LEARNING FAITH

January 26, 2014

Epiphany 3

1^st Corinthians 1:10-18

Matthew 4:12-23

(prayer)

It seems pretty clear from today’s first scripture reading that the Apostle Paul was not in the habit of editing his letters before he sent them out.  Clearly, the ink and papyrus (or whatever early pen and paper he was using) was not easily erasable. 

It is one of the most honest, humanizing pieces of the New Testament when we read Paul’s letter as he confronts the divisions in the church as people seemed more interested in following a human leader than the cosmic Christ:

“I thank God”, Paul writes, “that I baptized none of you... so that none of you can say you were baptized in my name!”

Well, except for Crispus and Gaius... and there was the household of Stephanas, but other than that... I never baptized anyone... I think.

It reminds me of a scene from The Life of Brian.

//

Paul sees a serious problem within the Corinthian Church: people are bound up in personality rather than the spirit.  He has heard reports (from Chloe’s people) that a certain amount of sectarianism is dividing the Corinthian Christian Community - the church is splitting over leadership.  (Sadly, it is a problem that has not gone away.)

You may know that the greek city of Corinth was a diverse place.  It was located in the narrow strip of land that separated northern Greece from Achaia (a-ki-a) a relatively large peninsula that jets out into the Ionian Sea.  As a result Corinth was literally the cross roads of their region:  north-south land traffic and would go through Corinth; and with major ports on either side of town, shipping traffic brought a diverse crowd to the city on a regular basis.  People of Corinth were, by nature, quite cosmopolitan, worldly.  They were exposed to the variety the world had to offer and could pick and choose.  It seems that is what was happening in the church.  They had been exposed to a wide variety of early Christian leaders and some were lining up behind particular ones.

I like Paul.

I like Apollos (apparently a pretty good speaker/preacher).

I like Cephas (that is, Simon Peter).

Pardon the pun, but it appalled Paul to hear of this and to have his name included in the divisions:

Why are you divided?  Is Christ divided?  I (Paul) wasn’t crucified for you, Christ Jesus was!  You were baptized into Christ, not me; you weren’t baptized into Apollos or Peter - no matter who performed the baptism or who shared the gospel with you - or whose sermons you like the best.  Okay, I’m not the most eloquent speaker, but it is about the message, not the messenger. And so I appeal to you that you should be united under our Lord Jesus Christ.

//

Part of the work of a United Church minister is to be involved with the Presbytery - the body of the church made up of clergy and congregational reps in a set area.  One of the main functions of the Presbytery is episcopal: an oversight of the churches and the ministers. The UCC does not have individuals who serve as bishops, but the Presbytery, as a whole, serves that function.  In our structure, we have a Presbytery Pastoral Relations Committee and a Pastoral Oversight Committee, who from time-to-time (routinely and in crisis situations) send people in to guide and support congregations and ministers.  Our church had its regular three-year visit last year.  And I recently was a visitor on a routine visit to the Stony Plain and Mewassin United Churches. 

But not every visit is 'routine': over the years, I have been to far-too-many churches where the ethos of the congregation is centered around personalities and not the good news of God’s love in Christ.  I have seen churches were the personalities of one or two people can dominate the entire community of faith - sometimes the impact is positive, but often it is negative - and always (in the long run) it can be distracting to the mission of the church.  When how faith is lived out is so dependent on one or two people, it is really not the church’s mission.

That’s Paul’s worry:  if the life of the church is tied up around one or two leaders, where does the ministry and mission of Christ fit in? 

I know it is ironic that Paul feels this way given that the entire movement grew out of people following a single itinerant rabbi.  But in his defense - Paul wants the focus on that rabbi: Jesus, not Apollos or Peter or even himself.

//

When we first read about the adult Jesus in our Bibles, he is in the company of John the Baptist.  If you were in church two weeks, you may remember that story of Jesus joining the crowds coming out to John, east of Jerusalem, by the Jordan River.  Jesus would have been familiar with John's basic sermon: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near." (Mt 2:3).  If you think that sounds familiar from today's reading you're right.  In Mt 4:17, it is Jesus who says the exact same words: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near." 

The context of today's reading is that John the Baptist has just been arrested.  Not a lot of people (when reading their Bibles) pick up on the fact that the motivating factor that prompted Jesus to begin his own ministry was... the arrest of John.  Up until then, Jesus supported John in what he was doing.  Jesus believed in the message that John preached.  So, when he was out of the picture, Jesus decided to carry on where John left off.

