Resurrection Anonymous?

Easter Sunday     A   April 16, 2017    
Acts 10:34-43  Psalm118:1-2,14-24
Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10

Lectionary Link
Alleluia Christ is Risen!  The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia!

We have fasted from Alleluia for the entire season of Lent so let us get some Alleluia practice.  It is good finally to come off our Alleluia fast.  And Easter gives us the occasion.  The empty tomb gives us the occasion.  The post-resurrection appearances of Christ give us a profound narrative for the hope that lives in our hearts but often that hope gets beat down by the harsh realities of loss, death and limitations of life.

We live in an age of scorn for our resurrection beliefs.  We live in an age of skepticism about religious beliefs and practices.  We live in the age of modern science and some have used science as reason to discount religious belief.  Some think that the weak minded use religion as a crutch.  Have you been made to feel a little embarrassed about your resurrection beliefs?

Some people may believe that we gather here as a sort of resurrection 12 step program.  RA, Resurrection Anonymous.  Hi, my name is Phil and I believe in the resurrection and  it's been two seconds since I last expressed my belief in the resurrection.

Dear ones, is the resurrection only an irrational expression and acting out an irrational addictive religious behavior?   Are we to be pitied?  Is this an organic problem?  Are we genetically inclined to hold such beliefs?

We can be so intimidated by people who have let science limit their understanding of true meanings.  We can begin to treat the religious and hopeful aspect of our personality as a weakness.  Persons like Bill Maher, Richard Dawkins and other atheists can note how badly some religious people act and think and then consign us all to the loony bin.  And we might be so intimidated that we might want to hide our belief so as not to be ostracized.

I'm here to tell you that in the age of science we have no reason to be intimidated by people about the resurrection.  People in the age of science have only decided to deny the resurrection and replace it with many resurrection surrogates.  These surrogates started to appear long ago.  Bram Stoker's Dracula.  Vampires that drink blood and live forever.  Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Reanimated life from body parts with a directed strike of lightning.  Houdini and séances with the dead.  Edgar Cayce and Astral projection.  Ghostbusters, Ghost whisperers, Zombies, Walking Dead and then we also have the ultimate belief in afterlife and futurism, the entire genre of science fiction which posits going back to the future, time travel, teleporting of bodies and time warps.  All people have to deal with the mystery of the afterlife; many choose to whistle as they pass the graveyard with zombie and vampire stories.  I believe the entertainment expression of the afterlife arose as a revolt against people being limited to the scientific method being the only valid and supreme truth.

Those who tell people of the resurrection that they are crazy, literally fill their lives with endless surrogates for the resurrection.  Why the obsession with all of these surrogates of the resurrection while at the same time scorning people who still find the resurrection to be a functional narrative for the hope in their lives.  Why can't they just say? "Well I don't choose the resurrection as my afterlife narrative.  I choose vampires and werewolves. And I choose to go to the church of the Trekkie Conventioneers."  Our world is full of so many space cadets who are obsessed with narratives much more fanciful than our resurrection narratives.  And some of us here may be such space cadets for entertainment purposes;  it's just that we can embrace being both resurrection space cadets and have other entertainment imaginations for the great mysteries of life too.

People who have addiction discover that they are genetically inclined to be addicts.  My friends, you and I are genetically and spiritually addicted to have this incredible force of hope implanted within us.  Hope can be diminished by being expressed as unmanaged desires which lead us into harmful addiction; or hope can be the realization that God's eternal Spirit is hidden within us.  We are not fully pleased until we discover God's eternal life in us which gives us this eternal hope and eternal confidence that something in us is so profound that it can be a self-guarantee that we will be preserved in a glorious reconstituted way long after our bodies die.

Easter Day is really about hope attaining a believable narrative about our afterlife.  Can a person know herself to be the same person after she has died?  And can a person know the other people who have been in her life after she has died?  The post-resurrection appearances of Jesus give us an affirmative answer to both of these questions.

