Aphorism of the Day, January 2022

Aphorism of the Day, January 31, 2022

The omni-presence of God means there is always already a general calling to God for everyone.  But omni-presence becomes particular occasions of calling for particular people at particular times, and in our faith lives we should be ready for general call to become particular call, whenever and however, even when one is fishing.

Aphorism of the Day, January 30, 2022

If Love endures all things, then one might question where Love as God is all-powerful. Love endures all things which happen on the field of probabilities in the field of freedom.  The freedom of everything happening which does happen is greater than any singular free occasion, and so the sum total of all freedom endures any particular occasion of freedom.

Aphorism of the Day, January 29, 2022

If Love hopes all things and believes all things, what does that mean?  Hoping all things would seem to be the expression of the possible.  Believing all things would seem to be persuaded about or adjusted to what actually has happened, kind of like reaching the acceptance phase of grief without going through the first four stages. This kind of believing of all things is not a fatalism, it is the acceptance of living with genuine freedom, because without freedom, there is no moral value.

Aphorism of the Day, January 28, 2022

Providence is created in the aftermath of free events in how people of faith come to relate with what has happened in their lives and their world.

Aphorism of the Day, January 27, 2022

What does it mean to say that "love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things?"  It sounds like love is the condition of living with both the possible and the actual.  And that is the agonizing and ecstatic reality of life.

Aphorism of the Day, January 26, 2022

Traditional apologists have believed the position of "relativism" to be wrong and sinful, and yet "relativism" is the human condition expressed by St. Paul when he admitted that he only knew in part, now.  I'm not sure if Paul thought that in his afterlife he would attain the capacity to "know fully."  Since the topic was love, it could be that it is better to appropriate knowing as less of an intellectual function, and more of a relational reality.  And knowing as the experience of being in relationship with everything is perhaps the fullness of knowing.  In Hebrew Scriptures, "knowing" one's spouse was intimate relationship.

Aphorism of the Day, January 25, 2022

The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was a seminal event in what the Jesus Movement became.  His writings are the earliest writings of the New Testament and his theology in letter form became the Christo-centric mysticism which was made accessible to the Gentiles and this early mysticism was later given narrative form of the Gospels as a teaching paradigm to make the physical and natural and the seeming empirical a crypto-language for the mysticism.

Aphorism of the Day, January 24, 2022

Paul wrote some very radical things about "Love," like Love believes all things.  How is that so?  How is love being personified, if even in a poetic way to be a "Being capable of believing?"  Perhaps it refers to the omni-forbearance of everything as a collection of all?  Perhaps it is a stating of the obvious that one "believes" everything that comes to language because having linguistic reality is a reality?

Aphorism of the Day, January 23, 2022

Image for the material world: Think of matter as Spirit energy slowed down with immanence of Spirit with difference.

Aphorism of the Day, January 22, 2022

I don't think that we give the Prophet Isaiah enough credit for the origin of the Gospel.  The Spirit is upon me to bring "good news" to the poor.  The Empire church has been more about bringing better news to the wealthy and the rich.

Aphorism of the Day, January 21, 2022

St. Paul wrote about the diversity of gifts and opined something like, "what if everyone was a tuba player," what would be missing in the diversity of harmony?  The Spirit is the harmonious orchestrator of unity.  We can make our spiritual gifts merely natural if we fail to follow the Spirit's conducting.  We have the choice of cacophony or harmony.

 Aphorism of the Day, January 20, 2022

"I have no need of you."  This is the expression of egotistical dismissal of someone else, perhaps for the worship of the moment in thinking "this person is of no value to me right now, in fact this person is a hindrance."  God is very tolerant of people whom we think that we don't need, even people whom we think have done harm to us or to our world.  God's tolerance for everyone and everything that happens is a love that we can not attain in our limited affinities and patience.

Aphorism of the Day, January 19, 2022

St. Paul under the Holy Spirit as ironic, since the Spirit gave different gifts to people and those people would turn around and say, "My gift is better than yours and I have no need of you."  Herein one can see how one's gift can go from being "spiritual" to merely "natural" depending upon whether one has checked one's ego to be able to live and affirm the unity in diversity intended by the Spirit.  Checking the ego is a modern way of saying, "dying to one's sinful self."

