The Collect. 
O GOD, the strength of all those who put their trust in thee; Mercifully accept our prayers; and because, through the weakness of our mortal nature, we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle. 1 St. John iv. 7 - 21 

The Gospel. St. Luke xvi. 19  - 31
 
Read your Bibles!

The first three verses of the First Epistle of Saint John are “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

I wrote last week that “... the Doctrine of the Trinity was not the result of purely abstract or theoretical speculation by theologians. It was developed as a response to the questions raised in the early Church's disputes about the nature (or natures) of Christ,” and that various opinions were ruled heretical because “None was adequate to express what the first Christians had seen and heard of Jesus and His relationship to the Father and the Holy Spirit.”

Saint John's point (and, perhaps somewhat less importantly, mine) is that both Scripture and doctrine are an attempt to express in language what God has done with His people in ages past and what that past history tells us of His nature and His will. Those of a critical mind will immediately realize that there are two glaring difficulties here, the limitations of language and the subjective nature of human experience.

Even laying aside the difficulties of translation, much of what is recorded in Scripture is difficult or even impossible to render in any language. When we read that God spoke to Moses from the burning bush can we really understand what the voice of God would sound like? Or consider the priest and prophet Isaiah's vision of God enthroned in Isaiah Chapter six. Clearly he had an overwhelmingly powerful experience, but can we really say that we know what that experience was? I think it's fair to say that reading or even hearing an account of another's experiences, even mundane ones, can help us to know about those experiences but not to truly know the experiences. It is rather like having read an autobiography of someone whom we have never met; we may then say that we know about the person but not that we know the person. When we get beyond the mundane to the spiritual the difficulty is multiplied. If you describe the appearance of a particular horse to me I can probably get a reasonably close idea of what that horse looks like because I have seen a lot of horses. That doesn't hold true for Biblical descriptions of cherubim and seraphim.

That is precisely why much of Scripture is written in symbolic or analogical language. The earliest works of Biblical scholarship that we have, such as Origen (late second to early third century A.D.) are clear that certain parts of Scripture must be understood in this metaphorical sense, especially those that are describing things not known in the material world. The Book of Revelation is probably the best-known example of this.

Further complication arises from the fact that human experience is by nature subjective. Two people may be participating in the same event but having very different experiences of it. Two players on opposing teams in a blowout one-sided game will not be having the same experience at all.

And yet despite all these difficulties, we rely on Scripture and the early Church councils as sources of authority. How are we to think about that? Well, for one thing, we should be willing to recognize that we are not dealing with the testimony of only a single human witness but rather with documents that have been proven through many centuries to be a faithful representation of God's dealings with His people. Scripture is indeed divinely inspired, but that does not mean that God dictated word by word what those inspired authors wrote. Rather, He revealed to them truths which they then attempted to put into words. Failure to realize this and to insist on only a strictly literal meaning to the texts, a position that emerged only in the late seventeenth century, has led to two serious intellectual errors.

The first is to ignore much of the richness of meaning that lies within Scripture. When John the Baptist refers to Jesus as “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world” (Gospel of John, 1:29) it would be foolish to believe that Jesus was literally a baby sheep when John is recognizing that Jesus is going to be, among other things, the perfect and sufficient blood sacrifice that will offer redemption to the world. The problem with those who insist upon a literal meaning of Bible texts is not that they believe too much but that they believe too little.

The second error that arises from the inability to see the Scriptures as divinely inspired attempts to communicate actual human experiences is to dismiss all of the Bible as mere outmoded human-created mythology with no claim to veracity. With regard to the Gospels, some such as the nineteenth century German scholar Bruno Bauer go so far as to deny that there is even any literal truth in them. This seems to me to ignore the fact that many of the earliest followers of Jesus underwent persecution, imprisonment, exile, torture, and even death rather than deny the truth of what they had themselves, in Saint John's words, “seen and heard.” They were faithful to their experience of Jesus in their lives and in their written declarations of that experience.

Jesus says that we are to love God with all our minds, hearts, and souls. I suggest to you that we should also read Scripture with all our minds, hearts, and souls. By all means use the mind that God gave you. Try to understand the difference between the many types of literature that the Bible contains, and learn what you can of the cultural, religious, and social contexts in which they were created. As you read, open your heart to be moved by the power of the centuries of witness to the experiences of God's people, and allow your soul to be nourished and enlightened by that witness.

-- Father Bragg+

All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee
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Services & Events
 
Sunday Services, 7:45 AM, 9:00 AM, & 11:15 AM (for online participation for the services go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland) 

Sunday School is on recess and will start again in September

Nursery 9:00 & 11:15 Services

Wednesday at Noon – Holy Communion and anointing for healing (for online participation please see above under Sunday Services)

SAVE THE DATE: Sunday September 21, Church Picnic at Fort Hunt Park after combined 10 AM service, invite friends and neighbors too:  Great BBQ, hamburgers, hot dogs, sausages and so much more (additional details forthcoming)
 
JUST UPDATED NEEDS FOR MaRiH CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER

MaRiH Center has made some changes and additions in its critically needed items. The Center provides help to mothers-to-be and mothers in need.  Please provide some of the items that are needed..They are very greatly appreciated. (You can leave the donations where the food for the food bank is collected on the pew in the undercorft.)

Especially Needed
 In Bold and with an asterisk are a critical need. Please note changes in diaper needs and additional items.

*Diapers ( newborn, 1, 2, *3, *4, *5, & *6)
*Lovies, Rattles, Teethers
*Baby wipes
Diaper rash ointment
Baby shampoo
*Baby blankets
Baby bottles
*Bibs toddler
*Formula: *Simulac Advance Formula
Formula: other but not recalled
Wash clothes
Hooded Towels
Spring/summer clothing: 3-6 mo, 2T
*Grocery gift cards
Baby Food (make sure not expired)

Food Bank Needs
The food bank appreciates the generosity of our parish.Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Those we help feed are very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar). 

Current needs include the following:
canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
peanut butter
jelly
tuna
canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
individual fruit cups (low sugar)
canned fruit (low sugar)
canola or vegetable oil (48 oz)
boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
pasta (regular and gluten-free):
instant potatoes
single serving fruit juice
macaroni & cheese
soups: Chunky or Progresso,noodle soup; chicken broth, cream of mushroom
coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar
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