SPEAKER_06: Let's become Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_06: Almighty God.
SPEAKER_06: All the six of them.
SPEAKER_06: And from you know the secrets of him.
SPEAKER_06: Cleanse the philosophy of the hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_06: And we may perfectly love you.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
SPEAKER_06: This is the first and greatest commitment, and the second is like unto it.
SPEAKER_06: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
SPEAKER_06: On these two commitments hang all the law and the prophets.
SPEAKER_06: Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One, have compassion upon us.
SPEAKER_06: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_06: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_06: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you.
SPEAKER_06: Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel with Mr.
SPEAKER_06: Alex in the back.
SPEAKER_05: So dismayed were they at his presence.
SPEAKER_05: Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come closer to me.
SPEAKER_05: And they came closer.
SPEAKER_05: He said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
SPEAKER_05: And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.
SPEAKER_05: For God sent me before you to preserve life.
SPEAKER_05: For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
SPEAKER_05: God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.
SPEAKER_05: So it was not you who sent me here, but God.
SPEAKER_05: He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_05: Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt.
SPEAKER_05: Come down to me, do not delay.
SPEAKER_05: You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.
SPEAKER_05: I will provide for you there, since there are five more years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have will not come to poverty.
SPEAKER_05: And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them.
SPEAKER_05: And after that his brothers talked with him.
SPEAKER_05: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_05: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_05: The psalm today is Psalm 37.
SPEAKER_05: We will read responsibly by the half-verse.
SPEAKER_05: Do not fret yourself because of evildoers.
SPEAKER_05: Do not be jealous of those who do wrong, for they shall soon wither like the grass and like the green grass fade away.
SPEAKER_05: Put your trust in the Lord and do good.
SPEAKER_05: Dwell in the land and feed on its riches.
SPEAKER_05: Take delight in the Lord, who shall give you your heart's desire.
SPEAKER_05: Commit your way to the Lord, put your trust in the Lord, and we will bring it to pass.
SPEAKER_05: The Lord will make your righteousness as clear as the light, and your dealing as the moonday.
SPEAKER_05: Be still before the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: Wait patiently for the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers, the one who succeeds in evil schemes.
SPEAKER_05: Refrain from anger, leave rage alone.
SPEAKER_05: Do not offer yourself only to evil.
SPEAKER_05: For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land.
SPEAKER_05: In a little while the wicked shall be no more.
SPEAKER_05: You shall search out their place, but they will not be there.
SPEAKER_05: But the lowly shall possess the land.
SPEAKER_11: They will delight in the mountains of peace.
SPEAKER_05: But the deliverance of the righteous comes from the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: Who is their stronghold in times of trouble?
SPEAKER_05: The Lord will help them and rescue them.
SPEAKER_11: The Lord will rescue them from the wicked and deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: With what kind of a body do they come?
SPEAKER_00: Fool, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
SPEAKER_00: And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain.
SPEAKER_00: But God gives it a body, as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
SPEAKER_00: So it is with the resurrection of the dead.
SPEAKER_00: What is sown is perishable.
SPEAKER_00: What is raised is imperishable.
SPEAKER_00: It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory.
SPEAKER_00: It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
SPEAKER_00: It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body.
SPEAKER_00: If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
SPEAKER_00: Thus it is written the first man, Adam, became a living being.
SPEAKER_00: The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
SPEAKER_00: But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical and then the spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust.
SPEAKER_00: The second man is from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust.
SPEAKER_00: As is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
SPEAKER_00: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_06: Bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
SPEAKER_06: If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also.
SPEAKER_06: And from any one who takes away your coat, do not withhold even your shirt.
SPEAKER_06: Give to everyone who begs from you, and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
SPEAKER_06: Do to others as you would have them do to you.
SPEAKER_06: If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
SPEAKER_06: For even sinners love those who love them.
SPEAKER_06: If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?
SPEAKER_06: For even sinners do the same.
SPEAKER_06: If you lend to those whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you?
SPEAKER_06: Even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much again.
SPEAKER_06: But love your enemies.
SPEAKER_06: Do good and lend, expecting nothing in return.
SPEAKER_06: Your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High.
