EPISCOPAL SHIELD FLAG CAKE !
Congratulations to St. Alban’s Confirmands!
October 25, 2010Questions for the CREED
October 17, 2010
The Creed is like a Map…
Spirituality can be dangerous if you don’t have a map and guide to help lead you. The Nicene Creed serves as a map and guide for Christians who want to pursue spirituality and (re)connect with God.
Remember the history?
The Roman Empire persecuted the Christians until the early 300s, when Emperor Constantine stopped the persecutions and called the Council of Nicaea, where Christians decided that people need to believe that Jesus is fully human and fully divine in order to reconnect with God. They also wrote the Nicene Creed, which we read every Sunday.
Who is God?
God is “one”
God is Maker
Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the Son of God
Jesus is God incarnate as man
Jesus is our salvation
Jesus offers eternal life
Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit gives us life and breath
What is the Church?
The Church is universal (catholic)
The Church is apostolic (based on the teachings of the Apostles)
The Church is a community of people connected to God through the Holy Spirit in baptism
The Church believes in the resurrection of the dead
Final Thoughts…
These are all metaphors: Language trying to contain what cannot be contained.
Doubts and Questions keep Faith alive and well, so keep asking Questions!
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father, God from God,
Light from Light, true God from true God,
begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son, she is worshiped and glorified.
She has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
What is a Pilgrimage?
October 17, 2010
What is a Pilgrimage?
A Pilgrimage is a journey to a particularly sacred space.
Muslims make hajj to Mecca. Buddhists visit the Bodhi Tree, where the Buddha attained enlightenment. Jews pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel.
What is a Christian Pilgrimage?
A Christian Pilgrimage is a journey to a particularly sacred space where Christians can discover the image of God within themselves, others and the world in new and refreshing ways.
Christians make pilgrimages to the Holy Land, where Jesus walked and where biblical events took place. Christians also make pilgrimages to holy places called Cathedrals. The Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Diocese, where the bishop worships and has his very own seat (cathedra). Cathedrals are built in order to help pilgrims, parishioners and visitors connect with God, themselves and others. In the Middle Ages, many people did not have enough money to go on pilgrimages, so they made these things called Prayer Labyrinths which people could walk on while they prayed. These prayerful walks served as mini-pilgrimages.
Why?
Christians go on pilgrimages and walk Prayer Labyrinths in order to connect with God. Christians also connect with God through prayer, the reading of Scripture, worship, liturgy, community, fasting, service, and silence.
A Christian Mystic named Meister Eckhart said, “Silence is God’s first language.” Although it can be really hard to do, practicing silence is a great way to connect with God and hear God’s voice. The word that Christians use for this practice is contemplation (listening to God in silence).
For more on Christian Pilgrimage, click here.
Pilgrimage to Grace Cathedral
July 24, 2010
On Sunday September 26, St. Alban’s Confirmantion Class will be making a pilgrimage to Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. After a picnic in the park and a lesson on the outdoor prayer labyrinth, we will join other pilgrims for a Contemplative Eucharist service. After Eucharist, we will explore the Cathedral, asking ourselves, “What here helps me connect most with God?”
Schedule
3:45 PM Meet at North Berkeley BART station
4:00 PM Take BART (to Fremont) to MacArthur
4:15 PM At MacArthur, transfer to BART (to Milbrae)
4:35 PM Arrive at Powell St. BART station
4:45 PM Take Cable Car up Powell St. to Huntington Park ($5)
5:00 PM Picnic at Huntington Park
5:15 PM Check In (Highs and Lows)
5:30 PM Lesson on Prayer / Contemplation / Pilgrimage
5:45 PM Worship on the Labyrinth
6:00 PM Contemplative Eucharist at Grace Cathedral
7:15 PM Explore the Cathedral: “What in the Cathedral helps me connect most with God?”
7:30 PM Walk down to Powell St. BART station
8:15 PM Take BART (to Pittsburg / Bay Point) to Oakland City Center
8:30 PM At Oakland City Center, transfer to BART (to Richmond)
8:45 PM Arrive at North Berkeley BART station
What to Bring
$7.40 for roundtrip BART ticket
Sack Dinner for Picnic at Huntington Park
Permission Slip
Camera (optional)
But What’s a Pilgrimage?
A Christian Pilgrimage is a journey to a particularly sacred space where Christians can discover the image of God within themselves, others and in the world in new and refreshing ways.
