Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Aphorism of the Day, March 2020

Aphorism of the Day, March 31, 2020

The cross of Jesus is the biggest "make-over" of history.  Imagine babies with pieced ears and little golden crosses worn on their lobes.  An instrument of capital punishment worn on a baby's ear lobe.  Logically it seems macabre and Paul noted that it was a scandal to the Jews and foolish to the Greek.  How can the capital punishment of Jesus become the mystical experience of Paul "dying to himself."  That quite some "alchemical poetry,"  except Paul would say, I have the empirical evidence of my changed life to prove it.

Aphorism of the Day, March 30, 2020

In the appointed Epistle for Passion Sunday, we will read the poem about an understanding of Jesus as the one who emptied the divine and became human, so human that he died. Death would be a full expression of identity with humanity.  In postmodern deconstruction terms, it would be saying that even though the Signified is always already being referred to, the referring can only happen within the constant play of signifiers.  We are always trying to "get to the Signified," but we can only use signifiers to do so.  The Signified is always, already "emptied" into the signifiers.

Aphorism of the Day, March 29, 2020

What does resurrection mean for people who are not yet dead?  St. Paul wrote that the body is dead in sin, but even this state one could know mystery of Christ in oneself by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Lazarus in the tomb represents each "Pauline mystic" who was dead in sin, but who is called forth by the word of Christ to new life, abundant life.  The Gospels present Pauline mysticism in story form as the  mystagogic church initiates new members into the "mystery" of Christ.  

Aphorism of the Day, March 28, 2020

Ponder inter-Gospel dialogue.  In the Gospel of Luke parable, a beggar leper named Lazarus dies and in death he is with Abraham and has a conversation across a vast chasm with a rich man who neglected Lazarus when they were alive.  The rich man begged Abraham to send someone from the dead to warn his family, but Abraham said they would not believe even if someone was sent from the dead.  Fast-forward to John.  Who is the person who returns from the dead?  Lazarus.  And what is the aftermath of Lazarus' return for the religious leaders?  They do not believe and begin to plot the death of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, March 27, 2020

Is something like resurrection found in the Hebrew Scripture?  The Sadducees, it is said did not believe in a resurrection because they could not find a text verifying such in the Torah.  It is different in the prophets.  In the "Dem dry bones" portion of Ezekiel, it is prophesies: "I am going to open your graves and bring your people up from the graves."  In a world of constant change, where does permanent Identity reside?  Is there Personal unlimited Byte of Memory who can remember and reconstitute all that is previous in an unspeakable way?  Hope within humanity is always looking for narratives of continuing Identity.

 Aphorism of the Day, March 26, 2020

Observe how the oracle of Jesus Christ in John's Gospel mocks literalism.  The disciples said on the way to Lazarus' tomb, "If we sleeps, then that is good."  Jesus replied, "I using sleep to mean death, guys."  If one does not learn how to read figuratively the text of John, one misses the point.

Aphorism of the Day, March 25, 2020

St. Paul wrote that even though we have the Spirit, the "body is dead because of sin."  The story of Lazarus is the mystical teaching about how all live in " a body which is dead because of sin," but while we live in our "mortal state" we like Lazarus can know the resurrection and abundant life of the Spirit.  In our deathly state, we can "come to life, abundant life of the Spirit," even as we are like Lazarus, our bodies will die.  Please understand how the mysticism of Paul is placed in a story narrative of Jesus in John's Gospel as a cryptic teaching method of mystagogy.

Aphorism of the Day, March 24, 2020

How is the Pauline teaching that the presence of the Holy Spirit is actually a taste of eternal life before one dies taught in Gospel story form?  The raising of Lazarus.  Lazarus was raised, only to die again.  This Gospel Sign means an encounter with the Risen Christ, when we experience the "death" of our sins, is resurrection and life, and when we physically die, a continuation in this qualitative life.  The writer of John was a mystagogue for the mystical initiates on the spiritual path of transformation.

Aphorism of the Day, March 23, 2020

Take the didactic, teaching theology and mysticism of Paul  and place it in life narratives of Jesus which becomes spiritual process of visualization technique such that the presented Jesus of Nazareth before his death is actually the Risen Christ teaching death and resurrection theology as a continuing oracle within the Jesus Movement and early Christ-Communities.  This is the brilliant mystagogy of the Gospels.