SPEAKER_06: For God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
SPEAKER_06: Be merciful, just as your father is merciful.
SPEAKER_06: Do not judge and you will not be judged.
SPEAKER_06: Do not condemn and you will not be condemned.
SPEAKER_06: Forgive and you will be forgiven.
SPEAKER_06: Give and it will be given to you.
SPEAKER_06: A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.
SPEAKER_06: For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
SPEAKER_06: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_06: Well, I want to start out by saying I think the gospel today is rife for abuse.
SPEAKER_06: And if you haven't heard what's called the prosperity gospel, let me just tell you what it is.
SPEAKER_06: The more you give to church, the more God will enrich you.
SPEAKER_06: So actually, giving money to church is a financial investment, and the more you give, the more you get.
SPEAKER_06: I mean, maybe that's true.
SPEAKER_06: I just don't think so.
SPEAKER_06: I don't think we give gifts so that we can be enriched.
SPEAKER_06: That's not called giving, that's called investing.
SPEAKER_06: A gift is something that once it leaves your hand is gone.
SPEAKER_06: So I want to encourage you actually to hear a different twist on what Jesus is saying here.
SPEAKER_06: Um, Jesus is telling us, look, all of us know how to behave with reciprocity.
SPEAKER_06: We all understand how to treat other people when we want something in return.
SPEAKER_06: We all understand that even when we're not in a great mood, it's helpful if you say hello to people in the morning because you would like them to do that for you later.
SPEAKER_06: And there is quite a bit of social expectation around things like manners.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus says everybody gets that.
SPEAKER_06: We get that it's important to drive the speed limit.
SPEAKER_06: We expect one another to do that in neighborhoods.
SPEAKER_06: We get that.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus is saying, though, go beyond that.
SPEAKER_06: I don't know what's going on with this.
SPEAKER_06: Jesus is encouraging us, I think, to go beyond that by loving people who are not worth loving.
SPEAKER_06: And I think he even calls into question, if we read this carefully, frankly, a deficient spirituality that I've lived into most of my life.
SPEAKER_06: And I want to say it this way: you better forgive or else.
SPEAKER_06: If you don't forgive, God will not forgive you.
SPEAKER_06: That's the whole system Jesus is calling into question.
SPEAKER_06: God loves greater than we love.
SPEAKER_06: So if you're worried that God will not forgive you, Jesus is trying to lay that aside.
SPEAKER_06: He's trying to encourage us to love the way God already loves us.
SPEAKER_06: God doesn't practice reciprocity, God practices grace.
SPEAKER_06: So what does it mean then that the way you judge is the way you'll be judged?
SPEAKER_06: Well, if you're like me, you're your harshest critic.
SPEAKER_06: You already are judged the way you judge.
SPEAKER_06: The things that you hate about other people are probably the things you're most afraid of in yourself.
SPEAKER_06: The things that you hate about yourself are probably the things that you transfer and project on other people.
SPEAKER_06: And particularly when we find ourselves in those moments, we're asked to step out of the system of reciprocity and live into generosity and grace.
SPEAKER_06: Nothing could be further from this still Jewish practice that we have we are a soul, we don't have one.
SPEAKER_06: We are a soul.
SPEAKER_06: The word soul is the amalgam of our being.
SPEAKER_06: It includes our body, our mind, our emotions, our spirit.
SPEAKER_06: So you don't have this, you are this.
SPEAKER_06: And I think what Paul is trying to get us to consider is we could choose to just live with our bodies, and we wouldn't really be living.
SPEAKER_06: We've got spirits and emotions and minds, and those are supposed to be engaged too.
SPEAKER_06: And sometimes engaging those parts of our being into generosity and grace feels like we're dying.
SPEAKER_06: Strictly speaking, Paul's wrong.
SPEAKER_06: When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't die.
SPEAKER_06: What happens is that protective shell, that armor, opens up.
SPEAKER_06: And I don't know if you ever tried laying your armor down with somebody you're not sure is worth it, it feels like dying.
SPEAKER_06: To open your armor.
SPEAKER_06: And I think this is what Paul is asking us to do, to not just live into armor.
SPEAKER_06: And it's scary growth, and it's painful growth.
