Sunday, September 30, 2018

Aphorism of the Day, September 2018

Aphorism of the Day, September 30, 2018

In Pauline mysticism, identity with the death of Christ had the effect of indicting unworthy aspects both on the level of the whole self, but also members of the self.  One's members were to be transformed and used for righteousness instead of unrighteousness and being identified with the death of Christ was the power which effected this interdiction of wrong use even as the resurrecting power of the Spirit empowered right use.  In presenting the story of Jesus, his hyperbolic language in his setting before his death on the cross, was used to teach this interdiction of the unworthy use of human capacity.  Hence, he said to pluck out the eye, cut off the hand, make oneself lame, if the use of any aspect of the self was unworthy and offended the ideal and desired use of each human capacity.

Aphorism of the Day, September 29, 2018

The Holy Scriptures are writings of people who grapple with how to best use an unavoidable human discursive habit of always already assuming a totality even while knowing that they are not large enough to encompass such a Totality to be infallible spokespersons for such a Totality.  In the universe of language a single word does not exist alone; it exists in the universe of everything that could come to Language.   Perhaps this is why the writer of John's Gospel believed that the Word was with God and was God because by so saying it is honest to human existence as it could even be known.

Aphorism of the Day, September 28, 2018

One of the functions of prayer might be the general acceptance of the results of change and time in being in the continual process of loss.  We are losing all kinds of things, all of the time and how do we adjust to continual loss?  One of the ways of adjusting to the way things are or happen to be is to come to declare life as "God's will," as if totality could be anything other than it is.  The variable is how the one experiences time, change, loss and gains in how it comes in the language of one's life through the interpretation of the meaning of personal experience.  The sense of the power of freedom to really have significance because of the choice of one's words and body language acts vis a vis Infinity sums up both the grace and the absurdity of prayer.

Aphorism of the Day, September 27, 2018

"and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven."  This is added in the account of James for praying for the sick and it is included in the prayer for the sick in the Book of Common Prayer, "of his great mercies may he forgive you your sins."  People who are sick and people who are well are sinners and need forgiveness.  What I object to in these prayers for the sick is the subtle implication that "one's sins are specifically" connected with the condition of sickness for which the church is offering Holy Unction.  In some situations what we do wrong may have causal connection with a condition of "sickness" but to assume that this is always the case is presuming to know too much and can have the overtones of "blaming the victims."  As if, if such a person had not sinned he or she would not be sick.  I think that language of the rite should be changed to remove the ambiguity.

Aphorism of the Day, September 26, 2018

"Whoever is not against us is for us."  If love and justice are the main goals, then whoever is working for the same is in league with all who share the same goal.  The notion that my quest for love and justice is superior to yours is in fact an offense to love and justice.

 Aphorism of the Day, September 25, 2018

In the hyperbolic language of Jesus, he recommends a millstone necklace to be the anchor for the one who is tossed into the sea because he has "offended the littles" (children?)  That is a rather horrifying punishment for those involved in the abuse of "little ones."  It seems as though Jesus must have observed the mistreatment of children and he was quite upset to recommend such harsh punishment.

Aphorism of the September 24, 2018

One can have harmful behaviors cease through external intervention like removing accessibility to addictive substances or by imprisonment.  The severity of harmful behaviors were stressed by Jesus in his extreme hyperbolic language of "self suppression."  "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off!"  The freedom of choice known as fasting is the interdiction by oneself that needs to be done to avoid the juridical intervention by the legal authorities.  The hyperbolic use of language by Jesus suggests that serious misuse of any human function is best done through free self agency.  As negative as the language seems, it is an affirmation of human freedom to be able to do it.  As tyrannical as addictions are, one should never de-humanize a person by saying that one has no choice at all in self-control.

Aphorism of Day, September 23, 2018

Greatness as explained by Jesus is not having wealth, position or knowledge; it involves taking care of children and treating them as though they were Christ.  Power, wealth and knowledge are greatest when they are converted to help the vulnerable and to impart worth and value to those who have no affirming environment.

