Are Your ‘Lenses’ Blurring the Bible’s True Meaning?

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Here is breath, here is heart Christ is with us, He is with us Break the bread, taste the wine Christ is with us, He is with us Here is grace, here is peace
[00:00:39] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:00:56] Amen.
[00:01:06] In this moment...
[00:01:31] God bless you.
[00:03:16] In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:03] We praise the Christ, the Christ, the Christ of the world.

[00:09:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
My mind's a lost cause at this point in life.
[00:09:11] It plays well.

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
If anything, I'll just cover it in wrapping paper or something.

[00:09:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Some Christmas lights on it.

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
The dollar store when I was growing up had a little battery pack you can put on there.

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Oh man, he's my new favorite person.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
There's one here.

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
We still have a minute?

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
According to that clock, we don't.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Good morning.
[00:10:15] Am I good?

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
I'm not good?

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Mark?
[00:10:25] How about now?
[00:10:28] Yes?
[00:10:29] Yes!
[00:10:30] I'm working.
[00:10:31] Good morning, church.
[00:10:32] Welcome to Williamson's Chapel.
[00:10:33] So glad that you are here for worship today.
[00:10:35] I wanted to introduce to you our little church band for this year.
[00:10:39] We started, I think, just last year, and it changes people every year.
[00:10:44] It's such a blessing and so much fun.
[00:10:47] Before I forget, I just want to say, if you have an instrument shoved up under your bed that you haven't played in 50 years, you can get that out and come and join this group, because we're just having a good time learning together.
[00:10:58] So we have all ages and all experiences from about three weeks of playing all the way to, I'm not sure, and I don't think he wants to say, but Fred's been playing a very long time.
[00:11:09] So we're going to play for you two pieces this morning that will be our prelude, Pharaoh's Lord Jesus and Dona Nobis Pacem.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
[00:12:06] Amen.
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[00:13:45] Thank you.
[00:14:13] The Gospel of the Apostles

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
I appreciate some fan music.
[00:14:49] I love it.
[00:14:51] Welcome to worship.
[00:14:55] Today is All Saints Day and we celebrate and give thanks for the lives of those in our community who have gone to be with the Lord in the last year.
[00:15:18] We give thanks for all that God has done in them and for their witness that continues to be a witness to all of us.
[00:15:26] So we are grateful for the opportunity to worship because we know a God who is good and is faithful and true in all of our life together.
[00:15:36] If you're a guest with us, we're so glad that you're here.
[00:15:39] On the way out of worship, I will be standing on the right, on the, actually I'll be standing outside.
[00:15:44] I'll be standing outside because there are cards up here.
[00:15:48] Members of our church staff have been very gracious to honor Pastor Appreciation Month, and so after worship, there are cards outside for all our pastoral staff if you would like to leave a note for any one of us.
[00:16:03] Gosh, thanks.
[00:16:04] It feels awkward for me to be even announcing that we're doing that, but like, it was unexpected and we didn't know you were doing it, but thank you.
[00:16:11] We really appreciate it.
[00:16:12] That's on the left in the narthex.
[00:16:13] I'll be outside.
[00:16:14] And if you're a guest with us, we have a little gift for you and we'd love to have a chance to greet you properly.
[00:16:20] So we're glad that you're here.
[00:16:22] Welcome to those of you who are worshiping with us online.
[00:16:24] We're getting ready to sing one of my favorite hymns in the whole wide world.
[00:16:27] And so I'm going to invite you all to take a deep breath in and breathe it out as we prepare to worship together.

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
[00:17:18] Amen.
[00:17:53] The Gospel of the Lord
[00:18:31] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:18:36] Amen.
[00:18:57] Alleluia!
[00:20:40] Let us pray.

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
You may be seated.
[00:21:52] This morning we have the privilege to lift up those who have gone on before in gratitude for their faith and service to Christ and to the kingdom of God.
[00:22:06] As each name is called, you are invited, if you would like to, to stand for those that you know and give thanks for.
[00:22:13] If you would prefer to stay seated, that's okay too.
[00:22:17] And at the end of the list of the names of people, we'll be lighting a candle for each one.
[00:22:21] At the end of the list of names, we will lift up and light a candle for all the saints who from their labors rest.
[00:22:27] And so, if you have somebody that has gone to be with the Lord in the last year that you want to lift up by name, we invite you to do that at that time.
[00:22:36] In loving memory, giving thanks to God, we celebrate these faithful servants of Jesus Christ who now rest from their labors in God's eternal realm.
[00:22:48] Nancy Bannister Gregory Berzanko Jeanette Childress
[00:23:09] Laura Davis Davis Emerson Ruth Hibbard Lorna Hobart

[00:23:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Steve Humple William Jakubowski Frank Johns
[00:24:22] Pam Morrison Carol Mullins Tammy Parisi Reverend Michael Rich

[00:24:55] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Richard Lee R.L.