SPEAKER_06: And loving somebody who has proven that they are not going to return our investment, it's a bad investment.
SPEAKER_06: And it's a great gift.
SPEAKER_06: And I'm so thankful that Jesus says I don't have to feel in love with my enemies.
SPEAKER_06: Because that would be beyond me.
SPEAKER_06: But what Jesus invites us to do is to practice love.
SPEAKER_06: Now you may find yourself like me saying, I just don't know if I could ever practice love with Osama bin Laden.
SPEAKER_06: And good news, you probably won't ever have to.
SPEAKER_06: For lots of reasons.
SPEAKER_06: You may say, I don't know if I could practice love with Vladimir Putin.
SPEAKER_06: And here's the good news, you probably don't have to.
SPEAKER_06: Sometimes I think we do ourselves a disservice by thinking of our enemy as somebody who wants to defeat our country instead of somebody who disagrees with us at a board meeting.
SPEAKER_06: Or somebody who has a different political bumper sticker on their car, or somebody who opposes playgrounds in our neighborhood.
SPEAKER_06: Good news.
SPEAKER_06: But if we want to love like God loves, we're invited to practice loving those people, especially when it's hard.
SPEAKER_06: Rife from this interpretation.
SPEAKER_06: This whole business about turn the other cheek and give your cloak away.
SPEAKER_06: And I'm indebted to New Testament scholar Walter Wink.
SPEAKER_06: He wrote a series of books beginning with naming the powers, confronting the powers, and transforming the powers, in which he does, I think, some pretty persuasive exegesis about this, in which he says that Jesus is not advocating pure pacifism.
SPEAKER_06: What he's advocating is nonviolent resistance.
SPEAKER_06: Now, this is true that both Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.
SPEAKER_06: drew inspiration for the nonviolent ways in which they resisted first the British Empire in India and civil rights in the South from this exact passage in Luke.
SPEAKER_06: I'm going to talk about them backward, or I don't think it'll be convincing.
SPEAKER_06: In the ancient world, it took like nine months to make a garment, nine months to produce wool and comb it and spin it.
SPEAKER_06: Most people had at most two garments.
SPEAKER_06: Nine months of production, that's a pretty valuable thing.
SPEAKER_06: Your clothes.
SPEAKER_06: You may say, Israel's high, like why do you need clothes?
SPEAKER_06: Because it's a desert like San Diego, and when the sun goes down, it gets cold.
SPEAKER_06: Now, you could owe folk money in the ancient world, and they could take your land.
SPEAKER_06: They could even take your outer clothes.
SPEAKER_06: Nine months of labor.
SPEAKER_06: What they weren't allowed to do was take your underwear, because then you would be utterly destitute and naked, which is against the Torah.
SPEAKER_06: You can't do that.
SPEAKER_06: So Luke says, if somebody is going to take your outer clothes, by the way, you're going to be cold at night.
SPEAKER_06: Go ahead and take your underwear off and give them your underwear too.
SPEAKER_06: Now that might sound a little bit nuts.
SPEAKER_06: You'll be exposed.
SPEAKER_06: The real question is though, are you going to be the one that's humiliated?
SPEAKER_06: Or are you going to draw attention that someone is literally making you an object of scorn to collect on debts?
SPEAKER_06: It would take a lot of courage to overpay on a debt.
SPEAKER_06: We all understand if you don't even have clothes, how are you going to work?
SPEAKER_06: To take away somebody's ability to work is to take away somebody's ability to pay.
SPEAKER_06: This is why we don't have debtors' prison anymore.
SPEAKER_06: We figured that part out at least.
SPEAKER_06: And Jesus says in the middle of an oppressive system, go the extra mile.
SPEAKER_06: Now, this bit about turning the other Cheek.
SPEAKER_06: I still think it's the case that the most pejorative way to strike someone is with the back of your hand.
SPEAKER_06: Walter Wink argues quite a bit that if you have to hit somebody with your fist or with your palm, that at least shows that they're an adversary worth fighting.
SPEAKER_06: But if somebody is beneath you, you can just smack them away.
SPEAKER_06: So if you're smacked and you turn the other cheek, now the person actually has to hit you.