But Jesus made one significant change in style: John was a preacher who set up shop in one place and the people came out to him.  It may be the case that Jesus realized that this may have been John's downfall: when the powers that be wanted to arrest him, they knew exactly where to find him.  So when Jesus begins his ministry preaching about the same nearness of the kingdom of God, he will do it as a traveling preacher - he will take his ministry on the road.  Jesus will meet people where they are and bring his (John's) message of God's forgiveness and love right to their doorsteps.

So, as we read the text today, the first thing Jesus does after John's arrest is to leave the region where John had been ministering.  The first verse of today's reading says that after John was arrested, Jesus returned home:. "He withdrew to Galilee.". But Jesus didn't stay in Nazareth, he "made his home in Capernaum by the [Sea of Galilee]."  It was along the shores of the lake that Jesus began to preach his version of John's repentance message. 

Admittedly, the gospel account of this episode in Jesus' life is a bit abridged.  It is fair to assume that Jesus had been espousing his views around town for a little while.  That is probably why when Jesus decides to expand the ministry and heads down to the shore, that some people were willing to follow him on a moment's notice.  I don't think that Simon, Andrew, James and John were blindly following a stranger - they were willing to make a major change in their lives to be disciples of a rabbi that they had already learned to respect.

Jesus learned from John and now these new disciples were learning from Jesus.

//

When Jesus calls these first disciples, he is not just trying to pump up his numbers by taking just anyone into his inner circle - just as the people of Capermaun have been getting to know Jesus, Jesus has been getting to know them.  As we read between the lines of today’s passage from Matthew, we can see that Jesus specifically selected these two sets of brothers.  It was not just a general call at the seashore:  “Hey, everyone listen up, anyone want to come follow me?”

No, it was “Simon, Andrew, you two, come with me.”  And then down the shore a bit, “James, John, come join us.”

In one of the most meaningful, poetic parts of the bible, Jesus tells them that they are just the kind of disciples he wants - ‘hey fishermen, come help me catch people in the net of God’s love.’  ‘I will make you fishers of men [people].’

Of course Jesus wasn’t actually going to trap people in nets, but the metaphor meant that he saw something in James, Andrew, Simon and John that he thought would allow others to be caught up in a message about the nearness of God’s kingdom.

//

Implicit in that story is that there is something within each of us that can serve the Kingdom.  Although (as the Apostle Paul would say a few decades later in the same letter we read from earlier), there are a variety of gifts, skills and activities, but one spirit, one lord, one God (cf. 1^st Corinthians 12).

//

Our unity is not in our sameness, but in our bringing our diversity into the service of a common gospel.

//

Jesus (and Paul) knew, that one thing that brings people together is sharing a common vision and working toward a common goal.

//

I mentioned earlier that the United Church Crest is in the shape of a fish.  Take a look at it on the cover of the bulletin today.  It is full of diverse images.

Diverse images making up a common image - all contained within the call to fish for people.

//

Today marks the end of the annual “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” - Leduc is the only community that I have served where the various local churches did not do something formal together during the last week of January.  It was a big ecumenical deal in Red Deer and Swan Hills.  I’m not worried about the corporate body of Christ here, because the various church’s do work together well at other times of the year.

Nevertheless, some of my personal prayer time this week, has been spent focusing my best hopes and dreams for what unites us as people of God, as followers of Christ.

The differences are easy to see.

But the unity is known in our common calling to share the good news about the nearness of God’s kingdom - God’s shalom, God’s peace, where the metaphoric lions and lambs lay down together: where our unity is in Christ, not in our sectarianism or even our own personal spiritual experiences.

//

God calls us to extraordinary discipleship; we hear this in Matthew as Jesus calls the first disciples to follow. Extraordinary discipleship invites us to make room in our lives for the activity of the Spirit.

What changes in our lives are we willing to make to be a learner of faith on Jesus’ Way?  That is a challenge heard in our scriptures today.  But these scriptures also help us hear Jesus’ call as a gift. Jesus’ call creates a decision point for the disciples; they are given the gift of free choice. They are given the opportunity to move from the former time into the later time. Christ creates a hinge point for them that defines them and gives them unity as followers of Jesus.

