Sunday School, July 30, 2017 8 Pentecost, A proper 12

Sunday School, July 30, 2017   8 Pentecost, A proper 12

Theme:

Citizen in the Kingdom of heaven

How does one know that one is an American citizen?  When a baby is born, does a baby know if he or she is an American citizen?  No, but as a baby grows up, a baby is taught what it means to be an American citizen.

What are signs of living in the American Nation?  Government, Flag, National Anthem, A President, a Congress, a voting democracy, a land with borders, a history of origin and many other things.

Jesus said that there is a citizenship which is bigger than being an American citizen, or a citizen of Israel or a citizen of the Caesar’s Roman Empire.

Jesus preached about the kingdom or nation of heaven.  Where is the land for the nation of God?  The entire earth.  Who are the people of the nation of God?  All people, because every person is made in God’s image even if they don’t recognize it.  What are the signs of the kingdom of heaven?  Hidden and silent success.  Just as a tiny mustard seed grows to become a tree, so the small deeds of love and faith grow to support and sustain this world.  The kingdom heaven grows in a hidden way, just like when yeast is added to dough and makes the dough rise.  The kingdom of God is like a jeweler who finds the very best pearl and sells everything to purchase the very best pearls.  When people understand that they are children of God, they give up the importance of everything else to fully explore what is means to be in God’s kingdom.  We know the kingdom of heaven when we know how to sort out what is good and bad in our lives, just like the fishers sort out the catch in their net.  They sort out what to keep and what to throw away.  The kingdom of heaven is known when we can take the old but good things written in the past and make them good once again in our lives now.  In the Bible we read about love, faith and justice in ancient times; it inspires us to speak, write and live what love, faith and justice means in our time and in our world.

Thank God today for knowing that we live in the kingdom heaven. 

Sermon

  We all like super heroes don’t we?   And we like important and famous people…. Right.  We like to be the people who get lots of attention for doing better than anyone else.  We like to get the best grades, we like to run the fastest, we like to hit the baseball the longest distance, and we like to win games.

  And sometimes it makes us think that only winners are important in life.  Only heroes are important in life.   Only the people who get the most attention in life are important.

  And when we think like this, we sometimes get sad because sometimes we don’t feel very important, because we’re always comparing ourselves with someone whom we think is better or more popular than we are.

  Jesus came and told stories about the kingdom of heaven.  Now everyone thought that the kingdom of the Caesar was the most important kingdom.  The people in Israel thought that the kingdom of David was most important, and they wanted another strong king like David to come and be their heroes.

  But Jesus came and told us about the kingdom of heaven.

  Since God created us, this world belongs to God and this world is God’s kingdom.  But many people did not recognize it.  They thought that this world was the kingdom of the Caesar, the Emperor of Rome.  We think that this world is the government of the United States, because that’s where we live.

  Jesus taught us to see this world as the kingdom of heaven, and he taught us that the small things are very important.

  The mustard seed was such a tiny seed you could barely see it with your eyes.  But the wind blew the seed everywhere and it would grow and take over the entire countryside.

  Why does bread dough puff up before it is put in the oven?  Because of Yeast.  Yeast is something that looks like a tiny amount of powder but when you put it bread dough, it makes it grow very big.

   Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is about doing all of the little things, because when you add up all of the little acts of kindness in this world, they preserve and keep our world going.

  So let’s remember, it is all of the little things in life that we do that are important.  Working at home, being kind to each person you meet, helping your friends, do your home work for school…although they don’t seem important,  Jesus reminds us that it the little things that add up and when they all are added up, we can see how they save our world.

  So let us not forget the importance of the little things that we do in our lives. If you understand the importance of small deeds of kindness, then you understand the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 30, 2017: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Seek Ye First, If You’re Happy, Let the Hungry Come to Me, Oh When the Saints

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:  Seek Ye First (Blue Hymnal, # 711)

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.  And all these things will be added unto you.  Allelu, alleluia.  Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and ye shall find.  Knock and the door will be opened unto you, Allelu, alleluia.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Litany of Praise: 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

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 105

Give thanks to the LORD and call upon his Name; * make known his deeds among the peoples.

