The ACE of Hearts

2007-03-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

ACE Quiz

Many ancient cultures worshipped their deities on high places and the Israelites, too, worshiped the Lord on mountains.

Which of the following were high places of spiritual significance in the Bible? Do you know what occurred on each of them?

A) Mt. Horeb / Mt. Sinai
B) Mt. Ebal
C) Mt. Gerazim
D) Mt. Nebo
E) Mt. Carmel

2007-02-27T15:35:00.000-08:00

The history of the chosen people in the Old Testament recounted in the books of law and prophets moves from the universal man and woman Adam and Eve to their progeny Cain, Abel and Seth and then on eventually to Noah and his sons and through a long series of “begets’ through the patriarchs and matriarchs and a cast of rogues, heroes, proper matrons and prostitutes, masters and slaves, kings and refugees. The chosen people have an honored lineage that has many branches represented by favorite sons Isaac and Jacob as well as black sheep Ishmael and Esau with branches veering off and then bending back to merge with the main trunk. If that family tree – our family tree – were pictured it would resemble a contorted, gnarled oak much more than a soaring linear palm or cypress.

That history is full of movement, too. This week’s Old Testament lesson calls the patriarch Abraham a Chaldean and last week’s lesson reminds us that “our ancestor was a wandering Aramean (Syrian) who went down to Egypt. The sacred story encompasses all of the ancient known world on three continents: Asia, Africa and Europe. The continuing sacred story of God and his people encompasses every race and language and we are but a part of the Catholic church that encompasses every land. The faces we see every day here in Los Angeles and the languages we hear at work, school and in the market remind us that we are many, but let Holy Scripture remind us that we share one Creator, one long marvelous family tree, one Savior and we are ultimately one Body of Christ.

ACE Quiz

Our sacred story in the last two Sunday’s lessons refer to which of the following countries?

A) Syria (Aram)
B) Iraq (Chaldea)
C) England
D) Egypt
E) Israel

2007-02-21T23:03:00.000-08:00

ACE

The Big FOUR-O used to be something I dreaded as the outer limits of youth after I got past the big THREE-O. Then, I didn’t know that the number forty has a very positive meaning in the Bible where, along with the number four, it represents completeness. We read of forty days and forty nights of rain in the great flood and Moses spending forty days on Mt. Sinai. The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness eating manna before reaching the promised land. In the New Testament Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness and was with the disciples for forty days between his resurrection and ascension.

Now that I am the other side of forty and regard it with some affection and nostalgia I only wish there was a positive reference to FIVE-O, but I’m afraid I have to wait for SEVEN-O.

ACE Quiz
Which of the following are correct?

A. Jonah gave Ninevah forty days to repent.
B. NBA is scheduled to go to a forty week season including playoffs.
C. Lent is forty days long.
D. Jesus was in the tomb forty hours.

2007-02-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

Adult Christian Education

The Beatitudes, or blessings, are found in two places in the New Testament: the Sermon on the Plain in the Gospel of Luke and the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew. This Sunday we hear the Beatitudes from Luke, which come with a set of corollary woes, or curses. Read the following blessings:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.

"Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.

"Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.

"Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.

"Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Jesus addressed these words to the disciples, but they are not for the disciples alone. How can we read these two thousand year-old words today and apply them in our lives?
Me? I am often tempted, and give in to the temptation, of thinking myself a reasonably intelligent, reasonably fit, reasonably skilled guy who is doing quite well – thank you very much. I recognize myself in the second half of the passage, in the woes. In fact, I am doing so well that I have no need of help or input and can do just fine if I am left alone: I have what I need, I have a full stomach, I get my share of laughs, people like me and even occasionally applaud my sermons! I am one self-sufficient dude.
Unfortunately, my self-sufficiency contains seeds of destruction; it is like looking at the ATM receipt on the first of the month and thinking I’m rich and can go out on a shopping spree and take time off to do it. I get like a drunken sailor (been there, ain’t pretty) spending wildly with no thought of where the riches come from or how to get more. Prayer, scripture reading, works of mercy, sacraments give way to taking care of my wants and my appetites. Before I know it my account is empty, my card declined.

