Sunday School, April 7, 2019 5 Lent C

Sunday School, April 7, 2019   5 Lent C

Themes:

What is good about never being finished?

St. Paul was very successful but he did not think that his success made him finished.  He wrote that he forgot what was past and he would keep pressing on until he died and then after he died he believed that he still had a future in continuing to press on.

So we should remember that our lives of faith, love and kindness are never finished.  We may be happy about our good successes and we may be sad about our failures, but we need to continue to have hope that our lives are never finish.  This means we keep looking to do the next best thing that we need to do in our lives.

Remember our lives are never finished because we have hope for a future.  And the future is calling us to be better than we have been in the past.

The Themes for the readings from Isaiah and the Psalms show us how God’s people still had hope in some very difficult times.  Even when they did not have a place to settle and live they had hope that God would help them find a home.  Even when their homes had been taken away and when they had been carried away into captivity, they still had hope that their homes, their temple and their special city of Jerusalem would be rebuilt for them to return to.

So when things are not going well, it is hope and thinking about how God will make things better which inspires us to keep going.

The Gospel Lesson

Sometimes when we are really thankful, we want to do something special for something special that someone did for us.

Mary of Bethany lost her brother Lazarus when he died.  But her friend and teacher, Jesus healed her brother’s death and made him to live again.  Mary was very thankful to Jesus for his special gift to her.  She invited Jesus to dinner and in front of everyone she wanted to honor Jesus, so she poured perfume on his feet.  Usually, they just used water to wash the dusty feet of guests, but Mary used more than water, she put perfume on the feet of Jesus as way of honoring Jesus.  Judas did not understand Mary’s love of Jesus and he told her that she used her money wrongly by buying such an expensive gift.  But Jesus defended Mary.  Jesus understood how much Mary appreciated what he had done for her and her family and so he accepted her gift.

Sometimes when you do something nice for someone, you too, need to know how to receive the thanksgiving from others.  When we offer thanksgiving and when we receive thanksgiving we are celebrating what is very best about friendship, family and living in community.

Sermon

  What if you only had the end of a story and not the beginning?  Would it make the story harder to understand?

  You remember the story of Cinderella.  What if you had only the part of the story of the prince’s helpers coming to Cinderella’s home with a glass slipper.  If you didn’t know the beginning of the story, how would you know the meaning of the glass slipper.

  Today, we have read in the Gospel the end of a story.  Jesus was at the home of his friend Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.  And Mary does a very strange thing.  She puts expensive perfume on the feet of Jesus and then wipes his feet with her hair.  Back in the time of Jesus, that is how she showed Jesus that she was really, really, really thankful for some thing special that he had done for her.

  And what had Jesus done for Mary, Martha and Lazarus?  If we read the chapter before the chapter that we read today, we know what Jesus did for Lazarus, Mary and Martha.  Jesus had brought Lazarus back to life after he had died.  So now we know why Mary wanted to show Jesus how thankful she was.

  This Gospel story is important for us because it teaches us something that we believe as Christians.  We believe that after we die that God will do some thing wonderful so that we can live on in another way.  And if we know that God is stronger than death, we know that we don’t have to live in fear.  We can live in hope, because whatever bad that can happen, God can do something better.

  And so like Mary, we try to find some very special ways to thank Jesus for bringing us this wonderful news about our after lives.  We come to church to sing songs of praise and thanksgiving.  We worship God and this worship is a way of honoring God and respecting God.  When we worship God, we are telling Jesus thank you for the wonderful news that he has brought us about the resurrection.

  And since we have this good news, we know that it is greater than our fears.  And this good news helps us to have hope and faith and love in our lives.

  I don’t recommend that you get perfume and put it on some one’s foot.  I don’t recommend wiping feet with your hair.  But in our way and in our time you and I can find special ways to honor God and show Jesus that we love him for the special things that he has done for us.

  So I want you to think about some special things that you can do for Jesus today, to thank him.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

April 7,  2019: The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: Only a Boy Named David,  I Have Decided to Follow Jesus,  Let Us Break Bread Together, Joyful, Joyful We Adore Three

Song: Only a Boy Named David (All the Best Songs for Kids,  # 112)

Only a boy named David, only a little sling. Only a boy named David.  But he could pray and sing.  Only a boy named David, only a rippling brook.  Only a boy named David and five little stones he took.  And one little stone went in the sling, and the sling went round and round.  And one little stone went in the sling, and the sling went round and round.  And!   Round and round and round and round and round and round and round.  And one little stone went up in the air and the the giant came tumbling down.

