Showing posts with label B proper 25. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B proper 25. Show all posts

Sunday, October 24, 2021

The Gospel of an Adverb

22 Pentecost Cycle B Proper 25 October 24, 2021
Jeremiah 37:1-9  Psalm 126
Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:46-52





Today, I would like to focus upon the Gospel of an Adverb?  And what adverb is that you might ask?  The adverb, again.  And this comes from Bartimaeus, Son of Timaeus' request, "My teacher, let me see again." Bartimaeus, means son of Timaeus, so note how the writer or editor translates the Hebrew meaning of the name.

Let me see again.  Again is an important adverb in life because it states the reality of time.  Similar things happen in time over and over again.  The sun rises again and sets again.  Repetition is a fact of life.  Repetition in liturgy and worship is called ritual.  A ritual is the repeating of similar pattern or action or ceremony for the purpose of teaching and reinforcing identity within a community.

Again is a very important adverb in the New Testament.  Why?  Resurrection is about living again after we die.  Receiving the Holy Spirit is about being born again after having had a first birth into the world.

Repentance is about the continual renewal of the mind to progress in spiritual and moral growth.  Repentance is acting again in a different way because one has began to think again in a different and better way.

Bartimaeus wanted to see again, which means that he was not blind from birth but he had lost his sight.  He mourned his impairment and loss of sight so much that he caused a public disturbance when Jesus the wonder worker was known to be passing nearby.

The Bartimaeus story is the Gospel story of the entire Jesus Movement.  The followers of Jesus were those who could see life again in a different way because of an encounter with the Risen Christ through a spiritual awakening.

The word, "again" carries with it two different qualifications of our experience in time.  It carries with it the meanings of sameness with the past, and difference with the past.

Again means that there is a sameness of the human characteristics of what we have done in the past with what we are doing now.  But again, also means that every moment and occasion is new and different from the previous moments.

The question of the Jesus Movement and the question of repentance, is how are we different or same in comparison with what has gone before.

Addictions and bad habits represents the sameness with the past.  If I drank too much alcohol yesterday, then today, I will continue to drink.  So, the negative aspect of the word again, is the negative aspects of repetitions which can build up to become the bad character and bad habits of our lives.

The essence of a person is not to be an addict, a liar, or a sinner; but with the continual repetition of addictive behaviors, lying, and sinning, we can allow our originally blessed personhood to become reduced to our worst repetitive behaviors.

The Jesus Movement, complimented the repentance movement of John the Baptist, by the evidence of the higher power of the Holy Spirit to interdict spiritual blindness with new sight, to interdict addiction and bad habits with the power and freedom to make new and different choices.  To receive power to begin to build new habits and character based upon repetitions of good behaviors.

Let us embrace the positive side of the adverb "again," today.  Let us do things again, differently, progressing to surpass ourselves in excellence.

Many people do not come to the rituals of the church because they are bored by what they regard as vain repetitions.  Many people need their rituals to be entertainment so that they are not bored.  Some people think that they need drums and aspects of popular culture to make their church rituals relevant and interesting to them.

I believe to live the born again life, to see again in life, requires that we live in deliberate and intentional attentiveness.  Too many people are bored because in pride, they believe that they have exhausted the relevance of biblical knowledge and the traditions of the church.  People can be bored because they have become lazy in habits of their mental and spiritual practice.

Rather than be bored with what we think we know about Jesus, God and the church, let us be restless today like Bartimaeus.  Let us be uncomfortable with our state of blindness and cry out for more spiritual sight.

And like the prayerful song we pray today:  Open my eyes that I may see, visions of truth thou hast for me, open my eye, illumine me, Spirit Divine.  Amen.

Monday, October 18, 2021

Sunday School, October 24, 2021 22 Pentecost, B proper 25

 Sunday School, October 24, 2021   22 Pentecost, B proper 25

 
Themes

How does everyone do the work of a priest?  A priest is one who prays for others.  In the life of Job, we are told that Job’s fortunes turned when he prayed for his friends.  The lesson of Job shows us that we need to turn everything that happens to us into prayer for others.  Why?  Because the things which happen to us also happen to others.  It means we share common life experiences with each other and so when we have a hard time, we should not just feel sad for ourselves we should also remember that there are other people who will have a hard time as well.  And if we turn our experience to the opportunity for prayer, then we will not feel sorry for ourselves, but we will have faith to believe our lives are connected with other people.

