We welcome everyone to our services at Yetholm (10am) and Morebattle (11.15am). Visitors please sign our Visitors’ book.
Call to Worship Let us sing to the LORD a new song. We will bless God’s name from day to day. Let us declare God’s marvellous deeds among all the peoples; For God is great and greatly to be praised. Let us praise God for God’s strength and beauty. We will bring God honour and glory Hymn 127 – O worship the King (1,2,5,6) Opening Prayer God our Creator, Source of all being, we celebrate this Life you have made, in all its wonder and interdependence, and we praise you. Guide of all hope, we celebrate the Way you show us, in Jesus - our Saviour and Exemplar, and we praise you. Spirit of all inspiration, we celebrate the goodness you grow and nurture in our lives and world, and we praise you. Holy One, awed by your goodness we recognise our own smallness… We acknowledge the times when our selfishness has damaged this earth. We acknowledge the times when our prejudice or apathy has injured others. We acknowledge the times when our fear, isolation or self-loathing has injured ourselves. With humility, grace and courage, we turn to you knowing your faithfulness and love have no limits and ask you to transform our despair into new opportunity. Help us to turn away from our destructiveness and work with your Spirit to create new life. We unite our prayers together in the Lord’s Prayer using the form or words which are most worshipful for us…Our Father… Readings – 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (pg 1186) Matthew 22: 15-22 (pg 990) Hymn SGP 111 – We are one in the Spirit Weekly Prayer Loving God, Who made us in your image and calls us by name. May we be imitators of you, that people may know we are Christians by the way we live our lives. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen. Reflection Storm Babet has worked its course. Apparently, it was named after someone in the Netherlands, involved in forecasting weather. I wonder how she feels about being associated with a storm that brought misery to some. Names conjure up images. Attila or Tamerlane may have been nice to animals, but their names evoke pictures of terror and destruction. Bu there might be other names which conjure up images of goodness and love. In the 7th Century when Oswald was king in Northumbria, he requested a bishop be sent from Iona to help him establish Christianity in his kingdom. Corman was sent from Iona but he found the people of Northumbria to be intractable, obstinate and uncivilized. Back on Iona, Aiden suggested that a more nurturing approach be taken, resulting in Aiden being sent to establish a monastic centre on Lindisfarne. The nurturing approach Aiden took had a memorable impact on the people he met. He became known as a leader who was committed to abstinence and care for others. Riches or luxuries which came into his possession were often given away to those in need. He used gifts of money to free people from slavery, many of whom he then brought to the monastery to work, offering them education and opportunity. There is a famous story of Aiden being gifted a fine horse with royal trappings which he gave away (trappings and all) to a beggar he met on the road. For Aiden the purpose of his life and the opportunities which fell his way, were to glorify God by living Jesus’ way of love. People who encountered Aiden saw his resemblance to Jesus and the God of Jesus, in the love which he showed; love which set aside his own status and ease, for the care and concern of people in greater need, and in doing so to brought glory to the God of Jesus. Even Aiden’s opponents recognised God’s family resemblance in him. In the reading from Matthew today we heard a story of the religious leaders trying to catch Jesus out, which he turned into a much bigger question, which catches us all out. The leaders asked Jesus a simple but clever question, was it right to pay taxes to the Romans. There was an unholy alliance against Jesus, as the Pharisees and Herodians couldn’t stand each other, but they hated Jesus more. The Pharisees were against paying taxes, but the Herodians were the government party, so were for it. Whichever answer Jesus gave would have made him anti-Roman OR pro Roman. They had caught Jesus this time surely. But Jesus asked whose image was on the coin. The image was that of Caesar Augustus. Jesus said, Give unto Caesar the things that are the Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. He escaped the trap, confounded his opponents but also uttered something profound. It raises questions on our duty to the state and our duty to God, especially for Christians living in oppression or where they disagree with the actions of the state. Jesus wasn’t arguing for sedition. Throughout his life Jesus challenged the injustice of prejudice, exploitation and greed, but it seems he did so by changing attitudes more than directly campaigning to change systems. I do not think this means as Jesus followers we are not to engage with building systems which are just and protect the vulnerable, but we need to recognise that systems will always be contextual and temporary, while the shaping values of love and justice come from the heart of God and are