Aphorism of the Day, March 22, 2020

"Surely we are not blind, are we?"  Of course we are always blind, blind to what we cannot see.  Seeing is not just physical sight, it is also an empathy from within that allows one to focus, perhaps on "background" features which were so "taken for granted" that they were not "seen."  Why was not slavery or the subjugation of women "seen" for many centuries? There remains lots of blindness that we need to recover from in the universal practice of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, March 21, 2020

For Gospel writers, blindness was the external and environment darkness of living in a paradigm which did not take into account the fullness of God who loved all and wanted to reach out to all, even the "non-kosher" folk of the Roman Empire.  Joseph Campbell is quoted as saying, "Yesterday's virtue may be tomorrow's vice."  This illustrates the blindness of living in a former paradigm when the Spirit is calling for conversion and new birth.  One can say that the practice of slavery and the subjugation of women which characterized the "enlightened" biblical people has become "darkness" once new light of justice and equality is shone.  Christ as the Light of the World give sight to those who live in the blindness of the darkness caused by inferior paradigms which do not yet allow for the fuller expression of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, March 20, 2020

What is the condition of blindness which all seeing people can experience?  Darkness.  Light is essential to sight, meaning that seeing does not just involve physical ability, it is contextual environment.  The environment new light for people to see.  The Jesus Movement proclaimed a new "Light" in the world environment in Jesus Christ, in the Risen Christ and in the experience of the Holy Spirit.  This new environment of "light" allowed persons to re-arrange their lives in how they understood God and God's inclusive purpose for all people.

Aphorism of the Day, March 19, 2020

One could make the case that the Gospel of John is mainly about hermeneutics, interpretation and seeing life differently.  See from "above," and seeing figuratively rather than literally as a way of enhancing one's landscape with one's inscape that have been "renew" in mind to attain the "mind of Christ" in the mode of the Risen Christ.  The warning of John's Gospel is "Don't get stuck in one's literal landscape."  Work on the inner life because what one perceives in one's landscape reflects the nature of one's seeing from one's inscape.

Aphorism of the Day, March 18, 2020

Seeing from within or being converted to another paradigm expresses the new paradigm of Jesus Movement.  When Samuel sought to anoint all of David's brothers as king of Israel and was left with the small lad David as "God's choice," the observation was that God sees what humans don't, God looks at the heart, at the interior.  Jesus of John's Gospel discourse, notes that the blind man came to see and the religious leaders were in fact blind.  Conversion means that one moves into a different hermeneutical circle with a different kind of seeing and one was in fact blind when one inhabited a previous hermeneutical circle.

Aphorism of the Day, March 17, 2020

"Who caused this man's blindness, his own sins or his parents?"  Causation questions sometimes are victimization implications.  If bad luck is happening to others because they deserve it, then the one presuming to know precise causation can justify one's own blessing of good luck as God's direct favor.  Precise causation is a myth since any event lies at the end of an infinite regress along with every other contemporary event each with its own infinite regress.  So the event whether good or bad is a set up for some more in the future proving the glory of the divine no matter what happens because tomorrow always means outcomes are only temporary.  This is the glory of the creative and glorious Freedom within which we live and have our being.

Aphorism of the Day, March 16, 2020

Jesus told Nicodemus that he couldn't "see" the kingdom of God because he wasn't born from above.  The blind man healed by Jesus "saw" the kingdom of God while the religious leaders, even though they had eyesight, were "blind" to the kingdom of God.  The book of Signs which is included in the Gospel of John is the ability to convert to the new paradigm of the kingdom of God which was initiated by Jesus Christ.  The Gospel of John is less about the history of Jesus of Nazareth and more about the paradigm of the Risen Christ via Holy Spiritual experience which enabled people to "see" life in a new and different way.  To remain in biblical "literalism" is to be like the "religious blind."

Aphorism of the Day,  March 15, 2020

Mount Gerizim Shrines and the Temple had long been destroyed when the Gospel text of the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman was written.  If Holy Places had been destroyed where could Holy God reside?  The edifice complex of trying to limit the divine presence had to be given up to each body becoming known as a temple of the Holy Spirit whose inner presence would be like a gushing spring of water.  A very different kind of water than what was drawn from Jacob's well.  John's Gospel is about moving from landscape to InScape.

