Wilmot United Church - May 31, 2026. 11:00 am Service

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Yes, it's almost there.

[00:00:07]>> No, you have to go through the circle if you're coming from the west.

[00:00:11]around a little bit and then third.

[00:00:20]Yes. Recently here at the winter club before the fire.

[00:00:38]Amen.

[00:01:05]Rosefest.

[00:01:09]today.

[00:01:31]before questions.

[00:01:49]interview.

[00:02:10]Breath.

[00:02:23]some different ridiculous but at the same time righteous. Thank you uh for the sound.

[00:03:56]The will wayward wire will modders and the holy rollers bold for big brothers big sisters on Friday evening. One person in costume if you would like to contribute. I mean how could you not contribute after somebody makes this effort.

[00:04:12]See us at coffee hour. We are still accepting funds. Okay. I think we have about 417 announcements this morning. So maybe you'd go first, Kelly, because you can get there quickly. Alistister, you'll go second. Dana, you'll go third.

[00:04:35]>> Good morning.

[00:04:37]>> Morning.

[00:04:37]>> My name is Kelly Ebett and I have one announcement for you this morning. As part of the younger generation of Wilmont, spanning across Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z, we have been intentionally connecting and meeting each other after church in our own space for a few Sundays this spring.

[00:04:55]We are calling these three cohorts collectively as intersections.

[00:05:00]Today, right after church, this invitation is for you of those three cohorts. Gen Z running from ages high school to 29, Millennials age 30 to 45, and Gen X ages 45 to 60 with the opportunity to connect, meet new people, chat, and today have hot dogs, chips, including gluten-free, and soft drinks down in the fireside room. Whether this is your first time here today or you're new to Wilmont, whether you attend occasionally in person or online, whether you're a regular attendee or just casually connected to the church, you are welcome. For those of you who have kids with you, bring them along, too. Feel free to drop by for five minutes to grab a hot dog, just pop in and out, or stay for the whole time. But most importantly, how do you get to this fireside room? You just head out these doors, take the stairs or the elevator down one floor, and before you get to the glass doors to leave, turn right and go down a narrow hall which will lead you there. Hope to meet up with you then. Thanks.

[00:06:19]>> Good morning.

[00:06:21]There've been some people concerned about the fire drill for the congregation.

[00:06:28]A new fire safety plan had been developed uh earlier in the year. Emails have been sent out to various groups uh outlining the emergency procedures for the congregation.

[00:06:45]All congregation members should become familiar with the current emergency exit.

[00:06:51]When the alarm sounds, it is very important for the safety of everyone to evacuate the building in a prompt and orderly manner.

[00:07:03]Very important. Parents and grandchildren do not attempt to go to the Sunday school or nursery to pick up the children.

[00:07:15]Sunday school and nursery teachers will guide student to the meeting area between the Royal Bank of and the new NB power to meet with parents and or relatives.

[00:07:29]Evacuation volunteers, usually ushers, media people, and volunteers who often volunteer for concert, will be positioned at various key locations in the building.

[00:07:48]If you know anyone who needs assistance in your seating area, please provide assistance if possible without unduly delaying the exit flow or notify evacuation volunteers.

[00:08:05]Please note the elevator is not in operation during emergency procedures.

[00:08:13]Immediately upon exiting the building, proceed directly to the designated meeting area between NB Power and the Royal Bank on Carton Street.

[00:08:25]Above all, treat alarms as if it's a real thing. Thank you.

[00:08:39]Okay, I'll try to be brief. I've got three for you. Um, so we've got June calendars ready to go and we're trying a thing where we are printing a few extra copies so you can pick them up if you want to have one. There's some at the back and some over here. Um, and they're they're available there. Um, after service today, we're trying another new thing. Uh, if you are willing, we want to try asking a few questions to post on social media in little videos so people can get to know us as a congregation, what we do. Um, so I'm thinking one-on-one couple little questions uh video and I'll be in the the hall with the near the books um during coffee and conversation. And finally, we have the directory supplements. Just a reminder, these are available. They're all the updates um to the directory which was published in 2024. So, these are the current updates. Um and we're asking for a dollar or two to help cover the cost of printing. Um, they will be available at coffee and conversation. Uh, or you can find Judy anytime or the office. All right. Thank you.

[00:09:52]I would really encourage you folks to uh find your way and do a little interview and a social media post. Um the uh sermon this week when it went on Facebook actually for the first time generated a conversation with some comments and even some controversy already. I think I have fallen a foul of the trades.

[00:10:22]So, uh, if you have something to say about Wilmont or about what happened today, you could have a chat with Dana Lynn. Uh, and and it was apt that we had an announcement on alarms today because probably when you sing your song before the sermon, the lurggical police will set off an alarm in worship this morning.

[00:10:46]Well, we begin every service by lighting two candles.

[00:10:56]Oh, actually before I do it, I forgot I have another announcement and it's a lovely announcement to make.

[00:11:08]Our own Nancy Bower, who's probably watching online, hi Nancy, is being granted the annual legacy award from the New Brunswick Book Awards. So congratulations to you, Nancy.

[00:11:28]She I read that she was a member of the Ice House gang, which in my recollection is a New Englandwide criminal organization, mostly known for fixing the bedding on the Pulitzer Prizes.

[00:11:48]Okay, now from the ridiculous to the worshipful.

[00:12:03]We light this candle which we call the Christ candle to acknowledge and celebrate the one whom we worship, the one whose teachings we try to integrate and live, the one whom we follow.

[00:12:24]And since one of the key things modeled by Jesus, our Christ was a love for everyone without limits.

[00:12:42]We light the candle of affirmation to acknowledge that we try to live in the same way and that everyone no matter background, no matter orientation, no matter religion or culture or race, everyone is welcome to this service of worship and all we do here.

[00:13:05]And as we gather, we acknowledge that we worship and live and play on the land of the Wistaguay First Nation and the Wabanaki Confederacy. And all that we do is in the hope that it will generate right relations and a more just and peaceful relationship between the first peoples of this land and those of us who are settlers going forward.

[00:13:38]Okay, I invite you to open your bulletin and read in unison with me the call to worship.

[00:13:53]Glorious, powerful, and caring God, we come together to worship today. Warmed by your presence, aed by your power, thrilled by your call, humbled by your holiness, surrounded by your love. Show your way for us. Reveal the mysteries of faith to us. Lead us in our worship today.

[00:14:18]>> Amen.

[00:14:20]>> And let us pray.

[00:14:26]Loving God, even though we woke to two degrees this morning on the last day of May, we still opened our eyes to a world bursting.

[00:14:42]Bursting with blossoms, bursting with bees, bursting with bugs, bursting with sunshine, even better than the forecast. And as we gather here, we join a faith community that is in so many ways bursting.

[00:15:01]We are grateful for the new signs of life in this place. We are grateful for the new signs of ministry in this place.

[00:15:09]We are grateful for new faces and new families and the new ways we learn to live together. We ask that you continue to burst forth among us. And this we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

[00:15:24]Okay, our hymn is in the big burgundy books number 580, faith of our fathers.

[00:15:52]of our father's living still in spite of dark and fire and sore.

[00:16:05]Oh, how our hearts be with joy.

[00:16:12]There we hear that glorious word.

[00:16:18]Faith of the father's holy faith.

[00:16:25]We will be true to you till death.

[00:16:33]Faith of our mothering faith.

[00:16:40]your work for Christ his love reveal spreading God's word from all to making love and freedom realy we will be true to you till there of our s brothers too who still must bear all preious light raising on high in prison death the cross of Christ The burning bright faith today, all living, we will be true to you till death.

[00:17:58]Faithborn of God who call us yet.

[00:18:05]Bind us with all who follow you.

[00:18:12]Sharing the struggle of God your cross until the world is made of new.

[00:18:25]Great Lord our God living faith we will be true to you today.

[00:18:42]>> So those of you who are going out for godly play, could you just come up here and have a word with me first on your way out? Thank you.

[00:18:53]Am I on? Yep.

[00:19:02]How you doing, Gray?

[00:19:05]Yeah.

[00:19:07]Hey, some of you folks I haven't seen in a while. Hi, Anetta. How are you?

[00:19:16]So, I wanted to just check in with you folks because you know what I'm going to do after the service today?

[00:19:26]poof. I'm going to disappear for three months and then I'll be back in September and you'll see me back up here in my robes and my stoalls. Um, but I'm going to be doing some cool things in the summer.

[00:19:44]I'm going to start off doing some sea kayaking off the coast of New Brunswick in a place called Deer Island. And the last time I was there, I was in a kayak and I looked across the bow of my friend who was kaying with me and I saw an eye this big come up on the other side of my friend. Do you know what do you think that eye belonged to?

[00:20:14]Did it a whale? You got it.

[00:20:19]And I my friend didn't didn't even see it. So I pointed across the kayak to her and she was paddling and she turned and she looked and she turned back to me and you know what she said? She said, "Nothing could come out."

[00:20:38]So I hope I see a whale again, but maybe not so close.

[00:20:42]And then I'm going to go to Ontario and you know how I'm going to spend most of my summer I think driving people about your age to soccer games and basketball games and drama camp. I've got grandkids up there and Virginia and I are going to be just driving them around. So that's what I'm going to be doing this summer. What are you folks going to be doing this summer?

[00:21:05]Anything cool?

[00:21:08]Yeah.

[00:21:11]What? You're going to Costa Rica? Wow, you trumped my story.

[00:21:19]What? Are you going with your grandmother?

[00:21:24]She's gone for a little bit. Think I could go?

[00:21:28]They got kayaks and whales there, too.

[00:21:32]Do you know what you're doing this summer? No. Okay. Any of you folks, you know what you're doing this summer? It's not moose hunting season.

[00:21:43]Relaxing, wrapping up, relaxing before a last year of high school for one of you.

[00:21:49]Anybody else?

[00:21:52]Okay, those are great shoes. Okay, that's all I got. I just wanted to wish you a good summer and say see you later alligators.

[00:22:01]Off you go.

[00:22:12]Bye.

[00:22:28]Our scripture reading today is taken from the inclusive Bible from the book of Luke 22:es 7 to 20.

[00:22:43]When the day of the feast of the unleavened bread arrived, when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus sent Peter and John out with these instructions.

[00:22:54]go and make the preparations for us to eat the Passover.

[00:22:59]They asked, "Where do you want us to prepare the seder?"

[00:23:03]Jesus answered, "When you enter the city, a man will meet you carrying a jar of water. Follow him into the house he enters.

[00:23:14]Say to the owner of the house, the rabbi asks, "Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover seder with my disciples?

[00:23:24]The owner will show you a large furnished upper room. Make the preparations there.

[00:23:32]They went out and found everything as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

[00:23:40]When the hour had come, Jesus took a place at the table with the apostles.

[00:23:46]Jesus said to them, "I've longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

[00:23:53]I tell you, I will not eat it again until everything is fulfilled in the reign of God.

[00:24:00]Then taking a cup of wine, Jesus gave thanks and said, "Take this and share it among you.

[00:24:08]I tell you, I will not drink wine from now on until the reign of God comes."

[00:24:15]Then Jesus took the bread and gave thanks for it, broke it, gave it to them, saying, "This is my body which will be given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

[00:24:30]Jesus did the same with the cup after supper and said, "This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you.

[00:25:00]Well, he walks with a swagger and he talks with a tells you don't come near.

[00:25:16]He doesn't bother looking to the left or to the right. He knows where he's going and he keeps it inside. He can never figure out why he's so uptight. What an idiot he is.

[00:25:31]He's always got to make a big impression on you.

[00:25:38]Got to show you what he has and tell you what he can do.

[00:25:46]And all the while he's trying to cut you down to size. Try to hide the simple truth with the lover lies. One thing he'll never do is look him in the eye.

[00:25:56]What an idiot he is.

[00:26:00]He hasn't bothered thinking since he was 10. He'll tell you he already knew what he had to know by then.

[00:26:07]Anyone who disagrees with him should be in prison. All he wants is what it is.

[00:26:13]Even if it isn't. You talk until you're blue, but you can never make him listen.

[00:26:18]What an idiot he is.

[00:26:21]He thinks his only problem is he ain't got more.

[00:26:29]Once he gets so rich he can buy the whole damn store.

[00:26:36]Well, I guess he knows the value of a hard earned buck. If you try to bump some money, you'll have no luck but spend a couple hundred for a decal on his truck. No problem.

[00:26:50]The only thing he cares about is what it's going to cost.

[00:26:57]And the only shame he knows is that the home team lost.

[00:27:04]He's got an easy boy recliner and a color TV. A cold 45 underneath the seat.

