Unforgivable Sin and the Family of Christ

2 Pentecost  Cycle B  proper 5 June 6, 2021 
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) Psalm 138
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1   Mark 3:20-35

Lectionary Link

What is the difference between forgiveness and a pardon?  They may be used as synonyms but there may be some significant nuances of differences.  When a person is pardoned, it does not mean that the person acknowledges guilt or promises amendment of life or reparation of harms caused.  The notion of forgiveness implies a recognition of a wrong with a confession of the same, a request for mercy along with the promise of repentance and amendment of life.

Just as all laws are not equal in importance, so too, we might say that not all sins and wrongs are of equal magnitude of devastating horror.

What sins might be on the list of being unforgivable or unpardonable?  The six million killed in the holocaust?  Stalin's slaughters?  Pol Pot's genocides?  Armenian genocide?  The enslavement people with oppressing violence.  The slaughter of people in unjust wars or for the sheer motive of profit and land.  These are social or group unforgivable sins, which our ancestors were involved in perpetrating.  What about more individual and personal unforgivable sins?  Abuse and cruelty to children?

Certainly the magnitude of sins in how they devastate individuals or groups of people challenges the limits of possible forgiveness.

Can forgiveness happen even when people don't want it?  We are told that from the cross, Jesus said, "Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing?"  So can ignorance, not knowing, or the sickness of social pathologies be reason for forgiving of others?

Before Jesus died upon the cross, he had some serious opposition.  And some of his opposition came from family members who did not understand him.  They had perhaps become targets because of his public deeds and ministry.  He had this public ministry of people of exorcisms, where he whispered deeply disordered people to calmness and peace.  His ministerial style and successes were questioned by the major religious leaders in Israel. 

Perhaps the religious leaders had gone to the family members of Jesus and said, "What's wrong with Jesus?  Has he gone mad?  You know he's breaking all of the rules of being a proper rabbi.  Spitting and making a mud pack to heal a blind person?  What kind of nut would do this?  Why would he even allow himself to be in the same room as a demon possessed person?  Does he know that they are impure and unclean?

"You family members of Jesus, you need to confront Jesus.  Rein him in.  You need to do an intervention."

So, Jesus was opposed by some of family members.  He was said to be mad.  He was said to have made a pact with the devil so as to be able to cast the demons from people.

Jesus explained the total stupidity of such a contradiction, by saying the devil does not work against himself.

And in fact it is unforgivable to imply that the good force of the Holy Spirit who cleanses the hearts of the people whom Jesus whispered, is a devilish force.  This is unforgivable.  To be so warped as to declare the good health which comes to a tortured souls as being done by the prince of evil, is to live in an unforgivable state, the state of not being able to come to repentance and amendment of life.

"But Jesus, your family are here.  You need to regard them and quit embarrassing them.  You are getting them in trouble with the religious authorities and their neighbors."

And this when we get a statement of Jesus about God's family?  "Who is my family?" asked Jesus.  "My family are those who are like me in doing the will of the Father." 

These are ones who are praying, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

We live in a world today where the American family is divided.  We need to avoid living in the "state of the unforgivable."  And what is unforgivable?  It is to be in the condition of saying what is good is evil and what is evil is good.  Having lies being regarded as truth, and the truth being regarded as lies; this is an unforgivable over-turning of the meaningful values inspired by the Holy Spirit.

We need to discern the will of God, and live it and promote it.  And what is the will of God?  It is love, it is justice and mercy.  It is honoring the freedom of democracy among people.

Let us pray today that we will avoid ignorance, bigotry and bias which may place us in the unforgivable state of calling good, evil.  And let us humbly seek God's will which will confirm our membership in the family of Christ and our membership in the family of Christ will be known by our love of others.  Amen.

Sunday School, June 6, 2021 2 Pentecost, B Proper 5

Sunday School, June 6, 2021 2 Pentecost, B Proper 5


While the Gospel lesson contains some rather enigmatic sayings of Jesus about his “family” values for children, it might be good to stress an understanding of our baptismal family. The Gospel lesson contrast the flesh and blood family of Jesus with another family, namely the family of people who do the will of God.


The Sunday School lessons can center around one of the things which baptism means. It means that we live our lives trying to understand the will of God.


Ask the children, what is the will of God? What is it that God wants us to do in our lives?


