Sunday School, December 15, 2019 3 Advent, Year A

Sunday School, December 15, 2019   3 Advent, Year A

Theme: Perfect Worlds

Have the children invent or talk about how they would imagine a perfect world.  What would a perfect world look like?

Eat all the chocolate you want with getting sick or ruining your teeth.  Be smart without having to go to school.  Be able to fly like birds.  Never get sick.  A world without diseases.  A world without war.  A world with peace. 

After making a list of what their perfect world would look like, look at how some of the writers of the Bible imagined a perfect world, or a better world or a world that is becoming healed from its troubles.

For Isaiah: The wilderness and desert would be like a garden and forest.  The weak would be strong.  God would intervene with justice.  The blind could see.  The deaf could hear.  The handicapped could jump like a deer.  Those who could not speak would be able to.  There would be plenty of water in the desert.  Traveling would be easy and safe from robbers and wild animals.  People who were forced away from their favorite homeland could go back home safely.

Perfect world for the writer of the Psalm:

A God who keeps promises.  God who gives justice to the enslaved.  God setting the prisoners free.  God caring for the strangers.  God caring for the orphan and widow.  God confusing bad people so they cannot win.

 Perfect world for Mary as seen in the Song of Mary

God looking with favor on us.  Being blessed.   God being merciful.  A strong God who defeats the proud.  God who helps the lowly poor.  God filling the hungry with good things.  God helping his people.

For the writer of James

A perfect world would happen when the Lord comes in the future.

For the writer of Matthew’s Gospel in the words of Jesus

the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.

Ask the students:  Has the perfect world happened yet?  If not, why not?  And if the perfect world cannot happen, why do we have imaginations of perfect worlds?

Some answers:

We don’t have perfect worlds because freedom allows what is not perfect to happen.  If there was not freedom for bad things to happen, then we would be robots or machines of perfection.  A machine does not have a choice and so if the world was a “perfect machine” it would not be what we value about being human people.  True freedom is what makes us really valuable as God’s creatures.

We have imaginations of the perfect to inspire us toward how we want to heal our world from the bad things which do happen.  If we just had imaginations of a bad world or the actual world, we would not be taught the right direction to learn.

Let us be happy for the imaginations of a better world because they teach us the direction that we should aim for in our words and deeds.

Sermon:  

  What season are we in right now?   Advent.  And what is the color of Advent?    And what season comes after Advent?   Christmas?

   And what do we celebrate at Christmas?  The birth of Christ.

   The season of Advent is also a season of imagination.

   What is imagination?

    Imagination is when we think about a different world.  Make believe worlds.  Can you think of some make believe worlds?

  Never-never land of Peter Pan.  Harry Potter’s world is an imaginary world.  The worlds of Snow White, Cinderella & Belle and Ariel are all imaginary worlds.

  The world of Batman, Superman, Sponge Bob are imaginary world.

  We like imaginary worlds because they entertain us.

  They also help us to develop our imagination, because when we use our imagination, we learn to think.  We learn to create.  We learn to make new things and do new things.

The writers of the Bible built imaginary worlds too.  They wrote about a world with no sickness.  A world where all the sick people would be healed.  They wrote about a world with no fighting and war.  They wrote about a world where a lion and lamb could play together, and where a little baby could play with a snake.  They wrote about a world where flowers would grow in the desert where there was no water.

  We need to imagine a better world, if we are going work at making our world a better place.

  So let us remember to use our imagination to help us make our world a better place.

  John the Baptist imagined that Jesus was a super hero called the Messiah.  But since he was prison, he wanted to make sure.  And when he found out that Jesus was making sick people well and that he was telling good news to people, John then knew that Jesus was the Messiah, a superhero who was helping to make our world a better place.

  Remember God gave us Jesus as the Messiah to make our world a better place, and God gives us imagination so that we can work to make our world a better place.  Can you use your imagination to make the world a better place?

Child Friendly Holy Eucharist

December 15, 2019: The Third Sunday of Advent

Gathering Songs: We Light the Advent Candles, Butterfly Song, What Wondrous Love, Christ Beside Me

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song:  We Light the Advent Candles (While lighting the two purple candles & the pink candle)

1-We light the Advent cands against the winter night, to welcome our Lord Jesus who is the worlds’s True Light, to welcome our Lord Jesus who is the world’s True Light.

3-Three candles now are gleaming and show the true way, rejoice, the Baptist cries out, your Lord has come today, rejoice the Baptist cries out, your Lord has come today!

