Did Jesus Come for the Rich or the Poor?

Lets check the record, just for the fun of it.
Here's how Jesus announced his ministry.

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 
‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free, 


And in case you're wondering how the "religious" people took the news...not good!
Here the story continues:

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

~both passages are from The Gospel of Luke Chapter 4.

The Right Wing Evangelicals are not happy with Obamacare, because it tends to the poor. Yet tending to the poor, the sick, the imprisoned etc is what the Gospel is all about.

If you don't think so, check the record!

If you want an even clearer example of how Jesus judges the Nations on the planet, go to the end of his ministry where he makes the following pronouncement. The Religious Right Wing Fundamentalists executed Jesus shortly after this. These kinds of words are dangerous. 

So let me repeat them here.

Explain these words away to me. Anybody?

The Judgement of the Nations

 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Then he will say to those at his left hand, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” Then they also will answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?”Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’ 

I don't know what it takes to make anything clearer than this. But there you have it. If the Right Wing Evangelicals give you a hard time about what the Bible says, ask them to explain this away.

Better still, tell them right up close and personal and ask them to Repent of their Wickedness, and Return to the Lord!

Tell them Fr. Paul sent you.

American Feudalism

American Feudalism

It was Dickens who began his marvelous novel “A Tale of Two Cities” with these magnetic lines: 

“IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way- in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.That will be a choice that the people will ultimately make.” 

In the same way that we know that the Gospel breaks barriers between peoples and is ultimately inclusive of all without regard to common human classification, so too we know that the Gospel breaks the barriers of economic classification. Yet in my own lifetime, you and I have watched as the disparity of rich and poor has grown wider.

I can remember a time when we as an American people were full of optimism for four children’s future and enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. Forty years ago, America was a very different place than it is today. I remember that, in those days most of us had good jobs and they paid well. My step father was able to support his family on his salary and my mom was able to stay home to take care of her children. In those days, we all had health care just as a matter of course. We all took vacations then; three weeks was the norm, although new hires began with the basic minimum of two weeks. There were well funded pension funds that supplemented a Social Security system. And in 1965 Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare Act that guaranteed Medical Insurance for those 65 years of age and older. Education was affordable and universally available. Claiborne Pell and a bipartisan coalition of legislators made grants and student loans available for a vast number of American young people. We graduated from our schools in those days with good jobs and unbounded optimism and hope for the future that our children would have it even better than we did. According to wealth distribution schedules there was about an 80/20 split between the rich and the rest of us. That 20% for the middle class provided unprecedented wealth for Americans. The largest employers then were the auto makers and US Steel. We were the envy of the world.

That was then. 

As the Psalmist says; “The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, and the land will yield its increase” Psalm 85:12

In many ways those were the best of times. Now much of what we had then is gone. Jobs by the hundreds of thousands have been shipped overseas. Unemployment is at historic highs and the health care law that many of us fought so hard for is unpopular and likely to be struck down by the Supreme Court. Millions will be left without health insurance. Education has become so expensive that not only do graduates face grim prospects for work, they also face a lifetime of debt to pay off student loans. Where once we could almost always seek refuge in the public safety sector for decent jobs as police, fire and EMT’s or in education as teachers, now we face massive layoffs at a time when public safety is so urgently needed in a post 9/11 world. Where once Labor Unions achieved impressive economic advances for the American working people, now they are vilified and are being dismantled and cut down to siz. 

In former times, the rich paid the vast majority of taxes. 40 years ago the effective tax rate on the rich was over 35% and the middle class and poor paid around 20-26% effective tax rate. This too is now reversed where the rich pay less than 15% effective tax rate or no tax at all as in the case of many of the largest corporations. Where once we paid welfare to the poor, now we pay massive subsidies to the multi-national corporations. 

Recent Supreme Court rulings now reinforce the power of the wealthy by making it possible for Super PACS to buy elections with enormous infusions of cash for candidates this continued largesse to the super rich. 

