SPEAKER_02: Is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'll try again.
SPEAKER_02: I thought the mic was up.
SPEAKER_02: It is.
SPEAKER_02: The mic's on, right?
SPEAKER_02: Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: Assist us mercifully with your help, O Lord God, of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts, whereby you've given us life and immortality through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: It is right to praise you, Almighty God, for the acts of love by which you've redeemed us through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: On this day, he entered the Holy City of Jerusalem in triumph and was proclaimed as kings by those who spread their garments of branches.
SPEAKER_02: So let these branches be for us signs of his victory, and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our king, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: Who lives and reigns in glory with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Matthew.
SPEAKER_05: Glory to you, Lord Christ.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus and his disciples had near Jerusalem and reached Bethphage at the mountains, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied and a colt with her.
SPEAKER_02: Untie them and bring them to me.
SPEAKER_02: If anyone says anything to you, just say this: the Lord needs them, and he will send them immediately.
SPEAKER_02: This took place to fulfill what had been spoken to the prophets, saying, Tell the daughter of Zion, look, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
SPEAKER_02: The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
SPEAKER_02: They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
SPEAKER_02: A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
SPEAKER_02: The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Hosanna in the highest heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Went into Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, Who is this?
SPEAKER_02: The crowds were saying, This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And also with you.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: Almighty and ever-living God, in your tender love for the human race, you sent your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to take upon him our nature, to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility.
SPEAKER_02: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering and also share in his resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel in the back with Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Alex.
SPEAKER_04: A reading from Isaiah.
SPEAKER_04: The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
SPEAKER_04: Morning by morning, he wakens, awakens my ear to listen, as those who are taught.
SPEAKER_04: The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious.
SPEAKER_04: I did not turn backward.
SPEAKER_04: I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard.
SPEAKER_04: I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
SPEAKER_04: The Lord God helps me.
SPEAKER_04: Therefore I have not been disgraced.
SPEAKER_04: Therefore I have set my face like a lint, and know that I shall not be put to shame.
SPEAKER_04: He who vindicates me is near.
SPEAKER_04: Who will contend with me?
SPEAKER_04: Let us stand together.
SPEAKER_04: Who are my adversaries?
SPEAKER_04: Let them confront me.
SPEAKER_04: It is the Lord God who helps me, who will declare me guilty.
SPEAKER_04: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_04: The psalm appointed for today is Psalm 31.
SPEAKER_04: We will read responsibly by the half verse.
SPEAKER_04: Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble.
SPEAKER_07: My eye is consumed with sorrow, and also my throat and my body.
SPEAKER_04: For my life is wasted with grief and my years with sighing.
SPEAKER_07: My day fails me not.
SPEAKER_07: Because of affliction, and my homes are consumed.
SPEAKER_04: I have become a reproach to all my enemies, and even to my neighbors, a dismay to those of my acquaintance.
SPEAKER_07: When they take me in the street, they avoid me.
SPEAKER_04: I am forgotten, out of mind, as if I were dead.
SPEAKER_09: I am human and a broken heart.
SPEAKER_04: For I have heard the whispering of the crowd.
SPEAKER_04: Fear is all around.
SPEAKER_07: They put their hands together against me.
SPEAKER_07: They want to take my life.
SPEAKER_04: But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_07: I have said you are my God.
SPEAKER_04: My times are in your hand.
SPEAKER_07: Rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.
SPEAKER_04: Make your face to shine upon your servant.
SPEAKER_00: And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that the name of Jesus upon every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_02: Reminder, I mentioned this to you last week.
SPEAKER_02: In 1976, the compilers of what we call the new prayer book, which is now 49 years old.
SPEAKER_02: That new prayer book decided you weren't going to church this week.
SPEAKER_02: So they put the passion narrative on today.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not doing that.
SPEAKER_02: I expect you to come to church this week.
SPEAKER_02: I will send to you the passion narrative in an email tonight.
SPEAKER_02: But today is not about Friday, it's about Sunday.
SPEAKER_02: And today is this rare opportunity, we rarely realize, and I know I've said part of this before, but I think it bears repeating.
SPEAKER_02: To hear what scholars say unequivocally is the oldest part of our New Testament.
SPEAKER_02: It comes from the letter of the Philippians.
SPEAKER_02: It is in fact older than the letter itself, it is older than the gospel, it is older than anything Paul wrote.
SPEAKER_02: It is a hymn that begins Christ being in the same form of God did not consider a quality with God something to be grasped, but he emptied himself.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you've been to church before, you know there are these like magical Greek and Hebrew words we throw out, like agape.
SPEAKER_02: There's not a great English equivalent, so this becomes like church speak.
SPEAKER_02: And uh, I don't know if you know this, but there is one of these magical Greek words embedded here.
SPEAKER_02: It is called kinosis, which means self-emptying.
SPEAKER_02: Self-empty.
SPEAKER_02: So I want to tell you uh why I find this hymn so helpful as a frame for Holy Week, and I'm gonna do it very bombastically by talking to you about the life cycle of a Sakai salmon.
SPEAKER_02: So a mama salmon lays 3,000 eggs in uh what is among the purest waters that are out there.
SPEAKER_02: The glacially fed uh pools in Alaska are completely see-through.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, they're so pure that Alaska Fish and Game encourages you to throw fish carcasses in them when you're done removing the filet to introduce more helpful bacteria to the water.
SPEAKER_02: 3,000 eggs.
SPEAKER_02: About two months later, there's 300 of these little things called alofin.
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like an eye with a tail.
SPEAKER_02: Swims around, takes it all in.
SPEAKER_02: About a year later, there's 167 fish that are the size of your pinky.
SPEAKER_02: They're called fingerlings.
SPEAKER_02: And the fingerlings grow to be about the size of your whole hand, palm to middle finger, and they're called par.
SPEAKER_02: And one day, 124 of these that are left, a switch turns in their brain, and they leave the waters of their birth and they hop into these rapidly moving currents that go straight into the ocean.
SPEAKER_02: Now, this is an extremely hydrodynamic fish.
SPEAKER_02: It is all muscle, it moves really quickly, especially with a lot of water behind it.
SPEAKER_02: You've probably seen in National Geographic, they swim over waterfalls, literally on their way.
SPEAKER_02: When the switch flicks, they're no longer par, they're called smolts, and they make it to the bay, which of course is salt water.
SPEAKER_02: That's quite a transition going from freshwater to salt water, so they literally go belly up where they are easy prey for birds, and about 24 of them are still around.
SPEAKER_02: They spend a year or two in the bay, and then they enter into the swim in what are called the gyres of the ocean.
SPEAKER_02: These are huge currents.
SPEAKER_02: All the fish in Alaska will swim adjacent to all the uh salmon in Japan.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, uh in Alaska they go counterclockwise, in Japan they go clockwise.
SPEAKER_02: These are the things that actually generate wind, apparently, gyres.
SPEAKER_02: After swimming some 20 to 30,000 miles over the next three years, a switch flicks in their brain again.
SPEAKER_02: And they return to the exact stream that they swam down previously, even though an adjacent stream might differ in mineral content by one part per billion.
SPEAKER_02: So this is still somewhat mysterious.
SPEAKER_02: How did they know where their home was?
SPEAKER_02: This time, and you've probably seen this video, the adult salmon, which could be up to a hundred pounds if it's a king, if it's a red, it's probably 30 pounds.
SPEAKER_02: They are going to swim from salt water up to freshwater, but they are not going to successfully convert their breeding.
SPEAKER_02: This will kill them.
SPEAKER_02: And along the way, keep in mind they're swimming up a current.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe you've seen us.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes they literally swim up a waterfall.
SPEAKER_02: Up a waterfall.
SPEAKER_02: When they get to the same pool, three make it back.
SPEAKER_02: They lay their eggs, they die, and it begins again.
SPEAKER_02: Now that's happened for so long.
SPEAKER_02: It's not even fair to call it fishing.
SPEAKER_02: It's catching in Alaska.
SPEAKER_02: The interesting thing about the fish, when they undergo this transformation from salt water to freshwater, they undergo a metamorphosis.
SPEAKER_02: They go from being this hydrodynamic blue and silver fish, they change.
SPEAKER_02: Fire engine red.
SPEAKER_02: All of the coloration in their fat makes it to the outside.
SPEAKER_02: Their head turns green and their jaws grow elongated and hooked.
SPEAKER_02: What used to be teeth that are about three millimeters lengthen and they become yellow spines that are up to an inch long.
SPEAKER_02: And they grow a hump on their back.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to suggest to you that when we swim against some of the currents that raised us, this is all too natural.
SPEAKER_02: We grow a self-righteous hump on our back.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we get so tired with the opposition when we're trying to do the right thing, can't you see?
SPEAKER_02: That we grow like teeth.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we change our colors.
SPEAKER_02: What I would share with you about Holy Week is that I perceived something different in the life of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Sure enough, he was born in a little tiny pool.
SPEAKER_02: Scholars will tell you some 40 families lived in Nazareth.
SPEAKER_02: Hardly a city.
SPEAKER_02: He, like all children, was like a little eye as he grew watching.
SPEAKER_02: How do we do this?
SPEAKER_02: He entered into the large waters of his culture.
SPEAKER_02: We don't even know anything about him for 30 years, except he did whatever his dad did.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe he was a carpenter, maybe he was a day laborer.
SPEAKER_02: The scriptures aren't exactly clear.
SPEAKER_02: But we do know this one day.
SPEAKER_02: The kingdom is near.
SPEAKER_02: And he spent the next three years swimming against some of the same currents that had raised him by saying things like women are touchable.
SPEAKER_02: Honoring life is the most important way to honor.
SPEAKER_02: The Sabbath.
SPEAKER_02: And this week, when he swam up the last waterfall, there were scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees and Romans, trying to trap him, with what he said.
SPEAKER_02: Let's call them trying to hook him.
SPEAKER_02: There were bears called at the Roman Empire, seeking to gobble him up on his swim.
SPEAKER_02: And we know this.
SPEAKER_02: Some small group, at least twelve.
SPEAKER_02: Well, better said at least 15, because the women were the first ones, heard what he had to say, experienced the resurrection, and began their own swim.
SPEAKER_02: The different thing about Jesus, this is the supernatural thing, comes from him self-emptying, is that he didn't grow teeth.
SPEAKER_02: And he didn't grow a self-righteous hump on his back.
SPEAKER_02: And he kept true to his colors so that one of the first things he says on Friday is, Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're due.
SPEAKER_02: He did not blame the Romans.
SPEAKER_02: He did not hate Judas.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, he shared his last meal with a man that he loved.
SPEAKER_02: How did he do it?
SPEAKER_02: He emptied himself.
SPEAKER_02: Now I want you to hear that phrase because however you spend your week, I do hope and pray it will be holy for you.
SPEAKER_02: And I mean set apart.
SPEAKER_02: There were a few ways to think about kenosis, self-emptying.
SPEAKER_02: One I rather love comes from the Zohar.
SPEAKER_02: This is Kabbalistic Judaism.
SPEAKER_02: It says in the beginning, God's presence was so strong and holy there could be nothing else.
SPEAKER_02: So God made room for the universe as a pregnant woman makes room for a new child.
SPEAKER_02: Not only did God withdraw to make space within God's self for all that we see, but God nourished it.
SPEAKER_02: So we make room for one another when we empty ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: That means listening to understand, not listening to judge.
SPEAKER_02: I hope you will empty yourself like that this week.
SPEAKER_02: We had a spiritual director come to us about four weeks ago, Julie Merritt, and she talked about giving up anxiety for Lent.
SPEAKER_02: Catchy title.
SPEAKER_02: Julie told us her definition of anxiety.
SPEAKER_02: Attachment to an outcome.
SPEAKER_02: I said, shoot, you ruined my life because I'm much more anxious than I thought I was.
SPEAKER_02: I am extremely attached to outcomes in every avenue of my life.
SPEAKER_02: What Julie said is that the counter medicine to this kind of anxiety is self-emptying.
SPEAKER_02: It does not mean I desire nothing.
SPEAKER_02: It means I desire qualities more than I desire outcomes.
SPEAKER_02: Qualities more than outcomes.
SPEAKER_02: Do I want my child to be a successful collegiate student?
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
SPEAKER_02: The quality of her being curious and still loving me when she's 19 is more important.
SPEAKER_02: Wouldn't you say?
SPEAKER_02: So the more I'm able to empty myself of outcomes and lean into qualities, not only the more joyful my life will be, the more I will pattern my life after Christ.
SPEAKER_02: I hope you find relief this week in emptying yourself of some outcomes and your attachment to them.
SPEAKER_02: This story we just read, Jesus on Palm Sunday, is more laden with outcomes than you might realize.
SPEAKER_02: You ever seen that?
SPEAKER_02: If you lived in Texas for more than a month, I bet you have.
SPEAKER_02: Even if you haven't, maybe you're a New Englander.
SPEAKER_02: You've seen that before?
SPEAKER_02: That's what this was.
SPEAKER_02: This was not a foam finger.
SPEAKER_02: This was a symbol of Jewish resistance that occurred during the Maccabean Rebellion, 167 at least years before Jesus, when people picked up the palms, they were saying, Rome, come and take it.
SPEAKER_02: When people said Hosanna, blessed is the Son of David, they weren't saying hallelujah.
SPEAKER_02: Hosanna means God save us now.
SPEAKER_02: Son of David means king, not Roman king.
SPEAKER_02: The people, I would tell you, were attached to an outcome about Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: The outcome they wanted was for him to solve all their problems.
SPEAKER_02: I'd like it if he did that.
SPEAKER_02: If you haven't heard this before, let me tell you.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus did not come to solve your problems.
SPEAKER_02: Empty yourself about.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus comes into this palm procession, riding on the most useless vehicle there is in a military conflict, a donkey.
SPEAKER_02: There's a reason we call them jackasses.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just that they're stubborn, they're not particularly spry.
SPEAKER_02: They're not particularly high off the ground.
SPEAKER_02: To make sure you get it, going into battle on a donkey is like going on a pogo stick or a unicycle.
SPEAKER_02: You ride a donkey when the conflict has already been resolved.
SPEAKER_02: When David rides into Jerusalem a thousand years before Jesus on a donkey, it's because he's already conquered the city.
SPEAKER_02: It's a symbol of peace because you never fight off one.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus comes in.
SPEAKER_02: There's this parade.
SPEAKER_02: People say, you're going to be the king, and look, it's very reasonable to expect, and this is why I'm wearing this today, some of the people who waved the palms on Sunday were in the crowd on Friday because Jesus did not give them the outcome they wanted.
SPEAKER_02: And they might have very well said, crucify him for it.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus can't empty ourselves for us.
SPEAKER_02: He emptied himself.
SPEAKER_02: He said, as soon as he got to Jerusalem, if only you knew the ways that make for peace.
SPEAKER_02: If only you knew.
SPEAKER_02: Somehow the crowd thought this is what made for peace.
SPEAKER_02: Somehow they thought vanquishing their enemies was what made for peace.
SPEAKER_02: But I just want to remind you what Anne Lamott so cleverly quits.
SPEAKER_02: I know that I've made God in my own image when God hates the same people I do.
SPEAKER_02: We are asked to empty ourselves of hating people in God's name.
SPEAKER_02: We're not asked to do it so you can get a jewel in your heavenly crown.
SPEAKER_02: We're not asked to do it so you can, St.
SPEAKER_02: Peter will open the gates for you.
SPEAKER_02: We're asked to do it so that we can enjoy the life we have.
SPEAKER_02: We're asked to do it so we can love as Christ loved.
SPEAKER_02: There's a famous psychoanalyst named M.
SPEAKER_02: Scott Peck.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you know of him, but I was rereading his book this week, and uh M.
SPEAKER_02: Scott Peck says, his definition of love, this is really interesting, love, he says, has nothing to do with falling in love.
SPEAKER_02: Falling in love can help, but that isn't it.
SPEAKER_02: Love, he says, is when we extend ourselves for the growth of another person.
SPEAKER_02: Has very little to do with feelings.
SPEAKER_02: Extending ourselves for the growth of another person requires us to do a bit of self-empty.
SPEAKER_02: If you prefer the image in Zen, if your cup is already full, how can there be room for anybody else?
SPEAKER_02: What M.
SPEAKER_02: Scott Peck says, what's in it for us, why do we extend ourselves to help other people develop and grow, is that the more extend ourselves, don't you see, the bigger we get.
SPEAKER_02: The bigger we get.
SPEAKER_02: And the bigger we love.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if your holy week needs to be spent in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: You'll have opportunities to do that.
SPEAKER_02: But I do hope, however you spend it, you will empty yourself to make room for God in radically new ways.
SPEAKER_02: Even in the middle of your suffering and your disappointment.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, God can handle those things.
SPEAKER_02: I wish Jesus would take care of our government problems.
SPEAKER_02: You know what Jesus wishes?
SPEAKER_02: That we would take care of our government problems.
SPEAKER_02: Holy week does not mean we do nothing, it means quite the opposite.
SPEAKER_02: It means we make room for one another.
SPEAKER_02: It makes means we make room for God, and we don't just make room, we send nourishment as well.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe, maybe.
SPEAKER_02: Your holy week might be spent with a member of your family that's driving you up the wall.
SPEAKER_02: Or somebody you work with that is driving you up the wall.
SPEAKER_02: Can you empty yourself from an attachment to outcome so you can make room for who they are and all their perfect imperfections?
SPEAKER_02: If enough of us are willing to do this kind of self-emptying, we won't just swim up the currents of this world and isolate and degrade one another from what God has intended.
SPEAKER_02: We will change the video.
SPEAKER_06: We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally God of the Father, God of God, God from God, true God from true God, the God, the point being with the Father, true things from head.
SPEAKER_07: And speak of the point.
SPEAKER_07: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord be glorified.
SPEAKER_07: We committing to the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_07: With the Father and the Son, we can worship and glorified.
SPEAKER_07: He has spoken to the prophets.
SPEAKER_07: We believe in the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
SPEAKER_07: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_07: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the Lord of God.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: We thank you, O God, for your universal church and its mission, and for calling us to serve you and among your people.
SPEAKER_03: Continue, we pray, to equip us with all that we need to tell others of you and glorify your name in all we do.
SPEAKER_07: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: We pray for the leaders of all nations that they may seek to do your will for the welfare of the people they lead and serve.
SPEAKER_03: We pray for those holding public office in our nation, that they may be guided by your gifts of wisdom and charity.
SPEAKER_07: Lord, in your compassion, you hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: We thank you, Creator God, for the beauty, majesty, and abundance of your creation, especially for its manifestation here around Clear Lake.
SPEAKER_03: Keep us mindful of the holiness and fragility of our earthly home and all creatures who dwell therein, that we may rejoice in being stewards and peacemakers.
SPEAKER_09: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: O God, giver of all things, we thank you for the abundance of grace poured out upon us.
SPEAKER_03: May we with grateful heart show compassion through our thoughts, words, and deeds for those who are hungry, homeless, neglected, abused, exploited, or in any other need.
SPEAKER_09: Lord, your compassion.
SPEAKER_03: Lord Jesus, healer of bodies and spirits, may your healing hand touch all who suffer in mind, body, or soul.
SPEAKER_03: May those who attend to them use their God-given skill, wisdom, and compassion to restore them.
SPEAKER_09: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Trusting that you are able to do more than we ask or imagine.
SPEAKER_09: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: We give you thanks, Lord Jesus, for graciously restoring those who have battled and survived serious illnesses and near-death situations.
SPEAKER_03: That by your help and the help of those sent to them, they may continue to serve you in this life according to your will.
SPEAKER_03: We are especially grateful for.
SPEAKER_03: Make your presence known, we pray, with those who grieve for broken relationships and struggle to mend walls created through conflict, disagreement, and mistrust, that they may seek and find forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation.
SPEAKER_09: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Living God, we remember our loved ones and colleagues who no longer journey with us in this life.
SPEAKER_03: Have compassion on all who mourn, and may the souls of the departed share in your eternal kingdom.
unknown: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_03: Rejoicing in the fellowship of all your saints, let us commend ourselves, one another, and all our life to Christ our God.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The peace of the Lord be always with you, and also with you.
SPEAKER_02: And thank you for worshiping with us at St.
SPEAKER_02: Thomas.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the room right behind the one we're sitting in, we call that the Nartic, we have these little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one out so we have a record of your visit, and we just put them in the blue basket.
SPEAKER_02: And look, if you don't check the box that says I want to call, you won't get one.
SPEAKER_02: So totally on your terms, but I would encourage you, please, to fill one out so we have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_02: Um, a couple announcements to call your attention, but it is the first Sunday of April.
SPEAKER_02: So if you were born this month, we'd be grateful to invite you forward so we can name and celebrate and ask God's blessing on your next year.
SPEAKER_02: And as you're making your way up, our custom is to say our no, is there nobody born in April?
SPEAKER_02: There we go.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we need a little encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: Um as you're making your way up, we share our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both of those.
SPEAKER_03: I'm Kathy Hill.
SPEAKER_03: I was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
SPEAKER_03: My birthday was actually March 15th, but I wasn't here.
SPEAKER_02: We can do late blessings, that works.
SPEAKER_03: I'm Karen Geese.
SPEAKER_03: I was born in Port Angeles, Washington in 1947.
SPEAKER_03: What day is that?
SPEAKER_03: Yesterday.
SPEAKER_03: April 1st.
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
SPEAKER_07: I'm Glenn Galucki.
SPEAKER_07: I was born in Chicago on the south side.
SPEAKER_07: And um April 30th, 1948.
unknown: South.
SPEAKER_01: My birthday is April 6th.
SPEAKER_01: Jonathan.
SPEAKER_01: Sample.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: Houston, Texas.
unknown: That's it.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02: And um My Better Two Thirds is not here, but Rebecca Andrews was born in Norway, Maine.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that funny?
SPEAKER_02: Right?
SPEAKER_02: Norway.
SPEAKER_02: On April the 11th.
SPEAKER_02: So uh let's pray God's buttons.
SPEAKER_02: God, we know every year, every moment of our lives is firmly in your hands.
SPEAKER_02: Look with continued favor, we pray on these your children as they begin another year.
SPEAKER_02: Grant that they might continue to grow in wisdom and grace, and above all, strengthen their trust in your goodness and love all the days of their lives.
SPEAKER_02: Through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: And it is absolutely an honor and privilege to do this with you in church or after at your home or in the chapel.
SPEAKER_02: And I can tell you I did one for a couple who's celebrating 50 years this week.
SPEAKER_02: 50 years.
SPEAKER_02: In what a heartwarming way by renewing our vows.
SPEAKER_02: There's the small way we do this, and uh again, always around.
SPEAKER_02: So announcements I want to call to your attention.
SPEAKER_02: First, I want to bring us up to date with what happened yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: Two lovely things that are worth knowing.
SPEAKER_02: First is that we served 84 families representing 366 persons, a month worth of fresh groceries in about an hour.
SPEAKER_02: We do this once a month.
SPEAKER_02: The next one will be May 7th.
SPEAKER_02: But I just want to give you an idea.
SPEAKER_02: There were so many volunteers yesterday, which is lovely, that we really did social justice, right?
SPEAKER_02: That's where you talk, and then you do stuff too.
SPEAKER_02: People left with 20 pounds of carrots, 20 pounds of potatoes, at least 10 pounds of cabbage and turnips, six loaves of bread, two gallons of milk, 10 pounds of oranges.
SPEAKER_02: I'm missing something.
SPEAKER_02: Four fresh pineapples, six bags of broccoli.
SPEAKER_02: That's like$200 worth of groceries.
SPEAKER_02: And it's astounding that a quarter of the people who come live in this neighborhood.
SPEAKER_02: So thank you for making a holy week for other people with your service yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: Also, I want you to know one of the ways in which we serve is yesterday we celebrated the life of Susie Gantch.
SPEAKER_02: And many of you know that our daughters of the King, this is an order dedicated to education, prayer, and service.
SPEAKER_02: They do this lovely thing.
SPEAKER_02: They put on receptions for people at their most vulnerable.
SPEAKER_02: And they do this at their own cost and their own donation, and they do it with such dignity and poise, it is incredible.
SPEAKER_02: So we do this all the time, and that was yesterday.
SPEAKER_02: Today, at 1.30, Ben, our organist and pianist, will be part of a recital here in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_02: So you want a downtown quality concert, you don't have to drive very far.
SPEAKER_02: 1.30, right, Ben?
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: Tonight.
SPEAKER_02: Now most of you can't come.
SPEAKER_02: I just want you to know about it.
SPEAKER_02: We've got a professional chef, a professional table decorator, and a hobbyist photographer, and somebody who has taught our children etiquette and talking to adults and being in church and eating and making a bouquet and a few dances.
SPEAKER_02: We're doing a rite of passage into like the formal tween and teen years called the Episcop Tonight.
SPEAKER_02: Which is just lovely, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: So thank you for all the people in the community that have pulled together to make tonight special and look for some fabulous photos to come because, well, my kid's doing it.
SPEAKER_02: Now I will tell you, she said, Dad, I'm not gonna waste inviting you as my date.
SPEAKER_02: You have to go anyway.
SPEAKER_02: I'm bringing mom.
SPEAKER_02: And she's right, we'll both be there.
SPEAKER_02: So very much looking forward to this.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, this is Holy Week, and you'll find a schedule on the website.
SPEAKER_02: It's in a banner and in the e-news.
SPEAKER_02: And look, I just hope that you'll set this week apart one way for another to do something that makes your life, frankly, more joyful and more joyful for the people you know and love.
SPEAKER_02: So here are a few opportunities.
SPEAKER_02: One thing is the passion narrative will come out in an email tonight.
SPEAKER_02: That is no, we know that's where it's going.
SPEAKER_02: On Tuesday, we will have our regular men's Bible study from 7 to 8.
SPEAKER_02: Tuesday and Thursday this week, I'll do this any time of the year with you, but I've set aside time to do the rite of reconciliation.
SPEAKER_02: You might know that as confession.
SPEAKER_02: Um, look, this is not just a thing where you say, hey, I lied to my teacher in the third grade, and I'm sure God's mad at me.
SPEAKER_02: It really isn't for that.
SPEAKER_02: This is a time where you get to talk to a person, a human being, and say, these are the things that keep me up at night.
SPEAKER_02: They may not even be things you did wrong.
SPEAKER_02: They could be, I just have so much anxiety about whether I should have done this or that with my mom when she was declining in health, and I continue to carry that with me, and I'd like to lay that down.
SPEAKER_02: You can leave it with me and with God and proceed with the rest of your life as God would like you to do.
SPEAKER_02: May not be because you did anything wrong, may be because you're worried.
SPEAKER_02: So I have appointments open all day on Tuesday and Thursday.
SPEAKER_02: Tuesday night we will walk the stations of the cross together.
SPEAKER_02: If you've never done that before, it's a way of frankly telling the story, but also thinking about where are we in the story and how can we better, frankly, join Jesus on his own uh pattern of life.
SPEAKER_02: We'll conclude with a Eucharist.
SPEAKER_02: It's at 6 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: in here.
SPEAKER_02: On Thursday, there's two opportunities in the evening for worship.
SPEAKER_02: By the way, if you've not done this, and I grew up Baptist, we didn't do this.
SPEAKER_02: Jim, correct me if I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know any other church that does it like we do.
SPEAKER_02: I just don't.
SPEAKER_02: What I mean by that is it tells the story and puts us in it in real time.
SPEAKER_02: So on Thursday night at 5.45, there's the opportunity to do something we're doing a little different this year: hand washing or foot washing.
SPEAKER_02: That'll be at 5.45 in Chris Hall.
SPEAKER_02: And then at 6.30, we'll come in for the institution of the Eucharist.
SPEAKER_02: We'll tell the story.
SPEAKER_02: And then the night grows dark.
SPEAKER_02: Because we know one of Jesus' best friends betrayed him.
SPEAKER_02: We leave, it's very sun.
SPEAKER_02: Everything in the chancel is removed, and we leave in darkness.
SPEAKER_02: We join the story.
SPEAKER_02: On Friday, we come either at 12 or at 6 p.m., same service at two different times, and we tell the passion story the when it happened.
SPEAKER_02: There will not be any lights on.
SPEAKER_02: It's a dark day.
SPEAKER_02: Many of you don't realize that for the first thousand years it was called Black Friday, not Good Friday, and it had nothing to do with retake.
SPEAKER_02: It is a dark day.
SPEAKER_02: And we enter that darkness with the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: We do.
SPEAKER_02: On Saturday, we have morning prayer at 9 o'clock.
SPEAKER_02: This is where we tell the story about, well, Jesus being dead in the tomb for a whole day.
SPEAKER_02: And what that means for us.
SPEAKER_02: It's short.
SPEAKER_02: 9 o'clock will be done by 9.30.
SPEAKER_02: And then on Easter day, next week, three opportunities for worship.
SPEAKER_02: The first is at 6.30 in the morning.
SPEAKER_02: We call it the Easter Vigil.
SPEAKER_02: We keep vigil for light to be apparent in the sky, just as the first women did.
SPEAKER_02: We come in darkness, we come into church with candles, we sit with candlelight, well, until the sun makes itself evident, and we celebrate the resurrection with the great noise, which is the Clearbrook High School drumline.
SPEAKER_02: You might want earplugs.
SPEAKER_02: It's loud and dramatic.
SPEAKER_02: It is.
SPEAKER_02: We do as best we can to kind of re-enter the story.
SPEAKER_02: Waiting and watching and frankly being surprised with new life when it shows up.
SPEAKER_02: You will have the opportunity after the Easter Vigil, if you choose, to renew your baptismal vows by being splashed with water.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not going to fling it, you'll come and I'll splash you.
SPEAKER_02: Gentlemen, you may want to wear waterproof mascara if uh if you choose to do this.
SPEAKER_02: Um, you don't have to, but it's an opportunity to re-experience the waters of baptism and be reminded.
SPEAKER_02: At 8:30 a.m.
SPEAKER_02: and at 10.30 a.m., we'll have our regular Sunday services on Easter Day, and we are celebrating baptism at any of those services, whether that's for you or your grandkids, or your nieces and nephews, or your neighbors.
SPEAKER_02: It's not too late to let us know.
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I want somebody to be baptized.
SPEAKER_02: I'll even ask you the same day if you want to do it.
SPEAKER_02: But these are things that you can expect next week as we celebrate, well, the resurrection of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Uh last thing I want to make sure you know is that this coming Saturday we're also doing a race.
SPEAKER_02: So there's a group that sponsors a race every year.
SPEAKER_02: It's always on Holy Saturday.
SPEAKER_02: It's called uh Yuri's Run, and Yuri Gregarian, the first human being in space, we sort of celebrate that achievement with a kid's 1K, an adult 5 or 10K.
SPEAKER_02: Um that's why morning prayers at 9, so I can get back in time, having run that race, to do this with you.
SPEAKER_02: It's a lovely race.
SPEAKER_02: It has nothing to do with Jesus, but it's a nice race.
SPEAKER_02: So I just put that up to you as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_02: I want to tell you one more thing about Monday Thursday because I do expect you to come, but I want you to hear uh ahead of time the spirit of the day.
SPEAKER_02: And I want to tell you about something I went to last night.
SPEAKER_02: So when I lived in San Diego and I was a young priest out there, at first a deacon and a layperson, the diocese decided to have Monday Thursday by doing a spa day for the homeless.
SPEAKER_02: So what happened is they went to the epicenter of the homeless population in San Diego and built the diocesan offices there.
SPEAKER_02: That's where the bishop worked.
SPEAKER_02: The epicenter of homelessness.
SPEAKER_02: And every May Thursday, the bishop invited people to have their feet washed and receive a new pair of shoes.
SPEAKER_02: Like the bishop washed the feet himself.
SPEAKER_02: Now, if you wanted the shoes, you didn't have to get your feet washed.
SPEAKER_02: You could have the shoes.
SPEAKER_02: There were two or three hot meals served that day.
SPEAKER_02: People got food that they could take with them, and then there were massages for the homeless.
SPEAKER_02: Three veterinary clinics, of course, dental care and haircuts.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not a licensed cosmetologist, but I had trouble finding people to do it who were willing to do it.
SPEAKER_02: I was a little skeptical at first.
SPEAKER_02: And then I realized that this was probably the one time in the year where a homeless person had their head touched with the purpose of giving them dignity.
SPEAKER_02: Something we take for granted.
SPEAKER_02: When you have to choose between a haircut and a meal, it's pretty obvious what you're going to pick.
SPEAKER_02: To me.
SPEAKER_02: There's this ministry we went, a few of us went to last night, half shears will travel.
SPEAKER_02: This is what they do.
SPEAKER_02: They bought an RV and they retrofitted it to give haircuts to children in poverty, frankly.
SPEAKER_02: Like the Title I school in our neighborhood where 70% of the kids are on the free lunch program.
SPEAKER_02: To homeless clients at the beacon.
SPEAKER_02: They touch their heads with dignity, they pray for them.
SPEAKER_02: You don't need your foot washed.
SPEAKER_02: I know that.
SPEAKER_02: You don't need your hand washed.
SPEAKER_02: We do this to recognize how we can serve one another in small ways.
SPEAKER_02: So I would just tell you on Thursday, whether you wash your feet or your hands or not, spend the day giving a homeless person a haircut.
SPEAKER_02: Spend the day listening to your barista.
SPEAKER_02: Spend the day making room for somebody who needs room made for them.
SPEAKER_02: That's the day.
SPEAKER_02: I'll wash your hands or feet.
SPEAKER_02: But the point of the day is not that.
SPEAKER_02: The point of the day is to love one another as Christ loved us.
SPEAKER_02: So walk in that love.
SPEAKER_02: As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_02: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_02: So come.
SPEAKER_02: You who have much faith and you who have little.
SPEAKER_02: You who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_02: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_02: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_02: Our service continues on page 367 of your red prayer book.
SPEAKER_02: Page 367.
SPEAKER_02: It is right.
SPEAKER_02: And a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Before our sin was lifted high upon the cross that he might draw the whole world to himself, who by his suffering and death became the author of eternal salvation for all who put their trust in him.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name.
SPEAKER_02: In your word, spoken to the prophets, and above all, in the word made flesh, Jesus your Son.
SPEAKER_02: For in these last days you sent him to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world.
SPEAKER_02: In him you have delivered us from evil and made us worthy to stand before you.
SPEAKER_02: In him, you have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
SPEAKER_02: On the night before he died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.
SPEAKER_02: And when he given thanks to you, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_02: This is my body, all that I am, which is given to build you up.
SPEAKER_02: Remember me every time you eat bread.
SPEAKER_02: After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_02: And when he given thanks to God, he shared it with his friends and said, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_02: This is my blood, my life force, given to nourish your own.
SPEAKER_02: Remember me every time you drink wine.
SPEAKER_07: Therefore, according to his command, O Father, we remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming in glory.
SPEAKER_02: And we offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to you, O Lord of all, presenting to you from your creation this bread and this wine.
SPEAKER_02: We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts, that they may be the sacrament of the body of Christ and his blood of the new covenant.
SPEAKER_02: Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice, that we may be acceptable through him, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: In the fullness of time, put all things in subjection unto your Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Bring us to that heavenly country where with Susie Gantz, Dave Matheny, Thomas, and all your saints, we may enter the everlasting heritage of your daughters and sons through Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation, the head of the church, and the author of our salvation.
SPEAKER_02: By him and with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray.
SPEAKER_05: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_05: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
SPEAKER_07: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_07: For thine kingdom and our glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: Receive them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_08: Let the people spray you.
SPEAKER_08: Let your ways be known.
SPEAKER_08: Your saving truth.
SPEAKER_07: Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us to your image and nourishing us with spiritual food in the bathroom of the blood.
SPEAKER_07: Now send us Lord for the new that we may remind your love to the world and continue in the risen life of our Savior.
SPEAKER_07: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world.
SPEAKER_02: All things break, and all things can be mended.
SPEAKER_02: Not with time, as they say, but with intention.
SPEAKER_02: So go.
SPEAKER_02: Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.
SPEAKER_02: The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.
SPEAKER_02: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with you this day and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: If anybody has something to do with any of the services or something, I'll come over.
SPEAKER_04: I'll put an email.