Pentecost 9 C Sermon: Teach us to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

 Conversation (Prayer)

 What is prayer?

How many people pray regularly?

Kinds of prayers?     Asking, Thanksgiving, Praising

 What have you been taught about praying?

Who should pray?

Where should we pray? 

Are there places in which we should not pray?

Casino, golf, football, bar

 What should we pray about?

Personal joy or happiness, personal success,

Welfare of others, our enemies

 For who should we pray? our enemies

Politicians we support or oppose, sports stars,

Ourselves?

 Is there anything that you/we would not want to bring up to God in prayer?

What does Jesus teach about prayer?

Public Prayer

Length of prayers

Closet

Hypocrite

Repetition

Contents of the prayer

 What sort of answer do we expect of God?

Sermon

Today after being asked by his disciples…Jesus teaches them a short version of the prayer which is very familiar to us. This short version begins in a much more personal way than the one we pray each Sunday.  It begins very much like a casual conversation in which a proper young man would address his father. 

In the address he begins recognizing the holiness of God… Then he prays that the holiness of God’s Kingdom may become present.  In the mind of Jesus God’s Kingdom begins with God the Creator…who loves creation into reality.  As Creator God loves every part of creation…so it only makes sense that the great Creator wants every created person fed…with daily bread.  However, according to Jesus… God is not completed contented… when just our physical hunger is satisfied… But in God’s Kingdom …God’s desire is that we are fed both physically and spiritually.  The possibilities for true spiritual contentment begin when feelings of guilt disappear …through God’s forgiveness. 

However, once again… God’s forgiveness is much bigger than we imagine.  It is intended for more than just us… It is also intended for all of God’s created.  Therefore since God forgives us freely without conditions…it is only reasonable for us to also forgive any who have caused us harm.  Often to our amazement… acts of forgiveness are not just for those who are forgiven… They also are hugely needed by the person who forgives.

During the last few weeks…I have heard stories of how forgiveness…equally feeds both the forgiven and the person who forgives.  One story is of a Canadian refugee woman… who survived the terrible Rwandan genocide.  She was the only one of her family that was not killed.  For many years she was very bitter about what happened…and only wanted revenge…for the perpetrators of these terrible crimes… But wanting revenge did nothing to help her cope with life.  Hatred and her desire for revenged consumed her whole being… and was keeping her from finding any sort of happiness or contentment…in life.  In this helpless state of hopelessness… she eventually came to the realization that she would never be able to feel whole again until she put away her desire for revenge and punishment.  She realized that for her to move on she would have to forgive the killers… whoever they may be.

About this time…when the time was right for her… at the truth and reconciliation commission in Rwanda a man confessed to doing the vary crimes which had so changed her life.  He was a man she knew… a former neighbor… about her own age… who had attended the same school.  He asked to meet her face to face to tell her what he had done…  Suddenly she was faced with two very different choices… With the revelation of the perpetrator… she could either push for the punishment and revenge which he deserved…or she could meet with him.  This was not an easy choice… and I know that is a choice that none of us could make easily… Of course you already know what she chose to do.  With all the courage she could muster…and with every part of her body revolting against the idea… she met with the killer of her family.  In the meeting she recognized him as man… who was haunted by his crimes… unable to sleep and unable to forgive himself… Knowing how revenge had not given her any peace or contentment… and moved by his contrite confession… the woman…who until recently had wanted the man to suffer the same things as her family had… forgave the man and unbelievably even embraced him.

Now she works with other refugees helping them to recover from similar traumatic stories. 

I am not sure…news stories rarely speak about it…but if this woman had been a religious person …even in her anger… she may have prayed… It is possible that she pray for punishment for the killers of her family.  She could have prayed that their identity be revealed…so she could vent her anger on them.  It is even possible that she could have prayed the Lord’s Prayer saying; “Your kingdom come, and forgive us as we forgive”.  At the time of praying it is also possible that she was dissatisfied with God’s lack of action.

