The Rev. Rob CourtneyFr. Rob is the rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church & School Earlier this week I ran into a coworker at the copy machine and we exchanged New Year's and Christmas greetings. She was telling me about her family's practice of gift giving, and how they continue exchanging small, meaningful gifts throughout the season, leading to a 12th night celebration on Epiphany. Before I could stop myself I blurted out, "Actually, 12th night is on Thursday." Great I thought to myself, now you're mansplaining about Christmas, Rob. Shut up! It was already done, and we were off to the races discussing this all important issue. She, like many people in these parts, celebrates Jan. 6, The Epiphany, as "Twelfth Night," and the end of the Christmas season. Maybe you do this, too. But, you've been lied to . . . sort of. The twelfth day of Christmas is Jan. 5, making the evening of Jan. 5 the twelfth night. For reals! Count the days from Christmas Day to today . . . I'll wait . . . . See?! Twelfth Night, for South Louisianans, is also the day to celebrate the beginning of Carnival Season, as you well know. And many people do celebrate Twelfth Night on the 6th. This, of course, is not a hill any of us need to die on, including me. There is debate about this, and you can read a little more about why here. It all comes down to whether you start counting the first day of the season as Christmas Day or on Dec. 26. In the Anglican tradition we count Dec. 25 as day one. But wait . . . there's more! Yes, Epiphany commemorates the arrival of the Magi to visit the Holy Family. Yes, that's still part of the Christmas story. Technically, though, Epiphany is its own day and it's not part of the Christmas season. It's followed by the Season after the Epiphany. But wait! There's more! The day after Epiphany, Jan. 7, is actually Christmas Day for many Orthodox Christians! That has to do with differences in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. You can read more about that here. Our Greek Orthodox neighbors follow a revised version of the Julian calendar, so they share Christmas celebrations with us Western Christians. But our Russian Orthodox neighbors, for example, celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7. What does all this mean? It means that if you still have your Christmas tree up today, you can now take it down without shame or fear. Christmas is finally over--at least for many of us. Or, if you just love having those decorations up, you can leave them so you can keep observing Christmas with those Orthodox neighbors. And here's the really crazy thing. Some Christians actually keep Christmas until Feb. 2! Yep. Feb. 2 is the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple (see Luke 2:22-38). The Presentation is also known as Candlemas (the candle mass), and is a traditional time for blessing candles used in worship. Why observe for so long? Well, partially it's because that feast continues commemorating the story of the Holy Family and the infant Jesus, but also count the days from Dec. 25 - Feb. 2. It's 40 days, like some other seasons you might know! The Bible and the Church love increments of 40. Mardi Gras as a spiritual discipline Yeah, you can keep Christmasing if you want. Or, just go ahead and take down those decorations, maybe leave the tree up and turn it into a Mardi Gras tree. Then, take the time to join in the life of our local community and celebrate. Celebrate the joy of a new year. Celebrate life. Celebrate our city. Whatever works for you--just consider that celebration as a sign of gratitude to God. In his classic book on spiritual practices, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster names celebration as a spiritual discipline. He quotes St. Augustine, who said, "The Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot." Foster writes, "Of all people, [Christians] should be the most free, alive, interesting. Celebration adds a note of gaiety, festivity, hilarity to our lives. After all, Jesus rejoiced so fully in life that he was accused of being a winebibber and a glutton. Many of us lead such sour lives that we cannot possibly be accused of such things" (p. 196).
Without naming Mardi Gras specifically, he goes on to recommend celebrating the feasts of our community. He writes, "In the Middle Ages there was a holiday known as the Feast of Fools. It was a time when all 'sacred cows' of the day could be safely laughed at and mocked. Minor clerics mimicked and ridiculed their superiors. Political leaders were lampooned. We can do that without the excessive debauchery [he's looking at us, New Orleans] that often accompanied those festivities, but we do need occasions when we laugh at ourselves. Instead of chafing under the social customs of our day, we might do well to find ways to laugh at them" (p. 200). All this is to say . . . CELEBRATE. Whether you're celebrating Christmas, or Twelfth Night, or Thirteenth Night as Twelfth Night, or Mardi Gras, it's good to celebrate. It's good to live joyfully, for as Foster says, "Joy makes us strong." And that's no lie.
