Proper 20 C - The Rich Man and Lazarus

Amos 6:1a, 4-7 and Psalm 146
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31

Some women tell me that men don’t see dirt. 

In my case, I think it’s partly true.  I seldom notice socks and shoes on the floor in the lounge, or towels lying on the bathroom floor.

I often put shirts on with big grease stains and I don’t notice the creases when I forget to iron my shirts.

I just don’t see stuff that I’m immune to, but I do quickly see stuff that I like.

*  *  *

People have an interesting ability to tune into the things and people that matter to them, and tune out the things and people that don’t matter.

*  *  *

In the gospel Jesus tells a story about a rich man and a poor man.  The poor man’s name is Lazarus - which means (roughly translated) “God is my helper.”  The rich man feasts daily and wears the most expensive clothes purchasable, while the poor man lies at his gates with his sores licked by dogs.

They both die, and Lazarus is taken to a place that looks a bit like heaven.  And the rich man is taken to a place that looks a bit like hell.

*  *  *

In the Old Testament reading the prophet Amos paints a beautiful picture of people living in blissful ignorance of the injustice happening in the world around them… lying on beds of ivory, eating lambs from the flock and listening to music - (probably praise and worship music).

In response, Amos preaches Hell fire and brimstone! 

He reminds the people of Israel that the wealth they enjoy will not last for long… they are living in a society that is not just in the way that it manages its wealth.  

Amos warns that because of their injustice and unrighteousness they will soon be weakened and conquered by other nations as they are taken into exile.

This action will be understood as God’s punishment to the Israelites.

(Amos’ prophecy reminds me of Bishop Tutu’s warning to South Africans a couple of years ago, saying that South Africans are sitting on a powder keg, as the poor in our country become less and less satisfied with their conditions.)

*  *  *

The rich man of the Lazarus story and the wealthy people of the Amos prophecy just don’t see what’s going on. 

They’re like us.  We do what we do, carry on as we are, without ever noticing that some people are suffering, while we are flourishing.

*  *  *

Like I don’t see dirt, or creases in clothes and grease marks but always see the things that interest me; we hardly ever ‘see’ the things and the people we don’t want to see.

It was true nearly 3000 years ago when the prophet Amos wrote his prophecy.  It was true 2000 years ago when Jesus told this parable.  And it is true today.

*  *  *

The parable Jesus told talks about two things; the obvious lesson is the lesson about caring for the poor:  A lesson that would not have been news to the Pharisees; they had read the Old Testament - in fact they were experts in it and they knew (as we do) that they had a responsibility to care for the poor.  (And just like us, they probably didn’t do much about it (Luke tells us: ‘they were lovers of money.’)

On the other hand, given the context that Jesus is speaking in - the parable is also a parable about our need to be generous with God’s grace:

*  *  *

An important thing in reading Bible passages is to take notice of the context in which they appear:

In Luke’s gospel the parable about the rich man and Lazarus is included in a set of stories and teachings which Jesus gives when the religious people of his day (The Pharisees) grumble about the kind of people with whom Jesus keeps company:  Sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes… a group of people that could simply be described as:  “Those considered unacceptable to organised religion.”

Jesus was the kind of person who went out of his way to find these people and share the good news of God’s grace with them - and they gathered enthusiastically to hear what it was that he had to say.  (While the rest of the ‘church’ grumbled about who he hung out with.)

The stories Jesus tells in this section, from 15:1 to 17:10 talk about how:  If a sheep gets lost - surely the shepherd will go out of his way to find it and return it to the flock.  If a woman loses a coin - surely she will look for it and return to where it belongs.  If a father’s son rejects him but he returns home one day, surely the father will be so overjoyed to see him again that he will forget all his anger and pain and welcome him back into the family?

If people in business know how to be generous in forgiving debts then surely God must also be?

*  *  *

All of these stories appeal to a person’s sense of what is right, common sense examples from life that speak about the nature of people, and what it is to be a responsible and good human being.

*  *  *

Then Jesus tells the story about the rich man and Lazarus.  I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the kind of story that Pharisees would tell each other as a kind of warning?

It is in line with their theology, they would have agreed that the rich man’s neglect of Lazarus was sinful, and that he got the fate which he deserved…  They would have said Amen to that!  (Just like us.)

