Aphorism of the Day, October 2016

Aphorism of the Day, October 14, 2016

Why is the nagging prayer of faith important within the freedom of injustice being a persistent reality of life?  If injustice is an expression of freedom, faith and prayerful faith is also a persistent freedom.  It is almost like Jesus is suggesting that when a majority of occasions of faithful prayer makes injustice a minority, then injustice must respond to the events of faith overcoming it.  In a system of Freedom, it is important to cast many votes of faith to attain the majority over the freedom of injustice to prevail.

Aphorism of the Day, October 13, 2016

When the Son of Man come, will he find faith?  The presence of injustice and the uneven distribution of luck and misfortune throughout the world can result in people not having faith.  Injustice and oppression can be reason not to have faith.  Conversely, if one lives in the lap of luxury one might not have faith because such easy comfort does not require the growth of any "faith muscles."  Cynicism and anger about how unfair life is and entitlement make be threatening circumstances for living with faith.  Faith is the attitude of inner contentment which rests upon a vision of hope inspiring positive actions in the "now."  Though each person needs to have faith, faith necessarily has collateral salutary effects for one's community.

Aphorism of the Day, October 12, 2016

The freedom of an infinite number of things, events and occasions happening always, already in the now means that our lives can experience things which are beyond our direct control and sometimes the "fate" of things beyond our direct control can be experienced by us as injustice particularly if we believe that other personally directed forces are against our well-being.  Prayer is how we use our language to relate to the ultimate Freedom that we live in.  Can we still believe ultimate Freedom is a Divine Being which honors us by letting human worth be authenticated by participation in this freedom?  Or because there can seem to be an uneven distribution of the events of negative events of freedom, do many decry Freedom as a Fatal Determining Being who seems to have favorites for no reason at all?  Prayer is a language of faith of us constituting ourselves and responding to what is happening to us, even as we know we are not exempt from uneven distributions of the weals and woes of what can happen.  The reason prayer as faith discourse is important is that it is a talking cure to adjust us to the reality of what is and that adjustment is not just passive paralysis but hopeful response in the best way given the limitations of the situation.  Lots of people are crushed in bitterness by not knowing or seeking the recipe for lemonade.

Aphorism of the Day, October 11, 2016

The parable of the persistent widow presents prayer as holy nagging.  There is an entire book which consists of lots of "nagging prayer" about how unfair life is.  It called the book of Psalms.  Prayer as holy nagging is perhaps psychologically healthy; God as the very big ear Therapist listening to endless nagging about how life is unfair to me.  God as the Therapist on the other side of our "talking cure prayers" is probably good for social health since God is big enough to take our nagging and our nagging does not do much for relationship with family, friends and colleagues.  So let it all out; the Sigmund Divine is ever attending and saying, "uh-huh, and how did that make you feel?"

Aphorism of the Day, October 10, 2016

"Life is not fair."  This experience was illustrated in the parable of the widow who continually pleads to a judge for justice.  It could be that the only way that life is fair is to say that freedom is fair, freedom is just.  Freedom is perhaps the most awesome justice since the free conditions of the world involve people being inhumane with each other and often in harm's way to the terrors of natural events.  Freedom assumes time and change and if justice is conceived as a "static" final state, it is incompatible with freedom.  Great notions like love and justice need to be explicated within the condition of freedom because human beings cannot rest upon the past events of love and justice; they are continually beckoned to the present and future of love and justice within the conditions of freedom.

Aphorism of the Day, October 9, 2016

The conditions of change in the world means that states of being are continually in flux and crucial events of change are marked in language with words such as birth, sickness, recovery and death.  How can life be regarded as healthy in the midst of the changes which are always already inevitable?   Faith is the expression of being well, being healthy, being "saved" within the conditions of time=change.  There is an unrealistic notion of health and wellness which denies time and change; a holding onto a "static state of perpetual comfort" as the condition of health.  Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well."  The leper had faith when he was a leper and when he was not one so faith is the "wellness" which embraces all conditions of life.  The proverbial Job was "well" with faith, even when all appearances of health and fortune were missing. 

