The Blessed Life

We're going to be looking at Psalm 1, and I'll pray for us briefly, and then we'll turn our attention there for these next few moments.

Lord, we thank you for your word, and we ask that you would open our eyes and open our ears that we may hear from you.

In Christ's name, amen.

Well, Psalm 1, as we just read responsibly, is a really central and important text in the Scriptures.

And there's kind of one theme that really pops out when we hear Psalm 1, and it's really this idea of being blessed.

Can you all engage me and go ahead and say blessed?

Wonderful.

Look at that.

Fantastic.

Very obedient people.

I think if you ask religious or irreligious people if they know what the word blessed means, I think most people are going to say yes.

But then I think if you ask them a follow-up question, if you ask them to give their definition of what it means to be blessed, then I think people would actually struggle to do that.

I think people would kind of lurch in fits and starts and struggle to actually put words of definition around that idea of blessed.

But as we just heard from each of these readings, the notion of blessing, though it might be foggy to us, is crucial to understanding the right direction of human living according to the prophet Jeremiah, according to the psalmist, and according even, as we heard, to Jesus himself.

And so I'd like us to focus in on Psalm 1, and I think that's the way that we get into this gift of what it means to be blessed.

And we can wrap our minds and our hearts around what it means to be blessed by looking closely at Psalm 1.

And I think one of the angles that we have to take in order to wrap our minds and our hearts around this gift that God is giving to us, inviting us into,

is to shift the angle on the question of blessed.

If you ask someone to define blessed, I think people would struggle.

But if you ask someone to define the good life, then I think you'd get answers.

And that's what Psalm 1 is giving us.

That's the picture that Psalm 1 is painting for us.

It's not simply receiving the gift of God's kindness.

That's not all that it's talking about.

It's talking about existing in a state of flourishing.

It's talking about living in this realm of congratulations because the picture painted in Psalm 1 is a picture of blessing understood as inhabiting and walking in the good life according to God.

The good life.

So blessed is the one, as Psalm 1 tells us, if you translate that into modern speech, I think you could just say it like this.

Here is a person that in the middle of a fractured world is experiencing the good life.

That's what it means to be blessed.

Psalm 1 is instruction and inspiration towards the good life with God.

And you notice right away God's kindness to us.

God knows not only are we inclined towards sinfulness, God also knows that part of that we're easily confused.

Therefore, Psalm 1 makes it very clear for anyone who has the humility to take up instruction into the good life,

Psalm 1 makes it abundantly clear that immediately the way into this good life requires that you know what to embrace and you know what to reject.

You need to find something, hold it, and hug it.

And you need to find what is not that, and you need to give it a quick, strong, firm, stiff arm.

You need to know what to embrace and what to reject if we're going to enter into the good life.

That's why Psalm 1, you are a smart group of people, I can already tell.

That's why as you heard Psalm 1, you notice there is so much contrast.

That God is calling to me and to you, inviting us into this good life with him,

and he teaches us how we step into this through embracing and through rejecting.

You notice the power of contrast.

It's the this and not that which is part of the gift God gives in Psalm 1.

Throughout the Psalm, there's a contrast that comes in pairs.

There's the contrast between the two counsels, the counsel of the wicked or the counsel of God's law.

Then there's two images of what you'll become based on the counsel that you choose.

You can either be grounded or groundless, like chaff in the wind.

And then two ultimate outcomes, divine embrace or divine rejection.

This sort of instruction, again, is a gift to us because we have to be honest,

there are a lot of competing ideas inside of us and around us as to what makes up the good life.

And those ideas are at war, internally and externally.

If you don't believe me, just think over the course of your own life.

How often has your conception of the good life changed?

How glad are you that what you once thought was the good life then,

you now no longer think is the good life now.

Amen?

Somebody has a testimony attached to that whole idea.

So we know that these ideas are conflicting.

They're all around us, inside us, internally and externally.

And what God is giving to us through Scripture, through Psalm 1,

is that to really flourish, we actually need instruction and revelation from above,

from outside of us, to lead us into what it really means to flourish as human beings.

