WEBVTT 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:27.039 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:31.760 Amen. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:33.679 Let's pray together. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:42.320 Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:00:42.560 --> 00:00:55.280 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and morely magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:56.240 Amen. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:39.040 Let us pray. 00:01:41.280 --> 00:01:43.920 God from whom all good proceeds. 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:51.040 Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:58.079 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 00:01:58.560 --> 00:01:59.200 Amen. 00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:30.879 All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, You are old, and your sons do not follow in your ways. 00:02:31.120 --> 00:02:35.759 Appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:41.360 But the king displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to govern us. 00:02:41.680 --> 00:02:50.800 Samuel prayed to the Lord, and the Lord to Samuel said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:56.080 For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:05.599 Just as they have done to me from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods. 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:08.479 So also they are doing to you. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.759 Now then, listen to their other voice. 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:18.080 Only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:29.840 So Samuel reported all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king, and he said, These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:52.319 He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots, and he will also appoint you for himself, the commanders of thousands, and of commanders of fifties, and some to plough his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war, and all the appointment of his chariots. 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:56.719 He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:02.319 He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:10.000 He will take one tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it give it to his officers and his courtiers. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:16.639 He will take your male and female slaves and the best of your cattle and your donkeys and put them to his work. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:21.519 He will take one-tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves. 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:28.160 And that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:31.120 But the Lord will not answer you in that day. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:46.399 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:53.600 Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal, and there renew the kingship. 00:04:54.079 --> 00:04:59.519 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:07.759 There they sacrificed offerings of well-being before the Lord, and there Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced greatly. 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.759 We will read responsibly by the half verse. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:29.680 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:38.560 I will bow down and toward your holy temple and praise your name. 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:44.160 For you have glorified your name. 00:05:44.480 --> 00:05:46.560 And the word of all things. 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:49.439 When I called you, you answered me. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:56.079 All the rulers of the earth will praise you, O Lord. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.319 They will sing of the ways of the Lord. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.879 The Lord is high, yet the Lord cares for the lowly. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:11.759 And receive the highly from far. 00:06:12.319 --> 00:06:15.920 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe. 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:22.560 Stretch forth your hand against theory of my hands, and your right hand shall save me. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:27.040 Oh Lord, you will make good your purpose for me. 00:07:21.920 --> 00:07:33.279 Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving to the glory of God. 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:44.800 So we do not lose heart, even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:53.439 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure. 00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.800 Because we look not at what can be seen, but at what cannot be seen. 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:06.000 For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:18.800 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.519 Glory to you, Lord Christ. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:10.559 The crowd came together again so that Jesus and his disciples could not even eat. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:18.240 When Jesus' family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, He has gone out of his mind. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:26.720 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, He has Beelzebule, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons. 00:09:27.039 --> 00:09:30.399 And Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in parables. 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:32.960 How can Satan cast out Satan? 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.039 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:42.240 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:48.320 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:55.120 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man. 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:57.600 Then indeed the house can be plundered. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:02.960 Truly I tell you, people be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter. 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:09.759 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:13.919 For they had said, Jesus has an unclean spirit. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:19.679 Then Jesus' mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.960 A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:31.120 And Jesus replied, Who are my mother and my brothers? 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.240 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mothers and my brothers. 00:10:36.399 --> 00:10:41.519 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother. 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:43.759 The gospel of the Lord. 00:11:24.960 --> 00:11:39.120 So let me catch you up in case you haven't before, because of what's happened in the book of Samuel is that the people were organized into these 12 different tribes, might as well call them clans, and the clans had very little unity. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:52.639 In fact, basically the way they worked is everybody did what they wanted to do in their own land, and then there'd be a military threat, and uh somebody called a judge would show up and deliver them from the threat, but they didn't really do any judging. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:56.399 All they did was sort of fight some battles and then go away. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:12:03.360 And the last judge also happens to act like a king and be a priest, and his name is Samuel. 00:12:03.679 --> 00:12:09.440 And um Samuel seems to be a pretty good guy, but it turns out his kids are awful. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:10.639 I mean, they're awful. 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:17.279 Uh they steal people's taxes, women come to worship and they take advantage of them, I mean, in the worst possible ways. 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:18.799 And this is no secret. 00:12:18.960 --> 00:12:23.200 The people of Israel look at Samuel's kids and they say, we don't want that. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:31.440 When you're gone, we don't want your kids ruling over us just because they're your kids, because they're awful. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:37.120 So they don't come out looking real good in this story, the people of Israel. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:43.600 What they want is a king, and it turns out it's not just what they want, they pick this guy camp called Saul. 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.480 Maybe you've heard of Saul before, in Hebrew is Sa'ul. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.159 Sa'ul in Hebrew means asked for. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:57.200 He is the guy they asked for, and if you know your Bible, it's because he's a head and shoulders taller than everybody else. 00:12:57.279 --> 00:13:00.639 So he's kind of like any basketball player compared to me. 00:13:00.799 --> 00:13:13.200 And that is important because the king led the troops on the battle, didn't do like Napoleon and stay in the tent in the back, like was the first one on the field, and that's what they wanted: a giant. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:15.600 They did not want Samuel's kids. 00:13:15.840 --> 00:13:19.679 So, look, in this passage, the people get criticized. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:23.600 Oh, look, they've rejected God, they haven't rejected you. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.320 I mean, really, they've just rejected Samuel's kids. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:27.120 They're corrupt. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:28.480 This is important to hear. 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:36.799 The people in the story get a bad rap here, but they're in what we like to call something called a double bind. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:42.159 A double bind is when you've got two choices, both of which are really bad. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:48.480 We find ourselves frequently in double binds, whether we realize it or not. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:53.360 And I want to put this before you because I think that's what Jesus is talking about as well. 00:13:53.519 --> 00:13:58.159 When he talks about houses being divided against themselves, that's a double bind. 00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.080 So let me tell you a story from the Zen tradition about double binds. 00:14:02.159 --> 00:14:09.600 Once upon a time, there was a Zen master who had many Zen disciples, and he also had a really big stick. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:16.159 And he said, If you say this stick is real, I will beat you with it. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:22.080 If you say this stick is not real, I will beat you with it. 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:26.240 If you say nothing, I will beat you with this stick. 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:28.799 You might be thinking, Mike, that's a triple bind. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.360 Anyway, you see that there's no good choice. 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:33.279 So what do you pick? 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:39.279 Well, the Zen tradition says that one very clever student gets up and breaks the stick. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:58.720 Now, there's a lot of wisdom in that story, because what I want to suggest to you, when we talk about a house divided against itself and what happens in this story between people picking corrupt children of the prophet and a corrupt king, this is about double binds. 00:14:59.519 --> 00:15:10.399 And uh, if you don't mind me saying so, I think we're getting called as a people of faith and a people of God to break the stick. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:12.240 To break the stick. 