Sunday School, May 24, 2015 The Day of Pentecost B

Sunday School, May 24, 2015   The Day of Pentecost B

Review the Church Seasons

Today begins the Season of Pentecost which is the longest church season and extends through the summer and fall until the First Sunday of Advent

The color for The Day of Pentecost is Red, the color of fire.  On the Day of Pentecost there was a vision of tongues of fire appearing to the people who met to pray.

The Story of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles is a story which answers a story found in the book of Genesis about the tower of Babel.  People in the past wondered why people spoke different languages.  It is difficult to communicate with people who don’t speak the same language and so the ancient peole believed that different languages came because when everyone spoke the same language, a proud king thought that he could be so powerful and be like God and build a tower high into the sky to try to be God.  So God punished the people of Babel by sending them different languages.  They were so confused that they could not finish building the city or great tower and so they scattered throughout the earth into their language communities.

On the Day of Pentecost (fifty days after Easter, and ten days after Jesus Ascended into heaven) people in Jerusalem heard the apostles speak about Jesus in many different language.  This meant that God message of love was for everyone in the world.  People could have the One Spirit of God and yet speak different languages and be different in race and color and customs.

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church because it was a celebration that God was available all of the people in the world because of the life of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus lived with his disciples, he told them that he would be going away but that when he would go away, he would send them a friend and someone to comfort them.  The Holy Spirit is the person that Jesus sent to his friends to comfort them after he left this earth.  On Pentecost we celebrate that we know the presence of God in our lives through the work and presence of Holy Spirit as a power and presence inside of us.

Puppet Show for The Day of Pentecost

Day of Pentecost

Characters:

Dovey the Dove

George

Dovey: (singing) Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday Christian Church.  Happy birthday to you!  And many more!

George: Why did you sing Happy Birthday to the Church Dovey?

Dovey:  Well today is the Day of Pentecost and the Day of Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church.  Let’s see the church is 2013 minus 33 equals 1980.   Happy 1980th birthday to the church.  But who’s counting?

George: Obviously you are counting.  We are a pretty old group of people.

Dovey:  Yes, you are one of the oldest and long lasting organizations that ever existed.

George: I wonder why the church has lasted so long.  Do you think that the church will still be here after I die?

Dovey:  Well George, you’re not going to die for awhile but yes the church will be here after you die to have more birthdays.

George:  How do you know Dovey?

Dovey:  Well, because even though you are a member of the church, the church is really not about you.

George:  Well, what is the church about?

Dovey:  The church is about Jesus Christ.  His message of love was so wonderful and it created so much excitement in people they called his message Good News or Gospel.  And Jesus said if we just keep sharing this good news to each new group of people who are born then this message will live forever.  This is why the church will continue to have birthdays forever.  Do you know what Pentecost means?

George:  Do I have time to Google it?

Dovey: Goo..goo…goo…Google it?  What’s that?

George:  It’s like a big storage brain outside of me where I store all of the information of the world and maps.  Google maps can even tell me where to go.

Dovey:  Well, I’ve got a built in Google maps and GPS.  Did you know that my family has been making a nest and laying eggs in the same tree for more than a hundred years.  I’ve got GPS in me that automatically tells me where to go.

George:  Wow, where did you get that?  That’s better than Google maps.

Dovey:  God made me this way and God the Holy Spirit is everywhere like a divine GPS system.  But the Holy Spirit became better known to everyone on the Day of Pentecost.

George: So what does Pentecost mean?

Dovey:  It means 50 days after Easter and it is the day when the Holy Spirit became known to the friends of Jesus.

George:  What happened on the Day of Pentecost?

Dovey:  Well, the Holy Spirit was discovered by the friends of Jesus and they were happy and joyful and they found that the Holy Spirit helped them to tell the Good News about Jesus in every language.

George:  So the Holy Spirit is like a great Google translator?

Dovey:  I guess you techies might say it that way.  Yes, the Holy Spirit is the wonderful personal energy of God’s love with us to help us to continue to tell the Good News about Jesus so that the church will continue to have birthdays into the future.

