Lent 5 2024

Blessed is the Lord who forgiveth all our sin.

God's mercy endureth forever.

Let us give thanks to God for all the gifts freely bestowed upon us, for the beauty and wonder of your creation in earth and sky and sea.

We thank you, Lord, for all that is gracious in the lives of women and men, revealing the image of Christ.

We thank you, Lord, for our daily food and drink, our homes and families and our friends.

We thank you, Lord, for minds to think and hearts to love and hands to serve.

We thank you, Lord, for health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play.

We thank you, Lord, for the brave and courageous who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity.

We thank you, Lord, for all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice.

We thank you, Lord, for the communion of saints in all times and places.

We thank you, Lord.

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

To you be praise and glory.

With you, O Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

Let's continue to pray together.

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.

This is the first and greatest commitment, and the second is like unto it.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

On these two commitments hang all the law and the prophets.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners.

Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise.

That among the swift and varied changes of the world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel here in the back of the Mr.

House.

Now Cain knew his woman intimately, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch, and he built a city and named it Enoch after his child Enoch.

Then born to Enoch was Erod.

And Erod fathered Mehuael, and Mehuael fathered Metushael, and Metushael fathered Lemet.

Then Lemeth took two women.

The name of the one was Eda, and the name of the second Zillah.

And Eda gave birth to Jabel.

He was the ancestor of those who live in tents surrounded by livestock.

The name of his brother was Jubal.

He was the ancestor of all those who take up the lure and pipe.

Then Zillah gave birth to Tubal Cain, who forged every kind of implement of bronze and iron.

And the sister of Tubul Cain was Nayama.

Namach said to his women, Ada and Zillah, hear my voice.

You women of Lemah, hear well what I say.

I have killed a man for wounding me, and a boy child for striking me.

If sevenfold Cain is avenged, then Lamach seventy and seven.

The word of the Lord.

But because of sexual immorality, each man should have his own woman, and each woman her own man.

For the wife, the husband should do his duty, and likewise the wife for her husband.

For the wife does not have authority over her own body, rather the husband does.

Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, yet the wife does.

Do not ever defraud each other except by agreement for a time to devote yourselves to prayer.

And then come together again so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

This I say as a concession, not as a command.

I wish that all were as I myself am, but each has their own gift from God, indeed one to one and another to another.

To the unmarried and the widows, I say that it is good for them to remain so, but if they are not showing self-control, they should marry.

For it is better to marry than to burn.

To the married, I give this command, not I, but the most high, a woman should not separate from her man, though if she does separate, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her man.

Also, a man should not divorce his woman.

To say the rest, I say, I, and not the most high, that if a believer has a woman who is an unbeliever, and she agrees to live with him, he should not divorce her.

And if a woman has a man who is an unbeliever and he agrees to live with her, she should not divorce him.

For the unbelieving man is made holy through his woman, and the unbelieving woman made holy through her man.

Otherwise, your children would be unclean, yet now they are holy.

Now if the unbeliever leaves, let them leave.

A sister or brother is not bound in such circumstances.

It is to peace that God has called you.

For women, how do you know whether you will have your Savior man?

And how do you know, man, whether you will save your woman?

However, let each walk through life as the Holy One has designated and as God has called them.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Now Jesus arose from Capernaum and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan.

Crowds of women, children, and men again gathered around him, and as was his custom, again he taught them.

Then came Pharisees, asking him if it was permissible for a man to divorce, testing Jesus.

But he answered, saying to them, What did Moses command you?

Now they said, Moses allowed writing a document of release and divorce.

But Jesus said to them, Because of your hard-heartedness, he inscribed this commandment for you all.

From the beginning of creation, God made them female and male.

Because of this, a man shall leave his mother and father and be joined to his woman, and the two shall become one flesh.

Thus they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore, what God has joined together, let no mortal separate.

Then in the house, again, the disciples asked Jesus about this.

He said to them, Whoever divorces his woman and marries another commits adultery against her.

And if she divorces her man and marries another, she commits adultery.

Also, women and men were bringing him children so that he might hold them, and the disciples rebuked them.

Yet when Jesus saw, he became angry and said to them, Let the children come to me, do not prevent them.

For to such ones the reign of God belongs.

Truly I tell you all, whoever does not receive the reign of God as a little child will not enter it.

Then Jesus embraced them, blessing them, laying his hands on them.