[00:24:58] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Sherrill Brenda Wiesner Sharon Wooten Alice Yontz

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
For all the saints who from their labors rest.
[00:26:05] In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember them.
[00:26:12] In the blowing of wind and in the chill of winter, we remember them.
[00:26:19] In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember them.

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember them.

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember them.

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
In the beginning of the year and when it ends, we remember them.

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
When we are weary and in need of strength, we remember them.

[00:26:48] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
When we are lost and sick at heart, we remember them.

[00:26:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember them.
[00:26:58] So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.
[00:27:07] Thanks be to God.

[00:27:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Let the running wave through you Bring peace from the flowing air to you Deeply peace of the river

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Deities of the Chalice come to you Deities of the Chalice come to you
[00:28:36] In Jesus' name we pray.
[00:28:39] Amen.

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Jesus Christ

[00:29:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]:
Our scripture reading today is from Deuteronomy 6, 4-9.
[00:29:55] Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.
[00:29:59] You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
[00:30:05] Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
[00:30:09] Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down, and when you rise.
[00:30:18] Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
[00:30:29] The Word of God for all people.
[00:30:31] Thanks be to God.

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Let us pray.
[00:30:47] Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of your Word, for the truth and wisdom we find there.
[00:30:54] And now, God, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.
[00:31:03] Amen.
[00:31:06] So we are continuing, actually nearing the end of a series we've been doing this fall, answering some questions you all submitted over the summer.
[00:31:17] And this week and the next several weeks we'll be answering questions you had.
[00:31:21] We're thinking about these things, answering these questions with humility.
[00:31:46] That we're going to be humble readers of the Bible.
[00:31:51] and asking God to help us to bear that spiritual fruit, that fruit of the Holy Spirit of humility.
[00:31:58] The second rule is we're going to be grounded in Scripture, grounded in God's Word, which I guess is pretty easy for these next few weeks because we're talking about the Bible, so we're definitely rooted in God's Word.
[00:32:13] And then the third rule is we're going to wrestle while trusting.
[00:32:21] So it's okay to wrestle with these things, to think deeply about these things.
[00:32:25] It's okay for us as individuals to disagree about some things, to have different opinions.
[00:32:32] We'll talk a little bit more about that this morning.
[00:32:35] But we're going to do all that, wrestling with these questions, while trusting God in the midst of all of it.
[00:32:41] Trusting that God will deepen our faith and our love for Him and for one another.
[00:32:47] Okay, so this morning's question...
[00:32:50] When it comes to reading the Bible, where do I start?
[00:32:56] How should I read the Bible?
[00:32:59] And I'm going to begin with a story, and I can't remember if I've told this in a sermon.
[00:33:05] It doesn't really matter.
[00:33:06] It's a good story.
[00:33:08] I like telling it, so there you go.
[00:33:11] So a few years ago, I spent a week in Nashville at a conference about preaching.
[00:33:19] And that Tuesday evening I decided I was going to go.
[00:33:23] It was right up the hill from Broadway, you know, the old strip in Nashville where all the honky-tonks are.
[00:33:29] And I love old country, like George Jones, Willie Nelson.
[00:33:36] Even getting like Farron Young and Webb Pierce, that goes way back.
[00:33:42] I love those guys.
[00:33:43] And so I decided to go to one of the honky-tonks and listen to some music.
[00:33:47] And I was wearing the uniform of the middle-aged Methodist preacher, so khakis and a polo, and carrying my books with me, a little binder and my Bible and a couple of books I bought.
[00:33:59] And I sat at the table beside me and was watching this pretty good band they were playing.
[00:34:06] Kind of decompressing and relaxing.
[00:34:08] And when I walked in to the place, I noticed two couples at the bar.
[00:34:14] Looked to be in about their 60s.
[00:34:16] And I could tell they had been there a while.
[00:34:18] And I just kind of made my way to my seat.
[00:34:21] And a couple songs in, one of the women comes just beside me and puts her arm around me.
[00:34:27] Now, I'm an introvert.
[00:34:29] And when people do this at church, it kind of like catches me off guard a little bit.
[00:34:36] Not to mention, you know, needless to say, this woman, I was not a fan of that approach.
[00:34:43] But she put her arm around me and she said, tell me something, are you a talent scout?
[00:34:52] Now, I should have said, yeah.
[00:34:59] But no, I said, actually, I have more fun with this.
[00:35:02] I said, no, actually, I'm a minister.
[00:35:06] And she said, I should have known.
[00:35:07] How exactly should you have known that you'll be talking to a pastor?
[00:35:15] And folks who know me know, and I may have told some of you this, I have a sarcastic comment generator in my head.
[00:35:24] It's like running all the time.
[00:35:25] And so I thought, usually when you say, by the way, usually when you say, I'm a minister, that's the end of the conversation.
