Sunday School, June 18, 2023 3 Pentecost A, proper 6

  Sunday School, June 18, 2023    3 Pentecost A, proper 6

Theme:

Discuss the difference between a disciple and an apostle

It is June; we have finished the school year.  Many students have graduated.  What do students do after graduating?  They go to the next level of their education or they begin to work doing what they have been trained to do.

A disciple is a pupil or student.   An apostle is a person who has been sent.

Today we read a list of the 12 disciples.  The 12 disciples were pupils or students of Jesus.  They followed him and watched him.  They heard him teach many lessons about God and life.   Jesus as the teacher and professor decided it was time to graduate his disciples.  When he graduated his disciples, they became apostles.  They were sent to do and say the same things that they had learned from Jesus.  But as apostles, they still were disciples because even after they began to teach and preach like Jesus did, they still continued to learn from Jesus as his students.

You and I are to be both disciples and apostles.  We are supposed to students of Jesus.   But we are also supposed to students who have graduated.  We have successful learned many things from Jesus and so we are qualified to practice what we have learned and to share it with other people.

If we don’t share what we have learned then we have wasted it.  That is why we need to be both disciples and apostles.  We need to be students of Jesus but also messengers of Jesus in sharing what we have learned from Jesus about God’s love, God’s forgiveness and the Good News about Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvq6iPkXCQQ

Sermon:

  Peter, Andrew, James and John.  Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew.  James and Thaddaeus, Simon and Judas.

  Do you know who these 12 men were?  They were 12 friends and disciples of Christ.

  Why were there 12 disciples?  The church was called the new Israel.  And how many tribes were in the Israel?  There were 12 tribes named after the sons of Jacob.

  Were there only 12 disciples of Jesus?  No there were many more.  Jesus helped so many people that all of those people became his disciples.

  There were women: Mary his mother, Mary of Magdala, Mary of Bethany, Martha.  There was Zaccheus, Nathaniel, Bartamaeus, and many more.

  Today, we have read about how Jesus changed the 12 disciples into 12 apostles.

  What is a disciple?  A disciple is like a student.

  Is a person supposed to be a student forever?  No, that is why we have graduation.  A student graduates.  A student then becomes a teacher, because everything that a student learns he or she must share that with someone else.

  So the twelve disciples graduated from their school with their teacher Jesus, and they became apostles.

  Apostle means someone who has been sent to do an important work.

  The disciples graduated and became apostles because Jesus told them it was time for them to go and to do the things that he had taught them.  He told them to go and tell people good news.  He told them how to get rid of the bad things in life.  He told them how they could recover from their sicknesses.

  And since Jesus had only one voice, two feet and two hands, he could not be everywhere.  So he sent the apostles to help him do his work.

  And now today, Jesus calls us to be disciples.  We are students of Christ.  But not just students of Christ, we are also apostles, because Christ needs us to be his voice and his hand and feet in this world.

  With our voices we can tell people good news.  With our feet we can go to the places where we are to tell people good news?  Where is that?  It is right here.  And with our hands we can help and heal people who need to be helped.

  Let us remember that we are disciples of Jesus, but that we also have graduate from being disciples, because Jesus also makes us apostles when we are sent to do and say the good things that Christ taught us.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 18, 2023: The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: If You’re Happy and You Know It, Awesome God, Amazing Grace,  Simple Gifts

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: If You’re Happy and You Know It, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 124)

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.  If you’re happy and you know it then your face should surely show it.  If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands.

Make a high five…...

Make a low five…..

Shout Amen….

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: 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 of Paul to the Romans

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 116

I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving * and call upon the Name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD * in the presence of all his people,

  

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, `The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

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. (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

Offertory 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)

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 our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Amazing Grace (Blue Hymnal # 671)

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.  That saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found.  ‘T’was blind but now I see.

‘T’was grace that taught my heart to fear.  And grace my fears relieved.  How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.

The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures.  He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.  ‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years.  Bright shining as the sun.  We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise.  Than when we’ve first begun.

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: ‘Tis the Gift to Be Simple (Blue Hymnal, # 554)

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free, ‘tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

and when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight. 

