Quiz of the Day, March 2021

Quiz of the Day, March 31, 2021

Who said, "The heart  is devious above all else; it is perverse?"

a. Jesus

b. Paul

c. Jeremiah

d. the Psalmist

Quiz of the Day, March 30, 2021

St. Paul belonged to what religious party of Judaism?

a. Sadducees

b. Pharisees

c. Zealots

d. Herodians

e. Benjaminites

Quiz of the Day, March 29, 2021

Which Creed is part of the baptismal vows?

a. Nicene

b. Chalcedonian

c. Apostles

d. Athanasian

Quiz of the Day, March 28, 2021

Why is there two donkeys in the presentation of the Palm Sunday event?

a. the colt unridden needed to have its mother near

b. one of the donkeys must have been out of sight in some accounts

c. fulfillment of how the Gospel writer read a portion of Hebrew Scripture

d. animal husbandry of the time; two donkey together

Quiz of the Day, March 27, 2021

Shalom is the Hebrew word for

a. peace

b. love

c. friendship

d. blessing

Quiz of the Day, March 26, 2021

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

a. Mary of Bethany

b. Mary Magdalene

c. Mary, Mother of our Lord

d. Martha of Bethany

Quiz of the Day, March 25, 2021

The Annunciation story is found where?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

e. a and c

f.  a and b

Quiz of the Day, March 24, 2021

The forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden was

a. an apple

b. a pomegranite

c. a fig

d. an olive

e. not included in the story

Quiz of the Day, March 23, 2021

Which of the following Empires did not conquer Jerusalem?

a. Assyrian

b. Babylonian

c. Persian

d. Greek under Alexander the Great

e. Roman

Quiz of the Day, March 22, 2021

In the "object" lesson posed to Jeremiah by God, who did the basket of good figs represent?

a. those who were taken in exile to Babylon

b. those who remained in Judah

c. those who escaped to Egypt

d. those who dwelled in Samaria

Quiz of the Day, March 21, 2021

In which Gospel, does Jesus tell his disciples they must eat his flesh and drink his blood?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, March 20, 2021

Who built the first Temple in Jerusalem?

a. David

b. Samuel

c. Eli

d. Solomon

Quiz of the Day, March 19, 2021

How did God communicate with Joseph, husband of Mary?

a. angel

b. in a dream

c. an angel in a dream

d. reading the Torah

Quiz of the Day, March 18, 2021

Of the following, who helped to set the model for Holy Week liturgies?

a. Cyril of Jerusalem

b. Paul

c. John Chrysostom

d. Athanasius

Quiz of the Day, March 17, 2021

Which of the following is not true about St. Patrick?

a. he was born in Armagh, Ireland

b. he was born in Britain 

c. he was never formally canonized as a saint

d. he is not the only Patron saint of Ireland

Quiz of the Day, March 16, 2021

Where is it found that it is written that God will write the laws within the heart?

a. Isaiah

b. Jeremiah

c. Ezekiel

d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, March 15, 2021

What word does Paul use for "Torah" in the Epistle to the Romans?

a. the Latin word "lex" for the Roman context

b. the Greek word "nomos"

c. the transliteration of "Torah" into Greek

d. all three of the above depending on the context

Quiz of the Day, March 14, 2021

Leaven or yeast in the Bible is a symbol of what?

a. corruption since it is "old" dough saved to infect the next batch

b. a symbol in the parables of the spread of the kingdom of God

c. the Gospel

d. the Word of God

e. a and b

f. c and d

Quiz of the Day, March 13, 2021

Which of the following was Jesus not accused of?

a. being a Samaritan

b. having a demon

c. being a glutton

d. being a false priest

Quiz of the Day, March 12, 2021

Servus sevorum Dei, is the epitaph for whom?

a. Notre Dame University

b. Gregory the Great

c. Leo the Great

d. Augustine of Canterbury

Quiz of the Day, March 11, 2021

Which Bible verse is most often displayed by spectators at athletic contests?

