Sunday School, March 16, 2025 2 Lent C

  Sunday School, March 16, 2025   2 Lent C

Themes:

St. Paul wrote that our citizenship is in heaven

Discussion about what Heavenly Citizenship means

Contrast with American citizenship.

How does one become an American?  Being born here or being naturalized

  For a non-American, one has to study and take an oath of allegiance to become a citizen

  How does become recognized as a member of the church?

    By baptism.  We study for baptism and for confirmation and we make vows to God at baptism and

    confirm.  We keep making those vows over and over again to remind ourselves of what it means

    to be a “heavenly citizen.”

People who are born in America and are citizens by birth still say the pledge of allegiance over and over again to remember who they are and to remember that there are things that we have to do to be good American citizens, like following our laws and voting and public service.

Have a discussion on what it means to be a good citizen of the church because in the church we celebrate the fact that we are citizens of God’s world and this is as important as being citizens of a country.

Abraham celebrated that he was a citizen of heaven by making a covenant or promise with God and he believed God made a covenant with him to be the father who would the founder of a great family, the family of people with faith in God.

Jesus reminded us that human governments are not perfect, in fact sometimes they kill good people.  They kill prophets or the people who try to help us live better.

Jesus said that he wished that he could be like a “mother hen who protected the baby chickens under her wings.”  He was speaking about all of the people who suffered in the city of Jerusalem because they did not want to obey God’s plan for them to become better. 

Like Jesus we should want to protect those who cannot protect themselves.  Like Jesus we should always stand up for what is fair, loving and kind, even if we get punished for it.

A sermon about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  A modern prophet who was killed

  We have read today about a time when Jesus was sad.  He was sad about the city of Jerusalem because of how they treated the people who came to show them how to live better lives.  He was sad that the leaders of Jerusalem even killed the prophets.

  And you and I should be glad today about where we live.  Why?  We live in a country where we have religious freedom.  Prophets and preachers and priests of all sorts can live in our country.  They have the freedom to start their own churches and their own religions and everyone can choose to go to church or not go to church.  Everyone’s freedom of worship is protected by law.  And this is one of the greatest gifts that our country has given to us.  And it is one of the greatest gifts that we have to give to other countries in our world.

  So if we don’t kill prophets in our country, does that mean we’re perfect?  Well, no.  What is a prophet?  A prophet is someone who comes and gives us a message about how to live our lives better.  Your parents and your teacher may be prophets sometimes.

  And we do not always like to hear the voice of the prophet.  We may get used to bad habits.  We may get lazy.  We may also want to choose the easiest way.  And so when a prophet comes to us and tells us how to live better, sometimes it is not easy to change our habits.  And sometimes we don’t want to change our habits.  Sometimes we will disobey the prophets in our lives.

  In our country we have had a prophet who died because of his important message.  A person disobeyed our laws and killed this important prophet.  Do you know who that prophet was?  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Martin Luther King, Jr. was a prophet.  Did you know that in our country, if the color of your skin was black, you used to have to sit in the back of bus?  If you were black you could not go to same schools as people who were white and you could not eat at the same restaurants?

  Martin Luther King came and he told us how we could be better people.  He told how we could live together and how we could treat everyone with fairness.  And some people did not want us to live together with fairness.

  Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American who died as a prophet in our country.  And we were saddened by his death.  But we are glad for what he taught us about living together as friends.

  Let us remember a lesson.  We are never so good, that we can’t get better.  So let us pay attention to the messages of the people who want us to get better.  Those people are prophets in our lives.  And you too will be prophets if you can show and tell other people how to be better

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

March 16, 2025: The Second Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: O Be Careful, Peace Before Us, I Come with Joy, I’ve Got Peace Like a River

Song: O Be Careful (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 180)

O be careful little hands what you do. O be care little hands what you do.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little hands what you do.

O be careful little feet where you go.  O be careful little feet where you go.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little feet where you go.