If interested, I unpack this definition here: Christian Pilgrimage
What’s Episcopalian, Anyway?
May 26, 2010
Last month, we summarized the billions of years from pre-history to Pentecost. This lesson on Church History will cover the couple millenia from Pentecost to Present…
Biblical History
After Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit descended to help us reconnect and establish the Church. Right away, people in the Church started asking, “Who is allowed to reconnect with God? Who is allowed to live according to the image of God?” Most of Church history is about Christians trying to answer these questions…
Ancient History
Throughout history, Christians have held meetings called councils where they try to agree on who is allowed to reconnect with God. Since they agreed that only Christians were allowed to reconnect with God, they had to decide who was allowed to be a Christian. At the Council of Jerusalem, they decided that Gentiles (non-Jews) were allowed to reconnect with God through Christ.
The Roman Empire persecuted the Christians until the early 300s, when Emperor Constantine stopped the persecutions and called the Council of Nicaea, where Christians decided that people need to believe that Jesus is fully human and fully
in order to reconnect with God. They also wrote the Nicene Creed, which we read every Sunday.
The Church held more six more councils, all agreeing that belief in the dual nature of Christ is necessary to reconnect with God. However, the Church split into the East and West because they could no longer agree on what was necessary to reconnect with God. The West became known as the Roman Catholic Church and the East became the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Medieval History
Followers of Islam called Muslims began to grow and spread, the Bubonic plague wiped out a quarter of Europe and political disagreements abounded. The Church responded to these problems by deciding that Muslims, Jews, and heretics were not allowed to reconnect with God. This decision resulted in the Crusades, anti-Semitism and the burning of heretics. “Heresy” means “choice” and the Christians in power did not like it when other Christians made their own choices about what is necessary to reconnect with God.
Reformation History
Martin Luther believed that faith in Christ was all that was needed to reconnect with God and protested against the Christians in power, who thought that much more was necessary to reconnect. Luther began the Protestant Reformation. The King of England, Henry VIII, joined the movement and founded the Church of England, also called the Anglican Church. Queen Elizabeth decided to include both Catholic and Protestant ideas in the Anglican Church and quit burning heretics. She also commissioned the writing of the Book of Common Prayer.
Modern History
England’s many colonies around the world (in Canada, Australia, South Africa, Scotland and others) became part of the Anglican Church or Communion. The English colonies in North America were also Anglican but changed their name after the American Revolution. We called ourselves “Episcopalians” and still do. Like the Catholic Church, we have Bishops who oversee a Diocese. And like the Protestants, we emphasize Scripture and faith in Christ. Episcopalians believe there are many ways to reconnect with God and that everyone can reconnect with God, regardless of race (Absalom Jones), gender (Bishop Barbara Harris), and sexual orientation (Bishops Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool). Today, Episcopalians are on the forefront of affirming and including different people and different ways to reconnect with God.
Rev. Absalom Jones was the first African-American priest ordained in the Episcopal Church (1804)
Bishop Barbara Harris was the first female bishop in the Episcopal Church. (1978)
Bishop Gene Robinson was the first openly gay priest to be elected Bishop (2003)
Bishop Mary Glasspool was the first lesbian to be elected Bishop. (2010)
Although Episcopalians believe that Jesus Christ is the way to reconnect with God, we remain open to learning from other religions and traditions about how they reconnect with God.
Acolyte Training on Sunday June 13th
May 24, 2010
All Confirmands and Acolytes will meet in church after the 10 am worship service on Sunday June 13th. Remember that, in order to be confirmed, you need to acolyte at least once as a rite of passage. See you on Sunday June 13th.
The Big Picture
May 21, 2010
Last month, we learned some of the basics of Christianity. This Sunday, we’ll take a step back and get a bigger picture by looking at some of the key stories of the Bible. You can listen to the lesson by clicking the colored text below.
Imago Dei (Lesson Part 1)
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1) Creation or Evolution? It’s Both.
(Evolution is part of God’s creative process. The Bible is not a scientific document, but a poetic story of God’s creation, using symbol and metaphor)
God made Adam and Eve in God’s Image, but Eve and Adam disobeyed God.
Their disobedience set up a wall between them and the Garden of Eden, a wall between them and the Imago Dei within.
Today, we still have this wall in ourselves, keeping us disconnected from God. This disconnection is called SIN . The rest of the Bible is about God trying to reconnect with us.
