Sunday School, October 21, 2018 22 Pentecost B proper 24

Sunday School, October 21, 2018  22 Pentecost B proper 24

Themes:

God spoke to Job out of a whirlwind and stated the obvious:  “Job, you are not God.  You are not big enough or smart enough to understand everything or why everything happens.”

Discussion:

What do we do when we feel small?

How do we accept the fact that we have limitation?

How do we accept the fact that we cannot know why everything happens?

It should be easy for us to realize that we are small because the world that we live in is so big and great, it overwhelms us with awesomeness.

We want to know that this great big world which can be frightening can also be very friendly to us.  We believe in God because we believe that what is Awesome can also be friendly.

One of the ways in which we don’t handle our smallness is that we want to prove that we are better than other people.  Perhaps if we can make ourselves more important that other people we will not feel so small.

The disciples James and John wanted to have a higher place in the life of Jesus than their friends.  So they asked Jesus if they could be the closest and most important people to him.  Jesus reminded them that this was not the way to become important or to feel important.  The way to become important was to serve and help each other.  Because we are all so small in this Awesome Great World, we need to pull together and help each other.  This is how we can feel good and important.  We can become very important if we help others.

Jesus was called a great High Priest, not because he tried to be great, but because He was God who decided to appear in the small world of men and women as a Person.  As a Person he showed us that the Awesome and Great God is friendly, kind and loving.  Jesus was a Great High Priest, not because he asked to be great but because he was great in serving others.

So how can we handle our sense of being small in this great and awesome world?  We can know that there is a Great and Awesome God who is a Friendly Presence in our World and who gave us Jesus to show us how friendly God is.

We can handle our sense of being small by serving each other through love and kindness.

Sermon on “Me first” or “We first”

The disciples of Jesus were fighting about having the best seats, closest to Jesus.  And were saying, “Me first.”

  Have you ever said, “Me First?”  Do you ever want to have the best seat?  Do you ever want to be the first in line?  Do you ever want to have the biggest piece of cake?  Do you ever want to win the race?  Do you ever want to win all of the games that you play with your friends?  Do you ever want to have more toys than all your friends?

  As little babies we are born in this world saying, “Me first.”  As babies we need to have food and clothes and a house and everything given to us.  As babies we cry when we need things and mom and dad wait on us and give us everything that we need.

  So as babies, we always act like we are saying “me first.”

  So how do we know when we are growing up?  We are growing up when we get taller and stronger, when we learn to walk and talk and go to school.

  But there is another way that we grow up.  It’s when we learn to say, “We first” and not just“me first.”

  It is very hard to change from “me first” to “we first.”  If we have a younger brother or sister, we have to let Mom and Dad share their time with baby brother and sister.  And so we learn how to share.  We learn how to say “we first” not “me first.”

  When we go to school, there may be only two swings on the playground and there may be 20 students.  So one person cannot be on the swing for all of the time.  We have to share the swings so that everyone gets a turn.  We learn to say, “we first, not “me first.”

  Remember if God said, “me first.”  God would not have created this world.

  Remember if parents said, “me first,” they would not ever have children.  Because to have babies and children, a parent cannot say, “me first” but “we first.”

  Jesus tried to teach his disciples a lesson.  He said to live best is to change from “me first” to “we first.”  “We first” means that we learn to share with other people.

  We come each Sunday to this meal the Holy Eucharist to remember that Jesus is teaching us to go from saying, “me first,” to “we first.” Because when we share, we are all first and best together.

  Can you say, “We first?”  I will learn how to share.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 21, 2018: The Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: The Lord Is Present, I Got Peace Like a River,  I Love you Lord, Awesome God

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

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  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: The Lord Is Present  (Renew! # 55)

The Lord is present in his sanctuary, let us praise the Lord.  The Lord is present in his people gathered here, let us praise the Lord.  Praise him, praise him, let us praise the Lord.  Praise him, praise him, let us praise Jesus.

