Simplify the Law

21 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 25, October 29,2017

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46

Lectionary Link

Youth Dialogue Sermon

Caroline:  In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  You may be seated.

Catherine, what are you doing with those big thick books?

Catherine:  They are books of all the laws.

Caroline:  That's a lot of laws.  But why are you carrying them around and why are you looking at your cell phone?

Catherine:  Well, these books list just some of the laws in our country and I don't want to break any laws, anywhere.  How do I know that I won't break a jay walking law in New Jersey, if I have go there?  And I keep looking at my phone to see if my lawyer has called to see if I'm breaking any laws.

Alex:  Well, don't you think that you are obsessing a bit too much about all the rules?

Catherine:  Well, I may be obsessing but that still doesn't mean that I won't break a law.  I just have to be prepared.

Caroline:  There must be a better way to put yourself at ease over the fear of breaking a law.

Catherine:  What do you mean?

Alex: I think she means that not all laws are created equal?

Caroline:  I don't think that is what I meant, but what do you mean that "all laws are not created equal?"

Alex:  I mean that some laws are more important than others.  For example, here's a no brainer:  Is it more important not to kill another person or pick up after your dog in the city park?

Caroline:  I see what you mean.  Of course, it is more important not to kill than to remove that natural dog fertilizer from the city park lawn.  But how does that help Catherine's worry about the laws.

Catherine: Yeah, how can this help me?  I just can't walk around being uninformed about the laws and rules of society.

Alex:  Well, the main worry in life should be about keeping the most important rules.

Caroline:  You mean like the 10 Commandments?

Alex:  Exactly, Catherine, do you know the 10 Commandments.

Catherine:  Yes, I know the Big 10.  And I have mostly kept them, short of a few little "white" lies and borrowing some things from my sister secretly.  And I've probably "coveted" a few times in wanting too much of what I do not have.

Caroline:  So, it was you who borrowed my iPad!  I'm glad you finally confessed!

Catherine:  Okay, but give me some legal help please!

Caroline:  I think Jesus gave some wonderful legal advice.

Alex:  How did he do that?

Caroline:  He wanted to teach people how to think legally and morally so they would know what to do.

Catherine:  How did he do that?

Alex:  Well, he reduced the Big 10 to the Big 3.  And everyone can remember 3 things easier than 10 or the many other rules in life.

Catherine:  And what is the Big 3?

Caroline:  One: Love God.  Two: Love your neighbor.  Three: Love yourself.

Alex:  If we judge everything that we do by loving God, loving our neighbor and loving our self, then we will only want to do what is right by God, by our neighbor and by our self.

Catherine: Okay, but what about all the thousands and thousands of rules?  Are they important?

Caroline:  They are important but important in a different way than how the Big laws are important.

Alex:  Yes, the Torah had 613 rules about some of the small details of life.  There were so many rules that you needed to have rabbis as religious lawyers around to tell you how to keep all the rules.

Caroline:  In the time of Jesus, some of the minor rules were treated as more important than some of the big rules.

Catherine: Like what?

Alex:  Like when Jesus healed people on the Sabbath and the religious leaders said that healing was work and so Jesus should not be doing the work of healing on the Sabbath.

Caroline:  And that is really petty.  If you lift your hand to wash your face or put a piece of bread into your mouth on the Sabbath, isn't that working too?

Catherine:  I can really see how petty things could get.

Alex:  Jesus was more concerned about our motives in our hearts.  He was more concerned about learning how to think legally.

Catherine:  Do you mean that he has given us the Holy Spirit who is like the Law of God inside of us?  And we can consult the Holy Spirit to inform our conscience about doing right and wrong?

Caroline: Bingo.  You've got it.  Now ditch the books sister!

Catherine: Phew!  What a relief.  Jesus has taught me to be a moral and a legal thinker.  Hmmm.  If I do this will it mean that I am loving God, loving my neighbor and loving myself?  If I can answer "yes" do these, then I should be safe in choosing what to do.

Alex:  I'm glad that Jesus simplified the law for us, but it doesn't make it any easier.

Caroline:  Why do you say that?

Alex:  Well trying to love is never finished and we can always get better at doing loving things.

