Right Being Is More Difficult Than Right Doing

6 Epiphany A February 12, 2023

 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Psalm 119:1-8
1 Corinthians 3:1-9 Matt.5:21-24,27-30,33-37

Lectionary Link

Oswald Chambers, the writer of the popular devotional "My Utmost for His Highest," described the words of Jesus in the beatitudes as Jesus requiring not only right doing but also right being.

By right being, he was referring to the inner life which can be kept well hidden from the public view.  The actions of our lives can often be seen by the public and in our socialization, we are taught to look good in public if we want to impress the audiences of our lives.

In short, we from childhood are taught rote habits by our families and other important mentoring figures. From childhood, we are forced to go to church, to school, and lots of other civic events, even while we may not have always wanted to be doing these civic acts.  We learn lots of rules, customs, and protocols within our society which we learn to do so as not to be embarrassed, even though we may not really inwardly be attached to them.  "I have to act good, even when I don't feel like doing so."

In short, our training teaches us to be good actors.  Playing good roles on the outside even while we have hidden conflict and many counter emotions and feelings within.  In another place, Jesus referred to such religious actors as "hypocrites," which comes from the Greek word hupokrisos.

The Beatitudes expose the fact that people are hypocrites, or actors of doing good things even while the interior life is not always so inclined to be good.

St. Paul believed that the law of highly recommended good behaviors toward God and each other, set us up to be hypocrites, that is, they inform about how we should be in our behaviors but they cannot help us with the tenth commandment, the one about coveting, about wrongly desiring to have and be what we should not want.

And if we are wise, we will submit to our acting training of doing what the rules indicate even if we cannot make our inward desires and our unconscious and subconscious lives of our dreams behave in lawful manners.

The words of Jesus make it seems like hating and murder are equal in their sinfulness, and lusting and adultery are equal in their sinfulness.  But we know that in the actual practice of jurisprudence and social custom, societies cannot treat doing a bad act as being equal to thinking about doing a bad act.

So what was Jesus trying to do by presenting such a high standard of seemingly saying that right being and right doing have equal status in the eyes of God?

Jesus is the one who said, "Be perfect as my Father in heaven is perfect."  And for people to grow in perfection, it means that one's good motives and one's good deeds are in agreement.

Perhaps, we should see the spiritual method of Jesus as revealing the human condition of despair as preparation for the humility of the experience of grace.  It is the kind of despair expressed by the Psalmist when writing, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

Religions can become societies with rules for members to pat themselves on the back for keeping all the religious rules in front of each other and in member in turn judge harshly the outsiders who don't keep the rules in the same way.

In words of Jesus, our righteousness must exceed the behaviors of certain religious leaders whom he had observed.

"So you think you've made it because you've convinced yourself that you are right doing in your public behaviors, such that you can judge others as being lacking.  Well don't stop with just your outward behavior, look at your inward desire; let God bring you to grace to receive the inward grace, even the clean heart of the Holy Spirit as the one who help us tolerate ourselves on the path of repentance."

The Gospel of the beatitude words of Jesus is a challenge for us to accept our need for grace to deal with our inward lives.  And when we accept our need for grace, we can have the humility to know that such grace is offered to everyone on the path of being perfected in love.

May God give each of us grace as we wrestle to couple right doing with right being as we accept the inner grace of God's Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sunday School, February 12, 2023 6 Epiphany A

 Sunday School, February 12, 2023    6 Epiphany A

Themes:

Doing the right thing and being the good inside

Jesus told some riddles about how sometimes we have to do good things even when we don’t feel like doing them.

Sometimes we have to do chores like cleaning our rooms or washing the dishes, even though we don’t feel like doing them.

Sometimes there are laws and rules that we don’t like to follow.

What does it like not to like doing something that is good?  Why do we often not like to follow the rules and the law.

Sometimes we think that we are better than other people because we keep rules that they don’t keep.  If I know the rules of playing soccer but my little brother doesn’t.  I might think that I am better than my little brother.  I might get angry at him for breaking a soccer rule that he doesn’t even know.

But my anger at my little brother is much worse than my brother not knowing or keeping the rules of soccer.  What good is it for me to know the rules of soccer if I use the rules to be angry at my little brother.

