Caught in St. Paul's Twilight Zone? Try Being Yoked with Christ

5 Pentecost, A  p 9, July 5, 2020
Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-15
Romans 7:15-25a Matt. 11:25-30

Lectionary Link

Video.  Sermon at 11:53

As Episcopalians we morphed from having been the Church of England in the American Colonies.  So the American Revolution was probably hardest upon the members of the Church of England in the Colonies.  Why?  The Church of England was the Established Church of the British Empire and the King was the Head of the Church.  It was an important feature of the Book of Common Prayer to pray for the King.  When our framers wanted the separation of State and Religion, they were purposefully trying to escape the English practice of established religion.  The revolt in the Colonies was hardest on the clergy; many clergy were Tory clergy and the last to make peace with our independence.

So, Happy Independence Day, Episcopal Church.  Do we mourn the loss of being the favored and established church of our country?  Or do we celebrate the fact that our country was an experiment in government that arrived at some important Gospel and Christly values?

Most Episcopalians are strongly in favor with the separation of church and state, precisely because we know our past.  And we get concerned when many Americans want the government to be specifically a certain kind of Christian rather than be non-aligned with any religious community.

How can we be Christian and Americans at the same time who respect the diversity of beliefs or non-belief of our citizens?

Perhaps, we are familiar with the quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi:  Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary use words.

Many people decry the age of the Enlightenment when Reason and Science replaced God and theology.  I would like to suggest that the Enlightenment was one of the results of the success of the Gospel being preached but not with words, rather in resulting social functions of society.

Love God and your neighbor as yourself.  That is Gospel and Torah.  What embodies that more than the declaration that all are created equal and are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Who was formerly responsible for providing health, education and welfare?  Such were the main diaconal functions of the church.  But what if the church converts entire governments to the role of being concerned about the health, education and welfare for all of the members of society?  Is that the defeat of Gospel values or the triumph?

Some Christians today are disappointed by secular health, education and welfare because it does not have specific Christian sub-titles stamped all over it in with conscious Christian evangelism.  In health, education and welfare, churches can only do band aid efforts in face of such great public needs.  We should be thankful that the governments have been converted to be responsible for the general health, education and welfare to the reach all of our citizenry.  And when we complain that it is not ever done perfectly, what do we want?  Do we want our government to cease to make the efforts on our behalf?

Should we not be thankful that the government adopted a biblical like tithing system of taxes so that the public common good can be taken care of?  With our payment of taxes we are doing the Gospel without words.

How many of us truly appreciate the collateral effects of preaching the Gospel without words which our government actually does for us because of our American values.  Dear ones, let's be thankful and let us not complain, except when we as a collective people are not living up to those "hidden Gospel" values within our American ideals which pertain to the active love of justice and dignity for every human being.

The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Torah are examples of the highly recommended behaviors for good human relationships.  They are such expressions of ideals that they can be experienced as the down side of idealized laws; they continuously remind us of our failures and our need to be better angels to truly fulfill them.

We've read from St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, the section which I call the "Twilight Zone."  Why?  Do,do,do,do, Do,do,do, do, Do,do,do, do, Do,do,do, do.  In the portion we've read,  the word "do" is used sixteen times.  If you were Paul's writing teacher, you would encourage more stylistic variation, but you can understand Paul's obsession with an action verb.  The law stands over his head reminding him that he is not perfect, so how can he tolerate himself as his limps on his way to become better each day?  The intervention of the Risen Christ who becomes his "stand in" perfection while, he walks the path toward perfection.

We, as Americans, over and over again are faced with the utopian ideals of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.  We have legislative bodies to try to provide us laws which approximate these utopian ideals.  We are faced with the obvious fact that people of wealth and power have the ability to finesse our legal system while people who are poor and deprived of full social equality end up being on the harsh punishment side of our legal system.

We want to do liberty and justice for all.  We want to do life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in an equal way for all of our citizens, but alas, we are ever poignantly reminded of our failure.  O, wretched failure that we often are.  Who will deliver us from the consequences of unequal practice of our great American Ideals?  We need the higher power of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit to help us become our better angels toward the ideals of our country.

