When love came down #2 : Messy love Reinbeck UMC 12/7/14

When love came down #2 : Messy love

Reinbeck UMC 12/7/14

When Robyn and I were in college, we were assigned the task of putting lights on the campus Christmas tree in preparation for Christmas at Westmar. I don’t know how that happened.

Now, you have to understand that the campus Christmas tree was a big tree in the center of campus. It was probably 20 feet tall. In my memory, I want to say 30 feet tall, but it was probably more like 20. And it was fat-- almost as wide as it was tall.

It was a big job.

As I recall one Saturday morning we got the lights out of the fourth floor of Dubbs Hall and brought them down to the tree. We started stringing lights -- And more lights --  and more lights --and more lights until we finally covered the tree. We got a really long extension cord and plugged it in and it looked good.

That night or the next we all gathered for the lighting of the campus Christmas tree before we went to the chorale concert and wasail at Calvary UMC. We all gathered around the base of the tree. Ready to oooh and aah at the beautiful bright lights. When the big moment came, someone plugged in the extension cord and … only the bottom half of the tree came on. I still don’t know what the problem was- something probably came unplugged.

Our hopes for the most beautiful Christmas tree ever came unplugged too.

I think in that image of the half lit that tree we can find a parable about Christmas. No matter how hard we work. No matter what our hopes are. No matter how bright and shiny the wrapping paper is. No matter how well we plan… Christmas often doesn’t go quite like we think it should. Frankly, sometimes Christmas can be kind of messy.

But it has always been that way. You do realize that, don’t you? Do you think the first Christmas was all neat an shiny, wrapped up in a bow? Not by a long shot.

Let’s start with the genealogies, in the beginning of the gospels. Right away we get a hint this is not a neat, sterile story wrapped up in a proper Christmas bow. Four of the women in the family tree were about as opposite of Mary as you could get. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes---and they are named in Jesus’ family tree! Ruth was a foreigner and a widow. Bathsheba was married when she had sex with King David, was complicit in her husband’s murder, bore David’s son and suffered the pain of her son’s death. None of these women were dressed in their Christmas best, baking cookies, and humming Christmas carols. The Christmas story is messy.

Then there is the story of Mary and Joseph. The young couple whose lives were turned upside-down by this strange baby. The prospect of Joseph divorcing Mary was bad enough, but that wasn’t the only fear. There was always the possibility of her parents rejecting her, people ostracizing her, or even being stoned to death as an adulteress. The Christmas story is messy.

As the story rolls on, Mary rides to Bethlehem on a dirty, dusty, old donkey. Someone lost their reservation at the Radison, so they were stuck in a little barn, which smelled of every kind of animal dung you can imagine. Finally, Mary gives birth – never an easy process under the best of circumstances -- and has to lay her firstborn infant not in a cradle built by grandpa, but an animal feeding trough. There was no midwife, no cradle, no cute little outfits, no first picture, no big to-do… just a young girl giving birth to an unplanned baby in the dust and dirt of a stable. I tell you the Christmas story was a messy story.

Then there are the Shepherds.

·        They were religious outcasts and considered unclean by the Jewish religious law.

·        Their jobs kept them from regularly attending church.

·        They were social outcasts, constantly on the move, regarded with suspicion.

·        They were accused of being thieves and didn’t have much contact with other people.

·        Their job was lonely, wearisome, often boring, tedious, and dangerous.

·        The shepherds were not the kind of people you socialized with, or wanted around at all,

let alone to visit a newborn baby. What a mess they were.

From beginning to end, the Christmas story is a messy story.

Sometimes when I look at what we do with Christmas, however, it is just the opposite – we make it almost like a Norman Rockwell painting, or a Christmas card, or a hallmark special. We get glimpses of a flawless virgin Mary in a pristine wrinkle free rob, a steady and untroubled Joseph in an equally immaculate robe, a cheerful stable with clean straw and friendly animals, and the arrival of shepherds in newly laundered snow white tunics with dirt-free sandals on their feet. But the Gospel of Luke makes it clear that the first Christmas was far messier! If we really listen to the story, we sense pretty quickly it is no glittering Christmas card. It is real life and it is messy.

