SPEAKER_11: Rejoice now seem for angels, exportation around our celebration with a salary Santa Shall sales, we should be signs of joy and my son.
SPEAKER_11: We should praise him in God, the Almighty Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord, who pray for us to death sin.
SPEAKER_12: And we are his precious life before his ancient man.
SPEAKER_10: Let us pray that our God will bring each of us to the fullness of redemption.
SPEAKER_00: While the Spirit of God fluttered over the face of the waters.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule the fish of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the animals, and the whole earth, and over every creeping creature that creeps upon the earth.
SPEAKER_00: So God created humankind in God's own image.
SPEAKER_00: In God's own image, God created them.
SPEAKER_00: Female and male, God created them.
SPEAKER_00: And the heavens and the earth were complete, along with all their multitude.
SPEAKER_00: Then God finished on the seventh day the work that God had done, and rested on the seventh day from all the work that they had done.
SPEAKER_00: So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it God rested from all the work that God had done in creation.
SPEAKER_00: These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord sent the creature.
SPEAKER_00: Let us read responsibly by the half verse.
SPEAKER_00: Let the earth bless the creator of all.
SPEAKER_00: Let us bless the creator of all, mountains and hills.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the creator of all, all that grows in the ground.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the creator of all, seas and rivers.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the creator of all, you springs.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the creator of all, you see monsters, and all that swim in the waters.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the creator of all.
SPEAKER_00: Bless the creator of all all people on earth.
SPEAKER_05: Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the set of time in which God had spoken to him.
SPEAKER_05: The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day of Isaac's weaning.
SPEAKER_05: Then Sarah saw the son of Hagar, the Egyptian woman, whom she had given birth to for Abraham playing.
SPEAKER_05: So she said to Abraham, Drive out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit with my son with Isaac.
SPEAKER_05: The situation was evil in Abraham's eyes on account of his son.
SPEAKER_05: And God said to Abraham, See it not as evil in your eyes, on account of the boy and on account of your slave woman.
SPEAKER_05: In all that Sarah says to woman, I will make in all that Sarah says to you, obey her voice, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you.
SPEAKER_05: Yet even the son of the slave woman I will make a nation also, because he is your offspring.
SPEAKER_05: So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and the skin of water and gave it to Hagar.
SPEAKER_05: He placed it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away.
SPEAKER_05: Then she walked away and wandered in the wilderness of the Ashaba.
SPEAKER_05: When the water in the skin was gone, she thrust the child under one of the bushes.
SPEAKER_05: Then she went and sat herself down before him some way off, about the distance of a bowshot.
SPEAKER_05: For she said, Let me not see the death of my child.
SPEAKER_05: So she sat before him, and she lifted up her voice, and she wept.
SPEAKER_05: And God heard the voice of the boy, and the messenger of God called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her, What troubles you, Hagar?
SPEAKER_05: Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
SPEAKER_05: Rise, lift the boy, and hold him with your hand, for a great nation of him I will make.
SPEAKER_05: Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water.
SPEAKER_05: She went and filled the skin with water and let the boy drink.
SPEAKER_05: God was with the boy, and he grew up.
SPEAKER_05: He settled in the wilderness and became an archer.
SPEAKER_05: He settled in the wilderness of Pharaoh, and his mother acquired a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_05: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: She will lead me in her shelter when the day is evil.
SPEAKER_05: Now my head is raised up above my enemies surrounding me, and I will offer in her tent sacrifices with shouts of joy.
SPEAKER_05: Hear my pride, faithful one, when I cry aloud.
SPEAKER_05: Teach me, righteous one, your way.
SPEAKER_05: Do not give me over to the throats of my foes.
SPEAKER_05: If I but believe, I shall see the goodness of she who is faithful.
SPEAKER_05: Wait for the living God, be strong, and let your heart take courage.
SPEAKER_04: Now the Holy One said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and charioteers.
SPEAKER_04: So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea turned back.
SPEAKER_04: By the break of dawn it was back to its strength, and the Egyptians fled at its approach.
