Sunday School, Eucharist for Children, C proper 10

Sunday School,   C proper 10

Exploring the Theme of the Parable of the Good Samaritan

What is a neighbor?

Sometimes we think that neighbors are people who live close to each other.

Sometimes we think that neighbors are just the people who we feel familiar and comfortable with.

When Jesus said that we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves,”  a man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  He was really asking Jesus, “Who am I required to love in order to please God.”

Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to show a different meaning for “neighbor.”

Neighbors are not just people who live close to each other and are familiar with each other.  A neighbor is one who cares for anyone who is in need.

So a neighbor is doing and not just being.  This means we have to work in our lives to practice kindness all of the time so that we are always in good practice of being a neighbor.

Sermon

  What is a neighbor?

  Sometimes we use neighbor to mean only the people who live close to us.

  But sometimes people who live close to each other are not very friendly.

  Jesus told a story to help teach a young lawyer about the meaning of being a neighbor.

  One day a man was traveling to Jericho.  And he was attacked by robbers.  They hurt him and took all of his belongings and left him in the ditch.

  Two very important people, a priest and Levite saw the poor man in the ditch and but they did not stop to help him; they walked by because they thought that the man was dead.

  Then a man, a Samaritan, came and saw the man. (The Samaritan was a man who would not be liked by the lawyer).  The Samaritan nursed and cared for the man and carried him on his donkey to a place where he could heal.

  After Jesus told the story, he asked the lawyer.  Who was the neighbor?  And the lawyer answered, “The Samaritan, the one who showed care and mercy.

  Jesus taught an important message about the meaning of being a neighbor.

  A neighbor is not just someone who lives close to us.  A neighbor is you and I, and anybody when they show love and kindness and mercy to people who are in need.

  Today, we want God to make us good neighbors, because we want to be those who respond to people in need.

Child friendly Holy Eucharist, using the rubrics on page 400 of the Book of Common Prayer with guidelines for non-principal Eucharist

C proper 10

Gathering Songs: Kum Ba Yah, This Little Light of Mine, Seek Ye First, Praise Him

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Kum Ba Ya, (Christian Children’s Songbook  # 150)

Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah.  Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah.  Kum ba yah my Lord, kum ba yah.  O Lord, kum ba yah.

Someone’s singing Lord, kum ba yah.  Someone’s singing Lord, kum ba yah. Someone’s singing Lord, kum ba yah.   O Lord, kum ba yah.

Someone’s loving Lord, kum ba yah.  Someone’s loving Lord, kum ba yah. Someone’s loving Lord, kum ba yah.  O Lord, kum ba yah.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Liturgy Leader: In our prayers we first praise God, chanting the praise word: Alleluia

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

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.

Liturgy Leader: I invite you to let us know what you are thankful for today

   As we thank God let us chant Thanks be to God

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.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon –   

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.

Liturgy Leader: Next in our prayers, we remember people who have special needs.  As we pray let us chant:  Christ Have Mercy

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Song: 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 am 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.

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 or said)

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.

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 a 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 gifts of bread and wine will be presented. We ask you to 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.

We remember that 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 the 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, 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: Seek Ye First, (Blue Hymnal, # 711)

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you, allelu, alleluia. Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia.    Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Gospel Needs Strategies

4 Pentecost, C p 9, July 7, 2019

2 Kings 5:1-14  Psalm 30

Gal. 6:1-18    Luke 10:1-12,16-20 

Lectionary Link

The church history professor with tongue in cheek asked the seminarians, "Why was the Episcopal Church so late to arrive on the frontier?"  Answer:  "They were waiting for the invention of the Pullman Car."  Obviously, they would leave evangelical poverty to others.  The laborer is worthy of his hire meant something different for those Pullman Car Episcopalians.

When we read the Gospels, we are used to the "big 12" getting all of the attention.  It could be that 12 was more symbolic as the early church tried to reinterpret the church as the new 12 tribes of Israel with 12 corresponding leaders.  We know that there were women who were considered close associates of Jesus and we read today about the seventy who were sent in pairs to get the message out about the kingdom of God being near.

We know that some religious groups still are very literal about going two by two in their mission, as we all know when we see two young men in white shirts and ties and riding mountain bikes on the streets.

Rather than being literal about how mission work should be done, whether from the comfort of a Pullman car or with evangelical poverty, the big point being made is that the Gospel needs strategies.  In legal theory it is said that a law that is not promulgated is invalid; meaning if no one knows about the law, how can they know be held responsible for keeping the law.  The Gospel which is not promulgated is a Gospel that is not given the opportunity to be responded to.

The Gospel always needs strategies of promulgation.  I would like to share some insights from our biblical readings today about potential strategies for the spreading of the Gospel.

First, everyone one needs good news.  And what does good news mean for someone who is sick and afflicted?  It means health.  The fullest meaning of salvation is holistic health.  Health, salvation and good news is not just for us; it's for everyone.  Foreigners outside of Israel got sick too.  Even a foreign general like Naaman needed good news of possible recovery.  He was even willing to go into foreign territory and submit himself to their strange folk remedy to seek health. The prophet Elisha had to be big hearted enough to represent a God who offered health and salvation to all.  What is the insight for us?  We need to know that God wants us to reach outside of our familiar crowd to offer the best news that we have.

