unknown: Standing still, and we shall see the salvation of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Tomorrow, I'm willing with you.
SPEAKER_09: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_09: Tomorrow.
SPEAKER_11: Come and gather, O people of God.
SPEAKER_11: We await the word who will lead all nations.
SPEAKER_04: We await the one who will guide us in peace.
SPEAKER_11: Let us in peace kindle the light of the Lord.
SPEAKER_11: As we continue in this advent season, we open all the dark places in our lives and memories to the healing light of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: Show us the creative power of peace.
SPEAKER_04: Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you that we may walk in the light of our hearts.
SPEAKER_11: Today is, of course, also still the sixth day of Hanukkah.
SPEAKER_11: It will be the seventh day this evening.
SPEAKER_11: So we will bite the Khanak here.
SPEAKER_11: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03: Blessed be God family, now and forever.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_04: Almighty God, under whom all hearts are open, all the fairs are open, and from whom no secrets are hidden.
SPEAKER_04: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy name through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_11: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: 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_11: This is the first and greatest commitment.
SPEAKER_11: And the second is like unto it.
SPEAKER_11: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
SPEAKER_11: On these two commitments hang all the law and the prophets.
SPEAKER_11: Holy God, holy and mighty, holy immortal one, have compassion upon us.
SPEAKER_11: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_03: And let us pray.
SPEAKER_11: Merciful God, who sent your messengers, the prophets, to teach repentance, and prepare the way for our salvation.
SPEAKER_11: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sin, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_11: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: As you're being seated, children are invited to children's chapter or with this.
SPEAKER_08: Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.
SPEAKER_08: Put on the robe of righteousness that comes from God.
SPEAKER_08: And put on your head the diadem of the glory of the everlasting.
SPEAKER_08: For God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.
SPEAKER_08: For God will give you evermore the name of righteous peace of godly glory.
SPEAKER_08: Arise, O Jerusalem, stand up upon the height, look toward the east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them.
SPEAKER_08: For they went out from you on foot, led away by their enemies.
SPEAKER_08: But God will bring them back to you carrying glory as on a royal throne.
SPEAKER_08: For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills shall be made low, and the valleys filled up to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.
SPEAKER_08: The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God's command.
SPEAKER_08: For God will lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from him, and hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_05: The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: With righteousness he shall judge the law.
SPEAKER_05: And decide with equity for the meat of the earth.
SPEAKER_05: The wolf shall live with the lamb.
SPEAKER_05: The leopard shall lie down with the king.
SPEAKER_05: The calf and the lion and the cowling together.
SPEAKER_05: And the little child shall leave.
SPEAKER_05: The cow and the bear shall graze.
SPEAKER_05: The young shall lie down together.
SPEAKER_05: And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
SPEAKER_05: The nursing child shall play over the all of the owl.
SPEAKER_05: And the winged child shall put its hand on the idol's death.
SPEAKER_05: They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.
SPEAKER_05: For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord.
SPEAKER_05: As the waters cover the sea.
SPEAKER_05: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_11: Please join me as we read Canticle 16, the Psalm of Zechariah, responsibly by the half-bird.
SPEAKER_11: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel.
SPEAKER_11: God has raised up for us a mighty Savior.
SPEAKER_11: Through the Holy Prophet's promised of old that God would save us from our enemies.
SPEAKER_03: From the hands of all us.
SPEAKER_11: God promised to show mercy to our parents.
SPEAKER_04: And to remember the holy covenant.
SPEAKER_11: This was the oath God swore to Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah.
SPEAKER_11: Free to worship God without fear.
SPEAKER_11: You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High.
SPEAKER_03: For you will go before the Lord to prepare the way.
SPEAKER_11: To give people knowledge of salvation.
SPEAKER_04: By the forgiveness of their sins.
SPEAKER_11: In the tender compassion of our God.
SPEAKER_11: Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_03: As it was in the beginning, it is now and will be forever.
SPEAKER_06: Those who lived in a land of deep darkness, a light has shine.
SPEAKER_06: Authority rests upon his shoulders.
SPEAKER_06: And he is named wonderful counselor, almighty God, everlasting God, the Prince of Peace.
