SPEAKER_02: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
unknown: Blessed be God.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_02: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_02: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_02: Grant, O merciful God, that your church, being together together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples to the glory of your name.
SPEAKER_02: Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in 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 of the Mr.
SPEAKER_02: House.
SPEAKER_02: In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge.
SPEAKER_02: And your righteousness deliver me and set me free.
SPEAKER_02: Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe.
SPEAKER_02: Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked.
SPEAKER_02: For you are my hope, O Lord God.
SPEAKER_02: I've been sustained by you ever since I was born.
SPEAKER_02: From my mother's womb, you have been my strength.
SPEAKER_06: For they could not endure the order that was given.
SPEAKER_06: If every animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.
SPEAKER_06: Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear.
SPEAKER_06: But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels and festival gatherings, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirit of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
SPEAKER_06: For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns us from heaven?
SPEAKER_06: At that time his voice shook the earth.
SPEAKER_06: But now he has a promise.
SPEAKER_06: Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.
SPEAKER_06: Yet once more indicates the removal of what is shaken.
SPEAKER_06: That is a created thing.
SPEAKER_06: So that what cannot be shaken may remain.
SPEAKER_06: Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe for indeed our God is a consuming fire.
SPEAKER_06: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_02: The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Luke.
SPEAKER_02: Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
SPEAKER_02: And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for 18 years.
SPEAKER_02: She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.
SPEAKER_02: When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, Woman, you are set free from your ailment.
SPEAKER_02: When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
SPEAKER_02: But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, There are six days on which work ought to be done.
SPEAKER_02: Come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.
SPEAKER_02: But the Lord answered him and said, You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie their ox or their donkey from the manger and lead it away to give it water?
SPEAKER_02: And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whose Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?
SPEAKER_02: And Jesus said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
SPEAKER_02: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope.
SPEAKER_02: And that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of all glad things in this world the gladdest of all.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Come, Lord Jesus, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: That's a line from Frederick Biekner, who unfortunately passed into larger life this week.
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't know Frederick Biegner's work, it's pretty lovely, so much so that I include it in the back of your bulletin.
SPEAKER_02: I probably shouldn't tell you this now, but if you get bored during the sermon, this is a good thing to do.
SPEAKER_02: You can turn to the back page and you can read Frederick Biekner's take on the prophet Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_02: And I hope that you will enjoy that souvenir because he's a powerful writer.
SPEAKER_02: From Alphabet to Grace to other blogs, he has a way with words.
SPEAKER_02: And I'll reference a couple of those as we go.
SPEAKER_02: So you'll get a break from Mary Oliver today.
SPEAKER_02: I want to start talking about the prophet Jeremiah because I think I should have asked Jim before this, but almost any time my experience in seminary, you read something like this, and the focus is on the call to ministry.
SPEAKER_02: And what that looks like, and frankly, how people resist it.
SPEAKER_02: Now we all know this was a book written to a real person long time ago.
SPEAKER_02: This is an individual person who is with us no more.
SPEAKER_02: But we keep this alive because we hear God, I think, talking not only to someone long ago, but to us.
SPEAKER_02: So when you hear, I knew you and appointed you a prophet to the nations, we could say, cool thing God did with that guy, Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_02: To our detriment, scary thing God is appointing you to do and me.
SPEAKER_02: To the nations, well, it helps that Houston's the most diverse city in the United States.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if y'all knew that, more so than New York City or Los Angeles.
SPEAKER_02: So wherever you go in Houston, let me tell you, you're a prophet to the nations.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Mike, I don't go around saying in 27 days such and such is going to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, prophets never did that anyway.
SPEAKER_02: A prophet is frankly somebody who represents God and speaks a message that God would speak.
SPEAKER_02: Well, at least that's the prophets that we lawed.
SPEAKER_02: The scripture is worried about false prophets, is worried about them.
SPEAKER_02: I'm worried about the false prophecy that comes out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_02: More on that in a minute, when we get to the gospel, because it confronts us with that.
SPEAKER_02: The thing about this call to ministry that's so interesting is not only are we called, notice that Jeremiah gives this excuse.
SPEAKER_02: Really, everybody in the Bible who God says do this thing says, pick somebody else.
