Prayers for Easter, 2024

Thursday in 4 Easter, April 25, 2024

Jesus Christ, the impression that you made while you lived was unleashed by how you became known as the Risen Christ; and while we confess you poetically as being all and in all, let us instantiate your poignant intentional presence in events of love and justice.  Amen.

Wednesday in 4 Easter, April 24, 2024 (Genocide Remembrance Day)

God of love, let the rainbow in the sky be a sign to us that the destruction of people on this earth by anyone is a violation of love and justice which proceeds from the essence of who you are.  Amen.

Tuesday in 4 Easter, April 23, 2024

God, for a world in which love has become a cliche, we confess you as Love, from which every other love is but an imperfect reflection; give us strength for the hardy love of the practice of justice which is applied love for those who need it the most.  Amen.

Monday in 4 Easter, April 22, 2024

Christ the Vine, you are the organically spiritual connection residing in all; grant everyone access to the deep image upon all so that the flow of the divine might make us our best human selves.  Amen.

Sunday, 4 Easter, April 21, 2024

Good Shepherd Christ, give us discernment and willingness to be shepherding people who in kindness make pets of those in need to nurture them to be grateful shepherds, who like us learn from our needs to minister to others.  Amen.

Saturday in 3 Easter, April 20, 2024

Shepherd us O Christ, in the care that we need when we need it through your agents who are inspired to help us; and grant us also to be inspired agents of shepherding care when others need such care.  Amen.

Friday in 3 Easter, April 19, 2024

Good Shepherd Christ, when we need help please send us good shepherds; and when we see others who need help let us arise to be good shepherds.  Amen.

Thursday in 3 Easter, April 18, 2024

Lord Jesus Christ, citizens of great empires have come to regard themselves as Christians and yet we as Christians have allowed and been complicit in unChrist-like actions be done in our name; we ask for the impossible in asking that you would convert empires into good shepherds who care for the most vulnerable.  Amen.

Wednesday in 3 Easter, April 17, 2024

Lord Jesus Christ, you are the good shepherd not of us a commodities in your flock for our human product equivalent of wool and meat; you have made us to be favored pets who bring you joy even as we learn the delight of being drastically inferior to you in the very best ways of love and justice.  Amen.

Tuesday in 3 Easter, April 16, 2024

God, you are the great collective of all life, give us grace in our various human collective to admit what we done wrong to knowingly and unknowingly harm others and our environment; give us the wisdom of a reparative mission to creatively have authentic repentance with genuine actions to redress the results of the harmful actions of those who have left us with some obvious clean up.  Amen.

Monday in 3 Easter, April 15, 2024

Good Shepherd, give us the grace of shepherding so that we as mere sheep might help other needy sheep to their full life potential.  Amen.

3 Easter, April 14, 2024

Risen Christ, you ate with your disciples in your appearances; let you appearance continual be known in the adequate food supply for everyone in our world.  Amen.

Saturday in 2 Easter, April 13, 2024

Risen Christ, let your presence be multiplied over and over again under the guise of adequate food for all people in this world as food supports life.  We accept your omnipresence in the enough food for all today.  Amen.

Friday in 2 Easter, April 12, 2024

Risen Christ, you appeared to your disciples variously including in partaking of food; we receive the Eucharist as partaking of the Risen Christ presence again and again.  Amen.

Thursday in 2 Easter, April 11, 2024

Almighty God, let the power of the Gospel be known by your winsome Holy Spirit; let us never adopt coercive practices to prove the validity of love and justice even as we embrace good laws for the protection of the freedom of all.  Amen.

Wednesday in 2 Easter, April 10, 2024

God of creative freedom, it is awesome to confront what freedom means in our world; it often seems a high price to pay for the free possibility for bad things to happen.  Give us a deep appreciation for the real freedom which we have to create the probability that good things can happen through our agency, especially in acts of love and justice.  Amen.

Tuesday in 2 Easter, April 9, 2024

God, we believe in the substantial world which confronts our senses, but we humbly recognize that we only process and perceive this world through the inward and invisible faculty of language; give us renewing inward Easter grace for the lenses of our language to perceive your graceful presence in our world, but not just for perceiving but for expediting creative acts of love and justice.  Amen.