SPEAKER_06: His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.
SPEAKER_06: He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.
SPEAKER_06: The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
SPEAKER_06: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_00: Because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.
SPEAKER_00: I am confident of this.
SPEAKER_00: That the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: For all of you sharing God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For God is my witness.
SPEAKER_00: How I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And this is my prayer.
SPEAKER_00: That your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best.
SPEAKER_00: So that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.
SPEAKER_00: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_01: In hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
SPEAKER_01: We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.
SPEAKER_01: And not only the creation, but we ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: We have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly while we await for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
SPEAKER_01: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
SPEAKER_11: The Holy Gospel is our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Luke.
SPEAKER_11: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pirate was governor of Judea and Herod was brother of Galilee, and his brother Philip, ruler of the region of Iturae and Trachonidas, and Lysanius brother of Abilene.
SPEAKER_11: During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
SPEAKER_11: He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_11: The voice of one crying out in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.
SPEAKER_11: Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
SPEAKER_11: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_11: Please be saved.
SPEAKER_11: Alright, so I gotta warn you, there's a lot to do today.
SPEAKER_11: It's lessons and carols, it's admin too.
SPEAKER_11: And we live to Hanukkah, which means I better talk about it.
SPEAKER_11: So let's start there.
SPEAKER_11: This is the sixth day of Chanukkah, and our Jewish brothers and sisters begin time in the evening.
SPEAKER_11: So actually the seventh day, not the seventh evening.
SPEAKER_11: The seventh day of Chanukkah begins tonight when you can see three stars in the sky.
SPEAKER_11: And tomorrow night will be the eighth day of Chanukkah.
SPEAKER_11: Many people didn't realize this is not a menorah.
SPEAKER_11: A menorah holds seven candles and it belongs at a synagogue or a temple.
SPEAKER_11: This is called a chanukia, because it goes with chanukah.
SPEAKER_11: You see that there are nine.
SPEAKER_11: The one in the middle is called the Shamesh, and you use it to light the other eight.
SPEAKER_11: The story of Chanukkah, really briefly, because a lot of people then uh don't know it, is that once upon a time there was an overzealous Greek tyrant called Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
SPEAKER_11: So he decided that the Greek way of life was superior to any other way of life on the planet, and he made practicing indigenous Hebrew religion punishable by death.
SPEAKER_11: So if you had a piece of the Torah, it was burned along with you.
SPEAKER_11: If you circumcised your children, you wore them on your neck until you were killed the next day.
SPEAKER_11: And Antiochus did what the book of Daniel calls the abomination that causes desolation.
SPEAKER_11: He sacrificed a pig to the god Zeus in the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem Temple.
SPEAKER_11: Around 169 BCE, all of this happened, and our Jewish brothers and sisters decided they had had enough of the sacrilege, that is profaning sacred things.
SPEAKER_11: And so they mounted a guerrilla-style rebellion.
SPEAKER_11: Think about the way George Washington fought the British.
SPEAKER_11: Not face to face, they had a lost.
SPEAKER_11: Hit and run, fly by night.
SPEAKER_11: They actually were successful in the year 167.
SPEAKER_11: They were closing in on the holy city of Jerusalem and the temple, and they were hoping to celebrate one of the high holy festivals called Tabernacles or Booth.
SPEAKER_11: In Hebrew, this is the word Sukkot.
SPEAKER_11: It's an eight-day celebration.
SPEAKER_11: They wanted to do it in the temple in September when you're meant to do it.
SPEAKER_11: They didn't get into Jerusalem until December.
SPEAKER_11: So they had Sukkot two months late.
SPEAKER_11: That's all Hanukkah is.
SPEAKER_11: Two months late.
SPEAKER_11: The bit about the candles is it takes some time to consecrate oil.
SPEAKER_11: Like seven days.
SPEAKER_11: When they got to the temple, they had to re-purify it because it had been defiled, and there was only enough sacred oil for one day, and it took seven days to make more, you see.
SPEAKER_11: So the oil for one day lasted eight, during which time they were able to consecrate more oil.
SPEAKER_11: So this is the festival of lights.
