Choose Life

[0:00] Amen. Amen.

[1:00] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Good morning. It's so nice to have you all here, and those who are watching online.

[1:15] We have a few announcements this morning, for us to be on our behalf of our guests.

[1:28] We have a few announcements this morning. Yesterday didn't feel like fall, but today it's feeling like fall, which means it's fish fry time. So they're September 30th, October 7th, and October 14th.

[1:43] We'll be passing around sign-up sheets. If you would like to sign up to help. If you have any other questions, feel free to see Carl, but it's a great event, and we hope that you all, if you don't volunteer, you come and eat.

[1:56] This fall, we have lots of Bible studies, lots of things to do, so make sure you check out all of those opportunities in the newsletter and in your bulletin.

[2:10] Confirmation is starting up, so anyone who is in 6th through 12th grade, I will be having a meeting with parents next week in between services, so we can talk about that.

[2:22] And then Angel Wings. Angel Wings has been reimagined, so it's not just a children's program anymore. So we invite you all on Saturday, October 8th, to come and experience new intergenerational Angel Wings.

[2:38] They're going to be doing some mission projects, and there's a sign-up sheet in the back to bring some things, but we invite all of you and hope that you do come for one of the Angel Wings opportunities.

[2:48] Finally, this morning, it's September 11th, so I'd like you all to take a moment of silence with me to remember those who lost their lives 21 years ago.

[3:00] May the grace and peace of God be with you today and always.

[3:12] Amen. Good morning, everybody.

[3:29] And good morning to everyone online as well. I'm going to invite you to stand as we lift up our voices, singing, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, and come, now is the time to worship.

[3:40] Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.

[4:07] He speaks and listening to His voice, who let the dead receive.

[4:18] The mortal, broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe. In Christ your head, you that shall know, shall feel your sins forgiven.

[4:38] Anticipate your heaven below, and own that love is there.

[4:49] Come, now is the time to worship.

[5:02] Come, now is the time to worship.

[5:14] Come, now is the time to worship.

[5:26] Come, just as you are to worship. Come, just as you are before your God.

[5:43] Come, come. Come. One day every tongue will confess you are God. One day every knee will bow.

[5:56] Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to give your heart Come, just as you are to worship Come, just as you are before your heart Building me we choose to surrender our lives Building me on ease we bow

[6:58] With all our hearts full by strength We gladly choose you now Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to give your heart Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to worship

[8:11] Come, now is the time to worship Come, now is the time to worship You may be seated.

[8:48] It's interesting because when we hear leading causes talked about, especially like in our news, we talk about leading causes of death. And so this inspired some of our worship designers to come up with the idea of leading causes of life.

[9:05] So for the next few weeks, we're going to talk about what brings up life in us, what affirms life in us. How do we turn away from death and move towards life?

[9:16] So with that in mind, I invite you to our opening prayer. I'll be leading the first part and then we will say the second piece together. Let's open our hearts and pray. This is the day you have made life living God.

[9:32] Joining with angels and archangels and with the chorus that is rising throughout all the earth, we will rejoice and be glad this day. You take our endings and you make new beginnings.

[9:47] You're surprised and astound us in places where we expected that you were absent. You challenge us to reconsider what is possible. Living Lord, Savior Christ, we praise you for you are raised by the power of God and there is a new creation.

[10:10] And by your grace, we are in it. Hallelujah. Amen. Amen. So our mission moment today is that it's United Methodist Student Day.

[10:28] And donations from this mission go to provide loans and scholarship funds for undergraduate and graduate students that are in United Methodist schools. We also have Kathy here and she's going to talk to us about online giving.

[10:42] Good morning.

[10:57] Good morning. For those that don't know me, I'm Kathy Hill. I am the assistant treasurer here at church. We're trying to, we've been talking about the fact that our income is not meeting our expenses.

[11:13] So we thought another way that might help you to give regularly is if you would sign up for electronic giving. You can still donate cash and checks in person or mail.

[11:26] But if you'd like, you could pay through your bill pay on your bank and they send us a check. Or you can do it through the church, which has two different ways to give electronically.

[11:40] The easiest way to set it up is through Banco Faith. That, you would get a form. Sorry.

[11:52] Just get a form like this from the church office and fill it out and it gives you your bank information for your checking account. And then that way we can set it up.

