The Church As Sarah's Laughter?

2 Pentecost, A p 6, June 18, 2017
Ex. 19:2-8a     Ps.100    
Rom.5:6-11      Matt. 9:35-10:15
Lectionary Link

Let us consider today the early Christian church in formation.  Have you heard the phrase "cut off your nose to spite one's face?"

Let us ponder an early Christian dilemma:  St. Paul and others dispensed with  the ritual requirements of Judaism in order to make the message of Jesus Christ accessible to Gentile people.  Why?  because the message was a life changing social practice.  The message of Jesus Christ built community among people of diverse back ground.  Should we go with success with the Gentile people or should we require that all Gentile followers of Christ submit to all of the ritual purity customs of Judaism?

Those who were observant Jews began to reject the Christian Movement because the ritual requirements of Judaism were not enforced upon the Gentile membership.  The Jesus Movement could no long be supported by those who were committed to synagogue ritual tradition.  The Jesus Movement threatened to change Judaism too much for Jews who wanted to maintain the traditions.  The Jesus Movement was a dilemma for the people of the synagogue.

Conversely, the Jews of the synagogue became a dilemma for the early Christians.  Christians were criticized by the synagogue for compromising Judaism beyond recognition in Gentile Christianity.  But Christianity was born out of the Judaism and the traditions found in the Hebrew Scriptures.  The Hebrew Scriptures were the official texts of the synagogue.

What do Jews who have become followers of Jesus do when they found this division arise between the synagogue and the followers of Jesus?

This is a possible context for the preaching mission to the Jews found in our Gospel reading today.  Christians have wanted to have their cake and eat it too when it comes to their Jewish heritage.  We have wanted to say the Hebrew Scriptures are our Scriptures too, even though we have radically reinterpreted the meaning the Hebrew Scriptures to describe the reality of Christian Church.

Imagine a child who gets converted away from the faith practices of her parents.  She is so blessed by her new found faith expression that she in turns want to share her faith to try to convert her own parents.  She wants to maintain a continuity with her parents but the only way that fellowship can prevail is if one side converts to the practice of the other.

This was dilemma expressed in the mission of the message of Christ to the Jews.  While Matthew's Gospel seems to be contemporary with Jesus, it is more feasible to see it as contemporary with the oracle of the Risen Christ in the Jesus community that has become concerned about the "conversion" of the Jews to the message of Jesus.

St. Paul and others presented the message of Christ as being something like Sarah's laughter.  You know about Sarah's laughter.  Sarah was doing work in a tent when she overheard God's three messengers tell Abraham that his wife Sarah in her senior years and barren state would have a baby boy.  And Sarah giggled.  And God has a good sense of humor because Sarah's baby boy was named, "Giggling."  Isaac means "laughter."

"This old barren body is going to get pregnant and bear a child through whom I will become the Matriarch of many nations.  Yeah right!  Tell me another joke."

St. Paul writes the church as a kind of evidence of Sarah's laughter.  How so?  This old religion Judaism which has heretofore been limited only to people who will comply with the specific ritual laws, is going to be a vibrant and accessible faith expression to all of the peoples in the Roman World.  Yeah right.  No because, it would be more likely that the Jews would remain cloistered within their religious and ethnocentric world with specific rules to keep most people out of their community.

We might find some romantic charm in the lifestyles of the Shakers and the Amish.  And the Amish may allow anyone to join them in their community, as long as one follows Amish rules.  But logically, how likely is it that the Amish are going to convert many people to their way of life?

For the Gentiles of the Roman Empire, becoming an observant Jew was something akin for us becoming observant Amish.  Becoming Amish is too far from our normal experience to be accessible to us. 

St. Paul believed that Judaism in its practice had lost its accessibility to the peoples of the Roman Empire.  Conversely, he and Peter were surprised to see how the message of the Gospel was so successful among the Gentiles.  So, to build Christian communities in the Roman world, the ritual requirements of Judaism were dispensed with even while Christians borrowed and reinterpreted wholescale the Hebrew Scriptures which derived from the Jewish people.

St. Paul believed that the promise made to Abraham and Sarah about being parents of many nations happened because of Jesus Christ.  Christianity has made the Hebrew Scriptures more popular and widespread than it would have been if the Jesus Movement had been a short-lived and failing movement.

St. Paul believed that even though circumcision began as a practice with Abraham as an external marker of covenant with God;  St. Paul believe that faith was the interior marker of covenant with God.  Abraham and Sarah were the parents of the faith tradition; Jesus Christ and the church became the historical and social way in which the faith tradition of Abraham was brought to a greater number of people in the world.

