Morning Prayer: Second Sunday After Pentecost

I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house ofthe Lord."    Psalm 122:1

The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshiperswill worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for such theFather seeks to worship him.    John 4:23

Confession of Sin

The Officiant says to the people

Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence ofAlmighty God our heavenly Father, to set forth his praise, tohear his holy Word, and to ask, for ourselves and on

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behalfof others, those things that are necessary for our life and oursalvation. And so that we may prepare ourselves in heart andmind to worship him, let us kneel in silence, and withpenitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we mayobtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.

Silence may be kept.

Officiant and People together, all kneeling

Most merciful God,we confess that we have sinned against youin thought, word, and deed,by what we have done,and by what we have left undone.We have not loved you with our whole heart;we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,have mercy on us and forgive us;that we may delight in your will,and walk in your ways,to the glory of your Name. Amen.

The Priest alone stands and says

Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sinsthrough our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in allgoodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you ineternal life. Amen.

The Invitatory and Psalter

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All standOfficiant Lord, open our lips.

People And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Officiant and People

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: asit was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Except in Lent, add    Alleluia.

On other Sundays and weekdays

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

Venite     Psalm 95:1-7

Come, let us sing to the Lord; *    let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *    and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God, *    and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *    and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *    and his hands have molded the dry land.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *    and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God,

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and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *    Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

The Psalm or Psalms Appointed

Psalm 100

Jubilate Deo

1 Be joyful in the Lord, all you lands; *serve the Lord with gladnessand come before his presence with a song.

2 Know this: The Lord himself is God; *he himself has made us, and we are his;we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.

3 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;go into his courts with praise; *give thanks to him and call upon his Name.

4 For the Lord is good;his mercy is everlasting; *and his faithfulness endures from age to age.

At the end of the Psalms is sung or said

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *    as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The Lessons

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Exodus 19:2-8aThe Israelites had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”

So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all answered as one: “Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.”

16    The Song of Zechariah    Benedictus Dominus Deus          Luke 1: 68-79

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *    he has come to his people and set them free.He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *    born of the house of his servant David.Through his holy prophets he promised of old,that he would save us from our enemies, *    from the hands of all who hate us.He promised to show mercy to our fathers *    and to remember his holy covenant.This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *    to set us free from the hands of our enemies,Free to worship him without fear, *    holy and righteous in his sight    all the days of our life.

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You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,To give his people knowledge of salvation *    by the forgiveness of their sins.In the tender compassion of our God *    the dawn from on high shall break upon us,To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the                             shadow of death, *    and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *    as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Romans 5:1-8Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-- though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

21    You are God   Te Deum laudamus

You are God: we praise you;You are the Lord; we acclaim you;You are the eternal Father:All creation worships you.

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To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:    Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,    heaven and earth are full of your glory.The glorious company of apostles praise you.The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;    Father, of majesty unbounded,    your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,    and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,the eternal Son of the Father.When you became man to set us freeyou did not shun the Virgin's womb.You overcame the sting of deathand opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.You are seated at God's right hand in glory.We believe that you will come and be our judge.    Come then, Lord, and help your people,    bought with the price of your own blood,    and bring us with your saints    to glory everlasting.

Hymn 376 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee Hymn To Joy

1 Joyful, joyful, we adore thee,God of glory, Lord of love;hearts unfold like flowers before thee,praising thee, their sun above.Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;drive the dark of doubt away;giver of immortal gladness,fill us with the light of day.

2 All thy works with joy surround thee,earth and heaven reflect thy rays,stars and angels sing around thee,

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center of unbroken praise.field and forest, vale and mountain,blooming meadow, flashing sea,chanting bird and flowing fountain,call us to rejoice in thee.

3 Thou art giving and forgiving,ever blessing, ever blest,wellspring of the joy of living,ocean depth of happy rest!Thou our Father, Christ our Brother:all who live in love are thine;teach us how to love each other,lift us to the joy divine.

Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

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These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. [Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”]

Sermon – Very Rev. Alston B. Johnson

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“Happiness is the natural flower of duty,” said Phillips Brooks, perhaps the most well-known preacher of his generation in the 19th Century, who happened to be an Episcopalian.

If you sit with someone long enough the conversation will eventually turn toward the topic of happiness – either implicitly or implied; are you happy in your life?  Are you happy in your work?  Are you happy in your relationships?

Are you happy?I sometimes think of happiness as those time in life

when we are not casting a shadow over our own consciousness.  We are free of doubt, guilt, shame, and fear; we are present to the present.  A serendipitous state of being alive and being content, no longer chasing after the next shiny thing, no longer peeking around the corner looking for the next thing.  It is a kind of “arrival.”  Maybe like heaven.

This pursuit of happiness is a universal search.  So common among human beings that Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence included the pursuit of happiness as one of the fundamental rights in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.

English economist, Richard Layard, member of the House of Lords and a Director of the London School of Economics, has published widely through the years about the phenomenon of happiness.  As an economist he was intrigued by the fact that most of us would assume that as wealth increases, intrinsic happiness would naturally increase as well.  Layard was surprised to find that while being wealthy is a factor in someone’s sense of fulfillment, it creates a situation of diminishing returns - as someone gains more and more money, greater means of conspicuous consumption, they come to live with a sense of having less and less.         For me it brings to mind that image of the thirsty person trying to assuage their thirst with salty water – the more they drink, the thirstier and more desperate they become.

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Richard Layard also found something that most of us know intuitively - that unemployment damages a person, makes them even feel impoverished, useless.  For some, the loss of a job, the loss of meaningful work, can become a greater blow that a death in the family.  It is a kind of dying of the self.  He sums up the thrust of his economics in one sentence - “People need to be needed . . . People need to be needed.”  And that is why almost any job is better than none at all.  That is why a social situation in which many are unoccupied and unemployed, or unemployable, will gather momentum to the point of crisis.

Richard Layard advises individuals need a trajectory toward which to point their energy, their focus, their gifts, their hopes and dreams.  Take these away, and you will find only a shell of a human being; I might go so far to say that if we take these away, and we might find that some fundamental source of our humanity is being compromised; there can be no happiness because there is no means of pursuit.

There was a movie some years ago that explored this theme; looking at what the path to happiness, and what it might look like - it is called “In the Pursuit of Happyness.”  It is about the life of a man named Chris Gardner, who overcomes every conceivable modern social obstacle to reach his goal.  What was his goal?

His goal was to be a good father, the father he never had, having been terribly abused as a child.

His goal was to take care of his family in ways that had been denied, or eluded, his own family in childhood. 

His goal was to be “successful,” at least as we often define success, and that meant having a career and the ability to become the captain of his own fate.  As he will say of himself, “I did not necessarily want money, I simply wanted to be the best, to excel, at whatever I was going to do.”

Of course the movie is something of a fairy tale; but it remains the true story of a real man.  The movie does in

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two hours what took the real Chris Gardner many years to accomplish. 

He loses apartments, his wife, his job, and finds himself living with his toddler son in public bathrooms, homeless shelters, and hotels, all the while trying to get a foothold into another kind of world.  The struggles he faces are relentless, as he tries to pull himself, and his child, out of this tangled web of dead-end jobs, overdue rent, parking tickets, child-care, no money, no food, and nowhere simply to rest long enough in order to think clearly.

Any one of the struggles that he faces would put me, and most of the people I know, on their knees wondering what to do next, asking if anything in this life can actually change for the better.  Asking the question, “Is any of this worth it?”

There are too many poignant scenes to share. One that I love is that Chris Gardner has hounded and

hounded a businessman for a chance to intern for a stockbrokerage firm.  He places all of his hopes and his determination into the interview that has finally been given.  On the day before to the interview he is arrested for parking tickets and spends the night in jail; he arrives at the interview in a t-shirt, dirty, and embarrassed.

It’s clear that the boardroom full of suits and ties is not pleased with his appearance.  Finally, after some banter, the CEO asks Christ Gardiner, “Chris, what would you say to me if I hired someone for this position who came in here without a shirt and a tie?  If I hired a man without a shirt on?  What would you say?”

Chris Gardiner pauses and says, “Well . . . he must have had on some really nice pants.”

Slowly the laughter rises to the surface, the tension leaves the room, and Gardiner is offered the position; it is a moment of grace.  It is a moment of looking past what we see, so that we see the person who is sitting in front of us.

Watching that scene, I always hope and pray that Jesus will have such a good sense of humor, and grace,

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when I find myself in his presence for my own eternal life job interview.          Chris Gardiner’s story, and this movie, tells the tale of how we are shaped by what we pursue and why we pursue it.  Our hearts, minds, and souls are shaped in the pursuit.  If you have ever pitched your life like a baseball toward some hunch, some goal, something larger than yourself on behalf of others, then you will appreciate this man’s story.          The power is in how this movie ends.

Having endured every headache and heartache, after watching him lose his job, his wife, his house, his hotel room.  Watching him feed his son in homeless shelters.  Watching the two of them sleep in public bathrooms and on buses.  Watching as Gardner struggles to complete a stockbroker’s internship without all of the perks, the advantages, the support that we take for granted; having nothing but his desire and hope as fuel.

Finally, in the end, Chris Gardner gets his chance, wins his job and his way out of hand to mouth living.  Finally, he captures that elusive bird – what we call happiness.  And this is what he says, as his heart is bursting with joy; “this part of my life, this little part, is called - Happiness.”

It is only after day after day after day of struggle that Chris Gardiner holds what many of us expect is our daily portion.

In an interview about his life, Chris Gardner says that his profession, making money as a stock broker, is secondary to his true story; the real “value” of his life is the journey he has made in reaching the achievement.  “What I do is not who I am.  It is my journey that is the important thing.”     

Watching interviews with Gardiner, my sense is that his wealth has become simply an instrument by which to extend the wisdom and spiritual growth he has found along the way; although in the beginning it was about money, it has now become about the depth and significance of his life.

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When we are honest with ourselves about our goals in life, I believe that most of us do seek the elusive bird of happiness.  That is what we want, that is what we seek.  Some of us seek it purely in terms of money, what money can buy, how money might perhaps buy us out of more work; especially if we find no joy in our work. 

Others of us seek happiness purely in the hope that we will meet that person who will complete us, answer the question of our lives.  If we could just have that certain someone, then our happiness would be assured.  And sadly, others of us have given up on finding happiness, or decided that mere pleasure, or cynicism, is a viable alternative; which is a lie.  And when we are made to be honest with ourselves we know it is a lie.

Jesus promises us peace and happiness in the Gospels.  And Jesus tells us what Richard Layard tells us, that the wealth, the gold that moves mountains in this world, cannot move everything in the human heart.  There are doors within our souls that only God’s key will unlock.  Jesus invites us to be his hands and feet in the world, to do his work when he goes to be with the Father, which is one of the keys of unlocking the true meaning of our lives.

Jesus sends his disciples out to be his hands and feet in the world.  He tells them it will be difficult sometimes.  That they will struggle at times.  Living as one of Jesus followers, as well as a human being in search of my own happiness, I find wisdom and inspiration in the story of the Chris Gardiners of this world.

There really is no Plan B if we follow Christ.  And Jesus is being honest with his friends in telling them that often the path to what we think of as happiness, or purpose, or joy with God, will be a path fraught with difficulties, challenges, and things that are hard to bear.

Jesus sends followers, disciples, upon a journey that actually cannot be held to a measure taken only in this world.  The life of the disciple is actually a continuous giving away of life as we know it in this life, so that the container might be filled with things that are yet to be

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known or seen in this life – in the life of the disciple there is a continuous trading of places that is taking place.

Jesus invites the disciples to go depending upon nothing but themselves and him.  They start from scratch to remake the world.  Their reward, their happiness, will follow in their wake; as Phillips Brooks said, their “happiness will be the flower of their duty.”

We are modern disciples called to the same task.  “Go out and be my hands and feet,” Jesus says.  I believe that we will find our journey’s as disciples are much like the journey of Chris Gardner.  We will struggle; perhaps be misunderstood by a cynical and doubtful world.  We will have to have courage, and more than we have ever known.  We will have to keep our flame alive when all around us is rain and thunder.  We will have to have faith, and be faithful, knowing that we walk with Christ’s feet and work with Christ’s hands.  We will have to do our duty - for His sake.

And then, like some exotic and beautiful bird landing in our hands, God will touch our lives with the gold of his presence, his happiness. 

When our need to be needed is answered with God’s need of us, then, then we will know that peace of God which passes all understanding.

The Apostles' Creed

Officiant and People together, all standing

I believe in God, the Father almighty,    creator of heaven and earth;I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.    He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit        and born of the Virgin Mary.    He suffered under Pontius Pilate,        was crucified, died, and was buried.

