Sunday School, August 28, 2016 C proper 17

Sunday School, August 28, 2016     15 Pentecost, C proper 17

Theme: Hospitality

What does hospitality mean?

It means welcoming people into one’s life.

How do we practice hospitality?  How do we make people feel welcomed?

Have you ever arrived at school or at the playground or dance class and you did not know anyone? 

Sometimes it is not easy to be the new visitor to a place where you don’t know anyone.

How can you feel welcome or comfortable in a new place?

You can feel welcome when someone whom you do not knows is friendly to you and tries to introduce you to help you make some new friends.

And how can we practice hospitality?   We can practice hospitality by being friendly and kind to new people who have just arrived and have not made any friends yet.

Do you know what the Holy Eucharist is?  It is a celebration meal and it is a meal of welcome for all people to come and eat together and share in what we believe.  We share that God loves us and cares us and has made us sons and daughters of God.  So everyone is in God’s family and everyone is welcome to God’s meal, the Holy Eucharist, the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends.  He told them to keep having this meal as a way of welcoming new people to know that Jesus loves them and cares for them and that he is a close to them as the bread and wine that they eat and drink at the special meal.

We come to church on Sunday to remember that God practices hospitality.  God practiced hospitality by sending his Son Jesus to live with the people of this world.  He sent Jesus to form a group of people who would always be in this world to remind everyone that God is a welcoming God.  God always invites everyone to come to the welcoming meal of the Holy Eucharist.

A sermon about being welcomed

  Have you ever felt left out?  Not included?

  When I was a little boy, I moved with my family to a new town and so I had to go to a new school.  I did not have any friends in the new school.

  I felt very lonely on the first day of school.  At recess when everyone was playing outside, everyone was playing with someone except me.  Everyone one seem to have a friend, except me.  They were playing games and they were playing with the dodge ball, but I didn’t get asked to play.  So I did not know if I would like my new school.

  When it came time for lunch, I went to the cafeteria.  I got my tray of food and when I went to sit down, the tables were already filled with students who were eating together.  There was only one table open and nobody was sitting there.  So I went to the table and sat down to eat my lunch alone.

  Suddenly, a boy tapped me on the shoulder and he said, “Do you want to sit with us at our table?”  And I said, “There isn’t any room.”  But he said, “I will get a chair and put it at the end of the table.”  So I did not have to eat lunch alone.  I was invited to eat lunch by this kind boy and he became my friend and I made new friends in my new school.  And I did not have to be lonely.

  Jesus told his friends that they should be like the boy who welcomed me to eat lunch with them.  Jesus said we should welcome those who are lonely and don’t feel like they have any friends.

  Yes it is nice to have friends and to spend time with our friends, but it is good if we are always making room for new people in our lives.

  Today, we are here for a special meal.  It is called the Holy Eucharist.  We eat bread and drink the wine.  It is the special meal that Jesus started and he told us to keep having this meal.  And he told us to invite everyone to this meal.

  And so we have the meal every week and we invite everyone because we know that Jesus is friendly and Jesus invites everyone to his meal, because everyone is welcome at the table of Jesus.

  Let us always remember how friendly Jesus is.  Let us remember how friendly God is.  And let us learn how to be very friendly and welcome people into our lives.  Since we like to have friends, let us learn how to make friends and invite others to be our friends.

  How many of you like to have friends?  How many of you can be a could friend?  Let us learn how to invite new friends into our lives today? 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 28, 2016: The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: This is the Day; O Be Careful; Father, I Adore You; Give Me Joy in My Heart

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: This is the Day (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 232)

This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made. We will rejoice, we will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made.

(Repeat)

Liturgist: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist: Let us pray

Lord of all power and might, the maker and giver of all good things: Make to grow in our hearts the love of your Name; help us to be truly religious; nourish us with all goodness; and let our lives grow the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great! Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins! Alleluia

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

A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?"

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 112

Hallelujah! Happy are they who fear the Lord * and have great delight in his commandments!

Their descendants will be mighty in the land; * the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches will be in their house, * and their righteousness will last for ever.

Light shines in the darkness for the upright; * the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus was went to the house of an important religious leader. Jesus was invited there to eat the meal on the day of worship, the day they called the sabbath. Since Jesus was becoming popular, the other guests were watching him closely. And Jesus was watching their behavior too. He saw how many guests wanted to sit in the best seats at the main table. So to teach them, Jesus told a parable. A parable is a story that hides a message within the story. Jesus said, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the best place, because a more important person may come and they might ask you to go to a seat that is not at the main table. It’s better to take a lower seat and then be invited by the host to a better seat. For if you are excessively proud, then you will feel put down and forsaken when a humbling event happens to you. But if you are humble, you can truly know how people feel about you when you are promoted to a higher place.” Jesus also said, “When you give a party do not just invite the people who can return the favor, also invite the poor and those who are impaired. And so you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

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

1-O be careful, little hands what you do; O be careful little hands what you do; For the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful, little hands what you do.

