Leaving Home

[0:00] Musik Musik Musik

[1:30] Musik Musik Good morning!

[2:30] We're glad to see you all here today. This week we are going to be making waves with VBS and I hope that some of you have volunteered. If not, that you'll stop in and see all of the fun events that are going on here this week.

[2:44] We can't wait. And obviously you can see that the church has been transformed and the youth did a fantastic job. So thank you. Thank you.

[2:59] All of the announcements are in your bulletin, so feel free to look at those. And may the peace and joy and love of Christ be with you today and always.

[3:09] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[3:25] Good morning, everybody. Good morning. And good morning to everyone online. The sanctuary does look fantastic. And as these guys start their quest for VBS, we start a new sermon series.

[3:38] And Wikipedia says, A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good through the experience.

[3:54] And the songs that we're going to open with today really speak to us having an open heart and recognizing that we need the Lord and that he's always there to guide us. So I invite you to stand.

[4:05] Let's stand. Amen. Weak but thou art mighty, hold me with thy powerful hand.

[4:44] Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, lead me till I want no more.

[4:56] Lead me till I want no more. Open now the crystal fountain, whence the healing stream doth flow.

[5:14] Let the fire and cloudy hill, lead me all my journey through.

[5:25] Strong deliver, strong deliver, lead us to my strength and shield.

[5:36] Lead us to my strength and shield. Lord, I come.

[6:06] I come. I confess. I'll leave you. I find my rest.

[6:18] Without you, I fall apart. You're the one that guides my heart.

[6:34] Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour I need you.

[6:51] My own defense. My righteousness. Oh, God, now I need you.

[7:04] I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. I'm free. Holiness is Christ in me.

[7:34] Lord, I need you. Lord, I need you. Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you.

[7:46] Every hour I need you. Every hour I need you. My one defense. My righteousness.

[7:59] Oh, God, now I need you. So teach my song to rise to you.

[8:11] When temptation comes my way. When I get on sin, I want you.

[8:24] Jesus, you're my hope and stay. Lord, I need you.

[8:35] Lord, I need you. Oh, I need you. Oh, I need you. Every hour I need you.

[8:48] My one defense. My righteousness. Oh, God, now I need you.

[9:01] My one defense. My righteousness. Oh, God, now I need you.

[9:18] You may be seated. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.

[9:29] Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Is that better? Woo, there it is. Good morning. Now, just a question. Maybe all of you VBS staff can answer this question.

[9:44] What is one of the things you're most grateful for here at the church this week? The church? VBS. VBS. VBS. I'm going to call air conditioning.

[9:56] VBS week is notoriously hot. It looks like it will be reasonable this week, but mostly, you know, we're thankful for you, who work so hard to do this.

[10:13] And that is our special offering. And while families contribute who send their children to VBS, we always have a gap between what we get and what it costs us to run VBS.

[10:25] And we do it really, really well. Great snacks, all that stuff. So that's our mission moment and our special offering this morning.

[10:36] And I invite you to be a part of that. Our sermon series, worship series, Quest the Awakened Traveler, this life is a journey.

[10:49] And I think about how it is that we don't have to look very far to find things to be grateful for in God's great world.

[11:00] And if you're struggling with finding that in your own life, I invite you to just look around here and find someone or something, our incredible music that you are grateful for and let us give with thanksgiving and generosity.

[11:19] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[11:50] Thank you. Thank you. We are your church. We are your sons and daughters.

[12:04] We've gathered here to meet with you. Wir lift our eyes, wir lay our hearts before You, expectant here for You to move.

[12:30] Mit our hands to the heavens alive in the presence of God, when You come, so pour out Your Spirit in love, to be near You, O God, when You come.

[12:58] You are the way, the truth and life we live for. Oh, how we long to know You more.

[13:13] With our hands to the heavens alive in the presence of God, when You come, so pour out Your Spirit in love, to be near You, O God, when You come.

[13:32] With our hands to the heavens alive in the presence of God, when You come, so pour out Your Spirit in love, to be near You, O God, when You come.

[13:49] So pour out Your rushing wind, so pour out Your fire again. come like a burning flame, come like a burning flame, have Your way, have Your way, come like a rushing wind, come like a fire again, come like a burning flame, and have Your way, have Your way.