Catherine:  I agree.  Loving God, our neighbor and ourselves is a lifelong adventure and we never get finished.

Caroline:  Well, I've got some good news and some bad news for everyone today.

Alex:  What's the bad news?

Caroline:  You have 613 rules to learn from the Old Testament and you probably are breaking many of them?

Catherine:  What's the good news?

Alex:  The good news is that the Big 10 and the even bigger Big 3 help us sort out the most important laws.

Caroline:  But even better, Jesus promises to change our lives from within so that we can always be at work loving God, loving our neighbors and loving ourselves.

Catherine:  That's probably a good place to stop.  The law is not God's gift to us to make us petty and worried about doing wrong.  God law is an invitation for all us to become better lovers of God, our neighbors and yes, ourselves.  Can you say, Amen?

Everyone:  Amen.

Moses Died; Long Live the Law

21 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 25, October 29,2017

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46
Lectionary Link
  Moses was perhaps the most famous "lawman" of all time.  He is associated with the event that occurred when the wise have evolved to observe human behavior and they knew that humanity needed help to live together well.  When the very best of human behaviors are discovered, such behaviors need to be taught; they need to be promulgated.  What good is a law if no one knows about it?
  Laws can be the rules of tyrants to make societies run to the advantage of the tyrants.  In such cases the rules can actually be laws of oppression.  Such laws may result in the maintenance of order but they do not liberate the person because their force is the fear of punishment, particularly the punishment of exclusion from human society through imprisonment or excluded from life through the punishment of death.
  The way in which Moses received the law was a revelation that God is interested in human beings.  In fact, God cares so much for human beings, God wanted to teach men and women how to live well.  God did not give laws to humanity as an initiatory hazing rite to let humanity know who the boss is and who makes the rules.  God gave laws to humanity as the great insights for human development and evolution in living toward the spiritual side of personality.
  The giving of the law was a gift of God to humanity to learn the very basics of how to live well.  First, live as though one's own ego is not the only one in the world.  Just because each of us has such individual unique existence who can be locked into idio-eccentric views of the world, God gave us laws to deliver us from solipsistic narcissism.   The laws of God require the greatest human attribute of all, empathy.  Going out of ourselves to realize that there are other selves, other creatures who have in similar ways the same kinds of feelings that we do.
  The law, given to Moses, was given to be our teacher of our higher selves, the empathetic Selves that are needed for the enhancement of community life.  How does humanity learn the magic of empathy?  How does the individual become born out of being a solipsistic, narcissistic self and become able to "walk in another person's shoes?"
  If I am an individual ego observing other egos, then as a peer, I can be tempted to think that competition among competing egos is the drive of life; so, I have to take care of number one.
  The Law of God begins by asking us to honor the One God.  Why is this important?  It is important to challenge the lie that can easily come to the human ego; the lie that we are individual and separate beings.
  Honoring the Oneness of God means that we accept God as the Community of all creation; we were created in community with God and for community with God and each other.  The epidermis of our bodies can visually make us think that we are separated individuals moving as willful or random bumper cars through existence.
  But if we can honor and love God as the great Community of all creation, we can stand before the Fire of God have our egos melted soft enough to be fluid within the Community of God.
  Recovering addicts confess the help of a Higher Power to aid in sobriety.  All of us need the sense of the Higher Power of God to be able to confess and live the togetherness of life.  Love God with all your soul.  This is the commandment which is not really a suppressing command, but rather, a confession and a declaration.  The declaration to love God is the liberating experience of being freed from the experience of alienation and living into the full Community of God, who is one.
  And with derivation, by loving God, we proceed to love our neighbors even as we are learning to love and honor ourselves.
  The great law of God as the freedom from individual isolation into the fullness of Community with God and humanity, subtly got displaced into rules, rules of all sorts.  There are 613 rules in the Torah, many of which not even known and certainly not practiced even if a very few really conservative Jews might attempt to honor them.
  When rules get dislodged from the great teaching motives of God's law, legalism become the practice.  Legalism happens when rules get made for administration of community and community roles.  Order for all manner of society, public and private is necessary, but not to the over-shadowing of the winsome teaching purpose of the law.
  When Jesus came, he found lots of people frustrated with the rules.  He found religious leaders more interested in the enforcement of minutiae than proclaiming the teaching purpose of the great law of God.
  The oracle of Jesus in the church reaffirmed the centrality of the great law.  Jesus was not concerned with whether one could wear linen and wool together or doing healing work on the Sabbath; he was interested in the essence of the law: Love God, Love your neighbor.  Love yourself.
  There will always be rules and ordinances for all areas of human existence.   And there is actuarial wisdom to have lots of rules.  Rules and procedure aid communication and assist people being on the same page to complete the tasks required by human society.
  But if rules gets so precious and so private to elite groups who know and keep rules to keep other people out of their society, then the teaching and the affirming purpose of God's law is lost.
  Jesus observed this and so he upheld the essence of the law in its winsome teaching purpose.  Love God.  Love one's neighbor.  Love oneself.
  Friends, these are not negative suppressing juridical pronouncements; rather, they are the affirming confession that we can make and keep to live in the Community of the One God who declares us all to be neighbors, and asks us to live enhanced relationships with each other.
  And God does not forget the individual.  Love yourself.  As you honor God.  As you achieve empathy in loving one's neighbor, you and I can come to honor own unique selves.
  Moses died, but the law lived on.  Jesus died, arose, re-appeared, and ascended and yet the law of Jesus lives on for all who want it.  What is the law of Jesus?  It is same law as Moses.  Love God.  Love your neighbor. Love yourself.  Amen.