When we sanitize Christmas it makes it hard for us to imagine a holy God coming into the middle of this messy, messy world. It is hard for us to accept that the shepherds may have been asleep in the dirt after drinking too much. It makes it hard to imagine animals really doing what animals do.  It’s hard to imagine the real Mary, pregnant, scared and screaming in labor pains. When we imagine Christmas in this way, we understand God only in such a way as to keep God clean and separate from the harsh, shameful mess of our world—and of our own lives.

Part of the good news of Christmas is that “messy” doesn’t bother God. If messy bothered God, would he have made Adam out of the mud and eve out of a bloody rib? If Messy bothered God, would he have created wallowing pigs, stinky skunks, or quite frankly any of us? If messy bothered God… holly cow… he would have given up on humanity a long time ago. If messy bothered God he sure could have found a better way to save the world than a baby in a barn, or a Christ on a cross, or a church full of people like us.

No messy doesn’t bother God and that is part of the good news of Christmas

Please understand what God is doing at Christmas.

·        God chose to be born into our messy, despairing world, into the middle of hopelessness.

·        God chose to come not into a cleaned up palace, but into the squalor of humanity’s injustice and cruelty to one another,

·        God chose to come into a family that wandered without a home,

·        God chose to be announced to shepherds in a pre-dawn stupor,

·        God chose to come in a place only good enough for smelly barnyard animals.

·        God chooses to be in the mess of our lives.

·        God is not too distant, or too holy, or too clean to be in our unholy and messy lives.

The message of Christmas is that the God of creation is not afraid to get his hands dirty. Love came down at Christmas and it was a messy love.

·        God was not afraid to enter the messiness of the first Christmas.

·        God is not afraid to get into the mess of sin and sadness.

·        God is not afraid to get into the middle of our broken lives and offer healing.

·        God is not afraid of the messiness of our relationships- the way we hurt each other- the way we put each other down—the excuses we find for not serving one another.

·        God is not afraid of the messiness of our broken family relationships.

·        God is not afraid to step into the hospital room where the child has just been diagnosed with cancer,

·        where the patient can’t stop throwing up,

·        or to sit by the bedside of the dying woman.

·        God is not afraid to get into the middle of the argument about the line between law and order, police brutality, and state sanctioned murder.

·        God is not afraid to appear among those who cross our borders illegally,

·        nor is God afraid to stand up to leaders who fail to have the backbone to reform our immigration policy, which we can all agree is broken,

·        nor is God afraid to face down those who spew hatred and intolerance toward people just because they have different color skin or speak a different language.

·        God is not afraid of the messiness of feeding the homeless, clothing the naked, healing the sick, or visiting the imprisoned.

·        God is not afraid to speak of love in the face of terrorist bombers,

·        faith in the countries where faith is illegal,

·        or joy in the deepest darkest slums of Calcutta.

·        God does not hesitate to work among the poorest orphans in the Consolation center in Haiti. 

·        God does not hesitate to enter the rooms of Ebola patients in West Africa.

Get the idea?

o   Christmas means that there is no part of creation that is too messed up for God to show up there.

o   Christmas means that there is no person so hopeless that God cannot redeem them.

o   Christmas means that God’s love for you is so great that there is no mess you can make that God can’t help you clean up.

o   The first Christmas means that God will go to any extreme in order to speak his love and grace to a sinful and broken humanity.

Sure it is a messy love, but that’s because it is God’s love…for our messy lives

·        So push aside the clutter just for today

·        Step over the litter of things you have left undone

·        Forget that pile of deceit and depression

·        And that pile of fear and faultfinding

·        And that pile of hurt and hopelessness

·        Look past the glittering lights that blind us to all that is wrong with our lives and the world.

·        AND OPEN THE DOOR TO THE CHRISTMAS CHRIST

·        Open the door for God to come into the mess of your life not to clean it up… but to redeem it.

·        And, oh, don’t worry.  God’s not afraid to get his hands dirty.