[14:23] come like a burning flame, come like a burning flame, have Your way, have Your way, have Your way, have Your way, come like a burning flame, have your way, have your grace again. come like a burning flame, have Your way, have your枕 again.

[14:35] so pour out Your Spirit in love, to be near You, O God, when You come. with our hands to the heavens alive, in the presence of God, when You come, so pour out Your Spirit in love, to be near You, O God, Amen.

[15:26] Come like a burning flame, have your way, have your way. Come like a roushing wind, come like the fire again.

[15:43] Come like a burning flame, have your way, have your way. Come like a burning flame, have your way.

[16:03] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[16:14] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[16:25] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[16:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[17:39] Amen.

[18:01] Okay, so health for the Queen of England.

[18:14] Okay. All right, please pray with me. Heavenly God, we raise our joys and our concerns to you.

[18:26] We thank you for the joyous day and the time to be together. We ask that you watch over our youth and the children who will be attending VBS this week.

[18:38] May they do your work and share your love with each and every person that comes in these doors. We pray for the family of Betty Giminder, and we celebrate the joys of birthdays this week.

[18:55] God, we pray also for our country, for those concerns that we haven't raised but are deep within our hearts.

[19:06] God, we ask that you watch out for each one of us and bless us as we continue to go out and do your work in this world.

[19:18] In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning.

[19:40] Good morning. Today's first reading from the Bible is from the book of Exodus, chapter 13, verses 17 through 21.

[19:52] When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said if they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.

[20:08] So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath.

[20:26] He had said, God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place. After leaving Succoth, they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.

[20:39] By day, the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so that they could travel by day or night.

[20:55] The next reading is from the book of Matthew, chapter 28, verses 16 through 20. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.

[21:09] When they saw him, they worshipped him. But some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

[21:24] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

[21:39] And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. This is the word of our Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[21:50] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[22:01] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen, Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[22:12] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[22:25] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. hops from us. Amen. Amen. Amen. So, as you heard Nancy say during our greeting time, that we're starting a new walk, starting a new sermon series during this month.

[22:44] It's called Quest. You see it on the front of the bulletin. And we're talking about the idea of your walk in faith being just that, a journey with God.

[22:56] Now, to help us get into this, what we want to talk about today is the idea of leaving home. Leaving home. Now, given where we are in the year, leaving home is a pretty common thing.

[23:11] We're in kind of vacation season. How many of you have already traveled this summer? How many of you have already traveled this summer? Yeah, and how many of you have traveled coming up? And see, my vacation's over, and believe me, I already feel it.

[23:24] I'm already feeling it. But for those of you who've already traveled this year, how'd it go for you? How many of you, it was like, it was painless. It was good, it was smooth, it was easy. Wow, that's a lot less hands.

[23:38] That's a lot less hands. So you guys can relate to what we're going to talk about now, right? Because everybody has those stories. Everybody has what I call travel nightmares. Those times when you're on a trip, you're on that journey, and something's going to happen, right?

[23:54] I mean, it happens if you travel a lot. There was a time in my work life where I was traveling regularly. And travel nightmares happened far too frequently.

[24:06] And, you know, it can be anything. Like, say, ending up in Dublin, Ireland for a week of business meetings, and your suitcase goes to South Carolina.

[24:16] And you are there for five of the seven days with no bag. You can end up trying to get home so you can make worship from a business meeting in Milwaukee.

[24:31] You can get booked on a flight that's supposed to beat the coming thunderstorm. So they rearrange your travel. And then, when you make your connection, then you get to Chicago.

[24:45] And the flight you were originally on leaves before the thunderstorm. But when you get rebooked on, does not. Everybody has them. There's a time when you're in Cincinnati with your family.

[24:59] And you end up getting lost because this is before cell phones, and you don't have the best directions. Everybody remember them old triptychs from AAA? So some of y'all can relate. Right?

[25:11] But that doesn't seem to work as well as Siri sometimes. So you end up going the wrong way down a runway street with your family in the car. That was fun too. Travel nightmares are pretty common.

[25:24] They're pretty common. But the thing about a travel nightmare, no matter when they happen to you, my question for those of us who have endured them is, did it stop you from ever wanting to travel?

[25:43] That's an interesting point. Because even if you have those kinds of stories happen to you when you travel, you'll notice that it really doesn't tend to kill your desire for travel.

