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Showing posts with label liturgies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liturgies. Show all posts
Sunday, July 2, 2017
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
A Litany for the Fifteenth Anniversary of the September 11 2001 Attacks
I wanted to write a litany for my congregation to remember the tragedy of 9/11 together. But I do not want us to think we are somehow unique in our experience of violence, or that we are justified to fight violence with violence. I want us to turn to scripture, to turn to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, to learn how we are to respond to terrorism.
Saturday, December 26, 2015
There Has Been an Awakening: A Star Wars Themed Christmas Pageant
I am such a huge nerd, I subjected Presbury United Methodist Church to a Christmas pageant written using scripture and dialogue from the Star Wars franchise. Enjoy!
Introduction: NARRATOR, PS, and SCRIPTURE READER
(PASTOR SHANNON putting on jacket like she’s going to leave.)
NARRATOR: Hey Pastor Shannon, where are you going?
NARRATOR: Oh yeah. I almost forgot how big a geek you are.
PS: Whatever NARRATOR. It is a classic battle of good and evil! Plus it takes place in space!
NARRATOR: Well, you should stick around here because number one, it's your job. And number two, we are talking about the ultimate battle of good over evil today in worship.
PS: Wait--- do you mean Easter, when God defeats death and Jesus rises from the dead? I thought that was the ultimate battle of good over evil. But we celebrate that in the spring, and it is cold outside now, and plus I don't see any chocolate Easter eggs anywhere.
NARRATOR: Ok, Easter is the ultimate battle of good over evil. But so is Christmas! God became human! Listen to this passage from the Gospel of John:
SCRIPTURE READER: John 1:1-14a (NRSV)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us...
PS: Oh, yes, that is one of my favorite scriptures!
NARRATOR: Of course it is. But what it is saying is that in Jesus, God put on flesh and lived among us! This mighty, powerful God, who brought all things into being just by speaking; this God of light who cannot be overcome by darkness--- this God became a weak, suffering human, to live in solidarity with us.
PS: Yes, God didn't just reconcile us to God's self through sacrificing Jesus, but by becoming Jesus. God came to walk with us, and showed us a new way to live. And that Love God showed by becoming human is a lot like how Obi Wan Kenobi explains the Force: “it surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.” It is a pretty cool story. But it doesn't take place in space.
NARRATOR: No it doesn't, but I think you'll like our re-imagining of the story. (to church) Pastor Shannon and Presbury United Methodist Church, sit back and enjoy our Christmas Pageant!
NARRATOR: A long time ago in the days of King Herod of Judea, in a galaxy not so far away...
(Star Wars theme song plays.)
NARRATOR: Turmoil engulfed Palestine at that time, much like turmoil still engulfs us today. So God sent angels to bring a message of peace and justice, or good news of great joy, to settle the conflict, and prepare the way of the Lord.
(ANGEL and MARY are standing in front of the wreath.)
ANGEL: Be not afraid! The Lord is with you!
MARY: Aren't you a little short for an angel?
ANGEL: Size matters not. Judge me by my size, do you? Well you should not. For my ally is the God, and a powerful ally God is. God is your ally as well! And now you will conceive and bear and child, and you will name him Jesus. The Force will be strong with him, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
MARY: How can this be since I am a virgin?
ANGEL: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.
MARY: Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.
(MARY steps to the center of the stage. ANGEL steps back into the background.)
MARY: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For I am a poor young woman from Nazareth, the town furthest from the bright center of the universe, but God chose me! Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever. Help us today, God! You are our only hope!
(MARY exits.)
NARRATOR: There was unrest at home, however, specifically in Joseph's home. Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but here she is, found pregnant. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to declare his intentions to leave her, he receives a visitor.
ANGEL: Joseph! I find your lack of faith disturbing!
JOSEPH: What? Who are you?! What are you doing here?
ANGEL: No, I'm just kidding about the lack of faith thing--- don't be afraid! You are actually a righteous man. So do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus.
(ANGEL and Joseph shake hands.)
ACT 2: NARRATOR, MARY, JOSEPH, DONKEY (no lines), ANGEL, SHEPHERD 1, SHEPHERD 2, and SHEEP (no lines)
NARRATOR: A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away...
(Star Wars theme song plays.)
NARRATOR: A decree went out from Emperor Palpatine...I mean, Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. Pursued by the Roman Empire's sinister agents, well, kinda anyway, Joseph and Mary journeyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Mary would give birth to a baby who can save all people and restore freedom to the galaxy and bring balance to the Force.
(MARY and JOSEPH appear with DONKEY. They walk back and forth.)
MARY: Joseph, we need to find a place to stay now.
JOSEPH: Cool it, your worshipfulness, but no one seems to have any extra room for us anywhere.
MARY: Well, someone has to save our skins. Into the barn, flyboy.
(All the ANIMALS come onstage. C-3PO brings in the manger.)
JOSEPH: (holding his nose) What an incredible smell you've discovered!
MARY: Well we will make it work. I'll have the baby here and we'll wrap him in swaddling clothes and lay him in the manger.
(C3PO brings a baby out to MARY.)
NARRATOR: Now, in that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
(SHEPHERDS and SHEEP enter. ANGEL appears. All SHEPHERDS cover their faces.)
ANGEL: Do not be afraid! Fear is the path to the Dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering! What I am here to share with you today is good news of great joy for all people!
SHEPHERD 1: Well if there's nothing to fear, why give me a heart attack like that. Sheesh!
SHEPHERD 2: Seriously, me and this stuck up, scruffy looking, half-witted nerfherder here are just trying to mind our own business!
SHEPHERD 1: Who's scruffy looking?
ANGEL: Hey cut it out guys. I'm trying to give you good news, ok? Anyway, to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
SHEPHERD 2: A Savior! Sounds like somebody's having delusions of grandeur.
ANGEL: Not at all, actually. This shall be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in swaddling cloths and laying in a manger.
SHEPHERD 1: A manger? Like where animals eat?
SHEPHERD 2: Doesn't the poor guy have a crib?
SHEPHERD 1: That can' be comfortable. But speaking of mangers--- hey, are you hungry?
ANGEL: Ok, it seems I'm dealing with some real laserbrains here.
SHEEP: (laugh)
SHEPHERD 2: Laugh it up, fuzzballs!
ANGEL: Enough, enough. God has chosen you, humble shepherds though you are, to witness God's own self in human form. God didn't choose Herod, or the Emperor, or some rich dude. God chose you! You are important to God.
SHEPHERD 2: Wow, that does sound pretty awesome.
SHEPHERD 1: Yeah, I feel kinda special now!
SHEPHERD 2: Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place!
(SHEPHERDS and SHEEP move to the side, and MARY and JOSEPH and Jesus set up. SHEPHERDS kneel around the altar.)
(ANGEL moves to the center.)
ANGEL: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth, may the Force be with us all!
ACT 3: NARRATOR, HEROD, MAGI 1, MAGI 2, and MAGI 3
NARRATOR: A long time ago in a galaxy not so far, far away...