Aphorism of the Day, January 18, 2022

The confession of Peter and its aftermath was a teaching parable about how disciples in training often could confess very important things and not yet integrate the correct understanding of the confession into their lives.  Yes, Jesus was the Messiah, but what kind of Messiah was he going to be?  Peter as an example of a disciple in training, did not yet know.

Aphorism of the Day, January 17, 2022

The literal Gospel has to do with Jesus reading about the "good news" written about in Isaiah, and it is about bringing good news to the poor.  Is that the mission of most churches?

Aphorism of the Day, January 16, 2022

The Gospel of John presents the signs of Christ as the mystical unity of everything in life that has to be experienced in the wholeness of completeness of everything being altogether all at once.  This is the mystical completeness of the presence of the Risen Christ which the mystics and hence mystagogues of the Gospel community were trying to teach those who were leaving the duality of living divided lives and learning to accept the mystical unity of relatedness of everything, always, already all together.

Aphorism of the Day, January 15, 2022

The problem in our world is not a matter of enough gifts, talent, and creativity, it is rather the morality of how we use creativity, and whether we limit creativity to common good projects.  Too much creativity is used for harm and the greed projects of the few.

Aphorism of the Day, January 14, 2021

A "sign" in the Gospel of John is rhetorical indicator to the "knowing" reader to "switch" from interpreting words as one to one corresponding outer and physical reality and see the story words as carrying the experience of the Risen Christ complementing and supplementing every experience in our lives.

Aphorism of the Day, January 13, 2022

The Gospel are parables about Jesus relating in narrative form how the Risen Christ is present to the people who lived after Jesus left the earth.  Rather than dig for a literal historical Jesus, it is better to find now in one's history the presence of the Risen Christ, who becomes flesh in our body language deeds, and our words as we honor the legacy of love and justice of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, January 12, 2022

Changing water into wine may seem like quite an alchemical wonder, but a more important wonder is the weaving together of the multiple gifts of people in community for the common good.  St. Paul wrote that Spirit who gives the gifts also directs them for the common good, and so it is not enough to be gifted, it is equally important to be directed in the deployment and use of one's gifts within community.

Aphorism of the Day, January 11, 2022

Running out of wine at a party would seem to be a rather trivial things to invoke a God-miracle for, like wanting your team to miraculously win a game or a beauty pageant contestant wanting God's intervention to win.  The big meaning of the story is the co-existing palpable presence of the Risen Christ in all experiences of life, great and small, profound and seeming trivial.  It is a greater miracle to have stable faith in losses and hardship and be like God in adjusting to the outcomes of the free conditions of the world.

Aphorism of the Day, January 10, 2022

The changing of water to wine parable about Jesus is a metaphor for the alchemy of spiritual experience.  The ordinary water of human experience can be tastes as vintage wine if one has tapped the charisma provided by the parallel inner spiritual realm.

Aphorism of the Day, January 9, 2022

Baptismal vows express an intentionality in context, and when the contexts change, the expressions of intentionality have to as well.  Like, the baptismal vow to love one's neighbor as oneself has changed in our "post-slavery" era and the era of affirming the full dignity of everyone human being.

Aphorism of the Day, January 8, 2022

The baptism of Jesus by John provides a contrast in the sign values of baptism.  Jesus was baptized by John as a sign of the divine solidarity with humanity.  Followers of Christ are baptized as a sign of their solidarity with God and the rising within oneself of the Christ nature to become manifest in how one lives one's life.

Aphorism of the Day, January 7, 2022

The parable of the Magi is an after the fact presentation of the universal appeal of the Christ-event which had happened in the Christ-communities.  It is a teaching about the obvious, which is God and Christ Nature belongs to everyone who wants have them manifested in their lives.

Aphorism of the Day, January 6, 2020

The Epiphany is about a claim of universal relevance of Christ to the nations, that is to everyone.  How can this be, unless within the Christian symbolic system which includes the Hebrew Scripture, the name of the image of God upon each person is the "Christ nature," the anointed or spiritual nature?  The Epiphany happens when one realizes one's highest nature.

Aphorism of the Day, January 5, 2022

The "epiphany" is about the manifestation of the message about God through Jesus to the "nations."  There was a party within Judaism that believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophets in making the message regarding God available to all people in accessible ways to their own cultural backgrounds.  Compromising on important ritual behaviors to appeal to all people, resulted in Judaism and the Jesus Movement having different and separate missions.

