A Call to God in Heaven

Trinity Sunday  cycle b May 31, 2015

Isaiah 6:1-8  Psalm 29

Romans 8:12-17   John 3:1-17

3 preachers all with cell phones

Catherine:  In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.  If you will excuse me for a minute.  I have to make a phone call, a special phone call on Trinity Sunday. (begins to call)

Rylie: Catherine, who are you calling?  And in the middle of church?  Really, isn't that a bit rude.  Well, I guess at least you're not preaching and texting.  You could get a ticket for that.  But really, who is so important for you to call during the sermon?

Catherine: Rylie, I am calling God of course!  I really needs some help with some answers for Trinity Sunday.

Rylie:  What do you need help with?

Catherine:  It's the math that I don't get.

Rylie:  Math?  What do you mean?

Catherine:  Well the math of the Trinity is this: One plus one plus one equals One.

Rylie: O, I get it.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Three persons, but One God.

Andrew:(answers the phone)  Hello, you have reached Heaven Incorporated.  Press 1 if you have an emergency prayer request.  Press two, if you would like to speak to the Blessed Virgin Mary, press 3, if you would like to speak to Jesus.  Press 4, if you would like to speak to the Holy Spirit and press 5 if you would like to speak to the Father.

Catherine: I just want to speak to God.

Andrew: Please press a number so that your call can be processed in the order that it was received.

Catherine: Wow!  The phone line to heaven must be busy but I didn't expect such a long wait.  I mean, aren't you God?  Shouldn't you be able to handle all calls at once?

Andrew: Hi, Catherine, how are you today?

Catherine: How did you know me?

Andrew: Well, I am God, after all, so I know everyone.

Catherine: But I thought that I was getting a recorded message.

Andrew:  Well, I sometimes like to play a joke on human beings by pretending to act like they do.  Did you think it was funny?

Rylie:  Who are you talking too?  Did you get through?

Catherine: I'm talking to God,  shhhh.

Rylie:  You have to like someone who answers his own phone.

Catherine: Well, God, I guess it is funny for you to pretend to be human.  We can sometimes be very funny in our foolishness.  But who am I speaking to?

Andrew:  You are speaking to God, of course.

Catherine: But am I speaking to the Father, the Son or to the Holy Spirit now?

Andrew: Well, now you are speaking to the Father.

Rylie:  Which one are you talking to?

Catherine: The Father.

Rylie: Tell him hi, for me.  Okay?

Catherine: Father, I needs some help.  I am preaching today on Trinity Sunday at St. John's and I need to know how to tell my friends about the Trinity.   I went to Father Phil for help and he said to just tell them that the Trinity is a mystery.  Big help!  Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys are mysteries and they always solve their mysteries.  But what about the Mystery of the Trinity?  How do I solve it?

Andrew:  Well, the Trinity is a very big Mystery but that shouldn't be a surprise.  The universe is so big and people are so small that there will always be things which people do not understand and so there will always be mysteries for human beings.

Catherine:  So, we just have to accept that we are small and that there will always be mysteries?

Rylie:  I love mysteries; what is God saying about mysteries?

Catherine:  Hold on, Rylie, I am trying to get some answers.  So Father, you want me to accept the mystery of God?

Andrew:  You have no choice because I am bigger than you and I contain you; you do not contain me.

Catherine: What does that mean?

Andrew:  It means that you live and move and have your being within my Great Being.

Rylie:  Can I talk to God too?

Catherine: Just answer your phone.  You're on a conference call.

Rylie:  Hello, your majesty.  Am I suppose curtsy or bow?  How am I to address you?

Andrew: Well, you can respect me by just being my child and my friend.

Rylie: Well, that's really cool.  But like Catherine, I have questions about you.  Some of my friends who believe in One God, say that we Christians have three gods, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  So are you three or are you One?

Andrew:  Well I am three and I am One.  But let me explain.  First of all what are we using to communicate with each other?

Catherine:  We are using language.  We are talking?

Andrew: Well, as God, I am greater than language but I have to allow myself to be translated into ways that people can understand me.  But I am always more than language and more than what can be said about me.

Rylie:  So we can never understand all of God?


Andrew:  Yes that it right, but I have given you enough to understand about me so that you can progress to live the very best of your human lives.

Catherine:  But why did you choose to be translated as Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Andrew: What is the best thing about being a human being?

Rylie:  I guess it is being a person.  A person is someone who has relationships with other people.

Andrew:  You are right Rylie.  Being a person is what is the greatest thing about human life.  People were made in my image and if being a person is what is best about human life, then being a person is very important to understand who I am as God.  What is important  to understand about me is that I am not just a collection of all of the atoms of the universe as some big machine.  You are not a machine, you are a person and so you are different from a machine.  I am a Person who made all people to be like me in some way so that we could have a relationship.

Catherine:  So why are you Father?  

Andrew:  As Father, you understand that I have been before everything and everything was born or created out of me.  And as Father of the universe I want you to know that I love and care for everyone and everything as a good parent would care for a child.

Rylie:  Could I speak to Jesus?