(Star Wars theme song plays.)
NARRATOR: Wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, seeking a child they learned of in their studies of the night sky. The evil puppet king Herod, obsessed with maintaining power, invited these wise people into his palace for a secret meeting...
(Imperial Death March plays.)
HEROD: Hello wise men from the East. I hear you are searching for something very interesting.
MAGI 1: Oh yes, we have been reading the work of prophets around the world because we have noticed changes in the night sky. A star rising over Judea.
MAGI 2: It has been written: And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rules of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.
MAGI 3: We understand this prophecy and the star to be connected. That the shepherd ruler of Israel was born at the star's rising.
HEROD: WHAT?! A king to replace me? A Messiah to be anointed over me? I must find the child!
MAGI 1: (to MAGI 2) I've got a bad feeling about this.
HEROD: Oh, sorry for my outburst. I am only excited because I, too, have been searching for this Messiah. To pay my respects, of course.
MAGI 2: (waves hand) Um, I'm sure he's not the Messiah you are looking for.
MAGI 3: (waves hand) You don't need to see where he was born. We can go about our business. Move along.
HEROD: Those Jedi mind tricks don't work on me! Now go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word.
(HEROD exits.)
MAGI 1: I've got a bad feeling about this.
MAGI 2: Me too.
MAGI 3: When it is time to go home again, let us leave for our country by another road.
(MAGI walk down the aisle and back up. Meanwhile MARY, JOSEPH, and JESUS set up.)
MAGI 1: (pointing) Look! The star has stopped.
MAGI 2: We did it! We made it! Let us go see this child that makes kings quake and stars rise.
MAGI 3: Let us worship the newborn king!
(MAGI kneel at the manger.)
(ANGEL steps back into center stage.)
ANGEL: And so the people who sat in great darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and the shadow of death, light has dawned. There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?
Closing: PS, NARRATOR, and SCRIPTURE READER
PS: Wow, you were right! That story really is an epic battle where good triumphs over evil. I feel like we should celebrate with a party the way they do at the end of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi when the Death Star is destroyed---
NARRATOR: Ok, Pastor Shannon, I think we've indulged your geekiness enough for one day. Remember, we need to be preparing our hearts for the coming of the Christ child all over again. The Gospel of Mark, which does not have a story about Jesus' birth, still leaves us with an important message as we celebrate Christmas this week.
SCRIPTURE READER: Mark 1: 7-8 (NRSV)
“The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
NARRATOR: We aren't just talking about a nice sweet little baby we can hand back to his mom and dad when he gets fussy when we are talking about baby Jesus. We are talking about power, the power of the presence of God within a human being. This power may have been most complete in Jesus, but it is in each of us as well. Like the angel said at the end of the last act--- we are talking about an awakening. So let us leave from this place preparing our hearts for the power of the Holy Spirit to wake us up!
PS: That's a pretty good message to end on. And remember, no matter how sleepy you may end up feeling, the Force will be with you always.
NARRATOR: And also with you!
Sunday, August 2, 2015
God of Action Communion Liturgy
The Cokesbury Vacation Bible School Curriculum for 2015 was G-Force, about God's love in action. I wrote this more interactive communion liturgy for our Vacation Bible School kickoff worship service at Presbury United Methodist Church.
The primary scripture for this service was Acts 17:22-31.
Communion:
Invitation/Confession/Pardon/Passing
the Peace
L: Because our God is a God of action, God calls us to
move to the Table, to come and receive grace. But too often we find
ourselves stuck, unable or unwilling to hear God's direction to love.
So let us confess our stuck-ness before God together:
P: Living, loving God, we know that you have called
us to be your love in action. But that can be so hard! We give you so
many excuses, find and put up so many barriers to keep us from living
as you have taught us. Forgive us for all those times we do not care
for our neighbors and all those times we don't follow your lead.
(A time of silent confession.)
L: Do not be afraid! Our God is not unknown but is
indeed not far from any of us, with arms outstretched ready to
welcome us whenever we ask for forgiveness!
P: God's forgiveness propels us forward to show the
world the immensity of God's love!
The Great Thanksgiving
L: In
God we live and move and have our being!
P: Thanks be to God!
L: God is so mighty that God cannot be contained! God
made the world and everything in it, even each of us, breathing into
us the breath of life. What kinds of things did God make?
(Share
your own responses at this time.)
L: God made so many things, and we are so thankful. But
God was not alone in God's work. God chose us to help! We messed up
more often than not, but there were some of us who did amazing things
for and with God! In Vacation Bible School we will learn about people
who helped God, people like Jochebed, Miriam, the Egyptian princess,
and Moses. They played a part in bringing us, God's people, to
freedom! And we will learn about Solomon, who took action to honor
God by building a temple! Who are other people who helped do God's
work?
(Share
your own responses at this time.)
L: Of course, Jesus also helped do God's work. Jesus was
God in human form, and he healed people who were hurting and ate with
people who were always alone. And he taught us a lot. What kinds of
things did Jesus teach us?
(Share
your own responses at this time.)
L: But the love Jesus showed us, God's love in action,
was so radical that people were afraid. So they plotted to kill
Jesus. Jesus knew he would die, so he gathered his friends together
to teach them about love one more time. He brought them together for
a simple meal of bread and wine. He took bread, thanked God for it,
and shared it with his friends, saying,
P: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for
you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
L: When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave
thanks to you, gave it to his friends, and said:
P: “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood
of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the
forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me.”
L: And
so now, we remember Jesus – all that he did on earth to show love
and all that he does for us now to care for us. And to say thank you
for all this love, we should love one another and care for those in
need. Let us pray:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on
these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood
of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed
by his blood. By your Spirit help us to put your love into action,
caring for our neighbors, following your teaching, and sharing about
your love everywhere we go.
Amen.
And
now, with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray the
prayer Jesus taught us: THE LORD'S PRAYER
BREAKING
THE BREAD
The
bread of life.
The
cup that saves us, and sets us free.
GIVING
THE BREAD AND THE CUP
The
table is set and all are invited. In the United Methodist Church, we
practice an open table. This means you don't have to be a member, you
don't even have to be baptized, you don't even have to be fully awake
this morning. You are invited to come and know that no matter who you
are, you are a beloved child of God and God's grace is sufficient.
We will be taking communion by intinction, meaning I
will give you a piece of bread and you can dip it in the cup. Now
come and eat.
Giving the Bread and Cup/Prayer after Receiving
P:
Living, loving God, we thank you for this holy mystery in which we
have searched for you and found that you are not far from us. Thank
you that your move among us and through us to do your work and spread
your love here on earth! Amen.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Hopes and Dreams
Again, so many drafts in the queue, but it seems sermons are the only things to get finished. Here is the sermon I preached on Christmas Eve at Presbury United Methodist Church. The focus is on Matthew as we will be looking at the Gospel of Matthew through the spring. And it is not a part of the story I think about often.
