SPEAKER_01: Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.
SPEAKER_01: 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_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: The Lord be with you, and also with you.
SPEAKER_01: Let us pray.
SPEAKER_01: Grant to us, Lord, we pray the Spirit to think and to do always those things that are right, that we who cannot exist without you may by you be enabled to live according to your will, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Reading from Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: Jacob settled in the land where his father had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.
SPEAKER_00: This is the story of the family of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers.
SPEAKER_00: He was a helper to the sons of Bilha and Zilpah, his father's wives.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
SPEAKER_00: Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of the other of his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he'd made him a long robe with sleeves.
SPEAKER_00: And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him.
SPEAKER_00: And could not speak peaceably to him.
SPEAKER_00: And his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
SPEAKER_00: And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?
SPEAKER_00: Come, I will send you to them.
SPEAKER_00: And he answered, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: So he said to him, Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring word back to me.
SPEAKER_00: So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
SPEAKER_00: He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields.
SPEAKER_00: The man asked him, What are you seeking?
SPEAKER_00: I'm seeking my brothers, he said.
SPEAKER_00: Tell me please where they are pasturing the flock.
SPEAKER_00: The man said, They've gone away, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dotham.
SPEAKER_00: So Joseph went after his brothers.
SPEAKER_00: They saw him from a distance, and before he came near them, they conspired to kill him.
SPEAKER_00: They said to one another, Here comes this dreamer.
SPEAKER_00: Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.
SPEAKER_00: Then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
SPEAKER_00: But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hand, saying, Let us not take his life.
SPEAKER_00: Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him, that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
SPEAKER_00: So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit.
SPEAKER_00: The pit was empty.
SPEAKER_00: There was no water in it.
SPEAKER_00: Then they sat down to eat.
SPEAKER_00: And looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
SPEAKER_00: Come, let us tell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.
SPEAKER_00: And his brothers agreed.
SPEAKER_00: When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ismaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
SPEAKER_00: And they took Joseph to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: The word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_04: Psalm 105.
SPEAKER_04: Give thanks to the Lord and call upon God's name.
SPEAKER_04: Make none of the deeds of the Lord among the people.
SPEAKER_04: Sing to the Lord.
SPEAKER_04: Remember the marvelous wondrous and judgment.
SPEAKER_04: Until his prediction came to pass.
SPEAKER_04: The king sent him and released him.
SPEAKER_04: The ruler of the people set him free.
SPEAKER_04: He set him as a master over his household.
SPEAKER_04: As a ruler over all his possessions.
SPEAKER_04: To instruct his officials according to his will.
SPEAKER_04: And to teach his elders wisdom.
SPEAKER_04: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_03: Moses writes concerning the righteousness that comes from the law.
SPEAKER_03: That the person who does these things will live by them.
SPEAKER_03: But the righteousness that comes from faith says, Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down.
SPEAKER_03: Or who will ascend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead.
SPEAKER_03: But what does it say?
SPEAKER_03: The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.
SPEAKER_03: That is the word of faith that we proclaim.
SPEAKER_03: Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
SPEAKER_03: For one who believes with the heart and so is justified, and one who confesses with the mouth and so is saved.
SPEAKER_03: The scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame.
SPEAKER_03: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.
SPEAKER_03: The same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
SPEAKER_03: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
SPEAKER_03: But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed?
SPEAKER_03: And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard?
SPEAKER_03: And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?
SPEAKER_03: And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent?
SPEAKER_03: As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news the word of the Lord.
SPEAKER_03: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_05: God in the darkness and God in the morning, God in the dark and the pain and the place.
SPEAKER_05: God in the tiny has been tale.
SPEAKER_05: God in the nearest and finest.
SPEAKER_05: God at beginning at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side while he dismissed the crowds, and after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray.
SPEAKER_01: When evening came he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them.
SPEAKER_01: And early in the morning Jesus came walking toward them on the sea.
SPEAKER_01: But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, It is a ghost.
SPEAKER_01: And they cried out in fear.
SPEAKER_01: But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, Take heart, it is I.
SPEAKER_01: Do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Come.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But when Peter noticed the strong wind, he became frightened and began to sink.
SPEAKER_01: He cried out, Lord, save me.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying, You of little faith, why did you doubt?
