Quiz of the Day, April 2024

Quiz of the Day, April 30, 2024

"Hypocrite" comes from a Greek word which means

a. under criticism

b. under performing

c. underhanded

d. actor

Quiz of the Day, April 29, 2024

The term scapegoat came from

a. in comparison with sheep goats were regarded to be inferior

b. Azazel

c. the first Temple sacrificial practices

d. Jethro, priest of Midian

Quiz of the Day, April 28, 2024

Which of the follow is not true?

a. all priests of Israel were Levites

b. all Levites of Israel were priests

c. Aaron was a Levite and a High Priest

d. Moses was a Levite but not allowed into the holy of holies in the tabernacle

Quiz of the Day, April 27, 2024

An eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth is called?

a. the Golden Rule, do unto others as they do to you

b. lex talionis

c. the law of equal revenge

d. tough love justice

Quiz of the Day, April 26, 2024

Which of the following is not true about Moses' trips on Mount Sinai?

a. they lasted forty days 

b. he fasted

c. he wrote both sets of the law

d. his face shone from the divine presence

e. he had to take the second trip after destroying the first law tablets

Quiz of the Day, April 25, 2024

Which of the following is not true regarding the Gospel of Mark?

a. it was written by one of the 12 disciples of Jesus

b. it may have been written by a companion of Peter

c. it may have been written by the figure known as John Mark in Acts

d. it was written anonymously, without textual evidentiary "signature" of an author

Quiz of the Day, April 24, 2024

Jot and tittle in the King James version of the Bible in words of Jesus refer to what?

a. small pieces of bread

b. small strokes in the Hebrew Torah

c. legal minutiae

d. Greek accent marks

Quiz of the Day, April 23, 2024

How many Israelites were killed by their fellows as result of the golden calf incident?

a. 1000

b. 2000

c. 3000

d. 4000

Quiz of the Day, April 22, 2024

What happened to Aaron's golden calf?

a. it was burned up

b. it was ground to powder

c. it was thrown into water

d. the gold powder water was drunk by the Israelites

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 21, 2024

Which of the following was not part of Aaron's vestments?

a. bells

b. turban

c. loin cloth

d. breastpiece

e. robe

f.  ephod

g. sash

h. tunic

Quiz of the Day, April 20, 2024

What wood was the ark of the covenant constructed out of?

a. gopher wood

b. cedar

c. sycamore

d. acacia

Quiz of the Day, April 19, 2024

How long was Moses on Mount Sinai?

a. 7 days

b. 3 days

c. 30 days

d. 40 days

Quiz of the Day, April 18, 2024

Which Gospels have the most details on the temptation of Jesus?

a. Matthew and Mark

b. Matthew and Luke

c. Mark and Luke

d. Luke and John

e. Mark and John

f. Matthew and John

Quiz of the Day, April 17, 2024

Which of the following are not dominical sacraments?

a. baptism

b. matrimony

c. confirmation

d. reconciliation of a penitent

e. ordination

f.  eucharist

g. a and f

h. b-e

i. b-d

Quiz of the Day, April 16, 2024

Which was one of the divine threats concerning the holy maintain of Sinai?

a. touch it and die

b. touch it and become leprous

c. touch it and become childless

d. touch it become transfigured

Quiz of the Day, April 15, 2024

What is the advice that Moses received from his father-in-law?

a. shepherding instructions

b. return to Median to receive the law

c. delegate to ministerial colleagues

d. how to treat his spouse

Quiz of the Day, April 14, 2024

The road to Emmaus post-resurrection appearance happened

a. on Easter Day

b. Easter Monday

c. Easter Tuesday

d. a week after Easter

Quiz of the Day, April 13, 2024

The meals of Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances consisted of

a. bread

b. wine

c. water

d. fish

e. lamb

f. all of the above

g. a and d

h. a,c, and d

Quiz of the Day, April 12, 2024

What does "manna" mean?

a. heavenly bread

b. coriander seed

c. "what is it?"

d. flakes

Quiz of the Day, April 11, 2024

Which of the following was not provided by God for the people of Israel to partake of?

a. quail meat

b. manna

c. water

d. mutton

Quiz of the Day, April 10, 2024

Who wrote A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life?

a. Thomas Traherne

b. Thomas a Kempis

c. William Law

d. George Herbert

Quiz of the Day, April 9, 2024

Which of the following is not true regarding Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

a. he went to the USA to avoid military service

b. he was directly involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler

c. he was sent to prison and killed

d. he worked for a German intelligence agency when he returned to Germany

Quiz of the Day, April 8, 2024

Which of the following is true about the Annunciation?

