Welcome, Everybody, to our new home. And thanks, Becky, for all you have done to welcome us.
Readings:
Exodus 24, 3-8, This is the blood of the covenant
Psalm 116, I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord
Hebrews 9, 11-15, He is a mediator of a new covenant.
Mark 14, 12-16, 22-26, The Eucharist
John with his long awaited arm operation done.
Exodus: 8 points on the readings, including 2 on Exodus, 4 on points from the other readings, 2 more on Exodus
1. This is the 2nd book of the Torah/Pentateuch, the first section of the Old Testament. Deuteronomy, which we visited last week, is the 5th & last book.
Emma doing her candle Magic.
2. Story: This is a fabulous and edifying fable that tells how the Israelites got out of slavery in Egypt with the leadership of Moses.
3. Passover: the night the angel passed over the first born male children of the Jews because they had smeared lamb blood on their door posts. But the angel killed all the Egyptian first born sons to make Pharaoh let the people go. Remember, this is not history, rather like a fable, like Aesop's Fables. There is a story about the burning bush in the Holy Land, for tourists. Tourists are told this bush was the bush that burst into flame and from which Yahweh spoke to Moses.
Welcome in, Harper. I cannot wait to meet your new little sister, Betsy.
4. Covenant vs Contract: in a contract two parties agree to do something. If one fails, the contract is often null. In a covenant two people agree, and even if one party fails, the other party honors the covenant. The Covenant between Yahweh & the People: the people will honor Yahweh as their only god; Yahweh will protect and care for them as his chosen, and bring them into a new land.
5. Sacrifice & holocaust: ancient tribal belief that I must offer to my god (s) things precious to me to appease the god's anger or win his favor, for example, animals, prisoners, and the most beautiful girl in the community. Jesus was seen as this sacrifice to appease the god, and also as the high priest who usually performed the sacrifice. Thus the emphasis on blood & death. Today scripture scholars as well as ordinary folks don't believe in a God who was so angry that he demanded special sacrifice. We do not have a vengeful, angry God.
Sandra reads our Blessing of the Candles.
6. 12 tribes: the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob (or Israel; the 3 patiarchs were Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob-Israel).
7. Author & Date of Exodus: not Moses. Rather a compilation of material from different centuries, that was mostly put together after the Babylonian Captivity, e.g., ca. 550 BCE.
8. Our Selection from Exodus: the people have been wandering in the desert and are now being given laws and customs they must observe. The Covenant is being sealed.
The Best, Shonda & Ben.
A Banquet of Joy
In honor of it being the feast of Corpus Christi, which is a celebration of our relationship with someone who totally loves us and accepts us as we are, I want to tell you a banquet of joy story.
These banquets take place morning, noon, and night. It does not matter. In fact, my dad was part of a morning banquet every week day at Christ the King parish, as I mentioned last week.
Rita & her admirer at the JCC gym, Jewish Community Center.
The banquet I was part of was in the morning about 6:00, at the Jewish Community Center, in the second floor gym, in fact.
There is a little lady named Rita. She is black, about 60, big hair, somewhat round, and walks slowly into the gym with a walker. She arrives with a DART bus, the small type bus that picks up individuals.
She comes maybe twice a week and settles on a recumbent bike which she pedals easily for 30-40 minutes.
If that crazy Parkinson won't let the right hand behave, Jackie makes for a great substitute right hand.
I noticed her because she was unique in the gym. And I really admired her for doing it. So I started greeting her and we exchanged names sometime during the past year. Last April I told her that I would be gone for a couple of weeks. Rosemary & I were going to France.
She was so excited and asked me to bring her a little key chain statue of the Eiffel Tower.
Want to know why Rosemary played hookey from Juliettes Friday? These two little critters, great nieces Rosemary (how about that!) and Alice, flew into Dallas with their mom, Kristine.
I told Rosemary and, lo and behold, one afternoon in a tiny town curio shop in the Perigord region we found just what she wanted.
It was a week or two until I saw her come in one morning. I got the Eiffel Tower key chain, went to her bike, bowed, and gave her the gift.
She went so crazy over that little token of my affection for her that I was almost in tears. Her delight was my Banquet of Joy.
Coming up, Cupcake of The Week Time, everybody's favorite part of our celebration.
When was the last time you had a Banquet of Joy?
Sez Leo, "Cupcake time yet??"