Pentecost 4A

Matthew 10:40-42

⁴⁰"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; ⁴²and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."

backtracking

Pentecost 1 | Trinity | Matthew 28:16-20

• all authority in heaven and earth
• go, sent, into all the world – make disciples
• baptize!
• I am with you! Refers back to Emmanuel, God-with-us, at the start of Matthew's gospel

Pentecost 2 | Matthew 9:35-10; 10:19-20

• Jesus proclaimed Good News / Gospel
• called, authorized, sent 12 – Jesus told us he has all authority; he gives us an extension of his authority
• charges disciples (us!) to preach the gospel, heal, raise the dead, etc.
• announce kingdom of heaven, reign of heaven has come near you
• travel very light
• don't sweat what to say; HS will give you the words

Pentecost 3 | Matthew 10:24-30

• disciple / teacher // master /slave
• don't fear x 4 – Sara pointed out "in only about 12 verses," but it's actually in only 7 verses!
• not peace but a sword of division
• new family configuration. Though it's clearly there, nuclear family as we know it isn't prominent in scripture; this new family comprised of Jesus' disciples has experienced the new birth of baptism
• to be worthy of Jesus, take up your cross – both Roman empire's literal cross of execution and the crosses of giving up our own preferences for the well-being of the other and of the community

Today, Pentecost 4 | Matthew 10:40-42

Again, the church's year of grace has moved into the green and growing season of Ordinary Time that's anything but ordinary as it emphasizes the church in the power of the Holy Spirit of life, of resurrection, of love, of newness. "Ordinary" refers to structured, ordered, arranged, laid out in a pattern. In this segment of Ordinary Time we number Sundays after the Day of Pentecost.

• emissary, ambassador, representative brings with them the presence, the authority, the function, and the words of the one who sent them.
• reward here is about earned wages, payment you're entitled to, and not a gift of grace
• how did Israel historically treat the prophets?
• hospitality begins and ends this short passage

Scripture distinguishes between the prophet who speaks truth to power and roeh the seer, who peers into the future, though telling if/and/ but alternatives also is part of the word and work of the prophet.

Prophecy in Israel officially began because of the whole Kings Thing they insisted on. Prophecy literally is speaking against the reigning monarch, against any expressions of death-dealing social, economic, cultural, political empire.

In a somewhat permissible official capacity, we sometimes find a court jester or a motley fool, who almost can say what they want in the presence of the official authorities.

Prophets also call people back to the freedom of a new covenantal obedience to the commandments.

Prophets particularly speak God's word of hope and promise for a different future; the end of the old, the beginning of the new. Resurrection from the Dead; a New Creation. In the Hebrew bible we officially find the four "books" of former prophets Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; and four of latter prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and The Twelve. Although we don't formally list Moses among the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth was "a prophet like Moses," because they both spoke the word of God. So roughly, a prophet is anyone who speaks for God. That includes us with our baptismal roles of prophet (speaker of God's word), priest (mediator between earth and heaven), and sovereign (caretaker of creation).

Pentecost 3A

Romans 6:1b-11

¹Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 10:24-39

²⁴"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; ²⁵it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ²⁶"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³²"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; ³³but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

³⁴"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶and one's foes will be members of one's own household. ³⁷whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Green and Growing Season

The church's year of grace continues numbering Sundays after the Day of Pentecost. This is the third Sunday after Pentecost; three weeks ago we celebrated the fiftieth day of Easter and the gift of the pentecostal Spirit of Life—grace, love, resurrection, God's abiding presence in us, the church, as the body of the Risen Christ. In baptism we receive the gift of this Holy Spirit that enables us to do those "greater things" than Jesus.

This is the Time of the Spirit, Season of the Church in the power of the HS of Pentecost. This is another segment of ordinary, ordered, structured, delineated time; just as during the few Sundays of ordinary time last winter after Epiphany, our liturgical color for vestments, paraments, banners, etc. is growing, verdant green.

The Revised Common Lectionary that suggests our scripture readings pairs Paul/ Saul's Romans 6 baptismal passage with Matthew's Jesus' warning about discipleship. Matthew 10:38 is the first "cross" reference in Matthew's gospel, and it's about the disciples, not about Jesus!

The nuclear family as we know it is not prominent in the Bible, though we hear about parents, children, spouses, in-laws. Jesus describes a new family configuration. Jesus' family is about people who follow him. The continuity of biological heredity and consanguinity also come into the mix, but more than anything, this new family is by Jesus' blood, by baptismal water and word, by chosenness and abrupt discontinuity with what's always been.

Last week on Pentecost 2, Jesus first summoned or called his followers; then he gave them authority to his followers; and then sent them out into the world.

History

Romans is several decades earlier than the gospel we received from Matthew's community; for Saul / Paul of Tarsus, the gospel is death and resurrection. Paul considers baptism a new exodus from slavery of all kinds: sin, death, and the devil as we say in the baptismal liturgy; all the forces and enticements of empire that are agents of death. Baptism is a life-changing event.

Gerry Rafferty: "we'll meet out on the water, where all strangers are known."

The community gathered around Matthew the tax-collector well may have known the letter to the Romans since epistles were circular, round-robin documents that made their way from church to church, community to community, often receiving edits and revisions along the way. But Matthew's Jesus would not have been doing baptismal theology in the way Paul does in Romans, the way we do in the 21^st century church.