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

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, 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 Letter of Paul to the Phillipians

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 126

When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, * then were we like those who dream.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, * and our tongue with shouts of joy.

Then they said among the nations, * "The LORD has done great things for them."

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.

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

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: I Decided to Follow Jesus (All the Best Songs for Kids,  # 130)

1-I have decided to follow Jesus;  I have decided to follow Jesus;  I have decided to follow Jesus.  No turning back, no turning back.

3-Though none go with me, still I will follow.  Though none go with me.  Still I will follow.  Though none go with me, still I will follow.  No turning back, no turning back.

4-Will you decide now to follow Jesus?  Will you decide now to follow Jesus?  Will you decide now to follow Jesus?  No turning back, no turning back.

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.  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,

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

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

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

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

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:   Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (Blue Hymnal, # 376)

1-Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God glory, Lord of love.  Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, praising thee, their sun above.  Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of clouds away; giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day.

3-Thou are giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blest, well-spring of the joy of living, ocean-depth of happy rest!  Thou our Father, Christ our Brother: all who live in love are thine;  teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

A Parable As a Mirror for our Lives

4 Lent             March 6, 2016     

Joshua 5:9-12          Ps.32           

2 Cor. 5:17-21     Luke 15:11-32     

Lectionary Link
Catherine:  So, my friends how did you like the Parable of the Irresponsible and Prodigal Son?

Rylie:  Excuse me.  Don't you think it should be called the Parable of the Forgiving Father who could not practice "tough love?"

Sasha:  Excuse me.  Don't you think it should be called the Parable of the Responsible Big Brother who thought his dad favored his younger brother?

Catherine:  Whatever, you want to call this parable, if it were a play, which character would you like to play?  I personally, would not want to be the fatted calf.  You know what happened to him.  Perhaps it would be interesting to be one of the persons who attended the homecoming party.  But if this were a play, which part would you want to play?

Rylie:  I, would of course, love to play the loving and generous father who did not just rejoice when his son returned home, he threw him a big party, bought him a new tuxedo, even though his son had wanted to get far away from his dad and his home and never come back.

Sasha:  Do you really think that you would be that forgiving?  And why wouldn't you give the older brother some credit for always being faithful and staying at home to work for his dad?

Catherine:  That's true, I think everyone could understand why the older brother would have some very hurt feelings.  He was probably thinking?  What the use to be loyal?  There is no reward in being loyal.  So, Sasha, would you like to play the older brother?

Sasha:  Well, he was a bit unforgiving and jealous, but I think everyone can understand why he did not think it was fair.

Rylie: Does anyone want to play the irresponsible and rebellious son?

Catherine:  I would, of course, because playing the bad person would bring out more flamboyant acting scenes.  Can you imagine having all that money and blowing it all on spending sprees and parties.  Wouldn't that be a great role to play?

Sasha:  But what if you had to become a kosher pig farmer, who became so poor that you became jealous of the pigs food?

Catherine:  As an actor, the rebellious child would allow me to explore a full range of acting skills.  What actor wouldn't like that?  The lovable father might seem to be foolish with love.

Rylie:  Yes, he did allow the rebellious to take his inheritance long before he died.  And his son wasted all of his inheritance and then came crawling back home.  I guess I would like to know what Dad said to his son after the homecoming party?  He probably said, "Okay, Junior, the party is over now.  Remember that your older brother has been loyal and faithful.  You are going to have to behave in a way that allows our family to believe in you again.  Are you ready for a life of being responsible?"

Sasha:  Well, that's the part of the story that we do not hear.  The father can be loving and he can welcome his rebellious son back home, but he also can ask that his son change his future behaviors.  He can ask that his young son prove that he can be a good brother,

Catherine:  Well, we have had fun with the story, but it could be that Jesus used stories to teach his listeners.  A story is like a mirror.  If I look into the mirror and see a smudge on my face, then I know I have to wash my face.  If I didn't have the mirror, I would embarrass myself by going into public with a dirty face.