Trying to Reconnect (Lesson Part 2)
Do you know what the word religion means?
How do we reconnect with God? How do we live according to the image of God? These are the questions the Bible seeks to answer.
God tries different ways to reconnect with us…
Tries with Noah and the flood, but he messes up.
Then with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… Jacob wrestles with God and changes his name to Israel. Jacob then has twelve sons, including Joseph.
Israelites become enslaved in Egypt.
After God frees them with the help of Moses, God wants to teach them how to reconnect. He does this by giving them the Law.
Do you remember the ten commandments? (Exodus 20:1-17)
Still Trying to Reconnect (Lesson Part 4)
Books of Hebrew Scripture (Old Testament)
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
The Torah: God’s teaching on how to reconnect with Him.
The Torah is very important to the Jews.
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, (Job)
These books are about the Israelites fighting the Canaanites and trying to establish a kingdom.
King David made some serious mistakes, but was a man after God’s own heart. He really tried to reconnect with God through prayers: Psalms.
King Solomon is considered the wisest man in the world: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs.
The Prophets were always trying to help the Israelites reconnect with God, mostly by reminding them to take care of the poor and to stop worshipping idols. The Prophets include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Books of Christian Scripture (New Testament)
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
God finally decided to send a Prophet who was so perfectly connected to God and the image of God within that those around him insisted that he was God. They called him the Son of God. He went around teaching, healing, loving and telling others about the image of God within them. He taught others to reconnect with God through love. And we responded to his message by killing him. But because he was so connected to God and wanted us to be connected, he came back from the dead to forgive us and say, “I love you and still want to teach you how to connect with God”:
After Jesus ascended, the Holy Spirit descended to help us reconnect and establish the Church: Acts. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul became the founding theologian of the church and wrote most of these letters: Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I Peter, II Peter, I John, II John, III John, Jude, Revelation
Who is Jesus Christ?
April 26, 2010
Watch this video of Jesus in Film and consider which “Jesus” speaks to you most.
Listen to April 25 Lesson (edited) here:
Is Christ God?
The answer is Yes.
Is Christ Human?
The answer is Yes.
Jesus Christ is God as a Human, showing us what God is like.
Jesus Christ showed us that God is Love.
Why did Christ die?
We have all disobeyed God. We have all sinned.
And the punishment for sin is death.
Christ received the punishment for our sin when he died on the Cross.
By accepting Christ’s death on the cross as punishment for our sin, we receive the gift of eternal life.
We also receive the gift of a life lived to its fullest today! Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) The fullest, most abundant, most fulfilling and exciting life you can live is a life committed to the radically loving God revealed in Christ.
Confirmation is a commitment to seek that full life by following Christ.
That’s Christ, Christianity and Confirmation in a nutshell.
We will be unpacking these things in the next several months…
Some Questions that came up in our discussion:
If we are all children of God, what makes Jesus Christ (“the Son of God”) different than us?
How can Jesus Christ be the Son of God and God at the same time?
How is being in a relationship with Christ the same as or different from being in a relationship with a friend, parent, mentor, sibling, boyfriend/girlfriend?
How is God revealed in Christ different from God in Judaism, Islam, etc.?
If God made the whole universe, why does God pay attention to us?
How do we see the image of God in people that are / look different than us?
Since God has forgiven us in Christ, why not continue sinning?
Finally, do we want a relationship with Christ?
Other hot topics discussed:
Anti-Semitism (hostility and prejudice towards Jewish people)
Mystics (Christians who sometimes experienced Christ as a boyfriend/girlfriend)
Gnostics (Heretical ‘Christians’ who believed Jesus had a girlfriend / who believed Jesus was fully God, but not fully human)
Antinomianism (The idea that we can sin as much as we want now because Christ has forgiven us and will continue to forgive us)
Confir-What?
April 21, 2010
Q. What is Confirmation?
A. Confirmation is the rite in which we express a mature commitment to Christ, and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop (Book of Common Prayer, 860)
In other words, Confirmation is telling your community that you have chosen to commit your life to Christ (and you want the community to help you follow through with that commitment). This class invites students to figure out for themselves whether or not they want to commit their lives to Christ. The purpose of the class is not to convince students to be confirmed but rather to create a safe and sacred space where questions can be asked, doubts can be held, relationships can be forged and faith can be honestly explored.
