Faith To Go Podcast: Contents of the Heart
Hosted each week by the Faith Formation team at St. Paul's Cathedral in San Diego, David Tremaine, Maya Little-Sana and Jackie Pippin, the Faith To Go Podcast highlight themes from the Sunday Gospel reading for you to take into your conversations throughout the week.
Reads: Honoring John McCain
Questions:
Why are funerals important to our faith life as a community?
How do these types of services relate to the role of the Pharisees and Scribes?
In what ways did John McCain demonstrate a faithful follower even if he did not regularly attend church?
What example does John McCain set, no matter if we agree or disagree with his politics?
What is a prayer or hymn that you hold deep in your heart that helps you through hard times?
Views and Qs: President George W. Bush Honors John McCain
Watch this video together and then use the discussion questions below to reflect as a family.
Discussion Questions:
How did John McCain embody someone who had a clean heart?
What were things that tried to lead him astray?
What does President Bush say that John McCain detested?
How does that relate to this bible story?
What can you learn from John McCain’s example as a servant for this country and his beliefs of service?
Feast and Faith: Our Souls
Prayer- God, you were present at the beginning.
Be with me as I begin (a new school year, new job, new sport, new extracurricular). Comfort me when I am unsure of my new surroundings. Strengthen me when I stumble,
And help me remember that your light shines in all places. All this I ask through you, my Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.
Discussion– The Pharisees and scribes weren’t bad people. What we see in the bible is that they often focus their faith on the wrong idea of faithfulness.
Questions
What does it mean to be faithful?
How do you think you live a faithful life?
Whom do we consider “unclean” in our lives today? Is it a person at school, or someone you see on your way to and from school?
When do you try to keep a safe distance when you don’t need to?
Why do you think the Pharisees and scribes get such harsh criticism from Jesus?
Final nugget– The Pharisees and scribes focus a lot on laws and traditions that they thing make someone faithful. While those things are important and have their place in our full and well-rounded faith lives, we also need to take time to focus on our hearts and souls. It is easy to go through the motions and think that we are doing enough, but it is also important to examine our thoughts and feelings. This helps us look at why we believe what we believe and what this calls us to do, and be, and act.
Stay and Pray: A Devotion for Families at the Close of the Day
Each week we feature a way for your family to reflect and pray together. For families with older children this is an at home liturgy for your family to participate in together. It is a daily devotion for families adapted from The Book of Common Prayer.
Before you begin, take a few moments to decide who will read the scripture reading and who will read the collect and closing. Read the Psalm and Lord's Prayer in unison.
After a moment of silence, begin with the Psalm.
Psalm 45: 1-2, 7-10
(Read in unison)
1 My heart is stirring with a noble song;
let me recite what I have fashioned for the king;
my tongue shall be the pen of a skilled writer.
2 You are the fairest of men;
grace flows from your lips,
because God has blessed you for ever.
7 Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever,
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom;
you love righteousness and hate iniquity.
8 Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
9 All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia,
and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you glad.
10 Kings' daughters stand among the ladies of the court;
on your right hand is the queen,
adorned with the gold of Ophir.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
(read by assigned person)
When the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.” For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Prayers for Ourselves and For Others (take this time to each offer one person/event that you would like to hold in prayer as well as one thing you are thankful for)
Dear God, tonight I ask your prayers for.......
and I give you thanks for ..........
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
(read in unison)
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 Collect
(read by assigned person)
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Share some of your conversations in the comments below: