Fourth Sunday of Easter 2023

The shepherd-leader ‘would lie down at the gate physically to protect the sheep from wolves coming into the sheepfold. He literally put his life on the line for the sheep’ (Simpson 2005).

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222014000100020

This seems like a strange practice. The wolves are coming and the sheep’s protector lays down to protect them. It would be mighty hard to fire off a slingshot while you are laying down. Flaying with Rod and the staff would be even harder. Further, all who know about coyotes and other predators know that the best technique is called hazing. It is making yourself as big as possible and making as much noise as possible. If you lay down that coyote or wolf just might slither past you on your way to grab that lamb and then you are in real trouble. Having been shepherds for thousands of years, we must assume Jewish shepherds knew this. So, what could this statement possibly mean?

Irish slave traders sailed the waters off that same coast, and one day they came ashore to capture the teenager who became Saint Patrick and his neighbors, to sell back in Ireland. Patrick spent six years tending sheep in the west of Ireland.

How did Saint Patrick spend much of his time? His kidnappers probably spent their time elsewhere. That would explain how Saint Patrick could make his escape. His guards were not watching. Tending sheep is probably a lonely task. You do something on the hillside while the sheep eat. You probably don’t stand all that time. Sometimes you probably sit and other times, being bored, you might even lay down, your weapons ever at the ready.

The next question concerns where you would sit or lie. In planning for my ideal home I read that for 4 cows I would need five 2-acre lots. The area I would build has coyotes and wolves. I checked. I checked how to keep them out of my five 2-acre lots. The area has something called coffeeberry. The coyotes and wolves love to eat their seeds but they do grow 10 feet high. On their own, the coffeeberry looks beautiful but would not keep these dogs out.

I could build a brick wall, say 6 feet high. Coyotes at least can clear 8-foot fences with 2 feet to spare. Besides, dogs are great diggers so, my brick wall would have to be 2 feet underground. Then I would need to have another coffeeberry row on the brick wall’s other side to keep these dogs from jumping.

Then I could have dogs and donkeys in the field. Donkeys don’t much care for coyotes and would tear them apart. The wolves, they are protected animals. You can’t just kill them. Besides, what prevents the wild dogs from just going to where your gate is, so you can enter?

That is where you place your shepherd, whether animal or human. Sometimes your shepherd sits, sometimes he lays, and sometimes, especially when he hears those coffeeberries rustling, that is when he stands. Still, he must be there all the time.

The sheep hear his voice, as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice.

Our Gospel for this day is John 10 and like most other gospel passages, it is about leadership. The true shepherd is always amongst his sheep. He stands in a position such that to get to any sheep you have to go through him first. Yes, he will sacrifice himself for his sheep. He will stand up to impossible odds but no, he isn’t taking this laying down.

The NAME, the one you call upon, will bless you abundantly in the land the NAME, who you call upon, will give you to possess as a heritage, there shall be no one of you in need if you listen to the voice of the NAME, the one you call upon, and guard this entire Mitzvah which I enjoin on you this day. Deuteronomy 15:4-5

There will never cease to be needy ones in your land, which is why I give you this Mitzvah: open your hand to the poor and needy kin in your land. Deuteronomy 15:11

On its face, this is a contradiction. Will there be poor in the land or not? If there is to be no poor in the land, we all must listen to his Mitzvah.

All the communities which the NAME, the one you call upon, is giving you, you shall appoint judges and officials throughout your tribes to administer true justice for the people. You must not distort justice: you shall not show partiality. You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes even of the wise and twists the words even of the just. Tsaddik, Tsaddik, alone shall you pursue, so that you may live and possess the land the NAME, the one you call upon, gives you. Deuteronomy 16:20

Interpreting Deuteronomy 16:20 reminds me of the story I once read in the Jerusalem Post that interpreted this passage. It reported the story of a poor farmer who only had 3/4s of an acre. As a direct result, he accidentally planted on his neighbor’s property by 1/8^th acre. The neighbor, being rich and having hundreds of acres, saw this slight and took his case to his uncle, who happened to be the town judge. The town judge correctly informed this rich young farmer that, (1) being related, he, the town judge, was not qualified to hear his case. (2) Jewish law requires that all sides present their cases at the same time, that they be dressed the same, and in all ways appear equal. The rich man’s uncle then reminded his nephew that he already heard his side, but the poor man wasn’t present, so this disqualified him from hearing his case.

At this point, the rabbi informed his nephew that as his uncle he would gladly hear his case.

 He then quoted Deuteronomy 16:20 and reported, “If you were a Tsaddik you would give this poor man ten of your best acres, plus send your best foreman to show him how to care for those acres. You would also send your best accountant to show him how to care for his books. Bailiff, make it happen!”

