The Epiphany

Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family, now and forever.

Amen.

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 with you.

Let us pray.

O God, by the leading of a star, you manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth.

Lead us who know you now by faith to your presence.

Amen.

A reading from Isaiah.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you, and God's glory will appear over you.

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Lift up your eyes and look around.

They all gather together, they come to you.

Your children shall come from far away, your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms.

Then you shall see and be radiant, your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Epha, all those from Sheba will come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense and proclaim the praise of the Lord.

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

We'll read Psalm 72 responsively by the half-verse.

Give the government your justice, O God.

And your righteousness to the cabinet, that they may rule your people righteously.

And the war with justice.

That the mountains may bring prosperity to the people.

And the little hills bring righteousness.

They shall defend the needy among the people.

They shall rescue the poor and crush the oppressor.

They shall live as long as the sun and moon endure.

From one generation to another.

They shall come down like rain upon the mown field.

Like showers of water to the earth.

In their time shall the righteous flourish.

There shall be abundance of peace, till the moon shall be no more.

The kings of Tarshish and the Isles shall pay tribute.

And the kings of Arabia saw offer gifts.

All kings shall bow down before the just government.

And all the nations do service.

For they shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress.

And the oppressed who asked no help.

They shall have pity on the lowly and poor.

They shall deserve the lives of the needy.

They shall redeem their lives from oppression and violence.

For surely you have already heard of the commission of God's grace that was given me for you, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words, a reading which will enable you to receive to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.

In former generations, this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

That is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Of this gospel, I have become a servant according to the gift of God's grace that was given to me by the working of his power.

Although I am very the least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the wisdom of God and its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom we have access to God in boldness, and confidence and faith in him the word of the Lord.

Glory to you, Lord Christ.

In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem asking, Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?

For we observed his star at its rising and have come to pay him homage.

When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him.

And calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet, and you, Bethlehem and the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod secretly called for the Magi, and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.

Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you found him, bring me word, so that I may also go and pay him homage.

When they heard the king, they set out, and there ahead of them went the star that they had seen at its rising until it stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.

On entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage.

Then opening their treasure chests they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

The Gospel of the Lord.

And the real Epiphany is on Wednesday, but you know, we're not going to gather for a streaming service that day, so we're going to celebrate the Epiphany early.

I want to review something you probably already know, which is sort of the traditional mythic lore of the wise men.

Specifically, tradition has through the ages arrived that there were three of them, that they were men, that their bones are interred in the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, that their names were Kaspar, Melchiar, and Balthazar, and that they brought allegorical gifts of gold representing Jesus' king, frankincense, which of course is incense used in temple worship representing Jesus as priest, and myrrh representing that Jesus was going to die.

And so giving uh mom some burial spices right after the kid got born.

So this is an allegory and invites us into thinking about the epiphany we can have that Jesus is priest and king and has come to die on behalf of us.

And then I want to say, I'm not sure that's super valuable because you really only need to hear that story one time.

And I don't know that it continues to offer any, frankly, epiphanal significance for you after you've learned that.

Because remember, epiphany is not learning a factoid, which in general that's a factoid.

An epiphany is really supposed to be an experience in which the way you view and interact with the world is completely changed.

The educational word is a schematic difference.

Learning to read is an epiphany because they're no longer some artsy symbols, they now represent words.

And your life changes when you learn how to read.

I want to suggest to you that this story is not about the epiphany of the wise men.

Matthew is telling this story so that the people who hear it can have an epiphany instead.

First, when you heard me read the gospel, I used the Greek word, which is the word magi, not the word wise men, because the Bible is clear that these are not neither men nor kings nor wise.

These are magi, like the root magician.

These are people who practice sorcery.

That may sound appalling to hear, but that's exactly how Matthew presents this.

Most scholars would tell you these people are probably something like Zoroastrian priests who have come from modern-day Iran.

And they're not astronomers.

Sure, they pay attention to the stars, but these are astrologers.

They read their horoscope and went on a really long journey.

They probably showed up with curly-toed shoes and big poofy hats.

Imagine how you'd feel if people showed up like that in church.

You might grab your purse, you might look for the exits.

I think that's why Matthew includes this story.

Paul says today that there's this mystery.

