Sunday School, July 16, 2017 6 Pentecost, A proper 10

Sunday School, July 16, 2017   6 Pentecost, A proper 10

Right conditions for success

What is needed to successful boil water?  Heat  water to 212 degrees.

What is needed to be successful at sports or dancing?  Some skills and lots of practice.

What is needed to get good grades in school?  Lots of study

Jesus told a parable to help people understand why the good news of God becomes successful in the lives of people.  He told the parable of the sower who planted seeds that landed in different places: on the pathway or road, on the rocks and in good soil.

A seed grows best in good soil.  There is the best chance for a good harvest when the conditions are right.

How can the conditions be right for us to understand God’s plan for us?

We need people who teach us what is right and support us to make good choices.

We need to be able to survive difficult challenges without losing our faith.

We need to say no to the things that compete with doing what God wants.

God is like a farmer who has created this beautiful world.  But there is freedom in this world.  We have the freedom to arrange our lives to honor God or forget God.

The word of God is the good seed in this world.  It is planted in our lives as a place to grow.  So we need to arrange our lives in such a way so that we make our lives as good places for the word of God to grow and be successful.

How can God’s word be successful in our lives?

By studying God’s word, by praying, by gathering with others to help support doing the very best, by loving and caring for our neighbor.

We are responsible for preparing our lives like a well-kept garden so that God’s word can be successful in the right conditions of our lives.

Sermon

What is the beginning of a tree or a plant?  How does a tree get started?  How does a flower get started?  It starts from a seed right.

  So I have some seeds.  And seeds are really small.  They are so small, it seems like magic that they can grow and become very large plants or a very large tree.

  So I am going to plant some seeds.  And there are some good places to plant them and some bad places to plant them.  If I plant a seed on this chair, is that a good place?  If I plant it on the concrete floor, is that a good place?  What if I planted it in this little planting pot that has some soil in it? And I put some water on it?  Will it grow?  It has the best chance to grow in the soil.

  Jesus told a story about someone who planted seeds.  And this farmer who planted seeds threw seeds.  Some of the seeds fell on the road.  Some of the seeds fell on the rocks.  Some of the seeds fell among the thorns.  And some of the seeds feel in some good dirt.

  And where did the seed grow the best?  In the good dirt.

  And Jesus said, the message about the kingdom of heaven is like a seed.  If people are going to understand the message of the kingdom of heaven, their hearts and minds have to be in a certain way to be understand it.  So just as a seed will grow if it is good soil, so the message of the kingdom of heaven will be understood if our hearts and minds are ready to receive it.

  And what is the message of the kingdom of heaven?  The message is this:  God is our creator.  So we belong to God.  God loves us and cares for us.  And God wants us to love him and care for each other.

  But if we think that we made ourselves.  Or if we think that we own the world ourselves, then we will not be able to accept the news about the kingdom of heaven.  And so our hearts and mind will not be ready.

  We come to church to prepare our hearts and minds to receive the message of the kingdom of heaven.  And what is that message?  God created the world.  God loves us.  God wants us to love him and each other.

  That’s a very good message.  And if we learn this message, then we will know that we are in the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

Young Child friendly Eucharistic Liturgy using the option found on page 400 of the Book of Common Prayer

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 16, 2017: The Sixth Sunday after  Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah, The Foolish Man, Be Still and Know, 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:  Thy Word, (Renew! #94)

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

When I feel afraid, think I’ve lost my way, still you’re 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

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

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 of Paul to the Romans

But you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 119

Your word is a lantern to my feet * and a light upon my path.

I have sworn and am determined * to keep your righteous judgments.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"  "Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

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. (chanted)

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.

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 Foolish Man and the Wise Man (Christian Children’s Songbook, #250)

The foolish 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.  Oh 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!”

O, 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.  O, 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 rock stood firm.

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 heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Be Still and Know  (Renew!  # 10)

Be Still and know that I am God, be still and know that I am God.  Be still and know that I am God.

The Lord almighty is our God.  The Lord almighty is our God.  The Lord almighty is our God.

The God of Jacob is our God.  The God of Jacob is our God.  The God of Jacob is our God.

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.

