THE REARVIEW MIRROR

This last week has been a lot of fun. I went fishing Monday morning. I went after bluegill...just for fun this time. Not for bait! I spent the morning with a board member (Chuck) and the son of a board member who has walked away from God after his grandparnets died (Chuck). Chuck (the Board Member) is a retired steel worker. Chuck (the son) is my age and unemployeed. We have a great time. We took home 26 giant bluegill. Anything we could get a hand around we threw back. It is great to be fishing again.

This week was also my first week when I have spent time calling. I met so many cool people. Bud is 89 and the oldest at the church. He doesn't get there anymore, but he is fabulous. He has a wonderful sense of humor. Mildred is a delightful lady full of stories. She just had to move out of her house into an assisted living apartment. She is also in her 80s. Between she and Bud they have almost 140 years at the church. I also met Pearl, Gerry, Mary, and Deb. They are all so wonderful. They make visiting easy. I only have to show up and they tell me stories for hours if I let them. It was so much fun.

I also had the oportunity to meet Rob and Chris Merki. They are grads of MVNC and pastor in East Liverpool. They took Antonina and I out to lunch today. They have only been there 3 years and are still struggling with many of the things that I think will be a struggle for us. I don't know if it is encouraging to know that I am not alone, or to be very affraid since they are still having those issues 3 years later.

I am looking forward to getting to Mount Vernon Friday night. I am going to fish a little in some old fishing holes and then head south for a good Buckeye Buttwhoopin! I am so greatful to be back home. Just being home makes the tough stuff worth it.

Also, I will be starting a new column called "AROUND TOWN." It will feature primarily pictures, but also a few short stories about life here in Toronto. It will hopefully be a way you all can get a taste of life here in the valley.

As always, thanks for the prayers and please keep them coming.

Love you all,

Eric

THE PULPIT: a prayer for the nations

I KINGS 8:22-43

"22Then Solomon stood with his hands lifted toward heaven before the altar of the LORD in front of the entire community of Israel. 23He prayed, "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven or earth. You keep your promises and show unfailing love to all who obey you and are eager to do your will. 24You have kept your promise to your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own mouth, and today you have fulfilled it with your own hands. 25And now, O LORD, God of Israel, carry out your further promise to your servant David, my father. For you said to him, `If your descendants guard their behavior as you have done, they will always reign over Israel.' 26Now, O God of Israel, fulfill this promise to your servant David, my father.
27"But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built! 28Listen to my prayer and my request, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is making to you today. 29May you watch over this Temple both day and night, this place where you have said you would put your name. May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place. 30May you hear the humble and earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.

31"If someone wrongs another person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of the altar at this Temple, 32then hear from heaven and judge between your servants--the accuser and the accused. Punish the guilty party and acquit the one who is innocent.

33"If your people Israel are defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and if they turn to you and call on your name and pray to you here in this Temple, 34then hear from heaven and forgive their sins and return them to this land you gave their ancestors.

35"If the skies are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and then they pray toward this Temple and confess your name and turn from their sins because you have punished them, 36then hear from heaven and forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to do what is right, and send rain on your land that you have given to your people as their special possession.

37"If there is a famine in the land, or plagues, or crop disease, or attacks of locusts or caterpillars, or if your people's enemies are in the land besieging their towns--whatever the trouble is-- 38and if your people offer a prayer concerning their troubles or sorrow, raising their hands toward this Temple, 39then hear from heaven where you live, and forgive. Give your people whatever they deserve, for you alone know the human heart. 40Then they will fear you and walk in your ways as long as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.

41"And when foreigners hear of you and come from distant lands to worship your great name-- 42for they will hear of you and of your mighty miracles and your power--and when they pray toward this Temple, 43then hear from heaven where you live, and grant what they ask of you. Then all the people of the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built bears your name."

