God So Loved the World

4 Lent    B         March 11, 2018
Numbers 21:4-9  Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10   John 3:14-21
Lectionary Link

 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast."

This phrase from the Epistle to the Ephesians has been used to established the identity of the Protestant Reformation particularly in the ministry of Martin Luther.

Luther observed the institutional practices of indulgences and it seemed that such indulgences were being "sold" by the church to gain a faster trip through the after life of purgatory.  So it seemed that one received grace as result of performing some penitential act of giving or deed of piety.  Luther was opposed to a rather crass method of church fundraising and he did not believe the name of God should be invoked on such a practice.

But his sola gratia, sola fides, sola Scriptura became something of an over-simplification because when it comes to salvation as a matter of grace or a matter of works, it really becomes an argument of what comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Martin Luther's extreme emphasis on grace meant that he had to disregard the letter of James from his Bible because the writer of James wrote, "If you have faith, then show me your works.  You can't tell me that you have faith if you show no evidence of works."  Jesus also said that if you abide in him, you will bear fruits.  In the sermon on the mountain, Jesus said, "By their deeds you shall know them."

One can note the extreme positions of faith versus works.  A person who says it's all about faith in a singular event, can be like the Emperor Constantine who was baptized on this death bed because he knew that he was going to be doing lots of sinning but he wanted last minute grace, sort of like a "Hail Mary" pass at the last second of the game.  People who believe that salvation is only about the one time event of "asking Jesus" into one's heart often seem to be like children who think they should be congratulated because they decided to receive the millions of dollars of their parents' estate.  "Aren't we just great people for deciding to accept all of this money?"  Persons who are devoted to their piety and works can come to be so proud of their works that they believe that they are "holier than thou" and more deserving of God's grace. 

I believe that the Gospel of John is the expression of the early Christians who were holding faith, grace and works together without division.

Today we've read one of the long discourses of Jesus in John's Gospel; the discussion he had with Nicodemus as his skeptical Pharisee interlocutor.  And we have the most famous verse found at many sporting events in the sign: John 3:16 :"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."  I suspect these signs are carried by people who do not know if they love their sports more than their religious beliefs so to ease their consciences they tell themselves that they can evangelize at the ballgame by carrying a John 3:16 sign.

Why do we come to love God?  Because God is love and God first loved us.  If the very nature of God is love how does God actively love?  God actively loved by creating the world and God became bilingual within human experience.  God sent the divine Son as an expression of active love.  And how far did the active love of God go?  It went to the terminus of human life; the love of God went to the death of Jesus on the cross, proving that God was willing to walk fully in the shoes of humanity.  God demonstrated love to humanity in Jesus Christ, so that we might have the gift of "falling in love" with God.

Intimate human relationship happens because people experience the "gift" of falling in love; but that is not enough.  The gift of love has to become lived out in the continuous works of love to maintain the beauty of the gift of love.  A human intimate relationship is both the gift of love and the works of love; the two cannot be divided or you have merely sporadic events of lust or the continuous drudgery of painful obligation.

The writer of the Gospel of John in another discourse of Jesus wrote:  "This is the work of God, that you believe or have faith in name of the one whom God has sent."

So if faith in Christ is the work of God in our lives then the works that we do should reflect the fruits of the Spirit; they should be works of love, peace, joy, patience, self control, gentleness and goodness.

The work of faith and the works that we do because of faith cannot be separated.  It is unfortunate that in the history of the church the two became  regarded as somehow separate.  The gift of falling in love with God and the continuing works of our love for God cannot be separated.

In the discourse of Jesus, he compared lifting of a bronze serpent on a pole by Moses with what the lifting up of Christ on the Cross would mean.

The disobedient and complaining children of Israel were given immediate punishment when a nest of poisonous snakes attacked them.  Moses was told to create a bronze snake for them to look at and be healed.  What work did they have to do?  Nothing but gaze at the bronze serpent as a sign that they were accepting God's healing grace.  The writer of John, through Jesus said that this is how the cross of Christ functions.  The death of Jesus meant that he went through all that we know about human living.  The life and death of Jesus was God's gift to humanity to express love and to draw us into relationship.  In contemplating the cross of Jesus, we accept with the gaze of faith, the entirety of the life of Jesus as God's gift to us.  We accept the grace of  God to make up what we always lack in perfection and we depend upon the perfection of Christ for making up what we lack.

