WEBVTT 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:58.159 Hallelujah, Christ is risen. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:01.120 The Lord is risen indeed. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:02.159 Hallelujah. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.000 Let's pray together. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:04.879 Almighty. 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:10.000 All desires are known. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:12.960 And from you the secrets are hid. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:18.319 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:26.000 That we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:26.960 Amen. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:16.720 The Lord be with you. 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:18.240 And also with you. 00:04:18.639 --> 00:04:20.000 Let us pray. 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.480 For God, whose blessed Son made himself known to His disciples in the breaking of bread. 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:36.639 Open the eyes of our faith that we may behold him in all his redeeming work, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:37.920 Amen. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:39.279 Please proceed. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:49.920 A reading from Acts. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:57.040 Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed to the crowd. 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:08.480 This Jesus whom you crucified. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:19.120 Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other disciples, Brothers, what should we do? 00:05:19.920 --> 00:05:29.920 Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:34.240 And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:45.279 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:56.000 And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:06.160 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:10.480 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:06:35.519 --> 00:06:38.240 The cords of death entangled me. 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:41.600 The grip of the grave took hold of me. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:44.399 I came to grief and sorrow. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.759 Then I called upon the name of the Lord. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:51.360 O Lord, I pray you save my life. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:57.519 How shall I repay you, O Lord, for all the good things you have done for me? 00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:03.680 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:06.959 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.879 Precious in your sight, O Lord. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:17.920 O Lord, I am your servant. 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:22.160 I am your servant and the child of your handmaid. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:24.879 You have freed me from my bonds. 00:07:25.120 --> 00:07:29.120 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving. 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:40.480 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the courts of the Lord's house. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:36.159 Live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:55.039 You know that you were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 00:08:56.559 --> 00:09:04.720 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:18.080 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:31.600 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:43.360 You have been born anew, not a perishable, but imperishable seed through the living and enduring word of God. 00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:48.000 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:25.600 Now on that same day, that being Easter Sunday, two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:30.480 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.440 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:38.320 And he said to them, What are you discussing with each other while you walk along? 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:48.559 They stood still, looking sad, and then one of them, whose name was Cleopathus, answered him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days? 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:50.720 Jesus asked them, What things? 00:13:51.279 --> 00:14:02.559 They replied, Well, the things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.000 We'd hoped he was the one to redeem Israel. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:10.399 Yes, and besides all this, it's now the third day since these things took place. 00:14:10.639 --> 00:14:13.120 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:22.080 They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:28.480 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see it. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:34.159 Then Jesus said to them, Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all the prophets had declared. 00:14:34.399 --> 00:14:38.879 Was it not necessary the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory? 00:14:39.440 --> 00:14:44.480 And then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted them the things about himself and all the scriptures. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:55.200 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on, but they urged him strongly, saying, Stay with him, stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:57.440 So Jesus went in to stay with them. 00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:02.320 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:07.200 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:15.200 They said to each other, Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.399 At the same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem, and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:21.600 They were saying. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:38.320 This is a pretty famous story, The Walk to Emmaus, and I don't know if you noticed, it isn't in John. 00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:40.799 It isn't in Matthew or Mark either. 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.960 Last week we read a very different story of what happens on Easter Day. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:50.240 Jesus shows up and allows Thomas the opportunity to touch his wounds. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:51.279 I don't know if you noticed. 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:54.960 Jesus breathes on people and says, receive the Holy Spirit. 00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:59.519 According to the Gospel of John, Pentecost and Easter happen on the same day. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:01.679 Luke's got a different idea. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:06.079 Luke says the Holy Spirit doesn't blow through the town for about 50 days. 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:09.599 And I want to say this to you, not to say the gospels disagree. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:15.440 I want to say that we've got four different gospels as an invitation so we can have eight billion. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:16.720 Eight billion. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:23.839 That is to say, I think our opportunity when we think about resurrection is to write the gospel according to John Leedy. 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:27.440 To write the gospel according to Frank Acheson. 00:17:27.920 --> 00:17:42.079 There's four, but we're each invited to pin our own, not only with what it is we say and what the core parts of resurrection are to us, but how it is that we live into new resurrected life. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:47.839 So don't worry about four different views. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.759 Nope, add your own. 00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:52.720 Then you'll have actual good news to share with the world. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:18:01.680 Now, this is an interesting story because you notice that uh the people on the way don't recognize Jesus even though they're walking with him. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:03.839 This is a common theme after Easter, right? 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.920 Mary thinks he's the gardener. 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:10.640 These people have no idea who he is, even though they have a really good idea who he was. 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:18.880 You can read that line that says they were kept from recognizing him, and I suppose you could imagine that God is keeping them from recognizing Jesus. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:24.960 But uh, truth be told, we like to say in the West, I'll believe it when I see it. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:26.880 Seeing is believing. 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:32.319 But I would suggest to you once again that believing determines what we see. 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:37.680 They don't recognize them because they don't believe there could be new life. 00:18:38.720 --> 00:18:41.119 That's a cautionary tale for us. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:50.720 If we're missing the presence of the risen Christ in our lives, it may not be that he's absent and maybe we're not looking for him in the right spot. 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:53.359 This is part of the Easter message. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:19:01.039 The other thing that's really interesting when you hear this story, and I'm gonna use this word, and I don't want to use it offensively, but I want you to hear it. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:05.759 These guys are doing something called bibliolatry. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:07.440 Bibliolatry. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:10.160 That is making an idol out of the Bible. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:14.720 You ever heard the phrase, the Bible's the word of God? 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:19.920 Can I disabuse you of that notion? 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.440 The word of God is the resurrected Christ. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:29.920 In the beginning was the word, and the word was God, and the word was with God, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:32.799 That isn't talking about the book and the pew next to you. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:35.599 Talking about the resurrected Jesus. 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:43.279 Martin Luther said that the Bible is like the manger, it holds Jesus, but it isn't him. 00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:47.519 And this is another cautionary tale about Easter. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:52.960 Of course, the Bible connects us to the story of God's people throughout the years. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:20:13.119 The Bible has all things necessary for salvation, but I want you to notice that the two guys in the story know the Bible so literally that they don't take it seriously and they can't see the risen, resurrected Jesus when he's standing so close to them because they're reading the Bible in a particular way. 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:19.440 Now, this is an opportunity for all of us to grow up. 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:30.400 And I would tell you, as your priest, if you're ever stuck between a literal reading of the Bible and where the resurrected Christ is, pick the resurrected Christ. 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:32.400 I hope this makes sense. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:34.480 Here's a literal read of the Bible. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:38.240 Women are second-class citizens in the kingdom of God and they can't be priests. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.200 You can find a reading to support that if you choose to. 00:20:41.359 --> 00:20:42.799 There's no life there. 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:45.119 Let that die. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:21:02.319 You're not dismissing the Bible, you're dismissing a phrase in the Bible that was never meant to be taken so literally that we forgot to take seriously that God created female and male in God's own image. 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:10.880 You can choose to worship parts of uh of uh the Bible that support whatever you want. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:13.039 You can't. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:19.440 But we do that at our own peril, and we do it at the risk of missing the resurrected Jesus. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:28.559 Now, I don't want to take pot shots on you here, so when I I am gonna give you a few more examples because that just seems really darn important to me to give you a few more examples. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:36.880 See, I grew up in a tradition that says, hey, if you've been divorced, you can't be in leadership because good leaders are the husband of but one wife. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.640 Good news, if you're a lady, you can have as many husbands as you want, apparently. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:43.839 Um because there's nothing about women there. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:53.119 So what we did is we took that so literally we disqualified really capable and godly people because they'd had a divorce 20 years ago in an abusive marriage. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.160 Does God enjoy divorce? 00:21:56.319 --> 00:21:57.440 I don't think so. 00:21:58.000 --> 00:21:59.759 There are worse things than being divorced. 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:04.960 Many worse things than being divorced. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:20.880 And we worship a standard of care at our own detriment when we forbid people who are called by God to be ministers and who have gifts for ministry, and we say categorically, you can't do it because you got married to somebody when you were 20 because you didn't know better, and you realized you didn't know better and you left. 00:22:22.480 --> 00:22:26.400 Are we following the letter or are we following the risen Christ? 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:30.880 We like to talk out of both sides of our mouth. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:40.000 We like to say, well, you know, most of all that stuff that shows up in the Hebrew Bible that we don't like, that doesn't apply to us anymore. 00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:42.480 Because we got Jesus. 00:22:43.920 --> 00:22:50.319 But you know, if you ask a Christian person why they're opposed to same-sex marriage, they'll pull something right out of Leviticus. 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:56.079 Never mind that they're eating shellfish and making garments out of two kinds of fabric. 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:14.480 See, what we do when we worship the Bible instead of the risen Christ is we miss, frankly, life and we miss an approach to reading scripture that God intended from the get-go, that we have a holy conversation with it, not that we're ruled by a book. 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:20.319 Maybe this is radical preaching, but again, I think it's right. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:22.480 I think it's right. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:26.319 You notice what they say? 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:34.960 Based on our literal view of the scriptures, we had hoped you would solve all our problems for us. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:39.759 We'd hope you would be the one who redeemed Israel in the ways we want. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:42.559 I hope it's not shocking. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:45.440 God doesn't always hope for the same things we do. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:51.200 If God had the same hopes we have, everybody would think like me. 00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.279 And the world would be a much better place. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:23:56.720 For some of us. 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:01.200 I mean, you know, I'm glad you're laughing, but this is how we behave, right? 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:02.960 So, what does God hope for you? 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:05.519 God hopes you'll enjoy the life you've been given. 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:09.519 God hopes that you'll live humbly, which does not mean debasing yourself. 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.240 It means being exactly who God made you to be. 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:15.200 No more and no less. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:19.519 God hopes you will love justice. 00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:21.839 This is what God hopes for you. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:25.920 God does not hope the Astros are going to win the World Series again. 00:24:26.160 --> 00:24:28.160 It's really controversial. 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.079 God clearly isn't a Texans fan. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:35.359 Or maybe God's the best Texans fan. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:48.799 Look, we get this wrong when we think God is supposed to bend to our will instead of what are the qualities that God is inviting us to live into that look like the resurrected Jesus, that look like new life. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:59.440 We get to hear this bit here about, and this comes out of uh both the song that we sang and also this idea about the paschal mystery. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:12.720 And um, you know, sometimes we can hear this in such a way that we think, do you notice that phrase that came out of Acts, or out of Peter, Jesus was predestined before the foundation of the world? 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:16.000 Predestined before the foundation of the world. 00:25:16.079 --> 00:25:21.440 Sometimes we think, you know, Adam and Eve messed it up, and the whole cross was God's plan B. 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:28.240 No, no, the scripture says the cross, the incarnation, particularly, was God's plan A. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:36.240 If people never messed up, God was delighted to be incarnate from the get-go. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:40.160 That was the master plan, not the corrective plan. 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.480 Right there in the scriptures. 00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:45.200 God loved us enough to be incarnate. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:47.920 That was always the plan. 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:49.440 Always. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:55.920 Do we miss the resurrected Jesus because we're looking at our own feet instead of looking up? 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:58.720 This is a good question, I think, for us. 00:25:58.960 --> 00:26:04.720 Do we miss the resurrected Jesus because we're hoping for something God isn't hoping for? 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:08.559 And then comes the master stroke. 00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:13.440 Now, I don't know how it is that they recognize Jesus when he broke the bread. 00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:17.759 It makes me think maybe Jesus tore the bread in a really weird way. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:21.279 I mean, so weird that nobody else on the planet would do it. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:25.920 Like, maybe it was time to break the bread, he like tore it with his teeth. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:31.039 So idiosyncratic that the veil is lifted when he does it. 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:41.599 And he does this kind of marvelous thing in doing something, you know, they they notice Jesus not when he heals a dead person, uh, not when pigs fly. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:44.400 They notice him when he shares a meal. 00:26:45.279 --> 00:26:48.319 Which reminds me of this Greg Boyle quote. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:53.839 Jesus is not worried, we'll forget how extraordinary the Eucharist is. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:58.400 He's worried we'll forget how ordinary it is. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:05.359 God's thanksgiving is embodied in a shared meal with regular old people. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:08.240 Now look, we do two things in the service. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:18.880 And if you've been to other Episcopal churches, we don't always do it the same way, but you know, right here you're looking up at the Lord's table, and we don't have the chalice person veiled, we have the gospel book. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:26.319 I don't know if you realize that every week we have actually two liturgies in one service. 00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:29.759 Right now we're in the part we call the liturgy of the word. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:43.440 The liturgy of the word is when we take four passages from Scripture and they're broken apart, and the goal of a good sermon, which you don't usually hear here, is to weave them all together in a coherent whole. 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:48.640 It's to take pieces that are fragmentary and put them back together in unity. 00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:52.720 Hence the gospel book is front and center for the liturgy of the word. 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:59.119 When we change to the liturgy of the sacrament, that's when the birth and veil show up. 00:27:59.200 --> 00:27:59.920 And what do you know? 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:04.079 The same thing happens at the liturgy of the sacrament as a liturgy of the word. 00:28:04.400 --> 00:28:07.119 We take bread and we break it into pieces. 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:11.200 That priest host, the round one, turns into 24 pieces. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:13.119 We give them to you. 00:28:13.759 --> 00:28:21.599 And I don't know if you've noticed the goal then of discipleship is to put them back together into one coherent whole. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:37.440 That is, you're each given a piece as an individual that we then put back together in a community so that the bread is broken and reconstituted, not just in us eating it, but in us joining together in a kindred spirit in unity and mission. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:38.960 This is why we do this. 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:43.359 So let me tell you why I came to the Episcopal Church. 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:46.400 It has to do with the sacrament. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:29:00.160 Um I was visiting a church in El Cajón that's 30 miles inland from San Diego, and uh they had undergone a big demographic shift in about the last 20 years before I'd got there. 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:06.799 It used to be a suburban place where people would live on the cheap and commute downtown to San Diego. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:08.880 That way they could have bigger homes. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:10.559 Well, a lot had changed. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:14.079 Uh, it had become, frankly, a more neglected neighborhood. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:27.599 And I don't know if you know this at the time, it's Houston now, but at the time, San Diego had more immigrants, particularly people seeking asylum, like refugees, than any city in the United States. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:33.599 People from Iraq, and particularly people from what we now call Myanmar or Burma. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:38.559 So there had been a re huge resettlement of people looking for asylum. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:40.400 My first Sunday at St. 00:29:40.559 --> 00:29:52.480 Albans Episcopal Church in El Cahone, there I was, a recovering Baptist, not knowing what I was gonna do next. 00:29:53.200 --> 00:29:54.720 I honest, I was. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:03.519 I didn't have a home in the Baptist church anymore because I married a woman who believed she was called by God, and they wouldn't tolerate that. 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:08.799 So I went church shopping, and there I was, and it was time to come up to the rail. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:19.279 Now, look, uh, I what I was used to is little shot glasses of grape juice and things like some kind of thing that you would eat. 00:30:19.680 --> 00:30:21.200 I don't even know what it is. 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:25.119 It wasn't bread, like a lump of flour or something. 00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:26.400 So we all got that. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:36.880 So instead, I come into this church and there's there's one this one cup, and the lady in front of me in the pew was about 80 years old, and she was about as proper as you could get. 00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:40.000 I mean, she was wearing a dress she'd probably iron twice. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:49.839 Every hair was in place, she had opera-length pearls, and when it was time to come to the rail, she reached into her purse and she pulled out some flawless white gloves. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:52.799 You ever seen the communion gloves come out? 00:30:53.119 --> 00:30:56.960 It's rare, it's a dying tradition, but this lady had the communion gloves, right? 00:30:57.039 --> 00:30:59.200 And after communion, she went back, took them off. 00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:01.039 Then it was me. 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:05.039 I don't even know what I was wearing, but I wasn't dressed like that. 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:15.039 The next lady who came to my left was a refugee from Burma, Myanmar. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:20.960 She had met the Anglican church in a refugee camp that she'd lived at for two years. 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:23.279 Uh, I don't know that she spoke much English. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:30.640 It was probably her fifth language, and on her way up, she put on a little veil that she had knitted in the refugee camp. 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:31.680 This is what they did. 00:31:31.759 --> 00:31:34.400 The women covered their heads for the Eucharist. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:38.640 The person next to her was a man that didn't smell very good. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:47.279 He was probably homeless, and uh I think maybe he was coming to church so he'd feel better about getting a meal at coffee hour after church. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:51.759 There we were at this rail. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:55.279 As different little fragments as we could be. 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:03.680 And along came this chalice that made us all equal at the rail before and with God. 00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:18.079 Because every single one of us, homeless, sophisticated, confused young boy, a refugee looking for life, we long at the table of Jesus Christ. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:32.559 Each of us got a fragment, and we were invited to put our fragments together into something whole and beautiful, and be those people who could leave and nourish the world with our lives. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:36.799 Talk about a mystical experience at the rail. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:43.359 Now, look, that didn't happen every week, but I knew I couldn't go anywhere else after that. 00:32:44.079 --> 00:32:45.759 Where else can you go? 00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:50.559 This is one of those amazing things about ordinary meals. 00:32:52.079 --> 00:33:02.160 I don't know if you realize statistically, there's two ways to overcome deep-seated prejudices you have about individuals and wholesale groups of people. 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:03.680 Research-based. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:05.920 First is physical contact. 00:33:06.240 --> 00:33:08.799 Turns out the more surface area, the better. 00:33:09.039 --> 00:33:11.359 Releases oxytocin in your brain. 00:33:11.519 --> 00:33:14.160 Now, look, holding, shaking hands doesn't work really well. 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:16.000 You need 45 seconds. 00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:25.920 So you can hold Aunt Flo's hand for 45 seconds, and you'll do better if you hold it like this because there's more surface area. 00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:28.000 It can flip a prejudice. 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:28.880 This is the case. 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:31.839 But of course, you probably know the second thing. 00:33:32.319 --> 00:33:37.440 And it's not explicit it's it's it's independent of contact, but it works when you put it together. 00:33:37.519 --> 00:33:39.680 It's sharing a meal at a table. 00:33:40.319 --> 00:33:43.440 Eating together is a way of overcoming prejudice. 00:33:43.519 --> 00:33:45.519 And look, this is old in human history. 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:49.440 There's this old story that comes out of the uh Sufi tradition in Islam. 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:50.319 Maybe you know this. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:56.960 If you've eaten somebody's salt under their home, you're like a member of their family and you're not meant to transgress against them. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:08.960 So there's this old story that once upon a time a thief was loading up goods in the person's home, and then there were these two jars, and uh one had sugar and one had salt. 00:34:09.840 --> 00:34:14.480 The thief intended to steal the sugar, but you gotta taste it, right? 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:21.519 So the thief tastes and got salt and promptly put everything back. 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:26.079 Because you can't steal from somebody whose salt you've eaten. 00:34:26.239 --> 00:34:28.639 Look, this is core human experience, right? 00:34:28.719 --> 00:34:33.599 That when you share a meal with somebody in their home, there is something binding. 00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:35.039 That's archetypal. 00:34:35.199 --> 00:34:36.719 And notice what Jesus does. 00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:41.119 He's revealed that something as simple as a meal. 00:34:42.719 --> 00:34:48.639 Sometimes what we don't realize is that the disciples categorically hated each other. 00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:54.480 Judas Iscariot, Simon the Zealot, those were freedom fighters. 00:34:54.800 --> 00:35:03.599 Matthew, also called Levi, was a tax collector, complicit with the Roman Empire and exploiting their own people through essentially usury. 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:08.239 Those three guys categorically hated each other. 00:35:08.559 --> 00:35:12.320 What got them to have staying power? 00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:15.360 They sat down at a table with Jesus. 00:35:15.760 --> 00:35:17.199 Maybe you know the story. 00:35:17.360 --> 00:35:19.360 It's the night before he's gonna be betrayed. 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:20.800 He knows it's his last meal. 00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:25.440 Jesus shares it with the guy who betrays him on purpose. 00:35:26.559 --> 00:35:41.440 Now, maybe your family members aren't going to betray you to Jesus, but you know, there is I'm to the Roman Empire, but it is a funny thing to think about that sometimes I look at Thanksgiving meals and I think, oh my gosh, I'm looking forward to eating with about a third of you. 00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:46.559 And then there's the other two thirds, and I'll just try not to say something unpleasant. 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:52.239 And there's something really powerful about sitting at the table with them. 00:35:53.199 --> 00:36:14.320 Something really good for me about sitting at the table with people I don't want to sit at the table with heightens the chance that I won't be kept from seeing the resurrected Jesus in the person across the seat from me by my own bigotry. 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:18.559 This is what keeps us from seeing the resurrected Jesus. 00:36:18.719 --> 00:36:25.360 We think either God can't do a miracle out of some kind of injury, God won't do a miracle in somebody who's Lutheran. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:33.840 You fill in the line with what it is that keeps you from seeing the resurrected Jesus in the person you're walking the same road with. 00:36:36.639 --> 00:36:39.280 And we're called this week out of that behavior. 00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:41.119 We're called out of that behavior. 00:36:41.280 --> 00:36:43.039 This is a cautionary tale. 00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:50.880 Do not miss the resurrected Jesus because your preconceptions of where God will go get in the way. 00:36:51.920 --> 00:36:53.119 Even more so. 00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:57.280 We get nourished at this table. 00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:12.960 We're invited to put that bread back together in this community, and then we're invited to be that bread when we leave here because people are really, really hungry for spiritual calories that aren't empty. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:23.360 People are really hungry for genuine spiritual nourishment that looks like reading the scriptures so seriously that we don't always read them literally. 00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:39.440 People are starving to know that there can be new life after fill it in, after a divorce, after a cancer diagnosis, after they lose their hair from chemotherapy, after their child is neurodiverse. 00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:40.719 You name it. 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:43.519 People are starving for a new life. 00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:45.679 I suspect you might be too. 00:37:51.519 --> 00:37:52.480 To be part. 00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:58.639 See, the interesting thing, and if you were here on Maundy Thursday, you probably heard me say this. 00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:01.920 Sometimes we misunderstand the whole Passover. 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:05.199 You don't sacrifice the lamb to take care of your sins. 00:38:05.280 --> 00:38:06.159 That isn't what you do. 00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:08.079 That's what you do on Yom Kippur. 00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:09.119 Right? 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:10.559 The priest does that for you. 00:38:10.880 --> 00:38:13.280 Passover, you sacrifice a lamb. 00:38:13.360 --> 00:38:19.760 That is, you give up something precious to you: meat, milk, wool for years. 00:38:19.920 --> 00:38:24.880 You give it up so that you can have the calories right now because you're going out of bondage. 00:38:25.440 --> 00:38:27.760 God's delivering you right now. 00:38:28.480 --> 00:38:30.320 And you need energy for that. 00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:35.360 Jesus is a Paschal Lamb because he says, get out of that crap you've been living in. 00:38:35.519 --> 00:38:37.840 I'll even give you some energy to do it. 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:39.280 Get out of there. 00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:41.360 Don't stay there. 00:38:41.679 --> 00:38:43.280 I love you too much. 00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:49.679 Now, I just want to give you one other thought because I read it just this week and I thought it was really lovely. 00:38:49.760 --> 00:38:51.840 This is a Sufi story. 00:38:52.800 --> 00:38:57.760 A Sufi master says, you know, we all hang from a rope. 00:38:57.840 --> 00:39:00.960 This is a visual, right, that is equidistant. 00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:05.760 So everybody's got the same length rope that they hang from God. 00:39:06.880 --> 00:39:10.400 And anytime we go awry, well, it's like we snap the rope. 00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:15.440 But when we repent, God ties a knot. 00:39:17.360 --> 00:39:22.400 Of course, you realize the more knots you tie, the shorter that rope gets, right? 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.320 And God loves tying knots. 00:39:27.280 --> 00:39:29.360 This is what the Sufi master says. 00:39:29.840 --> 00:39:32.000 God loves tying knots. 