Sunday School, February 2, 2020, The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

Sunday School Themes for the Presentation

Have the class speak about important personal and family events like birthdays, wedding anniversaries, weddings, baptism, confirmation and graduations.  We celebrate important events in our lives.

Forty days after Jesus was born, the parents of Jesus followed the important family customs of the Jewish religion.  Jesus was presented to the priest in the Temple in Jerusalem.  His Mother Mary, who had spent forty days of special care for her baby Jesus came out into public for the first time.  Mary and Joseph present Jesus in the Temple.  Why?  They were giving thanks to God for giving them such a special child.  They also were presenting him to God and admitting that Jesus belonged to God as God’s son.

We in our church have something like the Feast of the Presentation.  We have a special service for parents to come to church with their new babies and give thanks to God for their new babies.  We also baptize new babies and when we do, we present them to God as a child of God, and as one who has Jesus as a big brother.

Remember Jesus and his Mother presented themselves to God with thanksgiving.  We too have been presented to God and we should live our lives as though we belong to God as sons and daughters of God.

Jesus was a human child but he was the special Son of God.  We are human children, but in our baptisms we celebrate that Jesus presents us to God the Father as God’s children too.

The Presentation    February 2, 2020

Malachi 3:1-4   Ps.84:1-6

Heb. 2:14-18    Luke 2:22-40

  Today we are still in the season of Epiphany but we also have a special day called the feast of the Presentation.

  If you are counting, it is now forty days from Christmas.  So it is fort days after celebrating the birth of Jesus.

  When Jesus was a baby, each mother had were required to take at least forty days of maternity leave from going into the public for worship.  It probably is good to give moms at least forty days to have some private time with their new babies.

  But after forty days, the mothers and fathers would bring the baby to the temple, and if the oldest baby was a boy, then the boy had to be presented to God at the Temple.  The mother would bring an offering to give thanks for the birth and safety of the child.

  The offering was supposed to be a lamb.   A long time ago when Moses was in Egypt many of the oldest sons were dying and God told Moses to tell the families to prepare a lamb to eat and this lamb would be a substitute offering in place of their sons.

  We don’t understand God in the same way today.  But because of this Moses story, the people of Israel had this custom to offer a lamb when they presented their old son to God in the Temple.

  Mary and Joseph did not present a lamb for their son Jesus; they gave turtle doves because they were poor.

  When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the Temple, something wonderful happened.  An older man named Simeon saw Jesus and he blessed the baby Jesus with a song.  And he made a prediction about Jesus.  He said that Jesus would be like a light to the entire world.  He said that Jesus would be a Savior.

  This story about the presentation of Jesus teaches us some lessons.  It tells us that after Jesus became very famous and after many people began to know Jesus as their Savior, the church told the story of the greatness of Jesus from the very beginning of his life.

  This story of the presentation is also about you and me.  Jesus was presented to God as a Temple.  You and I are presented to God in our baptisms.  When we are baptized we celebrate that we are sons and daughters of God and so we belong to God.

  And we promise to live our lives as sons and daughters of God.  And so we promise to love and care for each other and to care for this world which belongs to God.

  Today, let us remember that Jesus was presented to God in a very special way by his parents.  But let us also remember too, that you and I are presented to God as well because God receives us as sons and daughters.  So let us remember to live our lives as sons and daughters of God.  And let us remember to honor and obey our parents too, because God has given them a special role in helping us to live as sons and daughters of God.

  Say with me today:  I am a child of God.  I belong to God.  And I present myself to God again today.  Amen.

Intergenerational Service with Holy Eucharist

February 2, 2020: The Presentation

Gathering Songs:

 Hosanna, Hosanna; I Come with Joy; May the Lord

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: Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! (Renew! # 71)

1          Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!

2          Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted oh Lord my God! Glory to the King of kings!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A Reading from the book of Malachi 

Thus says the Lord, See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight-- indeed, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?  For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord.

Peope: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 24

Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors; * and the King of glory shall come in.

"Who is this King of glory?" * "The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle."

Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors; * and the King of glory shall come in.

"Who is he, this King of glory?" * "The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory."  