I need to know the rules of soccer and I cannot be angry at people who don’t know the rules.  If I know the rules of soccer, then I then to be patient to teach my little brother the rules of soccer.

Jesus said that there were people who were keeping the rules but they were very proud about keeping the rules.  They were angry at people who did not know and keep the rules like they did.  He said that their anger was just as bad and harmful as those who did not know or keep the rules.

We can sometimes ruin very good rules and laws by the way that we use the rules.  If we keep the rules and think that we are so much better than people who don’t know the rules or don’t keep them, then our pride, anger and impatient is breaking the greatest rule of all, to love our neighbor.

If we keep the rules and understand how good the rules are, then instead of being angry at other people who do not keep the rules, we will be patient to show and teach other people how good the rules are.

Jesus said the rules were given as a gift to teach and share with others.  The rules and laws of God were not given to us so that we can pretend that we are better than other people who do not know or keep the rules.

We have to learn how to keep the rules and at the same time we have to have the greatest rule of love in our hearts even for people who do not know or keep the rules.

Jesus reminds us that we have to both do good and be good inside.  The purposes of training ourselves to keep the rules is to learn how to make ourselves good inside, good with love and kindness and sharing.

Sermon:

Can you tell this?  Let’s say there is a candy bar on the table that belongs to someone else.  Which is worse?  Thinking about taking the candy bar?  Or Taking the candy bar?

  Of course, taking the candy bar is worse.  If we do everything that we desire, we can get into trouble.

  Today we read some words of Jesus.  And Jesus spoke in some riddles. And sometimes his riddles are hard to understand.  In the riddle of Jesus, he said that it is just as bad to be angry with someone as it is to kill someone.  Now that is quite a riddle.  Why would Jesus say something like that?

  Jesus was talking to some people who thought that they were better than other people.  And he wanted to teach them a lesson.

  What if you came to my house and played a game with me.   Let say we were playing soccer and I kept touching the ball with my hands.  And when I touched the ball with my hands, you wanted to call a hand ball foul and get a free kick.  But what if I say to you, “This is my house and my ball and so I get to use my hands and you don’t.”  What would you say to me?  You would say to me, “That’s not fair.  I did not know your rules before we started to play and if I had known your rules, I wouldn’t have played with you.”

  So Jesus saw that some people were making special rules that other people did not know about.  And they thought they were better because they made and kept special rules for themselves that other people did not know about.

  And Jesus reminded them that they were not perfect.  And since they were not perfect they did not have the right to say they were better than other people.

  And how did Jesus show them that they were not perfect?  He said to them, “You may look good in what you do?  But what are you like inside?  Do you have anger inside of you?  Do you ever want what is not yours?  Have you ever wanted to push or shove someone?  Have you ever wanted to call someone a bad name?”

  So no matter how good we think that we are, we always have room for improvement.  Jesus reminds us that we need to be good on the inside and we need to also do good things.

  It is sometimes hard to be good on the inside.  Can you and I control all of our thoughts?  Can we control all of our emotions?  What about when someone pushes or shoves us?  Is it hard to control our feelings of anger?  Can we always control our desire to want to eat 10 pieces of candy when we know it is best if we only have one or two pieces of candy?

  So do you see the meaning of the riddle of Jesus?  Jesus was saying no matter what we do, we always need God’s help to make us good and clean inside.  And no matter how good we are, we can always be better.  And no matter how good we are, we still need God’s love and forgiveness to help us become better.  And no matter how good we are, we should not think that other people are worse than we are.

  If we are always aware of how much we need God to make our insides good, then we will be forgiving of other people.

  Can you remember this riddle of Jesus?

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 12, 2023: The Sixth Sunday after The Epiphany

Gathering Songs:

Hallelu, Hallelujah, O, Be Careful, I Come With Joy, He’s Got the Whole World

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: Hallelu, Hallelujah   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.  

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A Reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus

For great is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power and sees everything; his eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every human action. He has not commanded anyone to be wicked, and he has not given anyone permission to sin.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord.

Peope: Thanks be to God

Please read with me from Psalm 119

Happy are they whose way is blameless, * who walk in the law of the LORD!

Happy are they who observe his decrees * and seek him with all their hearts!

Who never do any wrong, * but always walk in his ways.

.