The second insight that I'd like to share is St. Paul's law of karma.  "You reap what you sow."  This has nothing to do with whether God forgives us our sins; it has to do with the unavoidable outcomes of what we do in our lives.  Our deeds are always affecting future outcomes.  If we keep our good news locked up in insider arcane theology and liturgies, we may find ourselves like the spiritual equivalent of the Shakers.  They died out because they didn't propagate; if we don't sow the seeds of the Gospel in inspired ways, we too can be responsible for our own diminishing numbers.

The Gospel evangelical mission commissioned by Jesus offers us several insights.  Jesus said that he had a message that everyone needed.  There is a harvest because the knowledge of the nearness of God's kingdom or realm is something which everyone needs to know.  As much as our nationalities are important to us, everyone needs to know citizenship in a larger realm, the realm of God.  We are God-ites first before we are Americans.  We live and move and have our being in God; that is our primary identity and it is really good news if we can come to experience this God-identity.  In a Roman occupied country, what value did their national heritage do for Jews and for their spiritual freedom?  Jesus was inviting everyone to the nationality of God; there was no greater citizenship identity to have than to accept one's citizenship in the realm of God. 

What were the strategies for the evangelical mission?  Get the message out quickly.  Travel light; don't get bogged down in over administrated logistics.  Live off the land.  Don't worry about rejection; just move on to the next opportunity.  Go in pairs so you have fellowship and encouragement and someone to consult with on the mission.  Finally, don't make success or failure the issue; the message of being a citizen in God's realm is its own reward.  Your name is written in heaven, whether you have the metrics of success or failure.

So, what insights might we ponder today for Trinity Cathedral?  What are our strategies for the Gospel future here?  Lots of people want to know the way to San Jose.  We are in the middle of great wealth, great intellectual property, and great technological information revolution.  How can we let it be known that God's realm is very near?  How can we let it be known that we live and move and have our being, not in San Jose, not in the Silicon Valley but, first in God?  How can we make relevant the basic identity with God's realm in this temporal realm and location?

Certainly, you continue in your ministry to those who speak Spanish.  We can seek to provide a welcome to an incredibly diverse crowd in our neighborhood.  God's love is able to be translated into every language.  You work to have a voice to deal with the great and looming housing crisis.  Trinity has a moral voice to offer at the table for those deciding the provision of housing for everyone who needs to live and work in this city.  Trinity has the mission to offer the complementing experience of the sublime experienced in music, art, and poetry.  Trinity has the big chair, the cathedra, the seat of our bishop.  While the geographical center of our diocese is further south, Trinity Cathedral is at the heart of the population center of our diocese.  The call for Trinity is to be a center that befits a cathedral at the population center of our diocese.  Perhaps Trinity has a role to be a satellite learning center for our Episcopal seminary in Berkeley.  Wise learning needs to go forth from this place.  Trinity Cathedral has a mission to the largest religious group in society today, those whom the pollsters call the "nones."  Those who say they are not religious but spiritual.  Trinity Cathedral, in a university city with plenty of religious skeptics can create the intellectual forum for a new hearing of the Gospel in Episcopal overtones, and give people a reason not to reject Christ because of really bad behaviors and really bad thinking by the people who often misrepresent the Gospel in the loudest way.  Trinity Cathedral can offer a graceful aesthetic liturgical presentation of good thinking attaining corporate prayer.  And Trinity has the mission to represent good stewardship of the earth and of human resources.    In one of the wealthiest places, one is seeing a failure in philanthropy, a failure in the stewardship of wealth being applied in creative ways.  If Trinity Cathedral lives in an environment which boasts a commitment to a free market;  then this parish needs to influence participants in this free market to make the best use of freedom by including the creative care of the common good of the many as the very best function of the free market.

Friends, I presume too much as an outsider,  so forgive me as a one-shot preacher, but I believe the Gospel would provoke us all to develop strategies, tactics and actions plans for letting the people in this city know that God's realm is very near to them.

And so I commend you here at Trinity to rejoice in all that you've done to make God's realm evident here, but now in your current transition to seek Jesus as the Lord of the harvest to inspire some new strategies for the future harvest to be known here through your ministry.  Amen.

Sunday School, July 7, 2019 C proper 9

Sunday School, July 7, 2019                    C proper 9

Theme:  The kingdom of God is near

Imagine being born in the United States and not being aware that one is an American citizen.  What if you went to mom or dad and ask them, “Can I be an American citizen?”  Your parents would say, “Dear, you are already an American citizen.  You have been an American citizen since you were born.  Why don’t you know and believe that you are an American citizen?”

Jesus chose messengers because he knew that many people were living without the knowledge of the most important information of their lives.  Jesus wanted people to know that the kingdom of God was very near.

Since God created the world, it means that the world is God’s kingdom.  And so all people born in God’s kingdom are God’s children and citizens of God’s kingdom.  Jesus found that there were many people who did not know that they were in God kingdom.  Jesus found that many people had been tricked by religious leader to believe that God did not care for them and that God was not their Father.  Jesus gathered his friends and he taught them to go and tell people about God as their Father and about everyone living in the Kingdom of God.  He also sent his friends to tell people the truth about their own lives; to tell all people that they were children of God in God’s kingdom and that no one, not even religious leaders could tell them otherwise.

