Pentecost and "esprit de corps"

Day of Pentecost  A May 31, 2020

Gen. 11:1-9Ps. 104: 25-32

Acts 2:1-11      John 14:8-17, 25-17  
Lectionary Link

Today is the Feast of Pentecost and we might begin by recounting the meaning and the symbols of this Feast Day.  

Pentecost means fiftieth and on the Christian calendar is the 50th day after Easter.  It parallel as Jewish feast of Shavuot, or feast of weeks which is the day after the 7 weeks after Passover.  So, Judaism and Christianity have Pentecosts but they have diverge with completely different meanings.

In salvation history, Pentecost is seen as the "coming" out day of the Holy Spirit.  If Christ is the Word who is God from the beginning, then the Holy Spirit is the Eternal Word translated and spoken in every language; meaning that Christian faith was a strategic plan to make God, through Christ universally accessible to the world, and it meant that an understanding of God could no longer be exclusive to the synagogue for only the ritually adherent members of the Jewish faith.  Although, we see an uneven chronology about the Holy Spirit because according to the Gospel of John, the 11 disciples did not have to wait until Pentecost to receive the Spirit; Jesus breathed the Spirit on them in the Doubting Thomas encounter.    And those pre-filled disciples were speaking in different tongues on Pentecost.

Pentecost is the healing of the event of the Babel tower, when God confused the languages of humanity because a "united" humanity planned a prideful overthrow of God by building a great city with a great tower unto the heavens.  A polyglot world of people was seen as God's punishment; but in Pentecost the revealing  of the Holy Spirit meant that Christ could be known in all languages and hence it was a celebration of a unity of harmony in differences.  Humanity can indeed be united in the right way and the right way is for everyone to come to know the nature of Christ, the eternal Word within them.

What does the use of metaphors tell us?  It tells us that metaphors reach their limitation when one tries to convert poetry into literalism.  So, what is the limitation of Spirit or Holy Spirit?  What does it mean to say Holy Special Wind or Breath?  Or Holy Dove?  Or Holy purifying Fire?  Or Holy Anointing oil?  When we try to speak of Spirit we just keep adding metaphors and similes; but are we getting to substantial insight about the meaning of Spirit?

As you know, I like to go off the reservation of textbook and cliche theology and doctrine because I'm too curious about how and what Spirit can mean and evoke meaning for me in this post-modern age that has brought us to skepticism of skepticism.

A pragmatic and graspable insight about Spirit, is to understand it as the mystery of receiving the identities of our lives.  Our group identities are mysteries.  What do we call group mystical identity?  esprits de corps.  Spirit of the body.  We experience esprit de corps in families, in nationality, in school and colleges, hometown cities and town, with our sporting teams and in our faith communities.   We experience esprit de corps in any significant identity we come to have in our lives.  We admit that it is something of a mystery about our group identity.  E pluribus unum.  Out of the many, one.  How does this oneness of group identity happen?

To understand spirit, we might look at an entire continuum of kinds of identities.  We know that there can be evil "esprit d'corps, known as mob behaviors.  One can see when dictators and prejudiced leaders can create mob behaviors and people will shout and do hateful things as a group which they would not necessarily do as an individual.  A bad "spirit" can possess a mob.  Other public group identities are more benign or even beneficial.  A sporting event or even a partisan political rally can be benign.  A rally of people supporting a cancer fundraiser or patriotic causes can result in a beneficial group "esprit d'corps."  In the Christian context, the diversity of believers in Jesus gathering and uniting in that belief through prayer, teaching, singing and liturgy represent what we understand to be the Holy Spirit of Pentecost.  The Holy Spirit can be evident in the effervescence of a gathering.  It is the numerical strength in numbers which shows itself in a qualitative palpable feeling of identity among people.  It is expressed as the mystery of experience another person, as in "whenever two or three are gathered in Christ's name," Christ is present and can be known as giving wisdom and insight within the group experience.