We can know our continuing selves after we have died.  We can and will know other continuing selves after they have died.  And this is the perfect narrative for the hope which is the spiritual DNA of our lives.

Today, we are not members of a 12 Step Program of Resurrection Anonymous.  We have nothing to be ashamed of with our preferred narrative of hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  This narrative of hope actually functions quite well for the hope that we feel within ourselves.

Our hope has implanted within us dreams, wishes and ideals that we will never be able to actually complete given the limitations of what we can do in our bodies over our life time.  Are we to be embarrassed by this hope?  Am I to be shamed because I have not been able to attain the fullness of friendship relationships with people who have died and gone?  Is the hope planted within my heart to be or become more than what I will ever be able to become, given to me to just torture me with what I can never be?

I believe that you and I have been given hope within the center of our being because it means we will always have a future and we will continue to have a future in personal ways even after we die.  I think that the gift of the Resurrection of Christ is the gift that God has given to humanity to accept the fact that we are created by hope and that we are made in the image of an eternal hope.

Science fiction and other genres of the afterlife can be entertainment, but I want a narrative which is truly honest to the hope that I feel my life is made of.  And it is very easy for me to choose the resurrection as the most believable and adequate expression of hope.

Let us not be forced by all the modern people who gorge themselves upon resurrection surrogates to feel inferior and addicted to the resurrection of Christ.  We are not a gathering of a group of Resurrection Anonymous.  We gather to be in the loving tradition that derives from Jesus Christ, an actual unique person in history.  Those who scorn us can have their zombies and walking dead; we are happy to be in this resurrection tradition which derived from the one and only unique life of Jesus Christ. 

We are a gathering today of the openly hopeful and alleluia is our shout, because the resurrection is our story, and we're sticking to it.

Alleluia.  Christ is Risen.  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia.  Amen.

Why Can't Easter Be Like Christmas?

Easter Sunday        April 16, 2017    
Acts 10:34-43  Psalm118:1-2,14-24
Colossians 3:1-4 Matthew 28:1-10

Lectionary Link

The Smith family had three children, Harry, Jeremy and Chloe.   And they had some wonderful grandparents.  The three kids loved to do things with their grandparents.  Papa and Nana would do wonderful things for them and with them at special times of the year, like for their birthdays, for Christmas, Easter, summer vacations and for Valentine Day.

One year the three children decided to ask their Nana and Papa for something special.  They just loved Christmas; it was so fun to wake up on Christmas morning and see lots of gifts under the Christmas tree.  They loved to sing Christmas songs and so they decided to ask their Nana and Papa for something special.

Chloe, Harry and Jeremy were with their Nana and Papa one day and Chloe said, "Nana and Papa, we have something special to ask you."  Papa said,"Well, what do you want to ask?"  Jeremy jumped in and said, "I will asked.  We have been talking about this for a long time and so now it is time to ask you."  Nana said, "Okay, Jeremy, what is it that you want?"  But then, Harry interrupted and said, "Nana, I should ask you since I am the oldest.  I'm 9, and Jeremy is 7 and Chloe is 5, so I should ask."  Papa said, "Okay, what is it that you want?"  Harry said, "What we want is this.  We want you to make Easter for us just like Christmas."   Papa thought he knew what they meant.  Perhaps they were thinking about all of the presents under the Christmas tree and they were comparing this with just getting about a dozen chocolate Easter eggs in the Easter egg hunt.  Nana looked at Papa and winked and said, "Papa, we'll have to think really hard and see if we can make Easter a special time for the kids."

The children were very excited now and they could barely wait for Easter.  Every day they would ask their mom and dad, "When is Easter coming?  Will it be coming soon?"  Harry asked, "Can I use your cell phone to call Nana and Papa to make sure that they don't forget Easter and their Easter promise."

Mom and Dad made a count down calendar for them on the refrigerator and each day they would mark big red X on a day.  They were so excited.  And mom and dad were worried that it might be a big let down for the children and they did not know what Nana and Papa had planned.