Monday in 2 Easter, April 8, 2024

Holy Spirit, you overshadowed Blessed Mary for her to realize the special child to be born to her; you overshadow us to help us realize the Christ-image born within us to enable us to realize our destiny as children of God.  Amen.

Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, 2024

Gracious Risen Christ, let us be doubters like Thomas of having any superior experiences of you which would deny the validity of your presence to so many other people in ways which are telling to their specific circumstances.  Amen.

Easter Saturday, April 6, 2024

God of our faith, give us continual doubt about the final adequacy of what we think we know about you and everything and so keep us humbly open to new understanding in new times of what love and justice requires of us.  Amen.

Easter Friday, April 5, 2024

Everlasting God, we know in time we die and we mourn the loss of our compositional state of being dependent upon seeing, hearing, and touching for empirical verification; grant us faith to accept the absolute past of our lives and the lives of our loved ones and let us accept that such objectivity of the absolute past is never lost but contained in the composition of everything which continues including us while we can be empirically verified.  Amen.

Easter Thursday, April 4, 2024

Come again O Risen Lord and be apparent in new ways to our world; in adequate food for everyone, in justice for everyone, in the defeat of greed and cruelty, be known in our lives.  Amen.

Easter Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Risen Lord, we ask again and again when your manifest reappearances will occur; will we find you appearing when peace, love, and justice breaks into our human experiences?  Amen.

Easter Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Risen Christ, we wait for your surprise "peek a boo" sudden appearance which can arise at anytime and place because all things are filled with the glory of God butt sometimes experienced as pain, suffering, and loss.  Give us grace to do our part in shaping the sustaining glory of life toward the outcomes of love and justice.  Amen.

Easter Monday, April 1, 2024

Lord Jesus Christ of resurrection continuity; we review the record of your re-appearances, even as we ask for wisdom and insight to recognize your appearances to our world especially within the works of love and justice which happen for people who need the sense of your presence.  Amen.

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024

Eternal Word and Risen Lord, we look to you for our sustaining continuity beyond the seeming discontinuous event of death; preserve and retain us in your mercy and improve us as we are being continually remade in your image.  Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, April 2024

Aphorism of the Day, April 25, 2024

If in the metaphor, Jesus is the vine, then does one call the Holy Spirit the "Sap," or the inward connecting essence?

Aphorism of the Day, April 24, 2024

Holy books include genocide including the killing of all the people on the earth in a great Flood, and the perceived divine injunction to kill all men, women, and children in lands which have been invaded.  Since we cannot remove the memory of genocides on Genocide Day, let the memory of genocides help the prevention of it ever happening again.

Aphorism of the April 23, 20204

God is the axiological highest designation to be used by human beings.

Aphorism of the Day, April 22, 2024

What arises in the linguistic plane of the prior and co-extensive truth of everything of Word being God, words come to define human language users and their experiences, and one such experience is the human experience of love, and love becomes the chief metaphor for the human superlative, and love is God.  We identify God analogically as that which is humanly superlative.

Aphorism of the Day, April 21, 2024

John's Gospel is a book of metaphors for how those who had a mystical relationship with the Risen Christ.  They felt like favored pets taken care of by a good shepherd.

Aphorism of the Day, April 20, 2024

Be careful about over-extending the meanings of a metaphor.  Jesus as our Good Shepherd in an exact analogical correspondence would mean that we are but God's commodities to be recycled within the created order?

Aphorism of the Day, April 19, 2024

Good shepherding is the calling of the reciprocal matching of human need and the satisfaction that need.  As people we can be on both sides, having human need and being the ones who can satisfy the human needs of others.

 Aphorism of the Day, April 18, 2014

One of the most serious Gospel question today is this, "If the Gospels were written by and for oppressed people in the Roman Empire, how can the teachings of the Gospels be appropriately followed by Christians who have been the "ruling class" of the various empires?"

Aphorism of the Day, April 17, 2024

What is the limit of a metaphor like good shepherd?  A good shepherd frankly cares for a sheep as a commodity, for wool or the event of the death of a sheep for the mutton for a meal.  I think that we basically use the good shepherd metaphor as us being favorite and well cared for pets of Good Shepherd Jesus.  Good Shepherd=Kind and caring pet owner?