Sing to him, sing praises to him, * and speak of all his marvelous works.

Birthdays:    Drew Giba, Laura Gibson, Heather Oliver, Luis Cardenas

Anniversaries:  Chris and Mary Lyngstad

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 put before the crowds another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches."

He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened."   "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.  "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. "Have you understood all this?" They answered, "Yes." And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."

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.

Your prayers are asked for the health and comfort of   Austin, Linda, Ann, Brooke, Carla, Kat,  Ronald, Jeffrey, Madyson, Jim, Robert,  Ruth, Katy, Kathy, Veronica, Ana Laura,  Sean, Mary N., Gabby, Nancy,  Jonathan, Pat P., Stephen R., Hayden,  Jon, Donya, Cruz,  Beth, Mary Ann P., Trish, Sage,   Jairo, Ely, John S., Ashley, Henry, Claire, Heather, Kaytlyn, Don, Sarah, Rosemary,  Kim,   Bev,  Sean, Sarat,  Howard,  Gene, Marty, Tracy, George, Helen,  Julie, Jim,  Helen, Carla, Beverly, Cindy, Judah, Ray,  Freddie, Sabrina, Doris, Charlie

Faithful Departed:  

Your prayers are asked for those in the Armed Forces:  Ethan, Josh, Nicholas, Collin, Jeremy, Luke, Harry, Joseph, Steven, David, Daniel and Eric.

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

If you’re happy and you know it, make a high five….

If you’re happy and you know it, make a low five….

If you’re happy and you know it, shout Amen!…..

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of 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 so that we may love God and our neighbor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Let the Hungry Come to Me (Renew!  # 220)

Let the hungry come to me, let the poor be fed.  Let the thirsty come and drin, share my wine and bread.  Though you have no money, come to me and eat. Drink the cup I offer, feed on finest wheat.

I myself and living bread; feed on me and live.  In this cup my blood for you; drink the wine I give.  All who eat my body, all who drink my blood, shall have joy forever, share the life of God.

Here among you shall I dwell; making all things new.   You shall be my very own, I, your God with you.  Bless’d are you invited to my wedding feast.  You shall live forever, all your joys increased.

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: When the Saints (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 248)

Oh when the saints, go marching in.  Oh when the saints go marching in.  Lord, I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in.

When the boys go marching in…..

When the girls go marching in…

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

Coming Events:

Thurs., August 3, 7:30 a.m.  Holy Eucharist

Learning from God's Patience

7 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 11, July 23, 2017
Genesis 28:10-19a,  Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23
Romans 8:12-25 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Lectionary Link
The parable of the weeds and the wheat is in some ways a retelling of the Garden of Eden story and the human condition of knowing good and evil.

God created a perfect garden with innocent people.  Innocent people are not morally advanced people because they are robots who do what is instinctually good and not knowing why.  A baby's behavior is not bad, it is only cute.  Innocence is cute and endearing.

We as adults know that we and the world has lost its innocence.  The serpent in the Garden of Eden came and sowed seeds of dissention.  The weed of sin entered the innocent lives of Adam and Eve when they disobeyed the law of God.  God said, "Don't eat from this tree."  They disobeyed and so the weed of sin entered and flourished.  And the innocent children were evicted from paradise to live in a world where weeds and wheat were growing in competition with each other.

When each person comes into moral awareness, each discovers the profound experience of living in a world of freedom.  We live in world of freedom that is mixed with good and bad and everything in between.  The mixture of good and bad in a world of freedom is so interwoven that it is impossible to surgically remove the sources of what is bad without also injuring what is good.

When one plants a garden, one can wait too long to do some weeding and when one finally gets to pulling the weeds, one can find their roots so interwoven with the intended plants that to pull the weed means that the good plant is pulled up as well.

The conditions of freedom are so set in this world that to "smart bomb" all that evil and bad in this world is impossible; there is always collateral damage done to what is good and the condition of freedom itself.

The message of the parable of the wheat and the weeds is that God, the one who planted this world, is very patient to wait for harvest to sort things out.  God is not a panicky farmer;  God is a patient farmer.