The answers are the answers of the baptismal covenant. To love God, to seek Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as our selves.


Contrast our two families: the natural families of our birth and our baptismal family. With our baptismal family we join with other people who are committed to seek and do the will of God.


Remember the Gospel Lesson: Jesus said that he had two families, his brothers and sisters and mother and father with whom he was raised in the village of Nazareth, but he also had a greater family, the family of all people who want to do the will of God.


Let us celebrate our family relationship with all people who seek to do the will of God.


Sermon:


Sometimes we call a church’s building God’s house or God’s home. And one of the reason why we do this is because this building is a home for God’s family. And we are part of God’s family.
We were taught to pray by Jesus, who is called the Son of God. And when Jesus taught his friends to pray, he told them to say, “Our Father who art in heaven.”
If Jesus taught us to say to God, “Our Father,” what does that make you and me? Who calls a person their father? Children call a person their father; sons and daughters call a person their father.
And so Jesus taught us that we have a very small family and we also have a very big family.
Our small family is the family of our moms and dads. We because a part of our families by birth or adoption.
But when we were born into our families, our family was not the only family in the world. There are many families in the world.
So, when we were born we were born into our own families with our moms and dads and brothers and sisters. And we were born into the world with many, many families. And so we were also born into the family of God, because God is the creator and maker of the world. God is the maker of all families.
Today in the Gospel reading Jesus taught us about these two families. People said, “Jesus, your family is here to see you. Your mom and dad and brother and sister.” And then Jesus told a riddle: He said, “Who is my family? Everyone is my family who does the will of God.” So Jesus was teaching us about the family of God.
When we sing the Prayer, “Our Father” we sing, “Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”
So, what is the will of God the Father that God wants to be done on earth? God wants us to love God and to love each other and to practice kindness in our lives. This is how we prove that we belong to the family of God. This is how we do the will of God the Father on earth.
As children, we want our parents to happy and proud of us. We want to do their will (most of the time, even if it means cleaning our bedrooms). As children of God the Father, we want to please Him; we want to do what he wants us to do. And God does not ask us to do things that are bad. He asks us to love Him and each other and practice kindness. And if we do that we show that we belong to the family of God.
Today, remember that Jesus came to remind us that we belong in the family of God. So, let me teach you a word that means Daddy…. Can you say, “Abba?” And God wants you to get to know him so well that you can call him, Daddy, or Abba. Amen.



Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist
June 6, 2021: The Second Sunday after Pentecost


Gathering Songs: Peace before us, Seek Ye First, I am the Bread of Life, May the Lord

Song: Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love and Praise, # 791)
1 Peace before us. Peace behind us. Peace under our feet. Peace within us. Peace over us. Let all around us be Peace.
2 Love,
3 Light,
4 Christ


Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

Liturgist: Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.
And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.
Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Liturgist: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Liturgist: Let us pray
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great! Alleluia
O God, you have made us! Alleluia
O God, you have made yourself known to us! Alleluia
O God, you have provided us with us a Savior! Alleluia
O God, you have given us a Christian family! Alleluia
O God, you have forgiven our sins! Alleluia
O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead! Alleluia

A reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 130

2 If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss, *O Lord, who could stand?
3 For there is forgiveness with you; * therefore you shall be feared.
4 I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope.


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 Mark
People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
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.

Song: Seek Ye First (Blue Hymnal, # 711)
1 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you; Allelu, alleluia. Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.
2 Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia! Refrain

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.

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 I Am the Bread of Life, Hymn # 335
1 I am the bread of life, they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst. No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.
2 I am the resurrection, I am the life, they who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live forever. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.
3 Yes Lord we believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day


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: May the Lord (Sung to the tune of Eidelweiss)
May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and keep you forever, Grant you peace, perfect peace, Courage in every endeavor. Lift up your eyes and seek His face, Trust His grace forever. May the Lord, Mighty God Bless and keep you for ever.

Dismissal:
Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.
People: Thanks be to God!

Aphorism of the Day, May 2021

Aphorism of the Day, May 31, 2021

The Gospel records some accusations against Jesus.  He was a glutton and winebibber and ate with sinners.  He was mad.  He sold out to the devil and did his exorcisms and wonder works with the help of Beelzebul.  Jesus responded by saying that it was logically inconsistent for the devil to work against himself by casting out his own loyal demons.  The attribution of good deeds as being demonic is the epitome of those who were so jealous that they denigrated the good by mischaracterizing the source of the goodness as being evil.  Jealous people will often overturn values to criticize the one who is the brunt of their jealousy.

