Sunday School, May 9, 2021 6 Easter B

 Sunday School, May 9, 2021      6 Easter B

Theme:

Jesus came to start a friendship organization.

Jesus called his disciple friends.

His disciples were his students.

When they reached at certain level of training, Jesus gave them a graduation ceremony.

He told them, “You are no longer a servant or student, you are my friend.”

Why is this important that the disciple/students received their friends diploma?

As friends of Jesus, they were going to stay around after Jesus was gone.  Jesus knew that he was leaving and he trained his disciples to become his trusted friends.  As friends, they would be the teachers in charge of training new students.

Jesus called his disciples “friends” because he believed him them.  He knew that he could trust them to help build the friendship groups called the church.

All of us are to be students of Jesus.  We are supposed to learn and grow and we are supposed to be the friends of Christ who he can trust to become teachers for others.

When you study you follow rules.  Jesus gave his disciples rules or commandments to follow so that they could graduate from his class and become teachers who were his trusted friends.

Let us remember that we are disciples of Jesus and we are following the commandments and rules of Jesus because we love him and we want to learn from the rules and the commandments of Jesus.  Why?

So we can be the trusted friends of Jesus and we can graduates and become teachers for other people to follow the rules and commandments of Jesus.

Sermon on the kinds of Love

In our reading from the Bible today we have read the best definition of God.  How do we talk about?  What do we say God is like?

  The best definition of God is to say: God is love.  Can you say that?  God is love?  Do you know what love is?  Yes, you do.  You know that your parents love.  And they will love you no matter what you do.

  But we need to understand what love is.  Did you know that in the Greek language, there are four words for the one English word love?

  The first word is storge.  Can you say that? Storge  means to like the things and people that are familiar to us.  We tend to like what we do everyday because if we didn’t,  we would stop doing it.

  The next word for love is eros.  Eros means desire.  And desire is a very important love.  We know desire because it is like when God made the world, God plant something in us like magnets.  And some thing like a magnet within us makes us need and like some things and some people.  When you are thirsty?  Some thing like a magnet within you attracts you to what?  Water. When you are hungry, some thing in you attracts you to what?  Food.  What you and I need is like a magnet within us and it attracts us to what can satisfy our need.  And people like all animals need to survive, and so we also need to be married and create babies so there will always be enough people.  That is the love call eros.

  Another love is phileo.  Can you say that?  Phileo is a kind of love that we have for our friends.  It is the kind of love that we have in our play and in our hobbies.  Why do some people like sports but not gardening?  Why do some people like to play with dolls and not trucks?  Why do some people like princesses and not super-heroes?   Why do you choose to play with some children and not others?  Why do some people like horses, but not snakes

  Storge, Eros and Phileo love are good loves.  But they need another love to help them work best.  How are you going to treat the people that you don’t like?  Some times our liking does not last very long.  We may like our friend, but if we get in an argument with them…we may say, “I don’t like you anymore.”  What happens to our love when we say that?  Why does our love go away so suddenly?  And how do people get treated when our love goes away?

  That is why, we need another kind of love.  We need a love that is called agape.  This is the love that is inspired by God.  This is the love that God has for us.  And this is love that God gives to us, if we will receive it.

  God loves people that we don’t like.  God loves things in this world that we don’t like or don’t think to take care of.

  God commands us to love our neighbor.  When?  Not just when we feel like it.  We have to love our neighbor even when we don’t like them, and they have to love us even when they don’t like us.  Why?  Because this kind of love protects us.  It protects everyone equally.  This kind of love is more than a feeling. Jesus commanded this kind of love because he wanted us to practice  respect and fairness for everyone.  And this is kind of love that God wants us to know.  Sometimes it is hard to love someone that you don’t know or like, but we need to love in this, because this kind of love protects us and everyone.  This is the love that God asks us to learn.  Are you willing to learn this kind of love today?

