The Call of Christ as Spiritual Mobility

3 Epiphany B  January 21, 2018

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62:6-14

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20

 Lectionary Link

 

A calling from God can bring significant changes in one's life.  Remember Abraham?  His calling took him from Ur of the Chaldees to the far way land of Canaan.  And Jonah, his calling to go to Ninevah brought him a detour of being fish food in the belly of a big fish at the bottom of the sea.

 

America is a nation of immigrants.  Only the Native Americans are original residents.  People from all across the world seem to think that they have been called to be here, and often for economic reasons.  I ask a Danish American why his father came from Denmark to South Dakota?  He said that his father was one of many brothers, and his grandfather had only one farm in Denmark, and that farm went to the oldest son.  So, his dad came to South Dakota for land to farm on.

 

Imagine St. Peter in Rome, on his way to his own upside-down crucifixion.  Can you imagine Peter thinking, "Wow, Peter you've come a long way from fishing on the Sea of Galilee.  This call to follow Christ and spread the Gospel has brought me to threaten the Emperor in the city of Rome."  Peter could not have imagined the changes and the adventures which came to him because of the call of Christ.

 

The call of Christ sometimes, is reduced to a religious vocation or specific ministry, or ordained ministry.  And it is that, but it is much more.  Peter would probably say, “the call of Christ is going to knock your socks off if you embraced the holistic life transformation of the call of Jesus.”

 

To have a holistic spiritual calling from Christ is to begin a path of social, vocational, geographical, and intellectual path of mobility.

 

Why weren't the fathers of Peter and Andrew and James and John upset about Jesus stealing their sons from the family fishing business?  Well, it could be that there were too many brothers for the business and so if a couple of brothers found something else to do, then that solved the passing on of the family fishing businesses.

 

Think about the social and intellectual transformation of Peter and his fellow fisherfolk?  Following Jesus made them into public speakers; it gave them the opportunity to travel and to use and develop people gifts which they did not know that they had.  It maybe gave them the opportunity to become literate, able to learn how to read and write.

 

When one thinks about the call of Christ, one should think about holistic mobility.  The Holy Spirit means mobilization in one's life.  The call of Christ is the holistic educational program of repentance.   Repentance is the translation of the Greek word, "metanoia," which means the renewal of one's mind.  This is what mobility means; it means perpetual change toward becoming more like Christ, and change may mean doing some things which may not be in logical continuity with what one has been trapped in.  I imagine that many people are "burned out" by their jobs because they feel locked in with no possibility for the kind of mobility that one needs to surprise oneself in personal and social development towards excellence.

 

We might be afraid of what changes the call of Christ might instigate.  I had a parishioner who grew up in a small town in Texas.  He thought that he would be stuck there forever.  But he became a glider pilot in the Second World War.  He landed those flying plywood boxes on rough fields at Normandy and in the Netherlands, and he survived.  And he was grateful that his military call him got him out of that little town and allowed him to see the world and he saw open to him many new directions for his life and business opportunity.

 

This illustrates something of the kind of mobility that the call of Christ can offer to us.  The call of Christ invites us to surprise ourselves in what we never thought possible.

 

We now seem to be locked in as individuals, families and as a parish by all of the restrictions of our pandemic.  And yet we pray afresh to Jesus, let your call come to us even in the middle of our dire circumstances.  Let your call come to us with spiritual wisdom for creativity in how to remain connected as a parish family and how we can best share the good news of God in Christ.

 

Our nation has just experienced the change of administrations; we do not need to be political to interweave Gospel values of binding wounds and bringing good tiding to the oppressed and the suffering with what our governmental organizations are trying to do for the health of the people of our country.  Let us respond in new ways to the call of Christ and perhaps we can know future amazement with the new life mobility that will come from responding to the call of Christ.

 

I hope and pray that the call of Christ will surprise us in new ways today.  Amen.