[00:35:34] Especially in a honky-tonk in Nashville, I was expecting, okay, I'm a pastor, you'll leave me alone now and I can keep enjoying this music.
[00:35:42] But no, she looked at my Bible and she said, she pointed out, she said, can anybody read that?
[00:35:53] My comment generator, well, do you read?
[00:35:57] Didn't say it, didn't say it.
[00:36:00] I said, sure, anybody can read it.
[00:36:03] And then she asked, where do you start?
[00:36:08] Generator, the beginning?
[00:36:11] Didn't say it, didn't say it.
[00:36:13] But I did have a second, I'm like, God, really?
[00:36:17] Here?
[00:36:18] God's like, yeah.
[00:36:20] And so she said, where do you start?
[00:36:23] I talked to her for a minute about where I would begin.
[00:36:27] I will tell you later what I told her.
[00:36:30] But it was a good illustration or a good example to me of how not just people in the church have questions about the Bible.
[00:36:41] Christians aren't the only ones who have curious questions about Scripture.
[00:36:46] And as Christians, it helps if we have
[00:36:49] Some things we can share with people who have those questions.
[00:36:53] It doesn't have to be very deep or detailed, but understanding we're not the only ones that have these questions.
[00:37:01] The first thing in thinking about where do I start and how should I read the Bible, the first thing I want to say is that the Gospel of John begins by telling us that the Word of God in its fullness is not the pages of Scripture, it's actually Jesus Christ.
[00:37:19] That Jesus is the embodied Word of God.
[00:37:22] God's message to humanity, God's message to the world is embodied in Jesus in all of Scripture.
[00:37:29] From beginning to end, all of it ultimately points to Jesus Christ.
[00:37:35] So that's what the Bible is about as a whole.
[00:37:40] And a good reminder for us might be that Jesus never tells us to follow the Bible.
[00:37:47] Jesus commands us to follow Him.
[00:37:50] The commandment is to follow Jesus.
[00:37:53] The Bible points us to Jesus and teaches us about Jesus' life, His teachings, His death and resurrection, and then how to orient our lives to God.
[00:38:03] Another thing that's important, the Bible is not one book.
[00:38:07] Not one book.
[00:38:07] It's a collection of 66 different books that were written in different times and in different cultures.
[00:38:15] This means is there are different genres, different styles of literature in the Bible, and we're not going to read them the same one to another.
[00:38:24] You're going to read Genesis differently than you would the Psalms, you're going to read those differently than the Prophets, and you're going to read the Gospels differently.
[00:38:31] Paul's letter is the same thing.
[00:38:33] Sometimes when we think about the Bible in this way it might sound intimidating and we're not sure what to do about that.
[00:38:40] I want you to remember that we do this all of the time.
[00:38:43] So first picture.
[00:38:45] Go ahead to the next picture.
[00:38:47] If you're under the age of 40, and I know it's there, I saw it.
[00:38:54] Yeah, if you're under the age of 40, that's at the Yellow Pages, and it was in something called a phone book.
[00:39:02] You get this big phone book at your doorstep, and if your parents never throw them away, you have a big stack of phone books in your...
[00:39:13] But you're going to read that.
[00:39:14] You have a certain way of reading that.
[00:39:15] You're going to read it differently than you would.
[00:39:16] Go to the next slide.
[00:39:17] I just typed in instruction manual, and it gave me the instruction manuals for an Instapot.
[00:39:24] You're going to read that differently than with the yellow pages.
[00:39:27] All right, go ahead to the next one.
[00:39:29] I have no idea what that is, but there's probably somebody in the church between you both.
[00:39:34] Jake Seaverland over there knows what that is.
[00:39:36] He knows how to read that.
[00:39:37] I have no idea.
[00:39:39] That's a good illustration for sometimes how it feels to read the Bible.
[00:39:44] Sometimes you open your Bible, and let's say you go to Leviticus, and it looks like that.
[00:39:50] Like, what am I supposed to do with this?
[00:39:51] I don't know how to read this.
[00:39:53] Somebody, that's the beautiful thing about belonging to a church, somebody knows how to read that and can help you understand.
[00:40:00] I don't need help in understanding this, Jake.
[00:40:02] It's just an illustration.
[00:40:03] We're moving on.
[00:40:06] But I'm glad you know.
[00:40:08] Alright, next page.
[00:40:09] You're going to read that differently than you would a cheap paperback novel you buy at the airport, right?
[00:40:14] All these things you're reading differently, you're going to read that differently next page.
[00:40:18] You're going to read that differently than a greeting card.
[00:40:21] All of these things are different genres of literature, and we know without putting too much effort into it how to read those things differently, especially if you know like circuits and electricity and stuff like that.
[00:40:34] But anyway, it's the same true with the Bible.
[00:40:36] When we read the Bible, we need to be aware of what we're reading at some level, like what kind of genre.
[00:40:42] Psalms is...
[00:40:44] Poetry and prayer.
[00:40:46] You read Psalms like a prayer.
[00:40:48] So that's different than Paul.
[00:40:50] Paul was writing letters dealing with real problems, real churches, real people.
[00:40:54] You read it like a letter to a church asking Paul how to live.
[00:40:59] The Gospels are the story of Jesus' life and death and resurrection.
[00:41:04] We'll talk more about this in a couple of weeks in terms of different ways to read.
[00:41:11] But as we begin, if you are starting to read the Bible and you want to know how to read the Bible, the most important thing is to understand that it's impossible to read the Bible in a completely objective way.
[00:41:27] And I'll tell you what I mean by that.
[00:41:28] Sometimes somebody will ask me, they'll send me an email or ask me after church or wherever, they'll say this verse in Romans or whatever, what does it mean?
[00:41:38] What does this verse mean?
[00:41:41] And when I say something like, well, that depends, it can mean several things, that's usually not a satisfying answer for people.
[00:41:50] They want to know the answer.
[00:41:52] What's the definitive answer?
[00:41:55] And I found that kind of the way I think about this is frustrating sometimes for some people.
[00:42:02] When I teach a Bible study, for example, I tend to want people to leave with more questions than answers.
[00:42:10] what I say is I would rather you leave with good hard questions than bad easy answers so I want you to be able to know how to read and think and ask questions and dig remember we're wrestling we're struggling while trusting God and the reason that it's impossible to give this this verse means this it can only mean this and for all time it means this the reason that's a problem and why it's impossible to be completely objective
[00:42:36] It's because we're always reading the Bible.
[00:42:38] Actually, anything we ever read, anywhere, we're always reading through a lens.
[00:42:44] Actually, several different lenses.
[00:42:46] We're always reading through different lenses at the same time.
[00:42:50] So, for example, when we read Scripture, it matters where we grew up.
[00:42:57] Some of us grew up, like myself, going to church.
[00:43:00] I grew up going to church every single Sunday.
[00:43:02] Sunday school, vacation, Bible school.
[00:43:04] Some of us in here did not grow up going to church.
[00:43:07] Some of us didn't come to faith until we were adults.
[00:43:10] That has an impact on how we read the Bible.
[00:43:14] How we were taught.
[00:43:17] Things like gender and race, economic background, on and on.
[00:43:22] So I just want to share a few of my lenses that impact how I read the Bible.
[00:43:27] I read the Bible as an American.
[00:43:30] Shaped and formed as an American.
[00:43:33] Which means...
[00:43:35] I've been shaped to put a high value on individual liberty and freedom.
[00:43:44] The importance of individualism and the importance of the freedom of the individual.
[00:43:51] I think that's a good thing.
[00:43:54] Personally, I think freedom is a good thing.
[00:43:57] Now, individualism has its pros and cons.
[00:44:01] But I'm reading from that angle, from that vantage point.
[00:44:05] That's my perspective.
[00:44:07] Somebody, writers of the Scripture and the cultures that Scripture was written in, they did not put the same kind of emphasis on individual liberty.
[00:44:19] Certainly not the individualism part.
[00:44:22] They came from more of a group or tribal background.
[00:44:26] Very different from me.
[00:44:27] I also read the Bible as a man.
[00:44:31] And so there's a lot of imagery in the Bible that is resonant for women.
[00:44:36] Birthing imagery?
[00:44:38] I don't know.
[00:44:38] The births of my children were pretty easy for me.
[00:44:42] I didn't work all that hard.
[00:44:47] One of the things Tonya Ruth, I'll tell it before she does, one of the things Tonya Ruth loves to talk about is when our daughter was born, she was born because Marianna can't do anything unless it's in the middle of the night, she was born at like 2 in the morning.
[00:45:01] And so she was born, they went to take her to the nursery where Tony Ruth's restaurant is.
[00:45:05] And my chair was the most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat in or tried to lay on in my life.
[00:45:09] And I should have kept it to myself, by the way.
[00:45:11] I should have just kept that to myself and not told anybody.
[00:45:13] But I told Tony Ruth that y'all could probably, you know how that went the next day.
[00:45:18] What I said was, I've never been more uncomfortable in my whole life, you have no idea.
[00:45:28] And see, even now it's paying dividends.
[00:45:33] So when Scripture has these images about birth, that's going to resonate with Tony Ruth and with most women in a way that it just doesn't for me as a man.
[00:45:44] You get my point.
[00:45:46] So we come from different perspectives.
[00:45:48] That shapes how we read.
[00:45:50] I grew up in a middle-class household, and I've never experienced poverty or hunger, sustained hunger.
[00:45:59] There's an awful lot in the Bible about people being hungry.
[00:46:03] and about the poor, people in poverty.
[00:46:07] I'm not able to see that from their side, from the side of someone who's impoverished.
[00:46:14] So knowing that I have my perspective and it's different from somebody else's perspective can at least help me to think about the way I read and it might help me listen to people who have a different perspective.
[00:46:28] The things I just listed about myself, they're not wrong.
[00:46:33] They just are.
[00:46:35] And they shape and influence how I understand the Bible just like your background and who you are influences how you read.
[00:46:43] So again, the point is not that the different lenses are bad.
[00:46:47] The point is that we need to be aware that they exist and that our perspectives are limited.
[00:46:53] And when we understand that and acknowledge that, it helps us to be more humble readers.
[00:47:01] What that means is if we're more humble readers of the Bible, what that means is we're more open to the Holy Spirit speaking through Scripture, and we're more open to hearing the perspectives of other people who are different from us and have their own different lenses.
[00:47:17] And if we're humble about this, that means when we hear different perspectives and different points of view and different understandings, if we're humble, we don't have to feel threatened by that or be combative about that.
[00:47:31] We can do this without being judgmental and argumentative.
[00:47:35] And recognizing our own lenses can make us open to new ways of reading and understanding.
