Showing posts with label C proper 5. Show all posts
Showing posts with label C proper 5. Show all posts

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Restored to Life; Metaphor of Transformation

3 Pentecost C 5  June 5, 2016
1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24) Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:11-17
  One of my mission as a preacher of the Gospel has been to deliver us from the fallacy of the chronological.  What is the fallacy of the chronological?  I call the fallacy of the chronological as regard the Gospel this:  The Gospels present the narratives of the life of Jesus who came first, but the Gospel present Jesus through the spirituality of the early church.  One of my preaching goals has been to show how the spiritual poetry, theology and practice of St. Paul is shown in story form in the Gospels since the Gospels came to written form some time after the writings of St. Paul.
  St. Paul wrote about sin being the state of living in the condition of death.  When people live in the deathly state of sin, they need life.   They need a liberating life experience which could transform one's life before one died a bodily death.  St. Paul believed that people needed to experience a kind of abundant life within our lives.
  In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul wrote, "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life."  In the Pauline writing to the Ephesian church, it is written: "You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived.......but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."
  How could this theology of Paul, his poetry of spiritual metaphors and method be placed into the context of the life of Jesus?  How could this spiritual method become spiritual manuals of the early churches?  If we understand the presentation of the spiritual method of Paul into written forms using events in a narrative of Jesus to illustrate these spiritual metaphors, then we can appreciate the incredible significance of the Gospels to the people for whom they were first intended.
  You and I regard the Gospels to be universal literature, freely available to be read by anyone.  In the times when they were being written, they were spiritual manuals not for the general populace but for the more private communities, communities that often had to gather in secrecy.  The Gospels were written and they hid the spiritual practices of the early church within presentations of events in the life of Jesus.  The Gospels hid spiritual practice in plain literal words, because the writers of the Gospel believed that to be initiated into a life practice of spiritual transformation, one needed to have another set of interior eyes to discern the spiritual practice hidden within the plain words of the texts.
  The early church believe that after the resurrection of Christ that he reappeared to some of his followers and he initiated them into an experience of the Spirit, and they in turn could initiate others to know the Spirit.  And when the Spirit was known in peoples lives they were so transformed that it was like contrasting death and life.  The experience of knowing God's eternal Spirit was to awaken to a new life, being born again or being born from above.
  Today, we have read a restoration to life story of Jesus.  A young man is brought back to life.  One of the clues that this Gospel is a teaching story is because there are no names given for the young and the widow.  Names would have been included if specific historical events were being written.  The story revisit the life model of the Prophet Elijah and his interaction with a widow and her young son.  The early church practiced a communal life where people took care of each other, proving that God loves the widow and the orphan.
  But what is also found in this Gospel story is the spirituality written about by St. Paul.  Each and every person comes to live under the conditions of sin.  Sin is shooting our arrows of effort at the targets of life and those arrows are always falling short.  Having rules and laws does not deliver us from sin and from its deathly effects: we still shoot arrows and still fall short of what we want and need to be.  St. Paul wrote that he had been very religious person following the law but he was still involved in trying to kill his religious opponents, the followers of Jesus.  An encounter with the Risen Christ converted him to begin another kind of life.  He found a transforming life experience in the midst of his deathly condition of sin of ironically wanting to kill others for religious reasons.
  The state of sin in St. Paul was metaphorically,  a state of living death; it was a state of slavery and darkness.
  In the Gospel spiritual manuals, each reader of the Gospel in those early church knew what the stories of "people coming back to life meant."  They knew that an encounter with the Risen Christ brought to them a new life and a deliverance from the deathly state of sin.
  Did the experience of grace and transformation mean that sin ended in one's life?  Just as the healing stories and the restoration to life stories of the Gospel did not mean that people healed and restored did not die, the experience of the grace of God's life giving Spirit does not end sin in this world.  Sin continues, because there is still a future.  Hope means that we still continue to aim the actions of our life toward the targets of excellence in life.  And we still fall short because there is still a future and as long as there is a future we will never be given the pride of finishing anything in a final and perfect way.  Sin is not finished, but with the graceful experience of the High Power of God's presence, we have a different relationship with sin.  We no longer need to be defeated by the false sense of perfection.  We are not going to be perfect, because we never will be finished.   Everlasting life means we will never be finished and once we accept our everlasting life we will no longer be defeated or live in disappointed despair about our failures.
  Today, let us try to read the Gospels in the way in which the first readers read them.  They were enrolled into a program of the spiritual transformation of their lives.  Leaders like Paul and Peter were guiding these initiates into the transformation of their lives.  The Gospels were written to hide the spiritual metaphors of the early church within the narratives of the life stories of Jesus.  The restoration to life of the young man was a witness to the restoration of being freed from the effects of the death of sin.  Each Gospel reader knew that he or she had been restored to new life from the deathly life of sin.
  You and I are invited to the intentional path of spiritual transformation.  You and I are invited to look for and find this new kind of life within the life of time that bears the tinges of death.  You and I are invited to be surprised by the grace of finding new life within the conditions that could be characterized by the metaphors of death, darkness and slavery.  Let us not carry the past as a burdensome corpse of our sin and failure; let us look forward to the new and fresh life of a future ruled by hope.  And let us read this Gospel like the first Gospel readers who heard Christ say to them: "Young man, young woman, I say arise."  And let us confess about Christ in our experience of new life:  A great prophet, a great Savior has lived among us.  Amen.




