Easter 2 2024

Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen to me.

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, you are all by the inspiration of the Spirit.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to the disciples and the breaking of breath.

Open the eyes of our faith that we may behold him and all his redeeming work, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.

Amen.

As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel again at back with Mr.

Hammer.

Reading from Acts, Jesus presented himself to the disciples, living after his suffering through many commanding proofs, by appearing to them forty days and speaking about the reign of God and staying with them.

Jesus commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, rather to wait there for the promise of Abraham.

What you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from this one.

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath-day journey away.

And when they entered the city, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying.

Peter and John and James and Andrew and Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judah the son of James.

And all these were persevering in prayer together with women, including Mary, the mother of Jesus, as well as the brothers.

She has moderated her meat, she has mixed her wine.

She has sent out her girls.

She calls.

You that are naive, turn in here.

Come, eat my bread.

Now here it is.

Each one must give as decided in your heart, not out of reluctance or under pressure, for God loves a cheerful giver, and the power of God is able to grant you all, every gift abundantly, so that always having enough of everything, you may all abound in every good work, as it is written.

God scatters generously and gives to the poor.

God's righteousness endures forever.

The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

The word of the Lord.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God, then also believe in me.

In my Abba's house there are many rooms.

If it were not so, would I have told you all that I go to prepare a place for you?

And if I go and prepare a place for you all, I will come again.

Will take you all to myself in order that where I am, there you may be also.

Thus I am going, you all know the way.

Thomas said to Jesus, Rabbi, we don't know where you're going.

How would we be able to know the way?

Jesus said to Thomas, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Creator except through me.

If you know me, you will know my Abba also.

From now on, you do know, and you have seen my Abba.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise be to you, Lord of Christ.

Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.

Hallelujah.

Please be seated.

Welcome to the second Sunday of Easter.

And sometimes we forget that like Christmas, Easter is not a single day, it's a season.

Just to fact check.

How many days is Easter?

49.

Because on the 50th day, it's the day of Pentecost, which means 50.

Jesus ascends in 40 days, right?

So we've got a couple different metrics.

That's why you're going to see white.

That's why you're going to hear Eucharistic prayer D.

That's the chanty one that we tend to use on high holy days.

That's why there's a veil on the cross that's white, because we're supposed to see the cross through the risen light.

During high holy days, particularly during Easter, you'll notice a shift in the lectionary.

Normally in the lectionary, the revised common lectionary, there'll be a reading from the Hebrew Bible, a New Testament reading, a psalm, and a gospel.

For the next 50 days, you're going to see not a Hebrew Bible reading, but an Acts of the Holy Spirit reading.

So I'll let today.

Normally during the year, this is year B, we'll be hearing Mark's Gospel, although every Easter tide is when we hear John's Gospel.

So if no lectionary, there's a year A, Matthew, year B, Mark, year C, Luke.

There's no year D.

John shows up during Easter, and John shows up sometimes during Pentecost or the season after.

So those are some of the changes that you're seeing.

Normally, in the revised common lectionary, we would have this story of Thomas, patron saint of the scientific method.

Please don't call him Thomas the doubter.

That makes doubt sound really bad.

You all have it.

Normally, we would hear Thomas saying, verify the results.

I want repeatable results.

You all said you saw Jesus.

I want that experience too.

We don't get that story today.

Because we're using the women's lectionary for the whole year.

Reminder, that's by an Episcopal priest and scholar, Will Gaffney.

And she's given us this other Thomas story instead, which I will tell you.

90% of people pick this gospel for their funeral.

In my father's house, there are many rooms or mansions or homes.

And if it were not so, I would have told you.

And Thomas asked, hey, we don't even know where you're going.

How can we?

Couple things that are worth remembering.

Anyone ever heard of the search for the historical Jesus before?

Newsweek likes to have an issue a year about this.

Like the Jesus of history may have said this thing, but it's unlikely he said this thing.

And there's even color-coded guides to the gospels about which things are most authentic and which are most questionable.

Has anybody heard of this before?

And that's really lovely, but I just want to remind you, we don't worship the historical Jesus.

We worship the resurrected one.

It's really, really important.

We don't worship, we don't follow the teachings of the historical Jesus.

We follow the leadership of the risen one.

It's really important to hear.

Because what's going to happen for the rest of Easter tide is that with the resurrection as the lens, we're going to go backward and rehear stories that happened before the crucifixion, but we're supposed to hear them differently.

