Saturday, June 30, 2018

Aphorism of the Day, June 2018


Aphorism of the June 30, 2018

The religious classification of sin, sickness and death in the time of Jesus, left too many people isolated from access to a sense of health and salvation in light of the reality of sin, sickness and death.  Jesus instituted new meanings about sin, sickness and death, thereby integrating them into a new program of salvation or PROFOUND HEALTH that one could anchor faith on and so let health rather than illness, salvation rather than sin define the normalcy of one's life.

Aphorism of the June 29, 2018

Sin is the state of not fully keeping the laws and so represent a sickness of human behaviors and so in part is a sickness of the volitional organ.  Sickness is experience of mental and body disease and distress defined by one's society and one's own sense of what one believes pain to be.  Death is at least viewed as personal bodily finality in the current life.  Sin, sickness and death have come to languages of meaning in all cultures and all people with language use have tried to find ways to integrate the three into a coherence which allows for the maintenance of life, given the reality of sin, sickness and death.
Aphorism of the Day, June 28, 2018

Sin, sickness and death have come to prominently define human experience.  The witness of the life of Jesus is not so much to deny the three but to redefine the relative significance of the three based upon the promotion of an indeterminate Future whereby everything gets eschatologically verified as a script by a Writer who with dynamic futurism writes that everything had to happen in the way that it did, not to cause it to have been so in the past, but to assert the power and creativity of the Future.  What will the Future make of our Today?  And who is doing the Future rewrite of the meaning of everything and who will be around to access the meanings of everything?

Aphorism of the Day, June 27, 2018

There is a utopian assumption that hangs over the Hebrews Scriptures that change as expressed in the passage of time could be expressed without any negative occasions in human experience of time.  Aging, sickness, death and the misbehaviors called sin all seem to dominate a system in flux with competing and conflicting encounters between all entities in flux.  There is a dream that wishes for the perfect timing of everything altogether, but it is the human dilemma to be perpetually caught in the mistimings of life.  Salvation history in written forms of the writers does not so much solve the dilemma as to dance with it.


Aphorism of the Day, June 26, 2018

It seems as the Hebrew Scriptures are writings which arose to deal with the negative events of change, namely, sin, death and sickness.  In the classification system of clean and unclean, these three were labeled as "unclean" and "unintended" by a "holy=most clean" God.  Apparently the intention of God was to train the naïve Adam and Eve away from their innocence so that they could partake of the Tree of Life in the middle of the Garden.  The implication of this utopian idealism is that one could go from innocence to holiness and eternal life without the detour of sin which meant knowing good and evil in the wrong way.

Aphorism of the Day, June 25, 2018


A specific biblical trope for retroactively proclaiming Providence of the past is the wonderful, miraculous and marvelous birth stories.  In the aftermath of the fame of the hero, it was a common rhetoric to show how the greatness must have been present from the very beginning of the life of the hero; hence the wonderful birth stories.


Aphorism of the Day, June 24, 2018

The great law and all laws if they are good are based upon wisdom insights gained from probability of occurrences of certain events.  Laws and the practice of lawful behaviors confront the reality of the freedom of what might happen to anyone.  Faith is the ability to live with actuarial wisdom knowing fully that probable occurrence does not guarantee actual occurrences.  Faith is the ability to live with actual occurrences.  Perhaps the secret of having faith is that it can be fully informed by the powerful phenomenon of Hope, the sense of having a future, even when my future apparently ends at my death.  Hope provides the apparent impulse that one does not cease to be or to have been at one's death.

Aphorism of the Day, June 23, 2018

"Are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?"  The transformation of the energy of fear to the energy of faith is a major task of life.

Aphorism of the Day, June 22, 2018

The Book of Job is a wisdom story written against those who pretended to know the precise cause and effect relationship about why things happen to people in life.  Lots of people promote their formula for blessing, even sell or preach their prosperity "Gospel."  It you do this, then God will bless you in this specific way $$$$.  If things are going wrong, then you didn't do this in the right way.  There is nothing wrong with wisdom formulas based upon good actuarial wisdom in acting and planning according to probability theory, but the Plenitude includes a infinite number of things in causal relationships (because all things exist in relationship) with an infinite number of things so no one can presume to have a "final" and perfect formula for good or bad things happening to this or that person.  Bad things happen to faithful people: see Job, Jesus and Paul.  Good people learn to live with faith when things appear to go well or appear to go badly, because they believe in a Plenitude of a future eschatological verification for having faith in good times and bad times.

