WEBVTT 00:02:43.520 --> 00:02:47.199 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.520 And blessed be God's family, now and forever. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:52.400 Amen. 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:54.080 Let's pray together. 00:02:54.400 --> 00:03:02.960 Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid. 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:16.560 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. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:17.520 Amen. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:58.399 Let us pray. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:04.079 God, because without you we are not able to please you. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:16.399 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. 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.959 As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's church with Mr. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:45.839 Alex and Jeremiah. 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:02.959 A wind too strong for that. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:06.800 Now it is I who speak in judgment against them. 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:09.120 For my people are foolish. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:10.720 They do not know me. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.800 They are stupid children. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:14.879 They have no understanding. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:20.399 They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good. 00:08:20.959 --> 00:08:28.000 I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void, and to the heavens, and they had no light. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:35.519 I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:42.799 I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:54.240 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. 00:08:54.559 --> 00:09:02.559 For thus says the Lord, the whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:10.720 Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black, for I have spoken and I have heard this. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.960 I have not relented, nor will I turn back. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.559 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.200 Reading from Psalm 14. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:33.279 We will read responsibly by the half by the half verse. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:37.519 Say in their heart, there is no God. 00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:44.240 There is none who does any good. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:54.559 If there is one who sees after God. 00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:12.399 And do not talk. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:16.000 See how they tremble with fear. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:24.720 Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:31.679 Oh, that Israel's deliverance would come out of Zion. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:36.559 Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:41.360 But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:48.240 And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:58.559 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. 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:13.679 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. 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:22.320 To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. 00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:23.279 Amen. 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:27.360 Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:29.360 Thanks be to God. 00:14:40.559 --> 00:14:52.399 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. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:54.720 So Jesus told them this parable. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:15:05.120 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. 00:15:05.679 --> 00:15:08.879 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 00:15:09.200 --> 00:15:17.600 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. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:19.360 Just so I tell you. 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:36.399 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. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:44.559 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. 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:46.639 Just so I tell you. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:51.600 There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:54.960 The Gospel of the Lord. 00:16:32.080 --> 00:16:35.679 Although you probably know it by a different name, the parable of the prodigal son. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:41.200 The reason we give it a different name is because we forgot that Jesus told three stories in a row. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.159 And the other two stories are the ones we get. 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:48.240 They're not about the prodigal coin or the prodigal sheep. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:50.879 Because that language is ridiculous. 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:55.279 We're about the lost coin and the lost sheep. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:17:05.119 Now, many of us honestly have probably grown up thinking that it is that doggone sheep's fault that it got lost. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:08.640 What a wayward, evil sheep. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:13.440 Maybe you even think, what a wicked coin. 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:15.839 How dare it run away? 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:17.519 Yeah, that one's nuts. 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:19.759 So let me back you into the sheep one. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:23.119 Has anybody been a shepherd before? 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:25.279 In a play. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:28.400 Yeah, so hey, me neither. 00:17:29.039 --> 00:17:32.240 But I do want to tell you, there's two kinds of animals in the world. 