When love came down: Miraculous love 11/30/14

When love came down: Miraculous love

11/30/14

Most of us are familiar with the old movie, “Miracle on 34^th Street.” It is the story of how Santa Claus was defended in a New York courtroom.

Do you suppose there will be a miracle on Spruce Street this year? Or West Street? Or Blackhawk? Or Pine? Or Park? Or whatever street you live on?

Do you expect a miracle this Christmas?

·       Some might say that it will be miracle if they get through the season without getting too grumpy.

·       Some might say it will be a miracle if they can pay their credit card bill in January.

·       Some might call it a miracle if the harried clerk at the store actually smiles and says, “Merry Christmas.”

·       Some might say the real miracle will be if Uncle Joe doesn’t pass out drunk under the Christmas tree this year.

·       Others might say the real Christmas miracle is that they only gain 5 pounds over the holiday instead of ten.

Perhaps each of us has a different idea of what a Christmas miracle would be for us. But I suspect that most of our so-called miracles are pretty small.

·       Is it a Christmas miracle that I arrive at Wal-mart just in time to get the last of this season’s most popular toy off the shelf? Probably not.

·       Is it a Christmas miracle that the turkey turns out golden brown and juicy this year? Probably not.

·       Is it a Christmas miracle that you don’t have to work the holiday this year? Probably not.

·       In spite of all the hype and hoopla, I think most of us have learned to have pretty low expectations for the holiday. And frankly most of us have no expectation of any true miracle.

First, we have to ask, what is a miracle?

§  Some say that a miracle is an event that is impossible to explain by natural causes.[1] This definition relies on our knowledge to define a miracle. Anything we don’t understand, and therefore can’t explain, is a miracle. It also either excludes divine action, or assumes that the creator is not active in creation except by miracles.

§  CS Lewis says, “A miracle is an interference with nature by supernatural power.[2]” This definition labels the creator as “interferer.” I don’t want to think of God as an outside interference in our lives.

§  Some say that a miracle is a direct action of God in the world. That assumes that God does not routinely act in the world an in our lives. That is a rather deistic view of miracles.

§  I would rather think of miracles as a divine action that changes the course of the natural order.

ü The natural order is that, if you have a jar containing water now, unless you either empty it or add something, it will continue to be a jar of water, not a jar of wine like in the miracle story in the gospels.

ü The natural order is that a person with leprosy will continue to get sicker until they die, not that they will be healed and return to a normal life, as they were when Jesus touched them.

ü The natural order is that storms come and go on their own schedule, not at the beck and call of someone in a fishing boat like Jesus.

Yet, the wine, the healing and the calming of the storm all happened at Jesus command … they changed the course of the natural order and are therefore miracles.

When it comes to the Christmas miracle, the natural order of things is that God is God and people are people. The natural order of things is that although God works in our lives, God guides our footsteps, God loves us more deeply than we can imagine, God judges us and forgives us; God has never become one of us. In the incarnation, that natural order was changed when God put on skin and moved into our human neighborhood.

“The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.[3]”

ü The first Christmas miracle is that the creator became one of the creatures.

ü The first Christmas miracle is that the divine took on the shape of the ordinary.

ü  The first Christmas miracle is that the great love of God came in flesh to people who were quite unlovable.

ü That is the first Christmas miracle.

ü The first Christmas miracle is that “A child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.”[4]

If that was the end of the story, we could all sing silent night and go home to get ready for New Years. But that is not the end of the story. There is a second Christmas miracle.

 The second Christmas miracle is that it worked!

The second Christmas miracle is that “The people who walked in darkness

 have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined.”[5]

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The second Christmas miracle happens when we live out God’s values and priorities in our own lives for the sake of those around us.

§  The second Christmas miracle is that a terrified young woman said to the angel, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

§  The second Christmas Miracle is that Joseph didn’t do the sane thing and divorce Mary as soon as he found out about the baby.

§  The Second Christmas miracle is that the crude and crusty shepherds were interested enough to get up and go to Jerusalem.

§  The Second Christmas Miracle is that the Wise men went home by a different route, changed men.

§  The second Christmas miracle is that people like you and me were changed by the first Christmas miracle. The second Christmas miracle is that the first Christmas miracle worked.