Rylie:  So the story of Jesus is like a mirror.  We can see ourselves in the loving father, in the rebellious son and in the older brother.

Sasha:  We can be loving and forgiving.  We also can be rebellious and sinful.  We can be in need of forgiveness.  We can need to be humble and go and admit that we made a mistake.

Catherine:  We can also be unforgiving like the older brother.  When we are good at something, we might be harsh when people are not good in areas of our strengths and ability.  So we can be judgmental.

Rylie: As people we can find ourselves in all three characters.  We can be loving and forgiving.  We can be rebellious and in need of forgiveness.  And we can be judgmental and jealous.

Sasha: There is one catch though.  God only plays one of the roles.  God is only in the role of the loving and forgiving father.  God is not like the rebellious son or the unforgiving son.  So God just plays one role.

Catherine:  So, today we have this parable of Jesus as a mirror for our lives too.  We can be rebellious and unforgiving, but we also have the ability to be loving and forgiving.  We can learn to be like the loving father.

Rylie:  When we are sinful, we know we need someone who forgives us.   And when we judge someone else we know that others need forgiveness too.  So the younger son and the older son need to grow up and become like the loving father.

Sasha: We too, are always on the path of growing up to be loving, kind and forgiving like God is.

Catherine:  And let us not forget why Jesus told the parable in the first place.

Rylie:  Why did he tell it?

Catherine:  Jesus was criticized by the religious leaders when they saw him eating with people who were not religious.  They did not think Jesus was very religious because they thought he was meeting with sinners and rebellious people.

Sasha:  Jesus came to teach that all people are the children of God.  Nobody has the right to say that someone is not worthy of God's love.  And how can people know that God loves them if someone does not tell them?

Rylie:  Jesus came to remind people that they are God's children and they are invited to come home to God's family.  God will give to everyone a loving welcome.

Catherine:  The Eucharist on Sunday is  God's party to welcome everyone to God's table.

Sasha:  And we all know that there are lots of empty seats at God's table. 

Rylie:  This means that we need to be like Jesus; we need to welcome as many people as possible to know God as our loving and forgiving parent.  We need to invite everyone to God's party.

Catherine:  So, people of St. John's; if Jesus welcomed everyone to God's party of forgiveness, we too need to welcome the people we meet to know God's love and forgiveness.

Sasha:  Amen.

Rylie: Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, March 2019

Aphorism of the Day, March 31, 2019

The Parable of the Prodigal Son highlights that growth in perfection is always relative to the life situation of the person.  Whether we seem to be normal, upstanding law-abiding people or rebellious, addicted, law-breakers, the issue of repentance is always about getting better from our current situation and not judging another harshly for needing different repentance strategies than we need for ourselves.

Aphorism of the Day, March 30, 2019

Ask yourself how the parable of the Prodigal Son was implied in the post-Pauline churches which were generating the Gospels as a way of illustrating practices that has come to pertain in the Pauline churches.  The parables of Jesus in his own time, probably highlighted his ministry to "lapsed Jews=ritually non-observant," whereas in the post-Pauline churches his ministry was implied to be to all the Gentiles as well.

Aphorism of the Day, March 29, 2019

About Jesus it was said, "This man eats with sinners."  This meant that he who was supposed to be a ritually observant Jew interacted with those who were defiled because they were not ritually observant Jews, and it was impossible for a Gentile to be acceptable company for someone who was ritually observant.  If by being ritually observant was the only way that one could be a "proper child of God," then lots of people were living in alienation from being children of God.  The parable of the "Prodigal Son," was told to indicate that God with a loving heart welcomes even the "obvious" rebellious child to reclaim one's status as a child of God.  God hosts a party for those who recognize that they were made in the image of God and return to their original blessing.

Aphorism of the Day, March 28, 2019

If the parable of the Prodigal Son is written down and read in the time of the ascendancy of the Gentile church it may have been applied as a part of a polemic in the separation of the Jesus Movement from the church.  Jesus as a Jew, is presented as being the one who was inclusive of Gentiles when in his own time, he probably had less exposure to Gentiles.

