Sunday School, February 7, 2016 Last Epiphany C

Sunday School, February 7, 2016  Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Themes:

The last Sunday before the Lenten fast from the word Alleluia.

Saving this special word of celebration for the Easter celebration.  During Lent we do not use this special word of celebration.

Event: Make a “mock” coffin and put the word “Alleluia” in it and put it in a “burial place” for Lent.

Other themes:

Mountain tops in the geography of the Bible.  Important things happened on the tops of mountains.

The Story of Moses:  He received the Law, the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  When he received the Law, he got so close to God that his face shone.  Mount Sinai was covered with clouds so that people could not see the presence of God.

Elijah had special experiences on top of mountains.  On Mount Carmel, he challenged the prophets of the god Baal.  And the God of Elijah sent down fire from heaven.  When Elijah was in a Mountain cave, he had a special experience of God speaking to him in a “still small voice.”

Moses and Elijah had special endings to their lives on earth.  Moses had an unwitnessed death and God buried Moses.   Elijah was carried away into heaven on the chariots of fire.  So Moses and Elijah were like “space men.”  They could travel back and forth from the heavenly space to the earthly space.  So Moses and Elijah met with Jesus and three of his disciple on the Mount of Transfiguration.  In this special event, the voice of God declared Jesus to be God’s chosen Son.  This declaration was witnessed by Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John.

Mountains are the highest places on earth.  They symbolize the place where earth touches the sky.  They symbolize the event of the God experience of men and women.

Each of us has a “mountain top” within us where God meets us and shows us how important Jesus is to our lives.

Sermon

Today the Last Sunday of the Season of Epiphany.  And it is also called transfiguration Sunday.

  We have read the story about how the face of Jesus shone very bright.  And we have made some sunshine haloes to wear today to remember the transfiguration of Jesus.

  Do you think that you could ever make your face shine like a light bulb?

  Let’s try something.  Let us try to make our faces look real sad.  Can you do that?  And what if we walked around all of the time with sad faces?  Would you like that?  No, the world would seem dark, if we had to have sad faces all of the time.

  Okay, let switch.  Let make happy faces and faces of surprise and excitement.  Isn’t that better?  When we have faces of happiness, joy and gladness, doesn’t it make it seem as though our faces are shining?

  When do you have a happy face?  When good things happen to you.  When some one is kind and nice to you.  We smile and we get happy.  When we are happy our face is full of light.

  So we should learn to make our faces shine with happiness.  And we should learn how to make the faces of other people shine with joy and happiness.

  The word Gospel means good news.  To receive the good news about God’s love makes us happy.  It makes our faces shine.  And there are many people who help us to have good news in our lives.

  But getting good news and being happy is not enough.  We need to do something else.  We need to learn how to make the faces of other people shine with happiness.  How can we do that?

  By being kind.  By helping.  By loving.

  When you play nicely with your friends and brothers and sisters, you make them happy.  You make your parents happy when you help with house work.  You make your parent happy when you study hard.  And your parents love to make you happy by doing nice things for us.

  So remember today, the Transfiguration of Jesus when his face shone with a bright light.

  We too can have faces that shine with happiness and joy because of the good things in our life.  And also we can help the faces of other people shine with happiness and joy as we practice love and kindness.

  Okay let me see your best happy face!  Wow is room getting bright.  I’m going to have to put on my sun glasses. 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 7, 2016: The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs: Climb up Sunshine Mountain; Shine, Jesus, Shine; You are My All in All; Awesome God

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: Climb, Climb up Sunshine Mountain (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 30)

Climb, climb up sunshine mountain heavenly breezes blow.  Climb, climb up sunshine mountain faces all aglow.  Turn, turn from sin and doubting, look to God on high.  Climb, climb up Sunshine Mountain, you and I.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, who before the passion of your only­ begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and 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

Liturgist: A reading from the Book of Genesis

Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 99

The LORD is great in Zion; * he is high above all peoples.

Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; * he is the Holy One.

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.

About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"--not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

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: Shine, Jesus Shine (Renew! # 247)

Lord the light of your love is shining, in the midst of the darkness shining. Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us. Set us free by the truth you now bring us. Shine on me.  Shine on me.

Refrain: Shine Jesus Shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory.  Blaze, Spirit, blaze set our hearts on fire.  Flow, rivers, flow, fill the nations with thy grace and mercy.  Send forth your word, Lord, and let there be light.

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

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through

Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

(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: 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 Hymn: You are My All in All (WR#427)

You are my strength when I am weak, you are the Treasure that I seek, you are my All in All. Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord, to give up I’d be a fool, you are my All in All! Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is your name. Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is your name.

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.

(Sung three times)

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Love Chapter Dot Com?