Although we are not specifically a Christian country, we can say that the values taught by Jesus Christ became expressed in the Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution in expressing a freedom to love God, if we choose, but the requirement that we love our love our neighbor as ourselves, in the most general and complete expression of love, is the practice of justice.

When Jesus came he found a very fickle public.  They criticized John the Baptist who was ascetic and spartan in his habits and his general rebuke of everyone; they criticized Jesus as a glutton and drunkard for eating with publican and sinners.  And what did Jesus say?  He was revealed to the vulnerable.  Who is the most vulnerable?  An infant.  He was saying, if you want to act in the wisdom of God, tend to the vulnerable.  The wonderful "I will give you rest," expression of Jesus reminds me of the ideal stated in the Lazarus poem at the Statue of Liberty, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free....I lift my lamp beside the golden door."  America is the ideal of welcome.  Lady Liberty with the torch says, "We'll leave the light on for you, so you can find your way to welcome."  "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me and you will find rest for your souls."

Today, both the vulnerable and the powerful and the wealthy need the serious help of Christ.  We will not live up to the high ideals of God's law or even our country's ideal, if we try to go it selfishly alone or divide ourselves into tribal groups to perpetuate opposition in our country.  If we want to make progress toward our ideals, we need to be yoked with Christ.  Being yoked with Christ means that we are not absolved from our own agency and effort.  It means when we desire to go in the right direction, we can be sure of the power of Christ, the assistance of a higher power of the arc of justice toward the ideals of God as they are expressed in loving our neighbor as our self.

On this day after our American birthday party, we say, Happy Birthday America and we love you.  We love your high ideals, even if they consistently remind us of our failures.

But as Christians and Americans, let us come to Jesus as the weary ones today, seeking rest for our souls.  Let us take on the yoke of Christ to help us today as we alway live and act toward loving our neighbors as ourselves.  Amen

Sunday School, July 5, 2020 5 Pentecost, A proper 9

Sunday School, July 5, 2020   5 Pentecost, A proper 9

Theme:

Discovering that we have help

What do trains and trucks do?  They carry heavy loads.  Before trains and trucks were invented how did we carry heavy loads?  Heavy loads were place on wagons and carts and they were pulled by animals, like horses, donkeys and oxen.  A really heavy load needed to be pulled by more than one animal.  A yoke was used to keep two animals pulling together.

Jesus used the yoke to talk about getting help in life.  Life can be like a heavy load.  Life can be difficult.  Life can be hard.  Life can be like pulling a very heavy load.  What did Jesus say about life being a heavy load to pull?

He said, “Take my yoke.”  If we can know that someone else is helping us through the difficult and hard times of life then the burden can be easier to bear.

How can we know that we are pulling the hard things of life with Christ?  We can know the strength of God within us as the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit.  Also friends and the church can be in the yoke of our lives.  Other people can help us in difficult times so that we never have to feel alone.

Jesus agreed that life can be difficult.  Sometimes we can only grow through difficult challenges.  Jesus lets us know that the difficulties in life need not destroys, if we discover how we are helped by God and by others.

Jesus said, “Take my yoke.”  This means we have to learn to accept help in our lives.  It also means that if we are with Christ, in the yoke, it means we are help others to pull the difficult loads of their life.

The yoke is a symbol of how we can be kept together helping each other during the difficult things that we have to face in our lives.

Sermon

Does anyone know what a yoke is?

  The yellow part of an egg right?   Egg yolk is spelled different.   What about another yoke?

  If two horses are pulling a wagon, how do the horses stay even?  They wear a harness.  A harness is like a yoke.

  In the time of Jesus, when two oxen pulled a cart, they wore a large wooden yoke around their necks.  This yoke was attached to the cart and it allowed two oxen to pull the cart without one getting ahead of the other.

  So, Jesus told his friends, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

  Sometimes life is hard.  And since life is sometimes hard, we don’t want to be alone.  We want to know that someone else is helping us.

  Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life with no work.  That would make us lazy.   What Jesus promised us is help.

  Jesus promised us the yoke of a community.  In a community, we live helping each other.  Your family is a community.  You live together to help each other, so you don’t have to do all the hard things alone.

