SPEAKER_03: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03: And blessed be God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_05: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no spirits are hidden.
SPEAKER_05: Blend the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_05: That we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name.
SPEAKER_03: And also with you.
SPEAKER_03: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_03: Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly.
SPEAKER_03: And even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.
SPEAKER_03: Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, the one God, forever and ever.
SPEAKER_03: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_01: Reading from Exodus.
SPEAKER_01: The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and they are in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_01: The Israelites said to them, If only Hadri had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and ate our fill of bread.
SPEAKER_01: For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
SPEAKER_01: Then the Lord said to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.
SPEAKER_01: In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
SPEAKER_01: On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.
SPEAKER_01: So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: For what are we that you complain against us?
SPEAKER_01: And Moses said, When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him, what are we?
SPEAKER_01: Your complaining is not against us, but against the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaint.
SPEAKER_01: And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord spoke to Moses and said, I have heard the complaining of the Israelites.
SPEAKER_01: Say to them, At twilight you shall eat me, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_01: In the evening quails came up and covered the camp.
SPEAKER_01: And in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
SPEAKER_01: When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine, flaky substance.
SPEAKER_01: As fine as frost on the ground.
SPEAKER_01: When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, What is it?
SPEAKER_01: And they did not know what it was.
SPEAKER_01: Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to give.
SPEAKER_05: Thanks to be to God.
SPEAKER_01: We will read responsibly by the half verse.
SPEAKER_01: Give thanks to the Lord and call upon God's name.
SPEAKER_05: May known the deeds of the Lord among the people.
SPEAKER_01: Sing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Sing praises.
SPEAKER_05: And speak of all God's marvelous works.
SPEAKER_01: Glory in God's holy name.
SPEAKER_05: Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Search for the Lord and the strength of the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: Continually seek the faith of God.
SPEAKER_01: Remember the marvels God has done.
SPEAKER_05: The wonders and the judgments of God's mouth.
SPEAKER_01: O offspring of Abraham, God's servant.
SPEAKER_05: O children of Jacob, God's chosen.
SPEAKER_01: God let out the chosen people with silver and gold.
SPEAKER_05: In all their tribes there was not one in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: Egypt was glad of their going.
SPEAKER_05: Because they were afraid of them.
SPEAKER_01: God spread out a cloud for recovery.
SPEAKER_05: And the fires gave light in the night season.
SPEAKER_01: They asked, and quails appeared.
SPEAKER_05: And God satisfied them with bread from heaven.
SPEAKER_01: God opened the rock and water flowed.
SPEAKER_01: So the river ran in the dry places.
SPEAKER_01: For God remembered the holy promise.
SPEAKER_05: And Abraham chose to deserve.
SPEAKER_01: So God let forth the people with gladness.
SPEAKER_05: The chosen ones with joy.
SPEAKER_01: God gave the chosen people the lands of the nations.
SPEAKER_05: And they took the fruit of the holy soil.
SPEAKER_01: That they might keep God's statutes.
SPEAKER_05: And observe the laws of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Living in Christ and dying is a game.
SPEAKER_00: If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me.
SPEAKER_00: And I do not know which I prefer.
SPEAKER_00: I am hard pressed between the two.
SPEAKER_00: My desire is to depart and be with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For that is far better.
SPEAKER_00: But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
SPEAKER_00: Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy and faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
SPEAKER_00: Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So that whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents.
SPEAKER_00: For them, this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation.
SPEAKER_00: And this is God's doing.
SPEAKER_00: For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well.
SPEAKER_00: Since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had, and now hear that I will have.
SPEAKER_03: So they went.
SPEAKER_03: He said to them, You also go into the vineyard.
SPEAKER_03: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.
SPEAKER_03: When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
SPEAKER_03: Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more.
SPEAKER_03: Each of them also received the usual daily wage.
SPEAKER_03: And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
SPEAKER_03: Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
SPEAKER_03: Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give this last the same as I give to you.
SPEAKER_03: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?
SPEAKER_03: Or are you envious because I am generous?
SPEAKER_03: The last will be first, and the first will be last.
SPEAKER_03: I am.
SPEAKER_03: I'm one of those guys that started working at like six thirty in the morning.
SPEAKER_03: Many of you are too.
