Showing posts with label Youth Sermon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youth Sermon. Show all posts

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Pokeman Go and Taming Desire

11 Pentecost, Cp13,July, 31, 2016
Ecclesiastes 1:2,12-14;2:18-23  Psalm 107:1-9,43
Col. 3:1-11  Luke 12:13-21

Lectionary Link

Chike:  In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.

(Catherine has her iPhone and is looking at it)

Chike:  Catherine, I hate to interrupt your texting, but we have sermon to deliver.  I don't think that you have the phone numbers of everyone here so that you can just text the sermon to them.

Catherine:  Hold on!  I am in the midst of Pokémon Go and my phone started to vibrate just a minute ago so I know one of the critters is near.  Which Pokémon is it?  Bulbasaur, Ivysaur, Venusaur, Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Squirtle, Wortortle, Blastoise, Caterpie, Metapie, Butterfree.

Andrew:  Okay, okay, we don't want the whole list!  I'm a bit concerned that you might know these Pokémon better than the twelve Apostles.  Now you might like augmented reality, but we have to get back to the real and actual time of this sermon.

Catherine:  But can't we use Pokémon as a metaphor for our Bible reading themes?

Chike:  Are you sure that we want to augment the reality of the Bible in this way.  Maybe Father Phil will turn over to the heresy police and we will be in trouble.

Andrew: When in Rome do as the Romans do; when in Pokémon Go do as trainers do and so we will perhaps find that St. John the Divine is a Pokestop today.

Catherine:  Precisely! One of the main tasks of the game is to become adept trainers and throw Pokeballs at the various critters to defeat them, to capture them, and to retrain them.   I think St. Paul wrote about some critters.

Chike:  What kind of critters?

Catherine:  Fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language, and lying.

Andrew:  Indeed those are some powerful monster.  How do we defeat these monsters?

Chike: St. Paul said we could put these things do death.

Catherine: I don't think that we can just swipe the screens of our phones and throw Pokeballs at them.

Andrew:  St. Paul said we could put these things to death by using the power of the death of Jesus.  Jesus, a perfect person, was wrongly put to death upon the cross.  And since pure Goodness cannot stay dead, God brought Jesus back to life.

Chike:  So St. Paul used the power that comes from the life, death and resurrection as a spiritually augmented reality.

Catherine:  Wow – that’s cooler than the augmented reality of Pokémon!

Andrew:  Why is that?

Catherine:  Because Pokémon is just a game; the Spiritual power to change our lives and make them better is much greater than a game!

Chike:  But how do we change our lives and get them free from the monster of greed?

Andrew:  How do we stop wanting things, people, and situations?  From the time we were babies, don't we always just keep wanting things?

Catherine:   St. Paul said that there is desire and evil desire?  Greed is evil desire runaway like a wild fire and make us think that only having lots of money and things in life will make us happy.

Chike:  And when we want to have everything, then we compete and we lie and we abuse other people who get in our way.

Andrew:  The writer of Ecclesiastes said, “Vanities of Vanity - all is vanity.”

Catherine:   The writer must have been a woman, because only women have vanity tables to primp in front of…

Andrew:   No, the writer was not talking about furniture, though that was a good pun.  The writer was talking about the futility of living one's life just to gain wealth, power, and position.  A person is not able to live forever like God, so we have to leave all of our wealth to other people who did not work for it - and who may not know how to take care of it.

Chike:  Jesus said that Greed was a real problem.  Greed, according St. Paul, is making idols out of things.  Idols are what make desire evil.

Catherine:  So what is the answer to the problem desire?  Can we just stop desiring?  How do we tame desire?

Andrew:  Should we go to a Pokémon gym and get help from our fellow trainers? 


Chike:  O, I think that you mean, should we go to church and get help from our fellow Christians in learning how defeat evil desire?

Catherine:  Yes, we should but still the question is:  How can we tame desire without denying desire?  How can we make evil desire into good and beneficial desire?

Andrew:  I think the secret of magical transformation of desire involves aiming our desire at the right target.

Chike:  What do you mean?

