Sunday School, February 18, 2018 1 Lent B

Sunday School, February 18, 2018   1 Lent B

Themes:

The temptation of Jesus

What is temptation?

Temptation is about being tricked into doing things at the wrong time.

If you see a piece of chocolate cake in the kitchen and it is only an hour before dinner, you may want to eat the lovely piece of cake.  But you also know that your mom wants you to wait until it is time for dessert after you eat a good healthy meal.

But you really want to eat the chocolate cake right now.  And so you do and when it comes supper time, you are not hungry to eat good food.  And your mom wants to know about the missing cake.

We are tempted all the time.  We are tempted to have lots of mis-timing in life.  We desire things, right now and we don’t want to wait, even though by not waiting we get into trouble.

So we need to practice doing the right things at the right time.  The church has an entire season for learning how to practice doing things at the right time.  We fast.  That is, we say no to certain foods and things so that we can develop our muscles of choice to be strong enough to do the right things at the right time.

We don’t like to say “no” to ourselves.  But we need to learn how to practice self-control.  The season of Lent is a season to build our muscles of self control.  How do we do this?  One way is to say no to some of our favorite pleasures and to use our time and our money to share with people who do not have as much as we do.  We do more community service.  We take on projects to help others because we are using the energy that we used to use for ourselves for others.

The season of Lent helps us to learn self control so that we can practice good timing in our lives, do the right things at the right time.

Exercise:

Think about things that you really like to do but that may not be good for you if you do too much or do them at the wrong time.

Then develop a strategy, a plan during Lent to practice self control so that you can learn the very best timing for doing everything in your life.

Sermon

What season of the Church are we in now?  Lent.  And what is the color for Lent?  For the season of Lent we make some changes.  We change colors.  You noticed that we changed candle holders on the altar.  We have changed our collection plates from silver to basket.  We have change our wine cup and bread plate from silver to pottery.  And we have dropped a very, very happy word that means “yeah God” out of the service.  And we won’t say it during Lent, at least not on purpose.

  Why do we do all of this?  Because the season of Lent is not a season of celebration.  It is a season of hard work and preparation.  And it lasts 40 days, not including Sundays.   And when does it end?  It ends on the biggest celebration of the year, on Easter Sunday.

  Why do we have Lent?  Why does a baseball team have spring training?  Why does a football team have training camp?

  To get ready for the real games.  What are the baseball players doing right now?  They are in spring training.  They are do lots of exercises.  They are practicing fielding and throwing the ball.  They are practicing making double plays.  Over and over again.  Why?  So, their team can be ready when the real games start.  And why do they want to be ready?  Because they want to win as many games as they can and go to the most important game of all, the World Series.

  Lent is a Season of Practice.  And there are lots of things that we need to take time to practice.  We need to practice taking care of our health and our bodies.  So, we try to practice something new in health and safety.  Eating good food.

  We practice helping other people.  We might do something to help people in our world who are in need.

  We practice loving God.  How do we do this?  We learn how to pray a little bit more.  We spend more time talking to God.  And we learn more about the Bible and we learn more about God.  Why do we do this?  Because, we need to have faith.  Why do we need to practice our faith?  Because there are things in life that are hard and difficult.  There are things that might make us afraid.  Things that might make us worry.  And so we have to build our faith to help us be prepared for some of the difficult things that we might have to do.

  During Lent, we try to spend more time together.  We are a church family.  We are like a team.  And if we are going to be a good team, then we have to spend some time together, getting to know each other so that we can work together.

  So we have the season of Lent as a season of training and preparation to become better Christian.  Sometimes practice is hard work and sometimes it is not fun.  Most baseball players would rather play games than practice.  But if we want to do well in the game, we must practice.  So, too, if we want to be better Christians, and a better parish team, we need to practice.  In the season of Lent, we work on practicing our Christian faith.   Are you ready for practice?  I hope you and your family can find some things to practice during the season of Lent.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 18, 2018: First Sunday In Lent

Gathering Songs: Yield Not to Temptation, Change My Heart, O God, Eat This Bread, Peace Before Us

Liturgist: Blessed the Lord who forgives all our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures forever.  Amen.