4 Epiphany  C   January 31, 2016

Jer. 1:4-10     Ps.71:1-17

1 Cor. 14:12b-20  Luke 4:21-32

 

Arinze:  In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.   You may be seated.  Welcome to youth Sunday today.  Today, we get to preach on The Love Chapter.  Does anyone know what the Love Chapter is?

Caroline: Do you mean Love Chapter dot com, the very popular online dating service?  Have you tried it?  What a coincidence.  I have been trying to fill out my profile for Love Chapter Dot Com.

Chike: Yes, and perhaps I can finish my profile for Love Chapter Dot com too.

Arinze: Really, I was not referring to Love Chapter Dot com dating service.  I was asking about something else.

Caroline: Work with us Arinze because I have to get my profile finished.

Chike:  What have you written so far in your profile?

Caroline:  Young, intelligent, attractive female seeks friendship with the following kind of guy:  Should be very patience.  Extremely Kind.  Should never be envious boastful or rude.  Should never want his own way.  Must never be resentful or irritable.  Should not be happy when others are doing wrong things.  Should always be truthful and rejoice in the truth.  Should be strong enough to support me always and endure all things.  Must be a strong believer and a very hopeful person.  If you are such a person perhaps we will be a match.

Arinze: Caroline, it sounds as though you want to be with the perfect person.  It looks like the only one who can qualify to date you is God.

Chike:  Well, that will make your Dad happy because then you will wait for a very long time to find the right person.  By the way, Caroline where did you find the list of the qualities of the perfect person?

Caroline:  Oh, I just thought them up.

Arinze: Are you sure Caroline, or did you borrow them from the real Love Chapter?

Caroline:  What do you mean, “The Real Love Chapter?”  Love Chapter Dot com is real.

Arinze:  I mean the real Love Chapter in the Bible.  The one that was written by St. Paul in First Corinthians, Chapter 13.

Chike:  I think it is a chapter which is read at almost every wedding.

Caroline:  Well, what does the Love Chapter say?

Arinze: It says, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  Does that sound familiar?  Sounds a lot like the profile that you want for the perfect person.  Do you think you borrowed your profile from the Real Love Chapter?

Caroline:  Perhaps, I did.  It is such a good thing to borrow.

Chike:  I don’t think we can ever find the perfect person because I don’t think we can ever be that perfect ourselves.

Caroline:  Why do you think that St. Paul wrote about the perfection of love?

Arinze:  Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church.  The people in the church were very gifted and talented.  But because they were so gifted many of them were too proud.  Some people thought that their own gifts and jobs in the church were more important than the gifts of some other members.  And they treated other people as less important because they did not have the same gifts.

Chike:  Paul said that you can be very talented and gifted but if you don’t have love, then you actually ruin your gifts.

Caroline:  So love is the gift that everyone needs to have.  It is a gift that must accompany everything that we do in our lives or we will not appreciate how much all people are needed for the success of the church.

Arinze:  If everyone in the church was a preacher then who would make the coffee or sing in the choir or read the lessons.

Chike:  St. Paul said that we need love to regulate everything in our lives because love means that we are always learning how to live with each other in the best possible way.

Caroline:  Love is not envious; that means we are happy for the success of other people.  We don’t have to be jealous of others when they are successful.

Arinze:  When Jesus went back to his hometown, he found that people in his hometown were jealous of him.  Jesus had become a successful preacher and he was doing many wonderful things but when he went home, the people of his hometown did not receive his words or his wonderful deeds.  It made Jesus sad that they could not accept him.

Caroline:  Well, I think the Love Chapter is probably the greatest writing in the Bible.

Chike:  Why do you say that?

Caroline:  Because love has to be present in everything in our lives.

Arinze:  But love is so hard.  Love requires that we be so perfect.

Chike: Yes, Love requires that we be like God, because God is love.

Caroline: It is probably a good thing that love is so perfect and so difficult.

Arinze: Why is this good?

Caroline:  Because it means the standard of perfection is so high, we always have growing room to get better.

Chike:  The love that we have today, is not enough for tomorrow, because tomorrow we will have more opportunities to love again.

Arinze:  I guess that is why St. Paul said that love is never finished.

Caroline:  Okay, let’s take a vote.  Is love the greatest thing in the world?

Chike:  Love gets my vote.

Arinze: It gets my vote too.

Caroline:  People of St. John’s, raise your hand if you think love is the greatest thing in the world………Great!  I think we have a winner.

Arinze:  Let us follow Jesus who told us to love God with all of our hearts and to love your neighbors as yourselves.  Amen.

