Sunday School, June 23, 2019 2 Pentecost C proper 7

Sunday School, June 23, 2019          2 Pentecost C proper 7

Jesus as a People Whisperer

Some people have special abilities to interact and tame animals.  A person who is very good with horses is often called a "horse whisperer."  A person who can make a dog feel very calm is a "dog whisperer."

Sometimes people are just very good at getting along with animals.

There are time when we need someone to "whisper" us as people or calm us down.  When are those times?  a baby crying.  falling down getting your knee skinned.  waking up in the night because of a bad dream.  whenever we are afraid.   Can you think of some other times when you need someone to comfort you and let you know that everything is going to be fine.  What about when we lose at a game and we are disappointed or sad?  What about when we don't get something which we really wanted?

Jesus was a people whisperer.  He knew how to calm people when they were upset or when they would feel very confused inside.  Jesus would tell people to calm down and be peaceful and they would come to be peaceful.

Jesus was like a doctor of our souls, our emotions, our thoughts and the place inside of us where we decide.

We also need to learn to whisper other people.  The best way to whisper people is by gentleness and kindness and always making other people feel safe and comfortable.  If we can learn to make other people be safe and comfortable, then we can learn to be people whisperers like Jesus.

  Have you ever been to a circus?  Have ever seen someone who works with animals?  With wild animals?  Have you seen a lion tamer?  Or have you seen someone who teach a dog to do amazing tricks?

  Have you ever taught your dog some tricks? Can you get the dog to fetch a ball?  Or roll over?  Or sit?  Or does your dog train you to feed it whenever it wants?

  Some people have a special gift with animals.  A person who can tame a wild horse is sometimes called a horse whisperer.  A horse whisper has such a calming effect upon the horse so that the horse will become very friendly and peaceful.  Sometimes a horse is wild and seems to be angry because the horse has been taught to be fearful and not trust anyone.

  Did you know that as people we can have things that make us wild?  Do you know what can make us wild?  Pain, loss and fear can make us wild.

  Do you ever remember falling and hurting yourself and all you can do is scream in pain; you cannot do anything else.  Pain makes us seems as though we are wild.  Fear also makes us seem like we are wild.  Losing important things and people in our lives makes us have a sadness and this sadness controls our lives.

  Just as a wild horse needs a horse whisperer; we as people need people whisperers.

  When we hurt ourselves, we need our parent or someone with us to hold us and help us, to give us a band aid.  We need someone to calm us down from the wildness caused by pain.

  When we are afraid, we need a people whisperer; we need someone with us to show us that we are safe and that everything is okay.

  Jesus was a wonderful person because he was a people whisperer.  Jesus knew how to calm and tame people from the wildness of pain and fear.  We have many stories of Jesus helping people when they suffered from pain and fear; he gave them hope and encouragement and he made them peaceful and calm just to be with them.

  And Jesus wants us to be people whisperers too.  He wants us to learn how to be with each other when we are hurt by pain and fear.  Everyone has pain and fear at some time in their lives and so it is very important that we learn how to be people whisperers with each other.

  We need to know how to be with each other in pain and fear.  When your friend gets hurt on the playground what do you do?  You try to help them; you run and get help, you call 911 if they are really hurt badly.  When people are in the hospital what do you do?  You visit them, you send them cards or flowers, you pray for them, you let them know that you care.

  Why?  Because Jesus wants us to be people whisperers.  Jesus wants to know how to help each other when we have pain and fear.

  Can you say today, “I will be a people whisperer when people are in pain or fear?”  Because I want to be cared for too when I have pain or fear.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 23, 2019: The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Here I Am Lord; As the Deer; Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart; Oh When the Saints

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: Here I Am, Lord, (Renew!, # 149)

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.  All who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save.  I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.  Who will bear my light to them?  Whom shall I send?  Refrain: Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?  I have heard you calling in the night.  I will go, Lord, if you lead me.  I will hold your people in my heart.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah

I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me.  I said, "Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that did not call on my name.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 22

My praise is of him in the great assembly; * I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: *
"May your heart live for ever!"

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, * and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

For kingship belongs to the LORD; * he rules over the nations.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

For our fathers on this father’s day.  Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you." So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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: As the Deer Pants for the Water, (Renew! # 9)

As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after you; you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.  Refrain: You alone are my strength and shield, to you alone may my spirit yield; you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!

I want you more than gold or silver, only you can satisfy; you alone are real joy-giver and the apple of my eye.  Refrain.

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.

(Children may gather around the altar)

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Give Thanks, with a Grateful Heart, (Renew! # 266)

Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his son.  (Sing twice)

And now let the weak say “I am strong”, let the poor say “I am rich” because of what the Lord has done for us.  (Sing twice)

Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his son.  (Sing twice)

And now let the weak say “I am strong”, let the poor say “I am rich” because of what the Lord has done for us.  (Sing twice) Give thanks.

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: When the Saints Go Marching In (Christian’s Children’s Songbook # 248)

Oh when the saints, go marching in.  Oh when the saints go marching in.  Lord I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

Oh when the girls go marching in. Oh when the girls go marching in.  Lord I want to be in that number when the girls go marching in.

