Social Distancing Shuts Down HIV Hotspot

From San Francisco comes this news that reminds us that the recent pandemic may result in some good after all, 

"According to a press release sent out late Wednesday by Honey Mahognay, The Stud (399 9th Street in SoMa), SF’s oldest Gay Bar dating back to 1966 is shutting down. 

The bar is the country’s only cooperatively owned LGBT venue and has been in operation for 54 years. The Stud was originally located on Folsom where Holy Cow is now. In 1987 the bar moved to 9th Street where it’s been for 33 years. 

Because of a lack of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic and an uncertain future operating at 25% or 50% capacity under anticipated social distancing rules, the historic bar announced that they are permanently closing their location and will be holding a drag funeral to honor the end of an era of LGBT nightlife. 

But this isn’t the end (we hope) for The Stud. The owners have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help them in their search for a new venue so they can regroup for the next year or so. And, when the time is right, drag themselves back to become a beacon again for queer nightlife at their soon-to-be third location in San Francisco."

It is a well known fact that the early Gay bars were hotbeds of HIV transmission at the beginning of that epidemic, so don't shed any tears for the demise of The Stud.

Oh Trinity We Sing To Thee!

Today is Trinity Sunday, and many a preacher will stumble through an explanation of the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Lord knows what the revisionist priest will have to come up with as he/she/it tries to make everything gender neutral or as the feminist priest emasculates the Trinity. It seems that those who struggle most with it are the same ones who cannot appreciate the saving miracle of the Trinity enough to sing its praises.

As a child attending Trinity Episcopal Grammar School, the following was our Alma Mater,

"O Trinity we sing to thee, our love and praises hear and see. Be with us now and always give the strength we need to grow and live. O guide us well and make us free to honor and remember thee."

I cannot praise my old school or its sponsoring church anymore for they have strayed too far from the truth they once claimed to own, but the words of my Alma Mater remain a fitting praise for the Holy Trinity.

No need to sermonize any further.

Longing For Peace?

Yesterday was a beautiful day in my part of  South Carolina. I was relaxing on my screen porch. swinging in my hammock, watching the daytime moon rise over the distant shore, and listening to the wind and the birds in the trees, when a feeling of peace came upon me. I was thankful to God for allowing me this moment of peace, a peace that many have not been able to experience this week as riots rolled through many of our cities every night.

In times of unrest, it seems that the voices that incite violence will always drown out (especially on our television screens) the voices of moderation, deliberation, and peace.

As our preacher pointed out during his Sunday sermon, those who are the angriest, those who incite violence, and those who get caught up and perpetrate crimes rather than engaging in peaceful protests, are in desperate need of Jesus.

When those who do put their trust in the Lord are hurt, angry, mistreated, or feeling downtrodden, we find comfort not in violence, but in the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4: 4-7 

The strength of a wronged people is not demonstrated by torching police cars or by looting innocent shop keepers. A nation's rue strength is shown when its people humble themselves, when they get on their knees, and pray together in the name of the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, for peace, and when they go out and teach the way of Jesus to those in our society who do not appear to know Him.

We have quite a struggle ahead of us.

Pentecost: Red Mask Day

This Sunday marks Pentecost. People like to wear red on this day, and I am anxious to see how many are wearing red masks as we listen to Acts 2:1-21.

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. Amazed and astonished, they asked, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.’ All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others sneered and said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’ 

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 

“In the last days it will be, God declares,that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,   and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,and your young men shall see visions,   and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women,   in those days I will pour out my Spirit;     and they shall prophesy. And I will show portents in the heaven above   and signs on the earth below,     blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness   and the moon to blood,     before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

 That is an amazing story, but it doesn't make me want to join a modern Pentecostal church. I just  think that most of the time when people start "speaking in tongues" it is not a manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but instead a manifestation of emotional over excitement.

The Holy Spirit is not something we can conjure up when we want it to act. Identifying works of the Holy Spirit requires the work of serious Bible study, reflection, and prayer with the help of fellow Christians. 