Christ is calling us to a sober, clear-headed humility, to self-emptying in order that we might be filled with good things from God. I have a garage (still) filled with so much stuff that I cannot sort out what’s in there, move around, or even put my new bike in to keep it out of the rain. I am so full that if I don’t take care of the mess I will live out the rest of my life with a garage full of slowly rusting, mildewing junk. No room for trikes, children’s bikes or toys or other things that represent joy and hope; just rusty, mildewed laid up treasures to the rafters.

It takes honesty to see ourselves in the “woes” and it takes courage to claim the blessings. We have to give up our trust in our riches and make room in our hearts and metaphorical garages for the kingdom of God. We have to put away our junk food addiction and feast at Christ’s table. We must give up that scorn we have for others so we can rejoice with God. And we must be willing to give up often hard-earned respectability and security to stand with and follow Jesus wherever he goes.

God grand us honesty to acknowledge our stored up riches, our gluttony for food that fills yet does not nourish, our laughter and scorn for others, and our chasing after the approval of this world. Make us beggars for your love; hungry for your righteousness; inconsolable, but for your mercy; and ever ready to speak your praise and follow in your way. Through your son, our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

ACE Quiz

“One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong.”

1) Which does not belong with the woes?
A. Woe to you who are rich.
B. Woe to you who are full.
C. Woe to you who are good-looking.
D. Woe to you who are laughing.
E. Woe to you who are spoken well of.

2) Which does not belong with the blessings?
A. Blessed are you who are poor.
B. Blessed are you who are sick.
C. Blessed are you who are hungry.
D. Blessed are you who weep.
E. Blessed are you who are hated for Jesus’ sake

2007-01-31T21:26:00.000-08:00

ACE Quiz

The passage from Isaiah speaks of six-winged angels. What are the various types or orders of angels spoken of in scripture?

A) Cherubim
B) Archangels
C) Putti
D) Seraphim
E) Angels (regular grade)

The passage from Isaiah to be read this Sunday refers to angels in the court of heaven, specifically to seraphim (plural of seraph), the six-winged beings who also appear in the Revelation of St. John. The angels continually sing the Trisagion which we sing with them in the eucharistic prayer: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.”

In Isaiah chapter 6 one of the angels removes a coal from the altar and presses it to the lips of the prophet to purify him so that he might speak the word of God. This is one of the biblical sources for the Catholic doctrine of purgatory and for the general doctrine of an act or process of purification before a soul is brought into the presence of God in heaven.

In Anglicanism the doctrine of purgatory as a place where souls are gathered for terms of painful purification that may be shortened by allotment of the Church’s accumulation of merit is nearly universally rejected. However, the idea of a continued spiritual progress and purification of the soul is accepted by many Anglicans as it is among the Orthodox. Perhaps the best known and loved Anglican expounder of purgatory in this sense is C.S. Lewis in his book The Great Divorce. In that short book the purification process is presented as a response to grace, rather than punishment.

As an Episcopalian, both Evangelical and Catholic, I find a lot of hope in the wisdom of the Church that God will straighten me out in the end. Whether by fire as in Isaiah or by a long bus ride as imagined by C.S. Lewis I do not know. As St. Paul tells us, now we see as in a mirror dimly, but then we shall see clearly. God grant me – and all of us -- in this life and in the life to come the grace to accept the firewhich burns away our chaff and melts away our sin so our thoughts, words and deeds may be God’s own.

Answer to the quiz: All except putti. Actually, these chubby babies of Raphael paintings, tire and toilet paper commercials, are what we are most used to seeing in popular culture, but the cherubim of scripture bear them little resemblance. Fat baby angels are definitely cuter.

2007-01-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

ACE Quiz

In I Corinthians chapter 13 we read:
“If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have agape, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal . . . “

St. Paul goes on to describe agape in some of the most beautiful words ever written. Of course, St. Paul wrote in Greek, not English, and his agape has been translated using a number or English words.

Which of the following words have been used in English Bibles to translate agape in this passage?

A) Charity
B) Infatuation
C) Love
D) Sugar

The answers are charity in the Geneva, King James and Douay Bibles and love in most modern translations.

2007-01-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

ACE Quiz
1) Which of the following is not a part of the Body of Christ as described by Paul
in I Corinthians?
A) Head
B) Foot
C) Parish
D) Eye

This Sunday’s lesson from I Corinthians includes Paul’s image of the Church as the Body of Christ. He draws a picture of the body as a harmonious organism, but also as one that is at times at war among its members. As it once was is now and shall seemingly be forever.