George: Wow!  Pentecost and the Holy Spirit are exciting.  But where are we going to get 1982 candles for the birthday cake?  Oh well, at least we can sing Happy Birthday to the church.

Everyone:  Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday Christian Church.  Happy birthday to you!  And many more!

George:  Do you think I can have some chocolate cake for the church’s birthday party?

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

May 24,2015: The Day of Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Glory be to God on High, Creating Spirit, Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

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:  Glory be to God on High,     (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 70)

Glory be to God on high, alleluia.  Glory be to God on high, alleluia.

Praise the Father, Spirit, Son, alleluia.  Praise the Godhead, three in one, alleluia.

Sing we praises unto thee, alleluia, for the truth that sets us free, alleluia.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the   Letter to the Romans

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 104

You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure for ever; * may the LORD rejoice in all his works.

Birthdays: Rebecca O’Donnell, Beth Clayton,  Rylie Francis

Anniversaries: Eric and Michelle Francis, Eric and Michelle Francis

 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 his disciples, "When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning.  "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But, now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.  "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

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:  Spirit of the Living God,   

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.

Children may gather around the altar

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through

Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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: Creating Spirit, Holy Lord  (Renew! # 283

Creating Spirit, holy Lord, the gentle breeze, the mighty wind, with warmth and pow’r and graciousness in grace refashion heart and mind.

O comforter of all who toil, gift from the fountain head of light, O Spirit of all love and fire, anointing chrism of all might.

 

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: Every Time I Feel the Spirit, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 48)

Refrain: Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart, I will pray.  O every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I will pray.

1-On Pentecost day, the Spirit came.  The people praised with joyous tongues.  The Spirit came to everyone.  Jews and Gentiles, all the same. Refrain

2-God’s Spirit lives, within the church.  He gives us gifts to build us up.  God’s Spirit fills us with his love.  O blessed Spirit, heavenly dove.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

  

John 17: The Actual Lord's Prayer

 7 Easter            May 17, 2015 

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26  Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13  John 17:6-19

