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Yesterday was the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the apostles. Mary Magdalene is very often portrayed as a prostitute by the church at large; this is based on one account in the Gospel of Luke where Jesus drives seven demons out of her, and she is also credited as the unnamed sinful woman who washes Jesus’ feet with the costly perfume and her tears. It could only be because of her tremendous sinfulness that she fell to his feet, right? And is there anything more tremendously sinful than for a woman to be a prostitute?

Jesus drives demons out of many people, and who among us isn’t tremendously sinful (especially when we are judged by our thoughts, not just our deeds)? But only Mary Magdalene has the misfortune of being labeled a prostitute. In the gospels, prostitutes are only mentioned as one of the people that Jesus eats with; that is, Jesus eats with sinners and prostitutes. In the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John, Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection. He spoke to her and the other women and told them to go and tell the rest of his disciples (who were in hiding) that he had done just as he said he would and rose from the dead.

Mary was the apostle to the apostles – the first person that Jesus called by name upon his return. But by and large, people don’t think of Mary Magdalene as the first apostle; they remember her as the prostitute that Jesus saved. Because being the first apostle conferred upon Mary both honor and dignity, and because those are zero-sum commodities, if she had it, then someone else didn’t. The surest way to offset that honor was to claim that she was a prostitute.

But why offset her honor? Why go to the trouble of saying she was a prostitute? Her being a prostitute was never seen as something positive; it was meant to take away from her dignity, not add to it, which is how the WORLD thinks, not Jesus. I don’t believe that Jesus did anything accidentally or on the fly; he knew who the first person would be to see him when he came back from the dead, and he wanted that person to be Mary Magdalene. If she was a prostitute, then Jesus wanted to be found first by a prostitute. “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong,” (1 Corinthians 1:27).

The first reading for the Feast of Mary Magdalene comes from the book of Judith, which is in our Apocrypha. It reads very much like a novel and tells the story of the widow Judith, who charms her way into the good graces of an Assyrian general who is besieging her town. Once she has his confidence, she kills him and saves her town. As she is praying in preparation for her mission, she says, “Oh Lord, your strength does not depend on numbers, nor your might on the powerful. But you are the God of the lowly, helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, savior of those without hope. Please, please, God of my father, God of the heritage of Israel, Lord of heaven and earth, Creator of the waters, King of all your creation, hear my prayer!” (Judith 9:11-12)

Our God IS the God of the lowly, the helper of the oppressed, upholder of the weak, protector of the forsaken, and the savior of those without hope. Christ came not for the well but for the sick; he socialized with tax-collectors and prostitutes. If we are to call Mary Magdalene a prostitute, it should not be done in a way that shames her or takes away from her dignity, but rather in a way that points to her redemption through Christ. Further, if we adhere to the traditional notion of the church that she was a prostitute (traditional, not scriptural), we must remember that it was in her PAST.

We don’t remember Peter as the denier, nor Paul as the vengeful persecutor, but we remember them as the two pillars of the early church. Let us remember Mary Magdalene as the first apostle, the apostle to the apostles, as someone brave and faithful enough to visit the tomb before sunrise on Sunday morning, while the eleven other disciples were terrified to come out of hiding. Let us see Mary Magdalene with Christ’s eyes: a beloved child of God, the first to confess his resurrection, and a faithful servant.

The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector

Header image: The Conversion of Mary Magdalene by Paolo Veronese (c. 1545-1548). Oil on canvas. National Gallery, London. Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain.

Yonder is the great and wide sea, with its living creatures too many to number, creatures both small and great. And there is that Leviathan which you made for the sport of it. (Psalm 104:26-27)

My first year here, my son Tom and I were invited to go to the tidepools at Abalone Cove. I’d never been to tidepools before and didn’t know what to expect. I could not have imagined the abundance and variety of life that exists in those shallow pools of water. There were anemones, sea urchins, mussels, several different-looking octopi, teeny-tiny crabs, and hermit crabs; there were certainly other types that I didn’t see and/or can’t remember. In the air, there were terns, gulls, and pelicans, and there was a pod of dolphins out in the ocean.

I too often forget that God is a creator, indeed, is THE CREATOR of ALL things. The Psalmist wrote, “There is that Leviathan which you have made for the sport of it” (1979 Book of Common Prayer). The King James Version of the Bible says, “There is that Leviathan, that thou hast made to PLAY therein [caps added for emphasis],” while the New International Version uses the word frolic instead of play, and the New American Standard Bible says, “have fun.” God made the Leviathan for sport, for play, to frolic and have fun.

The Leviathan was a giant sea-serpent or dragon and was often equated with evil and/or the adversary. It appears four other times in the Old Testament; one other time in the Psalms, once in Isaiah, and twice in Job. Why would God make a destructive beast for fun and frolicking? Context makes all the difference. The Psalmist is writing about how God has made all things, how wonderful creation is, and how all the creatures look to God for their food and comfort. ALL of the creatures, Leviathan included. Even the big, scary dragon looks to God for its food in due season.

I like thinking of God as a creator; it makes God seem more approachable and relatable. It’s even better to think of God as making things for the fun of it—of taking joy in all that she creates. God is unfathomable; there is no understanding him. But we get a sense of her through the lens of scripture, the revelation of nature, and our relationships with one another. God takes joy in her creation.

