Sunday School, August 8, 2021, 11 Pentecost, B proper 14

Sunday School, August 8, 2021   11 Pentecost, B proper 14

 

Sunday School Themes

In the Epistles there is good advice on how to live together well with other people:

1-Don’t be bitter.  What does that mean?  It might that we might get angry and disappointed when we don’t get our way all of the time.   How can we keep from getting bitter?  We need to learn how to share and we need to learn that sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we don’t and we need to learn how to accept not getting everything that we want when we want it.  If we learn patience, then we can avoid being bitter.

2-Don’t be angry.  Anger often happens because we don’t have patience.  We don’t know how to wait our turn.  When we live with other people we have to share lots of things.  And if we learn sharing then we can learn not to be anger.  You may want to talk about good anger and bad anger.  What would good anger be?  We might be mad when people are hurting someone.  That is a good anger.   Bad anger is when we get mad because we don’t want to share or take turns.

3-What is wrangling?  Wrangling is always arguing about things.  Sometimes we are always arguing because we don’t want to share or we don’t want to agree with other people or we don’t want to accept the good things that they have to do and say.

4-Don’t slander.  Slander is when we say something bad about someone which is not true and we say it in order to hurt them.  We might call someone a “cheater” because we might  be jealous when they win a game.

5-Put a way malice.  Malice is when one might wish bad things for someone or do things purposely to hurt another person.  If we can accept that God loves us for who we are, then we don’t need to wish bad things for anyone.

There is also a list of good and recommendable attitudes and behaviors

1-Be kind to one another.  Think about what kindness is for you and for others

2-Be tender-hearted.  This means that we don’t treat each other harshly or rudely but being tender means that we try to please other people by doing things for them which we know that they enjoy.

3-Forgive one another.  Each of knows that we are not perfect and we still need to grow and to learn how to be better and so we need to forgive each other as we are trying to be better each day.  If we think that it is hard to forgive then we need to remember that people did some very bad things to Jesus and he still forgave them.  We need to look to Christ as the example of forgiveness.

4-We need to live in love with one another and love means that we make sacrifices.  The sacrifices which we make means that we share and we help each other do our best and we do it all together.

The Gospel is again this week about the riddle of how Jesus is the bread of heaven.  We eat bread and food to grow strong but we know that by eating bread it will not prevent us from dying some day.  We know that there are parts of our life which will die.

Jesus reminds us that there are parts of our lives which will not die.  It is the inside part of ourselves the Spirit.  And we need to feed the part of ourselves which will never die, the part of ourselves which will live forever.

That is why Jesus said that he was like bread that one could eat and live forever.  When we hear and follow the words of Jesus we are eating the words of the bread of heaven which will help us live forever because those words of Jesus are the words which build our spiritual lives, the part of us that will live forever.

Here is a children’s sermon about relating the Holy Eucharist to the feeding of the five thousand and understanding how our communion is related to giving all people enough to eat.

  What if I were to order pizza today for everyone but I only ordered one kind of pizza, all pizza had anchovies on them.  Would you eat my anchovy pizza?  What are anchovies?  They are little fish and many people like them but many more people don’t like them.  But what if I said, everybody has to eat anchovies, would that be fair?  You might say, well more people would eat just plain cheese pizza so why can’t we have that?  But even if we had cheese pizza some people might not like that.

  If I took a food survey do you think that I could get everyone to agree about a food?   How many people like candy?  Not everyone does and some people cannot eat it.  How about cake?  How about broccoli?  How about pickled herring?  How about fish?  How about ham?  How about rattle snake?  How about bread?  Well, not even bread is liked by everyone? 

  If I cannot get us to agree about what food we like, what can I get us to agree about?  How about this?  Will you agree that everyone needs food to live?  Great we can agree on this.

  A baby needs food but how does a baby know that he or she needs food?  Parents have to teach a baby to eat and provide the baby with food to eat.

  So we agree that everyone needs food to eat.  Does everyone in the world have enough food to eat?  No.  And they didn’t have enough food to eat in the time of Jesus.