God will help us.  Today we celebrate special people in our lives who have a special love for us.  We celebrate our mothers.  Their love is special because they love us even when we do not behave our best.  The love that God has for us is like the love that our mothers have for us.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

May 9, 2021: The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Gathering Songs: Sing a New Song, Peace before Us, What Wondrous Love, I Love You Lord

Song: Sing a New Song (Renew!  # 21)

Refrain: Sing a new song unto the Lord; let your song be sung from mountains high.  Sing a new song unto the Lord, singing Alleluia.

Yahweh’s people dance for joy; O come before the Lord.  And play for him on glad tambourines, and let your trumpet sound.  Refrain

Rise, O children from you sleep, your savior now has come.  He has turned your sorrow to joy, and filled your soul with song.  Refrain

Glad my soul for I have seen the glory of the Lord.  The trumpet sound; the dead shall be raised.  I know my Savior lives.  Refrain

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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; 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: 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 John

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 98

Sing to the LORD a new song, * for he has done marvelous things.

Shout with joy to the LORD, all you lands; * lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

Sing to the LORD with the harp, * with the harp and the voice of song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn * shout with joy before the King, 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 John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to his disciples, "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

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

Song:  Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love and Praise, # 791)

1          Peace before us.  Peace behind us.  Peace under our feet.  Peace within us.  Peace over us.  Let all around us be Peace.

2          Love, 3 Light, 4 Christ

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.

Holy 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 anctify 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: What Wondrous Love (Renew! # 277)

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul.  What wondrous love is this O my soul.  What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul. To bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down sinking down.  When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.

To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing.  To God and to the lamb I will sing.  To God and to the lamb who is the great I AM—while millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing, while millions join the theme I will sing.

And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on.  And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on; and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be, and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.

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: I Love You Lord (Renew! # 36)

I love you Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, O my soul, rejoice. 

Take joy, my King, in what you hear:  May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

Repeat

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Christ is the Vine; Organic Mysticism

 5 Easter     B  May 2, 2021
Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22:24-30
1 John 4:7-21  John 15:1-8

Lectionary Page

The writer or writers of John's Gospel was one who used lots of metaphors, particularly as they came from the oracle words of Jesus.  In High School English we learned the difference between metaphors and similes.  The proverbial hippie spoke in similes using his favorite word: like.  Everything was like this, like in love, like heavy, like groovy, like far out.  A simile is when there is a comparison of likeness whereas a metaphor is when the comparison is a directly implied identification.  I am the Good Shepherd, not I am like the Good Shepherd.  And today's metaphor from the oracle speech of Jesus in the Gospel of John is:  I am the Vine; you are the branches.

The Gospel of John begins with perhaps the metaphor of metaphors.  Christ is the Word who is God from the beginning.  So Word is God from the beginning.  Word creates the signification system of relationships.  Word creates the possibility of communication which is the essence of relationship.

Christ is presented as the supreme communication event between God and humanity.  And to speak of Christ was to use the superlative of every human attribute.  Or to use the perceived functions of plant growth processes to speak about the relationship of connection between Christ and us.

What does a vine, trunk, or stem do?  It connects the branches and the fruit with the source of life which comes from the roots in the ground.  And of course, branches with leaves help to collect and process sunlight for plant growth as well.

So who is Christ?  Christ is the connecting Vine of God with human life.  This metaphor comes from what I would call the cosmic organic mysticism of John's Gospel.

What does organic mysticism mean?  It means that we are connected with the divine life.  God as the creator is an organic creator, creating the paradise of a garden with the very divine image of God in Adam and Eve being the chief plants of the garden of Eden.

And what does the epic of Adam and Eve reveal?  The same thing which the epic of every man and every woman reveals?  We each become alienated in our connection with the Holy Sap of God's creating energy.

We forget that we are branches which have grown from divine stock; we pretend we are self made or socially made or psychologically determined by our environments.  We forget the organic mysticism of life; namely, we are always already connected in and through God.

The Post Script Epistles to John's Gospel provide us with perhaps the greatest metaphor for God, by proclaiming, "God is Love.  God is Love.  God is Love."  And if we are to be rightly connected with the creator of the universe, we too are going to have to be love as much as we possibly can.

I don't mean just the kind of syrupy love of every Country Western song; I mean the profound connecting love on which the entire connection of the universe depends.