O be careful little lips what you say.  O be careful little lips what you say.  There’s a Father up above and he’s looking down in love, so be careful little lips what you say.

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures 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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise be to God!

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Letter to the Philippians

But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 27

Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with sounds of great gladness; * I will sing and make music to the LORD.

Hearken to my voice, O LORD, when I call; * have mercy on me and answer me.

 You speak in my heart and say, "Seek my face." * Your face, LORD, will I seek.

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 Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Some Pharisees came and said to Jesus, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Hymn: 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

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.  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: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  

Words of Administration

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

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

I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean in my soul.  I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean, I’ve got love like the ocean in my soul.

I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.  I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain, I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Second Adam as Hero in Eden Turned Wilderness

1 Lent C March 9, 2025
Deut.26:1-11    Ps.91
Rom.10:5-13     Luke 4:1-13

Lectionary Link

The Gospels might be said to include the sub-genre known as the heroic. They are literary products and they are written in the discourse of the fantastic. They are literary parables of Jesus as the hero for people who never lived during the actual time of Jesus. The stories are drastically time-lapsed presentations the deed of greatness by the heroic stands alone for the persuasion efforts about the worshipfulness of the Risen Christ. The Gospel give us a very limited selection of stories about a man's life, so they are crafted with teaching for the persuasive teaching purposes found in the form of the written records which we have come to have. The Gospels serve as narrative teaching parables for the mystagogy of Paul and those who first wrote and preached, not because they actually saw Jesus, but because they were members of communities of people who confessed experiences of the sublime which came with the specific interpretations of being interior encounters with the Risen Christ or with the Spirit of the Risen Christ. In trying to teach about their mystical experiences, the Gospels appeared in communities to connect the experience of the Risen Christ with the heroic person of Jesus.

To tell the story of this heroic Jesus, the writers did what all writers do; they knew their audience and they borrowed the vocabulary and the genres which are available to them to persuade about what for them was their highest insight of life, namely, their experience of the Risen Christ. Their goal was to persuade others about what they had already become persuaded about, namely, their experience of the Risen Christ. Ironically, the very word for faith or belief, is the Greek word pistos which in Aristotle's Rhetoric means persuasion. The Gospels are persuasive writings about what they were persuaded about. This is literally the dynamic of the New Testament Greek word for faith, pistos, which means persuasion in classical Greek.

The Gospel writers were using persuasive language appropriate to their era to be persuasive about that which they were persuaded about. The great heroes that were known from the Hebrew Scriptures had fantastic stories written about them. The Greco-Roman context from which the Gospels were written included the traditions deriving from Homer and Virgil who integrated heroic presentations of Roman Caesars with their interactions with the various deities including their deifications and their eventual designations as sons of gods. When contrasting heroes the hero sub-genre was a culturally received mode of presentation.

The Gospel writers made use of the existing models for the presentations of heroes while being inventively unique for their own persuasive and teaching purposes with their communities. They were practiced rhetoricians who studied the heuristics of their time for being able to persuade for their preaching and writing occasions.

How did Jesus become the Risen Christ known to Paul and to the Gospel writers communities? How was the mystical experience of the Risen Christ going to be connected with an understanding of the person of Jesus who was known in varying ways by Peter and James and others?

The Gospels are thus teaching parables about Jesus who achieved more fame and notoriety in his afterlife as the Risen Christ than he would have had in his actual life in his limited location in Palestine.

How does the story of the temptation of Jesus get told using the symbols within the existing cultural contexts? And how are those symbolic meanings found in the presentation of the temptation of Jesus by Satan which we read on this first Sunday in Lent? And what are the teaching insights that we might be able to translate from the ancient contexts into our postmodern lives because we believe that words have the ability to bear our projected interpretations upon them to inform how we choose to live our lives now?

Adam is the symbol of the first child or son of God. For St. Paul we are all like Adam the first son of God in that we fail in significant moral tests which come to us in life. And the accrued failures of being like Adam are so massive, it would seem like that we and our world is doomed to drastic failure. How can this great pattern of failure and the mis-timings of doing things at the wrong time in the wrong way ever be interdicted?

The story of the Garden of Eden includes the features about how a created being of God, and a permitted agent of God, the serpent was a superior trickster within a perfect environment but such perfect environment only included good people, who were not yet persons of mature completeness. Adam and Eve were naively innocent who could be tricked out of following the maturational path to mature completeness which God meant for them. This story itself should not be used as a literal cause and effect event; rather it is a parable by wisdom writers who was trying in story form to provide insights in how everyone fails in passing from child-like non-culpable innocence to be culpable guilty offending adults. The Garden of Eden story is in part a story about the mystery of human agency as moral beings.

In biblical cosmology, the assumption is that we're causally in this altogether in a kind of cosmic symbiosis. Because Adam and Eve fail in their efforts to be responsible moral beings as prescribed by their creator parent; the rest of creation responds by taking on the human failure and voila, we as imperfect adults live in an imperfect world. Imperfect people only spoil the perfect world of innocence.

Biblical writers often express the hope and longing for getting back to the Garden, even with fantastic utopian presentations of lion and lamb being playmates with the ending of preditor-prey relationships. The prophet aspire for a new age and this gave rise to what we call the apocalyptic intervention. John the Baptist, Jesus, and St. Paul all had the meaning of their mission formed within apocalyptic aspiration for a catastrophic intervention.

The Gospel writers knew that they didn't live in Eden anymore and hadn't ever done so; they lived under the oppressive conditions of the Roman Empire which had the collateral suppression effect of being the Pax Romana, the peace of a big bouncer Empire maintaining public order to allow the functions of life.

Knowing that they didn't live in the Garden of Eden, the Gospel writers told about a heroic revisit to the spoiled Garden of Eden, now a wilderness inhabited by the wild beasts who are not friendly to each other or to human beings. The wilderness might be a metaphor for the human condition of the wildness of probabilities. How do we live with the uncertainties of anything that could happen? We need a hero guide to carve a path for us to live in the wilderness to survive live with the results of the harsh collisions among probable occurrences which can harm us in various ways.

The temptation story about the hero Jesus is a story about Jesus as the second Adam returning to the metaphorical site of the original failure, and making the right choices, at the right time, in the right way, by resisting the trickster now known to be great Accuser, Satan. And this hero Jesus also gave the trickster an edge; he purposely weaken himself by fasting for forty days. Our hero made himself most vulnerable and which only enhances his victory in his heroic clash with Satan.

The temptation of the first Adam was not about whether fruit from a tree was bad or whether moral beings should know the difference between good and evil, or whether they could ultimately eat from the tree of life in the middle of the Garden; the issue was about obedience to God in the timing of moral education as to eating, knowing good and evil and being brought in good timing to partake of the tree of life. The insight from the story of the Garden of Eden is that humanity fails to find the best timing in our moral education and in our trial and errors, our errors end up accumulating to the point of overwhelming us so that we in fact need the enforcement of the law to teach us.

The Garden of Eden story indicates that the human condition of our errors is juxtaposed with our basic goodness because God does not make mistakes unless one would regard creating free agents to be a mistake. The dilemma is that freedom is so wonderfully good that it has resulted in the manifold range of probable outcomes, some of which are wonderful and some horrific, if not evil.

How do we live now with the wilderness, the wildness of our own interior lives as we try to articulate in word and deed the best way to live? I believe that the story of the temptation of Jesus is a hero story of Jesus, the second Adam, dealing with the interior life as the wilderness. Our interior lives can be a wilderness, a kind of devil's playground, as interior forces within us influence how we come to express agency in our lives as words and deeds.

The temptation themes provide insight for us on features of our own interior dynamics which influence us in how we come to express our agency in words and deeds.