[12:03] Banco has you give either the first of the month, the 15th of the month, or you can split it between the first and the 15th. The only problem with Banco is that you have to set it up and then we, well, we set it up.

[12:18] You fill out the paperwork and then we set it up and then you're set. But if you want to change it or if you want to stop giving that way, you would have to go through the church office again in order to stop it.

[12:33] The other way is that the second option is through our webpage and online giving. You might be familiar with this. This is how we did it a lot during COVID.

[12:45] You can set up a one-time donation or you can set up what's called a recurring donation. And you can set that up for weekly, every two weeks, monthly or yearly. And you can do it to your, well, with Banco it's checking only.

[13:00] But with Breeze, the online, it's, you can do it through your credit card or through what they call an ACH withdrawal, which is your checking or savings account.

[13:13] There's an option that you can do with that. Is there, with Banco, we pay, the church pays the fees. But with Breeze, there's an option that you can check in the website that you would pay the fee.

[13:29] And an example of the fee through Breeze is for a $50 credit card transaction, it'd be $1.80. But for a $50 ACH transaction, going through your checking or savings, the fee is only 76 cents.

[13:44] And that saves the church from having to pay that fee. It takes two days for the credit card transaction to come out of, well, it comes out of your account right away, but then it takes two days for it to go to the church.

[13:57] And then it's seven days for the ACH. It takes them a little longer. We've been talking the last few weeks about our income is less than our expenses. And we're hoping this will help everyone give regularly, which will hopefully help us meet our expenses.

[14:12] I've created a document of step-by-step instructions for how to set up the Breeze transactions. And you're welcome to have one.

[14:24] I'll be at the back of the church after service so that if you want one of those documents to help you set it up, or if you have questions, you can see me and I will try to answer your questions.

[14:35] Anybody have questions now? Well, thank you very much. Thank you.

[15:12] I believe in the risen one. I believe I overcome By the power of his blood Amen Amen I'm alive, I'm alive Because he lives Amen Amen Amen Let my song join the one that never ends Because he lives I was dead in the grave I was covered in sin and sin and sin I heard mercy call my name

[16:16] I heard mercy call my name He wrote the stone away Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive because he lives Amen Amen Amen Let my song join the one that never ends Amen Because he lives I can breathe for my hands Amen Because he lives I know He holds my life, my future at His hands.

[17:07] Amen. Amen. I'm alive, I'm alive because He lives.

[17:18] Amen. Amen. Let my song join the one that never ends.

[17:29] Amen. Amen. I'm alive, I'm alive because He lives.

[17:40] Amen. Amen. Let my song join the one that never ends.

[17:50] I'm alive because he lives. I'm alive because he lives.

[18:00] Thank you.

[18:30] Thank you.

[19:00] Thank you for allowing us to be your hands and your feet in the world. In your name we pray. Amen. You may be seated.

[19:11] Are there any joys or concerns that you would like to lift up today?

[19:22] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We do want to, especially today, pray for Terri Harris. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. In your prayers today.

[19:35] Shall we pray with me? Okay, please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the time to be together to worship in your name.

[19:48] We pray for those this week who are struggling, for those students who don't know where to turn at school, for those who are dealing with mental illness.

[20:01] We raise their concerns to you. Help us be the light to them and show grace when it's needed. We lift up our nation.

[20:14] We lift up our communities, our church. God, watch over them and each one here. Help each of us feel your love and your presence in our lives.

[20:28] Let the Spirit move through us so that we can do your work and show those who need love. We especially pray for Terry Harris and her family.

[20:42] May she feel the warmth and the care. We remember those who passed away in 9-11 and their families who are still, 21 years later, having to deal with this.

[21:03] God, we mostly thank you for you and for your Son who gave us the ability to live such amazing lives. Please continue to walk with us every step of the way.

[21:17] In your name we pray. Amen. Amen. Good morning.

[21:39] Our scripture reading this morning comes from two different books in the Bible. From the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 30, verses 15 through 20, and then from the book of Luke, chapter 24, verses 1 through 12.

[21:55] From Deuteronomy we read, See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees, and laws.

[22:12] Then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.

[22:30] You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.

[22:46] Now choose life so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[23:06] And from the book of Luke, on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

[23:23] While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood before them. In their fright, the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, Why do you look for the living among the dead?

[23:40] He is not here. He has risen. Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee, the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.