SPEAKER_01: When they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: The Gospel of the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Praise to you, Lord Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's always a challenge taking a photograph or a video of stained glass.
SPEAKER_01: So I hope you'll you'll put up with it.
SPEAKER_01: The light just comes in in such a way that it overwhelms some of the automatic uh mechanisms and cameras.
SPEAKER_01: And to be honest, even with a manual shot, it's really difficult.
SPEAKER_01: But here you're seeing this gorgeous window that we have in St.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas that many of us are extremely used to, even though we've missed it for several months, of Jesus teaching from the boat.
SPEAKER_01: And that happens several times in the scriptures, that the crowds press in so much that Jesus has to get in the boat in order to resist being overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_01: He does it so that he can project his voice out and people can hear us, so he can have social distancing, which is necessary when you're trying to communicate.
SPEAKER_01: Most people then realize that church sanctuaries, including our own, and you'll see this next time you walk through the Brumley Hall as well, are built to look like upside-down boat holes because the church has been called God's ship of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Not the building, of course, but the community and the embodiment of Christ on earth.
SPEAKER_01: That the church is meant to be the vessel that carries people closer to a relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: And as we get on the vessel, the journey is not over, but we're meant to travel as a group closer and closer to God.
SPEAKER_01: These are lovely, lovely images and they bear out in our architecture.
SPEAKER_01: But this week we get sort of a twist on that story.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has been teaching, he has been healing, he spends some time to pray, and he sends his disciples out on a boat.
SPEAKER_01: And notice they're buffeted by the waves.
SPEAKER_01: It's really, really helpful to say throughout the Bible that water is an image for chaos, for things not being settled.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes water can be an image even for evil, or for the forces that really threaten people's dignity or threaten community.
SPEAKER_01: Forces like hierarchy or classism.
SPEAKER_01: These are some of the things that can show up: racism or ageism, ethnocentrism.
SPEAKER_01: These are some of the forces of chaos that can be represented by water.
SPEAKER_01: And notice in the story, the disciples are in the boat, the thing that's supposed to move them closer to the Lord, and they're being buffeted by these forces, and they're not making much progress.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus comes out in the morning and he is doing something really quite incredible.
SPEAKER_01: He's not just walking on top of water, which would be, of course, a physical miracle.
SPEAKER_01: He is doing something that is theologically miraculous.
SPEAKER_01: He's walking on top of the forces of chaos and oppression.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says, actually, when all the people see Jesus doing this, their reaction, their instinctual reaction, is not that, hey, this is the guy they knew and loved, and of course he can do this.
SPEAKER_01: They think he's a ghost.
SPEAKER_01: They think Jesus has either died or this is some sort of fantasy they're having, because after all, who could accomplish both a physical miracle?
SPEAKER_01: But I think we sell ourselves short if we only focus on the physical.
SPEAKER_01: Who could accomplish such a miracle as staying above on top of these forces of chaos that have been buffeting them to the point that these professional fishermen, these people who are water people, are terrified for their own lives and well-being.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says it's me.
SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, if it's you, Jesus, if it's really you, the proof I want is that I can do what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01: So tell me to come out there and walk on those waves of chaos with you and not be drowned by them and not even to go under.
SPEAKER_01: Tell me to come out and not have to struggle just to keep my breath and tread water in the forces that are unpredictable, that alienate and isolate.
SPEAKER_01: I think Peter's probably onto something.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I want to be able to float in faith even on unsteady waters instead of having to spend all of my energy just trying to keep my mouth above the water.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus says, Come on out.
SPEAKER_01: And you know what's amazing, of course, is that Peter does.
SPEAKER_01: And for a moment, he is pretty successful.
SPEAKER_01: He stands up there, and then the most uh interesting thing happens.
SPEAKER_01: Peter notices not the not the waves.
SPEAKER_01: He notices the wind.
SPEAKER_01: And the wind scares him and he starts to sink and he says, Jesus help, I'm sinking.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, Jesus lends his hand, pulls Peter out from the muck and mires of chaotic forces of alienation and isolation, and helps him get back into the boat, the ship of salvation, and go on.
SPEAKER_01: And when they do that, all the disciples call Jesus not just teacher, they call him Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Because anybody who could rescue somebody else from chaos, anybody who can make those forces of chaos abate must be not just a teacher, but must have some privileged relationship with God.