  Jesus had a great idea about how to get people enough food to eat.  If people eat alone in their own homes only with their own families, they would not see that some families and some people did not have enough to eat.  So Jesus thought, “What if we had a meal for everyone and what if we had meals in every neighborhood where people would be invited to eat together, then that would be a way to make sure that everyone had enough to eat, because everyone would be seen eating something.  A hungry person could not be hidden anymore if all hungry people were invited to eat.”

  So we have the Eucharist, this meal of bread and wine.  This was the meal that Jesus gave to solve the problem of hungry people in the world; because Jesus believed that if everyone ate together, then hungry people would not be hidden and unknown.  If everyone ate together in public then we have a way of checking that everyone would have enough food.

  We have lost something today in our church meal of bread and wine.  It has become more like a religious meal and not a real meal to feed hungry people.  But even though it is a religious meal, we should not forget that Jesus ask us everyone to come and eat together in public as a way of making sure that everyone had enough food to eat.

  We still have a hungry people in our world today.  And hungry people are hidden from us.  And we don’t see them.  Let us remember that Jesus gave us the Holy Eucharist as a way to remind us that hungry people are invited to have food.  The Holy Eucharist is a Meal that Jesus gave to us to remind us to love and care for everyone in world.  So let us remember why we have the Holy Eucharist today and let us pray and work for ways to feed all of the people in our world.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 8, 2021: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs:Hallelu, Hallelujah!;  The Foolish Man and the Wise Man; Change My Heart; Hosanna

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah!  (Christian Children 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, Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: 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 Ephesians

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

 

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 34

I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice.

Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together.

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 the people, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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.

Song: The Foolish Man and the Wise Man (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 250)

O the foolish man built his house upon the sand.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.  And the rains came tumbling down.  O, the rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  And the house on the sand went crash.

O, the wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down.  O the rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm.

So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ.  So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ.  So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down.  The blessings will come down as the prayers go up.  The blessings will come down as the prayers go up.  The blessing will come down as the prayers go up, so build your house on the Lord.

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 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.

The Prayer continues with these words

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 neighor.

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,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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:  Change My Heart, O God (Renew!  # 143)

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true; Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.  You are potter, I am the clay.  Mold and make me, this what I pray.  Change my heart, O God make it ever true; Change my heart, O God may I be like you.

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: Hosanna (Renew!  # 71)

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God Hosanna in the highest.

Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God. Glory to the King of Kings

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Faith Is a Manifestation of Persuasion

10 Pentecost Cycle B, Proper 13 August 1, 2021

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 Psalm 78:23-29

Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:24-35

Lectionary Link

Accord to Gospel of John's words of Jesus, what is the work of God for human beings?  "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom God sent."

This expression attributed to Jesus, puts in question the debate about salvation by works or salvation by grace which was so important to Martin Luther and the Reformation.

The main work is to have faith in Christ.  Can we see how this unites faith and work into one and the same.

Since so many people are leaving religious communities today and become the largest group of people in surveys, the group called "nones," or those who profess no participation in churches, synagogues or mosques.  Many of these same person would say, "I am not religious, but I am spiritual."

I would like to sometime offer a class to the community which I would call "having faith, without religion."

Why would I do this?  Because I believe that everyone has faith.  Being spiritual can be based upon many definitions of what our inner lives mean, but I believe faith is a more obvious and unavoidable reality.  How so?

What is the New Testament Greek word for faith?  It is pistos and it has a verb form as well.  In English the word faith does not have verb form.  We have to say, I have faith or we use believe as the action word for faith.  

The Greek word "pistos" has a long history.  In Aristotle, the Greek word "pistos" is the goal of rhetoric.  For Aristotle, "pistos" meant persuasion.  Why do politicians give speeches?  To persuade.  Why do preachers preach and advertisers advertise? To persuade.  "pistos" which meant persuasion for Aristotle, came to mean in later Greek use after Alexander the Great, "faith or belief."

But can we see how faith and belief are intimately connected with persuasion?  Faith or belief is what we are persuaded about.

So, this is how I say that everyone has faith, because all of us live by persuasion about many various things.

We live by involuntary persuasion about many things, like needing water and air.  We live passively by the persuasions which we assume from our family, cultures and the contexts of upbringing.  Most Christians are in some sense, automatic Christians, because that was the only choice offered to them on the religious menu.