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The Rev. Rob Courtney & Mtr. Liz Embler BeazleyFr. Rob & Mtr. Liz are clergy at St. Paul's We are screening the first season of The Chosen during this Season after the Epiphany. On Jan. 4 a group of us gathered to watch the first episode. Lots of people have been telling us about this series for a while now, and what better way to become acquainted with it than to watch as a church community.
**SPOILER WARNING** There are spoilers below, so if you'd rather avoid them until you can watch the show yourself come back later! Want to keep going? Alright then. You were warned! For our part, we both enjoyed the first episode! Some of the participants found it a little confusing, but that seems to be for a couple of reasons: 1) some of it comes down to an unfamiliarity with the gospel stories--which is okay! That's part of the reason we're watching this. We want, ultimately, for it to help direct us to the Bible. 2) First (sometimes second or third as well) episodes of TV shows can be confusing. There was one person present who has already streamed the entire series, and another who had seen the first three episodes. Both of them talked about their second viewings being more meaningful because they already knew where the story is going. I (Fr. Rob) always try to give TV shows at least 2 episodes, maybe 3, before bailing. Most TV shows need an episode or two of setup before hitting their stride. We get the feeling that's what's happening here. Overall, we really appreciated the production value. It's well-directed, and deals very appropriately with some heavy themes. Mary Magdalene is depicted as struggling with real trauma, and some of the traumatic circumstances of her life are implied without in any way being graphic, which actually increases the narrative's power. The episode depicts the city of Capernaum as a rather desperate place, and the viewer gets the feeling that this place and its people are truly in need of saving, not unlike our own modern world. One gripe we had is in the costuming and casting of the Roman soldiers. Their helmets seem like they are flopping around on the soldiers heads, and the actors all seem to have British accents. The Jewish, Middle Eastern characters seemed a little more authentic compared to the soldiers. While most of the characters themselves are biblically based, this first episode is a broad, speculative exploration of what these people may have been like. While much of what we learn about them is for dramatic effect, it does put real flesh on gospel characters who can seem flat on the page. We really liked Simon (Peter) and Andrew in particular. Mary Magdalene is also a highlight, but there is one aspect of her character that is decidedly unbiblical. Mary is portrayed as a prostitute which is nowhere in scripture. It is a tradition of the Church, but it is not biblical. All that the Bible says about her struggles is in Luke 8:2 where we learn that Jesus cast out seven demons from her. The tradition of her as a prostitute began in the 6th century when Pope Gregory the Great conflated Mary with other gospel characters. While The Chosen's portrayal of Mary has a lot to offer that is positive, it's disappointing that the writers decided to stick with this false and damaging tradition about her. They could have achieved the same effect of showing her as a woman who'd experienced great trauma in her life, a woman who was victimized, a woman who wrestled with her demons, without the false prostitution angle. During our discussion several of us noted the interesting portrayal of Nicodemus, whom we only know from the Gospel of John. We see Nicodemus as a respected teacher and leader, yet also a man struggling with some doubts and insecurities, who is searching for greater spiritual depth than his role seems to offer him. This tracks very well with the Nicodemus of the gospel whom John portrays as coming to Jesus "by night" because he doesn't want others to see him meeting with Jesus (see John 3). We were curious to see how his character will continue to develop. The characters we meet seem as desperate as the city they live in. They're all lost. They're all damaged, all searching. It's not until the end of this episode that we finally meet Jesus as he encounters Mary, calls her by name, and only then does she respond (see John 10:27). This also foreshadows John's famous resurrection scene with Mary (see John 20:16). We mentioned that some of our viewers found the show confusing at first, others responded very positively. Here is what some of them said: "It was like having scripture show up." "Surreal. Spooky. But powerful!" Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, and let's have a conversation! Next Wednesday we'll be back for episode 2. Maybe you can join us! Learn more about our Wednesdays at Church (W@tCh) program here. Hope to see you! |
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