All Saints Day 2021

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

There is one body and one spirit.

There is one and all the things.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, to you all hearts.

All the secrets known.

And from you know secrets are hidden.

Clemens of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and Lord we magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, you admit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son, Christ our Lord.

Give us grace, so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys you have prepared for those who truly love you.

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

Amen.

A prayer for Veterans Day.

Gracious God, we give thanks for military women and men, both from the past and present, and for their courageous service and sacrifice to our country and its people, secure the blessings of life, liberty, and justice for all.

May our remembrance be a timely reminder that our freedom was purchased at high cost and should not be taken for granted.

Give us resolve to labor in faithful service to you until all share the benefits of freedom, justice, and peace through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

In the eyes of the foolish, they seem to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster.

And their going from us to be their destruction, but they are at peace.

For though in the sight of others they were punished, their hope is of full immortality.

Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of himself.

Like gold in the furnace, God tried them.

Like a sacrificial burnt offering, God accepted them.

In the time of their visitation, they will shine forth and will run like sparks through the stubble.

They will govern nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever.

For those who trust in God will understand truth, and the faithful will abide with God in love, because grace and mercy are upon your holy ones, and you watches over your elect.

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

Thank God be to God.

The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it.

The world and all who dwell therein.

For it is the Lord who founded it upon the sea.

And maybe all the fibers unto me.

Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who can stand in God's holy place?

Those who have clean hands and a pure heart.

They shall receive a blessing from the Lord.

And reward from the God of their salvation.

Such is the generation of those who seek the Lord.

Of those who seek their faith, O God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, O gates, lift them high, O everlasting doors.

And the glorious sovereign shall come in.

Who is this glorious sovereign?

The Lord strong and mighty.

The Lord might.

Lift up your heads, O gates, lift them high, O everlasting doors.

And the glorious sovereign shall come in.

And the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying See, the home of God is among mortals.

You will dwell with them as their God.

They will be your people, and you yourself will be with them.

You will wipe every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, I am making all things new.

Also he said, Right there.

For these words are trustworthy and true.

Then he said to me, I am done.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

He said, Where have you laid him?

They said to him, Lord, come and see.

Jesus began to weep.

So the Jews said, See how he loved him.

But some of them said, Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man Lazarus from dying?

And then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.

It was a cave, and a stone was lying against him.

Jesus said, Take away the stone.

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.

Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?

So they took away the stone, and Jesus looked upward and said, Father, I thank you for having heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I've said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.

When he said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out.

The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth.

Jesus said to them, Unbind him and let him go.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Last week we were able to speak a little bit about saints as people who, in moments of their lives, have done extraordinary things that have made the light of God visible.

And today, as we celebrate the communion of saints, it's lovely to hear from the communion of saints about saints you may or may not know.

And so Ken Jurgens is going to offer some reflections on saints first.

I've had quite a few in my life.

The first one was brand new, right out of college at my elementary school.

She was so good that she was invited to take our school choir to the state music teachers convention to perform for them there.

And there were my band directors in junior high and senior high schools, and in college, and all my church choir and community chorus directors and band directors along the way.

And now there are my church and community chorus directors and banjo teachers.

Let's call them all Mr.

Jones.

And yes, there was a Mr.

Jones who taught me he was one of the best.

These teachers have given me a gift that has enriched my whole life.

That gift is music.

Here's what my good friend Liz has said about music from Dysical.

Music is a very personal gift.

You cannot run to the mall to pick up a voice to use for a concert or buy the ability to play an instrument.

It is a part of you.

It cannot be taken from you or passed from one person to another.

It takes an investment of time to hone the skill and work together with other musicians as a unit to provide an ensemble sound.

It takes a passion to share the results of those efforts with others, no matter the skill level.

Or difficulty.

Music allows you to share that part of you.

It is very personal, literally to be shared from one person to another, mouth to ear, heart to heart, one to another.