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Letter of James

Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 146

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!* whose hope is in the LORD their God;

Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; * who keeps his promise for ever;

Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, * and food to those who hunger.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."  As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written, `See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."

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

Song: If I Were a Butterfly (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 9)

If I were a butterfly, I’d thank you Lord for giving me wings.  If I were a robin in the tree, I’d thank you Lord that I could sing.  If I were a fish in the sea, I’d wiggle my tail and I’d giggle with glee, but I just thank you Father for making me, me. 

Refrain: For you gave me a heart and you gave me a smile.  You gave me Lord Jesus and you made me your child, and I just thank you Father for making me, me.

If I were an elephant, I’d thank you Lord by raising my trunk.  If I were a kangaroo, you know I’d hop right up to you.  If I were an octopus, I’d thank you Lord for my fine looks, but I just thank you Father for making me, me.  Refrain

If I were a wiggly worm, I’d thank you Lord that I could squirm.  If I were a billy goat, I’d thank you Lord for my strong throat.  If I were a fuzzy wuzzy bear, I’d thank you Lord for my fuzzy wuzzy hair, but I just thank you Father for making me, me.  Refrain

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we can know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as this food and drink that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit 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:  What Wondrous Love (Renew! # 277)

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!  What wondrous love is this, O my soul.  What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss to bear the dreadful curse, for my soul, for my soul, to bear the dreadful curse for my soul?

When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down, sinking down;  when I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul.  Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.

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: Christ Beside Me (Renew! # 164)

Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, King of my heart.  Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, never to part.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Utopian Ideals Need an Advent Police

2 Advent    A     December 8, 2019

Is. 11:1-10         Ps.72        

Rom. 15:4-13    Matt. 3:1-12

Lectionary Link

            Joni Mitchell wrote a very idealistic song about Woodstock, when she missed being able to go to Yasgar's farm, the location of Woodstock.  "We are star dust, we are golden and we've got to get ourselves back to the Garden."  Certainly the peace movement, love and over-optimism about new found pharmacology was part of the hippie attempt to get back to the Garden of Eden.  The prophet Isaiah wanted to get back to the Garden of Eden too.  He wanted to turn the clock back to the mythological time before the Fall and having to live under the consequences of knowing good and evil.  Would that the entire world could be the utopian impossible world of no predator-prey relationships.  This is the universal aspiration of everyone, which is more poignantly felt when the world is so weary with pain and loss and injustice.  But it is a world that still is actually experienced by a certain group of our population.  There are people who live in the perfect Garden?  Who and why?  Babies and infants and those in the stage of innocence live in the Garden of Eden because they don't know any different.  Being clueless can be the bliss of Eden and infants and children live there, until they encounter the main word of moral awakening, "NO!"  When infants experience intervention because adults know that all instant gratification of desire is not good, they get kicked out of the Garden of Innocence forever.  As adults, we still use the vision of a perfect innocent state to try to comfort us as we live under the free conditions of the world, which surely include the experiences in various degrees of good and evil.  And no matter what one's situation in life is, one has to live under moral conditions of good and evil, however they come to be defined.
         Why do people inside of religious communities and outside of religious community often resort to the nostalgia and regression of idyllic states of perfect innocence and perfect harmonies where no creatures harm another?  We live under the condition of freedom which permits the experiences of good and evil to occur in unintended random events of systems in conflict and in the intentional acts of free agents.  In the battle of good and evil in the conditions of freedom, things can seem to be so bad, that we might imagine dystopia to be the eventual outcome?  We need the counter visions of utopia to inform the possibilities of goodness prevailing in our future.  St. Paul was worried about strength and power of sin and evil and so he wrote that we have to overcome evil with good.   The vision of utopia and innocence informs our hope that goodness can prevail in the perpetual battle with evil, hatred and injustice.  But goodness is not automatic; goodness needs the training of free agents to make the goodness of heaven actual in our lives on earth.   What do we often need to become successful agents of goodness?
      Let us imagine ourselves being typical Americans; we begin to celebrate Christmas very early in Advent with parties and decorations.  And so we are at a neighborhood Christmas party with a big Christmas tree, lots of lights, party sweets and spiked egg nog.  And suddenly there is a loud knock at the door.  And I answer the door and there is a very strange looking man at the door; he looks homeless.   So, I greet him and ask him what he wants, noting that he does not look like the UPS and Amazon delivery persons.  He growls that he is the Advent Police and he has come to issue our residence a ticket for violating Advent rules.  So, I ask him who he is and by what authority he is issuing the ticket.  And he replied, "I am John the Baptist, and I am the original Advent Police."  And then it all makes sense, the scruffy hair and beard, the camel hair tunic and the big stick.  "Ok, John, you caught us in the act, but times have changed.  Christmas is so big, it needs more days and it really needs an entire quarter of the year to celebrate."  But John said, " You guys have it wrong.  Advent is about the coming end of the world.  You need to be prepared.  Advent is penitential boot camp for the end of the world.  You should not have your tree up.  It should go up on Christmas Eve, and go down on 12th night.  You should not have all of the lights on.  You should be giving up the rich foods and the booze.  "But John, what should we eat in Advent to satisfy you?"  And what does John say, "I'm glad you ask; I have brought a sack of kosher grasshoppers for you to munch on and my own Jordan Valley honey to go with those kosher grasshoppers."    "Well, John you are an Advent Scripture tradition and we have to read about you, but we don't really want a speed bump on our festive race toward Christmas.  Why don't you go visit the Amish; they'll buy your message all year long."
       John the Baptist stands as a figure of interdiction for evil in our world.  If Santa Claus says, "Ho, ho, ho," then John the Baptist says "No, no, no."
       Why does utopia need John the Baptist?   Utopia doesn't need John, but the threat of dystopia needs him badly.  "You guys are going wrong.  The direction of your lives is leading toward disaster.  You guys need major interdiction.  You need a road block.  You need to turn around because you're headed to dystopia chaos.  The Garden of Eden and innocence is the other direction.  Now turn around with some serious impulse control which allows you to share and care for each other and your world."
      You and I, during Advent, need to access our John the Baptist aspect of personality to interdict wrong directions in our lives and in the lives of our society.  Where we are destroying ourselves and our world we need to stop.  Stopping the inertia of bad behaviors is the first step.  What is the chief feature of 12 step programs?  Perpetual fasting.  Perpetual sobriety.  Stop doing what is bad for you and the world.
      Let us channel Advent John the Baptist today as a witness that we need to overcome evil with goodness.  We need to interdict and stop all evil tendency and habits.  We need to turn our directions, we need to renew our minds, we need to repent.  Repentance means turning the direction of our lives towards the utopia of overcoming evil with good in our actual lives today.
       Let us heed the advice of John the Advent Police today, even if we don't want to invite him over for supper.  John the Baptist as a fixture in the season of Advent is a reminder that we need to be at the continuous work of overcoming evil with good.  With the utopia vision of Isaiah we can be inspired in the right direction; and with John the Baptist as our boot camp sergeant, we can receive perhaps the motivation that we need to welcome Jesus at Christmas, and in all of the days of our life.  Amen.