Aphorism of the Day, October 8, 2016

For Jesus in the Gospel, being "well" means having faith.  The diverse conditions of "health" befall us all in very uneven ways.  It is wrong to just present Jesus as one who heals or cures and makes us all better.  If healing was permanent, we would never die.  This is why we need to look to the Gospel teaching of having faith as the condition of being "well."  People with terminal illnesses can still be well.  Another Gospel teaching of Jesus about being well is the active faith of the community in including all people with welcome and care.  Community faith and community wellness means that we include with care all people in need.


Aphorism of the Day, October 7, 2016

The mention of Samaria and Samaritans in the Luke-Acts writings probably means that early churches included Samaritan members and church gatherings could be found in Samaria.  The Gospels as a storied presentation of the life of Jesus to mirror the practices of the early churches means that there is an origin discourse for the encounter of Samaritans with Jesus Christ.  Writing Samaritan acceptance of Jesus into the Gospel narrative would express the living oracle of the Risen Christ encountering the Samaritans who actually claimed to have a traditional "Israel" lineage dating from the time of Joshua.  The Samaritans in the New Testament are an indication that the Gospel of Christ was appealing to a variety of sects and groups, including Zealots, Pharisees, followers of John the Baptist and Sadducees, plus the Gentiles.  Ironically, a Samaritan convert to Christ and a Jewish follower of Christ could say in healing of their ancient division, "In Christ, there is no Jew or Samaritan."

Aphorism of the Day, October 6, 2016

Jesus said to the thankful Samaritan leper who was healed: "Your faith has made you well."  This encoded the notion of salvation wellness in the early churches.  This was contrasted with the notion of physical and spiritual health being the condition of being certified by the authorities in the classification system of the purity code in Judaism.  St. Paul proclaimed that Samaritan and Gentiles could have Abrahamic faith which is what made them well, i.e. saved and acceptable by God.  Gentile Christian "wellness" challenged the exclusive system of the purity code for determining salvation wellness.

Aphorism of the Day, October 5, 2016

Under the ritual purity codes, a leper was "unclean" and thus quarantined from society.  The ritual purity code functioned as a religious public health taxonomical system.  The public needs to be "protected."  It is a valid impulse except one of the outcomes was the loss of access of "ritually impure" people to the health of the community.  The healing Jesus was first of a person who violated quarantine rules and in his state of healthiness he welcomed those who had been unwelcomed due to the quarantine.  Health is not just about a physical "cure;" it is about health as a caring community.

Aphorism of the Day, October 4, 2016

The Gospel stories about Jesus actually encode the dynamics of what was happening in the early churches.  10 lepers were healed by Jesus; only the "foreign" leper returned to say thanks to Jesus.  The "foreigners" in the church were ritually impure and segregated from the synagogue and yet these "foreigners" were thanking Jesus for making them clean and pure and acceptable to be included in the fold of God.  The ritual meal in the inclusive churches was called "Eucharist" which means "thanksgiving."

Aphorism of the Day, October 3, 2016

The most blatant anachronism of the Gospel writers is the embedding of the Gentile  Christianity within the narrative of the life of Jesus.  How do the writers artfully try to be true to the Jewishness of Jesus in his own time and yet include in this presentation the subtle suggestion that Jesus was already reaching out to the Gentiles?  The writing purpose of the early Christian writers in the way they presented Jesus vis a vis foreigners has to be included in what is regarded to be "inspired."  The Gentile mission "inspired" the presentation of the narrative of Jesus in the Gospels.

Aphorism of the Day, October 2, 2016

When the disciple requested of Jesus, "Increase our faith,"  he essentially said, "Do it yourself."  Do it through small individual deeds of faith which collect to become the "increase" of faith that is so desired.  There is no easy way for faith to become the character of our lives; we have to practice it so that the quantity of actual faithful deeds result in being the character of our lives and in the uncanny results which can happen because of sustained faithfulness.

Aphorism of the Day, October 1, 2016

Increase our  faith."  The classical Greek word "pistos" was the goal of rhetoric.  "Pistos" means persuasion.  Fast forward to the koine Greek of the New Testament and "pistos" means "faith."  So what is the relationship between persuasion and faith?  Faith is the expression of the constituting motivation of one's life which expresses the degree of persuasion toward the motivating focus.  In the Christian community faith was the cumulative constituting faith acts motivated by the hopeful belief in God in Christ such that an undivided persuaded person attained the character of faith to achieve the uncanny results of faith.

