Did Jesus Have an Eye-rolling Moment?

 2 Epiphany C January 19, 2025
Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10
1 Cor. 12:1-11 John 2:1-11

Lectionary Link

Do some people get moved to tears while listening to Beethoven's Ninth?  Yes.  Does everyone who listens to Beethoven's Ninth get moved to tears? No.  Should everyone who listens to Beethoven's Ninth be moved to tears?  That is a very aesthetic question and even if from one's own preference one thinks everyone should cry at the performance of Beethoven's Ninth, such preference cannot make it happen or even prove that it happens for the same reason for everyone who is driven to tears.

But it is historically true to say that some people are moved to tears by listening to Beethoven's Ninth.

In a similar way it is historically true to say that many people in the last two millennia have had what they call experiences of the Risen Christ.  One can characterize such experiences as mental illness and provide endless alternate explanations for such experiences, but only by denying what those who have such experiences say themselves about them.

The Gospels are not written "autographs," which is to say we do not have any original copies.  And scholars think that original is misleading in the sense that there was a single inspired Gospel writer who took dictation from beginning to end of each textual production.  What is more likely is that the Gospels represent writing process within various communities at different times, and the process represent re-editing and redactions to fit the many various situations in which the traditions about Jesus of Nazareth were brought to provide community identity.  The earliest copies of some New Testament book date from the late second century and we are uncertain about what specifically happened in the textual process for nearly 150 years, with the fullest early copy of the New Testament that we have did not occur until around 350.

The textual transmission process of the Gospel might be what in legal testimony would be called a series of hearsay.  So and so said that Jesus did and said this to so and so who said that a previous person said that Jesus did and said this, and on and on until various forms of this hearsay comes to text as a technology of memory to preserve it in some final way through the written word.

The writer or writers in the textual tradition of the Gospel of John can be said to be persons who claimed to have experiences of the Risen Christ, or experiences of what they called a new birth, being born of the Spirit.  The writers of the textual tradition of John's Gospel had probably read the other Gospels but decided for the promulgation of the witness of a Christ identity within their community, they used decidedly different presentations.  No parables, but signs and attending long discourses from the mouth of Jesus.  The mystical sub-text of the writers of John's Gospel is this:  The Risen Christ experienced through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a telling Sign of God to you, to us within all of the probable conditions that can come to us.  Life narratives of Jesus are presented as parables explicating the Sign of the presence of the Risen Christ in the array of what might happen to us in life.  And the physical aspects of the story are not literal; they embed the spiritual meaning of Christ in us, the hope of glory.

And where can the signs of Christ be found?  In illness, in being paralyzed and unable to walk, in the sickness of one's child, during the storms of nature, in the death of one's family member, in the hunger of the masses, in blindness, in being thirsty...all of these conditions are portrayed in John's Gospel as human situations which can know the presence of the Risen Christ.  And these are very serious conditions indeed.  But all of life does not consist of serious conditions, most of life consists of the mundane, the quotidian, the ordinary, the drudgery, and lots of small frustrating things, when even the trivial matters seem to conspire against us.  Someone took my parking space and I was late.  My child is heart broken for losing his basketball game.  There was a hundred dollar mistake made on my utility bill....life is made up trivial stuff that is not life threatening, but only irritating in upsetting what we would wish or desire.

So, it is very interesting that John's Gospel begins with the first sign being on the scale of human priority, a very trivial thing.  The wedding party ran out of wine.  Boo hoo, big deal.  It might make one be a little cynical, like we feel when the football players and basketball players thanking Jesus for helping them win the games, the same Jesus who let their opponents lose the game.  If winners need to thank Jesus for success in the trivial then so do the losers, because winning and losing is all the same as to whether the Risen Christ is present.  The cynic might think, well Jesus is taking up all his time tending to lottery winners, bingo winners, game winners, beauty contest winners, and just letting those poor children starve in terrible conditions throughout the world.

One wonders if Jesus is not presented as having an "eye rolling" moment with his mother when she asked him to take care the wine shortage.  "Mom, if they already finished the wine, they are drinking too much and they do not need to drink anymore.  Shouldn't they be cut off?  And when does a rabbi have to supply the liquor?  I guess it has to do with that commandment to honor one's mom and dad?"  I can imagine Jesus changing water to wine in the minds of the drinkers who had drunk too much and who really needed to be hydrated with the best refresher of all, yes, water.

