Lent 1 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.

So 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 reside 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, 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 grace and glory.

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 morally magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and greatest commitment.

And the second is like unto it.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

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

Let us pray.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the accuser.

Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations, and as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save.

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

Amen.

As you're being seated, our children are welcome to Children's Church in the back with Mr.

Alex.

When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name.

You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord sword of our ancestors together.

When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God.

A wandering Aramean was my ancestor.

He went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, a few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.

When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors.

The Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power and with signs and wonders.

He brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.

You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God.

Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.

Because you have made the Lord your refuge and the most high your habitation.

There shall no evil happen to you, neither shall any way come near your dwelling.

For God shall give angels charge over you.

They shall bear you in their hands.

You shall tread upon the lion and the adder.

Therefore will I deliver you.

I will protect you.

You shall call upon me, and I will answer you.

With long life will I satisfy you.

On your lips, and in your heart.

That is the word of faith that we proclaim.

Because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For one believes with the heart and so is justified.

And one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

The scripture says no one who believes in him will be put to shame.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

The same Lord is Lord of all.

And is generous to all who call upon him.

For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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

After his baptism, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the slanderer.

He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, Jesus was famished.

The slanderer said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.

Jesus answered him, It is written, one does not live by bread alone.

Then the slanderer led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world, and the slanderer said to him, To you I will give their glory and all this authority, for it has been given over to me, and they give it to anyone I please.

If you then will worship me, it will all be yours.

Jesus answered him, It is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.

And then the slanderer took him up to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to protect you, and on their hands that will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

Jesus answered him, It is said, do not put the Lord your God to the test.

And when the slanderer had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

The gospel of the Lord.

Guide with thy wisdom those who take counsel for the nations of the earth, that in tranquility thy dominion may increase till the earth is filled with the knowledge of thy love through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever.

Amen.

Please be seated.

I hope you hear that that colic is as relevant to the gospel reading today, as is the current situation in our world involving, of course, Ukraine.

And I want to back my way into that.

And first, let me start by talking about how every Lent one we hear what we call the temptation of Jesus.

And I just want to remind you that if we read it at the surface level, it makes no sense at all.

So if you read it at the surface level, Jesus is hungry and he's tempted to turn to turn a rock into bread.

Great.

When you're hungry, you should eat.

There's nothing morally wrong with eating when you're hungry.

So if you're hungry and you think I should not eat, I would advise you to reconsider.

When you hear the accusers say, bow down to me and I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world.

If you think about the red guy with the horns and the pitchfork, I mean, really, is the Son of God tempted to Satanism?

That doesn't even make any sense.

If Jesus is God, why would he be tempted to be a Satanist?

So I hope you've heard intentionally me change that word.

The word diabolos in Greek means slanderer.

It means throwing so much at somebody as to throw it through them.

When King James translated the Bible into English in 1611, of course he didn't do it, his folk did.

By then they'd come up with this idea that there was this incarnation of evil opposed to God that we call the devil, which was red and had horns and a trident, and again was the epitome of all evil.

And I'm not saying that isn't the case, I'm just saying it isn't biblical.

So when you hear this story, don't think about the red guy.

Think about somebody who is throwing so much at Jesus as to try to throw it through him.

So let's talk about what most scholars do at this passage first.

What most scholars will tell you is that this represents Jesus being tempted to be the Messiah people wanted instead of the Messiah God called him to be.

So that word Messiah, it means anointed one in Hebrew.

The translation in Greek is Christ, which also means anointed one.

And at the time of Jesus, people in Judea were oppressed by Rome.

They were a satellite state of the Roman Socialist Republic.

They expected that their Messiah would end hunger.

Now, if you look out there, you won't see much stones you can turn into bread.

Because we live in Texas.

But if you've been to Israel, or frankly, if you've been to San Diego, pretty similar.

You could turn stones into bread, you'd end world hunger.

Would that be a bad thing?

I actually think we'd all be pretty thrilled about it.

Instead of hearing that Jesus is tempted to worship the red guy, please hear that not only was Jesus perhaps capable of raising an army to defeat the Romans, he could overrun the world.

So here's the temptation.

Jesus, you ought to be in charge.

You ought to be the king.

And Jesus said, hey, actually, maybe God should be the king.

I doubt there's a single person in the room that would disagree with what I'm getting ready to say.

Jesus would be a better king than Tiberius Caesar.

Jesus would be a better president than you pick.

It's probably true.

But what Jesus decided is that's not what I'm here to do.

Please hear that.

