When Is Peace not Peace?

3 Pentecost, A p 7, June 21,2020

21:8-21 Ps. 86:1-10, 16-17

Rom. 6:1b-11    Matt. 10:24-39

Lectionary Link

Youtube Liturgy.   Sermon at 17:50

We can get very sentimental about a word like peace, but peace can become a silent complacency and false comfort in the static state of I know what I like and I like what I know, so don't upset my peace.

But today we have read the seeming contradictory words of Jesus when he is quoted as saying, "I did not come to bring peace, I came to bring a sword."  And then we have read the rather frightening words of division, yes, family division.  Families are supposed to be united and peaceful and not at war; "Jesus why would you bring a sword and not peace?  Aren't you the Prince of Peace?"

And so I pose the question, when is peace no peace at all?  And the answer?  When peace is anchored in the perfection of God for each person and for the society of people who need to become their better angels.

Two days after the celebration of June 19th which commemorates the declaration of liberty and freedom from slavery arriving to the Black people in our country, we have been recently experiencing the Peace that is no peace.  Why?  Because the peace of God is anchored in perfection and God wants us to be in perfect peace.

In biblical times, the language of everyone, including the language of Jesus indicate to us that the world had made a terrible peace with the practice of slavery.  The ancient economic virtue of slavery persisted and resisted for way too long progress toward the perfect peace of God.

And when people advance in and toward the perfect peace of God, there are revolutionary times when things don't seem so peaceful.  Whenever true cultural and spiritual advances are occurring the peace of complacent blindness to taken for granted inhumanity gets upset and people get angry and are divided.  "But we've always done it this way and we aren't bad people."

The peace of God is no peace to those who do not want to advance to a more perfect peace when a better way is shown.

Early Christ-centered Judaism was an advance in evangelism to the entire world.  It seemed as though religious elites had promoted that God had only a few chosen people and God wasn't available to everyone in the world.  Why would God be available to the Gentiles?  And Jesus and his followers said, "Why not?"  And the peace in the community of faith was shattered and division occurred between the synagogue and the Jesus Movement.  The harsh words of the Gospel for today echo the big problem caused by offering salvation to the whole world.  And Paul hearkening back to Abraham declared that God was truly a universalist, God was for everyone.  And Paul saw that the meaning of Jesus the Christ, meant that God was for everyone.

And when we are offered a more perfect Peace from God and we refuse to advance to a more perfect peace, what happens?  Joseph Campbell once said, "Yesterday's virtues can become tomorrow's vices."  The once practiced exclusivity of thinking that God only belonged to a certain clan, became exposed as misrepresenting a loving God.  In Jesus, it was revealed that God was for everyone.  And when humanity finally begins to arrive at enlightenment in being humane, the ancient economic virtue of slavery has been exposed to be the wicked degrading practice of inhumanity to people who were created equal in God's image.

We as Americans, believe that our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were enlightened documents for humanity to advance toward their better angels and toward a more perfect peace with God and each other.

But just like Paul believed that people in his faith background were not living up to the universal faith of Abraham, it has over and over again been shown to us in actual American practice that we have not been living up to the high ideals of our founding principles of liberty and justice for all.   And when the hypocrisy is revealed, when we are shown to be lacking in the practice of our ideals, especially toward minorities, toward women and people of color, the public peace has been upset.  Why?  Because in power relationships people fear the loss of power if actual equal justice is offered and lived towards all.  People who have had wealth and power do not realize the motivating power of fear of loss in their own lives.

And these past weeks have been poignant and painful reminders that we have not yet achieved in full practice the perfect peace of God, we have not yet become the better angels that our Declaration of Independence and Constitution tried to write us to be.

So what do we do?  Today, we give up the false peace of complacency and the ignorance based upon refusing to know each other in fully mutually beneficial ways.  We accept the sword of division which Christ still brings today to force us to move on to better practice of the higher peace of God.

The perfect peace of God will always make us uncomfortable if we are settling for and tolerating the harm of anyone.  The perfect peace of God will not let us be comfortable because we have been segregated and sheltered from having to interact with people who are different from us.  America has for too long lived as separate gated communities of people with ethnic, social and economic differences and this betrays the peace of E pluribus unum.  Out of the many one.  Out of the many one, cannot just mean out of the many  European descendents who came to America,  the one.   Because of the original born here, the native peoples and those who were brought here unwillingly as slaves, and the many waves of immigrants who have come here for a better freedom and economic well-being, our land is a land of differences, and the wonderful peace of God calls us to find a fuller peace and practice the best ways of celebrating the beauty of these differences.

The peace of Jesus came to Palestine as an unsettling sword of division to call the world to the greater peace of God.  You and I are called to this greater Peace of God today.  May we have grace in our nation to weather this unsettling time of confrontation with the humbling and humiliating reality of our failure, but let this be a sure indication to us that God loves us to perfect us in the perfect Peace of God.   And for the sake of Christ, let us not give up on each other.  Let us provoke each other to become our better angels in the perfect peace of God. Amen.

