May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 16
PROPER: 21B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 28, 2003
TEXT: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 – “And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.”
ISSUE: This passage is talking about the absolute necessity of faith and loyalty to our Lord, leaving the garbage dump of life behind. It is about moving on with Christ in as full a way as we can. Grasp for the future. Run for the prize. Seek renewed vision. Accept new leadership.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There have been essentially two sermons that have been difficult to plan and proclaim. I remember well my first Sunday at St. John’s on a Sunday in November of 1969. I couldn’t imagine, at the time, what I was going to say and what would be acceptable to a group of people that I did not know, except for a few vestry persons that I knew only through brief acquaintances and meeting where what we were all doing was to try and impress one another. The second most difficult has been what to say as we wind things up together. We all know that all good things do have to come to an end sometime, and that’s the way of life. Over the years, we have often worried about the parish when one of its active members dies. “St. John’s will never be the same,” some of us have said in our grief. But the fact of the matter is, things carry on by the very grace of God.
Well, when all else fails, I think, for this last time together, I’ll just talk with you about the Gospel and the Scripture readings, which have been my custom for many years. Life will go on, and we can’t miss the shear enjoyment and blessing of the Gospel of our Lord on this Sunday. And incidentally, this Gospel reading from Mark today is something of a challenge, but a profound way in which Jesus urges all of his disciples to learn to leave behind anything that separates them from him, and to continue their lives, their faith, and their ministries in constant faithful loyalty.
Last week there was concern among Jesus’ disciples over who was the greatest. Jesus’ response was to become identified as a vulnerable child and to serve all God’s children as brothers and sisters in the world. But you know the disciples often come across as dense. They just don’t always get the message, or they are quick to forget, like so many of us. Actually, the passage likely reflects some early factions within the very early church that were of concern as to their orthodoxy or legitimacy. That concern is reflected in this event where close disciples of Jesus challenge the right of others to speak in the name of Jesus.
The disciples in this passage come to Jesus concerned that another folk healer or exorcist is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It is as if they think that the message, teaching, healing ministry of Jesus is already copyrighted. Obviously here the disciples still see themselves as part of a very unique community of Jesus, even if he does not want them to take on governmental positions in the Kingdom of God. He taught them that who was the greatest didn’t matter at all. What mattered was to be in the service of God’s caring and love.
In the passage from the Book of Numbers, which Mark may well have had in mind, Moses becomes very distressed that as he has led the people of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage, the people begin to complain. They are tired of the manna that God has provided. It would be better to be back in Egypt with the leaks, onions, melons, cucumbers, and garlic were provided for free. There had been a good time when the Israelites first came to Egypt under the leadership of Joseph. But time passed, and Joseph died, and their life in Egypt turned sour. They forgot that the food was for free, because they were slaves and badly oppressed. Funny how people even today like to reminisce about the good old days. Remember the good old days? The good old days were the crash of 29, and the deep recession of 39. World War II, the Korean conflict, the creation, making, and using the Atomic Bomb, the civil rights turmoil and riots, Vietnam that turned out to be horrible a disaster, the old Prayer Book in Elizabethan English that contained few of the liturgies we have come to cherish today. They were the good old days? Moses with the help of God was made to realize that new leadership had to be developed, and the load had to be shared, so seventy prophets or disciples were appointed and the Spirit of God came upon them, and they carried on a ministry with Moses. Outside the camp were two others, Eldad and Medad, and they were not with the other seventy, but they too received the Spirit of God. The seventy prophets wanted Moses to stop them. But, Moses said, “Would that all of God’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them all.” You can’t turn back to the good old day, and truly they weren’t that good anyway.
Jesus says “no” to this very concept of thinking that only certain people have the Spirit, the gnosis, and some secret exclusive knowledge of all that God has to say. If Judaism can cast out demons, and liberate people and share the love of God, leave them alone. Rejoice in that. If Islam can proclaim a God of love, care, and compassion of God; then recognize that the Spirit of God may be working there in ways we do not understand. If some Christian Pentecostal group is serving human need rejoice in God’s all encompassing presence in the world. The issue seems to be that Jesus wants his disciples to stop worrying about others, and keep focused on their own mission and calling as the disciples of God to all that are vulnerable and live into their own calling that leads to and encompasses the Kingdom of God, the Realm of God, the Dominion of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ve often thought that when we start worrying about what’s going on in someone else’s household, and presume to place judgment, we’d better be looking at what’s going on in our own household, which may be why Jesus starts talking to his own disciples about dealing with their own issues.
Scholars are inclined to believe that the reference here of not giving a cup of cold water to these little ones may not only refer to other disciples but to the abuse of children and slaves. It’s better to have a millstone (a form of capital punishment) `hung around your neck than to abuse a child. If your hand, foot, or eye, causes you to stumble by using your power over a child or anyone else, it would be better that they be cut off. The hand, foot (penis), and eye were sexual euphemisms at the time this passage was written, but the passage can also be interpreted as allowing ourselves to be freed from anything that makes us less than human.
The impact of this part of the passage is that the disciples, and the membership of the church are not to live in the ‘garbage dump,’ translated hell, where the maggots (worms never die) are, and the fires outside the villages never go out. Like the bad son in the story of the Prodigal Son, he came to his senses and decided to get out of the pigpen. Don’t turn back to the ways of the past and become caught up in a culture that is unseemly, in human, and is in a desperate need for change. Abuse is essentially anyway in which a person in power or position uses that power or position to humiliate or fail to respect the dignity of another human being. You cannot abuse another person and see them as you equal, or serve them at the same time. The garbage dump is also a place where we get rid of the things of the past that are worn out and finished.