SPEAKER_02: No, thank you.
SPEAKER_02: Remember, Moses tried to run away a bunch of times.
SPEAKER_02: A bunch of times.
SPEAKER_02: And he's like the good guy, Moses.
SPEAKER_02: Here's Jeremiah saying, I don't know how to talk, and God says this interesting thing that if you hear nothing else, hear this today.
SPEAKER_02: God says to Jeremiah, too bad you don't have as much faith in you as I do.
SPEAKER_02: Too bad you don't have as much faith in yourself as I do in you.
SPEAKER_02: You see, when somebody can't change, why would you berate them?
SPEAKER_02: There's nothing they can do.
SPEAKER_02: This whole story is predicated on the fact that God believes we can.
SPEAKER_02: And God believes Jeremiah can even when he doesn't agree.
SPEAKER_02: So when we touch holy things like the table and the sacraments and baptism and education, we get it all wrong when we think it works because of us.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_02: It works not because of our faith in God, but because of God's faith in us.
SPEAKER_02: This is what God is saying to Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_02: I believe in you more than you believe in yourself.
SPEAKER_02: Now get up and go.
SPEAKER_02: Because truth be told, we're going to be a prophet to the nations whether we're willing or not.
SPEAKER_02: Notice what he is charged to do.
SPEAKER_02: Pluck up, tear down, destroy, overthrow, and then build and plant.
SPEAKER_02: Do you notice that?
SPEAKER_02: Those four sort of harsh things helps us remember, right, that if we speak the truth and we hurt somebody else, we didn't do it right.
SPEAKER_02: Because speaking the truth and causing injury does not plant or build up.
SPEAKER_02: Also reminds us, though, that there is junk in the way and that needs clearing out.
SPEAKER_02: We heard this last week when we talked about fire.
SPEAKER_02: We get to hear it again this week: reminder that fire is not to punish, fire is to tear up, to pluck up, to overthrow, to destroy those things that get in the way of loving ourselves and one another as God already loves us.
SPEAKER_02: This is what we are called to do.
SPEAKER_02: This is your call to ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Some of us wear one of these things, but I want you to remember in the prayer book, the church is a ministry, order of importance.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody.
SPEAKER_02: And then some deacons, and then a couple of priests, and probably some fewer bishops.
SPEAKER_02: And the first group called is everybody in the room to represent God to the nations and tear down the junk that's getting in the way so we can build and plant and cultivate what God has in mind.
SPEAKER_02: So if you grew up like me, when you hear this line in Hebrews, our God is a consuming fire, it actually takes me to a place of fear.
SPEAKER_02: Because I was taught to hear that is God is so powerful that God will get even with you when you're done.
SPEAKER_02: God will consume you.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, what I love about doing Bible study with people, and this came out this week at the men's study, somebody said, Well, I always grew up thinking God was powerful enough to fix whatever I got wrong.
SPEAKER_02: And I thought, wish I'd grown up that way.
SPEAKER_02: Because when you read this, notice how it begins.
SPEAKER_02: You have not come to the mountain of fear.
SPEAKER_02: You have not.
SPEAKER_02: Moses was afraid, he trembled with fear.
SPEAKER_02: Don't.
SPEAKER_02: You heard me say a couple of weeks ago, outdoor training says, do not make important decisions when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired.
SPEAKER_02: I want to add, when you're afraid, because you know when I'm afraid, what I do is my worst thinking.
SPEAKER_02: That's when I live into the smallest part of my brain, that's called the limbic system, and I do things, frankly, that are very aggressive or defensive, and I don't come up here to this extra part of my brain and say, that's a human being in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: That's a human being in front of you.
SPEAKER_02: When I get myself from the limbic system, it's really easy to hate the person that God loves.
SPEAKER_02: And God says, Why don't you tear that down?
SPEAKER_02: Why don't you pluck it down?
SPEAKER_02: And then why don't you let me consume that?
SPEAKER_02: Let me consume that.
SPEAKER_02: There's this myth that goes around sometimes that Jewish folks were sure legalistic.
SPEAKER_02: And that's the problem here in the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_02: And listen, we get that so wrong, and this is one of the roots of anti-Semitism.
SPEAKER_02: So I would be remiss if I did not tell you a rabbinical story.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you how legalistic our Jewish sisters and brothers are.
SPEAKER_02: Once upon a time, there was a really gross person who was hateful in me.
SPEAKER_02: Hateful and me.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody tried over and over again to fix this guy, and sure enough, he had lots of resources.
SPEAKER_02: And on his deathbed, he was trying to get right with the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Now the angels in heaven were so worried God would forgive him that they locked the gates.
SPEAKER_02: And then there's this great ending, which is God bored a hole underneath the throne in heaven so that his voice could come to God.
SPEAKER_02: If that's legalistic, I hope I'm legalistic too.
SPEAKER_02: Because here's the story about the Sabbath in Luke that I think we could so easily get wrong if we take the position that synagogue leader.
SPEAKER_02: Glad I'm not like him.
SPEAKER_02: What a jerk.
SPEAKER_02: The question we always ask is where are we in the story?
SPEAKER_02: Now look, this is a story about a thing that happened a long time ago to one lady.
SPEAKER_02: But we miss the opportunity to interact with the scriptures if we just say this is a thing that happened I've never seen, but cool that God does that.
SPEAKER_02: Instead, I think the question we have to consider is this.
SPEAKER_02: Or her C5 is bad.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever you hear in that, the lady is stooped over, but I hope what you're hearing in the story too is she's not just physically bound over.
SPEAKER_02: She can't stand up straight among her own people.
SPEAKER_02: Among her own people, she can't stand up straight.
SPEAKER_02: Now look, I don't have scoliosis, but I got trouble standing up in front of my own people sometimes.
SPEAKER_02: Don't you?
SPEAKER_02: Well, this is what the story says is.
SPEAKER_02: Don't let whatever burden you see this lady carry get in the way of you saying, straighten up, sister, you're home here.
SPEAKER_02: Hear the difference.
SPEAKER_02: We're not telling each other, you better straighten up.
SPEAKER_02: We're saying, stand proud here.
SPEAKER_02: Stand proud.
SPEAKER_02: Now look, sometimes we'd like to tell ourselves, we would be so much more gracious.
SPEAKER_02: But keep in mind, this isn't church, this is the synagogue.
SPEAKER_02: People are there to study and interact.
SPEAKER_02: Any teacher you have in college, real thrilled with this behavior, they'd say, do it after class.
SPEAKER_02: We came here to learn.
SPEAKER_02: Y'all know this story because I've told it, but I can't stop telling it.
SPEAKER_02: This is an easy one, right?
SPEAKER_02: Seven years ago, somebody came into church at eight o'clock and I was given a good sermon.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, really good.
SPEAKER_02: The Pope was probably listening.
SPEAKER_02: I was so eloquent that day.
SPEAKER_02: And sure enough, right in the middle, this guy had the nerve to stand up and start talking.
SPEAKER_02: I don't even know what he said.
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be honest, I have no idea what he said.
SPEAKER_02: Even in real time, I didn't.
SPEAKER_02: And somehow, by the grace of God, I didn't say anything back.
SPEAKER_02: I just stood there.
SPEAKER_02: That's a miracle.
SPEAKER_02: He got done talking and he said, Hey, really enjoyed being here, and just walked out the door.
SPEAKER_02: No, I was the only person in the room that knew he had bipolar schizophrenia.
SPEAKER_02: Everybody else in the room was looking for the exit.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not kidding.
SPEAKER_02: Some of y'all were there.
SPEAKER_02: And it occurred to me, moment of grace.
SPEAKER_02: That might be the only time in that man's life.
SPEAKER_02: People let him talk till he was done, and he got to leave on his own terms.
SPEAKER_02: And that became the sermon for the day.
SPEAKER_02: But I want you to know later in that day, I thought, wow, that was really, really good.
SPEAKER_02: And then I actually kind of had a breakdown moment because I thought, I don't know if I could do that every week.
SPEAKER_02: So that's real.
SPEAKER_02: That's real.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm in the story.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes, and this is important for you to hear, sometimes maybe we're not the synagogue leaders.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we actually get to be the Lord in the story.