Ideal human agency has to do with saying and doing the right things at the right time. We get in trouble when we have mistiming in our words and deeds of human agency.

Temptation is about getting us to mistime how we fulfill our bodily needs. Temptation is about how we choose to use and interpret language. Temptation can be about how and when we die. Temptation can be about choices we make to experience personal esteem. Satan, the trickster and interior accuser psychical feature within Jesus and us, tried to get Jesus to mistime these crucial facets of his life.

Everyone needs food, drink, clothing and the physical necessities of life. The timing of how we use the provision is a major issue of life. Mistiming can lead to gluttony, drunkedness, addiction, and greed. Satan wanted to get Jesus to depart from his fasting and self-control; Jesus affirmed that the self-control facet of his life was governed by God's word. We need higher insights to teach us good timing in organizing the things we need for life for our healthy benefit and for the ideal benefit of the common good. We need the organizing principle of God's word to inform our timing in the use of the wonderful provisions of life. Fasting is ability to have regulating self-control in how we use the materials of our lives. The church recommends fasting as a way to exercise our self-control muscles for the enlightened use of the good provision of life, particularly as we make sure that everyone has enough.

Another thing that we need good timing on is when to be literal and when to be metaphorical in our language. Satan tried to get Jesus to understand the poetry of the Psalms as being a literal invitation for Jesus to leap from a tall place to prove that God's angels would allow the laws of gravity to be violated. This could be understood as a tricking Jesus to die before his appointed time. You and I need to learn in our language use when to be literal and when to be poetic and metaphorical. And we need to have dying a good death, not a self chosen early death, as a goal in the good timing choices of our lives.

A basic issue of life is esteem. The biblical view of human esteem is that it comes from the realization of being made in the image of God as God's child. Adam as representing any human being experienced sin as a forgetting of his heritage as a son of God. Sin is living as though we don't belong to God. The temptation of Jesus is presented after his baptism when the heavenly voice declared him to be the beloved Son. A major temptation in life is to seek esteem wrongly. One of the great drugs of humanity is the false esteem which we call fame. People can excessively want fame as a barometer of their sense of esteem. Satan promised to give Jesus the fame of having everyone adore him but it would come at the price of worshipping the prince of lies and darkness. Jesus knew the foundational esteem of being God's beloved Son, and as he was true to his heritage he would receive recognition, not that would come for some narcissistic ego trip, but the recognition that comes from benefiting many, many, lives. Living in the esteem of being the children of God, we know that healthy recognition comes from being beneficial in helpful ways to other.

Let us on this first Sunday in Lent work on the good timing our lives following the insights of our hero Jesus in his temptation by Satan. Let us adopt the fasting lifestyle of self-control for the regulation of life provision for ourselves and for the common good. Let not be tricked into literalism when we need to appreciate poetry; let us not be poetic about food for souls, but be very literal about the people who actually need to be fed. Let us live so as to arrive at the good timing for good deaths and fulfill our callings. And let us anchor our egos not on the drug of popularity and social fame; but let the image of God upon our lives as God's child be a profound event of esteem because we know that God loves us, and Jesus as God's unique Son, show us how to live in good timing of our lives as God's children. Amen.

Leaving Fraudulent Religion and Embracing Intercession

 Ash Wednesday   March 2, 2022
Isaiah 58:1-12 Ps.103
1 Cor. 5:20b-6:10 Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

Lectionary Link

On this day we begin the season of Lent, a penitential season, not because any of us feels any more sinful or inadequate to good living now than at other times of the year, but as a reminder that our greatest sin is when we live and act like we don't need God and each other.

Lent is not about my sin or your sin; it is about our separatistic individual ways of living in denial about communal responsibilities.  It is also about our fearful individual ways when we allow our communities to act in harmful ways against the common good and feel absolved because "I am not responsible that people in my community do not have enough to eat or have places to live."  Lent is a time to confront our own communities about where we are failing the common good, taking absolution in the "majority that rules made us do it" excuse.

