Sunday School, February 21, 2016 2 Lent C

Sunday School, February 21, 2016    2 Lent C

Themes:

St. Paul wrote that our citizenship is in heaven

Discussion about what Heavenly Citizenship means

Contrast with American citizenship.

How does one become an American?  Being born here or being naturalized

  For a non-American, one has to study and take an oath of allegiance to become a citizen

  How does become recognized as a member of the church?

    By baptism.  We study for baptism and for confirmation and we make vows to God at baptism and

    confirm.  We keep making those vows over and over again to remind ourselves of what it means

    to be a “heavenly citizen.”

People who are born in America and are citizens by birth still say the pledge of allegiance over and over again to remember who they are and to remember that there are things that we have to do to be good American citizens, like following our laws and voting and public service.

Have a discussion on what it means to be a good citizen of the church because in the church we celebrate the fact that we are citizens of God’s world and this is as important as being citizens of a country.

Abraham celebrated that he was a citizen of heaven by making a covenant or promise with God and he believed God made a covenant with him to be the father who would the founder of a great family, the family of people with faith in God.

Jesus reminded us that human governments are not perfect, in fact sometimes they kill good people.  They kill prophets or the people who try to help us live better.

Jesus said that he wished that he could be like a “mother hen who protected the baby chickens under her wings.”  He was speaking about all of the people who suffered in the city of Jerusalem because they did not want to obey God’s plan for them to become better. 

Like Jesus we should want to protect those who cannot protect themselves.  Like Jesus we should always stand up for what is fair, loving and kind, even if we get punished for it.

A sermon about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  A modern prophet who was killed

  We have read today about a time when Jesus was sad.  He was sad about the city of Jerusalem because of how they treated the people who came to show them how to live better lives.  He was sad that the leaders of Jerusalem even killed the prophets.

  And you and I should be glad today about where we live.  Why?  We live in a country where we have religious freedom.  Prophets and preachers and priests of all sorts can live in our country.  They have the freedom to start their own churches and their own religions and everyone can choose to go to church or not go to church.  Everyone’s freedom of worship is protected by law.  And this is one of the greatest gifts that our country has given to us.  And it is one of the greatest gifts that we have to give to other countries in our world.

  So if we don’t kill prophets in our country, does that mean we’re perfect?  Well, no.  What is a prophet?  A prophet is someone who comes and gives us a message about how to live our lives better.  Your parents and your teacher may be prophets sometimes.

  And we do not always like to hear the voice of the prophet.  We may get used to bad habits.  We may get lazy.  We may also want to choose the easiest way.  And so when a prophet comes to us and tells us how to live better, sometimes it is not easy to change our habits.  And sometimes we don’t want to change our habits.  Sometimes we will disobey the prophets in our lives.

  In our country we have had a prophet who died because of his important message.  A person disobeyed our laws and killed this important prophet.  Do you know who that prophet was?  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet.  Did you know that in our country, if the color of your skin was black, you used to have to sit in the back of bus?  If you were black you could not go to same schools as people who were white and you could not eat at the same restaurants?

  Martin Luther King came and he told us how we could be better people.  He told how we could live together and how we could treat everyone with fairness.  And some people did not want us to live together with fairness.

  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American who died as a prophet in our country.  And we were saddened by his death.  But we are glad for what he taught us about living together as friends.

  Let us remember a lesson.  We are never so good, that we can’t get better.  So let us pay attention to the messages of the people who want us to get better.  Those people are prophets in our lives.  And you too will be prophets if you can show and tell other people how to be better

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 21, 2016: The Second Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: O Be Careful, Peace Before Us, I Come with Joy, I’ve Got Peace Like a River

Song: O Be Careful (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 180)

O be careful little hands what you do. O be care little hands what you do.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little hands what you do.

O be careful little feet where you go.  O be careful little feet where you go.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little feet where you go.

O be careful little lips what you say.  O be careful little lips what you say.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little lips what you say.

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures 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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise be to God!

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Letter to the Philippians

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 27

Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with sounds of great gladness; * I will sing and make music to the LORD.

Hearken to my voice, O LORD, when I call; * have mercy on me and answer me.

 You speak in my heart and say, "Seek my face." * Your face, LORD, will I seek.

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 Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

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 Hymn: Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love and Praise, # 791)

1-Peace before us.  Peace behind us.  Peace under our feet.  Peace within us.  Peace over us.  Let all around us be peace.      2-Love, 3-Light, 4-Christ

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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 by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  

Words of Administration

Communion Music:  I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

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

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

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

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.

I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean in my soul.  I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean in my soul.