SPEAKER_04: Then the living gods shook the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
SPEAKER_04: The waters returned and covered the chariots and the charioteers, the whole army of Pharaoh that came after them into the sea, not a single one of them remained.
SPEAKER_04: And the women, children, and the men of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters a war for them on their right and on their left.
SPEAKER_04: Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with drums and with dancing.
SPEAKER_04: And Miriam sang to them, Sing to the God who saves, for God has triumphed triumphantly.
SPEAKER_04: Horse and rider God has thrown into the sea.
SPEAKER_04: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: God has become my salvation.
SPEAKER_04: The dread God is a warrior.
SPEAKER_04: Who is like you, most high among the gods?
SPEAKER_04: In your faithful love, you led the people whom you redeem.
SPEAKER_04: You brought them in and planted them on the mountain that is your possession.
SPEAKER_04: The place, faithful God, that you made your dwelling place.
SPEAKER_04: God, who is majesty, will reign forever and ever.
SPEAKER_07: And Joshua, son of Nun, sent two men, spies, secretly from Shittim, saying, Go, survey the land, and survey Jericho.
SPEAKER_07: So they went and entered the house of a prostitute.
SPEAKER_07: Her name was Rahab, and they lay down there.
SPEAKER_07: Now the king of Jericho was told, Look now, men have come here tonight from the Israelites to search out the land.
SPEAKER_07: Then the king of Jericho said to Rahab, Bring out the men, the ones who came to you, who came to your house, for they have come to search out the whole of the land.
SPEAKER_07: Now the woman had taken the two men and hid them.
SPEAKER_07: Then she said, True, the men came to me, but I did not know from where they came.
SPEAKER_07: And it was when the gate was to close at dark that the men went out.
SPEAKER_07: I do not know where the men went.
SPEAKER_07: Hurry, chase after them, for you can reach them.
SPEAKER_07: However, she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax that she had laid out for herself on the roof.
SPEAKER_07: So the men chased after them along the path of the Jordan, up to the forts.
SPEAKER_07: The gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.
SPEAKER_07: Rahab said, Now I bid you all swear to me by the faithful God, for I have done faithfully by you all, that father, my sisters and my brothers, and all who belong to them.
SPEAKER_07: And deliver our lives from death.
SPEAKER_07: The men said to her, Our life for yours, even unto death.
SPEAKER_07: If you do not tell this our business, then when the faithful God gives to us the land, we will deal faithfully and honestly with you.
SPEAKER_07: And it happened on the seventh day that they rose early at the break of dawn and circled the city in the same way seven times.
SPEAKER_07: Only on that day they circled the city seven times.
SPEAKER_07: And it was on the seventh time when the priest blew the ram's horns, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the faithful one has given you the city.
SPEAKER_07: The city and all that is in it shall be devoted to the Holy One.
SPEAKER_07: Only Rahab, the prostitute, she shall live, and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the messengers we sent.
SPEAKER_07: The youths that were the spice went in and brought Rahab out, along with her mother, her father, her sisters and brothers, and all who belonged to her, all her kinfolk they brought out, and set them outside of the camp of Israel.
SPEAKER_07: The word of the Lord thank you God.
SPEAKER_07: The righteous will stand with great confidence in the presence of those who have oppressed them, and those who fight their neighbors.
SPEAKER_07: When the unrighteous see, they will be shaken with a terrible fear.
SPEAKER_07: And they will be raised and the unexpected soul.
SPEAKER_07: They will speak amongst themselves, repenting.
SPEAKER_07: These are persons whom we once held in derision and made the meaning of insult.
SPEAKER_07: We were foolish.
SPEAKER_07: We reckoned their lives and madness and their hand without honor.
SPEAKER_07: Why have they been numbered along with daughters and sons of God?
SPEAKER_07: And why is there?
SPEAKER_07: For the least may Par be pardoned in mercy, but the violent will be directly just.
SPEAKER_07: For the sovereign of all will not draw back from anyone or show respect to greatness, because small and greater life died.
SPEAKER_10: For Ehud the judge was dead.
