Pentecost 5 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.

And also with you.

Let us pray.

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy name.

For you never fail to help and govern those whom you've set upon the sure foundation of your loving kindness.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

A prayer for Father's Day.

We give our thanks, Creator God, for the fathers in our lives.

Fatherhood does not come with a manual.

In reality, it teaches us that all fathers have areas in which they excel and others in which they regret.

So we ask your blessing for all of us fathers, and forgiveness where it is needed.

This Father's Day, we remember the many sacrifices fathers make for their children and families and the ways, both big and small, they lift children to achieve dreams thought beyond reach.

So too, we remember all those who have helped fill the void when fathers pass early or are absent.

Grandfathers and uncles, brothers and cousins, teachers, pastors and coaches, all the men who reveal your love one day at a time, best as they are able.

For those who are fathers, we ask for wisdom and humility in the face of the task of parenting.

Give us the strength to do well by our children and by you day by day.

In your holy name, O God, we pray.

Amen.

And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Goth, whose height was six cubits and a span.

He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail.

The weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.

He had greaves of bronze on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.

The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron, and his shield bearer went before him.

He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, Why have you come out to draw up for battle?

Am I not a Philistine?

And are you not servants of God, Saul?

Choose a man for yourself and let him come down to me.

If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants.

But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and servants.

And the Philistines said, Today I defy the ranks of Israel.

Give me a man that we may fight together.

When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistines, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

David rose early in the morning, left the chief with the keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him.

He came to the encampment as the army was going forth to the battle line, shouting the war cry.

Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.

David left the things in charge of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers.

As he talked with them, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before, and David heard them.

David said to Saul, Let no one's heart fail because of him.

Your servant will go and fight with the Philistine.

Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.

But David said to Saul, Your servant used to keep sheep for his father.

And whenever a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth.

And if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down and kill it.

Your servant has killed both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.

David said, The Lord who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will save me from the hand of this Philistine.

So Saul said to David, Go, and may the Lord be with you.

Saul clothed Saul clothed David with with a uh Saul clothed David with his armor.

He put a bronze helmet on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail.

David strapped Saul's sword over the armor, and he tried in vain to walk, for he was not used to them.

Then David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these, for I am not used to them.

So David removed them.

Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi, and put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch.

His sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine.

The Philistine came on and drew near to David, with his shield bearer in front of him.

When the Philistine looked and saw David, he dis disdained him, for he was only a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.

The Philistine said to David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?

And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

The Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the field.

But David said to the Philistine, You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head, and I will give you the dead bodies of the Philistine army this very day to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth.

So that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.

When the Philistine drew nearer to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.

David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead.

The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.

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

A reading from Psalm 9.

You will read responsively at the half-verse.

The Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed.

Those who know your name will put their trust in you.

For you have mercy to those who seek you, Lord.

Sing praise to the Lord who dwells in Zion.

The Avenger of blood will remember them.

And will not forget the crowd if we forget.

Have pity on me, O Lord.

So that I may tell of all your praises and rejoice in your salvation.

The ungodly have fallen into the pit they dug.

And who despair their death as their own power.

The Lord is known by divine acts of justice.

The wicked shall be given over to the grave.

And also need to have the hand of God.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten.

And the love of the Lord shall not bear forever.

Rise up, O Lord, let not the ungodly have the upper hand.

Put fear onto them, O Lord.

As we work together with Christ, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.

For he says, At an acceptable time, I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you.

See, now is the acceptable time.

See, now is a day of salvation.

We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found with our ministry.

But as servants of God, we have commended ourselves in every way through great endurance in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonment, riots, labor, sleepless night, hunger, bipurity, knowledge, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God.

The weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left.

In honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute.

We are treated as imposters and yet are true, as unknown and yet as well known as dying.

See, we are alive, as punished, and yet not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, as poor, yet making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

We have spoken frankly to you, Corinthians.

Our heart is wide open to you.

There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours.

In return, in return.

I speak as to children.

Open wide your heart also.

Hear what the spirit is saying to God and people.

On that same day when evening had come, Jesus said to the disciples, Let us go across to the other side of the lake.

Leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat just as he was.

Other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

But Jesus was in the stern, asleep on the cushion.

And the disciples woke him up and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still.

And then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

Jesus said to them, Why are you afraid?

Have you still no faith?

