Sunday School, June 16, 2024 4 Pentecost, B proper 6

  Sunday School, June 16, 2024   4 Pentecost, B proper 6

Lesson:

Parables of the kingdom of God

Jesus tried to translate the life of God and God’s concerns into the language and story of people.

He told stories to try to get people to understand how they were living in God’s kingdom because all of creation is God’s kingdom because God is the creator.

Understanding that we live in the kingdom of God and letting us know how God is close to us was the Good News that Jesus came to tell us.

Parables are stories and in them Jesus used comparisons to teach about the Kingdom of God.

Comparisons use what we call metaphors and similes.

If I say, “He is a bear.”  I am comparing a person directly with an big animal who is not bear but that person may behave or look like a bear in some ways.

If someone says, “He eats like a pig” this is not saying that he is a pig but the way in which he slurps his food reminds a person of the way in which a pig eats.

Have everyone think of some well known comparisons.

He’s fast as a..

He’s slow as a

His neck is long as a

So Jesus said, The kingdom of God is like….and what is it like?

It is like seeds which grow become a plant and then has flowers and blossoms and fruits.

The kingdom of God is also our natural created world; and we should recognize that God’s kingdom is creation and it is as common and ordinary and as close as any garden which grows.

The kingdom of God is like a very tiny mustard seed.  From this tiny seed a great plant grows and spreads and takes over the entire field or meadow and the birds, bees and insects have plenty of food and a place for their rest and bird nests.

By this Jesus means that big things happen because of the collection of little acts of practice that we do every day.

If you study every day, what happens?  Your knowledge collects and some day you do something very big like graduate.  But remember you won’t ever graduate unless you study and learn every day.

In sport, you practice do all of the little exercises over and over again so that when the big game comes you can do your very best.

In dance, you go to practice each week and you practice at home so that when the performance and recital comes you are ready.

Jesus came to show us that God’s life of love and fairness could be known and understood and that is why he told us the parables about the kingdom of God.  He showed us that we can live better lives if we understand that we live in God’s kingdom.

Sermon:

What is put on the head of the king when he becomes a king?  A crown, right.

  Today we have read about the selection of the king of Israel.  There was a famous judge named Samuel.  And God told Samuel to choose the new king of Israel.  And God told him to go see Jesse, because Jesse had 8 sons.  So Samuel went to Jesse house and Jesse brought the 7 oldest sons to see Samuel.  These seven sons were big and strong and Samuel thought that one of them would make a good king.  But God said, None of these seven is God’s chosen king for Israel.  Do you have another son?  Jesse said, “Yes, there is little David but he’s just a shepherd, surely you don’t think that he could be king.”  And when David came to Samuel.  God said to Samuel, “He is to be king.”  Do you think that Samuel put a crown on David’s head?  No, he took a horn that was filled with olive oil and he poured it upon David’s head.  Would you rather have a crown or oil poured on your head, if you were made king.  When you pour oil on someone’s head…he is called the Meshiach… or the Anointed…that means he is chosen by God.  In English we don’t say Meshiach, we say Messiah.  And how do we say Meshiach in the Greek language?  We say Christos or Christ.  Jesus is called the Christ or the messiah because he was chosen by God to be a king?  But just like the shepherd boy David, Jesus did not always look like a king.  But Jesus told stories about the kingdom of God.  And he said that it might look like the Caesar and the other kings are in charge, but this world is really the kingdom of God.  And Jesus taught us how to see this world as the kingdom of God.

   He said that a very tiny mustard seed grows into a large bush.  And he said the kingdom of God is like that?  What did he mean?  Do you want to graduate from school some day?  Yes, but you can only graduate from school if you do each and every small homework assignment each day.  When all of the little things that you do are added up they begin big and important things.

   Jesus taught us that it is all of the little deeds of love and kindness that really make this world keep going.  Sometimes we think it is only the famous people who do important things.  No so; Jesus said that you can find the kingdom of God in all  the really small deeds of love and kindness.

  So remember each little thing that you do each is very important: doing your homework, cleaning your room, exercising your muscles, eating good food, being kind….all of these little things add up to make your future life even more special.

