Sunday School, August 29, 2021 14 Pentecost, B Proper 17

 Sunday School, August 29, 2021   14 Pentecost, B Proper 17

 

Themes for Sunday School

Hebrew Scriptures

If the reading from Song of Songs is used  the lesson can be about love.  Song of Songs is a love poem and is written about being in love.  The reason it was included in the Bible is because the ancient teachers of Israel believed that the relationship between people and God should be a relationship of love.  If we can speak about how wonderful love is between two people, we can use this model as a way of understanding how wonderful our relationship with God is meant to be.  It is a journey of love.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” 

Commandments are laws and sometimes we can treat laws as hard things that our parents and teacher want us to do to obey them.  What we need to know is that laws and rules are ways of teaching us.  By following rules and laws, we learn best behaviors and we build our memory of how to perform these best behaviors.

The lesson from the book of Deuteronomy is about why we should remember and not forget the laws and commandments of God.  They are rules for our very best behavior and if we remember and practice them the good behaviors will become easier to perform.

Why should we practice the laws of best behavior?  So that we can be honest about what we believe and what we do.  The writer of the letter of James reminds us that it is not just important to hear God’s word; we also have to do God words.  It does not do us any good to keep hearing not to lie; we have to practice telling the truth.  We have to get our deeds of our body agree with the law of God.

Jesus had an argument with people who made less important rules more important than the most important rules.  Is it more important to wash our hands before our meals or more important that all of the people of the world have clean water?  Washing our hands is very important but if this rule becomes more important than making sure that every person has clean water, then have lost our sense of right value.

All rules are important but Jesus was teaching his friends that the less important rules should not be made into the most important rules or they would miss out on being kind to people, which is the most important rule of all.

 

A sermon

  Laws and rules are very important because we need them for safety in our lives.  But not all rules are as important others.

  Tell which rule is more important.  You shall brush your teeth.  Or You shall not play in the street.

  What about:  Wash your hands before you eat.  Or Don’t play with knives.

  When Jesus came he saw that some people had forgotten about the important rules and they had made the least important rules the important rules.

  Are you supposed to talk in a library?  No, but if there was a fire in the library, would you yell, “Fire?”  You would break the  rule against talking so that you could save lives, right?

  Jesus saw that some people had many rules about many things. They were supposed  to wash their hands before prayer and they were supposed to wash their pots and pans and plates in special ways.  But he also knew that many of his friends were poor and did not have enough water in the places that they lived to store water and so it was very difficult for them to follow all of the washing rules.

 In the church we use a little water for baptism.  Tell me what rule is more important:  Baptizing all of the babies in the world with a little water.  Or Making sure that all of the babies in the world have safe drinking water?  In Holy Eucharist we use just a little piece of bread.  Is it more important that all people receive a little piece of communion bread or that more people have enough to eat?  Baptism and Eucharist important but we can never forget the importance of the laws that need to be followed to help everyone live well.  To live well people need food and water, home and clothes and education.  If we really live and practice the meaning of baptism and Holy Eucharist, it means we are hoping, praying and working for all people in the world to have enough to eat and drink.

   Jesus wants us to learn the value of different laws.  Loving God and our neighbor are the important laws.

  We should respect all of the rules and laws, especially the rules and laws of our parents.  But remember that Jesus told us about the different value of rules and laws.

  If I make up a special game and only I know the rules.  How would you feel if I got mad at you for breaking the rules of my game?

  Well, you wouldn’t want to play with me or you wouldn’t want to play my game, would you?

  Let us remember that all laws are important but the ones that are about the health and safety and happiness of people are the most important laws.  And those are the laws that Jesus wants us to know and practice the best.  Amen.

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 29, 2021:  The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: As the Deer, Change My Heart, O Lord, Be Still,  Here in this Place

Song: As the Deer Pants for the Water, (Renew # 9, gray hymnal)

1          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, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield; you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!" For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today? But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

 

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 15

LORD, who may dwell in your tabernacle? * who may abide upon your holy hill?

Whoever leads a blameless life and does what is right, * who speaks the truth from his heart.

There is no guile upon his tongue; he does no evil to his friend; * he does not heap contempt upon his neighbor.

  

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'  You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

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

 

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

Change my heart, O God make it ever true; Change my heart of God, may I be like you.  You are the potter , I am the clay; mold me and make you, this is what I pray.  Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.  Change my heart O, God.  May I be like you.

