Pentecost 15 2022

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

And blessed be God's family now and forever.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

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

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

And we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Also with you.

Let us pray.

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly.

And even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

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

Alex in the back.

My heart is saved.

My heart with the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land.

Is the Lord not in Zion?

Is her king not in her?

Why have they provoked me to anger with their images and their foreign islands?

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt.

I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no bomb in Gilead?

Is there no physician there?

Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people.

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

The psalm for today, Psalm 79, we will read responsibly by the half verse.

O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance.

They have profaned your holy temple.

They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the air.

And the flesh of the world.

We have become a reproach to our neighbors, an object of scorn and derision to those around us.

How long will you be angry, O Lord?

Will your fury blaze like fire forever?

Pour out your wrath upon the heathen who have not known you.

And upon the realms that have not called upon your name.

For they have devoured the people of Jacob and made it dwelling forever.

Remember not our past sins, but let your compassion be swift to meet us.

For we have been brought up very low.

Help us, O God, our Savior, for the glory of your name.

Deliver us and forgive us our sins for your name's sake.

First of all, I urge that supplications and prayers and intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity.

This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

For there is one God.

There is also one mediator between God and humankind.

Christ Jesus is Himself human, who gave Himself a ransom for all.

This was attested at the right time.

For this I was appointed a herald and apostle.

I am telling the truth, I am not lying.

A teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

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

Thanks be to God.

Jesus said to the disciples, There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to the rich man that this manager was squandering his property.

So he summoned the manager and said to him, What is this that I hear about you?

Give me an accounting of your management because you cannot be my manager any longer.

Then the manager said to himself, What will I do now that my master is taking the position away from me?

I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg.

I've decided what to do so that when I'm dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.

So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, How much do you owe my master?

The debtor answered, a hundred jugs of olive oil.

The steward said to him, Take your bill, sit down quickly and make it fifty.

Then he asked another debtor, How much do you owe?

The second debtor replied, A hundred containers of wheat.

The steward said to him, Take your bill and make it eighty.

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly.

For the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth, so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.

If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

And if you've not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

No slave can serve two masters, for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and wealth.

The gospel of the Lord.

And this was one of the two.

Because I have a problem with hubris, I decided I was gonna get this one.

So I read, I kid you not, more than a hundred commentaries on this.

A hundred.

None of them were very good.

I'm just gonna be honest.

At the end of writing this 20-page paper that had a three-page bibliography, I don't know that I had much to offer.

You see, there's a lot of problems with this story.

The steward's accused of squandering resources, and he gets fired without that being verified.

He scatters resources and then he scatters some more.

And then he gets commended.

That's really weird.

And we all know I mean the Beatles didn't come up with this idea.

Money can't buy me love.

So what on earth is Jesus saying, buy yourself some friends?

Strange.

I walked in by accident to the best understanding of this story.

Uh, you've probably heard me say it.

It shows up in a book that I wrote.

Um, I was visiting a church back when I was thinking about getting ordained, and the priest was a prison chaplain.

And here's his story of this parable, and I absolutely love it.

So it was like November, and he still had some money left in the chapel budget.

And the warden came to him and said, if you don't spend that money, you can expect a smaller budget next year.

Government job.

So uh the priest thought I'd better spend some money on something I would like, even if I don't need it.

The chapel was upstairs in the prison, and he decided they needed some built-in bookcases.

So he bought these bookcases, and lo and behold, when they arrived, they were fully assembled.

And that was quite the surprise, because you know, doorways are only like 30 inches wide and usually maybe seven feet tall, and here were these monstrous bookcases fully assembled.

I mean, you'd have to cut them apart to get up there, he thought.

Enter one of the inmates who said, Father, you give me four guys and two blankets, and I can get those things up there.

And he did.

If you hear me say nothing else today, I think the story is about that.

Using our less than savory skills to smuggle folk into God's family.

See, sometimes people are really good at getting stains out of linen and ironing without leaving a crease.

I am not good at that.

If you're good at that, the altar guild, thumbs up.

That is a place to serve.

Some folk are really good at being patient with children, and they become children's chapel leaders.

You may or may not be good at that.

Some people are really good at throwing a shrimp boil while they smoke.

I like about shrimp oil, don't you?

So why not leverage what we enjoy to bring people together in God's family, whether it's an altar building or teaching, putting on a shrimp boil while you smoke three cigarettes.

This story asks us to consider what skills will we share.

Even unsavory skills.

See, the truth is, God's so big and holy that there's no such thing as sacred and secular.

That exists in our mind, not God's.

You may not want to pledge to the Arch of Guild, but you may say, you know what?

I sure do know how to make some home brew after my chemical engineering training.

And we all enjoy how that brings us together at the Fall Festival.

The story is about what you can share.

Okay.

The other thing I'd like to say, so that I can refer to the other passages we read, is that the key seems to be in the colic for me.

There's this phrase, and it's tough for me, grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly.

Almost as if loving heavenly things is the antidote for earthly anxiety.

Now, most psychologists that I've read say that anxiety is frankly energy generated in your brain when you're facing something like uncertainty or surprise that you don't know where to put.

Is that fair?

I've got a professional in the room.

Would you add anything to it?

Okay.

Energy.

Like your brain releases cortisol and it's winding up.

Sometimes you meet folk who are really good workers.

In fact, most type A people I know have a strong work ethic and they do this interesting thing where they credit their anxiety for their success.

I wouldn't get much done if I weren't so worked up about all of it.

Turns out there's no proof that that works.

I just want you to hear that.

Most people think if I stop being anxious, I'll stop being productive.

Well, silly, you've never tried either one.

I want to suggest to you the colloph invites us to lay down anxiety, which is easier said than done.

It also invites us to consider which things are earthly and which things are heavenly.

And my spiritual heritage says, well, money and cars and homes are earthly things, so don't worry about those things.

Well, that'd be lovely.

But I want to suggest to you, if you're like me, that actually the line between earthly and heavenly things often gets blurred.

Like, as a parent, I sometimes get a little bit anxious about whether or not my daughter is learning enough decorum or rules, or is learning enough skills to get her ahead later.

I am often anxious about these things.

Are they earthly?

I guess a little bit.

Aren't those like heavenly goals?

I think so.

Being anxious about what I'm gonna do with my mom when she needs assistance.

Is that an earthly goal?

I mean, I guess there are some components of it, but isn't it also a heavenly thing, taking care for our elderly parents?

A lion is not always so easy.

And I want to suggest to you that what we see in our readings today is a little bit of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's stages is not the right word, but symptoms of loss or grief or surprise.

Many of you know Elizabeth Kubler-Ross said, when somebody dies, it is very normal that people experience the following things: Denial, anger, bargaining, despair, acceptance.

Some people think, oh, well, if you didn't experience all those things, you didn't grieve right.

That's not what she says.

She says, I notice these symptoms quite a bit in a loss.

And if we're honest, we get those symptoms even when somebody has not died.

We get those things, and we read a book as a parish a couple years ago.

I just want to give you an example.

This is written by Lorenzo Gonzalez.

It's called Deep Survival.

And Lorenzo Gonzalez says when people lose their boat in a hurricane in the middle of the ocean, they go through these things too.

When people are hiking and they find themselves very lost, they usually do things like denial.

They get angry.

They make bargains.

They have despair.

Now, I don't know how much you find yourselves in these emergency situations, but I do want you to hear there's a big emergency behind Jeremiah, and there's a big emergency behind the Psalm.

The emergency was Jerusalem, the holy city where God was thought to live on earth, got sacked and the temple got burned to the ground, and people started having a lot of anger, denial, bargaining, and despair.

That's in the scriptures.

Read in Jeremiah, despair.

Read in the Psalm, I'm angry.

How could those people do it?

Read the bargaining.

If we do it right, God, please fix it.

Read the denial.

This isn't happening to us.

And then hear the acceptance.

This is lovely.

Remember not our past sin.

Let your compassion be swift to meet us, for we've been brought very low.

If you've ever been to an AA meeting, that's the theme of AA.

Maybe I deserved it.

My best thinking got me here.

I've been brought really low.

That I think is the part of despair that leads to the gateway of acceptance.

And here what the Apostle Paul is doing in Timothy.

He's saying, I've been brought very low because I've been called to be a voice to the Gentiles, that is, people that no one else thinks are good enough, to in fact say, you are good enough.

And that has some costs for the apostle that I would imagine he found himself very anxious about.

Like the three times he was stoned, and the four times he was flogged, and the days and nights he spent in prison.

How could you not be anxious about those things?

But of course, what he has accepted is those temporal things are building eternal homes.

And this, I think, is part of the question we are asked to think about.

I have been to places that say you should not be anxious about anything, and that would be lovely, but I have not found the remedy for that.

I was fortunate to have a professor, and I mentioned this even a couple of weeks ago, who said, it is not wrong to be preoccupied with things as long as you're preoccupied with the same stuff God is preoccupied with.

That's why the prayers of the people this morning are really long.

They're about a lot of stuff that God is preoccupied with, like immigrants and people seeking holy orders and rain so that crops can grow and feed the world.

God is preoccupied with that stuff.

And it's okay if we're preoccupied with it as well, but I would suggest the way we're preoccupied with it is that we join God in concern and doing instead of being stuck in the anxiety loop.

More on that in just a second.

I do want to tell you another phrase that stood out to me in the parable this week: dishonest wealth.

Dishonest wealth.

In the story, the guy is managing money that's not his.

Right?

So I want you to hear, instead of the steward being a thief or a crook or some kind of heretical blasphemer, he stands, frankly, like many of us do, with resources that we didn't earn ourselves.

Let me share a couple of those resources in my life, if you don't mind.

I did not earn or curry favor with God so that I will be born in a house that prioritized education.

I just was born there.

I can't honestly come by my education, even though I did the schoolwork, even though I paid the tuition.

I had parents that said this is good for you.

And not everybody has those parents.

That is dishonest wealth in my life.

I hope you hear what I'm saying.

I'm supposed to use my dishonest wealth to build eternal homes for people so that they can live in God's family.

Just like smuggling bookshelves up into a chapter.

I'm talking to a bunch of educated folks in the room.

We sent people to the moon.

We did.

What can't we fix?

If we can send somebody out of this world, what in this world can we not fix if we use our dishonest wealth?

Tell you some more dishonest wealth.

I did not deserve or earn being born in this country.

I did not, but it's the wealthiest place to be born in the world.

And I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I wouldn't.

And I've traveled.

Do I hoard it or do I use it to lift other folk up?

This is the difference between earthly anxiety and loving heavenly things.

I'm sitting at the top of the food chain.

I'm a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male.

I know all too well what it would look like if I were a white Anglo-Saxon Protestant female.

Let me tell you the difference.

My wife has to bring three outfits when she goes to court, according to which one the judge might favor that particular day.

Dress, skirt suit, pantsuit.

I have one set of clothes.

One.

Dishonest wealth.

I don't deserve that.

But I have it.

So what will I do with it?

That I think is the question that parable begs us to ask.

Will I use my privileges and resources to build eternal homes for other people?

Or will I say, you can't come in here, there's not enough to go around?

Tough question.

The gospel demands it, I think.

This is a question about stewardship.

See, once upon a time, I went to a camp in San Diego.

This was an Episcopal camp, and all the mugs came from different churches.

So there was one from Christchurch Coronado, and then there was one from St.

James that said stewardship.

The work of the church.

And I thought, wow, somebody's really gone a little bit overboard with that phrase.

But maybe they're right.

Stewardship of all the wealth in our lives.

Because after all, my best friends, they just kind of showed up in my life.

I didn't engineer becoming their friends.

I couldn't have engineered meeting my spouse.

Could not have.

Dishonest wealth under that big umbrella.

So what will I do with that dishonest wealth?

This is the question of stewardship.

Now, I do want to share with you one other thought of anxiety because I just finished reading a book called Loosening Anxiety.

It's written by a dual-degree MV PhD guy.

And he says that, you know, anxiety, of course, is a hardwired sponsor.

It's inherent in us mammal folk.

But sometimes we can go overboard.

General anxiety disorder, this is like a problem.

And the author talks about how he's met a number of patients who have a lot of anxiety and they do behaviors that aren't serving, like smoking or like eating without paying attention.

And the author says, you know, when I'm talking to people, there are a couple of normal tracks you can take inhabit loops that are wound all around anxiety.

You could get rid of all the snack food from your pantry that you know isn't good for you, so that when you'd like to have some, you don't have any.

And then you would have to drive all the way to the store, and if you live in Nassau Bay, which is a food desert, you would have to drive 10 minutes to HEB to get those chips.

And it's unlikely you will do this.

Right?

So one thing you can do is that.

You can have accountability, you can ask friends to support you, right?

You get all of this sort of stuff, and that kind of works.

But he said in his experience, the thing that helps the most, frankly, is just paying attention.

It turns out that our brain works better with bigger better carrots than with bigger batter sticks.

The physician says, I have had much lower success telling my clients, my patients, hey, you probably shouldn't smoke, it's bad for your lungs, than if I say, next time you smoke a cigarette, you should really think about that cigarette.

How does it taste?

How does it make you feel?

And what drove you to get it out in the first place?

And you know what his clients often say, it tastes really bad.

I got paid attention and it tastes really bad.

I'm not sure I want to do this anymore.

They're mindful of it.

And of course, then they say, well, it's not that I want to just quit or else, it's that maybe there's something better I could do when the anxiety comes.

But there's a bigger, better offer.

And what our brains need more than 21 days of habit to be successful.

That's an internet idea, by the way.

Apparently, there's no medical research behind that.

What our brains need to give up anxiety in favor of better habits is bigger, better offers.

Like, man, my in-laws are coming over, I better light up.

Instead, my in-laws are coming over, I'm going to pay attention, and maybe if I can't handle being at the table, I'll get up and wash the dishes because that's socially acceptable work.

So I can recuse myself in a polite way.

Love doing that at Thanksgiving, by the way.

In this case, the bigger, better offer is about heavenly things.

In moments of earthly anxiety, the remedy is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

How will I use whatever wealth I have, honest or dishonest, to build eternal homes?

You may be in the habit of walking by the mirror and saying, God, look at my hair.

I would encourage you to come up with a bigger, better offer.

Man, I don't know what God was thinking to make hair stand out that long.

Pretty wild.

Bigger, better offer.

Again, our brains don't do as well with sticks as they do with carrots.

And here's a story about somebody who uses their dishonest wealth and is committed.

So, our call as stewards, how will we use what God has given us?

And when we find ourselves placed in anxiety, can we join in God's commitment, even if the cost is high, instead of just getting stuck on the cost that you see?

When we get stuck on the cost of discipleship instead of in the bigger, better offer of building eternal homes, well that I suggest to you is when we have a sick spirituality and not a healthy one.

I don't know what God is asking you to do or quite frankly, inviting you to join God in doing.

But I trust it is a bigger, better offer.

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

That's found on page 358 in your red prayer book.

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, life from God, light from light, true God, for true God, and name, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

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

And by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became in our virgin marriage and was made man.

For our sake he was five justified.

He suffered death and was buried.

On the third day rose again, according to the scriptures, he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again glory to just the living and the dead, and his kingdom will heaven with no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord to give life, who is each of the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son He is to worship and glorified, spoken to the prophets.

We believe in the Holy Catholic and the Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge my action for forgiveness of sin.

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

Amen.

Your spirit lives in us, and we in your spirit.

Hear us, for it is your spirit who speaks through us as we pray.

Bless the produce of our land and the works of our hands.

Gracious God, you created us in your own image.

Teach us to honor all of your children.

Lord, hear us.

Gracious God, you inspire the prophets of old.

Grant that your church may faithfully proclaim your truth to the world.

Lord, hear us.

Gracious God, you sent your Son into the world.

Reveal him to others through his life in us.

Lord, hear us.

Lord Jesus, you sent your apostles to make disciples of all nations.

Bless the clergy and laity of our diocese and church, together with Andy, Hector, Jeff, Kay, and Scott, our bishops.

In the diocesan cycle of prayer, St.

Mark's Beaumont, St.

Paul's Orange, St.

Paul's Woodville, and St.

Stephen's Beaumont.

Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Michael, our presiding bishop.

Christ.

Lord Jesus, for your sake, men and women forsook all and followed you.

Call many to serve you in religious communities and in the ordained ministry of your church.

Lord Jesus, you called your disciples to take up the cross.

Deepen in each of us a sense of vocation.

Christure.

Unite all Christians that the world may believe.

Christ, hear us.

You forgave the thief on the cross.

Bring us all to penitence and reconciliation.

Christ, hear us.

You broke down the walls that divide us.

Bring the people of this world to live in peace and concord.

Christ, hear us.

You taught us through Paul your apostle to pray for kings and rulers.

Bless and guide all in authority.

You were rich, yet for our sake become poor.

Move those who have wealth to share generously with those who are poor.

Christ, hear us.

You sat among the learned, listening and asking them questions.

Inspire all who teach and all who learn.

You cured by your healing touch and word.

Heal the sick and bless those who minister to them.

Christ, hear us.

You were unjustly condemned by Pontius Pilate.

Strengthen our brothers and sisters who are unjustly suffering violence and persecution.

You lived as an exile in Egypt.

Protect and comfort all refugees.

Christ, hear us.

You knew the love and care of an earthly home.

May your presence and protection be made known to migrant workers and their families.

You open and none can shut.

Open the gates of your kingdom to those who have died without hearing your gospel.

Christ, hear us.

You have been glorified in the lives of innumerable saints, especially Elizabeth II.