 Aphorism of the Day, June 21, 2018

The "Jesus sleeping in the boat" periscope is teaching story for disciples of Jesus.  The disciples wanted the best positions in the kingdom of heaven and they apparently thought that having Jesus as their friend meant they were suddenly exempt from the normal clashes of nature's systems and human program; they thought they should not be exempt from a wind storm on the lake even when as fishermen they probably had never expected that exemption.  In the story Jesus rises to calm the sea and make a point about faith being the condition of being persuaded by God on the entire continuum of human experience from birth even to beyond the grave.  If you think that there is a chance you might perish in the storm, then alas, you will be forced to play that winning card, the resurrection.  In meantime, always already, be faithful, persuaded that the Plenitude already includes everything that you can experience.

Aphorism of the Day, June 20, 2018

The preachers of prosperity who believe that wealth and having planes is verification that God has blessed them might consider what St. Paul endured:  "afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;...."  Apparently Jesus was "sleeping in the boat" of his life storms without being a snap-snap personal interventionists on his behalf whenever he wanted it.   There is a symbiotic relationship between the wealthy whom Jesus said could not easily inherit the kingdom of God and the preachers who fleece them and also the not so wealthy poor who want to be wealthy to prove that God loves and blesses them.   The preachers say wealth is God's blessing and the wealthy say,  "Amen, my wealth is justified and I must feed the ideological voice of the one who confers God's blessing on my wealth."  Having faith in the midst of having no privileged exemptions from the weal or woe that can come to anyone means living like Paul did when he said essentially that he had learned to be content in any circumstances.   The lifestyles of Jesus, Paul and St. Francis represent a different counter-prosperity to the "Fly High  Church" preachers who want millions to fly high in their expensive planes.

Aphorism of the Day, June 19, 2018

One needs to be careful not to confuse the discourse of the miraculous with the discourse of science when reading the Scriptures.  The miracles or signs are discursive ways of dealing with the conditions of freedom.  If one relies upon an interventionist mentality about "miracles" one usually forgets about the antecedent miracle that everyone wants in first place, namely, don't let anything bad happen to me in the first place.  Don't let anything bad happen to me is /would be the miracle to end all miracles.  Freedom does not work that way and so we must learn how to have faith, that is, live with hope in the midst of accepting that outcomes are "open."

Aphorism of the Day, June 18, 2018

The pericope of Jesus walking on the water and calming the storm provides some insights.  Why doesn't our "favor" with God mean that we are exempt from the threat and danger of wind storms, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes, fires and all manner of ill-timed encounter with the harmful effects of nature when we are in the wrong place at the wrong time?  It seems as though faith means learning to live with the conditions of freedom in our world rather can being granted special exemption.  The walking on the water by Jesus symbolizes the "surfing" on the conditions of freedom and "staying" on our boards until we arrive ashore.

Aphorism of the Day, June 17, 2018

For Jesus and for Paul, the kingdom which was most visible to the eyes was the Roman Empire.  What inner constitution did they need in order to see God's kingdom as the telling order of life while the Caesar pranced on the public stage of the visible?  Paul called it faith; Jesus told Nicodemus that he could not see beyond the obvious if he did not have another birth into another realm as its citizen.  

Aphorism of the Day, June 16, 2018

St. Paul's notion of faith was an understanding of having an inner constitution of persuasion such that one did not see things in a "human" way any longer.  Faith was the quality of having an "infused" sight that was perceptive beyond the sense of mere physical sight.  Such a view is instantiated in the Jesus discourse with Nicodemus as being born of the Spirit and being born again or from above and having such a "new birth" experience one understood the inner significance of things.  The parables of Jesus are presented as koan-like stories which trick the quotidian habits of seeing and require a seeing that is imbued with the eyes of another kind of wisdom.

Aphorism of the Day, June 15, 2018

St. Paul, "We walk by faith and not by sight."  What does that mean?   We pretend we are blind and like the proverbial "blind ninjas" we negotiate our existence?  The New Testament word for faith is "pistos" and this word is also used for belief.  I think that resorting to the more classical Greek usage of the word "pistos" adds fullness to the words faith and belief.  These words have almost become "boiler plate" words and in redundancy of use have lost their signifying power.  In classical Greek rhetoric, the goal was "pistos" or persuasion.  Belief or faith essentially are the actions and attitudes of life which manifest what one is persuaded about.  St. Paul states a truth; we are persuaded about and act upon things that we don't see.  We can be persuaded and act by "love" which we cannot see and yet know that it is a true and worthy motivation in our lives.  Everyone, always, already walks by the unseen production of our lives through the hidden words inside of us which both create for us what we are seeing and define and articulate our behaviors within what we think we are seeing.  The articulation of our worded products in seeing, acting, speaking, and writing express our faith or that about which we are persuaded.  We cannot help but live lives which manifest signs of what we are persuaded about.