Equal Calling, Different callings

3 Epiphany B  January 21, 2018
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62:6-14
1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20
Lectionary Link
There was an old man who spent most of the day on the wharf fishing and talking.  And someone one asked him about religion.  And he said, "I guess fishing is my religion, but I have to admit that I'm quite impressed that Jesus was able to get some men to leave their fishing and take up preaching.  He must of been a pretty special guy."

There is some irony in reading about the prophet Jonah and the Gospel call to the fishermen since Jonah was the one who caught by a big fish.

Remember the story of Jonah?  He was told to go preach a message of repentance to the foreign city of Ninevah, but Jonah believed that the message of the Torah only belonged to his own people of Israel.  He knew it to be such a good message, he knew that if God treated the people of Ninevah like God treated obedient people everywhere, they would embrace the good news of God.

What did Jonah do when he was first called?  He ran away and took a slow boat in the opposite direction.  And nature was used by God to perform an intervention in the flight of the disobedient prophet.  A storm arose and threated the life of all on the ship; and finally Jonah confessed about how his disobedience was the cause of the storm.  So, he convinced them to throw him overboard to make the storm cease.  And what happened to Jonah?

He was swallowed by a big fish.  He spent three nights in the belly of the big fish and he prayed while in the belly of the big fish.  He made the big fish sick that the big fish spit him upon the beach.  And Jonah received a second call to go to Ninevah and he obeyed and sure enough Ninevah received and obeyed his message.

Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen who got caught.  They were not caught and swallowed by a big fish; they were caught by this charismatic rabbi Jesus who was preaching on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

They liked the dynamic of being "caught" by Christ; finding the best teacher of their lives must have been exciting.  And Jesus told them that he would help them catch others in a similar way.  They became his students in his school of discipleship.  They wanted to learn from Jesus how to activate their wisdom and their personal charisma in a way that would help them to reach other people.  The call of Christ involves each of us learning how to help people activate their call to the goodness of God.

The Call of God is a multi-faceted; it involves how each human being can understand the purpose of his or her life.

The Call of God needs to be understood in its fullness. 1-the Pre-Christian Cosmic Call.  2-The personal call by Jesus.  3-The institutionalization of call in baptismal practice and ordination.  And 4-Call as the complementing vocation in everything that we do.

The PreChristian Call is articulated in our Creation belief that we are made in the image of God and so the homing device of God's image within us is always already trying to lead us back to God.  The law, the sages, the prophets all came as ways to assist us in restoring the best performance of the image of God in our lives.  The limitation of the call to just the people of Israel and to certain religious parties, such as happened in the life of Jonah, meant that a new call had to be made explicit. And so we have the personal call of God to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus came to be the Image of God in a human person to model how the image of God on humanity is to be lived out.  And God became known as a specific person in Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus of Nazareth attracted people to find their purpose of life.  He built a Movement and a community to gather to model and live out these behaviors of good news, the good news of love and kindness and justice.  And this message of Jesus became so successful that it caught on, not only with Jews but with Gentiles.

And when something is a really successful social phenomenon what has to happen?  Organization has to arise to help to consolidate people in the message.  Christianity went  from being a small charismatic movement meeting in private homes with very informal structures and it became a massive cultural force taking over the Roman Empire and so it needed the same structures of law and order found in the Roman government and military.  The call of God in Christ received institutional meaning and definition.  The informal and personal charismatic gifts of the church become regularized in structure of ministry in the four orders: Lay, diaconal, priestly and episcopal.  The main call of God is regularized in baptism.  The Lay order is the main order of ministry shared by all Christ.  Baptism is an event which expresses that God's grace calls all us at all ages to activate God's image in our lives and accept ourselves as God's children.  This is the basic call and it makes us all equal in grace.  The orders of ministries as deacons, priests and bishop are callings for some as specific ways to articulate baptismal grace and calling.  A baby is equal in grace to a bishop, priest or deacon.  And that brings us to the call as the complementing vocation of everything that we do.  If you are baptized and you are a lawyer, you have the call of Christ.  If you are a doctor, teacher, mother, father, engineer, business person, landscaper, you have the para-calling of Christ that means you bring the values of Christ into all of the behaviors within one's career.  The call of Christ is alongside everything else that we do in our lives.

