Sunday School, August 11, 2024 12 Pentecost, B proper 14
Sunday School Themes
In the Epistles there is good advice on how to live together well with other people:
1-Don’t be bitter. What does that mean? It might that we might get angry and disappointed when we don’t get our way all of the time. How can we keep from getting bitter? We need to learn how to share and we need to learn that sometimes we get what we want and sometimes we don’t and we need to learn how to accept not getting everything that we want when we want it. If we learn patience, then we can avoid being bitter.
2-Don’t be angry. Anger often happens because we don’t have patience. We don’t know how to wait our turn. When we live with other people we have to share lots of things. And if we learn sharing then we can learn not to be anger. You may want to talk about good anger and bad anger. What would good anger be? We might be mad when people are hurting someone. That is a good anger. Bad anger is when we get mad because we don’t want to share or take turns.
3-What is wrangling? Wrangling is always arguing about things. Sometimes we are always arguing because we don’t want to share or we don’t want to agree with other people or we don’t want to accept the good things that they have to do and say.
4-Don’t slander. Slander is when we say something bad about someone which is not true and we say it in order to hurt them. We might call someone a “cheater” because we might be jealous when they win a game.
5-Put a way malice. Malice is when one might wish bad things for someone or do things purposely to hurt another person. If we can accept that God loves us for who we are, then we don’t need to wish bad things for anyone.
There is also a list of good and recommendable attitudes and behaviors
1-Be kind to one another. Think about what kindness is for you and for others
2-Be tender-hearted. This means that we don’t treat each other harshly or rudely but being tender means that we try to please other people by doing things for them which we know that they enjoy.
3-Forgive one another. Each of knows that we are not perfect and we still need to grow and to learn how to be better and so we need to forgive each other as we are trying to be better each day. If we think that it is hard to forgive then we need to remember that people did some very bad things to Jesus and he still forgave them. We need to look to Christ as the example of forgiveness.
4-We need to live in love with one another and love means that we make sacrifices. The sacrifices which we make means that we share and we help each other do our best and we do it all together.
The Gospel is again this week about the riddle of how Jesus is the bread of heaven. We eat bread and food to grow strong but we know that by eating bread it will not prevent us from dying some day. We know that there are parts of our life which will die.
Jesus reminds us that there are parts of our lives which will not die. It is the inside part of ourselves the Spirit. And we need to feed the part of ourselves which will never die, the part of ourselves which will live forever.
That is why Jesus said that he was like bread that one could eat and live forever. When we hear and follow the words of Jesus we are eating the words of the bread of heaven which will help us live forever because those words of Jesus are the words which build our spiritual lives, the part of us that will live forever.
Here is a children’s sermon about relating the Holy Eucharist to the feeding of the five thousand and understanding how our communion is related to giving all people enough to eat.
What if I were to order pizza today for everyone but I only ordered one kind of pizza, all pizza had anchovies on them. Would you eat my anchovy pizza? What are anchovies? They are little fish and many people like them but many more people don’t like them. But what if I said, everybody has to eat anchovies, would that be fair? You might say, well more people would eat just plain cheese pizza so why can’t we have that? But even if we had cheese pizza some people might not like that.
If I took a food survey do you think that I could get everyone to agree about a food? How many people like candy? Not everyone does and some people cannot eat it. How about cake? How about broccoli? How about pickled herring? How about fish? How about ham? How about rattle snake? How about bread? Well, not even bread is liked by everyone?
If I cannot get us to agree about what food we like, what can I get us to agree about? How about this? Will you agree that everyone needs food to live? Great we can agree on this.
A baby needs food but how does a baby know that he or she needs food? Parents have to teach a baby to eat and provide the baby with food to eat.
So we agree that everyone needs food to eat. Does everyone in the world have enough food to eat? No. And they didn’t have enough food to eat in the time of Jesus.
