Come as you are …

It’s been said that the 23rd Psalm is the Mona Lisa of Psalms.  Perhaps you can recite it from memory.  We did that as a congregation yesterday, and it seemed that despite the difference in our ages across the pews, it was the King James version that we remembered.  The Lord is my Shepherd.  I shall not want.  

It can be a daunting task to try to bring a fresh and renewing word about verses as familiar as these. I don’t think I’ve ever used the 23rd Psalm as the primary text for a sermon until yesterday.   As I was preparing during the week I had the sense that I might sound like a tour guide standing at the base of a beautiful mountain explaining its beauty — when all you really had to do was look up and see if for yourself!  

I was also sensitive to the many personal attachments that people bring to these often recited words.  Did you learn it from your mother?  Was it read when you buried your dad?    Did it get you through a dark night in your soul?   Whatever I had to say I wanted to honor what was already etched in people’s hearts.

And for as powerful a text as these words are for a funeral, my purpose was to try to get our heads around how powerful these words are for us, the living. Psalm 23 poetically promises that God will provide.  To limit its use to memorial services robs it of the impact God’s providence has on our everyday lives.  So, in order to explore with fresh eyes and to open our ears for a new take on the familiar, we read The Message translation which begins:  God, my Shepherd.  I don’t need a thing.  

I shall not want.  I don’t need a thing.  Really?  There’s nothing I should want that I don’t already have?  I shouldn’t want more of I have?  I shouldn’t want nicer stuff than what I have?  Can’t I want new stuff to replace my old stuff?  I don’t need more stuff?  I beg your pardon!  We are bombarded at every turn with messages that tell us otherwise.  It seems that we are far more aware of what we lack, than we are aware of what we already have.

We measure ourselves by our deficits.  

We certainly do that in our churches.  We do that in church board meetings when we talk about budgets.  If you are part of a 21st century mainline protestant church in an aging inner-ring suburb in a “severely depressed real estate market” (as Cleveland was described to me by my bank manager recently) as I am, it’s likely you’ve had conversations in which budget and deficit are in the same sentence!  I challenged my congregation yesterday that when we are in the midst of these critical conversations that we interrupt the usual proceedings and recite together the 23rd Psalm!  Would the conversation turn?  Would we think in terms of blessings rather than deficits? Would we remember that we have been blessed through other tough times?   Would we remember what we have accomplished? What miracles have happened?  What prayers have been answered?  What opportunities for ministry lie ahead?  Perhaps the conversation would turn.

And, for us as individual consumers and want-ers — I suggested making two lists.  One list containing our ten greatest blessings.  The other, our ten greatest wants.  Which would have greater impact?  Losing one of the things for which we are most grateful?  Or gaining all ten of the things we want?  I haven’t actually written my own list yet, but it’s been ruminating in my head for a week now.  At this point, I”m not sure I can even come up with 10 things I want, but I”m quite sure I can come up with 10 blessings.  My cup overflows.   I have made a promise to myself that if I start to backslide into deficit thinking that I will recite the 23rd Psalm until I”m back on track!   I hope you’ll join me in that promise.

I shall not want.  I don’t need a thing.  Really?

Really.

Just one more thing before I close.  Not only is the 23rd Psalm a reminder that God is our Shepherd, it is also a model for behaving like a shepherd.  We were created in God’s image, and if God is a shepherd, then so too are we.   I offer a prayer of gratitude for our Prayer Shawl Ministry which has provided tangible evidence of God’s enveloping love to so many people who needed to literally wrap themselves up in that love.  We began yesterday what I hope will be a annual tradition of inviting our congregation on a Sunday morning to take a prayer shawl for themselves or to take one to give to someone they know.  The shawls looked beautiful draped over the pews and scattered throughout the sanctuary.  But all that beauty cannot begin to compete with how even one person must feel right now with a shawl around his or her shoulders.

Blessings –

Pastor Kris

(Thank you to to Rev. Dr. David Lose of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN for helping me to find a new perspective in preaching on these familiar words.)

The fourth Sunday in Lent can find us feeling bogged down in the middle of an intense time of year in the church.  How much longer must we wait — how much more deeply must we go — until the light of Easter morning?  This week’s texts of Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:13-22 do little to ease our angst in wanting to get on with things.  Both are tough texts.  I invite you to read them if you were not in worship this past Sunday.  I also invite you to listen to Sunday’s sermon (http://discipleschristian.org/site/sermons).