The gospel of the Lord praise you, Lord Christ.

In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Well, not sure I wanted to talk about adultery today, but it seems to be the theme of the lectionary.

And I hope you have noticed two interesting things.

This happens both in 1 Corinthians when Paul uses the phrase, this is my idea, not God's.

Did you notice that?

Some of those weird instructions were Paul's idea, not God's.

And I hope you noticed that Jesus says, some of what Moses has commanded you is not God's desire.

Isn't that interesting?

So I grew up in a tradition that said scripture is inerrant and must be obeyed, and Jesus says, I'd rather you not obey at all.

Did you notice that?

The scriptures themselves read that way.

Jesus says this whole business was Moses trying to minister to your hard-heartedness, but this was not God's primary idea.

Not my idea.

That's what it read, isn't it?

So perhaps one of the things we might be called to give up for Lent are some of the shackles that these texts have placed upon us and other people.

And it's probably really important, lest I sound like I'm being really, really, well, taking liberalities with the text here, just to talk briefly about the difference between then and now, if you don't mind.

So marriage in the ancient world at the time of Jesus was a contract between a man and a woman's father.

You remember the story about Joseph?

He's betrothed to Mary, he pays for her.

This is not the dowry system of medieval Europe.

This is where a man pays the bride price to compensate her father for having raised her, because women in the Levant could not own their own businesses, make their own money, or hold their own property.

That was all the jurisdiction of men.

And dad is now transferring title to the groom.

Again, I'm not saying that's what it meant at your wedding if you did that.

I'm saying that's where it comes from, right?

We do not really view marriage that way.

I hope you don't mind me saying.

So in the ancient world, marriage was a contract with social advantages.

It was done to secure treaties.

The primary reason for being married was social contract, and second, to have to have children.

Right?

So, what's this business about not getting divorced then?

Well, because men paid a bride price for women, it seems like Jesus might be speaking to a practice in which a man bought his first bride and then maybe didn't like her cooking.

Or perhaps found somebody taller.

Or you fill in the plank, and if he had enough money, he would trade up.

So he'd say, fine, Dad, keep the money.

I'm buying a better bride.

The social consequences of being divorced by your husband, and Mark's funny, right?

Because it says if a woman divorces her husband, that wasn't possible.

Women in the Levant could not divorce their husband.

The social consequences for a divorced woman are they have to go home to their father in shame and disgrace because they didn't please their husband.

Their prospects were be taken care of by their father, who had to continue to pay for their existence because they can't earn their own money.

Beg or become a prostitute.

These are not good outcomes for a woman.

Now, it is very possible that some of you grew up with baggage.

Remember the word sin in Hebrew can also mean a burden.

Right?

Grew up with some heavy sin about this teaching on divorce.

The tradition that raised me said if you'd been divorced, you could not be a deacon or an elder in the church.

You weren't fit.

And I'd just like you to really consider live in that cultural world anymore, just for a moment.

Thanks to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as of the 1970s, women could have their own credit card.

I don't know if you realize that.

Like in the 60s, women couldn't.

Now they can't.

Women can inherit property.

Women can make money.

We also don't usually marry for social advantage.

We marry, we like to think for love.

That's what we like to think, right?

We would like to think that.

Of course, when you step and think about it, like what is marriage socially?

That's this the eyes of the state.

It's when two economic entities become one entity.

That's what the state says.

Marriage to the state is a contract.

Of course, in the church, we say the sacrament is not just a social contract.

It's actually a sacramental contract that looks like commitment when it's able to work.

This is really important because we all understand, I hope you understand, it doesn't always work.

And these scriptures are rife for abuse.

So let me name a few of the abuses I've heard.

I hope you haven't.

I hope you don't, but I want to just raise this up because some of you have, and then I'll give you my opinion, and then we'll talk about children.

Is that okay?

Abuse number one.

If you had a bad marriage, you should be celibate the rest of your life because that's what you deserve.

Let's pretend you got married when you were 20 because you were young and idealistic, and then the person you were with turned out to be a drug addict or alcoholic and possibly an abuser.

Okay, fine, get divorced, and you never get to have intimacy again the rest of your life.

That just doesn't, not only does that sound unreasonable, that sounds like the opposite of grace and God's love.

So if you've heard that, give it up for Lent.

Number two, uh look, Jesus says marriage is between a man and a woman.

So all this business about same-sex relationships, that's just godly goop and liberal thinking.