Andrew: Hello, Rylie, I am now Jesus.  How can I help you?

Rylie: Jesus, why are you the Son of God and why do we need you to be known as the Son of God?

Andrew:  Well, being God means that God is  so great that people might think that a great God does not understand them and their problems.  Do you like people to try to understand you in  everything that happens to you?

Catherine: I do.  It is called empathy.  Sometimes we say, "Don't judge another person until you've walked a mile in their shoes."

Andrew: Yes, that is exactly correct.  God wants all people to know that God knows what they are feeling.  And to prove it, I was sent to live as a fully human person so that you could know that God is really close to how you think and feel.  And because I lived as a human being and showed you a relationship with God as my Father, you can be my sisters and brothers and you can know God as your Father too.

Rylie: I like that Jesus.  You sure walked more than a mile in our shoes to show us how much God cares for us.  But now can I talk to the Holy Spirit?

Andrew: Here I am Rylie, the Holy Spirit.  Some call me the Comforter.  I like to comfort people.

Catherine:  How can you comfort us Holy Spirit?  

Andrew:  Well, you know when you were a baby and your parents went out of your sight and you could not see them?  You got worried that they might not be with you anymore because you felt you could only believe that your parents existed if you could see them or hear them.

Catherine: Yes, I remember that.  Sometimes it was frightening to think that my parents were gone.

Andrew:  But were they gone?  Did they still love you when you could not see them?

Catherine:  Yes, they did and it soon became like they were with me always even when I did not see them.

Andrew: Well, I, the Holy Spirit are like the invisible but real presence of God wherever you go.  I am more present to you than even your parents because I help hold the entire world together with my presence all of the time.  And even when your parents are not perfect, I still am with you to comfort you.

Rylie: Wow! God, you are great and wonderful.

Catherine: But God you also understand us and are our Friend.

Andrew: Now I am God speaking in all three voices at once.  I am great and big but I want to be understood by you and everyone and so I allow myself to come into the language and experiences of people so that they can know my greatness.  If people know the greatness of God then they will have a perfect model for improving their lives at all times.  Any other questions?


Catherine: Not a question but I just want to thank you God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for making yourself known to me and to all people.

Rylie: Yes, Thank you God, Daddy, Brother, and friendly Holy Ghost.  I am glad that you are with me always.

Catherine:  We'll hang up now. God.  Bye for now.   I think that all of these people have been on the conference call with us to understand a little more about God.    And even though we have not solved the mystery of the Trinity.  We have enjoyed the mystery of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, May 2015

Aphorism of Day, May 31, 2015

There is a Near Eastern story of the blind men in a room with an elephant as they explain to each other the presence of a large being from the perspective of their position, one at the trunk, another at a foot and another by an ear.  They are all right and all wrong but lack an all seeing person to put together the vastness and the unity of the great presence.  We speak about and feel God blindly and in part even as we confess the adequacy of the presentation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Even this confession has to be done with the humble confession of knowing and only seeing "in part."

Aphorism of the Day, May 30, 2015

Inquisitional faith is based upon the certitude of a controlling party which is more sure of its leadership than they are of God.  Certitude of any sort is short sided since it involves setting a sort of finality at any point in time.  A living faith is always open for new meanings to arise now and in the future.  Any one who pretends to know in a final way what the Trinity means is one who has not considered the evocations of endless meanings in the future.

Aphorism of the Day, May 29, 2015

The human linguistic skill of translation might be an apt metaphor for what happens in the relating of things divine to the human sphere.  J.R.R. Tolkien was a "glossopoeiaist" in that he invented new languages and then translated them into English.  The invention of language about God has happened in that people have known human experience to be sublimely marked or inscribed by an extra-human Being whose communication has been interpreted from such sublime markings.  In Christianity, the Trinity has come to be known as the "best" translation of the divine into the human sphere with Jesus as Son of God being the best translator and interpreter of the life of the divine to humanity.


Aphorism of the Day, May 28, 2015

Want to solve most of the philosophical and theological problems of life?  One can do so by accepting the priority of language because with language one can say A and non-A and Language embraces both and still has its unity as Being Language.  Language is prior to being able to say God or non-God which does not mean Language is superior to God because Language is also able to state that there is something, some Being which is more than language even though that Being needs language to be relevant to human existence.  The question for us remains to live by faith in proving the adequacy of how we state our beliefs in language in our speaking, writing and more importantly in our body language acts.  With our body language acts are we proving the superior adequacy of love and justice for the well-being of this world?

Aphorism of the Day, May 27, 2015

Language can be playfully deconstructive which might be indicative that metaphors have a flickering shelf life and one needs to get the insight and move on to the next insight.  An example: A spiritual leader says: Sometimes silence is the best response.  Deconstruction: Even silence about silence sometimes being the best response?  When one reads the Bible one needs to allow one's own language experience interact with the words found in the Bible to find these flickering insights.  Too many people are reading the Bible looking for the words there to be cemented to a final meaningful referent and this is because of insecurity in need of "final" meaning.  There is no final meaning as long as there is time and language. The words of the Bible partake of the versatility of language to be meaningful in new ways all of the time.  Why be insecure and engage in building neurotic security blanket stable meanings when there is so much future and so many more meanings to provide more moments of "eureka?"