Aphorism of the Day, May 30, 2021

The articulation of the Holy Trinity by Councils of the church was in part the attempt to translate the Gospel words of Jesus about his relationship to his Father and to the Advocate Spirit into words of Greek philosophical thinking.  It is unavoidable for a popular movement to resist mixing and assimilating and converting and modes of articulation familiar to those who are converted.  The articulation of the Trinity was the evangelical success indicating the process of Christianization of all things.  Is it being conformed to the "image" of the world, or is this the baptizing of all things human in the name of Christ?  The success of Christianization for the Emperor Constantine has resulted in people of Christian persuasion to reside in Christian Empires which have not always done completely Christ-like things, e.g., slavery and subjugation of women, persecution of minority, and justifying genocide (native Americans for one).  As we revisit the pivotal moment in the articulation of the Trinity in conjunction with Empire Christianity, we may need to actually return to words of Jesus about his relationship to the Father and the Spirit as a rebuke to what Christianity became in many of its "empire" behaviors.

Aphorism of the Day, May 29, 2021

With language, we are perpetually trying to signify what seems to be extra-linguistic or that which is not language as if everything which we purport to signify could have knowable existence or reality outside the use of language (impossible as that would be).  Once we're reconciled to our language prison, we can realistically begin to accept our calling to use language in the best possible ways, and what can define best?  The theophanies of the divine coming to language users and in the case of the Christian tradition, God coming to the purview of language users as a Trinity of Persons.  What could be the function of Trinity of Persons as being best?  The highest value is dynamic relational One Fellowship as a source for inspiring the best way to living as diverse members of human community in dynamic personal fellowship.  If addicted idolatrous individuals need a grace encounter with a Higher Power for interdiction and sobriety, the oft warring human communities need a grace encounter with the Higher Power of Personal Relational Fellowship, which has come to our language in the naming of the Trinity.

Aphorism of the Day, May 28, 2021

How is the Trinity unavoidable?  God is a Fathering plenitude from whom all beings come.  Jesus the Christ as the eternal Word.  Word is the unavoidable reality of human existence without which nothing is known.  Anthropomorphism, using human analogy about God, is really anthropo-linguistic performance and Christ the eternal world is the accounting for why it is valid to use language to speak about human language users and their relationship to God as ultimate language user.  Spirit is the mysterious way we account for the fullness of all environment, an omnipresence which is the ground of all mutual recognition.  The above might be insights on how Trinitarian God-reveal is unavoidable for those who use human language.

Aphorism of the Day, May 27, 2021

God, by definition would be before human history, but God has a human history in that God has come to the language of people who purported to have theophanies or experiences of the sublime such that the beyond human designation of God became the fitting superlative.  Christianity is in the biblical tradition regarding the "history" of God and Jesus in how his words explained his relationship with God as Father and God as Advocate Spirit provided the inspiration for knowing God as a Trinity of Persons in unity.  The relational perspective of God as presented by Jesus was seen to be well within the Hebrew Scripture tradition which included explication of the divine with many personal names for God based upon God's attributes.  When the relational notion of the Trinity was "translated" into Greek philosophical language, one might cite this as one of the reasons that Jews could come to think that Christianity has left an "authentic/pure" monotheism.

Aphorism of the Day, May 26, 2021

What is prior, the Trinity or the field of language through which the Trinity has come to be revealed or known?  Anything that can be known, is known because we assume the priority of Language.  Even though language refers to that which is not language, it uses language to do so.  So when one says, the Trinity was before "language and language users," one has to use language to make the case.  The Trinity is an articulation within language users who accept the presentation of the words of Jesus as they have been transmitted in the writings of the church regarding the relationship between Jesus, his Father and the Advocate whom he was sending in his absence.  We tend to merge Father, Son and Holy Spirit in that we regard each to be omnipresent.  What is the difference between the indwelling Risen Christ and the indwelling Spirit within the human person?  Please discuss and get back to me with exact and authoritative precision(whose authority will you accept).  Or can poetry ever be reduced to "empirical precision?"