---

Have any of you seen the movie Glory? It is the story of Robert Shaw, the son of famous and wealthy Boston abolitionists, who was nominated to be in command of the newly formed Massachusetts 54th Infantry. This regiment was unique in that it was a regiment of African-American soldiers. The movie follows the development of several of the characters through the struggles within even the free north to overcome the prejudices against them. We follow them through training and into service. They were set to manual labor and reduced to field hands once again. Finally, through the scheming of Col. Shaw, the 54th gets to see battle. They preformed better than anyone thought they could. They even out-preformed all the other regiments they were with. For two days straight they fought and marched, fought and marched.

After two days with no rest, they arrive at Fort Charleston, where Union forces are amassed to assault the fort. The problem is, there is only one narrow stretch of beach that provides adequate room for the attack. The stretch was so narrow that only one regiment at a time would be able to advance. The plan was that they would send one regiment after another until someone finally breached the walls. It was particularly dangerous because the plan assumed that the first regiments would be sacrificed so that the later ones might have success. The 54th requested the honor of being the very first!

They knew they would all die. They knew this was likely their last night on earth. In one particularly stirring scene, the group was gathered around a crackling campfire singing spirituals and praying. They would sing a chorus and then a person would stand up and pray. While he was praying the others would be responding to the prayer…”that’s right,” “uh-huh,” “go on,” they would say. It was more a celebration, more a conversation, than what many of us are used to.

Perhaps you have seen, or maybe even been a part of prayer like that. If you have ever been to an African-American church, you likely understand. Many of you may even remember a time when prayer like that was the norm in the Church of the Nazarene. I went with my grandfather to Saturday morning prayer breakfast where the men would get together very early to pray and then share breakfast. Their prayer was much like the 54th’s. Even growing up at camp meeting, I remember getting a dose of this style of prayer.

What a great image of today’s reading. As long as the people could remember, the Lord had had no permanent home among them. When Solomon became king, he began to have the temple built. Hundreds of thousands of people spent untold hours, day, months, even years building the temple. It was to be the most extravagant of buildings. It was covered in solid gold and precious gems. It was filled with bronze pillars and fountains, artwork and sculptures. It was built to reflect the very power and awesomeness of God’s presence. The Psalmist noted that it would be far better to spend but one day in the presence of the Lord than a thousand anywhere else. It was truly a marvel to behold, and now it was finished.

During the annual fall feast, Solomon would present this temple to the Lord. People had gathered and were packed in. All the people of Israel were there. The crowd split as the Ark of the Covenant, the very throne of God, was brought forth into the temple. The people were amazed. A holy awe fell across the crowd as the Ark entered, and then Solomon stood to speak. He addressed the crowd reminding them of the importance of the occasion, and reminding them of God’s miraculous presence. Then he turned, faced the altar and began to address the Lord.

If the people were not as responsive as the 54th was verbally, then certainly they must have been as excited inwardly. Solomon began to pray:

“Lord, You’ve been so faithful. Continue your faithfulness. Remember your covenant. Hear our prayers offered here in this temple. Make this a house of prayer.”
“O my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. UM HUH”
“God, when we bring our disputes before you, may you always be a fair and righteous judge, upholding the oaths made in your house.”
“O my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. UM HUH”
“Lord, when we’ve been defeated in war, and we realize our sinfulness, we will come to your house to confess our sins. Forgive us when we pray.”
“O my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. UM HUH”
“When it seems that our sins have caused droughts, and we confess our sins to you, forgive us and restore our crops.”
“O my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. UM HUH”
“If our sins cause any divine retribution, forgives us when we come to your house to confess.”
“O my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord. UM HUH”
“And Lord, when foreigners, someone who is not one of us, come to your house, because they’ve heard of your greatness, hear their prayers…”
SILENCE
“When they pray toward your house, do what ever they ask.”
SILENCE
“That all the peoples of the earth might know you and follow you as we do.”
SILENCE

Solomon definitely threw the people a curve ball. This was the last thing they expected. Many have noted the surprising nature of this petition for foreigners. Why would they be so stunned? They were the chosen people of the Lord. This was the Lord’s house. It is for the Lord and the Lord’s people. The prayer was “us, us, us, us, us…them.” They had been so used to religion being about them and their God, that they were completely taken aback when someone actually suggested there was room for outsiders in their faith. They forgot God’s covenant with Abraham: that Abraham would be blessed that he might bless others. They forgot that by God’s covenant with Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed. God’s covenant was not just with His chosen people, but it was with all peoples through His chosen people.