The seeming water of ordinary life needs to accompanied by the inward eternal Word to inform meaning purpose of life and existence.  We don't have to live in the external world bereft of it being vivified by the accompanying imaginations of an Inner Word life which excites, inspires, and imparts the kinds of meaning which make life worth living, words of love, hope, kindness, connection with others and with our best human vocation.

The Sign is knowing the Accompanying Risen Christ as the interior Eternal Word within oneself that can always already give us wonderful attending Meaning to the purpose of our lives, in the small crises of life and in the major crises of our lives.

John's Gospel proclaims that the Risen Christ is the interior Eternal Word of God which is able to come to meaningful expression within all of what might probably happen within our lives.

So, today again we pray, Eternal Word of God, be the great Sign in our lives today as we traverse the trivial and the great and everything in between.  Amen.

Baptism: Jesus' and Ours

1 Epiphany C, January 12, 2025
Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29  
Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17,21-22

Lectionary Link

Through birth we are unintentionally initiated into the communities of our births and these communities stamp intentional meanings upon our lives based upon the inherited traditions within the language of the cultures of such communities.

The practice of Christian baptism is an intentional community ritual process of stamping meaning upon a person's life within the community which practices such an intentional ritual as baptism.

Baptism as a ritual process has been given theological meaning, and it in turn becomes a communal ritual for stamping those theological, or supremely prized human values upon the life of the newly initiated.

The early church believed that Jesus of Nazareth was born into a family which practiced ritual behaviors, the ritual behaviors which forged the identities of Jews in Palestine of his time.

On this day when we observe the Baptism of Jesus, as well as baptize candidates for Holy Baptism, it behooves to ponder insights about this ritual practice of Christian Initiation.

Certainly baptism predates Jesus, and while the Matthean derivative church at some point understood that Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize in the name of the Trinity, baptism did not originate with Jesus, nor with his own baptizer, John the Baptist.

The Greek word baptizo is the regular word meaning to dip or immerse.  It is the Greek word used in the Greek translation of Hebrew Scriptures, called the Septuagint, for the Hebrew word meaning the same, taval.  In the practices derived from the Torah, mikvah is the name of the ritual bath, and tevilah is the act of immersion.

In Judaism a ritual immersion occurred when non-Jews converted to the faith, in a proselyte baptism.   Other immersion rituals accompanied the ceremonies to remove defined states of impurity.  Such immersions were to be done in "living waters," such as streams or springs or facsimiles of the same.

The desert man John the Baptist is sometimes regarded as one who was influenced by the semi-monastic desert communities of Qumran associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of whom were called the Essenes.  These communities practiced ritual immersions, even daily and repeated.  Ceremonial washings before prayer occur within Judaism as well as in the practice of Muslims to this day.

Certainly one can understand the universal use of water as a substance of cleansing of the body, and of the utensils of our lives.  Water as actual cleanser has incredible sign value as symbolizing the human quest for spiritual cleanliness as instantiated in the Psalmist plea for a clean heart and right spirit.  The words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman present the Spirit as being like an interior spring within the person making the interior cleansing a reality and fulfilling of the request for a clean heart.

What does the meaning of the baptism of Jesus mean then?  Did Jesus need to be cleansed from any impure state?  Did Jesus need to be received into Judaism?  The early church believed that a perfect Jesus did not need baptism for cleansing or for repentance.  They also believed that having been born a Jew and fulfilling the ritual requirements of Judaism, including circumcision, that Jesus did not have to be received into Judaism.

Following the Pauline Christology, Jesus was regarded to be the divine emptied into a mere human, but best human being, and this emptying meant being limited to particular events in time, human events in time.  This emptying of the divine into the merely human was a process of the divine being identified with the merely human such that events such as birth, circumcision, and baptism as expression of human solidarity in being included within the ministry, mission, and community of John the Baptist instantiated what God with us meant in human terms.

The baptism of Jesus might be expressed in a slightly different way but reflect a similar meaning as the ancient statement of Orthodox Church in the theology of theosis.  God became one with humanity so that humanity might become one or know union with God.  Jesus is God being baptized into the particular community setting of John the Baptist, so that we in the particular community settings of our baptisms might understand that we are baptized into God, in whose milieu we live and move and have our being as divine "off springs."

Indeed our baptisms are different directionally than the baptism of Jesus.  Jesus is the expression of God becoming known as one with humanity; our baptisms are the expression of us realizing the image of God upon our lives so as to live our lives as children of God, loving our divine parent, and loving our fellow children of God, by the practice of mutually influencing each other to best loving behaviors in this great wide family.

