SPEAKER_03: Good morning and welcome to St.
SPEAKER_03: Thomas.
SPEAKER_03: We were planning to do a baptism today, but we're not going to do it because somebody got sick.
SPEAKER_03: So instead, if you pick up your red book of common prayer, this is the slightly different service when we didn't do a baptism.
SPEAKER_03: We'll begin on page three hundred and fifty-five.
SPEAKER_03: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let's pray together at the bottom of the page.
SPEAKER_04: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_06: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ of the Lord.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_03: Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel in the back with Mr.
SPEAKER_03: Allen.
SPEAKER_01: When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, Come, make gods for us who shall go before us.
SPEAKER_01: As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
SPEAKER_01: Aaron said to them, Take off your gold rings that are on your ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me.
SPEAKER_01: So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron.
SPEAKER_01: He took the gold from them, performed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf.
SPEAKER_01: And they said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it.
SPEAKER_01: And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow shall be the festival to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being.
SPEAKER_01: And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to rebel.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said to Moses, Go down at once.
SPEAKER_01: Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely.
SPEAKER_01: They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them.
SPEAKER_01: They have cast for themselves an image of a calf and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it.
SPEAKER_01: And said, These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are.
SPEAKER_01: Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and of you I will make a great nation.
SPEAKER_01: But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
SPEAKER_01: Why should the Egyptians say, It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth?
SPEAKER_01: Turn from your fierce wrath, change your mind, and do not bring disaster on your people.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore by to them by your own self, saying to them, I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring upon his people.
SPEAKER_01: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_01: Reading from the Psalms.
SPEAKER_01: Happy are those who act with justice.
SPEAKER_05: And always do what is right.
SPEAKER_01: Remember me, O Lord, with the favor you have before your people.
SPEAKER_06: And visit me with your daily help.
SPEAKER_01: That I may see the prosperity of your elect and be glad with the gladness of your people.
SPEAKER_06: That I may glory with your inheritance.
SPEAKER_01: We have sinned as our ancestors did.
SPEAKER_06: We have done wrong and dealt wickedly.
SPEAKER_01: Israel made a bull calf at Horeb.
SPEAKER_06: And worship the golden image.
SPEAKER_06: And so they exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that feeds on grass.
SPEAKER_01: They forgot God and their Savior.
SPEAKER_06: And who had done great things in Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Wonderful deeds in the land of Ham.
SPEAKER_06: And fearful things as a red sea.
SPEAKER_01: So God would have destroyed them had not Moses, the chosen one, stood before God in the breach.
SPEAKER_06: To turn away my wrath from consuming God.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you, O dear, and I urge you to be of the same mind in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the word in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers whose names are in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_00: Again I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Let your gentleness be known to everyone.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is near.
SPEAKER_00: Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
SPEAKER_00: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
SPEAKER_00: Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.
SPEAKER_00: And the God of peace will be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_03: Glory to you.
SPEAKER_03: Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.
SPEAKER_03: He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.
SPEAKER_03: Again he sent other slaves, saying, Tell those who have been invited, Look, I've prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything's ready.
SPEAKER_03: Come to the wedding banquet.
SPEAKER_03: But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
SPEAKER_03: The king was enraged.
SPEAKER_03: He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
SPEAKER_03: Then he said to his slaves, The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
SPEAKER_03: Go therefore into the main streets and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.
SPEAKER_03: The slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad.
SPEAKER_03: So the wedding hall was filled with guests.
SPEAKER_03: When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, Friend, how'd you get in here without a wedding robe?
SPEAKER_03: And that one was speechless.
SPEAKER_03: Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
SPEAKER_03: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Because I hope you're feeling like, wow, I'm not sure if that's praiseworthy.
SPEAKER_03: That's like those are like some hard scriptures today.
SPEAKER_03: So they put us in a bind, these people who made electionaries.
SPEAKER_03: So I'm going to do my best not to get out of it, but well, to take these things seriously.
SPEAKER_03: And the first thing you need to hear me say, and I know I've done this for the last two weeks, this particular parable, once again, has been leveraged against Jewish people for 1,500 years, and not only is that wrong, it's sinful and evil.
SPEAKER_03: So here's the terrible read of the parable.
SPEAKER_03: Do not leave home with this.
SPEAKER_03: You may have brought it with you.
SPEAKER_03: Don't leave home with it.
SPEAKER_03: The terrible read says, ah, look, the king is God, and look, all the invited guests, those are the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_03: They don't want to come, and look, they abused the prophets and they killed Jesus, so God will murder them and burn down their city.