Aphorism of Day, September 22, 2018

The mysticism of Pauline being "in Christ" and Christ in "in me" is hidden in the narratives of Jesus in the Gospels a manuals of mysticism for those who were initiates in Christo-mysticism and who "knew the Messianic secret" and had "ears to hear" the spiritual message which was encoded within the re-telling of the stories and words of Jesus.  A crucial aspect of the Gospel qua the mysticism of Paul and others was what one might call neonatal, infant and child theology.  The origin of Christ "in me" is being overshadowed by the Spirit.  One discovers one's new birth by having it revealed in projecting upon babes and children who bear the wonder that is lost in the cynical world of adulthood.  Jesus uses the baby-child motif to bring us back to the depth of wonder that has been lost because being evicted from the nascent Garden of Eden and learning good and evil in adult ways has been like facing the guardian angels preventing a return to the garden of Wonder.  Jesus initiated access to the parallel universe of Wonder even while the weeds and wild of the wilderness of the external earthly kingdoms keep us in perpetual trouble.

 Aphorism of the Day, September 21, 2018

The child-motif of the Gospels probably reached a height when the infancy narratives came to writing in Matthew and Luke.  Instead of teaching directly the mystical theology of being born again by the birth of Christ into one's life, they hide the new birth in a mystagogic story of Christ being born in Mary, the paradigmatic Christian, whose life is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit in the conception event.  One can say that the world has been "Christmasized" because of the effect of the holiday in the society at large.  For some reason, we are drawn to that which we can never fully consciously recover, viz., our earliest memories of our lives when we were not conscious users of language but was in the process of being codified by the language users who controlled us.  That mystical state of unknowing Innocence is the potent force of the power of New Birth, which in fact is just the return of the memorial traces of our conception and first birth.

Aphorism of the Day, September 20, 2018

The Gospel child-motif of Jesus is striking.  How much closer to childhood can one be than the metaphor, "born again?"  How is that that Jesus said mysteries have been withheld from the wise and revealed to infants?  It could be that infant and child represent the state of contemplation; a state of being where one does not use language and does not interpret anything.  Learning language and becoming an interpreter means that one's view of the world is already clouded by the taxonomical grids given to one by one's teaching cultural situation, hence it is biased and limited and completely relative to the context.  The state of wonder is the before and beyond language state that one tries to access in attaining a state of mystery or the humility of being suspended in unknowing because of recognition of one's smallness and yet connection with an infinite number of others.  Such a connection without knowing in any precise way all causal connections incites the wonder of any interpretation dying the death of a thousand qualifications and in the cloud of such unknowing one can be content with wonder.

Aphorism of the Day, September 19, 2018

The disciples are presented in the Gospel as those who do not understand the meaning of the life of Jesus and the things that will happen to him.  The disciples are those who are presented as those who are still steeped in the common paradigms of their culture and have not yet had the conversion experience to the new Christo-mysticism which occurred after his death and the advent of the variety of appearances of the Risen Christ.  The Risen Christ can inhabit people who live within most any cultural paradigm and the task is to give up our old paradigms of not understanding what the Risen Christ is doing in a new place and a new time.

Aphorism of the Day, September 18, 2018

The importance of the child-motif in the words of Jesus could be read in several ways.  It could be an indication that children were not treated very well in the time of Jesus just as they have often in history been viewed as mainly part of the labor force or future brides for financial well being of the family.  Many people regard religion being mainly for children and something that one can grow out of as an adult.  I suspect that Jesus regarded children as being the little people on whom adults can project the lost naivete of one's forgotten early life and there is a "born again" energy in being able to access one's child aspect of personality in bringing fresh wonder into the most adult situations of life.  If one is missing the fresh energy of one's "child aspect of personality" then one can live as a pessimistic adult Scrooge pronouncing "bah humbug" on everything that one does.