 Aphorism of the Day, May 26, 2015

We use our facility in language to speculate about a "pre-word" existence even as we have to admit that we use words to do so.  With our words we chart human experience and an aspect of human experience is contemplating the various responses to greatness and the superlative.  This response has drawn from us the word God and the words about God.  Enough of humanity have found Greatness to be friendly enough to be characterized as the Greatest Parent, or Father.  When humanity has come to speak about God people do so because they believe or assume Greatness is reduced or made accessible to human experience and language and the coincidence of Divine and Human in Christ the Son is a celebration of that obvious unavoidable assumption.  And it would follow that assuming a relationship with Personal Greatness and celebrating this relationship in the specific coincidence of humanity and divinity in a Person, would derive from a General coincidence of Greatness within everything and everyone as Personal Spirit.  God is True because God has come into human language, just as everything is true which comes to language.  What remains for us is to live and prove the adequacy of all truths which come to language and so we endeavor to discovery and know the omni-adequacy of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, May 25, 2015

Memorial Day: A day to remember that everyone might happen upon an occasion to lay down one's life for someone else but the probability of  soldiers, sailors and marines to such an event of sacrifice is greater.  Mostly it is a day to remember those who actually did lay down their lives in the defense of their country.  It is a day to hope for the time when we "study war no more" and spiritualize death as learning to live the life of being "living sacrifices" for God and one another for the common good.

Aphorism of the Day, May 24, 2015

Oddly, St. Paul writes that one of the signs of the presence of the Holy Spirit is the deep groans of the divine presence praying in and through us for the world.  What if we could come to interpret the deep groans of our lives as the call to make ourselves available to God to intercede for all of the suffering in our world?  Would we handle "depression" and "bad moods" in a different way?  The juxtaposition of so much freedom of events in our world creates the conditions for some horrendous events of loss and suffering and for those who don't know the immediate impact of the events of suffering could be those who share the energy of the pain through the deep groans of God's suffering with us all of the time.  And could it be that participating in those deep groans, we can share in part of the suffering in a creative way?

Aphorism of the Day, May 23, 2015

Stories are told with a linear logic to simplify causality and in primary naivete one can come to believe that the story being told actually causes things to happen.  This occurs with the way in which many people read the Bible, and so because we read things in the Bible, the Bible story actually made things to happen as they did.  What is more likely is that love and justice are eternal and they keep unfolding in history.  That they do unfold and are recorded in stories does not mean that the story made them happen.  Yes, we are very "event" oriented and events gives book end definition to stories as time-lapsed units within continuous time as a way of providing community identity and meaning, but we should not make a past event such a sacred idol that we do not attend to in-breaking of love and justice in our time to make them new event realities.

Aphorism of the Day, May 22, 2015

Can views of spatial relationship change how we think?  What about the change from a geocentric flat earth view of the world to a heliocentric view of the world?  Both views were "wrong" since there would be no evidence for saying that either the earth or the sun is the geometric center of the universe.  What modern science has taught us that the progressive discovery of our smallness in a vast universe means that the more we learn about vastness ends up relativizing what we previously have thought that we knew about ourselves.  Even though we may think that we lost our center in the switch from a geocentric view to a heliocentric view, what we have never lost is the prison of our anthropocentric world.  Even the extra-human reality of God is confessed from our anthropocentric position.  Extra-human greatness at the very least means we came from Vastness and Vastness will survive us and the moral implication for us is how we treat each other in the time that we do have.  Prior Vastness, Current Vastness and Future Vastness means that no human leviathan should exploit power, wealth and knowledge to dominate others in oppressive ways since specific dominance is only temporal and not permanent.  Vastness should teach us to learn to leave the legacy of power, wealth and knowledge as the temporal legacy of caring for one another.  Let the memory which Vastness has of us be the legacy of care.


Aphorism of the Day,  May 21, 2015

Now that we have the ability of scientific self study of the human person to pinpoint brain activity and performance of human skills, we still cannot diminish the awe and the mystery of higher levels of sentient life being able to have mutual experience.  What are the conditions which allow the "conduction" of mutual experience?  A copper wire conduct electricity from point A to point B.  What is the conductor between sentient beings who just take for granted the ability to inter-relate?  I have the ability to recognize you; you can recognize me, but what is the Between-ness that allows this to occur?  This Between-ness Conductivity has brought from us the confession of Omni-present Conducting Great Personality as the pre-condition for all sentient mutual experience and so the confession of the Holy Spirit as the every present Wind, Air, Breath of life.

