Sunday School, October 17, 2021 21 Pentecost B proper 24

 Sunday School, October 17, 2021  21 Pentecost B proper 24

Themes:

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

Discussion:

What do we do when we feel small?

How do we accept the fact that we have limitation?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sermon on “Me first” or “We first”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

October 17, 2021: The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

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

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: The Lord Is Present  (Renew! # 55)

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

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

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the book of Job

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

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 104

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

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

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

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

Thanks be to God!

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

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

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

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

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

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

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

2          I’ve got love…. 

3          I’ve got joy……

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All  may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song:  I Love You, Lord (Renew! # 36)

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

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Awesome God (Renew! # 245)

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

(Sing three times)

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

 

Too Much Baggage and Missing the Obvious

20 Pentecost b P.23 October 10, 2021

Amos 5:6-7,10-15  Psalm 90:12-17

Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-27

 

Lectionary Link

 

We’ve read the well-known story of Jesus and the rich young who was very religious.  Certainly this was a teaching story in the early church.  And it includes several significant insights.

 

And some of those insights might be convicting for us today.

 

There is a very simplistic folk theory of fate and karma that happens in the interpretation of the events in our lives.

 

If I am fortunate, have good health then that must mean that I am doing something right in life.  And if I am misfortunate and in bad health and in poverty and bad relationships, that must mean that I have done something wrong in life to deserve it.

 

So read the handwriting on the wall; if you’re lucky you deserve it for being good, and if you’re unlucky, you deserve it because you are or must be doing something wrong.

 

This simple theory had the entire book of Job written to shoot this theory down.  Because bad things happen to good people and good things happen to really, really bad people.

 

The community to whom the Gospel of Mark was written in the 7th decade about forty years after Jesus, needed some insights about how to understand the things happening in their lives.

 

We cannot say that the Jesus Movement in the 7th decade was an imposing religious group with great social and economic success.  They probably were more liable to be persecuted at the time when the Roman armies had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple.

 

The Gospel story that we have read encapsulates some of the big issues in the church of the 7th decade of the common era, but they are also universal themes and relevant to us today.

 

Prosperity Gospel is an issue today.  There are many televangelist preachers today, some flying around in expensive personal jet planes, who tout the blessing formula.  If your life is right with God, God will bless you and that blessing will come in the form of actual wealth.

 

So what is the opposite?  If you are not blessed with wealth, then your faith must be lacking.  By the way, send me some money as “seed faith.”  I might need a bigger jet.

 

In the Hebrew Scriptures, this was called the Deuteronomy theology of history.  Why did Israel prosper or fail?  It depended upon their faithfulness to the Ten Commandments.  That is a very simplistic cause and effect answer, since the great armies of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and the Romans had lots to do with the downfall of Israel.

 

The rich young man in the Gospel story represented this “blessing formula theology.”  He is one who wanted Jesus and the Jesus Movement to affirm that he was in God’s last will and testament which would allow him into heaven.  In the encounter, Jesus threw him back upon his own assumptions.  What does your tradition tell you about the questions?  What does the Torah tell you?  Keep the ten commandments.

 

"O but Jesus, the 10 Commandments are my resume; I haven’t killed anyone, I’ve been faithful to my wife or wives and my parents, and I don’t lie or steal.  I’m heaven bound, right?"

 

And Jesus said, “If you are counting on personal achievements to get you into heaven, then you must not think that you are yet guaranteed heaven.  So, I am going to give you your next commandment.  Go sell all that you have and give to the poor and follow me.”

 

And the next commandment really stumped him because he had too much wealth to give up.

 

All of this became a discussion for Jesus and the disciples meaning that it was a discussion in the Jesus Movement in the 7th decade, right at the time when Israel and Jerusalem had been overrun by the Roman Army.

 

It was a discussion about this blessing formula.  The words of Jesus instructed that wealth could be distracting baggage in life and if you are trying to get somewhere, it can slow you down.

 

How did travelers at night get into Jerusalem after the main city gates had been locked?  Well, they had to go through the gate called the eye of the needle.  This gate was like a dutch door, with a top and bottom swinging gate.  At night the top gate was locked.  The bottom gate was left open; so you had to unload your camel or beast and maneuver your beast on the camel’s knee to get into the city.

 

Can we see the meaning of the metaphor?  Too much baggage impedes our ability to know that we are in God’s kingdom from creation.  Our wealth is the baggage of being alienated from our birthright from creation because being made in God’s image, means we are God’s children and in God’s will and have inherited God’s kingdom.

 

The poor rich man was alienated from his birthright by all of his baggage, so he thought he had to earn something that he already had.  And the Jesus movement was about returning to the original blessing as revealed by Jesus.

 

The disciples were saying, “Jesus, we’ve gotten rid of our wealth and baggage to follow you, so how can we have any assurance of the kingdom of God?  Surely, success in our lifetime means that God will bless us with success.”

 

And Jesus reveals the secret which was the secret of Jesus Movement.  Get rid of the baggage of your minds which keeps you from realizing the always, already inheritance of being a child of God.

