Aphorism of the Day, November 30, 2017
There seems to be two presentations of what is not and never will be in the Bible presented in what might be called apocalyptic literature and utopian literature. (utopian is a much later notion and has to do with the presentation of "perfect" worlds). The distinction between apocalyptic and the utopian, as I see it, would be that perfect worlds happen because of interior magical transformation. What would cause a lion and lamb to be playmates except an interior transformation of the preditor-prey dynamic of nature? Apocalyptic literature is less about interior transformation and more about suppression of what is regarded to be bad by a superior force from the outside. One is interior magic, the other is external force. The utopian perfect world scenario is more naïve and child-like wishing not to get into the dirty details of how much antagonism resides in the free conditions of the world. Apocalyptic literature is truer to the seeming warring nature of humanity, admitting that in the end God's might expressed forcefully in some intervening superhero is the only realistic vision of peace given the warring natures of selfish humanity. So the biblical writings include both the Disneyesce naïve vision and the Tolkienesce war to end all war metaphors.
Aphorism of the Day, November 29, 2017
The irony of the apocalyptic genre in the Bible is created by those who read it and its place in their lives. The apocalyptic writings arose in suffering people who had a hard time reconciling their innocent suffering with an all powerful and all loving who supposedly had "chosen" them. "If we're chosen, then why do the tyrants oppress us?" In a world of freedom the "chosen" but oppressed people have to deal with the reality of the "bad guys winning." The apocalyptic catastrophic ending is just like the "lion and the lamb" visionary imagery; it is utopic, meaning there is "no such place or circumstances." The apocalyptic writing is a coping literature using visualization to assert justice over injustice.
Aphorism of the Day, November 28, 2017
Do not fear or be ashamed of the biblical apocalyptic. Be wary of biblical interpreters who use the Bible something like predictions of Nostradamus. In our time we have moved the apocalyptic into science fiction, cinematic presentations of the "threaten of the end" and the superheroes that are imagined to save us from such doom. The apocalyptic corresponds to a human mood with a corresponding discourse. Behind the apocalyptic discourse is thankfully, the normalcy of justice and just outcomes for all people who fall under the reckoning of justice and love.
Aphorism of the Day, November 27, 2017
Advent is a season when the Apocalypse is a "topic." Apocalypse or apocalyptic is language use whose purpose is to "unveil" the end of life as we know it. Apocalyptic language is used by persons who are still living and whose lives have not ended. The closest empirical reality of the apocalypse is the death of a person. Death is an "ending" and the universe of the individual dies to the lives of one's survivor. We no longer have access to be "within" the universe of the person who has died and who has had us in their perceptual fields. Apocalypse needs to be deconstructed since it does not mean the end of all things, particularly, the end of all language users, including God. Apocalyptic can sum up much of the popular culture in our cinema of impending disaster, bombs to destroy life as we know it and super heroes to save the day in the midst of apocalyptic threats. Apocalyptic use in culture has never gone away; it has moved from religious to secular political and entertainment venues.
Aphorism of the Day, November 26, 2017
It might be said that most genuine ministry is hidden from the one who ministers. The one who minister simply does the ministry at hand without knowing it is ministry and then retroactively someday may find out it was done to and for Christ. Such hiddenness of ministry by the ministry is good and natural humility. In the ministry to the needy, one may find that one is actually kissing the ring of the creator of the universe. Anticipate God as incognito, always, already.
Aphorism of the Day, November 25, 2017
The major irony of the Gospels is that Jesus is a King who was put on a cross. King on a cross is a stark oxymoron, but this expresses the dilemma of theodicy: how can an all powerful, all loving God permit innocent suffering? The Christ the King irony is further presented in the parable of the practice of finding God's presence in the lives of the homeless, poor and prisoners.
Aphorism of the Day, November 24, 2017
It could be that the divine presence is everywhere but may be stealthily concealed only to be discovered as one’s inner sight is purified to see it. The wisdom instructions of Jesus hint that the divine presence may become apparent in unobvious situations when one is not aware of doing anything but the care of those in need.