This brings us back to blessed Saint Patrick who sat in those fields all alone.

I will set a king over me, like all the surrounding nations. You may indeed set over you a king whom the NAME, the one you call upon, will choose. Someone from among your own kindred you may set over you as king; you may not set over you a foreigner, who is no kin of yours. He shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the NAME said, “Do not go back that way again.”

This rule applies to the king, the Hebrew word for a king is Moloch, and also means a messenger. The king is the messenger between those over and under him. He is the messenger between his peers and those under him, and he is the messenger between those who are under him. This rule, therefore, applies to the President, members of Congress, the corporate CEO and his administrators, and the union chiefs.

The greater the gap between rich and poor, the less the rich identify with the poor and their needs. We wonder how long it took for Saint Patrick’s kidnappers to realize Saint Patrick felt disenfranchised, or care, and more, how long it took to realize he was gone. This brings us back to that shepherd who lays down to guard his sheep. So-called theologians who have never been near sheep, fished with a net, tended a garden, done carpentry, or did anything Jesus and his followers did claim to be experts on how Jesus lived. They don’t even know that our opening sense makes no sense to someone who has actually tended sheep or at least read up on the subject.

They don’t speak multiple languages and have never been under occupation by a nation speaking a different language and having a different culture. Still, they know all about how Jesus lived. We’re not even sure what languages Jesus and his followers spoke at which times or their income status but they know all there is to know about Jesus.

Jesus, setting the example for leaders lives with his sheep and shows his care so much that he no longer needs whips and clubs to keep them in line. He only needs his voice. If only all leaders did this.

This brings us to the all-important closing of this gospel reading, “Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy. I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

This brings us to the second issue which this gospel reading confronts and it is an important one. What does it mean to be alive, to live? What do the founding fathers of this nation mean when they talk about life? Being schooled in the classics they would have had Aristotle in mind. John, our gospel writer would have had Deuteronomy 30:19 in mind. “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you. I have set before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. Boker Chaim! Choose life! This is one of Judaism’s 613 Mitzvahs. How is this a Mitzvah?

Every time we see someone suffering, we must choose life for that person. What does this mean? Life is potentiality. We must help that person be all he can be to quote the old Army advertisement. The classical definition of life, which is in the Summa says that life is potentiality seeking its final end, which is happiness. If we keep this in mind, if we follow this definition as a nation, our pro-life and social justice issues will just go away. How so, the real issue in the pro-life argument isn’t when life begins or ends. It is about what life is in the meantime. If we know what life is, all we need to do is look at the pre-born and ask, “Does this meet our definition of life. 24% of abortion patients identify as Catholic. 13% identify as evangelical Protestant. This is 37% of the total. Another 17% identify as a mainline protestant. That means 54% of abortion seekers identify as Christian and know that it is wrong but something else is going on. Almost half of all abortion seekers live below the poverty line. Almost 2 in three are in their twenties or younger. They are not living life as potentiality so see no reason to try to give that potentiality to others. If we solve this second issue, making sure these ladies feel like they have real life, that is if we address the social justice issue, the first issue will just go away. This means that if we define life correctly and enforce this definition, both issues will just go away.

If we don’t? We started addressing this issue 50 years ago and we use the same arguments we used 50 years ago. We have converted nobody. Do we want to complain about our issues or do we want to solve them?

https://www.guttmacher.org/united-states/abortion/demographics
https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2020/10/people-all-religions-use-birth-control-and-have-abortions

Liberty is the ability, to have the resources to reach that end, to pursue happiness. That is in our Declaration of Independence which is the foundation for our Constitution. Without our Declaration of Independence, there is no justification for our independence from Britain and therefore our Constitution.

John 10:10 which is in our gospel for this day speaks of more than sufficient life lived. That is why Jesus came and he came to give his example. Do we follow his example or are we just thieves and robbers as Jesus says. Must Jesus go looking for other shepherds?

What does it mean to obey?

Our point for discussion is how “Obey” is used in the second reading and Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. First element, gabhar means strong. El means “He who one calls upon. https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gabriel

God; Old English god ” from Proto-Germanic *guthan (source also of Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch god, Old High German got, German Gott, Old Norse guð, from PIE *ghut- “that which is invoked” (source also of Old Church Slavonic zovo “to call,” Sanskrit huta- “invoked,” an epithet of Indra), from root *gheu(e)- “to call, invoke.” Gabriel is the strong one upon whom we call upon. https://www.etymonline.com/word/god

Nazareth is from Nar, to surround, to set apart, and to vow according to Rabbinic Scholar Jastrow.