SPEAKER_10: So the Holy One sold them into the hand of King Jaban of Canaan, who reigned in Hazar.
SPEAKER_10: The commander of his army was Siserah, who lived in Heroeshep Haboim.
SPEAKER_10: And the women of men of Israel cried out to God who hears, for Jaban had nine hundred chariots of iron and had oppressed the Israelites with ruthlessness twenty years.
SPEAKER_10: Deborah, a woman, a prophet, a fiery one.
SPEAKER_10: She was judging Israel at that time.
SPEAKER_10: She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Rama and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim.
SPEAKER_10: And the women and men of Israel came up to her for judgment.
SPEAKER_10: She sent and called for Barak bin Abinoim from Kedesh and Nafhtali and said to him, Did not the Most High, the God of Israel, command you?
SPEAKER_10: Go, march on Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun.
SPEAKER_10: I will march toward you to draw to you by the Wadi Kishon Siserah, the commander of Jaban's army with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand.
SPEAKER_10: Then Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go.
SPEAKER_10: And she said, I will surely go with you, however, there will be no glory for you on the path you are taking.
SPEAKER_10: For the mighty God will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.
SPEAKER_10: Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedish.
SPEAKER_10: Barak summoned Zebulun and Naftali to Kedish, and ten thousand men went up with him, and Deborah went up with him.
SPEAKER_10: And on the day God subdued King Jabed of Canaan before the women and men of Israel.
SPEAKER_10: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_10: And then Deborah and Barak bin Abinawam sang on that day, saying, Mighty one, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom.
SPEAKER_10: The mountains melted before the Most High, the one of Sinai.
SPEAKER_10: In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, caravans ceased.
SPEAKER_10: The mighty grew fat in Israel, they grew fat on plunder.
SPEAKER_10: Awake.
SPEAKER_10: Awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song.
SPEAKER_10: Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Haber the Kenite.
SPEAKER_10: So perish all your enemies, Holy One of God.
SPEAKER_02: But those who love God will be like the sun rising in the sky.
SPEAKER_10: And so the land was pacified for forty years.
SPEAKER_06: Now Atheliah, Ahaziah's mother, saw that her son was dead.
SPEAKER_06: She stood up and destroyed all the royal offspring.
SPEAKER_06: Then Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, Ahaziah's son, and she stole him away from among the daughters and sons of the king who were being killed.
SPEAKER_06: She put him and his nurse in a bedroom.
SPEAKER_06: Thus she hid him from Athaliah, and he was not put to death.
SPEAKER_06: The prince remained with Ahaziah six years, hidden in the house of the ever living God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
SPEAKER_06: But in the seventh year, Jehoadah, the high priest and Joshua's husband, sent for the captain of the Karaites, and the bodyguards had them come to him in the house of the Holy One.
SPEAKER_06: He made a covenant with them, and had them swear in the house of the Holy One of old.
SPEAKER_06: Then he showed them the son of the king.
SPEAKER_06: The priest, Jehoidah, came to the captains of the cap hundreds of spears and shields that had been King David's, which were which were in the house of the living God.
SPEAKER_06: Then the guards stood, each with his weapons in his hand, from the south of the temple to the north of the temple, next to the altar and the temple, around the king on every side.
SPEAKER_06: When he brought out the son of the king, put the crown on him, and gave Joash a testimony of royalty.
SPEAKER_06: They made him king and anointed him.
SPEAKER_06: They clapped their hands and shouted, Long live the King, the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_06: I will give God thanks to the God who saves me with my whole heart.
SPEAKER_06: I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
SPEAKER_06: I will rejoice and results.
SPEAKER_06: I will rejoice for your name most high.
SPEAKER_06: God who is majesty sits enthroned forever.
SPEAKER_06: She has established her throne for judgment.
SPEAKER_06: She judges the world in righteousness.
SPEAKER_06: She judges the evil for equity.
SPEAKER_06: She who is faithful is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
SPEAKER_06: They trust you, they who know your name.
SPEAKER_06: For you do not forsake those who seek you redeeming God.