Aphorism of the Day, May 25, 2021

We can treat the Trinity as "church administration to legislate unity regarding the the Christian understanding of God," or we can understand it as it came to us in the presentation of the particular way in which Jesus was in relationship to the divine.  Church doctrine or personal relationship?  Relationships leave the question of mystery open.

Aphorism of the Day, May 24, 2021

How do deity receive personality?  Anything which comes to language has "personality" since personality is an attribute of a language user.  The understanding of God as a Trinity of Person is to confess that life is about relationship and relationship needs the model of highest relationship for guidance.  

Aphorism of the Day, May 23, 2021

How can the unseen Spirit be known?  In the gifts, the fruits and the manifestation of virtue in one's life.  The gifts of the Spirit are the general ones associated with baptism and listed in Isaiah 11 as qualities of a "utopian" person.  Wisdom, knowledge, counsel, understanding, fortitude, piety and the fear of God.  In the church, gifts are the empowerment for specific ministries.  And the fruits of the Spirit overlap with the gifts and the cardinal and theological virtues: Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control.  The long and short of it is that Spirit is known in how people live best with each other and toward God.  How does Spirit as Word of God totally script one's life in thought, word and deed?

Aphorism of the Day, May 22, 2021

How does the word "Spirit" work for you as an effective metaphor?  Breath or wind are invisible energy showing outward effects but can such metaphors attain a "personality?"  Does Great Person of Mystery ever present work?  Or is 

Spirit an inward constellation of "words" as in the words of Jesus:  "My words are Spirit and they are life."  Is Spirit the mysterious constellation of inner Words which evoke the impression that our lives are God-touched, or touched by the Sublime?  How can Spirit be personal?  Everything that comes to language is personal since having language is what defines the essence of human personhood.

Aphorism of the Day, May 21, 2021

In the world of diversity, what is the point of speaking about "oneness" or "unity?"  Universe means one from the combination of many.  The universe is "one" community of many members.  Oneness might be a way of speaking, in that we can say that there is a community of languages within the one human feature of "having language."  Pentecost was the day of many languages and what did this prove? It proved the Oneness of the Eternal Word from the beginning.  Not matter what one says or does with any language or within any human culture, all are unified by the fact that they "have Language."

Aphorism of the Day, May 20, 2021

How far can the metaphor "Spirit" reach in meaningful insights?  Spirit is breath; Spirit is wind.  Wind is not seen but its effects are seen.  Breath is not seen but its effects are known.  Therefore these metaphor seem to be fit for God as Spirit who is unseen but whose effects include "breathing evidence of life," and a hidden engine in the world making the branches of life's tree move back and forth.  Spirit is the mystery of  of what we do not control with our knowledge.  A meaningful way for me to understand the Spirit is to designate Spirit as the Ground of mutual experience that everything in life has with everything else, and for us as sentient beings, it means realizing that we are not alone.

Aphorism of the Day, May 19, 2021

It is good to ponder the One Expanding Container of the incredible diversity which exists within that great Expanding Container.  Can that great container be called One if the One surpasses the One in future states?  We say a person is the same "one" as a baby and as an adult in have identity over time, and yet being incredibly different in the various temporal states of being "one" person.  Oneness in time for human beings and for the Divine is a mystery of identity and we invoke the word Spirit to account for the play between unity of identity within the plurality of temporal states of becoming.

Aphorism of the Day, May 18, 2021

The Bible is evidence that revelation does not cease because new times uncovers new meaningful truth that was not publicly evident in the past.  To try to pretend that revelation has ceased while new discoveries arise from the cumulative knowledge of everything in every field is to try to be an "arbitrary" stop on knowledge and the pragmatics of knowledge, in an almost Amish way.  People live as a result of science and then in the biblical mindset climb into a "compartmentalized" biblical mindset to co-exists with everything that has happened in the cumulative world knowledge.  This disjunction causes the confusion in the social and political order today.

Aphorism of the Day, May 17, 2021

In the mystery of life, the exploration for what drives it has become so microscopic that Spirit has been the sub-nano explanation for the driving force of omnipresent life and the ground which conducts the mutual experience that each being can have with the others.  But of course, Spirit is a word in the field of language and without language and consciousness of being language users, there could be no articulation of Spirit or anything else.

Aphorism of the Day, May 16, 2021

What is the relationship between what has always been the case and the realization by people of what has always been the case?  The articulation of the law of gravity does not suddenly make gravity true since its truth has always been; it only makes it meaningfully true in the life of the one who through discovery articulates the law because it is relevant to the articulator contextual "worldview."  Salvation history unfolded in realization of some things which had always been true.

Aphorism of the Day, May 15, 2021

Does the realization of a meaningful truth in a later time "cause" the truth to have always been true, or only unrealized or undiscovered or lost or inaccessible in the past?  Newton's realization about gravity did not "cause" gravity to be true; it had always been true.  If Jesus prayed for the mystical unity of people with God as the church believed that he did; was this only the realized truth of what had actually been true from the beginning of humanity, namely, that humanity is made to be united with God by virtue of bearing the divine image?

Aphorism of the Day, May 14, 2021

The Ascension departure is prefaced with words of Jesus, "lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age."  God as creator originator was trying to saying "Lo I have been with you since the beginning of the human age."  When did the human age begin?  Since humanity had words/language and knew they had the same.  Christ as eternal Word, knew that Language would not leave humans because when there is no longer language or language users, then the age ends, because the knowing of there even being existence would pass away.

Aphorism of the Day, May 13, 2021

Holy Scripture purports to be revealing or an unveiling.  And what is unveiled?  The obvious, namely that God, a name for the friendly originator of everything, is in fact IN everything.  So God's omnipresence is what is unveiled.  But too many manifestations of omnipresence come in the guise of what is harsh, painful and evil and human history shows that humanity is alienated from the favor and blessing of God's omnipresence.  Salvation history, culminating in Jesus, is an attempt to unveil a right relationship with God's friendly omnipresence in apparent ways to lure us to love, justice, joy and an integrative Good News which can incorporate even pain, evil and death.

Aphorism of the Day, May 12, 2021

Inter-spatial biblical travelers or those who did not have a regular transition to the afterlife were Enoch and Elijah, perhaps Moses, and the latest one in Catholic tradition was the Virgin Mary.  Such people were "taken" or Assumed into heaven having been found worthy to avoid a "normal" death.  These "taken" people seem to have "re-entry" abilities in that Enoch, Elijah and Moses were apocalyptic figures, with Elijah and Moses re-appearing on the Mount of Transfiguration.  The Virgin Mary has reappeared in significant "apparitions" in places which have become shrines of the same.  The Ascension of Jesus is regarded to be distinctively different from the "Assumptions," but also contains the tradition of a re-entry or return of Jesus with more than apparitional implications in biblical tradition.

Aphorism of the Day, May 11, 2021

The prayer of Jesus has an ambiguous meaning: "That they be one and you and I are one."  This could refer to the individual souls union with God or it could refer to unity among the followers of Jesus.  It could mean both, but it would seem contextually to refer to the individual as child of God coming into the oneness experience with God.

Aphorism of the Day, May 10, 2021

In the long prayer of Jesus in John's Gospel, it reveals a "confused" time, when Jesus says, "while I was with them."  This is indicative of it being an "ascended Christ" prayer channeled through the writing of John's Gospel.  Having the mind of Christ and speaking in Jesus' Name was how the channeling mode of communication of the oracle of Christ within the early Christ communities was portrayed.  The early channelers of the words of the Ascended Christ believed those words were the words of Jesus and could become worthy of "red letters" in latter day print editions.  How many "presumptuous" preachers preface their sermons with "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?"  Are all sermons prefaced with these words worthy of being considered the words of Jesus Himself?  Certainly the words of such preacher have different "canonical" status worldwide even though one hopes that they have "inspired appropriateness" for the particular occasion.

Aphorism of the Day, May 9, 2021

The followers of Jesus were called disciples, apostles and children of God.  Perhaps their highest status was to be called by Jesus, friends.  Friendship is perhaps the epitome of human relationship and if one can be a friend of Jesus and God the Father, one knows oneself in a different way.  Luke-Acts are books written to someone or anyone named Theophilus, meaning friend/lover of God.  It is a mystical moment to discover oneself as a "friend of God."

Aphorism of the Day, May 8, 2021

On Julian of Norwich Day, it is good to remember how patriarchalism had squeezed the feminine as being equally metaphorically representative of God and all things in life.  If we didn't allow the feminine to be equally representative of reality, we are truly impoverished in how men and women are formed by the speech acts of humanity.  We need to be in the age of correction and Julian's Mothering theology is a good place for inspiration.

