WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:08.000 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:08.960 Amen. 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:10.960 Let's pray together. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:17.519 Almighty God, do you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:28.160 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. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:29.120 Amen. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:32.880 The Lord be with you, and also with you. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:34.640 Let us pray. 00:00:35.679 --> 00:00:53.359 Keep, O Lord, your household, the church, and your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness and minister your justice with compassion for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:54.320 Amen. 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:58.640 A prayer for the power of the Spirit among the people of God. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:06.799 God of all power and love, we give thanks for your unfailing presence and the hope you provide in times of uncertainty and loss. 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:10.799 Send your Holy Spirit to enkindle in us your holy fire. 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:25.840 Revive us to live as Christ's body and the world, a people who pray, worship, learn, break bread, share life, heal neighbors, bear good news, seek justice, rest and grow in the Spirit. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:38.400 Wherever and however we gather, unite us in common prayer and send us in common mission, that we and the whole creation might be restored and renewed through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:01:38.719 --> 00:01:39.359 Amen. 00:01:39.760 --> 00:01:41.359 A reading from Genesis. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:50.560 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:55.519 When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:02:00.560 He said, My Lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.640 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:11.039 Let me bring a little bread that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.280 So they said, Do as you have said. 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:20.960 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, eat it, and make cakes. 00:02:21.439 --> 00:02:27.280 Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.240 Then he took herds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and he set it before them. 00:02:32.639 --> 00:02:34.960 And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:38.159 They said to him, Where's your wife Sarah? 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.560 And he said, There, in the tent. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:45.919 Then one said, I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.120 And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:52.719 Now, since Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age. 00:02:53.120 --> 00:02:55.599 It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:01.199 So Sarah laughed at herself, saying, After I've grown old and my husband's old, shall I have the pleasure? 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:06.879 The Lord said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh and say, Shall I indeed bear a child now that I am old? 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:09.199 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.400 At the set time, I will return to you in due season, and Sarah shall have a son. 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:18.560 But Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. 00:03:18.639 --> 00:03:20.719 And he said, Oh yes, you did laugh. 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:26.159 The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:32.159 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:35.680 Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son, whom Sarah bore him. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:41.120 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:45.039 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:48.719 Now Sarah said, God has brought laughter for me. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:50.960 Everyone who hears will laugh with me. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:55.360 And she said, Who would have ever said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? 00:03:55.599 --> 00:03:59.039 Yet I have borne him a son in him's old age. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:00.639 The word of the Lord. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:02.960 Thanks be to God. 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:08.719 Psalm 116. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:16.800 I love the Lord because the Lord has heard the voice of my supplication and inclined an ear to me whenever I cried out. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:22.959 How shall I repay you, O Lord, for all the good things you have done for me? 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:29.360 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:35.360 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all the chosen people. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.879 Precious in your sight, O Lord, is the death of your servants. 00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:43.759 O Lord, I am your servant. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.560 I am your servant and the child of your handmaid. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.720 You have freed me from my bonds. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:54.399 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:05.600 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all the people in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:06.720 Hallelujah. 