We, as modern people, are not always very patient.  Modern science and technology have made us feel the need for speed.  We upgrade our computers and our internet access to increase our speed of access.  Modern life with its need for speed does not want to wait for nature.  We want ripe tomatoes year round in any location; we don't want to be limited to what can grow in a certain place at a certain time.

In our story lives, we live by time-lapsed presentations.  In one movie lasting an hour and a half, an action adventure hero can win lots of battles against bad guys with such surgical precision and save the world from nuclear destruction.  We get used to time-lapsed presentations.  Time-lapsed presentations are not actual time.  Real life is slow and cyclical.   Because we live our lives with too many time-lapsed presentations, we can get real impatient with the uneven distribution of good and bad that is found in our world.  The experience of  rage is this drive to think that one could suddenly correct what is bad in this world with a single act of intervening violence.

A farmer lives under the both the promise and threat of freedom.  A crop can turn out to be bountiful or it can end up being destroyed or minimal based upon other conditions.

In our rage, we sometimes wish that all that is evil and bad could just be "smart bombed" out of existence, but what does this really mean?  If all that is evil and bad could be "smart bombed" out existence, it would mean the end of freedom as the very underpinning of human significance.

God created in freedom.  God is patient in tolerating the conditions of freedom.  There are weeds and wheat that will coexist in the field until harvest.  There are weeds and wheat in our personal and social worlds that co-exist; things do not always get sorted out immediately.  How is it that slavery and the subjugation of women co-existed with a belief in God for so long?  There are many weeds in human history that we did not know were weeds until the time came for justice to be extended to sort out and consign inhumane treatment to arrive at its end.   Enlightened human society has and is arising to condemn slavery and the subjugation of women as unworthy of human dignity.  In the cycle of farming there is a harvest phase when the good and bad is sorted out.  In human experience, we often say, "hindsight is 20/20."  Sometimes we don't understand the past until later in the future.  Jacob was running away from home because his brother was angry at him.  On his journey, he fell asleep and had his "Jacob's ladder" dream.  When he woke up, he thought, God was there and I did not know it.  In our mixed lives of good things and bad things, sometimes we can only recognize that God was with us at a later time.  Sometimes we can seem overwhelmed by what is apparently going wrong that we cannot discern God's presence.  In patience we can learn to wait for things to be sorted out  from our past and we can come to have this hindsight wisdom:  God was there but I did not recognize God was there.

St. Paul in his writing about the spiritual psychology of a person, taught that we as human beings have the mixture of flesh and spirit.  We are not ghosts.  We have bodies and in the training of our bodies anchored by desire we come to know that we can do what is right and what is wrong.  The same energy of desire which can propel us to do good works and also be used as energy to drive wrong things that we do.  St. Paul writes about having a graceful patience with ourselves as we seek to have our desire directed by God's Spirit toward that which is good and worthy.  If we get so obsessed about our flesh and its weak tendency, we may want to shut off all functions.  We can get paralyzed if we begin to think that all that we desire and do is somehow wrong or bad.  Temporary states of depression are characterized by this shutting down of all desire because of the fear of unsatisfactory outcomes.

The meaning of the parable of the weeds and the wheat for me is that God who is pure freedom and creativity respects the genuine freedom that is evident in our lives.  Freedom happens.  And in freedom the good and the bad occur.  And while we work to avoid what is bad do what is good, we can never kill off the possibility of the bad happening.  The patience of God is a respect for growth and perfection.

So let me leave you with this for today:  Let us respect the freedom for anything to happen in this world.  Such freedom is the sun that shines on the good and the bad.  Respect freedom but expect cycles within freedom to do some significant sorting of the values of good and evil in our lives.  Harvest time allows the sorting of the wheat and weeds.  The harvest cycle in our lives are when we are able to reap the good outcomes that have arisen even in the face of serious opposition.  Learn patience with this world and with your life.  Do not let the time-lapsed habits of modern life bring us to the rage of thinking that we can smart bomb all that is bad and evil out of our lives or our world.  As a farmer is patient for the harvest, let us be patient in waiting for the times when we sort the good and the bad in significant ways.