  

Aphorism of the Day, January 2016

Aphorism of the Day, January 31, 2016

Imagine a Corinthian church where members did not compete with each other to be the most important people there but recognized and practice mutual ministry in a perfect orchestration of the all of the gifts present in the membership.  And what would make this happen?  St. Paul: "The practice of love."  Imagine a world with so many creative gifts and talents where a chief creative goal would be to honor the dignity of every person in the world.  What would make this happen?  People freely choosing love to enable the creative gift of wealth to be spread amply for the common good.  Many people have taken advantage of creative gifts; would that all would take advantage of the freedom to love which would orchestrate the gifts of humanity for the common good.

Aphorism of the Day, January 30, 2016

It is amazing how biblical writings easily get unmoored from the harbors of their original contexts and drift to harbors of new meanings.  The love chapter of First Corinthians 13 has arrived at its most used public occasion, the wedding liturgy but in its original context it was a plea from Paul to the Corinthian church to quit competing over the relative importance of their spiritual gifts and be converted by Love as the great regulating principle which was needed for the mutual deployment of the talents and gifts within the Corinthian church.  One cannot argue about "love" having universal application for all community behaviors, including the community of two in marriage but it should be noted that people who are so literal about biblical words are not correspondingly restrictive about the many and multivalent meanings, interpretations and applications of biblical words completely unmoored from the context of their original writing.

Aphorism of Day, January 29, 2016

St. Paul writes about love:"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." In another place love is a fruit of the Spirit.  In classical theology love along with faith and hope is a theological virtue.  In the Epistle of John, Love is a tautological equivalence with God as in the phrase, "God is Love."  St. Paul writes as though Love was actually a Person rather than just an accompanying virtue of life.  He anthropomorphizes Love in a most superlative way such that one could replace the word love with the word God and the same meaning would be implied.  But in the context it could be the most important attending quality of life for all to seek.  Yes, we all want gifts and talents, the kinds which bring pragmatic useful function in community but also tempt us to competitive pride within community.  In the Corinthian context the accompanying gift of love meant the graceful and perfect blending of one's gifts within a community for the appropriate common good and not the glorification of the ego.

 Aphorism of Day, January 28, 2016

When St. Paul (an unmarried person)  wrote about the glorious wonders of love he was more than happy to confess his humble relativism, "now we see in part."  If love has to do with knowing as one is known, it may actually refer to a throw back to the Hebrew notion of love being the inter-personal consummating experience of communion and not the knowing of attaining some infinite number of pieces of insight about the divine.  The knowing of God as love is a moment of silent unity when knowledge and experience are one.  For St. Paul who could only know in part, one assumes that he balanced this with a belief in the omnipresent pan-optic eyes of an "all seeing" one.  If St. Paul only had two eyes which only could have successive locations in time, to see flickers of the various realities served up and coming to definition within the word experience of St.Paul, what would an omni-relative being with pan-optic vision be like who possessed the quality of everlasting living?


Aphorism of the Day, January 27, 2016

Jesus said that no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.  This is expressed in the cliché "familiarity breeds contempt."  Hometown experience is the common, tacit and given knowledge that one grows up with.  It is the "taken for granted" background knowledge and if one's hometown contemporary attains notoriety, it may be difficult to take note.  The folks of Nazareth probably thought, "Jesus?  that's Joe and Mary's boy, used to go fishing with him.  How can he be special and why should we listen to him?"  The hometown dynamic of Jesus in Nazareth was used by the Gospel writers to illustrate how the church and synagogue became separated.  The very late Gospel John includes, "He came to his own and his own did not receive him."  From the position of the church having separated from the synagogue it became important to legitimize that separation with anecdotes from the life of Jesus in his hometown.  The New Testament writings are about how and why Christians became separated from Judaism.

Aphorism of the Day, January 26, 2016

St. Paul wrote some incredible things about "love."  Love hopes all things and love believes all things.  When writing this way is Paul saying that when one is in the state of  loving one hopes all things or believes all things or is this such a direct personification of Love that Paul is using Love as simply another name for God?  As metaphorical writing it is open to various translations but if love believes all things and hopes all things one finds an acknowledgement of a permissive freedom which accepts the reality of everything which can come to language.  It may seem more pragmatic to limit meaningfulness to that which can be "empirically verified" but people actual live the meanings of all that which can come to language which includes a class of statements more than those which can be empirically verified.  It would seem that empirically verified statements are simply a class of statements within the overall permissive state of what can come to language.  Paul's writing about Love takes us into uses of language that are meaningful but not "scientific."    Poets know how to switch codes between the poetic and the scientific and so should people of faith.