The Israelites had to learn to cut themselves off from Egypt and go forward to their promised land. They had to learn to look forward to their future. The leeks, onions, melons, cucumbers, and the garlic were remembered with affection, but they were actually living in a world of bondage. They realized that with Moses help that it was time to move ahead and develop new leadership whose aim was for the Promised Land. There has to be a breaking away from the old ways even for Jesus’ own that they too keep themselves detached from the stifling way of the world, its corrupted culture, and make the appropriate changes the would make them instruments of preparing for the Realm of God, where there is no abuse, power hungry people bullies. Again it is the realm of being in the service of God. Whatever it is that is making you cling and hold on to the past - hand, foot, or eye – cut it off and move on to the glory of God and to the welcoming of all into God’s Kingdom. If you are holding on too hard to the past, you have to let go. If your foot is caught in the door, you’ll have to take off the hinges. If your eyes are only focused on the past, and you have no vision for the future; you’d better get a new pair of glasses. It is only in the march and the parade with Christ that encompasses many servant leaders that we find a meaningful future.
Recently in the news there was told a very dramatic story of a young man that had gone hiking in some beautiful western canyons where he was also climbing. A rock dislodged and caught his arm. He struggled for hours to free himself. He was hopelessly trapped. Finally he realized that his only way out of this predicament was to cut off his arm with a not so sharp penknife he carried in his pocket. Once painfully released he walked for miles before being found by strangers who summoned saving help.
So it is when we seem to be trapped by certain things in our lives. We have to cut ourselves off from what holds us: addiction, bullying, manipulation, pride, or abusing others. Change, renewal, breaking free is sometimes very painful, very risky at the least. Yet the Spirit of God is out there to rescue, to reclaim us to be our future hope. It is painful for us to now cut ourselves off from one another. As imperfect as it was, we can cherish the past, so long as we know that what lies ahead is what is really important. I am so very grateful and honored by the love you all have given to me, and the esteem in which many of you have and do hold my ministry here at St. John’s. But it is time now to make the break, to cut off the relationship. It is time to focus on the future and what God is calling both you as a parish, and me as a retired priest to be in the future world. Know well that Medad and Eldad are out there somewhere full of the loving Spirit of God. There are other priests and prophets bearing the Spirit of God, which will bring to you as much and even more than I have been able to give. Like Moses, after 40 years in the wilderness, I’ve gotten tired. There are other prophets and priests greatly skilled and talented in a whole variety of ways that will be there for you.
And so my dear folks, friends, parishioners, remain faithful, deeply committed, and always loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ alone, his way, his truth, and his life teachings. Let nothing separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Keep washing one another’s feet. Keep drinking from the same cup.
Thursday, September 25, 2003Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(The congregation kneels. Selected persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving standing with the priest near the altar.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in St. John’s Parish: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially we thank you, Lord, for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and for all who have come from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The priest and the congregation offer the following prayer together.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fills our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)
Sunday, September 28, 2003
Sunday, September 21, 2003
Pentecost 15
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 15
PROPER: 20 B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 21,2003
TEXT: Mark 9:30-37 – “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me by the one who sent me.”
ISSUE: The way we regard children today is very different from the time of Jesus. To refer to an adult as a child was a serious insult. Children had no rights, and were considered slaves, with no status or honor. In drastic situations, children were saved last before adult family members. But Jesus honors them, and teaches his disciples who are arguing over who will be the greatest, that unless they reach out to the very least of God’s children, they have no greatness at all. Perhaps from the early stages of our children, from their entrance into the church through baptism, we might begin then and there to teach them what is true greatness.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
One of the marks of my ministry from its very beginning has been for some forty years now, to stress the importance and the meaning of Holy Baptism. Both through my early training and continuing study, I have along with the wider church attempted to reform and recover the true and basic meaning of this Sacrament that the Christian Church has always honored, and proclaimed as a basic sacrament in Christianity.
In the history of the church and its emphasis on this basic sacrament familiarity seemed to eventually breed contempt. It became what you do to little babies and children shortly after they are born, and hopefully before they died for fear of what might become of an un-baptized child. (Actually the belief that un-baptized children, or adults for that matter, are doomed is hardly an appreciation and affirmation of the God of Love.) Deeply ingrained in the early church and its members was the belief that children were basically evil. In the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Proverbs, and in the Apocrypha’s book of Sirach, there are a number of passages that make it clear that a parent that doesn’t severely discipline a child can be in big trouble in the future. Spare the rod and spoil the child is the essence of these Hebrew Scripture teachings. Even in Roman culture of Jesus’ time, a father had the right to execute his own child, if he so wished. Of course, we have had a long tradition that children were the continual offspring of Adam and Eve, thereby being sinful, and the sacrament became a kind of washing up baby from its evil ways by virtue of its nature.
Baptism has also had a kind of magical mystique as time passed. Through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism there was a kind of zapping mechanism that was believed to take place. Through the pouring of the water on the child or adult person they became magically transformed into good Christians, and an on going relationship with Christ’s church was not often honored. The magic was enough. In the Christendom period, up until a few years ago, children were exposed to some kind of folksy patriotic religious training. In public school many of us, and many youngster with little formal religious training in the church, learned the Lord’s Prayer, some of Psalms (especially the 23rd Psalm), and the pledge of allegiance to the flag, under God. Christian religious training seemed to come through a form of cultural osmosis for many people. We call it folk religion from a culture nominally Christian, but a Christianity often without much depth or sense of responsible Christian community. Of course, today we do not have that Christian majority and popularity in an age of so many other religions, fads, and philosophies that are sometimes a challenge to Christianity.