If Christ is the Vine and we are the branches and the Father is the Gardener, then it is Holy Spirit Love which is the living connecting flowing sap of the energy of God.

What insights can we can from this metaphor of organic mysticism?  First, we are connected with God whether we want to accept it or not.  Second, we have a choice to choose to interpret our relationship with God in this way.  How does the Gospel state this?  Through the oracle words of Jesus:  "Abide in me as I am in You."  

You and I are connected with God whether we want to be or not; what we have the choice about is to accept this connection and obey the realization of abiding in Christ as the one who connects us best with God who is love and who wants us to accept the flow of this love into us as branches of divine life.

So it makes a difference whether we choose to abide or not.  We have the freedom to interpret our lives as connected with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit of Love.  Or we can ignore this completely and interpret the reality of life as impersonal energy and chemicals of existence which comprise us.

We, who believe the Gospel, believes that it makes a difference whether we believe that God is love and that love is the connection between ourselves and Christ who is the personification of the love of God to us.

We believe that it makes a difference in understanding that God is love and that Holy Spirit Love is how we abide and remain connected to the cosmic Christ who is the source of what enlightened humanity is to be.

Let us receive this organic mysticism of John's Gospel to inspire us to "abide" in Christ.  Let us choose to remain connected with our Christ nature which can proclaim through our lives the belief that God is love.

Let us choose to interpret the essence of God as love and abide in that love as the good news which we have to offer in this world.  Amen. 

Aphorism of the Day, April 2021

Aphorism of the Day, April 30, 2021

A metaphor is used to give insights based upon a "false equivalency."  Is Jesus, actually Word, Light, Shepherd, Resurrection, Gate, Truth or Lamb of God?  No, but a metaphor using the verb "to be" is used to present an "as if" equivalency in identity for expressive meaning.  To read the Bible, one has to understand the use of "false equivalency" in identity metaphors using the verb "to be."  Expressive meaning is one of nuances of poetic meaning and such meanings are made crude if literalized or assumed to be instances of "empirical verification."    The Gospels are mainly expressive language about the special uniqueness of Jesus, with whom the writers had a loving relationship.

Aphorism of the Day, April 29, 2021

With a metaphor one can project human-like volition on a branch as in the metaphor, "I am the vine, you are the branches.....abide in me."  A literal branch does not have volitional capacity to "abide."  A branch made human with the magic of metaphorical projection means that the impersonal "inter-plant" relationship between two parts of a plant, vine and branches, are anthropomorphized to provide insights about the connectedness necessary for vital relationship between Christ and his follower.  This is sheer mystical imagination since the Risen Christ in whom one is to abide cannot be seen nor can the sap of the abiding energy of God's Spirit be seen.  Yet this poetic play is meaningful for the mystic.

Aphorism of the Day, April 28, 2021

If one does not appreciate differentiation in discursive practice, one can be led into the loss of "truth traditions," such as the value of empirical verification and eye-witness reporting.  A person who tries to live by poetic metaphors alone or by magical realism comes to lose the boundaries between genres.  This accounts, in part, for what one is willing to believe in terms of conspiracy theories, because at the heart of one's religion one had falsely made metaphorical teaching narrative into eye witness reporting of "fact based" events, instead of faith based teaching events.

Aphorism of the Day, April 27, 2021

The Vine-Branch metaphor in John's Gospel involves the anthropomorphizing of a plant.  Jesus is the Vine, people are the branches who have the volitional ability to abide in the vine.  This might be an "over-anthropomorphizing" of a plant since the branches of a grapevine do not have the high degree of "choice" as a person does.  One must appreciate how metaphors provide insights even as one understands to literalize a metaphorical comparison leads one to logical absurdity.

 Aphorism of the Day, April 26, 2021

The vine-branch connection is presented as a metaphor of connection.  It is offered with the injunction: "Abide in me."  This is the organic mysticism of the writer of John's Gospel.  By the very definition of God, one has no choice about whether one would be contained by or live in God; the question of faith has to do with whether one wants to interpret this as being in an infinite impersonal existence or whether the personal existence which we know ourselves to have in relational contexts derived from a greater sense of cosmic relationship.  As language users, we have the freedom to choose our interpretations of what we regard ultimate reality to be.