Please hear for just a moment the Jewish interpretation of marriage as we have it through rabbinic writings.

I'm going to pretend that you know Genesis chapter 2, where God creates a human being, and then God makes all the animals looking for a helpmate.

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

The saber-toothed tiger wasn't a good helpmate for human beings.

The mosquito was not a good helpmate for human beings.

We know this, we live here, right?

Neither was the raging elephant.

So in the rabbinic interpretation, what happens, the first human being, say many of the rabbis, was actually a hermaphrodite.

Both genders at once.

And when God created all the animals, none of them worked.

So what God did is put the human being into a deep, deep sleep and split the human being in half.

You might be saying, it says the woman was made from man's rib.

Hebrew, that word is better translated side, like liver, lung, leg, like side.

The rabbis say the first human being was twain in half, and what happens in marriage is God puts us back together.

Now you might be thinking, aha, look, there's the man-woman thing again, but actually I'd like you to consider the first thing that the human being knows when they eat the fruit is that they are naked, and their response to knowing that they're naked is that they are ashamed.

And the rabbis say in marriage, two people come together and are naked and are not ashamed.

And that's not just talking about bodies, that's talking about vulnerabilities and personalities.

This is a high view of marriage and Judaism that Jesus is resting on, but in marriage, our partner looks at our shame and instead of poking on it, they cradle it and are gentle.

Do you need different genitals to make that happen?

God, I hope not.

So, I do think it's pretty oh, one more thing.

Paul's idea, not God's, is that if you're in a marriage that's not equal, stay in it and case you can save the other person.

Now, I hope you've never heard of this, but this is true, I kid you not, that throughout the last century, battered women have gone to their pastor and said, My husband has hit me, what should I do?

And been told, stay in the relationship so you can save your husband.

Friends, that's Paul's idea.

It's not God's, and it's not a good idea.

We know this.

We know that God does not want you living in fear of your most intimate companion.

Paul also says something interesting that most of us, I think, don't agree with.

The purpose of marriage is so that you don't lust.

Do you hear this?

It's better to be married than to burn with lust.

Do you know what our Protestant heritage tells us the reason for marriage is?

And there's only one.

The reason for the sacrament of marriage is.

It's not childbearing.

That's in the Roman Church.

We had a reformation part over this.

It's not childbearing.

The reason for marriage in the Protestant tradition is unity.

Because we understand unity is not about lust, it's about intimacy.

And we understand that proper intimacy is God's gift for us, not God's consolation prize.

We understand that maybe Paul was asexual.

Maybe Paul was celibate.

I'm not.

I'm not.

And you may not be either in good news.

God didn't make everybody that way.

God gave us the gift of marriage, the gift of marriage to meet our God-given preventing need for intimacy.

When marriage becomes a shackle and a burden, a sin, we understand sometimes it's time to be over.

We don't make that decision lightly.

We don't.

And one thing we definitely don't do when we're living with our head, our heart, and our gut aligned is try to trade up our spouse.

We don't trade up people in the kingdom of God.

I was at this camp out this week and somebody said, you know, if you go into marriage, thanks, Amelia, if you go into marriage thinking this is going to be fair, you're going in the wrong way.

So I know we've got spreadsheet people here.

I'm going to discourage you from spreadsheeting your marriage.

If you think marriage is going to be fair on a spreadsheet, be prepared to be disappointed.

By the way, if you've been married more than two years, I trust you've been a little disappointed.

So marriage is a gift from God, and sometimes it's really darn hard.

And there's something about the unity and intimacy that God inscribed in this that is for us.

So there's my teaching on marriage.

I'm going to come back to it for a second when we talk about vulnerable people because I do want to leave a pen right here.

Some of the most vulnerable people in our church communities are people who have been divorced.

I'm going to return to that in a minute.

Let's talk about kids for a second.

So, kids in the ancient were not romanticized as like lovely, perfect, creative.

They were work engines.

Like 125 years ago in West Virginia, people sent their six-year-olds down in a coal mine because they fit real well.

That's because we didn't have child welfare labor laws, right?

So things have changed with kids too.

And what's important to hear is that in the ancient world, kids were not like cute, lovable the icon of what it means to be free.

We're extremely vulnerable.

And what do you know?

They were possibly even vulnerable, more vulnerable than women.

They had no rights whatsoever.

And I mean none.

