Keeping the Faith in the Face of Tyranny

 

I was only about half done with my sermon when I woke up Saturday morning about 6am to the news that our country was attacking Venezuela. And my heart sank.

The Venezuelean leader, Nicholas Maduro, is no angel. In fact, it's because of corruption and violence inflicted on the people of his country that so many Venezuelans have made the harrowing trip through jungles and swamps, dodging gangs along the way, to reach the United States in a desperate attempt to find freedom....only then to have ICE agents tackling them and deporting them back to their country or (worse) the CECOT prison in El Salvador. 

The timing of all of this in conjunction with one of the Gospel choices for the Second Sunday of Christmas presented an interesting challenge. Hopefully, I met it. See what you think.

Text: Matthew 2: 13-15; 19-23

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The Christmas season always presents us with highs and lows.

We have the joy and celebration of Christmas Day…while still remembering that each Christmas happens in times that are not necessarily bright and cheery.

In the church calendar…the birth of Jesus on December 25^th…is immediately followed on the 26th by the Feast of St. Stephen:

A day in which we honor St. Stephen as the first deacon who was stoned to death for professing his unwavering belief in Jesus as the Messiah.

Just in case we forget that to trust and believe in Love is a costly business.

And our Gospel reading this morning is another reminder that to follow God’s will and commit to being with Jesus is not a path to an easy and carefree life.

But staying on this journey…difficult and challenging as it can be at times…is still a better choice…and one that leads to freedom.

We see once more that Joseph is receiving divine messages through his dreams…giving him the wisdom and guidance of how to move his family to avoid the rage of an insecure tyrant…namely Herod the Great…the head of the whole Herod clan that we read about in the Scriptures.

This Herod started as the Governor of Galilee…and was a shrewd and capable manipulator as the Roman Empire clashed with the Parthians to the East in modern day Afghanistan. Caesar Augustus named him “King of the Jews”…a title his Jewish subjects found offensive as this so-called “king” was really more in league with their Roman oppressors.

He had ten wives…and there was constant turmoil…and jockeying for position of ascendancy… as often seems to plague those who claim supreme kingly power.

If any family member posed too much of a threat to his throne…Herod would kill them.

He tried to ingratiate himself to the Jewish population after the Romans made him king by rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem.

But his lust for power and supremacy over others was greater than his desire to win approval from the Jewish citizenry.

He added an emblem of an eagle to one of the gates to the Temple…as a nod to the Roman Empire.

The Jews saw this as pagan idolatry and when a group of them pulled it down…Herod the Great had them arrested and executed.

So much for making nice with the natives.

Herod’s brutality is best known to us in the story that our lectionary skipped over in the Gospel reading this morning…a tale that Matthew included and is the basis for another feast day during the Christmas season…the Feast of the Holy Innocents.

The way the story goes…King Herod…upon learning that there was a Jewish baby boy born to be king…decided to round up all the Jewish toddler boys in Bethlehem and had them killed.

This was the dire warning Joseph received in his dream…and why he moved the family with haste to Egypt.

It’s also a story only Matthew tells.

There’s no historical record to back up this tale of a mass murder of infants.

But historic accuracy isn’t really the point of that story.

Matthew wants us to see that Herod had a reputation for wholesale killing of anyone who dared to cross him.

And it also serves the purpose of once more drawing a distinction between an earthly king such as Herod…with his need for power over others through fear and violence…and the kingly power of Jesus…a small…vulnerable baby yet one who already commanded attention and awe by being the embodiment of God’s Love.

A child who will grow to be a man who sought to be with the people…not above them.

A leader who made his company with the poor…the sick…and the disenfranchised.

And a king whose survival depended on his impoverished human family being obedient to God and taking the risk of living as refugees.

This story of the Holy Family fleeing violence and moving from one region to another resonates with our current world crisis of those escaping from war and civil unrest.

The United Nations Refugee Agency reports that last year…there were more than 117 million people who had to flee their homelands due to violence…persecution...human rights violations or other types of conflict.

In most cases…they left for neighboring towns or countries.

But still many others had to seek asylum much farther away from places where war and gang violence made it impossible for them to stay.

We’ve all heard the stories of people coming to the United States seeking a better life…or at least one where they can breathe free and live without the fear of being assaulted or kidnapped.