SPEAKER_06: You may say, Mike, that doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_06: Stand alone, maybe not, but take it with the garment.
SPEAKER_06: When you turn the other cheek, the person has to either leave you alone or acknowledge you as a real opponent.
SPEAKER_06: Worth hitting.
SPEAKER_06: And just so you get the analog, there were a lot of folk that got sprayed with fire hoses.
SPEAKER_06: And they didn't stay on the ground.
SPEAKER_06: They got back up on national TV.
SPEAKER_06: And people in Mississippi, people in California, and people in New York watched them get sprayed again and again.
SPEAKER_06: And they said what your heart would tell you how can you hit somebody over and over again that is not hitting back?
SPEAKER_06: Gandhi actually said that it takes more courage to behave this way than it does to hit back.
SPEAKER_06: But Gandhi said something else that this is not just some tactic.
SPEAKER_06: It's not a chess move so you can get what you want.
SPEAKER_06: He says it only works actually if you're able to love the officer holding the hose.
SPEAKER_06: Otherwise, and you heard this in the collect today, even the cleverest way of nonviolent resistance for the best possible cause is dead.
SPEAKER_06: And I think the reason that's so difficult for me is because I judge myself pretty harshly.
SPEAKER_06: When I see people who are not living into my values, well, it's because they're enemies.
SPEAKER_06: It's because they're wrong.
SPEAKER_06: I mean, if I thought they're if I thought they were right, I'd change my mind.
SPEAKER_06: Isn't that the point?
SPEAKER_06: And this happens, remind you, in the middle of what is unique to Luke.
SPEAKER_06: You see, in Matthew, Jesus gives the sermon on the mount, but here in Luke, Jesus gives the sermon on the plain.
SPEAKER_06: And I think one way of seeing the whole gospel of Luke is Jesus inviting us into a radical way that God already lives, which is living coplanar with one another.
SPEAKER_06: Usually, when I look at somebody, instead of the word enemy, I don't usually think you're my enemy.
SPEAKER_06: I just think you live in a different universe.
SPEAKER_06: You're on a different planet.
SPEAKER_06: The Gospel of Luke is about us living on the same planet.
SPEAKER_06: It's about us being coplanar with one another.
SPEAKER_06: Once I think you live on a different planet, I'm better than you.
SPEAKER_06: And what Jesus says here is everybody already does that.
SPEAKER_06: So if you want to be like God, if you want to be like God, you need to live on the plane.
SPEAKER_06: We already know how to live the other way.
SPEAKER_06: And there's this Joseph story that's great.
SPEAKER_06: Many of you know the Joseph story.
SPEAKER_06: Maybe you saw it from Andrew Lloyd Weber.
SPEAKER_06: It's a pretty good, pretty good representation of it, right?
SPEAKER_06: And um, you know, I grew up in Sunday school that Joseph is this really great guy, and and he does all this stuff to test his brothers, to see if they've changed, and I don't even think that anymore.
SPEAKER_06: I think Joseph has carefully plotted his revenge for years.
SPEAKER_06: He has put his brother Shimon in prison for a couple of years.
SPEAKER_06: He sprung the trap on his brother being Yamen.
SPEAKER_06: He is going to get even with his brothers, who are his enemies.
SPEAKER_06: They sold him into slavery, they faked his death.
SPEAKER_06: Actually, if you look at what Joseph says, he hasn't even changed that much.
SPEAKER_06: He was a braggart when he was a kid, and he's a braggart when he's an adult.
SPEAKER_06: He says, I'm the Lord of Egypt.
SPEAKER_06: Um, that's Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_06: But in this moment in which he can execute every single one of his brothers and crush his father's spirit for the way he was mistreated, I put to you that Joseph does this thing that is our opportunity.
SPEAKER_06: He chooses to practice righteousness instead of just being right.
SPEAKER_06: Joseph is right.
SPEAKER_06: His brothers were unjust.
SPEAKER_06: Sure, maybe he was a bragger, but that doesn't deserve you being thrown in a pit and sold into slavery.
SPEAKER_06: He has a just cause.
SPEAKER_06: He's gonna practice reciprocity.
SPEAKER_06: He threw his brother in jail.
SPEAKER_06: He might throw all of them in jail.