[25:57] And whether you need to go because it's a business-related thing, or if you're going for fun, but still there's something inside of us that says the travel is still worth doing.

[26:10] And that's what we want to spend our time in a little bit today. Because this idea about wanting to travel, this idea about that wanderlust inside of us that seems to show up every so often whether we expect it to or not, we need to bring that into our walk with God.

[26:31] Because the challenge that a lot of us face is that when you don't have that spirit, when you kind of quash that and you lose that, well, your walk with God stops being a walk.

[26:47] Now, that sounds kind of weird to say, but the pastor of the church I grew up in, one of the wisest people I've ever known, he had this line that I borrow frequently because I found it to be just some of the wisdom he shared.

[27:03] He said that you cannot stay where you are and go with God at the same time. Hear that again. You cannot stay where you are and go with God at the same time.

[27:17] And a lot of people want to do that and want to stay where they are, but God says, follow me. And if you try to do both, let me know how that works for you.

[27:37] See, that's the problem. Because many of us, when we find a place, right, we find a place that feels good, we find a place that's comfortable, we find a place that makes sense to us, we get there and we go, ooh, I like it here.

[27:57] So let me just spend a minute because the journey to this point has had all kinds of stuff in it. I'm tired, I'm worn out, and if it's not, if it's been full of traumatic things and hard things, when you find a place where you can just take a breath, you like taking that breath.

[28:16] But we all know, we all know, life doesn't work like that. The planet keeps spinning, days keep happening, there's always the next thing.

[28:27] So we don't just get to camp. We just don't. And the nature of our relationship with God is because God stays on the move.

[28:39] Look at Jesus' story. Jesus is very clear. He didn't sit in Nazareth and wait for everybody to show up. He went to where the people were.

[28:53] He was constantly on the move. And that is something we kind of reacquaint ourselves with. See, the funny thing about when you hit that place where you get comfortable, because comfort can really be our enemy in this place.

[29:11] Because when we get comfortable, like I said, we like it. We like it for a while. We like that absence of noise. We don't like it to be too busy. And we like to feel that safety.

[29:24] Nothing wrong with those feelings. But the funny thing about comfort is after a while, when you get a little too comfortable, comfort turns into boredom. Whether you want to admit it or not.

[29:38] Comfort turns into boredom. Because the day after day after day of the same and the same and the same after a while, you don't bring that same passion.

[29:49] You don't bring that same energy. All of a sudden, you start going, I'm kind of tired of this now. And I think that's exactly what we've been talking about. There's that thing inside of us that says, what's next?

[30:05] Where's the adventure? Where's the new thing? And if you lose that in your relationship with God, well, that's a really dangerous place to be.

[30:19] and that's what we want to talk about. Because if you've known that joy, if you've known that thing of discovery, going someplace new and seeing something in person instead of online, if you've made those relationships with people that have been transformational, that's what adds that spice, that adventure, that layer to life that we always want to get.

[30:48] And if you are one of those folks who may not travel for pleasure very much or may have challenges doing so, the thing is, what we're talking about here doesn't mean you have to go halfway around the world.

[31:05] There's plenty of adventure. There's plenty of new relationships. There's plenty of new things to see and do right outside your front door. So it doesn't take going halfway around the world to wake up this spirit in you.

[31:20] Because your journey is both outward, your journey is also inward. What's the new thing that God wants to do for you that keeps that alive, that keeps that vibrant, that keeps you engaged?

[31:34] But see, if we choose to let that go, then we start to go, well, I don't know. I'm just not feeling fed.

[31:46] I'm not really getting a lot out of this. Those kinds of sentences start to creep into our world. But that's the question we got to ask ourselves.

[31:59] Are you prioritizing the comfort and the safe place? Or are you listening when Jesus says, go? So how can we wake that back up?

[32:16] Because that's a problem for a lot of folks. Folks start to say, I've sort of fallen into this routine or this is starting to feel a little boring to me. Folks start to say, well, how do I wake that back up?

[32:29] Well, let's listen to the stories we heard today. Right? So this story about the Israelites, most of us are familiar with the story of the Exodus. So let's set the stage a little bit.

[32:42] The Israelites have been in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. And Moses has been born. He's been raised in Pharaoh's house. He's spent some time, of course, away from there.

