Sunday School, February 6, 2022: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany C

Sunday School, February 6, 2022: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany C

Themes

Theme:  Speaking the language of fishermen

When Jesus taught people he used language that they could understand.  With farmers he spoke about sowing seeds and about grapevines.  With shepherds he spoke about raising sheep. With fishermen, he spoke about fishing.  Jesus told them that he was a fisherman and he did not fish for fish, he fished for people.  Fishing might be fun to do for recreation but if it is your every day job, it might not always be so fun, especially if the fish are not biting.  Jesus told Peter, Andrew, James and John that he could teach them how to fish for people.  What did he mean by this?  It meant that he would teach them how to make friends in a special way by teaching them how to bring good news to the lives of other people.  Jesus told people God love them and forgave them.  He told them they did not have to fear death because God would preserve their lives after death.  He taught people.  Teaching people makes their lives better.  When we learn new things, we can do new things and it is like light comes on.  Jesus was a teacher and he brought light to James, John, Peter and Andrew.  They saw that Jesus was such a good teacher for them, they wanted to learn how to teach and help others.  So that is how Jesus taught them to fish for other people.

How can you fish for other people?  How can you make friends?  How can you help other people learn about God?

Learning how to be friends with others is learning how we can share good news about God’s love and care.

Sermon

What is the biggest light in our life?  We see it every day unless it is covered by clouds.  What do we call that big light in the sky?  It is the sun.  The sun is really a star that is just close to us than the other stars.  What do we need the sun for?  Many things: heat, light, growing our plants.  If we did not have the sunlight, we could not live. So it is very important.

  Today we have read from the Psalm that God, the Lord is our Light.  And we read in our Gospel story how people called Jesus as great light.

  How can God and How can people be like a light?

  A light allows us to see things that we cannot see if we don’t have a light.  A light allows us to see things differently.

  When it is dark in your bedroom sometimes a shadow can look like a big tree or something else?  But when you turn on the light you find out it was just a shadow of the curtain.

   God helps us to see things differently.  God’s light is shared with people.  God’s light was in Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ is light because he showed us how to live better lives.  His life was like a light because he taught people and he healed people and he helped people.

   So you have people who are like lights in your life?  When you lose your toys, your mom says, did you look under your bed?  And her words are like a light shining to help you find your toys.  Your parents are like lights for you because they care for you and teach you new things.  Your teachers are like lights for you because they teach you new things.

  Do you know what Jesus said to his friends?  He said, “You are the lights of this world.”  What did he mean by that?

  He meant that we all have to live in a way to show others how to live better lives.  How do we live our lives to be like lights?  By loving and caring for one another and by making friends.  Jesus told his friends who were fishermen that they should fish for people.  What does that mean?  Does it mean we should try to catch people with a net or try to get them to swallow a fish hook?  No.  Jesus liked to speak in riddles; to fish for people was his way of saying, they needed to become very good at making friends.  How do we make friends?  By loving and caring for them, by helping them,

  Today we have learned how our lives can be like a light.  By teaching others.  And we’ve learn how to fish for people.  By learning how to make friends.

  Okay let turn on our lights now.  Let me see you shine.  And lets go fishing.  Let go and make some friends.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 6, 2022 The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs: Holy, Holy, Holy; Here I Am Lord; Eat This Bread, I Will Make You Good Fisher Folk

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: Holy, Holy, Holy  (Renew # 204)

1.      Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.

Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for 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 prophet Isaiah.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:  "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I; send me!"

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 138

I will give thanks to you O LORD with my whole heart; * before the gods I will sing your praise.

I will bow down toward your holy temple and praise your Name, * because of your love and faithfulness.

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.

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen were washing their nets. Jesus got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

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 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: Here I Am, Lord (Renew!, # 149)

1        I, the Lord of seas and sky, I have heard my people cry.  All who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save.  I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright, Who will bear my light to them?  Whom shall I send?   Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard You calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold Your people in my heart.

2        I, the Lord of snow and rain, I have borne my people’s pain.  I have wept for love of them.  They turn away.  I will break their hearts of stone, give them hearts of love alone.  I will speak my word to them.  Whom shall I send?   Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard You calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.

3        I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame, I will set a feast for them.  My hand will save.  Finest bread I will provide till their heart be satisfied.  I will give my life to them.  Whom shall I send?   Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard You calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.

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 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: Eat This Bread   (Renew! # 228)

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

            Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

 Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God

    and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     remembering that the blessing in the bread and wine spreads into each time,

place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: I Will Make You Good Fisher Folk (All the Best Songs for Kids, #131)

1.      I will make you good fisher folk, good fisher folk, good fisher folk,

I will make you good fisher folk if you follow me.

If you follow me, if you follow me,

I will make you good fisher folk if you follow me.

2.      Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, come unto me, come unto me.”

Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, I will give you rest.

I will give you rest, I will give you rest.”

Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, I will give you rest.”

Dismissal:  

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

People: Thanks be to God!

