Pentecsot 16 2023 Jim McGill

I greet you and welcome you to this service of praise and thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ on this 16th Sunday after Pentecost.

Pretty much all the service is in here until we get to the Eucharistic prayer, and I will let you know at that time what page to turn to in here.

Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And blessed beavenly and now and forever.

Amen.

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.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, for as much as without thee we are not able to please thee.

Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

As you are being seated, children are welcome to go with Alex to the children's shower.

And the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them.

It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel.

And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night.

One did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea.

The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.

The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

The Egyptians pursued and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.

At the morning watch, the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army and threw the Egyptian army into panic.

He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty.

The Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth.

As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.

The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea.

Not one of them remained.

But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on the right and on the left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

Israel saw the great work of the Lord did against the Egyptians.

So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

Hallelujah! When Israel came out of Egypt.

Judah became God's sanctuary.

And Israel God's sea beheld it and fled.

Jordan turned and went back.

The mountains skipped like rams.

You mountains that you skipped like rams.

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord.

Who turned the hard rock into a pool of water?

Welcome those who are weak and gay.

Not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.

Some believe in eating anything, while the weak only we eat only vegetables.

Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass a judgment on those who eat.

For God has welcomed them.

Who are you to pass a judgment on the servants of another?

It is before their own Lord that they stand or fall, and they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike.

But I'll be fully convinced in their own minds.

Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord.

And also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God.

While those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves.

If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord.

For to this end, Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?

Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?

For we will all stand before judgment the judgment seat of God.

For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.

So then each of us will be accountable to God.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

Glory to you, your Lord.

Peter came and said to Jesus, Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?

As many as seven times.

Jesus said to him, Not seven times, but I tell you seventy-seven times.

For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, and as he could not pay, his Lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children, and all his possessions, and payment be made.

So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.

And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.

But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves, who owed him a hundred denarii each.

And seizing him by the throat, he said, Pay what you owe.

Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, and I will pay you.

But he refused.

Then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed.

And they went and reported to their Lord all that had taken place.

Then his Lord summoned him and said to him, You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave as I had mercy on you?

And in anger, his Lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

The gospel of the Lord.

They had gone down into Egypt, supplicants, looking for relief from famine, and they were honored when they first arrived in Egypt because Joseph, their brother, had become a somebody.

Over the years, 400 or so, the Hebrew children fell out of favor with the Egyptian monarchy.

They fell out of favor, and all of the Hebrews became slaves to the Egyptians.

All except one, which was Moses, and by a fluke, he became a member of the household of Pharaoh.

And so when Moses was called by God to lead the people out of Egypt into freedom and back to the promised land, uh, and and when Moses did that, it is easy for you and me to think that Moses freed all these righteous, innocent people.

It didn't happen like that.

They weren't righteous and innocent.

They cheated on their wives or their husbands.

When the guy next door needed food, they didn't take him food.

When the woman next door needed a babysitter, they didn't always respond.

They did everything like you and I do.

They lied to their children or their brothers and sisters or their neighbors.

They weren't innocent.

And yet they were led out of the will out of the bondage in Egypt, out of their bondage in Egypt to the freedom of the promised land.

Why would God do that?

It was because God welcomed them, Paul tells us in today's lesson.

God has welcomed them, even though they were just as big a scuzzbucket as I am.

You know?

God has welcomed them.

Paul further goes on and says, you know, some people decide to eat meat.

And some people decide not to eat meat.

Now in Paul's day, uh it was much more of a spiritual decision than it is these days, I suspect.

But Paul says, if you eat meat, that's great.

If you don't eat meat, that's great.

Why?

Because God has welcomed all of us.

So welcome those people into your midst who don't do things like you do.

Welcome them because God has welcomed them.

And God has forgiven them.

Some people decide that Christmas is a great celebration.

And some people, there are Christian uh groups, as you probably know, that don't celebrate things like Christmas and New Year's Day and Easter and birthdays and anniversaries.

There are some groups that whose faith teaches them not to celebrate those things.

I don't have to understand it.

All I have to do is welcome them in the name of Christ.

Why?

Because Whether you do or don't do whatever the thing is, God has welcomed you.

And whether you do or don't do that doesn't mean you are sinful.

And if it does mean you are sinful, God has already forgiven you.

So here we have this parable from Jesus about forgiveness.

Peter comes to Jesus, and having read the Bible once, Peter says, How many times should I forgive my brother or sister who keeps sinning against me?

Now, last week we had the story about what happens if somebody sins against me once.

Well, you go and talk to them, and if that doesn't work, bring one or two witnesses, and if that doesn't work, take out a page in the New York Times.