And finally, let us create a better past through a faithful present.  If we are faithful in the present, we can re-write our past as being providential because of current outcomes.  We can come to the same hindsight wisdom that Jacob had about a memorable night of dream-filled sleep.  "Surely God is in this place and I did not know it."  May God help us to this insight:  "Surely God has been in all of the times and places of my life, even when I did not know.  But now I do, and everything past is now providential for what is now."  Amen.

Sunday School, July 23, 2017 7 Pentecost, A proper 11

Sunday School, July 23, 2017    7 Pentecost, A proper 11

  

Theme:

A story about God’s patience with the free conditions of the world

Does sun shine only on Americans or does it shine on people of other countries?  Does the sun shine only on me when I am good or does it continue to shine when I do something wrong?

Does the sun shine only on plants that are useful or does the sun shine to make weeds grow as well?

God has made this world in a way so that everything and everyone has the sunshine of freedom.  This means that some good things can happen and some bad things can happen.

If there was not freedom for bad things to happen or for people to make bad choices, then life would be like a big machine.  A machine does not do good or bad, a machine does what it is programmed to do.

The parable of the wheat and the weeds  told by Jesus is a story about how God is patient with the freedom that allows both good and bad things to happen.

Weeds and wheat grow so closely together that when a gardener tries to remove the weed, the wheat is pulled up as well and the good wheat dies.  So the gardener waits until it is time to harvest and the garden separates the good wheat from the weeds at harvest.

Sometimes we want the world to be a world where only good things can happen and we want to be people who automatically do good things. 

We grow as human beings by being free and by learning to make good choices.  We don’t want to be punished with a death penalty when we make a mistake.  Why?  Because we know that we need more time to learn to get better and make good choices.  We want God and other people to be patient with us as we continually learn to make good choices.

Sometimes we might be impatient about the badness we see in the world or we might be impatient about our own faults and weakness.  We need to know that God is patient and God always allows us more time to get better.

Let us be thankful for a patient God.  Let us be thankful for people who are patient with us.  And let us learn to be patient with others as we wait for all to make better choices.

Let us be patient with the freedom that is in life.  Let us be glad that we are not machines and appreciate that our choices really mean something special.

Prayer:  Thank you God for being patient.  Thank you God for freedom.  Thank you God for being patient with me while I learn to make good free choices.  Help me to be patient with the freedom in this world even as we learn to make good choices.  Amen.

Sermon:

  Have you ever planted a garden?  Have you ever planted some seeds in the ground?

  If you plant pumpkin seeds or tomato seeds or spinach seeds, there is always some extra plants that grow too.

  So if I plant some flower seeds, and I get some extra plants, that should be a nice surprise, shouldn’t it?

  But those extra plants are not nice surprises….why?   What are those surprise plants called?

  They are called weeds.

  Weeds are plants that grow every where.  They grow even when you didn’t when you don’t plant them.  They grow in places where you don’t want them to grow.

  And sometimes they are a big problem.  They grow so close to the plants that you want to live, if you try to pull the weeds, the plant comes out of the ground too.

   Jesus told a story about weeds and wheat.  A farmer wants wheat to grow so that it can be made into flour to make bread.

  But the farmer does not want weeds to grow in the wheat.

   But when the weeds start growing in the wheat, one of the farm workers wanted to pull out weeds.  But the farmer said, “Don’t pull the weeds, because if you pull the weeds, the wheat will be pulled out with it.  Waiting until the wheat is fully grown and when it is cut, the weeds will be cut too…and then the weeds will be separated from the wheat.

  What does this story mean?  This story is about God’s patience.  Sometimes, when we see something that we don’t like, we want to correct it and make it right.

  If you’re doing something wrong in front of lots of people.  Sometimes your Mom or Dad won’t correct you until you get home alone, because they don’t want to embarrass you or make you feel badly in front of people.  They have the patience to wait because you will learn better if you are not embarrassed.

  So God is patient with our world.  Some times we wish God would get rid of all the people who are acting badly, but God is patient.  Why?  God knows that even bad people can get better and they can say they are sorry.  So God is patient and waits and waits to give us many chances to make good choices.