Aphorism of the Day, November 23,2017
Thanksgiving is a universal experience which is sometimes unavoidable when a person is surprised or overwhelmed by a sense blessing,favor, fortune and worthwhileness in life. It also has to be cultivated by reciprocal and collaborative interaction with others. To have a sense of being constantly sustained by a great Plenitude is the cosmic sense of thankfulness and such needs to be complemented with strategies and tactics of provision for actual needs of people in order for others to be able to be thankful in concrete ways.
Aphorism of the Day, November 22,2017
Like a parent who hide a treat for a child to find while cleaning the child’s bedroom so God hides the divine presence within the poor,hungry, and prisoner as a motivation device for people to look for God in the places they consider to be “wrong places.”
Aphorism of the Day, November 21,2017
It is easier for Christians to find Jesus in the bread and the wine than to find Him in the poor,hungry, and prisoner. God’s lure is to point the direction of divine presence in those not readily sought out by us.
Aphorism of the Day, November 20, 2017
"When you did it to the least of these, you did it to me." This parable is about a hidden incognito presence of God in the unlikely poor and hungry. The divine plot is to hide divinity in the unlikely as a mystical lure for the pure in heart to discover God in the kind of sensitivity that discernment requires. Much of American Christianity is about finding God at "church" and being "proud" of it. The Messiah is the one hidden in those with no profile in society. Finding God is not as obvious as the official religious people like to make it. The God of the Messiah is hidden in ways which require the inner character to discern the divine presence.
Aphorism of the Day, November 19, 2017
The parable of the talents reveals that investment is inspired by hope and faith about a better future of surpassing one's assets in a future state. The slave with one talent stated that he buried his talent because of fear of loss. Herein in the dilemma of life regarding what motivates us in our current action: Hope and faith of gain or fear about future loss. The fear of the loss of what one has results in atrophy and loss of what one has. Eternal life functions as future present utopia as motivational recovery from the fear of loss dominating a life which has a mixture of weal and woe.
Aphorism of the Day, November 18, 2017
The irony of the parable of the talents involves a progressive dissatisfaction with the status quo. The future state of being more perfect should make everyone "dissatisfied" with one current state of development. At the same time one is suppose to refrain from coveting and envy of what belongs to others and one is to be "content" with one's current life. This is the tension between the grace of future perfection calling out the grace of present contentment. It is great to be contented with the state of one's current assessment of one's "gifted state" but gifts are not static trophies on a shelf to admire, they are living organisms to be developed in further appropriate applications and expansion in one's future.
Aphorism of the Day, November 17, 2017
Try applying the parable of the talents of 5, 2, and 1 to the individual person. Each person possesses measures of gifts. A person tends to develop and invest for the gifts which seem most obvious or prominent and the gift which seems small goes neglected. A goal in life might be to be well rounded enough investing and developing all one's gifts in surpassing ways. We all have the gift for doing the "menial" tasks, like house chores but one may become "too important" to do the little things and lose touch with some basics, like how to wash clothes, shopping for groceries and fixing food. When one's support team is gone, then the atrophy in such areas makes one vulnerable. Also by learning to do the "small things," one learns empathy and appreciation for people who do "small things" as their life vocation and are people who form the scaffold for the survival of the world.
Aphorism of the Day, November 16, 2017
In the parable of the talents, recipients are given 5, 2, and 1 respectively. This is an indication of the difference and unevenness in how abilities are distributed in human functions. The parable indicates that all are equal in having gifts but different in the kinds of gifts. The divine imperative is to develop what one has and not worry about comparison with others. The notion of justice is based upon the wisdom of what is appropriate relative to the individual circumstances. Equal but different is an enduring principle to be found in the Bible.
Aphorism of the Day, November 15, 2017
Worthless slave being thrown into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth? How's that for the punchline of a parable? Rather harsh? The parables often have harshness about them because as in the case of the parable of the talents, the law of atrophy is harsh. The parables personify the harshness of the reality of atrophy of wasted lives. One can see the harsh reality of wasted gifts in our current opioid crisis. Making continuous addictive choices build in such determining habits and the good gifts die from atrophy. The harsh language dramatically highlights the sad reality of wasted lives and is meant to be a cold water teaching rebuke to make the choice to develop our gifts.
