Sunday School, June 5, 2016 C proper 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Children’s Sermon

  What is the God like?   God is love.  That is what God is like.  God is kind.  But can we see God?  Can we see love?  Can we see kindness?

  In a way we can see kindness.  In a way we can see love.  So in a way we can see God or we can see the work of God.

  How can we see love?  Do you know when someone loves you?  Can you tell when someone loves you?  When your Mom fixes you breakfast, why does she do that?  When your Dad helps you or plays with you?  Why does he do that?  Your parents love you.  And when they love you, they are showing you what God is like.  And God is love.

  What is God like? The writer of the Psalms tells us:   The Lord is the one who made the world;  God is one who keeps promises.  God is one who is fair.  God is one who helps those who are mistreated.  God is one who feeds the hungry.  God is one who helps the innocent out of prison.  God is one who helps those are discouraged.  God is one who opens the eyes of the blind.  God is the one who helps families that are sad because of losing a member of their family.  That is what God is like.

  God is Love.  And God is kind.  Jesus is one who came to show us what God is like.  A woman was very sad because she lost her husband.  But then something very bad happened; her son got very sick and she thought that he was dead.

   Jesus came to the funeral and he healed her son and brought him back to life.  Jesus came to show us what God is like.

  God is love.  God is kind.  But you know that many people will never know it.  Why because they may never know love or kindness in their lives.

  So why doesn’t God just force love and kindness?  Why doesn’t God just make everyone be loving and kind?  Well, if God took away our freedom, and forced us to do anything, would that be loving and kind.

  No, we have to choose love and kindness for it to be valuable.

  So God is love and God is kind.  And God wants us to choose love and kindness.  God wants us to love one another and be kind to one another.  And if we do that, we will show this world that God is love and God is kind.

  God is giving us a very important thing to do with our lives.  We are to show everyone that God is love and God is kind.  And why does God leave it up to us?  Because God made us free and God won’t force us to love.  God won’t force us to be kind.

  But if we choose love and kindness, we will show the world what God is like.

  So we have a very important job to do with our lives.  We are to show this world that God is Love and God is Kind.  And we can do this  when we very young and we can do this when we are very old.

  Let us show everyone what God is like.  God is Love and God is Kind.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 5, 2016: The Third Sunday after Pentecost

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

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Thy Word, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 237)

Refrain: Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 

             Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 

When I feel afraid, and I think I’ve lost my way, still you’re there beside me. 

Nothing will I fear al long your are near.  Please be near me to the end.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the First Book of Kings

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

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 146

The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind; * the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

The LORD loves the righteous; the LORD cares for the stranger; * he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.

The LORD shall reign for ever, * your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

   Thanks be to God!

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

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

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

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Song: Let Us Break Bread Together, (Blue Hymnal #  325)

1-Let us break bread together on our knees.  Let us break bread together on our knees.  When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.

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

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

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Alleluia, (Renew!, # 136)

1-Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

2-He’s my savior, Alleluia….

3-He is worthy, Alleluia…   4-I will praise him, Alleluia..

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

3-Thank him, thank him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Thank him, thank him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

4-Serve him, serve him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Serve him, serve him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

 

Aphorism of the Day, May 2016

Aphorism of the Day, May 31, 2016

The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary by her cousin Elizabeth, the elderly expectant mother of John the Baptist is an event presented to show the community of John the Baptist how the movement of John the Baptist and the movement of Jesus dovetailed together and were not to be two separate movements.  Elizabeth called Mary the "mother of my Lord" and so the surpassing community of Christ is verified in natal stage in the encounter between Elizabeth and Mary.  It might be said that of all of the religious parties within Judaism, the followers of John the Baptist were most likely to become followers of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, May 30, 2016

St. Paul wrote, "the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin."  He did not see Jesus in his physical body but he had a "revelation" of Jesus.  Such a mode of reception invites some reflection.  Does Paul who receives revelation remain a human being in the event of the revelation?  Indeed he does, so revelation does not erase the human quality of the event.  It does not erase the fact that even revelatory events involves the interpretation of that event by the receiver Paul himself.  We know that everyone did not interpret the Gentile mission of Paul in the same manner in which he did.  A further question involves whether revelatory events were reserved for the apostolic age and if so does that diminish the nature of revelatory events which have happen subsequently?  Did Paul know that his recollection of his revelatory experience in a letter would become the infallible word of God in the Church?  I doubt it; he was probably concerned about more immediate contemporary persuasion of others.  Revelatory events indeed set the hierarchy of values for the community but we need to be careful about assuming that revelatory events include with them static, infallible, self-evidential, permanent interpretations of the same.