I like to think of God making the dinosaurs, whales, and mastodons, enormous creatures that inspire fear and trembling. But it’s also cool to think of God finding ways to fill the tidepools with tiny awe-inspiring creatures. We are surrounded by God’s creation; even in the middle of the city, there are dandelions coming up through the cracks in the sidewalks, squirrels fighting over french-fries, and pigeons vying against crows and gulls for everything the squirrels miss. God made all of it, for the fun of it.

The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector
jason.shelby@stfrancispalosverdes.org

Header image:
Wikimedia Commons, “Destruction of Leviathan” by Gustav Doré. Public domain PD-US.

I am going to miss our discerner, Cara Nilsen. We both like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and art; she lived in Indiana—on purpose—for four years while in college. From the very start, our conversations were both fluid and wide-ranging, hopping from tangent to tangent until we realized how far we were from the start and how long we’d been talking. We could discuss difficult topics honestly and without fear, and she challenged several of my viewpoints respectfully but pointedly, and I grew because of it.

When she arrived at St. Francis, she seamlessly fit in from the very start. She unabashedly loves Jesus and the liturgy of the church (though the two are not mutually exclusive), and was eager to learn all that she could, from preaching to altar guild to attending vestry meetings. She gladly took on the role of teacher, co-leading a class with Shelley Reece about the Women’s Lectionary by Wilda Gafney, and helping Deacon Celeste on Sundays with the “Who is Jesus” class between services. She is an incredible student and servant, and we were blessed to have her with us.

Unfortunately, Cara and I never got around to talking about Lord of the Rings or Star Wars (though we did talk about art quite a bit). However, Cara did give me some amazing vintage Star Wars stickers that she’d received as a child (see picture above the article). These stickers have been across the country, packed and unpacked, put in storage, on a truck, unboxed, placed somewhere safe, lost, found again…and now they are mine, safe and sound in a secure location known only to me. The stickers are cool—look at the picture again if you doubt it—but her willingness to let them go after all this time is an incredible gift. That exuberant act of kindness is who Cara is. She is already a minister and pastor—as are so many people in our congregation—and she will be an amazing priest when she is ordained.

I am incredibly grateful that we had the privilege of walking with her for this part of her journey towards the priesthood. She will be missed, but I am excited to see where she goes from here, and she knows that if she ever wants to come back, there is always a place for her here at St. Francis.

The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector

Guest Reflection by Cara Kilsen

I never tire of catching that magical view of the ocean as I drive into the lower parking lot of St. Francis, as I have over the past nine months. Often, after exiting my car, I walk to the edge of the lot to linger for a few minutes looking out before walking up the steps to the church campus. It’s a gorgeous view, but I think part of the allure of looking out to sea is the sense of expansiveness and the wild unknown. Those descriptors happen to feel very apt when applied to my Discernment journey.

For any who may not know, or may not be clear on the particulars, I have been spending these last 9 months at St. Francis as part of my “Diocesan Discernment Year” (DDY). Several years ago, I started to feel a call toward a deeper ministry of some kind, possibly of the ordained variety. With the blessing of my rector and parish at St. Luke’s in Long Beach, I entered into the Discernment process. One of the steps, as set out by our governing diocese, is to be sent for a year to another parish that is “different” from one’s home parish. When it came time for that step, I was assigned here to St. Francis. It is, indeed, different at St. Francis from St. Luke’s. Some of you graciously volunteer at the Shower Program at St. Luke’s and have a sense from that of the very different communities and needs of these two churches. I am very, very grateful for the chance to reflect on my own call through the opportunity of a different lens offered by my experience here at St. Francis. The same way that looking at an artwork-in-progress from across the room can clarify important insight to an artist, looking at ministry from the vantage point of another church community has helped me to better understand what serving and loving a particular body of believers means.

I have been so deeply touched by the model of Christ-like community that I have been able to observe here. I had a few nerves about how I might fit into this church, and my experience has far exceeded my expectations. I feel absolutely blessed by the authenticity and generosity I have overwhelmingly felt at St. Francis. I can really spiral into self-doubt about my capabilities, and my time spent here has been utterly transformative in helping me to gain confidence that I may actually have something to offer in ministry, together in a loving community, and with the grace and help of our wild and expansive, and utterly loving God.

In particular, I must thank Reverend Jason for saying “yes” when the Diocese called (with very little notice!) and for being such an amazing mentor to me. His warmth and generosity, knowledge, humility, humor, and deep devotion to Christ and the Church have been a treasure to me. I also must thank my wonderful lay discernment committee: Holly Valiquette, John Bukowski, Kristen Pela, Jill Lynch, and Mark Hamilton. These individuals gave me so much of their time and hearts, coming alongside me in exploring my sense of call. Shelley Reece, Missioner of Youth and Programming, has been a rock and the best co-leader I could wish for in the weekly Women’s Lectionary Study. I also want to thank Elaine Mistele in the church office, who has always been ready to chat about my journey with warmth and curiosity. There are many others I haven’t named who have touched me deeply during my time here. To all of you, thank you!

May 24 will be my last Sunday at St. Francis, after which I’ll be back at St. Luke’s. As far as what’s next in my Discernment journey, much of it is still unknown. Seminary is hopefully on the horizon, along with Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), perhaps at a hospital. I want to remain open to wherever God may be leading my wife, Leah, and me. I know that God intends whatever it is for the good. I also know I will continue to carry with me the people of St. Francis who have become part of my heart.

Cara Nilsen
Diocesan Discerner