Obey comes from the Latin, give ear,” literally “listen to,” from ob “to” (see ob-) + audire “listen, hear” (from PIE root *au- “to perceive”).

The Greek word, ακούω, means to listen. The Hebrew word is Shema. There is another word in Greek, that Saint Paul does not use in our second reading. It means to stand under. Saint Paul uses this term in relation to children listening to their parents and Saint Luke uses it in relation to Jesus standing under the Blessed Virgin in the Nativity.

Saint Paul gives us Obey/ ακούω in relation to church Kyrie Oichos, teaching. “Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the ακούω of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Goy… I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: for Jew first, and then Greek. In it is revealed the Tsaddik of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is charitable by faith will live.”

The clear reference is that faith comes from the apostles, through the bishops’ episcopes and priests, Presbyter, to the laity, us. This implies obedience in the sense we have come to know it.

On the other hand:

In the Gospels, when Jesus and the synagogue assemblies are engaged in discussion and debate, they are doing something normative that synagogues were designed to facilitate. This is, for example, how we should understand the depiction of the lengthy back-and-forth discussion between Jesus and the synagogue assembly at Capernaum in the Bread of Life Discourse (John 6:25–59). The debate between Jesus and a synagogue official in Luke 13:10–17 over the legality of healing on the Sabbath is an example of a synagogue dispute. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/new-testament/jesus-and-synagogues/

I read in another source how students beginning catechism always sat in the back of the synagogue. As they progressed in their studies, the students moved forward. To stand in the synagogue center implied that you were a scholar. As Jesus brings the ailing to the synagogue center, we must keep this in mind. The homily always began from the church rear.

This meant that those knowing the least gave their interpretations first. This fits in well with the idea, that “synagogue assemblies are engaged in discussion and debate.” In Romans 1, Roman’s thesis statement for which our reading is the epilogue, Saint Paul mentions exchanging faith, not giving it. Romans 1:11-12

“During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”

We must know from Saint Luke’s context that Elizabeth happens to be a woman of the establishment. Saint Luke at least implies that her husband, Zechariah, is the high priest. He is not, but the implication is there. Elizabeth would therefore be rich.

What does the Blessed Virgin tell Elizabeth?

He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry he has filled with nobility. The rich he has sent away empty.”

This is typical Jewish dialogue, a word which means two words in Greek. Dia-two and logos, words. It is in your face, call you names and depict your downfall to your face, and then ask if you can spend the next 3 months at your house. Jesus does the same when our Blessed Virgin finds Jesus in the temple.

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting amid the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Here again, is that concept of dialogue and not ritual and one-sided discussion we see in Mass now. “Give me a one-handed Economist. All my economists say ‘on hand…’, then ‘but on the other…” Harry Truman

The same can be said of Jews when discussing scripture and when reading scripture with its many contradictions. The truth is in the contradictions. Listening to the faith therefore means far more than sitting in the pews and believing whatever Father says. Listening to the faith means active study. It means dialogue, ever questioning what we are told, as Zechariah/Remembrance, spouse of Elizabeth/ oath is God and our Blessed Virgin do with Gabriel. If our Bible has no contradictions, in our mind, we have learned nothing. If we do not question, we can’t learn and grow. This is our lesson from this week’s Gospel.

Sheep and Goats

Jesus told his followers: “When the Ben Adam comes in his importance, and all his messenger with him, he will sit upon his important throne. All the Goyim will be assembled before him. He will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right, and goats on his left.

The king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’

The righteous will answer him and say, “Kyrie, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’

The king will reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the accuser and his messengers. I was hungry and you gave me no food, thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’

They will answer, ‘Kyrie, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ These will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” When Jesus finished all these words,* he told his followers, “You know that in two days’ time, it will be Passover and the Ben Adam will be handed over to be crucified.”

Some half-century ago, I worked under a Senior Chief, Theodore, Gift of God, (in his own mind) Bronson. When I first arrived at his command he would, in my mind, be my mentor. Both of us conservatives, we thought much alike. When I left his command I knew only three things about my values. The first, Jesus is my NAME and savior. The second was and is that all the religious words I had bandied about my past would in the future have real, tangible meaning. The third is that I wanted to be nothing like Senior Chief Theodore Bronson or anyone else in his command as all supported what he was doing.

One of those religious terms is “Righteous,” a word bandied about in this passage early and often. Another word is “Justice” and its cognate, “Justified.” A Lutheran at the time, I firmly believed the “Justified by faith” thing without having any idea what “Justified” meant and means to this day. What Bronson had taught me is that his faith, and mine at the time, was firmly rooted in docetism. Docetism is the belief that Jesus is that fluffy white thing out there somewhere or just a crust of bread we eat on Sunday. He is decidedly not a first-century Jew with a first-century Jewish world view and a first-century Jewish way of seeing the world. Docetism is the belief that the words really need to have no meaning. They are just something beautiful to hear during Sunday Liturgy.

