Sunday School, December 2, 2018 1 Advent C

Sunday School, December 2, 2018      1 Advent C

Learning to Read Signs

Discuss the signs which occur in natural because of anticipating regular cycles.  When one puts a seed into the ground one waits and looks for a little leaf to poke out of the ground.  When one see blossoms then one can expect to see fruit.  There are other sign which we read like when it is cloudy, and when the clouds are dark, it is more likely for rain to follow.  We know that when we see smoke we just assume that it comes from some kind of fire.

Jesus asked his friends to learn to read what was happening in their lives so that they could be prepared to make the right response. 

Some times we need to have special signs, signs given by our laws to keep us from hurting ourselves.  For example, a Stop sign is not a natural sign; it has been invented by people and we use Stop signs to keep people from running into each other in their cars.

The Bible is a book of signs.  It gives us lots of “Stop,”  lots of “Don’t do this”  signs, and lots of “Please do this” signs.  Why?  Because the Bible is a book to help prepare us to live our very best.  It is a book that gives us the signs of how we are to treat each other.  It is a book of warning about what can happen to us if we don’t follow the signs for living a good life.

When we go to school we often have to face Judges.  The Judges at school are the tests that we have to take.  The tests show us how much we learn or did not learn.

Jesus said that we will all have to face a Judge in our lives.  He called that Judge the Son of Man but his friends knew that Jesus was also the Son of Man.  If we have a good relationship with Jesus as our Judge and are always learning from him, then we will not have to fear Jesus because we know that he will be a loving Judge who will only want us to work at getting better.

Let us begin the season of Advent by learning to read the signs for how we can live better lives.  And let us know that we are always getting ourselves ready to meet the very best Judge of life, Jesus as the Son of Man who we know and love and who we are delighted to perform the deeds of our lives for.

A Sermon

  Jesus said, "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.” 

  Jesus told his friends that they needed to learn how to read signs.

  There are natural signs and there are signs that we make.

  What is the red sign that has 8 sides on the road?  What does that sign mean?

  There are natural signs too.  What do dark clouds and wind mean?  What does smoke rising in the air mean?  What does the changing of the color of leaves mean?  What does it mean when leaves have fallen off the tree?

  How do you learn to read signs?  You look and watch and when you see it happen over and over again, you learn.  You also learn from your teachers and parents how to read signs.

  There are also signs that we have to learn to read when we are with each other.  For example, what might happen if we say something that is not nice to someone?  It might hurt their feeling.  It might make them cry.  What happens if you push or hit someone?  It might hurt them.

What happens if you eat twenty candy bars all at once?  You will get a sick tummy.

  So we have to learn to read the signs of how to live good lives.  We have to learn the signs of living bad lives, so we can learn to live better.

  God gave us the 10 commandments as a sign of how to live a good life.  And if we don’t follow these signs, we can get into lots of trouble.

  We are in the season of Advent, the first season of the Christian year.  The season of Advent is season of preparation.  It a season of learning how to read the signs of God in our lives.

  Jesus Christ is the greatest sign of God to us.  He was given to us to show us how to live.  During the season of Advent, we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ and to look forward to future coming again. When we see love and kindness, we can be sure that we are reading the sign of the presence of Christ in this world.  Let us learn to read the signs of God’s presence in our world, so that we can avoid making some serious mistake.  If we learn to read the sign of God in our lives, we can avoid making some serious mistake.  Let us during the season of Advent learn to read the signs of God in our lives.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

December 2, 2018: The First Sunday of Advent

Gathering Songs: Light a Candle; Prepare the Way of the Lord; Eat this Bread, Wait for the Lord; Soon and Very Soon

Lighting of the Advent Candle: 

Song: Light a Candle

            Light a candle for hope today, Light a candle for hope today, light a candle for hope today.              Advent time is here.

            (Sing twice)

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Prepare the Way of the Lord (Renew! # 92)

Prepare the way of the Lord.  Prepare the way of the Lord, and all people will see the salvation of our God. (sung as a canon)

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

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 Paul to the Thessalonians

Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 25

Show me your ways, O LORD, * and teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, * for you are the God of my salvation;

in you have I trusted all the day long.

Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, * for they are from everlasting.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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. (chanted)

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.

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.

Song: Wait for the Lord, (Renew # 278)

Wait for the Lord, his day is near.  Wait for the Lord, be strong, take heart.