Lectionary Link

  Today is the Sunday after the Feast of the Ascension which was Thursday, or the fortieth day after Easter as we move toward the end of the Season of Easter on the Day of Pentecost.  The Ascension of Christ after his post-resurrection appearances has a logical function within sacred tradition.  When we look at sacred tradition we try to discern the logic and the theology present within the story.  The New Testament inherited genres; they inherited prescribed ways to interpret and understand the significance of the life of Jesus Christ.  In the early church there was a creative advance occurring in the notions of the afterlife.  The theology of the afterlife had to change after the post-resurrection appearances of Christ.  It was understood that the spiritual essence of Jesus was able to include the regeneration of his body in some way to be recognizable by those who knew him.  And so in the developing theology of resurrection Christian writers began to specify how the physical body could be divinely regenerated from the spiritual essence of a person, so that from spirit a clone of one's body could be generated.   And if a person would have a body in the afterlife, then there would have to be a location.   Jesus in his afterlife would have to be somewhere because his post-resurrection appearances meant that he had to have a location somewhere.  And so in the traditions of Enoch and Elijah, Jesus became spirited away, upward to another place.  The New Testament writers had inspired imagination about that place.  It was the Father's House. In the Father's heavenly house Jesus had a seat at the right hand of the Father.  There was also a temple in the heavens where Jesus entered as a High Priest.
  And what does the High Priest in heaven do?  Jesus, the high priest in heaven does what priests do, they intercede on behalf of the people they represent.
  So we have this long prayer discourse of Jesus in the 17th chapter of John's Gospel as a representation of the priestly ministry of Jesus offering prayer.
  We can learn some things about Jesus and our own ministries from understanding what Jesus said when he prayed.
  Prayer is a particular way of understanding how we are to use language in our lives.  Prayer is derived from within the practice of language.  Prayer happens because we as humans are born to have and use language.  Since we have and use language, we are by nature social because we share language with other language users.  Language then is expressive of social relationship.  Prayer is a special way to express our relationships as we understand our lives in relationship to the very greatest of all.  In our language we have the ability to be naturally humble by confessing that there is greatness beyond us and there is greatness beyond our words and language even though greatness has to be funneled and reduced to human language for us to be able to grasp the greatness of God.
  What we learn from the prayer of Jesus is that he knew within himself a relationship with an inner parent, the Father, of whom he often spoke of.   That Jesus addressed his prayers to his Father is important because it points us to the discovery of a caring parent who is great beyond all other greatness.  We can experience amid the good and the bad things which can happen to us an anxiety and a fear that the bad experiences could actually gain the predominance even to make us feel doomed.  Too many people and we at many times live under the proverbial sword of Damacles; the unfortunate event hanging above us by a hair ready to break and fall at any time.  This experience can color our entire perspective with negative thoughts and patterns.  The only way to counter this is to grasp onto a  future of Hope through the expression of faith.  And the way in which we nurture faith is to enter into the perpetual "talking cure" of the life of prayer.
  Let's face it: we have language happening within us and to us at all times.  So we need to give word and language an intentional purpose and direction.
  You and I are talking to ourselves all of the time even as we are day-dreaming about being something else during this sermon.  We are automatic word machines; the words are happening whether we acknowledge them or not and that is why we must exercise some authorship in the words of our lives.
  And Prayer is the "talking cure" that we can have with the ultimate psychiatrist.  Jesus talked about glory in his prayerful dialogue with the fatherized aspect of his inner life.  Glory is simply a fancy religious word for "esteem."  Our esteem can take so many hard hits from people who don't always know how to give it to us in the ways in which we need.  People can fail us in significant ways and harm our esteem.  And so we look for that esteem from the higher power, the ultimate Dr. Freud as we pour out our hearts to God at first in ways that make it seem that we are just experimenting with silence.  But as we practice prayer we use language in a creative way to build an infrastructure of the life of our words which constitute and construct the meanings and the worth of our lives.  And we can know in our prayer that  God shares a glory of esteem which can help us to overcome the challenges we face from people who do not have the ability to give us the esteem that we need.
  The prayer of Jesus also give us another clue to the purpose of prayer.  It is to celebrate our connection with other people.  If we come to know God as our heavenly parent, then we can also come to know that the family of God is huge and that we have many brothers and sisters.  We are put here together as the family of God.   Jesus prayed for his friends; he wanted them to have the very best in their lives; he wanted them to have such a significant oneness with God as their spiritual parent that they would derive Higher Power strength from within themselves.
  And the outcome of discovering this Higher Power from within is to have the strength to care for our brothers and sisters in both our  spoken prayers and our active prayers, the prayers of the oblationary sacrificial acts which express kindness within a community of people.
  Jesus prayed that his friends would be safe and protected.  Jesus prayed that they would be kept in knowledge and truth.  Jesus prayed that they would know that they live in a spiritual world even while they lived in a material and visible world.
  How do we live in this material and visible world with truth and knowledge and safety?  We begin through the reorganization of our interior lives.  And this happens in a most effective way when we learn to pray because prayer is the ability to create a word environment to relate our interior life to our exterior life in wise ways.  Prayer is the ability to be humble in asking for God's help and power to help us in the tasks of living.
  Finally, the prayer of Jesus teaches each of us that we are called to be priestly.  A priest is one who accepts that one is can ask God for help for oneself and for others at the same time.  Prayer does not have to be about what I need all of the time.  Prayer for others literally helps us to "forget" ourselves and our problems as we acknowledge and regard the problems and needs of other people whom God has placed in our lives.
  At St. John's we have a prayer chain group who carry on the task of priestly intercessory prayer for those who honor us by asking us to pray with and for them.  And in prayer there is an unseen connection which takes place; it is as though angels are created. Hope through faithful prayer can send angels as transmitting messengers to the people for whom we pray.
  The Gospel for us today is that Jesus prayed to his Father; he wanted to share with his friends that same kind of prayerful relationship; he prayed for his friends and with this example we are called to reorganize our worded lives through the practice of prayer.  
  May God help us today to discover and exercise the priestly calling of prayer that each of us has.  Amen.