00:15:12.399 --> 00:15:21.360 Notice that breaking the stick is not about beating up the master with the stick, it's about breaking the stick. 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:29.519 Now, you may not feel like you're in a double bind, so I want to name a couple of these, and I know you're not gonna like all of them. 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:30.399 I already know that. 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:34.960 But I want to tell you a double bind I find myself in as a parent of a daughter. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:44.879 You see, she's young, but the day is coming when she will either be considered a prudish girl or a loose woman. 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:46.559 And those are her choices. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:48.720 Now you tell me how you win. 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.399 God is calling us to break that stick, don't you hear? 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.039 Already exists. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:16:03.039 There's a word we use for little girls who assert themselves that I have never heard used against a little boy. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.240 Starts with the B, it's the word bossy. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:12.559 You will never hear a boy called bossy, you will hear a boy called a natural leader. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:17.840 Little girls are in a double bind. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:21.759 Are they bossy or are they voiceless? 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:26.720 We are called to break that stick. 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:32.639 Women who are assertive. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.000 We don't call them bossy. 00:16:36.480 --> 00:16:39.919 We have a different B word we use for women who are assertive. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:41.600 It's a double bind. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:46.480 It's sinful, and we're called to break the stick. 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:50.399 Men are in a double bind too. 00:16:53.279 --> 00:16:59.679 You see, as a when we're children, we're taught not to be emotionally sensitive. 00:17:00.240 --> 00:17:01.840 So don't be emotional. 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:08.559 But there's this interesting thing that little boys and men are both prone to do, which is be destructive when they get angry. 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:14.000 So men shouldn't be emotional, but if they punch a wall, well, that was sort of okay. 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:22.640 And don't you see it's the same thing as being totally out of control with your emotion, breaking stuff. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:26.240 Sometimes it isn't stuff we break, it's people we break. 00:17:26.319 --> 00:17:28.240 I call that bridge burning. 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:42.720 Let me tell you, I grew up learning how to burn a bridge without thinking twice about it because that was acceptable masculine behavior, and we're called to break that stick as a church, as disciples of the risen Lord. 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:46.880 Those are not acceptable alternatives. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:57.039 We all realize, of course, that the same sort of sexual categories that gets thrust upon women also gets thrust on young men. 00:17:57.200 --> 00:17:59.599 You're either a loser or you're a player. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:05.599 We are called to break that stick. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.359 We often find ourselves in other double binds. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:14.480 Listen, I drive a Toyota Prius because it gets 50 miles to the gallon, and I think that's great. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:26.480 But I realize that the materials for that car battery, which were mined in Africa, had a lot of issues that not only affect the environment, but affect populations. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:27.839 It's a double bind. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:34.799 And often, sometimes we find ourselves in this position and we say, I don't know what to do, so I'll just pick one of these two terrible choices. 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:53.359 I don't know how to solve the biggest problems, but I know that we as a community are asked to try to break some of these sticks that punish people when they don't pick from one of two terrible choices. 00:18:53.839 --> 00:18:55.839 And this is what Jesus really has to say. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:01.359 You know, a long time ago we taught our kids, and we heard as kids ourselves, two wrongs don't make a right. 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.480 I'm sure you've heard that before. 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:08.720 And that's what Jesus says in a different language. 00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.119 He says, Satan can't drive out Satan. 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:18.480 So if you use a satanic means to accomplish a gospel end, it didn't work. 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:33.279 Boy, that's tough because you know, um I've just got to say, and here I'm speaking from a double by mentality again, as a man. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:36.559 Um, I was taught that anger is really acceptable. 00:19:36.720 --> 00:19:42.559 You know what anger does in the male brain, the same thing as it does in the female brain, is it gives you energy. 00:19:43.119 --> 00:19:50.319 Anger releases adrenaline and cortisol, it winds you up, and you can do stuff when you're angry. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.680 But when you're sad, actually, you don't have as much energy. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:55.680 I don't know if you've realized this. 00:19:55.920 --> 00:20:00.400 And boy, as a man, I'm real scared of being sad because it's not productive. 00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:02.240 And I can't control it. 00:20:02.400 --> 00:20:04.079 Talk about a double bind, right? 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:05.039 So what do we do? 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:10.240 We go around saying, hey man, instead of being angry, y'all should just be sad and hold that on your own. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:16.480 No, what we do in order to break the stick is we say, you may not even be able to hold that sadness, and I'll hold it with you. 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:20.400 So that you don't have to hold something you can't hold. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.480 Look, every parent knows the double bind. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:23.680 Well, I think so anyway. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:29.920 The double bind I realized as a parent, particularly the parenting I received, which was mixed, right? 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.680 Like all of our parenting is mixed. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:38.079 My parents did the best they could, and boy, it's scary that some days I'm doing the best I can, but but I think I am. 00:20:39.759 --> 00:20:50.000 What I realized recently, thinking about some of the parenting that I've lived into, because it's what I was given, is that you know, you really want your kids to love you, but you can't control that. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:53.359 So sometimes we settle for your kids obeying you. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:06.960 And there's a whole lot of respect that uh is sort of overlaps with the love category, but sometimes since we can't have love, we'll just settle for respect. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:10.559 That's a double bind, isn't it? 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:15.039 Listen, if you've ever parented, I trust you know what I'm talking about. 00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:22.960 And we're being called, I think, to bear that up together. 00:21:23.119 --> 00:21:24.640 So what does that mean, right? 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:33.599 Well, that means that when we go around humiliating our children, or should I better say, God's children to teach them a lesson, we've succumbed to the double bind. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:37.680 There's nothing honorable about shaming somebody. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:40.079 Nothing honorable about that. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:45.279 That's using Satan to drive out Satan. 00:21:49.440 --> 00:21:52.160 We often, maybe I'll just say me. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:59.680 Sometimes I see something that bothers me, and really what that means is I haven't chosen to take enough time to understand where it's. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.119 Coming from? 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:05.119 Because in my brain it doesn't make sense. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:09.599 And again, I don't always make cognitive space to enter somebody else's brain. 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:16.880 So what I'll do, of course, is I'll go and I'll say to somebody not involved, hey, I had this experience, and isn't that really strange? 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:21.039 Instead of trying to understand what I didn't understand. 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:30.480 And this is the way that we break the stick together, is we try to understand what we didn't understand without throwing somebody under the bus immediately first. 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:40.480 You see, if we don't do that, what we're doing is using satanic means to try and accomplish some kind of godly end. 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:48.559 I just think about the prison system and it's on my heart because the guy's our grass used to be incarcerated, right? 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:57.920 So if somebody does something awful and we punish them, look, I don't know the answer. 00:22:58.160 --> 00:22:58.960 I don't. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:04.160 But I know there's a little element of the satanic part Jesus is talking about in that. 00:23:04.720 --> 00:23:08.960 You deprive somebody of their ability to vote or hold a job the rest of their life. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:10.640 Is that good news? 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:19.920 Surely we can see that there's some satanic element in the way we result to retribution. 00:23:23.759 --> 00:23:28.000 Now Jesus says this thing that was chilling for me as a kid. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:32.559 The unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:34.079 That's what he says, right? 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:40.960 Now if you grew up Southern Baptist, what that meant, right, is that if you did that, you're going to hell and to God. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.039 There's no coming back from that. 00:23:43.359 --> 00:23:48.559 So we started to get really worried about what's the what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit? 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:49.599 Like, what is that? 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:55.039 And you know, sometimes we said he was playing with a Ouija board, or sometimes it was dancing. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:00.880 I grew up in that kind of culture, you know, but but some of us did. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:07.759 And look, the text is really clear about what the unforgivable sin is, but I want to tell you a little bit more about what I think that means. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:18.319 The unforgivable sin is when we see God doing the work of reconciliation, providing a place at God's table for people we shoot away. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:23.759 And when that happens, we say that was the devil doing that instead of the Holy Spirit. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:31.920 When we see God working the world to look like God imagined, and we say that's evil, that's blasphemy. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:34.000 That's what the scripture says. 00:24:34.480 --> 00:24:43.839 But lest you think you do that one time and you're stuck forever, what I want you to hear is that even though sin means missing the mark, it also means bearing a burden. 00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:51.519 And I want to tell you, probably the biggest burden we could ever bear is seeing God's reconciling work in the world and rejecting it. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:59.440 And I'm going to tell you, I think we can recover from that. 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:02.720 I think we can recover from that. 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:09.279 But I think until we do, we miss not only what God's doing in the world, but we miss what God's doing in us. 00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:16.799 And then we find ourselves increasingly heavy laden and full of despair and without hope. 00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:26.160 So look, once upon a time, and to be honest, most of us, the reason we came to church was because our parents went to church, and that's how we were raised. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:29.680 You know, we continue to choose this, but some of the choices were made. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:34.160 So look, some of the gifts that my church gave me is that women should not be ministers. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:37.119 And I really believed that. 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:45.680 Well, until I had one, I had a professor in seminary who was a woman, and she believed that women shouldn't be ministers. 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:50.720 It was okay for women to be teachers, but they couldn't preach as if there's any difference, you know. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.720 That was the way we sort of played with the scriptures, you know. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:55.119 It's odd. 00:25:55.279 --> 00:26:02.079 Isn't it crazy what kind of games we play so that we can hold on to something that's untenable and life-taking from everybody else? 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.039 I mean, we do that. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:07.359 We work really hard so we can continue to be life-taking from the world, you know. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:14.559 So I had this lady, and I said, Oh my gosh, geez, you know, I've had these other professors and I've had other ministers, and wow, you pastored me. 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.359 And she was like, no, no, no, I taught you. 00:26:17.599 --> 00:26:20.480 And here I was in this dilemma. 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:24.160 Was I gonna throw away my category? 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:31.519 Or was I just gonna wrap it up real differently and say it was some kind of anomaly, but whatever, this is right in the end. 00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:46.880 And you know, it's easy for me to talk about this, but because I've come on the other way now, and here we are in the Episcopal Church, and there's not a lot of collateral damage for me talking about women in ministry, but the social cost of fighting a double bind is kind of high at the personal level. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:58.799 Somebody tells a joke that ridicules somebody else at your home, you know as well as I do how uncomfortable it is to say, hey, I love you, but I don't appreciate that joke. 00:26:59.200 --> 00:27:03.599 The social cost feels really high. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:09.599 Once upon a time, I had a member of my family who was really, really close to me. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:15.599 And I'll tell you, I had celebrated a gay couple's wedding, and that person said, You've never done that, have you? 00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:17.519 Because if you have, you're going to hell forever. 00:27:17.680 --> 00:27:19.759 And let me tell you what the double bind was. 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:26.319 Was I going to tell this person I'd done that so that they would worry about my eternal soul? 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:36.799 And every time heretofore I was gonna interact with that person, that's what the not conversation, that's what the monologue was gonna be. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:38.880 How could you have done that? 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:41.599 Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:45.519 Was I gonna be quiet? 00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:50.160 Was I gonna say, let's talk about something else? 00:27:50.319 --> 00:27:53.680 These are the double binds we find ourselves in in the discipleship world. 00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:56.319 I mean it, whether we're in church or where we're out. 00:27:56.799 --> 00:28:02.079 And sadly, right, and this is where I want to come back to the double bind of, forgive me for using this phrase. 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:06.559 I know not everybody's gonna like it, but toxic masculinity, this is toxic masculinity. 00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.920 You do it different from me, I'll burn that bridge in a second. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:19.279 I grew up in a family in which your family status was a question if you disagreed with the party line. 00:28:21.599 --> 00:28:25.359 And maybe that's why Jesus says this bit that's otherwise kind of confusing. 00:28:25.519 --> 00:28:28.799 You know, we could read this bit where Jesus says, Who are my mother and brothers? 00:28:28.880 --> 00:28:30.720 They're the people who do God's will. 