We're supposed to hear them with the resurrected Jesus in mind.

And why do we need seven weeks?

Because resurrection is unlike any other human event that we know.

Just to be really clear, people get resuscitated all the time.

If you're a Navy SEAL, it's likely you get drowned in your training.

It's very likely you do.

And then you get resuscitated.

Resurrection's different because in a resurrection event, you die, you come back to life, but in such a way that you will never die again.

Resuscitation happens throughout even the Bible, and it happens in the world all the time.

But then you die again.

I hope that makes sense.

So the only personage resurrected in the history of time is Jesus.

Which is our invitation to consider what resurrection is and how it is, frankly, qualitatively different from resuscitation.

This is a really interesting passage, and I want to share a few thoughts on it, and maybe they're not linear or coherent.

That's pretty normal for me.

So um, the first part is this.

I grew up in a tradition that told me the end of faith was Jesus.

The end of faith.

The whole point.

I grew up in a tradition that said, when you've accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, that's when you've arrived.

It's possible you've grown up in that tradition too.

But I would like you to hear that the gospel does not verify that claim.

Jesus does not say, I am the end of your faith.

He says, I'm the way.

Thomas says, we don't know where you're going.

Did you notice that Jesus does not tell you where he's going?

Fair to say it's a mystery where the Lord's going.

Usually the resurrected Lord is going places we don't like to go.

Usually the resurrected Lord is going places we're afraid to go.

And Jesus does not think this is an interesting question.

He does not say, here is what happens, you're going to heaven, and it looks just like this when you die.

He says, I'm the way.

Not the end, on the way.

He says this in a really interesting way, and I maybe am overboring you with all the rubrics, but I'm going to go ahead and try this anyway.

You know there's four Gospels.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are so similar, they're called the synoptic gospels.

They have many of the same stories in the same structure, and they have a couple unique stories to them, but overall, Jesus looks real similar.

John is his own thing.

And in John's Gospel, there are exactly seven signs.

Seven.

Like at Cana and healing the guy who's born with an anabolia seed.

Seven signs.

What do you know?

Seven is the Hebrew word for perfection and Sabbath.

They're all the same word.

And after each sign in the Gospel of John comes an I am saved.

This is the penultimate one.

The only one after this is I am the vine.

But maybe you know this.

I'm the good shepherd.

I'm the light of the world.

I'm the bread of life.

I'm the gate.

I am the way, the truth, and the life.

And it's really interesting because John is probably the last gospel written, and he knows enough about Judaism to do something the other gospel writers don't do.

Many of you know by now that in the Jewish, the Hebrew tradition, God's name is not God.

God has a personal name just like you and I do, which is why there's a whole one of the ten words that says, don't take the Lord's name in vain.

That does not mean I go, oh God, I hurt my toe.

Because that's not God's name.

God's name is that Hebrew word that will usually begin with the letter Y.

And I'm not going to say it because that's disrespectful flavor.

Our Jewish brothers and sisters do not say or write this word.

To this day, they don't.

What's interesting is that God's name means I am.

I am who I am, I am that I am.

Maybe you've heard this.

In Hebrew, it also means every modality of being.

I was, I will be, I should be, I could be, all of that wrapped up into one bit.

So here is Jesus saying, God, who created existence, is the way and the truth and the life.

This is, I am saying, number six, which is really important that you hear.

It's not that Jesus is saying, hey, me, Jesus, I'm the way.

Jesus is partially saying that, but he's saying something even bigger.

He's saying, the breath of life is the way.

The Holy Spirit in whom we live and move and have our being is the truth.

God is the life.

And I hope that you hear that God's life and truth and way are so big that they are not easily defined by our doctrines or proclivities or prejudices.

This is part of the resurrected life.

And it begins with Jesus saying something, and once again, we say this at funerals in my father's house are many rooms.

This is pretty good news at a funeral.

Point one.

We all got a lot of stuff going on inside of us.

Some of it we don't always like.

Some of it drives us crazy.

God's got room for those parts of yourself you don't like.

God will make room for you.

This is normally part of grief that the things we miss the most about the people we love are not their virtues but their quirks.

Because their quirks are what made them who they were.

And good news, God has room for your quirks.

Anybody know J.B.

Fox?

Yeah.

J.B.

Fox had this really interesting quirk where within the first 10 seconds of meeting him, he was really off-putting.