Aphorism of the Day, March 27, 2019

One can easily make the parable of the Prodigal Son, better named as Parable of the Forgiving Father, about personal piety and personal forgiveness.  It is more aptly summarized as the inclusivity of God.  The entire context concerned who Jesus included in his company and why he was criticized for it and how he did it.

Aphorism of the Day, March 26, 2019

The context for the parable of the Prodigal Son is that Jesus was hanging out with non-religious people, people who needed what he had to say.  Religious establishments have become more about their own maintenance of their membership and who is in or out, rather than the work of appealing to people who really want a message of hope.

Aphorism of the Day, March 25, 2019

We might be tempted to interpret the parables of Jesus as being applicable to the apparent conflict between Jesus and religious figures of his time.  In so doing we may miss the archetypical features of the parables as models of life.  Prodigal Son, unforgiving brother and generous forgiving father: these are models of behaviors which everyone can participate in even as we assume the loving father bespeaks the definition of God is love.


Aphorism of the Day, March 24, 2019

God as always already future can be note in the divine name of "I am that I am," since "to be" does not have a present tense in Hebrew, it might be better translated as "I will be who I will be."  God as omni-becoming or pure creativity who shares a degree of creative freedom with all that is not God but contained in God, means future total surpassability in occasions of everything and thus would honor the genuine freedom to account to weal and woe and also never assume to knowing the possible as actual.

Aphorism of the Day, March 23, 2019

Burning bush theophanies and speaking to a Rock for it to be a source of water?  Modern people of faith with schizoidal discursive practice entertain themselves with D.C. Comic superheroes because entertainment the place where imagination can allow one's life not to be ruled by empirical verification.  Do these things happen in real life?  No, and we know how to separate the art forms from actuarial behaviors governed by following the rather uniformity of natural causes.  Somehow we will not let the Bible stories be the art of ancient people who did not have so many forms of divided discursive practices as we have in our modern world.  Give them a break, a charitable break.  More identity is formed in our cultural myths than from our "real" histories.

Aphorism of the Day, March 22, 2019

The life of Moses is presented in three trimesters, each lasting forty years.  At the end of his second trimester, he was confronted by the divine presence and voice.  He was convinced that his own adequacy would not make him successful in leadership; rather it was the all-sufficiency of the One who was the Plenitude to fill in all human lack.

Aphorism of the Day, March 21, 2019

Moses encounter with God at the burning bush might be called "Of tetragrammatonology," a pun on the Algerian born Jewish French philosopher Jacque Derrida who wrote a revolutionary book entitled in English, "Of Grammatology."   As I see the account of the presentation of the tetragrammaton, it is a written name of God to represent the phonetic event of Moses hearing the name of God.  After the purported hearing of the name of God, it became represented by four letters and yet those four letters are not to be pronounced because they only represent a great Mystery which cannot be represented in vocal form.  Derrida is famous for generating the notion of "deconstruction," a further development of Heidegger's notion of "destruction."  The tetragrammaton may represent the abnegation of omni-textuality in that deconstruction is the erasure of every linguistic "idol" which becomes such by appearing and seeming to last too long in duration.  The idol can only disappear or be deconstructed when the the foreground and background of text merge to one flat plain where nothing is distinguished so everything disappears and is deconstructed until further articulation events creates the separation of foreground from background in the entire discursive universe.

Aphorism of the Day, March 20, 2019

Moses' life in the number forty.  Leaves Egypt alone in disgrace at 40.  At 80 returns to Egypt to lead the people out of Egypt.  Spent 40 years leading the people of Israel to the Promised into which he was not permitted to go.  40 days and nights on Mt. Sinai/Horeb to receive the law.  And at the end of his second forty years he had the revelation of The Name, Adoni=The Lord, The Holy One, Blessed is He or in the Greek, the four letters, the tetragrammaton, the unpronounceable יהוה which English translators dared to translate and pronounce as Jehovah or Yahweh.  It may seem as though the unpronounceable name of God due to its holiness is what theologian call the apophatic or the via negativa, the negative way as the starting place with God.  God is so different that whatever one says about God, God is not that, or God cannot be contained by any human utterance on which human understanding is understood.  However when it comes to the default position of humanity, namely, having language, one is saying something positive in and with language when one says that God's name is unpronounceable or God as God is unknowable by human being.  Thinking that we can escape language by positing something outside of language is falsified by saying with language, "something outside of language."

