Bruno & Elmer
I was in the middle of typing up the other sacramental post when we got the phone call about Tess, so I did a save as draft .... didn't realize it kept the same time stamp!
Anyway, I just went to pull out my stuff from the Sacraments class I took at a local School of Theology last year to see what Father HotShot (who wrote the book) had to say about sacraments and grace, because I vaguely remembered that concept coming up. And, amazingly enough, I found a couple interesting things jotted down in my notes .....
*** Sacraments belong to/are property of the Church; minister is steward NOT owner
*** Res Tantum ~ grace; sacraments confer/offer/hand over grace (not really "give")
*** Grace is God's love, at God's initiative, is gift, unmerited; conversion; omnipresent; restores us as children of God/true self
*** Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting. (CCC1584)
So ..... how come the minister administering the sacrament isn't affected by his worthiness or not, but the individual receiving the sacrament has to prove him/herself worthy?
Wait a second .... that's right, I remember now ..... They're following the mission and ministry laid out by that little known apostle named Bruno. What, you don't remember him? Jesus' bouncer? He's that tough guy at the door, checking his list and making sure guests know the secret password ("I am the perfection of piety") before they're allowed in to dine with the boss.
Oh no, that's right .... that was the Pharisees and Sadducees I'm thinking of who had that bouncer. Jesus' bouncer was Elmer, that weeny little four-eyes, and his secret password was "I won't even consider claiming to be worthy enough to even look at the door, let alone come in. But ... could I maybe, please, you think, I mean, if it's ok with you, possibly ... come anyway?"
I wonder whatever happened to John 8:7-11 ......
Anyway, I just went to pull out my stuff from the Sacraments class I took at a local School of Theology last year to see what Father HotShot (who wrote the book) had to say about sacraments and grace, because I vaguely remembered that concept coming up. And, amazingly enough, I found a couple interesting things jotted down in my notes .....
*** Sacraments belong to/are property of the Church; minister is steward NOT owner
*** Res Tantum ~ grace; sacraments confer/offer/hand over grace (not really "give")
*** Grace is God's love, at God's initiative, is gift, unmerited; conversion; omnipresent; restores us as children of God/true self
*** Since it is ultimately Christ who acts and effects salvation through the ordained minister, the unworthiness of the latter does not prevent Christ from acting. (CCC1584)
So ..... how come the minister administering the sacrament isn't affected by his worthiness or not, but the individual receiving the sacrament has to prove him/herself worthy?
Wait a second .... that's right, I remember now ..... They're following the mission and ministry laid out by that little known apostle named Bruno. What, you don't remember him? Jesus' bouncer? He's that tough guy at the door, checking his list and making sure guests know the secret password ("I am the perfection of piety") before they're allowed in to dine with the boss.
Oh no, that's right .... that was the Pharisees and Sadducees I'm thinking of who had that bouncer. Jesus' bouncer was Elmer, that weeny little four-eyes, and his secret password was "I won't even consider claiming to be worthy enough to even look at the door, let alone come in. But ... could I maybe, please, you think, I mean, if it's ok with you, possibly ... come anyway?"
I wonder whatever happened to John 8:7-11 ......
posted by Steph Youstra at 12:16 AM
1 Comments:
I love it! Bruno the Bouncer/Apostle. Have you seen the UCC's Bouncer TV ad? It created such a furor, but really we are all guilty of creating these barriers without realizing it. Some barriers are just more visible than others.
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