But in the context of what Jesus was talking to them about hopefully they would have realised that they were just like the rich man in the story when it came to sharing not only their wealth, but also God’s grace and love with others.

Like the rich man would have walked straight past Lazarus, ignoring him, perhaps not even seeing him; they would have walked past tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes - as if they didn’t exist.

*  *  *

Perhaps, if they had seen them (or God forbid - they arrived at church or synagogue) they would have given them that disapproving look that we normally reserve for naughty children at polite dinner parties…  Or for people who talk loudly on their cell phones in movie theatres. (Cf Lk 18:9)

*  *  *

Just like we do to people today they would have quite subtly treated people in a way that let them know that God didn’t like them at all… and I guess the tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes would have figured that if religious people (who knew their Bibles) thought that God didn’t like them - then it must be true.

*  *  *

But Jesus, the son of God - the perfect revelation of what God is like is the one who goes out to all these so called unacceptable people, forgives them and brings them home - showing that God does actually like them, and even love them.

Jesus is so convinced of this kind of controversial love that he is willing to die for it.

*  *  *

As I reflect on this long passage in which Jesus chastises the religious people of his day for not welcoming the people they thought of as sinners:

I wonder:  How many people have we chased away from this household of God’s grace because of our reluctance to share with them what we have been given so generously by God?

How many times have we been the ones who give that look - the one reserved for naughty children at polite dinner parties - to people whom we might have judged to be sinners - what about gay people; street people; teenagers who dress too sexy; parents who’s children make too much noise; people who drink too much; people who suffer from mental illness; and those people who struggle to believe the same things that we do?

*  *  *

I wonder how many people wouldn’t dare to speak to their minister or their church community about the experiences that they go through.  About their personal lives; about doubts and crises - because we Christians have given them the impression that if we really knew them - we wouldn’t like them.

And because they think we know God - we’ve given them all the impression that God wouldn’t like them either.

*  *  *

Like the dirt that I don’t see on my kitchen counters, the socks I don’t see in my lounge - we just don’t see these people anymore.

We don’t see them - because they’re not here - many years ago we made it quite clear that they weren’t welcome here.  We gave the impression that Jesus who loves us - wouldn’t like them if he knew who they really were.

Pregnant teenagers, people dying of HIV and AIDS (for whatever reason), gay people, divorced people, alcoholics, people who think and ask questions about creating the world in 7 days and whether we can trust the Bible - we’ve managed to make them all disappear.

And sadly we’ve even convinced ourselves that Jesus wouldn’t really love us if he really knew us either - we’ve even learnt not to see those bits of dirt that live in our lives because they are somehow inconvenient to us.

*   *  *

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus and the prophecy of Amos are a challenge for us to share all of the grace that we have been given, spiritual and material, in order that people might know that they are all and we are all perfectly loved by God, even though none of us are perfect in any way.

*  *  *

In a book I read recently, one of the friends of the author said:  “If Christianity were a person - I guess he wouldn’t like me.”

Later, when she read the gospels she realised that if Christianity were a person, that person should be Jesus shaped - and that person - would like her and love her no matter who she was and where she was.

*  *  *

It’s my hope that we will begin to see people the way that Jesus sees them, that Christianity will be known for treating people like Jesus would, accepting them and loving them like God’s own children.  When we do; then I believe we will begin to see the Kingdom of God in this place.

Proper 20C A look at the parable of the shrewd manager

This is not a sermon, just some comments on a difficult passage of the New Testament - Luke 16:1-13

 

 I have drawn largely on the insights offered by BJ Malina in his Social Science Commentary on the Synoptic Gospels.  And also on one of my honours papers in which I did a socio-rhetorical exegesis of the parable of Lazarus and Dives.

 

Buy it here (The Malina Book)... (but its out of stock at the moment)

 

http://www.kalahari.net/e-trader/referral.asp?toolbar=mweb&linkid=5&partnerid=2322&sku=27190632

 

- - - - - - -

 

First of all, I would take this reading through to 16 and not 13 - I'm sure we can bend the lectionary a bit. 