When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,

to turn, turn, will be our delight till by turning, turning we come round right.

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

Practicing Marriage Vows with God

2 Pentecost, A proper 5, June 11, 2023
Hosea 5:15-6:6 Ps.50:7-1
Rom.4:13-18 Matt. 9:91-13

Lectionary Link

  Have you heard about the marriage of Hosea and Gomer?  Sounds like southern fiction, but that’s only because of the fascination of certain parts of the South for adopting interesting biblical names.   Afterall there are so many people named Adam, Sarah, or David;  so to name one’s unique child, one looks in a biblical concordance where one can find all sorts of interesting names.
  But actually the marriage of Hosea and Gomer is the story line of the biblical book named after the prophet Hosea.
  Hosea did not have lots of luck in his marriage.  He loved his wife Gomer but she could not and would not be faithful.  Hosea continued in his love for Gomer and by goodness and forgiveness he tried to convince Gomer to be faithful in her love.  I imagine if one has one’s shingle out as a Prophet, then to have an openly unfaithful wife could be very embarrassing.
  So the Prophet Hosea had a brilliant solution.  When the pain and loss hit hard, I’ll make it into a metaphor.  "My suffering is not meaningless, it is also symbolic and it illustrates a condition that plagues the entire country.”  Hosea thought, “My love and forgiveness of Gomer and her continuing unfaithful is a metaphor for the relationship between God and the people of Israel.  You remember that God and Israel had this marriage covenant.  God gave them the 10 Commandments and the Most Favored Nation Status, and Israel had said, "I do," to God.  They had official papers and they had that Temple House in Jerusalem with all of that holy furniture.  Surely this was a sign of a holy marriage?  A holy house with furniture.  That is a marriage isn’t it?
  Just as Hosea found that his official marriage to Gomer didn’t mean much unless there was continual marital practice, so too, being God’s officially chosen people did not mean much without continuous faithfulness to God.
  The people of Hosea’s time had found a way to declare their religious allegiance to God:  We’ll do whatever we want most of the time and then go to the temple and get the priest to offer a sacrifice and then everyone will know how religious we are.
  That’s like the woman who declared the advantages of having an unfaithful man, because he would always show up with excessive gifts when he had done something really wrong.  Cars, diamonds, seemingly extravagant acts of devotion to cover over general unfaithfulness.
  Marriage papers without marital acts does not make a marriage.  Being designated as God’s chosen people and replacing general faithfulness with a sacrifice of the blood of bulls and sheep;  that does not make a genuine relationship with God.
  The Law that was given to Israel was so great that they wore it like an expensive diamond wedding ring.  Yet the prophets and Paul criticized the people of Israel for not being faithful to the requirements of the Law.  So Paul wrote, “If you think that you’re special because of the Law, just remember that faith was present long before the Law was even given.  Faith was present to Father Abraham who lived long before Israel and the Law.”  Therefore Gentiles can come to faith through Jesus Christ without the benefit of the Law, because it is the practice of faith that is more important than just having some famous religious people in your family tree.
  This issue is raised also in our Gospel lesson.  Matthew is a hated IRS agent.  He’s Jewish but he works for the Romans to collect taxes from the Jews.  He’s rejected his heritage, forgotten his pedigree and sold himself out to the foreign conquerors.  That is why tax collector and sinner are put together in the Gospels.
  Matthew is a person who could not be a religious person.  He could not be in the good graces of the Jewish religious leaders.  But Matthew wanted to have faith and he wanted to make his life better.  He wanted repentance.  So what is the commentary of Jesus and the early church on people such as Matthew:  God is merciful to such people.  God does not care if they are offering the religious acts at the temple.  God wants faith and repentance.
  The lessons today are not just about the break down and competition that arose between members of the Jesus Movement and members of the synagogue.  It has to do with the motive in our hearts regarding our practice of faith and religion.  If we are performing public religious acts instead of living constant faithful lives before God, then we should not be fooled.  “Hey God look at me… I’m at church now doing religious things… Please don’t look at what I did Monday through Saturday when I wasn’t making such a good public display of faithful behaviors.”
  God doesn’t really care if we make a good show and come to church; God cares about how we live.  Now God may not care if you come to church but the clergy and the local parish community do.  Coming to church is not to make points with God nor to overcompensate for all of our sins.  Coming to church is being a part of our family of faith and we do it to encourage each other in our lives of faith.  We do it to provide examples for our children.  We do it do express and pass on important values of our lives.  We do it to offer a hand shake, a smile, a word of encouragement to someone who might need it.  We do it to mentor our youth.  We may do it to encourage the priest who might be tempted to think that no one is interested in his subject matter anymore.   And we come to church, in order to gain inspiration for living faithful lives outside of church.
  Coming to church is not to make people think that we are better than we actually are; Coming to church is for the purpose of being inspired and to help each other be better than we would be if we didn’t come here.  Coming to church is a public act, not to get points with God, not to be entertained by music or the sermon, but it is public because you are helping other people and the community by being here.  We are not here primarily to get something out of the church service;  we are here to give to the church service because the presence of each person here is an irreplaceable act toward the well-being of the community.
  We come here to be encouraged to perform consistent acts of faith and love and to prove that faith for us is not accidental and sporadic acts of public religious devotion. 
  Let us be encouraged that the Gospel of Christ is working on the motive of our hearts in all that we do and say, and may our participation in the sacraments and the mission of the church be like wedding bands that symbolize our efforts to live faithful lives at all times and all places before God. Amen.