SPEAKER_01: They must have the power of God.
SPEAKER_01: Wind is an interesting code in the Bible because the word for wind is the same word that we use for breath.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, really, this is in Greek the word pneuma, and it means moving air.
SPEAKER_01: So wind, breath, and this is the word we use for spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So when Peter's up on the chaos, he notices that there's a lot of moving air and it scares him.
SPEAKER_01: What's really interesting is I suppose we could consider it as bad air, but what if we heard this story in a slightly different way this week?
SPEAKER_01: What if we heard it like in Genesis 1?
SPEAKER_01: In the beginning, when God created the heavens of the earth, the earth was formless and void, and the moving air of God was on top of the waters.
SPEAKER_01: Normally our translation says the Spirit of God was on the waters.
SPEAKER_01: What if this is going right back to the way in which God created the world?
SPEAKER_01: In Genesis 1, the world is full of chaos.
SPEAKER_01: It's covered with water.
SPEAKER_01: All, frankly, of the land and the sky and uh and um the water are one.
SPEAKER_01: They're not separate, there's no boundaries, and so God spends the next seven days sorting things out, making space for life, um breathing into the human being and into the animals, breathing life, and then God rests.
SPEAKER_01: And so I wonder if this isn't a parallel story where the disciples are in the middle of watery chaos.
SPEAKER_01: Peter comes out on top of the watery chaos, the spirit is going to order it.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that storm's going to blow away.
SPEAKER_01: But Peter is afraid of the Spirit of God.
SPEAKER_01: And why would he be afraid of the Holy Spirit when he's standing in the middle of chaos?
SPEAKER_01: And I want to suggest to you it has to do with what the boat is for, I think.
SPEAKER_01: We have phrases like, sit down, don't rock the boat, get in the boat, um, all aboard.
SPEAKER_01: What's really interesting is that Peter, I think he's on to something here, in the middle of the forces of chaos.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't say, Jesus, come in where it's safe.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I want to go.
SPEAKER_01: I want to have faith and power like yours.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be able to get out of this boat and be in the middle of those chaotic forces and not be overwhelmed by them.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to suggest to you that's not just Peter's hunch about where he's going to meet Jesus' Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I want to suggest to you that might just be Jesus' call to us as disciples.
SPEAKER_01: The church is a vessel that brings people closer to God, but I want to suggest our faith life is not to be spent in the boat.
SPEAKER_01: I wonder if the boat isn't here for times, frankly, of rest and relief and regrouping when people start to become overwhelmed or people who honestly were born overwhelmed, born underneath forces like sexism and racism and ageism.
SPEAKER_01: When we are able in faith to do like Jesus did and reach down and help them up to help get them in the boat so they can rest and recover.
SPEAKER_01: But the boat is not our destination, it's just the vessel.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, I wonder if Jesus isn't asking us this week to think really hard about what the call for discipleship is.
SPEAKER_01: And I heard this really well in a YouTube video.
SPEAKER_01: There's a series of videos called Uncomfortable Conversations with the Black Man.
SPEAKER_01: And in one of these, and it happened to be the one about race and religion, his conversation partner said, you know, the church has gotten really confused about one of the Beatitudes.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are the peacemakers.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we, more often than not, says this says this pastor, we um we miss here Jesus and we say, Blessed are the peacekeepers, but keeping the peace and making the peace are extremely different things.
SPEAKER_01: This symbol of watery chaos outside of the boat represents, I think, the forces that desperately need peace making.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes I think our inertia at staying in the boat of salvation, just staying.
SPEAKER_01: Where we are and hoping things will quiet down can represent peacekeeping.
SPEAKER_01: It is scary to step out.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think that Jesus is saying, hey, step out on faith and don't wear a face mask.
SPEAKER_01: I want to be really clear.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Jesus is asking us to take huge, uncalculated, unthought-through risks for nobody's benefit.
SPEAKER_01: But I am extremely positive that Jesus is asking us not to test our faith, but to test our faithfulness by stepping out against the forces that are estranging others.
SPEAKER_01: And especially to reach down to our brothers and sisters who are underneath the water, to pull them out and to be willing to walk where Jesus walks.