There is a bright spot of probably the most quoted and most remembered verse in all of New Testament scripture.  So well known that we know if by chapter and verse.  John 3:16.  Did you learn it as a child?  Can you recite it still?  This passage that shapes our Christian faith has reached far beyond our churches — it’s even made known on football fields!

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV)

Are you confused by the turnaround from John 3:16 that says God has chosen to love and include everyone in the gift of his Son – that so quickly morphs into to judgment against those who do not believe?  If so, you are not alone.  How can God so love the world and at the same time seem to condemn so many in it?

It’s a huge and unanswerable question.  I’m reminded of a professor who advised that when preaching from the gospel of John, we should remember that:  It’s John’s style to say things that border on the offensive.  John’s writing puts to us a test of what we can confirm as the gospel truth and yet we are wise to be cautious against accepting John’s dichotomies without question.  He said that we ought to be puzzled by John.  That we should expect to be offended by John.  But that we must not silence his Jesus by deciding what he should not have said and what his hearers should not hear.

So, we are left with this, well, which is it?  Unconditional love and acceptance in the light or doomed in the darkness?

John’s gospel makes extensive use of the concepts of light and darkness.

What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people…  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it…   I am the light of the world…  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. 

How wonderful it would be if we simply made our way basking in that tremendous light, but I suppose if we did, I’d be out of a preaching job!  We are painfully aware that life is not all light.  Life is the interplay interplay between light and dark.  And in that interplay, light does not always come out a winner.

John sees light and dark without ambiguity.  The gospel writer sees light and darkness as black and white.  But in our reality, those lines get blurred.  Shades of gray are more likely, and light shining into the shadow parts of our lives is not always welcome.

Jesus as the light of the world reveals who we are.  The light exposes the values that shape our lives.  The light that is Jesus shines right on the very parts of us we’d like most to be hidden. I suppose whether it is good news or bad news has much to do with what you are doing when the spotlight that is Jesus sweeps across the corner in which you live.  Unexpectedly.  Before you’ve had a chance to tidy up?   The light that brings with it these two questions:

Who are you when no one is looking?

And how is that working out for you?

I think there is a tendency with this text to draw lines – just as John the gospel writer has drawn lines.  If those who live in the light are saved – well, then, we’re supposed to be on that side.  And those other people – those people we don’t know, those people who don’t know, those people in any form – they’re the ones who will be left in the dark.  I pray you will resist that temptation because this is squarely about our own need for Christ.

Each of us has some shadow work to do.  Each of us has some dark corners that would not bear well the light of day, let alone the light of Christ.  As Jesus put it, if the lamp within you is, in fact, darkness, then great darkness there will be.   (Matthew 6:23)

May it be good news that even the darkness cannot escape the light that is Jesus Christ.  We can argue about whether it’s ever too late to welcome that light.  We won’t get that figured out in one sermon or one Monday afternoon blog post! But this I know – there’s no time like the present. There’s no next moment that is more perfect than this moment.

With the Light of Christ, the darkness will not win.

Blessings –

Pastor Kris

It began as a tough week with the shootings at Chardon High School.  Three students dead.  A community in shock and grief.  Friday evening tornadoes ripped through parts of southern Indiana and Kentucky.   Many are dead.  Many more have no home to return to.  One of the saddest stories to emerge was when a toddler was found wandering alone.  Soon officials knew that everyone in this child’s family had died, and by Sunday, the young child’s injuries were too much for her little body to overcome.  An entire family dead.

In the blink of an eye, life ended.  In the blink of an eye, life changed.

Saturday, three young women on their way to Spring Break in Florida instead lost their lives on the highway when a driver hit them head on going the wrong way.  In the blink of an eye, everything changed.

On Sunday morning we gathered in worship as we always do.  Even without the tragic events of the past week, it is the sobering season of Lent.  It is a time to be intentional about being people of faith.  It’s time to step up — or slow down — our pace on the journey.  Journeys take time.  The journey of following Christ is lifelong.  It’s an interesting contrast to the world in which we live where so much can happen in the blink of an eye.

