WEBVTT 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:52.800 It's just a side. 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:12.000 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:12.960 Amen. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:14.720 Let's pray together. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:22.960 Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:12:23.279 --> 00:12:35.440 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:36.399 Amen. 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:38.240 The Lord be with you. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:41.279 Let us pray. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:51.200 Almighty and ever living God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve. 00:12:51.759 --> 00:13:09.600 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 forever and ever. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:10.720 Amen. 00:13:11.039 --> 00:13:13.679 Please join me in the prayer of Saint Francis. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:18.559 Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.679 Where there is hatred, let me so love. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:35.200 Where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:48.720 O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:59.120 For it is in giving that we receive, and it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. 00:13:59.440 --> 00:14:00.080 Amen. 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:30.320 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his upper rooms by injustice, who makes his neighbors work for nothing and does not give them their wages, who says, I will build myself a spacious house with large upper rooms, and who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. 00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.679 Are you a king because you compete in cedar? 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:39.039 Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness? 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:41.039 Then it was well with him. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:46.480 He judged the cause of the poor and the needy, then it was well. 00:14:47.120 --> 00:14:52.879 Is not this to know me, says the Lord, the word of the Lord. 00:14:58.399 --> 00:15:03.600 Please join me as we read Psalm 148 responsibly by the half verse. 00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:06.799 Praise the Lord from the earth. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:12.399 Fire and hail, snow and fog. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:18.799 Mountains and all hills. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:24.000 Wild beasts and all cattle. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:29.519 Kings of the earth and all peoples. 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:34.320 Young men and women. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:38.879 Let them praise the name of the Lord. 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:51.279 The Lord has raised up strength for the chosen people and praise for all loyal servants. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:23.519 A reading from Galatians. 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:35.840 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:44.879 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation is everything. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:53.679 As for those who will follow this rule, peace be upon them and mercy and upon the people of God. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:02.559 From now on, let no one make trouble for me, for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body. 00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:08.000 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:08.960 Amen. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:11.119 The word of the Lord. 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:47.839 At that time Jesus said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent, and have revealed them to infants. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:50.640 Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:18:01.359 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:08.480 Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:21.039 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:23.759 The Gospel of the Lord. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:43.519 Reminder that in the church we don't celebrate saints on their birthday. 00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:47.200 We celebrate them on the day in which they pass into larger life. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:52.400 So if you're wondering when is Martin Luther King's Day in the church, it's April the 4th. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:18:56.640 It's not in January, because on April the 4th is when he passed a larger life. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:18:59.519 And here we are now, October the 4th. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:05.359 We don't exactly know Francis' birthday anyway, but this is in fact his day. 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:09.039 And I want to offer to you a little bit about Francis. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:20.559 Many people, historians, would tell you he is remarkable in the history of the known world as one of the most charismatic and compelling figures that there was. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:36.319 So just a brief biographical sketch and why I think that matters to today's gospel, if that's okay, especially because there's something really compelling about some of the Franciscan legends for living, frankly, a fuller way of life. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:50.640 Francis was born to a merchant who was arguably an upper middle class merchant, and uh he was an extremely uh happy, gregarious uh life of the party young man. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:58.640 Uh, he had enormous economic resources behind him in a CC from his father's lucrative and successful merchant trade. 00:19:58.720 --> 00:20:09.359 And so he was known as a FOC and a dandy words that you learn from the SAT and from Yankee Doodle, which meant he wore the finest clothes that there were and threw the best parties that there were. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:18.960 Um, and all of that changed one day when Francis went off to war and received a wound, and he came back uh to heal and was completely changed. 00:20:19.119 --> 00:20:29.279 We would probably call it PTSD now, and so he spent months recovering, very sullen, absolutely not himself, and he took to wandering outside the walls of the C City. 00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:41.920 And many of you know the story that one day he found a church that was broken down, and he sat in the church to pray, and he heard a voice crystal clear, at least in his head, that said, Francis, rebuild my church. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.839 Initially, he took that voice extremely literally. 00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:48.960 So he rebuilt that church. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:57.920 He mixed cement and he mixed more and he minted the roof, and the church was done, and he felt some accomplishment, but uh not what he'd hoped. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:00.400 He didn't feel like his former self. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:11.359 And so it was after praying in the newly completed church one day on the way home, he met a uh required quarantined leper. 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:24.720 Lepers were required to keep a perimeter to warn people to stay away, and something inside Francis twisted, and he not only looked at the leper, but he approached the leper and kissed the leper in his woundedness. 00:21:24.880 --> 00:21:31.759 Now, this is probably not Hansen's disease, but it is probably marked by, um, perhaps, sorry to be graphic bleeding sores. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:42.960 And so Francis went to the leper, kissed the man at the marks of his death, important to hear, and was absolutely converted. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:46.319 Um, he took the words of Jesus through St. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:50.559 Anthony, literally, um, to give away everything he had and come follow Jesus. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:54.160 Except the problem was Francis didn't really have anything, he was all his dad's. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:59.759 So he gave away all the clothes, he started lowering the furniture out of the windows to give it away to people in town. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.359 Dad came back from a trip and was like, What are you doing? 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:04.960 I want you to stop that. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:15.839 Dad took Francis to the judge in town who happened to be the bishop and said, Francis, uh, judge, Francis is giving all the stuff away, and I want you to stop. 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:23.519 And Francis said, Um, look, I have no father but my heavenly father, have everything that's yours, took off his clothes. 00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:27.680 Fortunately, the bishop had a big tape and was able to cover Francis up in church. 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:29.599 Can you imagine a scene like that today? 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:30.400 Please don't. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:33.119 And um do that later in the privacy of your home. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:36.640 And that was the beginning of Francis becoming a mendicant. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:44.480 So not a priest, but somebody who went around relying on the hospitality of others and preaching the gospel as he understood it. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:48.880 Um so he literally wandered around and accepted the hospitality that people gave him. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.640 If they gave him food, he ate, and if they didn't, well, he didn't. 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:57.839 We know Francis preached to the birds, and that's because initially nobody would listen to him. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:22:59.119 They thought he was nuts. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:03.119 So he talked to the animals because they were a captive audience, apparently. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:19.279 And uh what's really amazing about Francis that frankly we celebrate is that he uh grew not only in um people being curious to what he had to say, but apparently he had quite uh this aura of hospitality. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:28.640 Uh in the Third Crusade, he traveled to the Holy Land hoping to be martyred for the sake of the gospel, but um the sultans liked him too much. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:30.640 They just thought he was a wonderful guy. 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:33.920 So they thanked him for visiting him, sitting back home on his way. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:41.519 Uh, some of the legends you may know, and this is why we get to hear Galatians today, Paul says, I bear on my body the brands or the marks of Christ. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.160 In Greek, that's the word stigmata. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:58.160 And Francis, according to legend, had bleeding wounds in his wrists, ankles, and side for years because he was so caught up uh in Jesus that he bore on his body the marks of Christ. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:05.920 Um I think that's what the gospel, I mean, what Paul had in mind, but I want you to hear uh that got transferred uh to Francis. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:13.599 One of the things that Francis, we remember him for, um, quite frankly, and if you know many Franciscans, I'm privileged to know one. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:20.960 Um, Father Bob Flick over at Good Shepherd started us uh in the Order of Franciscans before he became an Episcopalian. 00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:33.200 Um, almost to that fail, Franciscans are able to see, in my experience, beauty in the most ordinary and offensive. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:43.119 I mean, the legacy is even not only in the leper, but in the leper's wounds to see God's presence and the really compelling personalities. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.519 And this is the ministry of Francis, I think, that we celebrate. 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:52.720 Um, especially Francis was able to do this in the natural world and in the animals. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:25:04.720 And so you'll hear today in the prayers of the people that we've interwoven the canical of the sun, which identifies the sun as our brother, the moon as our sister, the wind as our brother, the earth as our mother, and even death as our sister. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:20.160 So if you know the hymn, All Creatures of Our God and King, Francis was boldly identifying the death was created by God and accomplishes God's purpose, not death with a capital D, but the bodily death that we can all expect to have. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:25.920 And in that way, again, radical theology of affirmation where God is to be found. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:38.559 A couple other things you may not realize Francis invented at Christmas time in Assisi, people felt extremely, I'm sorry, um, in Italy, people felt a little disconnected from the nativity story. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:45.119 And so Francis thought that he would make that story come alive by bringing a donkey and sheep and putting it in the public square. 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:52.319 It was a living nativity, and it happened in the town of Greccio, which is why we call those little sets Cretches. 00:25:52.720 --> 00:25:55.920 That's the French version of the town Greccio. 00:25:56.640 --> 00:26:01.519 Um, my favorite story, though, is the one I want to tell you now, and then I'm going to tell you why I think it matters on St. 00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:03.759 Francis Day to think through. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:08.400 That's Francis and the Wolf, the wolf of Gubio. 00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:13.519 So once upon a time there was a really large wolf, and it had access to a spring. 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:19.200 It lived in the wild, and then some people saw that this spring was a really desirable place to build a town. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:20.319 Uh, so they did. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:26.319 The problem was you don't really want to have a town where there's a wolf, uh, so they built the wall to keep the wolf out. 00:26:26.480 --> 00:26:30.160 The wolf no longer had access to its natural resources. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:26:38.319 The people who had the town decided they were going to be herds people, so the enmity between the people and the wolf grew. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:45.680 Initially, the wolf took care of itself by preying on the weak, the weakest lambs, the weakest goats. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:54.640 Um, but as people grew frustrated with the wolf, uh they had they traded antagonisms, including throwing rocks and then trying to shoot the wolf with arrows. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.279 The wolf eventually ended up eating some people. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:26:58.480 It was a mess. 00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:03.920 The wolf was so big and so powerful the people of the town could not overpower it. 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:05.759 Francis was in the region. 00:27:06.240 --> 00:27:09.039 People invited him to resolve their wolf problem. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.839 This was a guy who had the marks of Jesus on his body. 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:13.440 Surely he could deal with a wolf. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:17.200 And of course, what they had in mind was he would strike it dead with lightning. 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:20.559 So they brought Francis in to deal with the wolf. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:22.720 Francis said, sure, I'll come meet the wolf. 00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:26.160 They said, We don't want you to meet the wolf, we want you to kill the wolf. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:27.920 He came anyway. 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:30.319 He walked outside of town. 00:27:30.480 --> 00:27:33.680 Everybody climbs up on top of the wall to see what's going to happen. 00:27:33.839 --> 00:27:37.359 The wolf comes running because the wolf smells meat. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:47.839 And according to the legend, Francis opens his hands to the wolf, calls the wolf his brother, and the wolf stops dead in his tracks and they have a conversation. 00:27:48.079 --> 00:27:52.559 And Francis says, Brother wolf, I know the people of the town have been cruel to you. 00:27:52.799 --> 00:27:56.880 They took what was rightfully yours, and they chased you. 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:00.079 And they tried to kill you, and they tried to hurt you. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:04.319 And the wolf is a good conversation partner in the story. 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:09.279 And then Francis says, But, Brother Wolf, you haven't treated the town like your brother either. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:15.519 You have wantonly attacked their animals, you've attacked their children, you've attacked their herdspeople. 