  Little boy David didn’t look like a king; Jesus did not look like the great Caesar in Rome, but they were God’s chosen kings because they let all of the small deeds of their lives add up to be a great example for us today.

 

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 16, 2024: The Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs:

Sing a New Song; Lord, I Want to Be a Christian; Jesus, Stand Among Us; Hosanna

Song: Sing a New Song (Renew! # 21)

Refrain: Sing a new song unto the lord; let your song be sung from mountains high.  Sing a new song unto the lord, singing, “Alleluia.”

Yahweh’s people dance for joy; O come before the Lord.  And play for him on glad tambourines, and let your trumpet sound.  Refrain

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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.

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 First Book of Samuel

Samuel, the judge went to the sons of Jesse to anoint a new King of Israel.  When the sons of Jesse came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord." But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these." Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 92

It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, * and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;

To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning * and of your faithfulness in the night season;

On the psaltery, and on the lyre, * and to the melody of the harp.

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.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."  He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."  With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

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.

Song: Lord, I Want to be a Christian  (Renew! # 145)

Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart, in my heart, Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.  In my heart, in my heart, Lord I want to be a Christian in my heart.

Lord, I want to be more loving in heart, in heart, Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.  In my heart, in my heart.  Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.

Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart, in my heart.  Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.  In my heart, in my heart.  Lord, I want to be like Jesus in my heart.

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.

Children may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

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

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

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

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

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: Hosanna, Hosanna in the Highest! (Renew! # 71)

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

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

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Harsh Words Signifying Paradigm Shift in Process

3 Pentecost  Cycle B  proper 5 June 9, 2024 
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1   Mark 3:20-35
1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) Psalm 138

Lectionary Link

Consider the following rhetoric being present within a community about a teacher.  His family says, "He's out of his mind."  Other religious leader say, "he has the representative of the devil Beelzebul.  He casts out demons because he has a pact with the ruler of demons."

This is rather strong language indicating rather severe disagreements about a teacher.

This rhetoric is found in Mark's Gospel.  It was written about 30-40 years after Jesus lived and spoke.  Jesus spoke in the Aramaic language; the Gospel of Mark was written in the koine Greek language which derived from Classical Greek after Alexander and his Generals brought Greek culture and administration to their empires.  As a lingua franca, koine Greek persisted into the Roman Era.  The writer of Mark was educated to write and speak in koine Greek and was writing to an audience who had the ability to understand the language even if not being literate enough also to read and write in the language.

The writer of Mark's Gospel was distilling traditions of Jesus which were available into new writing specifically for the audience of the writing context.  The Gospel writer was setting up a dialogue between the traditions of Jesus with their applications within the settings of the mid 60's to the early 70's of the Common Era.

The Marcan writer practiced an oracular method which in the Gospel was expressed about speaking "in the name of Jesus."  Or as St. Paul wrote, "I believe that I have the mind of Christ."

The Gospel voice is the oracle voice of Christ through the lives of the Gospel writers and preachers, and it was not written for the people who lived with Jesus during his time; it was written for people who were living in the decades which followed.

The oracle voice is a spiritual channeling, a spiritual art in the words crafted to evoke the sublime effects of persuasive meanings about the significance of Jesus Christ, past, present, and future.

The controversy about the spiritual truth of Jesus was an issue for the people who were recipients of the message of the writings of Mark.

To use a modern designation for changes within community; the Gospel writings chronicle a paradigm shift within a community which could be be comprised of various religious parties like the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Zealots, the Essenes, the followers of John the Baptist, and followers of Rabbis like Hillel, Gamaliel, Shammai, and of course, Jesus of Nazareth. 

Sometimes we forget that inter-family, and inter-faith community conflicts are sharp, poignant and fiery in the rhetoric of their disagreements, especially as they approach the occasion of their divorce and separation.  In heated disagreements, people can say unforgivable things like calling evil the very spirit of a new community with a different paradigm.  What happened is that members of the synagogue and the Jesus Movement ceased to forgive each other and so they separated.  What is unforgivable is the lie of separation.  One party cannot excommunicate the other from God's love, oneness, and grace.  Denying the unity of omnipresent Spirit is unforgivable until the error is corrected.