SPEAKER_06: But then he chooses to do something his brothers cannot repay.
SPEAKER_06: They will never be able to repay him at this point.
SPEAKER_06: And Luke goes on to talk about how giving things to people who can't repay you is a great practice for learning how to live with people who can.
SPEAKER_06: When somebody can't repay you, you get it's not an investment, it's a gift.
SPEAKER_06: And if we could give to people who can, instead of practicing exchanges, well then maybe we'd just be starting to behave a little more like God.
SPEAKER_06: Now it is often in front of me that I can be right.
SPEAKER_06: Or I can practice righteousness.
SPEAKER_06: And God help me, I often pick to be right.
SPEAKER_06: And Jesus says, that's normal.
SPEAKER_06: It's just not the way God behaves.
SPEAKER_06: I'm taking this little workshop on nonviolent communication.
SPEAKER_06: I've talked to you about it before.
SPEAKER_06: And uh, in nonviolent communication, what we're asked to do is meet people with empathy instead of what are called other conversational responses.
SPEAKER_06: Other conversational responses include advice giving.
SPEAKER_06: Cheerleading, like you go, girl.
SPEAKER_06: Criticism or devil's advocate, well, yeah, I know, I know he was rude to you, but your lipstick was on wrong.
SPEAKER_06: You know, like this sort of thing.
SPEAKER_06: I said, you know, I probably need to talk to my therapist about this, but um, could you tell me what happens if we've grown up thinking that the way we make connection is advice giving?
SPEAKER_06: Part of my origin story is that's how I learned to practice what I consider empathy.
SPEAKER_06: It's not, right?
SPEAKER_06: Is the way I connect with people is I give advice.
SPEAKER_06: People tell me the problems because they want me to fix them.
SPEAKER_06: So how is it that I go to practice empathy instead of advice giving?
SPEAKER_06: And the lady said, well, yeah, you probably do want to work with your therapist on that.
SPEAKER_06: But I could tell you maybe the thing that you need to work on, or that you not need to, that you might be invited to work on, is in those moments when you want to go to advice giving.
SPEAKER_06: How about you offer yourself some empathy?
SPEAKER_06: Why do you need to fix that other person's problem?
SPEAKER_06: Why can't you just sit with it?
SPEAKER_06: Why do I need to do that?
SPEAKER_06: Why do I need to answer somebody instead of understand them?
SPEAKER_06: This I think takes us back to this part that the way we judge is the way we're already judging ourselves.
SPEAKER_06: The truth is, no matter what's broken in your life, you're not broken.
SPEAKER_06: You're not broken.
SPEAKER_06: Even if you got brokenness.
SPEAKER_06: And if we judge ourselves as broken, we got a world of enemies out there.
SPEAKER_06: A world of enemies.
SPEAKER_06: And if I can be curious when I judge myself, where is that coming from?
SPEAKER_06: Why do you have to be perfect?
SPEAKER_06: Why do you have to be?
SPEAKER_06: If I could be curious with myself, then maybe I could be curious with that person that disagrees about what color carpet we should have.
SPEAKER_06: Because to be honest, those are the enemies you're going to run into.
SPEAKER_06: Not the ones with the nuclear weapons, the ones who like different colors.
SPEAKER_06: The ones who check different boxes when they go to the polls.
SPEAKER_06: Perhaps they are my enemy because they think I am a savage.
SPEAKER_06: Or perhaps they're afraid of me because they think I'm afraid of them.
SPEAKER_06: And perhaps if they believed I were capable of loving them, they would no longer be my enemy.
SPEAKER_06: So Lord help me not to be too quick to assume my enemy is a savage just because they're my enemy.
SPEAKER_06: Lord help me not to be too quick to assume my enemy is an enemy of God just because they are my enemy.
SPEAKER_06: Perhaps they are my enemy because they can find nothing in me that gives glory to God.
SPEAKER_06: Perhaps they fear me because they can find nothing in me of God's love and God's kindness and God's patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of people.
SPEAKER_06: So, Lord, help me not to be too quick to assume that my enemy is an enemy of God just because they are my enemy.
SPEAKER_06: Lord, help me not to be too quick to condemn those who no longer believe in God.