Aphorism of the Day, January 4, 2022

One of the meanings of the baptism of Jesus is the choice of intentional, particular community.  Who could be more self-sufficient and individualistic than Jesus?  The message is that strong people choose community initiation to lead and minister within the community.  Modern self reliance of the rich, powerful and the greedy commit to community only to exploit for political and economic gain, not to help raise the equality among people of the community.

Aphorism of the Day, January 3, 2022

Some of the contradictory postures in the New Testament pertain to the presentation of Jesus as a counter-Caesar, as Savior, Prince of Peace, God, and Son of God.  At the same time Jesus supports paying taxes and Paul encourages prayer for and compliance with Roman authorities.  And John the Divine in Revelation presents Rome as incarnate evil.  This might be an indication of the varied conditions faced by members of the Christ-communities in the 6-7 decades after the years of the life of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, January 2, 2022

The Gospels as literature represent the Christ-communities coming to grips with the destruction of Jerusalem and the realistic adjustment of a Christ-centered Judaism being a liminal community to incorporate Gentile persons to a new community that for survival was reconciled to living under Roman Caesar rule.

Aphorism of the Day,  January 1, 2022

A calendar is a way of organizing something which does not come with built in measurement, Time.  The language users who observe before and after, organize before and after events in sequence as a way of living as though our "age" among the 4.543 billion years is really significant.  Which it is in the sense that it is the only one we have.  What are we as humans that the Plenitude One would be mindful of us?  Hard to know but we do write our own press clipping.

The Love that is Awesome Is God

4 Epiphany  C   January 30, 2022

Jer. 1:4-10 Ps.71:1-6

1 Cor. 13:1-13   Luke 4:21-32

 Lectionary Link

 

Logically, we can understand why many people choose first Corinthians 13 to be read at their weddings.  It is after all, the Love chapter.  But if we read it carefully, we should be awesomely overwhelmed, because it expresses the humanly impossible standard of such love.

 

Thank you St. Paul!  You who never were married, decided to write impossible standards of love for those of us who have become married.

 

This love essay of St. Paul is no quaint Country and Western Prose.  It not enough that the Greeks gave us four words for love; eros for the energy of attraction among people.  phileo for friendship love, for liking our favorite people;  storge was the word for family love, and agape is the profound unconditional love, that is so unconditional that it is believed to be divine love, and divinely inspired love.

 

Obviously, the church in Corinth had the loves of attraction, family, and friendship, but these natural loves had their limits.  The problem in the Corinthian church was not the lack of people having gifts; the problem was the ability of people who were gifted in living together well.  And this what brought about St. Paul's great writing about another kind of love, a love that was needed beyond our natural love.

 

And what kind of love was needed?   A "Love wass patient; love that was kind; love that was not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. That didn’t insist on its own way; was not irritable or resentful; it did not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoiced in the truth. Love that bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, endured all things."

 

This description of love seems to make it humanly impossible; it is so sublime.  And it is even horrifying to consider the extent of such love.  A love that bears all things is horrifying.  Think of all the horrendous events in the history of people, the extreme events of inhumanity.  And love has had to bear all this?  This kind of Love is about the great dilemma of life, and I would also say it is a divine dilemma too.  What is the dilemma?  How can God and we tolerate the full range of probable things which can happen in life?  How can God's love tolerate the conditions of freedom?  Is forbearing and enduring love incompatible with freedom, since so many things happen in the field of freedom which seem to contradict what love should permit.

 

But with God, Love and freedom co-exist, because the meaning and worth of love is dependent upon the reality of freedom.  If there is no freedom, then the world would be like an automatic machine of behaviors and happenings without moral significance.

 

Love and freedom co-exists because moral significance is crucial to living itself, and to human living.

 

St. Paul is writing to the church and in effect saying, "Because we know how bad we can be in living together, we need to freely explore how good we can be in living together.  And to do so we need help from God's divine love, not just to tolerate and forgive our failures, but to work hard at doing lovely things together, the projects of kindness, gentleness, goodness, self-control, patience, and faithfulness.

 

When Jesus went to his own hometown, he experienced the failure of family love and brotherly love.  His own people seem to be jealous of his reputation for doing really good things.  The early church believed that the rejection of the goodness of Jesus by some, brought the goodness of Jesus to those whom had been foreign to the love of God which had become known to the people who had been given the Hebrew Scriptures.

 

The Love of God is never forced upon anyone; it is forbearing and enduring, and it will continue to be offered wherever it will find acceptance.