Much of the Gospel writings projects the strong disagreements about Jesus within the various communities of Judaism back onto original disagreements in the time of Jesus, the kinds of disagreements which eventually got him crucified.

I believe that the writings from Mark Gospel are painfully acknowledging the conflict within Judaism about the significance of Jesus for Judaism and express a singular persuasion for a Christo-centric Judaism as the preferred future for living as a minority religious community within the Roman Empire.

The writer of Mark's Gospel believed that the Jesus Movement within Judaism needed to have the mission of converting non-practicing Jews, and Gentiles to a new expression of a family of faith.  This family of faith had to be one constituted in a way that made membership accessible to as many people as possible.  However, to make the faith of Christ accessible, the significant ritual requirements of Judaism had to be made optional.

The parties within Judaism who believed that the ritual requirements of the Torah had to be maintained, could not accept the compromises made by the leadership of the Jesus Movement.  The members of the Jesus Movement believed that God's will could be fulfilled in lives people without adherence to the ritual purity rites of Judaism.  So, those who did the will of God were to be recognized as being brothers and sisters in the family Christ.

The Gospel of Mark is confessing a painful reality: the separation of the Jesus Movement from the synagogue is due to Jesus.  He is a founder of a new paradigm which was to make a "form" of Judaism so evangelical in its appeal to non-Jews, that it would lose it formal relationship with those who remained in the synagogue.

Community divisions are very painful, especially when so much is shared in common as pertaining to shared Scripture, traditions,  and practices.  But community divisions can result in providential expansion of mission.  Mission is expanded through diversity of appeal.

What we can say about the painful division of church and synagogue is that the articulation of different missions to different people has been a benefit to getting the message out about a God who loves us and calls us into God's family, even with various household locations.

What we should mourn today is when we have let the Gospels which chronicle the painful process of division between synagogue and church, be expressed in religious chauvinism resulting in persecution and intolerance, and refusal to accept the various missions of our communities.  The error of trying to preach Christ with a sword of oppression to those who disagree has been the most severe violation of the Spirit of Christ.

Today, we read the Gospels, in a sadness about a ancient division which occurred between synagogue and church, but also with a thanksgiving for the birth of a new mission which has brought the message of the love of God in Christ to a significant number of people.

Today, let us commit ourselves afresh to being the family of Christ, by loving our neighbors as ourselves in winsome ways, but also in ways which discern the love of God working in the lives of people who may not be in our immediate families of faith.  Amen.

Sunday School, June 9, 2024 3 Pentecost, B Proper 5

 Sunday School, June 9, 2024  3 Pentecost, B Proper 5

While the Gospel lesson contains some rather enigmatic sayings of Jesus about his “family” values for children, it might be good to stress an understanding of our baptismal family. The Gospel lesson contrast the flesh and blood family of Jesus with another family, namely the family of people who do the will of God.


The Sunday School lessons can center around one of the things which baptism means. It means that we live our lives trying to understand the will of God.


Ask the children, what is the will of God? What is it that God wants us to do in our lives?


The answers are the answers of the baptismal covenant. To love God, to seek Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as our selves.


Contrast our two families: the natural families of our birth and our baptismal family. With our baptismal family we join with other people who are committed to seek and do the will of God.


Remember the Gospel Lesson: Jesus said that he had two families, his brothers and sisters and mother and father with whom he was raised in the village of Nazareth, but he also had a greater family, the family of all people who want to do the will of God.


Let us celebrate our family relationship with all people who seek to do the will of God.


