Having Faith When Life Is Not Fair

22  Pentecost, Cp24, October16, 2016

Jeremiah 31:27-34 Psalm 119:97-104

 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5   Luke 18:1-8a

Lectionary Link

  Sometimes when the parables of Jesus are interpreted, we try to make them make them too literal.   The parable about the nagging widow and the heartless judge reveals not the literal condition between actual people, it provides us insights about the conditions that we dealing with in our lives of faith.
  What is one of the greatest human dilemma in life?  How many times do we think, or say or shout, "It's not fair!"  Life is not fair.  Life does not distribute equally the fortunes and misfortunes which can occur to human beings.
  How many of you have ever felt that life is not fair?  The experience of the unfairness of life probably has been blamed for creating agnostics, atheists and people who think the belief in a loving God is just plain silly.
  Let do the logic.  God is loving.  God is all powerful.  Life is unfair especially to the innocent sufferers.   If God is all loving, then it would be God's nature to want to enforce universal fairness.  If God is all powerful then God is able to enforce fairness and justice in life.  But it is the case that unfairness occurs in this life so that means it would be logical to deny the nature of God as either being all loving or all powerful.
  How do we maintain our belief in an all loving God in light of the unfairness in life?  How do we have faith in a God who apparently is not all powerful?
  Jesus posed the wisdom question about faith.  When the Son of Man comes will he find faith?  When the entire history of humanity is taken into account, will faith in God be the significant character of humanity?
  The parable about the widow and the judge hides within it the insights about this dilemma of injustice in life.  How do we continue to have faith in face of this life often being just unfair?
   In the parable, we are told that the judge did not respect God or people?  What does the judge represent in our human experience?  The judge represents the negative probability of what can happen when freedom is genuine.  God as the creator is one who allows genuine freedom, and that freedom is permissive of probable negative outcomes.  The parable personifies negative fate as a judge, because that is how it often feels when bad things happen to us.  We take it personally; we may think someone is punishing us.  In a world of genuine freedom, injustice can happen.  Negative probable outcomes can seem to be like the unyielding judge.  The judge is saying, "Don't hassle me about injustice; I am just the by product of genuine freedom. My position of permitting the negative probable outcomes of injustice is one of the attending results of genuine freedom."
  What do you and I do in face of the truth of negative probable outcomes, including injustice and innocent suffering?
  "That's it, God.  I'm quitting because this whole system is rigged against me.  I'm going to give up and quit.  Or, if it is all "a dog eat dog fight" with such conditions of freedom, I am going to be Darwin's fittest and not just survive but push and shove all weaker free agents out of the way.  If I can be hurt in this system of freedom, then I might as well be a bully and take as much as I can."
  When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith?
  Faith is the secret that Jesus is hinting at.  Don't subscribe to fatalism.  Don't subscribe to the view that everything already predestined.  Have faith.  And if we are faced with the unfairness of life, we are encouraged to have a "nagging" faith.
  "Nagging" is generally considered to a negative persuasive technique.   As parents we know that sometimes it does work.  My baby child wants candy at the store and she screams and nags at the checkout line and I buy her the candy to stop the nagging or keep me from being embarrassed in public.  In marriage we put sweetness on nagging; we call it "honey do."
  The Bible is full of holy nagging.  Why?  Because the Bible deals with lots of people facing misfortune, oppression and injustice.  Re-read the book of Psalms; read the prophets.  These are some of the world most talented holy, nagging complainers.
  Why and when is prayer as holy nagging admirable?  Holy nagging is admirable and permissible when one is faithfully nagging about justice, health, love, kindness and good things.  Why is it admirable?  It is because we believe in a loving and good God and in this belief we believe that goodness, justice, kindness and freedom from pain is what is normal and good.  Whatever deviates from goodness and justice is a deprivation of goodness and justice.  But in the permissiveness of the conditions of genuine freedom, deprivations and injustice occur.
   So what is desirable response?  If the conditions of freedom permit all things, then we as human being need to freely exercise our faith.  If freedom is the dominant condition of life; we need to exercise our freedom of faith as much as we can.  We need to fill up the overall environment of freedom with free acts of faith expressing that our belief in God's love and justice will turn the tide and tip the scales in favor of justice and goodness, health and kindness coming to prevail.
  So what is the message?  We truly have freedom and it is very important that we exercise our freedom.  We need to overcome evil and injustice with the energy of faith driving our strong commitment to God's justice and love.
  Because freedom is genuine, the free exercise of our faith really matters.  If we multiply the total number of faithful acts then we will influence the overall balance in the arena of freedom where both negative and positive outcomes can prevail.
  We should always pray and never lose heart.  When the Son of Man comes will he find faith?
  It is election season and your vote counts.  In our election you can only legally vote once.  But in the life of faith, we need to "vote early and vote often."  We need to flood the ballot box of overall freedom with our nagging prayers of faith toward love and justice.
  Don't give up; on anything in life we need to vote with prayers and deeds of faith.  We may be the vote which tilts the arena of freedom toward a 51% majority and turn the tide toward the good goals of love and justice.  And as we win and the image of God as loving and powerful and the creator of freedom is maintained to characterized the genius of the moral and spiritual miracle of the human experience, not just an experience, but a moral and spiritual adventure.
  The parable of Jesus today reveals to us that you and I are really crucial and significant players in real outcomes in life and so we need to take up holy nagging with new intensity.
  So today, I say, "Holy naggers unite!  Let us keep up our nagging toward tipping the balance in the arena of freedom towards justice and love."  Amen.