 

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.

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:        Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song:  Be Still and Know,   (Renew!

# 10, gray hymnal)

1-Be still and know that I am God.  Be still and know that I am God.  Be still and know that I am God.

2-The Lord almighty is our God.  The Lord Almighty is our god.  The Lord Almighty is our God.

3-The God of Jacob is our rock.  The God of Jacob is our rock.  The God of Jacob is our rock.

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: Here in this Place, (Renew # 14, gray hymnal)

1- Here in this place a new light is streaming, now is the darkness vanished away.  See in this place our fears and our dreamings. Brought here to you in the light of this day.  Gather us in the lost and forsaken.  Gather us in the blind and the lame.  Call to us now and we shall awaken.  We shall arise at the sound of our name.

2-We are the young our lives are a mystery.  We are the old who yearn for your face.  We have been sung through all of your history.  Called to be light to the whole human race.  Gather us in the rich and the haughty.  Gather us in the proud and the strong.  Give us a heart so meek and so lowly.  Give us the courage to enter the song.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

How Is the Eucharist Transubstantiation?

13 Pentecost Cycle B proper 16 August 22,2021
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 Psalm 34:15-22
Ephesians 6:10-20 John 6:56-69

Lectionary Link

Pliny the Younger, was a Roman governor in early second century who persecuted Christians, for merely being Christian.  And he wrote about the secret crimes of Christians, one which was "ritual cannibalism."

Probably the Christian Eucharist was mainly a very private event in the homes of early believers, but information would get out about eating flesh and drinking blood giving rise to the rumors of ritual cannibalism.

And of course, if one is very literal about the Gospel of John words of Jesus, one can understand the rumors about cannibalism.  "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me."

The irony about these words in John's Gospel is that Protestant interpreters read these words as not literal, but figuratively, and Roman Catholics have read these words in the more literal way leading to the presence of Christ being called a transubstantiation.  A changing of the real substance of the bread and the wine into the real substance of the body and of Christ.  And so Christians have disagreed about one of the central rituals of the Church, the Holy Eucharist.

And we might want to explore how the bread and the wine can become known at the real and substantial presence of Christ.

The first rule of interpretation is to interpret within the framework of the writer's entire work.  And when we look at John's Gospel, we cannot be shocked about non-literal metaphors of difference.  Metaphors are literary features, not literal features.

Was Jesus a Lamb?  Was he the Paschal Lamb?  Was Jesus a light?  Was he a door or gate to a sheepfold?  Was he a Shepherd?  Was he Bread?  Was he a vine?  Jesus was not literally any of these metaphors of difference, but he was in the figurative sense as the writer was using the symbolism familiar to an audience who knew the stories and themes of the Hebrew Scriptures.

John's Gospel is about the literary, spiritual and figurative significance of Jesus the Christ.  The writer gives it all away in the opening words:  Christ is the Word who was with God and was God in the beginning.

The expansive notion of Word includes what undergirds and generates all word products in languages such as speech and writing.  Word includes the organization of human acts or body language in our deeds and manifold behaviors.  Word is included in our seeing, touching, smelling, tasting, and hearing because Word provides the meaning grids through which we interpret all experience.  When we see something, at the same time we are coupling the seeing with the word or words for what we see.

Many times in the Gospel of John, Jesus is rebuking people for being so literal and missing the spiritual point.

Since John's Gospel was written so late, one can assume that passage we've read today refers to a separation in the early community regarding the Holy Eucharist.  Some persons are offended by the brute physicality of the words, "eat my flesh, drink my blood."  If one takes these words literally, then one is involved in an impossible cannibalism.  And this is silly.

The consistent literary device of the Gospel of John is to use the physical as a metaphor of certainty about the equal certainty of the inward and spiritual meaning and how the inward and spiritual meaning becomes physical.

What is the doubting Thomas story about?  "Thomas, you touch and see my physical body for being certain; blessed are those who have not touched or seen me but believed my words."

The clue to not taking these words literally are found in this very reading.  Jesus Christ who is also called the Eternal Word of God, said, "My words are Spirit and they are life?"  What does this mean?  It means that Word and language are the internal spirit or unseen part of us which determines the meaningful truths of our lives.  And when we partake of communion we renew the Real Presence of Christ within us which is as real and certain as his physical presence.

And how do we know the certainty of the real presence of Christ in a very physical way?  When our hands are used to help and heal others.  When our feet walk to help others.  When our words and lips speak words of love and comfort.  When our hearts are moved to give and help.  When we perform love and justice in our bodily lives we prove the physical reality of the Real Presence of Christ.

Christians should stop arguing and being offended by the Holy Eucharist; we should just prove the transubstantiation of the presence of Christ in our physical and inward lives.  We should be the physical presence of the transubstantiated Christ in lives of love and justice.

For Christ's sake, let's stop arguing about the Gospel and the Eucharist and just be it and do it.  Amen.

Faith, Belief, and Persuasions

10 Pentecost Cycle B, Proper 13 August 1, 2021
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 Psalm 78:23-29
Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:24-35
Lectionary Link

Why can't I say, "I faith in God?"  Because faith does not have a verb form in English.  Even though the word faith comes from the Latin word fides and in Latin, one can say Fido, which would be I faith, but when we translate to English we say I have faith in God.

In New Testament Greek, the word for faith has a verb form, but most biblical translators use the English believe to be the active verb translation for faith.  Which is interesting because the word "Creed" means statements of belief, or when we say in Latin, "credo," or I believe in God, etc.

The oracles words of Jesus in the Gospel of John do not give very good economic advice.  Jesus told the crowd who wanted him to produce more food for them, "Do not labor for the bread that perishes...."

Excuse me Jesus, but isn't that what we all seek?  To be gainfully employed so that we might gain bread and all manner of life necessities?

I think what is implied by the words of Jesus is, "Do not labor only for the bread which perishes...."

And then the prepositions changes....no longer is it work for food, but what is the work of God?

And what is the work of God?  The work of God is to believe in the one who God sent...The work is to have faith in the one who God sent.

Reading the Bible or listening to me, one can begin to think that one is lost in an language labyrinth, or a maze with walls.

So doing the work of God for people is to have faith in the one one who was sent from God.

Can we see how the familiar Lutheran/Catholic dispute is resolved in this?  Is salvation by works or by faith?

No, salvation is the work of God in us as we have faith in what is most excellent, namely in the gift that God gives to us.

Do you ever feel like we can get bogged down in religious language with some ancient specialized meanings which we've lost the interpretatives keys for?  How might we understand faith for us today?

I would like for us to understand faith for by reaching back to a word used by Aristotle's which is the same word for faith and belief in the New Testament.  It's the Greek word "pistos."  Now what did "pistos" mean for Aristotle?  In Aristotle's writing on the human language skill called Rhetoric, the goal of rhetoric is "Pistos."  or to use English, the goal of rhetoric is persuasion.

The word "pistos" for faith that is used the New Testament New Testament might be said to be what one is persuaded about.  What are you and I persuaded about?  If we know what we're persuaded about then we know the objects of our faith and belief.

Therefore, I would say that our entire lives are expressions of what we're persuaded about.  We cannot help but have faith.  We cannot help but be persuaded about lots of things.  You and I are persuaded about needing air to breathe, food to eat.   We are persuaded about using language; we have no choice.  There are lots to things that we have automatic persuasion about.  It might be what the philosopher Santayana, called "animal" faith.

There are varieties of persuasion in our lives based upon our cultures, tastes and interests.  If one is interest in ballet, painting and classical music, then one is persuaded by these aesthetic disciplines and spends time and money to foster participation.  Sports are the same; a sports fanatic is persuaded by the benefits of being engaged in them as participant and fan.  Each person's vocation or way of earning a living involves being persuaded about the benefits of one's work.  Most of us believe in and are persuaded by family and by loving relationships too.  Can we understand how each of us is constituted by many forms of persuasion which are proven by the ways in which organize and spend our time, talent and treasure?

There is persuasion which pertains to religious piety, like attendance at church, prayer and meditation, doing charitable work.  One of the difference between your piety and mine, is that I get paid for mine.  I think that makes yours a bit more valid than mine.

And if we have all of these various kinds of persuasions which organize our lives what could faith or belief as the work of God mean for you and me?

Jesus Christ is the gift of God sent to humanity to be someone on whom each person can project our own true humanity which is in us and lost because of the sin of alienation.  We can know ourselves to be persuaded and have belief in so many things in life, some good and beneficial or merely entertaining, and some addictive and harmful.

But to come to faith in the Christ whom God sent is to have the waken image of the Risen Christ in us be experienced as God's gift to us, a gift which has always been with us but sadly, often unknown and recognized.