Aphorism of the Day, January 25, 2016

On the day of celebrating the conversion of St. Paul, we regard more the outcome of the conversion rather than the pre-conditions of his conversion.  Imagine Saul, a highly devout religious Jew who was in association with fellow devout religious people who believed that they had the right to kill people of a different "denomination" of Judaism than their own.  One could imagine a devout Jew subscribing to the commandments about "not committing murder,"  and we know self defense and war conditions gave permission to over ride that commandment.  Historically we know that a social pathology has existed for rival sects to kill their opponents for the sake of their "truth."  This persisted in Christianity in a long history of burning heretics at the stake.  This social pathology to kill religious opponents still exists in our world today.  So Saul had his life coded with a social pathology to kill Christian religious opponents and St. Stephen's passively allowed himself to be stoned in front of Saul.  An amateur psychologist might say that Saul was ripe for a psychotic event, a break through conversion because he was confronted by a deeply devote religious person who did not want to kill a religious opponent.  Christianity did not learn the passive practice of St. Stephen when they became the Empire Religion.  In many ways the world had to wait for the American Constitution to promote religious freedom which meant that religious opponents could not burn each other at the stake. (Remember the pre-Constitution events in Salem?)   We salute the fact that St. Paul was converted from his social pathology of killing his religious opponents even as we pray for the conversion of all in this world to end their persecution of others based upon religious differences.

Aphorism of the Day, January 24, 2016

The irony of the spiritual life is that one can have spiritual gifts but still not have love.  St. Paul wrote about all of the gifts within the Corinthian church but then said the gifts meant nothing without love.  We can be very gifted and not practice love  and as a result we can build up treasures on earth and not have the necessary heavenly treasure.  The massive inequities in our world means that we have some very gifted people who do not have the love to spread the blessing of their gifts around.

Aphorism of the Day, January 23, 2016

St. Paul used the body analogy to illustrate equality and difference within the church.  The brain may be regarded to be more important or superior to the appendix in a hierarchy of value for the relative value of body parts.  We would call the brain a vital organ and perhaps dismiss the appendix as an unnecessary organ.  If we personified body organs, the brain could say to the appendix, "I have no need of you."  And with one's brain one can make the decision to follow up with "I have no need of You" with an actual removal through surgical excommunication of the appendix from the body.  The value of an appendix is to exist by "doing no harm" to the rest of the body, because the inflammation of the appendix can spread and harm other body functions.  Perhaps too many church members might feel like the proverbial appendix as simply existing to do no harm within the body of Christ, or remaining undetected until one causes collateral "inflammation" within the church.  St. Paul spoke of "inferior" body members in perhaps referring to an organ like an appendix which does not seems to have the same body status as the heart, the lungs, the stomach and the brains.  But in being a member of the human body, the appendix has equal standing to the brain, even while the two organs have radically different functions.  The "grace upon grace" of Holy Baptism is the great equalizer in the body of Christ and it is important in life to be able to live honoring the dignity of the equality of all while at the same times accepting the variations in the differences of the gifts of people and their "functions" within the community.

Aphorism of Day, January 22, 2016

Ezra, the scribe and priest who returned from the exile is associated with the practice of the public reading from the Torah and providing an interpretation of what is read.  This practice was followed by Jesus when he went to the synagogue and the reading from texts and the application called interpretation is how the traces of wisdom from the past are transmitted into a new present.  The interpretations of ancient texts become collected as commentary and traditions and become a part of a body of new literature to read in the future.  The body of interpretation has grown so large and so diverse that it is unwieldy for the various religious communities to confer "Scriptural Authority" upon but a few texts.  We would like to believe that all of God's people who use the Scriptures are in full agreement about how it is interpreted and applied but history shows that people who presume to call themselves "God's people" are also people who are divided by having a common text.  The nature of word and language is that the users are constantly providing interpretations of previous interpretations.  People who think they possess a final and infallible interpretation are those who violate the nature of word and language which is a constant openness to new meanings in the event of the unavoidable habit of language users, namely, interpretations of interpretations.

Aphorism of the Day, January 21, 2016

Socrates did not like "writing" because writing meant that language became traces unmoored from a "live" situation.  When writing occurs for the first time it is written with an immediate intent and purpose for a particular setting and a particular audience even if a writer states rather boldly, "I am writing for universal relevance for all people of all time" even though the writer may write from the situation of not knowing what a Cadillac is to  future readers who do know what a Cadillac is.  Socrates preferred the live oral dialogue because personal presence meant that meanings could endlessly be checked and clarified with the actual speaker.  When we read the Bible, we have words unmoored from their original settings and we cannot check in for precise clarification of what the writer intended.  So much of the Bible is writing about writing in the modes of editing and redaction and we cannot be certain about the date and exact event in a particular community setting of when a writing was penned.  The fact that we can't "be there" in the biblical settings means that the writings have to serve in variously translated forms to be the focus of the projections of the functions and purposes of our own lives in our own settings even if we falsely presume to avoid anachronism of preferring our own purposes while we presume that the words of the Bible reveal in biblical words self-evidential precise meanings of the functions and purposes of the words in the era of when they were originally written.   When it comes to the Bible it is enough to say that the big principles of love, justice, hope and faith are what is inspired and these big inspired principles are always inviting instantiation in the details of our lives.  People of the Bible had different details of how they expressed love, justice, hope and faith than do we.  Let's not get hung up on the details; let get very hung up on the big principles of love, justice, hope and faith as we ceaselessly try to bring these mightily inspire principles to the details of our lives.