SPEAKER_06: For it is perhaps my own coldness and avarice, my mediocrity and materialism, my sensuality and selfishness that have killed their faith.
SPEAKER_06: Lord help me not to be too quick to condemn those who no longer believe in God.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: We believe in one God, the Father being all the same.
SPEAKER_11: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_11: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord given of the life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_11: With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified.
SPEAKER_11: He is spoken through the prophets.
SPEAKER_11: We believe in one Holy Father and the Mistolic Church.
SPEAKER_11: We acknowledge one baptism of the women of the sins.
SPEAKER_13: We believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
SPEAKER_13: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: For the holy church of God, that it may be filled with truth and love and be found without fault at the day of your coming.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_04: For all the holy people of God, for all the bishops and other ministers, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kai, our bishops in the Diocene cycle of prayer, St.
SPEAKER_04: Luke's on the lake in Austin, St.
SPEAKER_04: Mark's in Austin, and St.
SPEAKER_04: Mary Magdalene Manor.
SPEAKER_04: For Michael, our presiding bishop, for Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and the priests in our community, we pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_12: Lord have compassion.
SPEAKER_04: For all who fear God and believe in you, Lord Christ, that our divisions may cease and that all may be one as you and the Father are one.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_12: Lord have compassion.
SPEAKER_04: For the mission of the church, that in the faithful witness it may preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
unknown: Lord have compassion.
SPEAKER_04: For the peace of the world, that a spirit of respect and forbearance may grow among the nations and the peoples.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
unknown: Lord have compassion.
SPEAKER_04: For those in positions of public trust, especially Joe, our president, and Greg, our governor, that they may serve justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_12: Lord have compassion.
SPEAKER_04: For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer, for refugees, for prisoners, and all who are in danger, that they may be relieved and protected.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Lord have compassion.
SPEAKER_04: For this congregation, that we may be delivered from hardness of heart and show forth your glory in all that we do, we pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Lord, have compassion, for our enemies and those who wish us harm, and for all whom we have injured or offended, for ourselves, for the forgiveness of our sins, and for the grace of the Holy Spirit to amend our lives, we pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_04: For all who have condemned themselves to our prayers, for our families, friends, and neighbors, especially Chris, Ken, Nancy, Amber, Christina, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_04: For all who have died in the communion of your church, and those whose faith is known to you alone, that with all the saints they may have rest in that place where there is no pain or grief, but life eternal.
SPEAKER_04: We pray to you, O Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Rejoicing in the fellowship of all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and all our life to Christ our God.
SPEAKER_04: To you, O Lord, our Lord.
SPEAKER_04: For yours is the majesty, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_04: Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory now and forever.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: Small oversight.
SPEAKER_06: We've already prayed for forgiveness of our sins and grace of the Holy Spirit, and I think God heard us the first time.
SPEAKER_06: So let's stand in the assurance that God has already done that for us.
SPEAKER_06: The peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_06: A couple announcements I want to draw to your attention.
SPEAKER_06: Another thing you'll find in the Narthix this morning are flower charts.
SPEAKER_06: That's because as the pandemic is easing up a little bit, we would like to go back to our ancient practice.
SPEAKER_06: Really, it's a lovely traditional practice of having fresh flowers each Sunday.
SPEAKER_06: Usually those are done in remembrance of in celebration or thanksgiving for a particular person or anniversary.
SPEAKER_06: And at the end of the Sunday services either go home with you or they go to somebody who is either homebound or in need of a visible sign of God's love.
SPEAKER_06: Now, we're doing these plants through Lent.
SPEAKER_06: Our practice in Lent is that we don't do flowers, and so we're going to begin this ministry anew on the second Sunday of Easter, which is like April the 24th.
SPEAKER_06: And so Stacy will be in the Narthex to do signups and give you more information.
SPEAKER_06: But again, it's a lovely way not only of having beauty in the sanctuary, but sharing that beauty with people who frankly could use a little more beauty in their lives.
SPEAKER_06: We haven't done this for a couple of years, but there's a group called the United Thank Offering.
SPEAKER_06: And the UTO, United Thank Offering, has been sponsoring Navajo Nation for a number of years now, exclusively.
SPEAKER_06: That's where the United Thank Offering goes to help particularly women and children in churches in Navajo Nation.
SPEAKER_06: I don't know if you've been, it's beautiful and it's poor.
SPEAKER_06: Like abject poverty in Navajo Nation.
SPEAKER_06: And the way they encourage us to do it is by taking one of these little boxes.
SPEAKER_06: And this can happen year-round, but it occurs to me that it has a double opportunity in length.
SPEAKER_06: These little boxes are an opportunity for us to do a collection.
SPEAKER_06: And particularly a way of living into gratitude and celebration is at the end of the day or at the end of the week, making a donation to this box as you remember the grace that has been given to you throughout the day or the week or the month.
SPEAKER_06: And it's a symbol of our gratitude that we pay it on to other people.
SPEAKER_06: Another way that this works sometimes in Lent is that people choose to forego eating out.
SPEAKER_06: And they take the money they would have spent and they put it in this box, right?
SPEAKER_06: So you give something up so that somebody else can have something.
SPEAKER_06: But these boxes are out in the Narthex, and we'll collect them on Easter, and it'll be Father Jim blessing them, and then we send everything to UTO to help people.
SPEAKER_06: Uh in Navajo Nation.
SPEAKER_06: So if that appeals to you or if it's a spirituality you'd like to try on, you'll find the UTO box in the Narthax.
SPEAKER_06: Okay, a couple other things that are coming up that are good to be mindful of next Sunday.
SPEAKER_06: That'll be the 27th.
SPEAKER_06: There's an ECW meeting at noon.
SPEAKER_06: So that'll be a little bit after the service here in Kristall, ECW's Episcopal Church Women.
SPEAKER_06: So it's really for anybody.
SPEAKER_06: It's okay if you've never been before or you're not sure you remember, you're cordially invited to attend.
SPEAKER_06: That'll be at noon next week.
SPEAKER_06: We are getting close to Lent.
SPEAKER_06: And so what we're going to offer this year on Trove Tuesday, that's March the 1st, we are going to offer sort of a gourmet pancake bar.
SPEAKER_06: So it's breakfast for dinner.
SPEAKER_06: That's because that was the way people used up their rich ingredients in medieval times before they had to fast.
SPEAKER_06: But these won't be regular pancakes.
SPEAKER_06: There'll be a couple different kinds.
SPEAKER_06: We always do things, I think, pretty well here.
SPEAKER_06: That'll be in the evening on March 1st.
SPEAKER_06: And the spiritual opportunity we'll have is burning of the palms.
SPEAKER_06: So last year we had palms on Palm Sunday to celebrate the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_06: And part of what we do in Lent, we for Ash Wednesday, we burn the palms to use the ashes that we make as signs of repentance.
SPEAKER_06: We'll have this opportunity to say, you know, God, there's habits in our life that aren't going anywhere, and we'd be real grateful if you'd destroy those.
SPEAKER_06: And we'd like to participate with you.
SPEAKER_06: And so this is the spirit in which we burn those palms, right?
SPEAKER_06: We know that there's parts of ourselves that aren't going anywhere, and we can do something about it.
SPEAKER_06: So that's what we'll do spiritually, and then we'll eat some pancakes on Strove Tuesday.
SPEAKER_06: The next day, that's March 2nd, is called Ash Wednesday.
SPEAKER_06: And we have four opportunities for worship that day.
SPEAKER_06: And I have to tell you, my favorite is 645 in the morning because you get to wear this thing all day.
SPEAKER_06: The reason I'm a big fan of that is because people can say, What's that on your head?
SPEAKER_06: And you can say, God has more in store for my life than I'm living, and I'd like to do something about it.
SPEAKER_06: 645.
SPEAKER_06: You can join our day school children at 8.15.
SPEAKER_06: We do have a drive-thru right out here in the circular driveway from 11.30 to 1.30.
SPEAKER_06: All of these include the Eucharist, by the way, so that you can be nourished for your Lenten journey.
SPEAKER_06: And then at 6 p.m., we'll have a service with our choir.
SPEAKER_06: So if you come at 6 45, there'll be no music.