SPEAKER_11: Our Jewish brothers and sisters put this in their window to show a little bit of light.
SPEAKER_11: Goes a long way with God.
SPEAKER_11: I'm convinced the Advent wreath comes from the Hanukkah.
SPEAKER_11: And here we are in Advent.
SPEAKER_11: Last week we lit the candle of hope.
SPEAKER_11: Of course, there's this funny thing we do in English.
SPEAKER_11: English has more words than pretty much any language in the world, 540,000.
SPEAKER_11: Hebrew has 10,000 words.
SPEAKER_11: And yet we often find ourselves using words interchangeably like wishing and hoping, which have nothing to do with each other.
SPEAKER_11: Usually we say, man, I hope the sermon's short today.
SPEAKER_11: What we really mean is I wish it will be short.
SPEAKER_11: I wish it would cool off outside.
SPEAKER_11: That would be the proper word.
SPEAKER_11: We can't hope it's going to cool off.
SPEAKER_11: Let me tell you why.
SPEAKER_11: We can't do anything about it.
SPEAKER_11: Wishing is passive, hope is active.
SPEAKER_11: Hope is sort of like setting a smart goal, confident that God can do more than we can ask or imagine.
SPEAKER_11: I wish people would be kind, but Advent invites us to hope we will be kind.
SPEAKER_11: You hear the difference?
SPEAKER_11: I hope we will be kind.
SPEAKER_11: Which means I better practice that with my family and my friends and the people I don't like.
SPEAKER_11: Quite honestly, the way Advent works, we were confronted with a lot of problems on Christ the King Sunday.
SPEAKER_11: Hope reminds us we often hope for the wrong things.
SPEAKER_11: We hope people will just leave us alone with their cockamamey schemes instead of hoping for the church to be one body on earth as if we'll be in heaven.
SPEAKER_11: We hope people will vote the way we do instead of hoping we can have meaningful dialogue with people who disagree.
SPEAKER_11: Maybe you don't need more hope.
SPEAKER_11: But I think we all need real hope.
SPEAKER_11: Today we like the candle of peace.
SPEAKER_11: And you know one of the great things about having a day school here at St.
SPEAKER_11: Thomas is that children say the most delightful turns of phrase.
SPEAKER_11: So five years ago I asked kids what is peace, and somebody very eagerly raised her hand in the second grade and said, Peace is what you have after you step on a cockroach.
SPEAKER_11: Until you realize that your shoe is going to spread their eggs all over the house.
SPEAKER_11: To be honest, most teachers I know, and when I'm talking to young kids, when we use the word peace, what we really mean is quiet.
SPEAKER_11: Give me some peace, sometimes and quiet, as if those are synonyms, and I'd like to remind you that quiet has nothing to do with peace.
SPEAKER_11: We celebrate this song every Christmas Eve, Silent Night, which is not about the baby Jesus.
SPEAKER_11: It's about an organ that lost power in Bavaria, so they had to use a guitar.
SPEAKER_11: The worst thing that can happen in the delivery room is the baby is silent.
SPEAKER_11: We're reminded that babies make noise because they're alive.
SPEAKER_11: And that peace is about life.
SPEAKER_11: Now our kids are really good.
SPEAKER_11: You say to a kid, what's the opposite of tall?
SPEAKER_11: And they know it's short.
SPEAKER_11: You say, what's the opposite of fat?
SPEAKER_11: And they say thin.
SPEAKER_11: And all of you know the opposite of war is peace.
SPEAKER_11: But of course, what happens in war is my way over yours, collateral damage, destruction.
SPEAKER_11: Which means the opposite of those is not quiet.
SPEAKER_11: The opposite of those is reconciliation.
SPEAKER_11: The opposite of those is creation.
SPEAKER_11: The opposite of those, instead of my way over yours, is finding a way to walk together.
SPEAKER_11: That's the peace we're invited to in Advent, which quite honestly, most of the time I only am the one.
SPEAKER_11: I'd be happy if you just leave me alone.
SPEAKER_11: And we come into church so God can say, hope for something bigger than that.
SPEAKER_11: Peace shall be bigger than that.
