Mere Bread, Living Bread, What's the Difference

12 Pentecost Cycle b Proper 14 August 11, 2024
1 Kings 19:4-8 Psalm 34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 John 6:35, 41-51

Lectionary Link 

We live long past the Age of Enlightenment and into the modern Age of Science.  Science with its successful method and with the practical applications of science into industry has come to make such an impact upon our material world, that we have subtly come to believe that to be truly human in a meaningfully true way we must comply our lifestyle with the scientific method particularly of the natural sciences kind since empirical verification is much easier to attain and gain community consensus on.

The inferior step-sisters of the natural sciences have clamored for equal standing hoping to bring precise objectivity to the human sciences.  The inferiority complex comes from failing to come to the same kind of objectivity in the fields such as psychology, sociology, political science, law, ethics, anthropology, and others, because the subjective observer and the observations have not been able to achieve the same kind of consensus as seemingly attained within the natural sciences.

In the attempt of linguistic philosophers to comport philosophy and logic to the methods of the natural scientists, they proclaimed that a statement is meaningfully true, if and only if, it can be empirically verified.  But what an incredible limitation upon truth and how the truth of beauty can be known in language.  Why not just confess the truth of poetry and the truth of science while encouraging them to stay within their own lane of discursive practice.  We can live knowing the overlapping truths of science and poetry without implying a notion of a superior truth criteria. 

And if the human sciences have had to bear the inferiority complex in comparison with the natural science, where does that leave poetry, spirituality, theology, ethics, art, music and all other which goes under the classification of the aesthetically sublime?

What we can easily forget is that it is empirically true that human beings are aesthetic beings.  It is rationally true that human beings know supra-rational experiences of beauty which do not comport themselves to the same kind of test tube methodology as the natural sciences.

Humans are involved in social interaction and understanding how to live together well; we try to understand personal motivations; we find endless ways of the imagination to entertain ourselves and while we think we know so much because of science, we still deal with what forever mystifies us in myriads of ways.

My wordy digression is but a prologue to deal with the metaphor of John's Gospel, Jesus as the living bread which comes down from heaven.

Let us appreciate the aesthetic spiritual discourse of the Gospel of John.  The writer is not writing about laboratory scientific experiments.  The writer is not writing like a reporter who has witnessed a live event.

The writer is writing from the perspective of a life practice which came to a significant community of people, and it derived from Jesus of Nazareth, and it derived in continuity with many who had inherited the writings of the Hebrew Scriptures.

The mode of discourse is not scientific writing; it is mystagogy.  It is trying within a community of people to inculcate the mysterious experience of knowing the presence of the Risen Christ.

Therefore for John's Gospel, the physical is but a place to be humble about what one does not yet fully know.  The physical world is a place to be mystified.  The writer of John and his community have been mystified by the witness of Jesus Christ.  This mystery is a life within life, another kind of life within apparent natural living.

In the writing of John's Gospel, natural language is problematized.  What is living bread?  What is living waters?  What is the seeing which is blind and the blindness which is seeing?  What is the dead who can live and the living who are dead?  Who are the lame who can walk?  Who are the walkers who don't know their way?  

With language such as "living bread" and the like, the writer of John's Gospel is expressing a way to accept living with both common sense reality, and the sense of life being imbued with another quality, even the quality of the Sublime.  And if one is missing the sublime, then one is only living in denial about a completing and complimenting dimension of life which pertains to the very image of God as great Mystery indwelling human life.

The Gospel of John is a program, a presentation for a community of people to know the mystification of life, the sublime life.  We need to know that life is not just about getting enough bread as fuel for our physical lives; we need to partake of the kind of sustenance which fills out the dimensions which we know are beyond our bodies working as machines which consume bread as the fuel of existence.

The Gospel of John program is the program about Jesus Christ, in his life and afterlife bringing to us expediting insights in being open to our fuller selves as brothers and sisters with Jesus and children of God.

Let us compliment our natural lives with the grace of being mystified by the Risen Christ.  Amen.

Sunday School, August 11, 2024 12 Pentecost, B proper 14

 Sunday School, August 11, 2024   12 Pentecost, B proper 14

 

Sunday School Themes

In the Epistles there is good advice on how to live together well with other people:

1-Don’t be bitter.  What does that mean?  It might that we might get angry and disappointed when we don’t get our way all of the time.   How can we keep from getting bitter?  We need to learn how to share and we need to learn that sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we don’t and we need to learn how to accept not getting everything that we want when we want it.  If we learn patience, then we can avoid being bitter.

