Fifth Sunday after Easter (Rogation Sunday)

The Collect
O Lord, from whom all good things do come: Grant to us thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Epistle: St. James 1.22-end
Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The Gospel: St. John 16.23-end
Verily, verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father. His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God. Jesus answered them, Do ye now believe? Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

more Buber

To leave behind the world of experience is terrifying because the world of experience is predictable, understandable, and easily manipulated, while the world of encounter is none of these things. In order to ready oneself for encounter, then, one must also shed one’s drive toward self-affirmation, the drive toward self-protection and the need to feel that you are in complete control of yourself and the world around you.

SparkNotes. I and Thou

anniversary

Today is the anniversary of my baptism. So here is a collect from the Proposed 1928 Book of Common Prayer:

Almighty God our heavenly Father who hast given us the Sacrament of Holy Baptism that souls thereby being born again may be made heirs of everlasting salvation; we yield thee hearty thanks for this thy gift, and humbly we beseech thee to grant that we who have thus been made partakers of the death of thy Son may also be partakers of his resurrection. Amen.

experience and encounter

In experience, we engaging the world as an objective observer rather than as a participant, and we gather data through the senses and organize that data in such a way that it can be utilized by reason. … In encounter (the mode of I–You), we participate in a relationship with the object encountered. encountered. Both the encountering I and the encountered You are transformed by the relation between them.

SparkNotes. I and Thou

… to go beyond Jesus

Further to the pervious post …

I was told, by a professional theologian, that I was a Jesus-only Christian. The person went on to say that we (meaning the church in general) have gone “beyond Jesus” and are now Trinitarian Christians.

I was thinking about going “beyond Jesus”. Is there a “going beyond”?