eternal. Paul wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, praising them for imitating Christ and being models for the churches around. They were living out their faith, and people around were noticing it. How do we do that today? How do we perceive our lives, our bodies, our resources, as tools to bring glory and honour to the One whose image we reflect and to whom we belong? Aiden certainly did not perceive his life or material wealth as tools for his own glory but gifts to share the love of God in the world. Through Aiden’s loving actions, God was recognised and glorified by friends, strangers and opponents alike. The challenge is there for us – to be like the Thessalonians and imitate God, for we bear God’s image. We belong to God. Hymn 616 – There’s a spirit in the air Dedication of Offering God of abundance, we bring what we have to share, a portion of your goodness to us. Bless our gifts and our lives, so that generosity and justice will join hands, and your goodness touches those in need, in Jesus’ name. Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession God of our hearts and our hopes, As the season changes and the land prepares for winter, we thank you for autumn goodness, for brilliant colours, birds flying south, the crackle of fallen leaves and the taste of this year’s harvest. We are grateful for your steadfast love amid so much that changes. We pray for the world, for places where despair is great and where your creation groans in pain. We especially pray for Israel and Palestine; for those killed and injured in the attacks by Hamas and by those killed and injured by rockets from Israel into Gaza. We think of all on both sides whose homes are destroyed or who have had to move. We pray for all those who have worked for peace and reconciliation who are struggling with issues of trust and hope. We pray for the leaders of the world to act with integrity and seek a solution. We recognise that there is conflict in many other places in the world, such as Yemen, Iraq, Ethiopia and ask that your peace and healing come to these and other places, where we can see that they are all children of God, all valid, equal and worthy of love, compassion and understanding. We pray for the Church, here today and across the world. We are able to worship openly, to read Scripture. Help us never to be ashamed of our faith and to have the desire to deepen our discipleship. Help us remember that we have siblings in faith around the world who are persecuted or being tortured, imprisoned and killed for their faith in you. We pray for them, acknowledge their bravery and thank you for their devotion to you. Give us the strength to be like them, to step out in faith boldly and to work to deepen our discipleship and understanding of you so that we can better serve you in the world. God of comfort and compassion, We pray for all those who are struggling this autumn, whatever the reason. We remember before you those facing illness or waiting for treatment,… those who worry about winter expenses or finding shelter,… those who are grieving the loss of someone close,… and those whose mental health is under pressure these days… Awaken us to the needs of those at risk in our communities and help us respond with your comfort and compassion Silence Amen Hymn 167 – Guide me , O thou great Jehovah Benediction Walk in the presence of God this week, watching for signs of God’s Spirit at work around you. And so may God bless you and keep you; God be kind and gracious to you; may God look upon you with favour and bring you joy and peace, now and forevermore.
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Call to Worship In deep gratitude we come to worship God. We recognize God as the source of all goodness. All good gifts come from the Spirit of God: love, peace, joy, patience, kindness are all of God. We come with grateful hearts. We gather to show our gratitude in song and prayer. Hymn 230 – Praise God for the harvest Opening Prayer Heavenly Father, As we gather here today in this harvest season, we come before you with hearts full of thanksgiving and joy. We recognize that this season is a testament to your providence and the abundance of your creation. We open this harvest celebration with hearts open to your presence. We are grateful for the rich blessings you have bestowed upon us, the fruits of the earth that grace our tables, and the fellowship of friends and family gathered here today. We thank you for the changing seasons, for the cycles of planting and harvesting, and for the lessons they teach us about patience, faith, and abundance. May we always be mindful of your presence in every aspect of our lives. Lord, as we commence this celebration of abundance, we ask for your guidance and blessings. May this event be a time of joy, gratitude, and reflection. Help us to remember the hard work of those who have laboured in the fields, the dedication of farmers and gardeners, and the miracle of growth that you have ordained. May this gathering be a time of unity and community, where we share not only the bounty of the land but also the warmth of friendship and the bonds of love. Bless our conversations, our laughter, and our shared moments. Forgive us for our ingratitude and