4th Sunday of Lent, March 27, 2022

 

Sez Betsy, "Hi, Everybody.  Welcome in!"

 

Readings

Genesis 12, 1-4, I will make of you a great nation.

Psalm 33, Lord, let your mercy be upon us, as we put our trust in you.

2 Timothy 1-10, Bear your hardship.

Matthew 17, 1-9, The transfiguration.

 

 

Fist bumps for a healthy welcome.

 

Homily by John Cade                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The Gospel of Matthew and the Jewish Synagogue—Talk Two

Last week we talked about how, as Jewish, the disciples and followers of Jesus continued as members and participants in the life of the synagogue and the Sabbath liturgy. Also, how these followers of Jesus remembered him in the synagogue, and preserved the stories of his life, teachings and deeds. An example of the general pattern of worship on the Sabbath is in Acts 13.

 

 

What a team!

 

It says, “On the Sabbath Paul went to the synagogue. After the reading of the Scriptures—God’s Law and the Prophets—the head of the meeting asked Paul, Friend, do you have anything you want to say? Paul stood up and said, Fellow Israelites and friends of God, listen.” Then he told how God led their ancestors out of Egypt and gave them their own land. He traced their history through King David, and how, from David’s descendants, God sent a Savior for Israel. And that this was the gospel, the good news, they were bringing: that what God promised their fathers has come true for their children—for them.

 

Our Super, All Girls, Sisters Candle Lighting Team.

 

This passage in Acts provides the basic pattern of synagogue worship on the Sabbath: mainly lots of long scripture readings.

First, a reading from the Law of Moses (the Torah, first 5 books of Jewish Scripture) in 1-yr cycle. Then readings from the Prophets, in three parts:  The “former prophets” (stories of Israel before and after the death of Moses, their greatest prophet—7 books of Joshua thru II Kings) in 1-yr cycle. Then more reading from what they called the “latter prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel—what we call the major prophets) in 1-yr cycle.  Then more reading from the ‘Book of the Twelve’—the last 12 books of Hebrew Scripture, that we call the minor prophets (Hosea to Malachi) in 4-yr cycle. [We use abbreviated 3-yr cycle]

 

 

Buddy, our special reader of the Candle Blessing

 

The psalms were read or chanted between the readings, sometimes for specific feasts of the liturgical year, but also to break things up with so many long readings, (and maybe to wake people up).

I counted, and the weekly Sabbath readings averaged over 16 pages every week, using this type print. After all the readings, the leader of the synagogue would preach on those scriptures or he might ask a visiting preacher to do so, as in the example of Paul. This is how the story of Jesus was passed on and preserved in the synagogue, for 55 years after Jesus’ death.

 

 

John reading his homily explaining the milieu of Matthew's Gospel.

 

So the written gospels are deeply Jewish books, capable of being understood only by those who lived and shared the Jewish mindset. If Jesus’ followers ever moved out of the Jewish world in which they was born, and if their gospels ever came to be read entirely or primarily by those who didn’t understand the Jewish authors’ meaning, they would be misread or misunderstood.  That is exactly what seems to have happened.  Step out of the Jewish world into the Greek and Roman world around the Mediterranean; the gospels would most likely be assumed by non-Jewish readers to be a literal account of what Jesus said and did.

 

Presenting the Gifts, Hue, Patricia, and Linda.

 

 A growing number of Jesus’ followers were beginning to be from urban centers around the Mediterranean—like Corinth, Thessalonica, Galatia, Rome—where they interacted with non-Jewish people and culture.  As the Jewish followers of Jesus became more cosmopolitan, they began to attract the non-Jewish Gentiles, and early Christianity became more and more a Gentile movement.  Near the end of the 1^st century CE, in the year 88CE, a split occurred between the synagogue and the followers of Jesus.  Orthodox Jews came to think of Jesus’ followers as “revisionists” and excommunicated them from the synagogue. So, by the middle of the second century (about 150 CE), there were practically no Jews left in the Christian movement.  Missing that Jewish context, Gentile Christians began to literalize the words and miracle stories, a practice the original Jewish gospel writers could never have imagined. For 55 years the Jewish people had been relating Jesus to the Hebrew Scriptures and incorporating his memory into Jewish liturgical practices. 

 

 

Minor Elevation time.

 

The followers of Jesus, including the authors of the gospels, had been speaking, then writing down, Jewish interpretations of the ‘Jesus experience’, not biographical accounts or historical stories.  As Gentiles throughout the Roman Empire gradually became a Christian majority, Christian literalism or fundamentalism was born.  This way of reading the gospels is the result of misunderstanding their Jewish context and meaning.  E.g., we read Jesus being referred to as “the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  First-century Jews would have known this was a reference straight out of the Yom Kippur liturgy, not a literal reality.  They would never have imagined that these very familiar Jewish liturgical words could ever be so distorted. 

Next Sunday we dive into Spong’s basic thesis: the Gospels, Matthew in particular, were written explicitly for the Sabbath liturgy, and followed the synagogue’s annual liturgical calendar.

Amen.

 

 

Who dat peeking in the door?