I would add, though, that with the right help, one's musical ability can be developed.

The music teachers I've had have encouraged and challenged me always to play or sing a little better each time, and along the way to find ways to express the moods and emotions written into the words of the lyrics and the notes on the page.

Those moods and emotions can be happy or sad, somber or triumphant.

The music can be sacred or secular, a lullaby or a school fight song, a love song or a prayer.

The entire range of human emotion can be found in and expressed through music.

As I heard it described at a concert just last night, music is the gateway to the soul.

But performing music in public did not come to me easily.

Sharing that very personal side of me that Liz spoke about, my soul was hard.

However, my music teachers pointed the way to expressing and sharing these thoughts and emotions in a way that became more and more comfortable.

It took time.

It literally took me decades to work up the nerve to sing in this sacred space with my friend Liz, a wonderful ancient prayer.

It is sung in the early morning darkness by the light of that one great baschal candle at the opening of the Easter Vigil.

Talk about an emotional setting.

This prayer is called the Exalted.

Perhaps you know it.

It starts like this Rejoice now, heavenly hosts and choirs of angels, and let your trumpets shout salvation for the victory of our mighty King.

Can you hear the music in these words?

I can't.

For that I thank you, Mr.

Jones.

You are my saint.

So thank you for allowing me to share my saint with you this morning.

Her name was Helen Marie Yeager Runo, and she was a first-generation German American, born in November 1918.

And her early days were so rough.

But by the time I met her, she would have been partnered with a very successful businessman who, just for fun, I'll share real quick, was a prayer partner and a hurdle competitor with Jesse Owens.

So a super fun couple, Helen and Elmer, served their church.

But Helen, just to paint a pet here super quick, super uh prim and proper Lutheran.

Country Club attending housewife.

But she did not go easy on children that were trying to learn Jinremi or canasta.

She loved cracking jokes and pecans and boiled blue crabs that we actually caught with frozen turkey and chicken necks that she saved for us in the freezer.

She even taught us grandkids how to take lizards.

Um, because you can get them.

Are the children in here?

I don't want them to learn this one.

Um but that but you can take a lizard and get them to bite your earlobes, and so we would go around with these gangly.

So the picture is painted that she's this perfect prim and proper country club, right, member, um, a partner to a very successful businessman, and yet she could just be super silly, and I just love that.

Um, so from an early age, I saw many sides of Helen, and there's three to me that truly point me closer to God.

Am I getting feedback?

It's okay.

Okay.

Um, so there was this direct side of her where there's not a filter, and if she thinks that she's gonna share it, so choir, sorry, but this really is a true story.

My Aunt Ruth is wearing a blue robe, and my grandmother says to her, Why in the world are you wearing blue?

You know you don't look good in it.

Okay, now for her children, maybe that was a little off-putting, but I loved that she was honest and she meant, like, I want you to look your best.

Okay.

She also had a very connecting side when she she would anywhere she went, she'd take time to get to know the people that crossed her path.

And I was little, but we took the grocery store clerk like home.

Um, she apparently had missed her bus because her boss kept her too late, and we gave her a ride home that day.

But I missed that the clerk had shared that story with my grandmother, and that's because I'm just thinking, why is the stranger in the car with us?

She had a servant side.

Um, she found ways to serve God her entire life.

Um, so um, to end my story of my saint, I will share my earliest service memory and my last.

The earliest one had to do with this amazing game room that we had been gifted as one of ten grandchildren.

It had a full-size pool table and a full-size pingbong table, and it was detached from the house, which meant no adults.

And we had a great time in there until one day we walked in and it had been converted.

It was covered in these plywood pieces, and um, there were braille Bibles set up everywhere to like be assembled, and it was in four different languages, and we were boxing them up and shipping them off.

And I asked her, Why didn't we just do this at church?

They have room, and she said, because at church we would have to box it all up, put it all away, set it all back out again, and that's wasteful with our time.