[32:55] And now he has received his call from God to go back. He goes back. He goes through the thing of getting Pharaoh to let the people go. Those 10 plagues, all of that drama. And now we've got the point where Pharaoh has said they can leave.

[33:09] That's where we enter the story today. Okay? The key thing we want to pay attention to is about this idea of travel. Right? Because this was not a trip that the Israelites were looking forward to as a pleasure thing.

[33:26] but it was absolutely essential. They weren't going to stay where they were slaves, of course. Plus, they had to go to with the land they had been promised by God. So the trip was absolutely essential.

[33:39] But, you're dealing with some real problems here. And so, we can get something out of this story that's really powerful, that teaches us that if you start to fall into one of those places where you may be afraid to leave home, or you're thinking, I don't get this or I'm kind of tired, listen to what God does in this story.

[34:00] That's the key. Pay attention to what God does in the story. Not so much what the people do, but what God does. And the things that God does in the story are the things that wake us up.

[34:12] So, verse 17 and 18. When Pharaoh let the people go, God didn't lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though that was the shorter route.

[34:24] God thought, if the people have to fight and face war, they will run back to Egypt. So, God let the people by the roundabout way of the Reed Sea of the desert.

[34:40] The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt, ready for bow. So, what does God do in that story that helps us? The thing that God does for the nation of Israel is God knows the safest way.

[34:56] And we have to learn to trust God's knowledge. Because if we trust that God knows what's best, even though a certain way makes sense to us, but God knows what's best, then we actually get what's best.

[35:14] See, because the nation was definitely ready to hustle out of it. it was time to go. And you hear it said they were ready for battle. But let's be real here. This is a group of people that had been kept in slavery for 400 years.

[35:29] They didn't really have a whole lot of military equipment. And they were dealing with the superpower on earth at the time. And what you need to do if you really want to understand why that's a thing, if you do a little more homework on this particular passage in Scripture, what you realize is the short route that they were thinking they should take actually had Egyptian fortresses along it.

[35:55] So if they had taken that way, they would have encountered the Egyptian army. and you heard it said in the passage, if the nation has to fight and face war, they're going to turn around and go back.

[36:11] God knew what was best. And the thing is, we don't always trust that. We don't always trust that.

[36:22] God told them, it's time to go, get your stuff, let's go. We're going this way. But we want to go, no, we're going this way. Trust me.

[36:37] Trust me. Okay. That's thing number one. Trust God's wisdom. Thing number two. Let's read verses 19 and 20.

[36:50] Moses took with him Joseph's bones just as Joseph had made Israel's sons promise when he said to them, when God takes care of you, you must carry my bones out of here with you.

[37:02] Okay. Now, the thing that happens here is, remember, we got four centuries of history. And if you remember the story of Joseph, Joseph had risen to a place of power in Egypt.

[37:16] He reconciled with his brothers who had actually sold him into slavery in Egypt. And then they came down to fight the famine. Everybody camped out happily ever after until the subsequent Pharaoh put the nation of Israel into slavery.

[37:29] Okay. But Joseph, knowing that this was not their home, and trusting what God had put on his heart, said, when God takes care of you.

[37:42] Catch that. When God takes care of you. In other words, yeah, it doesn't feel so hot right now. We know this isn't right. but God can be trusted.

[37:54] And when God takes care of you, take my bones with you, because this is not where we're supposed to be. The thing that we need to remember in all of this, when things go a little sideways for us, is that God is faithful.

[38:11] And if you remember that God is faithful when you're going the wrong way down that one-way street, or when you miss your flight, or when anything else falls into your path, you still want to take the journey with God.

[38:29] Because you know that God is faithful. And right here, we got a group of people who have been through it. And the thing we really got to remember about this is that everybody who's leaving Israel now had never known freedom.

[38:47] They'd only known the promise. and now the promise has been kept. Will they trust the promise? That's the hard part for a lot of us.

[39:00] Will you trust the promise? Because the one who promised is faithful. Last piece. So we're going to read verses 20 through 22.

[39:12] They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. I put the thumb here. I camped out at Succoth on the edge of the desert.

[39:24] Or I camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. The Lord went in front of them during the day in a column of cloud to guide them and at night in a column of lightning to give them light.

[39:36] This way they could travel during the day and at night. I'm going to add verse 22 which we didn't have as part of the reading. The column of cloud during the day and the column of lightning at night never left its place in front of the people.

[39:51] So the third thing that even though we know that God can be trusted we know that God knows things that we don't know and we can trust God's knowledge.

[40:04] The thing that we often forget when we are a little too hesitant to leave home when we are too trusting in our comfort is that God is with us.

[40:18] God is with us. And if the piece here in the Exodus doesn't register that for you remember what you heard Jesus say in the passage from Matthew because he says go and he says I will be with you until the very end of the age.

[40:41] so if the idea of going if the idea of leaving strikes you in a place that is fearful or you finally got into this place where you feel good and you don't want to risk not feeling good again after having a hard time problem is that's just not God's nature.

[41:03] God is going to keep you moving. And the thing is when you are moving will you trust God's knowledge?

[41:15] Will you trust God's faithfulness? Will you trust God's presence? Because if you know those things to be true why would you not take the journey?

[41:30] Why would you not take the journey? and remember you know when we talked about this before if having travel nightmares doesn't kill your desire for travel then why would things not going perfectly in your walk with God keep you from wanting to keep walking with God?

[41:55] Why would the idea that maybe you wanted X but you didn't get X keep you from still walking with God? or maybe the idea that something was harder than you thought keep you from wanting to walk with God?

[42:11] If lost luggage doesn't kill your adventurous spirit if missed connections or empty gas tanks doesn't do it what's better than God?

[42:24] and if you're in a place in your walk in faith where you're going I just don't know or this is feeling a little drab this is feeling a little ho-hum this is a little too familiar I'm just not excited about it anymore the thing that gets you excited again see here's the thing remember those of us we were talking about vacation at the beginning of this message if you're like me vacation makes you feel good and when you know you're going on vacation you're probably looking forward to it that you get excited about it you plan for it you make sure all the stuff is there because you know it's going to be a good time and when you have those kinds of things coming up and you go and you do the things that you want to do and you're with the people that you want to be with those things get you into that place where you're riled up and you really can't wait for it so what are you saying about traveling with Jesus you're not excited to see what Jesus has in store for you you don't want to travel with him that's the very nature of this thing you know

[43:50] I'm a big fan of Star Trek and one of the things about Star Trek that's really cool is it's built on this notion of discovery and exploration and relationship and the thing about Star Trek at least in that fictional universe right is that because they're exploring outer space they never run out of new things to see there's always someplace new to go there's always another place that needs to be mapped another group of people to get to know we are children of an infinite omnipotent God do you really think that our God is going to run out of things to show you do you really think that God doesn't have something new that would inspire and excite you every day if you got a problem with that heaven's going to be a problem for you because that's the way God works there's always something else there's always another layer there's always a new piece there's always a next step there's always something new with God and if you get excited about taking your earthly journeys imagine how excited you should be about your journey with

[45:21] Jesus so when we talk about this quest when you remember that that's what your faith walk is like and that's what your faith walk is intended to be hear me and hear me well every day impact with fun we know that already but if your travel nightmares didn't kill your desire for travel then a bad day shouldn't kill your desire to keep walking with Jesus so it's time wake up that idea wake up that sense of adventure that's inside you wake up that sense of excitement for what God has in store because that's who he is and that's what this is about and if it's starting to feel a little stale if it's starting to feel a little comfortable or you're starting to think that maybe it's just too much and you're starting to be afraid remember who he is that he knows the way that he is faithful he has never failed you you may not have gotten what you expected but he didn't fail you and also remember he'll be with you so it's time let's take the trip amen and amen loving and gracious God we give you thanks for all the ways in which you make yourself known we give you thanks that you continue to inspire us to show us new things to wake us up when we start to feel a little sleepy and wander in the wrong direction

[47:14] Lord God we know that your plan for us is good that your way is best so when we start to be too hesitant when we start to get a little too comfortable let your voice always come through follow me and I will be with you the journey awaits and we go with you wherever you will lead amen as I stand here in front of life jackets and kayaks and paddles I invite you to be mindful that I also stand in front of our baptismal pool one of the places that our spiritual journey can begin in the name of Jesus

