SPEAKER_09: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_09: Blessed be God's family now and forever.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_09: Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_09: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_09: Let us perfectly love thee.
SPEAKER_09: And worthily magnify thy holy name.
SPEAKER_09: Through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_09: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_09: Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve.
SPEAKER_09: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, for giving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: Our children are invited to children's chapel with Mr.
SPEAKER_09: Alex in the back.
SPEAKER_08: A reading from Job.
SPEAKER_08: There was once a man in the land of Oze, whose name was Job.
SPEAKER_08: That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
SPEAKER_08: One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
SPEAKER_08: The Lord said to Satan, Where have you come from?
SPEAKER_08: Satan answered the Lord, from going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.
SPEAKER_08: The Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?
SPEAKER_08: There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.
SPEAKER_08: He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him for no reason.
SPEAKER_08: Then Satan answered the Lord, skin for skin, all that people have they will give to save their lives.
SPEAKER_08: But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.
SPEAKER_08: The Lord said to Satan, Very well, he is in your power, only spare his life.
SPEAKER_08: So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
SPEAKER_08: Job took a potture with which to scrape himself and sat among the ashes.
SPEAKER_08: Then his wife said to him, Do you still persist in your integrity?
SPEAKER_08: Curse God and die.
SPEAKER_08: But he said to her, You speak as any foolish woman would speak.
SPEAKER_08: Shall we receive the good at the hand of God and not receive the bad?
SPEAKER_08: In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
SPEAKER_08: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_08: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_09: Test me, O Lord, and try me.
SPEAKER_09: For your love is before my eyes.
SPEAKER_09: I have not sat with the worthless.
SPEAKER_09: I have hated the company of evildoers.
SPEAKER_09: I will wash my hands in innocence, O Lord.
SPEAKER_09: Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_09: Lord, I love the house in which you dwell.
SPEAKER_09: And the place where your Lord do not sweep me away with sinners.
SPEAKER_09: Whose hands are full of evil plots.
SPEAKER_09: As for me, I will live with integrity.
SPEAKER_09: My foot stands on level ground.
SPEAKER_01: Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets.
SPEAKER_01: But in these last days, he has spoken to us by a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.
SPEAKER_01: He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being.
SPEAKER_01: And he sustains all things by his powerful word.
SPEAKER_01: When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
SPEAKER_01: Now God did not subject the coming world about which we are speaking to angels, but someone has testified somewhere.
SPEAKER_01: What are human beings that you were mindful of them, or mortals that you care for them?
SPEAKER_01: You have made them for a little while lower than the angels.
SPEAKER_01: You have crowned them with glory and honor, subjecting all things under their feet.
SPEAKER_01: Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control.
SPEAKER_01: As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them.
SPEAKER_01: But we do see Jesus for a little while, while he was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor, because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
SPEAKER_01: It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
SPEAKER_01: For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have but one Father.
SPEAKER_01: For this reason, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying, I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters in the midst of the congregation.
SPEAKER_01: I will praise you.
SPEAKER_01: Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.
SPEAKER_09: Some Pharisees came and to test Jesus, they asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?
SPEAKER_09: Jesus answered them, What did Moses command you?
SPEAKER_09: They said, Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.
SPEAKER_09: But Jesus said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote this commandment for you.
SPEAKER_09: But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female for this reason.
SPEAKER_09: A man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
SPEAKER_09: So they are no longer two but one flesh.
SPEAKER_09: Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.
SPEAKER_09: Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.
SPEAKER_09: He said to them, Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
SPEAKER_09: And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.
SPEAKER_09: People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them.
SPEAKER_09: But when Jesus saw them, saw this, he was indignant and said to them, Let the little children come to me, do not stop them.
SPEAKER_09: For it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
SPEAKER_09: Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.
SPEAKER_09: And Jesus took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
SPEAKER_09: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness with you.
SPEAKER_04: In the name of one God and Father who is above all and through all and in all.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: It is a blessing to be here with you all today, and I hope it continues to be a blessing after we work through some relatively difficult scripture readings today.
SPEAKER_04: As we open this book of wisdom that Job offers, we are reminded of God's relationship to human suffering.