And if that doesn't work, then treat them as an outsider.

Well, this is Peter asking, what about if somebody just keeps on?

Now, in Peter's time, it was already known that a very early rabbi had said, you should forgive over and over again.

You should forgive somebody as many as four times.

That's a lot.

So Peter says, should I do it as many as seven times?

We being followers of the Son of the Most High God, you know, because we are that kind of people.

And Jesus says, You don't understand, it doesn't work that way in God's economy.

That's not the way it works.

You don't count up the number of times and then subtract the number of times you've forgiven them.

And then there's a balance left over, or something like that.

It's not the way it works.

See, you think you're thinking about this like a bookkeeper.

You're thinking about it as a system of debits and credits.

And that's not the way it works in God's economy.

Let me tell you a story.

There was once a guy who had slaves, and one of them owed him ten thousand talents.

Now, ten thousand talents is all the money in the world.

It is all the money.

One talent is a thousand denarii.

A denarius is a day's wages.

And it was a coin.

And you were people were given a day's wage, a denarius.

A day's wage would feed you and clothe you and house you for a day.

Well, a talent was a thousand of those, so three years wages for a laborer.

Ten thousand is thirty thousand years.

Anyway, it was a lot.

I have an engineering degree, but I preach for a living, so you could.

Anyway, this was all the money in the world.

And it's a parable, right?

And so there is hyperbole expected.

So you don't, you don't think, you're not supposed to stop and think, wait a minute, what is a slave going to do with 10,000 talents?

Why would he still be a slave?

Wouldn't he buy himself and his family?

Don't even think about that.

Don't even go there, because that's not the point.

The point is that in God's economy, 10,000 talents is the same as a hundred denarii.

It's the same thing, and it's worth the same response.

The slave falls down on his knees, and the Lord pities him.

The Lord has pity on him.

And he forgives him not only paying today, he forgives him paying at all.

He forgives the entire debt.

This is crazy in our economy.

This is nuts.

So the guy gets forgiven all this debt, and he goes out and finds a fellow slave who owes him ten bucks.

And he grabs him by the throat and he says, Now pay what you owe.

And the slave says, Have mercy on me.

Basically, he says the same thing as the other guy had said to the master.

And he doesn't have pity on him.

So now the uh the master finds out about it.

You know how slave communities are.

I mean, you've you've been in cube farms, right?

Cubicle farms.

You know how the scuttle butt goes around.

And so the master finds out about it and he breaks bad on the first slave and has him tortured.

Now, I gotta tell you that there are some things about this story that have me saying, Yeah, but wait a minute.

One is that Peter comes and asks the Lord, what if a member of the church sins against me continuously?

There wasn't a church in those days.

There was no such thing as a church.

The word church is anachronistic at best.

The second is that Jesus says, if you don't forgive your brother or your sister from a heart from your heart, God will throw you into the torture chamber until you pay the debt.

I did.

I'm sorry.

I gave up thinking about thinking along those lines a long time ago.

And I hope you have too.

But the point is the same.

The point is that the community is more important than almost anything.

Keeping the community together is important.

It is almost, it's just about the most important thing that there is.

We are sitting in a room, you are sitting, I'm standing in a room that is called a nave.

And the reason is that it looks like an upside-down ship.

Because we are all in the same boat.

Every one of us is in the same boat, and that is that we are in God's world.

We are supposed to conduct ourselves according to God's economy.

God will forgive the ten thousand talent debt, even if tomorrow we don't.

God will forgive that debt.

God says, nothing is more important than you being with me.

Nothing is more important than you being with me.

And in order for us to keep the community together so that we can spread this good news to all and sundry, we are supposed to live by God's economy.

What God thinks is right.

So you don't get to.

And today, this very afternoon, I'm gonna call him on the phone.

And I'm gonna say, you owe me nothing.

I came to this realization during the sermon at eight o'clock.

Why haven't I said that?

I don't expect him ever to be able to pay me.

He might as well owe me 10,000 talents for Christ's sake.

But he doesn't.

But he might as well, for all of his ability to pay me back.

He thinks he owes me$7,000.

I need to inform him of God's way of dealing with the world and specifically with you and me.

God's way of dealing with that is to say all slates are clean.

All slates are clean.

In a few minutes, we're gonna we're gonna say a confession of sin.

John is gonna lead us in a confession of sin.

And I invite you to just think about the things.

Because all of them are to be forgiven.

They will be.

Now, what does that mean for how we live our lives?

As the people of God, as a people of God, we are to conform our economy to God's economy, so that every single time someone treats you bad, it should elicit from you what it elicits from God.

