When Jesus became God

 

That's the title of a book I haven't gotten hold of yet.

But I already know when Jesus became God.

I know it because of the Wednesday Bible study we have at Trinity.

We talked about the council of Nicea--where the Nicene Creed came into being and the Doctrine of the Trinity became part of the belief of the church.

Until 325 a.d. some Christians believed Jesus was 'chosen' by God to be the Savior. But the Council made clear that Jesus was 'begotten' by God, created from God's own being.

That's when Jesus became God.

If you haven't looked into the Council try it out on line. Wikipedia has a good recounting of it.

Very interesting stuff to dig around in.

 

Profound 'talk'

 

 Today at Bible Study, we didn't have an agenda.

They asked me to suggest something to discuss.

I had two questions. I told the folks there that they didn't have to answer out loud, I just wanted them to ponder the questions in their mind and heart.

Here are the questions.

    *"What is 'faith'?"

    *"What do you believe?"

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes, but then they began sharing and it was remarkable.

The depth and meaning of their pondering was astonishing.

People said things they had never shared before.

We all left humbled, enlightened and deeply moved....

 

M.F. is missed

 

M.F. is the musician at Trinity, where I celebrate and preach.

I've been around the Episcopal Church for quite a while and I think he's the best musician I've ever worked with--and I've worked with some good ones. He could be in any church, yet he stays at our little one out in the boondocks!

He had surgery last week and missed this Sunday and the next.

It was weird to do the Eucharist with no music.

Brought me back to my 21 years at St. John's and the 8 a.m. services in the chapel.

At least I faced the congregation--in the chapel my back was to them because the altar was against a wall.

I miss him so.

Come back to us soon, M.....

 

Generosity

 

 Small crowd at church today. But a man who's been there three times now showed incredible generosity.

He works in quality control for a shipping company or a factory.

Most of things they check are bathroom products from shampoo and hand lotion to toilet paper and paper towels.

When a carton is opened to check the quality, they can't reseal it and send it to the stores.

Usually it's thrown out--but not this week.

He brought six huge boxes of such stuff and gave it to the church to go to the homeless shelter and soup kitchen.

He didn't pay for it--but he went to all the trouble of loading it, driving it to church and unloading it there.

Generosity to those who need it most is God's will.

He did God's will today.

So generous....

 

No King in Cheshire

 

Bern and I went to the "No King" demonstration a few blocks from our house, in front of town hall on one side and the Congregational Church on the other.

I'm terrible about estimating crowds, but it could have been 2000--in a town this size that is amazing.

Lots of signs and shirts and chants.

I left early but Bern stayed till the end.

No speeches but lots of cars tooting support as they drove by the surging crowd.

If this was Cheshire I imagine the demonstrations around the country were monumental.

I hope so.

One sign said, "You should have seen it coming."

How true. But he was elected anyway.

Watch for whatever happens next....

 

News of the day

 

 I don't have to go to Diocesan Convention! Yea! Bishop Jeffery gave me permission to stay home. (That's of little interest to anyone but me....)

The president met with the leaders of  Ukraine about more US missals. He told them no (and seemed to indicate he had asked Putin if he should....)

Lots of reporters (including from Fox News) gave up their permits to ask questions at the Pentagon since the former Fox News guy told them they couldn't ask questions about classified information...and some that was unclassified. Good for them! Don't give in.

Bern bought me a "No King in America" tee-shirt. Nationwide demonstrations are planned for tomorrow around that theme. People are standing up to the want-ta-be monarch in the White House.

I'm going to find the Cheshire gathering--there's going to be one--tomorrow.

Time to raise our voices for Democracy....

Diocesan Convention/ The Trinity

 

The Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of CT is October 24 and 25.

I wrote to the Bishops today to ask to be excused because of my continuing health problems.

We shall see. We shall see.

Yesterday at Bible Study at Trinity we spent an entire hour discussing the Trinity.

I'm amazed at the insights and questions people had.

An hour on the Trinity!

Quite a conversation.

I was delighted by it....