Censings

SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION – AUGUST 19, 2012 St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Phoenix , Arizona Sermon preached by David Justin Lynch, Esquire Magnificat in place of the Gloria. Collect: 1979 BCP, Page 34. OT: Wisdom 7:21-30; Psalm: 9:9-14; NT:  Acts 1:6-12; Gospel: John 19:25-27 + In the name of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier, AMEN. The traditional doctrine of the Assumption for Western Christians has Mary, the Mother of Jesus, rising up into the sky instead of dying. ^ Eastern Christians have Her falling asleep – they call it Her Dormition. They leave what happened to Mary next as a mystery. Scripture doesn’t say anything about what finally happened to Mary, except to say Jesus told the beloved disciple John to take care of her. I look at that scene in today’s Gospel as Jesus giving Mary to us as His parting gift to the Church, as he said, “behold, your Mother.” The Feast of the Assumption makes us look at two important questions: “Where is Heaven?” and “W...

The ongoing debate over health care has overlooked my very simple solution. What is missing is a discussion whether health care is a right. I say it is, and that there should be no compromise on that. Everyone is entitled to health care, period end of story. My proposal to deliver it is as follows and should be in the form of an Amendment to the US Constitution 1. All persons lawfully present in the United States are entitled to all medically necessary necessary health care. 2. "Medically Necessary" is as determined by the patient's Primary Care Physician. It includes dental care and tattoo removal. The only exclusion is plastic surgery not necessitated by injury or illness. 3. All patients are entitled to a Primary Care Physician of their choosing who is licensed to practice in the jurisdiction in which services are rendered. 4. All health care providers will be compensated in accordance with the Official Medical Fee Schedule, no more, no less. All health care providers ...

Holy Week begs the question, “Why did Jesus die on the cross?” Many Christians believe in “penal substitution.” They believe: all humankind has sinned, God's justice requires a penalty be paid for sin, so God sent Jesus to suffer the penalty in our place by dying on the cross. But what does that say about God, and is that how Jesus saw himself? “Penal Substitution,” the dominant theory of Calvin and Luther in Sixteenth Century Continental Europe, has been widely adopted among conservative protestants and can be heard from the lips of every storefront preacher. According to this theory, the crucifixion was not a natural consequence of Jesus displeasing the status quo of his day, but was orchestrated by God, who destined Jesus to be afflicted with extreme suffering so that humankind could escape the divine wrath of Judgment Day. For Calvin, not only was humankind totally depraved (the first point of Calvinism) but God in His capacity as judge was angry toward us and someone—Jesus---m...