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The Service For The 20th Sabbath In Ordinary Time
August 18, 2001
[The “+” indicates that the Moderator and the Congregation are to cross themselves, if they should so choose.]
[The men, upon entering, must remove all their clothes and, when they have found a proper place to sit, out of respect for the sanctuary of our Lord, must kneel before entering the pew. It is expected that they will furnish and use their own serviettes.]
[The Choir is to sing the antiphon. If there is no Choir the Congregation is to recite it.]
Choir (or Congregation): “God, our protector, keep us in mind; always give strength to Your people. For if we can be with You even one day, it is better than a thousand without You.”
[The Altar man, holding the censer, and the Moderator, in that order, line up for the procession. The rest of the Congregation lines up behind them row by row and proceeds to walk around the church in the procession.]
Choir (or Congregation): “God, our protector, keep us in mind; always give strength to Your people. For if we can be with You even one day, it is better than a thousand without You.”
[After the procession is over, the Congregation takes their seats and the regular service begins.]
Moderator: + “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Most Holy and Eternal Trinity.”
Moderator: “Let us all join in a statement of our faith:”
Congregation and Moderator: “We believe that God, through His Holy Word, has made it more than evident as to how He wishes to be worshipped. Man as represented by Adam was created by God in His image. This creation was meant to be in harmony with Nature and the Natural Laws. To this end men were created to be naked and to worship God in that, their natural state. It is only by the shame of having sinned that Adam felt that he had to hide himself behind clothes. We believe that by encasing ourselves in clothes that we are only mimicking Adam in his sin and rebellion against the First Cause. God, in His Holy Wisdom, had given Adam the option of eternal life in his nakedness. But he, in his ignorance, cast away the blessing of nudity that God so fervently wanted him to have. We believe that we of the Apertarian Church must return to the First Cause in the way He has called us to worship Him. We offer an open door to any Gay male that would worship with us in the joys and blessings of his God-given nudity. For those who wish not to join us we offer prayers that God will also bless them. When His time is right He will open their eyes that they might see what has been so abundantly revealed to us.”
Moderator: “Amen.”
Old Testament Lesson
Moderator: “The Old Testament lesson for the 20th Sabbath in Ordinary Time is found in
Isaiah 56: 6-7
6. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices [shall be] accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
Moderator: “This is the word of the Lord.”
Congregation: “Thanks be to God.”
Responsorial Psalm
Response: “O God, let all the nations praise You.”
Moderator: “May God have pits on us and bless us; may He let His face shine upon us. So may Your way be known upon earth; among all nations, Your salvation.”
Congregation: “O God, let all the nations praise You.”
Moderator: May the nations be glad and exult because You rule the peoples in equity; the nations on the earth You guide.”
Congregation: “O God, let all the nations praise You.”
Moderator: “May the peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You! May God bless us, and may all the ends of the earth fear Him!”
Congregation: “O God, let all the nations praise You.”
The New Testament Lesson
Moderator: “The New Testament lesson for the 20th Sabbath in Ordinary Time is found in
Romans 11: 29-32
29. For the gifts and calling of God [are] without repentance.
30. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
31. Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
32. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Thus endeth the New Testament lesson for today.”
[The Moderator then raises the Bible.]
Moderator: “This is the word of the Lord.”
Congregation: “Thanks be to God.”
The Gospel Lesson
Moderator: “The Gospel lesson for the 20th Sabbath in Ordinary Time is found in
Matthew 15: 21-28:
21. Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon.
22. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, [thou] Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.
23. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.
24. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
25. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me.
26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast [it] to dogs.
27. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
28. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great [is] thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
[The Congregation rises as the altar man rings the bells.]
Congregation: + “In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Most Holy and Eternal Trinity.”
Moderator: Thus endeth the Gospel for today.”
[The Moderator holds up the Bible]
Moderator: “This is the Word of the Lord.”
Congregation: “Thanks be to God!”
A hymn is sung at this point.