Andrew:  Our desire has to be aimed at the greatest target of all: God.  The first commandment is to love God with all our hearts, souls, mind, and strength.  The Love of God is Good Desire.

Catherine:  Bingo!  That's it.  God is the only one worthy enough to be the greatest Idol of all!

Chike:  So we have freedom to desire God as much as we want.

Andrew:  Yes, and when we learn to desire God the most, then we won't let money or things or people or fame become idols which addict with destructive behavior.

Catherine:  Wow!  If this were Pokémon Go, I would say that we've arrived at Level 100.

Chike:  So, let us be Greedy for God alone.  God is our best treasure of all.

Andrew:  And if we know God to be our best treasure we will learn to enjoy all of the good things and people in our lives without making them into idols.

Catherine:  Okay, we've solved that.  Can I get back to Pokémon Go?

Chike:  Say, amen, Catherine!

Catherine:  Amen.

Andrew:  People, be Greedy for God! Can you say Amen?

Amen.


Sunday, May 29, 2016

Jesus Works Remotely

2 Pentecost Proper 4
1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43
Psalm 96:1-9
Galatians 1:1-12
Luke 7:1-10


Lectionary Link
Chike: In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.
Catherine:  Help!  Help!  I need help!   Like a good neighbor.  State Farm is there.
Arinze: How can I help you Catherine?  I’m not a State Farm agent wearing Khakis but I’m happy to help.
Catherine:  Perhaps you could help me understand the Gospel that we have read today.
Chike: Well, the centurion in the Gospel at first did the State Farm thing.
Catherine:  What do you mean?
Chike: When the Centurion wanted help for his valued employee, he cried, and like a good Savior, Jesus is there.
Arinze: But Jesus did not get there.
Chike:  This is strange.  First he wanted Jesus to come and then he stopped him before he could arrive.
Arinze: A Centurion was a high ranking officer who was in charge of a hundred or more soldiers.  If he gave a command to an officer, the officer would give the command to all of the other soldiers.  Each soldier did not have to come and get the command directly from the centurion because they knew how the system of command worked.  The order came from the centurion and the soldiers would follow the command even if the centurion was not present.
Catherine: Okay, but what is this Gospel trying to teach us?
Chike:  I think there are several lessons.
Arinze: Like what?
Chike:  This Gospel shows us that during the time of Jesus slavery was practiced and that even though Jesus said to love our neighbors as ourselves, the people of his time did not yet understand how people were equal in the eyes of God.
Catherine:  It shows us that sometimes good rules exists and people are blind to how they should practice these good rules.
Arinze:  Yes, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions of the United States are very good rules for justice, but it has taken a very long time for us to really bring equal justice to all people.
Chike:  I think there is another important lesson in the Gospel today.  I have a clue in my pocket here.
Catherine:  Chike - you have remote control.  How is that the clue to understanding the Gospel?
Chike:  With this remote control, I don’t have to be at the TV to change the channel.  In fact, I can bounce the signal off the wall and even change the channel from another room without even being in the same room as the TV.
Arinze:  I get your clue.  The Gospel lesson tells us that faith works like remote control.  Jesus did not have to be present for the centurion’s slave to be healed.  He had faith that Jesus could heal remotely.  And sure enough remote healing happened.
Catherine:  That is still true for us today.  We don’t see Jesus but we often need his help and so we have to have faith that Jesus can still help us from a distance. 
Chike:  Yes and you know what our remote control device is?
Arinze: No, what is it?
Chike:  It is prayer.  We use our prayer as an expression of our faith and we believe that our prayers are remotely delivered by God’s Holy Spirit.
Catherine: Well, do you guys ever fight over the remote control?  We do in our house.
Arinze: Well, yes we do because sometimes my brother wants to watch the wrong show.
Chike:  No, you want to watch the wrong show.
Catherine: Guys, don’t argue.  But I think I just thought about another lesson from the Gospel.
Arinze:  What?  That we should both have our own TV’s right?
Catherine:  No, during the time of Jesus and the early church, people fought about who could have the remote control.
Chike:  You’ve lost me, Catherine.  I don’t think they had TV’s then.
Catherine: No, no, no, no…..I’m not being literal. I’m speaking metaphorically, of course.
Arinze:  Metaphorically?
Catherine:  Yes, during the time of Jesus and the early church people argued about who could have access to God.  Many religious people did not think that Gentile people could have access to God.
Chike: I see what you are saying.  The centurion was not a Jew because he controlled soldiers in the Roman Army.  So he was a Gentile, but he still exercised his faith towards Jesus and Jesus honored his faith.
Arinze:  Yes, and all of us are Gentiles too.  And we believe that God honors our faith.  We learn from this lesson that Jesus honors the faith of all people who seek his help.
Catherine:  So today, we have learned that not even Jesus could stop slavery in his own time.  And we have learned that faith gives us the ability to have remote access to Jesus.
Chike:  And we have learned that our prayers are an expression of our faith.
Arinze:  So today, let us exercise our faith with our prayers and
All three:  Like a good Savior, Jesus is here!  Amen.

Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Love Chapter Dot Com?

4 Epiphany  C   January 31, 2016
Jer. 1:4-10     Ps.71:1-17
1 Cor. 14:12b-20  Luke 4:21-32
 
Arinze:  In the Name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.   You may be seated.  Welcome to youth Sunday today.  Today, we get to preach on The Love Chapter.  Does anyone know what the Love Chapter is?
Caroline: Do you mean Love Chapter dot com, the very popular online dating service?  Have you tried it?  What a coincidence.  I have been trying to fill out my profile for Love Chapter Dot Com.
Chike: Yes, and perhaps I can finish my profile for Love Chapter Dot com too.

Arinze: Really, I was not referring to Love Chapter Dot com dating service.  I was asking about something else.

Caroline: Work with us Arinze because I have to get my profile finished.

Chike:  What have you written so far in your profile?

Caroline:  Young, intelligent, attractive female seeks friendship with the following kind of guy:  Should be very patience.  Extremely Kind.  Should never be envious boastful or rude.  Should never want his own way.  Must never be resentful or irritable.  Should not be happy when others are doing wrong things.  Should always be truthful and rejoice in the truth.  Should be strong enough to support me always and endure all things.  Must be a strong believer and a very hopeful person.  If you are such a person perhaps we will be a match.
Arinze: Caroline, it sounds as though you want to be with the perfect person.  It looks like the only one who can qualify to date you is God.

Chike:  Well, that will make your Dad happy because then you will wait for a very long time to find the right person.  By the way, Caroline where did you find the list of the qualities of the perfect person?

Caroline:  Oh, I just thought them up.

Arinze: Are you sure Caroline, or did you borrow them from the real Love Chapter?

Caroline:  What do you mean, “The Real Love Chapter?”  Love Chapter Dot com is real.

Arinze:  I mean the real Love Chapter in the Bible.  The one that was written by St. Paul in First Corinthians, Chapter 13.

Chike:  I think it is a chapter which is read at almost every wedding.

Caroline:  Well, what does the Love Chapter say?

Arinze: It says, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”  Does that sound familiar?  Sounds a lot like the profile that you want for the perfect person.  Do you think you borrowed your profile from the Real Love Chapter?

Caroline:  Perhaps, I did.  It is such a good thing to borrow.
Chike:  I don’t think we can ever find the perfect person because I don’t think we can ever be that perfect ourselves.
Caroline:  Why do you think that St. Paul wrote about the perfection of love?

Arinze:  Paul wrote a letter to the Corinthian church.  The people in the church were very gifted and talented.  But because they were so gifted many of them were too proud.  Some people thought that their own gifts and jobs in the church were more important than the gifts of some other members.  And they treated other people as less important because they did not have the same gifts.

Chike:  Paul said that you can be very talented and gifted but if you don’t have love, then you actually ruin your gifts.

Caroline:  So love is the gift that everyone needs to have.  It is a gift that must accompany everything that we do in our lives or we will not appreciate how much all people are needed for the success of the church.

Arinze:  If everyone in the church was a preacher then who would make the coffee or sing in the choir or read the lessons.

Chike:  St. Paul said that we need love to regulate everything in our lives because love means that we are always learning how to live with each other in the best possible way.

