Pentecost 13 2021

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

Blessed be God's family now and forever.

Amen.

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open.

All desires.

And from you no secrets are hid.

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

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

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, you've given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life.

Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life.

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

And as you're being seated, I invite children to go to children's chapel with Alex there in the back.

David slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David.

The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years.

He reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem.

So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David.

Only he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places.

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place.

Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I should give you.

And Solomon said, You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you.

And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today.

And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child.

I do not know how to go out or come in.

And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, and be able to discern between good and evil.

For who can govern this, your great people?

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this, but God said to him, Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right.

I now do according to your word.

Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind, no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.

I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor are all your life.

No other king shall compare with you.

If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.

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

Thanks be to God.

Today's Psalm is Psalm 111.

We will read responsibly responsively by the half verse.

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation.

Great are the deeds of the Lord.

They are studied by all who delight in them.

Full of majesty and splendor is the work of the Lord, whose righteousness endures forever.

Gracious and full of compassion is the Lord, whose marvelous works are to be remembered.

The Lord gives food to the God-fearing, ever mindful of the covenant.

The Lord has shown the chosen people works of power in giving them the lands of the nations.

The hands of the Lord work faithfulness and justice.

All the commandments of the Lord are sure.

They stand fast forever and ever, because they are done in truth and equity.

The Lord sent redemption to the chosen people commanding the covenant forever.

Holy and awesome is the name of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Those who act according have good understanding.

The praise of the Lord endures forever.

So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.

But be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.

Give thanks to the Fat God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.

And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

So Jesus said to them, Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will have eternal life.

And I will raise them up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.

Just as the living father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate and they died.

But the one who eats this bread will live forever.

The gospel of the Lord.

We ended this gospel lesson with the following.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate and they died.

But the one who eats this bread will live forever.

So let me start by acknowledging that the idea for this sermon came from one that I read several years ago by Bishop Larry Goodpaster.

I couldn't pass up a sermon by the name with somebody whose name Goodpaster.

So I went and looked up a little bit more, and it was a very interesting twist on the bread of life.

So I will share part of that.

But let me start with a little bit of history.

There's a gentleman by the name of Adrian Miller.

He is a lawyer and a culinary historian.

He has served as a special assistant to President Bill Clinton in the initiative that they had at the White House called the Initiative for One America, in which it focused on issues to address racial, religious, and ethnic reconciliation.

Now, Miller went on to serve as the senior policy analyst for the governor of Colorado back in 2004 to 2010, and he is currently the executive director for Colorado Council of Churches, and as such is the first African American and first layperson to hold such a position.

And I say layperson because so many people think you have to be ordained to serve.

That is not true.

So in 2019, Adrian received an award from Wartburg College in Iowa for being an outstanding layperson whose life is nurtured and guided by a strong sense of Christian calling and who is making a significant contribution to his community and the society.

Now, Miller, in his role as a culinary historian, wrote a book called Soul Food.

Soul Food, the surprising story of an American cuisine, one plate at a time.

Now, for this book, he won the James Beard Foundation Award for Scholarship, and he has been nicknamed the Soul Food Scholar.

Now, in this book, Miller says the following about soul food.

Soul food is coined, is a coined term that captures the humanity and heroic effort of African Americans to overcome centuries of oppression and create a cuisine that is deliciously melded from the cookings of West Africa, West European, and Native Americans.

So when we hear the word soul food, when you hear the word soul food, what comes to mind, and I know that some of you are thinking about them, and if we were not in a COVID situation and we were not all masked, I would ask you to shout those out.

But let me give you a few and tell me, you can think about whether or not you got any of these.

Okay.

So typically we have fried chicken, smothered pork chops, okra, coconut cake, I always add pineapple cake, peach cobbler, and then in hard times, things like greens with salt pork or greens with ham hocks, black-eyed peas, and of course cornbread.

Any of y'all familiar with any of those?

Thought so.

So for many years though, um, this was the food that brought people together.

Yet there's lots of opposition and criticism of soul food because they say that it's incredibly unhealthy.