Let us be thankful about baptism as a celebration of a divine family event.  This is an event of living into our identity.  As the early church practiced this identity ritual, it was being buried or immersed into the death of Jesus as an inner power to counter the bondage of a past determined by habits of sin, and rising from the waters of death to become the new creation to which we are called.

Jesus our sibling, as Exemplar Human Being deigned complete family identity with us so that we might live up to our original identity, inheritance and blessing as those who bear the image of God.  Amen.

Sunday School, January 12, 2025 1 Epiphany C

  Sunday School, January 12, 2025 1 Epiphany C

The theme is the Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  It is also a baptismal occasion within the church.

If the parish has baptismal candidates then it is important for children to be there to witness it and renew their own vows.  If there are no baptismal candidates then there may be an renewal of baptismal vows.

Explore the very basic meaning of baptism.

Use the analogy of having two families, the family of one’s natural birth or adoption.  One’s baptismal family in its most general sense is being a member of the family of God by virtue of our belief that we have been made in God’s image.

What does being made in God’s image mean?

Sometimes children look like their parents in shape of nose, color of eyes and other ways.  Children are born in some ways in the image of their parents but they are not their parents.

Each person is born in the image of God and so each person has the image of God in them as what we call our spirits.  So in spiritual ways we can be like God our heavenly parent even though we are not God.

We have to know about being made in the image of God.  We have to know that we are spiritual people.

Holy Baptism is a celebration of our having been born into the family of God.  But we are also recognized as being born in the family of Christ since Jesus was God’s special Son who came to remind us that we are made in God’s image and therefore we too are God’s sons and daughters.  Jesus is our brother in God’s family who came to remind us that we God’s children.

When we are born we receive a name and it is a sign of belonging to the family of our parents.   When we are baptized we receive our “Christian” name.  We have the sign of Christ written on our foreheads when the oil of chrism is used to mark us as belonging to Christ forever.

So baptism is a reminder to us about being a member of the spiritual family with God as our Father and Jesus as our brother.

It is important to remember that we are made in God’s image because if we remember this we will value our lives and do everything we can to make them better.  Also if we believe that other people are made in God’s image, we will value their lives too and we will give them the same kind of respect and care that we want for ourselves.

This celebration of being in God’s family, the family of Christ, is what is very important to remember about baptism.

When Jesus was baptized by John, he was telling us that he was happy to be a part of our human family but he was also reminding us that we were made to be in God’s family.

A voice from heaven at the baptism of Jesus said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Each of needs that the voice of God says this to us:  You are my beloved son or daughter.  I like you and I am pleased with you.  If you and I can know that God regards us to be sons and daughters who really likes us, then we can know that our lives have special value.

Baptism as a rite of remembering who we are, who we were made to be.

What is the most common mistake that everyone makes, children and adults?

  I think the most common mistake that all of us make is the mistake of forgetting.

  Do you ever forget?  Forget to do your homework?  Forget to clean your room?   Forget what your teacher told?  Forget what your parents told you?  Forget what you promised to your children or spouse?

  Forgetting is easy to do.

  But the most serious forgetting is forgetting about God.   Today we have read the story about John the Baptist on the day that he baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.

  John the Baptist and Jesus were special men who were prophets.  And they came to help people recover from their forgetting.  See many people had forgotten some important things about God.  Even the religious leaders had forgotten some important things about God.  And what is often forgotten about God.

  People often forget that God loves them.  People often think that God loves the people in our country, or in our neighborhood or in our race better than people in another country, neighborhood or race.

  When Jesus was baptized, the voice of God said, this is my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.

  You and I need to remember what baptism means.  Baptism looks like just pouring some water over the head of a baby or an adult.  But what does baptism mean?  It means that we celebrate that each and every person is a child of God, a son or daughter of God.

  You see the problems in our life happen when we forget that we are sons and daughters of God.  The problems in our life happen when we forget that other people are son and daughters of God.

  When we remember that we are children of God we treat ourselves with respect.  When we remember that other people are children to God, we treat them with respect too.  When we remember God, then we remember to live good lives for God and we remember to live in peace and love with each other.

  John the Baptist and Jesus came to remind us about some things that we had forgotten.

  Let us remember the meaning of baptism.  Our baptism is a reminder that we and all people belong to the same family of God.  And if we remember that we will work to love one another and live in peace with each other.  Amen.

January 12, 2025: The First Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah; Peace Before Us; Seek Ye First; This Little Light of Mine

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 29

The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; * the LORD is upon the mighty waters.

