Aphorism of the Day, October 2023

Aphorism of the Day, October 31, 2023

The words of Jesus are hard for people who wish to look religious instead of being people who know they are ever imperfect but perfectible through the educational program of repentance.  Humility is easy for those who know that they need to be so much more than they are now, and further humbled by the divine tolerance of grace for much more time to improve.

Aphorism of the Day, October 30, 2023

Disillusionment can be caused and cured by surpassing excellence.  Actual performance fail in contrast with what is ideal can cause disillusionment.  But the ideal can cure disillusionment by being carrot of perfection which keeps us going in the right direction.  I think this is why Jesus said the "Messiah" is to be our instructor.  The Messiah is that continually self surpassing person who beckons us beyond pride for what we have achieved and disillusionment for what we have not acheived.

Aphorism of the Day, October 29, 2023

The presence of laws and rules has not been able to prevent war in our world, because laws primarily do not have universal force since there has been no universal force to enforce laws, even as we have the history of Empires which aspired to have the order of the emperor imposed upon the world that was under the control of the emperor.  Laws occur because the history of humanity proves that love often fails in human practice, and when it fails badly people can get hurt.  War is the attempt by force to force laws and rules upon other people or to resist the attempt of being forced to follow the laws of other people.

Aphorism of the Day, October 28, 2023

Laws in practice can become legalism when the performance of the rules is used to enhanced the superiority of the performer rather than the beauty of the order for which laws are intended.

Aphorism of the Day, October 27, 2023

When the teaching function of the law is lost, the law can become legalism as service to the insiders who keep all the finer rules and the outsiders who are condemned as non-adherents.

Aphorism of the Day, October 26, 2023

The summary of the Law is given to promote criteria for discerning how one is to act without specific knowledge of all rules and regulations.  Does what I do and say comport with loving God and my neighbor? 

Aphorism of the Day, October 25, 2023

The Hebrew Scriptures present Moses as the one who received law, but he was also the model law liver, the leader who instantiated the law of relationship with the divine.  Some would like to display the text of the law as their "party" symbol when the law is much more.  It is continuous relationship between God and people in community toward being in better relationship with both.

Aphorism of the Day, October 24, 2023

Could the New Testament writings be designated as writings about how to cope being oppressed communities within the Roman Empire?  How could such documents be turned on their head when the community is no longer oppressed but is a preferred of religion the Empire and subsequent empires?  "Empire" Christians have perhaps been misappropriating the New Testament writings.

Aphorism of the Day, October 23, 2023

All laws are not equivalent in their importance.  Jesus and Paul established the law to love as the most important law.  Thou shalt love God and neighbor.  Easier commanded than fulfilled but the greatness of the law of love is it is completely open ended to better future fulfillment.

Aphorism of the Day, October 22, 2023

How would God prove divine "catholicity," that is divine existence and worthiness to be worshipped by all? Not like a Caesar-god who coerced the acceptance of his greatness throughout the world empire.  A God of love works through the seeming weakness of luring through the winsome persuasiveness of goodness people who share a true freedom to reject winsome love.  In the total field of probabilities, as theists we are required to hold that God has invisible "catholicity" even when all free agents do not recognize it.

  Aphorism of the Day, October 21, 2023

One can note that the cult of the Emperor in the Roman Empire was an attempt at a "catholic" religion.  The religion of the Jesus Movement was based upon the always already invisible kingdom of God because the divine image is stamped upon everything.  That is what is "catholic" about God.

Aphorism of the Day, October 20, 2023

God is the superlative trope of totality, not because any human can comprehend totality or claim exclusive right to claim precision about it.  For those uncomfortable with using the God-trope, they cannot avoid assuming the trope of totality which is an alway already trope of the plenitudinous omni-discursive existence in a world infinite differences.  To say one word is to assume the total universe of discourse.  Theists are persuaded to make the case that language as essentially definitive of what personhood means, are willing to say that their God-trope is also personal, but extra-personal in amassing the entire linguistic universe.

Aphorism of the Day, October 19, 2023

Was Israel suppose to be a witness community of a functional theocracy to spread to be a world theocracy?  Was Christendom supposed to be the fulfillment of a world theocracy?  Islam?  Buddhism?  Hinduism? Do promoters of every great insight want that insight to be the categorical imperative, viz., that which is something winsomely appropriate for everyone?  Probably what is the most functional theocratic insight is that God as Word means that everyone is a language user and what language instantiates is a world of differences.  Differences as the "categorical imperative" that we live with means that language requires us to live oxymoronic lives.