Aphorism of the Day, March 19, 2019

"I am that I am," is the translation of the unspeakable name of God, and one can see how theologians could adopt through Heidegger the notion of God as HOLY BEING.  In deconstructive post-modernism one might want to say that such Being co-inheres with the Word which signifies it since lingualocentricism is the default position of humanity.  To even refer to what is not human, one uses words to do so.

Aphorism of the Day, March 18, 2019

People confronted Jesus with the horrific deaths of persons whose blood after they died was desecrated by Pilate.  Also, some opined about the people who died when a tower fell upon them.  In the free conditions of the world, people have power to injure and kill, but also gravitation can cause heavy items to fall on people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time.  And when death happens people speculate about why they happened to specific people as if there might be some comfort in knowing why the free condition result in sudden death of some people and not others.  And if people are going to speculate about why we die when we do, what state of being does Jesus recommend for us?  The state of repentance.  We should go to our deaths in the state of repentance, which is essentially, holy education of the continual renewing of our minds in getting better.  Freedom is the energy of continuous creativity but in that freedom there can be the actions of getting worse or getting better.  Repentance means that we complement the state of creative freedom best by always getting better.

Aphorism of the Day, March 17, 2019

For empiricists who are troubled by visions of the afterlife, they should note that hope itself is an empirical experience even though it is so protean that it cannot consistently conform or be replicated in "test tube" experiments.  Hope creates visions of afterlife and para-life.  We always already life in hope's creation of a para-life, the day dream life which accompanies whatever is going on in our "external" world.  The para-life of hope is both escape from what life is not yet for us now to an alternative and if it is only escape, it might cause atrophy of action.  But if it is the presentation of an abstract difference of what is, it can inspire alternate creative and new response.

Aphorism of the Day, March 16, 2019

Hope is the powerful proclivity of always having a future even though the empirical verification bookend of human mortality contradicts this.  The Bible is a book inspired by hope and the promise of what a future might be.  One of the results of having closed canons of Scripture is the assumption that only Bible stories of hope have the final authority and so we can be tempted to "worship" events of the past without embracing the freedom to endlessly hope and tell our new stories of hope in our time and in new ways.  The Bible as a paradigm of the fact that stories of hope must be told should be seen as a permissive literature for us to embrace telling stories of hope in our lives now.

Aphorism of the Day, March 15, 2019

Having offspring and a promised land is how objective immortality was present to Abraham.  When oppression threatens both life and land, then objective immortality in heirs and land becomes spiritualized to a resurrection in order to judge the oppressor who took life and land as the very symbols of objective immortality.  The situation during the time of Jesus was that land had been taken and so the offering of a new heavenly country and Jerusalem was promised.  Further, Abraham attained immortality in having many heirs of faith; a spiritual posterity as an indication of his immortality in his covenant with God.

Aphorism of the Day, March 14, 2019

Before we "Christianize" Abraham in the Hebrew Scriptures, one should probably acknowledge that Abraham feared in not having an heir, since his future objective immortality resided in his actual offspring.  He received the promise of many future people who would be proof of his objectivity immortality.

Aphorism of the Day, March 13, 2019

Ironic speak of Jesus: "It is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem."  Could be reference to the fact that only in places where power elites dwell that prophets who stand against the order of power become particularly vulnerable to becoming punished to death for their public criticism of the power elites.

Aphorism of the Day, March 12, 2019

In a thesaurus of metaphors for Jesus, Good Shepherd and Mother Hen would be Gospel synonyms.

Aphorism of the Day, March 11, 2019

The fox and the hen.  Jesus referred to Herod as that "fox" and uses the metaphor of a hen protecting her chicks under her wings to refer to how he wanted to be toward the city of Jerusalem.  Apparently the "fox" won; Jesus as the hen was not able to protect himself or Jerusalem but it is also true that the little chickens fled and grew to memorialize Jesus as the "Great Hen" forever.