Sunday School, June 21, 2020 3 Pentecost, A proper 7

Sunday School, June 21, 2020    3 Pentecost, A proper 7

Theme:

God and the Probable

Freedom means that probable things can happen.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sermon:

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

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

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

  Why do these things happen?

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

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

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

  And those are very difficult questions to answer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 21, 2017: The Third Sunday after Pentecost

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

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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

1-Here in this place new light is streaming, now is the darkness vanished away;  see in this space our fears and our dreamings brought here to you in the light of this day.  Gather us in, the lost and forsaken, gather us in, the blind and the lame; call to us now, and we shall awaken, we shall arise at the sound of our name.

2-We are the young, our lives are a myst’ry, we are the old who yearn for your face; we have sung throughout all of hist’ry, called to be light to the whole human race.  Gather us in, the rich and the haughty, gather us in, the proud and the strong; give ua heart, so meek and so lowly, give us the courage to enter the song.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

First Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

Liturgist: A reading from the book of Jeremiah

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

the hands of evildoers.

The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Let us read together from Psalm 69

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

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

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said to the twelve disciples,

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

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson – Fr. Cooke:

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

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

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

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

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

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist.

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

All are born into the family of God by Baptism.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is good and right so to do.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.

Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we

   Forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing, (Children may rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed by thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Word of Administration.

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

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

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

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

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Evangelical Mission Today: Red, Yellow, Black and White, All Are Precious in His Sight

2 Pentecost, A p 6, June 14 2020
Ex. 19:2-8a     Ps.100     
Rom.5:6-11      Matt. 9:35-10:15
Lectionary Link

We are at the season of graduations, and of course graduations this year have been interupted by the pandemic, but they still happen.  Why?  Because learning cannot stop and people cannot cease to have transitions from being  students to being graduates.

In today's Gospel we have something akin to graduation from the rabbinical school of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Gospel sets it up almost like a graduation ceremony with even a list of the graduates.  "Peter, would you come forward and get your diploma...Andrew, James, John, Matthew, Thomas, Thaddeus, Judas,James son of Alphaeus, Simon, Bartholomew and Philip.  You can imagine Jesus giving a commencement address, saying,  "I have called you disciples, my pupils and my students, but now you have the degree of apostleship conferred upon you.  You don't cease to be a disciple now that you will be apostles, but the whole purpose of learning from me is to go forth and practice what I have taught and shown you.  Yes, you are apostles now, but you will still have some very hard lessons to learn, and some of you won't make it, (wink, wink, Judas). and some of you will experience failure, (wink, wink, Peter) but being an apostle does not mean being perfect, it simply means that I am sending you."

Jesus, as someone who knew he had something very special to share with the people of his country, also knew that in his time he was limited by only being able to be in one place at at time; he was limited by the location of wherever his body was.  So, he needed to deputize and send out apostles from his school. He needed his graduates to go forth and put into practice what they had seen and learned from him.

And what did getting the message out need?  It needed strategies and so Jesus gave his newly graduated apostles an evangelical strategy for a specific mission at the specific time.  He tried to help them understand that not everyone would agree with them.  Some would ignore them, some would even try to hurt them.  Not everyone would be receptive to their message.  So, "Don't get bogged down with rejection; move on.  Let God take care of those who do not receive your message."

You and I are in the school of Jesus by virtue of our baptisms.  And just like the apostles of old, we need to be graduates and continuing students at the same time.  Everyone gets baptized into the school of Jesus.  We matriculate in the school of Jesus through baptism.  But the church has often made a mistake; we have often made the clergy the official apostles who do the ministry and we have treated lay people like perpetual students who belong to the churches where we pay clergy to be the special graduated apostles to do the work.  No, everyone is to be an apostle and graduate in the school of Jesus.  We are not called to be perfect graduates, only sent graduates.  And we need to remember that if we have been baptized, then we are also sent.  The  so call official apostles of the church do not exhaust what it means to be sent by Christ; we are all sent by Christ.

Just as there were evangelical strategies in the early Jesus Movement and Christian communities based upon the "harvest" of people ready to hear.  We too need to be sent with strategies to the people in our lives.  The message has to be articulated to the conditions on the ground; what does it mean for the kingdom or realm of God to come near to the lives of people today?

Right now, the Gospel evangelical strategy for us has to include the message of God's love and justice for all people, particularly the people who have had to deal with those who have preached the love of God but not been recipient of the love of God from people who have called themselves followers of Jesus.

We live with the results of some very painful irony.  When the message of Jesus became so white and Euro-centric, it became associated with the air of cultural superiority.  And Euro-centric Christians  conquered much of the non-white world and what happened?  In direct and indirect ways, we introduced the peoples of the world to this Jesus.  And many black people and people of color came to like this Jesus.  And in the middle of the subjugation of black people, the obvious question was, "Why can't these white people treat us like Jesus would.  We've found Jesus and he treats us much better than you do."