Discussion

With this first reference to cross in Matthew's gospel, Jesus well knew anyone at odds with the Roman occupation government was at high risk for crucifixion; most likely Jesus started anticipating his own crucifixion even earlier than we read about in the gospel narratives. So this refers to literal crucifixion, though everyone agreed with one of our class participants who said it's also putting to death our own desires, preferences, lifestyles, when they clash or interfere with God's call to us, Jesus invitation and call to follow him as disciples, apostles, "sent people." Those of us who lose our lives for Jesus' sake.

Surprisingly, we didn't really talk at all about Jesus' descriptions of how society well might treat his faithful followers.

We also mentioned the study and devotional practice of rewording and rephrasing scripture in ways that make sense to us, that help the ideas come alive. As in Pastor Eugene Peterson's The Message version / interpretation, that in some passages is more paraphrase than it is translation.

I've mentioned how we're creating the Acts of the Twenty-First Century Apostles, and (blogger or not), we could try writing down some of our experiences of action, witness, testimony in the Spirit of Pentecost.

Pentecost 2A

Matthew 9:35 – 10:1-8

9:³⁵Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

10: ¹Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. ²These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; ³Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; ⁴Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, ⁶but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. ⁷As you go, proclaim the good news, "The kingdom of heaven has come near.' ⁸Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment."

Where We Are

We're halfway through the church's year of grace that began during calendar year 2016 on the First Sunday of Advent. Two weeks ago we celebrated the fiftieth day of Easter with the festival of Pentecost that commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the world. The next six months will be the Season of the Church acting in Jesus' name, a Time of the Spirit of Life and of Resurrection that we receive in baptism, a "green and growing season" that reflects the liturgical color green our vestments and paraments feature. Or more accurately, the current liturgical color of green mirrors the focus of this season.

Last Sunday we celebrated the Holy Trinity with Trinity Sunday. Although the bible doesn't refer to a three-in-one / one-in-three trinity or a triune God, both OT and NT strongly reveal God as triune.

Last week I mentioned during this season we'll be doing some theology of the Third Article of the Creed; both the Nicene Creed from the year 325 that probably first articulated the doctrine or teaching of the trinity, and the Apostles' Creed from about a century later outline Trinitarian theology. First article of the creed would be theology of creation; second article of the creed would be theology of redemption or salvation. Third article would be sanctification, divinization, or theosis as the Eastern churches express it.

I also suggested we'd look at some Third Spaces and Fourth Spaces theology as we develop Acts of the 21^st Century Apostles in Southern California:

• First spaces: family, friends, close by neighbors, local schools, nearby workplaces
• Second spaces: a little more geographically and socially distant communities, college, university (maybe a larger high school), larger workplaces; more choices about self-revelation
• Third spaces: moving out of our comfort zones, stretching boundaries: affinity groups, clubs, different cultures
• Fourth spaces: cyberspace! with a lot of choices about what we reveal, opportunities to try on new styles and identities

In the Revised Common Lectionary that suggests our scripture readings, this is Year A, the year of the gospel account the community gathered around Matthew the tax collector brought us.

Briefly Reviewing Matthew

Matthew's gospel begins with Jesus' name Emmanuel – "God with us" – and concludes with Jesus' promise to be with us always.

Matthew's community specifically addressed Greek-speaking Jews in Antioch (then in Syria) that's geographically present-day Turkey.

With a strong Jewish-Hebrew emphasis, among other specialties Matthew presents Jesus as the new Moses and the new King David; with the flight into (and then back out of) Egypt we have a new Exodus; five large discourses in the gospel may parallel the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses and provide a new Torah. Before the resurrection Matthew refers to Israelites; post-resurrection, to Jews.

Matthew is the only one of the four canonical gospels that uses our word related to church, ecclesia. The ecclesia or called-out assembly was the Roman city council, the New England town meeting...

This gospel account also brings us an interesting juxtaposition because it refers to Jesus' ministry in Galilee of the Gentiles – Matthew 4:15 – and tells us gentiles will hope in Jesus' name – Matthew 12:21. Matthew uniquely brings us the visit to the baby Jesus by the Zoroastrian magi, who were both religious and ethnic outsiders. Matthew brings Jesus' Great Commission of bringing the gospel to all the nations that we heard last week.

Today's Text

Notice how Jesus (1)summons or calls his disciples; then he gives them (2)authority; then he (3)sends them out. In the power of the HS, we're also sent people, or apostles.

And then Jesus instructs the disciples to proclaim the gospel, the good news of the reign of life over death—the kingdom/ reign/ realm of heaven has come near; to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons. Recently we revisited John's gospel and Jesus' promise we'd do greater works than he did. That was on Maundy Thursday evening, shortly in the wake of Jesus raising Lazarus from death. In those Johannine passages, Jesus also told us to obey the commandments, and to love in the same way he loves us. He promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit (Advocate, Paraclete called-alongside, Counselor, Comforter —I like the concept of comforter or a quilt wrapped all around us) that would enable us to do all those amazing things, and to act in his name.