Aphorism of the Day, April 16, 2024

A great challenge today is how can heirs of empire Christianity really be Christ-like?

Aphorism of the Day, April 15, 2024

How does the church redeem itself from it over-association with empires?  By being good shepherds, not as being qualitatively different like a human shepherd and a sheep, but by being sheep who have power, knowledge, and wealth, devoted to helping other sheep come to their equal power, knowledge, and wealth.  

Aphorism of the Day, April 14, 2024

The history of war is a history of how a very few people end up making war decisions on behalf of millions.

Aphorism of the Day, April 13, 2024

Alternative facts happens because a person say they happened.  Saying I scored a hole in one when I didn't do so creates what we call dishonesty.  The word facts is a way of citing empirical verifiability.  In our time, the saying of having done something has been the "facts" to support a politician or liar in their immediate effort to bolster their image.  The saying has become the fact; not the empirical verification of what one has said.  This is functional facts for the purpose of promotion of the self-importance of the person who declares the "facts."

Aphorism of the Day, April 12, 2024

Every event has equality in "having happened."  I really believed that I was eating in a dream.  The dream really happened.  But my eating in a dream is different from me eating when awake.  Dream eating and waking eating share an identity while being totally different.  In profound aesthetic events, moving events, while we are awake, we can have our conscious state tinged with seeming "dream state" kind of sublime energy.  Language creates quite a vast complex continuum from inner-ness to outer-ness and we do well not to oversimplify with a binary subject/object descriptions.

Aphorism of the Day, April 11, 2024

The churches of Empire Christianity have to be honest about the irony of wrongly appropriating the New Testament writings which were written by and for small group of people who were a very marginalized and oppressed population within the Roman Empire.  It is shameless to see people of the American Empire Christianity claim to be persecuted for their personal piety and views because they cannot force through public schools, laws, and government bureaucracy their particular views upon the entire populace.

Aphorism of the Day, April 10, 2024

The Bible is a book about stories of hope for people who often could not see good reason to be hopeful.  Is there a future for people who know continuous oppression?Biblical faith is holding to the probability of good things as how we want to characterize our lives even while surviving or losing to some the bad things which can happen to us.  Having faith also means embracing the truth of genuine freedom which is necessary for moral authenticity.

Aphorism of the Day, April 9, 2024

The experience of our senses is given the position of substantiality as being really real.  This is the basis of science.  The Bible also uses the empirical verifiable as a metaphor for the substantiality of the inner, spiritual, invisible, language life.  The spiritual life is as substantial as the outer life; it is a different but equal substantiality.  We don't have to pit science against religion to appreciate that the Bible was not making scientific meanings.

Aphorism of the Day, April 8, 2024

The world outside of us that is accessible through our senses is regarded to be what is substantially objective in being verifiably available to everyone.  The New Testament writers saw the accessible outside objective world as a metaphor of substantiality for the inward and invisible world of language through which the entire outer world was mediated, as in everything came into being through the Word.

 Aphorism of the Day, April 7, 2024

The text of the Bible which seems to have a degree of stable permanence, has never been able to fix permanent meanings of the "fixed" text.  The texts were written from interpretative views and so they end up have endless interpretive views.

Aphorism of the Day, April 6, 2024

Yesterday is re-invented through clarification by today, because contrast over time re-creates what we once thought yesterday was.

Aphorism of the Day, April 5, 2024

St. Paul wrote that at the last trumpet, mortal bodies will be changed into immortal bodies.  We could write and talk forever about what this means and still not know what it means from actual experience.  From the experience of being in time we cannot understand what not having time would mean.

Aphorism of the Day, April 4, 2024

Paul's post-resurrection appearance of Christ was significantly different than the appearances recorded in the Gospel.  He did not see Jesus in the flesh but his conversion experience had very physical ramification for his body language thereafter.

Aphorism of the Day, April 3, 2024

Resurrection, transmogrification of the soul, reincarnation, immortality of the soul are all important insights because human death really effects people.

Aphorism of the Day, April 2, 2024

Resurrection is another way of saying continuous sustaining new life and it often means adjusting to events of starkly different life.  Life will alway go on and on; our tasks is to get into the flow with our volitional shaping of the expression of life toward love and justice within the human community.

