Easter 2 2021

Hallelujah, Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.

Hallelujah.

Let's pray together.

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

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.

Almighty and everlasting God, who in the paschal mystery established a new covenant of reconciliation.

Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ's body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith.

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

Amen.

But everything they owned was held in common.

With great power, the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned land or houses, sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold.

They laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

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

Upon the beard of Aaron, it is like the dew of Hermon.

For there the Lord has ordained the blessing.

This life was revealed, and we have seen it, and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us.

We declare to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us.

And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaimed to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.

But if we walk in the light, as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, cleanses us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

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

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jewish leaders.

Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.

After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side, and then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

When he'd said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.

If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.

But Thomas, who was called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came, so the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord.

But Thomas said to them, Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails, and my hand on his side, I will not believe.

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.

Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.

Then he said to Thomas, Put your finger here and see my hands.

Reach out your hand and put it in my side.

Do not doubt, but believe.

Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.

Jesus said to him, Have you believed because you've seen me?

Blessed are those who have not seen and yet come to believe.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Please be seated.

We don't often recognize that Easter is not a single day, it's actually 49 days, and that the 50th day is what we call Pentecost, which just means 50.

So this is not the Sunday after Easter, this is Easter too.

And during these seven weeks of Easter, we're not, I put before you, just invited to consider what happened long ago.

We're invited to consider what it means to live into the resurrected life of a resurrecting faith now.

That is, you've heard the fact story, and then as John puts it to us today, what does it mean to believe?

Believe is an interesting word because it turns out there's four sort of sources, at least in Latin, that take us to the word belief, and usually we just park on the first one.

That's the Latin word assensus, ascent, cognitive box checking.

What's the fact pattern?

Did this happen or did this not happen?

In general, the way you learned history, I suspect, is in the ascent way of belief.

There was the War of 1812, and George Washington was the first president.

And these things happened, and these are the facts.

It's important.

But if we park there, then faith is just about assent.

It's just about saying, sure, I'm okay with that fact pattern.

But it doesn't invite transformation, not necessarily.

Indeed, part of my own spiritual journey has been that we can park in belief as assent, and our faith is just, frankly, a litmus test for who's in and who's out.

And I want to suggest to you that's a gross misuse of faith.

And to make that point, or to make that case, consider what 1 John writes.

1 John says, not only did Jesus deal with our sin, but did you notice who else's sin got dealt with?

The whole world.

Now, most people who live with belief as a scent skip that little clause.

And what we often do is we say, look, there's only new life for you if you believe the right thing.

But that's not even assenting to the fact pattern that's in front of us in the scriptures.

The fact pattern in the scriptures is it's been dealt with whether you believe it or not.

I don't know why I didn't grow up that way.

And what's interesting is when we put our ascent in the right places, it guides our belief into practice and transformation.

That is, when we take the scripture seriously that we just read, we no longer look at other folk and say, boy, I wonder if you're gonna go to heaven when you die.

Instead, we say, boy, all the things I'm worried about in you, God's gonna take care of.

What a different way to believe.

The next word is not just assent.

So the next Latin word is the word fiducia, like a fiduciary.

And a fiduciary, of course, is somebody who has responsibility, who is a steward who you trust.

You don't just believe that somebody who manages your finances is qualified to do it.

You make investments and give them the opportunity to manage your portfolio.

You follow up.

The opposite of which, of course, is that terrible word we hate to hear in church, which is fornication.

And really, of course, this is showing up and following through.

In what ways are we faithful with the gospel?

How do we show our commitment?

That's the question of belief.

The last word in Latin is the word visio, from which, of course, we get the word vision, and of course, this is our worldview.

And how does our belief expand our worldview?

And this I think is really important because if our belief contracts our worldview, we might be holding on to the wrong fact pattern.

You put this together assent, stewardship, fidelity, vision.

And then you start to have what the point of all of this is about, something you can put your heart behind.

That's the word Credo, my heart.