Where once the proportionate split was about 80/20 between the rich and the rest of us, it is now about 92/8. More than 80% of the population of this country must live our lives on less than 8% of the nation’s wealth. It is no surprise that the housing bubble burst, and foreclosures have replaced home ownership, pension funds have disappeared and 401K’s have lost much of their capital value. What was once the American Dream has now become a nightmarish reality for many of our fellow citizens. And the economy continues its lackluster performance and millions suffer.

We have seen in many ways the best of times and the worst of times. Things could get better or they could get much, much worse. For us to deal with the new Feudalism under which we toil, I believe we must reverse the flow of wealth into the hands of the rich. Lets face it the wealth is not “Trickling down”, it is “Trickling up” and at a rate that endangers the viability of our economic system.

If Joh the Baptist were alive today, I believe he would be calling for repentance. He would prepare the way of the Lord. He would call for the exaltation of the valleys and bring the mountains down to size. He would call to make the rough places plane. He would probably loose his head to the powers that be for proclaiming such a message. But he would give the people hope nonetheless. Thus he would prepare the way for the Lord.

When the Anointed One came he too would call for Repentance. And he would bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, make the lame walk, and release to the captives. Great crowds would gather around him; the poor, the outcast, peacemakers, those that mourn and those who suffer to see the right thing done. And he would be crucified for sharing his message.

But then Hope would be born as that one seed would die. The sins of the whole world would be forgiven and eternal life such as only God could give it, would become a gift for those who put their trust and their love and belief in what he taught the world. 

We call ourselves a Christian Nation and yet so much of the message Jesus brought to us is obscured by a new aristocracy that smacks of the same kind of oppression that was the presage of many a historic change.

It must be said that the Gospel must contain a message of Hope or it is no Gospel at all. I have spent my life saying what I felt needed to be said. I have done my fair share in the soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless shelters, and safe havens for battered women and children. 

And I haven’t lost my voice. Thus I preach and I thank God from the bottom of my heart and I thank the people of God for giving me the blessing of living my life this way. Thus I proclaim my joy on the 40th Anniversary of my ordination.

In the Name of the Father and of The Son and of The Holy Spirit.

Brothers and Sisters

Brothers and Sisters!

“Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:35

When looking at this moment in the life of Jesus I cannot help but think of the possible hurt this comment could have and probably did cause to those closest to Jesus on this planet. I can well imagine what the conversation might have been at the dinner table the next time the Holy Family gathered!

“We were so proud of you Jesus, and we simply wanted to see you doing wonders. We wanted to hear you teach, see you heal; we, like all the others, wanted to be with you.”

And then I’m sure Jesus would have had to reassure his beloved family of his love for them too. But he had to make the point that in this world there is work to be done; God’s work!

“For whoever does the will of God, these are my brothers my sisters and my mother.”

Thus as I prepare myself to celebrate what will be 40 years of ordained ministry two weeks from today, I cannot help but think of where we have been as a people of God in that time.

Even before I began parish ministry, I found myself embroiled in Civil Rights struggles. A student from our Theological School has been shot and killed protecting a young black girl in the south just a year before I began my studies there.  Jonathan Myrick Daniels was to become our first modern Martyr. His assailant was acquitted of the crime and lived to the ripe old age of 84. The girl went on to study at the same seminary where Jonathan Daniels was a student, and she now works in the ongoing struggle for human rights.

In my very first parish, I remember introducing the new Book of Common Prayer. From my seminary education I knew that there were good reasons for these revisions. The Oxford Scholar and Anglican Liturgical authority, Dom Gregory Dix and his monumental work “The Shape of the Liturgy” was required reading for us. Episcopalians, Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics around the world had to come to terms with what we learned of ancient liturgical Eucharistic theology and practice.