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:21.279 Brother Wolf, are you willing to be reconciled in the name of Jesus Christ with the town? 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:24.079 The wolf shook on it. 00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:28.079 And Francis did the unforgivable. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:31.200 He opened the door and let the wolf ride into town. 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:39.839 And the people on the walk sort of go ballistic, they get their pitchforks, and uh the only reason probably they don't kill the wolf is Francis is standing in their way. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:44.799 And Francis says, Look, I brought the wolf, your brother, to be reconciled to you. 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:50.160 And the people in the town say, Great, we'll be reconciled, just move a little bit to the right. 00:28:51.680 --> 00:29:12.240 Depending on which version of the story you read, it's a little child who slips away from her mother or his mother, depending on which version, because mom's got her pitchfork, she's not holding on, and the little child takes Francis at his word and hugs the wolf, and there's this sort of gasp from the crowd. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:16.319 And amazingly, the wolf licks the child. 00:29:16.960 --> 00:29:22.240 And so it is that another child leads them and hugs the wolf. 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:27.920 And this goes on and on until the town is forced to put their weapons down so that they don't hurt their children. 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:38.240 And so they live out this slow reconciliation, and the conclusion is Francis leaves, the wolf takes turns sleeping with each child in the village each night. 00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:53.680 And the wolf, uh, in exchange, the village feeds the wolf, and the wolf is sort of the bouncer or the security system par excellence for a medieval village, because anyone who comes over the wall, the wolf is there to greet them. 00:29:54.319 --> 00:30:02.319 And it is with great sadness that the wolf buries the wolf some 20 years later, the village buries the wolf 20 years later. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:06.240 It's an amazing legend about reconciliation. 00:30:07.200 --> 00:30:17.839 I gotta tell you, I really wish Francis would show up today, because we could use a whole lot of reconciliation, forget about the world, we could just use it here locally. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:28.799 We know that that kind of reconciliation can sometimes be, well, dangerous, just like it was in the story. 00:30:29.039 --> 00:30:32.160 And who knows if it's worth it. 00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:50.079 I want to tell you, though, that this year I've returned to this story that I think I told you two years ago, um, because my spiritual director uh referred me to a book that I recently have tried to plod through, and I just find very Franciscan, and I find it bears out in the story. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:55.440 The book is called Self-Therapy, an internal family systems approach. 00:30:55.599 --> 00:31:04.000 It's written by a therapist named Jay Early, and um many of you have possibly heard of family systems before, after all. 00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:08.400 We all belong to families, and in families members play parts. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:13.839 Like there's the star student, and there's the black sheep, and there's the jokester, right? 00:31:13.920 --> 00:31:15.920 We all have members in our family. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:24.240 Everybody's got an uncle Steve or Kevin or whoever your uncle is, uh, the one that you talk about on Thanksgiving but don't see, right? 00:31:24.400 --> 00:31:31.279 And the book says, yeah, we've got these family systems outside, but we also have them inside. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:37.759 The book says quite interestingly that we're made up of many, many little parts. 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:43.200 And uh two particular parts the book identifies are exiles. 00:31:43.359 --> 00:31:48.559 Those are parts of us, frankly, that were hurt, most likely when we were children. 00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.960 Maybe we were made fun of or we were rejected. 00:31:53.119 --> 00:31:54.960 Um, you fill in the blank. 00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:59.200 The other kind of part that many of us have are called protectors. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:06.799 And the protectors are things like, well, the judge or the bridge burner or the achiever or the accomplisher. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:20.880 And the protector is there either to keep the exile safe or to keep the exile away from us so that we're not overwhelmed with the feelings from that event. 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:39.519 Interestingly enough, a lot of therapy tries, a lot of particularly the way we deal with things about ourselves we don't like, is to tell ourselves we don't like that part of ourselves and we wish it would just quit or go away. 00:32:39.839 --> 00:32:45.359 Or if we could really get our hands around that protector, we'd kill it so we could be free. 00:32:46.079 --> 00:32:56.799 What's really interesting is that this book, Internal Family Systems, says, you know, these parts of us that sometimes drive us crazy, like sometimes we just can't sit still. 00:32:57.200 --> 00:33:00.319 We've just got to be doing something. 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:06.640 The reason is so that we don't get overwhelmed with certain feelings. 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:15.759 And that those parts of us that drive us crazy actually started because they have our best interest in mind and they are working really hard to help us. 00:33:16.480 --> 00:33:32.079 And if we try to chase them down, if we try to build a wall around those parts, if we treat them like a ravenous wolf, well, not only is it not going to work, because ultimately those are parts of ourselves, right? 