Aphorism of the Day, November 14, 2017
Atrophy is a most feared natural and spiritual law. Use it or lose it. Atrophy means the loss of function and gifts through lack of use. This principle of atrophy is starkly presented in the parable of the talents. It also ties in with the most fearful literal meaning of hell. Hell or Gehenna, was the equivalent of a "waste site" in the Valley of Hinnom. Atrophy of gifts is "hell" or the waste of what one has been given to develop in life. Indeed, such atrophy is both personal and communal "hell." Something to be feared and mourned.
Aphorism of the Day, November 13, 2017
One of the goals of physical therapy is to counter the harsh law of atrophy. The parable of the talents indicates that people are gifted in unequal and uneven ways, but each person is only judged by a person's future self, in how one develops the gifts that one has been given. Atrophy is also a harsh law for practice of faith, love, generosity and justice. One should not worry about being compared with others; one should only look to surpassing oneself in a future state.
Aphorism of the Day, November 12, 2017
The parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids allow us to project upon it both the wise and foolish aspects of our personalities. We have been both; in foolishness we have often missed the mystical encounter with the Risen Christ. When we have been wise we have been blessed with serendipity.
Aphorism of the Day, November 11, 2017
Sometimes we use actuarial probability theory to prepare for the worst. We should also use actuarial wisdom in our prayers as intercession and petition for good things to happen as indicated in the words of Archbishop William Temple when he said,"When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't, they don't." Actuarial serendipity seems like an oxymoron, but how many people miss serendipity because they weren't prepared to recognize it? The parable of the foolish and wise bridesmaids is about actuarial wisdom of being prepared for the wedding, or in Christian mysticism, the mystical union with the Risen Christ. Some miss the wedding. Don't miss the wedding!
Aphorism of the Day, November 10, 2017
The five foolish bridesmaids of the parable of Jesus, did not purchase enough oil for their lamps and when they finally arrived at the wedding, they were locked out. If church doors were locked for all latecomers attendance would be substantially less.
Aphorism of the Day, November 9, 2017
The Psalmist wrote about opening his/her mouth and speaking in parables to declare the mysteries of ancient times. In modern genre a mystery is a detective novel where an issue has to be solves. A parable is a story that parallels actual life to provide insights about our lives. And the greatest insight in life is about the mystery of what we cannot know or do not yet know. I do not believe that the parables of Jesus are meant to solve the mysteries of life; they are insights about the mysteries of life and coming to insightful faith to live with the mysteries of life.
Aphorism of the Day, November 8, 2017
The parable about the "foolish" bridesmaid who did not take enough oil for their lamps, indicates that they had to go and purchase oil and so they missed the great procession and they subsequently were not allowed into the wedding. The wisdom teaching behind this seeming cruelty of not be allowed as a latecomer to the wedding indicates the absoluteness of the past. A missed chance is missed forever; that is the nature of the absolute uniqueness of each moment and each choice. It cannot be repeated and the question is how do we live with the fact that we have missed opportunities. We do so by learning from what we have missed and going forward. But we cannot avoid the grief and the poignant sting of missed opportunities. The road not taken can remain a painful memory even if it can also be a teaching memory. Dwelling in regret is unresolved grief.
Aphorism of the Day, November 7, 2017
The Bible might be called a book of actuarial wisdom of writers who were inspired to take into account the issues of living in their times. Since most biblical people travelled but a few miles from their homes in their life time the "outside" world was really big and unknown and the future of the future was a major topic. In modern Emergency Response Teams, we have come to have the wisdom to send in counselors and clergy to comfort people in the time of injury and loss of life and property. This is seen as good actuarial wisdom to deal with the "unseen" aspect of the human person. When humanity has not known about the vast universe from the perspective of satellites and space telescopes, humanity has exercised more imaginations on "what's out there" in terms of a physical place of "heaven." As we have gained more access to understanding the universe, we have tended to move "heaven" to a parallel inner space which is just as real as outer space but the inner space inspires different kind of language use than what science has come to use in the empirical exploration of space. Biblical interpreters who transfer modern science empiricism back to the biblical exposition of inner space have engendered the modern phenomenon that is often called "fundamentalism." Unwittingly, such people have acknowledged the superior knowledge of "science" and so all the inner spatial knowledge of biblical wisdom has to be "science" too. What is true about "inner space" knowledge is that people have a variety of discursive practices, all of which are true, in the ways that pertain to how they function given the specific task of the actuarial wisdom. Wisdom involves knowing what discourse is being used when and for what purpose.