Aphorism of the Day, May 29, 2016

In the Roman Catholic Mass the people's response to the "O Lamb of God..."  is "Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed."  This phrase is taken from the centurion who wished Jesus to come and heal his slave and he had faith that it could be done remotely, i.e., without Jesus being physically present.  One could wonder how this biblical phrase came into the Mass since it associates the sacrament of Eucharist with the sacrament of "healing."  The Gospel passage clearly is not a "Eucharistic" setting from the early church so it can seem like an "out of place" non sequitur.  Certainly the expectation that the Eucharistic presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine entering one's "bodily" house being treated as reconstituting healing words of Christ provides interesting poetic gymnastics.  The logic of this phrase is solidified by the truth due to its continuous use, proving that truths are essentially the continuous repetition of a community.  Truths are meanings with community validation in relationship and not transcendentally verified.

Aphorism of the Day, May 28, 2016

Faith and prayer involve the experience of "remoteness" yet the sense of active engagement.  Modern science has render things once thought to be in the visible world to the invisible world.  The interior invisible world has its own reality within each person.  Faith and prayer involves the acceptance of a "Divine Milieu" as everything has becoming and being within the every expanding in time of the divine environment.  Faith and prayer involves a "conducting personal reality" creating the condition for the mutual relationship of all things visible and invisible.  This "conducting personal reality" is the Omnipresent Spirit.

 Aphorism of the Day, May 27, 2016

The absolute banality of goodness might also be called the state of "innocence" where an agent always chooses to do something without a motive of ill intent.  Such banality of goodness means that an agent is a "robot" of goodness because there is nothing evil which can be done since in a original state of the banality of goodness, goodness technically does not exists.  Goodness only exists when an act of comparison comes about.  One might question whether goodness can ever truly exists when there is more than one agent since when agents act they express their hierarchy of values and it is only a matter of time until the hierarchy of value of one agent clashes with the hierarchy of value of another agent.  In the garden of Eden wisdom story, one finds the author pondering the birth of morality and the moral dilemma.  God said, "Do not eat from the tree in the middle of the garden..."  If the lesser human egos could surrender to a higher and most wise Divine Ego then such an act of surrender to the "Law of the Creator"  would create the conditions needed for people with different hierarchies in their expressions of their desires and needs to regulate and check their egos as the only way people could peacefully live together.  Perhaps the banality of evil occurs when oppression, repression and suppression has occurred due to an agent of power who has systematically forced the ego of another or others to submit to the conditions of losing the power of any free agency towards one's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.  The purpose of Law is to add regulation to the tendency of the strong taking away the power of a personal agent to determine within the limits of personal freedom, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Aphorism of the Day, May 26, 2016

What is the difference between the banality of evil as opposed to the banality of goodness?  Banality implies cultural habits which are so common and ordinary that they go unquestioned or unchallenged because "everyone" or almost everyone is doing it.  Does one cite the fact that most mothers lovingly care for their children as banality of goodness?  It goes without saying that "moms care for their babies."  And when it becomes public that a mom displays behaviors of not caring for one's baby then such normal banality of goodness is deprived.  When the banality of evil such as slavery is the "it goes without saying" socio-economic practice of a culture such banality gets exposed when exemplars of the practice of a higher sense of dignity calls into question the basic habit of culture.  Banality hides both good and evil; it is the arising the opposite which exposes the hidden banality.

Aphorism of the Day, May 25, 2016

A particular judgment which we in our time might want to make about the Gospel parables is the use of "slaves" in the words of Jesus.  This suggests the banality of the practice of slavery in his time and we might want to try to smuggle our notions of what is inhumane back into the time of Jesus and couple the words to love one's neighbor as oneself and loving one's enemy with the practice of slavery, so unquestioned by society that it was virtually unseen, and therefore banal.  The oppression of the Jews by the Roman forces was "banal" as well and Jesus disillusioned some by not being a messiah who would remedy the conditions of oppression.  He was not like a Moses who would lead the Jewish nation out the oppression of the Pharaohese Caesar.  Slavery appeared to be the "economic" necessity of the era and hence there was no one to expose the banality of its evil practice.   We can be quite righteous about exposing the banality of evil practices of former ages and this does instantiate the fact that the Spirit of justice is always look for ways to innovate the practice of justice in the actual situations of people's lives.  Today we still have banalities of our own, namely, our economic practices are destroying the environment for people of the future and the banality of but a few people controlling the majority of the world's resources, mainly for their own benefit.  The banality of evil (see Hannah Arendt) or those "go without saying" practices of culture have to be balanced by the "banality of goodness" when faith energy expressed as the inherent "worthwhileness of life" in kind deeds promotes the survival of the human community.  It is always good to seek the mirror of wisdom to show us the banalities in the background which support our foreground performances.  How many years did societies live on the back of slave labor; how many years of child labor; how many years of the labor of subjugated and unrecognized women?  Let us be open to the discoveries of the banalities of injustice.