2-O be careful little feet where you go……

3-O be careful little eyes what you see…

4-O be careful little lips what you say….

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 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: Father, I Adore (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 56)

1-Father, I adore you; Lay my life before you. How I Love you!

2-Jesus, I adore you; Lay my life before you. How I Love you!

3-Spirit, I adore you; Lay my life before you. How I Love you!

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Give Me Joy in My Heart (Christian Children’s Songbook, #53 tune only)

1-Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising. Give me joy in my heart, I pray. Give joy in my heart, keep me praising. Keep me praising till the break of day.

Chorus: Sing hosanna! Sing hosanna! Sing hosanna to the King of Kings! Sing hosanna! Sing hosanna! Sing hosanna to the King!

2-Give me in peace my heart, keep me loving, Give me peace in my heart, I pray. Give me peace in my heart keep me loving. Keep me loving till the break of day. Chorus

3-Give me love in my heart, keep me serving. Give me love in my heart, I pray. Give me love in my heart keep me serving. Keep me serving till the break of day. Chorus.

Dismissal:

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

People: Thanks be to God!

Sabbath Time is Healing Time

14 Pentecost, Cp16,August 25, 2013   

Jer. 1:4-10   Psalm 71:1-6

Hebrews 12:18-19,22-29  Luke 13:10-17

Lectionary Link

  What is the first commandment?  Thou shalt have no other gods.  How does one make the practice of not having other gods?  To use the human love analogy, one gets married and makes an exclusive commitment to one's spouse and forsakes all others in order to be devoted to one.

  A restatement of the first commandment in both the Hebrew Scriptures and in the words of Jesus was to love God with all one's heart, mind, soul and strength.  And how does one do this?

  The answer is given in the fourth commandment of the Big Ten.  The fourth command is: Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.  And what is the essence of the meaning of the Sabbath?  It means putting in deliberate and designated time with God.  It means that one spends time with the one whom one loves.  And if one does not put in the time, one may question the love.  People spend time with the ones whom they love.

  When it comes to worship time, probably most clergy of all ages agree with the words of Woody Allen:  "80% of life is showing up."  Meaning that clergy have spent lots of their lives counting worship attendance.  (Let's see, one, two, three, ......fifty...that's how popular God is today???!  Really?)  The Hebrew Scripture could be said to have been written by various members of the clergy and so there is writing about the importance of honoring the Sabbath.

 We know that honoring the Sabbath is not about worship attendance so that clergy can keep their jobs.  Sabbath worship is about not forgetting God. 

  It is easy to forget God because God in God's invisibility does not demand or force worship upon us.  Since God is invisible, God has to compete with what is visible for attention.   God can be like the forgotten spouse who is forgotten when his lover goes after many other lovers.

  The invisible God has many competitors in the visible world.  We have many other things to do with our time.  We have many other people to honor.  We have many other things to attend to and take care of.  We have ball games to attend on the day of worship.  We have the beach to go to on the day of worship.

  So those pestering clergy forever have been hassling us about keeping the Sabbath and making time for God.

  What can happen when clergy pester about religious rules is that the rules can become dislodged from practical significance.

  Rules can rise to their level of incompetent absurdity if the rules lose their connection with what is healthy, good and just for the people who are supposed to keep the rules.

  We had a baby child in Texas and so for some reason in the 1980's we had to go to the grocery store to buy a baby bottle.  We went to find that during that time there were Sunday Blue laws to protect the holiness of the Christian Sabbath.  And so we could buy beer under the Sunday Blue laws but we could not buy the baby bottle that we needed.

  How's that for a Sabbath law that had arisen to its absurd incompetence?

  So, the Gospel issue raised by the story of Jesus is this?  How do we maintain the integrity of the meaning of the Sabbath without losing the meaning in legalistic absurd incompetence in its actual application?

  This is illustrated in the words of Jesus:  "Listen, you clergy, are you telling me it is okay for a farmer to feed his animals on the Sabbath, but I cannot heal this woman of her illness on the Sabbath because healing is unlawful work on the Sabbath?  Get real, you have lost the connection of the Sabbath with the salvation of the lives of people for whom the Sabbath is supposed to serve in making their relationship with God the most important of human experience."  This is like saying let the houses burn down on Sunday because fire fighters cannot work on Sunday.

