Super Tuesdays

I have been reading Theology for the Third Millennium: An Ecumenical View, by Hans Kung. Hans Kung is, of course, the well-known liberal Roman Catholic scholar who has frequently caught the ire of the Roman Catholic leadership, particularly the Pope Benedictus XVI.

He was stripped of is RCC teaching duties in 1979 but was not excommunicated. He remains a priest has never advanced through the Roman Catholic Church. "Long time, no See," it appears.

His books are quite good and has been suggested reading material in various Systematic Theology classes at SBC seminaries. Which ones I won't say. It was through these classes that I was introduced to Hans Kung and the other great Roman Catholic scholar, Hans Urs von Balthasar. I guess you could say that my theology professor did not have a Hans-off approach to teaching.

While he is a prolific writer and professor, Kung's speciality is ecumenicalism. I know that David Bosch cites him in his magnum opus, Transforming Mission.

Now ecumenicalism basically began in the early 1900s with the goal of removing denominational boundaries and bringing about structural and (in some cases) doctrinal unity among the various Christian churches through dialogue and cooperation. Various Christian groups have various opinions of ecumenicalism from whole-hearted support to great disdane. I find myself somewhat in the middle (no surprise). While I would never disregard ecumenicalism (I would like to think that there should be some love and ministerial cooperation among Christ's body) I also would never want a structurally and doctrinally unified. I could spend all day telling you what would be wrong with that. However, I'll give you just one: there appears to be no common feature among all the denominations of American Christianity.

Now I have had some experience working with the various Christian groups across the country. I have worked with Roman Catholic Churches to Pentecostal Churches to United Congregationalists. Yes, across the spectrum of American Christianity there is really nothing in common among the various church bodies. There are many structural and doctrinal differences in all the church groups. Some of them do not even believe in the existence of God! There really appears to be no common thread that could unite the various denominations and subcultures of Christianity for whatever purpose.

However, I think I may have come upon a common factor that is universal among all Christian churches.

It appears that the only common denominator among Christian groups is that all the churches (regardless of theological structure, doctrine, or tradition) have their staff meetings on Tuesday.

Yes, every church and every denomination from Catholic to Protestant, from liberal to conservative, from traditional to contemporary have their staff meetings on Tuesday.

Why is this?

I'm bored and so I will not give the obvious practical reason but instead give some of my theories:

1) It could be that this is the church staff's way of honoring Shrove Tuesday each week. A lot of staff penitence goes on ... Uh, doubtful.

2) It could be that the church staff is actually celebrating Fat Tuesday each week at their staff meetings ... Check and see if the secretaries are wearing beads.

3) Perhaps this is the time of the week when the church staff counts Sunday's offering, i.e., Black Tuesday.

4) Perhaps it is because Tuesday is the usual day for elections in the United States ... The staff probably gets together to vote on which staff member gets the blame for that week's church problems ... probably always the youth director.

5) In the Greek world, Tuesday (the day of the week of the Fall of Constantinople) is considered an unlucky day. Perhaps all the denominations (Catholic and Protestant) are praying against the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church is praying against us.

6) The word "Tuesday" is derived from Tyr or Tiw, the Norse God of War. When the Germanic Angles and Saxon's invaded England in the 500's they suplanted a culture that had been heavily influenced by Rome for several hundred years. The day, Tuesday, had already been named for the Roman God of War, Martius (notice in French, Italian, and Spanish - the word for Tuesday is still derivative of the Roman God - Mardi, Martedi and Martes - respectively). When the Germanic tribes conquered England, they laid their own lexicon over that of the Roman's so that the Norse God of War now supplanted the Roman God of War (after all the Norse God was obviously more potent). Thus they called the day of the God of War tiwesdaeg. ... Perhaps this then is the day when the church staff members calculate how to ask for raises.

7) No, I think it is because of the the popular rhyme, "Tuesday's child is full of grace".

Yes, Tuesday's staff is full of grace and so is their meeting. So if there is ever one Christian tradition that will unite the various denominations together under one united force, I believe, Dr. Kung, that it will be Tuesday staff meetings.