We can put more Bibles together if we do it here at the house.

So the game room, that our beloved game room, became the solution to that.

And I there were many, many Mondays that I spent in there with the ladies from church.

My last memory of her heart of service, she's now we fast forward, she's 88 years old.

Grandpa has been gone for 10 years now.

And she, I'm staying with her in New Brunswick and we're getting ready for church, and she said, We need to hurry up and leave.

And I said, Well, church isn't for an hour, it's 10 minutes away.

And she says, Yes, but we need to leave so that we have time to pick up all the little elderly people on our way to church.

So Grandma Helen was amazing, and she's been gone for almost 11 years now.

But her heart for service, her willingness to take the time for connection, and her openness to share her authentic self is still very, very alive today.

Thank you.

Thanks for letting me share.

I don't know how to get out of here.

Our scriptures today tell us a little bit more about, at least I believe, what sainthood means to the church and what it means to God and what it means to us.

And it's amazing to hear from the communions of saints in this room, saints from their lives.

And of course, we do it not just to hear, but to pull out of you.

Who has enlarged your world?

And whose world have you enlarged?

You probably know this already.

The best-selling book series of all time.

Does anybody know what it is?

Left behind.

Left behind.

And in that book series, the world's going to hell in a handbasket, and God wants to spare beloved people, so God yanks them off the earth in something called the rapture.

That's an idea that's less than 250 years old.

And of course, we hear today from the book of Revelation, from John's vision, that that's the opposite of how God behaves.

Did you hear?

God dwells among mortals.

The new Jerusalem is not in the sky, it descends to earth.

Saints are people who, even if only for one moment of their lives, choose to bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.

They bring it to somebody else.

And every moment that happens, the new Jerusalem descends onto earth.

We are not called to run out of this world.

We are called to bring God's dwelling place here.

Saints of God.

And it's no small thing, don't you see?

So often we've been trained to say that thing I did was my duty.

Maybe it was your duty to live into your values, but you chose to do it, and the saints chose to do it for you.

And every time we choose, even if only once in our lives, we bring the new Jerusalem to earth.

A city of peace.

Now I know this story in John is about a guy called Lazarus, and it's about this miracle, but I want to give you a different read on the story, and maybe I've said it before, I don't know.

But I invite you to consider figuratively that Jesus goes to see this man, Lazarus, who's died, and the people are convinced he is dead and stinks, and there is no hope left for him, so much so that they wrap him up and they put him in a tomb, which is a place where dead people go.

And Jesus says, Where have you put him?

You hear the response.

The answer is, Come and see.

This phrase is unique to the Gospel of John.

At the beginning, people hear about Jesus and they say, of all things, Jesus, where are you staying?

And he says to the would-be disciples, Come and see.

I'm not going to tell you about me, you come and see.

Now Jesus says, Where have you put this man that you've decided is deader than dead?

And they say, Come and see, and that's when he weeps.

And I think John is inviting us to consider.

Here is Jesus not just encountering the literally physically dead Lazarus.

Here is Jesus encountering somebody who no one has any hope for left.

And they say, let me show you, Jesus, where we put people we're done with.

So he goes to the tomb.

Not only does he call Lazarus out, he tells the people, unbind him.

You wrapped him up, and I tell you to set him free.

The saints in my life are the people who went to me when I was in a tomb, and they said, Come out, Michael.

And then they had the gall to unwrap me.

In moments of despair, they were not afraid to come to my grave.

And they said, Come out.

This is what it means to be a saint.

And it doesn't always happen in big moments.

A few of us talked this morning, sometimes it happens with a song on a radio sung by somebody who probably didn't even write it.

And those moments in which we're pulled out of despair are these moments of sainthood.

It's all too easy to talk about people like Thomas and Claire because you didn't know them and they've been dead a long time.

And it's this interesting thing that we're afraid to look at somebody like Graziella and say, that woman has brought New Jerusalem to earth in my life.