SPEAKER_01: We get to hear this story in Genesis about Joseph's brothers, and Joseph comes across, to be honest, as a little bit of a brat.
SPEAKER_01: He is a braggart.
SPEAKER_01: He tells them he's going to rule over them one day.
SPEAKER_01: He is clearly favored by his father.
SPEAKER_01: His dad buys him this multicolored coat in a mostly, there wasn't even white in that world clothes, in a mostly natural colored linen, which by the way is brown, world of clothing, a coat of many colors would have been, it would have been worth more than the money it took to buy it.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph shows blatant favoritism, and the brothers decide to punish Joseph for his favored position that honestly was engineered by his father.
SPEAKER_01: When I tell this story in the day school, I say they have this idea that, hey, if Joseph weren't in the way, soaking up all of Dad's love and affection, then maybe they would get more.
SPEAKER_01: So if they just take Joseph out, then they'll get all the love and affection Joseph had been given by dad.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, that is never how these things work.
SPEAKER_01: The scriptures are really clear that Jacob loves Joseph because Joseph reminds him of Rachel, not because of who Joseph is.
SPEAKER_01: So instead of treating the system, of course, what the disciples do, I sorry, the the disciples, uh Joseph's brothers, what they do is they treat a symptom.
SPEAKER_01: They see, look, there's the system of inequity in our family whereby our father prefers one of us to the rest of us.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what we'll do: we'll get rid of that one.
SPEAKER_01: We'll get rid of that symptom, and things will get better.
SPEAKER_01: And another one of their brothers says, let's not get rid of them.
SPEAKER_01: What would be the gain in that?
SPEAKER_01: Let's sell him.
SPEAKER_01: That way he's not only gone, but we also get financial gain.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of those stories I want to suggest to you that is telling us how not to live, but is also, I'm afraid, deeply describing some of the natural tendencies we have when we're able to have things like boats in the middle of a stormy sea, and not everybody has one of those.
SPEAKER_01: This story, I think, is an indictment against us keeping peace instead of trying to make it.
SPEAKER_01: As we continue to read the story, these boys will never actually make peace with their father.
SPEAKER_01: Their father will never make peace with them.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph is going to make some peace later.
SPEAKER_01: We know that.
SPEAKER_01: We've heard the story before, you know that.
SPEAKER_01: But I want to suggest to you, Joseph is tempted at every turn not only to avoid making peace, but to get revenge and to destroy his brothers.
SPEAKER_01: And we'll get to read about that next week.
SPEAKER_01: This is the setup for that, though.
SPEAKER_01: Why Joseph can get revenge in the first place.
SPEAKER_01: The conversion will come next, but I want to tell you because I know that's coming already, and you know that's coming.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to hear this story about being uh called down under the waves in a different way in advance.
SPEAKER_01: Those waves are about the way we treat our brothers and sisters, be they black or white, male or female, uh, Latinx or American natives.
SPEAKER_01: Um, frankly, whether they're gay or straight, or whether they're Missouri-cented Lutherans or ELCA Christians or they're Muslims.
SPEAKER_01: They're about the ways in which we handle the stress of the waves by treating symptoms instead of stepping out with Jesus and treating systems.
SPEAKER_01: The answers to the waters of chaos are not easy.
SPEAKER_01: And quite frankly, I don't think that anyone I know is able to just spend their lives on top of the chaos without sinking.
SPEAKER_01: But that's why we say at St.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas, we can do more together.
SPEAKER_01: And of course, my prayer is that we will.
SPEAKER_01: And if we really follow him, and if we say he's Lord, we will join him in that work instead of saying, glad you did that a long time ago and there's nothing left.
SPEAKER_01: No, the forces of water continue to carry chaos.
SPEAKER_01: They continue to threaten the dignity of the creatures of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so we are invited to hear Jesus' call, to model Jesus' faith, and to get out of the boat on behalf of other people who haven't made it in.
SPEAKER_01: We're invited to get out of the boat because if enough people did it, there would be critical mass that would stop those waves.
SPEAKER_01: We can do more together, and I invite you to continue to pray and follow the call of Jesus to be on top of these forces of chaos and to join the voice of the Holy Spirit in bringing new life and order in our world.