The original call for Holy Baptism in the Christian Scriptures comes from conclusion of Matthew’s 28:19 Gospel account: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always to the close of the age.” It really does not say anything about baptizing infants for their being evil, or for the purpose of saving them from hell. The commission does call for training, that is, teaching all people what Jesus taught his disciples. They are to be immersed into the name of the God of love, the Son of forgiveness, and the sustaining Spirit of love and hope. Baptism calls for the immersion, the literal dipping the world into the uncanny grace of God that says I love you just for the person that you are. The disciples are to be the servants with Christ to proclaim the good news of hope and love to the least, the last, and the lost. It is the call to immerse the world into that attitude and way of life.
In this gospel reading for this morning Jesus has already taught his disciples, still another time, that he will face suffering and persecution, death on the cross, as the result of his challenges to the culture of the time, and rise again in hope. Jesus is the Great Reversal in thinking and doing. The disciples have a very hard time getting it. They begin to argue in terms of who is the greatest among them, that is, who will have the most honor among them. What will be the pecking order among the disciples? Every body likes to be a hotshot sometime, who gets the prestige. The disciples who have traveled with Jesus simply cannot understand the concept of his suffering servant mentality, which is calling people to death of old ways and to the recovery of a new realm, dominion kingdom.
To demonstrate once again, Jesus takes a child and sets the child in their midst. We have to understand that the place of children in Jesus time is nothing like we think of them today. Strict sometimes very severe discipline was imposed. Most children died before the age of 16 years from unconquered disease and more especially from poor hygiene. Thirty percent of children died at birth. It was for children a time of terror. They experienced severe pain and suffering. Until the time of maturity, children had no rights and were considered as slaves, without the right of inheritance. Thus, when you hear the early church’s call for Christians to care for the widows and orphans, you have to remember that children who couldn’t inherit and were left penniless continued to live a life of suffering and poverty. Starkly different from our time, if a man had to save his family from a fire or other tragedy, the order was clear. He would save his father first, his mother secondly, his wife thirdly, and then the children. In a time of famine, children were fed last. People loved their children, especially the boys but for reasons of carrying on the family name, maintaining the family business, and being family servants. And a daughter-in-law that did not provide the family with a son was never accepted fully into the family.
Why did Jesus get crucified? From our standpoint, why would a nice guy like Jesus who used children in his illustrations for being saved from harm, or in his use of allowing children sit with him when he was teaching. From our point of view, Jesus was a nice guy in that regard. However, from his own time, what Jesus was saying to the early community, unless you put the last first and serve them you are not a follower of me. Children symbolized the vulnerable, the last, the least, often the lost by virtue of becoming orphans. The very fact that we now baptize little children, and have such respect for our children, and work so hard for their well being, and our hope that they will grow up to be free and liberated and special unique individuals comes from a Great Reversal, started by Jesus in the 1st Century. “Whoever welcomes a child [one of the least, last, and lost] in my name [Jesus] welcomes me, [and abides in a whole new way of life] and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. [The Almighty God of Love, Caring, Compassion, Keeper of the Disenfranchised and Inclusion.]”
The Holy Baptism of our children is loaded with profound symbolism. The baptism and acceptance of a child into our church implies the acceptance of the last, least, and lost into the Family of God, the church. Those who can essentially do nothing for themselves belong to God, and are ours to train in Christ’s commission of caring and serving one another. They become a full part of the family worthy to sit down and the table of the Lord, and participate in the Lord’s Supper. Children often cry, scream, and yell in church. How ought we to see that behavior? There are times when many of us see such behavior as that of a bad kid. Not so. It is the cries and screams of the world, the last, the least, the lost the lonely who are in need. They are in need of food, or in need of being removed from the poop of injustice, poverty, cruelty, and violence. They cry out for attention, and they simply cry out because they are there, and the church if it is true to it’s Lord must unquestionably pay attention!
We immerse them in fresh cleansing water, and present them faultless before the Lord God. We drown them to the old ways of thinking of oppression, suppression, slavery, phony honor, and raise them up to a new life of love and hope. We put a garment upon them; we clothe them for their ministry dressed in the white robe of the resurrected Christ. We anoint them, sign them, mark them, as Christ’s own forever, and make them a worthy part of the royal priesthood of Christ. We give them a lighted candle, a burning banner of signifying their partnership with Jesus Christ. We feed them with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ that they may never know a time when they were not welcomed at the table of the Lord.
When we receive these children into the church by virtue of their Holy Baptism, we are beginning their training in the servanthood ministry. As priest, parents, Godparents (or sponsors) and congregation with Jesus Christ, we are all renewed in our own significance as those marked and anointed as Christ’s own forever, and forever his caring compassionate servants in the world bringing dignity and hope to every human being. The main rationale of the church of God is that it fulfill Christ’s mission of training, dying to itself, and with Christ raising up everyone that is fallen, disenfranchised, or excluded, and immersing the nations and the world’s factions into the Love of God.
So! Today, Olivia, Elise, Matthew, Emmett, and Amelia are accepted for themselves, and for all they symbolize. They remind us clergy, parents, grandparents, Godparents, and the wider church community of our responsibility to train them for a servanthood mission with Christ and for an understanding of their own great dignity and worth. We are all reminded of the great commission to reach out to all human beings and the human needs of the world in the spirit of providing hope, dignity, justice, respect, and love. These are the very stuff of which the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Realm, the Dominion of God is made.
September 18, 2003
Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(The congregation kneels. Selected persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving standing with the priest near the altar.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in St. John’s Parish: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially we thank you, Lord, for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and for all who have come from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The priest and the congregation offer the following prayer together.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fills our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)
THE CELEBRATION AND
BLESSING OF A MARRIAGE
The Prelude
The Processional
The Exhortation p. 423
The Declaration of Consent p. 424
The Congregational response to the priest:
Priest: Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?
People: We will. p. 425
The Ministry of the Word
The Wedding Collect p. 425
Hebrew Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Holy Gospel: Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
The Homily by The Rev. David S. Remington, Rector
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Marriage
The exchange of vows and blessing of rings. p. 427
The pronouncement of husband and wife. p. 428
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer p. 428
The Wedding Prayers p. 429
A prayer in loving memory of Tom’s mother, Norma Ellena.
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Blessing of the Marriage
The Blessings p. 430
The Kiss of Peace p .431
The Recessional
The page numbers in the Wedding Service outline refer to The Book of Common Prayer. (The Red Prayer Book in the pew racks.)
SEASON: Pentecost 15
PROPER: 20 B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 21,2003
TEXT: Mark 9:30-37 – “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me by the one who sent me.”
ISSUE: The way we regard children today is very different from the time of Jesus. To refer to an adult as a child was a serious insult. Children had no rights, and were considered slaves, with no status or honor. In drastic situations, children were saved last before adult family members. But Jesus honors them, and teaches his disciples who are arguing over who will be the greatest, that unless they reach out to the very least of God’s children, they have no greatness at all. Perhaps from the early stages of our children, from their entrance into the church through baptism, we might begin then and there to teach them what is true greatness.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
One of the marks of my ministry from its very beginning has been for some forty years now, to stress the importance and the meaning of Holy Baptism. Both through my early training and continuing study, I have along with the wider church attempted to reform and recover the true and basic meaning of this Sacrament that the Christian Church has always honored, and proclaimed as a basic sacrament in Christianity.
In the history of the church and its emphasis on this basic sacrament familiarity seemed to eventually breed contempt. It became what you do to little babies and children shortly after they are born, and hopefully before they died for fear of what might become of an un-baptized child. (Actually the belief that un-baptized children, or adults for that matter, are doomed is hardly an appreciation and affirmation of the God of Love.) Deeply ingrained in the early church and its members was the belief that children were basically evil. In the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Proverbs, and in the Apocrypha’s book of Sirach, there are a number of passages that make it clear that a parent that doesn’t severely discipline a child can be in big trouble in the future. Spare the rod and spoil the child is the essence of these Hebrew Scripture teachings. Even in Roman culture of Jesus’ time, a father had the right to execute his own child, if he so wished. Of course, we have had a long tradition that children were the continual offspring of Adam and Eve, thereby being sinful, and the sacrament became a kind of washing up baby from its evil ways by virtue of its nature.
Baptism has also had a kind of magical mystique as time passed. Through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism there was a kind of zapping mechanism that was believed to take place. Through the pouring of the water on the child or adult person they became magically transformed into good Christians, and an on going relationship with Christ’s church was not often honored. The magic was enough. In the Christendom period, up until a few years ago, children were exposed to some kind of folksy patriotic religious training. In public school many of us, and many youngster with little formal religious training in the church, learned the Lord’s Prayer, some of Psalms (especially the 23rd Psalm), and the pledge of allegiance to the flag, under God. Christian religious training seemed to come through a form of cultural osmosis for many people. We call it folk religion from a culture nominally Christian, but a Christianity often without much depth or sense of responsible Christian community. Of course, today we do not have that Christian majority and popularity in an age of so many other religions, fads, and philosophies that are sometimes a challenge to Christianity.
The original call for Holy Baptism in the Christian Scriptures comes from conclusion of Matthew’s 28:19 Gospel account: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always to the close of the age.” It really does not say anything about baptizing infants for their being evil, or for the purpose of saving them from hell. The commission does call for training, that is, teaching all people what Jesus taught his disciples. They are to be immersed into the name of the God of love, the Son of forgiveness, and the sustaining Spirit of love and hope. Baptism calls for the immersion, the literal dipping the world into the uncanny grace of God that says I love you just for the person that you are. The disciples are to be the servants with Christ to proclaim the good news of hope and love to the least, the last, and the lost. It is the call to immerse the world into that attitude and way of life.
In this gospel reading for this morning Jesus has already taught his disciples, still another time, that he will face suffering and persecution, death on the cross, as the result of his challenges to the culture of the time, and rise again in hope. Jesus is the Great Reversal in thinking and doing. The disciples have a very hard time getting it. They begin to argue in terms of who is the greatest among them, that is, who will have the most honor among them. What will be the pecking order among the disciples? Every body likes to be a hotshot sometime, who gets the prestige. The disciples who have traveled with Jesus simply cannot understand the concept of his suffering servant mentality, which is calling people to death of old ways and to the recovery of a new realm, dominion kingdom.
To demonstrate once again, Jesus takes a child and sets the child in their midst. We have to understand that the place of children in Jesus time is nothing like we think of them today. Strict sometimes very severe discipline was imposed. Most children died before the age of 16 years from unconquered disease and more especially from poor hygiene. Thirty percent of children died at birth. It was for children a time of terror. They experienced severe pain and suffering. Until the time of maturity, children had no rights and were considered as slaves, without the right of inheritance. Thus, when you hear the early church’s call for Christians to care for the widows and orphans, you have to remember that children who couldn’t inherit and were left penniless continued to live a life of suffering and poverty. Starkly different from our time, if a man had to save his family from a fire or other tragedy, the order was clear. He would save his father first, his mother secondly, his wife thirdly, and then the children. In a time of famine, children were fed last. People loved their children, especially the boys but for reasons of carrying on the family name, maintaining the family business, and being family servants. And a daughter-in-law that did not provide the family with a son was never accepted fully into the family.