Aphorism of the Day, June 14, 2018

The Gospels may have been initially private to their communities and not generally available.  They were written with "cryptic" messages which initiates could understand when instructed in "private."  The presentation of the parables instantiate the "privacy" of understanding the kingdom or realm of God.  Caesar pranced on the public stage of his kingdom; the realm of God had to be perceived in a completely different way in the midst of such an ostentatious public show of "being king."  How could the realm of kingdom of God be presented "underground" as the mystagogy of these growing private gatherings of Christian mystics?

Aphorism of the Day, June 13, 2018

Paul wrote, "We once knew Christ from a human point of view..."  From his conversion he believed that he came to know Christ from a spiritual or divine point of view.  Paul did not cease to be human after his conversion; he believed that he had an "enhanced" insight regarding the meaning of Christ.  And Christ became for Paul quite an expansive metaphor.  He could be "in Christ," and he could be crucified with Christ and he could lose sight of whether he acted from his own ego state or whether Christ lived within him.  He could write that Christ is all and in all.  What is all and in all?  Word.  For Paul, the historical Jesus had returned to be the eternal Word which was from the beginning, was God and is what created/creates/ is creating/ will be creating everything as human can known things to be.

Aphorism of the Day, June 12, 2018

Jesus said the realm of God was just like grain that grows.  The realm of God is inclusive of the entire cycle of life.  We may prefer perpetual harvest but every cycle is equally necessary and so one should exercise faith to perceive the divine within the particular phase that one is in.

Aphorism of the Day, June 11, 2018

Mustard seed faith is perhaps a metaphor for the unnoticed prominence of the background.  All of the attention is given to the "foreground" even while unnoticed background redundant and repetitive acts of faith and kindness keep the foreground from collapsing in its own "narcissism" of self important.  The foreground says, "I am important because everyone is recognizing me," whilst standing on the scaffold of the unnoticed foundation for the braggart even to speak.

Aphorism of the Day, June 10, 2018

In the effort to change the narrative words of Jesus into "official" doctrine and practice the church derived to classify certain sins as "eternal" or unforgivable.  Jesus did say if one called one's brother a fool, one could be guilty of the fires of Hell (Gehenna=garbage dump in the Valley of Hinnom).  Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit was another unforgivable sin.  When has the church chosen to be canonical and juridical about words of pronouncements of Jesus and brought them to doctrine and when have they let the words of Jesus remain as hyperbolic and figurative?  The church has never had the "official" doctrine or canon law to pluck out eyes and cut off hands for people who used them in "offending" ways.  Interpreters of the Bible have often been inconsistent in how they have brought the words of Jesus to actual pragmatic practices within the church.  Snake handling is not at universal practice in churches, but some find biblical basis for its practice.  Making everything in the Bible universally applicable for everyone all of the time is surely a very fallible way of interpreting and regarding the Bible.

Aphorism of the Day, June 9, 2018

The term "unforgivable" is often used to designate an act which is truly offensive and repugnant.  Jesus used it to designate the calling of his exorcisms as being in league with the devil.  The Gospel present the opponents of Jesus as saying that he was mad, a drunkard, and that he had made a pact with the devil.  His opponents demonized his healing act of exorcism.  Jesus stood up for his deep personal motive, namely, the Holy Spirit as being the One who would cast out impure spirits and create a clean heart.  He said it was unforgivable to call a good act, evil.  When discernment is so distorted by the need to bring down an opponent, one truly commits unforgivable acts.  Finding grace in life is about learning how to discern good as good and evil as evil and knowing that one needs the Higher Power of the Holy Spirit to keep one in the "state of forgiveness."