 Aphorism of Day, May 24, 2016

King Solomon asked that when foreigners came to pray in the temple that they would know God.  If people of faith truly made their sanctuaries "houses of prayer for all people," then there would be more peace, love and understanding among the peoples of the earth.  Too often houses of prayer become just expressions of local and regional interests.

Aphorism of the Day, May 23, 2016

In the Gospel, faith is shown to have the quality of remote activation.  Most of our life runs by remote faith, i.e., doing and believing and causing things which we don't see or have visible causal agency.

Aphorism of the Day, May 22, 2016

If our universe is expanding in time and if the number of signifying words increase in time it means that actual environment and linguistic environment are continually changing.  As linguistic environments change there occurs slowly the change in meanings of each signifier because of the mutual affect words have on each other when they are placed together.  We look for juxtaposition of words in the attempt to experience the sublime in the use of language.  The Trinity is a Christian doctrine deriving from the Gospel recording of the relationship of Jesus with His Divine Father through the personal Conductivity of the Holy Spirit.  Various paradigms of existent thoughts expressed in the words of any particular time have attempted to bring the meanings the Trinitarian relationship to the lives of people in their own temporal province.  The Council of Nicaea did this by employing concepts of "substance/essence" from Greek philosophy.  Greek philosophical notions were probably not a part of the signifying words used by Jesus in the context of being a native Aramaic speaker, raised with Hebraic/Judaic ethnic formation, in a Roman controlled province with the "low" Greek left over from Alexander the Great still in use.  The final adequate knowledge of the anything and not the Trinity has not been arrived at yet because everything still has a different future within future signifying contexts.  Most dismissive arguments about the "truth" of the Trinity simply expose that the one who dismisses does not find relevant personal meaning with Trinitarian notion of God.  Sometimes disclaimers really mean: Because the Trinity is irrelevant to me, it should be to you and everyone else too.  Conversely, those who experience a Trinitarian relationship should manifest the ethical results of love and justice in this world or the Trinity is but a "personal academic" exercise.

Aphorism of the Day, May 21, 2016

In the presentation of God, God sometimes is explicated through names or attributes.  Or God can be the one who is so great and holy that one does not presume to be so intimate with God as to pronounce the "Divine Name."  Since humanity is a necessary prisoner in the limitations of human experience to even presume a contact with knowledge of non-human or extra-human existence, such extra-human existence necessarily needs to be filtered through the filters of human experience.  Further one could posit that language ability is the necessary condition of human awareness of themselves as human vis a vis non-human existence.  Human language creates the anthropomorphic filters through which we process all experience.  A prominent feature of human experience is the concept of personhood.  Personhood is the subjective identity formed within the relationships of human community.  Personhood is an expression of one's constituted subjectivity as concrescent , coalescing signifiers setting the pre-conditions for relationship.  Since personhood is valued within human contexts as a supreme value, it would follow that if being worshipful for humanity was a criteria for one's understanding of God, then personhood would be a higher value to be found in the Divine existing One.  We could arrive at an endless chicken and egg progression.  Personhood is a supreme human value, so the divine must be a higher Personhood, who has imparted personhood to humanity, who in turn express this value and therefore proclaim that they came from Higher Personhood.  Hence one can see how the Trinity arises.

Aphorism of the Day, May 20, 2016

The doctrine of the Trinity is essentially a conclusion which derives from the presentation of Jesus in the Gospel.  Jesus is recorded as a Son who talked with his Father, with whom He said He was One.  And he used personal pronouns to speak about the Spirit who would continue to be with his followers.  One can use the Gospels to say that the words are "causatively absolute" in making the "Trinity" the "Truth," but it perhaps makes more sense to posit Personality to a preceding Plenitude from which human personality derived.  It makes sense to admit anthropomorphism in speaking about what is "not human only" so that the humanity of Jesus is an implicit recognition of human experience in language as a valid way to know about the otherwise mystery of a Great God.  Further, we live in an environment where interpersonal relationship is possible because we are not a collection of solipsistic islands of entities; we live in an environment of "interpersonal conductivity" that allows for the mutual experience of each other.  For humanity this mutual experience is known by the fact that we can bring experience to language.  Everything shares in an essential "likeliness" and this "likeliness" of all things is God's image (imagoperson) who can be named as the Holy Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, May 19, 2016

In John's Gospel, Jesus is the Word of God and his Word are also Spirit and he told his disciple in preparation for his leaving that the Spirit would continue to tell them all of the things that he wanted to say.  In short, humanity has a future as long as Word is the metaphysics of all human experience as we know it.  Get on board with Word being the only valid human metaphysics.  Word is the unavoidable metaphysics.  Wordology precedes theology.

