Resurrection and God of the Living

22 Pentecost C 27 November 6, 2022
Job 19:23-27a Psalm 17:1-9
2 Thes.2:13-3:5 Luke 20:27-38

Lectionary Link

Legal precedence is using past juridical deliberations to inform in a deliberation on a present legal situation.

There was a time in Judaeo-Christian development when a belief in the resurrection from the dead was regarded by some to be an unacceptable innovation in what could be believed.

In religious and rabbinical scholarship during the first century, the innovation that became known as the resurrection was a topic of conversations.  Parties within Judaism disagreed upon the meaning and the validity of holding to the view of a resurrection into an afterlife.

The two major parties within Judaism in the early first century the Pharisees and the Sadducees disagreed about the meaning and validity of the resurrection.

The Sadducees did not believe that there was proper precedence for supporting the belief in the resurrection.

It was not a matter of whether one wanted to believe in it; it was a matter of how one used the written authoritative writings to establish the validity of a belief.

So why did the Pharisees and the Sadducees disagree about the validity of the resurrection?  It mainly had to do with the accepted canon of Scriptures used by the Pharisees and the Sadducees.  The Pharisees accepted the Hebrew writings of the Psalms, the history and wisdom books, as well as the writings of the prophets.  They found in the prophets precedence for believing in life after life, such as the Ezekiel vision of the dead bones coming back to life.

The Sadducees school of thinking only permitted the use of the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures.  They were "originalists" who challenged what they believed to be doctrinal innovation.

Imagine now the dialogue presented with in the communities which read the writings of the Gospel of Luke.  These communities were resurrection communities; they believed that they existed because of the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus Christ.

But there persisted in the dialogue between Christ-communities and synagogues profound differences about the resurrection beliefs of the followers of Christ.

This difference is re-visited in a presentation of a Jesus story in a rather Socratic dialogue with some members of the Sadducees.

Now if the Sadducees did not believe in future subjective immortality as is implied with the Christian tradition of the resurrection, what did the Sadducees believe about a person's after life?

A person could be objectively immortal in what a person leaves in this world after death, and most importantly, in one's offspring.  One becomes objectively immortal in one's offspring.

And so the Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, presented to Jesus a riddle to stump him about his resurrection thinking.

To stump Jesus, they used some minutiae from the Torah.  Levirate marriage was a rarely used requirement of a brother to marry the widow of his brother and the children of that marriage would be designated as offspring of the deceased brother.  So seven brothers died and all had had the same woman as their wife.  "Jesus, you believe in the resurrection, tell us who this one woman will be married to in the resurrection, the one that we don't believe in?"

Ironically, none of the seven brothers who died left any offspring for themselves or for their previously deceased brother.

Jesus gave an answer which might not be satisfactory to us.  He said that in the resurrection there is no marriage because people will be more like angels, children of God.  We may want the afterlife to be a more exact continuity of the situation we are in when we leave this life.

What might be the function and purpose of the presentation of this interchange within the early churches?

The early church believed that resurrection life was a different kind of life, continuous in some ways with this life, but significantly discontinuous in other ways.

The experiences of the Risen Christ for the disciples was significantly different than the experience they had with Jesus before he died.  The stories of the post-resurrection appearances of Christ indicated that the Risen Christ is continuous with the life of Jesus before he died, but these appearances are also an indication of the differences between the Risen Christ, and Jesus before he died.  The Jesus of Nazareth had surpassed himself significantly as he became known as the Risen Christ.  Jesus of Nazareth was limited to one place in space and time; the Risen Christ could be known by anyone and anywhere.

The words of Jesus further expand upon the nature of God.  Resurrection life goes with a belief in an inclusive Ever Living God.  If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived and believed in a living God, then that living God still includes their continuing lives.

The gist of the Gospel message for the early members of the communities where Luke's writings were taught is this:   Believers in Jesus Christ are those who have had experiences of the Risen Christ and those experiences are connected and continuous with Jesus of Nazareth, but those experiences are spiritual experiences, Holy Spirit experiences, which means they are different from the experiences of those who lived and walk and talked with Jesus of Nazareth.

