Quiz of the Day, March 2019

Quiz of the Day, March 31, 2019

Who is the slave woman referred to in the Epistle to the Galatians?

a. Eve
b. Leah
c. Hannah
d. Ruth
e. Hagar

Quiz of the Day, March 30, 2019

Which prophet hid his underwear in the cleft of a rock and understood its ruin to signify the ruin of the people of Israel?

a. Isaiah
b. Joel
c. Amos
d. Hosea
e. Jeremiah

Quiz of the Day, March 29, 2019

Whom of the following is credited with the start of the "Oxford Movement," and was one of the "Tractarians?"

a. Pusey
b. Newman
c. Keble
d. Cranmer
e. Drearmer

Quiz of the Day, March 28, 2019

What did Irenaeus call the parable of the Prodigal Son?

a. the loving father
b. the unforgiving brother
c. the two brothers
d. the wayward son

Quiz of the Day, March 27, 2019

According to the book of Joshua when did the mysterious Manna stop appearing?

a. when Moses died
b. when Joshua became leader
c. when the entered the Promised Land
d. when they ate from the crops of the Promised Land

Quiz of the Day, March 26, 2019

The parable of the Prodigal Son is found where?

a. in all of the synoptic Gospels
b. in Luke only
c. in Matthew and Luke
d. in Mark only

Quiz of the Day, March 25, 2019

What was the context for the Magnificat of Mary?

a. She sang it to Gabriel at the Annunciation
b. She composed it after the birth of Jesus
c. Elizabeth composed it
d. She sang it when she told Elizabeth her news

Quiz of the Day, March 24, 2019

Which of the following does not fit?

a. Adonai
b. The Name
c. Tetragrammaton
d. The Holy One, Blessed be He
e. Melchizedek

Quiz of the Day, March 23, 2019

What ancient Persian dynasty did Gregory the Illuminator come from?

a. Armenian
b. Parthian
c. Medes
d. Achaemenian

Quiz of the Day, March 22, 2019

Of the following, which could be said to have prevented the election twice of James DeKoven as bishop?

a. his view on the Bible
b. his pacifist views
c. smells and bells
d. his view on the Trinity


Quiz of the Day, March 21, 2019

Which is no true regarding Archbishop Thomas Cranmer?

a. he was archbishop who give Henry VIII a marriage annulment
b. he was editor of the first Book of Common Prayer
c. he was a celibate like the Catholic clergy of his time
d. he was martyred 

Quiz of the Day, March 20, 2019

Who is the author of the words of the Doxology used in many parishes at the presentation of the offering and oblations?

a. Thomas Tallis
b. George Herbert
c. Isaac Watt
d. Fanny Crosby
e. Thomas Ken

Quiz of the Day, March 19, 2019

The lineage of Jesus is traced through his "guardian" Joseph in which Gospel?

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

Quiz of the Day, March 18, 2019

Which of the following is not true regarding Cyril of Jerusalem?

a. attended Council of Nicaea
b. attended First Council of Constantinople
c. Developed the Cyrillic script
d. Wrote on Christian Catechesis
e. a and c
f. b and d

 Quiz of the Day, March 17, 2019

Which prophet claimed that he could not speak because he was only a boy?

a. Amos
b. Moses
c. Jeremiah
d. Hosea

Quiz of the Day, March 16, 2019

Whom did Jesus engage in dialogue in the city of Sychar?

a. Mary of Magdala
b. Nicodemus
c. an unnamed blind man
d. a Samaritan woman

Quiz of the Day, March 15, 2019

Which of the following Irish saints was not "Irish?"

a. Brigit
b. Brandan
c. Aidan
d. Patrick

Quiz of the Day, March 14, 2019

According to the Hebrew Scriptures, the giving of the Law to Moses happened on which mountain?

a. Sinai
b. Tabor
c. Gerizim
d. Horeb
e. a and d

Quiz of the Day, March 13, 2019

Who was Eliezer?

a. Aaron's son, a priest
b. Isaac's brother
c. Abraham's servant
d. Sarah's brother

Quiz of the Day, March 12, 2019

Which Pope said about Anglicans seen in Rome, "non Angli sed angeli," Not Anglican but angels?

a. Leo the Great
b. Pius I
c. Gregory the Great
d. Sabinian

Quiz of the Day, March 11, 2019

To whom did Jesus refer to as "that fox?"