The Lord is present in his sanctuary, let us sing to the Lord.  The Lord is present in his people gathered here, let us sing to the Lord.  Sing to him, sing to him, let us sing to the Lord.  Sing to him, sing to him, let us sing to Jesus.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: 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 book of Job

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements-- surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it?  On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? "

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 104

Bless the LORD, O my soul; * O LORD my God, how excellent is your greatness! you are clothed with majesty and splendor.

You wrap yourself with light as with a cloak * and spread out the heavens like a curtain.

You lay the beams of your chambers in the waters above; * you make the clouds your chariot; you ride on the wings of the wind.

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.

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." But Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They replied, "We are able." Then Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."  When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, "You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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.

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

1          I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.  I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river.  I’ve got peace like a river in my soul..

2          I’ve got love…. 

3          I’ve got joy……

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All  may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(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:  I Love You, Lord (Renew! # 36)

I love you Lord, and I lift my voice to worship you, O my soul, rejoice!  Take joy, my King, in what you hear:  may it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Awesome God (Renew! # 245)

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

(Sing three times)

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

 

Jesus, the Executor of God's Estate

21  Pentecost b P.23  October 14, 2018

Job 23:1-9, 16-17, 10-15  Ps. 90

Hebrews 4:12-16  Mark 10:17-27

Lectionary Link

The Gospels of the New Testament are written with anticipation.  They were written by members of the early church who had developed a theology and spiritual practice after the post-resurrection appearances of Christ.

The early church wanted to show how Jesus anticipated what the church would be like after Jesus was gone.

There is something very true about the last being first and the first being last.  How can that be true?  People who come before us will always be chronologically before us, but people who are later in history are "first" because they have more of a final say in how the past is interpreted.

The early church came after Judaism but regarded themselves as first, because they did a wholescale re-interpretation of Judaism based upon what had happened in the life of Jesus and in his post-resurrection afterlife and his continuing spiritual presence in the church.

St. Paul wrote that we are saved by grace through faith.  He wrote that we are not justified by keeping the law but we are justified by God's grace as seen the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.

So how could the theology of St. Paul and the early church be anticipated in the life of Jesus?

The Gospel story presents a rich young man who wants affirmation from Jesus.  He represents those who believed their success was due to how they have kept the religious laws.  Remember in contrast, that Job represented that bad things can and do happen to a religious man.

In his dialogue with Jesus, the rich man stated his confident certainty about his performance of the law.  He was implying that he had obviously earned a place in the kingdom of God.

Jesus was rather foxy; he said,"Well if you're all about counting the good things that you have done, and if you think the kingdom of God depends upon your good works, just keep working and do one more thing; sell all you have and give to the poor and follow me."

Do you see how the early church is telling the story of Jesus to challenge two common assumptions that existed for the Jews and Gentiles during the time of Jesus and the early church?

Being a Jew, made a person the privileged first and chosen; being a Jew meant that one had an automatic salvation.  And being a completely observant Jews of all of the rules would be a further guarantee of salvation and being in God's kingdom.

But what was the teaching of the early church?  One was saved by God's grace, which is God's doing and not human achievement.  

The disciples who are presented in Gospels as students not yet enlightened,  were shown to be baffled.  They are often used in the Gospel to set up issues and questions that arose in the early church.    "Jesus, this man is rich and successful and he keeps all of the law, isn't he an obvious candidate for the kingdom of God?  And if he isn't a candidate then who is?"

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is humanly impossible because it is given by God's grace.  People have to have the humility to accept what is given to them by God's grace.  As long as people think that the kingdom of God or salvation are attained because one has been born as one of God's first chosen people or because one has earned it with good behaviors, then one does not understand God's way or God's kingdom.

In a strange way, one cannot earn what one already has.  The rich man was trying to earn God's favor by being better than other people, when Jesus came to teach us that we already have God's favor because God made us and the world, so we already live in God's kingdom.  There are no first or lasts in God's kingdom because God's grace haw given everyone the kingdom.  Then what is the problem?

The problem is that people live in alienation from their true selves as sons and daughters of God.  Jesus came to restore us in the image of God that is upon everyone so that we can perceive that we live in God's kingdom.  So, we cannot inherit what we already have; but we have to discover what we already have or the inheritance that has not claimed.  Jesus is the executor of God's estate sent to find those who don't realize that they are heirs of God.

