Epiphany 6 2023

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

And blessed being.

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, to you all hear.

Bless the thoughts of our hearts.

By the inspiration of your Holy Spirit.

And worldly magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

And all of thy spirits.

Let us pray.

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you, mercifully accept our prayers.

And because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace.

That in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

Dear Lord, from your judgment seat on high, look down on the sky as I search me through and find me home, and help me, Lord, to reach my goal.

Help me, Lord, to work for thee, guard my homeland, and keep it free.

Help me to work with others and be kind.

Help them with my hands and my mind.

Help me, Lord, both well and strong, help growing girls and boys along.

Inspire my thoughts, lead them right, sound and clean tools for life and fight.

Protect my morals and keep them high.

Grant this to a scatter, such as I.

As you're being seated, our children are invited to children's church with Mr.

Alexander.

If you obey the commandments, the commandments of the Lord your God, I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, degrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering the two possesses.

But if you but if your heart turns away and you shall not hear, but led astray to bow to other gods and serve them, I declare you.

Today that you shall perish, you shall not live a long life in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter the possesses.

Blessings and curses, choose life, so that you and your descendants may live loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him, for that means life to you and length days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give your ear what the Spirit is saying to God's people.

God leads us to camp before a stall and dream.

God leads us on trails beside waters deep and still, brooks babbling, streams rushing and rivers raging.

God restores our bodies, minds, and souls, even as we observe the eagle soaring to the greater heights above.

God encourages the Eagle Scout and Glittle Lord Scout and their upward climb.

God teaches the scout, boys down, finding scouts, and enter us to live in the scout over and home.

Even though the trail may lead through dark valleys and towering mountains, we are courageous because the Lord God leads us onward.

God continually blesses us with food and mind and body.

Even when our enemies dislike or distrust us, God blesses us with the gifts of love and forgiveness.

Surely God's goodness and mercy will sustain us all the days of our lives.

And when we climb the final trail through the awesome path that leads to the great council fire, we shall join those who travel the trail before us, and joyfully live with God and be merciful forever.

The one who has and the one who worries.

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

And whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.

But I say to you, that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.

And if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council, and if you say you fool, you will be liable to the hell of fire.

So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with them, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.

Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.

It is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.

But I say to you, that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery.

And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Again, you've heard it said to those in ancient times, you shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you've made to the Lord.

But I say to you, do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is God's footstill, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.

Do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.

Let your word be yes, yes, or no, no.

Anything more than this comes from the evil one.

The gospel of the Lord.

We're celebrating our the ministry of scouts today, and um I just want to make sure you know we use something called the lectionary, so we don't pick the scriptures.

They were picked for us, and they felt like this on today.

But actually, I think there is a lot in here generally that supports what we're doing in scouting.

And so just to give you uh sort of my take on this, we've been talking the last three weeks about Jesus giving what I call the sermon up the mount.

I know it's on the mount, but remember, he stood at the bottom and spoke up to people to help them make their own summit.

And what we've been hearing the last two weeks, and we don't get to hear another teaching block because next week is the transfiguration, is Jesus saying, look, you've got this instruction that Moses got on the mountain, and the instruction is really, really good.

There's nothing wrong with that instruction.

No, the thing that we need to do is deepen the approach to the instruction Moses gave you.

Reminder, the frame is that people had lived in slavery for so long they forgot how to treat one another.

They've been treated as objects.

So Jesus is trying to say, here's how we treat each other as subjects.

And the frame is really clear today.

There's this guide reel from what Moses gave you.

When you want to live in community with other people, and murder is a viable option, it's not gonna go really well.

So let's take murder off the table so that we can live in a community.

I hope that makes sense.

And what Jesus says is don't focus on the most extreme case.

I think if I took a straw pole in the room, there's probably no murderers in the room right now.

So pat yourself on the back.

Good job.

And Jesus says, look, don't just focus on the extreme guardrail, focus on the way of life.

And the way of life goes like this.

If all you do is avoid murder, that doesn't mean you've chosen to love anybody else.

So Jesus turns the screw on us a little bit.

Pat yourself on the back if you've not been angry at one of your brothers and sisters this week.

I cannot do that.

Thank you, Linnelle.