Aphorism of the Day, March 14, 2020

When the Gospel of John was written, holy places for the Jews and Samaritans had suffered devastation.  What do we do now that the Temple is destroyed or Mount Gerizim shrines is in shambles?  Our identity resides from knowing the place where God resides and is a place to renew that identity through pilgrimage to the holy place.  The Risen Christ as an oracle in the early church says to the Samaritan woman, "God is totally, portable and nomadic, because God is Spirit, so God as Spirit resides wherever people are since God is as close to a person as the very language that a person has.  How close are you to language?  You are one with your language.  God is Spirit.  The words of Jesus are spirit.  Our words are our identifying spirit and we're one with them.  So, let us clean up our word life if therein lies our very identity.

Aphorism of the Day, March 13, 2020

The Jesus Movement involved a renovation, a do-over, and re-definition of symbols which arose in the Hebrew Scripture within the new "Christ-flooded" context where the poetic effervescence of St. Paul's "Christ as all in all" became the center of the new paradigm.  Christ becomes the Rock struck by Moses from which everyone is able to drink the living water.  The Jesus Movement as it came to text meant that it manifested itself in a poetic revolution with a new pulsating center generating extreme poetic license centering on the Risen Christ.  Was this mere hype?  No, because one cannot artificially generate such widespread experiences of the Risen Christ to "make" the hype happen.

Aphorism of the Day, March 12, 2020

The practices in the early Jesus Movement community become starkly anachronistically instantiated in the Gospel narratives of Jesus including his words.  Jews and Samaritans were "enemies."  The Jesus Movement included the reconciliation of "former" enemies and, yes Jesus came to say in the Gospel presentation, "Love your enemies."

Aphorism of the Day, March 11, 2020

The metaphors of Jesus in John's Gospel indicate a new birth by water and the Spirit.  In John 4, the Spirit is likened to an inner gushing spring.  So Spirit as inner gushing spring is like an interior baptism, the clean heart and renewed spirit which the Psalmist asked for from God.  A spring gushes up through the dirt and is clean water even when the rest of the environment is "dirt."  So, look for the God-gush from within as the acceptable identity with a perfection that one cannot have apart from the one who complements and supplements the rest of oneself which is not perfect.

Aphorism of the Day, March 10, 2020

One might note that the presentation of the dialogical Jesus in John's Gospel pertains to his constant provoking of crassly literal people to embrace figurative, allegorical or spiritual interpretations of "physical" reality.  Take for example the food and water metaphors of the Woman at the Well pericope.  Water of Jacob's well or water of the inner Spirit fountain?  Jesus had "food" to eat that his disciples who brought him provisions did not know about.  The "born again" metaphor has much to do with going beyond literal meaning to other kinds of meaning which pertains to qualitative interpretation for inner enrichment amid the exterior "literal" landscape.

Aphorism of the Day, March 9, 2020

The early churches engaged in the practice of love between peoples who were formerly known as "enemies."  When this practice was presented by the words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels, people like the "hated" Samaritans were shown to be those who responded to Jesus as the bringer of a new paradigm of love between former enemies.  Men and women of the time were not "enemies" but they were definitely segregated in restrictions on public interaction, yet Jesus is shown to commission an unknown and unnamed Samaritan Woman at the Well to be the "first apostle" to the Samaritan people.  It is quite amazing how the church for so many years retreated to the secular habits of patriarchalism which our own Holy Gospels were shown to be overthrown by Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, March 8, 2020

Every day is a day to be "born again" or "born from above" in the sense that one should be surpassing oneself in manifold excellence each day in life.  To limit the "born again" experience to a one time event to escape hell is a very limited application of the metaphor and therefore not really true.

Aphorism of the Day, March 7, 2020

A theological catch phrase derived from the King James translation of a verse in John 3 came to characterize the evangelical movement of persons who call themselves "born again."  This has persisted even though a better translation of the Greek is "born from above."  The "born again" movement has been a response to those who believe in a prevenient baptismal grace for those who were baptized as infants.  Born again is not in disagreement with "born from above" even though not literally accurate.  Typically evangelicals believe one is "born again" once in order to avoid hell and have eternal life.  The phrase should really be limited to the dialogue presented between Jesus and Nicodemus, even though it can be general instructive for understanding the moments of conversions to new insights and perspectives.  Jesus was saying to the inquiring Pharisee that he needed a paradigm switch, a conversion in order to understand the new perspective of the Jesus Movement.  Paradigm switch, being born again or from above is consistent with the Christian pedagogical process known as "repentance,"  or "meta-noia," the "after mind," the "new mind," or the "renewed mind."  This would mean that rebirth is more of a process of metamorphosis with continual cycles of new insights and new births.  To limit being born again to a one time event violates the entire growth concept implied in life as repentance.