So let us remember our lives are given to us to pray for each other and so in our prayer we act like priests.
The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus was the best priest of all because he shared our lives and he prayed for us and he continues to pray for us.  Jesus knows how we feel because he lived through some very difficult times.  And so he understands us.

The Gospel story is about Jesus healing a blind man and giving him his sight.  The Gospels tell us that Jesus is the Light of the world and because of his teaching he helps us to see better how we should live.  Education is like light and receiving our sight.  As we learn more we can see how to do more things and live better lives.  Our ignorance is like blindness and as we learn more we receive new sight.

Jesus came to help us to learn more and see our lives better.  We are like Bartimaeus because we are always asking Jesus to open the eyes of our understanding so that we can understand what we should do and say.

A sermon on Seeing
  I want for us to pretend for a while that we cannot see.  Let’s close our eyes and pretend that we are blind, just like the man Bartimaeus.

  When you close your eyes, everything is dark, isn’t it?  Can you imagine living like this all of time?  How could you play?  How could you watch the television?  How could you get dressed? How could you eat?  You and I would have to learn how to do things in special ways if we were blind.

  We might have to get a seeing-eye dog to help lead and guide us to the right places.  People who are not able to see are heroes.  When they learn how to adjust to being blind and keep their hope and their happiness they inspire us to be thankful and also they teach us to live with faith and hope in our lives.

A person who is blind teaches us to never give up at trying to live well in our lives.

  So even though the blind man Bartimaeus had lost his seeing, he did not lose his faith and his hope.  He had more faith and hope than the other people who could see.

  And he had faith and hope to ask Jesus for a favor.  And even when people tried to keep him away from Jesus, he only cried out with more faith and more hope.  And Jesus did a great favor for him.  He helped him to see again.

  I hope that you and I never lose our ability to see.  But in our lives we sometimes will lose some very important things.

  But let us remember that when we lose important things, there are some things that we never have to lose:  We never have to lose faith, or hope, or love, or friendship.  And if we never lose faith or hope, we will be able to know that God is always close to us.

  Can you remember today, always to have faith and hope?  No matter what happens?  These are special gifts from God that we never have to lose.  Amen.


Family Service with Holy Eucharist
October 24, 2021: The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Open Our Eyes; I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light,  Jesus, Name Above All Names; May the Lord

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

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: Open Our Eyes, Lord   (Renew! # 91)

Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus, to reach out and touch him and say that we love him.  Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen, open our eyes Lord, we want to see Jesus.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

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 book of Job

And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 104

I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my    mouth.
I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together.

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 Mark
People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus and his disciples came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stood still and said, "Call him here." And they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man said to him, "My teacher, let me see again." Jesus said to him, "Go; your faith has made you well." Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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. (chanted)

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.

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: I Want to Walk As a Child of the Light, (Renew # 152)

1          I want to walk as a child of the light; I want to follow Jesus.  God set the stars to bring light to the world; the star of my life is Jesus.  Refrain: In Him there is no darkness at all, the night and the day are both alike.  The Lamb is the light of the city of God: Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.
2          I want to see the brightness of God; I want to look at Jesus.  Clear Sun of righteousness, shine on my path, and show me the way to the Father.     Refrain

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.
Baptism is a celebration of 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.

The Prayer continues with these words

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.  Bless and 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:  Jesus, Name Above All Names, Renew! # 26

Jesus, Name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord,
Emmanuel, God is with us, blessed Redeemer, Living Word.

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: May the Lord (Sung to the tune of Edelweiss)

May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and keep you forever, Grant you peace, perfect peace,
Courage in every endeavor.  Lift up your eyes and see His face, Trust His grace forever. 
May the Lord, Mighty god Bless and keep you for ever.

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 
People: Thanks be to God! 