00:33:33.279 --> 00:33:39.279 But killing those parts would be losing parts of ourselves. 00:33:40.640 --> 00:33:53.920 Instead, internal family systems is about recognizing with true curiosity what those parts do for us, what they're afraid will happen if they stop doing it. 00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:56.960 Getting to know those parts. 00:33:57.119 --> 00:34:17.119 Now, this may sound really kooky, but you can listen to these transcripts where people start off imagining the critical part of themselves as like a sooty demon, and then they change the image when they realize what the sooty demon's been doing for them to like a Tasmanian devil, which is certainly a step up from a demon. 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:28.320 And that these people who engage in internal family uh systems start to get to know fully the parts of themselves and what they're doing. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:35.199 They start to earn their trust, and at the end of the day, it's not so that that part will just leave them, it's so that that part can do something different. 00:34:35.599 --> 00:34:43.760 They start to recognize that the parts of ourselves that we don't like are doing their best to help us out. 00:34:47.599 --> 00:35:02.000 And that internally and paternal family systems is about reconciling all the parts of ourselves, especially the ones that we're afraid of, so that we can be a whole family within ourselves. 00:35:04.719 --> 00:35:11.760 I don't know if that seems weird to you, but I gotta tell you, I have a pretty easy time finding parts of myself I don't like. 00:35:12.000 --> 00:35:15.360 And I have an easier time telling them to be quiet or to stand down. 00:35:15.440 --> 00:35:23.280 And ultimately, I think the ministry of Francis is that reconciliation happens exactly in the parts that we don't like. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:30.079 And that God's presence is not just found in the lepers, it's found in the wounds. 00:35:30.800 --> 00:35:36.400 And the story about Francis and the wolf is about turning an enemy into a protector. 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:44.400 It's about turning something you don't like and something you're afraid of into something that's mutually gratifying. 00:35:44.559 --> 00:35:46.480 And maybe it's all made up. 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:51.679 It's just the best kind of legend because it offers us a way forward inside. 00:35:52.800 --> 00:35:58.639 Sometimes I think the reason we have such a hard time with other people is because we have such a hard time with ourselves. 00:35:58.960 --> 00:36:17.920 And if we were able to make peace with our inner critic, with our accomplisher, with our bouncer, with our whatever it is, with the part that you have, well then we just might be able to be actually curious about other folk. 00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:30.159 Now, maybe you've heard of Thomas Merton, and Thomas Merton continues the Franciscan tradition and says, you know, if the goal is to get to know your inner part so you can capture it, it will always run away from you. 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:50.079 So what Francis invites us to do, I think, is to say, if I can't see God in another person, if I can't see God in this part of myself, if I can't see God in a mosquito, it's not because God's not there, it's because my imagination is deficient. 00:36:50.960 --> 00:37:07.199 Francis invites us not to write those parts off, but to open ourselves to the lepers within and without, and to be converted in God's presence in all things. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:16.800 That's what I think we hear in the gospel Come unto me, all you who are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. 00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:23.599 It's not exactly restful to cut off parts of yourself that you don't like, exactly schizophrenic. 00:37:24.400 --> 00:37:29.679 Maybe the rest that Jesus offers is to be healed exactly as we are. 00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:40.719 That sure seems like a lighter burden to me than chopping off parts of my foot or toe or hand, to be reconciled with myself. 00:37:41.760 --> 00:37:44.480 To be reconciled with others. 00:37:46.320 --> 00:38:03.199 Franciscans offer this other skill that I think is so lacking in myself and others, and this tells you a little bit about my own parts, I suppose, which is the ability to have compassion for people, especially when they do the wrong thing. 00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:10.480 So I want to close with a poem that a previous parishioner and dear friend of mine sent me. 00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:12.880 This was from On Being this week with Christa Tippett. 00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:18.880 It's called Phase One, and it embodies, I think, the kind of forgiveness that Francis invites us to leave out. 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:21.519 Phase one by Dilruba Ahmed. 00:38:23.280 --> 00:38:27.440 For leaving the fridge open last night, I forgive you. 00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:37.039 For conjuring white curtains instead of living your life, for the seedlings that wilt now in tiny pots, I forgive you. 00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:42.400 For saying no first, but yes as an afterthought. 00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:48.719 I forgive you for hideous visions after childbirth brought on by loss of sleep. 00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:54.480 And when the baby woke repeatedly for your silent rebuke in the dark, what's your beef? 00:38:55.599 --> 00:39:10.719 I forgive you for letting vines overtake the garden, for fearing your own propensity to love, for losing again your bag en route from San Francisco, for the equally heedless drive back on the caffeine-fueled return. 