Hidden from the Wise; Revealed to Babes

Christmas Eve         December 24, 2019     

Is. 9:2-4,6-7          Ps.96:1-4,11-12        

Titus 2:11-14        Luke 2:1-14  

  Lectionary Link  

   Why has Christmas taken over the world in way in which Easter never has?  Why has Christmas had more influence in the secular world and in the non-Christian world than Easter?

    Christmas is about a baby.  It is about the  wisemen bringing gifts to a baby, and what is more universal than giving gifts to children?  And you are wise if you keep the children happy with gifts, right?

    But beyond the popularity of Christmas due to the birth of the Christ child it is also about having hope in this life as we are now in it.  Easter is much about hope for the afterlife and we can wait for the afterlife, we would like to ponder hope for life as it is now.

    I think that the value of Christmas is reinforced by the child motif that is presented in the Gospel words of Jesus.  Jesus said some rather enigmatic things about infants and children.  He said, "Let the children come to me; for to such as these belong the kingdom of heaven."  Sorry adults; those are the words of Jesus.   Jesus also said that unless one became like a child, one could not understand the kingdom of God.  Sorry adults.   Jesus also said that he thanked God that these things were hid from the wise but revealed to infants because such was God's will.  Sorry adults.

    There is an Arab riddle which is based upon the belief that there are 100 names of God but human beings can only know 99 of those names.  They can never now the hundredth name of God.  So the question: Why does the camel have this silly smirk on his face?  Well, he knows the 100th name of God and he's not telling.

    Why does the baby have the angelic grin on his or her face?  She knows and is living the reality of original joy and we adults can only look on as being perpetually locked out.

    If we understand the mystery of being locked out of original joy; we understand the appeal of Christmas and the celebration of the birth of the Christ-child.

     What is the conversion experience called?  It is called a new birth.  It is called being born-again.   How much closer to childhood can one get than the experience of a new birth.

      New Birth is what the early Christian mystics called spiritual awakening.  St. Paul said the mystery of the ages of revealed:  Christ in you the hope of glory.

         I believe that the Christmas Story encodes the new birth theology of the early church.  They believed from their experience, that a person could have as an adult, a renewal into the essence of the original joy of our birth into this world.  The smiling baby can be alive and well within us.   We can have the experience of original joy within us.  We can access this original joy even as we live within all the harsh realities of our adult worlds.  This is not an escape from our adult worlds; this is the great complement to our adult worlds.  This experience of new birth, of our child-likeness, is not a childish denial, it is not the childish and inappropriate emotions of an inebriated state, it is a spiritual birth of renewal that is available to us.  And we should not cease in our quest for life experience until we have found it and its effects.

     Why do we love Christmas?  Not because all of the family pressure to please everyone by finding the perfect presents to give.  We love Christmas because we want to recover wonder and joy in our lives.  We want to know that Christ has been born in us and for us and with us.  We want to know that the divine affirms the validity of our lives.

    Tonight, the celebration of the birth of Christ invites us to joy, wonder and renewal.  And with God's gift of the Spirit, we can all find this tonight.  Let us hear the whisper of God say to us tonight, Merry Christmas, my children, Merry Christmas.  Amen.

     

Multi-Genre Beings

4 Advent A, December 18, 2016

Isaiah 7:10-16 Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18

Romans 1:1-7 Matthew 1:18-25

 Lectionary Link

       Just so you won't think my sermon is pointless, here are four points.  1-We use the past to explain the present. 2- Translation of the Bible can affect our theology.  3-As language users people have always employed genres.  4-The Gospels were spiritual manuals which encoded the mysticism of the early churches.