Well, finally Easter came and the children got up really early.  They went down stairs to see if there was anything in the living room. Nope.  Nothing there.  They went into the backyard to see if there were any surprises there.  They couldn't find anything.  Chloe wondered," I wonder if Nana and Papa forgot."  So the children went to the kitchen and mom and dad had breakfast ready.  And then they had to get ready for church.  So they went to church and had a very good Easter celebration and they had an Easter Egg hunt, but no Nana and Papa.  Jeremy asked their mom and dad, "Where is Nana and Papa?  Why weren't they at church?"   Dad said, "Well, they went to their own church today.  But we are going to drive to their house today and see them."

Chloe said, "Great, so we will get our Easter surprise."

After they got home from church, they changed clothes and ate a quick lunch.  Harry said, "Let's go.  We have to go to Nana's and Papa's to see if they can make Easter better than Christmas."

So they got into the car and in about twenty minutes they came to Nana and Papa's house.  Jeremy was excited and he said, "I can hardly wait for our surprise."

They got out of the car and Nana and Papa greeted them and hugged them and wished them a happy Easter and they all went into the house.  And the children were surprised by what they saw in the family room.  You know what they found?

They found a large cross there.  And around the cross they found lots of gifts wrapped.  Chloe said, "Nana, is this a Easter Christmas Tree?" 

Nana said, "No, this is a cross."  Harry said, "I see that you have our names on the gifts.  Can we start opening them?"  Papa said,"Okay, do you want to start?  So each child got one of the gifts with their name on it."  Jeremy said, "Let's open them together.  On, your mark get set, go!"  The three children ripped off the wrapping as fast as they could.  They got down to the box.  And together they ripped open the boxes.  And Harry said, "There's nothing in my box.  Where's my gift?"  And Jeremy said, "There's nothing in my box either."  And Chloe said, "There's nothing in mine either.  My box is empty."  Chloe started to laugh in nervous way, "Ha, ha, Papa, that's a very good joke.  Can we open the rest of the gifts now?"  Papa and Nana said, "Sure go ahead.  Open all of the gifts."

So the children began to open all of the gifts.  They opened their second presents and again, all of the boxes were empty.  Jeremy said, "Let keep going and open more presents; this is a scavenger gift hunt."  So they open three gifts and then four gifts and five gifts and all of the boxes were empty."  And they came to their last gift.  Harry said, "I hope you saved the best for last."  And they all opened their sixth gift and their sixth gift was also an empty box.  The family room was a mess; it was full of the all of the wrapping and boxes of 18 different wrapped boxes and all of the boxes were empty.

Chloe was sad and she started to cry.  She said, "Why didn't we get any gifts?  I thought you were going to make Easter as good as Christmas."  Harry was older and he said, "Papa, you got us!  That was a good Easter joke."  Though he still was sad about the empty boxes.  Jeremy said, "Nana and Papa, why did you do this?  We got so excited and now we're so sad and disappointed.  Why did you do this?"

Papa said, "Well, your parents told us that we should not make Easter like Christmas.  They said we should do something to teach you about Easter.  Christmas is about giving the gift of our lives to the baby Jesus, just like the wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus.  That is why we share gifts at Christmas.  But Easter is different from Christmas.  How did you feel when you opened your presents?"

Chloe said, "We felt sad and disappointed because we were expecting to find some gifts."  Harry said, "I thought it was a joke that you playing on us."

Nana asked, "What did the women discover on Easter morning when they went to the tomb of Jesus?"  Jeremy said, "They saw that the tomb was empty.  They were very sad.  They thought someone had stolen the body of Jesus."

Papa said, "But was it good that they found the tomb empty?"  Chloe said, "Yes, because it meant that Jesus was alive and risen.  The angel told them that Jesus had risen.  And then they were really happy when they saw Jesus alive and well."