It’s a contrast, but it’s not in conflict.  Being on this lifelong journey — and taking time to really think about, reflect on, and go deeper into — is what prepares us to be among God’s first responders in emergencies, tragedies, and matters of life and death.  We may not be paramedics or firefighters or ER doctors.  But we possess gifts that can make all the difference in how people get through crisis, and those gifts are sometimes needed in the blink of an eye.

Prayer.  Compassion.  Sharing of resources.  Loving our neighbor.  Responding to a stranger.   Working for justice and peace and fairness, not just in crisis times — at all times.  Considering just what the world will look like for our children and grandchildren, for our Young Disciples, and for children who do not share in the bounty of strong family relationships and caring communities.

In the blink of an eye, our own lives could change.  We are reminded of that when crisis hits close to home.   We could be the ones in need of the compassion.  We could be the ones grieving.  But for now, we are the ones who are called to respond in the blink of an eye, from a lifetime of building up our faith.

Blessings –

Pastor Kris

The title comes not from my own words, but from the pen of David J. Lose in Feasting on the Word. They are good words for the season of Lent that began with ashes on our foreheads last Weds and yesterday’s 1st Sunday in Lent worship.  Lent is a time to be intentional about our faith — a time to go deeper and draw closer to God.  My intention is to write each Monday during Lent.  The sermon that corresponds to my blog can be found each week at http://www.discipleschristian.org.

That is the plan.  However, on this Monday afternoon there is more pressing news than yesterday’s sermon.  This morning that should have started off as any other February work and school day in Cleveland instead began with gunshots in a high school in Chardon — a town about 30 miles east.  As I write, one student has died, four others are in local hospitals receiving treatment, all other CHS students are home with their families, and the suspected gunman is in police custody. The gunman is believed to be a student at the high school.

One school shooting is too many, and there have been several since Columbine in 1999.  This one is close to home.  And close to my heart.  One of our high school youth is a student at CHS.  She is home and safe with her family. thank God.  Her younger sister is in Pastor’s Class this year.   Pastor’s Class meets for the first time this afternoon.  For the first time, we invited our Pastor’s Class alumni to join us in this get-acquainted session. The timing was unintentional of course — who knew how badly the day would begin.   That said, it will be good to be all together in this place where we are loved, with people we love and who love us back — a place where we can freely share our feelings with each other and offer them to God.

It was just yesterday when we worked our way through the story of redemption that is Noah’s Ark.   As the rains stopped and the clouds parted, God looked at the rainbow in the sky as a reminder of his love for humankind and his promise of never again.  God had a change of heart.  I suggested to the congregation in my sermon that each of us needs a sign to remind us of our need for our own change of heart — a change in behavior,a call to live as God intends, for promises broken and promises yet to be made.

 There are not often rainbows in Cleveland this time of year, so perhaps we need to choose a different sign. I have decided that a reminder sign for me can be found in the faces of our Young Disciples.  Children and teens too young and precious to be touched by the horrors of violence, and yet the world has not sheltered them from it.  Seeing their faces this afternoon will be the reminder I need to keep my promises to love and serve the God who promises a sun bright enough to dry up the mud and an absolute refusal to give up on humankind.

I’m finished writing for today — I need to get walking.

Pastor Kris

It was a tough week.  The stock market on a roller coaster.  30 soldiers dead in one helicopter attack in AFghanistan.  The famine continues in Somalia.  London was afire with riots and looting.  What makes this so tough is none of this is likely to get better anytime soon.

The Feds in announcing that interest rates will stay low for the next two years are as much as saying things arent going to be better for awhile.  There is no exit strategy in Afghanistan that guarantees that our men and women will be home before another such massacre.  A generation is dying in Somalia.  And the trouble in London is symptomatic of more than young people stealing flat screen TVs.

And with Sunday’s sermon text of Matthew 15:21-28, it wasn’t an easy week to be a student of the gospel either.  I dare to say if this were the only story we knew about Jesus, I wouldn’t be writing this blog and you would likely not be a follower.  We can excuse Jesus’ behavior by saying his humanity was showing.  But this is different than those other times when he was angry with the Pharisees or the money-changers or even when he was irritated by his disciples.  This time Jesus seems to be denying compassion towards the very sort of person we expect him to help.  This woman is one of the least of these, and Jesus comes across as racist and insensitive.  It’s been said that a kneeling woman doesn’t have far to fall –– and yet Jesus manages to knock her down even further in public with an outrageous put-down.