And Psalm 1 tells us that the counsel of the ungodly is actually the opposite of wisdom from above.

The counsel of the wicked that Psalm 1 describes,

it can really be boiled down to thinking that the good life is found through my way,

their way, or any way except God's way.

And it's easy, I think, for us, maybe if you're a person that's been around church for a while,

and even if you're not, it's easy to think that God is giving us instruction

to just sort of avoid the big sins, the big problems, the big blunders,

violence, theft, adultery, murder.

Sure, that's part of the counsel of the wicked, but it's really not the full picture.

Listen again to what the psalmist says.

The psalmist says that the flourishing person does not walk, does not sit, does not stand

in this pattern of wickedness, scoffing, and sin.

And all of those verbs describe not just isolated, big, one-time acts,

but a progression, a pattern of living, rooted in ungodliness,

rooting in scoffing, rooted in sin,

rooted in this idea that the good life and life itself is not governed by God,

but ultimately is governed by us through the rejection of him.

That, at bottom, is the counsel of the wicked.

And so to flourish in life means we need to take seriously the diversity

and the popularity of the good life according to the counsel of the wicked.

And in the words of Ice Cube, we need to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves.

The modern mindset, thank you, three amens.

The modern mindset, which is really not a modern mindset,

it is a broken, shared mindset that we all have in our frailty,

in our weakness as humans under sin.

But so this modern, ancient, inhuman brokenness mindset

is that the good life is getting everything that you want,

and it's your life.

You make it good according to you.

That mindset would remix Psalm 1 to say this.

Blessed is the one who achieves their goals.

Blessed is the one who does as they please.

Blessed is the one who finds a way to make ends meet in the process.

And blessed is the one who cares not for the opinion of others.

For many of us, this is the good life that we slide into.

This is the good life presented around to us.

There's the good life as, even on the other end of the extreme,

family moral values.

Just be good, have kids, provide for them.

That's the good life.

That's great, but that's incomplete.

There's the good life as happy hedonism.

I think often of the good life, I think of the song by Kanye West

where he says the good life, it feels like Houston, it feels like Philly,

it feels like D.C., it feels like V.A., it feels like the Bay.

A, throw your hands up in the sky.

The image of the good life there as you listen further is,

it's nothing more than hedonism.

It's nothing more than doing whatever you want

and then feeling the guilt that weighs on your conscience.

These ideas of the good life, you have the pleasure, the hedonism,

you have the nice, clean morality,

you have the self-driven achievement.

All of these things actually fall short of the flourishing

and the gift that God has given to us.

And Psalm 1 invites us into these things.

Jeremiah the prophet tells us that these options,

the good life, simply according to our understanding,

flourishing according to our way,

it really is not an option.

It's a dead end.

Jeremiah, as we heard earlier, he says this,

thus says the Lord,

Cursed is the man who trusts in man,

who makes flesh his strength,

whose heart turns away from the Lord.

Okay, so now what?

Well, again, the psalm simplifies things for us.

We can walk, sit, stand,

the counsel of the ungodly with all of its variations,

or we can get on the other highway and seek the good life

through delighting in the Lord and his law and his counsel.

And Psalm 1 tells us that the good life of flourishing

is not exclusively self-governed nor governed by others,

but it is governed by the good and gracious God

who has made us and redeems us.

And that language of governed, I think, is important.

It's why Psalm 1 presents the way to flourishing

as being attached to a law.

The journey of flourishing is through this doorway

into relationship with God by delighting in him

and in the law that he's given,

to delight in him and the instruction that he provides.

The flourishing person, their delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on this law they will meditate day and night,

says the psalmist.

So, friends, this is important.

There is no path to the good life apart from instruction,

apart from a way, apart from a law,

apart from a guide, apart from a Lord.

And so, friends, you will take counsel.

You will live by a law.

You will have a good life idea as your compass.

Do not only follow self.

Do not follow visions that excise the divine.

Take up the invitation again and again into flourishing

by delighting and meditating on the Lord and his law.

And this meditating, as maybe you know,

is not an emptying out but a filling up.

It's a turning over continually.

It's an engaging from head to toe.

It reminds me of this idea of meditating biblically.

It reminds me of my children when we see sports highlights that they enjoy.

Coming from Memphis, there's a great NBA player on the Grizzlies named John Morant

who has this ability to just leap over people

and dunk on them very, very violently and powerfully

for such a small person.

And so, when we see these highlights, you know, I see it once.

I'm like, wow, that's amazing.

But my sons want to watch it again and again and again.

So, they say, show it again, show it again, show it again, show it again, show it again.

And really, I think what they're doing is they're meditating.

They've seen something delightful,

and they want to take it in from every angle.

They want to see it again so they can see the face that Ja makes when he dunks.

But they want to see it again so they can see that the face of the man who's dunked on,

they want to see the face that he makes, the face of embarrassment.

They want to see it again and see, oh, look at this person behind the basket.

Look at how their eyes went wide when they saw him rise, right?

They want to consider this from every possible angle, in every possible way,

because this thing that they've seen, they sense that this, this is special.

And so, they want it to sort of wash over them.

And it's the same sort of thing that the good life is doing,

or calls us to do when we think of the Lord and his law.

We want it to wash over us.

We want it to shape us, to mold us, to fill us,

not simply with our own wisdom,

but from the wisdom and the mercy and the instruction of God.

If the counsel of the ungodly is the impulse to flee from God and enthrone oneself,

then to meditate on God's law, to meditate on Scripture,

is to actually bring yourself over and over again,

from each and every angle, into the joyful ways of God,

from head to toe, for all parts of your life and your living.

Then the question for us is, of these two paths, which will we seek?

Scripture becomes this way to flourishing,

a remedy for the confused, a remedy for the sinful human heart,

because Scripture itself, what is it?

It's a life-giving medicine from the Lord himself that leads us to himself.

I love the way St. Augustine describes this.

He says that,

For now, treat the Scriptures of God as the face of God.

Melt in its presence.

Psalm 1 tells us that as we seek God's face in Scripture, we flourish.

And rather than melt, Psalm 1 gives us a different image.

We don't melt.

We become planted.

We become like a tree.

A tree planted by streams of water in a dry and difficult world.

I love this because if I have any visual learners in the place,

this is the turn from instruction to inspiration.

Who among us has not seen a beautiful, strong, and sturdy tree?

Perfect for climbing.

Perfect for leaning upon.

Who among us hasn't seen a tree that from afar looks strong and sturdy?

You get excited about it.

You get a little closer.

You lean on it.

You realize this thing is rotten to the core.

God is telling us flourishing looks like being planted in him.

Planted by him.

Nourishing from him.

And in fact, this whole image of the tree that Psalm 1 gives really tells us the whole story of humanity in one chapter.

It tells us the whole story of what it looks like to fall into the counsel of the wicked.

And alternatively, to be planted in the mercy, the grace, and the instruction of the Lord.

Again, my kids helped me here talking to them about Psalm 1.

And then they were learning this chapter as part of school.

And so the words were actually on the wall of our kitchen dining room.

And I asked my oldest son, Julian.

I said, Julian, what do you think is important about Psalm 1?

What should I be saying?

And as he often does when I ask him these questions, he says, well, you're the pastor.

Why are you asking me?

He says, I'm trying to teach you.

I'm trying to disciple you.

And you have things to teach me too.

So after he's smart with me, he points to a couple of the words.

He says, well, this is easy, Dad.

He says, the tree is like the tree of life in Eden.

The water is like the Holy Spirit.

And the fruit is the fruit of the Spirit.

So when we trust God and go to his word, we become like the tree in Eden.

And then we flourish.

And then we have the Holy Spirit.

And that's what God wants.

I thought to myself, well, this will work in my sermon.

This will help me a great deal.

Friends, I think what is there, the truth of Psalm 1, the gift that God is giving to us through his word,

which leads us to his son, the living word, is the opportunity by his mercy to return to the life for which we were made.

The life that through sin was lost is now returned to us.

The good life of reunion with God, not simply freedom to act as we please, but the invitation back into what was lost.

The first humans who lived on earth were given a royal task and reunited or rather united deeply with God.

They turned away from the Lord's law and counsel into self-rule.

And they brought death and decay and suffering into God's good creation.

That flourishing was lost.

But through the Lord's revelation, through his law, which tells us how he set captives free from Egypt,

through his law that tells us that he led them at night by a pillar and by fire,

through his law that tells us that he has sent to us a redeemer who has redeemed us.

And as we celebrate in the season of Easter has risen from the dead.

Through his law, we are being told, invited, and shown that what was lost in that garden is now being restored to us.

So this is the good life.

For you and I to receive again that for which we was made and that for a moment was lost,

but now through Christ is being given to the whole world.

And our gospel reading reminds us that this invitation into the good life, its borders are actually expanding.

This is phenomenal.

Jesus surely is one who knew scripture, was familiar with Jeremiah, familiar with someone.

And Jesus comes on the scene and says,

We don't have time to get into this, but let me offer to you the beauty and the truth of Christianity.

See, our world would tell us that the good life is really only accessible for smart people, driven people, rich people, strong people.

Our world would tell us that the good life is reserved only for all the people that Jesus actually said woe to.

But the truth of Christianity, the truth of the Christian gospel,

is that the good life is wide open for all because it's not tied to riches.

It's not tied to intellect.

It's not tied to material means.

It's not tied to achievement.

It's not tied to personal resolve.

It's not tied to avoiding suffering.

It is tied to the goodness of God given to us through his son and his spirit.

So it's available for all who would call on his name.

The other thing that stands out to me is that Jesus expands the borders of blessing that Psalm 1 declares to us,

which makes me think to myself,

who is Jesus to do this,

to expand this border of blessing?

And I think the reason he can do this is because not only did he know and did he love Psalm 1,

but he is actually the one who has lived and fulfilled Psalm 1.

Think of Jesus' stories we just went through through Holy Week.

Jesus himself was tempted to walk in the counsel of the wicked, was he not?

He was tempted to receive the good life according to the world,

riches, power, glory.

He rejected.

How did he reject this?

He rejected by quoting scripture, pushing against evil and Satan and the enemy.

And what did he do?

He then went to a tree.

And from that tree, he died and shed his blood,

so that all who would come to the tree of the cross and understand what he has done

would now enter into reunion with God.

The good fruit that comes from his tree is salvation to the nations.

Our Psalm 1 biography is the opposite.

Who among us can say we have never walked in the counsel of the wicked?

Who among us can say we haven't lived under self-rule by rejecting the divine?

And yet as hard as that truth is, we must remember with Psalm 1, with Jesus,

there is actually good news for us.

And the good news is this,

that left to ourselves, we actually are chaff.

But with Jesus, we are becoming trees.

By his grace, Jesus turns scoffers into saints.

He turns chaff into trees.

And he is gathering all the chaff of the world,

touching it by the blood of his cross,

and turning us into trees planted by his living water.

This is the gift of the good life

that comes not through our resolve,

but through depending, looking, and trusting

in the Lord and his Son

by the power of his Spirit.

Let us pray.

Holy Father, we thank you for the work of your Son.

Would you please, God, by your mercy,

root us in him.

We thank you that the good life of what it means to be blessed

is not tied to material things,

but tied to reunion with you and to our purpose.

We do pray that you would govern us by your Spirit

and by your Word and by your love,

that we would flourish even in the trials of life,

and that we would bear fruit for your kingdom.

It's in your Son's name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's rise and respond by singing this.

Amen.

Bread of life

Bread of heaven

You are the living Word

Bread of heaven

God with us

God with us

The living truth

Many things you were on earth

A holy king

A carpenter

You are the living Word

Awesome ruler

Gentle redeemer

God with us

God with us

God with us

The living truth

And what a friend we have in you

You are the living Word

Jesus, Jesus

That's what we call you

A major born

But on a tree

You tied

To save humanity

You are the living Word

Let's confess our faith

using the words of the Nicene Creed

We believe in one God

the Father, the Almighty

Maker of heaven and earth

Of all that is

visible and invisible

We believe in one Lord

Jesus Christ

The only begotten Son of God

Eternally begotten of the Father

God from God

Light from light

True God from true God

Begott and not made

Of one being of the Father

Through Him all things were made

For us and for our salvation

He came down from heaven

Was incarnate from the Holy Spirit

And 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

Who with the Father

And the Son

Is worshipped

And glorified

Who has spoken

Through the prophets

We believe in one

Holy Catholic

And apostolic church

We acknowledge

One baptism

For the forgiveness

Of saints

We look for the resurrection

Of the dead

And the life

Of the world

To come

Amen

I invite now

All those who are

Willing and able

To kneel

Or to be seated

Let's come before

Our Father

In prayer

With one mind

And one heart

Let us pray to the Lord

Saying

Lord

Hear our prayer

Gracious Lord

You have filled

The universal church

With your people

Created in your image

They are the beautiful

Body of Christ

Through the power

Of the Holy Spirit

May all who confess

Your name

Faithfully live out

In word

And deed

The good news

Of the gospel

Lord

Hear our prayer

In your abundant provision

You have given us

Spiritual leaders

To guide your church

Give grace

O Lord

To all bishops

Priests

And deacons

That guided

By the Holy Spirit

They may proclaim

Your life giving word

And minister

Your holy sacraments

Lord

Hear our prayer

You have also

Given us earthly leaders

To govern our country

And our city

Grant them wisdom

And a will

To do justice

And love mercy

So that all people

May flourish

And live

Peaceably

Use their efforts

To promote

The common good

And bring about

Your kingdom

Lord

Hear our prayer

Lord

Hear our prayer

We give you thanks

For our beloved city

Which is home

To diverse peoples

Yet daily

We see

And experience

The pain

Strife

Injustice

And death

That plague

Our neighborhoods

By the power

Of your spirit

Grant our city

Relief

Encourage

And strengthen

All who serve

Our community

And see first hand

The hardships

Faced by our neighbors

Including educators

Medical professionals

And social workers

Lord

Hear our prayer

Heavenly Father

We ask you to comfort

Strengthen

And heal those

Who are in pain

Of mind

Or body

We bring before you

The Buffalo community

Particularly the communities

And friends

Of those who were

Heneously murdered

In a racist attack

Last Saturday

We decry the hurtful

Dehumanizing beliefs

Behind the attack

And pray for all those

Who are experiencing

Ongoing trauma

And as a result

Of the attack

Save us from

Our disordered lives

And give us

Godly sorrow

Leading to repentance

Lord

Hear our prayer

We give thanks

O Lord

For all your servants

Who have departed

This life

In a certain hope

Of resurrection

Give us the same hope

In your salvation

And the promise

Of eternal life

Lord

Hear our prayer

Let us also humbly

Confess our sins

To almighty God

First in silence

And then aloud together

Most merciful God

We confess

That we may fight in your will

Love and grace

And the glory of the name

Amen

Almighty God

Heavenly Father

Who in His great mercy

Do promise forgiveness

And sins

To all those

Who sincerely repent

And with true faith

Return to Him

Have mercy upon them

Pardon the liberty

Of all your sin

Confirm the strength

And reunion of all goodness

And bring you to everlasting life

All day

Please rise

May the peace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be ours

Be yours

And the Lord

So be here

Thank you

Now please

You give him another

Little sight

All right

If you could please be seated

Once again

Welcome to Church of the Advent

We're so glad you're worshiping

With us this morning

And if you're new

We're especially glad

Whether you're joining us

In person or online

We would love for you

To fill out our

Digital welcome card

And if you do that

That gives us a chance

To know that you're here

And to follow up with you

So please fill out

Our digital welcome card

There's also that QR code

Is on the welcome desk

On your way out

So you can catch it there as well

And we have a mug

For newcomers

So we'd love for you

To pick up one of those as well

There are a couple of ways

To get involved

Whether you're new