 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.  Sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that might 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 Song: Eat This Bread , (Renew # 228)

            Eat this bread, drink this cup.  Come to me and never be hungry.  Eat this bread, drink this cup,

            come to me and you will not thirst.

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’re going to see the king.

No more crying there, we are going to see the king; no more crying there, we are going to see the king; no more crying there, we are going to see the king.  Hallelujah, hallelujah, we’re 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; no more dying there, we are going to see the king.  Hallelujah, hallelujah, we’re going to see the king.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Aphorism of the Day, November 2018

Aphorism of the Day, November 30, 2018

Why so much apocalyptic literature in the Bible?  Why is futurism the staff of life?  We live toward what will be, immediately, near future, middle future, distant future, and beyond life future.  Apocalyptic literature is a particular discourse of the future which functions for the writers and people for whom it was intended.  The biblical models of the apocalyptic are really not "meant" for us in the sense that we do not live in the communities which derived them.  They are "meant" for us in that the apocalypse includes the universal habits of language wherein the perpetual return of the same occurs.  How the "return of the same" occurs in the apocalyptic future differs from the biblical contexts of the apocalyptic.  One can generally say that the apocalyptic has left the "religious building" and gone into the streets of secular entertainment or apocalyptic environmentalism as culture tries to imagine the various kinds of ending of human life as we now know it.

Aphorism of the Day, November 29, 2018

The Apocalypse or Revelation of St. John the Divine by title means "unveiling."  However, it is hardly an unveiling in the sense of making meaningful precise knowledge of the future evident.  Revelations veils more than it reveals; it unveils stark images which cloud mysterious symbolic meanings.  Lots of people try to collate it with other apocalyptic imagery from other apocalyptic writings and some presume to place their interpretation of it onto human calendar dates of specific human history.  The "interpreters with special access to God's Spirit" end up reveling in their own exclusive roles as interpreters.  The Book of Revelations like all language products offers insights into human experience without needing to be exactly predicative of any future event.

Aphorism of the Day, November 28, 2018

Apocalyptic discourse might be frustrating for modern people because in the pre-scientific era the probability of the near and distant future could not be extrapolated in the ways that we extrapolate how we think the near and far future will be for us who have lived after the scientific era.  Imagination and science can co-exist because imagination attends every discursive practice as an engine of heuristic insights.  The down to earth pragmatic often begins on the fairy wings of the fantastical.

Aphorism of the Day, November 27, 2018

In the apocalyptic words of Jesus, he remarks that heaven and earth will pass away, but that his words will not.  So words are signifying entities which remain even when what is signifed does not remain, that is, in a continuous static state of existence.  If the words of Jesus remain it does perhaps imply a Language User or language users who would be around to know whether the words still are indicators of existence as human beings know it.

Aphorism of the Day, November 26, 2018

As Advent approaches a pouting liturgical preacher might wistfully opine, "Darn those apocalyptic lections again!  Do I have to preach on this again."  The Bible does seem filled with lots of apocalyptic portions about the end of life as we know it.  This seeming death watch of the biblical writers may be a bit depressing or it may be because we have been used to the use of pre-scientific imaginations being used as post-scientific evidence of a real future that will be empirically verified to prove that apocalyptic hucksters were justified in fleecing their faithful by selling their exclusive secrets about the end the world preying upon the fears of the worried and the ignorant.  As one pouts about the apocalyptic in the Bible one should be honest that our current modern secular apocalypticism is far more widespread than biblical apocalypticism.  We have moved the apocalyptic into the imaginations of art, particularly in the visual art of cinematic presentation.  Human behaviors represented in the Bible and in modern cinema prove that being human language users, it is universal to have imaginations about "in the beginning time" and "in the end time."  

Aphorism of the Day, November 25, 2018

Christ the King was a spiritualization of the messianism of the first century.  Why?  Jesus did not look like any earthly king, including King David and certainly not like Caesar.  How could such a person be regarded to be a king?  In hidden stealth, the Jesus Movement was founded member by member, house church by house church and the strength of the experience of the replication of the life of the Risen Christ in so many people engendered the title of Christ, the King of Glory.  Christ in you, the hope of glory.  After Constantine and the Christendom of the West, the spiritual Christ the King was united with earthly kings who purported to make Christ a true earthly king, triumphant in association with earthly power.  The spiritual was not lost, but it went underground since everyone in the kingdom was passively assimilated into the kingdom of Christ through baptism.  Authentic conversion by the spiritual Christ was not lost but had to co-exist with the Christ of cultural identity.