Linnelle, who is a much better person than I am, said she can't do it either.

And I think that's it, right?

And this is Jesus not calling us out saying you're bad people.

He's, I think, telling us sometimes we focus on the minimum instead of trying to open ourselves to what God has in store for us.

That is to say, and if you think about this, really hard to murder somebody if you're not angry at them, unless you're a sociopath.

But there's not very many of those, statistically speaking, right?

So what Jesus is trying to say, I think, is you want to avoid murder, you want to avoid anger, then you're gonna have to figure out how to love the people that are with you, even when it's hard.

And Moses lays this out as well.

You heard it in the Torah itself.

I'm setting before you an instruction that says you're either going to choose life or you're going to choose death.

And it doesn't always seem to me in the moment that I'm doing that when somebody cuts me off in traffic that I'm choosing death when I get angry at them.

I do that.

Usually when somebody cuts me off in traffic, I have this really interesting thing I do that causes me to get angry, and that is called reading their mind.

You ever read other people's minds?

Oh, I would never do that.

Here's what reading your mind looks like.

You did a thing I didn't like, and I come up with a malicious reason you did it.

You only put that cup on the table because you're lazy and disrespectful.

You ever had thoughts like that?

What's even better is when we take a thought like that and we we use the word feeling.

Oh, I just really feel like you're lazy.

And I just want to suggest to you you don't feel like somebody's lazy.

That's a thought that you have.

You feel hot, you feel out of breath, you feel like the sermon is already too long.

These no, that's actually a thought, that's not a feeling.

I just want to I want to differentiate between this.

A lot of the trouble we get in, quite honestly, is because we take our mentality and we put it on other people.

And we say if you do a thing that bothers me, you did it on purpose with evil intent.

This is what leads me to anger.

In general, when my kids do something I don't like, it's not because they were thinking how to hurt me, it's because they weren't thinking about me at all.

And I suspect when you blow through a stop sign by accident, it's because you were distracted.

Not because you were trying to join forces with the Son of Satan and bring about the end of the world as we know it.

And this, I suspect, is part of not only Jesus' teaching and guidance, but a strategy to help us get there.

When we look at something that bothers us, what do we do?

Do we presume the worst?

Do we assign intent?

Are we able to say, you know, that person has the same human needs I have?

Needs like adventure and respect and order and humor.

Those are universal needs.

Everybody in the room has those needs.

The problem we get into is that sometimes we pick strategies to meet our needs that do not result in life for everybody else.

I don't want to over-highlight this.

It's not just because of age.

I just think this is an example.

Everybody has the need for intimacy.

God gave us that need.

It's beautiful.

God wants us to meet that need, but sometimes we pick strategies that do not support that need for us and everybody else.

Adultery is a strategy that leads to life for me at the expense of other people.

It is not a good strategy.

I hope you hear that.

And if in a moment, when I see something like that, whether it's littering or uh speaking harshly to one of my neighbors, I haven't had to encounter uh the big A word myself, but um, if it's one of those, the question is: can we look at our neighbor and say, look, you have the same needs I have.

You're trying to meet your needs.

And I wonder if I can't just help you come up with some strategies that would work for all of us.

Some strategies.

One of the problems we have is that we don't take time observing things.

We spend a lot of time judging things.

An observation goes like this.

It was 9.07, and I did not see you at your desk when I walked by.

A judgment goes like this.

You're always late and you're lazy and you don't care.

I hope you hear the difference.

At my worst, I don't observe, I judge.

And I want to suggest to you, because I had a class on this, I've called the Big B method, that invites us to really consider what if we could just state the facts and pull the judgments off.

I observed your dirty coffee cup on dirty, man, that's tough.

I observed a cup on the counter that had coffee from yesterday and it was still here this morning when I went to use the office sink.

That's an observation, not a judgment.

I saw that, it's empirically verifiable, right?

I suspect you're meeting your need for comfort, and I'm gonna make a request, because I have a need for order and cleanliness.

I'm going to request that you wash your cup each night.

Would you rather me say that to you or say, you filthy, dirty slob, you left your cup down again to disrespect me on purpose.

Your father was Lucifer.

Please rinse your cup.

I will tell you, actually, this is interesting in my own home.

