Pentecost 10 2023

Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family, now and forever.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Oh my God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.

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

Amen.

Let us pray.

O God, who on the holy mountain revealed the chosen witnesses, your well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured in raiment white and glistening.

Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King and His beauty, who with you, O Father, and you, O Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

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

Alex.

Reading from Exodus.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai.

As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shiny, and they were afraid to come near him.

But Moses called to them.

And Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him and Moses spoke with them.

Afterward, all the Israelites came near and he gave them in a commandment, all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out.

And when he had come out, he told the Israelites what he had been commanding.

The Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining, and Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in went in to speak with him.

Hear what the Spirit of God is saying to God the people.

Let them confess the name of the Lord, which is great and awesome.

Almighty sovereign, lover of justice, you have established equity.

Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God.

Moses and Aaron among your priests, and Samuel among those who call upon your name.

You spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud.

And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

For we did not follow cleverly devised this when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the majestic glory, saying, This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.

We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain.

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed.

You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.

First of all, you must understand this that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

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

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed.

His clothes became dazzling white.

Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to Jesus.

They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but since they'd stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here.

Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said.

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.

And then from the cloud came a voice that said, This is my son, my chosen.

Listen to him.

And the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone, and they kept silent, and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

The gospel of the Lord.

And what that means is that in a three-year cycle, in year A, that's when we're now, we cover most of Matthew, in year B, most of Mark, in year C, most of Luke.

Now maybe you're wondering when do we do John?

That happens during Easter season of each of the three years, and then we start over again.

So the lectionary doesn't cover the whole Bible, because quite honestly, if we got up and we read, well, uh much of the priestly code or some of the genealogies and numbers that go on for about an hour and a half, the compilers of the lectionary thought that may not be best for worship, right?

So you don't get all the stories, but you get this three-year cycle.

What's interesting is that there's two stories that show up twice every year.

And only two.

Do you know which ones they are?

Today's one, right?

That's a good clue.

Uh Transfiguration.

Always shows up on the last Sunday of Epiphany, that's before the season of Lent.

And the other one is the Passion Story.

Shows up on Good Friday and shows up on Christ the King's Sunday.

So those are the only two stories you get twice a year, every year.

And to be honest, I'm not, I'm not always sure why.

Um so I just want to talk about the transfiguration and a little bit of confusion for a second.

Usually we get it before Lent, and the traditional teaching is look, it's showing us the glory of Jesus on the mountain before the next 40 days.

So while you're doing whatever it is you do, trying to kind of, by the way, Lent's 47 days, but while you're trying to spile, spiral deeper into faith and into like holy living, like maybe you've chosen to give something up or take something on, you get this image of glory that, hey, this is where it's going.

The reason I don't love that is because in the story it doesn't work for the disciples.

I don't know if you notice, the disciples like don't know what they're saying, but like the scripture's really clear.

And then the part we don't get in the story is right after this event, so they've seen Jesus in all his glory, they go down the hill and there's a sick kid and they can't help him.

And Jesus says, How long do I have to be with you guys?

Right?

So they had this image of glory, and it didn't take them anywhere existentially.

And maybe that is why we do, maybe that's why we do it before Lent, to remind us this is not supposed to be some neat symbol.

This is supposed to change the way you live your life and interact with other people.

Um, okay, so so today we get to talk about this, and uh, and I'm gonna take you through some of my own spiritual journey, and I may bore you, and at the end, I'm gonna really tell a tale on myself.

And that's that's what I've wanted to do, is try to make this make sense why we hear it twice a year today.

First thing I want to tell you, just for fun, because I can't help uh but share this.

Uh, if you've ever been to Rome, there's a rarely visited statue Michelangelo made of Moses.

And uh, has anybody seen this, by the way?

Statue of Moses.

There's something weird about Moses.

Do you remember what it is?

He's got horns! Yeah, you might have thought you were seeing the God Pan.

This is actually an interesting thing, so you know how translation matters.

The Vulgate read this part, Vulgate Latin, uh, read this part uh from the Hebrew text about Moses' face shining with glory and mistranslated it to Hebrew horns.

Which would help explain why everyone was afraid of him and he had to put a veil on, right?

But the way it's supposed to read is that Moses' face is just sort of shining forth with this glory.

And what's interesting is people are afraid of it, so he has to cover it up.

And I'm going to talk about that in a second, about being afraid of God's glory, uh, which is actually a thing that's real.

Um the other thing about this story, fast-forwarding up to the actual story itself, did you notice the disciples see Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah?

