Pentecost 7 2021

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

Let's pray together.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid.

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

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart and united to one another with pure affection through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

A prayer for Independence Day.

Lord God Almighty, the founders of our country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn.

Grant that we and all the people of this land may have a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we might use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

For some time while Saul was king over us, it was you who led us out of Israel and brought us in.

The Lord said to you, It is you who shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be the ruler over Israel.

So all the elders of Israel came to the king of Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for forty years.

At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

David occupied the stronghold and named it the city of David.

David built the city all around from the Milo inwards, and David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

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

Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows.

And I know that such a person, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know.

God knows.

Was caught up in paradise and heard things that are not to be told.

That no mortal is permitted to repeat.

On behalf of such a one, I will boast, but on my own behalf, I will not boast.

Except of my weaknesses.

But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth.

But I refrain from it so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me.

Even considering the exceptional character of the revelation.

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh.

A messenger of Satan.

Three times I appealed to the Lord about this that it would leave me.

But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you.

For power is made perfect in weakness.

So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Therefore, I am content with weaknesses.

Insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ.

For whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

On the Sabbath, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue.

And many who heard him were astounded.

They said, Where did this man get all this?

What is this wisdom that's been given to him?

What deeds of power are being done by his hands?

Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?

And they took offense at him.

And then Jesus said to them, Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin and in their own house.

And Jesus could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.

And he was amazed at their unbelief.

And then Jesus went about among the villages teaching.

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

He said to them, Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.

If any place will not welcome you, and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.

They cast out many unclean spirits and anointed with oil many who were sick, and cured them.

So once upon a time, I used to teach high school math, and I'm gonna inflict a little bit of math punishment on you.

Hopefully it will go somewhere.

You know, when you've got two fractions of unequal quantity, particularly when they've got different denominators, and you'd like to combine them together, what you have to do?

You've got to find a common denominator, right?

And if I were going to add, let's say, a fifth and a tenth, I could make a denominator of 500.

That would work.

But it would also be a little bit, well, extra labor.

So what we try to teach our students in school is to find not the greatest common denominator, but the lowest common denominator.

Don't worry, I'm not going to ask you to add today.

What I want to suggest to you, though, that we often don't do super well, uh, is uh when we try to combine people in this world, and I see this happening in the gospel quite clearly, um, we don't always A, look for the lowest common denominator.

And another struggle that we often have is we often fail to pay attention to what's happening in the numerator.

So let me expand on that a little bit.

Um, if you've been around high schoolers, well, heck, if you've been around adults, this is typically what happens.

You take two really good solid students, respectful, courteous, polite, take two good co-workers, respectful, courteous, polite, and then introduce somebody a little rough around the edges.

We have all kinds of saying for this.

A bad apple spoils a whole bunch.

Usually what happens when you introduce a third element that is, again, a little bit rougher, the discourse tends to descend to the lowest denominator possible.

I don't know if this has been your experience, but I can tell you, particularly as a parent and as a teacher, I was always worried what kind of influence was student C going to have on students A and B.

We often pay so much attention, as I mentioned, to the denominator that we forget to realize that when we combine fractions, actually the quantity itself is always growing.

There's something wonderful happening in the numerator.

In this story, Jesus shows up and he's sort of done the equivalent.

He's gone away from his small town, the equivalent of, say, being born in High Texas, population 17, and going away to, I don't know, Cornell.

And then you come back from Cornell and you try to share some wisdom, and it's sort of like, hey, city slicker, where did you get that information?

The people look at Jesus and they say, Who does this guy think he is?

And they start to expound around his denominator.

His denominator.

Isn't this guy a carpenter?

Now sometimes we make a mistake of thinking, oh, carpenter.

That's like somebody who builds museum quality furniture, like the piece that's in front of you.

The Greek word here is tecton, and it means, it could mean museum quality furniture builder, but more often than not we see it rendered as day laborer.

A tecton could be the kind of folk that stand outside of Home Depot hoping you'll hire them for the day.

A tecton could just as well be somebody whose trade is framing homes, or a tecton could be somebody who builds Steinway pianos.

You see, there's quite a range here.

But I want to suggest to you that I think it's maybe best to hear this as day laborer for a number of reasons.

