Sunday School, November 30, 2025 1 Advent Cycle A

 Sunday School, November 30, 2025     1 Advent Cycle A

Themes:

The Beginning of Christian New Year

Review the calendars in our lives.  The Gregorian Calendar that we use.  School calendars, Sports Calendars, Work Calendar, Concert Season Calendars.  The Country’s Patriotic Time and Official Holidays.

Have children list the number of calendars in their lives.  Calendars are used to measure time.  Different calendars measure time in different ways depending upon the human events which are occurring at different times.

The Church Calendar

Why do we have one?  Because we want to schedule that time that we give to God, through learning throughout the year about the meaning of God for our lives.

How does the Church Calendar work?  It works like a school curriculum.  The church takes the Christian program of learning and divides it into a yearly cycle to presentation.  The year is divided into six seasons.  These seasons give us the opportunity to review each year different teachings about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the life of the church.

What are the seasons?  Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter and Pentecost

What does Advent mean?  It means “Coming.”  It refers to the first coming of Christ when he came as the baby Jesus at Christmas.  So the season of Advent is a time to prepare for Christmas.  It also refers to the future comings of Christ in our lives and the life of the world.  We believe that Christ will come to our future and this gives us hope that the future can be better no matter what seems to be happening in our lives or in our world.

What do we read during Advent from the Bible?  We read about John the Baptist and how he helped prepared the way for Jesus.  We also read about the future and how God will establish fairness and justice and how the promise of fairness in the future can help us survive now when we realize that our lives are not perfect and some harmful things are happening now even to good people.  During Advent, we believe that a future perfect world is still calling us as a model for how we can become better.

What is an important word during Advent?  Repent.  Repent means to Educate ourselves to keep changing our minds with better knowledge and wisdom, not just to know more, but to change our behavior as a way of preparing to greet Jesus as our friend.

A Sermon:

Happy New Year!  Did you have a big New Year Eve’s party last night?  Did you know that today is the first day of the new Christian Year.  Today is the First Sunday of Advent.  Let us renew our Seasons of the Christian Year.  Repeat after me.  Advent.  Christmas. Epiphany.  Lent East and Pentecost.  Now what is the color for the Season of Advent?  Purple.  And what kind of season is Advent?  Is it a celebrating season like Christmas and Easter?  No, it is a serious season.  A season of training and preparation.  Sometimes with all of the early Christmas parties, Advent is just seen as a speed bump in the road as people are racing to a Christmas celebration.

  Advent is a time for us to pray just a little bit more.  To give just a little bit more to those who are needy.  And to take good care of our selves.  Take good care of our bodies.  We see all of the Christmas sweets coming out early, but remember Advent is a time to prepare and take care of ourselves.  And why should we take care of our selves and our world?

  Because Advent means: Coming.  We are preparing for the coming of someone very important.  When someone special is coming to your house, what do you do?  You rush around and clean up the house.  You fix some special food because you want everything just right for the coming of the special people in your life.

  During Advent, we prepare our selves for the coming of Jesus Christ.  And Christ comes to us in many ways.  Christ came to us as the Baby Jesus in the manger, and that is what we celebrate at Christmas.  Christ comes to us each day in special way through the love and care of our family and friends.  Christ comes to us as we gather to bless the bread and the wine and receive the presence of Christ into our hearts and as we know that Christ is as near to us as the bread and wine become after we eat and drink.  We also believe that Christ will come in our future in many special ways.

  So, Advent is a season of preparation, when we make our selves always ready for the special coming of Christ in our lives.

  So before we rush to Christmas celebrations, let us remember that we are in the season of Advent.  And Advent is a special season of preparation for the coming of Christ.  Is Christ welcome in your home?  Is Christ welcome in your life?  Of course he is.  Advent is season when we practice for the welcoming of Christ into our lives.  Amen.