SPEAKER_01: Let us renew and reconsider our faith in the words of the Iona Creed.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that God is present in the darkness before dawn, in the waiting and uncertainty where fear and courage join hands, conflict and caring link arms, and the sun rises over barbed wire.
SPEAKER_01: We believe in a with us God who sits down in our midst to share our humanity.
SPEAKER_01: We affirm a faith that takes us beyond a safe place into action, into vulnerability, and onto the streets.
SPEAKER_01: We commit ourselves to work for change and put ourselves on the line, to bear responsibility, take risks, live powerfully and face humiliation, to stand with those on the edge, to choose life and be used by the Spirit for God's new community of hope.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: The prayers of the people.
SPEAKER_02: Hear us, for it is your spirit who speaks through us as we pray.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Gracious God, you created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_02: Bless the produce of our lands and the work of our hands.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Gracious God, you created us in your own image.
SPEAKER_02: Teach us to honor all of your children.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Gracious God, in your steadfast love, you provide for your creation.
SPEAKER_02: Grant good rains for our crops.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Gracious God, you inspired the prophets of old.
SPEAKER_02: Grant that your church may faithfully proclaim your truth to the world.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Gracious God, you sent your son into the world.
SPEAKER_02: Reveal him to others through his life in us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, you sent your apostles to make disciples of all nations.
SPEAKER_02: Bless the clergy and laity of our diocese and church, together with Andy, Hector, Jeff, Kai, and the diocesan circle of prayer, cycle of prayer, Saint Francis Temple, Saint John's Marlin, Saint Joseph's Salado, Saint Martin's of Paris Cove, our bishops Justin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Michael, our presiding bishop.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, for your sake, men and women forsook all and followed you.
SPEAKER_02: Call many to serve you in religious communities and in the ordained ministry of your church.
SPEAKER_02: Lord, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Lord Jesus, you called your disciples to take up the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Deepen in each of us a sense of vocation.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You prayed for your church to be one.
SPEAKER_02: Unite all Christians that the world may believe.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You forgave the thief on the cross.
SPEAKER_02: Bring us all to penitence and reconciliation.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You broke down the walls that divide us.
SPEAKER_02: Bring the people of the world to live in peace and concord.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You taught us through Paul your apostle to pray for the kings and rulers.
SPEAKER_02: Bless and guide all in authority, Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You were rich yet for our sake became poor.
SPEAKER_02: Move those who have wealth to share generously with those who are poor.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You sat among the learned, listening and asking them questions.
SPEAKER_02: Inspire all who teach and all who learn.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You cured by your healing touch and word.
SPEAKER_02: Heal the sick and bless those who minister to them.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You were unjustly condemned by Pontius Pilate.
SPEAKER_02: Strengthen our brothers and sisters who are unjustly suffering violence and persecution.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You lived as an exile in Egypt.
SPEAKER_02: Protect and comfort all refugees.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You knew the love and care of an earthly home.
SPEAKER_02: May your presence and protection be made known to migrant workers and their families.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You open, and none can shut.
SPEAKER_02: You open the gates of your kingdom to those who have died without hearing your gospel.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: You have been glorified in the lives of innumerable saints, especially Saint Thomas.
SPEAKER_02: Give us strength to follow in their footsteps.
SPEAKER_02: Christ hear us.
SPEAKER_02: We cannot remember our petitions and thanksgivings before God, especially Chris, Jerry, Sean, Jerome, Chris, Susie, Ted, Andrea, Kevin, Ron, Joe, and Nancy, and enhance our vision to see your presence in them.
SPEAKER_02: Christ, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: In your infinite compassion, Spirit, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.
SPEAKER_02: Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.
SPEAKER_02: Spirit, hear us.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we know that you are good and that you hear all those who call upon you.
SPEAKER_02: Give to us and all people what is best for us, that we may glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns through you and the Holy Spirit now and forever.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: And now the peace of the Lord be always with you and also with you.
SPEAKER_01: A few announcements to call to your attention.
SPEAKER_01: Most of these are in the e-news that comes out every Wednesday.
SPEAKER_01: First, just an update that on our last mobile food distribution here at St.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas, August 1st, we served just north of 75 cars representing 357 people.
SPEAKER_01: And I was able to check.
