Commit Optimism Today

6 Easter   C       May 1, 2016             

Acts 14:8-18      Ps. 67

Rev. 21:22-22:5      John 14:23-29

Lectionary Link

 

  Today, I would like for us to look for good news in the Psalm of the Day.  Let us read it again together:

Psalm 67

1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *

show us the light of his countenance and come to us.

2 Let your ways be known upon earth, *
your saving health among all nations.

3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.

4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide all the nations upon earth.

5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
let all the peoples praise you.

6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *
may God, our own God, give us his blessing.

7 May God give us his blessing, *
and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

  Religions and their holy books are full of a diversity of material including people cursing each other and excommunicating each other and fighting each other and separating from each other.  And one could say that religion is an honest reflection of the diversity present in life.  One of the things which most so called New Age religions seem to do is to edit the materials found in religions and just choose the optimistic and hopeful stuff and try to sweep all of the bad stuff under the carpets.  There are some negative things in religions but let's not be reminded of it.

  Ancient pray formularies used to include blessings and curses.  It has often been acceptable to bless those whom one favors and agrees with one and to curse those who oppose or try to thwart one's purposes.

  In the midst of a world where there are significant pockets of cruel killings, hateful speech and just plain tiresome political rancor about who has the best solutions to world and domestic problems, we still need to have the permission to retreat to express our highest ideals and our aspiration for what would be the perfect conditions in our world.

  Psalm 67 is perhaps an expression of the most extreme optimism to be found in the Bible or in any holy book?  Certainly such extreme optimism could be called good news or Gospel.  What are the elements of extreme optimism found in Psalm 67?

  There is a confession that God belongs to all of the peoples of the earth.   There is a desire that God manifest mercy and blessing upon everyone.   The Psalmist asks that all be able to seeing the light of the divine countenance.  Let each person see this approving glance of Daddy and Mommy's loving approval upon them.  Seeing favor and approval from God is the foundation of personal esteem.  There is a saying that it is better to be lucky than good.  The Psalmist is not appealing to the goodness of humanity; the Psalmist wants mercy and blessing for all of us.  It is better to know God's mercy and blessing than to rest upon any sense of goodness, ability or even hard work in our lives.  We should be good, we should express our gifts and we should work hard, but beyond all of these things, we find that the great complimenting feature of life is the fortune of knowing God's mercy and blessing. 

   If God represents Greatness, then it follows that all people would have access to Greatness.  There is an expression of an invitation to freely acknowledge Greatness.  The Psalmist does not say, "Make all of the peoples praise you, O God."  It says, "Let the peoples praise you, O God."

  The Psalmist implores, "Let God's ways be known upon earth; let saving health be known among all nations."   This is the ultimate best wish for the well being of all in this world.  All of us at our best can identify with this prayer.  The words of Jesus to his disciples promises that the Advocate or Holy Spirit will remind the disciples and teach them all things about what Jesus taught them.  Jesus taught them to love God and love their neighbors as their selves. How much time in our prayers do we spend aspiring that God's saving health might be known throughout the earth?  Do we leave this to New Age, visualizers of world peace who are Pollyannaish about being able to meditate world peace into actual practice?  Do we think that we are better being realists to pray for world blessing while keeping our guns loaded? 

  The Psalmist is obviously a musician because the Psalmist says, "let everyone be glad and sing with joy."  So there is hope even for the tone deaf.  Singing can make one glad; music arises to express what we often don't think can be expressed with just words.  Singing and music are another kinds of language which humanity has to express our experience of the Sublime.  But notice that the best motivation for joy and gladness is the celebration of the way of God is known through justice.  "You judge the people with equity."  And isn't the practice of justice being realized the very best cause of joy and singing?  When we as Americans and when the people of world see justice being actualized, then we cannot help but make music.  Singing properly expresses our joyous response to justice.

  The Psalmist recognizes the reciprocity of the Earth and the Divine.  The Earth is a gift to us which bears sustaining fruit to provide us with life's necessity.  And yet we need the Divine to remind us that there is someone greater than us to give us wisdom in the distribution of the gifts of our good earth to provide for all.  Without an acknowledgement of God, human dominators take over and exploit and do not share the fruits of the earth so that everyone can justly have enough.  Human dominators do not care what kind of earth will left for our children.

  The Psalmist acknowledges that God allows people to connect personally with God; the Psalmist writes: "May God, our own God give us the divine blessing."  Jesus invited everyone to know God as he knew God; he invited everyone to say, "Our Father."  So you and I and everyone can say, "My Father God, My Mother God," not because we can presume to limit God to our narrow views, but because we can know a loving dependency upon God as simple trusting sons and daughters of God.  Instead of fighting over the superiority of my God, the Psalmist asks us to recognize that all persons can have a uniquely personal relationship with God.