Today after the 4^th of July  when we remember that we belong in our country as citizens, we also need to remember that we are citizens of God’s kingdom.

Jesus told his friends that even though they did great and important things, that the best thing of all to remember is that “their names were written in heaven.”  This means that being a citizen of God’s kingdom is the greatest thing in life and this is something which we celebrate when we are baptized.

A sermon

Imagine that all of you are princes and princesses and that you live in a castle as your home.  And your mom and dads are kings and queens.

  That would be like living in a Disney Movie, wouldn’t it?

  If your mom and dad were king and queen and you lived in their kingdom, how would you find out that you lived in their kingdom?

  Well they would tell you wouldn’t they?  As soon as you could walk and talk and understand, you would be told about your family kingdom so that you would know.  Wouldn’t it be terrible to be a prince or a princess but not know that you were living in a kingdom?  If you were a prince and princess, wouldn’t you want someone to come and tell you about your kingdom?

  When Jesus came, he found that many people did not know about a great and wonderful kingdom.  So Jesus called and trained disciples and friends to go to as many places as possible and tell people about one thing:  He told them to tell all people that the Kingdom of God has come near to you.  Jesus told everyone that the Kingdom of God belongs to children.  Why did he say this?  Because you don’t have to do anything to be in God’s kingdom.  When you are born as a baby and as a child, you are already in God’s kingdom.  Why?  Because God owns everything and everything and everyone belongs to God.

  When Jesus came, he saw that people had forgotten this.  He saw that people were telling lies.  What kind of lies were they telling?  They were saying that the world belonged to the Roman Emperors.  They were saying that God’s world belonged to the people of one religious belief like the Pharisees or the Sadducees.

  Jesus did not like that the wrong information was being taught so he sent his followers to bring the correct message.  He said to tell everyone that the kingdom of God has come very near to them.

  Jesus came to remind us that even though we have parents; we are also sons and daughters of God and so we live in God’s kingdom from the very day that we are born.

  So why do we come to church?  Why do we baptize?  Why do we have Holy Communion?  We come to church to remember that we live in God’s kingdom as children of God.  We are baptized as a celebration of our membership in God’s family.  We have Holy Communion each Sunday; we eat the bread and drink the wine because we Jesus asked us to do this to remember the kingdom of God.  And we are supposed to do this until everyone understands that they live in God’s kingdom.

  So we too are to remind people that we live in God’s world and God’s kingdom.  When Jesus came, he reminded people that God’s kingdom was very near to them.  We need to remember and remind people today of that same message.  The kingdom of God is very near to us.

The Call of Christ and Living Excessively

3 Pentecost, C p 8, June 30, 2019 

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14  Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20

Gal. 5:1, 13-25   Luke 9:51-62  

Lectionary Link

Today's lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures is a story about the departure of Elijah and the changing of the guard; the passing on of the prophetic mantle to his disciple Elisha.

Elijah had been tempted to become a pouting, doubting old prophet.  He ran in fear from the forces of Ahab and Jezebel even after he won an incredible showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel.

Elijah ran away in ministerial despair, presuming that he alone was left as the only faithful person in all of Israel.  Elijah, like any minister, might have felt obsolete when not enough of the faithful didn't throng around him proving that his ministry was a success and not in vain.  And God told Elijah, "You are not alone, there are more than 7,000 who have remained faithful....don't pout, just because you can't see them."

Obviously, God wasn't angry with Elijah; why would he get to avoid death and take a chariot of fire to heaven?  His disciple Elisha did not want him to leave and so he demanded to see Elijah leave as a sign that the prophetic spirit would remain alive and active in his ministry after his teacher prophet Elijah was gone.

And sure enough, the spirit which worked for Elijah was going to work in and through Elisha too.  And maybe Elijah should have shared some of the load with Elisha earlier and with others in the company of the prophets so he didn't feel so alone.

The God of Elijah was the God of Elisha, but God did different things through Elisha because Elisha lived in a different time and a different place than Elijah did.  Ahab and Jezebel died; Elisha had other challenges to prove the faithfulness of God.  God is the same in different times but how God works through different people in different time changes.  God is equal in all time; how God gets funneled into actual outcomes depends mainly on the "funnel shape" of the people involved.  The prophetic mantle gets passed on to another generation and how ministry is done will be different but God's grace remains the same.


In agriculture, there is the repetition of cycles; prepare the soil, fertilize, plant, prune, cultivate, and deal with the weather and the harvest is sometimes extra bountiful and sometimes sparse.  But every phase has to be faithfully executed even when we cannot know the exact success of the harvest.  As one looks at the ministerial cycles of parish life, one can observe going through many cycles.  It may be easier to be faithful when there is a very bountiful harvest, but we need to remember that faithfulness has to be the same and consistent during any phase of the cycles of ministry.

I would like to challenge us with insights from the Gospel reading for today and from the Epistle.

First, let us appreciate how infinitely flexible and adaptable the call of Jesus Christ is to each one of us today.  Second, one of the secrets in life is to discover where we can be completely excessive without addiction, guilt,  or regret.

We, in the church, have often limited the call of Christ to the specific ordained ministry.  When the church required the standard of poverty, chastity and obedience for the clergy, there was this notion that the call of Christ was something heroic and therefore only for a few people who could leave the ordinary life to live such a life of "heroic" sacrifice.