a. Judas Iscariot
b. Pontius Pilate
c. Herod
d. Caesar

Quiz of the Day, March 10, 2019

Which of the following biblical metaphor is used for Christ and Lucifer?

a. sun
b. dawn
c. morning star
d. river

Quiz of the Day, March 9, 2019

Which Eastern Orthodox saint is a patron saint for an Episcopal parish in San Francisco, CA?

a. Basil the Great
b. Gregory of Nazianus
c. Gregory of Nyssa
d. John Chrysostom

Quiz of the Day, March 8, 2019

Who was Woodbine Willie?

a. a heroic chaplain in World War I
b. a man with a nickname after his favorite brand of cigarettes
c. a Kennedy
d. a poet
e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, March 7, 2019

Which biblical writer is attributed to having reinforced a rather biased view against "Cretans?"

a. Peter
b. Timothy
c. Paul
d. Titus

Quiz of the Day, March 6, 2019

"Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return."  Where can this be found in the Bible?

a. Genesis
b. Isaiah
c. Revelations
d. Romans

Quiz of the Day, March 5, 2019

Why did pancakes become the meal of choice for Shrove Tuesday?

a. a papal order
b. last effort to get rid of animal fat before Lent
c. to shrive is the old English for "eating pancakes"
d. one is supposed to "get fat" on Fat Tuesday before the "slimming" days of Lent

Quiz of the Day, March 4, 2019

Which of the following is not true about John Wesley and the "Methodists?"

a. John Wesley remained an Anglican in his lifetime
b. Wesley viewed "Methodism" as a Movement with Anglicanism
c. Wesley's never ministered in America
d. The Wesley brothers were prolific hymnodists

Quiz of the Day, March 3, 2019

Mount Tabor is a place associated with what event?

a. Sermon on the Mount
b. Elijah hearing the still small voice
c. The Transfiguration
d. The place of the future return of Christ

Quiz of the Day, March 2, 2019

When Ruth became a widow which of following was a requirement for the sale of her late husband's land?

a. a tithe had to be paid on the purchase price
b. the purchase of Ruth was included in the property deal
c. all of the livestock came with the land
d. the land was exempt from the gleaning requirement

Quiz of the Day, March 1, 2019

St. Dewi is the patron saint of what country?

a. Gibraltar
b. The Falkland Islands
c. Crete
d. Wales

A Parable About Not Misrepresenting God

4 Lent             March 6, 2016     

Joshua 5:9-12          Ps.32           

2 Cor. 5:17-21     Luke 15:11-32   
  Lectionary Link

The identity of the Pauline church consisted of a large group of people who might called "people who were formerly known as sinners."

In former days, sinners, or bad archers who were missing their targets of how they were supposed to be, were not so much bad archers; they simply were not allowed into the archery range.  Sin is from an archery term for "missing the mark."

In former day, sinners were person who were designated as such under the classification Purity Code of a smaller group of elite ritually observant Jewish persons.  

In the time of Jesus, sinners were persons declared as defiled or impure under the definitions of the Purity Code by the ritually observant few.  This meant that many who were "ethnically" Jews, were still sinners because they were not ritually observant Jews in the ways in which the Purity authorities defined purity.  Ethnic Jews who maintained close contact with Gentile because of business like tax collectors and the like were not able to maintain ritual purity and so they did not have official religious status as it was defined by the religious authorities in various religious parties within Judaism during the time of Jesus.

Jesus, in the Gospel polemics, is presented as one who is criticized by religious leaders for eating with "sinners."  He thus was defiling himself because of his close contact with ritually non-observant "sinners."

When we read the parable of the Prodigal Son in the Gospel of Luke, we read it in its primary naivete "as if" it was eyewitness events from the actual life of Jesus.

In such a primary naive reading, the "prodigal son" would represent mainly the ritually non-observant ethnic Jews who did not have religious status among the religious leaders who had the keys to the Purity Code to define who was "in" or "out" in terms of their suitability.  And when religious leaders purport to speak for God, it implies that God is like a ritually observant Jewish religious leader limiting the Divine company but to the ritually observant.