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

  

The Big Book As Footnote on the Good Book

5 Pentecost, A  p 9, July 9, 2017
Zechariah 9:9-12 Psalm 145:8-15
Romans 7:15-25a Matt. 11:25-30
Lectionary Link
Jesus said, "Come to me all who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest."  St. Paul was a man who had become weary and who carried heavy burdens.  What were his burdens?  It mainly was his past life.  St. Paul was a Pharisee and a religious zealot.  But he was enraged by the followers of Jesus.  He was so sure that people like Stephen were such heretics from true Judaism that they deserved to be persecuted, hunted and even put to death.  He lived in times when it seemed acceptable to kill one's religious opponents.    St. Paul also wrote that he had a "weakness" which he begged God to deliver him from but God did not answer his prayer except to say that his grace would be with him in his weakness.

We have read today from what I call the "twilight zone" portion of the Epistle to the Romans.  You remember the introduction to the Twilight Zone?  Do, do, do, do...do, do, do, do....   In but a paragraph the word "do" is used 17 times.  My high school English teacher would have marked this writing in red with a note: "Paul, I appreciate your intensive struggle but to be an interesting writer you need to use more stylistic variation, since you obviously feel very attached to the word do."

What I also call this portion of the Epistle to the Romans is "the Good Book inspires the Big Book."  The Good Book is, of course, the Bible and the Big Book is the Handbook of Alcoholic Anonymous.  One can see in this writing of St. Paul an intensive anatomy of addiction.   One could replace the word sin with the word addiction in this passage and understand Christ to be a graceful, personal High Power to help interdict the power of addiction.

St. Paul wrote about sin as the deep burden of his life.  Something dominated him and enslaved him and completely took over his life.  He hated the helplessness.  He hated being out of control.  He hated the loss of his freedom to the power of sin.   He called the power of sin the body of death.  What was Paul's burden?  A body of death.  This metaphor is quite a macabre metaphor that derived from a method of torture familiar to Paul in his time.  A method of torture found in Virgil's Aeneid and among ancient Etruscan pirates was to tie a corpse face to face with the prisoner.  The prisoner would go mad before dying.  A body of death was literally tied to the tortured person.  St. Paul said that his sin was like this body of death that he could not shake and at the moment of his greatest weakness, when he could not be proud about his self control or his strength, he mustered up the strength to turn to find Christ as the personal Higher Power to help him deal with his body of death.

Of course, we all can be sinners without knowing ourselves as abject addicts.  St. Paul and each of us have our own history with what we might call the burdens of our lives.  Each of us could write our own personal history of what sin means to us.  Perhaps a more modern insight about this thing we have come to call sin is a wrong relationship with profound desire.  Like the molten center of a volcano, the molten center of energy of one's life is what might be called desire.  And desire is good.  It is the continual engine of curiosity which drives us to embrace the future.  It is a magnetic force that can be drawn to focus upon multiple objects and people.  If we are in a good relationship with our Desire we can know it to be the power of love and hope.  But desire can be known as fixated projection upon things and we can find ourselves enslaved in a habit.  This enslavement is known when we do the things we don't want to do.  We know what is right for us to do but we don't have the power to do it.

Civilization is built upon the effort to tame human desire.  Desire can be so powerful that if there are not laws, desire can result in chaos and conflict among people.  The evolution of societies with law and legal systems are proof that humanity has always feared the ability to destroy ourselves if we do not live under the instruction of rules backed up by the threat of punishment.

St. Paul was a Pharisee who had been raised to keep religious laws, but he found that having the  nurture of the law and having fear of punishment still did not empower him to attain self control.  If the law only taunts us about how we are making mistakes, it does not have the positive power of enabling new behaviors.  St. Paul came to a place where he knew he needed a graceful power to enable new behaviors.  Like a surfer, St. Paul climbed upon Christ, like a surf board and rode over the powerful waves of desire to carry him to his destination on shore.   The world of desire never goes away until we die.  The secret of the spiritual life is to learn how to surf one's desire and use the energy to propel us to do the really good and creative things that we want to do.