The early churches believed that the experiences of the Risen Christ provided an expansion of the meaning of the ancient confession of God as the God of the living.  A God of the living includes the lives of those who have died.   

For us today, this Gospel is a message of hope because it is the proclamation of an endless future, a different future for both those who live and those who have died.  At the same time it is an affirmation of the connection between this visible life and the life of the future, between those who live and those who have died.

The Gospel invitation for us today to expand our belief to confess God as a God of the living, and to follow Jesus in his Risen Life of that same God of the living. Amen

Sunday School, November 6, 2022 22 Pentecost, C proper 27

 Sunday School, November 6, 2022   22 Pentecost, C proper 27 

Some ideas:

Present this Riddle and get the answer:

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?

Jesus had a discussion with some other religious people and they gave Jesus a riddle.

Imagine a woman who got married and her husband died.  And because there was an ancient Jewish rule, her husband’s brother was required to marry her.  But imagine that her first husband had six brothers and she had seven husband who died who were all brothers.  The riddle question for Jesus was this:  Jesus, when the woman lives again in the resurrection, which man will be her husband?

This question was asked by people who did not believe in the resurrection or living again in the afterlife.

How did Jesus answer the question?  He said the afterlife is not like this life.  He said that we will be like angels and angels do not get married.

Jesus said that it is more important to believe in God than in ourselves because God is a strong living God and when we die and when others die, we know that we are not great enough to preserve ourselves after we die.  So we believe in a very Great God who is able to preserve, but not just preserve us but make us into our angel-like selves.  In our angel-like selves we will not have the same limitations that we have in our lives now.

The message of Jesus is a message of faith and hope

Why are faith and hope important?

Because we live better when we have faith and hope instead of fear.

If we always are afraid of getting hurt or if we are afraid of death, then we will not be free to try new things and to learn.  Fear makes us too timid to try new things.  Fear makes us sad and it paralyzes us.

When Jesus gave people the hope of the resurrection, this hope allows us to quit being fearful and so we can live our lives in an adventure of faith or always trying to do things to make our lives better.

If we know that we will continue to live after death in an angel-like life, it means that we will still get more time to work on everything that we don’t finish in this life.  And this is hopeful for us.  It can help take away the “fear” of death.  It can help us know that God is fair to all people who don’t get to live as long as some other people because of accidents and misfortune.

The resurrection allows us to believe in fairness.  There will be plenty of time for everything to be made fair.

So Jesus showed us that everlasting life will bring about fairness and because we know this we can live with faith.

The people who argued with Jesus only wanted to win an argument.  Jesus was interested in giving people hope for the future so that they live with faith and adventure now in their lives.

Discussion:

What happens to you when you live in fear?

What happens when you are hopeful about good things?

Talk about the difference between living with fear and living with hope.

Sermon

  Can you and I know everything there is to know in life?  No.  Would we like to know everything?  Yes.  But why can’t we know everything?  We are too small.  Our minds, our brains cannot collect and remember all of the information.  And we cannot know some things because of who we are.  I know how to be a father, but I don’t know how to be a mother.  Why, because I can never be a mother.  So there are some things that I can never know.

  So I have to rely upon other people knowing what being a mother is.  Since there is so much to know, I have to rely on other people to know some things that I don’t know.  I have to rely upon a mechanic to fix my car.  I have to rely upon the doctor to take care of my health.  I have to rely upon many different teachers who know many different things.  I have to rely upon people who know more about music than I do.

  And when we add up everything that all people in the world know, do people still know everything?  No we still don’t know about distance stars and planets that we have never seen.  So there are still many,

many things that we do not know.  

  Why is every thing knowable?  Because we believe that God is knowledge and truth and life itself.  And God’s life is bigger and greater than our lives, so we always have more to learn about in life because God is so big and great.