So what is our work today?  Believing.  Yes we will believe, have faith in, and be persuaded about many things in our lives simultaneously, but don't forget the great work of faith and belief, which is simply accepting the original grace of God's image upon our lives and which can become more clearly known as we focus upon Jesus the Christ.

Let us not get hung up on the many forms of persuasion in our lives even the really important ones, like having enough to eat, clothes to wear, jobs, family, and friendships to the neglect of the one sustaining persuasion of life: the faith of the Christ within us projecting upon the Jesus Christ of history as the most wonderful graceful discovery of our lives.  And we need this faith gift and discovery of Christ as enlightened humanity to appreciate and to regulate all of the other delightful areas of persuasion in our lives.   

Among all of the different work in our lives, the main work is to believe in, have faith in, be persuaded about the Reality of the gift of Christ within us as the gift and hope of being our authentic selves.

Let us do the continual work of believing in Christ who is always before us as our future better self inviting us to be better.  Amen.

Sunday School, August 22, 2021 13 Pentecost B proper 16

Sunday School, August 22, 2021   13 Pentecost B proper 16

Sunday School Themes

Hebrew Scriptures

One selection is about Solomon and the building of first temple in Jerusalem.  And it is important to remember that God of the Temple was the God of everyone.  So there is a reminder that God does not just belong to us and the place of worship is to be a place for everyone.

Another selection is about the second leader of the people of Israel who led them after the great Moses died.  His name was Joshua.  He reminded his people that they were to be known as those who were loyal to the One God.  They were not become like the people who believed in many Gods.

For the New Testament lesson since the last four weeks and this week have been about the bread of heaven discourse of John’s Gospel, perhaps one can give it a rest.

Use the example of a Roman Soldier’s armor from the Epistle to the Ephesian.  Bring pictures of Roman Soldier in their battle gear.  Show a picture of modern soldier in full battle gear.  Show the comic superheroes like Iron Man and Transformers with their full battle gear.

Being prepared in life means that we have to protect our insides, especially what we see and learn.  How is our life like a war or a battle?  We try to prevent the things which can hurt us by good preparation.  How do we prepare:  Learn to do healthy things. Tell the truth.  Do right things.  Learn to have faith and not fear.   Walk in the shoes   that take us in the path of peace as we share the good news of Christ.  Learn about God’s words.  Learn that we have God’s Spirit with us to help us at all times.  We have to face things in our lives which can make us have fear, tempt us to do wrong things, lie, fight, and think unhealthy thoughts.  St. Paul uses the example of the soldier’s uniform to tell us that we always need to be prepared to face all of the struggles and hard things in our life.  We have to realize that life is often like a war or a battle because sometimes it can seem easier to do wrong than do good?  Why is it easier to eat lots of brownie but not lots of healthy food?  Why is it easier to play with our toys rather than pick them up?  Why does it sometimes seem easier to be sad and moody and crabby than to be cheerful and happy?  St. Paul said that we have to be prepared for a battle because learning how to be really excellent in life is not easy.

Sermon

      I have a pictures here of a soldier.  And this is the most famous toy soldier.  What is his name?  G.I. Joe.  And since a soldier has to fight to protect people a soldier has to wear a special uniform.

  St. Paul said that our life is like a battle; not like a real war.  It is a battle against things that are not good for us.  So like a soldier, we have to be prepared.  As school students, we have to be like soldiers and be prepared.

  St. Paul said we need to put on the armor of God.

He said we need to have the belt of truth.  A belt is very important in the armor.  In school you are learning the truth about all sorts of things.  And the more truth that you can learn the better your life will be.

  Paul said we need to wear the breast plate of righteousness and we need to have a shield of faith.  Learning to do the right thing is very important in life.  And having faith means that we do have to fear because we believe that God cares for us.  Notice on GI Joe the breast plate and shield are the same thing; he has body armor to stop bullets.

  Paul said that we should wear the helmet of salvation.  What does a helmet protect?  Our heads.  And what is in our head?  Our mind and our thoughts.  Salvation means building healthy thoughts in our mind and that is why we go to school. (Do you see GI Joe’s helmet?) 

  Paul said we needed the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Modern soldier don’t use swords; they carry knives and they use guns.

  Just as a soldier needs to know how to use a knife and a gun, St. Paul said that we need know how to use the word of God.  We need to study words, we need to learn how to read and write, we need to know how to use words in a good way, because with our words we can say some very wonderful things to help people, to teach people and to encourage people.  And when we use our words in good ways, our words are words of the Spirit of God.