complacency. Help us to be good stewards of the earth and mindful of those who do not have enough. May this season of plenty remind us to share with others and to always seek your guidance in all that we do. Lord’s Prayer All age talk Hymn – Monarch and Maker Readings – Philippians 4: 1 -9 (pg 1181) Matthew 22: 1-14 (pg 990) Hymn 227 – The earth is yours, O God Weekly Prayer Lord of the Harvest, bless the labours of our hands and hearts and bless the fruit of our co-operation and community. Awaken us to your longing for a different world, where all are welcomed, valued and appreciated. Give us grace to discern your presence in one another, that together we may come to the eternal harvest of your grace. Amen Reflection After our service today we are going to have lunch along the road at the Institute, and all are welcome. If you don’t know the way, just follow the choir. Those who have prepared it will be most disappointed if no-one turns up. But that’s what happened in our Gospel reading today. The King threw a party, but people all sent their apologies. Now, Jesus told this story. Like all good stories he probably told it in different occasions and with different emphases, with different twists according to the context of where he was, who he was addressing. We are perhaps more familiar with Luke’s telling of this story. The great and the good came out with all sorts of excuses why they couldn’t attend the party, all very plausible. So the host sent out servants to bring in the poor, the crippled, the marginalised. Everyone was included, everyone valued, everyone had their place at the table. I personally like Luke’s version of the parable. But Matthew’s take on the story is something else. The party is his son’s wedding. The highlight of the social calendar, one might have thought, but again the great and the good send their apologies. But this time, the king sends in the troops and flattens the city. The name of the game is vengeance and violence. Afterwards, whoever is left, be they good or bad, are invited to what I would imagine to be a more sombre gathering. But even then, there is a twist, because in the carnage of destruction one guest hasn’t had the ability to change, but is ejected for not wearing the proper clothes, for making the faux pas of not dressing for a wedding. It all makes for awkward reading. And yet it is maybe appropriate with world events in Israel and Gaza and Ukraine to dwell on violence and vengeance. Jesus was talking to the religious leaders and implying that they are the ones who have rejected God’s invitation, so others are chosen to attend the heavenly banquet instead. Well and good. But Matthew was addressing the early Christian communities, and they would be aware that Jerusalem had been conquered and flattened by the Romans in 70AD, which some of them no doubt interpreted as divine punishment. Matthew included this image of the destroyed town. Today in Gaza there are scenes of utter destruction, of killing and death, of hospitals with no power and rapidly running out of drugs. There are also the images of Israeli communities where Hamas fighters ransacked and slaughtered. Scenes of violence and vengeance, the continuation of the cycle of hatred. As you know I have visited Gaza a number of times and have visited some of the Israeli communities hit by Hamas. The Guild had a project in one of them several years ago. We have to break that cycle. As for the guest who was bound and thrown into the outer darkness for wearing the wrong clothes, it all seems very harsh. When you have a group photograph taken, you know to dress accordingly, but wouldn’t be thrown out for wearing the wrong clothes. Last week on the radio a woman priest recounted how as an assistant, she was told to wear a dark suit for a bereavement call, but she didn’t have and had to hunt around charity shops for something appropriate. These days, people come ‘as they are’ and are welcomed ‘as they are’. But I think what Matthew is getting at here is that the guest came to the feast but remained the same; he wasn’t changed, he wasn’t transformed by the presence of the host. In the New Testament we are told to clothe ourselves with patience and love and compassion. The guest failed to do so. In fact we can look at the reading from Philippians, which is about rejoicing but also, in one of my favourite passages, encourages the Christians in Philippi to focus on what is true and noble, whatever is excellent and praiseworthy, the best and not the worst, the beautiful and not the ugly. It can be depressing looking at the news, seeing so much suffering in the world through wars or disasters affected by our changing climate. We wonder what next and can often dread the next news bulletin. I certainly do with Gaza. However perhaps we need to focus on the good and noble around us and clothe ourselves with God’s compassion and love. God does invite us to a feast and all are welcome, the dress code is to be clothed in compassion and love. Choir Anthem Dedication of Offering Gracious God, You call us to let go of the things we cling to and step out in faith, trusting in Your love and provision. Give us courage to step out boldly, to plant our small seeds generously, and without fear. Use