What's Poisoning You?

Some of you may have heard this question, “What’s your poison?” You were probably being asked what you wanted to drink, usually. Today I want to ask you a little different question, “What’s Poisoning You?”
The people who were following Moses in their trek through the wilderness began complaining about not having things as comfy as they had them in Egypt. They wondered why God had brought them out here to die. God sent poisonous snakes to bite them. Many died before they realized they had sinned when they talked against God. And so they asked Moses to intercede for them before God to take the snakes away.
God told Moses to make a snake of copper and hoist it up on pole. Anyone who looked up at the snake would be cured of the snake bite and they would live.
In the same way all mankind has sinned against God and complained about the mess God has gotten them into. Everyone who has complained and sinned against God has been bitten by the poisonous snakes of the world. Some have died.
And so we come to Jesus and ask him to intercede for us before God. And our benevolent God already has the answer. Look up at the One on the cross. Look up and be saved!
How is it possible that the people were saved by looking at the fiery copper snake on the pole? How could looking at an image of the thing that had made them deathly ill in the first place make them well? It’s not logical.
By the same token how can looking at this cruel instrument of Roman torture save us from the poisonous sin in our lives? It’s not logical. It doesn’t make any sense. How could a cross save us?
Friends, it’s not the cross but the One who went to the cross for us who saves us. And it’s a free gift from God. We’ve done nothing to earn this salvation. Paul says in Ephesians all we have to do is trust. It’s grace through faith. And even faith is a gift from God.
How could anyone believe that they could be saved by one person dying for them on a cross? How could anyone believe that anyone could be killed on a cross, buried in a tomb, and rise again? It’s just not logical.
But friends, it did happen. It’s real. God came into the world not to condemn the world but to save it. And he came not just for his own chosen people but for all his creation.
So what’s poisoning you? Have you figured out what you need to do? This is the hard part to understand. There’s nothing we can do. God wants all of us to be cured of the poison in our lives. He wants all of his children to be in an intimate relationship with him.
But God doesn’t force himself on anyone. He leaves it up to us to find the light. And some just can’t believe that there can be a God who loves them so much that he will accept them just the way they are with all their sins, with all the darkness in their lives, with all the evil poison that is coursing through their brain. God will take us, any of us, just the way we are. All we really have to do is turn to the light. Come out of the darkness. Look up at the cross. This is a symbol of foolishness to some but it is the only thing that will save us.
God has prepared the way. We have all messed it up. We have all been poisoned by the things of the world. God came into the world to save us. Look up and gaze into the eyes of Jesus. Let him cleanse your soul with his gracious love light.
It’s so easy but it’s so hard to admit that we can’t fix ourselves. Jesus is the way. God has prepared the way. Are you ready to trust in the crucified Christ who rose again to save us from death? Come to the cross and look up at the One who will save you.
Friends, God loves you and so do I.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

The Law, The Temple, and the Cross

What makes a good relationship? Think about what needs to happen in a relationship in order for it to last forever. Are there rules that should be followed?
I believe God wanted a relationship with his people, the ones he led on the Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. So at Mount Horeb “Ten Words” were engraved in stone for Moses to take down the mountain to the people. It was a covenant between God and his people.
God made a commitment to the people that if they would keep his commandments he would be with them a long, long time but if they didn’t keep his commandments he would punish them through many generations. The people made a passive commitment to keep these commandments.
You see they feared God, this God who made the top of the mountain tremble and boil over with black clouds. They feared this God who no one could look at without forfeiting their life.
So when Moses brought down the “Ten Words” of course they agreed to keep them. What was the alternative? God would forsake them and then they’d be on their own out there in the wilderness. Even though they often complained against God and Moses they knew they needed both of them in order to reach the Promised Land.
Then they arrived. They had everything God had promised they would have. They were in the lap of luxury. And what happened, they forgot the “Ten Words”. They drifted away from this relationship they had with God.
Oh, he gave them many opportunities to come back. There were prophets, judges, and kings. And they’d be reminded of the covenant. They would make their sacrifices and beg for forgiveness. They would remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. But again and again they would drift away.
The chosen ones did this so many times that it’s a wonder God stayed with them. It’s a wonder they weren’t destroyed. Why didn’t he start over again? Have you ever wondered that?
Things kept getting worse for God’s chosen people. One nation after another came in and conquered them. The Prophet promised a Messiah, someone who would save them and lead them in battle to rule the world. They waited and waited. And they kept the story alive of the Anointed One who would come from the family of David.
And then Jesus arrived in Bethlehem and grew to be a man in the little town of Nazareth. Through this Lenten season we have followed Jesus from the river Jordan into the wilderness where he was tempted by satan. We have been with the disciples as they listened to him teach them with parables. We have heard him talk about his suffering and death and resurrection. And like the disciples we can’t quite understand it all.
He talked about taking up our crosses and following him. He said that we should embrace suffering. How can we be saved by someone who allows themselves to be crucified on a cross? We have been waiting for a Savior who would lead us triumphantly in battle against our oppressors.
We have listened to him talk about the Temple. It is such a beautiful temple in Jerusalem. But he says if they destroy the temple he will rebuild it in 3 days. Impossible! It’s taken 20 years to get it this far and it’s still not complete. How can he do it in 3 days?
In John’s gospel we hear about Jesus coming into the temple. He’d been there before. He healed people, told them to pick up their mats and go home and sin no more. He’d made blind people see in the Temple. He’d taught people in the Temple. Today he turned everything upside down, literally.
I don’t think he did it on the spur of the moment either. I think this had been simmering for a while. It may have been the final act that pushed the religious leaders to over the edge. They were afraid that Jesus would destroy their temple.
They wanted to know who gave him the authority to do what he did? Who did he think he was? His answer was almost like he was daring them to do something. Tear down this temple and I’ll build it up in three days. Preposterous! No one could do that.
They didn’t understand that he was talking about his own body. That is, not until after his resurrection. Then it all made sense. Well, kind of made sense. The Jews don’t believe it yet and there are others who just don’t believe in any God or any Power.
It’s like Paul said, to some it’s just sheer silliness. The Jews were looking for a warrior Savior and the Greeks were looking for the ultimate source of Wisdom. What are we looking for? Will we find it here? Where will we find it?
Will we find it in the Law? Will we find it in the Temple? Or will we find it as we kneel at the foot of the Cross? Where will we find our Savior? Where will we find Wisdom?
If you have come looking for a Savior, if you have come looking for Wisdom, then according to Paul you have probably come to right place. Because he said, “God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation.”
The Law, the Temple, the Cross, and now preachers, you know it must be a God thing because only He could make all this work for good.
Friends, Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the law rests on these two sentences.
We are told that our bodies are temples of God. When we invite Jesus into our hearts and lives they are made new and cleansed better than they ever were by the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross.
Relationships depend on the Law, the Temple, and the Cross. Love God, love your neighbor, keep your temple pure and clean, and lay all your burdens at the cross.
How does this all work? Friends, that is one of God’s great mysteries. It’s only by God’s grace through faith that we are forgiven and saved from our sins. Thanks be to God for his grace. Amen.