Jesus noted that religious people had turned religious laws into their own obsessive compulsive habits.  Some thought that John the Baptist was too ascetic and said he was motivated by a demon.  Jesus ate and drank with people who did not keep the dietary rules of Judaism and he was called a glutton and a drunkard.   We can worship our own life habits so much that we end up judging others who don't perform their life and religion like we do.  Jesus said, "Wisdom is finding one's own relationship with sin and with rules.  We can help each other in dealing with sin and with rules but each person's history is so unique that the burden of sin happens a bit differently for each of us.

In the Gospel reading, we find a variation of the born again metaphor.  The wise and intelligent have attained the benefit of culture, law and learning but they can still be "out of control" when it comes to sin.  What has God hidden from adults?  The original blessing that is known in the experience of infants.

We adults have become completely formed and shaped by our social environments and in so doing we have lost connection with our original blessing, the power of the joy of our original innocence.  The original innocence of God's joyful image upon our lives.

St. Paul learned that Christ could be for him the one who helped him with his burden of sin.  Jesus asked his followers to get into his yoke.  A yoke could hold two oxen together to pull a cart that could not be pulled by just one ox because of a heavy load.   In this metaphor we have insights about our lives.  All of us have our burdens and loads of our "pre-existing conditions" which we are carrying.   We are invited to get in step with the yoke of Christ and learn how to pull the load of our lives with the help of Christ.

Jesus Christ can be our spiritual master.  With him we can be returned to the power and grace of our original blessing and innocence.  We can come to know that desire itself is not bad, it is very good energy that we can let carry us to enjoyment of life and good and hopeful outcomes.

The Gospel today for us is that sin is uniquely known by each of us.  Paul had his metaphors for his experience of sin and his experience of grace.  What should be common for all of us in our experience of sin is the promise of the helpful intervention of the personal higher power of Jesus Christ.  With Christ, we are not given an escape from sin or from this sinful world; rather we are  joined in the yoke of Christ to know that there is someone stronger than us pulling for and with us as we seek to learn how to ride the waves of the desire of our life.

Today, I congratulate each one for your uniquely sinful life.  I hope your sinful life does not leave you feeling as bad as St. Paul did.   I also congratulate you on your unique life of grace because each of us has had to find that we are not left alone in our sins, we are given the inward higher power to help us ride the power of desire toward enjoyment and not towards addiction.

I wish for each of us the knowledge of being yoked and helped by the personal higher power of the Risen Christ today.  Amen.

Sunday School, July 9, 2017 5 Pentecost, A proper 9

Sunday School, July 9, 2017   5 Pentecost, A proper 9

Theme:

Discovering that we have help

What do trains and trucks do?  They carry heavy loads.  Before trains and trucks were invented how did we carry heavy loads?  Heavy loads were place on wagons and carts and they were pulled by animals, like horses, donkeys and oxen.  A really heavy load needed to be pulled by more than one animal.  A yoke was used to keep two animals pulling together.

Jesus used the yoke to talk about getting help in life.  Life can be like a heavy load.  Life can be difficult.  Life can be hard.  Life can be like pulling a very heavy load.  What did Jesus say about life being a heavy load to pull?

He said, “Take my yoke.”  If we can know that someone else is helping us through the difficult and hard times of life then the burden can be easier to bear.

How can we know that we are pulling the hard things of life with Christ?  We can know the strength of God within us as the presence of Christ through the Holy Spirit.  Also friends and the church can be in the yoke of our lives.  Other people can help us in difficult times so that we never have to feel alone.

Jesus agreed that life can be difficult.  Sometimes we can only grow through difficult challenges.  Jesus lets us know that the difficulties in life need not destroys, if we discover how we are helped by God and by others.

Jesus said, “Take my yoke.”  This means we have to learn to accept help in our lives.  It also means that if we are with Christ, in the yoke, it means we are help others to pull the difficult loads of their life.

The yoke is a symbol of how we can be kept together helping each other during the difficult things that we have to face in our lives.

Sermon

Does anyone know what a yoke is?

  The yellow part of an egg right?   Egg yolk is spelled different.   What about another yoke?

  If two horses are pulling a wagon, how do the horses stay even?  They wear a harness.  A harness is like a yoke.