Nana said, "So what did you learn from the empty presents?"   Harry said, "I learned that sometimes empty can mean the very best gift of all because the empty tomb of Jesus meant that he was alive."

Jeremy said, "So we learned something very important today.  Easter is not supposed to be like Christmas because the empty tomb of Jesus is the very best gift of all."

Papa said, "I so happy that you have learned about how special Easter is.  But I do have something fore you.  Here's an envelope."

Harry opened the envelope and he found airplane tickets for all of them to go to Hawaii for a vacation together.  The children all hugged their Nana and Papa and thanked them for teaching them about Easter.

Hope Is the DNA of God's Image on Us

Easter Vigil         April 15, 2017
Ex.14:10 Canticle 8, Ez  36:24-28 Psalm 42:1-7
Rom.6:3-11         Luke 24:1-12
Lectionary Link

Tonight I welcome you to a celebration of hope.  Hope is a wonderful feeling.  Hope is the wonderful feeling that we will always have a future.

The Bible tells us that we have been made in God's image.  And one of the ways in which we are made like God, is that we have hope within us.

But sometimes life can be very difficult and hard.  We can become sad because we can know the loss of people in our lives.  And when life become difficult, we need to remember that first of all we are made with Hope.  And so we have to keep stirring up hope within us.

How do we keep hope alive?

We remember light.  Tonight we lit the new candle, the Paschal candle and we shouted that Christ is the light of the world.  As long as we have light we know that we keep hope alive.  Even though at night it can be darkness, we can still light candles and turn on the light to know that hope is light and is our life.

We keep hope alive by hearing the stories of how people who came before us received God help and hope.  We remember Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha and many more.  By hearing the stories of hope in the past we can be encouraged that hope will still be with us in our lives.  Grandfathers and grandmothers and moms and dad can tell you their stories of hope too.

We keep hope alive tonight, by passing the life of hope on to new people.  When we baptize people we are giving them our very best message of hope.  We are telling them that God loves them, God forgives them, God gives them gifts to share with this world to make it a better place, and God will preserve their lives forever, even after they leave this world.

We keep hope alive by having our first Easter Feast to remember how God showed us that we can be hopeful.  The Easter feast is our family meal.  In this Easter feast we celebrate our hope because Christ promised to be with us even after he left this earth.  Christ promised to be with us when we gathered to celebrate his resurrection.

Finally, we have hope because Jesus came back to life after he died.  And he showed us that God will preserve our lives in a special way after we die too.  And what that mean?  It means we don't have to live with fear.  It means we can live with hope because we know that we will always have a future.

And don't you agree with me that this is wonderful?

So we make our happy shout tonight:  Alleluia Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Alleluia!
Amen.

Called to be Prevenient Grace

Easter Vigil         April 15, 2017
Ex.14:10 Canticle 8, Ez  36:24-28 Psalm 42:1-7
Rom.6:3-11         Luke 24:1-12

Lectionary Link
Why do we baptize infants and children who don't have the ability to choose to be baptized?  We do so because we are confident that God always chooses us and is more graceful to us before we know and appreciate the wonderful gift.

The fancy name for the grace that God gives us before we choose it is "prevenient grace."  It is the grace that we have before we understand or choose it.

But how does this unchosen grace work?  First God's grace is given to us by the very fact of our existence.  Our existence itself is evidence of God's grace.  But how can we know it?

Knowing God's grace is what tonight is about.  The Gospel of John tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the word was with God and the word was God.  All things were created by the Word and the word became flesh and dwelled with us.

Our entire existence is known because we are people with words.  When we see, we see things that have the names we have been taught.  When we act, we act with body language which speaks as loud as words.  And when we speak and write we use words.  We live lives filled with words. 

And since there are so many words in our lives, we need to know how use words with great quality, the quality of the very best human values.

Tonight in this Vigil we are celebrating the very best words of our lives.  And we want those who are baptized to have our very best values.  And what are those values?  The first value is the hope of knowing that God will preserve our lives forever and we know that because of the resurrection Christ.

