Wisdom Is Vindicated by Her Deeds

6 Pentecost, A p 9, July 9, 2023

Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-15
Romans 7:15-25a Matt. 11:25-30

Lectionary Link

One might define wisdom as applied knowledge within the changing times of our lives.  Wisdom is the ability to act appropriate to the situation.

Wisdom in time means that there are endless strategies, and while endless strategies might signify a tolerance of inconsistency, wisdom is in fact, having the ability to negotiate in a world of differences in our lives.

The Matthean community responsible for the generating of the Gospel which came to have the name of Matthew, may well have been comprised of former members of the community of John the Baptist, but also of former tax collectors and other non-practicing Jews, as well as Gentiles who were received by Paul,Peter and others into the fellowship of Christ.

People from diverse backgrounds, probably brought with them their own baggage of piety and lifestyle practices.  Such differences can be the fodder for community discord, and the writer of Matthew, a wisdom leader in the community was writing some wise words on community living.

John the Baptist had been an ascetic.  His lifestyle was an important witness to accompany his rather demanding lesson on repentance.  John would not require of anyone an austerity which he himself would not embrace.  And so for some, John would have been a model for leadership, and his lifestyle was an important part of his leadership.  Having nothing and wanting nothing left him being an unbribed and unbribable soul.  There, perhaps, were members of the early Christ communities who thought that ascetic austerity should be the requirement for leaders and members.  One can certainly find hints of a rather spartan and itinerant lifestyle in the writings of St. Paul.

On the other hand, the community of the Gospel of Matthew were people who were living around 45 years after Jesus, and there was no end of the world, which meant they had to come to grips with getting more settled into community life with a duration within the cities of the Roman Empire.  A settled lifestyle with marriage, family, and children, households and work would mean the followers of Jesus had to adapt themselves to a variety of life situations which would require a variety of lifestyle options.

The writer of Matthew contrasted John the Baptist and Jesus as a wisdom comparison for the community.  John the Baptist neither ate or drank the common urban diet, and people criticized him as being demon possessed.  Jesus ate and drank with publicans and sinners, and people said that he was a glutton and a drunkard.  But don't get caught up in stereotyping lifestyle behaviors of these two people, John and Jesus.  Wisdom is the ability to know that there are different lifestyle strategies for living winsomely the good news of God for the people whom we are meant to meet in our lives.   So, be wise and discerning and don't get hung up on petty differences of lifestyle as it pertains to strategies of living the good news of our lives.

St. Paul was a proponent of learning to be all things to all people, so as to be winsomely present to them with the good news that he had for them.  To be all things to all people requires wisdom, with a sensitive receptivity to the common ground places of where to meet people.

To attain this wisdom, Paul's own spiritual transformation involved achieving impulse control.  Paul writes about an inner struggle to attain the good use of the energies of his life, and get himself free from the many forms of self-gratification.  Becoming free from self-gratification allows the freedom of how to be involved in the gratification of others in showing them the release of the experience of joy within their lives.

In the spiritual method of the early Christ community, this experience was known as finding an interior rest for the soul, because one could realize that one was not "pulling" alone in life; rather one was yoked with a the Risen Christ as a higher power to achieve a mobility toward excellence in one's life.

The Gospel for us is that wisdom has many strategies and lifestyle options because Wisdom involves the application of knowledge to the many and different life situation with many and different people to achieve the kind of justice and love which allows people to know the interior rest of the peace of Christ.   Amen.

Sunday School, July 9, 2023 6 Pentecost, A proper 9

 Sunday School, July 9, 2023   6 Pentecost, A proper 9

Theme:

Discovering that we have help

What do trains and trucks do?  They carry heavy loads.  Before trains and trucks were invented how did we carry heavy loads?  Heavy loads were place on wagons and carts and they were pulled by animals, like horses, donkeys and oxen.  A really heavy load needed to be pulled by more than one animal.  A yoke was used to keep two animals pulling together.

Jesus used the yoke to talk about getting help in life.  Life can be like a heavy load.  Life can be difficult.  Life can be hard.  Life can be like pulling a very heavy load.  What did Jesus say about life being a heavy load to pull?

He said, “Take my yoke.”  If we can know that someone else is helping us through the difficult and hard times of life then the burden can be easier to bear.

How can we know that we are pulling the hard things of life with Christ?  We can know the strength of God within us as the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit.  Also friends and the church can be in the yoke of our lives.  Other people can help us in difficult times so that we never have to feel alone.

