SPEAKER_04: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_05: Blessed be God.
SPEAKER_05: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_04: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_04: 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.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_04: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_04: Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly.
SPEAKER_04: And even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: A reading from Exodus.
SPEAKER_02: The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.
SPEAKER_02: Then the Lord said to Moses, I'm going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day, and that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
SPEAKER_02: On the sixth day when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.
SPEAKER_02: So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, In the evening you shall know what it you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your complaining against the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: For what are we that you complain against us?
SPEAKER_02: And Moses said, When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and you're full of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against him, what are we?
SPEAKER_02: Your complaining is not against us, but against the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.
SPEAKER_02: And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
SPEAKER_02: The Lord spoke to Moses and said, I have heard the complaining of the Israelites.
SPEAKER_02: Say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread.
SPEAKER_02: Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_02: In the evening quells came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
SPEAKER_02: When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
SPEAKER_02: When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, What is it?
SPEAKER_02: For they did not know what it was.
SPEAKER_02: Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
SPEAKER_02: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: We will read responsively by the half verse.
SPEAKER_02: Give thanks to the Lord and call upon upon God's name.
SPEAKER_02: Sing to the Lord, sing praises.
SPEAKER_05: And seek of all God and wonderful.
SPEAKER_02: Glory in God's holy name.
SPEAKER_02: Search for the Lord and the strength of the Lord.
SPEAKER_06: Continually seek the face of God.
SPEAKER_02: Remember the marvels God has done.
SPEAKER_02: O offspring of Abraham, God's servant.
SPEAKER_06: O the children of Jacob, God's chosen.
SPEAKER_02: God led out the chosen people with silver and gold.
SPEAKER_02: Egypt was glad of their going.
SPEAKER_02: God spread out a cloud for a covering.
SPEAKER_02: They asked, and quails appeared.
SPEAKER_02: God opened the rock and water flowed.
SPEAKER_02: For God remembered the holy promise.
SPEAKER_02: So God led forth the people with gladness.
SPEAKER_02: God gave the chosen people the land of the nations.
SPEAKER_02: That they might keep God's statutes.
SPEAKER_01: To me, living is Christ and dying is gain.
SPEAKER_01: If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, and I do not know which I prefer.
SPEAKER_01: I am hard pressed between the two.
SPEAKER_01: My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
SPEAKER_01: But to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
SPEAKER_01: Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
SPEAKER_01: Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or I am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, and are in no way intimidated by your opponents.
SPEAKER_01: For them, this is the evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation, and this is God's doing.
SPEAKER_01: For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering from as well, since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had, and now hear that I still survive.
SPEAKER_01: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the market place, and he said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.
SPEAKER_04: So they went.
SPEAKER_04: When he went out again about noon, and about three o'clock he did the same.
SPEAKER_04: And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, Why are you standing here idle all day?
SPEAKER_04: They said to him, Because no one's hired us.
SPEAKER_04: He said to them, You also go into the vineyard.
SPEAKER_04: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last, and then going to the first.
SPEAKER_04: When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
SPEAKER_04: Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received the usual daily wage.
SPEAKER_04: And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
SPEAKER_04: But he replied to one of them, Friend, I'm doing you no wrong.
SPEAKER_04: Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
SPEAKER_04: Take what belongs to you and go.
SPEAKER_04: I choose to give this last the same as I give to you.
SPEAKER_04: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?
SPEAKER_04: Or are you envious because I'm generous?
SPEAKER_04: So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
SPEAKER_04: The gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_04: I remember distinctly when I received my college diploma looking to my left and my right at students that I had spent four years with thinking, how is it that we all got the same piece of paper?
SPEAKER_04: Because I know full well how little you worked.
SPEAKER_04: And somehow in my mind, that paper had made all of us equals.
SPEAKER_04: And it was offensive.
SPEAKER_04: Because we weren't.
SPEAKER_04: So I want to tell you, I am extremely bothered by this story on a number of levels.
SPEAKER_04: Typically, this is used as a description of how it is we all get to heaven, and there are people who have labored their whole life, and there's those that sneak in in the 11th hour, and everybody gets the same thing.
SPEAKER_04: And I have to tell you, I really don't like it.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, I really don't like it.
SPEAKER_04: To me, it starts to think like, well, geez, why am I doing all this work?
SPEAKER_04: I should just wait until the 11th hour myself.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, and then everything would be great.