And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

The gospel of the Lord.

Last week, Jesus said to the disciples that God's family is like a weed, a mustard seed that somebody sows.

And I shared with you this phrase, my dad taught me, that a weed is any plant you don't want.

That's really important because in the gospel today, it's the same day.

Jesus just said that God's family is like a weed.

And the disciples get into a boat and they cross the lake.

Not so different from us who live on the north side of the lake.

You know what it's like going down there on the south side.

That's Gentile territory where they don't do things like we do in the north, right?

It's even worse because there's pig farmers there.

That's what we're going to learn.

These are people who have unsavory ways.

Jesus has just told them that God's kingdom is in the weeds along with the roses, and don't you see they're sailing to the weeds?

And in the middle of this voyage, and I think it's okay to hear that this is both literal and figurative, the disciples find themselves in a little bit of storm.

It'd be enough living in Houston if this was just about weather.

You know, if Jesus could like still a hundred year storm, that'd be pretty cool.

I actually would take lowering the temperature five degrees outside.

That'd be real nice.

But I want you to understand that this story is not about the weather at all.

This story is a figurative story that has to do with creation itself.

If you know your scriptures in Genesis chapter 1, when God goes about creating the earth, it is formless and void and covered with water, and that's a symbol in the Bible for chaos.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

It doesn't mean evil, it just means it's chaotic.

And what God does in chapter Genesis chapter 1 is breathes on top of the formless void, chaotic earth, and starts to create order.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

And we would do this story a disservice if we didn't hear that that's what Jesus is doing.

It's not about the weather.

Jesus is bringing order into chaos.

And in the middle of the chaos, boy, I'm grateful the disciples said something that is on my mind frequently.

God, don't you care about us?

Don't you care that we're perishing?

Jesus is not a good actor in the story in their minds because you see, he's asleep in a hurricane.

No, we we understand the disciples, a couple of them are fisher folks, so they ought to know the difference between a squall and a hundred-year storm.

And they seem to think this is the hundred-year storm, like you know, the kind we have every three years here in Houston lately.

And Jesus is in the stern, which is where you steer the boat, but instead of steering, he's asleep.

And they get him up, don't you care?

God, don't you care that it's 83 degrees at 5:30 in the morning.

And um, and they say, we're perishing, and Jesus does this interesting thing.

He says to the wind and the waves, peace be still.

But you know, there's actually some ambiguity in Greek here.

Whether Jesus says it to the wind and the waves, or he says it toward the wind and the waves, but he's really talking to the disciples.

Maybe he's telling them to find peace and be still, and that's hard for them to do.

And then he says, What kind of faith do you have?

What kind of trust in me do you have?

Now I want to talk to you about two different things if I can, and maybe unlike eight o'clock, I'm going to start with the easier thing.

Um, the truth is that uh there is this old, old image of the church as being the ship of salvation, the ark of salvation.

And if you'll look up, you'll see that this.

Church was built to look like an inverted boat hull.

If you walk out in the hallway that we just paid off, you will also see that it was designed to look like an upside-down boat hull to remind us architecturally that this is supposed to be the boat of salvation.

Which sort of means church is meant to be this place, a community, a location, but also a family group in which we can find, frankly, respite, not just from literal waves, but from the waves of chaos that have us, rightfully so, panicking for the quality of our lives.

Sometimes we think that we're supposed to get in this chip and just sort of stay there.

Sometimes we might even once in a while throw out a life preserver to somebody we perceive to be worthy of the gesture.

But I want you to hear that the challenge in the story is to do neither of those things.

This story suggests to us that it is incumbent upon the church not just to be a boat that provides respite, but to be a core of engineers that changes the currents of the world.

It does little good for the world, being as populated and large as it is, for us to hold ourselves up in life rafts when we could do something about currents.

Here's the easy thing I'd like to offer to you.

One of my clergy peers shared this with me because, hey, look, it's been more than a little difficult these last 15 months, and it's lovely that things are starting to go sort of back to the way we were used to.

But of course, the reminder is that God is able to create something new out of chaos.

That's the story of creation, and that's the story of Jesus, so that hopefully we accidentally don't go backward, hopefully we go forward.

Maybe one of these will speak to you.

Nine things I am leaving behind for inner peace by Alex L.

Nine ways I'm going forward out of chaos into new creation.