Aphorism of the Day, September 17, 2018

The child motif in the Gospels is significant and even sacramental.  Jesus receives a child and said, "If you receive a child, you have received me."  Jesus identified himself with a child and that is as significant as being identified with bread and wine.  The church has often made bread and wine holy objects while the church has existed in cultures which tolerated child labor and child exploitation and neglect.  Church leaders are faced with their own record of child abuse and cover up.  It is much easier to take care of bread and wine than it is to take care of a child.  What will the church do about the child as sacrament, as making Christ present?

Aphorism of the Day, September 16, 2018

Belief in Jesus as the Messiah occurred in the serendipity of those who had an experience of the Risen Christ.  Those who did not have the spiritual and charismatic experience could not affirm that he was still alive and had conquered death.  Even though religious experience is open for everyone, that does not mean that everyone has the serendipity of having the experience in such a way as to affirm belief and practice of fellowship in a community that shared the experience.  The difference between a religious movement and an established church is that movement participants are more likely to have happened upon a conversion event; in the well established church cultures, one subscribes to the experiences whether one has had the conversion events or not.  In evangelical church culture, even the conversion experiences are fully institutionalized and routinized, such that on cue most children eventually have the "rite of passage" religious experiences.

Aphorism of the Day, September 15, 2018

The cross of Jesus is perhaps evidence of the greatest makeover in history.  An instrument of torture is now rendered in jewels and gold and silver and adorns the bodies of people, even babies.  Invisible crosses are marked over our bodies and drawn in with unseen chrism on the forehead as the sign of Christian branding.  What about the untold thousands of people who died on Roman crosses?  Who remembers them and why are their crosses not remembered?  The cross of Jesus is singular in human importance because the experience of his resurrected afterlife by his disciples rewrote the Cross of Jesus into the mystical power of being able to died to what is unworthy within us as we bear sacrificial identity with Jesus for the salvation of the world.

Aphorism of the Day, September 14, 2018

Christianity is founded upon the irony of the event of capital punishment becoming an event of fame and salvation.  The Romans lifted up the cross with Jesus on it near Jerusalem in the performance of an event of public torture for the local residents as a warning about being involved in any movement construed as political insurrection.  They lifted up Jesus to end his time on earth and yet the lifting up of Jesus in his fame which grew throughout the Roman Empire was based upon the evidence of his afterlife in the lives of his disciples and the ability of his Spirit-trace afterlife to be replicated in the lives of many.  The irony is that the cross then became regarded as the launching pad of the spectacular afterlife of Jesus in its many manifestations in becoming actualized in the lives of people.

Aphorism of the Day, September 13, 2018

In the development of aspirations for an afterlife to the subjective immortality as anchored in resurrection belief, it seems as the power of hope overwhelmed people with the sense of their lives being "unfinished," and if unfinished, one needed more time to be in the process of finishing one's life.  Hope might seem to be a tyrant if it has created wishing behaviors for what can never be actually achieved in space-time bodily existence.  Across humanity there is a great unevenness in what is actually achieved in the lives of people, and the unevenness of what is attained might seem to be cosmically unfair.  The contemplation of all future possibility for one to become actual for one is the lure of resurrection theology.  Hope cries all things are possible and incites one to want all possibility even while the actual is dreadfully lacking in comparison with the possible.  The gap of Hope and the Actual created the conditions for resurrection theology.

Aphorism of the Day, September 12, 2018

The New Testament, as regard to Judaism, is wanting to have one's cake and eating it too.  The writer claim full continuity with Hebrew Scripture traditions even while the preponderance of the mission to the Gentile made that continuity questionable to those who chose to remain in the synagogue.  The "Christian version of Judaism" became so paradigmatically different from Judaism, it was no longer regarded to be a movement within Judaism.  Mutual segregation behaviors came to define two different missions of Judaism and Christianity in how faith was lived and articulated within the Roman Empire.