Aphorism of the Day, June 8, 2018

In one of the option from the Hebrew Scriptures for proper 5 of Year B in the lectionary cycle, the event of the "Fall" is coupled with the "unforgivable" sin against the Holy Spirit in the Gospel.  So in one reading, Eve said to God, "the serpent/devil" made me do it.  The religious leader said about the exorcisms of Jesus: "the devil made you do it."  A title of a Rolling Stones song is "No Sympathy for the Devil."  The powerful impairment of good in a free system has the devil as a higher power to impel and trick the "lower" agents, men and women.  The ultimate impairment of good is when these lower agents of freedom confront the human embodiment of Good Freedom, Jesus, and they designate his act of creating a clean heart in someone by dispelling the inner agents of chaos, as powered by the evil one.  Jesus, standing up for the Holy Spirit, who is Personified Pure Heart and who makes hearts pure, says it is unforgivable to call the Pure Holy Spirit, impure.

Aphorism of the Day, June 7, 2018

The story of the Fall provides an explanation for the human tendency to be in the state of selfishness, known as sin.  Can selfish beings do nothing other than selfish acts?  How can God love selfish beings, doing selfish acts?  Can selfishness be converted to the "sense of oneself living in love with others?"  The biblical key is to love that Worthy One first as the prelude to exploring the lovability of one's neighbors.  If we begin with the demand that others be "worthy" of our love, we will end in disappointment because of their eventual failure to be "omni-competent" to our needs.

Aphorism of the Day, June 6, 2018

There is a confusing grammar found in the Bible and in our common speech about sin and forgiveness.  We sometimes leave the direct object out of a sentence and it can seems as though the indirect object "stands in or takes the place of the direct object."  God forgives sins seems to be an abbreviation of God forgives the sins of Phil.  The sins of Phil actually are unforgivable; why should such imperfection and their outcomes ever be forgiven.  But God does forgive the sinner.  This entire grammatical dilemma is a word study in the dilemma between "becoming" as the prior reality before "being" is abstracted from the states of becoming.

Aphorism of the Day, June 5, 2018

Did one member of the Trinity ever stand up for the reputation of another member of the Trinity?  When Jesus was accused of casting out demons by Beelzebul, the Lord of demons, he defended the Holy Spirit by saying such an accusation was an unforgivable sin.  How could one designate such an event of personal deliverance as being performed by an "anti-Holy Spirit?"  How could one call "good, evil?"  People in opposing political and religious paradigms are often so "mean" to each other they often call another's good, evil because they cannot rise to a more encompassing common good.

Aphorism of the Day, June 4, 2018

In the classification of sins, from the words of Jesus, the sin against the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sins.  In the context, it would seem that such a sin involves the attribution of a work of the Spirit to the work of the devil and would indicate the condition of such distorted sense of discernment so as to call "white, black."  Does unforgivable mean "eternally unforgiven?"  Or would it imply that any sin is unforgiven until one is in the discerning state of mind to acknowledge one's fault and "ask" for forgiveness?  That one might seem to be in the habit of perpetual sin would not foreclose the possibility of higher power interdiction of one idolatrous habit.

Aphorism of the Day, June 3, 2018

One can understand the apocalyptic fervor in the first century for Jews and Christians and any who suffered because of Roman domination.  Roman domination was such an imposing reality that the end of it could only be conceived of with an impacting intervention of the divine.  Irony of ironies; the apocalypse did not happen but what did happen was the apocalypse (the unveiling) of the persuasive love of Christ which eventually "took over" the Roman Empire.

Aphorism of the Day, June 2, 2018

The purpose of the Law or laws is to teach body language "correct" behaviors for the varying situations in life pertaining to the people and the Great Person with whom one must live.  The purpose of the Law is not to focus upon the "dead letters of crass literalism" in legalism but to understand the living Spirit of the Law in the training to know and sense the appropriate thing to do and say in each context of one's life as behaviors are governed by love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, June 1, 2018

The most general a law is stated without contextual details, the less likely it can be deconstructed by future contexts.  For example, Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.  This general law is hard to falsify within a context because it asks that love be the motive and the effort of one's life at all times.  Some laws have too many contextual details which means they can promote ambiguity in their interpretive application.  For example, Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy by performing no labor.  Obviously, Christians do not observe a Jewish Sabbath and the labors of Sabbath are in question, like can one heal on the Sabbath or rescue one's farm animal in distress?  A house rule might be for a child to clean one's room every Saturday morning but such could be overturned in case of fire, flood, emergency or absence from the residence.  Legalists try to make detailed contextual rules universal general rules and they usually do it merely for the assertion of their own authority.