Aphorism of the Day, October 18, 2023

For those who want to avoid politics, they must falsify the observation of John Donne, "No man (person) is an island."  One cannot avoid the group; in trying to do so one only amplifies the power of the group over one, because why else would one avoid relationships unless the power of the group paralyzed the escapee to a supposed "quietism."  Such quietism is in itself a political statement and an act of omission to be active in doing good within community.  The fact that one cannot cannot persuade the entire community to all of one's values is no reason to commit the futility of hermitism.

Aphorism of the Day, October 17, 2023

Should taxes be paid to the Caesar?  Paul, who believed his citizenship was in heaven suggested praying for and submitting to the authorities, even while others are quoted as saying, "we have to obey God rather than "men."  Simplistic recommendations for church and state relationship don't work because the field of probable situations often leads to the need for context specific wisdom.

Aphorism of the Day, October 16, 2023

Irony of history.  Jesus was asked whether tax should be paid to the emperor and he said to render unto Caesar.  Today and in many places for many years the "church" has been "empire identified," and has been tax exempt.

Aphorism of the Day, October 15, 2023

The parables of Jesus often include horrifying descriptions of punishment and yet this is the shocking reality and outcomes of human lovelessness.  When humans live unloving lives they end up being their own punishment and their own nightmare in hurting the innocent.  Warring is the hell that we don't have to wait for an imagined afterlife to experience.

Aphorism of the Day, October 14, 2023

Do morals and ethics evolve?  Can we absolutize the cultural practices of slavery and subjugation of women found in the people who generated the Bible and assume it was God's eternal will?  The human understanding of what is superlative is always in need of development through new insights about applied justice to people in new situations.

Aphorism of the Day, October 13, 2023

The "last shall be first," states the reality of the priority of the now since time only allows us to be trapped in the now, which is the latest and it is first because it is the only time that exists continuously.

Aphorism of the Day, October 12, 2023

Everyone and everything lives at an equidistance from divine omnipresence, but sentient humans build hierarchies of closeness or distance from awareness of that presence.

Aphorism of the Day, October 11, 2023

The parables of Jesus reveal the unavoidable hierarchies which occur with the use of language and the perpetual choices that are made which indicate preferences, like the societal "A lists" of seeming "preferred" people.  Jesus was the one who continually challenged hierarchies by "choosing" or giving voice and preference to those who were kept off the prevailing "A lists."

Aphorism of the Day, October 10, 2023

Sometimes the spiritual and the natural are pitted against each other in a perpetual dualism in people's religious life.  Perhaps the spiritual should be regarded as the natural recognition of being made in the image of God and accessing original grace of being designated by the creating God as "good."

We Aphorism of the Day, October 9, 2023

A parable of Jesus presents the "a lists" of religious life as uninterested in being invited to wedding party of God.  People have other things to do rather than go to a "God-party."  How is it that the wedding of the divine and the human has become so uninteresting?  It could be that religious leaders often are about their own parties and are missing the big one that is always already going on.

Aphorism of the Day, October 8, 2023

In the experience of human smallness in the experience of a much bigger world and with short duration of the life of the individual, people with language understand language to be the essence of relationality.  From relationality, we derive what we call personhood as definitive of each in community.  Since we are locked into the alway already interpretive grid of language, the language of personhood, we interpret the greatness beyond our smallness using personalisms.  And so greatness beyond our smallness comes to language as the person of God.  To say that having language is impersonal is to deny the primary feature of humanity.

Aphorism of the Day, October 7, 2023

A parable of Jesus seems to present God as the absentee landlord of the universe and whose son is not accepted as a respected rent collector.  People have been bad tenants in the short time that we have access to the living quarters of this world.  When we pay the rent of respect to the divine owner of all we can receive stewardship wisdom to share the gifts and have more than adequate enjoyment.

Aphorism of the Day, October 6, 2023

At the macro level the Bible is a book of writers about the wisdom of people realizing their "God-identity" and doing it within micro-communities as modeling what it means to live toward the highest human potential in love and justice.  Through the writings people are being invited to realize their highest selves and even as the ancient cultures from which the biblical writings were generated did not achieve the fullness of love and justice, we in our time are still invited to surpass ourselves and the cultures of the past in living justice.