Saturday, June 4, 2016

Sunday School, June 5, 2016 C proper 5

Sunday School, June 5, 2016                3 Pentecost C proper 5

The main reason the Bible was written was to show us what God is like?

The Bible was written to show us that God is kind and God is love?  If this is so why are their things which happen in this world that don’t seem to be kind or loving?

Things like sickness, death, hunger and many people not having enough for a good healthy life?

God’s love and kindness is not forced or automatic in this world.   Love and kindness have true meaning because there is true freedom in this world for many, many things to happen.

Because people are free hate in this world, the love and kindness of God is given to us the free choice of our lives.

The Bible and the life of Jesus is given to us to show us that in a free world, love and kindness are the best way in which to live.

God did not makes us as machines who automatically do all good things or all bad things;  God made us with freedom and we can choose to find out how life works best for us and for everyone.

God wants to convince us that in a world of freedom, love and kindness is what is best for everyone.

Jesus came to show us that love and kindness is what is best for everyone.  Jesus came to heal people and give them new life even though he knew that after a person was healed, they would some day die.  God’s love and kindness is shown best to us when God showed us that we have everlasting life, more life after we have died.

Jesus healed the son the widow to show how God loves and cares for us.  But God has shown the greatest love and kindness in healing death with everlasting life.  And God has let us know that we have everlasting life by putting within us the everlasting Spirit.

Knowing the presence of God’s Spirit within us is a sign that God has healed death because death will only begin our afterlife.

We know that many things can happen because of true freedom in our world.  The best way to live with true freedom in this world of time is with love and kindness.  Since God is everlasting, death is only one moment in everlasting life.   Death ends one kind of life and then begins another kind of life.  This is the wonderful world of God’s love, kindness and everlasting life.

With this knowledge of God and life, we can live with faith and trust in God’s love and kindness even during the most difficult things in life.