 Aphorism of the Day, September 11, 2018

One can easily forget how "flexible" the notion of messiah was.  The most general notion might be the designation of anything as "providential."  And providence is the faith of hindsight in saying something or someone in the past turned out to be a very blessed precursor to every greater subsequent blessing.

Aphorism of the Day, September 10, 2018

The New Testament writings are mainly about certain topics.  Was Jesus an apocalyptic prophet ushering the imminent end of the world?  Was Jesus in his life witness a "suffering servant" Messiah or an intervening Kingly Messiah to save the nation of Israel?  Can the Gentiles become "legitimate" people of God without subscribing to Jewish ritual purity?  How can the churches survive and thrive in adapting to various location of Christians throughout the Roman Empire?  How can the Hebrew Scriptures be reinterpreted in ways that support and affirm what was happening the Jesus Movement?  The Gospel writers, using a life narrative of Jesus and becoming his oracles in the church, used their writings to anticipate the questions which faced the nascent Christ-Movement communities.

Aphorism of the Day, September 9, 2018

Their need not be an opposition between works and grace though faith, if faith is seen as the main work of being human.  Faith is acting upon the hope of a more complete existence completely supplemented by a Plenitude of which we are a part and which makes up the completeness that we lack in any space-time moment.  Faith is accepting the perfect supplement of Plenitude.

Aphorism of the Day, September 8, 2018

The famous Socrates took an slave boy ignorant of geometry and through "socratic" questioning proved that the boy could be like the granite rock which included the statute of knowing geometry through the art of dialogue.  The Marcan author used a challenging riddle of Jesus to provoke a Syrophoenician woman, the foreigner and stranger to the faith of the Torah, to the event of saving faith.   Thus the Gospel writer proved that Jesus the Christ could draw faith out of all people regardless of their previous status in life.  Faith is nascent to all; it has to be exercised or drawn out by the One on whom worthiness can truly be projected.

Aphorism of the Day, September 7, 2018

The Bible is literature, not to be understood literally in the sense of empirical verification of meaning, but to be understood literarily or artistically meaningful corresponding to human artistic nature, but art done with the morality of justice.  The Marcan dialogue between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman about the "bread intended for the children and crumbs for the dogs under the table" is a highly staged piece of literature.  The "children" (wink,wink) are the Jews favored by their heritage as recipients of a special revelation of God in their history; the dogs are the Gentiles hoping to get the discarded leftovers of the blessed revelation.  What do the dogs have?  They have faith in Jesus and his healing, saving work.  What does the Johannine Jesus say the work is?  Believing in him.  If believing in Christ or faith in Christ is the "work," how does that not throw a wrench into Luther's seeming riving of faith and works as he seemed to interpret in the writing of the Epistle of James?  Having faith in or believing in Christ's saving/healing works also implies that one becomes in works, an active participant in the saving work of Christ in all manner of active justice toward all, who are our neighbors.

Aphorism of the Day, September 6, 2018

In the Rite One Prayer of Humble Access, said before the words of administration, we say, "we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table."  These words echo the words of the Syrophoenician woman who said to Jesus, "even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."  Such an abject penitential phrase serves to reinforce the equal dignity of all humans in needing mercy.  The family pedigree of "having been chosen" meant that eating bread at the table was a family birthright which did not need faith; those who wanted to be included in the family meal had to have faith to believe that they were included.  The New Testament, in part, is about the social leveling function of "having faith."  The Hebrew Scriptures are such an early profound identity marker of "favoritism" for the Hebrew-Jewish people who were made favored by having such an literature generate in and for one's community identity, it took quite a sea change for others to be convinced of the greater largesse of God's inclusive love.