a. the announcement to Mary is found in Luke

b. the announcement to Joseph is found in John

c. the annunciation is not found in John

d. the annunciation in not found in Mark

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 7, 2024

According to John's Gospel, when did Thomas encounter the Risen Christ?

a. on Easter

b. Easter Wednesday

c. Sabbath after Easter

d. first Sunday after Easter

Quiz of the Day, April 6, 2024

Of the following, who is best known for the ontological argument for the existence of God?

a. Peter Abelard

b. Thomas Aquinas

c.  Anselm

d.  Albert Magnus

Quiz of the Day, April 5, 2024

Which biblical writer wrote about the "Last Trumpet?"

a. John the Divine

b. Ezekiel

c. Daniel

d. Jeremiah

e. Paul

Quiz of the Day, April 4, 2024

Which of the following, have accounts of the Ascension?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

e. Acts

f. all of the above

g. a,b,c,d

h. a and c.

i. c and e

Quiz of the Day, April 3, 2024

Which Gospel has the account of earthquakes happening at the crucifixion and the resurrection?

a. Mathew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 2, 2024

Before the people of Israel hastily left Egypt, what did they ask from their Egyptian neighbors?

a. for their gold and jewelry

b. donkeys for transportation

c. household gods

d. flour for bread

Quiz of the Day, April 1, 2024

Which of the following is not a synonym for the same holiday?

a. Feast of the Unleavened Bread

b. Passover

c. Sukkot

d. Festival of Matzot

e. Feast of Our Redemption 

The Truest Cliche

5 Easter     B  April 28, 2024
Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22:24-30
1 John 4:7-21  John 15:1-8

Lectionary Link

Including the word beloved which opens our appointed reading from First John, the word "love" occurs 27 times in the short fifteen verses.  A literary critic might wonder about stylistic variation in the overuse of the word love.

When a word or phrase is used a lot, it might gain the status of being a cliche, something overused in language to the point of losing its meaning.  We might say that love gets overused in popular music and poetry, so much so that it almost seems circular in self referencing.  Let's proclaim love in order to establish the importance of love, as in the verse by Emily Dickinson, "That love is all there is, Is all we know of love."

We often call the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, "the love chapter," the one read at many weddings, but First John, chapter 4 could also be "the love chapter."

In our human language, the word "love" has arisen to refer to a human experience.  In the attempt to reduce to words what is the greatest conception for human beings, the word for such Plenitude is God, but such Plenitude also has in language words to speak about the best energies, flows and attributes which come to consciousness of people who confess the Plentitude of God.  One could say that the overall connectedness between everything that lives and moves and has being within God is what we call love.  Thusly, the Johannine writer states a most direct metaphor: God is Love.

Love is the best sort of connectedness between everything that is; but we know that connectedness has been distorted and misappropriated and we frightfully know the resulting alienations that we have with Plenitude and with each other.  

How can the perfection of love be known when the live of alienation and dysfunctional connectedness is so obvious in our world?

Christians confess Jesus as the exemplary conduit through which a restoration in love can begin to happen.  The writer of John's Gospel understands Jesus to be a Vine maintaining the connection with the many branches.  The early church understood Christ as the expression of the pure connectively of love with God and with each other.

The call of life is to abide in the source of our connectivity with God and with each other.  What is the inner flow of this connectivity?  It could be called Love, or it could be called the Holy Spirit.

What are the barriers for us to experience the flow of the connectivity of love with God and with each other?

The main barriers are on the personal level of egotistical selfishness and on the social level in all the barriers responsible for group division and hate and separation.  The purpose of the Acts of the Apostles was to proclaim that the love message of Jesus Christ was to go beyond Jerusalem, beyond Galilee, beyond Palestine even to Ethiopia.  The evangelist Philip baptized and commission the Ethiopian eunuch to carry the message of the love of Christ to his homeland.  There are no geographical or social limits to the practice of love, since it is to be discovered as the omnipresent reality of togetherness.

The Gospel for us today is an invitation to discover the connectedness of love.  We do this by identifying with the King of Love, Christ himself and to experience an inner connectedness to guide us in the ways to live lovingly.

One linguistic result of living lovingly is to make us into poets who commit often the cliches which pertain to love and to Christ.  St. Paul confessed poetically that Christ is all and in all.  As lovers of Christ and those who wish to be more loving, we might describe the experience of abiding in Christ as: That Christ is all there is, Is all we know of Christ.