Like you would say, good morning, JB, and he would say, Hell.

He is profanity more gratuitously than anybody I have ever met.

Now he was 99, and there was probably a certain age where you're allowed to do that, and it was long before I met him, just to be really clear.

If you could endure 10 seconds of JB Fox, then his heart of gold opened and it was gorgeous.

But a lot of people didn't know that.

I don't necessarily miss JB's NASA awards.

He won a lot of them.

I don't necessarily miss JB's leadership of the Rotary.

I'm glad he did that.

I miss that he returned my greeting with profanity.

Because I don't know many other people that do that.

Now that may sound funny.

God's got room for that.

Because God's house is so big, it has room for your quirks.

God's house also has room for your anger and your doubts.

If God's God, God can handle everything you got, even stuff you can't handle.

And if you've ever had an adolescent child, you realize that's what they do when they give you their worst.

They can't handle it, and they trust you can.

Sometimes you might say, sweetie, I wish you didn't trust me so much.

However, this is part of raising children.

This is part of identity.

And God can handle everything.

Also suggests, and if you've ever read C.S.

Lewis, he does this in mere Christianity.

He often, he says, we often think we live in the house of faith.

Like, you know, the good one, the Episcopal House.

And then there's those homeless Christians like Lutherans, you know, like they got nowhere to live.

And what we don't realize is we live in the house of faith, and we're just used to our room.

Sometimes we never even leave it, but you know the Lutherans live in the same house.

They might even live next door.

And sometimes it's great if we can get in the hallway and talk to each other, but even if we don't, we live in the house of faith.

Maybe the Methodists live in the basement.

I don't know, but they're in the house.

I'm glad too laugh.

Okay.

But we're all in the same house.

C.S.

Lewis writes this in Mere Christianity.

It's really interesting because we often define our house by what we believe instead of what God believes about us.

Which is really what matters.

Not what you believe about God, but what God believes about you.

God believes this is a really big house with a lot of room.

Maybe you've had somebody come to your home with a publication called The Watchtower that tells you there's only 144,000 people who make it into God's house.

And no slight to my brothers and sisters, but God's got more room than that.

Like I'm really sure of it.

I'm really sure.

I'm sure that God has so much more room than that that we don't just live in the Christian house.

There's other floors.

There's a floor called Islam.

And there's a floor called Judaism.

And if what we say is God is omnipresent, if God is really everywhere at once, then there is nowhere God is not, including gangster rapism.

Now, you don't have to enjoy going into that room, but it lives in God's house.

Which is an interesting thing to think of.

See, in the church I grew up in, we had an interesting vocabulary that was a litmus test for your faith.

We called these things exclusivism.

Inclusivism, and liberal progressive universalism.

Exclusivism.

If you don't know Jesus by name, you're going to hell when you die.

Which is why you need to send missionaries to Saudi Arabia, because they don't know.

And they could be faithful as best as they can, but if they don't know Jesus, they go to hell when they die.

Exclusivism has nothing to do with the risen Christ.

You heard it from your priest.

Has nothing to do with the risen Christ.

That has to do with tribalism, bigotry, and prejudice.

There's another word called inclusivism.

Says, look, there's only one God, whether you know God's name is Jesus or not.

When you serve the God of your understanding, you're serving Jesus.

C.S.

Lewis writes about this once again in his fiction series, The Chronicles of Arnie.

In the very last book, there's a book called The Last Battle.

If you know the series, Aslan's a lion and his Jesus, like that's it's not even thinly veiled.

It's very obvious that that's who Aslan is.

And then there's like this evil opposition god named Taz.

And at the last day, the high priest of Taz gets called before Aslan and says, like, sorry, I got this wrong.

I really was doing my best.

And Aslan says, Well done.

Good and faithful servant, come into my country.

And the high priest of Taz says, Well, I never worshipped you, I worship Taz.

And Aslan says, Nope, you were worshiping me the whole time.

That's called inclusivism.

As long as you're faithful, God's got you.

But I want to suggest to you that there's other alternative called universalism, which says once again, it's not your faith in God that even matters, it's God's faith in you.

Now, you may say that's too liberal and progressive.

I hope you at least find yourself in inclusiveness.

Because if you don't, it's really scary.

Why is it scary?

Because you could be wrong.

The Lutherans could be right.

I mean, they could.