The Gospel reading for today provides us inappropriate responses to the call of Jesus based upon some wrong understandings of the call of Jesus.

The first misunderstanding is that the call of Jesus is necessarily a call to the heroic abandonment of one's everyday life.  One bold person said, "Jesus I will follow you wherever you go."  If I might paraphrase the response of Jesus,  "Hold on buddy....I don't know where I'm going to sleep tonight and I travel fairly light.  Perhaps you want to come with me as a way of escaping some important situations in your life.  Start first with finding my call within the particulars of your life as it is now.  Being faithful and obedient doesn't mean being heroic and leaving everything."

You and I might associate the call of Christ as something too heroic and so we excuse ourselves from activating our full response to the call of Christ in situations of our normal everyday lives.  We might view the call of Christ as something entirely negative, as having to give up too much.  Imagine this view of Jesus.  "Jesus, I can't follow you because you are not going to be good for my life and the life of my family."  Imagine Jesus thinking, "Tell me what you really think of me?"  The call of Christ is not the false choice between heroic obedience or nothing at all.  The call of Jesus is precisely adjustable to exactly where you are right now.  So you don't need to be heroic to respond and obey exactly where you are.  You remember the Gospel reading last week?  The man who was freed from the many demons in his life, wanted to follow Jesus.  What did Jesus say, "No, go home and tell everyone what God did for you.  Imagine what kind of witness you will be to the people who knew you in your former state."

The second misunderstanding regarding the call of Jesus is this:  The call is so heroic that it will interfere with all of the family loyalties which I must honor.  "Jesus let me wait until I have been able to bury all of my grandparents and parents.  Jesus, let me wait until I have honored and kept all of the farewell events with the people who are close to me."  What did Jesus say?  He said, "Don't let the normal rites of passage which occur in your life or the lives of your family and friends be an excuse not to respond to my call."  The call of Christ is within and adjustable to birth events, maturation events, sickness, vocational change, failure, success, marriage, divorce, graduations, aging and finally death itself."  Don't limit the call of Christ to that which is not inclusive of all of the events which can occur in anyone's life.  The call of Christ is totally integrated and totally accessible to us within everything that can possibly happen to us.  In my last 18 years of ministry, both of our parents have died and I've lost two younger siblings, and the call of Christ to me never diminished because of these losses.  Let us remember not to use any life excuse to refuse to respond to the call of Christ.  Accept the fact that the call of Jesus Christ is adjustable to you in your current circumstances.  And accept the fact the call of Christ to you in service in your parish church is adjustable to you in your life as it is now constituted.  Christ is not asking you to give heroically; Christ is only asking that you give exactly how you are currently constituted.  Do not say that the call of Christ is incompatible with your life.  That would be a lie.

Finally, I would like to end with the secret of life as written about by St. Paul.  St. Paul tells the secret of where we can be completely excessive in life.  Manifesting the fruits of God's Spirit is where we can live our lives completely open throttle and completely excessive.  "There is no law against the fruit of the Spirit."  Where we have been successful in the past, it has been a manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is given without measure; the Spirit is an inexhaustible reservoir of continuous gifts.  In parish ministry, we have have experienced the outcomes of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, patience, self-control, kindness, generosity and faithfulness.  I believe in all of these.  I believe that these can never be exhausted.  I believe in the Holy Spirit who will continue to manifest these wonderful fruits of the Holy Spirit here and there will be dynamic and actual outcomes of blessing.

My charge to each of you:  Accept, receive, respond to the call of Christ even now as it is precisely adjusted to everything in your life.  Don't make the call of Christ into something that is inaccessible and then excuse yourself for not responding.  And finally, live in the excess of God's Holy Spirit who endlessly provides the wonderful fruits, love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, generosity, self control and faithfulness.  With the call of Christ and the fruits of the Spirit you have a wonderful future.

The call of Christ is adjustable to your life even now.  Respond and follow right where you are.  Do you want to live excessively?  There is no limit to what the fruits of the Holy Spirit can produce in us.  Let us ever access these inexhaustible fruits of the Holy Spirit of God. Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, June 2019

Aphorism of the Day, June 30, 2019

"No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."  This saying of Jesus means that hope is the constitution of those who understand God.  It means we look to surpassing ourselves in a future state rather than wallow in nostalgia for the good 'ol days.

Aphorism of the Day, June 29, 2019

Regarding the fruits of the Spirit, Paul wrote, "There is no law against such things."  This is the assertion of the positive law of what we can do full throttle and excessively; the negative law of prohibition is stated in the negative "thou shalt not!"  The negative law is "realistically" based upon knowing human tendency in knowing that the energies of our lives are going to make us habitually do bad things.  The positive law is based upon the Spirit, who inspires and energizes toward the very best expression of virtues which can be done excessively without prohibition.  One cannot even imagine a negative law of the Spirit: Thou shalt not love, be peaceful, know joy, have self control, be gentle, be good, be faithful and patience?  The fruits of the Spirit invite unbridled and unending excess.

Aphorism of the Day, June 28, 2019

Jesus actually discouraged someone from "literally" following him, since he traveled so light with no guaranteed place to sleep.  The call of Christ does not need to be radical physical relocation; it should begin and remain as interwoven with one's life situation in the gradual process of repentance, i.e., becoming better today than yesterday.