Aphorism of the Day, May 7, 2021

"If you love me you will keep my commandments."  This seems like Jesus being presented as a "new" Moses who is issuing commandments.  But the main commandment was to love as Jesus loved his disciples.  This is in agreement with what Paul wrote, "love is the fulfillment of the law."  Love is about the art of living well with God and people and as a "art" it can not be reduced to matters of law and jurisprudence, though, love would include living lawfully for the common good.

Aphorism of the Day, May 6, 2021

John's Gospel is built around Jesus as the one who reveals a special relationship with God as his Father.  He called this relationship love which was not just in theory but in honoring the "commandments" of his Father.  This love between Father and Son, was to spill forth by God's Spirit and be the essence of the relationship between Christ and his followers, who like Jesus, would keep the "commandments" of Christ as proof of their love.

Aphorism of the Day, May 5, 2021

There is a threat by aggressive people: "I'm going to live inside your head."  And the truth is that the people live inside of each other; we can't help but take each other in, with various regard on a continuum of positive adoration to the opposite end of loathing.  Jesus recommended a way way to live inside of each other: "Abide in me and I in you."  How so?  With mutual love.  Mutual love is the best way that we can inhabit each other.

Aphorism of the Day, May 4, 2021

"If you love me, keep my commandments."  In reducing love to "mushy" feelings, it is hard to associate commandments and love.  If love is a "compelling feeling," why would I need to be told to keep some rules?  Perhaps this is not about rules, it is about a check up on how one is living?  Is what I say and do worthy of Christ? If so, then my life can be an indicator of my love relationship with Christ.  It is a check against hypocrisy, of being publicly associated with Christ, but having words and deeds which are not worthy of him.

Aphorism of the Day, May 3, 2021

Love is one of those divine equivalency words, as in "God is Love."  "God is Love" is quite a cosmic statement, without any seeming particular event unless it is seen as omni-active in the relational sustaining of everything that is, in a very unconditional way, meaning that God's sustaining love in a contradictory way sustains even the unloving events which occur in human relations.  This would mean that God as Love means the total adjustment to the conditions of freedom.

Aphorism of the Day, May 2, 2021

God has appeared in human language use;  in fact God appeared in human language use which referred to Word as being God.

Aphorism of the Day, May 1, 2021 

The "classical" Greeks had "four loves," eros, storge, phile, and agape.  They had various gods and goddesses who mythologically represented "aspects" of human love.  Eros was an Olympian god of love as was Aphrodite. Agape was marital love or love of one's profession.  Agape through use in the Septuagint morphed to become the "greatest love" to be identified with God in the New Testament.  God is agape.  Sacrificial and unconditional nurture is implied in "agape."  Compared with the virtues of faith and hope, Paul said that agape was the greatest.   If we take human relationship at its very best, it would be be "agape," and God analogically is the superlative case of "agape."

Quiz of the Day, May 2021

Quiz of the Day, May 31, 2021

Of the follow which one was not one who took the vow of a nazirite?

a. Elijah

b. Samuel

c. Samson

d. John the Baptist

Quiz of the Day, May 30, 2021

The articulation of the Trinity of whom prevailed at the Council of Nicaea?

a. Augustine

b. Athanasius

c. Arius

d. Pelagius

e. The Emperor Constantine

Quiz of the Day, May 29, 2021

In the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man, what figure from the Hebrew Scriptures is presented as a spokesperson for the afterlife?

a. Moses

b. Noah

c. David

d. Abraham

e. Elijah

Quiz of the Day, May 28, 2021

Why were there two sets of the 10 commandments tablets?

a. one for the tabernacle and one for the temple

b. one for public display and one in the ark of the covenant

c. Moses broke one in anger at those worshipping the golden calf

d. one copy was for Aaron the High Priest and the other for the ark

Quiz of the Day, May 27, 2021

On what feast day did Parliament require the use of the First Book of Common Prayer?

a. Easter

b. Christmas

c. Ascension

d. Pentecost

e. Transfiguration

Quiz of the Day, May 26, 2021

Who was the leader of a delegation sent to Ethelbert of Kent by Pope Gregory the Great?

a. Hilda of Whitby

b. Augustine

c. Lanfranc

d. Bertha

Quiz of the Day, May 25, 2021

Who is the "Father of English History?"