Rosemary's Blessing:  

May the blessing of the rain be on you—
the soft sweet rain.
May it fall upon your spirit
so that all the little flowers may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
May the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there many a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

Irish Blessing

Special Thanks: 

• For Reading: Julie & Donna

• For the Communion Bread:  Cindy Cramer & Kim Crossk

• For Serving:   Sabrina

• For the Books & Wine Cups & Cross: John & Alison 

• For the Music: Ray & Shonda & Celeste & Wendy

• For the Pictures: Taylor 

• For the altar & sound:  Margie & Hue

• For the donuts & coffee:  Jackie & Tony & Gayle

• For all his work as The Board Secretary, George Elwell

Happy Birthday:  Georgie Brown (8), Sabrina (14 yesterday), Lacee (today) & her mom, Lisa, Angela Kemp, Amy Carey (20), Celeste, & Dick Eshelbrenner

 

 

Please Remember:   Celeste's niece, Lexi Colmenero; Alice Alt;   Christine Drescher's Grandmother;   David Hoover's mom who is failing;  Ann Bivona with her broken leg;  Rita Dore; Jackie's friend Jack Brown with various cancers;  Julie Johnston;  Margie Weynant;  Hugh Bivona's sick friends Bob & Bonnie; Rick Urbanczyk’s mom, Irene;  Richard Froebe's dad who had a stroke;  Warren & Barb's friends Jerry & and Mark, and a little baby, Reese who has tuberous sclerosis complex;   Mary Ellen's Christopher, Margaret, & Jim;  Tom & Teresa's friend Neva Flynn with cancer & Teresa's niece Angel;  Diane's dad Butch Uderman  & cousin Judy;  Margie's mom ; Donna & Cathy Goode's mom; our friends, sons, & daughters in the military, including Trey Bailey, Ryan McClurg, Matt Gardner, Chebino, Roy's son Chris, Lisa's nephew Kristopher on his 2nd Iraq trip;  George & Marianne's sons & Linda's son and Marianne's mom Marguerite, plus Stacie & Ben White & their niece just diagnosed with leukemia; a cure for autism from Laura Chollick;  Dawn's friend Jessica & Aunt Ann & Hector; Fred's friend John with cancer; Casey & Rob plus Cameron  & Reid, Trey and Brady; for our President  that he have great success and someday hold his grandchildren in his lap.  

 

             

Picture 1:  Communion: Jackie, Mabel & Curtis

Picture 2:  Financial Report by Tom

Picture 3:  Maggie

 

Picture 4:  Georgie  (the birthday girl) with her parents Michelle & Randolph

 

Check out the Quads: http://gerwerbabies.blogspot.com   

Next Week we will be at Wilson Middle School (on Custer, North of Plano Pkwy)

 

 

Your Finances: October 11

• Income for Running   Expenses: $  809.00 
• Income for Outreach Expenses: $  710.00 

 

 Thanks for your Generosity!

 Have a Great Week, J.S    (214-783-0443)

Proverbs 8:   … then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day;

Romans 5:  … because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through  the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

John 16:  But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth.

Ben and David, our musicians today

Thanks…

Music,    Ben & David

Readers, Lynda & Tom

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Richard & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

Loretta, Connie and John join in the singing

 

 

 

Readings:  Download 6-12-22 – Readings – Trinity

Homily: 

                                       

 

 

Tom reading from Proverbs

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer and Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law, with 2 broken vertebrae;  For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey in the hospital after a fall;    For Tom Good;  For a young man, 19 struggling with a brain tumor and cancer;     For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan; 

                           

 

The Kiss of Peace

 

 

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;     For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

The Kiss of Peace

                   

                  

Birthdays:   Alison DeGenova 6/12,  Mary Esparza 6/12,  Bernadette Delgado 6/17

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $   750.00

Outreach: $     235.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                    

                               

Communion line

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars.
Gaze at the beauty of earth’s greenings.
Now, think.
What delight God gives to humankind
with all these things. . . .
All nature is at the disposal of humankind.
We are to work with it.
For without we cannot survive.

Hildegard of Bingen  (September 16, 1098 – September 17, 1179)

Genesis 9:  “I set my bow in the clouds to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. . . . "

1 Peter 3:  Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the Spirit.

Mark 1: "This is the time of fulfillment.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent and believe in the gospel."

 

 

2 Kings 5:  Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.

2 Timothy 2:  Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, together with eternal glory.

Luke 17:  Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine?

 

 

John about to begin Mass

                                                  

 

Thanks…      

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Mary & Frank

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Richard & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

         

                                                   

Frank reading from 2 Kings
       

 

                                                                  

Readings:  Download 10-09-22- Readings – 28th Sunday Ord

Homily:   

 

 

Remember these special people:

For Jan; For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer and Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law;  For Donna and the Dinsmore Family after her brother, Dennis died  from pancreatic cancer;   For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;    For Tom Good;  For a young man, 19 struggling with a brain tumor and cancer;     For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan; 

                                                                     

Mary reading from Paul's Letter to Timothy       

 

 

 

 

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;     For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

 

Jan and Charlie are here    

 

 

Birthdays:   

Anniversaries:   

      

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $   590.00

Outreach: $  355.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

                 

Connie telling us about Bona Responds and everyone's memories of Bill

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:  

May you be blessed with the gift of humility

To know who you are,

To appreciate your strengths and talents,

To be aware of your shortcomings and limitations,

And most especially…

To be grateful each day for life

Unknown

Isaiah 40:  Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, and leading the ewes with care.

2 Peter 3:  But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Mark 1:  Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.  A voice of one crying out in the desert: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths."