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Showing posts from May, 2012

The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5 - 10 June 2012

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The Second Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 5 - 10 June 2012 Genesis 3:8-15 Psalm 130 II Corinthians 4:13-5:1 St. Mark 3:20-35                                                                                     Background:   Genesis The Book of Genesis is more than that.   It is not a book in our modern sense of the word.   In fact the Hebrew word that is usually translated as “book” is the word sefer (scroll) and its etymology comes from the notion of “something recounted”.   How different that is for us.   That a book should contain the witness of our memory suggest reading that which we already know.   There are two major recounting in the book of Genesis, and each is layered with the memories of several redactors or editors.   The first is the Primeval History (chapters 1-11) and the second is the Patriarchal Tales (chapters 12-50).   In the primeval recounting there is no sense of the future.   That was an unknown in the Israelite mind.   It was lit

The Feast of the Holy Trinity - 3 June 2012

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Trinity Sunday, The First Sunday after Pentecost - 3 June 2012 Isaiah 6:1-8 Canticle of the Three Young Men Romans 8:12-17 St. John 3:1-17                                                                                     Background: The Feast of the Holy Trinity The celebration of the Holy Trinity as a feast day in the liturgical year is a relatively recent development.   In early Church there was no special day devoted to the Holy Trinity.   As a response, however, to the Arian heresy, certain offices, prayers, and other liturgical materials were made available as a response to the controversy.   In the fifth century an Office of the Holy Trinity began to emerge as a way of honoring the Trinity. Some of the arguments against having a special day were that the Trinity was honored each Sunday and Holy Day in the Gloria in Excelsis.   Slowly the feast developed as a local usage, then becoming a minor feast adding more and more privileges to the day,