The mystery of God is that God is knitting the Gentiles, Gentile means anybody we don't like, into the body of the Jewish people so that there can be one body.

Matthew is the gospel almost every scholar will tell you is written primarily to a Jewish audience.

At the very beginning of the gospel, Matthew is including people his audience would like to exclude.

Matthew gives us an epiphany he's had before we hear anything about the life of Jesus, I think, because he hopes we'll grow into it ourselves.

Again, most of us would think, why would any Zoroastrian priest want to come in to St.

Thomas the Apostle?

Does it matter why they come?

Once upon a time, I was on a flight with people who wore curly-toed shoes.

Turns out there's another guy called Michael David Stone who killed a bunch of members of Scotland Yard three years before I was born.

And I got on this flight going from Germany to Los Angeles on Air, India.

And right when I checked in, they took my passport and left.

The miracle of me is that I killed a bunch of people three years before I was born.

They took my passport and left, and I was just there.

It was a minor miracle I got on the flight.

And when I did, I went to the restroom at the gate, and sure enough, in the restroom were all of these people who had started the flight in, I think it was Mumbai, and many of them had turbans and curly-toed shoes, and several of them were sitting on the counter washing their feet in the sink.

A surprise like that about who is included.

A surprise like what meal would you like?

Lamb curry, goat curry, sheep curry, or tofu curry for breakfast.

That's what Matthew is writing about.

This surprise of who gets included.

And look, we often don't even follow the story out very well.

The magi don't go home and build churches.

There's no Christianity.

The kid's just been born.

There's no record that the magi go home and convert to Judaism.

As far as we know, the magi follow their astrological chart.

They read that horoscope in the paper.

They go on a long journey.

And when they go home, they go back to being magi.

What they do, this is curious, is they follow their own religious lore and they recognize value in another person.

And that I think is a really interesting epiphany, that our religious lore is meant to guide us into going out of our way to recognize significant in other people.

They don't just show up and see Jesus, so of course they give these gifts.

And you've heard me say this before, and I'm going to say it again probably every epiphany for the rest of my life.

Because when I went to Iran, where the Magi came from three years ago, I just got a new perspective on these gifts.

Gold, remember, is money, it's currency.

We don't use that anymore.

None of you carry gold around in your pocket, but if you had any means, you did then.

My grandpa used to carry a hundred dollar bill in his pocket back when that was something, you know?

And it was really something for him.

He didn't have means, but he always had a hundred dollar bill.

A gold coin is like that.

It's like a$100 bill that you carry, not to show off, you carry it in case there's a real emergency.

Because when my grandpa was around,$100 was going to cover a tire change.

It was going to cover a toe.

I mean, it was your contingency fund before credit cards.

What if they give the baby Jesus a$100 bill?

It's not wealth that's going to send him to Exeter Academy.

It's a contingency fund.

It's something you can do on a rainy day.

Frankincense.

You know, frankincense is gum that comes out of a tree.

It's kind of yellow in color or golden in color.

It's just tree sap.

You can tell it's real if you chew on it.

It starts to get soft and you can chew it like, well, kind of like chewing gum, but you can't chew it forever because eventually it'll turn to sap in the heat of your mouth.

Sure enough, people use frankincense as incense in temples.

You put it on a coal and you use it and it represents prayer and a sweet smell of God's presence.

It makes worship multi-sensory.

But if you've been to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Dubai, Oman, you see these sorts of things.

You've got to remember that a long, long time ago, people washed their clothes relatively infrequently, and they didn't have a lot of detergent that we take for granted, or antibacterial soap.

I mean, people just stunk all of the time.

This is really important to remember.

And they didn't spray perfume on themselves so other people could smell them.

They put it on their lips so they didn't have to smell all the poop that was in the streets.

Well, if you go to Iran or Saudi Arabia or Dubai today, you'll see these little things.

They're just little, you could call them altars, but really what they are is essential oil diffusers of the ancient world.

You put a coal on there, this one's electric, so I like that.

It doesn't set off the smoke alarm.

And I kid you not, you will see people do this in the street.

That smoke just sort of wafts up and it stays with them all day long so they don't smell terrible.

Again, this is the oil diffuser of the ancient world.

It's the eau de toilette before we figured out how to make the spray nozzle.

They gave Jesus some axe body spray.

