Advent 3 2022 Lessons And Carols

We've lit the first two candles of our Advent wreath, one for hope and one for peace.

Today we light the third candle, the candle of joy.

This should be the easy one because joy is all around us, and the children, the lights, the music, the gathering together.

But how often do we let our preparations or our memories push joy to the side?

Joy is like an underground spring that wells up within us, but joy is also a choice, an attitude, like a muscle that needs to be exercised.

And so today we would open ourselves to joy, trusting that God has already planted it in us.

All we need to do is give it care and offer it to share.

Show us the creative power of hope.

Teach us the peace that comes from justice.

Fill us with the kind of joy that cannot be contained, but must be shared.

Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you, that we may walk in the light of Christ.

Amen.

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

And blessed be God's kingdom now and forever.

Amen.

Let's pray together, Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hidden.

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

Amen.

And with our spirit.

Let us pray.

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us.

Because we are sorely hindered by our sin.

Let your bounded grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be honor and glory now and forever.

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

Alex and the back.

Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.

Put on the robe of the righteousness that comes from God.

Put on your head a diadem of the glory of the everlasting.

For God will show your splendor everywhere under heaven.

For God will give you evermore the name righteous peace, godly glory.

Arise, O Jerusalem, stand upon the height, look toward the east, and see your children gathered from west and east at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing that God has remembered them.

For they went out from you on foot, led away by their enemies.

But God will bring them back to you, carried in glory, as on a royal throne.

For God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low and the valleys filled up to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God.

The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded Israel at God's command.

For God will lead Israel with joy in the light of God's glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from God.

His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

With righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meat of the earth.

The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with a kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the ass, and the wean child shall put its hand on the adder's dead.

They will not hurt or destroy on my holy mountain.

For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

A reading from Luke.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

God has raised up for His a mighty Savior, the Lord of the house of David.

Through the holy prophets promised of old that God would save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us.

God promised to show mercy to our parents and to remember the holy covenant.

This was the oath God swore to Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah, to set us free from the hands of our enemies.

Free to worship God without fear, holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High.

For you go before the Lord to prepare the way, to give the people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.

In the tender compassion of our God, the dawn from high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of east.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever.

Amen.

Sprint and burning, keep your lance, drink and burning.

Sprint and burning, keep your lamps, drink and burning, time is joining us, children, we children all we children all we chill.

This children will be home.

Those who lived in a land of deep darkness, on them the light was shining.

For a child was been has been born for us, a son given to us, authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named a wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace before the throne of David and his kingdom, and he will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

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

Because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among us will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because you hold me in your heart, for all of you share in God's grace with me, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight to help you to determine what is best, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and the praise of God.

Hear what the saying to God's people.

Reading from Rome.

The creation waits with eager love for the revealing of the children of God.

For the creation was subjected to fertility.

Not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it.

That the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now.

And not only the creation, a reading from the Gospel of Luke.

In those days, Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

You may be seated, by the way.

We're reading two Gospels today.

This is not the formal one.

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and explained with a loud cry Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why has this happened to me?

That the mother of my Lord comes to me.

For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb left for joy.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.

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

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, John sent word by his disciples and said to Jesus, Are you the one who is to come while we to wait for another?

Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what you hear and see.

The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.

Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John.

What did you go out into the wilderness to look out?

A reed shaken by the wind?

What then did you go out to see?

Someone dressed in soft robes?

Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.

What then did you go out to see?

A prophet?

Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

This is the one about whom it is written, see, I am standing my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.

Truly I tell you, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist.

Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The gospel of the Lord.

Hey, I don't want to overdo words, but it occurred to me that it's helpful to say that a lot of times in English, with our 540,000 words, we make things that are equivalent that actually aren't equivalent.

And so it's kind of important to me that we have our own Anglican vocabulary, right?

We don't drink out of a cup, we drink out of a chalice.

Very few of those have those at home.

We don't eat off a plate, we eat off a patent, and we use this nomenclature to remind ourselves that what we do in this room is not ordinary.