a. Psalm 23:1

b. John 1:1

c. John 3:16

d. Roman 3:23

Quiz of the Day, March 10, 2021

"There is a balm in Gilead," a Spiritual with a phrase which derives from which book of the Bible?

a. Psalms

b. Jeremiah

c. Isaiah

d. Malachi

Quiz of the Day, March 9, 2021

What did the Valley of the son of Hinnom become a metaphor of?

a. tribulation

b. temptation

c. hell

d. defeat

Quiz of the Day, March 8, 2021

Why did God send a host of poisonous snakes on the Israelites to bite and kill many f them?

a. they complained about lack of good food and water

b. they disobeyed Moses

c. they worshiped a golden calf

d. they said they wanted to go back to Egypt

Quiz of the Day, March 7, 2021

Paul wrote that the Cross was what for the Jews?

a. incompatible with the true Messiah

b. a stumbling block

c. a corner stone

d. an offense

Quiz of the Day, March 6, 2021

In the 10 Commandments what rationale is given for requiring the sabbath?

a. Labor requires a day of rest

b. the religious leaders need required attendance

c. God rested from creating on the seventh day

d. Market day was also on the seventh day

Quiz of the Day, March 5, 2021

The first person in the Bible required to be circumcised was

a. Adam

b. Noah

c. Moses

d. Jacob

e. Abraham

Quiz of the Day, March 4, 2021

Of the following who had a significant influence on the spiritual direction of John Wesley's life?

a. his Oxford don

b. the Methodist preachers

c. prisoners in the Oglethorpe colony

d. the Moravians

Quiz of the Day, March 3, 2021

Of the following, who wrote the most hymns?

a. John Wesley

b. Charles Wesley

c. John Newton

d. Isaac Watts

e. George Herbert

f.  Fanny Crosby

Quiz of the Day, March 2, 2021

Which of the following prophets was imprisoned in a cistern?

a. Elijah

b. Isaiah

c. Ezekiel

d. Jeremiah

Quiz of the Day, March 1, 2021

The unnamed Samaritan woman at the well, written about in John, chapter 4, came to have a name in church tradition.  What name did she have?

a. Dorcas
b. Photina
c. Eunice
d. Lois

Aphorism of the Day, March 2021

Aphorism of the Day, March 30, 2021

The New Testament writers presented their images of the afterlife of Jesus in the unseen realm, viz., seated at the right hand of the Father.  What is more "empirical" is the afterlife of Jesus in the visible realm.  People were able to have after the life of Jesus, interior experiences which initiated changes in their behavior and brought them into social fellowship clubs with others who had similar experiences.  These clubs were proto-institutions which grew into the larger institutions of churches as a necessary attempt to place order on the popularity of the "Christ-identity" which was happening on more widespread social level.  The many expressions of the "Christ-identity" which have occurred since Jesus was no longer seen, comprise the "afterlife" of Jesus in the visible realm.   This massive "Christ-identity" phenomenon within so many people in so many ways, is the objective immortality of Jesus Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, March 29, 2021

An old preacher once said that his favorite verse in the KJV, was "and it came to pass."  Holy Week is when we mark the events when things came to "pass."  The Last Supper, the arrest and trial, the bearing of the cross, the crucifixion, the burial, and the rising of Christ.  So much happened in one week in the cycle of the life of Jesus.  In a few days the extremes of agony and ecstasy are packed and for those in the Pauline churches, the death and resurrection were mystical identity events for personal transformation of one's life.  It is easy to get caught of in sentimental visualization in exteriorizing these events, and forget that their presentations in the Gospel were part of the church's mystagogy,  teaching of the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory.

 Aphorism of the Day, March 28, 2021

We call the public display of writing in prominent places "advertisement."  The transgressive display of "unwanted" or "unlicensed" public writing is called graffiti.  The writing on the cross of Jesus was presented as public scorn by the Romans.  But for the Gospel writers, the presentation was the hidden and inward message about Jesus being a king of hearts as a suffering servant.  The irony is only enhanced by the presentation of the centurion (whose status was symbolic of the makeup of the Jesus Movement by the time the Gospels were written) saying, "Truly this man was God's Son."  One needs to appropriate the irony of how the Gospels were crafted for the spiritual/inward teaching program of the early church.