Sermon:
Let us pray:
I've been thinking a lot about Joseph lately. About how he must have felt heavy as he went to bed that night, not Christmas night, but that night months earlier. His mind must have felt like honey, sticky and slow. And his heart must have gotten harder and harder in his chest. He had to make a decision. He could no longer ignore the talk of the town around him, or ignore Mary's growing belly. His parents, of whom we know absolutely nothing about, but who we still can imagine were upset. His betrothed, which in his culture meant the same as wife does today even though they were not yet living together, was pregnant. And the baby was not his. He must have felt so alone, cut off from his community, so far from God. This was not the way his life was supposed to turn out. He had a plan. A loose plan, certainly--- but still a general idea of what his life was supposed to be like. And a wife pregnant with a baby not his own was nowhere close to the plan he had in mind.
You may have been in a similar situation in your life. Maybe not because of an unplanned pregnancy, but because of similar news that changed everything so completely it could never be undone. Maybe you were on track for a promotion in your dream job, and then the company went under. Maybe you were married for one year or forty years and one day told that it just wasn't working anymore. Maybe your child's wide-open future suddenly closed when they got into trouble. Maybe your retirement plans to travel came crashing around you with the cancer diagnosis. You know the sick feeling that comes with complete lack of control; you know those moments, days, years even, of shock that cloud your mind as you try to make sense of how a few moments can change the plan you had for your life. You know how Joseph felt.
Yet when we read this story, we applaud Joseph, pat him on the back for being such a swell guy; though, if we put ourselves in his shoes, we may have found it difficult to practice this compassionate righteousness. We don’t like to think about Joseph feeling betrayed or alone. We don't like to think he felt the same way we do when we lose control or when our carefully laid plans are completely destroyed. We too often choose to believe that God chose Mary and Joseph because they were perfect, good people. To us, they have these halos around their heads all the time, and they never raise their voices in anger or think mean thoughts. But read the story again. The Gospel of Matthew introduces Joseph's dream of the angel saying, But just when he had resolved to do this. Resolved. To me that symbolizes agony, difficulty. The description shows me a picture of a young man alone in him homes with that sinking feeling in the pit of him stomach as he tries to figure out what happens next.
Joseph in our story does not have to be a stoic, flat character, obedient to God to the point of having no personality. When we label Joseph in that way, it lets us off the hook. When we deny Joseph or Mary or even baby Jesus emotion, we take ourselves out of the great drama of the people of faith. Like so many of our ancestors in faith, Joseph was broken and hurting when God revealed the good news to him. Joseph was like us when God revealed the good news to him. Don't you think God can be revealing the good news to us today too?
God spoke to Joseph in a dream. Into that vulnerable space in which coincidentally we have no control, God entered and spoke good news.God is with us, the messenger declared. Even, or maybe especially, when our lives are crumbling around us, God is with us, the messenger insists. Emmanuel. And God will lure the good from the place where we only see ruins. God will save us--- that is what the name Jesus means!
God did not chose to put on flesh and dwell among us by way of young people who had their stuff together. God put on flesh and was rocked to sleep by people who were scared, hurting, confused, and so out-of-control. And God is dwelling among those same people--- us--- today. God is offering those same people--- us--- salvation in God's presence.
Of course, I believe this to be true, but I don't think that Joseph woke up from his dream feeling much better than he did before he fell asleep. I think he was still scared and still feeling a little sick. But, after he dreamed, he was infused with a hope. A hope that his fear was not the last word. A hope that God's calling on his life was a better dream than Joseph could ever plan for himself. His decision to do as the angel commanded was him reaching not for control but for hope.
Our world is in desperate need of a little hope today. Our drive for power and control has gotten us into a mess not just individually but as a society. We are locked into cycles of retribution and anger. We are trapped by fear and loss. But God has dreamed a different world for us. This Christmas, let us place ourselves in Mary and Joseph's story, remembering that God came not to the perfect but to the broken. Let us step out of the trap and turn to one another with compassion, trusting that God is in our midst. Let us live as though we really believe God is with us and that God will save and in fact is already saving us.
We will do that together tonight as we take communion, further living into God's salvation story and tasting the hope God offers us. Then we will light candles, experiencing God's presence within each of us, small and flickering all alone, but beautiful and powerful together. Let us experience not just the brokenness Joseph felt but also the hope.
Communion:1
INVITATION/CONFESSION/PARDON
L: When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel commanded. God is waking us up, now, today. How many of us are still asleep, trapped in nightmares that obscure the dream God has for us? Or how many of us are still asleep, too comfortable in our own dreams to pay attention to the life God calls us to? We have forgotten God's commandments, wrapped up in the sleep. Let us respond as Joseph did, turning our hearts to God:
P: Light of the World, shine into the shadowed places of our souls tonight. Where we are confused or violent, bring us peace. Where we are fearful or worried, grant us strength. Where we are grieving and lost, comfort us. Where we are hateful or apathetic, shake us up. Wake us with your transforming love.
Silence
L: Do not be afraid. God came to dwell among us to show us how beloved we are.
P: We are awoken and set free from the bondage of sin and evil by that great love. For nothing is impossible with God!
THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
You are invited to turn to those sitting near you and offer signs of peace.
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
L: Emmanuel means God-With-Us.
P: God is with us indeed.
L: Open your hearts to this Emmanuel
P: and be not sent away empty, but rather filled with good things.
L: For in the beginning of creation, God shared a dream with us, a dream of goodness and abundance. God breathed into us, inspiring us. But we took God's dream and turned it into a nightmare in which brother killed brother, kings became tyrants, and violence seemed more natural than breathing.
Yet God adapted the dream, teaching brothers to forgive and women to resist evil, painting rainbows and opening the sea. God crafted laws as a way to bring the dream to life, and sent prophets to point us back toward love and justice. And then God offered us inspiration by taking on flesh and dwelling among us.
P: Glory to our God who is full of grace and truth!
L: Mary believed in the fulfillment of the dream God shared with her, as Joseph did. Mary proclaimed that dream when she spoke of bringing the powerful from their thrones and lifting up the lowly. This is what God did in Jesus: he lifted up the sick by healing them, the marginalized by loving them, and dreamed again goodness and abundance for all of creation.
Even when we abandoned this dream too, Emmanuel would not leave us. Before he was taken away by those who create nightmares, he gathered us around a table. He broke bread with us and blessed it, saying:
P: This is my body, given for you. In its brokenness, may you be restored to wholeness.
L: When we had eaten, Jesus took the cup, again gave thanks, and said:
P: This is my lifeblood, poured out to bring healing to our world.
L: When we eat and drink and receive Jesus, we dream with God, proclaiming a mystery together:
P: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
L: Let us pray:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Share your dream with us again as we come together on this sacred night. From your fullness may each of us here receive grace upon grace. May we in receiving through bread and cup, wake up and go forth from this place living this dream with our brothers and sisters. May we be light that shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome.
P: Amen.