Jesus had a great idea about how to get people enough food to eat. If people eat alone in their own homes only with their own families, they would not see that some families and some people did not have enough to eat. So Jesus thought, “What if we had a meal for everyone and what if we had meals in every neighborhood where people would be invited to eat together, then that would be a way to make sure that everyone had enough to eat, because everyone would be seen eating something. A hungry person could not be hidden anymore if all hungry people were invited to eat.”
So we have the Eucharist, this meal of bread and wine. This was the meal that Jesus gave to solve the problem of hungry people in the world; because Jesus believed that if everyone ate together, then hungry people would not be hidden and unknown. If everyone ate together in public then we have a way of checking that everyone would have enough food.
We have lost something today in our church meal of bread and wine. It has become more like a religious meal and not a real meal to feed hungry people. But even though it is a religious meal, we should not forget that Jesus ask us everyone to come and eat together in public as a way of making sure that everyone had enough food to eat.
We still have a hungry people in our world today. And hungry people are hidden from us. And we don’t see them. Let us remember that Jesus gave us the Holy Eucharist as a way to remind us that hungry people are invited to have food. The Holy Eucharist is a Meal that Jesus gave to us to remind us to love and care for everyone in world. So let us remember why we have the Holy Eucharist today and let us pray and work for ways to feed all of the people in our world. Amen.
Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist
August 12, 2024: The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Gathering Songs:Hallelu, Hallelujah!; The Foolish Man and the Wise Man; Change My Heart; Hosanna
Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah! (Christian Children Songbook # 84)
Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Hallelu, hallelu, hallelu, hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord! Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah! Praise ye the Lord!
Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.
Liturgist: Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.
And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.
Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Liturgist: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Liturgist: Let us pray
Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Litany Phrase: Alleluia (chanted)
O God, you are Great! Alleluia
O God, you have made us! Alleluia
O God, you have made yourself known to us! Alleluia
O God, you have provided us with us a Savior! Alleluia
O God, you have given us a Christian family! Alleluia
O God, you have forgiven our sins! Alleluia
O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead! Alleluia
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians
Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Liturgist: The Word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God
Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 34
I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together.
Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)
Litanist:
For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!
For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!
For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!
For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!
For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!
For work and for play. Thanks be to God!
For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!
For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!
For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.
Thanks be to God!
Liturgist: The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.
Jesus said to the people, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Liturgist: The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to you, Lord Christ.
Sermon: Fr. Phil
Children’s Creed
We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.
Since God is so great and we are so small,
We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.
We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.
We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is
welcome.
We believe that Christ is kind and fair.
We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.
And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever. Amen.
Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)
For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.
For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.
For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.
For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.
For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.
For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.
For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.
For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.
Liturgist: The Peace of the Lord be always with you.
People: And also with you.
Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering.
Song: The Foolish Man and the Wise Man (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 250)
O the foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. The foolish man built his house upon the sand. And the rains came tumbling down. O, the rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. And the house on the sand went crash.
O, the wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock. The wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down. O the rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up. The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm.
So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ. So build you house on the Lord Jesus Christ. So build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come down. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. The blessings will come down as the prayers go up. The blessing will come down as the prayers go up, so build your house on the Lord.
Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Prologue to the Eucharist
Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”
All become members of a family by birth or adoption.
Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.
A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.
The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.
The Lord be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to God.
It is right to give God thanks and praise.
It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:
Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might. Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.
All may gather around the altar
Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;
You have made us in your image
And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:
Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.
And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph
And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.
Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat
the bread and drink the wine, we can know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as
this food and drink that becomes a part of us.
The Prayer continues with these words
And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighor.
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: Change My Heart, O God (Renew! # 143)
Change my heart, O God, make it ever true; Change my heart, O God, may I be like you. You are potter, I am the clay. Mold and make me, this what I pray. Change my heart, O God make it ever true; Change my heart, O God may I be like you.
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 (Renew! # 71)
Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest! Lord we lift up you name with heart full of praise; Be exalted, oh Lord my God Hosanna in the highest.
Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings! Glory, Glory, Glory to the King of Kings! Lord we lift up you name with heart 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!