Sunday School, October 29, 2017 21 Pentecost, A proper 25

Sunday School, October 29, 2017               21 Pentecost, A proper 25

Theme:

The Law

Have your class do a comparison of laws and rules.

We have rules of health.  Brushing our teeth and washing our hands.

We have rules of courtesy.  Raising our hands, using polite words like please, thank you and you’re welcome.

We have rules of safety.  Wear a seat belt.  Wear a helmet.  Do play with matches or knives.

We have club rules or family rules.  Like, you have to wear a team uniform.

There are many, many rules.  So many that we don’t always know if we are keeping all of the rules.

We need to know the most important rules.

We need to know how to live well even if we don’t know all the rules.

We need to know how to answer this question all of the time:  How should I live and what should I do?

Jesus provided us a simply way to know what to do all of the time.

He simplified the law to help us to know what to do.

There were 613 laws in the Torah.  Some of the laws were very important and others not as important.  Is more important that we not mix wearing clothes made of wool and linen at the same time or that we not kill, or steal or lie?

When we think about the law, we usually think about the 10 Commandments, because they are a shorter list and easier to memorize.

Jesus told us to remember even a shorter list of laws:  Love God, Love your neighbor.  Love yourself.

Before we do or say anything, if we ask ourselves if our word and deeds respect God, respect our neighbors and respect ourselves, then we will know what to do.

By learning to think in this way, we can learn how to know the right thing to do all of the time.

Sermon:

Do you have rules at home?  Do you forget the rules sometimes?

  Do you have rules at school?  And if you forget the rules, your teachers remind you about them.

  Do we have traffic rules?  Yes, and what if we forget about the traffic rules, who reminds us?  The police do.

  Did you know that there are rules and laws in the Bible?  In fact, in the first five books of the Bible, there are 613 rules.  That is a lot of rules to remember isn’t it.

  So, we need shorter lists of rules.  One of the most famous lists of rules is called the Ten Commandments.

  Are some rules more important than others?  In the Ten Commandments, we probably treat one rule as more serious than all the other commandments.  Can you guess what rule that is?

  Thou shalt not kill.  That’s a very important rule since the life of each person is most important.

  Some of the rules were written to tell people how to eat.  For example, people were not supposed to eat certain kinds of meats like pork or shell fish.

  Thou shalt not eat pork or thou shalt not kill?  Which is a more important law?

  The religious leaders during the time of Jesus criticized him for ignoring some of their rules.  They said he should not work on their day of prayer, and they criticized him for healing on the Sabbath, the day of prayer.  They criticized him for eating with certain people who did not keep the special religious diet.  They criticized him for touching lepers and certain sick people.  Jesus told them that they were forgetting the important rules and making the unimportant rules special, so they could keep people away from their religious gatherings.

  So, they asked Jesus…there are so many laws. What laws are the greatest laws?  And with so many laws, how can I know what to do?