Aphorism of the Day, April 1, 2024

Many Bible readers go the wrong direction in arriving at meanings.  They use spiritual writings to assert the events narratives could have been empirically verified even if such event do not comport to nature laws.

Quiz of the Day, April 2024

Quiz of the Day, April 25, 2024

Which of the following is not true regarding the Gospel of Mark?

a. it was written by one of the 12 disciples of Jesus

b. it may have been written by a companion of Peter

c. it may have been written by the figure known as John Mark in Acts

d. it was written anonymously, without textual evidentiary "signature" of an author

Quiz of the Day, April 24, 2024

Jot and tittle in the King James version of the Bible in words of Jesus refer to what?

a. small pieces of bread

b. small strokes in the Hebrew Torah

c. legal minutiae

d. Greek accent marks

Quiz of the Day, April 23, 2024

How many Israelites were killed by their fellows as result of the golden calf incident?

a. 1000

b. 2000

c. 3000

d. 4000

Quiz of the Day, April 22, 2024

What happened to Aaron's golden calf?

a. it was burned up

b. it was ground to powder

c. it was thrown into water

d. the gold powder water was drunk by the Israelites

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 21, 2024

Which of the following was not part of Aaron's vestments?

a. bells

b. turban

c. loin cloth

d. breastpiece

e. robe

f.  ephod

g. sash

h. tunic

Quiz of the Day, April 20, 2024

What wood was the ark of the covenant constructed out of?

a. gopher wood

b. cedar

c. sycamore

d. acacia

Quiz of the Day, April 19, 2024

How long was Moses on Mount Sinai?

a. 7 days

b. 3 days

c. 30 days

d. 40 days

Quiz of the Day, April 18, 2024

Which Gospels have the most details on the temptation of Jesus?

a. Matthew and Mark

b. Matthew and Luke

c. Mark and Luke

d. Luke and John

e. Mark and John

f. Matthew and John

Quiz of the Day, April 17, 2024

Which of the following are not dominical sacraments?

a. baptism

b. matrimony

c. confirmation

d. reconciliation of a penitent

e. ordination

f.  eucharist

g. a and f

h. b-e

i. b-d

Quiz of the Day, April 16, 2024

Which was one of the divine threats concerning the holy maintain of Sinai?

a. touch it and die

b. touch it and become leprous

c. touch it and become childless

d. touch it become transfigured

Quiz of the Day, April 15, 2024

What is the advice that Moses received from his father-in-law?

a. shepherding instructions

b. return to Median to receive the law

c. delegate to ministerial colleagues

d. how to treat his spouse

Quiz of the Day, April 14, 2024

The road to Emmaus post-resurrection appearance happened

a. on Easter Day

b. Easter Monday

c. Easter Tuesday

d. a week after Easter

Quiz of the Day, April 13, 2024

The meals of Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances consisted of

a. bread

b. wine

c. water

d. fish

e. lamb

f. all of the above

g. a and d

h. a,c, and d

Quiz of the Day, April 12, 2024

What does "manna" mean?

a. heavenly bread

b. coriander seed

c. "what is it?"

d. flakes

Quiz of the Day, April 11, 2024

Which of the following was not provided by God for the people of Israel to partake of?

a. quail meat

b. manna

c. water

d. mutton

Quiz of the Day, April 10, 2024

Who wrote A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life?

a. Thomas Traherne

b. Thomas a Kempis

c. William Law

d. George Herbert

Quiz of the Day, April 9, 2024

Which of the following is not true regarding Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

a. he went to the USA to avoid military service

b. he was directly involved in the plot to assassinate Hitler

c. he was sent to prison and killed

d. he worked for a German intelligence agency when he returned to Germany

Quiz of the Day, April 8, 2024

Which of the following is true about the Annunciation?

a. the announcement to Mary is found in Luke

b. the announcement to Joseph is found in John

c. the annunciation is not found in John

d. the annunciation in not found in Mark

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 7, 2024

According to John's Gospel, when did Thomas encounter the Risen Christ?

a. on Easter

b. Easter Wednesday

c. Sabbath after Easter

d. first Sunday after Easter

Quiz of the Day, April 6, 2024

Of the following, who is best known for the ontological argument for the existence of God?