SPEAKER_06: Sing praises to the Holy One enthroned in Zion.
SPEAKER_06: Declare your deeds on the call.
SPEAKER_06: Be gracious to me, gracious one.
SPEAKER_06: See what I suffer from those who need me.
SPEAKER_06: You lift me up from the gates of death, so that I may recount all your praises and in the gates of the daughter Zion, rejoice in your salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And when she heard all the words that Uzziah said to them, and how he swore to them to surrender the town to the Assyrians after five days.
SPEAKER_01: So she sent her slave girl, who was set over all she possessed, to summon Uzziah and Shabris and Charmas, the elders of her town.
SPEAKER_01: Then Judah said to them, Hear me, and I will do a thing that will go down from generation to generation of our daughters and sons.
SPEAKER_01: You all shall stand at the gate this night, and I shall go out, I along with my slave girl, and within the days which you have promised to hand over the town to our enemies, the Holy One will visit Israel through my hand.
SPEAKER_01: None of you should investigate my task, for I will not tell you all until I have completed my work.
SPEAKER_01: Now Judah had told her slave girl to stand outside the bedchamber and to wait for her to come out, as she did other days.
SPEAKER_01: For she said she would go out for her prayer.
SPEAKER_01: She spoke to Baboeth these same words, so everyone went out beyond sight, and no one was left in the bedchamber, either small or great.
SPEAKER_01: Then Judah, standing beside his bed, said in her heart, holy God of all power, look with care in this hour on the work of my hands for the exaltation of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Now in the time to help your heritage and to carry out my intention to destroy the enemies who have risen up against us.
SPEAKER_01: She came to the bedpost of Hilophranes and took down his sword from there.
SPEAKER_01: Then she came towards his bed off the hair of his head and said, Give me strength today, holy God of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And she struck his neck twice with all her might and cut off his head.
SPEAKER_01: Then she rolled his body off the bed and snatched the canopy from the post.
SPEAKER_01: A little later she went out and gave Calophones' head to her slave girl, who placed it in her food bag.
SPEAKER_01: Then the two women went out together, according to their custom at the time of her prayer.
SPEAKER_01: They passed through the new canon, circled the valley, and went up the mountain at Betheliah and came to its gate.
SPEAKER_01: From a distance, Judah called out to the guards at the gates, Open, open the gate.
SPEAKER_01: God our God is with us, working deeds and power in Israel, and might against our enemies, as God has done today.
SPEAKER_01: And it happened when the men of her town heard her voice, they rushed to come down to the gate of the city and summoned the elders of the city.
SPEAKER_01: They all ran together from small to great.
SPEAKER_01: For it was extraordinary to them that she returned.
SPEAKER_01: They opened the gate and welcomed the women.
SPEAKER_01: Then they lit a fire to provide light and gathered around the women.
SPEAKER_01: Then Judah said to them with a loud voice, Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise God, who did not withdraw mercy from the house of Israel, but has broken our enemies by my hand this night.
SPEAKER_01: And all the people were completely astounded.
SPEAKER_01: They bowed down and worshiped God and said within one with one accord, Blessed are you, our God, who has this day humiliated the enemies of your people.
SPEAKER_01: Then Uzziah said to Judah, O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth, and blessed be the holy God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Judas said, Again, praise for my God with drums, singing to my sovereign with cymbals.
SPEAKER_01: For the Holy One is a God who crushes wars, whose encampments are in the midst of the people.
SPEAKER_01: Assyria came down from the mountains of the north.
SPEAKER_01: It came with multitudes of its warriors.
SPEAKER_01: Assyria boasted that it would burn up my territory and kill my young men with the sword and throw my infants to the ground.
SPEAKER_01: But the Almighty God dismissed them.
SPEAKER_01: For this mighty one did not fall by the hands of the young men, nor did the sons of the Titans strike him down, nor did tall giants lay him out.
SPEAKER_01: I will sing to my God a new song.