SPEAKER_04: It is said that the book of Job is about trusting God.
SPEAKER_04: And that trust is through faithfulness, and that faithfulness is achieved through love.
SPEAKER_04: And this love is not because of the things that God does or doesn't do, or the gifts that God gives us, or even the mercy that he shows us.
SPEAKER_04: It's just love.
SPEAKER_04: The Beatles may have said it the best.
SPEAKER_04: Love is all you need.
SPEAKER_04: They were a pretty good band, right?
SPEAKER_04: So Job also helps us to redefine suffering and discomfort and pain as something that we just don't fully understand.
SPEAKER_04: Jesus helps us with this concept of just loving God by reminding us that above all the rules, above all the laws, the one most important commandment is to love God with all of your heart, with all of your being, and with your mind, as much as you're able to comprehend.
SPEAKER_04: And this is an acknowledgement that we can't fully comprehend God.
SPEAKER_04: And in so doing, we submit ourselves to God's will.
SPEAKER_04: And when we let God's will be done, and we let God do what He knows we need the most in our lives, then we are receiving true love.
SPEAKER_04: God's love.
SPEAKER_04: And when we have that love, that belief in God's love, that faith of God's love.
SPEAKER_04: And that knowledge that God has chosen us because He loves us, then we have achieved true faith through love.
SPEAKER_04: And I would offer that we remember that Christ is love.
SPEAKER_04: So we receive true faith by loving God through Christ.
SPEAKER_04: And as we open up the book of Mark and expose adultery and divorce, we're going to experience some more suffering.
SPEAKER_04: And this can be painful.
SPEAKER_04: I ask that we go gently into this topic together.
SPEAKER_04: I know that my personal experience is one that was painful.
SPEAKER_04: And I offer that because it is through the salt and the fire that we read about last week that puts me here today.
SPEAKER_04: If it hadn't been for those experiences in my life, I wouldn't be who I am right now.
SPEAKER_04: So, although it was painful, I'm grateful for that.
SPEAKER_04: So in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is in Judea teaching, and the elders, the Jewish elders, the Pharisees, have asked him to comment on this adultery and divorce topic because, well, it's relatively prevalent in the royal houses of Judea, apparently, Herod's wife and things like that.
SPEAKER_04: Now, they probably really don't care much about what Jesus has to say.
SPEAKER_04: They're really just trying to get him embroiled in some political drama so that the government comes and takes him away and they get to wash their hands of him without worrying about him.
SPEAKER_04: And so the Pharisees ask Jesus this question, and he responds in typical Jesus fashion, saying, Well, what do you think?
SPEAKER_04: He's a good teacher, right?
SPEAKER_04: What do you think?
SPEAKER_04: And they throw him, um they throw him some Jewish law from Deuteronomy.
SPEAKER_04: Okay.
SPEAKER_04: And Jesus then says, Well, this is because God has told you these things because of your hardness of heart.
SPEAKER_04: And this is our first window into probably what Jesus is telling us, because the word in Greek, scleracardia, means hardness of heart, and that's a compound word.
SPEAKER_04: Sclera being scar tissue, damage, and cardia being heart.
SPEAKER_04: But in the scriptures, heart in Greek never means that pumpy thing in our chest.
SPEAKER_04: Cardia is said to be the center of our spiritual being.
SPEAKER_04: It is what is born of God and God breathed into each and every one of us.
SPEAKER_04: Now, I would like to take a bit of poetic license and share with you that my view of this story is a story about children and divorce, about broken relationships, and about teach about Jesus as a teacher and as a protector of small children, a father figure.
SPEAKER_04: And I believe this is an opportunity for us to look at and examine our roles as protectors of small children and our relationships with one another and with God as we think about and feel our way into our role as instruments of God's grace and as leaders in the church and as students of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: So the Pharisees are trying to put Jesus in a box.
SPEAKER_04: They're trying to make God a rule.
SPEAKER_04: And Jesus explains to them that it's not about a container, it's about a relationship.
SPEAKER_04: And this relationship is dynamic, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04: It's continually moving and morphing and shape-shifting.
SPEAKER_04: And yet it's also very consistent.
SPEAKER_04: It's always the same.
SPEAKER_04: It's the one thing that we can count on.
SPEAKER_04: And herein lies the mystery of God and our opportunity to deepen our relationship with our Creator through prayer, revelation, and love.
SPEAKER_04: So diving into the text a little deeper, Jesus goes on to quote Genesis.
SPEAKER_04: Now, we know that because it's a quote from Genesis, but I didn't know that at first.
SPEAKER_04: But I was led into it because it said, in the beginning of creation.
SPEAKER_04: So I thought to myself, huh, maybe he's talking about Adam and Eve.
SPEAKER_04: And he is.
SPEAKER_04: So remember that God creates Adam, Adam, which is said to be humanity.
SPEAKER_04: And from Adam, he creates Eve, life.
SPEAKER_04: So we could start to rephrase what we read in Mark today, what we heard in Mark, and say that in the beginning, God created human life.
SPEAKER_04: And then the passage goes on to talk about man leaving his mother and father and marrying his wife.
SPEAKER_04: Now, these are the words that we hear today, with our point of view in our 21st century.
SPEAKER_04: Two thousand years ago, my guess is that that was heard differently.
SPEAKER_04: These words in Greek were understood as we believe them today to be understood, as things like to leave, to cast off, to leave behind, to walk away from, to put something down.
SPEAKER_04: To join, to come together like glue, to be adhered to one another.
SPEAKER_04: I think of Velcro.
SPEAKER_04: Hard to get apart, right?
SPEAKER_04: And to become one is rooted in the word genomine, which is to be born, to give birth.
SPEAKER_04: And it is said that this is to create to birth one universal being.
SPEAKER_04: And I believe this to be the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: So as we reconstruct this, then God created human life, cleaned it up a little bit, recrafted it, and rebirthed it as we are born again into this one universal being, which is the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: Things are going pretty good so far, right?
SPEAKER_04: Because we're joined as one, and then we add this word in.
SPEAKER_04: One flesh.
SPEAKER_04: So that ties into adultery and divorce pretty well.
SPEAKER_04: That's what we think of many times in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_04: This is a carnal word.
SPEAKER_04: It is something that is not of interest to God.
SPEAKER_04: It is said to be of self-interest.
SPEAKER_04: It is said to be the things that God leaves behind when he recrafts something beautiful.
SPEAKER_04: But in the context of this passage, flesh means the perfect, sinless body of Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: And it means the physical form that is necessary to live out that which God puts within.
SPEAKER_04: Now, as we think about this, I would like to remind us of our story and understanding of Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: God who comes down into human form.
SPEAKER_04: The sinless, perfect body of Christ.
SPEAKER_04: And then puts on this human body so that he can live out as we do as human beings, live out that faith that God has put in him, that divine spiritual nature that is in that cardiac, that heart of Christ, and in each and every single one of us.
SPEAKER_04: It is with that love, with that spirit, that Jesus is trying to warm up and soften these Pharisees who have become divorced in their relationship with God.
SPEAKER_04: That I believe is what Jesus is offering us in the Gospel of Mark today.
SPEAKER_04: And then, out of nowhere, he starts talking about children.
SPEAKER_04: In four verses, we can infer a lot, but after having this divine spiritual conversation, what I really believe Jesus is telling us about these children is that that's us.
SPEAKER_04: That's you and me.
SPEAKER_04: We are these children of God that He is speaking of.
SPEAKER_04: Because those of us who are young and tender on our spiritual journey in need of nourishment and encouragement and protection.
SPEAKER_04: Are children.
SPEAKER_04: And it's a beautiful relationship when we think of how children operate in this world.
SPEAKER_04: When they see something with eyes for the first time.
SPEAKER_04: In awesome beauty and magnificence and wonder.
SPEAKER_04: And a whole lot of questions.
SPEAKER_04: That is how I believe Jesus wants us to be because that is how we can experience the mystery of God with childlike eyes.
SPEAKER_04: I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day, someone I care deeply about, and we were discussing spirituality, and it became apparent that our point of view, our belief systems were different.
SPEAKER_04: And that's totally okay.