  In the time of Jesus, when two oxen pulled a cart, they wore a large wooden yoke around their necks.  This yoke was attached to the cart and it allowed two oxen to pull the cart without one getting ahead of the other.

  So, Jesus told his friends, take my yoke upon you and learn from me.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

  Sometimes life is hard.  And since life is sometimes hard, we don’t want to be alone.  We want to know that someone else is helping us.

  Jesus didn’t promise us an easy life with no work.  That would make us lazy.   What Jesus promised us is help.

  Jesus promised us the yoke of a community.  In a community, we live helping each other.  Your family is a community.  You live together to help each other, so you don’t have to do all the hard things alone.

  Jesus also promised that we have the life of God’s Spirit within us, helping us too.

  Remember the yoke and the harness.  A yoke is used to help two animals pull together to do the hard job of moving a heavy wagon.

  Remember that we are not alone in the many jobs that we have to do in our lives.  We have family and friends to help us.  And remember we are helping our family and friends too.  And life is easier when we do things together.

   And life is easier when we discover that the life of God is within us helping us to more than we ever thought that we could do.

  Let us be thankful today that we are helping each other today in all of the work that we are given to do in our lives.

   If we just had an easy life, we would not grow and get strong.  In our lives we always have something more difficult to do to help us to grow.  And let us always remember that we have the help of Jesus and the help of each other in all of the difficult things in our lives.

  Jesus said that we should take his yoke upon us.  And he said this as a riddle to let us know that we can find help in life, both within us and from each other.   Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 9, 2017: The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah , He’s Got the Whole World,  Eat This Bread,  May the Lord

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

O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

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 of Paul to the Romans

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.  Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good.  But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it.  For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.  Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.  

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 145

The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, * slow to anger and of great kindness.

The LORD is loving to everyone * and his compassion is over all his works.

All your works praise you, O LORD, * and your faithful servants bless you.

They make known the glory of your kingdom * and speak of your power;

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the crowd, "To what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, `We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."  At that time Jesus said, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

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. (chanted)

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.

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: He’s Got the Whole World (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

1          He’s got the whole world; in his hands he’s got the whole wide world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands; he’s got the whole world in his hands.

2          Little tiny babies. 

3          Brother and the sisters  

4          Mothers and the fathers

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 our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All  may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia.  Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Eat This Bread (Renew!  # 228)

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

Eat this bread, drink this wine, come to me and you shall 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: May the Lord (Sung to the tune of Eidelweiss)

May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and keep you forever, Grant you peace, perfect peace, Courage in every endeavor.  Lift up your eyes and seek His face, Trust His grace forever.  May the Lord, Mighty God Bless and keep you for ever.

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

Gospels: Structure of a Religious Revolution

4 Pentecost,  A p 8, July 2, 2017
Jeremiah 28:5-9  Psalm 89:1-4,15-18

Romans 6:12-23   Matthew 10:40-42

Lectionary Link

What do we call the events in America in 1776?  We call the events, The American Revolution.  A revolution is a successful revolt.  The successful revolt results in the establishment of new thinking and new institutions.  The American Revolution used insights from what had happened in the governance in England and the Continent and American founders brought into existence new thinking and new political practice.  The political practices were inspired by what they inherited from England and Europe but the practices included new articulation and application to fit the American situation.  England had their Parliament; America had Congress.  Similar in purpose but different in make up.

We can say that the American Revolution was birthed out of England and we have always retained Englishness without being English.  This week we celebrate the lives of American prophets and heroes, Patrick Henry, Thomas Payne, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams and many others.  We find them still present in our lives as part of our American identity.

The New Testament is about a religious revolution.  It is about the separation of an offspring religion from a parent religion.  It was about both subtle and significant changes in religious behaviors, practices and understanding.  It was about the separation of the church from the synagogue.

The process of separation in a revolution is not always peaceful.  The separation of the church from the synagogue was not always peaceful.  Former friends and family members became separated.  Some of the hardest words attributed to Jesus in the Gospel come as explanation for why the separation was occurring between the synagogue and church.  The New Testament is a book of a faith community being born in revolution.