Persuasion can also be negative, like mob or peer pressure which results in us doing thing simply because everyone is "doing it."

If everyone has faith; if everyone lives persuaded lives about many things, then what is the big question?

The big question is finding the best source of inspiration and insight to inform and motivate our persuasion toward what is most important and best for one's holistic health or salvation, but also for the best outcome for our communities in living lives of love and justice.

As Christian, we seek to anchor how we are persuaded on the exemplary life of Jesus of Nazareth.  So this was the teaching of the church.  This is work of God, to believe, to have faith in, to be persuaded about the surpassing greatness of the one whom God as sent.

God created us in the divine image; we have lost ability to live out in the best way from the divine image.  This means we are vulnerable to be persuaded about many things which are not the highest expressions of human living, some are downright evil or addicting, and others are merely benign and neutral.

If we are by nature, persuaded beings, then we need to have a higher informing source to regulate all of the areas of persuasion in our lives.  This is what the Gospel of John and the early Christ-based communities taught about Jesus.  The Jesus of specific history and the Eternal Word of all time, and the Risen Christ of our history is the source of inspiration to regulate all of the persuasion in our lives, so that we balance our life energy to express holistic personal health and the enlightened community health of loving our neighbors as ourself.

So, everyone has faith because everyone lives lives of various persuasions.  It is our Christian calling to promote the work of God, that is, the work of being persuaded about the Eternal Word of God and the Risen Christ as the model to show each person how to best live out the divine image upon our lives.

We are people of faith, we are persuaded by Christ as our model for how we should love God and our neighbor.  Let our life work be about informing our persuasion with the highest insight for living well.  Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, July 2021

Aphorism of the Day, July 31, 2021

Everyone lives persuaded lives.  One who sits in passively may be expressing the persuasiveness of sloth.  Persuasion is expressed in how one's life is differentiated in the expression of the hierarchy of one's values.  When the oracle of Jesus in John's Gospel said, "this the work, that you be completely persuaded by the one whom God sent," it is an invitation to anchor the standard of our persuasion on the highest ideal person.

Aphorism of the Day, July 30, 2021

Faith is related to what our values are.  Our values are manifest in what we are persuaded about.  Each should do a value survey of how one uses time, talent and treasure and discover the true objects of one's faith, persuasive motivators.

Aphorism of the Day, July 29, 2021

Everyone has faith, that is the faith, defined by Aristotle in his "Rhetoric."  The classic Greek word "pistos" was the goal of rhetoric, namely, "persuasion."  That same word "pistos" became the Greek word used for faith or belief in the New Testament.  And there remains a connection between "pistos" as persuasion and "pistos" as faith.  How so?  Faith or belief is what one is persuaded about such that one's life is organized around it.  Everyone lives persuaded lives about all kinds of things; some things that we are persuaded about are involuntary within human experience, like using language and needing water and air to live.  Other persuasion comes from our cultural contexts and the influences of our lives which motivate our life words and deeds.    If everyone has faith, what is the best things to pin voluntary persuasion on?  Our highest insights which can motivate us to do love and justice.  So, faith is the work in believing in Christ as the drawing force to bring us to live out what is best for our holistic health and the life of our community.

Aphorism of the Day, July 28, 2021

Today is a day to be aware of that first and foremost, we are language users.  Language use precedes any knowing at all.  We are but syntax and lexicon arising from the Grand Pool of Possiblisms of the entire possible linguistic universe as the proliferation of infinite number of signifiers are in labor to do the impossible, purport to be the Signified.  There is a There, there.  There is a you and I, there.  But we have to use "there" to signify the mystery of what is "there."

Aphorism of the Day, July 27, 2021

Imagine the entire linguistic universe like a block of granite or a mountain subject to wind and water erosion of time to carve out a variety of appearances of new things being revealed with the passing of time.  What is seen implies the entire linguistic universe for differentiation in becoming apparent in its particular difference.  The great Eternal Word made a unique appearance in time in Jesus and he differentiated himself from everything else to become confessed by language users, a unique manifestation among all language users.