The Bible also includes "spirit" and individual personal self-knowledge.  The Psalmist cried out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me."  It is a goal in life to be "pure in heart."  And we know how hard it is for us to know ourselves as being "pure in motives" in all things.  We also know that in the purity code certain people of wildly erratic public behavior deemed as anti-social were said to have "unclean spirits."  Part of the ministry of Jesus was to whisper people to a place of peaceful "cleanliness of spirit."

But further, the Gospels indicate that Jesus not only invited us to know ourselves as children of God in knowing our heavenly Parent, he also promised that his absence would not leave us disconnected from Him or His Father.  He would send, he would breath, he unveiled that knowing of an inner Advocate, a Spirit of Truth who would help us in the task of replicating the life practices of Jesus with us.

The Feast of Pentecost sums up the very best of knowing within ourselves the Clean Heart of knowing the Holy Spirit within us.  The Feast of Pentecost is a celebration of the spark and effervescence which happens when people knowing the Holy Spirit gather together to reinforce their identity with Christ.  Sparks happen.  It is as though everyone's spirit surfaces and then there is an experience of the further identity of knowing Christ in our midst.  This is why we gather.  This is why we miss gathering now.  We want each person's experience of the Holy Spirit to be evident in a physical gathering so as to realize the group identity of being the body of Christ.   As we celebrate being quite different members in gifts and calling, yet finding enlightened and peaceful reciprocity in pooling our spiritual gifts to make Christ known in our world.

Today, we long for gathered effervescence of the Holy Spirit, even while we make the most of our virtual gatherings.  Don't diminish them and their importance.  The entire holy Scriptures are virtual.  We weren't there when Scriptures were written to their specific communities but by the technology of writing, the Scriptures are virtually available to us and they have been important in the transmission of the presence of God and Christ across history.  And who can we give credit to for this transmission of the Good News of God in Christ across history?  The Holy Spirit, of course.

Let us be thankful for the unveiling of the Holy Spirit for us, as the Clean Heart which we can experience within us.  But also let us renew the effervescent group identity of knowing ourselves socially as the Body of Christ.

We say today again, "Come Holy Spirit, our hearts inspire and enlighten with celestial fire."  Let us know the most significant inner Advocate and affirming presence in our lives today.  Amen.

Sunday School, May 31, 2020 The Day of Pentecost A

Sunday School, May 31, 2020    The Day of Pentecost  A

Theme:

Pentecost is the Holy Spirit’s Day

Pentecost is also called the Birth Day of the Church

What is the Bible Story about the Spirit?

In the Creation Story of the Book of Genesis, the Hebrew word for Spirit (ruach) means Wind or Breath.  We know that breathing is a sign of life.  

Wind can erode and shape rocks and mountains and cause waves.

In the Creation Story, the Spirit created by moving over unorganized  stuff and began to bring light, darkness, land, sea, plants, animals, human into being.

Something of Spirit life is found in all of creation

In the Bible story, the Spirit is kind of forgotten for many years even though the Spirit was seen as responsible for anointing leaders, kings, judges, prophets and wisdom teachers for teaching about God.

On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit begins a new era.  We know that we cannot see God and yet God is everywhere.  We may not see the wind but we can see the effects of the wind.  This is what the Holy Spirit is like.  We can’t see the Holy Spirit but we can know the effects of the Holy Spirit.

What are the effects of the Holy Spirit that we can know?  Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control, faith and justice.

If we know the effects of the Holy Spirit we should spend our entire lives in learning how to gain more of the effects of the Holy Spirit, by knowing love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, self-control, faith and justice.

If we allow the fruits of the Holy Spirit to be expressed in the deeds and words of our lives we will be letting the life and the personality of God the Holy Spirit be known in our lives.

This is what we celebrate on the Day of Pentecost

Sermon (using a harmonica)

Do you know what kind of instrument I have in my hand?    It’s called a harmonica?  And do you know how this instrument is played?    It’s played by putting it up to my mouth and blowing.

  How is this instrument different than a whistle?    A whistle usually makes just one sound, but this harmonica can make many different sounds.