This is not something that Israel was alone in forgetting. How easy it is for us to be wrapped up in the goings on here at church. Church members having birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, baby showers, weddings, Sunday School, Worship, Sunday Night Bible Study, Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting, visitation, surgeries, funerals, and the list goes on. We have not even began to list extracurriculars such as school, sports, music, hobbies, etc. Us pastors are often the worst offenders. We are always visiting, or are preparing Sunday’s sermon, Sunday night’s lesson, Wednesday night’s prayer topics. We are doing church business and having church related meetings. Church, Church, Church, Church, Church.

It is great to be involved in Church; we just cannot forget that Church is about more than just us. Show me a church that is all consumed with itself, its programs, and maintaining its status quo and I will show you a church that is dying. Show me a church that is consumed by others, its neighbors, and doing whatever it takes to change its world for Christ and I will show you a church that is alive! God made His covenant with Abraham that through Abraham the whole world might be blessed. God made His dwelling among his people, in the temple, that all the peoples of the earth might know His name and fear Him, just as His people do. John picks up the same idea in the first chapter of his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory…” In Christ, God has made His dwelling in each of us that when others see us they might see and know Him!

This is fun stuff! This stuff is scary. This stuff is tough. Numerous churches have failed to keep an outward focus. They died! The good news is that it does not have to be that way. Paul tells us that God has equipped us all to do the task at hand. He uses the metaphor of warfare. It is one of the best word pictures in all of scripture. To be equipped for the task and hand we each have been given a belt of truth, a breastplate of righteousness, shoes of proclamation, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit.

It is interesting to note that not every soldier in the army of Paul’s day would have had all or even any of these things we have been given. Paul is describing the armor of the officers, the very best of the best. These items are not easy to come by; they are not cheap, nor are they cheaply made. They are very sturdy, very reliable and are for only the most valued in the army. Yet Paul says we have each been given these things to prepare us. How valuable we must be to God. How valuable our task must be to the kingdom.

God has not called us to that for which he has not and will not equip us. It is clear that in Christ, God has made His dwelling in each of us, that when others see us they may see and know Him. It is also clear that God has equipped and is equipping us for the job that lies ahead. How do I know? One of a pastor’s favorite things to do is to brag on his people. Can I take a few minutes to share some of the things I have observed in my short time here?

First, Merrie Lynne her crew and the M&M group. What can I tell you about them that you already do not already know? My very first experience with this church was an M&M party. How amazing to see this church doing ministry! There must have been 20 people there that night. We played games, had a lesson, had snacks, and learned a lot about each other and God. A group of them went up to the District Camp Meeting a couple of weeks ago. I have heard great stories about Christmas parade floats and VBS boats. As I was going through some papers, I found Joe’s testimony, presented at his baptism. How awesome to see fruitful ministry being done!

How many of you made it to VBS this year? I heard it was a down year and still there were about 25 kids here each night. Karen and her staff did an amazing job! The kids learned about the heroes of our faith. I got to share with them about one of my heroes and them impact that people make on other people. We even had a few come to the altar to ask for forgiveness. How awesome it is to see fruitful ministry being done!

Monday, I met with a group around lunchtime who get together to pray for those of our friends and family who we are hoping will come to faith. It was a small group, just five of us, organized by Debbie, but how cool it is to see people actively pleading with God for the souls of those around us. It could easily have turned into a time for remembering everyone who is sick, in a nursing home, going away to school, or any other number of things, but the main focus was on praying for the lost. It was a great time of focusing outwardly!

Last, Rose is working with her leaders to get this year’s round of Caravan started. The meeting started out with logistics about when we will start, who will teach whom, and other organizational things, but the discussion quickly turned to how we can be a better presence in our neighborhood. I am so excited to see what this year holds for our Wednesday night outreach efforts! I trust you will find a way to be involved, too.

I love the idea that evangelism begins with letting Christ be present in your everyday relationships. Most of the time, our relationships with the lost makes all the difference in God’s relationship with the lost. A pastor of mine used to always say that evangelism is all about building meaningful relationships with lost people. When we have these relationships, there is opportunity for them to see the Christ that dwells in us.

Think for a minute about your friends. How many of them are “good Christian folk”? It is imperative that we have these relationships. In them we find strength, accountability, and encouragement. Now, how many of your friends are not “good Christian folk”? It is as important that we have these relationships because these relationships are what keep us focused outwardly. These relationships are the fields where the seeds of God’s love are planted.

Our closing hymn today is going to be Hymn # 701 in Sing to the Lord the first and last stanza. As we are singing it, be thinking of neighbors, co-workers, or classmates that you know who are not disciples of our Risen Lord. Choose just one that the Lord is laying upon your heart to build a relationship with. Perhaps this is a struggle for you, feel free to come forward an give it to the Lord. Perhaps you would like that relationship to be based on a solid foundation of prayer. Feel free to come forward and lift that person to the Lord. When you leave, share with a friend here who the Lord has laid on your heart. Be in prayer for one another this week as you plant the seeds of faith in the heart of the world: to the glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

THE REARVIEW MIRROR

Where do I even begin? Let's start with the move. Dad and Adam flew out to help us drive back. We had a 24' Budget rental and towed my F150 on a trailor behind that. We left early Sunday morning and made it safely to Indianapolis. We got a good night of sleep and set out for Toronto. We made it to Toronto on Monday around 3:00pm. The church had several who came to help. Both of our families came to help get moved in too. The church had painted everything and got new carpet for us. The house is outstanding. Thanks to everyone who help. Especially our families!

Last week was pretty much a blur. We had good days and bad days. It was VBS, so we tried to be there to support that, all the while getting unpacked and settled. Antonina has submitted her applications for an OH and a WV teacher's License. But she was told that probably she would not even be able to begin subbing until October becase they publish their lists on the first of each month. They won't put her on the list until she gets her License back. That was stressful. But then we went to the bank to get everything transferred and found that we had THREE paychecks direct deposited that will help to get us through til she can start working. I also made my first visits. I love that part...I am so busy right now trying to get acclamated that it seems I have very little time to get out. That has got to change! Last, we are very greatful to have met our neighbors, Brian and Kelly. They are newlyweds our age and have no kids...only a dog. They are not Christian yet, but it is great to have people our age that do things we like that we can talk with in the evenings.

Sunday was a mixed bag. It was all very stressful. Sunday morning went great. I was installed by the DS, preached, and served communion. The church had a fabulous dinner for us. Too bad I am never really hungry when I am that nervous. Sunday night we looked a little closer at the text I preached and I got very good feedback. We are looking for a Bible study to do for a little while so if any of you have found anything notably helpful give me a heads up. After church was my first board meeting. It is quite clear that I am very different from the old pastor. It was not the most pleasant experience and it became clear that I will not be the only one having to adjust. All in all it was a great day...we also got to see family again!

This week, we have gotten OH drivers' licenses, my fishing license, etc. Antonina has submitted a few more applications. Steubenville said that she should be able to sub fairly quickly! Edison local took her application to consider for a full time Title 1 position.

That is our last couple weeks in a nutshell. It is really beautifl here. I hope many of you will be able to visit, but I am happy that at least you are sharing our journey here. Thanks, keep up the prayers.

SDG,

Eric

THE PULPIT: look at the bread (a tribute to the W&W team 2004)!!!

One of my favorite things is a fresh snowfall. Whether in the morning or late at night, the stillness of a snowy day is one of life’s greatest thrills. As a child, there was no excitement like that of a winter morning waking to the whiteness of winter’s wonderland, and finding that there was no school! I had the privilege of spending two years working outdoors on the nightshift. Trudging through the powdery drifts, all alone, in the stillness of the wee morning hours made for some of the best times of thinking and reflecting about my life and my faith.