Aphorism of the Day, July 26, 2021

Ponder the Johannine words of Jesus which creates a chicken and egg situation with the proverbial Luther opposition of faith and works.  "This is the work that you believe in him who God sent."  Is faith and belief a "human" work?  This erases the antipathy of faith and works or it shifts the question to motives of pride and self reliance.

Aphorism of the Day, July 25, 2021

The writer of John's Gospel consistently presents those who are literal as missing the point and then presents the physical as providing a sign of the spiritual.  This is all done in the context of presenting God incarnate as Word from the beginning.  So the writer of John is but layering the various ways in which Word comes to Word's products in life, with humanity being chiefly constituted by words in what we call language.  Can we appreciate the total reflexivity involved:  People who use language are naming Word as being from the beginning and also being one with God.  In and through having word, we proclaim Word as God from the beginning.  I hope that all can appreciate reflexivity of Word and the irony of language users declaring Word as their God from the beginning.  It is brilliantly meaningful and true.

Aphorism of the Day, July 24, 2021

What if I read a fairy tale as though it was empirically factual?  What if I read a scientific law on gravity as poetry and decide it is an ironic invitation to fly?  To be an astute biblical reader one needs to get one's reading discourses correct when interpreting the significance of the text.  One of the wrong assumptions of many Bible readers is to assume ancient people did not know the difference between aesthetic discourse and empirical discourse and so God as supernatural and God's hero do not have to consistently follow the laws of nature; they get to selectively violate them so as to impress people about their supernatural status.

Aphorism of the Day, July 23, 2021

One of the goals of faith and religion and biblical literature is to convince us that we are not "mono-genrecists," a word I made up meaning, as language users we are not stuck with commonsense discourse or scientific discourse as our only way to understand ourselves within the dominant definitive human identity as language users.  The reason religion has fallen out of favor is because some people of faith are so threatened by the superior actuarial truth performance of scientific discourse, they try to defend biblical faith language as scientific truth language, which at best is comical, and at worst leads to dangerous foolish consequences.  Many scientists prefer the fiction of science fiction for their aesthetic discourse to provide them with an abstraction from believing their eyes now to access other aspects of their interior universes of language.  In the beginning is the Word; we all are constituted by a universe of Word which generates endless word products about what is inside of us and what is outside of us.  Please don't misuse your genres unless you are consciously doing irony or comedy for aesthetic effect.

Aphorism of the Day, July 22, 2021

Can we admit that there has been evolution in morals and justice since biblical time, especially regarding the treatment of people as slaves and women?  When we say that the Bible is the word of God or inspired, it does not mean that we absolutize the ways in which biblical cultures were permissive of slavery and the subjugation of women.  And yet the practices of those traditional biblical cultures still hold authoritative sway in how some churches regard women and their roles in the church and society.  On Mary Magdalene's feast day, we recognize that cultures have maligned her reputation and we owe it to her and to all women the restorative justice of honesty about her life and the granting of full justice, even sacramental justice to the heirs of Mary Magdalene in the leadership of church and society.

Aphorism of the Day, July 21, 2021

The Gospel of John is presented in a way to encourage people to read about the life of Jesus, not literally, but spiritually, figuratively, and metaphorically.  The Gospel writer believes it take faith to look beyond literalism and see spiritually.  The physical which has common sense substantiality for people, is used the Gospel writer to indicate that the spiritual is the substantiality which hides under the word veneer of the presentation of physical and sensorial experience.  John's Gospel uses the word "sign" to be shocker to turn the switch in one's heart and mind from the literal to the spiritual meaning.

Aphorism of the Day, July 20, 2021

Jesus was presented as being in the prophetic lineage of Moses; he was presented to be one like Moses, and surpassing him both in his appearance in time and in impact of his life on the world.  Moses was a water man and bread man.  Moses interceded and Manna came from heaven.  Moses interceded and water came from rocks and a Red Sea was parted.  Jesus multiplied bread for the crowd and he calmed the waters and walked upon it.  The record of Moses provided the template for telling the story of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, July 19, 2021

The relationship between the Gospels and the Hebrew Scriptures and other apocalyptic and apocrypha writings which were available to the Gospel writing Christ-base communities, was that these writing provided the template stories for presenting the surpassing greatness of Jesus.  If Moses was a "bread from heaven" intercessor, then Jesus was a "loaves and fish" multiplier in being one who fed his people, which in fact is presented as a set up for the metaphor of Jesus himself being the bread of heaven served in the Christ-based Eucharistic communities.

