Sunday School, May 7, 2017 4 Easter A

Sunday School, May 7, 2017   4 Easter A

Themes:

Discuss the role of shepherd as it is presented in the Bible

The most famous chapter in the Bible is Psalm 23.  It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

This poem was believed to be written by the famous King of Israel, King David.  Before David was a king, he was the youngest boy in the family and his family job was being a shepherd.  He would take the flock of sheep out into the wilderness and on the hills.  He would look for places that had grass to eat.  He would take the sheep to rivers, brooks and streams so they could drink water.  He would protect them from being attacked by wild animals.  If they got hurt or cut, he would tend to their wounds.

David knew that he was a good shepherd.  And he believed that God was like a good shepherd because he believed that God loved him and cared for him.

David became the model king for what we call “Messiah.”  Messiah means that to “anoint” with oil.  Anointing with oil was the ritual that was used to make a person a king in ancient Israel.  In the Greek language, messiah is translated as “Christos” or in English Christ.

Christians believe that Jesus is a God Chosen Messiah.  Jesus was a Good Shepherd because of his care for people in need.

A shepherd is someone who takes care of people in need.

Sheep represent people who have needs.

Some people who are not good shepherd do not care for people in need.  They run away from taking care of people in need.

We all are sheep at times because we need help from others.  But when we have ability, wealth and knowledge to help others, we need to be good shepherds too.  We need to help others, because that is what we want when we have needs.

Sermon

Today we have read about the Good Shepherd and we have learn that Jesus is like a Good Shepherd.

  A Good Shepherd takes good care of his sheep.  How does he do that?  He finds them a pasture with grass to eat.  He finds them water to drink.  He keeps them safe from wolves and coyotes.  He takes care of them when they are injured or sick?  Why?  Because the sheep need care.

  Do you know that we are both like shepherd and sheep?  A shepherd is one who gives care to someone who needs it.  A sheep is someone who needs care.

  I’m going to play a quiz game with you?  You tell me who is the shepherd and who is the sheep.

  When a person is really, really sick, she goes to the doctor and the doctor helps by giving her some medicine.  Who is the shepherd and who is the sheep.

  A father and mother go to work and they provide money for their children to have food and clothing.  Who is the shepherd and who is the sheep?

  A boy has a dog and the boy feeds the dog every day and brushes the dog furry coat.  Who is the shepherd and who is the sheep?

  An older sister is with her baby brother, and mom leaves the room.  And the baby brother drops his bottle and starts to cry.  So the older sister picks up the bottle and gives it to her little baby brother.  Who is the shepherd and who is the sheep?

  So any of us can be a shepherd or a sheep.  Why?  Because sometimes we need things and sometimes we need care.

  But most of the time we have the ability to provide care for someone else.  So when someone needs care, we need to be like a good shepherd.

  Jesus is the good shepherd because he cared for people who needed his care.

  So, we too need to be good shepherds too.  Why?  Because people need us, and we need people too.

  Just as you and I often need help and care for ourselves.  We should learn to give care to others when we can.

  Jesus as the good shepherd has taught to care for people in need.

How many of you are going to try to be good shepherds this week?  I know that you can be a big help to your family and friends and to other people who need your care.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

May 7, 2017: The Fourth Sunday of Easter

Gathering Songs: The Lord is Present, What Wondrous Love, Soon and Very Soon

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: The Lord is Present (Renew! # 55)

1-The Lord is present in his sanctuary, let us praise the Lord.  The Lord is present in his people gathered here, let us praise the Lord.  Praise him, praise him, let us praise the Lord!  Praise him, praise him, let us praise Jesus!

4-The Lord is present in his sanctuary, let us love the Lord.  The Lord is present in his people gathered here, let us love the Lord.  Love him, love him, let us love the Lord!  Love him, love him, let us love Jesus!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, 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 Letter of Peter

For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; * I shall not be in want

Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, *

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

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 John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheep yard by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers." Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

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:  All Things Bright and Beautiful,     (# 405, blue hymnal)

1-All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful,

The Lord God made them all.

2-Each little flower that opens,Each little bird that sings,He made their glowing colors,

He made their tiny wings.

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 our 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.

(Children 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. Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(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:       Alleluia.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion: He Leadeth Me, arr. Sandra Eithun

                                Divine Jubilation Handbell  

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: Soon and Very Soon  (Renew!, # 276).