SPEAKER_02: And notice the story uses the word, the Lord told them.
SPEAKER_02: Let me tell you how y'all were the Lord for me one time.
SPEAKER_02: Well, for about four years.
SPEAKER_02: Once upon a time, there was this little long red-haired girl who had played peekaboo with the parish under the Lord's table.
SPEAKER_02: And the priest thought this shouldn't happen, but by the grace of God, he didn't tell her to quit.
SPEAKER_02: And y'all were the Lord in the story because you said that little girl ought to be able to stand up or crouch down in the Lord's home.
SPEAKER_02: You said being interrupted by life is why we're here anyway.
SPEAKER_02: Even when that little girl climbs on top of my head.
SPEAKER_02: You see, it's cute when it's children.
SPEAKER_02: We get that.
SPEAKER_02: But I hear Jesus calling us to consider what if it is children?
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna say something I probably shouldn't right now.
SPEAKER_02: I've been talking to a couple of folks.
SPEAKER_02: I told you I probably shouldn't say this.
SPEAKER_02: What about gender transformation therapy?
SPEAKER_02: That seems real controversial nowadays.
SPEAKER_02: And what do you think about that?
SPEAKER_02: I got a lot of thoughts about everything.
SPEAKER_02: My wife tells me I've got this long book series in my home called My Opinion.
SPEAKER_02: It's in about 48 volumes.
SPEAKER_02: And by the grace of God, here's what I think.
SPEAKER_02: Those people, wherever they are, want to come to church and be nourished at God's table.
SPEAKER_02: I am not getting in their way.
SPEAKER_02: And you aren't either.
SPEAKER_02: Not while I'm here.
SPEAKER_02: They could be wrong.
SPEAKER_02: I could be wrong.
SPEAKER_02: All the more reason we come because of God's faith in us to this table, not because we've earned it.
SPEAKER_02: If you think somebody's wrong, they need the Lord's presence more than anybody.
SPEAKER_02: So why would we do anything else?
SPEAKER_02: Stand up straight in the house of the Lord, which, as we know, is the earth.
SPEAKER_02: Stand up straight at your home, because I don't know what you're going through, but I know you need grace.
SPEAKER_02: Stand up straight because most of us know the physical burdens hurt, but the suffering comes from the other kind.
SPEAKER_02: This is the Lord's challenge to us.
SPEAKER_02: What do you need to pluck up?
SPEAKER_02: To destroy, to overthrow, so that the gospel can be planted and cultivated and grown.
SPEAKER_02: I started out with Frederick Biener.
SPEAKER_02: He's got a couple, he's got I've got a page of options here.
SPEAKER_02: I'm not gonna read the whole page.
SPEAKER_02: Here is a lovely one that I find myself thinking about when I'm being the synagogue leader.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, I never like to think of myself as that role.
SPEAKER_02: I always like to be the good person.
SPEAKER_02: Of the seven daily sins, anger is possibly the most fun.
SPEAKER_02: To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontation still to come, or to the last toothsome morsel, both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back, in many ways, it is a feast fit for a king.
SPEAKER_02: The chief drawback is that what you are whoofing down is yourself.
SPEAKER_02: The skeleton at the feast is you.
SPEAKER_02: Now, I probably shouldn't say this again, but I'm going to anyway.
SPEAKER_02: There have been years in this parish where there were like five or six of us struggling beyond our means with children we found difficult.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, none of us would share that because we knew people might look at us funny.
SPEAKER_02: That's what it means to come in the door bent over.
SPEAKER_02: When somebody says, I'm struggling with my child, and you say, Well, have your tribe being stricter.
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to being the synagogue ruler.
SPEAKER_02: I'm talking to myself.
SPEAKER_02: Welcome to being the synagogue ruler instead of I hear your struggle, I hear your pain, you stand up in here.
SPEAKER_02: You stand up in here.
SPEAKER_02: See, we don't know how this lady's problem got started, but it probably got started with a little burden.
SPEAKER_02: That's how most of mine get started.
SPEAKER_02: And the gospel says when you see somebody with a little burden, let's see if we can't help them carry it before that burden starts to bend them over more and more.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes we're so bent over with our burdens, we don't even know what we'd do if we didn't have them.