Sunday School, October 16, 2016 22 Pentecost C proper 24

Sunday School, October 16, 2016    22 Pentecost, C proper 24

Sunday School Theme

Prayer as “Nagging”

Does anyone know what “nagging” is?  It is not supposed to be a good thing to do.  When your friend or family members does not want to do or give you something that you want, and you just keep asking and begging over and over again, this is what is called nagging.

Nagging is when we keep asking even though we know that that the people we ask don’t want to do what we want.  Why do we nag?  Because sometimes it works.  Sometimes we get what we want.  You can be shopping with mom or dad and you see something you want and so you ask a hundred times, “Mom can I get that new toy?”  Sometimes you might wear mom out and she gives in and buys you what you want.

The Bible is full of “nagging” prayer.  Prayer is asking God for things over and over and over again.  Even in the Lord Prayer, we ask again and again, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  Can you imagine a starving child praying this prayer every day?  “Please God, give me and my family enough to eat today.”

Nagging is a bad behavior but it can be made into a good behavior.  How can that be done?  If you and I are nagging about wanting good things for ourselves and our world, then nagging is a good thing.

Jesus told a story about a nagging widow.  This woman only wanted justice.  She just wanted fairness.  And she just kept asking and asking and asking the judge to do the right thing.  The judge didn’t want to help her but he got tired of her nagging and so he gave him.

In our world there is lots of freedom.  Freedom means lots of bad things can happen, like pain, suffering, hunger and starvation.

Jesus reminds us that in a world of freedom, we have the freedom to have faith and to pray.  In our prayers we can continually nag God about good things.  We can nag God about people having enough food, about war to end, about safety in a storm or hurricane, about fairness for everyone.

Nagging is a good thing and a good way to prayer because if we strongly want really good things to happen for our world, then it is good to pray over and over again.

Why should we do this?  Because if we have enough people nagging God about making this world better then we will begin to see good things happen in our world.

So, today, don’t nag your parents and friends too much, unless you want really good things.  And let us nag God in our prayers for justice, love and kindness to win in our world.

Active discussing

Have children discuss when they have nagged their parents and friends.

Have them look in the Psalms and show them how the Psalmist is nagging and complaining in the prayers about the bad things in the world.

Sermon

  What would happen if you didn’t ever wash dishes at your house?

What would happen if your clothes were never washed?   What would happen if your house was never cleaned?

  Would you run out of dishes?  Would you run out of clean clothes to wear?  Would your house get so dusty and dirty, that it would be very hard to live in your home?

