STRIVE FIRST FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD

February 27, 2011
Epiphany 8
Isaiah 49:8-11
Matthew 6:24-34

(prayer)

Context is everything. What might be true and valuable in a given place and time, among a particular group of people isn’t necessarily the same when the context is different.

If you were here last Sunday, you might remember me preaching about striving for ‘The Next Level’. I spoke about the dangers of thinking that we have all we need in the here and now and not allowing ourselves the blessings that come through new growth and nurture – seeking what is over the next hill is a good thing.

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And I believe that to be generally true.

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Even as we are mindful of our continuing potential, we are not to ignore the here and now. I did mention that (in passing) last week as the focus was on the next levels.

In today’s scripture readings, we are reminded again of the importance of the current context and the need to be attentive to the life and ministry and faith that is part of this time.

Okay, I’m reading a bit between the lines. The actual context of the teaching in Matthew chapter six is about ‘worry’. The point seems to be don’t spend time worrying about the future, there’s enough to worry about right now: 34‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Worry is a miserable emotion. It can eat us inside. By definition, worry is a state of incompleteness. Something in our life is not settled and we find ourselves running over the list of potential ‘what ifs’: many of which are fraught with challenge, maybe even sadness or devastation. Worry is NO fun for anyone!

• Parents worry about their children;

• Grown children sometimes worry about their parents.

• Some worry about their health.

• Many worry about money, jobs.

Worry is often accompanied by a sense of helplessness. Worry is usually out of time: we worry now, because the future is uncertain – and we feel helpless to effect what might happen.

Worry is a miserable emotion. Although it can sometime motivate our actions in productive ways, for the most part, worrying does us little good. It creates unhelpful anxiety that can only be alleviated as time marches on and the event or circumstance comes into the present and can be dealt with.

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Jesus knew this. And the teaching in today’s gospel passage addresses the follies of ‘worry’.

The way that the gospel of Matthew lays out this teaching, Jesus appears primarily concerned with financial worries. The opening verse of the reading today was: 24 ...You cannot serve God and wealth. 25‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry...’

The Greek word translated here as wealth is ‘mamonas’. The translators of the King James Version of the Bible left the word mammon in the passage: you cannot serve God and Mammon.

The word has Syriac roots meaning ‘riches’; it is also similar to an Aramaic word used in loan transactions. In some theological literature and art, Mammon is personified as a deity: a god of riches– sometimes associated with the sin of avarice. Although, there is no Syriac reference to a mythological belief in such an actual deity.

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From the dawn of civilization, we, humans, have developed economic models to compensate for a need to exchanges goods and services in a culture of growing specialization of labour. And we have bee prone (for lack of a better phrase) to worship the power of our currency. The ‘currency’ has evolved over the eons: land, jewels, minerals, coins, paper bank notes, and now cyber-dollars, but the concept of value and wealth has been around a while – it certainly was an obvious reality in Jesus’ day, as it is in ours.

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Most people have financial worries. But worrying about how to pay for the basic costs of living is different than worrying about what effect the revolution in Libya might have on one’s [Thurston Howell III voice] diversified stock portfolio.

Mammon is usually associated with an unreasonable and selfish attention to one’s riches. I think ‘wealth’ is a good translation (as we heard this morning from the New Revised Standard Version). Wealth implies excess, beyond the basics of life. To ‘serve’ mammon is to raise one’s wealth up to the level of God. That seems to be Jesus’ point in verse 24. It is not riches that are the source of all creation, the master of our lives (as Jesus puts it), it is God. You can’t serve both!

For the most part, the audience that Jesus was addressing during the Sermon on the Mount, did not have any ‘riches’ to worship. But they may have had that attitude: if only I could find a satchel of gold coins; or if only I could win the lottery, or if only I could catch my ‘big break’ then all of my worries would disappear. So far, I have experienced the truth of the gospel – I am pretty sure that I have not added any time on to my life because of my worrying.

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Jesus’ message is really quite a hard one to hear – because worry is not easy to set aside. It’s easy to say; we can nod our heads when we read it in our scriptures, but to take it in and really set worry aside – that’s hard. We are convinced (at some level) that we have to worry, that it will do some good for us.

And that maybe true to a small degree. Jesus might be hoping that the worry can remind us that something is missing from our lives: not the resources of wealth, but we are missing a stubbornness to trust and have faith that we are not alone in whatever we are facing.

