Sunday School, September 4, 2022 13 Pentecost C proper 18

 Sunday School, September 4, 2022  13 Pentecost C proper 18

Sunday School Themes

For children, there has been the purposely avoided the “hard sayings” of Jesus about “hating” one’s family members to be a disciple of Jesus.  Though one could present how Jesus used contradictory riddles to present his priority.

The Gospel themes chosen center around wise planning

If you want to be a good baseball player, what do you do?  You practice, you join teams, you work out.

If you want to be a good ballet dancer, what do you do?  You join a dance studio and you practice and you listen to a good dance instructor.

Life is about planning because even though the future is not here yet, we believe that we will grow and change and we have to be prepared for what we are going to be doing in our future.

Parents begin to prepare their children for what they are going to do and become from the day of their birth.  Why?  Because life is about growing and changing.  Since life is about change we have to learn how to be prepared for the changes which will come to our lives.

Jesus said that a person who wants to build a big tower has to make sure that there is a plan.  There has to be materials and a design and the workers to do the job.  There has to be enough money to afford to build the tower.

Jesus said that we want to be his disciples, then we need to know what we need to do.  We need to be smart and wise about our planning.  A disciples of Jesus is a student of Jesus.  And we never graduate from being a student of Jesus.  So we need to plan on learning about Jesus for the rest of our lives.

Smart planning for learning how to be a disciple is to learn from the most important Christian rules.  And the most important Christian rule is to love God with all of our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

If we are planning to follow Jesus as his disciple and student, we need to plan to be his student and to always be learning about how to love God better and to love our neighbors better.

Sermon

  If you are going to build a house what do you need?

  Well, you need to have some money to pay for the building supplies.  You need an architect.  You need some land or a place to build your house.  You need a builder who can organize all of the workers.  You need building supplies, cement, wood, nails, shingles, electrical wires, lights, switches, sinks, counters, and many other things.

  So to build a house you have to do a lot of planning, because what will happen if you don’t plan?  You won’t be able to finish the house.  If you try to build a house you can’t afford then you won’t be able to finish it.  Or if you choose the wrong builder the house may not be built to last.

  Jesus reminded his friends that they needed planning in their lives, planning just like someone who was going to build a great tower, or just like a general who was planning a battle.

  And Jesus reminded his friends that they were going to have many people in their lives.  Their family and their friends.  To live our lives means that we have to learn to live with people.  So if we are going to plan our lives well, we are going to have plan our lives in learning how to live with people in our lives.  And it is important to learn how to live with people in our lives, with our parents, our brothers and sisters, with our husbands and wives, with our teachers and friends.  And it is important to learn how to live with our self.

  Now why do I say we have to learn to live with our self?  We have to know our self well, so we know how to plan our lives?  If I like baseball, but I am terrible at playing baseball, should I try to play professional baseball?  No, I would not be accepted by any team because I’m not good at playing baseball.  So I have to know myself and what I am good at in planning my life.

  It is important to know how to live with other people and with our selves.  So we need to plan well.

  And the best way to do this is to learn the law of Christ:  Love God with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.

  This is the greatest plan of life.  And if we learn this plan in life, we will be successful in learning to live with other people and our self.

  So remember this great plan of Christ for our lives:  Love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as our self.  Amen.

An intergenerational Eucharistic liturgy

September 4, 2022: The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Rejoice in the Lord Always, He’s Got the Whole World, Alleluia, Jesus Loves the Little Children

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Rejoice in the Lord Always   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 197)

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. 

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. 

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  And again I say rejoice. 

Rejoice!  Rejoice!  And again I say rejoice.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Allow us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, since you always oppose the overly proud who do not think they need you, so you never forsake those who make there are very proud of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

Moses said to all Israel the words which the Lord commanded him, "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 139

LORD, you have searched me out and known me; * you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys and my resting-places * and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, * but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

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.

When Jesus was speaking to the people about being disciples, he said, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.”

