Epiphany 7 2022

Blessedly God.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Blessed be God.

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 their 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.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us pray.

O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain.

Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

I bid you pray with me two more prayers this morning.

The first is the poetic prayer by Anne Weems.

I no longer pray for peace.

I pray for miracles.

I pray that stone hearts will turn to tender-heartedness and evil intentions will turn to mercifulness, and all the soldiers already deployed will be snatched out of harm's way, and the whole world will be astounded onto its knees.

I pray that all the God talk will take bones and stand up and shed its cloak of faithlessness and walk again in its powerful truth.

I pray that the whole world might sit down together and share its bread and its wine.

Some say there is no hope, but then I've always applauded the holy fools who never seem to give up on the scandalousness of our faith.

That we are loved by God, that we can truly love one another.

I no longer pray for peace, I pray for miracles.

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love.

So mightily spread abroad your spirit that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as the children of one parent, to whom be dominion and glory now and forever.

Amen.

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

Alex in the back.

Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and as he came down from the mountain with two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God.

When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.

But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.

Afterward, all the Israelites came near and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out.

And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses and the skin of his face was shining.

And Moses would put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with him.

Please join me with Psalm 99 and respond at the ask afterwards.

The Lord is enthroned upon the cherubim.

Let the earth shape.

The Lord is great in Zion and is high above all people.

Let them confess the name of the Lord, which is great and awesome.

The Lord is the Holy One.

Almighty sovereign lover of justice.

You have established equity.

You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God, and fall down before the footstool of the Holy One.

Moses and Aaron among your priests, and Samuel among those who call upon your name.

They called upon you, O Lord, and you answered them.

You spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud.

They kept your testimonies and the decree that you gave them.

O Lord our God, you answered them indeed.

You were a God who forgave them, yet punished them for their evil deeds.

Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God and worship upon God's holy hill.

Since then we have such a hope.

But their minds were hardened.

Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there.

Since only in Christ is it set aside.

Indeed, to this very day, whenever Moses is read, a veil hides over their minds.

But one turn when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

Now the Lord is the Spirit.

And all of us with unveiled faces are seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

For this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.

Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.

We have renounced the shameful things that one hides.

We refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word.

But by the open statement of the truth, we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.

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

They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but since they'd stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here.

Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he'd said.

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.

And then from the cloud came a voice that said, This is my son, my chosen.

Listen to him.

When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone, and they kept silent, and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.

Jesus, just then a man from the crowd shouted, Teacher, I beg you to look at my son.

He's my only child.

Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks.

It convulses him until he foams at the mouth.

It mauls him and will scarcely leave him.

I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.

Jesus answered, You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?

Bring your son here.

While he was coming, the unclean spirit dashed into the ground in convulsions, but Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

The gospel of the Lord.

Whether we're reading Matthew, Mark, or Luke, every Epiphany to frame Lent out.

And it's in some ways, many people have said it's the interpretive key to what Lent looks like.

So you're going to get to hear two different approaches, mine and Eric's, seven minutes each.

So we'll do what we can, but uh we did not coordinate this.

So what you're going to hear will be what you hear.

Two two different takes on the same uh same story this morning.

It's tempting to think that when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, he was talking about veiling ourselves with masks for COVID.

And I want you to hear that's not what he's talking about at all.

And uh I do want to suggest to you that sometimes I think we approach the transfiguration story, frankly, with our own veil.

I've often heard that this is a vision of Jesus' glory that's meant to get us through Lent so that we can see Jesus and then we can make it through the next 47 days.

But I want to suggest to you his own disciples, uh, it doesn't work out very well for them.

In fact, I want to suggest maybe sometimes we get blinded by the light ourselves.

You see, they have seen Jesus' glory and then they're unable to help another human being immediately after having seen that.

And it reminds us that real piety cares for orphans and widows.

And it reminds us, I think, that Lent is not about transcendence.

It's not about us moving up some ladder so that God will like us a little bit more or that we'll earn extra jewels and our heavenly crown.

No, the spiritual life is about being transformed and about seeing the light of God that has already been here all along in new ways and making it known.

And I think the Gospel of Luke asks us to consider that if our lint and discipline or our spirituality is fixated on glory but can't help somebody in need, it's not worth all that much.

And this is a reminder, I think, about what a holy lint looks like.

You see, when we read to Corinthians, Paul is not saying anything bad about Jewish people.

What he's saying, quite honestly, is sometimes we'd like to build tabernacles for Jesus and for Moses and for Elijah and worship them instead of having a conversation with them and being transformed.

Surely we can do both things, but if we have to pick, hey, I'm going to thank the prophets or I'm going to be changed by them, pick to be changed by them.

We come to worship not something that we can't do, but the power of God is inviting us to join God in doing in our world.

So this is why we come to address a different kind of veil on Wednesday.

See, these were the things that we waved on Palm Sunday last year, and you know, these weren't just the foam finger at the time, like your number one, Jesus.

The palm tree was a sign during the Maccabean revolt of independence from Rome.

It was the equivalent to a flag that says, Come and take it, with a canon on it.

Maybe you've seen it before.

That's what people wanted, and that's exactly what Jesus did not give them.

And it's very fair to think that some of the people waving these on Sunday showed up on Friday and said, Crucify him.

Because he didn't give them what they wanted.

Now, last year these things were green, they were full of chlorophyll and water.

They were able to give life to the plant.

But you know, in a year, all of that dries up.

When we burn these things on Tuesday, that's where we get the ashes for Wednesday.

We burn these up.

They go up in about 50 seconds and they're gone.

Just dust.

And we all understand, I think, trees can't prune themselves.

And I don't know if you know this, but dead limbs on a tree, the tree still sends them energy and water and sugar, and there's no life in it.

So sometimes it's a blessing, actually, to the tree and the rest of the world when a dead limb gets pruned, because that means the tree has energy to send to a branch that can bear fruit and give life both to itself and to others.

This is how we practice a holy lent.

We say, God, there is death in us.

Sometimes we hide behind it and call it faith.

And God, it would be amazing if you could trim those dead habits in our lives.

We will even agree we'd like to do it so that our energy can give life.

This is how we practice a holy lent.

I'm going to tell you now, if you think that you need to earn God's love by making yourself miserable, that's an unholy lent.

God is not interested in your misery, God's interested in your transformation.

A transformation that brings life to this father whose son has dashed to the ground.

This is the life we're being called to lead.

So often when we hear this story, what we realize, or what we maybe fail to realize, is this little bit that Jesus is talking to Elijah and talking to Moses.

And because the disciples weren't listening, we have no idea what the conversation was.

And that's too bad.

Because I think Lent invites us to have a conversation with our faith.

So maybe you've heard of Elijah.

Elijah spoke social justice to a king.

Once upon a time, there was a king who stole a man's garden by killing him unjustly so he could plant some vegetables.

And Elijah showed up and said, What you did is wrong.

But I wonder if Jesus didn't say to Elijah, hey, you stood up for the little guy.

But I do remember that time when you took 450 prophets of Baal and slit their throats with your hand.

And Elijah, that's just not, frankly, very life-giving.

We don't know, guess why the disciples didn't listen to the Lord.

That's a conversation we need to have about how do we respond to people, frankly, who don't do what we'd like.

We've all heard about Moses.

And I am sure Jesus said something like, Moses, I can't believe how patient you were with people who were stiff-necked.

But I wonder if Jesus didn't say, you know, Moses, when you came up with that idea that women are unclean a quarter of every month and had to be away from everybody else, Moses, I think you missed the boat.

There's nothing unclean about the bodies God made.

God said they're very good.

So I think we could have edited that one.

We don't know.

Guess why?

Because the disciples didn't listen.

And I'm not convinced that abject obedience is the most virtuous thing in our Christian life.

I think God loves us enough to have a conversation with us.

And I think we're being asked not to just blind obedience this lent, but to holy conversation about where life is to be found.

So listen, if giving up wine is going to make you miserable, please don't do it.

Because I won't want to be around you.

If giving up wine is a reminder for you that God has more in store for us than we're living into and we'd like to do something about it, by all means do it.

Do not give up something for 47 days and kick it right back up.

Take on something that will change the rest of your life and people who love you and people you've never met, and do it for the rest of your life.

We do this every year.

We'll do it again next year because once again, memento mori, we will die.

And some of the things we do are already dead, and you know what?

God would like to let those things die too.

But the scriptures promise us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control.

They live after us.

They have eternal life.

And we get to put down the dead habits so we can grow new ones that feed the world.

And listen, you probably already know this.

It only takes 21 days to make a new neuropathway that your brain myelinates such that the neurons travel 40,000 times faster.

It takes 21 days.

You get 47.

Sundays don't count in Lent.

I don't know if you knew that.

So there's 47 days, not 40.

That means you can make two new habits if you want to.

But here that the point is not that we earn God's favor, the point is that we already enjoy the favor we have and we extend it to other people.

Lent is not about death, it's about life.

This transfiguration falls flat if we're not transformed into God's people.

Well, I don't know what to say.

Have you ever felt that way?

You know, I'm hot.

So Peter is kind of accused of this, right?

He uh he says, or they say, all the gospels say this about Peter.

He didn't know what he was saying.

And that sounds kind of dismissive to me.

In our world today, it would be like someone coming up to you at work with a really wonky idea.

Let's say you make cars, and uh they come to you and say, Hey, I've got this idea for our company.

Let's start making rubber bands.

And you might respond if you're feeling generous by saying, Well, I'm speechless.

I don't know what to say.

But that's not what was being said about Peter.

2,000 years ago, that phrase in Greek would be heard by our ears today in English more like this.

Peter didn't have any physical evidence, but his spiritual awareness allowed him to take this matter and put it to rest, to settle it.

There'd be no more discussion about it.

Now, I mention this because as I listened to the gospel, it really jumped out at me.

Those words didn't really sound like they fit.

Jesus, Peter didn't know what he was saying.

The other part that struck me was this whole thing about being sleepy and then being awake.

Those words in Greek as well have a different meaning 2,000 years ago.

What they really meant was that there was a spiritual weariness to Peter, James, and John.

Remember that if we go back just a couple phrases in our reading, Jesus was just talking to the multitude, to everybody, eight days ago, and he said, you know, some of you are gonna get to experience the kingdom of God, some of you aren't.

Eight days go by, we really don't know what's going on.

But after those eight days, Jesus picks three people, Peter, James, and John, to go pray with him.

They are being selected, they're being chosen, so apparently they're gonna go get to experience what everybody else doesn't get to experience.

They're probably paying a lot of attention.

I can only imagine that I would be super tired if I'd been hanging out with somebody who I respect, who I trust, who's probably really good in their field after a convention of eight days, I might be super worn out and weary.

And that's how I see Peter, James, and John, when they finally get to this place to pray, they're spiritually weary.

And yet, the moment of the transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah, Moses representing the law and Elijah representing the prophet, the Hebrew Bible, when they show up with Jesus and they start chatting, they immediately awaken.

And these words, again, are kind of lost in our English translation, because in the Greek it means they are like startled, awake, suddenly, fully awake.

Not like my son who walks into the kitchen, you know, half awake, half asleep, kind of rubbing his eyes.

They're fully awake, ready to go and get more.

And so then Peter says, hey guys, how it's good that we're here.

How about we build a temple for you?

A tabernacle, a house, a place to dwell.

And this is very common.

This is what a human being did when a god entered their world 2,000 years ago.

You built a structure for them to hang out in, and then you are the interface between the heavenly world and the temporal human world.

And that's dangerous.

It's like two super high charge voltage lines or whatever, and you walk in and grab them.

There's like blue lightning arcing between them, and you just grab them to be the conduit between them.

That's a dangerous place to stand.

Well, that changes when Jesus shows up on the scene.

Jesus takes over that role.

We no longer as humans have to step in and be that interface.

That's the old way of doing it.

That's the old way that power is described and managed.

In this new world, with Jesus as this conduit that stands in for us as humans, power in our world is being transformed.

It no longer is oppressive, dominating power, like the Roman army coming in and stamping down.

Maybe the Russian army going into Ukraine.

I don't know, that may be too topical today.

But this is oppressive power.

And also for Peter in the day or anybody, the expectation of Jesus was a the Messiah was a warrior king, a conqueror, someone to save them from their oppressors.

That's not Jesus, is it?

As the Messiah, Jesus is a loving king.

Not a conqueror, but a compassionate person.

A compassionate king.

Not a bully, but a generous king who wants to rule by love.

And this is a significant transformation of power.

This is what's happening in this transfiguration.

So what does that mean for our 21st century world as we leave this season of Epiphany, the celebration of Jesus in the world?

Remember, eight weeks ago we talked about a baby in a dirty diaper.

That baby being Jesus and needing our help.

And last week, being assaulted on the street, giving up our cloak and our undergarments, and turning the other cheek.

Suffering and being willing to not fight back, but to offer in love.

This is a transformation of power.

And this is what the transfiguration is doing for us as we proceed into Lent.

So where am I going with this?

What does that mean?

You know, we experience God in the world, we experience Jesus in the world, maybe differently if you think about it.

Jesus being like a human being, suffering, dealing with these problems, taking them on for us, and now standing in this place and allowing us to step back and not be in trouble, be in peril trying to connect those two worlds.

We experience the Holy Spirit in all its glory.

And this also makes space for us to acknowledge those moments when we're completely alone.

When we feel like the whole world is against us, nobody's on our side.

And in that moment, if we have the faithfulness to trust our covenant promise, if we have the belief that our companion Jesus is going to be right here next to us, walking beside us, someone who we can grieve with, someone who we can put down our burdens with.

This settles the matter for us.

And in this moment, we've all been, this whole story has been under the umbrella of prayer, hasn't it?

In this moment where the old world, where Peter addresses the old world and says, hey, let me build a temple for you and be that conduit.

He didn't know what he was saying.

He didn't have the physical evidence.

The cloud, that's God, right?

The Holy Spirit, that's the cloud.

The cloud says, This is my son.

Listen to what he has to say.

And Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, the past that goes away.

We are left with Jesus.

Now, I would think of this as a transfiguration of prayer.

I think of this our opportunity to pray in a way that allows us, without physical knowledge, to put down those problems that we have, to rest those at the feet of Jesus, and to step back, to create space, even when we don't have the words to ask for what we want to receive, even when we only maybe have a feeling in our heart of what we think we might need or don't need, just to pause, to create space, to try to get out of the way and strip ourselves of what we want, our desires, and try to listen and ask God for the ability to hear what He wants for us, what God wants for us.

And if we're able to do that, there may be a space in that prayer.

Just being present with God, just being, just allowing, sitting quietly, letting the Holy Spirit come into us and offer us not a physical proof, not a healing of the sick child like the second part of our reading is today.

Shaking off that spiritual weariness that keeps us from being in communication, in relationship with our Creator.

If we're able to do that, that's when we are transfigured.

We can change the power in the world from an oppressive power into a power that is of love, of generosity, of curiosity, of compassion, and a desire just to listen to God's will in our hearts.

May the meditations of my heart and the words from my mouth be pleasing to you, Lord, because I don't have any physical evidence, but the spiritual awareness that I do have, I'm now going to put this to rest.

For God's glory.

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

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally becoming the Father, God from God, life from light, truth and true God, becoming one being, of one being with the Father.

For us and for our salvation, he became death from heaven.

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

For our slave, he was crucified with conscious pilot.

He suffered death and was buried.

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

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

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and to take the life of the man.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life.

We proceed from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son, He is worshiping the Lord God.

He is but through the prophets.

We believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We know one baptism for the reason of sins.

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

Amen.

For all people in their daily lives and work.

And the diocesan cycle of prayer.

St.

Mary's Long Passes, St.

Matthew's Austin, and Saint Michael's Austin, and for Michael, our presiding bishop.

For the special needs and concerns of the congreg of this congregation, especially Chris and Nancy, Amber, Christina, and those in the congregation who wish the name at this time.

Silently or aloud.

Hear us, Lord.

We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings of this life.

We will exalt you, O King, O God, our King.

We pray for all who have died, that they may have a place in your eternal kingdom.

Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them.

We pray to you also for the forgiveness of our sins.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, in your compassion forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things done and left undone.

And so uphold us by your Spirit that we may live and serve you in newness of life to the honor and glory of your name through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Almighty and merciful Lord grant you absolution and remission of all your sin, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

So if you were born in February, I would love to invite you forward so that we can honor the day of your birth and invoke God's blessing on your year.

Okay, and our practice here, it's all about quality, not quantity.

We get that.

So our practice is to share our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both of us.

Joseph James, Houston, Houston, how many do you want?

February 26, 1962.

Yesterday was my 60th birthday.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm Josepha Carese, new to this wonderful parish, and my birthday was February the 15th, 1943.

Michelle Farving.

I was born in Tacoma, Washington in 1945.

And on February 8th, I turned 77.

Thank you.

I'm Linnelle Leerman, and my birthday was February the 8th, and I was 86.

Thank you.

Let's pray for our birthdays.

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

Look with continued favor, we pray on these, your children, as they begin another year.

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

Amen.

So the first is that today, following the service at noon here in Christ Hall, we're going to have our meeting for the Episcopal Church Women, otherwise called the ECW.

That meets at 12, and all ladies of the church are invited.

Today at 5:30, Alex, our family minister, has is starting a new Clear Lake area family and youth service.

That'll be at 5.30.

It'll include dinner, it'll include a game and an activity we do together, and then we'll come in for the Eucharist.

And Alex is going to be offering this at least once a month, and today's the beginning of those.

So if you know families who are interested in a family-oriented service that uh is starting today.

Um, this is sort of a big week at St.

Thomas.

So on Tuesday, uh we call it traditionally Shrove Tuesday, but in the South it's Fat Tuesday.

Uh it used to be because that's when we used the fat items before the fat, the fast of Lent, but really theologically, it's because the day is fat with possibility where God can take us over the next 47 days.

It is not lean.

We do this by having a pancake bar.

So red velvet, sweet potato, and I think there's a savory onion-based pancake we'll be having at 6 o'clock here in the parish hall.

You don't have to sign up.

You can just come if you feel comfortable.

We know not everybody does, but we're offering this.

And we'll start by taking last year's palms, and we'll have the opportunity to burn them by thinking about God what we wish you would prune from our lives this year with our blessing.

So we'll begin with burning of the palms and then we'll end with some pancakes.

On Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, we have a couple opportunities to begin a holy lent.

The first is at 6:30 in the morning.

That's my favorite.

Then at 8.15 with our day school children.

I want you to be prepared.

If you come to that, it's for children.

But good pedagogy is good pedagogy, and it'll probably be a child putting ashes on your head, or you might get stuck with me.

But I commend that one too.

And then at 6 p.m., we'll have our choir here in the evening also for Ash Wednesday service.

Now, we do offer a drive through ashes.

I don't drive by.

I want to be really clear.

You drive through if you want them.

And that's from 11:30 to 1.30, right out here in the circle driveway.

And I do have Eucharist as well that's already been blessed because, of course, in order to be faithful, we need some energy.

So this is why we offer both of these things here in the driveway.

Again, this is an ancient practice in the church.

Just like Advent, we know Christmas is coming.

Lent says we know Easter's coming, and we'd like to get ready for some new life.

This coming Saturday is our food, our fresh food distribution at 7:45 in the morning, just right out here.

You don't have to sign up, you can just show up.

And then that's immediately followed by, or a little bit concurrent, with our spring clean, where we'll uh frankly practice good stewardship of our grounds as a way of practicing Lent as well.

So uh you also don't need to sign up, and there is lunch provided if you do if you do that.

I also want to raise up to you that next Sunday in between services, and I'm doing this on Zoom, you'll find the invitation in the e-news.

Um I'm going to talk with us as in a workshop setting about something called holy dying, because we are all going to die.

And uh it is helpful, I could tell you as a priest, to have thought about that in advance.

And one of the greatest gifts you can give your family is by planning your own funeral and updating that plan.

I do many of these a year, let me tell you.

You're never too young to plan this, because frankly, life is short, and we don't have long to gladden the lives of those who walk with us.

So we make haste to be kind.

And there is some incredible theology and invitation about doing this.

If I haven't won you over already, please do consider joining me on Zoom as we talk about how this can be a holy practice for Lent.

I want to be really clear.

You may say, I don't want a funeral when I die.

They're not for you anyway.

So it's really important that we talk about the gift you're going to leave people who love you.

That's next week in between services.

You can join us by Wi-Fi or you can join us at home.

Um, okay, one other thing I want to let you know is that yesterday we had diocesan council, and we don't always realize that there are lots of people in the Episcopal Church.

In fact, we're kind of a megachurch just split into parishes.

And yesterday, several of our delegates gathered, and we got to hear some incredibly interesting numbers.

Like the Episcopal Health Foundation was founded eight years ago with a$1.2 billion endowment after the sale of St.

Luke's Hospital.

In the past eight years, they've given$550 million away to help transform community health, and today they're worth$1.5 billion.

I want to make sure you heard those numbers because when you hear that, it's it's it's quite something.

That every year parishes like ourselves contribute to the diocese$7 million, and in return, the diocese spends$9 million on parishes.

You heard that right.

This is the kind of thing that we celebrate and our expand our awareness of that how we can do more together in the diocese of Texas.

And there were a couple things that affect our own parish.

Um, Cindy Roper, who's a member of our vestry, um, is now on the executive board for the diocese, which is sort of like being on the diocesan vestry.

I think that's the first time we've had a member on the executive board at St.

Thomas.

If you see Cindy, congratulate her because she's working to further the church throughout the diocese.

Uh Dee Hicks, who is an eight o'clock member, sits on the Vera Gang Scholarship Committee, um, which is really a lovely service that she provides, women throughout the diocese.

And um at the Bishop's invitation, I am now going to be serving as the Dean for the Galveston Convocation.

So what that means is uh I'm a satellite of communication for all the clergy south of Pear Land, um, going all the way down to Galveston.

So these are some of the appointments that happened at council yesterday.

Uh, it is lovely to hear what the diocese is doing to further ministry here in Texas.

And so all of that's recorded.

But I just want you to hear sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we belong to something much greater than ourselves and that we are in fact doing more together.

Um look, I just want to make really, really clear before we head into Wednesday, that if you don't have something before Wednesday, again, good news, you got 47 days, so go ahead and take a week.

But this really is our opportunity not to punish ourselves to curry favor with God, but to live larger than we already do.

This is how we live into a holy land.

Some of us might do things like giving up a Starbucks and giving the money to something like Navajo folk.

Some of us might spend some time thinking about the blessings we have in our lives already.

May the Spirit guide you to a holy land so that we can live further into the dreams God already has for us.

So walk in love.

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

Keep it precious in thy sight.

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, but he invites you to meet him here.

Our service continues on page 361 of your red prayer book.

The Lord be with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is wrong to give up thanks and works.

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

Because in the mystery of the word made flesh, you have caused a new light to shine in our hearts, to give the knowledge of your glory in the face of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

Holy and gracious Father, in your infinite love you made us from yourself.

And when we've fallen into sin and become subjects to evil and death, you in your mercy sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.

All of it.

On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.

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

This is my body, which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.

And when he 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 all for the forgiveness of sin.

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

Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer to you these gifts.

Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people, the body and blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in Him.

Sanctify us also, that we may faithfully receive this holy sacrament and serve you in unity, in constancy, and peace.

And at the last day, bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom.

All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ, 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 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, 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.

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

Behold who you are and become what you receive.

Let's pray together.

Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image and nourishing us with spiritual food in the sacrament of Christ's body and blood.

Now send us forth a people, healed, renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world and continue in the risen life of Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Do not pray for an easy or ordinary Lent.

Pray to be faithfully transformed.

Do not pray for a discipline that is equal to your powers, but God's grace equal to your growth.

And then your Lenten journey will be no miracle.

You will be the miracle.

Every day you will be a sign to a world of God's reconciling love.

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.