 

The pericope is part of a larger set running from 15:1 through to 17:10 - they are all united by location and separated by addressee.  Jesus addresses the lost sheep, coin, brother/son parables to the Pharisees (Who grumble about him because he loves people whom they consider to be rejected by God.) 

 

Within earshot of the Pharisees he then addresses the shrewd manager parable to the disciples, the Pharisees ridicule Jesus and he responds (to the Pharisees) with the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.

 

(Remember that Luke is quite sophisticated in the construction of his narrative - this grouping together of parables and addressees is therefore quite significant - a better understanding of each element is gained through a reading of the whole scene!)

 

*  *  *

 

About the parable (some social analysis):

 

The rich man's manager is probably a slave born into his household, he is dependant on the rich man for everything - food, housing, livelihood, therefore losing his job as manager (seeing as he is good for nothing other than being a manager) will render him destitute and homeless.

 

He comes up with a clever plan, his rich man has rejected him, he needs a new household of which to be a part.  Unfortunately his role as the rich man's debt collector would have made him quite unpopular in the community; so he tries to win favour with other rich people and shrewdly reduces their debts to his rich man, his plan is to gain favour with them so that they will employ him (welcome him into their houses) because in this C1 Mediterranean society one good turn deserves another (there is certainly no such thing as a free lunch).

 

The thing is - debts can never be written off - they simply change form... instead of owing the rich man wheat or oil (and lots of it) the people indebted now owe honour and fidelity to the rich man...  

 

By writing off debts the manager has indebted the debtors to himself - but seeing as he is the rich man's property this credit is automatically bestowed on the rich man - who is now held in high esteem probably by a whole village of people (the amounts owed are similar to what a whole village might owe in taxes). 

 

The rich man is pleased because the people honour him and he is forced to keep his manager because his manager is the custodian of the debt owed to him now owed in a different form, loyalty and honour.

 

(It's all a bit of a mind bend because we do things quite differently in C21 SA!)

 

*  *  *

 

So far in this set of parable pericopes Jesus has used examples from life to illustrate what kind of heart God has:  What shepherd in his right mind wouldn't rescue a lost sheep?  What women wouldn't turn the house over to find a lost coin?  What father (in his right mind) would not welcome his own child home?

 

These commendable things that people do must always be trumped by the goodness of God, because God is better than people.

 

The parable of the shrewd manager is another illustration from life... and Jesus ends it with: "...the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light."  Is Jesus showing the religious establishment of the day that the realm of commerce is also a moral example to them?

 

The Pharisees are not happy about Jesus who acts as the shrewd manager did in winning favour for Yahweh... He is being too merciful, forgiving too many debts hanging out with tax collectors and sinners!  But how much more merciful will God be if a rich man, a lover of wealth can forgo his love of money and act mercifully.

*  *  *

 

Later, verses 19 to 31 tell the story of the rich man and Lazarus - the rich man never offers Lazarus grace and is therefore condemned to 'hell' - separated from Lazarus and Abraham by a wall he created (very brief exegesis).

 

*  *  *

 

The Pharisees are not prepared to offer the kind of grace (dishonest wealth) which God has offered, they cling to it as if it were their own to hold on to.  Not willing to share it with tax collectors and sinners they are not willing to act as brokers of God's grace to the world; Israel was called to be a light to the world (the children of the light) yet they serve power and status - unwilling to compromise any of these for the sake of God's love to all peoples.

 

And so Jesus concludes and let me take it to 16: "The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; Good news of the Kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone tries to enter it by force..."  (Everyone!)  But (and I imagine Jesus shaking his head - it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.) 

 

You Pharisees still cling to the letter of the law!  But God is reaching out to the lost and sinful and showing them how much he loves them.

 

*  *  *

 

I think this parable is teaching us to be good custodians of God's grace.  To take the free grace we have been given (the dishonestly gained wealth) and offer it to others - in that way we gain honour for God!

 

(Why is so little made of Jesus final command to the disciples - to go and do what he has been doing - and that thing is to forgive people... what you forgive on earth will be forgiven because you are the custodians of God's grace.)

 

 

Sheep - Proper 19C

Exodus 32:7-14 and Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10

I quote a story told by a Biblical scholar, Sarah Dylan Breuer[1]:

Once there was a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them went astray.