So Judaism as a sort of vintage Sarah, could laugh that a child would be born out of it which would expand the genealogy of salvation history to the entire world.

The success of the Christian Movement is seen by the fact such success separated it from its parent, Judaism, and the offspring movement returns to try to convert the parent to the innovations of the Jesus Movement.

Today, we still live in the era of conversions.  People convert all the time.  Conversion is based upon the confidence that one has in one's beliefs, beliefs that can be recommendable to everyone.   People of all faith persuasions believe that their faith is recommendable to all.  Evangelism can be inspired by wanting to share our best with other people.  At the same time, we have to realize that there was a time and a place in our own lives which brought us to places of discovery about our faith.  And if the faith was not forced or coerced upon us, we should appreciate that evangelism starts with respecting the experiences of others.

We can appreciate the situation for the mission to the Jews.  Early Jewish followers of Jesus were troubled about the rejection of the priority of Jesus by the people of the synagogue.  At the same time, the early Christians believed that the Jesus Movement derived from Judaism as an authentic development from Judaism.  The motive to convince the Jews about Jesus can be understood as a dilemma for Jewish followers of Jesus.  Christianity derived from Judaism.  The Hebrew Scripture was the earliest Christian Bible and yet the official representatives of Judaism removed Christians from the synagogue.  The mission to convert the Jews to Christ needs to be understood as motivated by the fear of being disconnected from Judaism because the Jews rejected the Christian interpretations of Judaism.

Let us rejoice today in the power of the Gospel to convert us.  Let us not place wrong limitations upon the meaning of the Gospel.  For Jesus, the Gospel was the ancient message of the prophet Isaiah to bring good news to the poor and the captives.  And if we embrace the Gospel of Jesus, we will preach and live and convert others, not to agree with our religious party beliefs, we will convert others to the good news that can come to them when they have enough to eat, when they have health care, when they vocation and calling and purpose and hope and love and justice.

As we understand the meaning of Gospel, we should appreciate that the Gospel of the Isaian Scripture and the Gospel of Jesus are the same: God is active love and kindness; and that is how we should live and teach and convert others as well.  Amen

Sunday School, June 18, 2017 2 Pentecost A, proper 6

 Sunday School, June 18, 2017    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.

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.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 18, 2017: 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! 

Discovering Trinity

Trinity Sunday A   June 11, 2017   
Gen. 1:1-2:3       Ps.33
2 Cor. 13:5-10,11-14  Matt. 28:16-20     

What is your relationship to the Trinity today?  Do you give equal attention in your thoughts and prayers to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?  How much prayer time do you give to God the Father?  To Jesus?  To the Holy Spirit?

Or how many of you are that concerned about the distinctions?  How many of you relate mainly to a benign Higher Power who has touched you enough to make you believe in a higher personality who is disposed toward you in a friendly way?

Do you think that there is a prayer meter in heavenly places which charts the amount of time you personally give to each member of the Trinity? 

If we find ourselves thinking and crying, "O God," do we mean a generic monotheistic God or do we imply the Holy Trinity?

If each one of us has a uniquely different relationship to the Holy Trinity, just imagine the different kinds of relationship to the Trinity that people have had for the 2000 years since Jesus?

We encounter the Trinity in the prayers and the liturgies of the church.  We confess our belief in the Trinity in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

In Sunday School and in Confirmation classes we are taught about God as Trinity.  We are taught to pray to God the Father, in the name of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We might ponder an historical understanding of the Trinity; how it really didn't become defined as church doctrine until after several centuries.  We might talk about the disagreement about the equality and difference of the three members of the Trinity that has been in continual discussion since the time of the early church.

When we study other religions, we note that Christianity is considered with Judaism and Islam to be a monotheistic religion, but the mathematics of one plus one plus one equals one, is not fully appreciated by those who think that the Trinity implies a belief in more than one God.

And because we are worried about losing our monotheistic status, we get very defensive about how God can be One God in Trinity of Persons.  And to explain our divine mathematics we usually pull out the ultimate wild card.  We say, it's a Mystery.  Ignorance is not encouraged except when it comes to Mystery.  The most profound thing that can be said about a mystery is, "I don't know or I don't know how to explain it."  Ignorance is acceptable when it is a response to Mystery.  But can Mystery be an intellectual cop out when we use it too much?

The Mystery of God may be appealing to us because with sheer observation we can appreciate how small we are in the cosmic order.  We can appreciate our limited intellects to be able to know or focus upon all causal connections.