 

Let us be today, people who say yes to the Love of God.  The Love of God will not go away, it will bear everything, endure everything, and keep hoping for the very best use of human freedom.

 

May God help us today to receive continually the great gift of God's love so that we might honor in the very possible way the true significance of moral freedom.  Amen.

Sunday School, January 30, 2022 4 Epiphany C

 Sunday School, January 30, 2022  4 Epiphany C

Themes

A wrong excuse:  I’m too young to do something important for God

Being envious

Love

Sometimes we think that we live in a world controlled by adults and so only adults can do important things.  Only adults need to do important things for God.  A child might think, “I’m too young to do something important for God.”

The prophet Jeremiah tried to use this excuse when God called him.  “He told God, “I am only a boy; I can’t do something for God that is as important as what an adult could do.”

Assignment:  What can children do for God in their home and family, at school and in their parish church.  Acolytes, liturgists, watching younger children and special community projects.  Make a list of what children do in your parish church and inform the adults about the importance of the children in the church.

Jesus went back to his hometown and his hometown were envious of his fame and so they did not accept him.

Sometimes if our brother or sister or close friend receives awards, attention or honor, it is hard for us to accept, because we know the person really well and we don’t think that he or she is “that much better” than we are and so it is a temptation for us to be jealous and envious of the gifts and talents of those who are close to us.  We also need to remember that the reason we have gifts and talents is to share them with our community to make our community better and not to make us feel more important than others.  Jesus came to his hometown to share his gifts but his old friends did not accept what he wanted to give them because they were jealous.

St. Paul wrote about Love:  He said that “Love is not envious.”    This is also what he wrote about love: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”  St. Paul wrote to a church in Corinth where people where arguing about who had the best gifts and talents.  He wrote that gifts and talents were not worth anything if they were not accompanied by love.  He wrote that Love is the greatest thing. We should all try to grow in love.

There are three kinds of love that are found in the New Testament:

Love as the magnetic attraction between people.

Friendship love, like when we have favorites or best friends.

But the third kind of love is the kind of love that God has for this world and the kind of love that Christ has shown us.  It is a special love which means we have to treat everyone fairly and with justice even if they are not are favorites or if they are not attractive to us.

We have to love people whom we don’t like or attracted to us.  This is that third kind of special love.

Why do we have to love people whom we don’t like or are not attracted to?  Because we want them to do the same for us.  Not everyone is attracted to us and not everyone likes us as their best or good friend, but we still want them to treat us with kindness and respect and fairness.

Sometimes it is hard to respect people who are not our favorites but this special kind of love is the love from God.  God is love because God’s heart is big enough to make everyone God’s favorite.

We need to continually learn how to make our heart grow larger to be able to love more and more people.

A Sermon:

  How would you define a good student?  Someone who studies hard, does their homework and is always ready to learn new things.

  How would you define a good baseball player?  Someone who can throw a baseball far, hard and accurate.  Someone who can hit homeruns.  Some who can run fast.  Someone who can win the world series.  They are the best baseball players.

  How would you define or talk about a good dancer?  Some one who practices a lot of ballet steps and movements.  Some one who becomes so good that they can dance on the stage with a famous ballet company.

  How would you define a good inventor?  Some one who can design and make new things?

  How would you define a good artist?  Someone who learns how to paint or draw and learns how to create beautiful paintings and sculptures.

  But how would you define a good Christian?  How would you define someone who is following the teaching of Jesus Christ?

  St. Paul wrote about it.  He wrote about the greatest ability in the world.  And do you know what St. Paul said was the greatest thing in the world?

  He said that love was the greatest thing in the world.  St. Paul wrote that we can have many talents and skills, but if we don’t have love, then our talents are not worth anything.   What makes our lives perfect is when we add love to all of our gifts and talents and abilities.

  What is love?  Love is how we should live with God and how we should live with each other.  What is love?  Love is how we act when we are patience, kind, forgiving, cheerful and respectful.

  Jesus said that there are only two rules in life:  Love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.  And so if we want to be good Christians, then we will spend our lives learning how to love God and one another.

  Are we to ever stop loving?  No, because love never ends.

  Remember to be a good Christian, we have to always be learning how to love.  God gives us many gifts and talents, and with all of our gifts and talents, we also need to learn how to love.  Love is what is perfect in life.  Whatever we do in our lives, we need to have love accompany it.