SPEAKER_04: But what we agreed upon is that we both were deeply interested in increasing our understanding of our Creator and deepening that relationship.
SPEAKER_04: And this is where I believe Jesus is going with this gospel of Mark.
SPEAKER_04: I believe that Jesus is inviting us in a childlike fashion to engage in God's creation with eyes and see things for the first time.
SPEAKER_04: In childlike amazement.
SPEAKER_04: I know Jesus to be a father figure, a protector, a nurturer, a comforter, a friend and a companion.
SPEAKER_04: I am a child of divorce.
SPEAKER_04: And I'm a parent of children of divorce.
SPEAKER_04: And it is my experience that most of the time we adults mess things up.
SPEAKER_04: And it's the children of divorce that just wish their parents would be more Christ-like.
SPEAKER_04: And if they were, things would work out a lot better.
SPEAKER_04: And this is generally my experience in life.
SPEAKER_04: You see, we don't have to choose Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: We don't have to accept and surrender God's will and relax into the forgiving, loving arms of Jesus.
SPEAKER_04: God's going to love us either way.
SPEAKER_03: But when we do, life is so much easier.
SPEAKER_04: In the psalm that I opened with, that's verse two and three.
SPEAKER_04: And it addresses testing or examining our heart and mind.
SPEAKER_04: And I believe that our readings today do that.
SPEAKER_04: I think they ask us to look into deep questions about relationships, about our own interpersonal relationships, about our relationship with God and how we achieve that, leaving our individual selves behind so that we can become ad ease to God, making God the center of our life, putting God first in our life, in love.
SPEAKER_04: I would offer that this week as I was praying, preparing for today.
SPEAKER_04: I said, God, I want to thank you.
SPEAKER_04: And I stopped because trying to be authentic, I was about to say, we don't need to thank God to thank God, but because he did something, we just want to say, I love you, God.
SPEAKER_04: So I tried that and it was hard.
SPEAKER_04: I felt like a child.
SPEAKER_04: I felt kind of weird.
SPEAKER_04: God, I love you.
SPEAKER_04: I tried it a second time and it got a little bit easier.
SPEAKER_04: But I will confess to you, it was difficult.
SPEAKER_04: So I continued throughout the day, and when I would be grateful for something in our creation, the sunshine and not the rain, or the rain, I said, I love you, God.
SPEAKER_04: And it got easier and easier and easier.
SPEAKER_04: I offer that to you as just my experience this week.
SPEAKER_04: So what I'm trying to say is that if we have examined and tried our heart and mind, now our eyes walk faithfully with God, with Jesus beside us as our companion, shouldering that burden, us as a family of Christ, as a unified, universal being in the body of Christ, shouldering each other's burdens as we walk along together through this life, through these difficult moments of life, our happy moments and our sad moments, with childlike eyes that see things for the first time in magnificence.
SPEAKER_04: Because it is in these things that the family of God survives and thrives.
SPEAKER_09: We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, who made ever, of all that is seen and unseen.
SPEAKER_02: We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the eternal begotten of the Father, God from God, life from light, true thought of true thou, begotten of the man, the only being of the Father, the reading of all things to be.
unknown: By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became heart from the Virgin Mary and was saved man.
unknown: For our Savior and conscious father, he suffered death and spirit.
SPEAKER_02: On the third day he rose again, and according to the scriptures, he ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
SPEAKER_02: He will come again in glory to judge the living and the death, and his kingdom will have no end.
SPEAKER_02: We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
SPEAKER_02: Who the Father and the Son, he is worshiped and glorified.
SPEAKER_02: He has spoken through the prophets.
SPEAKER_02: We believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
SPEAKER_02: We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_02: We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_06: Father, we pray for your one holy Catholic Church.
SPEAKER_06: Grant that every member of the church may truly and humbly serve you.
SPEAKER_06: We pray for Michael, our presiding bishop, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kai, our bishops, and the diocesan cycle of prayer, St.
SPEAKER_06: Mark's Beaumont, St.
SPEAKER_06: Paul's Orange, and St.
SPEAKER_06: Paul's Woodville, for Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, for the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and for all bishops, priests, and deacons.