Greenville County School District Graduation Prayer Ban Goes Too Far

Graduations took place the past couple of weeks for the majority of our schools. There were numerous variations of social distancing, but Greenville County, SC schools seem to have gone to far.

This came in an e-mail from Palmetto Family, 

You may have read on social media over the week that the Greenville County School district informed their employees about a Federal Court order instructing them to neither pray nor give the appearance of praying or showing respect for prayer during any graduation ceremony.

“The court order states that all school district employees who attend a high school graduation as part of his or her official duties may not participate in any student-led prayer by, for example, standing or bowing his or her head.”

This is all the result of a years long legal battle started by a parent and the "Humanist Society" over prayer at a graduation.

In times of trouble, prayer would appear to be especially important, except to humanists. The rest of us are crying out to God to forgive us and to save us. Not the humanists. They would drag everyone else down to Hell with them. 

If ever there was a need for public prayer, now is the time. 

To deny a person's right to pray is what I would expect from a totalitarian government like what we are seeing in China these days.

Details that sometimes get lost

This Sunday's reading from Acts 1:6-14 contains the story of the Ascension, and that will probably be the focus of most sermons today. I would like you to read the little details contained in the second paragraph. One of the things I enjoy most about Luke's narrative is the way he includes these little pictures of life after Jesus' Resurrection and Ascension.

So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. 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.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards 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.’

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

A "sabbath day's journey" is one detail that most of us are not familiar with. Never fear, the Oxford Biblical Studies Online page will help, 

A Jew was permitted to travel 2,000 cubits on the Sabbath (Exod. 16: 29 and Num. 35: 5), about 1.2 km. (¾ mile), and the Mount of Olives was within this distance from Jerusalem (Acts 1: 12).

Also we see "certain women" as well as Mary praying with the men. 

But the reference to Jesus' "brothers" causes consternation to those who hold to the Roman Catholic dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary. Of course this is not the only reference to Jesus' siblings that they have to deal with.

 “Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS” (Matthew 1:24–25)

 While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.”

But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46–50) 

This event is also described in Mark 3:32–35 and Luke 8:19–21

“Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” (Matthew 13:55–56)

“Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. (Mark 6:3)

And Paul wrote, 

“But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19).

 How did we ever miss those details? Blame the writer of "The Protevangelium of James" which was not included in the Bible for obvious reasons, 

19. ...And the midwife cried out, and said: This is a great day to me, because I have seen this strange sight. And the midwife went forth out of the cave, and Salome met her. And she said to her: Salome, Salome, I have a strange sight to relate to thee: a virgin has brought forth -- a thing which her nature admits not of. Then said Salome: As the Lord my God liveth, unless I thrust in my finger, and search the parts, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth.

20. And the midwife went in, and said to Mary: Show thyself; for no small controversy has arisen about thee. And Salome put in her finger, and cried out, and said: Woe is me for mine iniquity and mine unbelief, because I have tempted the living God; and, behold, my hand is dropping off as if burned with fire.

Not exactly what you wanted to read on Sunday morning eh? 

Yeah, the Devil is in the details.

 

Jesus Has Me Covered, But I Still Wear a Mask

While the world looks for a vaccine and treatments for the current pandemic, some of us are using masks and social distancing to stay safe, but these are really just band-aids which may buy us a little more time while researchers look for solutions to our problem. Of course humanity has a lot more problems, most of which will not be cured by vaccines or medications. Man does not live by medications alone. In order to live well we must have faith in something greater than ourselves. 

For me, faith in Jesus as my Lord and savior is more than just a band-aid used to get over the cuts and scrapes of daily existence, and Jesus is not a patch which gets peeled off and discarded after I feel better.  

Christians should fear neither nothing in this life, nor should we fear our inevitable death, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be rooting for the researchers who are seeking vaccines and cures for the corona virus, and just because we live in Faith, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to protect ourselves and others by masking up and keeping our distance.