Jesus, found this to be a "misrepresentation of God."  In the parable of the Prodigal Son, God is represented by a loving father who is generously permissive with the freedom allowed to an impetuous and unwise child.  The father is even generous to a fault, "the fatal fault of genuine freedom," which allows God's children to trash their generous inheritance of this life and earth.  The father is generous because he allows the freedom to sin and the freedom to return from sin and repent.  And ironically, the rebellious son seems to be celebrated for his return and his repentance because his knowledge of both good and evil has given him an enhanced appreciation for what is good about God's goodness.

Meanwhile, the "loyal" son experiences the sin of his own soul.  He does not leave the home in dissolute living; he journeys into the impurity of jealous despising of those who are not good as he is good.  And in his jealousy, he becomes wasteful of his father inheritance of generous love and forgiveness.  He becomes woefully lost in his own kind of sin.  The loving father also offers him reconciliation but he in his bitterness is not ready to accept it because he is lost in comparing his relative goodness with his younger siblings relative badness.

The parable of the Prodigal Son reveals to us that we can turn our goodness into sin if we make ourselves the standard of a kind of goodness that will not let other people get better.  The sin of unforgiveness is great indeed not just for who is not forgiven, but for the state of the soul of one who can't forgive.

The older brother was paralyzed because he could not realize that he could become better by participating in the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation which was modeled and offered by his loving father.

How was this Gospel parable read in the post-Pauline churches?  Anachronistically, of course since the post-Pauline churches consisted mostly of "people formerly known as sinners or Gentiles."  The Risen Christ was hanging out with lots of sinner Gentiles.  The Risen Christ was eating and hosting Eucharist for lots of sinner Gentiles.  The post-Pauline churches consisted of lots of pork eaters who had been written into the salvation history lineage by St. Peter and Paul.

Paul and Peter and others entered a polemic with synagogue communities because not everyone could welcome the ritually non-observant into their notions of God's favor and blessing.  And herein lies the polemical basis of the New Testament.

For us today, we need to live beyond the old polemics which no longer pertain.  We are no longer in active disagreement with synagogue gatherers.  We have come to accept the different missions of Judaism and Christianity in our world.

So how do we appropriate the parable of the Prodigal Son in our lives today?  The universal theme is the love and forgiveness of God which cannot be limited to the small company of any person or group.  If one claims to speak about the love and forgiveness and compassion of God but does not practice it with everyone, then one is guilty of misrepresenting God.

And that is the message for us.  Let us not misrepresent the love and forgiveness of God by reducing God to but our tribal affinities.  Let us confess the real fact that no one of us is omni-relevant to everyone and so let us be generous as we seek to support anyone who is trying to promote God as the loving and forgiving one, who honors the complete freedom to fail, but also the more winsome freedom to over-come our failures in the success of repentance.

This is the God that Jesus came to model, to represent and to be.  And he gave us the more aptly named, Parable of the Loving, Freedom Giving, and Forgiving Parent, to teach us about the true nature of God.  Amen.

Sunday School, March 31, 2019 4 Lent C

Sunday School, March 31, 2019     4 Lent C

Themes

St. Paul wrote about our lives becoming a new creation.  We need God’s help in re-creating our lives in better ways?  Why?  Because some things are very difficult.

One of the most difficult things in life is forgiveness.

Forgiveness is interesting.  We know that we are not perfect and so we want people to give us second and third chances when we make mistakes.  But sometimes it is hard for us to give other people second and third chances.  Some times it is very difficult to forgive people who do bad things, and especially when they do them to us.

Jesus told a parable to show us that it is very hard to forgive.   It is a story about unfairness which happened in a family.  It is about a brother who found it very difficult to forgive his younger brother.  Sometimes older brothers and sister think that the youngest children in the family have it the easiest because it seems to them that mom and dad have easier rules for the youngest children in the family.

Jesus told a story about a very sad father.  The father was sad because his youngest son wanted to leave him and he wanted to take with him all of the money that he would get from his father after his father would die.  The young son took all of the money and moved away and wasted it and became very poor.  And he was so poor that he just wished he could work as a slave on his father’s farm.  So he went home.  And his father did not let him work as a slave.  He was happy that he returned and gave him a party.

The older brother who never left home and always obeyed his father was angry and said it was not fair.  Why did his dad give a party for the son who had behaved so badly?

And that is riddle of the story.  It is really hard and unfair to forgive people who have broken the law and done some really bad things.  But the miracle of God is to have mercy and forgiveness and to keep giving people more chances when they learn from their mistakes and want to improve their lives.