Sermon:


Sometimes we call a church’s building God’s house or God’s home. And one of the reason why we do this is because this building is a home for God’s family. And we are part of God’s family.
We were taught to pray by Jesus, who is called the Son of God. And when Jesus taught his friends to pray, he told them to say, “Our Father who art in heaven.”
If Jesus taught us to say to God, “Our Father,” what does that make you and me? Who calls a person their father? Children call a person their father; sons and daughters call a person their father.
And so Jesus taught us that we have a very small family and we also have a very big family.
Our small family is the family of our moms and dads. We because a part of our families by birth or adoption.
But when we were born into our families, our family was not the only family in the world. There are many families in the world.
So, when we were born we were born into our own families with our moms and dads and brothers and sisters. And we were born into the world with many, many families. And so we were also born into the family of God, because God is the creator and maker of the world. God is the maker of all families.
Today in the Gospel reading Jesus taught us about these two families. People said, “Jesus, your family is here to see you. Your mom and dad and brother and sister.” And then Jesus told a riddle: He said, “Who is my family? Everyone is my family who does the will of God.” So Jesus was teaching us about the family of God.
When we sing the Prayer, “Our Father” we sing, “Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.”
So, what is the will of God the Father that God wants to be done on earth? God wants us to love God and to love each other and to practice kindness in our lives. This is how we prove that we belong to the family of God. This is how we do the will of God the Father on earth.
As children, we want our parents to happy and proud of us. We want to do their will (most of the time, even if it means cleaning our bedrooms). As children of God the Father, we want to please Him; we want to do what he wants us to do. And God does not ask us to do things that are bad. He asks us to love Him and each other and practice kindness. And if we do that we show that we belong to the family of God.
Today, remember that Jesus came to remind us that we belong in the family of God. So, let me teach you a word that means Daddy…. Can you say, “Abba?” And God wants you to get to know him so well that you can call him, Daddy, or Abba. Amen.



Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist
June 9, 2024: The Third Sunday after Pentecost


Gathering Songs: Peace before us, Seek Ye First, I am the Bread of Life, May the Lord

Song: Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love and Praise, # 791)
1 Peace before us. Peace behind us. Peace under our feet. Peace within us. Peace over us. Let all around us be Peace.
2 Love,
3 Light,
4 Christ


Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.

Liturgist: Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.
And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.
Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Liturgist: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.

Liturgist: Let us pray
O God, from whom all good proceeds: Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them; 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 Second Letter to the Corinthians
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 130

2 If you, LORD, were to note what is done amiss, *O Lord, who could stand?
3 For there is forgiveness with you; * therefore you shall be feared.
4 I wait for the LORD; my soul waits for him; * in his word is my hope.


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.
Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."
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.

Song: Seek Ye First (Blue Hymnal, # 711)
1 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you; Allelu, alleluia. Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.
2 Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia! 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 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.

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

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

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

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

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

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

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


Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)
Our Father who art in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.
But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

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

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant: Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
People: Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia!


Words of Administration

Communion Song I Am the Bread of Life, Hymn # 335
1 I am the bread of life, they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst. No one can come to me unless the Father draw them. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.
2 I am the resurrection, I am the life, they who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live forever. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.
3 Yes Lord we believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day


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: May the Lord (Sung to the tune of Eidelweiss)
May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and keep you forever, Grant you peace, perfect peace, Courage in every endeavor. Lift up your eyes and seek His face, Trust His grace forever. May the Lord, Mighty God Bless and keep you for ever.

Dismissal:
Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.
People: Thanks be to God!

Sabbath Legalism or the Rest Principle?

2 Pentecost, B proper 4  June 2, 2024
Deuteronomy 5:12-15  Psalm 81:1-10
2 Corinthians 4:5-12  Mark 2:23-3:6

Lectionary Link

A very good law or principle of life can be denigrated to mere legalism depending on how it is applied.

The appointed Gospel for today presents the encounter of Jesus with his opponents about his disciples and his violation of the Sabbath rule.

His disciples plucked grains of wheat while walking in the fields on the Sabbath and his opponents regarded his healing of an man in the synagogue to be work which violated the Sabbath law.

This presentation of the Sabbath controversy reveals that holy things can be used wrongly.   We call the Bible, a holy book, but how often has this holy book been used to justified some horrendous human behaviors in the history of the use of the Bible as the holy book of Christian churches?

Let us look at how a great principle of Sabbath could be diminished in such a way.

First, the great principle can be reduced to legalistic minutiae to indicate one's party loyalty to the leaders who want to control the behaviors of their members.  When a law is made into a party loyalty test and not the practice of what is actually good for people, then the great principle becomes violated.