  In another Gospel Jesus is quoted as saying, "Sabbath is made for the benefit of humanity; humanity was not made for the benefit of some weekly calendar designation of Sabbath time."

  If the Sabbath is disassociated from the purpose of loving God and one's neighbor with all of one's heart and soul and mind, then it has lost its purpose.

  What else was happening when the Gospel of Luke was written?  The followers of Jesus were being removed from the synagogues.  The Christian movement was becoming more Gentile in membership than Jewish.  The Gentile followers of Jesus were not required to follow the ritual purity rules of Judaism.  Keeping the Sabbath for Jews was very important, it was not just a "Fourth Suggestion" for them; it was one of the Big Ten, non-negotiable.

  Roman Society of the time did not have a weekly holy day, even though there were many non-business days that happened during the Roman year, some of which were religious festivals.  If Sabbath was welcomed on Friday nights by the Jews, how is it that the followers of Jesus could refuse to honor the prescribed Friday to Saturday time for the Sabbath?  What gave the followers of Jesus the right to forget this specific weekly time or change it to the first day of the week?  What is it that gave Christians the right to be more flexible with "Sabbath" time?

  The witness of the Risen Christ within the early church was not to dishonor Sabbath time but to free it from being regarded as only a 24 hour chronological time of prescribed behaviors.

  The witness of Risen Christ gives us permission to elevate the Sabbath to its intended purpose, namely, the celebration of spending quality time with God in the times of one's life.

  The day of rest in the Sabbath tradition means that essentially we should give one seventh of our time to God.  And if we do this, we can know the blessing of God in the other six days of our time.  The purpose of the Sabbath is to take a portion of our human time and designate it as a gift to God and when we do this, we can find a significance qualitative improvement in the rest of the time of our lives and this improvement includes more enjoyment for ourselves and other people in our lives.

  Now any fidgety child will tell us that 24 hours of meditation can be really "boring."  They will also tell us that sitting in church for more than an hour is also, "boring."  They will also tell us that listening to long wordy sermons is "boring."  (You can yawn now).

  The lesson from the Risen Christ tells us that Sabbath time need not be limited to a 24 hour prescribed weekly time.  Sabbath time should also be about "healing" time?   How much time can you and I spend this week in healing our world?  Healing time is the active Sabbath time of taking care of each other and our world.  Healing time is not limited to the 24 hours on Sunday.  Healing time is anytime that we put in the effort to love our neighbors because we deliberately are engaged in the lifetime Sabbath work of loving God, with all of hearts and souls, strength and minds.

  Sabbath is learning to love God and our neighbors in all of the times of our lives.  Sabbath time is salvation time.  Salvation means healing time.   Sabbath time also means the time that we spend in healing each other and our world.

  Let us not be legalistic about the Sabbath today.   Let us learn from Jesus Christ to celebrate the Sabbath each day in our lives as we receive God's grace to heal each other and our world.  Amen.

Sunday School, August 21, 2016

Sunday School,  August 21, 2016      14 Pentecost, C proper 16

A Good Sabbath Law

The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy

This was a special rule given to the people of Israel to give a day of worship to God; for them the Sabbath begins on Friday evening

For Christians, the special day of worship is on Sunday because we celebrate Easter on the first day of the week.

What is the meaning of the Sabbath?

It is about changing our lives by spending time with God and designating special time for God.

But Sabbath rules can be used wrongly.

Can doctors and nurses take care of sick people on Sundays, holidays and on Christmas?

Can firefighters put out fires on Sunday?

Can first responders save lives on Sunday?

Why?  Because it is more important to choose to save lives than to take time off to go to church and worship God.

What Jesus taught us about the Sabbath is that it is about honoring God in the all of the times of our lives, not just on Sundays.

When we practice healing, help, kindness and love, we are honoring God with Sabbath time. 

The reason we have a special day of worship on Sunday is to remind ourselves that all of our time belongs to God and so we should use all of the time of our lives for love and kindness and justice.

What happens when we put yeast in bread dough?  It makes it rise.

What happens when we put a sugar cube in a cup of tea?  It dissolves and makes all of the tea sweet.

This is what the Sabbath rule is supposed to do for us.  We are supposed to make a special time for God each week so that we can have the practice of remembering God in all of the times of our lives.  Just like the little yeast spread to the entire dough, Sabbath time spreads to and influences all of the time of our lives.

Sermon:

  How many of you have rules in your family?

  Do your rules ever get broken?

  Do your parent want you to eat the food that is put on your plate?