It so happens that Hebrew has two words for “Justice.” The first literally means, “That which comes from the lips,” as in God’s lips. What comes from the lips is Mitzvah, the Hebrew word for a Commandment. Many do not realize that different denominations divide the 10 Commandments differently. If you go through the list in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, and Leviticus 19 you will find three different lists and none have 10 Mitzvah.

The count varies somewhere between 14 and 18, depending upon the list, where you start counting, and when you stop.

According to Deuteronomy 5 and in the Jewish count, the First Mitzvah, the first words coming from God’s mouth are, “The NAME, the one we are to call upon, cut a Brit with us at Mount Sword. Not with our fathers^* did the NAME cut this Brit, but with us, alive, here, this day.

Face to face, the NAME spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire, while I was standing between the NAME and you at that time, to announce to you these words of the NAME, since you feared the fire and would not go up the mountain:

I am the NAME the one you are to call upon, who brought you out of the land of Egypt/Oppression (the Sweatshops of the American North. The Irish Potato Famine, the European 18^th and 19^th wars with their poverty and famine, and out of the house of menial labor.” You will remember what it was like to be there and you will remember your rescue.

Our Gospel follows this reading and takes it one step further. Jewish teaching is that if you are not personally at Mount Sword that day the Mitzvah does not apply to you, but neither does the promise. There is no promised land for you. The Hebrew verb has no past or future tense. Everything is completed or not completed at the present time. All memory is in the present. All thinking about what might be is in the present. Jesus suffers his passion for the first time, each time, we celebrate the Eucharist. Jesus suffers his Passion for the first time and each time we see suffering and do nothing. Jesus is therefore truly in the blessed host which we consume to become, get that to become, more like him.

This brings us to the second word for “Justice” and the word for “Righteousness,” Tsaddik.” If you want to know the meaning of this term, watch the movie, “Schindler’s List. Herr Schindler was a Tsaddik. He violated the rules so that he could have justice. Read the Nativity. It is coming upon in the coming month and we are reading Matthew’s account where Joseph is called a Tsaddik and he also violates the rules for the greater good.

Then look up at this first Mitzvah. Remember what it was like to be abused and remember your rescue. Then, when you see others suffering, do something. This is the first Mitzvah. This is Justice. This is Charity. This is righteousness.

This is also what our Gospel is about. Tsaddik are those who sometimes violate the rules to make sure all are fed, clothed, housed, and visited. They make sure all our welcomed into our communities. This means there is no room for such “tough love” in the first Mitzvah. There is no room for building huge ugly border walls to keep out the neighbors. We remember what it was like to be the neighbor in Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, and other places, trying to find refuge over here. We welcome the stranger because we know that if we don’t…

Here comes the second part of our Gospel reading. First, we notice how Jesus identifies with the poor and outcasts. As you did to the least of these, you did it to me.” Notice the last sentence, Matthew 26:1. This is his Passion. By “His,” the passage means both Jesus’ Passion and the Passion of the stranger, the less fortunate a-front you. As you do it to the least of these you participate in the Passion. In the Exodus, we read about how Pharaoh treated the least of those in his charge. God gave Pharaoh free swimming lessons. In the Gospel of John, chapter 9, the story of the man born blind ends, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.” We claim to know better so there is no excuse for cutting taxes on the wealthy and then saying, “There is no money in the budget of our minimalist government to help ‘the least of these.” Remember, our Gospel this Sunday is “An Address to the Nations,” and not an address to the church or individuals. It is an address to the nations and we are wise to listen to its advice. As Ben Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or we shall all hang separately.”

Sixth Sunday of Easter

This article began by searching for the English word “Keep.” It is an essential word for understanding the readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. Seeking the proper Greek verb I found ten. The first means to conserve, to maintain, or to preserve. Another word used means upkeep. Another Greek word means to retain, to hold, or to carry. Then I found that the Greek word used for this Sunday’s passage is a completely different word.

The Greek word reflects a Mediterranean concept, one that Jews would also very much understand. It is tied to Mediterranean agriculture and economics. One keeps sheep. This means far more than the retaining, holding, upkeep, or even carrying that we think of when we keep our home. It means guarding, feeding, moving from field to field, getting them to the vet when needed and a whole host of activities.