00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:24.719 I forgive you for leaving windows open in rain and soaking library books again, for putting forth only revisions of yourself with punctuation worked over instead of the disordered truth. 00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:34.000 I forgive you for singing mostly when the shower drowns your voice, for so admiring the drummer you failed to hear the drum. 00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:38.480 In forgotten tin cans, may forgiveness gather. 00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:48.079 Pooling in gutters, gushing from pipes, a great steady rain of olives from branches, relieved of cruelty and petty meanness. 00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:55.119 With it a flurry of wings, thirteen gray pigeons, ointment reserved for healers and prophets. 00:39:55.599 --> 00:39:56.960 I forgive you. 00:39:57.519 --> 00:40:00.960 I forgive you for feeling awkward and nervous without reason. 00:40:01.199 --> 00:40:07.440 For bearing Keith's empty vessel with such calm you worried you had perhaps no moral center at all. 00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:13.280 For treating your mother with contempt when she deserved compassion, I forgive you. 00:40:13.920 --> 00:40:15.119 I forgive you. 00:40:16.079 --> 00:40:23.280 I forgive you for growing up a capacity for love that is great, but matched only perhaps by your loneliness. 00:40:23.679 --> 00:40:32.800 For being unable to forgive yourself first, so you could then forgive others and at last find a way to become the love that you want in this world. 00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:39.119 I pray that we would feast with Francis today at the table of the Lord. 00:40:39.519 --> 00:40:48.239 A feast of forgiveness, a feast of reconciliation, a feast of God's presence in all of our parts. 00:41:02.559 --> 00:41:08.320 We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, and Maker of the Earth. 00:41:08.960 --> 00:41:11.119 All that is seen and unseen. 00:41:11.760 --> 00:41:14.480 We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ. 00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:16.239 The only eternal God. 00:42:42.320 --> 00:42:44.800 In peace we pray to you, Lord God. 00:42:47.039 --> 00:42:52.960 Most High, all-powerful, good Lord, all praise, glory, honor, and blessings are yours. 00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:58.000 They belong to you alone, most high, for no one is worthy to mention your name. 00:42:58.880 --> 00:43:01.599 For all people in their daily life and work. 00:43:02.719 --> 00:43:07.119 Our families, friends, and neighbors, and for those who are alone. 00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:11.920 Praise be you, my Lord, with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother, Son. 00:43:12.159 --> 00:43:14.719 He is the day, and through him you give us light. 00:43:14.960 --> 00:43:20.639 He is beautiful and radiant with great splendor and bears your likeness, Most High One. 00:43:21.280 --> 00:43:28.880 For this community, the nation and the world, for all who work for justice, freedom, and peace. 00:43:29.199 --> 00:43:32.320 Praise be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars. 00:43:32.480 --> 00:43:43.679 You form them in heaven, clear and beautiful, for the peace and unity of the Church of God, for all who proclaim the gospel and all who seek the truth. 00:43:43.920 --> 00:43:50.719 Praise be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind, through the heavens, cloudy and serene, and through every kind of weather. 00:43:50.960 --> 00:44:06.800 Through them you give sustenance to your creatures, for all bishops, priests, and deacons, for the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, and for Michael, our presiding bishop. 00:44:07.199 --> 00:44:10.000 For all who serve God and the church. 00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:12.880 Praise be you, my Lord, through Sister Water. 00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:16.559 She is very useful, humble, precious, and chaste. 00:44:17.039 --> 00:44:17.440 For St. 00:44:17.599 --> 00:44:19.599 Thomas the Apostle School. 00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:26.239 Well, those who teach and those who learn, that they may rejoice in the knowledge of your truth. 00:44:26.559 --> 00:44:28.719 Praise be you, my Lord, to Brother Fire. 00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:31.039 Through him you light up the night. 00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:34.480 He is beautiful, cheerful, robust, and strong. 00:44:35.199 --> 00:44:38.559 Praise be you, my Lord, to our sister Mother Earth. 00:44:38.800 --> 00:44:52.719 She sustains and governs us and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs, for the just and proper use of your creation, for the victims of hunger, fear, injustice, and oppression. 00:44:52.960 --> 00:44:59.679 Praise be you, my Lord, through those who forgive out of love for you, and through those who bear infirmity and tribulation. 00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:02.559 Blessed are those who endure in peace. 00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:05.119 You, Most High, will crown them. 00:45:06.239 --> 00:45:15.280 For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble, for those who minister to the sick, the friendless, and the needy. 00:45:15.519 --> 00:45:18.960 Praise be to you, my Lord, through our sister bodily death. 00:45:19.280 --> 00:45:21.440 No living person can escape her. 00:45:21.679 --> 00:45:29.920 Blessed are those who die in your most holy will, remembering especially today Mel, for the second death shall not harm them. 00:45:31.199 --> 00:45:47.840 For the special needs and concerns of this congregation, especially Chris, Jerry, Sean, Jerome, Susie, Ted, Andrea, Kevin, Ron, Joe, and Nancy from Nelva. 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:53.280 And those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud. 00:45:59.360 --> 00:46:02.800 Hear us, Lord, for your mercy is great. 00:46:03.119 --> 00:46:07.840 Praise and bless my Lord, give God thanks and serve God with great humility. 