       We often are left with the impression that the ancient prophets who are in the Hebrew Scriptures specifically predicted Jesus of Nazareth.  To use the Bible to predict the future may be comforting for people who want to assert their sense of God being in control of the world but such predictions have not and cannot be proven with the exactness that some fundamentalists often imply.  What is true is that history is a spiral; similar patterns of human behavior recur and so the past is used to explain what is happening now.  Did Babe Ruth predict the appearance of Roger Maris, Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds?  No.  But do we speak of Roger Maris and Barry Bonds using Babe Ruth as the one who exemplified hitting home runs?  Yes, and so the past anticipates the future and we use the past to explain the present.  The early Christians preachers who read the book of Isaiah certainly understood that Jesus Christ exemplified meaning of the Isaian child who was called Immanuel.  Jesus Christ was understood as God with us or God being on our side.  Or God becoming completely bilingual of both divine and human life.  The past anticipates the future without being explicitly predictive; such belief in exact prediction would be a violation of the conditions of freedom.

     Second point.   The translation of the Bible can affect how we understand theology.  We have read from seventh chapter of Isaiah today which refers to a young woman bearing a child.  The Hebrew word for young woman is "alma."  The famous Greek translation of the Hebrew Scripture is called the Septuagint.  The Septuagint translators translated the Hebrew word "alma" as "parthenos," which is the Greek word for virgin.  The New Testament Greek uses "parthenos" indicating their Septuagint reading of the Hebrew Scriptures.  In the history of the church's translation of the Bible the Virgin Birth theology has been reflected.  The famous King James Version of the Bible translate the Hebrew word as virgin and not as "young woman."  What this reveals is that sometimes the theological perspectives of the church are highlighted by the way in which a translation of language is done.  But I will later show how we have sometimes diminished the mysticism of the church for literal meanings of words.  Sometimes we use the literal almost like idols and we end up avoiding the mystical experience.

    Third point.  As language users we employ genres.  As babies we are passively coded with all of the language meanings of the caretakers of our lives.  As we activate our language ability, we take on language use with its glorious multivalent meaningful practices.  We employ genres of language use.  We know literal, common sense, empirically verifiable meanings.  We know figurative, allegorical, moral, metaphorical, aesthetic and spiritual meanings.  We are amazing language users, but we can make mistakes in how we think that genres are being employed.

     Imagine the young boy in his Superman pajamas with a lovely cape.  He has just been watching a Superman movie.  So what does he do?  He takes a flying leap off his upper bunk bed dressed as Superman and he discovers that gravity crashes him to injury on the floor below.  The boy has confused his genres.  But from this experience the boy does not have to give up his genre of magical realism nor does he have to give up the genre of scientific natural laws.  The key is to learn to transact appropriately with the various language genres of life.   The biblical writers were not stupid, primitive language users.  And even though they existed long before modern science, they still understood naive realism and commonsense perceptual reality.  They understood mystical and allegorical genre of writing.  The Gospel writers wrote at a time when the Roman propaganda said that a comet attended the birth of the Caesar and that his mother had a miraculous conception in a Temple and that he was the Savior of the World who brought peace to the earth and he was called divi filius, son of god.  The great fault of modern fundamentalists is to deny Bible writers the intelligence of knowing how they were writing in their own time fully cognizant of the writing genre which they deployed in their context.    We need to appreciate how fluid all language users can be with genres.  We need to beware of reading a genre in the wrong way.  

    Finally, the fourth point.  The Christmas story encodes the mystagogy of the early church.  What is mystagogy?  It is instruction of teaching in the mystery of Christ.  According to St. Paul, the mystery of the ages was this:  Christ in us the hope of Glory?  How is Christ born within us?   We are overshadowed by power of the Holy Spirit.  We are baptized by the Holy Spirit and the life of Christ is conceived and grows within us.   In being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, one's heart is made clean and virginal to bear the presence of Christ.  This was the chief reality of the early church.  This is the reality which the mystics of the early church encoded in the story of the Virgin Mary.  Blessed Mary is the paradigm of every Christian who has had the life of Christ born in them when they have been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit.  Can we appreciate how the Gospel writers were writing in the mystical genre and how it could only be pierced by the early initiates into the mystical transformation program promulgated in the early churches?  Do you see how often the church throughout the ages have externalized all of this and literalized it and missed the mystical significance?  Let us learn how to deploy our genres appropriately.

     I would leave you with a quote from one of the most profound mystics of the Christian Church, Meister Eckhart.  He wrote:  What a shame it would be if Jesus was only born to the Virgin Mary in the first century and not be born in our lives today.
   
     My prayer for us today is that we would experience the current reality of the birth of Christ.  Amen.

Sunday School, December 22, 2019 4 Advent, A

Sunday School, December 22, 2019   4 Advent, A

Themes:

Immanuel was one of the names for Jesus.  Immanuel means, "God with us."

What does amphibian mean?  It is an animal that can live on land and in the water, like frogs and turtles.

How is Jesus like an amphibian?  Jesus was both God and human.  He knew how to be God and how to be human.  He was God becoming known as a human being so that people could know and understand God.

What does bi-lingual mean?  It means someone can speak two languages.  Some people can speak both English and Spanish.  That means that they understand people is better way because they know two languages.  That means that they can go to Mexico and they can understand the menus at the restaurants so they can order from the menu.

One way to understand Jesus as Immanuel or God with us, is Jesus is bi-lingual.  He understands the language of God and he understand the language of people.  It means that he can really tell us about who God is and what God wants for us as people.  And what did Jesus teach us about God?  God is love.  God forgives.  And God wants us to learn the language of God so that some day we can live with God in heave.

Jesus in the Hall of Fame

In sports and in many other areas of human achievement we create Halls of Fame.  We compare great people with ourselves and with each other.

We say, “records are to be broken.”  When someone does something great in the past we always look to that greatness to compare ourselves and the importance of what is great.  But when something great happens then people look for the next great thing to happen or they look for someone to break the record.

We can always make a prediction about the future, that the records will be broken.

The first part of our Christian Bible is what we call the Old Testament.  People of the Jewish Faith call it the Hebrew Scriptures since it is still current for them and not “old.”

In the Hebrew Scriptures there are stories about many heroes, people like Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah.  But when things were really hard for the people of Israel, they hoped and prayed and wrote about a new hero to come and to make their land like it was during the time of King David, only better because in the future there was hope for someone who was in David’s family and line who might be born.

Who would have David as ancestor and who would come and do something so important that such a person could even have a name like Emmanuel, which means “God with us?”

When Jesus died and rose again and when many people came to know Jesus throughout the cities of Roman Empire, they began to write about how important he was.  They believed that he was greater than David and they believed that he was greater than the Roman Emperor.  Afterall, if a person can reappear after he dies and then begin to have many people have spiritual experiences to change their lives, isn’t this person a great person like the King David?  How was it that Jesus had changed so many people’s lives and even when they couldn’t see him?  How could this happen?

The Gospel stories were written to compare Jesus with David and with the Emperor.  The Gospel writers believed that Jesus was more important than David and than the Emperor and so they wrote about why they believed that Jesus was the one who was written about by the prophets in the Hebrew Scripture.  Jesus was the most important person in the Hall of Fame which included, Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah.

Sermon:

In American baseball there was a famous batter named Babe Ruth.  Babe Ruth was famous because he could hit homeruns in baseball.  And for many many years he held the record for the most homeruns hit in one season.  He hit 60 homeruns in one season.  And many people did not ever think this record could ever be broken.  But everyone always wondered about a baseball player who in the future would hit more hormeruns than Babe Ruth.

Well, someone did finally break the homerun records of Babe Ruth, but it does not mean that Babe Ruth was not great.  And it does not mean that in the future someone will break the new homerun records.  We remember famous people in life and we are always looking for people in the future who will do really great things.

When Jesus came and lived, he did many wonderful things.  He lived and he died but then he reappeared after his death to his friends.  And he sent the Spirit to continue to let people know that Jesus was with them.  Since Jesus was so popular, people began to write about why he was popular.  They said that he was proof that “God was with us.”  The prophet Isaiah had written many years before Jesus about someone named “God with us.”  And Jesus was so important to so many people that they believed that he was the one who was great enough to claim the name “Emmanuel” which means “God is with us.”