 Aphorism of the Day, November 24, 2018

The Risen Christ movement attached itself to an Ascended Jesus and moved interpretation into an interior heavenly realm.  Jesus as a heavenly High Priest attends an altar in heaven; the church is the new Israel without actual tribes and the Jews who rejected the Jesus Movement could not accepted a "spiritualized" Messiah, a King who was not of this world and who would not send His soldiers or followers to engage in an actual physical warfare.  David was an actual earthly king with a territorial realm, Jesus did not have a territory; he was a spiritualized heaven King seated on a heavenly throne at the right hand as the Crown Prince of heaven next to God the Father, the heavenly King.  So what happened to an actual earthly King Jesus?  He is delayed until a future return to keep the physical notion of the Messiah as relevant in the Christ communities.


Aphorism of the Day, November 23, 2018

The kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is a major theme in the words of Jesus in the Gospels.  This kingdom or realm was different from the former kingdom of David or the Kingdom of the Caesars of Rome.  The oracle of Christ spoken in the community which generated John's Gospel, understood Jesus to say to Pilate: "If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over ....",  This invisible kingdom might be regarded to be a quixotic denial of the world in face of the kingdoms with armies and powers to truly aid or hurt people.  It is the reality of the kingdom of words, because by interior constitution by the words of our lives we are ruled.  Christianity is intended to be a program of Jesus who said, "my words are spirit and life."  We seek to internalize the words of Jesus such that they become the telling spirit of our life because we have progressively undergone and interior word transplant to set us on the path of love of justice.

 Aphorism of the Day, November 22, 2018

Thanksgiving is the central worship event of the church catholic because Eucharist means Thanksgiving.

Aphorism of the Day, November 21, 2018

Faith is the ability to assert Providence before it is actualized.

Aphorism of the Day, November 20, 2018

Providence has various nuances; negative happenings can be nullified and re-valued based upon subsequent events.  The cross became a glorified event after the resurrection.  Providence in a neutral sense might be simply how subsequent events result in the entire re-valuing and everything that has happened in the past.  Even a terrible person in history becomes providentially re-valued as people shout, "Don't be like he was."  Learning not be be bad because of the example of a bad person, is also providence at work in the continual re-evaluation of the past which happens in the future.

Aphorism of the Day, November 19, 2018

The passage of time fine tunes what is called providence.  Providence is the hindsight analysis of the telling significance of previous events which were not so recognized when they were occurring.  The Passion Gospel of John is a more highly evolved in providential thinking.  Jesus as a king from the cross declares not, "my God why have you forsaken me," but "It is finished!"  The Johannine authors were quite certain that the Jesus Movement was a wildfire that was going to spread without abatement and so they understood King Jesus on the cross to be declaring the end of a phase of his existence which was the necessary prelude to the experience of the out of the body, spiritual Risen Christ by countless number of people.

Aphorism of the Day, November 18, 2018

Bible readers are often enamored or put of by the kind of biblical writing which is called "apocalyptic," deriving from the Greek Title for the book of Revelation also called The Apocalypse, or the unveiling.  It purports to be an unveiling of events at the end of the world as we know it, but the images are so cryptic and idiopathic to the person who was in an altered state, it includes codes and references that really are unknowable.  Yes, some of the codes involve cross referencing with other apocalyptic literature but one really has to presumptuous to assume that one knows the definitive meaning of these hallucinogenic imagery.  The presumption of those who pretend to know the meaning of the Apocalypse mean that such people discard its significance even while our modern era gorges itself upon the apocalyptic in our modern entertainment.

Aphorism of the Day, November 17, 2018

For a long time the Holy Scriptures were the singular writings that were available to people of faith; only the further educated had access to other writings.  As such a formative singular book in the lives of people, it had an omni-competent role.  It was entertainment, it was politics, it was humor, it was advice, it was history, it was futurism/science fiction, it was speculation, it was legal precedence and more.  The proliferation of textual products and the increasing literacy of people has challenged the Bible to be able to be such an omni-competent book for people.  This is recognized in the classical Anglican statement about the Scriptures: They contain all things necessary for our salvation.  This implies they don't contain all things necessary for an understanding of Quantum Physics.  For people who want the Bible to remain such a singular book of significance in all manner of scientific modern life, it requires a distortion of scope and purpose of the Bible.