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:22.079 A reading from Romans, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:41.120 And not only that, but we also boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.319 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:54.480 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 00:05:55.120 --> 00:06:00.879 But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:03.199 The word of the Lord. 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:04.639 Thanks be to God. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:59.279 Glory to you, Lord Christ. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:09.279 Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness. 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:16.879 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 00:09:17.200 --> 00:09:22.320 And then he said to his disciples, harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 00:09:22.559 --> 00:09:26.720 Therefore asked the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:36.320 And then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:58.720 These are the names of the twelve apostles, first Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, son of Zebedee and his brother John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector, James, son of Alpheus and Thaddeus, Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:02.399 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:09.759 Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:12.159 As you go, proclaim the good news. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:14.720 The kingdom of God has come near. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:21.039 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:25.759 You receive without payment, give also without payment. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:28.639 The Gospel of the Lord. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:31.360 Praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:37.279 About a year and a half ago, the artist David Frazier came in to a concert we were hosting here at St. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:43.279 Thomas and said that he has pioneered some work in something called circle photography. 00:10:43.440 --> 00:11:00.639 And the way it works is that he puts a camera on a fixed point, and as he rotates on a on a very fixed center point, he takes hundreds, sometimes even a thousand photos of a particular space and then uses software to digitally edit them together. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:07.120 And so the scene behind me is the first one of his circle photographs that I saw, and it's our own sanctuary. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.360 We were in Jordan at the time, and David was kind enough to send this to me. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:16.639 And when he first sent it to me, I thought he had maybe sent me the wrong file. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:32.159 I actually didn't really recognize much of the space apart from our stained glass window, and it took me a while to see the way in which the Lord's table curls around, the way in which our pewneelers are here clearly depicted. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:46.399 I think the thing that was hardest for me is that we have some really strong points in our architecture, beams that are meant to represent an upside-down boat hole, which is depicting the idea that the church is the ship of salvation. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:52.639 And of course, as you look at this photography, those sharp edges are rounded out. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:59.039 And I'd never seen quite this image before of our front wall. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:06.320 I almost thought that it was the Sydney Opera House, or on closer inspection, it looked more like a lily. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:15.919 And the interesting thing that David says is that he likes to go into sanctuaries and take pictures that he calls a God's eye view. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:34.159 So instead of us just looking up and seeing flat and seeing sharp points, this is God's eye rounding out the sharp points and sort of taking a bunch of different still pictures and being able to weave them all into one harmonious. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:40.000 And if you'll go with the lily picture, a blooming flower. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:48.559 And I want to suggest to you that there are a couple of different God's eye view considerations we could use in our stories today. 00:12:48.639 --> 00:12:55.679 And the first one that we get to hear right out of the Hebrew Bible is this really interesting dual-edged between laughter. 00:12:55.919 --> 00:13:14.639 So in the story, Sarah has been barren her whole life, and God shows up and says, within her hearing, within a year, this 80-year-old lady, well past menopause, is going to have the child she's always longed for, and Sarah laughs. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.799 It's interesting because she doesn't laugh with joy. 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:23.440 I want to suggest to you she laughs because she scorns the idea. 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:32.080 It is so absurdly preposterous that there could be any sort of promise for her at this point. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:37.039 The visitors say, Hey, um, did you laugh? 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:41.919 And she denies it because she knows it's bad manners to mournfully mock a visitor. 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:44.960 Um but she does. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:14:03.200 What's really interesting is that at the end of the story, sure enough, a year later she does, in fact, give birth to Isaac, which in Hebrew means laughter, and she says, it's because rather than laughing back at her, God has chosen to laugh with her. 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:09.200 And it seems to me like laughter is one of those things that can be so different. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:28.080 Laughter can be one of those things that we either do at somebody's expense and thereby take a community that was already starting to feel tension and feeling frail and split it absolutely asunder, or laughter has this incredible power to bring us together. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:33.759 And I think maybe the different kind is not only at whose expense it is, but where it happens. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:40.559 The deep belly laugh, in my experience, uh, is one that connects me to other people. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:48.080 The laughter that happens in my head and in my throat only is one that often divides me from other people. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:56.399 I want to share that difference with laughter with you because I think what we get to hear in Paul is two different perspectives. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:01.360 At the very beginning, we get to hear that we've been justified by faith. 00:15:01.519 --> 00:15:11.679 And I'll tell you, in my human perspective, looking up at the window, I hear that story, I've heard it my whole life, and I think, well, I'd better have the right faith. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.559 And until I do, I won't be justified. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:16.559 So to the work. 00:15:17.519 --> 00:15:20.399 And I love to get to work. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:30.559 At the end of the passage that we hear today, this really incredible bit that says, While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:46.879 I'll tell you from my human point of view, I hear that powerful conclusion, and so long in my spiritual journey, I've heard that as saying something like, God loves who you might be so much that God will take a risk. 00:15:47.200 --> 00:15:52.240 God comes down to earth, suffers, and dies, all for who you might be. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:59.600 But you know, as with all gamblers, when it didn't go well, God might get really, really mad. 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:05.200 So you'd better work to have the right faith. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:24.879 Um part of the way I internalize some of these stories, uh, I think to my detriment from my human point of view, is that if we are not receptive and open and obedient, that God might laugh at us scornfully on the last day. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:28.799 But I am indebted to the theologian Carl Barth. 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:33.200 He's probably one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:43.840 And Carl Bart came back to this passage and said, listen, I'm gonna take the conclusion so seriously that it's going to inform uh how I read the introduction. 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:51.679 And the conclusion goes like this: While we were sinners, God died for us. 00:16:52.639 --> 00:17:07.440 Not because of who we might become, but because God was deeply, madly, confusingly in love with the people we already are, especially at our worst. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:09.279 This is what Brene Baron says. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:18.240 We don't love one another in spite of our flaws, we love one another because of our flaws. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:27.920 And Carl Bart said at the beginning, then don't you see, it's not our faith that justifies us before God. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:34.319 It's God's faith in us that justifies us before God. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:45.200 And God's faith in us, if we reread this passage, hear it anew, is unshakable and it's borne out in the end. 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:52.319 Now, I want you to know that I find this language extremely powerful and challenging. 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:58.480 And it really is the difference uh between belonging and fitting in. 00:17:58.640 --> 00:18:10.079 Now, if you ask any middle schooler what's the difference, uh middle schoolers are usually pretty, they're pretty good on their feet, and they can tell you something like, in order to fit in, I have to be who you want me to be. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:14.319 When I belong, I get to be who I am. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:22.960 And I want to suggest to you, Ramons might be saying to us this week that we don't need to fit in with God. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:30.480 God's faith in us allows us to belong exactly as we are, flaws and all. 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:37.200 And I guess suppose we can consider whether or not it is God's patience that builds hope or our own. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:43.039 I do believe that Romans is inviting us to join God in loving extravagantly. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:50.799 The reason I think that is on the table for us this week is because I look at the call of Jesus to these twelve disciples. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:58.160 As with the Trinity, so often I am used to thinking that the disciples pretty much were all the same. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:03.359 They might have been a little hot-headed, but in general, they were all really good friends. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:27.599 And it not even looking extremely closely at this, I want to tell you what's amazing about what Matthew does, and it's different from what John and Mark and Luke do, is he lays out twelve people, some of whom would have been absolutely natural enemies of one another, and some of whom, just when we hear their name, we already think that's the bad guy. 00:19:28.079 --> 00:20:00.960 And yet, somehow Jesus is able to take 12 people, many of whom might have laughed at one another, made jokes at one another's expense, and somehow transform that group into a group of people who were able to sit together at a table and eat, which is really hard to do with somebody you don't respect, and then go out in mission and ministry, of course, after Easter. 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:05.519 So what kind of divisions are we talking about? 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:10.400 Well, at the very end of the list, there's Simon, there's Judas Iscariot. 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:17.519 Judas Iscariot, who the word Iscariot likely comes from the word sicari, which means long knives. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:21.359 The Sicari were a group of people who were freedom fighters. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:34.799 They were so opposed to Roman occupation that they would, in big crowds, sneak up behind a Roman soldier, stab the soldier with a long knife, and slip away into the crowd. 00:20:34.960 --> 00:20:42.559 Essentially what they were trying to do is make Roman soldiers refuse to serve in the region of Judea. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:44.960 They were terrorists. 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:49.200 You could put it on the positive and say they were freedom fighters. 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:53.440 And if you're on their side, absolutely they were patriots. 00:20:53.759 --> 00:21:05.279 But these were people who were willing to go to any length, even calculating murder and death, in order to have their independence. 00:21:06.640 --> 00:21:10.079 And then there's Matthew, who's a tax collector. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:24.400 Matthew is the guy who's working for the Roman government, who is literally going to his Jewish brothers and sisters and shaking them down for every penny he can on behalf of Rome, and the harder he shakes, the more fall in his pocket. 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:34.559 Judas and Matthew would have been even more opposed to one another than a member of the Tea Party and a Yellow Dog Democrat. 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.440 And Jesus somehow was able to bring them together. 00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:45.440 The unique thing that Matthew does is that often in the Gospels there's Simon who's called the Zealot. 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:49.279 But in Matthew, he's called Simon the Canaan. 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:59.839 Now look, the land has been called Canaan a long, long time, but the Gospels usually call the land of Jewish inhabitants, Judea. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:04.400 To call it Canaan is really, really interesting move. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:12.960 And I want to suggest to you it's really possible that Matthew, instead of calling Simon a zealot, is calling him a Canaanite. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:21.359 That is to say, it's going to sound wild, but please permission to go with me here for a second. 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:30.079 It's sort of like saying you've got these good Christian folks, you've got these Lutherans, you've got these Episcopalians, and then you've got Simon the Muslim. 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:34.400 And Jesus gets Simon the Muslim to come and be one of his twelve disciples. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:51.200 A Canaanite would have, uh that word Canaanite easily could have represented somebody not only of a foreign national and ethnic identity, but of an indigenous in what uh our scriptures and we might consider a pagan religion. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:59.279 And Jesus brings him in as one of his twelve disciples. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:07.440 We could, I think, laugh at that level of diversity. 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:14.480 Or I think we could laugh with God's ability to create it. 00:23:14.880 --> 00:23:22.079 We could laugh with God in overturning the prejudices we often settle for. 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:31.759 And I want to suggest to you that we're being called to consider and reconsider our own skepticism this week. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:46.720 These 12 people who are so different from one another are sent out to do things like touch dead bodies, uh, drive out um unclean spirits to heal the sick. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:24:31.519 And I've got to tell you, I don't know that I've ever healed a sick person physically, but I do know that uh viewing a sick person a sick person or a suffering person or somebody who um is just going through an extremely difficult time, or maybe even somebody with an addiction or a mental illness or a prison record, there's a way in which we can react and reach out and love those people such that those possible divisions and barriers, words we use like illness or incarceration, no longer necessarily divide us from one another. 00:24:31.680 --> 00:24:46.720 We can reach out in such a way that we no longer make jokes at their expense, but we laugh deeply with God at the ability for God to show up in the strangest and most amazing ways. 00:24:46.960 --> 00:24:54.960 And this is how I think Jesus is sending us out to say, along with the disciples, look, the kingdom of God is at hand. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.640 We could look at it with that diagram last week. 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:02.000 Here's the kingdom we live in on earth, and here's God's kingdom. 00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:09.759 And look, they're relatively close, but we won't really get there together until uh it is that we die. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:16.880 Or I think we could say, look, if we work really, really hard, we might enjoy just a little bit of that overlap in this lifetime. 00:25:17.039 --> 00:25:18.640 We might just get a little taste. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:30.559 I want to suggest to you though that when Jesus says the kingdom of God is at hand, what he's really suggesting is that here's the life in which we live, and here's God's presence enshrouding us. 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:39.440 And the question before us, I suppose, is whether or not we're going to reach down into it and offer it to our neighbor. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:45.279 And hence I think we're we're told that the harvest is plentiful, but the labors are few. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:26:10.559 And I think now is a time on our national stage, on our local stage, when people are hungry, starving, even, to be nourished by this deep belly laughter that really looks like reconciliation and God's ability to have faith in us even when we cannot have faith in ourselves or one another. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:19.839 This nourishment, I think, is about how we might belong together instead of telling people that they have to fit in. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:24.240 Now, all of us have groups in which belonging is a little bit easier than others. 00:26:24.400 --> 00:26:31.200 And I'll tell you, as a religious person, sometimes it's things like theology that make it the hardest for me. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:44.240 Uh people who say, well, you got to work your way to God, or you've got to accept this and that, or um, you know, uh God essentially doesn't uh love us like we are only for who we could be. 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:49.759 Those things are really, really hard for me to laugh with. 00:26:51.119 --> 00:27:00.720 And I don't know that I've got uh the silver bullet on this, but I will tell you one of my core stories about my son happened when he was about seven. 00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:06.240 We had worked really, really hard and just kind of turned the corner on being able to read. 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:09.119 And I had gone into Starbucks in a hurry. 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:12.319 I was buying something for my wife and I had to wait in line. 00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:21.200 And I'll tell you, you know, um most of my parenting uh successes and failures and loves are really predicated on whether or not I'm in a hurry. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:25.519 So there I was in a hurry, waiting to check out because I had to be somewhere. 00:27:25.680 --> 00:27:34.000 And uh there was this little sign, this was at a time, this is gonna date how old I am, maybe, but um, the tea latte was brand new. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:35.119 The tea latte. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:36.480 And there I was in line. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:45.359 I mean, I probably was in line like five minutes, and I my my poor kid, he could probably just feel like the anxiety coming off my face. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:28:08.799 And I don't know what spirit possessed him, but he looked at that sign and he and he read it and uh he started to read it out loud, and he started to grab the sign and put his head out behind it and put his head back behind it, and he would come out and back, and he kept saying, tia latte. 00:28:09.519 --> 00:28:13.119 He didn't call it a ti latte, he called it a tia latte. 00:28:13.440 --> 00:28:32.480 Now I want you to know initially I thought he was trying to provoke me to madness because there I was mad, he just needed to be quiet, but I can feel this energy coming out of him, and I want to tell you about the fifth time he did it, he broke me. 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:45.839 He broke me, and I had uh probably one of the first deep belly laughs with uh with my son that I still remember strongly that he meant to cause. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:52.240 He was trying to provoke me to laughter, not to scorn. 00:28:52.720 --> 00:29:18.079 And part of what I needed to do in order to go there with him was to change my eye view from what he was doing and from the stress of the situation to this God's eye view of how it is we might use our energy and our love in order to provoke one another to laugh in this deep, belly, inclusive way. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:21.599 And I can tell you it's a really silly story. 00:29:21.759 --> 00:29:26.319 It's such a small thing, and it's one of my core memories of my son still. 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:31.279 This, I would tell you, is who he is. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:44.400 Somebody who can find uh who can find this this sort of joint and push on it hard, hard, hard for the sake of that person. 00:29:45.519 --> 00:29:50.000 And I think that might be what Jesus is asking us to do. 00:29:50.960 --> 00:30:03.440 Uh I've said this before, but I have a few people in the parish who I really love, and one of those people has told me, and one thing I've never heard this person do is tell a joke at somebody else's expense. 