What is the great principle of the Sabbath?  It is the rest principle of life.  Every living organism needs rest.  Rest is a needed phase in the sustenance of good and healthy life.  For creatures, rest happens involuntarily if, not chosen.  People fall asleep whether they want to or not.  Animals fall asleep.  Agricultural practice indicates that natural soil needs rest and periods of lying fallow to retain productive growth.  Rest is a principle of life.

The ancient wisdom writers of Hebrew Scriptures indicated that the rest principle derives from the rest of God, who rested on the seventh after the six days of working at creation.  If rest is a divine practice, it is also a required human practice.

We might also note that the rest of God is but a switch in the phases of the divine in creation.  What about the work of the sustaining omnipresence of God in the creative order?

A couple of observations about the Sabbath law in the Ten Commandments?  If rest is necessary and happens in involuntary ways, why does it have to be a religious commandment from upon high?

I would suspect that people with wealth and power who had slaves, servants and workers, would not provide adequate rest to those who worked for them.  Therefore there had to be a divine legislation of a required minimum rest for everyone.  This rest injunction was an important social, political, and public health requirement.

People with wealth and power may not be lazy, but they do have the freedom to rest and take leisure when they want to.  They also have the power to control the work schedules of their workers, even to require seven day a week labor requirements.  Hence, the divine injunction for a mandatory day of rest for everyone would give the force of religion behind any attempt to overwork or abuse in an extreme way the working class of people.  A day of rest would give women and children in households the freedom of rest as well.  I don't think that we should underestimate the social importance of the rest requirement both in ancient times and how it has had continuing influence in the attaining of humane treatment of workers.

Labor practices of the forty hour work week, child labor legislation, overtime pay, paid vacations, and other humane practices for the work force derive from this great rest principle of the Sabbath.

Those who tended toward legalism and the need to micro-manage the loyalties of their communities ended up defying common sense and arguing about what would or would not be work on the Sabbath.  We can list common sense things which need to be done on the Sabbath, holy days, and "rest" days.

Fires have to be put out, soldiers and police have to engage in their safety work, doctors, nurses, medical workers have to tend to the sick, mothers nurse and feed, people have to eat, and liturgical leaders have to put in their busiest days.  It is rather futile to try to create micro-religious legislation for each person in society since the rest principle will always need to be individually applied, but still the Sabbath requirement can and should have high regard for us and for our societies.

What is the Gospel for us today regarding the Sabbath?

It should be a general requirement for all humanity.  Why?  Rest is like water and air for human life and animal life.  It is needed and required.  Because of the human tendency to personally violate the rest requirement, and worse, to force others to be required to do so, the Rest Principle of the Sabbath needs laws with teeth to guarantee the access to periods of rest of the general populace.

We need to practice rest for our environment, like good practices for the rest of our land so that it can support us in ways that doesn't destroy it.

Each of us needs to integrate the great rest practice into our lives with various strategies appropriate to the circumstances of our age, health, and vocations within our communities.  Rest is a health requirement of our lives; it is a salvation requirement of our lives, and if we accept it for our own lives, we need to grant it to others as well.

Finally, rest is a Christ-promised spiritual reality for us to embrace.  Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, ....and you will find rest for your soul."  Rest is not just a physical health issue, it is a spiritual relationship.  It is a recognition of an inner place of peace and solace that is an available place of retreat for us no matter what we are experiencing in our life situations.

May God grant to us the rest of Christ, and let us go forth with commitment to the great Rest Principle of life which derives from God who is the great rest provider of life.  Let us bring the rest principle to the people and places of our lives today.  Amen.

Aphorism of the Day, May 2024

Aphorism of the Day, May 31, 2024

One can look at Sabbath as legalistic requirement for behaviors on a day of worship, or one can see it as a basic principle of people needing rest sprinkled throughout their lives.  It becomes a religious law so that a minimum is enforced so that authorities cannot deny the rest privilege to what everyone needs.

Aphorism of the Day, May 30, 2024

An ancient "labor union" injunction: keep the sabbath.  Seven days of labor could not be forced upon anyone and use religious justification.