It's meant to be extraordinary.

Some of these Advent candles, I've tried to remind us, frankly, push on us to defy the ordinary and enter into the extraordinary.

So the first week we talked about the difference between what we wish for and how that is different for what God hopes for.

I usually wish I get my way, or if you don't like it, you leave.

God hopes that we'll figure it out.

Last week, sorry I wasn't here, but you got to talk about peace.

And if you don't mind me saying, uh, usually in my own brain, I like to associate peace with quiet.

And I want to suggest the two have nothing to do with one another.

So just as a quick reminder, um, peace is usually embodied by, hey, I need a minute.

Or the bumper sticker, maybe you've seen it before, the one that says coexist.

Has anybody seen this?

With different religious symbols.

I don't actually think that's very peaceful.

I think that's about tolerance.

I think if we were going to do it right, instead of coexist, the word would say respect.

Sometimes we confuse toleration, which means I will put up with you when you're wrong, for respect.

I talked to our kids about this at day school, and they're pretty good at this.

By the way, five years ago, and I still love the story, I asked the kids, hey, what do you think piece is?

And one girl said, It's what you have after you step on a cockroach.

Of course, that was sweet, but many of us know when you step on one, there's many other in the wing.

So it's a pretty, you know, it's a pretty limited piece you get.

But here's what we do with our kids.

We say, hey, what's the opposite of skinny?

And of course they say fat, and what's the opposite of tall, and they say short.

And if I asked you, what's the opposite of hurting somebody, you would say?

Healing.

Lots of different things.

Maybe healing, right?

What's the opposite of killing?

Well, giving people life.

What's the opposite of tearing a bridge down?

It's building a new one.

What's the opposite of war?

Well, of course, it's peace, and peace is not the cessation of conflict, it's the presence of justice.

Says Martin Luther King Jr.

A lot of times we think peace is about stop the fighting, just I'm gonna draw a line in the back seat, and you're gonna stay on one side and you're gonna stay on the other, and of course that's a truce.

It's not peace.

It's not peace.

And often we conflate this word peacekeeper.

A peacekeeper makes sure you follow all the rules.

Peacemaker, on the other hand, builds bridges between people that have a large gully between them.

Most of the time I don't want peace, I just want quiet.

And that's why we have Adventists say, let's start wanting the things that God wants.

And you just heard a whole bunch of scriptures about peace, even between natural predators, like the wolf will lie down with the lamb.

That is so fantastically crazy that only a prophet would say.

I have to read this quote that I heard this morning.

I was listening to this book, maybe you've read it before, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

It is not a light read.

I'm going to warn you in advance.

It's a history, frankly, of the injustices committed against Native Americans.

And Chief Joseph, maybe you've heard of him before, uh, was asked to settle on a reservation, and one of the commissioners said, On the reservation, you should go because then we'll build schools.

And Chief Joseph said, We don't want your schools.

They said, Why don't you want schools?

Chief Justice said, Because the schools will teach us that we need churches.

Why don't you want churches?

Are you ready for this one?

We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God.

We do not want to learn that.

We may quarrel with each other sometimes about things on this earth, but we never quarrel about the great spirit.

We don't want to learn that.

It's stinging, isn't it?

And still surprisingly accurate.

Peace is certainly our need, but not quiet, not tolerance, not coexisting.

Today we're asked to candle the flame of joy.

And joy is another one of those words that we often conflate with happiness, and you've gone to church long enough that you know that they're different, I suspect.

Although, again, we still we still make the turn.

And so maybe I can introduce a few thoughts around joy, and I'm not a poet, and to be honest, I'm not sure I have any uh grounds to stand on talking about joy up here because in my own life I often find it to be ephemeral.

So a couple ideas about joy.

First, and you've probably heard this before, this is kind of what C.S.

Lewis argues, is that happiness is contingent upon circumstances and joy is not.

So, for example, if I were to say I was sorrowfully happy, it makes no sense.

