Sunday School, June 16, 2019 Trinity Sunday, C

Sunday School, June 16, 2019    Trinity Sunday, C

Today is Trinity Sunday

What does Trinity mean?

It means that we believe God is three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

But if God is three persons, how can God be One God?  Do we believe in three Gods?

No, we believe in One God, in three Persons who are all equally God

Why do we believe in God as a Trinity?

Even though we believe God is much greater than us, we believe that God wants us to know about God. We as human being believe we are persons.  A person is someone who knows oneself in relationship with each other.  I am a son because I have a father.  I am a father because I have a son.  I am a brother because I have brothers and sisters.  I am a husband because I have a wife.  So I have many expressions of my personality depending upon what relationship I have with other people.

We believe that God wants to be related to us as persons.  So we believe that God can best be known to us in being known as Persons of the Trinity.

When we relate to God as our creator, we speak of God as our Father.  When we relate to God as someone who became human to show us how to live the best human life, we know God as Jesus the Son.  And when we know that God surrounds us like water surrounding a fish and when we know that God is close inside of us, we know God as the invisible Holy Spirit.

So in our relationship with God we know God in different kinds of relationships and yet each of these kinds of relationship are with a single one, kind and loving God.

The Trinity is our confession about a great God who wants to be in relationship with us and we wants us to be in relationship with God, in different ways, sometimes as our Father, sometimes as our big brother Jesus and sometimes like the invisible breath or wind when we know God is with us because we feel the closeness of God.

Exercise: What is your name?  How many persons are you?  Son? Daughter? Brother? Sister? Boy? Girl? Student? Soccer Player? Dancer?

Puppet Show for Trinity Sunday
Characters:

Officer George

Father Phil

  

Sign on the Puppet Theatre

Security Agent, Security Systems and Driving Instruction

Fr. Phil: (knocks on the puppet theatre) Is anyone in?  I need some help.

Officer George:  (pops up)  Hello, I’m Officer George here.  Can I help you?

Fr. Phil:  Yes,  I need some one to teach a friend of mine how to drive.

Officer George:  Happy to help you.  Just have them come and sign up and I will be do the driving instruction.  I have never had a ticket but I wrote lots of tickets for speeders when I was a traffic cop.

Fr. Phil:  Great, I’ll have my friend come by to see you and sign up for the class.

(Officer George leaves)

Fr. Phil:  Oops, I forgot that I needed something else.  (Fr. Phil knocks on the theatre again)   Hello, is anyone still in the office?

Officer George: (pops up)  Yes, I’m still here.  Do you need another driving lesson?

Fr. Phil: No, I want to talk to your security person.  I need to have an alarm installed at my home.

Officer George:  Well, you’ve come to the right place.  I’ll be happy to help you.

Fr. Phil:  But aren’t you the Driving Instructor?

Officer George:  Yes, but I also install alarm systems.  Is that a problem?

Fr. Phil:  Well, no but you must be a busy person.  I will give you my address.  When can you come by and give me a bid.

Officer George:  I’ll come by tomorrow and help you decide what kind of alarm system that you need.  Good bye…..(Officer George disappears)

Fr. Phil:  Oops.  I forgot I still need something.  I need a security guard to come by each night and check our property.  Knock!  Knock!  Is anyone still there?

Officer George:  Oh, hello.  I see you are still here.  How can I help you? 

Fr. Phil:  I want to talk with your security agent.  I need a watchman to check out the church each night.  Can I hire one of your night watchmen?

Officer George:  Yes, you can.  I am the night watchman.

Fr. Phil:  How can you be the Driver Instructor, the alarm installer and the night watchman?

Officer George:  Well, I could ask you how you, the one and same person, could need a driver instructor, an alarm installed and a watchman.

Fr. Phil:  Well, as a person I have many needs.

Officer George: So you can be just one person and have many needs?  Don’t you think that I can be one person and have many jobs and titles?  I am a Driving Instructor, an alarm installer and a watchman.  Fr. Phil as a priest you should be able to understand that?