Aphorism of the Day, November 16, 2018

Lots of biblical scholars, prominent being Albert Schweitzer, believed that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet, meaning that he identified with furor in his time over the conditions of the world which were so dire for his people, that they required an cosmic intervention and ending.  But other portions of the Gospels seem to imply that Jesus proposed a "realized eschatology" or a recognition that the kingdom of God was specifically advanced in the age of the Holy Spirit.  How does one resolve the apocalyptic Jesus with the realized eschatology Jesus?  One can note that the Jesus in the Gospel, is the oracle Risen Christ, channeled by the apostles and preachers who had "the mind of Christ," "had the Spirit," and spoke in his "Name," such that the words could authentically be called logia of Jesus.  Where the early Jesus suffered horrendous persecution, the words of Jesus were visionary apocalyptic words promising end and and intervention.  In the situations of the unpersecuted church enjoying evangelical success, the words of a realized eschatology were more fitting for the conditions in the community.

Aphorism of the Day, November 15, 2018

While biblical literalists try to match up the near hallucinogenic images of the Book of Revelations with actual events in our future history, the culture at large disparages such apocalypticism, even while we probably live in the most apocalyptic age of all in our entertainment.  We live by cinematic images of futurism and threats to life as we know it.  Our postmodern apocalypticism is unmoored from the notion of a loving God inspiring analgesic imagery for vision to survive the kinds of human crises which occur.

 Aphorism of the Day, November 14, 2018

As the world moved from a geocentric view of the solar system to a heliocentric view, there occurred a reverse orientation in philosophy, from a theocentric view to an anthropocentric view, encapsulated in the Feuerbachian phrase: "All theology is anthropology," or said in another way, "no one has or can have an non-human experience of God."  There is a humility in admitting that we are locked in our prison of human experience, using anthropocentric imaginations to assert empathy with non-humans like animals or God.  We cannot help but project personality, somewhat like our own, upon everything.  The Christian belief in the incarnation is a license to assert that the theocentric became anthropocentric in Christ, who is proclaimed to be one with "bi-lingual" status between God and humanity so that the difference of holy transcendence might be translated into human experience.  This belief also affirms human experience as a valid way to know a Plenitude which is human in that we say that we experience Plenitude, but extra-human in that Plenitude is way too much to be comprehended and so we settle for the adequate human bits to elevate us to what we regard to be the supreme values of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, November 13, 2018

Many people interpret the apocalyptic portions of the Bible as predictive of the end times and people for 2000 years have tried to tie biblical imagery to the specific events of their time.  Such use of the Bible give people confidence that God is in control even in the midst of the chaos of freedom which permits lots of bad things to happen and innocent suffering to be the normal fare of existence for many.  Apocalyptic images are analgesic temporary remedies to people who are in pain or think that they are in pain because their life values do not seem to prevail in their society to the degree which they want.  One can accept apocalyptic literature as a valid discourse of imagination with psychological function and purpose even while like the reality of the unicorn, one should not use apocalyptic as referring to future precise events that will be empirically verified.  Apocalyptic literature because it partakes of Language, includes universal patterns which are meaningfully true without being the truth of empirical verification.

Aphorism of the Day, November 12, 2018

During the time of Jesus apocalyptic speculation was rife.  The world by some was believed to be in terminal mode, but by whom?  The Romans?  Certainly not them, because they were in control.  The oppressed Jews and other oppressed peoples who were trying to maintain that God still loved them even though God did not seem to be taking adequate care of them, wanted to put the whole earth on "hospice care."  Apocalyptic thinkers are pity thinkers seeming to imply, "if things are going badly for us who are God's chosen, then the entire world doesn't deserve to survive."  How easy it is to assume that the entire world should be in symbiotic relationship with us such that if our lives are threatened, so should the life of the whole earth.  The irony is that Christianity cured the need for apocalyptic thinking by converting the Roman Empire and when Christendom rules with a sword, apocalyptic thinking is ironically converted to triumphalism, e.g., the Lord will now return just to prove that we were right.  Beware of apocalyptic thinking which is hiding group narcissism coupled with megalomania. The words of Jesus warned against the people who presume to know too much about the "end," and proclaim, "I am he, (who knows the end)."