But apparently they didn't listen to what they were saying.

And this is my biggest disappointment in the story.

I would really like to know what they were talking about.

A couple years ago, I thought, um, and to be honest, I did this because I grew up being afraid of God.

I thought that, hey, whenever God shows up in a dramatic way, God's going to confront you with your sin and tell you how to like give you a growth plan.

So I imagine what Jesus was doing is calling these two guys out.

Like, hey, Moses, great job leading all the people, but when you put your wife away because you didn't like her anymore, you just kind of sent her into exile, you could have done better.

Or with Elijah, hey, like, great dramatic stand of faith, but like when you killed 450 prophets of Baal with your own hand, like, think you missed the mark there.

So I was imagining Jesus showing up and calling us out.

And if I'm totally honest, if God had one thing to say to me, have you ever thought about this?

If God could only tell you one thing, what do you imagine it would be?

Most of my life it would be Mike, you better shape up.

Tells you more about me than the story.

Uh what I want to tell you though, listening to it this year, is there's that little phrase, Jesus has already decided to go to Jerusalem.

I don't know if you noticed that.

He's gonna go to Jerusalem, and it's not a mystery what's gonna happen there, right?

It's not a mystery that the passion story is gonna come out.

And so this year when I read the story, I think maybe actually this is Jesus asking Moses and Elijah for some mentorship.

I'm gonna go somewhere where people are gonna mistreat me.

Even though my goal is how can we live, how can we live better lives together?

How can we live better with God?

I'm not gonna get just treatment, so Moses.

You let people out of Egypt and they complained about it for the next 40 years.

And I want to know, how do you stay authentic when people are fighting you for the good you're trying to do?

Elijah, all that stuff you did, reviving uh reviving a boy who died, reviving a widow's son, uh feeding a widow for seven years out of the mouths of ravens, these miraculous things.

You did this amazing sign, and what do you know?

The king of Israel hated you and swore he's gonna kill you, and his wife actually tried to do it.

In the middle of that, Elijah, like, how do you not give in to fear or how do you not give in to bitterness?

I want to know the answers to those questions too, if I'm honest.

I wanted the disciples to listen and write that stuff down so I could just have those answers.

And I'm not saying that as a priest, I'm saying that as a human being, as a parent, right?

How do you not get like crazy mad at your kids?

I want to know that as a kid who's taking care of aging parents.

Like, boy, I know I'm doing the good stuff, and dad, you can make it a lot easier, right?

How is it that we stay centered when we're doing these challenges?

And boy, I hate the disciples didn't listen, and maybe it's probably best that they didn't, because uh that means I actually have to listen myself.

There's this weird thing in the story.

Peter, James, and John see this vision of glory.

And I and I did change what's written because it's it's right.

They want to build tabernacles.

Tabernacles like the tent that you built around the Ark of the Covenant to kind of keep it enclosed, right?

They want to build that for Moses and for Elijah and Jesus.

And sometimes we say, oh, look, Moses is like the Torah and the law, and Elijah's the prophet, and look, Jesus is like the law and the prophets.

Look, that's silly.

Moses is a prophet and Elijah's a prophet and Jesus is a prophet.

He's in continuity with this guy.

He's not like, you know, some kind of magical blending of the two.

That they both were that already, right?

Uh the disciples see this and they say, let's build a tent.

Let's build a tent to house it.

And if I'm totally honest, I'd like to build tents too, because at the end of the day, when I build a building or a beautiful piece of art, I know I did something.

And when I spend a lot of time trying to love somebody, I don't always get to see the shade from that tree that I labored to plant in my own lifetime.

You know that phrase, a wise man builds plants a tree whose shade she may not ever sit in.

So there's this all this uncomfortable in just ministry to family members and co-workers, and we may never get to see the results of it.

We take it in faith, God's going to do it, but sometimes it'd just be really nice.

Be really nice to see.

So even though we can't always get to see it, boy, if we had a building, then we could say we did it.

You know, we'd have something to verify.

That act of love and that act of suffering and showing up and grading papers till midnight, that did there was something.

So even though I want to say the disciples are incompetent, probably I am too.

I'd like to focus on external things because they're validating.

They want to build tabernacles.

And there's this interesting thing about transfiguration doing work in a couple of ways.

See, uh, I was in Houston three times this week, which is way more than I'd like to, actually, four.

Four times in Houston in three days.

I mean like downtown or up in spring.

And let me tell you how quickly I can transfigure you with the way you drive.

It's pretty darn quick, right?