ü We are no longer a people of darkness.

ü We are no longer a people of selfishness.

ü We are no longer a people of deceitfulness.

ü We are no longer a people of hopelessness.

ü We are no longer a people of brokenness.

ü We are no longer a people who live only for ourselves, this life, and this world.

ü We are a people of the miracle.

ü We are a people transformed by the miracle of the gracious incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

ü We are people transformed by the miraculous power of Christ in our lives.

And that same miraculous power that transformed us, calls us to transform the world.

We are a people who can never be the same because Emmanuel- God is with us.

We are a people changed by the fact that God came and moved in to our neighborhood as one of us.

ü Our darkness has been turned to light and we are to be the light to the nations.

ü Our selfishness turns to generosity, and we are called to do unto the least of these.

ü Our Deceitfulness turned to truth, and we are called to the truth that sets all people free.

ü Our hopelessness turned to joyous expectation, and we are called to do everything in our power to see that the kingdom vision of God is fulfilled.

ü Our brokenness turned to wholeness, so that we too might mend fences.

ü Our transformed lives are turned outward to transform the world into the kingdom of God.

Jesus was not the messiah most people were expecting, or for which they were hoping. He resisted the world’s obsessions with wealth, pleasure, power, and recognition. He identified with the weak and powerless, the widow, and the orphan. He did not condemn but defended the sinner. The first Christmas miracle is that Jesus was the perfect embodiment of God’s values and priorities.

The second Christmas miracle happens when we live out God’s values and priorities in our own lives for the sake of those around us.

 We have received a miracle in order to be a miracle. You are the second Christmas miracle.

I want you to take a moment and write on one side your paper three miracles the world needs this Christmas. Look at the world around you and think of three miracles the world desperately needs.

Now, I want you to flip that sheet over, and write one specific way you can be part of making one of these Christmas miracles happen this year.

·       It might be giving a special gift to a poor family.

·       It might be a special donation to the food pantry.

·       It might be starting a wave of peace by making peace with someone in your family or community.

·       It might be praying.

·       It might be inviting someone to Christmas dinner so they don’t have to be alone. Or Christmas eve worship so they can meet the newborn babe for the first time.

It might be anything you can dream.

Now, during the song, “Love came down at Christmas” I want you to take your papers and place them in the miracle boxes the ushers will pass through the congregation. We will place the wrapped miracle boxes beneath our Christmas tree and they will represent our commitment that each of us can be a Christmas miracle this year.

[1] Wayne Grudem

[2] Chapter Two of C. S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1947)

[3] John 1:14

[4] Isaiah 9:6-7

[5] Isaiah 9:2

God’s purpose is looking for a church, and a people RUMC Stewardship Sunday 2014

God’s purpose is looking for a church, and a people

RUMC Stewardship Sunday 2014

·        What would you call a fire station that never fought a fire? A firefighters club?

·        What would you call a hospital that never treated a patient? A country club for doctors?

·        What would you call a mechanic who never repaired a vehicle? Probably unemployed.

·        What would you call a teacher who never taught anything? A babysitter, and a pretty poor one at that.

·        What would you call a congregation whose sole purpose seemed to be dusting the pews and keeping the lights on?

Now let me ask you,

·        would you be very happy that your taxes go to that firefighter’s club?

·        Would you pay your hospital bill at the Country Club for doctors?

·        Would you take your car to the unemployed mechanic who never repaired a car?

·        Would you pay tuition to go to class with that babysitter?

·        Would you want to support a church if all they did was dust the pews and pay the electric bill? Of course not. Believe me, there are churches who hold gatherings on Sunday morning, have potlucks, marry and bury people, but they have no idea what it means to be the church.

Thank God that we are clearly not one of those congregations. I think these generosity videos this year have done a wonderful job of using pictures to describe what it means to be church and how this congregation lives that out. So let me put some words to it.

So what is the church meant to be?

We read from Isaiah this morning, and you may be wondering, “What does that have to do with the purpose of the church?” Well, that particular passage from Isaiah appears again in scripture. Does anyone know where?