  So are you ready for school this year?  St. Paul reminds that learning is like being a soldier; we prepare ourselves, we educate ourselves, we learn as much as we can so that we can do some very good things in our world.

  So remember St. Paul’s words about putting on the armor of God.

Holding our heads:

  Bless O, Lord our minds to learn new things.

Eyes:

  Bless our eyes to see and read new things.

Ear:

  Bless our ears to hear new things.

Lips:

  Bless our lips to says and speak new things.

Hands:

  Bless our hands to create art and to write wonderful words.

Feet:

  Bless our feet with strength to play and grow strong.

Heart:

  Bless our heart to love to learn many new things in school.

Bless us in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist

August 22, 2021: The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Onward Christian Soldiers, We Are Marching, Let the Hungry Come to Me, Awesome God

Song: Onward Christian Soldiers  (blue hymnal # 562)

Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with cross of Jesus going on before!  Christ the royal Master, leads against the fore; forward into battle, see his banners go. 

Refrain: Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before!

Liturgist:

Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Letter to the Ephesians

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Liturgist:

The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 34

The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, * and his ears are open to their cry.

The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, * to root out the remembrance of them from the earth.

The righteous cry, and the LORD hears them * and delivers them from all their troubles.

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, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.   When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."  Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

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

Song: We Are Marching (Renew! # 306)

We are marching in the light of the Lord, we are marching in the light of the Lord.  We are marching in the light of the Lord, we are marching in the light of the Lord. 

Refrain: We are marching, marching we are marching, Oh, marching, we are marching in the the light of the Lord, of the Lord.  We are marching, marching, we are marching, Oh, marching we are marching in the light of the Lord.

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.

Blessing for Students and teachers as the new school year begins

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

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song:  Let the Hungry Come to Me (Renew!  # 220)

Let the hungry come to me, let the poor be fed.  Let the thirsty come and drink, share my wine and bread.  Though you have no money, come to me and eat.  Drink the cup I offer, feed on finest wheat.

I myself am living bread; feed on me and live.  In this cup my blood for you; drink the wine I give.  All who eat my body, all who drink my blood, shall have joy forever, share the life of God.

Here among you shall I dwell; making all things new.  You shall be my very own, I, your God with you.  Bless’d are you invited to my wedding feast.  You shall live forever, all your joys increased.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Awesome God (Renew!  # 245)

Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above,

with wisdom, power and love.  Our God is an awesome God.

(sing three times)

The Traditions of St. Mary the Virgin

St. Mary the Virgin, August 15, 2021
Isaiah 61:10-11. Psalm 34:1-9
Galatians 4:4-7  Luke 1:46-55
Lectionary Link

The name of our parish is St. Mary's-in-the-Valley, which of course happens to be located in the Santa Maria Valley, so it was an obvious choice for the people who named our parish.

Today, is the Feast of St. Mary the Virgin, and so it is appropriate for our parish to let this feast take precedence on the Sunday and feast day of our namesake saint.
I would like to entitle my reflections today as, " The Traditions of Saint Mary the Virgin." In the history of the traditions of Bless Mary, we discover that veneration and devotion to her has been perceived by Christians as being competitive with devotion to her son Jesus. We as inheritors of the traditions from the Western and Eastern Churches as well as from the Protestant and Reform traditions cannot avoid the controversies which have surrounded Blessed Mary in Christian piety.

Much of the disagreement regarding the status of Mary for all Christians and the world, comes from the Protestant Reformers who so venerated the certitude of the collection of New Testament writings, that they did not believe that God could do anything validly outside of what was specifically controlled the meanings of the official New Testament writings. They believed that the Roman Catholic Church was so full of innovations not verified by specific references in the New Testament, that teachings, practices and pieties of the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox churches had to be rejected full scale, including many of the traditions about Blessed Mary.

What Protestant Reformers easily forgot is that it was church traditions and historical process which led to the actual agreement of what books they thought should be in the official Bible. So, the Bible is a developed church tradition and Christians even disagree about which books and portions of certain books should be considered as venerable for establishing church doctrine and practice.
The Reformation was in some ways a by product of the Enlightenment, when the individual inspired person of Reason was crowned as being superior over group pietistic and community theology.