Fr. Phil:  Why do you say that?

Officer George:  Well, today is Trinity Sunday.  God is One, but we know God in different ways in God’s different Persons.  We know God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Fr. Phil: Officer George, thank you for your instruction about the Trinity.  Do you think this will help the children at St. John’s understand the Trinity?

Officer George:  Maybe a little…but now you’ve given me a fourth job, a teacher.  I think that I’ll stick to my three jobs.  Good bye, as you see I’m a very busy person having three different jobs.

Fr. Phil:  Good bye Officer George and thank you.  God must be a very busy God since there are so many people who have so many needs.  It’s a good thing that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Don’t you think so?

A Sermon for Trinity Sunday.

Can you be a brother or sister, and a son or daughter, and student all at one time?  Can your father be a father, brother and husband all at one time?  Can your mother be a mother, sister and wife all at one time?

  So one person can be many different personal roles at one time.  I am a father, a brother, a son, a cousin, a priest, and yet I am still just one human being.  I am a father person, a brother person and a son person, but still just one human being.

  Today is called Trinity Sunday.  Does anyone know what Trinity means.  Whenever you see the three letters TRI at the start of a word, what number are we talking about?  The number three.  So Trinity refers to three persons.

  As Christians we say that God is One God but in trinity of persons.  And what are the three persons?  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  If you are talking to your Dad, then you know him as your father.  But if your uncle is talking to your dad, he will know your dad as a brother.  And if your mother is talking her your dad, she will know your dad as her husband.

  So whether we know God as Father, Son or Holy Spirit, it all depends on how we are knowing God.

  If we are talking about God as the great creator, we will be speaking about God as our Father. 

  But if we are talking about God as God became known to us as a human being, then we will talk about Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

  And if we talking about how God can be present everywhere at one time, then we will talk about God as the Holy Spirit.

  So God can be one God and be also known as three different persons, depending upon what we need to know about God.

  And that is the wonderful thing about the Trinity.  God can be known to us in different ways.  Because sometimes we need to know God in different ways.

  Today let us be thankful that God can be known to us in different ways, as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  This is the Trinity that we celebrate today.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 16, 2019 Trinity Sunday

Gathering Songs: The King of Glory, Glorify Thy Name, Eat This Bread, Peace Like a River

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: The King of Glory Comes, (Renew! # 267)

Chorus: The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices.  Open the gates before him, lift up your voices.

1-Who is the King of Glory; how shall we call him? He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.

2-In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness.

3-Sing then of David’s son, our savior and brother: in all of Galilee was never another

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Book of Proverbs

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?   On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.  The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 8

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, * the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,

What are men and women that you should be mindful of them? * and their children that you should seek them out?

You have made them but little lower than the angels; * you adorn them with glory and honor;

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 John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the disciples, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Song: Glorify Your Name, (Renew!, # 37)

Father we love you we worship and adore you. Glorify your Name in all of the world.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the world.

Jesus we love you we worship and adore you. Glorify your Name in all of the world.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the world.

Spirit  we love you we worship and adore you. Glorify your Name in all of the world.  Glorify your name, glorify your name, glorify your name in all the world.

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,

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

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.

I’ve got love…. 

I’ve got joy…

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Pentecost: Unity As Harmony in Difference

