An article from the Cathedral Times
by the Very Reverend
Samuel G. Candler,
Dean of the Cathedral of St.
Philip
Perhaps you have heard me, and others at the Cathedral of St.
Philip, speak about the amazing sense of community that exists here. It
is "community" that sparks the amazing energy of this place. It is
"community" that invites and sustains new members here. It is
"community" that draws older members back to our life.
However, when I say "community," I mean something
more than what people might think ordinarily. Our community is something
far more than just the local area where we live"”like our neighborhood
or something. Instead, "community" at the Cathedral of St. Philip means
both intimate community and awe-inspiring community. We are both
immanent (meaning near) and transcendent.
Let me use
a particular verse from the Bible to explain. In my major Bible studies
this Fall, we have been studying the Book of Exodus; in that book is
told the great story of the very formation of God's people. It was the
Exodus that truly formed and identified the Hebrew people; as they left
the empire and imperialism of this world, they became free"”yes"”but they
also wandered into a new sense of identity and community. They were
formed and structured.
At Exodus 6:2-3, we read that
"God also spoke to Moses and said to him: "˜I am the LORD. I appeared to
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty [El Shaddai] but by my name
"˜The LORD' [YHWH] I did not make myself known to them." In those two
verses, we see the combination of both a transcendent and an immanent
God.
Most of us remember the story of Moses seeing
the burning bush and asking for the name of God in that mystical
incident. The response of God is certain, but also elusive; God says "I
am who I am," or, at least, that is how the four letters YHWH [Yahweh]
are usually translated. In whatever way we might translate them ("I am
becoming who I am becoming" is also acceptable), those letters reveal a
transcendent God, one who is way-way-way above humanity. Even God's name
cannot be easily understood; God's ways are above our ways. It is that
transcendent God who reveals himself to Moses in such a way that Moses
is truly inspired; Moses knows he has received something from beyond
himself, and from beyond anyone else.
However, in
Exodus 6:2-3, that same transcendent God says that he is the same God as
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In other words, this transcendent
God is also the familiar God, the one known to our ancestors and
friends. This transcendent God is also the immanent God, the nearby,
close, God.
The community that we know here at the
Cathedral of St. Philip, and at any healthy Christian Church, is the
community that is inspired by both transcendence and immanence. In order
to have true Christian community, we have to experience something from
above, from outside us, from the Holy. We hope that is what our worship
and prayer provide. But that experience has also to be correlated with
the familiar, with our family and friends. That, too, is what we know at
the Cathedral of St. Philip; we experience the same God as our
ancestors, and our family members, and our friends. That is the
immanent, nearby, God.
It is true Christian community
that I love here at the Cathedral of St. Philip. We touch the
transcendent "”the fire that burns but does not consume; but we also
touch the immanent"”the flesh who are friends and strangers, and through
whom God loves and cares for us. This is the community that no other
earthly organization can imitate. It is why I go to church. I need the
transcendent and nearby. I need the holy and the familiar; when they are
the same, I am in heaven!
The Very Reverend Sam Candler