Aphorism of the Day, November 11, 2018

One might call the "plain reading" of Scripture based upon reading most of the words as those which could all be empirically verified, the "zoom in" reading of the Bible.  For visual and devotional reading such a literalism, such a reading might be inspiring to those who hope for the laws of empirical happenings to be violated in the present with scientific defying occurrences.  This does happen in cinematic visual presentation.  For those who do a more "zoom out" reading of the Bible in the universe of total discourse, there is a discovery of the variety of language usage by humanity with discursive practices appropriate to the occasion, some requiring pragmatic brute facts for wise actuarial manipulation of one's world for things necessary for physical and social maintenance, and some requiring aesthetic appropriation for the experience of Sublime in what might be called spiritual experience or the artistic event.  Too many people live in the "zoom in" mode of reading while the science of life automatically have them contained in a "zoom out" mode.  Most of the conflict of our day has to do with people who live with calcified "zoomed in" interpretation of reality which is in natural conflict with the big picture of "zoom out" reality.

Aphorism of the Day, November 10, 2018

An aspect of being humans with language is that we say that we are persons, meaning that we are defined in relationship with other persons.  And being prisoners of personal experience we cannot help but personalize everyone and everything which confronts us.  We take "personally" everything which happens to us.  We assume that there are reasons and causes behind everything even if such remain mostly mysterious since we have no access to all of the chain in the infinite regress of all that has happened.  One of the names that is given for the totality and plenitude of all that is, is God, who is a person because we as persons can only know through things being personal.  Another name for the totality and plenitude as it manifests its impingements upon us is Fate.   So as persons we cannot avoid relationship and as persons working on relationships with everything and everyone is the human calling.  How we relate is the value laden question of the quality that we bring to relationship even as we assess the quality of how impinging events personally affect us.

Aphorism of the Day, November 9, 2018

If one reads the Bible without understanding the context of writing one can be locked out of meanings that were surely known by the "original" readers.  Extenuating circumstances influence the meanings that were intended, so for readers of the Gospel of Mark, it is important to know that it was written by those who were aware of the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in the year 70.  To be oblivious to the circumstances can certain allow reader to appropriate many other readings or what one might call misreadings, but to attempt to attain circumstantially appropriate approximate meaning requires the study of the situation which may not be found within the text.   The writer of the Gospel of Mark had to present Jesus as having foreknowledge of the destruction of the Temple and the Jesus of the Gospel is a collage of oral traditions about Jesus intertwined with the oracle of the Risen Christ channeled by early church preachers such as the Marcan Gospel preacher. 

Aphorism of the Day, November 8, 2018

Irony of the widow's copper coin:  She gave it to the temple for its preservation even as in the Gospel of Mark, the gift was like a herald which proclaimed the end of the temple.

Aphorism of the Day, November 7, 2018

People of means who give to charity as band aids for those who are wounded by having no state in our economic system should ask the question:  How much do I have left over after I have given?  

Aphorism of the Day, November 6, 2018

The widow who gave her last coin to the temple treasury is often used as a reading in the fall for church "fund-raising" called stewardship.  Yet the passage is cut off from the punchline of Jesus which follows, namely, a judgment upon the temple as an institution which had encouraged the poor widow to give all as her religious obligation even while it was the obligation of the temple as an institution to take care of the poor widow.  To stop at this as a simple stewardship message misses the context of judgment upon the institutions which refuse to live up to justice and love.

Aphorism of the Day, November 5, 2018

The sharpest criticism of leadership is when leaders are so exploitative that they use information in a way that results in the poor and the vulnerable acting and voting against their own self interest in service to the exploiting leader.

Aphorism of the Day, November 4, 2018

Probably the most optimistic thing about the summary of the law is the belief that human being can actually love God and their neighbors.  At its heart is a expression of human perfectability, i.e, we can always grow in loving behaviors.

Aphorism of the Day, November 3, 2018

Jesus said to a scribe, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  Why did he say this?  The scribe was on the verge of realizing that performing religious laws did not make him a part of God's kingdom, because one cannot perform to get something that one already has. We are near or far to the kingdom of God depending on whether we've accepted life itself as a gift from God that has never been taken away.  Being far or near is a matter of insight about knowing we've always been in God's kingdom as a matter of grace.