Aphorism of the Day, September 5, 2018

The author of the Epistle of James asks rhetorically, "Can faith save you?"  Can one have faith in God's grace and mercy without offering in faithful actions grace and mercy to everyone else?  Can faith be about having a confidence that I'm alright with God because of God's intervention, and live as though God does not exists as equally generous toward everyone else?  Where does the division between grace and faith occur?  One might have faith about God's grace but can one also assume that such faith should be gracefully faithful in the fruitful actions of faith?  It is easy to turn the sense of having faith into the sense of being specially favored such that others are not favored in a similar way and with one's faithful neglect one misrepresents God in whom one has faith in the first place.  One should do a playful inversion of the words: one can be faithfully graced and gracefully faithful to express a unity of grace and faith and even if Luther wanted to make a historical correction of emphasis of seeming to replace grace with human faithful works.  However, one cannot throw out the baby of faithful works with the bathwater of grace.  One cannot "de-canonize" the Epistle of James because of the unity of faith and grace.

Aphorism of the Day, September 4, 2018

"Even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumb."  A feisty rejoinder of a Syrophoenician to Jesus.  As a presumed foreigner to God's blessings supposedly limited to the "favored children of God's choosing," she represented the view that the leftovers of God's favor are still enough.  This vignette illustrates the dynamics of faith being a universal attribute of humanity and its exercise is a blessing that cannot be limited to preconceived limitations about who is God's favorite.

Aphorism of the Day, September 3, 2018

In Gospel irony, Jesus opens the mouths of the deaf mutes and then commands them not to speak about their marvelous healing.  Why?  Is this the Gospel writer's Messianic Secret of anachronistically writing silence into the life narrative of Jesus so as to explain why his fame was not recognized in advance of "God's timing" for what would happen to the Messiah?  The Gospel writers, writing decades after Jesus pondered the timing of everything that had happened to arrive at the successful situation of a surviving post-resurrection community totally baffled by their survival, success and their sense of the destiny of the Gospel beyond Palestine.  Having Jesus command silence about his own success was a way of inferring the irresistibility of the timing of God, otherwise called Providence.

Aphorism of the Day, September 2, 2018

When a person of such mal-behaviors is the given the highest place of publicity one can see where what Hannah Arendt called the banality of evil sets in.  The public bar of decency get sets so low and the one in the position of such power gives permission for the worst shadow behaviors of the public to come forth to set up the banal conditions.  "If our leader is behaving this way, then so can we."

Aphorism of the Day, September 1, 2018

Can one who loves music and appreciates it be properly called a musician?  Musicians without an audience are in perpetual "rehearsal," and so the music lover plays a role in the scene, even though musicians probably get the greatest satisfaction in the presence of other musicians.  That analogy does not hold for "justice."  Can one who merely loves justice and not practice it be called a "just" person?  Hearing the word of God and not doing it does not allow one to be but "action" impaired.  The words of Justice are greater and more ideal than any of imitative acts towards those ideals, and yet to be lovers of justice we need to always be doing acts of justice toward the ideal of never ending justice in never ending time.

Quiz of the Day, September 2018

Quiz of the Day, September 30, 2018

In what way was the marriage of the prophet Hosea symbolic?

a. God told him to marry a harlot to rehabilitate her
b. God told him to marry a harlot to illumine Israel relationship with God
c. to symbolize the god Baal
d. to symbolize God's mercy

Quiz of the Day, September 29, 2018

Is the angel Uriel mentioned in the Bible?

a. yes
b. no
c. yes, if you include the Apocrypha
d. Maybe, depending on how you read a certain Hebrew word

Quiz of the Day, September 28, 2018

Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich were best known for what?

a. being disciples of Hildegard
b. spiritual revelations
c. members of the same convent
d. pilgrimages to the Holy Land

Quiz of the Day, September 27, 2018

Why is Haman a name of infamy for the Jews?

a. he was a general of the Pharaoh
b. he plotted to kill the Jews in Persia
c. he opposed the Jews who were trying to rebuild the temple
d. he was a Philistine commander

Quiz of the Day, September 26, 2018

Which of the following is not true about Lancelot Andrewes?