An Intergenerational Holy Eucharist

November 30, 2025  The First Sunday of Advent, A

Gathering Songs: We Light the Advent Candles, If You’re Happy and You Know It,  Father, I Adore You,  Soon and Very Soon

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song:  We Light the Advent Candles (While lighting the first purple candle)

We light the Advent candles against the winter night, to welcome our Lord Jesus who is the world’s True Light, to welcome our Lord Jesus who is the World’s True Light.

The first one will remind us that Christ will soon return.  We light it in the darkness and watch it gleam and burn.  We light it in the darkness and watch it gleam and burn.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.  He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 122

Peace be within your walls *and quietness within your towers.

For my brethren and companions' sake, * I pray for your prosperity.

Because of the house of the LORD our God, * I will seek to do you good."

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the disciples, "But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – 

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

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

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

…Make a high five…. 

…shout Amen!….

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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,

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:   Father, I Adore You (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 56)

1          Father, I adore you, lay my life before you, how I love you.

2          Jesus….

3          Spirit…

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

1-Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King; soon and very soon we are going to see the King.  Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King.  Alleluia, alleluia, we are going to see the King.

2-No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  No more dying there, we are going to see the King.  No more dying there we are going to see the King.  Alleluia, alleluia, we are going to see the King.

3.  Repeat verse 1

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Sunday School, November 27, 2016      1 Advent Cycle A

Christ the King and Earthly Power

Last Sunday after Pentecost, Cp29, November 23, 2025 Christ the King
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Ps. 46
Col. 1:11-20 Luke 23:23-33

Lectionary Link

The notion of Messiah was born in the biblical tradition as the divine conferring of leadership rights upon an individual whose identity was "divined" by the religious Judge Samuel. The very word Messiah derives from the mode of investiture, the pouring of oil, the anointing of the head of the chosen leader, the king of the people.

The famous Judge Samuel offered that God did not really want kings, but the people clamored for leadership like their enemies who had kings to conscript armies to protect their people or raid other countries to seize assets for their countries.  Samuel warned them that kings would take property for his own and take their sons for battle.  In a sense Samuel was warning them that the more absolute the power, the more likely a person with such power would be corrupt.  The people prevailed upon Samuel and Samuel divined the selection of the first "messiah," the first man to be anointed with the oil of divine selection as King of Israel.  And indeed Saul, failed mightily and gave way to his successor David, who also failed significantly, but who also had profound success to become the model for a future utopian Messiah who might return Israel to something of their days of Davidic glory.

The history of the kings of Israel both in the united kingdom and divided kingdoms reveal that their kings were relatively good and bad, and the biblical writings provide  critiques of their reigns based upon their faithfulness to Torah religion.  In this regard, many were found to be wanting, and faithfulness to the Torah was used as the criteria for assigning reason for the woes and the blessings which came to the people Israel.

The divine right of kingship is not unique to the Hebrew Scriptures; other nations had their own versions, and in the time of Jesus and the early church the Roman Emperors were venerated as gods and sons of gods.  The association of deity with leadership was well known.

Jesus came into the world where the Caesars were proclaimed to be gods and sons of God.  His followers had both the Roman models and the models which derived from messianic thinking of the Hebrew Scriptures and the apocalyptic writings expressing the hope for the intervention of some special anointed one.  Some charismatic leaders were regarded to be potential candidates for being the promised Messiah and they gained followers but were put down by the authorities as a threat to the power of the Caesar and his local authorities.  John the Baptist, Jesus, and others died because they attained among their followers the designation as being perhaps the promised Messiah.  The Zealots who tried to mount military resistance to the Roman authority brought about years of various Jewish wars which were crushed by Roman military intervention.

The followers of Jesus came to spiritualize his afterlife as a continuing known personal mystical presence to them, who indeed would be for the time being, a King in the realm of their interior lives.  As many came to confess Jesus the Christ, as the king of their hearts, a very significant social movement ensued.  As the movement became successful, it become institutionalized for promulgation of their message and values, and the appearance of writings about Jesus and the movement  is evidence of the institutional success of the movement.  The writings included both Jesus as one who was coming again as a King, but in the significant and continuous delay of his return, Jesus was presented as the realized King in the hearts of many people.