SPEAKER_03: And that happens in Germany.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't mean in the 1940s.
SPEAKER_03: I'm talking about in the 1100s, that happened over and over and over again because people took this parable and said, aha! That's the kind of God we serve, the God who burns down cities.
SPEAKER_03: I hope you don't worship that God, actually.
SPEAKER_03: I do, because that's really hard.
SPEAKER_03: Really hard.
SPEAKER_03: And maybe it's helpful up front to say, sometimes when we hear scriptures, we don't always realize that there's a couple of different possibilities going on.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes the scripture is prescribing how we ought to behave.
SPEAKER_03: Love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_03: That's a prescription.
SPEAKER_03: That's good.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes those scriptures describe us.
SPEAKER_03: And at the end of describing us, we're left with a choice.
SPEAKER_03: We want to keep living like that.
SPEAKER_03: Or do we want to do what Paul says to the Philippians?
SPEAKER_03: Do we want to do what's honorable and just and pure and pleasing and commendable?
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes the scriptures push us into what we've settled for so we can choose something bigger.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if that's the case here, but I think it is.
SPEAKER_03: Now I do have to tell you, there's this bit about uh clothing.
SPEAKER_03: The guys were in the wrong clothes, and my last parish would love to sing a particular spiritual called I Got a Rob.
SPEAKER_03: Does anybody know this one?
SPEAKER_03: I got a robe?
SPEAKER_03: Here's the words.
SPEAKER_03: I got a robe, you got a robe, all of God's children got a robe.
SPEAKER_03: When I get to heaven, gonna put on my robe, gonna shout all over God's heaven.
SPEAKER_03: Heaven.
SPEAKER_03: Everybody talking about heaven ain't going.
SPEAKER_03: So I was listening to Howard Thurman this week.
SPEAKER_03: Howard Thurman's a black theologian who wrote in the late 1930s.
SPEAKER_03: And Howard Thurman imagined the setting to this particular spiritual, and it comes right out of the parable, right?
SPEAKER_03: I got a rope.
SPEAKER_03: You were in the wrong clothes.
SPEAKER_03: And Howard Thurman imagined that this spiritual was written by people, obviously, who were brought here as chattels against their own will, and they were singing.
SPEAKER_03: In it while they worked.
SPEAKER_03: Slow.
SPEAKER_03: Spirituals aren't fast, they're slow.
SPEAKER_03: They're work songs, right?
SPEAKER_03: I got a rope.
SPEAKER_03: You got a rope.
SPEAKER_03: And then they get to that chorus, and that's when they look up at the plantation house and they sing with their overseers right there.
SPEAKER_03: Everybody talking about heaven ain't going.
SPEAKER_03: Now that's a rough twist on that, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03: See, I usually think people who aren't going are the ones who don't think like me.
SPEAKER_03: But that's a different twist, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03: And I think we just need to be honest about this, right?
SPEAKER_03: Normally when we hear a parable, we think, especially when there's a king, oh, like that's a thinly veiled analogy.
SPEAKER_03: So God's the king, and like some people are some people.
SPEAKER_03: So we like to say when we hear a made-up story, like so and so represents such and such, and so here's God the king.
SPEAKER_03: That's what we normally do.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, where would you put God in the story other than the king role?
SPEAKER_03: The king invites people, and then when they don't come, invites them again, and then kills them and burns their city down.
SPEAKER_03: And somehow the banquet's still good.
SPEAKER_03: Like maybe there's sternos under the food.
SPEAKER_03: Well, all is this happening.
SPEAKER_03: Normally it takes a while to burn somebody's city down.
SPEAKER_03: And then the king brings everybody in.
SPEAKER_03: Did you notice good and bad?
SPEAKER_03: Good and bad.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I don't know if that means morally good and bad, or if that means folks you want at your party, folks you don't want at your party.
SPEAKER_03: And all of a sudden, somebody came from Lord of the Streets where they've been sleeping under a bridge, and the wedding planner says, You're not wearing the right clothes.
SPEAKER_03: I live under a bridge.
SPEAKER_03: And what happens?
SPEAKER_03: He gets well bound up and thrown in the darkness.
SPEAKER_03: And I gotta ask, is that how God is?
SPEAKER_03: Or is that how we are?
SPEAKER_03: I don't mean as individuals.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes I do, but uh, is that how we are corporately?
SPEAKER_03: There's this other real interesting image that we get out of Exodus, and I don't know, you probably know this story, right?