Quiz of the Day, October 2016

Quiz of the Day, October 14, 2016

Who wrote the following: "Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.  Yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world.  Christ has no body now on earth but yours?"

a. John of the Cross
b. St. Francis
c. St. Teresa of Avila
d. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Quiz of the Day, October 13, 2016

Which of the following might be the Wisdom lesson of the story about the prophet Jonah?

a. God loves people beyond one's own country and religion
b. God chooses one nation over another
c. God controls nature even big fish
d. Jonah was written as preparation for the message about Jesus

Quiz of the Day, October 12, 2016

What is the most common reference to the afterlife in the Hebrew Scriptures?

a. heaven
b. hell
c. Hades
d. Sheol

Quiz of the Day, October 11, 2016

The metaphor in the life of which Hebrew Scripture person is used for the three days in the tomb of the body of Jesus?

a. Moses
b. Abraham
c. Jonah
d. Jeremiah

Quiz of the Day, October 10, 2016

How many accounts of the conversion of Paul are found in the Acts of the Apostles?

a. 2
b. 3
c. 4
d. not accounts, since there is only one

Quiz of the Day, October 9, 2016

Which Apostle wrote to his church, "In Christ Jesus, I became your father...?"

a. Clement
b. Paul
c. Peter
d. James

Quiz of the Day, October 8, 2016

Agrippa, Festus and Felix were involved in the legal hearings for what early church leader?

a. Peter
b. Barnabas
c. Paul
d. James of Jerusalem


Quiz of the Day, October 7, 2016

In the parable of the Sower, which of the following is not one of the growing environments for the "seed?"

a. path
b. rocks
c. water
d. good soil
e. thorns

Quiz of the Day, October 6, 2016

Who was responsible for the English translation of the Psalter in the first book of Common Prayer of 1549?

a. William Tyndale
b. Thomas Cranmer
c. Miles Coverdale
d. John Wycliffe

Quiz of the Day, October 5, 2016

What saved the Apostle Paul from prosecution?

a. his being a rabbi
b. his Roman citizenship and appeal to the Emperor
c. the intervention of influential friends
d. his judge became a Christian convert

Quiz of the Day, October 4, 2016

How did St. Francis receive his name, since he was born with the name Giovanni di Bernardone?

a. he took the name Francis as a novice in the order of his own name
b. he received the name in the vision when he received the stigmata
c. his father gave him the nickname, "the Frenchman" Francesco
d. he admired a holy man of the same name and so he took the name
Quiz of the Day, October 3, 2016
When Paul appeared before the tribune of the High Priest Ananias how did he rhetorically divide the parties of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

a. he claimed that he was defending the temple
b. he claimed that he was defending John the Baptist
c. he claimed that he was defending the resurrection from the dead
d. he claimed that he was defending ritual purity

Quiz of the Day, October 1, 2016

Which Gospel records Jesus as saying, "Blessed are the poor," and not "Blessed are the poor in spirit?"

a. Matthew
b. Mark
c. Luke
d. John

Quiz of the Day, October 2, 2016

How did John the Baptist die?

a. old age
b. on a cross
c. he was beheaded
d. he drown

Faith as Being Well

21 Pentecost, Cp23, October 9, 2016

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 Ps.66:1-11

2 Tim. 2:8-15   Luke 17:11-19    

Lectionary Link

  The writer of the Gospel of Luke also wrote a companion book, the Acts of the Apostles.  Luke was an educated man and he was a physician.  In the Acts of the Apostles, it is recorded the spread of the Gospel mission into Samaria, so we can assume that there were early Samaritan churches.  Luke as a Gospel writer was one who recorded the message presentation of the early churches to their members.  Luke was one who believed that in Christ, there was no Jew and no Samaritan.  And that was quite a contrary view in first century Palestine.