  Jesus also promised that we have the life of God’s Spirit within us, helping us too.

  Remember the yoke and the harness.  A yoke is used to help two animals pull together to do the hard job of moving a heavy wagon.

  Remember that we are not alone in the many jobs that we have to do in our lives.  We have family and friends to help us.  And remember we are helping our family and friends too.  And life is easier when we do things together.

   And life is easier when we discover that the life of God is within us helping us to more than we ever thought that we could do.

  Let us be thankful today that we are helping each other today in all of the work that we are given to do in our lives.

   If we just had an easy life, we would not grow and get strong.  In our lives we always have something more difficult to do to help us to grow.  And let us always remember that we have the help of Jesus and the help of each other in all of the difficult things in our lives.

  Jesus said that we should take his yoke upon us.  And he said this as a riddle to let us know that we can find help in life, both within us and from each other.   Amen.

Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 5, 2020: The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah , He’s Got the Whole World,  Eat This Bread,  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: Hallelu, Hallelujah,  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

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 Letter of Paul to the Romans

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.  But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 145

The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, * slow to anger and of great kindness.

The LORD is loving to everyone * and his compassion is over all his works.

All your works praise you, O LORD, * and your faithful servants bless you.

They make known the glory of your kingdom * and speak of your power;

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.

Jesus said to the crowd, "To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, `We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."  At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

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. (chanted)

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.

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: He’s Got the Whole World (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

1          He’s got the whole world; in his hands he’s got the whole wide world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands; he’s got the whole world in his hands.

2          Little tiny babies. 

3          Brother and the sisters  

4          Mothers and the fathers

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of 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: Eat This Bread (Renew!  # 228)

Eat this bread, drink this wine, come to me and never be hungry. 

Eat this bread, drink this wine, come to me and you shall not thirst.

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.

People:      Thanks be to God! 

Aphorism of the Day, June 2020

Aphorism of the Day, June 30, 2020

In the contrast between ministerial styles of John the Baptist and Jesus, public opinion criticized both.  John was an ascetic and was said to have a demon.  Jesus was a social mixer and so he was said to be a glutton and a drunkard and obviously a sinner for not adhering to the rigid separation rules of the purity code.  The critics were the wise and the intelligent of his time.  So, Jesus accessed in people the memorial place of one's birth, the place where one is not so coded with the cynicism of the adult world, and the place of original joy that can be recovered from forgetfulness.

Aphorism of the Day, June 29, 2020

It is a good week to couple the quote from the poem on the Statue of Liberty with the words of Jesus.  "Come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest."  "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free...."  Yes, America has had and can have Christ-like values to live up to.

Aphorism of the Day, June 28, 2020

The presentation of the Good News should be perceived like giving out cold water in a arid place to thirsty people.  Market assessment: Lots of thirsty people in an arid place.  Provide cold water.

Response guaranteed.

Aphorism of the Day, June 27, 2020

The failure of the church to integrate correspondence in the universal patterns of language found within the Scriptures with the same patterns today means that ancient cultural practices have been wrongly forced upon modern persons and the younger people aren't buying it.  Younger people find their universal patterns of language in the many discursive products which have developed out of the "one book."  If the great forerunner piece of literature is to retain status as a revered ancient of days, the users of the Bible who still find in it a wisdom path of transformation are going to have to do a better job of interweaving the universal telling biblical language patterns with the patterns of people's everyday lives.

  Aphorism of the Day, June 26, 2020

The message of Jesus should be the domino effect of "welcome."  "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me" and if each person sent by the motivating love of Christ takes the attitude of welcome as their identity, then there can be not room for racism, bias or prejudice.  The question that people who claim an identity with Christ need to ask themselves if they are properly and honestly representing the welcome and the hospitality of Christ.  The Eucharist instantiates the welcoming hospitality of God in Christ and we should not misrepresent a welcoming God.