The movement was so successful within the Roman Empire that by the fourth century the Emperor Constantine, reversed the notion of the divine right of kings; he designated the Imperial right of the Christian faith to be the preferred faith of the Empire; he only demanded that the bishops gather and agree upon a unified presentation of Christianity in the Empire so that the Empire would not be politically divided because of Christian religious disputes.  The results of the Council of Nicaea really took over a century to come to significant unifying effect.

Since Constantine, the church has had various reciprocal relationships with kingly power in the world, and religious leaders have had the power to confer in the name of God and Christ, the right of the monarch to rule.

The origin of what has become the Feast of Christ the King came about because of the rise of suspicion about the divine connection with any earthly authority.  One of the most famous philosophers of suspicion was Karl Marx.  He assigned theology to the realm of ideology on behalf of royalty and ruling elites to maintain their oppression of the poor and the peasants of society.  Hence the noted designation of religion as the opiate of the people.  The Bolshevik revolution was a secularization of political power.  Tsars, kings, and queens proved too be all too human in their kleptocratic ways, their corruption of power.  In Marxism, religion was regarded to be an enemy to the type of communal utopia which was to be the preferred way for people to live.

Pope Pius XI,  in 1925 saw this secularization of political authority to be a threat to the influence and mission of the church vis a vis political governance.  The secularization of political power was seen as a real threat for Christian influence in society, hence the Feast of Christ the King was proposed as a way to re-assert the reconnection of people of faith with a perfect exemplar of political power.  The feast we have today at the end of the season of Pentecost and it remains for us a liturgical event to present the ideal model of political leadership, namely uncorrupted power.

This feast, of course, cannot avoid all of the irony of Christ as King.  The inscriptions above the head of the dying Jesus on the cross proclaiming him as a king, were the mocking ironic words of the Roman Empire.  But for Christian readers of these mocking words, they were secrets about the King who had ascended in their hearts as a rallying figure of mystical, spiritual, and social/communal identity.

The feast of Christ the King for us today is a reminder that no earthly king is omni-competent enough or kind enough to embody the perfect use of power.  Earthly leaders fail, because the earthly wielding of power becomes too easily the Machiavellian ends justifying the means.  Power for all too human corruptible people, becomes the end itself.

We need still the functioning of a utopian Messiah King to deconstruct the tendency for humans to be corrupted by power.  We continually need to be reminded that the divine gift of power is to be used for the shepherding care of people, particularly, those who are most vulnerable and without power in our world.

Let us admit that Christ as King is still elusive for us and our world, but Christ the King can still become incarnate within us as our words and deed conform to the kind of loving care which Jesus exemplified for this world.  Let this functional vision of Christ the King be for us the spiritual and moral exemplar as we continually try to surpass ourselves in the practice of love and justice.  In this way we can make the hidden Christ the King evident in our acts of love.  Amen. 

Sunday School, November 23, 2023 Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King C proper 29

 Sunday School, November 23, 2023  Last Sunday after Pentecost, Christ the King 

C proper 29

Theme:

How is Christ a King?

Did Jesus live in a palace?  Did he have a large army of soldiers?  No.

How is it that Jesus is a king and how is it that he has a kingdom?

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within you.  He said it was among us.

What is so special about an invisible kingdom and an invisible king?

The kings of this earth are leaders who have power.  They can force people to obey them.

Jesus is the king of persuasion.  He wins our hearts.  He teaches us to things which are good for us.  He does not force us.  He allows us freedom to choose whether we want to be a part of his kingdom.

Jesus is not like any king that this world has ever had.

If it seems as though Jesus is a king without any power, just remember he had the power to come back to life again.  He had the power to reappear to his followers again and again.  He has the ability to be with us by the Holy Spirit and help us have power to be better people.

Christ is a king, a very different king than the other kings of this world.

The fact that Jesus has not been seen for 2000 years and yet he still remains followed and loved by more people than any other king or person on earth, shows us what a special king that Christ is.