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Opening Song: Yield Not to Temptation (LEVAS # 170)

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin, each victory will help you some other to win.  Fight pressing onward, dark passion subdue.  Look ever to Jesus, he will carry you through. 

Refrain: Ask the Savior to help you. Comfort, strengthen and keep you.  He is will to aid you.  He will carry you through.

Shun evil companions, bad companions disdain.  God’s name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain.  Be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true.  Look ever to Jesus, he will carry you through.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

Litany phrase: Praise the Lord (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have made us! Praise the Lord

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

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise the Lord

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise the Lord

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

A Reading from the Book of Genesis

God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 25

Show me your ways, O LORD, *and teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, * for you are the God of my salvation;

in you have I trusted all the day long.

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 Mark

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased."

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

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 Anthem: Change My Heart O God,   (Renew! # 143, gray paperback hymnal)

Change my heart, O God.  Make it every true.  Change my heart, O God, may I be like you.  You are the Potter, I am the clay; Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.  Change my heart, O God, make it ever true; change my heart, O God, may it be like you.

(Repeat)

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 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 neighbors as our self.

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 by 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:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.   

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

Peace before us, peace behind us, peace under our feet.  Peace within us, peace over us, let all around us be peace.

Love before us…

Light before us..

Christ before…

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Contentment within Metamorphosis

Last Epiphany B      February 11, 2018
1 Kg 19:9-18      Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Mark 9:2-9

Lectionary Link

Have you ever been witness to the moment when a butterfly breaks out of the cocoon and struggles to unfurl its wing?  Perhaps you've seen it on a video, but there is nothing like witnessing it in person.  There are unique occasions in life that we feel lucky to witness in person.

The event of the Transfiguration was a unique manifestation of Jesus Christ.  Jesus went up a mountain with Peter, James and John, the three hot heads of the 12.  Peter was known for his cursing and swearing and James and John were given the nickname of "Sons of Thunder."  They were the lucky attendees with Jesus for this visionary event.

In the clouds on the mountain, the face of Jesus began to shine.  Apparitions of Moses and Elijah appeared to talk with Jesus.  This was presented as proof that Jesus was a valid successor of the traditions which derived from the Law and Prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures.  The shiny face of Jesus mimics in comparison, the shiny face of Moses when he met with God on Mount Sinai.  Elijah, even more dramatically went into heaven on a chariot and horses of fire.

What is the meaning of this event of the transfiguration of Jesus Christ?  In the life of the early church it had several meanings.

First, as the Jesus Movement was separating from the synagogue, because of the gradual transition to Gentile Christianity, did this mean that Christians would lose their valid connection with the Hebrew Scripture tradition?  The Transfiguration story embodies a statement by the early church.  If Moses and Elijah appeared to take counsel with Jesus Christ, then this meant that the chief spokespersons for the Law and the Prophets were conferring on Christ the designation as the valid successor of the Hebraic/Judaic traditions.  The clouds and the light indicate that Jesus was in the same company of Moses and Elijah who had their own fire and light shows on mountains.  The Transfiguration experience is also a tie-in with the King David of the Psalms, who is a proto-type for the messiah to come.  In a Royal Psalm, the king is poetically designated as the Divinely conceived son of God.  "The Lord said to my lord, today have I begotten you."  What did the voice of God the Father say on the Mount of Transfiguration?  "This is my Son, the beloved.  Listen to him."

One of the main purposes of this story is to establish the continuity of Jesus and the Jesus Movement with the tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Jewish members of the Jesus Movement were disappointed that many who remained in the synagogue tradition did not accept the messianic tradition of Jesus Christ.  The New Testament are writings to claim that the Hebrew Scriptures are Christian heirlooms which belong with our family.  This disagreement with the synagogue over the heirloom of Hebrew Scripture defines the situation for the birth of the Christian tradition.