Aphorism of the Day, June 27, 2019

We usually associate the call of Christ as being a call to leave and go somewhere else and change what one is doing with one's life.  The more challenging and perhaps valid notion of the call of Christ is to understand it as being interwoven with the lives we currently now live.  Being called away is "only a temporary phase" of learning new discipline but such discipline should be geared toward understanding the call of Christ as interwoven with one's natural and normal everyday life.

Aphorism of the Day, June 26, 2019

"Leaving all" to follow Christ as in being ordained to the "full time ministry," actually may be the right to get paid for appearing in religious roles while criticizing those who aren't always in church with inconsistent attendance.  If someone is not learning how to weave the call of Christ into the all of the intermittent events which occur in the pre-ordained life, then they will also fail to make the call of Christ genuine in their "ordained" life.

  Aphorism of the Day, June 25, 2019

I will wait for a more opportune time to respond to the call of Christ, like after I have buried all the older members of my family or when I've finished saying farewell to my families.  Farewells and funerals will always be happening in the unplanned intermittent ways that they occur.  The call of Christ is interwoven with the intermittent events of ordinary family life.  Don't use waiting for death or farewells as an excuse for not responding to the call of Christ.

 Aphorism of the Day, June 24, 2019

The perspective of Jesus on the call to follow him has to do with understanding that it is interwoven with everything else that might happen to one within the particular contexts and circumstances of one's life.  One cannot "escape" life to follow Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, June 23, 2019

St. Paul refers to the ultimate mystical process of "transitioning."  He wrote to be clothed with Christ means there is no male or female.  Being in Christ as the primary identity means that how we manifest any other identity is to be a shape of how our ministry is to be articulated.  If Christ is our primary identity, we need to commit our other identities as ways to promote our primary identity with Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, June 22, 2019

The semantics of the Law versus faith in the vocabulary of St. Paul is crucial to the definitions that governed the breakdown between the synagogue and the church.  The issue was instigated by the fact that the Jesus Movement became a "Spirit" movement when Gentiles could receive inward verification of favor with God without complying to all of the precepts of the Judaic Law.  How could people consider themselves within the tradition of Judaism without complying to the basic precepts which heretofore had defined observant Judaism?  One can see the verbal gymnastics that Paul had to generate to explain the new paradigm of faith within the Jesus Movement.  Did any truly observant Jew believe that the loving kindness of God's forgiveness did not co-exist with the goal of keeping the recommended behaviors of the Torah?  Was it a false assumption of Paul to assume that believing in God's loving kindness did not co-exist with the efforts to observe the law?  One can assume that Paul had written a paper tiger version expressing his own former practice of Judaism vis a vis the Jesus Movement so as to view the difference as a battle of Law or Faith.  One can see the same sort of argument arise again in the Luther dichotomy of works vs. grace.  It is true that because their are people who live the worst case caricatures of Law only or grace only that such oppositional theologies get generated.

 Aphorism of the Day, June 21, 2019

St. Paul believed in the interior battle with principalities and powers and forces of evil.  This cosmic clash was instantiated in the presentation of the life of Jesus as one who cast out the forces of interior darkness and uncleanness from the lives of people as the ultimate People Whisperer.  His inner authority was so obvious that the inner authorities harassing the lives of people had to obey his exorcisms.

 Aphorism of the Day, June 20. 2019

"daimon" as a negative controlling impulses has correspondences in every age and culture, whether it is a whole range of mental illnesses, developmental and experientially originated or physiologically/genetically "caused."  Ancient diagnostic practice could account for a wide range of maladies under the guise of "demons," and such certainty of unseen causes persisted for many illnesses.  Joseph Lister with his sanitary practices exorcised the "demons" of hidden germs so that germs lost their "demonic" etiology.  Mental illness and the incredible chemical restructuring of the brain which takes over in addiction to prescribed and unprescribed drugs can manifest behaviors with seeming unseen causes, which in the old days would have fit under the encompassing diagnosis of demonic, or in the Purity Code designation as "unclean" and therefore feared and shunned for public safety.  Jesus as People Whisperer would not let such people diagnosed as those with "unclean innards" be isolated from contact to comforting, supporting resources of people.  Jesus the People Whisper crossed the quarantine boundary without fear of being infected by the persons victimized by the classification of being "unclean" in their inner being.

Aphorism of the Day, June 19, 2019

Spiritual disciplines and public health in the ancient practice of applied law in Israel, were more unified under the aegis of religious leaders who handled laws which pertained to "public health."  Public health threats were classified into a a code of what was clean or unclean.  What was unclean was regarded to be a threat to public health.  An angry and violent person to self and others who was designated as having an "unclean spirit" or many "unclean spirits," had to be avoided to protect the public.  This situation was devastating for family members of the oppressed person much like mental health disorders are distressing for families today.  Jesus dared to interact with people who had been designated as those with "unclean spirits."  He was able to bring a clean heart and renewed spirit to be who had been declared to be internally "unclean."