And I would say that's not a positive transfiguration, right?

Sometimes you're like at dinner with somebody you thought was normal, and then you find out that, like, you know, they voted a particular way, and boy, you can transfigure them in a snap.

And I don't mean in a good way, right?

All too often, that's the kind of transfiguring I do.

But I was thinking about it this week too, and I'm not sure that like over-glorifying somebody is actually that much better.

The New York Times put down a post this year during MLK, right before his birthday, talking about in some ways, by glorifying Martin Luther King Jr., we don't have to listen to him anymore.

Because he's so much better than us, we can't achieve that.

Or we put him on a pedestal and we forget the grit of what it actually takes to do racial reconciliation.

You ever met somebody that was just so holy, you said they're a saint, so I can't do that?

It's a way of taking yourself off the hook, transfiguring them.

Not sure it's a whole lot better.

Because at the end of the day, what they do is make us feel worse about ourselves and we decide there's no real work for us to do or there's no transformation for us.

And I'd say that's the disciples' experience because they go down and they can't help us sick.

Right?

They've over-glorified Jesus without saying Jesus would be glorified in each and every one of us.

So they want to build booths.

And then the voice from heaven shows up and says, This is my child, my beloved.

Listen to him.

Listen.

We all know you're supposed to listen to people.

It just turns out if you're like me, you're not always a very good listener.

See, sometimes I know family members' politics already, and I know their religious thoughts already, and so I don't even want to give a chance to talk.

You ever thought I can't hear that person say that again?

Or I can't believe they think that, so we're just not going to talk about that.

These are ways we transfigure other folks.

I'm sorry, these are ways I transfigure other folks.

I look at them, the bumper sticker on their car, the way they keep their home, whatever it is, and I sure do build a booth for them that looks a lot more like a jail than a sanctuary for worship.

You ever built a booth like that?

And God's solution is why don't you do something really hard and actually just listen to them?

Listen.

Even when you think you already know what they're gonna say.

We could make this story all about Jesus, and there's all of this glory, and there's this bright light, and there's this great thing.

And I'm just gonna be honest, I've never had this experience in my prayer life of Jesus showing up in a white garment all dazzling in glory.

I just I haven't had that experience.

And it makes me think that the story might not just be something we're supposed to have once and for all, that we don't even get to see ourselves about Jesus, but frankly, it's an invitation for us to allow people to shine forth with God's glory, and then for us to listen to Him.

I've had that experience a couple times, and I'm just gonna ask, have you ever met a holy person?

In my life, very few of them are clergy, because I'm cynical that way.

But I've met a couple of holy people.

When I was 20, I was living in a youth hostel in a Mediterranean island because I was an exchange student, and I met these people who had an aura.

I almost like don't even know how to describe this myself, right?

Because I don't know what I think about auras, but I upon meeting them, they were something just peaceful and right.

It was just sort of lovely to be in their presence.

They were holy people.

You ever met somebody like that?

It was a real uh twist for me because they were Muslim.

And when I was 20 and a Christian fundamentalist, I knew they were wrong.

Their faith was wrong.

But I also knew their faith was more real than mine.

Because I could sense it coming off them.

Peace.

Glory of God.

I stumbled into another one a couple years ago.

Um, I was doing a cold wedding.

This happens sometimes where people say, like, we want to get married in your church, and even if I try to dissuade them, they want me to do the premarital counseling.

So I did this wedding and I did a thing back then that I don't usually do anymore.

I went to the uh wedding reception.

I usually don't do this because families have to take care of me as a guest, and really they're just supposed to be there with each other.

But I did this.

Father of the bride had this, again, I don't know what to say it, this aura of welcome.

He wasn't an all put out to host me at a guest for his daughter's wedding and host me, he did, like stayed with me the whole time, and had some really lovely conversation.

In fact, we ended up becoming like good friends to this day, and doing that even though he's like 74.

Like we became good friends.

And uh I and I had this experience of holiness coming out of this man.

And I've had it disappointed a couple times, too.

You ever met a holy person and then they did something you didn't like?

It's sort of an interesting situation, isn't it?

Because I'd like to build two booths in my life: booths for holy people and booths for people that can go to hell.

And it's really hard when you exhibit behaviors from boast booths, because I don't know where to put you.

Maybe that's why they want to mill the third tabernacle.

Right?

The disciples want to build a third one, right?

And if I'm honest, maybe that's actually the work of faith, is building that third tabernacle because people aren't one or the other, especially if we take the time to listen to them.

