Pentecost 22 2022

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

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires are known, and from you those secrets are hidden.

Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit.

That we may perfectly love you and immortally magnify your name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Let us pray.

Blessed Lord who caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning.

Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life which you've given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

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

Alex in the back.

A reading from Isaiah.

For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth.

The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.

For I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people.

No more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress.

No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime.

For one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth.

And one who falls short of a hundred will be considered a cursed.

They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

They shall not build and another inhabit.

They shall not plant and another eat.

For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the works of their hands.

They shall not labor in vain or bear children before calamity, for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord, and their descendants as well.

Before they call, I will answer, but while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

But the serpent, his food shall be dust.

They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain.

Join me in reading Psalm 98 responsibly by the halfverse.

Sing to the Lord a new song.

For the Lord has done marvelous things.

The right hand and the holy arm of the Lord have secured the victory.

The Lord has made known this victory.

And has openly shown righteousness in the sight of the nations.

The Lord remembers mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel.

And all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands.

Lift up your voice with rejoice and sing.

Sing to the Lord with the heart.

With the heart and the voice of song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn.

Shout with joy before the sovereign of the Lord.

Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it.

The lands and those who dwell therein.

Let the rivers clap their hands.

And let the hills bring out with joy before the Lord.

In righteousness shall the Lord judge the world.

For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us.

We were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it.

But with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you.

This was not because we do not have the right, but in order to give you an example to imitate.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this command that anyone unwilling to work should not eat.

For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work.

Now, such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.

Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

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

Thanks be to God.

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another.

All will be thrown down.

They asked him, Teacher, when will this be?

And what will be the sign that this is about to take place?

And Jesus said, Beware that you are not led astray.

For many will come in my name and say, I am he, and the time is near.

Do not go after them.

When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.

Then Jesus said to them, Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you.

They will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name.

This will give you an opportunity to testify.

So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance, for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.

You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.

You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair of your head will perish.

By your endurance, you will gain your soul.

The gospel of the Lord.

And one of the signs that the year is ending is when we have an apocalyptic sort of text like the one we've got here.

This is Jesus at the Jerusalem Temple.

And I do just want to give you a reminder of kind of how that looked and what was going on there.

I don't want us to get completely sidetracked with the story, but it's important to know that the temple that Solomon built was actually smaller than the room you're sitting in.

So the first Hebrew temple, not all that stunning.

Herod the Great, by the way, he called himself that.

No one else thought he was that great.

Most people didn't care for him at all, turned that little rinky dink basketball court size temple into the eighth wonder of the world.

This is true.

So to give you an idea, the size of a basketball court, Herod turned into two and a half football fields.

He did it ingeniously because the temple actually lies over a valley.

And so what Herod did, instead of filling in the valley, he built an arch over the valley.

He built a bridge over a valley so that he could build two football fields.

And here you're seeing a scale model of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus.

And notice that the temple dwarfs it.

This is kind of like in Athens, the Acropolis, right?

The city above the city.

Herod turned the temple into the Mall of the Americas.

This is where people conducted business.

I mean, it was huge.

And the disciples were from Nazareth or from Galilee, where there is nothing like this.

Again, to give you the analogy, anybody been to High Texas?

There's one thing in High Texas, the Garrison Brothers distillery.

And there's 17 folk live there.

Now imagine growing up in High Texas and then visiting Dubai or New York City.

It would be astounding.

High Texas, the biggest building, 20 feet.

Then you see 146 stories off the desert floor with people's jaw dropped.

And not only was it just tall, and it's good to know this, uh some of the stones in the temple, there's one we saw in 2017 that weighs more than 14 tons.

Uh it's like a 747 full of people and bags, and archaeologists aren't even sure how they moved the thing.

It's not even square, it's a bizarre shape.

It's unfathomably big.

By the way, just so you know, anybody ever heard of the whaling wall or the western wall?