What are other best values?  We have the best values of a very good heritage.  The Bible story tells us about our wonderful heritage.  There have been heroes and saints who lived their lives to preserve and hand on the wonderful knowledge of God.  And we have read tonight some of the stories of our salvation history.

What are other values?  We teach the value that God loves us.  God forgives us.  God cares for us.  God is near to us within our heart as God's Holy Spirit.  God also gives each of us special gifts.  God asks us to find our special gifts and to share them with each other.

We gather as a church and we baptize because we want to keep the very best values alive and accessible.  We as members of the church are to be examples of God's prevenient grace to each other and to those whom we baptize.  We are giving and living the very best values of our lives to those who are baptized and to each other.

If you and I live graceful lives sharing the very best values of life, when our younger members get older it will be easy and natural for them to join to share these wonderful values with the person in their lives.

Remember you and I are called to be prevenient grace in each other's life.  We need to be expressions of God's grace to each other so that we make it easy for everyone to choose and accept that God is our creator, God loves us, God forgives us, God gives us gifts, and God gives us the hope to know that what we can't finish in this life, we will finish in our afterlives?

Why, because God is the only one who is great enough to preserve us forever.  On this night, we celebrate the preserving power of God.

So with great hope we celebrate tonight:  Alleluia Christ is Risen.  The Lord is Risen Indeed.  Amen.

Sunday School, April 16, 2017 Easter Sunday A

Sunday School, April 16, 2017   Easter Sunday, Cycle A

Theme:

 Life after life

Bring pictures of the same person over the span of their lives. 

Does the person look the same when 15 as at the age of one?

Does the person at 50 look the same as at 20?

How do we know it is the same person?

The person has Self memories.  He or she knows that he or she is the same person at 5 as at 25.

The people who know the person for a period of time know that a person is the same person at 25 and at 30.

We have DNA and we have fingerprints which stay the same and so we can be identified as the same person.

The questions today:  Will we be able to recognize ourselves after we have died?  Will others be able to recognize us after we have died?

Answer: Yes, we will.  We change in our appearance as we grow and age in our lives.  And when we died we will also change in our appearance but we will continue to have an appearance on another level of living, heavenly living.  How do we know?

After Jesus died, he reappeared to life.  Living people saw Jesus again after he died.  The resurrection of Jesus is God announcement to us that we will be preserved after we die in a wonderful way.  This is why we can have hope in our lives because we know that we will always have a future.

Children’s Sermons:

Easter Sermons for Children

In this sermon, have the entire congregation, one by one share the Easter Message "Christ is Risen."  Make a baton and write on it the traditions that the church has passed on.  This is to illustrate to the children the transmission of the Easter message for all of these years.

Sermon One: Passing the Baton in the Great Relay Race

   What Christian Feast Day is more important? Christmas or Easter?  They are both very important but Easter is the most important Christian day of the Christian year.  Why?  If Jesus had not come back alive, we would not celebrate Christmas and we would not even exist as a church

  When the resurrection of Christ happened, the friends of Jesus who saw him alive again after his death began to share the story.  And now that story has been share for about 2000 years.  If the church is about 2000 years old, that means that there has been about 100 generations using 20 years as the average length of a generation.  So how has the message of the life, the death and resurrection Jesus been remembered for 2000 years?  By one parent sharing the message with their children and their children share the message with their own children. 

  If we have about 100 people here let us see how long it takes to share the message. One by one, let’s share the message, one time for each generation.  Let’s see how long it takes to say Christ is Risen around this entire gathering.  Okay start.

   But the church has not just passed on spoken message.  We have passed it on in things that we can see and touch and feel.  And so I have made a baton for a relay race and I’ve written some things on the Baton.  The Bible.  The Old Testament Stories.  The New Testament Stories.  Creeds. Holy Spirit. Water of Baptism. Oil of Baptism and Confirmation.  Fire of Baptism.  Bread and Wine of Eucharist.  Prayers for the Sick.  Bishops, Priests, Deacons and Lay Persons.  Marriage Rings.