Aphorism of the Day, July 18, 2021

We often reduce health and healing to the experience of an individual trying to delay death and its pre-signaling effects for as long as possible.  This focus on the individual means that we don't regard how attention to the overall social health in an actuarial sense helps each individual live much longer.  So health care for all instead it being for those who can afford it,  financial health for all instead of only for the wealthy, equal educational opportunity for all instead of for those who live in certain neighborhoods.  If we attended to the corporate and social health, the individual health of people would rise dramatically.  The presence of Jesus in the healing stories was a witness of him bringing the individual into the community that often shunned the sick and unhealthy as "unlucky" for society.

 Aphorism of the Day, July 17, 2021

One of the most crucial aspects of health and healing is the social dimension. If the hospitalized have people praying for them and visiting them, they tend to heal quicker than those who are alone in their illness.  This this the social reality of health, people caring for each other.  Jesus reinstated sick people into community in face of the quarantine of the religious rules and so assert the communal dimension of health and healing.  The caring community is a powerful faith "placebo."

Aphorism of the Day, July 16, 2021

Jesus and his disciples went to a deserted place for rest and they were deluged with a crowd following them.  Ministry can sometimes seem like, "no rest for the weary," because human need does not fit the schedules of "vacation" time.  There is an exhilarating rest in the ministry to those in need because being inwardly connected with a source that flows to the immediate relevance of ministry can be refreshing.  Being in the flow of relevance to significant need can be sublimely refreshing.

Aphorism of the Day, July 15, 2021

How does one relate to the "healing miracles" of Jesus?  Anthropologically, there have been and are healers in every society with a wide variety of treatment modalities.  The healings of Jesus are often coupled with the forgiveness of sins, removing an unclean spirit, and asserting the validity of the afflicted to be within a community of care.  Sinners are "unclean," and to be shunned, a person designated as unclean was ritually impure and an "untouchable," and it was transgressive of Jesus to take the authority to allow an unclean person back into community care and touch.  The healings of Jesus involved the reestablishing of a person's status with God in being forgiven, a removal of a person's "unclean" status, and a welcome back into the community of care.  These are the ingredients of the "spiritual" healings of Jesus which had very physical and psychosomatic and positive placebo effects.  These healings were real.

Aphorism of the Day, July 14, 2021

When one compares the healing ministry of Jesus in how healings are presented in various ways in the Gospels, especially in John's Gospel, one concludes that the theological programmatic presentation of the writer for the specific writing or preaching context for a presentation of the Risen Christ as one who instantiates the health and salvation for humanity, is what is predominate in the writings.  Jesus being a healer in his own time, is presented as the Risen Christ being the healer and Savior in all subsequent times.

Aphorism of the Day, July 13, 2021

History or writing or accounts about the past of necessity have to be reductive since one cannot bring to mind every moment of the past in the present because one is living in the present.  The events of the past are reduced by the selection of what is important to recount by the selectors in the present as to what is relevant to remember.  The past gets reduced to "stories," which are highly edited and re-edited reductions of the occasions of the past.  Differences in "stories" of the past can be accounted for in part by the concerns of the story-teller in present.  Stories are not successive mirror images of what happened in the past.

Aphorism of the Day, July 12, 2021

The Gospel notes that Palestine in the time of Jesus included lots of people who were sheep without a shepherd.  The image of "stray" animals come to mind.  Lots of pets with no owners and in need of rescue.  Many persons today for a variety of reason are people without care or advocates to negotiate their well-being in the societies where we dwell.  And many wealthy persons eschews government relief agencies to provide adequate rescue for those with no advocacy and who lack the basics of food, clothing and shelter or a situation to promote and build their esteem.  People without status in society are a challenge for honoring the command to "love our neighbors as ourselves."