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.

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;  for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed-- and a sword will pierce your own soul too." There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.  When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson – 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.

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

   All Things Bright and Beautiful    

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 God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  this food and

  drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:           Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: I Sing the Mighty Power of God,  

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: May the Lord (Sung to the tune of Eidelweiss)

May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and keep you forever, Grant you peace, perfect peace, Courage in every endeavor.  Lift up your eyes and seek His face, Trust His grace forever.  May the Lord, Mighty God Bless and keep you for ever.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Aphorism of the Day, January 2020

Aphorism of the Day, January 31, 2020

Ritual is the deliberate effort to interweave the ordinary repetitions of life with intentional ritual repetitions in the hope that it gives Godward orientation or living toward the image of God upon one's life.

Aphorism of the Day, January 30, 2020

The presentation of Jesus of Nazareth participating in the significant ritual life of Judaism highlights that the incarnation of divine life included ritual life.  What is ritual life?  It is the holy, communal, public "games" of totemic events of communal identity with an orientation toward learning to do things better today than yesterday.  How so?  Ritual mimics the reality of cycles of repetition of doing the same things in time.  We encounter the same moral and spiritual challenges repeatedly and each time we face them we want to have learned from facing them before either from our own experience or vicariously from the experience of others in our community so that as we encounter fresh instances of "same human experiences," we will do so with better excellence.  Ritual is the public teaching event of repentance in that it reminds us that our lives need continual renewal.

Aphorism of the Day, January 29, 2020

To be born into human society is to always, already having been ritualized, that is, to be given orientation into the repetitive patterns of a particular culture.  Some of those rituals pertain to human being as homo religiosus  or an orientation toward the human sense of the holy or that which incites the mysterium tremendum.  Jesus was Presented as a babe with no choice about his participation in the Ritual Process of Judaism and in this his universal solidarity of being the All and in All Word of God, is emptied into the particular solidarity with Judaic religious culture.  We ourselves are ritualized within the sacraments of the church so that we might ascend to the excellence of in "In-Christed" beings, living toward the All and in all Word of God.

Aphorism of the Day, January 28, 2020

The Presentation.  It is a fact of human living that each person is always being presented to the ritual process of human cultures and the rituals of faith purport to guide the ritual process vis a vis toward the highest stamp or image on humanity of what we might be, or in biblical terms, the divine image.  The Bible is a record of humanity being ritual presented toward our divine image.

Aphorism of the Day, January 27, 2020

On the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz, we need to be serious about probability thinking in terms of preventing such atrocities from ever happening again.  Are dictatorships, kleptocracies, oligarchic run forms of governments or representative democracies more likely to present large scale human atrocities?  What  about the stalemates which allow the encroachment on democracies such that fickle manipulated “majorities (e.g. electoral college formats) can be used by oligarchic personalities to trade financial hegemony for human rights?  Democracies beware!

Aphorism of the Day, January 26, 2020

Unity is an abstraction from the conditions of diversity.  There are many but there is One ALL.  Unity is the mystification of the individuals into a collectivity.  Being is the abstraction of all becoming, probably because we know that we live by linguistic reduction.  We reduce something to a word.

Aphorism of the Day, January 25, 2020

St. Paul had been an Inquisitioner for a party in Judaism which regarded followers of Jesus to be heretics worthy of death by stoning.  It may be that killing in the name of his religious zeal caught up with him in confronting the commandment about not killing.  Such a contradiction of his zeal involving a rottenness with perfection which gave him permission to kill others who disagreed with him, eventually caught up with him when he totally snapped in a Damascus Road conversion experience.  Narrowly zealous Paul went on to become the extremely liberal Paul who opened the door of Christian faith to Gentiles without requiring adherences to the significant ritual purity practices of Judaism.  Conversion results in the opening of the heart to others who are significant different than one is.  Since life experience often involves the continuous exposure to people who are "different" than us, we need to see conversion as the continuous expansion of our hearts to allow different people into validity of faith experience without complying to our own preferential faith habits.