SPEAKER_03: Or maybe you got here at nine.
SPEAKER_03: That's fine.
SPEAKER_03: But if you know the story, right, uh, what is there to do at five o'clock?
SPEAKER_03: Like sweep, put away the tools, and those folks get paid the same?
SPEAKER_03: I guess it's a cute story, but how many of you would work for that guy tomorrow?
SPEAKER_03: Or if you did, how many of you would go at 6.30 to work for that guy tomorrow?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you know, you could kind of game the system.
SPEAKER_03: I'll show up at 5.30, I'll show up at 5.30, I'll put a couple brooms away, let's call it a day, and I'll take the daily wage.
SPEAKER_03: Um, to be honest, uh, this is a tough one for me, uh, and uh it's particularly tough uh because um, I mean, this is how we live our civil lives, right?
SPEAKER_03: You you work, you put things away, and you can retire.
SPEAKER_03: I've got a 401B, 403B, that's like a 401k, right?
SPEAKER_03: Like I do that.
SPEAKER_03: Want to store up, so boy, it's really hard to hear that everybody gets the same.
SPEAKER_03: You notice what they say when they object.
SPEAKER_03: You have made these people the same as us, which we don't like, because we know that they're lazy, or they could have gone to school, they could have got better grades, or they could have done something like we did.
SPEAKER_03: Uh and I hope this is a really hard parable to hear, uh, because, like I say, I think that this describes how we live our lives in capitalist society, and I don't know that I want to change that.
SPEAKER_03: The problem is when we take the way we live our common life civilly and we map that on to God, then all of a sudden we get these really strange ideas about who's more important in the church and who's more important in the kingdom of heaven.
SPEAKER_03: Who's more important?
SPEAKER_03: Well, of course I am.
SPEAKER_03: Of course you are, you're here.
SPEAKER_03: You're more important than folks that aren't here.
SPEAKER_03: And this is the parable pushing us on that.
SPEAKER_03: It's pushing us on that.
SPEAKER_03: Am I envious because God's generous?
SPEAKER_03: I sure am.
SPEAKER_03: If I'm honest, I'm envious that God is generous.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know what the people of the lectionary were thinking when they put this together.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but they I you never know, right?
SPEAKER_03: But they put this together with this story about bread from heaven, right?
SPEAKER_03: And you know the word for that.
SPEAKER_03: The bread from heaven, you know what it is?
SPEAKER_03: It's manna, right?
SPEAKER_03: And do you know what manna means in Hebrew?
SPEAKER_03: It means what is it?
SPEAKER_03: So, right, that's what they say.
SPEAKER_03: The people say, what is it?
SPEAKER_03: In Hebrew, they say, manna.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, this is God's grace given to folk in the middle of the desert.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I just want to point out really fast, I grew up hearing these people have low faith in God because they're out there complaining about food after God just delivered them.
SPEAKER_03: But look, you go spend a week in the desert, and I guarantee you you'll be complaining about food too.
SPEAKER_03: So they're out complaining about food.
SPEAKER_03: Did God bring us out here to die?
SPEAKER_03: And then they're promised the bread from heaven, and when it comes, they don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_03: Did you notice the description?
SPEAKER_03: It's like frost on the ground.
SPEAKER_03: Does that sound like any bread you've had before?
SPEAKER_03: They don't even recognize what the bread of heaven is, and if I'm honest about my own spiritual journey, a lot of times when I see God's grace, I also say, What is it?
SPEAKER_03: What is it?
SPEAKER_03: This is not what I expected.
SPEAKER_03: I was expecting a loaf.
SPEAKER_03: I was expecting a contract.
SPEAKER_03: I was expecting what you get in is gonna be rewarded proportionally later.
SPEAKER_03: That's what I was expecting.
SPEAKER_03: So when grace chose uh, I usually find myself with what is it?
SPEAKER_03: Now I want to push on the parable a little bit because I think it's pushing on us.
SPEAKER_03: And the first thing I want to mention to you is that this is a parable about not somebody growing apples or peaches.
SPEAKER_03: This is somebody with a vineyard.
SPEAKER_03: Really uncomfortable in the tradition I grew up in.