I'm leaving behind blurry boundaries with others and myself.

I'm committed to being more clear and direct about what I will accept and what I will stand for.

I'm leaving behind letting self-doubt distract me for showing up and trying something new.

I am committed to expanding self-trust.

I am leaving behind holding on to relationships that have dissolved.

I am committed to looking at letting go as a blessing instead of being scared that I am missing out.

I'm leaving behind the fear of not being enough.

I am committed to learning more about the value of self-worth and living a life rooted in abundant gratitude.

I'm leaving behind waiting for tomorrow to do what I say I am going to do.

I am committed to being present and keeping the promises I make to myself.

I'm leaving behind stretching myself thin and calling it productivity.

I'm committed to making time for emotional and physical rest.

I'm leaving behind not investing in my mental and spiritual health.

I'm committed to staying in therapy and spiritual direction for neutral emotional support.

I am allowed to let people hold space for me.

I'm leaving behind being impatient with my healing.

I am committed to offering myself grace and compassion as I move through pain points that I have resurfaced.

I'm leaving behind not celebrating or acknowledging my joy.

I am committed to living fully and leaning into moments of joy, even in grief.

If one of those spoke to you, and you could make it a spiritual discipline, we would start to change the currents not only of our own spirituality, but the waters that carry us.

And what do you know?

We wouldn't need so many boats.

Because we would be peaceful, we would be still, and we would create peace and stillness in our community.

Hopefully, one of those spoke to you.

Now I'm going to say something really crazy.

What's new, right?

It's Father's Day, and I'm going to be fair to you.

I think fatherhood is really, really difficult, and it's probably just because I'm a father and I'm not a mother.

It's also difficult for me because this is probably the last year that my father is going to be around.

And so I'm going to share with you some of his wisdom and how it matches into this story.

And I think the truth is, I don't want you to hear you, please don't hear me sharing my stories to entertain you.

Please hear these stories as a way of connecting with your own and what it looks like to do these dual jobs.

The truth is the world needs both life preservers and current changers.

We need them both.

And this, I think, is the struggle of parenthood.

So first I want to tell you a story about my dad's dad, because my dad had been six months married when his own father pulled his draft number for the Vietnam War, which by the way is not how that's supposed to work.

So my dad went to Vietnam when he was 23.

As soon as he landed in Vietnam, he got word that his twin sister was in critical condition.

So he came back.

He made it just in time for her to die.

He flew back to Vietnam a week later to begin his one year that he'd been drafted into.

He was wearing his military fatigues because that was how you traveled.

And this was shortly after the Milee baby incident.

Many of you know about this if you were around at the time, if you didn't, of course it was a stain.

It was a stain, a blemish on who we were as a country.

And so a woman in the airport saw my father.

And she decided to show her protest by spitting in his face.

You know, you don't get a lot of opportunities as a son to hold these tender moments for your father, particularly your father who is a warrior, who is meant to be strong.

And I return to that story every year as a way that we hold our fathers who have also held us.

A year into Vietnam, what my father chose to convey to me was that he was taught intentionally to dehumanize Vietnamese women, men, and children, because quite honestly, he was going to kill them.

Those were his orders.

And it is much easier to live having dehumanized somebody with what you've done than not.

One of my other fathers, rear admiral Bud Edney, actually, he was a major admiral, he was a four-star.

He told me at Coronado as a naval aviator that his job was to follow his orders.

And it became very clear to him one day that he was not going to pray to God for forgiveness anymore because he was going to get up the next day and do the same thing.

So he didn't pray for forgiveness, he prayed for the strength to follow his orders.

My father came back from a year away from his brand new wife mourning the death of his sister on the front, having done, and he did this for years, said, I protected American lives, those were my orders.

And his summary of what a communist was, was a man trying to feed his family.

A communist is a man trying to feed his children.

Holding our fathers is difficult.

Especially if they don't want to be held.

This was a wonderful principle.

I actually consider it the gospel of Jesus Christ, that phrase.

He was like a wholesale nurser uh nurseryman.

There was a man at the market who sold cabbages out of the back of his Honda CRX.

He was black.

The other vendors at the market threw him out of the market one day.

They said it's because he didn't grow all those cabbages himself, which was in violation of the market rules.

None of them grew all their own produce either.

My dad did.

You never know, always what exactly happened, but here's the story I'm gonna hold as long as I can.