Sunday School, December 8, 2019 2 Advent, Year A

Sunday School, December 8, 2019          2 Advent, Year A

Sunday School Theme

A shoot shall come out of the Stump of Jesse

Is a stump dead or alive?

If it is alive why is it still alive?

Answer:  Because of the hidden and underground root system.

Imagine God as the underground and hidden root system of life.  You can’t see God but you know God gives life to everything.

Roots grow plants and trees.  Plants and trees have life cycles.  People are like trees that have grown from God’s creation.  We have life cycles too.  Sometimes what we do is big and beautiful like a marvelous oak tree but fall comes and the leaves change.  People and what we do often change.  God inspired people to do some wonderful things.  Patriarchs like Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Leaders and Law Givers like Moses, Joshua, Deborah and Samuel.  Kings like David and Solomon.  Prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah and Elisha.  As God’s people faced new things in their lives, their lives changed.  Sometimes their lives changed so much they seemed to be just like a stump leftover after a tree was cut down because of being used for lumber or because of drought or plant disease.  But new life could always come out of the stump again because of the roots.  God is the hidden roots of life; the appearance of the tree can change and the tree can even be chopped down but a branch or shoot can still grow from the stump because of the roots.  Many bad things happened to the people of Israel.  They were conquered by foreign armies.  They were made slaves and taken to another country.  Jerusalem was destroyed and so was the Temple in Jerusalem.  So, at times it seemed as though the tree of Israel was cut down and it seemed as though only a stump remained.  But the prophets knew that the hidden roots of God’s presence remained even if there seem to be only a stump left.

Out of the Stump of Jesse, Zachariah and Elizabeth came, Mary and Joseph came, and they gave birth to two special sons, John the Baptist and Jesus.  There two special sons gave new life to the “stump of Jesse.”  From Jesus, the church became a new tree out of the stump of Jesse. 

We need to remember today that no matter how much things change on the outside, even when things look like a dead stump, the Invisible Root of God in life can make new things to happen in our human lives, in our personal lives, in our families, in our parish, in our city, in our country and in our world.