 

This my friends is the next commandment for us.  Get rid of our baggage which is the alienation in our minds regarding God being the parent of the universe who has always regarded us to be children of God.  Can we accept this?  If we can, then we can also live in peace about being in the last will and testament of God regarding our eternal inheritance.

 

Today the words of Jesus invite us to get rid of distracting baggage which alienates us from knowing that we are children of God.  Amen.

 

 

Be More Concerned about the Next Commandment

20 Pentecost b P.23 October 10, 2021
Amos 5:6-7,10-15  Psalm 90:12-17
Hebrews 4:12-16 Mark 10:17-27

Lectionary Link

We have read the familiar encounter story of Jesus with the proud rich young man.  And he seemed to have a worry?

Have I been disinherited by God?  And if I have, what do I need to do to get my inheritance with God back?  How can I get back into God's will and inherit a living place with God in my afterlife?

The dialogue with Jesus revealed some assumptions about people, about religious practice, and about God.

This dialogue reveals the state of alienation lived by many people.  Why has God disinherited me?  Why don't I have faith in my preservation after I die?  And what can I do to achieve God's favor?

The rich young man probably came to Jesus less for advice and more for Jesus to pat him on the back and praise him for his outstanding worthiness before God.  But he did play along pretending sincere questions.  The rich young man also represented a "strain" of prosperity religion, that had its root in the Deuteronomy theology of history.  Why and when does Israel and people prospers?  When they keep the law?  Why and when does Israel and people suffer exile, loss, and occupation?  Because God's people did not keep the law and God has a built in system of reward and punishment based upon whether people obey the Ten Commandments.

There is both a truth and a falsity about this system of fate and karma.  What is the truth?  The truth is that living by the law is good actuarial probability theory.  Illustrated simply it goes like this:  If you never drink and drive keeping this law, then you will never be arrested and charged with a DUI.  Do you see the immediate karmic relationship?  Keeping the law about drinking and driving results in the blessing of not being arrested for the same.

This is a simplistic example.  In the great realm of genuine freedom in the world the probabilities of what might happen to any of us or any group or country is so complex that it cannot be reduced to a simple formula of if this is done, a particular outcome is guaranteed.

Jesus as the wise teacher baits the the proud rich young man, by testing his understanding of his own tradition.  You know the commandments, and Jesus recites some of the Big Ten for him.

The young man essentially said, "Jesus you stop there, you are only reciting the resume of my deeds.  I've not killed anyone, I am faithful in marriage, I don't lie, I don't steal, this is my resume and look how I am blessed by God with such prosperity.  So since I have such blessing in life, doesn't this mean also that I deserve the blessed inheritance in my afterlife?"

And then came the shocking rely of Jesus, "You lack one thing, sell all you have and give to poor.  Then you will have treasured inheritance in heaven."

Oops.  Sorry I asked Jesus.  Can we appreciate how this vignette reveal the wrong relationship to the law and to our religious piety and practices?  Do we see them as a resume to guarantee us that God will hire us for a heavenly afterlife?  Of do we see the commandments and religious practices as only temporal moments in learning how to work at loving God and our neighbors?  If we use our religious practice as reason to feel morally and spiritually superior, then we have forgotten the most important commandment for anyone at anytime?  What is the most important commandment for each of us?  It what I call the next commandment.  Jesus gave the rich young man a next commandment: God sell what you have and give to the poor.

Each person has a next commandment from God and Christ and it is tailored to each person's spiritual path based upon progressing in the continual life of repentance, of being better today than yesterday.  The next commandment is the two edged sword of God's word, which is more than the written words of the law of the Bible.  God word as a two-edged sword is the convicting words which comes to us about the next commandment we need to follow.

Since Jesus said that we have to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect, we, like the rich young man can never rest on our laurels as having done enough.

What is the next commandment that God is asking of us and individuals, as a parish and as a country?  God may be asking us to invite people who are different from us to be a part of our life experience.  The next commandment for our country involves fully implementing the practice of life, liberty, justice and civil rights for all of our people in a reparative and equal way.  And many in our country are finding this very hard to do.

And we often find that we are so stuck in bad habits that the hard and next commandment is impossible.  And this is why Jesus says that all things are possible with God.  Why?  Because God has never disinherited us as God's children; we have the image of God on our lives.  We don't have to earn an eternal inheritance; it was given by our birthright in creation.

But we do have to accept our inheritance and accept the early payments of it so that we will match our eventual treasure in heaven.

The grace of Jesus Christ is the early inheritance payments something like God's trust fund for each of us.  And we can accept that trust fund of God's grace to complete the mission we have on this earth to progress in loving God and our neighbors as ourselves.

Let us accept our divine heritage today.  We don't have to earn it; but we have to actively take the early and often payments of grace of God's trust fund for each of us.  Why?  So that we will leave this life more godly each day because we have learned to accept grace to do the seeming impossible next commandment.  Amen.