Happy Birthday, Church!

Today is Pentecost, the birthday of the church, when the Holy Spirit touched Jesus' disciples in Jerusalem. The Winged Ox presents Mother Sandra preaching today's sermon. The texts for today are:

• Acts 2:1-21


• Psalm 104:24-34, 35b


• Romans 8:14-17


• John 14:8-17, (25-27)

You can read these biblical passages here.

Our music is by Jeff Wahl, First Day, available from magnatune.com

Happy Birthday, Church!

Healing Service: Enemies Within

The Winged Ox presents our healing service for May 24, 2007. Mother Sandra's text is Acts 23:6-11. She also references Paul's farewell to the Ephesians and his subsequent journey to Jerusalem which begins around verse 13 of Acts 20. You can read about the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.

Our music is by Josh Winiberg, Dawn available from beatpick.com

Healing Service: Enemies Within

The Jesus of Nazareth School for Mission and Ministry

The Voice of the Winged Oxpresents Mother Susan's Ascension sermon The Jesus of Nazareth School for Mission and Ministry. If you are not one of the baptized, don't hesitate to get in touch with us via email, by calling our comment line at **206**203**0972** or by coming to church or contacting St. Luke's directly. Or just keep listening!

You can read the lesson from Acts here and Psalm 97, Revelation and John here.

revmerrill read the wear sun screen quotation in Kurt Vonnegut's book God
Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian

Click here for some graduation quotations.

Our music is by Josh Winiberg, Ascension, available from beatpick.com

5K

The Voice of the Winged Ox presents 5K St. Luke's sponsored a 5k run-walk today. revmerrill and her dog guide, Elwood, participated.

Healing Service: Ascension: Rejoice in the Mystery

The Voice of the Winged Ox presents our healing service on Ascension Day. Mother Sandra preaches on Mark 16:9-15, 19-20. Josh Winiberg at beatpick.com plays his composition Ascension.
Healing Service: Ascension: Rejoice in the Mystery

Reading the New Testament, Part 2: The Gospels (B)

The Voice of the Winged Ox presents the second part of a five-part series on Reading the New Testament team taught at St. Luke's Episcopal Church by our rector Eric Williams and our associate rector Susan Williams

It took the Christian church over 400 years to sort out many ideas about who Jesus is. Our four gospels give different answers. People taught, wrote and discussed these questions and came to some decisions regarding helpful ways to think about Jesus and not so helpful ways to think about Jesus. Below are some notes to clarify class materials.

• Paul of Samosata was a proponent of adoptionism in the 3rd century.


• Arius taught that Jesus was a creature of God, a being created by God and not equal to God.


• Apollinaris taught that Jesus did not have human intelect although in all other ways he was fully human.


• Finally, in 451 C.E., the Council at Chalcedon provided this formula:
  

  
  THEREFORE, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the Godbearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.
  

Part 2 is in two parts. In this podcast we look at the gospels of Mark, Luke and John.

Our music is Fortune Laisse (Attaingnant), artist: Edward Martin, album: Art of the Lute in Renaissance, available from magnatune.com
Reading the New Testament Part 2: The Gospels (B)

Helpful Resources

From time to time, we will post resources to assist you in your study.

The
New Testament: An Introduction

History
of the Christian Church

Gnostic
Gospels


The
Community of the Beloved Disciple

Contact Us

You may leave a comment here, call our comment line at **206**203**0972** or email us.

To Hell in a Hand Basket

The Voice of the Winged Ox

presents
our
Sunday sermon. We're still learning how to record this so the audio is not as clear as we would like it to be.

Father Eric's text is Revelation 21:10, 21:22-22:5

Here are Father Eric's preaching points. They will help you follow the audio.

• Book of Revelation 
  
  
  
  • Almost didn’t make it into the Bible
  
  
  • Full of weird and terrifying images
  
  
  • 666, Two headed beasts, lakes of fire, plagues and devastation
  
  
  • Source of obsession with the end times (Left Behind series, etc.)
  
  
  
  
• Symbolism points us instead to a different message entirely.  Chapter 17:9-14 spells it out.
  
  
  
  • Accordingly, the woman sits on the seven-headed beast as a symbol of her "seven hills" -- the seven hills of Rome. The woman is the city of Rome, here depicted as the persecutor of Christians. Then it says that the seven heads are also seven kings. And we can read from its cryptic terminology the references to the Emperors of Rome.
  
  
  • The "five fallen" refer to the five emperors who have died: Augustus (29 BCE - 14 CE), Tiberius (14-37 CE), Gaius (37-41), Claudius (41-54) and Nero (54-68).
  
  
  • "One has a wound" refers to the emperor Nero, who died in 68, but whom contemporary legend had it would return from the dead to continue persecuting the Christians. Nero may in fact be the antichrist.  If you turn the letters of his name into numbers and add them up you get 666, the number of the beast.  Thus, the beast has a head that has recovered from a mortal wound.
  
  
  • The head "who is" refers to Vespasian (69-79) and the one that is "not yet" refers to Titus (79-81). The head that "was but is not" refers to an eighth emperor, Domitian. It was under Domitian that the worst persecutions probably occurred.
   
  
  • By portraying the Emperor and his provincial authorities as "beasts" and henchmen of the dragon, Satan, the author was calling on Christians to refuse to take part in the imperial cult, even at the risk of martyrdom.
  