In his book, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Kenneth Bailey approaches this story as if Jesus was testing the woman and the disciples.  Jesus pretends indifference, he sets a trap for the disciples — giving them permission to act out their prejudices.   As the harshness of his words escalates, it’s a test for the woman to see how she will respond.  Tit for tat with stinging insults of her own?  Loudly expressing her anger towards people who attack her?  Or will her love for her daughter, her faith in Jesus’ power to heal, her confidence that he does have compassion for her and others like her allow her the strength to absorb the insult and press on?

Woman, great is your faith, Jesus responds, and her daughter was healed.  Instantly.  It this was a contest, she won hands down,

There’s a lesson in this for us.  (Yes, I say that every week)  Jesus showed us once more this week that life is about how we respond.  He teaches us with the example of this woman.  She had been humbled.  She had a concept of what is enough and doesn’t ask for more — even the crumbs, she says.  She persists with personal sacrifice out of her love and compassion for another human being.

Humility.  A sense of what is enough.  Personal sacrifice.  

These are tough concepts for us.  As Westerners with individualistic tendencies, we are likely to be enamored with a philosophy of I think, therefore I am.  To which an African theological response would be, I am, because we are.

The stories from Matthew these past 3 weeks have been about the disciples and how they responded to Jesus’ command to feed folks, to get out of the boat and take chances, and to persist with personal sacrifice for the good of others.

Despite our temptation to bury our heads in the sands of not knowing what’s going on in our world, that wasn’t Jesus’ way.  Despite our knee-jerk reactions of name calling, blame placing, and hurling insults, Jesus teaches a better way and expects us to live it.

Jesus is expecting us to be out there changing the world.

Blessings –

Pastor Kris

The story of the Feeding of the 5,000 according to the Gospel of Matthew (14:13-23) is a familiar one.  It was most likely an even larger crowd since Matthew’s account counted only the men, mentioning that there were women and children also in attendance!  It’s an unexplainable miracle that so many people were fed from such a meager amount of food — five loaves and two fishes.  But this is anything but a typical miracle story.

A more typical miracle story might be: when Jesus healed Bartimaeus of his blindness, his family and friends immediately started praising God.  When Jesus healed the 10 lepers, 9 of them went on their way, but there was that one who turned back, threw himself and Jesus’ feet and began proclaiming him throughout the region.  The disciples had a miraculous catch of fish, so many that their nets were bursting, and they left those nets immediately and followed Jesus. 

And what happens in this miracle story?  Nothing.  Everyone ate until they were full, the leftovers were gathered up, the number of people in attendance announced, and …nothing.  No response.  No one seems to notice that anything unusual happened.  Certainly no one appears grateful.  Did thousands of people follow Jesus as a result?  Did even a handful?

Was Jesus discouraged?  If he was, his discouragement is not recorded for us to know.  I wonder how the disciples felt.  What was it like for them that day.  It was the disciples who actually served the crowd and cleaned up the leftovers.  I wonder if anyone thanked them.  I wonder if anyone was interested in knowing more about Jesus.

This story reminds us here at Disciples Christian Church of our free monthly community meal.  We too have served 5,000+ men, women, and children, though not all at the same time.  That said, the 150 or so meals that we serve each month are no small feat for a church our size.   It always seems a miracle that we come through at the very last minute with more than enough food and volunteers.  We encourage second helpings, as long as everyone has been served one plate, and we send all our extra food home with folks.

It is an eye-opening experience for those who come to serve the first time.  I don’t know what people expect.  I just know they are always surprised.  Sometimes they are surprised by the atmosphere in the room. Surprised in a good way.  Surprised that people don’t just eat and leave, rather they stay and schmooze.  It is a meal unlike any other we sit down to.

That said, that first time experience is sometime not a good surprise.  Not everyone we serve is particularly nice.  Sometimes they are demanding and picky.  Ungrateful.  Sullen.  Rude.  And yet, they’ll be back next month and hungry. 

Should we be discouraged? 

As we stand in the shoes of those first disciples and we obey Jesus’ command to feed anyone and everyone, with our limited resources, whether we feel like it or not that day, without even the expectation of gratitude — that is a tough demand! 