Aphorism of the Day, May 18, 2016

The Gospel of John perhaps is the most prominent document of record for the rise of the Trinity in becoming the official doctrine of the church.  Jesus, in the Gospel of John is an oracle of the early church in highlighting the "Fatherization" of God.  Such pronounced "Fatherization" of God by Jesus is coupled with the unique self-identity as "God's Son."  This Daddy-Son relationship included an equal personal partner of the Holy Spirit, who "conducts" the relationship.  Daddy, Son and Holy Spirit became the dynamic model for the proclamation that those who received Jesus as their model of life would also know themselves to be sons and daughters of God.  The pragmatic purpose of the implicit Trinity in John's Gospel is the mystagogy of each person receiving initiation into a relationship of heavenly parent, son or daughter, and Holy Spirit.  The Trinity derives from relationship as the personal identities occur through relationship. Later the Hellenization of Christian theology brought about the Nicaean pronouncements in a paradigm which probably would have been unknown in the Hebraic/Aramaic linguistic context of the life of the historical Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, May 17, 2016

Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  What do these have in common?   They are all words in human language and in the English language for English speakers.  Only one of the Trinity has "empirically verified" existence, namely the Son.  The Son could refer to the historical figure Jesus who lived for 30-some years or it could refer to embracing of anthropomorphism as the only dynamic mode of any human knowing, including the knowledge of what is not human only, namely the divine.  If one embraces Word use as the functional/pragmatic metaphysics of being human, then we have fewer issues with what actually comes to language, including the Trinitarian understanding of God.  There is no reason to disbelieve anything which can come to language; but existence in language does not mean that something attains the functional superlative in language.

Aphorism of the Day, May 16, 2016

In an explication of the Trinity, it behooves us to show why the Incarnation was a necessary insight.  The incarnation exposed the fact that all experiences of the divine were in fact human experiences of the divine and so the human experience of the divine is necessarily embraced as co-extensive with there being an experience of the divine for human beings.  It does no good to speculate about divinity prior to or without human experience because even such speculation is "human speculation."  Even when one says that it is "spiritual" one is using human language regarding human experience.  If human experience is an unescapable feature in human knowing of God, then the incarnation is the simple acknowledgement of what is always already in any "talk" about God.

Aphorism of the Day, May 15, 2016

In the orchestra, music consists of the balance of melodies and harmonies, solo and group performances.  Pentecost is feast of being in the wind section of God's orchestra.  The Spirit/Wind/Breath of God flows through us in various ways as those making all of the diverse music of life together with the end of all appreciating the music of justice and love of the Gospel.  Yes, we need lots more practice.

Aphorism of the Day, May 14, 2016

Unity is hardly a blessing if it is the expression of oppression centering on the whims of a tyrant.  Diversity is hardly a blessing if it is the chaos of everyone doing one's own thing without regard for any common good.  The underlying principle of Pentecost is the reciprocity of Unity and Diversity, when the differences of freedom are honored even while freedom of different free agents is used to choose the unifying dynamics of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, May 13, 2016

Jesus said, "If in my name, you ask me for anything I will do it."  Sounds like a carte blanche promise.  The "fine print" or "disclaimer" in this promise probably are the words "in my name."  How does anyone know to ask for things that are in the name of Jesus Christ?  Surely world peace and health care and the hunger fed would be in His name?  It would also seem that "in His name" includes identification with the entire human condition, namely genuine freedom which cannot be over-ridden by outside intervention, only altered by inner spiritual adjustment.

Aphorism of the Day, May 12, 21016

The church forgot the meaning of Pentecost when it reduced the prayer language of the church to a single liturgical language for the priestly caste while laity were spectators of those who performed the prayers in a language foreign to all but the ordained and educated.  The Book of Common Prayer and Vatican II were events which allowed people to participate in the public prayers in their "common" languages.  It took a long time for the church in the captivity of "religious elites" to return to the linguistic "Spirit" of Pentecost.  How many times are practices regarded "liberal" and progressive, simply the return to the original "Spirit?"  Love and Justice are "progressively" most Conservative about God and the irony is that we have to rediscovery this.