  The Samaritan religion was a rival faith community to the Jews.  They had their own Torah based religion.  They believed that Mount Gerizim was the holy place and not Jerusalem.  They traced their history to the time of Joshua, Eli the priest and to several of the northern tribes of Israel.  Since they had inter-married with the Assyrians they were not regarded to be pure in their heritage by the Jews.  They had compromised with the Greeks conquerors to survive and the Jewish military leader John Hyrcanus had destroyed the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim in 125 BCE.  There was no love lost between the Jews and the Samaritans.  They were enemies with a history even though they shared common roots in the Mosaic tradition.  In 2015, Wikipedia reports that there were still 777 members of the Samaritan community living today. 

  The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Zealots, the Samaritans, the community of John the Baptist and the followers of Jesus of Nazareth had all received the Abrahamic,  Mosaic and prophetic traditions.  But each of these communities were doing something different with the Abrahamic, Mosaic and prophetic traditions.  The Zealots wanted a revolt against the Romans.  The Sadducees wanted to retain the safety of the Temple for the continued offering of the animal sacrifices.  The Pharisees wanted to retain the synagogue traditions which had developed in the Exile with their expanded acceptance of the other writings of the Hebrew Scriptures.  The community of John the Baptist promoted more of an individual experience of Judaism rather than the automatic group identity of simply being born a Jew.  One had to authenticate one's religion by repentance.  After the Roman armies crushed Jerusalem and the surrounding areas in the year 70, all of the groups which inherited the Abrahamic, Mosaic and prophetic traditions had to scramble to maintain their very existence.  The early churches were followers of Jesus who preached Christ-centered  Judaism but adapted it to the acceptance in people who were not members of the synagogues.  Converts to the message of Christ included Samaritans, who were enemies to Judaism and also Gentiles who lived impure lives bereft of the benefit of the ritual purity life style code of Judaism.

  Luke as a physician was interested in health.  But New Testament health is not just about physical health.  Luke as a writer brought to the narrative about Jesus the addition of the reality of the Christian churches in the last quarter of the first century.  What is the reality?  The reality is that Christ-centered Judaism had moved beyond the synagogue and the ritual purity practices of Judaism.  The Christian movement was making an appeal to Samaritans, Pharisees, Sadducees, followers of John the Baptist, Zealots and to Gentiles.  Paul and Peter and other early Christian leaders had to make a decision in the last half of the first century.  They believed that something new had happened which brought about the possibility for people of diverse backgrounds to become members of a new community of faith.  What happens when diversity is embraced?  The groups which cannot tolerate the diversity have to reject the new diversity and inclusive movement.

  This Gospel story today is a mirror of what was happening within the early churches.  The Samaritan, a hated enemy of the Jews is presented as the one who offers thanksgiving to Jesus for his restoration to health.  The other 9 Jews are presented as those who did not offer thanksgiving.

  Jesus is shown to approach lepers in contradiction of the quarantine required by the ritual purity codes of Judaism.  Jesus was shown to be one who could show lepers to be whole and healthy.  Jesus is seen as the one who welcomes the outsider and the quarantined.

What happened in the early churches?  The churches included former enemies of Judaism, the Samaritans and the Gentiles who gave thanks for the salvation, the health of the soul offered by Jesus.

  What was the message of St. Paul?  How was one saved?  In the view of St. Paul, one was not saved by adherence to the Judaic law or the purity code; one was saved by having faith in God's grace.

  How did the message of Paul sound as it was presented by Luke through the words of Jesus?  Jesus said to the thankful Samaritan:  "Your faith has made you well."  Faith is the evidence of one's salvation.

  You and I are the inheritors of this inclusive tradition of Jesus Christ.  It was the presentation of the Risen Christ as including anyone who wanted the salvation of Jesus Christ known through the presence of the Holy Spirit.  We know that in the history of Christianity, many Christian groups have made Christ very exclusive to their own practices.  But let us be reminded today by the thanksgiving and faith of the Samaritan:  It is the inclusive invitation to saving faith which is the genius of the message of Jesus Christ.  Let us be those who offer this saving faith to all.  Amen.

Sunday School, October 9, 2016 21 Pentecost c proper 23

Sunday School, October 9, 2016    21 Pentecost  C proper 23

Themes:

Health, Thanksgiving and Inclusion

Health is both about a person and about the community which a person lives in.