Aphorism of the Day, January 24, 2020

Imagine a "simple" fisherman from rural Galilee like Simon Peter becoming a world traveler, even ending up in Rome and becoming a respected "teacher/rabbi" in the Christian tradition developing abilities that he never knew he had as a fisherman in the family business.  "Sure Rabbi Jesus, I will follow you because dad's business has too mouths to feed and if I leave there will be more to go around."  Simple Simon the fisherman followed Rabbi Jesus and became such a renown Rabbi in the Jesus Movement that St. Paul accused people of saying they were "of Cephas" or specifically devoted to him perhaps as their baptizer and exclusive tradition.  The writing of Paul to the Corinthian church indicate the nascent development of diverse Christian communions and denominations long before our day where churches are apparently divided by having a common Savior.

Aphorism of the Day, January 23, 2020

"I belong to the school of Hillel, or of Shammai, or of Gamaliel."  St. Paul was aware of rabbinical "schools" deriving from prominent rabbis and he saw the Corinthian church dividing into loyalty cults to "Paul," "Cephas," or "Apollos."  He had to deal with the issue of how to respect a mentor without making them an idol shading one's direct loyalty to Christ.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 22, 2020

Very early in the Jesus Movement there is evidence that Christians were persons divided by having a common Savior, in that divided into the party of Paul, or Cephas, or Apollos.  Paul noted these division in the Corinthian church and down play his role as one who baptized because being baptized by someone seemed to mean that you became their disciples and followers.  One might wonder if this parallels prominent and learned rabbis gaining followers and devotees to their "schools" of rabbinic thought.  Were there too many learned teachers of Christian thought in the Jesus Movement which made Paul decry the divisions into something akin to rabbinical schools?

  Aphorism of the Day, January 21, 2020

Jesus said to the fishermen, "From now on you will fish for people..."  One can be too literal about correspondences between fishing and evangelism.  Does one who fishes commercially, catch fish for their own good?  No, it is a predator-prey relationship.  If one is evangelizing for one's own benefit, (how many souls can I catch for my church?), then evangelism is reduced to what is good for the evangelist and not the evangelized.  A wiser intuitive correspondence between evangelism and fishing has to do with the fact that one's calling to follow Christ does not require one to burn bridges with the skills and talents that one has attained in life.  Perhaps one of the most telling qualities of one who fishes is patience in light of the uncertainty of the when and how many of the catch.  What does one do with waiting time?  One can build relationships with colleagues and develop the ability to tell wonderful stories.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 20, 2020

Writing in the present about the past is an exercise in implying, "What we have now is really what people in the past wanted and hoped for and now we have institutionalized those hopes and brought them to clearer articulation."  The Gospels represents that life in the time of Jesus is a "future interior tense," or "this is how things will have been."  The Gospels are evidence of the institutionalization of the original Jesus Movement with a highly developed symbology and manifold rhetorical strategies for the purpose of promulgation, standardization of the message and inculcating new members in a mystagogic practice.

Aphorism of the Day, January 19, 2020

Evangelism might involve wise "match-making" in helping a person weave the always already call of Christ into apparency in the natural process of befriending another person.

Aphorism of the Day, January 18, 2020

Rather than viewing the Gospel of John as being composed by dictation with "John" writing the whispers of the Dove in his ear, think of the Gospel as being a text which derived from many sessions within gathered churches of prayer, preaching, teaching, study and questions and answers.  Think of the Gospel of John as a textual compilation of several decades of "Inquirer's Class" about walking in the Way of Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, January 17, 2020

In some ways the institutionalization of the success of spiritual transformation results in external products like hierarchies and buildings and properties which in turn become idols which have to be maintained.  They become promoted because of the need to have the "masses" support them even while the inner spirituality which originated the success of movement has been lost.

Aphorism of the Day, January 16, 2020

One might say that in the Jesus Movement there began a process of spiritual stealth whereby the external kingdom of the ancient dreamed for Messiah was made interior.  The immediate Messiah, Jesus the Christ, was not an external military intervening King, but was one who baptized the interior lives of people with the Holy Spirit.  This does not violate the materiality of the "incarnation," rather it involved the motivating power to "clean hearts" and result in the body language acts which conform to deeds of the fruits of the Spirit.  What is more Word made flesh then when love, joy, peace, gentleness, self-control, patience, justice, goodness and faith inhabits the deeds of people?