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:37.599 We could read that as diminishing the importance of our parents and our uncles and our aunts and our siblings. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:39.759 But I don't think that's what Jesus is trying to do. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.920 I think what Jesus is saying is, look, families have got their own issues. 00:28:44.079 --> 00:28:44.880 We all know that. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:50.400 We've all got our own issues, and thanks be to God, we've got this other family that's helped to carry us. 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:55.759 It's not there to replace our family, it's there to supplement the family we were born into. 00:28:55.920 --> 00:29:03.680 And this is the hardest part of discipleship, it drives me crazy because remember, I was mentored on how to burn a bridge in 60 seconds or less. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:16.720 If I go about burning a bridge, then I've just divided my own house, which is what Jesus has asked me not to do. 00:29:17.039 --> 00:29:29.279 And you know, I don't want to sound uh this is gonna come across the wrong way, but I I heard the bishop say this recently, and the bishop has something I don't really have, which is like patience and vision. 00:29:29.680 --> 00:29:36.799 And what I realized is that our bishop is super good at planning and executing the long game. 00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:53.359 And what I hear the bishop sort of saying, even though he didn't use these words, right, is that there's people who don't believe in certain things like that women can in fact be leaders and should be praised for their intellect and not just for their looks. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:55.359 This is a double bind, by the way, right? 00:29:55.440 --> 00:30:02.880 When people talk about how pretty your daughter is, but how well spoken your son is, you know they mean well, right? 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:08.720 But in front of my daughter, I feel like I'm supposed to say she's really bright and capable. 00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:11.200 And that's off-putting. 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:14.240 I mean it is, it's off-putting for someone to say that. 00:30:14.480 --> 00:30:36.000 But what I've heard the bishop say that I appreciate is if we can avoid the bridge-burning tactic that is just easy to us because it comes from that uh adrenaline and cortisol response, if we can start to realize that the biggest hope I have for the person who's intolerant of me is to stay in relationship with them, that's their hope. 00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:38.160 Because if I cut them off, guess what? 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:40.880 They don't have any more difference in their lives. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:45.279 This is what the bishop, I think, has envisioned for the church. 00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:50.640 You know, you may not totally be on every issue of the Episcopal Church, and you don't have to be. 00:30:50.960 --> 00:30:57.279 But when we start creating churches that look like us, we lose any hope of growing bigger than we are. 00:30:57.519 --> 00:31:07.279 And this is, I think, what the long game is about, and what it looks like to break the stick that is in use, that is used to inflict these double binds on people. 00:31:10.480 --> 00:31:24.400 And the wisdom of this place, this place, is that seven years ago when you were deciding what your mission and what your vision for ministry was, you came up with a mission statement. 00:31:24.640 --> 00:31:26.480 It's a little bit long, right? 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:32.480 And it includes things like worship and serve and welcome and learn. 00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:36.160 But you know the tagline here is the wisdom of the place. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:40.079 The tagline is we can do more together. 00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:42.880 And this is what Jesus is talking about. 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:48.000 Wherever your nuclear family is, here we are supplementing one another spiritually. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.480 I didn't say replacing, supplementing and holding one another up. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:57.279 Experiencing sadness new to you, we can do more together. 00:31:57.839 --> 00:32:06.319 Standing up for your girl children or your boy children or your gay children or your transgender children, difficult, and we can do more together. 00:32:06.640 --> 00:32:16.400 I don't always know how to change the stick that governs the world, but in this place, in this place, we can break these sticks at least as a start. 00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:22.799 And that's not just what Jesus asks us to do, Jesus commissions us to do that work. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:28.559 And it takes energy. 00:32:28.799 --> 00:32:31.839 And don't you see that's why we come back to the Eucharist every week? 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:36.799 You know, I used to hear, well, when you take the communion so often, it kind of like waters it down. 00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:49.039 But look, I mean, I probably could take it nine or ten times a day because I often find myself out of energy in a social situation when somebody has put down women in general and my wife in particular without even knowing it. 00:32:49.519 --> 00:32:53.440 And how do I break the stick without burning the bridge? 00:32:54.000 --> 00:32:59.440 I'm still learning, I'm learning that stuff from you, and that's what we're in this together to do. 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:04.880 How do we break the stick without burning the bridge? 00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:08.720 God give us nourishment for that. 00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:25.039 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed. 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:27.759 We believe in one God. 00:33:35.519 --> 00:34:07.200 We believe our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally God of the Father, God of God, I am life, true God and true God, become the Father, through all things, for us for our salvation, became heaven from heaven, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became heart of the Virgin Mary and was made man. 00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:13.679 For our sake, he was decided and multiplied, he suffered death and spirit. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:23.920 On the third day he rose again, according to the scriptures, he ascended to heaven, and received by Father. 00:34:24.320 --> 00:34:30.480 He will come again, glory to judge the day, and see you have your hand. 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:46.480 Believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord of life, who proceeds the Father and Son, who the Father and Son, which is worshiped before God, Jesus, believe in one. 00:35:27.199 --> 00:35:38.320 Grant Almighty God that all who confess your name may be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal your glory in the world. 00:35:38.639 --> 00:35:59.199 Lord, in your compassion, we pray for all who govern and hold authority in every nation, for the members of the armed forces throughout the world, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:15.119 Lord, in your compassion, give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation, that we may use its resources rightly in the service of others, and to your honor and glory. 00:36:15.920 --> 00:36:29.119 Lord, in your compassion, bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours, and grant that we may serve Christ in them and love one another as He loves us. 00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:33.360 Lord, in your compassion, we are our prayer. 00:36:33.760 --> 00:36:35.039 Lead our parish. 00:36:35.679 --> 00:36:37.280 Source of wisdom guide us. 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:39.679 Source of strength support us. 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:42.719 Source of love unify us, we pray. 00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:48.480 Lord, in your compassion, guide St. 00:36:48.639 --> 00:37:06.320 Thomas the Apostle School, that those who teach and those who learn may rejoice in the knowledge of your truth, that we may teach our students to love whatever is true and just and good, and that we may be bearers of your grace to all who come through our doors. 00:37:06.639 --> 00:37:16.079 Lord, in your compassion, comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit. 00:37:16.400 --> 00:37:21.840 Give them courage and hope in their troubles, and bring them the joy of your salvation. 00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:32.000 Especially Chris, Sean, Jerome, Mickey, John, Lavon, Paxton, and Lee. 00:37:32.880 --> 00:37:38.960 The congregation is invited to name celebrations or petitions silently or aloud. 00:37:42.480 --> 00:37:57.679 Lord, in your compassion, we command to your mercy, Martha, and all who have died, that your will for them may be fulfilled, and we pray that we may share with all your saints in your eternal kingdom. 00:37:58.000 --> 00:38:08.079 Lord, in your compassion, compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world. 00:38:08.480 --> 00:38:20.239 Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life. 00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:23.840 Amen. 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:27.760 Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor. 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:45.519 Before God, with the people of God, I confess to my brokenness, to the ways I wound my life, the lives of others, and the life of the world. 00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:52.719 May God forgive you, Christ renew you, and the Spirit enable you to grow in love. 00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:53.760 Amen. 00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:06.239 With the people of God, we confess to our brokenness, to the ways we wound our lives, the lives of others, and the life of the world. 00:39:06.559 --> 00:39:12.719 May God forgive you, may Christ renew you, and the Holy Spirit enable you to grow in love. 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:14.000 Amen. 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:24.639 The peace of the Lord be always with you. 00:39:49.440 --> 00:39:56.320 If you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the narthix, that's what we sort of call the room behind this one. 00:39:56.400 --> 00:39:58.639 Sometimes we call it a lobby, but just the narthix. 00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:05.599 There's the little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one of those out so we have a record of your visit. 00:40:05.679 --> 00:40:07.440 And thank you for worshiping with us today. 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:10.000 I want to draw a few announcements to your attention. 00:40:10.400 --> 00:40:18.159 One is I just want to thank you for making your R building open to the community. 00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:24.639 And so there's a few things that happened here you may not know about that's important for you to know how your assets are being used to serve the world. 00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:32.079 One is that all week, thanks to Garmin, we hosted the diocesan music camp for youth and children. 00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:42.960 And they celebrated yesterday with a morning prayer that included choral song and handbells and uh strings, and uh a few adults joined in, and it was just really, really lovely. 00:40:43.039 --> 00:40:49.360 So that camp has moved around from Camp Ballon to Brynham and here we were because we were willing to have it. 00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:54.960 So thank you, Garmin, for helping us use our building to support some really wonderful work. 00:40:55.119 --> 00:41:08.559 And yesterday, not only did we celebrate this morning prayer that students had worked um several days on, but we also had a food distribution here, and it was really fantastic to offer 331 people some fresh groceries. 