God has mercy on all of us when we aren’t perfect and yet when we realize our mistakes and want to improve our lives.  Sometimes when a person is bad in something where we are good, it is hard to forgive them.  We have to remember that sometimes we are bad in things where other people are good and we need them to forgive us.

The lesson we learn is that forgiveness is sometimes easier to accept than to offer.  And because forgiveness is hard, that is where we need to accept the forgiveness which is the gift of God as a loving parent.

Let us pray to God to ask God to give us the gift of forgiveness even as we freely accept the forgiveness from God and from the people who love us even when we are not perfect.

A Sermon about when being good can turn into being bad

Today we have read a story of Jesus about a family: A father, a younger son and his older brother.  The stories of Jesus are called parables.  A parable is a story that has an important message for us to learn.

  And this parable has a riddle in it.  And the riddle in this:  When can being good, turn into being bad?

  One day the young son said to his father, “Dad, I am leaving.  I’m tired of living here.  I want all of the money that you will give me after you die so I can leave and live elsewhere.”  Dad was very sad to hear this, but he gave his young son lots of money and his son left.

  Well, the young son went far away from home and he did not use his money very well.  He partied, he spent it foolishly on his friends.  He gambled and he lost all of his money.  He ran out of all of his money; he didn’t have any money to buy food.  So, he had to take a job taking care of pigs.  He watched the pigs eat; and he thought:  I’m so hungry, even the pig’s food looks good.  Even the lowest paid workers on my father’s farm earn more than I do and have more food than I have.  May be if I go back to my father, he will let me work on his farm and get enough to eat.  So he went back home.  And when his father saw him coming, he decided to throw a big party for him and welcome him back.  The young son said, “Dad, I made a mistake and I lost all my money; just let me work as one of your servants.”  But his father was so happy to see him; he treated him just like his son.

  Well, the older brother was not happy about it.  He told his Dad, “I stayed with you and I have worked hard.  And you have not thrown me a party.  And how can you let my little brother back into the family after he did such a terrible thing?”  So the good brother became angry and resentful because his father welcomed and forgave his brother.  So his goodness turned to badness because he was angry at his father for forgiving his brother.

  And so here is the lesson of the parable.  God forgives anyone who tries to make their life better.  Whether we have done wrong or whether we have been good.  We can always get better.  And we are not perfect, so we always need forgiveness and we always need to get better.

  And when and where we are good; we should not get angry when someone who has done something bad is willing to say that they are sorry and willing to change their lives.

  We should remember that God is like the father in the story.  God is the one who forgives everyone who wants to be forgiven.  That is why we confess our sins, the things that we have done wrong and we make a promise to work to get better.  And we learn that God forgives us; so we should not be angry if God forgives other people too.

  Let us learn today to accept God’s forgiveness.  And let us learn to forgive each other too.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

March 31, 2019: The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: This Little Light of Mine, Awesome God, Dona Nobis, He’s Got the Whole World

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

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

Hide it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine.  Hide it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

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

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

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures forever.  Amen.

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise be to God!

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 32

You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; * you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; * I will guide you with my eye.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

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 told them this parable:  "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Hymn: Awesome God (Renew!, # 245)

Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love our God is an awesome God.  (sing three times)

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Dona Nobis Pacem,  (Renew!  # 240)

Dona nobis pacem, pacem, dona nobis pacem.  Dona nobis pacem, dona nobis pacem.  Dona nobis pacem, dona nobis pacem.

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: He’s Got the Whole World (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

He’s got the whole world in his hands.  He’s got the whole wide world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.  He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.  He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands.  He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands.  He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

C

Repentance As Our Future

3 Lent      Cycle C     March 24, 2019

Ex.3:1-17          Ps. 103:1-11           

1 Cor. 10:1-13     Luke 13:1-9       

Lectionary Link
The life of Moses can be divided into three trimesters of 40 years.  He lived to the age of 120; the biblical writers liked numbers and their symbolic values and the number 40 is the symbol of the time of test and trial and ordeal and practice and preparation.  Moses had successes and failures in all three of his trimesters.  In his first 40 years, he had a miraculous infancy narrative; he was supposed to be killed with all the Hebrew male children in Egypt, but he was spared in his ark of bulrushes and rescued and adopted by an Egyptian princess and raised as a prince of Egypt.  He did not forget his people and as he neared the age of 40 he felt it was his duty to unify the Hebrew people and help them fight their oppression.  He failed and murdered two Egyptians and ran into the wilderness to escape for his life and give up his call.  He attached himself to the family of his bride and became a shepherd for Jethro his father-in-law.  And at the age of 80, he had his great theophany, a great encounter with God who appeared in the burning bush which was not consumed.  

