WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.400 Hallelujah, the Christ is risen, the Lord is risen indeed. 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:05.679 Hallelujah. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:07.440 Let's pray together. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:14.880 Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:25.760 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. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:26.719 Amen. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:30.960 The Lord be with you, and also with you. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:32.560 Let us pray. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:38.880 Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established a new covenant of reconciliation. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:53.679 Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:54.719 Amen. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:01.439 Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:06.319 You let our Israelites, listen to what I have to say. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:17.680 Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs of God, did through him. 00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:32.480 Among you, as you yourselves know, this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:41.840 But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held by its power. 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:54.239 For David says, Concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:01:59.200 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:10.240 Moreover, my flesh will live in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your holy one experience corruption. 00:02:11.039 --> 00:02:18.080 You have made known to me the ways of life, and you will make me full of gladness with your presence. 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:30.159 Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:39.439 Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:52.560 For seeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:03:01.439 This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:05.280 Thanks be to God. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.919 Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you. 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:16.479 I have said to the Lord, You are my Lord, my good above all other. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:26.080 All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, upon those who are noble among the people. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:34.240 But those who run after other gods shall have their troubles multiplied. 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:43.360 Their libations of blood I will not offer, nor take the names of their gods upon my lips. 00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:48.000 O Lord, you are my portion and my cup. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.439 It is you who uphold my lot. 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:55.919 My boundaries enclose a pleasant land. 00:03:56.960 --> 00:03:59.919 Indeed, I have a goodly heritage. 00:04:01.039 --> 00:04:04.000 I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:08.240 My heart teaches me night after night. 00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:15.439 I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at my right hand. 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.279 I shall not fail. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:22.639 My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices. 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:26.639 My body also shall rest in hope. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:33.519 For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the pit. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.279 You will show me the path of life. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:45.120 In your presence there is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:48.399 A lesson from First Peter. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.480 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:13.839 By his great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God and through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:34.319 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold, that, though perishable is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.519 Although you have not seen him, you love him. 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:49.279 And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:51.040 The word of the Lord. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.480 And then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:27.679 Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.960 As the Father has sent me, so I send you. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:35.600 When he said this, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.559 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:42.240 If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:48.080 But Thomas, who was called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:51.919 So the other disciples told him, We've seen the Lord. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:10:02.960 But Thomas said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.679 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:12.960 Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:17.600 And then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands. 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.159 Reach out your hand and put it in my side. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:22.720 Do not doubt, but believe. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:26.879 Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.799 Jesus said to Thomas, Have you believed because you've seen me? 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:34.320 Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. 00:10:35.039 --> 00:10:49.120 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:51.600 The Gospel of the Lord. 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:53.919 Praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:09.919 But we begin now the fifty days of Easter that will take us all the way up to Pentecost, a time in which we're able to explore what resurrection meant for the disciples, and what resurrection and new life might indeed mean for us. 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:18.559 Sometimes we hear Jesus' come back from the dead, and we're all too tempted to say, look, everything gets to go back the way it was. 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:22.000 But in the story, that's not how it goes at all. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:24.480 Nothing is the same. 