[00:27:11]He can hardly wait to shoot somebody in the knee. you what an idiot he is.

[00:27:18]He doesn't even know what an idiot he is. He says, "What's an idiot? Lord have pity." His favorite food is wonder bread and cheese whiz. Give me.

[00:27:32]He's 1% attention. 99 sure. He's always got an answer. Even if he doesn't know, tell him where it's at, he'll tell you where to go. What an idiot he is.

[00:27:46]Well, I see him everywhere I go and he gives me a pain. When I see him in the movies, he rattles cellophane.

[00:27:54]He's always got a dumb expression on his face. Makes me feel sorry for the human race. Cuz I got a funny feeling. He's running the place.

[00:28:24]Well, Dana Lynn did point out this week that she'd be singing that song to introduce me just before I stood up to preach the sermon.

[00:28:41]Okay, I got a question for you and anybody who can answer the question gets special spiritual merit.

[00:28:52]The sermon title is masculinity, can't live with it, dot dot dot, pass the beer nuts.

[00:29:01]Who knows the cultural reference? Put your hand up.

[00:29:05]Yeah. Yeah, you're cheating, Virginia.

[00:29:08]Okay, Jeff.

[00:29:13]Norm and Cheers. So in the 80s there was an episode of Cheers. How many people remember Cheers? Oh, a lot of hands. How many people remember Norm, the kind of round guy who sat at the corner of the bar mostly complaining about his wife Vera?

[00:29:32]So, there's one episode where I think her name is Rebecca, who's become the manager of the bar, does something really goofy and Norm says, "Women can't live with them. Pass the beer knives."

[00:29:51]Which at the time passed as socially acceptable humor.

[00:29:57]It got a good laugh. it was bounced around uh amongst at least the the young folks I was studying with at the time. But when I told that story to Dana Lynn this week, who is from a different generation and who kindly pointed out to me in that conversation that I've been ordained longer than she's been alive, she just gasped.

[00:30:26]And something has altered between the time when that joke could fly on a popular network sitcom and the arrival of your generation.

[00:30:43]Something deep within our culture has shifted.

[00:30:48]And you might describe that as some older embedded forms of male chauvinism or patriarchy have been exposed and work has been done to scrub that out of our social networks. I don't mean online ones, but in general.

[00:31:16]And we've encountered that deep shift within western culture in a number of ways over the years. I can remember encountering it couple or three decades ago. Couple decades ago um in a way that I found quite uncomfortable.

[00:31:43]I remember coming back from time overseas as overseas personnel living in Fiji, working for the United Church and with partners there. And I returned to Canada and I started to participate in national committees of the United Church again in gatherings of clergy and in some social locations that were in academia or other spaces. And I w and for the first time I found myself walking into rooms and knowing deeply I'm kind of guilty until proven innocent in this room.

[00:32:28]Walking into rooms and not being listened to in a way that I was accustomed to being listened to.

[00:32:39]You see, in some of these rooms, in some of these social locations, as patriarchy and heterosexism and systemic racism and some other isms were being worked out. Guys like me who are cisgendered, straight, white, privileged men went from being automatically influential and powerful in rooms to being a little bit suspect sometimes.

[00:33:16]And I can remember the first time that happened to me. I can actually picture the room in my head and I can remember the feeling of anger that started to come up in my body and this feeling this isn't fair.

[00:33:36]Not pausing to think that for the women in the room and for the queer people in the room. Yeah, Judy's already nodding vigorously over there. For the queer people in the room, for the bipok and racialized people in the room, this was not an occasional experience.

[00:33:54]This was a normative experience.

[00:33:58]And I wasn't going to lose anything except for power in that room. I wasn't going to lose profession. I wasn't going to lose income. I wasn't going to lose in uh education. I wasn't going to lose access to health care.

[00:34:14]And for many of those other people in the room, they had lost those things based on their social location.

[00:34:21]And so that anger that was sort of I could feel coming in my body.

[00:34:29]But I knew at least enough at that point to just breathe and to try to learn from that situation. I believe that anger amongst mostly straight, mostly white men has spread throughout our society like a flood. And I think with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, millions of men started to believe that they were given license to live out that anger in whatever ways they chose.

[00:35:10]Now, this is why we picked this song for this week. What an idiot he is by Ashley McKisac. Now, Ashley McKisac being a kidner is unusually prophetic compared to normal human beings.

[00:35:33]He wrote this song in 197 in 1995. I remember my first response to it was, "What's he got to get cheese whiz anyway?"

[00:35:46]But he was seeing something coming.

[00:35:50]He was describing a toxic male, self-serving, power-hungry, and unleashed on society.

[00:36:02]Anyone who disagrees with him should be in present. Be in prison.

[00:36:09]All he wants is his, even if it isn't.

[00:36:12]He thinks the only problem is he ain't got more. He wants to get so rich he can buy the whole damn store. He's 1% attention and 99 show he's always got an answer even if he doesn't know.

[00:36:27]The look of recognition on women's faces in this room is remarkable.

[00:36:39]And part of the reason I thought of this song was the line about the decal on a truck.

[00:36:46]The moment when I realized most sharply how much this form of toxic masculinity had been unleashed in our society was the moment that Virginia and I were driving to Ontario to Toronto where we were starting a new life where I was going to serve a church in Toronto.

[00:37:11]We were on the 401 and I had was driving, you know, my Camry hybrid. This is not a threatening car. I was driving my Camry hybrid. I pulled out to pass a line of of uh trucks, 18-wheelers, and this guy comes up behind me in one of those big shiny black pickups, and gets right on my butt.

[00:37:42]He wants me to pull over. Where am I going to pull over? I'm going to pull over between these two semis that have that much space between them or these two semis. So I had a natural response. I slow down a little bit and I passed them more slowly.

[00:38:03]And then as this toxic masculinity was pressurizing the car, I pull in, he goes around me, and a little bit of that toxic masculinity got inside me, and my left arm came up, and a very particular digit arose for him to see. He had not a Pside.

[00:38:28]So then I pull over, he pulls in front and the decal on the back of his truck is one of those skeletons like you see motorcycle gangs having on their iconography. It's the full length of the back of his pickup truck. It's a fierce skeleton face, two arms out and the digit of rising on both of them.

[00:38:51]This is how this guy drives around. And he break checkcks me and he slows down and he puts his arm out and invites me to pull over and fight with him.

[00:39:07]So I just went around him and then he went around us at high speed as close as possible. And then, as Virginia will tell you, we kept meeting this guy over and over and over again.

[00:39:22]Sometimes the pickup truck was blue, sometimes it was black, sometimes the guy had red hair, sometimes he had white hair, sometimes he had brown hair. But with uh post trucker convoy, post Trump, it was like a pandemic of men in pickup trucks unleashed upon southern Ontario.

[00:39:46]And and I kept getting tailgated by them. And then finally, somebody pointed out this is because you have that blue circle on the back of your Camry indicating it's a hybrid, which says you're from the city, you're a liberal, and they're going to aggress you.

[00:40:10]Well, unfortunately, as a cultural phenomenon, this is much more pervasive than guys in pickup trucks. I mean, just listen to some of these lines by Ashley the prophet.

[00:40:32]He thinks his only problem is he ain't got more. He wants to get so rich he can buy the whole damn store. Does that remind you of anybody building a ballroom on the side of the house? Does that remind you of any billionaires?

[00:40:48]And it's not just on that side of the border.

[00:40:52]Anyone who disagrees with him should be in prison. All he wants is what is his, even if it isn't.

[00:41:00]He's 1% attention and 99 show. He's always got the answer, even if he doesn't know.

[00:41:07]And here's the scary part.

[00:41:10]Well, I see him everywhere I go and it gives me a pain when I see him in the movies. He rattles cellophane. I don't know about that one really. He's always got a dumb expression on his face. It makes me feel for the sorry for the human race because I got a funny feeling he's running the place.

[00:41:29]And he is right now. We sit between This man in Washington and this man in Moscow, each with a nuclear briefcase adjacent to them and the power to blow up this world many times over. And this is their personality and this is their disposition.

[00:42:00]And so while it is really helpful to laugh about this stuff as a catharsis, while I hope that Steven Cobear finds another forum and we get our late night comedians for a little bit of catharsis, it's incredibly serious.

[00:42:22]And as Christians, we need to find a way to respond to this not only toxic but fundamentally neilistic masculinity which is spreading like a plague on our planet.

[00:42:45]Now, the passage that I got Kelly to read today, I picked for two reasons.