  It is a reed instrument.  If we open up the harmonica, we can find many differ little pieces of thin metal and they are different sizes.  Some are short and some are long.

  When I blow air across the short ones a high sound is made.  When I blow air across the long ones, a lower sound is made.

  So if we blow in the correct way, we can play many different notes and different kinds of music.  A harmonica is not like a whistle because a harmonica can make many different sounds.  And we can play many different songs with the harmonica.  We can even bend the notes and make it cry….or we can make it sound like a train.

  What is it that makes the harmonica play?  It is blown air or wind that comes from the lungs.

  Did you know that one of the ways that we talk about God is to call God, the Holy Spirit.  The Special Spirit.  The Special Wind or Breath.  Can you see Wind or Breath?  Well we can see clouds or we can see our breath when it’s cold.

  But we don’t actually see the Wind or Breath.  We know Wind and Breath are here because we can feel and see the movement that is caused by Wind and Breath.  When you blow on a Wind mill, you can see the wind mill turn.

  So today in when we celebrate the Invisible presence of God who is everywhere, just like wind and breath.  

  And we celebrate the fact that God’s wind or breath is within us blowing us…or playing us, just like I blow air into this harmonica to play the different sounds to make music or noise.

  We cannot see God Spirit…But God’s spirit is blowing through us and playing us as music.

  So we need to see ourselves as God’s musical instruments.  All different sizes and shapes, ages, with different appearances, different abilities and gifts.  God enjoys that we are all so different.  Because we’re different God can play lots of different songs through us.

  And what kind of music does God’s breath or Spirit play through us?  We call that music love, joy, peace, faith, self-control, gentleness, patience and all of the other good things that God wants to do through us.  How many of you want to be God’s instrument today?  Do you want the Wind or Breath of God to be blown through you today?

  Today, we remind ourselves that the Breath or Wind of God, the Holy Spirit is filling us today to help our lives be like a beautiful song for God today.  So today we let God the Spirit play a beautiful song through us.  Amen.

Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist

May 31, 2020 The Day of Pentecost 

Gathering Songs: Every Time I Feel the Spirit;  We Are One in the Spirit, Lord, Be Glorified

 Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

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: Every Time I Feel the Spirit, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 48)

Refrain: Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart, I will pray.  O every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I will pray.

1-On Pentecost day, the Spirit came.  The people praised with joyous tongues.  The Spirit came to everyone.  Jews and Gentiles, all the same. Refrain

2-God’s Spirit lives, within the church.  He gives us gifts to build us up.  God’s Spirit fills us with his love.  O blessed Spirit, heavenly dove.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First 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 First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 104

You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth. 

May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; * may the LORD rejoice in all his works.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, `Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil 

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Song: They’ll Know We Are Christians,  Worship and Rejoice, # 595

1-We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.  We are one in the Spirit; we are one in the Lord.  And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.  Refrain: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

2-We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand.  We will walk with each other; we will walk hand in hand. And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land.  Refrain

3-We will work with each other; we will work side by side.  We will work with each other; we will work side by side.  And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each other’s pride. Refrain

4-All praise to the Father, from whom all things come.  And praise to Christ Jesus, his only Son.  And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one.  Refrain

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 our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, 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:    Jesus Shall Reign,   arr. Linda Lamb

                                        Divine Joy Handbell Choir

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: Lord, Be Glorified (Renew!  # 172)

1- In our lives, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our lives, Lord, be glorified today.

2- In our homes, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our homes, Lord, be glorified today.

3- In our church, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our church, Lord, be glorified today.

4- In your world, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in your world, Lord, be glorified today 

Dismissal:    

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

People: Thanks be to God!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Jesus Did Not Want to Be an Only Child!