SPEAKER_10: I call upon you, therefore, now that our Linton observance is ended, to renew the solemn promises and vows of holy baptism by which we once renounced Satan and all his works, and promise to serve God faithfully in the Holy Catholic Church.
SPEAKER_10: Do you reaffirm your renunciation of evil and renew your commitment to Jesus Christ?
SPEAKER_10: Do you believe in God the Father?
unknown: I believe in God the Father the Mighty.
SPEAKER_10: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
SPEAKER_02: I believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Lord of the Virgin of Mary.
SPEAKER_03: He is suffering the Monsieur, the source of our earth.
SPEAKER_03: He is sent into heaven.
SPEAKER_10: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
SPEAKER_02: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy God, the church, the saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the Father.
SPEAKER_10: Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers?
unknown: I will of God so.
SPEAKER_10: Will you persevere in resisting evil?
SPEAKER_10: And whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.
SPEAKER_10: Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?
SPEAKER_10: I will with God so.
SPEAKER_10: And will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
SPEAKER_10: I will of God so.
SPEAKER_10: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
SPEAKER_10: I will with God so.
SPEAKER_10: Amen.
SPEAKER_10: Friends, I invite you, as you like, to come forward and renew your baptismal vows with the sprinkling of water.
SPEAKER_10: So you can do so on either side.
SPEAKER_10: I warn you, this side, mine, will be a little wetter than Sean's side over here.
SPEAKER_10: But as the choir leads us, uh again, I invite you, this is our local custom here at St.
SPEAKER_10: Thomas, uh to remember your baptism with the sprinkling of water.
SPEAKER_10: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_10: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_10: Almighty God, who for our redemption gave your only begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy.
SPEAKER_10: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection.
SPEAKER_10: Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_10: Amen.
SPEAKER_10: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_10: A reading from the Acts of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_10: On the day of the Sabbath, we went out of the gate by the river where we thought it was a place of prayer.
SPEAKER_10: And we sat down and spoke to the woman, the women who gathered there.
SPEAKER_10: Now a certain woman named Lydia, a merchant of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a worshipper of God, was listening to us.
SPEAKER_10: The Messiah opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul, and she was baptized along with her household.
SPEAKER_10: She urged us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to Christ, come and stay at my home.
SPEAKER_10: And she persuaded us.
SPEAKER_10: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb and look.
SPEAKER_08: There was a great earthquake.
SPEAKER_08: For a messenger of God descended from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it.
SPEAKER_08: Its appearance was like lightning.
SPEAKER_08: And its clothing white as snow.
SPEAKER_08: For fear of the messenger, the guards shook and were as though dead.
SPEAKER_08: The messenger responded to the women and said, Fear not.
SPEAKER_08: I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
SPEAKER_08: He is not here, for he has been raised.
SPEAKER_08: Just as he said, Come, see the place where he lay.
SPEAKER_08: Then go quickly and tell his disciples.
SPEAKER_08: This is my message for you.
SPEAKER_08: So the women left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples the news.
SPEAKER_08: Then all of a sudden, Jesus met them and said, Shalom.
SPEAKER_08: And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and bowed down, worshipping him.
SPEAKER_08: Then Jesus said to them, Fear not, go and tell my sisters and brothers to go to Galilee.
SPEAKER_08: There they will see me.
SPEAKER_08: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Amen.
SPEAKER_08: Peace, peace, steal.
SPEAKER_08: Now, some of you regulators might be thinking, what is Sean doing standing up there behind the pulpit?
SPEAKER_08: Doesn't he preach down in front of us?
SPEAKER_08: Yes, I normally do.
SPEAKER_08: But today it's different.
SPEAKER_08: Today we are going to do something that churches throughout the Christian West End world have been doing for almost 1,500 years.
SPEAKER_08: There was a bishop named St.
SPEAKER_08: John Chrysostom.
SPEAKER_08: Chrysostom means Golden Mouth.
SPEAKER_08: Boy, do I want that nickname.
SPEAKER_08: I'll tell you what.
SPEAKER_08: If I ever leave here, you can be like, oh, remember we had John Goldenmouth?