Amongst the most important things that have come to human language is the use of language to designate the highest and most superlative value for humanity.

What is the best thing that human language can confess?  The reality and the meaning of God.  And in the history of all of the words that have been used to speak about the reality and meaning of God, we in the Christianity of the church councils and creeds have come to confess God to be One God in Trinity of persons.

People who limit the use of language to the requirements of science do not see the relevance of a confession about God to a scientific law based upon a method of observation.

I do not think that most scientists discount the significance of the unobservable mood inducing spiritual and ethical effects of art, music, poetry and the language of faith.  Scientists only get defensive when people of faith try to reduce language of faith to the scientific language of empirical verification.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit:  of the three which one was empirically verified?  No one has ever seen the Father, so the Father is not empirically verified.   No one has ever seen the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit has never been directly verified.

Jesus, the Son, if we believe the written accounts, is a person who actually lived in human history.  Jesus has a distinct and observable human existence.

The beginning of understanding the Trinity is found in the record that we have about the life of Jesus.  Jesus is presented as one who called God his Father.  Jesus is presented as one who taught his followers to address God as Father.  God as being our Father, was not a new metaphor which came to record because of Jesus; God as our Father was known in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Obviously the first people who were made in God's image were God's children, the first being Adam and Eve.

The biblical writings are about how men and women, for the most part became alienated from their basic nature of being children of God.  God chose a group of people, the people of Israel to teach the law and the recommended behaviors of a restored relationship with God.  When God's favor seems to be limited to but a small number of people, then God does not get represented as being available to all.

We have the record of the life of Jesus Christ as a new witness to the accessibility of God.  Jesus Christ left such an impressive witness that his followers confessed him to be God's special Son.  Jesus left with his followers the tradition of praying to God as his and their Father.  Earthly fathers are important in our lives and good fathers can be important mentors, friends and advocates for our lives.  Jesus Christ taught us that we should learn to accept God as our Father, the one who originates our spiritual identity.  Just as we look to our earthly fathers and mothers for our genetic and  family identity, we look to God the Father for the divine image in humanity.  It is finding our divine identity which enables us to achieve identity and behaviors worthy of being children of God.

Why then is Jesus as God's Son important?  The confession of Jesus as God's Son is an acceptance that God makes a bi-lingual presentation to humanity.  In Jesus, God puts the language and nature of God into full human experience, so we have the life of God in human presentation made known to us.  If God has taken human identity, then human identity is accepted as a valid way to come to know God.  If we can come to know and accept Jesus as God's special son, you and I can come to know ourselves as sons and daughters of God who accept our human experience as a valid way to come to know God.  We can come to accept that God is intersecting our lives by placing God-infused purpose in our lives to be discovered and developed into the work and ministry of our lives.

Through the witness of Jesus we have been taught to relate to God as our caring, loving parent.  Through the witness of Jesus as God's special Son, we have come to accept ourselves as God's children.  But we find ourselves living in a whirlwind of the seeming free play of differences in space and time.  Our experience in this world is the freedom for differences to occur in space and time.  What is it that can encompass all differences in space and time and allow us to confess a Oneness among the experience of endless diversity?

We have come to confess God's Holy Spirit as the holy omnipresent ground on which we live and move and have our being.  In God's Holy Spirit we have the ability to mutually recognize our living and being with other people, the creatures and the world inside of us and outside of us.

We call the Trinity, God in three persons, because we believe that the highest human attribute is personality.  Personality is formed through relationship.  The secret of human formation is to be a person and a personality within a community of relationships.  We believe that the experience of personhood is a gift that comes because God is the inspiring force for personhood.  If community among equal persons began in God, we find the origin for discovering and exploring personhood in our lives.

Today, let us accept the fact that we live life toward God as Trinity.  We accept that we were generated and came from an Absolute past life.  We did not make ourselves; we came from the fullness of a heavenly parent.  We accept our heavenly heritage because in knowing Jesus as God's Special Son, we have come to know ourselves as children of God.  And even though we are always growing up and changing as children of God, we know our divine family heritage and our identity.  And finally, we accept a personal force of life that holds everything together even as everything is always changing.  And the creative force of life, in whom we are able to have mutual recognition and the ability to experience as persons having personal continual identity, we confess the invisible and personal Holy Spirit who holds unity in the midst of change.