Marcus Borg argues, I think pretty persuasively actually, that belief has become kind of a watered-down word because it can have so many multiple meanings.

The real question we have is who do you belove?

Do you believe in God or do you belove God?

And which faith is going to be life-giving and transformational?

I think this is really important when we hear a psalm like we're here today.

How wonderful it is when brothers live in unity.

It's like oil running down the head and dripping down the beard.

Maybe you know this in Hebrew Hinaimatobu manayim, Shebadachim Yam Gam Yachad.

Harry Belifante sings it, it's really quite lovely.

Look, do you really believe having oil poured on your head is pleasant?

Would you like it to drip down your beard?

We could assent that that must be a good experience.

Friends, how are you going to get that out of your pillowcase?

I actually was delighted to read a feminist science fiction author who rewrote this passage.

In this post-apocalyptic world, um, women are subjugated and have no rights, and they're basically shadow again, but they are linguists who interface with aliens.

And uh, these women who are successful linguists, they come up with a female language called Laden.

It it captures um really what it is to have female expression, and therefore it has its own language that is not just English as we practice it.

And when the translators get to this passage, they change it.

Because, of course, no woman would ever want oil poured on her head.

Instead, they change it how pleasant it is when siblings live in unity.

It's like someone carefully braiding your hair.

I could get behind that.

It's different.

It invites us not just to park on a fact and say, it has to be oil on your head.

Instead, it says, what is it that we actually believe in and we can put our heart in?

Does God want to do something to you that you're supposed to like, even though you won't?

Or is this about growing in dignity and honoring one another?

We could take it so literally we forget to take it seriously, and that would be our mistake.

And John didn't write the gospel so that we can park in the place of assent.

He says, I picked these stories to tell you so that you'll believe.

So that you'll have assent and stewardship and faithfulness and a vision of the way God sees all this going, so that you can get behind it.

Now here's the fact story of the week.

And it's really incredible if you think about it.

It's not the way I would have made it up.

The way I would have made it up is that Easter happens and Jesus comes back, and he's really quite swarthy, like he's an Olympic athlete, and he has gone into active battle with death and slain it.

And he's come out all the stronger, and of course, he doesn't have any wounds to show for it, but you know that's not the fact pattern, even though that's the way I would like life to be most of the time.

The fact pattern is Jesus shows up with wounds that will never go away.

Ever.

They are eternal.

And that doesn't threaten the resurrected life.

In fact, that's a testimony of what the resurrected life is.

Thomas, our patron saint, Thomas, by the way, is the Aramaic word for twin.

And in Greek it's the word Didymus, which means twin.

And according to tradition, Thomas is so much like Jesus that he is Jesus' twin.

That's what the name means: twin of Jesus.

The last couple hundred years, we've called the guy doubting Thomas, but look, we're an engineering parish.

What he wants is replicable results.

He is the patron saint of the scientific method.

The disciples say, we've seen the Lord, and Thomas says, if it's true, it's repeatable.

And I want to see.

Don't give the guy a hard time.

Don't you want to see it repeated in your life?

Really?

I do.

And look what Jesus does.

Jesus shows up with eternal wounds and says, put your finger here.

Now, you've heard me say this already, possibly, because our paternal feast day is December the 21st.

That's the day we burned our mortgage, and we have a story that day, just this past December.

And I think, you know, we could approach the story where Thomas is doing what is often done in the Deep South at a wake.

You know why we have wakes, it's to make sure the person actually died, right?

So that you can see that they're dead.

It could be Thomas is trying to verify Jesus died and they didn't like make a mistake and get Brian.

You know, there's this Monty Python movie where they got the wrong guy.

You could read it that way.

I don't even think that's something I choose to believe in, though, because that doesn't really change my life.

I want to suggest to you that Thomas is not trying to verify that Jesus is dead.

Thomas wants a miracle.

He wants to touch Jesus in the dark places that seem to have no light at all, and he wants to feel that God is able to enshroud them with light.

And that's something to believe in.

Well, I think so.

