Top Five Reasons to Celebrate Penecost

Acts 2:1-21

 

        TODAY IS PENTECOST!  Be honest now, how many of you had trouble sleeping last night because you were so excited about waking up this morning and celebrating Pentecost. I am certain some of you went shopping on-line just to pick out a Red Pentecost Dress  for this special occasion?  How many of you men went straight to your closet and picked out the red tie you only wear once a year?  OK, OK, I am getting a bit too excited. How many of you even remembered today was Pentecost?    Once upon a time, Pentecost was THE CELEBRATION of the Christian year.  It was bigger than Christmas.  That, of course, was before Santa.   But through the centuries Pentecost has just got lost in the shuffle.  Often it falls on Memorial Day.    Once I remember Pentecost was  on Mother’s Day.  When either happens, Pentecost just gets tossed aside.  But this year Pentecost is the week after Memorial Day.  We have a whole hour dedicated to this historic moment in the life of the church.   The problem is, I am afraid many of you don’t even know what Pentecost is.  Let’s start with the basics. Pente is the Greek word for the number 5. We are all familiar with that five sided building in Washington called the Pentegon. Pentecost stands for not 5 but 50 days. Since I only have limited time let me share the 5 top reasons we should celebrate Pentecost. 

        REASON NUMBER FIVE – Once a year we get to use the Red Parament cloths.  Tuesday I asked all of you to wear something red.  I hope you remembered. At my last church in North Carolina half the church went crazy on Pentecost because they thought they had showed up at an NC State pep rally.  The other half of the congregation were Tar Heel fans so they stayed home. Truth is Pentecost should be a pep rally.  It is the day we celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit coming to rest on the shoulders of the Apostles.  This marked the beginning of the Church in Jerusalem.  Their  first act was to leave the upper room and cry out,  “Christ is alive and dwells within us.”  Pentecost is our Birthday.

        REASON NUMBER FOUR – This might be the only religious holiday that has not been kidnapped by Fifth Avenue.  We don’t exchange presents, there are no Holy Ghost Eggs, and I doubt many of you are going home to eat the Pentecost flame broiled roast.  Believe it or not I have never seen a line of Pentecost cards by Hallmark.  Pentecost is exclusively our holiday.  It is a day when Presbyterians get to use the word Pentecost without feeling the least bit charismatic.  Once a year, we Presbyterians get to stretch our imaginations and claim to be spirit filled.  I know you aren’t going to talk in tongues even in the privacy of your own home. Except for Peggy Toms and Sandy Gallager none of you are going to lift up your hands when we sing.  But today we can celebrate the presence of the Holy Spirit and no one will think any the less of us. Maybe we should do it more often.  Maybe on occasion we could let an “Amen” or a “Praise God” slip out.  On Pentecost we get to loosen our ties and think about what might happen if worshiping God was a joy rather than an obligation.

        REASON NUMBER THREE– I get to show off my biblical skills by explaining that Pentecost means, “50 days after Easter.”  Originally Pentecost was a Jewish holiday celebrating Moses retrieving the 10 Commandments from Mount Sinai.  It was the celebration of God giving us the Law.  For Christians it is the day we celebrate God giving us the Holy Spirit.  Put them together and we are  celebrating the continual gift of God’s Spirit helping us understand God’s Holy Word.

        REASON NUMBER TWO -  The greatest sermon in the New Testament was preached on Pentecost.  When Peter finished speaking, 3,000 folks asked to be baptized.  To suggest that Acts 2 is just another sermon is like saying that Lincoln’s Gettysburg address was just another political speech.  Peter reinterpreted the history and the faith of the church in a way that gave the listeners hope and purpose.  A man who hours before had been hiding in a back room suddenly found the words to begin the greatest religious movement known to human history.  Words became deeds.  Faith was rediscovered. The Word of God, spoken by a simple fisherman, became the catalyst for a new age of belief. Pentecost marks the moment Christ was first proclaimed.  I know that the resurrection is our great theological moment, but Pentecost was the human response to God’s amazing grace.   Remember the Great Commission?  Jesus told the disciples, “Go, tell my story. Make disciples of all people.”   Pentecost was the first time this happened.  Pentecost is our ecclesiological birthday.  Think of the ways we celebrate the birthdays of friends and family members.  Shouldn’t the church have its own day to dress up and sing, “Happy Birthday”?

        Finally, THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR CELEBRATING PENTECOST -   Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit reminded the disciples that Jesus was not just a memory, or a story or an idea.  For three years Jesus had been a living and unceasing presence in their lives.  Then he was gone. Their memories were fading. Their hopes were eroding. The disciples sat in that upper room both confused and disillusioned. It had been over 50 days since the resurrection. They even thought about giving up. They wondered if God had forgotten them. Then Spirit of God arrived.

We all know what it is like to sit in the same room for 50, 60, 70 days.  I have watched so much Jeopardy I am sending a challenge Ken Jennings. I haven’t eaten a bagel from Bodo’s in so long I can’t remember why I loved them. I am so starved for sports I now watch the World Cup Stacking championships. My motto used to be, “So many books, so little time.” Now the only thing in my library I haven’t read is Calvin’s Institutes.

Today we need a huge dose of the Pentecost Spirit. This pandemic has turned our world upside down. We need to remember God has always been the one who creates, heals, enlivens, and is always doing a new thing. Pentecost is that moment in time when God said to 11 ordinary people, “The world can be changed and the world can be healed if you are willing to be an agent of transformation and a dispenser of hope.”

On Pentecost Peter walked into an angry, frightened, and disillusioned mob and calmly declared, “We are not alone.” People from all walks of life, people visiting Jerusalem on holiday, people who could not understand a word of Aramaic understood Peter. They stopped whatever they were doing and turned to listen to this uneducated fisherman from Galilee.  “We are not alone. God’s spirit has been poured out upon us. We will see visions. We will dream dreams. Not even death can compete with the power of our God.”

The rest was history. Enemies became friends. Rich and poor shared meals. Those with heavy hearts were uplifted. Those who were cynical believed. Those who believed were transformed. It was a day like no other. With one holy visitation the world went from what I fear to what WE can become.

Different folks read the same Bible different ways. For some folks the Bible is the answer book on how they will get to heaven. For others the Bible is the inspiration for how WE will bring about heaven on earth. This is the message of Pentecost. On Pentecost God declared that WE mattered. On Pentecost God declared WE would never be alone. On Pentecost God declared WE would be bonded to each other in this radical experiment called church. It will be a place where everyone is welcome. It will be a place where love, grace, and compassion would abound. It will be a place where no one would be called, “they”. It will be a place of transformational harmony in the midst of institutional chaos. Sometimes the experiment has worked. Sometimes it has failed. But somehow the church remains. In the midst fear and despair, in the midst of war and chaos, in the midst of pandemics and disease, in the midst of death itself, the church continues to declare, “We are not alone.”

This is our message. This is the reason we exist. On Pentecost, this is the reason we wear red. Maybe we should consider wearing red more than once a year.

To God be the glory. Amen.

 

 

 

Knowledge, Faith and Discipline

Acts 1:6-9; I Peter 5:6-8a

 

        This is the time of year a lot of folks had planned graduations. How difficult today must be? Regardless if it was graduation from high school or college suddenly they are without that long anticipated walk across the stage. Somehow getting a diploma in the mail lacks the pizazz of tearing up to the endless strain of Pomp and Circumstances. (Kathleen stars to play and I put on a robe) I realize most of you graduated years …. decades …… centuries ago. But now, thanks to this horrific virus, all of us are preparing to graduate into a new phase of our lives. How appropriate the text this morning speaks of a graduation.

It began with twelve guys hand chosen for on-the-job training with one of the most the most brilliant minds this world has ever known.   Each of the twelve had a different skill set.  Some were good with their hands, one was a mathematician, and another was a bit of a poet.  Their education took over three years.  Sometimes they wanted to quit, but they didn’t.  Sometimes they felt the process was moving too slow.  Other times the lesson was so elaborate they scratched their heads in  confusion.  They watched, they learned, but often failed to grasp the real meaning of the teacher’s words.  In the end, eleven of the twelve completed the course.

        When the training was over, a horrible reality crashed down upon the graduates.  No one wanted to hire them.  They had put in all the hard work, they possessed wonderful resumes, but no one was interested in their skills.  The eleven briefly thought about going home and resuming their old jobs.   No one would have thought any less of them.  But that was not why they studied under this great teacher.  To go home would have been to admit failure.

        The graduates gathered one last time for a meeting with their mentor.  “What are we supposed to do?”  The teacher replied, “Use the gifts of knowledge, faith, and discipline which I gave to you. Then become my witnesses.”   With those words, he left.

        Like those eleven graduates, we will soon enter a new world. In the past, you have proven your worth. You were successful in business, teaching, law, medicine, and all kinds of endeavors. You were rewarded by getting to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.  You have already made plans for your future.  Up until two months ago you could see the goal line and nothing stood in your way. Then almost everything changed. Now we are scrambling to make sense of this new world we are about to enter.   Remember this, like those eleven disciples God also has given you three gifts that can never be taken away.

First there is KNOWLEDGE -   “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” “We have always done it this way.” “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” These are ancient proverbs that no longer hold water. The paradigm has changed.

1. The world is broken.
2. The world is broken because we assumed old remedies were reliable.
3. The world will remain broken unless we are willing to learn some new tricks. 
   Will Durant is best known for his eleven volume History of Civilization that begins with the Oriental Heritage and concludes with the Age of Rousseau. Durant insisted his life was wasted if daily he hadn’t learned something new. Durant lived to be 96. When he died he left behind an outline of the next two volumes of that classic work. He never stopped learning. Durant, a man steeped in ancient thought, encouraged his students to discover the potential found in tomorrow. 
   The collective wisdom and experiences in this congregation are astounding. A few years ago Olivia and others took on a project to record life stories. When I arrived at Rockfish I read that manuscript. It was astounding. You have always pushed forward. You have always broken new ground. So what has changed? Why allow your age to become an excuse for idle behavior?  Let’s put our heads together and figure this new world out. You have done it before and we can do it again.
           The second gift is FAITH – The idea of faith has been poorly represented by some leaders of the Christian faith. They claim faith is what we know to be true. How limiting that becomes. Faith has never been a noun. It is a verb. It is a process rather than something we possess and manipulate. It is a journey into the unknown where eliminating doubt has never been the object. Tillich correctly pointed out doubt isn’t the opposite of faith, but rather an element of it. If we don’t doubt, we never move forward. Faith allows us to look at what we once believed and reconsider the roots of our original premise. For instance, the Psalmist declared, “The heavens are telling the glory of God and the earth proclaims God’s handiwork.” Is that still true? If so, how might we understand this ancient message differently in this brave new world? For centuries we acted as if God gave us the earth in order that WE might be happy.  What are the heavens and the earth telling us today? Faith has always been, “The assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen.” In the face of this pandemic, in the face of rising seas and climate change, in the face of this new world we are about to enter, how will faith both enlighten and transform our thinking?
           The third gift is DISCIPLINE – The development of both faith and knowledge is a discipline.   As a person who tries to play golf, I have never seen anyone stand on a tee and hit their first shot on the green.  It takes instructions and the discipline to practice until the results match your imagination. One must be disciplined to grow in knowledge and faith. Most of us have a routine. Even in retirement I suspect you pretty much do the same thing, the same way, every day. For the past two months that routine has been disrupted. When this particular crisis subsides, will we return to old habits?   What if the old ways have limited both our knowledge and faith?
   A number of years ago I picked up a book edited by Dorothy Bass titled Practicing Our Faith. The book asked, “What happens when our inward journey isn’t enough?” She suggested the real journey begins with each other. How do we listen? How do we heal? How do we forgive? How are we hospitable? How do we keep Sabbath? How do we die? Imagine incorporating these questions into our new pursuit for knowledge and faith. That would take a lot of………..discipline.
           2,000 years ago, Peter, James, John and the other disciples stepped into a new world. Because the words of Jesus were written on their hearts their steps were transformational. From that first day, in every endeavor, they increased in knowledge, they reconstructed their faith, and they found the discipline to press on against impossible odds. 
           How will we face tomorrow? I’m not asking you to reinvent the wheel. I’m just asking you to see if the wheel still rolls. If not…………change it.        
                   To God be the glory.  Amen.
    
                  

The Unknown God

Acts 17:22-31

 

While Apostle Paul was the first missionary and our greatest theologian, one of the reason Paul founded so many churches was because many churches he founded asked him to move on.  There is no doubt that Paul was brilliant. No one questions his love of Christ.  No one worked harder and longer to tell the amazing story of God’s grace.  And yet when Paul arrived in Athens it was because he had been driven out of both Thessalonica and Corinth.

Paul simply wore folks out.  Paul’s giant and tenacious personality could be toxic.  Paul approached his new founded faith as if nothing else mattered.  Imagine how crazy he must have sounded?  He came to a foreign land preaching about a man who was resurrected from the dead.     For Paul, nothing but this crazy message mattered.  In Thessalonica Paul told folks to forget about their families, their jobs, or what might happen in the future. All that mattered was Jesus was coming.

What would we do if someone brought that message to us?  We would probably make some jokes and refer to them as some kind of nut case.  Paul received the same kind of treatment.  By the time Paul was booted out of Thessalonica his ministry had lost all its steam.  Many folks thought he was crazy. In an amazing display of faith, Paul picked himself up and headed for Athens, the center of intellectual thought.  He headed there by himself.  He headed there disgraced.  But he didn’t head there discouraged.  With the nerve of an aging quarterback who has been intercepted on his last three attempts, Paul took a five step drop and cocked his faith one more time.

Athens is where you go if you knew you were smarter than everyone else.  Plato, Socrates and Aristotle all played the Acropolis.  People would come to Athens to match their intellect against each other.  Folks would gather  to hear the wit and wisdom of anyone brave enough to endure critical responses.  Only the mentally strong survived Athens.  After Corinth and Thessalonica, you would think Paul would have run back to Jerusalem.  But not Paul.  This man who believed he lost his sight on the road to Damascus just so he could see the truth and walked into the Acropolis where every new idea in Athens was presented, tasted and digested.

Paul entered Athens proclaiming a revolutionary concept.  He spoke of a Jew to folks who adored Alexander the Great.  He quoted verses from the Torah to people who considered anything other than Homer or Virgil primitive.  Paul spoke against the cultural norms of the day, proclaiming a foreign God to a people who believed they were spiritually and intellectual superior to anyone on earth.  But Paul had learned some lessons from his previous adventures. Instead of imitating a bull in a china shop,  Paul soft-peddled his approach by complimenting the Athenians on being a very religious people.  He pointed to the statutes of Zeus, Athena, Aphrodite, and Poseidon, noting they seemed to have a god for every occasion.  Then Paul pointed to the monument with the inscription, “To the unknown God.”  Evidently the wise folks of Athens were not hedging their bets.  They were making sure no god was left unnoticed.     

Paul used this shrine as an opportunity to speak to their inquisitive hearts.   He argued that there was something missing in their array of gods.  While Zeus ruled the air and sky, Athena represented wisdom, Aphrodite imparted love, and Poseidon controlled the sea, there seemed to be a clear disconnect between the deities and humanity. Paul pointed to the statue of the unknown god and said, “In this God we live and move and have our very being.”  Paul continued, “You must be spiritually hungry.  You are worshipping objects made of stone.  How can they care for you?  How can they know you? Let me introduce you to the God that created you, loves you, even died for you.

Now that Paul had their attention, he went to work. “This one true God, not Zeus, is the creator of the heavens and the earth.  This one true God, not Poseidon, rules the seas.  This one true God, not Athena, is the source of all wisdom. This one true God formed man and women out of nothing but Godly imagination. This one true God sets humanity above all creation.  This one true God loves us like a mother loves her child.   This one true God stands alone.”

Did Paul really believe folks would easily give up what they had been taught by their ancestors? Why should they surrender what they already believed? Paul left Athens without a single convert.  Once again it appears Paul failed.

But if the sermon was a failure, why do I share it with you this morning? In many ways we are like the Athenians. We still build temples to the gods.  We call them shopping malls, athletic complexes, monuments to fallen heroes and in some cases even our homes.  We have all these gods we can’t seem to live without, until life itself hangs in the balance, and then the unknown God becomes the only God who really matters.

Think about it. We demand truth and the unknown God places us in relationships. We ask for solid ground and the unknown God puts folks in our path who challenge our absolutes and punctures our stereotypes. We search everywhere for answers and the unknown God keeps putting folks in front of us who challenge the very foundation of our beliefs by offering a confounding mixture of mystery and grace.

Most days Zeus or his modern day equivalent is enough. I thrive on intellectual stimulation. But when I am overwhelmed by life, when I wonder if the dawn will ever appear, I need something more than I can imagine to help me through the night.

Where is Zeus, the god of power, when a relationship is broken? Where is Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, when a loved one is dying? Where is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, when the solid rock on which we have always stood turns to sand?

 Kipling wrote, “What do they know of England, who only England know?”   I hope the God you claim remains partially unknown. I hope the God you think you understand remains a bit misunderstood. I hope your list of the Godly attributes will always fall short. Once we build our monument, once we place our faith in stone, we risk closing our hearts to holy murmurs. 

Faith is not about solving the mystery of God but rather living in that mystery. Or as Fred Buechner once wrote, “To say God is a mystery is to say you can never nail God down.  Even on Christ, the nails proved ultimately ineffective.”     

To God be the glory.  Amen

 

How Did She Get to be So Calm?

John 14:27

 

Tuesday night, due to an emergency in the Andrews household, I found myself forced to venture out to our local Dollar Store. Like you I am taking this social distancing very serious. Admittedly I have played a lot of golf and gotten a lot of miles on my bike but both are done at a safe distance. Any time I am forced to go out I religiously wear a mask. I donned my protection with I had no idea the reception I would receive inside the doors of this establishment. The aisles are not very wide. If someone was coming my way I would step back and seek another route. The store was incredibly crowed. Everywhere I turned there were children. None of them were masked and they all seemed determined to occupy my space. As I approached the checkout, the floor was appropriately marked indicating where each person should stand. No one seemed interested in the restrictions. I kept my distance from the family in front of me but the folks behind persistently pushed forward. One kid got right in my face and asked why I was wearing a mask. I got out of line, stood in a corner, and waited for things to calm down. Isolated from the madness I quietly whispered, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

That is easy for Jesus to say. The rest of us are suffering from a combination of fear, frustration, boredom, anxiety, and restlessness. We want answers but no one has them. We want a vaccine but no one can produce it. We want peace but at what cost. I would like for my heart not to be troubled but just about the time I think I have found tranquility, another Dollar Store appears.  Jesus saying, “Let not your heart be troubled” sounds divine. I wish it sounded possible. So many components outside our understanding continue to complicate our lives.

 

John O’Donohue writes,

When the light around you lessens

And your thoughts darken until

fear turns your heart as cold as stone,

Steady yourself and see

That it is your own thinking

That darkens your world.

 

Today is Mother’s Day. I was blessed to know my mom for 69 years. Early on she was not my favorite person. In the Andrews house mom was the disciplinarian. I worshipped my father. I was a little afraid of my mother. Dad and I could go out and throw a baseball, hit a golf ball, even talk about our faith journey. Mom was always cooking a meal, washing clothes, getting us to our designated appointments, and trying to keep us in line. She was a real mess the first 18 years of my life. Then I went off to college and the army. By the time Deb and I got married Mom had become an entirely different person. I would come home to visit and find Mom sitting in her favorite chair reading a book. I never remember Mom having the time to read. What really amazed me was she now seemed so calm. Over her last 40 years I admired her incredible quality of rising above any crisis. Her favorite saying was, “Only worry about the big stuff. And try to remember everything is small.”

I once caught her alone with her favorite book and asked if she would share her favorite Biblical passage. She answered, “Whatever I just finished reading.” While that is an excellent answer I refused off let her off the hook. She thought for a moment and responded, “Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.” I challenged her by asking, “How is it possible to not be afraid?” She replied, “It‘s not. But when has worry solved anything. Sometimes I just have to trust the song that is in my heart.”

I wonder if the disciples had any idea what Jesus was talking about when he promised to place the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Jesus was about to leave. He was preparing them for a time when loneliness and fear could have easily replaced the vacuum his absence would bring. The “Jesus Way” had been different. For the world, peace was the absence of conflict. For Jesus, peace was the advent of harmony and the beginning of righteousness.   Peace proclaimed a new day of trust replacing schemes and love outmaneuvering hate. Instead of worrying about what was mine, we can celebrate what we share as ours. In many ways the coming of the Spirit was a wedding of human yearnings and heavenly promises.  

I know that sounds too good to be true. I also know we are in a critical moment in human history. Within the next few weeks this virus will probably appear in our community. I suspect someone we know, possibly even love, will die. How are we just supposed to remain calm? Are we just supposed to put our trust in an ancient promise that God’s spirit resides within our hearts so we are going to be safe? Absolutely not! The way of the Lord has never been passive. Neither has it been self-centered. We are to practice social distancing. We are to wash our hands. We are to stay home as much as possible. But God also calls on us to check on a neighbor. God calls on us to help a stranger. God calls on us to exhibit calmness even in the midst of chaos. God calls on us to believe, “You are never alone. Let not your hearts be troubled.   Neither let them be afraid.”

If my Mom were here today she would say, “Son, it is not good enough to just wish for peace. You have to yearn for it with every fiber in your heart. When you learn to do this, it is amazing how clear your path will become.

How did she get to be so calm? She spent her whole life yearning for the peace of God.

The Meal

Deb is a wonderful cook. I even look forward to leftovers. But sometimes I enjoy getting out and sharing a meal with friends. The type of food isn’t that important. I would never be a much of a food critic. If the meal comes quickly and is hot, I am satisfied. I’m not a connoisseur of fine wines. As long as real Cokes are served I am happy. What I love is the company. I love to hear stories even if I have heard them five times before. I love the laughter, the joy, the moment when the clock stops and is replaced by that which is timeless.

This morning, a meal was supposed to be prepared for our community. The Chalice should be filled. The bread should be present. But the table is bare. The pews are empty. How can one prepare a meal in the midst of enemies?

This virus, this enemy, has turned our lives upside down. I was speaking to a good friend of mine who has become a new grandparent. He has only seen the child from a distance. I cannot imagine not hugging my grandchildren. Now this enemy, this virus, has taken away some of our most precious joys. Social distancing is saving our lives but at what cost. Spontaneous joy has been replaced by canned laughter. Life was made to be lived. It needs to be fresh. And now we sit behind closed doors fearing an enemy we cannot see.

        My greatest joy being a minister comes from behind this table. When I was ordained my official title was minister of Word and Sacrament. My creative juices love the wrestling matches with scripture which result in the weekly Sunday monologue. But nothing can replace the holy moment when I offer the broken body of Christ to a people longing to be fed, or made whole, or just reminded of the amazing gift of God’s grace.

        I have such wonderful stories that have emerged from this table. When I was seven I wanted to join my church just so I could take communion. My first year of ordination on a Christmas night I had a devote Muslim stand before me and asked for the bread and cup. I once served 15 shut-ins during an afternoon. At that church we served wine. Only time in my life I have been drunk. I served my daughter on her wedding day. I served my father the day he retired. For forty years I have broken the bread and poured the wine. Nothing has stopped me until now. These are extraordinary times. To serve you would be to endanger you. This is a table of life, not death. What are we to do?

The Psalmist writes, “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies.”

Sometimes I forget what makes this meal sacred. I say the words, I break the bread, I offer the cup, but it is not my body, it is not my blood, it is not even my words.

I want you listen carefully to these instructions.  Go to your kitchen. Find a piece of bread, a cup with your favorite beverage, and bring it back to this spot. Now hit the pause button. When you hit play I will still be here.

Are you ready? Let us begin.

“What shall we render unto the Lord? Let us take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed be the Lord.

Choir sings Come to the Table of Grace #507 (grace/joy)

Let us pray – Gracious God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known and from whom no secrets are hidden, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts that we may perfectly love you and each other. Amen.

Lord have mercy upon us.

        Christ have mercy upon us.

Lord have mercy upon us.

Beloved in the Lord draw near to the holy table. On the same night in which he was betrayed, our Lord took bread, broke it and said, “Take, eat. This is my body which is broken for you. Then he took the cup. “This cup is a new covenant of grace. Drink and remember me.”

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of heaven and earth. Glory be to you. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Let us pray together.

Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world, grant us you peace. Amen.

Now my friends take the bread and eat. This is the body of Christ broken for you. Do this in remembrance of him.

This cup is new covenant of grace. Drink all of it.

Let us pray – Our Father……

The peace of Christ be with you.