SPEAKER_11: I'm going to tell you, if you've been to Lessons and Carols before, I changed the readings.
SPEAKER_11: You probably noticed that.
SPEAKER_11: That's because the readings today are reflecting that this isn't just about us, the earth itself is hoping for peace.
SPEAKER_11: Hoping for peace.
SPEAKER_11: Creation is hoping to be set free from the bondage of the junk we settle for because it's easy and convenient and not right.
SPEAKER_11: And we get this image that is so much deeper than anything I can come up with that I've decided it must be right from Isaiah.
SPEAKER_11: It's crazy.
SPEAKER_11: It's in that window over there, too.
SPEAKER_11: See over there on that door, there's the Greek letter omega right under the exit sign.
SPEAKER_11: And in a circle, that's called a rose window.
SPEAKER_11: You see the red bits, they're roses, and in between, uh on the outside of the roses, those little blue circles, they show you in constellar form what the prophet Isaiah wrote.
SPEAKER_11: Here's a different uh expression of it.
SPEAKER_11: This is what peace looks like in God's imagination.
SPEAKER_11: The wolf will lie down with the lamb.
SPEAKER_11: And the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the bear and the ox will eat together, and their young will sleep in peace, and the lion will eat the straw with the ox.
SPEAKER_11: That's nonsense.
SPEAKER_11: It's never gonna happen.
SPEAKER_11: It's an image of God's peace, in which predators and prey are reconciled.
SPEAKER_11: Most of the time, I don't want to see people who have preyed on me again.
SPEAKER_11: And if you ask me, would I rejoice to know that God will reconcile us after I die, like in heaven, I would not be very sure about that.
SPEAKER_11: And the prophet Isaiah is sure that if we can't do it now, God will do it for us later.
SPEAKER_11: And that is joyful.
SPEAKER_11: So here's a new way to pray.
SPEAKER_11: Instead of asking God for what you want, reimagine the world as God sees it.
SPEAKER_11: Be preoccupied with God's version of peace instead of our version of the quiet.
SPEAKER_12: This is a tough teaching.
SPEAKER_11: A tough teaching.
SPEAKER_11: It doesn't get rid of accountability, but of course, what it does is transforms dignity.
SPEAKER_11: We get another meditation today, and I did pick this one too.
SPEAKER_11: God is not slow in keeping God's word as people understand slowness.
SPEAKER_11: God takes time so we can all get on board without leaving anybody behind.
SPEAKER_11: Now, I don't like church words like discernment.
SPEAKER_11: I'd rather just make a decision.
SPEAKER_11: Discernment takes a long time, and how do you never know you got it right?
SPEAKER_11: And this is the promise.
SPEAKER_11: God discerns, and God waits on purpose because God cannot stand to lose anybody.
SPEAKER_11: And man, I like to get things done, so if you're not on board, we're just gonna go ahead.
SPEAKER_11: Here's a reminder about how God pursues peace.
SPEAKER_11: It's not just for us in the room.
SPEAKER_11: God's version of peace is about drawing humanity itself and creation to the holy city of Zion.
SPEAKER_11: All of us, especially the ones I don't want coming in.
SPEAKER_11: And we hear this beautiful story today about John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_11: John the Baptist is also repeating scripture.
SPEAKER_11: He's living into the voice of the prophet Isaiah.
SPEAKER_11: And this is very familiar if you've heard of Handel's Messiah.
SPEAKER_11: It's the opening number, every valley shall be exalted.
SPEAKER_11: That line was written 2,500 years ago, when the people who lived around Jerusalem had been taken by Babylonians about 2,000 miles from Jerusalem to Babylon, and they were living in exile far from home.
SPEAKER_11: They were not living in the holy city, they were living in the city that people made.
SPEAKER_11: The cities we settle for.
SPEAKER_11: Look, when you got a lot of people, 2,000 miles, camels, ox carts, grandmas, sheep, people with bum ankles, little babies, and the way through the desert goes like this, it's pretty treacherous.
SPEAKER_11: It's also a desert.
SPEAKER_11: In the desert, proclaim every valley shall be exalted, and every hill laid low, and that's so there can be a super highway to the city of God.