The logical outcome of looking and receiving God's grace is gratitude.  And gratitude is not just a feeling; it results in the continuing works of gratitude the rest of our lives.  We don't congratulate ourselves for taking God's gift of grace; we respond with thanksgiving and we perform the continuing works of thanksgiving.

This event today is called Holy Eucharist and Eucharist means Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is the one creative thing that we can do and give to God.  We come today to express thanksgiving.  We leave this Eucharist to live thankful lives, offering continually the works of thankfulness to Christ and to each other.  Amen.

Sunday School, March 11, 2018 4 Lent B

Sunday School, March 11, 2018    4 Lent B

Theme:

God’s love

One definition of God is this:  God is love.  But if God is love, how does God show that God loves us.

Can an elephant love an ant?  I don’t know.  An ant might get in the ear of an elephant and tickle the ear drum.  An ant might be too small for an elephant to see.  An elephant might be so different from the ant that it might seem like a silly question to ask.  If an elephant could magically be reduced to become the same size as an ant, then the elephant might be able to let the ant know that an elephant to love and care for an ant.

God is love.  And God is great.  God is greater than us, even greater than the elephant is greater than the ant.

So how can a great God, who is love, show the people of this world that God loves us?

God reduced the divine life into baby Jesus in Bethlehem.  Baby Jesus grew up and lived with us and understood human life even better than we understand it.  God showed us that God loves us by giving us God Son, Jesus.  And Jesus did what every human eventually does, he died.  He died on the Cross.  But Jesus lived again after his death to show us that God is great enough to save and preserve our lives after we die.

God is love and God showed love to us when God gave us Jesus.

God so loved the world that he gave us his Son Jesus.  And if we see and look at the death and resurrection of Jesus, it is a path that we follow in this life.  If we believe in God’s love and in what Jesus has shown us and done for us, then we have the hope of living again after our deaths.  And that means we don’t have to live with fear in our lives.  We can live with faith and hope.  And if we live with hope we can have more fun and joy and success in our lives.

Sermon

Text:

  Do you like snakes?  Real snakes?  There are all kinds of snakes.  And some snakes are poisonous.

  There is story in the Bible about Moses and the children of Israel.  One day their camp was infested with poisonous snakes and many people were getting bitten.  So, Moses asked God what he should do and God told him to make a snake out of bronze metal and put it on a tall pole.  And when people looked at the snake on the tall pole they would get healed from their snake bites.

  When Jesus was talking to a man named Nicodemus, Jesus said, “just as Moses put the snake on the pole so that the people of Israel could be healed of their snake bites, Jesus said that he would be put up on the tall pole called the “Cross.”  And this cross would be something that everyone would know about and when they understood how much that God loved this world, they would know that God’s love could make us better.

  God love us in sending Jesus to teach us about living and dying.  About living Jesus taught us to love and care for one another.  He taught us to forgive each other; he taught us to accept God’s forgiveness when we know that we fail to do what is best and right.

  Jesus taught us about dying.  He taught us that some dying is heroic.  When a soldier dies to protect his or her country that is heroic.  When a fire-fighter dies to save a child that his heroic.  When Jesus died for us, that was heroic.

  Jesus taught us some other things about dying.  He taught not to be afraid of dying because it is only a gateway to another kind of life, called eternal life.

  Jesus taught us that we could die and live at the same time.  We die to our selfish self and let our kind and helping selves live.  When we go to school and learn, we die to our ignorant self and let a new self with more learning be born.

  So Jesus taught us that dying can mean saying good bye to bad things in our lives so that we can welcome better things and new ways to act and behave which will make our world better.

  Today, Let us remember that God loved the world so much that God gave us eternal life.  And now I want you to repeat one of the most famous verses in the Bible:  Say: John 3:16.  God so the loved the world that he gave his only Son.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Holy Eucharist

March 11, 2018: Fourth Sunday In Lent

Gathering Songs:

  He’s Got the Whole World, Lord, I Lift Your Name on High, Eat This Bread, Awesome God

Opening Song : He’s Got the Whole World, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

1.         He’s got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole wide world, in his hands.  He’s got the whole world, in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

2.         He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands, he’s got the little tiny baby in his hands, he’s got the little tiny baby in his hand, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

3.         He’s got the boys and the girls..

4.         He’s got the mommies and the daddies..

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

People: His mercy endures 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.