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It is hard to set aside worry and trust. Believe me, I know. I have known my share of worry. The pragmatist in me is always trying to prepare for those ‘what ifs’. I have felt the helplessness that comes with not being in control.

I am sure that I am not alone – you can relate, I am sure.

The challenge from our Christ is to not just find company for our misery because we all know what it feels like to worry, but to let God into our lives and to trust that, in the theological sense: we are not alone!

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Strive first [strive instead] for the Kingdom of God. [slide] Can we focus on the hope that God has control in creation? Maybe we can even come to hope that God's realm is all around us; that we exist within the Kingdom of God right now.

As the church and its people have become increasingly aware of the power of language and how language was developed within systems and societies that were less egalitarian and inclusive as we strive for, we have learned to be cautious about the words we use.

The feminist movement was so helpful in pointing out how the use male-dominated language is a block to true equality among the gendres. And so our language evolved to the point that words like chairperson, firefighter, police officer and humankind roll easily off many tongues that, only a few decades ago, never imagined they’d utter.

“Kingdom of God” was one of those phrases in the church. King is a male. The use of this phrase subtlety implies a gendre for God. This was a good awareness to have and so we expanded our lexicon and speak about God’s Shalom and the Realm of God or God’s reign.

I consider myself (proudly) a person who tries to be ‘politically correct’. Although that phrase is actually an insult spoken by opponents of the evolution of language. I’m not a fan of the phrase: politically correct, but I believe in justice and speaking the truth – words have power and words matter.

The biblical phrase, Kingdom of God, also raises concern over the style of divine leadership that metaphor implies. Kings in the ancient world were dictators, often with no real regard for their subjects beyond the strength they could add to the army or the wealth they could generate for the kingdom.

Do we really want to view God as that dispassionate and disconnected and selfish and self-serving?

And so, in recent years I have heard a new word in some church circles [slide]: the kin-dom of God. It sounds close, it rolls off the tongue with a similar cadence. And it highlights the familial connection we have within faith. We are all ‘kin’, through God.

I also agree with the likes of Marcus Borg and Dom Crossan, who remind us to see the strong message behind Jesus’ choice of words. To proclaim the kingdom of God was to imply that Caesar in Rome was not the lord of our lives, God is. ‘Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven’ is a prayer to let faith guide us to oppose the system of domination and inequality. [slide] So, kingdom of God is still a valuable metaphor, despite its shortcomings. But other metaphors can be helpful as well. No word can perfectly describe that nature of God and the mission we share as followers of Jesus.

To expand Jesus instruction: to strive for the kin-dom of God is a good thing. [slide] In fact, this word choice might help us see what appears to be our primary mission if we find authority in Matthew, chapter 25: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and took care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”

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We are kin with God and we are kin of each other. Recognition of that support is perhaps a first step in lessoning the grip of worry.

The ancient Hebrews who had endured the Babylonian Exile and had returned to endure the hard work of re-building their land and culture trusted that God was with them throughout the good and the bad. God’s covenant was to be their God and they, God’s people and God was sticking to that!

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God pays attention to us: that is a promise in our scriptures today. And Jesus reminds us that as we pay attention to the things that Gods pays attention to, our lives are grounded in God’s realm, God’s kingdom – a new way of being together that is based on kinship and mutual support and compassion.

I think that as we are able to grow in our trust of God’s righteous love and care for us, we can be freed to put love and compassion first in our relationships with each other.

This echoes back to another teaching of Jesus: Matthew 22:37 ... “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

The triangle of compassion: Love for God, Love for Self and Love for Others.

Worry does not need to halt this mission in our lives.

We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the church.
Thanks be to God.


Let us pray:

Loving God, enliven us with your spirit to trust in your ways, which always puts love first. Amen.

#652VU “Be Still My Soul”

THE NEXT LEVEL

February 20, 2011
Epiphany 7
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18
Matthew 5:38-48

[ad lib sermon on faith as a dynamic movement]

- the wind is not wind unless it is moving
- wind = breath = spirit in both Hebrew and Greek
- all faith experience is merely one level - there is always another level
- enjoy the view here, live in the passion of this time and place, but do not get stuck
- there is always another level!