00:17:32.319 --> 00:17:35.039 I listened to an 18-hour lecture on this one time. 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:38.240 There's wild animals which can be tamed. 00:17:38.640 --> 00:17:46.400 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. 00:17:46.559 --> 00:17:48.720 Those are cats, by the way. 00:17:49.680 --> 00:17:56.720 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. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:18:00.640 Then there's another kind of animal, and that's the domesticated animal. 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:05.759 And we don't realize actually domesticated animals have different DNA from their wild predecessors. 00:18:05.839 --> 00:18:06.559 This is true. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:08.960 So there's two kinds of sheep in the world. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:18.000 There's wild ones, and there's domesticated ones, and just to bring it home, there's wolves and there's dogs. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:34.960 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. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:39.599 I still pet my dog on the head, by the way. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:46.079 They put up with it because we have selectively bred them to be dependent upon us. 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:47.359 Same with sheep. 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.519 So let me tell you what a wild sheep does when it hears a wolf or smells one. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:53.440 It gets really quiet. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.119 A domesticated sheep makes a lot of noise. 00:18:57.359 --> 00:19:05.039 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. 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:15.359 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. 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:19.039 Domesticated sheep are not so athletic. 00:19:20.079 --> 00:19:24.319 They do better when there's no bumps in the road, because sometimes they'll just walk off a cliff. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:28.640 That's because they trust the shepherd to keep them on the path. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:30.480 Who made them that way? 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:39.920 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. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:46.079 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. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.519 Which means the blade will not regenerate itself. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:54.720 They overload the carrying capacity of the land and will eat themselves to death. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:19:59.279 Wild sheep know how to find water and they remember their way. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:05.279 Domesticated sheep need shepherds to show them that we made them that way. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:13.359 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. 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:14.799 Sorry, it's nonsense. 00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:17.200 So please throw those messages away. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.960 Anyway, here actually this theological principle. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:28.160 God created us to trust in God's shepherd. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.279 Isn't that interesting? 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:38.319 When the sheep gets away from the shepherd, it's not the sheep's fault. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:41.519 It's the shepherd's fault. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:44.400 And look what the shepherd does. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:46.079 He runs after it. 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.680 Now look, I've always thought I'm one of the 99 good people. 00:20:50.480 --> 00:21:01.039 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. 00:21:02.960 --> 00:21:08.000 You can push on this story so hard it becomes unhelpful, but please hear the story. 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:14.400 God may not be the savviest shepherd around, but God is a good shepherd. 00:21:14.799 --> 00:21:19.440 See, it turns out when you leave 99 sheep, if a wolf comes, it'll kill every single one of them. 00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:22.240 More than it can eat. 00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:28.559 When Jesus says, which shepherd of you wouldn't leave a 99, the answer is none of them would. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:31.920 You're gonna gamble 99 sheep on one? 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:34.400 I mean, you get better odds in Vegas. 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:40.079 It's good shepherding. 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:42.559 And you notice what doesn't happen? 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:47.039 When the shepherd finds a lost sheep, the shepherd does not give it a lecture. 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:48.559 That's a missed opportunity. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:50.480 I sure would lecture that sheep. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:52.400 There's no punishment. 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:57.200 There's no name on a sign that says this is a bad sheep. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:05.119 If you're filling out your Episcopal bingo card, that was the worst joke square. 00:22:06.880 --> 00:22:18.319 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. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:27.519 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. 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.480 Come on, we're gonna have cake and ice cream. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:36.559 But a child will do that in a second. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:40.240 Because they think that their joy can actually help yours out. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:41.119 Right? 00:22:41.920 --> 00:22:44.880 God may not be the savviest shepherd around. 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:48.400 It's just that God's the good shepherd. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:54.400 We get that that coin did not lose itself. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:58.799 The lady lost it! And what does she do? 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.559 She does not give it a lecture. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:09.119 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. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:16.720 She looks for it until she finds it, and then she has a party. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.480 That's the frame for the story of the lost sons. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.599 The truth is they're both lost, if you know the story. 00:23:25.839 --> 00:23:30.559 They're lost because they can't bear to live together after someone makes a mistake. 00:23:30.640 --> 00:23:38.400 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. 00:23:39.359 --> 00:23:40.880 You ever thought about this? 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:45.519 Somebody's got one of those cardboard signs asking for help. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:47.200 It's because they won't work. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:49.200 Won't. 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:57.920 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. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:07.519 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. 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:10.160 It's that they can't. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:16.000 I hope you can hear the difference between won't and can't. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:26.720 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. 00:24:28.559 --> 00:24:36.000 I trust you've had a similar experience if you've ever made a New Year's resolution that you didn't keep. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:40.480 It's not that you wouldn't keep it, something got in the way. 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:52.960 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. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:57.039 You ever been lost before? 00:24:57.440 --> 00:25:01.839 I mean, even really, like physically lost. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:07.519 I don't know anybody in the world that gets out of bed and says, Man, I hope I can lose my way today. 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:12.640 I just love the panic that sets in when I don't know where to go. 00:25:13.759 --> 00:25:23.599 No, actually, what's really interesting is to hear this phrase that I picked up as a chaplain in a narcotics uh anonymous facility. 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:29.039 I was 21 years old and I had to do supervised ministry and seminary, and I'd never seen drugs in my life. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:37.440 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. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:43.200 Unfortunately, I knew enough not to say much. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:47.519 I didn't know everything because I chose to talk sometimes, and that was a mistake. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:56.559 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. 00:25:56.960 --> 00:26:02.400 Places I thought, I would have done that different. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:04.160 Of course I would. 00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:13.200 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. 00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:14.720 I just want to be really clear. 00:26:14.880 --> 00:26:27.279 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. 00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:31.119 And I thought, you must be crazy. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:36.240 And the answer is they were lost. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:38.720 They were lost. 00:26:39.279 --> 00:26:51.759 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. 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:52.559 It's still there. 00:26:52.720 --> 00:27:01.200 It's mostly occupied by white-collar professionals, you know, like people who are top lawyers, corporate lawyers, or people who are surgeons. 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:05.359 That place cost$3,500 a day for rehab. 00:27:06.079 --> 00:27:14.319 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. 00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:20.559 Turns out it's hard to give 18 straight hours of surgery without something to pick you up. 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:26.720 And to hear these white-collar people sit with homeless black crack addicts. 00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:37.279 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. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:40.720 Our best thinking got us here. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:50.640 It's easy when you've got somebody who is not of your class to say, well, your best thinking is garbage. 00:27:51.519 --> 00:28:08.559 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. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:10.319 Don't you see? 00:28:10.480 --> 00:28:12.880 It wasn't because they wouldn't. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:15.359 It's because they couldn't. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:18.079 They were lost. 00:28:21.759 --> 00:28:31.519 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. 00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:37.599 See, the colic starts this really, really interesting phrase that I have misheard most of my spiritual journey. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:43.279 It says, God, because without you, we are not able to please you. 00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:55.599 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. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:58.559 And I've come to a different understanding of that. 00:28:58.799 --> 00:29:05.839 I think the truth is, if we are not open to somebody else, they will never be able to please us. 00:29:07.119 --> 00:29:09.759 You know this if you've been married more than two years. 00:29:09.920 --> 00:29:16.960 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. 