Readings for Sunday, January 22, 2012Readings for Sunday, January 22, 2012

Presented by staff and friends of

Sunshine CathedralSunshine CathedralMetropolitan Community Church

affiliated with the Center for Progressive Christianity Ft Lauderdale, Florida, USA

Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin

Sunshine Cathedral Chief Programming Minister

Rev. Dr. Durrell WatkinsSenior Pastor Sunshine Cathedral

Rev. Dr. Mona WestDirector, Office of Formation and Leadership DevelopmentMetropolitan Community Churches

Rev. BK HipsherVirtual Chaplain Sunshine Cathedral

Director of Sunshine Cathedral in Second Life

Rev. Tania Guzman Minister of Congregational Life

January 22: Alexander Men (1935-1990)

Russian Orthodox priest and martyr. As Russia entered a phase of rapid change under Gorbachev, reactionary forces murdered him with an ax blow to his head while on his way to church.

January 24: St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)

Bishop of Geneva. Despite his parent’s wish for him to become a lawyer, Francis felt called to the priesthood. He was sent to Geneva, a stronghold of Protestant Calvinism where Catholics were persecuted. Rather than respond defensively, Francis chose to demonstrate love and self-sacrifice in the face of hatred. He helped found an order in which women, rather than living separate cloistered lives, became engaged in helping people in need. He taught that the path to holiness was open to lay persons in the world, not just the clergy. He is known as the patron saint of writers.

January 24: Florence Li-Tim Oh

The first woman ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion (Hong Kong, 1944).

January 25: The Conversion of St. Paul

Thirteen books of the New Testament claim to be written by the Apostle Paul (and a fourteenth was once thought to be written by Paul as well). Today, scholarly consensus is that Paul actually only wrote seven epistles that made it into the New Testament. In any case, Paul wrote more than any other single author in our New Testament, and his writings predate the gospels. The First Letter to the Thessalonians is thought to be the oldest book in the New Testament. According to scripture, Paul was a lay scholar who violently opposed the Jesus Movement but who on the Damascus Road had a mystical experience of Christ and thereafter claimed to be an Apostle commissioned by the Risen Christ to call others to follow the Christ-Way.

January 26: Timothy & Titus – Companions of the Apostle Paul.

The first and second letters to Timothy and the Letter to Titus in the New Testament are traditionally considered to be authored by Paul. We now believe that those three letters were written 50-100 years after the Apostle Paul’s death.

January 27:

St. John Chrysostom (349 CE – 407 CE) – Bishop of Constantinople.

January 28: St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 CE – 1274 CE) –

Theologian and Dominican Friar. His Summa Theologiae was the first attempt to write a complete, systematic theology. He was influenced by the Greek philosophy of Aristotle.

Deuteronomy 30.11-14 (NIV)11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

1 Corinthians 10.1-4 (CEV)

1Friends, I want to remind you that all of our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. 2This was like being baptized and becoming followers of Moses. 3All of them also ate the same spiritual food 4and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ.

Gospel of Thomas 22Jesus said, ‘Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find…

John 1.43-5143The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings

Our call is within our reach

The word of God in our mouth

The rock that is Christ

Keep on truckin’

Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings

Jesus said, "Follow me!“

What makes a good follower?

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection

1. Deut. 30 The divine word is in your heart2. St. Paul Spiritual Rock offers water (spirit) to all3. GTh Seek & find Gnostic wisdom/seek within4. John Chapter 1 begins with Logos (borrowed from Heraclitus and blended with Sophia. In the beginning is the divine idea/word/wisdom/Christ.40 some verses later the question is asked if anything good can come from Nazareth, from “those people.” When we know who we are, the light of our innatedignity and sacred value shines (“come and see”). Assumption/traditional prejudice may say that “the other” is not good enough, but if we look at people’s character, kindness, generosity, optimism, and goodwill rather than what we have been told tobelieve about them, we might see “that of God” present within them and expressingthrough them (“come and see”). We can know that all people (including ourselves) aremade in the divine image.

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection

“If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.” – Zen koan

The road is a symbol of the spiritual path (prayer, worship, generosity, meditation, study, etc.).

If on the spiritual path you find what you are looking for beyond/outside of yourself, you may be projecting your hopes onto something that isn’t ultimately real; that is, you may be making an idol of something rather than experiencing the Sacred within you. If you experience yourself letting an image become an idol (scripture, a sacrament, anything), then destroy/remove that idol. Remember, image is not essence; symbols point beyond themselves to something greater. If they point toward themselves, they aren’t symbols, they are idols and idols get in the way of spiritual growth. So, “if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.”

“The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao.”Tao te Ching

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection

Hindu legend:In the beginning, the gods were afraid that humans might discover the godhead (divine spark/ultimate reality). They debated about where they might hide the godhead. On a mountain top? No, they decided, clever humans would just climb and find it. In the ocean? No, they decided, clever humans would just dive and find it. Finally, they thought of the perfect hiding place. They decided to hide the godhead within the human heart where humans would never think to look for it.