We all know of the fighting that goes on within the Church between East and West, Catholic and Protestant, Protestant and Protestant, liberal and conservative, charismatic and non-charismatic, right down to those who favor cassocks over albs and frankincense over desert sage incense. Today the news is that another parish in our diocese – Blessed Sacrament -- is starting a “discernment process” that seems to aim at leaving the Episcopal Church. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be world without end.

Wait a minute . . . Nothing is eternal but God and what God makes to be eternal: Christ’s Church. Strife is not eternal, war is not eternal, our bodies are not eternal and our buildings and our General Convention are not eternal. Neither, the animosities that members of a family build up over months and years and later recognize to be of small import compared to the love and affection we feel for each other. My grandmother Alice of blessed memory had a saying –not original to her, I’m sure – “only one life, will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” I pray that all of us in this family, this body, will recognize that our lives are short and too precious to be spent on fighting among ourselves, no matter the righteous anger we feel against the offending eye or ear or brother or sister in Christ.

On the other hand, the work we do to build up the Body of Christ, to bring the Gospel and its salvation to the world will be eternal. I pray -- and I ask your prayers as well – for Blessed Sacrament and its pastor Fr. David Bauman. Pray that these members of the Body of Christ recognize their value to the other members of that same body. Pray, too, that we will recognize the ministry of all the parts of Christ’s Body and give up our own tendencies to claim higher value or even the ability to do without another member. Pray, too, that we may all set our hearts, minds, eyes, ears, hands and all ourselves to his service.

Father in Heaven,
Look down in love this day on your sons and daughters. Bless, especially, our brother David and his flock, Blessed Sacrament, as they enter this time of discernment. Grant them ears to truly hear the Word once Spoken, Jesus Christ. Open the doors and windows of their hearts that your Wind, the Holy Spirit, will rush through and fan faith and love among them.

Bless our bishop and pastor Jon as he leads our part of your church in these troubled times. Grant him strength, wisdom and the assurance of your love as he leads us, your sheep.

Grant us, too, the faith and strength to love you and to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Grant us such kindness, gentleness and patience in our treatment of each other that we may show forth your love to those who have not yet found faith in you. Guide us by your Holy Spirit in all that we think, wish, say and do this day and always.

All this we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Answer to the quiz: C

2007-01-11T10:14:00.000-08:00

ACE Quiz

1. Which of the following is not a Gift of the Holy Spirit?
A) Wisdom
B) Understanding
C) Frankincense
D) Fear of the Lord

2. Which of the following is not a Fruit of the Holy Spirit?
A) Charity
B) Generosity
C) Kindness
D) Cynicism

This Sunday’s lectionary readings include the miracle at Cana in the Gospel of John and also the enumeration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in I Corinthians. While the changing of water into wine at Cana is familiar to us, the listing of the Gifts of the Spirit are less known. What are the gifts of the Spirit, how many of them are there, and how do they relate to the Fruits of the Spirit?

There are four places in the epistles where Gifts of the Spirit are mentioned or listed and there are up to twenty-three separate gifts among the four lists. These gifts are always mentioned in the context of service to the whole church and not for one’s personal use or gain. At the time of the Pentecostal Revival in the Church they were much discussed and a matter of dispute whether the gifts were given for all time or only for the time of the early Church. Speaking in tongues is the most obvious of these charisms, or gifts, in dispute among modern Christians.

In contrast, the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Catholic and Anglican tradition refer to the list of spiritual gifts enumerated in Isaiah 11:2-3. These gifts are Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. These are gifts that all Christians are to pray for that their lives might be more holy or sanctified.

The Fruits of the Spirit: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness,
Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-Control,
and Chastity are the obvious signs of the Gifts at work in our lives. These fruits are the virtues we all wish for in our lives, or do we? They are not the traits we are educated to value. Drive, Ambition, Self-Sufficiency, Endurance, Leadership, Competitiveness, Excellence, Self-Confidence and even Self-Promotion are the traits and slogans of professional school in business and other fields including education and --to a degree – ministry. The latter are the traits needed in the arena or the jungle, on the playing field or job market or any place where there is scarcity and a limited number of winners and a necessity for losers.

