SPEAKER_03: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_04: And blessed be God's family, now and forever.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_03: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_04: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worldly magnify thy name through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_03: God, because without you we are not able to please you.
SPEAKER_03: Mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_03: As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's church with Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Alex and Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_02: A wind too strong for that.
SPEAKER_02: Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.
SPEAKER_02: For my people are foolish.
SPEAKER_02: They do not know me.
SPEAKER_02: They are stupid children.
SPEAKER_02: They have no understanding.
SPEAKER_02: They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.
SPEAKER_02: I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void, and to the heavens, and they had no light.
SPEAKER_02: I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.
SPEAKER_02: I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled.
SPEAKER_02: I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
SPEAKER_02: For thus says the Lord, the whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.
SPEAKER_02: Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black, for I have spoken and I have heard this.
SPEAKER_02: I have not relented, nor will I turn back.
SPEAKER_02: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_02: Reading from Psalm 14.
SPEAKER_02: We will read responsibly by the half by the half verse.
SPEAKER_02: Say in their heart, there is no God.
SPEAKER_04: There is none who does any good.
SPEAKER_04: If there is one who sees after God.
SPEAKER_04: And do not talk.
SPEAKER_02: See how they tremble with fear.
SPEAKER_02: Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that Israel's deliverance would come out of Zion.
SPEAKER_00: Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence.
SPEAKER_00: But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief.
SPEAKER_00: And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to have sinners of whom I am the foremost.
SPEAKER_00: But for that reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_04: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_03: Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus, and the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, Well, this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.
SPEAKER_03: So Jesus told them this parable.
SPEAKER_03: Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it.
SPEAKER_03: When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
SPEAKER_03: When he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.
SPEAKER_03: Just so I tell you.
SPEAKER_03: What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it.
SPEAKER_03: When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found a coin that I had lost.
SPEAKER_03: Just so I tell you.
SPEAKER_03: There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
SPEAKER_03: The Gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Although you probably know it by a different name, the parable of the prodigal son.
SPEAKER_03: The reason we give it a different name is because we forgot that Jesus told three stories in a row.
SPEAKER_03: And the other two stories are the ones we get.
SPEAKER_03: They're not about the prodigal coin or the prodigal sheep.
SPEAKER_03: Because that language is ridiculous.
SPEAKER_03: We're about the lost coin and the lost sheep.
SPEAKER_03: Now, many of us honestly have probably grown up thinking that it is that doggone sheep's fault that it got lost.
SPEAKER_03: What a wayward, evil sheep.
SPEAKER_03: Maybe you even think, what a wicked coin.
SPEAKER_03: How dare it run away?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that one's nuts.
SPEAKER_03: So let me back you into the sheep one.
SPEAKER_03: Has anybody been a shepherd before?
SPEAKER_04: In a play.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so hey, me neither.
SPEAKER_03: But I do want to tell you, there's two kinds of animals in the world.
SPEAKER_03: I listened to an 18-hour lecture on this one time.
SPEAKER_03: There's wild animals which can be tamed.
SPEAKER_03: Tamed means we can get them to do certain behaviors for a bit, but when we go away or the incentives are gone, they go back to being wild.
SPEAKER_03: Those are cats, by the way.
SPEAKER_03: If you ever had a cat and you realize what's great about them is they don't need you, you can put them out of the house and they'll do just fine.
SPEAKER_03: Then there's another kind of animal, and that's the domesticated animal.
SPEAKER_03: And we don't realize actually domesticated animals have different DNA from their wild predecessors.
SPEAKER_03: This is true.
SPEAKER_03: So there's two kinds of sheep in the world.
SPEAKER_03: There's wild ones, and there's domesticated ones, and just to bring it home, there's wolves and there's dogs.
SPEAKER_03: And you understand that a dog is domesticated because it's born, comfortable with human beings, does not shy away from eye contact, although in the wild world that's a dominance play, puts up with you petting them on the head, which it turns out the dogs don't enjoy.
SPEAKER_03: I still pet my dog on the head, by the way.
SPEAKER_03: They put up with it because we have selectively bred them to be dependent upon us.
SPEAKER_03: Same with sheep.
SPEAKER_03: So let me tell you what a wild sheep does when it hears a wolf or smells one.
SPEAKER_03: It gets really quiet.
SPEAKER_03: A domesticated sheep makes a lot of noise.
SPEAKER_03: It gives its position away, not because it's got a death wish, but because it trusts the shepherd will show up and take care of it.
SPEAKER_03: The wild sheep, you've seen this maybe on National Geographic, can hop up and down cliffs and stand on a hole the thickness of a dime.
SPEAKER_03: Domesticated sheep are not so athletic.