Caroline:  Love is not envious; that means we are happy for the success of other people.  We don’t have to be jealous of others when they are successful.

Arinze:  When Jesus went back to his hometown, he found that people in his hometown were jealous of him.  Jesus had become a successful preacher and he was doing many wonderful things but when he went home, the people of his hometown did not receive his words or his wonderful deeds.  It made Jesus sad that they could not accept him.

Caroline:  Well, I think the Love Chapter is probably the greatest writing in the Bible.

Chike:  Why do you say that?

Caroline:  Because love has to be present in everything in our lives.
Arinze:  But love is so hard.  Love requires that we be so perfect.

Chike: Yes, Love requires that we be like God, because God is love.

Caroline: It is probably a good thing that love is so perfect and so difficult.

Arinze: Why is this good?
Caroline:  Because it means the standard of perfection is so high, we always have growing room to get better.

Chike:  The love that we have today, is not enough for tomorrow, because tomorrow we will have more opportunities to love again.

Arinze:  I guess that is why St. Paul said that love is never finished.

Caroline:  Okay, let’s take a vote.  Is love the greatest thing in the world?
Chike:  Love gets my vote.
Arinze: It gets my vote too.

Caroline:  People of St. John’s, raise your hand if you think love is the greatest thing in the world………Great!  I think we have a winner.

Arinze:  Let us follow Jesus who told us to love God with all of our hearts and to love your neighbors as yourselves.  Amen.



  

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Make Friends with the Judge




Youth Dialogue Sermon                          1 Advent C      November 29, 2015
Jer. 33: 14-16     Psalm 50:1-   1 Thes. 3:9-13   Luke 21:25-31



Chike: In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.   Let me be the first to wish all of you a very Happy New Year!



Arinze:  What chew talkin’ about, Chike?   It is only November 29th.



Chike: Sorry, Bro….but I guess you are not keeping up with the church calendar.  Today is the first Sunday of Advent and it is the first day of the new Christian Year.  I gotcha!



Caroline:  I hate to interrupt your sibling rivalry guys, but we have a sermon to preach.



Arinze: Well, maybe I’d like to avoid preaching today.



Caroline:  Why do want to avoid preaching today?



Arinze:  Well Father Phil is breathing a sigh of relief because we have to preach on the Gospel; we have to preach about gloom and doom.



Chike: What do you mean “gloom and doom?”



Arinze: Jesus said, “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”



Caroline:  That sounds pretty threatening.  And we might be really discouraged if these were the only words of Jesus in the Gospels.



Chike: What might be some of some of the positive words of Jesus in the Gospels?



Caroline:  Jesus promised us eternal life, he promised us a new birth, he promised us the gift of the Holy Spirit and much, much more.



Arinze:  Why don’t we just have positive words of Jesus in the Gospels?  Why do we have to words of warning from Jesus?



Caroline:  As people we need lot of different kinds of motivational strategies.



Chike:  What do you mean?



Caroline:  Well, your Mom might say, “I will bake you a cake if you clean your bedroom.”  Or your Dad might say, “If you don’t clean your room, you will not get your allowance.”  Which would be the best strategy to get you to clean your room?



Chike:  I guess they both might work.



Arinze:  Or neither of them work and you end up poor without an allowance and without any cake.



Caroline:  Advent is often a season of warnings.  And we do not like warnings, even though I hate to admit that sometimes we won’t do so necessary things if we don’t fear bad consequences.



Chike:  So we can study hard to get A’s or we can study hard to keep from failing. 



Arinze:  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could always do good and right things without any threats, fear of punishment or warnings?



Caroline:  I guess it is called positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.



Chike:  Mice in a maze can be trained to do things by offering them cheese or by giving them mild shocks.  Both can be training methods.  They learn by anticipating reward or punishment.



Arinze:  It is the same in sports as well.  What if the soccer coach just threw some soccer balls on the field and said “Okay, go out and learn how to play and I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”



Chike:  You might have fun but you probably wouldn’t be ready to play a game.