Aphorism of the Day, October 5, 2023

The New Testament are essentially writings which promotes the availability of God to all people because of the understanding of the presentation of the nature of God in the witness and teachings of Jesus.

Aphorism of the Day, October 4, 2023

"The kingdom of God will be taken from you...."  How does this happen?  It's like coming home and finding the locks on the door have been changed.  New keys have been issued to upgrade entrance and some refuse the upgrade.  The kingdom of God hasn't really changed, it's that human perceptions of love and justice get clarify which nullify old ways of perception.  As Joseph Campbell once said, "Yesterday's virtues can be tomorrow's vice."  See slavery and the subjugation of women; you can't practice these and claim the authority of the kingdom of God.

Aphorism of the Day, October 3, 2023

A parable of Jesus illustrates the alway already kingdom of God in which we live and many have forgotten the ultimate ownership of the One who is everlasting.  People who have forgotten that God owns all have usurped ownership and they punish those who remind them of the divine owner of all.  The New Testament writers believed that Jesus was the great reminder from God about the ownership of all in time by the Everlasting.

Aphorism of the Day, October 2, 2023

Codified law has to keep up with the insights gained from applied justice.  Applied justice should render empathy and life situations reveal to us people in conditions who have not had kindness rendered to them given the heretofore habits of society.  New law and recommended behaviors derive to include previously neglected people the status of not only protection of the law but dignified value within the community.  It is shameful that applied justice for "new recipients" is denigrated with the term "woke."   Let us "awake" to applied justice in our treatment of persons who have been left out.

Aphorism of the Day, October 1, 2023

 One might say that divine authority as it includes the respects shared freedom with every entity is the lure caused by being together now and forever and accepting that the lure is for us to learn to be together well.  Authority as lure rather than coercion is the invitation to love.

Quiz of the Day, October 2023

Quiz of the Day, October 31, 2023

Which Gospel does not include the parable of the sower?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, October 30, 2023

Which of the following is not one of the seven churches in the book of Revelations?

a. Laodicia

b. Smyrna

c. Corinth

d. Ephesus

e. Pergamos

f.  Philadelphia

g. Thyatira

Quiz of the Day, October 29, 2023

Of the following, which might be the chief concern of the prophet Haggai?

a. return of the people from exile in Persia

b. Darius' edicts

c. rebuilding the Temple

d. establishing a school for teaching the Torah

Quiz of the Day, October 28, 2023

Why are Saints Simon and Jude celebrated together on the same day?

a. they are brothers

b. they came from the same city

c. the saints calendar was so full, they got doubled up

d. the two traveled to Persia and were martyred there

Quiz of the Day, October 27, 2023

How many English Monarchs have the added title, "The Great?"

a. one

b. two

c. three

d. none

Quiz of the Day, October 26, 2023

Where is the burial place of Moses?

a. in the land of Moab

b. not in the Land of Promise

c. specific place unknown

d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, October 25, 2023

What's another name for St. Tabitha?

a. Eunice

b. Lois

c. Dorcas

d. Lydia

Quiz of the Day, October 24, 2023

The Creed include believing in the resurrection of the body.  Who wrote of said that this resurrection was a spiritual body?

a. John the Divine

b. Paul

c. Jesus

d. Peter

Quiz of the Day, October 23, 2023

Which of the following is not true about St. James of Jerusalem?

a. he was an apostle

b. he was the bother of Jesus

c. St. Paul met with him

d. he was a martyr

e. he was a leader of the Jerusalem church

Quiz of the Day, October 22, 2023

What person in the Bible is associated with the color purple?

a. Rahab

b. Mary

c. Lydia

d. Solomon

e. John the Divine

Quiz of the Day, October 21, 2023

What did Nebuzaradan do?

a. burned down the Temple

b. destroyed the King of Judah's home

c. burned most of the houses in Jerusalem

d. all of the above

 Quiz of the Day, October 20, 2023

Who saw the back side of God?

a. Abraham

b. Jesus

c. Moses

d. Paul

e. Elijah

Quiz of the Day, October 19, 2023

No living person ever saw God except

a. Jesus

b. Moses

c. Elijah

d. Melchizedek

e. Enoch

Quiz of the Day, October 18, 2023

Who was the recipient or addressee of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostle?