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  We are going to see the King.

2.  No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  We are going to see the King.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Peek a Boo!

3 Easter A         April 30, 2017   
Acts 2:14a,36-47   Ps. 116:10-17
1 Peter 1:17-23    Luke 24:13-35              
Lectionary Link

Catherine:  Can anyone guess about the most popular toy of all time?

Alex:  A Star Wars’ light saber.

Catherine: Wrong!

Caroline: Barbie Dolls.

Catherine:  Wrong!

Alex: Okay, what is the most popular toy of all time?

Catherine:  It’s the stick.  Kids from the beginning of time have been playing with sticks.  With the imagination, a stick can become anything that a child wants.

Alex:  Well, I thought you sticking to the modern era.  I did not know you were going to go to pre-historic times.

Catherine:  Here’s another trivia quiz:  What is the most popular game of all times?

Caroline:  Tag…playing tag.

Catherine: No.

Alex: Ring around the rosy.

Catherine: No.

Caroline: I would say Super Mario Brothers, but that is too modern for your quiz.

Catherine: Yes, much too modern.  People have not had Play Stations and X-Boxes for very long in human history.  So………drum roll…….the most popular game of all time is the game, “Peek-a-boo.”

Alex: Okay, Peek a boo it is.  But what does this have to do we our sermon today?

Catherine: I’m glad you asked.  Peek a boo is a universal game.  All parents teach their children this game.

Caroline:  Why do you think it is such a common game to play?

Catherine:  I think it is parental psychological conditioning of their children?

Alex:  What do you mean by that Doctor Freud? 

Catherine:  Parents need to teach their baby that baby will be safe and loved even when they don’t see mommy and daddy.  Parents need to teach babies how to adjust and not be upset when they cannot see or touch mom and dad.  So, when they cover their face or baby’s face and then suddenly uncover their face and cry Peek a boo, they are training their baby.

Caroline: So, a baby is getting used to not seeing mom or dad but they can always anticipate that mom and dad will be seen again soon.

Alex:  And mom and dad can get some sleep at night while their baby sleeps in another room.

Catherine:  So there is great wisdom in this popular game of  Peek a boo.

Caroline:  Okay but when are going to get to the sermon?

Alex: Yeah….what does Peek a boo have to do with the Gospel?

Catherine:  Hold on…..we’re building up to a grand finish.  The meaning is hidden now but soon will jump out at you and say, Peek a boo.

Caroline:  I think I could guess at one of the meanings.  If God is our heavenly parent and if Jesus disappeared from the lives of his friends when he died on the Cross; perhaps his friends were frightened about losing the presence of Jesus in their lives forever.

Alex:  So the two men who were walking on the Emmaus Road were sad about the death and disappearance of Jesus when he died.  They were worried about not ever seeing Jesus again.

Catherine:  And Jesus came and walked with the disciples but they did not recognize him.

Caroline:  Why didn’t they recognize him.

Catherine:  He was incognito.  It is like the Risen Christ had super abilities…. stealth abilities.  He could switch his appearance off or on because of his super Resurrection body.

Alex:  The disciples who walked with Jesus and did not know it was him, said that their hearts burned with excitement.

Caroline: Why?

Alex: The hidden but Risen Christ explained to the disciples about the suffering Messiah who was written about in the Prophets.

Catherine:  Yes, the disciples who were so sad about the death of Jesus on the cross were comforted to find out about why the Messiah had to die.  But I don’t think they were ready for the big surprise.

Caroline:  And what was the big surprise?

Catherine: There was a Peek a boo surprise.

Alex:  Yes, there was.  When they sat down at the roadside Inn to eat a meal together.  While they were eating bread together, the Risen Christ suddenly became recognized. Poof!

Catherine:  “Peek a Boo!  I Am the Risen Christ!  And I am with you.”

Caroline: What a shocking surprise.  And then the Risen Christ with his super Resurrection Stealth Body, just disappeared.

Alex:  Wow!  What is the meaning of this story?

Caroline:  Well, I think that even though we can’t see God and we can’t see and touch Jesus, it does not mean that God and Jesus aren’t with us.

Alex:  So how do we know that Christ is with us?