SPEAKER_03: The people are down at the bottom of the mountain, and Moses is up on top, and he's been gone a long time, and they start to get impatient.
SPEAKER_03: He's been gone a long time, so uh we need something else, right?
SPEAKER_03: Maybe he's not coming back.
SPEAKER_03: So let's make us something else to look at, because we like looking at stuff, we people do.
SPEAKER_03: So who steps in but the high priest, his brother Aaron?
SPEAKER_03: And he's real excited to step in.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you noticed.
SPEAKER_03: If you know the rest of the story later, he's like, no, the people made me do it.
SPEAKER_03: But in this story, boy, he's real excited, right?
SPEAKER_03: And he says, Give me some stuff, I'll make you something.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if you know the story.
SPEAKER_03: He's not making them pictures of Isis and Osiris and these Canaanite gods, Baal.
SPEAKER_03: He's making them a picture of God.
SPEAKER_03: That's the plan.
SPEAKER_03: We can't see Moses anymore.
SPEAKER_03: We need to look at something, so make us a thing that looks like God.
SPEAKER_03: So Aaron makes them a bull or a calf.
SPEAKER_03: Pretty common in the ancient near race that you've got bulls.
SPEAKER_03: Baal is represented by a bull.
SPEAKER_03: Uh and God's talking to Moses, and God says, Hey, Moses, this again, I mentioned this to you last week.
SPEAKER_03: It's great.
SPEAKER_03: If you've ever had kids, you do this, right?
SPEAKER_03: You say to your partner, uh, you'll never guess what your daughter did today.
SPEAKER_03: Wait, I thought she was ours.
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, today she's yours, right?
SPEAKER_03: And this is what God does to Moses.
SPEAKER_03: They're like a wedding couple here.
SPEAKER_03: God says, Moses, you won't believe what your people did.
SPEAKER_03: And keep in mind, they're God's people, right?
SPEAKER_03: You won't believe what your people did.
SPEAKER_03: They made this thing that's supposed to look like me, and it doesn't.
SPEAKER_03: It's not flattering at all.
SPEAKER_03: So I'll tell you what, I'm gonna kill all of them, and I'll start over with you.
SPEAKER_03: God ever told you that when you were praying?
SPEAKER_03: I hope not.
SPEAKER_03: And Moses says this real interesting thing, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_03: God, that would damage your reputation.
SPEAKER_03: If you do that, people would think poorly of you.
SPEAKER_03: Besides, you made a promise, you should keep your promise, and God says, Fine, fine, I won't kill them all, like you said.
SPEAKER_03: You ever prayed like that?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's biblical, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's what happens.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I guess we could just as well pray like that right now, given what's going on on the other side of the world, right?
SPEAKER_03: God, this is damaging your reputation.
SPEAKER_03: These people call on you by name and they're dying in the streets.
SPEAKER_03: This doesn't look good.
SPEAKER_03: I usually think I shouldn't pray like that.
SPEAKER_03: That'd take a lot of boldness.
SPEAKER_03: But to be honest with you, the reason I don't pray like that is because I don't think God kills God's people.
SPEAKER_03: I don't think that.
SPEAKER_03: And I know this story comes right out of the scriptures, so maybe we could say, hey, you know, maybe God's testing Moses to see if he'll step into the breach.
SPEAKER_03: Maybe he's just saying, Will Moses step up for his people?
SPEAKER_03: I I don't love it because then because it's like, what if Moses failed that test?
SPEAKER_03: You know, like what if Moses didn't?
SPEAKER_03: That's a lot hanging on one person.
SPEAKER_03: So it makes me wonder if sometimes we build images of God just like the Hebrew people, and instead of looking like golden calves, they look like God with a paddle and a book where God writes everything naughty and everything nice, and if you don't get it right, there'll be coal in your stocking for eternity.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm not sure that's how God is, but I'm pretty sure that's how we usually think of God.
SPEAKER_03: This whole story about the party, again, not only is the time scale unreasonable that you destroy a city while you've got a banquet going.
SPEAKER_03: By the way, the banquet's in the city you destroyed.
SPEAKER_03: So I, you know, I think it's meant to be hyperbolic.
SPEAKER_03: And who's not dressed right?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I guess it could be somebody who's not faithful, but it could also be Jesus himself.
SPEAKER_03: Didn't he get thrown out of the party he went to?
SPEAKER_03: That's what we call Holy Week, right?
SPEAKER_03: I don't know that God always has to be the king when we hear a story.
