Pentecost 19

I greet you and welcome you to this service of praise and thanksgiving to our God on this 20th Sunday after Pentecost.

The entire service is in your service leaflet, and so you can follow along with that.

I invite all of you to do that.

Regardless of whether you are a member of St.

Thomas Church or not, or an Episcopalian or not, or whatever, you are welcome to involve yourself completely in the service, including responding to all of the prayers and taking communion with us as appropriate.

No books will be necessary, which is a good thing because they aren't available.

We begin on page one.

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

Together.

Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.

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

Amen.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations.

Preserve the works of your mercy, that your church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your name.

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

Amen.

Moses said to the Lord, See, you have said to me, Bring up this people, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me.

Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.

Now, if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight.

Consider too that this nation is your people.

He said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

And he said to him, If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here.

For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us.

In this way you shall be we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.

The Lord said to Moses, I will do the very thing that you have asked, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.

Moses said, Show me your glory, I pray.

And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name the Lord, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

But he said, You cannot see my face, for no one shall live shall see me and live.

And the Lord continued, See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

The word of the Lord.

The Psalm 99, and we will read responsively by half verse.

The Lord is sovereign.

The Lord is enthroned upon the cherubim.

Let the earth shake.

The Lord is great in Zion.

Let them confess the name of the Lord, which is great and awesome.

The Lord is the holy people.

Almighty sovereign, lover of justice, you have established equity.

You have educated justice and righteousness and Jacob.

Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God.

And fall down before the foot of the Lord of the Holy God.

Moses and Aaron among your priests, and Samuel among those who call upon your name.

They call upon you, O Lord, and you answered them.

You spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud.

They kept their testimonies and decreed the creation.

O Lord our God, you answered them indeed.

You are a God who made them, yet they are able.

Just as you know what kind of persons we prove to be among you for our sake, for your sake.

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord.

For in spite of persecution you received the word with joy, inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Anacha.

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Anachaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.

For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead.

Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

The word of the Lord.

So they sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are sincere and teach the way of God in accordance with truth and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.

Tell us then what you think.

Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?

But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?

Show me the coin used for the tax.

And they brought him a denarius.

Then he said to them, Whose head is this and whose title?

They said, The emperor's.

Then he said to them, Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are God's.

When they heard this, they were amazed and left him and went away.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Can he seated, please?

I think it's kind of interesting that today we have Moses talking to God.

Moses has clearly found favor with God.

And Moses asking to see God's glory.

And God showing him God's glory, showing Moses God's glory in that very strange way.

You know, you can, you can, I'll pass before you, but I'll put my hand over your eyes, and then when I go by, you can see my hinder parts.

I think that's what the King James said.

You can see my hinder parts.

I thought it was kind of funny when I read that because I was in the Army for a long time.

And I went to a number of schools, and at every school you go to, there's a drill sergeant or in airborne school, an airborne sergeant.

And so the airborne sergeants always used to tell us, in fact, they told us on the very first day, when you come to airborne school, you might as well give your soul to Jesus because your hinder parts now belong to me.

Today we're talking about not just our hinder parts, but indeed all of the things that we have and who they belong to.

Jesus is walking in the temple when this story takes place.

Now, you've been in church the last few weeks, I know, and so you've heard Jesus over the last few weeks have these conversations.

So far, he's talked to the Pharisees and the elders, and then he talked to the chief priests and the elders.

I'm sorry, the other way around, and then he talked to the uh to the Pharisees.

And this week he's talking to the Pharisees and the Herodians.

Now you may not know what that means.

He's been talking to the religious authorities up until now, over these past few weeks, these little discussions they've been having.

But today, the Pharisees have sent their disciples, and the disciples have shown up with some Herodians.

Now, you may not know what a Herodian is.

The Herodians were people who were in the camp, in the supporters of Herod, as the name might suggest.

Herod, of course, was the puppet king who ruled over the whole region.

He was a puppet of Rome.

And you gotta understand here, and I think you probably do, you've got to understand that there's Rome and then there's Jerusalem.

And never the Twain really want to meet, as far as the people of Jerusalem are concerned.

The Romans are the oppressing force in the life of the Jews.

And so the Romans are evil.

I mean, when you see Roman, you gotta think bad.

Evil.

Rome, bad.

Ooh, bad.

So the Pharisees come with the Herodians to talk to Jesus.

Now, it seems that politics and religion make very strange bedfellows because the Pharisees don't want to have much to do with the Herodians at all.

By the way, they're all Jews.

All of them are Jews.

Herod was a Jew.

They're all Jews.

But, you know, that's sort of like saying, well, we're all Christians, you know.

I've always thought that all the problems in the Middle East could be solved if they just act like good Christians.

That was a joke.