Um that is not part of the temple at all.

It's a retaining wall.

So to give you an idea on the map, the western wall is not the crinolated wall, it's the subwall.

It was built and then all of this pavement was filled in.

That's all that's left.

So when you hear this story, the disciples really cannot believe that the biggest building they've ever seen would ever be torn down for one thing.

Stones bigger than they could even conceive would be gone.

But it is important to hear when we hear this story, all of that stuff happened.

In the year 70, the Roman army came in and they sure did tear down every stone in the temple building, and they left only the retaining wall.

When you hear about wars and rumors of wars and other messiahs, all of that's already happened.

So every biblical scholar that I know of that you'll read will say, this is not forecasting the end of the world, such that you need to have the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, and Pat Robertson to tell you when it's coming.

It's okay if you do, but most scholars would tell you that's not what's going on here.

Instead, what they would remind you is that they, like us, sometimes get a little bit bothered when we hear that not everything that we're used to might last.

Let me tell you, not everything that you're used to will last.

If this is news to you, I'm glad you're here to hear it.

We can choose to be very disconsolate and worried about it, or we can do, I think, what is the heart of this passage, even in the middle of changes, frankly, that we didn't expect or we may not want, Jesus says, your opportunity is to bear witness.

It is to testify.

And testify to what?

At the time of Jesus, you easily could have testified to the end of religion as you know it, because when the temple was gone, so was your faith.

It's curious to know that many rabbis say that the destruction of the temple was indeed a terrible tragedy, and it was also an opportunity to rebuild rabbinic Judaism so that people all over the world could engage in faithful living every single day without having to go to Jerusalem to do it.

So the rabbis see it as a blessing and a curse.

Frankly, they see it as a change.

Now I don't want to bore you, but anytime I go to a diocesan event, and most of the books that religious people write are about the coming changes in Christendom.

If that's even a real word anymore.

And there's a lot of hand wringing.

And I, you know, to be fair, I mentioned last week, I talked to you, I don't know what's happening with pledging.

Uh general across the board, what we see is that church attendance nationwide seems to be pretty down 20% because of the pandemic.

Anybody been to Europe?

You can go to a church ten times the size of this one with a congregation smaller than ours.

And many of us wring our hands because we say, is that the end?

I don't know.

The truth is, I'm here because I love what we do, or I wouldn't be here.

I love what we do most of the time.

And I I think the same is probably true for you.

And I think in the middle of change, whether it is like the changing face of the church in the world in an unclear future, or frankly, the changes that we're having in our own country, we could get caught up in the changes, or we could remember the heart of the gospel, which is we have at all times an opportunity to bear witness.

I want to talk about bearing witness for a second, because many of you know in the episcopal tradition, we tend to make decisions using the three-legged stool.

Has anybody heard of this?

Richard Hooker came up with this idea when he was riding against a bunch of, well, puritanical dissidents.

People like the diggers and the levelers.

Richard Hooker said, here's how we make decisions in church.

We use scripture in conversation with our tradition, and of course in conversation with reason.

I love the Episcopal Church for, well, this reason.

We include reason.

Many of you know, though, and this is important to hear, that in the Methodist Church, and John Wesley was indeed an Anglican priest until the day he died.

He was not trying to make his own thing.

He was not.

He said, being a romantic, remember your romantics.

That's like Emerson and Thoreau.

He said, no, there's actually a fourth source.

And he called it experience.

Have you heard this before?

Tradition, experience, scripture, and reason.

Now Richard Hooker included experience in reason, but remember, Wesley's a romantic.

And it's important that you hear this.

Because he's a romantic, he doesn't mean experience like you did something one time.

That's not romantic experience.

Experience for John Wesley is most, I think, represented not in the word experience, but in the word wonder.

Awe.

Presence of the divine.

That's the romantic notion.

It's being caught up in something larger than yourself such that when you come back to your daily life, you're changed.