 

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise the Lord

O God, you are Great!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have made us! Praise the Lord

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise the Lord

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise the Lord

A Reading from the Book of Numbers

From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 107

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, * and his mercy endures for ever.

Let all those whom the LORD has redeemed proclaim * that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon –   

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

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:  Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Renew! #4

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

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 God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is the celebration of our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit

to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbors.

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 by 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:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Word of Administration.

Communion Hymn: Eat This Bread (Renew! # 228)

Eat this Bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry.  Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

(Repeat during communion)

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: Awesome God, (Renew!  # 245)

Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above

with wisdom, power and love our God is an awesome God.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

   

The Theology of Identity with Christ Taught through the Gospel Narrative

4 Lent             March 15,2015

Numbers 21:4-9  Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Ephesians 2:1-10   John 3:14-21

Lectionary Link
    It is true and meaningful to proclaim that Jesus is the origin of the church, even though it is also true that the life of Jesus is presented after the fact of the establishment of the church communities which increasingly had become comprised by non-Jewish members.

  St. Paul did not meet Jesus of Nazareth in his lifetime but he had a spiritual encounter with the Risen Christ.  Others had a variety of different experiences with the Risen Christ.  The experiences were so pronounced that they changed people's life.  The experiences changed their behaviors.  Paul quit persecuting followers of Jesus and became a follower of Christ himself.

  St. Paul originated a spiritual practice program about which he wrote in his letters and this program was continued in the teaching of Paul's disciples.  St. Paul's spiritual practice might best be called an organization of the creative imagination of an identity with the Risen Christ.  In this identity theology with the Risen Christ, one could experience a personal presence of the profound alter ego of the Christ-Person within oneself.  And so the poetics of the spiritual identity with the Risen Christ was born.

  People who are "literalists" have a difficult time in trying to deal with the poetics of a spiritual identity exercise.  The writer of the Epistle to the Ephesians, wrote that we are saved by grace and that we have been by raised by Christ and are seated within in heavenly places.  So how are you enjoying the view?  In our current understanding of the universe where in fact do you think that this heavenly place could have physical location?  So you see it is more reasonable and poetically appropriate to understand such identity with the flight of Christ to heavenly places as a condition of our inner space or interior life.  Our faith receives from the Pauline writer a directed poetics to characterize how we can feel elated and exalted within ourselves even when the external conditions of our lives may not always be completely favorable.  In the tradition of St. Paul, we are also crucified with Christ and our ego-states get altered such that the Christ nature is able to take over.

  After the Pauline identity theology with Christ which was part of the spiritual practice and liturgies of the early Christian community became set, writers then began to return to the theology of who Jesus was in his life time?  But they could not write about Jesus in his own life time without being completely influenced by what had happened to Christ in his risen, ascended and glorified states.  The influence of the afterlife of Jesus as the risen Christ had literally reorganized the entire interior state of being of lots of people.  And these people had to write about this reorganization of their interior lives and one of the ways in which they did this was to externalize it in retelling the story of Jesus of Nazareth.

  The Jesus of the Gospel of John, is not the Jesus of his original setting.  The Gospel of John is an account of Jesus who in the narration is often the oracle voice of the Risen Christ in the later church explaining the significance of the events of the life of Jesus.  The Gospels take the identity theology of St. Paul's spiritual method and overlay it onto the story of Jesus.  So the original story of Jesus is told as if there are eyewitness enlightened wise persons who know the spiritual significance of each of the events in the life of Jesus.  The purpose of the Gospel is the same purpose of the theology of identity of St. Paul.  The Gospel writers want us to know that just as Jesus was born, grew, ministered, suffered, died, arose, ascended and attained glory in his life; this same cycle happens again in each person who is willing to embark upon this spiritual practice of intentionally being initiated into an identity with Christ.

  We have often been fooled to read the accounts of the Gospel as exact history or as precise eyewitness accounts when in fact they are a presentations of the narratives about the life Jesus as method of participating in the theology of identity so characteristic of St. Paul and the early church.