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:11.679 We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life. 00:46:16.960 --> 00:46:22.239 We will exalt you, O God, our King, and praise your name forever and ever. 00:46:22.559 --> 00:46:25.840 We pray to you also for the forgiveness of our sins. 00:46:30.719 --> 00:46:41.679 Almighty and most merciful God, we are thankful that your compassion is higher than the heavens, wider than our wanderings, deeper than all our sin. 00:46:42.239 --> 00:47:03.760 Forgive our careless attitudes toward your purposes, our refusal to relieve the suffering of others, our envy of those who have more than we have, our obsession with creating a life of constant entertainment, our indifference to the treasures of heaven, our neglect of your wise and gracious law. 00:47:04.079 --> 00:47:09.360 Help us to change our way of life so that we may desire what is good. 00:47:09.840 --> 00:47:15.679 Love what you love, and do what you command through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:16.639 Amen. 00:47:16.960 --> 00:47:27.360 Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. 00:47:27.679 --> 00:47:28.320 Amen. 00:47:30.320 --> 00:47:33.599 It's very Franciscan that we stand, because that worked. 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:38.559 So we stand before God now as worthy and with one another as worthy. 00:47:38.880 --> 00:47:43.760 The socially distanced of the peace, the socially distanced peace of the Lord be always with you. 00:47:59.920 --> 00:48:01.840 Good morning, and thank you for worshiping with us at St. 00:48:02.000 --> 00:48:02.559 Thomas today. 00:48:02.880 --> 00:48:05.119 Just a few announcements I want to call to your attention. 00:48:05.440 --> 00:48:16.320 One is that yesterday we had our monthly food distribution and we were able to serve 92 cars representing 385 persons. 00:48:20.400 --> 00:48:25.440 This is a great partnership we have with the Galveston County Food Bank for$200. 00:48:25.920 --> 00:48:28.800 We get$17,000 worth of food to distribute. 00:48:28.880 --> 00:48:32.480 And so in general, we feed 400 people a month here at St. 00:48:32.639 --> 00:48:33.199 Thomas. 00:48:33.360 --> 00:48:41.760 Fresh groceries, and people who were there will tell you it's like 50, 60 pounds worth of groceries that we're sending people away with. 00:48:41.920 --> 00:48:44.960 And thank you for offering this ministry. 00:48:45.119 --> 00:48:48.960 One of the great things about it is yesterday four people showed up who have never been to our church. 00:48:49.119 --> 00:48:53.760 They saw the ad in the newspaper and they wanted to do more together, and that's what we do at St. 00:48:53.920 --> 00:48:54.239 Thomas. 00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:55.199 We do more together. 00:48:55.280 --> 00:48:56.480 So thank you for that. 00:48:57.360 --> 00:48:58.880 Today is the Feast of St. 00:48:59.039 --> 00:49:00.880 Francis, which means pet blessing. 00:49:01.039 --> 00:49:06.800 And the way you can do that if you'd like is we're having a pet drive-thru, not a drive-by. 00:49:07.119 --> 00:49:09.519 A drive-by would need driving by your home. 00:49:09.679 --> 00:49:15.039 Instead, you drive here with your pet or stuffed animal or a facsimile of your pet. 00:49:15.199 --> 00:49:18.480 It actually doesn't have to be very well behaved as long as it's in your car. 00:49:19.119 --> 00:49:22.559 And so we'll do the drive-thru right on here from four to five. 00:49:22.800 --> 00:49:29.440 And your friends and neighbors and even people you don't like are also very welcome to bring their pets by for a blessing. 00:49:29.920 --> 00:49:32.480 Again, that's from four to five today. 00:49:50.480 --> 00:49:58.000 What's really amazing about our guys up there, Bob Ketchum and Todd Parker, of course, is that they've enabled us to stream our services on YouTube. 00:49:59.280 --> 00:50:09.920 But that's all the more valuable as we think about burial and mourning people who have lost, not only because of COVID, but because of difficulty of travel plans. 00:50:10.000 --> 00:50:16.480 And so your support of that ministry and Bob and Todd are really the torchbearers that have gotten us online. 00:50:18.079 --> 00:50:19.280 It means a great deal. 00:50:27.440 --> 00:50:32.320 One other word I want to give you is that pledge packets went out this week. 00:50:32.480 --> 00:50:38.320 Normally we have a little more to do about that here in person, but it's a little harder to do that. 00:50:38.480 --> 00:50:45.280 So I want to share with you briefly why it is that pledging matters to me. 00:50:45.599 --> 00:50:47.599 Because I didn't grow up in a church that pledged. 00:50:47.679 --> 00:50:54.639 I grew up in a household in which the first check each month was 10% of gross pay, and that was the minimum. 00:50:54.719 --> 00:50:58.480 So I had a really good mom who showed me that generosity. 00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:02.960 But as I've gotten older, pledging frankly helps me live into my value. 00:51:03.039 --> 00:51:24.079 I want to be a generous person, and honestly, having a pledge allows me to figure out what I'm able to do, what I'm able to live into, and have that as a goal and a commitment that allows me to express my generosity as a first thought, not as an afterthought, as a way of committing and living into instead of maybe there's something left. 00:51:24.239 --> 00:51:31.039 And so I'm grateful to be able to pledge because it helps me live into my values. 00:51:31.599 --> 00:51:34.559 I I put in as well this letter. 00:51:34.639 --> 00:51:38.000 I had a conversation to me that was really eye-opening this summer. 00:51:38.159 --> 00:51:42.400 COVID really allowed a lot of phone calls and a lot of reconnections with people. 00:51:42.480 --> 00:52:02.079 And my mentoring rector, who was a career priest, whose father was a career priest, whose grandfather was a career priest, I don't know how we got on stewardship, but he said, you know, I've just got to tell you, it's not a bad amount, but the most joyful people I've met are the ones who make commitments to generosity. 00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:03.840 And I said, Well, why do you think that is? 00:52:03.920 --> 00:52:07.840 And he said, Well, because having a generous heart transforms you. 00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:12.800 And so I have to admit, selfishly, I'd like to be more transformed. 