[00:47:44] And then we can understand that this story of Scripture, this big story of the Bible that points us to Jesus, that's not just my story.
[00:47:52] It's not just our story, those of us who are here who are Methodist or who are Christian.
[00:47:58] It's a much larger story and it includes the saints that we celebrated this morning.
[00:48:04] It's their story and my story and it's a much bigger story than our own limited perspectives can hold.
[00:48:15] Understanding that we are reading through different lenses helps us grow in that humility.
[00:48:20] Remembering that we don't know everything and we can always learn more.
[00:48:24] We can always grow in our faith and our understanding.
[00:48:28] We can always grow more in love with God and others as we encounter those other perspectives.
[00:48:37] And as we, in becoming more humble, like I said, it makes us more open.
[00:48:42] Because if you were to say that verse or that passage means this and only means this, if I know fully what that means, do I need the Holy Spirit's help in understanding?
[00:48:53] No, what I do then is I shut the door on the Spirit working through Scripture.
[00:49:00] And so as we become more humble, our openness to the inspiration and illumination through the Holy Spirit grows.
[00:49:10] Like I said, if we already completely understand, we don't need the Spirit to help us understand.
[00:49:15] So, for us, as we think these next couple of weeks about reading the Bible, about questions we have about the Bible, remembering that we read with more humility, asking the Spirit to guide us and help us as we read.
[00:49:31] So now to the practical stuff.
[00:49:33] Kind of the, you know, how I answered this woman who
[00:49:38] Put her arm around me in a way that still kind of makes me a little tense.
[00:49:44] She said, where do you begin?
[00:49:45] And first thing I did is I said, you might want to start with the Psalms.
[00:49:52] Reading the Psalms.
[00:49:53] It's always a good place to begin because the Psalms, it's a collection of, like I said, poetry or prayers, but almost every human emotion we find written about in the Psalms.
[00:50:06] Anger, grief, joy, fear, all of these are written in the Psalms.
[00:50:12] It's a good place to start when reading Scripture.
[00:50:15] I also pointed her to the Gospel of Luke.
[00:50:18] If you want to know what Jesus is about, and you kind of want to see how Jesus shows us the heart of God, the Gospel of Luke is a good place to start.
[00:50:28] And that's also advice.
[00:50:29] If you're here, and I've heard people say this, and they say it with some seeming measure of guilt.
[00:50:37] If you're here, let's say you've been in church for a long time, but you've never really read the Bible, or you don't know nearly as much as you think you should, that's not embarrassing.
[00:50:46] There's no better time than the present.
[00:50:48] Those are good places to start.
[00:50:50] Are you going to understand everything?
[00:50:52] Well, I've already told you to answer that question.
[00:50:53] No, you're not.
[00:50:55] In fact, people come to me all the time and say, well, do you know what this means?
[00:50:59] And I'm like, no, I don't.
[00:51:02] But we can live into God's truth together and then learn how to live that out in our lives.
[00:51:10] You're not on this journey alone.
[00:51:13] And there are plenty of tools and resources available.
[00:51:16] And if you have questions about that, feel free to reach out to us.
[00:51:20] Some of you, raise your hand if you've ever done the Bible in a year plan.
[00:51:24] If you've read the Bible, done one of those Bible in a year plan.
[00:51:28] Tony Ruth has done that several times.
[00:51:31] I've tried, and somewhere around March, I just...
[00:51:35] I'm like three weeks behind, and I think, I'm really going to catch up, and I... No, I'm not.
[00:51:42] And so I know, I've read the whole Bible, just not straight through in a year.
[00:51:47] You can do it, it's possible, but a lot of those read the Bible straight through plans end somewhere in Leviticus.
[00:51:54] It's a tough book, it's really tough.
[00:51:58] So I think a good starting point is Psalms and the Gospel of Luke to help us, to help you all, help all of us get a foothold and some things that can help us begin to be more comfortable with Scripture.
[00:52:10] Now over the next couple of weeks we're going to talk about different questions you all had about the Bible.
[00:52:14] But this morning as we've celebrated All Saints and as we come to the table, it's a reminder, as I mentioned, that we're part of this much larger story.
[00:52:24] and the story that the Bible tells pointing us to Jesus also points us to God's redemptive work in creation.
[00:52:32] We get to become part of what God is doing in the world.
[00:52:37] The Bible gives us guidance for that too.
[00:52:39] How we can help feed people in body, mind, and spirit.
[00:52:44] How we can bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives leading people to relationships with God and to kind of a family of the church.
[00:52:54] So remember, as we come to the table, that we're part of this much larger story, pointing us back to God's goodness and God's grace.
[00:53:01] Let's pray.
[00:53:06] Holy and merciful God, we thank you for your love, your grace, your presence with us, the Holy Spirit.
[00:53:14] We thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who came to be among us, to live with us.
[00:53:24] We thank you for the good news of the Gospel, of transformation and reconciliation and forgiveness.
[00:53:32] We thank you for Scripture, for the witness of Scripture pointing us to Jesus and to your ongoing redemptive work in the world.
[00:53:44] God, help us to read, but to do so with humility and with trust.
[00:53:53] and to depend on you and the wisdom you give to us through your Holy Spirit.
[00:54:00] Guide us as we come to receive and help us to be nourished so that we might be faithful and living out our faith in the world.
[00:54:10] In Christ's name we pray.
[00:54:11] Amen.