SPEAKER_11: A super highway, paving the desert, telling people who are in the desert that God would draw you to the heavenly city even while you live in this one.
SPEAKER_11: Isaiah probably didn't have in mind my home in this neighborhood.
SPEAKER_11: Isaiah probably had in my other part that's across the street.
SPEAKER_11: The fourth door.
SPEAKER_11: And it is, is that there's this sort of underlying thing that holds a peace, which is wonder.
SPEAKER_11: About six years ago, I was hiking in Flagstaff, Arizona while I was in a clergy week.
SPEAKER_11: It's gonna sound crazy.
SPEAKER_11: And I was on the phone with my wife.
SPEAKER_11: And I walked pretty fast.
SPEAKER_11: And somehow, thank God, I took a step and I heard this noise.
SPEAKER_11: But I hadn't really heard since I was a kid.
SPEAKER_11: It didn't sound like I thought it would sound, but I recognized instantly that that was a rattle.
SPEAKER_11: Now, thanks be to God, I stopped.
SPEAKER_11: Because about three feet away from me was a seven-foot rattlesnake.
SPEAKER_11: And it wasn't just coiled, I mean, it was it was prepared.
SPEAKER_11: I was talking to my wife on the phone, and I said, Oh, honey, hang on, there's a rattlesnake.
SPEAKER_11: I'm just gonna back up.
SPEAKER_11: You turn around, right?
SPEAKER_11: It sends a bad message.
SPEAKER_11: So we just sort of back up slowly.
SPEAKER_11: I did not continue with the hike, I went back to my car.
SPEAKER_11: But I wanted to tell you, the interesting thing was in that moment I knew it was serious.
SPEAKER_11: And I also, I don't know why.
SPEAKER_11: This is like one of the few times in my life I felt such wonder.
SPEAKER_11: Wonder in the middle of something that could be potentially threatening.
SPEAKER_11: Wonder and awe and connection.
SPEAKER_11: And maybe it was something I ate this morning.
SPEAKER_11: But what I have read in the book we read last year as a parish called Deep Survival, is that what survivors have in common, whether at hurricanes or with rattlesnakes or at avalanches, is that they instead of repl instead of taking on a spirit of terror, they're able somehow to be connected with all and wonder.
SPEAKER_12: And I want to suggest to you, it is in fact all and wonder that enable us to cultivate and pursue peace.
SPEAKER_12: Our scriptures testify to this all of that.
SPEAKER_11: That in the middle of what seems to be earth going to hell in a handbasket, there's all in wonder in that basket.
SPEAKER_11: And it seems like we're taking a long time to get there so we can all get there together.
SPEAKER_11: As the African proverb says, if you want to get somewhere really fast, go by yourself.
SPEAKER_11: If you want to get somewhere really far, go together.
SPEAKER_12: And here I put before us as our advent and dictation.
SPEAKER_12: God has a different version of peace than we settle for.
SPEAKER_12: And we are invited to stretch into it.
SPEAKER_11: God is preoccupied with things that we usually are not preoccupied with, and we're invited to hope with God so that we all get there together.
SPEAKER_11: Leopards and kids, bears and oxen, and children can play over the den of the ass.
SPEAKER_11: Don't do that literally.
SPEAKER_12: And with people on the TV.
SPEAKER_11: Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nazi.
SPEAKER_11: We believe in one God.
SPEAKER_11: The Father, the Almighty, the Hearer, all his seed and see.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04: We believe all things from many.
SPEAKER_04: On the third day, he is coming to heaven, and the seed of the name of the Father.
SPEAKER_03: He will come to him in glory to the kingdom of the heaven.
SPEAKER_03: And his kingdom will have.
SPEAKER_04: We will believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, giving you life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_04: With the Father and the Son, He is worshiped and glorified.
SPEAKER_04: He has won through the Christ.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in one Holy Catholic Church.
SPEAKER_03: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_03: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the light of the world to come.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_07: Grant that every member of the church.
SPEAKER_07: May truly and humbly serve you.