SPEAKER_02: And it's a wild thing, isn't it, that we'll protect those burdens that are keeping us hunched over because we're scared of what other people will do if we don't.
SPEAKER_02: I might be the only person in the room that needs to hear these things.
SPEAKER_02: These things are the ministry to the nations that Jeremiah and you and I are called to proclaim on behalf of God.
SPEAKER_02: Let me help you stand up.
SPEAKER_02: Let me help you.
SPEAKER_02: I see you may not even want my help, that's okay.
SPEAKER_02: And this is where we use my favorite church strategy.
SPEAKER_02: Gentle pressure relentlessly applied.
SPEAKER_02: Well, there isn't anything else to say.
SPEAKER_02: So let's follow our Lord in the synagogue.
SPEAKER_02: And thanks be to God for the people who in our life said, Go ahead and stand up, brother.
SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and stand up, sister.
SPEAKER_02: Or at least if you can't, I'll hold you this week.
SPEAKER_02: Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed, and it's found on page three fifty-eight of your red prayer book.
SPEAKER_02: Page three hundred and fifty-eight.
SPEAKER_02: We believe in one God.
SPEAKER_02: The Father.
SPEAKER_05: Let us pray for the church and for the world.
SPEAKER_05: Grant, Almighty God, that all who confess your name may be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal your glory in the world.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, we pray for all who govern and hold authority in every nation, for the members of the armed forces throughout the world, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation, that we may use its resources rightly in the service of others, and to your honor and glory.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours, and grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as he loves us.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, lead our parish.
SPEAKER_05: Source of wisdom guide us.
SPEAKER_05: Source of strength support us.
SPEAKER_05: Source of love unify us, we pray.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, guide St.
SPEAKER_05: Thomas the Apostle's school, that those who teach and those who learn may rejoice in the knowledge of your truth, that we may teach our students to love whatever is just and true and good, and that we may be bearers of your grace to all who come through our doors.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, prayer.
SPEAKER_05: Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit.
SPEAKER_05: Give them courage and hope in their troubles, and bring them the joy of your salvation.
SPEAKER_05: Especially Chris, Jim, Patrick, Dorothy, Miriam, Sue, and Kevin.
SPEAKER_05: The congregation is invited to name celebrations or petitions silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, we commend to your mercy all who have died, especially Joe, Casey, and Frederick Wagner, that your will for them may be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_05: And we pray that we may share with all your saints in your eternal kingdom.
SPEAKER_05: Lord, in your compassion, hear our prayer.
SPEAKER_05: Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.
SPEAKER_05: Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.
SPEAKER_05: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Until we confess them, however, they are an abyss between us.
SPEAKER_02: When we confess them, they become the bridge.
SPEAKER_02: So let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_02: If you're new to this or haven't done this before, in the room right behind the one we're sitting in, we call it the Narthex, are these little cards that say welcome.
SPEAKER_02: And we'd be tremendously grateful if you could fill one of these out so we have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_02: And thanks for worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_02: There's a couple announcements I want to draw to your attention this morning, but the first one is I just forgot how I gave it this into the sermon, but I just want to tell you why I love Frederick Biekner one more time.
SPEAKER_02: I read this thing 20 years ago, and I had the devil of a time finding it, but I remembered the gist of it, and here it is.
SPEAKER_02: The best thing that could happen to your church is for it to burn to the ground, and for your fax and email machines to be burned up, and for your minister to be run over by a truck.
SPEAKER_02: So you have nothing left except each other and God.
SPEAKER_02: And then I say, if you want to know what the original church was like, go to an AA meeting where everybody's the same.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, now for some announcements.
SPEAKER_02: I by the way, don't prefer not to get run over by a truck.
SPEAKER_02: Um, couple things that are that are going on.
SPEAKER_02: So we just started, and this is a regular fixture on Tuesdays.
SPEAKER_02: Tuesday morning is a men's lectionary Bible study.
SPEAKER_02: So we read the scriptures for the coming Sunday, and we have time to kind of get invested in them.
SPEAKER_02: And I already mentioned why I love doing that, not only because I learn from doing it, because learning with other people builds some genuine connection.