Aphorism of the Day, May 20, 2015

John 6:63: Words of Jesus, "My words are spirit and they are life."  This is an interesting equivalence of Word and Spirit.  An etiology of "spirit" and derivative notions point to the unseen breath in a person which is the mysterious sign of life.  Or the great breath of nature called Wind.  Wind is an unseen force whose effects are evident.  Wind and Breath as metaphorical words for spirit and then the equivalence of words and spirit reveals some insights about language.  We use words to represent mystery or what we cannot know in life and yet we know that which we cannot know effects what we can know.  We are told in John's Gospel that Jesus breathed his spirit upon his disciples.  This makes metaphorical sense when it refers to the life changing words of Jesus for his disciples.  It is through words that we receive the abundant life, the life of new insight which propels us toward a hopeful future.  Word is at the intersection of everything; with it we name God, mystery and spirit and everything which, as we confess using words, is more than words.  Word is the human boat we live in to navigate everything which is not Word, even though I must use words to say what is not words.  One can understand how word is co-extensive with spirit and life.



Aphorism of the Day, May 19, 2015

It usually turns out that we don't have completely consistent linguistic environments consisting of words directed toward us which value us in completely consistent ways.  We do not end up being everyone's favorite and maybe we don't end up being the favorite of the significant people in our lives which may cause us to engage in attention getting behaviors which are not successful.  The "oneness" with the Father that the prayer of Jesus asks for his disciples is based upon the reality of the uneven experience of "being valued" that we know in our lives and so the major "prayer" break through is to know a heavenly parent who values us with even and consistent "spiritual" value beyond the inconsistent favor which we receive in our environments.  Even being someone's favorite is distorted because one is "used" to cause someone else's pleasure.  This is why it is safe to discover an esteem which comes from the heavenly Parent who is within our environment but beyond the changing politics of emotions and favoritism.  We are blessed if we have had shielding mentors who protected our "linguistic" environments at the right time but who were also mature enough to model consistent valuing behaviors toward us.

Aphorism of the Day, May 18, 2015

Prayer is a way of corralling one's voice.  By virtue of having language and since we learned language when we were not really self consciously in control of learning it, our language often speaks us more than we it.  So prayer involves an organization and bringing to conscious use our worded lives so that we can recognize the controlling patterns which have come to dominate our lives because of our naivete in the learning of our language use within the various learning contexts of our lives.  Prayer can be a way of discovering the tacit patterns of our language coded lives and attaining a new honesty about how we are socially constructed.  Prayer is attaining an honesty before God and ourselves so that we can receive new insights about understanding what is happening to us as preparatory assessment for making new choices and executing amendment of our lives.

Aphorism of the Day, May 17, 2915

Prayer is the continual practice of the voice inside of one's head toward God as a way of renewing memory and learning to take authorial self control because in the practice of prayer one taps into Higher Power.

Aphorism of the Day, May 16, 2015

It is hard to say what prayer is except to say that it might be all human response directed toward God in an intentional way.  And would that all of our intentions would be in a process of purification through the practice of prayer.

 Aphorism of the Day, May 15, 2015

In the Christian sacred story, Jesus in his thirties returns to live permanently in his Father's House in heaven.  He is seated at his Father's right hand and he is portrayed as one who intercedes on behalf of the world.  Intercessory Prayer defines the central meaning of priesthood and everyone is called to the priestly ministry of intercessory prayer.  If the risen Christ is called the Word of God from the Beginning, then the chief purpose of Word and words is prayer or understanding that we in being "worded beings" need to direct all of our words toward God as our confession that living and moving and having our created conscious existence in WORD means that we embrace the intentional relationship with RELATIONSHIP, because WORD is relationship.  Word/language as unavoidable social practice means that we can have mutual experience conducted between us, and let the mutual experience conducted between us be prayerful.



Aphorism of the Day, May 14, 2015

The event of the Ascension functions in Christian sacred story as a closure rite.  It a rite of transition to living without the same accessibility to the physical Jesus.  Jesus had died but the Risen Christ had become known in ecstatic reappearances.  How could the transition to the unavailability of the Risen Christ in such dramatic modes be accounted for?  Was the Ascension a rite that reiterates the Elisha/Elijah story?  Elisha was to receive a double portion of his mentor's spirit if he saw him depart to the heavenly abode.  So Elijah rode the chariot of fire to heaven as a validation that his spirit remained with his disciple Elisha.  The Ascension event in sacred story involves the reiteration of the Elisha/Elijah departure scene. In this rite of departure there is a "letting" go of what can die but an intensifying of the presence of what can never die.  Life Force remains no matter how many transfigurations it continually cycles through.  The Risen Christ as Life Force can be a "peek a boo" presence anytime, anywhere and in anyone or anything, now that the disciples have been weaned from regarding God's exhaustive presence to be just in the physical aspect of Jesus of Nazareth.

Aphorism of the Day, May 13, 2015

In biblical studies, prayer is regarded to be a literary genre, such as is instantiated in the Psalms.  It is also sub-genre or discourse as found in the prayer of Jesus found in John 17.  Prayer in a macro-sense may be the spiritual equivalent of the psychiatric "talking cure,"  based upon having faith to believe that a Great One is listening as we come to orient all of our language and perpetual inner dialogue to a great Friend of the universe who not only gives a damn for us but cares for us and who is perpetually saying to us, "how did that make you feel?" and "uh-huh" and "go on" and you don't get charged two hundred dollars an hour.