You'll have a strength to follow in their footsteps.

Christ, hear us.

Holy Spirit, you help us in our weakness and intercede for us when we cannot.

Remember our petitions and thanksgivings before God, especially Chris, Sue, Kevin, Jan, Miriam, Celia, Derek, John, and Nick.

And enhance your vision to see your presence in the invited to name your own celebration of petitions.

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.

Hear us, hear us.

Father, we know that you are good and that you hear all those who call upon you.

Give to us and all people what is best for us, that we may glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is alive and reigns through you and the Holy Spirit now and forever.

Amen.

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

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

Wear what our lips tremble to pain, what our hearts can no longer bear, and what has come for us a consuming fire of judgment.

Open to us a future in which we can change, and grant us grace to grow more and more in your image like an image through Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

Amen.

The Almighty and 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.

And now, don't you see, we stand in the dishonest dulf of grace.

Because that works.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Good morning, Pete.

Thank you for worshiping with us.

St.

Thomas.

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

And we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one of them out so we have a record of your visit.

And thanks for worshiping with us today.

I want to call a couple announcements to your attention.

First, we have two roses on the Lord's table.

We are celebrating two new babies.

One is Linnell's great-grandchild, Robert Clark Larman.

The other is Bob and Jan Ketchum's new grandchild, Shaper Sloan Ketchum, born like last night, kind of late, right?

This morning.

So super lovely.

We're celebrating two new members in God's family.

And now I want to highlight a couple opportunities.

One is we've made a change in how we do prayer requests.

We've invented these cards that are a prayer request card.

There used to be like a book out there.

We've hidden the book away.

If you've got a prayer request, you can write it on this card with a date and just put it in the little basket out there, and we'll get you your concern in the praise of the people into RDOK.

So I'll remind you again for a couple of weeks, but now we're using these cards instead of the book.

This week, a couple of opportunities.

One is, I think I can say this with confidence, the ability to enjoy the best loot concert you'll ever go to.

I've got actually 100% confidence that it will be that.

So Ron McFarland will be here on Saturday evening.

The doors will open at 6:30, and the concert is 7 to 8.

It's one hour.

He'll be bringing a violist with him, and he's amazing.

I mean, he's really skilled.

The music is beautiful.

It's not like stale medieval music.

It's timely, original, and creative.

And he's great.

And he's a great explainer of the loot as well.

So it's$10 a person, or if you have a family, it's$25 for the family.

And I hope you will enjoy this concert.

You would have to go to Jones Hall to hear something of this caliber.

So this coming Saturday night.

Next Sunday, that's a week from today, is our newcomer's lunch.

Now normally we have four of these a year.

This is the first one we've had in two and a half years.

You can probably guess why.

Up and down with conditions.

So you may think, I've been coming here two years.

Do I qualify?

Well, if you haven't been to one, you qualify.

Or maybe you say, I haven't gone to one of those in two and a half years, and I'd like to.

You qualify too.

So just let Ellen or I know it's a great opportunity to meet people who worship at 8 o'clock, or just have some table time over a meal with people who sit on the other side of the church from you.

And of course, we'll get to hear a little bit more about St.

Thomas as you're interested, not as I am.

Right?

So that'll be next Sunday.

And please just give Ellen or I a heads up so we have enough food.

But anybody can come that wants to.

Two weeks from yesterday, so that's Saturday, October the 1st, we got three things happening.

Boom, boom, boom.

The first is a 5K race that we host for Running Alliance Sport.

You can walk, you can run, there's a kid's 1K, or you can do the adult 5K.

It's a very well-organized event, and we just offer our parking lot.

So you can register online, you could just show up and run if you want to, or walk.

That's at 7.15.

At 745, right out here, this is a change from normal, is our food distribution and the little circle driveway.

So you can do like me and run that race and then run right up and start handing out food.

Or you can do one or the other.

Starting at 745, right out here.

And then the third thing is our biggest fundraiser of the year for all of our scout troops, the pumpkin patch.

And this is a thing.

A trailer shows up full of pumpkins, like 2,000 pumpkins?

And we unload them.

So you may say, boy, I'm awfully strong to unload some pumpkins.

No, you're not.

Come on, bring your strength out.

We can unload some pumpkins together.

And we do it till we're done or until you need to go.

And that we think is at 11.

We'll get an update in the e-news.

The truck driver comes when they want.

That's the bottom line.

But three things going on October the 1st.

October the 2nd, that's two weeks from today, we're celebrating the Feast of St.

Francis.