The fact that I had done my homework didn’t make it any easier. Folks were accustomed to their beloved Prayer Book as I am sure many of you will remember and they did not always like the changes. In the beginning we used the Trial Liturgy on the Third Sunday of each month. The Senior Warden told me that the Choir was considering a boycott of those Sundays. I was trying to be reasonable, but this threat did get my back up and so I said; “You go and tell them that if they pull that stunt on me, we’ll use the Trial Liturgy EVERY SUNDAY!” We reached what you might call, an “Accommodation”.

Then of course there were the Philadelphia Eleven and the Ordination of women in the Church. And Barbara Harris of Philadelphia became the first Woman Bishop in the Anglican Communion in my Diocese in Massachusetts. You would have thought that the End indeed had come. I remember her consecration and the threats of those who considered leaving the church...and some did. But I also remember some dear friends who were classmates of mine including Carol Anderson who has distinguished herself as the long time Rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hill CA, a distinguished priest in her own right and one featured in Time Magazine. Now we all know that the ministry of the church has been vastly enriched by the presence of women in the ordained ministry.

More recently then there has been the controversy over inclusivity especially since the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. This has not been a problem for me and my family, in fact it is a great non issue for us personally since I was brought up by a gay uncle who stood in for my dad after his untimely death and two of my three sons happen to be gay. Still it is a huge issue for the larger world of faith, and is the center of what we now call “Culture Wars” in our American Theo-Political world. 

Suddenly it seems the line between Church and State which once we had thought was inviolably and indelibly etched in the Constitution has now become blurred.

In all this Controversy and Struggle there comes to me a sense that when I was Ordained, I was sent out to do the work that God has given me to do, indeed as I look back on these 40 years, I become aware that we have all been sent out to do the work that God has given all of us to do.

In the case of St. Gabriel’s we are indeed “Learning and Doing the Work of Jesus”. In the words of St Peter’s Church of Salem;“We are a House of Prayer for ALL People” and if I may add two words which the Biblical Record makes utterly clear...NO EXCEPTIONS!

Now that I have retired twice and am working on a yet a third retirement from this wonderful Church. I have a chance to look back and admire how far we’ve come.

I’m sure many of you know that the Holy Father of the Roman Catholic Church has issued an invitation to disaffected Episcopalians/Anglicans to come over to Rome for refuge. I couldn’t help but wonder whether there might be Roman Catholics who might be disaffected as well by the continued insistence on Celibacy especially when it is clear that Rome is fumbling its way around sexual child abuse at best. 

I wondered if there were those devoted souls, Nuns and others who have been advocating for ministry among the world’s poorest of the poor and for women’s rights and extending the heart of God’s love to all people without regard to gender or orientation.

I wondered if there were those tired of the rants on abortion and family planning and marginalization of various and sundry outcasts...when the very Founder of our Faith was radically present to these very people.

Thus I found myself forced to articulate an invitation to such disaffected souls from the Roman Church to the Episcopal Church, because of all the work that we have been doing throughout these 40 years. We have been making room in the Heart of God for ALL People without regard to any of these false human pigeon holes we tend to put people into.

After all God is One, Jesus is One and Humanity is One. The Church if nothing else is called to be Perfectly One with God and Jesus and ALL Humankind.

Forty years! Well in some ways the outward nature is beginning to show its mileage or as the Epistle said in today’s Second Lesson. somewhat indelicately, “waste away”.  I do have my aches and pains and medication to take. But inwardly you and I are being renewed “every single day”. I know I am!

I know with every certainty in my being, that as that “tent I live in” as Paul puts it, is being destroyed, so too there is a “building from God, not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens”.

I have already heard from dozens of people who want to know how to make their way toward the Episcopal Church in any number of States, in Canada, in The United Kingdom in Australia and in New Zealand

Friday night, rather late I heard from a woman who has felt a sense within her that she is called to priesthood. That’s impossible for her to even contemplate in her church. She said she was going to visit an Episcopal Church somewhere this very morning to see if God could embrace her there without regard to her gender.

I want to thank you for giving me a spiritual home for these several months. You give me an opportunity to Preach the Gospel and not just here but much more widely than I could ever have imagined.

