Sunday School, April 5, 2020 Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday A

Sunday School, April 5, 2020    Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday A

Theme:

Peer pressure.  Sometimes we do and say things just because of the people that we are with.  We want to fit in and so we do and say things to fit in.

Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday is a day when we look at two crowds of people.  One crowd of people took branches from the tree and formed a parade behind Jesus riding on a donkey.  They marched into Jerusalem and shouted, “Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”  They treated Jesus as though he was their king.

But another crowd gathered in Jerusalem at night when Jesus was being put on trial.  Since some people were treating him as a king, this angered the officers who served the Caesar who was the king of the Roman world and Jerusalem.  Jesus was accused of being a rival to the Caesar of Rome who controlled most of the world with his armies.  There was a different crowd at the trial of Jesus.  They yelled, “Crucify him. We have no king but Caesar.”

Remember we must choose the crowd of people that we want to hang around with.  And it is important to choose people as our friends who will help us to do and say the very best things.

Story Sermon for Palm Sunday.

Once upon a time in a village near the city of Jerusalem, the village of Bethphage; a little donkey was born in the pasture.  And that donkey was called by his owner, Shorty, because he was so tiny when he was born.

  But the donkey’s mom, called him Christopher.  When Christopher became old enough to talk to his mom, he asked her, "Why does my owner call me Shorty, even now when I've grown to be a tall and strong donkey?"  Christopher's mom said, "Well once you get a name, it sometimes just sticks and people won't let you be anything else."

  Christopher asked his mom, "Then why do you call me Christopher?"  His mom said, "Well, I'm not sure but I just had this feeling that it was the right name for you."

  Christopher looked in the other pasture and he saw a beautiful big stallion prancing around.  He saw important Roman Generals ride this beautiful horse.  And Christopher thought, "I wish that someone important would ride on my back some day.  And Christopher was a little jealous of the stallion.

  But one day something exciting happened to Christopher.  Two visitors came to the farm where Christopher was kept.  They called themselves disciples of Jesus, and they said there was going to be a parade into the great city of Jerusalem.  They also said that they needed a donkey to carry their king.  Christopher's owner Farmer Jacob, said, "I've got two donkeys, that jennet over there and her colt that I call "Shorty."  If Jesus needs the donkeys, take them.  Jesus is my friend, he healed my son, and I owe him everything I have."

  So the two disciples took Christopher and his mom with them and they went to a place just in front of the sheep gate in Jerusalem.  There was a large crowd gathered who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover Holiday.  After waiting for about an hour, the crowd soon got excited.  Jesus arrived and it was time for the parade to start.  The people put some robes on Christopher to make a saddle for Jesus.  Christopher had never been ridden before, and he was nervous.  But Christopher's mom said, "Calm down, Jesus is the nicest man in the world.  You don't need to buck him off."

  Jesus Climbed up on the back of Christopher and the parade started.  The people took some branches from some palm trees and they began to wave and shout and scream, because their superstar was there.  They followed Jesus as he was riding Christopher into the city of Jerusalem and Christopher trotted proudly through the streets.  This was the happiest day of his life.  At night, he and his mom were tied up at the house of one of the disciples in Jerusalem.  Christopher's mom was proud of him and she said, "Well now I know why I named you Christopher.  "Christopher" means, "the one who carries Christ."  And today you have carried Christ on your back, so today you have lived up to your name."  Christopher was so happy he wanted hee haw with joy.  But his happiness didn't last too long.

  He looked out on the street and he saw another parade.  In the darkness he saw a tired and naked Jesus walking with soldiers.  And the soldiers were forcing him to carry this large wooden cross on his back.  He was bleeding and he was too weak to carry the cross, so at one place they forced a man named Simon to carry the cross for Jesus.  The people who were following the soldiers were laughing and making fun of Jesus.  They were saying, "you're going to die Jesus.  You were just pretending to be a king, but you don't have any power, you're going to die Jesus."