Aphorism of the Day, April 25, 2021

David as a shepherd-king wrote the metaphor of God as his shepherd to characterize how he believed God to regard him.  David analogizes God; I care for my sheep; God cares for me better than I care for my sheep.  David the shepherd-king became the chief model for messiah and so Jesus, not a shepherd but a carpenter's son, became seen in the mode of David, the shepherd-king messiah.  After the Risen Christ became "all and in all," there was no metaphor which could not be applied to the one who was also identified with eternal Word.  If one is eternal Word and all and in all, then a carpenter's son can also be a shepherd.

Aphorism of the Day, April 24, 2021

Probably AI, artificial intelligence can never attain the incredible numbers of linguistic states which language users attain in time.  AI language may continue to build volume of language use and then "come up with combinations," and with such a volume might be able to "fool" human language users often, but the subtlety of the switch of discursive codes by a human user is perhaps impossible to replicate in AI.

Aphorism of the Day, April 23, 2021

Jesus was neither a lamb or a shepherd in life but he became that in the metaphors of the traditions that derived from people who looked for ways to explicate the meaning of his life for them.

Aphorism of the Day, April 22, 2021

Language is mostly used strategically to speak on behalf of a "subject position," i.e. defending, promulgating, justifying something that pertains to personal well-being or what one believes to be the rightness or advantage of one's cause.  This assumes the esteem of believing in oneself.  The language of the justification of oneself or causes does not always reveal the motive in the actual language products.  The inner crucible of the production of a language product is often mysterious and hidden.

Aphorism of the Day, April 21, 2021

One of the habits of language which can occur when reading a "classic" text like the Bible is that we are so foreign to the distant past contexts, we easily get locked into just sheer translation of an ancient word to a modern word in our own language as though there could be a one-to-one correspondence without all of the language nuance which happens within one's own native contemporary language.  This explains why a "classic" and "holy" book gets read in its "plain" meaning because we are frightened by the poetic imaginations which might untether meanings from what our staid traditions tell us what it is "supposed to mean."  And so we diminish the language intelligence of biblical writers as we unwittingly assume they did not know the difference between commonsense observation and poetry and artistic discourses of all types.  Even a young boy wearing his Superman pajamas knows that if he jumps off the top bunk, he will not fly but fall.  Let's not make biblical writers less evolved than a young child in their language to experience correspondence.

Aphorism of the Day,  April 20, 2021

One of the results of modern science for Bible readers is that it made Bible readers ashamed of being poets who use the language of metaphors in different ways than the language of scientific laws.  To hyper-correct to the acknowledgement of the "superiority" of scientific truth, many biblical readers began to defend their poetic metaphors as that which was completely empirically verifiable.  The way in which poetic metaphors are verifiable is when word becomes flesh in moral action and the experience of the higher power experience of self-control.  Moral actions which derive from moving biblical metaphors are empirically verifiable; there is no reason to trade poetic metaphors in for what they are not, even the metaphor of fantastic prose narrative about the life of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, April 19, 2021

The biblical poets take poetic license with metaphors; contradiction is not an issue as in Jesus being both Good Shepherd and Lamb of God at the same time.  With the poetry of contradiction, one poetically can chew gum and walk at the same time.  But we need not confuse the metaphors of poetry with the stark empiricism of naive realism.  The physical eyes see empirically; the poetic eyes see from the heart which contains endless morphable metaphors.

Aphorism of the Day, April 18, 2021

The post-resurrection Eucharists bespeak that Christ is not just "out there" but "in here."  One consumes bread and wine; they become us integrated in our bodies just as we "consume" what is outside of us and it becomes integrated within us or it can become an irritant within us.  The point of Christ outside and Christ inside is the process of receiving a spiritual identity whereby the identity with Christ becomes the "regulating" identity of our lives, as it were, filtering our human experiences of what is outside becoming what is inside.

Aphorism of the Day, April 17, 2021

America has perfected the art of "eating alone," with fast food and eating on the "run."  The post-resurrection eating of Jesus was the early church indicating that in fellowship eating, there was another Presence experienced, the hidden Christ known in the communal joy and love and kindness and peace, which happens when hearts are tuned-in to the Agape events.