SPEAKER_04: I would do no work, and here I would be in the end.
SPEAKER_04: I had a professor who challenged that in uh undergrad by retelling the parable slightly, and and I want to say I think it's got a really um it's got something really nice about it.
SPEAKER_04: So the pair the professor uh retold the parable as imagine this is a peach orchard in Georgia and there's a freeze coming, and the freeze is going to come tomorrow, and of course, any peaches you don't get off the trees are gonna freeze and be ruined.
SPEAKER_04: So uh the orchard owner goes and hires extra fruit pickers.
SPEAKER_04: There's clearly some on staff already, but orders the fruit gets these fruit pickers, agrees to pay them a daily wage, whatever that is, and um brings them back and they start picking.
SPEAKER_04: And at nine o'clock realizes, hey, we're going to lose some fruit.
SPEAKER_04: So we need to get more people, and does this again throughout the day.
SPEAKER_04: Sees that the workforce is not big enough to bring in the whole harvest before it's ruined.
SPEAKER_04: Even at five o'clock, I mean, what is there to do at five o'clock?
SPEAKER_04: Sweep at 5 o'clock, goes out and grabs these people from Home Depot and says, I'll pay you whatever's right, just come.
SPEAKER_04: By the way, that will never happen.
SPEAKER_04: If you go to Home Depot and say, Come do work for me and I'll pay you what's right, that nobody is going to get in your vehicle.
SPEAKER_04: Anyway, this is what happens in the story.
SPEAKER_04: And at the end, the orchard owner is delighted because you see all of the fruit has been saved.
SPEAKER_04: And out of this goal, accomplishing this seemingly impossible goal, uh the orchard owner decides to be generous and to be offensively generous.
SPEAKER_04: And so everybody gets the same amount of money.
SPEAKER_04: Now, if you free it a little bit from capitalism, which is a little hard to do, in the story you see it really wasn't about, at least from the orchard's owner's perspective, it was really about not losing anything.
SPEAKER_04: And the joy is not the focus on who did the most work.
SPEAKER_04: Of course, that matters some, but the real joy is that nothing was lost.
SPEAKER_04: Maybe that helps a little bit to think sometimes uh we wrongly prioritize what this is all about.
SPEAKER_04: Uh I was taught, actually, as an adolescent that when you get to heaven, you get a crown, and that the more good things you do, the more jewels you have in your heavenly crown.
SPEAKER_04: Has anybody heard this before?
SPEAKER_04: So you do wonderful things, you work really hard, you're a missionary, you go to Africa, you imagine whatever it is, and that's how you get more jewels.
SPEAKER_04: Except when you read the scriptures, as soon as you get the crown, you take it off.
SPEAKER_04: Because actually in heaven, uh there there is no hierarchy, apparently.
SPEAKER_04: There's just everybody's the same.
SPEAKER_04: Well, that's disappointing.
SPEAKER_04: What's the point of working hard if I'm gonna be the same as everybody else?
SPEAKER_04: I want to be better than other people.
SPEAKER_04: You know, what's interesting is that we have this heavenly vision in revelation, and we think, okay, that's fine, when we die, we'll all be the same.
SPEAKER_04: But for now, I choose to be better than other people.
SPEAKER_04: And uh what the church didn't do a great job telling me is that if we have a heavenly vision of equality and that's something God intends for us later, then why do we settle for inequality now?
SPEAKER_04: That's a really interesting thing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04: And and I have to say that's really interesting because um today we're mourning the loss of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg, who frankly worked really hard, whether you like her politics or not, to make sure that everybody could have it a little more equal here.
SPEAKER_04: A little more equal.
SPEAKER_04: And that this was her idea of righteousness was not that you get a promotion when you die, but that you get equality while you're alive.
SPEAKER_04: And that I think starts to become a little more compelling.
SPEAKER_04: How do we live into the heavenly vision of equality now instead of waiting until later?
SPEAKER_04: Now, there's a couple of things that are going on here that I think are really interesting.
SPEAKER_04: One is these people don't get paid a year's wage, they get paid a day's wage.
SPEAKER_04: So when you think about the landowner being offensively generous, he's offensively generous with$20.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, this is really important to hear.
SPEAKER_04: Nobody is getting a lump IRA for picking fruit in the vineyard that day.