And Jesus asks us, why are we afraid?

Why are we afraid to say Dr.

Gladden is a saint?

Because he is.

He was drafted into the Vietnam War by his father, even though he was not to be drafted.

His father pulled his draft number.

His experience in Vietnam defined the rest of his life, and the man lived in hell most of the rest of his life.

Sometimes he was absolutely overwhelmed and had to curl up on the couch and have a PTSD nightmare.

And I went to this service for a man who, as I said, was complicated at best.

And I got to hear a clear definition of sainthood from another member of my family.

There's this story in Genesis chapter 4.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

Maybe you've heard it.

There's these two brothers called Cain and Abel.

And there's this thing that happens where Cain ends up slaying his brother Abel, and God shows up and says to Cain, and I want you to hear this word, the bloods of your brother are calling out to me.

Plural, the bloods.

The rabbis say that anytime we harm our brother, we don't just harm them, we harm future generations.

Their children, their grandchildren, their siblings, their parents.

And I heard my Orthodox brother say that the defining moment in my father's service in Vietnam was when the barracks caught on fire and he pulled members of his corps out and saved not only their lives, he saved their worlds.

Their worlds.

This is what the saints do.

They don't offer us a nicety, they save our worlds.

Our current and our future generations.

They save our worlds.

Sometimes we put such a premium on saints that we forget the whole point.

Each and every one of you is already in the communion of saints.

Even in those small moments when we choose to live into our values, we save worlds.

This is the invitation of all saints today, don't you see?

It's not something we do once a year.

It's an invitation into a way of life for us to do every day of the rest of our lives.

Even in the smallest things.

And they bring the new Jerusalem to earth as God wills.

This is a gateway not only into how we can live holier lives, it's a gateway into the recognition of what God is doing.

These are not small things.

They change and infinitely expand the universe.

Happy all saints life to you.

There have been times when we have failed to pattern our thoughts, words, and deeds in accordance with Christ.

We have not always been a wholesome example to those entrusted to our ministry.

As your priest, I confess my own failure to fully live into the joyful will of our Lord.

And I ask that you join me so that together we may seek God's mercy, grace, and forgiveness.

With great patience and care.

We apologize for the times we have the comfort of current.

And what indeed over what is right?

For the many ways we have failed to make one for the voice of the public.

We did not listen forten, we rely on the favorite system.

Above all we have remained and stopped in our self-sufficiency, and we have not to be our anything.

For the sake of your common Jesus Christ, forgive us and grace we need to forgive ourselves, so that we may once again compart with you and all of your sins in the healing of the world.

My brothers and sisters, we have a high priest who is able to empathize with our weakness, one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

God has taken away your sin and renewed you for joyful service, and I therefore invite you to stand with confidence before the Lord as we renew our own baptismal covenant in the light of the saints?

Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?

Do you renounce the evil powers of this world which corrupt and destroy the creatures of God?

Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you from the love of God?

Do you return to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Savior?

Do you put your whole trust in his grace and love?

Do you promise to follow and obey him as your Lord?

This is for all of us saints.

Will you who witness these vows do all in your power to support one another in your lives with Christ?

Then let us join as we recite the Apostles' Creed together.

Do you believe in God the Father?

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the weakness of saints, the resurrection of body, and the life everlasting.

Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers?

I will with myself.

Will you persevere in resisting evil?

And whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord.

I will with God's self.

Will you proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ?

I will with God's help.

Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor and loving yourself?

I will with God's self.

Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?

I will with God.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Open our hearts to your grace and truth.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Fill us with your holy and life-giving spirit.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Keep us in the faith and communion of your holy church.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Teach us to love others in the power of the Spirit.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Send us into the world in witness to your love.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Bring us to the fullness of your peace and glory.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ, your Son, may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory, who lives and reigns now and forever.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Special welcome to those who are joining us for the first time.

So if you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the room right back behind the sanctuary, it's called the Narthex, there are these little cards that say welcome.

