ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S EVENING SERVICE: CHRIST IN THE HOUSE OF HIS PARENTS

Arrived late, so did not enter into the small room off to the side where service was being held.  As I've become quite a picture thinker; I wandered around looking at all the arts and their placements.

During the Gilded Age, highly prominent laity such as banker J. P. Morgan, industrialist Henry Ford, and art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner played a central role in shaping a distinctive upper class Episcopalian ethos, especially with regard to preserving the arts and history. These philanthropists propelled the Episcopal Church into a quasi-national position of importance while at the same time giving the church a central role in the cultural transformation of the country.^[36] Another mark of influence is the fact that more than a quarter of all presidents of the United States have been Episcopalians (see religious affiliations of Presidents of the United States). It was during this period that the Book of Common Prayer was revised, first in 1892 and later in 1928.

***

The only reason for the additional pictures which follow;  because I took them immediately after leaving St. Bartholomew for Whole Foods to pick me up something for dinner on my way home. 

First the lone spermatozoa looking sculpture with a lone complementary bird sculpture caught my eye. 

Then driving home from Whole Food, a license plate caught my attention for some reason.  

Then seeing another home, bordering my property, also up for sale.  

Just thought they all added up to something interesting having figured out yet...?

Oh!

And the fact that the first time returning home from St. Bartholomew after the first of my two attendance for their Sunday evening services (have yet to attend a daytime service); finding myself behind a little bitty red as well as oh so extremely slow moving vehicle with multiple bumper stickers pasted all over the back side of this car...a gremlin maybe?  

But only two stickers caught my attention:

1. DOING MY PART PISSING THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT OFF!

2.  LOOK BUSY!

JESUS IS COMING!

The second one;

 haven't been able STOPPING myself greeting everyone with... since.

And it made so much sense after having just witnessed 

a 

ST. BARTHOLOMEW COMMUNION RITUAL.

Something you just have to see for yourself  instead of read or hear about .

The way The Very Reverend Sharon Heirs, a young woman, oh so subtly  took a peek inside the shared communion cup, first, after the last one either took a sip directly from the cup or just dipped their piece of bread into the wine instead, then giving the silver cup a couple of gentle twirls holding onto it firmly as she did so with both hands, before quickly without...any hesitation... turned that cup up on end finishing off whatever was left inside of that silver cup. 

Really do not believe she was wanting to do this part...?

Don't blame her.

You can pick up nasty diseases this way.

Might as well have been a big time 

"Second Dippings" 

Tebow Fan Club Member!

"So...

does it fit?"

~(Simply Jim:  We Get The God We Have; Not The God We Choose.)~

"IT FITS! IT FITS!

 WE FINISHED NOW?"

~(Rev. Sharon Hiers)~

"Well....

was hoping of us possibly working out a way getting Joseph back into this picture somehow?  Not saying St. Bartholomew has to go.  Just saying that I can't help but sense Jesus' mother Mary 

is 

"The Holy Ghost";

 and 

Joseph as the parental father 

is 

"The Eternal Father"

Jesus 

is crediting as most responsible for shaping his moral 

character regardless of who's the biological father?

And far more practical implication to today's world problems."

~(Simply Jim:  Really Do Believe This Is Something Jesus Would Approve)~

"Uh. Uh. Uh. 
 
I have nothing to do with this.  

I'VE GOTTA GO!"

~(!THEY ALL DO?BOTH REVENUES AND DOCTORS? JUST DON'T GET IT!)~

MY TAKE ON THE TRINITY: SON OF A BEECH OR SON OR A BIRCH?

Surely this isn't news to them?!

And...

I am a firm believer in, 

"THE HIGHER UP WE GO; THE MORE DIFFICULT THE TESTS BECOMES."

Anyway,

although I did not try again on my second visit back to St. Bartholomew what I failed accomplishing my first visit;  definitely going to go back and try again soon.    Do believe I see a way, might be possible, getting Joseph back into a more rightful place, equally just as important as Mary's and Jesus' contributions to their combined stories and all of history leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth; the beginnings of the Christian Era.

Fucking drives me nuts how this mob mentality brain of mankind...STILL...only able comprehending overly simplified versions of....EVERYTHING!

GOD DAMN EVERYTHING!