Until the Enlightenment and the Reformation, theology was regarded to be more about the poetics of piety, or the personal prayer life and the corporate prayer life of the church. Even the Holy Scriptures were regarded as the truth of devotional piety. Theological reasoning before the Enlightenment was an effort to unite matters of the heart and matters of the head, with matters of the heart being primary. With the Enlightenment, it became the habit of the Reformers to try to convert all matters of the heart into pure reason. Fundamentalism based upon preferring literal readings of everything, was an offshoot of this habit.

This feast day of Mary, August 15th, has been set by a controversial Marian event for much of Protestant Christianity, the Assumption of Mary into heaven without a normal death passage into the next world. In this Assumption Tradition, Mary joins Enoch, Elijah and perhaps Moses. Her Assumption is contrasted with the Ascension of Jesus, and in the logic of the piety regarding her Assumption, she did not experience a normal death.

As a preacher faced with so many traditions of Mary, all of which have adherents and deniers, what do I do to sort this out for us and not be divided by Mary but unified by her holy life and special role?

The way that I would suggest for us to appropriate and appreciate the traditions of Mary is to return to truth of the poetics of piety which is grounded in the prayer life of people. We can appreciate the devotional practices of the traditions of piety which have been generated around Mary.

One of the greatest truths about the traditions of Mary, is that she has been made necessarily the most profound correction for the patriarchal control of the Christian church world. Patriarchal paternalism in the church contributed to the widespread subjugation of women in the history of human experience. Even a church controlled by men was confessing the imbalance of masculine and feminine power by their elevation of Mary to the role of being a mediatrix, a special woman intercessor to approach Christ. The piety of Mary from her popularity in lowly people forced the church hierarchy to enshrine her place and value in their doctrine. The devotion of Mary was the triumph of the devotion of the lowly masses, which in turn forced the hierarchy to elevate Mary's role in the church's teaching. The heavenly Mary is like the earthly Mary at the wedding in Cana that ran out of wine. She went to her son Jesus and said, "Son, take care of the wine shortage." And he did. Mary has this tradition as a mediator with Christ. You go to Mary with a problem; she goes to Christ and says, "Take care of this my son." In the famous "Hail Mary" devotional prayer, one can see that the piety of Mary's designated Assumption makes her the intercessor at the threshold of the afterlife. "Prayer for us now and at the hour of our death." Mary says to Jesus at our death, "Jesus, my Son, see my child here. Let my child into your abode."

I hope that historically we can appreciate the rising role of Mary and the saints in their roles of intercession for us. What happened historically? The church became divided between the extraordinary Christians, the clergy and monastics, and lay people. Only the clergy were holy enough to consecrate the bread and wine into the presence of Christ. The consecrated sacrament became reserved as a holy presence. Only special consecrated ordained people could approach this presence. It came about in practice that lay people became relegated to receiving communion once a year. They needed the season of Lent to prepare to receive their once a year communion. The The Ascended Christ and the Communion elements were made too holy and too perfect to be approached by anyone except the priests. The priests mediated for the people before Christ. So what happened? A cosmic psychical reality check; St. Mary and the saints became the "approachable" intercessors for the populace. Mary and the saints became the practical mediators for the masses because the masses believed that Mary and the saints, particularly their local saint whose relics they housed, were accessible to them, in ways in which the masculine church hierarchy was not. They had become like those who guarded the holy presence of Jesus from the masses.

Now comes the Reformation and the Enlightenment, and suddenly the reformers are part of a very democratic revolt. There is no hierarchy; everyone can go straight to God and Jesus; they don't need the detour through Mary and the saints, and they don't need priestly mediation of the church hierarchy. And this can be true, and without suddenly needing to throw away the Communion of Saints and Mary. We confess belief in the Communion of Saints in the Nicene Creed. In a way, the Reformation decanonized Mary and all of the saints, pretending they were no longer necessary in the way that they had served in the devotions and pieties of the people. They treated engagement of the saints as competition with devotion to Jesus. This competition is based upon a silly logic. If I feel fine with asking my saintly departed Grandmother to pray for me and help me, why cannot I do the same with all who are members of the Communion of Saints, and especially Blessed Mary who embodies the church more than anyone?