  

Sunday, October 28, 2018

The Meaning of Suffering

23 Pentecost Cycle B Proper 25     October 28, 2018
Job 42:1-6, 10-17  Psalm 34:1-8, (19-22)
Hebrews 7:23-28  Mark 10:46-52


The book of Job is a wisdom teaching in the Bible to give us insights into suffering.  And on this day after the terrible slaying of our fellow Americans, Jews who assumed freedom and safety their house of worship, we cannot pretend that we don't know the cause of such suffering.  It is hatred that was not prevented by our Constitutional laws.  It is the hatred that totally takes advantage of our love and respect for freedom and would make us fear freedom and make us believe in the demons of hatred in people more than the angels of goodness.  We want to believe in the probable angels of goodness; but an event such as this draws from us a rage that makes us know ourselves in a way that we don't want.  The suffering caused by open violence and murder is a completely different class of suffering because we see and know the immediate cause.  We are so used to the normalcy of the respect for life that such an attack makes us question the perfectability of our society founded upon some very lofty ideals about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by all.

 Suffering is a fact of life; why it happens, when it happens and to whom it happens is shrouded in the mystery of the freedom of life.  Within certain specific contexts we think that we know why things happen.  When cars run into each other, we observe what we think is direct cause and effect, but even such an event includes the mystery of why the people were in their cars at that particular time.  The mystery of everything that happened before an accident also contributed to the accident happening.  "If I hadn't returned home to retrieve my cell phone, then I would have been on the road twenty minutes earlier and the accident wouldn't have happened."  You see, even when we think we know the direct cause of something, we still are left with the great mystery of how it has been affected by everything else that has previously happened.


The book of Job reveals the human tendency to presume to know why bad things happen, especially when it happens to someone else.  They must have done something wrong.  They must have some character flaw.  The book of Job reveals the human tendency to victimize people who suffering.  Job's so-called friends came a calling when he lost everything, and they wanted to lecture him about why he was having bad luck.  


Job didn't think that he was perfect but he also did not think that any one to one correspondence between what he had done wrong could be matched with the severe punishments of all of his losses.  Job was angry that his friends presumed to know why bad things had happened to him, even while he did not know why he deserved such bad luck.

The book of Job does not solve the problem of suffering  especially innocent suffering but it does provide us with some important insights.  When God spoke to Job out of the whirlwind, God essentially said to Job, "Job you can't understand everything because, I'm God and you're not."  What this means to me is that total realm of Freedom includes an unknowable number of past events all in relationship with each other and no one can understand all of the possible causal connections.  We can take comfort in knowing that great Freedom does not pick on us specifically but neither are we exempt from the outcomes of the whole range of probable human experiences.

If the book of Job does not provide us with a cogent cause of suffering, what does it provide us?  I think one of the chief insights of the book of Job is found in today's reading: "the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends.."  Praying for others is called "intercession."  When Job accepted his suffering as solidarity with others and offered his experience of suffering as living prayers for others who suffer, he found the meaning of his suffering.  He did not find the cause of his suffering; he found after-the-fact meaning for it.  After suffering, he knew how to be with other people in a way that he could not have been had he not suffered.  And Job could say, "I don't know why I suffered, but my suffering has come to have a blessed meaning because I now have an empathy that I did not have before."  Bingo...when we can be beneficial ministers to other from our actual experience, we discover the redemption of our suffering.  Because we find redemption for our suffering, this still does not mean it was not the impairment of the good which is what we believe is normal.

What is one of the chief definition of a priest?  A priest is one who intercedes for others.  A priest is one who accepts the events of one's life as being lived sacrificially for and with others.


Jesus who was not Levitical priest, was called our great High Priest.  How can God know how we as human beings live and feel?  If God assumes human experience in such an intimate way so as to become one us, then God attains complete empathy, especially if God even goes to and through human death.  And this is what we understand to have happened in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus suffered and he received us as friends for whom he prayed.


And we like the blind man Bartimaeus, have the continual permission to ask Jesus our great High Priest, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me....have mercy on my friends...have mercy upon my enemies....have mercy on us all, again and again."  Today, we seek to be like both Job and Jesus, in that we seek to be priestly.  I am a priest, not because I exhaust all priestly work in our parish;  I am a priest, because I exist to tell you and the entire church that we are to be priestly people.  We are to integrate our suffering and our experience in solidarity with the suffering of all and we do this by living lives of intercession.  We are always already, here for each other and for the life of the world, even as we as priestly people approach Jesus our High Priest, and for ourselves, our country and our world, we pray again: "Jesus son of David, have mercy upon us, again.  Let us see again the value of our lives and the value of the life of each person."  Amen



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