a. he was chief editor of the King James Bible
b. he served during the reign of Elizabeth I
c. he served during the reign of King James I
d. he was responsible for the rise of Oliver Cromwell
e. he maintained the validity of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist

Quiz of the Day September 25, 2018

Apollos came from what Jewish religious sect?

a. Zealots
b. Sadducees
c. Community of John the Baptist
d. Pharisees

Quiz of the Day, September 24, 2018

Aquila had the same occupation of Paul.  What was it?

a. scribe
b. rope maker
c. fishing net maker
d. tentmaker

Quiz of the Day, September 23, 2018

Which two Gospels contain versions of the "Our Father?"

a. Matthew and Mark
b. Mark and Luke
c. Luke and John
d. Matthew and John
e. Mark and John
f.  Matthew and Luke

Quiz of the Day, September 22, 2018

The Jewish feast of Purim derives from which book in the Bible and one that does not mention the name of God?

a. Job
b. Song of Solomon
c. Judith
d. Esther

Quiz of the Day, September 21, 2018

Which of the canonical Gospels do scholars say is aimed at a Jewish audience?

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John

Quiz of the Day, September 20, 2018

In a closing discourse, what occupation did Job use as a contrast for the search for wisdom?

a. fishing
b. mining
c. detective work
d. teaching

Quiz of the Day, September 19, 2018

The historical church often moved their clergy to serve far from home and they could use Latin as the lingua franca of the church scholarship even serving in places where the tongue would be "foreign."  An old man from Tarsus in Turkey was appointed to be Archbishop of Canterbury.  Who was he?

a. Augustine
b. Theodore
c. Thomas a Becket
d. Alcuin

Quiz of the Day, September 18, 2018

The specific waving of palms on the Sunday before Passover is supported by which of the four Gospels?

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John


Quiz of the Day, September 17, 2018

Paul and his mission companion Barnabas came to a disagreement over what?

a. circumcision required for the Gentiles
b. religious dietary laws
c. whether to take John Mark with them on a mission
d. the destination of their next mission

Quiz of the Day, September 16, 2018

Whom of the following did the best known illustrations of the Book of Job?

a. Albrecht Durer
b. Rembrandt
c. William Blake
d. Raphael

Quiz of the Day, September 15, 2018

Where was St. Cyprian from?

a. Hippo
b. Alexandria
c. Antioch
d. Carthage

Quiz of the Day, September 14, 2018

According to Christian tradition who is credited with the discovery/re-discovery of the cross of Christ?

a. Monnica, mother of Augustine
b. Helena, mother of Constantine
c. St. Paul
d. Cornelius, the centurion

Quiz of the Day, September 13, 2018

In which Church, does the biblical figure not have a feast day?

a. Coptic Orthodox
b. Armenian Apostolic
c. Catholic Church
d. Missouri Synod Lutheran
e. The Episcopal Church

Quiz of the Day, September 12, 2018

Lazarus of Bethany had two sisters.  Who were they?

a. Mary and Martha
b. Magdala and Martha
c. Chloe and Mary
d. Dorcus and Mary

Quiz of the Day, September 11, 2018

What did some of the people come to call Barnabas and Paul?

a. Zeus and Hermes
b. Grace and Truth
c. Moses and David
d. Deacon and Apostle

Quiz of the Day, September 10, 2018

What did the writer of the Epistle of James think couldn't be tamed?

a. lust of the flesh
b. love of money
c. the tongue
d. pride of power

Quiz of the Day, September 9, 2018

When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, this dilemma was called "the teleological suspension of the ethical" by whom?

a. Reinhold Niebuhr
b. Soren Kierkegaard
c. Karl Barth
d. Immanuel Kant

Quiz of the Day, September 8, 2018

What is the specific etiology of "catholic?"