  Jesus said: Love God with all of your heart.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  If you live by these two laws, then you will always know what to do.

  If I hit or push someone, am I loving my neighbor?  If I lie or steal something, am I loving my neighbor?  If I forget God or if I make many things more important than God, am I loving God? 

  So, if you forget all of the laws:  Always ask yourself these three questions: Am I loving God by what I am doing?   Am I loving my neighbor by what I am doing?  Am I doing something to another person that I would not want done to me?

  Jesus helped us to simplify the laws by giving us these two laws:  Love God with all your heart.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Can you remember these two laws?

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 29, 2017: The Twenty First Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, Seek Ye First, The King of Glory

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: 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 got the whole world in his hands, he’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the little tiny baby in his hands….

He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands..

He’s got the moms and the dads in his hands…

He’s got the cats and the dogs in his hands..

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians

As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 90

Show your servants your works * and your splendor to their children.

May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; * prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, `The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet"'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. 

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering.

Offertory Music:    Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! (Renew! # 71)

1          Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest!

2          Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Glory, Glory, glory to the King of kings! Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted oh Lord my God! Glory to the King of kings!

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

 this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  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,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: Seek Ye First  (Blue Hymnal  # 711)

1.         Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.  And all these things will be added unto you, Allelu, alleluia.

Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

2.         Knock and the door shall be open upon you.  Seek and ye shall find.  Ask and it shall be given unto you, Allelu, alleluia. Refrain

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: The King of Glory Comes, (Renew! # 267)

Refrain:  The King of Glory comes the nation rejoices.  Open the gates before him lift up your voices.

Who is the King of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.  Refrain

In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness.  Refrain

Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

   

Summary of the Law as Messianic Living

20 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 25, October 26, 2014

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12 Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Matthew 22:34-46

Lectionary Link

   We live under the conditions of a general and powerful freedom in our world and because of this we can with Charles Dickens always say, “it is the best of times and it is worst of time.”  Our faith life has to do with learning to adjust to being in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time in a right or wrong condition of being.  The conditions of the present create the moment of faith; if things are good in our pursuit of health, well-being and the pursuit of happiness then we want to bottle the formula to extend and perpetuate those conditions which seem to be conducive to our happiness.  If the current life presents us with great obstacles to our health, well-being and pursuit of happiness, we have to deal with the disappointment, the delayed gratification, the disgust toward what we think is causing our crisis and in some cases the fear of sheer cruelty.

  The best of times and the worst of times creates the conditions for us to idealize the past or to wishfully create a rescuing future in order to deal with or survive the present or simply to preserve what we think works for our current well-being.

  Faith could be all about coping with the freedom of life in the now.  The Holy Scriptures are a record of the coping power of faith and the creation of stories and narratives to give us evidence of what was used to inspire salvation as the event of having faith to cope with the diversity of conditions which freedom brings to us in life.

  We might think that those biblical people were those who spun myth to deal with their pain or their success.  They looked back to the great man Moses and a time when the law and living was pure and simple and informal and obvious.  They idealized their King David to be a hero, God’s chosen instrument in a Golden Age for God’s people.  When Jesus came the times had been so bad for so many of the Jewish people, they took more comfort in idealizing a better future with a better hero person.  When one needs a rescue one looks for a hero; one looks for a superhero.  You and I can judge how bad we feel about the problems in our world today by the incredible proliferation of mythical superheroes of every sort.  They are high tech transformer or old fashioned guys wearing blue, red and yellow spandex under their street clothes or have a bat cave to go to make a change in their persona.  The biblical people had their superhero, the messiah.  They had the messianic expectations to help them get through their worst of times.

  We today, are just as human as biblical people.  We idealize the past; oh if we could get back to just the basic American Constitution, in all of the Jeffersonian and Madisonian purity.  Now there are so many laws and regulations; would that it were all simpler.  And wasn’t life better when Ike was president, or Reagan, or Clinton.  Each person from one’s own socio-economic situation idealizes a certain past to help survive the situation now.  Each person is vulnerable and may take comfort in superheroes to idealize a personal way to a better future.

  We are still mythical thinkers today as much as the biblical people were in their own time and it does no good to be dismissive about biblical motifs while we are superiorly blind to our own.

  Jesus came to people in the best of times and the worst of times.  He came to some who wanted legal purity.  If only we could get back to living by all of the 613 commandments in the Torah, we could have a better life.  And isn’t it a shame that so many people don’t know the 613 commandments and are willing to dismiss living by them.  So Jesus, if you are dismissing the 613 commandments, which commandments would you keep as being necessary to your life?

  So here Jesus was like a chief steward on the Titanic which is going down and his crew is wanting to know if they should set up the shuffleboard game and on which side of the deck should they put the deck chairs.  And Jesus, like a chief steward is thinking, “Guys, we only need to attend to the life boats right now, because this ship is going down. It time to think about basic salvation.”  And in the sinking ship of life in the present time salvation is basic: Love God with all of the heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

  Moses is gone, David is gone and the Romans possess the land.  Don’t confuse the people with legal details of your nostalgia for a different world.  Get to the basics of accessible moral thinking.  Give every man, woman and child accessible criteria for them to judge the actions and thoughts of their lives:  Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

  Jesus made ethics and morals accessible to everyone.  He gave people the basic judging criteria of life.  We clergy like to add lots of other rules on top of the basic because our jobs depend on it.  We would like for you to think that the eleventh commandment is: Thou shalt get your pledge card in on time.”

  The time of Jesus was like our time; it had enough of the worst of times about it to create the need for a superhero, an imminent savior and rescuer.  If we ever needed to be saved it is now.  Apocalyptic thinking is “quick fix” thinking.  Life is so bad for the good guys that God needs to stop all of this right away.  The Flood Story was apocalyptic thinking.  The people of the world were so evil and bad that God had to destroy everyone except Noah and his family and start over.  What is true about this is not that such a story could be verified; what is true is the apocalyptic impulse.

  People respond to loss and crises with the apocalyptic impulse as they express the need for an interventionist superhero in different ways.  In our world we can find ISIL and Boka Haram and Taliban as apocalyptic violence cults with the simple solution to kill everyone who differs from them.  Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot and a host of others have subscribed to apocalyptic violence as a way to usher in the peace of their controlling realm.  The Caesar was declared the “Savior of the World” who brought about what was called the “Pax Romana” or the Roman Peace, peace as the result of killing out all opponents to the type of order that the Caesar imposed.

  Jesus is presented as one who had to live within an environment which included much speculation about a Messianic superhero.  People of all sorts had many different opinion about the superhero.  The superhero motif is our creation to survive now by hoping for the intervention of a better tomorrow in the form of a personal power that shows us that we are cared for.

   What the record of history shows is that Jesus was not received as the messiah for those who continued in the synagogue and who excommunicated the followers of Jesus.  What the record of history shows is that non-Jewish people took over a completely unfamiliar notion, the notion of the messiah from the Jewish story and adopted it as the winning motif within the Roman Empire.  This is one of the most baffling ironies of human history.

  And I think this elevation of Jesus as a superhero messiah to people who did not even originate the notion of the messiah happened because Jesus was a suffering servant messiah.  Jesus was a hidden messiah.  Jesus was the one who was saying, if you want to know the messiah and the impact and the success of the messiah just, love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and do it one moment at a time.  And suddenly you will find that messianic takes over one’s life.

  Today we are deluged with so many laws and regulations we can let ourselves be divided by countless requirements and loyalties.  Today, there is incredible public stalemate to accomplish common good.  There is violence abroad in our world at home and in places far away.  And Hollywood catering to our fear has generated hundreds of superheroes to provide us with a catharsis for the need of a “quick fix” to our world.

  But what is the Gospel?  The fix is not quick.  The fix is the kind and quiet and private application of this: Love God with all your heart; love your neighbor as yourself.  If we abide in this principle we will find the messiah and the messianic within our lives.  Amen.

Sunday School, October 26, 2014 20 Pentecost Cycle A, Proper 25

Sunday School

Gathering Song: "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God"  in preparation for All Saints' Sunday

Sunday School Themes

The Summary of the Law.  You can talk about all of the laws in the Hebrew Scriptures supposed 613 commandments.  That a lot of rules to learn.  You can mention the 10 Commandments and how much easier it is to remember 10 commandment instead of 613.