You and I come together today, not to earn God's kingdom but to celebrate the grace of God in giving us the kingdom of God and letting us know that we are sons and daughters of God.

This is the good news that we gather to celebrate; this is the good news that  we have to share with others, especially to those who are living in alienation from their true identity.  

God's grace is a human impossibility and only God has the authority to offer such a grace; what is humanly possible is for us to humbly receive this great gift and to let everyone know about God's love.  Amen.

Sunday School, October 14, 2018 21 Pentecost, B proper 23

Sunday School, October 14, 2018     21 Pentecost, B proper 23

Themes

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews writes that we love and respect God because God embraced our human life so closely in Jesus Christ that we can say that even though God is Great and mighty, God still knows how we feel.

And God knows that freedom in life means life does not always seem to be fair.  Good things can happen to bad people and bad things can happen to good people.

The story of Job is a story about how good things happened to a bad person; he had such bad luck that he felt like God had forsaken him.

Jesus is God's Son, the best of all people,  but some bad things happened to him.  Before he died on the cross, he said that same words which are found in Psalm 22: "My God, why have you forsaken me."

Sometimes people think and believe that if we are always lucky, it means that we are good and God must be blessing us by giving us good luck.

It is true that we can prevent some bad things from happening if we do good and right things.  For example, if we are safe and wear a bike helmet we may not hurt our head when we fall, but we might scrape our hand or our knee.  Just because we are good and safe that does not mean some sad thing can't happen in our lives.

The letter of the Hebrews tells us we can know God's word when it works inside of us and sorts us out to help us improve our lives.

Sometimes we need to hear God's word in our education to make us better people.  Some times we will not get better if we only practice and celebrate the things that we can already do well.   Sometimes we need our parents and our teachers to tell us about the new things that we have to learn, even though the new things might be more difficult to learn.  If we only know addition in math, we need to learn subtraction, multiplication and division we are going to improve.

A rich man came to Jesus and he had followed all of the rules and he wanted Jesus to congratulate him for being so good.  He wanted Jesus to promise him that he had eternal life.  He had a good life and he wanted this good life to continue even after he died.

Jesus was a good teacher; he congratulated him for his success, but he told him that he could be even better if he would sell the good things of his life and give the money to the poor.  This rich young man was very sad to hear this because he had so many things.

Jesus said that it was hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God?  Why, a rich person thinks that the kingdom of God is enter by what he has or what he does.  The kingdom of God is everywhere because God make this world.  Everyone is already in God's world and kingdom; it is just that many people do not recognize where they are because they do not recognize that they and this world already belong to God.

The gift of the kingdom of God is the gift that everyone has to just accept as the world which God has given to us.  We cannot work to get there; we just have to accept that we are in the kingdom and that it is God's gift.  The rich man was trying to work to get into God's kingdom and Jesus was saying that it was sad that this young man did not know how to receive the gift of God's kingdom which he already have.

This helps us understand sin too.  Sin is living in God's world and not knowing that it is God's world but thinking that it is our world which we own because of our work, success or our wealth.

Remember if we know ourselves to be sons and daughters of God, then we have already inherited the kingdom of God.  You don't work for an inheritance; you get an inheritance because you are a child of God.

Sermon

I need some help today.  I need some directions because I need to get somewhere.  Can you tell me how to get to Morgan  Hill?  I need to go to a church there, St. John the Divine.  Can you tell me how to get to St. John the Divine?  If I give you some money will you tell me how to get to St. John’s in Morgan Hill?  If I keep the 10 commandments, will you help me get to St. John’s in Morgan Hill?

  Why does it seem strange for me to ask you for directions?  You are thinking…what wrong with Father Phil, is he lost?  Has he lost his mind? How come he doesn’t know that he is already in Morgan Hill and at St.  John the Divine.

  When you go to Disneyland, how do you know that you are there?  You see the sign..you see Mickey and Minnie…you see the Magic Kingdom.