Aphorism of the Day, May 11, 2016

The event of Pentecost within biblical symbolism is seen as the healing of the sins of Babel.  A polyglottic world was viewed as punishment for a city with one language being so unified that its leaders could proudly presume to be deity.  So the people were cursed with many languages to break up the totalitarian unity.  The state as a Leviathan forcing a common language and common meaning can be the tyranny of fascism or state communism or any organization which tries to limit and control meanings in order to manipulate people for purposes of injustice, suppression or oppression.  Pentecost is a re-visit of the polyglottic reality of this world with a conversion of difference to the experience of unity known as harmony.  Harmony honors differences while it is the playing of the music of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, May 10, 2016

In the Pentecost event, one can find a grappling with two counter dynamics: One from the Many and Many from the One.  There are many different languages but can the speakers of the different languages ever understand each other or appreciate the one common humanity?  What is the mathematical One?  Is it the collection of all different things and occasions in Time?  Is the One a Self-Surpassing Quantity of all that has been, is now and will be?  Or is there a single thread within all of Divine Omnipresence, of Holy Spirit?  And is this the most Interior Glue of all and is a Common Entity which allows for the conduction of mutual experience of the infinite number of things in relationship with each other?  Could it be called Love and when unsought or undiscovered the energy of love is even used for unloving behaviors?  Pentecost may be about discovering the most nascent Spirit of the universe to be a call to loving relationships in the rainbow of difference.

Aphorism of the Day, May 9, 2016

"And the Word was God."  How so?  Can one name God without having words first?  Can one name Spirit without having words first?  Can one know the name of Jesus without having words first.  "All things came into being because of the Word."  Is not word the priority of everything that can be known, even in saying the words, "can be known?"  It is silly to say we know things before and without words because we use the words "before and without words" to say so.  Ludwig Feuerbach concluded, "All theology is anthropology."  I conclude, "All anthropology and theology is wordology."

Aphorism of the Day, May 8, 2016

The practice of prayer is an exercise in the development of beneficial abstract thinking unless one settles for mere abstractions which do not relate to one's actual life.  Learning to relate to the invisible and unseen which has no specific empirical reference opens the field of the abstract to "possibilisms" from which creative specifics can arise because one has taken the time to ponder new synthesis.  If it sounds "crazy" consider all of the craziness in our world of people who actually "relate" to each other with disastrous interactions.  Even in face to face dialogue interlocutors are dealing with their invisible word constructed versions of each other and because they "see" each other they assume a superior or correct knowing of each other.  A person knows one's versions of others and that too is an invisible phenomenon.

Aphorism of the Day, May 7, 2016

In the prayer of Jesus, found in the Gospel of John he desires to return to the glory he had before the world existed.  In the poetics of John's Gospel, this means that he wanted to return to being WORD.  Each of us has been created/constituted by words since there could be no awareness of life without words.  We each are given the span of our lives to exercise some freedom in how we articulate the words of our lives in thought and deed and when we cease to be active and passive word channeling agents, we become the past tense of our words and we hope for the Great Word to receive us back as constituted beings within a Memory of words by the Word which is equal with God, echoing the poetics of "the Word was God."

 Aphorism of the Day, May 6, 2016

The Gospel of John does not have an account of the Ascension.  In the long discourses/prayer of Jesus in John one is given the impression that the ascended and unseen Christ has become made available as a living oracle.  Within a consistent symbolic order of the writer of John, Jesus is seen as returned to the glory which he had before the foundation of the world, namely, to be the eternal Word which creates and sustains everything as worded existence.  Jesus as a human manifestation of an Exemplary Worded Life, returned to the general state of Word as Ascended Christ who is the Glory of Word.  It is the glory of Word which is always everywhere Omni-discursive in how words permeates, creates and re-creates human existence "as we can know it."   There may be existence without word, but how could one know it without "words?"  Out of the reservoir of the Ascended Christ as Eternal Word, humanity still has access to the oracles of Christ in specific words generated within context.   The Ascended state of Christ in John's Gospel is appropriated as people look for the best, loving and just use of words in their lives which might qualify as the oracle of Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, May 5, 2016

On the Feast of the Ascension, it might be important to clarify the modes of "spiritual space travel."  The Ascension is not an Assumption as in the cases of Enoch, Elijah, (possibly Moses) and the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Ascension is different in that it is an account of the lifting away of the visible appearance of the Risen Christ.  Rather than literalize biblical events one should understand the symbolic purposes of the Ascension in the mystagogy of the faith communities who believed themselves to be able to climb the Ascension of Christ as an interior "Jacob's ladder" between the seen and unseen world.  The Pauline mystics believed that they  ascended on this Ascension ladder of Christ to be seated in heavenly places.  This is the poetics of the interaction between the interior and exterior world.  Reducing such things to a certain kind of "physicality" is to miss the point of prayer and the transformation process of one's life.  I fear that too many people have made into idols a literal physicality of the Gospel events and thereby have missed the transformational purpose of mystagogy so represented in the Gospel texts.