Aphorism of the Day, November 2, 2018

A scribe approached Jesus and ask him if there was a hierarchy in the law: Which law is the best?  Jesus replied, "Love God, love neighbor as you love yourself."  The scribe agreed and Jesus believed that he was close to the kingdom of heaven.  The issue might be regarding laws as a check list in time of personal fulfillment and so one may be counting one's deeds of fulfillment only to thrown off by the recognition of what one has not yet done in fulfilling the highest law.  Perhaps Jesus was hinting that the great law was a process in time and since one's time is always unfinished, we are always unfinished in keeping the highest laws.  Perceiving the kingdom of heaven means that God loving and continuous process of grace and forgiveness makes up for us as we exert our life energies to love God, and our neighbor as ourselves.  


Aphorism of the Day, November 1, 2018

If the habit of anthropomorphism regarding God is denied in practice, then Jesus can become too holy/transcendent to be approached and the result is the rise of the cult of the saints as more approachable intercessors since they are "more like us" than Jesus was.  And when St. Mary and the saints get more prayer requests than Jesus there has been a sea change.  Protestantism diminished the focus upon the saints, some even to exclusion in their practice of piety, since they believe that if Jesus was God with us, then we did not need to go to and through the "saints."  The lack of the All Saints tradition in many Protestant churches highlights the difference between the "our faith" of the catholic traditions and the individual "my faith" of many Protestant churches.  Some try to straddle the "both/and" of "our faith" and "my faith."

Quiz of the Day, November 2018

Quiz of the Day, November 30, 2018

Why is Andrew the patron saint of Scotland?

a. legends say he made a trip there
b. an ancient king invoked Andrew's intercession in a battle against the Angles
c. It came from a Robert Burns haggis ceremony
d. Scottish crusaders invoked the name of St. Andrew

Quiz of the Day, November 29, 2018

The Advent Wreath tradition originally began in which Christian Church?

a. Baptist
b. Anglican
c. Catholic
d. Lutheran

Quiz of the Day, November 28, 2018

From where would the most recent monarch saints on the Episcopal Calendar of Saints come?

a. Hungary
b. France
c. Germany 
d. Hawaii

Quiz of the Day, November 27, 2018

In the imagery of Zechariah, Favor and Unity are the names of what?

a. Israel and Judah
b. Sheep and Shepherd
c. two different staffs of a shepherd
d. Sheep spared, sheep destroyed

Quiz of the Day, November 26, 2018

Who wrote the words for the Christmas carol, "Joy to the World?"

a. John Newton
b. Percy Dreamer
c. Isaac Watts
d. Fanny Crosby

Quiz of the Day, November 25, 2018

Who asked Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

a. Herod
b. Pontius Pilate
c. Peter
d. Caiaphas

Quiz of the Day, November 24, 2018

Which pope first instituted the Feast of Christ the King, in response to the success of the atheistic Bolshevik revolution?

a. Pius XI
b. Pius XII
c. John XXIII
d. John Paul II


 Quiz of the Day, November 23, 2018

Who is the patron saint of mariners in that he is believed to have been martyred by being tied to an anchor and cast into the sea?

a. Peter
b. Nicolas
c. Clement I
d. Brendan


Quiz of the Day, November 22,2018

Whom of the following would be most responsible for Thanksgiving to be a feast day in the church.

a. The Pilgrims 
b. Abraham Lincoln 
c. Samuel Seabury
d.  William White

Quiz of the Day, November 21, 2018

William Byrd was a student of what musician?

a.Tallis
b. Bach
c. Purcell
d. Merbecke

Quiz of the Day, November 20, 2018

Whom of the following is not an English Martyr?

a. Edmund
b. Thomas a Becket
c. Alban
d. Alcuin

Quiz of the Day, November 19, 2018

Habakkuk is the last of the 12 Minor Prophets whose writing is in the Hebrew Scriptures.  What determines the difference between the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets?

a. prophetic importance of prophets in Judaism
b. length of the writings
c. chronology, with Major coming before the Minor
d. place of service in Northern Kingdom or Southern Kingdom, Israel or Judah

Quiz of the Day, November 18, 2018

The internal references of the Book of Daniel indicate it was written in the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century B.C.E., but scholars believe it was actually written when?

a. 1st century B.C.E.
b. 2nd century B.C.E.
c. just after Nehemiah re-built the Temple
d. In the time of Ezra

Quiz of the Day, November 17. 2018

In what Gospel does Jesus say, "You cannot serve God and wealth?"