This other thing about jumping off the temple, it's like what a 12-year-old would do, 12-year-old boy would do if they were God.

And like go jump off and float around.

It's not really tempting to me as an adult.

I'm kind of afraid of heights.

Remember that if you were of the Jewish faith, Jerusalem was the epicenter, like the naval of the world.

And during Passover, Jerusalem swelled from 50,000 residents to more than 500,000 residents.

So imagine somebody jumping off a 70-foot building that is God's house on earth and floating to the ground.

Pretty clear sign, this is the guy.

And Jesus says, don't put God to the test.

And of course, he's not talking about himself in that moment.

He's saying, Why would I test God to catch me when I jump off a building?

Please hear that this is a temptation to do some good work, and Jesus has chosen to do something that's better.

And quite honestly, temptations usually run that way for me.

They're not usually the difference between absolute evil and heavenly good.

Usually they're just the difference between two things.

One of which is often better.

Now, I'm still not super satisfied with what I just told you because if we leave it there, where are you in the story?

I mean, I don't think I'm the Messiah.

And to be honest, I don't think the Lord's called me to liberate countries under repression with my strong rule and decision making and statistical analysis.

So it's been really helpful for me to hear Bishop Stephen Charleston, who is a Native American and a bishop in the Episcopal Church, say that this actually means something quite different to Native Americans.

And the way they typically understand this encounter in the Native American community is in the context of a vision quest.

So do keep in mind, Jesus has been living a regular old life for 30 years.

Far as we know, he didn't do anything special.

He was a tecton, like a carpenter or a day laborer.

That's what he did.

And then one day he had a vision.

He had it in the River Jordan when his cousin John baptized him.

And then he's doing, well, what's pretty normal in the Native American community, depending which sovereign nation you belong to, he goes out into the desert to have a vision.

And that usually means that there's this call to do some discernment.

Who has God called me to be?

There's a community of support.

Those are going to be his family and his disciples.

He's going to do something in preparation, whether that's a sweat lodge or that's giving up food for 40 days, you see?

It's a way of preparing for this vision.

And when the discernment comes in the Native American community, it's always designed to say, what are my individual gifts and how can they uphold the community?

So the Native American vision quest never ends in individualism.

It always ends in individuality that upholds a community.

And that's part of the contrast.

So in the Native American Community, stones are older than we are.

They're our elders.

Now, look, nobody thinks that we're identical to stones.

But in the Native American community, stones being our elders, we're meant to have relationship and care with them.

And so look, if you go around changing stones into bread, you're using subjects like they're objects.

Now, you may not buy the Native American spirituality, but I hope you'll hear that.

Part of Jesus' vision is people are subjects, not objects.

I often find myself objectifying people.

Especially when I don't like how they're driving.

Especially when I don't like how they vote.

Especially when I don't like their Facebook posts.

That story speaks to me.

I'm in that story.

I bet you are too.

The Native Americans hear this bit about the sky and they're reminded who owns the sky.

So Jesus going up in the sky.

Who owns the sky?

And the Native Americans are very clear.

Nobody.

Rather, actually, the sky owns us.

So when we think about what we own as opposed to whose we are, the Native American response is this is something akin to Jesus saying, give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's.

And so often I make the mistake of practicing and exercising my rights instead of leaning into righteousness.

I think of what is mine instead of what is God's.

And I will say, as a parent, it's very relieving for me to remember, especially in moments of stress, that these are God's children.

Now sometimes I could say that in a silly way.

You are not my child, you're on loan from the Lord.

But there's also something very liberating and inviting into the stewardship we have with our children and spouses to recognize these are children of God like I am.

Mountains are the pinnacle of wisdom in the Native American community.

They're also the place of reverence for elders because it turns out most Native American communities bury people in mounds above the ground, not down into the earth.

So the Native American read about going to the mountaintop is an invitation for corporate and communal wisdom.

And you see that the way that Jesus responds to accusation, you can do it.

You have to do it.

Nobody else can.

Boy, I feel like that a lot.

It's all riding on me.

You ever felt like that?

Tempting, isn't it?

There could even be some truth in it, huh?

And this is where it leads me, actually, to think about where I am in the story for Len, right?

Because I've told you before, I'm really tempted to be more efficient than I already am.

Of course, you know, there's this irony that the more efficient we are, the less leisure time we have.

The faster we answer email, the more emails we're going to have.

And there's this mistake in thinking, oh, I just got to get this done, and then, because the then never comes, nor is it promised.

So I have fear of missing out.

Part of my Latin journey is to embrace the joy of missing out.

When I embrace the joy of missing out, what I decide is I am deciding, the root of that word, right, is to cut off.

I'm cutting off some possibilities.

I've chosen to do that so that I can be here.

So I have the joy of missing out of that stuff I've cut off.

You may be saying, Mike, that doesn't sound like what Jesus was doing.

You could be right.

But the question is, where are you in the story?

Where are you in the story?

You see, I think Jesus was tempted to do some really good work, like be king of the world.

And man, sometimes I sure think it'd be great if we could get rid of all the evildoers in the world.

And the sword is a convenient way to do that, whether their name is Tiberius Caesar or Vladimir Putin.

But the gospel doesn't say that Vladimir Putin deserves to die, nor does the gospel proclaim that Vladimir Putin is loved less by God than you and I are.

This is what makes peacemaking difficult.

Because we believe in accountability, but the moment we sacrifice human dignity, we have erred and wandered from God's ways like lost sheep.

It is easier to hate somebody than to hold accountability and dignity at the same time.

And my father's temptation when he went to Vietnam was to call Vietnamese people chinks and gooks because it made it easier to kill them and live with it.

It made it easier to dehumanize people whose lives you were taking.

I hope that you understand what I'm saying.

And Andy Doyle said this so clearly, just as a one-off.

He said, you know, let me tell you why we'll always need army chaplains, because we all know killing's wrong.

We know it's wrong.

And then our soldiers do, we come back and we say, good job.

And soldiers need somebody to help them, because they know it's wrong.

And there's times when we're called upon to do it, and we live in that tension.

And this is our reminder: live in the tension.

As Anne Lamotte says, we know we've created God in our own image.

When God hates the same people we do.

Now I want to turn this because look, when I asked my day school kids here on Thursday, what does temptation mean?

They probably said the same thing you would say.

It's when you want to do something that you know you shouldn't.

Or it's when you really want to do something that you'd enjoy, but your parents tell you not to.

And I put to them the same question I'm going to put to you.

So, what do we call it when we want to do something that's good for us?

What do you call that?

Like, what's the opposite of being tempted?

Could be being called, could be being encouraged.

What's so funny is that socially what we love to do is have these supports where we call people to do things that aren't good for them.

You know this is true if you've ever played the game Truth or Dare.

Never does somebody say, I dare you to say thank you to the classroom teacher every day when you leave.

Usually you say, I dare you to eat this habanero pepper.

Because we both know it'll make you miserable.

Well, you dared me.

I guess I have to do it.

So I want to know, why don't we go around tempting other people to do good stuff?

Why don't we say to our friends, you know, this lady cut me off in traffic the other day, and I was really tempted to think maybe she had a medical emergency and had a good reason to do it, and I took a deep breath.

I went to go buy a coffee this morning, and I was really tempted to put the money towards Native Americans who need the money, and I did.

I was really tempted when I watched the news to think that jerk hasn't come into him.

And instead I prayed.

I pray that she would learn from her mistakes.

I pray that God would help her and me discern the ways that make for peace.

I'm not saying this is what we're called to do because it's easy.

I'm saying we're called to do it because it's hard.

And I think what Jesus does when he's confronted with this slander, quite frankly, is he picks the harder way.

Not because it's harder, but because it's better.

Because it's better.

So maybe Jesus really would be the best CEO ever.

But ultimately what he says is, my kingdom's not of this world.

Otherwise, I'd have set it up.

That's what he's gonna tell Pontius Pilate.

And it's hard in moments like these to remember that we have evolved to have feelings of hatred.

We've evolved as part of our tribal identity.

And I do want to tell you, I'm not even sure that hating somebody is the opposite of loving them.

I actually think I only hate people that I do love.

The reason I hate them is because I wanted something I'm not getting.

You see, so I'm offended.

No, Ellie Bizell, right, the Holocaust survivor who wrote the word night, says the opposite of love is not hatred, it's indifference.

It's indifference.

So I would put before you, and we're faced with this temptation right now, don't you see?

This temptation.

When we think about global politics, when hate rises up to say, God, I it's because I want a connection.

Because I think that this is not right.

And I'm going to spend my attention on that signal instead of since I hate you, I hope you die.

Indifference takes us to other people dying in a dumb matter.

And it's not of God.

And hatred is a signal that we have a real opportunity to build bridges and practice love.

If we'll let it be vowed.

If we leave it there, it takes us to our basest human reaction, which is anger.

And the scriptures are really clear: anger is fine, but don't sin in your anger.

And I will tell you, because I saw firsthand what it's like when somebody kills people that they've dehumanized and knows that they're human, because I saw what that did to my father.

And one of the things I'm most grateful for about him is that he held on to that.

Even though in some ways it broke his mind and his heart the rest of his life.

Because if he'd let it go, you see, if he'd held on to dehumanization, he would have lost his own humanity.

And this is why I think we don't just pray for peace, we pray for miracles.

Now, this is not all about politics.

That's not what I went to seminary for.

I actually don't know much about it.

I don't.

But I do know what I went to seminary for.

There is nothing you can do to make God love you any less, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you anymore.

And that includes the people we like to hate, whether they're Ayatollahs or czars.

And when we forget that, we succumb to the temptation of the accuser.

The goal of our Lenten journey and our spiritual journey is not that we're going to transcend the world, it's that we're going to be transformed.

And that when we discover our gifts, those are the places where our deepest joys meet the world's greatest needs, that that's what we do.

We serve the world's needs.

So if our lint and our spiritual life is about one-upping somebody, because, hey, God's only got room in heaven for so many folk, I'm just going to suggest you repent.

And if you find yourself in a moment of anger, pay attention.

It's okay to be angry.

The scriptures admonish us not to sin when we're angry.

Whether it's on the road or whether it's behind a newspaper.

And I'd like to tempt you when you look at somebody who's carrying burdens to be amazed at how they carry the burdens they have.

Instead of that, they have the burdens.

Whether that's somebody else or you.

This I think is how we resent slander.

This is how we resist something I often find myself doing in the story, trying to please what I think other people expect me to do.

I want to make sure you heard that right.

It's not that I'm trying to satisfy what other people expect, because how can I even ever know that?

What I'm trying to do is satisfy other people's projections that exist only in my mind.

Very tempting.

So I'd like us to tempt one another.

I love that beautiful I love that birthmark you've got.

Man, you scar really well after surgery.

Hey, could I entice you to pray for that person you're mad at?

This is how we live, don't you see?

A holy land and a holy life.

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

We believe in one God, the Father, mighty Maker of heaven and earth.

We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Lord.

And he will start on the third day again, in accordance with the scriptures.

He will come again in glory to the living of the dead, and we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

When the Father and the Son He is worshipped and glorified, He is hoping through the Prophets.

We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

For refugees and those displaced by war or strife.

For those who hunger.

Mentor and guide elected and appointed officials throughout our world, that they might do justice with compassion.

For forty-six years of female clergy shining your light in the Episcopal Church, we pray that we thank you, O Lord, enable our laity, deacons, priests, and bishops to discern your work in the world and boldly join in it.

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

May day our school grow in power, wisdom, love, and knowledge in our world.

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

Mend broken relationships and comfort those who are alone.

Equip us to empathize even when we are in pain.

And the celebrations or petitions that the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.

Holy Spirit, may they and me experience your compassion.

We pray for all who have died, especially Aaron and Dan.

May they have a place in your eternal kingdom.

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

Comfort those who mourn.

Strengthen those who are weary.

Encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.

Let us confess our sin against God and our neighbor.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like the tea.

We have things the devices and desires of our mother.

We have defended against thy holy power.

We have under the things which we have under the things which we have to do.

Amen.

God forgives you.

Forgive others.

Forgive yourself.

Amen.

I will no longer wound myself with asking questions that have surrounded me like homes.

That is the penance you do not ask of me.

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

And I hope you hear the importance of that prayer here in Lent.

When God forgives us, we are forgiven.

God invites us not to keep going backward, but to be present.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

If you're new to us or haven't done this before, right out here in the Narthex, that's the room right behind the one we're 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 again, thank you for worshiping with us today.

I just want to highlight a couple of things that have happened in the past week and tell you some opportunities that are coming up.

You'll see some of these in the e-news, but but not all of them.

So one thing I want to let you know is about holy learning.

Once upon a time, when I was wanting to be a priest, I had to take this, we call it like the equivalent of the clergy bar, although it's not quite that nerve-wracking.

It's called the General Ordination Exam.

And uh it's 24 pages of essay writing over four days to evaluate whether you ought to be a priest or not.

So, good thing y'all didn't grade it.

Um there was about this practice of drive-through ashes, and I want you to know I uh I wrote a scathing rebuke of the practice and how ungodly it was.

And uh here I've done it seven years in a row at St.

Thomas.

And uh I just wouldn't pass on why, because this Wednesday more than 80 people came through that driveway in more than two hours to receive ashes, reserved communion, healing prayer.