2-Don’t be angry.  Anger often happens because we don’t have patience.  We don’t know how to wait our turn.  When we live with other people we have to share lots of things.  And if we learn sharing then we can learn not to be anger.  You may want to talk about good anger and bad anger.  What would good anger be?  We might be mad when people are hurting someone.  That is a good anger.   Bad anger is when we get mad because we don’t want to share or take turns.

3-What is wrangling?  Wrangling is always arguing about things.  Sometimes we are always arguing because we don’t want to share or we don’t want to agree with other people or we don’t want to accept the good things that they have to do and say.

4-Don’t slander.  Slander is when we say something bad about someone which is not true and we say it in order to hurt them.  We might call someone a “cheater” because we might  be jealous when they win a game.

5-Put a way malice.  Malice is when one might wish bad things for someone or do things purposely to hurt another person.  If we can accept that God loves us for who we are, then we don’t need to wish bad things for anyone.

There is also a list of good and recommendable attitudes and behaviors

1-Be kind to one another.  Think about what kindness is for you and for others

2-Be tender-hearted.  This means that we don’t treat each other harshly or rudely but being tender means that we try to please other people by doing things for them which we know that they enjoy.

3-Forgive one another.  Each of knows that we are not perfect and we still need to grow and to learn how to be better and so we need to forgive each other as we are trying to be better each day.  If we think that it is hard to forgive then we need to remember that people did some very bad things to Jesus and he still forgave them.  We need to look to Christ as the example of forgiveness.

4-We need to live in love with one another and love means that we make sacrifices.  The sacrifices which we make means that we share and we help each other do our best and we do it all together.

The Gospel is again this week about the riddle of how Jesus is the bread of heaven.  We eat bread and food to grow strong but we know that by eating bread it will not prevent us from dying some day.  We know that there are parts of our life which will die.

Jesus reminds us that there are parts of our lives which will not die.  It is the inside part of ourselves the Spirit.  And we need to feed the part of ourselves which will never die, the part of ourselves which will live forever.

That is why Jesus said that he was like bread that one could eat and live forever.  When we hear and follow the words of Jesus we are eating the words of the bread of heaven which will help us live forever because those words of Jesus are the words which build our spiritual lives, the part of us that will live forever.

Here is a children’s sermon about relating the Holy Eucharist to the feeding of the five thousand and understanding how our communion is related to giving all people enough to eat.

  What if I were to order pizza today for everyone but I only ordered one kind of pizza, all pizza had anchovies on them.  Would you eat my anchovy pizza?  What are anchovies?  They are little fish and many people like them but many more people don’t like them.  But what if I said, everybody has to eat anchovies, would that be fair?  You might say, well more people would eat just plain cheese pizza so why can’t we have that?  But even if we had cheese pizza some people might not like that.

  If I took a food survey do you think that I could get everyone to agree about a food?   How many people like candy?  Not everyone does and some people cannot eat it.  How about cake?  How about broccoli?  How about pickled herring?  How about fish?  How about ham?  How about rattle snake?  How about bread?  Well, not even bread is liked by everyone? 

  If I cannot get us to agree about what food we like, what can I get us to agree about?  How about this?  Will you agree that everyone needs food to live?  Great we can agree on this.

  A baby needs food but how does a baby know that he or she needs food?  Parents have to teach a baby to eat and provide the baby with food to eat.

  So we agree that everyone needs food to eat.  Does everyone in the world have enough food to eat?  No.  And they didn’t have enough food to eat in the time of Jesus.

  Jesus had a great idea about how to get people enough food to eat.  If people eat alone in their own homes only with their own families, they would not see that some families and some people did not have enough to eat.  So Jesus thought, “What if we had a meal for everyone and what if we had meals in every neighborhood where people would be invited to eat together, then that would be a way to make sure that everyone had enough to eat, because everyone would be seen eating something.  A hungry person could not be hidden anymore if all hungry people were invited to eat.”

  So we have the Eucharist, this meal of bread and wine.  This was the meal that Jesus gave to solve the problem of hungry people in the world; because Jesus believed that if everyone ate together, then hungry people would not be hidden and unknown.  If everyone ate together in public then we have a way of checking that everyone would have enough food.

  We have lost something today in our church meal of bread and wine.  It has become more like a religious meal and not a real meal to feed hungry people.  But even though it is a religious meal, we should not forget that Jesus ask us everyone to come and eat together in public as a way of making sure that everyone had enough food to eat.

