Easter 4 2022

Good morning.

Welcome to all.

We are happy and proud that you are here today, and we invite you to participate completely in the service, including with all the prayers, all of the singing, and with taking communion at the appropriate time.

Hallelujah! Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen.

Hallelujah.

Let us pray together.

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

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

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

Amen.

Let us pray, O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people.

Grant that when we hear his voice, we may know him who calls us each by name and follow where he leads.

Who with you in the Holy Spirit lives and reigns one God forever and ever.

Amen.

As we are seated, all the children are welcome to go to children's chapel with Ali.

A reading from Acts.

Now in Japba there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas.

She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.

At that time she became ill and died.

When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.

Since Lydia was near Japba, the disciples who heard that Peter was there sent two men to him with a request Please come to us without delay.

So Peter got up and went with them.

And when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs.

All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing to him and other clothing that Darkus had made while she was with them.

Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed.

He turned to the body and said, Tabitha, get up.

Then she opened her eyes and seeing Peter, she sat up.

He gave her his hand and helped her up.

Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.

This became known throughout Japa, and many believed in the Lord.

Meanwhile, he stayed in Japha for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.

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

Thanks be to God.

The psalm appointed for today is Psalm 23.

Please read responsibly at the half-verse.

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not be alive.

You make me lie down in green pastures.

And leave me beside still water.

You revive my soul and guide me along my pathway before your namesake.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.

For you are with me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me.

Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

From every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white with palm branches in their hands.

They cried out in a loud voice, saying, Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb.

And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these robed in white?

And where have they come from?

I said to him, Sir, you are the one who knows.

Then he said to me, These are those who have come out of the great ordeal.

They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

For this reason they are before the throne of God and worship him day and night within the temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them, and they will hunger no more and thirst no more.

The sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd.

And he will guide them to the springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

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

At that time, the festival of the dedication took place in Jerusalem.

It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon.

So the Judeans gathered around him and said to him, How long will you keep us in suspense?

If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.

Jesus answered, I have told you, and you do not believe.

The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me, but you do not believe.

Because you do not belong to my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.

No one will snatch them out of my hand.

What my father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand.

The Father and I are one.

The gospel of the Lord.

Well, I know a little bit.

I used to live in Germany, and at one point I was exalted to the position of installation coordinator at the place where I was stationed.

Now, what that meant was I was the liaison between the U.S.

Army and the Germans, who, after all, owned Germany.

There was on that installation the only golf course in the entire 3rd Infantry Division area.

And it was on my installation.

And there was this shepherd who had an agreement with the U.S.

Army that he could graze his sheep on the golf course in exchange for which we didn't have to pay to have the golf course mowed.

A pretty good deal, huh?

For everybody wins.

This is the classic win-win.

So this shepherd used to show up every day, and he had a cloak, an olive drab cloak, that went all the way through his ankles, and he brought it every day, winter and summer.

Sometimes it was over his arm, but he always had it.

And he had a staff that was about this long and about as big around as this paschal candle here.

And he, in the wintertime, or when the weather was iffy, he would have that cloak on, and he would stand with his feet, you know, two or three feet apart, and the staff was two or three feet in front of his feet, and his hands were on top of that staff, and he sat like stood like this the entire day.

I think he was asleep.

He had a dog, and the dog took care of the sheep.

And I think, I promise you, I I well, I really think that when he came to work in the morning, he told the ball, the dog, we're going to the seventh fairway, and the dog would just take the sheep, and he'd come along at his own pace, and then he'd stand there all day long.

And the dog made sure the sheep were taken care of.

I told you last week that I love reading Revelation in Easter, and you're wondering what this has to do with anything.

I told you last week that I love reading Revelation in Easter, and I do, and today is another example of why.

We get to do this every third year.

We get to read Revelation all through Easter, and it's really, it really is good.

John, the story, you I don't know if you know the story of Revelation.

Revelation was written by the same person or people who wrote the Gospel according to John, from which our gospel lesson is also today.

And also the same person or persons who wrote the three letters of John that are in the New Testament.

So John, the Revelation story goes, John has this vision.

He is granted this vision from God in which he gets to take a tour of heaven, which is pretty cool, I think.

And he has this tour guide with him who is giving him, you know, pointing out things here and there.

You know, these are the Church of Christ people, and in heaven they get to sing, you know.

And and uh the high wall over there, is that's the Roman Catholics because they think they're the only ones here.

So John is is is uh taking this tour.

He goes around, comes around the corner, and he sees this this vision that is described today.

He sees a multitude of people that no one can count.

That's an important line.

We sometimes we just we read over it.

It's a multitude that no one can count.

You can count to 12, right?

Like 12 tribes of Israel?

We can count that far.

You can count to 80,000 in the tribe of Benjamin, can't you?

You can.

You can count to 200,000 in the tribe of Reuben.

You can count that high, can't you?

I can too.

But the point is that John could count that high, and yet John saw a multitude that no one could count, and get this, from every family, language, people, and nation.

That's more than all the Episcopalians that have ever lived.

Which means that the people who are before the throne, the people dressed in white who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, there are people there who didn't grow up like you and I did.

There are people there from every family, language, people, and nation.

Even the nations that do not observe Christianity, even the nations who do not speak English, even the nations where the people are not the same color as you and I are.

Even the nations who go to war with you and me.

I hope you read the blog that Father Mike sent out on Holy Saturday.

If you didn't, and you don't have a copy of it, let me know.

I will send you a copy gladly.

The Holy Saturday blog was about the harrowing of hell.

Now, if you've been an Episcopat a long time like me, and you read very many books, you this phrase is familiar to you, the harrowing of hell.

What it talks about, it is a theology that Jesus went, after Jesus died, Jesus went to the place where all the dead people are.

What you and I might call hell.

Went to the place where people lived who do not know the gospel.

And Jesus redeemed everything.

Jesus redeemed Adolf Hitler.

Jesus redeemed Joseph Stalin.

Jesus redeemed the devil himself and made all of these things part of God's domain.

I don't know about you, but that blows my mind.

But if you bring that down to where you and I can understand, it means that Jesus redeemed Islam.

Jesus redeemed Christians who have slaughtered people in Jesus' name.

Jesus redeemed those things that you and I think are irredeemable.

And those are the ones that John sees in the multitude that no one can count.

And there they are.

Now, the thing I know about sheep is that I can't tell one from another.

I spent 18 months as the installation coordinator in Germany.

I couldn't tell you one sheep from another.

Maybe the shepherd could, I don't know.

He was asleep most of the time.

I can't tell one from another.

And when I hear this story from Revelation about John seeing the multitude, the picture I get in my mind is, and I can't tell one from another.

They're all you and me.

They're all the same.

They're all like us.

And they're all around the throne.

And at the center of the multitude, the one they have chosen to worship and adore forever and ever and ever is the Lamb.

The Lamb is at the center.

The Lamb is the one who holds the authority of love.

That is the authority with which the Lamb rules the kingdom of heaven.

Now, I know that's heaven, and I know this isn't.

But all of our words about heaven are a commentary at some level about earth.

What does it say in there?

It says, These are the ones who have washed their robes.

They will know no hunger.

That's a commentary about earth where people do know hunger.

They will know no thirst.

That's a commentary where people do know thirst.

They will be pre, they will not know any scorching heat.

The sun will not strike them.

They will not have skin cancer.

They will not have any kind of cancer.

They won't have AIDS.

They won't have COVID.

They won't have anything that we suffer from down here.

Every time we talk about heaven, check yourself.

Every time you have a thought about heaven, it is a commentary on what you observe right here, isn't it?

It certainly is.

Now today's Mother's Day, and I'm going to talk to you about my mom just a little bit.

My mom had five kids.

Now, in fact, she was very proud of that.

In fact, she was, we had a our family was around and somebody was talking about kids, and she said, if you want to know about kids, talk to me.

I bore five.

And my sister said, You sure do.

That's a true story.

So Mama had a fiery red-headed boy who came out of the womb needing to wear glasses.

You know?

And he was patient and kind and careful.

Then she had a black-headed son who never wore glasses until he was in his 50s and he only needed them to read, just so that he didn't have to strain to read.

And then she had a toe-headed little boy who grew up to be a soldier and then a preacher.

Then she had a brunette girl who grew up lovely and kind and whose call was to be a mother herself and a business partner and eventually a priest.

And then she had Steve.

Well, he spent his entire career in the Air Force, so what can I say about that?

I mean, I don't even remember what kind of hair he had.

I hope he doesn't listen to this sermon.

And they were, we were a brood.

We were a flock.

But she knew every one of us.

Just like your mother knew you.

She knew all of us by name.

She knew all of our quirks.

She knew which one would not eat green beans.

She knew which one she would have to do battle with if we had liver for dinner.

She knew everything about us.

She knew before I got home that I had gotten in trouble at school.

She knew everything and she loved us with a fierce love.

She loved us with a profound love.

She loved us with a trustworthy love.

She loved us fiercely.

And she was in charge.

And if you don't believe that, ask my dad.

She knew how this family was supposed to work.

And she by darn made sure it worked that way.

And woe be to you if you smarted off to her, or if you made an unacceptable comment to your brother, your older brother, she took, we had a picket fence outside our house that we had taken down because we didn't want a fence there anymore.

Because the dog had died, and so we didn't need a fence to any yards.

Daddy kept the pickets because they were useful.

They were good wood, and they were useful.

And there was a picket there, and I made this comment to my son, and she picked up one of those pickets and wiped me on the behind with it.

And said to me, Don't you ever say such a thing to a child of God again?

That's the fierce love that she had for me and for my brother.

And I include me in the fierce love.

Because she knew that what I said was bad for me.

Not just a snipe at my brother, but it was bad for me.

Now I'm not in favor of abusing children, but in those days I certainly didn't consider it abuse.

I considered it just desserts.

That's the kind of fierce love that helps me to understand that God's love is more like your mother's love than it is like your father's love, at least mine.

My mother, my mother didn't truck with anything that had to do with harming her children.

And neither does God.

Now, that's the kind of love that I hear feel coming from God.

Now I know the Bible was written in a patriarchal day when the people who were strong are the ones who ruled everything.

I know that.

I know that education was withheld from women for years and years and years and years.

I know that.

And I know that the Bible was written the way it was because it described the world that was at the time.

And so we have God as father, and God loves us like a father.

Okay.

But I tell you, I gotta tell you, when I hear the story of the prodigal son, it's not really a man sitting on the front porch in that rocking chair waiting for that boy to show up.

It's mama.

She is sitting there waiting for that boy to show up, and when he does, she rejoices.

I know this because I have lived this.

And maybe I'm not the only one in the room who has lived exactly this.

So here's the multitude.

Back to John.

Here's the multitude that John can't tell apart, but the lamb can tell them apart.

The lamb knows every one of them because the lamb at the center of the throng of people will shepherd them.

He has promised to be their shepherd.

Not their king, not their czar, not their ayatollah, not their president, not their mayor or their governor, but their shepherd.

Domesticated sheep need to be taken to where there's food.

I mean, they can eat when they get there.

Domesticated sheep need to be taken to where there is water.

They need to be protected from the sun and the rain.

They need to be looked out for with a love that is as fierce as death.

In fact, a love, it turns out, that is stronger than death.

Do you have that kind of love in you somewhere?

Maybe you do.

You probably do.

You may not know it, but you probably do.

What is that thing?

Or who is that person?

Or what is that notion that you would lay down your life for?

It exists.

I'm pretty sure it exists.

That's the kind of fierce love that God calls all of us to have now in this community, in this age, in this world.

That's the kind of love that brings you together on the first Saturday of the month to hand food out to people that you don't even know, who are almost certainly not part of your inner, your social circle, whose name you are not familiar with on Twitter.

This is the kind of love with which you and I are supposed to deal with everyone.

Because it's the kind of love that God teaches us day after day after day.

It's the kind of love that God knows will make us happy.

And that's the main thing.

You know, when you love somebody, you want them to be happy.

And God loves us more than anything.

So God wants us to be happy more than anything.

God knows it will make us happy.

And we should love other people with that fierce love.

We can't stand to watch somebody get abused.

We can't go to the nursing home and let the staff shout at the at the patient, at the resident, without saying something about it.

We can't hang around and let somebody tell a joke about some ethnic group without saying something about that.

We can't stand by while people use slurs against fill in the blank and not say anything about it.

Because our fierce love is supposed to be like the lamb's fierce love, which extends to everyone.

Because after all, the people around you are all just you know.

We believe in one God, the Father of 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, life from life, true God from true God, begotten of a one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

For us, for our salvation, he came down from heaven.

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

For our sake he was crucified under consciousness.

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 and 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 through the prophets.

We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

The prayers of the people.

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, God, for the victims of oppression throughout the world, especially the people of Ukraine and Russia, and those who have been silenced by governments, abuse, and poverty, empower and forces and our views to fear them.

For refugees and those displaced by war or strife, they can know peace and hope again.

For those who hunger to satisfy their physical and spiritual needs, mentor and guide elected and appointed officials throughout our world that they may pursue justice with compassion.

For 43 years of female clergy shining your light in the Episcopal Church, we praise you and we thank you, 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 in power, wisdom, love, and knowledge to the 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 be joining you in making Christ visible.

Mend broken relationships and comfort those who are alone.

Strengthen our patience and embolden our forgiveness.

Equip us to emphasize even when we are in pain.

Protect the dignity of those who are in physical decline and hardship, remembering especially Chris, Ken, Nancy, Amber, Christine, Patrick, Barbara, Jan, Austin, Rachel, Marilyn, Lee, and the celebration or petitions the congregation wishes to say, to name at this time silently or aloud.

Holy Spirit, may they re-experience compassion.

We pray for all who have died, especially Deborah and Chris.

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.

First of all, uh if you are visiting with us or are here for the first time, we would love to know that you are here and be able to remember it tomorrow.

Some of us have short memories.

There is a card on one of the round tables out at the Narthex.

And if you would fill out it, and it says welcome across the top, but if you would fill that out and uh and leave it with us, we would be very grateful.

We'd like to like to know you were here and make a note of that, and maybe even if you'd give us contact information, send you some information on the wonderful things that are going on around here at St.

Thomas, which are legion.

This this church is busier than any church I've ever been associated with.

And I used to be associated with the cathedral.

So we do a lot.

The uh uh yesterday was the first Saturday of the month, and we had a food distribution.

Uh, we saw something like 78 cars or something like that.

Is that right, Laura?

67.

67 cars, thank you.

And uh over 250 people uh whom we served food for.

And these are folks that live, some of them live around us, and they have food scarcity.

So this is a great work that you do in Jesus' name here at uh at St.

Thomas.

The Daughters of the King uh meeting that is usually takes place today has been transferred to next Sunday.

So don't expect you're gonna get a lunch from the daughters, not today.

Um we are we are uh we are pleased to have Sue Edrozo with us.

She's right there.

She plays the oboe.

Yes, absolutely.

If I made that announcement after the anthem, you would have been more enthusiastic, I promise you.

Because they were practicing and I heard them, so it's uh it's wonderful.

Um what did I miss?

Oh, oh, no, I did miss.

Uh Wednesday, uh, as you heard uh perhaps, um uh Austin Frame died on Friday.

Uh longtime member of this parish, but has not been here for two years because he's been sick.

And uh his widow, Guru, is with us today, and we're we're pleased.

And she wanted to come today because she hadn't been able to come to church in a couple years because she's been taking care of Austin.

Anyway, his funeral is uh his memorial service will be this Wednesday at ten a.m.

right here in the church.

And uh, you are most cordially welcome.

Walk in love as Christ loves us and gives himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God.

He shall see me.

For its way I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feel all even.

But of Jesus Christ, the shepherd and the sheep.

It is made ready for those who love him and for 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 have failed, come.

Not because the church invites you, it is Christ Himself, and He invites you to meet Him here.

The Lord be with you, and I am also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We give them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give us thanks and praise.

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

But chiefly are we bound to praise you for the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

For he is the true Paschal Lamb, who was sacrificed for us and has taken away the sin of the world.

By his death he has destroyed death, and by his rising to life again, he has won for us everlasting life.

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

Your word spoken through 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 and 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 had 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 everyone, for the forgiveness of sins.

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, 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 in 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 under your Christ, and bring us to that heavenly country where with Austin and St.

Thomas and all your saints we may enter the everlasting heritage of your sons and daughters.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation, the author of our salvation, and the head of the church, 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 say, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

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

Amen.

Take them in remembrance that Christ was willing to die for you and still is.