SPEAKER_03: Of course, they were gonna take those grapes and they were gonna pasteurize them to make grape juice, because we shouldn't drink wine.
SPEAKER_03: That leads to dancing.
SPEAKER_03: So um I thought that was funny.
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, um, it's not just about grace.
SPEAKER_03: What we often miss is that in the Hebrew Bible there's two things happening here.
SPEAKER_03: Wine is a symbol for joy.
SPEAKER_03: Wine equals joy symbolically.
SPEAKER_03: And then the other symbol that we get in the story is that the people of Israel consider themselves the vineyard of God.
SPEAKER_03: So this is very much for church folk, right?
SPEAKER_03: Church folk are there working and they're here to gather in the grapes so that they can make God's joy, God's wine for the world.
SPEAKER_03: Now we don't know the rush, but it is true agriculturally that if there's a freeze coming and you don't get the grapes, then they're useless.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: So it is very possible that a freeze is imminent.
SPEAKER_03: So they need to get all the grapes they can before they are categorically worth nothing.
SPEAKER_03: Hence the laborer keeps going back and going back and going back to try to get folks to bring in this joy for the world, lest it perish on a tree.
SPEAKER_03: And I think one way for me to push on it is to think this is not about the workers, it's about the harvest.
SPEAKER_03: So a lot of times I want to identify with the worker and the wage, the landowner just cares about joy for the world.
SPEAKER_03: And not leaving any of that undone.
SPEAKER_03: And honestly, I tell you, if I hear the story that way, I often leave grapes on the tree because I'm too worried about my own wages.
SPEAKER_03: I leave joy out there that could be harvested because I'm worried I'm gonna, what's in it for me, am I gonna get the whatever I'm supposed to get out of this?
SPEAKER_03: I don't know where you are in the story, but I will tell you, having been around church a lot, this is a story that I think pushes us to think about people who have been old hands in church and people who are new.
SPEAKER_03: Old hands.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, we've been doing it a long time, and let's just be real honest.
SPEAKER_03: If you're an old hand at church, you may find yourself thinking, man, you know, I'm just so tired of doing this ministry.
SPEAKER_03: I've been doing it for 20 years.
SPEAKER_03: When is somebody going to come help?
SPEAKER_03: And then when they do, they do it wrong.
SPEAKER_03: Why'd you do it that way?
SPEAKER_03: I wanted you to give me relief to do it exactly like I did it or said it had to be right so that I can be vindicated and how I've been doing it for 40 years.
SPEAKER_03: That could be you.
SPEAKER_03: If that's you, uh, the what is it is also a word about grace.
SPEAKER_03: Let's just think through how self-defeating that strategy is.
SPEAKER_03: I employ it all the time as a clergy person.
SPEAKER_03: I know what's gonna work, you don't, so just do it.
SPEAKER_03: What do you mean you don't want to do it my way?
SPEAKER_03: If you're a new person, right?
SPEAKER_03: Here's the good news.
SPEAKER_03: God isn't worried whether you start working at the 6th a.m.
SPEAKER_03: or the 5th hour.
SPEAKER_03: Now, you may say, Mike, if you say that, then people are just gonna come in in the 11th hour.
SPEAKER_03: That's fine, you can do that.
SPEAKER_03: God's not worried by that.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, the story says God is not worried about that.
SPEAKER_03: And if we're thinking about working harder or, hey, why would I do that extra work when we all get the same wage?
SPEAKER_03: It's because, frankly, harvesting God's joy for the world is a privilege.
SPEAKER_03: It's a privilege.
SPEAKER_03: And if we look at it as an economic transaction, I'd say when we look at grace, we're always gonna say, what is it?
SPEAKER_03: What is it?
SPEAKER_03: Now, many of you know, Hal and I went uh climbing training uh with the Boy Scouts of America this past week.
SPEAKER_03: We were in West Virginia for the week, and I'm gonna tell you, I've probably been in Episcopalian too long.
SPEAKER_03: So here we are at their flagship property, it's right in Beckley, West Virginia, next to the New River Gorge, and we're there for something called National Camp School.
SPEAKER_03: And the goal for us, the section we took, is called climbing director training, which means they're training folks to run a climbing program in a scout council, like the towers, the outdoor climbing, how much gear do you need, how do you tie it off, how do you supervise other people belaying and setting this up?