At Jesus first recorded sermon.

Listen to the story from Luke chapter 4.

¹⁴ Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵ He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

¹⁶ When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
 because he has anointed me
 to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
 and recovery of sight to the blind,
 to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”[1]

Isn’t it interesting, that Jesus used this passage from Isaiah as his very first sermon. That sermon was pretty important because, like a rocket, it set the trajectory for his whole mission and ministry, and in turn laid the foundation for the church..

Is this an upper story or a lower story passage? Listen again “Good news to the poor… release to the captives… recovery of sight to the blind… set the oppressed free.” That is an upper story vision isn’t it. Our lower story can only dream of good news, release, recovery, or freedom. To see that come to be in our lower story, would require a pretty radical change in our world wouldn’t it? It would be turning the world upside down and inside out.

But that is exactly what God’s upper story vision is about… a world turned upside-down.

That is why Jesus came… to turn the world inside-out.

·        Transformed lives, transform relationships.

·        Transformed relationships, transform communities.

·        Transformed communities, transform institutions.

·        Transformed institutions, transform governments and the world.

Once God’s transformation really begins, it doesn’t take long before the world is a new place where good news, release, recovery, and freedom are not just part of God’s upper story, but part of our lower story. Where God’s vision becomes our reality. Where God’s kingdom has come and God’s will is being done.

That is God’s plan for the world.

AND God’s plan is that the church is the catalyst for that transformation.

·        It is through the church that God is working to transform the world.

·        It is through the church that God is bringing good news, release, recovery, and freedom to God’s world.

And I want to be part of that. Don’t you?

I want to be part of seeing God’s kingdom come, God’s will being done. Don’t you?

I want to be transformed, and see my relationships transformed, and see my community transformed, and institutions and governments, and the whole world. Don’t you?

I want to see the new heaven and the new earth, God’s new creation become reality, and preferably in my lifetime! Don’t you?

That is something that we can all get behind, isn’t it? That is something we can all support, isn’t it? That is something I would give just about anything to see, wouldn’t you?

Wouldn’t you?

When we talk about generosity, that is what we are talking about. Participating in God’s vision for the world.

Generosity is giving of our time, our love, our energy, our hope, our strength, our lives, and yes- our money in order to be part of God’s vision for the world, supporting the work of the coming kingdom of God. Proclaiming good news, release, recovery, and freedom. And we can all get behind that. We all want to give generously to that, don’t we? Don’t you? At least I hope we do.

My friends, that is why the church is here.

That is why the church is here… to be bearers of God’s vision, to change the world by the power of God. To be God’s hands and feet in transforming the world.

You see it on the bulletin every week; you see it on the web page every time you visit. You see it in the enews every week. You see it at the top of my emails. Hopefully you have heard me preach it several times… “Where the love of Christ transforms lives.” We are here to change the world.

·        Starting with each and every one of us, working our way out…

·        starting with worship and education that was featured in today’s video.

·        Rolling on to nurture, loving one another, which was featured in last week’s video.

·        Culminating in outreach to our local community and missions to the greater world that was featured two weeks ago. Until the kingdom comes and God’s will is done.

I hate paying bills. It’s no fun paying the electric bill, or the water bill, or medical bills or a car repair bill. There are other things that I would rather do with my money.

The same is true for the church. It is no fun being asked to pay the electric bill, the water bill, the pastor’s health insurance, or the snow removal bill. Frankly, if that is the only reason to give to the church, you’d be better off paying your own electric bill, water bill and medical bills.

There may be some people who want to pay the electric bill and insurance, but when I give to the church, I give in order to be part of something bigger than the electric bill and insurance. Robyn and I tithe to the church because we want to be part of something bigger- much bigger.

I suspect you do too.

Sure, I know the truth, and so do you- that those things are a necessary part of the church budget. But this year, we are asking you to back up from those necessary details, and see the big picture.

·        Don’t just give to the church… give to transform lives.

·        Don’t just give to the church… Give to make sure that relationships are restored- because that is the beginning of transforming the world.