Aphorism of the Day, June 25, 2020

One can find in the Epistle to the Romans perhaps most of the foundations of the twelve step program.  St. Paul write the anatomy of the loss of agency through the repeated addictive habits of sin and the restoration of agency with an event of grace by a higher power.  The event of grace is an event of restoration in having the power of agency to begin to make different choices and to built habits of better choices.  Paul's tool box metaphor is meant to give insights into the problem.  The human person is a composite of instruments whose use must be carried out by a craftsperson with enlightened building plans.  One's instruments can be used for self and social destructive means or they can be used for holy creative means.  If the personal agent has got locked into habits of the misuse of his or her instruments the habit becomes like a demonic controlling impulse.  (one of the Greek meanings of daimon was "controlling impulse).  The negative results are so personally felt, it can seem as though a giant person has usurped control in one's life.   This is where Paul used the slave metaphor; one was under the seeming involuntary control of this habit master.  The Grace Event with a Higher Authority is the needed interdiction and intervention to gain the freedom to attain the agency to begin to make choices, one by one and built new habits of benign and beneficial results.  We can be lost in bad habits and not even know it, particular if they don't seem to be "socially unacceptable" behaviors, like the addiction of greed.  Our society actually valorizes people who are really successful at the addiction of greed.

Aphorism of the Day, June 24, 2020

While St. Paul uses slavery as a spiritual metaphor in seemingly binary terms of either being a slave to sin or a slave to God, it might seem like he is denying a spiritual transformational process.  The binary indicates directions on a continuum toward perfectability, which no one reaches as if complete sanctification is something that anyone could ever know, since if one knows that one is sanctified then that is immediately erased by such "prideful" knowing.  Slavery assume that one is owned by another party and one gets caught in a oxymoron in implying one freely chooses to be a "slave" of God.   It would seem that the metaphor for "slavery" has limited "metaphoricity" in its signification.  It might be better to say that one is faced with the lures of different direction, one lure is the habitual tendency ruts of one's long history of acting selfishly, and the other Lure is that of the divine invitation to self-surpassability in being able to be better today than yesterday.

Aphorism of the Day, June 23, 2020

The Gospel assumes the initiation into an identity with Christ and thus the phenomenon of "alter Christus."  "Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me."  Doing, saying, and writing in the Name of Jesus was the expression of this Identity with Christ.  This means it is impossible to distinguish between  any certain historical words in of Jesus of Nazareth, who spoke Aramaic,  and the writers and preachers who preached in his name.  John is called the Divine for being, "in the Spirit," and this is another expression of the mystical Identity with Christ.

Aphorism of the Day, June 22, 2020

In reading the Bible we have to deal with ancient metaphors which rang with a different kind of clarity within their contexts and the gap in correspondence with more modern sensitivities, like the the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham which became a metaphor for the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross by his Father.  The notion that God would need a death as a means of satisfying some "heavenly" sense of "eye for an eye" justice system is an indication that human society projected on God and presented God as such an "eye for an eye" Being.  One can see the liberation from such projection in the arrival at the notion of being "living sacrifices," wherein it is much more beneficial to be alive and "live for others" beyond selfishness, than to be dead, even if sometimes a situation required the laying down of life for another.

Aphorism of the Day, June 21, 2020

The life and words of Jesus can be regarded as parables within parables because they are meant to give comfort, insight and explanation for the pain involved in how the paradigm was painfully changing for those who were excommunicated from the synagogue for their innovations regarding who Jesus of Nazareth was.  It became obvious that the view of Messiah as Suffering Servant or as Davidic Interventionist were incommensurable for the synagogue and the Jesus Movement to remain together.

Aphorism of the Day, June 20, 2020

"Taking up one's cross," seems to be a catch phrase in the Jesus Movement.  It is ironic and indicates how such a terrible event had been tamed to become mystical practice.  In Paul, the cross is something of glory and it had the power to effect inner transformation.  We're so used to the use of the cross as a metaphor of transformation that we forget how terrible such an event of crucifixion actually was.

Aphorism of the Day, June 19, 2020

The perfect peace of God arrived in Jesus as a sword to the complacency of accepting a peace for some and not for the many.  On Juneteenth, the perfect Peace of God still arrives to us as the sword of God's Word in convicting us to unsettle us when our notions of peace tolerate the active harm and discomfort of any of our brothers and sisters.