The voice of the LORD is a powerful voice; * the voice of the LORD is a voice of splendor.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

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 Hymn: Peace Before Us  (Wonder, Love and Praise,  # 791)

1-Peace before us.  Peace behind us.  Peace under our feet.  Peace within us.  Peace over us.  Let all around us be Peace.

2-Love, 3-Light, 4-Christ

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All  may gather around the altar

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: 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:  Seek Ye First  (Blue Hymnal, # 711)

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you; Allelu, alleluia.  Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia!  Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: This Little Light of Mine (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 234)

This little light of mine.  I am going to let it shine.  This little light of mine, I am going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, no.  I am going to let it shine.  Hide it under a bushel, no.  I am going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Don’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine.  Don’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine.  Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

    

Foreign Magi Symbolized Community Innovation

 2 Christmas C January 5, 2025
Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ps
Eph. 1:3-6,15-19a Matthew 2:1-12

Lectionary Link

Plato's notion of perfection for the world of Forms was to be perfect is to be changeless.  How can something be perfect if it changed?  Such perfection may be but like a mathematical tautology, perfection by sheer definition.  Let's say for the purpose of this math problem, x = y.  Nothing can falsify such a perfection because of the prior definitional condition.  Let's now say for the purposes of humanity who live in a constantly changing world, where everything that we experience lives under the conditions of change, let's definitionally say that there is something outside the conditions of change which does not change; and let's call this changeless entity God.  And yet by stating within the conditions of change, that there is the Changeless One, can we guarantee that the perceptions about the Changeless One don't change?

Salvation history is about the changing human perceptions regarding the One who is supposed to be the Changeless Perfect One.

The famous Cardinal Newman, who had been an Anglican cleric in a church which said that the Roman Catholic Church had experienced too many changes after the apostolic age and the age of the Early Church Fathers, to be a reliable witness of the early pristine Christian Witness, came to convert to Catholic traditions of the Roman Church and their pieties by writing about doctrinal innovations within Catholicism with an ironic saying: "To be perfect is to have changed often."  But of course there had to be standards for valid innovations, like votes by Church Councils and Synods, and through papal statements, or innovation by the rules of church tradition.  Our modern world's notion of equal justice for all persons has come to challenge the church's limitation of participation and affirmation placed on people in past cultural settings.  Persons with faithful reasons have observed that ancient cultural social practices such as slavery and the subjugation of women seem to be enshrined in Scripture and traditional church practices, require innovation to practice what dignified love and justice means for all people.  Repentance means getting better, which means innovation or renewal is a constant work of God's Spirit.

The Bible records continuous innovation in the understanding of God.  The story of the Magi is used by the Gospel writer to assert the validity of perhaps the largest paradigm shift to happen in the communities which once were associated with the Temple and the synagogue.

The New Testament writes the validation of the innovation of admitting Gentiles into full participation in the communities which professed Jesus Christ as their Messiah.  To admit Gentiles into the Jesus Movement communities, there had to be significant innovations in community practices which had been embraced by people who were members of the synagogue and Temple-based Judaism.  Gentile followers of Jesus were not required to follow the dietary purity rules or the circumcision requirement of Judaism, as well as other practices associated with faith adherence to the rules of Judaism.

This major innovation as well as the innovation of a dynamic monotheism involving holding Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together as Godhead, resulted in the eventual separation of the Jesus Movement from the synagogue.  This innovation also allowed a different kind of evangelism for the diverse people of the Roman Empire who had to live with the supreme authority of the Emperor and in a society which had a Pantheon of deities which co-existed with the cult of the Emperor.

The Gospel writers believed that this insight of openness to the Gentiles was from the beginning of the life of Jesus.  Therefore, we can find that the story of Magi presages the coming to worship Jesus as the Christ by foreigners as at the heart of the founding of the Christian faith.

Before the Gospel of Matthew came to written form with an account of the Magi, St. Paul had written the Gentiles into the salvation timeline.  The Gentiles were part of the Abrahamic covenant and the Gentile followers of Jesus Christ were fulfillment of the Abrahamic faith achieving a greater universal acceptance because the followers of Jesus were freed from the strict ritual adherence which gave Jews their unique identity.

We can talk about a changeless God all we want, but the writings of the Bible trace the changing and unfolding perception of God by people of faith.  There are people today who like to think that the Bible is now the changeless perfection of God now in textual form, but we need to remember that we do not worship the Bible as textual perfection; we look to Christ as the eternal Word of God who became flesh in Jesus, and who still becomes flesh in us today as we seek to love God and our neighbors.