Aphorism of the Day, March 10, 2019

Fasting is a discipline in self-control whereby one is learning to take control of one's life by conscious practice of delayed gratification.   Such delaying of gratification is a defining characteristic of mature adulthood as one controls the flows of one's life in order to practice maximally beneficial stewardship for one's life and the life of others.

Aphorism of the Day, March 9, 2019

In his baptism Jesus received a favored designation from a heavenly voice, "Beloved Son."  In the Vision Quest temptation that followed, in the fasting state, Jesus had access to the diabolical voice which taunted his identity, "If you are the Son of God,....."  In temptation, our being children of God is always challenged by being presented with options of disobeying God and image of God that is upon our lives through our birth and its further actualization in baptism.

Aphorism of the Day, March 8, 2019

Propitious and favorable, but unplanned time is called serendipity, and we can hope for the good luck of serendipity all of the time.  The good favor of serendipity does not seem to be the general laws which govern statistical probability in what can happen to anyone in life.  Actuarial wisdom means that from observance wisdom we try to time our behaviors for the best possible outcomes for the greatest number of people.  The wisdom of good laws of justice follow the actuarial wisdom of anticipating probable outcome.  Temptation is mainly about mistiming and being drawn to disobey the highest insights of one's life.

Aphorism of the Day, March 7, 2019

In the temptation of Jesus, Satan tries to get Jesus to treat poetry as science.  Jesus passed the test.  Sadly the people who are often called fundamentalists, don't pass this temptation.

Aphorism of the Day, March 6, 2019

Hypocrisy is trying to prove to the public that one is loving God with religious and churchy behaviors and ignoring the second commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself.

Aphorism of the Day, March 5, 2019

What was Jesus accused of in his lifetime?  Being a glutton and winebibber.  Being mad.  Being in league with the devil.  Hanging out with sinners.  Interesting to note the corresponding temptation regarding food/bread, worshiping the devil, committing megalomania, and suicidal madness to throw himself from a high place to be caught by the angels.  Ironically, the devil tempted Jesus to be the "Anti-Christ" or to be lying false presentation of who God's Christ was to be.

Aphorism of the Day, March 4, 2019

The temptation of Jesus presented to Gospel reader the interior struggle of Jesus of Nazareth.  The constitution of the inner self is a constitution of the words as spirit of our interior lives.  We have in how we take on language an inner symbolic network of meanings and some of these meanings become more made flesh than others in how and when they are actualized in body language acts and deeds of our lives.  The temptation scenario presents to us the reality of freedom within each persons interior life.  With interior words each of us hopes to be constituted as a semi-free agent who can control the timing of our lives regarding our bodily habits, our public recognition and our practical submission to our limitations in our bodily lives, i.e., we believe in gravity so we don't throw our bodies off buildings in hopes that angels will catch us.

Aphorism of the Day, March 3, 2019

The transfiguration event was written about after the post-resurrection appearances of Christ and the many experiences of the Risen Christ of who was much better known than Jesus of Nazareth during his lifetime.  How were the seeds of the post-resurrection Christ to be found in retelling the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  In the transfiguration event, the spiritual essence of Jesus lit up his physical body to make his face shine, indicating that he had a resurrection aspect of himself before it happened.

Aphorism of the Day, March 2, 2019

Jesus did not appear in a "cultural vacuum" as an alien; he appeared within the inherited story traditions of the people with whom he resided.  When the story of Jesus was told it had to be told within the story of the heroes of Jewish culture, namely Moses and Elijah.  G.O.A.T. has become the acronym for Greatest of All Time.  Greatness is based upon comparison and the transfiguration event presents two great ones in their own time conferring a surpassing greatness upon Jesus.  Their presence in the visionary event was to agree with the heavenly voice which declared Jesus as God's chosen one.

Aphorism of the Day, March 1, 2019

In the interaction of language about language we use words to name interior geography or what some might call "inscape" and in naming the inside places we use words that come from the language naming experience of the exterior or landscape.  The features of landscape such as light, clouds, elevation, mountain and valley are used as metaphor for how values are generated and formed.  The transfiguration is presented as a landscape event but in the spiritual symbology of the Bible it is chock full of the language of landscape having corresponding inscape events to celebrate the coming to value of what has come to have value, and in the event of the transfiguration, the coming to supreme value of Jesus.

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.