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:24.079 Because you've decided to be open to your spouse, and therefore they are able to please you. 00:29:24.480 --> 00:29:28.400 So once upon a time, I was really mad at my son. 00:29:29.119 --> 00:29:33.599 He was seven, and he did something I probably thought was really dumb. 00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:40.160 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. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:42.799 Taught him something. 00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:45.599 Um, and not what I wanted him to learn. 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:57.920 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. 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:01.119 I was parented that way sometimes, right? 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:02.880 Thought maybe that would work. 00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:14.240 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. 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:16.559 So I was in this line. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:24.319 I was mad, the line was long and it was slow, and this was right when Starbucks had come out with the tea latte. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:28.720 I don't know if you remember those days when the tea latte was new. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:34.559 There was this really big sign on it, you know, standing up, talking about the tea latte. 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:37.440 So mad. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:41.359 I could almost feel the heat coming off my face. 00:30:42.079 --> 00:30:44.319 And my son did this thing. 00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:46.319 He hid behind the sign. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:52.559 And then he would peek his head out and say, tia latte. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:58.079 And then he did it on the other side. 00:30:58.480 --> 00:30:59.519 Tia latte. 00:31:00.319 --> 00:31:02.319 Boy, the first couple of times. 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:03.599 Talk about heat. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:10.319 It was like a laser vision coming out from my eyes, like I will burn you to a crisp with my madness. 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:15.039 I don't know how many times he had to do it. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:16.960 Eight? 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:19.200 58? 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:27.279 At some point he came looking for his dad who was lost, and he found me. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:35.519 And I don't think I've laughed as hard in my life as I did on Occurrence 58. 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:44.559 Because my son knew I was lost, and he played peekaboo with me until he found me. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:50.559 And I'm pretty convinced that that's what God does with us. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:57.440 It was my son's pleasure to look for me. 00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:02.000 And it was my pleasure when he found me. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:08.400 That's not a story about a prodigal father, that's a story about a lost one. 00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:14.720 We had a baby. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:32.079 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. 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:43.279 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. 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:44.640 He didn't even bat an eye. 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:46.640 He said, Well, that's because she needs it. 00:32:50.160 --> 00:32:53.920 And he found me when I was lost. 00:32:55.680 --> 00:33:00.480 And isn't that what the gospel invites us to do? 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:03.200 Read Paul's letter. 00:33:04.079 --> 00:33:07.279 He was a man of violence. 00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.400 Easy to hate violent people, isn't it? 00:33:11.759 --> 00:33:13.519 Man, they should get what they deserve. 00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:15.200 That isn't his story. 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:20.880 What Paul got was grace in the middle of his violence. 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:22.640 He got grace. 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:30.799 God kept looking for him until he was found in God. 00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:32.400 That's the story. 00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:37.680 God wasn't put out to find the Apostle Paul. 00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:44.960 He was thrilled that Paul was not only found by God, but found in God. 00:33:47.039 --> 00:33:53.200 Now, when we read Jeremiah as a men's group on Tuesday, sounds a little bit dire, doesn't it? 00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:55.599 I mean, sounds like God maybe is really mad. 00:33:56.720 --> 00:34:03.759 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. 00:34:04.559 --> 00:34:13.119 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. 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:16.559 One is what we call the prescriptive reading. 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:21.360 Like when your doctor gives you a prescription and says, you should take this medicine. 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:27.119 We can read scripture and think God's telling us we ought to act like this. 00:34:27.599 --> 00:34:29.679 But there is a different way of reading scripture. 00:34:29.760 --> 00:34:36.639 It's called descriptive, in which the Bible nails us better than we often want to be honest with ourselves about. 00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:40.159 Scriptures often describe us. 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:46.639 They sometimes go on and say, you keep doing that, here's where you will end up. 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:49.360 Let me describe what happens. 00:34:49.920 --> 00:35:00.320 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. 00:35:00.559 --> 00:35:01.280 They're foolish. 