  And may the ends of the earth stand in awe of God.  What is it that can qualify and interdict our behaviors?  Our appreciation of someone who is greater than we are.  In the lives of all great human beings we can find flaws and weaknesses.  Great people can inspire us but at some point we can arrive at disillusionment with all people. The very notion of God as the Greatest is the notion of ultimate horizons of surpassability.  The one who is greater than all is also the worthy authority to inspire us toward moral, ethical and loving behaviors, not because we fear God as the final Judge, but because we want to please God as our loving parent.

  The Psalmist wants the optimistic option; let us be those who are learning to be better because we know God to be great, merciful, and the one who is always blessing.

  As gruesome as some of the imagery of the Book of Revelation is, the writer also has a vision of a new earth and a new Jerusalem.  And God knows we need a new Jerusalem since the earthly Jerusalem, while being a holy city has been one of the bloodiest cities of human history.  How ironic that the city with the most religious significance in the world has been the site of such devastation and shedding of blood.  Indeed we need to visualize a New Jerusalem, a new condition between people who do not use religion as an excuse to hurt or harm other people.  In the vision of John the Divine, the Tree of life from the book of Genesis returns; it has twelve fruits, one for each month and its leaves are for the healing of the nations.  Don't we wish all of the nations of our world could start taking this herbal remedy now?

  Today, let Psalm 67 be the Gospel for us today.  If you are ever getting depressed about our world, if you are ever getting disillusioned with all of the religious and political disputes, just return to Psalm 67 and with the Psalmist commit the supreme act of optimism and let that optimism rise as the blessing of hope within us, even the blessing of God's Holy Spirit.

  May God give us and everyone God's mercy, favor and blessing.  Amen.

Sunday School, May 1, 2016 6 Easter C

Sunday School, May 1, 2016     6 Easter C

The followers of Jesus wrote about the life of Jesus after they had “graduated” from the school of Jesus.

What did the followers of Jesus do?  They prayed together.  They studied the Bible together.  They preached good news about God’s love and forgiveness.  They prayed for sick people.  They share their food, clothing, homes and money with people who were in need.  They ate the Holy Meal of Eucharist together.  They welcomed people into their community through baptized.

And what did they realize?  They realized that they were doing exactly what Jesus taught them.  And when they realized this, they remember that before Jesus left he had told them that he would be with them and give them a helper after he was gone.

When we teach someone we leave something of our self in the person whom we taught.  Jesus was the teacher of his followers and when he was gone, his followers realized that the life of Jesus from his teaching was with them and it included a power and ability to continue to do the good things which Jesus taught them.

One of ways in which a person never dies is to pass on the wonderful gifts of one’s life to other people.  When a person teaches or helps or gives something to another person, a person lives on forever with the people who received the gift.  And the people who are taught also keep teaching and so many people continual to live on.

Today, we celebrate that Jesus and all of the followers of Jesus who have been in the church for over 2000 year continue to live on in us now.  We have the opportunity to keep the life of Jesus alive in our world as we pass what we have learned from Jesus to other people.

Jesus told his students that what he taught them would stay with them because the Holy Spirit would continue to help them learn and remember about the life of Jesus.

The Good News for us today is this:  When we teach and give and help others, it means that we will in very important ways, live forever.

Let us join with Jesus and Christians of all times continue to pass on to others the good news of God’s love and care.  In this way, we will continue to live forever with Christ.

Children’s Sermon

  Can you brush your teeth by yourself?  Can you wash your hands by yourself?  Can you eat with a fork and a spoon by yourself?  Who taught you to do all of these things?  Your mom or your dad did or maybe your big brother or sister.

  The older that you get, the more things you learn.  And when you learn things you do not have to have your mom and dad there with you to do them for you.

  So what things can you do on your own now?  Can you brush your hair?  Can you make your bed?  Can you clean your room?  Can you take your dishes from the table into the kitchen?  Can you read a book?  Can you take care of your pets?

  Yes you are learning to do many things by yourself now.  Your mom and dad used to have to help you but now you can do them yourself.  So it’s like your parents have been your teachers and when they are not with you it is like they are still with you because they have taught you to do so many things to do by yourself, you don’t need them to help you with them anymore.

  When Jesus knew that he was going to leave this earth and when he knew that he would not be with his friends, he told them that when he left that he would leave a teacher with them. Or a helper or an advocate.