Aphorism of the Day, March 6, 2020

John's Gospel discourses of a "channeled voice of the Risen Christ" in an advancing Christ Movement, indicates the conversion of the writer to a post-synagogue paradigm with a Christo-centric theology involving the reinterpretation of the themes of Hebrew Scriptures under the guise of the Jesus events.  So the serpent lifted up in the wilderness is paired with Jesus lifted on the cross teaching that a glance of faith in sacrificial grace is the salvation to tolerate ourselves in our perpetual undeveloped states.

Aphorism of the Day, March 5, 2020

St. Paul uses Abraham as a representative of "universal" faith.  He is a patriarch who exists before Israel, Moses and the giving of the law.  His faith was valid, meaning he was justified before God.  The purpose of religious institutions seems to be about declaring people "justified" before God.  This probably means "justified" before the religious authorities who perhaps reduce being justified to being compliant with the rules of the community.  The non-religious crowd of "nones" do not really care about religious community rules where religious institution and political power becomes ever increasingly separated.

Aphorism of the Day, March 4, 2020

The Gospel of John, like other New Testament writings, were written by people who did not conceive of their writings becoming a part of a "canon" of Scriptures, or an agreed upon "textbook" of "inspired" writings exclusively prescribed for the widespread Christian communities.  It was written long after Jesus walked and talked; it was written by people who like Paul believed that they "had the mind of Christ," and thus could through the Spirit "channel" the mind of Christ in written and spoken words in such a ways as to be authentically associated as words Jesus might say if Jesus was still physically present with an accessible voice.  The Nicodemus discourse of Jesus is presentation of how an appeal is being made to a devout Pharisee who is open to new insights.  You must be born again or born from above in T.S.Kuhnian terminology would be "You must make a paradigm switch if you are going to understand the new Christ-definition given to all manner of theological thinking and spiritual lifestyle."  

Aphorism of the Day, March 3, 2020

John's Gospel indicates that Word is God.  And we are told that in a Word product, writing.  John's Gospel is a word product of diverse expressive tropes.  It present the metaphors of equivalence expressed in "difference," e.g. "I am light, Good Shepherd, Life et al."  Word is really an invisible phenomenon and yet it become "made flesh" or embodied in human experience.  And through word, it is reported that word is made flesh.  John's Gospel reveals that human existence is known in the reflexive "play" of language, because by Word we proclaim that we exist with an existence we know because we have words.

Aphorism of the Day, March 2, 2020

St. Paul became the chief apologist for the Jesus Movement, particularly as it was becoming a significant party within Judaism causing consternation in many synagogue communities because of a rather wholescale acceptance Gentiles becoming viewed as those who had genuine faith without being observant of the ritual purity rules of the synagogue.  What is discovered about systems of rules is that compliance is mainly about community identity and being received in specific communities.  Of the Ten Commandments, how many of them rise to juridical significance in the U.S. justice system?  Murder and stealing and lying when it is under oath perjury.  Do we want to make complying with community identity as equal to justification before God?  We must conclude that, God being an omni-clement One, tolerates all of the consequences in a system of Freedom and such clemency is beyond any community of people who purport to speak exclusively on behalf of such an "omni-clement" Being.  It is fine to have the differences of community identities because we are located in special situation with a variety of traditions claiming universal relevancy, and we know the clash and the mutual judging between competitive communities claiming universal relevancy.  This should indicate to us that the omni-benevolent One who tolerates much more than any of us would, reveals only omni-benevolent freedom in the differential manifestations which occur in each situation.  One hopes that in the clash of human manifested "God-systems" when God-metaphors seem to be in conflict that one accepts the identity of a solidarity humbly as a matter of one's temporal location and not as one who has a panorama of everything, as though one could claim to know synchronicity with "Omni-Becoming."