  But do they make you eat food if you have a tummy ache or if you are sick?  Why not?  If you are sick, then rules about eating change.  Why?  Because the rules have to change to help a person when they are sick. Right.

  Do your parents make you take a bath?  Do you have to take a bath if you are sick?  No.  Again the rules change when you are sick.

  Does a police car have to stop at a red light if they have turned on their flashing lights and sirens and if the police car is rushing to an accident?

No, the police get to break the law.  The same is true for fire trucks and for ambulances.  So there are special situations in life that make us change or adjust the rules.

  In the time of Jesus there was a law about the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was a day of rest, a day of worship.  And no one was supposed to work on the Sabbath.  But what did Jesus do?  He healed a sick woman on the Sabbath.  And the religious leader got mad at him for breaking the rule.  And Jesus told the religious leader that he was being silly about the rule of the Sabbath.  You give water to your animals on the Sabbath and that is work but you still do it.  So why is it wrong to heal a sick woman on the Sabbath?

  Jesus showed that laws are good, but they still have to used in the right ways so that they truly help people.

  What if I am playing soccer with you and there is only one soccer ball and it is mine.  So, when we play soccer, I get to touch the soccer ball with my hands.  And you say, “That’s not fair.”  And I say, “Too bad.  If you don’t want to follow my rules, then I am going to take my ball and go home.”

  What kind of rule would that be?  It would be a selfish rule that served only me.  And because I owned the only soccer ball, I controlled the game.”  That would not be a fair rule, would it?

  Jesus said that the leaders were not fair in their rules.  They made rules that were good for them and their jobs, but not good for ordinary people who wanted to know that God loved and care for them.

  So you and I need to remember that laws and rules are good, but we have to know how to use them so that they truly help us to love God and help us to love and help other people.  That is what Jesus taught us about the law.Amen

 St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 21, 2016: The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, The Wise Man, Eat This Bread, Soon and Very Soon

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord!

Liturgist: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist: Let us pray

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great! Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins! Alleluia

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

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day; if you call the sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 103

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, * and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, * and forget not all his benefits.

3 He forgives all your sins * and heals all your infirmities;.

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.

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Liturgist: The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon –

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: The Wise Man, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 250)

1. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand, and the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down

and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. And the house on the sand went Crash!

2. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. And the rains came tumbling down. The rains came down as the floods came up. The rains came down as the floods came up. The rains came down as the floods came up. And the house on the rock stood firm.

3. So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ. So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ. So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the blessings will come down. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. So build your house on the Lord.

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of 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. - 5 -

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: Eat This Bread, (Renew!, # 228)

Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry.

Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Soon and Very Soon (Renew!, # 276)

1. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king. Alleluia, alleluia, we are going to see the king.

2. No more dying there, we are going to see the king; no more dying there, we are going to see the king; no more dying there, we are going to see the king. Alleluia, alleluia, we are going to see the king.

3. Repeat verse 1

Dismissal:

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

People: Thanks be to God!

 .

Christ, Peace and Division

13 Pentecost, Cp15, August 14, 2016
Jeremiah 23:23-29  Psalm 82
Hebrews 12:1 – 14  Luke 12:49-56

 Lectionary Link

  Jesus said, " Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son  and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

   How do these Gospel words attributed to Jesus jive with your other more favored notions of Jesus?  He was declared to be the Prince of Peace.  His preferred greeting was "Peace be with you."

   So how do we make sense of these seemingly contrarian words of Jesus?  How can we understand them to be inspired and relevant within an actual human context and within our situation today?

  First, I think we need to learn how to read the Gospel or the bald commonsense cruelness of the words might turn us off.  As if families needed Jesus to cause them discord and division.  Most of the time, we can manage to find things other than Jesus to divide our families.  Why add religion and Jesus as the reason to be divided?

  I would like for us to ponder how the members of the early churches understood how the Risen Christ communicated to them.  I would call the method of communication as the method having access to the oracle of Christ.  The Gospel writers understood that they acted, spoke and wrote in the Name of Jesus.  This meant that they believe their deeds, words and writings were to be regarded as actual words of Jesus, as though he was still physically with them.  You remember St. Paul wrote that he had the mind of Christ and that his words came directly from God's Spirit.

  How many of you have ever been to a Pentecostal or charismatic church?  Within these churches they practice the continuing oracle of Christ in their liturgies.  In their worship, one of their gifted and inspired members will offer a prophetic utterance.  Such a person will actually preface their utterance with this disclaimer: "Thus says the Lord.....or Our Risen Christ says to us....."  So the inspired prophet denies authorship of the words by saying these words come directly from Jesus.