Uh that bear out on the gospel.

Number one, Jesus can't support himself financially, it requires women to do that.

And second, these people are trying to belittle his message, not raise it up.

The other thing they do is they say, hey, look at this guy.

Uh he grew up around here and we know him, so who does he think he is to tell us anything?

And after all, doesn't he have that big family?

This is important to hear.

Greek is actually a pretty specific precise language.

That is to say, it has more than a hundred thousand words.

It's not like English, which has more than 500,000 words, but a hundred thousand words is pretty precise.

So when you read the scripture and you hear that he's got brothers, he's got brothers.

Some people say these are his cousins, and I'm just gonna tell you biblically that's not the case.

We can say whatever we want about tradition, but the scripture's clear.

He's got brothers, like Mary had other kids, and he's got sisters, like more than one, because it's plural.

What the people are saying is, this guy's like us, so why is he telling us what to do?

They pay so much attention to the common denominator that they fail to appreciate any increase Jesus can offer them in the numerator.

As a result, he's able to do, what do you know, no miracles.

This brings out that phrase, you know, we often say something like, seeing is believing.

But here's the inverse of the phrase the people have already decided what they think about Jesus, and that informs what they're going to see from him.

They've decided to look at his denominator instead of his numerator, so guess what?

He doesn't offer much contributions to him because they won't let him.

Reminds us that we don't always see to believe.

In general, we believe, and therefore we see.

And this I suggest to you is part of the message of the gospel today.

Sometimes we talk about people being one in a million, and that's a good thing.

But you, like me, probably know people that you might consider one in one millionth.

To elaborate around this, I don't want to say that we're all broken folks, but I do want to say that all of us have perceptions about other people's relative wholeness.

And I think the best way to express that is fractionally.

To be fair, I have uh my own perceptions about my own wholeness.

They tend to go up and down throughout the day, and they usually are described as fractions, not whole numbers.

What's interesting is that when we look at folks who aren't quite like us, and we pay attention only to their denominator, we fail to recognize that there's always a sum game in working together.

And so what that means, right, is even if somebody truly is one in one millionth, we can do more together.

In fact, our lives would be much richer together than they would apart.

And if we believe the contrary, we'll never see it.

On the other hand, if we believe, and this I think the gospel puts us before us, that no matter how low the denominator of somebody else seems to be, there is a contribution to be wrought in our collective numerators, then we live into not only our mission, we can do more together, we live into the gospel.

And I've said this before, I don't mind to say it again.

If you look at somebody else and you can't find something nice to say about them, think harder.

This is the message today.

These people who need Jesus so well are disqualifying the contributions he can offer them.

And we all know 2,000 years later, that's their loss.

So our invitation is to read this story frankly as describing us so that we don't repeat this description.

The prescription is don't act like this.

The prescription is when you see somebody whose denominator you judge lower because of well, their politics or the way they've handled COVID or whether or not they wear a mask or whether or not they present as blank.

Look to the numerator.

Look to the numerator.

Many of you have heard of this priest who lives out in Los Angeles.

His name's Greg Boyle.

He's a Jesuit, and he spent his entire ministry creating uh this ministry called Homeboy Industries.

What Father Doyle does is uh he takes violent prisoners when they come out of jail and gives them jobs, which is pretty hard to do.

They usually have gang tattoos and they usually have our violent criminals.

He trains them in the case of men to be bakers, he trains them in the case of women to wait tables and to cook at a restaurant that has received quite a bit of national attention.

What Father Boyle does that is really, really quite interesting, is he tells the gospel, he reframes the gospel.

You can read this in the book, Tattoos on the Heart, if you're interested, in uh in the terms of the homeboys, he calls them.

He takes these people and he removes their uh gang tattoos because if he didn't, they could be shot on sight walking down the street by a rival gang.

This is the way that he helps people not pay attention to their low denominator, don't you see?

He tries to make it easier to see God present in them.

Father Boyle says this really interesting bit about the Eucharist, you know, which is one of the most complicated pieces of theology.

He says, you know, Jesus isn't worried we're going to forget how extraordinary the Eucharist is.

We've got volumes about that.

The real presence and trans, uh I just forget it, transubstantiation and consubstantiation.