Children’s Sermon

  What is the God like?   God is love.  That is what God is like.  God is kind.  But can we see God?  Can we see love?  Can we see kindness?
  In a way we can see kindness.  In a way we can see love.  So in a way we can see God or we can see the work of God.
  How can we see love?  Do you know when someone loves you?  Can you tell when someone loves you?  When your Mom fixes you breakfast, why does she do that?  When your Dad helps you or plays with you?  Why does he do that?  Your parents love you.  And when they love you, they are showing you what God is like.  And God is love.
  What is God like? The writer of the Psalms tells us:   The Lord is the one who made the world;  God is one who keeps promises.  God is one who is fair.  God is one who helps those who are mistreated.  God is one who feeds the hungry.  God is one who helps the innocent out of prison.  God is one who helps those are discouraged.  God is one who opens the eyes of the blind.  God is the one who helps families that are sad because of losing a member of their family.  That is what God is like.
  God is Love.  And God is kind.  Jesus is one who came to show us what God is like.  A woman was very sad because she lost her husband.  But then something very bad happened; her son got very sick and she thought that he was dead.
   Jesus came to the funeral and he healed her son and brought him back to life.  Jesus came to show us what God is like.
  God is love.  God is kind.  But you know that many people will never know it.  Why because they may never know love or kindness in their lives.
  So why doesn’t God just force love and kindness?  Why doesn’t God just make everyone be loving and kind?  Well, if God took away our freedom, and forced us to do anything, would that be loving and kind.
  No, we have to choose love and kindness for it to be valuable.
  So God is love and God is kind.  And God wants us to choose love and kindness.  God wants us to love one another and be kind to one another.  And if we do that, we will show this world that God is love and God is kind.
  God is giving us a very important thing to do with our lives.  We are to show everyone that God is love and God is kind.  And why does God leave it up to us?  Because God made us free and God won’t force us to love.  God won’t force us to be kind.
  But if we choose love and kindness, we will show the world what God is like.
  So we have a very important job to do with our lives.  We are to show this world that God is Love and God is Kind.  And we can do this  when we very young and we can do this when we are very old.
  Let us show everyone what God is like.  God is Love and God is Kind.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church
17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
Family Service with Holy Eucharist
June 5, 2016: The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Thy Word, Let Us Break Bread Together, Alleluia,  Praise Him All Ye Little Children

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

Song: Thy Word, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 237)
Refrain: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 
             Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 
When I feel afraid, and I think I’ve lost my way, still you’re there beside me. 
Nothing will I fear al long your are near.  Please be near me to the end.  Refrain

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

Liturgist:  Let us pray
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; 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 First Book of Kings

Elijah cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

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

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 146

The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; * the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
The LORD loves the righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger; * he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.
The LORD shall reign for ever, * your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!


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 a successful year of school and for all of our graduates.  Thanks be to God!

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

Soon after healing the centurion's slave, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

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: Let Us Break Bread Together, (Blue Hymnal #  325)
1-Let us break bread together on our knees.  Let us break bread together on our knees.  When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

2-Let us drink wine together on our knees; let us drink wine together on our knees; When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

3-Let us praise God together on our knees;  Let us praise God together on our knees; when I fall on my knees, with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on 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.


The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbors.

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 Song: Alleluia, (Renew!, # 136)
1-Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
2-He’s my savior, Alleluia….
3-He is worthy, Alleluia…   4-I will praise him, Alleluia..


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: Praise Him, All Ye Little Children (Christian’s 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-Thank him, thank him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Thank him, thank him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.
4-Serve him, serve him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Serve him, serve him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

Dismissal:   

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

 

Sunday, June 9, 2013

What is God Like?