SPEAKER_07: We pray for Michael, our presiding bishop, for Andy, Hector, Jeff and Kay, our bishops, and the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, San Mateo, Bel Air, San Romero, Houston, and Santa Maria Virgin, Houston, for Jessica, Archbishop of Canterbury, for the priest in our community, Mike, Craig, Jim, Bill, and Lillian, and for all bishops, priests and deacons.
SPEAKER_07: We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world, for all the members of the armed forces, 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_07: We pray for our parish and our vestry.
SPEAKER_07: Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake.
SPEAKER_07: Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble.
SPEAKER_07: Give to the departed eternal rest, especially Violet.
SPEAKER_07: We praise you for Saint Thomas the Apostle and your saints who have entered into joy.
SPEAKER_07: Let us give thanks for our blessings and pray for our own needs and those of others, especially Chris, Sean, Anne, Nancy, and Amber, and those of the congregation which is to name at this time, silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_07: Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit, you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_07: Grant that in our earthly pilgrimage we may always be supported by this fellowship of love and prayer, and know ourselves to be surrounded by their witness to your power and mercy.
SPEAKER_07: We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who lives and reigns forever and ever.
SPEAKER_11: Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.
SPEAKER_11: God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you, opposing your will in our lives.
SPEAKER_04: We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created.
SPEAKER_04: We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.
SPEAKER_04: We restore and strengthen us through our Savior Jesus Christ, that we may abide in your love and serve only your will.
SPEAKER_11: Almighty God, who in Jesus Christ has given us a family that cannot be destroyed.
SPEAKER_11: Forgive your sin.
SPEAKER_11: Open your eyes and heart to truth and new life.
SPEAKER_11: Strengthen you to do God's will and live joyfully into God's family.
SPEAKER_11: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: The peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_11: Good morning, Peace, and thank you for worshiping with us at St.
SPEAKER_11: Thomas today.
SPEAKER_11: If you're new to this or haven't done this before, in the room right behind this one, it's called the Nar Effects.
SPEAKER_11: It's also got the title for, uh, you'll find these little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you fill one of these out if you have done this before, so we have a record of your visit, and thanks for worshiping with us.
SPEAKER_11: Uh, there are a few announcements I want to call to your attention, but very first, it is the first Sunday in December.
SPEAKER_11: So if you were born this fine month, I'd like to invite you forward so that we can celebrate your birthday and ask God's blessing on you next year.
SPEAKER_11: Okay, well, happy birthday, Jesus.
SPEAKER_11: We know that happens later.
SPEAKER_11: Okay, well, a few other things to raise up for you then.
SPEAKER_11: Um this Thursday, our day school, which is our most visible ministry in the community, right?
SPEAKER_11: Five days a week.
SPEAKER_11: The parking lot is full because of the school, uh, will be putting on its annual musical Christmas program at 6.30.
SPEAKER_11: You're warmly invited if you would like a little more Christmas cheer.
SPEAKER_11: 6 30, and they'll have a reception afterward.
SPEAKER_11: It's shorter than an hour, and as always, I mean, I can deliver on this.
SPEAKER_11: You will leave having smiled at least one time.
SPEAKER_11: Uh the following Thursday, the 16th.
SPEAKER_11: This will be earlier in the morning at 8:15.
SPEAKER_11: Our day school kindergarten will put on an activity play.
SPEAKER_11: Again, I can promise you at least one smile.
SPEAKER_11: I'm even going to tell you when it's gonna come, and you're still gonna do it if you come.
SPEAKER_11: The narrator says, Mary and Joseph had traveled a long way and they were very tired.
SPEAKER_11: And then two five-year-olds say, We are very tired.
SPEAKER_11: So that will be next Thursday at 8.15 in the morning, and it is amazing.
SPEAKER_11: So those are two opportunities to get yourself more into the Christmas season.
SPEAKER_11: Now, I want to say, if you find yourself not in Christmas season, which is absolutely okay, we have a service two weeks from today at 4:30 in the afternoon that is called the longest night.
SPEAKER_11: That's because it comes close to the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year.
SPEAKER_11: It is not a service for everybody, but it is a service in which we're able to name authentically, openly, we don't always feel in the season.
SPEAKER_11: Especially if there are things like grief and anxiety and uncertainty that we're carrying.