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:42.720 And what's really, really interesting to hear by theologians like Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crosson is that as much as we're interested in the historical Jesus, the disciples sure found a lot more compelling witness from the risen Jesus than the historical one. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:53.200 That is, their experience of Jesus after the cross, of him resurrected, is what really created the church and not just a regular following. 00:11:53.440 --> 00:12:03.279 So maybe it's helpful to hear that this story begins to start to unwind how resuscitation is a little different, in fact, very different from resurrection. 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:06.080 People are resuscitated all the time. 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:20.559 If you've ever seen a show like Gray's Anatomy, or certainly as a hospital chaplain, I got to see resuscitations where people's heart would stop, the paddles would come out, restart the heart, and their life would come back to them. 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:24.639 They had died temporarily, but their life returned to them. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:34.399 Of course, what we all knew is that they would one day later, hopefully uh many years down the road from that moment, would die again. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:48.799 When somebody's resuscitated, the marks of their wounds really sort of have to go away in order for them to have new life, whether that's a bullet hole or a heart that stopped beating. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:50.720 Resurrection is really different. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:55.600 In fact, in the Bible, only one person has been resurrected, and that's Jesus. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:13:03.919 The resurrected person uh dies, gets their life back, but in such a way as they will never die again. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:11.039 And curiously enough, their wounds don't go away, but are a permanent part of the resurrected body. 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:31.519 I have to tell you, if I were making this story up, Jesus would have come back swarthy like Lou Farigno or Arnold Schwarzenegger, all of his wounds and injuries would be vanquished, and he would in fact be mighty to save in the ways I want him to, but that's not what this story says. 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:34.240 And that's not what the ascension says. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:46.159 The resurrected Jesus comes back, and even though he can walk through a wall, you know he's not a ghost because his disciples can't touch him because he can eat. 00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:51.279 You know they didn't crucify the wrong guy because he's got the wounds. 00:13:52.159 --> 00:14:00.000 And you know he didn't just swoon and wake back up because his eyes pierced up to his heart. 00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:12.879 What's curious is that the resurrected Jesus makes it very apparent that he has died, but that death has not had the final word over his life. 00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:18.080 And Thomas, I think, is going to lead us to explore this image a little bit further. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:29.120 But first in the passage, what's great to hear for us who are having trouble imagining how resurrection and resuscitation can be different, just up front, the disciples aren't ready for it. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.799 Not only are they surprised when it happens, they're afraid. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:41.440 They've locked the door to keep people out because they decided, hey, life as they know it is over and can only get worse. 00:14:43.360 --> 00:14:46.240 God can use people like the disciples. 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:49.759 God can certainly use and delight in us. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:15:01.519 If Jesus' own best friends who physically knew him don't always understand good news, we don't always have to get it for God to continue to try. 00:15:02.799 --> 00:15:05.279 In John, Jesus does something really interesting. 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:08.320 The day he's resurrected is the day of Pentecost. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:14.639 Notice he shows up and says, Peace be with you, and then he blows on them. 00:15:14.799 --> 00:15:19.679 He gives them the Holy Spirit that day, and not fifty days later. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:29.519 And really what he says is, hey, in this resurrected life, in this way of coming back from the dead in such a way that death is no longer going to define you. 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:32.720 Take a different kind of breath. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.320 A holy breath. 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.600 This is not like finding a second wind when you're running. 00:15:39.759 --> 00:15:46.480 It's a totally different way of breathing, a totally different way of being entirely. 00:15:48.960 --> 00:15:50.320 More about that in a second. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:16:02.799 Today, though, we get to hear the story of our own patron saint, who unfortunately has recently been called Doubting Thomas, but I would put it to you, is the patron saint of the scientific method. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:13.279 Thomas, it turns out, was so associated with Jesus, so like him, that the early church had a tradition that he was Jesus' twin. 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:14.639 The story says it as well. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:20.159 This is Thomas the twin, and he is meant to be the figurative twin of Jesus. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:26.639 The disciples say, Hey, Thomas, listen, um Jesus came back. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:32.320 And Thomas, like any good scientist, says, Let's have some replicable, repeatable results. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:33.919 I want to see it. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.440 And I never just want to see it, I want to make sure it's real. 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:42.799 I need to be able to touch Jesus grants him his wish. 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:48.320 He shows up and says, Put your hand here in these wounds. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:57.759 Don't doubt, but trust, trust that God's new life is possible even against all odds. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:03.039 We don't know in the story if Thomas does in fact touch the wounds. 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.319 That's not clear, but I'd like to imagine that he does. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:15.519 And um if you'll go with me for a second, I'm not convinced that Thomas wants to touch these wounds to verify Jesus has died. 