Happiness cannot abide sorrow, they are opposites.

On the other hand, joy is able to abide sorrow, so that one of my teachers in seminary said repentance is godly sorrow, it's joyful sorrow.

Repentance is joyful sorrow.

I think about that line every time I give blood, because to be honest, and you may not know from the look of me, I actually hate needles.

I find them terrifying, and often I get missstuck.

Again, I yeah, I know, you may not get this, but I find them dreadful, and I donate blood six times a year, not because it makes me happy, but frankly, because doing so it is joyful to stand in my values of sharing life I have to share, even though I find it very inconvenient.

It does not take the pain away, but it is a joy to share my life.

I hope that makes sense.

Abraham Joshua Heschel, uh the mystical rabbi who marched alongside Dr.

Martin Luther King, he said, this is an interesting thing.

The joy is not even really about happy at all.

Joy is frankly whether or not you are present.

So I had a therapist, and I've told you this story before, who said, you know, there's this rule in therapy that we call the 90-10 rule.

And that when you find some kind of emotion, happy or sad, in general, 10% of it has to do with what just happened.

The other 90% is what you brought to what just happened.

The baggage of the past and the anxiety of the future.

So maybe Advent is a time where we try to change that percentage.

I don't know, 8515 would do a lot in my life this year.

One day maybe I'll get up to 3763.

But you see, this is part of the deal.

Can I be present even when it's difficult, or am I trying to escape into the past or into the future?

I found that one really helpful this year to think about being present.

Because if I'm honest with you, there are people and I have to stare them down sometimes that uh I don't want to be with.

Some of them I'm related to.

Uh I have to set up boundaries because you know, I didn't think it's helpful to say, like, I'll be present with you as long as you want to, but I do think, uh, at least in my own life, there's folks I have ruled out being present with that maybe Advent advised me to give another go at.

Same therapist told me this story.

I've shared it again, but again, it's it's in my head this year.

She told me, you know, I used to have this client who was the ugliest woman I've ever met, and I mean that specially inside, but also out.

She was physically, emotionally, and spiritually hideous.

And I had no empathy for the woman at all.

Most of the time she would come and yell at me for 45 minutes, and then she won another appointment, and I couldn't understand why, but I would schedule it.

And then sure enough, one day I found empathy for this lady.

She stood up screaming, spit flying out of her mouth like she normally does, and said, You can't stand to be with me for 45 minutes, and I have to be with myself all the time.

That's a gateway into being present for me.

Because sometimes I think, God, you drive me up a wall.

And you have to be with yourself all the time.

You know, if I'm really honest with you, there's many parts of myself I don't want to be with at all.

And there's this African proverb that says, never take a shirt from a naked man, because after all, you can't give what you don't have.

And part of the inward turn in Advent, quite honestly, is that if I cannot stand to be present with myself, how can I be present with anybody else?

If I walk by the mirror and degrade the image that God has created in God's own image and likeness, how can I celebrate it in you?

I cannot give what I do not have.

And this we're asked to cultivate.

Now I'm a type A personality.

In fact, some might say I'm a type A prime.

I really like making lists.

And uh I was talking to somebody before the service.

Usually when I go to other services and I've got like a bulletin or agenda, I find myself crossing the things off as they go.

Because, you know, I'm just eager to get going.

And uh I can tell you I absolutely one of the things I most enjoy and prioritize every Monday is the day I try to do my visitations.

But I will tell you, because I tend to be quite the accomplisher, I often find myself making a list of who I have to visit and checking the box.

Not literally.

I don't like to waste paper.

I do this mentally.

And I do pretty great, except sometimes uh what I realize is I'm sitting there being with somebody and I'm thinking, I've got four more boxes I need to check today.

Can we speed this up?

Part of the discipline I'm being invited to cultivate is being present.

I'm in a hurry a lot of times in the building, and sometimes I'm on my way somewhere, and I think it's really clear I'm on my way somewhere.

And somebody will call my name when I breezed past them because they want to mind with me.