The Kingdom of God, the world of the Gospel, is a place where there need not be victors and vanquished, losers for there to be winners, prey and predator, or Ins and Outs. The Kingdom of God within us and among us is a place where we in live in love not strife, Agape not Polemos. The Gifts or the Spirit are our stepping stones on the Way and the Fruits of the Spirit are the blocks of which we build a temple for our Lord to dwell. Are you ready to pray for them to be ever more a part of your life?

As a new priest, as your new priest, I pledge to pray for them everyday for the next week. Heck, I’ll pray for them for the next month! I will also be praying for them as a dad, a husband, a neighbor, a coworker, a brother, a son-in-law and as a regular guy living in LA. Maybe in a week I’ll notice a difference, maybe it will take longer for anybody to see any results. But, I will keep praying for these gifts and their fruits in my life, in yours, and in our church. Pray for me and for all of us Christians in Christ Church, laity and clergy, that our lives will bear much fruit.

God Bless You

Bill+

Answers C & D

2007-01-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

ACE Quiz

1) Who are the ministers in the Church?

A) Lay people, deacons and priests
B) Deacons, priests and bishops
C) Acolytes, deacons and priests
D) Lay people, bishops, priests and deacons

2) How are priests ordained?

A) Vote of the Diocesan Standing Committee
B) Vote of the Vestry
C) Letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury
D) Laying on of hands by the Bishop

This week I prepare to be ordained a priest or presbyter in the Episcopal Church. This is what I have prepared for for fifteen years and I approach the day with both exhilaration and trepidation. I will now serve Christ Church and the whole of Christ’s Church in some ways very familiar to me as a lay chaplain and deacon: counseling, teaching, preaching and officiating at services. In other ways my ministry will be completely new: according to the ordination rite I will join in the councils of the Church, declare God’s forgiveness to penitent sinners, pronounce God’s blessing, share in the administration of Baptism and in the celebration of the Eucharist.

I feel ready to take on these new roles and duties in some ways like I felt ready to take on a promotion from seaman to petty officer in the Navy. But that view on my new role is to miss the point like if to be a parent meant only to take on the tasks of feeding, diapering and chauffeuring. To be a parent is that and much, much more. It is to care for and participate in new life, which transforms the parent just as the child is formed in body, mind and soul.

Father Bob has been in these last six months a friend and mentor in my new life of ordained ministry. Now, he is also something of a midwife in my new birth as a priest and as I pass into this new life he has given me new way of seeing what is happening this Saturday and in the coming years: as a priest I will be singing a new song and the singing will transform me. I will sing at the altar the new song brought into the world by Jesus Christ: that song of a love so great that it turns the world upside down, that turns enemies into brothers, strangers into neighbors and sinners into children of God.

As a priest in God’s Church I will share in the job of leading the divine song. Thank God that he doesn’t only recruit divas or American idols to sing his song – tone deaf voices better suited to chant are welcome, too. As I prepare to sing, I am grateful to join a great chorus of angels and saints in heaven and the great chorus of Christ Church from the back pew to the acolytes and clergy around the altar. Thank you all and bless me as I serve God and you as a new priest.

Answers: D & D

All members of the Church are ministers in proclaiming the Good News in word and deed.

While the vestry and the standing committee must approve an ordinand, the bishop ordains the priest by laying on of hands.

2006-12-27T14:56:00.000-08:00

If you are here at the ACE blog you must have been through the Christ Church site and have seen this weeks quiz. The answers are E and A.

This week’s Gospel reading is John 1:1-18, which is commonly known as the prologue of John. This brief passage reveals the divine nature of Jesus and shows him to be as God incarnate in a term – logos -- which resonated both with the philosophy of the Greeks and the revealed Scripture of the Hebrews. That God revealed in Jesus is the reason, framework, meaning, aim and purpose of the Cosmos was a mystery deep in meaning for the early Christians and is for us today as well.

Christianity is a religion of reason and mystery. One implication of this passage is that reason is no enemy of faith. Rather, reason is a gateway to understanding God and reason properly used is a way of honoring God and of God working in our own lives.