  So today, let us remember that God is patient and God is always waiting for us to become better.  Amen.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 23, 2017: The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Jacob’s Ladder, He’s Got The Whole World, Spirit of the Living God, The King of Glory

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:  Jacob’s Ladder  (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 130)

We are climbing Jacob’s ladder; We are climbing Jacob’s ladder;  We are climbing Jacob’s ladder; Soldiers of the cross.

If you love Him, why not serve Him?  If you love Him, why not serve Him; If you love Him, why not serve Him; Soldiers of the cross.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son 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 Book of Genesis

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 139

LORD, you have searched me out and known me; * you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys and my resting-places * and are acquainted with all my ways.

Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, * but you, O LORD, know it altogether.

You press upon me behind and before * and lay your hand upon me.

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 put before the crowd another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, `Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' He answered, `An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, `Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, `No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"  Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!"

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: He’s Got the Whole World(Christian Children’s Songbook, #90)

He’s got the whole world, in his hands.  He’s got the whole wide world, in his hands.  He’s got the whole world, in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands.

He’s got the little tiny babies…

He’s got the boys and the girls….

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of 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 so that we may love God and our neighbor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

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

Breaking of the Bread

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

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Spirit of the Living God  (Renew!  # 90)

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.  Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.  Break me, melt me, mold me, fill me. Spirit of the living God.  Fall afresh on me.

Spirit of the living God, move among us all; Spirit of the living God, move among us all.  Humble, caring, selfless, sharing.  Spirit of the living God, fill our lives with love.

The God of Jacob is our God.  The God of Jacob is our God.  The God of Jacob is our God.

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: The King of Glory  (Renew! # 267)

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

Who is the king of glory; how shall we call him?  He is Emmanuel, the promised of ages.  Refrain

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

Sing then of David’s son, our savior and brother; in all of Galilee was never another.  Refrain

Dismissal:   

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

People:      Thanks be to God! 

   

Understanding the Crisis of Relevance

6 Pentecost, Cycle A Proper 10, July 16,2017
Isaiah 55:10-13 Psalm 65: (1-8), 9-14
Romans 8:1-11  Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Lectionary Link

Probably the most original school of American philosophy is called Pragmatism.  It is associated with such philosophers as one of the James Brother, William James.  It is associated with John Dewey and Charles Sanders Peirce.

Pragmatism means that something is true partly because it has functional value.  What functional value is there in knowing how many angels can dance on the head of needle?  Aside from the entertainment for persons interested in irrelevant arcane speculation, not much.

We need to be pragmatic interpreters of the Bible.  How do we do that?  By reading the Bible and asking what would be the function of this writing within a community of people?

You and I can look at the function of the Parable of the Sower for the people who are responsible for collecting, writing, editing and re-editing the Gospel of Matthew.

Parables are presented in the Gospel as a favorite teaching method of Jesus.  A parable is a story that teaches a moral or spiritual lesson and it provides insights into one situation by looking at a parallel occasion in nature.

The Parable of the Sower is relevant to us today at St. John’s because we are all interested in the secret of relevance.  How can what we do be effectively relevant to the lives of people?

Why is ministry of St. John the Divine relevant or effective to the lives of some and not of others?  Why do so many people find it so easy to avoid ever entering this church?  Why do some people seem to be 90 day wonders in their religion and then suddenly are absent and gone?

The crisis of relevance is a recurring crisis in the life of a person or an institution.  What I had of hair turned gray very early in my ministry because of facing the continuing crisis of relevance.  Does anything I do in ministry have sufficient relevance to engage the lives of enough people to keep a parish alive and well?

The message of Jesus Christ had enough relevance to create quite a historical movement but in the early days of the movement, there was discussion about the crisis of relevance.

What were the questions of relevance?  What does the message of Jesus have to do with me?  Why is the message of Jesus Christ successful in the lives of some people and not in others?  Why have the Gentiles become enamored with the message about Jesus Christ?  Conversely, why have members of the synagogue rejected the teachings of Jesus Christ?  And why have some people been very active in the Jesus Movement and then suddenly or gradually quit and left the movement?  Why have Jews who once embraced the message about Jesus suddenly changed their minds about Jesus and have returned to the synagogue?