  The early churches were charismatic churches.  They spoke in tongues and they prophesied in the name of Jesus and they regarded those words to be the actual words of Jesus.  And these words were written down and they became a part of the Gospel as the words of Jesus, even though they were the oracle words of Jesus by prophets within the early churches.

  So how is it that all of the charismatic ministries of the church seemed to get discontinued by the institutionalization of the church into the fourfold ministries of laity, deacons, priests and bishops?

  The churches found that there were difficulties with a completely charismatic notion of ministry.  It became obvious that Jesus was inspiring people in one place to think and believe things differently and even in contradiction from other places and times.  As the church grew, the church could not be consolidated with contradictory inspired utterances of Christ in different gatherings.  The institutional church had to copy the organizational methods of the Roman government and military to bring uniformity and standardization to be able to evangelize and spread the Christian message.  Totally charismatic institutions do not seem to connect with each other geographically; they tended to be isolated geographically.  So, one can understand how a more standardized form of Christianity was compatible with the kind of uniformity which characterized the government and military of the Roman Empire.

  Charismatic churches work well for isolated community; but not too well for unity across the geography of the world.

  The Gospels represent the standardization of Christianity, but they also record the charismatic moments of the oracle of Christ within the early churches.  And by writing these oracles down, the words became voted by the church to be a final standard in the church's textbook, the New Testament.

  So now we return to the literal significant of these difficult words of Christ within the early churches. 

  How might we understand a literal context for the words which we have read?  An extended Jewish family might have members who were Pharisees, Zealots, followers of John the Baptist and followers of Jesus.  Those who followed Jesus would have been ostracized by family members who did not follow Jesus and so Jesus was not bringing peace to the families; the experience of the Risen Christ was bringing division.

  Can we understand how descriptively true and accurate this "word of Jesus" becomes once we pierce the literal context from which this oracle derived.  It make complete logical sense.  This oracle of Christ was delivered within a community where division was occurring and it expresses the truth of every paradigm shift.  When old answers do not provide meaning for new life questions, sometimes a person has to move on to the new paradigm and members of the former paradigm will feel jilted and rejected.

  Yet the call of living a faithful life sometimes mean making decisions of creative advance for the benefit of one's life.

  If you are not a cradle Episcopalian, it means that you have probably gone through various paradigm shifts in your life of faith.  Sometimes the members of faith communities which you have left may be disappointed or angry and even call you traitors or heretics.  All of this is part of the creative advance of the life of faith.

  The message of Jesus within Judaism was a major paradigm shift, particularly because the followers of Christ no longer were required to honor the ritual purity of Judaism.  There was much anger and division over this paradigm shift, but this is the honest witness to the birth of Christianity out of Judaism.

  The further oracle of the words of Jesus asks us to learn how to read the signs of the present time.

  A chief task in life is to read and interpret the paradigm within which one lives.  The paradigm of one's life are all of the meanings that one just takes for granted without questioning.  But why do we begin to question certain meanings in our life?  They no longer provide for valid and relevant answers to new arising need.

  So the oracle of the Risen Christ is relevant to us today.   Paradigm shifts will cause division between people.  Does one go forth to new answers or does one stay behind to please the people who want to keep one within the familiar answers of the past?

  You and I need to know how to interpret the signs in our lives.  We need to know when we are being called to make a creative advance in excellence in our lives of faith.

  The oracles of the Risen Christ can still call us to many new things and one of the reasons that I am an Episcopalian is because our faith gives us room to grow into many new expanding paradigms of faith, which means we can disagree with each other but still appreciate the different stages of faith that people are in.

  I believe today the Episcopal Church is a place where we can reconcile both the peace of Christ and the division caused by new callings of Christ.  Let us not get "stuck" when the beckoning call of Christ is inviting us to creative advance in further excellence.

  I admit that I have always been a person named Phil Cooke and yet I understood God in different ways at 6, 16, 21, 35, and 50 than I do today.  Over time I am at division with myself but I live at peace with myself because I have grown into new meanings about God.  Some transitions have been rocky and some have been smooth.  My own family of birth has been a religiously divided family, but there has been love within the division.  There has been peace of personal conscience even when there has been significant disagreement.

  To follow the Risen Christ is not a static experience, it is dynamic.  The words of the oracle of Christ are true to the human experience of growth.  Today let us be true to the Risen Christ by embracing spiritual transformation and what that might mean for the kinds of decisions we might have to make, even if we might have to disappoint others.

   Let us learn today that the division which happens because of obedience to a new insight is compatible with the Peace of Christ.  Amen.