So when Jesus says the kingdom belongs to children, please hear the kingdom belongs to really vulnerable people that are easily exploited by others.

That's a flip term.

Usually we think the kingdom belongs to powerful people.

Kingdom belongs to people who have resources.

Nope, Jesus says kingdom belongs to the vulnerable.

And then we get this really interesting phrase unless you receive the kingdom of God as a child, you don't get to.

Now you've probably puzzled over this before, and I've heard sermons to be effective.

You know, children can see the invisible and they can live with cognitive conflict and, you know, this sort of business.

And that could be the case.

But you've probably heard me say this before, and I'm going to double down on it.

I'm not sure that we're supposed to receive the kingdom of God as a child would.

I'm suspicious we're supposed to receive the kingdom of God as we would receive a child.

Because as mammals, we've kind of figured out children need our compassion and our support and our care.

Babies don't raise themselves.

We did not evolve to do that.

So when a baby is hungry, it goes against our evolved brain to say, feed yourself, you little brat.

Because we know babies can't do that.

When a baby is messy, we don't say, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you dirty child.

We say, oh, sweetie, you need help.

I'm in the position to help you.

When a baby is tired, boy, they are tough to be around when they're tired, aren't they?

We don't say you should have slept better.

You should not have had that extra coffee.

We say there, there, sweetie.

Right?

So, again, you've heard me say this part before, perhaps.

Perhaps the kingdom of God in your neighbor does not come as an adult.

The kingdom of God comes as people who are sometimes hungry, and sometimes tired, and sometimes dirty, and sometimes they even need to be burnt.

So perhaps the cranky person you work with is just really tired.

Perhaps the person whose election propaganda paraphernalia you don't like is just really hungry for some grace.

And what if we treated one another as members of the kingdom, like our mammalian brain has evolved and showed compassion and care instead of condemnation?

And you should.

I'm suspicious we would be entering more fully into the kingdom of God.

But I do want to say another thing about this, which is that I'm actually pretty suspicious that the way we treat kids indicates the way we treat God.

So two different stories, one's mine and one's not mine.

I was at just about two weeks ago, and there was at another, there were about nine people, and on the end were two men.

I think one was a grandpa, and then there was like a baby in the chair, and she's probably like a year old.

And grandpa at the end was talking to his friend, and then would look at the baby, and like grandpa, it was clear over the hour I was there out of the corner of my eye, it was like holding the kid and like being really sweet.

And I did see this one thing, and I'm not calling them out because I didn't do something really bad myself.

But I saw at one moment the girl reach for the silverware or something on the table.

And I saw grandpa, very annoyed, slap that kid's hand.

And the kid was startled, like, was curious, clearly, to explore, was bored, reached out, got their hand slapped, and started to cry.

And grandpa said, Oh, poor baby.

Now, no parents perfect.

I'll be the first to tell my own stories.

I've done a million things I never should have done.

But it occurred to me quite honestly in that moment, not only about myself, but I've made my own parenting decisions.

I've made my own parenting fails in the kingdom of God.

Because quite honestly, sometimes people are reaching out in curiosity, and the question is, what boundary do we set and how do we do it?

What's our follow-up look like when somebody does a thing in church I don't like?

What's my follow-up look like when somebody asks a question about theology?

Do I smack their hand?

Or do I say, oh, you're curious about that?

How do I treat my neighbor as a child who is growing to learn?

And if I'm really fair, how do I treat myself when I make a mistake or I break a social norm?

As frankly, a child of God is curious.

Now, many of you have probably read or heard this book or heard the or seen a recent movie, Killers of the Flower Moon.

Do you know this?

This is about a real incident in U.S.

history about the OSAI sovereign nation.

They're not a tribe, they're a sovereign nation.

And they essentially were driven out of their homelands and given allotments in Oklahoma that they then had to also buy, and lo and behold, they bought this garbage land where nothing could grow and explore oil.

So all of a sudden, people started finding this oil, and the Osage sovereign nation became the wealthiest sovereign nation on the planet.

And lo and behold, uh, people started killing them to steal their land and their mineral rights.

What's interesting to know is that the Osage were reaping this money, and there was a lot of concern by well-meaning white folks that the Osage had too much money.

Because after all, being left white folks and all, they were like children, and they didn't know how to spend their money.

They were spending it profligately.

So what happened is the U.S.

government decided that many Osage needed guardians since they were like children who were educated white folks who would tell them how to spend their money.