Aphorism of the Day, June 18, 2019

In certain locations where the Gospels were coming to textual form, the near universal diagnosis for manifold human maladies was demon possession, or those who were controlled by an "unclean spirit."  In the purity code classification, something designated as unclean was to be shunned and isolated from the community, thus leaving one with such a public health quarantine, bereft and abandoned except perhaps by family members who still cared for them but were at their wit's end for some intervention.  Jesus is presented as an "exorcist" in the Synoptic Gospels, even as John's Gospel does not recount any such ministry of Jesus.  Hmm.  Curious?   Perhaps such "medical" treatment was not familiar to the community in which John's Gospel was written?  One way to understand Jesus in this healing role is to understand him to be a "People Whisperer."  He had such inward spiritual authority that he was able to dispel all of the inner accusing forces which had come to reside in people whose lives had become diminished by inner constituent forces of linguistic constellation that were so pronounced as to be able to control the body language of a person toward self harm.  The great occupational lack in our world today is that there are not enough people whisperers who can befriend people in a way to dispel the inward controlling impulses in people toward their own harm and the harm of others.  "O God, raise up more "people whisperers" in the tradition of Jesus, the Great People Whisperer."

Aphorism of the Day, June 17, 2019

Interesting to trace the "demonization" of daimon from the classic Greek era to the koine Greek era of the New Testament.  A daimon was a spiritual guide or friend of someone like Socrates or daimon could refer to a "controlling impulse," which does seem to have some connection with the demons of the New Testament era, even though such daimons could be creative impulses and not just the notion of being out of control in a negative sense.   In the New Testment era the demons had become fallen angels who were opposed to God's purposes in this world and showed their opposition by inhabiting people who probably were traumatized persons who were shocked into their alternate personalities (dissociately disordered ones) to shatter into becoming the expression for the multiple personalities, even to be named Legion.  If a demon is a "diabol," opposite of an Angel Messenger "Symbol," the demon represent the maladjustment of the interior life with the external world such that the heebie jeebies drives one's life into chaotic clusterf***ing discord.  Jesus, as the people whisperer, was the ultimate Sane Symbolic person who was able to resew the interior life of people with their exterior manifestation with the end result of the state of mind called "peace."  In that peace a sane sense of significant order and control returned to one's life.

  Aphorism of the Day, June 16, 2019

Time complicates everything by mystifying everything with a future, which from now is only possible and not actual.  So, the Trinity is a mystery because the Trinity still has a future for human being in time.  The nature of someOne everlasting means that their full meaning is not and cannot be fully known and understood by those who are not the SomeOne.  As lesser beings we can humbly accept the adequacy of what we know about the Trinity without presuming infallible knowledge.

Aphorism of the Day, June 15, 2019

Did gravity exist before Newton?  Did the Trinity exist before Jesus, before the New Testament, before the Council of Nicaea?  Whitehead: "The laws of science are statistically approximate, not causatively absolute,"  meaning that to articulate a law or theory about some natural behavior does not "cause" it to happen.  Articulating the "Trinity" does not "cause" the Trinity.  Language itself is a continuous statistical approximating of all of the previous traces that are available to language users in contributing to a greater body of language events.  Language about the Trinity derived from further language approximation of the traditions about God which existed in the Hebrew Scriptures and then attained new insights in how the relationship of Jesus with God was articulated in his remembered words and how his oracle words came to the New Testament writers.  These tradition were further developed into the Credal formulas of the Council of Nicaea as it was deemed important to "standardize" teaching about God because of the  perception of the need for political unity in the Empire.



Aphorism of the Day, June 14, 2019

Father and Son are parent-child relationship words.  Spirit is a word metaphor for personal essential identity from the hidden but verified entities of breath or wind.  Spirit is given credit for executing the conception of Jesus and birthing Christ in each person.  The Trinitarian Persons have relationship reality, even as they get "deconstructed" in the notion of God as Word.  In God as Word or Word as God, all becomes the One of Plenitude, a Plenitude that is not yet finished, temporally speaking.

Aphorism of the Day, June 13, 2019

The most developed references to members of the Trinity are found in the Gospel of John, a very late document when compared with writings of Paul and the other Gospels.  The oracle words of Jesus which came to the Johannine author clarified how the Christians understood their relationship with God.  Christian believed that in synchrony and/or in sequence they were knowing God as coming in their experience to be named in their language as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, June 12, 2019

The progression of Trinitarian understanding.  Narrative language of Jesus regard his relationship to God.  Credal formularies to teach in abbreviation the narrative form of the words of Jesus about the Father and the Holy Spirit.  A philosophical theology about the necessity of what the Creeds stated about Father, Son and Holy Spirit in order to standardize church teaching in churches which had grown and had open disagreement about their teaching about the nature of God.  The end result of the Nicaean statements about the Trinity declared the excommunication of more than half of the Christians in the world.  The Trinity as an expression of Church Administration was not immediately received by those who disagreed.

Aphorism of the Day, June 11, 2019

Part of the problem of understanding the Trinity has to do with the Hellenization of theology that was evident in the results of the official documents of the Council of Nicaea.  Might be better just to deal with how Jesus is presented in the Gospel in his self understanding of God and his use of Father and the Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, June 10, 2019 

The Trinity became the "logical" explanation for the early church to describe the success as Christ experience continued to be replicated in mystical experience.