But our God is full of surprises…waiting until she can comprehend the true meaning of her prayers… Until she understood the true meaning of forgiveness and all its possibilities…until the perpetrator of the genocide could understand the meaning of true confession and all its possibilities…God did not bring the two together.  At the right time God revealed their identities …to each other.  As a result both have a closer experience of the Kingdom of God than either could have imagined at an earlier time.

They have learned this…In the Kingdom of God forgiveness, is much more complete than the one sided ideas we often think of.  In the Kingdom of God forgiveness is all about opening the door to developing a trusting compassionate relationship.  The Kingdom of God is all about giving good gifts to all of God’s created children…both to the forgiver and the forgiven.

So today when we pray; “Thy Kingdom come.” Let us be open to see the possibilities in God’s Kingdom through God’s eyes.  Let us open ourselves to see the possibilities in God’s Kingdom coming to earth…where justice will prevail and where God resources will be fairly distributed so that all will be fed.  Let us see the possibilities of God’s Kingdom where forgiveness from the heart rebuilds relationships of trust.  Let us see the possibilities in God’s Kingdom where all people will live lives filled with true peace and contentment.  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are your now and forever. Amen

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Pentecost 8 C Seromon: Mary and Martha

Genesis 18:1-10a, Luke 10:38-42

Sermon

Here we are back at Scandia nearing the end of another successful Hey Days weekend.  Even though we plan and look forward to this weekend…I suspect that we are also relieved that the weekend is drawing to a close.  We have worked very hard to put on a good show.  With satisfaction we can sit back… admire our success and rest our aching feet.

Long before the weekend could begin…the whole community has been working hard to prepare. The trimmers and mowers were busy all week cutting grass and trimming weeds.  Neighbors have helped cut grass for those unable to do their own… Flowers were planted and pots were weeded.  Spring clean up took the winter garbage away.

The musical jam session…complete with old time music and talented musicians in attendance is always well is one of the highlights for visitors from near and far…  The session seems to go off without too many hitches… But behind the scene…organizing and hosting the event is a lot of work.  Visiting musicians must be invited.  The master of ceremonies must organize on the fly so that all participants have an opportunity to perform.  The back up band (the Happy Wanders) is on stage for the duration… plugging instruments and doing running sound checks.   And at the kitchen counter pies have been made a brought… coffee and refreshments are served…with a smile.  And after supper they come back and do it all over again… for the dance.

The pancake breakfast ushers in another busy event filled day… complete with contests… craft displays…craft projects…face painting… the money pit for the kids…half price mini golf…flea market… dime toss… And Hey Days would not be complete without the Parade.  To be a success all of these events require significant preparation and energy.

Central to all the events is food.  The pancake breakfast, the Legion hamburgers… the restaurant’s beef on a bun… today’s Sunday brunch…strawberry shortcake…pie and coffee…suppers at various places are all food choices available to the visitors… The meals all require a great deal of forward planning.  At the store…Joy ordered extra burgers … beef, buns, and condiments weeks ago so that there is plenty for all.  Even today’s lunch required extra planning.

Besides the special events of the weekend… regular community programs must continue… The Coop had a gigantic a clearance sale…the Farmer’s Market … regular businesses proceeded…as usual… Then throw in a special anniversary to complete this busy weekend…

The central theme… for this weekend’s Hey Days activity… has been to show case the wonderful hospitality of our community…  However, each year during the busyness of Hey Days… volunteers become worried and distracted by all the extra work that needs to be done… Tempers fray because…some people appear to be doing the bare minimum… while others seem to be working so much harder… For some… their sense of obligation causes them to work so hard…but they do not get much joy out of it… They are worried and distracted by many things … and we can hear the forlorn musings of Martha saying; “Do you not care I have been left to do all the work by myself? Tell them to help me.”