SPEAKER_06: We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world, and for all the members of the armed forces, and for all of those who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere.
unknown: That there may be justice and peace on the earth.
SPEAKER_06: We pray for our parish and our vestry.
SPEAKER_06: We pray for St.
SPEAKER_06: Thomas, the Apostle's School, for those who teach and for those who learn.
SPEAKER_06: Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake.
SPEAKER_06: Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble.
unknown: That they may be delivered from their distress.
SPEAKER_06: Give to the departed eternal rest, including Helen, Mars, and John.
SPEAKER_06: We praise you for St.
SPEAKER_06: Thomas the Apostle and your saints who have entered into joy.
SPEAKER_06: Let us give thanks for our blessings and pray for our own needs and those of others, especially Ronnie, Chris, Nancy, Sean, Aaron, Cynthia, Ken, Jan, Aaron, Janice, Nancy, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_06: Almighty God, by your Holy Spirit, you have made us one with your saints in heaven and on earth.
SPEAKER_06: 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_06: We ask this for the sake of Jesus Christ, in whom all our intercessions are acceptable through the Spirit, and who and who lives and reigns forever and ever.
SPEAKER_06: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: We pray to you also for the forgiveness of our sin in mutual confession.
SPEAKER_09: Before God with the people of God, I confess to my own brokenness, to the ways I wound my life, the lives of others, and the life of the world.
SPEAKER_02: May God forgive you, Christ be you, and the Spirit enable you to grow in love.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Before God, if you confess our wickedness to the ways we move our lives, the lives of others, and the life of the world.
SPEAKER_09: May God forgive you, Christ renew you, and the Holy Spirit enable you to grow in love and joy.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: If you're new to us or haven't done this before, just behind this room is a little room we call an RFX, and there's some little cards that say welcome, and we'd be most grateful if you'd fill one of those cards out so we have a record of your visit.
SPEAKER_09: And thanks for worshiping with us today.
SPEAKER_09: I've got several announcements to call to your attention, but one of them is that this is the first Sunday in October.
SPEAKER_09: So if you were born this fine month, I'd like to invite you forward so that we can hear and celebrate your birthday.
SPEAKER_09: And as you're coming up, our custom is we share our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both of those.
SPEAKER_00: Hello, my name is Maite Sample, and I was born October 4th, 1982, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
SPEAKER_05: My name is Tom Wolfers.
SPEAKER_05: I was born October 4th, 1939, in Cape Girada, Missouri.
SPEAKER_07: Meg Glocker, St.
SPEAKER_07: Joseph Hospital, Houston, Texas.
SPEAKER_07: What else am I saying?
SPEAKER_09: What day is that night?
SPEAKER_07: October 4th.
SPEAKER_07: Tomorrow.
SPEAKER_09: Fourth, look at that.
SPEAKER_09: Three in a row.
SPEAKER_09: Not the fourth.
SPEAKER_09: Sandra Gladden, October 20th, Big Spring, Texas.
SPEAKER_09: This is Evelyn.
SPEAKER_09: She was born October 9th in Houston.
SPEAKER_09: And I'm Mike, and I was born October the 7th in Lexington, Kentucky, 1979.
SPEAKER_09: So let's say, we're not singing, we're gonna not sing, but we are gonna say a blessing prayer for all of us.
SPEAKER_09: So let's pray together.
SPEAKER_09: God, we know that every year, every moment of our lives is in your hands.
SPEAKER_09: Grant that we, your children, would continue to grow in wisdom and grace, and above all, strengthen our trust in your goodness and love all the days of our lives through Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_10: Happy birthday.
SPEAKER_09: Okay.
SPEAKER_09: So as always, it's good to know the good work going on in our facilities.
SPEAKER_09: So yesterday we had another, we just had a hat-trick on birthdays.
SPEAKER_09: We had a hat trick here yesterday as well.
SPEAKER_09: Um we had more than 150 people run a 5k and a kid's K, and some of those people immediately ran, literally ran over and distributed food to more than 325 people.
SPEAKER_09: And then this 50-foot tractor trailer of pumpkins rolled up, and we uh unloaded more than 2,000 pumpkins to support our scouts.