  These are things of the church that have been shared for 100 generations.  These things have been passed on from family to family for 2000 years.  And that is why we are here today, because someone told us the message about Jesus Christ and because the church has passed on the various things that have helped us to remember that Jesus rose again.  And because the Holy Spirit is inside us giving us the hope that we are going to live beyond our deaths.  And why do we believe that we will live beyond our deaths?  Because Jesus Christ lived beyond his death; he did it to show us what will happen to us after we die.  We will live beyond our death and we will live with God.  That is why this day is such a happy day and it is why we shout: Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!  Amen. 

Sermon Two:  The empty Easter Egg

  Let me tell you today about an Easter Egg hunt that took place on Easter Sunday in a church.  And the Sunday School teacher wanted to teach a lesson to the children on Easter Sunday.  So Mr. Jones during Sunday School on Easter Sunday, said to his class, “Today is Easter Sunday and so we want to do something special.  We are going to have an Easter Egg hunt.  I’ve have already hidden the eggs.  So let’s go outside and look.  And I want each of you to find only one egg.  And when everyone has found one egg, then we will come back to the classroom and each of us will open our egg in front of the entire class.  So the entire class of twelve children ran outside to look for the eggs in a place on the lawn where Mr. Jones had hidden the eggs.  One by one each child found an egg.  One child said, “I’ve found my egg.”  Another child said, “Please help me find my egg.”  And finally after about 10 minutes each child found an egg.  Mr. Jones rang a bell and said, “Come into the classroom.”  And so the children came back into the classroom each holding an egg.  Now these eggs were not real eggs, they were plastic hollow eggs so that there could be a hidden treat inside of the egg.

   When they were seated in the classroom, Mr. Jones said, “Now one by one we are going to open each egg to see what’s in the egg.  And let me tell you, there is a surprise in one of the eggs and whoever has the surprise will get something special.”

  One by one the eggs were opened.  Johnny said, “I have a dollar bill in mine…I bet I won the prize.”  Mary opened hers and she found some very nice chocolates so she said, “No, these are really the best chocolates, so I bet I won the prize.”  Jimmy opened his egg and he had a little Lego man so he said, “I think I got the best prize.”  Grace opened her egg and she had a cute little furry bunny rabbit and she said, “I won!”  Gloria opened her egg and found a silver dollar and she said, “Wow!  I hit the jackpot!”  Jeremy opened his egg and he found a lovely ring that fit his finger and it had a red jewel on it, so he said, “Surely this must be the best prize.”  Betsy then opened her egg and she found a cute little baby chick, and she was thrilled because she knew she had won.  Todd opened his egg and found a shiny whistle and he blew the whistle because he thought he had won.  Everyone who heard the loud noise, said, “Stop blowing the whistle, it hurts our ears.”  Joey opened his egg and he found a little race car…just what he wanted, and so he believed he was the winner.  Margaret opened her egg and she found a cute little teddy bear and she was happy.  Harry opened his Easter Egg and he found a porcelain little Dalmatian.  And he just loved those spotted dogs.  And then there was only one person and one egg left to open and it was Lucy’s egg.  Everyone said, “Hurry and open it let us see.”  But Lucy got very shy and so she hid her egg under desk so that no one could see her open it.  She looked down as she opened it and when she got it opened, her face turned red and said.  Everyone shouted, “What did you get Lucy?  Did you win?  What did you get?”  And Lucy looked up and said, “I lost…I did not get anything…my egg is empty.”  And the children laughed at her and said, “Mr. Jones really played a joke on you.”

  Then the children asked Mr. Jones, “Tell who won the best prize?”

 And Mr. Jones said, “Children, Lucy won the best prize and so she get this special prize, a new Bible.”  The children said, “Why did Lucy win?  Her egg was empty?”