They could be right.

I just don't think that's very good news.

You could be totally wrong, and hell's at stake.

I just don't think that's good news.

And remember that the word gospel means good news.

Not high-risk news.

Not moderately decent news to respectful folk who think and act like they're priests.

Good news.

That the resurrected Jesus is bigger than the historical one.

The historical Jesus was a Palestinian Jew.

The resurrected Jesus is a cosmic entity that invites us into grace.

Those are different things.

We don't worship the historical Jesus, although it's great to learn about him.

We worship the resurrected Jesus who goes before us.

And offers us really this interesting bit.

I am the life.

It's a really interesting criterion for faith.

If your faith does not result in larger life for you or anybody else, give it up.

It's of no value.

Jesus says the criterion for faith is that it gives life.

If your neighbor believes in some deity that you don't care for, and you see life in them, why would you want to make them as miserable as you are?

I'm being very serious.

The resurrection says we can hear this in a life-giving way.

The question is, where is life in us?

Where is it?

Do we have it?

Now, the Acts of the Apostles or of the Holy Spirit, depending which way you read the book, says that right after the resurrection, Jesus gave many convincing proofs.

I have a math degree, and many of you in the room know this.

So I'm not trying to bait you here.

How many times does the example have to work to result in a rule or a law?

How many proofs does one need?

Please don't tell me three.

It's okay, call it out.

How many times does it have to work to be a rule?

One.

It has to work infinitely.

How many counterexamples does it take to disprove a rule or a law?

It takes one.

If you want to prove your spouse loves you, you will lose.

Because we've all had one moment where it didn't look like love.

So we don't make a spreadsheet for love.

You may think it must have been so nice having the resurrected Jesus give many convincing proofs.

It probably was nice.

How many did they need?

Infinite.

How many do you need?

Infinite.

Which way do you know?

Sometimes I have apparently contrary evidence and I have doubt.

Guess what?

That's normal.

And God makes room for your doubt.

This is why faith isn't the end.

It's the way.

It's the way.

This is how it works as a parent and as a spouse.

Boy, you know, my feelings are telling me I don't love you.

My feelings are telling me you make me crazy.

And I choose to walk the way with you as your spouse.

I choose to walk this way as your parent.

Because there's life in that.

Because there's truth in that.

And then we get to hear this lovely reading from 1 Corinthians that is really a great stewardship sermon, isn't it?

Whoever so sparingly reaps sparingly.

And if you turn on your television, you can hear that actually giving money to the church and giving time to the church is really an investment portfolio.

The more you give, the more God will reward you.

There are TV preachers who say this.

I'm not going to call out any names like Creflow Dollar, but I do want you to hear that that is not what the gospel has in mind at all.

The prospool is an American lie.

It's an American lie.

So let me tell you what I think is the truth from my perspective, and I hope it's good that you hear this from your priest.

And Jim and Bob, you can tell me in your experience if this is right or not.

I know people, and I'm the only one who knows these people because of my position, which you've given me, and thank you for it, who give sacrificially.

I know they're giving sacrificially because I know that.

I used to think that the people who gave the most time and money, because these are our two most important assets, right?

And love.

I mean, those are all wrapped up together.

I used to think that the people who gave the most to the church, within the church, would have the most demands and entitlements on how it was used.

And I wouldn't tell you, it's the opposite.

The people who give the least demand the most from their priest and their church.

This is true, in my experience.

And the people who give the most say, it's not my money, it's God's.

It's not my time, it's God's.

I got more out of giving it than they would ever get receiving it.

This is this interesting part of stewardship.

When people give a gift and they know it's a gift, they've let it go.

They don't try to own it or control it.

They gave it and it's gone.

They don't try to take it back, they gave it cheerfully.

They don't lie awake at night wondering, you know, maybe we could have got the napkins cheaper.

I do that.

But don't.

And so my mentoring rector told me, as the dean of the cathedral, as one of the finalists for Bishop of Virginia, which is kind of a big deal.

He said, Yeah, that's been my experience too.

And I said, Why do you think that is?

And he said, Well, the truth is, generous people are spiritually healthy.

And that's why they gave in the first place.

Because it came out of a place of health.

Not trying to buy health, but because they already had it.

I'm not just talking about money.

I'm talking about time and love and service.

We have incredibly brilliant people in the room, and it's, you can tell sometimes when people are giving from their former work experience, and they're giving their best, and when they're doing a thing.