Jesus agreed that life can be difficult.  Sometimes we can only grow through difficult challenges.  Jesus lets us know that the difficulties in life need not destroys, if we discover how we are helped by God and by others.

Jesus said, “Take my yoke.”  This means we have to learn to accept help in our lives.  It also means that if we are with Christ, in the yoke, it means we are help others to pull the difficult loads of their life.

The yoke is a symbol of how we can be kept together helping each other during the difficult things that we have to face in our lives.

Sermon

Does anyone know what a yoke is?

  The yellow part of an egg right?   Egg yolk is spelled different.   What about another yoke?

  If two horses are pulling a wagon, how do the horses stay even?  They wear a harness.  A harness is like a yoke.

  In the time of Jesus, when two oxen pulled a cart, they wore a large wooden yoke around their necks.  This yoke was attached to the cart and it allowed two oxen to pull the cart without one getting ahead of the other.

  So, Jesus told his friends, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

  Sometimes life is hard.  And since life is sometimes hard, we don’t want to be alone.  We want to know that someone else is helping us.

  Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life with no work.  That would make us lazy.   What Jesus promised us is help.

  Jesus promised us the yoke of a community.  In a community, we live helping each other.  Your family is a community.  You live together to help each other, so you don’t have to do all the hard things alone.

  Jesus also promised that we have the life of God’s Spirit within us, helping us too.

  Remember the yoke and the harness.  A yoke is used to help two animals pull together to do the hard job of moving a heavy wagon.

  Remember that we are not alone in the many jobs that we have to do in our lives.  We have family and friends to help us.  And remember we are helping our family and friends too.  And life is easier when we do things together.

   And life is easier when we discover that the life of God is within us helping us to more than we ever thought that we could do.

  Let us be thankful today that we are helping each other today in all of the work that we are given to do in our lives.

   If we just had an easy life, we would not grow and get strong.  In our lives we always have something more difficult to do to help us to grow.  And let us always remember that we have the help of Jesus and the help of each other in all of the difficult things in our lives.

  Jesus said that we should take his yoke upon us.  And he said this as a riddle to let us know that we can find help in life, both within us and from each other.   Amen.

Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 9, 2023: The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah , He’s Got the Whole World,  Eat This Bread,  May the Lord

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: Hallelu, Hallelujah,  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; 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 Letter of Paul to the Romans

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.  But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 145

The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, * slow to anger and of great kindness.

The LORD is loving to everyone * and his compassion is over all his works.

All your works praise you, O LORD, * and your faithful servants bless you.

They make known the glory of your kingdom * and speak of your power;

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.

Jesus said to the crowd, "To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, `We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."  At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

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

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

2          Little tiny babies. 

3          Brother and the sisters  

4          Mothers and the fathers

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 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: Eat This Bread (Renew!  # 228)

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

Eat this bread, drink this wine, come to me and you shall not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

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

     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! 

Spiritual Sublimation

Pentecost,  A p 8 July 2, 2023
Genesis 22:1-14 Psalm 13
Romans 6:12-23   Matthew 10:40-42

Lectionary Link

Long before Freud wrote about the sublimation, or deflection of basic instinctual drives into socially appropriate behaviors, we have had the Christian mystical tradition of St. Paul.

St. Paul might be called the godfather of the 12-step program especially as he wrote in the Epistle to the Romans.

A very basic issue of life for every human being is what might be called impulse control.  Impulse control is not the same for everyone because each person is different in one's personality make up and in how one's specific personality has interacted with the various kinds of influences in their social environments.

One of the definitions of sin that might be gleaned from reading Paul's epistle to the Romans, is sin is having a wrong relationship with oneself.  Sin is the lack of ability to harness the basic life energy as the driving engine for good things which pertain to appropriate enjoyment of self in one's life situation as well as tapping one's life energy for making the lives of others better through the practice of kindness, love, and justice.   

Most often, we don't have the maturity to help others when our own lives are in such a disarray of mismanaged energy which results in various forms of selfishness and varieties of addictions.

A mismanaged life occurs when the powerful spiritual force of desire which can only find the proper object of worship in the Plenitude of God, gets short circuited and projected upon all types of objects, situations, persons, and things.  When the profound desire of our lives is not given the avenues to focus upon the greatness of God, desire can settle for trying to make the ungodly into the divine.  Such focus of desire on the wrong things in the wrong ways ends up being the distraction and the resulting lack of impulse control in our lives.

St. Paul had always been a religious person, a person of the law, but he found that he had let his religious passion become a froward desire expressed in wanting even to kill his religious opponents.  He was confronted with the irony of seeing his religious passion being exposed as his actual sinful state.