Aphorism of the Day, March 27, 2021

Writing about the the "sign" on the cross.  This is writing about writing.  If the sign on the cross was an ironic reference to the status of Jesus in various community, this writing about writing was the identity purpose of the writings of the Gospel.  The purpose of the Gospels, in part, was to make the case that "Jesus was the king of the Jews." 

Aphorism of the Day, March 26, 2021

The cross of Jesus was a "billboard" for actual text.  The text is loaded with the irony regarding the title of Jesus.  "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews."  For Pilate and the soldiers this was mocking scorn:  "What is your majesty doing up on the cross?"  For the Jews who had different notions of the king known as Messiah, they wanted to correct the text by adding, "He said, that he was King of the Jews."  So, there is the irony of what are the telling features of this apocalyptic figure known as "Messiah."  But in the early Jesus Movement and churches, the sign was true in the messianic sense of Messiah as Suffering Servant who had Risen in Glory and was majestic in his Risen and Glorified State, known on earth in his increasing popularity among Jews and Gentiles.  The Gospel writers knew full well the irony of the "billboard" which is why the Gospel is "written spiritual artistic text."  Notice too how the billboard is writing within the writing.  It is Gospel writing which includes the account of the billboard writing on the cross.  One might say that this is a touch of the sublime in the written art.

Aphorism of the Day, March 25, 2021

The "cross identity" of Paul and others can seem to be downright macabre, as a sort of fixation upon death by capital punishment.  How many people are wearing jewelry of electric chair icons around their necks today?  The mysticism of Paul in his "cross identity," stated as "I have been crucified with Christ," and his glorification of the cross, shows up in the Gospel of John oracle words of Jesus referring to his being "lifted up" as proof of his eventual glorification.  Heroic and sacrificial deaths on behalf of others certainly are memorable within the communities for whom the sacrifice was made, but there has never been the glorification of a gruesome death more than the cross of Jesus Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, March 24, 2021

"My God, why have you forsaken me?"  A quote from the Psalm which then is heard from the mouth of Jesus.  Perhaps another cry should be alway, "People, why do we often forsake each other with the most awful, unloving, horrible behaviors toward each others."  Most situations of the sense of forsakenness is the inhumanity among people.

Aphorism of the Day, March 23, 2021

As much as like to hold onto the notion of an absolute triumphal God who micromanages every situation such that all is indeed God's will, it is more realistic to hold for a God who is "weakened" by the very essence of the divine nature, which is freedom.  God who is freedom is weakened by sharing that freedom with every other being and entity.  That is why God permits so much conflict between competing agents and systems and we as human know that agents are truly valuable by having freedom.  The event of the cross of Jesus exemplifies the "weakness" of God's supreme agent in being caught within the freedom of the Empire to put down anything which seemed to be trouble for the Emperor in any place in the Empire.

Aphorism of the Day, March 22, 2021

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday juxtaposes the two events.  A boisterous, probable crowd in Jerusalem on "Spring Break," for Passover decide to break public gathering rules and set a "pretender" king on a donkey and parade him into Jerusalem.  And the Jerusalem crowd are thinking, "Oh no, the Roman authorities are going to come down on us and we will lose their sponsorship for all of the public works projects which provide employment for our city." One can understand the political reason for negotiations between Roman authorities and the local council negotiating for Jewish rights in the occupation by the Romans.  Do we go along with the rebellion and be totally crushed by the Roman armies or do we allow the declared king pretender Jesus to die, and save the lives of the citizens of Jerusalem and Israel?  One can understand the words of the High Priest Caiaphas: "One must die instead of all."  The death of Jesus was seen as political expediency.

Aphorism of the Day, March 21, 2021

The lectionary are the assigned readings from Holy Scripture for the Eucharist and Offices.  Sometimes the appointed themes of the various assigned reading indicate an obvious "united" theme; at other times a frustrated preacher moans, "the lectionary maker," had a bad day and was thinking, "Let's assign readings with disparate and even contradictory themes and see if the preacher can contort language to its limit."