SPEAKER_01: We do detailed demographics every week, so every time we do this.
SPEAKER_01: So it's interesting to hear that more than half of those served are in our immediate proximity.
SPEAKER_01: So well done, St.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas.
SPEAKER_01: Viewing the invoice that the food bank sends, we distributed$15,000 worth of food of these families at a cost of$200.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's such a wonderful ministry partnering with the food bank.
SPEAKER_01: So thanks for all that you're doing to help hunger in our area.
SPEAKER_01: We continue doing a book study on Sunday mornings called Bridges out of Poverty that I come into you.
SPEAKER_01: It happens via Zoom at 9 o'clock.
SPEAKER_01: There's a reading schedule laid out in your e-news, but whether you join the conversation or not, I lift up to you that this book is a good way of understanding issues in poverty and also in race and how we can thoughtfully build bridges forward out of them.
SPEAKER_01: There is a midweek study that is coming up called Dismantling Racism.
SPEAKER_01: It was put together by the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta.
SPEAKER_01: It's a six-week study that'll be on Wednesday mornings at the end of the month.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any interest, I have to order resources on I think Monday the 12th or Monday the um the 10th, rather.
SPEAKER_01: So please send me an email if you're interested so I can make sure I get you a book in time.
SPEAKER_01: They're$7.95.
SPEAKER_01: And again, it's a guided resource.
SPEAKER_01: It's a creative and thoughtful and easy way, quite honestly, to really start having an intentional conversation about not just what we can do socially, but if there are ways in which our discipleship and the ways in which we're called to follow Jesus Christ can be tweaked to support those in need and to support ourselves as well.
SPEAKER_01: You'll see in your e-news as well, uh, we are uh hosting a funeral to celebrate the life of Joanne Dealy here on August the 15th.
SPEAKER_01: That funeral is open for parishioners.
SPEAKER_01: Um, all the social distancing rules will apply.
SPEAKER_01: There'll be Eucharist of bread only, uh, asking everyone to wear masks, and we have um taped down seats in our sanctuary to accommodate guests.
SPEAKER_01: And we are hoping, and you will see, a sign-up to this effect, um, to resume uh physical worship than the following day, Sunday the 16th.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so please look in the e-news so that we can have an RSVP that allows us to make sure that we don't have more people in our capacity, but even more so, it gives us a really handy way of contacting people.
SPEAKER_01: Should somebody come up contagious or affected, we'll be able to tell everybody, hey, you just should know somebody at the service has been diagnosed.
SPEAKER_01: So I I would like to ask you, please, um, to um RSVP using Sign Up Genius that'll be in the e-news.
SPEAKER_01: If you have any questions about how to do that or it's not working for you, please just email me and I'm very happy to sign you up or or as always feel free to give a call.
SPEAKER_01: But again, we're aiming for August the 16th for our return to services like we have been doing in the past at 8 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: and at 2:30.
SPEAKER_01: St.
SPEAKER_01: Thomas School is going to be back in session physically August the 18th.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're as a religious school, we are exempt from the county order to wait until September 8th.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but this is not being done in a cavalier way.
SPEAKER_01: We um have zoned off our classrooms and our bathrooms to limit contact and exposure.
SPEAKER_01: Our students will be wearing masks initially all day long, uh, except when they're outside and are distanced on the playground.
SPEAKER_01: And we have separate drop-offs and pickups through zones.
SPEAKER_01: Um please pray for your school.
SPEAKER_01: As you know, the last several months have been chaotic nationally, but also uh a challenge for our children, and so we are uh really hoping to get back into the most visible representation of our mission as a church by educating children not only in knowledge but in wisdom and faith on the 18th.
SPEAKER_01: That's a Tuesday, is the first day of school.
SPEAKER_01: So please pray for our school and its teachers and its families.
SPEAKER_01: Um and I look forward to seeing you as soon as it is safe.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but again, looking forward to doing so on the 16th.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray.
SPEAKER_01: 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_01: Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: May God, who by the Holy Spirit calls those of many languages and world views to proclaim Jesus' Lord, strengthen your faith, and send you out to bear witness to God in word and in deed.
SPEAKER_01: 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_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Alleluia, Alleluia, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God.
SPEAKER_01: Alleluia, Alleluia.