00:35:01.440 --> 00:35:04.559 They're like stupid children, they're skilled in doing evil. 00:35:05.039 --> 00:35:08.800 And I thought, well, shoot, there you just went and described me. 00:35:11.920 --> 00:35:21.039 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. 00:35:21.280 --> 00:35:22.719 I've done that. 00:35:23.519 --> 00:35:25.360 It's because I was lost. 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:32.159 And I think these scriptures tell us what happens if we live into that. 00:35:33.920 --> 00:35:36.159 The whole land will be a desolation. 00:35:37.440 --> 00:35:40.880 I got some really good mentorship when I was a kid on how to burn a bridge. 00:35:40.960 --> 00:35:43.199 And let me tell you, I'm really good at it. 00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:47.920 Not only will it not be crossable for some time, I can burn the foundations down. 00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:50.639 This is some of the mentorship I got. 00:35:50.880 --> 00:35:55.039 You know what that does is it leaves you desolate. 00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:57.440 Desolate. 00:35:58.719 --> 00:36:05.360 I think this describes us pretty well at our worst. 00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:15.119 And for me, the criterion on it, frankly, is whether or not I am open or not. 00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:19.599 I once heard a preacher say, you know, it doesn't matter that you're willing to work with God. 00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:23.440 Really, all God wants you to do is be willing to be made willing. 00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:26.320 Willing to be made willing. 00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:30.159 And if you're not that, it's really difficult for God to do much with you. 00:36:30.320 --> 00:36:32.719 And I would say the same is true for human beings. 00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:43.840 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. 00:36:44.320 --> 00:36:51.519 Going back to domesticated things, you realize people are domesticated in the sense that we're supposed to live in a household together. 00:36:51.679 --> 00:36:54.400 You ever met a baby that can take care of itself? 00:36:55.360 --> 00:36:57.199 That's foolishness, right? 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:02.639 It is in our DNA that we need one another to grow. 00:37:06.079 --> 00:37:08.719 The psalm describes us very well. 00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:17.199 You ever had a really dark day and found yourself thinking, there's none who does good, no, not one? 00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:19.679 Describe the feeling. 00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:21.440 My mom's pretty good. 00:37:21.519 --> 00:37:23.360 I'm just gonna be honest with you. 00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:26.480 I don't think the psalmist met my mom. 00:37:27.679 --> 00:37:34.079 And I think actually we can find ourselves emerged in this kind of polarized thinking. 00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:38.880 Like there's no democrat that does good, not even one. 00:37:41.039 --> 00:37:44.239 And that leads us, frankly, to a place of desolation. 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:54.480 And that leads us to a place not in finding one another, but in living in to being lost. 00:37:54.880 --> 00:37:57.679 Living in to being lost. 00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:11.679 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. 00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:18.880 Maybe it helps to think, it's not that they won't, it's that they can't. 00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:30.159 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. 00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:34.400 I mean, probably most of you in the room remember where you were, do you? 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:38.559 I wasn't around for Pearl Harbor, but I imagine it was similar. 00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:42.159 I was starting my first Tuesday class in seminary. 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:48.079 I had just enrolled, and here I was getting ready to go to a class called Revelation Evil in the Trinity. 00:38:48.159 --> 00:38:56.239 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. 00:38:56.719 --> 00:38:58.159 I remember where I was. 00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:08.880 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. 00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:11.280 And we had this moment. 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:29.760 I felt that moment where we said, we are in this together. 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:37.199 Now, 21 years later, I'm afraid we got lost. 00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:40.480 I hope I'm wrong. 00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:42.400 I just don't think I am. 00:39:42.880 --> 00:39:45.760 I think we got lost. 00:39:47.039 --> 00:39:57.519 And we decided that whatever label you're affiliated under determines your intelligence or your compassion to our own desolation. 00:39:58.159 --> 00:40:09.920 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. 00:40:10.079 --> 00:40:16.559 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. 00:40:19.199 --> 00:40:23.440 I wonder what it's like to go to HEB and your burqa. 00:40:25.679 --> 00:40:28.400 Not sure what people are thinking of you. 00:40:28.800 --> 00:40:32.400 I've only had that experience for a couple of hours one time. 00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:34.159 It wasn't very good. 00:40:34.960 --> 00:40:36.719 But actually pretty scary. 00:40:37.519 --> 00:40:42.320 One of these things that we so often forget, of course, is that people are born into their way of life. 00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:46.880 It's not like an infant chooses they're going to be whatever they are. 00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:54.719 I worry that we haven't quite found our way out of that yet. 00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:59.599 I'm not just talking about our relationship with Islam. 00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:03.599 I'm talking about how anti-Semitism is on the rise. 00:41:04.400 --> 00:41:06.000 I don't understand it. 00:41:06.400 --> 00:41:07.360 And I do. 00:41:08.480 --> 00:41:14.559 And our gospel says stop being lost. 00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:19.679 See, that one sheep needs the other 99. 