And I want to suggest to you that we are in fact not called to give witness only to things we have done, but especially to moments of awe and wonder, especially in the middle of uncertainty change.

And Isaiah gives us, I think, this vision here at the end of the year and reminds me why I will need Advent again.

Isaiah gives this vision that is ontologically impossible.

Do you hear it?

God's going to create something new.

Like God's not done.

And the way we affirm this in the Church of Christ, we say God is still speaking.

We've got the Bible, and God's still at it.

And God's still at it to the point of, well, impossibility.

Do you hear the last line?

The wolf and the lamb will eat at the same manger, that is to say, table.

And the ox and the lion will eat straw.

Lions don't eat straw.

In fact, they can't digest it.

They're not ruminants.

Serpents will eat dust.

Not that they'll eat dust because they deserve to, and they'll die because that's not what they need.

They'll be nourished by it.

Isaiah has this incredible vision that one day God will even change what's natural into what is supernatural.

Predator and prey will be reconciled.

Let me put it a different way.

God says one day the Hutu will eat at the same table with the Tutsi.

One day the Turk will eat at the same table with the Armenian.

One day the SS will eat at the table with the rabbi.

One day.

One day, the Democrat will eat at the table with the Republican.

And of course, I'm not joking.

We just had an election, and it's ridiculous, isn't it?

This is what we are called to bear witness to.

The wonder of what it is that God will do.

And I have to tell you, I don't always find it wonderful.

Sometimes I think God would be much better off having segregated eating compartments.

And most of the people who I don't like should sit in the smoking section.

Which is outside or something, you know.

This is why I put to you, if I'm honest about myself, I will need Advent this year, and I'm probably not going to get it right.

I will need something else next year.

Because there are people I don't want to eat with.

And sometimes I hear this vision about us being nourished at a common table.

I mean people who hate me categorically.

There's not very many of them, and that hatred doesn't amount to much because of where we live.

But it's real.

And not only are we called, I put before you, to bear witness to this idea.

We're called to open ourselves to the point that we think it might actually be a good thing.

Now that's challenging for me.

Sometimes I think it'd be a good thing if people got exactly what they deserved as I see it.

And here I think we have Isaiah saying, actually, here's God's intention.

God intends for us to sit down at the same table and be mutually nourished.

I mean people from the Ukraine and people from Russia at the same table.

This has God.

This is God's intent.

And whether we choose to believe it or not, God thinks it'll be so enjoyable, God wants us to want it.

Again, reminds me why I need Advent because I don't always want it.

An Advent is a time when we open ourselves and say, God, help me want what is good and what is right and what is joyful.

I will tell you, this is kind of a curious thing, and I'm not a neuroscientist, but the books that I've read say this rather interesting thing.

And maybe you've had this experience.

It's about memory.

One thing that they say is every time you look at a photograph, you remember it differently.

You remember differently because every time you look at it, you're in a different place than you were last time.

So even though the facts are straight, our relation to the facts, well, it changes.

Turns out that most childhood memories that we have are very emotionally intense and very factually incorrect.

Here's the real kicker.

That part in your brain where memories of the past go is the same place where your brain puts hopes and plans for the future.

Neurologically speaking, you have memories of the future in your head.

Now, if you're a neuroscientist and I'm wrong, correct me.

Even if you don't agree with what I'm saying, follow me where this goes.

Isaiah is giving us a memory of the future.

This is what God is going to do, whether I or you want it or not, because our buy-in is irrelevant to God, this is so good, God will do it.

So good for us, God will do it.

If we can't do it now, because we're too tired.

Or reconciliation is too difficult.

Or sometimes we say, God, you're wrong, it shouldn't happen like this.

Don't worry.

God will do it after we die.

You see, the way it goes is whether you're willing or not, this is going to happen.

This is a memory of the future of what God will do.

Right here in Isaiah.

I actually find it pretty helpful because there's days, like I say, I don't want this to happen.