SPEAKER_09: Now you can see out there that pumpkins are really lovely and they put you in the fall spirit.
SPEAKER_09: And that's an open invitation.
SPEAKER_09: Not only is it a service to the community, but this is our scouts number one fundraiser.
SPEAKER_09: Uh those are all organic food grade pumpkins, and I'm really happy to tell you they come from Navajo Nation.
SPEAKER_09: So this is a win-win win that we do this.
SPEAKER_09: And uh, if you're interested, if you're going to get pumpkins in your life, you ought to get them here.
SPEAKER_09: I'm telling you that is your proof.
SPEAKER_09: And so that's open, and we have people that accept that, but take a look because even if you don't want a pumpkin, man, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_09: Really puts you in the fall, in the false spirit.
SPEAKER_09: And all of that happened yesterday.
SPEAKER_09: Now, today there's a thing going because many of you know, in the church, when we celebrate a saint, that is somebody who pointed us into holier living, we celebrate them not on their birthday, we celebrate them on the day they enter into larger life.
SPEAKER_09: And tomorrow is St.
SPEAKER_09: Francis Day, which means in honor of Francis, who taught us to revere with all in wonder our animal companions.
SPEAKER_09: We are having a pet blessing today at 4 p.m.
SPEAKER_09: in the white gazebo right here adjacent to our property.
SPEAKER_09: So it's a community pet blessing.
SPEAKER_09: It's in the neighborhood park, it's short, and you might think, can I bring my horse?
SPEAKER_09: Yes.
SPEAKER_09: You might also think, I've had that happen before, somebody came up with a horse, a goat, a sheep, and two chickens, and it was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_09: Um, if your animal is not super well behaved or you're worried about your animal, bring a facsimile.
SPEAKER_09: But it is a joyful way that we can commit to experiencing all in reverence in our pits and to receive God's blessing on the year.
SPEAKER_09: Now, I don't guarantee that will extend uh their life in any way.
SPEAKER_09: So it's just good, good to know.
SPEAKER_09: We do this to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us.
SPEAKER_09: In the Narthex, we are updating our parish directory, and uh please do have a look on your way out and make sure we've got your address and phone number, email appropriate.
SPEAKER_09: But I also want you to know I love sending you cards on your birthday, I really do.
SPEAKER_09: And I don't have everybody's birthday.
SPEAKER_09: So if you don't get a card from me, it's because I don't have your birthday.
SPEAKER_09: So please add it so that I can send you a card because it actually is a joy for me to do that.
SPEAKER_09: Um nearly new.
SPEAKER_09: Many of you know that we have an all-volunteer run thrift shop in the neighborhood called Nearly New.
SPEAKER_09: It's been temporarily closed as the Delta variant spike, but as we're coming down, we're looking to reopen October the 12th.
SPEAKER_09: Now, some people think, oh, we just did this to raise revenue.
SPEAKER_09: And let me tell you, that's only part of the deal.
SPEAKER_09: The Nearly New mentors people of all ages and abilities.
SPEAKER_09: It creates space for people, it actually creates income for people who are on the edge through consignments.
SPEAKER_09: So all of this wonderful ministry is happening.
SPEAKER_09: I want you to know it's open again October the 12th for donations and shopping, but also if you haven't experienced the nearly new, I invite you to do it so that you can see the ways in which it's not just profit sharing, the way it's building lives up.
SPEAKER_09: And there's people on the room who can testify to how the nearly new touched their families' lives.
SPEAKER_09: There are.
SPEAKER_09: And uh so I encourage you to think about the nearly new, to visit it.
SPEAKER_09: And if it appeals to you, they always need more servers.
SPEAKER_09: So um you can talk to Vicky or Joyce, who's right here, or myself if you're interested in the nearly new.
SPEAKER_09: There's a lot going on.
SPEAKER_09: This is a lot of going on month for probably all of us in all of our lives.
SPEAKER_09: Um, the end of the month, reminder, we're holding space for our community picnic, which will be right out here on October 30th.
SPEAKER_09: And the night before that, we're we're hosting a trunk retreat for our school and our church kids.
SPEAKER_09: That's because some of you know that our parents uh are uneasy with retreating.