I think my favorite snow-covered memory was not too long ago. It was Christmas morning. Antonina and I had been married just six months before. Those months had been some of the busiest of our lives. We got married, went on our honeymoon, moved her into my apartment, moved our apartment to Kansas City, found jobs, started school, and now we were back in Ohio for Christmas with family. The whole drive home we listened for weather reports, not knowing whether to hope for no snow and good driving conditions, or lots of snow and a white Christmas. We found no one who was calling for more than a few flurries. We went to bed late, after attending Christmas Eve services. When we awoke we looked outside and to our surprise, there was over a foot of snow on the ground. Like children, we hurriedly bundled up and ran outside to greet the morning. We threw snowballs, made snow angels, and even stood with our heads tipped back and our mouths open as wide as they would go, trying to capture those gigantic puffy flakes on our tongues.

Snow like that is almost mythic. Songs like “White Christmas,” movies like “Rudolph,” “Frosty,” and “It’s A Wonderful Life” and even untold works of art idealize winter scenes and promote the heroic nature of snow. Children run and play like at no other time. Temperature does not seem to matter when there is snow on the ground! Its very presence stirs a gloomy soul to life!

I can imagine little Israelite children having a similar reaction when the manna started to fall. They had been wandering hungrily through the desert for some time. Their hunger was almost unbearable. After hearing His people murmuring and grumbling, God provides bread for his people. Can’t you just see the people, led by their children, coming out of their tents to find the ground covered with flakes of bread? Everyone scrambles to eat his or her fill. Everyone scurrying with mouths wide open to capture the last of the fluffy flakes on their tongues. Maybe the children even have manna-ball fights and make manna angels! Who knows?

I can imagine the scene as Jesus had been teaching the thousands upon thousands of people all day long. They had been listening so intently that they never heard the rumbling of their stomachs at mealtime. But now Jesus was finished, and the people’s stomachs begin being heard. Again, people begin to murmur and grumble. Again, a loving God miraculously meets the needs of His people. Just a few loaves of bread, taken, blessed, broken, and distributed by Christ assured that all had plenty and there was even some left over. The people must have been overjoyed to experience a miracle first hand. Then Jesus begins to teach.

Read John 6:51-58: "(51)I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (52)The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (53)So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (54)Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; (55)for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. (56)Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. (57)Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. (58)This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

“I am the bread of life.” “I am the living bread.” On the heels of a great miracle involving bread, Jesus claims he is the bread. With the smell of bread lingering…you know the smell…Jesus claims to be the true and living bread. He even appeals to their national identity claiming to be the bread sent from heaven. No doubt they would have thought immediately of the stories of the manna. Manna was the stuff legends are made of. Long past their desert wanderings, a jar was kept as a reminder. It is what kept them alive. It was God’s provision. Manna was as much a part of their national identity as Apple pie is a part of Americana. But Jesus turns the tables on them. What they thought they knew turns out to be incomplete and misses the target all together. They had many experiences with bread including the manna and the feeding of the five thousand, but they had always missed the point.

We all tend to miss the point frequently. We love the wonder of the snow, but how quickly it melts and leaves the world a muddy, slushy mess. There is no telling how many times in my life I have sat alone wondering where God is. Usually it is in the big trials of life when I notice the difficulty of finding God. Perhaps in the death of a loved one. Perhaps in the suffering of a friend. Perhaps in my own suffering when life take me down a rough and rocky road. Whatever the case, I tend to realize I have difficulty finding God in the extraordinary situations in life.

This passage came alive to me one very ordinary day. I was in Mount Vernon watching an Ohio State game with a very good friend. It was a cold November day with some small snow flurries. The game was so out of hand that at half-time, we put on our waders, grabbed an ultra-light rod and reel, a couple jigs, and set out for a favorite smallmouth hole. I do not know how long we fished, or how many we caught, but I remember one fish distinctly. I have no idea how big it was, it certainly was not an extraordinary fish by fishermen’s standards but that did not matter. As I held that fish up, and the sun shined on its brilliant colors there was an amazing transformation. That ordinary fish was suddenly made extraordinary.