The application of Word being made flesh in the continual application of love and justice, means that we are always innovating.  We need not declare our efforts to love as being final or infallible; we but hope that they will inspire more love in the future, more innovative application of love into new occasions in peoples' lives.

Let us not try to pigeon-hole a changeless God into our changing efforts to make the eternal word and love of God actual in our life situations today.  Let us accept dynamism of the innovation of God's love and word today to draw wise foreigners to know that love as well.  Amen.

Word Always Already Being Made Flesh

1 Christmas C      December 29, 2024
Is.61:10-62:3     Ps. 147:13-21
Gal. 3:23-25,4:4-7  John 1:1-18

Lectionary Link

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.... This singular verse in the Bible is perhaps the greatest human insight of all on which rests the central identity of humanity.

In the beginning; the Greek word for beginning is arche which in philosophy can also mean first principle. Word is the first principle of humanity in knowing anything at all including knowing that we exist. Everything has existence because word creates in being co-extensive with anything being known to exist.

This verse gives us insights about the profound analogical imagination that we have about the nature of God. With this verse we assume that God is a language or Word User and that creation is an insightful human experience because we have language. If God is a Language User, then the fact that human life is meaningfully constituted by language means that having language is a chief reflected image of the divine upon our lives.

People might be understood as existing on a continuum of language use ability. Human life is fully language-ified, or Word-ified. The world has been completely choreographed by language. We live on this language continuum. As infants and babies we are on one end of the continuum being lost in the void of reactionary instincts as our adults encode our lives with the values and meanings which they place upon us. And eventually we become active users of the precoding products which we have received from our cultures. We learn to organize the instinctual desires which drive us from birth in language-channelled ways.

The importance of word creating our lives was poignantly illustrated in perhaps one of the greatest biographical stories of our time, the story of Helen Keller. Helen had early lost her sight and hearing, and she was viewed by her parents as a poor soul lost in the void of instinct and desire without any meaning. Enter Ann Sullivan, the heroic miracle worker. Ann Sullivan found a way to activate the language ability of Helen, by associating sign language letters formed in her hands as she ran water over them. Suddenly Helen's life was created by activating her language ability.

All things came into being through Him, the Word, the Christ. Can we appreciate how profound it is that knowing the existence of anything is co-extensive with the accompanying language experience of it?

This verse is a return to the creation story, which in fact is the primordial birthing story of the Christ. The author of John was saying that the Christ, the Word, predated the Bethlehem event. The author of John who wrote after the Pauline confession that Christ was all and in all, saw that Christ as the Word was the poetic coherence of Christ being all and in all. The father of Credal orthodoxy, Athanasius, used this verse to explicate how Christ was present within the creation story. According to the book of Genesis, God is a Language User. God spoke and said, Let there be Light. Athanasius said that the Word which the Father spoke was Christ, via the John 1:1 insight, and then the Spirit moved over the abyss to make the differentiated order evident. Certainly one can see the creation story as figurative of how each baby comes to be oriented into the world of language though which one comes to know that one exists among many other existing things revealed by their names given through language.

If our lives are created by us having language, then how can we best know how to speak, write, and comport our body language in the very best of moral, ethical, and just behaviors? How can we best know how to live our worded lives?

What does the Johannine writer say about this? And the Word became flesh and lived among us. What would God look like in a human worded life so that humanity could have a par exemplar of how to best live? Jesus Christ is confessed to be what divinity would best look like within a human being from birth to death and beyond death. Jesus Christ is Word made flesh, God with us completely in being human and such complete identity of the divine with the human experience provides us with direction toward which we are to live in loving God and our neighbor as ourselves.

The Word is still able to be made flesh in your life and mine today. We are to let the example of Christ as Word, be made flesh in all our language products today, in our speaking, writing, and in our body language.

Let us endeavor to enable the Christ-Word become made flesh again and again and again, as we seek to live creatively in love, justice, kindness, peace, and faith in our lives today. Amen.