Thomas puts his hand in the places of loss, of pain, of disappointment, and a word that we hate to use despair.

And the miracle is that instead of finding death, he finds life all around those spots.

And it makes me wonder.

If that isn't a place we're invited to put our stewardship, our fidelity, our vision.

If that isn't a way we're invited to put our hearts.

See, what's interesting about the story is that pain and death are not foes to be slain in some sort of military conquest.

They are part of life.

And we could spend our faith journey trying to run away from pain.

We could spend our faith journey thinking that God hates despair, and so that if we ever have it, there must be something wrong with us.

I don't think that's a healthy spirituality, though.

I think this story suggests, quite honestly, that resurrection is meant to be borne out right now.

In this lifetime, as a community of faithful people.

I don't want to say this as an exhibitionist, because that's not what I want to do here.

But I'll tell you this.

If you've got a dark spot because you're dealing with a parent or a sibling who has Alzheimer's or dementia, you can put your hand here in this wound in my life.

It has not killed me.

It's hard.

I pray you'll find life around it.

I still have trouble as a parent.

You can put your finger here.

If you've lost a spouse that you've been married to fifty years, I can't help you.

But I know people who can.

I know people in this congregation.

Decide that they will allow you to touch because they know that your touch will not kill them, that they are confident and trust God to hold them up.

That I think is something worth believing in.

And it's something that we so rarely do.

Because quite honestly, when we see pain in other people, we're afraid we won't be able to bear it.

Please notice what Thomas and Jesus do.

They make room for the seemingly dark places in one another, trusting that God will bear them up.

Again, Marcus Borg talks about the difference between getting into water.

Do you remember learning to swim, by the way?

I don't remember it.

I try to repress painful memories like that.

Um when I was teaching my daughter to swim, you know, I'm a swimmer, by the way.

I um I decided not to choose her to swim because I had to live with her at the end of the day.

So we hired somebody else to do it.

And you know what was amazing is you see small children get in the water and it is terrifying because it's not like land, it's so different.

And initially what happens right almost always is thrashing to keep your head up out of the water.

Treading water, flailing, you know, it's really exhausting.

And then there's that magic moment, and boy, you know, it people rarely do it immediately.

It just it's almost like you have to wear yourself out before you figure this out.

That the thing that you're afraid of is gonna pull you under actually will hold you up if you lean back.

That's been my spiritual journey.

I've been thrashing quite a bit, and quite honestly, God will hold you up.

That's something to believe in.

That's what 1 John promises us.

The whole point of this was so that God could take care of the sin of the world.

Do we believe in that fact?

Are we stewards of it?

Are we faithful to it?

Can we see it in the people, in the places, in the policies that are the hardest for us?

Are we able to put our heart behind it?

Can we find ourselves saying, God, this is scary, and I know you're gonna catch me so I can float.

I still have a photograph.

The very first time my daughter got on a raft.

It was at Bob Ketchum's house in Nassau Bay.

She had turned three the day before, and we went to the Ketchum's house, and she'd never seen a raft, even though we'd been to the pool a whole bunch of times.

She laid on that raft, and it is she smiled for an hour because she was just being held up.

And of course, she's figured out how to do it without the raft now.

The raft was a temporary step and a permanent way of being.

And it occurs to me that this story is written quite honestly because a lot of people are making that transition between struggling against the water and being able to float.

And you know what would be great is if we as a church could be a raft so that we could hold people up in the middle of that own transition, so that they could have a sense that you know what?

All of this matters and is going to take you somewhere.

In the words of the African proverb, God made us because God thought we would enjoy it.

What if we could be that raft for one another?

Pain and grief and despair are going to come.

They are.

They are.

And this story tells us that those are not a threat to God.

And that God is able to make new life around them.

And where are we in the story?

We can be the people probing that and testing it.

We can be the people offering our own bodies to one another as wraths.

And of course, the goal is to be more and more buoyant.

This is not something we need.

This spiritual journey is not something we need to curry God's favor.

And I, this is something we need because since we already have it, we might as well benefit from it and be a service to the world.