There are people that have been so hurtful to me or those I love.

I do not want God to do this.

And God understands.

This is what I love about God.

If you can't forgive right now, that's alright.

God's not even mad at you.

God understands why this is hard, and God will do it for you later.

This is a future memory that we're invited to live into for our own sake.

Now, no matter what stones fall or what attendance looks like, or whether or not you got lost in the sermon once again, we are invited to bear witness to awe and wonder.

Like this.

Now, sometimes we use these words to our detriment.

We say, I'll bear witness to shock and awe.

Here is the shock and awe of God.

Palestinians and Israelis will sit at the same table and be happy to do it.

And if we could just open ourselves to the future memory, perhaps we could join God in doing it now.

And this, I suggest to you, is why we get to hear these words in Thessalonians.

Don't be put off by this part about don't work and don't eat.

You could really weaponize that if you wanted to.

Hear the last phrase.

Don't get tired of doing what's right.

Don't get tired of doing what's right.

So if you find yourself thinking that person doesn't really deserve the gift I'm going to give them, I suggest to you you just got tired of doing what's right.

In some ways, this whole passage reads like a trap.

When I read this passage, I say, you're darn right, God.

People who don't work, they don't deserve food.

And here's the trick at the end.

When you say that, Mike, you just got tired of doing what's right.

I hope you don't fall into the same trap I do.

The trap I have is, darn right, Paul, don't feed those poor people.

And Paul says, don't get tired of doing what's right.

Because the wolf will indeed lie down with the lamb.

The Episcopalian with the Anglican, the Missouri Synod with the ELCA, the member of Al-Qaeda with Jerry Falwell.

And God will call that good.

And we are asked to call that good.

And we're asked to bear that witness, that testimony of something so wonderful that we laugh at it.

If we could do that, I think it doesn't matter what happens to the building or attendance.

We will have been faithful.

We will have opened ourselves, I think, to what Wesley really put his finger on to awe and wonder to a God who is so much greater than we are that sometimes we don't even think God's got a good idea.

We hear this now, so that we can make more and more room, I put to you all throughout Advent, for God to convert not only our hearts, but our imaginations.

As we would go out and tell the world there is something greater than you're seeing, we need it, and God can do it.

We're invited to live into that future memory today.

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, the eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God, from true God, begotten and unmade, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation, he came to come from heaven.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became man from the virgin married and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilot.

He suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures.

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

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

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

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

He has spoken to the prophets.

We believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

For the community we live in, for clean air to breathe, and safe water to drink.

We praise you and we thank you, O Lord.

For the courage to protect creation and the persistence to make informed decisions every day.

For the victims of oppression throughout the world, especially those who have been silenced by governments, abuse, and poverty.

Empower their voices and empower ears to hear them.

For refugees and those displaced by war or strife.

For those who hunger, satisfy their physical and spiritual needs.

Mentor and guide elected and appointed officials throughout our world.

That they might pursue justice with compassion.

For 46 years of female clergy shining your light in the Episcopal Church.

We praise you and we thank you, O Lord.

Enable our laity, deacons, priests, and bishops to discern your work in the world and boldly join it.

May your church function as one body.

Bless our day school, its teachers, staff, families, and students.

May St.

Thomas School grow and empower wisdom, love, and knowledge in our world.

We praise you for the constant love, compassion, diligence, kindness, and guidance of spouses, siblings, parents, friends, and extended families who have put us and others before themselves.

May we join you in making Christ visible.

Mend broken relationships and comfort those who are alone.

Strengthen our patience and embolden our forgiveness.

Equip us to sympathize even when we are in pain.

Grow our hearts to love as you do it.

Protect the dignity of those who are in physical decline or hardship.

Remembering especially Chris, Sue, Kevin, Jan, Miriam, Celia, Derek, John, Pam, Nick, Robert, Valerie, Mona, and the celebration or petitions the congregation wishes to name at this time silently or aloud.