Aphorism of the Day, January 15, 2020

Reading the Gospels when they originally came to writing demanded an information context within which they were read.  How does a Gentile church remain "moored" within the Judaic origin of lots the "theological/Christological" notions.  John the Baptist quoted as "saying out of the blue," behold the Lamb of God.  This is highly scripted text of the transition from Judaism in general and the Judaism as practiced by John the Baptist and his community.  His community would have been a primary group to which the early Christians were making appeals.  What would a Gentile have known about "Lamb of God" without residing within a teaching community which had a developed symbology.

Aphorism of the Day, January 14, 2020

Translation does not just have to do with language, it has to do human values which are imbedded in language through the cultures of people.  When reading the Gospels, one tries to discern the cultures of the people to whom the Gospel writings are making their original appeals.  Translation also means interpretation; the two can never be separated.  For Jews, holy separation meant the observance of the customs of ritual purity.  For the Gentile Christians, holiness was a matter of "inner Spirit," which was not the difference of external ritual purity but was the difference of another kind of spiritual practice.  Translation on the cultural meaning of holiness and separation from the "world" resulted in the incommensurables which characterized the separation of religious communities.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 13, 2020

One of my favorite "aside" phrases in the Gospel of John, is "which is translated."  The writer translated Hebrew words and meanings to those who were not familiar with Hebraic phrases and notions.  Gospel life is about translation, putting in the common language of the people whom one wants to share the Gospel.  This means that the liturgy of what is called the Book of Common Prayer is not a final and fixed document, rather, communization is the process of making prayer accessibly common to the people for whom we want to "translate" the meaning of the Gospel.

Aphorism of the Day, January 12, 2020

The past sometimes is the mystery of "must have beenism."  After the resurrection appearances of Jesus and the proliferation of such communal mystical experience to comprise an entire movement the mystery of the past of Jesus of Nazareth was a "must have been" which came to be written based upon oral tradition, contemporary genres of how one promulgates the lives of great people, and the template metaphors and stories of the Hebrew Scriptures for the great personalities written about.

Aphorism of the Day, January 11, 2020

"Kenosis" is the Greek word which expresses the "self emptying" of the divine into Jesus Christ, the Christ who is All and in All.  Such an identity of the divine with All, not as a unconnected collection of infinite entities, but as total connection of everything, would be the kind of identity which be omni-incarnation justifying the validity of human experience being a way to adequately "know" the divine without presuming any omni-competence of the same.

Aphorism of the Day, January 10, 2020

The events in the life of Jesus which instantiate the theology of the "Word made flesh or incarnation," resides within a "it goes without saying paradigm."  What is that paradigm? When it comes to inter-communication between the specie of humanity and the "specie" of God, people can only be anthropomorphic about God.  The incarnation is the affirmation of human experience being a valid way to "know" God because of the assumption of "likeness" between the two parties which makes communication valid.

Aphorism of the Day, January 9, 2020

The synoptic Gospels regard the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist to be the event of the declaration of Jesus as the beloved Son (of God implied).  The declaration is in a heavenly voice.  During this age, the Roman Senate would declare the August or divine identity of the Caesar and the deriving identity of the Caesar as a divi filii or divine son.  The Roman senate conferring of divine status is contrasted with the Gospel understanding of the heavenly designation and announcement of the status of Jesus of Nazareth.  Mystery religion gods and goddesses were not really human; Caesars and the notion of the Messiah implied a human who was divinized by divine selection and ratified by significant promulgation of such identity to make it the functional reality of significant community.  The adoptive divinization of Jesus as God's Son was a view in early Christian community, countered with the belief that Jesus was the pre-existing Divine One who came into manifestation as a human person.

Aphorism of the Day, January 8, 2020

Baptism is an event of initiation into a community.  Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, perhaps indicative of his willingness to take solidarity and identity with the community of John the Baptist.  With the mysticism of Paul who found the cosmic Christ to be all and in all, we should balance that with the particularity of Jesus of Nazareth who did not lord or proclaim his cosmic significance but was humbly one of us.