Aphorism of the Day, May 12, 2015

Did we ever consider that what is inspiring about the ancient people is what is also inspiring in today's world, namely an honest search for God while one concurrently ties that search to justice in one's setting with the truth of honest hearts?  Why do some Bible readers absolutize details of things that were relevant in the ancient cultures of the Bible even though they don't have any relevant applicability to our world today?  If the Bible is inspired because there is honest seeking of God in times past then details of past cultures should not keep our faith tradition in the straight-jackets of those details.  It is honest seeking which instantiates the inspiration of the Bible; it is honest seeking in our time looking to find new practice of God's justice and love in the details of our lives which is the faithful witness to the God of the Bible.

Aphorism of the Day, May 11, 2015

In the week of the feast of the Ascension, it is difficult to import our modern astronomy and space travel into the accounts about the ancient travelers between the visible and invisible worlds.  Angels were such travelers.  Apocalyptic figures such as Enoch, Moses and Elijah were such travelers.  In sacred story, Jesus ascends into heaven.  In Roman Catholic sacred story, the Blessed Virgin Mary has been Assumed into heaven by her Son Jesus.  We have narratives about inter-communication between the invisible and unknown and these narratives do not solve mysteries, they merely help us to be comfortable in living with mysteries and apparitions and reappearances of departed "travelers" are touches of personifying mystery.  Images of Jesus or the Blessed Virgin in "toast" or "stains" on a garage floor or in cloud pictures mean that the human heart projects personal meaning and communication from the invisible to our visible world.  The most embracing notion in all of this dynamic is Language: Language names the invisible and the visible and relates all human experience of both and makes the visible and the invisible seem actual in precise ways even while when one tries to explain precisely what is actual one has to use just more words to do so.

Aphorism of the Day, May 10, 2015

The identity of the New Testament community was constituted by people like Paul and Peter who were quite exorcised by the fact that most of their fellow Jews could not identify with knowing Jesus as the Messiah while at the same time the spiritual experience of Gentile people who had no tradition of the Messiah came to the experience of Jesus the Messiah as "complete foreigners."   The increasing number of non-Jews who embraced the Risen Christ as their totemic spiritual identity tipped the demographics of the churches in favor of Gentile majority and the further accommodation and facilitation of Gentile membership. The requirement of membership dropped some important rituals of Judaism when the church leadership validated spiritual and moral change in a person which opened the way for one's baptism as the main ritual of initiation.

Aphorism of the Day, May 9, 2015

Often the Holy Scriptures have been read as a sort of "direct" communication from God pretending that there was no human interpretation involved and no human historical contexts involved in filtering God's words.  What it turns out is that the notion of God's direct communication with singular meaning being evidenced in that direct communication is used as a legal stick by many pontificating preachers to declare God's absolute and final and only meaning to influence a community in the practice of their views of the world.  So individual preachers in communities project their own interpretation upon the Holy Book and then disclaim by saying, "It is not my view, it is God's view."  The Bible is a collection of writings which were interpreted in their reception by the writers, voted upon by humans to be regarded as the official holy textbook of various communities and have been read and interpreted and applied in so many various ways in the last 2000 years mainly for the pragmatic convening of the various communities where the writings have been influential in forming the identity of people.  People who have read the Bible as their Holy Book have used it to justified slavery and the subjugation of women and geocentric flat earth views and lots of other behaviors which seem downright cruel.  The Bible is inspired because it contains within it the divine principles for Bible readers to correct their former mis-readings and misinterpretations of the Bible evidenced in their former unjust and ignorant behaviors.  The Bible has a future because we are still being inspired to recover from our mis-readings of it in our time in conjunction with the current comprising of the Wisdom of God in our midst.

Aphorism of the Day, May 8, 2015

How does one spiritually prepare to be with other people and allow them the integrity of their own identity within one's life?  One can practice the imagination of the deconstruction of the one's ego.  This is done by identifying all of the contextual features which reveal the personas, the masks of contextual identities with which one can become too over-identified and locked in and leave other people being locked out.  With the imagination begin to de-contextualize oneself and as it were have the masks of one's ego lose their meaning without being moored within familiar contexts.  To appreciate that one's personas might have been other than they are, is to begin to appreciate the differences of others in one's life and the contexts of their formation.  This is an exercise in empathy and compassion; why be "just" an Episcopalian when one can be so many other identities as well as a method for appreciating others in real and vicarious ways?  If we allow that every other person can stand as a valid representative for all of humanity, we will allow ourselves the same high responsibility of being a valid representative of all humanity.

 Aphorism of the Day, May 7, 2015

Be both priest and temple today.  Be a location of God's Spirit and be the interior priest who intercedes for the situation where you are placed today.  As an interior priest one uses one's body, mind, emotions and will as a sort of gauntlet maze to be the receptor of occasions of experience and as those occasions of experience pass through one's interior maze one interprets with the discernment and insights that one has and presents them to God's Spirit.  With the act of prayer we end us presenting life to God rather than just reacting with thoughtless projection and response to the people and events in our lives.  As we let everything travel the interior gauntlet to the Spirit, the Spirit provides us with the energy and inspiration of the type of wise and peaceful response that needs to be forthcoming to give us the ability to participate in being part of the answer to our own prayers.