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

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

He’s got the little tiny baby, in his hands, he’s got the little tiny baby, in his hands.  He’s got the little tiny baby, in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the brothers and the sisters, in his hands, he got the brothers and the sisters, in his hand.  He’s got the brothers and the sisters in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hand.

He’s got the mothers and the fathers, in his hand, he’s got the mothers and the fathers, in his hand.  He’s got the mothers and the fathers in his hand, he’s got the whole world in his hand.

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 God.”

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,

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: Alleluia  (Renew! # 136)

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

He’s my savior, alleluia.  He’s my savior, alleluia.  He’s my savior, alleluia.  He’s my savior, alleluia.

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: Jesus Loves the Little Children   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 140)

Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Aphorism of the Day, August 2022

Aphorism of the Day, August 21, 2022

Hating family and carrying a cross (on the way to capital punishment by death) part of the family values and planning agenda found in the words of Jesus?  The vision of worst case scenario apparently is part of readiness planning.

Aphorism of the Day, August 30, 2022

Sometimes the social settings does allow for a peaceful paradigm shift where parties in different hermeneutical circles can co-exist without violence against each other.  The Gospel words of Jesus about conflicts within the communities are an indication of the situations which did not allow significant doctrinal disagreement to exist without a party resorting to persecution.

Aphorism of the Day, August 29, 2022

The words of Jesus which are channeled with the Gospel writers encourage his followers to be prepared for the reality of following him.  The most difficult issue might be the non-acceptance of one's call by one's family and friend.  The lesson: if one undergoes a significant paradigm change in one's life, one may be opposed by those who still reside in the paradigm that one has just left.

Aphorism of the Day, August 28, 2022

If the Eucharist means anything, it is the hospitality of God in Christ offered to all.  Such hospitality makes very strange the notion of "closed communion."

Aphorism of the Day, August 27, 2022

Eucharist is a practice of hospitality among friends and it should be a prelude to practice hospitality to a wider group of people who are not yet our friends, but could become so after we offer them hospitality.

Aphorism of the Day, August 26, 2022

Space is socially coded and the wealthy and powerful usually designate the value of particular location.  Best seats in the house or being about to sit with people who have socially coded positions of power is an aspiration of "risers" on the social ladder.  Jesus warned his disciples about presumption of pride in wanting to be a social riser by seeking out the socially coded places of prestige.

Aphorism of the Day, August 25, 2022

Jesus challenges us regarding the practice of hospitality beyond our usual peerage.  This should be both individual but corporate and governmental in that it should be the national ethos to take care of those who are not succeeding in individual and family sustainability for the basics of living.

Aphorism of the Day, August 24, 2022

It not who you are, it's who you know.  Scope out the room, and get near and schmooze with the people who can promote you the best.  Jesus countered the self-promotion with the recommended charisma of humility.  If humble people get called up higher then, the people who recognize and reward humility are the people you want to work with.

Aphorism of the Day, August 23, 2022

With the hierarchy of "seating arrangements" at a banquet, Jesus revealed the pride of self promotion and he suggested relying on the charisma of humility as the more fitting way to be asked to "come up higher" in the lives of people.  If people don't recognize the charisma of humility, then you really don't want to be asked to come up higher in their lives.

Aphorism of the Day, August 22, 2022

Space and location of the human body has social hierarchy within cultures.  Redlining in real estate and "other side" of the tracks segregation are proof of the social hierarchy of space.  Within buildings, party or social seating arrangement reflect hierarchy.  Jesus suggested that one should chose the lower seats and be called up higher rather than chose the higher seat and be "demoted."  He was suggesting that one rely upon the meritocracy of one's character and good character is comfortable in any space and is not dependent upon social spatial hierarchy to make one "better."