SPEAKER_03: I thought I was going just to like have good skills.
SPEAKER_03: Turns out it's geared at administering the whole program in addition to, I should have read ahead.
SPEAKER_03: Uh in addition to getting the skills, it's administering the whole thing.
SPEAKER_03: And um, it was a really interesting bit because the instructors were from Massachusetts and from Los Angeles and from uh Charlotte.
SPEAKER_03: Those were our three, and they all paid their own way to get there.
SPEAKER_03: They bought their plane ticket, they drove themselves, and uh, of course they got compensated none for teaching us for 14 hours a day how to do this.
SPEAKER_03: Even more interesting, again, this is really how I know I've been in Episcopalian too long.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, one of them was talking about how that they had served the summer at the Scout Jamboree.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I didn't grow up scouting, so Jamboree happens every year, and it's when scouts all over the country are invited to come camp together in one big old property.
SPEAKER_03: They often have it at Philmont out in New Mexico, but since they built the summit, they've been having it there at least every other year.
SPEAKER_03: So, how many scouts is that?
SPEAKER_03: That's 30,000 scouts are gonna be there for a week.
SPEAKER_03: And we have a little time program here in our district that has 80 helmets, so that it can accommodate 80 kids roundabout in a day during a summer camp.
SPEAKER_03: At the summit, they have 3,000 helmets?
SPEAKER_03: Because you got 30,000 kids there for a week, right?
SPEAKER_03: When they do an international jamboree, they have 60,000 campers.
SPEAKER_03: Now, the real interesting thing is one of my instructors uh from Massachusetts had chosen to work the jamboree this summer.
SPEAKER_03: And part of our training was, hey, look, sometimes it gets real hot, and during a 14-hour day, somebody belaying a kid, like supporting them on a climb or hotel, actually can kind of get a little bit of uh heat, exhaustion, and maybe even pass out.
SPEAKER_03: So, how do you keep the kid safe, right?
SPEAKER_03: So I just want to make sure you get the scene.
SPEAKER_03: These are like long days for volunteers, and here's the real kicker.
SPEAKER_03: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_03: If you wanted to work at the Scout Jamboree, not only did you drive yourself there and you brought all your own camping stuff, you paid them to work there.
SPEAKER_03: Like a thousand dollars a week.
SPEAKER_03: You paid them so that you could work 12-hour days in the heat.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I heard that and I thought, boy, that is unjust labor practices.
SPEAKER_03: That is so wild.
SPEAKER_03: You know, again, I've been a pistol tag too long.
SPEAKER_03: And while I want to say that's an interesting thing to hold on to, I don't want to lose that completely.
SPEAKER_03: It turns out scouts are having a hard time uh filling the ranks with this requirement.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's actually cost prohibitive.
SPEAKER_03: It was this interesting model that these people believed in the harvest of joy through something so regular and superfluous and sort of niche hobby is introducing a kid how to climb an artificial rock face that they would spend a thousand dollars of their own money in 12-hour working days so that they could harvest a little bit of joy.
SPEAKER_03: It's pretty darn inspiring to me.
SPEAKER_03: Pretty inspiring.
SPEAKER_03: Even more so than one of our instructors doesn't have kids.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you know what this is like, but when you don't have kids and you work with you, you get to deal with this kind of bias against you.
SPEAKER_03: It must be because you want to do something wrong.
SPEAKER_03: As if having a spouse made you not do something like that.
SPEAKER_03: That particular instructor, who was arguably the most level-headed, decent, and kind person I was around all week, the one with no kid, who'd paid$1,000 to the lay scout for 12 hours.
SPEAKER_03: Because he believed that there was a harvest of joy to be had in doing that.
SPEAKER_03: He poured himself into that just for the small chance that a kid would say, if I can do this, I can do something hard at school.
SPEAKER_03: If I can do this, I can handle something hard at home.
SPEAKER_03: That's why he does that.
SPEAKER_03: Now I don't I want you to know when the pledge card comes out next week, I'm not gonna ask you to pay to be on the altar the old.
SPEAKER_03: I'm not gonna ask you to do that.