The shepherd's colleagues figured this was probably due to some carelessness on the shepherd's part -- after all, when he had been a farmer, he had repeatedly been seen tossing seed in the middle of parking lots and places where birds would eat them without much thought as to whether anything would actually grow there.  The farmer turned shepherd had in fact acquired a reputation for being a little loopy.

The ninety-nine sheep left behind, wanting to be helpful to the shepherd, immediately sprang into action... or discussion, anyway.  

One loudly announced that historically the flock had never included more than ninety-nine sheep, and therefore that the stray was probably a goat, or perhaps an alpaca, and should not be bothered with.

If a wolf got it, they argued, that's what it deserved for straying from the flock, or for being an alpaca, or whatever its problem was.

Factions gathered in response to that announcement, some suggesting that perhaps a message could be sent to the stray that if she were to stop being an alpaca and instead become a sheep, or at least learn to bleat like one, or perhaps if she stopped making... what noise is it that alpaca’s make she could rejoin the flock.

Cries immediately went up for a subcommittee to be formed to study the issue of whether alpaca’s could learn to bleat like sheep.  A website and glossy magazine ads were put in place to further this effort, as were a series of dialogues, in which each member of a panel of three sheep would present its view of what species the strays were, followed by discussion and concluding with a very nice and moving prayer meeting.

*  *  *

When rumours arose that the stray sheep was being attacked by wolves and a voice in the flock suggested that perhaps something ought to be done… another of the ninety-nine sheep produced a marvellous PowerPoint presentation documenting the decline in wolf attacks by well over 30% over the last fifteen years. "And there used to be 78 strays per year," she noted, "that we've got it down to one is most impressive!"

The faction responded with a loud cheer and rumbled off to a celebratory ball and fundraiser to cover the cost of a digital camera to supply graphics for future presentations.

*  *  *

All of this clever argument and talk greatly annoyed the planners of the campaign to convince the stray to return to being a sheep, and the sheep who didn't want the stray back in the flock at all were furious, threatening to leave the flock if they were allowed to rejoin.

Much hubbub ensued, and hours later, if you could somehow manage to listen beyond all of the loud bleating and blaring loudspeakers and committee deliberations and rousing choruses of "Bringing In the Sheep" and a new hymn, "Goading Out the Goats," you might have heard a few sheep quietly noting the shepherd's absence,

and wondering where the shepherd had gone,

as one silhouetted figure made its way toward the horizon and the stray ... and some wolf howls echoed in the distance.

*  *  *

The gospel parables that we read from Luke’s gospel today speak about Jesus passion for bringing people into community and into relationship with God, about how God reaches out to those often rejected and ignored by ourselves.

*  *  *

Jesus tells these parables in response to the Pharisees’ and scribes’ grumbling about the sort of company which Jesus keeps saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Trying to correct their idea of what God is like, Jesus tells them parables from common occurrences about things that humans would do:

What shepherd wouldn’t go looking for a lost sheep (a sheep is valuable and it would be cruel to let it be eaten by wolves)? 
Who wouldn’t search for a valuable lost coin (a whole day’s wages)?
And in the third parable Jesus tells - the parable of the prodigal son (which we didn’t read now):  What father in his right mind would not welcome their son back home no matter what he had done wrong?

*  *  *

The Pharisees complained about Jesus because he reached out to people who were counted by the religious community of their day as sinners…

Jesus points out to them that doing so is actually what God wants people to do - it pleases God - leading to parties up in heaven…

*  *  *

This doesn’t make sense to the Pharisees and scribes because if someone was known to be a sinner people considered them to be unacceptable to God, and therefore unacceptable to the entire religious community… they would therefore avoid them - considering it dangerous - even unlucky to be associated with them… worried that they might be contaminated by sin.

Jesus, against the rules and accepted standards of the day reaches across the established boundaries showing people that God does not simply turn his back on those who might have turned their backs on him, God loves them so much that he actively reaches out to them... Jesus risks his own dignity and comfort in doing so…

Jesus, the Son of God - the true representation of what God was like on earth reaches out to those counted as sinners and brings them back to the community and to himself…

In so doing he reminds them, shows them, that God is just like a loving parent who will forgive his children and welcome them back whenever they return to him; God is like a shepherd who cares for every single shepherd in his flock even the ones that stray.  That God is like a woman with 10 coins and each of those coins is worth the effort of turning the house upside down for if they get lost...

Jesus by getting involved in the lives of people, by making himself available to them to show them what God is like convinces them (no matter how sinful they may seem to be) to return to God.

*  *  *

Let’s not forget who Jesus was talking to when he told these parables.

He wasn’t talking to sinners and outcasts - at this stage he was talking to the religiously alright and acceptable.  To those who already followed Yahweh (the God of the Israelites) and did their best to keep his laws. 

Jesus, in these parables was talking to people like you and me - those already in church… those already convinced that God loves them is interested in their lives.

To people like you and me Jesus says - God doesn’t just care about you - but he also cares about the people out there who don’t already know that they can be loved by him, and that in turn they can be loved by us and accepted into our community no matter who they are or what they’ve done… because they are God’s beloved.

Jesus reminds us to go out to those who don’t know about him - who don’t know what God is like - and show them, tell them the good news.

The Good news that God is good, God is like Jesus and wants them to follow him, to be with him, to know that he loves them.

*  *  *

The story that Sarah Dylan Breuer tells, the one about the sheep having meetings and never actually going out to find the lost sheep remind me of the way the church so often is…

We have prayer meetings, worship meetings, Sunday School and Sunday worship, Bible Studies and meetings about meetings, but we seldom actually do what Jesus did in the beginning…

And that simple ministry is one of going out, getting involved in the lives of those outside of the church and telling them, showing them the good news about what God is really like; showing them that God loves them for who they are and where they are…

At the end of her story the author asks:

1.              Where is the shepherd?

2.              Where are the ninety-nine?

3.              If one sheep is with the shepherd and ninety-nine aren't, who's really the stray?

*  *  *

I believe the gospels for today remind us of two truths…

First they remind us that no matter where we are in our life’s journey - in our walk with God perhaps - no matter how far away - how ‘lost’ we may feel, we serve a God who comes looking for us - even in the places of our darkest despair, our deepest fear and greatest doubt… a God who meets us in those places and begins a sometimes slow sometimes quite quick process of transformation.

Second they remind us - to walk with Jesus means to be people who go to other people - wherever they may be and whoever they may be - and show them the kind of unconditional servant love which Jesus has shown us.

Then I believe we will begin to see the Kingdom of God in this place.

 

---

[1] http://www.sarahlaughed.net/lectionary/2004/09/proper_19_year_.html

Proper 18C - Big Plans

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and Psalm 1
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

 

I am one of those people who like to start things… I get big ideas - mammoth plans, dreams of fame and fortune - or sometimes just a tidy garden, study or kitchen.

I start things - but I’m not the best at finishing (although being married has meant that I finish things more often than I used to.)

When I was a bachelor I redid the kitchen in my flat… it took about a year before I put the doors on the cupboards… another year and I did the tiling.

I’m still on Chapter 1 of a book I started writing about 3 years ago… 

I have a whole pile of books on my shelves with bookmarks near the end of the last chapters… (not quite finished).

A wire land rover that I started making has become a contraption for keeping the dogs off the couch.

*  *  *

As I list these things so honestly in front of you - I know that I’m probably in good company… each of us probably has something which we have begun, but haven’t completed…

*  *  *

In the gospel passage for today Jesus uses difficult words, words about finishing what we start when we choose to follow him.

When I read the passage I started looking for some other passage to preach on… this one is quite difficult…

*  *  *

The gospel writer writes (reading from the Message paraphrase Luke 14:25-27):

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

What Jesus is saying seems to contradict what the rest of scripture tells us (some people have used this passage to justify the neglect of their families for the sake of the gospel).

But I don’t think that Jesus is saying that family is unimportant… rather it seems he is pointing out a consequence of what might happen when people follow him…

*  *  *

The passage starts by telling us that ;large crowds were following Jesus… the message which he preaches has gained a fair amount of popularity - I imagine that people are raring to go as they imagine a world that lives the way Jesus speaks about it…

He just told the rich to invite the poor to dinner without expecting anything in return!  (Take a moment to imagine a world like that!)