a. the early churches

b. Theophilus

c. the Pauline churches

d. the church in Rome

 Quiz of the Day, October 17, 2023

What king of Judah burnt the scrolls containing the words of the prophet Jeremiah?

a. Asa

b. Jehoaikim

c. Rehoboam

d. Hezekiah

Quiz of the Day, October 16, 2023

What did Jesus say the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was?

a. sexuality

b. homosexuality

c. inhospitality

d. blasphemy

Quiz of the Day, October 15, 2023

Who was Baruch?

a. a prophet for King Josiah

b. Jeremiah's secretary

c. attributed author of an apocryphal with his name

d. all of the above

e. b and c

Quiz of the Day, October 14, 2023

Noisy gong or clanging cymbals are Pauline metaphors for what?

a. having gifts without having love

b. Temple music

c.  hallelujahs

d. proclaiming the Gospel loudly

Quiz of the Day, October 13, 2023

Which of th following books presents the church using the metaphor of the "body?"

a. 1 Timothy

b. 1 Corinthians

c. Romans

d. Philemon

Quiz of the Day, October 12, 2023

What king destroyed the altars and shrines to the foreign gods?

a. Ahab

b. Solomn

c. Josiah

d. Saul

Quiz of the Day, October 11, 2023

Where is the earliest Eucharistic prayer found in the New Testament?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. 1 Corinthians

Quiz of the Day, October 10, 2023

Which of the following is notable about the reign of Josiah?

a. he rebuilt the Temple

b. he defeated the Assyrians

c. he re-discovered the Torah

d. he made peace with Israel

Quiz of the Day, October 9, 2023

Which of the following is not true regarding the first High Priest?

a. he was the brother of Moses

b. he was the brother of Miriam

c. he helped to gather gold for the golden calf

d. he served in the Temple

Quiz of the Day, October 8, 2023

What prophet interacted with King Hezekiah?

a. Elijah

b. Elisha

c. Jeremiah

d. Isaiah

Quiz of the Day, October 7, 2023

According to the Book of Second Kings, how many of the troops of Sennacherib did the angel of the Lord strike down?

a. 10,000

b.  50,000

c.  100,000

d.  185,000

Quiz of the Day, October 6, 2023

Who wrote, "I have become all things to all people so that by all means I might save some?"

a. Jesus

b. Peter

c. Barnabas

d. Paul

e. Timothy

f. James

Quiz of the Day, October 5, 2023

Which of the following is not true about Hezekiah?

a. he was king of Judah

b. he was king of Israel

c. he led his people during an Assyrian siege

d. he restored monotheistic practice

Quiz of the Day, October 4, 2023

What saint is associated with the blessing of animals?

a. St. Mary

b. St. David the Psalmist

c. St. Francis of Assisi

d. St. Claire

e. St. Bernard

Quiz of the Day, October 3, 2023

What does Jesus recommend for the treatment of pearls?

a. keep them locked up

b. don't let pigs walk on them

c. realize the pain of the oysters who made them

d. give them away

Quiz of the Day, October 2, 2023

Which of the following is not true about the Ten Commandments?

a. complete lists are found in Exodus and Deuteronomy

b. the contain the Golden Rule

c. they are also called the Decalogue

d. Their origin is attributed to a theophany on Mt. Sinai

Quiz of the Day, October 1, 2023 

Of the following, who is associated with "The Vulgate?"

a. Pope Leo

b. King James

c. Jerome

d. Alcuin

Moses the Law Giver Is Dead; Long Live the Law

22 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 25, October 29, 2023
Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46

Lectionary Link

How many law, rules, and regulations govern nearly every facet of our lives?   Seeming endless laws and unless we are legal experts or who have access to specialists, we might be breaking laws of which we are ignorant.  The church has laws, called canon laws and people can get into church trouble if they don't obey the canon laws.

We are familiar with the Big Ten, the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments.  But the Torah lists a total of 613 commandments and these recommended behaviors and procedures were to be followed for the various areas of life for the members of tribes of Israel.  Certainly the judges, priests and scribes would continually have to be consulted in order to certify one's compliance with all these commandments.

We have read the account of the death of Moses, perhaps, the most famous Law Man of history.  Moses received the Law and one can imagine that the best case scenario is to have present both the law and the law giver.  When Moses was alive, he was like a living Torah, a living law and he was present to adjudicate and address any legal situation.