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:23.039 I don't think Thomas is looking to say, aha, now I know you tasted death and death is real. 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:28.640 I think the truth is we all already know experience of death in our own lives. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:31.039 I'm not talking about our mortal bodies. 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:41.920 I'm talking about moments of grief, of shame, of fear, of burnt down relationships, of failures that so often can define us for years to come. 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:48.799 I think because we all know those things, that's not what Thomas is directly interested in. 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:59.519 I think what Thomas wants to know is whether or not Jesus is just somebody who's come back and is going to go back to the way things were, or whether or not there is transformation possible. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:12.559 I think what Thomas wants to do is touch Jesus precisely at the points of death, and instead of feeling death in those wounds, to feel new life all around them. 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:18.079 And I think that's the difference between resuscitation and resurrection. 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:31.200 When we're resuscitated, we need our scars to close up as fast as possible to stanch the bleeding so that we don't continue to suffer and die again. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:36.880 But here in resurrection, it's not about closing wounds up so they don't show. 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:44.559 It's that God's life is somehow available precisely in the places where we've been wounded. 00:18:44.880 --> 00:18:48.400 And that those wounds don't go away. 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:51.519 And there is still life around. 00:18:54.400 --> 00:19:02.079 So imagine, and this is part of what I get to do as a clergy person, um, getting to know people who have been married for more than 50 years. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:12.559 After 50 years of winding two hearts together, it is often really difficult to know where one heart ends and the other begins. 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:21.680 And so at the loss of a spouse, whether it's five years or 50, the process of grief is doing some of that unraveling and figuring out where we are. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:26.880 And boy, even though that hasn't been my experience personally, I have not lost my spouse. 00:19:27.039 --> 00:19:34.319 It is not how to hard to imagine that it is challenging, terrifying, and full of pain. 00:19:34.720 --> 00:19:40.319 And of course we don't want that moment to go away. 00:19:41.119 --> 00:19:52.160 Because if the grief and the pain and the loss go away, so does our spouse, so does our love, and so do we. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:47.599 After all, Jesus says to them, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:59.839 I don't have a great answer on what this process looks like, but I do think this is the process God is calling us to explore as disciples. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:03.359 And uh maybe an analogue is a wonderful quote by C.S. 00:21:03.519 --> 00:21:04.079 Lewis. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:07.440 To love it all is to be vulnerable. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.839 Love anything, and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:17.599 If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give it to no one, not even an animal. 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:34.160 Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries, avoid all entanglements, lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness, but in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:35.599 It will not be broken. 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:41.279 It will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:44.559 To love is to be vulnerable. 00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:59.759 Jesus, I think, guides us that resurrection is predicated on vulnerability, on opening our hearts to other people, and knowing we can't control the outcome, knowing, in fact, that we cannot stop ourselves. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.079 From being hurt when we do it. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:06.319 And the resurrected Jesus doesn't close that hurt and make it go away. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:07.920 He carries it with him. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:18.240 And somehow, in those moments of injury and rejection and pain, those are not the last words, but there is new life around them. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:22.640 And we're meant to be agents of that. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:30.400 Not to throw our lives away, but to open them to one another. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:59.599 So I always have this vision that the best pastoral care happens when somebody who has lost their spouse years ago and learned to deal with grief and loss and sorrow and has begun to find new life in the middle of their loss, says to the newly bereaved, reach out your hand and put it in my loss. 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:03.119 I'm wounded too. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:06.160 And there's life to be had here. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:12.240 Reach out and let me share not only my empathy with you, but my compassion. 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:18.559 Let me help carry you and bear witness to new life in these moments. 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:21.440 That's really, really different. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:34.000 From sharing our sympathy with one another and from trying to talk each other out of the feelings of vulnerability and loss that we have because we're too afraid to bear them. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:39.519 I used to belong to a parish in which there were at least five people in a group of 200 people. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:54.000 Five people who had each put their children at one point into residential treatment for mental illness, for suicide, for substance abuse. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:07.279 These parents knew that if they shared, they would be judged. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:09.359 And not just judged, but condemned. 00:24:09.440 --> 00:24:10.880 Oh, your child's not happy. 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:12.720 You must be a failure as a parent. 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:14.799 Oh, your child's not getting good grades. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.400 That's because you're not strict enough. 