SPEAKER_03: And I just wonder if that isn't what Jesus is getting at a little bit here.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we can just get so caught up in what this is doing for me that we forgot why we were doing it to begin.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we can go get so caught up in counting grapes that we forget about the wine that they're supposed to make that is meant to be joy for the world.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we can get so caught up in whether our neighbor is working the hardest as hard as we are, that we can forget that the whole point of the harvest is joy.
SPEAKER_03: Now I'm not preaching at you because you get this already.
SPEAKER_03: You do get this.
SPEAKER_03: We do.
SPEAKER_03: I just think it's the time of year when we get this reminder.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes we get around church folk, and I'm a church folk, right?
SPEAKER_03: And we ask the wrong question.
SPEAKER_03: We ask, what is it you're doing?
SPEAKER_03: Why aren't you doing it my way?
SPEAKER_03: And again, I think the whole readings this week are funneling us toward what is it about grace?
SPEAKER_03: And are we calling something grace when really it's just about wages?
SPEAKER_03: Are we calling something grace that is really just about, frankly, social economics?
SPEAKER_03: If the bread of heaven, whether that's a tangible thing or that's God's grace came in front of us, would we see it for what it is?
SPEAKER_03: Or would we be scratching our heads?
SPEAKER_03: That's what the parable is asking me this week.
SPEAKER_03: I don't think it's asking me to do more.
SPEAKER_03: I don't think it's asking me to do less.
SPEAKER_03: I think it's asking me to pay attention to the harvest.
SPEAKER_03: Because God can't stand for a grateful joy to die on a vine.
SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna talk about pledging the next couple of weeks.
SPEAKER_03: Is that what we do?
SPEAKER_03: Um, but as you know, right, what we do here is we ask God to bless our labor and our prayers and our intention and our money too.
SPEAKER_03: Sure, we ask for that too.
SPEAKER_03: But all of that comes together because without it all, grapes are dying on the vine.
SPEAKER_03: Grapes are dying on the vine.
SPEAKER_03: And I'll tell you, when my head's right, it's a privilege to work that vineyard here.
SPEAKER_03: Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene III.
SPEAKER_05: We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all living and we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the eternally the Father, God and from God, life from light, through God and from true God, begotten and made of the being with the Father, through all things were made, for us from our salvation, he came down from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he began from the Virgin Mary, and was made of man, for our he was crucified under the fire, he suffered the mother of marriage.
SPEAKER_05: On the third day he rose again according to the scriptures, he ascended into heaven, and he had God and the Father.
SPEAKER_05: He will come and glory to God, the living and the dead, and in his kingdom will have no end.
SPEAKER_05: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord gives, who proceedeth the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_05: With the Father and the Son, he is worshiped and glorified.
SPEAKER_05: He has spoken through the prophets.
SPEAKER_05: We believe in the Holy Catholic and Church.
SPEAKER_05: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_05: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
SPEAKER_05: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The prayers of the people, for the community we live in, for clean air to breathe, and safe water to drink.
SPEAKER_02: We very surely thank you, O Lord, for the courage to protect creation and the persistence to make informed decisions every day.
SPEAKER_02: For the victims of oppression throughout the world, especially those who have been silenced by government, abuse, and poverty.
SPEAKER_05: Empower their voices and our ears to hear them.
SPEAKER_02: For refugees and those displaced by war or strife.
SPEAKER_02: For those who hunger.
SPEAKER_05: And that they might do God with compassion.
SPEAKER_02: For 43 years of female clergy shining your light in the Episcopal Church.
SPEAKER_02: Enable our laity, deacons, priests, and bishops to discern your work in the world and boldly join it.
SPEAKER_05: May your church come to us one body.
SPEAKER_02: We praise you for the constant love, compassion, diligence, kindness, and guidance of spouses, siblings, parents, friends, and extended families who have put us and others before themselves.
SPEAKER_05: May we rejoice you in making Christ visible.
SPEAKER_02: Mend broken relationships and comfort those who are alone.
SPEAKER_05: Strengthen our patience and embolden our forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: Equip us to empathize even when we are in pain.
SPEAKER_02: Protect the dignity of those who are in physical decline or hardship, remembering especially those on our parish prayer list and the celebration or petitions the congregation wishes tonight at this time, silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_02: We pray for all who have died.
SPEAKER_02: Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.
SPEAKER_02: Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, so let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.
SPEAKER_03: The hatred that divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class.
SPEAKER_05: Father forgive.
SPEAKER_03: Covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own.
SPEAKER_05: Father forgive.
SPEAKER_03: The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth.
SPEAKER_03: Father, forgive.
SPEAKER_03: Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others.
SPEAKER_03: Father, forgive.
SPEAKER_03: Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee.
SPEAKER_03: Father, forgive.
SPEAKER_03: The lust which dishonors the bodies of women, children, and men.
SPEAKER_03: Father, forgive.
SPEAKER_03: And the pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God.
SPEAKER_03: Father, forgive.
SPEAKER_03: The Almighty and Compassate God grant you absolution and remission of all your sin.
SPEAKER_03: True repentance.
SPEAKER_03: Amendment of life and the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.
SPEAKER_03: May the peace of the Lord always be with you.
SPEAKER_03: Good morning, Keith.
SPEAKER_03: And thanks for worshiping with us at St.
SPEAKER_03: Thomas today.
SPEAKER_03: If you're moved to this or haven't done this before in the little room right behind one we're sitting in, we call it an artifact, there's these little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one out and put it in a little blue basket so we have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_03: And thanks for worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_03: There are a lot going on.
SPEAKER_03: This is the time of year where there's a lot going on.
SPEAKER_03: So buckle your seatbelt.
SPEAKER_03: Most of this is in the e-news, but I do I do want to highlight it because, well, I don't want us to I don't want us to miss out because there's some really lovely things.
SPEAKER_03: So one thing coming up is that on October the 8th, that's two Sundays from today, we got a really good deal on group tickets to see the Houston Dash.
SPEAKER_03: That's the women's professional soccer game.
SPEAKER_03: So if you're interested in joining us for the Houston Dash, these are$10 seats.
SPEAKER_03: Um I do need to know tomorrow.
SPEAKER_03: You can email, call, or just let me know, and I will get you a Dash ticket.
SPEAKER_03: And we'll have St.
SPEAKER_03: Thomas Night at the Dash on October the 8th at 6 p.m.
SPEAKER_03: is that game.
SPEAKER_03: So uh it'll go from 6.
SPEAKER_03: Usually it's done by uh 7:45, 8 o'clock.
SPEAKER_03: If you've never been to a Dash game, it's a treat.
SPEAKER_03: It's really a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_03: Uh great stadium, great seats, and lovely to go together.
SPEAKER_03: Um, okay, this week, Katie Carmine's turning 100 years old.
SPEAKER_03: So Kitty Carmine is one of our founding members, and uh, this is okay to share, because she shared this publicly, but a lot of you didn't know her.
SPEAKER_03: Kitty's daughter had a rare form of uh leukemia, uh, and they lived through that in the late 60s and early 70s before Catherine, who's ever in the call and burial, she died pretty young.
SPEAKER_03: And um not only did Kitty and her husband were the founding members here, but um Joe Johnson, the vicar of the time, the first vicar here, right after that tragedy, well not right after, he gave her a couple of months, he said, you know, Kitty, I just really think that the love you have for your daughter, that you don't have a venue to express, I just think you could really express that here at our day school.
SPEAKER_03: And so Kitty taught at the day school for years.
SPEAKER_03: There's a picture of her doing it out there in the wall, and Kitty said it saved her life.
SPEAKER_03: Being able to share the love she had for her daughter with other kids.
SPEAKER_03: It's a beautiful story, and if you've not met her, she's a treat.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, she is a treat.
SPEAKER_03: So she's turning a hundred, and um, the ask is I'd like to bring her a hundred birthday cards.
SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't.
SPEAKER_03: I'd like to bring her a hundred birthday cards.
SPEAKER_03: It's okay if you don't know her.
SPEAKER_03: You can say the priest said you were a nice lady and hope you have a good birthday.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but uh she is a sweet, wise woman.
SPEAKER_03: Uh I've told you a few stories along the years from visiting her.
SPEAKER_03: She's mostly been kind of shut in since COVID, uh, mainly because it's just hard to get over here.
SPEAKER_03: Um but she'll be a hundred and uh, we're taking cards through Wednesday.