You know, stuff he'd actually need to live, not to die.

Myrrh is another kind of resin.

It's a lot harder than frankincense.

It's really dark.

And sure enough, people do use it to embalm, but that's not all they use it for.

Again, in modern Iran or Oman or Dubai, you also can mix it in and burn it because it's sap and it has kind of a bitter smell to it.

You can burn it with incense, but there's something else myrrh does.

It's extremely antiseptic.

So people use things like myrrh oil on a wound to help heal it.

It's also supposed to really help in your digestion.

By the way, it doesn't smell bitter like awful.

It's just not sweet like frankincense.

So when you blend it together, it's really nice and robust.

The other thing they do with the Cede is they crush it up, it's got a higher melting point than frankincense.

You put it in boiling water and you make a tea out of it.

And it's supposed to help with your overall health and especially with digestion.

Now, if you've heard me say this, do not go home and drink myrrh essential oil like you will spend the next day throwing up.

Because that's much stronger than a little piece of this.

But this continues to be medicinal in places like Iran, Dubai, etc.

We don't drink myrrh tea very often, but you can.

So maybe myrrh is a little bit like emergency.

You know, those little orange tabs that you pop in the water, especially when you're a public school teacher during cold season because you don't want to get sick.

It's medicine.

I say this to you to give you some alternatives about what kind of epiphany God's trying to guide us to.

We could say these are allegorical gifts representing the nature Jesus is going to have, and that's fine.

That's fine.

And I want to hold out the other possibility that when people see God's presence, they don't just give some ephemeral gifts, they give a child whose family is probably living on the economic edge.

After all, there's a one-income family here.

Mary's not making any money.

Joseph is a carpenter, but that doesn't mean he's a skilled artisan.

It could mean he's a day laborer that stands outside a Home Depot every day hoping he's going to get picked up.

Consider that$100 is a contingency fund that can be life-changing for somebody who doesn't have any savings.

Consider that taking care of a child's hygiene needs is pretty important when the probability you'd make it to the age of eight was 50%.

Same with simple medicine.

When we give children things like hygiene needs, because it's really, really hard to succeed in school and to have meaningful friendships when you smell like poop.

We know that.

And these are some ways we're invited to worship God.

I want to suggest to you there's another way to hear about these gifts.

These gifts may not have been intentional.

Maybe they followed the star when they got there.

They thought, man, we should give this guy something.

What do we have?

I got a hundred dollar bill.

I got a stick of deodorant.

I've got some emergency.

Maybe the epiphany is that we don't have to aspire to give God things we don't have, but that we have everything we need already to pay homage to the Christ child wherever we meet him.

There are people in this world who need your deodorant.

Literal and figuratively.

There are people in this world who need your myrrh, who need your emergency, who need looking after after they died.

Some of you don't have that stuff in your pantry.

You don't have to get it.

Because somebody else does.

And when we say we can do more together, that's really what we mean.

Long time ago, we thought in order to serve the church, you need to be on the altar guild or the ECW or something else that we've already predetermined.

And this story is saying, listen, those things are great, and we appreciate them.

But you know there's ways we can serve God that we never even thought about?

And part of our job as a community is to say, wow, I see that you really enjoy playing the flute, and we're not allowed to have uh choral music during COVID.

So man, we would really love your gift of music.

And we do.

There's people who like doing even really strange things, like making a shrimp boil.

We don't have a shrimp boil guild at St.

Thomas, but we have people who do it annually.

Those are the gifts that they love to bring, and those are the gifts that nourish us literally and draw us together.

You have everything you need already to recognize and pay life by giving homage to the Christ child.

You have it already.

It doesn't have to be gold.

That's an amazing spiritual truth, especially when you consider that it can sure feel like we don't have a lot of what we need in times like COVID.

The promise of the gospel is you do.

And we can.

Because I think it's important to hear that there are many ways we can express love with our spouses, with our children, with people who are wearing curly-toed shoes that when we see them on the news or in the airplane, we're naturally afraid of them.

We don't just have to give them stuff.

There's other ways.

Like words of affirmation.

Words of affirmation.

This is part of why we read the Psalms every week in church.

They've got words of affirmation.

And you know what's funny is we're quick to use that language with God, and we're so slow to use it with one another.

