Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi

8 Sept 2013 - 16^th Sunday After Pentecost

Christian Hawley

Jeremiah 18:1-11

Philemon 1-21

Luke 14:25-33

The word moral is getting thrown around quite a bit these days. One minute we hear how we have a moral responsibility to the innocent children of Syria, and in the next minute we hear how we have a moral responsibility to the overtasked men and women of our military.

Many of these moral claims are coming from the government, the media, the university, and the consumer-industrial complex, but what does our faith tell us about making moral decisions?

As Episcopalians, I think our faith tells us at least two things about morals, the first is wonderfully Anglican, that how we worship is how we should live, and the second is perfectly Pauline, that we should practice our faith in every aspect of our life, large and small.

We Episcopalians have this fantastic saying lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi, which roughly translates to “How we worship, so we believe, so we live.” I use this clever little phrase all the time when talking with other denominations. Methodists have the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, and Presbyterians have their Westminster Catechism, but we Episcopalians basically have the Book of Common Prayer. Our theology, our doctrine, and yes, our morals grow out of our liturgy. How we worship indicates what we believe and how we live our lives. So let's take a look again at our bulletins and see what moral insights we can mine from our liturgy.

We begin with singing and blessing God. This opening habit of praise helps us recognize that God's will is at the center of our lives and that personal or national or even human concerns are all secondary to the needs of the kingdom of God. The alpha and omega of our moral system resides with the Holy Trinity.

Moving on, we spend time with the Word of God. As Karl Barth pointed out, the word of God is not some leather bound collection of scriptures. The scriptures only become the Word of God when they are read in the presence of prayer, the Holy Spirit, and Christ's gathered community. In making any moral decision we engage the Bible, the Spirit, and our Christian brothers and sisters.

The Prayers of the People follow the scriptures, and they remind of us that our faith directs our ethics. Yes we have a responsibility to participate in God's Kingdom, but the world does not hinge our actions alone. As the ladies of the lectionary group reminded me, when I put the Syria issue before them, our first and best response is to find our knees, bow our heads, and pray for all those involved - victims and aggressors alike. Which brings us to confession and absolution.

Confession keeps us humble. Every week we recognize our own sins and our own complicity in evil. By acknowledging the log in our own eye on a regular basis, we condition ourselves to be more compassionate in dealing with spec in our neighbor's eye.

And then there's absolution, where we practice forgiveness. While love is the most important virtue in our moral formation, I think forgiveness is the most crucial and the most challenging part of our Christian morality. Our faith asks us to forgive others and to forgive ourselves, both of which are hard moral mandates that would be impossible without grace. If it wasn't for Christ, I don't think I could have forgiven myself for decisions I made as a wartime military officer. Likewise, if it wasn't for Christ, I wouldn't be headed back up to a maximum security prison next month. On my last trip to the Northeast Correctional Complex, I prayed for forgiveness with a white supremacist, a murderer, and a pedophile. I couldn't have even thought about doing that on my own, but through Christ and with the help of the Spirit, we are able to practice a reconciliation and peace beyond our own limits.

Finally, we come to the Eucharist and our moral foundation of love. During Holy Communion we remember the love of Christ, how he didn't sit idly by as the evils of the world assaulted the marginalized and innocent, how he resisted evil by speaking truth to power and offering up his own body in nonlethal resistance, how he asked for forgiveness for his executioners and the criminals surrounding him, and how his love was not defeated by death. In the Eucharist, we participate in that life, death, and resurrection; we join ourselves to Christ, and we practice the virtue of love.

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, Lex Vivendi. How we worship, so we believe, so we live.

So if Christ and our worship of God give us the substance of our morality, then Paul gives us our method, and it's pretty straight forward – practice, practice, practice. If we want to make good decisions in the big parts of our life then we prepare by making good decisions in lots of our little situations.¹ Take another look at Paul's ethical appeal to Philemon.

The letter of Philemon has been controversial in generations past, because it deals with the big moral problem of slavery. Confederate clergy once appealed to Philemon as a Biblical example condoning the slave trade because Paul sent a runaway slave, Onesimus, back to his owner, Philemon. But Paul does not conduct his ethical discussion with Philemon around the huge issues of institutional slavery or Christian freedom. Instead Paul appeals to Philemon's Christian character as ingrained by all the little moral decisions he made in the past. Listen to verses 4-9 again,

“4 When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God ⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith towards the Lord Jesus. ⁶I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. ⁷I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother. 8 For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, ⁹yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love”

Notice how Paul reminds Philemon of his pattern of Christ-like decisions involving the saints, and notice how he encourages Philemon to continue to make decisions in accordance with these habits of love. Since Philemon has been formed in the virtue of love in these other circumstances, Paul appeals to this character trait to make the right decision in the tough situation of treating Onesimus as a Christian brother and not as a slave.

We American Christians are a lot like Philemon. We wield a great amount of power, and how we use our power is determined by our moral formation. In order for us to make the right decisions in large issues like Syria, we must first practice making good decisions in all the daily parts of our lives.

We can practice putting God first by literally putting God first and starting our days with Morning Prayer. It is a blessing of unmeasured value to be in a church that offers the daily office, and one that I am truly thankful for.

Or we can spend time in community with God's word by joining a Bible study, the Daughters of the King, the Brotherhood of St Andrew, or drinking beer with Fr Brett.

We can practice prayer on Monday mornings in the Pilates and Prayer class, although I must admit my prayer is mostly limited to “Please God make Cathy stop.” Or we can practice some centering prayer on Thursday afternoons with Fr Rob, where my prayer is more like, “Please God keep the peaceful silence coming.”

And finally we can practice forgiveness and love in just about every activity we undertake here at the church of the Ascension, from the healing Eucharist on Wednesdays, to an afternoon with FISH, to an evening with Family Promise.

That's my plug for Rally Day. So let's get on with the creed and a little lex credendi, before we check out some ministries and practice some lex vivendi. And if you want to talk more about Syria, please come and see me, as it is my honor to walk with you and with Christ through all the joys and the struggles of this earthly life.

1The field of Virtue Ethics underpins this Pauline part of the sermon. Especially influential to this section is the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Stanley Hauerwas.