I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.  I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Delayed Gratification and the Satanic Voice

1 Lent C    February 14, 2016

Deut.26:1-11    Ps. 91
Rom.10:5-13     Luke 4:1-13

Lectionary Link

  Today is the First Sunday in Lent and our Gospel reading is about the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness for 40 days and nights.

  The season of Lent gets its numerology from the symbolic number of 40 in the Bible.  40 is the number signifying the time of ordeal or the time regarded as the providential discipline of God in bringing people to new spiritual vision and moral and spiritual excellence.

  The Gospel lesson invites us to look clearly at the event of Jesus spending forty days in the wilderness, physically alone but still knowing the voice of an adversary.

  Jesus is driven into the wilderness following his baptism after the voice of God said to him, "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased."   In this account of the forty days of fasting Jesus is presented as imitating what Moses and Elijah did as well, signifying that spiritual life can sustain one in a way in which the sustenance of food cannot.

  Did Jesus fast from food and water?  Gandhi once fasted from food for 21 days.  To go even 100 hours without water would invite death.  What kind of fast did Jesus have?   Did he go on the John the Baptist diet of locust and honey?  I think what is more crucial about the fast of Jesus is less about it being a fast from food and more about being a fast from the company of other people, other language users.

  We as language users can sometimes get overwhelmed by too much talk and too many language products.  We have developed today to be able to live in the complete inundation of language products in our lives today.

  And sometimes we may want a retreat.  A retreat from people.  A retreat from other language users.  A silent retreat.    Probably all of us at some time have had a craving for silence or alone time.   We may have dabbled with and practiced meditation.

  One of the first things that we find out when we try to meditate or to observe silence is that when we take ourselves away from other language users, we cannot escape language.  You can take the language user out of the company of other language users, but you cannot take the language out of the language user.    We crave silence and yet we seem to carry a boom box of voices around in our heads.  And sometime those voices are hard to silence.

  You and I are inundated by word and language through and through.  The environment which we see is thoroughly coded by our internal interpretive grids through which we see the world.  And we are grounded in word itself, since we have this perpetual conversation always going in within us.  Some of us are actually honest about this by apparently openly talking to ourselves.  Why are we always talking and to whom are we talking?  Are we but an internal echo producer assuming the echoing voices are really another person who has listened to our words present in our thoughts run amok, or our day dreams or our fantasies or our wishes and imaginations or visualizations?  We can't stop being language users and we cannot stop the variety of voices which sound within us even though our interior life is supposed to be silent.

  Even when we sleep, we activate our language.  Freud taught us that the unconscious had its own language.

  To be human is to have language and to be coded by our language environments and so our language in many way, has us more than we have it, though we appear at times to have some freedom in how we articulate language products in speech and writing and body language acts.

  Jesus fasted...from people, from other language users.   But the information that we have about the fast of Jesus indicates that he could not fast from the arising of the Satanic voice to a place of being heard by him.

  A deliberate fast is the way in which we can simulate a crisis.  When we are sick and deprived and when we suffer significant loss, we experience real crises.  And we often are not properly prepared for the crises of loss which can come to us.

  The fast of Jesus meant that he deprived himself of the company of other people for comfort or fellowship and he deprived himself of food to simulate the conditions of a crisis.  A crisis can open up the interior life to be vulnerable to the arising of many kinds of interior voices.  And these voices can be quite unnerving, even frightening and they can be attended by the worst kinds of moods which cloud the possibility of hopeful and optimistic viewing of our circumstances.

  Jesus alone and fasting became vulnerable to the arising of the Satanic Voice.  Satan is the accuser.  Satan is a personal voice, who attains interior personal status when he becomes the gathering of all negative word fragments from one's memory to become a unified interior agent.  And this unified agent begins to make one's thoughts and emotions work against the well-being of one's life.  The Satanic voice is a parasite that lives and thrives on the memory of all that is bad and negative.  The Satanic voice gathers in a time of crisis.  A crisis is like a magnet that can attract the formation of accusing voices and it seems to have personal presence because it has agency to control and cause us to have behaviors which are not beneficial to us.  The internal accusations of that arise within a crisis are not very trustworthy because they cause us to make poor decisions and act out on bad and faulty information.

  The accusing Satanic voice that became heard by Jesus taunted him about making stones into bread to fix his hunger during his fast.  The accusing Satanic voice said to Jesus that he was so special that he could leap from a high place and not crash to the ground because the angels would take care of God's chosen one, just as was promised by the Psalmist.  And the Satanic voice appealed to the megalomaniacal impulse in everyone which is the desire for the unlimited esteem of fame and glory of endless public adoration.