Aphorism of the Day, January 7, 2020

Theosis is the orthodox perspective on the "divinization" of a person, and is stated as God became hominized in Jesus Christ so that humanity might become divinized.  If God cannot be known as God in the divine essence, how can God be known?  In the divine energies which emanate from the Essence.  If the divine image on humanity is "spirit," then that spirit can arise to know the divine energies such that the divine and human can experience something of the "amphibian" or "bi-linguality" which is required for the mutual communication between two distinctly different parties of "persons."

Aphorism of the Day, January 6, 2019

It is easy to regard Scriptures and the declaration of doctrines as words which are causatively absolute in "making such things happen."  Does declaring the incarnation, make it happen or does the declaration arise from the honest acknowledgment that all speaking about God is anthropomorphic and thus requires the further acknowledgement that human experience is valid for knowing the non-human entity confessed as God?  Incarnation is a confession of bi-linguality between humanity and the divine as the basis for humans knowing any about God who is in fact for people, a human experience.  Apologies for stating the obvious that no one can have a non-human experience of God.  As humans, we can never get outside of humanity.

Aphorism of the Day, January 5, 2020

The magi represented people like Abraham who had the benefit of having valid faith without being a Jew.  That Christ was being manifested in the Gentile people was given an origin discourse in one Gospel.  If Christ has been born into the lives of so many Gentiles, then it must have been intended at the beginning when Jesus was born.

Aphorism of the Day, January 4, 2019

If one's community possessed something that is regarded as being as a supreme life enhancement, should it be kept just to one's own community as an exclusive possession?  The magi as symbols of the Epiphany or the manifestation of Christ to the outsiders, represent the Gentile mission of people who made a distant life journey and present their best gifts to witness the site of the Christ birth, "wink, wink," within their own lives as the action of the Holy Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, January 3, 2019

"My house is to be a house of prayer for all people."  Turns out that the caretakers of any particular house has limited affinities which for various reasons are off-putting or ungraspable relevant pieties to those who might otherwise want to be called to prayer.  It is time to give up the notion that any one faith community or perspective is omni-competent to the prayer needs of everyone.  The House of Science through the wisdom method of determining the very best of statistical actuarial probability is also a House of Worship which honors Wisdom as divine (ultimate) immanence.

Aphorism of the Day, January 2, 2019

Anonymous foreign magi in the infancy narratives seems to make the drawing power of Christ like the Caesar who was the Emperor of the world.  Did the magi go to Rome to acknowledge the actual "king" of the world?  The story is important in the evolution for the house of prayer to be one for all people.  It is an aspiration which is challenged by the actual segregation found in many places of worship because of restrictive rules of "entrance."   It is an irony that the institutionalization of faith practice meant to standardize and "process" the membership is equally efficient at keeping many people out who in many ways end up not "qualifying" for membership.  Groucho said that he would never join a club which would accept him as a member.  If God has mercy on all as "foreign" sinners, then mercy means we all have to learn to accept ourselves and each others as part of God's family.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 1, 2020

What has become affects how one is interested in what was.  How the life of Jesus was viewed and presented was affected by the dynamics of the post-resurrection appearances.  It seems odd that no one thought it worthy to record events in the life of Jesus, save one, until his public ministry.  From age one to age thirty did anyone know the significance of Jesus, at least enough to have recorded it?  One can note the hiddenness of Jesus in the world in the history of the world and the lack of the Christ effect in the lives of people and even the life of the people of the church.  One could pray for more apparitionally apparent presences of Christ in the lives of the church and in the lives of people of the world.  How would we know?  Love and Justice might be good indicators.

