Happy Easter everyone, and this is why we are happy:
This performance of Mark Chapter 16 by Max McLean recounts the resurrection of Jesus. McLean's Fellowship for Performing Arts is the group that has created plays featuring the life and works of C.S. Lewis.
Tell the world the good news!
I have an upcoming trip across the pond on a choir tour, and a recent story from The Herald Scotland reminds me that I can't mention this blog, and that I must not tell any jokes while I am over there.
Police Scotland’s officers will investigate actors and comedians if a complaint is made under new hate crime laws.
Training, obtained by The Herald, states that material regarded as “threatening and abusive” under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) can be communicated “through public performance of a play.”
Jesus would be jailed pretty quickly for some of his words under these hate crime laws.
Just think what they would do to Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones if they performed "Brown Sugar" in Scotland.
I guess I won't be seeing any of Shakespeare's plays performed during my travels.
I had better keep my mouth shut, and I must carefully review our choral pieces for potentially offensive language before I board that plane.
Addendum: I looked through our music, and I can only hope no Muslims show up for our church services.
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. Every church has its own traditions for Palm Sunday services. We usually start with the Liturgy of the Palms done in the narthex outside of the church's nave. Youngsters have to be told to not play with the palm fronds as they are handed out. Following that liturgy, we all process into the church singing, "Hail to the Lord's anointed" because our music machine plays a wrong note in "All glory laud and honor." This little glitch came to my attention as I was preparing the music for Sunday. We are not blessed with a choir or live organist, but our little black box (Hymnal Plus) usually does the job. This time it let me down. I shall have to contact the company that makes the thing, and that is not something that I look forward to...
I was looking forward to singing "All glory laud and honor."
I am really looking forward to Easter.
A recent Gallup poll suggests that the percentage of LGBT+ professing adults is growing largely due to the younger age groups,
"Overall, each younger generation is about twice as likely as the generation that preceded it to identify as LGBTQ+. More than one in five Gen Z adults, ranging in age from 18 to 26 in 2023, identify as LGBTQ+, as do nearly one in 10 millennials (aged 27 to 42). The percentage drops to less than 5% of Generation X, 2% of baby boomers and 1% of the Silent Generation."
People identifying as bisexual are most of the new converts,
"Bisexual adults make up the largest proportion of the LGBTQ+ population -- 4.4% of U.S. adults and 57.3% of LGBTQ+ adults say they are bisexual. Gay and lesbian are the next-most-common identities, each representing slightly over 1% of U.S. adults and roughly one in six LGBTQ+ adults. Slightly less than 1% of U.S. adults and about one in eight LGBTQ+ adults are transgender."
I suspect a lot of those "bisexuals" are heterosexual who are just saying they are bisexual to keep up with the Joneses.
LGBT+ activists will probably say that the increases are due to relaxing social pressures on people and freeing them to be what they were born to be.
I say that declines in religion, marriage, and family free people to walk away from God's intended path.
This Sunday's reading from Hebrews 5:5-10 hearkens back to Genesis,
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,
‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you’;
as he says also in another place,
‘You are a priest for ever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.’
In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Who was Melchizedek? Go back to Genesis 14:17-20, NIV,
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram, saying, "Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And praise be to God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
Melchizedek seems to be the first priest of God, and he was a king. His order is mentioned in Psalm 110:4,
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."
In researching how this applies to Jesus, I came across this comment in a discussion group,
"...the name Melchizedek, like most Biblical names is also a regular word, in this case two words «Melech-Tzadik», meaning roughly «King-Priest». The significance of Jesus belonging to the order of king-priests, or holy-kings is that he, as the Messiah would ultimate replace both kingly and priestly orders existing at his times, by combining the two in himself."
Agreed.
I hope that clears things up.
The recent decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen in vitro blastocysts (approximately 58 cells), commonly called embryos but perhaps better termed pre-embryos, have personhood has led to considerable debate about everything except the underlying problem of determining when does human life begin.
I am not going to solve that problem here today, but I am reminded of a joke.