Proclamation of the Good News, the reality of resurrection, healing, etc. all evidence the presence of the reign of heaven. In the next chapter, Matthew 11:2-5, from prison John the Baptist (Jesus' cousin, who down by the riverside announced Jesus' soon to be arrival in our midst) asks his cohorts to ask Jesus if he's the real thing, or if we needed to look for someone else? Jesus advised them, "Go tell John what you hear and see (full sensory experiences): dead are raised to life; blind see; deaf hear; lame walk; poor receive good news." Those events have been going down? That means heaven among us, God's rule in our midst!

Trinity Sunday A 2017

Matthew 28:16-20

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Although Sunday we mostly discussed Jesus' Great Commission from Matthew's gospel because this is Matthew's year and we've been doing so much John, how could I not mention perichoresis? Last Friday I reposted here desert spirit's fire Trinity Sunday 2005 that also was year A. Referring to the last few Sundays will give us some Trinitarian theology, as well.

Backtracking

Last Sunday was the Day of Pentecost:

• 50^th Day of Easter
• In the Church's Year of Grace, the Church really comes into its own
• Time of the Spirit / Season of the Church
• Green and Growing Season of almost six months of ordered, structured, organized "Ordinary Time"
• Pentecostal fervor!

During the Great Fifty Days of Easter we've read about Acts of the the early Apostles from Luke's second volume, the Book of Acts. We're revisited the upper room of Maundy Thursday and heard Jesus' commands to obey, to love as he loves, his promise we will do greater works than he did during his earthly ministry, his promise to send the Spirit (Comforter, Advocate, Counselor), to remain with us always. I like to translate "comforter" into a quilt that wraps around us. Baptism surrounds us with God's creative power of the Holy Spirit of resurrection so we can respond to Jesus' commandment to preach the gospel, heal the sick, raise the dead recorded in Matthew 10:7-8 and that will be our gospel reading next week on Pentecost 2.

Trinitarian Theophanies / Trinitarian Theology / Perichoresis

• Last Winter we experienced theophanies of the Trinity or manifestations, appearances of all three persons of the Trinity / Godhead at the Baptism of Jesus and at the Transfiguration

Scripture strongly implies God as Triune one-in-three, three-in-one, but the church didn't define and announce the doctrine or teaching until 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea that gave us the Nicene Creed

• Today's Great Commission passage from the gospel we received from Matthew's community includes baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but that likely was one of many redactions or editing of Matthew's gospel that we've mentioned most likely is the most heavily redacted or edited of the four canonical gospels. The early church probably baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus or used a similar formula.
• The Trinity is a mystery! All our human attempts to compare and explain it fall way far short, but our brains still need to try.
• Today we'll sing, "Come, Join the Dance of Trinity" that's about the Perichoresis of the Trinity: peri – around, surround – choreo – dance, like in choreographer, choreogaphy

During the Season of Pentecost

We'll do Third Article (of the Creed) Theology:

• First Article – Creation
• Second Article – Redemption / Salvation
• Third Article – Sanctification, Divinization, Theosis

We'll also talk some Third Spaces Theology as we develop Acts of the 21^st Century Apostles in Southern California:

• First spaces: family, friends, close by neighbors, local schools, nearby workplaces
• Second spaces: a little more geographically and socially distant communities, college, university (maybe larger high school), larger workplaces; more choices about self-revelation
• Third spaces: moving out of our comfort zones, stretching boundaries: affinity groups, clubs, different cultures
• Fourth spaces: cyberspace! with a lot of choices about what we reveal, opportunities to try on new styles and identities

Matthew's gospel ends as it begins, with the reassurance of God with us, Emmanuel.

Trinity Sunday A 2005

This week I'm blogging twice for Trinity Sunday; I remembered writing about perichoresis, and found these notes from 2005, which also was RCL year A, and would have been from a Monday at Northminster PC(USA) in Previous City when I subbed for the usual facilitator who probably was on another trip helping out another judicatory. My first instinct was to create a new post here dated 16 May 2005 – Easter was early that year! – but this blog didn't even exist then. Besides, today's date will get more hits and help more people.

From Trinity Sunday A 2005 on desert spirit's fire!

Since I really like the notes I put together for this morning's Bible study (not that the group did much with them, but – as always – the discussion was interesting, stimulating, thoughtful and even helpful). But a note of caution: not surprisingly, I realized I potentially had enough material for a multi-volume book! And extremely surprisingly, one of the regular participants said he'd always found the concept of Trinity easy to understand. Moving on now with the study notes:

• Genesis 1:1 – 2:4a

• Psalm 8

• 2 Corinthians 13:11-13

• Matthew 28:16-20


Perichoresis of the Trinity

peri – around – choreo – dance

With perichoresis, the early Church described the Trinity as a dynamic and sometimes indistinguishable interpenetration, mutual indwelling, circumincession in unity, union, harmony, agreement, concord, consonance...

The Church [that's us!] as the Image of the Trinity

How does this Perichoresis relate to our lives in the world in general, our lives with other Christians, and as we interact with people of other faiths and of no faith conviction?


