Holy Envy
Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
June 26, 2019
In the Episcopal Church’s larger cycle of saint
commemoration, today is the feast of Isabel Florence Hapgood, Ecumenist and
Translator. Hapgood translated many of
the great classics of Russian literature into English, and was key in creating
good relations between the Episcopal Church and Eastern Orthodoxy. Her translations of Eastern liturgical texts,
authorized by senior Russian Orthodox leadership, have left a lasting
impression on our own liturgies, including the wording of the blessing on the
Paschal Candle during the lighting of the new fire at the Great Vigil of Easter
(“Christ Yesterday and Today, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End; all
time belongs to him”), as well as the daily use of the Phos Hilaron (“O
Gracious Light”) during Evening Prayer.
Hapgood is a glorious example of what Biblical
Scholar and Swedish Bishop Krister Stendahl called “holy envy,” a joyful curiosity
about and desire to enjoy the many blessings of religious traditions that are
not our own. Far from “boutique religion”
and cultural appropriation, holy envy means remaining firmly rooted in your
tradition while appreciating the complementary and corrective effects of
elements in other traditions.
This Saturday, one of our younger parishioners
is getting married in Lithia Park. Her intended
is a young Sufi Muslim born and raised here in Ashland. Their marriage rite is based on the Prayer
Book rite for Holy Matrimony, but includes prayers, readings, and references
from the groom’s own faith. It is a
beautiful rite, one that underscores just how much Christianity, Judaism, and
Islam have in common. I feel honored and
blessed to be part of such an expression of shared faith and hope.
This all brought to mind one of my favorite
stories from the Sufi tradition, an anecdote about a Persian woman mystic,
Rabia of Basra (died 801 CE). She was
found running through the streets carrying a pot of hot coals and a bucket of
water. When asked about this, she
replied, “I want to put out the fires of Hell,
and burn down the rewards of Paradise. They block the way to Allah. I do not
want to worship from fear of punishment or for the promise of reward, but
simply for the love of Allah.” A famous prayer of hers reads:
“O Lord, if I worship You because of Fear of Hell,
then burn me in Hell;“If I worship You because I desire Paradise,
then exclude me from Paradise;“But if I worship You for Yourself alone,
then deny me not your Eternal Beauty.”
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Tony+
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