  And when we look at our Gospel lesson for today we can make the following observations about its purpose and function.

  First the context; this is a discourse of Jesus in dialogue with a skeptical Nicodemus, a learned Pharisee.  How is Nicodemus presented?  As a non-poetic crass literalist.   "Nicodemus, you have to be born again."  "But Jesus, how can I at my age get back into my mother's womb?"  Nicodemus is a stand-in figure for all Jews who are skeptical about Jesus.  Jesus says,  "No, It is not literal, it is about birth by water and the Spirit.  It is about the Spirit of the risen Christ who gives one a sense of a new start in life and a gradual reorganization of one's interior life and so that one can know eternal life as a quality of abundant life in one's interior world."

  Second, it is about the nature of God.  The nature of God is to the love this world.  It is the nature of God for God to take on a complete identity with the human world in the person of his Son Jesus.  And in the person of Jesus, when one believes in one's identity with Jesus then one can experience the sense of never perishing and knowing the freshness of eternal abundant life.  The new life identity is not to feel condemned by God or the circumstances of one's life but to feel loved by God and to feel as though God has reached out to us in a deeply personal way.

  Third, the writer of the Gospel of John wants the readers to know that the faith that worked for the people of Israel in the past, can also work again in a new and fresh way.  The people of Israel who had faith to look at the bronze serpent were healed; the followers of Christ who make that inward gaze toward Jesus on the cross, partake of the power of the death of Jesus to die to what is unworthy and addicting within ourselves.

  Fourth, the writer of John is a part of the theology of identity with Christ which is a spiritual practice and wisdom tradition.  A symbol of wisdom is light and in the Gospel of John Christ is presented as the light of the world.  Jesus of Nazareth was the living and walking light of wisdom in his time and place; the Risen Christ is the accessible light of our interior lives as it provides us with insights always to surpass ourselves in excellence.  We always have the choice to live towards our highest insights or to hold on the insanity of doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.  The light of the Risen Christ invites to escape the darkness of doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.

  In conclusion, I would like to remind us that you and I have been baptized and initiated into the tradition of transformation, as we enter into this identity with Jesus Christ as he is accessible to us and to our imaginations.  We are involved in this theology of identity with Christ; can we accept ourselves as being perched with Christ in the interior heavenly space and so be given a panorama of enough of all our lives to know that we will survive and be in tact no matter what happens to us in the free conditions of life?

  By faith, we are invited to live from the perspective of the heavenly panorama in the assurance that we already partake of an abundant and eternal life which provides us with hope and faith to take each step in our lives.

  Let us not be ashamed of taking an identity with Christ.  But let us not be foolish to become so crastly literal about the way in which this wonderful theology of identity with Jesus Christ is presented to us in the Gospel narratives.  So much of Christian disagreement is about people fighting about the physical and carnal nature of what people actually think happened in the biblical events.

  We are a people of faith and imagination and we can embrace the spiritual theology of identity of Christ towards our personal transformation without sacrificing our brute facts mind of modern science.

  I invite all of us to this wonderful faith today, and for our Gospel today, let us imagine ourselves in the interior heavenly kingdom, seated with Christ.  And let us enjoy this panoramic view and by faith proclaim, "We've already made it, even though we still have a long way to go."  Amen.

Sunday School, March 15, 2015 4th Sunday in Lent, Cycle B

Sunday School, March 15, 2015   The Fourth Sunday in Lent, Cycle B

Sunday School Themes from the Lectionary of the day

Comparing two stories, the story of Moses and a story of Jesus

When the people of Israel were on their long journey in the wilderness they complained about the conditions and the food and to interrupt their complaining they camped in a place full of poisonous snaked and many were bitten.  To give the people faith that they would survive, Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a tall pole for all to see.  He told them to look at the snake as a reminder to have faith in their health and survival.

Jesus told Nicodemus that God's Son was given as a gift to this world and would be lifted upon the cross, so that people would look at the cross or think about it and have faith that God's mercy and grace would forgive them from the "poison" of their sins.

Teach them the first words of John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that God gave God's only Son....."