Our scientific sides will have to tolerate our poetic sides when we have come to know the love of God in Christ.  We too, will speak the truthful cliches of love.  Amen.

Sunday School, April 28, 2024 5 Easter B

  Sunday School, April 28, 2024    5  Easter B

Sunday School Themes

The writer of the Gospel of John uses examples from farming and agriculture to teach lessons.

How close is a branch to the main stem of a plant?

How close are the leaves and fruit to a grape vine?

Very Close

When we speak about a grape plant we know that they consist of a root, stem or vine and branches which have leaves and grapes.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

This means that the life of Christ is very close to us and a part of us.

How does the life of the vine give life to the branches?  Plant blood is called “sap” and it flows inside of the plant to provide life food to all parts of the plant.

Jesus said there is something like sap which keeps us connected to him.

This sap would be the experience of God’s Holy Spirit who keeps us connected to Christ as the special life of God which we can find within ourselves, but we need to pay attention to it through prayer and study.

Allegorical Role playing Dialogue

Vine and Branchie.

Branchie: I am getting tired of just hanging around.  I want to leave this neighborhood and go away.

Vine: How are you going to do that?

Branchie:  Well, I will just swing really hard in the wind until I fall off on the ground and then I’ll get up and walk away.

Vine:  I don’t think so Branchie.  That is not the way plant life works.

Branchie:  Why not?  Why can’t I leave this neighborhood?

Vine: Well, you will always be a branch and you cannot be anything else.  So you have to follow the rules for branches.

Branchie:  What kind of rules?

Vine: Well, sometimes you have to get a “hair cut.”  You have to get pruned and trimmed.

Branchie: Ouch, that hurts.

Vine:  Yes, but it makes you grow much better and it helps you grow the very best grapes.  You like to grow grapes don’t you?

Branchie:  Well, yes, but why can’t I leave this neighborhood and travel?

Vine: You can because if you are broken off from me, you will lose your supply of plant blood and you will dry up and die and you will just be recycled.

Branchie: What is plant blood?

Vine:  Plant blood is called sap and you get your sap from me your Vine.  And you cannot live without the plant blood called sap.  So you have to stay connected to me.  I am happy to provide you with plant blood and I like to have you living close to me.

Branchie:  But can I ever leave or travel and still live?

Vine:  You can in a different way.  When you produce wonderful grapes, then your grapes are used for wine and for eating but also you produce more seeds for more grapevines.  And so the grapes are like your children and they get to travel and create more plant life everywhere.  They get to provide wonderful life for the people who eat them.  So you have a very important role in life.

Branchie: Yes, I do and I want to produce many good grapes so I want to stay close to you my Vine so that the plant blood or sap can continue to give me good life.

Vine: I would like these boys and girls to know that Jesus is like a Vine.  The Risen Christ is like a big tree with many branches.  And each of these boys and girls are like branches on the tree of Christ.  And they have the wonderful plant blood or sap inside of them.  Inside of each of these boys and girls is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God provides a wonderful special kind of life within them and this special kind of life will last forever, even after they leave this earth.

Branchie:  Wow.  That is a special life.

Vine:  Boys and Girls can you repeat after me:  Christ is the true Vine of my life.   He provides me with the special inner life of God’s Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon

 I would like to tell you story about Molly.  Molly was a wonderful little girl who liked to help her mom.  She used to watch her mom do all kinds of things.  She watched her cook in the kitchen and she watched her work in the garden.

  Molly liked to help her mom and do special things for her.  One day she watched her mom plant a small tree in the yard.  It was just a small tree, but it had four branches on it with leaves.

   Molly thought she would like to help mom and surprise her.

   She thought, “Mom loves trees.  What if planted more trees for her?”

Do you know what Molly did?  When mom went to the store, Molly decided to surprise her.  She went out to mom’s tree and she broke off the four branches.  And she planted each of these branches in the ground.  And she was very excited because now mom would have five trees and not just one tree.

  When mom came home from the store, Molly went out to see her and she was excited to tell her about a special surprise.  She said, “Mom, you planted just one tree, but now you have five trees.”

  And mom asked, “How did you do that Molly?”  Molly took her out to the yard and showed her how she had broken four branches from the tree and planted them in the ground.”

  Mom did not want to disappoint Molly, so she said, “You will have to remember to water your new trees.”  And so Molly watered her new trees every day, but they did not grow.  In fact, the leaves on the trees turned dark and they became brittle and soon the wind blew them away.

  Molly was disappointed that her trees would not grow.  She decided to pull one of them out of the ground and she saw that it was just a dead stick.

