is experienced when we are freed from whatever in this world seeks to control us.  We are freed to live into the identity in which we have each been created, the image and likeness of God.  Freedom does not involve unfettered choice but the ability to choose well.  We can choose to love, rather than to merely seek pleasure.  We can choose to give, rather than to merely take or be taken.  We can choose to follow the truth, rather than to participate in deception.  We can choose the good.  We can seek beauty and find it all things, not only in the powerful, the physically attractive, those who can control their own immediate environment.
In the sixth decade of the sexual revolution, 6% of college-educated women have children out-of-wedlock.  More than half of women without advanced education now bear children without benefit of marriage.  We focus on economic inequality and yet refuse to name the reality that this inequality is driven in large part by the projection across society of behavior, a libertine lifestyle personified in Christian Grey, that builds up nothing.  This is a behavior that has always existed, and a very small number of people have been able to “get away with it” because of their economic resources and power.  But for most people trying to be Christian Grey or Anastasia Steele results in a new form of servitude in which they look to others for sustenance.  They have been told they are free, and have been restricted to a plantation run by those in power.
In the sixth decade of the sexual revolution long-standing patterns of male behavior and fantasies of power are celebrated.  Men get to behave more as many of them have always wished.  Women are told that they are liberated, when the reality is that they have been further objectified.  And society now celebrates this as progress.  Fifty shades of deception.

Grace abounds:  Please thank:
§  John Davis, Jane Hanson, and Mary Massey, and the Boland family for the coffee hours on Sunday.

A Lenten Tithe of Time:  Lent is underway!  Many people ask themselves what they are called to do or what they are called to give up in Lent.  Positive works are obviously good, but the practice of renunciation is also strengthened when it is tied into the positive.  So here is a suggestion.  For Lent, give one tenth of the time you would otherwise spend exposed to electronic media (like this blog!)  Figure out all of the time you spend in a day on your computer, on your smart phone, watching TV, etc.  Then dedicate one tenth of this time, every day, to a spiritual practice such as prayer, meditation, the study of Scripture, or just to silence (listening to God).  You might want to use the lenten devotional booklet which will be distributed in the parish prior to Ash Wednesday.  You might want to use the lessons for Morning Prayer or Evening Prayer, or come to one of the daily services in the parish.  If you are like the average American, you will have close to 45 minutes to devote to prayer, study, meditation, silence.  This could allow you to start The Bible Challenge, but whatever you do, you will be doing it because you have renounced what you were otherwise drawn to or used to, a good first step in connecting better with God.

Youth and Family Ministry:  "But the beauty of Grace is that it makes life unfair." If you subscribe to the notion that gifts should, at least eventually, come out even; you're likely to have an uncomfortable feeling about the gift of Grace that God gives to us freely, constantly, and with love.
The truth is that we cannot live up to it, and therefore by God's nature, and ours, this is an unfair transaction. In our favor! The benevolence and perfect love of God overshadows our frailty and incomprehension. It is completely undeserved on our part, yet God offers it freely, constantly, and with love.
This season of Lent that begins today is a season of reflection, repentance, and reconciliation. The onus is on us to do these things, because God has already seen us at our worst; God has already called us to turn around and turn to Him, and God is already calling us back in communion with him, back into His embrace. Perfect love, loves perfectly. The grace of God is given to us freely, constantly, and with perfect love.
The first sentence I wrote is from a song called "Be My Escape" by the band Relient K (YouTube links below). The final line of the first verse reads: "This one last bullet you mention is my one last shot at redemption, because I know to live you must give your life away." There is ambiguity in the lyric about who's life is being given. On the one hand we must offer up our life to God in His service. On the other hand "you" might also refer to Jesus, and Jesus' death is our "last shot at redemption".
Near the end of the second verse the full line reads, "And this life sentence that I'm serving,I admit that I'm every bit deserving. But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." I'll fully admit that the narrator's tone throughout the song is one of near hopelessness, and futility. But the beauty is that; because Grace is unfair, it can reach the unreachable. Jesus' ministry was a ministry lead by fishermen, not Pharisees, by lay people not clergy, by bumpkins not sophisticates. Jesus' called people who struggled mightily with understanding who had called them. If those people can still be given Grace, so can we. Grace is freely given even or especially to those who don't deserve it.