  So what is the greatest thing in the world?  Love.  And God is love and God ask us to learn how to love in our lives.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

January 30, 2022 The Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs: Jesu, Jesu; I’ve Got Peace Like a River; The Gift of Love; If You’re Happy

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.

Song: Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love, (Renew! # 289)

Refrain: Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve the neighbors we have from you.

Kneels at the feet of his friends, silently washes their feet, Master who acts as a slave to them.

Neighbors are rich and poor, neighbors are black and white, neighbors are near and far away.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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

Liturgist: A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 71

For you are my hope, O Lord GOD, * my confidence since I was young.

I have been sustained by you ever since I was born; from my mother's womb you have been my strength; *my praise shall be always of you.

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 Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and began to say, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Hymn: I’ve Got Peace Like a River (All the Best Songs, # 195)

1-I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.  I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.

2-I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul.  I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean, I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul.

3-I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.  I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.

Children’s Choir:  Amazing Grace

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.

Children may gather around the altar

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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 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,

(Children may 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: 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 Hymn: The Gift of Love   (Renew! # 155)

1-Though I may speak with bravest fire, and have the gift to all inspire and have not love: my words are vain; as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.

2-Though I may give all I possess, and striving so my love profess, but not be given by love within, the profit soon turns strangely thin.

3-Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control, our spirits long to be made whole.  Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship, and are freed.

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: If You’re Happy and You Know It  (Christian Children’s Songbook  # 124)

1-If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know, then your face should surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

2-If you’re happy and you know it make a high five.  If you’re happy and you know it, make a high five.  If you’re happy and you know, then your face should surely show it.  If you’re happy and you know it, make a high five.

3-Make a low five….

4-If you’re happy and you know it, shout, Amen!  If you’re happy and you know it shout, Amen!

If you’re happy and you know it, then your face should surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it shout, Amen!

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

   

Gospel As Living Together Well

3 Epiphany C January 23, 2022

 Neh. 8:2-10 Ps. 19
1 Cor. 12:12-27 Luke 4:14-21

Lectionary Link

Have you ever noticed how people who tout the free market, never speak about using economic power and wealth to freely choose to make sure that everyone has enough?  Is the market creatively free if we don't include in responsible freedom the general care of all?  What most people mean by a free market is the freedom for the fittest to survive and let the weak fall by the wayside.  And this is a great sin, the sin of not being creative about how to live together well with concern about the welfare of all.

And this is what the creativity of the Gospel is about.   Too often the people of power and privilege are saying to many, many people, "We have no need of you."

When we think that we have no need for people, what do we do?  We neglect them.  Who gets neglected?  Those with impairments who cannot compete in the same way of those whom we say are well.  The prisoners are people who we say we don't need or want in society.  The poor are people whom we treat as those we don't need.  They are people treated as a blight on our cities if they try to become too visible to us.

Jesus did not invent the word for "gospel;" he in fact wanted to return to the Gospel tradition of the prophet Isaiah who wrote about his own ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Being "Spirit anointed" is the meaning of the Messiah and all who would follow him.  Jesus said that these words of Isaiah summed up the vocation of his life.

I am here to bring good news to the poor.  I am here to say that God and I have need of you.   I am here to free people from their prisons of selfishness and addiction.  I am here to open the eyes of understanding of people to what is truly good news about God and humanity.  I am here to let the oppressed go free, and I am going to teach you how to be free even when it seems as though we're all being oppressed by Roman occupation.   And I am here to say that you can know God's favor and blessing here and now.  

God can give us the sense of favor even in the middle of  the control of the Roman Empire.  Jesus came to help us discover God's favor in the midst of whatever is happening in our lives.

St. Paul believed that the Spirit of God anointed the members of the church with gifts, diverse gifts.  If everyone were a preacher, who would do the music?  If everyone were a gifted musician, who would do the fundraising and the administration?

St. Paul wrote about the highly ironic aftermath of the Holy Spirit gifting members of the church.  What happened in the Corinthian church and what often happens?  We easily through selfish pride convert our spiritual gifts into merely natural gifts.  And how do we do that?   By over-valuing some gifts and undervaluing or disparaging the gifts of those who are gifted in different areas than our own.

The extreme version of this is the complete dismissive attitude of, "I have no need of you."  We can offend the Spirit of God by over-valuing our own gifts and by undervaluing the gifts of others.