It doesn't always work, but sometimes I can talk to somebody who's got the most hateful opinion, and in listening, I discover how they arrived there.

Because life was cruel to them.

Because life was cruel.

And it starts to pull them out of that booth that I'd like to leave them in.

I know I've told you this story before, but it showed that this week I was seeing a therapist a couple years ago who was telling me about a client that she did not like.

This is interesting when a therapist is honest with you.

In fact, she said, I was with this woman who was the ugliest woman I'd ever met, inside and out.

And sure enough, during one of the sessions, she was standing up screaming at me, as she often did.

I've been trying to imagine this, right?

And the lady was screaming at me, and she pointed her finger at me and she said, You can't stand to be with me for 45 minutes, and I have to be with myself all the time.

And my therapist said in different words, like that's when I found empathy, but I would say, that's when I made a new booth for this human.

And I've had to make new booths with people I over-glorified and disappointed me because look, we're not all or nothing people.

Trying to make a new booth for myself because I'm not an all or nothing person either.

And this is part of that work that I think the transfiguration invites us to, and I think what it suggests is if we only make it about Jesus one time and for all, we get ourselves off the hook.

When in fact, maybe the question is if I cannot see the glory of God's presence coming off of another human being, it says more about my lack of perception than God's lack of presence.

And if I'm not willing to listen to somebody else, maybe that says more about my lack of faith that God could be embodied in another human being than it says about whether or not God is embodied in another human being.

Now I don't like giving homework.

But if I were gonna give some, it would be, I wonder what would happen if we took five minutes to listen to somebody that we don't want to listen to this week.

And I wonder what it would be like if we took five minutes in prayer and we said, God, like I don't even know what the words are, but like I'm gonna imagine you're in the room and help me rethink this person that I find ugly.

Help me rethink them until I can see some of your glory coming off of it.

I don't know if that would make the world a better place.

But I know it would make my life and your life better.

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

We believe in one God, Father and Alright, creator, all of the believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, and God, eternally, God, I'm to God, who I am, unbelievable, through, or I think I have to spirit, and I'm just prayer, and I'm gonna crucify, each other prayer, on the third day you are to heaven, and according to the spirit, heaven, and entity of our hand of Father.

He will not be more to have the living and dead, and the kingdom will have.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord given our life, who are given from the Father and Son.

With the Father and Son, He is worshiped and glorified, He has only cross.

We believe in one Holy God, and Solar Church, and we are all the prayers of the people.

In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray to the Father.

Lord of glory, it is good that we are here.

In peace we make our prayer to you.

In trust we confirm our faith in you.

Help us to set our faces steadfastly to where you would have us go.

Lord, look with favor.

Lord of glory, look with favor on your church, proclaiming your beloved son to the world and listening to the promptings of his spirit.

In the diocesan cycle of prayer, remembering Trinity Jacksonville, Trinity Longview, and Trinity Marshall, our bishops Andy, Hector, Kay, and Jeff, and the priests in our community, Craig, Jim, and Mike, may your church be renewed in holiness that she may reflect your glory.

Look with Lord, look with favor.

Lord of glory, look with favor on the nations of the world.

Scarred by hatred, strife, and war.

May they be healed by the touch of your hand.

Lord, look with favor.

Lord of glory, look with favor on those in need and distress, suffering as your son has suffered, and waiting for the salvation you promise, especially those on our parish prayer list.

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

May the day break and Christ the morning star bring them the light of God's own presence.

Lord, look with favor.

Lord of glory, it is good if we suffer with you, so that we shall be glorified with you.

According to your promise, bring all Christ's brothers and sisters to see them with their own eyes in majesty and to be changed into his likeness from glory to glory.

To him be praise, dominion, and worship, now and for all eternity.

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

So let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

The hatred that divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class.

Father, forgive.

The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own.

Father, forgive.

The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth.

Father, forgive.

Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others.

Father, forgive.

Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee.

Father, forgive.

The lust which dishonors the bodies of women, children, and men.

Father, forgive.

The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God.

Father, forgive.

The Almighty and compassionate God grant you absolution and remission of all your sin.

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

Amen.

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God and Christ forgave you.

And at this time in the service, we stand believing that God did what we don't even want God to do sometimes.

Made us worthy.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Thank you.

Good morning, and thank you for worshiping with us at St.

Thomas today.

If you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the room right behind the one we're sitting in, we call that the Narthdex, there's these little cards that say welcome.

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

Thanks for worshiping with us today.