7 Easter Cycle  A      May 24, 2020

Acts 1:6-14        Ps. 68 

 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11   John 17:1-11     
Lectionary Link

Today is the Sunday after the Ascension.  Houston, there's been a lift off and Jesus has gone out of sight....And where did the early church believe that Jesus went?  They believed that he went into the realm of God to be with his heavenly parent and be a High Priest in the heavenly realm.  And what does Jesus the High Priest do?  He continues to live forever making intercession on our behalf.

In the Gospel of John for today, we've read the true "Lord's Prayer;" the other one is actually the disciples' prayer taught to them by Jesus, and he did teach them to address God as "Our Father."

When we read the Gospel of John, we get the impression that the writer walked with Jesus and was so beloved and close to Jesus that he shared with him his words and thoughts.  And if Jesus is a great High Priest who intercedes for us in heaven, the Gospels also presented him as a man who prayed and interceded for his friends while he lived on earth.

The writer of John really felt so close to Jesus, that he knew how Jesus prayed, so much so that we get a glimpse into the heart of concern of Jesus.  This prayer of Jesus expresses the mystical goal of the Gospel program of John's Gospel.  "Father, I ask that my friends might be one, as you and are one."

We sometimes think that this refers to the unity of the church, and it can and does, but more specifically in John's mystical program, Jesus desires that each person come to know the oneness with the heavenly parent as it has been modeled by him.  

Jesus is saying to his heavenly parent, " Father, I don't want to be an only child....let me have many, many, many brothers and sister.  Let them realize their end in life, which is to know themselves as sons and daughters of God.  That they may be one with you Father, as I am one with with you.

So, how are you and I going to realize and know that we are sons and daughters of God and one with our heavenly parent?

We're going to do what Jesus did.  And what did Jesus do?  He prayed.  We pray because we already have taken up identity within the family of God, as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  What is prayer?  According to our catechism it is living as though all our lives is a continual response to God with words and without words; with unspoken words of our body language in what we do and perform in love and justice.

In John's Gospel, Christ is the Eternal Word from the beginning.  Jesus said that his words were Spirit and life.   And when we make our lives prayer lives, we make our words spirit and life.  We live our lives emulating Jesus who is an intercessor for others.

When Jesus walked this earth, he prayed for his friends.  When Christ rose and ascended, he continues to pray.  And he says to us, " I want to borrow you and your life; I want to pray in and through you continually and make your lives, lives of prayer, and so you will know your true identity as sons and daughters of God, because you will embrace the very same prayer ministry that I have in this world."

Dear friends, don't doubt the image of God on your life.  You belong to God.  And how do you know it and practice it?  You pray, I pray and we all pray, all of the time.  Prayer involves word and Prayer words create.  They name the situation.  They name the need.  They name the normalcy of health and salvation.  They state the deprivation from health and salvation which sin and sickness and this pandemic are.  And words are like votes; if we cast enough of them to invoke health and salvation, we can tip the scales toward majority in the freedom that is in our world and come to realize health.

No matter what happened to Jesus.  He prayed.  Why?  He was one with God the Creator.  And you and I are invited into the priestly ministry of Jesus by living lives of prayer as it has been shown to us by Jesus.

Rejoice today.  We are chlldren of God.  We are one with the Father.  So, let get on with it.  Let get on with making prayer the very vocation of our lives.  Not just table grace prayer or prayer at church; but prayer as our intentional life of responding to God as our Father.  Amen.

Mystical Union? Being a Child of God

7 Easter Cycle A May 24, 2020

Acts 1:6-14 Ps. 68

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11

Lectionary Link

The Gospel of John is significantly different from the other canonical Gospels. It was written later and includes different literary forms. It does not have parables; it does not have exorcisms, it does not have the Bethlehem birth story, and the miracles are called signs but it does have very long discourses and is the most significant "red letter/words of Jesus" Gospel. One of the long "discourses" of Jesus is the long prayer in John, chapter 17, which is in fact, can more likely be called the "Lord's Prayer," than the "Our Father," since the "Our Father," could be called the disciples' prayer. Remember the Gospel process involved persons who believe they were filled with God's Spirit, who had the mind of Christ, and who believed that when they spoke in the name of Jesus, they were channeling his words as an oracle of Christ himself. These oracle words channeled through the early preachers/friends of Jesus were then placed in narrative teaching contexts that became the Gospels. In the Gospel writings, there is a distinction of weaved words from the oral tradition of Jesus of Nazareth and the oracles words of the Risen Christ channeled through the early evangelists. John's Gospel is so distinctly different, it seems to involve more channeled words of the Risen Christ and the word are presented in a mystagogic form as a spiritual program for initiates to be on a transformational path to realize the end and goal of human life.