00:41:08.639 --> 00:41:14.320 So thank you for continuing to open your hearts through this campus to the community. 00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:18.800 Um, a few announcements I want to raise to your attention upcoming opportunities. 00:41:18.880 --> 00:41:21.760 Uh one is, and Kathy, would you stand up so we can see you? 00:41:21.920 --> 00:41:28.800 Here's Kathy Reinhold, and she is right now uh the president of the Daughters of the King, and we're offering this opportunity. 00:41:28.880 --> 00:41:38.639 If you'd like to learn more about the Daughters of the King, the Daughters of the King is a rule, it's a group of women who have a rule of life oriented around study, service, and prayer. 00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:41.840 And we take this order very, very seriously here at St. 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:42.480 Thomas. 00:41:42.639 --> 00:41:50.559 The service many of you have personally experienced, which is offering receptions to people at funerals, especially people we don't know. 00:41:50.800 --> 00:41:52.000 This is so lovely. 00:41:52.159 --> 00:42:02.320 And so um, Kathy is offering some induction classes into the Daughters of the King, what it means to be a daughter, how we can live into that rule of life, and she's offering that starting today. 00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:07.039 So if you've got any questions about Daughters of the King, maybe you say, Oh, I I don't know if I've got time today. 00:42:07.119 --> 00:42:10.639 Talk to Kathy and we'll figure this out because it's a really meaningful ministry. 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:12.800 It does a lot of fantastic work at St. 00:42:12.960 --> 00:42:16.159 Thomas, and Kathy's your lady uh to talk to today. 00:42:16.320 --> 00:42:21.840 I also want to raise up to you that we are headed back into, you see, it's fantastic, we've got our acolytes here. 00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:28.480 We're headed back into acolytes, and we are training acolytes next week after the service. 00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:31.920 Um, you may say, Well, I didn't know that, and and now you do. 00:42:32.079 --> 00:42:45.840 So grandkids can come, kids can come, adults can be acolytes, and I'll tell you, some of my most meaningful experiences in church before I was a priest happened when I was in sitting in one of those seats as a 30-year-old guy acolyting. 00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.719 So you can do this with your grandkids or with your kids. 00:42:48.880 --> 00:43:04.880 We ask in general that people have finished the third grade, but if you know a really good incoming third grader, you know, who's who is uh able to keep live fire upright, this could be a really good fit. 00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:06.320 So I just want to raise that attention. 00:43:06.400 --> 00:43:09.679 Our next training's next week, and then we'll have another one at the end of the month. 00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:13.840 Uh really happy that we've got 10 new acolytes at least that are coming in. 00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:19.519 Um we're done in this room and in those rooms. 00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:22.400 Thank you for giving generously to the Capital Funds Drive. 00:43:22.480 --> 00:43:28.000 Please continue giving those pledges as we move through our projects, but you'll see whether you need to use the restroom or not. 00:43:28.079 --> 00:43:32.079 Go look at the restrooms because well, we've done phase two. 00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:39.840 We we paid off our loan, and now we've re-floored our sanctuary and our restrooms, and we're ready to keep going with our capital funds. 00:43:39.920 --> 00:43:41.840 Thanks to your tremendous generosity. 00:43:41.920 --> 00:43:47.199 And I gotta tell you, from my perspective, anyway, it's never been as beautiful as it is. 00:43:47.360 --> 00:43:47.840 Thank you. 00:43:48.159 --> 00:43:49.599 Thank you for supporting beauty. 00:43:49.679 --> 00:43:52.400 And as you know, we don't keep it to ourselves. 00:43:52.800 --> 00:43:56.400 Diocesan music camp is here, we do funerals for people we don't know. 00:43:56.480 --> 00:43:58.000 The symphony comes in here. 00:43:58.159 --> 00:43:59.679 Thank you for making this a beautiful. 00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:01.840 Service to the community. 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:02.719 You're doing that. 00:44:05.119 --> 00:44:06.559 I feel like I'm missing something. 00:44:08.400 --> 00:44:11.280 Oh, yes, it's this really great thing that's happening. 00:44:11.840 --> 00:44:14.559 You probably know we've got three scout troops here. 00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:21.840 We've got a Cub Scout pack that's got about 80 families involved, and then we've got a scouting group for boys. 00:44:22.079 --> 00:44:28.559 They're gonna earn like Eagle Scout, and then we've got a scouting group for girls, and they're gonna earn like Eagle Scout, right? 00:44:28.639 --> 00:44:32.639 So we don't actually have a Girl Scout troop, we have a Scout troop for girls. 00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:41.840 And um we also have our Cubmaster has just been appointed the coordinator for Episcopal Scouting in the Diocese of Texas. 00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:44.719 So Zach Worley, I don't know where he's got the energy from. 00:44:44.880 --> 00:44:47.760 He he has yeah, I know it's really amazing. 00:44:50.159 --> 00:44:59.280 The diocese hasn't had somebody do this for like more than 10 years, and Zach has stepped up as a member of our vestry and as the the Scoutmaster. 00:44:59.440 --> 00:45:09.679 Zach has asked us because we've got several girls who are actually within striking distance of the Eagle Award, and we've got some boys who have identified that's their goal. 00:45:09.840 --> 00:45:19.280 You know, one of the ways you get there is by earning merit badges, and you can earn merit badges in about like 125 things, including like aerospace engineering. 00:45:19.440 --> 00:45:21.119 I wish we knew some people who did that. 00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:24.639