And yet there are some moments of real joy and celebration when we stand in the shoes of the disciples waiting tables.  There is a spirit in the room every month that I wish we could duplicate in everything we do. 

Do people who come want to give back?  Some do.  There are too many examples to  name of people who have come to the meal hungry and alone and have found the community they were looking for — and now they are bringing food and waiting tables and washing dishes .  Are any of them looking for Jesus?  Yes, some are.  And some have found Jesus in this place and are taking the next step to be deacons in this church which means they’ll be setting and serving at another table — The Table of our Lord. 

 Of course we can find things to be discouraged about.  Each one of us comes into the work of ministry with our own set of troubles and the need to just get away from it all sometimes.  Every one of us needs those breaks when God takes care of us.  Take them.  Jesus did. 

Jesus went off by himself before he faced this crowd, and he went off by himself immediately after.  Jesus didn’t wait around for adulation or thanks.  He went away to pray.  It would be the pattern for the rest of his ministry.  Responding to need in the world, and responding to his own need for God, and living in that cycle for the rest of his ministry among us.

That’s how a life as a follower of Jesus is supposed to be.  Life is about how we respond.  We can face it alone, or we can live his command to love and serve each other, knowing that we are loved and served in the same way.

Blessings –

Pastor Kris

In the midst of the summer, I’m not sure I’m back in the saddle of posting weekly on this blog, so please bear with me!  Schedules have been different lately.  We worshipped outdoors on July 3, and then I was away for two weeks while attending the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) General Assembly in Nashville, TN followed by a weekend getaway to the Finger Lakes in NY.  It was good to be back preaching yesterday. 

With this year’s General Assembly theme of “Tell It” still resonating in my head and heart, it was yesterday’s sermon theme as well.  I referenced Dr. Fred Craddock in my message, and I’d hoped to use a clip in worship.  Since that didn’t work out, if you’d like to hear his voice for yourself, click on http://www.disciples.org/GeneralAssembly/Video/tabid/888/Default.aspx (Craddock’s message begins about 38:37 into the video).   Craddock is speaking to our reticence to speaking aloud and our dependence on the written word rather than the spoken word.   What we would miss if our oral culture disappeared!

It is ironic then to be writing a blog about people’s reluctance to speak aloud!  I am aware and grateful that many of us want to walk the walk, showing God’s love and being Christ’s hands and feet in the world.  It is certainly our call to be out there making a difference in the world.  I am also aware that far fewer of us want to talk the talk!   You’ll hear Dr. Craddock say that while it is important for us to perform deeds, he makes the point that speaking aloud of God’s love is the greatest deed we can perform.  When Dr. Craddock preaches, I listen.  But it’s more than that — it’s what Jesus did and we are called to be like him. 

Yesterday’s text was perfect preparation for learning how to tell it.  [Read Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52]  In a rapid fire rush of five different images, unlike Jesus’ usual storytelling style, he describes what the presence of God feels like.  Jesus doesn’t let us settle on any one image, rather I think he is giving us options for what that might be like in order for us to begin thinking about what God’s kingdom is like for us. 

What has it been like for you as God has accompanied you through life?  What were some moments like?  What was hidden from view and now uncovered?  What was right there in front of you and you didn’t see it?  What makes an experience of God better than anything you can buy at the mall or find on the Internet or watch on TV?  What has grown in you that you didn’t even realize was there and now you ca’t imagine your life without it?  When were you lost and how were you found?  When did just the right someone appear at just the right moment to help you find your way?

What story could you tell?  No one can tell your experience of God as you can tell it.  Jesus can lead, teach, and save us, and yet even Jesus can’t describe what is personal to us.  I think that’s why he put so many options out there for us to consider.  Maybe it’s like that for you and maybe it’s like smething else entirely.

I’m not finished with this theme of Tell It.  I’m praying about how we can come to be a people who tell stories.  Out loud.  With others listening. 

So, let’s start talking.  Who knows?  It might be an easier exercise than we anticipate it to be. 

Blessings for your week ahead

Pastor Kris

[corresponding sermon is podcast at http://www.disciples.org.]