Aphorism of the Day, April 16, 2021

Jesus proves his "real post-resurrection" presence by eating fish.  The Gospel stories of post-resurrection eating were ways of indicating the presence of Christ in the intentional eating events in the community also known as Agape meal or Eucharist.  The gathered intention to eat to know the presence of Christ was shown in the Gospels under the narratives of Christ in various ways.

Aphorism of the Day, April 15, 2021

We err like Irenaeus did by privileging the plain reading of New Testament writings, by assuming that they did not know the difference between what we would call eyewitness journalism and poetic metaphorical writing.  The physical accounts are used as a metaphors to indicate that the spiritual experiences of the Risen Christ are "really real" experiences, just as real as "being there" type of experience.  They are real but different.

Aphorism of the Day, April 14, 2021

Christianity arrived at scientific scorn because things like the resurrection have been presented as empirically verifiable events, because of the tacit assumption that scientific truth is superior truth, rather than just a different truth.  Once the truths of faith, love, aesthetics, and poetics are affirmed as equal but different meaningful truth with different life applications, then one admits how it can be fully human to be a person of faith and poetics and science at the same time.  The moral: Quit defending faith truths in the wrong way so that a scientist need nor be offended by other meaningful truths.

Aphorism of the Day, April 13, 2021

The Gospel writers believed that resurrection was a "beautiful and moving truth;" not just because they were able to experience a significant continuity of Jesus on both sides of death, but they were also hopeful to promote their own personal continuity beyond their own future graves.  The beauty of this resurrection art is that it inspires hope to live in the always already completely "unfinished" process of one's life and the life of the entire universe.  The resurrection announces that it is "ok" to be unfinished.

Aphorism of the Day, April 12, 2021

A biblical method of establishing the valid meaning of some is to use the metaphor of physicality or empirical verification to indicate that something is really "real."  The Risen Christ in his appearances eats fish to "prove" he is real.  But of course, eating occurs and is real in visionary states, just like eating is real when it occurs within a dream.  One does not deny the validity of a dream or what happens within a dream, even though dream state is compared with waken state.  In the post-resurrection appearances of Christ, both Christ and those to whom he appeared were in an enlightened state.  This is indicated by the record of people being in or out of the state of being able to recognize the Risen Christ.  It is explained as he "opened the eyes" of the beholder of the Risen Christ.  "Seeing Christ," depends upon the state of the one who sees.  To deny the resurrection appearances of Christ is to deny the enlightened states of such encounters.  That makes as much sense as denying dreams and everything that happens within them under the dreaming scenario.  It is silly to say that things don't happen in dreams.  It is silly to say things did not happen in "enlightened encounters with the Risen Christ."  But it is silly to say that everyone had these encounters to verify what those who said they had such encounters.

Aphorism of the Day, April 11, 2021

How could the early church know that the Risen Christ was still with them?  The Doubting Thomas story addresses this.  The experience of peace, the practice of the forgiveness of sins and the experience of the Holy Spirit is how the churches believed that Christ continued with them as another presence.  And in John's Gospel, Word is God, Word of Jesus are Spirit and Life as Godly presence, Word about Jesus became the Spirit of the written text which evoked the presence of Christ resulting in belief.  This is the nutshell summary of the Doubting Thomas story.

Aphorism of the Day, April 10, 2021

The "earthly" personality of Jesus gets diluted within the plethora of the Risen Christ, as the All and in All.  The particular becomes lost in the general and the general returns in the particular when like one can say like Paul, "Christ lives in me."  "Christ" is the "Messiah" or the anointed.  The Jesus of History returns to the General Anointed to be omni-available for particular human experience of the divine.

Aphorism of the Day, April 9, 2021

Are the good ol' days when Jesus walked the earth better than the days when he is no longer seen?  The Doubting Thomas story is how the church adapted in making the "real absence of Jesus into the real presence of Christ" in manifold ways, including through the writing of the Gospel words.