Aphorism of the Day, July 11, 2021

Amos was a reluctant prophet who did not feel like one.  He preferred his vocational identity of being a farmer.  When one has to speak truth to power with some uncomfortable words, it makes it hard to accept one's role as a prophet.  Ironically, being a prophet most of the time really means affirming that we should love God, and love one's neighbor as oneself.  

Aphorism of the Day, July 10, 2021

Do not let the "official" prophets do all of the prophesying.  Each person needs to have the courage to speak out about the basic kindness of the summary of the law and the golden rule.  To live and speak kindness is being "prophetic."

Aphorism of the Day, July 9, 2021

Don't reduce the definition of a prophet to one who predicts the future.  A prophet is one who is sufficiently unbribed by the banalities of evil of one's time and is aloof enough to issue rebukes and warnings about departures from the goodness of love and justice and integrity.

Aphorism of the Day, July 8, 2021

The prophets get characterized as gloom and doom predictors and so they are presented by some as clairvoyant knowers of the future.  Prophets are more like probability analysts in the area of human behaviors.  They project "statistical" outcomes based upon past and current behaviors.  "If you continue these behaviors, it is likely that this will be the spiritual outcome."  They also are utopian in that their standard is tuned to God's unattainable perfection for humanity and for our environment (e.g. lamb and lion playing together).  We too should be prophets in assessing the outcome of current behaviors in our personal lives but also in behaviors of our communities.  We also always need to be informed by the "utopian=the no-such perfect world in actuality," as a way to set the standard to aim our continual efforts to surpass ourselves in excellence in a future state.

 Aphorism of the Day, July 7, 2021

The ordained offices of ministry do not exhaust the scope of ministry of an office.  The church has priests because the entire ministry of the church is to be priestly, in continual intercession for our world.  The same is for the prophetic ministry.  The church has prophets because the church is supposed to be prophetic in the continual reform called repentance, first of itself and then in witnessing in the public forum to the values of love and justice.  No one can escape being a prophet.

Aphorism of the Day, July 6, 2021

Amos was uncertain about being a prophet.  Each person is called to be "prophetic" at time even when one is not in the "ordained office of the prophet."  When one sees injustice, unkindness and any deviation from commonplace goodness, one has to step up and be a prophet.  How one is to be prophetic is the mystery that each person needs to work out in the situations of one's life.

Aphorism of the Day, July 5, 2021

Prophets like John the Baptist tend to be "unbribed" souls in that they can't be "bought" or pressured to censor the language of what their conscience tells them is just and right.  Such people can easily offend the "powers that be" who do not want comments on their decisions or lifestyles.   John paid the extreme price of the prophet and for something that we might think trivial today, like calling a divorce and marriage of a ruler inappropriate.  The presentation of his beheading indicates that it was instigated by Herodias, a woman scorned by John's rebuke, even while King Herod seemed disappointed that he had to follow the scheme of Herodias.  It is an indication of how trivial death can be regarded by people in power and we might think that we have advanced but in subtle ways lots of "little people" get sacrificed for the egos of the powerful.  

Aphorism of the Day, July 4, 2021

The reading of the Bible can tempt us to intertwine God and country since it would seem as though God chose Israel in such an exclusive way that every other nation was therefore "unchosen" by God.  One could also read the Hebrew Scriptures as a unique literature of the time explaining that the God of all became known in a certain way to a certain people as a first step in letting the rest of the nations also know that God is for all.(See Jonah and Nineveh)  There are those who would like to conflate their own very particular Christianity as being definitive of America's official religion.  And they forget that our founders specifically sought to disestablish any religion as our State religion, while promoting the free conditions for those who wanted to worship in their particular faith communities or not.  Any evangelism which takes away the freedom of choice is not Gospel evangelism.  Our founders believed in the freedom of religion but not that any religion should be forced upon anyone.  Government and State were not to be used for evangelism even if a majority of person had theistic beliefs.  America is based upon citizenry not forcing their piety or impiety upon each other.  We wanted to get far away from the former English custom of burning "our heretics" (aka those who did not hold the preferred views) at the stake, or discriminating against them in manifold ways.