We are on the Path.

Let us pray:

Oh God, our light in former times, be our light this day. Help us seek you and behold your beauty. As we go about our usual routines, call us to follow you. We pray in the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

#691VU  “Walls That Divide”

THE FORK IN THE ROAD

January 12, 2014

Epiphany 1

Isaiah 42:1-9

Matthew 3:13-17

(prayer)

It is kind of embarrassing for me to admit that it one of my favourite movies of the last 15 years was "Fight Club".  It came out in 1999 and stared Ed Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bohnam Carter.  As the title implies, it is pretty violent and centres around the two male leads who establish an after-hours recreational fighting club. 

What I liked about the movie was… that it was more than I expected - before I went into the theatre, the general reputation I had heard was that it was just filled with gratuitous violence with some sexual overtones.  But it turned out to be a real exploration of societal morals and the struggles of human identity in a world that heaps huge expectations on us.  And there is a nice plot twist in the movie that I won't spoil here.

//

Reputations always build from some basis in fact, but can grow beyond actual experiences.  In the end, the only way to know for sure is to go and see for yourself.

//  //

John the Baptist gained a reputation as an intriguing wilderness prophet.  He had this 'meeting place' in the Jordan River valley, east of Jerusalem where he preached and offered a ministry of ritual cleansing as a means of confessing one's sins. 

If we had read the first part of Matthew , chapter 3, we'd hear that his message was powerful enough that people came to him.  Matthew writes that people from Jerusalem, Judea and even the regions east of the river, came to John confessing their sins.  Even established religious leaders like scribes and pharisees, came.

I imagine conversations like: "Have you heard about the river prophet, John?  A lot of people I know have gone to see him; it's supposed to be pretty powerful stuff.  They say he just lives out there - lives on food he scrounges.  He's supposed to be easy to spot: apparently he wears this odd-looking camel hair coat tied up with a simple leather strap.  So, do you want to go check him out?"

//

One of the unique things about the John the Baptist narrative is that it is one of the rare times that all four gospels share essentially the same story.  Although, to be fair, John's gospel doesn't describe Jesus' baptism, but does have John talk about a time he saw the "spirit of God descend on him like a dove", which is part of the baptism narrative in the other gospels. 

In the version we read from today, Matthew's gospel doesn't give us any hint as to how Jesus first heard about John and his baptism ministry.  It's the same with Mark and John: Jesus just shows up by the river one day.  Luke is the only gospel that claims the tradition that Jesus and John were related.  It says the John's mother, Elizabeth, was an older relative of Mary and that John was born just six months before Jesus.  Even so, in the gospel of John, John the baptist says that he didn't know Jesus when he first saw him (although he may have simply meant that he didn't know that Jesus was the 'one who would baptise with the Holy Spirit'.

None of the gospels tell us how it came to be that Jesus decided to come down from Galilee to visit John by the river.  One day, he's just there.

It does appear that Jesus is very much inspired for his own ministry, based on what he witnessed with John.  I will be speaking more about this in two weeks.  But today, the focus is on the baptism ministry of John.

//

As we explore this a bit today, I will rely on all of the gospel texts about John and not limit ourselves to only the four verses we heard this morning. (cf. Mt3, Mk1,Lk3,Jn1).

So what was it that people heard and saw when they came out to John's meeting place by the river?

John's basic sermon could be summed up in one word: repent!  The original language of our New Testaments is greek so the basic word used in the text is metanoia, which means 'to change one's mind'. Of course, John most likely spoke in aramaic (or maybe hebrew), languages where the normal words for repent (hozer, shuv) both mean 'to return' or 'come back'.

That is John's call to baptism - it is a call to return one's thoughts and actions back to God.  To let The Holy be a motivating factor in life.  To be a person of spirit.  John envisioned this transformation to be deep and authentic, and a conscious reality in every moment of life.  In both Matthew and Luke, the Baptist does not hold back criticism for those who are too self-righteous to see their own need for repentance.  He called them 'a brood of vipers' and told them that if they were truly in tune with God's ways, there actions would make that up obvious: 'bear fruits worthy of repentance'.  John sees it as a need for everyone (those with confident spirituality and those who were wandering) to re-set one's heart and mind toward God.  This transformation was lived out ritually with John - interested repenters would join him in the river (the very same river that the Hebrews of the Exodus crossed to enter the land of promise).  The person would go down into those deeply significant waters: they would have to hold their breath as the rushing river waters soaked their body and clothes until they were able to draw new breath as they emerged above the surface.  As water dripped from their hair, new life filled their lungs.