[00:42:54]The first one has to do with a character that's easy to miss in the passage.

[00:43:02]The disciples go to Jesus and say, "How do we set up for the Passover?" Which is to be the Jesus' final um meal with them. And he says, 'Go to the gate and follow the Anybody catch it?

[00:43:20]Man carrying the water jar. Okay, translate to our context. Go to the street and follow the man wearing the red dress.

[00:43:34]Men didn't carry water jars.

[00:43:39]Women carried water jars.

[00:43:42]This is a little wink to the fact that some serious gender bending is happening.

[00:43:52]And not just gender bending but a complete reconfiguration of masculinity and the person who is to be the guide.

[00:44:03]And you know the gospels are compressed and compact. They don't just drop details like this in, right? You nobody got to write gospels the length of a novel. So you pay attention to these details. The person who is the guide of the disciples to their final meal with Jesus is someone profoundly deconstructing manhood in that culture.

[00:44:29]There's a verb for that kind of reworking. Do you know what the verb is?

[00:44:36]to queer.

[00:44:40]Look it up in the dictionaries. To queer means to fundamentally alter the arrangements of a society or or a map. Like to queer the map is to change the map so that North America is not bigger than Africa on the map even though Africa is substantially larger than North America. To queer, that's what's happening. That's what was happening in those rooms I walked into in the early 2000s, expecting to be received as a a a straight white guy and finding something different. It's because the culture was being queered.

[00:45:21]And therefore, one of the things we need to be taught is that quering the arrangements is a fundamental part of the gospel.

[00:45:34]The second thing to be taught is what Jesus did as he went into that room and he took the bread and he broke it and he said, "This is my body broken for you."

[00:45:53]And when he poured out the wine, he said, "This is my blood shed for you."

[00:45:59]Do you know in the masculinity and depiction of a male life at that time, one of the most important things for a man to do in the Mediterranean cultures, whether they be Roman or Jewish or otherwise, was to maintain the integrity of your physical presence. This is why when Roman soldiers wanted to truly humiliate their enemies, what they did is they raped them, women and men.

[00:46:34]It's an existential violation. A man was supposed to die fighting even against all odds before he allowed himself to have the integrity of his physical presence be violated. And what did Jesus do?

[00:46:57]He did the opposite.

[00:47:01]He found himself, I don't know at what point Jesus realized he was going to be in a violent confrontation with the Roman authorities and the religious collaborators and that somebody was going to get killed. I don't know really the moment he realized that, but when he did, he did not reach for the sword.

[00:47:19]Unlike Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane, shortly after this meal, lopping off somebody's ear, he said, "I will accept the violation of my body because that will lead to or open to something much more powerful than reaching for the sword.

[00:47:53]Now, if you were to believe, and this is what I don't get, if you were to believe the white nationalist Christians who are articulating the gospel of manhood today, empathy is a is an error.

[00:48:16]Weakness is a sin. Strength is that which is to be worshiped. And Jesus did the opposite.

[00:48:26]But if you look carefully at the story, Jesus did not abandon any of the core virtues that guide human life and Christian life. He did not abandon strength.

[00:48:43]He just said, "I'm going to exhibit strength in the form of suffering instead of the form of violence." He did not abandon courage.

[00:48:54]He just said, "I am going to exhibit courage in the form of holding to truth as opposed to violence." How much courage did it take to Jesus to to go into a room with Herod and later with a room into a room with Pilate and not break and not beg to be saved but to hold to his truth? How much courage did it take for Jesus to suffer his trials, to carry his cross, to go to Golgatha, and then from the cross to say, "God, forgive them for they know not what to do." Which is another virtue, which is the virtue of compassion. You might also call it empathy.

[00:49:38]A physical embodiment of one of the cardinal virtues, which is wisdom.

[00:49:46]You see, I think this is the litmus test of when masculinity is healthy or toxic.

[00:49:58]Toxic masculinity takes a virtue and turns it into a vice.

[00:50:04]The theologians of Christian nationalism are taking the virtue of empathy, compassion, and turning it into a vice.

[00:50:14]It also takes vices and turns it into turn them into virtues.

[00:50:19]Gordon Gecko, greed is good.

[00:50:23]Huh?

[00:50:25]The collaboration of contemporary economics with this theology is taking vices like greed and turning them into virtues.