Day of Pentecost C   June 9, 2019

Gen. 11:1-9 Ps. 104: 25-32

Acts 2:1-11      John 14:8-17, 25-17 

Lectionary Link

  Imagine a young girl in ancient times who had a new experience which needed an explanation.  What new experience?  She was traveling with her nomadic tribe and they arrived at an oasis with a watering hole and it was a place where people gathered to set up to sell items.  And as this young girl went through the market, she heard people speaking languages different from her own and she was baffled and surprised.  To her, the people seemed strange and they seem to be making some very strange sounds and noises.
  So at night around the campfire, this little girl asked her grandmother, "Why were those people making those strange sounds in the market?  They sounded like chattering monkeys.  I could not understand the meaning of their sounds.  It sounded like gobbledygook or babble,babble, babble."
  And what would grandmother say?  "Dear, I'm not sure but this is the story that my grandmother told me.  Long time ago people only spoke one and the same language.  Everyone could understand that one language.  And their king was so proud that he organized his people to build a great city and a great tower, a ziggarat, like a pyramid but it was a building with squared shaped stories built on top of each other until the top floor was the smallest square and in that top floor was a temple for sacrifices and perhaps on the ceiling there was a picture of the sky with the stars.  The king thought that he was so great and that he knew the stars that he could be like god and control the world.  But the one true Great God did not approve, so the Great God suddenly said, "Let all of the people begin to speak different languages."  And that is what happened.  People began to speak different language and so they couldn't understand each other.  They couldn't live together in the city because they just heard each other Babbling at each other.  The people had to move away from each other and live with just the people who spoke their own language.  But sometimes we have to meet other people when we go to the market at the oasis.  So God sent all of the languages as a curse upon people who wanted to use the one language as a way of trying to think that they were greater than God."
  The story of the tower of Babel, an onamatopoetic word, has a very simple causal answer to the diversity of languages among the people of the earth.  Diversity of language was a curse by God to keep people from arrogant pride.
  So the Hebrew Scriptures record how the Hebrew people became distinct speaking Hebrew, both a sacred and liturgical language, as a way of being different from the other people in the world where other people spoke other languages and had other gods.
  But is this an expression of a universal fairness of God toward all of the other people of the earth who did not speak Hebrew?  The prophets did not think so.  Elisha healed the foreign General Naaman.  Jonah proclaimed the message of God to the foreign Ninevites.  The Psalmist proclaimed, "let all of the people of the earth praise God."  The prophet Isaiah said that God's house was to be a house of prayer for all people.
  When people fear for their survival and existence, they clamp down and try to shield themselves from diversity.  Outsiders become regarded as a threat.  Only Hebrew speakers allowed.  Or as some in our country think, "Only English speakers allowed," even as we know that we took over our land from people who did not speak English and in our history we have received many non-English speakers to be integrated into our country, most of whom have come to learn English.
  Today we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost.  This feast highlights the great dilemma of life.  How do we honor diversity and still live in a unity of relationship?  This dilemma has been the great American experience, expressed in our "non-English motto," "e pluribus unum," or from the many, One.  We could also reverse the Latin and say, "ab Uno, in plures," or from the One, many.
  The feast of Pentecost is a feast to celebrate the healing of the ancient perceived curse of diverse languages and diverse cultures.  Finally, God as the great conductor of the symphony said, "It's too limited to make music with just an orchestra of harps; we are now going to admit violins, violas, tubas, horns and reeds of many kinds and percussion and we are going to the blend the many different sounds into the beauty of the unity, called harmony."
  Pentecost is the feast of the unity of harmony.  To limit God and the message of the Gospel to a forced unity ends up in totalitarian tyranny; it ends up excommunicating and persecuting the vast majority of people.
  In the feast of Pentecost, we have the calling of the Jesus Movement to a different mission than the Jews who remained in the synagogue.  The message of the love of God was to be made accessible to the people of all language.  When people speak a language, embedded in their language are also lots of cultural habits, like their dress and eating habits.
  The Jesus Movement made the love of God in Christ accessible to many people who spoke different languages.  The New Testament is written in  the lingua franca of the time, koine Greek,  a language that was accessible to the widest possible audience of those who lived in the Roman Empire.  The message of the Gospel was not limited to people who spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, the language of Jesus.  
  The Feast of Pentecost is statement that the life of the Risen Christ can be translated into every language and culture of humanity, because of the Holy Spirit of God.  God's Holy Spirit is the great translator of the Risen Christ into the life of everyone.  Do not be afraid of diversity; let all who are different embrace Christ and translate the meaning of Christ into their own lives.
  Pentecost is not about the unity of language; it is about the unity of Spirit.  Perhaps you heard the George Bernard Shaw phrase also quoted by Oscar Wilde, "The English people and Americans are people divided by having a common language."
  Christianity has different communions, denominations and churches; one could say that Lutherans, Episcopalians, Baptists, Catholics, Amish and Presbyterians are people divided by having a common Savior.  And it may sound painfully funny, but the division of differences mean that we each have different missions and callings in our world.  We as a parish family have a calling that other Christians do not have.  We do not have to regard difference as a threat; it is the experience of the equality of difference that on the universal level can be known as harmony.
  On the level of our parish family, you and I can be people who are divided by having a common parish, St. John the Divine.  Each of us is different, but each of us have a different ministry to be harmonized with the unified mission our parish here in Morgan Hill.
  In the days ahead, do not forget the meaning of Pentecost, locally applied in our parish mission.  God has called each of us with different ministries for the building up of our parish here.  And what is the role of the Spirit?  One of the symbols of the Spirit is fire.  The fire of the Holy Spirit helps us to melt our egos so that we do not magnify our individual differences as being more important than the harmony of unity in our mission here.
  Let us embrace today harmony in our ministries as the divine work of God's Holy Spirit in blending the differences which contribute to the beauty of holiness.  May God the Holy Spirit bless us today as a Pentecostal parish, knowing the blending of differences of callings into the beautiful mission of harmony.  Amen.
   