The joy I'm asked to cultivate is to say, I'm here now.

I'm here now.

Instead of the 15 tasks I've got on the agenda today that I have no control over.

I don't know what joy looks like for you, but I Have some sense of how I'm missing it.

Because rather than be present, I usually am thinking about what's next.

What's next?

Somebody asked me after the eight o'clock service, and this is where I wish I had like a handout with the nine easy steps for being present.

I I actually couldn't tell you any of the easy steps.

But I had this vision, and this is the kind of thing that God gives very sparingly in my life, probably because I didn't pay attention very well.

But I had this vision about a month ago.

And when I say vision, look, I there was like no angels or anything like that.

But I did hear this voice inside me, and it came at a really unexpected time.

Turns out my daughter has been experimenting with what I call an acerbic tone.

Sometimes like literally melts me in fury.

And um I had had a tough couple of run-ins with this teenage tone from my 10-year-old.

And uh boy, I was like furious and like kind of defeated and a little bit despairing.

I was like, where did that come from?

Because I never used that tone.

Anyway, um, unexpectedly, in the middle of nowhere, I did have this, and I'm gonna call it God because like it asked me to do this hard thing.

Usually God asked me to do hard things.

And and it sort of it said this: hey, uh, the reason she's giving you all of her feelings is because she thinks you can hold them and she can't hold them herself.

And it wasn't the thought.

See, my wife is wise, and she's told me that before.

This time it showed up with like force.

You know what I mean?

Like you've heard an idea a million times, but then the million and first time something is different, like God is behind it, or you had a good meal, or like you're not gassy that day, whatever it is, and it got traction.

And there it was, this confirmation.

She's trusting me to hold something that is too big for her to hold.

When I got that confirmation, I have since heard that acerbic tone, and I don't appreciate it actually.

I still don't appreciate it, but I'm able to make room for it without trying to flee what's in front of me.

I hope this makes sense.

I think this is what we're being asked to do.

And of course, it's hard, which is why it's in a penitential season.

That's why we have blue for, but you see the difference in doing it, frankly, is the difference in being threatened by our daughters and sons and co-workers and parents, and Uncle Bill, whoever your black sheep uncle is or aunt is, and building a bridge between them, being able to enjoy them.

One day I'll have this conversation with God about why things are the way they are, but I'm reminded by Anne Mamott.

She said, you know, God did not come to deliver us from our suffering.

God came to fill it with God's presence.

And if Abraham Joshua Heschel's right, then that's what joy is about.

Filling with our presence even the most difficult containers.

Because as we already heard through the carols and readings, God has already done that.

And when we do that, we're not being nice.

We're living into God who God made us to be.

Created in God's image and likeness.

God, your hopes will occupy the life, the one life that we've been given, even when it's hard.

Because that's the difference between joy and happiness.

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 seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, the light of light, true God and true God, become unmade, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became the Virgin Mary and was Amen.

For our sake he was crucified in the Pontius Island.

He suffered death and spirit.

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

He descended into heaven, and received at the right hand of the Father.

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

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord in our life, through proceeds of the Father and Son.

With the Father whose son, he has worshiped and glorified.

He has hope to provide us.

We believe in one Holy Catholic and as well church.

We acknowledge our baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

The prayers of the people.

In the diocesan cycle of prayer, San Romero, Houston, Santa Maria Virgin, Houston, for St.

Andrews of Houston, and St.

Christopher's Houston.

For Justin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and for our presiding bishop, Michael.

Pray for the church.

I ask your prayers for all who govern and hold authority in the nations of the world, for the members of the armed forces, and for all who struggle for peace and justice, that they may act with prudence and vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere.

Pray for justice and peace.

I ask your prayers for our parish and our vestry, that the source of wisdom may guide us, the source of strength may support us, and the source of love may unify us.

I pray that our community may discern clearly and minister effectively.

I ask your prayers for St.