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

Quiz of the Day, November 16, 2018

Which of the following parable is not unique to Luke's Gospel?

a. Good Samaritan
b. The Prodigal Son
c. The Sower and the Seeds
d. The lost sheep

Quiz of the Day, November 15, 2018

Samuel Seabury was the bishop of what State?

a. New York
b. Pennsylvania
c. Washington, D.C. as first presiding bishop
d. Connecticut

Quiz of the Day, November 14, 2018

Where was Samuel Seabury, the first bishop of the Episcopal Church, consecrated?

a. Philadelphia
b. Longacre near Aberdeen in Scotland
c. Washington, DC
d. London

Quiz of the Day, November 13, 2018

Whom of the following was one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society?

a. William Wilberforce
b. Thomas Ken
c. Charles Simeon
d. Charles Gore

Quiz of the Day, November 12, 2018

In birth tradition of the Bible and Christian tradition, there are marvelous and miraculous births.  There is also the notion of immaculate conception.  Whom of the following is believed to have been immaculately conceived?

a. Isaac
b. Samuel
c. John the Baptist
d. The Virgin Mary

Quiz of the Day, November 11, 2018

The most obvious topic in the Book of Ecclesiasticus is what?

a. the worship of God
b. the history of Israel
c. Justice
d. Wisdom

Quiz of the Day, November 10, 2018

“The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you, and all your dainties and your splendor are lost to you, never to be found again!”  This is an utterance in the Bible against whom?

a. Sodom

b. The Roman Empire

c. Jerusalem

d. Babylon the Great

Quiz of the Day, November 9, 2018

The "Whore of Babylon" referred to in the Book of Revelation has been interpreted throughout the ages as what?

a. The Roman Empire
b. The Roman Catholic Church
c. The Devil's Church
d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, November 8, 2018

Which of following churches are on the verge of a major split?

a. Ukrainian Orthodox
b. Russian Orthodox
c. Eastern Orthodox
d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, November 7, 2018

Who was the apostle of Frisia?

a. Boniface
b. Wilfrid
d. Cyril
e. Willibrord

Quiz of the Day, November 6, 2018

Which book of the Bible present a figure similar to the folklore figure of the Grim Reaper who is a hooded figure who harvests souls at their death with his scythe?

a. Daniel
b. Revelation
c. Ezekiel
d. Isaiah

Quiz of the Day, November 5, 2018

The burial anthem, "Blessed are they who have died in the Lord...." comes from which book of the Bible?

a. Psalms
b. Isaiah
c. John
d. Revelation

Quiz of the Day, November 4, 2018

Which of the following is not associated with the writings of Richard Hooker?

a. Via Media
b. three-legged stool
c. receptionism
d. High Church Anglicanism

Quiz of the Day, November 3, 2018

Which of the following is not a "Caroline divine?"

a. Richard Hooker
b. Thomas Ken
c. Lancelot Andrewes
d. Jeremy Taylor

Quiz of the Day, November 2, 2018

Who is the counter part of Lazarus in the parable of Jesus?

a. Mary
b. Martha
c. Dives
d. Theophilus

Quiz of the Day, November 1, 2018

All Saints Day is when in the Orthodox Church?

a. November 1
b. First Sunday after Pentecost
c. August 6
d. First Sunday after Easter

"So, You Are a King?"

Christ the King Cycle B  Proper 29 November 25, 2018

2 Samuel 23:1-7  Psalm 132:1-13, (14-19)

Revelation 1:4b-8  John 18:33-37

Lectionary Link

Today is the last Sunday of the church calendar, and the last Sunday after Pentecost, and also it is also the Feast of Christ the King.

