Episode Transcript
Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of Krits and the Gospel. My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and I am so thankful to be here with you this week. I am sitting next to the lovely honey bee. Honey came with me last Sunday to worship outside on the other tabernacle and honey stood up when it was time to stand and sing a song. Honey sat down when everyone else around her sat down. Honey also this week has some issues with allergies. You might hear her scratching and hear her collar jingling. We love honey. We love that she is a preacher's dog. She knows when to sit and stand and when to cross her paws when we are praying. We know that she is struggling mightily but we are going to the vet this week. And so we will get some help from Dr. Haley who we love very much so please ignore the ringing that you will hear from honey bee this week. It is the 7th Sunday of Easter. We are here together worshipping the Lord. Next week is Pentecost and so I hope that wherever you get a church you will have the opportunity to wear some red. It is the only time I wear red. I don't wear red as many of you who have listened for a while can imagine. But next Sunday is a special Sunday and it will be red. My red shoes will come out for the second time this week. I know I will talk more about that next week in the sermon. So today is also a June 1st is a communion Sunday so you will hear me speak about the Charles Wesley called a communion. So I hope that you have a place to go and to communion with friends. So let us now come together at a time of worship the Lord be with you and also with you. The lesson is from the epistle from the Acts epistle. And we are in the 16th chapter the 28th to the 34th verses. This is only part of the epistle. Listen to the long epistle. If you feel so inclined to get read the whole lesson it is Acts 16 verses 16 through 34. But we will concentrate on the end of it starting in verse 28. The Paul shouted and allowed voice do not harm yourself for we are all here. The Jailer called for lights and rushing any fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, Sirs what must I do to be saved? They answered believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved you and your household. They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At that same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds and he it his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the household and set food before them and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer. Here ends the first reading. Let us come together now and recite those words that we are familiar with that are the tenants of our faith. Let us hear them the sweet with fresh ears. Friends what do we believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified dead and married. The third day he rose from the dead he ascended into heaven and said that the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he shall come to judge the quick 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. Let us pray together dear Lord we come to you today thankful that your son left us with the ability to be one with you, that we can be filled with you. No matter how broken we are, we are thankful for the testimony of the jailer and appalling Silas who brought an entire household of believers to the faith. Let their example be one for us to share with others. Here as now as we pray this word your son taught us to pray our Father who art in heaven, how would be thy name, thy kingdom come, by 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 that is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Today's Gospel lesson is in the Gospel according to Joan. We are in the Seventh-Teeth chapter verses twenty through twenty-six. Here now the word of the Lord. I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word that may may all be one. As you Father are in me and I am in you may they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me and I have given them so that they may be one as we are one. I am them and you and me that they may become completely one. So that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father I desire that those also whom you have given me may be with you may be with me where I am to see my glory. Which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Right? Just Father the world does not know you but I know you and these know that you have sent me. I may journey known to them and I will make it known so that the love which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. The word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God. Would you pray with me to Lord as we come together today and hear these beautiful words in this beautiful story. Help us to remember that we are all one in you because of the love we have for Christ. What the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in my sight. Oh Lord my strength and my redeemer. One of the perks of being a South Georgia clergy woman is that I get to be a part of the S3 program. S3 stands for study service and Sabbath. It's a program that funds opportunities for clergy to get some time apart and build community. It is a unique profession that we are in and since we live so far apart we're given this opportunity to bring us together in a variety of ways. Part of what we first decide about our groups when we form them is a name. And my group of clergy women almost immediately came up with the name the High Women. It all started from a group of outlaw country singers that formed the group the High Women. Johnny Cash, Whalen Jennings, Willie Nelson and Chris Christopherson recorded three albums together in the 80s and 90s. In 2019 is a tribute to that outlaw group of musicians. Brandy Carlyle, Natalie Hembee, Marin Morris and Amanda Shares formed the High Women and released an album. Those women, those rebels and outlaws, those sages and songbirds inspired for the United Methodist clergy women in South Georgia to form our own group. We may not sing but we sure do love to rebel against the expectations of what proper Southern ladies and clergy women are supposed to be. We are outwardly and openly welcoming and affirming of anyone who wants to be a part of our churches. We ride roller coasters at Dollywood together. We laugh together and cuss together and support each other and every once in a while we study and serve us together too. We also try to live out one of the band the High Women's most famous songs. I'm going to spare you my singing voice but I wanted to share some of the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, Crowded Table. The door is always open, your pictures on my wall. Everyone's a little broken and everyone belongs. I want a house with a Crowded Table and a place by the fire