Catherine: By Word and Sacrament.  We know that Christ is present by reading God’s Word.  And we know that Jesus left his presence with us in the bread and the wine of Holy Eucharist.

Caroline:  Yes, the church has stayed alive and well for over two thousand years because we have read the words of the Bible and have continue to have the knowledge of God and Christ through reading the Bible.

Alex:  Yes, and the church has gathered for two thousand years to celebrate again and again the Last Super, the Holy Eucharist.  Why?

Caroline: Because Jesus commanded his disciples to do this.  And for two thousand years, we have obeyed Jesus and even though we don’t see Jesus, we believe that he is present to us in the bread and wine when we gather together.

Catherine: So, I need to issue an alert to everyone today.

Alex:  What kind of alert?

Catherine:  A Peek a boo, alert.

Caroline:  What do you mean?

Catherine:  Well, when people come to communion today and receive the bread and the wine, they need to be on the alert.  From the cover of the bread and wine, the Risen Christ may be jumping out and saying,

All three: Peek a boo.  I see you.  I love you.  I am with you always.

Catherine:  Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, April 2017

Aphorism of the Day, April 30, 2017

The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus to his disciple perhaps are a testimony the profound grief of loss experienced by so many hopeful friends.  One could acknowledge the profound grief as the conditions wherein the return of Jesus occurred as the Risen Christ.  Profound loss was the occasion for the Christophany.

Aphorism of the Day, April 29, 2017

The meaning of the Emmaus Road Christophany is that it can happen again anywhere and anytime under the sub-titles of apparently anything.  The resurrection of Christ brought a rhetorical explosion of finding Christiality everywhere.

Aphorism of the Day, April 28, 2017

In the Emmaus Road event, the writer encodes the two modes of the presence of Christ which was practiced in the early churches, Word and Sacrament.  The Risen Christ is the Interpreter Accomplice for the Word of God.  The Risen Christ is the one who is dissipated into incognito status yet can become sudden serendipitous apparent presence in the event of the breaking of the bread.  While the church has tried to lock up God and Christ within the "official" sacraments and in the biblical texts, those who perceive God know that general omnipresence can become particular apparent presence anywhere and in anything in a sudden Christophany.  The Bible is particular written text which resides within the more general Textuality of Christ being the Eternal Word of God from the Beginning.  The Bible is particular text which is a witness that particular and apparent Christly presence can become present anytime within an Omni-textual universe.

 Aphorism of the Day, April 27, 2017

Is controlling serendipity a contradiction? Or can alchemical interpretation in all life situations turn each situation into serendipity because one has the hope of there being a surpassing future with which make all things well?  Mother Julian wrote all things will be well and all manner of things will be well.  I suspect that Jesus and all heroes of faith lived by making hope so current that it created such optimism of faith in the "now."

Aphorism of the Day, April 26, 2017

The accounts of the Risen Christ indicate that he could pass through doors, remain incognito until suddenly with a magician stroke make himself visible.  He could make very fast time between Jerusalem and Galilee, seemingly flying from place to place without the normal time/space limitations.  Such presentations of the Risen Christ bespeak the mystical visions of those who had the "gaze" to see the Risen Christ from within themselves and such a gaze was so pronounced, and most amazingly, shared in corporate "sightings" with others that it attained an unsurpassable marker to be remembered and recounted.  St. Paul's mystical vision was to him alone, even though he was in the company of others who did not have his vision.  Probably the most remarkable thing about post-resurrection appearances was that some of them involve group-ecstasy partaking of the same visionary experience.  They could turn to each other and say, "Are you seeing what I am seeing?"

Aphorism of the Day, April 25, 2017

The Emmaus Road post-resurrection appearance of the Risen Christ indicate the common use of the Gospel writers rhetorical strategy.  How can one teach the substantiality of a mystical experience as being the key factor in how one perceives the events of one's life?   They use the commonsense perception that "physicality" means something is tellingly real.  The post-resurrection appearance story writers use "physicality" as a metaphor of significance to assert that the Risen Christ really does re-appear to people in ways so substantial that such re-appearances change completely the physical and inner lives of those who experience the Risen Christ.  Readers who privilege the commonsense perception of material realism are then invited to be open to a parallel realm of perception that is as substantial or if not more substantial than the material realm.  They are being persuaded that even the material realm is experientially constituted by one's inner worded being.  If you think the outer material world is really real, it is so because of how much more really real one's interior world of words is.