So, where does that leave us today?  Don't be like Jonah.  Don't try to avoid the particular call of Christ upon your live to express and live out the good news about God's love.  You cannot use the busy-ness of your career as being an excuse to say, "I am not called because I have never been ordained."

Do not let the church uphold bishops, priests and deacons as being the main persons called in the church.  The ordained ministries are only particular kinds of baptismal calling.  We have bishops, priests and deacon as signs and symbols within church announcing that all people are called by Christ.  All people are ordained in their baptisms to share the message and life of Christ in all that they do.

The call of Christ is equally given to us of us in our different life circumstances.  May God help each of us to honor the call of Christ in our lives.  Amen.

Sunday School, January 21, 2017 3 Epiphany B

Sunday School, January 21, 2018    3 Epiphany B

Theme:

The Call of Christ

What do you do in life?  What is your job?  What is your current responsibility?

I don’t have a job, but I am a student.  I am a son or daughter.  I am a friend.  I like to dance.  I like to play soccer and football.  I am a good citizen of my country.

A person has many jobs because in life we have many things that we have to do to live.

James and John were fishermen.  They fished in the Sea of Galilee with their dad Zebedee.  But they were given another job, another purpose in their lives.

Jesus visited them at the sea side while they were repairing their fishing nets.  He call James and John to follow him.  Peter and Andrew were fishermen too and Jesus called them to follow him and become his students and learn to become teachers of the Gospel.

James, John, Peter and Andrew were fishermen.  They never would forget how to fish.  But they could be fishermen and follow Jesus too. 

So whatever we do, we still have something else that we can do.  We can follow Christ.  When we are being a student at school we can follow Christ.  When we are playing soccer, we can follow Christ.  When we are dancing, we can follow Christ.  When we are playing, we can follow Christ.  When we are at home as a son or a daughter we can follow Christ.

So we always have the greater job to do in life and that great job is following Christ.  We do that by living with love and kindness and by teaching others to do the same.

Remember you don’t have to be a priest or a preacher to hear and follow the call of Christ.  Christ calls each us where we are.

Sermon

  How many of you have ever been fishing?  Why do you go fishing?  To catch fish, right?  It’s fun to catch fish but sometimes, fishing is a lot of waiting.  I probably quit fishing because I do not have the patience to wait.   One time, as a boy I went fishing in Minnesota, and a school of crappie were right under the dock.  And we caught fish as fast as we could pull them out of the water.  We caught so many fish that we had to designate limits for even the babies that went with us that day.  But every other time, I have gone fishing; it has not been that easy.  It has been a lot of waiting.  I can wait for lots of things but not for fish to bite so, I gave up fishing.

  Most of us fish for recreation and for fun but two friends of Jesus, Andrew and Peter, they fished because it was their job.  They helped their father Zebedee, who was also a fisherman.  And they used nets in the Sea of Galilee to catch fish and bring them ashore to sell in the towns.

  When Jesus met Peter and Andrew, he told them that he was going to give them another job.  He told them that they were going to fish for people.  What did Jesus mean when he said that they would fish for people?

  Jesus fished for people.  He caught Peter and Andrew.  What does that mean?  It means Jesus knew how to make friends.  He made friends by giving people hope.  He made friends by telling them that God loved them, God cared for them, God forgives them, and that God will preserve them forever, even after they die.  Jesus needed help from people to help get this happy news to as many people as possible.  So he asked Peter and Andrew to help him share this wonderful news.

  Peter and Andrew quit their fishing because they went with Jesus and they learned how to catch people and make them friends of God.  They learned how to tell people good news about God.

  Did yes know that God is fishing for us today.  God is not trying to catch us in a net or on hook.  God is trying to win our hearts and make us friends of God.  How is God trying to make us friends?  God wants us to believe in God’s love, God’s care, God’s forgiveness.  God wants us to have faith instead of fear; God wants us to have hope instead of worry.  God wants us to know that God will preserve our lives even after we die, so we don’t have to live in fear of the future.  That is good news for us, isn’t it?