Well, it might be unhealthy now and it may need a warning label now, but at that time when you're working really hard, that was what you needed for your sustenance.

So while it is true that it may need a label, a warning label, and we are told not to eat as much fried chicken or pork chops as we used to, we must admit that it still satisfies a hungry palate.

I see a few headshaking.

All right.

So the story of soul food begins here in the South, where millions of West Africans were forced from their homes and enslaved, and created America's what's called earliest fusion cuisine under very different circumstances.

It required lots of creativity.

And in the South, as well as the North, slave owners controlled the amount of food that enslaved African Americans received.

And generally during the week, each slave was allowed five pounds of starch, some sort of starch, whether it was rice or sweet potatoes or cornmeal, and then a couple of pounds of dry salted meat in order to, I guess, give it a little flavor.

But the one that I remember was the jug of molasses.

And even to this day, I have a bottle of grandma molasses in the cup in the cupboard.

So, with the limited food supplies, the enslaved had to figure out how to supplement their diet.

So they did that by fishing and hunting and learning some different gardening techniques from all the different people that were around them, even from their own slave owners and from the Native Americans.

So they all shared in some way in the creation of this.

But on a typical day, the field slaves would eat a breakfast of corn, of cornbread crumbled up in buttermilk.

Now I'm not sure if any of you all familiar with that, but I certainly remember my mother sending me to the grocery store to get a quart of buttermilk in which she crumbled her cornbread in, which at the time I admit I tried to eat it, but as I got older, it quickly dropped from my menu.

But it is still there.

And it was for her hearts of food.

Now, at noontime, which was also called dinner, there was typically boiled vegetables with some sort of meat to flavor it and some red pepper for seasoning.

I think that's why I like hot stuff.

And for dinner, it was the leftovers and the cold cornbread.

Now, on weekends, when the work schedule slowed down a little bit, the slaves were able to get some processed food, like some flour and some sugar, in order to make, I guess, that coconut cake.

So between getting that pre that prestige food, which was the front refined flour and refined sugar, they added to that what they call their poverty food and came up with today what we call soul food.

So soul food as a term became popular in the U.S.

during the 60s.

And I imagine that some of you might remember the 60s.

I'm not gonna call us all out.

But at that time, it was used as a way to bring African Americans across class and geography as a way to unify us as we tried to move forward during the civil rights movement.

Now, during my first year of boarding school, and yes, I did go to a boarding school, and that's a whole nother story and a whole nother sermon, I received this book.

It says, Soul food.

Now, I was telling someone earlier today that my grandmother would probably be pretty upset that I had to use soul in a cookbook to learn how to make soul food.

But I was given this book as a gift.

It's 49 years old, it was printed in 1969, and you can see that I have it in a Ziploc bag because it is falling apart.

And unfortunately, I can't say the same thing for my Bible.

But the last three Sundays, we have been talking about Jesus telling the people of the living bread, the true bread, that he is the bread.

He tells the people do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.

This bread that came down from heaven will not be like the bread that your ancestors ate.

They died, and the one who eats this bread will live forever.

Now, most of us, when we hear the words live forever or eternal life, we think only of some type of life of the soul after a physical death.

But I offer to live forever could mean that I am alive spiritually now.

That because I have taken and consumed the true bread which constantly feeds my soul, I can still live forever.

Now, ours is a hungry world.

We fill our physical cravings with all types of would-be relief agents.

We overeat to mask hurts.

We eat junk food and we try to snack our way through life, only to discover that our health and vitality is somehow lost and our souls still not fed.

But the bread of life, the bread that satisfies our deepest craving, sometimes we ignore that, we overlook it, and we put it off until all else fails.

Now Jesus is offering us Himself the true bread for the soul, the true soul food.

Not this soul food, but the true soul food.

It is the living bread, the very presence of Christ within us, that presence to encourage us, to forgive us as we forgive each other, to offer hope, to restore life, and yes, to provide eternal life now.

In receiving Christ by eating the bread, both figuratively in faith and literally in the Eucharist, we find nourishment and refreshment for our souls so that we can continue.