SPEAKER_03: And sometimes I wonder, you know, we have this great thing we do in the Episcopal Church, and it is great.
SPEAKER_03: We have these signs that say the Episcopal Church welcomes you.
SPEAKER_03: It's lovely, right?
SPEAKER_03: Welcomes you.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes that means the Episcopal Church welcomes you to be yourself.
SPEAKER_03: You get to come in and you're welcome.
SPEAKER_03: As you are.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes that means the Episcopal Church welcomes you to do what we do.
SPEAKER_03: And if you don't do what we do, there's the Presbyterians.
SPEAKER_03: I'm not even talking about the Episcopal Church.
SPEAKER_03: I'm talking about church, right?
SPEAKER_03: And I'm not calling any names, but I'll tell you, last year the bishop made a tour and he went to every convocation and had like a town hall meeting, and the one in our convocation was down in Lamarque.
SPEAKER_03: And somebody in the church said, Hey, Bishop, like we aren't having a growth in attendance, and like how do we grow our attendance?
SPEAKER_03: And the bishop just sort of said very unbishoply, why would anybody want to go to your church?
SPEAKER_03: Well, because we really like what we do.
SPEAKER_03: We have our all of our good friends here.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, that was the reply.
SPEAKER_03: Well, but they don't know you.
SPEAKER_03: So they're not friends with you.
SPEAKER_03: So if that's what you got, why do they want to come when you're not friends?
SPEAKER_03: Have you like invited people?
SPEAKER_03: Well, but the bishop, like, if people don't come, we're not going to be able to afford what we do.
SPEAKER_03: Oh, oh, so this is this is interesting.
SPEAKER_03: It's our bishop.
SPEAKER_03: So you want people to come pay for what you enjoy.
SPEAKER_03: That's what you want.
SPEAKER_03: You want people to come pay for what you're already doing because you like it.
SPEAKER_03: But what if they wanted to do something different?
SPEAKER_03: And that's always the interesting question, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, what if they wanted to do something different, like say Amen during the sermon?
SPEAKER_03: Well, maybe we'd wrap you up and throw you out, right?
SPEAKER_03: Or uh what if they wanted to come in and I don't know, like do something real dicey, like like put their hands in the air, or uh, I don't know, wear Anglican prayer beads or something like that.
SPEAKER_03: What would we do with folks that came in different?
SPEAKER_03: Uh we might get real nervous.
SPEAKER_03: We, me.
SPEAKER_03: Once upon a time, five years ago, a guy came into service at 8 o'clock.
SPEAKER_03: Some of y'all might have been here, and during the sermon, and it was one of my better ones, let me tell you.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I was really waxing eloquent.
SPEAKER_03: He got up and started talking.
SPEAKER_03: And I had no idea what he was talking about, and I don't think he did either.
SPEAKER_03: He just got up and started talking, and everybody started looking for the exits.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, everybody.
SPEAKER_03: Especially the vergers.
SPEAKER_03: And um, I I don't know.
SPEAKER_03: I don't have a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't always have a lot of sense, but somehow I just knew not to say anything, right?
SPEAKER_03: So he said what he wanted to say, which didn't make sense to me.
SPEAKER_03: And and then he said, thanks everybody, and he walked out the door.
SPEAKER_03: And maybe that was the only time in his life he was allowed to talk in church without being interrupted.
SPEAKER_03: And I gotta tell you, uh, that was the sermon.
SPEAKER_03: That hey, like the people bring in, you notice they bring in everybody.
SPEAKER_03: They bring in everybody, the good and the bad.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the people who don't vote like you, or the people who have DSM5 diagnoses, he did.
SPEAKER_03: He was bipolar schizophrenic.
SPEAKER_03: He told me that later, right?
SPEAKER_03: So that's what he was doing.
SPEAKER_03: He was being himself.
SPEAKER_03: And I thought, wow, that was so lovely that you were able to be yourself, and I don't know if I could do that every week.
SPEAKER_03: I'm just being honest with you.
SPEAKER_03: Could I do that every week without having a breakdown?
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
SPEAKER_03: And that's what makes me wonder if this isn't what Jesus is actually inviting us to consider.
SPEAKER_03: What kind of party do we like to throw?
SPEAKER_03: I like to throw parties where everybody's got a good attitude, you know?
SPEAKER_03: I like to throw parties where people match the dress code and they're grateful to be at the party, but apparently that isn't the kind of party God throws.
SPEAKER_03: God throws the kind of party where everybody's invited.
SPEAKER_03: In fact, maybe even compelled.