Aphorism of the Day, April 24, 2017

Does something get designated as "random" because an infinite number of things are in relationship with an infinite number of other things and such mutual relationships are so vast that no human mind can understand causal connections?  In science we seek to observe the "apparent causal" connection even while we know that negligible influence lie outside of what we designate as "apparent" for our observation.  In human terms, the random can be designated as fateful, serendipitous, favorable, propitious, bad luck or blessing depending upon how an event is effecting the person who is interpreting the event.  Because of the sense of the random in how events occur and affect people, we have the great traditions of tragedy, comedy and drama, and Holy Scriptures to try to orient people to what Freedom can bring to the lives of people.  While we must be devoted to science as the best language for expressing actuarial probability in predicting what will happen and plan accordingly, freedom generates "data bleeps" outside of the completely predictable and so we have room for the meaningful languages of romance, faith and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, April 23, 2017

Seeing is not always believing because we see from the internal classifying grids of how we've been constituted by language.  The current political polarization is proof that the "same data" is not being seen and acted upon in the same way.  The contribution of modern science has been as much about setting up objective methods of verification as it has been about what the observed data is.  If all of the observers can be trained to be constituted by the same methodological "seeing" then there can be a unity of results.  When it comes to aesthetic truths, moral truths, political truths, truths of love, faith and justice, subjective inner constitutions of each individual becomes more difficult to bring to unified agreement.  Some people fall in love and some people don't; we like science because we can enter the lab where truth is not "messy."  Messy truth happens because of the uneven differences in meanings that people arrive at in uneven ways and at different times.  Messy truths are still meaningful truths and they are uneven and still becoming in the hearts of those who are still becoming and have not and will never reach a final stage of perfect "being."  Being as static perfection is very hard to believe when one lives on the merry-go-round of Time.

Aphorism of the Day, April 22, 2017

The Doubting Thomas story highlights a source for one of the greatest doctrinal divisions in the Christian Creedal churches of the West and the East.  The Western church added "and the Son or in Latin Filoque" to the Nicene Creed.  Does the Holy Spirit proceed only from the Father or both the Father and the Son?  The addition caused theological ripples regarding the integrity of the Holy Spirit.  The Doubting Thomas story indicates that Risen Christ breathed on his disciples and Easter and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit."  Does this mean that Jesus was involved in the "procession" of the Holy Spirit?  But according to the Luke/Acts account the disciples were together on Pentecost (50 days after Easter) after Christ had ascended and they received the Holy Spirit (again?) and spoke in other languages.  Is Pentecost the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father?  Is the Doubting Thomas story indication of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son?  Are both churches correct? Is the Western addition more inclusive in citing the role of Jesus in the procession of the Holy Spirit(see Doubting Thomas story)?  Theological specialists believe the entire identity of the Holy Spirit rides upon understand the arcane difference regarding the procession of the Holy Spirit.  People in the pew wonder whether "enforced precision" in the wording about the Mystery of God partakes of worded humanity thinking to control the Mystery of God by having "air tight" taxonomical grids for understanding God.  We can be tempted from "O Come let us adore God" to "O Come let us fight about God."

Aphorism of the Day, April 21, 2017

The pastoral office of "absolving" sins by the designated ordained can and has been used as a way to assert clerical authority over people's life.  I have a hunch that it was adopted early as disciplinarian pastoral "canon" law because of leadership disputes and "lay" revolts.  In the Doubting Thomas story one finds this: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."  This can be understood as "good spiritual practice," namely, forgiving rather than retaining sins.  Communities which "retain" sins don't survive.  When the good spiritual practice of "forgiving sins," is elevated to the official act of an ordained clergy declaring forgiveness, the spiritual practice loses something of it charismatic, sincere authenticity.  That a person can only feel forgiven if it is declared to be such by an appropriate authority diminishes the immediacy of forgiveness.  Certainly one can appreciate the psychological effect of being relieved of the sense of guilt by someone whom one respects as a faith mentor  and one can appreciate our "communal sins" done in the name of the group and the need to tolerate ourselves while being held hostage to our social contextual sins.  There are sins against others that one might want to "repair" and be restored to relationship by the one against whom one has sinned.  There is the general sin of "always already" missing the mark in light of God's perfection and the humility of telling another and seeking the forgiveness of God declared by a minister.  The most redeeming aspect of the sacrament of reconciliation is that the absolver is also in the practice of being absolved by another absolver.  In the traditional rite of reconciliation, the "absolving priest" says to the departing penitent, "Pray for me a sinner."