Aphorism of the Day, March 1, 2020

In biblical numerology, 40 is the symbol of testing and the ordeal.  As if, we could actual schedule the test or ordeals which come to us.  Ordeal is the biblical term for accepting the fact of the range of probable occurrences in the field of freedom as discipline.  Lent is a simulated ordeal of training to build the kind of response muscles for the general ordeal of the conditions of freedom.  Accepting the general of freedom which occur with our free choice is the life epic.

Quiz of the Day, March 2020

Quiz of the Day, March 31, 2020

Which of the following hymns written by John Donne have deliberate "puns" on his and his wife's surnames?

a. As due by many titles, I resign
b. Wilt Thou forgive that sin where I begun
c. Soul's joy, now I am gone
d. When Jesus died to save us

Quiz of the Day, March 30, 2020

What excuse did Moses give to God to refuse the call to return to Egypt?

a. he had a family in Midian
b. his father in law wanted him to remain
c. he was slow of speech, inelegant
d. he was afraid of what the Egyptians might do to him

Quiz of the Day, March 29, 2020

To whom is Jesus say, " I am the resurrection and the life?"

a. Mary of Bethany
b. Martha of Bethany
c. Mary Magdalene
d. Peter
e. Lazarus

Quiz of the Day, March 28, 2020

Which Gospel does not include an account of the Transfiguration?

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

Quiz of the Day, March 27, 2020

Who was Gershom?

a. son of Esau
b. son of Shem
c. son of Moses
d. son Zipporah
e. c and d

Quiz of the Day, March 26, 2020

If Shiphrah and Puah were patron saints, what occupation would they represent?

a. sailors
b. Iron smiths
c. midwives
d. undertakers

Quiz of the Day, March 25, 2020

The Magnificat, the Song of Mary happens at what occasion?

a. the Annunciation
b. the Visitation
c. the Presentation
d. the Purification

Quiz of the Day, March 24, 2020

Of the following, who was not buried in the Cave of Machpelah?

a. Abraham
b. Sarah
c. Isaac
d. Rebekah
e. Rachel
f.  Leah
g. Joseph

Quiz of the Day, March 23, 2020

From lists in the Hebrew Scriptures, how many "tribes" of Israel were there?

a. 12
b. 13
c. 14
d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, March 22, 2020

The word Messiah derives from what?

a. crowning of a king
b. vesting of the king
c. the presentation of the royal diadem to the king
d. anointing with oil

 Quiz of the Day, March 21, 2020

Another name for Bethlehem is

a. Luz
b. City of David
c. Ephrath
d. Bethel

Quiz of the Day, March 20, 2020

What did Jacob do when he met the Pharaoh?

a. he thanked him for his treatment of Joseph
b. he asked to allow his family to settle in Goshen
c. he blessed him
d. he acknowledged that the dreams of Joseph had come true

Quiz of the Day, March 19, 2020

Traditions indicates that Salome danced for Herod and then asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter as her wish.  The Gospel does not name Salome but who?

a. Herodias
b. the daughter of Herod
c. the daughter of Philip
d. Eunice

Quiz of the Day, March 18, 2020

Which of the following was not an issue addressed by Paul to the Corinthian church?

a. eating food offered to idols
b. marriage
c. trivialization of the Eucharist
d. visiting temples of the gods and goddesses

Quiz of the Day, March 17, 2020

Who said, "God sent me before you to preserve life?"

a. St. Patrick
b. St. Paul
c. Jacob
d. Joseph

Quiz of the Day, March 16, 2020

Who were Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah?

a. the Three Young Men
b. Daniel's friends
c. Samuel's sons
d. David's older brothers

Quiz of the Day, March 15, 2020

Massah and Meribah are locations associated with the lack of what?

a. bread
b. meat
c. water
d. clothing

Quiz of the Day, March 14, 2020

Who in the Bible said, "My name is Legion..?"

a. Roman centurion
b. Paul and Silas' jailer
c. demoniac to Jesus
d. Onesimus' owner

Quiz of the Day, March 13, 2020

Who were the two sons of Jacob and Rachel?

a. Dan and Joseph
b. Reuben and Joseph
c. Benjamin and Joseph
d. Asher and Benjamin

Quiz of the Day, March 12, 2020

Who wrote that one's body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?

a. Pope St. Gregory the Great
b. John, quoting Jesus in the Gospel
c. St. Paul
d. author of the Epistles of John

Quiz of the Day, March 11, 2020

How did the people of Israel get trapped in Egypt?