  One of the things that we do not have a lot of information about is about what happens to people after they die.  And that is important for us because we want to know that the important people in our life are going to be with us forever.

  Jesus had a discussion with some people about what happens after we die.  And what Jesus says is this:  Since God lives and since God is the God of the living, all people will always live on in God.  Why?  Because God’s life is so great that God can preserve everything and everyone in a very special way.

  So if you ever begin to think about what’s after life, just remember how big God is and remember that God is big enough to preserve and keep everyone and everything that was ever made, even though we

may always be able to see everyone and everything.  God is a God of the living.  So all people will always live in God.  And so will you and I and so will all of the important people in your life.  Doesn’t that make you happy.  Remember that God is a living God and all of us live in God.  Amen.

Holy Eucharist for an intergeneration gathering

November 6, 2022: The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Alleluia, Give Thanks; I Am the Bread of Life; 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: Alleluia, Give Thanks   (Blue Hymnal # 178)

Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord.  Alleluia, alleluia give praise to his name.

Jesus is Lord of all the earth.  He is the King of creation.  Refrain

Spread the good news o’er all the earth: Jesus has died and has risen.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he 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 the Thessalonians

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 17

I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; * incline your ear to me and hear my words.

Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, * O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; * hide me under the shadow of your wings,

.

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.

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.

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: I Am the Bread of Life (Blue Hymnal, # 335)

I am the bread of life; they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst.  No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. 

Refrain: And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.

I am the resurrection, I am the life.  They who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live for ever.  Refrain

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.

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:   I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

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

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

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

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: The King of Glory (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! 

Having a Lawyer-Advocate for Heaven

22 Pentecost C  27    November 10, 2019      

Job 19:23-27a   Psalm 17:1-9

2 Thes.2:13-3:5     Luke 20:27-38

Lectionary Link

One of the mistakes that we often make in ministry is that we use the statistical and the hypothetical to diminish the personal and the individual.  We use the anecdotal to discount the personal experience of another almost as if it were a competition for who has suffered the most.

I remember a woman who had had a miscarriage and another woman told her she would be just fine because she had had three miscarriages.  The woman meant to project empathy but it seemed to discount the significance of how unique loss and pain can be.

Sometimes theology, the Bible, creeds and doctrines can be used to avoid the personal because the personal is what is new and what is happening to someone right now.  And when we want to make people part of the statistics too quickly or a biblical example, we discount their immediate pain.

Today in the Gospel story we have a dialogue between Jesus and some Sadducees.  It involved theological shop talk between a representative of a prominent religious party in Judaism and the new Rabbi on the block, Jesus.  Religion in the time of Jesus was like the religion in our own time;  often people want to make sure that they belong to the group which believes the best and the prescribed correct way.  A hungry or sick person or distressed person, a person in deep loss is really not concerned about theological fine points; they just want relief, salvation, health or comfort.  And religious people often are more interested in making sure that you know that they believe correctly with the right wording than providing relief and care.

The theological take on the Sadducees is that they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead.  They were different than the Pharisees and other religious parties within Judaism.  And since they didn't believe in the resurrection, that is why they were, "Sad, you see." (groan here)

Why didn't the Sadducees believe in the resurrection?  It wasn't necessarily because they didn't want to.  Their method of what established true belief was very limited.

The Sadducees were real traditionalists.  They believed that belief could only be established if it could be found in the Torah.  So they limited their Hebrew Scriptures to but five books.  If a belief could not be found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy, it was an unsupported innovation and had to be rejected.  The Hebrew Scriptures for other Jews included what is often called using the acronym TANAK, the Torah, the Nevi'im (the prophets) and the Ketuvim (the writings).