  So when the friends of Jesus who were students of Jesus did not see him anymore, they would still know what to do, because he taught them so well, it was like he was still with them, even though he was gone.

  Did you know that life is all about learning and teaching.  When you learn how to do something, it means that you too will become a teacher to help someone else learn.

  When we learn from our parents and teachers, it means that they do not have to be with us all of the time to do things for us.

  When we teach someone something, it is like we leave a part of ourselves in them.  Because every time they do something that we taught them, it is like we are still with them.

  Jesus told his students that he was going to leave, but he promised that he would still be with them.  And how was he with them?  He taught them to do things well, so when they did things on their own, they knew that it was like their teacher Jesus was still with them.

  Remember our life is about learning and teaching.  When you learn, your parents and teachers will always be with you when you do what you learned from them.

  And you too will be a teacher, when you help others to learn.

    Jesus was such a good teacher, that his friend knew that he was with them even when they did not see him.  Let us learn to be good students and good teachers, too.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

May 1, 2016: The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Gathering Songs: If You’re Happy and You Know It, God Is So Good, Eat This Bread, Awesome God

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

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.

Song: If You’re Happy And You Know It, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 124)

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know, then your face should surely show it.  If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet.  If you’re happy and you know it, stomp your feet.  If you’re happy and you know, then your face should surely show it.   If you’re happy and you know it stomp your feet.

If you’re happy and you know it, shout, Amen! Amen!  If you’re happy and you know it, shout, Amen! Amen!  If you’re happy and you know it, then your face should surely show it. If you’re happy and you know it, shout Amen!  Amen!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Revelation to John:

In the spirit the angel carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day-- and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 67

Let the peoples praise you, O God; * let all the peoples praise you.

The earth has brought forth her increase; * may God, our own God, give us his blessing.

May God give us his blessing, * and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

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!

For the special blessing of our Mothers whom we honor today.  Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to Judas (not Iscariot), "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me. "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, `I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe."

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 Song: God Is So Good, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 73)

God is so good.  Good is so good.  God is so good; he’s so good to me.

He cares for me.  He cares for me.  He cares for me; he’s so good to me.

I love him so.  I love him so.  I love him so; he’s so good to me.

I’ll praise his name.  I’ll praise his name.  I’ll praise his name; he’s so good to me.

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, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia! 

Words of Administration

Communion       Song: Eat This Bread (Renew!, # 228)

Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry. 

Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Awesome God (Renew!  # 245)

Our God is an awesome God.  He reigns from heaven above.   With wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God.

(Sung three times)

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

John's Gospel: Writing as a Technology of Memory to Keep the Word of Jesus

6 Easter   C       May 5, 2013             

Acts 14:8-18      Ps. 67

Rev. 21:22-22:5      John 14:23-29

Lectionary Link 

    What is that both creates human lives as we know them  and then preserves then into the future?  It is our word ability.  What keeps animals from becoming extinct?  Their ability to continue to propagate their species into the future; for animals it is only a biological preservation.  With human being it involves a preservation of all that humans have attained in what we call human culture.  And human beings use word or language and language products to preserve what they can retain of human culture from one age to the next.

  What is a bee keeper?  Someone who tends to bees in hives in order to harvest the honey.  What is a zoo keeper?  A worker at a zoo who takes care of animals.  What is a house keeper?  A member of the household who takes care of the interior maintenance of a house.

  In our appointed Gospel lesson for today, we have a reference to word keeping.  “Those who love me will keep my word.”  That’s a quote from a discourse of Jesus unique to John’s Gospel.  Word Keeper?  What does that mean?   I’m as guilty as anyone in being sloppy often about word use and I think perhaps we often miss the meaning of word keeping in this Gospel lesson based upon what word keeping has come to mean in our English usage, which probably came about because of a misuse of this Gospel passage.

  In English if it is said that someone keeps their word, it means that they honor their verbal contracts but we normally only use this phrase in reference to the words that belong to the same person who is keeping them.  He keeps his word.  I keep my word.  But I don’t usually say that I keep someone else’s word.  And it would be a rare English expression for someone to ask me to “keep their words.”

  We probably are used to thinking that “keeping the word” of Jesus would mean to obey Jesus, but there is another Greek word for obey and that is not the word used in this Gospel lesson.  In earlier verses it was written that the disciples were asked by Jesus to keep his commandments.  This is a direct identification of Jesus as one who is greater than Moses when it comes to having commandments that should be regarded.