You are my brothers and my sisters and my mother. Anyone who does the will of God are my brothers and my sisters and my mother. There are millions who are waiting to hear the Good News that the Gospel of God’s love includes them too! “Send us out to do the work you have given us to do!”

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To Disaffected Roman Catholics et al

To all of our disaffected Roman Catholic sisters and brothers; Nuns, Clergy, laypeople, divorced, gay, etc. to those of you tired of the rants on abortion and lack of care for the kids we already have on the planet suffering under oppression, poverty and war, to those of you fed up with the marginalization of gay folks, and a church that continues to fumble its way through the child abuse scandal;

To the Religious of America, courageous nuns who have stood by the poor and for women's rights, and have given great comfort to all people without regard to sexual orientation, and now face the ire of the papacy;

To my Methodist friends who are utterly put out over the Church's stand on homosexuality, how far Methodism has come from those days when she stood foursquare with the poor and the working people of England and elsewhere.

To disenchanted evangelicals to all others who find the National conversation on Race, Ethnicity, Class, Gender and Orientation to be taking a decided turn away from the teachings of Jesus,

In the Name of the Church I invite you to consider The Episcopal Church

The Holy Father has made provision for disaffected Anglicans/Episcopalians to "come over" to Rome.

It is now time we make the same provision for those disaffected by a male dominated misogynistic organization that marginalizes vast stores of humanity from the heart of God.

Consider if you will one church that sees itself with Biblical clarity as "A House of Prayer for ALL People" The Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

Nothing Will Work Until Everyone Works!

Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

Lets be clear about what we want. 

WE WANT JOBS!

Old solutions will not work any more. Neither Romney nor Obama will be the answer to the Depression we are in. Congress is even less likely to step up to the plate. A much larger problem faces America. 

Disparity in wealth is the real problem and it is getting worse. The Occupy America movement is exactly correct in noticing the nature and shape of the problem. The concentration of wealth in too few hands presents the greatest threat there is to the Republic and we are exactly correct in saying so.

Multi-national corporations will continue to ship our jobs overseas whoever is in office. Money will continue to flow into the hands of the rich and the super rich.

Working people will continue to pay 25-30% of their incomes in taxes.

Rich people will continue to pay less, perhaps 12-15% in taxes as Romney and Obama do.

Corporations will often pay little or even nothing as GE does.

Welfare is now poor folks subsidizing rich folks.

Republicans will continue to argue that this is the wrong time to raise taxes on the rich, saying that they already pay 85% of the tax burden in the country. Since they have vastly more than 85% in wealth, it follows that the working people and the middle class subsidize the rich to a very significant degree. 

Industry has never had more cash on hand. If they are not hiring now, when will they ever?

Democrats have simply lost their killer instinct. Republicans have that in spades, as they go after Obama as the personification of all that is wrong with America.

We are simply going to have to speak up for ourselves.

We need jobs! 

It really is as simple as that. Of all the "safety net" programs in place, they are nothing worth if we don't have work to do. This is the first time in our history, since the last depression, where we have simply not had enough work to do. 

With Walmart replacing US Steel and GM as the largest employer in America, so our earning power has dissipated along with health care and other benefits. We cannot even afford to retire anymore.

Work has become our last greatest export. And the American Union movement has been almost totally emasculated by Republican gangster politics.

Unions and Democrats have forgotten that Big Business will in fact call out the goons and the thugs to continue their warfare against the working people of this country and we have been far too passive in the face of the attack on the American Worker.

Interestingly enough the American Worker has been hoodwinked into buying the Republican line. We vote for them thinking they will give us tax breaks. In the meantime they give themselves tax breaks and send our jobs overseas.

They make us think that Deregulation will free up the American economy for growth. The reality is that Greed on Wall Street inspires amazing ways to bet on the failure of Financial Institutions and Corporations and use that failure to make huge fortunes. Grand theft on a previously unimagined scale takes place right before our eyes and we stand gazing and the regulatory agencies do nothing. (Often by law cannot do anything.)