SPEAKER_04: They are getting enough money to go home and buy a two-pound loaf of bread, one loaf of bread per person in their family, and whatever extra they have might buy them something like olives, maybe a little bit of wine.
SPEAKER_04: There's not gonna be anything left to save from the wage.
SPEAKER_04: This is really important to hear.
SPEAKER_04: The offensive generosity is meeting their basic needs.
SPEAKER_04: That's offensively generous in the story.
SPEAKER_04: If you push on it hard, I mean, of course, you're not gonna go work for this guy tomorrow, right?
SPEAKER_04: Or if you do, you're gonna wait and be expected, you're gonna expect him to hire you at five o'clock, right?
SPEAKER_04: Nobody is gonna get up early and work for this guy.
SPEAKER_04: So we have to think about it a little bit uh carefully, I think.
SPEAKER_04: Who is the landowner in the story?
SPEAKER_04: Is it God?
SPEAKER_04: Is God the one offensively generous who intentionally gives people enough to be self-sustaining at the end of the day, and that's what generosity looks like.
SPEAKER_04: Is that God?
SPEAKER_04: Or is that something that we're invited to do?
SPEAKER_04: It's a really interesting complaint here by the person.
SPEAKER_04: You've made us equal.
SPEAKER_04: We worked all day through the heat of the day, and you've made us equal.
SPEAKER_04: I think it's a challenge, frankly, to the way we think about hierarchized society and work.
SPEAKER_04: Notice the landowner, the complaint is not you've made our work equal.
SPEAKER_04: The complaint is you've made us equal.
SPEAKER_04: There is no doubt that the people who started in the morning have worked longer and harder.
SPEAKER_04: But for some reason, the landowner has decided to make the people equal by giving them a daily wage.
SPEAKER_04: And I'm going to tell you something I really don't like, and this ties into the Exodus story.
SPEAKER_04: And it's sort of cute, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04: That the people get daily bread and they don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_04: Do you know what you call the bread from heaven?
SPEAKER_04: It's called manna, right?
SPEAKER_04: Mana.
SPEAKER_04: I don't know if you notice.
SPEAKER_04: In Hebrew, the word manna means, what is it?
SPEAKER_04: That's what it means.
SPEAKER_04: Because the people look at the bread of heaven and they say, What is it?
SPEAKER_04: And you know what happens if you gather more than one day worth of manna?
SPEAKER_04: It rots.
SPEAKER_04: You only get enough for the day.
SPEAKER_04: It's your daily bread.
SPEAKER_04: This is a funny thing, right?
SPEAKER_04: Because we pray, give us this day our daily bread, and I'm thinking, actually, what I would like is a nest egg of bread.
SPEAKER_04: In case I don't feel like working tomorrow, or in case I get injured, then I'll have a fallback supply of manna.
SPEAKER_04: The problem in the story is the daily bread is really just for the day.
SPEAKER_04: It doesn't last.
SPEAKER_04: You actually have to keep coming back for it.
SPEAKER_04: And in the story, there's enough for the day, but there's not enough for your whole life.
SPEAKER_04: You can't work ahead with your daily bread.
SPEAKER_04: I don't like that.
SPEAKER_04: Because uh in college, when I got the syllabus and I saw what the project was, I did it by the second week so that I didn't have to do any more work.
SPEAKER_04: Somehow that was extremely relieving for me to have completed the requirements of the syllabus early so that then I could do whatever I wanted to do.
SPEAKER_04: Which, by the way, wasn't much.
SPEAKER_04: It was kind of sad.
SPEAKER_04: You would think I went on the great adventures having finished all my work.
SPEAKER_04: I did not.
SPEAKER_04: But I did do my work early.
SPEAKER_04: And um, maybe it's because I'm wired this specific way.
SPEAKER_04: I have a really hard time with the idea of thinking I have to return every single day.
SPEAKER_04: And return to what?
SPEAKER_04: Now I grew up having communion once a quarter.
SPEAKER_04: We did it once a quarter so we could make it really special, you know, because if you did it too much, it wouldn't matter to you.
SPEAKER_04: And it's interesting because here in the church, COVID aside, we do communion at least once a week.
SPEAKER_04: If you come on Tuesday, you can have it twice.
SPEAKER_04: Um, and I'll tell you what's really interesting is if you look at a wafer from a baker's perspective, it's like manna.
SPEAKER_04: I mean, what is it?