Caroline:  Well, you know that they say, “No pain, no gain.”  Sometimes we have to have teachers, parents, and coaches train us so that we can be prepared to achieve good things in life.



Arinze:  So, my soccer coach will warn us if we don’t work hard, he will make us run extra laps around the field.  He threatens us with something that we don’t want to do to inspire us to practice our hardest.



Caroline:  So that is why the Gospel words of Jesus include a good balance of positive things but also some negative warnings.



Chike:  I guess we just have to admit that as people we need both positive affirmation and negative warnings.



Arinze:  We can learn good behavior by being afraid of what could go wrong; and we can learn good behavior by knowing what rewards we can gain.



Caroline: Personally, I like to be motivated by chocolate cake, but sometimes I need to be frighten by the bad things that might happen if I do not do my best.



Chike:  I guess we just have to learn to be wise because if we are wise we might make better decisions.



Arinze:  Jesus told his friends that they need to learn how to read signs in life.  If you see smoke, then you know there is fire.  By reading the sign then you know how to respond to danger.



Caroline:  So if we are wise we can learn how to prevent and avoid bad things. 



Chike:  I think that Jesus was saying that there are lots of bad things that can happen in life.   And we should observe these bad things.  And we should make decisions to avoid bad things.



Arinze:  But don’t you think that the big threat of Jesus was when he said that we would have stand someday before the Son of Man.  Why do we have to live in fear about some final judgment?



Caroline:  That is one way to look at it but remember Jesus was talking to his friends.  So if you know the Judge and if the Judge is your friend, do you fear that your friend would judge you harshly?



Chike:  Yes, if your friend is the Judge, your friend might also compliment you on the good things that you have done.   So we only have to fear the Judge if we have not been friends with the Judge.



Arinze:  So Advent does not have to be a season of gloom and doom.



Caroline:  No, we should use Advent and every season as time to get to know Christ as both our friend and Judge.  As our friend and Judge, Jesus is one who wants us to get better and he will help us get better and he will also forgive us when we are not perfect.



Chike:  So this is the secret to happy Advent.



Arinze:  And what is that?



Chike:  Get to know Jesus Christ as your friend and judge in this life and then you will not have to fear the Son of Man as your judge at the end of your life.



Caroline: That’s a great way to have a good Advent season in preparation for Christmas.



Arinze:  So, people of St. John’s; get to know Jesus Christ as your friend now and then you will not fear him as the Son of Man and your Judge.  Sounds like good advice.



Caroline: Let us all spend extra time with Jesus as our friend during this season of Advent.  Amen.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

A Call to God in Heaven

Trinity Sunday  cycle b May 31, 2015
Isaiah 6:1-8  Psalm 29
Romans 8:12-17   John 3:1-17


3 preachers all with cell phones

Catherine:  In the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.  If you will excuse me for a minute.  I have to make a phone call, a special phone call on Trinity Sunday. (begins to call)

Rylie: Catherine, who are you calling?  And in the middle of church?  Really, isn't that a bit rude.  Well, I guess at least you're not preaching and texting.  You could get a ticket for that.  But really, who is so important for you to call during the sermon?

Catherine: Rylie, I am calling God of course!  I really needs some help with some answers for Trinity Sunday.

Rylie:  What do you need help with?

Catherine:  It's the math that I don't get.

Rylie:  Math?  What do you mean?

Catherine:  Well the math of the Trinity is this: One plus one plus one equals One.

Rylie: O, I get it.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Three persons, but One God.

Andrew:(answers the phone)  Hello, you have reached Heaven Incorporated.  Press 1 if you have an emergency prayer request.  Press two, if you would like to speak to the Blessed Virgin Mary, press 3, if you would like to speak to Jesus.  Press 4, if you would like to speak to the Holy Spirit and press 5 if you would like to speak to the Father.

Catherine: I just want to speak to God.

Andrew: Please press a number so that your call can be processed in the order that it was received.

Catherine: Wow!  The phone line to heaven must be busy but I didn't expect such a long wait.  I mean, aren't you God?  Shouldn't you be able to handle all calls at once?

Andrew: Hi, Catherine, how are you today?

Catherine: How did you know me?