[48:23] Christ I welcome you to this place and this service and I ask you today do you want Jesus to walk with you on this life journey come to the table for he is here the water of this blue planet connects us all no matter where we live on earth water is life all beings need life giving water and we know this water to be a sign of our faith it's water that the Israelites crossed in order to move towards freedom it's water that we encounter in our baptism that moves us forward into discipleship with Christ let us pray merciful God we confess that we have not loved you with our whole hearts and have not loved our neighbors as ourselves through what we have done and left undone forgive us when we turn away guide us as we seek to turn around toward greater love lead us to travel in your ways amen when I'm in trouble

[49:46] Lord walk with me when I'm in trouble Lord walk with me when my poor heart's almost breaking Lord I want Jesus to walk with me know this at the moment of despair and unknowing Jesus appeared to the disciples on the road he is our constant companion and invites us always to break open our lives and share traveling together toward the kingdom of love in the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven the peace of the risen Christ is with you the Lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the Lord our God oh God of grace it is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you your delight filled the skies and the land with colors beyond the spectrum of our knowing your playful creating offered up humankind with such diversity that we cannot even comprehend it your breath left waters frothy and lungs exploding with the power of life and prophetic utterances and yet we back away from such promise unable to claim your love is ours but here right here at this table you are to meet us speak to us once again always faithful and always present in this body at the table and in this body gathered here and online and so together we proclaim the praise filled truth of your glory along with all the saints holy holy holy lord god of hosts blessed are they who come in your name heaven and earth are full of your glory hosanna in the highest holy are you and blessed is your son jesus christ he proclaimed freedom for the bound justice for the oppressed grace for the lost love for the prodigal and by the power of this message and the surprise of resurrection in the face of death the world is immersed again in the baptism of love and redemption through the life and ministry of jesus christ we can imagine and live into a kingdom of love on the night that he gave himself up for us he took the bread from the table and he lifted it and he gave thanks to god for it and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples saying take and eat this all of you this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance of me and then he lifted the cup he gave thanks to you and gave it to his disciples and said drink from this all of you this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this as often as you can in remembrance of me and so we remember we remember we offer ourselves and we claim a new freedom in this truth christ has died christ is risen christ will come again pour out your holy spirit on all of us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and cup make them be for us for each of us the vision and the food of your reign realized so that we may be for the world your dream come true by your spirit open us to each other and to

[53:46] the world making us one in you through christ in the power of your holy spirit oh lord our god we come to you now in the spirit of love praying together the prayer that jesus taught us 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 to temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen for those who are serving communion come and join me at the table to

[55:47] Vielen Dank.

[56:17] Vielen Dank.

[56:47] There's also prepackaged, regular, and gluten-free bread on this station over here. All are welcome. It's the table of the Lord, not mine, not yours, not this church's.

[57:01] It belongs to our Savior, Jesus Christ. So come and receive. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[57:13] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[57:52] Amen. Amen.

[58:52] Amen. Amen.

[59:52] Amen. Amen.

[60:52] Amen. Amen.

[61:52] Amen. Amen.

[62:26] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[62:37] Amen. Amen. Our closing song is Open the Eyes of My Heart. Open the eyes of our heart to welcome the adventure and the excitement, to trust in the promises that he has for us, and to know that he walks with us every step of the journey.

[63:01] I invite you to stand. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

[63:29] Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you.

[63:42] Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you.

[63:54] I want to see you. To see you like living on. Shining in the light of your glory.

[64:09] Throw out your power of love. Is pleasing glory, glory, glory. Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.

[64:25] Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. I want to see you.

[64:35] Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart.

[64:45] I want to see you. I want to see you. To see you high and lifted up.

[64:58] Shining in the light of your glory. Oh, I took my way of love. Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

[65:15] Holy, Holy, Holy. We cry. Holy, Holy, Holy. Holy, Holy, Holy.

[65:28] I want to see you. Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy.

[66:01] I want to see you. Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy. I want to see you. Every day is a gift.

[66:24] Every smiling face, everyone you encounter is a potential new thing. That has the ability to wake you up. That's part of your journey. You can view that with excitement or you can view that with dread.

[66:37] It's up to you. Our God is a God of adventure. Our God is a God of love. Our God is with us and a God of joy. Take the journey. It's worth it.

[66:48] Amen. Now in the name of God, our creator and king. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our redeemer. And in the name of the Holy Spirit, our comforter and our sustainer.

[66:59] May God bless us as we leave to love and serve God and all God's children. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[67:12] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[67:23] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020 Untertitelung des ZDF, 2020