Aphorism of the Day, May 6, 2015

The finding of modern science regarding the universe brought confusion to the notions of vertical and horizontal since in a flat-earth view of cosmological order the horizontal limit was falling off the edge of the earth and the vertical had a true up and down.  One could physically locate heaven and the abode of God beyond the domed sky on which rose and set the sun, moon and stars.  In flat earth thinking up and down had both perceptual relevance and in ignorance there was an assumed actual relevance.  In our understanding of the universe, up and down only has very limited contextual perceptual meaning.  Up and down, horizontal and vertical in the physical realm have to be understood as expansive spatiality, the edge of which we've not seen by our best methods of observation.  Up and down, the horizontal and the vertical have moved from the once literal significance to a different kind of metaphorical significance in relating the meanings of surpassibility and systems of poetic values which are a part of the constellation of worded meanings in the inner space of human beings.

Aphorism of the Day, May 5, 2015

The New Testament writings exhibit a discourse of closure in the exit of Christians from the synagogue.  Typical of "break away" movements, the early Christians who professed that the "Spirit" of faith in God was the determining identifier rather than the outer signs of ritual conformity to Judaism, began to spiritualize aspects of their Judaic roots.  This in part was due to the success of the Gospel in the Gentile populace for whom the ritual purity of Judaism was inaccessible, or impractical.  Christian movements went on to establish their own external acts of "ritual" conformity and Christian "reform" movements have challenged the perceived hypocrisy of mere external conformity with the "new" purity of Spirit of a new movement.  The history of religious movements manifests the sociological habits of the advance of the practice of ideas common to the social phenomenon of ever switching governing paradigms which are the guiding principles which provide the new dictionary of meanings for the old words of faith.

Aphorism of the Day, May 4, 2015

The use of words also involves using them to describe the mood and the degree of attachment to one's word products and interpretations.  People often remain in spontaneous fervor with the words of interpretation which arose at the time when they had a transforming insight which seemed in the moment to "save" their lives.  So they return with repetition to the memory of the power of the saving moment which had attending words.  Other people go on to have so many other kinds of saving moments in their faith life, that the impact of earlier interpretative products have less intensity since new interpretation with fresh insights have the relevance of currency.  The fear of the sheer volume of new events of interpretation can make people fear leaving the scene of their original comfort in a break through moment.  Some times we have to acknowledge the "pathology" of break through moments because they occurred at time when one was going through stress factors in life which created the very conditions for our spiritual break through.  It is sad if one does not have further abundance of interpretations of new events which allows one the freedom to re-evaluate and admit the diminished value of a past event because the current insights are so surpassing.  If one anchors one's identity on a break through in the past, one may not have anymore breakthroughs and be the equivalent of a old broken LP repeating the same thing endlessly.

Aphorism of Day, May 3, 2015

Word or Language reveals its omnivorous dominance with the magic of the metaphor. Through the magic of metaphor anything can be anything else.  The use of the metaphor has an arbitrary aspect because the power to define creates the condition for meaning in a mathematical way as in for the purposes of this equation x=y.  Metaphorical behavior reveals the fact that language itself is metaphorical, meaning that all of our insides and outsides gets reduced and filter into something other than what it is, namely words.  And when one reduces insides and outsides into words one discovers that one is simply using more words to refer to other words.  We live and move and have our being in self-referencing, reflexive omnivorous WORD, thus instantiating the insight of John 1:1: In the Beginning was the Word.

Aphorism of the Day, May 2, 2015

One of life's frustration might be call the trial of the intermittent event.  A piece of equipment malfunctions at unpredictable times and will not malfunction at command when the repair person shows up.  In life, intermittent events challenge neat and predictable probabilities.  The play of freedom within the world creates the conditions of "intermitency" and this experience is perhaps the greatest challenge to our lives of faith.  If we have a sense of timing about bad things happening to us and a knowledge of how and when they might happen, we at least think that we have more measured control of a situation.  Intermittent events will challenge us and we need to realize that intermittent good surprises often don't get the same recognition as the intermittent bad things which occur.   May God deliver us or keep us in the ordeals of the intermittent.

Aphorism of the Day, May 1, 2015

The paucity of information which we have about biblical personalities means that the few vignettes of their lives get magnified into types and characters and so we really are dealing with the teaching ministry of the church through the literature of the Bible.  Biblical literature as "art" provides us with the sense of "immediacy" and has the sublime effect of a "close encounter" with the person about whom we are reading.  Fundamentalist and modern historicism fixation on whether things "really" occurred in the ways in which they did betray the purpose and the function of the biblical literature in providing the identity of members of communities in their quest for personal transformation towards excellence.  Fundamentalism and historicism may be a side debate between adherents who may be missing the point of the literary art of the biblical writings.