Why did Jesus get crucified? From our standpoint, why would a nice guy like Jesus who used children in his illustrations for being saved from harm, or in his use of allowing children sit with him when he was teaching. From our point of view, Jesus was a nice guy in that regard. However, from his own time, what Jesus was saying to the early community, unless you put the last first and serve them you are not a follower of me. Children symbolized the vulnerable, the last, the least, often the lost by virtue of becoming orphans. The very fact that we now baptize little children, and have such respect for our children, and work so hard for their well being, and our hope that they will grow up to be free and liberated and special unique individuals comes from a Great Reversal, started by Jesus in the 1st Century. “Whoever welcomes a child [one of the least, last, and lost] in my name [Jesus] welcomes me, [and abides in a whole new way of life] and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. [The Almighty God of Love, Caring, Compassion, Keeper of the Disenfranchised and Inclusion.]”
The Holy Baptism of our children is loaded with profound symbolism. The baptism and acceptance of a child into our church implies the acceptance of the last, least, and lost into the Family of God, the church. Those who can essentially do nothing for themselves belong to God, and are ours to train in Christ’s commission of caring and serving one another. They become a full part of the family worthy to sit down and the table of the Lord, and participate in the Lord’s Supper. Children often cry, scream, and yell in church. How ought we to see that behavior? There are times when many of us see such behavior as that of a bad kid. Not so. It is the cries and screams of the world, the last, the least, the lost the lonely who are in need. They are in need of food, or in need of being removed from the poop of injustice, poverty, cruelty, and violence. They cry out for attention, and they simply cry out because they are there, and the church if it is true to it’s Lord must unquestionably pay attention!
We immerse them in fresh cleansing water, and present them faultless before the Lord God. We drown them to the old ways of thinking of oppression, suppression, slavery, phony honor, and raise them up to a new life of love and hope. We put a garment upon them; we clothe them for their ministry dressed in the white robe of the resurrected Christ. We anoint them, sign them, mark them, as Christ’s own forever, and make them a worthy part of the royal priesthood of Christ. We give them a lighted candle, a burning banner of signifying their partnership with Jesus Christ. We feed them with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ that they may never know a time when they were not welcomed at the table of the Lord.
When we receive these children into the church by virtue of their Holy Baptism, we are beginning their training in the servanthood ministry. As priest, parents, Godparents (or sponsors) and congregation with Jesus Christ, we are all renewed in our own significance as those marked and anointed as Christ’s own forever, and forever his caring compassionate servants in the world bringing dignity and hope to every human being. The main rationale of the church of God is that it fulfill Christ’s mission of training, dying to itself, and with Christ raising up everyone that is fallen, disenfranchised, or excluded, and immersing the nations and the world’s factions into the Love of God.
So! Today, Olivia, Elise, Matthew, Emmett, and Amelia are accepted for themselves, and for all they symbolize. They remind us clergy, parents, grandparents, Godparents, and the wider church community of our responsibility to train them for a servanthood mission with Christ and for an understanding of their own great dignity and worth. We are all reminded of the great commission to reach out to all human beings and the human needs of the world in the spirit of providing hope, dignity, justice, respect, and love. These are the very stuff of which the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Realm, the Dominion of God is made.
September 18, 2003
Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(The congregation kneels. Selected persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving standing with the priest near the altar.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in St. John’s Parish: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially we thank you, Lord, for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and for all who have come from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The priest and the congregation offer the following prayer together.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fills our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)
THE CELEBRATION AND
BLESSING OF A MARRIAGE
The Prelude
The Processional
The Exhortation p. 423
The Declaration of Consent p. 424
The Congregational response to the priest:
Priest: Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?
People: We will. p. 425
The Ministry of the Word
The Wedding Collect p. 425
Hebrew Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Holy Gospel: Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
The Homily by The Rev. David S. Remington, Rector
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Marriage
The exchange of vows and blessing of rings. p. 427
The pronouncement of husband and wife. p. 428
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer p. 428
The Wedding Prayers p. 429
A prayer in loving memory of Tom’s mother, Norma Ellena.
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Blessing of the Marriage
The Blessings p. 430
The Kiss of Peace p .431
The Recessional
The page numbers in the Wedding Service outline refer to The Book of Common Prayer. (The Red Prayer Book in the pew racks.)
Sunday, September 14, 2003
Pentecost 14
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 14
PROPER: 19B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 14, 2003
TEXT: Mark 8:27-38 Peter’s Confession and Jesus’ Call
Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” . . . . . . . But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” . . . . . . “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
ISSUE: Following Jesus as Lord, denying ones self, and taking up the cross is a tremendous shift in the normal scripting of life, both for the time of Jesus and even for now. Jesus was building a new family whose emphasis was so very different. It would not be a family of intimate inner concern and self-serving, but a family of outreach, caring, and compassion. It would confront the world with daring wonder. In Jesus Christ the followers die with him, to be born into a new way of life, in the realm of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This passage from the Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the gospel accounts, is truly and important one. It marks one of the earliest accounts and statements of who Jesus is truly perceived to be, the Messiah. It also describes the stark reality of what it means to be a mission-oriented disciple of Jesus, which folks from the time of Peter himself have had difficulty comprehending.