And we have taken pride in the words of our national anthem…that we are the land of the free and home of the brave.

This is why the imagery of masked government agents grabbing men and women…sometimes pregnant women…and shoving them into unmarked cars…whisking them off to prisons miles from their homes…has shocked the conscience of a majority of Americans.

The reason Venezuelans have been coming here was to flee from chaos in their own country…a country that we’ve attacked …even as we are deporting people back there.

Violence and aggression have always been in the playbook of the tyrants and bullies of the world.

We’ve seen it with Pol Pot in Cambodia and the civil wars in Rwanda and Sudan…and even in Gaza..

For us as Christians…images of people fleeing oppression conjure up this picture that Matthew creates for us of the Holy Family trying to escape the terror that Herod was inflicting on the people of Galilee.

And it’s important for us to keep in mind that for every Herod that has ever lived…there have always been many more like Joseph.

People who have trusted in the voice of God…and kept hope alive in their hearts…stayed faithful to the cause of Love…as they struck out for a better life.

Joseph understood his assignment…that he was to listen to the command of God…even if meant taking a risky trip into Egypt…so that his family would be safe.

Because the child in his care…born into a nightmarish situation…was the fulfillment of God’s dream.

This portion of Matthew’s Gospel shows us what we know to be true.

Tyrants and bullies will die…but God’s Love will find a way and will lead us to freedom.

The name of Jesus…trusted by millions through the millennia…continues to be the foundational strength from which people draw upon to keep putting one foot in front of the other each day….whether it’s crossing a desert or the Darien Gap….or even crossing the street into a treatment center to seek help.

It is a power which rises like the breath in our bodies and helps carry us through the troubled waters and rising tides of our lives.

May we continue to stick to the source of Love which sets us free.

 And once we feel our burdens ease…may we use our freedom to bring peace to others.

  In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.

 

Christmas Still Happens: A Sermon for Christmas Eve 2023

 This has been a really rough year for so many in my congregation. Hurricane Idalia is still messing with people's lives as they fight with their insurance companies over damages. Others have had difficult health events. And then there is the reality of war happening around the world which touches the lives of those connected to the air force base. 

I keep hearing people saying that "Christmas is canceled" particularly in the Holy Land due to the terrorism and war that has been gripping the region for the past two and half months. If ever there was a time for us to call upon Jesus to be made manifest, now seems the time!

I realize that most preachers in the United States will steer clear of the hardships that surround us as they preach their Christmas Eve sermons. We want everyone to be happy and joyous, after all. But I'm just too much of a journalist, too much of a person who sees the things happening in the world and knowing that those are the things my people are hearing and experiencing, too. So I don't want to ignore the realities happening around us. But I want to also remind us that those realities are met on Christmas by a new thing, a new reality that has come to redirect our attention back to Love. 

And so here it goes. See what you think.

Text: Luke 2: 1-20

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Prayer:  The Word was made flesh and dwells among us. May it be the Word we hear…read…mark…learn and inwardly digest as the guiding light of our hearts. Amen.

 

I was casually scrolling through my social media…Facebook and various news sites…when I came across a story about the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem….and their nativity scene.

Interested…I clicked on the headline…which said there was something “controversial” about their display.

Having in my previous career reported and witnessed no end of controversies about nativity scenes and menorahs and all kinds of religious symbols on display in government buildings…I had to wonder what could be so controversial about a church putting up a nativity scene in the Holy Land?

The story popped up on my screen…and the image was arresting.

Instead of a manger with Mary and Joseph looking on in awe and wonder on the Christ child….the church had assembled broken rocks and concrete.

And there…in the middle of the rubble…was Baby Jesus.

Instead of swaddling clothes…he was wrapped in the Palestinian kufiyah…their traditional black and white scarf.

There were a few sheep scattered in the ruins.

Off in the distance…one could make out a shepherd here or there.

Even in this scene…the heavenly chorus is able to reach the lowly shepherds with good news.

It looked like so many of the images we’ve been seeing emerge from the Holy Land as the war in Gaza rages on.

The church’s display captured the reality on the ground and the feelings in the air.

It was certainly a provocative move.

What many Americans probably don’t realize is that Bethlehem…the city which we commemorate as the birthplace of Jesus…lies inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank…a little more than six miles south of Jerusalem.

And while there has been a lot of attention focused on Gaza…there’s been tension and violence in the West Bank for some time as Israel creates more and more settlements in areas with Palestinians.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7^th…relations between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank have gotten worse.

There are the extremist Zionist factions which have no problem assaulting Palestinians….taking out their hurt and anger and fear on those who farm olives.

There are those Palestinians who support fighting against Israel who they see as the oppressor and a source of their misery.

For Palestinian Christians…they are embroiled in a nightmare.

The voices of peace on both sides…Jews and Muslims desiring a two-state solution to the constant conflicts in the region… are still out there.

But the noise of war captures much more attention.

Bethlehem…which relies largely on Christian tourism especially at Christmas…is not a safe place to go.

Christian leaders in this little town made the difficult decision to cancel tree-lighting ceremonies. And while there are Christmas Eve services being held…they are not the same as in years past.

The headline writers have told us that “Christmas is canceled” in the Holy Land.

But I would argue quite the opposite.

Because that image of Jesus laying amidst the broken bomb-scarred rocks in a Lutheran Church in Bethlehem is as much a sign of Christmas for us in the 21^st century as what those ragtag shepherds saw when they trekked off to the manger in search of the Messiah…two thousand years ago.

Jesus then…and now…comes to us amidst the chaos and the rubble of real life.

Jesus was born into a world in which his own earthly parents would be forced to flee to Egypt as refugees.

The political landscape of the Roman Empire was fraught with tyranny and bullying of the Jewish population.   

It was a dangerous world.

There were greedy people holding positions of power and privilege.

There were those doing what they could to get by and not cause any trouble.

There were some who had dropped out of society to go live on the outskirts of town with John the Baptizer by the Jordan River.

And there were hundreds of people who felt hopeless to counter what was happening in society….and others who kept looking for ways to end the corrupt systems that held them back.

And there were wars.

All of it sounds a lot like our world today.

So when newspeople want to report that Christmas is canceled…I say, No.

Go find another phrase for your click-bait! (and as a journalist by training…I reserve the right to criticize my colleagues of the Fourth Estate!)

Yes, maybe all the usual activities aren’t happening.

Maybe the manger scene is messier than what we’re used to seeing.

But Christmas is not just about Christmas trees and gift-giving….or the latest pitch for a new Toyota.

Christmas for us is the celebration of God’s in-breaking into the world…the day that Love came down to earth to dwell among us as one of us.

And boy! It is so important and necessary for that Love to come to this world now!

Given all the upheaval in Europe and the Middle East…and our own continued meanness and in-fighting in our national and state politics…with our social safety net in Lowndes County stretched to the breaking point…we sorely need to get back to the Source of Life…and Light.

We need that light to shine boldly and brightly.  

We need it to pierce through the depths of the gloom and darkness that threatens to overshadow all that is good.

Now maybe you’re sitting there thinking, “Great, but where is that light coming from?

When is it going to show up?”

I don’t have an answer for that.

But I can at least get a glimpse of where to look.

We can start by taking in the sight of our Advent wreath.

We can see the flickering lights.

Each candlelight was added one at a time through Advent.

Now…we have this ring of fire around the one central Christ candle.

This gathering of light can serve as an outward and visible sign to us… a beginning for our prayers and meditations.

And again…it’s a symbol. A representation of the light of Christ.

At our baptism…we were handed…or maybe our parents and godparents…received a candle representing the light of Christ.

Besides being a sweet gift…that candle is meant to be the reminder of what is inside all of us.

Each one of us carries with us that light of Christ.

So it is really each one of us who has the potential to do the work that Christ came into the world to do:

to sit and care for those who are brokenhearted,

the oppressed,

the person in need of a friend.

One of the traditions at Christmas Eve is to sing “Silent Night.”

We do this by candlelight.

The usher lowers the overhead lights as we pass the light to each other’s candle.

Tonight…as we do this…think of it as the symbolism of being a light of Christ for your family…your friends…for your neighbors.

A light that you can pass on to someone else.

A light that may need you to cup your hand around at times to keep it going.

Take a moment to look at a room full of candlelight.

Be still and know that the God who is meeting us in this moment is the God who is calling us now to fulfill the dream of God’s peace on earth as it is in heaven.

