Sunday School, November 17, 2019 23 Pentecost, C proper 28

Sunday School, November 17, 2019  23 Pentecost, C proper 28

Theme: Buildings and Homes

What is the first question that we ask when a house is destroyed by fire or a flood?

Do we ask first if all of the furniture and the belongings are safe?   No, we ask if all of the family members are safe.

Why?  Because a building can be reconstructed.  Things can be replaced.  But people cannot be replaced.  We know it is a very sad time when someone loses their home, but the loss of lives is even sadder.

There are important buildings in every state, city and country.  In America we think that the Capitol Building and the White House are important building.  If these buildings were destroyed it would be very sad and painful for our country, but if the buildings were destroyed, would our country be destroyed?   Probably, not because our country is not buildings, it is all of us as people and as Americans.  As Americans we could rebuild buildings, even important buildings.  In fact we are building them all of them because we are fixing them up and remodeling them. 

Jesus spoke about the destruction of the most important building in Jerusalem for the Jews.  The most important building was the Temple.  The Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.  But was this the end of God’s people.  No.  God’s people continued to meet in synagogues and the followers of Jesus met in house churches.  The destruction of the Temple did not mean the destruction of God’s people.  In fact, Jesus taught us that God dwells within each person.  St. Paul called the body of each person, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.  So when Christians gather each person is a temple of God’s Holy Spirit.  This means that God can be everywhere people are.  We don’t have to go to Rome or to Jerusalem to meet or to find God.  God is present wherever we are and is especially known when people gather together to form what St. Paul called the body of Christ.  The Body of Christ is the Church, not the temple or any building.  Just as a body has parts which do different things for us, so in the Body of Christ, we are all parts of the body of Christ who do different things but we worked together as we are led by Christ.  St. Paul call Christ, the head of the Body of Christ.

Jesus also said that even though we have some very hard and difficult times in our lives we can still know that God is close to us.  He said that even when people do some bad things to us, we should remain true to what Jesus taught us about love and kindness.  He said that we can endure, we will preserve our souls.

Let us remember even when we lose important things like the Temple, God is still very near to us and in us.  Let us also remember that when people want to hurt us, we cannot become like them and act in hurtful ways as a response.  If we remain strong in goodness, we will prove that our souls will last because of being faithful to goodness and kindness of Christ.

Sermon

One of the nice things about our country is that we have the freedom to worship God.  So when you came to church today, the army or the police did not stop you and say, “You can’t go to church.”

  But did you know that in other places and at different times, people did not always have freedom to worship God in the way that they wanted to?

  Wouldn’t it be frightening if we came to church one day and a big bulldozer was knocking over the church building and we were told that we could not pray here anymore?

  A long time ago, in the land where Jesus was born, the people of his land lost their freedom of worship.  The land of Israel was control by a powerful army of Roman soldiers.  The King of Rome, called a Caesar decided that everyone should worship the Caesar.

  But the followers of Jesus did not want to worship Caesar.

  The armies of Caesar attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple where Jesus used to go to pray.

  And so the followers of Jesus had to run for their lives and they faced great danger.

  And they became great heroes because they would not worship the Caesar, they continued to worship God and follow Jesus Christ.

  They kept our religion alive because of their faith.

  And so we need to remember to keep our religion alive too.  We do that by coming to church to worship God and following the teaching of Jesus.  And parents teach their children to follow Jesus, so that when they grow up, they can teach their children too.

  So today, we gather today, to keep alive our faith and pass it on for the future.

  Let us be thankful for great heroes who kept our faith alive in some very difficult times.  And let us remember to keep our faith alive when we are given such easy freedom to worship.

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

November 17, 2019: The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Hallelu, Hallelujah; I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light; Jesus Stand Among Us, Hosanna

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah   (Christian’s Children’s Songbook # 84 )

Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord!  Hallelujah!  Praise ye the Lord! 

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; 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

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people;

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 98

Sing to the LORD with the harp, * with the harp and the voice of song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn * shout with joy before the King, the LORD.

Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, * the lands and those who dwell therein.

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!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them.  "When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.  "But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon 

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: I Want to Walk as A Child of the Light (Blue Hymnal # 490)

1-I want to walk as a child of the light, I want to follow Jesus.  God set the stars to give light to the world.  The star of my life is Jesus.

Refrain: In him there is no darkness at all.  The night and the day are both alike.  The Lamb is the light of the city of God.  Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

2-I’m looking for the coming of Christ.  I want to be with Jesus.  When we have run with patience the race, we shall know the joy of Jesus.  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 God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All  may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Beaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Words of Administration

Communion Song:    Jesus Stand Among Us, Renew! #17

1          Jesus stand among us, at the meeting of our lives, be our sweet agreement at the meeting of our eyes; O, Jesus, we love You, so we gather here, join our hearts in unity and take away our fear.

2          So to You we’re gathering out of each and every land.  Christ the love between us at the joining of our hand; O, Jesus, we love You, so we gather here, join our hearts in unity and take away our fear.

3          Jesus stand among us, the breaking of the bread, join us as one body as we worship Your, our Head.  O, Jesus, we love You, so we gather here, join our hearts in unity and take away our fear.

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: Hosanna (Renew! # 71)

1-Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!  Lord we lift up your name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, Oh Lord my God!  Hosanna in the highest.

2-Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of kings!  Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of kings!  Lord we lift up you name with hearts full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God!  Glory to the King of kings.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Having a Lawyer-Advocate for Heaven

22 Pentecost C  27    November 10, 2019      

Job 19:23-27a   Psalm 17:1-9

2 Thes.2:13-3:5     Luke 20:27-38

Lectionary Link

One of the mistakes that we often make in ministry is that we use the statistical and the hypothetical to diminish the personal and the individual.  We use the anecdotal to discount the personal experience of another almost as if it were a competition for who has suffered the most.

I remember a woman who had had a miscarriage and another woman told her she would be just fine because she had had three miscarriages.  The woman meant to project empathy but it seemed to discount the significance of how unique loss and pain can be.

Sometimes theology, the Bible, creeds and doctrines can be used to avoid the personal because the personal is what is new and what is happening to someone right now.  And when we want to make people part of the statistics too quickly or a biblical example, we discount their immediate pain.

Today in the Gospel story we have a dialogue between Jesus and some Sadducees.  It involved theological shop talk between a representative of a prominent religious party in Judaism and the new Rabbi on the block, Jesus.  Religion in the time of Jesus was like the religion in our own time;  often people want to make sure that they belong to the group which believes the best and the prescribed correct way.  A hungry or sick person or distressed person, a person in deep loss is really not concerned about theological fine points; they just want relief, salvation, health or comfort.  And religious people often are more interested in making sure that you know that they believe correctly with the right wording than providing relief and care.

The theological take on the Sadducees is that they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead.  They were different than the Pharisees and other religious parties within Judaism.  And since they didn't believe in the resurrection, that is why they were, "Sad, you see." (groan here)

Why didn't the Sadducees believe in the resurrection?  It wasn't necessarily because they didn't want to.  Their method of what established true belief was very limited.

The Sadducees were real traditionalists.  They believed that belief could only be established if it could be found in the Torah.  So they limited their Hebrew Scriptures to but five books.  If a belief could not be found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy, it was an unsupported innovation and had to be rejected.  The Hebrew Scriptures for other Jews included what is often called using the acronym TANAK, the Torah, the Nevi'im (the prophets) and the Ketuvim (the writings).

So the Sadducees presented a teaser, a riddle to Jesus cynically asking Jesus to rule on a hypothetical that they did not believe in.  "Let's stump Jesus about his resurrection preaching."  The hypothetical is full of irony for various reasons.  If the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection, what kind of immortality did the Sadducees believe in?  They believed in an objective immortality; they believe a person attained immortality in their offspring, so it was very important to have children.  What if a man married and didn't have children before he died?  The Torah required that the brother of the decease to marry his widow and the children of the marriage would become the deceased brother's immortality.  Such a forced marriage was called levirate marriage.  So what if there are seven brothers and they all died and had to marry the one woman?  The woman bore no children so none of the brothers would have objective immortality.   

Can you see how divorced from actual life this joke of the hypothetical was?  Why do we have resurrection thinking in the first place?  Because we all feel personally unfinished in this life.  We have lost people we have deeply loved and it seems totally unfair that they should be removed from our lives.  We feel threatened by the seeming finality of death.  The loss of death is not some theological hypothetical; it is deeply personal.  Resurrection thinking is the personal belief that hope and justice and perfection will actual win out.  And if they don't then why would a God of love plant such a hope within me?  Just to taunt me for wanting something I could never become?  Just to taunt us about justice which can never be realized?  We come to a point of knowing that we need to become our better angels, and the words of Jesus assure us that our vision of perfection is not a cruel hoax, it is the ultimate invitation of our future.