Aphorism of the Day, May 4, 2016

What does the Ascension mean in a post-Copernicus world?  In Pauline writings, Paul uses the metaphor of being seated in heavenly places as a state of spiritual attainment, perhaps in prayer.  The Ascension of Christ and being seated in heavenly places are metaphorical relatives in the post-Copernicus world.  We can admit that the perceptual physicality in Gospel presentations e.g. Jesus rising in the Ascension, are metaphors of physicality to emphasize that transformative mystagogic events in the interior life of a person really happen.  In poetic discourse one can use physicality as a metaphor to reinforce telling and kairotic significance.  Being crassly literal and limiting meaningful truth to only what can be empirically verified is to deny the truthful meanings of a large portion of human experience.

Aphorism of the Day, May 3, 2016

One can read the Bible with many different reading strategies.  One's preconceptions can force upon the Bible a harmony of meaning among all of the books.  The basic harmony of the Bible is that that it is writing.  The meanings are so desperate and contextual one should not force superficial agreements and harmonies but one can look for correspondences in discursive practices of the writers assuming that the writer of Genesis and Revelation shared a "common" humanity.  A first strategy of reading might be to explore how a particular writer uses a consistent symbolic framework for the purposes of the particular developed theme.  For example, one could trace the use of the notion of "word" as it is used throughout the Gospel of John.  Differences in meanings in the Bible should not trouble people who appreciate the differences in human contexts which qualify meanings.

Aphorism of the Day, May 2, 2016

In the week of the Ascension, we should offer thanks for Kepler and Galileo.  Why?  They helped to restore heaven to the mystagogy of inner space.  Lazy literalists had reduced spirituality to plain empirical perceptual description when the original excitement of the Risen Christ was following him in the path of transformation on the escalator of the Ascension to the metaphorical "seats in heavenly places" as articulated in the Pauline tradition.  We should thank modern science for allowing us to return to the true poetry of our faith as it is known through the mystagogy of transformation.

Aphorism of the Day, May 1, 2016

Sometimes the truths of the Scriptures are aspirations about God which do not have universal manifestation in the practice of humanity, such as: " Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *  for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth."  Confessing the nature of God as one who judges with equity and guides all the nations, has not made it so in actual practice.  There is the need to proclaim the normalcy of justice and guidance since to do otherwise would be to set the standard lower and absolve inadequate attempts to realize the kind of justice and guidance for people for the common good.

Quiz of the Day, May 2016

Quiz of the Day, May 31, 2016

The occasion of the "Magnificat" is which of the following?

a. Mary's song of accepting praise at the Annunciation
b. The song Elizabeth at the Visitation
c. The song of Mary at the Visitation 
d. The song of Mary at the Presentation

 Quiz of the Day, May 30, 2016

Which patron saint of France was canonized in 1920?

a. St. Denis
b. St. Remigius
c. St. Joan of Arc
d. St. Therese of Lisieux


Quiz of the Day, May 29, 2016

What does one find the phrase, "Vanity of vanities!  All is vanity?"

a. Ecclesiasticus
b. Proverbs
c. Wisdom of Ben Sirach
d. Ecclesiastes


Quiz of the Day, May 28, 2016

Where is it written in the Bible: "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil?"

a. Proverbs
b. The Psalms
c. 1 Timothy
d. Ecclesiasticus

Quiz of the Day, May 27, 2016

Who was the Queen that welcomed the papal missionary Augustine to England?

a. Bertha of Kent
b. Matilda of Scotland
c. Eleanor of Aquataine
d. Eadgifu

Quiz of the Day, May 26, 2016

Which "Great" Pope sent Augustine to England?

a. Leo I
b. Clement I
c. Gregory I
d. Nicolas I

Quiz of the Day, May 25, 2016

Who was first person to write scholarly works in the English language? (that we know from surviving documents)

a. Geoffrey Chaucer
b. John Wycliffe
c. The Venerable Bede
d. Caedmon



Quiz of the Day, May 24, 2016

John and Charles Wesley were born and raised in what church?

a. the Methodist Church
b. the Mennonite Brethren
c. The Church of England
d. The Roman Catholic Church