BREAKING THE BREAD
The bread of life.
The cup that saves us, and sets us free.
GIVING AND RECEIVING THE BREAD AND THE CUP
The table is set and all are invited. In the United Methodist Church, we practice an open table. This means you don't have to be a member, you don't have to be baptized, you don't have to take classes, you don't even have to be in a good mood. You are invited to come and know that no matter who you are and where you are on your journey, you are a beloved child of God and God's grace is sufficient.
We will be taking communion by intinction, meaning I will give you a piece of bread and you can dip it in the cup. There will be a gluten free option available, so let the servers know if you would like that option. Now, let us come to the table to eat and seek that grace upon grace that God offers us.
PRAYER
Let us pray: Light of the World, we give you thanks for this mystery, for how your Word became and becomes flesh to live among us. We give you thanks for the grace upon grace we have received from you. Now we ask that as we light candles and sing, your grace will grow within us, overflowing to touch those around us. For each of us here will hold a flickering candle; seemingly insignificant one by one, yet magnificent when held together. Let your light pour out of this place, that all may know how your light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Amen.
1Communion Liturgy based on Matthew by Shannon Sullivan, 2014.
Sermon:
Let us pray:
Patient
teacher, on this holy night, we ask that you are not silent,
but that you dream with us again as you did with Joseph. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts bring the Christmas story to life for us, so we might better live your dream this day and always. Amen.
but that you dream with us again as you did with Joseph. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts bring the Christmas story to life for us, so we might better live your dream this day and always. Amen.
I've been thinking a lot about Joseph lately. About how he must have felt heavy as he went to bed that night, not Christmas night, but that night months earlier. His mind must have felt like honey, sticky and slow. And his heart must have gotten harder and harder in his chest. He had to make a decision. He could no longer ignore the talk of the town around him, or ignore Mary's growing belly. His parents, of whom we know absolutely nothing about, but who we still can imagine were upset. His betrothed, which in his culture meant the same as wife does today even though they were not yet living together, was pregnant. And the baby was not his. He must have felt so alone, cut off from his community, so far from God. This was not the way his life was supposed to turn out. He had a plan. A loose plan, certainly--- but still a general idea of what his life was supposed to be like. And a wife pregnant with a baby not his own was nowhere close to the plan he had in mind.
You may have been in a similar situation in your life. Maybe not because of an unplanned pregnancy, but because of similar news that changed everything so completely it could never be undone. Maybe you were on track for a promotion in your dream job, and then the company went under. Maybe you were married for one year or forty years and one day told that it just wasn't working anymore. Maybe your child's wide-open future suddenly closed when they got into trouble. Maybe your retirement plans to travel came crashing around you with the cancer diagnosis. You know the sick feeling that comes with complete lack of control; you know those moments, days, years even, of shock that cloud your mind as you try to make sense of how a few moments can change the plan you had for your life. You know how Joseph felt.
Yet when we read this story, we applaud Joseph, pat him on the back for being such a swell guy; though, if we put ourselves in his shoes, we may have found it difficult to practice this compassionate righteousness. We don’t like to think about Joseph feeling betrayed or alone. We don't like to think he felt the same way we do when we lose control or when our carefully laid plans are completely destroyed. We too often choose to believe that God chose Mary and Joseph because they were perfect, good people. To us, they have these halos around their heads all the time, and they never raise their voices in anger or think mean thoughts. But read the story again. The Gospel of Matthew introduces Joseph's dream of the angel saying, But just when he had resolved to do this. Resolved. To me that symbolizes agony, difficulty. The description shows me a picture of a young man alone in him homes with that sinking feeling in the pit of him stomach as he tries to figure out what happens next.
Joseph in our story does not have to be a stoic, flat character, obedient to God to the point of having no personality. When we label Joseph in that way, it lets us off the hook. When we deny Joseph or Mary or even baby Jesus emotion, we take ourselves out of the great drama of the people of faith. Like so many of our ancestors in faith, Joseph was broken and hurting when God revealed the good news to him. Joseph was like us when God revealed the good news to him. Don't you think God can be revealing the good news to us today too?
God spoke to Joseph in a dream. Into that vulnerable space in which coincidentally we have no control, God entered and spoke good news.God is with us, the messenger declared. Even, or maybe especially, when our lives are crumbling around us, God is with us, the messenger insists. Emmanuel. And God will lure the good from the place where we only see ruins. God will save us--- that is what the name Jesus means!
God did not chose to put on flesh and dwell among us by way of young people who had their stuff together. God put on flesh and was rocked to sleep by people who were scared, hurting, confused, and so out-of-control. And God is dwelling among those same people--- us--- today. God is offering those same people--- us--- salvation in God's presence.
Of course, I believe this to be true, but I don't think that Joseph woke up from his dream feeling much better than he did before he fell asleep. I think he was still scared and still feeling a little sick. But, after he dreamed, he was infused with a hope. A hope that his fear was not the last word. A hope that God's calling on his life was a better dream than Joseph could ever plan for himself. His decision to do as the angel commanded was him reaching not for control but for hope.
Our world is in desperate need of a little hope today. Our drive for power and control has gotten us into a mess not just individually but as a society. We are locked into cycles of retribution and anger. We are trapped by fear and loss. But God has dreamed a different world for us. This Christmas, let us place ourselves in Mary and Joseph's story, remembering that God came not to the perfect but to the broken. Let us step out of the trap and turn to one another with compassion, trusting that God is in our midst. Let us live as though we really believe God is with us and that God will save and in fact is already saving us.
We will do that together tonight as we take communion, further living into God's salvation story and tasting the hope God offers us. Then we will light candles, experiencing God's presence within each of us, small and flickering all alone, but beautiful and powerful together. Let us experience not just the brokenness Joseph felt but also the hope.
Communion:1
INVITATION/CONFESSION/PARDON
L: When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel commanded. God is waking us up, now, today. How many of us are still asleep, trapped in nightmares that obscure the dream God has for us? Or how many of us are still asleep, too comfortable in our own dreams to pay attention to the life God calls us to? We have forgotten God's commandments, wrapped up in the sleep. Let us respond as Joseph did, turning our hearts to God:
P: Light of the World, shine into the shadowed places of our souls tonight. Where we are confused or violent, bring us peace. Where we are fearful or worried, grant us strength. Where we are grieving and lost, comfort us. Where we are hateful or apathetic, shake us up. Wake us with your transforming love.
Silence
L: Do not be afraid. God came to dwell among us to show us how beloved we are.
P: We are awoken and set free from the bondage of sin and evil by that great love. For nothing is impossible with God!
THE PASSING OF THE PEACE
You are invited to turn to those sitting near you and offer signs of peace.
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
L: Emmanuel means God-With-Us.
P: God is with us indeed.
L: Open your hearts to this Emmanuel
P: and be not sent away empty, but rather filled with good things.