The world cannot cancel Christmas if we commit to being Christ’s hands and feet…ears and eyes…head and heart.

Time for us to show up and shine on.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peace, please

 

 

One of the things I am aware of serving at St. Barnabas is that we are the closest Episcopal Church to Moody Air Force Base; hence, when members of the Air Force look for an Episcopal Church, we're the ones they're most likely to find first.

With the war ragining in Gaza, one of our members was deployed in late October for an undetermined amount of time. The deployment left all of us a little nervous. And we were especially concerned for the kids. 

Thankfully...he made it back...and just in time to help us light the candle for Peace on the Advent Wreath. 

Texts: Is. 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8

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Abandonment has got to be one of the loneliest and most fear-filled feelings in the world.

The ache of wondering if you’ve been forgotten…or worse…intentionally left behind to fend for yourself in an unfamiliar place.

Maybe some of us remember a time when we were little kids and we’d have gone shopping with mom.

Mom was on a mission to get what she needs.

But we’d become enthralled with the toys strategically placed at kid eye-level.

Mom…focused and intent on getting in and out of the store…would go about her business.

She needs to get these items.

She’s not there for trinkets and plastic and sparkly things.

So she moves on with finding the essentials….while we’d still be fixated on the bright shiny object.

Mom…her shopping…was of little interest or consequence.

Until we became aware that mom was no longer with us.  

Separated…and mom nowhere sight…we’d start to panic.

We’d look down this aisle…over here and over there. Nothing. Our brains would start to pester us with questions:

Where did she go? Why did she leave me? Where am I?

And then we’d hear a voice calling out our name.

The store manager on the loudspeaker would be summoning us to the front of the store to be reunited with mom…who…by the way…was just as panicked and probably fearing the worst circumstances…realizing she’d lost her focus on us.

That’s the sort of feeling of “abandonment” I’m talking about and on a small scale…caused by a momentary lapse in attention.

But imagine that same sense of abandonment on a bigger scale.

The despair that arises when we’re forced into a situation we’re in some place foreign…with no idea when or if we’ll ever get home.

That’s the wilderness…and it can feel a little like abandonment.

We have no sense of up or down…left or right.

There’s no compass to help guide our feet in the direction of the town.

It’s unknown territory.

That’s the situation of the people Isaiah is speaking to in our first reading.

The Israelites had be invaded by the Babylonian Empire. Their best minds and tradespeople had been captured and taken away to a foreign land.

Those left behind in the ruins were like a rudderless ship.

This was the wilderness…another time when the people of Israel mourned for losses…and the exiles wondered if they’d ever see their native land again.

Now… the prophet is announcing the good news that those who had been scattered can return home.

Persia and King Cyrus had defeated the Babylonians.

The Israelites who had been exiled can return!

All is well now…

” Comfort o comfort my poor beleaguered and suffering people.

You are saved. God is with you!”

We can hear in this passage an exchange of voices…the one announcing to prepare the way! Make a straight path in this wilderness!

There’s dialogue of exuberance:

 “Cry out!” says a voice.

“What should I cry?” asks the prophet.

The cry is to be a proclamation:

humans are mortal…and like flowers and grass they fade away…but God endures forever.

We can get a sense of this as a moment of such joyousness.

It’s like listening to the end of Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, where he thundered out “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we’re free at last!”

This is the same declaration we’re hearing in the Gospel from that wild and hotheaded character John the Baptizer.

Like the prophet Isaiah…John knows that he is not the almighty.

His baptism is not like the one that is coming to the people.

He knows that the people are about to receive a baptism that will set them free once and for all.

Wait and see!

“You who are feeling hopeless...lost…abandoned…get ready! Freedom is coming!”

These messages of freedom…of merciful release…of return from that place of feeling lost and abandoned carry a particularly urgent tone in our world today.

During that brief period of the ceasefire in the Middle East…the world could sigh with some relief as groups of hostages…particularly young children…were freed from underground tunnels in Gaza.

At the same time…Israel freed several Palestinians…a number of them teenagers…who they had detained for minor and sometimes no offenses.

There were signs of celebration as families were reunited.

But sadly…the war rages on.

The fate of the remaining hostages is unknown.