  Christopher ran to his mom and said, "If I had known that this would happen to Jesus, I would not have brought him to Jerusalem."

  Christopher's mom said, "It is a terrible, terrible thing, but we must trust God.  Jesus is the best and nicest person who ever lived and God will take care of him.

  Well, Jesus went on to die on the cross.  And he was buried in a grave.  But does the story does not end here.  Come back next week and we will tell you the end of the story.  What happened to Jesus after he died and was put in the grave?

  What was the donkey's name?  Christopher.  What does Christopher mean?  It means "The one who carries Christ."  In a way, every Christian could be called Christopher.  Because you and I are asked to carry the presence of Christ into this world by being nice and kind.  Amen.

Intergenerational Holy Eucharist

April 5, 2020: Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday

Gathering Songs:

Hosanna! Hosanna!; Hosanna! Hosanna!;  The King of Glory

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

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!

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

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

People: His mercy endures forever.  Amen.

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Assist us with your mercy and help, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy as we think about your mighty acts which have given us life and an everlasting future; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Hosanna

O God, you are Great!  Hosanna

O God, you have made us! Hosanna

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Hosanna

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

A Reading from the letter of Paul to the Philippians

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 118

On this day the LORD has acted; *we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Hosanna, LORD, Hosanna! *LORD, send us now success.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; *we bless you from the house of the LORD.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, "Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey,

and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."  The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest heaven!" When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee." 

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Song: Hosanna! Hosanna!  (# 102, The Christian Children’s Songbook)

 Hosanna, Hosanna, the little children sing.  Hosanna, Hosanna for Christ our Lord is King.  Prepare the way, the children sing, Hosanna to our Lord and King!  Hosanna, Hosanna, the little children sing.

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.

All are born into the family of God by Baptism.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, 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:   Fairest Lord Jesus,    a 

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: The King of Glory, (Renew # 267)

Refrain: The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices. 

            Open the gates before him, lift up your voices.

Who is the king of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages. Refrain

In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness. Refrain

Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another. Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Aphorism of the Day, March 2020

Aphorism of the Day, March 31, 2020

The cross of Jesus is the biggest "make-over" of history.  Imagine babies with pieced ears and little golden crosses worn on their lobes.  An instrument of capital punishment worn on a baby's ear lobe.  Logically it seems macabre and Paul noted that it was a scandal to the Jews and foolish to the Greek.  How can the capital punishment of Jesus become the mystical experience of Paul "dying to himself."  That quite some "alchemical poetry,"  except Paul would say, I have the empirical evidence of my changed life to prove it.

Aphorism of the Day, March 30, 2020

In the appointed Epistle for Passion Sunday, we will read the poem about an understanding of Jesus as the one who emptied the divine and became human, so human that he died. Death would be a full expression of identity with humanity.  In postmodern deconstruction terms, it would be saying that even though the Signified is always already being referred to, the referring can only happen within the constant play of signifiers.  We are always trying to "get to the Signified," but we can only use signifiers to do so.  The Signified is always, already "emptied" into the signifiers.

Aphorism of the Day, March 29, 2020

What does resurrection mean for people who are not yet dead?  St. Paul wrote that the body is dead in sin, but even this state one could know mystery of Christ in oneself by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Lazarus in the tomb represents each "Pauline mystic" who was dead in sin, but who is called forth by the word of Christ to new life, abundant life.  The Gospels present Pauline mysticism in story form as the  mystagogic church initiates new members into the "mystery" of Christ.  

