Equal Honor

Monday, September 7, 2009 -- Week of Proper 18, Year One
Labor Day
Elie Naud, Huguenot Witness to the Faith, 1722

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 982)
Psalms 41, 52 (morning) 44 (evening)
1 Kings 13:1-10
Philippians 1:1-11
Mark 15:40-47

We begin today Paul's delightful letter to the church in Philippi. This congregation was the first that Paul established in Macedonia (the first church in Europe). It began in the home of Lydia, a wealthy merchant, and the first convert in Philippi. We know from archeological remains that women were often leaders of worship in the Greek public rituals in the city. It would not have been strange in Philippi for a new Christian group to be led by a woman.

Philippi was a Roman colony founded on a major east-west highway. Many retired Roman soldiers and war veterans were given retirement homes there. All of the names mentioned in Paul's letter to the Philippians are Greek names.

This is a joyful and optimistic letter. We can feel Paul's affection for the congregation and his friendship for its members. He opens his letter, "Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus..." He is confident that "the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ." He speaks of his heart's longing for his friends, and he prays that their "love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight."

One of the primary themes is Paul's treatment of the important issue of honor -- status, distinctions, prestige. The Mediterranean world was largely an honor culture. In an honor culture, society is stratified into different layers, each accorded its separate status. Every person is born into his or her family's status. A good person will live according to the values of their status, and leave the family in its same place, passing on the same good name to one's descendants. One can be shamed either by dishonoring and losing one's family's status, or by pride and greed, dishonoring one's family by trying to raise one's family's status. It was regarded as disrespectful for one to raise or expand one's honor, because, it was believed, honor is a zero-based quantity -- for you to gain honor, someone must lose honor. It is shameful to intentionally participate in the dishonoring of another for your own gain. An honor culture is very stable and rigidly structured. (Many of the complexities we experience in our dealings with the Middle East and other regions stem from our misunderstanding of their motivations as people living in honor cultures.)

Paul's churches proposed something socially radical. Paul insisted that all honor belongs to Christ, and that Christians share equally in Christ's honor. The most real thing in our lives is that we will be given Christ's glory as our inheritance at the end-time.

Paul insists that the church live today in a way consistent with this end-time orientation. Do not be intimidated by the world outside, which may demean or devalue us by its own honor code. But especially, Paul says, do not allow for any divisions or distinctions among ourselves within the church. There are no status distinctions within the church, Paul insists. We are all equal before God, therefore we are all equal toward one another.

Our basic understanding therefore, is that we are to seek each others interests for the glory of God. We are each to be slaves toward one another, in imitation of Christ's servanthood. The key to harmony within the congregation is this attitude of deference in equality, grounded in identity as the inheritors of Christ's glory.

Philippians is a good letter to begin on Labor Day. With Paul's themes of service and of equal honor, he offers a lens for us to see our interdependency in our work and service. He invites us to adopt a sense of concern and compassion for our neighbors, giving equal honor and respect toward all regardless of the form of their labor. He would call us to advocacy on behalf of all who do not enjoy privilege or status because of their work, and he would call all who might be in places of privilege or status to adopt a servant's humility. We are all equal in Christ, and we are called to treat one another from the perspective of that ultimate vision.

It is a nice coincidence that this Labor Day is also our first commemoration for Elie Daud who was deeply committed to the education of slaves and Native Americans and, despite much opposition, opened a school for them in New York City.

A Collect for Labor Day
Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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A note about our new feast day:
Elie Naud (or Neau) [1661- September 7, 1722] A Huguenot passionate about
Christiany, Naud was exiled from his native France under the Edict of Nantes. He moved
to Boston, and commanded a ship. Captured by the French, he was condemned to the
galleys, and eventually incarcerated in the infamous Chateau dIf. He could have been
freed merely by conforming to Catholicism, yet refused. After twenty-two months of
imprisonment, he returned to New York City where he attended the Huguenot parish,
Saint Esprit (now part of the Episcopal Diocese of New York). Naud became a catechist
for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and conformed to the Church of
England in 1705. He worked for ecumenical cooperation among the churches of the area,
and was a missioner among slaves. He opened a school for the children of
slaves and Native Americans. He is a much-loved poet among Froncophones, and the
author of fifty-two hymns in French.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas