Signs of Christ: Evoking Spiritual Meaning

9 Pentecost cycle b proper 12 July 25, 2021
2 Kings 4:42-44 Psalm 145: 10-19
Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:1-21
Lectionary Link

For today and for the next four Sundays, we will be reading from the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John.  This chapter centers around the multiplication of the loaves and fish story, as a set up for a long bread of heaven discourse presented in the voice of Jesus.

John's Gospel has some special features, perhaps due to the fact that it was the last Gospel to come to textual form, so it contains two or three more decades of the Christ-based communities' thinking and presentations of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Gospel of John came about within a community of Christian practice, in discipline, order and liturgy.  The community of John's Gospel was a community with a Eucharistic tradition; they broke bread at the table when they gathered.  Jesus of Nazareth resided within the community meal traditions of Judaism and the Gospel of John writers were interested to present Jesus as the one who originated a bread of heaven tradition which became the Eucharistic practice of the early Christ-based communities.  The community of John's Gospel was also a baptismal community, who believe one was born of water and the Spirit.

John's Gospel is all about language, language users and language products, like speech and writing.  John's Gospel states that Word is from the beginning of human life as we know it, in fact Word co-exists with God, and further, Word is God.   And the Word which is God took human fleshly ideal form in the life of Jesus.

But we can also say that to be humans in the image of God comes from the fact that we are people with word and language.  We are by our natures label makers.  We cannot help but label everything.  We are born into communities which provide us with the labels for everything in our existence, things exterior to us and interior labeling of what is inside us.

Jesus was a special label maker in his word use; he came to correct the mislabeling of human experience by humanity.  In John's Gospel, Jesus said that his words were Spirit and his words were life.  When you think about it, words are the invisible inward mysteries of each of us in how we have come to label everything in our lives, including God and ourselves.

John's Gospel is written to contrast the ways in which we use language.  There is a literal way to use language which pertains to our common sense perceptions.  But the purpose of John's Gospel is to convert us to another use of language, a spiritual use of language, a figurative use, a metaphorical use, a poetic use, an aesthetic use of language.  Why?  The writer of John's Gospel wants to get at the center of our being, at our hearts and at the place where we decide.  The writer of John's Gospel wants us to change our lives and be on a path of transformation.

To do this, the writer of John's Gospel presents stories about the Signs of Jesus.  The signs of Jesus are meant to shock our common sense and scientific understanding of reality and provoke a spiritual understanding of reality.   They are stories about things which cannot be scientifically true.   In John's Gospel, the physical world, a substantial verified world with our five senses, is used to announce that the inward world of words is a substantial world where the transformation of human life takes place.

In John's Gospel, Jesus was presented as mocking those who were limited to literal meanings of language; the signs of Christ in John are a mocking of scientific and literal use of language.  Christ is shown to be one to provoke us to see the literal as a metaphor for the spiritual.

What is the spiritual meaning of walking on water, calming the sea and the multiplication of loaves?  The spiritual meaning is that the Risen Christ is a water man and bread man, in the great labeling tradition found in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Moses was a water man and a bread man.  He interceded, and the waters of the Red Sea were parted.  He interceded, and water came forth from the rock to quench the thirst of the Israelites.  Elisha, the prophet, was a bread and water man.  Elisha multiplied loaves of bread so a hundred could eat.  He also levitated a  lost axe head to the surface of the water.  He cast his mantle on the Jordan River and the waters parted.  The Christ-based communities of the Gospel of John presented Jesus in this bread and water tradition.  Why?

The Christ-based communities of the Gospel of John were baptismal and eucharistic communities, whose practices derived from Jesus.

Baptism is the taming of the waters of death through the re-creation of the Holy Spirit.  Eucharist is the belief that as real as physical bread is, the spiritual bread of heaven of the inward presence of the Risen Christ is just as real and vital for the life of the community.

The warning of the Gospel today is this; too many people want Jesus to be just a baker-king, that is, a king who just supplies the physical needs of humanity in continuous magical supernatural ways.  We can want Jesus to be such an interventionist for our physical needs alone.  But he will not allow himself to be taken to be this kind of king.  Jesus is a spiritual interventionist and this is more life changing than simply getting another meal.

The words of Jesus are spirit and life.  They seek to do an inside job within the words which make up our interior lives and influence how we think and act.  The words of Jesus enter us, like eating the Eucharistic bread from heaven.  The Sign of the multiplication of loaves which takes place in us through the living word of Christ within us, is when are lives are changed so that we share the actual bread of our lives with each other so that all have enough.  

Today, we receive the multiplied bread of heaven again today, symbolic of the words of Jesus which are spirit and life, enough spirit and life to transform us to be people of love, justice, kindness, hope and faith today.  Amen.

Sunday School, July 25, 2021 Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, B proper 12

Sunday School, July 25, 2021        Ninth Sunday after Pentecost,  B proper 12

Sunday School Themes

The Next four Sundays will be from the Gospel of John, chapter six

There will be the story of the feeding of the large multitude and an account of Jesus walking on the water.

We tell stories about what is great in the present by comparing them with stories of greatness in the past.

If we talk about home run hitters today, we talk about the player who really made homerun hitting great.  We talk about Babe Ruth.

When the Gospel writers were telling the story of Jesus they told about the greatness of Jesus by telling stories which were like the stories which everyone knew about the great lawgiver Moses.

Moses led his people out of slavery in Egypt.  He escaped the Egyptian armies by raising his staff and the waters of the Red Sea were parted and the people walked on dry land over the sea.

The story about Jesus showed that he was like Moses, he had a great water story.  He walked on water to the amazement of his disciples.

When Moses led his people out of Egypt, they had to make a long journey and so they camped in the wilderness.   They were not farmers and they did not have place to buy food.  They were able to grow wheat for bread, so Moses prayed to God and God sent a special bread from heaven, called Manna.  The people of Israel ate the heavenly bread for forty years.

People in the time of Jesus believed that someone great like Moses would come and this great one would provide bread for his people.

So the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand people in a special way in the wilderness is a story to compare Jesus and Moses.

It is presented as a story about eating bread and fish but the story is really going to be a way of teaching a lesson.  In the next three weeks we will be studying the lessons of Jesus about eating bread from heaven.

The Gospel also has a child element.  It has the most famous picnic lunch of history.  A young boy brought his lunch and he gave it to Jesus to share and everyone was fed.  It is a lesson for us to share what we have because when our part is added with what everyone else gives we can experience the miracle of doing some "big" things together.  The Gospel lesson is about Christ blessing what we share and we can have plenty left over to share with others.

A story sermon about Manna

  Did your mom or dad ever serve you some food and you said to them, “What’s this?”  And what if you mom and dad then began to call all of your food, “What’s this?”  We’re going to MacDonald and I’m going to order some “What’s this?”  Tomorrow for breakfast, I’m going to have some “What’s this?”  I see that mom has packed some “What’s this?” in my lunch box today.

  Do you think that we should name our food, “What’s this?”

  We could but, it has already happened.  It happened in a Bible story that was written a long time ago.

  The famous Prince of Egypt, Moses led his people out of Egypt.  He brought them into the desert and they had no food, and so they complained.  Moses prayed to God and asked God to provide some food. And so God had some food fall on the ground like snow flakes.  Moses told the people, “Go and gather the food from the ground and eat it.”  It was a new and strange food for the people, so do you know what they said when they saw it?  They said, “What’s this?”  or in Hebrew they said, Mah Nah?  And that means What’s this?  So do you know what they begin to call their new and strange food?  Manna, which means “What’s this?”  What are going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner?  You guessed it, “We’re going to have, “What’s this?”

  The “What’s this” food kept the people alive in their long journey for forty years.

  Some times we may have to try some new food.  And instead of saying, “What’s this?” we should say, Thank you God, thank you mom and dad for another meal that will help me grow strong.

  The next time you think about not eating your food, I want you to remember the “What this?” story.  And when you remember the “What’s this?” story, I want you to remember to be thankful for food, and remember to pray for all of the people in this world who do not have enough food.  Okay…say Mah Nah.  What this?

Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist
July 25, 2021: The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

Here in This Place; I Am the Bread of Life; Seek Ye First; We Will Glorify

Song: Here in This Place (Renew! # 14)    Gray Hymnal or song sheet at the back

1-Here is this place new light streaming now is the darkness vanished away; see in this space our fears and our dreamings brought here to you in the light of this day.  Gather us in, the lost and the forsaken, gather us in the proud and the strong; give us a heart, so meek and so lowly, we shall arise at the sound of our name.

4-Not in the dark of buildings confining, not in the some heaven, light years away—here in this place the new light is shining, now is the kingdom and now is the day,  Gather us in and hold us forever, gather us in and make us your own; gather us in, all peoples together, fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and 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 letter to the Ephesian Church

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 145

All your works praise you, O LORD, * and your faithful servants bless you.

They make known the glory of your kingdom * and speak of your power;
That the peoples may know of your power *and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; * your dominion endures throughout all ages.
The LORD is faithful in all his words * and merciful in all his deeds.

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 John

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

The next day, when the people who remained after the feeding of the five thousand saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.  When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, `He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

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: I Am the Bread of Life, Hymn  # 335   (blue hymnal)

1          I am the bread of life, they who come to me shall not hunger; they who believe in me shall not thirst.  No one can come to  me unless the Father draw them.  And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.

2          I am the resurrection, I am the life, they who believe in me, even if they die, they shall live forever.  And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day.
3          Yes Lord we believe that you are the Christ, the Son of god who has come into the world. And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will raise them up on the last day

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:  Seek Ye First  (Blue Hymnal, # 711)

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

Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia!  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:  We Will Glorify,  (Renew! # 33 gray hymnal)

1-We will glorify the King of kings, we will glorify the Lamb; we will glorify the Lord of lords, who is the great I Am.

4-Hallelujah to the King of kings, hallelujah to the Lamb; hallelujah to the Lord of lords, who is the great I Am.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

The Shepherd Metaphor for God and the Healing Ministry of Christ

8 Pentecost P.11 July 18, 2021
Jeremiah 23: 1-6. Psalm 23
Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Lectionary Link

One of the best known metaphors for God is the found in Psalm 23 where the Psalmist declares, "The Lord is my Shepherd."

To know that one is cared for by God is the ideal spiritual state of humanity.

The attributes of God as a good Shepherd can also be seen in the presentations of the healing ministry of Jesus as these stories are used to illustrate that Jesus, like God his Father, was a Good Shepherd.

And we in the metaphor, are represented by the sheep as those who can have "sheep-like" behaviors.  What do sheep do?  They wander from the herd, going it alone in search of experiences beyond the heard.  But sheep get lost and alienated from the herd and the shepherd.  People live in states of alienation and separation from God and from each other.  Sin is being alienated from God and from each other, even to the point of hurting each other or exploiting each other.

Sheep also get sick; they have birthing events.  Sheep can get attacked, get hungry and be in need of water.  The shepherd has to be also a lay veterinarian in applying oil and medicine to the wounds and tend to the illnesses of the sheep.

The Shepherd has to be a protector and rescuer for the sheep because there are predators and thieves.  A Good Shepherd is also an animal psychologists and attends to the moods of the sheep to cheer them up and keep them playfully involved.

One of the chief presentations of Jesus by the Gospels of the early Christ-based communities in the ten decades after Jesus left this earth, is Jesus as a healing shepherd.

We sometimes get hung up on the scientific efficacy of the healing miracles of Christ.  We forget that health and healing and medicine is different in each society at different times.  We should be understanding medical anthropologists as we regard the healings of Christ in the salvation message of the Christ-based communities.  We might get trapped into worry about healing.  Why did Jesus just heal a few people and not everyone?  Why doesn't everyone get healed who is sick today?  Doesn't Jesus and the Risen Christ want everyone to be completely healthy all of the time?  Because these questions are troublesome to us regarding who gets healed and who does not, it is better to ponder the message of healing Salvation which the Christ-based Gospel communities presented to their members.  The long and short of it is that the Risen Christ is present in sickness and in health, in all life situations and at our deaths and beyond.  If the Risen Christ is present in all life situations, then we can bear the fact that some people get healed and some don't, simply because of the free conditions of the world.

In the healing stories of Jesus we can find some crucial features of Jesus as the Good Shepherd offering the healthful salvation to our world.  Many of the healing stories of Jesus are associated with the forgiveness of sin.  This does not mean that a person's sin necessarily causes sickness.  Sin is the general condition of alienation from God.  When Jesus declares forgiveness of sin, Jesus is trying to say "little lamb, do not run away from God's fold, you belong to God the shepherd."  Forgiveness is the declarative knowledge to a person that he or she belongs to God's fold and is included in the family of God.

The second aspect of health and salvation in the healing ministry of Jesus, is the declaration that because each person is created by God, they are not "dirty, impure, defiled, or mistakes" and thus to be shunned and separated from the community; rather they are declared clean, pure, and righteous as people with clean hearts and right spirits renewed within them.  Many of the healing stories of Jesus involve getting rid of the notion of person being one with an unclean spirit and being put into a right spirit.  The healing of Jesus is deep and it is spiritual because the Indwelling Holy Spirit is the clean heart and right spirit renewed within us.

The third aspect of health and salvation in the healing ministry of Jesus, is distinctly social and communal.  Jesus restores wandering and shunned sheep to the herd, the community of faith.  Religious communities often shun and segregate for very biased reasons.  Sick persons, declared as such by the religious public health authorities, were quarantined and shunned.  Health is always communal and social.  You might say that a person who dies in the loving embrace of family, church and friend is sickness, but it is not; it is the holy health of dying because being loved and accepted by a community of people within all of the conditions of life that any of us must face, is the greatest expression of the salvation and health of Christ.  Jesus did not come to stop time and aging; otherwise no one would ever get sick and die.  The health of Jesus is the salvation of people knowing they are God's children, knowing that God declares them clean and righteous, and knowing that God's people fully include them within the love fellowship of the community.

My cup flows over; surely your goodness will follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This is the Eucharistic church, at banquet, feasting on the salvation of Christ, together, in communion and fellowship and knowing that we belong to God forever.  Amen.

The Continuum of Health and Sickness

8  Pentecost P.11     July 18, 2021
Jeremiah 23:1-6  Psalm 23
Ephesians 2:11-22   Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Lectionary Link
Health and Sickness is a continuum that each of us lives on in the time of our lives.  At one end is our birth and at the other end is the complete loss of health which we call death.

We have to live always within the relative states of health and sickness within our societies.  And certainly the pandemic has pressed upon us the important social dimension of health; the denial of the social dimension is still causing people to die.  We have had to practice quarantine, sheltering in place, quarantining our faces with masks and we've had to practice social distancing, because the scientists of epidemiology have told us that we can literally kill each other.  Some have treated this health crisis rather fatalistically: "If it's my time to go, what's the big deal?"  The rejoinder is: "Well you may be okay to hasten your death, but don't force that fatalism on others whom you could infect."

We share a common obsession with health and sickness with people of every age.

In the time of Jesus, there were wonder workers, people who were seen to have the gift of healing, and Jesus was one who was such a wonder worker.  To adopt a Yogi Berraism, we might say that health and illness are 90 % mental half of the time.  So much of health and vulnerability to disease has to do with how we eat, drink, and sleep, stress in our lives, and whether we have regular good social bonding with a group of friends who nurture us with esteem and dignity.  We cannot separate mental health, social health, financial health, dietary health, from physical health.  We are holistic being in society.

From our Gospel for today, one of the insights is that sickness never goes away.  It has its own schedule.  Even when you want to take a rest and vacation, healing is needed somewhere.  I've often noticed that when I was taking a schedule vacations, that did not stop parishioners from getting sick or even dying.  Couldn't you just wait until I finish my vacation.  Sickness and disease and mental health and stressed out people do not schedule their conditions with anyone's time preference.

Jesus and the disciple could not take a rest; the work of health and healing is always and on-going both for ourselves and for those to whom it is given for us to attend.  What does this mean for the human community?

It means human community has to be established to be a shepherding and caring community, because in time we all are living on various manifestations of health and illness.

Retelling the stories of Jesus as a healer, within the community of the Risen Christ where the Gospel of Mark was written, means that the Risen Christ exists along side of us on the continuum of illness and health from birth through the grave and then beyond.

Sickness and death will never let us take a vacation from being a shepherding community.  We may not feel like were much use against various types of cancer or physical maladies, but as a faith community, we know that faith and fellowship are the most powerful placebos which in psychosomatic ways make people better and improve our well-being as we careen to the state of death, of having lost the living health of the physical body.

The reason that we have the sacrament of the prayer for the sick is because we are a Shepherding, Caring and healing Community.  Jesus healed, first the mind by admitting the quarantined sick into the actual touch of the community.  Touching the fringe of his garment is all they dared to do; but he did more and he turned and touched them as a way of saying you are not quarantined from God's love and care, or my care, nor from the care of those who are in my community.  The community of Christ is to be a community of orientation towards health so that people practice the care of health toward each other.  Some people treat Jesus as a magic healer and seem to indicate that we really had faith in Jesus, we would not get ill, we would get instantly cured when we were ill.  This is not true to the fact of time and living on a continuum of health and illness.

Today, let us be a community of health and healing.  We can be a powerful placebo by offering the dignity of care to people so that they don't feel alone or neglected.  We can make sure that everyone has the most basic medicine of all.  Food.  Food and eating the right food in the right amounts is the most basic medicine of all.  Justice and dignity are the most important ingredients of good mental health.  Do you think that we would ever have any protests or riots, if poor people and people of color had plenty to eat and had the same economic rights which most of us have enjoyed?  Economic health and economic advantage for everyone in our society is a health issue and we as the church of Jesus Christ should call our society to the shepherding ministry which we have for the common health of everyone.

Too often, we are fatalistic people willing to put off general health until after everyone is dead.  Do we think that believing in eternal life lets us off the hook from bringing general health to as many people as we can in as many ways as we can?

Because we have have the eternal life of the Spirit in us now, we have the force which impels us to do the shepherding work of health while we live to improve the health of everyone so that they are in the state of mind to be thankful for the goodness of God for the gift of humanity community.

Please do not limit the work of healing to fantastical healing stories of Jesus of Nazareth; let us get to work and become the powerful placebo of faith to promote the common good health of all today.  Salvation in the afterlife is wonderful; salvation health for as many a possible in this life is equally valuable.  Let us get to work in our healing ministry today.  Amen.

Lectionary Link

When one reads the Gospel accounts one can often get the impression that the ministry of Jesus was something like the resident doctors in a large city ER hospital.  One gets impression that Jesus is constantly being thronged by sick people who want to be healed.  It sometimes seem like his healing role is even greater than his teaching roles in the Gospel.

The prominence of sick people that are part of the Gospel record invites us to understand sickness in the time of Jesus.

One could say that "sick people" were an entire demographic group of people during the time of Jesus.  When you and I think about sickness, we think about medical diagnosis of a condition that deviates from what we regard to be our normal condition of health.  We live in a world of rhetoric about medical and pharmacological interventions; every other television commercial invites to a medication to suggest that our doctors prescribe.  With all of advances in medical knowledge, it does not seem that we regard ourselves to be any healthier than the people of any other period.  We are obsessed with being healthier, even while we break the obvious rules of health which involve eating right, exercising and avoiding stress.

The general aging process of life means that everyone is always already sick and careening toward the entropy of death.  Health therefore is relative; but it probably means that we are comfortable enough to at least be on our way to living the age of life expectancy in our place and time.

During the time of Jesus, the class of sick people was a religious and public health designation.   The purity code of the time classified life situations into categories of being clean or unclean, pure or defiled.  People with sickness were designated as ritually impure.  This designation would keep one from the being a part of the community as long as the symptoms persisted.  Sickness is always communal; when one person is sick, a host of family members are also involved and so the effects of someone being designated as unclean because of their condition left lots of people and their relatives in the state being ritually impure or they would be unobservant in their religious practices because they had to support their "sick" relative.

There were also theological overtones that went with being sick, including blaming the victims.  A person must be sick because he or she or their family member must have done something wrong to incur such a condition.  In the time of Jesus, it was very important to be lucky or able or well, because if you weren't you could be marked.  You had to bear the mark of being unclean and therefore not worthy of certain religious society because you did not want to infect the community with one's curse exemplified by the symptoms of one's illness.

The throngs of "sick" people that went after Jesus is an indication of a large number of the populace who had no religious standing because of their condition.  The other class of unclean persons, were the publican and sinners, those who had to interact regularly with the Roman Gentile officials and soldiers for their livelihood and so did not observe the ritual purity rules.

Sick people and sinners were a large class of people in the time of Jesus.  And what did Jesus do?  He usurped the role of the priests by ipso facto declaring sick people clean and pure and by declaring sinners, forgiven by God and therefore made clean by God.  Jesus noted that the classification of so many people in his locale as unclean sick people and sinners, did not truly represent the God of the prophets who said that good news meant the inclusion of the blind and the sick and the oppressed and the broken-hearted.  The healing salvation of Jesus primarily involved the declaration of God's love and mercy for all people, especially the sick and the sinners.  The salvation and healing presence of Jesus essentially meant the proclamation of the accessibility of God to all.

King David desired to build a house for God; his son Solomon was the one who built the famous Temple in Jerusalem.  The prophets reminded their people about God's House.  God's House was to be a house for all people.  People could not be segregated or separated from God's presence because of sin or sickness.  We come to God because we need God and want to clean up our act.  If God is only available to the people who have already cleaned up their act, lots of people are missing out on access to God.

The sinners and sick people of the time of Jesus believed that if they could touch the fringe of the clothes of Jesus, they could be forgiven and healed by being declared as clean and acceptable to God.  In the Jewish wardrobe  the fringes or hem of a garment had special significance.  Some included decorative tassels and often the special fringes (tzitzit) were worked into a rounded hem of the robe.  The shawl with the fringes signifying the commandments of God were a sign of the mantle of a prophetic office.  People in faith, paid tribute to the prophetic office of Jesus in reaching out to touch the symbols of his office.  But Jesus did them even better; he touched them; he placed his hand on them thus granting them full accessibility to him and his message about the declaration of the cleanliness of those who once had to live under the classification as unclean sinners and sick people.

During the time of Jesus and Paul, one's group identity was an issue.  One could be observant Pharisees and Sadducees in good standing.  One could be a follower of John the Baptist.  One could be Gentile.  Who am I?  Am I a member of the synagogue?  Am I a Gentile not allowed in the synagogue?  Am I a person victimized as unclean because of sickness or my failure to attain ritual purity?  Am I disqualified from ritual purity because my job requires me to interact with Gentiles?  Paul solved the citizenship issue; he wrote that our citizenship is in heaven.  The new temple is the temple of the connection of believers in God's grace and mercy.  People, not a building is what makes up the universal household of God.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the new temple, the church, the body of Christ and everyone is welcome into the body of Christ.  Jesus Christ is a universal presentation of God who lets everyone know that by the virtue of being human, they are declared to forgiven and healthy to know access to God's grace.

To be human is to live within communities which define sickness and sin.  Each of us have our own classification of what it means to be clean or unclean, acceptable of unacceptable.  Jesus Christ is a reminder to us to be careful about implying that God has a bias against any person because of the conditions of life of any person.  Jesus Christ came to declare the unclean sinner as forgiven and thus made clean; he came to declare the sick person as clean and therefore able to live in the healthy regard of God and one's community.

Today let us accept that Jesus Christ has forgiven us and made us clean and acceptable.  Jesus Christ has declared us clean and healthy, even as our aging bodies often tempt us not to believe this.  And if Jesus has declared us clean and healthy, this is how when should live with each other; with grace, love, mercy and forgiveness.  Amen.