What do we need before we can enter the realm of becoming angels?  We need a Redeemer.  We need an advocate, we need a really good lawyer.

The cry of Job that was immortalized in Handel's Oratorio, was "I know that my Redeemer lives."  The nuance in the Hebrew word for Redeemer, is one who advocates or makes the case for.  The story of Job was the case study for the good man who had bad things, the very worst things happen to him. All of his "good" friends believed that they were lawyers for God in telling Job that he must have done something wrong for such bad luck in his life.  Job felt helpless to defend himself; sometimes we can think that bad luck is proof itself that we deserved all of the bad things that happened to us.  Yet Job could not find a one to one correspondence with any particular thing he had done and the horrendous punishing outcomes.  Job's friends were lawyers trying to defend a very wrong view of God.  Job cried out for an ultimate lawyer and advocate who would defend the basic integrity of his life, not because he was perfect but because he was a person of faith who looked to a forgiving God.

So what can we learn today from our Bible lessons?  Don't let our limited biblical and theological exposure keep us from experiencing the true implications of a loving God.  And do not let our statistics and our hypothetical anecdotes steal or diminish the real pain of people who are in loss of all sorts.  Let us know Jesus to be our Redeemer, our perfect lawyer who makes the case for the gift and the integrity of our existence and who says to us, "Do not let anyone ever say to you, "You are a mistake."" Jesus our Redeemer is the one who is leading us to become our better angels in this life in part, but more fully in the next and we won't have to worry about marriage in the next life because we will not be lonely or alone and we will know universal fellowship.  Imagine one's life like a Word document which continually get edited and improved.  And then when we die, Jesus the Redeemer can open our file with "edit enabled" function turned on.  And Jesus our advocate can edit us towards our angelic selves through his graceful revisioning of our lives.

I know that our Redeemer lives and he is making the case for the value of our lives now and he will usher us into an angelic future life forever.  Amen.

Sunday School, November 10, 2019 22 Pentecost, C proper 27

Sunday School, November 10, 2019   22 Pentecost, C proper 27 

Some ideas:

Present this Riddle and get the answer:

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,

Each wife had seven sacks,

Each sack had seven cats,

Each cat had seven kits:

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were there going to St. Ives?

Jesus had a discussion with some other religious people and they gave Jesus a riddle.

Imagine a woman who got married and her husband died.  And because there was an ancient Jewish rule, her husband’s brother was required to marry her.  But imagine that her first husband had six brothers and she had seven husband who died who were all brothers.  The riddle question for Jesus was this:  Jesus, when the woman lives again in the resurrection, which man will be her husband?

This question was asked by people who did not believe in the resurrection or living again in the afterlife.

How did Jesus answer the question?  He said the afterlife is not like this life.  He said that we will be like angels and angels do not get married.

Jesus said that it is more important to believe in God than in ourselves because God is a strong living God and when we die and when others die, we know that we are not great enough to preserve ourselves after we die.  So we believe in a very Great God who is able to preserve, but not just preserve us but make us into our angel-like selves.  In our angel-like selves we will not have the same limitations that we have in our lives now.

The message of Jesus is a message of faith and hope

Why are faith and hope important?

Because we live better when we have faith and hope instead of fear.

If we always are afraid of getting hurt or if we are afraid of death, then we will not be free to try new things and to learn.  Fear makes us too timid to try new things.  Fear makes us sad and it paralyzes us.

When Jesus gave people the hope of the resurrection, this hope allows us to quit being fearful and so we can live our lives in an adventure of faith or always trying to do things to make our lives better.

If we know that we will continue to live after death in an angel-like life, it means that we will still get more time to work on everything that we don’t finish in this life.  And this is hopeful for us.  It can help take away the “fear” of death.  It can help us know that God is fair to all people who don’t get to live as long as some other people because of accidents and misfortune.

The resurrection allows us to believe in fairness.  There will be plenty of time for everything to be made fair.

So Jesus showed us that everlasting life will bring about fairness and because we know this we can live with faith.

The people who argued with Jesus only wanted to win an argument.  Jesus was interested in giving people hope for the future so that they live with faith and adventure now in their lives.

