Lent 5 2022

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Blessed is the Lord who forgives all our sin.

God's mercy endures forever.

Let us give thanks to God for all the gifts freely bestowed upon us.

For the beauty and wonder of your creation in earth and sky and sea.

We thank you, Lord.

For all that is gracious in the lives of women and men, revealing the image of Christ.

We thank you, Lord.

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families and our friends.

We thank you, Lord.

For minds to think, and hearts to love and hands to serve.

We thank you, Lord.

For health and strength to work and leisure to rest and play.

We thank you, Lord.

For the brave and courageous who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity.

We thank you, Lord.

For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, peace, and justice.

We thank you, Lord.

For the communion of saints in all times and places.

We thank you, Lord.

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.

To you be praise and glory with you, O Father and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen.

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

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.

This is the first and greatest commitment, and the second is like unto it.

Thou shalt love the neighbor as thyself.

On these two commitments hang all the law and the prophets.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners.

Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise.

That among the swift and varied changes of the world our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found.

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

Amen.

And our children are invited to children's chapel with Mr.

Alex in the back as you're being seated.

Who brings out a chariot and a horse, an army and a warrior.

They lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished.

Like a whim.

Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing.

Now it springs forth.

Do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the offices.

For I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to drink to my chosen people, the people whom I form for myself, so that they might declare my prayer.

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

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then was our mouth filled with laughter.

Then they said among the nations, The Lord has the Lord has done great things for us.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord.

Those who sowed with tears, those who go out weeping, carrying the seed.

Circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, labor.

Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.

More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, my Lord.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his suffering by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own.

Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own.

But this one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the price of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

There they gave a dinner for Jesus.

Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.

Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair.

The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?

Judas said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief.

He kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.

Jesus said, Leave her alone.

She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial.

You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.

The gospel of the Lord.

Acknowledge, we humbly beseech thee a lamb of thine own fold, a sheep of thine own flock, a sinner of thine own redeeming, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Sometimes we don't realize that the Gospels have variants in terms of the sequencing of events.

So I want to be clear that the story you hear today in John, six days before the Passover, in the Gospel of Mark happens three days before the Passover, and it is what happens on what we would call the Tuesday of Holy Week or Holy Tuesday.

It's a significant story in Mark, and Mark adds a little bit here that you don't see in John, because this is the point at which Judas decides to betray Jesus, and without which, you see, we wouldn't have Friday or Easter, and it's about a bottle of perfume.

It's a difficult scene because a denarius is a day's wage, so when you have three hundred denarii, that's like three hundred days worth of wages.

So let's just round up a little bit and say this is a year's salary.

We don't the perfume like that doesn't even exist in the world anymore.

There's nothing that expensive.

I have some.

It cost me like$7.

Back then, you have to remember, and I'm gonna kind of let you smell it if you want, but you don't have to, uh, because I want you to know what$100,000 or$200,000 or$50,000, whatever it is you make in a year, this is that in a bottle.

You gotta remember back in the ancient world, it was smelly.

I mean, the restroom was the streets.

And there wasn't any axe body spray, and there wasn't any kind of deodorant.

And this pure nard came, uh it's resin from a tree that only grows in Tibet.

So imagine this is before cars and planes, people are uh moving this pretty rare resin, and part of what we don't know in the story is where did Mary get that kind of money?

And you all understand that once you pour perfume on somebody, it is now worth nothing.

It's a total conversion of a year's worth of assets to zero dollars.

And I suspect if you're anything like me, you might agree with Judas.

A year's worth of assets?

So you could smell like this?

Wait, you smell it.

Look, some of y'all are gonna say, like, oh, that's really sweet and floral.

And some of y'all are gonna say, ugh, that's like saccharin and gross.

I'll let you decide, but I doubt anybody's gonna say, man, I wish I could work a whole year of my life so that I could smell like that for a day.

Now, what you gotta know, right, is this was so expensive nobody had smelled it in the room.

The disciples had never smelled this.

I don't even know what to compare it to.

You know, like I don't really understand how we can monetarily compare this because there is no commodity like this in the world.

And look, we all get, because many of us are government engineers.

This could have been more efficiently managed, stewardship-wise, right?

I mean, you you you really could.

I don't even know what to say this would be like.

Maybe somebody needs some shoes downtown and they're chronically homeless.

Uh so I go buy them some Yeezys, which are like$700 shoes.

You would say, Mike, that's crazy.

You could go to Payless and buy 70 pairs of shoes.

I mean, why does somebody need, well, why does anybody need Yeezys?

I don't know.

I guess they're that cool.

I don't own them, so I can't I can't say.

But I take issue because when you read Jesus at face value, he says something, and be fair.

It's a little infuriating.

Well, you'll always have poor people, but you won't always have me.

It's a little bit bothersome, don't you think?

I'm just gonna pass it in the back.

I'll ask you to pass it because we've got enough people here, you don't need me weaving.

If you read Jesus at face value, I want to tell you you should be offended.

But one of the things we don't often realize is that at the time of Jesus, in order to have your bar mitzvah, one had to memorize what we call Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Memorize.

So when somebody throws a quote out that's short, they're asking the audience to go into recall and remember the passage.

This is a quote from Deuteronomy.

The poor you will always have with you.

It references a passage that says, it's because you're tight-fisted that you'll always have the poor with you.

It's because your hand is closed that you will always have the poor with you.

And Deuteronomy says, therefore, open your hand to your brother and sister, whether they be known to you or alien.

That might be a little bit nonsensical, what I've said, but I want you to put it together a little bit and hear that what happens in the story is something probably best labeled offensive generosity.

Offensive generosity.

And actually, I wonder if it isn't an opportunity for us here on the cusp of Holy Week to rethink the joy of giving of generosity itself.

Judas is offended that this woman has chosen to give something Jesus didn't deserve.

You ever been offended that somebody got an extravagant gift?

I have.

They didn't earn that.

Why are you giving them that?

They don't deserve that.

Of course you don't deserve gifts.

That's why they're called gifts.

When you deserve them, they're called wages.

We forget that in a second.

And you know, there's this Western compulsion we have.

Like somebody says, you know, let me know if you need anything, and 95% of the time, I'm sure you say what I say.

Oh, I don't need anything.

Because you won't be needy, right?

Worst thing you can be is a needy person.

What we forget though is that there are fundamental human needs.

Fundamental human needs.

I'm not just talking about water and shelter and food.

I'm talking about dignity and peace and respect.

Those are fundamental human needs.

Now you may think you don't need them, but let me tell you, you need those things.

You need all of them.

So does the person living under the bridge, so does the person you hate.

They need dignity, they need peace, they need meaning in their life.

I mean, we haven't debated this for a long time.

This is part of Maslow's hierarchy, right?

So I want you to consider this story from a different angle.

Could Mary have met Jesus' needs for dignity and respect a different way?

Maybe.

Needs are universal, strategies are contextual.

That's the difference between needs and strategies.

Usually we can agree on needs, it's the strategies we get bought down on.

Mary's strategy is spent years worth of wages and pour it on the guy's head.

I don't know if I'd use that strategy.

But part of what we miss from the story, right, is that we all say Jesus Christ.

Now, Christ is a Greek word, and it means The same thing as Messiah means in Hebrew.

They're synonyms from different languages.

Literally, they both mean anointed one.

So the Messiah and the Christ are anointed ones.

And many of you heard me say this before.

In the Bible, the Hebrew Bible, kings were not made with a crown.

They were made when a prophet anointed somebody with oil.

So here that without this scene, Jesus was not the Christ.

This is when Jesus is christened.

Anointed with oil.

Didn't happen in the River Jordan.

That's water.

That didn't count.

It's with this oil.

So strange.

Look, that container is like five years old.

And it still smells, right?

So imagine what the oil would smell like.

You would smell it for a month.

You may not like it, but it doesn't smell like poop.

I mean, you just I want you to hear that, right?

And you know, like in Elizabethan England, when people went to use perfume, they wiped it on their lip.

So they didn't have to smell the street.

I don't know if y'all know that.

It wouldn't risk.

It was so they didn't have to smell everybody else.

This lady has poured it on his feet, which I mean, he's still gonna smell the street when he's done, right?

And it's a cloud.

And it's offensive.

Now I want to tell you a story about offensive needs of generosity.

I'm gonna tell you a couple of them.

When I was in the Diocese of San Diego, we made a really big deal.

San Diego has a pretty large homeless population, you can imagine why.

It's nice all year.

And it turns out that there's a big population that lives in Ocean Beach.

Now, in La Jolla, they'll arrest you for being homeless, but in Ocean Beach you live there.

And so the former Bishop of San Diego built the diocesan center, like the diocesan offices in Ocean Beach to be an epicenter for service.

And they got this idea on Maundy Thursday, which is coming up, right?

Um, that they would do foot washing, but they would particularly do it for homeless women and men.

And after having your feet washed, you could have a new pair of shoes.

Now, you didn't have to have your feet washed to get the shoes.

The shoes were gonna you're gonna get them either way.

So you, you know, it wasn't a bait and switch.

Um, and sure enough, the bishop wore his purple cassock.

I wish you'd worn a chazable and a miter, that would have been better, right?

I mean, dressed to the nines would have been the best.

I wasn't the bishop.

Wash these people's feet.

They got a hot breakfast, they got a meal to take with them, and then it was spa day for the homeless.

So you could get a haircut, you could get a massage, uh, you could get uh your teeth checked and whitened.

Well, if you're homeless, why do you need your teeth whitened?

If you're homeless, why do you need a massage?

Don't you need like job training?

Because you need human dignity.

And haircuts may sound funny, but I'll tell you because I gave those haircuts for five years.

I'm not a licensed cosmetologist.

Uh I started cutting my dog's hair.

And then my son really liked me cutting his hair, so I cut my son's hair, and then I would fix my wife's haircuts, and that's what got me there.

And the truth is, no licensed cosmetologist wanted to do it.

I actually cut hair next to this guy who worked at like a, he went to like Tony and Guy or Vidal soon or something.

He gave like$40,$50 haircuts.

And every time he was done, he would look and be like, I just don't think I can do this.

Their hair is so dirty.

And I'm afraid to use my$300 scissors on their hair because it's gonna, well, it's gonna dole your scissors.

Like dirty hair is hard on the tools, right?

And I came to terms really fast because I thought, you know, instead of giving these people massages, we could give them something else.

But you know, the haircut thing was the inside, just doing it, showing up, because I would almost guarantee you, once a year people could have somebody touch them on the head and want to do it, and want to honor them.

Spa day for the homeless isn't a luxury.

It meets human needs touch, dignity, respect.

You need those things as much as the person under the bridge.

We have different strategies for meeting those needs, but I think this story is a little bit about where we choose to give.

Now I'm gonna tell you, if you've ever worked with people in poverty, they're real confusing to people who were raised in the middle class.

In fact, there's a whole book about it.

It's called Bridges Out of Poverty, and it reveals that we have ways of thinking about money and dignity because of the way we were raised.

But not everybody has.

So look, I know people who they're living foot to mouth, hand to mouth, that's what you say, right?

Hand to mouth, and they'll buy, they'll buy these$7 Starbucks coffees.

And I make this really stupid assumption.

Well, if they just didn't buy that coffee, they'd have enough to live.

No, they wouldn't.

And why do they do it?

They do it so they can feel like they're a human being.

Because us human beings, we buy that stuff, right?

And then we upbraid them for acting like us.

And what I'm telling you is part of the reason we don't get poverty, because we weren't raised in it.

But that's a need to feel like you're important.

Maybe you don't like their strategy, but think about the need that they have, that you have.

And this woman goes to meet Jesus' needs, and Judas gets offended because she could have been more efficient.

My worst moments as a parent is when I give something to my kids and then realize I hadn't given it to them at all.

I had invested it or loaned it to them.

I hope you get the difference.

A loan is when I'm going to control your outcomes, and I reserve the right to have my collateral back.

Nothing wrong with loans, let's just call them that.

Let's not give somebody something, pretend it's a gift, and then get offended with what they do with the gift.

I might only be talking to myself.

I am definitely talking to myself.

Let me be clear.

And you know what the scriptures tell us over and over again: God loves a cheerful giver, not a cheerful investor.

And here's a lady who gives cheerfully.

And I don't like it.

Because you could have fed a lot of people with that stuff.

Could have.

And Deuteronomy suggests to me that because my hand is closed to people who give in ways I would not, that that is why there will always be poor people in the land, regardless of their economics.

Because it is spiritual poverty to mistake gifts with loans.

Sometimes we get these moments that are kind of like this story.

Like once upon a time, I was taking youth groups to do mission project work, and we went to Appalachia, and we were working on this lady's trailer, and man, we were motivated to give.

Of course, what we wanted to do was give her a trailer that looked like a little bit like the houses we lived in.

She couldn't have cared less about that.

I'm gonna be really clear.

So I was prepared to super work, and man, I did.

Uh the countertops were in really bad condition, so I made new ones, and because I worked as a tile contractor, um, I thought, you know, I'm gonna make some cut countertops and a tile.

Didn't have a tile saw.

I don't know if you've ever worked with tile before.

It's important when you need to cut tile that you have a tile.

So I got it all done, and then there was like this strip.

And what was I gonna do?

Well, let me tell you what won't work.

Using an abrasive blade on your skill saw and pouring water on it while you uh spin it.

Because it it dissolves the blade.

So what I did was I took some tile and I smashed it with a hammer, and then I laid it in the delta and called it a mosaic.

Now, I asked for her permission first.

Can I do this thing?

I think it would be very nice, and I'll tell you a tiled countertop has a lot of longevity, it's easy to clean, like it's not so bad, right?

Gonna be better than any laminate countertop.

She said to me, Well, just do whatever you do in your house.

Well, in my house, I'd go to the granite yard, right?

That's where I realized the work was an excuse.

The work is an excuse.

People don't need countertops.

What they need is dignity and respect.

That's a need, not a want.

So it was a turnaround moment.

I'm still bad about this because I'm I love getting stuff done.

But I do tell people when we go to work that this work is an excuse because without it, you would never meet these people.

You would never talk to them.

You're gonna come away from this with more than they are.

I don't care how much money you invest, because at the end of the day, they're gonna live like they live.

I hope I'm not saying anything you don't understand here.

Painting that trailer was not gonna lift that lady out of poverty, was not.

She lived in a system of poverty.

What it was gonna do is say people with means beyond hers deigned to spend time with her.

And if we did that, spent time with her and not fixing her home, you get the difference.

It was a trip well done.

On the other hand, if we came in like the great white hope and we gave her tile countertops and we saved her life, we reinforced our own narrative of spiritual poverty.

Look, it's not all about me, but three or four years ago, we hosted this tremendous art exhibition, and you're looking at some of the remnants of it here.

There's five of them out here in the sanctuary, and there's one out there.

And um, there were 168 pieces, they were hanging off the beams, and it was really, really lovely.

And the couple who came, Herb and Donna hosted them in their home.

I mean, they're really lovely people.

Really easy to get along with, thoughtful, and we got on pretty well.

I don't know why, but we got on really well.

And and I've been really um grateful to recommend their work to churches that are considering hosting it, because it was transformational here, I thought.

And um about a year ago, I thought, you know, man, I think I missed out because I I really a couple of their pieces really spoke to me, and and one, and probably nobody else liked it, was just an eye.

It's like an eye, because in the iconic tradition, an eye is a gate to the soul.

And and I'll tell you, uh, I'd always thought about God watching me constantly with a ledger.

Naughty and nice.

And I found myself, even like when I was a kid, and grew up hearing that, God's always watching.

I was like, can I just go to the bathroom?

Like, have a moment, God?

Uh but that was a theology I grew up in, was God was always evaluating.

And Ludmilla gave me this picture, but also it's like, no, no, no, don't you see?

God's always watching because God's curious.

What are you gonna do next?

Not like, I wonder what he's gonna do next.

I wonder what's he gonna do next.

So I asked them a year ago, you still have that one?

And they said, well, yeah, you know, but it's kind of been shut down because of COVID.

But, you know, like look, we'll we'll figure something out later.

I didn't hear from them for a year.

Didn't ask again.

I was ready to buy it.

I want to be clear.

And it was as I consider art as expensive, you know, which is why I don't have any.

But here I was ready to do this.

And then on Thursday, this big box came from Christchurch Cathedral in Cincinnati, Ohio.

And there it was in the box.

And I pay attention to things like the stamp was$58.63.

It seemed like an expensive stamp.

And then there was this little note in there.

And it said, feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

This is our gratitude and appreciation for everything you've done for us and our exhibition, icons and transformation.

And you know, when I read that note, the first thing I thought was, how do I get them some money?

And the second thing I thought was, I don't deserve this.

And the third thing I thought is, how will I pay them back?

And that's spiritual poverty.

Because it was a gift.

I could burn it in my fireplace, and I don't think it would change what's on this card.

By the way, that's how you know it's a gift.

If somebody mistreats it and you still love that you gave it, that's how you know it's a gift.

We've been sold a lie that God invests in us.

We've been told a lie that God will invest grace in us, but we better use it carefully.

And that's the ultimate poverty of the Spirit.

God is a joyful giver.

It's really important for me as an evangelical to say this.

You may not want to hear it.

God is so dignified that there's nothing you can do to affront God's dignity.

If you hate God, God can handle it.

Increasingly, I believe that.

And I think this story is about that.

The truth is, if I asked where I am on the story, more often than not, I'm Judas.

And we know where that's gonna go because we've heard the story before.

This is our chance before Holy Week to change our role in the story.

Now, it's about economics, but it's also about how we give to our children and our families and our friends and our aging parents.

And I think what we all understand is that some of the gifts we appreciate the most have relatively no cash value.

Relatively none.

But they transformed us.

And I don't do it very well.

But God helped me, I want to.

I want to.

I want to give like Mary, even if it's just a hello.

You know hello is a gift if the person ignores you and you're not mad.

Otherwise, it was a loan.

And here, ahead of Holy Week, I think we're asked to consider Holy Week was a gift.

Not an investment.

God, I want us to give like that.

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

We believe in one God, the Father the Alright, Maker of the Earth, all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally God the Father, God from God, light from light, true from God from true God, begotten our name, of one name of the Father.

Through him all things were made.

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

By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary and was made.

For our Savior He was crucified and pontified, he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again and ordered to the scriptures.

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

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

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

With the Father and Son we is worshiped and glorified.

He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church.

We have not in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

I ask your prayers for God's people throughout the world, for all people and ministers, for our priests in our community, Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, for our bishops, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, in the diocesan circle of prayer, St.

Peter's at Brenham, St.

Philip, Hearn, St.

Thomas, College Station, and for Justin, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and for our presiding bishop, Michael, to pray for the church.

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

And vision to plant the seeds of your kingdom everywhere.

Pray for justice and peace.

I ask your prayers for our parish and our victory.

That the source of wisdom may guide us, that the source of strength may support us, and the source of love may unify us.

Pray that our community may discern clearly and minister effectively.

I ask your prayers for St.

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

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

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

Pray for those in any need of our God.

I ask your prayers for all of the seeker of God.

For you are gracious, and to you we give glory.

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

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep.

We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.

We have offended against thy holy laws.

We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.

But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us.

Spare thou those who confess their faults.

Restore thou those who are penitent, according to thy promises declared unto humankind in Christ Jesus our Lord, and grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life to the glory of thy holy name.

Amen.

God forgives you.

Forgive others.

Forgive yourself.

Amen.

I will no longer wound myself with thoughts and questions that have surrounded me like thorns.

That is a penance you do not ask of me.

You have made my soul for your peace and your silence.

Amen.

I hope you hear that prayer of Thomas Merton's as a way of accepting the gift God has given us.

You don't have to.

But God's gift is so good that the past has been put away.

Like for good.

So now we stand up, and full of that, we're able to accept and offer one another the peace of the Lord be always with you.

If you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the Narthix, that's the room right behind the one you're sitting in, are these little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one out so we have a record of your visit.

And thanks for worshiping with us today.

There's a couple announcements I want to call to your attention, but first, it is the first Sunday in April.

So if you were born in April, I'd like to invite you up so that we can celebrate the feast of your nativity and offer you God's blessing.

Some months are about quality and not quantity, and we get that.

Our practice as you come up is we're going to share our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both.

My name is wait, what your name is.

My name is Kristen.

My birthday is April 19th.

I was born in St.

Louis, Missouri.

Carolyn Judy, April 3rd.

1947.

My granddaughter said you're three quarters away.

Jenny Thomas, April 17th, 1941.

And I was born in Waxahatchie, Texas.

I'm Glenn Galeggi, April 30th, 1948, on the south side of Chicago.

And it is one Rebecca Andrews' birthday this month.

That's my partner.

She was born April the 11th in Norway, Maine.

Well, let's pray for our birthdays.

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

Look with continued favor, curiosity, and wonder on your children as they begin another year.

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

Amen.

I mean, it's incredible.

I've never seen that much in my life.

Um, but we served 355 people um food in about 90 minutes.

And this is an ongoing ministry that we have on the first Saturday of the month.

The next one will be May 1st, and you're always invited to serve as little or as long as you like.

But it's absolutely joyful to load somebody's car up with the same kind of groceries you and I would buy, because that's really what what we're doing.

Uh so thank you everybody who served for that.

Um, I also want to make sure you know uh that last night we had a really lovely delayed gala for the school.

Thanks for many of you for showing up, enjoying yourselves, and making donations and picking souvenirs.

Uh it's a great way to give and it's a great way to live.

And of course, the school uh is grateful.

I'm the voice of the school today, so thank you uh for that.

On the way out today, I want to make sure you see the art exhibition from our school teacher, uh Becca Lowe.

Uh, it's gonna come down on Saturday.

So today or this week is your last chance to see it.

And Becca told me something I was remiss to not share.

Uh there's prices on these things, but those are the prices she would charge at an art show.

And if you're interested in any of the pieces, they're half off the price that you see.

So just want to make sure you know that, and there's contact information there.

I want to brag on her for a second because last year my third grade daughter was taught how to do a perspective drawing, you know, like with a vanishing point.

I learned that in art history when I was in college.

You know, like there's that school of Athens, and there's Plato and Socrates, and everything converges, cool technique, learned about it.

My eight-year-old made one of those drawings.

I still haven't.

So that's the kind of quality of education that happens, that happens here in Becca's tremendous.

And you're gonna hear next week that our school is putting on a spring musical, and you're always invited to school events.

And the spring musical is related to the Passion and Holy Week, and Jim will tell you a little bit more about that next week in your opportunities to attend if you'd like.

Speaking of Holy Week, that starts next Sunday with Palm Sunday.

And we know it's a high holy day at St.

Thomas when you can smell bacon since you can.

Next week at 9 o'clock, there'll be a hot breakfast put on by the holy smokers.

Uh, you just sort of you don't have to sign up, you just come into Christ Hall from 9 and they serve till about 9.15.

Um, always a great way to start uh to start Holy Week and look through your e-news, but I'll just remind you that Holy Week has a number of opportunities to really live into the rhythms of half the Gospels, right?

So half the Gospels are about the last week.

You'll see there's a chance to walk the stations of the cross on Wednesday, and there's a uh Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, there's two chances, and then on Easter Sunday, there's the Easter Vigil that happens at 6.30 in the morning.

Half of it's by candlelight, and then there's the two Easter services as well.

I want you to know, and you'll hear this next week, when they made the new prayer book 47 years ago, um it's older than I am, they decided that people don't care about Holy Week.

So on Palm Sunday, it ends with the reading of the Passion Narrative.

I want you to care about Holy Week.

So we're gonna read it, but I encourage you to come on Maundy Thursday, on Good Friday, the Easter Vigil, because there's no service like those.

None.

The drama of the liturgy is um it's really transporting.

If you've never been, I really encourage you to come and soak those services in.

Again, it's an opportunity not just to remember the story like in your mind, but to in some ways interact with the story in a new and holy way.

And since I won't be here next week, I'm just encouraging you to have a holy week, one way or another.

Um, you'll see in uh both the e-news and on the little papers out there that have the calendar for the month that Jim will be providing pastoral services and Sunday morning planning in my absence, beginning on Wednesday of this week.

So uh you'll see his cell phone number, reminder that's for like emergencies, and he's very open to calling them.

So please, Jim is here, he's worshiped with us for like two years very regularly.

Um don't get too attached because I'm coming back.

Uh, but we're grateful in advance for what Jim is gonna do.

And while we're talking about generous gifts, I just want to mention to you I mean, look, this thing coming up, we're contractually obligated to do it.

But that's not your spirit.

Your spirit has been go and enjoy yourself.

Or don't.

Just go.

And that's a gift.

That's a gift.

So continue to walk in love.

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

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, there's two roses on the table.

That's because we had two new children of God born this week.

One is for Harrison Sellers, great-grandson to Graciela Cavula, and the other is to William Ventris, nephew to Elizabeth Rader.

So grateful to adorn God's table with two new children of God today.

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 340 of your red prayer book.

Page 340.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

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

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

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

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.

And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this, all of you.

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

Do this as oft as you shall drink it in remembrance of me.

Wherefore, O Lord and Heavenly Father, we thy people do celebrate and make with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy son hath commanded us to make, having in remembrance his blessed passion and precious death, his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming again with power and great glory.

We most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and with thy word and Holy Spirit to bless and sanctify these gifts of bread and wine, that they may be unto us the body and blood of thy dearly beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness to accept this, our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, whereby we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies.

Grant, we beseech thee that all who partake of this holy communion may worthily receive the most precious body and blood of our thy Son Jesus Christ, and be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction.

And also that we and all thy whole church may be made one body with Him, that He may dwell in us and we in Him, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, by whom and with whom and in whom.

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

Amen.

Now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to pray, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day 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 seek the peace.

These are the gifts of God.

And we are the people of God.

And I'm going to invite you to receive Eucharist at the rail.

So if you're sitting in this section, I'll invite you to start over here on my far right, your far left.

If you're sitting in this section, I'm going to invite you to come directly to the rail here, and we'll stack this way.

And if you can't make it to the rail, we will bring communion to you.

Let's pray together.

Almighty and ever-living God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us in these holy mysteries with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the current glorified of thy favor and goodness towards us.

And that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy son, the blessed company of all faithful people, and are also heirs through the hope of thy everlasting kingdom.

And we humbly beseech thee, O Heavenly Father, so to accept us with thy grace, that we may continue in thy holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to offer through Jesus Christ our Lord to come with thee in the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without an end.

Amen.

Do not pray for an easy or fast sabbatical from your priest.

Pray to be more faithful people.

Do not pray for opportunities or quiet equal to your energy, but for energy from the Holy Spirit equal to the ministry needs in our community.

And then the living of your work will be no miracle.

You will be the miracle.

Every day you will look at yourself with God and wonder.

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.

Will you receive our farewell?

I will get a free.

And the heart of God's servants.

Let us pray.

God of unchangeable goodness and compassion, whose graciousness we find at every time, head and place, pour your continual blessing upon your servant Mike.

Open his eyes, his heart, and his mind to the discovery of new abilities, new experiences, and new places in which to find your grace.

Keep him safe in his travels and faithful in his learning.

May his time of rest be a sign of the peace to which you invite all your children.

Reveal to him your love and mercy.

Reveal in him the heart of the servant leader you have called him to be.

Grant that his family may rejoice and be filled with your grace in the time they are together and away from us.

And bring all of us, bring all of them back to us, renewed and strengthened, for the ways of righteousness and service toward which you call us.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May the God of all creation go with you.

May Christ who calls us all to faith and service strengthen you.

May the Holy Spirit who enlightens your mind fill you with wisdom.

And may the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you and all of us this day and always.