SPEAKER_09: Some of them are because our kids can't get vaccinated.
SPEAKER_09: Let's just be honest about it, right?
SPEAKER_09: So uh these are kids who are in a pod, and so we're having a closed event for our school and church kids, and we need people to open their trunks and hand out candy to 85 kids.
SPEAKER_09: That's really what it looks like.
SPEAKER_09: If you choose to go all out in decorations, it'll be more fun for you and everybody else.
SPEAKER_09: But really, just we need some people uh to help support the trunk or tree.
SPEAKER_09: Okay, two more things that are lovely.
SPEAKER_09: We didn't, I didn't call them out in birthdays, but we have this new tradition of putting a rose on the Lord's table when there's a new baby.
SPEAKER_09: And so we've got two new babies this week.
SPEAKER_09: Uh Dee Hicks, who's at the 8 o'clock normally, she's our school board chair.
SPEAKER_09: Uh, she welcomes her third grandchild, Alani, this week.
SPEAKER_09: And then David and Laura Stuff have welcomed a new uh a new child, Liam, into their family as a transitional but hopefully long-term grandchild.
SPEAKER_09: Their children are bold and they foster children.
SPEAKER_09: And um, so we're celebrating uh both Liam and Alani this morning.
SPEAKER_09: Reminder: if you have a new birth in your family, just let me know and we'd be grateful to put a rose up on their behalf as well.
SPEAKER_09: Okay, one more thing, and this is kind of a big one.
SPEAKER_09: Um we didn't do her birthday either, but some of you know Katie Carmen, she was one of the founding members of St.
SPEAKER_09: Thomas, and she turned 98 on Thursday.
SPEAKER_09: Um her husband, Ben, this is interesting, literally built the offices with his own hands uh many, many, many years ago.
SPEAKER_09: So these people were integral in the parish.
SPEAKER_09: She turned 98, and I went to see her on Tuesday, and uh I don't think she'll mind me sharing this story, so I'm going to, and I need you to know, by her own admission, Kitty's a little bit harder of hearing than she used to be.
SPEAKER_09: So she said to me, You know, Mike, I don't really know how I got to be 98 years old.
SPEAKER_09: I just don't know what happened.
SPEAKER_09: And they said, Well, Kitty, why do you think you made it to 98?
SPEAKER_09: And she didn't miss a beat.
SPEAKER_09: She said, Exercise.
SPEAKER_09: I've been exercising since I was 60 years old, three days a week, and I still do it.
SPEAKER_09: And I said, Well, Kitty, it's probably also because you've got a good heart.
SPEAKER_09: She does.
SPEAKER_09: And she said, Oh yeah, there's no heart disease in my family at all.
SPEAKER_09: I said, No, kitty, I mean, you're a generous, kind hearted person.
SPEAKER_09: And she said, Well, there's no other choice.
SPEAKER_09: I said, Kitty, there's lots of choices.
SPEAKER_09: Without missing a beat, she said, I'm not interested in any of those.
SPEAKER_09: Now that story touched my heart, and I share it with you not so you can get not just so you can hear some wisdom.
SPEAKER_09: Well, I gotta tell you.
SPEAKER_09: To my own detriment, I sometimes am interested in other choices.
SPEAKER_09: So this is really amazing.
SPEAKER_09: She's not interested in any other way of being.
SPEAKER_09: And I hadn't meant to connect these, but it occurred to me, you know, today we're starting our stewardship season for next year's ministry and fiscal budget.
SPEAKER_09: So, as many of you know at St.
SPEAKER_09: Thomas, we ask us every year to think about making pledges for the time and talent we're going to share with the church for the ministries we have and also financially so we can make a budget for both a ministry budget and a fiscal budget.
SPEAKER_09: And uh, you know, I put this in the letter.
SPEAKER_09: By the way, I have an envelope with everybody's name on it alphabetically in the northex.
SPEAKER_09: I'd love to hand them to you to save on the postage.
SPEAKER_09: If you miss them, I'll mail them tomorrow, no big deal.
SPEAKER_09: Um this part is in the letter because I, my mentoring rector, his father was a priest, and he served uh as a priest and a dean of a cathedral, and I've talked to the Reverend Jim McGill here about this a number of times.