A major disaster occurred and thousands of people showed up at the Pearly Gates all at once. The angel in charge decided to process the priests, ministers, and rabbis first in hopes that they would be easy to judge. The angel brought three forward and told them that they would have to answer a simple question correctly or go back to the end of the line. First up was the Catholic priest, and the angel asked him, "When does life begin?" The priest answered, "I know that one. It is at the moment of conception." "Wrong, go to the back of the line," said the angel. Next up came the rabbi to whom the angel asked the same question. The rabbi responded, "I know this. It is at the moment the baby takes its first breath after leaving the womb." "Sorry, go to the end of the line," said the angel. The protestant minister was next, and after hearing the same question and the last two wrong answers said, "For me it was after the dog died and the kids moved out." The angel laughed and said, "Nice try but back you go too." The angel looked at the line of people and asked if any mere Christians were there. One couple came forward. The angel looked at them, glanced down at the Book of Life, and asked, "When does life begin?" The man and woman looked at each other, nodded, and replied, "Lord knows." The horns blew, the Pearly Gates swung open, and they entered into their heavenly reward.
Okay I added the couple to the joke.
From a scientific standpoint, the blastocyst should be considered a potential baby (or babies if twins or more form after implantation). In the course of in-vivo fertilization, implantation, and development of the placental blood supply a lot of things can and do go wrong. Only the Lord knows how many failed conceptions occur in the course of an individual woman's reproductive years, but scientists believe it is a high number.
Oral contraceptives and intrauterine devices prevent implantation. Do they run afoul of Alabama law?
I think the Catholic Church was right back in the 1960's when they warned us that the birth control pill would open us up to all sorts of potential problems down the road. The least of which is that we now play God with reproduction, and this becomes obvious in the case of in-vitro fertilization although most obvious in the case of elective abortion.
At the present time there is no universal consensus as to the answer posed by our hypothetical angel in the joke above. The Alabama Supreme Court ruling sounds like the judgement that I myself might make if I were to sit in a human court, but the mere Christian answer is probably the best one that I could come with if my soul was on the line.
This Sunday's reading from Ephesians 2:1-10 is packed so study it well.
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
As Protestants, we tend to focus on being saved by the grace of God and brought into faith, and we are not saved not by good works. We sometimes have to remind our Roman Catholic brethren that true good works will be done because of faith.
I once knew a man named Dieu-donne Guidry whose name in Cajun French means "God's gift". While he was a great man, and to his mother he was God's gift, we know that the real gift God gives us in His loving grace.
The other day I heard that the Episcopal Organization was going make disciplinary charges against its bishops more transparent. I thought the Episcopal News Service had the report so I tried to go to that site, but my Norton anti-virus program blocked me with the following warning,
!
This site contains deceptive content
Web Shield has detected a variety of phishing items on static.addtoany.com that might attempt to trick you into installing harmful software on your computer and revealing your sensitive personal information, such as passwords, bank account information, etc.
How true.
If you want to see who is under investigation right now, go to the Episcopal Organization's pages here.
This is the current list,
Psalm 19 is called Cœli enarrant after the first line of the first verse. Enarrant means "explain" or "describe" which I think is a better way to represent what looking at the night sky can do for a person.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, *
and the firmament shows his handiwork.
2 One day tells its tale to another, *
and one night imparts knowledge to another.
3 Although they have no words or language, *
and their voices are not heard,
4 Their sound has gone out into all lands, *
and their message to the ends of the world.
5 In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *
it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;
it rejoices like a champion to run its course.
6 It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens
and runs about to the end of it again; *
nothing is hidden from its burning heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect
and revives the soul; *
the testimony of the Lord is sure
and gives wisdom to the innocent.
8 The statutes of the Lord are just
and rejoice the heart; *
the commandment of the Lord is clear
and gives light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the Lord is clean
and endures for ever; *
the judgments of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
more than much fine gold, *
sweeter far than honey,
than honey in the comb.
11 By them also is your servant enlightened, *
and in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can tell how often he offends? *
cleanse me from my secret faults.
13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;
let them not get dominion over me; *
then shall I be whole and sound,
and innocent of a great offense.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, *
O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.
Sometimes when I am outside stargazing, I like to think that the Earth on which I am standing is upside down, and I am looking down into space with my feet held to the ground by what scientists call gravity.
That's when I appreciate what the heavens are describing.
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