That the life of Jesus reveals the underlying principle of Creation is truly a mystery, an inexhaustible mystery. That love is the inception, plan, purpose, and ordering principle and vehicle of all that was, is and will become is beauty: the beauty I pray my eyes, ears and heart will ever be open to and I pray for the grace for this joyful mystery to ever be on my lips.

1) The Greek root word logos ─ as in biology, geology, psychology, etc.─ means :

A) Reason
B) Logic
C) Underlying Principle
D) Word
E) All of the above

2) The Prologue of John’s Gospel closely mirrors the beginning of which book of the Bible?

A) Genesis
B) Matthew
C) Mark
D) Revelation

2006-12-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, the fourth of Advent, we will process with the final of our Advent icons. This icon depicts the meeting of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her cousin Elizabeth.

1) What is this meeting traditionally called? (hint: if you live north of here in Westchester you may know of a Catholic parish
and school by this name.)

A) The Meeting
B) The Family Reunion
C) The Visitation
D) The View

2) This Sunday's Gospel contains a canticle and part of a beloved Christian prayer. What are they called?
A) Venite and Our Father
B) Magnificat and Hail Mary
C) Agnus Dei and Come Holy Spirit Come
D) Jubilate and Glory Be

The answer to the first is the visitation and the second is the magnificat and hail mary (. . .full of grace. The Lord is with Thee. Blessed Art Thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.)

2006-12-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

This week's gospel reading is on John the Baptist at the River Jordan.

Quiz

John's greeting to the congregation is

A) Hail Judeans
B) Dearly Beloved
C) Brood of Vipers
D) Herd of Swine

John's admonition to the tax collectors is

A) Give tax credits to widows and orphans
B) Collect only what's allowed on the tax schedule
C) Increase the rates on liquor and gambling
D) Quit working for the Romans

Answers: C and B

2006-12-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

This Sunday, we will see an icon with the image of Zechariah (John the Baptist's father) on it. Who is he?

A. A Roman Centurian
B. A Sadduccee
C. A priest in the Jerusalem Temple
D. A prophet who in the 2nd Century AD, predicted World War II.

When he expressed his disbelief that he would have a son, he was struck:

A. Blind
B. Deaf
C. Speechless
D. Bald

Want to know the answers? Here they are: C and C

2006-11-17T14:40:00.000-08:00

Eucharist and Grace

This week Christ Church joins with our nation in celebrating Thanksgiving. As much as it is a civic holiday and a paid day off for most Americans and a commercial holiday which kicks off in earnest the shopping season, it is in origin a religious observance for giving thanks to God for his providence.

We all know by heart the story of the Pilgrims and the Indians sharing a feast at Plymouth in the 1600s in thanksgiving to God for survival of that first harsh winter. That story is deeply ingrained in Americans from preschool on: think back to construction paper bonnets and feather headdresses and turkeys made from cut outs of little hanks. (Texans claim an alternate first Thanksgiving in El Paso, but let's not mess with Texas.)

This Thursday, nearly all of us (Americans) will play out that story on the table with a centerpiece turkey and local additions to the feast which are nearly as sacrosanct: greenbean casserole containing cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions back in Kansas, hushweh a Lebanese dish of rice and ground lamb at the Ledbetter-Jacobs celebration and kimchi and bulghooghi at my old parish dinner. I bet that each of us has our own family tradition of the feast.

While Thanksgiving is a family-centered holiday in America, it is also a feast which is ideally open to outsiders. Wherever I have lived around the country and around the world we Americans tend to invite others to join us in Thanksgiving. As a sailor stationed in Italy for years I invited other servicemen and women to join me and my roommates for dinner and we instinctively invited locals to join us as well. You know, that old Pilgrim and Indian thing of sharing with others. San Pelligrino - coincidentally meaning holy pilgrim - joined Coca Cola on the table and panetone joined pumpkin pie for dessert.

Other times, I have been alone in a new place and was invited in to share the day and meal with a family or group of friends. Are you gathering this week with others to share a meal and give thanks?

At the heart of our faith is thanksgiving to God for his grace shared so abundantly with us. Each week we join together around a table to tell the story that unites us and share in a meal of bread and wine. That celebration is the Eucharist which means thanksgiving. Like at our family gatherings this Thursday this is a gathering where there is hopefully always someone new who is joining the tribe and who is welcome just because they are loved.