By the way, I often just do a thing.

I just want to be really clear about that.

But I want to suggest to you that this is probably what Paul is getting at.

Who is the one who sowed bountifully?

God.

How bountifully did God sow?

Well, God created us.

And then God joined us.

And God even said, if you choose to kill me, I'll submit.

That's a story that just happened.

And what do you know?

Death and disappointment don't really touch the generosity that's given from the place of resurrection.

You ever give a gift to one of your kids and thought, man, they didn't handle that right?

And I'm glad I gave it.

See, that's the interesting part.

And I'm glad I gave it because I wanted them to have it no matter what they did with it.

As a parent, that's been the most freeing place in my life.

And I've only done that like twice.

Normally I'm like, I gave that thing and you ruined it and you weren't ready, and you should have been ready, and you said you were ready.

There's no life in that.

There's no life in that.

And maybe the lesson is don't give the thing next time.

Fine.

But when we want to give a gift, we give it with love and we give it with life, and then it's gone.

It's out of our hands.

That's the reality of Jesus' life.

We didn't have to kill the guy, we did.

The gift was God gave and God showed up.

And the resurrected life says, that can get wounded, but it cannot get killed.

Now, I don't know where you are on your Easter joint journey.

I also don't know if you realize that the earliest Christians weren't called Christians.

Does anybody know what they were called?

They were called the way because they said this is all about the way of faith, not the end, but the way.

Because we're traveling this road together.

And as the African proverb tells us, if you want to go fast, I usually do, go along.

But if you want to go far, go together.

Go together.

The many convincing proofs don't come in dreams and visions in the middle of your sleep.

I mean, maybe some do, but they come in the community of Christ on earth.

They come from people who say, I will give generously with my love.

I will give generously with my experience.

I will show up for you.

Not because I don't doubt, exactly because I do.

I will show up for you.

And I will show up on behalf of life and truth.

So we can walk the way together.

Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of the Nicene.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty.

We believe in Lord Jesus Christ.

We will be called life.

We have to work the prophets.

We will be Catholic Church.

We call it Baptist or Sand.

We call for restriction.

During Easter Tide, we use Eucharistic Prayer D.

The prayers of the people are in that.

But these are lovely.

So we're going to pray twice.

I think there's room for a couple of prayers.

You have no equal God.

We come before you humbled, asking for your healing presence.

Raise us so that we may serve you.

We are amazed at your creative genius, how you have stretched the heavens like curtains, and yet you bend to be with us.

We are amazed.

We raise our hearts.

Our world and our lives are in need of healing and direction.

We ask you to guide your church and heal it where it is worn out and self-centered.

Direct those who lead the church, bishops, priests and deacons, all those in positions of leadership.

We ask direction.

We ask you to heal the relationships between nations and neighbors.

Give the leaders of the nations the courage to pursue justice and seek peace as an example for the world.

Many of us suffer from addiction, anxiety, and illness.

Break their chains which bind them and heal them.

God, surround them with supportive people, the resources they need, and a tangible presence of your love.

We pray for those who have died, that they may know the fullness of your love in the life you have prepared for them.

Comfort those who grieve their loss and give them the confidence of your love which knows no limits of time or space.

We ask of your love.

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

You asked for my hand, you might give them for your preferences.

I gave them for a moment, then withdrew them, for the work was wrong.

You asked for my mouth to speak out against injustice.

I gave you a whisper that I might not be accused.

You asked for my eyes to be the pain of poverty.

I closed them for I did not want to see.

You asked for my life to do my work for me.

I gave a soul that I might not be controlled.

Only when it is convenient for me to do so.

Only in those places where it is taken to do so, and only with Those who make it easy to do so.

Father, forgive me.

Renew me.

Send me out as a usable instrument that I might take seriously the meaning of your cross.

Amen.

May the love, may the God of love and power forgive you, free you from all your sins.

Heal and strengthen you by God's own life-giving spirit and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The peace of the risen Lord be always with you.

If you are new to us or haven't done this before, there are some little cards in the room right behind the one we're sitting in.

We call it an art exit to say welcome.

And we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one of those cards out and put it in a little blue basket so that we have a record of your visit.

If you don't want to call, don't check that box.

I promise I won't call you.

So you get to choose if there's follow-up, but we would just love to have a record of your visit.

And thanks for worshiping with us today.