Come on.

So the Herodians and the Pharisees, who have not much in common except their distaste for Jesus, come to talk to Jesus.

And they ask him about this tax.

Now, the tax that they're talking about is referred to as a poll tax.

It's due once a year, and the tax is one denarius per year.

A denarius, as you probably know, is the amount of money that is earned by a daily laborer.

It's a daily wage for a laborer.

It's enough to keep body and soul together, you know, meet the day's mortgage, buy food, and if you're very thrifty, maybe go to McDonald's once in a while.

But that's about it.

It's one 365th of your annual salary.

And it's a coin called a denarius.

Now these coins are minted in Rome.

Caesar is the one who pounds them out and sends them out to all of the Roman Empire so that there is a common currency.

So we know what things cost, we know how to how to do commerce and all that kind of stuff, right?

And so the denarius is a Roman coin.

It's also equal to the value of the annual tax.

Now, of course, nobody liked the tax.

And any of you like taxes?

I'm not real nuts about them.

Nobody liked the tax, especially the uh the rural people, because they made very little money anyway, and most of them who were uh in the party called the zealots, they just refused to pay it no matter what.

People in the city had a harder time avoiding it.

Now, this is not this is not uh a thing that is that has um uh that has the publicans involved.

The publicans, you remember, were the ones that collected taxes for Rome.

They were talking about on this in this story, they're talking about this denarius, this one day a year tax required by Rome.

You get that?

Tax.

The Rome, the the money is minted by Rome, it's sent to you, earned by the sweat of your brow, or the bread from your oven, or whatever it is, and then it's demanded back from you so that you can pay for the army that Rome sends to oppress you.

Everybody got that?

That's kind of the way it is.

This is the way that people saw it.

The Pharisees obviously are against the tax.

They rather tepidly sometimes oppose it, but generally speaking, they're against the tax because their whole world view is that we should be living according to the law of God.

We should live according to the law of Moses in this oppression business, especially by pagans, is beyond the pale.

And now we're being made to pay for the pagans?

Come on, this is wrong.

The Herodians, on the other hand, are very much in favor of the tax.

Yeah, they're Jews, but hey, not so you could notice it.

I mean, they're Jews, but their whole income, their whole way of life, their whole living depends on the tax that filters down then from Rome to Herod, who lives in a nice big palace, paid for by money from Rome, and filters down through Herod to the Herodians, who are his toadies, his supporters, those who fill his cabinet.

So the Herodians who are for the tax and the Pharisees who are against it, you can see why this is a strange group that comes to see Jesus, you know.

They come and they say, all together now, is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar?

Now, the Pharisees assume that Jesus is going to say, no, it's not lawful.

But if he does say it's lawful, he will lose a lot of his popular support among the people, which the Pharisees would be happy with.

Because when Jesus comes up against the Pharisees, especially in Matthew's version of the gospel, when Jesus comes up against the Pharisees, the Pharisees don't do very well, do they?

No, they don't.

And besides that, the day before this happens, this little conversation with the Pharisees and the Herodians, Jesus had been in the temple before.

In fact, he on this very day he probably strolled up the steps to the temple, and the money changers who out in the forecourt probably closed their boxes and locked them and stood back a little bit and said, Oh, here's this nutcase.

Because you remember what he did the day before?

You know?

What did he do?

He overthrew the chain, the money changers, didn't he?

And so they're watching him come up and they're probably going like this.

And Jesus evidently just walked by and said, Top of the morning to you.

So here are all these people in the temple who are there for worship.

Here are the money changers out there in the forecourt, and here are the Pharisees, and here are the Herodians, and they ask this question: Is it lawful or not?

The Pharisees think, according to the law of Moses, absolutely not.

The Herodians think, according to the law of Rome, you better pay the taxes.

And the difference you see is that up until now, Jesus has been talking only to the religious authorities.

The Herodians represent the cops.

The Herodians are waiting for Jesus to say, no, you shouldn't pay the tax, then they can arrest him for sedition.

The Pharisees are waiting for him to say, of course you can't pay the, of course you shouldn't pay the tax.

And then they know that he will lose support among the people.

You can see how this is a kind of a trap.

He got no way out.

Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

And he they and they come, they come to him and they say, Oh, teacher, teacher, with respect.

We know that you are true.

And we know that you don't differentiate between one person and another.

And he sees right through what they're doing.

Now, he says, Why are you trying to put me to the test?

You hypocrites.

Now, I didn't understand what this hypocrite thing was until I did some studying.

You see, the denarius has an image of Caesar on it.

Now, the NRSV, which is the Bible we read from today, says, Jesus says, Whose head is this and whose title?

That's not what the Greek says.

The Greek word is icon, which means image.