Sermon

Bring two crosses, a crucifix and a Christus Rex

Use the sermon to speak about how we speak of Christ as a King after his resurrection.  After his resurrection, we understand the cross in a different way.

Text: 

  Today is the end of the longest church season.  What is the longest church season?  Pentecost.  If this week is the end of the Christian year, then that makes next Sunday, New Year’s Day.  And what do we call the first day in the Christian New Year?  The first Sunday of Advent.  So what Christian season comes after the season of Pentecost?  Advent.

  We have a special name for this Sunday, the last Sunday in the season of Pentecost.  It is called the Feast of Christ the King.

  And so today we want to think about how Christ is our King.

  We heard the reading from the Gospel today and we wonder how Christ can be our king.  The reading that we have listened to tells us about how Jesus died.  In fact, he died when the soldiers of the great Roman king, the Caesar put him on a cross.  And they put a sign on the top of the cross that was making fun of Jesus.  The sign said: Jesus, King of the Jews.  How can a person who dies this way be a king?

  Let me show you another cross.  This cross is called the cross of Christ the King.  Do you see that Jesus has on wonderful robes and he is wearing a crown?  This cross is different from the other cross.

  How did Jesus become Christ the King?  He became Christ the King, because he did the strongest thing that could ever be done; he came back to life and he promised that God could give us life after our deaths too.  That is a great thing.  And that is why Christ is our king.

  And since we know that Christ is our king and since we know that God is bigger and stronger than death, do you know what that means?  It means that we can live our lives without fear.  We can live our lives with joy, love and faith, because we know that Christ is our King who has been stronger than death.

  So today, let’s celebrate because Christ is our King.  Christ is stronger than death.  And we can live with joy and faith because Christ is our King.  Amen.

Intergenerational liturgy with Holy Eucharist

November 23, 2025: The Last Sunday after Pentecost: Feast of Christ the King

Gathering Songs: Majesty; Peace Before Us; Lord, Be Glorified; Lift High the Cross    

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Majesty (Renew! # 63)

Majesty, worship his majesty.  Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise. 

Majesty, kingdom authority flow from his throne unto own; his anthem raise. 

So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. 

Magnify, come, glorify Christ Jeus the King. 

Majesty, worship his majesty; Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers-- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 46

Come now and look upon the works of the LORD, * what awesome things he has done on earth.

It is he who makes war to cease in all the world; * he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,
and burns the shields with fire.

"Be still, then, and know that I am God; * I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth."

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

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.

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. The people stood by, watching Jesus on the cross; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!" The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – 

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

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

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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 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:  Lord, Be Glorified (Renew! # 172)

In our lives, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our lives, Lord, be glorified today.

In our homes, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in our homes, Lord, be glorified today.

In your church, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in your church, Lord, be glorified today.

In your world, Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in your world, Lord be glorified today. 

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: Lift High the Cross (Renew! # 297)

Refrain: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim ‘till all the world adore his sacred name.

Come, Christians, follow where our savior trod, our King victorious, Christ, the Son of God.  Refrain

All newborn servants of the crucified bear on their brows the seal of him who died.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

  

 

Imagine

23 Pentecost, Cp28, November 16, 2025
Isaiah 65:17-25 Ps. 98:
2 Thes. 3:6-13 Luke 21:5-19

Lectionary Link

John Lennon wrote and sang a song entitled, Imagine, which is sheer utopian thinking.  And it was a popular song, and it remains a sentimental popular song because to be human is somehow to have the proclivity we call hope be the perpetual carrot in front of our life to motivate us in our work burdened and hungry lives.

And we might blame God for taunting us with the hope for things which are impossible and that can never become actual, that is, in the sense of everything, already, all at once becoming completely harmonized without any harm being done.

To live is to be haunted by utopia.  Utopia really means "no such place," but it still functions for us to chart a preferred direction in life.  How many spa and work out places are called "utopia," and it really means "no such possible bodies," but you should really still to practice and train in the direction of getting better even if you can never be perfect.