And that is forgiveness.

Yes, you got hurt, yes, you were injured, yes, you you were cheated, yes, you were taken advantage of, whatever it was, and what it elicits from us is supposed to be the same thing it elicits from Jesus, who forgave the soldiers who were killing him.

Now, I still have to go some.

I still got work to do to figure out how you do that, to tell you the truth.

I still got work to do in my life, but Jesus figured it out, and he was a man, he was human, and he figured out how to do it.

I imagine I can figure it out too with somebody who cheats me out of ten bucks.

Because for Matthew, and I suspect for Jesus, the worst thing is allowing the community to fragment.

Allowing the community to break up along whatever lines.

So don't let there be any lines.

Don't let there be any lines.

All are welcome, as Paul says.

All have been welcomed by God.

And that ought to be good enough for you and me.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, all seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father.

God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten of me, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation.

He came down from heaven.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified and conscious of Pilate.

He suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again and according to the scriptures.

He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, who proceeds from the Father and Son.

With the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken to the prophets.

We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for forgiveness of sin.

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

For this community, the nation, and the world, for our all who are for justice, freedom, and peace.

For the just and proper use of your creation.

For the goodness of honor, fear, justice, and correction.

For all who are in danger, sorrow, or any kind of trouble.

For the those who are violence and for the peace and unity of the Church of God.

For all who are all who truth.

For all bishops, priests, and deacons, for the priests in our community, Mike, Jim, Craig, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops.

In the diocesan cycle of prayer, San Esteban, Cleveland, St.

Aidan's, Cyprus, St.

Cuthbert's, Houston, and St.

Dunstan's, Houston, and for Michael, our presiding bishop.

For all our English church.

For the special needs and concerns of this congregation, especially those on our parish prayer list, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.

Hear us, Lord.

We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.

We will exalt you, O God our King.

We pray for all who have died that they may have a place in your eternal kingdom, especially Rosemary.

Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them.

We pray to you also for the forgiveness of our sins.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father.

In your compassion, forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things done and left undone, and so uphold us by your Spirit that we may live and serve you in the newness of life, to the honor and glory of your name.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

True repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven you.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

God's peace to them.

Oh, you guys got the memo.

God's peace, Larry.

I do know the difference between John and Nar.

God's peace with peace.

Peace.

Peace be with you.

Well, I'm not the guy that usually stands up here, but I do know that he would say, if you are here for the first time, I think I know most of you, but if you are here for the first time, if you are visiting or or otherwise here for the first time, and you have not done so, in the little room back behind us on the other side of these doors is a card that says welcome.

And if you would get one of those cards and please uh fill out as much information as you feel comfortable with uh and and then leave it with us.

He is too nice to tell you this, but the diocese has recently begun requiring parishes to report the number of visitors.

So that card is the way for us to do it, and you would help us try.

Tremendously, and we would be very appreciative if you would let leave us a written notification of your visit.

If you don't want a phone call or a visit, don't check the box.

If you do want a phone call, check the box, and one of us will call you.

So if you would do that, it would be a tremendous help to us as much as it would be something that we appreciate very much.

Does anybody know any announcements that need to be made?

Yes, ma'am.

Ellen.

So if you would like to bring the card for, we can bring it to the office and we can make it to the office.

A hundred birthday cards.

Boy.

That's like being forgiven 10,000 talents, isn't it?

That's great.

What a great idea.

Thank you, Ellen.

Any other announcements we need to make?

Walk in love as Christ loves us and gives himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

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 his head.

Our service continues on page 340 of the prayer book.

Except for the part that we're seeing right now, which is in the service.

It is very deep, right, and our mountain duty, that we should at all times and in all places do thanks unto thee.

O Lord and Holy Father, Almighty, everlasting God, creator of the light and source of life, who has made us in thine image and called us to be light in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therefore, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we law and magnify thy glorious name, we evermore praise thee and say.

And when he had 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 for the remembrance of me.

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

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

This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for all for the remission of sins.

Whenever, do this as oft as ye 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 were now offered 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 they 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 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 whom, 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 has taught us, we are bold to say, 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 prayer.

As we give those as you can, if you think about it, you're challenged.

Almighty and ever living God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us in these holy mysteries with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and dost assure us thereby of thy favor and goodness towards us, and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people, and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom.

And we humbly beseech thee, O Heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good work as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost we all honor and glory, world without end.

Amen.

May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short, grace to risk something big for something good, and grace to remember that the world is now too dangerous for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love.

And may the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always.

Amen.