So when Jesus says to the people, whose image is this?

Whose graven image is on this coin?

The people who are all listening to this conversation reflect back to, oh, graven images.

Oh, that's a bad thing, isn't it?

Isn't that a bad thing?

Graven images?

Are we we're not supposed to have graven images?

As a matter of fact, you were not supposed to carry any Roman coins in the temple.

Guess where they are?

They're in the temple.

He says, Give me a coin.

Obviously, he's got no coin.

He's got no Roman coin.

But he asks the Pharisees and the Herodians, let me see the tax money, and they reach into their pockets and they say, Well, here, I got one, I got one, I got one here.

And they're standing in the temple.

Jesus kind of looks at him over his glasses this way and says, Huh.

Well, let's see.

Whose image is this?

They say, Well, it's Caesar's image.

Now, Jesus looks at them for a minute, and you can hear the conversation going on.

This coin is made in Caesar's image.

This coin comes from Caesar.

This coin, as a matter of fact, belongs to Caesar.

He minted it, he made it, he struck it, and he distributed it.

It belongs to him anyway.

Why do you want to keep something that belongs to somebody else?

Why would you want to do that?

So Jesus says to them this.

He says, render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

Now the word in the NRSV is give, but the word in Greek is render, which means give back.

Pay a portion.

Give back to the one whose image is on there what belongs to that person whose image is on there.

And then he says, and give to God what belongs to God.

Well, gosh, we have this denarius here, and it's got Caesar's image.

Where do we find God's image?

Where will we find God's image?

I think I read in a book somewhere.

Back in Genesis.

I think it was in the first chapter somewhere.

I don't know where, but somewhere in the first chapter, God, who is busy creating the cosmos, God is busy sprinkling the stars in the sky, making trees grow up out of the ground, the cattle of the field and the birds of the air, hanging the sun and the moon to rule the day and the night.

Breathing the breath of life into these beings that God has decided to make in God's image.

Sisters and brothers, we gotta live here.

We gotta live in in Houston, Clear Lake, Cady, wherever we live.

And we gotta live now.

We can't choose where we when we live.

We could choose where we live.

We could move to Costa Rica or to Spain or Italy or something like that.

But we live here.

For hook by hook or by crook, for better or worse, we live here.

And we've got responsibilities.

We gotta pay our taxes.

I don't like paying taxes, but I pay them.

We gotta pay our taxes.

We gotta obey the stop signs.

We gotta do what we gotta do.

We gotta support the schools.

We gotta do what we gotta do, and we take that denarius who's it's got an image of who knows?

Slave owners?

Sure, some of them do.

Image of whoever it is, and we gotta use that to do our civic duty.

I believe we and we do have to do that.

I'm not trying to play that off as nothing.

And I'm here to tell you that if you have not voted yet, you should.

I believe it is your Christian duty to do that.

Paul tells us that very, very plainly.

You must be involved in the way that the government runs because the government runs in your name.

And sometimes the government does things in my name that I'm not nuts about.

So you've got to be involved in that.

And if you haven't voted, I a word from our sponsor, you gotta go vote.

We have to do those things.

We have to render to Caesar.

Even if we don't like what Caesar does, even if we are not interested in empire, whether it's the Roman Empire or the American Empire or the Texas Empire or the Houston Empire or the Clear Lake Empire, even if we're not nuts about that, we're required to do that.

But don't let that dissuade you from what your real job is.

You have to render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but your real job is to give to God what belongs to God.

That which is made in the image of the state, give it back to the state.

But that which is made in the image of God, don't you dare withhold from God.

God's not going to come and throw you in debtor's prison for not paying your taxes to God, but don't you dare let that dissuade you from your real job, which is to represent the love that created you.

That's what the image thing is all about, you know.

What created you where you came from was love.

The love of a creator who loved you before you were even created.

Now I'm not sure how that works, because I'm just human.

I'm not sure how you love something into being, but God is sure how to love something into being because God does it all the time.

God did it with you, and God did it with your children, and God did it with your grandchildren, and God will continue to do it forever.

The love that creates us is the image in which we are made.

And your real job, while you're busy out there paying your taxes and stopping at stop signs and obeying speed limits, your real job is to bring that love into the world that is desperate to know about it.

And if you've got children, it is your job to teach them to do the same thing.

And if you've got grandchildren, it is your job to teach them to do the same thing.

And if you've got children in your neighborhood, it is your job to teach them to do the same thing.

When you were baptized, a bunch of people stood up and said, in the name of the church, that they would support you in your life in Christ.

We do that all the time, don't we?

We do it four or five times a year.

We, in the name of the church, declare that we will support these people in their life in Christ, in this real job, the job that comes to them because of whose image they are made in.