SPEAKER_11: I don't know anybody not carrying one of those because of the pandemic.
SPEAKER_11: Uh, that said, it's not for everybody.
SPEAKER_11: It is sober and it's honest, and we leave nourish from God's table.
SPEAKER_11: So that's two weeks from today.
SPEAKER_11: It is not too early to plan around your Christmas services here.
SPEAKER_11: So I'm going to tell you what they are.
SPEAKER_11: Christmas Eve is on our day this year, and there are three opportunities on Friday.
SPEAKER_11: There's a 3:30 in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_11: This is what we call the family service with a spontaneous Christmas pageant.
SPEAKER_11: It is 45 minutes.
SPEAKER_11: The sermon is three minutes.
SPEAKER_11: I mean, it really is three minutes.
SPEAKER_11: Uh, and kids can come a little early, like at 3:15, get a costume, and be part of a living activity as we read the godly play version of a Christmas story.
SPEAKER_11: It's actually really, really nice.
SPEAKER_11: That's at 3:30.
SPEAKER_11: At 5 o'clock, our choir will be here with our harpist, and it will be a high solemn Eucharist at 5.
SPEAKER_11: At 9 o'clock, the choir and the harpist will do some solos and lead some carol singing.
SPEAKER_11: At 9:30, we start midnight mass because it's midnight somewhere.
SPEAKER_11: So 9:30, we'll do that, and that service is followed by champagne and chocolate in the hallway as we sort of go out.
SPEAKER_11: No service Christmas Day.
SPEAKER_11: On Sunday the 26th, one service at 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_11: One service on the 26th at 9 a.m.
SPEAKER_11: So these are the holiday services.
SPEAKER_11: Um, lessons and Carols is a lot of work.
SPEAKER_11: It's lovely to hear all of these promises and how we can resonate with them both in word and song.
SPEAKER_11: Garmin, we don't know how you do what you do.
SPEAKER_11: And a lot of times we don't clap in church, but it is a way we show appreciation for Garmin and the choir and for them.
SPEAKER_11: So thank you.
SPEAKER_11: And now continue to walk in peace.
SPEAKER_11: And offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_11: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_11: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more.
SPEAKER_11: So come.
SPEAKER_11: You who have much peace and you who have little, you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_11: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_11: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.
SPEAKER_11: And he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_10: The Lord be he with you.
SPEAKER_10: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_11: It is very meet right in our bounding duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God.
SPEAKER_11: Because thou didst send thy beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and make us heirs in Him of everlasting life.
SPEAKER_11: That when He shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.
SPEAKER_11: Therefore, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we, Lord, magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and singing.
SPEAKER_11: 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_11: He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and did institute.
SPEAKER_11: And in his holy gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.
SPEAKER_11: For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread.
SPEAKER_11: And when he given thanks to thee, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_11: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_11: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_11: Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_11: And when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_11: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the remission of sin.
SPEAKER_11: Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_11: Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people do celebrate and make with these thy holy gifts which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy son hath commanded us to make, having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming again with power and great glory.
SPEAKER_11: 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_11: 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_11: 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_11: And also that we and all thy whole church may be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_11: By whom and with whom and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without an end.
SPEAKER_11: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: And now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray, our Father, who art in heaven, how will it be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_03: Give us this day our daily prayer, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us.
SPEAKER_11: These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God, come and eat peacefully, with the resolution and understanding that we will continue to struggle, and God will always sustain us as we sustain one another.
SPEAKER_11: Come in peace.
SPEAKER_11: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_11: God of abundance, you have fed us with the bread of life, and cup of salvation.
SPEAKER_11: You have united us with Christ in one another.
SPEAKER_11: And you have made us one with all your people in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_11: Now send us Lord in the power of your spirit, that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Christ our Savior.
SPEAKER_11: Amen.
SPEAKER_11: Anytime day or night, at home or in the street, wherever we are, we live bathed in God.
SPEAKER_11: If we always kept this in mind, it would be impossible to sin.
SPEAKER_11: So may God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless you with an awareness of holiness in the communion of saints in heaven and on earth, this day and forevermore.
SPEAKER_11: Amen.