And I cannot say that I even blame the reverend and reverend doctors mostly for this paradox, either. They should have their rights earning their livings the same as any other occupations, but only up to a point;  the standards for morals needing to be set somewhere somehow by someone.   If not with them first, then who.  

 The same as with the patients of veterinarians coming with price limits having to be worked out in a personalized medicine kind of way; so do the faiths of members within any given church. 

Christ in the House of His Parents (1849–50) is a painting by John Everett Millais depicting the Holy Family in Saint Joseph's carpentry workshop. The painting was extremely controversial when first exhibited, prompting many negative reviews, most notably one written by Charles Dickens. It catapulted the previously obscure Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood to notoriety and was a major contributor to the debate about Realismin the arts.

The painting depicts the young Jesus assisting Joseph in his workshop. Joseph is making a door, which is laid on his carpentry work-table. Jesus has cut his hand on an exposed nail, leading to a sign of the stigmata, prefiguring the crucifixion. As Saint Anne removes the nail with a pair of pincers, his concerned mother Mary offers her cheek for a kiss while Joseph examines his wounded hand.

The painting was immensely controversial when first exhibited because of its realistic depiction of a carpentry workshop, especially the dirt and detritus on the floor. This was in dramatic contrast to the familiar portrayal of Jesus, his family and his apostles, in costumes reminiscent of Roman togas. Charles Dickens accused Millais of portraying Mary as an alcoholic who looks

"...so hideous in her ugliness that ... she would stand out from the rest of the company as a Monster, in the vilest cabaret in France, or the lowest gin-shop in England."

But at least some of the children do get away in the end. 

Now I have a new agenda in addition to the original one I'm determined voicing my concerns.

These two framed pictures paired together is just too morbid.  I swear!  That child does not look like he understands why he's being forced giving his mother a kiss for a bloody hand that's his...?

A MOTHER...

 HAVING SHARED THEIR COMBINED STORY WITH THE WORLD...

BET

 TIM TEBOW 

IS 

SCARED TO DEATH 

COMING ANY WHERE NEAR A WOMAN WITH HIS DICK! 

.

***

As of 2012, the Episcopal Church reports 2,066,710 baptized members. The majority of members are in the United States, where the Church has 1,894,181 members, a decrease of 29,679 persons (-1.4 percent) from 2011.  Outside of the U.S. the Church has 172,529 members, a decrease of 814 persons (-0.5 percent) from 2011. Total average Sunday attendance (ASA) for 2010 was 697,880 (657,831 in the U.S. and 40,049 outside the U.S.), a decrease of 3.7 percent from 2009.

According to data collected in 2000, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Virginia have the highest rates of adherents per capita, and states along the East Coast generally have a higher number of adherents per capita than in other parts of the country. New York was the state with the largest total number of adherents, over 200,000. In 2010, the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti was the largest single diocese, with 85,528 baptized members, which constitute slightly over half of the church's foreign membership

The Episcopal Church also has the highest number of graduate and post-graduate degrees per capita of any other Christian denomination in the United States, as well as the most high-income earners.

Episcopalians tend to be considerably wealthier and better educated than most other religious groups in Americans, and are disproportionately represented in the upper reaches of American business, law and politics, especially the Republican Party.

A study by Fortune magazine found that one of every five of the country's largest businesses was run by an Episcopalian. Of the country's largest and most powerful banks, one in three was headed by an Episcopalian. Numbers of the most wealthy and affluent american families as the Vanderbilts and Astors, Whitneys and Morgans and Harrimans are Episcopalians.

The Episcopal Church experienced notable growth in the first half of the 20th century, but like many mainline churches, it has had a decline in membership in more recent decades. Membership grew from 1.1 million members in 1925 to a peak of over 3.4 million members in the mid-1960s. Between 1970 and 1990, membership declined from about 3.2 million to about 2.4 million. Once changes in how membership is counted are taken into consideration, the Episcopal Church's membership numbers were broadly flat throughout the 1990s, with a slight growth in the first years of the 21st century.  A loss of 115,000 members was reported for the years 2003–05, which has been attributed in part to controversy concerning ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood and the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Other theories about the decline in membership include a failure to sufficiently reach beyond ethnic barriers in an increasingly diverse society, and the low fertility rates prevailing among the predominant ethnic groups traditionally belonging to the church. In 1965, there were 880,000 children in Episcopal Sunday School programs. By 2001, the number had declined to 297,000.