Litany of Thanksgiving: Chant: Thanks be to God!

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson –  

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 of Asking:  Chant: 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 sick. Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

Offertory:  O Be Careful (Christian Children’s Songbook #180)

O be careful little hands what you do, O be careful little hands what you do.  There’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in love, so be care little hands what you do.

O be careful little feet where you go….

O be careful little lips what you say….

Doxology (Stand)

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 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 him 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 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 (Sung): (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:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration.

Communion Song: I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

I come with joy a child of God, forgiven, loved, and free, the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me.

I come with Christians, far and near to find, as all are fed, the new community of love in Christ’s communion bread.

As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends.  The love that made us makes us one, and strangers now are friends.

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

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.

Little tiny babies. 

Brother and the sisters  

Mothers and the fathers

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!  

 

Pirate Making Portion of the Beatitudes

6 Epiphany   A    February 16, 2020   

Sirach 15:15-20  Psalm 119:1-8

1 Corinthians 3:1-9  Matt.5:21-24,27-30,33-37

Lectionary Link

Today, we've read from the portion of the Beatitudes which I have called the pirate making portion, and so I have donned the corresponding costume.  "If your eyes causes you to sin; tear it out and throw it away....and if your right hand causes you to sin; cut it off and throw it away....."  And so I am here to say that I resemble those remarks because in my life my right hand and eye have often been involved in sin.   And if everyone is honest, all of us would be even more maimed than a warring pirate; we would be totally impaired before a holy God, especially if such a God subscribed literally to the ancient "lex talionis," the law of the claw.  An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

How is it that we have decided that we don't have to live totally impaired lives before a holy God?  Because we have come to believe in God's mercy and forgiveness.  We have come to believe in God's tolerance of us as we live imperfect lives on a path of perfectability.

The beatitudes are artistic wisdom performance discourse from the mouth of Jesus.  Jesus performed this wisdom on behalf of lowly people who did not have significant community religious standing or inclusion because they couldn't keep up with all the religious rules.  It was also delivered as a rather severe polemic against religious figures such a scribes and Pharisees who had come to practice the exclusion of lots of people from God's love and grace.  How were they practicing exclusion?   They used the law as punishment and not as method of teaching the great principles of the law of loving God and one's neighbor.  For them the law was more about incarceration rather than rehabilitation.  Jesus came to say that the fulfillment was the law was to be the rehabilitation and instruction of our lives, not for our punishment.

When you perform all the ritual rules, the referees can be around to observe and check you off on their attendance and performance charts.  You can attain great public status by performing all of the required ritual and people can think that you are jolly good fellows and lasses.  You can be publicly praised for all your "righteous" behavior.  But from all of these strokes for good public religious behavior you can take it upon yourself to become the judge for those who are not doing as well as you are in keeping the public ritual practices.  Keeping the legalistic religious ritual can become equated with rightness before God; not keeping the ritual means that others can be regarded as not being right with God.  So one can begin to feel justified before God by keeping all of the religious rituals.

This is the mindset which drew from Jesus his rather hyperbolic and exaggerated discourse.  "Guys if you really want to play hard ball with the law and righteousness, you have to deal with righteousness on your insides.  On the outside, you may be following the religious rules because you can, but what's going on inside?  Are you hating your brother and sister?  Are you calling your brother a fool and an idiot?  Are you having greedy thoughts, lustful thoughts, prideful thoughts, are you trivializing the rules of divorce to even divorce your wife because you don't like her soup?  God who sees your insides demands internal holiness, so God could practice the law of the claw, "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth," with you."  Do we see how in the exaggerated speech of Jesus, he uses reductio ad absurdum; he showed the legalists the logical conclusion of their practices and how silly and contradictory such practices are.  We can use religious rules to look good in public, even while our insides can be rotten, especially rotten with negative judgments of other people who we want to compare ourselves with as being unfavorable because they are not keeping "our rules."

Jesus was teaching people that the laws, no matter how good and expansive you apply them cannot do the inside job.  And they can't make you perfect before God.   All people might do well with 9 of the 10 commandments but that 10th is the kicker.  Thou shalt not covet.  Thou shalt not let your desire focus wrongly on anything.  The inside desire is the real problem.  Jeremiah wrote "the heart is exceedingly deceitful and who can know it?"  Sigmund Freud wrote that the unconscious mind is polymorphously perverse.  The Psalmist begged, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."