Andrew: Well, I am God, after all, so I know everyone.

Catherine: But I thought that I was getting a recorded message.

Andrew:  Well, I sometimes like to play a joke on human beings by pretending to act like they do.  Did you think it was funny?

Rylie:  Who are you talking too?  Did you get through?

Catherine: I'm talking to God,  shhhh.

Rylie:  You have to like someone who answers his own phone.

Catherine: Well, God, I guess it is funny for you to pretend to be human.  We can sometimes be very funny in our foolishness.  But who am I speaking to?

Andrew:  You are speaking to God, of course.

Catherine: But am I speaking to the Father, the Son or to the Holy Spirit now?

Andrew: Well, now you are speaking to the Father.

Rylie:  Which one are you talking to?

Catherine: The Father.

Rylie: Tell him hi, for me.  Okay?

Catherine: Father, I needs some help.  I am preaching today on Trinity Sunday at St. John's and I need to know how to tell my friends about the Trinity.   I went to Father Phil for help and he said to just tell them that the Trinity is a mystery.  Big help!  Nancy Drew and the Hardy boys are mysteries and they always solve their mysteries.  But what about the Mystery of the Trinity?  How do I solve it?

Andrew:  Well, the Trinity is a very big Mystery but that shouldn't be a surprise.  The universe is so big and people are so small that there will always be things which people do not understand and so there will always be mysteries for human beings.

Catherine:  So, we just have to accept that we are small and that there will always be mysteries?

Rylie:  I love mysteries; what is God saying about mysteries?

Catherine:  Hold on, Rylie, I am trying to get some answers.  So Father, you want me to accept the mystery of God?

Andrew:  You have no choice because I am bigger than you and I contain you; you do not contain me.

Catherine: What does that mean?

Andrew:  It means that you live and move and have your being within my Great Being.

Rylie:  Can I talk to God too?

Catherine: Just answer your phone.  You're on a conference call.

Rylie:  Hello, your majesty.  Am I suppose curtsy or bow?  How am I to address you?

Andrew: Well, you can respect me by just being my child and my friend.

Rylie: Well, that's really cool.  But like Catherine, I have questions about you.  Some of my friends who believe in One God, say that we Christians have three gods, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  So are you three or are you One?

Andrew:  Well I am three and I am One.  But let me explain.  First of all what are we using to communicate with each other?

Catherine:  We are using language.  We are talking?

Andrew: Well, as God, I am greater than language but I have to allow myself to be translated into ways that people can understand me.  But I am always more than language and more than what can be said about me.

Rylie:  So we can never understand all of God?


Andrew:  Yes that it right, but I have given you enough to understand about me so that you can progress to live the very best of your human lives.

Catherine:  But why did you choose to be translated as Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Andrew: What is the best thing about being a human being?

Rylie:  I guess it is being a person.  A person is someone who has relationships with other people.

Andrew:  You are right Rylie.  Being a person is what is the greatest thing about human life.  People were made in my image and if being a person is what is best about human life, then being a person is very important to understand who I am as God.  What is important  to understand about me is that I am not just a collection of all of the atoms of the universe as some big machine.  You are not a machine, you are a person and so you are different from a machine.  I am a Person who made all people to be like me in some way so that we could have a relationship.

Catherine:  So why are you Father?  

Andrew:  As Father, you understand that I have been before everything and everything was born or created out of me.  And as Father of the universe I want you to know that I love and care for everyone and everything as a good parent would care for a child.

Rylie:  Could I speak to Jesus?

Andrew: Hello, Rylie, I am now Jesus.  How can I help you?

Rylie: Jesus, why are you the Son of God and why do we need you to be known as the Son of God?

Andrew:  Well, being God means that God is  so great that people might think that a great God does not understand them and their problems.  Do you like people to try to understand you in  everything that happens to you?

Catherine: I do.  It is called empathy.  Sometimes we say, "Don't judge another person until you've walked a mile in their shoes."

Andrew: Yes, that is exactly correct.  God wants all people to know that God knows what they are feeling.  And to prove it, I was sent to live as a fully human person so that you could know that God is really close to how you think and feel.  And because I lived as a human being and showed you a relationship with God as my Father, you can be my sisters and brothers and you can know God as your Father too.