Sunday School, June 9, 2019 The Day of Pentecost C

Sunday School, June 9, 2019   The Day of Pentecost C

Themes

Pentecost is a celebration of the birthday of the church

Song:  Sing Happy Birthday to the Church

You will need about 1986 candles for the number years

What is one of the first signs of life when a baby is born?

A baby begins to breathe.  The baby’s lungs start working and we know that a baby is alive because the baby is breathing.

Breathing is a sign of first life or birth.

Pentecost is a celebration of the birth of the church and this was known because of the signs of its birth.

The sign of the birth of the church was the presence of the Spirit of God.

Spirit means “breath” or “wind.”  You cannot see breath or wind but you know that they are there.  You can see the leaves of the trees move when the wind blows on them.

Unseen “breath” or “Wind” became the name for God who is presence but not seen.  God’s Spirit became known within the community of people who followed Jesus.  Jesus died, he rose and he left this earth but he promised to leave his Spirit with his friends and with anyone who wanted to simply discover God’s presence in their lives.

Pentecost is when a rally happened in Jerusalem and people gathered and realized that even though Jesus was gone, His Spirit was still in them and gave them power and energy to do the same things which Jesus did.  God’s Spirit was discovered within their hearts and they had power to preach good news, to practice healing and good health, to share with one another and to love one another.  They also received the ministry of letting all of the people in the world know about how close that God was too them because of God’s Spirit.

Pentecost is a celebration of the discovery of God’s presence in all people and how we can all be different and yet still live together in love and peace.

We can celebrate Pentecost best by taking time to discover the Spirit of God in our lives and in the lives of other people.  We can honor the Spirit of God through peace, love, caring, forgiveness and sharing the Good News of Jesus.  Jesus came to show us how close God is to us.  The Spirit is proof that God is close to us now and that we can know ourselves to be sons and daughters of God.

Pentecost Sermon (use harmonica or Pan Flute)

Do you know what kind of instrument I have in my hand?    It’s called a harmonica?  And do you know how this instrument is played?    It’s played by putting it up to my mouth and blowing.

  How is this instrument different than a whistle?    A whistle usually makes just one sound, but this harmonica can make many different sounds.

  It is a reed instrument.  If we open up the harmonica, we can find many differ little pieces of thin metal and they are different sizes.  Some are short and some are long.

  When I blow air across the short ones a high sound is made.  When I blow air across the long ones, a lower sound is made.