The event of the Transfiguration represents the transference of a metaphor from the written word of God to God in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Torah, the written word of God was called the light.  "Thy word is a lamp for my people and a light unto my path."  What do the New Testament writers call Jesus Christ.  They call him the Word of God from the beginning.  They call Jesus the Light of the World.  The word of God, the Torah of God as lamp and light is transferred onto the person of Jesus Christ.  And this is made a very physical thing in the visionary event of the Transfiguration.  The face of Jesus becomes the filament and is literally lit up for those who beheld the face of Jesus.  Why is Jesus the Light of the World?  Well, some had the vision on the Mount of Transfiguration they were able to see this metaphor become an actual reality in the face of Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, the transfiguration put into story form the spiritual methodology of St. Paul and the early Church.  The spirituality of the early church is in part, a theology of time.  The theology of time is that we and everything in freedom is always being changed.  The transfiguration is not just a belief about time as being perpetual change; it involves a belief that we can experience time and change as being guided in a positive, hopeful direction.

The process of change in nature is organic and cyclical.  In nature we designated organic and cyclical change of time as metamorphosis.  The word transfiguration in the Greek is the word from which we get the English word metamorphosis.  St. Paul and others confessed that we are being changed into the likeness of Christ.  The Gospel was the light of the glory of Christ and the light of Christ has shone in our hearts to give us the knowledge of the glory in the face of Christ.  St. Paul and the Gospel writers wrote that if we are inevitably subject to the changes of time, let us appropriate a positive direction for change and time.  The light of Christ is the positive energy of time which impels the direction of change.  The spiritual end is to become more like Christ.

You and I as persons and as community are in perpetual metamorphosis.  And like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have our favorite phases.  So much so we want to make a tent in time as a way of stopping the clock within a spiritual high.  But life is not like that; just as the egg, larva, cocoon and butterfly are all true phases of the cycle of life for the butterfly.  But why is the butterfly the ending phase if all phases have equality of occurrence?

Can we see our lives as persons and as parish community in perpetual process of metamorphosis?  I invite us to do so and how can we do this?  How can we be content with all phases of metamorphosis?  The egg is equal to the butterfly, just different.

The phases of the life of Jesus were different: baby, young lad, obscure and unknown/unrecorded for almost thirty years, preacher, healer, solitude man of prayer, tempted, accused, transfigured, mocked, praised as king, confessed as messiah, called mad, demonic and a drunkard, betrayed, denied, crucified, a dead body, buried, resurrected,  ascended, glorified.  Jesus was equal but different in all of the phases in life.  We, too, will know equal but different phases of how Christ is with us in our spiritual metamorphosis.  We may prefer transfiguration and resurrection, but the whole set of metamorphosis all come together as a package.

Let us accept all of the phases of metamorphosis in our personal and parish life today.  There are many phases in our parish life that are shiny and transfigured today.  And yet some of our parish seems in the dormant cocoon phase of seeming lack of life, energy and ministry.

Faith is learning how to live with contentment given all of the phases of metamorphosis that are evident in our parish and personal lives.

How can we have this faith?  Let us believe that the Light of Christ is the very energy that drive both change and the direction of change.  Let us not grow weary in believing the positive direction of metamorphosis for our personal lives and our parish lives.  And let us all be ready to be inspired to be the go-to person for the passing into a transfigured and climactic phase for the good of the parish.  Your gift, your offering, your ministry may be the way in which we break out of a dormant cocoon and help us to unfurl our butterfly wings for something new and transfigured.

The Gospel today is that the freedom of time and change means that we are already committed to metamorphosis.  But the Light of Christ is the promise to us that time and change can be known to be propelled toward positive outcomes even as we also have the grace of contentment in the times when success does not seem as evident or as apparent as we want.

Because of freedom, time and change, we have no choice about metamorphosis happening.  But we have the choice to walk with Christ and to climb the mountain and to witness his light as driving the future positive outcomes that await us.  Can we believe this today?  Then welcome to the transfiguration of Christ.  Amen.

Sunday School, February 11, 2018 Last Epiphany B

Sunday School, February 11, 2018   The Last Sunday after the Epiphany B

Theme:

The last Sunday that we use the word “Alleluia” until Easter Sunday.

Activity: Do something to “hide” alleluia from your vocabulary.  You can write “alleluia” on a piece of paper and then hide it in a special place.  A fast is when you give up eating certain food.  After Sunday, we begin an “alleluia” fast until Easter.  We take a fast from “alleluia” because it is such a special word of praise that we stop saying it for while to reserve it to welcome the celebration of Easter, the greatest event in the church because it is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ.