I've got several announcements I want to call to your attention, but it is the first Sunday of August.

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

As you're making your way up, our tradition is that we say our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both of us.

Eric sample, August 25th, 1981, here in Houston.

At Dowdy, August 28th, 1954, Houston, Texas.

Candy Looty, August 2nd, 1957, Danton, Texas.

Mona Roberts, August 15th, Houston, Texas.

Larry Roberts, August 9th, Houston, Texas.

Carlos Chenault, August 31st, Conroe, Texas.

A lot of tears things.

That's pretty new.

Okay, let's pray for our next year.

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

So 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.

And I'm also willing to come to you if that helps.

But what we typically do is we say our names, the date of our anniversary, and where we were joined together.

I'm Pat Underwood.

I was married August 1st, 1973 in Huntsville, Texas.

August 21, I think.

Two years ago.

Here at St.

Thomas, and this is Doug and Marie.

Hi, Gross and Tim.

We were married August 29th, 1981 in Kansas, Witch off Kansas.

Thanks, Joseph's here.

On the anniversary of my mother's nine.

Thanks, Joe.

Thanks.

Let's say a blessing for our anniversaries.

God, thank you for the gift, the sacrament of marriage, whereby you reveal your undying love and commitment for the world.

We pray that even as these couples begin another year keeping their vows and their vows keeping them, God, that they will be surprised with new joy, with deeper love and curiosity for one another.

And God, we ask that nourishment to spill out into our congregation and the world until it looks more like you imagine.

Amen.

Happy.

Okay, I want to highlight that out in the Northx, we do this the first of the month, we have this info sheet that kind of tells you things to expect.

And this actually corresponds really well with the e-news.

So if you're not getting the e-news and you want it, please just let me know, or there's a card you can fill out, and we'll add your address.

But there's a couple things not on here, and a couple things I want to highlight as well.

So one is uh it's good to remind what we did yesterday.

Yesterday, have you ever heard of sweat equity?

This is a thing that Habitat of Humanity does for homeowners.

We didn't build a house, but we did some sweat equity yesterday out here in the parking lot.

And um, like I had to take a nap after I got home, but it was amazing.

It was almost a record number of folks.

We had almost 400 people come through, and um two cars we had to jumpstart, which is like not a normal thing.

And just truly lovely.

Most of you probably are aware that groceries have gone up like 30% in the last year and a half, and so to be able to send people out with fresh produce, which tends to be the last thing people buy on a tight budget, it's just really lovely.

And I get to hear over and over again, because Kathy and I take people's names.

People say things like, This is the only place I go for this where people are kind.

And we can feel sad about that, and I just feel grateful for that.

Thank you for being kind.

Thank you for being kind.

Right?

Sometimes you look at a car and you think, you're driving that, you don't need this food, and we have no idea what they need.

We have no idea.

And thank you for being those people.

So it's really, really lovely.

Um, I mentioned this last week, and I want to mention again that if you look out here in this space that usually is green, now it's kind of brown, um, we're going to be building a prayer labyrinth and memorial garden where um humans are memorialized, but so are pets.

And so the big invitation for you is that our St.

Francis statue is being carved, like right now, and you have a chance to memorialize a pet uh or your friends if they want to look everything we Open, right?

And it's a place where their ashes can be interred and they can come and have a place to pray and remember and visit, quite honestly.

And if you're interested in more information, please let me know.

But I just want to say another thing I appreciate about you all.

Sometimes people say, Oh, it's just a dog.

Well, it wasn't for me.

And you know that.

You know that pets are part of our family.

Thank you for understanding this and for being willing to create both kinds of memorials for a community because there's nowhere in Clear Lake that does either thing that we're doing.

So thank you for that.

Vicki told me uh this morning, you all have been so good about giving housewares to St.

Vincent's that it's time to stop.

So, or pause.

So you've been giving housewares to help folks at St.

Vincent's in so many ways more than Vicky even thought.

Uh, and and yeah, we just need to take a break because they they're overwhelmed with how generous y'all are being.

So good on you.

Um couple things I want to raise to you in this little paper.

Um, we're gonna start a bread guild.

We had a bread guild, and the bread guild makes communion bread.

So what happens is once a month people come together and it's totally open, and there's a time of fellowship and prayer and just kind of chatting and making bread, and then that gets served and brought up on Sundays, and that's where we eat instead of the wifers.

And Terry Frank's gonna start that again on Saturday 19th.

And if you can't make the first one, that's okay.