Aphorism of the Day, May 29, 2024

The Sabbath principle is the principle of balancing of active life with rest.  One might see the arising of Sabbath as a way of forcing person with wealth to provide their "servants" with rest so that they could not be completely exploited.

Aphorism of the Day, May 28, 2024

The quest of the law is justice for everyone equally.  When laws serve only the rights and opportunity of a privileged class of people, justice is not served.  The goal of a just society is to provide equal access to justice in equal ways to everyone.  But how many poor people have unlimited resources for legal assistance?

Aphorism of the Day, May 27, 2024

It's one thing to believe that there are behaviors which are legal and right in life; it is another thing to be rightfully related to the law.  The application of the law is more of an art than a science but it is both in that it relies upon the honest reporting of what actually happened coupled with a sensitive heart for loving relationships within a community.  Jesus said that the sabbath law was made for humanity, not humanity for the sabbath law.  The literal application of the law can sometimes result in harm.  A law that is seen as consistent as a well oiled machine can sometimes grind and hurt those who do not understand its functioning purpose.

Aphorism of the Day, May 26, 2024

The language of science is privileged because it results in the most effective and consistent manipulation of our external world.  When we experience things that we cannot explain, like why love happens, why we are moved by poetry, art, music, and seeing the ocean, the sky, the mountains, and other phenomenon of nature,  we resort to the very unscientific "wow" language that seems to be another discourse of language appropriate to such experiences.  Modern fundamentalism has occurred because certain "religious" persons have tried to say that "wow" language is actually scientific language.  So we have much discursive confusion.

Aphorism of the Day, May 25, 2024

In the use of  language we define and definitions create tautologies, as in God=the Greatest.  From such tautologies it follows that greatness at the very least involves superlative personhood, because humans are personal, and to be greater than human would be to have the greatest form of Personhood.  Even though such arguments are circular, they have meaningful relevance in our continual exploration of personhood.  We don't deny God Personhood because we don't deny that in ourselves.

Aphorism of the Day, May 24, 2024

One might say that the implicit understanding of God as Trinity arose because the words in the Traditions of Jesus regarding how he understood himself and his relationship to the divine.

Aphorism of the Day, May 23, 2024

The Trinity is a stated value about Personalism being central to human life.  Having language is what distinguishes human in knowing anything at all.  Language is personal because language is the basis of knowing relationships.  The Trinity presents a a dynamic equality in differences Personhood.  Life lived well is about the equality of harmony among the different people in life.  The Trinity models a Communal Personalism which we strive for with the practice of love and justice.

Aphorism of the Day, May 22, 2024

Language itself is the main metaphor for what is not language and comes to language.  Within the field of language in human attempts to relate to Plenitude, God-language traditions have occurred.  The Trinitarian language tradition arose, mainly because of the words in the Jesus tradition in how he is presented in his words regarding himself, God his Father, and the Advocate Spirit.

Aphorism of the Day, May 21, 2024

The Trinity arose within the Christian community as a standardizing way of speaking about God for the purpose of Christian unity within a growing religious movement.  The claim is that the Trinity arrived at an explicit explication in the words and traditions of Jesus even while it was implicit from the beginning.  God the Father created by speaking the eternal Word Christ as the Holy Spirit moved over the face of the abyss to make things become.

Aphorism of the Day, May 20, 2024

Language is the personal field in which we live because language is the expression of connection of relationship through which we are defined as personal.  Is it any surprise then that God as that which none greater can be conceived would include ultimate personalities?

Aphorism of the Day, May 19, 2024

Pentecost is a language day.  Christ as the Eternal Word was translated into every language.  The Christ image of God on each person rises within people of every language.

Aphorism of the Day, May 18, 2024

Once one accepts the mediation of all experience through language, whether consciously or unconsciously, the notion of the spontaneous must get reassessed because everything happens through a pre-existing interpretive grid.

Aphorism of the Day, May 17, 2024

Language is the built axiology of humanity in continuously assigning value from human contexts.  It is a system of privileging metaphorical ways of speaking about everything.