The Last Sunday after the Epiphany theme is always the Transfiguration of Jesus Christ.  We read the Gospel story of when Jesus was on a mountain with his friends, Peter, James and John and it suddenly got cloudy and in a sort of dream-like experience, Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking with Jesus.  The face of Jesus got really shiny just like the face of Moses had become after he went up Mt. Sinai and received the famous Laws.  Elijah was a great prophet who was known for riding a chariot of fire into heaven.

These two great heroes appeared with Jesus as a way of saying that they supported Jesus as the new light of the world to show people a new way to live.

When the face of Jesus shone brightly, the voice of God the Father was heard and God the Father said about Jesus, “This is my Son, the beloved, listen to him.”

When we understand something for the first time, sometimes we say, “the light came on.”  Light is a symbol for understanding.  Darkness is a symbol for ignorance or not being able to understand something.

Epiphany season which ends before the season of Lent, is a season about how Jesus is the Light of the World.

Exercise:

What does light mean to us?

What does darkness mean to us?

How do you think that Jesus could be called the light of the world?

How do you think that you can be a light of the world?

Sermon:

  Today we read a story about Jesus.  The friends of Jesus were Peter, James and John.  And they had a vision of Jesus being with them on a mountain.

  And the mountain was covered with clouds.  And two famous people appeared within the cloud:  Moses and Elijah.

  And when they looked at Jesus, they saw that his face was shining very brightly.  And the friends of Jesus knew that he was a very special person.  He came to show this world who God is.

  That is why we call Jesus the Light of the world. 

  And did you know that Jesus also told us that we are to lights of the world too.

  How many of you like light?  What does light do for us?  It helps us see while we work and play.  When it is very dark we can’t do much.  We trip and fall.

  Jesus is the light of the world because he showed us how to live in the best way.

 We are to be lights in the world, because we’re supposed to live in such a good way, that we help other people live good lives too.

  Jesus is the Light of the world.  And we, too are lights in the world because we are helping to show people how to live good lives.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 11, 2018: The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs:    Shine, Jesus, Shine; Majesty, The Lord Is My Light; I’ll Be a Sunbeam  

Procession Song: Shine, Jesus Shine    (Renew!  # 247)

Refrain: Shine, Jesus shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory, blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire; Flow, river, flow, flood the nations with grace and mercy, send forth your word and let there be light.

1.   Lord, the light of your love is shining in the midst of the darkness shining; Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us, set us free by the truth you now bring us.  Shine on me, shine on me. Refrain

2.   Lord, I come to your awesome presence from the shadows into your radiance; by the blood I may enter your brightness, search me, try me, consume all my darkness Shine on me, shine on me.  Refrain

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.

Liturgis:           The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; 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

Liturgist:   A reading from the Second letter of Paul to the Corinthians

Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus

Christ.Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 50

The LORD, the God of gods, has spoken; * he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, * God reveals himself in glory.

  

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Liturgist:

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 Mark

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

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: Majesty, (Renew # 63)

Majesty, worship His majesty.  Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise. 

Majesty, kingdom authority flow from His throne unto His own;

His anthem raise.  So, exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. 

Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King. 

Majesty, worship His Majesty; Jesus who died,

now glorified, King of all kings.

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 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 up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

 this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: The Lord Is My Light  (Renew! # 102)

The Lord is my light, my light and salvation; in him I trust, in him I trust.  The Lord is my light, my light and salvation: in him I trust, in him I trust.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: I’ll Be a Sunbeam (Christian Children’s Songbook  # 112)

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, to shine for him each day; in every way try to please him, at home, at school, at play. 

Refrain: A sunbeam, a sunbeam, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.  A sunbeam, a sunbeam, I’ll be a sunbeam for him.

I’ll be a sunbeam for Jesus, I can if I but try; serving him moment by moment, then live with him on high.  Refrain

Dismissal   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

Folk Medicine or Holistic Health?