a. Peter Abelard

b. Thomas Aquinas

c.  Anselm

d.  Albert Magnus

Quiz of the Day, April 5, 2024

Which biblical writer wrote about the "Last Trumpet?"

a. John the Divine

b. Ezekiel

c. Daniel

d. Jeremiah

e. Paul

Quiz of the Day, April 4, 2024

Which of the following, have accounts of the Ascension?

a. Matthew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

e. Acts

f. all of the above

g. a,b,c,d

h. a and c.

i. c and e

Quiz of the Day, April 3, 2024

Which Gospel has the account of earthquakes happening at the crucifixion and the resurrection?

a. Mathew

b. Mark

c. Luke

d. John

e. all of the above

Quiz of the Day, April 2, 2024

Before the people of Israel hastily left Egypt, what did they ask from their Egyptian neighbors?

a. for their gold and jewelry

b. donkeys for transportation

c. household gods

d. flour for bread

Quiz of the Day, April 1, 2024

Which of the following is not a synonym for the same holiday?

a. Feast of the Unleavened Bread

b. Passover

c. Sukkot

d. Festival of Matzot

e. Feast of Our Redemption 

Sunday School, April 28, 2024 5 Easter B

  Sunday School, April 28, 2024    5  Easter B

Sunday School Themes

The writer of the Gospel of John uses examples from farming and agriculture to teach lessons.

How close is a branch to the main stem of a plant?

How close are the leaves and fruit to a grape vine?

Very Close

When we speak about a grape plant we know that they consist of a root, stem or vine and branches which have leaves and grapes.

Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.”

This means that the life of Christ is very close to us and a part of us.

How does the life of the vine give life to the branches?  Plant blood is called “sap” and it flows inside of the plant to provide life food to all parts of the plant.

Jesus said there is something like sap which keeps us connected to him.

This sap would be the experience of God’s Holy Spirit who keeps us connected to Christ as the special life of God which we can find within ourselves, but we need to pay attention to it through prayer and study.

Allegorical Role playing Dialogue

Vine and Branchie.

Branchie: I am getting tired of just hanging around.  I want to leave this neighborhood and go away.

Vine: How are you going to do that?

Branchie:  Well, I will just swing really hard in the wind until I fall off on the ground and then I’ll get up and walk away.

Vine:  I don’t think so Branchie.  That is not the way plant life works.

Branchie:  Why not?  Why can’t I leave this neighborhood?

Vine: Well, you will always be a branch and you cannot be anything else.  So you have to follow the rules for branches.

Branchie:  What kind of rules?

Vine: Well, sometimes you have to get a “hair cut.”  You have to get pruned and trimmed.

Branchie: Ouch, that hurts.

Vine:  Yes, but it makes you grow much better and it helps you grow the very best grapes.  You like to grow grapes don’t you?

Branchie:  Well, yes, but why can’t I leave this neighborhood and travel?

Vine: You can because if you are broken off from me, you will lose your supply of plant blood and you will dry up and die and you will just be recycled.

Branchie: What is plant blood?

Vine:  Plant blood is called sap and you get your sap from me your Vine.  And you cannot live without the plant blood called sap.  So you have to stay connected to me.  I am happy to provide you with plant blood and I like to have you living close to me.

Branchie:  But can I ever leave or travel and still live?

Vine:  You can in a different way.  When you produce wonderful grapes, then your grapes are used for wine and for eating but also you produce more seeds for more grapevines.  And so the grapes are like your children and they get to travel and create more plant life everywhere.  They get to provide wonderful life for the people who eat them.  So you have a very important role in life.

Branchie: Yes, I do and I want to produce many good grapes so I want to stay close to you my Vine so that the plant blood or sap can continue to give me good life.

Vine: I would like these boys and girls to know that Jesus is like a Vine.  The Risen Christ is like a big tree with many branches.  And each of these boys and girls are like branches on the tree of Christ.  And they have the wonderful plant blood or sap inside of them.  Inside of each of these boys and girls is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God provides a wonderful special kind of life within them and this special kind of life will last forever, even after they leave this earth.

Branchie:  Wow.  That is a special life.