Today on Trinity Sunday, let us not just look at God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit as official church doctrine, rather, let us be on alert to how the Trinity is impacting our own lives because we have discovered that as personhood means that we belong together with each other, in exploring our own personhood, we can discover that our personhood is inspired by the higher Personhood of God as Heavenly Parent, God as Son and God as Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Sunday School, June 11, 2017 Trinity Sunday A

Sunday School, June 11, 2017   Trinity Sunday  A

Theme:

The Holy Trinity

The confession of God, being One God but in three Persons

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Why is the Trinity an important meaning for us?

To understand God, we believe that God has to come in some “bi-lingual” way to us.   Somebody has to speak about the meaning of God in the language of human beings.

The first part of the Bible is called the Hebrew Scriptures.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, God is written about by prophets, leaders, priests, poets and teachers.  Inspired people wrote about God.  When Jesus appeared, we believe that God became fully manifest as God would appear as a person. 

The appearance of Jesus who understood himself to be the Son of his Father is important because each of us is taught that we are sons and daughters of God.  We are persons and if we are created in the image of God, God has personality too.  And in our relationship with God we can know God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

By confessing God as Father, we admit that we did not make ourselves; we came from a great Past and Began with God.

By confessing God as Son, we believe that God became known in human experience as a person who lived in this world.  This means that we accept our human experience as a valid way to know God.

By confessing God as Holy Spirit, we believe that God is invisible like breath and wind, but just as we can see the effects of breath and wind when we blow or when wind blows the leaves on the tree, we believe that we can see the effects of an invisible Holy Spirit everywhere.

We confess the Trinity because we believe it expresses what is honestly true in how people understand God.

Sermon

   When Jesus left this earth, he gave some instruction to his friends.  He told them to make friends with other people, just as he had made friends with them.  And how did Jesus make friends?  He told them about how God loved them like the very best father in the world.  He told them that just as he was a special son of God, that everyone was a special child of God.

  Wouldn’t it be sad to have a wonderful parent but not be able to know it?  If you had a mother and father but if you did not know about your parents, it would be sad.

  Lots of people in this world do not know that they are a member of the great family of God.  Lots of people do not know that they are children of God and that God is their father.

  Jesus came to teach us that even though we have mothers and fathers in our birth families, we also have God as our Father of the greatest family of all, the family of the entire world, the entire universe.

  Jesus came to show us how much God loved us.  And Jesus told his friends, that even though he was leaving and even though they could not seen God, he would still be with them always.  How would Jesus be with them?  He would be with them as the Holy Spirit.  This means that God is a close to us as our breath.   Take a breath.  How close is your breath to you?  Very close.  Well that is how close that God’s Spirit is to us.

  Jesus gave his friends a special job to do. He said that he wanted them to make friends and gather those friends together so they could help each other and help other people in this world to know about God’s love.

  What was the job he gave them to do?  He told them to make friends for God and he told them to baptize in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.  In doing this they would be celebrating their membership in God’s family.

  Baptism is a celebration of our birth into the family of God and when we baptize, we say, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  The family of God begins in heaven and we celebrate on earth that we are members of the family of God.

   We call the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity.  And this is what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday.

  I want you to remember that we believe in the Trinity, because we believe that God loved us so much that God included in God’s family…so we have Jesus as our brother.  But we also have the Holy Spirit and that means God is with us always and very close to us.

  Let us remember the Trinity today.  And let us remember our baptism too.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

June 11, 2017: Trinity Sunday

Gathering Songs: Holy, Holy, Holy, The King of Glory,  Eat This Bread, Peace Like a River

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:  Holy, Holy, Holy,  (# 362 in blue hymnal)

1-Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!

God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!

2-Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,

Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,

Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, 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

A reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 8

O LORD our Governor, *how exalted is your Name in all the world!

Out of the mouths of infants and children * your majesty is praised above the heavens.

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.

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

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

Since God is so great and we are so small,

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

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

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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

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

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

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

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

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People:                        And also with you.

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

Offertory Song:  The King of Glory Comes, (Renew! # 267)

Chorus: The King of glory comes, the nation rejoices.  Open the gates before him, lift up your voices.

1-Who is the King of Glory; how shall we call him? He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.

2-In all of Galilee, in city or village, he goes among his people curing their illness.

3-Sing then of David’s son, our savior and brother: in all of Galilee was never another

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All 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,

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:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Eat This Bread, (Renew! # 228)

Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry. 

Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

Post-Communion Prayer

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

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

And His Presence has been known to us.

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

    and sisters in Christ.

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

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

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

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

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

I’ve got love…. 

I’ve got joy…

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!