Aphorism of the Day, January 20, 2016

St. Paul uses the analogy of the body with many members to speak about the unity and diversity within the church.  Even when there may seem to be a hierarchy of "most valuable" body parts, St. Paul writes that every part is vital to the whole body and that the parts which don't seem to have the same importance are equally important because of the equal Spirit of God presence in everyone.  One could say that the omnipresence of God's Spirit is the great equalizer in the world.  Humans are those who continually create hierarchies of values and try to use the divine to justify their hierarchies, particularly when it comes to people.  Justice is the conscious practice to erase human hierarchies in the "different" treatment of person because of the recognition of the One Spirit of God being equally present in everyone.  Difference in vocational functions of people does not mean difference in equality before God.

Aphorism of Day, January 19, 2016

We perhaps have missed the meaning of what was meant by the word  "Gospel" as Jesus used it.  We have come to use it to mean the message or the good words or good news about Jesus.  Jesus actually borrowed this word "good news" from the prophets, a Hebrew word, "basar."  Good news was coupled with the outcome of the good news, namely the poor being helped, the captives being freed, the blind seeing and the oppressed relieved.  If we simply regard Gospel to be a writing genre in the New Testament or a genre of preaching then we miss the point of what Jesus meant by Gospel.  The Gospel means that justice is realized in actual practice.  We perhaps have reduced Gospel to but a genre of literature and public rhetoric when in fact Gospel only is full when justice is realized.

Aphorism of the Day, January 18, 2016

When Peter confessed Jesus to be the Messiah, in some accounts he was shone to be confessing the right thing with a completely wrong understanding.  Peter initially thought the Messiah should be a Davidic king to establish justice in Israel and not a suffering Messiah who should die and rise again.  The Gospel writer used Peter as an example of those who thought Jesus was going to be manifested as a different kind of Messiah than the path of suffering, death and resurrection.  Peter, as well as the other disciples, are literary examples of people at various stages of ignorance and enlightenment about the significance of the life of Christ.  The Gospels were writings using the story form of the life of Jesus to teach and illustrate the chief beliefs of the Jesus Movement and using contrasts with what they did not believe was a way of illustrating opposing parties to their beliefs.

Aphorism of the Day, January 17, 2016

The concept of miracle in the early Gospels morphed into the notion of "Sign"  in the Gospel of John within which can be found a textual source document called by scholars the "Book of Signs."  The notion of miracle might have been seen as the overturning of the bad with the good like replacing sickness with health, blindness with sight, hunger with miraculous food, a storm on the sea with a peaceful sea, making water wine, and death into life.  But in this sense it would be the ultimate miracle to rid the entire world of sickness, hunger, death, all competition between human and natural systems and all that is bad.  By the time the Gospel of John was written, the wise writer realized that what was perfect about our world were the conditions of freedom and the presence of Christ in one's life was the intervening and complementing Sign which enable people to have faith and live with the realistic conditions of the freedom which is abroad in this world.  Sign is a miracle in that it is an interior conversion to see the hopeful possibilities within the awesome conditions of freedom in our life experience.  Lots of religion of people involves a denial of the awesome conditions of freedom by trying to just wish away the unpleasant completely.

Aphorism of the Day, January 16, 2016

I like the word "Parabolize. " By parabolize, I mean that what one wants to teach is hid within a story so that the message is indirectly taught.  To parabolize means that the listener/reader is regarded to be an equal in arriving at a meaning because the one who tells the parable cannot and does not want to control an exactly precise meaning for the listener.  Parabolizing runs counter to logic and philosophy because in these two disciplines the goal is control an exactly intended meaning by making sure that there is a very transparent contextual meaning of each word used in a communication.  Parables lend themselves to many kinds of participatory meanings and they invite the listener to continually come to new insights in a repeated hearing of the story based upon the further experiences of one's life which enable one to see and understand new meanings.  The goal of philosophy and logic and the scientific method is to guarantee the same meaning for everyone for all time.  Such static meaning does not admit the kind of growing and maturing meanings of moral and spiritual meanings based upon life experience.