Jesus told his students: “If you love me, you will keep my Mitzvah.” The word used in the Greek, and in the Hebrew is this word tied to shepherding. It means giving constant attention to these Mitzvah. It means feeding them in your mind with constant study. It means moving them from field to field within your mind. The Hebrew Amidah helps explain the concept.

You favor man with assemblies of fact and teach mankind building up within the mind. Grant us assemblies of fact, building up and shekel from you. Blessed are You, Adonai, Grantor of fact assemblies.

The Amidah moves from this passage to: Cause us to return, our Father, to Your Torah and bring us near, our King, to Your service; and bring us back in whole-hearted repentance before You Blessed are You, Adonai, Who desires penitence.

It then moves to: Pardon us, our Father, for we have sinned, forgive us, our King, for we have transgressed; for you forgive and pardon. Blessed are You, Adonai, Gracious One, Who pardons abundantly.

In Jewish epistemology we move from basic facts to building these up in our mind through study. Shekel is the Jewish coin. One US Dollar is worth 3.63 72433 Israeli New Shekels. The shekel, like the dollar, is how we measure ourselves. The shekel stage of understanding is when we apply values to what we know. It is then that we move request coming to Torah, God’s service and repentance.

Our Second Reading tells us: Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear.

There are two ways to interpret this sentence and Saint Peter has both in mind. The Jews are the people of the book, meaning Torah. We must be able to interpret Torah to explain our faith. The second and the more important has nothing to do with Torah, Gospel, or Epistle. Jesus never quotes Torah when speaking with the masses. The closest he gets is when he says in the Sermon on the Mount, “You heard that it was said.” This is far from say, “In Exodus 20… it says…”

The second meaning is telling people about how Jesus shows himself in our lives.

You know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my Mitzvah and guards them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”

Saint Francis once said, “Go forth and preach the Gospel and if necessary use words.” This is what Jesus means and this is what Saint Peter means in the Second Reading for this Sunday.

If Jesus has not left us orphans we will be able to explain the parenting, the loving, the discipline, his sitting with us in our homes, his walking with us on the way his laying with us when we lay down at night, and his being with us when we rise in his morn tide. In debate you can argue that the Koran, for example, is not a valid text. An atheist can argue that Torah and Gospel are not valid texts. Nobody can argue against personal experience. Those who try just make folks angry.

One important caveat from our Second Reading, “It is better to suffer for doing well, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. The Greek words for Good and Evil here can be graphic. The word for Good is Agatha and means to be noble like JFK was noble. He had class. The word for Evil literally means Shit Maker. We know which president is famous for not having any class and for being a Shit Maker.

We are back to Saint Francis. “Go forth and preach the Gospel and if necessary use words.” “We preach the Gospel with our actions,” as Mother always said.

“We do so if we like it or not and whether we know it or not.” Folks will not judge us by what we have read but by what we do. It is better to be known for being noble, kind, charitable, and merciful and following the fruits of the Holy Spirit, than to be known for spreading poop wherever we go.

If Christ is in us and we are in him we will act like him. This means knowing who he is and that means constant study in his Gospel. In the Transfiguration, Matthew 17:5 we read, “While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen of him.” Again, we have this call for constant study. We read Torah to learn about Jesus’ father and we read Gospel to learn about Jesus.

Many say they love Jesus. They have not a clue what it means to be Jewish as Jesus was. They have not a clue who Jesus was or what he stood for and don’t care. Is this love or infatuation? God and Jesus do not call us to infatuation but to love. This means studying God’s word in his book and in our lives.

Fifth Sunday of Easter 2023

There are some very important things going on in the readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. One of these is a wedding. Judaism has its weddings in two stages. The first is called Erusin, and the second is Nissuin. We must get some ambiguities out of the way. Erusin is not engaged, Erusin is the wedding. There is also no such thing as pre-marital sex in Judaism, by definition.

A woman becomes betrothed to, a man to be his wife in three ways, and she terminates her marriage, in two ways. The Mishna elaborates: She becomes betrothed through money, through a writ, and through coition. https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Kiddushin.1.1?lang=bi&lookup=%D7%A0%D6%B4%D7%A7%D6%B0%D7%A0%D6%B5%D7%99%D7%AA&with=Lexicon&lang2=en

That means kids, if you have pre-marital sex, you are married. Saint Paul discusses this in 1 Corinthians 6:16 “Do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For “the two,” it says, “will become one flesh.” The coital act is a marriage act. Further, in the Greek, I Corinthians 7:36 literally reads, “If anyone thinks he is behaving improperly toward his virgin, and if a critical moment has come* and so it has to be, let him do as he wishes. He is committing no deviation; they marry, γαμείτωσαν.

If you decide later you don’t like the gay/gal and do the act with someone else, that is adultery and bigamy.