We know about infectious diseases.  When one child get a cold or the flu, the virus or the germs spread and sometimes many of the classmates get sick too.   When one is sick, one has to stay at home to get better but also so as not to spread the germs of sickness.

In the time of Jesus, there were people who had a skin disease of leprosy.  Whenever the skin of a person showed the signs of a skin disease, the priests had a system of rules which required them to keep the person with leprosy away healthy people.  So a sick person could be made to feel doubly bad.  He was had a disease but he also was kept about from people who could care for him.  He would have to go live with other sick people until he became better.  And people who were not sick would be afraid of how a person with a skin disease looked.  They would avoid that person.

Jesus was not afraid of people who were sick.  He did not think that they should be separated from people.  He healed 10 men who had leprosy.  He told them to go and show themselves to the priests.

Out of the 10 men who were healed, only one of them returned to say “thank you” to Jesus.  The one who said, “thank you” was a Samaritan.  The Samaritans and the Jews were enemies.  Jesus was a Jew but he did not treat this Samaritan man with leprosy as his enemy.  And this Samaritan did not treat Jesus as his enemy.  He returned to say “thank you.”  Jesus told him that his faith had made him well.

What does it mean to be well?

To be well means to have faith.   In our lives we can get sick many times and there are many people who have very serious illness.   So how can we be well, even when we are sick?  By having faith.  We can also be well as a community of people who care for people who are sick.  Today we have hospitals, doctors and nurses and many others who help people get better.  We as a parish community need to be well; we need to have the kind of faith in the goodness of Christ to take care of each other when we are sick.

Being well is having faith as a person but also as community of people who care for each other and include people who are sick in our prayerful care.

Sermon:

  How many of us like to be left out?

  What if I said today, only the people wearing the color red today can come and receive communion today?  How would you feel?

  What would you think about that kind of rule?

  You would think that rule was unfair.  You would think that rule does not make any sense.

  Some times in our life we get left out.  And one of the times that we get left out, is when we are sick.

  When we’re sick, we can’t go to school or to church.  And so we get left out.  We don’t get to go to public places when we’re sick.

  But when we’re sick, does everyone leave us out?   No, our moms and dad take care of us.  They give us medicine and orange juice.  They take us to the doctor.  They give us special attention to help us get better.  So even though we are left out of school when we’re sick, we’re not left out of the care of our family and friends.

  During the time of Jesus, there were people who had some skin diseases that did not make them look good, and so people were so afraid of them, that even the priests had made rules to make those sick people live outside of the towns and cities.  They had to beg to get food.

  What did Jesus do?  He was not afraid of their skin diseases.  He told them they could be made better and they did not have to be left out.

  So Jesus invited these sick people to receive care.

  And Jesus taught us that God does not leave anyone out.  Everyone is welcome into God’s family.

  And if we feel welcome into God’s family, that will help us to be healthy and well.  Because we become healthy and well because no matter what sickness we have, we are well if we have people to love and care for us.

  So Jesus teaches us to love and care for sick people and for all people who might feel left out.

  This is a very good lesson that we have learned today: To love and care for all people and always welcome them to be with us in our community of prayer and worship.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 9, 2016: The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah; O Be Careful; Wait for the Lord; Awesome God

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

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Second Letter to Timothy

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David-- that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 66

Be joyful in God, all you lands; * sing the glory of his Name; sing the glory of his praise.

Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! * because of your great strength your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down before you, * sings to you, sings out your Name."

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.

On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

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)

O be careful little hands what you do.  O be careful 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.

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit 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, 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: Wait for the Lord (Renew! # 278)

Wait for the Lord, his day is near. 

Wait for the Lord: be strong, take heart

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: Awesome God (Renew! # 245)

Our God is an awesome God.  He reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love. 

Our God is an awesome God.

(Sing three times)

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Planting Mustard Seeds?

20 Pentecost, C p 22, October 2, 2016
Lamentations 1:1-6  Psalm 37:1-10
2 Tim. 1:6-14     Luke 17:5-10     

       A  waiter is a person who serves food to customers at a restaurant or other eating establishment. 