  A man came to Jesus and said, how can I have eternal life.  How can I live forever after I die.  How can I have the kind of life that God’s has?

And Jesus told him to keep the 10 commandments.  And the man said,”Well, I have always kept the 10 commandments.”  Then Jesus said to him, “But have you sold all of the things you owned and given the money to the poor?”  And the man left Jesus and he was very sad, because he had lots of things to sell.

  Then Jesus told his disciples a riddle.  He said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than it was for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.  What is the meaning of this riddle?

  The rich man  thought that the kingdom of God began at the end of his life after he died.  Jesus was trying to say, the rich man was already in the kingdom of God, but he could not recognize.

  The rich man was like me, when I ask you if I could get to St. John’s, Morgan Hill.  You wanted to say to me.  Silly man…you are already there.

  Jesus came to tell us about something many people forget.  Jesus came to tell us that this world is the kingdom of God.  Why?  Because God made it and the world belongs to God.  So, everywhere we live is the kingdom of God.  And if God made everything, everything belongs to God.

  But sometimes we forget that this world, our lives, and our things belong to God.  That is when we get lost and confused.  We live in the kingdom of God but we don’t know it.  We live thinking that we are rich because and we pretend that everything belongs to us.  And we forget that all things belong to God.  We forget that this is God’s kingdom.  We forget that God cares for everyone.  And when that happens, then some people have more than enough to eat, and other people do not have enough to eat.

  So, do you see what sin is?  It is living in the kingdom of God and not recognizing it.

  So what can we do?  We can confess our understanding of God’s kingdom.

God made this world.  God made me.  I am a child of God.  I belong to God.  Everything in this world belongs to God.  I live in God’s Kingdom. God shares many good things with me.  I give some of my time, some of my talent, some of my treasure back to God.  I share what I have with those who are in need.  I share the good news about God’s kingdom. 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 14, 2018: The Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs:  This Little Light of Mine, O Be Careful, Eat This Bread, Soon and Very Soon

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: This Little Light of Mine  (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 234)

This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.  This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, No! I’m going to let it shine.  Hide it under a bushel, No! I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let shine, let it shine.

Don’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine.  Don’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine.  Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.   Amen.

Litany Phrase: 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 Hebrews

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.  Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 90

Show your servants your works * and your splendor to their children.

May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; * prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.

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.

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.'" He said to him, "Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth." Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.  Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible."  Peter began to say to him, "Look, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age--houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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 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.

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

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

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

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

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

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

Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry.  Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the king, Alleluia, Alleluia, we’re going to see the king

No more dying there we are going to see the king.  No more dying there we are going to see the king.  No more dying there we are going to see the king.  Alleluia, Alleluia, we’re going to see the king

Soon and very soon….

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Finding Innocence and Living Beyond the Knowledge of Good and Evil

20  Pentecost Cycle b proper 22 October 7, 2018

Job 1:1; 2:1-10    Psalm 26

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12  Mark 10:2-16

Lectionary Link
The Hebrew Scriptures reveal the great gift of the law to the people of Israel.  And what is law?  I would call law the revelations of the best insights for how to live given the conditions of freedom which exist in our world.

The great Bible story begins with a totally innocent world and through the work of the serpent and human agency the knowledge of good and evil became the human experience.

Once human beings discover good and evil within the freedom of the world, what does God do to help people live together with safety and without sustaining too much harm?

God gave the law.  The law arises as recommended actuarial living.  When people live in the conditions of freedom, what probably will happen?  How can human being live so that more probable good can happen than more probable evil? How can people in community live to create the best probable outcomes?  This is where the law comes in.

Israel through Moses received the law with great and wonderful actuarial wisdom on how to live so that there is more probability of good things happening than bad things.