  So if we blow in the correct way, we can play many different notes and different kinds of music.  A harmonica is not like a whistle because a harmonica can make many different sounds.  And we can play many different songs with the harmonica.  We can even bend the notes and make it cry….or we can make it sound like a train.

  What is it that makes the harmonica play.  It is blown air or wind that comes from the lungs.

  Did you know that one of the ways that we talk about God is to call God, the Holy Spirit.  The Special Spirit.  The Special Wind or Breath.  Can you see Wind or Breath?  Well we can see clouds or we can see our breath when it’s cold.

  But we don’t actually see the Wind or Breath.  We know Wind and Breath are here because we can feel and see the movement that is caused by Wind and Breath.  When you blow on a Wind mill, you can see the wind mill turn.

  So today in when we celebrate the Invisible presence of God who is everywhere, just like wind and breath. 

  And we celebrate the fact that God’s wind or breath is within us blowing us…or playing us, just like I blow air into this harmonica to play the different sounds to make music or noise.

  We cannot see God Spirit…But God’s spirit is blowing through us and playing us as music.

  So we need to see ourselves as God’s musical instruments.  All different sizes and shapes, ages, with different appearances, different abilities and gifts.  God enjoys that we are all so different.  Because we’re different God can play lots of different songs through us.

  And what kind of music does God’s breath or Spirit play through us?  We call that music love, joy, peace, faith, self-control, gentleness, patience and all of the other good things that God wants to do through us.  How many of you want to be God’s instrument today?  Do you want the Wind or Breath of God to be blown through you today?

  Today, we remind ourselves that the Breath or Wind of God, the Holy Spirit is filling us today to help our lives be like a beautiful song for God today.  So today we let God the Spirit play a beautiful song through us.  Amen.

Gospel Puppet Show

Day of Pentecost

Characters:

Dovey the Dove

George

Dovey: (singing) Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday Christian Church.  Happy birthday to you!  And many more!

George: Why did you sing Happy Birthday to the Church Dovey?

Dovey:  Well today is the Day of Pentecost and the Day of Pentecost is the Birthday of the Church.  Let’s see the church is 2019 minus 33 equals 1986.   Happy 1986th birthday to the church.  But who’s counting?

George: Obviously you are counting.  We are a pretty old group of people.

Dovey:  Yes, you are one of the oldest and long lasting organizations that ever existed.

George: I wonder why the church has lasted so long.  Do you think that the church will still be here after I die?

Dovey:  Well George, you’re not going to die for awhile but yes the church will be here after you die to have more birthdays.

George:  How do you know Dovey?

Dovey:  Well, because even though you are a member of the church, the church is really not about you.

George:  Well, what is the church about?

Dovey:  The church is about Jesus Christ.  His message of love was so wonderful and it created so much excitement in people they called his message Good News or Gospel.  And Jesus said if we just keep sharing this good news to each new group of people who are born then this message will live forever.  This is why the church will continue to have birthdays forever.  Do you know what Pentecost means?

George:  Do I have time to Google it?

Dovey: Goo..goo…goo…Google it?  What’s that?

George:  It’s like a big storage brain outside of me where I store all of the information of the world and maps.  Google maps can even tell me where to go.

Dovey:  Well, I’ve got a built in Google maps and GPS.  Did you know that my family has been making a nest and laying eggs in the same tree for more than a hundred years.  I’ve got GPS in me that automatically tells me where to go.

George:  Wow, where did you get that?  That’s better than Google maps.

Dovey:  God made me this way and God the Holy Spirit is everywhere like a divine GPS system.  But the Holy Spirit became better known to everyone on the Day of Pentecost.

George: So what does Pentecost mean?

Dovey:  It means 50 days after Easter and it is the day when the Holy Spirit became known to the friends of Jesus.

George:  What happened on the Day of Pentecost?