3 Pentecost C June 9, 2013
1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24) Psalm 146
Galatians 1:11-24 Luke 7:11-17
  What is the Lord God like?  The writers of the Bible  use many words trying to answer that question.  They use poetry and stories and salvation history to try to relate to their reading community, what the Lord God is like.
  What is the Lord God like?  The writer of the Psalms tells us:   The Lord is the one who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;  and who keeps the divine promise for ever; and who gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who hunger. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;  The LORD loves the righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger; he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.  That is what the Lord is like.
  Is this what we really think God is like?  Those who see this world with hunger, oppression, sickness and  people neglected,  challenge this view of God whose existence would only be proved through realized justice and total eradication of hunger.  People who are trying to remove the word God as relevant to their lives want to challenge us theists as being intellectually impaired.
  We need to remind ourselves and all people who defend God poorly that the Psalmist did not write:  The Lord God forces justice to be practiced in the world.  God forces people to share their food so that no one is hungry.  God does not heal the blind because God does not permit blindness in the first place.
  Certain notions of God cannot be defended when this world is not exempted from random and non-random events of pain, suffering and afflictions?
  Perhaps the most adequate answer is that God is this pure freedom of creativity and rather than monopolizing all power through a divine tyranny, God allows a genuine degree of true freedom in everything within the divine environment.
  What would be totally unthinkable is the world as fixed and static entities that always interacted in robotic ways to avoid the competitions between systems which cause pain and suffering.  Automated, driver-less cars make sense for having no accidents; automated entities in this world would be lifeless and soulless life because potential conflicting peoples and entities is what characterizes genuine freedom and this is what makes us persons and not robots or machines.  We know ourselves to be people with a degree of freedom and we assume this is expressive of a greater being of creative freedom and it is not difficult to project personality upon this Great Being, because we believe the freedom that has created personhood, is a higher form of personhood than our own.
  So how would a God who cares for justice and yet permits freedom as the only conditions suitable for their being authentic personhood; how would such a God be and act towards us and everything that is not God?  How would God respect our freedom and yet instruct us to use our freedom in the best possible way?
  The task of any parent is to be a persuader since a parent wants a child to choose what is good and right.  This is what God is like; God persuades and lures us to surpass ourselves in excellence.  The Bible is a book written by very imperfect people under the influence of the divine lure to do what is right, just and loving.  The Bible heroes are those who as it were, “took the bait” from the divine lure and in their lives instantiated, lived out, what God is like.
  So have the examples of Elijah, Jesus and St. Paul.  In ancient times the child of a widow was very important to her life, not just for the obvious reason of mother-child relationship but also for continued connection with the father’s family as a social and economic safety net.  The prophets of God had to show what God was like as an example to us all?  Why?  In the play of freedom in this world we can become practitioners and victims of a kind of social Darwinism; living as though only the fit and the strong have the full right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  The weak have no right to survive; they are a drag upon the life of the strong and therefore expendable.
  In biblical religion this sense of inevitability of the rights of the strong and powerful is countered by the revealed law and by the witness of the prophets who remind us what God is like.  And even people who have law can limit the function of the law for the benefit of a privileged few.  Even the law can become but a regulation between rich and powerful people stepping on each other’s toes.
  St. Paul saw that the boundaries of Judaism in practice were too narrow; there were too many outsiders to Judaism.  St. Paul came to understand that God was not one to exclude and so he devoted his life to the inclusion of the Gentiles in the message of God’s love.  He wanted to show the Gentiles what God was like; one who loved justice and one who cared for the widow and orphan and for the poor.  If God was to be good news in this world, the news about God was to be an actual reality for the most embracing common good.
  Today, we have the great task in our lives to show this world that the word God has a functional reality in this world.  If we don’t live the reality of God as love and good news and justice, then we may be responsible for the creation of more atheists, people for whom God seems to have no useful reality.
  The Bible and the people of the Bible did not finish the work of justice and love in this world, because they were not perfect and neither are we.  The Bible only represents a cursory start to the never-ending work of love and justice in this world.  Today, we have the examples of Elijah, Jesus and Paul who showed us what God is like; God cares for the lives of the vulnerable and God does not have any outsiders.  Let us continue in this work of showing the people of our lives what God is like.
  People who profess God can can actually live very unloving lives.  People who do not profess God can actually live just and caring lives.  But why not profess God and also strive to be just and caring in our lives?  For us, there is incredible significance in the experience of knowing an inspired sense of Great Love and Justice that challenges the human ego as being the sole origin of such wonderful attributes.
  We confess God, as indeed the best way, to check the humanistic ego, because we know that the power of our dominion when the humanistic ego is not checked by Higher Love and Justice results in horrendous outcomes.

  Let us go forth and show this world what God is like.  Let us the live the good news.  Let us love one another, love mercy and justice and walk humbly with our God.  Amen.

Prayers for Advent, 2024

Sunday, 4 Advent, December 22, 2024 God of Mary's Magnificat, let the lowly be lifted up and the proud, the greedy, and the oppressor be...