In the bridge the narrator writes that he is holding himself back, though that doesn't mean he can stop doing it, then he asks, "And all I'm asking is for You to do what You can with me" and immediately replies, "But I can't ask You to give what You already gave." Grace is constantly offered, you can repent and turn around literally any time and accept it.
"And all I was trying to do was save my own skin, but so were You" The last line of the song gets at the part where both characters (the narrator and God) are working toward the same goal, but where the narrator is desperate and struggling God's love is perfect and is ready to bear the load. Grace is offered with perfect love.
The beauty of God is that His Grace is unfairly free, unfairly constant, and comes from a love that is unfairly perfect. Thanks be to God.

Relient K - Be My Escape - MMHMM (2004)
Official Music Video: http://youtu.be/yBEoyADJ59s
Unofficial Video with Lyrics: http://youtu.be/MkHuUgJC1ok
Nick

Call for ContributionsIf you have a spiritual reflection to share, or want to point your fellow worshippers toward a resource, submit your contributions to Fr. Karl (by email) by Wednesday in the week of publication.

Music this week:  The First Sunday in Lent

Prelude   Two Chorale Preludes on Out of the depths I call to thee      Max Reger
Introit (choir)   Plainsong
           
            Antiphon: He shall call upon me, and I will hearken unto him;
                 I will deliver him, and bring him to honor;
                 With length of days will I satisfy him.
            Ps. Whoso dwelleth under the defence of the Most High
                    shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
                Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
                    as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
                    world without end.  Amen.
            Antiphon: He shall call upon me….

Tract                                       Psalm 91:1-4,11-12                                                             Plainsong
Offertory Hymn #143            “The glory of these forty days”                                      Erhalt uns, Herr
Communion Motet                 Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake                                    John Hilton (16th century)

            Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake, lay not our sins to our charge,
            But forgive that is past, and give us grace to amend our sinful lives,
            To decline from sin, and incline to virtue,
            That we may walk with an upright heart before thee, this day and evermore.  Amen.
                                                                                    …from Lydley’s Prayers, 1568
Communion Hymn  “O saving Victim, opening wide”                                                        St. Vincent
Closing Hymn #150    “Forty days and forty nights”                                                        Aus der tiefe
Postlude   Chorale Fantasia on ‘Forty days and forty nights’                             James E. Wallace  

Parish Notices

§  Vacation: Fr. Karl and Elizabeth will be taking a few days of vacation Friday, February 20th through Sunday, February 22nd

§  Welcome! We will welcome to Grace Church The Rev. Matthew S. C. Olver who is the Teaching Fellow in Liturgics at Nashotah House. Fr. Olver will preach and celebrate at both services on Sunday.

§  Adult Formation: February 22nd, Christopher Wood, our Seminarian, will facilitate a class on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession). Confession or the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is not just for Roman Catholics. Come to the adult class and learn about this vital sacrament. We will explore the biblical beginnings of confession, how making a sacramental confusion differs from the general confession we say during Mass, when we should make sacramental confession, and how to prepare for confession. If Confession is something you have done in the past, or something you feel strongly about not doing, please come to the adult education class. This will be very informative, and there will be absolutely no pressure about whether you should make an individual confession.

§  Stations of the Cross, Simple Suppers and Teaching:  Beginning on the first Friday in Lent (February 20th) we will meet each Friday at 5:30 p.m. for Stations of the Cross, followed by a simple supper and Christian formation.  Our formation program this year will be looking at our Parish Meditations for the week. Please sign up to attend on the sheets in the Narthex so the people who are providing the meal will know how much food needs to be prepared.

§  Cooking on Friday Evenings in lent: If you are interested in cooking and hosting a dinner on the Fridays during Lent, there is only Friday, March 27th open. Thank you for your willingness to serve in this manner.

§  Potluck Dinner and Compline: Bring a dish to pass and join us next Sunday, March 1st at 6:30pm, for a potluck dinner and fellowship. At 8:00pm the Schola Cantorum will sing Compline, a beautiful restful service full of candles and music.

§  Scout Appreciation "Pancake Breakfast": Sunday March 8th Please mark your calendars to stay a few minutes, after each service, to savor a down home Pancake Breakfast. Scouts will supply all the know how for the event. As an added bonus, Maple Syrup will be supplied by the Drewry Farms of Plymouth. This award winning Maple Syrup is served at all the major restaurants in the area and beyond. The Scouts will also have available Maple Syrup gift assortments.

§  Soup-d’-Do: Pizza Soup is back and available for purchase!! The single $4.00 and double $7.00 serving containers are frozen and are ready for purchase. The soups offered are Sicilian Chicken, Pizza, Bean & Ham and Vegetarian Vegetable.



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