5 Epiphany B  February 4, 2018
Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39
Lectionary Link
When we read the accounts of healing in the Bible, we need to resist importing our notions of modern medicine onto the societies during the time of Jesus and the various Christian communities throughout the cities of the Roman Empire.  We need to be aware of what might be called ethno-medicine or medical anthropology.

I took several anthropologies courses in grad school from a professor who had gone to Bolivia as a Maryknoll missionary of the Catholic Church.  He became conversant with the language and culture of the Quechuan mountain people.  He later left the priesthood, got married and became an anthropologist who specialized in the folk medicine of the Andean tribes.  His thesis was that health and the practices of health are always contextual in societies.  When anthropologists study indigenious cultures, they find that the practice of medicine and health is very contextual.  And within the contextual situation the people are convinced about their medical methods.

We, might be suspicious of the many of the medical practices of medicine men and women, shamans, witch doctors, herbalists, spiritualists and the like but their medicine as a symbolic system works for them within their situation and everything has a definition, even the failure of their treatment.

Not long ago, we in our own medical  tradition practiced blood-letting.  When I grew up in high school, we were taught that we were not supposed to drink water when we played sports because we would get water logged and diminish our performance.  How enlightened was that?  Acupuncture, acupressure and herbal remedies used to be regarded as unenlightened but now they are found on our street corners as normal medicine.

As enlightened as we might think our medicine is today, we have more than 20,000 people die each year of overdoses.  We have more than 20 million people suffering from opioid addiction; being literally killed by modern medicine.  So, we cannot be too proud of all our modern medical practices, especially the commercialization of pharmaceuticals.   Almost every other television commercial is for a prescription drug that we are encouraged to ask our doctors for.  Often when a doctor is baffled by a person's symptoms, there is the fall back diagnosis:  Your problem is stress related.  Opioid addictions can occur when one takes medicine for "stress" without dealing with the lifestyle issues that caused the stress in the first place.

What we could learn from the medicine of Jesus is a more holistic approach.  Healing from Jesus was an inside job.  The healing of Jesus occurred in an environment when many people presented "stress" related illness.  People were sick in their insides.  When a person is sick inside, it eventually manifests itself in the body in all sorts of maladies.  People who lived in abusive environments took on the environmental illness into their very beings even to the point of acting out in ways such that their spirits were declared to be unclean and their impulse control was lost.

Jesus as a healer, was shown to be also a person who went off to be alone and pray.  A healer has to be one who knows the peace and inner equilibrium within oneself first.  Paul in his prayers saw himself as seated with Christ above principalities of darkness.  A person prays in order to come to know the power of God's health and goodness within oneself first.  And from the practice of this meditative inner health, one can go forth to be a healing and whispering person for the good health of all within one's community.

Sometimes in reading the time-lapsed Gospel stories, we think that they are just about curative events of Jesus.  We can think that being healthy means never getting sick or having faith means that we expect immediate cures whenever we are sick.  All of the people cured by Jesus most likely got sick again in their lives and they all died.  So what does health mean?  Health is more than achieving temporary cures on our way to eventual death.  Health is more about knowing how to live well no matter what condition we find ourselves in.  This is a more holistic notion of health and it includes knowing an inner health of the peaceful Holy Spirit within our lives.  Health is about the community of health to provide mutual support for each other in all conditions.  The Gospels were written as health manuals for the church community which were successful because they practiced healthy mutual support of each other.  The healing of Christ is also holistic for our futures; for our after lives.  The resurrection narrative is a vision of God's preservation of our lives beyond this life.  Why is this important when we can't presume to know too much about the afterlife?  One of the greatest elements of healing is hope.  Hope is living, knowing that we always have a future and in the experience of the eternal Holy Spirit, we are given the sense that we will never be without some sentient state of existence.  This means we don't have to be greedy about time as a personal possession; we can live our lives sharing our time with others because we have a sense of always having enough time to be the process of becoming what we need to become.

As we might be tempted to be dismissive of the seeming folk medicine of Jesus, let us embrace health and healing in the holistic sense that is implied in the Gospels, the health manuals of the church.  Let look to Christ as one who is with us in our sickness, even as we wait for our next cures.  And let us be a community of health who support each other within all of the conditions of life.  Amen.