L: For in the beginning of creation, God shared a dream with us, a dream of goodness and abundance. God breathed into us, inspiring us. But we took God's dream and turned it into a nightmare in which brother killed brother, kings became tyrants, and violence seemed more natural than breathing.
Yet God adapted the dream, teaching brothers to forgive and women to resist evil, painting rainbows and opening the sea. God crafted laws as a way to bring the dream to life, and sent prophets to point us back toward love and justice. And then God offered us inspiration by taking on flesh and dwelling among us.
P: Glory to our God who is full of grace and truth!
L: Mary believed in the fulfillment of the dream God shared with her, as Joseph did. Mary proclaimed that dream when she spoke of bringing the powerful from their thrones and lifting up the lowly. This is what God did in Jesus: he lifted up the sick by healing them, the marginalized by loving them, and dreamed again goodness and abundance for all of creation.
Even when we abandoned this dream too, Emmanuel would not leave us. Before he was taken away by those who create nightmares, he gathered us around a table. He broke bread with us and blessed it, saying:
P: This is my body, given for you. In its brokenness, may you be restored to wholeness.
L: When we had eaten, Jesus took the cup, again gave thanks, and said:
P: This is my lifeblood, poured out to bring healing to our world.
L: When we eat and drink and receive Jesus, we dream with God, proclaiming a mystery together:
P: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
L: Let us pray:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Share your dream with us again as we come together on this sacred night. From your fullness may each of us here receive grace upon grace. May we in receiving through bread and cup, wake up and go forth from this place living this dream with our brothers and sisters. May we be light that shines in the darkness that the darkness cannot overcome.
P: Amen.
BREAKING THE BREAD
The bread of life.
The cup that saves us, and sets us free.
GIVING AND RECEIVING THE BREAD AND THE CUP
The table is set and all are invited. In the United Methodist Church, we practice an open table. This means you don't have to be a member, you don't have to be baptized, you don't have to take classes, you don't even have to be in a good mood. You are invited to come and know that no matter who you are and where you are on your journey, you are a beloved child of God and God's grace is sufficient.
We will be taking communion by intinction, meaning I will give you a piece of bread and you can dip it in the cup. There will be a gluten free option available, so let the servers know if you would like that option. Now, let us come to the table to eat and seek that grace upon grace that God offers us.
PRAYER
Let us pray: Light of the World, we give you thanks for this mystery, for how your Word became and becomes flesh to live among us. We give you thanks for the grace upon grace we have received from you. Now we ask that as we light candles and sing, your grace will grow within us, overflowing to touch those around us. For each of us here will hold a flickering candle; seemingly insignificant one by one, yet magnificent when held together. Let your light pour out of this place, that all may know how your light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. Amen.
1Communion Liturgy based on Matthew by Shannon Sullivan, 2014.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Good Friday Monologues based on the Gospel of John
This content has been moved to my new website:
https://www.shannonesullivan.com/liturgies/goodfridaymonologues
Sunday, February 16, 2014
Do you want to be made well?
This sermon was preached at Presbury United Methodist Church as part of our exploration of the Gospel of John using the Narrative Lectionary.
Scripture: John 5:1-18
Scripture: John 5:1-18
After
this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called
in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many
invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been
ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew
that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to
be made well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to
put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am
making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.” Jesus said to
him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” At once the man was made
well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a
sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the
sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” But he
answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up
your mat and walk.’” They asked him,
“Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” Now
the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had
disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the
temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin
any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” The man went away
and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore
the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things
on the sabbath.
But
Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am
working.” For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to
kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also
calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.
Let
us pray:
Patient
Teacher, Holy Healer, we come to you this morning seeking wholeness.
May
the words of scripture as interpreted through the words of my mouth,
and
the meditations of all our hearts point us down the path of wellness!
Amen.
Jesus' ministry on
earth is a healing ministry. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke
are filled with story after story of people lining up to be healed by
Jesus. There is a scene in Jesus Christ Superstar that shows us how
overwhelming the need was for those seeking healing. You can see in
the picture of the scene how it is as though Jesus will be swallowed
up in a sea of needy people. The Gospel of John does not describe
people coming after Jesus in such physical desperation, but healing
is still a central part of Jesus' ministry in John's Gospel. Healing
points ultimately to God's power, and can be a sign by which people
begin to believe in the Good News Jesus brings.
But
what strikes me in this story is not so much the extravagance of the
healing itself. The majority of the story focuses not on the healing
itself but on the response of religious authorities who want to
punish Jesus for breaking rules about the Sabbath. But none of this
is what haunts me in this story. What haunts me is Jesus' question,
“Do
you want to be made well?”
Seems a bit of a
rhetorical question, doesn't it? Of course, we want to be made well.
No one likes laying in bed coughing up a lung for days, or that
feeling of when you forgot to buy the tissues with lotion and now the
skin on your nose is raw so just the thought of blowing your nose
makes you tear up in pain, or how much it stinks not to be able to
eat real food for days after you've had an upset stomach. Now those
are all examples of passing illness, and we know there are many of us
whose “not-wellness” has nothing to do with a virus or allergies.
The man who Jesus approaches has been ill for thirty-eight years, the
Gospel writer tells us. We're not sure what kind of illness he has,
but we know that he cannot walk on his own, and we know that he sits
by the pool of Bethesda hoping that the water will change him.
We
don't know too much about the pool of Bethesda other than
archeologists uncovered a poor on the north side of the temple in
Jerusalem that follows its description. But water, as common and as
necessary as it is for human life, holds a mystical element to it in
most cultures. As Christians, our baptismal ritual shows us this, how
we see God's salvific presence at work in a dabble of water.
According to our scripture, people come to the pool in hopes that
being immersed in the water will change them, heal them maybe. So
perhaps, when Jesus asks the one man the question, “Do
you want to be made well?”
the man could respond, “If that were not so, why would I be here?”
But
that isn't how the man responds. He is kind of defensive, actually,
explaining to Jesus that yes, he wants to be made well, but how can
he be made well if no one will help him? People won't help him, and
thwart his attempts to help himself. He says to Jesus, “Sir,
I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up;
and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.”
Do
you want to be made well? Jesus
asks.
Yes,
but...
we respond.
Perhaps it is a bit
unfair of me to read the man's response as a bit defensive. He, after
all, does not know who Jesus is, so why would he just respond, “Yes,
please”? But even when we do know who Jesus is, I think we respond
defensively to this question--- which reveals the way we call on
God's help at the same time we refuse to trust God's presence. Yes,
we do want healing, God, but we can't be bothered to take all that
medicine, or make an appointment with the doctor, and you know God
how much we hate talking to that psychologist! Yes, we do want
healing, God, but it takes too much effort to eat right and exercise,
too much effort to set aside time every day for prayer and bible
study. Yes, we do want healing, God, but we can't bear to imagine our
lives without that person, no matter how toxic they are. Yes, we do
want healing, God, but we can't get to church and feel weird about
calling someone over to pray with us.