A symbolic acts go, it is a powerful one.  As I mentioned earlier in the service, baptism with water can have many layers of meaning:

·        cleansing,

·        a journey,

·        rebirth,

·        it’s like catching a new breath for a new life.

I like the way we share baptisms in the church.  I understand the traditions we have inherited that have adjusted the ritual from a full, hold your breath, full immersion experience, to a more gentle pouring of water over the head (especially when the person being baptised is young and not necessarily able to grasp the depth of the symbolism of what we are doing).

But for those of us who are able to go deep into what we are doing, I hope that you are able to imagine that as I gently pour a handful of water on a child's head that we are trying to convey that joyous and wonderful experience of catching that first breath, after having been under water for a while.

We are supposed to be conscious of the fact that we are opening ourselves to something new.  And that we desire to be changed in the heart and mind.

//

I know that John the Baptist didn't speak greek, but since greek is the language that his words and actions were shared with the early church, I want to point out a special significance the word metanoia might have had for the greek-speaking audience.  The root meaning of metanoia is beyond (meta) [one's] mind (nous).  As I said earlier the greek concept of repentance is a kin to changing one's mind, but the literal word-play goes beyond what we think we know and understand, to go beyond our mind and go into a larger mind - the mind of God.  To repent is to turn one's life around, but it is also a process of attuning ourselves to God's way of thinking.  We could say that what the church learned from John the Baptist was to open our selves up to a 'higher', holier way of thinking.

So, it might have been just that, that attracted Jesus to John.  Later on, Jesus would centre his own ministry on very practical day-to-day justice: what action should I take to best express God's hope and compassion for the world?  This is a concept he may have picked up from John.

//

Luke's gospel goes on to give practical examples of how 'bearing worthy fruit' could be lived out in a spirit of justice and compassion: Do you have an extra coat? You should share with someone who has none.  Same thing with food - don't hoard more than you need, feed the hungry.  To those whose jobs were open for corruption or abuse (specifically he spoke to tax collectors and soldiers), John preached: collect only what is required; don't use threats or violence to advance yourself or to line your own pockets.

The one who preached this is the one whom Jesus sought out.  We have no idea how much time Jesus had spent with John by the river before he made the decision himself to take the plunge.  But Jesus saw something real and true in what John was doing.  And so, at some point Jesus joined the line heading down to river.  He waded out to the baptist and held his breath as those waters (which bounded God's promise of liberation in the time of Moses) now enveloped the son of Mary.  And he came up gasping for new air to refill his empty lungs.

//

What happened next is the stuff of legends: the story found its way (in some form) in all of the gospel accounts.  Just as Jesus came up from the water (or maybe later after everyone was baptised and Jesus was praying - cf. Luke) something physical happened around Jesus: it was said to be the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit or just The Spirit came down from the sky (aka... the heavens) and it came to rest on Jesus.  First century storytellers likened it to a dove coming in for a gentle landing; they said it was kind of like that.  In fact, by the time Luke got the story, the way it was being told was that the Holy Spirit had actually taken the physical form of a dove. 

The second part of the story (told in Matthew, Mark and Luke) is a holy voice that proclaims that Jesus is God's beloved son and that God was well pleased with Jesus.  These are words of connection and affirmation.

It is not clear from the various accounts whether anyone else in the crowd besides Jesus (and maybe John the Baptist, as well, according to the Gospel of John ) saw the spirit and heard the voice.  Matthew and Mark do say clearly that it was  Jesus who saw the spirit descend and heard the voice; Mark and Luke have the spirit speaking in the second person, directly to Jesus: "you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased."  Other than John the Baptist mentioning (after the fact) seeing the descending spirit, there is no record of any crowd reaction.

One thing this tradition does say is... that Jesus himself experienced an affirmation from God for the new direction his life would take.  When Jesus came down from Nazareth to Judea to join John at the Jordan, he was approaching a fork in the road for his life.  In the coming weeks, we will delve into some of the stories about the path that Jesus chose and the style of leadership he engendered.

//

The early Christians found (for themselves) fresh meaning in the old servant songs in the book of Isaiah; they saw Jesus described in those old words.  Today's reading from Isaiah 42 has language that was echoed in the gospels: "this is my chosen servant, in whom my soul delights" does sound a lot like "this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased".

The early Christians quoted the Isaiah servant songs to describe Jesus for new generations of believer.  Look at some of the servants traits.

God's servant brings justice to the nations, not by loud and boisterous proclamations, but by gentle actions.  When Isaiah says that the spirit-filled servant will not be like one who 'screams his words in the streets' I think it means that the faithful servant's method of leadership should not bring to mind a charismatic leader who yells from the bully pulpit, high above the people: spewing a take it or leave it dogma.  So many of the examples that come to my mind when I think of that style of leadership are some of humanity's cruelest dictators.  In the bigger picture, we worry about dictatorships because we worry about the quality of leadership – whose needs will be met? What about those who are on the edges?

Now, there are moments when small amounts of dictatorial leadership can be very helpful and somewhat socially acceptable, especially on small scales.  Parents do it all the time: "because I said so".  But it also exists in cultures that enjoy high levels of democracy and consensus building - we call it delegation or empowerment, when we have certain people make certain unilateral decisions in certain situations, even if everyone who might be affected isn't consulted.  Leaders who hold this kind of power can only be effective way if their decisions are seen as wise over time.

I think that Isaiah’s main point is that the spirit-filled, faithful servant of God is careful to ensure that the vulnerable are not forgotten, or worse ignore.  The already bruised reed will not be broken for the sake of more efficient progress; the dimly burning wick will not be snuffed out in a world that desperately needs every light it can get to counter the darkness of fear and loneliness, the shadows of oppression and worry. Justice will be brought forth in a just way.

//

As we delve into the various aspects of the ministry of Jesus (that was inspired in the company of John the Baptist), we will see just why the model of gentle, just leadership (espoused by Isaiah) also described Jesus.

Let us pray:

Holy God, descend upon our hearts and illuminate us as we seek the wisdom of choosing the best path forward.  Amen.

#100VU

"When Jesus Came to be Baptised" 

A - HA !

 

January 5, 2014

Christmas 2 - Epiphany Sunday

Isaiah 60:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12

(prayer)

There are a lot of historical variations, but the dominant version since ~1909 says that today is the day your true love sent to you: twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping ... a bunch of other things ... and a partridge in a pair tree.  January 5th is the 12th day of Christmas.  Tomorrow (January 6th) is the Day of Epiphany - it is the time when the church celebrates the guiding light of God by remembering the story of the Magi from the gospel of Matthew.  When the day of Epiphany falls during the week, the Sunday before January 6th is when we usually read from Matthew, chapter two.

//

//

JRR Tolkien's 1937 novel, The Hobbit, is in the process of being made into a trilogy of movies by Peter Jackson.  You may have read the book or have seen one or both of the first two films.

The title character is a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins of the Shire in Middle-Earth.  Bilbo lives in a very comfortable underground home called Bag End in Hobbiton.  The subtitle of the book is There and Back Again and describes an adventurous journey that Biblo takes with the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves seeking to reclaim a vast dwarfish treasure from a dragon who now lived in the abandoned dwarf caverns under the Lonely Mountain. 

Hobbits are not, by nature, very adventurous creatures.  So, it was a risky endeavour for Bilbo to take part in this quest.  Over the course of the story, he matures… and he gains confidence that he never imagined he might have.  He finds respect and knowledge along the way.  There are many epiphanies for Bilbo on his journey there and back again.

All this... because, Bilbo (reluctantly) agreed to move beyond his comfort zone: to leave the Shire and all his assumptions about the potential of his life, behind.

//

//

The central image in the story of the magi/wisemen is also a 'journey of discovery'.  All of the people in the biblical narrative are faced with something unknown and uncertain.  The choices they make in the face of that mystery is what moves the story along.

//

The word "epiphany" has greek roots and means "shown" or "manifest".  An epiphany is something that has been made conspicuously obvious.  We use the word epiphany to describe that moment when we figure something out.  A-ha!

An epiphany is a 'light bulb above the head' moment.

The light has shone and showed us a hint of certainty within the mystery.

Epiphany.

I get it.

A-ha.