our gifts to accomplish more than we could possibly imagine, so that, through us, Your kingdom might come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen Affirmation We saw a stranger yesterday. We put food in the eating place, drink in the drinking place, music in the listening place. And in the sacred name of the triune God, she blessed us and our house, our cattle and our dear ones. As the lark says in her song: Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise. Hymn 165 – Praise to the Lord Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession Lord God, you created the world and you saw that it was good. Today, at harvest time, we lift our eyes from the pavement and the floor and look with fresh awareness at the world you gave us. Open our hearts, good Lord, to see the riches and the wonder that you give your children: food to sustain their bodies, marvellous sights and sounds to feed their minds, beauty and love to fill their souls. Open our hearts, good Lord, until they overflow with happiness and thanks for all the gifts you give us in your world; and sweep them clean of petty grumbles about the little things we would have liked but that you chose not to give us. Open our hearts to offer you a rich and fitting harvest not only of our praise, but of our lives, lived in the way that you intended human lives to be. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Lord God, at harvest time we pray for those whose lives are still endured in deserts, with no hope of harvest. We pray for those who live in barren places where the rains fail and the cattle starve. We pray for them, and we ask for grace to see the action that should follow from our prayer – to see what we can do, and then to do it. We pray for those who live in devastated and polluted places ruined by war and human stupidity. We especially pray for situation in Israel and Palestine and Gaza. We pray for those whose deserts are created by disease – whose bodies burn with pain or fever, whose arms are weak; and for those who dedicate their lives to caring for them. Especially when their caring means risking their own health. We pray for those trapped in the desert of a damaged mind, caught in the sand of fear, unable to tell the difference between reality and mirage, lost and fast losing hope of finding their way to an inhabited city. We pray for them, and we ask for grace to see the action that should follow from our prayer – to see what we can do, and then to do it. Lord God, you commanded long ago that part of every harvest should be set aside to feed the poor and the foreigner. Help us to bring the riches of harvest to your children who have nothing. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Finally, Lord, we pray for the work of harvest that you set your church. Teach us to see in every human spirit a shoot that you planted, with all the love that you put into your creation. Teach us to see in every shoot, reaching in its own way towards the light that you created on the first day, the image of the one who made it. Help us to understand the patient work of nurturing precious souls so that they flourish and shine and grow towards the perfection that you long for them to reach. Give us humility and patience, forgive us when we fail and guide our hands and our mouths to give good care to souls around us in this parish and in all the world, so that the harvest fills the granaries of heaven and not one is lost. We ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Hymn 229 – We plough the fields and scatter Benediction Go into the world showing a gentle attitude toward everyone. Be joyful and thankful! Fill your mind with those things that are good and deserve praise: things true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and honourable. And may God , Father Son and Holy Spirit, bless you and all whom you love this day and even forevermore. Amen
Call to Worship Give thanks to the LORD, for God is good; God’s steadfast love endures for ever. God crowns the year with bounty; Pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy. Valleys deck themselves with grain, and sing together for joy. So let us all praise God for all God’s goodness to us. Hymn - Hills of the North rejoice Opening Prayer Creator God, Your hands have shaped this world – A world born from your imagination, And given life through your own breath. Thank you for the beauty of nature; For its vastness and for its delicacy. Thank you for mountains and valleys, For beaches, seas and coasts, As well as for fields and gardens and parks. Thank you for bird song, For animals of every sort and size, and for crawly creatures on land and in the sea. Help us, Creator God, To enjoy all your hands have made And help us too, to care for it all, So that your world might thrive. Above all, On this day, we thank you especially, For your invitation to work with you in sowing and planting and in harvesting. Grow in us, we pray, a greater sense of wonder at how amazing your world is And may that wonder encourage us To cherish and respect this world As the gift it is from you. Teach us too, we pray, how to share that gift, With all around us. As you intended. Amen All age talk Hymn 181 – For the beauty of the earth