This discrepancy between the Christ we proclaimed to people we conquered and the total malpractice in the love of Christ is the big racial plague and aftermath of the era of the subjugation of the black people in our world.

If we are going to return to be students of Jesus and become "re-certified disciples and apostles," we are going to have to make conscious the deliberate practice of social justice for all people in our lives central to our Gospel strategy of evangelism.

Evangelism for us today, means that we need to become re-certified in the Holy Spirit who is honest to what the love of Jesus Christ means in the actual practice of justice.  And we as Christian missionaries should never have taught this song, if we didn't practice it.  "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  Let us sing this song again but let us really mean it in our evangelism and Christian living today.  Amen.

Sunday School, June 14, 2020 2 Pentecost A, proper 6

 Sunday School, June 14, 2020    2 Pentecost A, proper 6

Theme:

Discuss the difference between a disciple and an apostle

It is June; we have finished the school year.  Many students have graduated.  What do students do after graduating?  They go to the next level of their education or they begin to work doing what they have been trained to do.

A disciple is a pupil or student.   An apostle is a person who has been sent.

Today we read a list of the 12 disciples.  The 12 disciples were pupils or students of Jesus.  They followed him and watched him.  They heard him teach many lessons about God and life.   Jesus as the teacher and professor decided it was time to graduate his disciples.  When he graduated his disciples, they became apostles.  They were sent to do and say the same things that they had learned from Jesus.  But as apostles, they still were disciples because even after they began to teach and preach like Jesus did, they still continued to learn from Jesus as his students.

You and I are to be both disciples and apostles.  We are supposed to students of Jesus.   But we are also supposed to students who have graduated.  We have successful learned many things from Jesus and so we are qualified to practice what we have learned and to share it with other people.

If we don’t share what we have learned then we have wasted it.  That is why we need to be both disciples and apostles.  We need to be students of Jesus but also messengers of Jesus in sharing what we have learned from Jesus about God’s love, God’s forgiveness and the Good News about Jesus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvq6iPkXCQQ

Sermon:

  Peter, Andrew, James and John.  Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew.  James and Thaddaeus, Simon and Judas.

  Do you know who these 12 men were?  They were 12 friends and disciples of Christ.

  Why were there 12 disciples?  The church was called the new Israel.  And how many tribes were in the Israel?  There were 12 tribes named after the sons of Jacob.

  Were there only 12 disciples of Jesus?  No there were many more.  Jesus helped so many people that all of those people became his disciples.

  There were women: Mary his mother, Mary of Magdala, Mary of Bethany, Martha.  There was Zaccheus, Nathaniel, Bartamaeus, and many more.

  Today, we have read about how Jesus changed the 12 disciples into 12 apostles.

  What is a disciple?  A disciple is like a student.

  Is a person supposed to be a student forever?  No, that is why we have graduation.  A student graduates.  A student then becomes a teacher, because everything that a student learns he or she must share that with someone else.

  So the twelve disciples graduated from their school with their teacher Jesus, and they became apostles.

  Apostle means someone who has been sent to do an important work.

  The disciples graduated and became apostles because Jesus told them it was time for them to go and to do the things that he had taught them.  He told them to go and tell people good news.  He told them how to get rid of the bad things in life.  He told them how they could recover from their sicknesses.

  And since Jesus had only one voice, two feet and two hands, he could not be everywhere.  So he sent the apostles to help him do his work.

  And now today, Jesus calls us to be disciples.  We are students of Christ.  But not just students of Christ, we are also apostles, because Christ needs us to be his voice and his hand and feet in this world.

  With our voices we can tell people good news.  With our feet we can go to the places where we are to tell people good news?  Where is that?  It is right here.  And with our hands we can help and heal people who need to be helped.

  Let us remember that we are disciples of Jesus, but that we also have graduate from being disciples, because Jesus also makes us apostles when we are sent to do and say the good things that Christ taught us.  Amen.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 14, 2020: The Second Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: If You’re Happy and You Know It, Awesome God, Amazing Grace,  Simple Gifts

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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

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

Make a high five…...

Make a low five…..

Shout Amen….

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: Alleluia (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans

Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 116

I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving * and call upon the Name of the LORD.

I will fulfill my vows to the LORD * in the presence of all his people,

  

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, `The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

 Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy. (chanted)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:            And also with you.

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

Offertory Song: Awesome God (Renew! # 245)

Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above. 

With wisdom, power and love.  Our God is an awesome God.

(Sing three times)

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

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

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

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Amazing Grace (Blue Hymnal # 671)

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.  That saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found.  ‘T’was blind but now I see.

‘T’was grace that taught my heart to fear.  And grace my fears relieved.  How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.

The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures.  He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come.  ‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years.  Bright shining as the sun.  We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise.  Than when we’ve first begun.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

Closing Song: ‘Tis the Gift to Be Simple (Blue Hymnal, # 554)

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ‘tis the gift to be free, ‘tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

and when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight. 

When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed,

to turn, turn, will be our delight till by turning, turning we come round right.

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God!