Aphorism of the Day, March 20, 2021

The cycles in nature like seed, plant, blossom and more seeds, are instructive about the reality of time, but the experience of the sameness in time in the eternal recurrence of "like states or events."  A seed will eventually produce more seeds which are "different seeds," but same by the fact that they are seeds with a similar functional identity.  The oracle of Jesus in John's Gospel, used the planted seed metaphor for his death and in the spiritual cycle the seeds of the life of Christ in the members of the future community of his followers are different from the seed of Jesus,  even though they include the same DNA of the Holy Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, March 19, 2021

Garden time is burial time, for a seed and the seed in the ground will die to its "seedy" state and become roots and stems, leaves, blossom and fruit.  A seed is both a baby and an ancient, ancient because it derives from a long change of an indeterminate past and it will be a link in an indeterminate future.  Jesus spoke of his body as a seed to be buried in the ground in death but the future glory of the Risen Christ blossomed and flourished in a magnificent indeterminate future.

Aphorism of the Day, March 18, 2021

New Testament writers sought ways to speak about Christ.  They resorted to the themes, the types, the roles found in Hebrew Scriptures.  When a particular Psalm does not seem to have actual contextual empirical verifiability; rather than seeing it as poetic license to extol an actual "High Priest," it becomes a "messianic" Psalm pointing to some future figure.  So, God is saying to the writer's Lord, "You are a priest after the order of Melchizedek."  Melchizedek is a figure in the "mist" of prehistory and as a "superior" of Abraham, he must have been Godlike.  And so Jesus the Christ, who was not an earthly priest, becomes presented as a High Priest because the essence of his life is to present "human life" as an offering to God.  And if Jesus was not a "Levite," he must have had a higher priestly lineage, ergo, Melchizedek.  One can appreciate how writers promulgated the identity of Christ using the available models from their traditions and Hebrew Scriptures.  In modern correspondence "theory" we might require higher literal correspondence, like in baseball, Hank Aaron was a homerun hitter after the order of Babe Ruth.

 Aphorism of the Day, March 17, 2021

The prophets wrote about the day when God would write the laws upon the hearts of people.  Does this refer to the work of the Holy Spirit?  Does this refer to what might be called enlightened consciences?  Or does this represent the lack of knowing that everything inside and outside of a person is already a "text," in that in that any law, i.e., structuration of a person's life is known only because we have language in the first place which allows us to name things inside of us and outside of us?   Our lives inside and out are totally codified by having language.  Word would become to be called with God and God from the beginning.  And Word is the beginning of human life as it can be known.  Knowing always presumes the existence of Word/language before any "knowing" event.  Indeed the "heart" is written on in not just being a named physical organ of the body, but a centralized interior location of "language space" which structures and organizes all of human life.  Disclaimer: Everything written here happened because I have language and it has me.

Aphorism of the Day, March 16, 2021

A Gospel metaphor from the mouth of Jesus juxtaposes life and death.  The seed falls into the ground and dies, because if it doesn't die, then there is no future plant life.  So planting seed is a burial, a death to the seed in its "seedy" state.  Everything in life is in "phase" transition; time and change means no state is stable, but only in flux.  The Requiem preface reflects this: death does not mean the end of life but only the phase of life on the way to another manifestation of life.

Aphorism of the Day, March 15, 2021

Jesus of Nazareth made such an impression that an entire system of poetic metaphor was used for him.  If Christ is "All and in all," then he can assume everything in the equation, Jesus the Christ is                     (fill in the blank).   Jesus was not from a priestly family and not a Levite, but Christ was regarded to be a High Priest.  How does one establish priestly lineage if one is not a Levite?  Well, there was this Priest before priests, King of Salem, Melchizedek whom Abraham the pre-Israelite paid tithe to.  So, the High Priesthood of Jesus must have come from this figure who dwelt  in the cloudy mist of prehistory.  And the writer of the letter of Hebrews made Melchizedek better known than he might have been if he had not been the model for a "cosmic" priesthood.