I have talked with Ryan about that day and he certainly found nothing extraordinary about my fish, but I learned a lesson that day. The lesson I learned waist deep in frigid November water, holding a smallish smallmouth in the blustery wind was the same lesson Christ taught that day in the Synagogue at Capernaum.

Brother Lawrence called it “Practicing the Presence of God.” A very close mentor of mine calls it living “sacramentally.” Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. … Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”

And so, we now come to the inevitable. This passage has obvious similarities with our Holy Sacraments. In fact, many claim that Holy Communion is what this teaching is all about. While the other Gospel writers deal with Communion at the Last Supper, St. John addresses it here. They interpret the passage to say, “Those who partake of the Sacrament, particularly Holy Communion have eternal life.” However, I find that such an interpretation actually reduces the value of the Sacraments. This passage is certainly about Holy Communion, but its lesson teaches us about far more!

So what is this lesson? It is one of the simplest lessons I have learned, but also one of the profound and life changing. Bread was perhaps the most common food of the day, and eating is something common to everyone. Christ does not claim to be gold, or diamonds, or anything extraordinary. Rather, He says, “I am the bread.” All things, even the simplest, most common, most ordinary things in creation point us directly to the Creator. Christ’s identification with bread shows us just how present Christ is in everyday life. Ordinary things like fish and bread have the fingerprints of the Creator all over them. What are the fingerprints? Those fingerprints are grace! Christ is God’s fingerprints! There is grace to be found in all of life. When we learn to see Christ in the ordinary, then all of life becomes extraordinary.

This is the lesson that the Israelites missed in the desert. This is the lesson that the people missed that day in Capernaum. This is the lesson we all tend to miss regularly. Manna was not just manna that sustained physical life; it was a sign. It was given to point Israel directly to Christ who sustains all of life eternally. It was a means of experiencing the presence and the grace of God in a real and tangible way. Bread and fish were not just bread a fish given to nourish bodies; they were a sign. They were given to point the people directly to Christ who nourishes souls. They were means of experiencing the presence and the grace of God in a real and tangible.

The life of holiness then is a life of continual “eating.” It is about receiving and savoring, consuming and being nourished. It is about being sanctified. One author observed, “For those who receive Jesus, the whole Jesus, his life clings to their bones and courses through their veins. He can no more be taken from a believer’s life than last Tuesday’s breakfast can be plucked from one’s body.”

This passage is about being transformed by the ordinary. The Sacraments are the most ordinary of things made extraordinary by the grace of God. There is nothing of value in water and oil or in bread and wine. They are the most common elements of life. Yet they have eternal value in that they point to true life. When we gather around the table of the Lord, we receive the sustaining, nourishing grace of God. We are brought into the very presence of the Creator, our Lord. We receive Christ in a real and tangible way! The Israelites were given a sign: Manna and Quail. Their bodies were nourished, but they missed out on the fullness of God’s grace because they saw it only as manna and quail. The Jews were given a sign: Bread and Fish. Their bodies were nourished, but they missed out on the fullness of God’s grace because they saw it only as bread and fish.

We too are given signs. We call them Holy Sacraments. In the waters of Holy Baptism and in the bread and wine of Holy Communion we reenact, remember, and participate in Christ’s life, death and resurrection, and we look forward to His coming again. We are given the ordinary and basic elements of life. They are the most real and profound means of God’s grace for those who are open to see and receive Him. It is my prayer that we will not be like the Israelites in the wilderness or the people in the synagogue at Capernaum, but rather that we would see Him to which the signs are pointing; that we would experience the depth of the love of a God who would rather die that to live without us; that we would learn together to live life sacramentally, experiencing the extraordinary grace of God in the most ordinary encounters of every day life; that we would be transformed and sanctified by that grace … by Christ … into the Holy People of God. To the glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Better News!!!

I figured out how to get on here and post at the Library! Will have Sunday's Sermon up tomorrow. See you then!

SDG,

Eric