A Stump and the Tree are the same because the hidden roots are the source for both.

Let us have faith to remember that God is the hidden root of our lives.  Let us remember that Jesus made the cross a tree of life for us to learn how we can allow God’s life within us to grow and make us a beautiful tree for God.

Sermon on the Jesse Tree

Do you know what a family tree is?  Have you ever made a family tree for a school assignment?  What do you try to do with a family tree?  You try to list everyone who has been in your family in the past.  So, a family looks like an upside down pyramid.  First there is you, your mom and dad, then your grand parents, and your great grand parents, and your great great grand parents, and then you just have to keep adding the greats….and on the side branches of your family tree you have brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins.  Why do we make a family tree?  We want to know something about the people who came before us in our family because we think that we can understand ourselves better if we understand our past family.  We want to be able to tell our story better so we learn about our family of the past.  During the season of Advent, we study our Christian family tree.  Only we call it a Jesse Tree.  Jesse was the father of King David.  And the writer of the book of Isaiah said a famous person would come from the Stump of Jesse or the Tree of Jesse.  And who was that famous person?  It was Jesus Christ.

  So you can make a Jesse tree.  And what do you put on a Jesse Tree?  You put pictures of famous events and people that were written about in the Bible.  So  you might want to makes some stars and put on your tree to remember that God created the heavens and the earth.  You might want to put an apple on your tree, to remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  You might want to make a picture of a famous boat?  What is the famous boat called?  Noah’s ark.  And there was also a famous ladder in the Bible.  There was a famous man who had a dream about a ladder between heaven and earth.  Who was this famous dreamer?   And there was a man who ran away from Egypt but God called him back to Egypt and God used a burning bush to talk to this man.  Who was this man?   And in our Jesse Tree, we would want to include the most famous laws that were given to Moses.  What are those laws?  The Ten Commandments.  And you might want to put a crown on your tree to remember the most famous King in the Bible.  King David.  And you might want to put a picture of Stable.  Why?  Who was born in a stable.  And you might want to put a picture of Mary and the baby Jesus on your Jesse tree.

  So you can make a Jesse tree with symbols and pictures of all of stories in the Bible.  And why do we want to know the stories about people in the Bible?  Because we want to know where we came from.  And we want to be able to tell our story about how God loves us.  And we want to be able to tell others about God’s love too.  If you want to do a project at home.  Make a Jesse tree.  And ask your parents to read you some Bible stories.  And you will learn to tell the story of Christ. 

Intergenerational Holy Eucharist

December 8, 2019: The Second Sunday of Advent

Gathering Songs: We Light the Advent Candles, I’ve Got Peace Like a River, Jesus, Name Above All Names, Awesome God

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

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

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

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

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

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

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

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

We light the Second candle, and hear God’s holy Word, it tells us, cling to Jesus, prepare to meet your Lord, it tells us, cling to Jesus, prepare to meet your Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

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

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

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

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

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

A reading from the Prophet Isaiah

A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 72

Give the King your justice, O God, * and your righteousness to the King's Son;

That he may rule your people righteously * and the poor with justice;

That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people, * and the little hills bring righteousness.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

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

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

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

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

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

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

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

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

   Thanks be to God!

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

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke then he said, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness; `Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'" Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  "I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

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

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

1-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..

2-I’ve got love….  3-I’ve got joy……

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

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

You have made us in your image

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

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

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

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

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat the bread and drink the wine, we can know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as this food and drink that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit 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:  Jesus Name above all Names (Renew! # 26)

Jesus, name above all names, beautiful Savior, glorious Lord.  Emmanuel, God is with us, blessed Redeemer, Living Word.

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: 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)

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

Advent: A Time to Uphold the Normalcy of Justice

1 Advent A      December 1, 2019
Is. 2:1-5      Psalms 122
Rom. 13:8-14   Matt. 24:37-44


 Lectionary Link 

  Today is the First Sunday of Advent and that means it is first day of the New Year, the Christian New Year, so Happy New Year!  Did you party hearty last night to bring in the New Year?  Or did you forget about the Christian New Year, again?    So, why do we have a church calendar?  Why do we have calendars and watches and all measures and qualifications of time?  One of the tasks of life is to influence our orientation to time.  We are born to organize time.  So, we have clocks and calendars.  Today, the church calendar has many competing calendars.  We have many orientations for the times of our lives.  We have fiscal calendars, we have school calendars, entertainment calendars, concert calendars, we have agricultural calendars, we have commercial calendars, (the know, the one where Christmas begins the day after Halloween), we have personal family calendars built around the birthdays and anniversaries of family members, political calendars, work and job calendars, we have sports calendars galore for every sport on every level.  Every calendar that we follow provides specific orientation toward directing our activities in time.