Rylie: I like that Jesus.  You sure walked more than a mile in our shoes to show us how much God cares for us.  But now can I talk to the Holy Spirit?

Andrew: Here I am Rylie, the Holy Spirit.  Some call me the Comforter.  I like to comfort people.

Catherine:  How can you comfort us Holy Spirit?  

Andrew:  Well, you know when you were a baby and your parents went out of your sight and you could not see them?  You got worried that they might not be with you anymore because you felt you could only believe that your parents existed if you could see them or hear them.

Catherine: Yes, I remember that.  Sometimes it was frightening to think that my parents were gone.

Andrew:  But were they gone?  Did they still love you when you could not see them?

Catherine:  Yes, they did and it soon became like they were with me always even when I did not see them.

Andrew: Well, I, the Holy Spirit are like the invisible but real presence of God wherever you go.  I am more present to you than even your parents because I help hold the entire world together with my presence all of the time.  And even when your parents are not perfect, I still am with you to comfort you.

Rylie: Wow! God, you are great and wonderful.

Catherine: But God you also understand us and are our Friend.

Andrew: Now I am God speaking in all three voices at once.  I am great and big but I want to be understood by you and everyone and so I allow myself to come into the language and experiences of people so that they can know my greatness.  If people know the greatness of God then they will have a perfect model for improving their lives at all times.  Any other questions?


Catherine: Not a question but I just want to thank you God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for making yourself known to me and to all people.

Rylie: Yes, Thank you God, Daddy, Brother, and friendly Holy Ghost.  I am glad that you are with me always.

Catherine:  We'll hang up now. God.  Bye for now.   I think that all of these people have been on the conference call with us to understand a little more about God.    And even though we have not solved the mystery of the Trinity.  We have enjoyed the mystery of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.




Sunday, March 29, 2015

Roman Centurion Provides the Main Punchline



Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday B  March 29, 2015
Isaiah 50:4-9a     Psalm 31: 9-19                                                                                               Philippians 2:5-11  Mark 14:1-15:47




Will: My preacher friends, and dear members of St. John’s, I think Father Phil can be quite a sneaky priest.


Priya: Shame on you Will for even suggesting such a thing.  Only his wife would really know if that were true.


Catherine: Yes, Will, what do you mean by suggesting such a thing?


Will:  Well, I think Father Phil is trying to pad his attendance record for today?


Priya:  What do you mean by that?


Will:  Well, we’re having two services.  The Palm Sunday liturgy and the Passion Sunday liturgy and so he gets to count all of us twice for the attendance record.


Catherine: It is interesting that you think that way; perhaps you are thinking like Father Phil yourself.


Will: Well great minds do think alike.


Priya: Yes, and fools never differ.


Catherine:  But let not argue about Father Phil’s motive for padding the attendance record.  It is more important that we are doing two different liturgies today.


Will: And these liturgies are so contradictory.


Priya: Indeed they are.  In the Palm Sunday liturgy the crowd is shout “Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of Lord.”  Jesus is paraded through the streets as a king.


Catherine:  But now we have turned to the Passion Sunday liturgy when we read the very sad story about the death of Jesus on the cross.


Will:  And the crowd in this story shout, “Crucify him, Crucify him.” This is quite a contrast in reactions to Jesus.  Why are there such different crowds of people who have completely different responses to Jesus?


Priya:  It could be that lots of the people from the countryside where Jesus lived in Nazareth had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebrations.  They wanted to make a political statement about Jesus to the people in Jerusalem.


Catherine:  Well, they did make a political statement but the leaders in Jerusalem were not happy with the Parade of Palms and they were very frightened that people were calling Jesus a king.


Will: Why were the leaders in Jerusalem frightened?


Priya: Israel was an occupied country.  The Romans controlled the city of Jerusalem.  But the Romans provided jobs for the people in Jerusalem.  The Romans were paying for the rebuilding of the temple.  They were paying for other public works projects.


Catherine: So, the Romans provided lots of jobs for the people in Jerusalem.