SPEAKER_03: You can drop them in the mailbox, like the one outside, or hand them off.
SPEAKER_03: But I like I said, it's just a real treat to celebrate a fine woman.
SPEAKER_03: And that's that's who she is.
SPEAKER_03: She's a fine woman.
SPEAKER_03: Um some of you know her as well, some of you don't.
SPEAKER_03: Rosemary Anderson moved away about four years ago to North Carolina.
SPEAKER_03: She was mostly worshiped at the clock.
SPEAKER_03: Another fine woman.
SPEAKER_03: And I mean that.
SPEAKER_03: Like these are she rose in mine, both of them.
SPEAKER_03: And she died about a month ago, and her funeral is this Friday.
SPEAKER_03: So just as a reminder, we'll be celebrating Rosemary Anderson this Friday at two o'clock here at St.
SPEAKER_03: Thomas.
SPEAKER_03: Okay, a couple of things coming up.
SPEAKER_03: Uh really that first week of October.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, many of you know that our regular food distribution happens the first.
SPEAKER_03: Saturday, that'll be October the 7th.
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna do an out here in the circle driveway because that same day we're hosting a 5K race.
SPEAKER_03: So you don't have to run an app, but if you're interested, it's a pet-friendly race.
SPEAKER_03: It's also wheelchair friendly, so you can do both.
SPEAKER_03: I do.
SPEAKER_03: You do the race, and then you kind of run over here and start serving food to cars.
SPEAKER_03: That's on October the 7th.
SPEAKER_03: On October the 4th, I'm backing up, I'm doing this little out sequence.
SPEAKER_03: That's a Wednesday.
SPEAKER_03: That's the feast of St.
SPEAKER_03: Francis.
SPEAKER_03: We're having a festival Eucharist that night.
SPEAKER_03: Uh it'll be at 7 o'clock here.
SPEAKER_03: And part of the reason we're doing it is because we're commissioning one of our own, Kathy Reinhold, to be the area missioner for the Galveston convocation.
SPEAKER_03: So Kathy's a member, worships here, been here for a long time, and now she's got a job for the diocese that's going to involve serving other churches in our geographic area through service.
SPEAKER_03: And we're going to commission her for that job.
SPEAKER_03: And as an added treat, Christine is finishing the stained glass window that will be installed that morning.
SPEAKER_03: So you can first dip some new window, October the 4th, 7 o'clock.
SPEAKER_03: We'll have a combined choir and a lovely way to send Kathy into this beautiful job that she's going to represent as well.
SPEAKER_03: October 8th, this is the other one, two weeks from today.
SPEAKER_03: We're going to go downtown, not all of us.
SPEAKER_03: I think we need 12.
SPEAKER_03: We're going to go downtown and serve breakfast to currently and formerly homeless members of Lord of the Streets Episcopal Church.
SPEAKER_03: We do that at like 6:30.
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to go and serve, and I'm also going to go and do the sermon there.
SPEAKER_03: You're going to get Father Brad Sullivan here.
SPEAKER_03: So we're doing like a pulpit trade that morning.
SPEAKER_03: And we do, we could use a couple extra hands to help serve food.
SPEAKER_03: The bad thing you've got to know, the drawback is you've got to be, I think, more than 14 to go.
SPEAKER_03: But we're looking for five or six other folks.
SPEAKER_03: If you have any interest, you can email me or let me know at the door.
SPEAKER_03: But if you've not been, this is really a lovely thing to see.
SPEAKER_03: Just honestly, to see not only a social service, but one that's tied to a church and a worshiping community and a recovering community as well.
SPEAKER_03: And you sort of just get to be gas in the engine that they've built.
SPEAKER_03: And it's a beautiful ministry.
SPEAKER_03: We'll go to Trinity Downtown and we'll be back by probably 9:30.
SPEAKER_03: So we'll serve worship with the folks we're serving and then we'll come back here.
SPEAKER_03: And if you want to go to church here again, you're welcome to do that.
SPEAKER_03: One other really fun thing, these guys are really fast.
SPEAKER_03: If you look out that window, you'll see that the labyrinth at Anchor's on Memorial Garden is about done.
SPEAKER_03: It's probably going to be done on Tuesday.