Aphorism of the Day, March 28, 2020

Ponder inter-Gospel dialogue.  In the Gospel of Luke parable, a beggar leper named Lazarus dies and in death he is with Abraham and has a conversation across a vast chasm with a rich man who neglected Lazarus when they were alive.  The rich man begged Abraham to send someone from the dead to warn his family, but Abraham said they would not believe even if someone was sent from the dead.  Fast-forward to John.  Who is the person who returns from the dead?  Lazarus.  And what is the aftermath of Lazarus' return for the religious leaders?  They do not believe and begin to plot the death of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, March 27, 2020

Is something like resurrection found in the Hebrew Scripture?  The Sadducees, it is said did not believe in a resurrection because they could not find a text verifying such in the Torah.  It is different in the prophets.  In the "Dem dry bones" portion of Ezekiel, it is prophesies: "I am going to open your graves and bring your people up from the graves."  In a world of constant change, where does permanent Identity reside?  Is there Personal unlimited Byte of Memory who can remember and reconstitute all that is previous in an unspeakable way?  Hope within humanity is always looking for narratives of continuing Identity.

 Aphorism of the Day, March 26, 2020

Observe how the oracle of Jesus Christ in John's Gospel mocks literalism.  The disciples said on the way to Lazarus' tomb, "If we sleeps, then that is good."  Jesus replied, "I using sleep to mean death, guys."  If one does not learn how to read figuratively the text of John, one misses the point.

Aphorism of the Day, March 25, 2020

St. Paul wrote that even though we have the Spirit, the "body is dead because of sin."  The story of Lazarus is the mystical teaching about how all live in " a body which is dead because of sin," but while we live in our "mortal state" we like Lazarus can know the resurrection and abundant life of the Spirit.  In our deathly state, we can "come to life, abundant life of the Spirit," even as we are like Lazarus, our bodies will die.  Please understand how the mysticism of Paul is placed in a story narrative of Jesus in John's Gospel as a cryptic teaching method of mystagogy.

Aphorism of the Day, March 24, 2020

How is the Pauline teaching that the presence of the Holy Spirit is actually a taste of eternal life before one dies taught in Gospel story form?  The raising of Lazarus.  Lazarus was raised, only to die again.  This Gospel Sign means an encounter with the Risen Christ, when we experience the "death" of our sins, is resurrection and life, and when we physically die, a continuation in this qualitative life.  The writer of John was a mystagogue for the mystical initiates on the spiritual path of transformation.

Aphorism of the Day, March 23, 2020

Take the didactic, teaching theology and mysticism of Paul  and place it in life narratives of Jesus which becomes spiritual process of visualization technique such that the presented Jesus of Nazareth before his death is actually the Risen Christ teaching death and resurrection theology as a continuing oracle within the Jesus Movement and early Christ-Communities.  This is the brilliant mystagogy of the Gospels.

Aphorism of the Day, March 22, 2020

"Surely we are not blind, are we?"  Of course we are always blind, blind to what we cannot see.  Seeing is not just physical sight, it is also an empathy from within that allows one to focus, perhaps on "background" features which were so "taken for granted" that they were not "seen."  Why was not slavery or the subjugation of women "seen" for many centuries? There remains lots of blindness that we need to recover from in the universal practice of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, March 21, 2020

For Gospel writers, blindness was the external and environment darkness of living in a paradigm which did not take into account the fullness of God who loved all and wanted to reach out to all, even the "non-kosher" folk of the Roman Empire.  Joseph Campbell is quoted as saying, "Yesterday's virtue may be tomorrow's vice."  This illustrates the blindness of living in a former paradigm when the Spirit is calling for conversion and new birth.  One can say that the practice of slavery and the subjugation of women which characterized the "enlightened" biblical people has become "darkness" once new light of justice and equality is shone.  Christ as the Light of the World give sight to those who live in the blindness of the darkness caused by inferior paradigms which do not yet allow for the fuller expression of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, March 20, 2020

What is the condition of blindness which all seeing people can experience?  Darkness.  Light is essential to sight, meaning that seeing does not just involve physical ability, it is contextual environment.  The environment new light for people to see.  The Jesus Movement proclaimed a new "Light" in the world environment in Jesus Christ, in the Risen Christ and in the experience of the Holy Spirit.  This new environment of "light" allowed persons to re-arrange their lives in how they understood God and God's inclusive purpose for all people.