SPEAKER_02: You might say that's early in the morning.
SPEAKER_02: Well, we pick that for people who have kids to bring to school, or breakfast to cook, or work to go to.
SPEAKER_02: So 6 to 7, you don't need an appointment, you just walk in and we're here.
SPEAKER_02: Um, and there's coffee available, and that'll be again this Tuesday, Tuesday morning.
SPEAKER_02: Um, we're also coming up on a couple of things that are starting programmatically.
SPEAKER_02: We usually get going really around Labor Day.
SPEAKER_02: So a couple of those.
SPEAKER_02: First is this tremendous opportunity to join the choir.
SPEAKER_02: And you can talk to Garmin about this, but he probably doesn't want me to say this, but I actually have pretty full confidence that Garmin's as good as it gets.
SPEAKER_02: I mean it.
SPEAKER_02: And if you don't, you haven't been here before.
SPEAKER_02: And so this is an opportunity not just for you, but to tell some folks who are interested in music good news.
SPEAKER_02: I got somebody who will teach it for free.
SPEAKER_02: And that's on Sunday mornings, and then to see we get to enjoy the fruits of that ministry.
SPEAKER_02: So maybe you're saying, Oh, I don't know if I can do this, but I'm interested.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, if he can't do it, nobody can, right?
SPEAKER_02: So uh talk to Gurman or I if you have interesting choir, that'll be starting up, like I said, in about three weeks.
SPEAKER_02: The other thing that's happening, normally, you know, we have these food distributions the first Saturday of the month.
SPEAKER_02: And I mentioned to you the last couple we did were kind of record-breaking for us.
SPEAKER_02: Like I think we did 800 people within two weeks.
SPEAKER_02: And uh because they're closed for Labor Day, they were not going to come at all in September, and I got us in trouble.
SPEAKER_02: I said, Well, we could do it a different day.
SPEAKER_02: There's enough people who need this.
SPEAKER_02: And they said, Okay, how about Wednesday, September 7th at 4 p.m.?
SPEAKER_02: So that's our next one.
SPEAKER_02: Wednesday, September 7th at 4 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to volunteer, you can show up at 3:30.
SPEAKER_02: You may say, I can't get over here from school till then.
SPEAKER_02: Come when you can if it works, and um we're gonna rely on our pool of volunteers and God's mercy uh to pull this thing off.
SPEAKER_02: So that's in about two weeks from Wednesday at 4 p.m.
SPEAKER_02: The other thing that's starting on September 7th, we kind of have a tradition here of doing long-term studies together on Wednesdays, and we're gonna be starting a long-term study on September 7th.
SPEAKER_02: Um, this is a series made by the United Methodist Publishing House, CM Ecumenical.
SPEAKER_02: It's called Christian Believer, and it goes through in 30 weeks different topics like sanctification, worship, discipleship, sacraments.
SPEAKER_02: In addition to reading a study manual and the Bible, it also has writings from early church leaders, people like Augustine or middle century St.
SPEAKER_02: Thomas, or people like Martin Luther.
SPEAKER_02: So it's sort of like a systematic theology, but hopefully not as boring as that was when I had it.
SPEAKER_02: So um we do this together at 9 on Wednesdays 9 to 10:30.
SPEAKER_02: And this is hybrid, which means people are on the screen and people are in the room.
SPEAKER_02: And uh we record these in case you're traveling.
SPEAKER_02: So if you have any interest, um please let me know.
SPEAKER_02: I'm happy to have you look through these and see if you think it's worth your time.
SPEAKER_02: And look, your time's the most precious thing you have.
SPEAKER_02: So if it's not gonna be life-giving, don't do it.
SPEAKER_02: Um, but if you're interested, let's let's talk some more.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, two other things I want to raise to your attention.
SPEAKER_02: One is that um September 24th, and I know this is a long way away, but um I want you to mark it because it's it's that good.
SPEAKER_02: How many of you have heard Ron McFarlane play before?
SPEAKER_02: Uh and I don't think any of you would say, don't come.
SPEAKER_02: Ron McFarlane is coming back in concert.
SPEAKER_02: He's a Grammy nominated Lutinist.
