...He believed 1) the supremacy of the Bible's authority over the Church--Hus by Jan Robitscher, a Homily

“Listen to what the Spirit is saying to

the churches”

(Rev. 3:6)

Jan Hus  (Transferred)                                                                          Jan Robitscher

            Job 22:21-30                                                                                         St. Mark’s Chapel

            Psalm 119:113-120                                                                               Berkeley, CA

            Revelation 3:1-6                                                                                    July 5, 2013

            Matthew 23:34-39

In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

If I were to ask you when the Reformation began, you might answer, “when Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses on the Wittenburg door”--and that is one good answer. But a hundred years earlier there were two figures  whose work comprised the dawn of the Reformation: John Wycliffe and John (or Jan or Jan) Hus, today’s commemoration. 

Born of poor parents in Bohemia, Hus was educated at the University of Prague where, after attaining his Master’s degree, he became a professor. While there, he read the

Jan Hus

philosophical works of John Wycliffe. This may seem surprising, though there was much contact between England and Bohemia due to the marriage of the two royal families.[1]  

But in 1401 Wycliffe’s theological works arrived in Bohemia, which were his critique of the power and dominion of the church in secular matters. These were a great influence on Hus, though he did not ever agree with Wycliffe’s most radical views, especially his denial of transubstantiation. In 1402 Hus took over the preaching at the Bethlehem Chapel (which still exists) and began preaching in Czech and became enormously popular.

But Wycliffe was best known for being the first to translate the Bible into English, which you heard in the second reading) and it was this access to the Word of God by ordinary people that was Hus’ passion.

At the same time, Church authorities were becoming more conservative and more afraid of reform, setting the stage for conflict. Add to this the Great Western Schism, which ended up dividing the Church between three rival popes. Hus supported the third of these, but railed against his sale of indulgences, for which he was promptly forbidden to preach and, eventually, excommunicated.

Although he tried to withdraw, he was pursued and finally arrested, tried before the Council of Constance and held in prison for the rest of his life. He was condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake on July 6, 1415.  It is said that he wrote hymns and died singing. That same council also had Wycliffe’s bones dug up, burned and thrown into the river Swift.

Hus’ views were remarkably ahead of his time. Much like Martin Luther and other reformers who would come after him, he believed 1) the supremacy of the Bible's authority over the Church; 2) the separate spheres of civil and churchly power; 3) the doctrine of predestination; 4) Christ is head of the church, not the pope; 5) that Communion should be served "in both kinds," that is, both the bread and the cup. (By this time the cup was commonly withheld from the people during the Mass.).

Bethlehem Chapel, Prague

Why are these early reformers, Wycliffe and Hus, important to us? I was surprised to find Jan Hus among the unofficial commemorations in the Roman Catholic devotional, Give Us This Day, a remarkable rehabilitation! All of the reformers tried to express the truth as they saw it to a church much in need of reform. None sought to separate, especially to found sects in their own name. The Church in every age must always be “recalled to the image of Christ”, as our collect states.  Sometimes this involves speaking truth to power, as both Wycliffe and Hus did. But even Pope Francis, in a position of great power,  has reframed the papacy away from the trappings of power and toward a more pastoral, bishop-centered role.

Hus Burned at Stake

We must, as the letters of our reading from Revelation say, “Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches”. “Remember what you have heard” the angel said, “obey it and repent.” And we must never take for granted our ability to hear Scripture, preaching and the Eucharist in our own language.  Thanks be to God for those who paved the way by their work and suffering and death, especially Jan Hus who we remember today.

Revelation 3

Wycliffe Bible (WYC)

3 And to the angel of the church of Sardis write thou, These things saith he, that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars. I know thy works, for thou hast a name, that thou livest, and thou art dead.

2 Be thou waking, and confirm thou other things, that were to dying [and confirm other things, that were to die]; for I find not thy works full before my God.

3 Therefore have thou in mind, how thou receivedest, and heardest; and keep, and do penance. Therefore if thou wake not, I shall come as a night thief to thee [Therefore if thou shalt not wake, I shall come to thee as a night thief], and thou shalt not know in what hour I shall come to thee.