a. the official church centered in the Vatican
b. derives from the Greek "katholou" and "katholicos" meaning on the whole or universal
c. derives from the Apostles Creed which first exemplified its official meaning
d. refers to the churches which subscribe to the teachings of the ecumenical councils

Quiz of the Day, September 7, 2018

"Escaping by the skin of my teeth," is a metaphor found in what book of the Bible?

a. Psalms
b. Jeremiah
c. Ezekiel
d. Job

Quiz of the Day, September 6, 2018

Who was sent to the Pool of Siloam to be healed?

a. blind man
b. a lame man
c. a centurion's son
d. Bartimaeus

Quiz of the Day, September 5, 2018

In the Acts of the Apostles, it is written that Peter, when released by an angel from prison, visited the home of Mary.  Who was this Mary?

a. Mary, mother of Jesus
b. Mary, mother of John Mark
c. Mary Magdalene
d. Mary of Bethany

Quiz of the Day, September 4, 2018

Which of the following is not true about Albert Schweitzer?

a. he was an accomplished organist
b. he was a physician, humanitarian who founded a hospital in Africa
c. he was a New Testament scholar who saw Jesus mainly as an apocalyptic prophet proclaiming the imminent ending of the world
d. he received the Nobel Peace Prize
e. he regarded Paul most important message to be about justification by faith

Quiz of the Day, September 3, 2018

Which biblical person said the following about God, "He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away.He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth,..?"

a. David
b. Psalmist
c. writer of Proverbs
d. writer of Ecclesiastes
e. Job

Quiz of the Day, September 2, 2018

In the Gospel Sermons of Jesus, where does he say, "blessed are the poor," and not "blessed are the poor in spirit?"

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John

Quiz of the Day, September 1, 2018

What biblical person asked God, "Why did you bring me forth from the womb?"

a. Adam
b. Jeremiah
c. Elijah
d. Job
e. all of the above

Friday, September 28, 2018

Sunday School, September 30, 2018: The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, B proper 21

Sunday School, September 30, 2018: The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, B proper 21

Sunday School Themes:

One could unify the themes of the Bible readings under the topic of what is healthy for each person and for our families and community.

It is healthy to have heroes like Esther who lived in a minority community that was targeted for persecution.  She used her favor with the king to make an appeal to him to save her people.  Healthy communities need heroes who will serve those who are threatened.

From the book of Numbers:  Community health comes when the various work of the community is spread among many people.  Moses was happy to share the leadership with many people who had God’s spirit with them to help lead the community.  In the baptism of each person, we believe God affirms the gifts of each person to help them make the community better through their gifts and their work.  So ask God to help us each to find our gifts so we can use them to make our home, family and church better communities.

In the letter of James, we are told that health is about learning how to share our illnesses with each other in our community so that the community can pray for those who are sick.  People who know that their family and friends are praying for them get better more quickly.  Health also means we learn to correct each other in love and care so that we don’t get destroyed by our mistakes.

In the Gospel, we know that health is to avoid jealousy about the good works of other people.  Health is being thankful for all people who are doing good, even if they are doing it just a bit different than we are.
Health is also about fasting or learning to stop doing things that are harmful so that we can change and do healthy things.  Jesus used his riddles: If you use your eyes wrongly, take them out.  If you use your hand for bad things, then cut it off.  Jesus was saying that sometimes fasting or quitting something entirely is the only way to stop a bad behavior and begin to take on a good behaviors.  Health can be inspired by thinking about bad consequences.  What happens if we refuse to exercise something?  We lose the function of it.  We waste.  Jesus showed us that hell is wasting our lives.  And we can live healthy lives if we avoid wasting our lives through laziness or bad behaviors.  Gehenna or the word for hell was the “garbage” dump for Jerusalem, a place where the carcasses of dead animals were burned.

Jesus said that we should be like salt.  Salt makes food taste better.  We should be people in this life that makes life seem to “taste” better for everyone.  Christians should be “spicy” people because we should make this life better for everyone.  To be healthy in life we need to be “spicy.”