Word and Sacrament: the Trinity and the means of grace

• Written word; preached word; Living Word
• Baptism
• Earthy, earthly elements of creation—plain ordinary water; also, anointing with oil: kings, prophets and priests in Israel were anointed and we're baptized into royal, prophetic priesthood.
• Baptized into the Christ Event in the name of the Trinity—in 325 The Council of Nicaea defined the doctrine of the Trinity; Matthew 28:19 is the only occurrence of the baptismal formula in the Bible, added later than the late 1st century manuscripts; the early church probably baptized in the "Name of the Lord."
• Eucharist
• Earthy, earthly common stuff of creation! | Creator
• Our Lord Jesus Christ...Bread of Life; Cup of Salvation | Redeemer
• Epiclesis | invoking the Holy Spirit

The Church and the Means of Grace

• Jesus entrusted his followers – the church – with proclaiming the Gospel in word and action, baptizing and with remembering him by breaking the bread of life and offering the cup of salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ also is revealed to the world when we live our daily lives as sacraments mediating between earth and heaven—this is something no one and nothing else in the world can offer! The church as a community and each of us as individuals nurtured and discipled by that community take our cues and clues from the perichoresis of the Trinity, and not from the consumer driven programmatic excesses of the world.
• "The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered." Philipp Melanchthon, Augsburg Confession, from Article 7
• "Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ's institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists." John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 4, chapter 1, section 9.

Pentecost A

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

^3bAnd no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. ⁴Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; ⁵and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; ⁶and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. ⁷To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

⁸To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. ¹²For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

The Day of Pentecost is the 50^th Day of Easter!

• Time of the Spirit
• Season of the Church
• A Pentecostal Community filled with gifts from the Holy Spirit
• A second phase of Green and Growing Ordinary (ordered, organized, structured) Time. We experienced the first phase last winter with Sundays after the Epiphany.

During this season we'll be doing Third Article (of the Creed) theology related to the Holy Spirit. "Pneumatology" is one of the technical words for this theological category. First article theology would be theology of creation; second article, theology of redemption. Theology of the HS includes us as the called-out assembly (church/ ekklesia) and sent people (apostles / apostolos).
We'll continue to focus on the interdependence of all creation.

During this Time of the Church we're also visit some (geographical and social)
Third Space theology as we consider moving from:

• The everyday intimacy of geographical and social First Spaces that include face-to-face relationships of family, friends, neighbors on either side and across the street (even in this 21^st century), local schools;
• Second Spaces that include many workplaces, university, more distant and structured settings that give us more choices about self-revelation;
• Third Spaces of affinity, trade, and professional groups that take us beyond the comfort of First Spaces and Second Spaces; at times geographically a considerable distance away with potential for greater anonymity; and for the past decade...
• Fourth Spaces – cyberspace! where you can choose to reveal who and where you are, try on new ideas and even new identities

Third Spaces and Fourth Spaces pick up on "all nations" in Jesus' Great Commission commandment at the conclusion of Matthew's gospel;.

Backtracking

• We've studied accounts from Luke's book of the Acts of the original apostles
• Revisited the upper room of Maundy Thursday where we've heard Jesus' command to obey and to love as he loves
• In the upper room we've also received Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit and power—even to achieve "greater works" than Jesus himself did during his earthly ministry!
• Especially as we celebrated the Ascension (that's technically the 40^th day of Easter) on the 7^th Sunday of Easter, we considered the concept of ascendancy that denotes stewardship, caretaking, responsible sovereignty over all creation following the model and example Jesus gave us.

Corinth / Corinthians

The site of Aphrodite's temple! Rich, opulent, and worldly, a crossroads for international travel and commerce. The church at Corinth was full of factions and divisions. Jealousy, arrogance, and related. You get the picture?!
The two canonical letters to Corinthians are among at the apostle Paul's Seven (biblical number) undisputed epistles. The passage we read today sets the mood and the standard for our life and ministry as we move into almost six months of Ordinary Time Sundays that we number after the Pentecost event.

• The cross of Jesus Christ is central – Paul determines to preach only Christ crucified.
• The Holy Spirit gifts individuals with a wide variety of spiritual and practical gifts (vv. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 lists a few); these gifts always are for the greater good – the commonwealth or common-weal (not woe!) of the gathered community of the body of Christ. No class, cultural, education, or ethnic boundaries. The indwelling Spirit we receive in our baptism into Jesus Christ's death and resurrection engulfs us in God's creative power of resurrection.
• 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 is earliest account of Jesus' "founding meal" of the Lord's Supper; one bread, one body; worthy reception in seeking the common good; 1 Corinthians 10 and 11
• 1 Corinthians include the famous love chapter 13 that picks up on the quality of love Jesus charges us with in the gospel we received from John's community.
• The cross of Jesus Christ is central to our proclaimed and enacted theology, but so is the resurrection — learn 1 Corinthians 15!

Ascension 2017

Acts 1:1-11

1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. 4 While staying [or eating] with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with [or by] the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." 9 When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."

On the 40^th day of Easter we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension; that's a Thursday, but since most people don't go to church on Thursdays, today for Easter 7 we're hearing about the Ascension. Next Sunday, the 50^th day of Easter, is the Day of Pentecost, the third of our great Trinitarian Festivals.