Now, one last plug.

I've been reading this book uh called The Four Vision Quests of Jesus.

I love this book.

It's about a Native American way of reconciling Native American worldviews with the Christian story.

As a young boy, I'd heard, this is back when there were shows like The Lone Ranger, which, to be honest, are kind of terrible.

But you know, you you learned about some of these native ways of rites of passage.

And I don't know if any of you have heard about vision quests before.

A vision quest is something that you do in Native American culture, and not all tribes do this, but you often go out on your own, and there's things like prayer and meditation, and you come back with a vision, and often you get a new name.

Like you could have been stands with a fist before, and afterward, you've had some sort of vision, and it could have been an animal, it could have been a scene of sort of where your identity fits into the world, and you might come back and you might be called black elk.

Depends on what your vision was.

And you know, I always thought this would be great to have a vision quest.

Like, sign me up because I would love to come back with some real certainty so that I could transcend the way that I'm living.

What I love about this book is that it not only does it talk about the vision quests of Jesus, but it says this really interesting bit.

Vision quests are not about transcending at all.

They're not about hopping up the hierarchy in the family of God.

Vision quests are about being transformed.

They're not about transcending, escaping life.

They're about being transformed to the mystery that is in life.

Vision quests are not about knowing our gifts so that we can be satisfied.

They're about knowing how is it that we serve in what the scriptures call the body of Christ on earth.

That's the world.

Who am I in the body of Christ on earth?

By the way, that's why we read that Acts passage about people sharing their means with one another so that they can be a raft.

That's the goal, to lift one another up.

Most of the time I'd like to solve mysteries.

But the space journey isn't about a solution.

And it's not about transcending.

It's about being transformed to employ our gifts in the buoyancy that God intends.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty.

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 forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

The socially distant Shalom of the Lord be always with you.

Good morning and peace.

Thank you for worshiping with us at St.

Thomas today.

If you're new to us or haven't done this before, in the room right behind us, called the Narthex, there are some little cards that say welcome, and we'd be tremendously grateful if you'd fill one out so we have a record of your visit.

And again, thank you for worshiping with us today.

There are a few announcements I want to call to your attention.

One is that yesterday we had a group of volunteers come and work really hard to be good stewards of our property.

You know, when you don't do raking for like a year and a half because of a global pandemic, it turns out you end up with 300 gallons of leaves.

So sometimes you don't even know what you're seeing, but uh it was a really wonderful day, and uh it was great to have a number of you here working.

Another thing you didn't get to see this morning that you need to know is happening as we're stewards in ministry here is that one of our cub dens had their camp out on our playground.

This was our third graders.

There were 15 of them camping out so that they could be socially distanced, but also enjoy camaraderie and all in wonder in a natural setting.

And this has been happening throughout the pandemic since August here, that our dens have been meeting in small socially distanced groups.

It's been a lifeline to families, you know, to offer regular normalcy.

And that's been happening.

Um so thank you for being good stewards of this property.

Um, a few other things that are coming up.

Um, in three weeks from today, our bishop uh Andy Doyle will be joining us, which is really fun.

He'll be here at 10:30 to do baptism with me and to do some confirmation and renewal uh of confirmation vows and reception into the church.

Um the other thing that Andy is doing that is really lovely is that on May 2nd, he'll be hosting our Zoom adult ed meeting.

So every Sunday from 9 to 10, we have adult education on Zoom right now during pandemic times.

And um, this is an open floor where you may ask the Bishop of Texas anything you would like.

And I would really encourage you to think about what you'd like to hear from the bishop.

He told me that he always appreciates questions people ask, and that he's ready to answer whatever you'd like to know.

You may choose to say, what's the diocese doing around racial reconciliation, or how do you envision COVID playing out?

You may also ask him, hey, what does belief really mean to you?

So please prepare for these questions because it's wonderful to hear from our bishops who open themselves this way.

And again, that's May the 2nd.

Um one day before that, May the 1st, is uh another great opportunity to join in service.