The readings from Isaiah and Matthew remind us that being religious is not a matter of individual performance in public of religious acts without the attending deeds which bear out the truly religious virtue of loving one's neighbor as oneself.  Dividing the practice of religious acts from the actual practice of loving our neighbors is the dilemma that we must confront and if we don't, we make Lenten observances simply more individual performance in public of religious pieties.

Lent is a time of confronting ourselves with the question: Do we practice pieties and religious behaviors as a way of justifying ourselves as we actually avoid doing the hard religion of performing the justice of loving our neighbors?

What good is our fast, when so many in the world have the involuntary fast of being hungry?  We can treat fasting as an intermittent diet regime for improving our individual health (which is true) and leave our fasting unconnected from the practice of denying ourselves excess so as to share more with people who do not have enough.  Lenten fasting is not about our individual diet program; it is about a reorientation of our life assets for the common good.

Lent is about understanding our lives being communally connected.  Yes, it is good to practice some intentional deprivations so that we are better prepared when actual and unplanned deprivations are forced upon us.  What did St. Paul learn about all the forced situations of deprivations that came to him?  He interpreted them as his communal connection with the people to whom he ministered.  Lent may be a time for us to learn the interpretation of living intercessory lives.  We don't live unto ourselves; we don't suffer unto ourselves; we don't experience joy or success unto ourselves; we do it in community in a very shared way.  If we can learn the intercessory secret of living, we don't have to be people who are people bitter about being picked on by God with bad luck.  We don't have to be people who feel better than other people because of our good luck.  Rather, we can always feel together with other people who do experience the same things, and this intercessory insight gives our prayers a poignant relevance, because we're always walking in the shoes of someone who is going through a similar experience.

Today as the ashes are applied as the fast-forward presentation what our bodies will eventually be, let us cherish our lives in our bodies now by validating our religious piety with the necessary love of our neighbor, so that our piety isn't fraudulent.  And let us learn the secret of the intercessory life; our lives are deeply connected.  We matter to each other because our lives are always sharing common experiences.  The intercessory secret is to know that we are sharing common experiences which enables us to find significant ministerial matches in our prayers and in the gifts that we share with others.

In this Lent, let us leave fraudulent piety by making sure that we are loving mercy, doing justice, and walking humbly before God.  And let us learn the secret of intercession; we are deeply connected with others in human experiences so let us pray with authenticity and minister with graced timely sensitivity.  Amen.

Sunday School, March 9, 2025 First Sunday in Lent C

  Sunday School, March 9, 2025     First Sunday in Lent C

Themes and Topics

Learning Self Control

Learning to be one’s own hero

Fasting is a practice of learning self-control

Gospel Story:  Jesus went away to a place to be alone and fast

When you feed a dog, you put the food in the dog dish and set it on the floor.  And what do many dogs do?  They immediately try to eat all of the food as fast as they can.  Now some dog owners will try to teach a dog to wait until he or she give the command to the dog to eat.  A dog owner may try to teach a dog to wait before eating.

When babies are hungry, they want their milk right away.  They don’t want to wait and if mom makes them wait, what do they do?  They cry.

Growing up means we learn how to control our selves when we have to wait for something that we need.

So you may be hungry right now, but mom says the food is still cooking and besides we’re waiting for dad to come home so we can eat together.   So even if you are hungry right now, you learn to wait so that you can eat with the rest of the family.

Learning to wait to eat is “fasting.”  It is learning how to control yourself.  It is learning to not let your desire for something make you unhappy if you cannot get it right away.

Fasting is about learning to wait and have patience so that you can learn to do things together with other people.  Fasting is about learning other people’s schedules.

When you teacher asks you to be silent and raise your hand, this is also fasting because it is waiting for your turn to speak so that you can honor the schedule of your class.