Quiz of the Day, May 23, 2016

Copernicus' books were banned by the Pope for what reason?

a. they contradicted Old Testament cosmology
b. they asserted a heliocentric view of our planetary system
c. His views opposed the long standing view of Ptolemy
d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, May 22, 2016

Why were similar Greek words "homoousia" and "homoiousia" controversial theological words in the Fourth Century Churches?

a. the church had disagreement about gender assignment
b. these words refer to Christ having "same substance" and "like substance" with the Father
c. these words refer to the procession of the Spirit from the Father and the Son
d. these words refer to the "same" or "like" communion of the various churches

 Quiz of the Day, May 21 2016

What British puritan pastor came to New England and became close enough with Algonquin peoples to translate their language?

a. Edward Sapir
b. Benjamin Whorf
c. John Eliot
d. William Dick


Quiz of the Day, May 20, 2016

How did the writer of Second Epistle of John address the recipient of the writer's letter?

a. fellow apostle
b. fellow sufferer
c. dear lady
d. Spirit carrier

Quiz of the Day, May 19, 2016

What translation of the Bible was used in the first Book of Common Prayer?

a. King James Bible
b. Coverdale Bible
c. Wycliffe Bible
d. Douai-Rheims Bible

Quiz of the Day, May 18, 2016

Roman Rite, Sarum Use, elements from the Greek liturgies of the Eastern Church,ancient Gallican rites, the Lutheran order of service, and from the Latin rite of Cologne, were inspiration for what Anglican theological work?

a. Jeremy Taylor's, "Holy Living, Holy Dying"
b. C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape Letters"
c. Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer
d. Hooker's "The Laws of Eccesiastical Polity"

  Quiz of the Day, May 17, 2016

About whom did Jesus say, "he is Elijah who is to come?"

a. St. Paul
b. Nathaniel
c. John the Baptist
d. John, the Beloved Disciple

Quiz of the Day, May 16, 2016

The book of Proverbs would be classified under what genre of biblical literature?

a. History
b. Poetry
c. Wisdom Literature
d. Apocalyptic


Quiz of the Day, May 15, 2015

What Jewish feast is observed on a "Pentecost" or fifty days after Passover?

a. Feast of Trumpets
b. Feast of Weeks or Shavuot
c. Feast of Booths, Sukkot
d. Purim

Quiz of the Day, May 14, 2016

In May of 2016, Pope Francis supported a commission to study what "innovative" feature in Roman Catholic ordinations?

a. ordination of married priests
b. ordination of former Episcopal priests as Roman Catholic priests
c. ordination of women to the priesthood
d. ordination of women as deacons

Quiz of the Day, May 13, 2016

Which prophet wrote about God putting "law within the hearts of the people" as a "new covenant" distinguished from the old covenant of laws written externally on the stone tablets?

a. Isaiah
b. Ezekiel
c. Jeremiah
d. Obadiah

Quiz of the Day, May 12, 2016

Who led the first group of Jews back from the Babylonian captivity during the time of Cyrus the Great and also laid the foundation for the second temple?

a. Daniel
b. Ezra
c. Nehemiah
d. Zerubbabel

Quiz of the Day, May 11, 2016

When Jesus cast demons out of a men in Gadarenes, where did he send the demons?

a. in the Jordan River
b. into a tree
c. into a herd of swine
d. into Hades

Quiz of the Day, May 10, 2016

To whom did God say, "Mortals look on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart?"

a. David
b. Moses
c. Samuel
d. Job


Quiz of the Day, May 9 2016

What was the eastern edge of the land which God promised to Joshua and the Israelites when he took over as leader?

a. Jordan River
b. Damascus
c. Land of the Hittites
d. Euphrates River

Quiz of the Day, May 8, 2016

On which day of the week does the Feast of the Ascension always fall?

a. Sunday
b. Wednesday
c. Thursday
d. Friday

Quiz of the Day, May 7, 2016

Fill in the blank
Moses said, "Would that all of God's people were                  ?

a. priests
b. faithful
c. prophets
d. servants

Quiz of the Day, May 6, 2016

What event inspired the "Song of Hannah?"

a. the return of the ark of the covenant to Shiloh
b. the exposure of the corrupt sons of Eli
c. the conception and birth of Samuel
d. Eli's ascension to be High Priest

Quiz of the Day, May 5, 2016

Which of the following books do not have accounts of the Ascension of the Risen Christ?

