Sunday School, June 25, 2023 4 Pentecost, A proper 7

 Sunday School, June 25, 2023    4 Pentecost, A proper 7

Theme:

God and the Probable

Freedom means that probable things can happen.

When you kick a soccer ball what can probably happen?  You score a goal, you miss the goal or the goalie blocks the ball.

We live in our lives knowing many things can happen.  Some things make us sad and some things make us happy.

Because there is freedom in our lives, good things and bad things can happen.

God made freedom in this life because to have the freedom to choose is the highest thing that we can do as people.  Having freedom to choose is what makes our lives valuable.

The friends of Jesus wondered if God loved and cared for them, even when bad things happened to them.

Jesus told them that God care even when a sparrow fell to the ground.

Freedom is what happens because of time.  Jesus told his friends that they had to learn to live with freedom.  They had to learn to live with what probably can happen.

We have to learn to live with change in life.  We have to learn to live with good things that happen to us and bad things that happen to us.

Jesus said we had to know how to “lose our lives.”  He did not mean dying.  He meant education.  When we learn something new, we lose our ignorance. 

Jesus told his disciples and friends that they had to learn how to die to being ignorant and learn to live to new learning.

We can know that God cares for us in the middle of everything that can happen to us.

One of the greatest discoveries of life is to discover that God cares for us no matter what happens.

Prayer:  Ask God to help you know God’s love and care today.

Sermon:

Has anyone here ever had something bad happen to them?  Has something sad ever happened to you?

  Have you ever been sick?  Have you ever bumped your head?  Have you ever fallen down and scraped your knee?

  Have you ever had an argument with your brother or sister or a class mate?  Did you ever get your feeling hurt and cry?

  Why do these things happen?

    When some bad things were happening to the friends of Jesus, they wondered if God cared for them.  They wondered if God knew what was going on.  And Jesus told them that God knew when every sparrow fell to the ground and died.  He said that God counted even the hairs on our heads.  And some of you have much more hair for God to count than I have.

  So when bad things happen, we sometimes wonder: Why do bad things

happen?  And does God know that bad things happen?  And why doesn’t he stop bad things from happening?

  And those are very difficult questions to answer.

  Do you think that your mom and dad love you more than your car?  Just think about what a car does for you.  It takes you many places, to the park, to school, shopping and on vacation.  But does your car love you more than your mom or dad.

  And you say, of course not because a car is a machine, like a robot and it is not a person.  A car cannot choose to love.  A car can only do what it is programmed to do.  Your mom and dad have freedom and they choose to love you and because they choose to love you, it makes their love very special.

  So God made this world with lots of freedom.  God did not make the world to be like a robot or a machine.  Why?  Because the only valuable love is love that happens with true freedom.

  And because there is true freedom, it means that lots of great and wonderful things can happen, but also some bad things can happen too.  And God knows and see everything that happens, the good things and the bad things.  And God won’t change things because then God would be making the world like a machine that did not have freedom.

  So when bad things happen, God would like us to respond and help each other.  When we respond and help each other, we can overcome the bad with the good.    So let us remember: Bad things can happen because the world is not a machine.  The world is made with true freedom.  God knows what is happening.  And we can please God by asking for God’s help to do good things.

  So how many sparrows have fallen to the ground?  How many hairs do you have?  God knows.  God knows and care for even the little things.  And God wants us to care too, so that we choose to help each other.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 25, 2023: The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs:  Here in This Place, To God Be the Glory, I Come with Joy, Soon and Very Soon

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Here in This Place, (Renew # 14)

1-Here in this place new light is streaming, now is the darkness vanished away;  see in this space 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 myst’ry, we are the old who yearn for your face; we have sung throughout all of hist’ry, 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 ua heart, so meek and so lowly, give us the courage to enter the song.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

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

Liturgist: A reading from the book of Jeremiah

Sing to the LORD; praise the LORD! For he has delivered the life of the needy from

the hands of evildoers.

The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 69

But as for me, this is my prayer to you, *  at the time you have set, O LORD:

"In your great mercy, O God, * answer me with your unfailing help.

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 said to the twelve disciples,

"A student is not above the teacher, nor a  work above the employer; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house a very bad name, how much more will they malign those of his household!  "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson – Fr. Cooke:

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 with you always.

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Song: To God Be the Glory, (Renew # 258)

1-To God be the glory, great things he hath done, so loved he the world that he gave us his son, who yielded his life an atonement for sin, and opened the lifegate that all may go in. 

Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!  O come to the Father through Jesus the son, and give him the glory, great things he hath done.