4 But thou hast a few names in Sardis, which have not defouled their clothes; and they shall walk with me in white clothes, for they be worthy.

5 He that overcometh, shall be clothed thus with white clothes; and I shall not do away his name from the book of life [and I shall not do away his name of the book of life], and I shall acknowledge his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6 He that hath ears, hear he, what the Spirit saith to the churches.

---

[1] www.ritchies.net/p3wk9.htm

'We are in the middle days of Advent,' so a Hymn sings says Jan Robitscher

The date of Christmas was set around 380, and Christians prepare in Advent ('Bear Fruit that befits repentance'.,. so says Luke 3:8)

Now you may well ask, what is all this stuff about repentance doing  here? After all, we are in Advent, not Lent. True, but here a little history might help. While the date of Christmas was set around 380, the season of Advent took longer to develop. It was first a season of six weeks of fasting for monks, then reduced to four weeks and, by the time of Pope Gregory the Great (late 6th c.) enjoined on everyone and especially for those to be baptized on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. Later, it was called a “little Lent”.

A sermon by Jan Robitscher


 

“Bear Fruit that befits repentance.”

(Luke 3:8)

 

Year C Advent 3 (RCL)                                                                                                                                        Jan Robitscher

                    Zephaniah 3:14-20                                                                                                                           St. Mark’s Church

                    Canticle 9                                                                                                                                                                Berkeley, CA

                    Philippians 4:4-7                                                                                                                              December 16, 2012

                    Luke 3:7-18

 

In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

                                             What is the crying at Jordan?

                                             Who hears, O God, the prophecy?

                                             Dark is the season, dark our hearts

                                             and shut to mystery.

                                                                                                         (Carol Christopher Drake)

The words of Carol Christopher Drake, of our own hymn, St. Mark’s Berkeley, tell us that we are in the middle days of Advent, the days of John the Baptist.  But did  you hear that last verse of the Gospel reading? 

               “So with many other exhortations, he (John the Baptist)

               proclaimed the good news to the people.” (Luke 3:18)

 

What? Does this sound like Good News to you? And on the Sunday of Gaudete (the first word of the Latin introit, Rejoice) and rose vestments?  It is not hard to imagine John waist-deep in the Jordan yelling at those coming to be baptized,

               “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the

               wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance.” (Matt 3:7) 

 

Now you may well ask, what is all this stuff about repentance doing  here? After all, we are in Advent, not Lent. True, but here a little history might help. While the date of Christmas was set around 380, the season of Advent took longer to develop. It was first a season of six weeks of fasting for monks, then reduced to four weeks and, by the time of Pope Gregory the Great (late 6th c.) enjoined on everyone and especially for those to be baptized on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6. Later, it was called a “little Lent”. But this still begs the question, what’s with all this penance, and John’s words, “Bear fruits that befit repentance”? 

 

St Mark's, Berkeley, California

 

John the Baptist. The Eastern Church calls him John the Forerunner. This man who lived alone in the desert and ate locusts and honey was anointed by God to proclaim a disturbing message to an apathetic people: that the Kingdom of God was at hand and would soon become tangible in the person of Jesus. The world’s darkness was about to be shattered by God’s light--a light so penetrating that even the most secret sins of the heart would be exposed. So John preached a baptism of repentance--the outward sign of a converted life--and he did it with very uncomfortable words:

                              “You brood of vipers! Who told you to flee from

                              the wrath to come? Bear fruits that befit repentance,

                              and do not say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as

                              our father.’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones

                              to raise up children of Abraham...” (Luke 3: 7ff)

 

And, almost in a parallel of the Parable of the Vine and Branches in the Gospel of John, where those branches that bear no fruit are cut away, so John the Baptist cries out that 

                              “even now the axe is lying at the root of the 

                              trees; every tree therefore that does not bear

                              good fruit will be thrown into the fire and

                              burned.”  (Luke 3:9)

 

Maybe this is the way into John’s seemingly harsh words. We must abide in Christ if we are to bear any fruit, and there can be no fear or coercion in this abiding. John would never accept these as motives for receiving his baptism.  What he did accept was the person who came face to face with the sinfulness of the human condition and was willing to turn around (the literal meaning of conversion) and walk in another direction. For John knew that only in this unburdened condition could one greet Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah and Lord.