In Jewish tradition, the groom says, “Behold, thou art Kiddush/Holy unto me with this ring according to the Torah of Moses and of Israel.” In Judaism as in Christianity, the participants in the ceremony are God, the groom, and the bride. Marriage is a sacred act. https://www.brides.com/story/traditional-wedding-vows-for-non-demoninational-weddings#:~:text=Jewish%20Wedding%20Vows,-Unlike%20many%20other&text=During%20a%20Jewish%20wedding%2C%20the,dat%20Moshe%20v’Israel.%22

In Christianity, we speak about consummating the wedding. This is the Jewish Nissuin. This is when the bride and groom do the formal act, which can be the same day as Ersuin.

More properly, there is a year break. During this time the groom goes out and readies his home for his bride. In our Gospel, we see this when Jesus says, “You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.”

This represents how Jesus marries himself to his congregation, us. Jesus’ first-century followers would have understood this. Marriage is for Jesus, and for us, the example of how we should live our lives, as living stones, each helping the other.

Jesus then goes a step further. He speaks using two Greek words or more precisely a prefix and one word which also exists in English. The Greek prefix is “Peri” and it means “around.” The main Greek word is “Chorus.” In ancient Greek days, the chorus stood for the dance and we see this in our word “Choreography” which means the writing of the dance.

Look at your hand.

Those pink bones are your hand proper. The orange, purple, and aqua ones are your fingers. All together they make one complete hand. Sometimes they are one and sometimes they are not. It is necessary that sometimes they be one and sometimes that they be different. Otherwise, we could never grip things. Otherwise, we could never function.

When we think of what Jesus is saying, the fire picture above makes the statement better. Sometimes the fire comes out from the log as one whole. We can think of fire using the Hebrew term, “Ish.” We might also use the Greek term, “Photia,” as in photo.

For flame, we can use the Hebrew term, “Haba,” which relates to another Hebrew term that means love. The same fire has multiple flames which distinguish themselves from each other.

If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.”

If we as flame ground ourselves in Ahaba which is love to the greater fire, God working through us will do greater things than Jesus did.

A single dancer without his chorus can’t really say much. When he has his chorus he can do truly great things. This is perichoresis. Saint Paul uses grafting as an example in Romans 16:21. We only have life when we attach ourselves to the tree, bush, and plant trunk. When we do we are part of the greater fire. When we don’t we are just flame. What does this mean in practical terms? We are all living stones as Saint Peter says in our first reading. We are family. We are branches of the one living tree which includes stones, plants, animals, and most importantly, each other. We need to treat each other as such. If we do, we can do great things. If we are only for ourselves, we can do nothing. This is our lesson for this Sunday.

What a new Kansas City Chief logo might look like

If the Redskins change their name it is only a matter of time before the pressure grows to change the name of the Kansas City Chiefs. Wanting the name to change to remain the same but being offended by the Indian war hoops during the game, this is what I came up with. The figure is an Anglo-Saxon Chief from the time when Rome fell.

Plan for a new Redskins nickname and logo.

On the one hand, it is about time for the Redskins to distance themselves from the offensive Native-American logo. On the other hand, this writer can’t imagine the Washington D.C. team being anything else.

The thought process is a simple one. Footballs are brown, a shade of red, sort of. The football is also a pigskin. The Redskins also call themselves the hogs. The history of the hog for the motorcycle goes back a long way.

Harley-Davidson fielded its first factory race team in 1914 at the Dodge City 300. Although they were not victorious in their inaugural race, losing to arch-rival Indian, the five-man team came back to win at Dodge City in 1915 and 1916. In the years leading up to World War I, Harley riders dominated the sport of motorcycle racing, racking up first-place finishes across the United Stated earning the team the nickname “The Wrecking Crew.” (Which, ironically, is the same nickname that a group of Indian riders would pick up a few decades later.)”

Notice the focus upon Indians and hogs.

“All racing was postponed during WWI, with much of the motorcycle production going to military contracts, but once the war was over it was back to the track for the Wrecking Crew. They continued to come out on top, taking the checkered flag at board tracks and dirt tracks throughout the early 1920s. It was during this time that race team member Ray Weishaar acquired a pet piglet, which was quickly adopted as the team’s mascot. A tradition soon began of riding a victory lap after each win with the pig, whose name was Johnny, sitting on the gas tank of the winning race bike. This practice led to various journalists calling the racers “the Harley Hogs” as well as remarks that Harley was “hogging” all the victories from Indian and Excelsior. Eventually, the term “hog” became synonymous with any Harley-Davidson motorcycle.”

So, the plan is simple. Keep the name, largely, and change the referent. The new referent becomes, not Native-Americans, but footballs. The football becomes the redskin.  The team, represented by the hog, is the carrier.