Our deep hunger is satisfied as we eat this bread.

Eat this bread and you will live, he promises.

But even more than that, eat this bread and I will abide in you and you will abide in me.

Reverend Good Pastor writes, to abide is to know that no matter what comes our way, we will not be deserted nor left to face whatever the matter is on our own.

Christ comes to live within us, to take up residence in our spirits, and promises not to leave, even though I'm sure that we have all had times when we say, Lord, where are you?

Now, in a world of fast food chains, of drive-through windows, which I've used a lot of lately, of buffet lines and all you can eat salad bars, Jesus offers us a different food, the bread of life, the living bread, the true soul food.

Jesus said to them and to us, I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.

Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

The bread of life, the bread that satisfies our deepest craving, is not on the restaurant menu or found in my soul food cookbook.

The true soul food is Jesus.

Let us take, eat, and allow him to abide in us.

And hopefully, once our souls and spirits are renourished and refilled, we can be Christ to each other, therefore all partaking of the true soul food.

Amen.

We believe in one God.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

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

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

For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered death and was buried.

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

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

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

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

With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.

He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy Catholic and apostolic church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

For the holy church of God, that it may be filled with truth and love and be found without fault at the day of your coming.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For all the holy people of God, for all bishops and other ministers, for Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kai, our bishops in the diocesan cycle of prayer, St.

Paul's Waco, St.

Thomas's Rockdale, and Waco Church, plant Waco.

For Michael, our presiding bishop, for Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and the priests in our community, we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For all who fear God and believe in you, Lord Christ, that our divisions may cease and that all will be one as you and the Father are one.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may preach the gospel to the ends of the earth.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the peace of the world, that a spirit of respect and forbearance may grow among nations and peoples.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For those in positions of public trust, especially Joe, our president, and Greg, our governor, that they may serve justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer, for refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger, that they may be relieved and protected.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For this congregation, that we may be delivered from hardness of heart and show forth your glory and all that we do.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For our enemies and those who wish us harm, and for all whom we have injured or offended, for ourselves, for the forgiveness of our sins, and for the grace of the Holy Spirit to amend our lives.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For all who have commended the visit commended themselves to our prayers, for our families, friends, and neighbors, especially Chris, Sean, Jerome, Mickey, John, Lavon, Paxton, Rick, Nick, Martha, Janice, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud, we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

For all who have died in the communion of your church, especially Dolly, Marla, Danella, and Scott, and those whose faith is known to you alone, that with all the saints they may have rest in that place where there is no pain or grief, but life eternal.

We pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, have compassion.

Rejoicing in the fellowship of all the saints, let us commend ourselves and one another and all our life to Christ our God.

To you, O Lord, our God.

For yours, yours is the majesty, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory, now and forever.

Amen.

Sometimes I make mistakes.

We've already prayed for forgiveness of our sins and grace to amend our lives, and once is enough with the Lord.

So, the peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

There are several announcements I'd like to call to your attention, and you'll see some of these in the e-news, and some of them you won't, so it's good to it's good to have them here in person.

The first, we are extremely blessed to have with us, of course, uh the Reverend uh Francine Young.

So we don't normally do this in church, but I think it's more than appropriate.

Thank you, Francine, for your ministry to us today.

I kid you not, Francine is in is an inspiration to every priest in the diocese I know, both for her poise, her professionalism, and above all uh her tireless work ethic and grace amidst all of those.

Now, Francine is right now uh the dean uh of administration at the Iona School of Ministry.

She's worked in the past to redo things like the ordination process to make it more than user-friendly, to make it actually uh uplifting and helpful.

And uh Francine is also doing some work with the bishop on racial reconciliation, and so there's more information for that available.

You'll find a link to a video in the e-news.

And Francine joined us this morning during our adult forum and uh spoke more to her specific work and the work of the diocese.

You can find that on our YouTube channel if you're interested.

It's about a 25-minute segment, and uh it's incredible to know the bishop's vision and uh and where we're headed, not only as a diocese, but as a parish.