  We still have a hungry people in our world today.  And hungry people are hidden from us.  And we don’t see them.  Let us remember that Jesus gave us the Holy Eucharist as a way to remind us that hungry people are invited to have food.  The Holy Eucharist is a Meal that Jesus gave to us to remind us to love and care for everyone in world.  So let us remember why we have the Holy Eucharist today and let us pray and work for ways to feed all of the people in our world.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 12, 2024: The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs:Hallelu, Hallelujah!;  The Foolish Man and the Wise Man; Change My Heart; Hosanna

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah!  (Christian Children 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, Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!

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

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: 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 Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

 

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 34

I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice.

Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the people, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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.

Song: The Foolish Man and the Wise Man (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 250)

O the foolish man built his house upon the sand.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.  And the rains came tumbling down.  O, the rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  And the house on the sand went crash.

O, the wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down.  O the rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm.

So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ.  So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ.  So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down.  The blessings will come down as the prayers go up.  The blessings will come down as the prayers go up.  The blessing will come down as the prayers go up, so build your house on the Lord.

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 birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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 neighor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song:  Change My Heart, O God (Renew!  # 143)

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true; Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.  You are potter, I am the clay.  Mold and make me, this what I pray.  Change my heart, O God make it ever true; Change my heart, O God may I be like you.

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: Hosanna (Renew!  # 71)

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God Hosanna in the highest.

Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God. Glory to the King of Kings

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

What Come First, the Physical or the Spiritual?

11 Pentecost Cycle b Proper 14 August 8, 2021
1 Kings 19:4-8 Psalm 34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 John 6:35, 41-51

Lectionary Link

I retell one of my favorite jokes to illustrate something at the heart of the construction our Christian identity.

So, the rabbi and the priest are having a drink together, and the rabbi says to the priest, "Father, you Christians have stolen some of your best ideas from us Jews."  And the priest responds, "Rabbi, what do you mean?"  And the Rabbi, "Well, take for example the 10 Commandments; you've stolen them from Judaism."  And the priest responds, "Yes, that true Rabbi, but we haven't kept them."

The point of our Christian identity is this:  We, as Christians, have taken much of the symbolic  order from the Hebrew Scriptures, but we haven't kept that symbolic order in the same ways in which the Jews as a continuing and separate community of faith has kept them.   The Christians believed that the symbolic order of the Hebrew Scripture became significantly altered, innovated, fulfilled and changed as the early followers of Jesus were trying to understand and articulate the significance of Jesus for people who were Jews and increasingly for people who were Gentiles.  We can say that Christians completely appropriated the traditions of Hebrew Scriptures and other apocrypha writings which came from the Jewish people.

So we "stole" from Jews, and we have not retained what we have stolen in the same ways in which the Jews have; we have integrated it in our understanding of Jesus and the community we call the church.

Bread of heaven, may seem to be original to Jesus, but of course it is not.  It has a long tradition within the Hebrew Scriptures and the commentaries of the rabbis.

The bread of heaven in the Hebrew Scriptures refers to the story of the provision of Manna from heaven on a daily basis to that pre-historic group of people who came to know themselves as the people of Israel.  The pre-historic identity stories of the people of Israel did not come to their full textual form until after the exiles into Babylon and Persia.

One of the most identifying event in the identity of the Hebrew people is Moses and the Law, the Torah.  The rabbis understood the Torah to be the bread of life, and even the substantial source of life for the identity of the people of Israel.  The Psalmist speaks of the sweetness of the commandments and statutes, as something which people are supposed to consume as the tasteful perpetual dessert of living which delights our life.  It is the dessert course to finish the meal of the ordinary entrees of life.  The story of the giving of the Manna is also a story of the sustaining bread of the Torah being given daily to the people to sustain their moral and spiritual identity as a people who are trying to follow the best recommended behaviors for humanity.

As Moses and the Torah are central to the identity of the Hebrew faith and the subsequent developments in Judaism, so Jesus is central to the identity of Christianity.

The Torah is the eternal word of God which becomes manifest from heaven in written form. Christ is the Eternal Word of God from the beginning who becomes manifest in the flesh in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.

What is more important to the life of Judaism, the harvest of the actual physical bread for eating or  living according to the teaching of the Torah?  The Torah is the living bread of God which organizes the entire inward word life of the people so that they not only can organize their lives to be fed daily, but also to organize all of their behaviors for living well with each other and before God.

Whether the Hebrew Scriptures or the New Testament, the prophets and preachers are trying to get people to move from the literal to the figurative and spiritual as being the substantial force of life.  Why? because the entire connection with our physical world is governed by our inward life of words which guide how we manipulate and interact with the exterior physical word.