SPEAKER_03: They do better when there's no bumps in the road, because sometimes they'll just walk off a cliff.
SPEAKER_03: That's because they trust the shepherd to keep them on the path.
SPEAKER_03: Who made them that way?
SPEAKER_03: We wild sheep know how to find food, and in general, they're pretty nomadic, which is why there will be food for them in the future.
SPEAKER_03: Domesticated sheep, on the other hand, when they come to a blade of grass, they will not only eat the blade, they'll eat the root.
SPEAKER_03: Which means the blade will not regenerate itself.
SPEAKER_03: They overload the carrying capacity of the land and will eat themselves to death.
SPEAKER_03: Wild sheep know how to find water and they remember their way.
SPEAKER_03: Domesticated sheep need shepherds to show them that we made them that way.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I've heard a lot of preachers say the Bible talks about human beings like sheep because people are dumb, and that's nonsense.
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, it's nonsense.
SPEAKER_03: So please throw those messages away.
SPEAKER_03: Anyway, here actually this theological principle.
SPEAKER_03: God created us to trust in God's shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: Isn't that interesting?
SPEAKER_03: When the sheep gets away from the shepherd, it's not the sheep's fault.
SPEAKER_03: It's the shepherd's fault.
SPEAKER_03: And look what the shepherd does.
SPEAKER_03: He runs after it.
SPEAKER_03: Now look, I've always thought I'm one of the 99 good people.
SPEAKER_03: And to think that God would leave me to go looking after the wayward sheep who was lazy or wicked, it's always kind of put my knickers in a twist.
SPEAKER_03: You can push on this story so hard it becomes unhelpful, but please hear the story.
SPEAKER_03: God may not be the savviest shepherd around, but God is a good shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: See, it turns out when you leave 99 sheep, if a wolf comes, it'll kill every single one of them.
SPEAKER_03: More than it can eat.
SPEAKER_03: When Jesus says, which shepherd of you wouldn't leave a 99, the answer is none of them would.
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna gamble 99 sheep on one?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you get better odds in Vegas.
SPEAKER_03: It's good shepherding.
SPEAKER_03: And you notice what doesn't happen?
SPEAKER_03: When the shepherd finds a lost sheep, the shepherd does not give it a lecture.
SPEAKER_03: That's a missed opportunity.
SPEAKER_03: I sure would lecture that sheep.
SPEAKER_03: There's no punishment.
SPEAKER_03: There's no name on a sign that says this is a bad sheep.
SPEAKER_03: If you're filling out your Episcopal bingo card, that was the worst joke square.
SPEAKER_03: No, but what the shepherd does is picks the thing up, who needs the shepherd, brings it home, and does this wild thing that only a choke child would have the courage to do, throws a party.
SPEAKER_03: Can you imagine somebody knocking at your door at 8 o'clock at night saying, Stacy, I lost my glasses and I found them on my head.
SPEAKER_03: Come on, we're gonna have cake and ice cream.
SPEAKER_03: But a child will do that in a second.
SPEAKER_03: Because they think that their joy can actually help yours out.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: God may not be the savviest shepherd around.
SPEAKER_03: It's just that God's the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: We get that that coin did not lose itself.
SPEAKER_03: The lady lost it! And what does she do?
SPEAKER_03: She does not give it a lecture.
SPEAKER_03: She does not throw it in the fireplace and say, I sure hope you have a lot of pain, you wicked Euro running away from me.
SPEAKER_03: She looks for it until she finds it, and then she has a party.
SPEAKER_03: That's the frame for the story of the lost sons.
SPEAKER_03: The truth is they're both lost, if you know the story.
SPEAKER_03: They're lost because they can't bear to live together after someone makes a mistake.
SPEAKER_03: And too much of my life I have wasted my time at people who think differently than me looking at them with the word, they won't.
SPEAKER_03: You ever thought about this?
SPEAKER_03: Somebody's got one of those cardboard signs asking for help.
SPEAKER_03: It's because they won't work.
SPEAKER_03: Won't.
SPEAKER_03: Boy, this makes parenting really tough when I look at my kids and say it's because they won't do what they're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_03: I've had a couple lost sheep in my family, and by the grace of God, I'm trying to change the script to say it's not that they won't, it's that they can't.
SPEAKER_03: It's that they can't.
SPEAKER_03: I hope you can hear the difference between won't and can't.
SPEAKER_03: Truth be told, there's times in my life when I know a course of action that would be better than me, better for me, and everybody I love and live with, and for some reason I just can't seem to do it.
SPEAKER_03: I trust you've had a similar experience if you've ever made a New Year's resolution that you didn't keep.
SPEAKER_03: It's not that you wouldn't keep it, something got in the way.
SPEAKER_03: And so, biblically speaking, we hear these stories, and maybe in God's point of view, it's not that people are wayward or wanton, it's that we just sometimes get lost.
SPEAKER_03: You ever been lost before?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, even really, like physically lost.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know anybody in the world that gets out of bed and says, Man, I hope I can lose my way today.
SPEAKER_03: I just love the panic that sets in when I don't know where to go.
SPEAKER_03: No, actually, what's really interesting is to hear this phrase that I picked up as a chaplain in a narcotics uh anonymous facility.
SPEAKER_03: I was 21 years old and I had to do supervised ministry and seminary, and I'd never seen drugs in my life.
SPEAKER_03: So for some reason, they thought it'd be a great idea if I was a chaplain at a rehab center for homeless black crack addicts in downtown Atlanta.
SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, I knew enough not to say much.
SPEAKER_03: I didn't know everything because I chose to talk sometimes, and that was a mistake.
SPEAKER_03: But I was able to be with this group of men, it was a men's facility, and hear them talk about the rock bottom places in their lives.
SPEAKER_03: Places I thought, I would have done that different.
SPEAKER_03: Of course I would.
SPEAKER_03: I had resources and family who love me, and I had access to an education, and what I learned more and more is that these people, my rock bottom was getting an A minus.
SPEAKER_03: I just want to be really clear.
SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh no, the fear of God, A-I would listen to their step and I would hear about how a gun got drawn on them in the presence of their girlfriend in Kentucky Fried Chicken, and that wasn't the lowest day.
SPEAKER_03: And I thought, you must be crazy.
SPEAKER_03: And the answer is they were lost.
SPEAKER_03: They were lost.
SPEAKER_03: And to put it in some different phrases, and this is going to sound really generous of me when I tell you when I conclude this story, there was another campus from us about five miles away called the Talbot Recovery Campus.
SPEAKER_03: It's still there.
SPEAKER_03: It's mostly occupied by white-collar professionals, you know, like people who are top lawyers, corporate lawyers, or people who are surgeons.
SPEAKER_03: That place cost$3,500 a day for rehab.
SPEAKER_03: And these were people who had lost their license, they'd been disbarred, they'd lost their family because they had turned to drugs to help them in their workaholism.
SPEAKER_03: Turns out it's hard to give 18 straight hours of surgery without something to pick you up.
SPEAKER_03: And to hear these white-collar people sit with homeless black crack addicts.
SPEAKER_03: And they both said the same phrase, and for some reason, probably because of the color of my own skin and the way that I grew up valuing education, this was the phrase they both used.
SPEAKER_03: Our best thinking got us here.
SPEAKER_03: It's easy when you've got somebody who is not of your class to say, well, your best thinking is garbage.
SPEAKER_03: On the other hand, when you come face to face with somebody who did a surgical residency at Harvard and then Yale and ended up addicted to cocaine, their best thinking got them addicted to drugs.
SPEAKER_03: Don't you see?
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't because they wouldn't.
SPEAKER_03: It's because they couldn't.
SPEAKER_03: They were lost.
SPEAKER_03: I've been lost in relationships before, and I've got to tell you, two of my strongest memories are related to the colet today and my son.
SPEAKER_03: See, the colic starts this really, really interesting phrase that I have misheard most of my spiritual journey.
SPEAKER_03: It says, God, because without you, we are not able to please you.
SPEAKER_03: I have always heard that phrase, well, most of my life anyway, I've heard that phrase, and I thought, oh, it's because like we're sinners and we're evil and we're terrible, and so like God has to fix us to make us lovable.
SPEAKER_03: And I've come to a different understanding of that.
SPEAKER_03: I think the truth is, if we are not open to somebody else, they will never be able to please us.
SPEAKER_03: You know this if you've been married more than two years.
SPEAKER_03: There are things you tolerate and even come to respect in your spouse that if somebody else did, you would slam the door in their face.
SPEAKER_03: Because you've decided to be open to your spouse, and therefore they are able to please you.
SPEAKER_03: So once upon a time, I was really mad at my son.
SPEAKER_03: He was seven, and he did something I probably thought was really dumb.
SPEAKER_03: But you know, I grew up thinking I'm gonna show him the fear of the Lord and my anger, and that'll really teach him.
SPEAKER_03: Taught him something.
SPEAKER_03: Um, and not what I wanted him to learn.
SPEAKER_03: So on one particular day, he had done something, and I was really mad, and uh, you know, I was gonna withhold my ability to find pleasure in him, because that was gonna really dial the lesson home.
SPEAKER_03: I was parented that way sometimes, right?
SPEAKER_03: Thought maybe that would work.
SPEAKER_03: We went to Starbucks, and this was at a time when buying a ceramic Starbucks mug to hold coffee was like a really nice Christmas gift for my wife.
SPEAKER_03: So I was in this line.
SPEAKER_03: I was mad, the line was long and it was slow, and this was right when Starbucks had come out with the tea latte.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you remember those days when the tea latte was new.
SPEAKER_03: There was this really big sign on it, you know, standing up, talking about the tea latte.
SPEAKER_03: So mad.
SPEAKER_03: I could almost feel the heat coming off my face.
SPEAKER_03: And my son did this thing.
SPEAKER_03: He hid behind the sign.
SPEAKER_03: And then he would peek his head out and say, tia latte.
SPEAKER_03: And then he did it on the other side.
SPEAKER_03: Tia latte.
SPEAKER_03: Boy, the first couple of times.
SPEAKER_03: Talk about heat.
SPEAKER_03: It was like a laser vision coming out from my eyes, like I will burn you to a crisp with my madness.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know how many times he had to do it.
SPEAKER_03: Eight?
SPEAKER_03: 58?
SPEAKER_03: At some point he came looking for his dad who was lost, and he found me.
SPEAKER_03: And I don't think I've laughed as hard in my life as I did on Occurrence 58.
SPEAKER_03: Because my son knew I was lost, and he played peekaboo with me until he found me.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm pretty convinced that that's what God does with us.
SPEAKER_03: It was my son's pleasure to look for me.
SPEAKER_03: And it was my pleasure when he found me.
SPEAKER_03: That's not a story about a prodigal father, that's a story about a lost one.
SPEAKER_03: We had a baby.
SPEAKER_03: And, you know, when you're the only child and you're 11 and you've been the only child for five years, he came to live with us when he was six, it can be a little jarring when mom and dad are pretty concerned with changing diapers and uh feeding and things like that.
SPEAKER_03: And I remember one day I had the sense to say, you know, son, I'm just really sorry that your sister is getting more attention, maybe a disproportionate share of our attention.
SPEAKER_03: He didn't even bat an eye.
SPEAKER_03: He said, Well, that's because she needs it.
SPEAKER_03: And he found me when I was lost.
SPEAKER_03: And isn't that what the gospel invites us to do?
SPEAKER_03: Read Paul's letter.
SPEAKER_03: He was a man of violence.
SPEAKER_03: Easy to hate violent people, isn't it?
SPEAKER_03: Man, they should get what they deserve.
SPEAKER_03: That isn't his story.
SPEAKER_03: What Paul got was grace in the middle of his violence.
SPEAKER_03: He got grace.
SPEAKER_03: God kept looking for him until he was found in God.
SPEAKER_03: That's the story.
SPEAKER_03: God wasn't put out to find the Apostle Paul.
SPEAKER_03: He was thrilled that Paul was not only found by God, but found in God.
SPEAKER_03: Now, when we read Jeremiah as a men's group on Tuesday, sounds a little bit dire, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_03: I mean, sounds like God maybe is really mad.
SPEAKER_03: My people are foolish, they don't know me, they're stupid children, they have no understanding, they're sealed in doing evil, but don't know how to do good.
SPEAKER_03: Well, I want to offer to you that there's more than two ways to read scripture, but I do want to name two ways that are different from one another.
SPEAKER_03: One is what we call the prescriptive reading.
SPEAKER_03: Like when your doctor gives you a prescription and says, you should take this medicine.
SPEAKER_03: We can read scripture and think God's telling us we ought to act like this.
SPEAKER_03: But there is a different way of reading scripture.
SPEAKER_03: It's called descriptive, in which the Bible nails us better than we often want to be honest with ourselves about.
SPEAKER_03: Scriptures often describe us.
SPEAKER_03: They sometimes go on and say, you keep doing that, here's where you will end up.
SPEAKER_03: Let me describe what happens.
SPEAKER_03: And Andy Lewis this week said, you know, we could hear this as God talking about us, but if I'm honest, I often have these feelings when I think about people who vote differently from me.
SPEAKER_03: They're foolish.
SPEAKER_03: They're like stupid children, they're skilled in doing evil.
SPEAKER_03: And I thought, well, shoot, there you just went and described me.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you've ever met somebody and had a favorable impression of them until you saw a bumper sticker on their car and you threw that experience out the window.
SPEAKER_03: I've done that.
SPEAKER_03: It's because I was lost.
SPEAKER_03: And I think these scriptures tell us what happens if we live into that.
SPEAKER_03: The whole land will be a desolation.
SPEAKER_03: I got some really good mentorship when I was a kid on how to burn a bridge.
SPEAKER_03: And let me tell you, I'm really good at it.
SPEAKER_03: Not only will it not be crossable for some time, I can burn the foundations down.
SPEAKER_03: This is some of the mentorship I got.
SPEAKER_03: You know what that does is it leaves you desolate.
SPEAKER_03: Desolate.
SPEAKER_03: I think this describes us pretty well at our worst.
SPEAKER_03: And for me, the criterion on it, frankly, is whether or not I am open or not.
SPEAKER_03: I once heard a preacher say, you know, it doesn't matter that you're willing to work with God.
SPEAKER_03: Really, all God wants you to do is be willing to be made willing.
SPEAKER_03: Willing to be made willing.
SPEAKER_03: And if you're not that, it's really difficult for God to do much with you.
SPEAKER_03: And I would say the same is true for human beings.
SPEAKER_03: If we are not willing to open ourselves to other people or willing to be made willing to open ourselves, we will find ourselves in desolation.
SPEAKER_03: Going back to domesticated things, you realize people are domesticated in the sense that we're supposed to live in a household together.
SPEAKER_03: You ever met a baby that can take care of itself?
SPEAKER_03: That's foolishness, right?
SPEAKER_03: It is in our DNA that we need one another to grow.
SPEAKER_03: The psalm describes us very well.
SPEAKER_03: You ever had a really dark day and found yourself thinking, there's none who does good, no, not one?
SPEAKER_03: Describe the feeling.
SPEAKER_03: My mom's pretty good.
SPEAKER_03: I'm just gonna be honest with you.
SPEAKER_03: I don't think the psalmist met my mom.
SPEAKER_03: And I think actually we can find ourselves emerged in this kind of polarized thinking.
SPEAKER_03: Like there's no democrat that does good, not even one.
SPEAKER_03: And that leads us, frankly, to a place of desolation.
SPEAKER_03: And that leads us to a place not in finding one another, but in living in to being lost.
SPEAKER_03: Living in to being lost.
SPEAKER_03: And I share here the gospel saying, how about we take a minute and just try to be open to the person we know we disagree with.
SPEAKER_03: Maybe it helps to think, it's not that they won't, it's that they can't.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I think this gets really particularly difficult when you think about where we were 21 years ago, if you don't mind me saying.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, probably most of you in the room remember where you were, do you?
SPEAKER_03: I wasn't around for Pearl Harbor, but I imagine it was similar.
SPEAKER_03: I was starting my first Tuesday class in seminary.
SPEAKER_03: I had just enrolled, and here I was getting ready to go to a class called Revelation Evil in the Trinity.
SPEAKER_03: I was really excited about it, and then there was this news story about a plane, and of course, living in Atlanta, we were all worried the CDC was next.
SPEAKER_03: I remember where I was.
SPEAKER_03: I was in the Brooks Commons of Candler School of Theology when I saw that first plane, and then, of course, for days we were inundated with those images of planes.
SPEAKER_03: And we had this moment.
SPEAKER_03: I felt that moment where we said, we are in this together.
SPEAKER_03: Now, 21 years later, I'm afraid we got lost.
SPEAKER_03: I hope I'm wrong.
SPEAKER_03: I just don't think I am.
SPEAKER_03: I think we got lost.
SPEAKER_03: And we decided that whatever label you're affiliated under determines your intelligence or your compassion to our own desolation.
SPEAKER_03: Now, I don't know if you've been shopping at the HEB, but you know it's an interesting thing to live here in Clear Lake, Texas and see people not only in a hijab that's a head covering, traditional in the Islamic world.
SPEAKER_03: In Hebrew, it's called a shadow, by the way, and you don't even know Jewish women are wearing a shadow because they usually wear a wig.
SPEAKER_03: I wonder what it's like to go to HEB and your burqa.
SPEAKER_03: Not sure what people are thinking of you.
SPEAKER_03: I've only had that experience for a couple of hours one time.
SPEAKER_03: It wasn't very good.
SPEAKER_03: But actually pretty scary.
SPEAKER_03: One of these things that we so often forget, of course, is that people are born into their way of life.
SPEAKER_03: It's not like an infant chooses they're going to be whatever they are.
SPEAKER_03: I worry that we haven't quite found our way out of that yet.
SPEAKER_03: I'm not just talking about our relationship with Islam.
SPEAKER_03: I'm talking about how anti-Semitism is on the rise.
SPEAKER_03: I don't understand it.
SPEAKER_03: And I do.
SPEAKER_03: And our gospel says stop being lost.
SPEAKER_03: See, that one sheep needs the other 99.
SPEAKER_03: Those hundred sheep need their shepherd, and we're asked to listen to the voice of not the savvy shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: We don't have that one, we've got the good one.
SPEAKER_03: And I'm afraid sometimes we worship the savvy shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: That's about expediency.
SPEAKER_03: That's about can't.
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, that's about won't.
SPEAKER_03: That's about expending a few trees for the sake of the forest.
SPEAKER_03: And that's not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: It's not.
SPEAKER_03: And I think we're asked to do this hard bit of joining God in looking for the lost because they can't find their way.
SPEAKER_03: Sometimes our children are our shepherds.
SPEAKER_03: Hopefully our church is our shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: And we go looking for one another as God looks for us.
SPEAKER_03: Maybe it's just enough for us to say, I don't know that I'm willing to love you, but I'd like to be willing to be made willing.
SPEAKER_03: God is not put out to enjoy us.
SPEAKER_03: God is not put out.
SPEAKER_03: God looks to enjoy us.
SPEAKER_03: Which is why we worship God.
SPEAKER_03: God is bigger than we are.
SPEAKER_03: I don't know who is difficult for you to love.
SPEAKER_03: My list is long.
SPEAKER_03: But I know these gospels invite me to go looking for the lost.
SPEAKER_03: And not to do looking for the lost because it's my duty, but because it's my invitation.
SPEAKER_03: So I want to offer you a prayer on this 21st anniversary.
SPEAKER_03: Almighty God, who bringest good out of evil, turnest even thy children's wrath towards thy promised peace.
SPEAKER_03: Hear our prayers this day as we remember those of many nations and diverse faiths whose lives were cut short by the fierce flames of anger and hatred.
SPEAKER_03: Hasten the time when the menace of war shall be removed.
SPEAKER_03: Cleanse both us and those perceived to be our enemies of all hatred and distrust.
SPEAKER_03: Pour out the spirit of peace on all the rulers of our world that we may be brought through strife.
SPEAKER_03: The last in peace of the kingdom of life on Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Liveth and remaineth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_03: The world without an end.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Please join me as we pray our faith and the words of the Nicene Creed found on page 358 of your red prayer book.
SPEAKER_03: Page 358.
SPEAKER_03: We believe in one God, the Father of the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_04: All that is seen and seen.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally God and the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten and made, of one being with the Father.
SPEAKER_04: Through him all things were made.
SPEAKER_04: For us and for our salvation, we came from heaven.
SPEAKER_04: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and then was made again.
SPEAKER_04: For our Savior was crucified in the conscious pilot, he suffered death and was buried.
SPEAKER_04: On the third day he rose again, from the Lord's surface, he ascended into heaven, in the seat at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_04: He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son gives worship and glorified.
SPEAKER_04: He has spoken to the prophets, including one Holy Catholic and the Church.
SPEAKER_04: We die on baptism for forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_04: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world come.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: For the victims of oppression throughout the world, especially those who have been silenced by governments, abuse, and poverty.
SPEAKER_01: For refugees and those displaced by war or strife.
SPEAKER_04: For those who hunger, satisfy their spiritual needs.
SPEAKER_01: For forty-six years of female clergy shining your light in the Episcopal Church.
SPEAKER_01: Enable our laity, deacons, priests, and bishops to discern your work in the world and boldly join in.
SPEAKER_01: Bless our day school, its teachers, staff, families, and students.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you for the constant love, compassion, diligence, kindness, and guidance of spouses, siblings, parents, friends, and extended families who have put us and others before themselves.
SPEAKER_01: Equip us to empathize even when we are in pain.
SPEAKER_01: Protect the dignity of those who are in physical decline or hardship, remembering especially Chris, Sue, Kevin, Jan, Miriam, and the celebration or petitions of the congregation that wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_01: And Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
SPEAKER_01: Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.
SPEAKER_01: Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.
SPEAKER_03: Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.
SPEAKER_03: Almighty and most merciful Father, we do have heard and screen from thy ways of lost.
SPEAKER_04: We have followed the mind to the vices and desires of our own hearts.
SPEAKER_04: We have offended against thy holy laws.
SPEAKER_04: We have done those things to God, and we have done those things which do not.
SPEAKER_04: Restoring all those who are penetrated, according to thy promises declared among humankind, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SPEAKER_04: And grant all the mercy for us and safe.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: May the God of love and power forgive and free you from your sin, heal and strengthen you by the Spirit, and raise you to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Well, rejoicing, because God just found you.
SPEAKER_03: And so, as all good parties, we stand.
SPEAKER_03: The peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_03: And love your spirit.
SPEAKER_03: 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 it the Narthex.
SPEAKER_03: There are these little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you throw one of those down so we have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_03: And thank you for worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_03: Out there in that room, the Narthex, you'll find two piles of handouts.
SPEAKER_03: One is a calendar for the month in calendar form, and another is a highlight of the month of what's going on.
SPEAKER_03: So I do want to raise some awareness of some things you'll find on both sheets of paper and some things you won't.
SPEAKER_03: So, first, we had a really, really hot Wednesday.
SPEAKER_03: Um, and we don't normally do this, and I'm reminded why we don't.
SPEAKER_03: Um, when we did a food distribution at four o'clock, it was, I mean, it was really hot.
SPEAKER_03: Um, but what was amazing is more than 220 people, I can't even calculate the weight, 60 pounds of food.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was tremendous.
SPEAKER_03: Like we barely had room to put the food into cars.
SPEAKER_03: Uh so thank you, friends, for showing up to help feed a hungry world.
SPEAKER_03: And I mean literally.
SPEAKER_03: Our next time we're gonna do that, hopefully we'll have clearer, clearer weather, uh, will be Saturday, October the 1st, and it starts at 7.45.
SPEAKER_03: There's two things happening that day.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, you won't find the second one in the in the bulletin, although you'll see it next week.
SPEAKER_03: Um, we host a 5K race every year for the running community.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, this is through Running Alliance Sport.
SPEAKER_03: Starts in our parking lot, finishes here, and I think it starts at 7.15.
SPEAKER_03: And uh they're a great partner to us.
SPEAKER_03: Uh it's a really cool ministry to be behind because running groups tend to take pretty good care of each other.
SPEAKER_03: Uh so there's a race for kids, there's a race for adults, dogs are allowed, encouraged, uh, so are wheelchairs.
SPEAKER_03: And if you don't have somebody to push you, I'll do it myself.
SPEAKER_03: And uh, it's a lovely way to experience a run because uh there's something nice about that wind in your face.
SPEAKER_03: So we do this run, and then you can run right over here and serve food at 745.
SPEAKER_03: So you can do either or or both, and that's Saturday, October the 1st.
SPEAKER_03: Um, the other thing I want to highlight is that yesterday Ellen Cook worked with some ladies over at St.
SPEAKER_03: Christopher, and sure enough, we had more than a hundred women participate in a half-day retreat.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Ellen, for strengthening our relationship, not only in faith, but with our good friends across the lake.
SPEAKER_03: It was lovely of you to do and encouraging to see more people that are in this room at a retreat.
SPEAKER_03: That was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
SPEAKER_03: Um want to remind you that we've just started a series and it's on Sundays.
SPEAKER_03: It happens in two ways.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, as a hybrid meeting in Christ Hall and between services.
SPEAKER_03: So we go from 9:15 to 10.15.
SPEAKER_03: It's basically an introduction to the Episcopal Church.
SPEAKER_03: Like, what's our history?
SPEAKER_03: How do we use the Bible, what are the sacraments?
SPEAKER_03: And if you're interested in confirmation, it serves to get you ready for confirmation as well, which happens on December the 4th this year, when the bishop comes.
SPEAKER_03: As I said, you can zoom into it, you can be here physically, and if for any reason you can't make it, we do post these on our YouTube page in case you're having trouble sleeping at night.
SPEAKER_03: You can pull them right up, and there you go.
SPEAKER_03: So there'll be eight of these, and they're designed to meet your needs.
SPEAKER_03: So maybe you got confirmed a long time ago.
SPEAKER_03: Maybe you've been a lifeblock Episcopalian and you've wondered why do we do that thing?
SPEAKER_03: This is your chance to do that, or do that one-on-one with me or Father Jim.
SPEAKER_03: He usually knows better than I do.
SPEAKER_03: So you've got a lot of resources, but I want to raise this up to you.
SPEAKER_03: It started today and we'll continue the next seven weeks.
SPEAKER_03: I also want to raise to you this concert that's coming up on September the 24th.
SPEAKER_03: Um, I only know one guy that plays the lute, and contrary to popular opinion, they don't like to be called louts.
SPEAKER_03: They like to be called lutinists.
SPEAKER_03: And so Ron McFarland is about the finest lutinist, well, I could imagine.
SPEAKER_03: In fact, he's received a Grammy nomination, and he'll be here in concert uh September the 24th, that's a Saturday, from 7 to 8 p.m.
SPEAKER_03: And if you're around, I'm gonna tell you, this is the kind of concert you'll hear in Jones Hall and would cost you$100, and it's like$10 to hear this guy who is absolutely gifted, not only in the loot, but talking about it.
SPEAKER_03: Has anybody heard Ron before?
SPEAKER_03: Am I speaking the truth?
SPEAKER_03: It's not really a thing you want to miss.
SPEAKER_03: He's amazing.