   And God wants something else.  Just as God fishes for us and catches us.  God wants us to help share the good news with other people and to make them friends of God.  That is how we fish for other people.  We fish for other people by sharing with them the good news about God.

  Today, our message in the Gospel, reminds us that we are to learn how to make friends by sharing with them the good news about God’s love.  How many want to help make friends for God?  I know that you are going to be very good at fishing for people, because you are going to be good at making friends for God.  Amen.

 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

January 21, 2018: The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs:   Jesus in the Morning, He Is Lord, I Will Make You Good Fisher Folks, When the Saints 

Liturgist:         Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People:            And Blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.  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: Jesus in the Morning  (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 134)

1.         Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning, Jesus at the noontime.  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down.

2.         Love him, love him, love him in the morning, love him at the noontime.  Love him, love him, love him when the sun goes down.

3.         Serve him, serve him, serve him in the morning, serve him at the noontime.  Serve him, serve him, serve him when the sun goes down.

4.         Praise him, praise him, praise him in the morning, praise him at the noontime.  Praise him, praise him, praise him when the sun goes down.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: 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

Liturgist:   A reading from the Prophet Jonah

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 62

He alone is my rock and my salvation, * my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.

In God is my safety and my honor; * God is my strong rock and my refuge.

Put your trust in him always, O people, * pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.

  

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Liturgist:

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.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

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 Intercession 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.

Offertory Song:  I Will Make You Good Fisher folk (Christian Children’s Songbook # 58)           

1.         I will make you good fisher folk, good fisher folk, good fisher folk.  I will make you good fisher folk, if you follow me.  If you follow me, if you follow me.  I will make you good fisher folk, if you follow me.

2.         Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, come unto me, come unto me.”  Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, and I’ll give you rest.  And I’ll give you rest, and I’ll give your rest.”  Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me and I’ll give you rest.”

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 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 up 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: He Is Lord  (Renew! # 29)

He is Lord, he is Lord.  He is risen from the dead and he is Lord.  Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

He is King, he is King.  He will draw all nations to him, he is King: and the time shall be when the world shall sing that Jesus Christ is King.

He is Love, he is love.  He has shown us by his life that he is love; all his people sing with one voice of joy that Jesus Christ is love.

He is life; he is life.  He has died to set us free and he is life; and he calls us all to live evermore, for Jesus Christ is life.

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: When the Saints Go Marching in (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 248)

O, when the saints go marching in, O when the saints go marching in.  Lord I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

O, when the girls, go marching in….

O, when the boys, go marching in…

O, when the kids, go marching in…

Dismissal   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

Evangelism and the Fishing Metaphor

3 Epiphany B  January 25, 2015

Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62:6-14

1 Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20

Lectionary Link

    There is some irony in putting together the prophet Jonah reading with the Gospel words of Jesus, "I will make you fish for people."

  Jonah was the prophet who experienced the reverse; he was one who was open game for the big fish.  The big fish swallowed the runaway prophet Jonah.  The big fish is the Leviathan of the Bible and Leviathan became a symbol for the state in swallowing up the identity of individual people.

  When the Gospels record Jesus as telling some fishermen, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people" the fishing metaphor for evangelism was born.

  Any metaphor has it expressive limitations and negative implication if one takes a metaphor too literally.

  The goal of the local Galilean fishermen was to use their nets to catch as many fish as they could.  And to be fishermen, they had to know something about the lake where they fished and the times, seasons and places in the lake where the fish were most likely to be.  They had to remember where they had good luck in finding schools of fish.  They probably had to keep some of their fishing habits secret because they had competitors.  And they probably had to get up really early to beat their competitors to the best fishing places in the lake.   Fishing was their livelihood and so they needed to be successful at fishing to put food on their tables.