When I tell my daughter to do something, she's kind of like, yeah, whatever.

When I say, honey, I'm gonna make a behavior change request, she goes, no fair, because she's grown into this idea of a request means I take you seriously enough to ask for what I want instead of making a demand because I don't like what you're doing.

I want to suggest to you that if we could spend a little bit of time to untangle our judgments from our observations and to think compassionately when something irks us that somebody is really trying to meet a need that I also have, even if the strategy isn't good, and then I can say, because we're trying to meet needs we have, I'm going to request you do it in a way that brings life to all of us.

I think that's just a better way to live, if you don't mind me saying.

A lot of the time it takes work.

It's really hard.

Our brains actually are hardwired to make judgments really, really fast, helped us survive, right?

But survival's pretty steady right now, right?

So the person bothering me at work is not like a ravening lion.

They're not.

They're just another person trying to meet universal needs that God created in us.

And look, we're doing the best we can with what we have.

So part of the gospel is how do we have more tools than we have today?

How do we work on this together?

And how can I avoid being angry at my brother and sister?

Not just so I avoid murdering them, but because of this beautiful thing we got to hear from 1 Corinthians, where Paul says, y'all, you didn't see it.

But in Greek it's second person plural.

It's not you, it's you all.

Y'all.

Y'all are a building for the Holy Spirit.

Y'all.

I grew up hearing my body is a temple for the Holy Spirit.

That's not how the scripture reads.

Y'all are the temple.

Living stones that contain the presence of God.

You'll have to decide who's in and out of the y'all, but I think it's much safer to assume everybody is.

That means when I'm encountered with somebody that I don't think belongs in the building of the Holy Spirit, I'm the one that needs to convert, not them.

And the tools that help me convert are generous assumptions and requests so that we can choose life together.

Now, this is one of those things I hope you've already seen and you appreciate about what scouting does is it mentors our kids.

Scouting starts in Cub Scouts and with Girl Scouts, where adults do the den leading, and then as kids grow up, they become the leaders and they impart knowledge to one another and they start planning trips.

And all of this is really to mentor our kids and our families into being the y'all.

Because it's beautiful when our children lead us in worship.

It's part of what scouting does, it gives us opportunities to be leaders that are age appropriate, and it's beautiful when you see that happen.

We grow our people into being containers for the Holy Spirit.

And this is what Jesus, I think, has in mind for us.

That we look at one another in the y'all, in the y'all, and we say, How is it not only that I avoid anger, but that I reach out in love to you and in compassion?

Even when you drive me nuts, you're probably not doing it just to drive me nuts.

And even if you are, my life will be better if I don't think that that's why you're doing it.

Right?

Is what we choose to believe.

I choose to believe that God made us and loves us just like we are.

I choose to believe that.

And if I can extend that courtesy I have towards God to my neighbor, then I won't be driving off a cliff.

I won't be riding against the guardrail of murder.

I'll be on the middle of the way to living into the temple that God has called us to be.

And I think that's our opportunity when we think about the sermon going up the mount.

Now, I just want to say one other thing because look, this touches me because I'm one of those religious people, and this happened by accident.

Sometimes we've grown into some kinds of thinking where there's rules that we're supposed to follow to the letter no matter the consequences.

So about eight years ago, I was a priest in California, and we had a traveling musician group that was performing for us, particularly during communion.

We had Bluegrass Sunday, and so there they were doing some bluegrass themed and leading us in some music.

It was really, really lovely.

And it was a husband and wife, and they had a son who happened to have Down syndrome, and he was about 23.

And they sat in the back, kind of like where you're seeing Hal and Sue right now.

And um, I always the practice was when we have communion, we serve the musicians first if they want, right?

And then they're gonna play for everybody else while we're served.

So uh I did the normal thing I do, and I offered them the communion, and they were Roman Catholic, and so they they wanted to receive this, right?

And I got to their child who was 23 and he just he just froze.

And um he kind of looked to his mom and she gave a little nod and she started crying.

And uh, I mean, I didn't know what to make of it, so whatever.

We continued the communion service, and at the end of the service, uh mom came up to me and started crying again, and she said, You know, um, this is the first time my son's ever been offered communion in his life, because at the church we go to, the priest says he's not cognitively capable of understanding the Eucharist.