Thomas of the Apostle School, that those who teach and those who learn may rejoice in the knowledge of your truth, that we may teach our students to love whatever is just and true and good.

Pray that we may be bearers of God's grace to all who come through our doors.

I ask your prayers for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, and those in prison.

Pray for those in any need or trouble.

I ask your prayers for all who see God or a deeper knowledge of God.

Pray that they may find and be found by God.

I ask your prayers for the departed.

Pray for those who have died.

Let us give thanks for our blessings and pray for our own needs and those of others, especially Chris, Sue, Kevin, Jan, Miriam, Celia, Derek, John, Pam, Nick, Robert, Valerie, Mona, and Kay.

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

O Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of your people in the multitude of your mercies.

Look with compassion upon us and all who turn to you for help.

For you are gracious, O lover of souls, and to you we give glory.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you, opposing your will in our lives.

We have denied your goodness in each other, in ourselves, and in the world you have created.

We repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.

Forgive, restore, and strengthen us through our Savior Jesus Christ, that we may abide in your love and serve only your will.

Amen.

The Almighty and most merciful Lord grant you absolution and remission of all your sin, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

It builds bridges with us even when we think God shouldn't.

So we get to say, the peace of the Lord be always with you.

There's uh several announcements I want to draw to your attention, but first, I didn't think we did this last week.

Uh did we do birthdays last week?

No.

I wasn't here as well.

If you were born in the fine month of December, would you come forward so that we can celebrate your birthday and ask God's blessing on your next year?

And as you're making your way up, uh 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 those.

And thanks for being brave, EJ.

Um, I am E.J.

Samples.

Um, December 19th.

I was born in Houston.

Fantastic.

There's EJ.

Carolyn Atcheson, December 31st.

I was born in Maryville, Tennessee.

Come and Ashby, uh December the 27th in uh St.

Mark's Mission in South Africa.

And my son Daniel will be turning 22 on December 30th.

Um, so let's pray for our birthdays and then we'll sing to them.

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

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

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

Amen.

Okay, and I have to ask, sometimes God is all about quality over quantity in any given month.

That's okay.

But are there anniversaries we're celebrating in December?

Because I'd be grateful to celebrate and bless anniversaries as well.

Come on up.

It's not that scary, you just get a blessing.

This is okay, right?

This is okay.

All we ask you to do is to share your names and the date of your anniversary and where you were joined together.

Kathy Galecki, December 26th.

What else?

52 years ago.

And where were you guys in Judah?

Chicago.

In Chicago, yeah.

Janice Baker.

Um uh let's see, it was December the 19th.

And uh my husband would be here, but he's sick at home, so where did you go?

Uh uh we got married in Mobile, Alabama.

Yeah.

You know Joe's around when you see the Alabama A on his car.

Yeah.

So um uh yeah, we're celebrating on the 19th, and it'll be 52 years.

252s, isn't that amazing?

Wow.

Okay.

Well, let's pray for your anniversaries.

Lord God, thank you for the gift of marriage, for showing us in marriage the way in which you love us unconditionally through not only joy and feeling, but also when it's hard.

So we pray in this 52nd year that as these couples keep their vows, their vows would keep them.

And we ask even more, God, that you would surprise them with new and unfathomable joy as they begin their 52nd year together.

Amen.

Okay, so a couple of opportunities I want to draw to your attention.

The first is today, and it's not too late, is our blood drive.

And um, that's here until one o'clock, and they do take walk-ins.

And if you're curious, once they get you going, it's like 10 minutes to give red blood, and and they're at almost a crisis point at the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.

So they've they've asked for anything we can do.

So, you know, I uh as I said, I don't always know what to do in international politics, but I know they'll take my blood, so I give it.

So I I just encourage you, whether it's today or down the road, if you're able to give blood, the community need is strong.

Um, this coming Wednesday, uh you've noticed maybe the decorations in the hall changed.

We have two artists from Galveston, Sally Armstrong and Dory Nelson, who have quite a following on the island, it turns out.

They both are watercolor artists, very different, um, very different technique.