The Trinity: Trying to Parse Synchronicity in Time

Trinity Sunday A June 4, 2023

Gen. 1:1-2:3 Ps.33
2 Cor. 13:5-10,11-14 Matt. 28:16-20

Lectionary Link

I live on a big river and if I took collected samples of the water of this big river at three different locations, could I call all three samples the Mississippi River?

What does each sample become removed from continuous connection with all the other water in the River, or for that matter, all the water in the entire universe?

The water samples only exhibit full identity with the Mississippi River while still being located in its flow.  Once an amount of water becomes separated from the flow of the River, then that loss of connection with the River creates a separation which diminishes the fullness of identity with the River.  We may examine the sample of water for it's properties and call it the water of the Mississippi but only in a very limited way.  It would be an identity of distance; an identity of separation.

A similar identity issue arises as we attempt to understand the Trinity, on this Trinity Sunday.

It is an oxymoron to separate time and sequence from synchronicity, namely, everything, altogether, all at once.

Since we cannot help but use language, language is subject to the sequencing of time.  Whether vocal or written, words happen within sequences of before and after and exist in extended strings.  Even if one assumes a total reservoir of all of the words, all at once, one has used a string of words, in time to relay such information.

This seeming silly mind game highlights the mystery of life and also the mystery of the Trinity.

Synchronicity is the always, already relationship of everything, all at once.

The Christian Church has come to confess the Trinitarian belief, mainly because of St. Paul, and the words of Jesus found in the Gospels, especially the Gospel of John.

When one tries to separate a sample of the ever-creating God in time, that God-sample is Jesus of Nazareth.  He becomes the representative of the divine in human terms particularly in the insight of accepting human experience as a valid and representative way of knowing what is more than human or other than human, or the One who is always on the ultimate horizon of the human.  We, as human, live within the prison of human limitations, but with aspirations about what is beyond what we are.  Our human prison has the stained glass windows of language to form how we speak about what is beyond the windows of our human experiences.  Our confession as Jesus as the Son and Child of God is the confession of the validation of anthropomorphism as a valid way to know God.  In this way, one can say that the incarnation is unavoidable; since we can never avoid being merely human, even when we are speaking about the experience of the divine.

The way in which Jesus is presented in the Gospel, especially the Gospel of John was as a unique child who was never separated from God as his originating "Father," and he was never disconnected because there was a perpetual umbilical cord of what he called the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter.  What is the Omnipresence which is the ground for everything being altogether, all at once, and able to have mutual and reciprocal relationships?  That omnipresence, within, without, is designated as Holy Spirit Being.

The Trinity arises for us in language because we cannot help but explicate relationship as unfolding in time; but just because things unfold in time, it does not deplete the ever integrating connection of all things, all at once, in an ever eternal now.

If the words of above make one's head spin to the point of mocking such as palaver, I would agree with you.