Aphorism of the Day, April 20, 2017

"Blessed are those who have not seen and yet who have believed."  This statement is an affirmation of equality in difference.  On a continuum from superior to inferior, we may want to use "sheer" empiricism to rate the experience of the eye-witnesses of Jesus as being superior to those who did not have such proximity.  When we look at the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, they indicate that he had a different body in the eyes of the beholder.  Their experience was "substantial" even as it was different than before he died on the cross.  The experiences of those who had post-resurrection appearances of Jesus were different than the accounts of the experiences before his death.  Paul said his mystical experience of Christ was not inferior to the experience of the twelve disciples.   Since the mystical experiences of Paul came to writing before the Gospel writings; these mystical experiences guided the presentations of the narratives of Jesus in the Gospels.  The post-resurrection Christ had what I would called "substantial mystical reality and effect."  One cannot deny the "physicality" of a mystical experience since such experiences happen to people with bodies and they affect the actual physical life of the person in their subsequent behaviors.  If the Doubting Thomas story is anything, it is about the equality in blessing of all experience of Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, April 19, 2017

John's Gospel: "Jesus did many signs for his disciples which are not written in this book."  This is the statement of an editor.  The events of the past have to be edited since in the present we cannot be taken up with engaging a continuous record of things that are recorded from the past.  Why?  Because we have a life in the present tense and we are to use the record of the past for active present time believing.  Believing is the faith of clarifying our values from the past and bringing ourselves to persuasive actions in the present which express the values gained from commitment to our highest insights.

Aphorism of the Day, April 18, 2017

In UFOology, there is a classification system of "close encounters."  The Doubting Thomas story is the story form classification system of the writer of John's Gospel classifying "close encounters" with the Risen Christ.  What are the close encounters?  Being an associate of Jesus before his death.  Experiencing a post-resurrection encounter with the Risen Christ, hearing about Jesus from someone who knew him in the flesh, hearing about him from someone who heard about him....., reading about him in a written account, having a mystical/apparitional experience of Christ like St. Paul.   These are all degrees of "close" encounters.  The Gospel of John declares that these are all different but equally blessed.  How can all be different but equal?  The great equalizer in life is Word or Language.  Everything to be known in human experience has to come to language.  So God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and all of the modes of encounter with Christ are equal in that they have come to Word/Language.  That human beings have language is the only obvious and universal human metaphysic because Language is co-extensive with anything being known at all.  Try to say that you have experienced things without having had language.  Try to say you experience silence without having had language.  Silence is known as silence because we have language.  Coming to language is the great equalizer of everything.  When the writer of John wrote, the Word was God, the main truth of humanity was revealed.

Aphorism of the Day, April 17, 2017

We now move toward "Doubting Thomas" Sunday.  This account from the Gospel of John is actually an assessment in story form of contrasting how people process "valid" presences of the Risen Christ.  Some people needed sight and touch; others believed by hearing the testimony of others and finally others believe because they read about Jesus many years later.  Those who want a current sighting of Jesus and want to be able to "replicate it and repeat" it as a valid scientific experiment so as to establish the basis for a scientific theory regarding the Risen Christ will be perpetually disappointed since their criteria of objectivity will never be met.  One of a kind people and events do not conform to the kind of objectivity of science but this does not exclude such events and people from being meaningfully true in the lives of billions.  Language provides the discursive possibilities for many types of communal "objectivities."

Aphorism of the Day, April 16, 2017
Easter:  Is this a 12 step program for those addicted to hope?  Are Christians members of RA or Resurrection Anonymous.  "Hi, my name is Phil and it's been just moments since I last believed in the resurrection."  Don't let modernity force you into thinking you are a member of a Resurrection Anonymous, a gathering of addicted people toward a certain narrative of hope.  As Christians we can be multi-tasking users of discourse and we know when to be hard core empiricists and when to round out our discursive lives with valid and true ethical, spiritual and aesthetic discourses with profoundly functionally true meanings in the art of living, dying and after-living.