They'll be here Wednesday night to kind of walk you through the art that they've curated and chosen in the hallway.

There'll be some nibbles and some wine so that you can enjoy, well, frankly, a really nice gallery.

So that'll be from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

on Wednesday.

And uh, I hope you'll make time to attend a lovely art reception.

Again, that's this Wednesday.

If you're having trouble getting in the holiday spirit, Thursday at 10, our day school will put on its Christmas program.

So each class will sing and there'll be semester music, and then there's this really sweet moment where the kindergartners put on these lovely little costumes and they put on the Nativity pageant, and um the narrator says, Mary and Joseph have tired, walked all day and they were very tired, and the kids go, We are very tired.

And it's just really, really sweet.

So uh that's this Thursday at 10.

Uh, sure to put even Scrooge and like the gift, I mean the holiday spirit.

Um, this coming Sunday is our paternal feast.

So it's St.

Thomas Day, it's also Advent 4.

And many of you know that St.

Thomas, according to tradition, was a missionary to India.

So at the 10:30 service, I hope you'll enjoy the sitar player that's coming next week to bring, well, India to St.

Thomas.

So that'll be here at 10:30 only.

And then later in the afternoon at 5 o'clock, we have what's called a longest night service.

Uh, as we approach the winter solstice, uh, we always have this service, it's 5 p.m., so we come in when it's getting dark, and when we go out, it is dark.

And it is just a service, honestly, uh, about honesty.

That, hey, not always in the holiday spirit, and that grief and loss are real, even though there's lights all over the place, and nobody wants to hear that.

So we get to come to church honestly and be honest about it.

Uh, if you know somebody that is is grieving uh or frankly just needs some space for honesty, um, that'll be next Sunday at 5 p.m.

It is not too early to think about Christmas Eve, so I just want to remind you of how we're doing that here.

On Christmas Eve, which is on a Saturday this year, we have three opportunities uh to worship together.

The first is at 3.30.

That's a family service that has a spontaneous Christmas pageant.

So uh kids come at 3.15 and they get a costume, and then there's a manger up here, and uh one year one of the sheep was bad, and the shepherd chased it all around the chancel.

And it was just so lovely.

It just was really sweet.

So that's at 3:30.

At 5 o'clock, uh we have a more traditional solemn uh Eucharist, and we do that again at 9.30.

If you come at 9, we'll sing uh carols and have some special music until the service begins at 9.30, because it's midnight somewhere.

That's our midnight mass here, is at 9:30.

And after that service, we'll have chocolate and champagne uh to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus.

Uh maybe next year we'll include cigars, but just this year, uh chocolate and champagne at the 9:30 service on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, so we'll have one service on Christmas Day at 9 o'clock.

9 o'clock.

Uh so just uh plan accordingly.

Yeah, we want you to come at 8 and this, well, or at 10:30, because there'll be nobody here.

So 9 o'clock on Christmas on Christmas Day.

Last thing I wanted to tell you, and this is like one of those joyful surprises, if you don't mind me saying, I was actually pretty sad to not be here with you last week because the bishop was here and Alex was preaching and Jim renewed his vows.

And I'm grateful you get that I wasn't out having fun.

I was doing climbing training so that I can support our scouts doing climbing and repelling.

And by a small miracle, I actually got the certification I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get.

So I'm now able to take our scout troops, any scout property or in the wild, and run climbing and repelling on scout insurance.

That's really nice, and I think it's going to be a boon to the troop.

But this other thing happened that was one of those joy moments that it only came at the end.

Sometimes joy comes retroactively.

I got a, I went uh I went to a mandatory meeting for this training on Tuesday.

I heard about that meeting on Sunday.

So surprise.

It's downtown and you gotta go.

And to be honest, I was pretty bent down of shape about it.

I probably groused a lot about this sudden mandatory meeting.

And so I chose to show my satisfaction by going to the training in my clerical collar.

This is like a strange way to protest, but there I went, right?