SIMPLE AND STRAIGHT-FORWARD

Preached by Alex Bois-Bonifacio on February 13, 2010


The gospel text this week seems, on the surface, to be a fairly simple and straight forward text. Jesus talks about anger, lust, and swearing an oath; the first three antitheses of six during his sermon on the mount.


It’s possible that it only appears simple and straight forward because we don’t really notice all hands in the cookie jar. As far as I can count we have three hands in the jar: Jesus – who has the voice in the text, Matthew – the writer behind the text, and us today – hearing the text. Each hand, sometimes called context or point of view, brings a different layer of meaning and understanding to this text.

First we have Jesus. So let me set the scene: we have Jesus up there, on the mount, who is preaching to a crowd. Down below are the crowd, which includes numerous people, Pharisees, and some disciples. They have been listening for a while now and they have no idea when Jesus may be done preaching. The gathering for his sermon on the mount would have been educated in the Jewish religion and would have known the law. But by this point they all would have figured out that Jesus is talking about the law and about God, but what he is saying it not so simple and straight forward.

The crowd would know the Ten Commandments – part of the law of Moses, the law to be followed today. So they would have recognized “You shall not murder” however, Jesus throws in a twist “You have heard it said...you shall not murder...But I say to you..” Wow wow wow! But I say to you? What? Now the crowd are listening fully and probably thinking, Dude don’t you know there are Pharisees here? They know the law. What are you talking about, “but I have come to tell you?!”

Now, we know Jesus a little better, don’t we? We know he was a radical. He turned up dust wherever he went and he got himself into a lot of trouble doing it! We know to expect this kind of behaviour from Jesus. We also know that Jesus didn’t go around being radical for no reason. There has always been a method behind his madness.

So Jesus says to the crowd do not be angry with your brother or sister. If you find yourself angry remedy your relationship so that you may anger no more with your brother and sister. Jesus and the crowd know that the law states you shall not murder, but Jesus has come to tell the crowd it is anger that drives you to murder. Mend your relationships with others, do not hold onto anger, for that way you will never break the law. It is not enough to follow the law if you have the driving force which breaks the law in your heart.

The crowd would also have recognized “you shall not commit adultery” and again their recognition turns to surprise at hearing “but I have come to tell you”. Who does this guy think he is? But regardless of the crowd’s reactions, Jesus continues to speak. Just like the previous antethesis, Jesus starts to say it is not enough to not commit adultery, because it is lust that leads to action.

Here we get a bit lost in translation. When the word “covet” was translated from the Hebrew and the law of Moses into Greek for the gospel of Matthew we lost the original meaning. In Hebrew to covet was to put in place plans to attain that which was desired. So if a man had lust in his heart and coveted his neighbour’s wife he would have had a plan to obtain her and that in turn would have been committing adultery.

Jesus seems to be driving home that obeying the law isn’t all there is. If you have lust it is the driving force behind coveting and if you covet you already have the plans to commit adultery.

And the crowd would have been familiar with “you shall not swear falsely” and probably thinking to themselves, “Well he can’t say anything about this law. It is so straight forward and simple.” But without fail, Jesus had come to tell them more. Swearing an oath would have been the highest outward statement that a person was telling the truth or that they would keep their word. Jesus doesn’t say that a oath would or could stop someone from lying he is saying that a person should not have to swear an oath to be believed or trusted. He says, “let your answer be yes, yes or no, no” in other words, let all of your yes’ mean yes and all of your nose mean no. Become known for your honesty and trustworthiness.

Jesus came to speak to the law, not to change it, but to tell people more about it; to give them understanding into law of God and possibly into the eyes of God. But Jesus isn’t the only hand in the cookie jar, if you remember. What about Matthew?

As we know, Matthew is the gospel writer. But what is important to remember was that Matthew was writing to the first century church. Not only does he pass on the word of God brought to us through Jesus Christ, he brings the word of God to a new church facing real life problems. This first century church would have been fraught with growing pains. The different congregations would argue over what would become tradition in later years. So much was new and unknown that anger was a real issue. Fractured relationships a real possibility and this no longer only occurred in a man’s world. The acceptance of women as sisters in Christ brought a new dimension into the mix. In Matthew’s context women are no longer the seductresses of the time and blamed for causing a man to lust or covet after her. Through the acceptance of Christ women became sisters to brothers, not equal parties, but fellow disciples. And as fellow disciples, women became people. They were no longer objects seen from afar to be obtained.