00:24:16.640 --> 00:24:20.559 Your child has substance abuse problems, must have learned it at home. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:28.400 So, of course, these people sat like the disciples, shut up in the rooms of their despair with the doors locked. 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:41.519 They were waiting for somebody to walk in and say, Put your finger in my hand and feel the life around my own wounds. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:48.880 Or even they were just waiting for somebody to say, you know, I've had kids, I've had my own struggles. 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:50.640 I know what it's like to struggle. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:53.440 Tell me what it's like to struggle for you. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:03.200 And how can I support and carry you right now because I know you're doing the best you can. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:23.920 These are scary, scary things to do because our entire self-worth, our ability to walk into a room and not have people talk behind our back is so often predicated on us covering up these wounds, pretending like that didn't happen. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:29.200 Of course, we know that no one is going to share their wounds when they know that they're going to be judged. 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:43.599 So the question is, as a resurrected community, how do we bear witness that God is not found in invulnerability, but in vulnerability that is transformed from wounds into roses? 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:51.759 Part of it, I suppose, depends on whether or not we're satisfied as God is with who we are. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:59.839 There are things in my life now that I sure wish I could change, decisions made, ways I've been treated by others. 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:10.000 But maybe this story is an opportunity to say despite all of my mistakes, they had made me who I am. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:15.200 God is grateful for that person can I be. 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:46.480 Because God is not made perfect without blemish. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:51.920 God's love is perfected in wounds that are shrouded with life. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:59.519 Sometimes, perhaps, this might mean that we're invited to struggle into what Anne Lamont says about forgiveness. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:04.720 Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a different past. 00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:10.960 We're able to give up all hope of having had a different past when we're grateful for who we've become. 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:28.000 Sometimes I think one of our biggest blockers to being reconciled with people who have hurt us or to reconciling with people we've hurt is our inability to put the past away or at least behind us where it ought to go, so that we can live into a new future. 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:36.880 Some of you know that I have a dear family member who now struggles deeply with dementia. 00:27:37.440 --> 00:27:44.319 This family member I spent a lot of time with when I was young, and they were extremely verbally abusive. 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:54.799 And I'll tell you, there came a really, really tough resurrection manage for me when this person got dementia because I was never gonna get the apology I deserved. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:05.759 I was never going to get have the ability for that person to tell me they were sorry for what they'd said to me and that they realized all the damage and hurt that they'd caused. 00:28:07.200 --> 00:28:09.440 And I still struggle with some of that. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:11.440 It's not gonna go away. 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:23.519 And then a resurrection moment showed up when five years into their Alzheimer's diagnosis, this person looked at me and said, Boy, you're absolutely perfect. 00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:28.880 I can tell you that was not initially a reconciliation moment. 00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:32.480 It was a moment of anger and frustration. 00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:39.519 Where did that person get off telling me that when for years they'd only highlighted how I'd fallen short? 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.440 If I made a 98 on a test, it was what you miss. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:52.960 Now, here was this person telling me when I knew I had things unpresentable to them. 00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:56.880 That I was somehow perfect and always had been. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:09.839 It took me a couple of months to think that maybe this person for the first time in their life had actually found the words that they'd always wished they could have said. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:21.839 I don't know if that's true, but I will tell you, that's where I'm trying to find in the middle of my own windedness some of this new life. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:30.799 And I'm given a choice to trust whether or not that is the most authentic thing that person has ever said to me, or the least. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:42.000 Do I believe in resuscitation or do I believe to walk in the resurrection? 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:45.599 It means walking through some walls that I've erected. 00:29:45.759 --> 00:30:06.559 It means that unlike uh closing wounds completely and pretending like I haven't suffered, it means walking not into uh a lack of woundedness and perfection and invulnerability, but to actually being vulnerable. 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:15.519 And that's what Jesus bids us do. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:20.319 I don't know where you need new life in your life. 00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:25.440 I don't know where you're holding out for resurrection instead of resuscitation. 00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:30.160 To be honest, most of the time I would just take resuscitation if I could have anything. 00:30:32.079 --> 00:30:40.880 But I do know right now in the midst of the way we're living as a country, we're going to be offered at some point some new life. 00:30:41.200 --> 00:30:42.640 We don't know when it's gonna be. 00:30:42.799 --> 00:30:46.720 And I'm gonna tell you, I hope we don't go back to the way things were. 00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:53.039 I hope when we go back, we'll go back with deep gratitude. 