Aphorism of the Day, June 9, 2019

We might think of language as simply a taxonomic system to classify all manner of things.  Language does bear the objectivity of classification so that we together can think and believe that we are referring to the same thing.  But language also includes the individual and subjective appropriation  of language such that meanings become nuanced to each person within their individual personal experience.  Diversity of language also means that each person has their own "dialect" in meaning and articulation of any given language.  On Pentecost it means that the Spirit of harmony much incorporate and blend individual language users for common purpose of communities of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, June 8, 2019

Pentecost is the event which proclaimed that the message of Christ was able to translated into every language.  Anglicans sometimes treat their Book of Common Prayer as a Common Text and such a text can become regarded as rigid and arcane when the Spirit of translation of prayer into the common language of anyone who wants to pray is denied.  The public agreement upon a corporate text of prayer should not be seen in conflict with the validity of common prayer in the private words of anyone who wishes to prayer.  The Spirit of God makes prayer "common."

Aphorism of the Day, June 7, 2019

Babel is bad and a curse was transformed to Babel is good and a blessing because the Gospel of Christ could be translated into every language and each person had access to the transforming Spirit of God who had been promised by Jesus.  The Jesus Movement wanted to universalize Judaism in ways that was beyond the mission of Judaism for those who remained within the synagogues.  By translating the message into too many foreign languages the Christian movement also accepted habits of Gentile peoples which were no longer deemed as defiled.

Aphorism of the Day, June 6, 2019

The Spirit of Pentecost is about the wisdom of how to live on the continuum between unity and diversity.  To be heavy on the "unity" side can be an expression of a forced pattern of power elites and unity of fascism is a sin against the spirit.  The chaos of each person doing his own thing without regard for the social and distributive consequences is also a sin against the Spirit.  Christly unity is letting the wind of the Spirit play each person as the unique pipe in the organ adding to the fullness of the whole.

Aphorism of the Day, June 5, 2019

Pentecost irony: Christians are people "divided" by having a common Spirit.  Divided?  Divided to have diverse missions in each of the languages which people in our world speak. Many people do not have faith to believe in the Unity in difference which such a great God-Spirit can comprehend.

 Aphorism of the Day, June 4, 2019

Pentecost is the dynamic on the continuum of the one and the many.  From the many one; from the One, many.  How does one affirm diversity while being held together with an experience of unity such that fracturing does not keep all individuals reconnecting.  Spirit is the mystification known in the experience of the Team which is not spelled with an "I."  Spirit is the experience of the oneness of harmony of the entire "One" orchestra.  We needed oneness and diversity and learning how to balance the dynamic of the two is what Pentecost is about.  Pentecost is about taking a unifying experience of Christ and translating it into endless numbers of languages.

Aphorism of the Day, June 3, 2019

For the divine to be comprehensively known, God would need to be accessible in all languages.  God comes to language events differently; difference is affirmed in the event of Pentecost.  Pentecost is the ultimate event of "Common" Prayer, not in making everyone pray in one sacred and liturgical language, but in the adapting of the praise of God to the common language of each person who is drawn to prayer.

Aphorism of the Day, June 2, 2019

We've heard of "money laundering," but what about "language laundering?"   How can we clean up our use of language in word and deed?  Jesus of Nazareth and the Ascended Christ, prayed and prays and that suggests to us that as we designate our lives to the practice of prayer, we can do some serious "language laundering," both in our speaking acts and in our body language deeds.

Aphorism of the Day, June 1, 2019

Justin Martyr, a second century apologist, with his "logos" theology could posit that Plato and others who did not know Jesus of Nazareth could be "unknowing Christians," even though they were regarded to be "pagans."  If, following, John 1:1, Word is God, then being worded beings is the "default" position of humanity and probably is the most explicit reflection of God's image, if indeed, God is Word.  Anyone who uses their worded life toward the full expression of love and justice in word and deed, is certainly Christly.

Quiz of the Day, June 2019

Quiz of the Day, June 30, 2019

The word messiah comes from what?

a. shepherd taking care of sheep
b. the warrior king David
c. pouring oil on the head
d. Handel's oratorio

Quiz of the Day, June 29, 2019

Which of the following are not feast days in the Episcopal Church?

a. Feast of St. Peter
b. Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul
c. Feast of the Confession of St. Peter
d. Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
e. Feast of St. Paul
d. c and d
e. a and e

Quiz of the Day, June 28, 2019

Why did Saul initially seek Samuel for his services?

a. to offer prayers for his sick father
b. to adjudicate a dispute with his neighbor, since Samuel was a judge
c. to get help finding his lost donkeys, since Samuel was a seer
d. to pay his tithe to the shrine

Quiz of the Day, June 27, 2019

What was the most serious warning that Samuel warned about when the people of Israel clamored to have a king?

a. a king would protect with a standing army
b. a king would draft your sons into the army
c. a king would be a kleptocrat
d. a king would demand a court with dancers and musicians

Quiz of the Day, June 26, 2019

Who set the stone which was named "Ebenezer?"

a. Dickens
b. David
c. Samuel
d. Samson

Quiz of the Day, June 25, 2019

Who wrote the "African American National Anthem," "Lift Every Voice and Sing?"

a. James Weldon Johnson
b. Frederick Douglass
c. Rosamond Johnson
d. all of the above
e. a and c

Quiz of the Day, June 24, 2019

In the contrast of miraculous birth or marvelous birth, which of the following stands out as uniquely different?

a. Moses
b. Isaac
c. Samuel
d. John the Baptist
e. Jesus

Quiz of the Day, June 23, 2019

Why is Ichabod not a happy name?