Or not new

Coming up in the coming weeks

So the first of all is

To register for a summer supper club

So these are groups

Small groups of people

Who meet throughout the summer

Once in June, July, and August

For dinner in homes across the city

And so we have a number of hosts

Who have signed up

So this is the window opportunity

For you to sign up

To participate in

One of these summer supper clubs

So please sign up

In the next couple of weeks

And then we'll match you

With your hosts

And they'll take it from there

And then we also have

Our annual church picnic

On June 5th

That will be at a park

In Brooklyn

And so please be sure

To RSVP for that as well

Over the years

Advent has co-hosted

A number of events

On science and faith

With the Trinity Forum

And there was one

That happened this past Friday

Ard Lewis and Tremper Longman

One is a professor

Of theoretical physics

And one of biblical studies

Discussed how we can cultivate

A faithful epistemology

So I know some people

From Advent participate in that

If you didn't

You can catch that online

It's on YouTube

On the Trinity Forum's website

And there's going to be

A follow-up dinner

This coming Wednesday night

At the City Tap House

Penn Quarter

So dinner and drinks

Are provided as an opportunity

To meet and to discuss

That event

And so there's still room

If you'd like to participate

In that

And then finally

We've been announcing

The last few weeks

That we have

We were planning on hosting

A child protective training

This afternoon

So Advent has a very strong culture

Of safeguarding for our children

And our diocese

Has recently introduced

Another aspect of that

Which is a training

In their policy

That's going to be required

For everyone who works

With children and youth

Our clergy

Our staff

And our parish council

And we were planning

On hosting that

This afternoon

After the service

But the person

Who's training us

The canon reverend

Meg Gretto

Who is the canon

For ethics

And safeguarding

For the diocese

Was not able to

Because of COVID

In her household

And so we move that

It's going to be

A Zoom training

This evening

We're hoping that

Makes it more accessible

For people

That'll start at 7pm

It's a very interactive training

So we're really

Looking forward to that

Again it's required

For anyone who works

With children and youth

So please be sure

To participate

In that this evening

Before we come to the table

We have an opportunity

To worship the Lord

By giving tithes

And offerings

And you can do that

In one of three ways

You can give online

You can give in the QR code

On the screen

Or you can give up front here

In these boxes

By this stage

During the Eucharist

And we really see

This opportunity

In this part of the surface

To continue our worship

By reflecting on

The generosity

And grace of God

Towards us

Any generosity

That we give to God

Is only a small reflection

Of how incredibly generous

He has been with us

By sending his son

Jesus Christ

Into the world

And so I'd encourage you

To meditate on that

During this time

So let's ascribe

To the Lord

The honor

Due his name

Bring offerings

And come into his courts

How firm a foundation

You saints of the Lord

It is laid for your faith

In his excellent words

What more can he say

Than to you he hath said

To you for refuge

To Jesus have fled

Fear not

I am with you

You will be not dismayed

For I am your God

And will still give you aid

I'll stray side and help you

And cause you to stand

Upheld by my righteous

Boniface and air

When through the deep waters

I call you to go

The long rivers of sorrow

Shall not overflow

For I will be with you

Your troubles to bless

And make it my soul

Your deepest distress

When through fiery trials

Your path we shall lie

My grace all-sufficient

Shall be your supply

The flame shall not burn

I only desire

I only desire

Your trust to consume

And your gold to revive

The soul that on Jesus

Has sleep for repose

I will not

I will not desert

To his foes

That soul

That soul

Though all hell

Should endeavor

To shake

I'll never

No, never

No, never

For save

Praise God

Praise God

From all blessings

Sings flow

Praise Him

All creatures

Here below

Praise Him

Above ye

Heavenly host

Praise God

Praise the Lord

Of earth

Son

And Holy Ghost

Amen

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness

And the power

And the glory

And the victory

And the majesty

For everything in heaven

And on earth is yours

Yours is the kingdom, O Lord

And you are exalted

As head above all

All things come from you, O Lord

And of your own

Have we given you

We're about to come to this meal

That God has prepared for us

That Jesus ordained for us

To participate in

So this is not a table

Church of the Advent

This is the table

Of Jesus Christ

And so all who are

A baptized believer

In Jesus

Baptized in the name of

The Father, Son

And the Holy Spirit