How do the masses of the people get fed?  Is it only by the food and drink that enters our mouths?  Food and drink are the aftermath of people inwardly knowing that it is our duty to feed everyone who needs food.  So, can we see how inward and spiritual and moral obligation actually comes before the delivery of food to the people of our lives.

And this is what the Bread of Heaven discourse is all about.  The oracle of Jesus is a teaching about the contrast between literal and spiritual and moral significance.

And the message of Jesus is this: Don't put the physical ahead of the spiritual, because in fact the spiritual is more significant than the physical because inward values precede how we organize and act in our outward and physical behaviors.

In his discourse Jesus points out that people can be addicted to bread or food as mere animals, like Pavlov's dogs waiting for the bell of opportunity to trigger our instinctual need for food.

But food for human beings is not not food for animals; it is more than instinctual.  It is the organization and division of labor of the entire community with the moral imperative to provide food for everyone.

How do we go from dependent babies instinctively seeking breast milk and grow into becoming the moral and spiritual communities to organize our live together to provide enough for everyone?  Can we understand the priority of the inward moral and spiritual issue which comes before the actual partaking of bread.

The words of Jesus are not about providing a meal or two for people.  Jesus is saying, I want to be inside of you being a moral and spiritual force guiding you to prepare meals for each other endlessly so that all will have enough.

To take the bread of Christ in the Eucharist is to embrace the spiritual essence of Jesus becoming the bread provider of the entire world through moral and spiritual behaviors to always be at the task of taking care of each other.

And what do we know about bread and food?  It is the most important medicine for the life of the people of the world.  Hunger and thirst are the most basic human illnesses in our world.  Jesus was aware of this and so the Risen Christ as the bread of heaven within us becomes within us the conscience of God to provide for each other in the loving care of the world.

Let us take to heart the movement from the physical to spiritual and moral and inward words of life.  We have to be changed inwardly before we order the physical world of hunger and thirst to the satisfaction of the love and justice needed to elevate every person in this world to their true dignity.

As good scientists we take seriously the physical world; we take seriously it in our observation of the manifold suffering of the world.  But as those who are implored by Jesus to be substantial moral and spiritual people, we move from simply observing "that the world is," to how we want this world to be best for the qualitative life of all people.

The Gospel words of Jesus are this; don't minimize the physical needs of the world, but also recognize the priority of the moral, spiritual and inward word life of us for living lives to provide adequate food, clothing and shelter for everyone.  Let us appreciate what Jesus is teaching us about needing inward change to effect outward results.  Today, we receive the Eucharistic bread of life hypocritically if we are unwilling to be spiritually and morally changed to care for this world, our home and the home of our neighbors.  Amen.

Sunday School, August 8, 2021, 11 Pentecost, B proper 14

Sunday School, August 8, 2021   11 Pentecost, B proper 14

 

Sunday School Themes

In the Epistles there is good advice on how to live together well with other people:

1-Don’t be bitter.  What does that mean?  It might that we might get angry and disappointed when we don’t get our way all of the time.   How can we keep from getting bitter?  We need to learn how to share and we need to learn that sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we don’t and we need to learn how to accept not getting everything that we want when we want it.  If we learn patience, then we can avoid being bitter.

2-Don’t be angry.  Anger often happens because we don’t have patience.  We don’t know how to wait our turn.  When we live with other people we have to share lots of things.  And if we learn sharing then we can learn not to be anger.  You may want to talk about good anger and bad anger.  What would good anger be?  We might be mad when people are hurting someone.  That is a good anger.   Bad anger is when we get mad because we don’t want to share or take turns.

3-What is wrangling?  Wrangling is always arguing about things.  Sometimes we are always arguing because we don’t want to share or we don’t want to agree with other people or we don’t want to accept the good things that they have to do and say.

4-Don’t slander.  Slander is when we say something bad about someone which is not true and we say it in order to hurt them.  We might call someone a “cheater” because we might  be jealous when they win a game.

5-Put a way malice.  Malice is when one might wish bad things for someone or do things purposely to hurt another person.  If we can accept that God loves us for who we are, then we don’t need to wish bad things for anyone.

There is also a list of good and recommendable attitudes and behaviors

1-Be kind to one another.  Think about what kindness is for you and for others

2-Be tender-hearted.  This means that we don’t treat each other harshly or rudely but being tender means that we try to please other people by doing things for them which we know that they enjoy.

3-Forgive one another.  Each of knows that we are not perfect and we still need to grow and to learn how to be better and so we need to forgive each other as we are trying to be better each day.  If we think that it is hard to forgive then we need to remember that people did some very bad things to Jesus and he still forgave them.  We need to look to Christ as the example of forgiveness.