Families of those who have been released…both those being held hostage by Hamas and some of the Palestinian prisoners…are revealing stories of mistreatment and abuse since this conflict began on October 7th.

All of this has spilled over into hostilities in this country.

Arab and Palestinian Americans as well as Jewish citizens are reporting an increase in harassment and abuse.

We’ve heard reports of people getting shot, some have been stabbed and beaten all because they wore the Palestinian scarf…the black and white checkered kufiyah…or the Jewish head covering…the kippah.

Thursday night was the beginning of Hanukkah…an eight-day celebration in which Jews remember another time when they were attacked and overcame adversity…even having enough oil to keep their candles lit.

Sadly…some have felt they can’t safely engage in this candle lighting practice because of the anger and backlash for the war in Gaza.

In fact…my state representative sent out a plea to non-Jews in her district to light a menorah as a way of showing solidarity with their neighbors and allow them to mark their holiday tradition without fear.

(Not a problem in my household since we are an interfaith couple).

It makes sense then that on this second Sunday of Advent…we’ve lit a candle for peace.

Because we could stand to have more peace… less war… less violence… occupying our every day lives in this world.

None of us here may be able to stop to the geopolitical conflicts of the world…in the Middle East…Europe or Africa.

The one thing we CAN do is to commit to asking for God’s guidance to lead us to be peace makers in our families and our communities.

We can take this time of Advent to consider the ways we engage with those around us that might influence others toward a more peaceful coexistence.

Like the ripples on water when you drop a stone into the middle of a pond…our actions and behaviors can affect others to model and change their behavior.

 The words we choose when we’re in conflict with someone can make a difference in resolving a dispute.

Taking a breath before responding in anger or frustration with our colleagues and loved ones…may save a relationship.

Such actions may seem small…but they do add up.

And in this time when people seem to feel free to say the most hateful things online…and in person…to one another…we have an opportunity and a covenant to keep building people up and not tearing them to shreds.

Isaiah was proclaiming a time of God’s salvation coming to a hurting and scattered people.

John was declaring God’s presence was not far from a disillusioned and depressed people.

Now it’s our turn to speak words of comfort to our friends and neighbors as we pray…

“Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.”

In the name of God…F/S/HS.

 

 

Give God What is God's

Sermon for 21A Pentecost

Proper 24

October 22, 2023

 

 

Last week, I was off at Virginia Theological Seminary to celebrate my alma mater's Bicenntenary. It was fun to visit with a few of my friends, and walk around the campus without a care in the world. No paper to write. No tests or chapters to read. I could just enjoy myself. 

Now I'm back and just in time for the passages in Matthew's Gospel where we witness Jesus having repeated run-ins with people who want to trip him up. Yeah, good luck with that!

It is also coming at a time when there is a war raging in the Middle East. The October 7th attack by Hamas, which was horrific in its indiscriminate slaying of Jews in Israel, has been met by an awful retaliation of bombings of Gaza, which has killed thousands of Palestinians. 

The Holy Land...is not so holy. It is hell. And I pray for the violence to stop. 

All of this was on my mind as I wrote this sermon. See what you think. 

 

Text: Matthew 22:15-22
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There’s a woman we’ve been praying for this year who recently passed away after a relatively short illness.

Her name is Lucy Morgan.

Lucy was a friend of mine and a journalism colleague in Tallahassee.

Back in the 1990s…when I was working in public radio…Lucy was the bureau chief for the St. Petersburg Times…now the Tampa Bay Times.

The St. Pete Times holds the distinction of having been one of the best newspapers in the state…and Lucy was among their Pulitzer Prize winning journalists.

She was called the “Dean of the Press Corps” not just because of her long-tenure as a bureau chief…but because she was a formidable presence…and not a person to mess with.

She was quick-witted…funny.. and was dogged in her pursuit of the truth.

And…like any good journalist…she had an ethical core that demanded fairness in her quest to get to the bottom of a story.

If there was one thing Lucy could not abide…it was those journalists who liked to play the game of “gotcha.”

Lucy didn’t feel the need to set up her interview subjects for the purposes of entrapping them.

In the world of political reporting…liars would become quickly self-evident.

Armed with facts…a good ethical reporter has no need to play “gotcha.”

Those reporters who liked to play the “gotcha” game earned Lucy’s disdain…and by extension…the rest of us in the Capital Press Corps would also shun and shame them for their behavior.