Vine:  Boys and Girls can you repeat after me:  Christ is the true Vine of my life.   He provides me with the special inner life of God’s Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sermon

 I would like to tell you story about Molly.  Molly was a wonderful little girl who liked to help her mom.  She used to watch her mom do all kinds of things.  She watched her cook in the kitchen and she watched her work in the garden.

  Molly liked to help her mom and do special things for her.  One day she watched her mom plant a small tree in the yard.  It was just a small tree, but it had four branches on it with leaves.

   Molly thought she would like to help mom and surprise her.

   She thought, “Mom loves trees.  What if planted more trees for her?”

Do you know what Molly did?  When mom went to the store, Molly decided to surprise her.  She went out to mom’s tree and she broke off the four branches.  And she planted each of these branches in the ground.  And she was very excited because now mom would have five trees and not just one tree.

  When mom came home from the store, Molly went out to see her and she was excited to tell her about a special surprise.  She said, “Mom, you planted just one tree, but now you have five trees.”

  And mom asked, “How did you do that Molly?”  Molly took her out to the yard and showed her how she had broken four branches from the tree and planted them in the ground.”

  Mom did not want to disappoint Molly, so she said, “You will have to remember to water your new trees.”  And so Molly watered her new trees every day, but they did not grow.  In fact, the leaves on the trees turned dark and they became brittle and soon the wind blew them away.

  Molly was disappointed that her trees would not grow.  She decided to pull one of them out of the ground and she saw that it was just a dead stick.

   Molly asked her Mom, “What happened?  Why didn’t my trees grow?”

   Her mom told her, “The branches can only grow if they stay attached to the trunk of the tree.  The roots of tree suck up water and plant food in the ground and makes a tree blood called sap.  And if you cut the branch off, the branch no longer gets the tree blood called sap and it dries up and dies.”

   Jesus told his friends, “I am the vine and you are the branches.”  The branches can live because they stay attached and connected to the vine.  They get the plant blood called sap.

  Jesus used this riddle to teach a lesson.  He said that we needed to remain connected to him.

  How do we do that?  We pray.  We learn.  And we find within ourselves the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is like the sap that flows through a plant.  It keeps branches alive, connected and attached to the vine.

  So too, the Holy Spirit deep inside of us keeps us connected to Christ.  And if we remain connected to Christ, we have the ability to have the fruits of the Spirit.  What are they?  Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, self-control and humility.

  The lesson for us today to remain connected to Christ so that we can grow the fruits of the Spirit.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

April 28, 2024: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Gathering Songs:  Glorify Your Name; If You’re Happy; Alleluia; Lord, I Lift Your Name

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.
Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Glorify Your Name (Renew!  # 37)

1.      Father, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify your name in all the earth. Glorify your name, glorify you name, glorify your name in all the earth.

2.      Jesus, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify your name in all the earth.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the earth.

3.      Spirit, we love you, we worship and adore you, glorify your name in all the earth.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the earth.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia
O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia
O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia
O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia
O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia
O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the First Letter of John

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 22

My praise is of him in the great assembly; * I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: * "May your heart live for ever!"
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, * and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!
For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!
For work and for play. Thanks be to God!
For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!
For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!
For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.
   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,
We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.
We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and
     resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.
We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is
     welcome.
We believe that Christ is kind and fair.
We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.
And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.
For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.
For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.
For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.
For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.
For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Song: If You’re Happy and You Know It   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 124)

1.      If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know, then your face should surely show it, if you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

2.      Make a high five…. 3. Make a low five…  4. Shout Amen.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.
Holy Baptism is a celebration of our birth into the family of God.
A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.
The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image
And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.
And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph
And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.
As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.
But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.
Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.
Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:        Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Alleluia (Renew! # 136)

1. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
2. He’s my Savior, Alleluia… 3. He is worthy, Alleluia…. 4 I will praise him, Alleluia

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;
We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.
And His Presence has been known to us.
We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers
    and sisters in Christ.
Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the
     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,
As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Lord, I Lift Your Name on High (Renew! # 4)

Lord, I lift your name on high; Lord, I love to sing your praises. 

I’m so glad you’re in my life; I’m so glad you came to save us. 
You came from heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. 
From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky; Lord, I lift your name on high.

Repeat

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God! Alleluia!  Alleluia!