  
   
  
• A helpful resource is [L. Michael White Understanding the Book of Revelation in Frontline: Apocalypse
 

• Here is the basic message of Revelation: 
  
  
  
  • The world appears to be going to hell in a hand basket.  In fact, John says, that’s literally true.  The same Roman empire that crucified Jesus is now persecuting his followers.  The emperor is claiming to be a god and forcing everyone to worship him.  Christians are being arrested, losing property and civil rights and even being tortured and killed.  In this dark time, John the elder living on the island of Patmos receives a vision of hope. Despite these dark times, God is still in charge.  Christians must not lose hope.  They must hold fast, have faith and endure until God’s ultimate salvation is accomplished. 
    
  • Today’s lesson is the climax of Revelation, the payoff, the beautiful vision of hope.  And it is a vision not just for the early Christians in their terrible situation, but a vision of hope for all people in all times and places. And it is a vision worth studying and embracing.  The key points are this: 
    
    
    
    1. alvation comes to us.  It is God’s work, not ours.  We cannot manufacture it through our own effort.  Our job is to hold fast, to endure, to keep the faith.
    
    
    2. The oppression and corruption of earthly rulers will be replaced by the kingdom of God now revealed in its fullness.  Darkness and death will be replaced forever by light and life—the glory of God and of the Lamb.
    
    
    3. Heaven is not up there somewhere, but right here.  The New Jerusalem comes down to us and God remakes this earth into paradise.  It is a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise in the Gospel that, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. (John 14:23)
    
    
    4. It is a universal vision.  This is not just for a select few, but for all tribes and peoples and nations.
    
    
    5. It is an ecological vision.  The earth itself is healed by the river of life and the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. It is the restoration of the Garden of Eden, now transformed into the heavenly city with God the Father and Jesus fully and eternally present at the center.
     
    
    
    
  • We have spent too long avoiding this book with its weird visions and images.  We need to hold on to this vision, because we face the same issues and problems the church has always faced.  The world is still going to hell in a hand basket.  We still face political, religious and environmental crises on a daily basis.  It is all too easy to become defeatist, depressed, hopeless.  That is why we still need this book, this vision, as a reminder that God is in charge of our future and the future of the world.   
  
  
  
  

I close with the blessing Jesus gave to his disciples:  “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” John 14:27. 

Our music is Lukas Vesely Peace Prayer available from beatpick.com
To Hell in a Hand Basket

Reading the New Testament Part 2: The Gospels (A)

The Voice of the Winged Ox presents the second part of a five-part series on Reading the New Testament team taught at St. Luke's Episcopal Church by our rector Eric Williams and our associate rector Susan Williams

Part 2 is in two parts. In this podcast we compare and contrast the sermon on the mount found in Matthew 5 and the sermon on the plain found in Luke 6. Father Eric also goes into more depth about the Gospel of Matthew.

Because this is a live recording of a lively class, I have done some editing to make this podcast more accessible to listeners.

Our music is Fortune Laisse (Attaingnant), artist: Edward Martin, album: Art of the Lute in Renaissance, available from magnatune.com
Reading the New Testament Part 2A

Healing Service: The Council of Jerusalem

The The Winged Ox present our healing service. Father Eric preaches a homily based on Acts 15:6-21. Our music is courtesy of Claire Fitch at magnatune.com.Healing Service: The Council of Jerusalem

White Out Episode

Mother Susan preaches on Good Shepherd Sunday. Read the biblical texts here. The Voice of the Winged Ox presents White Out Episode

POD CAST ALLEY

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-007fb33a3cb674ff0b7a25560daec3df}

Reading the New Testament: Part 1 of 5

Reading the New Testament is a 5-part class being taught at St. Luke's this month. The Lord willing and the creek don't rise (and there are no technical difficulties) The Voice of the Winged Ox will bring you these presentations in a lightly edited podcast. The topics we will cover are:

1. Expectations and sources for the New Testament writings


2. The four gospels


3. Everything Paul


4. Apocalyptic literature in the New Testament


5. Becoming more active and informed readers of the Bible

Here are some of the obstacles the class identified to reading the Bible:

• Where to begin


• the commitment involved


• I don't know enough to get anything out of it.


• Should I read literally, figuratively, from my own understanding or in some other way?


• We come to the Bible with baggage.


• so many different translations


• Is there a right and a wrong Bible?


• There are groups who insist "their" Bible is the correct one

What do you want to get out of reading the Bible? What are you looking for from the Bible or from this class?

• How do I find the verse(s) of Scripture that pertain to the subject at hand?


• What did the Bible mean to those who wrote it and what does it mean for me today?


• What is the larger story that surrounds our Sunday morning readings?


• Where can I find more background information to expand my understanding of a given text?


• What are helpful books to read in addition to the Bible?


• I look for God to use the Bible as a way to speak to me.


• What What do I do when God doesn't speak to me through the Bible?

In this podcast, we cover:

• class expectations and scope


• origins of the New Testament


• The time in which Jesus lived.


• Who wrote the New Testament?

Correction: The number of laws is 613.




Moscow on the Hudson
Bible Speaks controversy

Our music is Fortune Laisse (Attaingnant), artist: Edward Martin, album: Art of the Lute in Renaissance, available from magnatune.com
Reading the New Testament Part 1