Aphorism of the Day, August 21, 2022

Humanity was not made for the sabbath; the sabbath was made for humanity.  As profoundly deep in mythical history that sabbath is traced to, that is the God who rested on the seventh day after creating, Jesus saw the sabbath as a calendar for humanity to learn balance lifestyles with orientation to the divine.  But the calendar was not to be a slavish schedule disqualifying the work of good and healing which needed to be done on any day at anytime

Aphorism of the Day, August 20, 2022

The Isaian writer railed against those who trampled on the sabbath, as perhaps a desecration of "holy time," while critics of Jesus railed against for violating the holy sabbath with healing "work."  The abolitionary prayers of holy work are compatible with the honoring of the sabbath.

 Aphorism of the Day, August 19, 2022

We may rigidly qualify time for general discipline and scheduling purposes but sometimes to uncaring outcomes.  "I'll be late to work if I stop and help someone in need.  The exigent need is inconvenient to my schedule."  Healing and caring need to take precedence to our slavish devotion to schedule.  We can have schedules and designate times and days without compromising their purpose for the occasional unplanned need to care for those who pain is never on our schedule.

Aphorism of the Day, August 18, 2022

If all things have created good, then time is good, and all time is good.  So why vary the qualification as good time or bad time, as sabbath time or regular time?  Time strategies are made for human tasks, division of labor, and giving due to human difference in vocational use of time.  While one may honor the integrity of time categories, like the sabbath, for the practice of discipline, one cannot slavishly maintain distinction in time categories because there are certain works like healing which needs to be done at anytime, including on sabbath time when worked might otherwise be eschewed.

Aphorism of the Day, August 17, 2022

Not being able to heal on the sabbath because of a pious calendar conflict means that a calendar was absolutize in organizing continuous time, and health in continuous time is always appropriate especially as it is know in healing.

Aphorism of the Day, August 16, 2022

Not being able to do good on a day of rest would seem to contradict the nature of God.  Human calendars can be suggestive in recommending giving due to a variety of human behaviors for balance, but they should not be slavish in prohibiting what is good.  The human situation of freedom does not result in categorized human events happening according to calendar designations.  Yes, emergency personnel have to work on holidays because illness and harm do not conform to calendars.

Aphorism of the Day, August 15, 2022, Feast of St. Mary the Virgin

Mary, in Christianity, came to bear the needed elevation of women and the feminine within psychical and spiritual hierarchy in a world where patriarchy squeezed women into the private realm and in that private realm they could have significant roles, but also face abuse without public advocacy.  May Mary continue to bring women to their rightful public places which honor their gifts and their integrity as thoroughly indispensable for the creative advance of humanity.  One cannot say that one honors Mary, if one does not honor the fullness of womanhood in our world.

 Aphorism of the Day, August 14, 2022

Peace may only be the contrasting rest between dynamic sounding opposition.  Peace may be a rest in a social "score" to contribute to the fullness of growth which includes sometimes leaving with conflict familiar views when surpassing views present themselves.  Not everyone moves on at the same pace and when one moves and leaves others behind there is not always peaceful departures.  Let not peace be static sameness; let it be the phases of new reintegration of the new with the old resulting in the peace of calming new insights.

Aphorism of the Day, August 13, 2022

Faith is present concrescent hope; as it were an attempt to slow down in time the dynamics of hope and make the future kiss the present with a blessing of goodness.

Aphorism of the Day, August 12, 2022

Scientific faith or persuasion is not religious or aesthetic faith.  Scientific faith is persuasion about observed patterns leading to accurate and consistent future prediction based upon consistent behaviors of the past.  Religious faith is a relational persuasion, an artistic persuasion, about one's projection of the totality being a great Friend, but a friend who persuades that freedom is the value which create moral and spiritual significance, but also a freedom which permits the range of probabilities of both harmonious and seeming competing free agents.

Aphorism of the Day, August 11, 2022

Faith: learning to accept the Mystery of Great Plenitude and funneling such learning into contextual relevant efforts of love and justice while not reifying those contextual relevant efforts as final but simply as positive building block exemplars for self-surpassable futures.