Aphorism of the Day, November 6, 2017
Five wise bridesmaid took enough oil for their lamps; five foolish bridesmaid did not and the missed the show. One can rush and give too much precise and specific religious interpretation to his parables when at face value they include wise actuarial probability practice which include a real respect for the free conditions in the natural order of things. Events are serendipitous if they are experienced as positive blessing and fateful if they are not. The message of the parable encourage us to respect the free conditions of life even while from observation we should take up wise probability theories and have some plans that are inclusive of multiple outcomes.
Aphorism of the Day, November 5, 2017
Mark Twain, "Clothes make the man; naked people have little or no influence on society." Of course this saying was made when American society had not yet become the pornographic society that it now is. Jesus noted the vestments of the religious and opined in a similar way, "Clothes do not make the religious person." Vestments and all of the external trappings of faith, including titles and certificates do not make a person of faith. What does? Inner attachment to one's heavenly parent and to the Messiah from whom one receives the charism or grace to bring authentic validity to the outer persona of one's life in one's calling or profession, which include uniforms, certificates and titles.
Aphorism of the Day, November 4, 2017
The words of Jesus warn about being costumed and cosmetic people of faith; looking the part on the outside in one's "Sunday goin' to meetin'" clothes or vestments and yet in one's inner motives and one's lack of practice of love and justice belying what one's exterior identity proclaims.
Aphorism of the Day, November 3, 2017
As the Jesus Movement was being separated from synagogue Judaism, the Gospels were written presenting Jesus as the origin of this separation. He is the reformer who challenges the existing institutions and this is seen in his injunction to "call no one father" or "rabbi/teacher." Martin Luther was a reformer whose impact brought churches to be separated by having a common Savior and the Protestant /Catholic divide has at times been regarded to be as severe as the separation which occurred between synagogue and Jesus Movement. Institutions can get lax and exist on "automatic" assumptions and self-perpetuating titled authorities. Reformers challenge what is "taken for granted" in the basic background assumptions of who have the authority to control how the populace is constituted in their social and religious identities. Reformations occur because old authorities are not competent to the new realities on the ground in the lives of real people. The Christian Movement was based upon the reality of Israel as an autonomous nation as impossible in the Roman situation. The Jesus Movement response was not to live separate within the Roman World and hope to gain some land to be independently cloistered in; rather the Christian Movement was to be evangelical and convert the Romans of the Roman world. To do this, Christians believed they had the inspired insights to give up the ritual purity aspect of Judaism which allowed the Roman and Gentile citizenry to have the interior evidence of God's Spirit without have the cultural markings of observant Jews.
Aphorism of the Day, November 2, 2017
Day of the Dead. All Souls. For all the Departed. This is a day to remember very local and personal saints, not canonized by official procedures of the church but canonized because they made a difference in our lives. Local saints remain remembered by a generation or two and then their rememberers die as well. Traces of them remain in genealogical trees and in family records and sites of their remains. We go to the "cities" of the dead to observe the traces of their having once been alive and with us in a different way. We ponder the antithesis of fame, viz., not being remembered by anyone. And so we confess God to be the one with the greatest memory of all to record our having been and making us an absolute past and an everlasting future. All Souls Day is a day to remember those who have become invisible to us but who still have a very personal reality for us. We celebrate the invisible and parallel interior kingdom where we weave the unseen with the seen and we celebrate how those departed continue to live on with us, but who lost their physical and visible continuity with us. We do not minimize the event when physical continuity is lost even as we celebrate how they invisibly continue with us.