Daily Quiz, May 2015

Daily Quiz, May 31, 2015

In English translation of the Nicene Creed which words were added by the Western Church to the displeasure of Orthodox Christians?

a. proceeds from
b. and the Son
c. we instead of I
d. of the dead

Daily Quiz, May 30, 2015 

What does Joan of Arc have in common with Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, and Nicholas Ridley?

a. they are Episcopal saints
b. they were all heretics
c. they were burned at the stake
d. all of the above


Daily Quiz, May 29, 2015

On what Feast Day was the First Book of Common Prayer used for the first time?

a. Christmas
b. Easter
c. Pentecost
d. Trinity Sunday

Daily Quiz, May 28, 2015

In its time one of the most comprehensive presentation of systematic theology was the "Institutes of the Christian Religion."  Who wrote this book?

a. Martin Luther
b. Thomas Aquinas
c. John Calvin
d. Richard Hooker


Daily Quiz, May 27, 2015

King Ethelbert was baptized because of the witness of what missionary?

a. Patrick
b. Aidan
c. Chad
d. Augustine 

Daily Quiz, May 26, 2015

When Pope Gregory I sent Augustine to the British Isles to Christianize the peoples there what church did Augustine find was already in the British Isles?

a. Presbyterian
b. Anglican
c. Celtic
d. Orthodox

Daily Quiz, May 25, 2015

Who is the Father of English History?

a. Arnold Toynbee
b. The Venerable Bede
c.  Alcuin
d.  Augustine of Canterbury


Daily Quiz, May 24, 2015

Of of the following, the residents of which locations were not listed as present in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost?

a. Egypt
b. Arabia
c. Rome
d. Cappadocia
e. Cyrene
f.  Spain


Daily Quiz, May 23, 2015

Why is Pentecost also known as Whitsunday?

a. means "white Sunday" referring to baptismal garments
b. girls wore white dresses to church 
c. orthographical variation of "wit" or the wisdom given by the Holy Spirit
d. unknown, may be any of the above

Daily Quiz, May 22, 2015

Copernicus and Kepler were men of faith who came to write about what view of astronomy which contradicted prevailing views?

a. heliocentric
b. geocentric
c. theocentric
d. teleocentric

Daily Quiz, May 21, 2015

The phrase "sour grapes" used to denote psychological and rhetorical rationalization is found in which prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures?

a. Isaiah
b. Jeremiah
c. Ezekiel
d. Hosea
e. a and b
f. b and c

Daily Quiz, May 20, 2015

Which of the following is not true of Alcuin?

a. he studied at York School
b. he was a leading scholar of Charlemagne's court
c. he wrote on the trivium
d. invented the first known written question mark
e. he was archbishop of York

Daily Quiz, May 19, 2015

With what church musical instrument is St. Dunstan associated with as a craftsman?

a. Organ
b. Lute
c. Bells
d. Harp


Daily Quiz, May 18, 2015

Who is the patron saint of blacksmiths?

a. Crispin
b. Sebastian
c. Dunstan
d. Claude

Daily Quiz, May 17, 2015

For which Christian feast is there a Jewish  feast of the same name but with a different meaning?

a. Holy Innocents
b. Ascension
c. Pentecost
d. Rogation

Daily Quiz, May 16, 2015

Which of the following prophets had a vision of the Valley of the Dry Bones?

a. Daniel
b. Jeremiah
c. Ezekiel
d. Joel
e. Baruch

Daily Quiz, May 15, 2015

Which prophet had literally to eat God's words written upon a scroll in the event of his calling, and who found the scroll to taste like honey in his stomach?

a. Amos
b. Micah
c. Obadiah
d. Isaiah
e. Ezekiel


Daily Quiz, May 14, 2015

According to the New Testament writing, from what location did Jesus ascend into heaven?

a. Jerusalem
b. Mount of Olives
c. the vicinity of Bethany
d. all of the above
e. b and c


Daily Quiz, May 13, 2015

Who is the "Mother" of Social Security and who is also on the calendar of saints for the Episcopal Church?

a. Claire of Assisi
b. Elizabeth Ann Seton
c. Frances Perkins
d. Dorothy Day

Daily Quiz, May 12, 2015

"Beating the bounds" is a procession associated with the liturgy for what day?

a. feast of St. Mary
b. Corpus Christi
c. Rogation Day
d. Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Daily Quiz, May 11, 2015

May 11-13, 2015 are the three days before the feast of the Ascension; what are these days called on the liturgical calendar?

a. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday
b. Rogation Days
c. Plenary Indulgence Day
d. Feast of Booths

Daily Quiz, May 10, 2015

Which of the following is true about Mother's Day?

a. it is a feast day in several liturgical churches
b. it is a feast day of the Blessed Virgin Mary
c. the rose is the official flower of Mother's Day
d. Ms. Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, was not married, childless and lobbied to have it removed as a holiday

Daily Quiz, May 9, 2015

Why does St. Gregory Nazianzus have several feast days?