The followers of Jesus wrote the story of how Jesus was born and how he became the special proof that God is with us.

In the Hall of Fame, Christians believe that Jesus was more important than Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah. 

We see today that billions of people have come to know Jesus Christ and because of this we can say that he is still the leader in our Hall of Fame.  And as we love Christ and serve Him, we can know that “God is with us.”  In Jesus, we like Mary and Joseph have become people who know that  “God with Us.”

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

December 22, 2019: The Fourth Sunday of Advent

Gathering Songs: Light a Candle,  Peace Before Us; Thy Word,  When the Saints

             

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

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  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.

Lighting of the Advent Candle:   Light a Candle

Light a candle for hope today, Light a candle for hope today, light a candle for hope today.           Advent time is here.

Light a candle for peace today..3. Love…4. Joy

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen..

Litany Phrase: 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 Prophet Isaiah

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.”

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

 

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 80

1 Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock; *shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim.

2 In the presence of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, *stir up your strength and come to help us.

3 Restore us, O God of hosts; *show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

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.

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon:  Fr. 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.

Song: Peace Before Us (Wonder, Love and Praise,  # 791)

Peace before us.  Peace behind us.  Peace under our feet.  Peace within us.  Peace over us.  Let all around us be Peace.  Love,  Light, Christ

Doxology

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

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

Prologue to the Eucharist

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

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

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

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

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

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

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

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

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

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

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All 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: Thy Word, (Renew! #94)

Refrain: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path

1-When I feel afraid, think I’ve lost my way, still you’re right beside me.  And nothing will I fear as long as you are near.  Please be near me to the end.  Refrain.

2-I will not forget your love for me, and yet my heart forever is wandering.  Jesus, be my guide and hold me to your side; and I will love you to the end.  Refrain

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

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

Boys….. 3.  Girls  4.  Saints

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

  

Rose Sunday

3 Advent A     December 15, 2019

Is.35:1-10         Ps. 146: 4-9          

James 5:7-10      Matt. 11:2-11

Lectionary Link

      Why did we like a pink or rose candle today on the Advent wreath?  Today is the third Sunday of Advent and it is called Rose Sunday.  Christian calendar days have traditions which have histories.  Advent in times past began as a forty day fast before the celebration of the birth of Christ, kind of like a second Lent.  It was regarded to be penitential season and began in the 4th century, after the feast of St. Martin in early November.  In later tradition the season became shorten from 40 days to four weeks.  Advent retained like Lent, a refreshment Sunday, a day of temporary indulgence within a penitential season.  In liturgical color, rose replaced the seasonal purple to use color to express the change in penitential relief for the day.

     The Lenten Sunday of refreshment is called, Laetare and the Advent Rose Sunday is called Gaudete.  Both words in Latin mean, "Rejoice,"  and they come from the introits that were used on these days, in Advent from the Epistle of Paul in some years, "Rejoice in the Lord, always and again I say rejoice."

       Let us consider some lessons from the Scripture readings for this Rose Sunday in Advent.