What we believe about Jesus is that he is the greatest sign of God's love for us

Puppet Show

Gospel Puppet Show

March 11, 2015

Moderator, Moses, Jesus, Nicodemus,   Boy: Asa,  

Moderator: How many of you like snakes?  It is very easy to be afraid of snakes, since some of them are poisonous.  Today, I want us to learn something from our Bible stories.  And we have stories about snakes and about Christ.  But I’m going to have the puppets help me tell the stories.  Moses, are you around?

Moses: Here I am, can I help you.  I’m quite busy now.

(Release the snakes over the front of the puppet theatre)

Asa:  Ouch, I am so sick;  I got bit by a poisonous snake.  Can you help me Moses what shall I do?

Moses: Asa, you need to go over to the clinic; I prayed to God and God sent us a cure for the snake bites.

Asa:  Okay….ooooh this hurts so much and I’m getting drowsy.

Moses:  Hurry over to the clinic.

Moderator:  Moses what happened?

Moses: We had some people who were complaining so they decided that they wanted to take a short cut and sure enough they walk right into a valley of poisonous snakes.

Moderator: What did you do? 

Moses:  I prayed to God and he told me to make a snake out of bronze and put it up high so everyone can see it.  And he said that everyone who was bitten by a snake could look up at the bronze snake and ask God for help.

(put up the snake pole)

Moderator:  What happened?

Moses: Well, you can see that I put the bronze snake up on a tall pole and sure enough when people look up they are being cured.  Well, I’ve got to go.

Moderator: Thank you Moses.  I hope everyone prays to God for a cure.

      And now I think this will help us with our story about Jesus.  Remember that the snake was lifted up on a pole and everyone who looked at the snake and prayed to God got better.

(Nicodemus appears)

Moderator:  Well, hello!  Who are you?

Nicodemus:  My name is Nicodemus.  I was just talking with my friend Jesus.  Jesus, could you come and meet my friend Moderator, and all of the boys and girls?

Jesus:  Hello, Moderator and boy and girls.  I hope you are here today to learn something.  Did you learn about the snakes from Moses?

Nicodemus:  Jesus and I were talking and he told me that God really loved this world.

Jesus:  That is true Nicodemus.  God does love this world.  God created the world so God loves the world.

Nicodemus:  But how much does God love the world?  There are lots of things that are sad that happen in this world?  How does God love a world with people who are sometimes sad?

Jesus:  God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son to this world.  And just as Moses lifted the bronze snake to save the people from their snake bites, the Son of God will suffer by being lifted up on a cross.  And anyone who looks with faith in Christ’s love for us will live again even after they die.

Nicodemus: Well, that’s really salvation.  One kind of salvation is being saved from snake bites, but the saving of our lives after we die is a most wonderful salvation.

Moderator:  Wow!  That really is salvation.  And that means that God really loves us.  Girls and boys, can you remember how much God loves us?  Let us all say together, “Thank you God for loving us!”  “Thank you God for sending your Son Jesus.”  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Holy Eucharist

March 15, 2015: Fourth Sunday In Lent

Gathering Songs:

He’s Got the Whole World, Lord, I Lift Your Name on High,  Eat This Bread, Awesome God

Opening Song : He’s Got the Whole World, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

1.         He’s got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole wide world, in his hands.  He’s got the whole world, in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

2.         He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands, he’s got the little tiny baby in his hands, he’s got the little tiny baby in his hand, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

3.         He’s got the boys and the girls..

4.         He’s got the mommies and the daddies..

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all our sins.

People: His mercy endures 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.

 

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:          And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise the Lord

O God, you are Great!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have made us! Praise the Lord

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise the Lord

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise the Lord

A Reading from the Book of Numbers

From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." Then the LORD sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.

The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 107

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, * and his mercy endures for ever.

Let all those whom the LORD has redeemed proclaim * that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon –   

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.

Faithful Departed: 

Your Prayers are asked for those in the Armed Forces:  Nicholas, Collin, Jeremy, Luke, Harry, Joseph, Steven, Daniel and Eric

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

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:  Lord I Lift Your Name on High, Renew! #4

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

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 God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is the celebration of our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit

to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbors.

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 by 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:        Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Word of Administration.

Communion Hymn: Eat This Bread (Renew! # 228)

Eat this Bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry.  Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

(Repeat during communion)

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: Awesome God, (Renew!  # 245)

Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above

with wisdom, power and love our God is an awesome God.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!