So far during the church's year of grace, we've studied and learned from Jesus' ministry. During the season of Easter we've experienced Jesus' gift of the Holy Spirit on Easter evening from John's gospel; twice in the gospel we received from John's community we've revisited the upper room of Maundy Thursday with Jesus' commandment to love along with his promise of the Holy Spirit (advocate, paraclete) of comfort and truth. We've had examples of the early church's ministry in the power of the Spirit. Specifically, three weeks ago on Easter 4, we heard about the apostles' preaching and teaching (no longer Jesus'!), their gathering for prayer in the kind of community that's a true "common unity" of koinonia, for "breaking of bread," that likely meant regular meals (potlucks, anyone?) as well as the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation of the Lord's Supper.

The Heidelberg Catechism tells us we move from Christmas / Incarnation, "with the mystery of spirit in flesh" to the Ascension, "with the mystery of flesh in Spirit."

We don't often use the words ascension, ascendancy, ascent, but in easy theological terms they simply mean sovereignty, authority, stewardship. Not "lording it over" as people sometimes misinterpret dominion in Genesis 2, but caretaking and responsiveness to the needs of our human, animal, and all our neighbors – all of creation! Land, waterways, sky, etc.

During the upcoming long liturgical season of pentecost, the church really comes into its own. The gift of the indwelling Spirit enables the church to do the "greater works" Jesus promised.

The Heidelberg Catechism asks, "Why is the son of God called Jesus, meaning Savior?" And then, "Why is the son of God called Christ, meaning anointed?" And then: "But why are you called a Christian?" Answer: "Because by faith I share in Christ's anointing, and I am anointed to reign over all creation for all eternity."

In our scripture passage from Acts, Jesus' disciples ask him, "is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" Jesus essentially informs them their question is wrong and replies, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

In the power, discernment, and reach of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, we becomes Jesus' presence on earth and begin restoring God's reign over all creation. The HS empowers us to walk the talk!

Easter 6A

John 14:15-21

¹⁵"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

¹⁸"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."

Backtracking from last week, Easter 5A:

This is very shorthand and somewhat crude, but also broadly accurate.

As I've been saying... John is the Gospel of Abiding Presence. John's gospel almost didn't make the canonical cut! The community the beloved disciple John founded conveys a different worldview from the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

In contrast to John, despite each of them conveying at least some unique content and a particular perspective, you could say the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke all bring us law and gospel – God's holy demands and God's mercy-filled, loving grace. We roughly can place the synoptics in the tradition of the first two parts of the Old Testament, Torah / Pentateuch and Prophets.

The third section of the canon of the Hebrew bible includes Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Job, Ruth, Lamentations, Daniel, Song of Solomon... similar to that Writings tradition of the third part of the Hebrew Bible that we sometimes refer to as wisdom literature, John's community offers ways to live faithfully and fruitfully with speech and action that make a difference in the world—"God's abiding presence" in creation, rather than the articulation of law and gospel we find in the synoptics and in the apostle Paul's undisputed epistles.


Today's RCL text:

Easter is Fifty Days; the sixth Sunday of Easter is day 36 / 50. Last week we discussed some of Jesus' farewell discourse, including his telling the disciples they'd do greater works than he had done. Jesus never stopped talking, though our discussion ended. Today's gospel passage continues in the upper room of Maundy Thursday after Jesus had washed the disciples' feet. After Maundy Thursday, we've experience Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter, We're already more than a calendar month after the day of resurrection; besides, in today's text Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we already read that narrative that happened on the evening of the first Easter Day as we celebrated Easter 2.

John, the gospel of Jesus' abiding presence and of our abiding presence in creation in the power of the Holy Spirit, essentially brings us the commandment to love. But at the start of our reading for today, Jesus tells us, "If you love me, you will keep the commandments." It concludes with, "They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."


Parallel this to:

• the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22 – what must I do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus's keep the commandments response with the demands of the Sinai covenant.

• and Mark 10:17-22 where Jesus tells the rich guy, "You know the commandments" and does a basic short list.

• with the lawyer in Luke 10:25-37 that happens after Jesus sends out the seventies, tells them share the peace; Kingdom has come near you, shake the dust off; after Satan falling from heaven... Jesus asks the expert on the law "What do you read in the law?" After love God, neighbor, and self, Jesus responds to "who is my neighbor" with the parable of Good Sam.

To be saved, made whole, have integrity, be alive as part of the commonwealth, we must obey the commandments because none of us is saved, redeemed, no one has shalom until all creation does. Hebrew bible scholar Walter Brueggemann reminds us Life first must be a gift before life is a task.

Although we already discussed Jesus' sending the HS on the evening of the first Easter, we could call today's reading, "You will get your quilt!" Jesus promises to send the paraclete, that in Greek means called (clesis) beside /alongside (para). But translations can include comforter, advocate, counselor, solicitor, attorney... all wrapped up in the assurance of God's presence in the same way a cozy quilt or comforter wraps us up.

Easter 5A

John 14:1-14

¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. ²In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going." ⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" ⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

⁸Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." ⁹Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, "Show us the Father'? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. ¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

As I've been saying... John is the Gospel of Abiding Presence.

In contrast to John, despite each of them conveying at least some unique content and a particular perspective, you could say the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke all bring us law and gospel. We can consider the three sections of the canon of the Hebrew scriptures: Torah / Pentateuch; Prophets; Writings (that include Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Job, Ruth, Daniel, Song of Solomon...) and roughly place the synoptics within the traditions of Pentateuch and Prophets, the gospel according to John's community alongside the Writings.