Quiz of the Day, June 2018


Quiz of the Day, June 30 2018

Who succeeded Aaron as the second high priest of Israel?

a. Zadok
b. Eleazar
c. Eli
d. Phineas

Quiz of the Day, June 29, 2018

Which of the following is not true regarding St. Peter and St. Paul and the calendar of saints?

a. they share a saint's day
b. Paul's Conversion is celebrated
c. Peter's Confession is celebrated
d. they each have an individual's saint's day

Quiz of the Day, June 28, 2018

Before the Gnostics were the Gnostics, whom of the following wrote against and named early Christian "heretics?"

a. Marcion
b. Valentinus
c. Iranaeus
d. Montanus

Quiz of the Day, June 27, 2018

Who wrote the song that is known as the African-American National Anthem?

a.Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr.
b.Frederick DouglaSs
c.Julia Ward Howe
d.James Weldon Johnson

Quiz of the Day, June 26, 2018

In the biblical epic, the earth became a man-eater; it opened up and swallowed a man and his fellow rebels.  Who was this man?

a. Ahab
b. Sisera
c. Korah
d. Tobiah

Quiz of the Day, June 25, 2018

What do Moses, Samuel, John the Baptist and Jesus have in common?

a. they were raised in synagogues
b. they had special birth stories
c. they performed water miracles
d. they were all Levites

Quiz of the Day, June 24, 2018

Whom of the following is not listed as a participant in the Council of Jerusalem?

a. Peter
b. Paul
c. Barnabas
d. John Mark

Quiz of the Day, June 23, 2018

Who were the "genetic" giants of the Hebrew Scriptures?

a. Philistines
b. Nephilim
c. Amalekites
d. Hittites 

Quiz of the Day, June 22, 2018

St. Alban was the first Christian Martyr of 

a. France
b. Gaul
c. Spain
d. Britain

Quiz of the Day, June 21, 2018

Why was Miriam punished by God with leprosy and temporary expulsion from the camp?

a. he challenged Aaron as High Priest
b. she supported Korah against Moses
c. she criticized Moses for being married to a foreigner
d. she attempt a coup on Moses' leadership

Quiz of the Day, June 20, 2018

What fowl did the people of Israel eat in the wilderness?

a. chicken
b. dove
c. quail
d. duck

Quiz of the Day, June 19, 2018

What kind of seed did Manna look like?

a. pomegranate
b. dill
c. cumin
d. coriander
e. mustard

Quiz of the Day, June 18, 2018

When the people of Israel were on their wilderness journey how did they know when to pull up camp and move?

a. Moses told them to
b. Aaron, the High Priest consulted the Urim and Thummim
c. they followed a rising and settling cloud
d. a pillar of fire would lead them

Quiz of the Day, June 17, 2018

With whom did Jesus identify John the Baptist?

a. Moses
b. Elijah
c. Enoch
d. Isaiah
e. Daniel

Quiz of the Day, June 16, 2018

The city of Berkeley, California was named after whom?

a. an Irish Anglican bishop
b. a philosopher of subjective idealism
c. the author of "Alciphron"
d. a giant of British empiricism
e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, June 15, 2018

Which of the following authors made "mysticism" an acceptable term of Christian spirituality in Anglicanism?

a. Julian of Norwich
b. Evelyn Underhill
c. C.S. Lewis
d. Jeremy Taylor
e. William Law

Quiz of the Day, June 14, 2018

Whom of the following does not have "the Great" as part of his name?

a. Basil
b. Leo
c. Gregory
d. Anthony
e. John XXIII

Quiz of the Day, June 13, 2018

Who said, "By experts in poverty, I don't mean sociologists; I mean poor men..?"

a. Will Rogers
b. C.S. Lewis
c. G.K. Chesterton
d. Charles Williams
e. J.R.R. Tolkien

Quiz of the Day, June 12, 2018

In creative figurative language, who wrote, "Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia," contrasting the Law as born from a "slave" with Jerusalem above born of a free woman?

a. Luke
b. Paul
c. Peter
d. James

Quiz of the Day, June 11, 2018

What was Barnabas' name before he received his "Christian" name?

a. Simon
b. Joses
c. Schlmo
d. David

Quiz of the Day, June 10, 2018

What did Jesus say the unforgivable sin was?

a. blasphemy
b. blasphemy against the Holy Spirit
c. murder
d. unforgiveness

Quiz of the Day, June 9, 2018

Which of the following is not true about Columba?

a. he was born in Ireland
b. he evangelized the Picts
c. he is the Apostle of Scotland
d. he was the Abbot of Iona
e. it is the name of a popular hymn tune
f. he is the patron saint of Scotland