We know there is
something wrong with us. We can sense something is not right, whether
it be a physical concern or whether is is something deeper. But often
we want God to work on our terms. We want God to wave a magic wand
and heal us without requiring any life changes on our part. We won't
accept answers of healing if they don't look exactly like we want
them to look and occur exactly when we want it to happen. We become
impediments to our own selves as we seek to be made well.
But
the thing about God is that, even when we put ourselves in the way,
God can still answer prayer. So Jesus just says to the man, “Stand
up, take your mat, and walk.”
And so the man does. We have no narrative description of his joy and
perhaps shock at his encounter with Jesus. We don't know what those
who have known him for thirty-eight years have to say. All we know is
that he stands up, rolls up his mat, and carries it with him to find
home.
We do not know,
either, if this man puts himself in the way of his continued healing.
But we do know that there are others who try to keep him from being
made well. Rather than celebrating his healing, religious authorities
stop the man and chastise him for carrying his mat. And the man, as
he did with Jesus, responds defensively while pointing out that he
has undergone this miraculous healing. The authorities do not grab
the bait. They are only concerned with making sure everyone follows
their own little rules. So they demand to know who, without
acknowledging him as a healer, said to the man to “take up his mat
and walk.”
Much in the
tradition of the religious authorities in Jesus' day, the church can
be keeping us from being made well. There are others too---
commercials telling us that even if we feel well we aren't skinny
enough and we don't have the right gadgets, for instance. But I was
thinking recently about the ways that the church is so concerned with
rules and propriety that we don't celebrate wellness.
In
seminary, I was in a class with a vibrant, powerful woman who
pastored nearby in New Jersey, and one day she shared with us a story
about her first marriage. Her husband had become violently abusive,
and finally she decided that she did
want to be made well and she acted on it. She left her husband, took
her kids, but was still stuck living in the same community. It was
her church that came to her trying to get her to reconcile with her
husband. When she refused, the pastors kicked her out of the
church--- until they realized she had been the one tithing to the
church and then they tried to invite her back!
I have always been
deeply shamed by that story, by the church standing in the way of a
woman's healing, the church punishing her for seeking to be made
well. This is what the religious authorities did to the man Jesus
healed. They belittled him, scared him, so that, though he didn't
know who Jesus was at first, later when Jesus came to him, his
response was not to get to know Jesus, the Light of the World, but to
get his name so he could report back to the authorities.
The man was in the
Temple, praying, giving thanks, but now there was a shadow over him.
A sorrow, a fear maybe, that these religious authorities placed over
him. So when Jesus found him praying, Jesus also found yet something
else in the way of this man's full healing. Jesus told him not to sin
any longer, hinting at the fullness of life that God's salvation
could bring. But the man did not respond. When Jesus left him, the
man went and told the authorities Jesus' name.
“Do
you want to be made well?”
This question is not as simple as it appears. Even our own selves and
even those people in our lives who we would think would most want to
see us well and whole and happy, like our own church, can be a
stumbling block to the complete healing Christ offers each and every
one of us. But this does not have to be the end of the story. Today
we have the opportunity to open ourselves up, to come together in
prayer, and to respond fully and joyfully to this question Jesus asks
us. Yes. Yes! Yes, we want to be made well.
A
Service of Healing with Anointing:
INVITATION
As the man waiting
by the pool in Bethesda, we too wait for healing, healing of physical
pain and ailments as well as healing of deep grief and emotional
pain. Confession is not a prerequisite to healing, as we can see over
and over again in stories about Jesus healing people. But, as we
learned in the story of this man by the pool in Bethesda, we see how
often we let others and even ourselves get in the way of Jesus'
healing presence. So today we pray to keep ourselves open and willing
to be made well.
CONFESSION
O
God, Our Great Physician, Healer of every affliction, we know that
too often in our pursuit of healing we reject you. We choose to
listen to the voices that tell us we aren't good enough or that we
are breaking rules that are more important than we are. We speak
words of destruction rather than healing to our neighbors. We refuse
to put our trust in your presence. Forgive us. Free us to be made
well by you.
ASSURANCE
God
doesn't need our hearts to be right to heal us. God offers us grace
upon grace, over and over again, always offering to make us well, no
matter what.
In
Christ's name we are forgiven! Glory to God! Amen!
PASSING OF THE
PEACE: Part of confession is reconciliation. That is why we pass the
peace before communion, and why we should pass the peace this morning
as well. Let us share signs of Christ's peace with one another!
OFFERING: As we have
been blessed by Christ's offer of healing, let us bless others with
our gifts, tithes, and offerings.
THANKSGIVING
OVER THE OIL:1
O
God, the giver and health of salvation, we give thanks to you for the
gift of oil. As your holy apostles anointed many who were sick and
healed them, so pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on this gift,
that those who in faith and repentance receive this anointing may be
made well, may be made whole; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
ANOINTING
PRAYER AFTER
ANOINTING
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Jesus the Party Animal?
We were ice-d out on January 5th, so we decided to celebrate Epiphany on January 12. Following the Narrative Lectionary Year 4, Presbury United Methodist Church is exploring the Gospel of John, so we are celebrating Epiphany on the same day we remember another celebration: the Wedding at Cana. What follows is a sermon that leads directly into communion...and it is an interesting meal indeed...
Scripture: John 2:1-11 (NRSV)
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,
and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also
been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of
Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her,
“Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet
come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells
you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish
rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus
said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up
to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to
the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the
water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from
(though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward
called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good
wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become
drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this,
the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory;
and his disciples believed in him.
Sermon:
Parties can be magical. At least, I always felt they were. When I was in seminary, I would have a long hard week in class, wondering how I could ever pass my systematic theology midterm let alone pass ordination exams, but then on the weekend, I would gather with friends and we'd eat together and laugh together and just talk all night, and I would leave remembering again the strange beauty in the world. For as much as I find sitting alone in my room curled up with a good book as the height of goodness, I also just love being with people, and I find sitting around playing card games and talking about nothing and everything to be healing, actually. I sometimes leave these gatherings with my closest friends feeling more whole. Sure, not every party has this effect on me, but I do think there is such thing as a wholesome party, a party you leave feeling more happy and whole again.
Wholesomeness has nothing to do with there not being alcohol or loud music at the party: rather it is about connecting with people you love and celebrating that love. It is about vibrant living that can reach into the wounds in your soul and help stitch you back together.
As Christians, we have woefully neglected partying. Now,
at Presbury, we are privileged to have people like Carol who do know
the value of parties, but Christians as a whole do not have good
reputations for being the life of the party. Worship is often written
off as dry, Christians are seen as uptight, and God is too often
understood as a judge whose rules make it too easy for us fail and
end up with eternal punishment. But our scripture today shows us that
this concept of what it means to follow Christ is skewed. For,
according to scripture, Jesus was a party animal.