Aphorism of the Day, July 3, 2021

The biblical epic is about the phases of uncovering and covering.  How so?  Uncovering the obvious original blessing and goodness of creation is the meaning of revelation.  Sin and shadow are what covers up the obvious.  The shadow aspect of human life is able to co-opt the institutions that derived from uncoverings and revelations.  So institutions of faith can become expressions of bias, racism, slavery, misogyny, sexism and other social sins and all the while purport to be vehicles of the "revealed/uncovered" truth.  Therefore continuous uncovering must happen to explicate what the truth of the divine dignity of the human being means within societies practicing the love and justice for all.  The advent of the shadow life of humanity can ruin even "holy" revelations which is why new "uncovering" needs to happen in the continuous reform of personal and social life.

Aphorism of the Day, July 2, 2021

Revelation is insight which is an uncovering of what is.  New understanding has the the originality of being "first" in time, but quite old in the sense that everything is but a kind of re-arrangement of the created order to bring forth new combinations.  Cars did not exist in biblical times but as possibilities for the rearrangement of the created order to see them arise.               

Aphorism of the Day, July 1, 2021

Is revelation an uncovering?  Does a sculpture see within a stone what needs to be uncovered to reveal his/her art work?  It would seem that the created order is continually being uncovered and it has apparent stability like a stone in the continuity of the traces of what seems to remain similar, but it also has a fluidity and plasticity which allows new things to be uncovered.  Reconciling the stone-hard absolute past with the current fluidity for new things to arise and be uncovered with creative inventiveness is the tension we live in because in the realm of freedom evil has a competitive inventiveness with goodness.  Things can be used for good or evil and so we seek to know the guiding Spirit of justice who teaches us to use all things well.

Quiz of the Day, July 2021

Quiz of the Day, July 31, 2021

God struck to death a man who was transporting the Ark of the Covenant for touching it to steady it.  Who was this man?

a. Ahio

b. Abinadab

c. Nacon

d. Uzzah

Quiz of the Day, July 30, 2021

Who did David have to defeat to take over Zion/Jerusalem?

a. Saul

b. Hebronites

c. Jebusites

d. Hittites

Quiz of the Day, July 29, 2021

Which of the following is not true about Mephibosheth?

a. he was the son of Jonathan

b. he was lame

c. his name was used to trick enemies because they couldn't pronounce it

d. David befriended and took care of him

Quiz of the Day, July 28, 2021

Who killed Abner?

a. David

b. Saul

c. Jonathan

d. Joab

Quiz of the Day, July 27, 2021

Of the following wives of King David, which was not married to another man?

a. Michal

b. Abigail

c. Bathsheba

d. Maachah

Quiz of the Day, July 26, 2021

Which James was called a "son of thunder?"

a. the son of Zebedee

b. the Just

c. of Jerusalem

d. brother of our Lord

e. the son of Alphaeus

Quiz of the Day, July 25, 2021

David composed the "Song of the Bow" about what?

a. the glories of winning battles

b. a eulogy for Jonathan and Saul

c. Jonathan's archery skills

d. the loss of a battle to the Philistines

Quiz of the Day, July 24, 2021

Thomas à Kempis wrote The Imitation of Christ is associated with which two countries?

a. England and the Netherlands

b. Frisia and the Netherlands

c. The Netherlands and Germany

d. Sweden and the Netherlands

Quiz of the Day, July 23, 2021


Of the following, which one did not commit suicide?

a. Samson

b. Saul

c. Judas Iscariot

d. Cain

e. Zimri

Quiz of the Day, July 22, 2021

Of the following, who was not at the tomb of Jesus on the day of his rising?

a. Mary Magdalene

b. Mary of Bethany

c. Salome

d. Mary, mother of James

Quiz of the Day, July 21, 2021

Which of the following names means "fool?"

a. Ahab

b. Cain

c. Nabal

d. Naaman

Quiz of the Day, July 20, 2021

Which of the following is not true regarding Abigail?

a. She was the wife of David

b. She was the wife of Nabal

c. She interceded on behalf of her husband to prevent his death

d. she killed her husband

Quiz of the Day, July 19, 2021

What was the meaning of David cutting off a corner of the cloak of King Saul?