First, we need to learn how to access joy in our lives.   Happiness is not the same thing as joy.  Happiness depends upon what happens.  And in the free conditions of our lives, we are not always happy about what is happening to us and to others in the world.  But happiness is a temporary surface release of something deeper and more profound.   In the season of Advent we are encouraged to "Rejoice in the Lord always."  How do we do this?  Joy is a fruit of the Spirit.  This means we have to tap this interior source of fulfillment in the midst of some very challenging situations in our world.  To live by joy is not to deny all of the unhappy conditions in the world; to live by joy is to believe that whatever is happening now has to be put in context with everything that happened in the past and everything that will happen in the future.  And joy is based upon the faith that God is winning even while the challenging conditions of freedom are being lived out.  If God's Spirit is the sign of immortal endurance, then to the know God's Spirit is to know joy.  What did C.S. Lewis call the biography of his conversion?  "Surprised by Joy."  One of things that never ceases to amaze me is to see young children in refugee camps and in hospitals and see them smile for no apparent reason at all.  They live closer to the original joy of their births.  That joy gets covered up in our adult worlds.  The conversion to Jesus, is to be able to access once again the original joy of life itself.  And having this access to joy, enables us to function better within the conditions of freedom in our lives.  So, let us learn to obey this command, "Rejoice in the Lord always."
      Another Advent lesson for us today is to let ideal worlds and utopia function for us a continuous call to a better world.  Let us not be too smug about what we've attained.  Let us be horrified by the worst of evil.  Let the ideal worlds inform the direction of our moral progress.  Let the poetry of the ideal inspire us: the desert will bloom, justice and recompense will happen,  people will recover from their blindness, people will learn how to walk on a direct way,  the exiled shall be able to return with gladness and joy.  The Psalmist proclaims God as the greatest of ideals?  Why?  God cares for the widow and orphan, God gives justice to the oppressed, God gives sight to the blind,  God cares for the stranger and those bowed down, God gives food to the hungry, God sets the prisoner free.   The ideals which we proclaim in the Advent readings remind us that anyone who is not for these ideals is not on the side of God.  During Advent we have to judge ourselves harshly in light of the great ideals in life.  Why?  We cannot drop perfection as our standard.
      What other Advent lesson is given to us today?  Be patient beloved.  The day of perfection, the day of Lord is not yet here.  There is still a big gap between what is ideal and what is actually happening in our world.  How do we survive being taunted by our ideals in the midst of some abject failures?  Be patient.  Joy is a fruit of the Spirit; so is patience.  Patience is the power to wait in the conditions of freedom and not give in to rage and wrath to think that we can force our notion of perfection in a sudden fit of rage.  Patience is the ability to honor the importance of freedom while not giving up our ideals.  To refuse patience is to give into rage or a Murphy's Law fatalism; if something bad can happen, it will happen.
     Another final lesson that I would cite from our readings today is this:  We need to be ready for paradigm switches or conversions to what is better.  We need to be ready to convert to that is which is a more adequate answer to our life situation.   The Gospel lesson is the story form of a paradigm switch.  Which Palestinian religious community had members who were most likely to become followers of Jesus of Nazareth?  The Pharisees? No.  The Sadducees?  No.  The Zealots?  No.  The Essenes.  No.  The followers of John the Baptist?  Yes.  They were the most obvious target audience to embrace the new religious paradigm of the Jesus Movement.  John the Baptist in prison is the example of all of his followers who wanted to maintain his memory and his community after he was killed.  When a movement loses a leader like John the Baptist how do they survive?   There was no successor like John to take his place.  Some important leaders in the Jesus Movement had been followers of John the Baptist.  They wanted all of the members of John's community to follow Jesus too.  They wanted the members of John the Baptist to understand why they had come to follow Jesus.  Jesus had a special ministry that fulfilled the ideals of the prophet Isaiah.  John the Baptist was a water man.  Jesus was a Spirit man.  John baptized with water; Jesus baptized with the Holy Spirit.   We are not certain whether the baptism of John was done just once; it might have been like a frequent purification ritual to symbolize the continuous need to be cleansed from sins.  The baptism of the Spirit was like an interior spring of water always bubbling within.  John the Baptist proclaimed an end of the world with immediate judgment; the Jesus Movement became the kingdom of heaven as the kingdom of God's Spirit who resided within the lives of those who came to know him as their Messiah.
     The message of Advent reminds us that we need to be ready for the paradigm changes in our lives.  We need to be ready to convert towards thinking and practice that are in the direction of fulfilling our ideals.
      Today, let us Rejoice, in the midst of both unhappy and happy conditions.  Let us not compromise the great ideals of life.  Let us be patience on the path of perfectability.   And finally, let us be willing to make conversions and paradigm switches towards the excellences of Jesus the Messiah as they become known to us.  Amen.

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!