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John
e. Acts of the Apostles
f. b and d
g. a nd e
h. a and d

Quiz of the Day, May 4, 2016

St. Monnica was the mother of what saint?

a. Augustine of Canterbury
b. Athanasius
c. Augustine of Hippo
d. Justin Martyr

Quiz of the Day, May 3, 2016

Which Gospel does not include the "Parable of the Sower?"

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John

Quiz of the Day, May 2, 2016

Who said, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

a. Philip
b. Andrew
c. Nathaniel
d. John the Baptist

Quiz of the Day, May 1, 2016

What is the meaning of "Jubilee?"

a. a fifty year observance on the calendar specified in Leviticus

b. a celebration of a patronal feast

c. the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of a church

d. a half century mark

Jesus Works Remotely

2 Pentecost Proper 4
1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
Psalm 96:1-9
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10

Lectionary Link
Chike: In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.
Catherine:  Help!  Help!  I need help!   Like a good neighbor.  State Farm is there.
Arinze: How can I help you Catherine?  I’m not a State Farm agent wearing Khakis but I’m happy to help.
Catherine:  Perhaps you could help me understand the Gospel that we have read today.
Chike: Well, the centurion in the Gospel at first did the State Farm thing.
Catherine:  What do you mean?
Chike: When the Centurion wanted help for his valued employee, he cried, and like a good Savior, Jesus is there.
Arinze: But Jesus did not get there.
Chike:  This is strange.  First he wanted Jesus to come and then he stopped him before he could arrive.
Arinze: A Centurion was a high ranking officer who was in charge of a hundred or more soldiers.  If he gave a command to an officer, the officer would give the command to all of the other soldiers.  Each soldier did not have to come and get the command directly from the centurion because they knew how the system of command worked.  The order came from the centurion and the soldiers would follow the command even if the centurion was not present.
Catherine: Okay, but what is this Gospel trying to teach us?
Chike:  I think there are several lessons.
Arinze: Like what?
Chike:  This Gospel shows us that during the time of Jesus slavery was practiced and that even though Jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves, the people of his time did not yet understand how people were equal in the eyes of God.
Catherine:  It shows us that sometimes good rules exists and people are blind to how they should practice these good rules.
Arinze:  Yes, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions of the United States are very good rules for justice, but it has taken a very long time for us to really bring equal justice to all people.
Chike:  I think there is another important lesson in the Gospel today.  I have a clue in my pocket here.
Catherine:  Chike - you have remote control.  How is that the clue to understanding the Gospel?
Chike:  With this remote control, I don’t have to be at the TV to change the channel.  In fact, I can bounce the signal off the wall and even change the channel from another room without even being in the same room as the TV.
Arinze:  I get your clue.  The Gospel lesson tells us that faith works like remote control.  Jesus did not have to be present for the centurion’s slave to be healed.  He had faith that Jesus could heal remotely.  And sure enough remote healing happened.
Catherine:  That is still true for us today.  We don’t see Jesus but we often need his help and so we have to have faith that Jesus can still help us from a distance. 
Chike:  Yes and you know what our remote control device is?
Arinze: No, what is it?
Chike:  It is prayer.  We use our prayer as an expression of our faith and we believe that our prayers are remotely delivered by God’s Holy Spirit.
Catherine: Well, do you guys ever fight over the remote control?  We do in our house.
Arinze: Well, yes we do because sometimes my brother wants to watch the wrong show.
Chike:  No, you want to watch the wrong show.
Catherine: Guys, don’t argue.  But I think I just thought about another lesson from the Gospel.
Arinze:  What?  That we should both have our own TV’s right?
Catherine:  No, during the time of Jesus and the early church, people fought about who could have the remote control.
Chike:  You’ve lost me, Catherine.  I don’t think they had TV’s then.
Catherine: No, no, no, no…..I’m not being literal. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.
Arinze:  Metaphorically?
Catherine:  Yes, during the time of Jesus and the early church people argued about who could have access to God.  Many religious people did not think that Gentile people could have access to God.
Chike: I see what you are saying.  The centurion was not a Jew because he controlled soldiers in the Roman Army.  So he was a Gentile, but he still exercised his faith towards Jesus and Jesus honored his faith.
Arinze:  Yes, and all of us are Gentiles too.  And we believe that God honors our faith.  We learn from this lesson that Jesus honors the faith of all people who seek his help.
Catherine:  So today, we have learned that not even Jesus could stop slavery in his own time.  And we have learned that faith gives us the ability to have remote access to Jesus.
Chike:  And we have learned that our prayers are an expression of our faith.
Arinze:  So today, let us exercise our faith with our prayers and
All three:  Like a good Savior, Jesus is here!  Amen.