  So what if I am in a restaurant at a table and my waiter comes to my table and stands there waiting without saying anything.  And so things get rather uncomfortable with him just standing there, so I ask him if he could take my order or get me some water.  But what if he replies, "I am waiting to sit down in your seat and I am waiting for you to serve me.  I deserved to be served by you."

  What's wrong with this scenario?   Well, by the definition of the roles within the context, I am the customer and he is the waiter.  How is it that he expects to be waited on by me?  I would be happy to do it and even if it violates the roles but I am not an employee of the restaurant and I would not know immediately all of the procedure for even serving the waiter. 

  Jesus told a parable to indicate how we can be confused by our roles in our relationship with God.   God is the creator and the owner of the world and yet we pretend that we want to be in that role.  Even though we did not create the world, and we cannot sustain the world, we can feel entitled to be treated as those who own the world.

  Though we may be offended with the language of slavery; Jesus used the example of the slave who wanted to be treated as the owner to illustrate how confused we can be about our role in life vis a vis God as the creator and owner of all things.  As a servant of God, it is our role to have faith.  It is blind of us to wrongly demand that God be our servant and exercise faith towards us when God truly has faith toward us and has served us by creating us and sharing with us all of creation.

  Jesus was pointing out how childish we can be when it comes to faith.  There is a difference between being childish and childlike.   Childlike is the attitude to wonder and exploration that we can have in life.  People of faith need to be childlike in having this sense of wonder in the exploration of the goodness of our lives and our world.

 Sometime childlike behaviors carried out by adults can be childish.  Children like magic;  they like stories about marvelous things happening.  A child also likes and needs positive reinforcement.  A child likes instant gratification of needs. Children need encouragement and congratulations for even the things that they need to do.  We congratulate children for eating, for walking, for putting on their clothes;  we give them reinforcement to perform acts which will enable them to become independent adults.

  At some point it should be unnecessary to give praise and congratulations to an adult who is performing normal self-maintenance tasks. 

  In the life of faith, it should be unnecessary to be congratulated for doing things which are just plain good and excellent.   It has come to be that charity and faith are now regarded to be heroic acts rather than the normal practice of the virtuous lives.  Too often we have become so pampered that we want to be congratulated for doing good things for our lives.

  The parables of Jesus give the secret to the uncanny success of faith.   Casting a mulberry tree into the sea by faith defies logic.   What was the uncanny success of the church?  A crucified prophet takes over the Roman Empire.  How unlikely was that?

  How did it happen?  Daily and moment by moment, mustard seed acts of faith.  These small house churches just began spreading one by one in neighborhood by neighborhood.  People shared their experience of the Risen Christ and the excitement of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  The accumulation of millions of millions mustard seed acts of faith brought about the conversion of the Roman Empire.

  We may be childish in wanting things to come with instantaneous success.   And if things don't come easy and instantly we might just give up and without exercising our faith deeds, we cannot accumulate the resume of faith that result in the sea change events to occur.

  The secret of life then is mustard seed faith; just keep on keeping on doing faithful deeds and those deeds of time, talent and treasure will eventually build character and accomplish some wonderful outcomes.

  A parish church seems like a very ordinary unsung human achievement; there are so many different churches and our own may not seem so big or imposing or important.  But we have been around for sixty years here at St. John's.  We stand on the shoulders of many forgotten, unknown, and unremembered deeds of faith of people in our past who just gave without fanfare or recognition.  But they have given us the foundation and they handed us the baton of the local Episcopal tradition for us to carry in the lap of the race that given to us in our time.

  The message to us today is for us not to become weary in doing the little and obvious faithful things which lie at hand for us to do.  We don't need fanfare or congratulations from God for doing things which are just plain good for us and our community.

  Fortunately we have each other to encourage each other.  One of my favorite roles as rector is to be able to thank you, even though I know that you perform deeds of faith for God and for the good of our parish.

  Let us be inspired today to continue in this wonderful Gospel of Christ and perform the mustard seed deeds of faith.  If we do this, we may look back someday and say, "Wow, did God really do that through us?"  Amen.