Christmas Evangelized and Evangelizes the World

 Christmas Eve C  December 24, 2024
Isaiah 9:2-7 Psalm 96
 Titus 2:11-14  Luke 2:1-14

Lectionary Link

There are Christians today who are angry about how Christmas has evangelized our world. The collateral effects of Christmas has reached almost everywhere in our world and some Christians are angry that there is even a Christmas, because biblical literalists remind us that there is no exact date of birth given for Jesus in the Gospels. So if we don't have an exact Gospel birth date for Jesus, why are we observing it on December 25th, or January 6th in some Eastern Orthodox churches? And why have we let it become such a crass commercial season? And why have we let an obscure bishop of Myra morph into the portly mythical Santa Claus of the North Pole who delivers gifts in one night in a sleigh pulled by reindeer through the skies? The secular miracles of Santa Claus are much more fantastic than the the miraculous birth stories of Jesus in the Gospel. It is rather miraculous that Santa can deliver presents in every household on earth all within a few hours on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Such omnipresence of Santa is quite fantastic.

Bah humbug purity Christians are embarrassed by the how Christmas has evangelized the world. If the Gospel of the birth of Christ cannot be preached with the correct purity that it deserves, then Christmas should be observed as but another day on the calendar. Bah humbug to you secular Christmas observers. If love, hope, and joy cannot have Christian sub-titles then you have no right to observe even the profound virtues which pre-existed the arrival of baby Jesus.

I, do not share the bah humbug view of Christmas which some Christians who prize their purity and fealty to the fact that the Gospels do not designate a birthdate for Jesus.

I rejoice in the evangelistic origins of the observance of Christmas. How could it be known that God was with the vast populace of the Roman Empire? They had their celebration of their cult of the Emperor and their many deities, especially at the season when the day of the year in the northern hemisphere became shortest and the darkness of the long night threatened to declare its supremacy over light.

Could there be a light of the world to celebrate on the darkest days of the year? Can there is be a substitute for the Sol Invictus on the Roman Calendar, an event which celebrated the rebirth of the Sun, the Sun unconquered by darkness? Indeed, Jesus the Christ was the perfect replacement Light of the World. The origin of the observance of Christmas is but the evangelism of people whose lives were transformed by the mystical birth within themselves of the life of Christ. This was such an enlightening event for these mystics, they believed it was worth sharing and they believed it was the perfect replacement to be the awareness of a new Light to arise within the Roman World. We can either be ashamed that the origin of Christmas was a movement to evangelize the people of the Roman Empire, or we can continue to be a part of the evangelizing impact of Christmas within our world.

Those who are ashamed of Christmas perhaps have become prideful about their level of appreciation of how Christ as Emmanuel, God with us, is with them. After all, if others only knew how much I know God is with me, how could they participate in such secularization of Christmas? Such pride assumes that they have no more growth into the meaning of what God with us means to them, such that they can criticize the impoverished experience of Christmas that the people of our secular world have.

I think that such bah humbug Christians believe that the power of the sin of the fall has been so great that God has no longer been able to call creation "good." It can only become "good" again after Jesus redeems the people who make that choice to be given permission to call their lives good again.

I, however, do not believe that human sin has the power to dethrone the goodness of God which remains omnipresence within the created order, and the goodness which remains in the image of God which is stamped upon each human being as the light of God within the inner being of each one.

Before Christians can place Christian sub-titles on goodness, hope, love, joy, justice, kindness, gentleness, faith, and the like, they still exists and can be known before any person attains any community religious or spiritual identity any place on earth.

The birth of Jesus is a celebration of the birth of the image of God within each of us as the Christ nature. We can know the collateral effects of the image of God upon us before we can ever profess ourselves as being Christian.

And this reality is the strength of the evangelism of Christmas in the history of the world and in the world today. In every child that is born, there is born goodness, hope, love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, and faith. This is the original blessing which gets observed in many ways during the Christmas season.

Let us not be critical of those who don't experience Christmas exactly like we do. Let us be thankful for the remembrance of the birth of the Light of the Christ nature which is accessible within everyone.

Let the Christmas season be a season of evangelism for us through giving, serving, and promoting generosity and justice for all to stir up an enhanced experience for everyone to know the arising of the image of God within their lives.

And if people never come to know Jesus in the way that we do in our Christmas, let us be thankful if people can know the goodness of their lives and the closeness of God to them through the image of the divine that has been implanted upon them. And if they can't be Christians as we are, let them know love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, faith, and justice, because these reside in the event of everyone's first birth, and the site of one's first birth is the place where one can return for knowing the perpetual gift of life itself.

Let us be thankful for the Christmas effects within our world today. Let us exemplify best the Christmas effect with the Christ-like behaviors of love, joy, generosity, peace, kindness, gentleness, faith, and justice.

With good Christmas evangelism, we can make another merrier Christmas. Amen.