00:30:53.839 --> 00:31:00.720 We'll go back with an opportunity to have reflected on our values and to live into them more deeply. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:06.880 I hope we'll go back with an with a sense of how deep and important community and worship are. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:20.000 And I hope therefore that wounds don't just close up, but they're reminders for us on our way of where new life can continue to be grown into, how we can continue to pursue resurrection. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:59.119 And I sure do hope that we as a community and we as human beings will be able to grow into this vision of offering up our wrists and our feet and our side to one another as we uh support new life in one another, as we hear from God and live into God and live as Jesus has lived with one another, and offer not just an end and silence and quiet, but offer peace and offer resurrection. 00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:07.440 Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Niceean Creed. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:16.240 We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:23.279 We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only child of God, eternally begotten of the Father. 00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:31.440 God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father. 00:32:31.680 --> 00:32:33.680 Through him all things were made. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:38.079 For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. 00:32:38.319 --> 00:32:44.160 By the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary and was made human. 00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:47.599 For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:49.680 He suffered death and was buried. 00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:53.200 On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures. 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:57.359 He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. 00:32:57.680 --> 00:33:02.960 He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and God's kingdom will have no end. 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:09.440 We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. 00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:12.720 With the Father and the Son, she is worshipped and glorified. 00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:15.119 She has spoken through the prophets. 00:33:15.359 --> 00:33:18.480 We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church. 00:33:18.640 --> 00:33:21.920 We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. 00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:26.400 We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. 00:33:26.799 --> 00:33:27.440 Amen. 00:33:29.119 --> 00:33:33.839 With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord. 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:49.039 I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for all people and ministers, for the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and for our bishops, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay. 00:33:49.440 --> 00:33:58.559 In the diocesan cycle of prayer, Palmer Memorial, Houston, Redeemer Houston, and San Pablo, St. 00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:06.079 Paul's Houston, for Justin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and for our presiding bishop Michael. 00:34:06.480 --> 00:34:08.239 Pray for the church. 00:34:10.880 --> 00:34:27.519 I ask your prayers for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world, for the members of the armed forces, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere. 00:34:28.000 --> 00:34:30.480 Pray for justice and peace. 00:34:34.320 --> 00:34:45.760 I ask your prayers for our parish and our vestry, that the source of wisdom may guide us, the source of strength may support us, and the source of love may unify us. 00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:51.760 Pray that our community may discern clearly and minister effectively. 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:57.360 I ask your prayers for St. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:10.559 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. 00:35:11.760 --> 00:35:17.119 Pray that we may be bearers of God's grace to all who come through our doors. 00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:26.880 I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, and those in prison. 00:35:27.519 --> 00:35:31.199 Pray for those in any need or trouble. 00:35:34.320 --> 00:35:39.039 I ask your prayers for all who seek God or a deeper knowledge of God. 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:43.280 Pray that they may find and be found by God. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:53.360 I ask your prayers for the departed, pray for those who have died, especially Gloria. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:19.199 Let us give thanks for our blessings and pray for our own needs and those of others, especially Chris, Rita, Jerry, Kirsten, and Maya, Sean, Jerome, Susie, Ruth, Jody, Judy, and Ted. 00:36:22.239 --> 00:36:29.840 The congregation is invited to name their own celebrations or petitions, silently or aloud. 00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:55.360 O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help, for you are gracious, O Lover of Souls, and to you we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever. 00:36:55.679 --> 00:36:56.320 Amen. 00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:16.480 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 00:38:16.719 --> 00:38:24.000 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. 00:38:24.400 --> 00:38:33.360 Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. 00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:34.400 Amen. 00:38:35.199 --> 00:38:45.440 May God the Father, who has redeemed us and made us children of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, bestow upon you new joy, the riches of God's favor. 00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:57.679 May God, the Holy Spirit, who through the waters of baptism has raised us from sin and in the newness of life lead you into the mission and holiness of being God's own forever. 00:38:58.000 --> 00:38:58.639 Amen. 00:38:59.199 --> 00:39:08.320 May Jesus, who has brought us out of bondage to sin, and into true and lasting freedom as our Redeemer, guide you to live into your eternal inheritance. 00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:09.280 Amen. 00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:16.719 And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you this day and remain with you forever. 00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:17.679 Amen. 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.280 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. 00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:25.039 Thanks be to God. 00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:27.599 Hallelujah, hallelujah.