Matthew was facing real life issues without a simple or straight forward answer. It is out of this context that we get the gospel, built on what Jesus said, taught and how he lived with slight interpretations by Matthew to answer some of these hard life issues.

Finally, the last hand in the cookie jar is ours today who listen to the text as the word of God. At first glance this seems like a straight forward simple text. Jesus is extrapolating upon the law of Moses. What a good thing for us to overhear today! ...

I find it so interesting that we have this text on AGM Sunday. What a text to have! At first glance it appears we have nothing in common with either the people in the crowd or the first century church, but I am not so sure. Of course it is still possible for us to stretch our relationships thin with anger, but we aren’t fighting over any of the issues of the first century. We have a long handed down belief and tradition about what Jesus has said, his life and his teaching. We tend to disagree over where to put the pulpit or how to hang a cross or which banners need to be replace. We may even disagree with our evangelical brothers and sisters. We have a different kind of anger sometimes today and so we can hear what Jesus is saying to the church even now – remedy your anger, rebuild your relationships with your brothers and sisters.

Hmmm.... Adultery. I can hear some thoughts of today... “well that doesn’t happen in the church anymore. That is a personal relationship thing” Of course this is something that still happens in today’s world. But what was important for Jesus was lusting after something that wasn’t yours. And it is possible that this is occurring in our churches today. It just looks a little differently then marital relations. In today’s world the church is guilty of one big lust and it is something we struggle with – we covet after new membership. The church as a whole is declining in a postmodern world and we find it beyond difficult to live into the wide unknown, trusting in God that we may life anew. New membership is an idea we hold onto – it would be the answer to all our problems and we would spread the gospel and good news to others. Jesus never said “you cannot be friends with someone else’s wife because it will drive you to lust and covet and commit adultery” it was lusting after someone or something without any concern of your actions. The difference between lust and friendship is the personal relationships that are developed and nurtured and maintained. Lust was objectifying a women – making her an object to have and own. The same is true today. New membership to solve the churches problems or to rectify the decline of our denomination is objectifying new people into our churches. People are people, with hearts, minds, cares, concerns, desires, and needs.

I started out by saying that this text looked straight forward and simple. Then, that there are multiple hands in the cookie jar – each with a context and a layer of meaning. So this text no longer looks that simple. But there is one thing that these three antetheses and our three contexts have in common. It is simply personal relationships. Whether we are talking about our relationship to our brothers and sisters, the relationship that can be built where lust would grow otherwise, or our trustworthiness and honesty in our everyday relationships – we are talking about relationships!

Jesus came to preach on the mount about the law. He came and reminded folks what they had already know – the law of Moses and the ten commandments – but he also came to say that the laws are about the way we live out our relationships. This is important. Relationships are important. So here is the ultimate question – What is it about relationships that are so important? Why are they important? Why does Jesus concern himself with this?

The answer is simple and straight forward. God can be found in our personal relationships. God’s life, love, grace, mercy and ministry is played out in our personal relationships. If we are angry with our brothers and sisters we are gonna miss God lived out. Remedy our anger, lust, or need of oaths because it is in the getting to know one another, learning to love each other’s uniqueness, and cherishing each other for who we are that we can find God. Relationships, that unique experience we cannot have alone, is special and a gift from God.

CHANGE ALONG 'THE WAY'