Of course, you probably know the rest of the story.

The guardians stole left and right.

So this is an interesting question, right?

If the kingdom of God belongs to children, how do we treat God's children?

I'd like to think that if we say somebody's a child, we will take better care of them.

The question is, is that always so?

Or do we label people children so that we can take what we wish they had?

Or do we label people children because they have ideas that we're not used to, so they must be wrong?

How do we treat God's children who are vulnerable?

And yes, those might be First Nations.

Those might be people who've been divorced.

How do we treat God's children?

Those might be ourselves.

And there is this interesting reminder that I got, I've heard this before, but Brad was here from Lord of the Streets, and we were talking about it this morning.

You know, one of the things we say in our baptismal covenant, and it's a question and answer, will you strive for peace and justice among all people?

And respect the dignity of every human being?

And the answer is I will, right?

With God's help.

And this is a really interesting phrase that just seems so important when we talk about little children in God's kingdom.

When we say we'll respect the dignity of every human being comes the reminder that dignity comes from God.

Every human being is given dignity by the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the human flesh.

We don't give children dignity.

We respect it or we don't.

We don't give Democrats dignity.

We respect it or we don't.

We don't give homeless people dignity, we respect it or we don't.

We don't give our marital partner dignity.

We respect it or we don't.

The truth is, we already treat the kingdom of God as a child.

And some of us might need defects to come investigate how we treat God's children, including the way we treat ourselves.

You ever find yourself verbally abusing yourself?

Oh, you're no good, you should have, da da da da da da.

Yep.

I know this congregation, so I know you, some of you do.

Maybe the Holy Spirit as defects needs to give us a visit.

And say, sweetie, let's get on a growth plan.

Let's get on a growth plan.

You ever find yourself saying, when somebody does something you don't like, they meant it.

They really should know better.

When all we can really say, here's the impact of what you did on me.

I don't know what your intention was, but here's how it impacted me.

Those are just fancy liberal words.

I think they're the difference between how big our family is.

It's really easy to live in small families, but God didn't make that decision.

God decided there'd be a really big family called the human one.

So, yes, this is about the sacrament of marriage.

It's about the sacrament of children.

It's the sacrament of living into God's really big family.

Now, lest you think I'm preaching at you, I just have a story of how you converted me.

I hope this is okay.

Last story.

If you've been here for eight and a half years, you've been here for the story.

Once upon a time, there was this priest who came in with a three-year-old kid.

That priest's spouse does not attend services.

Because that priest doesn't own his spouse.

I like to think she owns me.

And the kid liked coming to church.

And the kid liked going to the church nursery.

And the nursery came in every Sunday at communion.

And one time the priest was up there doing his thing.

By the way, I'm the priest.

And the kid saw their dad up here doing the Eucharist, and the kid just ran and started climbing on me.

Because I grew up, the children should be seen and not hurt.

My inner mother started to grieve.

You talk about being vulnerable.

I thought I was going to lose my job.

Because my kid came up to me in the chancel during the service, and that wasn't proper.

Keep going.

Do not say, You sit down right there, sit down, the body of Christ.

Now I went after the service and I thought, I'm going to get it.

Like I am just going to get it because I've broken 2,000 years of precedent, you know, and here I am with this kid, and people are going to say, you can't even control your own child.

That's the stuff we say, isn't it?

Now there were a few people who told me they didn't like it.

But I will never forget the overwhelming gift of this parish through one person's voice who said, When that happened, I started crying.

Because I have never seen a child feel so comfortable in their church.

You taught me that.

You taught me that.

You continue to teach my child that.

And perhaps this whole series of scriptures today is to extend that privilege to three-year-olds, to 93-year-olds.

That conference I mentioned last week that I went to, the Endowed Episcopal Parish Conference, one of the key, one of the breakout sessions was about these folks who had this revolutionary idea that you learned a long time ago.

It was, hey, it's okay to include children in your services.

Because this was like an amazing idea that was going to revolutionize the church.

Not only did you get it from my kid, you get that our acolytes serving you communion is how we treat the kingdom of God.

Because if they're one of your kids, there's nothing more amazing than getting the sacrament from your seven-year-old.

Yeah, I have to break all the bread first.

That seems like a really small price to pay to draw God's family bigger and bigger and bigger.

Thank you for giving that gift to me and to one another.