So, Israel, you need an identity that will keep you together as a people so that you don't fall apart as a community.  How do you do that?  You love one God.  You don't imitate the neighboring tribes who have many gods.  You keep from hypocrisy of saying you believe in one God when in practice you don't.  (Don't take God's name in vain). You give God some time to build your One God identity. (Keep the sabbath).  You want to add good probability to your life?  Honor family relations, like parents and spouses.  You honor property rights; don't steal.  You honor truth; don't lie.  You honor life; don't kill.  And you learn impulse control; don't covet.  And so there are many of laws and rules for times and places in one's life for social order.  Big laws and little laws, all based on some notion of actuarial wisdom.

But if one observes the law to one's best ability, does that keep bad things from happening to anyone?  There was a tradition of religious thinking that arose which said that if bad things happened to you, then you must have offended God and transgressed some law and so the resulting evil was a reciprocal punishment.  Conversely, if you were blessed with luck and success that must mean you were properly observing God's law and attaining the resulting blessing.

And so we have the witness of Job; he was an religious observant man.  He was faithful, helped the needy and was law abiding.  He should have been the one obviously blessed to have good fortune.  He was proving good probability theory.  But Job was the figure in a wisdom story to challenge very narrow minded thinking about the law.  The story about God who is perfect freedom, included the Satanic agency of bad things happening.  No matter how religious one is or how one lives, good and bad things can happen to anyone in seeming inconsistent ways.

Why do so many of the world's tyrant get so much power and wealth while being the most dishonest and cruel people of their times?  This kind of disproves the theory of only good things happening to good people.

Job is the story of bad things happening to a good man and his struggle to maintain his faith and belief in God, even while his friends victimized him and told him to admit his secret faults which had caused his bad luck.

Keeping the law is good actuarial practice; but it still does not guarantee exemption from bad things happening to anyone.

The presence of the law in the lives of people also requires an expansion of the number of laws.  Why?  Because people fail to keep the law and when people fail to keep the law, new laws of sentencing and punishment have to be written to deal with human failure.

Charity often fails in human relationship, in marriage and divorce happens.  The reasons for permitting divorce was a big theological question among the rabbis in the time of Jesus.  Jesus was upset with the emphasis that religious leader expressed.  Just because people fail at charity, the failure at charity and divorce cannot overturn the standard of marriage as being the norm.

Jesus was saying just because people fail at charity, such failure cannot be stated as the norm.  Marriage is the still the law, even if people fail a marriage.  Jesus was not denying the fact that divorce occurred in the lives of people, he was upset that the religious leaders began to treat divorce as being a legal principle which challenged the primacy of marriage.  The law of marriage remains the same no matter how much people fail and petition for divorce.

Jesus confronted people who were burdened with legalistic lives.  Some people thought they were blessed because they were members of the correct religious party.  Others were so concerned with failure to keep the law, that they began to treat failure as the norm.

Jesus was fed up with adult religious life of religious leaders which had become legal arguments between religious parties about who believed in the right way.

What did he do?  He brought a child and rebuked the adult religious cynics.  "See this child...this child is innocent...this child lives beyond good and evil of adult religious legalism.  You want to understand God's kingdom, access your child aspect of personality, the part of you that still retains original blessing and original innocence.   With the energy of your inner child you can be restored in the new birth that you need to understand God in the adult world so bogged down within the knowledge of good and evil and their effects upon us."


What have we learned from Holy Scriptures today?

No matter how religious we are, we are not exempt from the free conditions that can happen to anyone.  So let us not get bogged down in claiming such an exemption.  Don't presume to know why bad things happen to us or anyone else.  We may victimize them instead of simply offering our assistance and care.

Next, just because it is common to people to fail to keep the law, the norm and ideal still remain the same.  Human failure at marriage does not change the normalcy of marriage and enduring love in personal commitment to each other.

Finally, is the world of the knowledge of good and evil making you cynical and angry and unable to love.  Is the knowledge of good and evil making us misanthropic, leaning toward disillusionment with humanity?  Look to project upon the infant and the child and recover the power of innocence within oneself to know the power of a new birth.  The power of innocence can help us survive living with the free conditions of knowing good and evil.  With the power of innocence, we can overcome the anxiety of the adult world of living with the knowledge of good and evil.

Let each of us find the new birth of the child within us to counter the effects of living with the knowledge of good and evil.  Amen.