In general most of us have the intention to be hospitable.  We happily invite people into our homes for meals.  We prepare for their arrival…cleaning the house…planning a special menu…and after supper activities.  When they enter we give them our full attention.  We feed them on our good China dishes… Our choicest food is prepared and offered first to our guests.  We tell them that guests don’t have to clean up after the meal or do the dishes.  But on the rare occasion we become worried and distracted by all the work that we have gotten ourselves into.  We wonder why we are left to do all the work without help.

In the readings for today we have some examples of hospitality.  Abraham demonstrates the true meaning of unselfish hospitality.  When three strangers suddenly appear at the doorway to his home…without inquiring their identity… without asking their business… Abraham runs from the tent entrance to meet them, and bows down to the ground. He invites them to rest under the tree…brings them water and provides a sumptuous meal by any standard.  He feeds them with the best that he has…a calf without blemish…bread baked from a bushel and a half of his finest flour. 

 Can you imagine the time it takes to make all that flour into bread and to prepare and barbeque a calf to set before his guests?  And when the food finally comes…Abraham hovers over his guests carefully watching them eat…but not eating himself…  Of course it should be noted that Abraham is the host…and actual orders and supervises the extra work.  His wife Sarah makes the bread…and a servant prepares the calf. As generous as Abraham is to his guest…it is entirely possible that those having to do the extra work may not have been quite as enthused….but been worried and distracted by the extra work.

 On entering the home of Mary and Martha… Jesus is treated to their hospitality.  Martha wants everything in their home to be perfect for their guest.  She scurries around the house cleaning, maybe arranging flowers, setting the table, and preparing and serving the food.  The extra work worries and distracts her from the whole purpose in the first place.  By inviting Jesus into their home they have intended to honor him and treat him to their generous hospitality.

 Similar to Martha…when our attitudes changes from an attitude of pure hospitality to the helpless musing of self-pity…we no longer accomplish … what is intended when we set out to be hospitable. 

  Today Jesus puts his finger on it.  To be truly hospitable we need to be like Abraham is with his guests…and like Mary is with her guest.  To be truly hospitable we serve our guests without being worried or distracted by the work… To be truly hospitably we sit at the feet of our guests listening…we stand by them making sure they have all that is needed…we do the extra work with joy …rather than being worried and distracted.

 Not only does Jesus put his finger on hospitality’s true meaning…but through his life and death he lives it out for us.  Even though we are sinners and do not deserve his attention … Jesus is the ultimate example of true hospitality.  He does so much more than any of us should expect of their God.  He becomes our servant giving himself for us. Jesus goes to the cross for the stranger… and he dies for the sinners (us)… He does this without asking… whether we are deserving…of what he does for us.  Jesus…the ultimate host invites us to his table …without limits… to freely eat and to drink.  He does this out of love and joy for us… Thanks be to our God.  Amen

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Pentecost 7 C Sermon: Who is My Neighbor? Cindy Halmarson

Saskatchewan Synod Convention Sunday

July 11, 2010, Pentecost 7 C

Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37

This sermon is written and distributed to the congregations of Saskatchewan Synod to be read at worship on Convention Sunday. It is based on the gospel for the day and addressed to the congregations and members of Saskatchewan Synod.

 A Letter to the Congregations of Saskatchewan Synod in the manner of the epistles of St Paul, From Cindy, a baptized child of God, pastor and bishop of Saskatchewan Synod, by the call of God and the church, To the congregations of Saskatchewan Synod, who are given a commission by Christ Jesus to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven has come near:  Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

 At the same time this message is being read in your congregation, the delegates, visitors and guests present at the Thirteenth Biennial Convention of the Saskatchewan Synod are concluding their meeting in a celebration of Word and Sacrament at Zion Lutheran Church in Saskatoon.  The convention gathered under the theme “Book of Faith—A People Sent”.  During the convention delegates heard about the ministry of the Synod Council and the Bishop’s office, and made commitments together, about ways that our synod can best respond to God’s call to be a church in mission for others.

The Saskatchewan Synod is 127 congregations in Saskatchewan and Western Manitoba joined in a common confession of faith and committed to living out our relationship in faith with one another and with sisters and brothers in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. As congregations, members and leaders gathered within the body of Christ, the Church, we enjoy the fellowship of faith and we share the burden of responsibility with one another, loving God and loving our neighbor.

But who is our neighbor?

In the gospel reading, the lawyer – a religious whiz kid – has a question for the teacher… and everybody knows the answer because it’s straight out of the book.  Love God, love neighbor. Simple as can be.  But the whiz kid doesn’t want a simple answer.  The whiz kid wants Jesus’ stamp of approval.  He wants to know that it’s ok to live by the book.  The problem is… Jesus won’t give an easy ok.

The lawyer who asks this question is an expert on the book, and an expert in posing questions to force an answer.  The lawyer knows the answer to his own question – love God with all your heart, with all you soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.  We know it too!  It’s the golden rule. It’s a standard Sunday school memory verse.  And Jesus gives the lawyer credit for doing his memory work.  “Do this and you will live,” Jesus says.

But the lawyer doesn’t stop there.  He pushes Jesus with another question:  “Who is my neighbor?”  Or, to put it another way:  “How far do I have to love?”

The story is Jesus’ answer, the story we name after the Good Samaritan although it might better be named after the central character, the near-dead man.  No matter.  We’ve still got a bruised and battered victim waiting for assistance and aid.

Who will cross the road to help?

Not I, says the priest who takes the past of least involvement, stepping far around the suffering traveler.  The priest is very much a person who lives by the book, and he figures the book answer to be this:  “Hands off those who might dirty you with their uncleanness.”  In his concern to keep the law, he decides that the obedient action is to take a wide berth  around controversy and messy business.  You never know where that unsavory character may have been, or what discomfort his trouble might bring upon you.  In the realm of God’s work, the religious can be busy enough without taking on the cares and concerns of every vagrant and every clamoring cause.  Locked into response by the book, the priest will surely pray for the man. But stop and give aid? Not this one.

The second passerby passes by as well.  This Levite, this other expert on the book and the law confirms the rightness of what the priest has already done.  Don’t get involved.  Keep a safe distance between yourself and those who might muddy the waters.  A book expert has enough to do with cataloging and categorizing the ways one ought to love without actually getting involved in acts of mercy.  Leave that for someone else with less important things to do.

Number three coming up the highway bodes no hope for the wounded traveler.  After all, this one’s a foreigner, a stranger, a Samaritan, not simply a different kind of person, but an unclean person, one who stands completely outside the book, outside the realm of respectability, reliability, rightness, a risky person to look to for help…someone who looks rather like more trouble, or at the least, more indifference.

But wonder of wonders, this is the one who stops to give aid.  Putting aside all plans for a quiet evening rest, making every effort to ease the pain of the wounded traveler, he puts himself out, and not only for the evening.  At considerable financial cost the stranger ensures that the man is looked after for several days until he himself can return.   This outsider has no obligation to care.  And yet, the actions of the unexpected helper put the religious professionals to shame.

The lawyer’s question is answered.  “Neighbor” is a term that can’t be defined by the book.

For people who live by the book, the neighborhood can be as narrow as margins on a page of print.  The division between neighbor and stranger can be only as wide as from one side of the street to another.  Ask the street gangs in big city North America.  Ask the newcomer to any small community or neighborhood.  “Who’s gonna cross the road to say hello?“Who’s gonna to cross the road to help?” Well, it depends on whether you see the person on other side as neighbor.

The religious relics in the story had a strict code for loving neighbor.  Neighbor was a person deemed worthy of the care of another.  A righteous person.  One who was not going to cause shame or contamination.

We don’t have to be relics to recognize that we, too, have our own definitions of who is worthy of our care.  When it comes to doing good, the concern is for the needs of others, but always, it seems, in light of how it will affect me.  We look at the world around us, the newspaper headlines, the community concerns and ask ourselves, how much caring can be expected of me?  Is it enough to care for my own family?  To give to charities?  To volunteer for my kid’s sports league?  To support the food bank?  How far must I become involved to fulfill the command of Jesus to “go and do likewise”?