The last thing for the health of the community is to be at peace with one another.  Living in peace is one of the most healthy things of all for our families and communities.  We can live better when life is peaceful.

A Children’s sermon on “fasting” and “hell”
 
  One of the things that my father often said to me when I was doing something wrong was: Cut it out, Phil.
  What does cut it out, mean?  It doesn’t mean that I have to get a knife or some scissors and start cutting.  It is a very shocking way to say: Stop it!  Stop it!  Right now!
  Jesus used some very shocking language too.  Remember that he often spoke in riddles.  And we have read some of the shocking language of Jesus today.
  He said if your hand is doing something bad, cut it off.  If your feet are taking you to a bad place, then cut them off.  If your eyes are looking at bad things, then tear it out.   That really sounds shocking, doesn’t it?
  But it was really just like my dad saying, cut it out.  It is a very strong way of saying Stop, the bad thing that you are doing.
  And now I am going to tell about another word that Jesus used.  And it is a shocking word too.  It’s so shocking you do not have permission to use this word by your parents or teachers.  It’s the word, “hell.”
  Now most of think that hell is the bad place that bad people go to after they have died.
  But what did hell mean for Jesus?  For Jesus, hell referred to the garbage dump outside of Jerusalem.  It was place where they took the bodies of dead animals to burn them.  It was the place they took human waste.
  So for Jesus, what did hell mean?  It meant waste.
  And Jesus did not want anyone to waste their lives.  If our hands are doing bad things, then we are wasting our lives.  If our feet are taking us to bad places, we are wasting our lives.  If we use our eyes only to look at bad things, then we are wasting our lives.
  And so Jesus uses some very strong language to remind us, not to waste our lives.  If we are wasting our lives, Jesus says, stop it.  Change your direction, do something good; not something bad.
  So let us be thankful that Jesus uses very strong language to warn us not to waste our lives.   Why should you study hard in school?  So you don’t waste your mind.  Why should you learn to do house work?  So you will not be lazy and learn to do things for yourself.  Why should you exercise? So that you can be healthy.  Why should you eat good food and take care of your bodies?  So you can live healthy lives as long as possible.  Why should you be careful about what you watch on TV?  Why should you be careful about what you say?  You don’t want to waste any ability that you have.  Jesus wanted to save his friends from wasting their lives, because he knew how much good they could do with their lives.
  And Jesus does not want us to waste our lives either.  So that is why we work hard to train our hands and feet and mind to do good things and to think good things.

A family Eucharistic Liturgy

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church
17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Family Service with Holy Eucharist
September 30, 2018: The Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah, Peace Before Us, Father I Adore You, I Want to Walk

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

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

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


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

Liturgist:  Let us pray
O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

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 of James
Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.  My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

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

Let us read together from Psalm 19

The law of the LORD is perfect and revives the soul; * the testimony of the LORD is sure and gives wisdom to the innocent.
The statutes of the LORD are just and rejoice the heart; * the commandment of the LORD is clear and gives light to the eyes.


Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

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

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark
People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward. "  If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.


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.

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.

Youth 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: Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love and Praise,  # 791)
1          Peace before us.  Peace behind us.  Peace under our feet.  Peace within us.  Peace over us.  Let all around us be Peace.
2 Love,
3 Light,
4 Christ

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.

All 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.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit 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,


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 Hymn:  Father, I Adore You (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 56)
1          Father, I adore you, lay my life before you, how I love you.
2          Jesus….
3          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: I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light, (Renew # 152)
1          I want to walk as a child of the light; I want to follow Jesus.  God set the stars to bring light to the world; the star of my life is Jesus.  Refrain: In Him there is no darkness at all, the night and the day are both alike.  The Lamb is the light of the city of God: Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
2          I want to see the brightness of God; I want to look at Jesus.  Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path, and show me the way to the Father.     Refrain


Dismissal:   

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

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