Jesus was a hero because he learned to fast; he learned to do things according to God the Father’s time.  He did not obey the voice of Satan which tempted him to do the wrong things, at the wrong time in the wrong way.

Lent is about learning how to be our own superhero by learning how to control ourselves.

Jesus was a superhero of self-control;  And we can learn from Jesus about being our own superhero as we learn self-control.  An important part of self-control is learn how to share in how we live with other people.

Lent is a season of learning self-control for the purposes of sharing the gifts and good things of our lives with others, especially those who do not have enough.

A sermon about learning to be one’s own hero

  How would you like to be a hero?  How do you think you can be a hero?  Do you have to fly like Superman, Batman and Spiderman in order to be a hero?  Do you have to save someone from drowning to be a hero?  Do you have to rescue some one from a burning building to be a hero? Doing those things would make you a hero, but there is another way to be a hero.

  And Jesus wants us all to be heroes.  How can all of us be heroes?  By being strong.  Let me see your muscles.  But the muscles in our arms are not important muscles that we need.

  We need some other muscles.  We need strength to be able to not do things that are bad for us.  We need strength to be able to do things that are really, really good for us.

  And so we need to do some training to be heroes.  That is what the season of Lent is for..it’s for doing some special training.

  Is it easier to eat four pieces of chocolate cake than to eat our vegetables?  Chocolate cake is good and vegetables are good.  And we need to be heroes by becoming strong enough to choose the right amounts of good food for us.  Say, I am strong.  I am powerful.  I will be a hero.  I will choose good food.

  Is it easier to watch cartoons on TV or clean your bedroom or do your school work?  It is fun to watch TV but when there are other things that we need to do, we need to have the power to choose to do other things to help our families and to help us get good grades at school.  Can you flex your muscles and say: I am powerful.  I will be a hero.  I will choose to do good things.

  Jesus was a hero because he learned to have power to do the good things that he was supposed to do.  When he was given the choice between doing some good and doing something bad, he chose what was good.

  You and I have to practice being good.  And how do we practice being good?  We have to build the muscles of our choosing power.  We have to practice making the right choices.  Our teachers and parents help us to make the right choices.  Even though they are not perfect; they still are able to help you make good choices.  And if we learn to make good choices, then we become powerful and we become heroes of our own lives?

  Can you learn to be a hero today?  Let’s see your muscles.  Say:  I am strong.  I can make good choices.  I can be a hero today. 

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

March 9, 2025 The First Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: On Eagle’s Wings, Just As I am, I Am the Bread of Life, Thy Word

Song: On Eagle’s Wings (Renew! # 112)

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: “My refuge, my rock in whom I trust.”

Refrain: And he will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of his hand.

The snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear: under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield.  Refrain

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures 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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Praise be to God!

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Letter to the Romans

For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 91

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, * abides under the shadow of the Almighty.

He shall say to the LORD, "You are my refuge and my stronghold, * my God in whom I put my trust."

He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter * and from the deadly pestilence.

He shall cover you with his pinions, and you shall find refuge under his wings; * his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.

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 Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, "To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God,  and serve only him.'"  Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,  to protect you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up,  so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'"  Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Hymn:  Just As I Am (Renew! # 140)

Just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me,

and that thou bidd’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. I come!

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

The Prayer continues with these words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.   

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: I Am the Bread of Life (Renew!  # 246)

Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of his blood, and drink of his blood, you shall not have life within you.

Refrain: And I will raise you up, and I will raise you up, and I will raise you up on the last day.

Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who has come into the world.  Refrain

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: Thy Word (Renew! # 94)

Refrain: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

When I feel afraid, think I’ve lost my way, still you’re there right beside me.  And nothing will I fear as long as you are near.  Please be near me to the end.  Refrain

I will not forget your love for me, and yet my heart forever is wandering.  Jesus, be my guide and hold me to your side; and I will love you to the end.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!