Part of the reason we read the Psalms is not just so we can laud God, it's so that we can learn language and express it to one another and build one another up because it's a gift of love and it's a love language.

Gifts of time.

Gifts of time is another love language.

I don't mean like, hey, I'll sit here and read a book while you do that thing.

That's called parallel play.

Gifts of time or about showing up and being present and being intentional.

Gifts of quality of time.

Another one is acts of service, whether that's cooking or cleaning.

Ironing the linens is a gift of service that people have done on your behalf to show their love of God and their love for you.

The last one is physical touch.

And you know it's not always appropriate to offer physical touch like when you're a teacher to children, but you know, physicality is really darn important, and that's why in the church we have these things called sacraments, because we believe the physical stuff really matters.

Showing up and spending quality time and offering physical touch, whether it's with anointing of oil or the Eucharist.

Things like having reconciliation and confession in the same room.

I promise you, I never touched the penitent during confession, and it's very physically touching to be in the room with somebody while they confess and receive absolution.

These are the gifts the church is full of, and we do ourselves a disservice when we only think about giving a bunch of stuff we don't even have.

No.

Matthew has given us a story, I'm convinced, not because he wants us to hear that the Magi long ago had an epiphany in that grate.

Matthew wants us to return to the story every year and think about how we can appreciate the epiphany he got out of the story.

The epiphany is God is able to include people we're predisposed to exclude.

The epiphany is you have everything you need already.

You don't need a bunch of stuff you don't have.

The epiphany is people in other traditions are worthy of your homage and respect.

And the epiphany is, last of all, we don't all have to speak the same love language.

God's fluent in all of them.

And we can do more together.

I don't know if there was any kind of words of epiphany for you here.

I don't know if there was a turning point for you.

But I sure do hope that this won't be a story we return to as a factoid, but an inspiration for us to hear how we can continue to be in the world.

How we can be with one another, whatever the circumstances are.

How we can continue to be, as Isaiah says today, God's shining light rising in our midst, helping other people see it.

So happy early feast of the Epiphany to you.

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

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of the heaven and earth.

All that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, who became the Son of God, eternally God of the Father, God to God, life of life, true God for true God, begotten our native, the one being with God, who all things again, for us and for our salvation.

He came down from heaven.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, he became part of the Virgin Mary and was made heaven.

For our sake, he was crucified and our conscious time.

He suffered death of the Spirit.

On the third day he rose again, and according to the scriptures, he descended, and speaking of my hand, he will come again, glory to just living to the dead.

And this kingdom will come.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, with the Lord who gives our life, who received from the Father and the Son.

With the Father and the Son, He has worshiped before our God.

We believe in one holy heaven as a self church.

We acknowledge one baptism for Jesus and we look for the resurrection of the dead and with the light of the world.

Let us confess our sin unto Almighty God.

We acknowledge that we have not always used our gifts, talents, and God-given personalities in the service of creation, our neighbors, and ourselves.

We seek change of heart toward a reflection of steadfast love.

May we forgive and be forgiven, resuming our journey through life with renewed intention.

Amen.

God forgives you.

Forgive all others.

Forgive yourself.

Amen.

Unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called the Prince of Peace.

The socially distanced peace of the Lord be always with you.

And also with you.

So lots of time to plan on joining us to distribute groceries to people in our midst.

It seems about one-third of the people who come live in Nassau Bay, if you can believe that.

And we'll do that on January 30th from 7.45 in the morning till 10.

The other that I want to remind you of is that the following day, January 31st, is our parish annual meeting.

This year we will be doing that on Zoom, as will every other church in the diocese.

This annual meeting is sort of like the State of the Union address, and we have three business items.

We conduct the election of our vestry.

Really happy to tell you we have five candidates for vestry.

You'll be able to read their biographies this coming Wednesday in the e-news.

We sent to that last week and there was a glitch.

Oh well.

We got plenty of time to read biographies for our vestry members, uh, to elect our representatives to diocesan council.

So diocesan council is sort of like the annual meeting we have at St.

Thomas, but on behalf of the 160 parishes in the diocese, and to approve our budget.

So you'll see all of those documents ahead of time.

We'll have time to discuss, to hear from our treasurer, and also to hear some updates again, like sort of State of the Union, and that's January 31st.

Um, typically these are very well attended.