Aphorism of the Day, June 18, 2020

The proto-message of Gentile Christianity found in the Gospel words of Jesus is that a "prophet is without honor in his own home."  The Gospel hard sayings of Jesus indicating that there is not peace among families because of serious disagreement reveals that the crucible for the birth of the Jesus Movement was the rejection by those who believed that the message of Jesus was not the continuing message of Judaism.  It is hard to avoid the "harshness" of the words which instantiates this response to being rejected by those who believed themselves to be the true heirs to the Mosaic tradition.  One might wish that new paradigms come to be without pain and anger and disagreement but it was not the case with the Jesus Movement.  We have painful disagreements at the heart of the founding of the Movement.  Historically, the expression of such pain expressed in the Gospel story resulted in the mistreatment of Jewish minority communities in "Christian" realms.  The passage of Time among people brings disturbed peace followed by time of settling peace due to community resolution of how to live together in difference, only to be followed by a new unsettling of the previous "peace." 

Aphorism of the Day, June 17, 2020

One has to deal with the koan-like sayings of Jesus in the Gospel.  One of the purposes of the sayings may be like one of the main purposes of John's Gospel: Don't interpret things literally as those the language of the Bible were a mirror of the physical world.  "Those who find their life will lose it."  This is reference to the "soul life" (pseuche) which might involve what is called mind, emotions and volitional.  Why does Jesus not bring peace?  Living in the Time and Change and the Freedom for continual new arising means there can never be a static peace, with oneself or with one's relationship, even the oft regarded static and stable relationship of family.  The peace of Jesus is dynamic in that one has to adjust one's eyes to seeing things as one whirls on the merry-go-round of Time.

Aphorism of the Day, June 16, 2020

One of the modern issue with ancient text is how the language directly or indirectly how attitudes and values have been constituted and acted out in subsequent history.  When we try to "transplant" Jesus in our time and say, "What would Jesus do?," we would conclude that Jesus would not use the word slave as a valid metaphor for the status of any human being.  And while we treat the Bible like Shakespeare in not "altering" an historic text, we have to confront what kind of inhumanity the lack of change in social relationships such biblical words were used to uphold for many, many years.  It is difficult to read these words since they reveal how "enlightened" people often could only echo the tacit social patterns of their settings.  Just like we can't ask why they didn't have Cadillacs in the time of Jesus, it is more painful to ask why did any enlightened person ever tolerate slavery?

Aphorism of the Day, June 15, 2020

For literalists, the words of Jesus can be literally cruel.  "I did not come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword."  "If you want to follow me, you have to take up your cross."  "I came to set family members against each other, especially if you love them more than me."  The mystical purpose of the Gospel is to confuse the literal mind to shock one into knowing the interior zone of the parallel spiritual realm which in practical terms is how we are interiorly constituted by the words which direct what we do, say and write.  We assume that the Gospels were readily available literature to everyone like they are today, but they really were a cryptic program of mystagogy for the initiates upon a path of transformation.  One had to have "ears to hear" and "eyes to see" in order not to be completely turned off by the literal appropriation of all of the "hard sayings" of Jesus.  It is probably not good to read the Gospels unless one is will to have all of the "word furniture" of one's interior life totally rearranged, otherwise one ends up leaving the Gospel completely or presuming to defend it in ways for all the wrong reasons because after all, we live in a "Christian" world.

Aphorism of the Day, June 14, 2020

"Brother will betray brother to death."  History has taught us that in religion and politics, disagreements between parties and thought paradigms can involve conflict leading to death.  The American experiment was supposed to provide a framework in law to allow for peaceful transition in government, and the freedom of worship.  Euro-centric Christians colonized and enslaved and "gave people of color the Gospel," but kept them enslaved even when they had become Christian brothers and sisters loved by Jesus.  Why would Euro-centric evangelists give the Gospel message to people whom they were going to enslave and treat as second class people?  Euro-centric Christianity faces a major crisis in America and Black Lives Matter people are simply asking, "Why can't you love us like Jesus does?"