  The times of crisis make people vulnerable to the Satanic voices.  The Satanic voices invite people to act out upon delusional ideas and ideas which have no basis in commonsense empirical reality.  Satanic voices can tempt us to act in unreasonable ways.

  Jesus fasted from food and from people as a method of simulating crisis, and sure enough the accusing Satanic voice arose to challenge him to act in irrational ways and to act in ways which would be disobedient to God his Father.  The Satanic voices tried to get Jesus to change the calling and direction of his life.

  How is it that the Satanic voice can arise?  We as humans are taught that we function best by having a very short time between human need arising and human needs being fulfilled.  We do not like delay in the gratification of our needs.  Fasting is an attempt to increase the time between having human need and having the gratification of a human need.

  One of the difference between a young child and a person growing into adulthood is learning how to handle the time of delayed gratification.

  Delayed gratification can be regarded to be a loss in life which can help make us vulnerable to the voices which arise in the wake of such profound need.  And those voices can lead us astray if we have not learned to structure the delay in gratification.

  Let us take heart today from the temptations of Jesus.  Jesus experienced actual accusing voices in his life to be vulnerable to those voices gaining a significant concrescence into the person of Satan to confront his interior life.  The Gospels tell us that during his life, Jesus was accused of being mad, he was accused of being in league with Beelzebub, the devil and Satan.  He was accused of being one who loved to hang out with notorious sinners; he was said to be a drunkard.  He was accused of being suicidal, a heretic, of being disobedient to his parents, of not being friend of God, a political rebel, a breaker of the Mosaic law and a pretender to throne of Caesar.   Jesus had the opportunity to hear plenty of negative voices in his life to have them come back to him as the voice of the accusing Satan when he simulated the time of crisis through his voluntary fast. 

  Jesus is shown to us to be a hero in his battle with the Satanic voice.  The Satanic voice tempted him to be very literal and to act out upon things that would cause him harm or make him look crazy and suicidal.

   There are many fanciful things that can occur to us in dreams and day dreams and fits of anger or depression, things which we should not act out upon because they do not partake of good commonsense and reasonable choices.  What we learn from the temptation of Jesus is that he was empowered to orchestrate the interior voices of his life.  He was able to channel delayed gratification into effective resistance in refusing to act out upon unhealthy voices which could be active agents of chaos.

  At the end of his temptation Jesus found the ministry of the angelic voices.  These were the messengers of faith and hope and obedience to God.  These are the voices of affirmation which can arise to counter the negative voice of Satan.

  You and I need constant encouragement in orchestrating and taming the voices which can arise in us.  Forceful voices can arise within us in momentary events of delayed gratification and we can be made into reactionary people.  We can let the Satanic voice make us into passive aggressive people, angry people, or addicted people who are tempted not to be able to tolerate any delay in immediate gratification. 

  During Lent, we are given the opportunity to embrace some disciplines which help us deal with the ever present issue of delayed gratification.  We can delay our gratification by helping other people who have delayed gratification forced upon them by their conditions of life.  If we can be devoted to helping gratify the needs of others, we may find help in our own lives to learn to tame the negative Satanic voices which live as parasites off of the memories of the extreme times in our lives when gratification was in some way significantly delayed.

  May God grant us a holy Lent as we train ourselves further in dealing with the human issue of delayed gratification.  May we be given strength to resist the Satanic voices which arise to tempt us to leave good reason.  May be we given strength to resist acting out upon things that derive from the agency of a mood induced by the negative memories of extreme delayed gratification and the rise of a Satanic taunting voice.

  Let us be strong and bold in our resistance, particularly when the Satanic voice accuses us of not yet being perfect.  Such an accusation is only effective if we had such an illusion in the first place.  One of the most effective ways of dispelling the Satanic voice, is to say, "The question of me being perfect was never the issue; but I am perfectible, and I can get better with God’s help, so be gone Satan."

  May God bless us all and let us be inspired that Jesus has resisted the Satanic voice, and so can we through the power of God's Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Sunday School, February 14, 2016 1 Lent C

Sunday School, February 14, 2016                        First Sunday in Lent

Themes and Topics

Learning Self Control

Learning to be one’s own hero

Fasting is a practice of learning self-control

Gospel Story:  Jesus went away to a place to be alone and fast

When you feed a dog, you put the food in the dog dish and set it on the floor.  And what do many dogs do?  They immediately try to eat all of the food as fast as they can.  Now some dog owners will try to teach a dog to wait until he or she give the command to the dog to eat.  A dog owner may try to teach a dog to wait before eating.