And I don't know where you are, this land five, but I'm suspicious God is asking us to keep giving bigger and bigger and bigger.

Please join me as we pray our faith in the words of an I seeing grace.

We believe in one God, the Father, the light, the heart of the heavenly earth, all the seed and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, and the Son of God, eternally God of the Father, our God for God, life of life, true God, and true God, the God, one being with the Father, for all things pray, for us for our salvation, we can have a friend, but the Holy Spirit, we can come from the Lord, and we'll save for our saints of God and conscious God, we have to say, and the seed of the right and the God, if we come in our heart, and see how we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord given our life, and proceeds of the Father and the Son, and the Father and the Son who worship the glorified, for the cross.

We believe on all behalf of the Baptist Church.

We know all the baptism for your Jesus.

We love for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

The prayers of the people.

We come before our loving and gracious God, asking that God's grace and love be kindled in our hearts and spoken on our lips.

That we may do your will as we praise your name.

We pray for our spiritual leaders that they may speak your truth and call your people into deeper discipleship.

That we may support the leadership of this nation in the pursuit of peace and justice for all people.

That with compassion we may respond to the needs of the world, neighbors near and far.

That we may speak comfort to those who suffer in any way and offer hope to those who grieve.

That we may live your truth in our lives as we confess your truth with our lips.

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have air restraint from thy ways like lost sheep.

We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.

We have offended against thy holy laws.

We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

But thou no Lord have mercy upon us.

Spare thou those who confess their faults.

And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life to the Lord of thy own name.

Amen.

God forgives you.

Forgive others.

Forgive yourself.

Amen.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

If you're new to us or haven't done this before, and the room right behind the one we're sitting in, we call that the Narthex, there's these little cards that say welcome, and we would be so grateful if you could fill one of those out and put it in the little blue basket so we have a record of your visit.

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

If you do, check that box.

So you only get a follow-up if you ask for one, but we'd be so grateful for a record of your visit.

And thanks for worshiping with us today.

Um there are a few announcements I want to call to your attention.

One is that uh several of her just got back from a lovely time embryon God's children uh with a family camp week at uh Enchanted Rock.

And uh it was super delightful to have kids kind of running feral and to do this other really lovely thing that the bishop helped with.

The bishop bought us some climbing here.

So Hal and I were there uh giving kids real, repelling, and climbing.

And um, I just didn't know of another church that does that.

And there is something honestly very it's not just adventure, there's something like personally uh like switches that can turn in these kinds of moments of adventure.

So to be able to do that with you all was just really, really lovely.

Uh so we had a we had a great time in Enchanted Rock.

Um looking forward, we've got a couple things I want to call to your attention.

The first is this coming Saturday is our spring clean.

Uh, this is when we do various and ascentry jobs around the parish.

So uh if you're interested to know what the list of jobs is, Herb has a list.

Although you might be thinking, hey, there's a thing I want to fix, can I do it then?

And Herb has that list.

So uh Herb's right over here, and we're gonna start at 9.30 on Saturday morning, and uh we will have uh food put on by the holy smokers as well, and it's just in time to spruce up for Holy Week.

So Holy Week begins a week from today.

And uh look, I understand that some of us have jobs and commitments.

So you'll see that in the in the handout and on the website, we put on a variety of services to support Holy Week.

And I'm gonna speak to those and then I'm gonna give you an aunt.

So uh next week is Palm Sunday, and we'll have some palms for you.

Although, if you want a BYOP, if you want to bring your own palm, that's great.

We kind of come in with the palms, and um, we're gonna hear about Palm Sunday because that's what the day is.

Uh, I as I mentioned to you last week in 1976 they decided we should preach the whole Pacton story because we decided people aren't going to church in Holy Week, and I don't believe that.

So I will not be talking about the Passion next week.

I'll be talking about Palm Sunday.

And I will email you the story and you can read it at your leisure.

Because the rest of the week we have opportunities to support remembering the story of Jesus, not just what happened, but how that resonates with you spiritually or how that could.

So on Monday night, we'll walk the stations of the cross.

On Thursday night, we'll have an opportunity to do hand or foot washing.

Of course, you don't need your hands washed.

We have discompelled need much.

It's a good exercise of saying, I don't need it.

Enjoy it.

So we do that, and then we come in and we celebrate what we call the Last Supper or the first Eucharist.

And at the end, because this tell the story goes, it gets really dark and everything gets stripped and it's really bare and we leave and it's quiet.