Aphorism of the Day, May 16, 2024

A mystery in life is how sentient beings have mutual experience of each other conducted.  Is it empty space between you and me or is it space which conducts sensorial experience.  Is Holy Spirit omnipresence a name we give the mystery of being able to mutually connect at all?

Aphorism of the Day, May 15, 2024

Holy Spirit in language becomes the personification of the metaphors of wind or breath, which for the ancients was the hidden sign of life within a person or nature.

Aphorism of the Day, May 14, 2024

Can we know the specific effects of everything that is and was on everything else that is and was?  There is two much negligible to deal with, and yet practically we have deal with statistical approximations of what our five senses tell us.

Aphorism of the Day, May 13, 2024

The mystery of Spirit: how does the quantities of all possible entities fit into the quantity of ONE?

Aphorism of the Day, May 12, 2024

The Ascension of Jesus might be metaphorical understood as the historical Jesus being expanded to being poetically declared by Paul as the Christ who is all and in all.  The Ascension might be insightfully understood as an expansive diffusion of understanding personal Christliness as accessing the image of God upon everything.

Aphorism of the Day, May 11, 2024

Oneness with God is not the equality of exact coincidence with God; it is is the equality of difference of living and having our becoming within God.  The continual goal is to accept the unity of being within God rather than forgetfully living a life of alienation.

Aphorism of the Day, May 10, 2024

The New Testament writing come to be generated long after Jesus has become invisible.  The writers start with their own reality of their experience of the Risen Christ, and present a program of the phases of Jesus Christ, stretching from the prehistorical Word from the beginning through his return to the invisible after earthly life state of being beyond the elevator of the Ascension.

Aphorism of the Day, May 9, 2024 (Ascension Day)

Ascension and Assumptions are presentations of the belief of specific memorable transitions of persons between the visible and invisible words.  This belief includes the connection between the lifetimes of the departed persons with the remaining memorial traces of that person as continuing inspiration for humanity in need of superlative exemplars to guide our quest for surpassability in excellence.  Each person makes a transition to the invisible and the goal of a good transition would be to leave some memorial traces worthy to inspire courage in excellence.

Aphorism of the Day, May 8, 2024

The similarity between checkers and chess is the same board on which they are played.  Language is the game board of human life on which many games of discursive practices are played, each with rules pertaining to their own "game." 

Aphorism of the Day, May 7, 2024

Within the main paradigm of human life, having language, there are many different paradigms or language games.   Like Venn diagrams, when language users experience the expanding of the flooding or mutual areas of different paradigms, the experience of ironies, contradictions, and ambiguities arises.  How does one live in the "scientific empirical verification" paradigm and the biblical writings at the same time.  The failure to know how to be scientists and poets at the same time and confusing discursive practices has caused much confusion.  Persons confuse by trying to be scientifically poetic or poetically scientific.

Aphorism of the Day, May 6, 2024

Anachronism occur when referring to the past because we can't be there and we project the paradigms of our "now" onto the understanding and presentations of the past.

Aphorism of the Day, May 5, 2024

Today is different any other other day because it has never been before even while it retains in our experience similar traces of what has gone before.  These traces have to be reapplied with invention for what new must arise in response to what is new.

Aphorism of the Day, May 4, 2024

Today we re-contextualize every memorial traces that lingers from yesterday and depending upon the goals which we have for today and the future, we use the traces variously.  Imagine the great expanding Plenitude re-contextualizing everything and always already including the absolute past which comprising a new NOW.

Aphorism of the Day, May 3, 2024

In John's Gospel, the notion of friends has a special meaning.  It refers perhaps to the affinity and fondness which members of the community shared because of their confession of an experience of the Risen Christ.  Such friendship was a reference to "fellowship" love.

Aphorism of the Day, May 2, 2024

In saying or writing, one cannot control the perceived meanings of others about what one writes or says.  We are fortunate if the meanings received are within an area of commonality to allow us to live together.

Aphorism of the Day, May 1, 2024

Laying down one's life for one's friends is an expression of love.  The Gospel of John uses the Greek word pseuche or "soul life" for life.  When we make room for each other to live together effectively, laying down one's soul life is a constant requirement.