  Mr. Jones said, “Today is Easter.  And when the women went to the tomb of Jesus what did they find?”  They found that the tomb was empty and because it was empty they were winners, because that meant that Jesus was still alive.

  And so Lucy’s egg was empty.  And she wins the prize on Easter to remind us that the empty tomb of Jesus means that Christ is alive and that he is still with us today. 

   So as winners today let us be happy about the empty tomb of Jesus.  Let us say, Alleluia, Christ is Risen.  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia! 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

April 16, 2017

Gathering Songs:

Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks; I am the Bread of Life; Jesus Christ is Ris’n Today

The Return of Alleluia out of Lenten Hibernation

Bringing Back Alleluia from Lenten Hibernation

Song: Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks, Hymn # 178, in the Blue Hymnal

Refrain: Alleluia, Alleluia, give thanks to the Risen Lord, Alleluia, Alleluia, give praise to his Name.

1-Jesus is Lord of all the earth. He is the King of creation. Refrain

2-Spread the good news o’er all the earth: Jesus has died and has risen. Refrain

3-We have been crucified with Christ. Now we shall live forever. Refrain

4-Come, let us praise the living God, joyfully sing to our Savior. Refrain

Liturgist: Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

People: The Lord is Risen Indeed. Alleluia.

Holy Noise!

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, who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ overcame death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of the Lord's resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ our Lord, 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 to the Colossian Church

If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 118

The right hand of the Lord has triumphed!* the right hand of the Lord is exalted! the right hand of the Lord has triumphed!"

I shall not die, but live,* and declare the works of the Lord.

On this day the Lord has acted;* we will rejoice and be glad in it.

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.

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.” 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 with you always.

People: And also with you.

Anthem:  

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 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 & 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 neighbors.

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,

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!

Words of Administration.

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: Jesus Christ is Risen Today! (Blue Hymnal # 207)

1-Jesus Christ is Ris’n today, Alleluia! Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia! Who did once upon the cross, Al-leluia! Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

2-Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia! Unto Christ our heavenly King, Alleluia! Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia! Sinners to redeem and save, Alleluia!

4-Sing we to our God above, alleluia! Praise eternal as his love, alleluia! Praise him, all ye heavenly hosts, Alleluia! Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Alleluia.

Dismissal:

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

People: Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Confident Providence in a Passion Gospel

Good Friday    April 14, 2017     
Gen 22:1-18        Ps 22
Heb.10:1-25        John 18:1-19:37
Lectionary Link
Since the Gospel of John was the last Gospel written, one can expect that the theological thinking and the mood of the Gospel will represent a much more "mature" Christian Movement.  By the time the Gospel of John was written, Christians were brimming with confidence in the success of their message.  Travelers could go from city to city in the Roman Empire and network and have almost immediate friendship, even intimate with those who shared their belief.  Christian home church gatherings became almost like free airbnb throughout the Roman Empire.   Christians were accessible to each other but still flying under the radar of the authorities.

Jesus died on the Cross but the Cross became to be presented as the providential and necessary act of God.  If one has come to believe that the Cross was a pre-ordained plan of God for the salvation of the world, then the cross became presented as confident irony.

The Passion accounts in John's Gospel shares some of the main features of John's Gospel.  It seems as though the writers of John had read the Platonic Dialogues wherein the famous Socrates is accused by the Athenian authorities of perverting the youth and he was accused of being impious or insulting the gods in the ways in which the Athenian authorities understood their gods and goddesses.  To pay for his impiety, Socrates drank hemlock and died.

Jesus in the Gospel of John Passion account has a long dialogue with his interrogator, Pontius Pilate.  They have a dialogue about the political meaning of kingship, about power, and about truth.  Pilate, cynically asked, "And what is the Truth."  But of course in the Gospel of John, we already know that Christ is both the eternal Word of God and the way, the truth and the life.