Aphorism of the Day, April 15, 2017

To view pictures of a person over a lifetime one may not even be able to say that the baby photo does not seem to be the same person when he or she is 50.  What is it that determines the continuity of identity of a person over time?  Self-memory of a person over time.  Community continuity and record of a person being the same with such markers as DNA and fingerprints to prove it.  Will we have continuity as being the same person after we have died?  Jesus in the tomb: Will he has a future continuity with himself?  The re-appearance of Jesus is the "after life" picture of him and this after life picture in continuity with the person in the body, formerly known as Jesus of Nazareth but of late to known as the Risen Christ, is the assurance to us that we will have continuity with ourselves after we have died.  It is nice for the internal DNA of hope to have a narrative and the assurance that hope will provide another kind of body of human experience after we have died.  You may be into "zombies" and "walking dead;" I prefer the living tradition of the resurrection which derives from the actual Jesus of Nazareth.

Aphorism of the Day, April 14, 2017

Persons who have died because of injustice or political assassination have come to have "famous" deaths.  Socrates, Jesus, Abraham Lincoln, JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr. Oscar Romero, et. al.  We are troubled by the fact that there are people of power who find goodness and justice a challenge to their exercise of greed and control.  When people of sterling goodness and justice are removed through death we want to proclaim their deaths widely as a witness against the thought that evil may be winning the day.  Such events scream out and push so much goodness into the non-apparent background.  We retain the deaths of martyrs in the foreground of remembrance to remind the bullies of good people that they are destined to infamy.

Aphorism of the Day, April 13, 2017

On Maundy Thursday, we remember the institution of the Holy Eucharist and in so doing we might note how in practice it has drifted from being an actual meal into being an event of minimalistic eating and drinking highly symbolic elements.  In the drift to culinary minimalism we have lost the pragmatic practice of early house Christian clubs which were comprised by "public eating" together as an outward and visible sign that everyone in their community had enough actual food to eat.  To detach the Eucharist from people having enough to eat means it has often become a gathering of people who are devoted and obliged to make a very "individualistic my communion" in public to fulfill the obligation of church.  In the Maundy Thursday liturgy we confess that we believe that actual hospitality and service is the true success of the church and these two ways of being the church derived from Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, April 12, 2017

Holy Week to Easter is a roller coaster of traveling from agony to ecstasy.  Too much is packed into one week and one can hope that one's individual life does not have such actual dramatic shifts.  Ecstasy is generally spread aboard within the goodness of creation; agony is also the always, already expression found in the impairment and depriving aspect of freedom to be goodness in harmony.  Between agony and ecstasy in the play of freedom we embrace the strategies of the church to both celebrate in ecstasy and cope with the agony.  We do so by the practice of hospitality as expressed in the Eucharist, in Service as signified in the Foot-washing, in reality therapy by giving death and loss its due on Good Friday, in accepting our roles as Worded beings who created the word environment for being the prevenient grace to those we welcome into our InChristed lives at the Easter Vigil, and finally to celebrate an afterlife beyond death to prove that death and all manner of life are but occasions and moments within a Greater Freedom of the always, already Abundant Life.  Abundant Life ultimately relativizes all occasions of death and life and in hope of the eternal future we ultimately believe all of the limited contextualized past can be re-written based up the future being an accumulation of that many more occasions to provide a greater environment to relativize any particular past occasion.  Without denying or minimizing the actual context of pain with sentient feeling, hope invites us to the distant future where with Mother Julian, though in the future anterior tense,  we will be able to confess that "all manner of things will have been well."

Aphorism of the Day, April 11, 2017

In all of the events that have accumulated we have come from an unknowable ocean of past events and it is impossible to have particular identity from an ocean of unknowable events.  We build and have inculcated personal identity within human traditions with technologies of memory.  A calendar is a technology of memory and it involves the observation of the motion of planet and moon as a clock of regularity onto which is attached events in human history so as to attain the status of a "date."  Assigning a calendar date for the events in the life of Jesus and then commanding annual memorials of those calendar date is at the basis of retaining community memory and inculcating Christian identity.  In the postmodern world we have a plethora of "calendars" and each are designed to inculcate different kinds of identity.  Sports fans have calendars for each sport and they inculcate their "fan" identity in annual renewal rituals.  The problem today is that too many calendars of personal and community identity compete for "fan" or "devotee" identity.  It is becoming increasingly noticeable that other calendars are taking precedence over the Christian calendar as there are more competing identities to the "Christ" identity.  For many the Christ-identity is no longer primary or relevant since it is easy for a once primary identity to get saturated and weakened in a sea of plural identities.  The church still needs to be a "boat" to travel on in this sea of plural identities and the church does not have to go into "full Amish-like" separation to maintain particular and relevant identity in Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, April 10, 2017