What is the biblical end and goal of human life? It is to recover and live out the image of God as our heavenly parent. Jesus Christ is the one who God gave to this world to help human being realize themselves as sons and daughters of God.

In the prayer of Jesus, which we read on Ascension Sunday, we have a prayer of Jesus speaking in the past tense about his time on earth. And he states his pray wish for his disciples. "Father, I pray that they may be one, even as you are one in me." This is the mystical goal of life. Jesus, told his disciples, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father." And now he wants it to be, "if you see my disciple, you also can see the Father; that is, you can see the image of God upon their lives as they have come into the power to be children of God."

What did the early Christians believe about the Ascended Christ? They believed that he had attained another state of glory, of profound influential fame, the influential fame of being next to God and interceding on behalf of his earthly friends.

You and I should use the interceding prayers of Jesus like our stairway, ladder or elevator to attain what St. Paul said, "be seated with Christ in heavenly places." This is the spiritual poetry of the early church to speak about mystical union with God in Christ in knowing oneself as a child of God.

John's Gospel is the most profound Gospel about the Fatherhood of God. Many of the words of the Risen Christ in the Gospel oracles are about the relationship between Jesus the Son and God the Father. Jesus is the unique Child, unique Son of God to help us realize, or have the power and authority to be sibling children of God.

In our modern era of coming into a fuller appreciation of the equality of women in our social order, but also into our theological symbols, the seeming limitation of "masculine" designation for the divine can seem starkly excluding of the feminine. And in charity, we need to understand the limitation of cultures of patriarchal dominance. Hebrew Scriptures has feminine designations for the divine, even while the masculine often prevailed because of the heavenly competition with the various goddesses of Canaan. In the old order when microscopic things were not yet seen, the contribution of the egg as equal in child birth was not known, and the masculine was given an omni-competence for generating the whole child, who had merely been planted in "soil" of the womb. In the old order, the masculine was the nature of a child and the feminine was but the nurture of the child. Since Paul wrote that in Christ, there is neither male nor female, but a new creation, we can understand the Fatherhood of God in a more androgynous way, as an omni-competent Heavenly Parent from whom we derived and whom we seek to be one with as we seek to perfectly bear the image of our heavenly parent.

The prayer, "that they may be one," has often been reduced to ecclesiastical policy. It is seen as a prayer of Jesus for the unity of the church. And yet there are so many churches which are not in such unity. I think that this prayer of Jesus has less to do with the administrative unity of everyone who calls themselves Christian; no, it has to do with each person coming into the power of being a child of God and bearing in the best possible way the image of our heaven parent and creator.

This is the daunting task of our lives; to bear the image of God into our world as we have been given the perfect example in the life of Jesus Christ.

And how to we bear the image of God into our world? With the practice of love and justice. What does God look like in our world now? God looks like love and justice as it can come to people in many ways through the practice of people who are seeking to bear and live out the image of God in this world.

Jesus said, "If you have seen me, you have seen the Father." And what did we see in Jesus? Sacrificial love, honesty and justice.

Now this day, on Ascension Sunday, we note the real absence of Jesus of Nazareth from this world. And what is it that takes the place of the absent Jesus of Nazareth?

The Risen Christ says, "If people see you, then they have seen your heavenly parent." Why? Because the prayer of the Risen Christ is always, "Father/Parent, make them one as you are one in me."

Let us use the power of the prayer of Christ for us, to realize ourselves as children of God today. Amen

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