My dad fought that.

And he lost his market license, and he could no longer sell at the market because he, in his own words, defended this black man.

And around the same time, I was a junior in high school, and I just met this really, really enjoyable friend at school, and we were gonna go play putt-putt golf together.

And she came over, having just worked at a restaurant in her uniform, and she asked if she could use the restroom to change out of her uniform.

So she did.

While she was changing, my dad came to me and said, You cannot go out with her in public.

People will think you're dating and it will hurt your reputation.

He was trying to throw me a life preserver, even though what he said was about changing the currents of the world.

And this is the tension we so often live in.

And I'll tell you, I honored my father when I went out with that girl and played putt-putt golf, and we had a great time, and she was my friend.

And I honored my father when I went out with her.

And we live in this tension as dads.

I can tell you as a dad, I really just am mostly terrified I'm going to mess up this wonderful thing in front of me.

It seems like there really is nowhere to go but down.

You know, you're around these wonderful creations that God has made, and why God blessed you with them, I have no idea, but that's how it goes.

And this is where we find ourselves in between currents and in between trying to protect our children.

Because we don't want them to suffer the ways in which we've suffered, and at the same time, the currents need to change.

And this, I think, is the difficult part of discipleship that God asks us to do.

The truth is, the reason some of those currents are still around is because we want to protect our children from them.

And how we accompany our children, whether they're our biological children or our adopted children, the people who go to this parish, that we've sworn a baptismal covenant to that we will uphold you in your life in Christ.

This is the stuff of discipleship that we hear in the story today.

And how is it that we become not only still and peaceful in ourselves, how do we become agents of peace and stillness?

How do we both offer life preservers and how do we change the currents?

How do we hold our fathers?

We get this wild story that every single one of you has heard before.

It's on the flannel board.

It's kind of a terrible story, to be honest.

Sometimes we love it because it's about an underdog, right?

I mean, it's about little David and big old Goliath.

And if you listen carefully, the story undermines itself.

David has gone out and killed Goliath.

And David says this thing that God's weapons are not the sword or the spear.

By the way, if my children talked to somebody else, I don't care who it is, like David spoke with Goliath, we'd have at least a timeout.

You uncircumcised Philistine, I'm going to cut your head off today.

Hopefully, we do not raise our children up in these ways.

The story undermines itself if you know how this goes, because this is a temporary respite.

The truth is, Goliath's not even the principal villain in the story.

And by the way, it's not even efficacious.

The people of Israel are gonna struggle with the Philistines for the rest of the time they're around.

And I think sometimes, sadly, we hear this story and we think, aha.

Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war, and we'll use whatever weapons it takes to protect God's people.

And I want to put before you that really the kind of soldiership we're called to looks a lot more like the Corps of Engineers than it does look like the General Infantry.

The Corps of Engineers are there to build bridges.

They are there to help with deployment and access.

And if we live into the story in the wrong way, then just hear that we lived into it in the wrong way.

And this is one of the hardest things for me about fatherhood, is because I want so dearly to instill in my child respect for the things that I respect and love.

And at my worst, I'll use fear to do it.

That's how I grew up.

That's how my dad grew up.

That's how many of us grew up.

And it doesn't mean, by the way, that we're failures.

It doesn't mean that we're evil.

It does mean that there are currents in the way that we parent, whether literally or as a community, in which currents might be best served as being changed.

And I've got to tell you, if you hear God calling you to burn down a bridge for the sake of God's kingdom, I think you better check that.

I don't think we worship a God who burns down bridges.

I think we worship a God who asks us to maintain and construct new ones.

And friends, it's hard work.

It's hard work.

And I'm gonna own that I don't always know how to do it.

I scared my daughter this week, and she did what I wanted in fear, and it broke my heart.

The diocese opened up some money from their foundations to accomplish racial reconciliation, and that looks like things like scholarships to historically black colleges, that looks like restoring the physical building of historic black parent parishes, that looks like building landmarks.

I heard the landmark bit and I thought, you know, maybe we could build a landmark here.

You all know that this is a rich NASA community.

I actually, we celebrated the life of Joe Michelet yesterday, who was the head of the Murr Rim over at NASA for a long time.

Chris Kraft's name is on the building.

He was here every Sunday at 8 o'clock for the longest time, right?

Jim Lovell was a parishioner here.