SPEAKER_02: I I wanted to call him a lout, but I don't think you're supposed to.
SPEAKER_02: Uh Ron McFarlane's amazing.
SPEAKER_02: And the concert he's going to bring here with a violist as well is a downtown concert that's right here for$10.
SPEAKER_02: So um it's so cheap and it's so good.
SPEAKER_02: I really want you to consider coming and inviting friends because the quality is impeccable.
SPEAKER_02: And what he does is he explains the instrument and where it came from and a little bit what's going on in this lovely way.
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad he's not a priest, or you'd call him.
SPEAKER_02: So um, September 24th, 7 to 8 is Ron McFarlane.
SPEAKER_02: And one last thing to name.
SPEAKER_02: Many of you know that Alex Hillis, our family minister, has just returned from paternity leave.
SPEAKER_02: Alex had a baby in June.
SPEAKER_02: Aidan is his son.
SPEAKER_02: And uh, we asked Alex, hey, can we throw you a shower?
SPEAKER_02: And he said, Well, we don't need, we don't really need stuff.
SPEAKER_02: But we don't treat our people that way.
SPEAKER_02: So I'm inviting you to join me in making a contribution to Aiden's College Fund.
SPEAKER_02: So Alex can get that started with a 529 plan or something like that.
SPEAKER_02: If you want to do it, you can put a check in the plate, and on the on the memo, you can write Aiden College or Alex's son, whatever you want to do.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, we'll pool that together and give Aiden a good start.
SPEAKER_02: Continue to walk in love.
SPEAKER_02: As Christ First Loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_02: And I forgot one more thing.
SPEAKER_02: Today is our sign-up for our Cub Scout, our Cub Scouts.
SPEAKER_02: This is Boys and Girls, right, who are running through Boy Scouts of America, soon to be Scouts of America.
SPEAKER_02: So that's today at four.
SPEAKER_02: And this is something you can share with the community.
SPEAKER_02: Of course, we have scout troops.
SPEAKER_02: These are the ones who earn Eagle awards.
SPEAKER_02: So there's a Boys Troop and a Girls Troop at St.
SPEAKER_02: Thomas, and we'll have our first Girl Eagle Scout in the next year, we think.
SPEAKER_02: And I can't tell you how happy I am that one of our members is bringing their Girl Scout troop here.
SPEAKER_02: And that's Val.
SPEAKER_02: So if you're interested, you can talk to Valerie Henson.
SPEAKER_02: If you're interested in knowing more about scouting, please let me know.
SPEAKER_02: But sign ups start today, and we're just so grateful here to support these families because it's family ministry.
SPEAKER_02: Scouts do things together outside in creation, and they learn about being respectful and reverent, and in that our mission too.
SPEAKER_02: So it's lovely to support scouts at St.
SPEAKER_02: Thomas, and again, the Cubs are signing up today at four.
SPEAKER_02: Okay, now walk in 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, 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 are already standing straight and you who are bent over by many burdens, come.
SPEAKER_02: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, but 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_01: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_01: Lift up your horse.
SPEAKER_04: We give them to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Let us give thy thanks to the Lord our call.
SPEAKER_04: It is right to give our thyes.
SPEAKER_02: It is right and a good and a joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
SPEAKER_02: For you are the source of light and life.
SPEAKER_02: You made us in your image and called us to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord, and therefore we praise you.
SPEAKER_02: 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 the calling of Israel to be your people, 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 had given thanks to you, he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_02: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_02: Do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_02: After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_02: And when he given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_02: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin.
SPEAKER_02: Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, according to his command, O Father, We remember his death.
SPEAKER_02: We proclaim his resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: 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, 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, in the fullness of time.
SPEAKER_02: Put all things in subjection under your Christ and bring us to that heavenly country where with Job, with Casey, with Frederick Beakner, 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: And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray, our Father, who art in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_02: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
SPEAKER_02: Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_02: For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, let us keep feast.
SPEAKER_02: These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God.
SPEAKER_02: Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02: Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that being the food of charity, it may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you and our neighbor through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Instructions for living a life.
SPEAKER_02: Pay attention.
SPEAKER_02: Be astonished.
SPEAKER_02: Tell about it.
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.