Aphorism of the Day, November 1, 2017
There seems to be two presentations of what is not and never will be in the Bible presented in what might be called apocalyptic literature and utopian literature. (utopian is a much later notion and has to do with the presentation of "perfect" worlds). The distinction between apocalyptic and the utopian, as I see it, would be that perfect worlds happen because of interior magical transformation. What would cause a lion and lamb to be playmates except an interior transformation of the preditor-prey dynamic of nature? Apocalyptic literature is less about interior transformation and more about suppression of what is regarded to be bad by a superior force from the outside. One is interior magic, the other is external force. The utopian perfect world scenario is more naïve and child-like wishing not to get into the dirty details of how much antagonism resides in the free conditions of the world. Apocalyptic literature is truer to the seeming warring nature of humanity, admitting that in the end God's might expressed forcefully in some intervening superhero is the only realistic vision of peace given the warring natures of selfish humanity. So the biblical writings include both the Disneyesce naïve vision and the Tolkienesce war to end all war metaphors.
Aphorism of the Day, November 29, 2017
The irony of the apocalyptic genre in the Bible is created by those who read it and its place in their lives. The apocalyptic writings arose in suffering people who had a hard time reconciling their innocent suffering with an all powerful and all loving who supposedly had "chosen" them. "If we're chosen, then why do the tyrants oppress us?" In a world of freedom the "chosen" but oppressed people have to deal with the reality of the "bad guys winning." The apocalyptic catastrophic ending is just like the "lion and the lamb" visionary imagery; it is utopic, meaning there is "no such place or circumstances." The apocalyptic writing is a coping literature using visualization to assert justice over injustice.
Aphorism of the Day, November 28, 2017
Do not fear or be ashamed of the biblical apocalyptic. Be wary of biblical interpreters who use the Bible something like predictions of Nostradamus. In our time we have moved the apocalyptic into science fiction, cinematic presentations of the "threaten of the end" and the superheroes that are imagined to save us from such doom. The apocalyptic corresponds to a human mood with a corresponding discourse. Behind the apocalyptic discourse is thankfully, the normalcy of justice and just outcomes for all people who fall under the reckoning of justice and love.
Aphorism of the Day, November 27, 2017
Advent is a season when the Apocalypse is a "topic." Apocalypse or apocalyptic is language use whose purpose is to "unveil" the end of life as we know it. Apocalyptic language is used by persons who are still living and whose lives have not ended. The closest empirical reality of the apocalypse is the death of a person. Death is an "ending" and the universe of the individual dies to the lives of one's survivor. We no longer have access to be "within" the universe of the person who has died and who has had us in their perceptual fields. Apocalypse needs to be deconstructed since it does not mean the end of all things, particularly, the end of all language users, including God. Apocalyptic can sum up much of the popular culture in our cinema of impending disaster, bombs to destroy life as we know it and super heroes to save the day in the midst of apocalyptic threats. Apocalyptic use in culture has never gone away; it has moved from religious to secular political and entertainment venues.
Aphorism of the Day, November 26, 2017
It might be said that most genuine ministry is hidden from the one who ministers. The one who minister simply does the ministry at hand without knowing it is ministry and then retroactively someday may find out it was done to and for Christ. Such hiddenness of ministry by the ministry is good and natural humility. In the ministry to the needy, one may find that one is actually kissing the ring of the creator of the universe. Anticipate God as incognito, always, already.
Aphorism of the Day, November 25, 2017
The major irony of the Gospels is that Jesus is a King who was put on a cross. King on a cross is a stark oxymoron, but this expresses the dilemma of theodicy: how can an all powerful, all loving God permit innocent suffering? The Christ the King irony is further presented in the parable of the practice of finding God's presence in the lives of the homeless, poor and prisoners.
Aphorism of the Day, November 24, 2017
It could be that the divine presence is everywhere but may be stealthily concealed only to be discovered as one’s inner sight is purified to see it. The wisdom instructions of Jesus hint that the divine presence may become apparent in unobvious situations when one is not aware of doing anything but the care of those in need.
Aphorism of the Day, November 23,2017
Thanksgiving is a universal experience which is sometimes unavoidable when a person is surprised or overwhelmed by a sense blessing,favor, fortune and worthwhileness in life. It also has to be cultivated by reciprocal and collaborative interaction with others. To have a sense of being constantly sustained by a great Plenitude is the cosmic sense of thankfulness and such needs to be complemented with strategies and tactics of provision for actual needs of people in order for others to be able to be thankful in concrete ways.
Aphorism of the Day, November 22,2017
Like a parent who hide a treat for a child to find while cleaning the child’s bedroom so God hides the divine presence within the poor,hungry, and prisoner as a motivation device for people to look for God in the places they consider to be “wrong places.”