SPEAKER_03: So I just want to hold that up to you.
SPEAKER_03: And I want to tell you a story about Ron's mother-in-law, Kitty Carmen.
SPEAKER_03: She'll be at that concert.
SPEAKER_03: It's tough to get her to church.
SPEAKER_03: She's gonna be 99 this year, and um, I don't know at what age you can say whatever you want.
SPEAKER_03: You know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_03: But certainly it's earlier than 99.
SPEAKER_03: Because I went to visit her this week, and she said to me, out of nowhere, I mean, out of nowhere, she says, Mike, is your son trying to figure out if he's more masculine or feminine?
SPEAKER_03: I said, No, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_03: She said, Well, good, because that'd be really hard.
SPEAKER_03: Of course, you know, we can't help but be who God made us to be.
SPEAKER_03: And I thought, well, there you are.
SPEAKER_03: There you are.
SPEAKER_03: So if the sermon didn't get you, I hope Kitty Carmen's sermon got you.
SPEAKER_03: She decided she was gonna preach to me so I didn't get lost.
SPEAKER_03: And thank God for that compass she's got.
SPEAKER_03: Right?
SPEAKER_03: Thank God for that compass she's got.
SPEAKER_03: Um, it's lovely to have our choir not only back, but back processing.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, choir.
SPEAKER_03: Grateful for you.
SPEAKER_03: And hey, if you're ever interested in choir, it's not too late.
SPEAKER_03: So you can always talk to Garmin about adding your voice to the joyful noise that we get to hear.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, there's one last opportunity I want to raise.
SPEAKER_03: It's this coming Tuesday.
SPEAKER_03: It's on the sheet as well.
SPEAKER_03: Um, our ECW has decided, you know, we really need to spend some time pooling our skills and doing some mentorship for the ladies of the church.
SPEAKER_03: And so, beginning this Tuesday, there's a three-part series that meets once a month.
SPEAKER_03: Marie McNair and Linda Steis are leading this week.
SPEAKER_03: It's called Covering Your Assets, and it's by Women for Women.
SPEAKER_03: And the goal is to say, at whatever stage of life you're in, as a woman, are you thinking about what it looks like to have your future planned out?
SPEAKER_03: So this is meant to be beneficial to you, whether you're 19 or 99.
SPEAKER_03: It's not a lecture series, it's a seminar, and it's led by two ladies who have learned a lot from the School of Hard Knox.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, I trust you will find it very beneficial.
SPEAKER_03: Sorry, gentlemen, we do not have an equivalent for you at this time, but there is a beginning this Tuesday, it starts with a reception, some wine and cheese, and then you'll get to hear a mini presentation and time for questions and thinking around what it looks like to be mindful as stewards, particularly as women, stewards.
SPEAKER_03: Continue to walk in love.
SPEAKER_03: As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_03: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_03: So come, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_03: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_03: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_03: Our service continues on page 340 of your red prayer book.
SPEAKER_03: Page 340.
SPEAKER_03: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_03: Lift up your hearts.
SPEAKER_03: Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
SPEAKER_03: It is very meet right and our bounding duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.
SPEAKER_03: And therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and singing.
SPEAKER_03: All glory be to thee, O Lord our God, for thou didst create heaven and earth, and didst make us in thine own image.
SPEAKER_03: And of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son, Jesus Christ, to take our nature upon him, and to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption.
SPEAKER_03: He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.
SPEAKER_03: For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks to thee, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_03: This is my body which is given for y'all.
SPEAKER_03: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_03: Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_03: And when he given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all y'all.
SPEAKER_03: For this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for all y'all and for the remission of sin.
SPEAKER_03: Do this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_03: Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people do celebrate and make with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy son hath commanded us to make, having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming again with power and great glory.
SPEAKER_03: And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and with thy word and Holy Spirit to bless and sanctify these gifts of bread and wine, that they may be unto us the body and blood of thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness to accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies.
SPEAKER_03: Grant we beseech.
SPEAKER_03: Thee that all who partake of this holy communion may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction.
SPEAKER_03: And also that we and all thy whole church may be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: By whom and with whom and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: And now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray, our Father, who art in heaven.
SPEAKER_03: Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_03: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, and as we forgive those who trespass against us, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
SPEAKER_03: These are the gifts of God for you, the flock of the good shepherd.
SPEAKER_03: Behold who you are, and become what you receive.
SPEAKER_03: Renewed by this red from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that being the food of charity may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you and our neighbor through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Instructions for living alive.
SPEAKER_03: Pay attention.
SPEAKER_03: Be positively astonished.
SPEAKER_03: Tell about.
SPEAKER_03: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you this day and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.