Discussion:

What happens to you when you live in fear?

What happens when you are hopeful about good things?

Talk about the difference between living with fear and living with hope.

Sermon

  Can you and I know everything there is to know in life?  No.  Would we like to know everything?  Yes.  But why can’t we know everything?  We are too small.  Our minds, our brains cannot collect and remember all of the information.  And we cannot know some things because of who we are.  I know how to be a father, but I don’t know how to be a mother.  Why, because I can never be a mother.  So there are some things that I can never know.

  So I have to rely upon other people knowing what being a mother is.  Since there is so much to know, I have to rely on other people to know some things that I don’t know.  I have to rely upon a mechanic to fix my car.  I have to rely upon the doctor to take care of my health.  I have to rely upon many different teachers who know many different things.  I have to rely upon people who know more about music than I do.

  And when we add up everything that all people in the world know, do people still know everything?  No we still don’t know about distance stars and planets that we have never seen.  So there are still many,

many things that we do not know.  

  Why is every thing knowable?  Because we believe that God is knowledge and truth and life itself.  And God’s life is bigger and greater than our lives, so we always have more to learn about in life because God is so big and great.

  One of the things that we do not have a lot of information about is about what happens to people after they die.  And that is important for us because we want to know that the important people in our life are going to be with us forever.

  Jesus had a discussion with some people about what happens after we die.  And what Jesus says is this:  Since God lives and since God is the God of the living, all people will always live on in God.  Why?  Because God’s life is so great that God can preserve everything and everyone in a very special way.

  So if you ever begin to think about what’s after life, just remember how big God is and remember that God is big enough to preserve and keep everyone and everything that was ever made, even though we

may always be able to see everyone and everything.  God is a God of the living.  So all people will always live in God.  And so will you and I and so will all of the important people in your life.  Doesn’t that make you happy.  Remember that God is a living God and all of us live in God.  Amen.

Holy Eucharist for an intergeneration gathering

November 10, 2019: The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Alleluia, Give Thanks; I Am the Bread of Life; The King of Glory 

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: Alleluia, Give Thanks   (Blue Hymnal # 178)

Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord.  Alleluia, alleluia give praise to his name.

Jesus is Lord of all the earth.  He is the King of creation.  Refrain

Spread the good news o’er all the earth: Jesus has died and has risen.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose blessed Son came into the world that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves as he is pure; that, when he comes again with power and great glory, we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he 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 Second Letter to the Thessalonians

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 17

I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; * incline your ear to me and hear my words.

Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, * O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.

Keep me as the apple of your eye; * hide me under the shadow of your wings,

.

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!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.

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: I Am the Bread of Life (Blue Hymnal, # 335)

I am the bread of life; they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst.  No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. 

Refrain: And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.

I am the resurrection, I am the life.  They who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live for ever.  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 God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia.

Words of Administration

Communion Song:   I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

1.         I come with joy a child of God, forgiven, loved, and free, the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me.

2.         I come with Christians, far and near to find, as all are fed, the new community of love in Christ’s communion bread.

3.         As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends.  The love that made us makes us one, and strangers now are friends.

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: The King of Glory (Renew! # 267)

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

Who is the king of glory, how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.   Refrain

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

Sing then of David’s son, our Savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another. Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Beatitudes: Christian Martial Arts of the Saints

All Saints' Sunday  November 3, 2019 Daniel 7:1-3,15-18  Psalm 149 Ephesians 1:11-23  Luke 6:20-31

Lectionary Link
Our cinematic life and Halloween life is full of superheroes, including kings, queens, princes and princesses provided by Disney imagination stories.  D.C. comics and their like have proliferated and one might ask why we are so obsessed with entertainment by imaginative superheroes?

Why do all the kids dress up like superheroes and princes and princesses?  And why do we do it at Halloween is such a big way?

Why do we like superheroes?  We perhaps feel the limitations of our human conditions.  While we think that we are most superior of all the animals, we look at birds and think, "I can't fly.....I wish I could fly like a bird."  And so Superman is invented; a human  who can fly like a bird.

We invent superheroes because we are not completely satisfied with just being human.  We are jealous about the strength of elephants, the swimming of fish, the flying of birds.  We really want to have all of the unique traits of the other animals, but alas we can only be human.  So we invent extra-human, super human beings.