We've got all kinds of stuff about that.

He says, Jesus is actually much more concerned, we'll forget how ordinary the Eucharist is.

It's a shared meal that connects human beings around a physical need.

And God is found in those places.

These people in the story.

Have missed the extraordinariness about Jesus?

Well, because he came as somebody pretty ordinary.

This I suggest to you is part of the call of the gospel is not to disqualify what's extraordinary about one another in the midst of ordinary life, but to celebrate and embrace it.

And if we can't see it, it's probably not their fault.

It might be our own.

Now I don't want to give you homework, but I'm going to, here's this really wonderful spiritual discipline that used to serve our family pretty well.

We made it up actually because when our son came to us at the age of six, he really liked to say the things he didn't like.

And I have to admit that when I went to university, I was trained in being rather not just analytical but critical myself.

I could find sort of the loophole in every argument pretty fast.

I'm still really good at that.

I call it the spiritual gift of criticism.

It does some really great things and it's quite frankly oppressive to live with, and uh, especially when children do it, you hear it and you're like, oh my gosh, you're so negative without realizing where you usually are too.

So our son came to us and he often said to us, Well, I don't like this, I don't like that.

So we decided to nip that in the bud as a family, and we made up a rule.

Anytime you say I don't like something, you had to say two things you did like.

And if you ever said I hate something, you had to say five things that you loved.

Now, mom and I played by the rules, but you have to understand adults can be much more sophisticated with this than six-year-olds, who tend to be much more earnest than we are.

So the way we would do it is we would say, Well, I like molecules, and I like, you know, the infinitely expanding universe, and I like oxygen.

You aren't allowed to repeat the same things every day, but you know the adult mind is really good at this.

You can come up with anything you don't actually care about and say you do.

Now, our six-year-old, I mean, he really thought hard about this.

This is like excruciating for him.

Sure enough, changed the way he talked.

So one day, a couple months down the road, we went to one of those health food stores where you can, you know, crank the peanuts and make the peanut butter.

Kid loved peanut butter.

And in the machine was dark chocolate, so he was really excited about this dark chocolate peanut butter.

I knew he was not gonna like this.

There was no sugar in it.

Anyway, we get it home.

We put it on bread, he takes a bite, he makes a terrible face.

We say, Don't you like that peanut butter?

He says, Oh, I like it.

It just tastes nasty.

Now, I want to suggest to you that as funny as that is, that's kind of an amazing spiritual discipline when we meet somebody whose denominator we don't appreciate.

I like you.

I just don't know why yet.

Now that sounds funny, but I want to suggest to you, friends, that the world would be a brighter place and so would our lives if we could actually trick ourselves into behaving that way.

And maybe the bridge is when you find something you don't like, you find two things that you do.

This story we get about David being crowned king of Hebron, which is kind of ironic.

If you'd like to visit Hebron today, you probably need to go in an armored bus with bulletproof glass, because the odds are as a tourist you're going to be shot at.

Not to kill you, just to bother you.

This is in the middle of contested territory.

It's contested because, well, there's been years and years of abuse.

David gets crowned at Hebron.

I don't know if you notice the language, it's quite interesting.

The people say to David, Saul was king.

And we want to crown you shepherd over Israel.

He's going to be their king, but they're crowning him to be a shepherd.

Now, you know, shepherding metaphors happen throughout scripture.

There's a beautiful one over there in the window.

If I ever get real boring, which happens a lot, it's pretty to look at.

But something we don't realize is that being a shepherd was not really economically valuable at the time.

This was sort of one of those minimum wave jobs that people really needed but didn't appreciate.

Sort of like stocking grocery shelves.

You have to realize, like, we need that.

It just didn't pay very well.

The people are saying, not that we want you to lord over us.

Saul did that, it didn't work out real great.

Instead, we'd like you to shepherd us.

We're appointing you to do, well, work that may not be all that economically beneficial to you, but that is necessary to our common life.

We want you to help us combine fractions.

That's what shepherds do.

Paul has this vision.

I don't know if you've read this, and and I want to just go ahead and uh unmask what he's doing here.

Paul talks about this guy he knew once upon a time that ascended up into seventh heaven, had these wonderful visions.