Aphorism of the Day, March 19, 2020

One could make the case that the Gospel of John is mainly about hermeneutics, interpretation and seeing life differently.  See from "above," and seeing figuratively rather than literally as a way of enhancing one's landscape with one's inscape that have been "renew" in mind to attain the "mind of Christ" in the mode of the Risen Christ.  The warning of John's Gospel is "Don't get stuck in one's literal landscape."  Work on the inner life because what one perceives in one's landscape reflects the nature of one's seeing from one's inscape.

Aphorism of the Day, March 18, 2020

Seeing from within or being converted to another paradigm expresses the new paradigm of Jesus Movement.  When Samuel sought to anoint all of David's brothers as king of Israel and was left with the small lad David as "God's choice," the observation was that God sees what humans don't, God looks at the heart, at the interior.  Jesus of John's Gospel discourse, notes that the blind man came to see and the religious leaders were in fact blind.  Conversion means that one moves into a different hermeneutical circle with a different kind of seeing and one was in fact blind when one inhabited a previous hermeneutical circle.

Aphorism of the Day, March 17, 2020

"Who caused this man's blindness, his own sins or his parents?"  Causation questions sometimes are victimization implications.  If bad luck is happening to others because they deserve it, then the one presuming to know precise causation can justify one's own blessing of good luck as God's direct favor.  Precise causation is a myth since any event lies at the end of an infinite regress along with every other contemporary event each with its own infinite regress.  So the event whether good or bad is a set up for some more in the future proving the glory of the divine no matter what happens because tomorrow always means outcomes are only temporary.  This is the glory of the creative and glorious Freedom within which we live and have our being.

Aphorism of the Day, March 16, 2020

Jesus told Nicodemus that he couldn't "see" the kingdom of God because he wasn't born from above.  The blind man healed by Jesus "saw" the kingdom of God while the religious leaders, even though they had eyesight, were "blind" to the kingdom of God.  The book of Signs which is included in the Gospel of John is the ability to convert to the new paradigm of the kingdom of God which was initiated by Jesus Christ.  The Gospel of John is less about the history of Jesus of Nazareth and more about the paradigm of the Risen Christ via Holy Spiritual experience which enabled people to "see" life in a new and different way.  To remain in biblical "literalism" is to be like the "religious blind."

Aphorism of the Day,  March 15, 2020

Mount Gerizim Shrines and the Temple had long been destroyed when the Gospel text of the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman was written.  If Holy Places had been destroyed where could Holy God reside?  The edifice complex of trying to limit the divine presence had to be given up to each body becoming known as a temple of the Holy Spirit whose inner presence would be like a gushing spring of water.  A very different kind of water than what was drawn from Jacob's well.  John's Gospel is about moving from landscape to InScape.

Aphorism of the Day, March 14, 2020

When the Gospel of John was written, holy places for the Jews and Samaritans had suffered devastation.  What do we do now that the Temple is destroyed or Mount Gerizim shrines is in shambles?  Our identity resides from knowing the place where God resides and is a place to renew that identity through pilgrimage to the holy place.  The Risen Christ as an oracle in the early church says to the Samaritan woman, "God is totally, portable and nomadic, because God is Spirit, so God as Spirit resides wherever people are since God is as close to a person as the very language that a person has.  How close are you to language?  You are one with your language.  God is Spirit.  The words of Jesus are spirit.  Our words are our identifying spirit and we're one with them.  So, let us clean up our word life if therein lies our very identity.

Aphorism of the Day, March 13, 2020

The Jesus Movement involved a renovation, a do-over, and re-definition of symbols which arose in the Hebrew Scripture within the new "Christ-flooded" context where the poetic effervescence of St. Paul's "Christ as all in all" became the center of the new paradigm.  Christ becomes the Rock struck by Moses from which everyone is able to drink the living water.  The Jesus Movement as it came to text meant that it manifested itself in a poetic revolution with a new pulsating center generating extreme poetic license centering on the Risen Christ.  Was this mere hype?  No, because one cannot artificially generate such widespread experiences of the Risen Christ to "make" the hype happen.