Aphorism of the Day, November 21,2017
It is easier for Christians to find Jesus in the bread and the wine than to find Him in the poor,hungry, and prisoner. God’s lure is to point the direction of divine presence in those not readily sought out by us.
Aphorism of the Day, November 20, 2017
"When you did it to the least of these, you did it to me." This parable is about a hidden incognito presence of God in the unlikely poor and hungry. The divine plot is to hide divinity in the unlikely as a mystical lure for the pure in heart to discover God in the kind of sensitivity that discernment requires. Much of American Christianity is about finding God at "church" and being "proud" of it. The Messiah is the one hidden in those with no profile in society. Finding God is not as obvious as the official religious people like to make it. The God of the Messiah is hidden in ways which require the inner character to discern the divine presence.
Aphorism of the Day, November 19, 2017
The parable of the talents reveals that investment is inspired by hope and faith about a better future of surpassing one's assets in a future state. The slave with one talent stated that he buried his talent because of fear of loss. Herein in the dilemma of life regarding what motivates us in our current action: Hope and faith of gain or fear about future loss. The fear of the loss of what one has results in atrophy and loss of what one has. Eternal life functions as future present utopia as motivational recovery from the fear of loss dominating a life which has a mixture of weal and woe.
Aphorism of the Day, November 18, 2017
The irony of the parable of the talents involves a progressive dissatisfaction with the status quo. The future state of being more perfect should make everyone "dissatisfied" with one current state of development. At the same time one is suppose to refrain from coveting and envy of what belongs to others and one is to be "content" with one's current life. This is the tension between the grace of future perfection calling out the grace of present contentment. It is great to be contented with the state of one's current assessment of one's "gifted state" but gifts are not static trophies on a shelf to admire, they are living organisms to be developed in further appropriate applications and expansion in one's future.
Aphorism of the Day, November 17, 2017
Try applying the parable of the talents of 5, 2, and 1 to the individual person. Each person possesses measures of gifts. A person tends to develop and invest for the gifts which seem most obvious or prominent and the gift which seems small goes neglected. A goal in life might be to be well rounded enough investing and developing all one's gifts in surpassing ways. We all have the gift for doing the "menial" tasks, like house chores but one may become "too important" to do the little things and lose touch with some basics, like how to wash clothes, shopping for groceries and fixing food. When one's support team is gone, then the atrophy in such areas makes one vulnerable. Also by learning to do the "small things," one learns empathy and appreciation for people who do "small things" as their life vocation and are people who form the scaffold for the survival of the world.
Aphorism of the Day, November 16, 2017
In the parable of the talents, recipients are given 5, 2, and 1 respectively. This is an indication of the difference and unevenness in how abilities are distributed in human functions. The parable indicates that all are equal in having gifts but different in the kinds of gifts. The divine imperative is to develop what one has and not worry about comparison with others. The notion of justice is based upon the wisdom of what is appropriate relative to the individual circumstances. Equal but different is an enduring principle to be found in the Bible.
Aphorism of the Day, November 15, 2017
Worthless slave being thrown into outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth? How's that for the punchline of a parable? Rather harsh? The parables often have harshness about them because as in the case of the parable of the talents, the law of atrophy is harsh. The parables personify the harshness of the reality of atrophy of wasted lives. One can see the harsh reality of wasted gifts in our current opioid crisis. Making continuous addictive choices build in such determining habits and the good gifts die from atrophy. The harsh language dramatically highlights the sad reality of wasted lives and is meant to be a cold water teaching rebuke to make the choice to develop our gifts.
Aphorism of the Day, November 14, 2017
Atrophy is a most feared natural and spiritual law. Use it or lose it. Atrophy means the loss of function and gifts through lack of use. This principle of atrophy is starkly presented in the parable of the talents. It also ties in with the most fearful literal meaning of hell. Hell or Gehenna, was the equivalent of a "waste site" in the Valley of Hinnom. Atrophy of gifts is "hell" or the waste of what one has been given to develop in life. Indeed, such atrophy is both personal and communal "hell." Something to be feared and mourned.