Quiz of the Day, June 8, 2018

Roberto de Nobili and Roland Allen are best known for what?

a. Missionary work in Africa
b. Missionary work in India
c. Adapting evangelism to indigenous cultures
d. Support of Gandhi

Quiz of the Day, June 7, 2018

Which of the following is a difference between the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed?

a. belief in the resurrection
b. belief in the Father
c. belief in the Son
d. belief in the Holy Spirit
e. Apostles Creed is first person singular, Nicene Creed is first person plural
f. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, June 6, 2018

"A time to kill," is a phrase found in what book of the Bible?

a. Psalms
b. Proverbs
c. Wisdom of Ben Sirach
d. Ecclesiastes

Quiz of the Day, June 5, 2018

As a showing of "Our God is greater than your god," what missionary bishop chopped down the famous "Thor's sacred tree?"

a. Willibrord
b. Wilfrid 
c. Anskar
d. Boniface

Quiz of the Day, June 4, 2018

Which Pope convened the Second Vatican Council?

a. Pius XII
b. John Paul II
c. John Paul I
d. Paul VI
e. John XXIII

Quiz of the Day, June 3, 2018

"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity," is a repeated phrase in what book of the Bible?

a. Proverbs
b. The Psalms
c. Ecclesiastes
d. Jeremiah

Quiz of the Day, June 2, 2018

Who wrote or said that "the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil?"

a. Jesus
b. Solomon
c. Moses
d. Perhaps Paul in a "Pauline" letter to Timothy
e. Jude

Quiz of the Day, June 1, 2018

Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen and Clement are often called what?

a. Martyrs
b. Post-Nicene Fathers
c. Early Christian Apologists
d. Desert Fathers

Sunday School, July 1, 2018 6 Pentecost, Cycle B, Proper 8



Sunday School, July 1, 2018  6 Pentecost, Cycle B, Proper 8

The themes of sickness and death are not always easy to present to children
It is important to teach children that faith is learning the ability to live with life as it happens
Certainly we do all we can to prevent unpleasant events of loss and pain.

Question: What is the best thing about falling and scraping one’s knee?
The best thing about scraping one’s knee is to have mom or dad or a person with us to comfort us and to give us some first aid.
A child might say, “I wish I hadn’t fallen and scraped my knee” but such a wish could not prevent it.

All bad things in life cannot be prevent; so the best thing that can happen in a bad event is to have people with us to help us.

The Bible Stories are about being honest about bad things like the loss of health and the loss of someone’s life.
The Gospel is about having the present of Christ with us at the times of our sickness and at the time of death.
With the resurrection of Christ we believe that God cured death in allowing us to live again in a new way and because we know this, we don’t have to live in fear of loss and pain.

One can teach about one of the sacraments of the Church:  The prayer for the sick
Everyone experiences sickness and varieties of pain in their life.  The church believes that sickness is a time to be together with the support of our Christian family and to pray for the sick and ask Christ to be present with us during the time of sickness.

This sacrament, the prayer for the sick is given to us to draw us together to support each other in very special ways during the time when one of us is sick.

Puppet Show on the Gospel Lesson

Puppet Show Musical Extravaganza


Faith, Health and Life

Puppet 1:  Our puppet extravaganza from Puppet Camp is called, Faith, Health and Life.  And Faith begins in believing that this world was made and belongs to God.

Song: (all sing)  Tune: This Land is your land, this land is my land.

This world is God’s world, this world is God’s world.  From Morgan Hill to the farthest star.

This world is God’s world, this world is God’s world. God made this world for you and me.

Puppet 2:  Can everyone say “Salvation?”  Salvation is a very important word.  Salvation can mean that God’s preserves or saves us even after we die.  Or Salvation while we live is called health.  How many of you like health?

All Puppets:  We like to be healthy! We don’t like to be sick!

Song: We don’t like to be sick  (tune, If You’re Happy and You Know It)

We don’t like to be sick, no we don’t.  We don’t like to be sick no we don’t.  We don’t like to be sick, we don’t like to be sick.  We don’t like to be sick.  No we don’t

(puppet shaking their heads no as they sing)


Puppet 3: God takes care of our afterlife because God promises us eternal life.  Eternal life is another kind of health.  It is salvation.

Puppet 4: There are many stories in the Gospels about Jesus healing people.  Jesus taught and healed in a place called Galilee.  There was a big lake called the Sea of Galilee

Song:  We’re off to Galilee  (Farmer in the Dell tune)

We off to Galilee, We’re off to Galilee.  Jesus is there, Jesus is there, we’re off to Galilee.