This feast arose in the 1920's when the Russian revolution was asserting the control of the world by governments with atheistic worldviews.  After the Enlightenment, with the ascent of Reason, there had been the tendency of removing State religion because of many "religious wars," and Christians could be cruel to each other, like burning heretics at the stake depending upon who the monarch was.  Trying to found governments upon Enlightened Reasoning grounded in the protection of law, meant that governments disestablished religions even though if you were a member of a minority religious group you could be discriminated against.  The American experiment in government was to be the establishment of Reason, in law to regulate the freedom of all to worship or not to worship.  In the success of rise of secular governments and the end of State established religion, how could the authority of Christ be asserted on earth?

Today, we are invited to consider again the irony of Christ as the King.  This irony is featured in the rather strange dialogue presented between Pontius Pilate and Jesus during the interrogation before his crucifixion.

When we ponder Christ the King, we need to understand the notions of monarchy which prevailed in the first century, in Palestine and in the Roman Empire.

The Jews in the first century lived upon the fumes of a once and future king.  The once king, David was an actual earthly King who reigned during the most successful time in the history Israel.  His success, coupled with the long history of less than perfect kings and the loss of control of their own territory, made David the inspiration for a future David who would come and restore Israel to its former greatness.  The times of Jesus were dominated by this wishful thinking for a new Great David to arise.  David was the model for the notion of the Messiah as God's anointed one to deliver the people of Israel.  The prevailing view for such a Messiah was that the Messiah would be a King like David who would intervene to deliver Israel.

But what was the political reality in Palestine in the first century?  The King of Palestine was the Caesar who ruled in Palestine with his appointed surrogates like King Herod and the local governors like Pontius Pilate.

The Passion accounts of the Gospels portray the Jewish religious authorities as those to turn Jesus over to the Roman authorities because they said he was a competing king pretender who was challenging the authority of the Caesar.  And what was the ironic cry of the crowd in the Passion Gospel?  "We have no king but Caesar."

Pilate was rather amused and seemed to be cynically teasing Jesus about being a king.  "You're a king?  Really?  How can you be a king?"

So how did the early church uphold that Jesus was indeed a king? 

What is the chief mode of interpretation of New Testament writers with themes of Hebrew Scripture?  The New Testament writers spiritualized the topics of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Jerusalem was destroyed, but the writer of Revelations spoke about a New Jerusalem in the heavens.  The Temple was destroyed and the priesthood became inactive.  Jesus became the great High Priest who attended to a heavenly altar.  Israel was over-run and scattered.  The church was seen as the new Israel.  Israel had 12 tribal patriarchs.  The church as the new Israel had 12 apostles.  Israel had the David the Messiah.  The church had Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah, king not by virtue of having specific earthly territory, but King because he passed through death into life again.  The resurrection and ascension was a new manifestation of what it meant to be king.  The ability of the Risen Christ to be made known into the lives of many people, again and again meant that the Messiahship of Christ was spiritualized to the realm of the inner world, the hearts of people.  The church proclaimed the Kingship of Jesus because they saw the unstoppable popularity of the Risen Christ transforming peoples' lives and forming formidable, lasting communities.

So, indeed, Jesus could say in the words of the Gospel writer, "If my kingdom were of this world, then my followers would fight.......".just like the soldiers of David had once fought for him as their messiah.

So, how do you and I feel about Christ the King today?  We probably are hypocritical in our view about Christ as King?   Why?  Spiritual kingship is nice, but does spiritual kingship guarantee a military force that can protect us and our country?  Probably not.  We don't want a spiritual Christ the King because it can be as empty as what is called "moral victories."  We lose but get credit for losing in the right way for the right values.

Since we live in our physical and political worlds, we really want governments with leaders who support the kinds of values and beliefs that we ourselves have.  "Spiritual Messiah?  bah humbug.  I want leaders with real power to represent my interests as I understand them.  I want leaders to enforce and protect my interests, even my religious views as I understand them."

What the history of religious power indicates is that absolute power of any sort, ends up corrupting absolutely.  No earthly authority, including religious authority,  has ever been able to integrate religion and politics to the fairness of everyone.

So what can Christ the King mean for us today?  It is enough to know the transforming power of the Risen Christ evident within the lives of people who are looking for interior power to become the very best people that they can become.

If people can know the conversion of Christ and fulfill the politics of Jesus to love our neighbors as ourselves, then this is the highest expression of Christ the King.

Let us today be less concerned about political power for our own self interest today; let us make sure that Christ the King rules our hearts and empowers us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  This is the pure politics of Jesus Christ, the King.  Amen.