This encounter of Moses as it is recorded in the book of Exodus evokes a study of God, the name of God and how God has come to be regarded.  Through textual analysis of Hebrew Scriptures, some scholars find at least four editions of Hebrew Scriptures.  This is called the source theory, and the sources are abbreviated as JEDP.  Two of these sources derive from the Hebrew words to designate God.  The J stands for "Jehovah" but is called by scholars the Yahwists.  The E, stands for the Elohists.  The Yahwists were the editors who used "Yahweh" for the name of God.  The Elohists were the editors who used Elohim as the name of God.  So how do we know in English translations which Hebrew name of God is being used?  The English word "Lord" is used for Yahweh or some translators use Yahweh.  Yahweh entered our vocabulary because some biblical scholar believed it to be a better English transliteration and the God formerly known as "Jehovah."   The extra vowel has to do with some textual version of the vowel pointing of the four consonants.  So the Hebrew Scriptures result in both versions of God's name being used, as in Lord God or Yahweh Elohim.  What developed in Judaism after the destruction of Solomon's Temple to begin the exile, was the reverence for the name of God.  The four consonants which represent the name of God were regarded to be so holy that they could be written but not pronounced.  These four letters are called the tetragrammaton, and observant Jews read the four consonants with alternate pronunciations, like HaShem, meaning "the Name," or "Adonai"  meaning my Lord, or hakadosh baruch hu ("The Holy One, Blessed Be He").     In his great encounter with God, Moses was afraid about returning to Egypt where he had failed to gain the respect of his fellow Hebrew people.  Moses was given the name of God to use as proof of his call to lead the people of Israel.  God's name is rendered in English as "I am that I am."  But scholars say that the Hebrew language did not have a present tense for the verb "to be."  So some think that it should be rendered as "I will be who I will be."  Moses returned to Egypt to lead a stubborn and skeptical people and he used the revealed name of God and using the name resulted in the plagues and the feats of wondered which enabled the Israelites to eventually arrive in the Promised Land.

Why is all of this relevant to the Christian tradition?  St. Paul and the apostles, understood Jesus Christ to be the one who assumed and made known God as the "I am" or the "I will be who I will be."  St. John's Gospel is the "I am" Gospel.  Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am."  This means that Christians regarded Christ to assume identity with "The Name."  St. Paul acted in the name of Christ in assuming it as a manifestation of the name of God.  He wrote that the Red Sea event baptized the children into Moses and many of them did not honor the name and they failed in their temptation and testing in the forty years in the wilderness.  St. Paul warned the Corinthian church not to fail the time of testing.  He said that God, who delivered Jesus in his time of temptation, will also provide a way of escape in our time of temptation if we will commit to speak and act in the name of Christ, into whom we have been baptized.

Our Gospel for today, indicates to us that we always already can be subject to the conditions of freedom where good things can happen to bad people; bad things happen to good people.  Bad things happen to bad people. Good things can happen to good people.  Freedom means that tyrants can prevail and do horrendous thing.  Freedom means that a tower can be structurally unsafe and fall on and kill people.  Such event may leave us speculating about why things happen.  Such speculation cannot change the fact that they did happen.  What response did Jesus give to the conditions of freedom?

Jesus said that we should always live in the state of repentance.  What does repentance mean?  It means we live in order to be better in the future.  How does one become better in the future?

How does a gardener make a better future yield?  A gardener composts the present ground around the plant in order for a better outcome?  What is compost?  In human experience, compost is our dead past.  The past is dead and gone.  The past can be a liability seen as an albatross to determine a bad future, or using the recycling and compost metaphor, we need to learn how to use the dead past to engender a better future.  Repentance is the education dynamic to learn from our past successes and failures to make a better future.

This Lent, we as a parish need to repent into our future.  We need to act in faith toward hopeful outcomes.  We need to apply success and failure in our past to a better future.  If the name of God in Christ is, "I will be who I will be," we can act in the name of Christ into our future with the great expectancy of better outcomes and future renewal.  Let us adopt repentance as a our Lenten habit toward a better personal and parish future.  Amen.