SPEAKER_03: If you read Luke, they're compelled, like, get in there, and we're chaperoning to make sure you get in.
SPEAKER_03: And then there's this whole bit about the guy not wearing the right clothes.
SPEAKER_03: And I guess God would get really mad if we don't wear clothes that we don't have, but maybe not.
SPEAKER_03: And it makes me wonder what maybe what's missing from this story is somebody like Moses who stands in the breach and says, that guy just got done sleeping under an overpass.
SPEAKER_03: He is with me.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if that'd be a fun party, but it'd be a joyful one, don't you think?
SPEAKER_03: And I wonder if sometimes we don't go to what we think is God's party wearing exactly the wrong clothes.
SPEAKER_03: They might be nice clothes, but they look like dour and they look a little sad and they look like God don't smite me with all your wrath.
SPEAKER_03: Instead of what this says, God's having a party.
SPEAKER_03: Like a good party.
SPEAKER_03: Are we ready to enjoy the party God's got in mind?
SPEAKER_03: Or do we think the party's ours?
SPEAKER_03: Because if it's our party, we can cry if we want to.
SPEAKER_03: But this isn't our party.
SPEAKER_03: This is God's party.
SPEAKER_03: And you're invited.
SPEAKER_03: You're invited.
SPEAKER_03: So is the person at work you can't stand.
SPEAKER_03: So is the person you saw on the TV that you don't think should even have a fair trial.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, this week.
SPEAKER_03: The good and the bad.
SPEAKER_03: They're invited to God's party, even if they're wearing clothes you don't like.
SPEAKER_03: And maybe this is, you know, I don't want to overdo stewardship, but maybe this is the real question about our stewardship.
SPEAKER_03: Are we interested in our kind of party or are we interested in God's kind of party?
SPEAKER_03: Parties that I like to throw, I got a lot of control over.
SPEAKER_03: They feel real good, and usually I feel good like a host, and I get lots of thanks, and that's great, you know?
SPEAKER_03: Like there's a room for that, but I that's not the party I I read about here.
SPEAKER_03: That's not the party I read about here.
SPEAKER_03: The party I read about is about inviting people, well, who don't belong.
SPEAKER_03: And and maybe just doing this thing Moses does and standing in the bridge.
SPEAKER_03: He he's with me.
SPEAKER_03: She's with me.
SPEAKER_03: So if you need us to bow, we'll go out together and we'll have our own party with God.
SPEAKER_03: Now, we're getting ready to dedicate a window, and I don't want you to think images are bad.
SPEAKER_03: It's just that images are real powerful, right?
SPEAKER_03: Images are real powerful.
SPEAKER_03: The whole problem when we limit God to an image, we say this is God, this calf, right, is we said God isn't in other stuff.
SPEAKER_03: The beautiful thing about images, when we do them well, is they remind us, frankly, that God loves beauty.
SPEAKER_03: God created and designed it and invites us to rejoice in it.
SPEAKER_03: When we do images well, they remind us not only of pretty, they tell us the deeper story of our faith.
SPEAKER_03: Like, hey, you might be in a part right now where you can't join that party, and don't worry, the world used to be like that.
SPEAKER_03: The world used to be formless and void.
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't a great party place, it was a mess.
SPEAKER_03: Light and darkness were combined somehow.
SPEAKER_03: Imagine that.
SPEAKER_03: So was land and sea and sky.
SPEAKER_03: There wasn't anything, it was just a mess.
SPEAKER_03: So, what did God do?
SPEAKER_03: God made it a better party.
SPEAKER_03: God took that chrysalis and breathed life over it, and what do you know?
SPEAKER_03: It turned into a butterfly.
SPEAKER_03: And God loves seasons.
SPEAKER_03: Boy, don't you love seasons all of a sudden?
SPEAKER_03: Boy, I love this season that showed up a week ago.
SPEAKER_03: Thank God for fall, right?
SPEAKER_03: God loves this and gives this to us, right?
SPEAKER_03: And what do you know?
SPEAKER_03: There's seasons in our church calendar, that's why we wear green and red and blue and pink and white.
SPEAKER_03: You'll see all those in that window.
SPEAKER_03: Reminds us, right?
SPEAKER_03: There's seasons, there's rhythms in our life, right?
SPEAKER_03: There's times of joy, and there's times for working hard, and there's time for fastening those belts, and there's time for letting them come out.
SPEAKER_03: God made all that and reminds us if you're in one of those seasons of not feeling good, it's okay.
SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
SPEAKER_03: Spirit can breathe new life on that, right?
SPEAKER_03: Spirit can breathe new life.
SPEAKER_03: Not just on the world, but on you.
SPEAKER_03: So if you're not fit for God's party, then you're like me.
SPEAKER_03: And uh rather than feeling worse about yourself, hey, maybe the Holy Spirit might just turn you into a butterfly so that you can join God in a lighting beauty.
SPEAKER_03: Well, folks, on folks who have never been to a party for once in their life.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's the truth.
SPEAKER_03: I get to go to parties, but some people are never invited.
SPEAKER_03: Never.
SPEAKER_03: And God sure thinks the party would be a lot more fun if we all came and chose to enjoy ourselves.
SPEAKER_03: Now, if we were doing a baptism, we would do the apostles' creed, but since we're not, we're going to do the Nicene Creed, and that's on page 358 of your red prayer book, page 358.
SPEAKER_06: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is being and unseen.
SPEAKER_06: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, life from light, through God and God, beyond made, of the one being with the Father.
SPEAKER_06: Through him all things were made.
SPEAKER_06: For God and God came down from heaven.
SPEAKER_06: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became from the Virgin Mary and was made man.
SPEAKER_06: For our sake he was fine and heart of the Father.
SPEAKER_06: He suffered the heaven and third.
SPEAKER_06: On the third day he rose again, in accordance with the scriptures.
SPEAKER_06: He attended to heaven, and in the speaker and the Father.
SPEAKER_06: We believe in the Holy Spirit, glory and provide, who the beast of the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_06: With the Father and the Son and Christ, glorified.
SPEAKER_06: He spoke unto the prophets.
SPEAKER_06: We believe in one holy God and after.
SPEAKER_06: We acknowledge one back to gifted.
SPEAKER_06: We look for the prospect of the dead and the life of the world to come.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Now we are going to ask God's blessing on our new creation window.
SPEAKER_03: And in order to do that, I have some holy water here.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm going to invite you, if you choose, you don't have to, to join me by going out into the hallway.
SPEAKER_03: I have a statement from Christine that talks a little bit about the art.
SPEAKER_03: And then we have a blessing prayer.
SPEAKER_03: So if you come, bring your bulletin.
SPEAKER_03: If you want to stay, I think you'll still be able to hear me, it'll be fine.
SPEAKER_03: And you'll have lots of chances to look at it, but invite you to join me in a in a procession here to the window.
SPEAKER_03: And it's a memorial to their daughter Ella.
SPEAKER_03: The window lies that you see above you.
SPEAKER_03: Harmony stained glass, and installed ten days ago by each day and night is represented as a chapter in the evening and morning.
SPEAKER_03: Because white is the color for the light of Christ.
SPEAKER_03: That's you, you're looking at it, right?
SPEAKER_03: So you're the human face.
SPEAKER_08: Okay.
SPEAKER_03: Good morning, and thanks for worshiping with us at St.
SPEAKER_03: Thomas today.
SPEAKER_03: Really a lovely day to be here, not only because of the weather, but because of that beautiful window.
SPEAKER_03: So normally we don't do this, but I just think it's really okay.
SPEAKER_03: This is how we show appreciation.
SPEAKER_03: So both for our donor family and for Steve and Christine and all the hands who work to make this inspirational.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
SPEAKER_03: So thank you for worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_03: If you're new to this or haven't done this before, in the room right behind the one you're sitting in, we call that the Narthex.
SPEAKER_03: There's these little cards that say welcome.
SPEAKER_03: And we really appreciate your filling one out and just putting it in the blue box.
SPEAKER_03: And if you don't want to call, don't check that box.
SPEAKER_03: You won't get one.
SPEAKER_03: But we would love to engage you on whatever terms you want and have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_03: There's a few uh announcements I I'd like to bring to your attention.
SPEAKER_03: You probably know these from the e-news already if you've been here before.
SPEAKER_03: If not, that's okay.
SPEAKER_03: The big one is this coming Saturday is our most visible invitation event of the year, the Fall Festival.
SPEAKER_03: So the Fall Festival is going to run from 9 to 2.
SPEAKER_03: Mostly out there will be games and live music and a circus and axe throwing and the homebrew tent, and there will also be a couple elements like a craft vendor booth in Christ Hall and a silent auction down the hallway to your left when you leave, and uh and a book sale here in the middle.
SPEAKER_03: So this is really just a big party, and it's a good one, actually.