So we're offering a pet blessing in the white gazebo in the park, right over there, in the city's gazebo in Howard Ward Park.

You can bring any animal that you can reasonably control.

So if you've got a honey badger that plays well with others, bring the honey badger.

If the honey badger does not play with others, and I'm suspicious it doesn't, bring a facsimile or a photo.

Cats are notorious for being blessed vicariously through photos.

I will also bless your stuffed animal if you happen to have one you adore.

That's at 5 o'clock right out here, or because your parishioners, you're welcome to come Tuesday morning, October the 4th at 8.15 to our playground and join our day school families in a pet blessing, and then the pets go home.

So they don't stay, they come and they go, and yours can do that too.

So again, you can bring a pony or a great dame, they're about the same, and I'm grateful to bless both of those.

Well, that might be everything.

Except Ellen Maston volunteer.

She wasn't voluntole.

This is really lovely.

She is going to come share with you what stewardship means to her.

There's a man I know who was going about his work rounds one day, going to an appointment with a potential new client who could bring in a great deal of money for his company.

And as he was driving toward the appointment, he saw a lady in a wheelchair sitting under a tree.

He stopped, he got out of his car, and he walked up and introduced himself to the lady, asked her her name.

Her name was Sharon.

He asked her if she was alright, and she said, No, I'm dying.

So they talked for a minute, and he said, If I go and get you some food, will you accept it?

She said, Yes, she would.

So he got in his car and he drove to a nearby McDonald's and bought a meal and brought it back to her and gave her one dollar in cash.

That was all he had in his wallet.

He asked her if he came back the next day and brought her more food.

Would she be there?

She said yes, she would.

So he went home that night and he got a backpack and he filled it with non-perishable foods and toiletries, and he went back the next day, and he brought the backpack to her and sat down and visited with her.

He heard about her life story, how she did in fact have cancer, was unable to get treatment, had a son who had died six months earlier, and other details about a very difficult life that she had led.

So as he listened, he was thinking and he said to her, I can get you some resources for different kinds of help.

If I do that, will you accept it?

And she said, Yes, she would.

So he left again.

The next that evening he talked to several friends of his and gathered together some in some places that she could get different kinds of help.

And when he went back the next day, he saw her wheelchair under the tree, but she wasn't there.

So he searched the area, but he couldn't find her.

He went back multiple days looking to see if she would be there, and he never saw her again.

He was very distressed that he didn't know what had happened to her, and so he was afraid she had died.

He called a physician friend and said, How do I find out if someone has died?

And he said, Well, you can call the Moors and you can call the hospitals.

And he said, I don't have anything but a first name.

Nevertheless, he went home, he called hospitals, he he gave a description of the woman, he continued to inquire, and was never able to find out what happened to this woman.

When he told me this story, he wept because he could not find out what happened to her.

I can't think of a better description of what Christ calls us to in our stewardship of the resources that you have referred to and that we have that we don't even realize.

I hope that having heard this story will make me more aware of the opportunities that are in front of me that I've not seen before.

And I hope that for all of us.

Thank you.

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly.

And even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away to hold fast to those that shall endure, so continue to walk in love as Christ first loved God.

He gave himself for us an offering and steward of God.

From your own hand have we given to 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 367 of your red prayer book.

Page 367.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is right in a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere, to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the first day of the week overcame death in the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.

Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven, to forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name.

In your word, spoken to the prophets, and above all in the word made flesh, Jesus your Son.

For in these last days you sent him to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

In him, you have delivered us from evil and made us worthy to stand before you.

In him, you have brought us out of error into truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.

On the night before he died for us, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.

And when he had given thanks to you, he broke it and 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, according to his command, O Father, we remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming in glory, and we offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to you, O Lord of all, presenting to you from your creation this bread and this wine.

We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon these gifts, that they may be the sacrament of the body of Christ and his blood of the new covenant.

Unite us to your Son and His sacrifice, that we may be acceptable through Him, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

In the fullness of time, put all things in subjection unto your Christ, and bring us to that heavenly country where with Thomas and all your saints we may enter the everlasting heritage of your daughters and sons through Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation, the head of the church, and the author of our salvation.

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 be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy kingdom 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.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

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

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

Let's pray together.

Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that being the food of charity, it may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you and our neighbor through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Praying, discipleship, the Christian life doesn't have to be the blue iris.

It could be weeds in a vacant lot or a few small stones.

Just pay attention.

Then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate.

This isn't a contest, but the doorway into thanks, and a silence in which another voice may speak.

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.