Aphorism of of the Day, April 8, 2021

After it is written that Christ is all and in all, it makes no sense to limit the presence of Christ to Word and Sacrament.  Once one believes that Word and Sacrament exhaust the presence of the Christ, one has wandered in a kind of idolatry and lost the purpose of the sacraments which is to promote the sacramentality, the mysticality of Christliness that corresponds to the image of the Maker/Originator upon all beings.

Aphorism of the Day, April 7, 2021

If Christ is All and in All, what does real presence of Christ mean?  Apparent presence, receptive presence, presence as being in the eye of the beholder?  If anything, the resurrection of Christ meant the morphing of Christliness into the potential for every occasion to be Christ behind the curtain of visible reality for any beholder.

Aphorism of the Day, April 6, 2021

The Doubting Thomas story was presented by the Johannine community to encourage people who never walked with Jesus regarding the significance of their own spiritual experience.  Thomas saw and touched, you didn't, blessed are you, and blessed are you who come to belief even through reading words about Jesus.  Why? Words can evoke insightful presence of Spirit, peace, and forgiveness.  Such characterize valid divine presence.

Aphorism of the Day, April 5, 2021

The Doubting Thomas story is interesting because it is a writing which promotes itself.  "These things are written...."  This represents an institutional paradigm shift from a rather inexact passing of the "oral tradition about Jesus and what he said."  Inexact because oral traditions are not like "fixed" text; they get "re-oraclized (a new word) in new applications to new situations.  This makes oral tradition transmission very "fluid," and so the "fixing" of the tradition by putting it in the memory technology of writing represents a new phase of institutionalization.  Ironically, it is a return to what happened in Judaism in the coming to text of their traditions in "holy Scriptures" and when in text it seems "fixed," it is not fixed because commentary traditions keep it a living text in new applications.

Aphorism of the Day, April 4, 2021

With Easter hope, we cannot rewrite the past events of our lives; they remain as they were and as they were processed at the time.  What we can rewrite are the meanings of past events filtered through better subsequent events which with reconciliation and redemption can render more hopeful outcomes.

Aphorism of the Day, April 3, 2021

Holy Saturday commemorates a liminal threshold time when those who have lost their best friend ponder the reality of life never being the same again with the one they have loved.

Aphorism of the Day, April 2, 2021

The "Good" of Good Friday, is that the cross of Christ can not be separated from the resurrection.  The Cross is on revisited from the perspective of the resurrection.

Aphorism of the Day, April 1, 2021

On Maundy Thursday, rather get caught up in liturgical minutiae about how to do it "correctly," one can note the main principles.  The institution of the gathering meal for Christians when the esprit de corps would result in the presence of the one who originated the purpose of the meal for the future physical social reality of the church.  And if the Jesus as teacher and mentor served, then service is what makes the church survive because service is what continually reconstitutes the "church."

Quiz of the Day, April 2021

Quiz of the Day, April 30, 2021

Who said, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye....?"

a. Paul

b. Peter

c. Jesus

d. Barnabas

Quiz of the Day, April 29, 2021

"Blessed are the poor in spirit" as contrasted with "blessed are the poor," is found in which version of the Beatitudes?

a. Mark's

b. Matthew's

c. Luke's

d. John's

Quiz of the Day, April 28, 2021

Which Gospels include the "Beatitudes?"

a. Mark and John

b. Matthew and Luke

c. Matthew and Mark

d. Mark and Luke

Quiz of the Day, April 27, 2021

"The souls of the righteous are in God's hands," a recommended reading for a burial, is found where?

a. Job

b. Psalms

c. 1 Corinthians

d. Wisdom

Quiz of the Day, April 26, 2021

Which Gospel is believed to be the first Gospel written?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, April 25, 2021

Where is it written that God did not create "death?"

a. Genesis

b. Psalms

c. Revelations

d. Book of Wisdom

Quiz of the Day, April 24, 2021

Daniel was thrown in the lions' den during the reign of what king?

a. Nebuchadnezzar

b. Cyrus

c. Xerxes

d. Darius

Quiz of the Day, April 23, 2021

Which prophet served three different kings in two different countries?