May they and we experience your compassion.

We pray for all who have died, especially Lana Beyer, Thomas Halsey, and Lavon Lucre.

May they have a place in your eternal kingdom.

Compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.

Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

Gracious God, our hearts are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo.

Forgive what our lips tremble to name, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has become for us consuming fire and judgment.

Set us free from a past that we cannot change.

Open to us a future in which we can be changed, and grant us grace to grow more and more your liveness and image.

Through Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Amen.

The Almighty and Compassionate 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.

I'm going to ask you to be seated for a moment.

I have asked Herb Meyer, our senior warden, to do something uh significant for me.

I've celebrated my nine-year ordination to the priesthood this week on Wednesday.

And every year at clergy conference, we renew our vows with our bishops, uh, which is lovely to do, but I would like to renew my vows with you.

And so Herb is going to lead me in a vow renewal and ask for your help at the end.

Mike, you were ordained to the priesthood just over nine years ago and have served served St.

Thomas for more than seven years.

As another year passes, we invite you to reaffirm your vows to serve the church through and beyond St.

Thomas.

My brother, do you still believe that you are truly called by God and the church to this priesthood?

I believe I am so called.

Do you now, in the presence of the church, recommit yourself to this trust and responsibility?

I do.

Will you continue to respect and be guided by the pastoral direction and leadership of your bishop?

I will with God's help.

Will you continue to be diligent in the reading and study of the scriptures and in seeking the knowledge of such things as may make you a stronger and more able minister of Christ?

I will with God's help.

Will you continue to endeavor so to minister the Word of God and the sacraments of the new covenant, that the reconciling love of Christ may be known and received?

I will with God's help.

Will you undertake to be a faithful pastor to all whom you are called to serve, laboring together with With them and with your fellow ministers to build up the family of God.

I will with God's help.

Will you do your best to pattern your life in accordance with the teachings of Christ, so that you may be a wholesome example to your people?

I will with God's help.

Will you persevere in prayer, both in public and private?

Asking God's grace, both for yourself and for others, by offering all your labors to God, through the mediation of Jesus Christ, and the and in the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.

I will with God's help.

May the Lord who has given you the will to do these things, give you the grace and power to perform them.

Amen.

Now the next question is directed to the parish.

Will you, who have witnessed Mike's renewal of vows, support him in his ministry as your priest?

If so, answer, we will with God's help.

We will like Mike.

Thank you.

You're going to get to hear Jim McGill do this with you in a few weeks as well.

And it is an intimate and special moment, not just to renew with the bishop, but with those we're called to serve.

So thank you for that gift.

And now the peace of the Lord will be always with you.

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

Thomas today.

There are several announcements I want to call to your attention, but one of them that's extremely important to me, uh, it's worth mentioning.

A member of the congregation gave me this ring on my pointer finger about five years ago.

It's made from a 22 bullet shell, and um, it's from an organization called 22 Kill.

And many of you may know the sad statistic that 22 veterans take their life every day because of things like moral injury and PTSD.

Many of you may know the DOD did a study in the pool of veterans that there is a larger degree of PTSD and moral injury than ever before as people come out of the military, but the DoD also recognized there's a larger degree of moral injury and PTSD than ever before of people going into the military.

So I ask your prayers for the 22 today, and also your prayers of Thanksgiving for veterans as we celebrate Veterans Day.

Um I'm going to ask in your red prayer book, there is a prayer on page 823 that I'm going to ask us to pray together for our veterans.

Page 823, and it's the very top of the page.

It's prayer 25 for those in the armed forces.

And of course, we have in mind present and past as we think about our veterans.

Please join me in this prayer.

Almighty God, we commend to your gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at home and abroad.

Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace, strengthen them in their trials and temptations, give them courage to face the perils which beset them, and grant them a sense of your abiding presence wherever they may be, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Now, this is a little unepiscopalian, I know, but can I ask if you have served in the armed forces, would you be willing to stand so we can thank you for your service?