Quiz of the Day, January 2022

Quiz of the Day, January 31, 2022

In the words of Jesus about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, his inference pertained to what cause?

a. the sexual practices

b. the persecution of Lot

c. the inhospitality to God and God's messengers

d. the hostility to Abraham

Quiz of the Day, January 30, 2022

Why did Abraham bargain with God in prayer?

a. he wanted a daughter and a son from God

b. he didn't want God to destroy Sodom

c. he wanted God to save Ishmael

d. he wanted to teach his nephew Lot a lesson

Quiz of the Day, January 29, 2022

What does the name Isaac mean?

a. God's promised son

b. son of the covenant

c. laughter

d. we doubted God

Quiz of the Day, January 28, 2022

Who was the most prolific writer of what is called "Scholasticism?"

a. Albert Magnus

b. Anselm

c. Abelard

d. Thomas Aquinas

Quiz of the Day, January 27, 2022

In the biblical story, the rite of circumcision began with whom?

a. Adam

b. Seth

c. Noah

d. Shem

e. Abraham

f. Moses

Quiz of the Day, January 26, 2022

Hagar, Sarai's slave girl, who became the second wife of Abram, was from where?

a. Arabia

b. Egypt

c. Ur of the Chaldees

d. Canaan

Quiz of the Day, January 25, 2022

Of the following, which is something that we're not certain about regarding St. Paul?

a. he was from Tarsus

b. he was a Pharisee

c. he was a rabbi

d. he was a tentmaker

e. he persecuted the followers of Jesus

Quiz of the Day, January 24, 2022

Who was  the king/priest model for Jesus according to the Epistle to the Hebrews?

a. Aaron the High Priest

b. David

c. Samuel

d. Melchizedek, King of Salem

 Quiz of the Day, January 23, 2022

Of the following, who was not related to Abraham?

a. Isaac

b. Ishmael

c. Lot

d. Eliezer

Quiz of the Day, January 22, 2022

How did Abram introduce Sarai to the Pharaoh?

a. as the Queen of Ur of the Chaldees

b. as his second wife

c. as his daughter

d. as his sister

Quiz of the Day, January 21, 2022

Who was Terah?

a. the father of Abram

b. the father of Lot

c. the father of Sarai

d. the father of Jesse

Quiz of the Day, January 20, 2022

What might be called the biblical "ziggurat?"

a. Zion

b the holy Temple

c. the tower of Babel

d. Mt. Sinai

Quiz of the Day, January 19, 2022

According to biblical genealogy, how was Israel and Canaan related?

a. through Abraham

b. through Jacob

c. through the sons of Noah

d. through Obed

Quiz of the Day, January 18, 2022

What was the results of the confession of Peter about Jesus as the Christ?

a. he did not understand his confession

b. his confession was not by human insights

c. he was rebuked by Jesus for his "Satanic" understanding

d. he was praised by Jesus for his confession

e. he was told the church would be build on him and his confession

f.  all of the above

Quiz of the Day, January 17, 2022

How did Noah know that the Flood waters were subsiding?

a. he saw the mountain tops

b. he noticed that the ark was going down

c. he sent a dove who brought back an olive leaf

d. God told him

Quiz of the Day, January 16, 2022

The number forty is not associated with

a. the duration of the rain for the great Flood

b. the number of years Israel wandered in the wilderness

c. the number of days that Jesus fasted

d. the number of days of writing of the Revelation of John the Divine

e. the number of days that Moses was on Mt. Sinai

Quiz of the Day, January 15, 2022

The term Semite derives from

a. the name of the third son of Adam

b. the name of a son of Noah

c. the name of a tribe of Israel

d. the name of a city in Israel

Quiz of the Day, January 14, 2022

What were giant hybrid humanoid beings called in the Hebrew Scriptures?

a. angels

b. Samsons

c. nazirites

d. Nephilim

Quiz of the Day, January 13, 2022

Who said, " Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

a. Philip

b. Samaritan woman at the well

c. Nathaniel

d. Nicodemus

Quiz of the Day, January 12, 2022

Who are biblical first three sons?

a. Cain, Abel, and Lamech

b. Cain, Abel, and Enos

c. Cain, Abel, and Shem

d. Cain, Able, and Seth

Quiz of the Day, January 11, 2022

What animal did God put in perpetual enmity with women?

a. pigs

b. Leviathans

c. snakes

d. rats

Quiz of the Day, January 10, 2022

Which of the following archbishops of Canterbury was not martyred?

a. William Laud

b. Thomas Cranmer

c. Alphege

d. Thomas Becket

e. Augustine of Canterbury

Quiz of the Day, January 9, 2022

Which of the following is not "preferred" day for baptism in the Episcopal Church?

a. First Sunday after the Epiphany

b. Pentecost

c. Christmas

d. Easter Vigil

e. All Saints'

Quiz of the Day, January 8, 2022

What does Christ the Pantokrator mean?

a. the almighty ruler

b. the all and in all

c. the icon of God

d. the Suffering Redeemer

Quiz of the Day, January 7, 2022

Why do Orthodox churches have different dates for Christmas?

a. use of a lunar calendar

b. use of the Julian calendar

c. use of the Gregorian calendar

d. because of the ancient division with the Western Church

Quiz of the Day, January 6, 2022

Which of the following is true about the wise men?

a. they visited the baby Jesus at the stable

b. the Gospel of Matthew calls them "kings"

c. they visited Jesus in Bethlehem

d. the Gospel of Matthew states that there were three of them

Quiz of the Day, January 5, 2022

To whom did Jesus say, "I am resurrection and life?"

a. Mary of Bethany

b. Lazarus

c. Mary Magdalene

d. Martha

e. the 12 disciples

Quiz of the Quiz of the Day, January 4, 2022

Of the following who was not a convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism?

a. G.K. Chesterton

b. Cardinal Newman

c. Elizabeth Seton

d. Thomas Merton

e. C. S. Lewis

Quiz of the Day, January 3, 2021

Which prophet had a theophany which included wind, earthquake, fire, and silence in sequence?

a. Moses

b. Ezekiel

c. Jeremiah

d. Elijah

Quiz of the Day, January 2, 2021

Another name for the Feast of the Holy Name is

a. Purification

b. Dedication of Jesus

c. Circumcision

d. Sacrifice

Quiz of the Day, January 1, 2022

Where is it written that "death will be no more?"

a. Genesis

b. Psalms

c. Isaiah

d. Revelations 

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.