That's not a knock against any particular church.

That could be anywhere.

Sadly, it could be anywhere.

And if that's ever you, choose life.

Moses sets before us choose life.

The rule of denying grace to somebody because they have to have syndrome is us choosing death.

That's an extreme one.

But throughout our day, we make choices.

Will we subject people to the hoops we had to jump through because we had to do it?

Or we choose life at work in our hound in our homes and in all places in scouting and in church.

Jesus wants us to live this way, not so we avoid falling off the cliff, but so we can all get there together.

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

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

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, the eternal beginning of the Father, God, life from the light, through God, true God, the beginning of the day, of the Father, through all the things from day, for us and for the came down from heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became the bird of heaven, and was bad, for us and he was crucified under the pilot, he suffered and was heavy, on the third day of the heaven in the Lord Scriptures, he descended to heaven, and it speaked at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again to join the living and the dead, and in the kingdom of the end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life, who is king from the Father and the Son.

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

He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

Hear our prayer.

Because we have failed and trust others placed us, we pray for forgiveness and renewal to be trustworthy, Lord, in your mercy.

For strength to be loyal to our calling and as your disciples in the world, Lord in your mercy, for forgiveness when we saw the need to help and pass that needed by when we failed to ask if we could help to a friend or a stranger, Lord, in your mercy.

For the spirit to be friendly and to be friendly to all people and even to those who are unfriendly to us.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For the gift of consider, but especially to the elderly, elderly, the disabled and little children, Lord and your mercy, hear our prayers.

For a heart that rejects rejoices in being kind to people, to animals, and to earth on which we live, Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer.

For the will to discipline ourselves to obedient to the will of our God and not to our selfish d desires.

Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Hear our prayer.

For a cheerful spirit to see us through disappointing events in our lives, for a faith that believes God will bring some good even from events that cause us pain and sadness.

Lord in our mer Lord in your mercy.

Here we are, here we are.

From for an appreciation that all that we have it is the gift of the our gracious God for a mind and heart that will be thrifty in managing managing the resource.

Resources God has entrusted us to our care.

Lord in your mercy.

For the courage not to be afraid of doing what is right and to be brave in working for justice, Lord in your mercy.

For the will to work to keep clean our minds, our hearts, and our land, Lord in mercy.

For the gift of reverence, for God who values all that He has created for reverence for a people, for animal life, for the earth, and all it restores resources, all precious in God's sight, Lord in your mercy.

Into your hands, O Lord, we command all the people and all the needs we bring before you in our prayers, especially Miriam, Pat, Isabel, Terry, Rich, Billy, Sue, Joe, Jan, Sean, and Lunian, trusting in your mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen.

And please be seated.

We've actually already done the confession.

It was in our prayers.

God heard us the first time, and God is good, so it worked.

So now one of our scouts is going to lead us in a scriptural conversation with the scout law.

But the principles of the law have been brought to us from ancient days.

You should not bear false witness against your neighbor.

He is trustworthy.

Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.

And whoever is dishonest in a very little is honest and also in much.

You shall not take vegan or bear any grudge.

But you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Therefore I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in the land.

Love one another as a sibling.

Outdo one another in showing honor.

Behold how good and pleasant it is when families dwell in unity.

No let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for your edif or edifying as if it is the occasion that it may impart grace.

But the mercy of the wicked of the wicked is cruel.

Children obey your parents and the Lord.

For this is right.

Your God with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

This is the first commandment.

And respect the conditions of others in matters of custom and religion.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

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

Thomas today.

A special welcome to our scouting families who have chosen to worship with us.

By the way, you could be seated.

Thank you, Scouts, for coming and supporting our service today as part of your ministry back to us.

Really, really grateful.

Zach Worley is going to come and give us an update on scouting because it's just sort of good to hear what's going on in the parish, whether you're a parishioner or a scout or both.

While Zach's coming up, I'm just curious to know.

This is very unepiscopalian, but I'm going to ask you to stand up if you were a scout.

Or if you are a scout.

You can raise your hand, Lynelle.

That'll work.

Okay, now just this is not about rank, but I'm curious if you earned the rank of Eagle Scout or the Gold Award, would you remain standing?