And there's really no seasons like that.

On Friday, we have two opportunities at 12 and at 6 to celebrate what was originally called Black Friday, not Good Friday.

I mean, this is before the Thanksgiving one.

Black Friday, because it's a dark day.

Reminder: if you took one of those nails, uh, you can come about 30, 15 minutes early, and you can leave whatever burden you'd like to leave in the cross, which is where dead things go.

So reminder, we're not killing Jesus again.

He already died.

We're leaving our stuff, our dead stuff we're leaving in dead spots.

That's Good Friday, Black Friday.

Holy Saturday.

I don't know if you know this.

Holy Saturday is a thing.

Eastern tradition is called the harrowing of hell, where Jesus is really working hard on Saturday.

He breaks open the doors of hell.

So we'll have morning prayer that morning at 9 o'clock.

And then on Resurrection Sunday, there's three opportunities.

6:30 in the morning is the sunrise service, just like the original story.

We come in when it's dark and then it gets light.

I recommend that one the most.

It's a long service.

You're gonna hold it for a long time, and it is really beautiful and lovely.

And it is very different from the other two at 8:30.

Please hear that 8:30, not 8, and at 10:30.

So those are the services during Holy Week.

You'll also notice opportunities to schedule what's called the rite of reconciliation with me.

Not because it's more effective that week, but because we say we're setting this week apart.

So I just want to give you an opportunity to lay your burdens down.

We don't call it confession anymore.

We call it reconciliation because sometimes regret, remorse, anxiety is what's weighing us down.

Not a thing we did wrong when we were in the third grade.

Whatever it is that's weighing you down, I'll do that any week.

But particularly during Holy Week, you'll see things to schedule that with me.

Hate, again, in our modern life, sometimes we got stuff going on.

So this is not about guilt or you should be here.

It's please from your priest here, if you can, make the week holy for you.

That is, set it apart somehow.

Maybe that means praying, or maybe that means sitting outside longer, or maybe that means doing a thing that you enjoy that you don't usually give yourself time to.

Please do try to make the week holy, set apart and special.

I think that's it.

Did I miss anything?

Continue to walk in life.

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

And of thine own have we given thee.

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

It is 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 340 of your red prayer book.

Page 340.

Let us give thy son to who are Lord God.

It is very meat, right, and our bounded duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father Almighty, everlasting God, who dost bid thy faithful people cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast.

But fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by thy word and sacraments, we may come to the fullness of grace which thou hast prepared for those who love thee.

Therefore, with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and singing.

All glory be to thee, O Lord our God, for that thou didst create heaven and earth, and didst make us in thine own image.

Thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to take our nature upon him, and to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption.

He made there a full and perfect sacrifice for the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy gospel command us to continue, in perpetual memory of that, his precious death and sacrifice, until his coming again.

For in the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread.

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.

And when he given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you.

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

Do this as oft as you shall drink it in remembrance of me.

Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people do celebrate and make with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy son hath commanded us to make.

Having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming again with power and great glory.

And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and with thy word and Holy Spirit to bless and sanctify these gifts of bread and wine, that it may be unto us the body and blood of thy dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ.

And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness to accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and our bodies.

Grant we beseech thee that all who partake of this holy communion may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction.

And also that we and all thy whole church may be made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

By whom and with whom and in him.

In the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honor and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end.

Amen.

And now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray.

Our Father, who worth 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 temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

These are the gifts of God, and we are the people of God.

Let's breed again.

Almighty and ever living God, we most heart of thee take thee, and allowed us to be dust in the old ministries, with the spiritual fruit of most precious body and blood of thy Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, and dost procure us thereby of thy favorite.

And that we are heard and birds of four hundred in the mystical body of thy son.

Blessed the company of all men.

There are also the earth, of thy everlasting.

And we unload thee, O Heavenly Father.

So is this of thy grace that we may continue in that holy fellowship and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And if you heard nothing else, please hear this.

If you are in a marriage in which you are afraid for your safety, talk to me, please.

God does not want you to stay there.

This church will help you, I will help you.

Talk to me if that's your situation.

When I am among the trees, especially the willows and the honey locusts, equally the beech, the oaks, and the pines, they give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself, in which I have goodness and discernment, and never hurry through the world but walk slowly and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves and crawl out, stay awhile.

The life flows from their branches, and they call again.