Aphorism of the Day, January 15, 2016

As we approach Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, we can appreciate his loneliness because he knew that the practice of justice should not be regarded as a human innovation that one should wait to become a reality; the practice of justice should be the obvious unalienable rights of all who were made in the image of the creator.  The Episcopal Church has been "sanctioned" by the vote of other bishops in the Anglican Communion because we have finally begun to practice within the church the unalienable sacramental rights of persons who asked for the support and blessing of the church in making vows of a life long commitment of love.  Modern science was opposed by Bible believing "flat earthers" for a very long time.  Women have been and are still denied sacramental equality in the practice of the largest churches in Christianity.  Gay and lesbian persons are also denied sacramental justice in the practices of most Christian churches.  That the Episcopal Church has at least begun to practice "sacramental" justice for all of her members while others delay and deny is our current state of affairs.  It is okay for us to be lonely in the full practice of sacramental justice for all of our members because we are arriving at the obviousness of such justice; such justice should not be regarded as a "modern" innovation but as basic as the Summary of the Law and the Golden Rule.  We cannot retreat from our very belated discovery of the obviousness of sacramental justice for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ.  It is better to be lonely in the practice of justice than to disobey the profound obviousness of justice for all persons who desire to pray with us in the church.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 14, 2016

The book of Signs is found in the Gospel of John.  A Sign is the interpretive switch of faith which allows us to complement the reality of what happens in life through knowing the presence of Christ.  What are the realities of life which we face?  Trivial hassles like running out of wine at a wedding party.  The fury of nature as in a tornado on the water.  The health of one's child.  Health issues such as the loss of sight and the ability to walk.  Major hunger issues for large numbers of people.  The death of one's family member.  The Gospel of John reveals Christ as the complementing presence knowable by faith in the midst of all of the probable conditions of life.  If the Gospel of John were to be actual events of  Christ performing the violation of the laws of nature, then the consistent logic would be that we should never die nor should we suffer any bad things happening to us in the first place.  What is the logic of a miraculous healing when it would be more miraculous never to have to be in the condition of needing healing in the first place.  This is why we need to read the Gospels as parables of having faith in face of the probable experiences that can happen to us in life.  If faith means that all of our relatives who die should be resurrected in the way in which Lazarus was, then no one has faith.  This is why we learn to read the Gospel with spiritual eyes and not with literal eyes.

Aphorism of the Day, January 13, 2016

What are the events which can be intervening mood changers?  A brooding young child might be surprised out of the doldrums by a sudden gift or something else which enables a distraction and the refocus of attention and the reorganization of the state of the brain's chemistry to the optimal conditions of joy, and all in such a natural way.  How can a child access such interior resources to even reconstitute the brain's chemical state to that of ecstasy?  Adults try to bottle events capable of enhancing moods; shopping, "comfort food" eating,  drinking, pharmacology and erotic encounter.  But if the event of the intervention becomes addictively dangerous to overall human function then the value of such intervention becomes negative in the integration of the person within the holistic setting of one's life.  Other "natural" ways to do mood changing might be meditation and prayer and other spiritual practices.  Such practices are childlike in that they involve a distraction to refocus attention and "forget" the state of depression and replace it with one of one's intentional building.  Christ is the one who accompanied those who were served ordinary water and thought they were drinking the best wine.  How can we know the Christly intervention in our ordinary lives to be drinking an ecstatic elixir of the surprising state of joy?  The Christly presence is available and morphs into many ways to achieve the alchemy of living ordinary lives with an enhanced sense of the extraordinary.

Aphorism of the Day, January 12, 2016

Faith can be the ultimate "mood enhancer" if the work of faith is consistently done in rigorous word therapy.  As we use our words and code and recode our interior constitutions based upon hope, then we will create the interior word lenses through which we see our world.  The way in which we see our world through particular word lenses is the ultimate mood enhancer and we find we have the increasing ability to see the cup half full rather than half empty.  Never cease to do the word therapy of hopeful faith in constituting the lenses through which we see, read and interpret what is happening in our world.

Aphorism of the Day, January 11, 2016

Epiphany refers to a manifestation of the divine to those whom the divine has been foreign.  A related term for epiphany or miracle or theophany in the Gospel of John is the term Sign.  The Gospel of John relates that the first Sign of Jesus was when a group of wedding guests were able to drink some water that tasted like wine.  Those who drank did not know the source of their beverage; the "disciples" had the inside information about how the apparent water became known as wine.  Signs involve the faith attitudes of disciples observing that many people partake of the on-going signs of God's sustaining gifts and presence in life but do not know it.  The steward of the feast gave credit to groom's family for "saving the best wine" until the end.  People with faith who know the divine presence of Christ know that  extraordinary occurs under the appearance of the ordinary and they live magically even when others do not really know who to credit for such magical living.

Aphorism of the Day, January 10, 2016

One could use the metaphor of a impassible river to understand what the church believed about the baptism of Jesus.  Jesus in his baptism entered the waters from the heavenly side and was baptized completely into the life of humanity stuck on the other side of the river.  In his baptism, Jesus invited people to be baptized into the divine life of the Spirit of God and ford the waters of the river of the uncertain abyss of all of living probabilities to arrive at the side of the heavenly divine in human experience.