[00:54:16] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.
[00:54:21] Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.
[00:54:27] Most merciful God, we confess that we have not sinned.
[00:54:34] We have failed to be an obedient church.
[00:54:37] We have not done your will.
[00:54:39] We have broken your law.
[00:54:41] We have rebelled against your love.
[00:54:44] We have not loved our neighbors, and we have not heard the cry of the needy.
[00:54:50] Forgive us, we pray.
[00:54:52] Free us for joyful obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
[00:54:58] Amen.
[00:54:59] Pray your own prayers now in silence.
[00:55:15] Hear the good news.
[00:55:16] Christ died for us while we were yet sinners.
[00:55:18] That proves God's love toward us.
[00:55:21] In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
[00:55:26] Glory to God.
[00:55:29] Amen.
[00:55:30] It is our opportunity as we come to the table, we're reminding ourselves that the giving and offering time is part of who we are as a worshiping body.
[00:55:45] It is a privilege, it is a gift, it's an honor to give back to God some of the blessings that we have been given and God has given us so much.
[00:55:55] I invite you to think about the ways that in this place that we are able to study the Word, what we've just been talking about, how we have Bible studies all week long, some during the day and some in the evening time, and Sundays at different times during these worship services and Sunday evenings.
[00:56:15] the ways that your pastors and you all are leading the study of scripture and that is one of the reasons why we give so generously because we want to see god's kingdom for furthered in that way you can scan the qr code up there or there are baskets down here when you come
[00:56:33] To receive communion this morning, there's two right down here.
[00:56:39] That's the only place.
[00:56:39] They're right down here in the front.
[00:56:41] So I invite you to give generously when you come for Holy Communion.