Aphorism of the Day, June 13, 2020

Persons on the mystical path as readers of the Gospels as mystagogy, should see themselves as living on the spectrum of disciple-apostle, or the learning-teaching/action modes.  We should always be students and teachers.  We learn to be sent to share and teach the highest and best practice.  The irony of the disciple-apostle dynamic is that one does not complete learning until one has taught what one has learned.  How many times do we say, "I really did not learn this until I actively had to teach it to someone else?"

Aphorism of the Day, June 12, 2020

Before the evangelical mission, Jesus observed that there were many sheep without shepherds.  The crowd of vulnerable people who did not have leaders who took notice or care of them was the harvest that Jesus believed to need labors to harvest.  It is a great limitation to reduce the Gospel to getting people to agree with one's own position about God.  Good news arriving to people should first be in the form of dignity and justice rather than about people whom one can persuade about one's belief.  Too often faith as persuasion is seen as getting people to agree with one's own particular faith presentations.  A good meal, a decent living, access to life liberty and happiness in equality is perhaps the prior Gospel to precede any preaching.  Let's start with the active justice of enough to eat and equality as the prior condition to have permission to peddle our particular message.

Aphorism of the Day, June 11, 2020

In one of the evangelical missions reported in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells the evangelists not to go to the Gentiles and the Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of Israel.  Why the exclusivity of the charge reported and written in a time when the church was becoming more Samaritan and Gentile in actual composition?  The writer needs to show through an oracle of the Risen Christ that the people of Israel were given "the first chance" to accept the message of Jesus. What was the punishment to be for not accepting the evangelists message?  It will be worse for the rejectors than it was for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It is sometimes difficult to reconcile the "love your enemy" discourse with a seeming presentation of a "limit to loving one's enemy."  The Gospel rhetoric for a seeming change of paradigms is sometimes very severe for the people who cannot/will not convert to the new paradigm.

Aphorism of the Day, June 10, 2020

It is unavoidable for us to read the Gospel without noticing how the early Christian movements were forged by their perceived opponents, the Jews who remained in the synagogue.  In Hegelian terms when the antithesis phase is prominent the good news is colored with telling the bad news about one's opponent.  The non-converting Jews had their own continuing mission of Judaism in the world which more tolerant people faith have come to acknowledge as having different but equal regard.  So dealing with the opposition which is found in Christian origins can be presented as "paradigm" switch and the continuing need which all people have to have significant paradigm switches in their lives.  There is an "ugly" phase when one tends to speak ill of what one is leaving so as to praise the "surpassing adequacy" of what one is embracing.

Aphorism of the Day, June 9, 2020

In reading about the evangelical missions commission by Jesus for the twelve and the seventy and the record of his interactions with a diverse group of people, we can assume the awareness of Jesus about his charismatic effect and appeal to people and how it was related to the teaching which he offered regarding their well being.  This indicates Jesus was both a "one on one" personal evangelist but also a delegator; he realized the time space limitation of being located in one body.  The early evangelical missions were perhaps the first signs of what might be called "institutionalization" of the Gospel.  Was he to be the founder of a "rabbinical" school?  It didn't seem as though he was attracting the more "scholarly" types.  But he did attract people who found they had an aptitude which their life situation did not allow them to develop before they met Jesus.  If one is trapped in a "family fishing business" with a curious mind then Jesus was the way out, an escape to personal development.  Peter in Rome could not help but think, "I'm a long way from the Sea of Galilee."

Aphorism of the Day, June 8, 2020

It is too easy to use the Gospel to find "proof texts" for why one's current positions are superior to one's "theological opponents" within one's faith community or in another faith community or in no faith community at all.  What and how we selectively choose and explicate from our Holy Book is an indication more of our own projections rather than the original correct meaning of the biblical writing, which is in fact elusive.  If we choose to highlight the "fighting" among religious parties found in the Gospel, then our choice is our projection about how we need to have theological "enemies" to define ourselves today.  We know from the blood and gore of Christian history that "heretics" were burnt at the stake and much worse.  Just because America was formed based upon not allowing religious parties to have the power to burn their perceived heretics at the stake, religious parties still try to use the politics of our country to gain favor and to "harm" opponents.