Yet, it is meaningfully true and a mystery that we live with the synchronicity of everything, already, all at once.

Jesus modeled the Trinitarian relationship and relationship bears the full synchronicity of everything all at once.

We too are to model the Trinitarian relationship as we unfold the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in time, even as they are always, already integrated always being together.

I would hope that the Holy Trinity today would inspire us to accept ultimate relationship with all as basic to life, and to know this ultimate relationship best as the experience of love and justice.  I believe that Jesus invites us to know the Trinity best through this experience of love and justice.  Amen.

Sunday School, June 3, 2023 Trinity Sunday A

 Sunday School, June 3, 2023   Trinity Sunday  A

Theme:

The Holy Trinity

The confession of God, being One God but in three Persons

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Why is the Trinity an important meaning for us?

To understand God, we believe that God has to come in some “bi-lingual” way to us.   Somebody has to speak about the meaning of God in the language of human beings.

The first part of the Bible is called the Hebrew Scriptures.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, God is written about by prophets, leaders, priests, poets and teachers.  Inspired people wrote about God.  When Jesus appeared, we believe that God became fully manifest as God would appear as a person. 

The appearance of Jesus who understood himself to be the Son of his Father is important because each of us is taught that we are sons and daughters of God.  We are persons and if we are created in the image of God, God has personality too.  And in our relationship with God we can know God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

By confessing God as Father, we admit that we did not make ourselves; we came from a great Past and Began with God.

By confessing God as Son, we believe that God became known in human experience as a person who lived in this world.  This means that we accept our human experience as a valid way to know God.

By confessing God as Holy Spirit, we believe that God is invisible like breath and wind, but just as we can see the effects of breath and wind when we blow or when wind blows the leaves on the tree, we believe that we can see the effects of an invisible Holy Spirit everywhere.

We confess the Trinity because we believe it expresses what is honestly true in how people understand God.

Sermon

   When Jesus left this earth, he gave some instruction to his friends.  He told them to make friends with other people, just as he had made friends with them.  And how did Jesus make friends?  He told them about how God loved them like the very best father in the world.  He told them that just as he was a special son of God, that everyone was a special child of God.

  Wouldn’t it be sad to have a wonderful parent but not be able to know it?  If you had a mother and father but if you did not know about your parents, it would be sad.

  Lots of people in this world do not know that they are a member of the great family of God.  Lots of people do not know that they are children of God and that God is their father.

  Jesus came to teach us that even though we have mothers and fathers in our birth families, we also have God as our Father of the greatest family of all, the family of the entire world, the entire universe.

  Jesus came to show us how much God loved us.  And Jesus told his friends, that even though he was leaving and even though they could not seen God, he would still be with them always.  How would Jesus be with them?  He would be with them as the Holy Spirit.  This means that God is a close to us as our breath.   Take a breath.  How close is your breath to you?  Very close.  Well that is how close that God’s Spirit is to us.

  Jesus gave his friends a special job to do. He said that he wanted them to make friends and gather those friends together so they could help each other and help other people in this world to know about God’s love.

  What was the job he gave them to do?  He told them to make friends for God and he told them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.  In doing this they would be celebrating their membership in God’s family.

  Baptism is a celebration of our birth into the family of God and when we baptize, we say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  The family of God begins in heaven and we celebrate on earth that we are members of the family of God.

   We call the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity.  And this is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday.

  I want you to remember that we believe in the Trinity, because we believe that God loved us so much that God included in God’s family…so we have Jesus as our brother.  But we also have the Holy Spirit and that means God is with us always and very close to us.

  Let us remember the Trinity today.  And let us remember our baptism too.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 3, 2023: Trinity Sunday

Gathering Songs: Holy, Holy, Holy, The King of Glory,  Eat This Bread, Peace Like a River

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song:  Holy, Holy, Holy,  (# 362 in blue hymnal)

1-Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

2-Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,

Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 8

O LORD our Governor, *how exalted is your Name in all the world!

Out of the mouths of infants and children * your majesty is praised above the heavens.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Eat This Bread, (Renew! # 228)

Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry. 

Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

I’ve got love…. 

I’ve got joy…

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!