In my family many things are predictable. During the year there will have been spats between siblings and there are spats dating from years ago which no one can quite remember how or when they got started: they just are. Yet at Thanksgiving there is a sense of calm that descends over the gathering, a sense that this is the time for forgiveness and the time to reach out and be generous and loving. Thanksgiving is a time of grace in my family when there is a chance to put old things away and start anew.

On Sundays at the Eucharist we receive communion, that is we receive the body and blood of Christ and we receive the grace of knowing that God is Father of us all and that all of us gathered together are truly brothers and sisters. It is a wonderful blessing to know that we are not alone and that we are part of something much greater than ourselves. We are each and everyone part of the body of Christ.

As a student of Romance languages, I remember making the connection that to express thanks one says gracias or grazie: Grace. Grace, the unearned favor and love of God, is what we receive in our Eucharist/thanksgiving and grace is what we can take away from the table and pass on to the world. Let this Thursday and this Sunday, too, be a time of thanksgiving, fellowship, grace received and grace shared. Enjoy your turkey with green bean casserole and hushweh and kim chi and greens and Pelligrino - and tamales if you are truly blessed. Remember, too, to say grace, to receive grace, say Hallelujah and pass the mashed potatoes - and the grace - along.

ACE Quiz

Thanksgiving is a translation of

A) Baptism
B) Confirmation
C) Eucharist
D) Extreme Unction

Grace is

A) an Extension of a Deadline
B) Forgiveness of a Debt
C) Unmerited Favor
D) a Tax Credit

The answers are the initials of Christ Church

2006-11-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

This week's gospel reading from Mark contains the following passage: "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs." This passage refers to:

A) The destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
B) The burning of Nero's Rome
C) Mutually assured destruction
D) The Second Coming of Christ

I think that this bit of the story and others refer directly to the coming fall of Jerusalem and the final destruction of the Temple by the Romans. The levelling of the Temple to the point of only a retaining wall left standing, the mass starvation of the besieged and the crucifixion of thousands of survivors were horrors the people of Judea would suffer in the lifetime of those listening. Too, the burning of Rome and the resultant scapegoat killing of Christians.

As the first generations of Christians died before the return of Christ to establish God's kingdom of love instead of the Roman rule of oppression, they came to understand that suffering would always be with them until Christ returned and one could not predict when that time would be. Millenialist movements have arisen regularly through the ages as Christians have sought to see in the travails and anxiety of their times signs of Christ's return. In our own lifetimes we have seen much made of the signs of war and earthquake and famine. Fortunes have been made on books, magazines and movies that proclaim specific signs of Christ's immanent return ranging from the establishment of the common market/European Community/European Union to comets to Saddam Hussein.

So, before the parousia (arrival) or Christ's coming in glory we will always be in the midst of turmoil. Christ doesn't ask us to predict his return, but simply asks us to be faithful doing his work until that day. Like a bumper sticker proclaims: Jesus is Coming, Look Busy.

The answer? A - definitely, B - fits the description,
C - seems like rumour of war, no? D - will come when A,B, and C and E,F through Z have run their course. Be ready, it's any day now.

2006-11-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Most Catholic and Episcopal churches have a patronal feast day and Christ Church is no exception. Our feast day is relatively new to the liturgical calendar: it was only added in 1926 and the present date was determined in 1969. This year ours falls on November 26, the last Sunday before Advent.

Two questions:

What is the name of our feast day?

A) Christ the Savior
B) Christ the Incarnation
C) Christ the Lord
D) Christ the King

The date was chosen by:

A) General Convention
B) Lambeth Conference
C) Vatican II
D) The Vestry

The answers are D and C (sort of).

Christ the King as a solemnity or holy day was instituted by Pius XI on December 11,1925 in the encyclical Quas primas in celebration of the all-embracing authority of Christ which shall lead mankind to seek the 'peace of Christ'. In the reform of the liturgical calendar following the Second Vatican Council the observance was moved to the last Sunday before Advent.

So, how did it come to be celebrated (unofficially) in the Protestant Episcopal Church? Despite some hours of internet research and digging through books in my own library, I honestly can't tell you. Christ is called king in the collect for that day, but there is no mention in either the prayer book calendar or the Lesser Feasts and Fasts our church's official recorders of holy days and observances.