Aphorism of the Day, June 7, 2020

In valuation, supreme values get pushed out of anthropology into theology almost as the effort for humanity to escape itself because of being plagued with the manifestation of such low values of selfishness and the results.  Theology is utopian thinking in that hope always seems to call us to be better than we think that we can actually be.  Some of us believe it is better to build on what we call hope rather than in despair live perpetually disillusioned lives with each other.

Aphorism of the Day, June 6, 2020

In some classical theology, God cannot be known as God, God can only be known through the energies which emanate from God and that energy was regarded to be One with God's Essence.  In post-modern language based thinking, a signifier always signifies something that is not itself and so it stands in for what it is not.  The signified is not known except through the use of signifiers which are constantly referring to each other in the eternal effort to represent the Signified.  The Signified is always presumed to "exist" without presuming to know the Signified as the Signified.  But the Signified assumes the entire universe of discourse past, present and future and that is something akin to the metaphor of the Word being with God and being God from the beginning.  If one thinks that the mystery of the Trinity is an intellectual "cop out," one can simply note that we resort to meaningful functional mysteries all of the time in our lives because of the endless quest to build the body of signifiers to try to do justice to the ever elusive Signified.  You might say, "but I see the signified, a tree, when I use the word "tree."  Alas, one is only seeing through the taxonomical filtering screen of signifiers in such observation.

Aphorism of the Day, June 5, 2020

"Negative" Theology or apophatic theology is really a Positive or cataphatic theology since everything which comes to language is necessarily "positive."  The Trinity is what might be called a transcendental "Signified" about whom no signifier can adequately represent or be a "stand in" for.  Hence, God is not this or that to the infinity of human language, however we are saying all of this in language and so the Greatness beyond our limited capacity still comes to language and the Name Words for members of the Trinity impart the ultimate value of saying this universe is a "personal" universe even if all "personal" energies are not the same.  There are Great Persons who are personal beyond the way in which we are personal who account for all levels of personality in our world.

Aphorism of the Day, June 4, 2020

A prologue to speaking about the Trinity might be to recount all of the names of God found in the Abrahamic Faiths.  What is the difference between having more than 100 names which cite personal attributes and familial relationship words for God and coming to the exclusivity of Three Equal Persons in the Godhead?  Is the Trinity a coming to the unveiling of specific divine personhood from a field of personal attributes which give the general sense of God as a Person?Or is the main reason that Christians are Trinitarian is because on accepting the validity of the presentation of God in the words of Jesus, the Trinity is simply a matter of how Jesus presented His Relationship with Father and Holy Spirit?

Aphorism of the Day, June 3, 2020

Is it so surprising that we've come to seeing God as a Trinity of Persons?  We are people with language and having language is the essence of being personal because it is always, already basis of inter-communication.  So, as humanity we cannot help but personalize everything through our personal filters.  We cannot pretend we're not personal being even when we think that we are observing/interacting with extra-personal, sub-personal beings.  So what would be better and more superlative is the Super Person whom we assume is the very linguistic ground for an omni-personal universe.

Aphorism of the Day, June 2, 2020

We often think that we're being really profound to say that the Trinity is a mystery and we cannot know how it can be so.  Really?  Isn't everything a profound mystery since we cannot be all-knowing, we have to be agnostic about aspects of all things because an infinite number of things are in an infinite number of relationships with an infinite number of things.  There are enough profound mysteries in our everyday lives so we should not just resort to playing the "mystery" card about the Trinity.  Rather, we should explicate how we believe the Trinitarian personal metaphors are unavoidable in how we live our lives in the life of being languaged-beings and how what we know and don't know comes to language.

Aphorism of the Day, June 1, 2020

In a Pauline benediction, the association of grace with Jesus, love with God the Father, and communion with the Holy Spirit is found.  One could say that God is the unknowable "all that is, was, might have been and will be,"  but then does one choose different words for a "Trinity" of the divine?  We came to settle on Personality for God since if Someone is greater than us as human people, they also must be exalted personalities or they would not be greater than us.