00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:36.320 God, I hope, will tie knots instead of cut ropes. 00:39:37.760 --> 00:39:40.079 That's the walk to a manus. 00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:52.880 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. 00:39:54.480 --> 00:40:03.039 We believe in one God, the Father the Almighty, maker of the heaven and earth, of all days and unseen. 00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:55.519 We believe in one Lord creature Christ, the only Son of God, eternally the Father, I combat, I from the day, through the God, the day, of the being of the Father, through all things were made, for the heart of age, became heaven, I'm the spirit, it became part of the bird, and the big man, for the third five to the five, the upper hand was very on the third day from the end, the fourth, he extended, and right hand of the fire, people come again for dead, and one of the end. 00:40:55.920 --> 00:41:00.000 We will leave the holy spirit for the five. 00:41:09.519 --> 00:41:13.199 We believe in one holy bathroom of the church. 00:41:13.440 --> 00:41:16.639 We don't have to give us the sin. 00:41:17.119 --> 00:41:20.320 We live to the dead, and life. 00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:26.639 Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor. 00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:38.800 Holy God, creator of all the days, delivering. 00:41:53.360 --> 00:42:08.719 For we are in separation, for we have separate relationships, twelve with each other and with you. 00:42:11.039 --> 00:42:15.599 And make us new creations through the power of the love of Christ. 00:42:15.840 --> 00:42:17.679 In whose name we pray. 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:18.639 Amen. 00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:22.079 Friends, hear this good news: God loves tying knots. 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:26.559 The love of God is beyond measure, and you are included in that love. 00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:29.119 So know that you are forgiven. 00:42:29.360 --> 00:42:31.920 And thus free to love and serve. 00:42:32.639 --> 00:42:33.280 Amen. 00:42:43.440 --> 00:42:50.480 It is inconvenient to stand up, but it is important to embody with our body what we say with our words. 00:42:50.639 --> 00:42:51.440 That worked. 00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:56.559 Now we stand ready, accepted, loved before God. 00:42:56.880 --> 00:43:01.599 Now we're able to say fully, the peace of the Lord be always with you. 00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:03.360 Also with you. 00:43:47.199 --> 00:43:52.159 Well, as you know, the king will be crowned on May the Day. 00:43:52.960 --> 00:43:58.880 Now I can't let something fantastic like that go without having an event here. 00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:02.400 So I'm going to do a fundraiser. 00:44:05.840 --> 00:44:13.440 But the fundraiser is about the coronation of King Charles with his own scandal. 00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:24.320 Obviously. 00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:27.599 And the future of the monarchy. 00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:34.079 Because he has waited his whole life for the job. 00:44:34.719 --> 00:44:36.800 And now he's got the job. 00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:39.679 Well, almost he is king already. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:46.079 But this is the most religious ceremony that we have. 00:44:46.880 --> 00:44:49.360 He is going to be blessed by God. 00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:54.960 It is going to be something that you have never seen before. 00:44:55.280 --> 00:44:59.119 If you were around when Her Majesty was actually crowned. 00:45:01.280 --> 00:45:03.679 Well, you can watch it on YouTube if you like. 00:45:03.760 --> 00:45:10.960 I think I've watched several times, and I didn't watch her father's as well, which is a powerful. 00:45:11.599 --> 00:45:20.960 The British have a tradition that when anything happens with the royal family make it difficult. 00:45:37.679 --> 00:45:39.840 She said she didn't want it to be married. 00:45:41.679 --> 00:45:45.360 And her sister said, You've got to, it's on the tea towel. 00:45:48.239 --> 00:45:50.800 So there's no getting out of it now. 00:45:51.039 --> 00:45:52.320 It's on the tea towels. 00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:58.559 Please, please come on Thursday, May the 4th, at 5 p.m. 00:45:59.039 --> 00:46:00.159 Bring your friends. 00:46:00.320 --> 00:46:03.440 This is not just a ladies' hat and pearl thing. 00:46:03.679 --> 00:46:08.719 We're all going to be enjoying it, and there will be wine and cheese to follow. 00:46:09.119 --> 00:46:15.440 And we will take credit cards at the door for$20 or more, if you can. 00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:17.440 Thank you. 00:46:17.599 --> 00:46:22.000 And I just want to make sure you know this is something Kathy taught me. 00:46:22.400 --> 00:46:28.000 You know, in the Hebrew Bible, when a king is coronated, it is not with a crown, they're anointed with oil by a prophet. 00:46:28.480 --> 00:46:35.679 And I don't know if you realize that King Charles will be anointed with oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a separate ceremony. 00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:39.440 So they get the crown and they get oil on their head. 00:46:39.519 --> 00:46:41.599 So I learned that from Kathy, which is really cool. 00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:45.679 That's a way in which the monarchy keeps up this biblical tradition as well. 00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:51.280 So, as always, events are not only for us, but they're for the community, for your families and friends. 00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:54.719 And so we'll hopefully be a fun evening. 00:46:56.320 --> 00:46:58.480 Welcome to our visitors and guests. 00:46:58.559 --> 00:47:04.719 If you're new to us or haven't done this before, we have some little cards in the room right behind the one we're sitting in that say welcome. 00:47:04.800 --> 00:47:08.800 And we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one of those out so we have a record of your visit. 00:47:08.880 --> 00:47:12.079 And they just go in the little blue basket if you had a chance. 00:47:12.159 --> 00:47:13.840