In the meantime the value of our Pension Funds, 401k's and IRA's falls in value as they gleefully rub their hands together as the money pours into their pockets.

Cimes of unimaginable dimension go unpunished while kids without work in our inner cities and rural areas spend the best years of their lives behind bars for 7-11 holdups and selling drugs to their friends.

Super Pacs are now killing off the Democracy.

Money is now the Ruler. Our move toward Oligarchy is in fact gaining momentum

This is now our last great chance to speak up.

We much have jobs.

Every American who wants to work must have work. 

With decent wages.

Good health care coverage.

Time off to spend with their loved ones.

We must rename the Unemployment Bureau the Employment Bureau

We must rename Unemployment Insurance...Employment Insurance.

And we must put every American to work who wants to work.

It is time to reclaim Government as our own. 

We are the Government of these United States of America.

Instead of allowing the Republican Party to lay off hundreds of thousands more with their budget, put Americans to work at all levels of Government.

Hire back the Police, Fire, EMT's, Teachers, DPW workers and so on until every single American is back to work.

Do it now.

Send the Bill to the Rich, the Super Rich and the Multi-Naitonals. They've been sucking off the the working people dry for far too long.

Keep at it America. Occupy the Streets! All the Cities! All The Capitals! 

Mass Rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Labor Day!

Remember how you saved the Financial Institutions who were too big to fail.

It is time to save the working people and the middle class. 

I know Romney won't help us. I only wish we could put enough pressure on the President and Congress to put us to work.

WE WANT JOBS!

The Holy Trinity, One Love, NO EXCEPTIONS!

The Holy Trinity

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Shorthand for God’s Dynamic Activity in Creation

If ever there were a time when we needed the power of God, this would be it. There is in the body politic of the United States and in the theological world of faith a near total breakdown in the art of conversation. There is no debate that there is a dangerous disparity in wealth distribution in the United States. The problem is that there is no debate at all as to how to deal with it. Our conversation is non existent. Similarly in the world of faith the Progressives take one corner, the Evangelicals another and the Atheists still a third. If the three of us in our respective corners could find a pathway toward genuine conversation we could conceivably discover a Trinity of Powerful Resolution to the daunting issues that face us. 

For that reason, I propose a fresh look at the Holy Trinity as a possible pathway toward fruitful discourse. Let us look at the Trinity not so much as a doctrine but as an experience available to us with all the Power of God to change human hearts and human culture

God Creates

God Saves

God Sanctifies

and so do we

We Name God; Father

We Name God; Jesus

And we Name God; Holy Spirit





I.

God The Father

For whom there is no image other than the One that enthralls us with the Glory of God’s Creation. As Moses was enthralled by the Burning Bush, so in that Glory I notice as Moses did the Great I AM dwells within my own Being. Thus the “I am” within me comes to life with the potential for all kinds of creativity. As Moses wrote the Law, as Mohammed wrote the Koran, and all the writers of all the Sacred and Holy Writings of humankind, we find that it is within our grasp to approach The Holy One, the God and Father of All.

The impulse to create, of course, knows no bounds in art, literature, music, architecture etc. We describe the Glory of God and the Reality of Human Experience with amazing creativity.

II.

God The Son

The One Whose Compassion can only Give His Life for me, suggests that we can also offer our lives on behalf of one another. Sometimes we'll do that in dramatic ways as Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King have done, more likely we'll make more modest sacrifices for the benefit of humankind.

Jesus whose hands uplifted reminds me of his unending blessing extended toward me, teaching me to love myself and all others as he himself cannot help but love

“Woe is me”, I thought just as the prophet says in today's first lesson, “I am a man of unclean lips”, and yet one of the Seraphs is dispatched to take a burning coal from the Altar of God, to touch my lips and enables me to sing with the Angels and the Archangels and the Whole Company of Heaven. You children who receive your communion today have been touched by the angels of God as we all are and so we all sing

“Holy Holy Holy”

"Who will go for me?" God asks, "Here am I, send me." The only possible reply!