In a departure from what I usually write on a Monday morning, this week’s posting is not about yesterday’s sermon.  In fact I’m not going to write much at all because I’m anxious to get on with the rest of my day and week.  This week will look very different from the usual as I’m going to be away from church.  I plan to be at home mostly, reading and studying.  I hope to disconnect from the phone and e-mail, except for what is critical. 

Last week was a wonderful week in my life as pastor of Disciples Christian Church.  It was filled with people!  I had lunch with our CWF ladies on a sunny and breezy afternoon in a lovely backyard.  I was the guest presenter that same night at our Men of Disciples group.  The next evening I drove to Mansfield, Ohio to watch in support of one of our student music interns who was competing  in the Miss Ohio pageant.   On Friday evening, it was a drive to Broadview Heights to see one of our staff team who was a lead dancer in The Music Man.  I officiated a wedding on Saturday.  Preached on Sunday.  Add a hospital visit or two in the mix, and you have a typical week in the life of a pastor in a growing church. 

And much as I love people, this week I will be well served by spending some hours alone.  With David away fishing in Montana and me with no sermon to write this week (we’ll have a guest preacher this Sunday), it seems perfect time. 

And at the end of the week, I’ll connect with my children with a quick trip to Indianapolis.  That visit  will also help deepen the well of reserves necessary to do this work — the work I so love.

I’ll be in worship on Sunday both to lead and also to listen to a new and emerging voice of a young seminarian.  Have a good week.  And whether it is filled with meeting the needs of others or doing some much-needed self-care in order to do that work — know that God is there in every moment with you.   The God that is beyond us.  With us.  And within us.

Off to read the first of a stack of books calling my name — but first a walk before the air gets any muggier!

Blessings –

Pastor Kris 

We celebrated the success of our extended family of graduates in worship yesterday.  Three high school-ers, several college undergrads, some Master’s degrees, and one Doctor of Ministry — these photos represent a variety of ages and experience.  We are proud of you, as we know your families are proud.  Congratulations.  Ta-Da — you did it!  

We had more than graduations to celebrate yesterday, as it was Pentecost Sunday, when we remember that day in Jerusalem when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus’ followers. It was a celebration unlike anything we can manufacture ourselves.   Read the accounting of the day in Acts 2:1-21. 

I wonder what the disciples thought when the excitement began.  Did they think this was a gift of belated appreciation for their hard work in following Jesus for three years?  Maybe it was time to kick back, relax, and go fishing again?

One of those faces in the collage belongs to us.  We’ve had 3 college graduates in the last 4 years in our family. We’ve heard a similar sentiment of relief from each one of them upon graduation.  Boy, I’m glad that’s over. I need some time off. I need to take a break. 

We might be envious as adults of our kids not just because they can kick back, but because in starting out, they have so many directions from which to choose.  We might welcome the chance to start over, and it’s just not in the cards for us to do that.  But it’s a tough world our children are trying to find their way into, and I”m pretty sure I would not want to begin navigating my way through it without the experience and thicker skin I’ve gained over the years.  

There’s an excellent article by David Brooks, columnist for the NY Times, titled “It’s Not About You.”  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/opinion/31brooks.html?scp=1&sq=david%20brooks%20graduation&st=cse.  Brooks maintains that we’ve got it backwards when we advise our graduates to follow your passion, chart your own course, march to the beat of your own drummer, follow your dreams, and find yourself.  That we should be looking outside ourselves first for what it is that is calling us, for what it is that we can uniquely do for our world.

That we will not find ourselves until we lose ourselves.  That sounds like the gospel to me!  It’s the message of this celebration of Pentecost .  The Holy Spirit descended upon them all that day not to single anyone out for achievement, not as a congratulatory gift, not even as a thanks job well done.   The Holy Spirit came and allowed them to hear and understand each other, to give them direction for the next steps to take for making a difference in the world. 

It is a good message not just for our graduates, but for all of us.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t come to applaud who we are as a result of our own efforts – instead, the Holy Spirit comes to shape us into who we can be. I for one am glad that it doesn’t all depend on me — I am grateful that God is in charge and that God has sent so many gifted and creative persons into my life and into the life of the church.   I have been shaped by those persons who themselves have been shaped by the Holy Spirig.

Ta-Da!  Here we are, God.  What would you have us to do?  Where would you have us to go?

Blessings –

Pastor Kris