That's our next mobile food distribution here on the parking lot from 7:45 in the morning till 10 in the morning.

We'll expect to serve uh about a hundred cars in two hours.

You don't have to sign up for that, you can just show up in it.

Again, it's a it's just really a lovely way of helping the community.

More than half of the people who come through that line live in Harris County, Houston specific.

A third of those people live in Nassau Bay, which is mind-blowing.

Um but this is one of the gifts we give uh to the world.

Last thing.

This coming Saturday is a really great opportunity to join community and school families in a diversity event.

So really proud of our school working very, very hard to integrate um diversity and not just tolerance but respect throughout the curriculum.

Some of you know that the school has worked hard to raise particular funds to make sure people of varying um ethnicity, socioeconomics, race, religion have access to the schooling that we provide here.

And that's working, that's sort of happening.

Our first recipients of the scholarships will start this fall.

Meanwhile, because we're trying to be in ministry to the community, this coming Saturday is a school, church, community event that'll be right out here.

And one of the main things we're going to be able to do, there's a couple of experiential ways that we're going to celebrate diversity here, think through how we can be a ministry of diversity into the world.

And one of them is constructing a prayer tree that will be on our grounds.

The way that works, and this is an old Christian practice, although there's other faiths that do it as well, is constructing prayers that essentially are like flags.

And when the wind blows, it sort of moves our prayers.

It's really a lovely way of saying this is going to be prayed in spirit, whether it comes from me right now or on this tree.

So there's a few active ways you were invited to participate, and that's this Saturday at 9 30 in the morning.

You don't have to sign up.

You're all welcome.

You can bring guests.

Continue to walk in love.

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

And of course, we get to say the lovely phrase, both of the elements and of our gifts, especially our gifts of music and ministry.

All things come of you, O Lord, and of your own have we given you.

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.

We give up your house.

It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and to give you thanks for you alone are God, living and true, dwelling in light, inaccessible from these four times and forever, fountain of life and source of all goodness, you made all things and fill them with you for blessing.

You created them to rejoice in the splendour of your radiance.

Countless throngs of angels stand be peaceful for you, to serve you who now heed and dear, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you who unsee he sing praise, joining with them and giving voice to every creature under him, then we acclaim you and glorify your name as we sing.

We acclaim you, holy Lord, glorious in power.

Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for the one who died and rose for us.

God sent the Holy Spirit, God's own first gift for those who believe to complete Jesus' work in the world and bring to fulfillment the sanctification of all.

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

Them to the end.

At supper with them, he took bread.

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine.

And when he'd given thanks, he gave it to them and said, Drink this, all of you.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remember Michael, our presiding bishop, Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops, in the diocesan cycle of prayer, Christ Church Houston, Grace Houston, and Holy Family Houston, the priests in our community, Mike, Craig, Jim, Bill, and Lillian, and all who minister in your church.

Remember all your people, those who seek your truth, especially Chris, Sean, Jerome, Mark, Leslie, and Phil.

Remember all who have died in the peace of Christ, and those whose faith is known to you alone.

Bring them into the place of eternal joy and light.

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

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

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

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us the sake of 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.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

Hallelujah.

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

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

And I invite you to receive bread or a blessing by coming to the aisle closest to your right, coming down in socially distanced intervals and returning to your seat on the far side.

Please be mindful of the uneven floors as we uh progress together here.

Here cast eternal grace and all my weariness upon me would I feel upon the bread of God here drink with the royal wine of God here would I side each other Mine is touching but I just mine is the guilt, but I cleansing blood here is my robe, my refuge and my peace my blood, my justice.

Send us now into the world in peace and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Do not pray for something easy to believe in.

Pray to be more faithful followers of the risen Christ.

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, but faithfulness equal to your opportunities.

And the living of your faith will be no miracle.

You will be a miracle.

Every day you will be a living sign to the world of resurrection, of God's grace and unending compassion.

And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be evident in your life today and remain with you always.

Amen.