SPEAKER_08: I mean, he was such a good preacher.
SPEAKER_08: Seriously, this man was such a good preacher that his nickname was Golden Mouth, Golden Tongued.
SPEAKER_08: And so he became, he became Archbishop of Constantinople at one point, and at one point he was declared a heretic, which I don't think you're worth your salt as a theologian or Christian unless somebody calls you a heretic.
SPEAKER_08: But then he became a doctor of the church and is revered, especially in the Orthodox Church, but in the Anglican Church as well.
SPEAKER_08: And he wrote a sermon, well, many sermons, called the Pastoral Sermon.
SPEAKER_08: And for 1,500, 1,600 years, our brothers and sisters in the Orthodox Church have been reading this sermon on the vigil.
SPEAKER_08: And so I invite you to join me and join them in the word of St.
SPEAKER_08: John of the Golden Mouth.
SPEAKER_08: Is anyone here in love with God?
SPEAKER_08: Then come.
SPEAKER_08: This is your moment.
SPEAKER_08: Is anyone grateful for grace?
SPEAKER_08: Step in.
SPEAKER_08: Joy is waiting.
SPEAKER_08: Have you been worn thin by the fast?
SPEAKER_08: By the waiting, by the long length of your life.
SPEAKER_08: And today you get your reward.
SPEAKER_08: Now some of you have been working since the early morning, and you get the full feast.
SPEAKER_08: And some of you just showed up.
SPEAKER_08: And there's a place for you to.
SPEAKER_08: And even if you didn't make it until noon or late afternoon, or the last hour before sunset, you have to miss the thing.
SPEAKER_08: God doesn't run out of mercy.
SPEAKER_08: There's enough joy to go around.
SPEAKER_08: The last are treated like the first.
SPEAKER_08: No loss.
SPEAKER_08: No shame.
SPEAKER_08: No fear.
SPEAKER_08: God gives everyone in full.
SPEAKER_08: The early risers and the latecomers.
SPEAKER_08: The disciplined and the disorganized.
SPEAKER_08: The ones who kept every rule, and the ones who barely made it here this morning.
SPEAKER_08: So come, all of you, step into the joy of the Lord.
SPEAKER_08: Everyone gets a share.
SPEAKER_08: Rich or poor, you belong, the focused and the distracted, the zealous and the tired.
SPEAKER_08: Celebrate together.
SPEAKER_08: Oh, where is your thing now, death?
SPEAKER_08: Where is your power now?
SPEAKER_08: Christ is risen and you death are done for.
SPEAKER_08: Christ is risen and evil has lost its grip.
SPEAKER_08: Christ is risen and the angels are throwing a party.
SPEAKER_08: Christ is risen and life is free.
SPEAKER_08: Christ is risen.
SPEAKER_08: Not just his, but ours too.
SPEAKER_08: Because he rose, we will rise.
SPEAKER_10: Trying to read by candlelight.
SPEAKER_10: That's on purpose.
SPEAKER_10: I don't know if you were able to see one another or these torches, but we sure were.
SPEAKER_10: And there is something truly lovely about being gathered in the darkness, doing it the old-fashioned way, because that is the goal of the vigil.
SPEAKER_10: We arrive in darkness, and we sit and we wait and we read, we bide our time waiting well for someone to roll away the stone, and then what do you know?
SPEAKER_10: It's all gone.
SPEAKER_10: So thanks for keeping Vigil with us at St.
SPEAKER_10: Thomas this morning.
SPEAKER_10: And a special welcome to our newcomers and guests.
SPEAKER_10: If you're with us for the first time, thank you.
SPEAKER_10: Uh we don't usually have the clear book drum line with us.
SPEAKER_10: But we're glad we did.
SPEAKER_10: Uh we would ask that our visitor, yeah, it's okay, that's fantastic.
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
SPEAKER_10: If you found yourself thinking, wow, I was really loud, remember like there was an earthquake.
SPEAKER_10: And the earthquake didn't sound like an organ.
SPEAKER_10: So so that was our our knock.