And are seeking to follow

Jesus in trust

And in faith

Are welcome to participate

In this table

By eating and drinking

If what I said

Doesn't describe you

You're still welcome

To participate

We ask you

That as everyone

Comes forward

You would come forward too

And instead of

Receiving the bread

And the wine

You would cross

Your arms like this

And one of the pastors

Can pray for you

When you do come forward

And you are participating

By eating and drinking

We ask that you

Come forward with your

Hands

Shaped like a cross

Just like that

No snatching the bread

You actually receive

The body and the blood

Of Jesus

Okay

And then once you

File through

You're welcome to eat

As soon as you receive

And head back to your seat

If there's anything

You'd like prayer for

We have Eucharistic prayer ministers

Who are willing to pray

For anything

Okay

And they're going to be

Over here I think

Right

Yes

Great

Okay

They're over here

And happy to pray

Eager to pray for you

Okay

And I think that's it

Great

So

The Lord be with you

Lift up your hearts

Let us give thanks

To the Lord our God

It is right

Our duty and joy

Always and everywhere

To give thanks to you

Father Almighty

Creator of heaven and earth

But chiefly

Are we bound to praise you

For the glorious resurrection

Of your son

Jesus Christ our Lord

Yes

For he is the true

Paschal Lamb

Who was offered for us

And has taken away

The sin of the world

Who by his death

Has destroyed death

And by his rising to life again

Is one for us

Everlasting life

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 light

Heaven and earth are full

Of your glory

Holy Holy Holy Lord

God of power and light

Heaven and earth are full

Of your glory

Hos

Hosanna

Hosanna

Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest.

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

And when we had sinned against you and become subject to evil and death,

you, in your mercy, sent your only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world for our salvation.

By the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, he became flesh and dwelt among us.

In obedience to your will, he stretched out his arms upon the cross and offered himself once for all,

that by his suffering and death we might be saved.

By his resurrection, he broke the bonds of death, trampling hell and Satan under his feet.

As our great high priest, he ascended to your right hand in glory,

that we might come with confidence before the throne of grace.

On the night that he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it.

And he gave it to his disciples, saying,

Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

Likewise, after supper, Jesus took the cup.

And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,

Drink this, all of you, for this is my blood of the new covenant,

which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.

Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of faith.

Christ has died.

Christ has risen.

Christ will come again.

We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father,

in this sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving.

And we offer you these gifts.

Sanctify them by your word and Holy Spirit

to be for your people the body and blood of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Sanctify us also that we may worthily receive this holy sacrament

and be made one body with him,

that he may dwell in us and we in him.

In the fullness of time, put all things in subjection under your Christ

and bring us with all your saints into the joy of your heavenly kingdom

where we shall see our Lord face to face.

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 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.

Alleluia.

Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed once for all upon the cross.

Therefore, let us keep the feast.

Alleluia.

Together, we do not presume to come to this your table, O merciful Lord,

trusting in your own righteousness, but in your abundant and great mercies.

We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under your table,

but you are the same Lord whose character is always to have mercy.

Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of your dear Son, Jesus Christ,

and to drink his blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body,

and our souls washed through his most precious blood,

that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us.

Amen.

Amen.

Lamb of God,

you take away the sins of the world.

Have mercy on us.

Lamb of God,

you take away the sins of the world.

Lamb of God,

you take away the sins of the world.

Grant us peace.

This is God for you,

the people of God.

Take the middle of the number of Christ's guide to you,

feed on mineral hearts,

by faith,

and praise to you.

Praise to you.

Rire and a dude.

R 북한 of the

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.