Dovey:  Well, the Holy Spirit was discovered by the friends of Jesus and they were happy and joyful and they found that the Holy Spirit helped them to tell the Good News about Jesus in every language.

George:  So the Holy Spirit is like a great Google translator?

Dovey:  I guess you techies might say it that way.  Yes, the Holy Spirit is the wonderful personal energy of God’s love with us to help us to continue to tell the Good News about Jesus so that the church will continue to have birthdays into the future.

George: Wow!  Pentecost and the Holy Spirit are exciting.  But where are we going to get 1980 candles for the birthday cake?  Oh well, at least we can sing Happy Birthday.  Sandra, can you hit it on the piano and help us sing?

Everyone:  Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you.  Happy birthday Christian Church.  Happy birthday to you!  And many more!

George:  Do you think I can have some chocolate cake for the church’s birthday party?

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 9,  2019: The Day of Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Every Time I Feel the Spirit; Butterfly Song; Lord, Be Glorified

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia.

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: Every Time I Feel the Spirit, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 48)

Refrain: Every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart, I will pray.  O every time I feel the spirit moving in my heart I will pray.

1-On Pentecost day, the Spirit came.  The people praised with joyous tongues.  The Spirit came to everyone.  Jews and Gentiles, all the same. Refrain

2-God’s Spirit lives within the church.  He gives us gifts to build us up.  God’s Spirit fills us with his love.  O blessed Spirit, heavenly dove.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 104

You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; * and so you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; * may the LORD rejoice in all his works.

I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; * I will praise my God while I have my being.

May these words of mine please him; * I will rejoice in the LORD. Hallelujah!

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 John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you."  "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Song: The Butterfly Song, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 9)

If I were a butterfly, I’d thank you Lord for giving me wings.  If I were a robin in the tree, I’d thank you Lord that I could sing.  And if I were a fish in the sea, I’d wiggle my tail and I’d giggle with glee, but I just thank you Father for making me, me.

 Refrain: For you gave me a heart and you gave me a smile.  You gave me Jesus and you made me your child.  And I just thank you Father for making me, me.

If I were an elephant, I’d thank you Lord by raising my trunk.  If I were a kangaroo, you know I’d hop right up to you.  If I were an octopus, I’d thank you Lord for my fine looks and I just thank you Father for making me, me.  Refrain

If I were a wiggly worm, I’d thank you Lord, that I could squirm.  If I were a billy goat, I’d thank you Lord for my strong throat.  And if I were a fuzzy wuzzy bear, I’d thank you Lord for my fuzzy wuzzy hair and I just thank you Father for making me, me.  Refrain

Song:  Spirit of the Living God

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:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song:        Spirit of the Living God, (Renew # 90)

1          Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.  Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me. Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me.  Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

2          Spirit of the living God, move among us all; Spirit of the living God, make us one in love: humble, caring, selfless, sharing— Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love.    

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: Lord, Be Glorified (Renew!  # 172)

1- In our lives, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our lives, Lord, be glorified today.

2- In our homes, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our homes, Lord, be glorified today.

3- In our church, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our church, Lord, be glorified today.

4- In your world, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in your world, Lord, be glorified today.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Prayer as Language Laundering