//

Sometimes, we experience an epiphany out of nowhere: it is a sudden realization.  When I was in my first year university, I took a required computer science course.  We were learning a mathematical programming language, APL.  I had never used a computer and certainly had never tried to write even the simplest of computer programs.  I was pretty good at math in high school, but this computer course intimidated me.  I sat in that lecture hall for weeks and paid close attention to the lecturer, but I really struggled.  The course material was going over my head.

Then one day, I must have sat a few rows back and... bang: it hit me and it all made sense.  My experience was very different after that epiphany moment.

Yes, sometimes the A-ha comes to us with little warning.

But it can also be the result of deep, intense, focused study and experimentation.  That is how most scientific and medical breakthroughs occur.  In these cases, the A-ha comes as things begin to make sense: the pieces finally fall together.  An epiphany sometimes can only be experienced when we are willing to work toward it.  The path to an epiphany often takes us in to new directions - beyond what is known and comfortable.

That brings us back to the journey theme of Epiphany Sunday.

//

//

There are a lot of post-biblical traditions about the wisemen/magi from Matthew's gospel: including how many magi there were, where they were from, how old they were, what there names were, whether they were kings or astrologers or scientists or none of the above, and even stories about what happened to them after they the visited Jesus.  But the oldest words we have about these magi were all contained in our reading today of verses 1-12 (well, almost: the magi are mentioned again in verse 16 as Herod realizes that they are not coming back to him).

The story of the magi is one of a journey.  The magi study the night sky and discerned that a particular star in a particular part of the sky signalled the birth of a king of the Jews.  We can probably infer that since the magi went first to the palace of Herod the Great, that their assumption was that the child's birth was known among to nobility of Judea

But this expected, comfortable assumption was not true.  The magi's plans needed to change.  And, from what we read, they bravely chose to take that journey in a new direction.

We might ask: why was Herod so afraid, so greedy, so cruel, so insecure?  If Herod's advisers were so certain that Bethlehem was the location (having studied the book of Micah), wouldn't it make sense that  some of them might want to accompany the magi?  This was their chance to see 'scriptures fulfilled'.  What held them back? 

The visit of the magi with Jesus is a lesson in the rewards of leaving one's comfort zone, as we watch the wise ones from the east risk life, reputation, money and time on searching for a new divine child. (source: "Seasons of the Spirit", ACE2013/14, page 98)

The magi's intense study and willingness to venture into the unknown, led to a unique experience of the holy.

//

The flipping of the calendar from one year to another often coincides with people thinking about who they hope to be and become in the time to come.

In the light of the story of the magi, are we willing to move beyond our comfort zones and move into the mystery where hope can be found and faith can be grown?

A-ha, epiphany experiences are momentous: ‘A light comes on’ in our minds and something in the world changes: a new idea, a new understanding, a new experience – an epiphany is a reminder that not everything is known yet – a moment of humility. Having an epiphany about our place in God’s world and God’s place in our lives is a reminder that mystery will always exist and that we cannot expect that what we know now is the sum total of all that we will be and become.

//

So, the real question on this last Sunday of Christmas, this first Sunday of 2014 becomes: what now?

Christ is in the world and the world is changed.  Do we move out in to this new world or do we retreat back into what is comfortable? The biblical story is a collection of various reactions to that question. Does an insight into the divine excite us or frighten us; it is a wonder or a worry?

This is not the same church or congregation that I was called to thirteen years ago.  Yes, there have been ‘physical’ changes, but I have also been witness to (and part of) spiritual development as well.

The word ‘faith’ implies a level of trust within uncertainty.  Even as aspects of what we believe become more clear to us, we are called to live on the edge of God’s mysterious love.  We ask: where is God’s love not full known?  Where are we as a people of the world, not shining the light of God’s compassion so that others know that they have deep value and are loved by the source of all that is?

//

So, as we come together for common worship, and share a common meal, we also disburse and fill the world, carrying the light of God’s love with us.  Realizing that is an important epiphany - to see ourselves as responsible for showing and sharing the warmth of the light of Christ.

It may not always be comfortable.  But it is always faithful.

Let us pray:

Guiding God, your light beams into our lives, offering us what we cannot do without: hope. Help us hear your hope, and draw nearer to you and your truth as we live in this world today. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen. (source: "Seasons of the Spirit", ACE2013/14, page 98)

***offering***