SPEAKER_09: And what Edward told me in his experience is that the people who choose, who really choose to give of their time and their wisdom and their finances, depending how it goes, he said, you know, Mike, uh in my experience, the people who are the most generous are the healthiest people.
SPEAKER_09: And I said, Well, why do you think that is?
SPEAKER_09: He said, Because generosity is good for you.
SPEAKER_09: And I just, I had never thought of it that.
SPEAKER_09: Of course, what we all realize is generosity is good for the rest of us.
SPEAKER_09: And I have to tell you, one of the things I love about serving in this community is that people don't ask me, Well, why'd you drive to Katie to go visit that that member?
SPEAKER_09: We understand that ministry involves having somebody who can drive to Katie to visit people.
SPEAKER_09: We understand that celebrating funerals for people we've never met before is a gift, is God's gift to the community.
SPEAKER_09: You know that.
SPEAKER_09: And your generosity and your support make that happen.
SPEAKER_09: So I just want to encourage you.
SPEAKER_09: You know, this story from Kitty Carmen really, really touched my heart to think, why would I choose any other way when I think about how I want to spend my gifts for next year?
SPEAKER_09: And so I would encourage you to pray through that even as I'm praying through it as well.
SPEAKER_09: One last thing that I just want to make really, really clear is that we were enormously gifted to have with us um Dr.
SPEAKER_09: Eric Ellis, who is becoming, he's in formation to become a priest.
SPEAKER_09: Now, Eric is going to be this priest called a Bivocational Priest that the bishop has dreamed up.
SPEAKER_09: A bivocational priest, they volunteer.
SPEAKER_09: So Eric is in seminary up at Camp Allen in Navasota.
SPEAKER_09: He goes once a month so that he can continue to do his ministry as a dentist in the area.
SPEAKER_09: And Eric, what a gift you gave us this morning with your preparation and opening your heart.
SPEAKER_09: Thank you.
SPEAKER_09: Continue to walk in love because Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_09: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_09: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come.
SPEAKER_09: You who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_09: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_09: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_09: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_09: Lift up your hearts.
SPEAKER_09: Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.
unknown: It is meeting my son to thee.
SPEAKER_09: It is very meek, right, and 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, through Jesus Christ our Lord, according to whose true promise the Holy Ghost came down from heaven, lighting upon the disciples to teach them and lead them into all truth, uniting peoples of many languages and worldviews in the confession of one faith, and giving to thy church the power to serve thee as a royal priesthood, and to preach the gospel to all nations.
SPEAKER_09: And therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we Lord and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
SPEAKER_09: Glory be to thee, O Lord, most high.
SPEAKER_09: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna and the heights.
SPEAKER_09: 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_09: 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_09: He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice until his coming again.
SPEAKER_09: For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread.
SPEAKER_09: And when he given thanks to thee, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_09: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_09: Do this in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_09: Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.
SPEAKER_09: And when he given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this all of you.
SPEAKER_09: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the remission of sin.
SPEAKER_09: Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_09: Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people do celebrate and make with thee 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_09: 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_09: 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_09: 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_09: 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_09: By whom and with whom and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray, 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_09: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: Hallelujah, Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.
SPEAKER_09: These are the gifts of God for you, the family of God.
SPEAKER_09: Come and eat joyfully with the resolution and understanding that we will continue to struggle and that God will always sustain us as we sustain one another.
SPEAKER_09: Come and feast.
SPEAKER_09: God of truth, we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands the bread of life.
SPEAKER_09: Nourish our faith that we may grow in love for you and for each other, and nourish the world in your image through Jesus Christ our Lord.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.
SPEAKER_09: What we choose changes us, who we love transforms us, how we create remakes us, and where we live reshapes us.
SPEAKER_09: So in all our choosing, O God, make us wise.
SPEAKER_09: In all our loving, O Christ, make us bold.
SPEAKER_09: In all our creating, O Spirit, give us courage, and in all our living may we become whole.
SPEAKER_09: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you, those whom you love, and those for whom you pray this day and forevermore.
SPEAKER_09: Amen.