People can become legalistic as way to whistle in the dark as they try to avoid being honest about all of the contrary ways that inner desire can throw up in one's life.

Did Jesus have a problem with the law?  No, he didn't.  But he said don't use the law for the public performance of vows, to announce, "Look at me I'm really good at keeping the law."  Just let the law be good behavioral probability theory, a yes or a no, in recommended behaviors for avoiding some major problems in life.  Let the law teach you how to approximate justice.  You know, if you don't lie, don't kill, and don't steal, honor your family, your life will go better.  That's good behavioral probability theory.

Jesus was announcing that the performance of any law does not make one righteous; why?  Because we still have to deal with our insides.  It means that we are always in need of God's mercy and grace to make up what we lack.  It means we cannot compare ourselves with others to judge them harshly or to accept their harsh judgments.  God's grace is always relative to each person's life experience, which means we can't judge each other.  For me to be better today than yesterday, means something different for you and everyone else.  Personal repentance and God's grace is uniquely applied to each person; therefore we can't judge each other harshly.

But we do.  We can be so perversely competitive that we can ruin even good things.  St. Paul noticed that the Corinthian Church was ruining ministry, which is a good thing.  They did this by creating competition between Christian leaders.  The appearance of success in ministry is very relative.  Watering and planting is just as good as harvesting, though we may think that the ones who have the success of harvest are better than the people who plowed and planted without seeing any results.

What is the law of ministry?  Just do it, where you are.  We present ourselves to God to do what we're supposed to do where we are and damn the consequences or the results.

In ministry and in life, Jesus reminds us through the Sermon on the Mount, that it is in God's grace and forgiveness that we live and no matter what rule of life that we find ourselves committed to.  We cannot judge others as being bereft of God's grace because we know that our interior life is not always pure.  God can create in us the heart of the Holy Spirit who co-exists with our polymorphously perverse interior lives and thus present us as worthy to God, even as we tolerate ourselves in our unfinished condition.  And we humbly tolerate other people with forgiving and non-judgmental living.

Let us appreciate the stark language of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount as an invitation not to take our petty systems of legalism as a valid reason to judge others.  Let us understand that the high standards of the Sermon on the Mount bring us to one conclusion: accepting God's grace and forgiveness on our life journey.  And if we can accept it for ourselves, then we will also offer it to everyone else too.  And this is the Gospel.  Amen.

Sunday School, February 16, 2020 6 Epiphany A

Sunday School, February 16, 2020    6 Epiphany A

Themes:

Doing the right thing and being the good inside

Jesus told some riddles about how sometimes we have to do good things even when we don’t feel like doing them.

Sometimes we have to do chores like cleaning our rooms or washing the dishes, even though we don’t feel like doing them.

Sometimes there are laws and rules that we don’t like to follow.

What does it like not to like doing something that is good?  Why do we often not like to follow the rules and the law.

Sometimes we think that we are better than other people because we keep rules that they don’t keep.  If I know the rules of playing soccer but my little brother doesn’t.  I might think that I am better than my little brother.  I might get angry at him for breaking a soccer rule that he doesn’t even know.

But my anger at my little brother is much worse than my brother not knowing or keeping the rules of soccer.  What good is it for me to know the rules of soccer if I use the rules to be angry at my little brother.

I need to know the rules of soccer and I cannot be angry at people who don’t know the rules.  If I know the rules of soccer, then I then to be patient to teach my little brother the rules of soccer.

Jesus said that there were people who were keeping the rules but they were very proud about keeping the rules.  They were angry at people who did not know and keep the rules like they did.  He said that their anger was just as bad and harmful as those who did not know or keep the rules.

We can sometimes ruin very good rules and laws by the way that we use the rules.  If we keep the rules and think that we are so much better than people who don’t know the rules or don’t keep them, then our pride, anger and impatient is breaking the greatest rule of all, to love our neighbor.

If we keep the rules and understand how good the rules are, then instead of being angry at other people who do not keep the rules, we will be patient to show and teach other people how good the rules are.