[The Congregation then sits down as the altar man rings the bells.]
The Homily
“A Very Focused Ministry!”
Moderator: “So many times we hear the statement that Jesus came to save everyone. But is that really correct? Is that what Jesus said? No, that is not what Jesus said, as we discovered in our Gospel reading for today. Matthew writes about a Canaanite woman who begs Jesus to cure her daughter. At first, Jesus ignores her. Why? If Jesus came to save everyone, here would be an excellent opportunity to witness to non-Israelites about His saving message of grace. Instead, He chooses to ignore it. When His disciples complain to Him of the racket she’s making, He responds with the fact that He’s only been sent to the lost sheep of Israel. In other words, Canaan, and people from there, could go fly a kite as far as Jesus was concerned. So He ignored her and told His disciples that He would have nothing to do with her. She had probably worshipped Baal, the Canaanite god. She probably had taken part in the orgiastic rites that that god demanded.
But the woman persisted. And Jesus flat out told her that He considered the Canaanites nothing better than dogs. Did that deter the woman? Not for a second. In a way she kind of rebuked Jesus by telling Him that even dogs eat from the crumbs that fall from the master’s table. What could Jesus do? At first He had ignored her. She wouldn’t go away. Then He openly insulted her. She defiantly persisted. So He relented and told her that because of her faith, her daughter had been healed. And her daughter, as the Scripture has told us, was healed that very hour. Which is just what the woman wanted. But as the Scripture also tell us, Jesus left there and went to the Sea of Galilee. He was not about to stay in that land any longer then He absolutely had to. One encounter with the Canaanites was all it took to quickly focus Jesus’ ministry.
Was Jesus prejudiced? Many would say so. We Apertarians don’t believe He was. God had sent Him here for a very specific purpose and anything that detracted from that purpose was simply not to be considered. Just as God sent Jesus for a very specific purpose, so has He called us Apertarians. Our ministry is only for the Gay male Nudist who still suffers. We are called to provide him with a sanctuary where he can begin to heal spiritually and psychologically. It is, as the name implies, a sanctuary! A place well away from the busy, non-believing world.
What do we believe? As we say in our statement: we believe that human beings were created to live and worship God “in His-given nakedness”. Our male bodies reflect that fact by the way we are physically shaped. Our penises were meant to dangle freely, openly accepting outside stimuli such as temperature, humidity, etc. It is the thermometer of our body. Our testicles as well are created to react to outside stimuli also, regulating the length they hang from the body because of outside temperatures. Our skin was created with millions of sensors, registering the world around us.
And along with our nakedness we believe that our Gayness was also God-given. We know that Christ condemned the heterosexual in
Matthew 5: 27-28:
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
His words leave little doubt as to whom He was talking and what He was saying.
That is why we stand apart from the heterosexual and the Lesbians. St. Paul summed it up quite aptly in 2 Corinthians 6:17:”Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.”
Does this mean that we are not to share the wonderful message of salvation? NO! That is why we maintain this web site. Others, even though they may be banned from our sanctuary, can still hear the good news of God’s great gifts. His wonderful gift of healing is free to everyone. We maintain the web site of The Basilica of Saints Serge and Bacchus, A Gay-spirituality reading room, for those who wish to hear what the Bible says about Gay life. We invite anyone who is interested to visit the site and take their time reading what we have discovered.
Jesus said that that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Because we, as Gay people, have been called to produce spiritual children, we are called to “Prodigies of Service”! That is why we offer Gay spirituality lessons on a regular basis. They are open to any male, 18 or older, on a clothing-optional basis.
We have an obligation to carry the message, but to Gay male Nudists who still suffer. That is our focused ministry. Yes, we will help others. Didn’t Jesus? But, like Jesus, we want to make our stand very clear. Are we prejudiced? Was Jesus? We don’t think we are. Certainly we will help others. We will pray for them. We must always keep in mind that even though Jesus may have damned the heterosexual sin He loved the heterosexual himself. That is why the heterosexuals will always be in our prayers. We know that they can change, but they insist on clinging to their wicked ways.