Readings – Philippians 3: 4b -14 (pg 1180) Matthew 21: 33-46 (pg 990) Hymn 231 – For the fruits of all creation Weekly Prayer God of faithfulness, your generous love supplies us with the fruits of the earth in their seasons. Give us grace to be thankful for your gifts, to use them wisely and to share our plenty with others; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen Sermon Are you sitting comfortably. Then I will begin! Once upon a time there was a giant who lived in a rather large house with a beautiful garden not too far from here. But his cousin who was an ogre in Cornwall invited him for a visit, so off the giant went. It was quite far away so he was gone for some time, in fact a number of years. During that time the local children discovered the garden and played in it. It was wonderful with trees to climb and pretty flowers to gather. But then the giant came back. ‘What are you doing in MY garden’, he shrieked. ‘get out of here. If you dare to come back, I will eat you up’. And he built a wall to keep them out, and the leaves fell off the trees and the flowers died, and it was winter. It was winter in December, but it was also winter in April and in July and in September. It was winter right through the year. Until one day some children, with some memory of a wonderful garden, crept through a hole in the wall, and the wintry weather gave way to glorious spring. The trees blossomed, but there was one part of the garden which remained wintry, and that is where a single, solitary boy was unable to reach up and climb a tree. The selfish giant came out, and all the children ran away -except for the boy trying to climb the tree. The giant saw him trying and reached down and helped him up to the branch – and then the most wonderful thing happened – the boy turned and embraced the giant. The other children saw how the giant helped the boy, so gradually came back and played, but at the end of the day they go home, but the boy disappeared, and no one knew where he had gone. Years passed, and the boy doesn’t return, and the Giant is sad. Until the giant is dying, and the boy appears, with marks of nails in his hands and feet, but he tells the giant not to be scared. As the giant had let him play in his garden, he would now take the giant to his garden, paradise. When the other children came, they found the giant dead. It is an Oscar Wilde story, and maybe his most Christological. We can take a lot out of the story. The garden reminds us of Narnia where it was always winter and never Christmas. But it can also remind us of the vineyard in our Gospel reading today, for the selfishness of the giant reminds us of the selfishness, the greed, of the tenants led to the abuse and killing of the landowner’s servants and even his son. The tenants wanted the vineyard and its produce all for themselves and killed the Son to gain his inheritance. Selfishness, self-gain ruled their hearts. The boy in the story with the marks of suffering is the Christ figure, ready to embrace the world, even those who are selfish. Everyone needs to be loved, and love changes a person. Harvest is a time to remember how through selfishness we can turn our gardens, our earth, wintry. As humans we have abused the earth, exploited its fruit and minerals and we live with the consequences of that. The industrial revolution brought in great wealth but created horrendous conditions and changed our world. Yes, there were the Robert Owens of New Lanark who sought to provide schooling and further learning, but the reliance on fossil fuels was set. We think of self and fail to see what others are going through. The war in Ukraine has had a gigantic impact on food security. Ukraine was a major exporter of grain, and countries like Egypt which were so reliant on grain have seen inflation rise and it is the vulnerable who suffer. But in our story love triumphed over selfishness and made the garden grow. There are always good news stories as well, as people triumphing over adversity and addressing the situations where they find themselves. In Egypt the Church has helped Christian villages set up committees to look at health and education. Sadly a common theme is poor sanitation and pollution. In one village there was no way of disposing safely of rubbish, and it piled up beside the banks of canals. They have been able to address this and have been able to remove 148 tons of rubbish and purified the water in the canal, and life has become healthier. In Cairo it is Christians who collect the rubbish, and their families go through the rubbish and manage to recycle so much of it. In Iraq, devastated by ISIS, young Christians are looking to emigrate to Turkey or Jordan, as there are no opportunities. But again a scheme has been established in the Nineveh plain to irrigate land and make the desert blossom. Serop is 25and from a family of 8. He has now been trained to plant and tend crops in a greenhouse. His strawberries didn’t succeed but he was determined and experimented with broccoli and things are going well. All thought of leaving his village and country are gone; he wants to stay and help his village. We are going to share in communion and we take bread made of many grains and wine made from many grapes. We