So, again, thanks for interested.

Um, a few other announcements to call to your attention.

This Wednesday, we're starting a long-term Bible study that we'll read through the books of Genesis, Exodus, Luke, and Acts, roughly seven weeks per book.

We'll be doing this on Zoom.

Uh there's a workbook that's meant to assist us as we read, which you can do or do without.

And of course, sometimes people can't make all of the meetings, so we do record these, particularly if you're having trouble sleeping at night.

You can turn tune into these things.

Uh but it is a really fantastic opportunity not only to have a deeper understanding of the scripture, but actually to be formed in community as we read together.

So if you're interested in more information or the study, uh, please do let me know.

We'll start this Wednesday at 9 a.m.

and it will run for about 28 weeks.

So we'll finish right before my sabbatical in April.

That's the plan.

Um this week, obviously, is a big week for many of us because school is starting in many different iterations, both public and private.

I'm really pleased to tell you, on behalf of your most visible outreach in the Clear Lake community, that um we are starting with 86 students on Tuesday, which is more students than we've had at the school in eight years.

Uh, and so I ask you to continue not only, of course, to support this visible expression of our ministry.

Many of you know that um we're forming children here not only in knowledge, but of course in wisdom and virtue and faith.

But the students and families don't all know to thank you.

So on their behalf, thank you.

Because the investment you're making through your resources, your facilities, and your prayers and these students' lives, I get to see it personally as a parent of an incoming fourth grader, and it's tremendous.

In that vein, I want to offer um if anybody is an educator, a teacher or an administrator, if you'd like to stand in place, I'd be grateful to bless you on behalf of your mission and doing the Lord's work in ministry this year.

I see one, and that's fantastic.

So please let me bless you, Dr.

Gladden.

God, we ask your blessing upon our teachers and our administrators that they would both instill knowledge, but of course also cultivate wonder and awe and compassion in their students and families.

Bless them in their work not only with perseverance, but with discernment, with turns of phrase, with patient moments that can overt overturn years of whatever that is going on in their lives.

So the Dr.

Gladden and our teachers here might make this world look more like you imagined it to be in heaven.

Amen.

I'm gonna ask the same opportunity for our students.

So I see we've got three acolytes here, and we've got one student in the back.

We may have other students in the in the parish as well.

Students, if you'd like to stand in place, or if you're willing, you may not like to.

I would love to bless you as well.

Look at that peer pressure.

Isn't that great?

Positive peer pressure is amazing.

Lord God, we ask your blessing on these our students, both here and ones who are going to be attending our school, in fact, uh, for our district and our state.

God, we know that you as a human child engage in education, even as Christ the Lord, you learned.

We pray that you would bless our students in their learning.

Nourish not only their curiosity, but especially, God, their awe and wonder.

Help them to grow not only in knowledge, to feed their energy, to integrate their knowledge into practices of wisdom, of peace building, of trust making and compassion.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Thank you.

Um, a few other announcements uh to call to your attention.

One is that normally we would be looking for our next fresh food distribution to be on September the 4th.

That's the first Saturday of the month.

But uh the food bank is closed for uh Labor Day.

So instead, our next fresh food distribution will be Wednesday, September the 1st from 4 to 6 p.m.

in our parking lot.

So this is a kind of a one-time thing.

Many of you know that we feed approximately 468 persons per month, something like$13,000 in retail groceries in about an hour and a half.

And so uh if you're able to volunteer, this is fantastic.

If you know somebody who could benefit from this service, please be an evangelist because uh it's making an incredible difference in our community.

Um at the request of a family member, and and this is a a longtime parishioner who has attended mostly at the 8 o'clock service, I just would like to ask your prayers.

Uh Betty Ann Kraft, uh the widow of Chris Kraft, the flight director whose name is on the building, uh, has had a stroke and fallen this week.

And uh the hospice has been called in.

So I know that Christianne and Betty Ann would be more than grateful for your prayers.

Um if you would like to send any notes, I'll be grateful to the emissary of those notes as I go to like Jackson to visit her.