Aphorism of the Day, March 12, 2020

The practices in the early Jesus Movement community become starkly anachronistically instantiated in the Gospel narratives of Jesus including his words.  Jews and Samaritans were "enemies."  The Jesus Movement included the reconciliation of "former" enemies and, yes Jesus came to say in the Gospel presentation, "Love your enemies."

Aphorism of the Day, March 11, 2020

The metaphors of Jesus in John's Gospel indicate a new birth by water and the Spirit.  In John 4, the Spirit is likened to an inner gushing spring.  So Spirit as inner gushing spring is like an interior baptism, the clean heart and renewed spirit which the Psalmist asked for from God.  A spring gushes up through the dirt and is clean water even when the rest of the environment is "dirt."  So, look for the God-gush from within as the acceptable identity with a perfection that one cannot have apart from the one who complements and supplements the rest of oneself which is not perfect.

Aphorism of the Day, March 10, 2020

One might note that the presentation of the dialogical Jesus in John's Gospel pertains to his constant provoking of crassly literal people to embrace figurative, allegorical or spiritual interpretations of "physical" reality.  Take for example the food and water metaphors of the Woman at the Well pericope.  Water of Jacob's well or water of the inner Spirit fountain?  Jesus had "food" to eat that his disciples who brought him provisions did not know about.  The "born again" metaphor has much to do with going beyond literal meaning to other kinds of meaning which pertains to qualitative interpretation for inner enrichment amid the exterior "literal" landscape.

Aphorism of the Day, March 9, 2020

The early churches engaged in the practice of love between peoples who were formerly known as "enemies."  When this practice was presented by the words and actions of Jesus in the Gospels, people like the "hated" Samaritans were shown to be those who responded to Jesus as the bringer of a new paradigm of love between former enemies.  Men and women of the time were not "enemies" but they were definitely segregated in restrictions on public interaction, yet Jesus is shown to commission an unknown and unnamed Samaritan Woman at the Well to be the "first apostle" to the Samaritan people.  It is quite amazing how the church for so many years retreated to the secular habits of patriarchalism which our own Holy Gospels were shown to be overthrown by Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, March 8, 2020

Every day is a day to be "born again" or "born from above" in the sense that one should be surpassing oneself in manifold excellence each day in life.  To limit the "born again" experience to a one time event to escape hell is a very limited application of the metaphor and therefore not really true.

Aphorism of the Day, March 7, 2020

A theological catch phrase derived from the King James translation of a verse in John 3 came to characterize the evangelical movement of persons who call themselves "born again."  This has persisted even though a better translation of the Greek is "born from above."  The "born again" movement has been a response to those who believe in a prevenient baptismal grace for those who were baptized as infants.  Born again is not in disagreement with "born from above" even though not literally accurate.  Typically evangelicals believe one is "born again" once in order to avoid hell and have eternal life.  The phrase should really be limited to the dialogue presented between Jesus and Nicodemus, even though it can be general instructive for understanding the moments of conversions to new insights and perspectives.  Jesus was saying to the inquiring Pharisee that he needed a paradigm switch, a conversion in order to understand the new perspective of the Jesus Movement.  Paradigm switch, being born again or from above is consistent with the Christian pedagogical process known as "repentance,"  or "meta-noia," the "after mind," the "new mind," or the "renewed mind."  This would mean that rebirth is more of a process of metamorphosis with continual cycles of new insights and new births.  To limit being born again to a one time event violates the entire growth concept implied in life as repentance.

Aphorism of the Day, March 6, 2020

John's Gospel discourses of a "channeled voice of the Risen Christ" in an advancing Christ Movement, indicates the conversion of the writer to a post-synagogue paradigm with a Christo-centric theology involving the reinterpretation of the themes of Hebrew Scriptures under the guise of the Jesus events.  So the serpent lifted up in the wilderness is paired with Jesus lifted on the cross teaching that a glance of faith in sacrificial grace is the salvation to tolerate ourselves in our perpetual undeveloped states.