Aphorism of the Day, August 10, 2022

If religious people could understand their doctrinal situation as simply totemic identity for facilitating community relationship rather than as pens which purport to domesticate a "holy, more than we can know Being,"  we would live as certain of Plenitude but highly skeptical about our limited understanding and presentations of the Same

Aphorism of the Day, August 9, 2022

When ones faith in God becomes one faith in a particular presentation of the divine, one can surely find conditions which would falsify such a limited presentation of "that which none greater can be conceived."  Limited definitions of the divine must go the way of all idols.

Aphorism of Day, August 8, 2022

Faith in God would need to specify what one means by God, and realistically faith would mean living appreciatively within a totality of expanding free conditions with a sense of goodness as being implied by significant freedom.

Aphorism of the Day, August 7, 2022

The certitudes of science involve the replication in time of coming to the same results given sameness of conditions.  One can believe or have faith in the solid consistency of what might be called discovered scientific laws, even though the stating of the laws do not make events happen, the laws only "statistically" approximate what has, is, and is likely to happen.  What scientists can accuse religionists of having is a faith which is directed toward an object too vague to quantify, and certainly for experimental purposes.  Faith is more a religious art of living toward a plenitude which is the ground or everything continue to become in the great divine and all inclusive Becoming.

Aphorism of the Day, August 6, 2022

What can I take to the bank as meaningfully true now about the future?  The process of doing such would be called "faith."

Aphorism of the Day, August 5, 2022

What is faith?  Faith is trying to reduce the positive future objects of hope to the present time, in ways of positive present regard.

Aphorism of the Day, August 4, 2022

Am I persuaded that if I toss an apple into the air it will fall back toward me?  Is that kind of persuasion "faith?"  Do we have "faith" in natural laws based upon safe future prediction which arise from continuous experience of repetitions of the same? Such scientific faith about future natural events is different from the aesthetic relational "faith" in the divine, because faith in the divine implies a plenitude which mystifies the particular contexts which science purports to observe.  Faith has many contexts including the scientific which can become perceived as the faith of the negligible because of the impossibility of knowing the causal relationships of an infinite number of entities with an infinite number of entities.

Aphorism of the Day, August 3, 2022

The Greek word for faith pistos can be used as a verb.  When the verb form of pistos  is translated into English it is "to believe."  Retaining active faith or pistos in English translation would be to "have faith" in something.  Faith as science would be like the falsification principle, meaning that a scientific law is believably valid until it was falsified by future evidence.  In the religious sphere faith is a relational term, meaning that from one's relationship one can trust future regard and well-being from the one with whom one has had a relationship.

Aphorism of the Day, August 2, 2022

Are belief and faith synonyms?  Both seem to imply a regard for things which are not empirically verified within the moment, but are profound "hunches" based upon intuitions arising from relationship which anticipates a yet unseen future.

Aphorism of the Day, August 1, 2022

"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for."  Is this a tautology?  Is faith persuasion and persuasion is assurance?  Is faith living toward the future without knowing it but living in positivity about what the mysterious future will make actual?  When the future arrives does one have to make it something which aligned with what we thought it would be in the past? 

Quiz of the Day, August 2022

Quiz of the Day, August 31, 2022

According to the Acts of the Apostles, which ruler was struck down by an angel?

a. Felix

b. Agrippa

c. Herod

d. Festus

Quiz of the Day, August 30, 2022

Philemon was not

a. a slave owner

b. a co-worker with Paul

c. the father of Onesimus

d. a colleague of Archippus

Quiz of the Day, August 29, 2022

Where were the followers of Christ, first called "Christians?"

a. Caesarea Philippi

b. Antioch

c. Jerusalem

d. Rome

Quiz of the Day, August 28, 2022

Where is the sermon on the mount truly deliver from a "mount?"

a. Mark

b. Matthew

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, August 27, 2022

Who received vision granting him to eat such animals like alligators?