He's talking about himself.

I don't know if you realize that.

It's one of those where it's like, oh, I know some guy who wears a green chasuble and uh he's got these brown shoes and he wears three rings, instead of just saying me.

And what Paul does is really interesting, as with all mystics, is he sort of says what the point of mysticism is.

Mystics are these people who get wrapped up into this experience of God.

They see the sights, they smell the smells, they transcend earth.

And Paul says, you know what, that only works well.

Somebody's only a genuine mystic when they come back and are more connected with other people than they were before.

Mystics don't look to escape the world, they look to transform how they behave within the world.

Not transcend, transform.

And so what Paul goes on to say is even though I had these wonderful experiences where I had ecstasy and joy and wonder, what God ultimately said is, my grace is sufficient in combining really, really low, really, really low denominators.

That can feel thorny.

There's some denominators I don't even want to mess with.

But don't you see it's not about denominators, it's about numerators.

That's what all this business is about.

I can promise you, really, I can promise you, that if you did this spiritual work, every time you said you didn't like something, if you would say two things you liked, not only would your life be more enjoyable, you would be a source of joy for everybody who knows you.

I promise you that.

Why don't we do it?

You ever been talking to somebody?

Somebody third party comes in and says, oh my gosh, do you know that person?

Bl?

I can't believe that they bl.

It's awkward, isn't it?

It's like, oh, you know, I want to be a good friend, but it's socially uncomfortable to say something like, huh, you know, I know that person.

Let me tell you what I really appreciate about them.

I don't know why that's so uncomfortable.

It's uncomfortable for me.

Well, I don't know why.

Doesn't it seem pretty easy to say, hey, there's this neat thing about that person.

I don't know if you knew that.

Maybe you don't even have to give a cease and desist order.

Maybe you can just say, let me tell you two things I like about that person.

That's what we call a leap of faith.

Doing something we already know we ought to be doing.

We've just chosen that we're gonna do it so that the world can be a better place, including in our own lives.

This is like what we call holy homework, and I want to give it to you.

And if I don't do it, I want you to say you're not doing your own homework.

This is what it means when we say at St.

Thomas, we can do more together.

That we don't just say that, we practice it.

I'm not talking about defending people, I'm saying, here's two things I like about them.

That's not even defensive, that's affirmative.

I want to give you my permission.

My priest told me I'm supposed to do this.

And not only that, I want to give you the same nutrition I need.

It's gonna come off the Lord's table in just a second.

Because you know what?

We say this every week, and we believe it, and we're gonna practice it.

You're welcome here.

Even if you're one in one millionth, you're welcome here.

In God's view, there is no negative fraction in the world.

So when math speak, what's amazing that God's able to do, that God invites us to do, is called the absolute value function.

So that when you see your neighbor who's apparently negative, God is able to absolutely value them and render their numerator positive.

And if we do that, it won't just be good for them and it won't just make God's imagination come out on earth.

We'll get to enjoy ourselves a whole lot more.

So let's do more and let's do it together.

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

We believe in one God, our God, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, all is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally God and Father, God and God, life and light, true God, future God, beyond the name, Almighty and Father, through all things are made, for us for our salvation, in the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit, we became right through.

On the third day was heaven, in the Lord's with grace, he ascended to heaven, and see the right and father.

He who come in the Lord to us with kingdom.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord of God, who proceeds from the Father and Son, with the Father and Son, Jesus worship, is one of the price.

Hear us, for it is your spirit who speaks to us as we pray.

Gracious God, you created the heavens and the earth.

Bless the produce of our land and the works of our hands.

Gracious God, you created us in your own image.

Teach us to honor all of your children.

Grant good rains for our crops.

Gracious God, you inspired the prophets of old.

Grant that your church may faithfully proclaim your truth to the world.

Lord Jesus, you sent your apostles to make disciples of all nations.

Bless the clergy and laity of our diocese and church, together with Andy, Hector, Jeff and Kay, our bishops, in the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer, St.

John's Center, St.

John's Tyler, St.

Luke's Lyndale, and St.

Matthew's Henderson, Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Michael, our presiding bishop.

Lord Jesus, for your sake, men and women forsook all and followed you.