But what happens when the Law Giver dies?   Moses is gone; long live the Law.  The textual law is what is left after Moses is gone and there needed to be successive replacement figures for Moses.  There arose judges, priests, scribes, teachers, and prophets to be the living interpreters of the law.

The basic insight of the law is good order in all things.  There are too many bumper cars in life with the tendency of wanting to be in the same place at the same time.  So there needs to wise application for the avoidance of harm, chaos, and disorder in the world.

We can appreciate the basic insight of the law as the need for order and the recommended behaviors for good order and for the teaching of the good habits of order.

But the basic insight of the law can be lost; we can sully our relationship to the law.  We can turn the need for good order into legalism without humanity serving purposes.   We can accumulate thousands of law and in the proliferation of so many rules and law, we can lose the good purpose of law.  We can come to regard the performance of rules as being the certification of certain people's privilege in society.  "I am good because I publicly perform these laws.  Aren't I good, aren't those who don't keep the rules like I do, bad?"

When laws are made to highlight my goodness then the true motive of the law is lost.  In the quest for the best laws among the 613 commandments and among all the new rules and regulations that have come to human communities around the world, Jesus offers the secret to good legal thinking.  He offers the secret to how to discern good behaviors of speech and deed when one does not have access to the legal scholars or priestly casuists.  What is the secret?  Love.  St. Paul wrote that love fulfills the law.

Jesus harkened back to the spirit of the law which was present from the times of the story of Moses.  Love God.  That is how we grow our hearts.  God is too big for us to get our feelings around, but we keep stretching to increase our capacity to love by loving a much greater than us God.   And in this effort, we are asking for the experience of grace.  We seek to love God whom we don't see, to receive grace to love the ones whom we do see, namely our neighbors.  And we seek to love them even as we apply appreciative love for ourselves.

Jesus gives us the key to living lawfully, even when we may not know all of the rules and regulations.  In discerning how we should speak and act, we ask ourselves, "is my word and deed consistent with loving God and my neighbor as myself?"

The interlocutors of Jesus did not get the love message; they preferred to argue about the theological issue of the Messiah.

And isn't that what Christians often do with each other?  Why don't you believe and articulate the doctrine of your faith in the way that I do, the correct way?

We often would much rather look for theological reasons to disagree and to dislike each other, whereas, Jesus reminds us about the basics: Love God, and love your neighbors as yourself.  Amen.

Sunday School, October 29, 2023 22 Pentecost, A proper 25

  Sunday School, October 29, 2023               22 Pentecost, A proper 25

Theme:

The Law

Have your class do a comparison of laws and rules.

We have rules of health.  Brushing our teeth and washing our hands.

We have rules of courtesy.  Raising our hands, using polite words like please, thank you and you’re welcome.

We have rules of safety.  Wear a seat belt.  Wear a helmet.  Do play with matches or knives.

We have club rules or family rules.  Like, you have to wear a team uniform.

There are many, many rules.  So many that we don’t always know if we are keeping all of the rules.

We need to know the most important rules.

We need to know how to live well even if we don’t know all the rules.

We need to know how to answer this question all of the time:  How should I live and what should I do?

Jesus provided us a simply way to know what to do all of the time.

He simplified the law to help us to know what to do.

There were 613 laws in the Torah.  Some of the laws were very important and others not as important.  Is more important that we not mix wearing clothes made of wool and linen at the same time or that we not kill, or steal or lie?

When we think about the law, we usually think about the 10 Commandments, because they are a shorter list and easier to memorize.

Jesus told us to remember even a shorter list of laws:  Love God, Love your neighbor.  Love yourself.

Before we do or say anything, if we ask ourselves if our word and deeds respect God, respect our neighbors and respect ourselves, then we will know what to do.

By learning to think in this way, we can learn how to know the right thing to do all of the time.

Sermon:

Do you have rules at home?  Do you forget the rules sometimes?

  Do you have rules at school?  And if you forget the rules, your teachers remind you about them.

  Do we have traffic rules?  Yes, and what if we forget about the traffic rules, who reminds us?  The police do.

  Did you know that there are rules and laws in the Bible?  In fact, in the first five books of the Bible, there are 613 rules.  That is a lot of rules to remember isn’t it.

  So, we need shorter lists of rules.  One of the most famous lists of rules is called the Ten Commandments.

  Are some rules more important than others?  In the Ten Commandments, we probably treat one rule as more serious than all the other commandments.  Can you guess what rule that is?