a. Paul

b. Ezekiel

c. Peter

d. Cornelius

Quiz of the Day, August 26, 2022

"Messiah" comes from what rite?

a. investiture anointing

b. healing

c. priestly ordinaton

d. commissioning of a warrior

Quiz of the Day, August 25, 2022

Which King Louis is a saint?

a. X

b. V

c. XIV

d. IX

Quiz of the Day, August 24, 2022

To what person did Jesus say that he would be a ladder with angels ascending and descending upon him?

a. Peter

b. John the Baptist

c. Nicodemus

d. Nathaniel

Quiz of the Day, August 23, 2022

What did Job think was the response to his suffering of his friends?

a. criticism

b. compassion

c. causative theories

d. fear

Quiz of the Day, August 22, 2022

In which Gospel does Jesus tell his followers to eat his flesh and drink his blood?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, August 21, 2022

Biblical roots of the words of the sanctus in the Mass can be found where?

a. Psalms

b. Genesis

c. Isaiah

d. Revelations

e. a and c

f. c and d

Quiz of the Day, August 20, 2022

Of the following, who was not one of Job's speechifying friends?

a. Eliphaz

b. Bildad

c. Temer

d. Zophar

Quiz of the Day, August 19, 2022

Who poetically asked why he did not die at birth?

a. Ecclesiastes

b. Hosea

c. Elijah

d. Job

Quiz of the Day, August 19, 2022

Regarding Job's future fidelity, who did God "make a wager with?"

a. Satan

b. Lucifer

c. Bildad

d. Eliphaz

Quiz of the Day, August 18, 2022

Which book of the Bible could be seen as a satire on simplistic views of God's chosen people?

a. Job

b. Psalm

c. Ecclesiastes

d. Song of Solomon

Quiz of the Day, August 17, 2022

The ecclesiastical misdeed of selling church positions for money is named after whom?

a. Simon Peter

b. Simon Magus

c. Ananinas

d. Sapphira

Quiz of the Day, August 16, 2022

According to the Gospel of John, what was the name of the sister of Mary, mother of Jesus?

a. Salome

b. Magdalene

c. Mary

d. Clopas

Quiz of the Day, August 15, 2022

What is the source indicating the names of the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary?

a. the Gospel of Matthew

b. the Gospel of Luke

c. the Gospel of Thomas

d. the Gospel of James

Quiz of the Day, August 14, 2022

Why was Samson's strength in his "long hair?"

a. long hair was required of all men

b. hair is a Hebrew sign of virility

c. uncut hair is part of the vow of the nazirite

d. Philistines were fearful of long-haired men

Quiz of the Day, August 13, 2022

Which of the following is not true about Jeremy Taylor/

a. he was a Caroline divine

b. he was a martyr

c. he wrote Holy Living

d. he was associate with Archbishop Laud

e. he wrote Holy Dying

Quiz of the Day, August 12, 2022

Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, and a recognized saint on the Episcopal liturgical calendar, was cited for her heroic service in which war?

a. The Civil War

b. The War of 1812

c. The Boer War

d. The Crimean War

Quiz of the Day, August 11, 2022

Samson was not

a. a riddler

b. a man of unnatural strength

c. a destroyer of a temple of Dagon

d. the first Judge of Israel

Quiz of the Day, August 10, 2022

Samson was not

a. a judge

b. married to Delilah

c. tricked to tell Delilah the secret of his strength

d. under the vow of a nazirite

Quiz of the Day, August 9, 2022

The Epistle to the Hebrews attributes all the great deeds of the heroes recorded in Hebrew Scriptures to what attribute?

a. love

b. obedience

c. faith

d. patience

Quiz of the Day, August 8, 2022

What would be an example of a linguistic identifier in biblical situation of intrigue?

a. Elohim/Yahweh

b. Ba'al/ Adonai

c. Shibboleth/Sibboleth

d. Sinai/Horeb

Quiz of the Day, August 7, 2022

Who was the king of Israel when Isaiah had his famous vision of the divine?