Aphorism of the Day, November 13, 2017
One of the goals of physical therapy is to counter the harsh law of atrophy. The parable of the talents indicates that people are gifted in unequal and uneven ways, but each person is only judged by a person's future self, in how one develops the gifts that one has been given. Atrophy is also a harsh law for practice of faith, love, generosity and justice. One should not worry about being compared with others; one should only look to surpassing oneself in a future state.
Aphorism of the Day, November 12, 2017
The parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids allow us to project upon it both the wise and foolish aspects of our personalities. We have been both; in foolishness we have often missed the mystical encounter with the Risen Christ. When we have been wise we have been blessed with serendipity.
Aphorism of the Day, November 11, 2017
Sometimes we use actuarial probability theory to prepare for the worst. We should also use actuarial wisdom in our prayers as intercession and petition for good things to happen as indicated in the words of Archbishop William Temple when he said,"When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't, they don't." Actuarial serendipity seems like an oxymoron, but how many people miss serendipity because they weren't prepared to recognize it? The parable of the foolish and wise bridesmaids is about actuarial wisdom of being prepared for the wedding, or in Christian mysticism, the mystical union with the Risen Christ. Some miss the wedding. Don't miss the wedding!
Aphorism of the Day, November 10, 2017
The five foolish bridesmaids of the parable of Jesus, did not purchase enough oil for their lamps and when they finally arrived at the wedding, they were locked out. If church doors were locked for all latecomers attendance would be substantially less.
Aphorism of the Day, November 9, 2017
The Psalmist wrote about opening his/her mouth and speaking in parables to declare the mysteries of ancient times. In modern genre a mystery is a detective novel where an issue has to be solves. A parable is a story that parallels actual life to provide insights about our lives. And the greatest insight in life is about the mystery of what we cannot know or do not yet know. I do not believe that the parables of Jesus are meant to solve the mysteries of life; they are insights about the mysteries of life and coming to insightful faith to live with the mysteries of life.
Aphorism of the Day, November 8, 2017
The parable about the "foolish" bridesmaid who did not take enough oil for their lamps, indicates that they had to go and purchase oil and so they missed the great procession and they subsequently were not allowed into the wedding. The wisdom teaching behind this seeming cruelty of not be allowed as a latecomer to the wedding indicates the absoluteness of the past. A missed chance is missed forever; that is the nature of the absolute uniqueness of each moment and each choice. It cannot be repeated and the question is how do we live with the fact that we have missed opportunities. We do so by learning from what we have missed and going forward. But we cannot avoid the grief and the poignant sting of missed opportunities. The road not taken can remain a painful memory even if it can also be a teaching memory. Dwelling in regret is unresolved grief.
Aphorism of the Day, November 7, 2017
The Bible might be called a book of actuarial wisdom of writers who were inspired to take into account the issues of living in their times. Since most biblical people travelled but a few miles from their homes in their life time the "outside" world was really big and unknown and the future of the future was a major topic. In modern Emergency Response Teams, we have come to have the wisdom to send in counselors and clergy to comfort people in the time of injury and loss of life and property. This is seen as good actuarial wisdom to deal with the "unseen" aspect of the human person. When humanity has not known about the vast universe from the perspective of satellites and space telescopes, humanity has exercised more imaginations on "what's out there" in terms of a physical place of "heaven." As we have gained more access to understanding the universe, we have tended to move "heaven" to a parallel inner space which is just as real as outer space but the inner space inspires different kind of language use than what science has come to use in the empirical exploration of space. Biblical interpreters who transfer modern science empiricism back to the biblical exposition of inner space have engendered the modern phenomenon that is often called "fundamentalism." Unwittingly, such people have acknowledged the superior knowledge of "science" and so all the inner spatial knowledge of biblical wisdom has to be "science" too. What is true about "inner space" knowledge is that people have a variety of discursive practices, all of which are true, in the ways that pertain to how they function given the specific task of the actuarial wisdom. Wisdom involves knowing what discourse is being used when and for what purpose.