I know it sounds a bit blasphemous. But let us not forget that this guy we come here to talk about each Sunday was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of all the wrong kind of people, at least according to the Gospel of Matthew. Let us not forget that people's first reaction to Pentecost was to call Jesus' followers drunk even though it was only nine o'clock in the morning. And let us not forget that Jesus' first miracle in the Gospel of John is turning water into wine. In the Gospel of John, Jesus' first miracle is essentially to keep a party going.
In Palestine in Jesus' day, though many people did not have the resources for huge parties, wedding celebrations were a big deal. The groom's extended family would throw this extravagant banquet. In fact, these banquets were such a big deal in Jewish tradition that often prophets used them as metaphors to describe the joys of the coming of the Messiah. Prophets claimed that when the Messiah came we would all feast together in celebration of salvation. Yet, when the wine gives out at the wedding banquet in the Gospel of John, Jesus' first response is that his hour, meaning the arrival of the messianic age, had not yet come. The Gospel of John is very much preoccupied with leading us to this hour, the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.1
But the mother of Jesus, as she is called in the Gospel of John, does what mothers do best: she smiles at him, pats him on the arm, and tells him without words that she wasn't asking, she was telling. So he does what she says. She reminds him, and reminds us, that just because the messianic age has not yet arrived does not mean that there is nothing we have to celebrate here and now. I've realized that the most I hear about celebration from Christians comes from those who are comforting the grieving. “Well, Grandma can dance again now that she's in heaven,” we say. Or, “Think of how much fun Uncle Johnny is having with his brothers now they are all together in heaven.” But our celebrations shouldn't just come later in heaven. We should be celebrating now.
Robert Hotchkins, a theologian out of the University of Chicago, claims:
Now, encouraging celebration does not mean that we have no time to mourn or be serious. It does not mean that we have no reason to reach out and serve in often dirty and broken places in the world. As we will see these next few months in the Gospel of John, our partying Jesus gets angry and overturns some tables, reaches out in compassion to those in need of healing, roams the countryside teaching and preaching, and he demonstrates service by washing people's feet. But through it all, he is calling us to an abundance, and extravagance, a joyous wholeness that we find in connecting with God and celebrating God's love for us. And so then, even when part of our call also means that we will suffer and sacrifice, even when we feel too mired in grief to lift our heads to call out for help, we need to also make time to reach out to one another and celebrate together. For in the celebration, we may find transformation and new life.
So today we will have a little fun in church by throwing a party.
Communion:3
INVITATION AND CONFESSION
Did you ever think of communion as a party? Well it is. To help you remember, we're doing something a bit unorthodox--- wedding cake instead of communion bread. We also have some wafers for those of you unwilling to eat that much sugar this early in the morning. But I wanted a visual and tasteful reminder that this ritual we do every month is a foretaste of a banquet to come. Jesus has invited us to a banquet today and in the future, a big party where we revel in the fact that we are beloved of God.
Of course, say we're invited to a party, but we and the host have been in a fight or just had a bit of a falling out. Sometimes we may stay home, avoid the host, avoid acknowledging the problem. But that hurts us, prevents us from finding that wholeness and love at the party. So the better option is reconciliation. Before we come to the banquet table today, let us offer a prayer of confession and reconciliation:
Holy Friend, forgive us. We can be so stubborn, refusing your help and wisdom. We have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us for the fear and stubbornness that keeps us from following the way of life you encourage us to take. Offer us grace upon grace again!
ASSURANCE AND PARDON
Open your ears to hear the good news: our God makes all things new in Christ Jesus!
Glory to Our God who is full of Grace and Truth!
PASSING OF THE PEACE: Now let us share signs of that peace which we find in Christ with our fellow party-goers!
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Our Holy Friend is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord Our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to praise the host of this party, the creator of us all. God is the life of the party, the life that was the light of all people. God pulled us out of the dark places of sin and slavery and famine and war, and made covenant with us to love us. And God has been true to that promise, even when we aren't true to anything.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven 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.
Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ, the true light which enlightens everyone who came into the world. For even when we stood outside the party and sulked, or even when we were too busy with our sin to even stumble toward the party, you kept on extending an invitation for us. In Jesus, you didn't just mail the invitation--- you came to us, walked right into our broken lives, and offered to pick us up, wash off our faces, and laugh with us again.
In
fact, you through Jesus threw a party that we still talk about today
for twelve of his friends. It wasn't an ordinary party. Even though
Jesus was the host, he washed the feet of his friends, demonstrating
to us how we ought to serve those we love and love those we serve.
And then Jesus served a simple meal, simpler than we have today, but
a simple meal that burst with a celebration of life to come.
Because Jesus' friends needed to remember simple joy. In the days that followed, Jesus would be betrayed by one of us and sent to a horrible death. Jesus knew this. But his love overcame.
On his last night with us, Jesus sat at a table and fed us. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and shared it with us, saying “This is my body, which is given for you.”
When supper was over he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it with us, saying, “Take, and drink. As often as you do this, remember me.”
Because when we eat and drink and receive Jesus, we gain the power to become your children.
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Transform us as you did that wine at that wedding, transform us completely. From your fullness may each of us here receive grace upon grace. May we in receiving through bread and cup go forth from this place sharing grace upon grace with our brothers and sisters. May we extend the invitation to your banquet to all.
And now, with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray as Jesus taught us: THE LORD'S PRAYER
BREAKING THE BREAD
GIVING AND RECEIVING THE BREAD AND THE CUP
1This whole paragraph references the work of Phyllis Williams Provost and Barbara McBride-Smith, “The Wedding Feast at Cana: John 2:1-11,” The Storyteller's Companion to the Bible, Volume 10: John, eds. Dennis E. Smith and Michael E. Williams (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1996), 43.
2Robert Hutchinson quoted in Brenan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, quoted in (ha!) Robert M. Brearley, Pastoral Perspective on John 2:1-11, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 4, eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 262 and 264.
3Communion Liturgy based on John 2:1-11 by Shannon Sullivan, 2014.
Scripture: John 2:1-11 (NRSV)
Sermon:
Parties can be magical. At least, I always felt they were. When I was in seminary, I would have a long hard week in class, wondering how I could ever pass my systematic theology midterm let alone pass ordination exams, but then on the weekend, I would gather with friends and we'd eat together and laugh together and just talk all night, and I would leave remembering again the strange beauty in the world. For as much as I find sitting alone in my room curled up with a good book as the height of goodness, I also just love being with people, and I find sitting around playing card games and talking about nothing and everything to be healing, actually. I sometimes leave these gatherings with my closest friends feeling more whole. Sure, not every party has this effect on me, but I do think there is such thing as a wholesome party, a party you leave feeling more happy and whole again.
Wholesomeness has nothing to do with there not being alcohol or loud music at the party: rather it is about connecting with people you love and celebrating that love. It is about vibrant living that can reach into the wounds in your soul and help stitch you back together.