[00:56:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Now will you stand for the great Thanksgiving?
[00:57:03] We lift them up to the Lord.
[00:57:05] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

[00:57:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, God of Abraham and Sarah, God of Miriam and Moses, God of Joshua and Deborah, God of Ruth and David,
[00:57:30] God of the priests and the prophets, God of Mary and Joseph, God of the apostles and the martyrs, God of our mothers and our fathers, God of our children to all generations, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn.

[00:57:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might
[00:58:04] Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest

[00:58:36] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Holy are you and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ.
[00:58:39] Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.
[00:58:53] He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
[00:58:56] By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
[00:59:07] At his ascension you exalted him to sit and reign with you at your right hand.
[00:59:11] On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said, Take, eat.
[00:59:26] This is my body which is given for you.
[00:59:29] Do this in remembrance of me.
[00:59:33] When the supper was over, he took the cup.
[00:59:46] gave thanks to you gave it to his disciples and said drink from this all of you this is my blood of the new covenant poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me and so in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith

[01:00:17] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]:
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

[01:00:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here and on these gifts of bread and wine.
[01:00:38] Make them be for us the body and the blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ redeemed by his blood.
[01:00:46] Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, strengthen us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.
[01:00:58] by your spirit make us one with Christ one with each other and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet through your son Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit in your holy church all honor and glory is yours almighty God now and forever Amen Amen Amen
[01:01:33] Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one.
[01:01:38] The bread that we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.
[01:01:43] And the cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.
[01:01:48] You may be seated.
[01:01:51] Friends, this is the Lord's table, not William's Chapel's table, the Methodist Church's table, it's Jesus' table.
[01:02:00] And everyone who would seek after the love and the grace and the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ is welcome to come.
[01:02:06] You'll receive, as is our tradition in the Methodist Church, by way of intinction.
[01:02:11] That means that you'll receive a little bit of bread in your hand, and then you can dip it into the juice with groves of thanksgiving and gratitude for what God has done for you.
[01:02:22] You're welcome to stay and pray at the altar if you would like to do so.
[01:02:25] We also, if you are for any reason uncomfortable with receiving from a common cup, we do have
[01:02:32] These communion cups, just let your server know that you would prefer to receive that way.
[01:02:36] We also have gluten-free elements, so if you need to receive gluten-free, make sure you come to the center and there will be a steward here that will be here to serve you.
[01:02:46] And we'll invite the servers to come forward as we prepare the table.
[01:03:16] The table is ready.

[01:03:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Here is bread Here is wine Christ is with us He is with us Break the bread
[01:03:46] Taste the wine, Christ is with us here.
[01:03:57] Here is grace, here is peace Christ is with us, he lives with us Know his grace and his peace Peace on Jesus' knee
[01:04:28] There is healing in this moment's life forever In this moment by the Spirit Christ is with us here
[01:04:53] Here we are, joined as one Christ is with us, He is with us We'll proclaim till He comes Jesus crucified
[01:05:21] In this birth, there is healing In this calm, there's life forever In this moment, by the Spirit Christ is with us here

[01:09:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Let us pray.
[01:09:28] Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us.
[01:09:34] Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your spirit to give ourselves for others in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
[01:09:42] Amen.

[01:09:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
Will you stand as we sing together the church's one foundation.
[01:09:50] Page 545.

[01:10:14] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
The Church is my foundation, with Jesus Christ her all.
[01:10:37] She is the new creation, the water and the Word.
[01:10:38] From every cave and soldier,
[01:10:52] He lags from every nation, yet one are all the earth.
[01:11:20] Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth.
[01:11:21] One holy name she blesses, our days, our home,
[01:11:24] And to one home she presses, where every grace endures.
[01:11:59] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[01:12:27] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.