Call many to serve you in religious communities and in the ordained ministry of your church.

Lord Jesus, you called your disciples to take up the cross.

Deepen in each of us a sense of vocation.

You prayed for your church to be one.

Unite all Christians that the world may believe.

You forgave the thief on the cross.

Bring us all to penitence and reconciliation.

You broke down the walls that divide us.

Bring the people of this world to live in peace and concord.

You taught us through Paul, your apostle, to pray for kings and rulers.

Bless and guide all in authority.

You were rich, yet for our sake became poor.

Move those who have wealth to share generously with those who are poor.

You sat among the learned, listening and asking them questions.

Inspire all who teach and all who learn.

You cured by your healing touch and word.

Heal the sick and bless those who minister to them.

You were unjustly condemned by Pontius Pilate.

Strengthen our brothers and sisters who are unjustly suffering violence and persecution.

You lived as an exile in Egypt.

Protect and comfort all refugees.

You knew the love and care of an earthly home.

May your presence and protection be made known to migrant workers and their families.

You open and none can shut.

Open the gates of our kingdom, of your kingdom, to those who have died without hearing your gospel.

You have been glorified in the lives of innumerable saints, especially Saint Thomas.

Give us strength to follow in their footsteps.

Holy Spirit, you help us in our weakness and intercede for us when we cannot.

Remember our peritions and thanksgivings before God, especially Chris, Sean, Jerome, Mickey, John, Lavon, and Paxton, and enhance our vision to see your presence in them.

The congregation is invited to name their own celebration or petitions silently or loud.

In your infinite compassion.

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

Comfort those who mourn, strengthen those who are weary, encourage those in despair, and lead us all to fullness of life.

Father, we know that you are good and that you hear all those who call upon you.

Give to us and all people what is best for us, that we may glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns through you in the Holy Spirit now and forever.

Amen.

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

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.

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

Amen.

If you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the room right behind you where you came in, it's called the Narthics, are these little cards that say welcome.

And we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one of those out so that we have a record of your visit and thank you for worshiping with us.

A few announcements I want to call to your attention, but I'm really happy as conditions continue to open and get us to a new normal to celebrate our July birthdays.

So if you were born in July, I'd like to invite you to physically come forward so that we can celebrate your birthday and offer you a blessing.

While you're coming up, our tradition here is that we share our name, the day of our birth, and either where we were born, when we were born, or both of those.

So our name, the day of our birth, and where or when we were born.

And where were you born?

Verona Krappins, North Carolina.

Doug Somm, new member here.

July 10th, 1944, born in Van Wert, Ohio.

Laura Staff, July 20th, 1959, and I was born in Houston, Texas.

Donna Meyer, July the 13th, 1956, in Macon, Georgia.

Jennifer Meek Chilton, July the 5th, 1959, and I was born in Cardiff Webs.

And she's not acolyting today, but Emory Stone was born July 7th in San Diego, California, and she'll be nine this year.

Let's pray for our birthdays.

Lord God, we know every year, every second of our lives is in your hands.

Look with continued favor and love on your children as they begin another year.

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

Amen.

Okay, so a few announcements to call to your attention.

Uh one is just a reminder we did not have our mobile food distribution yesterday.

That'll be July the 31st from 7:45 till 10 in the morning.

And you can just show up outside.

So normally it's the first Saturday of the month, but because of the fourth, we're pushing it to the end.

Also want to remind you ongoing or a couple of different studies, both on Sunday morning and Wednesday morning.

There's more details about these in the e-news.

But we just began today a study of astrophysics for people in a hurry.

It is a fantastic opportunity not only to learn more about physics and the nature of our universe as best we understand it, but what difference that makes not only to faith but to faithfulness.

And so these are always posted on YouTube.

They're recorded in case you're having trouble sleeping, or in case you miss something and you'd like to hear them again or can't be with us.

And the same with our Wednesday morning studies, we're beginning a new book on Wednesday called A Mujerista Theology that I strongly commend to you.

I also wanted to raise up to you that we're in the middle of this wonderful national celebration.

And our invitation, of course, is not only to be safe, but also to reflect on the sacrifices and care that those who went before us gave so that we could live the lives and freedoms that we have and also pass them on to others with respect and dignity and courage.