SPEAKER_03: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_03: If you ask everybody why they volunteer and why they like doing the fall fest, I mean we've been doing this like 40 years.
SPEAKER_03: They all tell you something different.
SPEAKER_03: They would, but I think we like doing it because we like putting on a good party.
SPEAKER_03: Uh we do, I mean, we really do.
SPEAKER_03: And you'll see it on, especially if you're a volunteer and you come on Friday, the spirit of working to with one another and enjoying ourselves and offering this to the community, it's palpable.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, really, I feel it year after year from volunteers.
SPEAKER_03: So it's a lovely thing to do.
SPEAKER_03: If you're able to support the festival and you want to, um, there's still some hands we could use, and uh, Alex or myself can direct you.
SPEAKER_03: Um, otherwise, just come enjoy a really good party, some really good food, and some fun games.
SPEAKER_03: And um this year, because of some very generous underwriters, all the games are free.
SPEAKER_03: So we've been able to offer the games at no cost.
SPEAKER_03: Uh lunch you're on the hook for, you are, uh, unless you're a kid, and we have a kid's lunch for free uh this year that we're offering new.
SPEAKER_03: Um couple other things uh just to just to think through.
SPEAKER_03: Beginning next Sunday, in between services, we're gonna start a seven-week class that's sort of Episcopal Church 101.
SPEAKER_03: But if you've had that and you want it 201, you can come and we'll differentiate the instruction.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, what happens every year is our bishop comes to do confirmation.
SPEAKER_03: So if you're interested in confirmation, these classes serve your need.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, if you're not interested in confirmation, but you'd like to learn more about the Episcopal Church or why do we do that, or what does the bishop really do, uh, these classes could be for you.
SPEAKER_03: As I mentioned to you, they're in-between services, so 9.15 to 10.15 in the Christ hall, and those start next week.
SPEAKER_03: And you don't have to RSVP.
SPEAKER_03: You're allowed to just come and show up for them.
SPEAKER_03: Um, the other thing I want to mention for the first time is that we are going to have a half-day retreat in Advent.
SPEAKER_03: So Advent is the beginning of the church year.
SPEAKER_03: It always starts before the calendar, the secular calendar flips.
SPEAKER_03: So Advent always starts at the end of November, early December.
SPEAKER_03: And this year we're offering a half-day retreat on the Enneagram.
SPEAKER_03: If you don't know what that is, that's okay.
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's it's not a personality profile, it's not that.
SPEAKER_03: It's a way of understanding some of the gifts that you have and some of the ways to grow into those gifts.
SPEAKER_03: And I personally have found it very useful, actually, to hear that there's other people like me in the world.
SPEAKER_03: I thought there was just one.
SPEAKER_03: And so um, it's nice to know you're not alone, and it's actually also really nice to know nobody knows you but you.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that's part of the teaching.
SPEAKER_03: And and then there's ways that our energy can go, both to cast a brighter light or a darker shadow.
SPEAKER_03: So it's all based on how can I make my shadow shorter and my light brighter, and the teacher is fantastic.
SPEAKER_03: So that's going to be on December the 2nd, and I just want to hold that up to you as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_03: Um, we'll be from 9.30 to 2.30.
SPEAKER_03: The other one I want to mention to you is that our next fresh food distribution is in two and a half weeks.
SPEAKER_03: That's um November the 4th.
SPEAKER_03: We'll be doing that out in the parking lot from 7:45 till 9.30.
SPEAKER_03: And then right after that is our fall work day.
SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna plant a hundred something trees on the parish grounds from Trees for Houston.
SPEAKER_03: They're sponsoring us on this.
SPEAKER_03: And uh we'll do some other sort of cleanup.
SPEAKER_03: And uh just like you to, if if working outside in lovely weather appeals to you and beautifying our campus uh is something that works for you, we could use as many volunteers as we can have on Saturday, November the 4th, from 9:30 till about 2.
SPEAKER_03: We usually have lunch included for uh for volunteers.
SPEAKER_03: Last bit, um, the Eucharistic prayer today is prayer D.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we don't realize that there are six different ones in the prayer book, and then there's another two that haven't made it into the reprint.
SPEAKER_03: When they reprint the book, they'll be in there.
SPEAKER_03: So there's eight prayers we draw from.
SPEAKER_03: And normally we do prayer D on a high holy day like Christmas and Easter.
SPEAKER_03: As we were anticipating baptism, that's why we were planning on D today.
SPEAKER_03: If you're wondering what happened to the prayers of the people, they're in prayer D.