00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:27.840 Those hundred sheep need their shepherd, and we're asked to listen to the voice of not the savvy shepherd. 00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:30.159 We don't have that one, we've got the good one. 00:41:30.960 --> 00:41:35.280 And I'm afraid sometimes we worship the savvy shepherd. 00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.320 That's about expediency. 00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:41.039 That's about can't. 00:41:41.440 --> 00:41:43.519 Sorry, that's about won't. 00:41:44.719 --> 00:41:50.320 That's about expending a few trees for the sake of the forest. 00:41:50.639 --> 00:41:53.280 And that's not the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:54.639 It's not. 00:41:56.480 --> 00:42:06.559 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. 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.679 Sometimes our children are our shepherds. 00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:17.679 Hopefully our church is our shepherd. 00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:22.159 And we go looking for one another as God looks for us. 00:42:23.599 --> 00:42:32.239 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. 00:42:33.360 --> 00:42:38.000 God is not put out to enjoy us. 00:42:38.880 --> 00:42:40.400 God is not put out. 00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:44.719 God looks to enjoy us. 00:42:46.079 --> 00:42:47.760 Which is why we worship God. 00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:50.480 God is bigger than we are. 00:42:51.679 --> 00:42:56.239 I don't know who is difficult for you to love. 00:42:56.400 --> 00:42:57.599 My list is long. 00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:06.000 But I know these gospels invite me to go looking for the lost. 00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:15.039 And not to do looking for the lost because it's my duty, but because it's my invitation. 00:43:15.760 --> 00:43:21.840 So I want to offer you a prayer on this 21st anniversary. 00:43:24.800 --> 00:43:32.559 Almighty God, who bringest good out of evil, turnest even thy children's wrath towards thy promised peace. 00:43:33.280 --> 00:43:42.960 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. 00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:47.440 Hasten the time when the menace of war shall be removed. 00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:53.760 Cleanse both us and those perceived to be our enemies of all hatred and distrust. 00:43:54.559 --> 00:43:59.679 Pour out the spirit of peace on all the rulers of our world that we may be brought through strife. 00:44:00.400 --> 00:44:04.239 The last in peace of the kingdom of life on Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:07.679 Liveth and remaineth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost. 00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:10.800 The world without an end. 00:44:11.760 --> 00:44:12.400 Amen. 00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:32.880 Please join me as we pray our faith and the words of the Nicene Creed found on page 358 of your red prayer book. 00:44:33.679 --> 00:44:35.440 Page 358. 00:44:39.760 --> 00:44:46.159 We believe in one God, the Father of the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. 00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:49.039 All that is seen and seen. 00:44:49.440 --> 00:45:06.480 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. 00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:09.039 Through him all things were made. 00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:13.840 For us and for our salvation, we came from heaven. 00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:20.880 By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and then was made again. 00:45:21.519 --> 00:45:27.760 For our Savior was crucified in the conscious pilot, he suffered death and was buried. 00:45:28.079 --> 00:45:37.599 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. 00:45:37.840 --> 00:45:44.159 He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. 00:45:44.880 --> 00:45:55.920 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. 00:45:56.159 --> 00:46:02.639 He has spoken to the prophets, including one Holy Catholic and the Church. 00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:06.480 We die on baptism for forgiveness of sins. 00:46:06.960 --> 00:46:11.440 We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world come. 00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:13.039 Amen. 00:46:42.079 --> 00:46:51.599 For the victims of oppression throughout the world, especially those who have been silenced by governments, abuse, and poverty. 00:46:56.000 --> 00:47:00.960 For refugees and those displaced by war or strife. 00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:10.079 For those who hunger, satisfy their spiritual needs. 00:47:21.519 --> 00:47:27.599 For forty-six years of female clergy shining your light in the Episcopal Church. 00:47:33.440 --> 00:47:42.639 Enable our laity, deacons, priests, and bishops to discern your work in the world and boldly join in. 00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:52.800 Bless our day school, its teachers, staff, families, and students. 00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:19.039 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. 00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:39.440 Equip us to empathize even when we are in pain. 00:48:43.360 --> 00:49:06.239 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. 00:49:24.559 --> 00:49:28.079 And Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. 00:49:33.199 --> 00:49:39.119 Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world. 00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:50.320 Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life. 00:49:52.960 --> 00:49:56.079 Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor. 00:50:02.079 --> 00:50:08.079 Almighty and most merciful Father, we do have heard and screen from thy ways of lost. 00:50:09.039 --> 00:50:13.519 We have followed the mind to the vices and desires of our own hearts. 00:50:13.760 --> 00:50:16.639 We have offended against thy holy laws. 00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:22.719 We have done those things to God, and we have done those things which do not. 00:50:30.880 --> 00:50:39.599 Restoring all those who are penetrated, according to thy promises declared among humankind, in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:50:39.920 --> 00:50:43.360