Aphorism of the Day, January 9, 2016

Christians have disagreed about everything, including baptism.  When should one be baptized? At the age of accountability?  What is the age of accountability?  Is there a causative efficacy occurring within the baptismal rite itself?  Or is it the public affirmation of an internal volitional transaction with God which has already occurred?  How much water should be used?  Should one be dunked?  How many times?  Can one stand in water and have water poured over one's head?  Should it be done in "living" water or moving water outdoors?  Is a few drops over the infants head adequate? Should baptismal waters be drunk to signify an internal cleansing?  Who can perform the baptismal rite?  It could be that each must wait for the opening up of baptismal meanings in one's life and see if one has arrived at baptismal validity with the evidences of what baptismal living implies.  A baptized person can live a rotten life and in the end still bear the prevenient grace of having been made in the image of God and in spite of how one has lived still have been loved by God without ever choosing to reciprocate that love.  An unbaptized person can live a life of loving God and one's neighbor and manifest all of the signs of baptismal living.  It is better to leave precise meanings of baptism open to mystery and use the imagination to fast forward to one's last hour with the question in the future anterior, "Will I have been baptized and how will I have experienced baptismal living?"  Baptism as "fire insurance" for babies or as a church administrative designation for members does not do justice to the mystery of baptism.

Aphorism of the Day, January 8, 2016

As we arrive at the remembrance of the event of the baptism of Jesus by John, we ponder the meaning of ritual in our lives.  Some may decry the irrationality of religious rituals as serving no purpose other than superstition or the submission of the mob to the requirement of religious leaders, mainly for the benefit of religious leaders.  With the modern study of anthropology and the studies of van Gennep and Victor Turner on rites of passage within community, the ritual behaviors of inculcating community values in the life of a person as one ages came to description through observation of the habits of peoples of diverse cultures.  Christian sacraments then could be articulated as "rites of passages" within Christian cultures and thus they had an anthropological soundness consistent with the universal patterns of humanity.  Too often in experience the sacraments are still regarded as obligatory rites under the control of church leaders put forth as hoops for lay people to jump through as they progressively gain merit with God toward their own salvation as specifically defined by the religious authority who have the privileged placed to define what salvation would mean.  The sacraments as "rites of passage" in uniting a person deeply with the community which will mediate the meaning of their existence within this great world has often been lost or unarticulated and so they seem to be unattached nostalgic events of cultural practice which have become but another secular family occasion to gather family and friends to celebrate a person's aging milestone yet without the covenantal reference perspective of "living and moving and having one's being in God."   Religious ritual decriers cannot help but create their own "secular" rituals whether it is hazing to join a fraternity or not washing the "magic" T-shirt on the day one's favorite sports team plays.  Ritual behavior do partake of the nature of "child's play" as a child's play might mimicry adult situation as an irrational orientation to the actual "real non-play" life situation.  A child might unknowingly play "doctor" as a way of preparation for the crisis of going to a doctor when negative side of the pharmakon might be painful before its curative effects are realized.  Many modern people have been steeped in "individualism" which is given illusory substance by individual wealth producing the "I don't really need anyone" syndrome.  The modern world of specialization has created so many more pressing communities and each community has its own initiation ritual requirements, from youth soccer to fantasy football clubs.  Baptism and the other sacraments now compete with so many other rites of passages in the many communities which impinge upon a person for one's time and resources.  And we have to pay the piper to be a part of so many communities.  It could be that the new role of the church's sacraments might be the overall wise management of our participations in all of our communities, including the vast array of virtual communities in our post-modern setting.  We need wisdom which includes the sacramental epiclesis (the invocation of the Holy Spirit upon the time, place, things, people, of our lives) because though we can live without thinking or believing that existence is "God-helped or God-sustained" we ultimately end up depending upon a vast number of people who do believe life is God-helped and because of that belief they have embraced the practice of helping others.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 7, 2016

It is interesting to note that John the Baptist (or baptizer) is most often identified by the ritual practice of baptism.  Why so?  What priest would be known by virtue of being a ritual celebrant, as in John, the Mass sayer?  One assumes ritual practice by religious leader so why single out John being particularly associated with the rite of baptism?  Probably, John attained his ritual identity because his practice of baptism was perceived by his contemporary as being "innovating" or different from the prevailing customs of water purification rituals in Judaism.  Was John such a charismatic "rabbi" that he had the authority created by his following to innovate his own rabbinical tradition?  Was he a rabbi like the well known Hillel and Shammai?  We do not have a body of rabbinical literature which is associated with John the Baptist.  Was his baptism innovating because he was a Jew who was proselytizing other Jews by requiring water baptism in the Jordan?  (Something like competition between Christians of different Communions and denominations?)  Baptism was a required initiation ritual for non-Jews converting to Judaism.  But it seems as though the baptism of John the Baptist was one which required Jews to be renewed in the covenant of Judaism as it was understood in the prophetic witness of John the Baptist.  So the baptism of John the Baptist was an initiation ritual into a community which had a "sect" status within Judaism.