SPEAKER_10: Um thank you to our choir who has worked for weeks, and we're going to enjoy some of the fruits of their labor.
SPEAKER_10: Um and of course, they were up early keeping first watch or practicing here long before our vigil even began.
SPEAKER_10: Uh so there were many hands that went into this holy week, and we're grateful for all of you.
SPEAKER_10: Okay, so if you're a newcomer or guest, we would be so grateful if you take a moment to fill out one of the little cards in the room behind you that says well.
SPEAKER_10: Welcome.
SPEAKER_10: Promise I won't show up at your house with bread.
SPEAKER_10: I won't uh start sending you mail unless you check a box that says, please send me mail.
SPEAKER_10: Um, if you check the box, it says, I want to call from the priest, I will call you and probably tomorrow.
SPEAKER_10: If you don't, I won't call you.
SPEAKER_10: I promise.
SPEAKER_10: So the cards are safe.
SPEAKER_10: You fill out whatever uh follow-up you'd like.
SPEAKER_10: And thank you for worshiping with us this morning of all mornings.
SPEAKER_10: Um, just a quick nod.
SPEAKER_10: Uh anybody grow up in Easter tradition where like you get a new set of clothes on Easter, like a dress or like an Easter shirt.
SPEAKER_10: Well, we don't always do this, but uh, as a nod to the resurrection of our Lord, and here we are across the street from the Johnson Space Center.
SPEAKER_10: There's new clothes for Easter.
SPEAKER_10: Uh these are the pillars of creation, a nebula.
SPEAKER_10: Uh a nod to the resurrection, right?
SPEAKER_10: Because nebula uh are much shorter lived than stars, but they essentially start spitting out things from helium to iron, and we are resurrected nebula ourselves.
SPEAKER_10: So the pillars of creation, which we can see from the web telescope, uh, well, it's an image of our own resurrection, literally, and the fact that we're here.
SPEAKER_10: Okay, so what else is there to announce to you?
SPEAKER_10: Um, you're welcome to stay for two more services.
SPEAKER_10: We'll have one at 8.30, and we'll have one at 10.30, and of course, there'll be different readings and different scriptures.
SPEAKER_10: So if you just can't get enough the resurrection of the Lord, then you get two more tries.
SPEAKER_10: Um, I also want to invite you warmly that next week we call that Low Sunday.
SPEAKER_10: Uh Low Sunday in the afternoon from 2 to 3.30 here in the Christ Hall.
SPEAKER_10: Uh, we'll be having the first of a series of three uh invitations to learn about how it is that we age well in place.
SPEAKER_10: Uh this is driven by something like$20 million and 17 years of research, and it doesn't say things like, you get hobbies, you have friends.
SPEAKER_10: It tells you how many hobbies you need.
SPEAKER_10: It tells you how many friends you need, it tells you how many tripping hazards there are in your home right now, and how many you need to remove so that you can decrease your chance of falling by more than 50%.
SPEAKER_10: So you may think, I'm nowhere near that, but your parents may be.
SPEAKER_10: So this is a great opportunity for our community to learn about aging well in place and how we care and support those who are aging.
SPEAKER_10: And I also want to offer to the community, uh, you'll see that on May the, is it May the 9th is CPR training?
SPEAKER_10: May the 10th is CPR training.
SPEAKER_10: So if you'd like a CPR certification, May the 10th.
SPEAKER_10: And then on May the 17th, we're offering the Red Cross babysitting course.
SPEAKER_10: So maybe you want a summer job, maybe your nephew wants a summer job.
SPEAKER_10: Uh be great to be trained in how it is that we take care of children and one another.
SPEAKER_10: So uh you'll find all of that information in our e-news or talk to Courtney or Sean or myself.
SPEAKER_10: Uh the last thing I want to do, because I can't help myself, is just teach you a little bit of Greek.
SPEAKER_10: So the Greek response, the Greek opening, Christ is risen, we say Christos anesti.
SPEAKER_10: And usually we'd say he's risen indeed.