4-We need to live in love with one another and love means that we make sacrifices.  The sacrifices which we make means that we share and we help each other do our best and we do it all together.

The Gospel is again this week about the riddle of how Jesus is the bread of heaven.  We eat bread and food to grow strong but we know that by eating bread it will not prevent us from dying some day.  We know that there are parts of our life which will die.

Jesus reminds us that there are parts of our lives which will not die.  It is the inside part of ourselves the Spirit.  And we need to feed the part of ourselves which will never die, the part of ourselves which will live forever.

That is why Jesus said that he was like bread that one could eat and live forever.  When we hear and follow the words of Jesus we are eating the words of the bread of heaven which will help us live forever because those words of Jesus are the words which build our spiritual lives, the part of us that will live forever.

Here is a children’s sermon about relating the Holy Eucharist to the feeding of the five thousand and understanding how our communion is related to giving all people enough to eat.

  What if I were to order pizza today for everyone but I only ordered one kind of pizza, all pizza had anchovies on them.  Would you eat my anchovy pizza?  What are anchovies?  They are little fish and many people like them but many more people don’t like them.  But what if I said, everybody has to eat anchovies, would that be fair?  You might say, well more people would eat just plain cheese pizza so why can’t we have that?  But even if we had cheese pizza some people might not like that.

  If I took a food survey do you think that I could get everyone to agree about a food?   How many people like candy?  Not everyone does and some people cannot eat it.  How about cake?  How about broccoli?  How about pickled herring?  How about fish?  How about ham?  How about rattle snake?  How about bread?  Well, not even bread is liked by everyone? 

  If I cannot get us to agree about what food we like, what can I get us to agree about?  How about this?  Will you agree that everyone needs food to live?  Great we can agree on this.

  A baby needs food but how does a baby know that he or she needs food?  Parents have to teach a baby to eat and provide the baby with food to eat.

  So we agree that everyone needs food to eat.  Does everyone in the world have enough food to eat?  No.  And they didn’t have enough food to eat in the time of Jesus.

  Jesus had a great idea about how to get people enough food to eat.  If people eat alone in their own homes only with their own families, they would not see that some families and some people did not have enough to eat.  So Jesus thought, “What if we had a meal for everyone and what if we had meals in every neighborhood where people would be invited to eat together, then that would be a way to make sure that everyone had enough to eat, because everyone would be seen eating something.  A hungry person could not be hidden anymore if all hungry people were invited to eat.”

  So we have the Eucharist, this meal of bread and wine.  This was the meal that Jesus gave to solve the problem of hungry people in the world; because Jesus believed that if everyone ate together, then hungry people would not be hidden and unknown.  If everyone ate together in public then we have a way of checking that everyone would have enough food.

  We have lost something today in our church meal of bread and wine.  It has become more like a religious meal and not a real meal to feed hungry people.  But even though it is a religious meal, we should not forget that Jesus ask us everyone to come and eat together in public as a way of making sure that everyone had enough food to eat.

  We still have a hungry people in our world today.  And hungry people are hidden from us.  And we don’t see them.  Let us remember that Jesus gave us the Holy Eucharist as a way to remind us that hungry people are invited to have food.  The Holy Eucharist is a Meal that Jesus gave to us to remind us to love and care for everyone in world.  So let us remember why we have the Holy Eucharist today and let us pray and work for ways to feed all of the people in our world.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 8, 2021: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs:Hallelu, Hallelujah!;  The Foolish Man and the Wise Man; Change My Heart; Hosanna

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah!  (Christian Children 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, Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!

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

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: 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 Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

 

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 34

I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice.

Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the people, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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.

Song: The Foolish Man and the Wise Man (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 250)

O the foolish man built his house upon the sand.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.  The foolish man built his house upon the sand.  And the rains came tumbling down.  O, the rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  And the house on the sand went crash.

O, the wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock.  The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down.  O the rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up.  The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm.

So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ.  So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ.  So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down.  The blessings will come down as the prayers go up.  The blessings will come down as the prayers go up.  The blessing will come down as the prayers go up, so build your house on the Lord.

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 birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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 neighor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song:  Change My Heart, O God (Renew!  # 143)

Change my heart, O God, make it ever true; Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.  You are potter, I am the clay.  Mold and make me, this what I pray.  Change my heart, O God make it ever true; Change my heart, O God may I be like you.

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: Hosanna (Renew!  # 71)

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God Hosanna in the highest.

Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings!  Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God. Glory to the King of Kings

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!