When babies are hungry, they want their milk right away.  They don’t want to wait and if mom makes them wait, what do they do?  They cry.

Growing up means we learn how to control our selves when we have to wait for something that we need.

So you may be hungry right now, but mom says the food is still cooking and besides we’re waiting for dad to come home so we can eat together.   So even if you are hungry right now, you learn to wait so that you can eat with the rest of the family.

Learning to wait to eat is “fasting.”  It is learning how to control yourself.  It is learning to not let your desire for something make you unhappy if you cannot get it right away.

Fasting is about learning to wait and have patience so that you can learn to do things together with other people.  Fasting is about learning other people’s schedules.

When you teacher asks you to be silent and raise your hand, this is also fasting because it is waiting for your turn to speak so that you can honor the schedule of your class.

Jesus was a hero because he learned to fast; he learned to do things according to God the Father’s time.  He did not obey the voice of Satan which tempted him to do the wrong things, at the wrong time in the wrong way.

Lent is about learning how to be our own superhero by learning how to control ourselves.

Jesus was a superhero of self-control;  And we can learn from Jesus about being our own superhero as we learn self-control.  An important part of self-control is learn how to share in how we live with other people.

Lent is a season of learning self-control for the purposes of sharing the gifts and good things of our lives with others, especially those who do not have enough.

A sermon about learning to be one’s own hero

  How would you like to be a hero?  How do you think you can be a hero?  Do you have to fly like Superman, Batman and Spiderman in order to be a hero?  Do you have to save someone from drowning to be a hero?  Do you have to rescue some one from a burning building to be a hero? Doing those things would make you a hero, but there is another way to be a hero.

  And Jesus wants us all to be heroes.  How can all of us be heroes?  By being strong.  Let me see your muscles.  But the muscles in our arms are not important muscles that we need.

  We need some other muscles.  We need strength to be able to not do things that are bad for us.  We need strength to be able to do things that are really, really good for us.

  And so we need to do some training to be heroes.  That is what the season of Lent is for..it’s for doing some special training.

  Is it easier to eat four pieces of chocolate cake than to eat our vegetables?  Chocolate cake is good and vegetables are good.  And we need to be heroes by becoming strong enough to choose the right amounts of good food for us.  Say, I am strong.  I am powerful.  I will be a hero.  I will choose good food.

  Is it easier to watch cartoons on TV or clean your bedroom or do your school work?  It is fun to watch TV but when there are other things that we need to do, we need to have the power to choose to do other things to help our families and to help us get good grades at school.  Can you flex your muscles and say: I am powerful.  I will be a hero.  I will choose to do good things.

  Jesus was a hero because he learned to have power to do the good things that he was supposed to do.  When he was given the choice between doing some good and doing something bad, he chose what was good.

  You and I have to practice being good.  And how do we practice being good?  We have to build the muscles of our choosing power.  We have to practice making the right choices.  Our teachers and parents help us to make the right choices.  Even though they are not perfect; they still are able to help you make good choices.  And if we learn to make good choices, then we become powerful and we become heroes of our own lives?

  Can you learn to be a hero today?  Let’s see your muscles.  Say:  I am strong.  I can make good choices.  I can be a hero today. 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 14, 2016 The First Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: On Eagle’s Wings, Just As I am, I Am the Bread of Life, Thy Word

Song: On Eagle’s Wings (Renew! # 112)

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: “My refuge, my rock in whom I trust.”

Refrain: And he will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear: under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield.  Refrain

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures 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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise be to God!

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Letter to the Romans

For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, * abides under the shadow of the Almighty.

He shall say to the LORD, "You are my refuge and my stronghold, * my God in whom I put my trust."

He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter * and from the deadly pestilence.

He shall cover you with his pinions, and you shall find refuge under his wings; * his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.

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 Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God,  and serve only him.'"  Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,  to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up,  so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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 Hymn:  Just As I Am (Renew! # 140)

Just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me,

and that thou bidd’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. I come!

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.   

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: I Am the Bread of Life (Renew!  # 246)

Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of his blood, and drink of his blood, you shall not have life within you.

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

Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.  Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer. 