As Christians, we have woefully neglected partying. Now,
at Presbury, we are privileged to have people like Carol who do know
the value of parties, but Christians as a whole do not have good
reputations for being the life of the party. Worship is often written
off as dry, Christians are seen as uptight, and God is too often
understood as a judge whose rules make it too easy for us fail and
end up with eternal punishment. But our scripture today shows us that
this concept of what it means to follow Christ is skewed. For,
according to scripture, Jesus was a party animal.I know it sounds a bit blasphemous. But let us not forget that this guy we come here to talk about each Sunday was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard and a friend of all the wrong kind of people, at least according to the Gospel of Matthew. Let us not forget that people's first reaction to Pentecost was to call Jesus' followers drunk even though it was only nine o'clock in the morning. And let us not forget that Jesus' first miracle in the Gospel of John is turning water into wine. In the Gospel of John, Jesus' first miracle is essentially to keep a party going.
In Palestine in Jesus' day, though many people did not have the resources for huge parties, wedding celebrations were a big deal. The groom's extended family would throw this extravagant banquet. In fact, these banquets were such a big deal in Jewish tradition that often prophets used them as metaphors to describe the joys of the coming of the Messiah. Prophets claimed that when the Messiah came we would all feast together in celebration of salvation. Yet, when the wine gives out at the wedding banquet in the Gospel of John, Jesus' first response is that his hour, meaning the arrival of the messianic age, had not yet come. The Gospel of John is very much preoccupied with leading us to this hour, the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.1
But the mother of Jesus, as she is called in the Gospel of John, does what mothers do best: she smiles at him, pats him on the arm, and tells him without words that she wasn't asking, she was telling. So he does what she says. She reminds him, and reminds us, that just because the messianic age has not yet arrived does not mean that there is nothing we have to celebrate here and now. I've realized that the most I hear about celebration from Christians comes from those who are comforting the grieving. “Well, Grandma can dance again now that she's in heaven,” we say. Or, “Think of how much fun Uncle Johnny is having with his brothers now they are all together in heaven.” But our celebrations shouldn't just come later in heaven. We should be celebrating now.
Robert Hotchkins, a theologian out of the University of Chicago, claims:
Christians ought to be celebrating constantly, we ought to be preoccupied with parties, banquets, feasts, and merriment. We ought to give ourselves over to...joy because we have been liberated from the fear of life and the fear of death. We ought to attract people to the church quite literally by the fun there is in being a Christian.2This is my philosophy of evangelism--- let folks see how much fun we're having! Don't try to evangelize by saying, look we need more people or our church is going to die. Don't try to get people to come to church by telling them if they don't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they will go to hell. Let people in on the party--- that we Christians are a partying people following the guy who is the life of the party.
Now, encouraging celebration does not mean that we have no time to mourn or be serious. It does not mean that we have no reason to reach out and serve in often dirty and broken places in the world. As we will see these next few months in the Gospel of John, our partying Jesus gets angry and overturns some tables, reaches out in compassion to those in need of healing, roams the countryside teaching and preaching, and he demonstrates service by washing people's feet. But through it all, he is calling us to an abundance, and extravagance, a joyous wholeness that we find in connecting with God and celebrating God's love for us. And so then, even when part of our call also means that we will suffer and sacrifice, even when we feel too mired in grief to lift our heads to call out for help, we need to also make time to reach out to one another and celebrate together. For in the celebration, we may find transformation and new life.
So today we will have a little fun in church by throwing a party.
Communion:3
INVITATION AND CONFESSION
Did you ever think of communion as a party? Well it is. To help you remember, we're doing something a bit unorthodox--- wedding cake instead of communion bread. We also have some wafers for those of you unwilling to eat that much sugar this early in the morning. But I wanted a visual and tasteful reminder that this ritual we do every month is a foretaste of a banquet to come. Jesus has invited us to a banquet today and in the future, a big party where we revel in the fact that we are beloved of God.
Of course, say we're invited to a party, but we and the host have been in a fight or just had a bit of a falling out. Sometimes we may stay home, avoid the host, avoid acknowledging the problem. But that hurts us, prevents us from finding that wholeness and love at the party. So the better option is reconciliation. Before we come to the banquet table today, let us offer a prayer of confession and reconciliation:
Holy Friend, forgive us. We can be so stubborn, refusing your help and wisdom. We have rebelled against your love, we have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy. Forgive us for the fear and stubbornness that keeps us from following the way of life you encourage us to take. Offer us grace upon grace again!
ASSURANCE AND PARDON
Open your ears to hear the good news: our God makes all things new in Christ Jesus!
Glory to Our God who is full of Grace and Truth!
PASSING OF THE PEACE: Now let us share signs of that peace which we find in Christ with our fellow party-goers!
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Our Holy Friend is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord Our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to praise the host of this party, the creator of us all. God is the life of the party, the life that was the light of all people. God pulled us out of the dark places of sin and slavery and famine and war, and made covenant with us to love us. And God has been true to that promise, even when we aren't true to anything.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven 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.
Holy are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ, the true light which enlightens everyone who came into the world. For even when we stood outside the party and sulked, or even when we were too busy with our sin to even stumble toward the party, you kept on extending an invitation for us. In Jesus, you didn't just mail the invitation--- you came to us, walked right into our broken lives, and offered to pick us up, wash off our faces, and laugh with us again.
In
fact, you through Jesus threw a party that we still talk about today
for twelve of his friends. It wasn't an ordinary party. Even though
Jesus was the host, he washed the feet of his friends, demonstrating
to us how we ought to serve those we love and love those we serve.
And then Jesus served a simple meal, simpler than we have today, but
a simple meal that burst with a celebration of life to come. Because Jesus' friends needed to remember simple joy. In the days that followed, Jesus would be betrayed by one of us and sent to a horrible death. Jesus knew this. But his love overcame.
On his last night with us, Jesus sat at a table and fed us. He took bread, blessed it, broke it, and shared it with us, saying “This is my body, which is given for you.”
When supper was over he took the cup, blessed it, and shared it with us, saying, “Take, and drink. As often as you do this, remember me.”
Because when we eat and drink and receive Jesus, we gain the power to become your children.
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Transform us as you did that wine at that wedding, transform us completely. From your fullness may each of us here receive grace upon grace. May we in receiving through bread and cup go forth from this place sharing grace upon grace with our brothers and sisters. May we extend the invitation to your banquet to all.
And now, with the confidence of the children of God, let us pray as Jesus taught us: THE LORD'S PRAYER
BREAKING THE BREAD
GIVING AND RECEIVING THE BREAD AND THE CUP
Come--- let us join the
party!
1This whole paragraph references the work of Phyllis Williams Provost and Barbara McBride-Smith, “The Wedding Feast at Cana: John 2:1-11,” The Storyteller's Companion to the Bible, Volume 10: John, eds. Dennis E. Smith and Michael E. Williams (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1996), 43.
2Robert Hutchinson quoted in Brenan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel, quoted in (ha!) Robert M. Brearley, Pastoral Perspective on John 2:1-11, Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 4, eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 262 and 264.
3Communion Liturgy based on John 2:1-11 by Shannon Sullivan, 2014.
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