00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:23.599 And uh I in a house I grew up in that really uh praised things like satire and scoffing, uh, maybe we were too cool for school sometimes, I don't know, but um boy, it's such an invitational way of being to laugh deeply and to cost nobody else anything. 00:30:23.839 --> 00:30:33.039 And here I think Jesus is inviting us, and again, you decide whether or not it's Judas or it's Matthew or it's Simon that would bother you the most. 00:30:33.200 --> 00:30:38.640 Maybe it's somebody uh who votes uh Democrat straight ticket without even looking. 00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:42.240 Maybe it's somebody who votes Republican straight ticket without even looking. 00:30:42.319 --> 00:30:44.160 Maybe they don't wear a mask in public. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:31:07.519 The question is, is there a way that God could be guiding us to laugh deeply with one another at the fact that God is able to draw all of these disparate kinds of people together because God has faith in us and not because of who we might be, but because of who we are today. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:12.799 So I want to encourage you, it takes a risk to laugh deeply. 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:32.319 I want to encourage you to think hard about how we laugh this week, the kinds of jokes that we tell and think are funny, and whether or not, in fact, we're laughing scornfully or we're laughing with God. 00:31:39.119 --> 00:31:45.519 I invite us to renew and reconsider our faith in the words of a New Zealand confession, Kupu Wakapono. 00:31:46.720 --> 00:31:55.279 From this land we confess that we believe in and belong to the one true and living God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, love before all love. 00:31:55.680 --> 00:32:05.839 We believe in God the Father, sovereign and holy, creator and nurturer of all, Father of Jesus Christ, sender of the Holy Spirit, and Judge of all the earth. 00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:14.720 We believe in God the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, truly human and truly divine, who lived among us full of grace and truth. 00:32:15.039 --> 00:32:24.160 For our sin, he was crucified and by the power of God was raised from death, forgiving us, setting us free and bringing to birth God's new creation. 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:30.640 Now ascended, he calls us to repentance and faith and restores us to God and to one another. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:46.640 We believe in God the Holy Spirit, the giver of life at work and all creation, who inspired the Scriptures and makes Christ known, who transforms hearts and minds and gathers us into the community of Christ, empowering the Church in worship and in mission. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:52.960 We belong to this triune God, women and men, young and old, from many nations. 00:32:53.200 --> 00:33:01.279 In Christ we are one people, witnesses to God's love and word and action, servants of reconciliation and stewards of creation. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:14.960 As God's people, we look forward in hope and joy to the return of Christ, to the new heaven and earth, where evil and death will be no more, justice and peace will flourish, and we shall forever delight in the glory of God. 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:15.920 Amen. 00:33:16.240 --> 00:33:19.519 Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God. 00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:30.160 Merciful God, we have sinned in what we have thought and said, in the wrong we have done, and in the good we have not done. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:37.440 We have sinned in ignorance, we have sinned in weakness, we have sinned through our own deliberate fault. 00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:39.680 We are truly sorry. 00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:41.839 We repent and turn to you. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:47.680 Forgive us for our Savior Christ's sake, and renew our lives to the glory of your name. 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:48.640 Amen. 00:33:50.079 --> 00:33:55.440 Through the cross of Christ, God have mercy on you, pardon you and set you free. 00:33:55.599 --> 00:33:59.440 Know that you are forgiven, and be at peace. 00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:04.559 God strengthen you in all goodness and keep you in life eternal. 00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:05.519 Amen. 00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:11.039 The peace of the Lord be always with you and also with you. 00:34:11.679 --> 00:34:18.800 Today we had hoped to be together to celebrate the achievements of our graduates, but we cannot wait any longer to celebrate them. 00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:30.400 And so I invite you if you're looking on through our website, we have a list of our graduates that you can print out and follow along with you. 00:34:30.480 --> 00:34:39.679 But I just want to highlight our names and bless our grads from afar, hoping that we'll be able to see and bless them before they go off to their next adventure. 00:34:40.079 --> 00:34:47.440 So from high school, we are happy to celebrate the achievements of William Hutchison. 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:57.760 This is Ann and Billy's grandson, particularly because he earned the award of Eagle Scout, and he'll be headed to the University of Texas this fall. 00:34:58.400 --> 00:35:05.840 Grateful to celebrate Morgan Clazel, granddaughter of Max and Carol, who is going to be headed to AM in the fall. 00:35:06.559 --> 00:35:14.880 Evi Morrow, who finished high school a year early, is going to be headed to McDaniel in Western Maryland. 00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:23.920 She's going to take a gap year, but Evi was able to buckle down and get done early, and Evie has been a wonderful servant here at St. 