Probably one of the most significant books of the last half of the 20th century was a book that gave us the phrase "paradigm shift."  T. S. Kuhn called the revolution within the scientific community a "paradigm shift."  Einsteinian physics was a revolt against Newtonian physics.  Einstein discovered problems with energy, mass and matter that could not be answered with Newtonian mathematics so he proposed his theory of relativity to provide answers to new unsolved problems.

The Christian Church was a paradigm shift from the synagogue.  The New Testament are the writings about this paradigm shift.  What was the main issue or the main problem which brought about this paradigm shift?

One becomes a part of a family by birth.  One cannot choose birth or the family into which one is born.  How can one become a part of a family without being born into it?  One can be adopted.  Can one understand that the naturally born might have a sense of superior family identity over the adopted children?

Probably the paradigm shift occurred between the synagogue and the church mainly because of the nature of the adoption program of the synagogue.  Most Jews were those who were born into Jewish families, but Judaism did have an adoption program, they had proselyte baptism for the non-Jew to be received into the synagogue community.  But if you were received into the synagogue, you were expected to follow the ritual purity requirements of the synagogue.

The adoption pattern of Christian baptism was too inclusive for the synagogue.  Peter and Paul began to let people into the community of faith without fulfilling all of the ritual purity customs of Judaism.  Peter and Paul had too lenient requirements for being a part of the church.  Why?  The Gentiles people who were enamored with message of Christ, were not enamored with all of the ritual purity requirements of Judaism.

Christian evangelism was much more inclusive than Jewish evangelism.  This drive to share the message of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible is what caused the great revolution and paradigm shift which gave birth to Gentile Christianity.

How does one change paradigms?  Science is supposed to take a non-emotional approach to subject matter, but T.S. Kuhn said that to change paradigms one had to make a conversion.  It was quite a novelty to use religious and political language to speak about changes in scientific thinking.

Between the paradigms of the synagogue and church there were irreconcilable differences which led to practices of separation and divorce.

The widespread incorporation of Gentiles as adopted members of the church brought about the painful divorce between synagogue and church.  Peter and Paul wanted the people of the synagogue to accept evangelism to the Gentile people.  Peter and Paul wanted members of synagogue to accept the churches' tolerant evangelism of the Gentiles.  St. Paul wrote that all people Jews and Gentile were born under the conditions of sin.  One did not avoid sin, simply by being an observant Jew; one dealt with sin by receiving the grace and power of God's Spirit.  The Gospel of Matthew is about the effort to convince people of the synagogue that they still had a place in the Jesus Movement.  But many members of the synagogue believed that such evangelism to the Gentiles would result in the loss of Jewish identity.

Why do people convert?  They convert when they find winsome ideas.  With new ideas, new social practices follow.  Conversion happens for pragmatic reason even if it is a spouse converted to the faith community of his or her spouse.  How does conversion happen?  Conversion happens when we welcome new ideas and new friends to influence our lives.

The Gospel evangelists registered their success when they were welcomed into the lives of people and when people welcomed the Gospel message into their lives to become the faith practice of their lives.

As people welcomed the Gospel and evangelists the presence of Christ has been transmitted through history.  You and I received and welcomed the Gospel into our lives from people who gave it to us.   And in so doing, we believe that the presence of Christ has been known.

Today we believe in a God who welcomes all to good news.  In the converting event of welcome, the presence of Christ is known and renewed into a new time and place.

You and I have probably been through many different conversion experiences in our lives; some of those conversions have been quite radical, even to the point of leaving participation with former acquaintances and taking up new friends.

Today, you and I are challenged by the promise of conversion and welcome.  Have we made our Episcopal Church so exclusive and inflexible that we are no longer winsome to people in our world?  There have been so many paradigm changes in our post-modern culture today, people of the church often feel that we will lose our Christianity if we compromise too much with the culture-at-large.

The early Christians adopted the paradigm of evangelism to include the Gentiles in a new faith community.  How will we let evangelism change us?  What must we do as a parish to have more people welcome the Gospel of Christ into their lives.

Let us live and speak our commitment to Christ in such a way that we will be able to be welcomed into the lives of people who need the good news of Christ.  Amen.