Puppet 5: Jesus got out of a boat on the seashore of the Sea of Galilee.  He was with his disciples and a very worried father named Jairus was there to meet him.

Puppet Jairus:  Jesus, Jesus!  I need your help.  My daughter is so sick that I think that she is going to die.  Come and bless her and pray for her so that can get better.

Jesus: Jairus: I will go with you to see your daughter.

Song: O Lord hear our prayer  (Taize, O Lord Hear My Prayer)

O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord hear my prayer.  When I call, answer me.  O Lord hear my prayer, O Lord hear my prayer.  Come and listen to me.

Puppet 6: Jairus did the right thing.  When he had a problem he came and asked Jesus for help.  We should pray and ask Jesus for help in our lives too.  Do you agree?


All Puppets: Yes, we should pray to Jesus.

(On the way to Jairus’ house, a crowd is following closely)

Suddenly Jesus stopped:

Jesus:  Who touched me?

Disciple John:  Jesus, lots of people are touching you.  So many people are crowding around you.

Jesus:  I felt some healing power go out of me to one person.  Who touched me?

Shy woman:  O, Jesus, it was I who touched you.  I am so sorry.  I have been in pain for so long and I have heard so much about you and I did not want to bother you.  I thought that if I could just touch you then I would have a chance to get better.

Jesus:  My friend, I’m not angry with you for touching me.  I honor your faith.  I am glad that you still have hope even when you were sick.  I am glad that you acted upon your hope and came to me.  You are a good example to everyone.  Whether we are sick or well, it is good to have faith.

Shy woman:  Thank you, Jesus.  I can already feel that my body is healed.

Song:  I touched Him   (Tune: He Touched Me, Bill Gaither)

 Refrain:  I touched him.  O I touched him.  And O what health came to me.  I touched Jesus and now I’m well.  O, I touched him and He made me well.

Puppet 6: I hear bad news.

Puppet 7:  What kind of bad news?

Puppet 8:  It is very sad new?

Puppet 9:  What kind of sad news?

Puppet 10:  Jesus does not have to come to the home of Jairus now.

Puppet 11:  Why, what’s happened?

Puppet 12: The daughter of Jairus has died!  Everyone is sad and everyone is crying.  What can Jesus do now?

Puppet 13: Jesus, what will you do?

Jesus:  If you have energy to have fear, you can take that same energy and have faith.  Just have faith and good things will happen.

Song: We’ve got faith like a River   (tune, I’ve Got Peace Like a River)

We’ve got faith like a river, we’ve got faith like a river, we’ve got faith like a river in our souls.  We’ve got faith like a river, we’ve faith like a river, we’ve got faith like a river in our souls.

Peter: Jesus, I’ll go with you into the house of Jairus.

James: I will go with you too.  I want to help in anyway that I can. 

John:  Jairus is my friend and I want to comfort him.  I’ll go with you Jesus.

All the puppets at the house of Jairus:

Puppets: All are moaning and crying….”Oh the girl has died.  The girl has died.”

Jesus:   Why are you crying so much?  The girl is not dead; she is only sleeping.

Puppets:  (laughing)….

Puppet 14:  Jesus, we know when someone is dead.  Go and see the girl and you’ll see that she is dead.

(Jesus and the Three disciples go into the house  where the girl is lying on a bed)
Jesus goes up to the girl and speaks in Aramaic


Jesus: Talitha cum.  Little girl get up.

Song: Talitha Cum  (tune: God is so Good)

Talitha Cum.  Talitha Cum.  O little girl, Arise, Get up!

(Sing three times)

Little Girl Rachel:  (awakens)  O  Daddy!  What has happened?  I can’t remember anything?  I think that I’ve been in a deep, deep sleep.


Jairus:  Rachel, you are awake and well.  Jesus came and he made you well again.  We are very thankful for Jesus.  He is a great doctor and healer.

Jesus: Please get Rachel something to eat.  I’m sure that she must be very hungry after such a long sleep.

Song:  The Lord Is My Health   (tune:  Taize, The Lord Is My Light)


The Lord is my health.  My health and salvation.  In him I trust, in him I trust.

(Sung three times)

Puppet 14:  What did we learn today?

Puppet 15: We learned to go to Jesus when we have a problem in life.  So when we are sick we pray to Jesus to help us get better.