How many people in their devout religious passion end up wanting to "get rid of" or do away with people who don't share their exact passions.  In this way, it is easy for our religious passion to become our very sin and expressive of our mismanaged impulse control.

Once St. Paul came to his senses, he experienced the power of Holy Spirit to allow the energy of his life to animate his body, soul, mind, emotions, actions, and speech to present God as welcoming to everyone, and especially those who had previously not been given a welcome.

One of the signs of attaining some success in our impulse control is that we have the power to turn outward and welcome others.

One of the ways that we can know that our religious life has become sinful life is in how we  practice of welcome.  We know that many religious groups spend their time identifying themselves around who is not welcome in their group, and this is indicative of religious practice which has actually become sinful practice.

Let us know today that welcoming hearts and welcoming practice to all is the sign of the Risen Christ attaining within us success in our quest for the impulse control of our lives.  Amen.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Aphorism of the Day, June 2023

Aphorism of the Day, June 30, 2023

Deconstruction is like refreezing ice cubes in lake water.  One holds to the illusion of the solidity of the text even while the text is being dissolved while in the process of re--texting new "solidity" from the surrounding lake of words.

Aphorism of the Day, June 29, 2023

When writing about the "past" in the present, creeping anachronism of the present in text about the past is unavoidable.  One cannot avoid the place one is in time when one writes about "another" time. 

Aphorism of the Day, June 28, 2023

Plain reading or meaning of Scripture assumes continuous unbroken universal same language contexts through time avoiding the specifics which influence how meanings are constituted in a reading situation.

Aphorism of the Day, June 27, 2023

St. Paul's letter to the Romans includes a mystical practice to sublimate or rearrange one's desires to become an engine to do good things instead of bad things.  Finding the Holy Spirit, according to Paul, is the ability to experience agency toward what is good and better than we were before.

Aphorism of the Day, June 26, 2023

Mutual welcome, mutual hospitality expresses what an ideal state of human communion might be.  The intentional expression of belonging together should be the human symphony of unity in differences.

Aphorism of the Day, June 25, 2023

Texts like the Gospel can give the impression that writing as a technology of memory can fix the meanings of the words forever.  Texts as fixed meanings is the illusion of infallibility which some church leaders use to fix church administrative behaviors.  "This texts is saying what I need it to say for the authority of practice within my community."  Perhaps we should regard holy texts as open texts seeking to enlighten us toward what justice would mean in our new settings.

Aphorism of the Day, June 24, 2023

Religious identity is mostly a poetic ideology which provides a story identity for cohesive formation and maintenance of community.  What is empirically verified by poetry is not the text but the effects upon the readers/participants behaviors.

Aphorism of the Day, June 23, 2023

The word peace used by Jesus is contrastive; on one hand it can mean the lack of warfare and conflict, on the other, it can refer to a fruit of Spirit inner calmness which can be known within conflictive situations of life.

Aphorism of the Day, June 22, 2023

Peace cannot be a static condition which denies becoming and change.  Peace needs to understood as an adjustment to the continual conditions of change and that also means some conflictive difference between conditions of injustice and better future justice.

Aphorism of the Day, June 21, 2023

Dynamic peace needs to include the ability of adaptive change to new circumstances and new paradigm particularly when the issue is the application of justice in new situations.  Finding new application of justice does not always involve seeming peace.

Aphorism of the Day, June 20, 2023

The words of Jesus in the Gospels highlight family discord regarding faith paradigms.  Each person has their own constitution regarding their pacing through the faith paradigms relevant to their own perceived progress.  Hence there always seem to be people divided over having a God in common.

Aphorism of the Day, June 19, 2023

"I did not come to bring peace."  Peace as the status quo of conditions of injustice continually need to be disrupted with "good trouble."

Aphorism of the Day, June 18, 2023

"Wise as serpents and innocent as doves."  This describes the need to be fully disillusioned with humanity in its weakness, but completely gentle without cynicism for being all too human.

Aphorism of the Day, June 17, 2023

Something which belongs to all, especially when many are ignorant of their inheritance, needs executors of God's will to promulgate and inform the intended recipient.  Jesus was the executor of God's standing Will for all humanity and he found that many were not informed of their inheritance.

Aphorism of the Day, June 16, 2023

Being languaged-beings means that we are multi-discursive and this means we can be poets and scientists at the same time.  The confusion and conflict happens when poets treat their discourse as science and when scientists deny the meaningful truth values of entertaining poetry.  Some religionists are afraid to admit that religious discourse is part of their aesthetic entertainment just as some scientists might dismiss the meaningful truth value of artistic products which benefit and inspire the morals and ethics of our cultures.