a. Joseph brought them there
b. The Pharaoh's conquest brought them into captivity
c. Reuben went to Egypt for grain
d. Jacob and his family moved to Egypt during severe drought

 Quiz of the Day, March 10, 2020

In the words of Jesus, what is the unforgiveable sin?

a. murder
b. genocide
c. sin against the Holy Spirit
d. desecrating the name of God

Quiz of the Day, March 9, 2020

Who were the "sons of thunder?"

a. Peter and Andrew
b. Peter, James and John
c. the disciple sons of Zebedee
d. Peter and Paul

Quiz of the Day, March 8, 2020

Who had the dream about fat cows and thin cows in the Bible?

a. Nebuchadnezzar
b. the Pharaoh
c. Joseph
d. Daniel

Quiz of the Day, March 7, 2020

Joseph was thrown into prison with whom?

a. Pharaoh's cupbearer
b. a baker
c. a soldier
d. a vizir
e. a and c
f.  a and b

Quiz of the Day, March 6, 2020

Who were the dreamers and dream interpreters found in the Bible?

a. Joseph
b. Joseph, husband of Mary
c. Nebuchadnezzar
d. Daniel
e. Pilate's wife
f. all of the above


Quiz of the Day, March 5, 2020

Why was Joseph put in prison is Egypt?

a. for taking some food when he was hungry
b. for providing a unfavorable dream interpretation
c. for a false accusation of a sexual advance to his employer's wife
d. for being a Hebrew

Quiz of the Day, March 4, 2020

The following is not true of the Wesley brothers

a. ordained Anglican clergy
b. had a father who was an ordained Anglican clergy
c. became re-ordained as Methodist ministers
d. were prolific song writers

Quiz of the Day, March 3, 2020

How Jacob show his favoritism to son Joseph among the other brothers?

a. he believed his dreams
b. he gave him the family birthright blessing
c. he gave a coat of many colors
d. he sent him to Egypt on a special trip

Quiz of the Day, March 2, 2020

Nicodemus was

a. a Pharisee
b. a Sadducee
c. a follower of John the Baptist
d. a member of the High Priest's Council

Quiz of the Day, March 1, 2020

Adam and Eve were not supposed to eat from which tree in the Garden of Eden?

a. apple
b. pomegranate
c. knowledge of good and evil
d. tree of life
e. serpent tree



Sunday, March 29, 2020

Lord, If You Had Been Here, Coronavirus Would Not Have Happened

5 Lent a        March 29, 2020
Ez. 37:1-14     Ps. 130 
Rom. 6:16-23    John 11:1-44     


One of my assumptions about the appearance of the Gospels, is the success of the Jesus Movement.  The Jesus Movement and the early home church social phenomenon was so successful that "institutionalization" began to occur.  Institutionalization happens in any organization that is successful and is comprised of members who really believe in the mission of the organization to the point of perpetuating the message and keeping it alive.

The Gospels were generated because of institutional success.  While the Gospel recount the life of the root event of the Jesus Movement, Jesus Christ, they arose after other writings.  We know that they occurred after the writings of St. Paul.

St. Paul was the chief theologian of the early church.  He wrote letters about church order and discipline, but also about the theological importance of Jesus and the justification of a truly universal church, including of the Gentiles.  St. Paul also generated the most significant poetic metaphors for the mystical experience with the Risen Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.  And St. Paul did not ever actually see Jesus of Nazareth

Members of the early church were initiates in a spiritual path of Christians who shared different kinds of experiences of the Risen Christ and the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul and other leaders instructed these Christian initiates into this mystical path.  Paul provided an entire poetry to speak about this experience.  He provided a theological history to connect the Jesus Movement as a significant innovation in the Judaic traditions.  It was so innovative that many in the synagogues believed that went too far abroad from prescribed Judaic ritual practice.

By the time the Gospels were written, the success of the early churches required programmatic teaching of incorporating the mystical teaching, practice and theology of Paul into presentations of the life of Jesus.

John's Gospel was the latest Gospel serving as a hiding of spiritual meaning and practice within the presentation of words, deeds and life example of Jesus of Nazareth.

What did Paul write about us?  He said that we lived within the state of death of sin.  Why?  The wages of sin is death.  No matter how we consider mortality, it is anchored in the reality of death.  Human life comes with the experience of death.  But St. Paul also wrote that we could experience another kind of life even as our physical lives careens towards death.  We could experience the Holy Spirit and the life of Risen Christ, as a down payment or as an assurance of eternal life, or as the writer of John called it, "abundant life."