Frank Colbertson was a parishioner here.

So was Charlie Bolden, the first black head of NASA.

Not only was he a parishioner, he was a senior warden.

So I got this really great idea.

Look, the diocese is making these funds available to make a landmark.

And what if we made like a positive landmark?

Like what if we applied to have a memorial to the contributions people of color have made to NASA?

So I wrote this grant proposal up.

And we're gonna talk about it with this committee this week, you know.

And I've got to tell you, a few people have said this is a really bad idea.

A few people have said, look, honoring just people of color is really divisive.

All astronauts matter.

And these are moments that I find myself in, whether I'm wearing this thing or not, that are really hard.

They're really hard.

Because I know what I want to say.

No, I don't know what I want to say.

I'll tell you what I said.

I said, I appreciate that, but you know, there aren't grants for all astronauts.

There are grants for people of color.

I don't think I said enough.

I don't I don't I I don't think I said enough.

And I don't want to alienate somebody else because of what I hear the gospel to be.

And we live in this tension, frankly, as all parents do, whether they have biological children or not.

We live in this tension that all disciples of Jesus Christ who are interested in bearing fruit and finding God and the roses and the wheat alike, we all live in this tension.

How do we hold on to a bridge and also go somewhere with it?

Now the bishop said some really interesting guidance to me.

He said, Yeah, you know, of course that's true.

Of course that's true, and this isn't really that controversial because we're just celebrating good stuff that's happened.

Like, why wouldn't we want to do that?

In the moment, you know, and I used to teach high school, and parents would come sometime, and they'd say, This is a private school, and why are you giving my kid a B?

You know, it's like these interesting moments where you're like, uh, I have a concept of what I want to say, and just the right words are really, really tough.

And, you know, maybe sometimes I just wish I had a crib sheet of like, what do I say in these tough moments to give myself space to say what I really want to say.

And I just want you to hear that your priest is doing this with you.

As a priest, as a dad, as a son, and that this is our call is to hold that really delicate and sacred tension between being a place of respite and sanctuary and a place that re-engineers the current of our world that threaten the dignity of God's children.

And if that's too hard to do, I get it, because there were nine things we could do.

You know, there were nine things we could do going out of COVID.

But I hope and pray that we'll do the harder work.

And I want you to hear, it's okay to say, I don't always know how to do it.

That's alright to say, I don't know how to do it.

That doesn't mean it stops being a problem.

In fact, when we don't know how to do it, here's the legacy of this parish.

We ask.

We study, we use slide rules to put people on the moon in a thing that I don't know that I would get in.

Have you seen that thing over there?

It looks like Star Wars I, which is not real promising.

And we did that, and we can do this.

We can change the currents of our world if we'll do it together.

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

We believe in one God.

Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God for God, light for life, true God for 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 this community, the nation and the world.

For all the world, justice, freedom, and peace.

For St.

Thomas the Apostle's school, for those who teach and for those to learn, that they may rejoice in the knowledge of your truth.

For the just and proper uses of your creation, for the victims of hunger, fear and justice and prayer.

For all those who are in danger or sorrow or any kind of trouble.

For those who minister to the sick, the friends and the meaning.

For the peace and unity of the Church of God, for all who provide the gospel, and all of the truth.

For all bishops, priests and deacons.

For the priests in our community, for Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill and Lillian, for Andy, Hector, Jeff and Kay, our bishops.

In the diocesan cycle of prayer, for Christ Church and Tyler, for St.

Claire's Tyler, and for Michael, our presiding bishop.

For Reserve Church.

For the special needs and concerns of this congregation, especially Chris, Sean, Jerome, Mickey, John, Lavor, Pastor, Joe, Mark, and Lee.

And those of the congregation wishes to name at this time silently or alone.

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

We will exalt you, O God our King.

Praise your name forever.

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

Lord, let your loving kindness be upon them who put their trust in you.

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

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, in your compassion forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things done and left undone, and so uphold us by your Spirit that we may live and serve you in newness of life to the honor and glory of your name through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

May the almighty and merciful God grant you absolution and remission of all your sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

It's really, really joyful.

I'd like to uh just make a few announcements.

Um, sometimes we don't always realize again how much we use our building to support the community.

So good for you to know that Monday through Friday we're serving the community here through the administration of our school with camps that teach our children not only skills but how it is they become virtuous citizens.