Aphorism of the Day, June 15, 2023

The basic message of Jesus was about the always already Realm of God, the total field of Plenitude in which we live and move and have our being, and Jesus taught that we should not be isolated in our minds from knowing it.

Aphorism of the Day, June 14, 2023

Love requires strategies, tactics, action plans, and actions, as well as spontaneous love acts, to keep from being a good theory of Christian living.

Aphorism of the Day, June 13, 2023

Having faith is more accessible than saying "I am spiritual," because faith as persuasion is more easily known in what we are persuaded about.  With an inventory of one's values, one can find out rather easily one's persuasions.  Spiritual is a rather elusive term.

Aphorism of the Day, June 12, 2023

The use of the word faith should be returned to its Aristotelian roots in his Rhetoric, meaning "persuasion."  Faith is what one is persuaded about and everyone lives a persuaded lives.  Once we acknowledge living persuaded live, we can look at the sources, goals, and objects of our persuasions.

Aphorism of the Day, June 11, 2023

Sin and repentance involves accepting that we live in time and in sequence, we can be better than we have been before.  Time does not allow a static plateau of having been perfect, because perfection is always deferred to the future and know as simply being more complete.

Aphorism of the Day, June 10, 2023

Human systems seem to reach their level of incompetence when they have to negotiate within too much diversity of interests and needs of constituents.  While we proclaim that Love will find a way, we must work hard at strategies of justice.

Aphorism of the Day, June 9, 2023

The words of Jesus in the Gospels are mostly against people whose sense of entitled rightness did not allow others into their righteous club.

Aphorism of the Day, June 8, 2023

Jesus said he came to call sinners and not the righteous.  But isn't thinking that one is righteous, a chief sin and therefore worthy to be called to be dislodged from the sin of thinking one is righteous?  The words of Jesus can be deconstructed from being simplistic binaries.

Aphorism of the Day, June 7, 2023

Physician, heal thyself.  Sometimes one can be blindingly hypocritical in one's own profession, like doctors and nurses smoking outside hospital doors.  Learning to practice what we preach is a life long goal.

Aphorism of the Day, June 6, 2023

One can easily retreat to mystery as an excuse not to act or do something, waiting for more perfect and fuller information.  Mystery is not supposed to suppress the actions for love and justice needed now.

Aphorism of the Day, June 5, 2023

Is it an oxymoron to say a mystery is revealed, meaning that it is revealed that the Trinity is a mystery?   If something remains a mystery, has the content of the mystery been revealed?

Aphorism of the Day, June 4, 2023

The Trinity is an insight which has come to language as a paradigmatic way of to conceive of the divine as relational essence.

Aphorism of the Day, June 3, 2023

Trinity is a mode of relationship living which tries to unfold in sequential time something which can't be done with synchronicity, i.e., everything, everyone, everyone, all at one.

Aphorism of the Day, June 2, 2023

The Trinity is an insightful metaphor in using language to speak about how Plenitude becomes particularized in human experience, particularly in the insights about the Jesus traditions about God.  We cannot make idols out of metaphors even as we cannot ignore their genuine insights.

Aphorism of the Day, June 1, 2023

St. Paul wrote about the "communion" of the Holy Spirit.  Holy Spirit is the conducting essence between in the best mutual appreciative regard. 

Quiz of the Day, June 2023

Quiz of the Day, June 30, 2023

What animal would be most associated with Saul becoming the first king of Israel?

a. sheep

b. eagle

c. donkey

d. horse

Quiz of the Day, June 29, 2023

What saints share a feast day but also have individual days which mark specific events in their lives?

a. Cyril and Methodius

b. Philip and James

c. Priscilla and Aquila

d. Paul and Peter

Quiz of the Day, June 28, 2023

Of the following, who was the one who would most likely recommend the "plain reading or meaning" of the Gospel as the preferred reading?

a. Origen

b. Augustine of Hippo

c. Irenaeus

d. Clement of Alexandria

Quiz of the Day, June 27, 2023

What did the Philistines craft to end a plague in their territory?

a. golden mice

b. golden frogs

c. golden tumors

d. golden hail stones

e. golden flowers

f. all of the above

g. a and b

h. a and c

Quiz of the Day, June 26, 2023

What enemy of Israel once captured the sacred Ark of the Covenant?