So, Christians who experienced the premonition of eternal life in the experience of the Holy Spirit still knew that they were going to experience physical death.  How could this ambiguity be presented in a Gospel teaching?

We have the brilliant story of Lazarus, a friend of Jesus, one of whom it is said was loved by Jesus.  And Jesus loved and was loved by the sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha of Bethany.

Lazarus is the one who died but who is brought to life again by Jesus Christ.  But Lazarus would die again.  Of course.  So,  what is the teaching purpose of the Lazarus story?

Each of us is like Lazarus.  We live under the basic human condition of sin and what is that?  It is knowing that we will physically die.  Yet even in this state of being defined by life's duration ending in death, we can experience another kind of life, resurrection life, eternal life, Holy Spirit life.  And experiencing this resurrection life does not exempt our bodies from physical death.

This is brute Christian realism.  The experience of the Holy Spirit, the mystical experience with the Risen Christ as our spiritual identity does not deny or exempt our bodies from death.  But it means that physical death will not define us as a final boundary of our life.  Why? Because while we live in our bodies we can know Jesus Christ, the Risen Christ as the Resurrection and the life.

We can know that Jesus is weeping at how profound we experience the loss of life of each person in our cherished lives within our bodies.  But we, in our state of death, can experience this inner assurance of living beyond our bodily life.  And this is the narrative for the eternal image of hope that is within every person in this world.  This eternal image of hope within us needs the narrative of the resurrection to release it into the hopeful practice of faithful lives.

Can we appreciate the sheer genius of how this story of Lazarus encapsulates the profound mystical theology and practice of St. Paul?

The coronavirus has brought into focus the state of death which we all live in.  It heightens our sense of mortality.  It results in our mourning of the death of people.  And so, we today affirm that Jesus is resurrection and life; Jesus affirms personal continuity beyond our deaths.  And knowing this, we can live differently.

We today can know ourselves to be like Lazarus, friend of Jesus, loved by Jesus, but living in the state of the death of sin.   We can know the apparent delays of Jesus, which represent the probable conditions of freedom in our world.  "Jesus, if you had been here, the coronavirus would not have occurred."  The conditions of freedom means that often good things, health and resolution are delayed because not everything runs according to our own desired personal schedules.

But you and I, living within the state of the death of sin, with many apparent delays in positive outcomes; we can know resurrection life because of the encounter with the Risen Christ who says to us like Martha of old, "I am resurrection, and I am life."  Within each of us, we can know this abundant life.  So while we live on perpetual delay of the perfection that we so desire for everything, we can experience the totally compensating resurrection life of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And if you and I can pierce the inner meaning of the Lazarus story; we have been initiated into the spiritual mystical program of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Sunday School, March 29, 2020 5 Lent A

Sunday School, March 29, 2020 5 Lent A

Theme:

Stories and Babushka dolls





Babushka dolls are like an onion.  They have layers.  They are a way of showing how things grow.  The way that you and I appear today includes all of the layers of stories about us before we became who we are.

The Gospel stories can be seen like babushka dolls; they are layers of story and sometimes bigger story includes a smaller story that came before the bigger story.

In the Gospel of Luke Jesus told a story about a beggar who was very sick who lived at the gate of a wealthy man and the wealthy man ignored beggar and did nothing to help him.  The beggar’s name of Lazarus and we don’t know the name of the wealthy man.  Both Lazarus and the wealthy man died.  The wealthy man after death went to a place of discomfort; but Lazarus went to a place of pleasure to live with the great Abraham.  In death, Lazarus and the wealthy man lived on the opposite sides and there was a big canyon between them that could not be cross.  The wealthy man was sad about being in a bad place.  He yelled across the canyon and asked that Abraham would send Lazarus back to life again to warn his family who had not yet died to live better lives so that when they died they would not have to suffer.  Abraham said that even if Lazarus came back to life and spoke to the wealthy man’s family, his family would not believe.  Why?  If they don’t listen to what Moses and the prophets taught them, then they would not even believe a man who returned from the dead.