a. Jeroboam

b. Asa

c. Hezekiah

d. Uzziah

Quiz of the Day, August 6, 2022

The reference to the "son of man" is found where in Hebrew Scriptures?

a. Isaiah

b. Joel

c. Amos

d. Daniel

Quiz of the Day, August 5, 2022

Who said, "Sell your possessions...?"

a. Jesus

b. Moses

c. Paul

d. Peter

Quiz of the Day, August 4, 2022

Faith is the                   of things hoped for.

a. persuasion

b. assurance

c. down-payment

d. correspondence

Quiz of the Day, August 3, 2022

Who was Eliezer?

a. an assistant to Moses

b. a High Priest during David's reign

c. the servant of Abraham

d. a spy for Israel

Quiz of the Day, August 2, 2022

Which of the following is not one of seven sacraments?

a. Eucharist

b. foot-washing

c. baptism

d. confirmation

e. matrimony

f. ordination

g. Prayer for the sick

Quiz of the  Day, August 1, 2022

What biblical person received messages from God via the medium of fleece?

a. Moses

b. David

c. Jonathan

d. Gideon

Coding Social and Actual Space with Hospitality

12  Pentecost, Cp17, August 28, 2022

Jeremiah 2:4-13 Ps. 112

Heb.13:1-8        Luke 14:1, 7-14

Lectionary Link
Best seats at at the concert and ballgame.  High end neighborhoods.  Honored seats at the table for banquets.  This is proof that space is socially coded and valued based upon standards of wealth, privilege, and power.  As those who would rise to be social climber, we are encouraged to reach those spaces of social privilege.

What spaces do not have social value?  The other side of the tracks, slums, ghettos, red-lined districts, back row seats, sitting in the back of the bus.

Space is socially coded, and one might say that it is coded on a continuum of inhospitality to full hospitality.

The message of the observations of Jesus regarding social behavior is a commentary on the social coding of space based upon the pride of position which he observed in human behavior.

In human pride, people seek to segregate themselves by vying for the so-called spaces of prestige in human society.

What does this pride of position create?  It creates the conditions of inhospitality.  Many people are relegated to unfavored status, and pushed to the margins of both geographical and social space.

Jesus founded a new community of people and the practice of Holy Eucharist to institute a correction in how people and space become socially coded.

The Holy Eucharist establishes hospitality as the chief value of God, Christ, and the people who are called to the community of Christ.  This makes the term "closed communion" a profound oxymoron.

Hospitality is the way in which we practice the healing of how space and people are socially coded.

With regard to space,  all places belong to God and as human stewards of God's places, we are challenged to make the places of God welcome to all.  The segregation of people into so-called good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods is an offense to the hospitality of God.

The segregation of people into categories of disapproval and exclusion from fellowship is a severe violation of the hospitality of God in Christ. 

We can be outright offenders of hospitality by open and blatant racism, discrimination, prejudicial and biased behaviors.

We can be subtle offenders of God's hospitality by being such slaves of our own affinities, familial, and social groups that we neglect others outside our preferences.  We can be saying, "Well, people like to be with their own kind."

The hospitality of God challenges the blatant offenders and the subtle offenders.  Blatant offenses need to be challenged with laws and enforcement of justice for all.  Subtle offense of hospitality need to have the disciplined teaching of the practice of crossing artificial social barriers which keep us from knowing in personal and intimate ways how much we need each other even when we might seem profoundly different in how we have had our social identities constituted.

Our lessons from the epistle to the Hebrews and from the Gospel establish that hospitality is a chief virtue of the community of Christ.  The Gospel is the good news that we are called to overcome barriers which segregate human beings from each other.

Those with power, privilege, and wealth have the freedom to break down the barriers to hospitality.  

Let us renew our commitment to the hospitality of God in Christ, as it is expressed in the welcome to the Eucharistic table.  Amen.