Um if you didn't know Betty Ann Kraft, you missed out.

Honestly, on Magnolia, I want you to know.

Um and and she's still she's still with us today, so so please I do encourage your thoughts and prayers for her, for Christian and her son Gordon who lives in San Francisco.

Continue to walk in love.

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

Let my let thy great be to me that it's got to be that it died.

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.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them unto the Lord.

Let us give thanks unto our Lord God.

Right so to do.

We thank you, Creator God, that we live in a place where the glorious revelation of yourself is all around us.

The bayous burst with song from wind and birds and waving grasses.

The abundance of birds flying freely reminds us of our own freedom, and the many ways you provide sustenance in your kingdom.

From the depths of the ocean floor, you made room for clear lake and appointed a respite and sanctuary for your creatures.

We, like your son, our Lord, are called to drink from these oases for the spirit, to get away and rest in communion with you.

We marvel as we wander alongside pines and wildflowers along the creeks, where jumping fish dance above the lake, and pelicans, egrets, ducks, and geese eat and drink from the water's edge.

And we remember that you have given us the living water to quench our thirst.

Our spirit is refreshed and our strength renewed.

We welcome the passing of seasons and broad circles of time with anticipation of new things to come, and we recognize that same feeling of hope that encircles our faith.

Our lives are lived between sunrises and sunsets and brilliant colors, but at night the limitless stars have a way of pushing back the boundaries of our lives, and we dream of heaven and your wonder.

With all these blessings of your creation around us, O God, we come together in communities on the bayos, by creeks and lakes, on trails and marshes to receive your word, which has been sown in rich soil and grown into a fruitful crop in the body of Christ.

So we join with saints and angels in proclaiming your glory as we say, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of thy glory.

Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High.

Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosiah and the highest.

As we gather to praise your name, we see your greatest glory.

Your Son, our Savior, reflected in each other's faces, and we know the magnitude of your love for us and ours for you.

On the night before he died for us, Jesus was at table with his friends.

He took bread, gave thanks to you, broke it, gave it to them, and said, Take, eat.

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

As supper was ending, Jesus took the cup of wine.

Again, he gave thanks to you, gave it to them, and said, Drink this all of you.

This is my blood of the new covenant which is poured out for you and for all for the forgiveness of sins.

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

And now gathered at your table, O God of all creation, and remembering Christ, crucified and risen, who was and is and is to come, we offer to you our gifts of bread and wine and ourselves, a living sacrifice.

Pour out your spirit upon these gifts that they may be the body and blood of Christ.

Breathe your spirit over the whole earth and make us your new creation, the body of Christ given for the world you have made.

In the fullness of time, bring us with all your saints from every tribe and language and people and nation to feast at the banquet prepared from the foundation of the world.

Through Christ and with Christ and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit to you be honor, glory, and praise 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 thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Now in the spirit of Pentecost, please do create in different words.

Source of all that is shall be designed heaven.

May knowledge of your holiness inspire all peoples.

May your commonwealth of peace and freedom of honor until all of humankind justice and compassion.

May we find the bread that we need for today.

And hurts we call one another.

May we be forgiven in the same as we forgive.

Help us to be strong.

When life seems to be helpful.

May you reign the power of kingdom now and forever.

Amen.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

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

Comedy joyfully with the resolution and understanding that we will continue to struggle.

And that God will always sustain us if we sustain one another.

If you'll come to the aisle closest to your right, come down in socially distanced intervals, return to your seat on the far side.

And all are invited to receive a blessing if you'd like to pass on bread or wine.

God of truth, we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands the bread of life.

Nourish our faith that we may grow in love for you and for each other, and nourish the world in your image.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

What we choose changes us.

Who we love transforms us.

How we create remakes us.

Where we live reshapes us.

So in all of our choosing, O God, make us wise.

In our loving, O Christ, make us bold.

In all our creating, O Spirit, give us courage.

In all of our living may we become whole.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be upon you, those whom you love, and those for whom you pray this day and forevermore.

Amen.