Aphorism of the Day, March 14, 2021

St. Paul was the prominent architect of a program of Christian identity.  In his words, he had been crucified with Christ and had been raised with him, even riding the glory of Christ to be seated with him in heavenly places.  In this identity, he said that he had the "mind of Christ."  How could Paul "be" this Christ and be himself?  This is the "duck/rabbit" switch in apparency in life.  One can either live from Christ motive or ego motive through the same body.  The Christ-identity theology of Paul becomes in the Gospel narratives, "believing in the Name of Christ," and "speaking in the Name" of Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, March 13, 2021

Bible reading is like doing archaeology in language.  And there are many artifacts in the Bible which are cultural practices that might be put in a "museum of things that people once did but shouldn't do anymore," like slavery and the subjugation of women.  Old "language" captures old human practices which have correspondences in the contemporary language of today.  Old language reveal "function within contexts," and language still reveals "function within our contexts today."  We should be doing comparative functional analysis of linguistic shards in the Bible with full-blown cultural functional practice today.

Aphorism of the Day, March 12, 2021

Probably the way to understand biblical language, is as a language of identity for the formation of community.  The nature and needs of the communities which comprise the "writing situations" of the Bible are wide and diverse and represent differentiation consciousness based upon the "understanding" of the particular writing contexts.  The universal in the Bible is the fact that it is language; language is the human universal and embedded in language are translatable correspondences of human experience.  These correspondences are not equality of details, since the passing of time, evolution, change alter details of human culture; but the principles which are embedded in Language as the human universal, are translatable.  Any biblical interpreter is after this translation of principles embedded in biblical language for the formation and re-formation of community identity.  Unfortunately, many biblical readers are like a crew of Civil War re-enacters pretending that the re-enactment is the real thing.

Aphorism of the Day, March 11, 2021

The more "prehistoric" events of the Bible portray God as directly speaking and acting in human affairs.  As people move more toward "empirical verification" as a chief discursive criteria for appraising various biblical discourse, interpreters have to come to understand discourse which functions for "community identity" something like a mythical totemic figure in a village, or they resort to claim that all "prehistoric" biblical discourse complied with standards of empirical verification based upon uniformity of natural causes evident in any era.

Aphorism of the Day, March 10, 2021

"Saved already," or "condemned already," can be used to limit salvation to the Christian "club," or they can be moment by moment judgment of how a person is living out the conditions of freedom.  By one one does, one instantiate that which is condemnable or salutary.  The judgment of reward or punishment is inherent in our act.  That we get to do good is immediate reward for being in the state of doing good.  That we do bad means that we are manifesting a "condemned" state.  Judgment is always now, even though we cannot help but focus on the results of what has been done.

Aphorism of the Day, March 9, 2021

The most famous verse displayed at sporting contest is John 3:16 with words that Jesus says to Nicodemus.  The presentation of Jesus speaking in the third person is a marker for oracular words of early church channelers of the Spirit of Christ in speaking in his name.  Why didn't Jesus say to Nicodemus: For my God who is my Father, loved the world such that he gave me, his beloved son, so that whoever believes in me, might live forever?  Why does third person speak need to be put in the mouth of Jesus?

Aphorism of the Day, March 8, 2021

It is interesting to note the ways in which New Testament writings appropriate the writings of Hebrew Scripture.  "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,(because the Israelites complained about inadequate food and water, deserving a God-sent plague of poisonous snakes to inflict them with death, until Moses provided the "faith cure" of looking upon a bronze serpent on a pole) so must the Son of Man be lifted up (on the cross)".  Serpent on the pole=Savior on the Cross is the appropriated metaphor and certainly in inexact ways of correspondence.  The main point is that the "glance" of faith at God's provision of health/salvation, is the saving glance.

Aphorism of the Day, March 7, 2021

One needs to read the Bible as one appreciates the layering of metaphors in the conveyance of meanings.  Jesus is presented at the Temple as saying, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days."  And we are told that "this Temple" refers to the body of Jesus in his resurrection.  And this narrative presentation is being used to teach what had come to be the theology and practice of the early Christian community which had developed its own symbolic order.  To use language is to be lost in metaphorical structuration.