SPEAKER_03: So they're in the Eucharistic prayer.
SPEAKER_03: They didn't go anywhere, they just left.
SPEAKER_03: So prayer D is the oldest Eucharistic prayer.
SPEAKER_03: It's about 1700 years old.
SPEAKER_03: And as I mentioned, normally we use it on high holy days, and today was meant to be one, but it still is.
SPEAKER_03: Because you're here.
SPEAKER_03: You're here, and that's enough reason to celebrate.
SPEAKER_03: Continue to walk in love.
SPEAKER_03: As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_03: This is a table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_03: So come.
SPEAKER_03: You who have much faith and you who have little.
SPEAKER_03: You who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_03: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_03: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_03: Our service continues on page 372 of your red prayer book.
SPEAKER_03: Page 372.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord be with you, and also with you.
SPEAKER_02: Lift up your heart.
SPEAKER_02: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_02: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
SPEAKER_02: It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and to give you thanks, for you alone are God, living and true, dwelling in light, inaccessible from before time forever, fountain of life, and source of all goodness.
SPEAKER_02: You made all things and filled them with you, who blessing, you created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.
SPEAKER_02: Countless throngs of angels stand here for you to serve you who night heat and day, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer through you who unceasing praise, joining with them and giving voice to every creature under heaven.
SPEAKER_02: We acclaim you and glorify your whole name as we sing.
SPEAKER_03: Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.
SPEAKER_03: Formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our stewardship, so that in obedience to you, our Creator, we might shepherd and serve all your creatures.
SPEAKER_03: And our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death.
SPEAKER_03: In your compassion you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you.
SPEAKER_03: Again and again, you call us into covenant with you, and through prophets you teach us to hope for salvation.
SPEAKER_03: Father, you love the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.
SPEAKER_03: Incarnated by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin.
SPEAKER_03: To the poor, we proclaim the good news of salvation.
SPEAKER_03: The prisoners' freedom, to the sorrowful joy.
SPEAKER_03: To fulfill your purpose, he gave himself up to death.
SPEAKER_03: Rising from the grave destroyed death and made the whole creation new.
SPEAKER_03: And that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us.
SPEAKER_03: God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift to those who believe, to complete Jesus' work in the world and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.
SPEAKER_03: When the hour had come for Jesus to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, having loved his own who were in the world, Jesus loved them to the end.
SPEAKER_03: Supper with them, he took bread.
SPEAKER_03: And when he given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples and said, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_03: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_03: Do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_03: After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_03: And when he given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_03: This is my blood of the renewed covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_03: Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_03: Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption.
SPEAKER_03: 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_03: We praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, and we pray to you, Lord our God.
SPEAKER_03: 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.
SPEAKER_03: The bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of your Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: 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_03: Remember, Lord, your one holy Catholic and apostolic church, redeemed by the love of your Christ, reveal its unity, guard its faith, preserve it in peace.
SPEAKER_03: Remember Michael, our presiding bishop, Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, and all who minister in your church.
SPEAKER_03: Remember your people and those who seek your truth.
SPEAKER_03: Remember all who have died in the Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: Those whose faith is known to you alone.
SPEAKER_03: Bring them into the place of eternal joy and life.
SPEAKER_03: And grant that we might find our inheritance with Thomas and all the saints who have found favor with you in ages past.
SPEAKER_03: We praise your union with them and give you glory through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: 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 and ever.
SPEAKER_06: And 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_06: Give us this day of our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses.
SPEAKER_06: As we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Lord for thy mighty kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_03: Grant us, Almighty God, that we may be refreshed and nourished by the sacrament which we have received, so as to be transformed into what we consume through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: And forgive me, I almost forgot to mention the rose on the Lord's table.
SPEAKER_03: This is welcoming a new child of Colin Shannon and Julia Portiz.
SPEAKER_03: They worshiped 8 o'clock.
SPEAKER_03: Their daughter, Victoria, their first, was born Wednesday.
SPEAKER_03: Seven pounds two ounces.
SPEAKER_03: So delighted to share a new rose in God's garden with you.
SPEAKER_03: And reminder, if you ever have a grandchild or a niece or nephew, brother, sister, or your own baby, and you would like to have them represented on the Lord's table, we're pleased to do it.
SPEAKER_03: Steve Alexander made that too.
SPEAKER_03: May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships.
SPEAKER_03: So that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
SPEAKER_03: May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
SPEAKER_03: May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
SPEAKER_03: And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able with God's grace to do what others claim cannot be done.
SPEAKER_03: The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.