So what is called for?  The diversity of gifts came from the One Spirit.  What do we do if we allow the diversity of gifts to become competition among individuals?  This betrays the very unity of the Holy Spirit.  The gifts are given by the Holy Spirit, and those gifts also have to be exercised under the direction and influence of the Holy Spirit to help us live in the complementarity and mutual reciprocity of ministry.

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus to say to everyone, "I have need of everyone of you.   I have given each of you gifts for the common good, and for your own self esteem when you use them for the beneficial good of others."

Let us as a church endeavor to be a hybrid community where God's Spirit is orchestrating us to live together in creative love and so be an example to this world that God has included everyone in the Divine favor of Love.  Amen.

Be

What does good news mean for you and me today? Good news changes depending upon the needs of the situation for each person in their lives. Good news thus needs to be adjustable to each human situation.

Gospel is the English word for the Greek word euangellion. Gospel is the name for a certain type of biblical genre. The Christian Bible has four Gospels. These books are writings which basically are narrative presentations of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. And since they were written later than some of the writings of St. Paul, they are narratives written with theological and teaching purposes within the various early church communities.

Today's Gospel reading indicates to us that the gospel meaning did not originate with Jesus or the New Testament. In the Gospel reading for today, Jesus was at a synagogue for the Shabbat liturgy. He read from the scroll of Isaiah, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor...." Good News in the Hebrew language is "basar," so long before the Gospel of the New Testament we should appreciate that the Gospel for Jesus derived from the prophet Isaiah.

I would like to present to you my belief that the Gospel is a very adjustable notion. It is what the people of belles lettres literary movement called propriety. The Gospel is the word, deed or fortuitous happening that is most appropriate for the situation.

What is the good news for the poor? Having enough for oneself and for the people that one is responsible for taking care of? What is good news for the oppressed? To be delivered from the oppressor who uses power to steal the dignity and freedom of people. What is good news for the prisoner? To be freed from the confines of wrong imprisonment. What is good news for the blind? To be able to see.

Some times we limit the good news simply to the people who have really bad situations in life happening to them. But what does good news mean to the wealthy? Good news for the wealthy would be that they have been blessed with the resources to share with the poor.

Oxfam, the organization that distributes aid throughout the world released a statistic this year. They said that 26 of the wealthiest people in the world own the equivalent of 3.8 billion people or half of the world population own. How can this bee good news? It might be good news that 26 people have been able to be so wealthy because of the free market, but what about some more good news for them? What if they truly believed that the free market gave them the freedom to make sure that the rest of the world had enough in food, clothing and shelter. Wouldn't that really be free market good news?

The good news for the oppressors and the captors is that they can use their power to release and free those who are unjustly imprisoned and oppressed. And those who have the blessing of sight have the freedom to help all who are blind and impaired to get equal opportunity for qualitative life.

The Gospel is good news for those where are sinners and for those who are sinned against. The Gospel seeks what is appropriate for each situation.

In our lessons, from the Hebrew Scripture, the Gospel was the discovery of the importance of the Law. The law is the revelation of recommended behaviors which best serve the common good. When Nehemiah helped his people re-discover the law, it brought great joy. The Psalmist rejoiced in the law of the God. The goal of the law was perfection, truth, justice, clarity, purity, righteousness and enlightenment. For Nehemiah and for the Psalmist the Law was good news.

What did the Good News or Gospel required for the Corinthian Church? Apparently they had experienced some bad news. What was their bad news? It was disharmony. Some roles and ministries of the contributions of some members were being regarded as inferior and unimportant for the success of the Corinthian church. When people's worth is discounted it does not result in harmonious community life.

St. Paul wrote to his church about good news. What was the Good News? Each person has a worthy and worthwhile gift and value to the community. It is incumbent on the community to find and to bring to expression the different gifts of everyone within the community.

When the community comes to the harmonious expression of all of the gifts of its members, then the good news of Christ is known.

What does the Gospel mean for you and me right now? The Gospel is an adjustable propriety to what each of us needs right now. If we are sinners then the Gospel is forgiveness and amendment of our lives. If we are those who sinned against or those who suffer from the hardships of life, it is health, deliverance and recovery to a place of having all that we need.

Let us not limit the Gospel to writings in the Bible today. Let us understand the Gospel as the needed and relevant message of God to each of us, right here, right now.

What do you and I need to restore our lives in the direction of what is perfect, true, right, just, clear, pure and enlightened? That is the Gospel for us and it is available to us if we will arise to receive it. Amen.