SPEAKER_04: I do not know how you make those things.
SPEAKER_04: They're made of like gelatin or something like that.
SPEAKER_04: It's not something you can make in your own home.
SPEAKER_04: Has anybody tried to make a communion wafer before?
SPEAKER_04: It's not bread, let's just be honest.
SPEAKER_04: And somehow we're committed to this mystery that you keep coming back to be nourished, frankly, by something you don't even know what it is.
SPEAKER_04: Is it gelatin?
SPEAKER_04: Is it bread?
SPEAKER_04: Because you can't hoard the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_04: I don't like to take that line seriously when I pray, give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_04: Um, but I think there's something about that in the story.
SPEAKER_04: This is day work.
SPEAKER_04: This is daily practice.
SPEAKER_04: This is about making sure people's basic and fundamental needs are met.
SPEAKER_04: And often, when I get in the mentality of I'm going to work better or faster or harder than you, so I can justify my existence.
SPEAKER_04: Or I'm going to outwork you to prove something.
SPEAKER_04: I think we're missing the invitation of the story.
SPEAKER_04: God's fully aware that my work and your work are different.
SPEAKER_04: God's fully aware of that.
SPEAKER_04: What God refuses to believe is that our work determines our dignity.
SPEAKER_04: And that's the point I need to convert on.
SPEAKER_04: The dignity does not have to be earned, it's our birthright.
SPEAKER_04: You've made us equal to the people who worked less.
SPEAKER_04: Yes?
SPEAKER_06: Yes.
SPEAKER_04: I still remember uh two and a half years ago, we were interviewing a curate here at St.
SPEAKER_04: Thomas, and she told this really interesting story about the last verse.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, this was Jenny, and she was running uh some race in India, and uh there were like three women running and like 5,000 men, and she was one of the women.
SPEAKER_04: And uh some of the the other two other Indian women who were running were not wearing running clothes.
SPEAKER_04: They were wearing like saris and and head head coverings and things like that.
SPEAKER_04: And really, this is not good running attire.
SPEAKER_04: And so uh she was running, and it occurred to her uh at some point in the race that uh one of the women was about to quit.
SPEAKER_04: And that um the only thing keeping that other woman going was her proximity to Jenny.
SPEAKER_04: And so for some reason she slowed down.
SPEAKER_04: She slowed down, and ultimately uh they sort of ended up running as a pair.
SPEAKER_04: This is nobody she'd ever met.
SPEAKER_04: And um, oddly enough, this woman kind of pushed it at the end and beat Jenny across the finish line.
SPEAKER_04: And her take was you see, in the kingdom of God, sometimes the first will be last and the last will be first.
SPEAKER_04: And the question is, do we run in such a way that we're gonna annihilate the competition or that we're gonna allow other people to complete the race?
SPEAKER_04: Many of you know um Phil and Sandy's son, Michael Conway, is an ultra-distance runner, and um, he takes these vacations and runs these 50-mile races in places like uh Oregon and Colorado.
SPEAKER_04: And Michael told me his plan in doing the race is to run it as slowly as possible.
SPEAKER_04: He tries to just barely make it within the boundary because, after all, he spent all of this time and all of this money getting to a place that is gorgeous.
SPEAKER_04: And if all he thought about was his time, he'd miss the whole experience.
SPEAKER_04: Now, look, I have to tell you, I really believe in working hard and shoring up your time.
SPEAKER_04: I do.
SPEAKER_04: And uh I would tell you that I also like the idea of going into long-distance races, but I will tell you more often than not, I have gone to a race and missed the whole point of the race because I thought it was just about beating other people and beating my time and forgetting that swimming in a lake in Montana is meant to be magical because it's a lake in Montana.
SPEAKER_04: And if all I do is power through this race and never look through the crystal clear water at the bottom, I don't know, maybe I missed an opportunity for some daily bread.
SPEAKER_04: At the end of the day, what is it?
SPEAKER_04: It's wonder, it's awe, it's a connection with the rest of creation.
SPEAKER_04: Now I'm going too long, but I want to make sure you know that yesterday was the beginning of the Jewish New Year, or one of the three parts of the Jewish New Year.
SPEAKER_04: It's Rosh Hashanah, right?
SPEAKER_04: And so yesterday is the day according to uh to Jewish belief that God writes your fate for the year.
SPEAKER_04: It's written.