If you're not present when we do that, we do it in your name.

We do it in William and Diane's name.

They're not even members of this chair.

We probably should have asked your permission, but you know, we did anyway.

We swear to do this work.

We vow to do this work.

And children of God, this is glorious work.

Make no mistake.

This is the best work there is because it gives back into the world that which God wanted in the world in the first place.

It establishes in the world that which God planted there to begin with.

All because you are made in God's image.

It's a balancing act, isn't it?

It's a balancing act.

Caesar, God.

April fifteenth, one of them seems to be in ascendancy.

But on Christmas and Easter, the other one does.

It's a balancing act.

And it's not easy.

But God is certainly.

We believe in one God, the 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 from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father.

Through him all things were made.

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

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

For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered death and was buried.

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

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

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

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

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

He has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

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

Amen.

For it is your spirit who speaks through us as we pray.

Gracious God, you created the heavens and the earth.

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

Teach us to honor all of our children.

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

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

Bless the clergy and laity of your diocese and church.

Together with Andy, Hector, Jeff, and Kay, our bishops.

In the diocesan circle of prayer, all saints, Stafford, Calvary Richmond, Christchurch Eagle Lake, and Christchurch Matagorda.

Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Michael, our presiding bishop.

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

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

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

Deepen in each of us a sense of vocation.

You prayed for your church to be one.

Unite all Christians that the world may believe.

You broke down the walls that divide us.

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

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

Bless and guide all in authority.

You were rich, yet for our sake became poor.

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

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

Inspire all who teach and all who learn.

You cured by your healing touch and word.

Heal the sick and bless those who minister to them.

You were unjustly condemned by Pontius Pilate.

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

You lived as an exile in Egypt.

Protect and comfort all refugees.

You knew the love and care of an earthly home.

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

You open and none can shut.

Open the gates of your kingdom to those who have died, especially Mel.

Pride should appear us.

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

Give us strength to follow in their footsteps.

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

Remember our petitions and thanksgivings before God, especially Chris, Jerry, John, Jerome, Susie, Ted, Andrea, Kevin, Ron, Joe, Larry, and Nancy, and enhance our vision to see your presence in them.

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

Pray for those who continue to dig out from Hurricane Tamara and Delta along the Gulf Coast.

All who suffered from natural disasters.

Wildfires in the west.

In your infinite compassion, Spirit, hear us, compassionate God, make your healing and peaceful presence known to the world.

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

Spirit, hear us.

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

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

Amen.

Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God.

Almighty and most merciful God, we are thankful that your compassion is higher than the heavens, wider than our wanderings, and deeper than all our sin.

Forgive our careless attitudes toward your purposes, our refusal to relieve the suffering of others, our envy of those who have more than we have, our obsession with creating a life of constant entertainment, our indifference to the treasures of heaven, our neglect of your wise and gracious law.

Help us to change our way of life so that we desire what is good, love what you love, and do what you command through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

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

Amen.

Will you stand, please?

Without touching one another.

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Peace.

They are Methodists, but well, I'm not going to say any more than that.

And they have and they have brought their talents to offer to us and to God today, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

I asked the senior warden at the 8 o'clock service if she had any announcements, and she said she came up empty.

No, she didn't have any announcements.

But I will tell you that even though we don't pass the offering plates anymore because of the times we live in, don't forget that your offering is important.

The bills of the church go on, and uh it is important to support the church.

I know, I know you have all sent your pledges in.

I know that.

So I'm preaching to the choir, as it were.

But do not forget to uh to be kind and gracious to this house of prayer.

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

All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.

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

It is made ready for those who love him and 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 have who have not been here for a long time or ever before.

You who have tried to follow and you who have failed, come not because the church invites you.

It is Christ, and He invites you to meet Him here.

The Lord be with you.

Lift up your hearts.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, because in the obedience of your saints you have given us an example of righteousness, and in their eternal joy a glorious pledge of the hope of our calling.

Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your name.

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.

Holy and gracious Father, in your infinite love you made us for yourself.

And when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death.

Excuse me.

And when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you in your mercy sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.

On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.

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

This is my body which is given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper, he took the cup of wine.

And when he had 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 many for the forgiveness of sin.

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

Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

Recalling his death, resurrection, and ascension, we offer you these gifts.

Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the body and blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in Him.

Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace.

And at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom.

All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ, by Him and with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

All honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.

Amen.

And now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say, 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 for ever and ever.

Amen.

Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

The gifts of God for the people of God, take them in remembrance that Christ died for you and feed on Him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

Let us pray together.

Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image and nourishing us with the spiritual food in the sacrament of Christ's body and blood.

Now send us forth a people forgiven, healed, and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world and continue in the risen life of Christ our Savior.

Amen.

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

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

Amen.