  A crassly literal correspondence between commercial fishing and Christian evangelism is unseemly even though Jesus said to the fishermen, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  If evangelism is about my own ministerial success more than it is about a concern for the well-being of other people then evangelism is reduced to but a "commercial" venture.  One can see how churches in the past have used evangelism as a Leviathan for swallowing people and consolidating them into their empire churches.  In the feudal times, only the lord of the manor had to be converted and all of the people of his estate were baptized. This fish net approach to mass evangelism may seem to be preferred by many but does it really honor the individual personhood of one who is born in the image of God with freedom of choice?

  In my earlier life I was exposed to evangelical and missionary communities where it often people seemed to be in competition to convert souls to Christ for their particular brand of Christian theology.  Christian communities in their efforts to grow can reduce evangelism to something like a Henry Ford assembly line technique.  America is known for its famous mass media evangelism.  Think of the string of popular evangelists in the American:  George Whitefield, D.L. Moody, Billy Sunday, Aimee Simple McPherson, Katherine Kuhlmann, Oral Roberts, and the most famous of all, Billy Graham.  The sheer effect of a large crowd creates the effervescent net to bring hundreds of souls into the fold of Christ in one great "fishing" occasion.  And now we have an entire array of every kind of tele-evangelist doing this "net" style fishing for converts to Christ as well as regular financial supporters of their ministries. Sinclair Lewis, an American novelist wrote about such evangelists in his novel, Elmer Gantry who was a satirical caricaturization of the commercial motives of some of these Gospel fishermen and women.

  We, in the historical, catholic church tradition have mostly relied upon the form of evangelism called infant baptism whereby a person is passively assimilated into the church to begin to undergo the continuous work of growing to become more Christian.   We in the catholic tradition have been a part of colonial and gunboat evangelism as a powerful presence in the colonial situations often resulted in "forced conversions" of indigenous people.  Was the winsomeness of the message at the forefront or was it the superiority of industrial and technological cultures?   Some of mass media preachers have arisen as a protest against automatic assimilation into the church and so they wanted to do their Christian fishing with adults only, they in turn have become expressions of "mob" religious experience.

     How do we turn to this kind of metaphorical fishing in the words of Jesus and not fall into a crass commercialization of the evangelical enterprise?  Do we want people to join us so we can feel good and more secure about our own way of life?  Do we feel like our own faith decision are authenticated and validated because other people choose a similar path?  Does the sheer quantity of people who agree with me, make my way of life necessarily better or superior to the life styles of others?

  Evangelism can be translated or reduced to something like the classic book on sales presentation by Dale Carnegie:  How to Win friends and Influence People.  Any body in sales has probably encounter the techniques found in this classic books which incorporates some very wise tips on human nature and how to behave with other people if one wants to persuade and make a sale.

  So is Christian evangelism the same thing as sales?

  Christians evangelism shares some of the human dynamics of the sales event without being the equivalent of sales.  In sales, one has to convince that another person has the need for the product that one is trying to sell.  One is presenting oneself as a "user friendly" person who is a reputable person to recommend a product or service.

  In Christianity we don't really have a product; we only have states of transformation in understanding who we are and why we are here.  The truth is that many people are stuck in states of dysfunction and alienation from good self-image and successful integration into significant community life.

  Christian fishing is learning how to let people know that their lives can be continuously transformed by understanding good news. When Jesus told his followers that they would be fishing for people, he was not implying that we have to use net techniques to trap large groups of people to embrace our message.  He was simply saying: "You learned the fishing trade; now I want to teach you the people business."  To befriend people means that they become better people after meeting us.  How do people become better after befriending behaviors?  Befriending behaviors means we share with people the good news of our lives; we share with them the very best of our own experience not as a way for them to copy us but as a way to give them the occasion for further insights and meanings in their own lives.  Befriending behaviors means teaching, comforting, caring, healing, giving, supporting, and sometimes a tough message of intervention and interdiction.  The evangelism of words needs the fore-play of the evangelism of the witness of the deeds of one's life.  Our body language deeds speak louder than our words and when our lives are evidence of love and care in action, we earn the permission to tell people how we have come to live in the way that we have.  Befriending does not mean we have to be perfect before we share with other people, in fact, being honest about our own imperfection and practicing a life of one having been forgiven is important for people to know and share.