So the Sadducees presented a teaser, a riddle to Jesus cynically asking Jesus to rule on a hypothetical that they did not believe in.  "Let's stump Jesus about his resurrection preaching."  The hypothetical is full of irony for various reasons.  If the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, what kind of immortality did the Sadducees believe in?  They believed in an objective immortality; they believe a person attained immortality in their offspring, so it was very important to have children.  What if a man married and didn't have children before he died?  The Torah required that the brother of the decease to marry his widow and the children of the marriage would become the deceased brother's immortality.  Such a forced marriage was called levirate marriage.  So what if there are seven brothers and they all died and had to marry the one woman?  The woman bore no children so none of the brothers would have objective immortality.   

Can you see how divorced from actual life this joke of the hypothetical was?  Why do we have resurrection thinking in the first place?  Because we all feel personally unfinished in this life.  We have lost people we have deeply loved and it seems totally unfair that they should be removed from our lives.  We feel threatened by the seeming finality of death.  The loss of death is not some theological hypothetical; it is deeply personal.  Resurrection thinking is the personal belief that hope and justice and perfection will actual win out.  And if they don't then why would a God of love plant such a hope within me?  Just to taunt me for wanting something I could never become?  Just to taunt us about justice which can never be realized?  We come to a point of knowing that we need to become our better angels, and the words of Jesus assure us that our vision of perfection is not a cruel hoax, it is the ultimate invitation of our future.

What do we need before we can enter the realm of becoming angels?  We need a Redeemer.  We need an advocate, we need a really good lawyer.

The cry of Job that was immortalized in Handel's Oratorio, was "I know that my Redeemer lives."  The nuance in the Hebrew word for Redeemer, is one who advocates or makes the case for.  The story of Job was the case study for the good man who had bad things, the very worst things happen to him. All of his "good" friends believed that they were lawyers for God in telling Job that he must have done something wrong for such bad luck in his life.  Job felt helpless to defend himself; sometimes we can think that bad luck is proof itself that we deserved all of the bad things that happened to us.  Yet Job could not find a one to one correspondence with any particular thing he had done and the horrendous punishing outcomes.  Job's friends were lawyers trying to defend a very wrong view of God.  Job cried out for an ultimate lawyer and advocate who would defend the basic integrity of his life, not because he was perfect but because he was a person of faith who looked to a forgiving God.

So what can we learn today from our Bible lessons?  Don't let our limited biblical and theological exposure keep us from experiencing the true implications of a loving God.  And do not let our statistics and our hypothetical anecdotes steal or diminish the real pain of people who are in loss of all sorts.  Let us know Jesus to be our Redeemer, our perfect lawyer who makes the case for the gift and the integrity of our existence and who says to us, "Do not let anyone ever say to you, "You are a mistake."" Jesus our Redeemer is the one who is leading us to become our better angels in this life in part, but more fully in the next and we won't have to worry about marriage in the next life because we will not be lonely or alone and we will know universal fellowship.  Imagine one's life like a Word document which continually get edited and improved.  And then when we die, Jesus the Redeemer can open our file with "edit enabled" function turned on.  And Jesus our advocate can edit us towards our angelic selves through his graceful revisioning of our lives.

I know that our Redeemer lives and he is making the case for the value of our lives now and he will usher us into an angelic future life forever.  Amen.

Sunday School, November 10, 2019 22 Pentecost, C proper 27

Sunday School, November 10, 2019   22 Pentecost, C proper 27 

Some ideas:

Present this Riddle and get the answer:

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?

Jesus had a discussion with some other religious people and they gave Jesus a riddle.

Imagine a woman who got married and her husband died.  And because there was an ancient Jewish rule, her husband’s brother was required to marry her.  But imagine that her first husband had six brothers and she had seven husband who died who were all brothers.  The riddle question for Jesus was this:  Jesus, when the woman lives again in the resurrection, which man will be her husband?

This question was asked by people who did not believe in the resurrection or living again in the afterlife.

How did Jesus answer the question?  He said the afterlife is not like this life.  He said that we will be like angels and angels do not get married.