Egeria was an ancient pilgrim to the Holy Land.  She wrote a travel journal and brought knowledge of the Holy Week rituals back to Europe.  Pilgrimage and travel was important for the cross-pollination of the ideas and liturgical practices.  People, came, saw, and copied when they went back home.  How much life has changed now with live-streaming making events around the world immediately accessible.  We have become more virtual pilgrims than actual pilgrims.  In our world where fear threatens to close the borders of countries, one wonders whether the time of actual pilgrimage will soon come to an end.  Being there may be replaced by being there virtually.

Aphorism of the Day, April 9, 2017

When is God weak?  God is weak in submitting to the very results of creating the conditions of freedom in our world.  God shows complete submission to the conditions of freedom, which is the essence of moral value, in the death of Jesus on the cross and in the conditions of suffering within our world.  The conditions of suffering in the freedom abroad in the world are complemented with all of the conditions of freedom which are not suffering or free agents causing harm to another.  If the nature of God is Creating Freedom then God must submit in weakness to the conditions which do not express just the freedom to be good and conditions which are characterized by pleasure of all, all of the time.  God is consistent with the divine nature of freedom in submitting to the conditions of freedom which allow the innocent suffering in the world.  At the same time, the creative freedom of God is inspiring all lesser free agents to exercise their freedom to do no harm.

Aphorism of the Day, April 8, 2017

Perhaps the most revealing irony in the Passion Gospel is the confession of the centurion, "Truly this man is God's Son."  This is the Gospel of the Jesus Movement that has become confident of the winsomeness of the Gospel to convert the Gentiles in the Roman Empire of every socio-economic group, including soldiers.  And since the success of the Jesus Movement among the Gentiles was greater than with the Jews remaining in the synagogue, one can see the tipping of the blame for the crucifixion toward the Jewish religious leaders of the time of Jesus.  Unfortunately, this tipping toward blaming Jewish religious leaders has been used for anti-Semitic words and actions in deplorable ways in the history of Christianity.  This misuse of the Passion by "Christians" is a terrible stain on our identity and means that the Passion has been used in unChrist-like ways.

Aphorism of the Day, April 7, 2017

Providence is a highly "ironic" declaration about an event or occasion in life.  Providence is compared with fatalism or a belief that all thing must be in a predetermined way.  Voltaire satirized the notion of "whatever is, is right" beliefs of his time. (Candide) The cross of Jesus which in itself was a cruel event of capital punishment against someone who was regarded to create the conditions of insurrection against the hegemony of the Caesar in Palestine, came to be regarded as God's providence by the followers of Jesus.  And so the ugly instrument of torture is now worn in golden jewelry around the neck.  What an incredible whitewashing of something horrible!  We need to be careful about trivializing the notion of Providence.  When is something providential and for whom is something providential?  The notion of providence can be "deconstructed" by noting the context and the process of how some event comes to be regarded as providential.  There are some events which it would be downright inhumane to declare as eventually providential, like the Holocaust, slavery or other genocidal events.  There are some events for which it has to be declared that there are no "redeeming" after effects unless it be the commitment to never letting something happen again.  But even if we "learn" from past cruel events, that does not qualify them for being providential for any person of humane faith.  If Christians have come to find the cross to be providential in their faith lives and in their mysticism, it does not permit the trivialization of declaring redemption and providence over events that should forever live in horrendous "infamy."  Those who survive "infamy" do so with varying degrees of guilt.

