WEBVTT 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:45.439 Hallelujah, Christ is risen. 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:47.199 The Lord is risen. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:49.039 Hallelujah. 00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:50.719 Let's pray together. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:51.840 Almighty God. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:58.800 And from you the secret star. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.000 Cleanse the heart of hearts. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:07.199 Let me perfectly love you. 00:03:07.520 --> 00:04:38.959 And through the colour, you can't do it. 00:04:53.519 --> 00:04:54.879 Let us pray. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:05:01.199 O God, you prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding. 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:11.920 Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises which exceed all that we can desire. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:18.399 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:21.759 A prayer for Mother's Day. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:28.240 On this Mother's Day, we give thanks to God for the divine gift of motherhood in all its diverse forms. 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:31.519 So let us pray for all the mothers among us today. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:35.680 Or our own mothers, those living and those who have passed away. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:40.480 For the mothers who loved us and for those who fell short of loving us fully. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:43.279 For all who hope to be mothers someday. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.040 For those whose hope to have children has been frustrated. 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:50.240 For all mothers who have lost children. 00:05:50.800 --> 00:05:56.879 For all women and men who have been our substitute mothers, and we who have done so for those in need. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:03.839 And for the earth that bore us and provides us sustenance, we pray this in the name of God, our great and loving parents. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:05.120 Amen. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:09.439 As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel with Mr. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:25.279 Alex in the very event. 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:37.920 Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:47.519 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, To an unknown God. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:07:13.519 What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives all to all mortals life and breath and all things. 00:07:14.160 --> 00:07:42.560 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him, though indeed he is not far from each one of us, for in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of our own poets have said, for we too are his offspring. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:55.680 We are since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:03.360 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:12.000 Because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. 00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:17.600 And of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.360 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:23.680 Thank you to God. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:30.399 A reading from Psalm 68. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:33.919 Please respond at the half verse. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.039 Bless our God, you peoples. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.480 May the voice of praise to be heard. 00:08:40.879 --> 00:08:43.360 God holds our souls in life. 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:46.159 And will not allow our feet to slift. 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:48.879 For you, O God, have proved us. 00:08:49.120 --> 00:08:52.559 And you have tried us to burn to try. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:55.200 You have brought us into the snare. 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:58.720 You laid heavy burdens upon our backs. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.360 You let enemies ride over our heads. 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:03.519 We went through fire and water. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.519 But you brought us out into a place of refreshment. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:12.799 I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows. 00:09:19.120 --> 00:09:24.320 I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the smoke of rams. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:27.120 I will give you oxen and goats. 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:30.639 Come and listen, all of you who fear God. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:34.080 And I will tell you what God has done for me. 00:09:34.399 --> 00:09:36.399 I cried out with my mouth. 00:09:36.639 --> 00:09:39.279 And God praise was on my tongue. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:44.480 If I had found evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.200 But in truth, God has heard me. 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:50.480 And has attended the voice of my prayer. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:54.480 Blessed be God who has not rejected my prayer. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:04.399 Do not fear what they fear. 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.519 And do not be intimidated. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:22.399 Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you and accounting for the hope that is in you. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:26.960 Yet do it with gentleness and reverence. 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:38.480 Keep your conscience clear so that when you are alive, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be good to shame. 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:47.759 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.320 In order to bring you to God. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:17.840 He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, to which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey God, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:31.600 During the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water, and baptism, which is prefigured, now saves you. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:54.559 Not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authority, and powers made subject to him. 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:59.440 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:15:02.879 Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and the Father will give you another advocate to be with you forever. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:08.559 This is the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.559 You know him because he abides with you and he will be in you. 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:14.720 I will not leave you orphaned. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.480 I am coming to you. 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.559 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. 00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:24.000 Because I live, you also will live. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:29.200 And on that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:38.080 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them. 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:40.879 The gospel of the Lord. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:06.399 Please be seated. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:25.440 I don't want to overdo the reminders, but we've got 50 days of Easter, and as I've said before, uh we have this time to consider not just what resurrection was like for Jesus, but for us to consider how we pattern our own lives after the resurrection, not just experience but invitation. 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:34.080 So the first four Sundays of Easter, we got to hear passages about resurrection day and its immediate aftermath. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:40.000 But last weekend, this week, we're going back over things that happened before the Easter story with new eyes. 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:48.879 The resurrection has changed the meaning for the disciples and the community of faith, the things that Jesus said and did before Easter. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:53.759 And so today, we sort of know that there's 50 days of Easter. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:17:04.079 We know that Pentecost is sort of coming up, and here is Jesus telling people, hey, uh, it's for your own good that I get out of your way. 00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:06.000 And that's weird, isn't it? 00:17:06.160 --> 00:17:19.759 Jesus sort of says, It is for your sake that I am going to become invisible to you, so you can start to visualize God in new ways and not just get stuck on me. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:24.480 And here's the promise of the day I will send you the advocate. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:27.920 In Greek, this is the word paraclete, and it is a legal term. 00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:32.559 Turns out in ancient Greece, you weren't appointed a defense attorney, by and large. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:33.839 That was not your right. 00:17:34.000 --> 00:17:37.920 If you were accused of a crime, you represented yourself. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:44.559 If you were very well connected, if you had a privilege in court, perhaps you could have an advocate. 00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:47.599 So this is a very legal metaphor. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:51.119 The advocate, of course, is the Holy Spirit. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:54.000 Now I want you to consider this from a court standpoint. 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:55.759 Who's the judge? 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:57.599 God, right? 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:58.799 Who's the jury? 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:00.880 Well, probably God, right? 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:03.680 Do you know who the prosecutor is? 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:08.400 Yeah, the prosecutor, there's two words for this in the Bible. 00:18:08.559 --> 00:18:12.079 One's Hebrew and one's Greek, and they have literal meaning. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:20.480 So sometimes we we make them a proper name to our detriment, and we miss that the word Satan in Hebrew, oh, that's Satan. 00:18:20.559 --> 00:18:21.680 No, it's Satan. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:23.920 It means accuser. 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:30.480 And if you read the book of Job, you'll find the accuser works for God, has access to God's court. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:35.359 Maybe the accuser is none other, welcome to DA. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:38.160 I will tell you a story. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:45.359 My wife was put on a jury, uh, and she's an attorney, and somebody said to her, Well, do you think you could be objective in this case? 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:49.599 She said, sure, but if the DA is pressing charges, I think the person's guilty. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:55.680 And they said, Well, do you think you could withhold that and, you know, like entertain reasonable doubt? 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:56.160 Sure. 00:18:56.319 --> 00:19:01.039 Well, she made it on a jury, they were desperate, and then she was elected to the foreman position. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:06.960 But in general, most attorneys will say, if the DA is pushing charges, they probably didn't, right? 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:14.079 So the Satan goes around making accusations, sometimes wild ones, but hey, accusations. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:19.200 And we're given a court-appointed defense attorney. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:24.559 Now, this is unlike the ones you'd get here, who very often have very huge caseloads. 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:29.359 Your court-appointed defense attorney is a member of a trinity. 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:34.480 Your advocate is the Holy Spirit. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:42.799 So God, who's the judge, is also advocating for you. 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:46.960 I think that's a pretty lovely metaphor, don't you? 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:51.839 I mean, that's like the best court-appointed defense attorney you can get. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:53.519 It's the Holy Spirit. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:59.039 And Jesus says, I'm not leaving you behind, I'm not leaving you with an advocate. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:11.759 I am on my way out, but this is for your own sake, so that instead of looking to me only, you can start to find me in places you didn't think I could be. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.799 So let me talk about advocacy for a second. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:22.559 I mentioned to you last week that I'd been in Greece, but this shows up in Acts, and I just want to give you a little picture of the city of Athens. 00:20:22.640 --> 00:20:32.640 It's a little bit blurry, but down here is like where three million people live, and up here is the Acropolis, and the Acropolis had like some records, but by and large it was full of temples. 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:41.839 Temple of Athena, Temple of Ephestus, Temple of Zeus, Temple of Heracles, Temple of Seraphion, Temple of Aslepius, all of this sort of religious stuff. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:46.240 And when you read today, Paul is talking at the Areopagus. 00:20:46.480 --> 00:20:54.160 That's here, that's this high hill that is just lower than the Acropolis, but significantly higher from where everybody else lives. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:55.839 This is a place of debate. 00:20:56.000 --> 00:21:07.759 So people go up and they worship their respective deities, and then they come down and they talk about Stoicism and Cynicism and philosophy, Platonism, and the Socratic method, and all this sort of this business. 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:12.400 And so Paul is here, and the presumption is he's just made the tour up here. 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:14.319 Now, what kind of stuff would you find here? 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:17.279 Well, this is the the uh this is the Parthenon, right? 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:23.200 Very famous building, and it had a very large statue of Athena that is now destroyed. 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:29.759 Uh I'm not sure if you know this, but what it looked like to worship Athena, there was a couple of things. 00:21:29.920 --> 00:21:33.680 Uh, people were not worshiping the statue. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:35.519 I want to be really clear. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:39.599 That's a little bit of what we call a polemic to say you're worshiping a statue. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:52.720 What they thought was in taking care of this image of Athena, washing it, dressing it, burning incense, that was symbolically taking care of the deity herself. 00:21:53.119 --> 00:21:56.400 So I just want to allay your suspicion. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.759 Nobody was bowing down to the statue, the statue was. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:03.680 Was supposed to be a representative of something you could not see. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.960 By the way, this entered in the Christian tradition. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:10.079 I don't know if you know about the schism that happened between East and West. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:13.200 In the Greek Orthodox Church, they have these things. 00:22:13.279 --> 00:22:17.119 We've got one over here, we've got several in the chapel that are called icons. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:17.599 Right? 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:20.880 They're pictures of saints or holy moments from the Bible. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:26.160 And people in Rome said, Y'all Greek people are praying to the icons. 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:27.519 They're idols. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:30.799 And the Greek people said, What are you talking about? 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:32.799 We're praying through the icons. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:35.599 The icons are trying to enrich our imagination. 00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:39.680 They're giving us things to meditate on to help us pray. 00:22:39.839 --> 00:22:42.079 We're not praying to the picture. 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:46.720 Similarly, in the Roman tradition, a lot of sculptures. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:52.160 And the Orthodox Christians, you're calling us idolaters, you've got those statues. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:58.079 Well, the Roman tradition doesn't pray to statues. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:03.680 They're supposed to represent things that stimulate our religious imagination and provoke us to prayer, right? 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:09.680 So sadly, both of us decided the other person's wrong because we were doing idolatry. 00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:11.839 But I just want to make sure we're clear. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:14.079 Nobody prays to statues. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:17.440 The statue is a representation of something else. 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:25.119 And Paul says, hey, the thing is, you're actually worshiping sort of the wrong thing. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:35.920 You're taking care of an image that's beautiful and precious and inspiring, and you're not taking the incarnation seriously. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:37.279 See, what did priests do? 00:23:37.440 --> 00:23:40.640 As I mentioned, they tried to feed the deity. 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:42.640 How do you feed a god? 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.240 Well, gods are invisible, so this is why they burn stuff up. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:48.799 That's how you make a bull invisible, you burn it up. 00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:51.200 Then it's gone, so the god must have eaten. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:57.839 You dress the statue, you pray, you wash the statue, this is how you take care. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:02.640 Paul says, hey, turns out God doesn't need all that statuary. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.440 Now look, in our tradition, we've got room for holy things. 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.440 Has anybody been on altar guild before? 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:10.880 In the altar guild, we treat the holy things with great care. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:18.960 Not just because they're expensive, they are, like really expensive, but frankly, because they represent something bigger than what they are, right? 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:24.079 When we get through with this port wine, we say, God, we want you to do something special. 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:27.039 We want you to nourish our spirits with this wine. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:30.799 We can't then treat it like regular wine and pour it down to drink. 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.599 That would be disrespectful to what we'd ask God to do with it. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:34.400 So what do we do? 00:24:34.559 --> 00:24:38.799 We've got a special sink called a Pessina and we pour it directly into the ground. 00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:42.160 That's two sinks back there. 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:44.160 A little inefficient. 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:46.640 But that's how we practice reverence. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:52.160 We say we're not going to treat this like ordinary because we've asked God to make it extraordinary. 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:55.200 But here's the step I hope you'll consider taking. 00:24:55.359 --> 00:25:02.240 When Paul scourges the Athenians at the Areopagus, it's not necessarily that they don't know God. 00:25:03.759 --> 00:25:07.599 It's that they're missing this opportunity to take the incarnation seriously. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:13.920 The incarnation says that God has decided to be fully present in human embodiment. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.200 That's the mystery of the incarnation. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:32.240 So that means instead of a washing a statue, instead of burning incense before a beautiful image, I would put to you the invitation of how we care for God is by washing our neighbor when they're dirty. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:39.759 By picking a baby who cannot clean itself and washing the child that is washing God. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:46.240 By feeding somebody who is hungry, a human being in whom Christ has been embodied. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:51.200 This is the way we practice real worship, which is the opposite of idolatry. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:25:58.160 We say, person, you've got a need, and when I meet your need, I'm meeting God's desire. 00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:02.480 I don't know if you ever thought about that. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:07.119 When you feed a hungry person, you're feeding God. 00:26:09.519 --> 00:26:22.319 When you are patient with somebody who is not fit for human consumption, and which one of us has not been patient fit for human consumption at a moment or two in our lives, you are being patient with God. 00:26:23.839 --> 00:26:31.279 When tending to one another's needs, we tend to God in our midst. 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:33.519 We call that advocacy. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:39.359 That's the advocacy of the Holy Spirit tending to one another in need. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.319 And I know I'm a little bit like a broken record here. 00:26:44.079 --> 00:26:47.279 It's really easy to worship beautiful people, isn't that? 00:26:47.759 --> 00:26:51.519 It's really easy to tend to people's needs that we like. 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.759 This is what Paul says to the people of Athens. 00:26:56.240 --> 00:26:58.000 What about all the other people? 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.880 What about people you don't like? 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:06.720 When you tend to their needs, you're worshiping God. 00:27:08.160 --> 00:27:22.960 When you're tending to people who drive you up the wall with care and empathy and compassion, that's not just a thing you're doing, that is taking care of God embodied in each and every one of us, which is the assurance of our faith. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:26.400 That's the advocacy of the Holy Spirit. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:32.799 How progressive is the Holy Spirit's advocacy. 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:34.720 That's why we've got 1 Peter. 00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:37.440 I don't know if you notice this part in 1 Peter. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:44.559 It says that Jesus goes down to the prison, the spirits who are imprisoned under the earth, the ones that rebelled. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:49.839 I don't know if you've read the book of Genesis, but in chapter 6, there are these extraordinary beings. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:51.519 We're not quite sure what they are. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:53.759 They're some kind of angelic thing. 00:27:53.920 --> 00:27:57.599 And they end up rebelling against God by having superhuman children. 00:27:57.839 --> 00:27:58.480 Giants. 00:27:58.799 --> 00:27:59.759 You all know this? 00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:02.240 So Genesis chapter 6, if you want to read it. 00:28:02.319 --> 00:28:03.200 It's kind of wild. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:10.640 Well, the mythology says that those spirits that rebelled against God got imprisoned under the earth for the disobedience. 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:14.400 And they've just sort of been down there in the dark. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:17.759 Here's the kind of advocacy that the risen Lord does. 00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:19.920 He goes down there and says, get out. 00:28:21.839 --> 00:28:23.440 I don't know if you've read this book by C. 00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:23.680 S. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:25.039 Lewis, The Great Divorce. 00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:26.480 It's about 94 pages. 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:27.599 It's a light read. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:28.640 Super interesting. 00:28:28.799 --> 00:28:29.519 And what C.S. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:33.599 Lewis says is that hell's only eternal if you choose to stay there. 00:28:35.039 --> 00:28:44.160 In the book, he imagines that a bus comes from God every day and says to people living in hell, get on the bus and let's get the hell out of here. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:45.920 And what do you know? 00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:48.480 A lot of people are like, eh, I don't want to go to a new place. 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.880 You know, like, this is really dark, it's pretty sad, but I'm kind of used to it, you know. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:54.880 I've invested in realty here. 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:57.839 You know, I don't want to walk away from a good investment, you know. 00:28:58.079 --> 00:29:03.519 So people choose to stay there, but look at the advocacy of one Peter. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:11.039 Jesus goes to exactly the spirits who should have known better than anybody else than to disobey God. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:13.839 The ones who should know the best. 00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:18.240 Jesus goes to them and says, get on the bus, let's get out of here. 00:29:19.279 --> 00:29:25.200 That's the advocacy of the Holy Spirit that Jesus says, it's coming for us. 00:29:26.880 --> 00:29:36.720 That's the kind of advocacy I put before you we're invited to practice as part of what resurrected discipleship looks like. 00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:40.160 That sounds really inconvenient, doesn't it? 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:43.920 It might even sound a little bit unjust. 00:29:44.480 --> 00:29:46.799 Hey, my neighbor doesn't deserve it. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:49.119 We don't get to decide what your neighbor deserves. 00:29:49.279 --> 00:29:51.279 God made that decision a long time ago. 00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:53.119 Do you notice when Paul says? 00:29:53.440 --> 00:30:02.000 Christ died for the righteous and the unrighteous. 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:06.160 To take care of them all. 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:12.960 Yeah, but Jesus, that was a bad idea because there's some like really bigoted people in the world. 00:30:13.359 --> 00:30:16.720 If you convince God to do it your way, please let me know. 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:19.440 The scriptures stand as written. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:23.440 And they say, Jesus died to take care of all. 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:39.200 The question is, do we say, well, Jesus, you'll take care of it when we die, or do we say, we're going to enter the resurrected life right now and start advocating for even the hardest people to advocate for in our own lives? 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:43.200 And I'm going to tell you, it's Mother's Day, and not everybody got my mom. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:44.720 I know that. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:48.079 I had a son whose mom did not advocate for him. 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.079 That's why he lives with me. 00:30:51.759 --> 00:31:02.079 But I was a lucky one because my mom advocated for me every step of the way, especially when it broke her heart because I did something really dumb, which probably I'll do in the next five minutes, too. 00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:05.759 This is what advocacy looks like. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:09.680 We don't look at a baby who's crying and say, What are you crying about? 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:10.640 Feed yourself. 00:31:10.720 --> 00:31:12.400 We know they can't do that. 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:21.599 I was lucky because my mom looked at a crying baby when I was 18 and said, Sweetie, let me help you out, right? 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:23.359 That's advocacy. 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:26.000 For some of us, it was our aunt that did that. 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:28.000 For some of us, it was our grandma. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:29.759 For some of it, it was our dad. 00:31:29.920 --> 00:31:37.119 Of course, we all understand that there were coaches and teachers and clergy along the way who mothered us, whether they were men or women. 00:31:37.680 --> 00:31:40.720 But that kind of advocacy is what we celebrate. 00:31:40.799 --> 00:31:45.440 And I just want to share with you, most of you might think Mother's Day was invented by Hallmark. 00:31:46.240 --> 00:31:54.240 But it was in fact a movement that happened during the First World War in England, where mom said, our sons are dying and we're tired of it. 00:31:54.720 --> 00:32:02.079 So what if we as mothers got together and said, Enough with this, let's figure this out in a way where we don't lose our kids anymore? 00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:06.640 That's the advocacy of the Holy Spirit. 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:10.799 That's the advocacy of the resurrected life. 00:32:11.119 --> 00:32:13.599 Thank God that's the advocacy of my mom. 00:32:13.920 --> 00:32:30.319 And that's the advocacy we're called together to do for one another in this community, and especially for those who can't even walk in the door because they've been hurt so bad, frankly, by people who refuse to advocate for them. 00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:35.599 Jesus says, I'm going to get out of your way so you don't just look at me. 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.880 You start looking for me in each other. 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:41.599 You may have to look really hard. 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:44.880 Keep looking. 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:56.559 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene III. 00:32:58.160 --> 00:33:06.799 We believe in one God, the Father and Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:23.519 We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from pure God, begotten and unmade, of one being with the Father. 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:25.920 Through him all things were made. 00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:30.400 For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. 00:33:30.640 --> 00:33:36.799 By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate for the Virgin Mary and was made of man. 00:33:37.359 --> 00:33:40.720 For our sake he was frucified by the Latin Father. 00:33:40.960 --> 00:33:43.119 He suffered to heaven with buried. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:47.599 On the third day he rose again, in accordance with the scriptures. 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:52.319 He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 00:33:52.559 --> 00:33:58.799 He will come in the glory to judge the living and the dead, and in the kingdom of God knowing. 00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:06.160 We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:10.079 With the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:12.639 He has only through the prophets. 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:16.719 We believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. 00:34:16.960 --> 00:34:20.239 We acknowledge the baptism for the forgiveness of sin. 00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:25.280 And look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world of God. 00:34:25.920 --> 00:34:26.400 Amen. 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.159 Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor. 00:34:37.840 --> 00:34:52.960 Holy God, Creator of all lives, the Lord of grace, and giver of life, fear of prayer, there are times in our lives, deep values that separate us from one another and from you. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:04.320 For fear of making our heart in separation, for fear of being rejected when we reach out. 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:12.639 You call us to reconcile life, to deal with relationships, to uphold us with each other and with you. 00:35:14.880 --> 00:35:19.119 And make us big creations of our love of Christ. 00:35:19.519 --> 00:35:21.199 In whose name we pray. 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:22.239 Amen. 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:24.480 Friends, hear this good news. 00:35:24.800 --> 00:35:29.039 The love of God is beyond measure, and you are included in that love. 00:35:29.360 --> 00:35:33.679 So know that you are forgiven, and thus freed to love and serve. 00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:34.960 Amen. 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:45.840 The peace of the risen Lord be always with you. 00:35:46.159 --> 00:35:47.679 And also with you. 00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:25.519 If you're new to it or haven't done this before, in the room right behind the one we're sitting in, we call that the Narthex. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:27.360 There's these little cards that say welcome. 00:36:27.440 --> 00:36:31.440 And we'd be tremendously grateful if you fill one out and put it in the blue basket. 00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:35.599 And hey, if you don't want to call from the priest, don't check that box and you won't get one. 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:40.800 But we are delighted that you've chosen to worship with us and would like to have a record of your visit. 00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:52.800 A few announcements I want to call to your attention, and it's always good to look back because I've got to tell you, it's the last couple of weeks it's occurred to me that uh there is more going on in this building than I can keep track of. 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:54.960 And that's been the goal. 00:36:55.199 --> 00:36:57.840 I think I told you this story about five years ago. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:59.840 We had a lady try to move her letter. 00:37:00.000 --> 00:37:02.320 We were trying to find her sponsoring parish. 00:37:02.400 --> 00:37:08.800 Uh, and turns out uh when I called the diocese of Dallas, they said, well, we had to close that church. 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:11.519 We've turned it into a community center. 00:37:12.239 --> 00:37:13.760 That will not be us. 00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:17.280 We will not be closed to be a community center. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:21.280 We will be a community center to remain open, and that's where we are, right? 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:27.280 And so uh a group of us ran for like the fifth year in a row the Lord of the Streets luncheon this week. 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:31.199 It was beautiful and lovely and the biggest fundraiser uh that they have. 00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:32.559 And little old St. 00:37:32.719 --> 00:37:37.920 Thomas ran the Lord of the Streets uh fundraiser lunch once again. 00:37:38.079 --> 00:37:39.440 Thank you, everybody involved. 00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:48.320 I don't know if you know that we take Eucharist over to Brookdale once a week, and hey, it takes lots of hands to do this, so thanks, Jim, for filling in for me so I can go to lots. 00:37:48.639 --> 00:37:49.760 We got lots going on. 00:37:49.920 --> 00:37:52.559 We got lots of lovely people making lots go on. 00:37:52.800 --> 00:37:57.360 I don't know if you know that we had a funeral this week on Thursday afternoon for 12 people. 00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:04.639 Uh, Phyllis Morse, who was a member here oh, a long time ago, uh, she's kind of stopped attending before I got here. 00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:11.199 Phyllis Morse died, and uh on a Thursday afternoon we had a funeral for 12. 00:38:11.440 --> 00:38:12.400 But that's what we do. 00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:13.920 That's the community that we are. 00:38:14.079 --> 00:38:19.760 We say, please, absolutely, we will celebrate your mother, and what a joy it was to do that. 00:38:21.039 --> 00:38:24.800 Now, looking forward, we've got some really cool things coming up. 00:38:24.960 --> 00:38:28.400 Uh, one that I want to offer to you is happening today. 00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:32.559 It's happening so eminently that I am not gonna stand there and shake your hand. 00:38:32.639 --> 00:38:33.920 I'm gonna go get on a plane. 00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:48.719 Because I mentioned to you that Bishop Doyle believed that outdoor renewal was a priority for clergy and lay people in the diocese, and I am leaving in 40 minutes to fly to Zion National Park to take eight clergy on a five-day backpacking trip. 00:38:49.039 --> 00:38:50.960 The diocese said this is such a good idea. 00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:53.840 How about we give you$10,500 to pay for it? 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:56.400 So that trip is today. 00:38:56.559 --> 00:38:58.800 And I will be headed out the door to do that. 00:38:58.960 --> 00:39:02.000 And I do want to remind you, your turn is in November. 00:39:02.159 --> 00:39:06.159 There is a trip to Arkansas that is a five-day backpacking trip. 00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:08.239 You don't ever have to have gone before. 00:39:08.400 --> 00:39:11.519 You do have to be able to walk, but you don't have to have gone before. 00:39:11.599 --> 00:39:13.599 And we're gonna do this loop in November. 00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:15.519 So let me know if you've got any questions. 00:39:15.599 --> 00:39:20.400 But this is the beginning of a ministry that the bishop believes enough in, well, to finance. 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.360 And uh, I am really looking forward to the first one today. 00:39:23.519 --> 00:39:24.559 So that's coming up. 00:39:24.639 --> 00:39:27.599 Uh, another thing coming up, you'll see two flyers out there. 00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:33.760 And look, we do too much stuff for everybody to go to, but I just want to raise to you we're hosting two concerts next weekend. 00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:42.159 There's a guitar uh duo that's gonna be here on Saturday night, and I've been to four of their events, and they are all downtown quality. 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:44.079 I mean, they are really, really lovely. 00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:47.119 You don't have to be a guitarophile to enjoy this. 00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:48.639 This is a fine concert. 00:39:48.800 --> 00:39:50.800 It'll be Saturday at 7:30. 00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:57.599 And I want you to notice there's another one that we're promoting, it's not here, it's on Sunday in our area, uh, from a group called the Notables. 00:39:57.760 --> 00:40:04.480 They used to sing here as part of the Houston Symphony Bay Area Auxiliary, but they're gonna be at Clear Lake Methodists. 00:40:04.559 --> 00:40:08.639 So uh two concerts uh next weekend that may fit your interests. 00:40:08.719 --> 00:40:14.719 Uh I also want to raise up to you that um there's a couple of book studies coming up that we're gonna do this summer. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:16.239 Have a look in your e-news. 00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:18.079 One's called The Wounded Healer. 00:40:18.159 --> 00:40:21.360 Uh, it's a spiritual classic, but it's incredibly insightful. 00:40:21.519 --> 00:40:22.480 Uh short book. 00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:25.199 We're gonna read that over four weeks beginning in June. 00:40:25.360 --> 00:40:30.320 And uh there's another program we're gonna start at the beginning of June called The Artist's Way. 00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:34.079 And it's aimed at unlocking creativity as a spiritual discipline. 00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:50.000 So we're gonna do that as a group through the summer and in the fall, we're gonna have some tutors offer us some creative ways we can do things like take better photographs and make ceramics and share that with each other to help us unlock creativity as a spiritual discipline. 00:40:50.320 --> 00:40:53.679 I don't know if you ever heard that phrase, creativity as a spiritual discipline. 00:40:53.920 --> 00:40:58.239 So if that intrigues you, uh the artist way might be of interest to you. 00:40:58.480 --> 00:41:01.760 Um, two other kind of community announcements that are really important. 00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:10.079 Um, if you're looking for hearing-assisted devices, we haven't forgotten, we've made the order, should be here in the next two weeks, we hope. 00:41:10.239 --> 00:41:12.800 We hope, and then we'll get our hearing devices up to date. 00:41:12.880 --> 00:41:20.239 So we're working really hard to have both Bluetooth ones that tie to your headphones and the devices we've got out there, so there should be options. 00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:23.840 Give us a two or three weeks, and we'll get that all ironed out. 00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:27.760 And the other is we're just so happy to celebrate with Anna Christofferson. 00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:31.840