  Is it fun to clean the house?  Wash the clothes?   Wash the dishes?

  Maybe it is not fun, but it has to be done.  Because if it is not done, dirt and dust and germs would all take over.  So one of the roles that everyone has to have in life is the role of a cleaner.  If we don’t clean, then dirt and dust will take over and keep us from living healthy lives.

  You and I have to be clean toward God too.  You know that just like dirt and dust can take over our lives if we don’t clean, so too, in this world bad things, evil and misfortune can take over our lives if we don’t learn how to be clean toward God.

  How do we get clean toward God?  We do so by learning to pray and asking for God’s help at all time to over come the bad things and the unfortunate things this world.

  Jesus told a story about a woman whose husband had died….some people were trying to cheat her so she went to a judge.  That judge was a bad judge who wouldn’t help her.  But she didn’t quit.  She kept going to the judge and even though he was still a bad judge, he got tired of the woman coming to him, so he helped her get her money back.

  Jesus told us this story to let us know that bad things and misfortunate things are going to happen in this life, but we cannot accept bad things as what is normal in life.  Goodness is what is normal and that is what we should always practice and expect.

  God needs people who are going to pray and asks over and over for good things until those good things happen and overcome the bad things in life.

  So Jesus teaches us a lesson about prayer.  We should always pray and not get discouraged when sad and bad things happen to us.

  Let us remember always to pray, because it is a sign to God that we truly love what is good, fair and lovely in this life.

   So remember, always to pray and don’t get discourage even when good things don’t happen.  Just keep praying because it is a sign that we believe in God and goodness, and it means that we will recognize the good things that God gives us in the answer to our prayers.

So let us always remember to keep on praying.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 16, 2016: The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: I’ve Got Peace Like a River, Peace Before Us, The Lord is My Light, Soon and Very Soon

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: I’ve Got Peace Like a River   (Christian Children’s Songbook # 122)

1-I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.      I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.

2-I’ve got love…..  3-I’ve got joy…..

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Second Letter to Timothy

As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills; * from where is my help to come?

My help comes from the LORD, * the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved * and he who watches over you will not fall asleep.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

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.

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.

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Song: Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love & Praise,  # 791)

Peace before us, peace behind us, peace under our feet.  Peace within us, peace over us, let all around us be peace.

Love before us….3. Light before us…. 4. Christ before us….

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is 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 neighbor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Words of Administration

Communion Song: The Lord Is My Light (Renew! # 102)

The Lord is my light, my light and salvation: in Him I trust, in Him I trust. 

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: Soon and Very Soon (Renew! # 276)

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King, Hallelujah, hallelujah, we’re going to see the King.

No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  No more dying there, we are going to see the King, Hallelujah, hallelujah, we’re going to see the King.

Repeat first verse

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Prayer as Holy Nagging?

22  Pentecost, Cp24, October 20, 2013

Jeremiah 31:27-34 Psalm 119:97-104

 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5   Luke 18:1-8a

Lectionary Link

   Welcome to our weekly session of dealing with puzzles from the Bible.  Perhaps one might regard the Bible to be too out of date to be the regular choice for reading pleasure.  However, we have inherited this book as the inspired textbook of our tradition and so it is “required” reading on Sundays and is recommended for our daily reading as well.

  How do we regard this requirement to read the Bible when it now exists in the midst of an ocean of other literature?  The Bible has come into disfavor because of the ways in which Christians have used the Bible.  Why cannot we regard the Bible to be an inventory of human situations that bear universal patterns for us to look to for insights for our lives?  Too many Bible preachers regard the Bible to be a museum of final human products that we go to revere as having final inspiration.  I would say that the Bible is inspired, but not yet.  Why, because the future of Bible reading is still open.  The Bible includes the inspired principles of love and justice which need to find future occasions of application.  Remember too that the Bible as an inventory of human situations means that all of the inventory is not applicable in all places at all time.  Just because we have a wardrobe full of clothes does not mean we try to wear them all at one; we chose the apparel for the current occasion of our lives.