Quiz of the Day, January 2020

Quiz of the Day, January 31, 2020

God told Abraham he would be the father of twelve princes.  How did that happen?

a. through his son Ishmael
b. his son Isaac had twelve sons
c. his grand son was the Patriarch of the twelve tribes of Israel
d. through the mother of Moses

Quiz of the Day, January 30, 2020

The covenant regarding the practice of circumcision first came to whom?

a. Adam
b. Noah
c. Abraham
d. Moses

Quiz of the Day, January 29, 2020

Who dealt harshly with Hagar?

a. Abram
b. Sarai
c. God
d. Ishmael

Quiz of the Day, January 28, 2020

Who would be regarded to be the chief architect of Scholasticism?

a. Augustine of Hippo
b. Anselm
c. Thomas Aquinas
d. Peter Abelard

Quiz of the Day, January 27, 2020

Which man met the King of Salem, Melchizedek?

A. Abram
B. Lot
C. Moses
D. David
E. Samuel

Quiz of the Day, January 26, 2020

Saul of Tarsus

A. Was a Pharisee
B. Was a Benjaminite
C. Saw Jesus of Nazareth
D. All of the above
E. A, B, & C

 Quiz of the Day, January 25, 2020

If someone has a "Damascus Road Experience," what saint would this be in reference to?

a. Barnabas
b. Peter
c. John
d. James
e. Paul

Quiz of the Day, January 24, 2020

The first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion was from where?

a. New Zealand
b. U.S.A
c. China
d. Japan

Quiz of the Day, January 23, 2020

The city of Babel was

a. a biblical city in the land of Shinar
b. named after the confusion of tongues
c. is the site of Babylon 
d. a and b
e. a and c

Quiz of the Day, January 22, 2020

The word Semitic comes from 

a. Shimon, a Hebrew name
b. Shem, son of Noah
c. From the Shema Prayer, "Hear O Israel..."
d. From Semion, meaning sign

Quiz of the Day, January 21, 2020

Which biblical figure is associated with the rainbow and its "meaning?"

a. Adam
b. Moses
c. Enoch
d. Elijah
e. Noah

Quiz of the Day, January 20, 2010

In what church was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ordained?

a. African-Methodist Episcopal
b. National Baptist Convention
c. Christian Methodist Episcopal
d. Church of God in Christ

Quiz of the Day, January 19, 2020

The week of Christian Unity in January is between feasts for which two saints?

a. John and Paul
b. Francis and Claire
c. Peter and John
d. Peter and Paul

Quiz of the Day, January 18, 2020

What is true about the confession of St. Peter regarding Jesus being the Messiah?

a. he did not understand what he confessed
b. he was not thinking about a suffering servant messiah
c. his misunderstanding led to the rebuke, "Get behind me Satan!"
d. the location of his confession was Caesarea Philippi
e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, January 17, 2019

Who was sitting under a fig tree and was seen by Jesus from afar?

a. Andrew
b. Nathaniel
c. Levi
d. Bartimaeus

Quiz of the Day, January 16, 2020

Who was the third child of Adam and Eve?

a. Lamesh
b. Lamach
c. Enoch
d. Seth

Quiz of the Day, January 15, 2020

After Cain killed his brother, who said to him, "Where is your brother?"

a. Abel spoke from the grave
b. the Lord
c. Adam
d. Eve

Quiz of the Day, January 14, 2020

Of the following, who is the founder of the Anglican monastic order which is sometimes referred to as the "Cowley Fathers?"

a. Charles Gore
b. Richard Meux Benson
c. James Huntington
d. Thomas Merton

Quiz of the Day, January 13, 2020

Who was a co-sender of the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians?

a. Luke
b. Titus
c. Sosthenes
d. Onesimus

Quiz of the Day, January 12, 2019

The view that Jesus was proclaimed to be the Son of God at his baptism is called what?

a. docetism
b. monophysitism
c. Binarianism
d. adoptionism

Quiz of the Day, January 11, 2020

In which Gospel does Jesus refer to God as his Father the most?

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

Quiz of the Day, January 10, 2020

Laudianism might be best described as what?

a. Puritanism
b. Evangelical
c. Low Church
d. Proto-High Church

Quiz of the Day, January 9, 2020

Which of the following is not a biblical metaphor for the Holy Spirit?

a. breath
b. wind
c. dove
d. living water
e. fire
f.  oil
g. words
h. life

 Quiz of the Day, January 8, 2020

In which Gospel does Jesus state that he is the bread of life?