SPEAKER_10: So the response is Alethos Anesti.
SPEAKER_10: Alethos Anesti.
SPEAKER_10: Christos anesti abide in love.
SPEAKER_10: All things come of you, O Lord, and of your own have we given you.
SPEAKER_10: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_10: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come.
SPEAKER_10: You who have much faith and you who have little.
SPEAKER_10: You who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_10: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_10: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.
SPEAKER_10: And he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_10: Our service continues on page three hundred and seventy-two of your red prayer book.
SPEAKER_10: Page three hundred and seventy-two.
SPEAKER_09: It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and to who give you thanks.
SPEAKER_09: You alone are God living and truth, dwelling in light, inaccessible, from the former forever.
SPEAKER_09: Found in life and source of all goodness.
SPEAKER_09: You made all things in filling with you who bless.
SPEAKER_09: You created and you rejoice in the splendor of reading.
SPEAKER_09: And beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you who unseason grace, joining with them and giving voice to every creature on earth who heaven.
SPEAKER_09: We are cream you and glorify your whole name as we sing.
SPEAKER_10: Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.
SPEAKER_10: You formed us from your own image, giving the whole world into our stewardship, so that in honor to you, our Creator, we might shepherd and serve all your creatures.
SPEAKER_10: When our disobedience takes us far from you, you do not abandon us to the power of death.
SPEAKER_10: In your mercy you come to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you.
SPEAKER_10: Again and again you call us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you teach us to hope for salvation.
SPEAKER_10: Father, you love the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_10: Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_10: To the poor, he proclaims the good news of salvation, to prisoners' freedom, to the sorrowful joy.
SPEAKER_10: To fulfill your purpose, he gave himself up to death, and rising from the grave this morning, destroyed death and made the whole creation new.
SPEAKER_10: And that way it might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us, God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift for those who believe to complete Jesus' work in the world and to bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.
SPEAKER_10: When the hour had come for him to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
SPEAKER_10: At supper with them, Jesus took bread, and when he'd given thanks to you, he broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_10: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_10: Do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_10: After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_10: This is my blood of the renewed covenant which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_10: Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_10: Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption, recalling Christ's death and his descent among the dead, proclaiming his resurrection and ascension to your right hand, awaiting his coming in glory and offering to you from the gifts you've given us, this bread and this cup, we praise you and we bless you.
SPEAKER_10: We praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, and we pray to you, Lord our God.
SPEAKER_10: Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these gifts, sanctifying them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people, the bread of life and cup of salvation, body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_10: Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your name.
SPEAKER_10: Remember, Lord, your one holy Catholic and apostolic church redeemed by the love of your Christ.
SPEAKER_10: Reveal its unity, guard its faith, preserve it in peace.
SPEAKER_10: Remember especially our bishops.
SPEAKER_10: For Sean, our archbishop, our presiding bishop.
SPEAKER_10: For our Anglican brothers and sisters to have the Anglican communion in the world, and all who minister in your church.
SPEAKER_10: Remember all your people and those who seek your truth.
SPEAKER_10: The congregation is invited to name their own celebrations or petitions silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_10: Remember all who have died in the peace of Christ and those whose faith is known to you alone.
SPEAKER_10: Bring them into the place of eternal joy and light, and grant that we may find our inheritance with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, with matriarchs, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and all the saints who have found favor with you in ages past.
SPEAKER_10: We praise you in union with them and give you glory through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_09: Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, whoever random.
SPEAKER_10: Now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_10: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
SPEAKER_10: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_10: For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_10: Amen.
SPEAKER_10: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_10: Christ, our Passover is resurrected for us.
SPEAKER_10: Therefore, let us keep the feast.
SPEAKER_10: Behold the gifts that you are and become the gifts you receive.
SPEAKER_10: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_10: Eternal God, Heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the sacrament of his body and blood.
SPEAKER_10: Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_10: Amen.
SPEAKER_10: And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, make you perfect in every good work to do God's will, working in you that which is well pleasing in God's sight.
SPEAKER_10: The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you this day and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_10: Amen.