SPEAKER_04: And that you have eight days before your fate is sealed.
SPEAKER_04: That happens on Yom Kippur.
SPEAKER_04: If you're Jewish, this is the week in which you're supposed to make reparations for what you did wrong last year.
SPEAKER_04: This is like Jewish Lent.
SPEAKER_04: Instead of 40 days, you get eight.
SPEAKER_04: You get eight days to make right what you did wrong so that your fate is malleable.
SPEAKER_04: And many of you have heard, right, there is something in um rabbinic material that says if you die on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, it is a blessing because it means you've lived your year to the fullness.
SPEAKER_04: You live to the end.
SPEAKER_04: Now, this I think is a wonderful part as we think about the legacy of Ruth Bader-Ginsburg.
SPEAKER_04: But I want to share with you, and I think this is really, I think it's appropriate anyway.
SPEAKER_04: Uh, there's a meditation that happens before a Jewish funeral.
SPEAKER_04: It happens at the end of the new year.
SPEAKER_04: And I want to share this with you as a as a close to thinking about how it is that we think about the dignity of God's family.
SPEAKER_04: When I die, give what's left of me away to children and old men that wait to die.
SPEAKER_04: And if you need to cry, cry for your sister and brother walking the street beside you.
SPEAKER_04: And when you need me, put your arms around anyone and give them what you need to give me.
SPEAKER_04: I want to leave you something, something better than words or sounds.
SPEAKER_04: Look for me and the people I've known or loved.
SPEAKER_04: And if you cannot give me away, at least let me live in your eyes and not only your mind.
SPEAKER_04: You can love me best by letting hands touch hands, and by letting go of children that need to be free.
SPEAKER_04: Love doesn't die, people do.
SPEAKER_04: So when all that's left of me is love, give me away.
SPEAKER_04: Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed.
SPEAKER_04: We believe in one God.
SPEAKER_05: All that is seen and unseen, believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, in all the time, eternally God of the Father, God, true God, true God, be done in the Father, through all things for me, for Jesus and Christ's salvation, he came down to heaven.
unknown: By the time of the Holy Spirit, became heart and good to me, and just be.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, in your compassion, lead our parish, source of wisdom guide us, source of strength support us, source of love unify us, we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, in your compassion, guide St.
SPEAKER_00: 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 just and true and good, and that we may be bearers of your grace to all who come through our doors.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, in your compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Give them courage and hope in their troubles, and bring them to the joy of your salvation, especially Chris, Sean, Susie, Ted, Kevin, Joe, Nancy, Melva, Maynard, and Larry.
SPEAKER_00: The congregation is invited to name celebrations or petitions silently or aloud.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, in your compassion, we commend to your mercy 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.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, in your compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.
SPEAKER_04: Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
SPEAKER_04: We confess, our Father, that we do not live up to the family name.
SPEAKER_04: We are more ready to resent than to forgive, more ready to manipulate than to serve, more ready to fear than to love, more ready to keep our distance than to invite and welcome, more ready to compete than to help.
SPEAKER_04: At the root of this behavior is mistrust.
SPEAKER_04: We do not love one another as we should, because we do not believe that you love us as you do.
SPEAKER_04: Forgive us our cold unbelief, and make more vivid to us the meaning and depth of your love at the cross.
SPEAKER_04: Show us what it costs you to give up your son, that we might become your daughters and sons.
SPEAKER_04: We ask this in the name of Jesus our righteousness.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Almighty God have mercy upon you.
SPEAKER_04: 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 everlasting life.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: The socially distanced peace of the Lord be always with you.
SPEAKER_04: Good morning, and thank you for worshiping with us at St.
SPEAKER_04: Thomas today.
SPEAKER_04: Just a few announcements to call to your attention.
SPEAKER_04: On your way in, you walked into a bunch of boxes that comprise about 3,500 pipes for our Kemble Pipe organ.
SPEAKER_04: We had somebody generously give the next level of funds that it took designated to the organ to bring the organ here so that we're closing out our storage units over here in Seabrook.
SPEAKER_04: And so all of the pipes you saw will be moved up into the loft within the next week or two, and that's where the organ will stay until phase two, building the chambers, and then phase three it starts to install those pipes.
SPEAKER_04: And all of those are done with restricted gifts at this point.
SPEAKER_04: So thank you for your generosity, those of you who have supported the organ project.
SPEAKER_04: And it is really fascinating.