The “gotcha” style of questioning is more about the ego of that journalist…the insecurity that makes them need to play a game in order to feel like they have the power and the upper hand in the interview.

It has nothing to do with getting the information the public needs to know.

That same kind of egotistical power playing is on full display in our Gospel lesson this morning.

Here we have this unholy alliance of the Pharisees and the Herodians coming together against their common irritant: Jesus.

At this point in Matthew’s Gospel…Jesus has already run afoul of both groups with his triumphant ride into Jerusalem…mocking the Empire… and his table-turning in the Temple.

He’s a threat to the status quo…a rebel with a cause.

The Herodians would have allegiance to King Herod Antipas…the King installed by the Roman Empire…the oppressors of the Jews.

Herod’s also the one who arrested and then beheaded John the Baptist.

The Pharisees represent the rule-keeping religious sect of Judaism…who see Jesus and his disciples not keeping with the proper order of things…and calling into question “the way things are.”

These two groups are looking for ways to trip him up.

So, they send some underlings to harass him.

After his inquisitors put on a show of flattery…they try to zing Jesus with their “gotcha” question:

“Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor or not?’

What a set up!

If he says, “No”…the Herodians can accuse him of sedition against the Emperor.

If he says, “Yes”…the Pharisees hope it will undermine his credibility among the occupied Jewish citizens by making him look like a Roman sympathizer.

The denarius…the coin Jews had to use to pay taxes to Rome… not only had the image of Tiberius Caesar; it proclaimed Caesar to be divine.

Such a phrase was highly offensive to the Jews and they resented this idea of Caesar being “divine” in any way.

Jesus isn’t interested in their gotcha question.

He knows what they’re trying to do.

Afterall…this is the Jesus who has earlier in the Gospel flipped over tables in the Temple… so he’s not playing.

He takes their gotcha question and turns it inside out.

“Show me the coin! Who’s head is this?”

“The Emperor”

“OK…well…then you give this secular object representing secular things with this secular authority’s image to the secular authority. And you give to God those things with God’s image what is owed to God….”

And what bears this image of God?

Well…look in the mirror.

The thing God desires is us…the whole of us.

Every part of us.

Our good…bad…and even our ugly us.

All our love… all our heart, all our mind, all our soul…all our strength.

As it’s said in Luke’s Gospel, for God… the very hairs on our heads are of more value than the cost of sparrows in the market place. (Luke 12:6-7)

The image of Caesar on the coin…just like the images we have of our founding fathers on our own currency …are fine for earthly commerce.

But God deals in hearts and minds…not silver and gold.

Jesus’ answer raises for us the importance of seeing the difference between what poses as powerful in our secular society versus the power of God which is over and beyond all that worldly authority.

This language is putting before us the tension that we must live into as citizens in our society.  

We must negotiate how to move from this place…this safe haven where we confess a belief in the risen Christ and come to God’s table to remember Christ’s work through the cross to bring us into relationship with God…and allow that to shape our actions when we leave here.

That includes how we put our earthly income to use and how we confront the systems and structures of our world.

What are the values we carry from here that inform those choices about our finances and what we take out into the public life?

The group that writes our Prayers of the People often wrestles with this…especially as we contemplate the writing prayers for “the nation and all in authority.”

We talk about where the needs are in our community and the pressures that weigh on our elected officials.

We also recognize that we live in a pluralistic society…so we don’t seek a Christian theocracy.

But we know that if our leaders would work from a basic level of following the words of the prophet Micah…to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God… our world would be a kinder and more equitable place for all people.

We might actually bring about a society where all people have equal access to food…shelter… and education.

Where our differences in age…income…orientation…skin color…national origin…are seen through eyes of awe and delight instead of fear and suspicion.

This is the dream that we would hope would bring about peace for all…and end such conflicts as we are seeing play out in Israel and Gaza…Ukraine…and Sudan.

Praying for our leaders…seeking peace and justice for all people…helps to form us and the guide us in the decisions we make.

By asking for God’s guidance for others…we’re directing our own hearts toward making this a better society…and helping us to put our resources to the best use for everyone.

May we lift those prayers in hopes of God’s will being manifested on earth as it is in heaven.

In the name of God…F/S/HS.