SPEAKER_06: If you come at 8 15, you'll have some of our children's uh hymns that we sing together.
SPEAKER_06: If you come through the drive-thru, turn your radio on.
SPEAKER_06: And if you come at 6 o'clock, you'll have the choir.
SPEAKER_06: And that's how we'll start preparations for Lent.
SPEAKER_06: Reminder that Lent is meant to put us in the spirit to receive resurrection from Jesus.
SPEAKER_06: We return to it every year because we always need to make more room so that we can bear more fruit of joy for the world.
SPEAKER_06: Last thing to put on your calendar is that March the 5th, so that's two weeks from yesterday, we're going to have two opportunities for service.
SPEAKER_06: The first is our fresh food distribution at 7.45 in the morning, always done by 9.30.
SPEAKER_06: And then immediately following that, we're kind of concurrent with that, is our spring clean.
SPEAKER_06: And so this is an opportunity to do some volunteer jobs to spruce up our grounds and keep us looking good.
SPEAKER_06: That might even involve clipping old dead palm branches in the spirit of land so that our greenery can be more inviting and life-giving.
SPEAKER_06: And so Hermmeyer's the guy to talk to if you've got questions about that.
SPEAKER_06: But there's really projects for all levels that can really uh help us be good stewards of our property and extend our invitation to the community.
SPEAKER_06: The last thing I am going to bid you to do as a parish, there's a name on our prayer list, Christina.
SPEAKER_06: She's the director of admissions at our school, and I bid your prayers for her because she's at the age of 32 been diagnosed with a tough case of breast cancer.
SPEAKER_06: She has a two-year-old and a five-year-old, and the treatment is going to look like 18 months minimum.
SPEAKER_06: So please, I bid your prayers for Christina, and I share this with her permission.
SPEAKER_06: But Christina again works at our school, and she's not going to be able to work for some time because of the treatment that she's going to have to undergo.
SPEAKER_06: So please do hold her uh Christina and her family and your thoughts and prayers.
SPEAKER_06: Continue to walk in love.
SPEAKER_06: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_06: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_06: So come.
SPEAKER_06: You who have much faith and you who have little.
SPEAKER_06: You who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_06: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_06: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_07: The Lord be he with you.
SPEAKER_03: And also let us give things to the Lord are gone.
SPEAKER_06: It is very meet right in our bound in duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God.
SPEAKER_06: Because in the mystery of the word made flesh, thou hast caused a new light to shine in our hearts, to give the knowledge of thy glory in the face of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_06: Therefore, with angels and archangels, with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna and the highest.
SPEAKER_06: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.
SPEAKER_06: All glory be to thee, O Lord our God, for that thou didst create heaven and earth and didst make us in thine own image.
SPEAKER_06: 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_06: He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command is to continue a perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.
SPEAKER_06: For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread.
SPEAKER_06: And when he given thanks to thee, he broke it, gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_06: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_06: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_06: Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_06: And when he had given thanks to God, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_06: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the remission of sin.
SPEAKER_06: Do this as oft as you shall drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_06: 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, in looking for his coming again with power and great glory.
SPEAKER_06: 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_06: 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_06: Grant we beseech 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_06: And also that we in 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_06: By whom and with whom and in whom.
SPEAKER_06: In the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: And now as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray.
SPEAKER_06: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_06: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
SPEAKER_06: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_06: For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God.
SPEAKER_06: Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_02: One church unit bless.
SPEAKER_02: One name we beg one life we pray with all thy saints on earth and saints and each other.
SPEAKER_06: Faithful God, in the wonder of your wisdom and love, you fed your people in the wilderness with the bread of angels, and you sent Jesus to be the bread of life.
SPEAKER_06: We thank you for feeding us with this bread.
SPEAKER_06: May it strengthen us that by the power of the Holy Spirit we may embody your desire and be renewed for your service through Jesus Christ our Savior.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: May Christ the Son of God be manifest in you, that your lives may be a visible light to the world.
SPEAKER_06: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and remain with you always.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Do you guys refill these cables too?
SPEAKER_01: Do you refill these candles?
unknown: They fell off.
SPEAKER_12: So I don't know if they are when they didn't.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they're talking about it.
unknown: I don't know.