I just want to see how many of us there are.

Yeah.

Super lovely.

Okay, Zach's going to share with us a little bit about the state of Scouting at St.

Thomas.

Good morning.

Thank you, St.

Thomas.

Thank you, Scouts, and thank you, Scouting families.

I'm Zach Whirley.

I'm uh committee chair for a couple of the units here at St.

Thomas, and I am on your vestry, primarily serving as the scouting leagues onto the vestry.

Um I'm here to give you the state of scouting at St.

Thomas if you're interested.

Um the last time I stood here, we had three scouting units at St.

Thomas, and I'm happy to announce that we've added a fourth scouting unit here at St.

Thomas.

Girl Scout Troop 140165, um, whose leaders are here, I believe, uh, would like me to convey uh they're very blessed uh to be welcomed as a troop and allowed to use the beautiful facilities here at St.

Thomas.

Um being here has truly enhanced their experience, and their girls range in age from seven to nine, comprising one Daisy and nine brownies.

Uh they originally started as a Daisy troupe and have bridged up twice since their inception two years ago.

They have two ongoing community outreach projects, one being the monthly food distribution here at St.

Thomas, the other uh creating homemade gifts and cards for patients in hospice care uh at Harbor Hospice in Nassau Bay.

Currently, they're wrapping up cookie sales, an event, uh, which is the major fundraiser for their unit.

They're training and earning for their entrepreneur badge, uh, their second year to participate in that program.

Thanks to the generosity of Father Mike, um, they'll have two dates for sales here at St.

Thomas, March 5th and March 19th.

And they thank you all so much for uh your continued support of Scouting here at St.

Thomas.

Our next unit is the oldest unit of the scouting units currently at St.

Thomas, Cub Scout Pack 1965, at a whopping six years old.

Um, our pack currently has about 60 scouts, uh, boys and girls ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade.

We have a robust and highly motivated group of den leaders.

Um, all are dedicated to teaching kids the fundamentals of Cub Scouting, citizenship, service to the community, duty to God, others, and self, physical fitness, outdoor skills, and conservation.

Uh we have several service projects a year.

We camp in the spring and the fall, as well as some of our scout favorites, the Rain Gutter Regatta, the Pinewood Derby, and the rocket launches.

And you'll know that's happened because the trees and the power lines in the parking lot will be full of rocket bodies and parachutes.

Um speaking of rockets, the mayor of Nassau City asked us this last weekend to participate in the moon tree planting up the road if you were um present for that yesterday.

We answered that call by offering to launch 14 rockets.

Um, that's a significance of the Apollo 14 mission, which carried the seeds up into orbit.

Um, and I'm pleased to report that we launched 13 of those 14 rockets simultaneously.

Um across the street at JSC, the 93% mission success rate may be unacceptable, but over here at Cub Scouts is just fine with us.

Um our next unit is Scouts BSA Troop 1965, which is sitting here to my left.

It's our girls' troop and serves girls uh age 11 to 18 years old.

Uh the past year has been challenging for them as also and also rewarding.

Um in June, they lost their greatly loved and respected Scoutmaster, Dawn George, and many of the scouts and parents found out just how much Dawn did for the troop.

Uh they're still adjusting to a new normal, and they know Dawn would want nothing less than Troop 1965 to keep moving forward.

The new Scoutmaster, Teresa Klein, uh, has already done a wonderful job in keeping Dawn's vision alive.

In the past year, we've added four new members, three of which abridged this last December from PAC 1965.

One of those already at Scout Rank.

And as our scouts continue to progress in the program, we're happy to have four Life Scouts working towards their Eagle Rank.

We continue to camp monthly and attend both summer and winter long-term camps.

Most recently attended Camp Edgewood in Louisiana during the Thanksgiving week.

Some of what our troop is learning is welding, climbing, hiking, backpacking, auto mechanics, sailing, basket weaving, community involvement, fire building, emergency preparedness, and first aid.

And our boys' troupe, uh, Troop 1966, serves boys 11 to 18.

Um Snap is our scout master there, and he's a great leader.

We've had eight new scouts join at the semester break for a total of 15 scouts, and it's about two patrols of scouts.

Father Mike and Hal took BSA Climbing Instructor course.