The Redskins become the Redskin Carriers or Redskins for short. The name remains and the referent continues.

 

Plan for my Cleveland Browns

 

 

 

Click to see the slideshow: Sorry couldn’t get the show to upload as a video. On the top of the slideshow is a slideshow button and then press, “From Beginning,” to see the show. 

 

In this plan, when the offense comes out of the huddle and to the line, they go into something akin to what happens on the flight deck of a modern carrier. Three new players coming in on every play, two receivers, and running back. There is no time for thinking about if your job is to enter the field, leave the field, or remain on the field. The transition must go as fast as if there nobody was entering the field at all. If you have been on the field for two plays or are on the strong side of the field, you are leaving the field. If you are on the weak side of the field, you leave the field. If you are on the specified grouping for entering the field, you are ready to go.

I would really like to see my plan used in an up-tempo, no-huddle offense, but people keep pointing out to, “ARTICLE 10. DEFENSIVE MATCHUPS FOLLOWING SUBSTITUTIONS. If a substitution is made by the offense, the offense shall not be permitted to snap the ball until the defense has been permitted to respond with its substitutions.” I believe that as long as the up-tempo offense gives the defense time to make adjustments, the rule would not apply. The advantage is in the psychology of forcing the defense to make those changes and the psychology of players being pulled out of the game for however long a time because they are not suited to that offense. Still, another argument against using up-tempo regularly is that it would offend the players, offense, and defense. As an adjustment to the original proposal, I bring back huddles.

 

The closest thing to this offense and it has been run successfully was Steve Spurrier’s fun and gun offense at Florida. He used a stable of receivers, threw the ball to open up the run, and then used his running backs, in conjunction with the receivers to finish teams off. When the offense comes out of the huddle and to the line, they go into something akin to close order drill, or more precisely what happens on the flight deck of a modern carrier.

The greatest paradigm for the competition is the US military and the military is based upon discipline. Using the military as a paradigm has its advertising advantages too, just like having the Browns visit a school for the deaf to learn sign language and using their skills to promote switching sign language for cadence.

 

There is no time for hitting people on the head with their own helmets, no time for being offsides, holding, or penalties.

Like on a carrier flight deck, you are either disciplined and aware of everything going on, on the field, or you work somewhere else because you got hurt. If high school dropouts making two grand a month can do it, I think college graduates making two grand an hour can do it. The below video shows the importance of discipline on a carrier flight deck. You must know what is going on everywhere or you could get hurt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnCuvs-ACKQ

If you notice the noise level, The Kansas City Chief stadium has nothing on the everyday work station of an aviation tech on a carrier. You use hand signals or you don’t know what is going on. There is no quarterback counting cadence in this plan. When the center gives his signal, just like yellow-shirts on the carrier, he goes into position, and the internal count begins, just like in close order drill. This video gives an idea of how close order drill, using hand signals might work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgcMP-PyfTg

And you can have fun at it too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ0SR4NWdBg

 

With this in mind, here is my rotation:

 

Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, OBJ, Jarvis Landry, Donovan People Jones.

Baker Mayfield, Kareem Hunt, Kolin Kapernick, Jarvis Landry, D P J, Austin Hooper.

Baker Mayfield, Kolin Kapernick, Nick Chubb, D P J, Austin Hooper, Harrison Bryant.

Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Austin Hooper, Harrison Bryant, OBJ.

Baker Mayfield, Kareem Hunt, David Njoku, Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Harrison Bryant, OBJ, Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper.

Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, D P J, OBJ, Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper.

 

Again, could something like this work? Please let me know.

The BBC and Basic Right and Wrong.

“As the impeachment trial underscored, Washington cannot even agree on what constitutes right and wrong.

So much of what has gone awry has been resident in the trial of Donald Trump. The partisan vitriol. The degradation of debate. The use of what were previously rarely used weapons – in this instance impeachment – to escalate America’s ceaseless political war.

This sorry saga has offered yet more proof that, far from being an aberration, the Trump era is a culmination.

The hyper-partisanship of Republicans and Democrats has been evident in the party-line votes to impeach and acquit.

Again, we have witnessed the negative statecraft of Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who used parliamentary procedures to bar witnesses from even appearing in the trial – a case, historians may well conclude, of jurors actively obstructing justice.

In their rush to impeach Donald Trump, the Democrats also decided not to fight a lengthy court battle for the right to hear testimony from Bolton and other White House aides.”

So wrote Nick Bryant for the BBC.

At one time the nation really did have a clear notion of basic right and wrong.

“The separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Our Declaration of Independence mentions “Natural Law.” From where does Natural Law come?