Thank you, veterans.

And even as we pray for peace, of course, we remember those who are on the front lines on our behalf.

Um first, it occurred to us this week, and and this is part of the ministry Bob Ketchum offers.

You know, we're we we try really hard through streaming to make everything visible, and because of copyright infringement, well, we can't always put the hymns up that we're singing.

So we have a clever solution.

If you are watching at home and you don't know the words to the hymns, I'd love to give you a hymnal so you can sing along.

If you want the hymnal, let me know and I will get it to you.

And then we're in compliance with all copyright laws.

Just let me know, and we can all sing together.

Um today is literally the last day to take a pumpkin.

They're gone tomorrow.

So if you want a pumpkin for any reason, please take it because they're ending up in the dumpster tomorrow.

And as I mentioned to you last week, our scouts have raised about$5,000 through the pumpkin sale.

Pretty good.

You are going to see an opportunity that I really cannot push enough on your way out today.

Lila Anderson's out in the hallway, she's coordinating a ministry we call Foyers, which is really a fancy name for a potluck you have with other people four times a year.

So the way this goes is it's a potluck you have with like four other couples or seven other people if you're a solo four times a year.

It's pretty easy.

There's no Bible study involved, there's no uh giving a toastmaster, you have a potluck four times a year.

And what's amazing is, and this is true since I've been here, people have said, you know, I met lifelong friends through the Four Years Dinner Group.

And many people say, gosh, I just wish I knew how to meet more people at St.

Thomas or I'd like to be more involved.

Boy, what's easier than going to four potluck CU?

I mean, it's pretty darn easy, and the food is great and the fellowship is even better.

If you're single, you can still sign up.

We pair singles.

If you have kids, you can bring your kids.

Just say, hey, we want to bring our kids.

If you have kids and you don't want to bring your kids, you can say, we don't want to bring our kids.

So we we will make groups depending on what we need.

Um, but you know, we haven't been able to do this for two years because of the pandemic, and uh we're feeling like we can do this again.

So I want to encourage you if you'd like to meet some really lovely folk in the room who you don't know, or maybe you do, you'd like to get them to know better, talk to Lila or talk to me, and four years is a great opportunity.

We'll be starting that really soon.

Um I'd also like to remind you that next week is the end of the church year.

So I know this the calendar year ends on December 31st, but the church year ends next week on Christ the King Sunday.

And one of the things we'll do next week is bless and consecrate our pledge cards.

If you don't have a pledge card or don't know what one is, talk to me.

I I mean I'll tell you, I'm not the gatekeeper of pledge cards.

What I like to do though, because here at St.

Thomas, we pledge to ministry as well as we pledge financially, to me it's really important we bless our intentions.

This is what I'm here to do as your clergy, is to be a celebrant and an agent of blessing.

So here's where we come.

Whatever pledges we make, and hopefully we prayed over this and thought about them, it's really important to me as your priest to bless those pledges next week and say, God, here's what we think we're gonna do, and we're gonna ask you to do more than we can ask or imagine with what we're putting forward.

Um, this is very important to me.

So um, if I can help you get a card, please let me know.

But I would love to bless your pledge next week, whatever it may be.

Um, I'd also like to invite you cordially, uh, maybe you haven't done this, we don't always do it depending on the vacation schedule, just to be honest.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so that's a Wednesday, that's a week from this Wednesday, we'll have a 7 p.m.

Eucharist here.

It'll be short.

It has a lovely litany of Thanksgiving.

It really is a great way to start the holy day, and then you can have the holiday the next day.

Uh, and we'll have a pie social following.

So if you come, we'll have a couple of pies out and some hot cider and some hot wine after the short Eucharist service, where we come and we give Thanksgiving together for God, and then we we take that, hopefully, thanksgiving to our homes the next day and some relatives that are at the table that we don't always like to be at the table with, and we say, Ah, look, God gave me the energy for this in church last night.