That was one weekend in October at Camp Telepson and one weekend in December at Enchanted Rock.

Um, because we have two qualified instructors now, we can offer rock climbing events for all the scouting programs at St.

Thomas.

At Summer Camp, Hal and Wee Wynn, one of our assistant scout masters in the back, uh, took BSA lifeguard training, and now we're able to offer all waterfront activities from swimming to canoeing to small boat sailing to all of the units at St.

Thomas.

All scouts have advanced in rank this past year with the four first, uh excuse me, four new first class of scouts.

Our first Eagle Scouts are about 18 months away.

Summer camp this year uh will be at Camp Strait.

Uh elements of our troop will be attending the Paladuro Caprock Canyon State Park Parish camping trip in March.

Our community service projects include uh Nassau Bay cleanup efforts, the Galvison County Food Bank, the blessings in a bag.

Um, a new monthly relationship with our Mont Bayou Nature Center will give us a monthly conservation project offering.

Um, again, I'd like to thank all of you here.

Without your generosity and without your welcoming, our scouts would not have a place to scout, um, especially Father Mike, who always says yes to anything scout related.

Um, we're all grateful to have you here, and I thank you all, and thank you, families, for sending your kids to scouting.

We really appreciate it.

Uh just a few other thoughts on scouting.

It's important that you know I wasn't a scout because uh when I was a kid we had royal ambassadors because we were Baptists, and um and that was different.

And so I've tried to make up for a lack of 18 years of scouting in the last year, and um, I just have to tell you, we have a hundred, you know, give or take, a hundred families that we're ministering to in um cultivating wonder and care of the outdoors, uh, treating one another as God intends us to be treated.

And this is truly a family ministry that we put up at St.

Thomas, and it's incredible.

And sometimes we don't always get to see uh the turns that come back to us, so I'm gonna recognize a couple of those.

Uh one, of course, is like what you're seeing today, our scouts are taking leadership role in the service.

Another is that uh one of our scout leaders, because he believes in doing good turns each day, which is something that we instill in our kids, personally cleaned all of our air vents by hand.

Uh which is pretty amazing uh that somebody said, I want to do a good turn for the church that's sponsoring us.

And uh we were, I was on sabbatical when it got finished, and so I want to call Ian Rosinski up here, please, so we can see you.

Um many of you may not even remember that a year ago the planter beds were overrun with ivy and small rocks, and um Ian decided for his Eagle Scout project what he'd like to do is redo those planter beds.

And so Ian finished that work while I was on sabbatical.

You're able to go out and enjoy it now.

And I'll tell you, Ian did like four Eagle Scout projects in one.

It's huge.

He did the whole side in the front sign, and so I'm really uh thrilled to show you this engraved rock that is going to go out here.

Um, it's called Fred's Beds because some of the money came from you in memory of my father's death, and so that helped expand the project.

And Ian took this seriously and planted the camellias that my dad loved.

And um, I just you'll see a slideshow of his work soon.

It'll be in the eNews this week.

It was an incredible undertaking, took weeks and weeks and weeks, and and Ian is in a different troop than ours, but chose to do his Eagle project here to serve his church community and school community because Ian was part of our school.

And we don't normally do this in church, but it's absolutely appropriate to share our Thanksgiving in the secular way.

Okay, so a few announcements to call to your attention.

Maybe you didn't know it was Scout Sunday, and you're visiting here for the first time.

Welcome, and uh, we'd be extremely grateful if you filled out one of those little cards in the back that says welcome on your way out.

Maybe you knew it was Scout Sunday and you thought, huh, I'm here anyway, and I'm willing to fill out a card.

That would be lovely.

It's just so we can track your visit.

You get to choose what interface looks like, but thank you for worshiping with us today, either way, and thanks for all you who come back, by the way.

Grateful to be with you.

Um, so a few announcements um that are worth hearing.

Today is kind of a big day.

Beyond Scout Sunday, it's also some kind of football game.

And so Alex has put together a party for this football game at five o'clock that's open to the whole parish.

So, families, kids, uh come and enjoy this football game that's at five o'clock today in the Christ hall, if you'd like.

Um, you're gonna see us uh next week.

We have a lovely thing happening at eight o'clock.