Puppet 16:  We learned that it is important to have faith.  Faith means that we can believe in God’s goodness and love even when we have a difficult problem.

Puppet 17:  We learned that Jesus wants to restore people to good health.  Let us all say, “Thank you Doctor Jesus!”  Amen.


Sermon:


  How many of you like stories?  You like to read stories because they are fun.  But something else happens when you read a story.  You learn something even when you don’t know that you are learning something.

  What do you learn in the story of Cinderella?  One thing you learn is never to lose hope, even when it seems that some sad things are happening.  Never lose hope.

  What do you learn in the super hero stories?  About Batman, Spiderman, and Superman?  We can learn that is very important to fight and struggle against evil and against people who want to hurt others.  It is important to work for fairness and honesty.

  So even when you are enjoying a story, you are really secretly learning some very important lessons.

  Jesus used to tell stories and within those stories, he would hide some very important lessons for his friends to learn.

  And his disciples learned many things from Jesus.  They learned to tell stories too.  They learn to tell stories about Jesus and within those wonderful stories they hid some very important messages.

  Today we have read a story about Jesus bringing a little girl back to life. And in this story we have a very important lesson.

  After Jesus had died, his friends still believed that Jesus was with them.  They believed that the Spirit of Jesus was still with them.  And when other people became aware of the Spirit of Jesus, their lives changed.  They felt like they had been born again.  They felt like they were like young children all over again.  They felt like they had hope and joy and happiness.  They felt like they had been brought back to life, just like the little girl in the story.

  And that is what the friends of Jesus were trying to teach when they wrote the stories about Jesus.  To know that the spirit of Jesus is so close within us, is to feel like we have awaken from a long, long sleep and to receive back our lives, the lives that we felt when we were young, young children.

  Jesus said to his follower that they needed to be childlike to understand his kingdom.  They had to receive his kingdom like a young child.  And he also said that the kingdom of heaven belonged to children.

  Since many of you are children you have an advantage over us adults.  Sometimes we adults, forget and lose our understanding of God’s kingdom.  That is why…our little girl…our little boy within us needs to come to life again.  So do you see the teaching about coming back to life is hidden within this story about Jesus?

  Jesus wants us always to keep something that we have as children.  We have joy and wonder.  And if we keep that joy and wonder, we will be able to know that we live in the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church
17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Family Service with Holy Eucharist
July 1, 2018: The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah; Jesus Loves Me; Seek Ye First; America

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)
Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 
Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 
Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 
Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.
And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.
Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray
Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia
O God, you have made us! Alleluia
O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia
O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia
O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia
O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia
O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the Book of Lamentations
This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God
 


Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 130

For there is forgiveness with you; * therefore you shall be feared.
I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope.
My soul waits for the LORD, more than watchmen for the morning, * more than watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, wait for the LORD, * for with the LORD there is mercy;

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:
For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!
For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!
For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!
For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!
For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!
For work and for play. Thanks be to God!
For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!
For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!
For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.
   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark
People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." He went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, `Who touched me?'" He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.



Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.
Since God is so great and we are so small,
We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.
We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and
     resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.
We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is
     welcome.
We believe that Christ is kind and fair.
We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.
And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.


Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.
For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.
For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.
For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.
For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.
For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.



Liturgist:         The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
People:            And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering.

Song: Jesus Loves Me This I Know (All the Best Songs for Kids, # 54)
Jesus loves me! This I know, For the Bible tells me so.  Little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me!  He who died!  Heaven’s gates to open wide.  He will wash away my sin, Let His little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  Yes, Jesus loves me.  The Bible tells me so.

Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”
All become members of a family by birth or adoption.
Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.
A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.
The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

Children may gather around the altar
Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;
You have made us in your image
And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.
And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph
And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.
Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat
  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  
  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbors.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory
 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,
(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.
As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.
But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.
Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:        Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Seek Ye First  (Blue Hymnal, # 711)
Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you; Allelu, alleluia. 
Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.
Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia!  Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;
We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.
And His Presence has been known to us.
We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers
    and sisters in Christ.
Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the
     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,
As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: America (blue hymnal, # 719)
O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!  America!  America! God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
O beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife, who more than self their country loved, and mercy more than life!  America!  America!  God mend thine every flaw, confirm thy soul with self control, they liberty in law.
O beautiful for patriot dream that sees beyond the years thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears!  America!  America! God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.

Dismissal:   
Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 
People: Thanks be to God! 


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