The worldview of John's gospel opens with "in the beginning" and tells us about the pre-existent divine logos that's about order, wisdom, prudence, strength, discernment, knowledge, discretion, honor, well-being, shalom... God's essence that fills and permeates all creation. Similar to the Hebrew tradition of wisdom literature, John's community offers ways to live faithfully and fruitfully with speech and action that make a difference in the world—"God's abiding presence" in creation, rather than the articulation of law and gospel we find in the synoptics and in the apostle Paul's undisputed epistles. Although Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, always is enfleshed, incarnate, embodied, John's community especially makes a major point of that reality.

Easter is Fifty Days; the fifth Sunday of Easter is day 29 / 50. To some extent, for the course of the church's year of grace, the people who assembled the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) that we generally use for our texts, follow the trajectory of Jesus's life. However, today is day 29 of Easter, meaning we've already journeyed through Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and the astonishment of Eastered resurrection, but the scene we have today from John's gospel is the Upper Room of Maundy Thursday and Jesus's farewell discourse (speech, counsel, advice, "talk") to his disciples.

Discussion: how reassuring it is that Jesus tells us of his ongoing presence, and that he will prepare places for each of us. Note: He already has done so!

How wild to be revisiting Maundy Thursday, the place and time where Jesus just had washed his disciples' feet?! More than a calendar month after the day of resurrection?! We considered what the greater works Jesus referred to might be. I piggy-backed on the former Linda Vista PCUSA pastor's asking, "Where were you born? St. Mary's Hospital? Presbyterian Central? Lutheran General? Where did you go to school? Whitworth? Notre Dame? Concordia? Holy Rosary Elementary?" Those works of health and education are significant ones. A participant mentioned the mighty work of forgiveness, that permits all parties involved to continue living without getting irrevocably stuck in the past.

For John's community, resurrection isn't quite the end of the story; in a sense, ascension trumps even resurrection. As persons who live "in Christ," we also share in his ascendancy. I briefly described ascendancy as authority, sovereignty, stewardship over creation, over life, but didn't go on to quote the Heidelberg Catechism's response to "But why are you called a Christian?": Because by faith I share in Christ's anointing, and I am anointed to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

As we learn from the gospel according to John, in Christ Jesus and in the power of the HS, we are part of God's abiding presence throughout creation.

For Easter 6 we'll continue Jesus' farewell discourse with John 14:15-21.

Easter 4A

Acts 2:[41], 42-47

⁴¹they gladly received the word Peter preached and three thousand were baptized on that day!

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

So far in the church's year of grace we've experienced Advent, as we wait for God's arrival in our midst as a baby in the Bethlehem manger. Then Christmas, the feast of God's Incarnation on earth arrives and we meet the infant Jesus of Nazareth. The season of Epiphany demonstrates God's revelation to everyone, that God is God of all and not only for particular people. During Lent we revisited Jesus' earthly ministry. During Holy Week we journey to the cross with Jesus; after Lent ends on Wednesday in Holy Week, the Three Days of the Triduum – "tri duum" – starts with Maundy Thursday, on to Good Friday, finally Easter, Jesus' resurrection from death. We celebrate Easter Vigil, Easter Sunrise, Easter Day, or all three. The lectionary also appoints readings for Easter Evening, a wonderful way to close out the day and begin the Great Fifty Days of Easter that finally lead to the Day of Pentecost that's the fiftieth day.

Throughout the easter season, our first reading comes from Luke's Acts of the Apostles. This is especially interesting because the lectionary hasn't yet given us the Day of Pentecost reading from Acts 2 that describes the Holy Spirit coming to earth in wind and fire, but the activities we read about during these fifty days demonstrate how God acted through the nascent church. Officially today's first reading begins with a description of the Christian community, but it follows 2:41 that tells about the baptism of 3,000 people! You can describe what follows as a blueprint for ways to live out our baptism—how, then, shall we live baptized?

You know some of it: worked for justice; defy empire; be God's shalom; practice resurrection. Praise and thank God, because anything we do is the work of the HS and not our own!

When we studied Luke's gospel in depth last year during Luke's lectionary year C, we discovered Luke emphasizes the Holy Spirit, carefully places everything in a historical context, focuses on women and other marginalized populations, loves prayer, makes table fellowship prominent. In his second volume of writing, the Acts of the Apostles, he continue in the same direction. However, God always acts within history; you always can identify longitude and latitude and linear clock time.

I'd planned to have a fairly extensive discussion of this text, but interim pastor kind of derailed where I planned to go by mentioning too soon this apparently was more of an ideal than a real community. I'd read the same thing in several commentaries, but wanted to ask why not aim for it, anyway, just as we always need to keep the commandments, but never will quite achieve keeping any of them.

Easter 3A

Luke 24:13-35

¹³Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" ¹⁹He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." ²⁵Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. ²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" ³³That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

This is another scripture passage the lectionary specifies for several times during the Great Fifty Days of Easter. We hear it on Easter Evening for all 3 lectionary years A B C and on the Third Sunday of easter year A (Matthew's year, this year) and year B (Mark's year).