It’s clear who Jesus means for us to follow.  The Samaritan not only sees the need of the wounded traveler,  but he gives his life over to unexpected extremes to see that the man will be cared for.  Overzealous and sacrificial, the foreigner throws out the book on caring for wayside characters and instead throws himself into ministering to his every need and more.  At personal risk and financial cost, the unlikely neighbor crosses the boundaries of conventional thinking to give himself over to the person in need.  It’s good care, and it’s a good example to follow, but it’s not the Good News.

The Good News of the gospel is this: that the storyteller himself, Jesus, takes the path of greatest involvement, the greatest risk to minister to a whole world in need.  Jesus crosses over the gulf between God and the world to be neighbor to all people.  Jesus lays his life down at the service of every person who has landed on the roadside, victimized by life and by our own resistance to the love God has for us.  Teaching and telling about God’s love for the world was not enough for Christ Jesus.  Jesus crossed over to live that love in a life of compassion and comfort for the weak and wounded, and in a death for the sake of all people.

What must we do to inherit eternal life?  There is nothing we can do… for Jesus has already given his life so that we might live now and forever in God’s grace and love.  For us wounded and sinful people, God has become our neighbor in Jesus, a neighbor willing to cross over the abyss of our sinfulness and our unclean nature to heal us and set us free to live life in all of its abundance.  In Jesus’ life and death God calls us “neighbor” and crosses over into our lives, giving us God’s own son that we may live in the embrace of God’s love.

And through this we are freed by Jesus’ death to live risky and costly lives, not for ourselves, but for the sake of our neighbor.  Freed from a narrow definition of neighbor, we can spend ourselves in love for all people,counting only the many ways we are able to serve.  Freed from the requirement to live by the book, freed from measuring the worthiness of others by law or tradition, we are opened to a new life of service offered freely in God’s wondrous grace.

Loving neighbor means lifting the veil of ignorance the separates groups and nations, especially in our country, the veil between aboriginal and non-aboriginal, between Canadian-born and immigrant, between rich and poor.

Serving is learning to live with less so that more of our abundance can be shared with those in need in our communities, our country, our world.

Putting ourselves on the line for others  means becoming informed about the laws of our land and working for change to bring about greater justice for the people of our country. For the abundant life of God begins right now… life inherited by the grace of God, freely shared with all around us… neighbors all.

 Such good news! May God make it so. Amen.

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Sermon 6 C Sermon (The Kingdom of God and God’s Peace Sown and Reaped)

You reap whatever you sow. 8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. Galations 6:7c-8

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’                                                   16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”                          17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:1-20 (NRSV)

Sermon

Here we are well into another growing season… Three or four weeks ago…with the rain and cold weather…we thought our gardens and the crops would never amount to anything.  When the weather is like that, it is hard to prepare a good seed bed…and even if it is possible to get the seed into the ground…it seems that the weeds germinate more quickly and get ahead of the seeds… which are so carefully selected and planted…by the gardener and the farmer.  Fortunately we know the seeds we are planting and what the plants will look like when they come out of the ground… We can recognize the difference between the good plants and the bad plants… With some care and patience we are able to separate and dispose of the weeds.  Now after two months our efforts are just now beginning to be rewarded… We are just beginning to reap what we have sown…  At our house we have been eating lettuce for a few weeks… We have just started using onions…and are anticipating the first feed of new potatoes. 