And part of the truth of the life of Jesus is his death.  He denies that Pilate has power to crucify or to save him.  And Jesus tells him, "It's not your call.  The higher decision has been made for my death and you have no power except what is permitted to you by God."   One can say that in the Gospel of John, Jesus could say, "I am the way, the truth, the life, and I am death, and I am after death, and I am the afterlife, after death."

It is almost uncomfortable to read John's Passion's account in that it seems to be too casual about the entire horrendous event. 

Jesus tells Pilate that he is a puppet and it's already been arranged for the larger plan of salvation.  And Jesus is shown to be in charge even in his severe state of suffering on the cross.  In the midst of his suffering on the Cross, Jesus takes care of the custody of his mother; he commits her to the care of the mysterious disciple in John's Gospel who is referred as the one who Jesus loved.

In John's Gospel, Jesus does not say, "My God, why have you forsaken me?"  Rather he cries, "It is finished."  He seems to be a confident actor declaring his final line in a life play scripted by God.

The Gospel of John is also about Word and the written word.  Christ is called the Word of God from the Beginning.  So Christ is God becoming fully bi-lingual with human experience.  And if God wants to fully learn how to speak human language, God has to experience human death too.

In the Gospel of John it is written that we can have valid belief through reading words about Jesus and have a faith that is even more blessed than the doubting Thomas who had to have the proof of seeing Jesus.  The writer of the Gospel said that the Gospel was written so people might believe.  And where does writing occur in the Passion account of John?  "Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews," is written above the head of Jesus on the cross in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin.  This means that message of the Cross of Christ can be translated and spread throughout the world into the languages available to almost anyone.  This was used by John with full irony intended.  It was written by Pilate in scorn, but for the enlightened reader it was proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah to the entire world.

How do you and I approach the death of Jesus today on Good Friday?   We accept the death of Jesus as God's full identity with the human experience of death and God's full identity with the real conditions of freedom which exist in this world.  God created with freedom and for freedom and God too, submits to freedom and does not over-ride freedom.  That is one of the awesome messages of the cross.  This also means that to prevent events caused by the bullies of wealth and power, human beings have to exercise their freedom of resistance against oppression in our world.  The cross of Christ is a reminder that freedom in the muscles of bullies can result in severe oppression.  It is a stark call to all who are given wealth, power and knowledge to use it for the common good.

What we can also learn from the Cross of Jesus is that it is a unique event in the life of a unique person; an unrepeatable person.  There won't be one exactly like him again.  This means we cannot just assume that all death and suffering in the world will have similar outcomes to the death of Jesus.  There are not immediate three day hence resurrections for most of the tyranny in the world.  Genocide, slavery, torture, the cruel subjugation of indigenous people and women will never be redeemed in this visible world.  The absolute horrendous deaths and terrible suffering of people in the past will never be redeemed in this life.  We cannot be confident about the evil events in this world ever becoming the confident providence that has happened to the Cross of Jesus.  This is why it is easy and necessary to defer to a reconstituted spiritual regeneration which will redeem and make a harmony of freedom in another level of existence.

St. Paul used the Cross of Jesus as a transformative way to get to another level of existence so that he could tolerate and continue to live in a world where the free conditions of life permitted the apparent victory of evil in significant horrendous events.  St. Paul, himself was involved in the stoning of St. Stephen and he had to deal with the wrong use of his freedom in persecuting and bringing to death people who followed Jesus.

Today, you and I are invited to use the Cross of Jesus as a way to get to another level of existence and receive forgiveness for all of the times that we have misused the power of our freedom.  We are invited to use the cross to tolerate and give ourselves orientation to the impairment of freedom when freedom has been expressed in oppression of others.  We use of the cross of Jesus to accept our powerlessness in face of the things over which we have not control except to protest loudly.

We come to the cross of Christ with the hope that we will be able to "finish" our lives in ways that please God with sacrifice for the benefit of the common good of love and justice for all.  Amen.