2-O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, to every believer the promise of God;  the vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus, a pardon receives.  Refrain

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist.

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

All are born into the family of God by Baptism.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his family 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 good and right so to do.

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, 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 may rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father (Sung): (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 by 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!

Word of Administration.

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

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

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

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

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song:  Soon and Very Soon, (Renew # 276)

1-Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King; soon and very soon, we are going to see the King; soon and very soon, we are going to see the King; hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  We’re going to see the King.

2-No more dying there, we are going to see the king; no more dying there, we are going to see the King; no more dying there, we are going to see the King; hallelujah!  Hallelujah!  We going to see the King.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

God's Children's Have Names

3 Pentecost, A p 6, June 18, 2023
Ex. 19:2-8a Ps.100
Rom.5:6-11 Matt. 9:35-10:15

Lectionary Link

To have a name means that one has been wanted and designated as having a unique place within a group of people, most notably, one's family.

In our time, our identity is most often associated with numbers, our social security numbers and driver license numbers.  We get assigned different numbers in all kinds of transactions.  Having a number as our identities can leave us seeming to be impersonal administrative cogs getting lost as mere statistics within a system.

Numbers can be offered in combinations so as to be individually unique, while if one's name is John or Jane, there are many other Johns and Janes. 

But the point of having a name like John or Jane, is that John or Jane are someone's John or someone's Jane, in the sense of belonging.

Today's Gospel lists the twelve disciples of Jesus by name.  The existence of the Gospels is proof that the Jesus Movement attained some success as a social movement and with success of any movement there comes the organizational changes to become efficient in administrating larger numbers of people as well as adopting deliberate strategies to present the originating ideals to a greater number of people.

The originating ideal of the Jesus Movement was discovered and manifest in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  I don't think that Jesus tried to revolutionary; he just had this great gut feeling that many, many people were missing the obvious.  He did not think that people should be alienated from the obvious, because the obvious belongs to everyone.

We know that food, water, and air are obvious needs for the lives of everyone and knowing that, the human task is to make sure that everyone has knowledge about and supply for what is obvious for the sustaining of physical life.

But what was the great personal and human relationship obvious thing which was being missed by people in the time of Jesus?  The obvious for Jesus is that he knew himself to be a Son of God, and because he knew this, he also knew that everyone else too was a son or daughter of God.  But the social conditions in the setting of Jesus did not allow people to know the obvious.  The many other human roles of society dominated and crowded out the ability for people to know themselves as children of God.

God's realm or kingdom was a personal realm, a realm where each person was to know oneself as God's child.  This knowing oneself as a child of God is exemplified in the baptism of Jesus when he is declared to be the son of God, but not just a son but one who was delightfully pleasing to his heavenly parent.

For Jesus to know himself as a son of God and one who had the interior sense that his very being delightfully pleased the heavenly parent, well.......he believed that this is what every person should realize in their lives.

This was the good news of the obvious which Jesus shared.  And he called his friends and let them know about this obvious primary dynamic: James, John, Peter, Andrew, Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, James, son of Alphaeus,Thomas, Judas, Simon, and Thaddaeus.

The disciple had names because they were known to Jesus, they belonged in the company of Jesus, they belonged in the family of God, as God's children.  And if these friends of Jesus could know this obvious reality of being God's children, then they too would want to share the obvious with as many people as they could.

So the Gospel message of being children of God, made in God's image as the primary affirming identity of life is what the evangelical mission was about.   Our Gospel lesson presents some strategies in spreading this basic message within the environs of Palestine.

The heart of the Gospel is that God's children have names because they are known by God as God's beloved children, and they are known to have personal names within the community of the people of this world.

It is very easy for people to lose their personal value within community.  People can be reduced to their function and their roles, their titles, the amount of wealth, education or their positions within society.

The obvious message of Jesus was this: First, each person is a child of God and to be treated with the dignity and respect of such an identity.  Yes, we have many other callings, roles, and functions within our social setting, but Jesus came to remind us about our primary identity as children of God.

The mission of Jesus was to convince his friends that they were children of God and then get them to convince other people about their basic membership within the family of God.

The disciples are listed by their names because they belonged to God and to each other.  Let us discover the baptismal meaning of our names today, namely that we are God's children, and it is our mission to discover this, and to help other people discover this too with as many strategies as love can devise.

In our highly populated world, people can easily get lost by being an administrative number or a member of a statistical category. We in the church, the local church are to be like the proverbial bar, Cheers, where everyone knows our name, because we celebrate belonging to God and to each other.  Amen.

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.