O when the boys go marching in.  O when the boys go marching in.  Lord I want to be in that number, when the boys go marching in.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Trinity and the Baptismal Formula

Trinity Sunday  June 16, 2019

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Psalm 8/Canticle 13

Romans 5:1-5  John 16:12-15

Lectionary LinkPerhaps you remember the apocryphal story of Isaac Newton and the law of gravity.  Newton was sitting under an apple tree and an apple fell and hit him on the head, thus inspiring his famous theory and law of gravity.  And he got credit for the law law of gravity even though Aristotle and Hindu philosophers wrote in other ways about this obvious force of Nature long before Newton.

Did gravity exist before the Newton wrote his law of gravity?  Of course it did.  And Einstein and the Quantum Physicists have come to write theories of gravity different from Isaac Newton's theory.

Today, on Trinity Sunday, we celebrate the Christian understanding of God as One God, in Trinity of Persons.  And the events of understanding God as Trinity; did these events make the Trinity exists or did the Trinity always exists?   And the Trinity would not be God, if the Trinity did not always exist so such a question is obviously, rhetorical.

Did Jesus create the Trinity?  Before Jesus how could we have known that God had a Son?  The only direct son of God before Jesus would have been first son, Adam.   We can say that the Trinity became revealed in time and space history in a particular way with the appearance of Jesus, but the New Testament writers wondered if the Nature of Jesus had existence before the conception of Jesus in the Virgin Mary.

Probably, the most Trinitarian Gospel is the Gospel of John, the last Gospel and one with clear evidence of the oracle of Jesus alive and well in the early church.

John's Gospel, rewrote the beginning in a way different than the book of Genesis.  The Book of Genesis begins: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The Gospel of John begins, "In the beginning was the Word, the word was with God and the world was God.  All things came into being through the Word.

Why do you think the writer of John's Gospel seems to rewrite the beginning?  Was God in the beginning or was Word in the beginning?  Or both?

Could it be that the writer of John's Gospel was trying to indicate how the eternal Christ was One with God from the Beginning?

How does the Genesis writing explain creation?  God spoke and said, let there be light and there was light.  The Genesis writer also wrote that along with God speaking and ordering creation, the divine wind or breath or spirit of God moved over the chaos and brought what was created into being.  God the Father spoke, what he spoke was Christ the creating word and the Spirit executed the Word which made creation, in all of its array.

Even as we can understand that gravity existed long before Newton wrote his law of gravity; so too the nature of God as Trinity  was retroactively shown to be long before it became to be revealed in the way it was revealed in the life of Jesus Christ.

Christians have been disagreeing about the Trinity for many years.  When disagreements threatened the unity of the church and the Empire, the Emperor got the bishops of the church to meet in council to try to standardize a teaching and a doctrine about the Trinity and place it in a Creed so that it could be promulgated and taught in a singular way throughout the known Christian world.  But it took more than a century for the teachings of the Nicaean Council to gain general acceptance, and those who were declared to be heretics were not insincere people of faith.  There are insights to be found in heresies, even as they could not become the general doctrine of the church.

You and I may not identify with all of the politics of the theological disagreements in the church.  In fact there is good statistical evidence today that lots of people are staying from church attendance because of how all of the church disagreements get publicly aired.

You and I probably want something more than the politics of the Trinity.  How do we get beyond the politics of the Trinity?

First, we acknowledge that the Trinity, like God and like lots of things, is a mystery.  We live and move and have our being in the Triune God who is much bigger than we are.  God, who is much bigger than we are, is a mystery.  We can come to honest humility to be able to say "I don't really know the intricate details of how God is a Trinity of Equal Persons, because anything that is truly great is never finished in being further revealed and understood."  The Trinity has been revealed but the understanding of it has not been exhausted; therefore the Trinity still has future Epiphany events for you and me and for this world.  The Trinity is open to a future because being everlasting, means always being open to a further future.

Another way to get beyond the politics of the Trinity is to return to the clearest insight given to us about the Trinity.  The Trinity is essentially the relationship that Jesus had with his Father and the Holy Spirit, and he shared his dynamic relationship with his friends.  

And what did he shared?  He shared that each of us could be born of the Spirit of God and that we can know ourselves to be sons and daughters of God.  Jesus understood himself as God's Son, and he became the chief sibling who taught us how we can be his brothers and sisters with God as our Father.

Perhaps we can see now the importance of the baptismal formula.  "I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."  This is the ultimate invitation to each of us.  At the baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended like a dove upon him and the heavenly voice of God the Father, said, this is my beloved Son; with him I am well pleased.

The best way for us to understand the Trinity is to understand the meaning of our baptism.  The Holy Spirit has become known inside of us and given birth within us of the life of Christ.  And in this event we experience our adoption as God's children, children with whom God is well pleased.  We have become God's children with rights to be downright familiar with God and call God, "Daddy, or Abba."

Today, let us not complicate the Trinity; let us return to our baptism and remember that we are born by water and the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ is born within us and we are in the family of God, with God as our intimate heavenly parent.

And so I remind you again today, you are baptized in the Name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

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.