I suspect that it is one more example of the Anglican reappropriation of its Catholic heritage. This reappropriation could be said to have begun with the Tractarians who reintroduced much ceremony and practice from contemporary Roman Catholicism into their 19th century church while obstensibly aiming to recover pre-Reformation elements of the English Church. In our lifetimes we have borrowed and adapted much more from post-Vatican II Catholicism, including much of the form and language of our worship and many of the more contemporary hymns.

It is nothing to be ashamed of to borrow and adapt the best of what other churches have to offer. Indeed, one is just as likely to hear a Lutheran hymn (even a Martin Luther hymn!) a Methodist hymn or Anglican hymn in a Catholic church as one is to observe a Roman Catholic practice in our own church. The similiarities among our worship services are now so great that maybe there is greater diversity within a church or denomination than there is between them.

So, let us rejoice that we are different parts of one body with one Lord and one King. And to borrow an old slogan from the Puritans: No King but Jesus!

2006-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. –Hebrews 12:1

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God . . “ Ephesians 2:19

“ . . equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ . .”
Ephesians 4:12

Another All Saints Day is upon us, one of the major feasts of the Christian year. Yet, one can be easily excused in this Christian nation of ours for not knowing the significance of the day or even that November 1 has any significance at all beyond the chore of taking down decorations and the chance to get half price off candy corn and miniature Hershey bars. Halloween is of course the eve that ate the holy day and this time of year we are much more prone to think of skeletons, witches and children dressed as movie mass murderers than saints.

Perhaps Halloween is right to get precedence since All Saints is one of the feast days which was deliberately placed on the calendar to supplant a pre-Christian pagan festival. It is a time of year when the early Celts believed the spirits of the dead revisited the earth and bonfires were lit to ward them off. In contrast, the Christian observance of All Saints was a day when the departed saints were commemorated and the communion of living and dead in Christ was welcomed and celebrated.

So, who are the saints? In the Old Testament hesed refers to faithfulness to the covenant with God and those who are faithful are refered to in our English Bibles as “saints.” In the New Testament hagios signifies “dedicated to God” and from this develops the sense “holy” and “saint.” The saints are those living members of the body of Christ in Ephesians and also those in the presence of God - or in heaven – in Hebrews and Revelation.

All of these saints: the Old Testament prophets, the apostles, evangelists and martyrs of scripture and the martyrs and confessors of the early church were seen to be both godly examples of Christian living and intercessors for us before God. Their tombs became sites for worship and pilgrimage and the famous catacombs of Rome were centers of the church not so much for safety from persecution, but for proximity to the relics of the Christian saints buried there. The remains of the saints were venerated for having been instruments of the Holy Spirit during their lives and as reminders of the dedication of the saints’ lives to Christ.

Who are the saints among us today? In one of my favorite devotional books, All Saints, the author Robert Ellsberg says that they are the men and women whose lives and message speak to the spiritual needs of our day. They exhibit heroic sanctity or godliness in their lives that is a light for our own pilgrimage through life. These saints include the ones we read about in scripture and see in the stained glass in church, but they are also those who we read about in the paper or see in the news who preach the gospel by their words and deeds.

Saints were not originally canonized centrally in Rome, but were acclaimed saints by their communities when the people recognized heroic faith. In our lives it is best that we, too, seek to recognize saintliness around us and let those whose lives are closer to us in time and space find a place in the cloud of witnesses who build us up as part of the body of Christ. Is there a teacher, a pastor or friend who has guided you on the Way? She, too, is a saint of God who you can ask for prayers before our Father. Is there a hero or prophet of our day who has inspired you to holiness? Let his life be for you an icon, a window into the Kingdom of God.

Think, too, how you are called to be a holy companion on the way for others. As the hymn I Sing a Song of the Saints of God goes in its own saccharine way, anyone can be a saint (even a priest!). May we all aim to be one, too.

ACE Quiz
Name the author of the following quotes or fragments.

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God .”

A) St. John
B) St. Paul
C) St. Francis
D) Bob Cornner

“ .. simultaneously saint and sinner”

A) The Rev. Al Green
B) St. Paul
C) Martin Luther
D) St. Augustine of Hippo

“Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed that easily.”