February 6, 2011
Epiphany 5
1st Corinthians 2:1-12
Matthew 5:13-20
(prayer)
Modern disciples of Jesus owe a debt of gratitude to Saul of Tarsus. He made a significant change in his life. His first reaction to members of the Jesus movement and their message was not positive. He was an active persecutor of the people of ‘The Way’ (as it was called). Saul had a change of mind and heart (a conversion) and went from persecutor to proclaimer. As a jew and a roman citizen he was well-versed in the traditions which surrounded Jesus’ ministry and the wider world context into which the message of Jesus was spreading. Saul’s evangelical emphasis was to share the good news of Jesus to the world: people beyond Judah and Galilee (to the gentiles). Symbolic of that, Saul began to use the greek version of his name: Paul.
The Apostle Paul is the direct author of at least seven of the letters (epistles) of the New Testament. Indirectly, his mission work and teachings influenced six other NT letters. Paul was pretty good in paper.
Yet he was the first to admit that he wasn’t necessarily the most dynamic preacher in the world. In fact, there are hints in some of the letters that other Christian leaders (for example, a man named: Apollos) had developed quite a following because of their ability to speak the gospel.
In the passage from the first Corinthian letter we heard today, Paul addresses that issue head on. He admits that speaking with lofty words is not his forte, but he notes that his weakness is countered by the strength of the Spirit of God and the power of the message of Jesus Christ. For Paul, it is the classic case of trying to make sure that substance wins out over style.
The Corinthian Christians to whom he is writing are a relatively established church at this time. The correspondence is part of Paul’s desire to take them deeper into issues of faith. Much of the letter seems to be in response to questions the Corinthians have asked Paul. In chapter two, we are seeing Paul lay the groundwork for those later discussions. We heard Paul taking about moving into a maturity of faith. Part of that journey is to begin with an admission that God is mysterious and that one of the realities of a life of faith is to try and grow into that mystery: to discover more and more about the gifts of the Spirit that are part of our lives.
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Changing gears a bit, let’s look at the imagery in Jesus’ words from Matthew, chapter five: salt, light, torah (law).
The metaphors are pretty straight forward, I think. Salt: a flavouring agent – it changes the experience by enhancing what is already there. It brings to mind a measure of purpose and control – too little and the impact will be negligible; too much and it hides what it is meant to enhance (not to mention unwanted side effects like high blood pressure, etc.)
Lamp light: its purpose is to shine; to illuminate a dark space. To cover up a lit lamp is to defeat its purpose.
Jesus is inviting the crowd (including us through the record of the gospels) to let the love and compassion of God be shown in what they/we do. Our work and actions can give glory to God as much as any words we might say. In fact, the old adage probably applies here: actions speak louder than words. That is certainly true when the actions are in opposition to the words. Jesus spoke more than once against hypocrisy.
Jesus wants his followers to enhance the life experiences of others. We are invited to constantly be renewing ourselves so that we can be fresh and exciting examples of God’s light in the word.
The ancient hearers of the parable may have gotten that last point easier that we might. We are used to refined salt that flows easily from salt shakers. Jesus uses the language of salt losing its saltiness. For us, salt is salt. Even old salt can still curl our toes if we put it on our tongue. But imagine the ancient world, where salt was sometimes harvested off beaches at low tide. Some salt-ladened sand would be tied up in a cloth. To salt a broth, that bag would be placed in the water and salt would leach into the mixture – similar to the way we use a tea bag. Eventually, the salt would be used up and the bag would only contain sand (the salt-bag had lost its saltiness). Relying on the old bag, past its prime, was not enhancing the experience of the meal at all. Jesus doesn’t want us to be complacent in our own vibrancy as people of faith. How can we ‘salt’ others if we ourselves have lost our own flavour.
Our purpose, Jesus seems to be saying is to let our vibrant, visible actions reflect an experience of God for people.
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By the time the gospel of Matthew is being written (some forty, forty-five years after Jesus’ lifetime), the early church was made up of a wide variety of people from various religious and cultural backgrounds. That is a stark difference to the life experience of Jesus, where he was immersed in his own Hebrew traditions. It is one of the strange realities of our Christian faith, that our founder, Jesus, himself, was not Christian. He was a Jew; raised and schooled in the pharisaic tradition. The late first century readers of Matthew’s gospel would have included people with no history with the Jewish Torah (the Hebrew law code for faithful living). In fact, even for the Jewish Christians in the time of the writing of the gospels, there were already tensions around their place within the synagogues: leading eventually to exclusion.
The author of Matthew is not so quick to turn away from the traditions of Jesus’ faith. More than any of the other gospels, Matthew works hard to connect Jesus to the Hebrew faith: to its laws and practices. I suspect that this would have been extremely welcoming to the Jewish Christians of the eighth decade of the first century.