They have really great breakfast.

Uh we can still do that.

We can have great attendance, and you can make great breakfast, and we can enjoy that as we watch these things on our computer and vote with some secondary software that I will link in our e-news.

But I just want to call that uh to your attention that that's coming up.

The other thing I want to offer to you, um, not as a cliffhanger, but next week we celebrate the baptism of our Lord.

And if you're here physically, uh I will uh offer to renew your baptismal vows by sprinkling some water from the Jordan River on you.

If you're not going to be here Sunday, I will make it up if you send me an email.

You can have a drive-by where you literally drive by and I fling baptismal water at you as you are invited to relive the baptismal covenant for 2021.

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 God.

It is made ready for those who seek relationship with God.

So come and make this journey, you who have much faith and you who have little, you who have been here often, and you who have not been in a long time or ever before, you who have tried to follow, and you who have lost your way.

Come and make this journey, not because I invite you.

God invites, and it is God's desire that we gather here.

The Lord be with you.

Lift up your hearts.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is truly right to glorify you, Father, and give you thanks.

For you alone are God, living and true, dwelling in light and accessible from before time and forever.

Fountain of life and source of all goodness, you made all things and fill all things with your blessing.

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

Countless throngs of angels stand before you to serve you night and day, and beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you unceasing praise.

Joining with them and giving voice to every creature into heaven, we acclaim you and glorify your name as we say, Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.

We acclaim you, holy Lord, glorious in power.

Your mighty works reveal your wisdom and love.

You formed us in your own image, giving the whole world into our 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 born our Savior.

Carnival 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 destroyed death and made the whole creation new.

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

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

At supper with them, he took bread.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Remember Michael, our presiding bishop, Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, Andy, Jeff, Hector, and Kay, our bishops.

In the diocesan cycle of prayer, all Saints Austin, Calvary Bastrup, and Christchurch Cedar Park, and the priests in our community, Mike, Jim, Craig, Bill, and Lillian, and all who minister in your church.

Remember all your people and those who seek your truth, especially Chris, Jerry, Sean, Jerome, Susie, Joe, Nancy, Helen, Renee, and those the congregation wishes to name at this time, silently or aloud.

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.

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.

Be known to us in the breaking of bread.

We who are many are one body, for we all share in one bread.

These are the gifts of God.

We are the people of God.

I invite you to receive bread or a blessing by coming to the aisle closest to your right, coming down forward, and then returning to your seat through the other side.

May your feet be firm and steady in this race.

When the world reflects your image through a mirrored facade, may you always see your beauty through the perfect eyes of God.

This I pray, this I pray that you'd have God's best be strong and blessed.

When your arms are empty, may your heart be full, and the mountains that you face impossible.

When the ground is dry, I pray that you'd have rain.

And when the music starts to vanish, you would sing on through your pain.

This I pray, this I pray that you'd have God's best, be strong and blessed.

And when God's voice is silent, you'd hold tighter to his hand, and trust he'll lead you safely on the journey he has planned.

And if threadbare faith holds stillborn dreams, I pray the heart would be redeemed to hold on tightly to the Savior, grow in truth and never waver.

I pray your heart is warm when life can be so cold, and when scoffers mock your journey, you'd be bored.

I pray for food on your table in times when it's lean, and that you'd share your meal with others, so God's goodness can be seen.

This I pray, this I pray, this I pray, this I pray that you'd have God's best.

Be strong and blessed that you'd have God's best.

Be strong and blessed.

Let's pray together.

Before all creation, we acknowledge the mystery of this simple meal.

Let it remind us of our common humanity and our commitment to love one another and all of creation.

Through it may we be strengthened to service.

In it may we find peace.

Amen.

May God the Father who led the magi by the shining of a star to find the Christ child, the light from light, lead you in your pilgrimage to find and reveal the Lord.

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

Amen.

Guide where our infantry demor is laid.

Brightest and best of the stars of the morning.

Dawn on our darkness and lend us thy aid.

Star of the East, the rise on a morning.

Guide where our infantry demor is laid.

Faithly we are for each other obligation.

Failing with gifts what is famous secure.

Rich by far is the heart's adoration.

Dear to God for the prayers of the war, brightest and best of the stars of the morning.

Star of the East, the horizon adorning, guide where our infantry team is.