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:26.559 Thomas through our youth program and acolyte. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:32.719 The Sanders triplets, Tom, Witt, and Libby, curiously enough, they are all headed to AM together. 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:34.079 God bless you guys. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:39.440 And they have also been extremely faithful in the acolyte ministry here. 00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:53.679 Davis Waidel, who has been a faithful acolyte and in our youth programs as well, has graduated from Clear Brook and was able to participate in the National Award-winning drumline there a number of years. 00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:57.679 And Davis will be heading to LSU in the fall. 00:35:58.400 --> 00:36:04.400 From college, Chloe Abney is graduating from Texas State University. 00:36:05.119 --> 00:36:13.039 Michael Colvert is a graduate of Texas AM, who is grandson of Carol and Max Claysel. 00:36:13.199 --> 00:36:17.599 I forgot to mention Chloe, of course, is the daughter of Lou and Heather Malar. 00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:25.039 Madeline Harris has graduated from Tombaugh High School and is headed to Chapman University. 00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:32.639 Aidan Tones has just finished his BS from Embry Riddle, and of course that's Kevin and Amy's son. 00:36:33.119 --> 00:36:35.599 Stephanie McKernan has just graduated from Law. 00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:38.400 This is, of course, Leslie McKernan's daughter. 00:36:38.559 --> 00:36:42.400 And she graduated Magnum Culmade, so this is a big deal. 00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:46.480 And blessings to you, Stephanie, as you study for the bar. 00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:50.320 There is a huge program that we've sponsored here at St. 00:36:50.480 --> 00:36:56.239 Thomas called EFM, Education for Ministry. 00:36:56.400 --> 00:37:07.760 And it's a four-year program, and our grad and our students meet for four years for a little over two hours each meeting for several weeks, like 30 of them. 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:17.039 And this year we're celebrating that Natalie Brady, Kay Clutier, and Betty Galardo have all completed through St. 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:21.599 Thomas their four years here through educational ministry. 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:29.840 So one year in Hebrew Bible, one year in Christian scriptures, one year in history, and another in theology. 00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:37.199 And we are also celebrating that Ken Jorgens, Jane Ketchum, and Herb Meyer have completed a fifth year. 00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:40.400 So the sort of postgraduate work for EFM. 00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:42.159 And of course, here at St. 00:37:42.320 --> 00:37:45.199 Thomas School, we are graduating a robust class. 00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:48.559 And I mean truly, this is a talented, lovely group of students. 00:37:48.800 --> 00:37:53.599 We had eight graduates this year and did a Zoom online graduation. 00:37:53.679 --> 00:38:04.079 And these students are Andrew Bradley, Sophie Gay, Abigail Jenkins, John Levine, Evan Smith, Jack Snap, Marcus Astaric, and Jade Thomas. 00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:13.519 And it's been a true pleasure to have them not only in chapel, but to spend around about an hour a week with them teaching them religion this year. 00:38:14.320 --> 00:38:20.400 And again, a better class you'll would be hard to find. 00:38:20.480 --> 00:38:23.840 These are really, really thoughtful, kind students. 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:34.559 To all of our grads, we of course are so sorry for you to miss the end-of-year festivities that we've all come to appreciate and enjoy. 00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:44.960 And we also know that your resilience and your flexibility, your curiosity and your diligence are going to make the world a better place. 00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:47.440 So a blessing for you, Grants. 00:38:48.960 --> 00:38:55.199 As your classes and grading are now complete, may you strive toward excellence in all you do. 00:38:55.679 --> 00:39:01.679 As the speeches conclude, may your voices rise up to pronounce justice and peace in the world. 00:39:01.920 --> 00:39:07.679 As the fanfares cease, may you sing of joy, even in the dark and lonely places. 00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:13.119 As the applause quiets, may you celebrate and lift up those around you. 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:27.840 As you graduate, may your achievements grow and cause growth in your communities, and may we all know of the overwhelming blessings of the one who created all things, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:39:28.159 --> 00:39:28.800 Amen. 00:39:29.679 --> 00:39:42.960 And now as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:50.239 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:59.280 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. 00:39:59.679 --> 00:40:00.320 Amen. 00:40:01.039 --> 00:40:13.360 May God, who by the Holy Spirit cause 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. 00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:20.559 And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be with you this day and remain with you forever. 00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:21.519 Amen. 00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:27.760 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:29.360 Thanks be to God. 00:40:29.679 --> 00:40:31.599 Alleluia, Alleluia.