Jesus raises the question among his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” He was not giving a test. Remember that in this time a persons identity was given by the family: who you married, education, place in the family, and occupation, and your role. What has developed when Jesus selected his disciples and abandoned his own family was the establishment of a new family relationship. He needs to know his identity role, place, in this newly established family. Without some kind of identification and status, or honor, Jesus could not be effective. He would be seen only as a meaningless misfit. Peter says that the people are saying that he is Elijah, Moses, one of the prophets. Moses was a great and highly respected leader and lawgiver. Elijah was a prophet of hope. Basically, the people are saying that like Moses and Elijah, Jesus is a distinctive man of God.
Who does Peter say that Jesus is? He says, “You are the Messiah.” Obviously Peter holds Jesus in very high regard. But, Jesus insists that this be kept quiet, just like he tried in last week’s healing of deaf man, to keep it quiet. HE did not want to snatch at more honor or status than was given to him, otherwise, he would become quickly rejected. Mark’s messianic secret is designed to keep Jesus within certain boundaries that would delay and prevent his rejection for claiming more than the community was willing to give. Peculiar to us of course, but that is the Middle Eastern way.
The concept of Messiah was not always clear at the time. For some folks, the Messiah was a leader like King David who was a militant leader, and unifying king. For others the Messiah was one similar to The Suffering Servant passages in the prophet Isaiah’s writings. Jesus tries to define for Peter what his messiahship will be like: the Son of Man will undergo great suffering, be rejected, killed, and after three days rise.
Peter rejects and rebukes Jesus for this kind of thinking. Jesus, in turn, challenges Peter and lays down the rules of this new family: “Follow me,” he says, “Deny your self, and take up the cross. You have to forfeit you life in order to save it.” Here is moment of great decision for the disciples who up to this point have chosen to be a part of the family of Jesus. There are very defined demands and expectations. Membership in the family of Jesus Christ is a very definite break with the way the world thinks. It’s actually becoming invested in all the great reversals of Jesus Christ.
At this point it is important to understand what is meant by denying ones self, taking up a cross, and dying. In our time we are inclined to see this denial and crucifixion as living a kind of dreary life. The modern world is inclined to see it that way. It is not likely that the disciples of Jesus would have bought into living a dreary life. Life was already pretty dreary for sinners and the peasantry. Some folks become very inclined today to see Christianity as a kind of perpetual Lent, whereby we are dismissing our own human needs. Not so with Jesus’ call to denial. The denial that Jesus is talking about is breaking with your old family and its intensive concern for family survival. It was a system that often denied basic human individual freedom. It was a very closed system, not very creative, and turned-in on itself. It was often judgmental, and very exclusive to wider human needs. It didn’t seem to go anywhere. To deny ones self was to deny living in that kind of way and family. Unless you died to the way and thinking of the world the beat of drudgery went on. To follow Jesus, of course, meant to die to the world’s way of thinking, and to rise again to a whole new way of life. You see, that in keeping with the old way of life, saving that kind of life you gained nothing, but to die to that old way of life, and to follow with Christ’s efforts to face the inevitable persecution that would come from the diehards, you were giving with Christ a rebirth to a creative world that showed love, that becomes inclusive, that reaches outward, that is hopeful, renewing, liberating, and genuinely refreshing. You become a part of the resurrected and renewed family of God.
For the 1st century this was truly radical stuff. It was surely radical for Peter, even though he had a great respect for Jesus, and could give him the messianic title of being the anointed one, the Christ. But Peter like other disciples found it difficult to break away from the way the world scripted everything.
You know the Saddam Hussein regime reveals the very worst of the Middle Eastern way of thinking. It is a dramatic example of how family can become so corrupt. Through what was considerable lying and deceit, Hussein attained enough honor to come to power. He surrounded himself with family to run the country, nepotism, in what became severely self-serving and corrupt. Human life outside of the family, and outside of the family’s good, and any threat to the family and its power is dealt with harshly. Even within the family, the death penalty is used without reservation to destroy any semblance of disagreement, revolt, or rebellion. It is not likely that in the time of Jesus, all families were like the Hussein Regime. But you can see the potential for brutal and violent corruption, especially when blind allegiance takes over.
In the family of God, in the realm of God, in The Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God, the gates are swung open. And the gates of hell are thrown open so that all the sinners and the cursed are set free to enter the Kingdom of God. And it is a new kind of family where forgiveness takes place, where love is the key word and way. Where people serve one another not just for self-serving purposes, but for the good of the whole community. This is the new family of freedom. It stands up to the criticism and persecution of the world. It dies to wanting and grasping at power, unique honor above others, and is born to seeing all folk as brothers and sisters, and as redeemable children of God. Here is the new way and the new Kingdom or Realm of God, where we die to the propaganda of the world, that we all have to take care of ourselves, and where the survival of the fittest is the law of the land, revenge and vengeance, pay back, destroying your enemies is the code of survival.
The realm of God we love your enemies, and those who differ from us. We bless and honor the poor and outcast, mourn with the grieving, and contend with the difficult. It is giving away to others and to human need in a sacrificial way. We rejoice in all those who work for justice and peace, and who attempt to bring an end to human prejudice without seeing them as a threat to the status quo. We endure the criticism of those who persecute us. We are a people who thank God for Jesus Christ, who has thrown open the gates of hell and heaven for all of our brothers and sisters of faithfulness and compassion to return to the Family of God.
“We walk in the presence of the Lord, in the land of the living.” Psalm 116:1-8.
HOLY COMMUNION
FROM THE RESERVED SACRAMENT
BY AN APPOINTED EUCHARISTIC LAY MINISTER
AT THE PERMISSION OF THE PRIEST-IN-CHARGE
Eucharistic Minister: Peace be to this house (place), and to all who dwell in it.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thought of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, the source of all health: So fill our hearts with faith in your love that with calm expectancy we may make room for your loving presence and your power to possess us, and to gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A selection from The Holy Gospel is read, especially that of the previously appointed Sunday Gospel.
Eucharistic Minister: The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to . . . .
The Gospel Reading
Eucharistic Minister: The Gospel of the Lord. Eucharistic Minister: Hear the word of God to all who truly turn to him.
Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This is a true saying, and worthy of all to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
If anyone sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
The following anthem is said by all.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Grant us thy peace.
Eucharistic Minister: The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.
The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven. (Amen.)
The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. (Amen.)
After Communion.
Eucharistic Minister: Let us pray.
Gracious Father, we give you praise and thanks for this Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of your beloved Son Jesus Christ, the pledge of our redemption; and we pray that it may bring us forgiveness of our sins, strength in our weakness, and everlasting salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Eucharistic Minister: Let us bless the Lord.
Communicant: Thanks be to God.
The Peace is gently exchanged.
Eucharistic Minister: The Peace of the Lord
be always with you.
Communicant: And also with you.
Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(Selected person or persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in this place: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past.
We thank you for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish.
Especially we thank you for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained.
We thank you for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The Congregation joins in saying the following prayer.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fill our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)
THE CELEBRATION AND
BLESSING OF A MARRIAGE
The Prelude
The Processional
The Exhortation p. 423
The Declaration of Consent p. 424
The Congregational response to the priest:
Priest: Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?
People: We will. p. 425
The Ministry of the Word
The Wedding Collect p. 425
Hebrew Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Holy Gospel: Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
The Homily by The Rev. David S. Remington, Rector
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Marriage
The exchange of vows and blessing of rings. p. 427
The pronouncement of husband and wife. p. 428
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer p. 428
The Wedding Prayers p. 429
A prayer in loving memory of Tom’s mother, Norma Ellena.
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Blessing of the Marriage
The Blessings p. 430
The Kiss of Peace p .431
The Recessional
The page numbers in the Wedding Service outline refer to The Book of Common Prayer. (The Red Prayer Book in the pew racks.)
SEASON: Pentecost 14
PROPER: 19B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 14, 2003
TEXT: Mark 8:27-38 Peter’s Confession and Jesus’ Call
Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” . . . . . . . But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” . . . . . . “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
ISSUE: Following Jesus as Lord, denying ones self, and taking up the cross is a tremendous shift in the normal scripting of life, both for the time of Jesus and even for now. Jesus was building a new family whose emphasis was so very different. It would not be a family of intimate inner concern and self-serving, but a family of outreach, caring, and compassion. It would confront the world with daring wonder. In Jesus Christ the followers die with him, to be born into a new way of life, in the realm of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This passage from the Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the gospel accounts, is truly and important one. It marks one of the earliest accounts and statements of who Jesus is truly perceived to be, the Messiah. It also describes the stark reality of what it means to be a mission-oriented disciple of Jesus, which folks from the time of Peter himself have had difficulty comprehending.
Jesus raises the question among his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” He was not giving a test. Remember that in this time a persons identity was given by the family: who you married, education, place in the family, and occupation, and your role. What has developed when Jesus selected his disciples and abandoned his own family was the establishment of a new family relationship. He needs to know his identity role, place, in this newly established family. Without some kind of identification and status, or honor, Jesus could not be effective. He would be seen only as a meaningless misfit. Peter says that the people are saying that he is Elijah, Moses, one of the prophets. Moses was a great and highly respected leader and lawgiver. Elijah was a prophet of hope. Basically, the people are saying that like Moses and Elijah, Jesus is a distinctive man of God.
Who does Peter say that Jesus is? He says, “You are the Messiah.” Obviously Peter holds Jesus in very high regard. But, Jesus insists that this be kept quiet, just like he tried in last week’s healing of deaf man, to keep it quiet. HE did not want to snatch at more honor or status than was given to him, otherwise, he would become quickly rejected. Mark’s messianic secret is designed to keep Jesus within certain boundaries that would delay and prevent his rejection for claiming more than the community was willing to give. Peculiar to us of course, but that is the Middle Eastern way.
The concept of Messiah was not always clear at the time. For some folks, the Messiah was a leader like King David who was a militant leader, and unifying king. For others the Messiah was one similar to The Suffering Servant passages in the prophet Isaiah’s writings. Jesus tries to define for Peter what his messiahship will be like: the Son of Man will undergo great suffering, be rejected, killed, and after three days rise.
Peter rejects and rebukes Jesus for this kind of thinking. Jesus, in turn, challenges Peter and lays down the rules of this new family: “Follow me,” he says, “Deny your self, and take up the cross. You have to forfeit you life in order to save it.” Here is moment of great decision for the disciples who up to this point have chosen to be a part of the family of Jesus. There are very defined demands and expectations. Membership in the family of Jesus Christ is a very definite break with the way the world thinks. It’s actually becoming invested in all the great reversals of Jesus Christ.