So I did all this not time, and I probably was like harumphing a lot.

And uh the next day, one of the climb leaders called me and said, Hey, um, you know, somebody on our scout board who who directed climbing recently died.

And let me tell you about the 90-10 rule.

It was really more like the 97-3 rule.

I immediately thought, this guy's gonna ask me to be on the climbing committee, and I got plenty to do.

Like, I can't believe this guy's calling me.

So I stayed on, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Finally he said, Yeah, well, we just were hoping.

I I found out last night that you're a minister of some sort, and uh we yeah, anyway, would you be willing to do memorial service for him at Enchanted Rock while we're climbing, like first thing in the morning?

And I said, Okay, you know, but like I I I'm gonna do the Episcopal service, and I don't know, is anybody okay with that?

He said, Well, there's one, there'll be one Jewish person there, but we'll we'll let them know in advance that this is what you're gonna do from your tradition.

And so I drew up the normal service, which I'm pretty proud of.

I think we do the celebration of life really well in the Episcopal Church, but I had a lot of anxiety.

You know, did anybody want to do that?

Because it's you know, it's it's formal.

I don't know how Christian the people are, and we were sort of doing the normal funeral service, right?

And so so I did this thing, and and I did what I do at normal funerals.

I talked about light and momentum and and being.

And you know, sort of pushed on.

And uh, you know, a couple people like gave me the nod at the end, like very, very nice, you know, and and I'd kind of put the button up on it, and and and there was, like I said, this anxiety.

And we were doing a debrief on the climbing training, and we were asked to say, like, what was the rose in the weekend?

And sure enough, the guy who called me and asked me to do it said, you know, the best thing I've done in six months was have that memorial service.

And uh, you might get a call from my wife when I die, because I want you to do my service.

And I just, these are those moments of joy that sometimes show up later, right?

And life is chopped full of those things.

And and so we're asked sometimes to know the difficult thing, might have anxiety up front, and joy comes in the morning.

And uh and that was one of my advent gifts this week, and thank you for supporting that.

Sometimes when your priest goes around flitting around, well, I never know what I'm gonna be asked to do.

Because God likes holy surprises for me and you as well.

So continue to walk after joy as Christ first enjoyed us and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God.

And all was for an hour, an hour that he took, as well as winter.

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 joy 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.

What because the church invites you, it is Christ, and he invites you to meet him here.

The Lord be with you, gift up your hearts.

We give them up unto the law.

Let us give thanks unto who our Lord God is me to come right so to do.

It is very meek, right, and our bounding duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, Holy Father Almighty, everlasting God.

Because thou didst send thy beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and make us heirs in Him of everlasting life.

That when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you.

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

Do this as often 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 we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy son hath commanded us to make.

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

And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and with thy word and Holy Spirit to bless and sanctify these gifts of bread and wine, that 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 him and with him and in him.

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

Amen.

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

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

Come and eat joyfully with the resolution and understanding that we will continue to struggle, and God will always sustain us as we sustain one another.

Come in the feast.

Remind you that if you choose to receive wine by intinction, that's dipping, please come to the rail on your left, my right.

If you choose to drink directly from the chalice, please come to the rail on your right, my left, and you can skip either and still receive the fullness of God's love and energy by crossing your arms.

God of abundance, you have fed us with the bread of life and cup of salvation.

You have united us with Christ in one another, and you have made us one with all your people in heaven and earth.

Now send us forth in the power of your spirit, that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Christ our Savior.

Amen.

And a special welcome for our guests today.

If you're new to us or this is your first time, I hope you found a warm environment and nourishment from God's table for your spirit.

And I would also ask on your way out, there's a little card that says welcome in the room right behind us, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you fill that out so we have a record of your visit.

And thank you for worshiping with us today.

Anytime, night or day, at home or in the street, wherever we are, we live bathed in God.

If we always kept this in mind, it would be impossible to sin.

So may God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless you with an awareness of holiness and the communion of saints in heaven on earth this day and forevermore.

Amen.