Aphorism of the Day, January 6, 2016

The Feast of the Epiphany expresses the reality of the sociology of the church and the resulting dilemma.  This feast is a celebration of the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles, or the nations.  In this manifestation the people of Israel are regarded to be but another nation, even while the people of Israel provided the direct lineage of the salvation history which culminated in Jesus, the Christ.  The Epiphany reveals that Christianity became mainly a Gentile church and as such the Hebrew Scriptures were re-interpreted to highlight the portions which were written to indicate the actions and purposes of God for all of the people of the earth, creating the irony of Israel being "chosen" so that all nations could also have the experience of being "chosen" in the sense of knowing God's favor and covenant.  The Epiphany means that God's covenant to the nations compromised and abrogated the aspects of the ritual purity requirements enjoined by the Jews.  This re-interpretation of the covenantal requirements and the proclaiming of a Messiah who had more of a spiritual kingdom in the Gentile world rather than a Davidic liberating kingship for Israel resulted in the separation of the church from the synagogue.

Aphorism of the Day, January 5, 2015

When writing about the past, the actual writing occurs in a later time with only memorial traces of the past to draw from.  New Testament writings could not escape proleptic manifestations in that the later the writing the greater the degree the writers believed in fullness of divinity present in the person of Jesus.  The afterlife of Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances confirmed the fullness of his divinity and so the writer had to write the story of Jesus to show that in some way the divinity of Jesus was confirmed from not only the beginning of his earthly existence but also in his primordial existence from the beginning.  A poetic exclamation of the prophets about their calling was this: "Before I was in the womb, God knew me."  And the poetic way to speak about Jesus was, that before he was made flesh, he was the eternal Word from the beginning.  Poetic language uses the expressions of the superlative to relay the meanings of the superlative even though such language does not have the same one to one reflective signification that is found in the language of empirical scientific reporting.  The word, "Wow!" does refer to an actual experience but it does not have the same signification precision of a documented scientific experiment.

Aphorism of the Day, January 4, 2016

There is no more intimate expression of the presentation of the solidarity between Jesus and John the Baptist than when John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.  The baptism could be an indication that John had been a mentor of Jesus and the baptismal event signified the passing on of the mantle as John served as a baptismal midwife for the event which presented God's heavenly voice outing Jesus as the beloved Son.  John's community, surely was the proto-church as his disciples became disciples of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, January 3, 2016

The story of the magi is a parable about what happened in the early church, namely, it became a place of Gentile seekers for a phenomenon which derived from a Judaic context.  The New Testament books are writings essentially about the early paradigm shift from a Jewish Jesus Movement to a Gentile Church with bridge personalities between the two.

Aphorism of the Day, January 2, 2016

The visit of the magi is an origin discourse for the "early interest" of Gentiles and foreigners to the experience of the birth of Christ.  The magi instantiated what had happened within the early church; Gentiles through the guiding star of "natural" theology and without the benefit of the Torah had been led to experience the birth of Christ within themselves and they traveled long distances from their cultural and spiritual homes to arrive at a new place in their lives.  And they honored the birth of Christ within themselves with the highest gifts of value.  The gifts of magi indicate that the Gentiles came to highly value the birth of Christ within them.  The story encodes the reality of the Gentile Christianity.

Aphorism of the Day, January 1, 2016

The Feast of the Holy Name, a naming ceremony and rite of initiation for the baby Jesus occurs on the calendar day of the New Year, a mere accident of the calendar.  But given the coincidence, we christen the New Year with a new number name, the name 2016.  Other cultures rotate the identity of a years with a cycle of animal designations.  The Christian tendency to "baptize" as much as we can and mark it with sign of the cross as belonging to Christ mean that the year 2016, for Christians is in the Year of our Lord (A.D.). Christians try to Christianize their times and this piety within their own community should not compete with it now being designated as the "Common Era" for those who do not share the Christianization of the calendar.  Each Christian tries to make time, the year and time of our Lord Jesus Christ.  This is not about being a Christian Empire which has the ability to force whether a year is A.D.  Or C.E., it has to do with how Christians invoke the presence of God and the Risen Christ onto the new times of one's life.  If 2016 is truly to be another "Year of our Lord," it should mean that we honor it with the truly royal values of justice and love in our world.