Couple announcements to bring to your attention, but first, it is the first day in April.

So if you were born in April, I'd like to invite you forward so we can name your birthday and ask God's blessing on the next year.

I send you birthday cards.

It's always interesting to know who comes and who doesn't.

Thank you.

Sometimes it's all about quality, not quantity, but there's another one that I can name.

So our practices, we share our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both of us.

I remember I am born April 8th in Houston.

My birthday was really in March the 15th.

I was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

And that's Kathy Hill.

And yesterday we celebrated a birthday for Jonathan Sample, who turned eight yesterday and was born in Houston.

So let's say a prayer for our birthdays.

Lord God, we know that every year, truly every moment of our lives, is firmly in your presence.

Look with continued favor, we pray on these, your children, as they begin another year.

Grant that they would continue to grow in wisdom and grace, and above all, strengthen their trust in your goodness and love all the days of their lives through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Okay, how about anniversaries?

Are there anniversaries we'd like to name and celebrate?

Okay.

Come on up if you want to celebrate an anniversary.

I know it's like a big deal to have other people bless you and cheer for you.

But it is a nice thing to celebrate anniversary.

So we just ask people to share their names, the date of their anniversary, and where they were joined.

We were married right over in the gazebo in SMA.

Right.

Sorry, I think Paris.

I think that's only thank you.

Okay.

Well, that's right.

Lord God, thank you for the gift of the sacrament of marriage, whereby you reveal your undying love for each and every one of us.

That they would not only be assigned to the world of your love and grace, but that you would surprise them this year with new joy, with new gratitude, and new life in their marriage.

Amen.

Okay, a couple of announcements to call to your attention on some community news.

Many of you know that one of our new vestroom members, Kate Newmeyer, was chosen as the teacher on the trail for the Ididerod Trail this year.

So the only public school teacher in the United States chosen to be on the trail with the Ididerod through this program was Kate Newmeyer, one of our members.

She's back.

She had, of course, a lovely time, and she's willing to share the adventure with you.

So look for that on your e-news, but she's just newly back.

So that's a fun thing.

We also have a member, it's just nice to hear about other people, who is running, I guess, her sixth consecutive Boston Marathon this coming week.

And then, because that's not enough, she's flying to London to run the London Marathon.

So please do keep Karen Williams in your thoughts and prayers.

And if you're wondering, how do I pray for a marathon runner?

You don't pray that they'll win or that they won't get hurt.

That's silly.

But that comes with the race.

You pray, right, that their training will be evident in their race.

You pray that they'll be satisfied showing up and that they might even enjoy themselves on the race.

I mean, what better thing to do for four hours than enjoy yourself, right?

Not just when you finish, but what do you know, along the way.

Speaking of, so so Karen will be gone next weekend.

Please do hold her in your thoughts and prayers.

I wish I was that young.

She's older than I am.

But uh like six Bostons in a row.

Okay.

Um, also looking back, yesterday we had this really lovely experience being the bread of life ourselves, where we fed 430 people a lot of fresh produce in about 90 minutes.

And some of you in the room were physically there, but truly, this is a ministry of St.

Thomas.

So thank you for being faithful to it and showing people in our community new life.

Uh, it was a lovely day as always.

Uh, one other fun thing: if any of you like yarn or knitting, somebody gave us 11 bags of yarn, like 35-gallon bags of yarn.

So either is so much yarn that if you want it for your cat or for knitting or something, it's by the front door, please take some yarn.

Um upcoming a few announcements and opportunities.

This Wednesday at 10 o'clock will be our second session, appreciative inquiry into Buddhism.

So if you have any interest in Buddhism, it's not too late to enjoy that party.

Wednesday at 10, it's uh we'll meet till about 11:15.

Also Wednesday, I am going to be going on a trip.

It's not really a vacation.

Uh the diocese asked me to lead a trip for my peers and one bishop to the Holy Land.

That's not happening, just to be really clear.

Instead, we're going to Greece.

So we are going to go on the Paul's pilgrimage and visit some of the earliest cities and congregations and the context for his ministry, which means I won't be here the next two Sundays.

So you'll enjoy Alex next week.

You'll enjoy the Reverend Canon Joanne Sailors in two weeks.

And I'm not blowing you off.

The goal is to go and share some of hopefully what I learned with you when I get back.

So I will miss you.

Please, if you're thinking about dying, wait until I get back.