a. he wanted a token of Saul's presence to carry with him

b. he did it to prove that he could have kill Saul while he slept

c. it was a military tradition in ancient Israel

d. he wanted it as proof to Jonathan that he had encountered Saul

Quiz of the Day, July 18, 2021

Who wrote that we should present our bodies as "living sacrifices?"

a. Luke

b. Paul

c. Peter

d. John

Quiz of the Day, July 17, 2021

Which King of Israel was responsible for killing 85 priests?

a. Ahab

b. Jeroboam

c. Rehaboam

d. Saul

Quiz of the Day, July 16, 2021

Of the following, which did David not do when on the run from King Saul?

a. ate the holy bread of the Presence

b. took use of the sword of Goliath

c. play acted as a madman for King Achish

d. convinced Jonathan to come with him to oppose his father Saul

Quiz of the Day, July 15, 2021

What punishment did Paul command to happen to the magician Elymas?

a. death

b. leprosy

c. temporary blindness

d. loss of his money

Quiz of the Day, July 14, 2021

What method of signaling did Jonathan use to inform David about Saul's intent toward him?

a. by choice of the color of his clothes

b. by shooting arrows in certain places

c. by sending a riderless donkey to him

d. by written message through a messenger

Quiz of the Day, July 13, 2021

Who had James, the brother of John killed?

a. Felix

b. Agrippa

c. Herod

d. the Sanhedrin

Quiz of the Day, July 12, 2021

When David played music for King Saul, how did Saul respond?

a. he was tearful

b. he applauded

c. he threw a spear at David

d. he joined in for a duet

Quiz of the Day, July 11, 2021

After David killed Goliath and went to live with King Saul, which of the following is not one of Saul's son Jonathan's responses?

a. he fell in love with David

b. he became jealous of David

c. he gave David gifts of armor

d. he made a oath of lasting friendship to David

Quiz of the Day, July 10, 2021

Which apostle had a vision regarding permission to eat the meat of impure animals?

a. Paul

b. Philip

c. Peter

d. John

Quiz of the Day, July 9, 2021

Which Gospel begins with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist and not the genealogy and birth narratives of Jesus?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, July 8, 2021

Priscilla and Aquila were not

a. missionary companions of Paul

b. tent makers

c. hosts of a church gathering in their house

d. Jews expelled from Rome who went to Corinth

e. Gentile converts to the faith

Quiz of the Day, July 7, 2021

Which of the following is associated with the village of Emmaus?

a. a famous battle

b. a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus

c. the hometown of friends of Jesus

d. a healing miracle of Jesus

Quiz of the Day, July 6, 2021

Tabitha is the Aramaic name for the Greek name of whom?

a. Lydia

b. Dorcas

c. Sapphire

d. Lois

Quiz of the Day, July 5, 2021

The dancer who requested the head of John the Baptist is listed as whom in the Gospel?

a. Salome

b. Herodias

c. no name given

d. listed as the daughter of Herodias

Quiz of the Day, July 4, 2021

Which of the following is true about Independence Day?

a. it has been a feast day in all the American Books of Common Prayer

b. it was insisted on by Bishop White to embarrass the "Tory" clergy

c. it takes precedence when it occurs on a Sunday

d. it was included in the BCP 1786 and omitted in the BCP 1789

Quiz of the Day, July 3, 2021

Why did King Saul curse his own son Jonathan?

a. because Jonathan befriended his rival David

b. because Jonathan wanted to overthrow him

c. because Jonathan ate some honey

d. because Jonathan refused to battle the Philistines

Quiz of the Day, July 2, 2021

Who was the first Black woman ordained an Episcopal priest?

a. Barbara Harris

b. Pauli Murray

c. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows

d. Gayle Elizabeth Harris

Quiz of the Day, July 1, 2021

Why did Samuel say that Saul was rejected as king?

a. he offered the liturgical sacrifice when it was his "office" to do so

b. he was opposed to David succeeding him

c. he disobeyed God in battle

d. he was not from the tribe of Judah