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    He descended to the dead.    On the third day he rose again.    He ascended into heaven,        and is seated at the right hand of the Father.    He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,    the holy catholic Church,    the communion of saints,    the forgiveness of sins    the resurrection of the body,    and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Prayers

The People stand or kneelOfficiant The Lord be with you.

People And also with you.

Officiant Let us pray.

Officiant and PeopleOur Father, who art in heaven,     hallowed be thy Name,     thy kingdom come,     thy will be done,         on earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our trespasses,     as we forgive those         who trespass against us.And lead us not into temptation,     but deliver us from evil.For thine is the kingdom,     and the power, and the glory,

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     for ever and ever. Amen.

 AV.    Show us your mercy, O Lord;R.    And grant us your salvation.V.    Clothe your ministers with righteousness;R.    Let your people sing with joy.V.    Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;R.    For only in you can we live in safety.V.    Lord, keep this nation under your care;R.    And guide us in the way of justice and truth.V.    Let your way be known upon earth;R.    Your saving health among all nations.V.    Let not the needy, O Lord, be forgotten;R.    Nor the hope of the poor be taken away.V.    Create in us clean hearts, O God;R.    And sustain us with your Holy Spirit.

The Collect of the Day

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for Sundays

O God, you make us glad with the weekly remembrance ofthe glorious resurrection of your Son our Lord: Give us thisday such blessing through our worship of you, that the weekto come may be spent in your favor; through Jesus Christ ourLord. Amen.

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A Collect for Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of theearth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to thosewho are far off and to those who are near: Grant that peopleeverywhere may seek after you and find you; bring thenations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh;and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through JesusChrist our Lord. Amen.

For Sick Persons

O Father of mercies and God of all comfort, our only help intime of need: We humbly beseech thee to behold, visit, andrelieve all thy sick and ill servants, for whom our prayers are desired.Look upon them with the eyes of thy mercy; comfort them witha sense of thy goodness; preserve them from the temptationsof the enemy; and give them patience under their affliction. Inthy good time, restore them to health, and enable them to leadthe residue of this life in thy fear, and to thy glory; and grantthat finally they may dwell with thee in life everlasting; throughJesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

For Doctors and Nurses, Hospital Administrators, and Hospital Staff

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Sanctify, O Lord, those whom you have called to the studyand practice of the arts of healing, and to the prevention ofdisease and pain. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit,that by their ministries the health of the community may bepromoted and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christour Lord. Amen.

27. For Social Justice

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may somove every human heart [and especially the hearts of thepeople of this land], that barriers which divide us maycrumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that ourdivisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

We invite your own prayers of Intercession and Thanksgiving at this time.

Silence

62. A Prayer attributed to St. Francis

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there ishatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; wherethere is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; wherethere is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; wherethere is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek tobe consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it

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isin pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that weare born to eternal life. Amen.

Hymn 686 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing Nettleton

1 Come, thou fount of every blessing,tune my heart to sing thy grace!Streams of mercy never ceasing,call for songs of loudest praise.Teach me some melodious sonnet,sung by flaming tongues above.Praise the mount! O fix me on it,mount of God's unchanging love.

2 Here I find my greatest treasure;hither by thy help, I've come;and I hope, by thy good pleasure,safely to arrive at home.Jesus sought me when a stranger,wandering from the fold of God;he, to rescue me from danger,interposed his precious blood.

3 Oh, to grace how great a debtordaily I'm constrained to be!Let thy goodness, like a fetter,bind my wandering heart to thee;prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,prone to leave the God I love;here's my heart, oh, take and seal it,seal it for thy courts above.

The General Thanksgiving

Officiant and People20

Almighty God, Father of all mercies,we your unworthy servants give you humble thanksfor all your goodness and loving-kindnessto us and to all whom you have made.We bless you for our creation, preservation,and all the blessings of this life;but above all for your immeasurable lovein the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ;for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory.And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise,not only with our lips, but in our lives,by giving up our selves to your service,and by walking before youin holiness and righteousness all our days;through Jesus Christ our Lord,to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit,be honor and glory throughout all ages. Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.Thanks be to God.

The Officiant may then conclude with one of the following

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, andthe fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.Amen.    2 Corinthians 13:14

May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace inbelieving through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.Romans 15:13

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitelymore than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him fromgeneration to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesusfor ever and ever. Amen.    Ephesians 3:20,21

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