The Statue of Liberty, showing the broken chains of our release from slavery

The Tzadik/charity/justice that comes from faith says, ‘Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down) or ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.’ That is, the word of faith that we preach).” Romans 10:6-8.

“The separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Saint Paul, of course, quotes Deuteronomy 30:11-19. “This Mitzvah I give you today is not too wondrous or remote for you. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up to the heavens to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may do it?” No, it is something very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it. “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, Boker Chaim.”

To look for basic right and wrong, we need not look into a book, even the Bible, a book written three thousand years and eight thousand miles away, if you but look. Of the meaning of life, a Rabbi once said in the Jerusalem Post, “I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, Boker Chaim.”

What does “Life” mean? Deuteronomy and by extension Saint Paul tell us, “The answer lies in your heart. That is why dead baby pictures work so well for the fundamentalists and pictures of starving people work so well for charitable organizations. We know what life is. We have but to put our mental constructs aside and look.

When we look, the answer lies before us. “Life,” “Liberty,” and the “Pursuit of Happiness,” are synonymous terms. Life is striving to become what it already is. Life is striving. Where there is no liberty there is no striving and therefore no life.

Back to the Rabbi. Is the fetus a living thing? Does he or she strive to become what it already is? It strives to become a human being. He or she is clearly a living thing entitled to life.

Of his mother, is the mother a living thing? Does she strive to become who she already is as a human being? She is clearly a living thing entitled to life. What does, “Choose life!” mean for that person? It means helping her to be all the positive things she strives to become.

What of her spouse? Is he a living thing? Does he strive to become what he already is as a human being? He is clearly a living thing entitled to life. What does, “Choose life!” mean for that person? It means helping him to be all the positive things he strives to become.

Of Society, Saint Augustine compares a Republic to a hundred-piece orchestra, a group of a hundred men with a hundred instruments of different pitch, timber, and volume. Their purpose is to create harmony, music for God to hear. That is concord. Quoting Cicero, quoting Scipio, he goes on to say that a society of men “The people he defines as being not every assemblage or mob, but an assemblage associated by a common acknowledgment of law, and by a community of interests.” Saint Augustine City of God, Book 2 Chapter 21. He concludes that where this orchestra does not exist there is no Republic. When there is no concord, there is no people, only a mob.

So we read the end of Nick Bryant’ article, “On Tuesday night, we witnessed American polarisation play out in real-time. During the impeachment trial, it often seemed that the very idea – and ideals – of America was on the stand.  A broken politics, a broken democracy, a broken country.  Is the United States beyond the point of repair? Can the United States long exist in the state it is in? Clearly the answer begins with understanding basic right and wrong. When will we do so?

Driving in the snow

(1) Keep your foot off the gas. (Slowdown.)

(2) Keep your foot off the brake. (more on this later.)

(3) At the first wide spot on the road violate rules one and two. (You will lose control of your car but your car will tell you what it will do if you must do the same trick later. I hear it helps with the brakes too.)

(4) When starting from a stop, turtles do better on this stuff than jackrabbits. Allow your car to do the driving. Your mother the car really knows more about how to drive on this stuff than you do.

(5) If it is really cold out and the road is wet, the road is not wet. (Make pretend your tires are skates. (The black Ice Rule.) Also, see rule (6).

(6) This rule is best practiced on dry pavement and again in a parking lot. I need to tell you about my ’73 Chevette first. It was puke green and had some minor northern Ohio problems. I could spend hours telling you about them but only two problems relate to rule five. I was poor, so had no money to buy brake pads and they had worn out six months before. Also, I had also burned out the clutch. I had to get the car up to speed, sometimes 60 miles per hour, and stop the car going through the gears using only speed shifting, Now, to do this and get away with it there is no room for tailgating. You need far more room between you and the car in front of you. You need a lot more room. Now that I have a newer car, I learned the same rules apply for my Chevette as apply for driving in snow. When figuring out how much space to have between you and the car in front of you, ask if you could stop your car using only speed shifting. Allow your mother the car to stop itself, not your brakes. Practice this on dry pavement. It takes some getting used to. If you practice this throughout the year your gas mileage will go up, way up.

(7) You can drive a hundred miles an hour on snow and ice. Relax and follow rule (5), but remember, there are jackrabbits out there wearing human flesh (children) and full body armor, (trucks). You can’t turn or stop at that speed.

(8) Four-wheel drive is designed to get you out of the ditch. Use it for anything else and it will put you into the ditch.

(9) If you must put on chains to get someplace, you can do it tomorrow. Relax and listen to Ryan Canaday on KTVN Channel 2 to find out what the less informed are doing.