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

Thanks for worshiping with us today.

A few announcements I want to call to your attention.

You'll see some of the in the e-news, but it's good to hear what saints in the community are doing.

So yesterday, a number of saints gathered for about 90 minutes and uh overloaded more than 320 people with fresh produce, and I mean overloaded.

This continues to happen the first Saturday of the month between 7:45 and uh about 10 a.m.

And uh it makes an incredible difference to people in this community.

So thank you, thanks, for doing that.

Today is the last Sunday for these Thanksgiving bags out here.

These are going to 70 families at McWorder Elementary.

That's a Title I school, where 80% of the families are on the free lunch plan, not the reduced.

So I'm taking them Wednesday.

That means there's still time.

Somebody at 8 o'clock said, Oh, I forgot one at home.

Um you can bring it up to church.

I'll I'm bringing them over on Wednesday.

And of course, these families don't even know who to think.

And that's why we do it.

Because the joy of giving thank you, saints, for giving people a meal to gather at akin to what you will enjoy in three weeks.

A few opportunities.

Out here on these white tables where you picked up your bulletin are some sign-up sheets for the progressive dinner.

This is an event we have not had in a long time.

We all will start at the home of Greg Hausler and uh Linda Steis for appetizers, and then we'll move into smaller groups for dinner, then we'll change groups one more time to have dessert.

So it is a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the saints who worship on the other side of the sanctuary or even at the eight o'clock service.

All you need to do is sign up.

So there's sign-up sheets down here.

You'll also see them in the e-news of be a sign-up genius, or you can email Amy or myself, and we'll put this list together for December the 4th.

Uh and again, there's three ways you can sign up to do that.

Uh two other reminders that are helpful.

Uh, one is that in two weeks we're going to consecrate our pledge cards.

This is where we pledge our time and our gifts to the church for 2022.

Um it's really uh holy for me as your priest to ask God's blessing upon our intentions to share.

Because we know, of course, that God can do more than we can ask or imagine.

So if you need a pledge card or if you've got one filled out and don't know what to do with it, let me know.

I'm happy to come get them or get you another one.

But it's important to me as your priest to bless our intentions for ministry the next year.

Uh the other, and this is our monthly reminder, uh a few parishioners have put together a pool of matching funds.

We're looking here at our future pipe organ, and uh, of course, it's going to be installed and playable within the next two years, but a few parishioners have put together a pool of$25,000 in matching funds to speed up the timetable.

There's a little bookmark that describes this on those self-same uh white tablecloth tables out in the Narthex, answers questions like, hey, if I do this, does it meet my capital pledge?

Of course it does.

Uh, but a few other questions are on that.

And uh, it's the generosity of folks that are gonna get these pipes making living music for us sooner.

Uh so I just lift that up uh as an opportunity for you.

Lastly, I just want to say the bandwidth of the day is almost overwhelming to hear the people who have touched live the parishioners, and now I've been able to do this with five people between two services and three others in the middle hour.

It's such a joy to hear the vulnerability and the openness of sharing the sanctuary with you to continue to walk in love.

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

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 halo would be with you.

It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and to give you thanks for you alone our God, living and true, dwelling in light, inaccessible from before time and forever, fountain of life and source of all goodness, you made all things and filled them with your blessings, you created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance.

Countless songs of angels stand before you to serve you who night and day, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you who unceasing praise, joining with them, and giving voice to every creature under heaven, we are clear in you, and glorify your whole name as we say.

Holy, holy, holy lord, God of power and height, 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.

We acclaim you, holy Lord, glorious in power.

Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.

You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our stewardship, so that in obedience to you, our Creator, we might shepherd and serve all your creatures.

When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death.

In your mercy you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you.

Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you told us to hope for salvation.

Father, you love the world so much that in the fullness of time you sent your only Son to be our Savior.

Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, he lived as one of us, yet without sin.