[01:12:31] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]:
Let all their tribulations enter our hearts.
[01:13:31] And this each week of the year, with those whose rest is gone, all happy bones employ.

[01:14:01] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
It will all be

[01:14:11] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Just a few things by way of announcement.
[01:14:13] First of all, we have Charge Conference, which is our annual meeting that the whole church is invited to be part of, where we give a state of the church a little bit and vote on some things for next year, salaries and whatnot, and leadership for next year.
[01:14:30] So we hope we'll see you tonight.
[01:14:32] If you can be here 530 here in the sanctuary, all members can vote at that Charge Conference.
[01:14:39] Also, thank you if you brought food today for our men versus women food fight that is benefiting the Christian mission and Feed in C and Bridge of Hearts and the Kindness Closet.
[01:14:51] I want to just, just a word.
[01:14:53] I was just talking to Bonnie Battiglia who is from Feed in C. They had a hundred more people last week than they normally would have.
[01:15:03] And they are preparing for even more this week with cuts to SNAP benefits.
[01:15:09] Because of the shutdown.
[01:15:11] And so they actually have set up an emergency pantry in addition to their grassroots grocery.
[01:15:16] That will happen at Feed and Seed.
[01:15:18] There will also be a food pantry and resources happening at the Christian Mission.
[01:15:23] Both agencies here in our town that are seeking to meet the needs of those who are hungry and struggling in our community.
[01:15:31] So friends, you know, if you go look at the thresholds, the income thresholds to be able to go to these places, you would be...
[01:15:39] Just absolutely flabbergasted at what is not a living wage in America anymore.
[01:15:46] And so I really want to encourage you to give to that.
[01:15:51] I mean, I don't really care who wins this men's and women's food.
[01:15:54] I give it a lot of lip service.
[01:15:58] And certainly, I don't want bragging rights.

[01:16:01] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Yeah, you really care.

[01:16:03] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]:
Because I'm more competitive than you are.
[01:16:07] Everybody in our community wins by what we're doing.
[01:16:10] So I'm going to encourage you.
[01:16:12] I don't care how you voted.
[01:16:13] I really don't.
[01:16:15] As a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are obligated to care about people that are hungry.
[01:16:23] And so I'm going to encourage you to go and get some food.
[01:16:27] And if you didn't bring it here today, that's okay.
[01:16:30] They will happily take it at Feed and See tomorrow.
[01:16:33] They will happily.
[01:16:34] Will they not?
[01:16:36] I'm looking at Susan Wolf.
[01:16:37] She works for the Christian Movement.
[01:16:38] Happily take your donation tomorrow.
[01:16:40] So I hope that you all will go and you will give generously.
[01:16:43] And what I want you to be thinking about when you go through the grocery store is this.
[01:16:46] If my kid called me and told me they were hungry, what would I put in that buggy for them?
[01:16:53] What would I do for somebody I love?
[01:16:55] And God calls us to love our neighbors.
[01:16:58] You can also come serve.
[01:17:00] I'll be at Carrie and I. Carrie's in the afternoon on Tuesday.
[01:17:04] I'm in the morning on Tuesday.
[01:17:06] We'll be at the Christian Mission working in the warehouse.
[01:17:09] And you are encouraged to come and serve with us.
[01:17:11] You can sign up on the church app.
[01:17:12] If you go to the place where there's three little dots at the bottom, you'll see a place where it says sign up for meaningful service days.
[01:17:19] Come and serve with us from 9 to 11.30 in the morning or from 11.30 to 3 or 2, something like that.
[01:17:26] If you don't sign up, can they come anyway, Carrie?
[01:17:30] Come on!
[01:17:31] Since we started doing Meaningful Service Days, 45 of you all have gone and served with us.
[01:17:35] And my bet is most of those 45 had not been regularly going.
[01:17:39] So thank you and we hope you'll show up.

[01:17:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]:
Now friends, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[01:17:45] May the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
[01:17:48] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
[01:17:51] In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

[01:17:53] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
Amen.
[01:17:55] The Gospel of the Lord.
[01:18:25] The Gospel of the Apostles
[01:18:48] The Gospel of the Apostles
[01:19:13] Thank you.

[01:19:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_02]:
You're welcome.

[01:19:45] [SPEAKER UNKNOWN]:
I'm so glad to say there's a great deal right now still going on.