WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:25.560 I speak to you in the name of one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated. 2 00:00:25.560 --> 00:00:31.400 Last week we spoke about what it means to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, to know 3 00:00:31.400 --> 00:00:36.920 that that is a voice that calls us each by name and calls us into abundant life. 4 00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:44.480 Today, we are again asked to consider the kind of life that we have in God, especially 5 00:00:44.480 --> 00:00:52.960 a life that is sustained and knows its beginnings and its ends in a knowledge of God, particularly 6 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:55.160 a knowledge of Jesus. 7 00:00:55.160 --> 00:00:59.360 Now friends, this is something you and I shouldn't have any problem with. 8 00:00:59.360 --> 00:01:01.080 We say this every week. 9 00:01:01.080 --> 00:01:08.160 It is the mission of this church to know Christ and to make Christ known to others. 10 00:01:08.160 --> 00:01:10.560 It's something that informs all of our ministries. 11 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:15.520 We talk about it at committees and at vestry and in sermon preparation and in all kinds 12 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:16.960 of things. 13 00:01:16.960 --> 00:01:22.280 If first and foremost we know Jesus, we are doing something right. 14 00:01:22.520 --> 00:01:28.800 For years in this community, it's been the guiding principle that shows us the way forward, 15 00:01:28.800 --> 00:01:33.560 that as if to say, if we want to know what it means to have life as a community at St. 16 00:01:33.560 --> 00:01:41.000 Stephen's, it begins there at the most basic moment, know Christ. 17 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:46.280 I would go even further to say that Christian people, not just the ones in this room, are 18 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:51.400 fed by that so much that that's what we define life in at all. 19 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:56.520 The only way that you and I know how to live is first by knowing this Jesus. 20 00:01:56.520 --> 00:02:00.360 I will tell you that is liberating for my faith. 21 00:02:00.360 --> 00:02:07.240 It has become so important to me to go back to the rich, firm place upon which to build. 22 00:02:07.240 --> 00:02:12.560 The knowledge of Jesus as a foundation of my life has so informed my own sense of prayer. 23 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:15.320 I trust it is doing the same in your life. 24 00:02:15.320 --> 00:02:18.240 I trust it's something we can do together. 25 00:02:18.240 --> 00:02:25.040 This knowledge of God from which so many other things spring and are given life. 26 00:02:25.040 --> 00:02:30.320 I delight that we get to hear Stephen's story today, not the easiest part of it to listen 27 00:02:30.320 --> 00:02:36.960 to of course, but Stephen whose knowledge of God leads him to do incredible things. 28 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:42.440 Not just to become the first deacon and martyr of the church, but to serve, to find meaning 29 00:02:42.440 --> 00:02:47.480 and value in his life by looking to others, others like widows and orphans, the people 30 00:02:47.480 --> 00:02:52.480 who had no power, no business being helped. 31 00:02:52.480 --> 00:02:57.760 Here is the Stephens of the world finding the depth of meaning and a great sense of 32 00:02:57.760 --> 00:03:03.080 his own purpose in knowing Jesus, which then lets him know others. 33 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:07.160 It sounds so much like our mission, doesn't it? 34 00:03:07.160 --> 00:03:12.400 From a knowledge of God and from a knowledge of knowing Jesus in their lives, the life 35 00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:16.480 of the earliest Christian communities also flourished. 36 00:03:16.480 --> 00:03:23.480 They hear ancient words again and again as we heard today, first Peter quoting from Isaiah. 37 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:31.840 Their lives renewed, refounded, loved by the sake of knowing this Jesus, building their 38 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.200 own firm foundation as well. 39 00:03:35.200 --> 00:03:39.160 This knowledge of Jesus has also been something that has helped this community prosper and 40 00:03:39.160 --> 00:03:41.320 grow since 1962. 41 00:03:41.320 --> 00:03:44.240 I feel like we're talking a lot about this lately. 42 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.960 You'll hear from Stephanie at Thanksgiving's today to talk about our giving to an endowment. 43 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:55.520 We've been talking about niches and memorial walls for a columbarium, but friends, we aren't 44 00:03:55.520 --> 00:03:59.280 doing this because we want nicer things around here. 45 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:02.440 We're doing this because it's holy work. 46 00:04:02.440 --> 00:04:06.560 And for three generations, the people of West Boise, at least some of them, have come to 47 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:09.360 know their life and their origin in God. 48 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:14.100 The work we are trying to accomplish is that so this continues for centuries. 49 00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:18.780 We owe it to those who come next to us to say, we know what it is like to live in Christ 50 00:04:18.780 --> 00:04:20.060 Jesus. 51 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:21.060 Do it with us. 52 00:04:21.060 --> 00:04:23.220 Let us help you. 53 00:04:23.220 --> 00:04:25.140 It's the mission we have. 54 00:04:25.140 --> 00:04:28.860 It's the reason we are here first and foremost. 55 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:29.860 I don't know. 56 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:33.660 When it comes to our common life, there are times when I feel this really clearly, really 57 00:04:33.660 --> 00:04:36.900 wonderfully by hearing your stories and your lives. 58 00:04:36.900 --> 00:04:40.900 Sometimes I feel it too much to the point of when I leave this place, everything's a little 59 00:04:40.900 --> 00:04:41.900 harder. 60 00:04:42.700 --> 00:04:46.140 Do you ever feel that way leaving church that you're like, oh, I have to go back to scrutiny 61 00:04:46.140 --> 00:04:47.740 of the real world? 62 00:04:47.740 --> 00:04:49.100 I feel that way sometimes. 63 00:04:49.100 --> 00:04:52.860 I have to remember not everybody I run into is a parishioner. 64 00:04:52.860 --> 00:04:57.260 Not everybody I run into has like the sweet love of Jesus in their heart. 65 00:04:57.260 --> 00:04:58.260 They can. 66 00:04:58.260 --> 00:05:01.580 And it's up to me and you to live it. 67 00:05:01.580 --> 00:05:02.580 Know Christ. 68 00:05:02.580 --> 00:05:03.580 Make Christ known. 69 00:05:03.580 --> 00:05:09.460 It's also the second half of our mission that makes that scrutiny, that adversity, that 70 00:05:09.460 --> 00:05:13.020 thing that isn't always easy when we go back into the world of like, okay, that's also 71 00:05:13.020 --> 00:05:15.340 why we are here. 72 00:05:15.340 --> 00:05:16.340 Sometimes it's clear. 73 00:05:16.340 --> 00:05:17.340 Sometimes it isn't. 74 00:05:17.340 --> 00:05:20.500 Sometimes I think we need help. 75 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:24.660 Sometimes it's the, the reading that we hear in the gospel today when it's Thomas and it's 76 00:05:24.660 --> 00:05:27.660 Philip and they can't see it as clearly. 77 00:05:27.660 --> 00:05:31.140 For me, I know I can't see it as clearly when I am distracted. 78 00:05:31.140 --> 00:05:35.220 If there's uncertainty in my life and I am not spending as much time with Jesus, I know 79 00:05:35.220 --> 00:05:36.540 that that's why. 80 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:39.220 Again, I'm called to the life of our patron. 81 00:05:39.220 --> 00:05:42.500 I walk in here so many days and stare at this window. 82 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:48.100 I hope his life informs ours because can you imagine St. Stephen distracted by the many 83 00:05:48.100 --> 00:05:49.100 cares of life? 84 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:51.420 I mean, he might have been. 85 00:05:51.420 --> 00:05:52.940 Saints are real people. 86 00:05:52.940 --> 00:05:53.940 They make mistakes. 87 00:05:53.940 --> 00:05:54.940 I don't know though. 88 00:05:54.940 --> 00:05:57.260 I just can't picture it in his life. 89 00:05:57.260 --> 00:06:01.580 I imagine Stephen had such a singular focus that he is able to do the things he is able 90 00:06:01.580 --> 00:06:07.500 to do, to proclaim with boldness, to serve the meek and the lowly, and even to bring 91 00:06:07.500 --> 00:06:14.300 his knowledge of the life of Jesus into the most dangerous moments and keep going. 92 00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:16.540 Distraction or otherwise, he's our guide. 93 00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:18.580 We need more of his life. 94 00:06:18.580 --> 00:06:23.020 We need more of his witness, but we also need help. 95 00:06:23.020 --> 00:06:26.660 I do think this is why maybe we pair those readings together today to hear that Thomas 96 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:30.620 and Philip, this is not the easiest thing in the world. 97 00:06:30.620 --> 00:06:34.380 There are going to be times when we need the help that Jesus offers to us more times than 98 00:06:34.380 --> 00:06:39.780 not, and so Jesus does help them, and he gives them a line that I look back and see 99 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:46.140 as bold more than comforting, do not let your hearts be troubled. 100 00:06:46.140 --> 00:06:50.460 That's something we say more often than not when we offer funerals and burials here and 101 00:06:50.460 --> 00:06:51.580 most Episcopal churches. 102 00:06:51.580 --> 00:06:55.500 You hear from John 14, it's meant to be a source of comfort. 103 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.340 I don't know that the original audience would have heard it that way. 104 00:06:59.340 --> 00:07:04.420 Think about where they are at this point in John's story and all the things that have 105 00:07:04.420 --> 00:07:07.460 either already happened or about to. 106 00:07:07.460 --> 00:07:12.380 They know that they are the ones who are going to betray this Jesus. 107 00:07:12.380 --> 00:07:14.580 They know that he is going to suffer. 108 00:07:14.580 --> 00:07:16.540 They know that he is going to die. 109 00:07:16.540 --> 00:07:20.140 They know that the way of the world is different from their way. 110 00:07:20.140 --> 00:07:23.860 He came to his own and they rejected him. 111 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:28.340 They know that there will be troubles almost everywhere they go. 112 00:07:28.340 --> 00:07:30.900 What kind of life is that? 113 00:07:30.900 --> 00:07:34.580 For this kind of advice? 114 00:07:34.580 --> 00:07:38.500 It's a life that Jesus knows they can't live without him. 115 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:41.780 Without the knowledge and love of him. 116 00:07:41.780 --> 00:07:47.100 Without putting him first in every possible way. 117 00:07:47.100 --> 00:07:50.540 Even in all of their troubles and the things that might go wrong and the things they don't 118 00:07:50.540 --> 00:07:53.100 understand and the places that they need help. 119 00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:57.900 Here is this Jesus who is willing to go through that list anyway. 120 00:07:57.900 --> 00:08:03.460 Willing to die for them that they might know his life even more. 121 00:08:03.460 --> 00:08:07.260 Is that not the salvation we talk about all the time? 122 00:08:07.260 --> 00:08:09.420 Help for the helpless? 123 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:13.740 Rescue for those who can't do it for themselves? 124 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:19.220 There is such a great, large vocabulary for this kind of thing. 125 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:24.620 The word I kept coming back to is we might need to reclaim the word surrender in our 126 00:08:24.620 --> 00:08:26.460 sense of church. 127 00:08:26.460 --> 00:08:32.020 Of what it means to come before this Jesus who desperately wants to be known in our lives. 128 00:08:32.020 --> 00:08:38.580 Not in a sense of our unworthiness, but in a sense of like, okay, fine, you do it. 129 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:40.820 I know I need your help. 130 00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:44.860 I know I can't live this life without you. 131 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:48.620 Show me a better way through your life. 132 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:51.340 Because that is what Jesus is doing every day. 133 00:08:51.340 --> 00:08:57.180 He's showing anybody that will be there to watch, to listen, to show up. 134 00:08:57.180 --> 00:09:01.260 You can hear how almost exasperated he is in the gospel today. 135 00:09:01.260 --> 00:09:04.180 You don't even know me yet? 136 00:09:04.180 --> 00:09:06.500 Haven't we been together for so long? 137 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:07.500 Haven't you seen me? 138 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:12.020 And if you don't believe me, at least believe the fancy things I do. 139 00:09:12.020 --> 00:09:18.440 No, this is a great call, a great reminder, the mission of this church is something for 140 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:24.040 your life and mine every day to spend more time with this Jesus. 141 00:09:24.040 --> 00:09:26.240 This Jesus who wants to be known. 142 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:30.080 This Jesus who wants to show us what real life looks like. 143 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:33.520 And this is no different than any other relationship you have. 144 00:09:33.520 --> 00:09:37.360 I think sometimes we get really tempted into the idea of, I don't have to do this, it's 145 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:38.880 too theologically high-minded. 146 00:09:38.880 --> 00:09:42.800 No, that's not how relationship works, friends. 147 00:09:42.800 --> 00:09:44.680 Think of the best relationships in your life. 148 00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:46.520 You probably spend time together. 149 00:09:46.520 --> 00:09:48.120 You probably work at it. 150 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:51.080 You probably laugh and cry together. 151 00:09:51.080 --> 00:09:53.920 This is this same Jesus. 152 00:09:53.920 --> 00:09:57.760 So when you wake up in the morning, spend time with Him. 153 00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:00.800 Greet His presence in your bedroom. 154 00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:02.640 Tell Him you're glad to see Him. 155 00:10:02.640 --> 00:10:04.000 Talk to Him throughout the day. 156 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:05.240 I'm getting better at this. 157 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:06.240 I'm really trying. 158 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:07.800 My prayer life is changing, friends. 159 00:10:07.800 --> 00:10:08.800 It's a lot of fun. 160 00:10:08.800 --> 00:10:11.400 I can't wait to do it with you. 161 00:10:11.400 --> 00:10:14.280 Thank Him for the day that has been at the end of your day. 162 00:10:14.280 --> 00:10:17.960 There's no wrong way to do this. 163 00:10:17.960 --> 00:10:20.120 And then listen to His advice. 164 00:10:20.120 --> 00:10:23.040 Do not let your hearts be troubled. 165 00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:28.560 And if I were to be so bold with Jesus, I might say it just slightly differently. 166 00:10:28.560 --> 00:10:34.000 Do not let the things that trouble you separate you from Jesus. 167 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.800 Because that's often our inclination. 168 00:10:36.800 --> 00:10:39.840 When we look around the world and we see that things maybe are not the way that we want 169 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:44.600 them to be or are challenged by the things where we do find adversity in our jobs, in 170 00:10:44.600 --> 00:10:49.240 our driving, in just about everything in life, do you do the thing that I do and push 171 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:50.800 God away sometimes? 172 00:10:50.800 --> 00:10:55.840 If we're really honest, no, invite Him in. 173 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:57.640 Do not let your hearts be troubled. 174 00:10:57.640 --> 00:11:03.280 Do not let the things that trouble you get in the way of your relationship with Jesus. 175 00:11:03.280 --> 00:11:05.520 Life has plenty of troubles. 176 00:11:05.520 --> 00:11:07.380 Don't do it alone. 177 00:11:07.380 --> 00:11:10.400 Don't face them without the source of your life. 178 00:11:11.400 --> 00:11:14.760 So friends, let's be renewed by our mission. 179 00:11:14.760 --> 00:11:16.080 Lots of things happening here. 180 00:11:16.080 --> 00:11:17.080 Lots of things to announce. 181 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:18.080 Lots of events. 182 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:19.800 Lots of things on Google calendars. 183 00:11:19.800 --> 00:11:23.120 No, go deeper than that. 184 00:11:23.120 --> 00:11:28.800 Know that the mission of this place at its bare bones, at its fundamental level, is to 185 00:11:28.800 --> 00:11:29.800 know Jesus. 186 00:11:29.800 --> 00:11:31.200 Everything else follows. 187 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:34.440 Know Jesus, make Him known. 188 00:11:34.440 --> 00:11:38.860 Let that be our daily bread, the thing that we live into in the world every day, in this 189 00:11:38.860 --> 00:11:41.180 world and in the life of the world to come.