Will: The Jewish leaders of Jerusalem had to negotiate with Romans for their religious rights and freedoms.


Priya:  So when people started to call Jesus a king, the leaders in Jerusalem were worried that the Romans would think that someone was beginning a rebellion against the Caesar.


Catherine:  So, I suppose the Roman officials in Jerusalem probably told the Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem:  “You better deal with this problem.  It is a big problem if people are trying to make another person king in Jerusalem when the Caesar is the king of the world.”


Will: So the Romans officials in Jerusalem had to defend the Caesar against any possible opponent.  And the religious leaders thought that Jesus and his followers would really anger the Roman officials and cause them to bring their soldiers to destroy Jerusalem.


Catherine: The Jewish leaders of Jerusalem did not want to “rock the boat” with the Roman officials.  And they felt that the only way to keep from angering the Roman official was to deal with problem of Jesus caused by his popularity.


Priya: Hmm….now I think I am beginning to understand the situation which led to the Cross of Christ.


Will:  I also understand something else on this day.  The crowd of people who followed Jesus and declared him to be a king must have been really disappointed.


Catherine:  Why do you say that?


Will:  They believed Jesus to be super hero who could do anything.  They believed that he would be one who could kick the Romans out of Jerusalem.  They believed that he would be a king like David who would bring independence and freedom back to Israel.


Priya: And so the person they wanted to be king ended up dying on the cross.  How could such a person be a super hero or a king?


Catherine:  Well, it could be that we have to stand back and re-define what we mean by being a king?


Will:  What do you mean?


Catherine:  Caesar Augustus and his successors were strong kings?  But where in the world today are a billion people gathering to commemorate their deaths?


Priya: No where that I know, but billions of people for years have been gathering to commemorate the death of Jesus.


Catherine:  So in the end, who has proven to be the greater king?


Priya: The kingship of the Caesar died when they died; but the kingship and the kingdom of Jesus has continued to live on and will live on forever.  Who is the greater King?



Will: Jesus, of course.  That is why the mocking sign on the cross: “The king of the Jews” is such irony.


Catherine: What do you mean by irony?



Will:  I mean the writers of the account of the death of Jesus already knew how popular he had become.  Jesus had become the king of hearts of many, many people, including many Jewish people.  So, his role as a dying king had a different meaning after Jesus had become so popular.


Priya:  There is also something very mysterious about the punchline in the Passion Gospel.


Catherine: What is the punchline in the Passion Gospel?


Priya:  The punchline is that one of Roman centurion who was torturing Jesus made the most important statement of all.  The centurion as he watched the death of Jesus said, “Truly this man was God’s Son.”


Will:  That is strange.  It wasn’t Peter, or James or John.  It wasn’t Mary the Mother of Jesus or Joseph.  It wasn’t Mary or Martha of Bethany.  It wasn’t his friend Mary Magdalene.  It was a Roman foreigner who made this confession that Jesus was God’s Son.


Catherine:  It is strange indeed because a Roman soldier would have only called the Caesar a son of a god.


Priya:  So, the writer of the Gospel of Mark wants all of the readers to be like the foreign, Gentile, Roman Centurion and come to this same confession: Jesus, truly you are God’s Son.


Will: Maybe all of us could whisper this confession now too: “Jesus, truly you are God’s Son.”


Catherine: Jesus, you are truly king of our hearts.


Priya: We cannot stop at the event of the Cross of Jesus.


Will: Why not?


Priya: We only remember the Cross of Jesus because of what comes next in the life of Jesus.


Catherine:  Please tell me now!  What is it?


Will:  We can’t tell you now.  We are going to hold you in suspense.  So, you’re just going have to come back next week for the rest of the story.


Catherine:  I can hardly wait.



Priya: For today, let us be glad to confess:  “Jesus, you are truly God’s Son.”  Amen.

Eucharist and Sign Value Crisis

Maundy Thursday March 28, 2024 Ex. 12:1-14a Ps. 78:14-20, 23-25 1 Cor 11:23-32 John 13:1-15 Lectionary Link On Maundy Thursday, many Christi...