  Thou shalt not kill.  That’s a very important rule since the life of each person is most important.

  Some of the rules were written to tell people how to eat.  For example, people were not supposed to eat certain kinds of meats like pork or shell fish.

  Thou shalt not eat pork or thou shalt not kill?  Which is a more important law?

  The religious leaders during the time of Jesus criticized him for ignoring some of their rules.  They said he should not work on their day of prayer, and they criticized him for healing on the Sabbath, the day of prayer.  They criticized him for eating with certain people who did not keep the special religious diet.  They criticized him for touching lepers and certain sick people.  Jesus told them that they were forgetting the important rules and making the unimportant rules special, so they could keep people away from their religious gatherings.

  So, they asked Jesus…there are so many laws. What laws are the greatest laws?  And with so many laws, how can I know what to do?

  Jesus said: Love God with all of your heart.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  If you live by these two laws, then you will always know what to do.

  If I hit or push someone, am I loving my neighbor?  If I lie or steal something, am I loving my neighbor?  If I forget God or if I make many things more important than God, am I loving God? 

  So, if you forget all of the laws:  Always ask yourself these three questions: Am I loving God by what I am doing?   Am I loving my neighbor by what I am doing?  Am I doing something to another person that I would not want done to me?

  Jesus helped us to simplify the laws by giving us these two laws:  Love God with all your heart.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Can you remember these two laws?

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 29, 2023: The Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, Seek Ye First, The King of Glory

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: 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 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 boys and the girls in his hands..

He’s got the moms and the dads in his hands…

He’s got the cats and the dogs in his hands..

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians

As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 90

Show your servants your works * and your splendor to their children.

May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; * prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, `The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet"'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. 

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. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

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

Offertory Music:    Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! (Renew! # 71)

1          Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!

2          Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted oh Lord my God! Glory to the King of kings!

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 our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

 the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

 this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and 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 rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: Seek Ye First  (Blue Hymnal  # 711)

1.         Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.  And all these things will be added unto you, Allelu, alleluia.

Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

2.         Knock and the door shall be open upon you.  Seek and ye shall find.  Ask and it shall be given unto you, Allelu, alleluia. Refrain

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: The King of Glory Comes, (Renew! # 267)

Refrain:  The King of Glory comes the nation rejoices.  Open the gates before him lift up your voices.

Who is the King of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.  Refrain

In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness.  Refrain

Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

   

Kingdom of God and a Worldwide Theocracy

21 Pentecost, Cycle A, Proper 24, October 22, 2023
Exodus 33:12-23 Psalm 99 1
Thessalonians 1:1-10 Matthew 22:15-22

Lectionary Link

Governments and nations built around divine laws are often called theocracies.  Some Islamic states aspire to have the religious law of Sharia be also the governing law of the entire country.  And in thinking that, what God thinks is best for us is also best for everyone else in the world.  There is an impulse in regional theocracies for them to spread and become universal.

The telling of the event of Mount Sinai originated within the people of Hebraic traditions and it revealed the divine right of the Law of God which is accompanied by an account of the relationship between Moses and God.  God is too great for human comprehension and so the saying, "No one has ever seen God."  No one has the capacity to equal God's greatness.  In the story of Moses' relationship with God, he was not about to see the face of God or directly perceive God even though he made the impossible request to do so.  In the story, Moses is given permission to see the back side of God.  This bespeaks the Orthodox expression that God cannot be known in God's essence, but only through the divine energies, the emanations or the things around God which can be known or revealed to humanity.  The invisible, unseeable God can be known in the Godly effects.

The theocracy of Hebraic religion is the discovery of divine laws or rules of recommended behaviors for people who center their lives around a belief in the One God.  Such laws within community could be construed to be political structure for the stable perpetuation of that community throughout time.

But was such a theocracy for the Jews to be just for them?  Or were they to be a hybrid proto-community for bringing such a theocracy to the entire world?  The prophets proclaimed the Temple to be a house of prayer for all peoples.  The self evidential logic around the belief in One God, is that the One God is for all.  The people of Israel were to be the politically exemplary society to bring the witness of their One God to the entire world.

The record of the Hebrew Scriptures indicates that by their own assessment of their own history, they failed to live up to the standards of God's law that had been given to them.  Often the kings of Israel and Judah did not keep even the first and most important commandment, namely the requirement of loyalty to the One God.