So happy Fourth of July to you.

Walk in love as Christ first loved us and gave himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God.

There is no place where it's paid and such kindly judge might give For the love of God is more than the merger of the wide and the heart of the channel is not one of only kind, but we make it not to know by forth, and we might find it with us in there is pity for redemption in the blood written.

There is joy for all the man in the tone of the head.

There is great of the word.

We should take him on his word, and our life only God is in the joy of Christ, our Lord.

All things come of you, O Lord.

This is the table not of the church but of Jesus Christ.

It is made ready for those who love him and those who want to love him more, so come.

You who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often, and you who have not been for a long time or ever before.

You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come.

Not because the church invites you, it is Christ.

And he invites you to meet him here.

Our service continues on page 370 of your red prayer book in front of you.

Page 370.

There are a number of responses in prayer C.

The Lord be here with you.

Leave up your let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is God to give thanks to praise.

God of all power, ruler of the universe, you are worthy of glory and praise.

At your command, all things came to be.

From the primal elements you brought forth the human race and blessed us with memory, reason, and skill.

You made us the shepherds of creation, but we turned against you and betrayed your trust, and we turned against one another.

Mercy, O Lord, for we are sinners in your sight.

Again and again you called us to return.

Through prophets and sages you revealed your righteous law, and in the fullness of time, you sent your only son, born of a woman, to fulfill your law, to open for us the ways of freedom and peace.

Therefore we praise you, joining with the heavenly chorus, with prophets, apostles, and martyrs, and with all those in every generation who have looked to you in hope to proclaim with them your glory and their unending hymn.

Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.

For on the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread.

He said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, 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, gave thanks to God, 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.

Remembering now his work of redemption and offering to you this sacrifice of thanksgiving, we celebrate his death and resurrection as we await the day of his coming.

Lord God of our parents, God of Abraham, Hagar, Sarah, and Keturah, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us.

Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only and not for strength, for pardon only and not for renewal.

Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name.

Risen Lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread.

Accept these prayers and praises, Father, through Jesus Christ, our great high priest, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit your church gives honor, glory, and worship from generation to generation.

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.

Honor against us in heaven.

Give us this day our daily prayer.

And forgive us our trespasses.

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

And leave us not into temptation, but to the mercy of you.

Amen.

In the spirit of Pentecost, please join me as we pray that prayer in a slightly different version, as authored by Wendy Lion.

Our Father, who art in heaven, slow to anger and of great mercy, lover of all peoples of the earth, hallowed be thy name.

Remind us that all the nations are as nothing before thee, their governments but a shadow of passing age.

Thy kingdom come on earth.

Grant to thy children throughout the world, and especially to the leaders of the nations, the gift of prayerful thought and thoughtful prayer, that following the example of our Lord, we may discern what is right and do it.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Help us to protect and provide for all who are hungry and humless, especially those who are deprived of food and shelter, family and friends by the tragedy of war.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us for neglecting to seek peace and pursue it, and finding ourselves in each new crisis more ready to make war than to make peace.

We have not loved thee with our whole heart.

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Let us not seek revenge but reconciliation.

Let us not delight in victory but in justice.

Let us not give ourselves up to pride, but to prayer.

Lead us not into temptation.

Be present to all thy children ravaged by war.

Be present to those who are killing and to those who are being killed.

Be present to the loved ones of those who are killing, and to the loved ones of those who are being killed.

Deliver us from evil.

Subdue our selfish desires to possess and to dominate, and forbid us arrogance and victory, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

Feed on them in your hearts by faith and with thanksgiving.

And I invite you to receive bread and wine through intention.

That's a fancy word for dipping.

Or to come forward, receive either or neither element, and receive a blessing.

We'll start here on my right and invite you to come to the aisle closest to your right in six foot intervals and return to your seat on the far side.

Till in his kingdom we hold his grace.

Give courage to the wheel.

And while we are thought for God to the world in strength, both us the good for the right.

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.

Go forth into the world in peace, be of good courage, hold fast that which is good, render to no one evil for evil, strengthen the faint-hearted, support the weak, help the afflicted, honor everyone.

Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be amongst you this day and remain with you always.

Amen.