·        Don’t just give to the church… Give to make sure that Keri and Mindy are taught about the love of God, because that is a first step in changing the world.

·        Give so that Irma, and Wayne, and Evelyn, and Jim are loved and given care —because that is a small step toward seeing God’s kingdom reality.

·        Give so that the family next door will be able to get food from the food pantry.

·        Give so that together we can reach the people of this community who so desperately need to know that God loves them and be taught how to love others--- because that moves us all closer to experiencing the world the way God envisions it for us.

·        Don’t give to the church… Give so ramps can be built as bridges communicating hope and love across generations and disabilities.

·        Give so that Noah, and Bellen, and Sylvana, and Brook, and a thousand other kids can go to camp and enjoy learning about Jesus.

·        Give so that someone who is dying, won’t die alone without Christ.

·        Give so that people will speak loud and clear on our behalf to congress and the president to help them see the way of God’s kingdom.

·        Don’t give to the church… Give so that John Pena in Nigeria is able to teach people to be pastors and lead churches in their own country.

·        Give so that 7 year old Ambrosio in the Philippines can know Jesus, so that a James in Haiti who has no legs will be gifted with a PET (personal energy transportation) and will be able to leave his home, and 9 year old Annabella in Rural LeCayes Haiti will have a bed and food tomorrow.

·        Give so that Yong in North Korea will have a Bible even though his government forbids it, and so that Doug and Kelly can raise up church leaders in China.

Do I need to go on?

·        Don’t give to the church… Give so that Haley on the other end of town can learn the words to Jesus loves me next summer in Vacation Bible School.

·        Give so that Shelby will have a Wesley foundation to minister to her now that she is out of our daily reach.

·        Give so that Ruth will have an audio version of THE STORY so she can feel a part of what we are doing.

·        Give so that your neighbor’s electricity won’t be turned off.

·        Don’t give to the church… Give so that Mark Stransky can repair the homes of the poorest people in Virginia.

·        Give so that our college students will know that their church has not forgotten them.

·        Give so that a friend having a bad month can get food from the food bank.

·        Give so that Lilajean can worship in her living room on Saturday morning.

·        Give so that you can see the smiles on the children’s face during the Christmas program.

Do you see what I mean?… there are so many great reasons to give generously that the silly electric and water and insurance bills suddenly fade into the background. Not that they aren’t important, because they are necessary in order to do many of these things I have named, but they ought not be our biggest reason to give. Again, keeping the doors open is not enough of a reason for me to give to the church, but I thank God and the good people of this congregation that there are so many great reasons to give generously to the work of God through this church.

Obviously I am not just talking about money here.

·        I AM talking about being generous giving our money.

·        But I am also talking about being generous giving our material wealth.

·        I am also talking about being generous giving our time.

·        I am also talking about being generous giving our abilities.

·        I am also talking about being generous giving our love.

·        I am also talking about being generous giving our prayers.

·        I am also talking about being generous with our lives because God has been generous to share his mission with us.

God has a mission… to change the world, and he is looking for a church to help.

In so many ways through the generations and years this church has said, “yes.” You have heard some of the fruit of that commitment today. You have images of the ministries that we do in the generosity videos. You can see our commitment to the kingdom in the accomplishments we celebrated at charge conference. In so many ways, this church has stepped up to be part of God’s mission… God’s plan…God’s upper story vision for the world.

God is also looking for people. People who will be generous in all these ways, with their money and material things, their time and abilities, their love and their prayers. God is looking for people who will give their lives… their whole lives generously to the work of the kingdom.

Let me be frank. God is looking for you.

·        And you.

·        And You.

·        And you.

·        And you.

·        And you. To live generously enough to see his kingdom come and his will be done through you and because of you, in big ways and small ways.

God has a mission and he is looking for a church… as a congregation we have said yes… now he is looking for people to pour their lives, their love, their, abilities, their time, their energy and yes, their money into his mission.

Will you be one of them? Will you be part of God’s kingdom work?

In order to change the world, we need your money and material things, your time and your abilities, your love and your prayers. In fact God is looking for people who will give their lives…

Will you?

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[1] Luke 4:14-21New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)