for everyone. I love that idea. It reminds me of a statement that is at the top of our Order of Worship. Open Hearts, Open Mons, Open Doors. The former Mission of the United Methodist Church. A mission that we got away from for a while. A mission that became ironic over the last few years. But the mission statement was never a bad one. The mission was exactly who we should have tried to be. The mission is who we are trying to get back to. Jesus speaks of God and says this. I made your name known to them and I will make it known so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them. We got too far away from the love of it all. We let those hearts and minds and doors close figuratively and literally. But the idea of loving everyone and having the love of God in us and making us all one is something that this place is intentional about. This place is open to everyone. This place is where we can indeed become one in the body of Christ. The Howam and said it well. The door is always open. If it wasn't so hot, I would absolutely leave the door of this church open at the back. But who are we kidding? This is South Georgia. The Mosquitos would carry us off if we left them open. And I love that next line. Everyone's a little broken and everyone belongs. This may make some of you clutch or pearls, but I really want to get those words tattooed on my arm. I want several more tattoos, but that's another sermon for another day. Everyone is indeed broken. I am broken. But my brokenness doesn't exclude me from the table. It does not exclude me from the church. And it does not exclude me from belonging to the kingdom of God. We belong because we are broken. We are human and beautifully and perfect. And the light and love of God shines brightest through the broken places because we belong to Him. There's another song we sing a lot at camp. Children go where I send thee. I'm going to start and let's see if you can jump in with the lyrics. Three for the Hebrew children. Two for who? Paul and Silas. One for the little bitty baby was born, born, born in Bethlehem. I love the story of Paul and Silas. Most people only know it from that line in this very song. But it's a lot more dark than the children's song Let's On. The jailer was ready to end his life. An earthquake had opened the doors of the jail and he knew that the powers that be would put him to death for letting everyone escape. So he decided to end his life before it can be ended for him. But what he doesn't realize in the darkness is that none of the prisoners left. He did not have to die. And right then and there. And he can be saved. And Paul and Silas tell him. Believe in the Lord Jesus. And you will be saved. You and your household. Don't miss those last three words. And your household. That meant the baptism and salvation was given to him. His wife, his children, and all of his servants. Everyone was broken. And then because they were all baptized and believed. Everyone belonged. Male, female, adult, child, slave and free. We are all one in the body of Christ. Or something like that. The jailer's table was crowded. And what a glorious table of brokenness and redemption it was. We use this same text in the United Methodist Church as part of our doctrine on baptism. Paul baptized the children of the household and not just the adults. God's love is not kept from anyone. It is available to all. It is in part who we are as United Methodist. Open heart to the love we are given from the beginning of time. Open minds to the ideas of others and to the acceptance of those who are different than we are. Open doors to everyone who wants to be here with us just like the doors of the jail we're open. And the jailer and his prisoners and his household were set free. The great Tom Petty once said, the good song should give you a lot of images. You should be able to make your own little movie in your head to a good song. I love to imagine a little movie of crowded table happening right here before me each week. All of us coming together when we need each other. The lyrics go on to say this. You can hold my hand when you need to let go. I can meet you. Be your mountain when you're feeling valley low. I can be your street light showing you the way home. I want a house with a crowded table and a place by the fire for everyone. Let's take on the world where we're young and able and bring us back together when the day is done. That line gets me to you can hold my hand when you need to let go. I've had to do that before my life. I've needed a safe hand to hold while I let go of things that were hurting me. A lot of you held hands and jumped together to get here to the campground. Now our turn to offer our hand to those who need help letting go of hurting pain. What a beautiful gift we have to give. One that shows resilience and tenacity, gumption and bravery and healing and heart. The high women and so many other pastors like us in the South Georgia conference are working hard to ensure everyone is welcome. We will be meeting this week at annual conference and discussing ways to keep these doors and hearts and minds open. There will be three new pastors being ordained and commissioned. Who I know want to live out the ideals of the United Methodist Church. We all believe that everyone is broken and we are all sure that everyone belongs. I'm sure that's where we are. What we are trying to do here at St. Paul Chapel. Build a place where the doors are always open just like our hearts. Where we can give each other and those in our community a hand when they need it. Where we may not all be young but we are able. And where when the day is done we can come back together and gather around our own crowded table. There's one more song that I cannot help but think about today. Charles Wesley or Chuck as I like to call him wrote the lyrics to a call to communion that ring very true today. A call for everyone in the household of God to come together around the sacred crowded table as we remember the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ. For on this last Sunday of Easter we can reflect back on the season and all of the beauty we have seen together. Where everyone is welcome because everyone is a child of God. Charles Wesley says this. Come sinners to the gospel feast. Let every soul, every soul, let every soul be Jesus's guest. You need not be left behind. For God have been all mankind. Everyone is broken. Everyone belongs. This week as we go throughout our week before we come back together to our crowded table. Let us find those people that need a hand to hold while they let go. That need a table to come around. Let us seek them out and find them and give them a place where they can feel safe. Because in life and death and life beyond death God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Come in.