Jesus said the rules were given as a gift to teach and share with others.  The rules and laws of God were not given to us so that we can pretend that we are better than other people who do not know or keep the rules.

We have to learn how to keep the rules and at the same time we have to have the greatest rule of love in our hearts even for people who do not know or keep the rules.

Jesus reminds us that we have to both do good and be good inside.  The purposes of training ourselves to keep the rules is to learn how to make ourselves good inside, good with love and kindness and sharing.

Sermon:

Can you tell this?  Let’s say there is a candy bar on the table that belongs to someone else.  Which is worse?  Thinking about taking the candy bar?  Or Taking the candy bar?

  Of course, taking the candy bar is worse.  If we do everything that we desire, we can get into trouble.

  Today we read some words of Jesus.  And Jesus spoke in some riddles. And sometimes his riddles are hard to understand.  In the riddle of Jesus, he said that it is just as bad to be angry with someone as it is to kill someone.  Now that is quite a riddle.  Why would Jesus say something like that?

  Jesus was talking to some people who thought that they were better than other people.  And he wanted to teach them a lesson.

  What if you came to my house and played a game with me.   Let say we were playing soccer and I kept touching the ball with my hands.  And when I touched the ball with my hands, you wanted to call a hand ball foul and get a free kick.  But what if I say to you, “This is my house and my ball and so I get to use my hands and you don’t.”  What would you say to me?  You would say to me, “That’s not fair.  I did not know your rules before we started to play and if I had known your rules, I wouldn’t have played with you.”

  So Jesus saw that some people were making special rules that other people did not know about.  And they thought they were better because they made and kept special rules for themselves that other people did not know about.

  And Jesus reminded them that they were not perfect.  And since they were not perfect they did not have the right to say they were better than other people.

  And how did Jesus show them that they were not perfect?  He said to them, “You may look good in what you do?  But what are you like inside?  Do you have anger inside of you?  Do you ever want what is not yours?  Have you ever wanted to push or shove someone?  Have you ever wanted to call someone a bad name?”

  So no matter how good we think that we are, we always have room for improvement.  Jesus reminds us that we need to be good on the inside and we need to also do good things.

  It is sometimes hard to be good on the inside.  Can you and I control all of our thoughts?  Can we control all of our emotions?  What about when someone pushes or shoves us?  Is it hard to control our feelings of anger?  Can we always control our desire to want to eat 10 pieces of candy when we know it is best if we only have one or two pieces of candy?

  So do you see the meaning of the riddle of Jesus?  Jesus was saying no matter what we do, we always need God’s help to make us good and clean inside.  And no matter how good we are, we can always be better.  And no matter how good we are, we still need God’s love and forgiveness to help us become better.  And no matter how good we are, we should not think that other people are worse than we are.

  If we are always aware of how much we need God to make our insides good, then we will be forgiving of other people.

  Can you remember this riddle of Jesus?

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 16, 2020: The Sixth Sunday after The Epiphany

Gathering Songs:

Hallelu, Hallelujah, O, Be Careful, I Come With Joy, He’s Got the Whole World

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: Hallelu, Hallelujah   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.  

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A Reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus

For great is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power and sees everything; his eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every human action. He has not commanded anyone to be wicked, and he has not given anyone permission to sin.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord.

Peope: Thanks be to God

Please read with me from Psalm 119

Happy are they whose way is blameless, * who walk in the law of the LORD!

Happy are they who observe his decrees * and seek him with all their hearts!

Who never do any wrong, * but always walk in his ways.

.

Litany of Thanksgiving: Chant: Thanks be to God!

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson –  

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 of Asking:  Chant: 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 sick. Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

Offertory:  O Be Careful (Christian Children’s Songbook #180)

O be careful little hands what you do, O be careful little hands what you do.  There’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in love, so be care little hands what you do.

O be careful little feet where you go….

O be careful little lips what you say….

Doxology (Stand)

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 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 him 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 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 (Sung): (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:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration.

Communion Song: I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

I come with joy a child of God, forgiven, loved, and free, the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me.

I come with Christians, far and near to find, as all are fed, the new community of love in Christ’s communion bread.

As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends.  The love that made us makes us one, and strangers now are friends.

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

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.

Little tiny babies. 

Brother and the sisters  

Mothers and the fathers

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!