a. Elijah

b. Elisha

c. Daniel

d. Hosea

Quiz of the Day, April 22, 2021

What did the "handwriting on the wall" mean?

a. the end of the Babylonian empire

b. the rise of the Persian Empire

c. the rise of Alexander the Great

d. a and b

e. a and c

Quiz of the Day, April 21, 2021

The famous "handwriting on the wall" was interpret by whom for whom?

a. Daniel for Nebuchadnezar

b. Daniel for Darius

c. Daniel for Belshazzar

d. Judas Maccabeus for Antiochus Epiphanes

Quiz of the Day, April 20, 2021

Where is it written that "God is love?"

a. John

b. 1 John

c. 2 John

d. Psalms

Quiz of the Day, April 19, 2021

Where is the term "antichrist" found in the Bible?

a. 1 John

b. 2 John

c. Jude

d. Revelation

e. all of the above

f. a and b

Quiz of the Day, April 18, 2021

Which biblical ruler had a dream about going temporarily insane?

a. Darius

b. Cyrus

c. Saul

d. Nebuchadnezar

Quiz of the Day, April 17, 2021

Which Gospel does not include an account of the temptation of Jesus?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, April 16, 2021

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were punished in what way by refusing to reverence a statute of the emperor?

a. hung

b. crucified

c. thrown into a fiery furnance

d. put into prison

Quiz of the Day Day, April 15, 2021

The metaphor for a flaw as having "feet of clay" comes from a dream of what ruler?

a. Xerses

b. Darius

c. Cyrus

d. Nebuchadnezzar

Quiz of the Day, April 14, 2021

The longest prayer of Jesus is found in which Gospel?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, April 13, 2021

Who are the two most famous interpreters of dreams in the Bible?

a. John the Divine

b. Zachariah

c. Joseph, spouse of Mary

d. Joseph, son of Jacob

e. Daniel

f.  a and e

g. d and e

h. a and d

Quiz of the Day, April 12, 2021

Of the following prophets, which would be the most likely vegetarian?

a. Ezekiel

b. Daniel

c. Isaiah

d. Hosea

Quiz of the Day, April 11, 2021

Which of the following is not true about Thomas the Apostle?

a. he is regarded as an apostle to India

b. he has a non-canonical Gospel attributed to him

c. he was called the Twin

d. he is listed only in the four Gospels

Quiz of the Day, April 10, 2021

Which was not a place for a post-resurrection encounter with the Risen Christ?

a. the Temple

b. Mount of Olives

c. Sea of Galilee

d. Road to Emmaus

Quiz of the Day, April 9, 2021

The Paraclete is 

a. the Comforter

b. the Advocate

c. the Holy Spirit

d. the Holy Ghost

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 8, 2021

"Dem Dry Bones," a song composed and written by "Lift Every Voice and Sing," composers, John Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson, is based upon a vision of what prophet?

a. Isaiah

b. Jeremiah

c. Ezekiel

d. Daniel

Quiz of the Day, April 7, 2021

"I am the vine, you are the branches;" where are these "metaphors" written?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, April 6, 2021

The story about Doubting Thomas is found in which Gospel?

a. Thomas

b. Mark

c. Matthew

d. Luke

e. John

Quiz of the Day, April 5, 2021

Which prophet composed a prayer when he was inside the belly of a fish?

a. Jeremiah

b. Amos

c. Jonah

d. Obadiah

Quiz of the Day, April 4, 2021

Where was the blood of the Passover lamb placed?

a. on the foreheads of the firstborn sons

b. on the wrists of the firstborn sons

c. on the lintels of the door posts of homes

d. sprinkled on the feet of the family patriarchs

Quiz of the Day, April 3, 2021

"I know my Redeemer lives," is found where?

a. Job

b. Handel's Oratorio, "Messiah"

c. Psalms

d. Jeremiah

e. Lamentation

f.  d and e

g. a and b

Quiz of the Day, April 2, 2021

Which Passion account is usually read on Good Friday?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. JohnQuiz of the Day, April 1, 2021

From what word does Maundy derive?

a. mauldin

b. mundane

c. mandatum

d. meander