We will always volunteer to help. But with the idea well understood that our ministry is not to others. It is to us: Gay male Nudists. Especially to those, who, because of the ignorance of others, still suffer. We offer an open door to our sanctuary.
Thus endeth the homily for today.”
Moderator: + “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Most Holy and Eternal Trinity.”
The Offering
Moderator: “Jesus has said that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. We pray that you will open up your heart and give so that we may continue to carry God’s message of nakedness, healing and salvation to all those Gay male Nudists who still are suffering needless pain and rejection.”
[The collection plate is then passed around while a hymn is sung. When the collection is completed the collection plate(s) are brought forward and laid on the alter. The Moderator then prays over the gifts.]
Moderator: “Dear heavenly Father, we know we can do nothing to merit Your eternal love. Yet You did love us before the foundation of the world. Accept our humble gifts for Your service and bless the givers also. We pray in Your Son’s name and for Your eternal glory. Amen.”
[The Moderator moves back to the pulpit.]
The Communal Prayer
Moderator: “The Lord be with you.”
Congregation: “And also with you.”
Moderator: + “Let us pray... Oh Lord, we bring before You all of the problems of the day (here list petitions for local problems). Help us to put in proper perspective the trials that You send our way. We ask that You will look down on our efforts and help us to help the Gay male Nudist who still suffers. We ask Your help in particular for N_____ and N_____. We also pray for our leaders who You have put into power. Give them the wisdom to make decisions that reflect Your will. But we always and ever give You thanks and pray that You will work Your will so that one day all men may walk free in their nakedness the way You have created us to be. Let Your Holy Spirit guide us as we pray the way Your Son taught us saying...”
Congregation and Moderator: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thou art the Kingdom and the Glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
Moderator: “Amen.”
The Communion Service
[The Moderator moves behind the altar and faces the people.]
Moderator: “Brothers, we are gathered here today to commemorate the sacrifice of our most Holy Lord Jesus Christ who by His willful offering of His perfect self upon the cross secured for us the promise of heaven in the next life and the blessings of nakedness in this life. Let us each examine our consciences and prepare ourselves for the communion service.”
[Here is observed a moment of silence while the men examine their consciences and silently ask for forgiveness.]
Moderator: “The Lord Jesus the same night in which He was betrayed took bread...”
[At this point the Moderator elevates the bread and displays it to all sides of the Congregation while the bells are rung. The priest then genuflects.]
Moderator: “And when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me.”
[The Moderator then breaks the wafer into three pieces and places it in the chalice of grape juice.]
Congregation: “This, Lord, we will remember, to keep it holy.”
Moderator. “After the same manner also He took the cup, and when He had supped said, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”
[The Moderator then elevates the chalice filled with grape juice and displays it to all sides of the Congregation while the altar man rings the bells. The priest genuflects.]
Congregation: “This, Lord, we will remember, to keep it holy.”
Moderator: “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till He come.”
[The Congregation then lines up to receive communion. The Moderator dips a wafer in the grape juice and offers it to each communicant. Each may take communion the way he feels is right, i.e. standing or kneeling, in his hand or in his mouth, etc. When all have received communion the Moderator then offers communion to the altar man, if there is one. He then takes communion himself, and drinks ALL OF THE GRAPE JUICE IN THE CHALICE. He carefully washes the chalice and covers it with an altar cloth. He then returns to the pulpit.]
[A hymn is sung.]
Moderator: “Please stand for the final benediction.’
[The Congregation stands.]
Moderator: + “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. Go thy way and be at peace in thy nakedness. The service is ended. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, most Holy and Eternal Trinity.”
[At this point a closing hymn may be sung.]
[The Congregation then observes a moment of silence while the Moderator goes to the front door to welcome the men as they exit. When the altar man rings the bells the men are then free to dress and leave the service.]