[23:56] Then they remembered his words. When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.

[24:15] But they did not believe the women because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away wondering to himself what had happened.

[24:31] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Jane, for that reading.

[24:51] Let's come together in a word of prayer. Loving God, we thank you for the gift that is this moment and this time. And as we've come to you, having worshipped with our hearts wide open, pouring ourselves out to you in adoration, move among us, Lord, and plant a seed in each of us, the seed that you know we need, that we would go into the world and bear fruit that would honor and glorify your name.

[25:14] Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray. Amen. Amen. So I'm a movie guy. I like movies a lot. Now, if you like movies or if you like pretty much any form of entertainment, I mean, whether it's your favorite TV show, whether it's books you like to read, you come to these moments.

[25:36] I've seen them called brick moments because somebody in whatever you are watching will make a choice that you think is so stupid that you just want to throw a brick at the screen.

[25:53] And we feel this a lot sometimes, right? So let me give you a couple examples of what I'm talking about. Now, we're going to use a family-friendly example first.

[26:06] So how many Disney fans do we have, right? I'm sure we've got some Disney fans. If you remember the movie Beauty and the Beast, right? So you watch Beauty and the Beast is happening and then Maurice, Belle's father, early on in the story is on the horse, Philippe.

[26:22] And they're headed to town because he's going to show off his brand new invention. And then they come to this fork in the road. And down one path, it's lit and the grass is nice and flat and you can kind of even see town off in the distance.

[26:41] Then there's this other path which is foggy and full of shadows and there's lots of thorny plants in the way. And Philippe, the horse, wants to go this way towards town.

[26:59] But Maurice decides, nope, we're going to go this way. Brick moment. Now see, the thing is, we probably wouldn't have too many stories if people kind of made the easy choices all the time.

[27:15] But see, there's a commercial that makes me and my wife laugh a lot. But it came out for Geico Insurance a while back where it takes like these four 20-something college-age people because it's mocking this idea of choices that are made in movies.

[27:31] Right? And so they are presumably running from a serial killer in a horror movie. Some of y'all know what this commercial I'm talking about. They're running from a... And they say they're going to run and hide from the serial killer.

[27:44] But where do they run? They run to the house. Smart. Then, one of them looks up and even asks, well, maybe we should just get in the running car.

[27:55] But see, these are the choices that we sit here and look at and we go, what in the world are people thinking? Now, if you're a sports fan, we probably have this feeling a lot.

[28:13] Because we see coaches and players make choices and we're wondering what in the world were people thinking? So, the reason why I wanted us to spend some time in that moment and remembering how frustrating that feels is because we're really good at looking at other people's choices and saying, why in the world would they do that?

[28:35] How good are we at looking at our own choices? I'm betting that some of us are probably pretty good at it, at least in those moments when we're by ourselves, when we lay down and it's just us and God before we fall asleep or those times we're reflective in the mirror we have a few of those.

[28:57] Why on earth did I do that moments? But that's what we want to talk about today. We want to talk about this idea of choices because we forget what an amazing gift it is that we can in fact choose.

[29:16] And when we think about this ability of choosing and what it means to be able to make those kinds of choices we often wonder why we end up where we end up why we feel how we feel and then we forget the amazing gift it is to be able to choose.

[29:40] Now, you heard me say during our call to worship that we're entering this new study called leading causes of life. And what we know about this is that we want to focus on how we can do the things that actually help us stay in that life affirming life giving way in that life giving sort of place that we know God wants for us.

[30:08] But what we want to start with and it's important that we start here is that sometimes why we feel the opposite of that has to do with the choices we make.

[30:23] And if we can't name that if we can't be up front about that then we can't deal with it honestly. It's important that we get that right because especially coming through what we have been through as a people what we have seen happen to the entire planet especially over the past few years that if we wonder why we have so much that we go through life with this sense of anxiousness or maybe we come through and we have this like lurking simmering anger under us that we can't always explain or we wonder why we get into some conversations and those conversations seem to be the exact opposite of productive one of the things we might want to spend a little time on is what are the choices we're making because we all get the idea that sometimes the outcomes that we are sitting in may have something to do with the choices we have made and if we know that it's amazing how easy it is for us to disconnect those especially especially when we talking about ourselves because usually when we feel those bad things it's easy for us to go well that's not my fault that's their fault but what about our own choices that may have brought us to this circumstance see the thing we don't want to admit is most of the time especially those of us who have walked with God for a minute or two we know the right thing to do it's not like we don't know what the right thing is check how we were critiquing those coaches and players a minute ago we know what the right thing is now come on let's put this in real terms like if you know that your goal is to lose a few pounds and you know that you are about to sit down at the table you can make a choice that's going to take you toward that goal or you make a choice that's going to take you away from that goal and don't act like you don't know what the choice is we know what the right thing to do is we just don't do it we just don't do it but if we can't own that right then we're going to continue to struggle and when we think about this in terms of what leads us to life what leads us to positive what leads us to good as opposed to what leads us to death what leads us to negative what leads us to bad if we can't own that then why are we surprised that so much of what we sit in so much of what seems to be on top of us is death negative and bad that's the connection we need to just start with before we talk about some of the practices that can help us get there because in the coming weeks we're going to talk about some of those practices but we have to just name this choice thing up front this is an eternal human problem it goes all the way back to

[33:53] Adam and Eve because Adam and Eve had a choice and they made a bad one and we've been making bad ones ever since and you heard in the scripture today this piece from Deuteronomy just how serious the choices can be now to set the context here we don't usually spend a lot of time in Deuteronomy and worship but this particular passage is one that we really need to sit with today because it captures exactly what we're talking about Moses is speaking to the nation of Israel the book of Deuteronomy is kind of complex in it there's about three major speeches from Moses part of those is a complete overview of the law of God but we're in the third speech and we're actually at the end of it and what Moses is trying to do is prep the nation before they begin their conquest of the Holy

[34:56] Land and that's why he's speaking with such urgency now to understand why that urgency is underneath it is you gotta remember Moses has been with these people for 40 years now okay they've been walking through the desert and he has seen some of their choices he's heard the grumbling he's heard the complaining he's seen people do what they're supposed to do and then again not do what they're supposed to do and having the connection to God that Moses had he wants people to understand how serious this is because with his death imminent and there going into the promised land imminent he knows that a day is coming when the promised land is theirs when God fulfills exactly what God said he was going to do and then people will start to get a little comfortable not only will we need to be obedient in order to get the promised land but what happens when that particular challenge ends because we know when things are easy it's a whole lot easier for us to turn our back in God than when things are hard most people have no problem falling on their knees in prayer when they're in crisis it's when we're not in crisis that it's easy to push

[36:24] God to the back burner don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about and that's what Moses is trying to make sure the people get and so that's why he speaks these words and when you hear them they are said with a really harsh and urgent tone but it's kind of important because sometimes you got to bring a harsh and urgent tone for people to get what you are saying and so hear this again look here today I've set before you life and what's good versus death and what's wrong if you obey the Lord your God's commandments that I'm commanding you right now by loving the Lord your God by walking in his ways by keeping his commandments his regulations and his case laws then you will live and thrive and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess he's going right in and he's going in hot people need to understand this but think about that

[37:33] I'm setting before you today life and what's good and death and what's wrong later on in the passage in verse nine we get that call it says choose life now we sit here and we kind of go well who would choose death friends we choose death all the time hence our beginning conversation because we do these things that will try to make us feel good or try to alleviate our pain or help us deal with our stresses and we do these things that are not what God wants for us and when we make those choices they may make us numb for a minute they may help us for a little bit we may forget our troubles for a few minutes or a few hours but then we come crashing back to the real world all that stuff is still there if not worse and we feel worse whether that feeling worse is physical whether it's emotional whether it's spiritual we feel worse and now here we are and we know we've done the wrong thing that friends is what we mean by this difference between choosing life and choosing death and it doesn't have to be physical death but think about what we said earlier that we make choices that end up feeding the anger that's simmering in some of our hearts we end up making choices that make us judgmental of our neighbor instead of walking in love we make choices that do not help our bodies be as healthy as they could possibly be that ain't choosing life if we think about how we feed our souls and we feed our brains do you for example listen to things in the car maybe on your way to work and you get out of the car and you're all angry at the rest of the world now that doesn't sound like choosing life when you sit down at that table we were talking about and you want to make yourself feel better and so you choose to indulge but then you go back and you try and make the belt work that ain't choosing life that's what we're up against that's what we're up against it's understandable we all do it