a. Venerable Bede

b. Thomas Cranmer

c. Thomas Tallis

d. Lancelot Andrewes

Quiz of the Day, May 24, 2021

Which Psalm is known as the "Venite?"

a. 100

b. 95

c. 150

d. 51

Quiz of the Day, May 23, 2021

Where are the baptismal seven-fold gifts of the Spirit listed in Holy Scripture?

a. 1 Corinthians

b. Galatians

c. Colossians

d. Philippians

e. Isaiah

Quiz of the Day, May 22, 2021

Mary and Martha were from what town?

a. Bethsaida

b. Capernaum

c. Bethany

d. Jericho

Quiz of the Day, May 21, 2021

Of the following, which is not listed in the Day of Pentecost account?

a. Phrygia

b. Pamphilia

c. Laodicea

d. Asia

e. Parthians

f.  Cappadocia

Quiz of the Day, May 20, 2021

According to the Epistle to the Hebrews, who might have been a manifestation of the Son of God in Hebrew Scriptures?

a. Adam

b. Melchizedek

c. Elijah

d. the angel who wrestled with Jacob

Quiz of the Day, May 19, 2021

Which prophet saw a vision of a "turning wheel?"

a. Jeremiah

b. Isaiah

c. Ezekiel

d. Amos

Quiz of the Day, May 18, 2021

Of the following Justices, which is/was Episcopalian?

a. Thurgood Marsall

b. Elana Kagan

c. John Roberts

d. Sonia Sotomayor

Quiz of the Day, May 17, 2021

The "speaking in tongues" on Pentecost were

a. heavenly language of angels

b. earthly language spoken by Jews in the Diaspora

c. the poly-glottic languages of the disciples

d. heard by the Gentiles in Jerusalem on Pentecost

Quiz of the Day, May 16, 2021

The Feast of the Ascension always falls on which day of the week?

a. Sunday

b. Wednesday

c. Thursday

d. Friday

Quiz of the Day, May 15, 2021

"Tree of Life" is found where in the Bible?

a. Genesis

b. Proverb

c. Revelations

d. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, May 14, 2021

Which prophet in a theophany was given a scroll of words to eat and when he ate the scroll, it tasted like honey?

a. Hosea

b. Joel

c. Jeremiah

d. Ezekiel

Quiz of the Day, May 13, 2021

Which of the following is not certain about the great commissioning words of Jesus to "go into all the world?"

a. they're found in Matthew

b. they happened in Galilee

c. they were delivered right before the Ascenion

d. they happened on a mountain

Quiz of the Day, May 12, 2021

Where did the Ascension take place?

a. Mount of Olives

b. a room in Bethany

c. Mount Herman

d. a or b

Quiz of the Day, May 11, 2021

Which is not a part of Rogation Day?

a. beating the bounds

b. blessing the homes

c. blessing the fields

d. blessing the oils in the sacristy

Quiz of the Day, May 10, 2021

Which of the following is not a metaphor for teaching about the kingdom of God in the parables of Jesus?

a. a mustard seed

b. leaven

c. pearl

d. butterfly

e. sown seed

f. lost coin

g.weeds and wheat

Quiz of the Day, May 9, 2021

About whom was it speculated that he was John the Baptist raised from the dead?

a. Jesus

b. Paul

c. Peter

d. Barnabas

Quiz of the Day, May 8, 2021

Of the following, who is known for using Christ as our mother as a metaphor?

a. Thomas Aquinas

b. St. Paul

c. Julian of Norwich

d. Margery Kempe

Quiz of the Day, May 7, 2021

"kasher" is the Hebrew word referring to what?

a. foods permitted to eat

b. crossing of the Red Sea

c. worship in the Temple

d. interpretation of the Torah

Quiz of the Day, May 6, 2021

Where did Jesus send the demons of the Gerasenes?

a. to the lake of fire

b. into a swineherd

c. into the Sea of Galilee

d. to Gehenna

Quiz of the Day, May 5, 2021

From the record in the Gospels, which of the following is not true about Mary Magdalene?

a. she was an apostle of the resurrection

b. she had seven demons cast out of her

c. she was a former harlot

d. she was at the cross of Jesus

e. she was at the burial of Jesus

Quiz of the Day, May 4, 2021

St. Monica was the mother of

a. Augustine of Canterbury

b. The Emperor Constantine

c. Pope Gregory the Great

d. Augustine of Hippo

Quiz of the Day, May 3, 2021

Chokmat, sophia or sapientia are words for what might be divine immanence used in Scripture?