00:52:12.880 --> 00:52:20.320 And pledging is an opportunity for me to say, I'm going to step into generosity because life is bigger than when we do. 00:52:21.119 --> 00:52:24.320 So I invite you to celebrate what St. 00:52:24.559 --> 00:52:31.280 Thomas has done in our community and in your own life and in the lives of people that you're meeting and haven't met and are loving. 00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:34.320 And take your time with your pledge card. 00:52:34.880 --> 00:52:46.400 One thing I know about this community, because this is not my first church that I've been a part of, is that people here are loving and kind, and they're trying to live not only in the way of St. 00:52:46.559 --> 00:52:48.639 Francis, but in the way of Jesus Christ. 00:52:48.960 --> 00:52:56.559 And I'm grateful for you, and I'm grateful for this opportunity for us to live that out with our stewardship year after year of time and service. 00:52:57.039 --> 00:52:59.119 So continue to walk in love. 00:52:59.360 --> 00:53:04.159 As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. 00:55:01.920 --> 00:55:05.039 This is the table, not of the church, but of Jesus Christ. 00:55:05.280 --> 00:55:09.360 It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come. 00:55:09.760 --> 00:55:17.360 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. 00:55:17.599 --> 00:55:20.559 You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come. 00:55:20.719 --> 00:55:25.519 Not because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here. 00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:28.639 The Lord be with you. 00:55:30.400 --> 00:55:31.760 Lift up your hearts. 00:55:33.760 --> 00:55:36.079 Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. 00:55:36.480 --> 00:55:38.800 It is right to give you that things like this. 00:55:39.199 --> 00:55:47.679 It is right and a good and a joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. 00:55:47.920 --> 00:55:56.000 Because in the obedience of your saints, you've given us an example of righteousness, and in their eternal joy a glorious pledge of the hope of our calling. 00:55:56.239 --> 00:56:05.679 And therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and with archangels, and with all the company of heaven, who forever say this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name. 00:56:06.079 --> 00:56:15.599 Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna and the highest. 00:56:15.920 --> 00:56:21.280 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna and the highest. 00:56:21.760 --> 00:56:26.000 Holy and gracious Father, in your infinite love, you made us for yourself. 00:56:26.159 --> 00:56:40.880 And when we've fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you in your mercy sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all. 00:56:41.280 --> 00:56:48.639 He stretched out his arms upon the cross and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world. 00:56:49.119 --> 00:56:53.599 On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread. 00:56:53.840 --> 00:56:58.880 And when he given thanks to you, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, Take, eat. 00:56:59.039 --> 00:57:01.519 This is my body which is given for you. 00:57:01.840 --> 00:57:03.920 Do this for the remembrance of me. 00:57:06.960 --> 00:57:09.920 After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine. 00:57:10.239 --> 00:57:14.159 And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you. 00:57:14.320 --> 00:57:19.360 This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins. 00:57:19.599 --> 00:57:23.119 Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me. 00:57:25.599 --> 00:57:28.559 Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith. 00:57:29.039 --> 00:57:34.000 Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. 00:57:34.239 --> 00:57:39.599 We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. 00:57:39.760 --> 00:57:43.760 Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer to you these gifts. 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:52.719 Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people, the body and blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in Him. 00:57:53.119 --> 00:58:01.039 Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy sacrament and serve you in unity and constancy and peace. 00:58:01.280 --> 00:58:05.519 And at the last day, bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom. 00:58:05.679 --> 00:58:16.079 All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ, by him and with him and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. 00:58:16.480 --> 00:58:17.119 Amen. 00:58:17.760 --> 00:58:21.440 And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray. 00:58:21.760 --> 00:58:32.239 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:58:32.480 --> 00:58:51.519 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. 00:58:51.920 --> 00:58:52.559 Amen. 00:58:54.239 --> 00:58:57.920 Hallelujah, Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us. 00:59:00.800 --> 00:59:01.599 Hallelujah. 00:59:02.159 --> 00:59:05.679 These are the gifts of God for you, the people of God. 00:59:06.320 --> 00:59:11.519 People of God, behold who you are and become what you receive. 00:59:12.000 --> 00:59:18.400 And I invite you, if you'd like to receive bread or a blessing, to simply come to the aisle that is to your right. 00:59:18.800 --> 00:59:23.920 I'll give you bread or a blessing and send you back around to your seat. 01:03:12.480 --> 01:03:23.199 Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image and nourishing us with spiritual food in the sacrament of Christ's body and blood. 01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:35.039 Now send us forth a people, forgiven, healed, renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world and continue in the risen life of Christ our Savior. 01:03:35.519 --> 01:03:36.159 Amen. 01:03:37.440 --> 01:03:47.519 May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. 01:03:47.840 --> 01:03:56.320 May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. 01:03:56.639 --> 01:04:03.760 And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and remain with you always. 01:04:04.079 --> 01:04:04.719 Amen.