[00:50:39]And so I'm going to look at the men here. Although masculinity is not exclusive to men, masculinity and femininity can be expressed from people of all genders, but I'm mostly looking at men.

[00:50:56]What are we being called to do by the gospel in this time?

[00:51:02]It is to be able to live into the dissonance, to be able to live into the fear, to be able to live into the uncertainty of the times while holding to the virtues.

[00:51:22]as we queer social relationships for a more just and peaceful and fruitful future.

[00:51:34]See, that's where it always goes wrong.

[00:51:35]And I'll end on this point.

[00:51:38]Where it always goes wrong is when we feel the tension, we feel the anxiety.

[00:51:43]We feel all that's wrong in the world.

[00:51:45]It gets inside our guts and our souls.

[00:51:48]And in that dissonance, we cannot hold to the virtues. There's an impulse to violence, so we get violent. There's an impulse to blaming, so we blame. There's an in impulse to impose pain upon others instead of suffering it for ourselves.

[00:52:07]It is the inability to be courageous enough and strong enough and prudent enough and wise enough to hold the dissonance inside us and still act out of virtue that leads to toxic masculinity and maybe other time kinds of toxicity. And so friends, men, what's being asked of us now is not to deny the dissonance, not to turn our eyes away from the trouble, but to integrate it and to use the energy of that suffering, to live more fiercely into the virtues.

[00:52:52]and then to reach for partners of all genders and races and backgrounds and religions and to help queer the social arrangements in a way that are in harmony with those virtues.

[00:53:09]I look forward to picking up that work with you in the fall.

[00:53:17]Our hymn is number 147. What wondrous love What is this, oh my soul?

[00:53:58]Oh my soul, what wonderous love is this? Oh my soul, what wonderous love is this that cause the Lord to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

[00:54:24]for my soul to bear the dreadful curse for my soul.

[00:54:35]What wondous love is this? Oh my soul, oh my soul, what wondrous love is this? Oh my soul, what wondous love is this?

[00:54:57]Let cause the Lord of life to lay aside his crown for my soul. for my soul. To lay aside his crown for my soul to God and to the lamb. I will sing. I will sing. To God and to the lamb. I will sing to the Lord and to the lamb.

[00:55:42]Who is the great I am? While millions join the theme, I will sing.

[00:55:54]I will sing.

[00:55:56]While millions join the theme, I will sing.

[00:56:05]And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on. I'll sing on.

[00:56:15]And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on.

[00:56:23]And when from death I'm free, I sing and joyful be.

[00:56:33]And through eternity I'll sing on. I'll sing on.

[00:56:43]And through eternity I'll sing on friends. This is when we celebrate the offering. This is when we have a ritual that celebrates all the ways that we offer. We offer of our passion. We offer of our strength. We offer of our service. We offer of our financial resources. If you're visiting and you're wondering about leaving an offering, there are plates at the front and here. And you can also find places to give on the website. But to acknowledge all that we give and all that we receive, let us have the offering.

[00:57:44]What can I do?

[00:57:48]What can I bring?

[00:57:51]What can I say?

[00:57:54]What can I sing?

[00:57:57]I'll sing with joy.

[00:58:00]I'll say a prayer.

[00:58:03]I'll bring my love.

[00:58:15]Loving God, receive this our gift and our symbol of all the things we commit to giving. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

[00:58:31]Let us pray.

[00:58:39]As we pray, I invite you to breathe deeply into your body.

[00:58:46]I invite you to breathe deeply into your emotions.

[00:58:53]I invite you to breathe deeply into your memory.

[00:59:02]I invite you to breathe deeply into your imagination and I ask you to find a dissonance that lives inside you.

[00:59:16]There may be somebody whose form of trouble you are witnessing and you just can't come to terms with it.

[00:59:28]Or there may be some group of people upon whom the bombs are falling or whose livelihood is being taken away.

[00:59:44]Or there may be some creatures, some species threatened with extinction. Just hold the knowledge of those who suffer in your body and bless them silently in your mind as I bless them out loud.

[01:00:05]May you feel protected and safe.

[01:00:14]May you feel pleased and peaceful.

[01:00:21]May your body or bodies support you with strength.

[01:00:28]And may your life or your passing unfold in God's grace.

[01:00:40]Now I invite you to feel a different dissonance.

[01:00:47]Breathe into your feelings and think about somebody who really bothers you.

[01:00:57]Maybe the most troublesome person or people you can bring yourself to pray for. somebody who does harm or just does not offer what you want them to.

[01:01:12]They may be some of the people I mentioned in the sermon.

[01:01:18]Hold them in your heart and bless them silently as I do out loud.

[01:01:26]May you feel protected and safe.

[01:01:32]May you feel pleased and peaceful.

[01:01:38]May your body support you with strength and may your life unfold in God's grace.

[01:01:54]Now think of somebody you absolutely love or adore or for whom you're tremendously grateful and pray silently as I do out loud saying may you feel protected and safe.

[01:02:15]May you feel contented and pleased.

[01:02:19]May your body support you with strength and may your life unfold in God's grace.

[01:02:30]Finally, without reservation, I want you to pray for yourself and I want you to accept this blessing from me, from the divine through me to you.

[01:02:47]May you feel protected and safe.

[01:02:51]May you feel contented and pleased.

[01:02:56]May your body support you with strength.

[01:02:59]And may your life unfold in God's grace.

[01:03:04]Now I invite you to open your bulletins and pray the ancient prayer in this translation saying, "Heavenly Father, heavenly mother, >> holy and blessed is your true name.

[01:03:18]>> We pray for your reign of peace to come.

[01:03:21]>> We pray that your good will be done.

[01:03:24]>> Let heaven and earth become one.

[01:03:27]>> Give us this day the bread we need.

[01:03:30]>> Give it to those who have none.

[01:03:33]Let forgiveness flow like a river between us from each one to each one.

[01:03:38]Lead us to holy innocence beyond the evil of our days. Come swiftly, mother, father, come for yours is the power and the glory and the mercy. Forever your name is all in one.

[01:03:54]And still singing from the big burgundy books number 380 is she flies on.

[01:04:18]sailing out of wining in the sun. What a journey just begun.

[01:04:26]She flies on within the passage of her flight. Her song rings out through the night. Full of laughter, full of light. She lies on silent waters from the morning of our prayer. Like an empty grave like a mother breathing life into her child.

[01:05:07]Many were the dreamers whose eyes were given sight. Let the spirit fil their dreams with life and deserts turn to hearts for delight. And then down the ages till she grew old.

[01:05:30]She comes sailing on the wind, her wings flashing in the sun. On a journey just beun, she flies on.

[01:05:42]And in the passage of her flight, her song rings out through the night. Full of laughter, full of light she to a gentle girl in a gentle bree she came.

[01:06:01]Whisper softly calling in the dark.

[01:06:07]The promise of a child peace whose rain will never end. Mary sang the spirit song within her heart.

[01:06:19]Flying to the river she waited circling high up the cha ro so full of grace rose up from the water. She slept up to the sky as she carried him away and gra.

[01:06:43]She comes sailing on a wind, her wings flashing in the sun on a journey just beun. She flies home in the passage of her flight. Her song rings out through the night, full of laughter, full light sheep darkness still fell upon the world.

[01:07:13]After dawn returned in flame of rising sun, his mercies were washed the earth again in her wings of bringing life in wind and flourishing through all.

[01:07:31]She comes sailing on the wind, her wings flashing in the sun. What a journey just beun. She flies on.

[01:07:43]And in the passage of her flight, her song rings out through the night. Full of laughter, full of light, she lies.

[01:08:02]>> Well, friends, it's been an interesting year.

[01:08:06]I stand here about to go on a three-month vacation with great gratitude for all we have shared in the last nine nine and a half months uh including that wig.

[01:08:20]I stand here with a sense of pride about what we've accomplished together, but mostly just a deep sense of gratitude and a growing confidence about the tide that is rising underneath this faith community. And I was feeling that gratitude earlier and I thought, well, I should just configure a light and easy sermon before I go. And then I thought, have a fantastic summer everybody.

[01:08:48]Please do come down for coffee and and conversation. But whichever way you go, go with this blessing.

[01:08:56]May God bless you and keep you. May she make her face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May they lift up their countenance before you and give you peace. Go in peace. Amen.

[01:10:28]Ouch.

[01:12:22]Heat. Heat.

[01:13:09]Good morning.

[01:14:13]Thank you.