Aphorism of the Day, March 5, 2020

St. Paul uses Abraham as a representative of "universal" faith.  He is a patriarch who exists before Israel, Moses and the giving of the law.  His faith was valid, meaning he was justified before God.  The purpose of religious institutions seems to be about declaring people "justified" before God.  This probably means "justified" before the religious authorities who perhaps reduce being justified to being compliant with the rules of the community.  The non-religious crowd of "nones" do not really care about religious community rules where religious institution and political power becomes ever increasingly separated.

Aphorism of the Day, March 4, 2020

The Gospel of John, like other New Testament writings, were written by people who did not conceive of their writings becoming a part of a "canon" of Scriptures, or an agreed upon "textbook" of "inspired" writings exclusively prescribed for the widespread Christian communities.  It was written long after Jesus walked and talked; it was written by people who like Paul believed that they "had the mind of Christ," and thus could through the Spirit "channel" the mind of Christ in written and spoken words in such a ways as to be authentically associated as words Jesus might say if Jesus was still physically present with an accessible voice.  The Nicodemus discourse of Jesus is presentation of how an appeal is being made to a devout Pharisee who is open to new insights.  You must be born again or born from above in T.S.Kuhnian terminology would be "You must make a paradigm switch if you are going to understand the new Christ-definition given to all manner of theological thinking and spiritual lifestyle."  

Aphorism of the Day, March 3, 2020

John's Gospel indicates that Word is God.  And we are told that in a Word product, writing.  John's Gospel is a word product of diverse expressive tropes.  It present the metaphors of equivalence expressed in "difference," e.g. "I am light, Good Shepherd, Life et al."  Word is really an invisible phenomenon and yet it become "made flesh" or embodied in human experience.  And through word, it is reported that word is made flesh.  John's Gospel reveals that human existence is known in the reflexive "play" of language, because by Word we proclaim that we exist with an existence we know because we have words.

Aphorism of the Day, March 2, 2020

St. Paul became the chief apologist for the Jesus Movement, particularly as it was becoming a significant party within Judaism causing consternation in many synagogue communities because of a rather wholescale acceptance Gentiles becoming viewed as those who had genuine faith without being observant of the ritual purity rules of the synagogue.  What is discovered about systems of rules is that compliance is mainly about community identity and being received in specific communities.  Of the Ten Commandments, how many of them rise to juridical significance in the U.S. justice system?  Murder and stealing and lying when it is under oath perjury.  Do we want to make complying with community identity as equal to justification before God?  We must conclude that, God being an omni-clement One, tolerates all of the consequences in a system of Freedom and such clemency is beyond any community of people who purport to speak exclusively on behalf of such an "omni-clement" Being.  It is fine to have the differences of community identities because we are located in special situation with a variety of traditions claiming universal relevancy, and we know the clash and the mutual judging between competitive communities claiming universal relevancy.  This should indicate to us that the omni-benevolent One who tolerates much more than any of us would, reveals only omni-benevolent freedom in the differential manifestations which occur in each situation.  One hopes that in the clash of human manifested "God-systems" when God-metaphors seem to be in conflict that one accepts the identity of a solidarity humbly as a matter of one's temporal location and not as one who has a panorama of everything, as though one could claim to know synchronicity with "Omni-Becoming."

Aphorism of the Day, March 1, 2020

In biblical numerology, 40 is the symbol of testing and the ordeal.  As if, we could actual schedule the test or ordeals which come to us.  Ordeal is the biblical term for accepting the fact of the range of probable occurrences in the field of freedom as discipline.  Lent is a simulated ordeal of training to build the kind of response muscles for the general ordeal of the conditions of freedom.  Accepting the general of freedom which occur with our free choice is the life epic.