A) Martin Luther King, Jr., Baptist minister and Civil Rights leader
B) Jon Bruno, Bishop of Los Angeles
C) Mahatma Gandhi, Indian teacher of non-violence activism
D) Dorothy Day, Catholic Worker founder

Answers: b,c,d

2006-10-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

This week's Gospel lesson is the story of the restoration of sight to the blind beggar Bartimaeus. In scripture there are many stories of blindness. Sometimes the blindness is punishment by God for sin; other times the blindness is congenital and still other times it is the result of old age. In John's gospel the disciples ask Jesus if a man is blind because of his own or his parents' sin. Jesus replies that he is blind so that God's work might be revealed in his healing.

All healings in the Bible are attributed to the power of God, but a variety of means are used. Test your Bible knowledge by picking the means of curing blindness from the following choices:

A) Touch
B) Spit
C) Spit and Dirt
D) Fish guts
E) Laser surgery
F) Faith

for hints check out biblegateway.com and one of my favorite children's books: The Tale of Tobias

2006-10-19T08:17:00.000-07:00

The Bible has many stories including pairs of brothers, starting with Cain and Abel. Many of these pairs, like the first, were contentious and were involved in fights over who was most loved. Think of Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau. Another pair, Moab and Benammi were born in shame and their descendants were perpetual enemies of Israel.

In the Gospels two pairs of brother are among the disciples: the fishermen Peter and Andrew and the pair you hear of in this week's reading. Who are the two brothers - whose nicknames indicate they were not quiet, retiring types - we meet in Mark chapter 10?

A) Simon and Andrew

B) Simon and Garfunkel

C) Castor and Pollux

D) James and John

2006-10-13T15:17:00.000-07:00

How much?

What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me?
Psalm 116:12

This week there is no multiple choice quiz or fill in the blank sentence with the right answer supplied by the deacon. Instead, read what others have answered and ponder what your response is to Christ.

The widow gave a penny; the Pharisees gave a tenth; Zacchaeus gave half; the rich man was asked to give all. The early church shared everrything in common; Barnabas sold a field; Jesus' disciples left their boats and nets. Jesus gave up equality with God.

What is Christ asking of me? What will I give?

This is an open hearted and open ended question.

2006-10-05T15:24:00.000-07:00

The ACE of Hearts for October 7, 2006

This Sunday's Gospel focuses, in part, on marriage. In memory of some of my favorite tests in school, I offer an open book, multiple choice quiz on Christian marriage. It is acceptable and encouraged to ask for answers from parents, married couples, and even your own spouse.

Fr. Bob's blog or the BCP might also be of use. Good luck and the answers will be revealed on Sunday at 9:50 AM.

The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and mind is intended by God for their mutual:

a) admiration b) consideration c) joy d) destruction

for the a) tolerance and forebearance b) carping and goading c) help and comfort

d) space and room for growth given one another in prosperity and adversity;

and, when it is God's will, for the procreation of children and their nurture in

a) academics b) artistic accomplishment c) athletic prowess d) knowledge and love of the Lord.

2006-09-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

ACE of Hearts for October 1, 2006

Baptism means:

1. Burial and Resurrection
2. New Birth
3. Crossing the Red Sea
4. A bath

Chrismation means:

1. Anointing
2. Branding
3. Sealing
4. Confirmation

2006-09-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

The Ace of Hearts for September 23, 2006

The word martyr means:

1. One who enjoys pain, synonym of masochist

2. Witness

3. Victim of a violent attack

4. Latin for lion prey

2006-09-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

ACE of Hearts for September 17, 2006

People stand at the reading of the Gospel because

A. It's like the 7th inning stretch.

B. People hear better when they are standing up.

C. So you can better see the person reading the Gospel.

D. Out of respect for the Gospel.

Bonus Question: Who is the female priest standing behind the deacon reading the Gospel?

2006-07-29T06:54:00.000-07:00

Adult Christian Education of the Heart (September 10th)

What is the name of the man who wrote most of the letters we find in the New Testament?

A. Saul

B. Clement

C. Joseph

D. Paul

Epistle is the Greek word for:

A. a cup

B. a writing instrument

C. a letter

D. a footnote in the Gospels