Aphorism of the Day, April 6, 2017

In St. Paul's mysticism, he confessed that "he had been crucified with Christ."  This is the same Paul/Saul who had been complicit in the stoning of St. Stephen.  The Gospels present persons like the unconverted Paul as complicit in the crucifixion of Jesus even though it was primarily an act of the Roman authorities in Palestine.  From the mysticism of the cross found in St. Paul we turn to the versions of the crucifixion events found in the Gospels which have a polemical aspect in them since they are consistent with Christian identity being formed by the separation from Judaism.  Followers of Christ separating from the synagogue represent the significant "paradigm" shift at the heart of the foundation of Christianity.  We should not forget the rhetoric of pain which characterize the separation because of a paradigm shift.  We should not let that rhetoric guide future friendship and mutual regard for people with whom we have come to have the kinds of differences which motivate our current religious gathering behaviors.  We err if we try to use ancient rhetoric of dispute as the justification for current unloving behaviors.

Aphorism of the Day, April 5, 2017

The Cross of Jesus:  Could death end the future of Jesus?  Could death end the future of Jesus with his mourning friends?  Could death end the life of the disciples within the experience of Jesus?  What the cross of Jesus showed is that time did not end and there was still a future after the cross.  The overall becoming of the universe in time did not cease at the death of Jesus and Jesus the Risen Christ had a future in the lives of his disciples and continues to have significant Trace Manifestations as a trans-historical significant personality.

Aphorism of the Day, April 4, 2017

The liturgical juxtaposition of Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday highlights the chants of the two crowds: Hosanna or Crucify Him.  The mob that wanted crucifixion gained immediate effect; the hosanna crowd had to wait as the King of hearts of the interior kingdom of God gradually and stealthily converted subjects willing to be won by sacrificial love as the most winsome principle of living.

Aphorism of the Day, April 3, 2017

Subsequent events change how previous events can be seen, irreparably so.  The cross of Jesus Christ cannot be seen with pristine eyes of empathy "as if" we were there with the followers of Jesus who saw their movement die before their very eyes.  We see the cross of Jesus through resurrection and so it is seen in the mode of gold gilded jewelry that we wear around our necks.  Yes, we display crucifixes to try to visualize the horrible reality but we know the end of the story that erases the horror.  St. Paul took the negative power of the cross of evil power killing absolute good and viewed it as a redeeming mystical power of the "power of the death of Jesus" to be mystically applied within each person as a Higher Power to interdict and end the things within us that are unworthy and have control over the direction of the energy of our desire.

Aphorism of the Day, April 2, 2017

John's Gospel: In the Beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word Was God.  Word is the Media and Message.  Word is the Ground for Human self awareness and awareness of being with others.  This Ground is the Ground of Possible Variations of Word in an array of Discourses.  Within the Ground of all Possible manifestation of Word not comprehended by the limitation of any single or generation of human language users, there must arise the discursive practice of assuming totality.  Totality is the human presumption that the articulation of word products in active or passive mode is a sharing with a solidarity of other persons.  So-called infallible revelations about totalizing discourse has the administrative function for solidarity within communities for their pragmatic politics.  Word teaches us to accept our practice of totalizing discursive practice even while realizing we don't have the discursive capacity to comprehend the total realm of the not yet Possible discursive events of might have been, might be, linguistic particular events.  Such should make us very humble about how we regard our practice of "totalizing discourse."  It is insightful to express specific solidarity with others for good reasons (including the inter-judgmental critique of values of juxtaposed identified solidarities of people); but still rather small in light of Possible Discursive Practice in the sum total of every linguistic agent.

Aphorism of the Day, April 1, 2017

Being prisoners of human experience, we cannot help but to anthropomorphize, i.e., filter everything through the lenses of human seeing.  I would further qualify our anthropomorphic prison as being a lingual-centric prison in being manifest as lingualomorphic products.  So the biblical poets make death into an entity like a language using person:  Death where now is thy sting?  A speaking to Death as though Death were an entity that had listening ears for human language.   At least when Jesus called Lazarus from death, he assumed the personhood and the hearing ability of the dead corpse formerly known as the living and speaking Lazarus, and assumed a lingering immortal soul or spirit co-existing with the corpse as a former dwelling.   Is Death an actual hearing agent that has ears to hear: Death where now is thy sting?  We really should transition anthropomorphism to its honest place of being lingualomorphism, since we project language use in its active and passive modes as the primary way and definitive way of being human.  McLuhan said, "Media is the Message."  And I would say Language/Word is the Media and the Message.