   In our climate today, we need to find a way to share our good news and learn how we can have a mission as "people" persons here at St. John the Divine.  On the personal level, what we seek to do is find out how each of us can become those who know how to befriend people in a way that lets them know that we honor the image of God upon their lives.  For us to learn how to fish for people, it involves the exercise of our baptismal gifts.  Our gifts are found as we learn how to transform the energies and desires of our lives into winsome charisma.  We need to discover our charisma.  Charisma is the ability to exude an energy around our being to create an atmosphere where people find a comfortable space to be themselves more truly.

  Let us embrace the charisma of our lives as we seek to be people persons, not because we want people to agree with us, but so that we give people the occasion to encounter the sublime presence of God in Christ.  Amen.

Sunday School, January 25, 2015 The Third Sunday after the Epiphany Year B

Sunday School, January 25, 2015  The Third Sunday after the Epiphany Year B

Themes:

Call of God and Christ

You can tell them that the call of God is not always easy

   The Story of Jonah.  God called Jonah to bring the message of God to the city of Ninevah but the people of Ninevah were regarded to be enemies or foreigners to Jonah and his fellow citizens.  He did not want foreigners to have God’s message, so he ran away from God and took a ship in the opposite direction.  A storm was going to cause the ship to sink so Jonah told the crew to throw him over-board and the storm would stop.  Jonah was swallowed by a big fish and Jonah remained in the belly of the big fish for three day until the fish spit him out on the beach.  Jonah went to Ninevah and preached God’s word to them and they believed and it changed their lives.

  Meaning: God message and love is for everyone, even people who are different from us and as followers of Christ we are called to share the good news of the love of Christ with everyone.

The Gospel Theme:  Jesus called fishermen to follow him.  He said to them, “I will have you fish for people.”

What does fishing for people mean?  Does it mean we are supposed to trap them in nets?

No, what Jesus meant was that just as people who fish had special skills to know how to fish, so Jesus wanted to teach his followers how to make friends with people by sharing with them the good news about how much God loved them, cared for them and forgave them.

We can become good people person if we can learn to share good news with other people.  Can you think of things that you can do to be a good friend?  Can you think of ways to show people how to be good friends with God and Jesus?

Puppet Show

An Interview with Jonah the Prophet

Joel the interviewer:  Welcome to our show today friends.  Today our special guest is Jonah the prophet.   He has just returned from the city of Ninevah and he has had quite an experience. Hello, Jonah, welcome to the show.  Thanks for taking the time for this interview.

Jonah: Thanks for having me.  Could we make it fast because I’m really tired from my journey?

Joel:  Yes, let’s go to the big rumor.  Is it really true that you were swallow by a big fish in the Mediterranean Sea?

Jonah:  Yes, it is but how did you find out?

Joel:  We have our sources Jonah but it is such a strange occurrence we have to report it.  So how did you come to be swallowed by a fish?

Jonah:  Well, God told me to go to Ninevah and preach to them the same message of God’s forgiveness that I preach here at home.  But you know the people of Ninevah are not our favorite people.  Even their armies have attacked our country before.  So I thought, these people of Ninevah do not deserve God’s mercy and so I ran away in the opposite direction.

Joel:  Where did you go?

Jonah:  I jumped on a boat that was sailing into the Mediterranean Sea.

Joel: So you were trying to escape from going to Ninevah  and you were telling God that you wouldn’t go to Ninevah?

Jonah:  Yes that’s right but I could not get away from God.  A big storm came up and the ship was ready to sink and the sailors were frightened, so I told them that I was the problem because I was disobeying God.  I told them to throw me overboard.  And they did and the storm stopped.

Joel:  But what happened to you?

Jonah:  I got into the water and it was like I was suddenly in a cave with a short tunnel.  I was frightened and I prayed and I called out to God and I said that I was sorry for disobeying him.

Joel:  Did you get rescued right away?

Jonah:  No, I prayed for three days and finally I found myself ejected into the shallow waters near a beach.  I turned around and saw a big fish swim away and I realized that I have been inside of the fish.