7 Easter         May 8, 2016

Acts 16:16-34   Psalm 97

Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20-21    John 17:20-26            

 Lectionary Link

  We are told that money laundering is a crime, though we in the church encourage the laundering of money by giving a tithe portion of it to the church as a way of sanctifying all of the money of our lives.  I would like to introduce another kind of laundering today.
   "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.... and the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us."
  The Gospel of John indicates that God is most accessible to us as human beings because God is Word.  And we are caught up within and without in a totally worded existence in active and passive ways; passive ways because our entire existence is structured because we have language ability.  In our seeing, tasting, feeling, touching, intuiting, and hearing we have all this experience funneled through our word ability and we are always reading and interpreting our experience because we cannot help but do so.
  What would God as Word look like if completely manifested in a person?  God as Word would look like Jesus.  Jesus is the flesh and blood person that God as Word came to us.
  Why is word important?  We live and move and have our being in a vast field of words.  And there is lots bad use of words and bad use our language.  We  speak, feel, see, touch, taste and hear in some ways that are unhealthy to our lives and the life of our world.  Our bad use of words shows itself in our sin, the sin of failed stewardship in the gift of words into which we have been born.
  If God is the Word from the Beginning and Jesus is the Word made flesh as exemplary life of our worded existence, how do we look to Jesus to launder or clean up our language?
  In the good ol' days when I was a child my parents had a very literal way of cleansing one of the organs of language.  "Phil, I'm going to wash your mouth out with soap, if you keep saying those bad words."  Back then, I didn't know that I could have a lawyer on retainer to report such extreme threats from my parents.  And it was no threat; I have had my mouth washed out with soap more times than I want to remember.  Did any of you ever have your speech organ laundered with soap?  "I'm sorry mom and dad, such external washing of my mouth with soap did not go deep enough; the real organs of speech are the mind and heart which needed a much deeper cleansing."  And that is no lie, even though the soap was made with lye.  (bad pun groan here).
  So how can Jesus who is the living representative of Word of God help us to launder or clean up our lives of words?
  When the church quit seeing Jesus, where did they believe that he was?  They believed that he had ascended to be seated next to his Father.  And what  is Jesus doing next to his Father in that place of highest elevation?  The early church believed that the Risen Ascended Christ lived with his Father in order to make intercession for us.  Jesus prays for us and as the Risen and Ascended Christ, Christ has the manifold ability to be universally involved with everyone because he has returned from being the particular word made flesh in Jesus Christ to re-assume his association with being the eternal Word as God.
  So what example does Jesus provide for laundering or cleaning up our language?  Jesus gives us the example of prayer.  Jesus, in his life of prayer, invites us to clean up our language by joining him in the life of prayer.  Prayer is the way that you and I can launder the words of our lives, the words of language events, speech and writing; but also the words that are poignantly evident in our body language of deeds and actions.
  We can let prayer take over our lives and launder our language use if we accept that Christ is the Word of God who has given us the worded existence.  Since God has given us the worded existence with manifold language use and abilities, we need to practice the best stewardship our language ability.  How do we launder our language use?
  We do so by emulating Jesus Christ in being committed to the continual life of prayer.  The main task of life is to be at the laundering of our life of words.  And we can do this through the practice of prayer.  Prayer is accepting that our particular words have derived from God who is Word, and as such, we have the obligation to perform our words worthy of God who is the Eternal Word from the beginning?
  How did Jesus show a holy and pure life of words.  He did it in action.  He healed, he comforted, he fed, he encouraged, he taught, he confronted oppressors, he confronted lying with truth, he prayed, and he taught his followers to pray.  If life is relational, then we need to clean up the main way of relating, namely our life of words.  Prayer is the way in which we can launder our words.  In our unhealthy word environments we have learned unhealthy habits of word and we have soiled and stained results in how we use language and how our body language is trapped in some unhealthy repetitions.
  Words, themselves are neutral.  Clothes are neutral but they can be dirty and soiled or they can be laundered.  The example of Jesus praying for us while he lived on earth and the presentation of the Risen and Ascended Christ as one who still prays for us, is an example for us to adopt the life of prayer as a way of living, as the best way to launder our words..
  Today, we believe the Risen and Ascended Christ prays for us.  We accept the dispatch of the Holy Spirit to help us fulfill what Christ desires for us. Jesus desires that we should pray.  And if we believe that Christ prays, we too should commit ourselves to the practice of prayer as the best possible way to work at the endless task of laundering our language:  Our total language repertoire, of words and deeds. You and I are called to life of prayer and our prayer chain spiritual director is always happy to have new intercessors join our prayer chain.  Let us never grow weary in the task of endlessly laundering the language of our lives toward words and deeds which reflect the very best of the love and justice of God.  Amen.