The Parable of the Sower is a parable in the early church which addressed the crisis of relevance.

We might expect the parable of Jesus to give us an air-tight answer about the cause of the success or failure of the message of Jesus in the lives of people.

But what is the insight given by the Parable about the success of the word of God in people’s lives?  Why is the Gospel successful in someone’s life? The conditions are right.

The conditions are right.  That sounds like the universal cliché answer for why anything occurs.  Why did it happen?  Well, the conditions were right.

A farmer or gardener knows that plants will grow and do well if the conditions are right.  What can a gardener control?  The seed or seedlings.  The preparation of the soil.  The amount of water through irrigation.  The weeding, the thinning, the pruning all can be controlled by the farmer.  What cannot be controlled is the climate and the general weather conditions, or grasshoppers and other pests.

Why is the message of the Gospel successful or not?  It depends on the conditions.

What insights can we learn from the Parable of the Sower?  Any life condition includes influential factors out of our control and things in our control.

The Sower in the parable is a broadcast seeder.  The Sower throws the seeds toward the intended place of growth but this is not a very efficient way of planting seeds.  The wind can carry the seed away to fall on the path or on the rocky places.  The seed is the universally hybrid and winsome Word of God.  The rather indiscriminate casting of the seeds is a metaphor for the Word of God being offered to everyone, always, all of the time.

The seed arrives in a variety of conditions.  People can lie about the identity of a seed so that it is not understood.  Rising stalks of corn can be called useless weeds if people don't know their food value and therefore of no use for food.  A seed may not grow because it does not get buried; it remains on the surface to get burned up by the sun or eaten by the birds.  A seed can be crowded out by many other weeds that there is not enough soil nutrition for the seed to become a successful plant.  But the seed can also land in good soil and have different levels of crop yield.

The most important aspect of the Parable of the Sower is the quality of the seed.  The prophet Isaiah wrote that the word of God is infallible and ultimately irresistibly winsome.  God's word goes forth and will not return as empty.  God’s word will ultimately be relevant to everyone's life.

The early preachers of the Gospel believed that the Good News was winsome, infallible and irresistible, even while they recognized that everyone was not yet convinced.  The early preachers of the Gospel knew that there was competition; there were alternatives to Gospel in the lives of people.  The weather, the climate and pests are factors in farming.  What happens to us are factors in how we embrace and express our faith.  Some events can support and encourage our faith while there are events of shame, persecution, loss and disappointment which can discourage or impede our expression of devotion to Christ.

St. Paul, in the letter to the Roman church wrote a spiritual psychology.  He wrote about how we could understand ourselves and prepare ourselves to find the relevance of Jesus Christ in our lives.  St. Paul said that we needed to find what was infallible and perfect in our lives.  The Holy Spirit is infallible and perfect and we need to find and know the infallible and perfect to deal with everything in our lives which is imperfect and changing. 

St. Paul wrote about the conditions of the flesh being a wrong relationship with desire.  We can focus our desire on so many things that compete with what is worthy and perfect. Experiencing the Holy Spirit as underneath our desire and directing it to be expressive of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness and self-control is the goal expressed in the spiritual psychology of St. Paul.

So what do you and I do with this Gospel cliché today?  Things happen in the way in which they do because the conditions are right.

As we consider the right conditions today, let us remember:  The message is universally offered.  The message is perfect, infallible, irresistible and winsome.  God the Sower is patient.  The conditions may not be right now, but in the patience of God, they ultimately will be favorable to the universal relevance of God in our lives.

What is our responsibility in enhancing our receptivity to the Word of God?  I think it is well expressed in what is called the Serenity Prayer: God give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

Today, let us be encouraged to do all that we can to have a favorable hearing of God’s Word in our lives.  Let us be convinced of God’s infallible Spirit within us.  And let our community build a spiritual ecology to support the very best outcomes for the success of the life Christ with us and in our world.  Amen.