But just letting you know that's a thing, and it's happening again, and you don't have to be a permanent guild member, as with all things, you can drop in and out.

Um, Alex has put together a great opportunity for our youth group to really roll into the programmatic year on August the 17th.

And just a reminder for you you may say, well, my kids are grown, but your grandkids and your neighbor's kids are also welcome, right?

We're not um proprietary at St.

Thomas.

What we do is for the good of the world.

So if uh you know this is an opportunity, if you know youth who are interested in some fine programming, and we're having this meeting on the 17th.

I did want to name that our um backpacking trip that we're taking in Arkansas.

We're gonna have a meeting in two weeks between services to talk about what that totally looks like and kind of to make our commitments on that.

Uh, so I hope you'll make time for that.

And then just two other things.

Uh, I hope that you'll take a moment to check out our Facebook page, uh church, because you've heard perhaps about this memorial we're we're building to honor black contributions to the space program over the years that's endowed by uh the Diocese of Texas racial memorial grant called the Talbot Fund.

And it's been a little bit quiet, and this week all of a sudden, there's a lot going on.

Like we cut a 7,600-pound piece of carbon steel with a plasma cutter.

We didn't, sorry, I watched that happen, so that it can be bent into a canopy that's going to have a stained glass under ceiling to it that will be absolutely beautiful and lovely.

And you can see this on the Facebook page, and stay tuned because the work is really, really progressing.

Uh, and it's it's pretty exciting to see that progress.

Um the other thing I wanted to mention to you, which is really just a word of thanksgiving, and I didn't know that I get to thank you enough, actually, is that this week uh was my eighth year anniversary at St.

Thomas, and one of the things that I have truly appreciated about you is how you understand, once again, that this is for our community, all of it.

And so on Wednesday at about 3:45, I got a call from Crowder Funeral Home asking me if I could do a funeral the next day for somebody I don't know, because they're Episcopalian and this is like a major need, and I can't find anybody.

And the lady said, Well, like I'll give you a fruit tray and I'll get you your favorite candy, like you're doing me such a favor.

And it was really great to be able to say, I don't do favors, I do this work.

I do this work.

And I've been in parishes where the priest would have had to ask the vestry for permission to do a non-parishioner funeral.

And what I love about you is there's not permission, there's that's the right thing to do.

Thank you for that.

That's been eight years for me, and it's been absolutely transformative, transformative, and uh nothing but gratitude for you guys.

So continue to walk in love.

As Christ first loved us and gave 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 him here.

Our service continues on page 369 in your red prayer book.

Page 369.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

God of all power, ruler of the universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.

Glory to you forever and ever.

At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.

By your will they were created and have their being.

From the primal elements you brought forth the human race and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill.

You made us the shepherds of creation, but we turned against you and betrayed your trust, and we turned against one another.

Have mercy, Lord, for we are sinners in your sight.

Again and again you called us to return.

Through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous law, and in the fullness of time you sent your only son, born of a woman, to fulfill your law, to open for us the ways of freedom and peace.

By his blood he reconciled us.

By his wounds we are healed.

And therefore we praise you, joining with the heavenly chorus, with prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and with all those in every generation who have looked to you in hope to proclaim with them your glory and their unending hymnals.

Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, Take, eat.

This is my body, all that I am, which is given to build you up.

Whenever you eat bread, remember me.

After supper, Jesus took a cup of wine, gave thanks to God, and said, Drink this, all of you.

This is my blood, my life force, which is given to nourish your own.

Whenever you drink wine, remember me.

Remembering now his work of redemption and offering to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, we celebrate his death and resurrection as we await the day of his coming.

Lord God of our parents, God of Hagar, Sarah, Gaturah, and Abraham, of Rebekah and Isaac, of Leah, Rachel, and Jacob, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, open our eyes to see your hand at work and the world about us.

Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only and not for strength, for pardon only and not for renewal.

Let the grace of this holy communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name.

Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.

Accept these prayers and praises, Father, through Jesus Christ, our great high priest, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit your church gives honor, glory, and worship from generation to generation.

Amen.

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 temptation, but deliver us from evil.

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

Amen.

Christ our Passiver is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us eat the beast.

Almighty and ever living God, we thank you for feeding us with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and for assuring us in these holy mysteries that we are living members of the body of your Son and heirs of your eternal kingdom.

And now, Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.

To him, to you, and to the Holy Spirit, the honor and glory now and forever.

Amen.

Christ Jesus, the splendor of the Father, and image of God's very being, draw you to himself that you may live in his light and share his glory.

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

Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.