Backtracking to Holy Week: Jews celebrating the Passover Seder as a feast along the way—out of slavery in Egypt, not yet settled in the Land of Promise. The passover meal includes foods symbolically associated with their history as people of God; sometimes Jews refer to "eating history" as they consume those foods. Matzoh that's unleavened bread baked in haste and eaten in a hurry; lamb shank for the sacrifice offered on the eve of leaving Egypt and to remember God redeeming Israel with an "outstretched arm"; egg for a pre-passover offering; bitter herbs or veggies for the bitterness of bondage; charoset mixed from apples, pears, nuts and wine to recall Egyptian bricks and mortar; salt water for tears of slavery and saltiness of passing through the Red Sea, celebratory wine. Seder participants retell the story of their liberation with tastes, textures, appearances, smells (audible splashes and crunches, too) of these symbolic foods—revisiting and re-experiencing where they've been, "eating history." These also are foods that no longer depend upon empire = are locally sourced. During the seder Israel sings or chants (ideally) or recites the celebratory Hallel Psalms, 113-118.

Hallel Psalms belong to the church's Holy Week observances. Psalm 116 is our responsive psalm for today when the Emmaus Road account recalls Jesus' founding meal of Bread and Cup on Maundy Thursday, when we also sing and hear Psalm 116.

Like passover, Emmaus Road from Luke's gospel is an account "along the way," going from one place to another, A Word on the Street. Word on the street can mean buzztalk, rumors, news bulletins, update from financial markets such as Wall Street, a.k.a. "The Street". In any case, not at your destination but not where you started out.

We had a long discussion of how wonderful that Jesus visits everyone, not only the high and mighty and famous; we talked about our inward-looking and grieving selves that often don't notice or read the signs and clues of God's presence in our midst. I emphasized again that though we refer to Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God, always has flesh and bones, always is enfleshed, embodied, incarnate. In addition, though we think we know the rest of the story because of our prior experiences of rebirth and resurrection and from our acquaintance with the witness of Old and New Testaments, new life always surprises us, because each time is different an we're never ever ready. I mentioned restored riparian habitats and how the forest revives after a wildfire, both very local concerns. Again, how the new creation never is pristine, but always bears evidence and scars of its prior state, frequently of its death.

When we celebrate Holy Communion / Lord's Supper every week, just as in the passover, part of our eucharistic prayer ("Thanksgiving at the Table" in our printed worship folder) includes a remembering or anamnesis that tells the story of salvation, ideally starting with creation and concluding with the eschaton, the future ultimate time of the reconciliation of all creation. This remembering place us vertically and horizontally within the history of God's people in every place and every time. As in the passover, we participate in "eating history" when we replicate Jesus' taking, blessing, breaking, and giving bread and fruit of the vine. Note: anamnesis for Easter 3 was four short lines! As Paul/ Saul of Tarsus tells us in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, when we celebrate eucharist we proclaim, we announce, Jesus' death and resurrection. We eat history and we also anticipate the eschaton, the full realization of Jesus' reign.

Just as every year on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, next week we'll enjoy Good Shepherd Sunday; stay tuned!

Easter 2A

Easter is 50 days

Easter is 50 days, 7x7, a weeks of weeks; "7" is the number of perfection in Hebrew numerology. The day of Pentecost is the 50th day of Easter. The prefix "pent" means 50: pentagram, pentagon, etc.

Day of Resurrection is:

• 1st day of the week, day after the Sabbath, therefore, the 1st day of creation.

• 8th day of the week = 1st day of a new week; therefore, the day of a new creation

Bright Week, the week after Easter Sunday just ended. The church celebrates Bright Week as the 8th day of creation.

Many baptismal fonts have 8 sides (octagon) and demonstrate our baptism into the new creation, our baptism as a new creation In Jesus' death and resurrection.

Revised Common Lectionary – RCL

A couple of people have asked about the lectionary, so here's a very short rundown. We get our scripture readings from the revised common lectionary, "common" because most denominations use it—in common. That includes protestant mainline churches like the ELCA, UMC, PCUSA, Roman Catholic, some eastern and other Orthodox, some free churches such as baptists. Because the scripture selections are readings, hopefully they also are hearings.

The three-year cycle brings us a year that features each of the synoptic gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke. "Synoptic" means seen with a single eye, since their perspective is somewhat similar. The fourth gospel from John's community brings us a very different worldview. Each week the lectionary suggests four scripture passages:

1. usually from the Hebrew Bible, but during the fifty day season of Easter we hear from the Acts of the Apostles.

2. the psalm technically is not a reading, but our response to God's grace and good news. Sometimes referred to as "responsive psalm." Maybe you notice the choir and a cantor lead the psalm, and we always participate by singing the refrain?

3. from one of the epistles in the new testament

4. always from one of the four gospels.

John 20:19-31

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe." ²⁸Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

²⁹Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe." ³⁰ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Every year on the second Sunday of Easter we hear John 20:19-31! These are accounts of two separate events. The first story happens on the evening of the day of Jesus' resurrection; the second a week later. Thomas sometimes gets called "doubting," but unbelieving or not-believing is closer to the perspective of John's community that recorded the gospel.

John is the gospel of abiding love! It starts with "in the beginning…" and tells us God "dwelt among us," pitched a tent, a tabernacle, a portable dwelling so God could travel around and be with us wherever we went. Jesus' high priestly prayer in John 17 describes Jesus' relationship with the Father, Jesus' desire to remain with us.