Nations with other gods who also gave their rulers divine right of rule impinged upon the people of Israel who did not ever seem to be able to achieve complete success in implementing a theocratic society built around a divinely revealed Law.

One might say that the Roman Empire was quite successful in attaining a worldwide theocracy simply because the belief in many gods and goddesses could be compatible with the main political theocracy, the cult of the Emperor.  If the Caesar is declared to be a god and son of a god, a savior of the world, and the one to enforce peace, one could see an effective political theocracy.  The wedding of the cult of the Emperor with the genius of Roman law truly provided the world with a worldwide structure.  The Emperor's cult was perhaps a proto-catholic religion to unite the cult of Emperor devotion with political and military power.

Jesus of Nazareth, born into family and country with a failed theocracy provides us a tradition of a hidden total kingdom of God, co-existing with the existing Roman kingdom of a successful theocracy of the cult of the Caesar.

The early followers of Jesus and the Jews had to forge their identities with the acceptance of being oppressed communities that had to survive within the successful theocracy of the Roman Emperor cult.  One of the ways in which the Emperor related to all of the people of the empire was through collecting taxes.

One of the most visible signs of unity in the kingdom of the Roman Empire was the image or the face of the Emperor superimposed upon the coinage.  The image, the icon, of the Emperor was proof of the Emperor's powerful presence throughout his world empire.  It was proof that he had power to collect taxes, that is, to exact from the life revenue of everyone within the Caesar realm.

One can see the obvious question that would come to Jesus and his followers.  One of the most basic messages in the logia or sayings of Jesus was his proclamation of the kingdom of God.  "So here we have it Jesus, the kingdom of God or the kingdom of the Caesar god, how do you negotiate between these two perspectives?"  And should those who claim allegiance to the kingdom of God proclaimed by Jesus pay taxes to the Caesar-god of the empire?  Is one betraying the One God proclaimed and exemplified by Jesus if one pays taxes to the Caesar-god?

This was the question posed to Jesus and I think it highlights perhaps a dilemma for people who believed in One God who were being oppressed and forced into compliant empire behaviors by the Caesar-god and his forces.

The question to Jesus was about whether the Caesar should be resisted and rebelled against.  And the answer of Jesus is really a wisdom insight based upon some very ancient Hebraic wisdom.  What is that insight?  Caesar is only a human being, not a god, but the image of God resides on the Caesar.  So it is the duty of Caesar and all people made in the image of God to pay their lives as God's coinage to God.  Let Caesar have his coins in his empire game; the image of God is upon everyone and so everyone including the Emperor belonged to the One God.

This subtle wisdom answer reveals the secret of the growth of early Christianity.  The words of Jesus were not to overthrow the Caesar but to appeal the total divine ground on which everyone always already lives.  This Gospel of Matthew came to textual form after Paul wrote for his community in Rome to pray for the authorities in Rome.  The Jesus Movement was an under-the-radar-movement which ironically rode the coattails of Roman world expansion such that the Roman ability to connect the entire known world through roads, transportation, and administration became also the media for the spread and the travel of the message of Jesus Christ which was this, the image of God is upon everyone, and Jesus came to make that evident.

Today people may still try to make their local practice of religion with all its specificities into the one practice of religion for everyone.  The positive feature of this insight is that it is charitable to regard one's best gift and insight as being available to everyone else.  The negative is that it is too easy to over identify the cultural details of one's own situation as being coercively absolute for everyone else.  The fracture of the Christian religion into so many expressions is proof of the arrogance of trying to make the very local, the universal for everyone.

The Gospel for us today is this, like Moses, we are only located to see a very partial facet of the "back side of the divine," and we should not presume otherwise.  Like St. Paul, we can remain as humble relativists in confessing, "Now I only see in part."  We only see the part of the Whole, and we should be humble about this, and in our humility we should affirm that the kingdom of God is so vast and such an inward iconic reality, that it can co-exist with the incredible faith differences which occur in our world.

The Gospel Jesus says to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesars; the anthropomorphic stamped upon every human product.  At the same time, we have the privilege to render unto God the things that are God's because the image of God is a rendering or a branding of everyone as belonging to God.  The Gospel message of Jesus is that you and I have the privilege to be a part of everything including ourselves being rendered back to the everlasting God because the endless future One is the only One with the duration to truly include and collect all in All.

Let us be those whose lives are gladly without resistance or competition, rendered back to God today.  Amen.