As an Anglican and Episcopalian, I am part of the Middle Way between Protestant and Catholic traditions. I believe that we can appropriate all of the traditions of Mary in our piety. I believe the controversy comes because opposing people accuse another person's piety as not being true, not being real, as not have empirical verifiability in experience. This is the like silliness of someone saying, "My poetry is science and so it is true." And another person saying, "Your poetry is not science and so it is not true." The traditions of Mary have exposed both Catholic and Protestant malpractice in understanding the poetry of piety and the what we can actually believe because of the meaningful method of science.

The glory of the greatness of Mary is that she has inspired piety, the poetry of the prayers of adoration and imagination in the ceaseless effort to express love for another person with new language. And Mary has inspired new language about her; The Mater Dei, Mother of God, the Theotokos, the God-bearer, the Mediatrix. She has inspired art, the holy icons of the Theotokos which are painted by inspired iconographers who paint to allow a vision of what is divine behind the visible icon.
The tradition of Mary is grounded upon her famous song, the Magnificat. In this song Mary is a hero for the lowly, the despised, the unrecognized, the powerless people of the world against the the powerful people and exploiters of the world.

There is also the tradition in the pieties about those who were assumed into heaven, like Enoch and Elijah, and Moses who had an unwitnessed death. People with Assumptions, could be travelers in and out of visible and invisible space. Moses and Elijah reappeared at the Mount of the Transfiguration. And what person in history is more apparitional than the Virgin Mary? One can find all kinds of alternate reasons for apparitions, even as one cannot deny the sociological evidence of their effects and the interpretation of their meanings by people who experienced them. Fatima, Lourdes, Medajore, Guadalupe; are famous sites of these apparitions. And even if they can be diminished in high holy value, through the commercialism of trinkets and tourism, there is an undeniable sociological piety of the apparitional Mary appearing to poor and lowly people to help, heal and give comfort and significant dignified identity to people who do not have such lucky esteem. In inner heavenly space, the proud are cast down and the lowly are lifted up. And Mary's apparitional appearances are about lifting up the lowly, even if they get commercially exploited.
For me personally, I find that the biblical words about Mary represent the secret of the Christian experience. Mary is the paradigm of each of us who is to be a mystic. The life of Christ is born in us, not of our own doing, but as the original gift of God's image within us being activated and known as the birth of Christ within us. And it happens because we are completely overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, the pervading immanence of God being around us and in us. And we like Mary are those who keep assenting to this birth experience of Christ in us, as we like Mary say, "Let it be according to your word."

In Marian piety, since Jesus was sinless and perfect, it followed that Jesus had to have an immaculately conceived mother to bear a perfect child. But don't get caught up the logic of piety, by making the poetry science. It would seem that for Mary to be a perfect mother, her mother and father would also have to be immaculately conceived and such thinking would be an endless regress. The faith piety point is that just as Mary had to have a purifying act of God to bear Jesus, we ourselves have to be purified by having the Holy Spirit as the clean heart within us to bear the presence of Christ. We have to be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit to have Christ realized within us. St. Paul wrote that Jesus became sin that we might be the righteousness of God. This is the poetry of the immaculate conception of everyone who comes to realize the birth of Christ. All the poetic piety regarding Mary have spiritual meaning in our own journeys of the progressive revealing and living out of the birth of Christ within us.

Can we appreciate how Blessed Mary is the chief paradigm for us who are called to be those who are mystically inhabited by the life Christ?

On this feast day of Mary, I would invite all of us not to be worried about all of the traditions of Mary and don't get caught mistaking empirical reality for poetry or poetic piety reality for science. The traditions of Blessed Mary are there for us to use and identify with if they will help us become more aware of the experience of Christ within us.

Also, let us remember that Mary is the one who intercedes to cast down the proud and lift up the lowly. In our time the social and psychological icon of Mary does not just need to be a corrective for the needed feminine psychic balance in our patriarchal world; the blessing of Mary needs to be activated in women in every sort of calling so that their gifts can be made manifest, affirmed, and blessed, so that world can be blessed. Doctors, presidents, CEOs, nurses, mothers, lawyers, soldiers, priests, bishops, and whenever they have the gift to be able to do something; women can do all of these and more, and Blessed Mary is cheering them on through her intercessions.

Today Blessed Mary calls us to correct the world where women have not been permitted to share their gifts. Today, blessed Mary calls us to promote equal dignity to all who are treated as less and lowly in our world. Today, blessed Mary calls us to be more Christ-like. More than anything, Mary is not a competitor with her son Jesus, she is his most able promoter.

And with Mary's help today, we too will learn to be promoters of the Risen Christ who has been born in us. Amen.