   

Sunday School, July 18, 2021 8 Pentecost B, proper 11

Sunday School, July 18, 2021   8 Pentecost  B, proper 11

Sunday School Themes

The lesson from 2 Samuel

Remind students that the second book of Samuel is most like the writing which we call history

The most important building in Israel was the Temple

The most important King of Israel David did not build the most important building, the Temple, though in the lesson today, we read that King David notice that he was living in a nice palace home and he thought God should have a good place as well.  But God told David that he would not build the Temple but one of his sons would.  His son Solomon built the first Temple and so it is often called Solomon’s Temple.

What was the traveling “Tent Temple” called?  The tabernacle

Another theme from Jeremiah, Psalm Twenty 23 and the Gospel is the frequent theme of Sheep and Shepherd.

You might let the children know that Psalm 23 is perhaps the best known and use writing in the Bible and it is poem about how someone knew God to be like a very caring shepherd.

Good leaders are like good caring shepherds.

Jesus in his time, noticed that so many people were like sheep who did not have shepherds.  Like children who did not have caring parents.  The mission of the life of Jesus was to help us to bring together the  people who were needy and the people who had the power and strength to take care of the needy.

Today, we need to be shepherds when we are given wealth, power, and education to take care of others.  Why?  Because we are often like sheep who need to be cared for.

Here is a sermon which asks us to play the sheep or shepherd game:

  Today we have read about sheep and shepherds.  In the Psalm we read, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

  So God is a like a good shepherd who takes good care of us.  And sometimes we do need care.  But we also can be shepherds too, because we can give care to others as well.

  Let’s play a game, sheep or shepherd.

  When your mom fixes you dinner, who is the shepherd?  Who is the sheep?

  When you take feed and brush your dog, who is the shepherd?  Who is the sheep?

  When you help your little brother put on his shoes; who is the shepherd?  Who is the sheep?

  When the doctor helps me get better from my sickness; who is the shepherd?  Who is the sheep?

  When the nurse helps the patient; who is the shepherd and who is the sheep?

  When a fireman helps to put out a fire at a family’s house; who is the shepherd?  Who is the sheep?

  So sometimes we get to be the shepherd when we can help others.  And sometimes we get to be sheep when we receive help from others.

  Sheep and shepherd.  Giving care and receiving care.  That is how this world works.

  Why do you think God made the world this way?

  I think God made the world this way to let us know that we need each other.  And the only way that we are going to be successful in life is to be successful together.

  God does not make us perfect alone.  We can only be perfect and complete as we help each other.

  And so God made this world like sheep and shepherds.  If we have strength and power and wealth and knowledge, we need to use it to help others.  And when we need something, we want someone to be like a good shepherd to us and help us.

   When you think about sheep and shepherd, just remember that God has made us to need each other and to help each other.

Intergenerational Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 18, 2021: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: The Lord is My Shepherd, Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Alleluia, Awesome God

Song: The Lord is my Shepherd, I’ll walk with Him Always.   

The Lord is my Shepherd, I’ll walk with Him always

He leads me by still waters, I’ll walk with Him always

Always, always, I’ll walk with Him always.

Always, always, I’ll walk with Him always.

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.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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  Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

 

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd; * I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures * and leads me beside still waters.

He revives my soul * and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake.

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 Mark

People: Glory to you, Lord Christ.

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

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: Michael, Row the Boat Ashore (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 164)

Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.  Michael, row the boat ashore, hallelujah.

Sister help to trim the sail, halleluah.  Sister help to trim the sail, hallelujah.

Jordon River is chilly and cold, hallelujah.  Kills the body but not the soul, hallelujah.

River is deep and wide, hallelujah.  Milk and honey on the other side, hallelujah.

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.

The Prayer continues with these words

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.  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:  Alleluia (Renew! # 136)

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.  Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.

He’s my savior, alleluia…

He is worthy, alleluia…

I will praise him, alleluia..

Maranatha, Alleluia….

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.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God!