   Molly asked her Mom, “What happened?  Why didn’t my trees grow?”

   Her mom told her, “The branches can only grow if they stay attached to the trunk of the tree.  The roots of tree suck up water and plant food in the ground and makes a tree blood called sap.  And if you cut the branch off, the branch no longer gets the tree blood called sap and it dries up and dies.”

   Jesus told his friends, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”  The branches can live because they stay attached and connected to the vine.  They get the plant blood called sap.

  Jesus used this riddle to teach a lesson.  He said that we needed to remain connected to him.

  How do we do that?  We pray.  We learn.  And we find within ourselves the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is like the sap that flows through a plant.  It keeps branches alive, connected and attached to the vine.

  So too, the Holy Spirit deep inside of us keeps us connected to Christ.  And if we remain connected to Christ, we have the ability to have the fruits of the Spirit.  What are they?  Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, self-control and humility.

  The lesson for us today to remain connected to Christ so that we can grow the fruits of the Spirit.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

April 28, 2024: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Gathering Songs:  Glorify Your Name; If You’re Happy; Alleluia; Lord, I Lift Your Name

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

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: Glorify Your Name (Renew!  # 37)

1.      Father, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify your name in all the earth. Glorify your name, glorify you name, glorify your name in all the earth.

2.      Jesus, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify your name in all the earth.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the earth.

3.      Spirit, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify your name in all the earth.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the earth.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the First Letter of John

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 22

My praise is of him in the great assembly; * I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: * "May your heart live for ever!"
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, * and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

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 John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,
We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.
We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and
     resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.
We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is
     welcome.
We believe that Christ is kind and fair.
We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.
And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.
For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.
For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.
For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.
For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.
For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 124)

1.      If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know, then your face should surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

2.      Make a high five…. 3. Make a low five…  4. Shout Amen.

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.
Holy 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.  Sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

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

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

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

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.
But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Alleluia (Renew! # 136)

1. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
2. He’s my Savior, Alleluia… 3. He is worthy, Alleluia…. 4 I will praise him, Alleluia

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;
We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.
And His Presence has been known to us.
We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers
    and sisters in Christ.
Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the
     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,
As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Lord, I Lift Your Name on High (Renew! # 4)

Lord, I lift your name on high; Lord, I love to sing your praises. 

I’m so glad you’re in my life; I’m so glad you came to save us. 
You came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. 
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky; Lord, I lift your name on high.

Repeat

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Good Shepherding as Personal and Communal Calling

 4 Easter B  April 21, 2024
Acts 4:5-12  Psalm 23
1 John 3:1-8     John 10:11-16

Lectionary Link

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday and as I often do, I would problematize this topic for our times and perhaps see through some of the romantic haze that arises around reading the Gospels with profound naiveté.

I would submit to you that the Good Shepherd appointed Gospel as well as the New Testament was written for and by people who lived as an oppressed or suppressed minorities within various locations within the Roman Empire.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, shepherds were metaphors for the community leaders.  The train of such leaders were patriarchs, judges, priests, prophets, teachers, and kings.  Kings were regarded to be shepherds even though the great judge Samuel warned the people that if they wanted a king, he would in effect be a great kleptocrat.  He would be expensive to maintain and he would take the young men for his armies.  But as a reward there could be protection and some sense of law and order, and the environment to support the worship centering around the shrines and Temple.  The accounts of Hebrew Scriptures indicate that the shepherds of all sorts in Israel succeeded and failed and by the time of Jesus, the leaders or shepherds of Israel had been reduced to the council of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem who negotiated the limitations on lifestyle and worship freedoms for the Jews who lived in Palestine.  The Jews of the Diaspora had also to find a way to exist as minorities communities within the cities of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Emperor was a leader, a shepherd of sorts, whom Jews and followers of Jesus had to acknowledge as a significant determining reality of their social lives.  The way in which followers of Jesus chose to survive was to subscribe to the strong but servile life of the beatitudes.  The beatitudes proposed a Christly martial arts lifestyle meant to be winsome to the persecutors, like turning the other cheek, blessing those who cursed you, and carrying the burden of the bullying soldier an extra mile.  Such seeming heroic humble behaviors were for survival, but also to impress the persecutors with the performance of a spiritual strength that could be winsome.

Early followers of Jesus had to live with the Caesar as the shepherd and leader of the world whose power had local franchise power expressions in petty kings, governors, and centurions and soldiers.  St. Paul asked his readers to pray for the leaders and to pay taxes.  He said they had an ordained status for creating the kind of order which allowed for the survival of even the minority communities of church and synagogue.  St. Paul was admitting that even Roman leaders could be good in shepherding society if conditions of peace allowed people to get on with their lives, even the life of following the Risen Christ.