rejoice in the harvest, and as we reflect on the Christ who bears the wounds of suffering, but through love conquered death and rose again. So we remember and we pledge ourselves to rejoice in the harvest enjoyed by all the world. Choir Anthem Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession We give you thanks, O God, for all things that make life good, and pray that all people will share in the blessings we know. For the world, for the wonders of earth, sea and sky; for beauty in nature and wildlife; and for the rhythm of the days and seasons; For waters that refresh and sustain life; for soil that is fertile and rich; for those who tend crops and care for harvests; for those who produce, deliver and market our food; and for those who make sure the hungry are fed; For human life; for talking and thinking together, working on problems and plans; for burdens and joys shared; for relationships that give life meaning; and for the wisdom exchanged between old and young in mutual support: For your grace in times of anxiety, doubt and grief; for healing in times of illness, confusion, and distress; for rejuvenating strength and renewed purpose; for scientific knowledge and discovery to confront disease and improve health; For the trust that you hear each prayer and know every need; that you love and care for all; and that you walk with us through all our days and seasons; Amen The banqueting table is prepared and God calls us to the feast. We have come from east and west, from north and south, to sit at Christ’s table. Here compassion, love, and grace pour out like fine wine. Here we taste the bread of life, bread for our journey. There are gifts of God for all the people of God. Let us taste and see that the Lord is good! Invitation to the Table This table is set for all; around it there are no divisions. Just as bread is not made from one grain, but from many, and wine is not made from one grape, but from a full harvest, so too, we, who are many, are made one in Christ. Hymn 103- Fill your hearts The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving The Lord be with you; And also with you. Lift up your hearts; We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God; It is right to give God thanks and praise. It is our calling and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise, Lord God, Creator and Sustainer of heaven and earth. You spoke, and all things came into being: the sun, moon and stars, the earth, sky and waters, and everything they contain. Your Spirit swept over creation, bringing order out of chaos and life out of the formless void. From the elements of earth, you created humankind in your image. You breathed life into us and called us to love and serve you. But we turned away, seeking to live in our own way. Yet you have never turned from us. Through the law and the prophets, you called us back to you. In the fullness of time, you sent your son, Jesus, born of a mother’s flesh, to reveal your grace and love. Again and again, you welcome us back to your side with the open arms of a loving father. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with those from every time and place, to proclaim your glory in the unending hymn: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy is your son, Jesus. Walking this earth, feeding the hungry, calling the lost, offering healing and teaching to all who sought him, he revealed your kingdom at work in your world. we recall the mystery of faith: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. O God, pour out your Spirit upon us and upon this bread and wine. May they be for us the body and life blood of our Lord Jesus, healing, renewing and making us whole. Unite us in worship and witness with your Church throughout the world so that together we will bring honour and glory to your name through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in whose name we offer these words: Our 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. Breaking of bread The Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said, ‘this is my body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of me’. In the same way he took the cup, saying ‘ This cup is the new covenant sealed by my blood. Whenever you drink of it, do so in memory of me’ O Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world: have mercy on us. (x2) grant us your peace. This is the Christ’s body, broken for you. Take and eat in memory of him. This is the blood of Christ poured out for each one of us. Take and drink in memory of him. Peace Prayer after Communion Lord Jesus Christ, you have nourished us in this meal, and fed our bodies and souls. We have heard your love; now send us out to speak it. We have seen your love; now send us out to show it. We have been fed by your love; now send us out to share it. and let all things be done for your glory. Amen. Hymn 233 – Come ye thankful people come. Benediction In this season of harvests from field and garden, walk with thanksgiving in your hearts, savouring the abundance God’s creation produces, honouring what the earth needs to flourish again next season. And may the blessing of God, our Creator, Redeemer and Giver of Life, be with you now and remain with you always. Amen. |