III.

God The Holy Spirit

Heavenly Dove

Alighting upon us and filling us with all the goodness of God. What once dwelt among us in flesh and blood in the Personhood of Christ now dwells within us in the Personhood of God the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit guided the Early Church to open its heart to every race and nation upon the earth so now we too carry on this work in the world to proclaim that The Holy Spirit is alive and active in God’s Church; God’s People: that’s you and me, so that everyone might come within the loving embrace of God

NO EXCEPTIONS!

Closely allied with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit there is

The Holy Wisdom of God

The Hagia Sophia, literally 

She, yes She, “Sophia”, the Greek word for Wisdom, like the name itself, is feminine, in the language of The Scripture. She who brooded over the deep at God’s Creation now seeks the Day when the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the Sea. And the human heart cries “Abba, Father” as “children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs of Christ, so that as we suffer with him we may also be glorified together.”God now fills my heart with

The The Dynamic Community known as God

Much as we see sub atomic particles in powerful bonds to one and other

Much as we see the Universe and its inter-galactic relationships bound by incredible forces of nature

So too we see in the Trinity a dynamic activity within

The Relationships

We know as God the Creator, Savior, and Sanctifier

One in Essence

One in Nature

Yet Three in Personhood

Can you imagine the Power available to humankind or to you personally in the Holy Trinity?


We sing the ancient Breastplate of Blessed Patrick


I bind unto myself this day The Strong Name of the Trinity

Since God gives us the Power to be Co-Creators with the Father to help us build our families and friendships our homes and careers, our Arts and Sciences and our relationships with one another and  with God, we have amazing capacity for abundant life. 

But then when The Evil One strikes, as it often does, to destroy that which is Sacred. When our nature errs and wastes away far from the hopes we once had, Jesus, then, is the Power to Salvage what he can of our lives. Jesus Gives us Power doggedly to Love Ourselves and to Love One Another and teaches us how to redeem our lives from Despair.

This is why we Bind the Strong Name of The Trinity unto ourselves because it takes all that is in us to be open to this Grace. We cannot do this work alone. That is why Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world but that though him the world might be saved

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

The Hope of God’s Kingdom that dwells within us; The Holy Spirit And as the Wisdom from on High awaken the Courage of God’s Comforter! If we but awaken to this power, we could unleash the power of God within us for the God's purposes for the service of God's people to bring justice with compassion and for the purposes of peace.

The Personality of God is thus a personality that is tremendously Creative. God eagerly thrusts his only begotten into the affairs of humanity to salvage what he can of it and then makes us Holy enough for forgiveness and eternal life through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Last week I told you of a Hindu Atheist that liked my blog. I want to tell you of another atheist who is also a follower of mine. He is a skilled master carpenter and a renowned Boston Furniture maker. He made some money in the DotCom days of software development. He fancies himself an atheist but he has befriended me because there is something very special he sees in the life of Jesus and we both see something very special in friendship. This like, the Trinity itself is a Mystery to be enjoyed and employed not explained.

And then there was the atheist in West Virginia who admired our work at the soup kitchen there and gave us $250,000 to support our work. He directed that the money not be spent to support the church but to feed the poor, quoting Jesus, interestingly enough, He who said to Peter; “Do you love me?” Three times he asked Peter the same question. Three times Peter said “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said again three times “Feed my sheep.”

We feed the hungry here at the Community Table, we tend to the elderly across the way at the Villa, and we teach and care for the young at The Learning Center. There is much more to do, but our focus is on the needs of God’s People.

That is the work of God in Trinity of Persons. And when a parish priest can generate a following of atheists like these, I suggest to you that much is indeed possible with God. The world is craves considered conversation so that together we can deal with the problems and issues we face.

I Bind unto Myself this Day the Strong Name of the Trinity on behalf of these children who will taste and see the goodness of God in this Great Sacrament. 

There is that magic number three.

Three atheists, three stories, One God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of The Holy Spirit.