So whether that's archery or uh Minecraft engineering, that's what's going on all summer here in the building, Monday through Friday.

Yesterday morning, um Bay Area Running Club needed a place to host a race, and this is always a great place to share with the community.

So we did that in the morning, and then we came back yesterday afternoon and had two funerals.

And um, you know, it's been especially hard for people who have had to wait almost a year to grieve loved ones.

And your daughters of the king here showed up uh to create this incredible atmosphere of hospitality.

Look, my last church had Daughters of the King, and they just got tired of doing it, and they said, bring your own cookies, and that's fine.

But what I really love about our daughters here is that they sense this is important ministry, and I'll tell you that two of the people were not super well connected with the parish, and here we were, and this is the way we invite and include people in God's family.

Thank you, daughters, uh, for doing this, for working hard, for showing a really beautiful reception to people who are extremely vulnerable.

I do want you to know, and speaking of daughters, that we are celebrating the life of one of our founding daughters next week, Martha Halliburton, many of you know, died about 10 days ago, and her service is going to be here this coming Saturday at 2.

Of course, you're invited, and of course, our daughters will be providing a lovely reception for that service as well.

Thank you for inviting people into God's grace with the way you extend welcome to your most visible asset here, this building, and to grace, especially in times of need.

I just want to raise up to you that we've got a looming opportunity.

It begins auspiciously on the 4th of July.

Um, we have a retired professor of astrophysics, Paul Clutier, who is going to be teaching us throughout the month using the book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.

You may think this will be over my head, and literally it is, right?

I mean, it is over your head.

But uh Paul is an amazing teacher, and he is going to help us make heads and tails of this book.

Meanwhile, a couple parishioners, Lila Anderson and Ant Atkins, are going to help explain not only how this will expand the way you view the physical universe, but how it might be that you expand your faith universe through this book as well.

It's okay if you struggle with the book.

But you know, I don't know any other parish in the Episcopal Church that has sent human beings to the moon and is happy to celebrate the science behind it.

And that's what we're going to do in July.

So I hope you'll take us up on it.

Continue to walk in love.

As 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.

And he invites you to meet him here.

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

There are a number of responsive readings, so you will want that book, page 370.

The Lord be here with you.

I am also with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give up thanks and praise.

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

At your command, all things came to be.

The vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets and their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.

By your will that you were created and had merely you.

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.

Again and again you call 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.

By his love you reconcile us, by his wounds you are healed.

And 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.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends and his betrayer, 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, Rebecca, 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, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

In the spirit of Pentecost, please join me as we pray that prayer, reworded by Parker J.

Palmer.

Heavenly Father, Heavenly Mother, holy and blessed is your true name.

We pray for your reign of peace to come.

We pray that your good will be done.

Let heaven and earth become one.

Give us this day the bread we need.

Give it to those who have none.

Let forgiveness flow like a river between us from each one to each one.

Lead us to holy innocence beyond the evil of our days.

Come swiftly, Mother, Father, come.

For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy.

Forever your name is all in one.

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

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

And I invite you to receive either bread and wine through intinction that's dipping, or a blessing.

If you would come to the aisle closest to your right, we'll come down in six-foot intervals and return to your seat on the far side.

Oh my soul.

To lay a tide ground for my stove, for my stove.

To lay a tide ground for my soul.

To God and to the land, I will take, I will take to God and to the love.

One military joy love thing I will take, I will stick.

One billion joy loving I will take.

Let's pray together.

Freely thou hast given me thy body for my food.

O thou who art of fire, consuming the unworthy.

Consume us not, O our Creator.

Consume the thorns of our transgressions.

Instead, enter into our members, our veins, our hearts.

Cleanse our souls and sanctify our reasonings.

Make firm our needs and bodies with discouragement from your table.

Illumine our five senses.

You ever at work in the world.

Always protect, guard, and keep us from soul-destroying words and deeds.

Give us understanding and illumination.

Show us to be a temple of thy one spirit, and not the home of many sins.

Thou art the only sanctification, nourishment, and light of our souls, O good one.

And to thee we ascribe glory day by day.

Amen.

May God, who by the Holy Spirit created those, caused those of many languages and worldviews to proclaim Jesus as Lord, strengthen your faith.

Send you out to bear witness to God in word and deed.

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

Amen.