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John
e. Thomas
f.  Philip

Quiz of the Day, January 7, 2020

Where is it written that "one does not live by bread alone?"

a. Deuteronomy
b. Matthew
c. Mark
d. John
e. Luke
f. a, b,c
g. a, b, e

Quiz of the Day, January 6, 2020

The story of the three kings visiting the Christ Child is found where?

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John
e. the story of three things is not found in the Bible

Quiz of the Day, January 5, 2020

How did the Magi of the Gospel morph into three kings?

a. fulfilling Psalm 71:10
b. logic: such expensive gifts could only have come from kings
c. the Greek word for magi also can mean king
d. all of the above
e. a and b

Quiz of the Day, January 4, 2020

What was the last barrier to cross for the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land?

a. Red Sea
b. The Euphrates
c. The Jordan River
d. Mt. Hermon

Quiz of the Day, January 3, 2020

The sound of sheer silence(oxymoron with poetic poignancy),  borrowed in a Simon and Garfunkel song, was the theophany in contrast to wind, earthquake and fire, to which person in the Hebrew Scriptures?

a. David, as in the Psalm, "be still and know that I am God"
b. Moses on Sinai
c. Elijah in a cave
d. Job, after confronted by the whirlwind

Quiz of the Day, January 2, 2020

Where did the Magi visit Jesus?

a. at the family home in Nazareth
b.at the Bethlehem stable
c. at a house in Bethlehem
d. the Gospel does not indicate where

Quiz of the Day, January 1, 2020

What does the name "Jesus" mean?

a. anointed
b. God's chosen
c. salvation
d. messiah

Divided by Having a Common Savior?

3 Epiphany A      January  26, 2020

Is. 9:1-4         Psalm 27:1, 5-13
1 Cor. 1:10-18    Matt. 4:12-23

Lectionary Link

George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and others have said that the British and Americans are people who are divided by having a common language.  As Churchill asked Ike before D-Day, "General, why do you Yanks say SKEDULE;  we Brits, say correctly, SHED-UEL?"  And Ike replied, "Well, that's what we learned in SHHOOELL."

How many Communions, churches, and denominations call themselves Christian in our world?  Starbucks are more unified in their coffee products and shops than Christians are in their beliefs and practices.  We can ironically say that Christians are diverse people who are divided by having a common Savior.  What is more divided than the practice of Christians practicing "closed communion" with each other?

Yesterday, on January 25th, we finished the week of Christian Unity which is between the celebration of the Confession of St. Peter and the celebration of the Conversion of St. Paul.  This week of Christian Unity is the aspiration for Christians to pause and take note of what we agree on so that we don't let our differences result in the hateful excommunication of each others.

Holding unity and difference together in perfect reciprocity is the great task of life.  We are one humanity but living in significant differences.  We are one America but we are always threatened by the extreme polarization of our differences.  One might even think that Americans are living in the state of perpetual excommunication of each other, with different parties declaring the other as American heretics.  Americans are people divided by having a common Constitution, Pledge of Allegiance and Flag.  In fact the unity/diversity dynamic is even more local; husband and wife are often persons divided by having a common marriage.  Mother, father, son and daughter are often persons divided by having a common family.  On and on, the dynamic between unity and diversity are the big waves of life on which we try to surf without crashing to harm.

If unity and difference is a fact of the process of life, we need to learn how to exploit the strengths of unity and difference while minimizing the threats of both.  Unifying absolute power, corrupts absolutely, think Hitler and Stalin.  Splintering and isolating diversity creates chaos and open and even hurtful conflict.

The Church of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit was a Gospel which in essence was saying we do unity and diversity in the most adequate and beneficial way.  We don't do it through the unity of a Caesar with an army able to force such unity; we don't try to limit unity as simply an isolated ethnic group consisting of ritually observant Jews.  This kind of unity is not accessibly offered to the entire world.  St. Peter and St. Paul believed that the unity and diversity dynamics of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit should be brought to the entire world in accessible and unrestricted ways.