  But back to keeping the word of Jesus.  John’s Gospel is all about Word.  Word or the Greek word logos can be used in various ways.  It can mean a single word; it can be used as a collective plural as “entire” body of words; it can be used as a metaphor for what God is for us in trying to understand God.  The beginning phrase of John is “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  And that Word also became flesh and dwelled among us.

  The dilemma of the community for whom the Gospel of John was written concerned how the reality, the life, the memory, the presence of Jesus would be retained or kept in this world.  Jesus was so special his disciples were concerned that his memory could die out just as the memory of the overwhelming majority of people who have ever lived has died out.

  The words that we read today in John’s Gospel were written to a previous question.  Judas   (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “How are you going to make yourself known to us and not to the rest of the world?”  This question is really a dialogue analysis of the “staying power” of the remembrance of Jesus within the world.  You can appreciate the doubt of the question.  Jesus, if you don’t make it on the big stage of world history, like Julius Caesar did, how are you going to be remembered?  And how can our small little band of followers keep you alive in the world?

  And the answer is?  Jesus said that he and the Father and the Holy Spirit were all going to come and make a home in their followers.  Jesus had just said that in his Father’s house there were many dwelling places.  So Jesus was indicating that each body of his followers was to become an address, a location for the residence of the life of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  What was going on in the community of the Gospel of John?  They were taken up with the issue of the “staying power” of the memory of Jesus in their life and world.  They were well aware of the success of the Jesus Movement but at the same time they were not taking for granted the future presence of the memory of Jesus in the world.

  The punchline is this:  The quality of relationship and the re-creation of Godly presence in the life of each person wer so pronounced that it created such excitement as to be able to be transmitted through a continuous succession of words of Jesus from one disciple of Jesus to the next disciple of Jesus.

  We are so assuming about the doctrine of the Trinity that really did not become such a theological abbreviation for God until after the fourth century, that we forget the pregnant impact of the metaphor of the family of God becoming resident in one’s life as a continuing location of God’s presence in this world.

  If the Ford logo fell off one of Henry Ford’s car would it still have been made by Henry Ford?  Were the early members of John’s community worried about the label of God and Christ being removed such that their maker and originator would no longer be recognized?

  “Don’t worry” says the dialogical Jesus in John’s Gospel, “our the divine family brand is going to be all over you and in you and through you and this basic DNA of the family is going to be spirit-word within you and it will keep the Jesus-family brand alive and well for a long, long time.

  One of the major themes, in my opinion, of the Gospel of John has do with the word and how it is by the word that the identity of the community is going to remain connected with the identity of Jesus.

  In John, Jesus is the Christ, who is the Word of God, the same word that was spoken when the world of human beings came into being.  Jesus did not write books; Jesus spoke words.  Spoken words are harder to remember forever.  How do spoken words remain?  Oral tradition is passed on in spoken words that are reduced to mnemonic devices such as metaphors and stories.  Metaphors and stories are units of memory in oral traditions.  They help the listener be able to retain the gist of the conversation.  Oral traditions are not always precise and exact; they get slightly altered in transmission due to inexact human memory.  John’s Gospel is about anchoring spoken word of Jesus into a written word of teachings that Jesus would have said to help his followers to retain the importance of the mission of his life.  The punch line of John’s Gospel is about word as written word or as a more precise technology of memory for retaining exact words into the future.  This is what the Gospel of John has done; writing has retain exact words and these words limit the possible number of interpretations for these words and the faith meanings that they can come to have to people who read and hear them. You cannot say that John’s Gospel is written about Julius Caesar.

  The gist of the appointed Gospel is that the quality of the life of Jesus is so special that it could go from face to face contact; to personal witness existing in oral transmission and then into written word and the life of Jesus could be transmitted across history into the next generation.  And this has happened; we ourselves still try to account for the staying power of this transmission of the presence of Christ to us and in the many and varied way in which we have come to confess that God is Emmanuel, God is with us.

  Let each us accept that fact that we are individually a crowded house; God has taken up residence in us, set up home and it started because we were made in God’s image and now we just get to flat out confess it because God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, Word, Comforter, Wisdom or the Great One by any name resides in those whom the Divine one has designed and created.  Jesus made this known is a special way and the memory of him has been retained in a profound way.  We may not understand the staying power of Jesus even as atheist, agnostic and all have to admit that Jesus has hung around for a long time.

  Without trivializing God’s presence in our lives let us accept it as the basic Mystery of our lives that we revere and live towards each and every moment.  Let us not be too proud about how we know God; let us be more grateful that we have the privilege to be humble dwellings for God in our world.  Amen.