Aphorism of the Day, March 6, 2021

Why is the cross a stumbling block and foolishness?  It is that for those who did not experience the subsequent effects of the lingering presence of Jesus as the unseen but inwardly known Risen Christ.  The meaning of the cross is incomplete for those who did not know the effects of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, March 5, 2021

Paul used "spiritual" meaning to speak of the value of the cross of Christ.  The outer meaning of the cross involve the defeat and the destruction of the person placed on the cross.  So, to revel in the cross was foolishness to the logical "Greek" mind.  As much as Paul gloried in the cross of Christ, he did not do it as an isolated event in the life of Jesus.  The subsequent post-death appearances of Christ to his disciples and to Paul became the completion of the death-resurrection identity cycle of Pauline mysticism.

Aphorism of the Day, March 4, 2021

What is the most basic biblical assumption about God?  God is a language user.

Aphorism of the Day, March 3, 2021

Why was the cross a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks?  It was a stumbling block because any self-respecting Messiah would not get crucified.  Would someone like King David return and be put on the cross?  No.  The Greeks had quite fanciful god and goddess myths but they came to be known for the fruits of Plato and Aristotle, philosophy which means the love of wisdom.  How could the event of someone dying a death of capital punishment on the cross be philosophically wise?  How could it be logically someone who would be worthy of worship?  Paul believed that the cross and resurrection represented the power of changing his life and for him the proof of transformation of his life from the inside was more telling than the "apparent" failure of Jesus on the cross and the appearance of the illogic of weakness in a "hero."

Aphorism of the Day, March 2, 2021

One of the themes in the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John is to eschew the "literal" meanings, like when his listeners thought that rebuilding the destroyed temple referred to the building, and we are told that it was the body of Jesus which was the "temple" to be restored/rebuilt in three days.  Any student of language use and discursive practice cannot help but note the metaphor, temple=body of Jesus.  It is difficult for some Bible readers who prefer what is called "plain reading meanings" to understand how even the presentation of seeming "plain reading events, purporting to be able to have been empirically verifiable," are themselves metaphors of physicality to reinforce the substantiality of the "spiritual" meaning of narrative.

Aphorism of the Day, March 1, 2021

The importance of the Bible as writing is the importance of human beings as language users who through writing, textuality, celebrated that we and all things as they can be known (an attribute that is known because we have language), are caught in the reflexivity of language/word which we can't escape because we have to use "words" to make the false claim, "I am escaping words." 

My God, My God, Why?

Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday B, March 28, 2021
Is.45:21-25     Ps. 22:1-11
Phil. 2:5-11   St. Mark’s Passion Gospel

Lectionary Link

The following text in was found on a basement wall in Cologne, Germany.  It had been written by someone hiding from the Gestapo.

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.  I believe in love even when feeling it not. 

I believe in the sun even when it is not shining.  I believe in love even when feeling it not.

I believe in God even when God is silent.  I believe in the silence.

  

 Since last year:  A pandemic, the severity of which was denied by our leaders, poorly responded to, leading to the deaths of more than half a million in our country and many more in our world..  My God, my God, why have you forsaken us?

The financial ruin of vast number of people because of the pandemic while a very few became exponentially more wealthy as our country and world have difficulty regarding the common good:  My God, my God why have you forsaken us?

Multiple killings of Black persons through bad policing and targeting of people of color, resulting in extensive social revolt to protest for the equal value of the lives of Black persons: My God, my God, why have you forsaken us.

Multiple mass shootings, including the targeting of Asian Americans,  coupled with the increase in the number of sales of military rifles for the civilian population and a government that can legislate on seat belts, baby crib safety, but cannot do anything about military weapons in the hands of the general populace:  My God, my God why have you forsaken us?

And in one year these are all in addition to our normal natural disasters of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and winter extreme freezing.

My God, my God why have you forsaken us?