The "imagined life," the utopian life is as ancient as human language users.  It is found in Plato's Ideals; it is the parallel existing inner world to the actual world that includes the full range of probable outcomes and happenings from the agony to the ecstatic, and lots of just plain drudgery.

We moderns can be very partial and permissive of John Lennon's Imagine, even though it is quite pollyannish and naive, while being very critical of religious people, biblical people whose very way of life might be called utopian or hopeful imagining.

Do we permit secular imagining while eschewing biblical imagining because it seems to be of a different order?

Our readings from Scripture today are about the Bible being a book whose alternate title might be called, Imagine.

None of us think that the words of John Lennon's song are going to become literally true, and yet they function for us in a profoundly sentimental way because of a naive painful nostalgia for a perfect life that never was.  Hope can make us think that we once partook of the perfect which has somehow been lost forever, the paradise forever lost.

We can mock the Isaian utopian writer who writes that God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth.  Why does the writer need this new heaven and new earth?  Because of infant mortality, human mortality, exile and loss of homes, and because of the predator-prey relationships which characterizes the animal world, and the seeming social Darwinism of the strong and fit dominating the weak and vulnerable.  The Isaian writer wrote his "Imagine" poetic song long before John Lennon wrote his, bespeaking that it must be very human for people to continuously write their own "imagine" scenarios.  From the experience of hope, humanity is impelled to write their own "imagine" scenarios, not because they think that such impossible utopias will ever be widespread, but because the impossible perfect can inspire the temporal sporadic, serendipitous, and even the intentionally labored for better outcomes.

After the pre-exilic utopian writings of Isaiah, a different kind of literature of imagination came to be.  In the post-exilic period with influence from the Persian environment, what scholar call the apocalyptic genre of writing come to be.  It is found in the post-exilic prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, it is found in the intertestamental writings of the Apocrypha, such as in the book of Enoch, and it is found in many other writings which John the Baptist, Jesus, and those with access to literature knew about.  Living under the Roman conquest created a hopeful desire for imagining a different world.  There were imagined heroic messianic figures who could intervene and deliver people from oppression.  Imagine that there could be judgment and punishment exacted for those who were the oppressor.  Imagine that faithful people could still hold their beliefs in a God of justice.  Imagine believing in a God who had imminent active love toward us.  Imagine a way to make the actual world of pain and injustice be dealt with in a resurrection afterlife where wrongs could be made right.

Different apocalyptic preachers and prophets acted in literal ways about their discourses of imagining a soon apocalyptic end with the arrival of new kings within the Empire which knew the Caesar to the only king.  Many of these apocalyptic zealots were crushed by the Roman armies as well as their social movements in the various Jewish Wars.

Many Christians who had their apocalyptic Imagine stories, had to adjust them to a continual delay for actual fulfillment even while proclaiming the kingdom of God as already being realized by the experience of the Holy Spirit, namely the parallel inner reign of Christ the King within the lives of those who were privileged with the revelation of this new version of the song, "Imagine."  "If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have come and fight."  This phrase from the Gospel of John's Jesus on trial is an acknowledgment of the lack of a complete over lap of the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this actual world.  God did not nor does not have and will not have an earthly Empire.

Today, many Christians still resort to the "Imagine," aspect of their stories of hope. It is natural to do so even while popular entertainment culture is completely dominated by "imagined" better worlds.   Some biblical interpreters try to work out in literal ways the impending apocalyptic events within our world events in a one to one correspondences as if ancient writers had prescience insights like some Nostradamus on current events.  Such literal interpretations have always proven to be wrong, meaning that they have misinterpreted the functional meaning of hope which come to our language products.  Others are content to acknowledge the incredible diversity which the phenomenon of hope inspires in visions of utopia.

The Gospel for us is that we should not be ashamed of hope or of the stories of hope which can profoundly influence the direction of our lives personally and socially toward a better excellence.  For us Jesus Christ is personified hope, who teaches us how to be related to Hope itself, as we try to instantiate in our words and deeds specific acts of love and justice which befit this Christ of Hope.  Amen.