        The church calendar did not always have so many competing calendars.  The modern era has created so many social occasions in life requiring many calendars to organize alternative participation to church life.

        So, what is the church calendar and its purpose?  And what is the meaning of the season of Advent?  When we try to study history, we can't study it all at once.  We break it up into time periods and location of people.  We establish curricula to study the entire body of knowledge in bits and pieces.

         The church calendar is an annual cycle of the presentation of the full body of Christian knowledge.  In short, the church calendar is a curriculum of Christian knowledge.  It is a method of progressive learning and repetitive review of themes in our faith based upon the events in the life of Jesus and the theology of that these events came to have in the early church and church history.

          So, what are the themes of Advent?  Advent means coming.  Advent is a season of two comings.  If the Messiah came first as a babe in Bethlehem but then died as the Suffering Servant Messiah, there had to be a second coming to be a theological corrective to fulfill the definition of the Messiah by many Jews.  For the followers of Jesus, there were other comings of Christ between the first coming and a future great coming.  Jesus came again from the dead in his post-resurrection appearances.  In the theology of the early church Jesus left in the Ascension, only to return in the experience of Pentecost in the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is also the Spirt of Christ.  Still Jewish Messianic theology required a conquering kingly Messiah, and so there arose the theology of the big Second Coming of Christ as a future figure of corrective justice for a suffering world.  The big second coming and return of Christ was what the early church needed as way to answer the Jewish belief that Jesus of Nazareth did not qualify for the full definition of a Davidic, kingly Messiah.  The Second Coming theology fulfilled the fuller definition of what the Messiah should be.

     Advent is a season about anticipating a big second coming of Christ.  Why do we need such a discourse of the second coming?  We need the Second Coming, because we need to continue to believe in the normalcy of justice.  We need to believe in fairness.  We need to believe that eventually in some ways, all accounts will be settled.  We need to believe in the normalcy of agricultural complex for feeding the people of the world, over the industrial military complexes of the world which have been the lifestyle of humanity at war.  (We wish the resources of the world could be used to feed and care for people, rather than be dominated by swords and the weapons of warfare). 

         The oracle words of Risen Christ given in the Gospel words were to prepare the Christians for the uneven events of what can arise in the free conditions of the world.  Like in the days of Noah a flood can arise and wipe out lots of people.  In the time of the early church, Jerusalem would be destroyed; there would be uneven persecutions and martyrdoms.  Like in the days of Noah, some were taken away in the death,  while others are left behind to survive and keep the church alive and well.

     In the modern era, many have let themselves be dismissive of Advent and the Second Coming of Christ discourse.  Why?  The fundamentalists have literalized them as exactly predicative of specific futures, and 1000's of apocalyptic preachers have tried to predict the exact dates of the end of the world, even though they were told by Jesus that no one knows the end, but only the eternal father.  And if only the Father knows, who is everlasting, it means there is no end day, there is only the latest day.  Time means that there will only always be the latest day.  Life is continuous, but we live by the unit of the story with beginnings and endings; we need book ends for stories even while we know that arbitrary beginning and endings of stories cannot limit the continuity of time.  Our entertainment life is full of stories of endings and the exacting of justice by the good guys over the bad guys.  If people have left the church and the stories of Advent justice, they still embrace the Advent themes in their novels, science fiction and cinema.

      During this season of Advent, let us be comfortable with the normalcy of justice and when we know poignantly, that we don't live in a fair and just world, we still do not give up the ideals of justice.  We continue to make an Advent station at the story of the second coming of Christ as our belief in eternal justice and our hope that a God-human being can persuade all this cosmos into a harmonic unity.

       We will keep forever, the Advent second coming tradition, because in the worst of times, our entire being recoils against injustice.  And in Advent, we profess that we live toward justice as what we believe should finally win in this world.

        Let us not be uncomfortable with the language of the Second Coming of Christ; if we deny it in our faith, we will find it in the secular culture where many people have gone to find the story forms for belief in justice.  But let us not be so proud in our rightness, that we think God will and should intervene to prove that our particular view and lifestyle is better than anyone else's.  The fundamentalists essentially believe in the Second Coming of Christ as way to say that God is going to come and prove them right.  Let us not use the stories of the second coming of Christ to trivialize God in such way; but let us seek solace in the stories which proclaim the justice of a loving, winsome, Christ, forever.  Amen.