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Rez is a community where Jesus welcomes, shapes, and sends disciples for the good of our neighborhood. No matter where you are in life, this is a place for you.
Life Together In The Goodness Of God
God Father Son and Holy Spirit amen please be seated. How many of you have a heart text a part of the Bible that you know or go back to when you are feeling lost or even experiencing great joy for me that text is from the end of Galatians chapter 3 quote for there is no longer a Jew or Greek there's no longer slave or free there's no longer male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus and if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's offspring heirs according to the promise. I just love that passage reminding us that we are all one in Christ it is also the New Testament reading for the feast day of Pauli Murray the first black woman ordained a priest in the church I think you can see why that text fits so well. My father's heart text was John 316 for God to love the world that he gave his only begotten son that in the end whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. To my dad this text reminded him that no matter how much he failed he was still redeemed in Christ now. He was also quick to point out that the text did not mean I could do whatever I wanted to do but rather to try to live as Christ taught us and when you fail it will still be okay. Now my grandmother my mom's mom her heart text was today's song the 23rd song she literally prayed it every day now she was an old-school gut-bucket evangelical Baptist who I think took some of that imagery like the valley of the shadow of death the rod and the presence of enemies I think she saw that as God testing and punishing a wicked and unworthy follower. Better stay on the straight and narrow better do what is right in God's eyes or else you would end up like the guest in the wedding banquet from today's parable being thrown out into the darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Grandma truly believed in the whole sinners in the hands of an angry God that fire and brimstone sermon from the 1700s yeah she was that kind of Baptist but to me I think why Psalm 23 is so beloved so cherished so famous and known to so many is because it shows God to be a loving protector a provider like God of abundance you're gonna hear me say that a lot today that's probably why it is mostly most widely used in funerals because it reminds us that God is always with us and that we are ever in God's sight so let's take a deeper dive into the text of Psalm 23 it starts with the famous the Lord is my shepherd shall not be in want and this is pretty simple to understand right as we see a shepherd who keeps their undivided attention on their flock and provides everything that the flock needs and this is abundance is shown in the second verse he makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters here the sheep finds rest and sustenance beside still waters that's important to remember that in the ancient Near East water was seen as dangerous and chaotic conceivables beneath are happening but with the shepherd with the shepherd the water is calm and it is still next we get the shepherd guiding us on right paths and reviving our souls and though the path may be crooked full of twists and turns the shepherd is there to guide us through to show us the way so we begin with the shepherd taking care of us leading us to rest food keeping us on the path but in verse 4 we get a shift here the psalmist realizes life is going to happen humans are gonna human and we are going to go through the shadow of the valley of death we're going to face troubles and dangers but the shepherd is there we shall fear no evil because the shepherds rod the shepherd staff provide the comfort that we need the mere presence of the shepherd the tools the shepherd uses show us a way through the perils of this world and when we get through those troubles verse 5 reminds us that there will be a feast waiting for us that the Lord will provide a table so full that our cups will overflow God's abundance God's love God's comfort are more than we can imagine when we come to this table to receive the meal Jesus laid out for us the meal of his body and blood we are uniting with Christ in a way that makes us dwell in him and he in us all of God prepares the table because we know that all of God makes the table possible because when we partake of this meal this Eucharist this communion we get the last line of Psalm 23 that God's grace and mercy will follow us forever and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever no matter how you come up to receive all of God invites you to the feast of the Lord God doesn't just want you know God desires you to dwell in the house of the Lord and so with that it's easy to see why this Psalm is the heart text not just for my grandmother but for countless people with its themes of abundance and provision and protection Psalm 23 makes me want to shout the beginning of our reading from Isaiah to Isaiah today oh Lord you are my God I will exalt you I will praise your name for you have done wonderful things plans formed of old faithful and sure and I hear the question in your head I can hear it Father Scott what are we to do with all this now what is God calling us to do I cannot tell you what God is calling you to do you have to discern that on your own but I will share how I respond when I hear the goodness of this song whether at a funeral or memorial service or here in the lectionary I am filled with the goodness of God the love grace and mercy that can only come from our Lord I am filled with Jesus's reminders that we are all invited to the table we are all invited to share in the goodness of God the best way I know how to do that is by serving the church serving this church serving Resurrection South Austin Episcopal Church it is the joy of my life y'all walking through your joys and trials getting to know you in your grief and in your excitement seeing how the spirit is moving in and through this place and I'm excited for what the future holds for us to see how we grow to continue to live into our dreams and into our call as a church and part of my serving here is pledging here giving to this church just a fraction of what it gives me I know that my giving as little as it seems to me makes possible some of the ministries we do here father Sean mentioned last week we help our help rather our giving helps to pay for someone's rent and food or just a bus pass are giving helps with the ever increasing utility bills or helps to fill someone's gas tank so that they can get to work and to provide for their family help someone get the prescription drugs they need to sustain a quality of life yes I know that my gift stretches because God is a God of abundance now I think I would be remiss if I didn't bring up something happening in the news this week and I promise promise it's gonna connect Sean wrote the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church the head of the Episcopal Church issued a statement a few days ago that reads in part quote the Episcopal Church has long opposed the death penalty more recently we have called for an immediate moratorium of its use he continues the idea of live-streaming a firing squad execution is reprehensible in the extreme and will cause more injury to everyone involved we need to ask ourselves who we have become as a nation when senior officials decide to make a spectacle of state-sponsored violence and while I am not here nor do I wish to engage in a debate on the death penalty well Bishop Rowe is referring to is the administration's plan to live stream an execution by firing squad just right up the road in Fort Hood the former governor of South Carolina and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley points out that the only regimes that carry out public executions are North Korea the Taliban in Afghanistan the Iranian regime and El Shabaab in Somalia she then states quote this is not the company we want to keep or the country we want to be and I think what Bishop Rowe and Ambassador Haley may be pointing to is what we find in Psalm 23 what we find in our Matthew reading that God is a God of not a God of scarcity that all are invited to God's table and that we are all created in God's image and called good at our creation and we all deserve to have our dignity respected as is called for in our baptismal covenant what Bishop Rowe points us to what Psalm 23 points us to what Jesus's parable and Matthew today points us to is the abundance of grace and love and mercy that can only only come from God that God fills us with so much of that that our cups literally overflow that is what my heart text from Galatians three points to that no matter what you are you are one in Christ that's what my heart text points to that Jesus redeems you all of you that's what my grandma's heart text points to the overflowing cornucopia of grace love and mercy that could only come from my one true living triune God I pray that your heart text fills you in the same way amen let us take a moment to hear how the