In the past, we used to find our superheroes in the Bible and in our churches.  The Messiah was the best person of all human imagination for people of faith.  The prophets and the saints were also superheroes to whom we looked for inspiration because they were like us but they did great things and even became legendary.

What modern science taught us was to discount the entertainment and imagination value of the Messiah and the saints.  Modern Science taught that the superior truth involved only things that could be empirically verified; everything else was mere fancy.  And once the unable to be verified truths of the Messiah and the saints is discounted, what happened?  There still remained a great hole in human imagination, the truth of human imagination.

And that hole got filled with superheroes galore, with science fiction and with Disney kingdoms.  The truth of imagination did not and will not go away.  We dispensed with the discourses of the truth of imagination which we have in the biblical epic of prophets, seers, Messiah and saints, and we have allowed endless surrogates to replace what we once had as the truthful imaginations of faith of our biblical tradition.

Once science was established as the predominate truth of common sense life, people of faith got an inferiority complex about their biblical truth.  People like Thomas Jefferson responded by cutting out of the Bible, everything that did not comport with scientific reasoning.  Worse, biblical fundamentalists acknowledged the truth of science and then began to argue that everything that is recounted in the Bible is scientifically true.

And people have come to live divided schizoidal lives regarding science and faith.  It is completely dishonest to say that one cannot be a poet and a scientist at the same time.  It is completely dishonest to say that one cannot understand and participate in discourses of faith and discourses of science at the same time, and not be crazy.  But many people have come to believe that it is either biblical faith or science and not both.  And those same people fill their lives with superhero genres and they dress up as Spock at a Trekkie conventions, and think that we Christians are wacky?

We, Christians need to stand up for our Messiah, Jesus.  We need to stand up for our saints and souls whom we venerate as value setters for our lives.  We have the three days of All Hallows' Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day to enter into the truth of the poetry of our faith.  Whether one is Christian or not, it is hard to avoid thinking about post-death experience for ourselves or for those whom we loved and  have lost intimate accessibility to.  Our superhero, Jesus the Messiah, became so because of the exemplary way that he lived, died and re-appeared, to affirm the truth of the imaginations of the afterlife.  So in these three days, we celebrate the resurrection afterlife of Jesus, the saints and the souls who have been saints for us in our personal histories.

Jesus, the Messiah, and the saints are witnesses to us that we too are called to be heroic in the witness of faith, first in the small things, as preparation for when we might be called to do a greater thing for the community.

Why do we read the beatitudes on All Saints' Day?  The beatitudes might be called the lifestyle of many of the heroic saints.  They were blessed and beatified because of what they were able to endure.

I have come to called the beatitudes the Christian martial arts for oppressed people.  Most us can never really identify since we've never been slaves; we never lived under the duress of oppression.  The early followers of Jesus had to live martial arts lives; they had to live peaceful resistant lives.  Imagine the slave owner who is impressed with the cheerful diligence of his slaves, whom he holds as his pets.  How can those slaves seem so cheerful?  How can they sing those "spirituals" in such duress?  The Christian martial arts life style of the beatitude for oppressed people became so winsome, it took over the Roman Empire.  When Christianity became Christendom, for most Christians, the beatitude lifestyle was dispensed with as not needed for people in power.

The beatitudes were written as martial arts for the oppressed, to help people not only survive but to impress their oppressors about the superior quality of their life in the Holy Spirit.  The Christian belief is that the Christian martial arts of the beatitudes for oppressed people will in the end win out because slavery and oppression and chauvinism are evil; they are not of God.

The saints are those who lived in the power of the Christian martial arts of the beatitudes.  And if you and I do not need to live the life of the beatitudes, because we are not living under the conditions of oppression, we need to live the Christian martial arts of the beatitude on behalf of and in solidarity with the oppressed wherever they are found.

The best of the saintly life is expressed in the Christian martial arts of the beatitudes.  This is the heroic life.  This is the super heroic life.  This is what the life of the Risen Christ can be within each of us as we let the conditions of this life call us to this kind of saintly life.

Today we thank God for the Saint of Saints, Jesus the Messiah, our superhero.  We thank God for blessed Mary and an entire train of exemplary saints who lived the life of the Christian martial arts of the beatitudes when they were oppressed and when they saw others suffering oppression.  And we ask  that we in our time and place might find a way to follow them in learning to practice the Christian martial arts of the beatitudes.  Amen.