To the poor, he proclaimed the good news of salvation, to prisoners freedom, to the sorrowful joy.

To fulfill your purpose, he gave himself up to death, rising from the grave, destroyed death, and made the whole creation new.

And that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us, God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift to those who believe, to complete Jesus' work in the world and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.

When the hour had come for Jesus to be glorified by you, his heavenly Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

Supper with them, he took bread, and when he'd given thanks to you, he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat.

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, and when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for all for the forgiveness of sin.

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

Father, we now celebrate this memorial of our redemption, recalling Christ's death and his descent among the dead, proclaiming his resurrection and ascension to your right hand, awaiting his coming in glory and offering to you from the gifts you've given us, this bread and this cup.

We praise you and we bless you.

We praise you, we bless you, we give thanks to you, we praise you, Lord our God.

Lord, we pray that in your goodness and mercy your Holy Spirit may descend upon us and upon these gifts, sanctifying them and showing them to be holy gifts for your holy people, the bread of life and the cup of salvation, the body and blood of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Grant that all who share this bread and cup may become one body and one spirit, a living sacrifice in Christ to the praise of your name.

Remember, Lord, your one holy Catholic and apostolic church, redeemed by the love of your Christ.

Reveal its unity, guard its faith, and preserve it in peace.

Remember Michael, our presiding bishop, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Jim, Bill, and Lillian, and all who minister in your church.

Remember all your people and those who seek your truth, especially Chris, Sean, Ken, and Nancy.

We seem to give them back to you, dear God, who gave them to us.

Yet as you did not lose them in giving, so we have not lost them by their returning.

Not as the world gives do you give, O lover of souls.

What you give you do not take away.

For what is yours is ours always if we are yours.

Life is eternal, God is love is immortal, and death is only a horizon.

And a horizon is nothing but the limit of our sight.

Lift us up, strong Son of God, that we may see further.

Cleanse our eyes, that we may see more clearly.

Draw us closer to yourself, that we may know ourselves nearer to our beloved who are with you.

And while you prepare a place for us, prepare for us that happy place that where they are and you are, we too may be, remembering especially the light you shone through Joe Biamonte.

Vaughn Bailey Chris Baker, Nell Corley, Harry Curran, Carlos Delgado, Dorothy Kraft, Nell Laraway, John Luker, Motella McGee, Mark McNamara, Joe Michelay, Jerry Mulder, Bill Pemberton, Alicia Ramirez, Martha Mary Schley Runau, Sharon Momstad Rupert, Freddie Dale Stone, Barry Steff, Gloria Trelisa, Mary Rose Ewer, VW Ewer, Melva Weaver, Betty Joyce Oswell Young, and for all your other religious servants, known to us and unknown, through Jesus Christ.

Born yesterday to our former curate, Jenny Scott.

This rose represents her son, David Scott Jones.

God grant that we may find our inheritance with all your saints who have found favor with you in ages past.

We praise you in union with them and give you glory through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, Almighty God and Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.

Amen.

And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to pray.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy 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 thy kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us speak to these.

Hallelujah.

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

Behold who you are and become what you receive.

I won't be happy.

I want to be ready.

I won't be ready to walk into Bristol just like John.

Walk in to Bristol, just like Tom.

Walking into Bristol, just like Tom.

Oh my god.

Walking into them just like Tom.

Walking just like a cut.

Walking to them just like God.

Walking to them just like that.

Oh my god.

Let's pray together.

God of abundance, you have fed us with the bread of life and cup of salvation.

You have united us with Christ and one another.

And you have made us one with all your people in heaven and on earth.

Now send us forth in the power of your spirit, that we may proclaim your redeeming love to the world and continue forever in the risen life of Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Anytime, day or night, at home or in the street, wherever we are, we live bathed in God.

If we always kept this in mind, it would be impossible to sin.

So may God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit bless you with an awareness of holiness and the communion of saints in heaven and on earth this day and forevermore.

I never let you start all on it.