There's a couple who got married about three years ago, right when the pandemic started, and they wanted to have a ceremony here in the Episcopal Church.

They got a Catholic wedding and they wanted to do the Episcopal Rite as well, and the pandemic got in the way.

So they're going to renew their vows in church next week at 8 o'clock, and then there'll be a hot breakfast as a reception for them.

And you'll see this in the bulletin, and it let's just let you know.

We do renewal of vows here, uh, and they're pretty meaningful, and we do them in church because they uplift everybody.

So if you want to renew your vows, we can do it.

And I hope you'll, if you're around at 8 o'clock next week, uh you'll come to cheer Larry and Jennifer on or join them at the hot breakfast uh that's provided at 9 o'clock in between services.

So everybody's welcome to that hot breakfast.

Um we're about 10 days away from what we call Fat Tuesday.

That's the day before left.

And our practice here is that we have a gourmet pancake bar, and we also burn last year's palms to make the ashes for Ash Wednesday.

So that's a week from this coming Tuesday, and it's going to be there for on the 21st of February.

And our girls' troupe has decided they want to cook the pancakes for us as a ministry to the church, and also so they can help raise money to support them going on a caving expedition this summer.

So I hope you will come and enjoy some really high-level, these are not this quick pancakes, I want to be clear.

There'll be three different types and fruit and meat and that sort of thing.

So uh we'll do that from 6 o'clock to 7 o'clock on Tuesday, February the 21st, and please come and support our girls and enjoy one another, and we'll burn the palms in a meaningful way, which takes about five minutes, and then we'll enjoy eating together.

Um, the next day is Ash Wednesday, and so this is not scout related, but on Ash Wednesday we have four services, and I just want to make them available to you.

We'll start the day at 6 30 in the morning with the Eucharist and imposition of ashes.

I'm a big believer in that because then you get to wear them all day and tell people God has more in store for me than I'm living and I want to do something about it.

It's kind of a nice walking billboard.

Um, you can also join our school at 8.15, and our kids will impose ashes on you alongside me at 8:15.

Um, we have a drive-through from 11 to 1 because it's hard to get out sometimes.

So if you drive through from 11 to 1, you can have ashes, you can have the Eucharist, you can have a prayer shawl that's been knitted by our knit wits, or you can have anointing with oil and healing prayer.

And we do that right out here from 11 to 1.

Or you can come at 6 p.m.

and the choir will be here to support us in a more traditional Ash Wednesday service.

So again, that's a week from this Wednesday coming up.

Um, a couple other things just to name that are a little bit parish-related more than scout-related.

Uh when Lent begins, we're going to have two programs at the same time.

One is for our parents, and that's called Holy Living, Holy Dying.

And so we'll spend five weeks on that theme.

Um the first week is Todd Parker with the photo exhibition showing the most valuable items that seven homeless clients at Lord of the Streets treasure above all else.

It's a lovely thought into what's valuable to each and every one of us and where we put our heart.

So we'll do that.

We'll have a spiritual director talk to us about how we can live from a non-anxious center of spirituality.

Uh, Dr.

Darlene Hunter is going to talk to us about how it is that we grieve in good ways, not just, I mean healthy ways, not just at the loss of a person, but at a setback in life, quite honestly.

Uh, and then I'll be offering a workshop in funeral planning, and I'll tell you as your priest, the biggest gift you can give people you love is having a funeral plan.

The biggest gift you can give people you love is letting them know what you'd like.

So we'll have a workshop on that.

Meanwhile, our kids are going to do the holy living part, and we're going to lead up to something we call Episco Prom by doing this for five weeks.

It's a program for third graders through eighth graders, and it's sort of like the episcopal version of Cotilion.

So we'll have etiquette and how you answer the phone and manage social media and correspond with adults.

We'll have etiquette and how you eat at a group setting and how you use utensils and how you cultivate meaningful conversation with everybody at the table instead of just the person sitting next to you.

We'll learn the foxtrot and the waltz.

We'll have a session on how it is we comport ourselves in church and how we approach communion and take leadership roles in church.

And the last morning we'll make boutineers and uh corsages because each kid can invite one of their parents to the Episcopal Prom.