Jesus on the cross before he died, is believed to have used an expression from Psalm 22.  "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me."  News Flash: The Divine Son reports that his Heavenly Father Abandoned Him.  It is a rather serious accusation that a Son might make against one's Father, especially one's Heavenly Father.

This cry is the cry of Jesus showing complete identity with human suffering.  And it is the cry which happens even when we know why.  Jesus knew why and we also know why.  But knowing does not comfort us much in the moment of feeling the forsakenness so poignantly.

What do we know and what did Jesus know?  We know and Jesus knew that life is valuable because of genuine freedom.  From the sub-atomic particles through human beings, life is an expression of freedom.  And the free conditions result in the clash and conflict of systems because in timing, things collide.  Freedom is more valuable for human beings because we have higher conscious and deliberative freedom.  It also means that we are more culpable for what we choose to do.  We can't hold a tornado responsible for hitting our house, but you can hold a person responsible for burning your house down.  This is the common sense of how freedom works.  If freedom is the highest value of life, God must be pure Freedom, but God does not interfere with the lesser freedoms which people and things bearing the divine brand have.  And Jesus on the cross was subject to the freedom that the human authorities had to put him there.

The church believes that Jesus cried, "My God, my God why have you forsaken me," because we believe that Jesus was one who knew that he was in God's plan and timing and he knew that being God with us meant full identity with the human experience.

But for you and me, I would like for us to change the big "Why" question by asking, "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"  

The horrible Holocaust, the killing of millions by Stalin, Pol Pot and all of the current and past cruel dictators, and the wars of humanity.  "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"

The racial mistreatment of Black persons, Brown persons, Asian persons and Native American people.  "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"

The inequities in housing provision, sustainable wages, access to affordable health care, equal treatment of women.  "O my fellow people, why have we forsaken each other?"

You and I are not like Jesus; we cannot just state that people being inhumane to each other is part of God's grand plan.

What is God's grand plan?  The witness of the Jesus from the Cross is to say to us, "Please don't hurt each other anymore.  Please do no harm to each other.  Please celebrate your wonderful freedom by doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with your God, and with each other."  This is the way in which we honor the glorious value of freedom in our lives.  And I believe that this is what the cry of Jesus from the cross is trying to teach us today.  Amen.

Sunday School, March 28, 2021 Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

 Sunday School, March 28, 2021  Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Themes:

This day is a day of contrast which pertain to the distinctly contradictory events which are marked in the life of Christ, the Palm procession with Jesus proclaimed as king by happy and joyful devotees and the Passion account where there is a different crowd presented who want to crucify Jesus and mock his "kingship."

You may want to censor by choosing the Palm Sunday themes for children.  Here is a Palm Sunday story about Christopher (Christ-bearer) the donkey.  This story puts together the event of the Palm Procession and the Passion Sunday event of the cross of Jesus.

Once upon a time in a village near the city of Jerusalem, the village of Bethphage; a little donkey was born in the pasture.  And that donkey was called by his owner, Shorty, because he was so tiny when he was born.

  But the donkey’s mom, called him Christopher.  When Christopher became old enough to talk to his mom, he asked her, "Why does my owner call me Shorty, even now when I've grown to be a tall and strong donkey?"  Christopher's mom said, "Well once you get a name, it sometimes just sticks and people won't let you be anything else."

  Christopher asked his mom, "Then why do you call me Christopher?"  His mom said, "Well, I'm not sure but I just had this feeling that it was the right name for you."

  Christopher looked in the other pasture and he saw a beautiful big stallion prancing around.  He saw important Roman Generals ride this beautiful horse.  And Christopher thought, "I wish that someone important would ride on my back some day.  And Christopher was a little jealous of the stallion.

  But one day something exciting happened to Christopher.  Two visitors came to the farm where Christopher was kept.  They called themselves  disciples of Jesus, and they said there was going to be a parade into the great city of Jerusalem.  They also said that they needed a donkey to carry their king.  Christopher's owner Farmer Jacob, said, "I've got two donkeys, that jennet over there and her colt that I call "Shorty."  If Jesus needs the donkeys, take them.  Jesus is my friend, he healed my son, and I owe him everything I have."