[40:40] I'm not standing up here pretending that I've got this thing figured out believe me I got my own issues thank goodness my wife's not here that'd probably be the loudest amen in the room but that being said y'all know what I'm talking about so how do we do this differently what helps us as I said the point of today's message is to simply acknowledge you have the power to choose differently we sometimes get so caught up in our external circumstances and sometimes those circumstances are big you know if you're dealing with a health condition or you lose your job or a divorce is pending or things of this sort and people see these big external circumstances and I have no control over those there's a degree to which that is true you may not control the entirety of the circumstance but you do control how you behave you do control what you say you do control whether or not the choices you make are going to be the ones that you know are the type that Jesus would make or the type that the world would make that is the difference that is ultimately the difference no we cannot simply make hard life circumstances disappear we simply can't do that but if we feed ourselves on the things that give us life like God's word like prayer like Christian friendships people who understand what you are trying to do how you are trying to live and the challenges that the world presents when you're trying to walk in a way that's more like Christ instead of more like the world how those people help you stay on the path how those things help you find life as opposed to looking for the things that take us toward death the real danger is that we get so used to death that we forget life is even possible we get so used to death and we're so surrounded by it in our media and in our everyday life we're so surrounded by these things that lead us to death that we forget that we serve a God who can do more than we understand that's why we read the passage from

[43:44] Luke yes it's okay to talk about Easter and resurrection in the fall but the thing about this the reason why that story is so important is twofold for us today first it has that important line in it and that line is where we're going to come back to but let's remember something about the morning that these are the people who are closest to Christ these are the people that love Jesus the most on earth and none of them was expecting life that morning none of them when the women went to the tomb they were not expecting to find life they were not expecting God to have worked a great work how do we know that because they brought the spices with them the reason why they brought the spices was because there was an anointing ritual for a dead body that had not yet been done if they thought life was going to be there they don't bring the spices when they get there they're surprised that the stone is rolled away again not expecting to find life and then when the angels appear and tell them they don't know what to do it's because their brains their hearts everything around them has told them you should be expecting death then they run back and tell the disciples the disciples the eleven the people that Jesus had told more than once three days and I will rise again and remember that line that you heard

[45:52] Jan read today the disciples didn't believe them because their words seemed like nonsense like nonsense even the disciples were not expecting life Peter doesn't know what to do so he gets up and runs to check it out and he too is just confused he sees what's in front of him the grave is empty the clothes are there but he still doesn't embrace the fact that maybe my God maybe my Lord are capable of doing more than I can understand death maybe there's more to this thing than death that maybe death doesn't have the final word that maybe if I could get my head up out of this space

[46:57] I could in fact choose life instead of always expecting death but I gotta believe it's at least possible that's our battle does this whole culture of death we're in tell us that life's not even possible see we're up against two things that are really hard for us to overcome first we've talked about our culture our popular media our news media and of course now we got this thing called our social media very rarely do all those things add up to life affirming y'all heard the thing in news if it bleeds it leads so we're constantly hearing bad things scary things our popular entertainment is full of images and behavior that's not exactly life affirming and then social media seems to exist to make us all feel bad because we end up comparing ourselves to other people people sound off and criticize everything that's happening it's a culture of death now not only do we have to deal with that but we have to deal with our nature our inherent nature the nature that makes us want to choose what feels good all the time the nature that makes us want to choose self instead of choose God all the time it's how we're hardwired that's our default setting and so fighting through both of those things feels well nigh impossible that's why we're all sinners we don't all sin the same but we're all sinners and the amazing part of that is God is still with us

[49:15] God loves us anyway and God continues to call out to us you know I have set before you life and what is good and death and what is wrong will you choose life we can do this we can make better choices if we do the things that actually bring that toward us will we choose to look for Jesus in the world will we choose to listen to Jesus in the world and will we have the courage and the strength to follow Jesus in the hard times not just in the easy ways but in the hard ways because that is how we find life the world will make it feel like no this is better it's a whole lot easier but if you really want to understand check your own record when I say check your own record

[50:35] I don't mean your own failures I mean God's successes in your life because I wanted to bet God has shown up for you a few times and if God has shown up for you a few times if you've had to make choices and you chose God and you know what that produced in your life as opposed to the other choices you've made and what that produced in your life check your record and you'll know which way is the right way we can do this we won't be perfect but thank God that's not what God asks us to be that's why grace is grace but let's take this journey together because we know that this world is hard and we know that the weight that lands on us the way many of us are feeling that sense of overwhelm that sense of frustration that anxiety that depression all of that we can find life we can find life in Christ but we must choose life amen and amen loving and gracious God we give you thanks for the ability to choose we sometimes forget what an amazing gift it is that you let us choose because we know that by choosing you our love for you is made real so Lord help us to always make that choice thank you that you have given us the ability to understand thank you that you have given us the ability to know that there is life and there is death thank you for making your presence felt thank you for making your way clear thank you for making your voice true that however you choose to speak to us however you choose to lead us we can in fact find life in the midst of a world that pushes us and pulls us towards death only you

[52:53] Lord only you can take us to life thank you for your grace thank you for the love that holds us even when we fall thank you for the strength that picks us back up and helps us press on because we are moving towards life moving towards you amen the Lord be with you lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the Lord our God it is a right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you Father Almighty creator of heaven and earth and so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn holy holy holy

[54:04] 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 are you and blessed is your son Jesus Christ by the baptism of his suffering death and resurrection you gave birth to your church delivered us from slavery to sin and death and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit on the night in which he gave himself up for us he took bread gave thanks to you broke the bread gave it to his disciples and said take eat this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me and when the supper was over he took the cup gave thanks to you 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 drink it in remembrance of me and so in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus

[55:17] Christ we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ's offering for us we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again pour out your Holy Spirit on those gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine make them be for us the body and blood of Christ that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood by your spirit make us one with Christ one with each other and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet through your son Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in the Holy Church all honor and glory is yours almighty father now and forever and now with the confidence of the children of God let us 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 we will

[56:50] God, the body. Hello, we're serving.

[57:16] Join us up front, please. Thank you.

[57:50] Thank you.

[58:20] Thank you.

[58:50] Thank you. The table as Christ is open for each of you. You may come, take and eat.

[59:03] You come up the center aisles and go out the side. Gluten-Free is located on this side, and we do have the prepackaged elements if you like. So please come and eat.

[59:13] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I am the Lord of sea and sky I have heard my people cry All who dwell in dark and sin My hand will save I who made the stars of night I will make the darkness bright

[60:18] Who will bear my light to them Whom shall I send Here I am, Lord Is it I, Lord?

[60:45] I have heard you Calling in the night I will go, Lord If you lead me I will hold your people in my heart I list you And there I am Amen.

[62:01] Amen. Amen.

[63:01] Amen. Amen.

[64:01] Amen. Amen.

[64:33] Amen. Amen.

[64:48] when we spend time with God and we choose to make better choices more holy choices that's what brings life and that's what allows us to thrive so I'm going to invite you to stand for our final song Thrive Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Here in this one and weary land where many a dream has died Like a tree planted by the water

[65:52] We never will run by Living water flowing through God be thirst for more of you Fill up our hearts and flood our souls With one desire Just to know you and to make you know You live to name our life Shine like this light, make our first time and light We know we were made for so much more Than ordinary lives It's time for us to hold and just survive We were made to fly To your word we're digging deep

[67:07] To know our Father's hearts Into the world we're reaching out To show them who you are Living water flowing through God be thirst for more of you Fill our hearts and flood our souls With one desire Just to know you and to make you know We lift your name on high Shine like this storm, make time for sun and high And we know we were made for so much more Than ordinary lives It's time for us to hold and just survive We were made to thrive

[68:12] Joy unspeakable, faith unspeakable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Joy unspeakable, faith unspeakable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Joy unspeakable, faith unspeakable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Joy unspeakable, faith unspeakable Love unstoppable, anything is possible Just to know you and to make you know We know we lift your name on high Shine like this storm, make darkness from it high We know we were made for so much more

[69:16] Than ordinary lives And take us to hold and just survive We were made to thrive We were made to thrive We were made to thrive We were made to thrive God of amazing grace And let us never forget That he sets before us Life and what is good And death and what is wrong He loves you enough to let you choose Choose life

[70:17] And choose him Now in the name of God our creator and king In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and our savior In the name of the Holy Spirit Our sustainer and our comforter May God bless us as we leave to love and serve God And all of God's children Amen So So Thank you.

[71:32] Thank you.

[72:02] Thank you.

[72:32] Thank you.

[73:02] Thank you.