During the Gilded Age, highly prominent laity such as banker J. P. Morgan, industrialist Henry Ford, and art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner played a central role in shaping a distinctive upper class Episcopalian ethos, especially with regard to preserving the arts and history. These philanthropists propelled the Episcopal Church into a quasi-national position of importance while at the same time giving the church a central role in the cultural transformation of the country. Another mark of influence is the fact that more than a quarter of all presidents of the United States have been Episcopalians (see religious affiliations of Presidents of the United States).  It was during this period that the Book of Common Prayer was revised, first in 1892 and later in 1928.

The center of Episcopal teaching is the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The basic teachings of the church, or catechism, include:

• Jesus Christ is fully human and fully God. He died and was resurrected from the dead.
• Jesus provides the way of eternal life for those who believe.
• God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit, are one God, and are called the Holy Trinity ("three and yet one").
• The Old and New Testaments of the Bible were written by people "under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit." The Apocrypha are additional books that are used in Christian worship, but not for the formation of doctrine.
• The two great and necessary sacraments are Holy Baptism and Holy Eucharist.
• Other sacramental rites are confirmation, ordination, marriage, reconciliation of a penitent, and unction.  

To anoint is to pour or smear with perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter or other substances, a process employed ritually by many religions. People and things are anointed to symbolize the introduction of a sacramental or divine influence, a holy emanation, spirit, power or God. It can also be seen as a spiritual mode of ridding persons and things of dangerous influences, as of demons (Persian drug, Greek κηρες Keres, Armenian dev) believed to be or to cause disease.

Unction is another term for anointing. The oil may be called chrism. 

The word is known in English since c. 1303, deriving from Old French enoint "smeared on", pp. of enoindre "smear on", itself from Latin inunguere, from in- "on" + unguere "to smear." Originally it only referred to grease or oil smeared on for medicinal purposes; its use in the Coverdale Bible in reference to Christ (cf. The Lord's Anointed, see Chrism) has spiritualized the sense of it, a sense expanded and expounded upon by St Paul's writings in his "Epistles". The title Christ is derived from the Greek term Χριστός (Khristós) meaning "the anointed one"; covered in oil, anointed, itself from the above mentioned word Keres.

• Belief in heaven, hell, and Jesus' return in glory.
• Emphasis on living out the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor fully, as found in the Gospel of Matthew 

The full catechism is included in the Book of Common Prayer and is posted on the Episcopal website. The threefold sources of authority in Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason. These three sources uphold and critique each other in a dynamic way.

The Episcopal Church follows the via media or "middle way" between Protestant and Roman Catholic doctrine and practices: that is both Catholic and Reformed. Although many Episcopalians identify with this concept, those whose convictions lean toward either evangelicalism or Anglo-Catholicism may not.

A broad spectrum of theological views is represented within the Episcopal Church. Some Episcopal theologians hold evangelical positions, affirming the authority of scripture over all. The Episcopal Church website glossary defines the sources of authority as a balance between scripture, tradition, and reason. These three are characterized as a "three-legged stool" which will topple if any one overbalances the other. It also notes

The Anglican balancing of the sources of authority has been criticized as clumsy or "muddy." It has been associated with the Anglican affinity for seeking the mean between extremes and living the via media. It has also been associated with the Anglican willingness to tolerate and comprehend opposing viewpoints instead of imposing tests of orthodoxy or resorting to heresy trials.

This balance of scripture, tradition and reason is traced to the work of Richard Hooker, a 16th-century apologist. In Hooker's model, scripture is the primary means of arriving at doctrine and things stated plainly in scripture are accepted as true. Issues that are ambiguous are determined by tradition, which is checked by reason. Noting the role of personal experience in Christian life, some Episcopalians have advocated following the example of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral of Methodist 

theology by thinking in terms of a "Fourth Leg" of "experience." This understanding is highly dependent on the work of Friedrich Schleiermacher.

You don't need a fourth leg!

Just sit your ASS on it!  

That's 

THE EXPERIENCE.

If you like the way it's feeling; you're not going to change it!