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Thy Word (Renew! # 94)

Refrain: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

When I feel afraid, think I’ve lost my way, still you’re there right beside me.  And nothing will I fear as long as you are near.  Please be near me to the end.  Refrain

I will not forget your love for me, and yet my heart forever is wandering.  Jesus, be my guide and hold me to your side; and I will love you to the end.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Transfiguration: Story of Christian Axiology

Last Epiphany C         February 7, 2016

Exodus 34:29-35     Ps. 99

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2    Luke 9:28-36    

Lectionary Link

  Have you ever done an honest axiology review of your life?  You might say, "Well, I don't know.  Depends upon what axiology means."  Axiology is a study of values.  Have you done a Values Review of your life?  In a general sense we know that our values are expressed in how we use the time, talent and treasure of our lives.  But how can one do a more thorough and explicit value review?  An honest value review.  We can sometimes be like those who answer the poll questions with the politically correct answers which betray what we really feel or believe.
  How can one do an honest axiology review?  It does no good to say our values are what we wish them to be if our current life is not expressive of those desired ideal values.   To do an honest value review, I suggest people do in private their own top 10 lists.  What are the best 10 things that have happened to you?  What are your top ten favorite things to do?  Who are the 10 most influential persons in your life?  Who are the 10 people you have loved the most in your life?  What are the 10 top ideas which have influenced you or changed your life. 
  By doing these top 10 lists we can attain an honest distribution of our real values because our values are truly reflected in how the desires and loves of our lives are projected upon the people, things, ideas and activities of our lives.  And if we can do a personal axiological review, what about doing one on our parish community?  What are the true values of St. John the Divine as a community?
  The entire New Testament was written because continuous groups of people came to value the life, ministry and the continuing witness of Jesus Christ.  The early Christian embedded the ways in which they valued Jesus in the stories which they shared about him.  And in sharing their stories they had their own top 10 lists of valued people.  Who did the contemporaries of Jesus value?  They valued the living; they valued John the Baptist.  But they also valued people in their tradition, the great figures who had given them their community identity.  Who were these great people?  Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Deborah, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Nehemiah and Ezra.  And when times are really bad what does one wish for?  One has a nostalgia for people who are like the great people of the past to return and bring back the order of life that was represented by these great people.  And what happens when one meets the new person of value, the new love of one's life.  The new love is so special and beyond comparison and one waxes poetic to speak about a special person, but one also has to use comparison to speak about the surpassing greatness of the one who is the new love of one's life.
  The early Christians were in love with Jesus Christ.  They could be said to be "madly" in love with Jesus.  And they inherited comparative ways to speak about how much they valued Jesus.  The used the poetic comparative forms to speak about Jesus.  They compared him with other great people.  They used geographical metaphors, metaphors from physics and metaphors from weather and climate.
  A common metaphor for a superlative experience is to say, "it was a mountain top experience."  This is a common expression whether one is speaking about a religious experience or whether a hippie is praising a pharmacological event.  Mountain top experiences have biblical bases.  Moses and Elijah were mountain men; they were regarded to be people who went to the highest human experiential places where the natural met the spiritual and the two became so mingled that experience became fuzzy and cloudy and yet within the mingling of natural and spiritual there occurred the experience of light.  For the spiritual experiences of highest value the Gospel writers used  the familiar poetic metaphors of the geography of mountain top, the physics of light, and the weather and climatic effects of clouds to extol the value of the experience.
  Christians came to know the value of Jesus; he was valued more than the law of Moses; he was valued more than the prophetic witness of Elijah.  The followers of Jesus fell in love with him and this love determined his value to their lives.  This love of Jesus shared within their community created an effervescence which resulted in the creation and maintenance of communities of "lovers of Jesus Christ."  The New Testament is the literature which derived from the communities of people who came to love Jesus Christ.
  The Gospel story of the Transfiguration is a story of the superlative axiology or value of Jesus Christ to the people who were completely taken by Him.  And why is the word Transfiguration important?  Transfiguration is a translation of the Greek word from which derives the English word metamorphosis.
  What does love do to a person?  Love transforms the person.  It can make one "bat silly" and irrational.  Love of the Risen Christ is the power which drives Christian metamorphosis, Christian transfiguration and spiritual transformation.
  What is the one of the results of conducting an honest value survey?  Self-disillusionment.  Now that I am honest about the things which I value, how do I change some of the habitual value behaviors which I seem to be so programmed to follow?
  In the experience of self disillusionment about some of our inferior values which control our lives, we come to know that we always need the intervention of the power of the One with the Highest Values.  And this is when we experience the need to be in Love of Jesus Christ because that love attraction is the experience of the Higher Power which is going to drive our metamorphosis into the Christly values which we do not yet fully express in our lives.
  The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is the story of the love which the early Christians had for Jesus; they believed that their love for Jesus could drive the continuous transformation, transfiguration, metamorphosis of their lives toward the higher values which could help in the continuous process of surpassing of themselves in future states.
  Today, we are welcomed to the transfiguration of our lives through our love of Jesus Christ.  May this love always beckon us to higher values as we seek to surpass ourselves in future states.  Amen.