a. he was the most important Byzantine Church Father
b. Julian and Gregorian calendar differences
c. Orthodox, Lutheran, Episcopal and Roman Catholics have different dates assigned within their own church calendars
d. Gregory requested various dates in his Will


Daily Quiz, May 8, 2015

Which of the following is not true of regarding Dame Julian of Norwich?

a. anchoress
b. author
c. recipient of visions
d. mystic
e. spiritual director
f. abbess


Daily Quiz, May 7, 2015

Who founded the American Episcopal religious order the Sisterhood of St. Mary?

a. William Augustus Muhlenburg
b. Sister Constance of Memphis
c. Harriet Starr Cannon
d. Jane Haight

Daily Quiz, May 6, 2015

Which church has not formally beatified, Lady Julian of Norwich?

a. Anglican Church
b. The Episcopal Church
c. The Lutheran Church
d. The Roman Catholic Church

Daily Quiz, May 5, 2015 

What was the name of the proto-Episcopal Church in Mexico when it sought the support of the Episcopal Church in the United States?

a. The Anglican Church of Mexico
b.  The Church of Jesus
c.  The Reformed Catholic Church of Mexico
d.  The Friends of Jesus


Daily Quiz, May 4, 2015

Who was the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo who prayed for his conversion?

a. Anne
b. Helena
c. Catherine
d. Monnica


Daily Quiz, May 3, 2015

From what country is the first African baptized Christian recorded in the New Testament?

a. Egypt
b. Ethiopia
c. Cush
d. Mizraim

Daily Quiz, May 2, 2015 

Which is not true of St. Athanasius of Alexandria?

a. was exiled multiple times for his theological views
b. was the architect of the prevailing doctrinal statement at Nicaea
c. ordered monks to destroy unacceptable writings
d. was influenced by St. Antony, the Father of monasticism
e. agreed with the views of Arius

 Daily Quiz, May 1, 2015

Why did St. Joseph get a second feast day by the Roman Catholic Church?

a. St. Joseph was the son of Jacob so he is a Hebrew saint
b. To balance all of the veneration given to St. Mary
c. To celebrate fathers
d.  as St. Joseph the worker, on May 1st, it gave the church a counter to
     International Workers' Day

Sunday School, May 31, 2015 Trinity Sunday B

Sunday School, May 31, 2015  Trinity Sunday B

Theme of the Day: The Holy Trinity

Use the metaphor of translation for understanding God’s Greatness

When we go to another country or when we hear other people speaking languages other than our own, how can we understand what they are saying?

We need a translator or someone who knows both language who can change what is said in another language into our own language.

Imagine God as being foreign because of God’s Greatness.  God is so great that God is in some way foreign unless God can be translated into human language and experience.

Faith in a Great God means that we believe that God is approachable enough to allow God to be translated into human language and experience.

So how is God translated into human language and experience?

We take the greatest things of human experience and since we believe that God is greater than everyone, then God must be the best example of everything great in human experience.

Make signs of the Names and Attributes of God to show how we translate and understand God in human language and experience.  The last three Sign would be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We understand that being a person is what is greatest about being human.  And  if we are persons, then God must be the greatest Person and so he is known to us in how his Personality is shown to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Holy or Special or Uniquely Greatest

I AM or Highest Being

Infinite: Too big for anyone to measure

All Powerful

Creator

Good

Merciful

Lovingly Kind

Love

Compassionate

Caring

Cares for the Poor

Sustainer: Keeps all things God

Perfect in Greatness

All Containing

Every in Inside of the Boundaries of God’

Salvation and Health

All Knowing

Omnipresent: Everywhere

Wise

With Us

Gracious

Comforter

Advocate: One who prays for us

Strength

Courage

Power

Hope

Father

Son

Holy Spirit

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

May 31, 2015: Trinity Sunday

Gathering Songs:

Bless the Lord; Holy, Holy, Holy; Father, I Adore You; Our God is an Awesome God

Song: Bless the Lord (Renew! # 114)

Bless the Lord my soul and bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord my soul, he rescues me from death.

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 and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, 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 Letter to the Romans

When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together Canticle 13

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers; * you are worthy of praise; glory to you.

Glory to you for the radiance of your holy Name; *  we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

Glory to you in the splendor of your temple; *  on the throne of your majesty, glory to you.

Glory to you, seated between the Cherubim; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

Glory to you, beholding the depths; * in the high vault of heaven, glory to you.

Glory to you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; * we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

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 John

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, `You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?  "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

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: Holy, Holy, Holy (blue hymnal, # 362) vs. 1 and 3

Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, Early in the morning, our song shall rise to Thee.  Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the sinful human eye they glory may not see, only thou art holy: there is none beside thee, perfect in power, in love, and purity.

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 so that we may love God and our neighbor.

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: Father, I Adore You (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 56)

Father, I adore you, lay my life before you, how I love you.

Jesus….

Spirit…

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: Awesome God (Renew! # 245) Sing Three times

Our God is an awesome God, He reigns from heaven above

with wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God.

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 

People: Thanks be to God!