  So the two disciples took Christopher and his mom with them and they went to a place just in front of the sheep gate in Jerusalem.  There was a large crowd gathered who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Holiday.  After waiting for about an hour, the crowd soon got excited.  Jesus arrived and it was time for the parade to start.  The people put some robes on Christopher to make a saddle for Jesus.  Christopher had never been ridden before, and he was nervous.  But Christopher's mom said, "Calm down, Jesus is the nicest man in the world.  You don't need to buck him off."

  Jesus climbed up on the back of Christopher and the parade started.  The people took some branches from some palm trees and they began to wave and shout and scream, because their superstar was there.  They followed Jesus as he was riding Christopher into the city of Jerusalem and Christopher trotted proudly through the streets.  This was the happiest day of his life.  At night, he and his mom were tied up at the house of one of the disciples in Jerusalem.  Christopher's mom was proud of him and she said, "Well now I know why I named you Christopher.  "Christopher" means, "the one who carries Christ."  And today you have carried Christ on your back, so today you have lived up to your name."  Christopher was so happy he wanted hee haw with joy.  But his happiness didn't last too long.

  He looked out on the street and he saw another parade.  In the darkness he saw a tired and naked Jesus walking with soldiers.  And the soldiers were forcing him to carry this large wooden cross on his back.  He was bleeding and he was too weak to carry the cross, so at one place they forced a man named Simon to carry the cross for Jesus.  The people who were following the soldiers were laughing and making fun of Jesus.  They were saying, "you're going to die Jesus.  You were just pretending to be a king, but you don't have any power, you're going to die Jesus."

  Christopher ran to his mom and said, "If I had known that this would happen to Jesus, I would not have brought him to Jerusalem."

  Christopher's mom said, "It is a terrible, terrible thing, but we must trust God.  Jesus is the best and nicest person who ever lived and God will take care of him."

  Well, Jesus went on to die on the cross.  And he was buried in a grave.  But the story does not end here.  Come back next week and we will tell you the end of the story.  What happened to Jesus after he died and was put in the grave?

  What was the donkey's name?  Christopher.  What does Christopher mean?  It means "The one who carries Christ."  In a way, every Christian could be called Christopher.  Because you and I are asked to carry the presence of Christ into this world by being loving and kind.  Amen.

Intergenerational family liturgy with Holy Eucharist

March 29, 2015: Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Opening Song as continuation of Palm Procession: Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest!

(Renew! # 71)

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest! 

Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise;

Be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!

Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings!

Lord we lift up you name with hearts full of praise;

Be exalted oh Lord my God! Glory to the King of kings!

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

People: His 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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Assist us with your mercy and help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy as we think about your mighty acts which have given us life and an everlasting future; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

First Litany of Praise: Hosanna

O God, you are Great!  Hosanna

O God, you have made us! Hosanna

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Hosanna

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Hosanna

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Hosanna

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Hosanna          

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Hosanna

A Reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 118

On this day the LORD has acted; *we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Hosanna, LORD, Hosanna! *LORD, send us now success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; *we bless you from the house of the LORD.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

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.

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord-- the King of Israel!" Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: "Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!" His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

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.

(Intercessions may be added here)

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 Choir Anthem: Praise Him, All Ye Little Children  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 184)

1          Praise him, praise him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Praise him, praise him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

2          Love him, love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Love him, love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

3          Serve him, serve him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Love him love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

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 the celebration of our 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)

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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.  Sanctify us your Holy Spirit so that that we may love God and our neighbor.

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

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

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

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

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:        Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Anthem:  

                                 

Communion Song: Were You There? (blue hymnal)

1. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Oh! Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble. Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

2. Were you there when they nailed him to the tree? …

3. Were you there when they pierced him in the side? …

4. Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? …

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:  Hosanna, Hosana, (The Christian Children’s Songbook, # 102)

Hosanna! Hosanna! The little children sing.  Hosanna, Hosanna, for Christ, our Lord is King.  Prepare the way, the children sing, Hosanna to our Lord and King. Hosanna, Hosanna, the little children sing.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!