Aphorism of the Day, November 6, 2017
Five wise bridesmaid took enough oil for their lamps; five foolish bridesmaid did not and the missed the show. One can rush and give too much precise and specific religious interpretation to his parables when at face value they include wise actuarial probability practice which include a real respect for the free conditions in the natural order of things. Events are serendipitous if they are experienced as positive blessing and fateful if they are not. The message of the parable encourage us to respect the free conditions of life even while from observation we should take up wise probability theories and have some plans that are inclusive of multiple outcomes.
Aphorism of the Day, November 5, 2017
Mark Twain, "Clothes make the man; naked people have little or no influence on society." Of course this saying was made when American society had not yet become the pornographic society that it now is. Jesus noted the vestments of the religious and opined in a similar way, "Clothes do not make the religious person." Vestments and all of the external trappings of faith, including titles and certificates do not make a person of faith. What does? Inner attachment to one's heavenly parent and to the Messiah from whom one receives the charism or grace to bring authentic validity to the outer persona of one's life in one's calling or profession, which include uniforms, certificates and titles.
Aphorism of the Day, November 4, 2017
The words of Jesus warn about being costumed and cosmetic people of faith; looking the part on the outside in one's "Sunday goin' to meetin'" clothes or vestments and yet in one's inner motives and one's lack of practice of love and justice belying what one's exterior identity proclaims.
Aphorism of the Day, November 3, 2017
As the Jesus Movement was being separated from synagogue Judaism, the Gospels were written presenting Jesus as the origin of this separation. He is the reformer who challenges the existing institutions and this is seen in his injunction to "call no one father" or "rabbi/teacher." Martin Luther was a reformer whose impact brought churches to be separated by having a common Savior and the Protestant /Catholic divide has at times been regarded to be as severe as the separation which occurred between synagogue and Jesus Movement. Institutions can get lax and exist on "automatic" assumptions and self-perpetuating titled authorities. Reformers challenge what is "taken for granted" in the basic background assumptions of who have the authority to control how the populace is constituted in their social and religious identities. Reformations occur because old authorities are not competent to the new realities on the ground in the lives of real people. The Christian Movement was based upon the reality of Israel as an autonomous nation as impossible in the Roman situation. The Jesus Movement response was not to live separate within the Roman World and hope to gain some land to be independently cloistered in; rather the Christian Movement was to be evangelical and convert the Romans of the Roman world. To do this, Christians believed they had the inspired insights to give up the ritual purity aspect of Judaism which allowed the Roman and Gentile citizenry to have the interior evidence of God's Spirit without have the cultural markings of observant Jews.
Aphorism of the Day, November 2, 2017
Day of the Dead. All Souls. For all the Departed. This is a day to remember very local and personal saints, not canonized by official procedures of the church but canonized because they made a difference in our lives. Local saints remain remembered by a generation or two and then their rememberers die as well. Traces of them remain in genealogical trees and in family records and sites of their remains. We go to the "cities" of the dead to observe the traces of their having once been alive and with us in a different way. We ponder the antithesis of fame, viz., not being remembered by anyone. And so we confess God to be the one with the greatest memory of all to record our having been and making us an absolute past and an everlasting future. All Souls Day is a day to remember those who have become invisible to us but who still have a very personal reality for us. We celebrate the invisible and parallel interior kingdom where we weave the unseen with the seen and we celebrate how those departed continue to live on with us, but who lost their physical and visible continuity with us. We do not minimize the event when physical continuity is lost even as we celebrate how they invisibly continue with us.
Aphorism of the Day, November 1, 2017
In our day of the proliferation of "comic" superheroes of all sorts, we need not, on All Saints' Day be apologetic about the heroes of the Hall of Fame of the church. Most of them are presented as ordinary people doing the extraordinary and not thinking that they were doing anything except what seemed obedient and necessary in being faithful in their situation in time. Yes, saints have attained legendary status because it is natural to use honorific language to indicate respect for persons who have lived in a way to draw from us the desire to emulate their high standard of values. We also may use honorific language to excuse ourselves for our despair in thinking that God could ever do something "heroic" through us. Fortunately God hides from us mostly what God is doing through us; the saints did not consider what they did as heroic when they were doing it. They did what they were impelled to do when the occasion arose. No one seeks "canonical" sainthood; we should only seek to be faithful in what is before us and keep rising toward our highest insight regarding the practice of love and justice. That is the saintly thing to do.