Jesus said that it is more important to believe in God than in ourselves because God is a strong living God and when we die and when others die, we know that we are not great enough to preserve ourselves after we die.  So we believe in a very Great God who is able to preserve, but not just preserve us but make us into our angel-like selves.  In our angel-like selves we will not have the same limitations that we have in our lives now.

The message of Jesus is a message of faith and hope

Why are faith and hope important?

Because we live better when we have faith and hope instead of fear.

If we always are afraid of getting hurt or if we are afraid of death, then we will not be free to try new things and to learn.  Fear makes us too timid to try new things.  Fear makes us sad and it paralyzes us.

When Jesus gave people the hope of the resurrection, this hope allows us to quit being fearful and so we can live our lives in an adventure of faith or always trying to do things to make our lives better.

If we know that we will continue to live after death in an angel-like life, it means that we will still get more time to work on everything that we don’t finish in this life.  And this is hopeful for us.  It can help take away the “fear” of death.  It can help us know that God is fair to all people who don’t get to live as long as some other people because of accidents and misfortune.

The resurrection allows us to believe in fairness.  There will be plenty of time for everything to be made fair.

So Jesus showed us that everlasting life will bring about fairness and because we know this we can live with faith.

The people who argued with Jesus only wanted to win an argument.  Jesus was interested in giving people hope for the future so that they live with faith and adventure now in their lives.

Discussion:

What happens to you when you live in fear?

What happens when you are hopeful about good things?

Talk about the difference between living with fear and living with hope.

Sermon

  Can you and I know everything there is to know in life?  No.  Would we like to know everything?  Yes.  But why can’t we know everything?  We are too small.  Our minds, our brains cannot collect and remember all of the information.  And we cannot know some things because of who we are.  I know how to be a father, but I don’t know how to be a mother.  Why, because I can never be a mother.  So there are some things that I can never know.

  So I have to rely upon other people knowing what being a mother is.  Since there is so much to know, I have to rely on other people to know some things that I don’t know.  I have to rely upon a mechanic to fix my car.  I have to rely upon the doctor to take care of my health.  I have to rely upon many different teachers who know many different things.  I have to rely upon people who know more about music than I do.

  And when we add up everything that all people in the world know, do people still know everything?  No we still don’t know about distance stars and planets that we have never seen.  So there are still many,

many things that we do not know.  

  Why is every thing knowable?  Because we believe that God is knowledge and truth and life itself.  And God’s life is bigger and greater than our lives, so we always have more to learn about in life because God is so big and great.

  One of the things that we do not have a lot of information about is about what happens to people after they die.  And that is important for us because we want to know that the important people in our life are going to be with us forever.

  Jesus had a discussion with some people about what happens after we die.  And what Jesus says is this:  Since God lives and since God is the God of the living, all people will always live on in God.  Why?  Because God’s life is so great that God can preserve everything and everyone in a very special way.

  So if you ever begin to think about what’s after life, just remember how big God is and remember that God is big enough to preserve and keep everyone and everything that was ever made, even though we

may always be able to see everyone and everything.  God is a God of the living.  So all people will always live in God.  And so will you and I and so will all of the important people in your life.  Doesn’t that make you happy.  Remember that God is a living God and all of us live in God.  Amen.

Holy Eucharist for an intergeneration gathering

November 10, 2019: The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Alleluia, Give Thanks; I Am the Bread of Life; 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: Alleluia, Give Thanks   (Blue Hymnal # 178)

Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord.  Alleluia, alleluia give praise to his name.

Jesus is Lord of all the earth.  He is the King of creation.  Refrain

Spread the good news o’er all the earth: Jesus has died and has risen.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he 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 the Thessalonians

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 17

I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; * incline your ear to me and hear my words.

Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, * O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; * hide me under the shadow of your wings,

.

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.

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.

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: I Am the Bread of Life (Blue Hymnal, # 335)

I am the bread of life; they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst.  No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. 

Refrain: And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.

I am the resurrection, I am the life.  They who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live for ever.  Refrain

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.

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:   I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

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

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

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

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: The King of Glory (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!