 

But what of us?  We have received an even greater baptism because Jesus, himself sanctified it and gave the Holy Spirit in its waters. Yet we find ourselves in Advent, hearing again those words of John “Bear fruits that befit repentance.”

 

In recent years Advent has become a much less penitential season. This is good. No longer is Advent a “little Lent”.  But the Church in its wisdom (or the lectionary writers in theirs) did not excise this lesson and I, for one, am grateful. For it forces us to examine just what we are preparing for in this season. Are we looking for Jesus’ comings--in the past at his birth, in the present in Word and Sacrament, in his coming again in glory? John knew this, for he stood at the crossroads of the Old Covenant and the New. And he preached that the only preparation for Jesus’ coming was to repent of the sins of the past in order to look forward with joyful anticipation to Jesus’ coming. 

 

Perhaps what we need to repent of is that we would rather look elsewhere. Do we look at the  drawings on Christmas cards, dwelling in a sentimental past without seeing the wonder of God becoming human? Or maybe we are so busy shopping that we don’t see beyond the lights and advertising. Or maybe we must admit that we live in a culture of an awful convergence of guns and violence and mental illness with no help, that has no room for the prophetic words of John or the comings of Jesus and leaves the death of the innocent children and their teachers of Newtown, CT in its wake. Or maybe we don’t see the worth of looking back--or forward--at all and we succumb to our despair.  But it does not have to be so! What are the fruits of which John speaks?

 

St John the Baptist in the Desert, Collantes Francisco

 

 

Repentance is one thing, but bearing fruits is quite another. I believe these fruits are not much different from the ones John gave in answer to the question “What then should we do?” John  said:

                              “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone

                              who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise...”

 

John’s reply makes clear that preparation for Christ’s comings involves a willingness to look beyond ourselves. Gift-giving is not only for each other under the Christmas tree, but is for those who have nothing to give back. And so we collect socks and toiletries for the homeless here in Berkeley, create Christmas stockings for the residents of Berkeley Pines and we give to others beyond our neighborhood through Episcopal Relief and Development and other charities, year-round. 

St John the Baptist baptizes, Nicolas Poussin, 1635

And reconciliation is not only for Lent. We must strive to live in community with one another, bearing with one another and practicing “holy listening”. And the guidance of the Holy Spirit is not just for Pentecost. We must earnestly pray, as a community, for the presence, comfort and guidance of the Spirit through these days of Advent and beyond, for ourselves and for each other and for our world.  

 

Only by repentance and, as the monastic vow puts it, conversion of life, can we truly make room to celebrate Christ’s comings. St. Paul’s words from the letter to the Philippians (and the introit for this day) ring true:

                              Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice.

                              Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The 

                              Lord is near... And the peace of God  which surpasses

                              all understanding will guard your hears and your minds

                              in Christ Jesus.

 

Toward the end of the 4th century, St. John Chrysostom wrote a sermon on John the Baptist. In it, he included some thoughts about the biblical figure at the crossroads which are also appropriate to the Advent season which would not enter the church calendar for another hundred years:

                              [John the Baptist] then let us emulate, and forsaking

                              luxury and drunkenness, let us go over unto the life of

                              restraint.  For this surely is the time of confession both

                              for the uninitiated and for the baptized; for the one, that

                              upon their repentance they partake of the Sacred Mysteries;

                              for the others, that having washed away their [sins] after

                              baptism, they may approach the Table with a clean 

                              conscience...”

 

Maybe John was not so much yelling at those who came receive his baptism as he was begging them to make the kind of preparation one would make to receive an honored or beloved guest. Let us do the same as we come to this Table  to receive Jesus, and so become Christ-bearers to a hurting world. Remember the humble birth of God into our humanity and clear away everything that hinders us  in anticipation of greeting him when he comes again. This is the good news John preached so that we might greet with joy the comings of our Lord.

 

Our own hymn invites us this way:

               (Sung)            Now comes the day of salvation,

                                    in joy and terror the Word is born!

                                    God gives himself into our lives;

                                    O let salvation dawn!