But stating the aspiration of finding the best balance between unity and diversity is easier said than done.  And St. Paul found this out real quickly.  There was conflict arising within the Corinthian church to which he wrote.  Why?  Members of the Corinthian church were saying to each other, "My guru is better than yours.  I take my marching orders from Paul, or from Cephas, or from Apollos," or others were saying, "I take my orders directly from Christ."  Indeed Paul discovered that the Corinthian church was a church divided by having a common Christ.  One can see that much of the persuasive effort of St. Paul in his letter of Corinthians is devoted to persuade them to honor the diversity of ministry while serving the One Holy Spirit.  And the tour de force of Paul's letter to the Corinthians is the Love Chapter where he wrote that you can have everything, all the gifts, all knowledge, all sacrifice, but it means nothing without having Love.  Loving each other is what allows unity in diversity; not a trivial "liking" each other in having the same affinities on ritual rules or teacher preference.  These minor affinities cannot unify if they are magnified to be the primary basis of unity.

So what is the key to evangelism or the good news of God in Jesus Christ?  The Gospel lesson for today presents to us some of the original insights about evangelism.  Jesus of Nazareth called some simply fisher folk.  James and John and Peter and Andrew.  What do you think is the dynamic ingredient in the call of Christ?  It is love.  You won't willingly and cheerfully follow someone whom you don't love.  Jesus loved the people he called and they loved him.  This dynamic relationship is what is essential to the call of Christ.  How did Christ love these fishermen?  He went to where they were located in location and vocation.  He was not recruiting people with impressive resumes.   Most American Presidents have to have gone to Harvard or Yale.  Most English Bishops have to be Oxbridge people; graduates of either Oxford or Cambridge.  Jesus loved and called people because he went to where they were.  He did not say, "I'll check your resumes and make sure you have studied the Torah in the Hillel School, the Shammai School or Gamaliel School of rabbinical studies.  If you have the correct degree in the study of the Torah, I'll consider hiring you for the evangelical task."

No, what did Jesus say to them?  He said, "Follow me, and don't burn your bridges in your previous life experience.  You learned much as a fisherman.  You learned the patience of waiting for the catch.  You learned to accept the "how many," of the catch.  You learned community during the wait as you shared stories during rain or sunshine, or wind or calm.  So all of these virtues you learned in fishing, I want you to transform in learning how to relate to the people in your future.  You fishermen really love fish; well you evangelists are really going to love people whom you will meet.  And this love is going to help you call and catch people because your love is going to be shown in how you reach out to people where they are."

They will know that we are Christians by our love.  Love is the secret to evangelism.  Love is the secret to finding the ideal balance between unity and diversity.  And love is not easy because it involves the regard of justice, of giving each person his or her due.  Love is not the easy, mushy liking of others; love involves the deep regard for people for whom we might not have any natural like or affinity.

Today you and I are still called to fish for or catch people, but not a predators who want to feel good about ourselves if we can get people to agree with our Christian point of view.  "Wow, if I can get more people to agree with me and fill the pews that means my view is better."  No, church growth for its own sake, is not the loving and regarding call of Jesus Christ to which we are invited.

Today, you and I, are invited to catch people through the practice of accepting love of Jesus Christ.  And the people whom we accept may not be popular to other people.  Many churches have divided over who can be acceptable followers of Jesus Christ.  Many have left the Episcopal Church, Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church and Methodist Church regarding who can be acceptable followers of Jesus Christ and full participating members within the church.

Today you and I are not here to agree about who our gurus of faith are.  We are not here to agree on all manner of taste, politics or sports teams.  We are here to be together to seriously engage the practice of love which guides the wisdom of finding how to honor unity and diversity in our midst.  And in finding a love which reconciles unity and diversity, we go forth to fish for people.  We invite them to be involved in our humble, always incomplete efforts at the practice of love; a love that honors the unique difference of each person, even while agreeing that the practice of love enables me to have the power to check my ego at the door to be involved in all of the good things we can do together as united Christians.  

So to live together well and to evangelize effectively, you and I have been and are called to follow Jesus Christ in the practice of Love. Full stop.  Amen.