If you were poor you would follow this guy - an easy road to comfortable living.  (Those among us who are rich (that would be most of us) start to feel a bit uncomfortable at this challenge.)

*  *  *

Jesus paints a picture of God that is much better than any they have heard of before:  God forgives sins quite gracefully without demanding large down payments.  God heals people (no matter what social class they come from), God loves even those who are rejected by all of society as unlovable.

The Message rings true - its wonderful news - Good news.  But they haven’t begun to count the cost of what it will really mean when it’s put into action…

*  *  *

Luke, writing this gospel late in the first century - some years after Jesus’ life and teaching, has begun to see first hand something of all the trouble that Jesus foresaw when people started following him and doing what he called them to do.

Jesus teaching challenged the way things were in the world of his day.  Following Jesus in Roman colonies meant to challenge the accepted state religion which demanded absolute allegiance to Caesar - people had to make sacrifices and declare unwavering obedience to Caesar - proclaiming him as their Lord. 

If children who became Christians refused to do such things their Parents would have rejected them because they refused to participate in the family religion.  On the other hand Children would have rejected their parents.

Separation from one’s family in those days - when there was no such thing as an old age pension or any system of social security at all would have meant for those rejected by their families that they would probably plunge into poverty, losing all claim to their family land or inheritance.

Jesus teaching foresees this kind of division and he tells his followers that if they really want to follow him, they better be prepared for those sort of consequences.

He warns that if you’re not willing to give up what’s nearest and dearest (even your monetary wealth) then being his disciple won’t work.

*  *  *

In these verses Jesus doesn’t call Christians to reject their families (to hate them as some translations suggest). 

The lesson of Jesus life rather tells us that Christians are not called to reject or hate anyone - no matter how much we might want to or feel justified in so doing. 

Jesus calls his followers to be prepared for the fact that their families might give up on them because of the values which he calls them to hold, values which include accepting and loving the outcast and undesirable (an action which might result in your becoming an outcast and an undesirable yourself).  Values which demand allegiance to Jesus - before our allegiance to the world and to Caesar.

*  *  *

Then Jesus says another thing that is difficult… if you’re not willing to take up your cross and follow me - then you can not be my disciple… A saying which we make so silly; you know when we’re slightly inconvenienced by our religion, our duties, our children, friends or health we feel sorry for ourselves and say: “It’s just a cross I have to bear…”

*  *  *

When Jesus refers to taking up your cross he doesn’t refer so much to the pain of crucifixion (the pain comes rather when the cross takes you up) - but rather he refers to the part of the crucifixion ceremony in which the convicted criminal carries their cross beam through the streets.

The shame of being counted among the outcasts and the sinners as you march through the streets with this sign of allegiance on your back.  A sign of allegiance that points you out to the people as a heretic and blasphemer, considered to be rejected even by God.

*  *  *

Having warned people about the rejection they may face because they follow him… Jesus tells two parables, parables that ask:

Would you start building a house without first figuring out if you can finish it?

Would you go into a battle if you knew you were going to lose?

And Jesus warns the whole crowd that if they’re not willing to go the whole way - then they shouldn’t bother following him… they should quit now rather than later.

*  *  *

Jesus preaches a difficult message, a message that I would rather not preach.

A message that confuses me as in one ear I hear Jesus call to me to: “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19) and hear Jesus discouraging words from the passage we read today in my other ear about the cost of becoming a disciple.

*  *  *

And so I offer you this honest question:  Would you really like to be a disciple of Jesus, it’s not actually going to be that easy?

And instead of trying to convert you I’ll try to discourage you, and invite us to a new honesty with one another as we try to work out how to follow Jesus faithfully and we say to each other - I’m not quite getting it right yet, but with your help I’ll do a bit better…  Even (as they say) with our warts and all.

*  *  *

The good news is that even though Jesus is quite difficult to follow, God is gracious.  God gives us the gift of this community here through which we can do some of the things that he calls us to do as we work together in partnership…

Together we can strengthen each other by praying with each other.  We can encourage one another by talking honestly about our doubts and our fears and we can grow up into people who are willing to make the sacrifices which God calls us to make when we follow him faithfully.

Then I believe - when we help each other to bear the cost of being disciples together we will begin to finish what we started and we will start to see the Kingdom of God in this place.