a. it means darkness
b. it was the name of a fated warrior
c. it was the name of a headless man who received a pumpkin as a head
d. it means the glory has departed from Israel

Quiz of the Day, June 22, 2019

Who is Ananias in the Acts of the Apostles?

a. the man who lied
b. the man who received Saul into the fellowship of the followers of Jesus
c. the man was married to Sapphira
d. the man who came to immediate death for lying
e. a,c, and d
f.  a-d, because there are two Ananias' in Acts of the Apostles

Quiz of the Day, June 21, 2019

Deborah, Eli, Gideon, Samuel, Samson and Ehud share what title?

a.  priest
b.  high priest
c.  judge
d.  commander
e.  scribe

Quiz of the Day, June 20, 2019

Which composer wrote a score, "Fantasia on a Theme from Thomas Tallis?"

a. Purcell
b. Clarke
c. Elgar
d. Vaughan Williams
e. Handel
f.  Holst

Quiz of the Day, June 19, 2019

What are the names of the two corrupt sons of the priest Eli?

a. Korah
b. Hophni
c. Shimeon
d. Phineas
e. a and c
f. b and d
g. c and d


Quiz of the Day, June 18, 2019

Eli was a mentor for whom?

a. David
b. Samuel
c. Elkanah
d. Hannah

Quiz of the Day, June 17, 2019

Samson and Samuel lived under the vow of the nazirite. Which of the following is not included in that vow?

a. marriage
b. uncut hair
c. no wine
d. no intoxicants

Quiz of Day, June 16, 2019

Which of the following was not a result of the Council of Nicaea?

a. universal agreement about the Trinity throughout the church
b. excommunication of more than half of the Christians in the world
c. the cursing (anathamatizing) of all persons who believed differently from the Nicaean official pronouncements
d. the production of what has come to be called the Nicene Creed

Quiz of the Day, June 15, 2019

Who of the following Anglicans, made "Mysticism" an acceptable designation for spiritual experience?

a. Julian of Norwich
b. Margery Kempe
c. Evelyn Underhill
d. C.S. Lewis

Quiz of the Day, June 14, 2019

Of the Cappadocian Fathers, who is called "the Great?"

a. Gregory of Nyssa
b. Basil of Caeserea
c. Gregory of Nazianzus
d. Peter of Sebaste

Quiz of the Day, June 13, 2019

Which English apologist wrote the Father Brown mystery stories?

a. C.S. Lewis
b. Charles William
c. Malcolm Muggeridge
d. G.K. Chesterton
e. J.R.R.Tolkien
f.  T.S. Eliot

Quiz of the Day, June 12, 2019

Who was Enmegahbowh?

a. Constantine's favorite Bishop
b. First recognized Native American Episcopal priest
c. An Apache deacon in the 19th century
d. a Huron priest

Quiz of the Day, June 11, 2019

Barnabas was a missionary companion of

a. Paul only
b. Paul and Silas
c. Paul and John Mark
d. John Mark only

Quiz of the Day, June 10, 2019

Which of the following feast is to be observed near Pentecost?

a. Conversion of Paul
b. Confession of Peter
c. First Book of Common Prayer
d. Cyril and Methodius

Quiz of the Day, June 9, 2019

The seven-fold gifts of the Spirit are found listed where in the Bible?

a. Psalms
b. 1 Corinthians
c. Isaiah
d. Romans


Quiz of the Day,  June 8, 2019

Which Gospel includes the account of the raising of Lazarus from the dead?

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

Quiz of the Day, June 7, 2019

Which of the following is true about the account of the event of Pentecost?

a. Gentiles in Jerusalem heard the Gospel in their own language
b. Jews, who had come to Jerusalem,  who had been born in the diaspora heard the Gospel in the language of their diaspora locations
c. the languages were unknown languages of angels
d. there were actual burning tongues of fire on the heads of the disciples which seared their hair

Quiz of the Day, June 6, 2019

The parable of the Good Samaritan is about

a. neighboring
b. hypocrisy
c. sins of the priests
d. xenophobia

Quiz of the Day, June 5, 2019

Which saint converted pagans by chopping down their sacred oak tree in defiance of their chief god?

a. Wilfrid
b. Cyril
c. Methodius
d. Boniface

Quiz of the Day, June 4, 2019

Which modern day Pope appeared on the calendar of saints of the Episcopal Church before he was "sainted" by the Vatican?

a. John Paul II
b. Pious XII
c. Paul VI
d. John XXIII

Quiz of the Day, June 3, 2019

The Day of Pentecost provides a connection with portions of the Hebrew Scripture except one of the following:

a. Joel's predication of the pouring out of God's Spirit on all flesh
b. the tower of Babel
c. the Psalm's "let all the people praise Thee"
d. Noah's Ark

Quiz of the Day, June 2, 2019

In what book of the Bible are the words "I am the Alpha and the Omega," heard to be uttered?

a. Jude
b. Revelations
c. Acts of the Apostles
d. Hebrews

Quiz of the Day, June 1, 2019


With his notion of the "logos" what could claim about Plato?

a. he influence the Hebrew Scriptures
b. he was an "unknowing Christian"
c. he predicted the Christ event
d. he provided the foundation for the New Testament writings