At this point it is important to understand what is meant by denying ones self, taking up a cross, and dying. In our time we are inclined to see this denial and crucifixion as living a kind of dreary life. The modern world is inclined to see it that way. It is not likely that the disciples of Jesus would have bought into living a dreary life. Life was already pretty dreary for sinners and the peasantry. Some folks become very inclined today to see Christianity as a kind of perpetual Lent, whereby we are dismissing our own human needs. Not so with Jesus’ call to denial. The denial that Jesus is talking about is breaking with your old family and its intensive concern for family survival. It was a system that often denied basic human individual freedom. It was a very closed system, not very creative, and turned-in on itself. It was often judgmental, and very exclusive to wider human needs. It didn’t seem to go anywhere. To deny ones self was to deny living in that kind of way and family. Unless you died to the way and thinking of the world the beat of drudgery went on. To follow Jesus, of course, meant to die to the world’s way of thinking, and to rise again to a whole new way of life. You see, that in keeping with the old way of life, saving that kind of life you gained nothing, but to die to that old way of life, and to follow with Christ’s efforts to face the inevitable persecution that would come from the diehards, you were giving with Christ a rebirth to a creative world that showed love, that becomes inclusive, that reaches outward, that is hopeful, renewing, liberating, and genuinely refreshing. You become a part of the resurrected and renewed family of God.
For the 1st century this was truly radical stuff. It was surely radical for Peter, even though he had a great respect for Jesus, and could give him the messianic title of being the anointed one, the Christ. But Peter like other disciples found it difficult to break away from the way the world scripted everything.
You know the Saddam Hussein regime reveals the very worst of the Middle Eastern way of thinking. It is a dramatic example of how family can become so corrupt. Through what was considerable lying and deceit, Hussein attained enough honor to come to power. He surrounded himself with family to run the country, nepotism, in what became severely self-serving and corrupt. Human life outside of the family, and outside of the family’s good, and any threat to the family and its power is dealt with harshly. Even within the family, the death penalty is used without reservation to destroy any semblance of disagreement, revolt, or rebellion. It is not likely that in the time of Jesus, all families were like the Hussein Regime. But you can see the potential for brutal and violent corruption, especially when blind allegiance takes over.
In the family of God, in the realm of God, in The Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God, the gates are swung open. And the gates of hell are thrown open so that all the sinners and the cursed are set free to enter the Kingdom of God. And it is a new kind of family where forgiveness takes place, where love is the key word and way. Where people serve one another not just for self-serving purposes, but for the good of the whole community. This is the new family of freedom. It stands up to the criticism and persecution of the world. It dies to wanting and grasping at power, unique honor above others, and is born to seeing all folk as brothers and sisters, and as redeemable children of God. Here is the new way and the new Kingdom or Realm of God, where we die to the propaganda of the world, that we all have to take care of ourselves, and where the survival of the fittest is the law of the land, revenge and vengeance, pay back, destroying your enemies is the code of survival.
The realm of God we love your enemies, and those who differ from us. We bless and honor the poor and outcast, mourn with the grieving, and contend with the difficult. It is giving away to others and to human need in a sacrificial way. We rejoice in all those who work for justice and peace, and who attempt to bring an end to human prejudice without seeing them as a threat to the status quo. We endure the criticism of those who persecute us. We are a people who thank God for Jesus Christ, who has thrown open the gates of hell and heaven for all of our brothers and sisters of faithfulness and compassion to return to the Family of God.
“We walk in the presence of the Lord, in the land of the living.” Psalm 116:1-8.
HOLY COMMUNION
FROM THE RESERVED SACRAMENT
BY AN APPOINTED EUCHARISTIC LAY MINISTER
AT THE PERMISSION OF THE PRIEST-IN-CHARGE
Eucharistic Minister: Peace be to this house (place), and to all who dwell in it.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thought of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
O God, the source of all health: So fill our hearts with faith in your love that with calm expectancy we may make room for your loving presence and your power to possess us, and to gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
A selection from The Holy Gospel is read, especially that of the previously appointed Sunday Gospel.
Eucharistic Minister: The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to . . . .
The Gospel Reading
Eucharistic Minister: The Gospel of the Lord. Eucharistic Minister: Hear the word of God to all who truly turn to him.
Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.
God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
This is a true saying, and worthy of all to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
If anyone sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.
And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
The following anthem is said by all.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Grant us thy peace.
Eucharistic Minister: The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.
The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven. (Amen.)
The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. (Amen.)
After Communion.
Eucharistic Minister: Let us pray.
Gracious Father, we give you praise and thanks for this Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of your beloved Son Jesus Christ, the pledge of our redemption; and we pray that it may bring us forgiveness of our sins, strength in our weakness, and everlasting salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Eucharistic Minister: Let us bless the Lord.
Communicant: Thanks be to God.
The Peace is gently exchanged.
Eucharistic Minister: The Peace of the Lord
be always with you.
Communicant: And also with you.
Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(Selected person or persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in this place: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past.
We thank you for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish.
Especially we thank you for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained.
We thank you for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The Congregation joins in saying the following prayer.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fill our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)
THE CELEBRATION AND
BLESSING OF A MARRIAGE
The Prelude
The Processional
The Exhortation p. 423
The Declaration of Consent p. 424
The Congregational response to the priest:
Priest: Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?
People: We will. p. 425
The Ministry of the Word
The Wedding Collect p. 425
Hebrew Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Holy Gospel: Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
The Homily by The Rev. David S. Remington, Rector
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Marriage
The exchange of vows and blessing of rings. p. 427
The pronouncement of husband and wife. p. 428
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer p. 428
The Wedding Prayers p. 429
A prayer in loving memory of Tom’s mother, Norma Ellena.
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Blessing of the Marriage
The Blessings p. 430
The Kiss of Peace p .431
The Recessional
The page numbers in the Wedding Service outline refer to The Book of Common Prayer. (The Red Prayer Book in the pew racks.)
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