So uh I hope you will join us a week from Wednesday.

One very last favor, and I kind of hesitate to offer this, but you know, our PTO president, she looked lost this week.

Um, every year the school puts on a Thanksgiving feast.

It's really lovely.

Grandparents come, aunts and uncles come, the kids are here, the parents are here, hopefully they show off their good manners.

You never know.

Uh and they have covered the whole menu, except they have two turkeys that need cooking.

I don't know how to cook a turkey.

And I won't be in town.

I'm going to have Thanksgiving with my son this week.

So if you might be willing to cook a turkey for 10 a.m.

on Thursday morning, I have the pans, I have the turkeys, they're in the fridge.

This is easy drop-and-go turkey cooking so that kids can have a feast.

Please just see me.

I just need two folk, and again, I'm hesitant to ask, but it's such a gift to Sarah Corona, who is doing more than, well, more than she should.

Last thing you need to know.

We blessed these Thanksgiving bags you all made this week.

Now, I mentioned to you, McWirder asked us for 50, and of course we sent 75 over there, which is exactly the right thing to do, right?

These are families at McWirder who don't know you.

They're probably not interested in the Episcopal Church.

I'm so glad you know that they're worthy of this dinner.

Thank you for that.

I mean, that's just the spirit of the community.

You have saved 75 families from having to decide between their rent and a special meal.

I blessed those.

You're the blessing.

Thank you.

Continue to walk in love as Christ first loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God.

And from your own hand 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.

He invites you to meet him here.

The Lord be with you, and also with you.

From the depths of the ocean floor, you made room for clear lake and appointed it respite and sanctuary for your creatures.

And we, like your Son, our Lord, are called to drink from these oases for the Spirit, to get away and rest in communion with you.

We marvel as we wander alongside pines and wildflowers along the creeks, where jumping fish dance above the lake, and pelicans, egrets, duck, and geese eat and drink from the water's edge.

And we remember that you have given us the living word to quench our thirst.

Our spirit is refreshed and our strength renewed.

We welcome the passing of seasons and broad circles of time with anticipation of new things to come, and we recognize that same feeling of hope that encircles our faith.

Our lives are lived between sunrises and sunsets and brilliant colors, but at night, the limitless stars have a way of pushing back the boundaries of our lives, and we dream of heaven and your wonder.

And with all these blessings of your creation around us, O God, we come together in communities on the bayous, by creeks and lakes, on trails and marshes to receive your word, which has been sown in rich soil and grown into a fruitful crop in the body of Christ.

And so we join with saints and angels in proclaiming your glory.

On the night before he died for us, Jesus was at table with his friends.

He took bread, gave thanks to you, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, Take, eat.

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

Remember me every time you eat bread.

As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine.

Again, he gave thanks to you, gave it to them, and said, Drink this, all of you.

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

It is poured out for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin.

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

And now gathered at your table, O God of all creation, and remembering Christ, crucified and risen, who was and is and is to come, we offer to you our gifts of bread and of wine, and we offer ourselves a living sacrifice.

Pour out your spirit upon these gifts that they may be the body and blood of Christ.

Breathe your spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation, the body of Christ given for the world you've made.

In the fullness of time, bring us with all your saints from every tribe and language and people and nation to feast at the banquet prepared from the foundation of the world.

Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to you be honor, glory, and praise forever and ever.

Amen.

And 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 people.

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 I invite you to the rail for intinction that's dipping to your left, my right.

If you choose to drink from the chalice, that would be to your right, my left.

And reminder, if you choose to skip either, cross your hands and receive a blessing.

Let's pray together.

We knew by this bread from the heavenly table.

We believe you, Lord, that the food of charity may confirm our hearts and serve us to serve you and our neighbor through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be positively astonished.

Tell someone about it.

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.