Because I would like to be here with you.

I mean, I would.

But if you need help, we've got we've got three sun calls that are happy to help out.

Uh so again, I won't be here the next too happy to.

Look, I might as well say it because it's true.

Please, I'd rather you wait it.

Okay, um.

That may be all the announcements.

Oh, there's a couple Easter lilies left.

There's like four.

They were really, really lovely.

If you would like one for your home or to give to your neighbor, it's time for them to go.

So we would be really grateful if you'd like an Easter lily to please take it after the service and and share it uh with somebody who, well, needs a symbol of resurrection.

Continue to walk in love.

As Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

And of your own have we given you.

This is the table not of the church, but of Jesus Christ.

He has made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come.

You who have much faith, and you who have little.

You who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.

You who have tried to follow, and you who have failed, come.

Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.

And he invites you to meet him here.

Our service continues on page 372 of your red prayer book.

Page 372.

As you're turning there, this is the oldest of our six Eucharistic prayers in the book you're holding.

We tend to use it whenever you see white, so on high holy days of Christmas and Easter.

Um, and it is the time you get the most Anglican champ.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and you who give you thanks, for you alone are God, living and true, dwelling in light, inaccessible from before time and forever, fountain of life and source of all goodness.

You made all things and filled them with your blessing, you created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.

Countless throngs of angels stand before you to serve you who night and day, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer to you who unceasing praise, joining with them and giving voice to every creature under her heaven, then we acclaim you and glorify your name as we sing.

Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.

You formed us from your own image, giving the whole world into our stewardship, so that in obedience to you, our Creator, we might shepherd and serve all your creatures.

When our disobedience takes us far from you, you do not abandon us to the power of death.

In your mercy you come to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you.

Again and again, you call us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you teach us to hope for salvation.

Father, you love the world so much that in the fullness of time you send your only Son to be our Savior.

Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin.

To the poor, he proclaimed us the good news of salvation, to the prisoners' freedom, to the sorrowful joy.

And to fulfill your purpose, he gave himself up to death, and rising from the grave destroys death and makes the whole creation new.

And that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us.

God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift for those who believe to complete Jesus' work in the world and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.

That's universalist of all.

When the hour had come for him to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, having loved his own who are in the world, Jesus loved them to the end.

Supper with them to eat the bread.

And when he given thanks to you, he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, Take eat.

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this all of you.

This is my blood of the renewed covenant which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin.

Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.

Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption, recalling Christ's death and his descent among the dead, proclaiming his resurrection and ascension to your right hand, awaiting his coming in glory and offering to you from the fruit gifts you've given us, this bread and this cup.

We praise you and we bless you.

We praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, and we pray to you, Lord our God.

Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these gifts, sanctifying them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people, the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your name.

Remember, Lord, your one holy Catholic and apostolic church, redeemed by the love of your Christ.

Remember all your people and those who seek your truth.

The congregation is invited to name their own celebrations or petitions silently or aloud.

Remember all who died in the peace of Christ, especially Gem Gossip, and those whose faith is known to you alone.

Bring them into the place of eternal joy and light, and grant that we may find our inheritance with Saint Thomas, Blessed Virgin Mary, with matriarchs, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and martyrs, with all the saints who have found favor with you in ages past.

We praise you in union with them and give you glory through your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.

And now as our Savior 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.

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 temptations, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever and Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

These are the gifts of God for you, the people of God.

Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.

Let's pray together.

Oh Jesus, our beloved, we give you thanks for inviting us to your table and sharing your peace.

May we know that we have been fed with love and grace, and may we follow you out of the world, ambassadors of your hope and peace.

One final announcement request.

A lot of people don't know what Holy Week is.

So what we'd love to do is make a series of short videos that say this is Monty Thursday.

Here's why we have it.

And if you went to one of those Holy Week services and found some life or enjoyment for each day to have one person say, for one minute, here's what I loved about Monty Thursday.

Here's what touched me about Good Friday.

So we need six people.

If you're interested, please let me know.

One minute, two minutes, because we want people to know.

A lot of us grew up in traditions where we didn't do this, to know what to expect and what's been life-giving for one of our members.

So email, call, uh, see me at the door, and thanks for hearing.

May you be a new creation.

Christ for those to whom Christ shall send you.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the risen Son, and the Holy Spirit, raise up new life in you this day, and remain with you always.

Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve the risen Lord.