The writer of John wrote about a man name Lazarus who died.  The sisters of Lazarus, Mary and Martha were very sad and when Jesus saw their sadness, he cried.  Jesus went to the tomb of Lazarus and he called Lazarus back to life again.  But did everyone believe in Jesus after this happened?  No.  People still did not believe that Jesus was the Resurrection and the life.

So do you see how the later story about Lazarus who died was like another layer of the story that Jesus told about Lazarus and the wealthy man.

Remember you and I are in the outer layer of another babushka doll about Jesus and the Resurrection.  How are you and I making the resurrection of Christ appear in our lives today?  Are we doing it with love, kindness, hope and justice?  What will people in the next layer of life and history say about how we believed in the resurrection of Christ?



Sermon:

Do a Lazarus “mummy” sermon with strips of cloth.  Get a child to be “mummy” Lazarus and other children to help bind the mummy and then unbind him as you retell the Lazarus story.


When the pyramids of Egypt were opened, they were found to be burial chambers for the kings of Egypt.
  And when they took the dead bodies out of the wooden caskets what did they call them. Mummies.
  So when people died they wrapped their bodies in cloth.
  I need a volunteer mummy today.  Would someone like to volunteer?
And so we are going to wrap up our volunteer to look like a mummy.
  We read the story about the death of Lazarus.
  Jesus came to see Mary and Martha after their brother had been wrapped and buried.
  And Jesus cried when he saw the sadness of everyone.
  So Jesus went to the tomb and he said, Lazarus, come out!
And Lazarus came out.
  And Jesus said, “Unbind the man.”
  So let us unbind our mummy and let him free.
  Jesus wanted to teach people that God is stronger than death.  But death is very strong.  It can make us have worry and fear.  And these worries and fear can be like that clothes that wrap up the mummy.
  Jesus says, unbind the man.
  Jesus tell us that we don’t have to be tied down because of death, because, there is a new life for us after death.
  After death, our life is preserve by God.
  So we don’t have to live in fear of death during this life, because we believe that God will preserve us forever.
  Let us remember that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.  Amen.

Family Service with Holy Eucharist
March 29, 2020: The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: Dry Bones, Christ Beside Me, There is a Redeemer, I Am the Bread of Life,  

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.
People: God’s mercy endures forever.  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.

Opening Song: Dry Bones
Ezekiel connected dem dry bones, Ezekiel connected dem dry bones. Ezekiel connected dem dry bones. Now hear the word of the Lord. 
The toe bone connected to the foot bone. The foot bone connected to the ankle bone. The ankle bone connected to the leg bone.  The leg bone connected to knee bone. The knee bone connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone connected to the hip bone. The hip bone connected to the back bone. The back bone connected to the shoulder bone. The shoulder bone connected to the neck bone. The neck bone connected to the head bone. Now hear the word of the Lord.
Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around. Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around. Dem bones, dem bones gonna walk around.  Now hear the word of the Lord.

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

Liturgist:  Let us pray
Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Praise be to God! (chanted)
O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!
O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!
O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!
O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!
O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!
O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!
O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Prophet Ezekiel
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord."

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

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 130
If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss, * O Lord, who could stand?
For there is forgiveness with you; * therefore you shall be feared.
I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope.


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.
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."  When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

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
Offertory: Christ Beside Me   (Renew! # 164)
1          Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me—King of my heart;  Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me—never to part.
2          Christ on my right hand, Christ on my left hand, Christ all around me—shield in the strife:  Christ in my sleeping, Christ in my sitting, Christ in my rising—light of my life
3          Christ be in all hearts, thinking about me, Christ be on all tongues, telling of me; Christ be the vision, in eyes that see me, in ears that hear me, Christ ever be.
4          Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me—King of my heart; Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me—never to part.
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.

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: Hallowed be thy name.


Breaking of the Bread
Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 
Words of Administration

Communion Song: There is a Redeemer (Renew! # 232)
There is a redeemer, Jesus, God own Son, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One.
Refrain: Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son; and leaving your Spirit ‘til the work on earth is done.
Jesus, my Redeemer, name above all name, precious Lamb of God, Messiah, hope for sinners slain.  Refrain
When I stand in glory I will see His face, and there I’ll serve my King forever, in that holy place.  Refrain

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

Closing Song:  I Am the Bread of Life, Lord (Blue Hymnal, # 335)
1-I am the bread of life; they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst.  No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. 
Refrain: And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.
4-I am the resurrection, I am the life.  They who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live for ever.  Refrain

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


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