So what is the Good Shepherd of John's Gospel all about?  Jesus was not the Good Shepherd of Rome and the Roman Empire?  Who was Jesus Good Shepherd for?  The New Testament writings were essentially private writings for very limited communities within the Roman Empire.  It was an insider's literature, meaning that Jesus was the Good Shepherd model for the mystical relationship of the Risen Christ for members of the Jesus Movement.  The Good Shepherd was the model for how Christian leaders were to treat each other and it pertained particularly for the care and mentoring of those who were most vulnerable, marginalized, and without significant community identity or power.  We have to acknowledge that the Good Shepherd model was mainly for in-house behaviors, meaning that if persons had significant power, wealth, and knowledge, the blessing of such could only be known in using it to empower others, enrich others, and teach others.

Historically, we can note that the good shepherd living lifestyle of the people of home churches became winsome within the Roman Empire.  A discerning emperor like Constantine noted how the collateral effects of the once small Jesus Movement had become winsomely popular within his empire, to the point of it becoming politically astute to adopt this life style as the preferred life style for the empire.

How does one change charismatic mystical Christianity into legislative, social, and political Christianity? 

It probably cannot be done.  How does one legislate the sublime effects?  How does one use the hammer and anvil of church law and order to convert serendipitous mystical experience into the passive assimilation of infants into the church through infant baptism?  An entire incredible alchemical theology had to arise to address the success of the Jesus Movement and reconfigure the crucified Jesus who had been hidden in the lives of mystics as the Risen Christ into Jesus as the King of history and the Empire.  Priests and bishops had to take on more public roles of authority, even to become the earthly visible vicars of Christ the King and High Priest.

We might observe that Christianity cannot be an Empire religion without losing the roots of its origin as a way of life which arose for those who were oppressed but who were animated by the inner life of having significant mystical experience to be the compensating factor in their otherwise outwardly non-ostentatious existence.

You and I who have been living mostly as heirs of the political powers who made Christianity the preferred religion, have had to live as people with power and privilege while professing a lifestyle Christian faith that was written by and for oppressed people.  What we do know is that colonial Christians of power forced many people of color, and often times, women and others with less privilege in our societies, to live the life of the beatitudes.  The life of the beatitudes is indeed an attractive lifestyle because it is driven by a sublime inner strength that baffles those who hold to the belief that the strong take what they want.  The power of the strength of the living the beatitudes is such a contradiction to the logic of the power to control through physical strength, economic strength, the strength of armies and weaponry.

How can we as people trying to live New Testament Christianity adopt the founding Spirit of our movement to our times when we find ourselves in positions of power, wealth, and education?

We can assess with charity when Christly values have inspired governments to promote and practice universal suffrage.  We can understand the victory of Christly values when governments support laws of equal justice for all, and when justice authorities understand that all are equal even when all are different.  When our governments and society bring the dignity of justice to the many kinds of different people who are in our society today, then we can say we have begin to make the values of Christ the Good Shepherd the public values of our societies.

We as Christians need to be good shepherds to the many different people within our congregations who are seeking community and families of affirming acceptance.  Without ever uniting church and state, we can model the values of the Good Shepherd as we are dismissed from our Christian gatherings to go forth in the name of Christ, to exhibit in our lives Christly values, which are good shepherd values.  Where we have power, wealth, and education, we are to use these states to continually lift the levels of each for the greatest number of persons within our society.  Power, wealth, and education are manifest in continuously reciprocal ways.  Each of us at time are in need of shepherdly care of all sorts at many times in our lives.  The strongest and seeming most self sufficient person will at times be dependent upon the care of others for something that he or she is bereft of in a time of weakness or vulnerability.

Let us today learn to live by the values of the Good Shepherd.  It is perhaps the only way to convert empire and societies of people who have inherited the conditions of privilege, wealth, power, and education to the values of Christ.

Let us today be honest enough to admit that many times we are very needy and vulnerable sheep who need the help, care, and expertise of others.  And let us not forget our times of need when shepherdly care has come to us.  Let us also be shepherds of care to those who need the equalization ministries of healing, food for the hungry, provision for the poor, education for those needing to actualize their potential, and indeed the gift of the good news of Jesus the Good Shepherd, who calls each of us to do good shepherding with the gifts of our life.

May God save our societies by being good shepherding societies today.  Amen.