Today there are many rules, at school, in traffic, at home, everywhere we have rules.  So, if we cannot remember all of the rules, how can we know the right thing to do or say?

Jesus said that if we do and say things and love God and love our neighbor as  our self, then we can know that we are doing the right thing.

The Summary or short version of the Law helps us to how to think as people who love God and our neighbors.

You can also show how the Short Version of the Law is like what is called the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

And you can perform the play on the Golden Rule and the Short version of the Law

Puppet Show: October 26, 2014  C p. 25

 Officer George, Lucas, Miriam

Officer George:  Hello Lucas and Miriam.  How are you today?

Lucas:  We’re fine Officer George, unless you are here to arrest us.

Officer George:  Well, no I’m not here to arrest you.  Have you been doing anything that bad?

Miriam: Well, not that bad but I still confess my sins at church.  Why are you here today?

Officer George:  As you know I am an officer of the law and I like to teach boys and girls about the law and about following rules.

Lucas: Officer George, we’re too young to drive so we don’t need to know the driving rules yet.  What kind of rules are you talking about.

Officer George:  Today, I am talking about a very important rule, it is called the Golden Rule.  Do you know what the Golden Rule is?

Miriam: Does it mean that whoever has the most Gold is the one who gets to make the rules?

Officer George:  That’s funny Miriam, but no, that is not the Golden Rule.

Lucas:  What is the Golden Rule then?

Officer George:  The Golden Rule is: Do unto others what you would have them do to you.

Miriam:  So if I don’t want to be teased by my brother, I should not tease him?

Officer George:  Yes, you need to treat other people the way in which you want to be treated.

Lucas: Did Jesus teach the Golden Rule.

Officer George:  Yes, he did and he also said the Golden Rule in another way.  He said that it was important to love our neighbor as ourself. 

Miriam: So if I want to be love, I should be loving to other people?

Officer George:  Yes, you should because that is the best way for people to live together in respect and peace.

Lucas:  Well, I like the Golden Rule and I like the rule about loving our neighbor as ourselves.  Sometimes it is hard to do especially when my neighbor is not always nice to me.  How do I love my neighbor when he is not nice to me?

Officer George:  Well, by loving your neighbor when he is not nice to you, you can teach him an important lesson.  He can watch you and learn from your kindness.  But it is hard sometimes to love people who do not treat us nice.

Miriam:  That is why we need another commandment.  We need to love God first and know that God loves us too.

Officer George:  You are right Miriam.  To know God’s love for us means that we can learn to love people even when they don’t treat us kindly.

Lucas: Yes, if we treat them kindly maybe they will see that kindness is better for everyone.

Officer George:  Well, I have got to go.  I don’t have to write any tickets for you, Miriam and Lucas, because I think that you know the Golden Rule.  So will you share the Golden Rule with everyone?

Miriam:  Yes, we will Officer George.  And we’ll share the Golden Rule with our friends here today.

Lucas: Boys and girls, can you remember to love your neighbor as your self?    Good.  I think that you will be very popular.

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 26, 2014: The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, Seek Ye First, The King of Glory

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: 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 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….

3.      He’s got the boys and the girls in his hands..

4.      He’s got the moms and the dads in his hands…

5.      He’s got the cats and the dogs in his hands..

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians

As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 90

Show your servants your works * and your splendor to their children.

May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; * prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, `The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet"'? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. 

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering.

Offertory Music: Hosanna, (Renew #  71)

1   Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; be exalted, oh Lord my God! Hosanna in the highest.

2 Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; be exalted, oh Lord my God!  Glory to the King of King.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(Children may gather around the altar)

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

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

 this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:        Alleluia.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: Seek Ye First  (Blue Hymnal  # 711)

1. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.  And all these things will be added unto you, Allelu, alleluia.

Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

2. Knock and the door shall be open upon you.  Seek and ye shall find.  Ask and it shall be given unto you, Allelu, alleluia. Refrain

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: The King of Glory Comes, (Renew! # 267)

Refrain:  The King of Glory comes the nation rejoices.  Open the gates before him lift up your voices.

1.      Who is the King of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.  Refrain

2.      In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness.  Refrain

3.      Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God!