[In a couple of weeks, we’ll read what Jesus thought about an overly simplistic and ultra-literal interpretation of the Law and how some actually felt justified in limiting their responsibilities to each other. That’s an important conversation, wait two weeks.]
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In our readings today, both Jesus and Paul seem concerned with ‘where’ we get our inspiration from. You may be familiar with the acronym GIGO [slide]. What’s it stand for? Garbage In – Garbage Out [slide].
Jesus and Paul both teach us today that our own grounding in the Spirit, our own saltiness (passion) for the gospel is key to the impact we can have on other. If we don’t start at a good point, how can we expect good results? [slide]
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So, it seems that is important for us to find ways to be grounded in the Spirit. This is true for each one of us, whether we have been a long-time follower of Jesus; or if this faith thing is a new exploration for us; And everyone in between!
Each of our individual journeys of faith has our entry point – that experience where we decided to venture a little deeper - for some, you may have had several such experiences.
 Maybe, you were invited to come with a friend to church (or you just wandered in on your own) and that experience got you thinking about issues of existence and faith.
 For others, perhaps you were drawn to the church for recognition of a significant time – a wedding, the death of someone you loved, the birth of a child, an illness and that experience got you thinking about issues of existence and faith.
 Still others, perhaps you were drawn to a social ministry of the church: you came to a church supper, or wanted to help out with the food co-op.
 Or maybe, you simply were motivated by a mysterious yearning that wouldn’t go away and you thought you might see if the church could help you explore that a bit.
However it has been for you, an entry point has brought you into a movement. That’s a good word because the ‘Jesus Movement’ pre-dates us all. When we jump on board, we are jumping on something that is moving – dynamic, evolving, maturing, changing...
If you have ever had the physical experience of stepping on to something that is moving (an escalator, a merry-go-round, an airport moving sidewalk), the first step can be a bit fearful. Faith can be kind of like that. Faith, by its very definition, involves mystery and the unknown. Fear and uncertainty are normal and expected!
Even once we settle ourselves within this vast and varied movement, we realize that faith is seldom static. In our journey of faith, we mix our yearnings, our experiences, our learnings and we develop beliefs: things that come from our tradition and things that come from our hearts (what feels right) and minds (what makes sense). This dynamism happens over time as we grow our faith.
Paul hints at using the life span of a person as a metaphor for faith. Faith can parallel a life – there is a childhood (where we are guided, where we know less that we sometimes desire); there is a time of learning, of education, of challenge and development; there are times of transition where we delve into the deeper questions and the dilemmas; where we question and rediscover, maybe even rebel; somewhere along the way, we may also discover a paradox of faith - that we are (at the same time) both student and teacher, both follower and leader; and for some, there can come a plateau of maturity, where mind, body and spirit seem reasonably balanced much of the time.
Of course a limitation of the metaphor is that this pattern may not be experienced linearly. We don’t always progress; sometimes, we digress (often for wonderful reasons); and we can get stuck, comfortable in our routines and what has worked for us before.
When that happens we might do well to remember what Jesus said about the need for fresh salt from time to time and the silliness of trying to cover up a lamp that might help us explore a new place.
I suppose a way to sum this up would be to say: that if we are to mature in our faith, we need to be open to change, to transition, to transformation. And that will involve working hard at keeping our faith, fresh.
A song I have enjoyed listening to lately speaks to me in this way. As we listen notice how the singer, invites us to risk moving out of our comfortable havens that might have served us at one time, but not to get stuck there. Think of the image of plaster – both in a medical cast and to adorn the walls of a house of faith.
“Cast Off” by David Wilcox
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We don’t want to have a static faith: there is always more. We are salt and light. But in the wonderful double speak of faith, so is God. God is our illumination, our flavour, our source of excitement and purpose. We gain our strength to venture beyond where we are from God. God wants us to see room for growth and maturing. If comes from God, and in us, we serve God: another wonderful paradox of faith.
Maybe we can revisit the GIGO acronym [slide].
[slide]
Grace In – Grace Out!
God In - God Out!//
[slide]
We are ‘where’ we are, and that is a good thing. As we are able to tune into the Spirit, we begin to see the endless possibilities of where we might go from here; how we might offer the impact of our experience to others, so that the love of God is shared and known widely and lives are changed: including our own.
  Let us pray;
Holy Source of Life;
Illumine our lives, so that we can be lights to the world. Flavour our experience, so that we can be salt of the earth. Be with us all along The Way. Amen.
**offering**

GOD AND DOG

Watch the God and Dog Video shown in church on Sunday, January 30th, 2011.