a. love

b. structure

c. light

d. wisdom

Quiz of the Day, May 2, 2021

Which Apostle baptized a eunuch from Ethiopia?

a. Paul

b. Barnabas

c. Silvas

d. Philip

Quiz of the Day, May 1, 2021

Who said, "When I am tested, I will turn out like gold?"

a. Abraham
b. Job
c. David
d. Daniel

The Trinity: Why? Because of the Words of Jesus

Trinity Sunday b  May 30, 2021 
Isaiah 6:1-8  Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17   John 3:1-17

Lectionary Link

As Christians, we are so used to the Trinity, that we don't often stop to think about how it came about in the human history of God.

The Three-in-One notion mathematics of one plus one plus one equals one, does not work for persons of more radical monotheistic belief, Jews and Muslims, in particular.

However, since Jesus was a Jew, and he himself did not think that he was proposing a relationship with God which was outside the Hebrew Scripture tradition, how is it that the Trinity came to be regarded by some as a polytheism or belief in more than one God?

We probably can blame it on the evangelical success of the Jesus Movement and on the Greeks.  The early great paradigm shift in the Jesus Movement was the inclusion of Gentile followers of Jesus without making them adhere to all of the ritual customs of Judaism.

Gentiles were steeped in the cultural and philosophical traditions which derived from the Greeks of Athens.  Since Alexander the Great, a form of the Greek language had been a prominent lingua franca throughout the world.  Many of the great scholar saints in the first three centuries of Christianity were educated in the Greek philosophical traditions so what happened?  When the more Hebraic, story and wisdom traditions were translated into the more systematic Greek thinkers, things were lost in the translation.  Also new insights and presentation of the Gospel message occurred.  What does a movement do with evangelical success?  Like the individual MacDonald's restaurant of Downey California which went nationwide and had to "standardized" the preparation those 15 cent gut bombs, and fries and shakes, the successful Jesus Movement had to begin to standardize the presentation of God, of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  How one believed and articulated the reality of God became an administrative issue of church unity, and for the Emperor Constantine who called the Council of Nicaea, it became an issue of Empire unity.  Nicaea was a triumph for the articulation of the relationship of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit within the Greek philosophical categories.

Theologians, Bishops, priests, pastors and scholars can and have gotten very worked up about the presentations of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  They have fought and divided and declared each others as heretics.  They have even persecuted and killed in the name of the Trinity.

Rather than centering on the division that has occurred because of the Hellenization of the presentation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I think it best to return to Scripture words wherein the three Persons of the Trinity are implicit.

Why are we Trinitarians?  Simply put:  Because of the words of Jesus about his relationship with the ones that he called Father and Holy Spirit.  Forget about the fighting church over the Trinity; just return to the words of Jesus.

He said that he and the Father were one.  He said that he would send the Advocate, the Holy Spirit who would share with his followers his very mind and words.

Why is this presentation of God important?  Why did it become a part of our baptismal formula in being baptized by water and the Spirit, and of the Father and of the Son?

What does this world so full of diverse majesty need the most?  We need strategies of how to live together in harmony?  We need the high standard of Unity in diversity within a Perfect Fellowship.

Unity in diversity in a Perfect Fellowship; this the long and short of the Holy Trinity.  It is a dynamic Unity of profound relational fellowship.

As the Holy Trinity is the Perfect Model of Profound relational fellowship, this love in the relationship fellowship was also directed toward us in our world.  God so love the world that God wanted the love of perfect relational fellowship to come to us.

And Jesus is God's perfect evangelist for this relational fellowship to be promoted and modeled within our world.  And this is glorious meaning of the life of Jesus: Announcing that God loves this world.

But there is a great responsibility which Jesus left for all who embrace his mission:  We are called to model together the profound relational fellowship of the Holy Trinity.

And you know, we've had some colossal failures at successful relational fellowship.  But the good news is that we've had enough success at the fellowship of love, that we know what we are supposed to be aiming at in our lives together.

Let us be thankful today for the Profound Relational Fellowship of the Holy Trinity.  Perfect Unity among diverse persons.  And today we prayer, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit, keep spilling this perfect love into our lives today.  Amen.