The harvest of our gardens begins slowly… We take a few lettuce leaves from each plant… We root under potato hills hoping to get one or two…from each…just enough for our first tasty meal.  We anxiously watch for the new beans, tomatoes, and cucumbers to appear.  But as the season progresses we soon become very aware that the yield is bigger than we can harvest.  We feverously race to harvest the beans…the corn …the cucumbers…tomatoes… potatoes…and melons before it is too late… The farmer feverously tries hard to complete the harvest of hay, silage and crops before maturity or the weather affect quality… At the time of harvest…we can certainly identify with Jesus’ assessment of the situation… The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

Today Jesus sends his evangelists into the country-side and villages… He sends them to sow and reap God’s Good News.  The potential harvest is great… Many people are in great need of hearing the Good News…

But in Jesus’ world others are sowing different seeds… Peasants are busy just trying to survive in their world… planting their few acres of crop, shepherding their small flocks, or catching a few fish… But they are also heavily taxed by both the Roman Empire and the Temple authorities in Jerusalem.  The Empire sows seeds of intimidation and fear… Those who cannot pay are forced into slavery…or imprisoned.  The Empire in turn harvests seeds germinated out of oppression… they are seeds of discontent and revolt…

The temple authorities also sow seeds of intimidation and fear… But their intimidation is even more oppressive… They threaten God wrath… If they cannot pay the Temple Taxes …the people are told that God will be very angry and will punish them.  Religious authorities also harvest seed from what they have sown.  Their ridged uncaring expectations and intimidation have meant that people no longer look to them for spiritual guidance.  They have totally abandoned their religious observances.

The stress caused by the Empire and religious leaders is taking its toll on the population.  They need to hear about the Kingdom of God.  They need very much to hear the truth about what God is really like.  They need to hear about how in the Kingdom of God lift and conditions are vastly different from earthly Kingdoms.  They need to hear about how God’s love is ultimate and infinite. 

 God’s love is so great in the kingdom and because of God’s great love… the creator and God of all willingly and joyfully dies to save the creature (us and everyone else that God has created) In the Kingdom of God where Jesus… God of all… dies to bring peace to the ones living in fear… He dies to bring peace…to everyone…even when they uninterested.  He wants everyone to experience God’s Peace in a very personal way saying: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person.”  Some share in peace and some do not.  Regardless Jesus wants everyone to know that the Kingdom of God has come near to that place.  Jesus sends out his evangelists to sow the seeds of God’s Kingdom full of God’s love and God’s peace.

 According to the Biblical account… the mission to which Jesus appoints the seventy is very successful.  They have been able to accomplish many marvelous things in their mission… With excitement and joy they recount the astonishing events that have occurred.  They tell how…they have been welcomed … how they have cured the sick… and how even the demons submitted to them.

With patience Jesus listens to their excitement and to their stories of wonder… After they slow down to take a breath… he begins: “You have been given this authority and these powers… and they are wonderful powers… But these are not what it is all about.  They are not your powers for you to be proud of…to possess for your own glory… This authority and these powers are God’s gifts given to you… And they are given to you to do God’s work in the world.  These wondrous gifts are used to share the Peace of God with each person… These marvelous gifts you have been given … show the world the true Kingdom of God…in which the mightiest is sacrificed for the least… These gracious gifts mean that you are citizens of the Kingdom of God where your name is written in the book.”  As Jesus says the gifts we are given are not our gifts for our own satisfaction.  They are to bring peace and the Kingdom of God near.

 Today individually we are asked to consider what we are sowing… As a congregation we are also asked what we are sowing… Are we using God’s gifts for sowing peace?  Are we using God’s gifts for showing how close the Kingdom of God is in this community?  When we examine our congregation and our service carefully there is evidence that we are following Jesus instructions to the seventy.  We gather regularly to sing, pray, and hear God’s word.  We regularly confess that we are sinners in need of God’s forgiving peace.  We share the peace with each other regularly… a practice required for living in the kingdom of God.  And last we eat together both celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion, and in our after service meal.  We do the things making it possible for the kingdom of God to come near. 

 This does not mean that we have perfected the Kingdom of God in our midst.  We are sinful people still in need of God’s forgiving peace.  We still must learn to trust that God’s forgiving peace is for us… We still need to trust that God’s forgiving peace is for others we do not agree with.  There is much work to do to fully enter into the Kingdom where all who see us can truthfully say; “Surely the kingdom of God has come near to this place.” 

May the laborer be plentiful and may the harvest be great.  Thanks be to God.  Amen

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