Joel:  What did you do?  You must have smelled very “fishy” if you don’t mind a pun.

Jonah:  Well, I knew that I had to get to Ninevah and obey God.  So I did and sure enough the people of Ninevah got to know that God is loving and forgiving.

Joel:  Well, aren’t you glad about that?

Jonah:  Well, it has been hard for me to accept that God loves foreigners and even our enemies just as much as he loves us.

Joel:  But doesn’t that mean that we can now learn to be friends with them?

Jonah:  Yes, it does but sometimes it is hard for us change and accept that God loves others just as much as us.

Joel:  Thank you Jonah.  Friends, remember the call of God can sometimes be about things that are hard to do but God will help us if we obey and share the love of God with everyone.

That about wraps it up.  Remember Jonah, the man who was swallowed by a big fish and survived.  Remember Jonah was the man who gave a fish a tummy ache and so the fish had to vomit him upon the shore.

Family Eucharistic Liturgy

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

January 25, 2015: The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs:   Jesus in the Morning, He Is Lord, When the Saints 

Liturgist:      Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People:         And Blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.  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: Jesus in the Morning  (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 134)

1.         Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning, Jesus at the noontime.  Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down.

2.         Love him, love him, love him in the morning, love him at the noontime.  Love him, love him, love him when the sun goes down.

3.         Serve him, serve him, serve him in the morning, serve him at the noontime.  Serve him, serve him, serve him when the sun goes down.

4.         Praise him, praise him, praise him in the morning, praise him at the noontime.  Praise him, praise him, praise him when the sun goes down.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: 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

Liturgist:   A reading from the Prophet Jonah

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 62
 
 
Children’s Creed
Doxology
 
Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;
You have made us in your image
And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph
The Prayer continues with these words

1. He is Lord, he is Lord.  He is risen from the dead and he is Lord.  Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

1. He is King, he is King.  He will draw all nations to him, he is King: and the time shall be when the world shall sing that Jesus Christ is King.

1. He is Love, he is love.  He has shown us by his life that he is love; all his people sing with one voice of joy that Jesus Christ is love.

1. He is life; he is life.  He has died to set us free and he is life; and he calls us all to live evermore, for Jesus Christ is life.

Post-Communion Prayer
Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;
People:      Thanks be to God! 

He alone is my rock and my salvation, * my stronghold, so that I shall not be shaken.

In God is my safety and my honor; * God is my strong rock and my refuge.

Put your trust in him always, O people, * pour out your hearts before him, for God is our refuge.

  

Anniversaries:  

  

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Liturgist:

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.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea-- for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

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 Intercession 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.

Offertory Song:  I Will Make You Good Fisher folk (Christian Children’s Songbook # 58)

                            

1. I will make you good fisher folk, good fisher folk, good fisher folk.  I will make you good fisher folk, if you follow me.  If you follow me, if you follow me.  I will make you good fisher folk, if you follow me.

2. Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, come unto me, come unto me.”  Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me, and I’ll give you rest.  And I’ll give you rest, and I’ll give your rest.”  Hear Christ calling, “Come unto me and I’ll give you rest.”

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 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 up 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.

(Children may gather around the altar)

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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 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,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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: He Is Lord  (Renew! # 29)

1. He is Lord, he is Lord.  He is risen from the dead and he is Lord.  Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
2. He is King, he is King.  He will draw all nations to him, he is King: and the time shall be when the world shall sing that Jesus Christ is King.
3. He is Love, he is love.  He has shown us by his life that he is love; all his people sing with one voice of joy that Jesus Christ is love.
4. He is life; he is life.  He has died to set us free and he is life; and he calls us all to live evermore, for Jesus Christ is life.

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: When the Saints Go Marching in (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 248)

1.      O, when the saints go marching in, O when the saints go marching in.  Lord I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

2.      O, when the girls, go marching in….

3.      O, when the boys, go marching in…

4.      O, when the kids, go marching in…

Dismissal   

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

People:      Thanks be to God