SPEAKER_04: Very few people get to see things like this because organs tend to be hidden.
SPEAKER_04: And it's just something to look at, right?
SPEAKER_04: I mean, it's something to look at, and when you eventually hear the sound of it, it gives you an appreciation for the scale of the instrument.
SPEAKER_04: A couple other things just to keep in mind.
SPEAKER_04: October 3rd, that's two weeks from yesterday, is our next fresh food distribution.
SPEAKER_04: It is uh we'll do this in the parking lot at 7.45 in the morning on Saturday.
SPEAKER_04: We're always done by 10:30, and we'll probably serve about 450 people by serving about 100 and 110 cars.
SPEAKER_04: Uh and the nice thing is apparently we're in cooler weather now.
SPEAKER_04: So this is a great opportunity to serve in the morning and enjoy the rest of your day, but also meet a crucial need.
SPEAKER_04: Um, you're also going to see that even though the fall festival is on sabbatical, on the COVID sabbatical, um, the pumpkin patch is going to be open again, and the pumpkins are arriving October 2nd.
SPEAKER_04: And so if you have any interest in helping us download pumpkins and put them out, we're actually doing that the Friday before.
SPEAKER_04: So Friday, October the 2nd.
SPEAKER_04: Um, the pumpkins are gonna arrive at about five o'clock, and we'll unload the truck within about an hour and a half.
SPEAKER_04: And our scout troop uh manages this uh pumpkin patch as a way not only to make our grounds attractive and interactive, but it's their major fundraiser for the year is selling pumpkins that are organically grown by Navajo farmers.
SPEAKER_04: It's actually sort of a really cool story how it works uh full circle.
SPEAKER_04: Uh that may be all the announcements I have today.
SPEAKER_04: Um, I have one other.
SPEAKER_04: I I think I told you about three weeks ago that people have continued to stay generous with their capital um capital pledge um capital funds pledges, and that we had paid our note down to$93,000.
SPEAKER_04: And I'm just really pleased to tell you that tomorrow we're writing another$22,000 check toward the principal balance, and so by Tuesday or Wednesday, the outstanding balance will be$71,000 down from$540,000 two years ago.
SPEAKER_04: So thank you for your continued generosity.
SPEAKER_04: We really are almost there with phase one of the capital funds drive.
SPEAKER_04: Continue to walk in love as Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.
SPEAKER_04: This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_04: It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come.
SPEAKER_04: You who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.
SPEAKER_04: You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.
SPEAKER_04: Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.
SPEAKER_04: He invites you to meet him here.
SPEAKER_04: The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_04: Lift up your hearts.
SPEAKER_04: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_04: It is right and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all your saints, who have been the chosen vessels of your grace and the lights of the world in their generations, remembering today especially Ruth Bader-Ginsburg.
SPEAKER_04: And therefore we praise you, joining your voices with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever say this hymn as they proclaim the glory of your name.
SPEAKER_04: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
SPEAKER_04: Hosanna in the highest.
SPEAKER_04: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.
SPEAKER_04: Holy and gracious Father, in your infinite love, you made us for yourself.
SPEAKER_04: And when we'd fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you and 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.
SPEAKER_04: He stretched down his arms upon the cross and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.
SPEAKER_04: On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.
SPEAKER_04: And when he given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat.
SPEAKER_04: This is my body which is given for you.
SPEAKER_04: Do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_04: After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.
SPEAKER_04: This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins.
SPEAKER_04: Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.
SPEAKER_04: Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith.
SPEAKER_04: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
SPEAKER_04: We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_04: Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer to you these gifts.
SPEAKER_04: 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, and sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace.
SPEAKER_04: And at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom.
SPEAKER_04: 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.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: And now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_04: 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.
SPEAKER_04: For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: Therefore, let us keep the feast.
SPEAKER_04: Alleluia.
SPEAKER_04: These are the gifts of God for you, the people of God.
SPEAKER_04: Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_04: And I'll be coming to the aisleway to your right to offer you bread or a blessing.
SPEAKER_04: 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.
SPEAKER_04: 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.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.
SPEAKER_04: May God, who by the Holy Spirit caused those of many languages and world views to proclaim Jesus as Lord, strengthen your faith, and send you out to bear witness to God in word and deed.
SPEAKER_04: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you this day and remain with you forever.
SPEAKER_04: Amen.