SPEAKER_03: And we'll hear more down the road about how we can use labyrinths to uphold our spirituality, but it's really cute.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's really, really lovely.
SPEAKER_03: It's actually walkable today, but they're missing a few bricks left.
SPEAKER_03: And again, we'll we'll mention down as we add the benches and the plaque and the statue and a couple other things out there in the next coming couple weeks what this hopefully can do for you and your friends spiritually as a way of deepening your relationship with God through prayer and meditation.
SPEAKER_03: It's good to know, and he doesn't want you to do this, but you know, you've got a guy over there operating screening equipment that just took a week away from his four kids and his full-time job to learn how to be a climbing director for a scouting program that you built from the bottom up.
SPEAKER_03: So we really can't thank Half Map enough for what he's doing ministerially with Scouts.
SPEAKER_03: Of course, he's also a parishioner here.
SPEAKER_03: Um but the guy is a lot of fun to travel with.
SPEAKER_03: I just want you to talk.
SPEAKER_03: So we spent the week together and we even ended up repelling each other off of a 115-foot uh cliff, and um that was the fun ending to a long week.
SPEAKER_03: But but thanks to Hal for what he does for Scouts, for building confidence and stewardship and service and families that you never get to see.
SPEAKER_03: I get to see him every Sunday at four o'clock.
SPEAKER_03: Um he does a fantastic job, and he does exactly what the parable was about.
SPEAKER_03: He gives himself continue to walk in love.
SPEAKER_03: As Christ first and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_03: And those have we given you.
SPEAKER_03: This is the 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: 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.
SPEAKER_03: Come, not because the church invites you, it is Christ, but he invites you to leave him here.
SPEAKER_03: Our service continues on page 369.
SPEAKER_03: Have you read a prayer book?
SPEAKER_03: Page 369.
SPEAKER_06: We live unto the Lord.
SPEAKER_06: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_06: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
SPEAKER_03: God of all power, ruler of the universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.
SPEAKER_03: Glory to you forever and ever.
SPEAKER_03: At your command all things came to be.
SPEAKER_03: The vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets and their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.
SPEAKER_06: By your will we were created and have their being.
SPEAKER_03: On the primal elements you brought forth the human race and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill.
SPEAKER_03: You made us the stewards of creation, but we turned against you and betrayed your trust.
SPEAKER_03: We turned against one another.
SPEAKER_03: Have mercy, Lord, for we are sinners in your sight.
SPEAKER_03: Again and again you call us to return.
SPEAKER_03: Through prophets and sages you reveal your righteous law, and in the fullness of time you sent your only son, born of a woman, to fulfill your law, to open for us the ways of freedom and peace.
SPEAKER_05: By his law you reconciled us.
SPEAKER_05: By his wounds we are healed.
SPEAKER_03: Therefore we praise you.
SPEAKER_03: Joining with the heavenly chorus, with prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and with all those in every generation who have looked to you in hope, to proclaim with them your glory and their unending hymn.
SPEAKER_03: So, Father, we who have been redeemed by Jesus and made a new people by water in the Spirit, now bring before you these gifts, sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, 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, gave thanks, 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: Remembering now his work of redemption, and offering you this sacrifice of thanksgiving, we celebrate his death and resurrection as we await the day of his coming.
SPEAKER_03: Lord God of our parents, God of Abraham, Hagar, Sarah, and Keturah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us.
SPEAKER_03: Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength, for pardon only and not for renewal.
SPEAKER_03: Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name.
SPEAKER_03: Accept these prayers and praises, Father, through Jesus Christ, our great high priest.
SPEAKER_03: To whom with you and the Holy Spirit, your church gives honor, glory, and worship from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray.
SPEAKER_05: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
SPEAKER_05: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_05: Give us today our delivery, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and leave us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thy kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_05: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_05: Almighty and ever living God, we thank you for the God with the spiritual food.
SPEAKER_05: Of your time, your two.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short.
SPEAKER_03: Grace to risk something big for something good.
SPEAKER_03: The grace to remember the world is now too dangerous for anything but the truth.
SPEAKER_03: Too small for anything but love.
SPEAKER_03: The blessing of the Hallelujah, alleluia.
SPEAKER_03: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.