I gave away 14 prayer shawls that had been knitted by our knitwits and prayed over, and five scarves because I ran out of prayer shawls to people who otherwise would not have received them.

And I was met not only by tears at the grace of being out there, but shared my own.

And so it's a beautiful, it's come to be a very touching and beautiful practice.

And sure enough, I'll tell you, there's more people drive through than we have at one service.

And uh to have individual time with people is just really a lovely, lovely reminder to go out and to be even more accessible.

Um, yesterday we were accessible in the morning for a couple of things.

Uh, we had 83 cars, pretty close number, uh, drive through within about 90 minutes and receive a whopping amount of food that fed more than 330 persons, which is really, really incredible.

Thank you for using our space to give life to the community.

Meanwhile, right after that, we did the parish spring clean, which was super well attended.

A number of scout families showed up to do things like spreading mulch and uh sort of cleaning up and sprucing the grounds and pulling leaves out, and uh and we had lunch together.

And meanwhile, the daughters of the American Revolution met in uh the parish hall for a meeting that was pretty full.

And there's a birthday party on the playground, and it's just really lovely to know the stewardship we use with our facility.

We do more together, sometimes maybe more than we should, and that's a good problem to have together, isn't it?

It's a good problem to have.

So thank you for everybody who helped spruce up the grounds and who helped serve people who were genuinely hungry.

Um, food insecurity is not going down in our community.

And because I'm the one who calculates it, at least a fourth of the cars that came through live in Nassau Bay.

And I didn't make a mistake with what I just said.

Twenty cars from Nassau Bay drove through to receive fresh food.

Okay, here's what we get to look forward to.

Um I'm not gonna be here next week.

Uh, Alex Hillis will be preaching, and the celebrant will be the new canon missioner, one Alex Montes Vila.

He's new to this position and he'll tell you what that position is.

But you'll enjoy Alex and Alex while I'm away with my girls for spring break before I go for the long time.

What we thought is if they spend a week with me, it'll be okay if they don't spend 51 days with me.

So that's that's what we're going to do.

Uh, and I trust that you will enjoy both Alex's uh next week.

Um I also want to advertise to you, and advertise is right.

We don't always do baptisms during Lent.

Some clergy are real resistant to it, but there is a baptism day coming up on March the 27th.

And so if there's a birth in your family and you'd like to celebrate with baptism, that's Rose Sunday.

And uh it will be a lovely day to welcome new people into God's grace.

I mean, look, we already know they're there to recognize God's grace in these folks.

So uh again, it's an open invitation for baptism on March the 27th.

That seems like I'm forgetting something else.

Oh, thank you.

You know, we have this lovely practice.

Kathy Hollowell introduced it to us, and then Steve Alexander took it to the next level that when there's a birth in our community, whether it's a niece or nephew or a child or grandchild, that we put a rose up here uh on God's table.

And um one of our day school kids, Harper Flores, she got a new brother Liam this week.

So Liam is here uh on the Lord's table.

And anytime this happens in your family, just let me know.

We've we've got two of them.

But if we need more, we'll get more.

Uh uh it's wonderful to celebrate new births in our in our community.

Continue to walk in love.

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

In the me to fight, in a to come as God through these days of pregnancy Jesus with us.

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.

The Lord be with you, and also with you to be let us give thanks to Lord our God.

It is very meet right in our bound in duty that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Lord, holy Father Almighty, everlasting God, who dost bid thy faithful people cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast.

Fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by thy word and sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which thou hast prepared for those who love thee.

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

For that thou didst create heaven and earth, and didst make us in thine own image, and of 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 betrayed, Jesus took bread.

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

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

And when he given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink this all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for 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 with great glory.

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

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

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

And also that we in 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, all 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 day 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.

Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us speak to feast.

These are the gifts of God.

And we are the people of God.

And I'm going to invite you to receive nutrition from the table at the rail.

So if you're sitting on my right, your left, this section, please come here first.

And I'm going to ask this section to come starting here at the aisle and make your way over.

We'll figure this out.

And if the rail is not convenient for you to any reason, I will bring you command.

Into the woes I must end with all shame.

A little babies were kind to him.

When his kid was under the tree when out of those.

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 dost assure us thereby 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 hope of thy everlasting kingdom.

And we hope we seek thee, O Heavenly Father, who to assist us with either, that we may continue in that holy fellowship and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world, for all things break, and all things can be mended.

Not with time, as they say, but with intention.

So go.

Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally.

The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.

And the blessing of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be with you this day and remain with you always.