a. Perizzites

b. Ammonites

c. Jebusites

d. Philistines

Quiz of the Day, June 25, 2023

What child was given a name indicating a judgment against Israel?

a. Samuel

b. Ichabod

c. Emmanuel

d. Solomon

Quiz of the Day, June 24, 2023

Which of the following groups would have been most likely to become followers of Jesus?

a. Sadducees

b. Pharisees

c. Zealots

d. John the Baptist's community

e. Essenes

Quiz of the Day, June 23, 2023

Who is the "Father of faith" for St. Paul?

a. Adam

b. Moses

c. David

d. Abraham

e. Jesus

f. Melchizedek

Quiz of the Day, June 22, 2023

Which of the following would be a Hebrew word for the afterlife?

a. ouranos

b. paradise

c. Sheol

d. Hades

e. Tartarus

Quiz of the Day, June 21, 2023

Who were Hophni and Phineas?

a. sons of Samuel

b. sons of Eli

c. sons of David

d. son of Moses

Quiz of the Day, June 20, 2023

Where was the "house of Lord" where Eli and Samuel served?

a. Jerusalem

b. Hebron

c. Bethel

d. Dan

e. Shiloh

Quiz of the Day, June 19, 2023

Of the following who was not accused of being inebriated or drunkenness?

a. Jesus

b. Disciples of Jesus

c. Hannah

d. John the Baptist

Quiz of the Day, June 18, 2023

What did the seven angels have in the vision of St. John the Divine?

a. candlesticks

b. spirits

c. plagues

d. churches

e. horses

Quiz of the Day, June 17, 2023

What woman saint lived as a monk and whose "gender" was not known until s/he died?

a. Macrina

b. Marina

c. Isidore

d. Barbara

Quiz of the Day, June 16, 2023

Who was the first High Priest of Israel?

a. Moses

b. Aaron

c. Melchizedek

d. Eli

Quiz of the Day, June 15, 2023

What Anglican might be credited with rescuing the word "mystic" from being "kooky?"

a. Charles William

b. C. S. Lewis

c. Evelyn Underhill

d. Willam Law

Quiz of the Day, June 14, 2023

How many times was St. Paul ship wrecked?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4

Quiz of the Day, June 13, 2023

Of the following, which is not associated with a tree?

a. Jesus

b. Nathaniel

c. Zacchaeus

d. Boaz

e. Absolam

Quiz of the Day, June 12, 2023

Which Gospel does not have list of 12 disciples?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

Quiz of the Day, June 11, 2023

What can a dragon be found in the Bible?

a. Ezekiel

b. Job

c. Psalms

d. Revelation

Quiz of the Day, June 10, 2023

In what order of ministry did Ephrem of Nisibis serve?

a. lay

b. diaconate

c. presbyterate

d. episcopate

Quiz of the Day, June 9, 2023

St. Columba was born where?

a. in Ireland

b. in Scotland

c. on Iona

d. in England

Quiz of the Day, June 8, 2023

Where was the location of the call of Christ to Matthew?

a. at the Sea Galilee

b. synagogue in Capernaum

c. at a tax booth

d. in the Temple complex in Jerusalem

Quiz of the Day, June 7, 2023

Which of the following is not found in the Bible?

a. polytheism

b. henotheism

c. Deism

d. monotheism

Quiz of the Day, June 6, 2023

To be cast into the sea with a milestone around one's neck is the punishment recommended by Jesus for what?

a. the sin of pride

b. causing a child to stumble

c. blaspheming the Holy Spirit

d. drunkenness

Quiz of the Day, June 5, 2023

In the parables of Jesus, a mustard seed is a metaphor for what?

a. sins

b. faith

c. good works

d. a miracle

Quiz of the Day, June 4, 2023

Where is it written that God is greater than all the divine works, and "He is All?"

a. Psalms

b. Proverb

c. Ecclesiastes

c. Ecclesiasticus

Quiz of the Day, June 3, 2023

Which of the following is not true about Lazarus in the New Testament?

a. there are two men named Lazarus

b. one Lazarus is a story figure of Jesus

c. one Lazarus was brought back to life

d. Lazarus died of leprosy

e. Lazarus had two sisters

f. Lazarus lived in Bethany

Quiz of the Day, June 2, 2023

In what two books of the Bible can the "10 Commandments" be found?

a.Genesis and Exodus

b.Exodus and Deuteronomy

c.Exodus and Proverbs

d.Exodus and the Psalms

Quiz of the Day, June 1, 2023

What biblical man wore a veil?

a. Cain
b. Joseph
c. Moses
d. Daniel
e. David