Where we'll have a three-course meal and use our skills and dance with the person that we brought and have this sort of rite of passage into how we live more holy lives in society and with one another.

That's open to anybody.

So you don't have to be a member of this church, you don't have to be a member of our scout troops.

This is available for you as part of our ministry to the community.

So if that appeals to you, talk to Alex or uh myself after the service, and we'll get you more information if you'd like.

The last thing I want to raise, two, two more things I want to raise to you.

Uh, our vest, our new vestry that we elected, that's like our board of directors met.

Uh we had a weekend retreat, and I just want to present to you your officers that were elected this weekend.

So, Dr.

Darlene Hunter is not here.

Uh, she was at 8 o'clock.

I've already mentioned to you she's has accepted the call of senior warden.

Um we had two people who wanted to be junior warden.

I didn't know that would happen.

So we did this the biblical way.

Instead of casting lots, we flipped a coin.

And I'm really happy to tell you by in so doing that Dr.

Julia Triple uh is our junior warden for this year.

She's sitting over there and is maybe blushing a little bit, but we're really grateful for her service.

Herb Meyer is serving as our clerk this year, and reminder that Eric Sample right here is serving as our treasurer.

Uh so thank you for leading our church as members of the vestry and particularly as officers.

Really, really grateful.

Um, last thing I want to tell you is that we have a lovely school here.

It is tremendous and it forms kids every day in not only knowledge but also in virtue and faith.

And many of you know that there's a gala coming up this coming Saturday.

If you don't know about that, let's talk.

If you want to go, we can probably make that happen.

There's a few seats left, but only a few.

And this is just a really lovely and fun way that we can support our school and offer financial um aid to families who otherwise wouldn't have access to the St.

Thomas education.

And what I want to say is that what you do well as a parish is you support your school.

I've seen the guest list, I've seen how many of you said I can't come, but I'm buying tickets so that teachers and their significant others can come.

Thank you for making that space.

And if you're able to go to the gala, you'll find things like a backpacking trip for six to Hawaii or the Pacific Northwest or to Utah, uh, led by your priest.

And so these are options that you will see at the gala, and they're just fun souvenirs.

And I'm gonna say one thing I love about you that you've taught me is that when you all go to gala's, you don't look for deals.

This is my experience.

You say, I want to make a donation to a ministry I believe in, and I'm just gonna pick my souvenir.

And I love that mentality.

Thank you for being those people.

Continue to walk in love.

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

Your importance in our lives, O God, is reflected in our gifts.

And so we return to you through the ministry and outreach of this church a portion of all you've entrusted to us.

We promise these offerings will not be the end of our giving.

We will also invest our time and abilities in your work of healing, comforting, teaching, guiding, and proclaiming the good news.

We ask you to bless each gift, whatever its size, and multiply the good to be done through our talents and treasure.

Amen.

All things come of you, O Lord.

And of your own have we given you.

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 361 of your red prayer book.

Page 361.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

Because in the mystery of the word made flesh, you've caused a new light to shine in our hearts, to give the knowledge of your glory in the face of your Son, Jesus Christ.

And therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, especially Lee Peterson, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name.

And when we've fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you in your mercy sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.

He stretched out his arms upon the cross and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.

And when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.

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

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

Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer to you these gifts.

Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the body and blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in Him.

Sanctify us also, that we may faithfully receive this holy sacrament, and serve you in unity and constancy and peace, and at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom.

All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ, by Him and with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.

Amen.

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

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed in thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, honored 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.

Hallelujah, Christ our Passover, is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

Hallelujah.

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

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

And the way we do communion here at St.

Thomas for the time being is that if you would like to dip your bread in the wine, that's called intinction, I'm going to invite you to the rail on my right, your left.

If you would like or prefer to drink directly from the chalice, I'll invite you to the rail to my left, your right, and reminder that you can skip either the bread or the wine and receive a blessing just by coming with your arms crossed.

And once again, all are welcome, and our ushers will lead you when it's your turn.

Eternal God, Heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members of the Lord on our Savior, Jesus Christ.

And then you have fed us with spiritual food in the sacrament of the body and blood.

Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to all and serve you with gladness and single us apart through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May Christ the Son of God be manifest in you, that your lives may be alike to the world.

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

Amen.