In John's gospel, sin is not so much transgression of or lack of conformity to the law of God as the Westminster Catechism describes sin, but a lack of abiding, a lack of trusting relationship with Jesus. And it's not only relationship and abiding with Jesus, but also with one another. The undisputed epistles of Paul have a similar sense of our being "in Christ," as he expresses it. For John's community and for Paul we move from being solitary isolated individuals to belonging within the body of Christ, not in an undifferentiated blob, but each of us bring unique gifts, make unique contributions.

Closed door, locked doors: Greek word is the same and basically means it's hard to get in. Fear again! "Fear of the Jews?" Those who killed Jesus, because after all, Jesus' disciples were Jewish. We find fear and related words hundreds of times in both testaments! Pastor Peg guessed maybe about 600 times! Just as Jesus went to find the apostles, Jesus seeks us out and finds us where we are.

Jesus bestows peace on his followers; this peace is not simply absence of conflict, but shalom, well-being, connectedness, integrity, etc.. We enjoyed a long discussion of passing of the peace during the liturgy, before we approach the Lord's table. Also how we need to extend that peace to stranger, newcomers, to everyone! "Neighborology" as we discussed last fall with Luke, Jeremiah, et al.

Transfiguration 2017 year A

Matthew 17:1-9

¹Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid."⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

Protestant Western Churches celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration on the last Sunday of the Epiphany season; most Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and some Anglican churches celebrate Transfiguration on August 06. Some celebrate it twice! This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday; next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent. Transfiguration concludes what we can consider the first major portion of the church's year of grace that begins on Advent 1, continues with Christmas/Nativity, then to Name/Circumcision of Jesus; the Feast of the Epiphany; Baptism of Jesus… all these days concentrate on light, revelation, and on God as God of everyone, God for everyone.

For T-Fig we experience another Trinitarian theophany! Remember Baptism of Jesus? Remember words that include "phan"? Epiphany, Tiffany, Fantasy. Last week we talked about the many many "Holy Ordinary" events, places, and circumstances in scripture and in our own lives. With its location and the unusual happenings that swirl around it, this mountaintop Transfiguration is what we'd think of as a more typical, characteristic, not surprising (almost expected) manifestation of the divine. A class regular mentioned she didn't see HS/HG in the Matthew reading; I explained the cloud of the shekinah (a feminine noun in Hebrew) is a common OT sign of God's Spirit.

We did the classic explanation of mountains as places of revelation: Moses represents the Sinai Covenant / Law he received on Mount Sinai [Exodus 20:1-17]; Elijah received divine revelation on Mount Carmel [1 Kings 19:12] and represents the Prophets. We receive God's fullest, most overwhelming self-revelation at Jesus' crucifixion on Mount Calvary. In his Great Commission from a mountain at the end of Matthew's gospel, Jesus promises to be with us forever and charges us to teach and baptize all nations.

Six days later may reference the Exodus 24:16 from today's first reading/hearing; Luke 9:28 tells us "now about eight days after these sayings…" that can be approximately one week, or the 8^th day / 1^st day of the New Creation.

Transfiguration leans strongly into Lent. Interesting that Jesus tells his disciples to tell no one until after the resurrection [17:9]—that's a feature of Mark's gospel we call the "messianic secret." In his Transfiguration account, in Luke, Jesus – Moses and Elijah! – discuss Jesus' exodus or departure that he would accomplish in Jerusalem [19:31].

Epiphany 7A

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

⁹When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God. ¹¹You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. ¹²And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord. ¹³You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. ¹⁴You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord. ¹⁵You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. ¹⁶You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord. ¹⁷You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. ¹⁸You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Last week's first reading came from the Pentateuch book of Deuteronomy; again this week God speaks through Moses, this time with words recorded in the book of Leviticus that's also in the Pentateuch – or Torah – the first five books of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible. These texts were part of the oral tradition before they got written down; the written words were a long time coming and happened probably during the Babylonian exile, or possibly while resettling Jerusalem after the exile. We need to remember the oral tradition is not the same as written-down words spoken aloud, but has a dynamic life of its own. This is the only reading from Leviticus in all three lectionary year! Probably no surprise, since most of the book rings true to its stereotype of mostly containing instructions for the sacrificial system and purity codes. Levites were the priests of the Jerusalem Temple.

This passage opens with God's command and God's promise: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." God gave these instructions for covenantal life together to Israel while they still were transversing the desert wilderness, before they crossed the River Jordan into the Promised Land.

Discussion: What does "holy" mean to you?

Over the past few weeks in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's gospel we've heard Jesus' telling his followers they are blessed, how to be blessed. Jesus has been saying, and now these words from Leviticus back up Jesus as they describe how to be holy in the same way God is holy. Instructions in the passage are clear and self-evident, but almost everyone mentioned that many grocery stores and other retailers are leaving "gleanings" of food for food pantries and other distribution centers so food doesn't go to waste and more people have enough to eat. This pericope is about our behaviors and actions in covenantal community, in our lives together.

I mentioned perfect in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect," is from telos the same Greek word that gives us teleological, goal-oriented, be the whole, integral, complete person God created you to be, and is far from post-enlightenment Western ideas of perfection.