  Jesus was a wisdom teacher and he used parables as an indirect method of teaching.  In the parable that we have read for today, Jesus encodes within a human scenario a common human condition of need.

  A widow needs justice; the judge who can provide justice does not adjudicate justice but the widow just keeps nagging the judge until the judge is worn down and finally rules for justice even when he is not otherwise inclined to do so.

  Herein is a situation universal to humanity.   It is a fact that there is an uneven distribution of injustice throughout the world.  And when we are on the receiving side of injustice it hurts.  Injustice can be so prolonged that it begins to gain power to unseat justice as the normal condition of life.   From the situation of injustice we can easily give up and begin to think that since injustice is so common that injustice becomes what is regarded to be what is normal about life.

  And this is the petitionary situation for the practice of prayer.  Jesus provided the punchline of the parable before he told the parable:  We should always pray and not lose heart.

  But Jesus what is the use of prayer?  Why should we not take up armed resistance?   Why should we not become terrorists to strike out against injustice?   Do we not have the right to oppose with our lives the practice of injustice?  Is not prayer just rolling over and accepting injustice?

  Do you see how the parable of Jesus anthropomorphizes the situation of injustice?  When we experience things that do not seem to fair to the normalcy of justice, health and goodness we can feel powerless to do anything.  The situation of injustice seems to have a personality to it.  We take all of the events in our lives personally.  It seems as though all of the free agents in life account for the situations of uneven justice and injustice to occur in life.  It is very hard not to take life personally but in situation of oppression by other human beings, we take life doubly personally.

  And what is our personal response to the uneven situations of injustice that occur in life and in our lives in particular?  Jesus said that we should pray always and not lose heart.  It seems as though prayer is the continual expression of nagging.

  Is this really what prayer is, a perpetual holy nagging to get what we want?  Holy nagging?  Is that what the prayer life is all about?  From the Gospel parable aftermath it does not seem that such holy nagging necessarily has timely outcomes from the point of view of the petitioner.   God, we need help and justice now!  Well, just keep nagging and it may or may not come but you are obligated to keep asking for justice.  And the future Son of Man stands to us as one who guarantees justice.

  What do we think about this holy nagging theory of prayer?

  First of all, what this parable acknowledges is the conditions of freedom in this world which accounts for the uneven spread of justice and injustice.  Judges have power and authority over helpless widows.  But just because there is freedom in this world for injustice to occur, that does not mean that we have to accept injustice as the recommendable condition of life.  And this is where the significance of holy nagging comes in; we must protest injustice continuously and not let it be asserted as the normal condition of life.

  Where slavery and discrimination were once regarded to be the norm in our country, voices of justice arose to challenge the status quo of injustice.  Nagging prayers actually became a very great Civil War to challenge injustice.  In more recent times the nagging prayer of peaceful and non-violent resistance became the practice of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others who kept up nagging against injustice.

  Prayer as perpetual nagging against the practice of injustice is a worthy occupation.  With such nagging we do not let ourselves accept injustice as normal.  With nagging prayer we create energy of resistance against the practice of injustice.  With nagging prayer we hope to wear out the opponents who themselves are enslaved by their very oppressive practice of injustice because ignorance has often become the accepted status quo of those who practice injustice.  “What’s   the fuss about, haven’t we always done it this way?   Women voting?  People of color riding wherever they want in the bus?  Gay and lesbian people full human rights?   Holy nagging for justice hopefully will eventually bring a fuller experience of justice.

  Prayer as holy nagging in situations where goodness, health, love and justice are not experienced is a witness both within the one who prays and within their settings that health, goodness, love and justice are what is humanly normal; and we are going to protest everything to the contrary with our nagging prayers.

  My friends, let us not be ashamed of our prayers as holy nagging today, especially if we are asking that this world experience the meanings of health, goodness, love and justice today.  With holy nagging we will never accept illness, evil, hatred and injustice as the normal conditions of life.  With holy nagging we will rally ourselves to practice justice and demand justice for all in our world.

  So, let us go forth and do some holy nagging today.  Amen.