Living with Jesus

Jesus covered quite a lot of ground by foot. In fact it seems that wherever he was going he was walking. As he was walking he used that time to teach and instruct his disciples and the rest of the crowd that followed them.
The verses that preceded our gospel lesson were about Jesus asking the disciples who people were saying that he was. They gave various answers to his question. Then he asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter gets the answer right when he says, “You are the Christ.”
Yet in the very next paragraph Peter gets it wrong. Jesus confronted Peter, told him to get out of his way, called him satan, told him to get lost, and basically told him he didn’t have a clue about how God works. He was on top one minute and lower than the dirt on his sandals the next. Yet Peter is who he is going to ask to lead his church.
Jesus saw this as a good teaching opportunity. He called the crowd that was following them to come close enough to hear what he had to tell them.
He said, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?
If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I'm leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you'll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels."
Jesus had just told them the Son of Man would have to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law. He would be killed and after three days would rise again.
The leader they were following had just said that he was going to die. So if they followed him and let him lead then they would most likely suffer the same fate. It wasn’t about them any more it was about Jesus. He was asking them to give up all the things in their lives that the world thought was necessary to their survival. They weren’t to depend on themselves any longer. He was asking them to make hard personal sacrifices for the good of their souls.
What is the Message for us today? What do you think it means when Jesus asks us to follow him and let him lead? What does it mean to us to not run from suffering, but to embrace it? It sounds as if whoever chooses to follow Jesus will have to put a lot of trust in the One they have never seen. Whoever makes the decision to follow Jesus will have to put a lot of faith in the Word.
These are tough questions for all of us in these times in which we live. Give up worrying about our 401k’s, our pensions, our CD’s, and our savings accounts that keep getting smaller everyday. Jesus lays it all out on the line when he asks, “What could you ever trade your soul for?”
What is your soul worth? Is it worth spending all our time trying to figure out how we can build more monetary wealth in our retirement accounts?
Everything Jesus is teaching in this gospel reading requires trust and faith in the One who spoke these words over 2,000 years ago. The lesson from Genesis and Romans was about the faith that Abraham had in the covenant God made with him to make him the Father of a great nation. Abraham had faith even though he was well past the prime years for fathering children. Yet he believed that if God said it, it would be as he said. That’s a whole lot of faith. And he waited another year before God kept his part of the covenant and they were blessed with Isaac.
Jesus is calling us today to be his disciples and to use the gifts he has given us to go out into the world and make more disciples of all nations. Do we have the faith and trust necessary to be disciples for Jesus?
What is it that scares us the most about being a disciple for Jesus? Will we have to leave our comfortable homes? Will we have to travel to far off lands teach people who are way different from the people in Iowa and Nebraska about Jesus and the Way? What scares us, what keeps us from making the commitment to be Jesus’ disciples?
What would it mean to spend our lives living with Jesus? What did it mean for Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, and the others He called to follow him? They were able to learn from the Rabbi who had all the answers. They were tested beyond everything they ever imagined and so would you and I be tested when we chose to live with Jesus. They made mistakes and were rebuked and so would we. No one ever gets it right all the time.
Friends, the question in our hearts today is the same question the disciples had in their hearts. How could Jesus make anyone’s like better by having his own like end? It just doesn’t sound right to our ears.
But Jesus was always doing things in the opposite way from the world. And he still does.
Who does he invite to be members of his body, perfect people? I don’t think so. There aren’t any perfect people. We all have flaws. We all make mistakes. Many that we don’t want anyone to ever find out about. But still Jesus calls us to drop everything, all our pretenses, and come and live our lives with him.
God asked Abraham to walk before him and be blameless. Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” It’s all about faith and God’s grace.
Friends, look deep into your hearts. Spend some quiet time with God during this Lenten season and pray that he will give you the faith to come and live with him. Trust in his Word and believe in his Son who has gone before us and will live within us enabling us to do much more than we can even imagine.
Jesus says, Let me lead. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Give your all to him and let him show you the Way.
If you haven’t made the commitment to live with Jesus today is as good a time as any. Ask him to come into your heart. Ask him to give you the faith you need to let him be your leader. Confess your weakness and your sins and let him carry the load. Trust in the One who has gone on before us to know the Way.
Thanks be to God for his marvelous grace. Amen.

Signs

God put a sign in the sky to remind him not to ever destroy every living thing ever again with a flood. We still see the sign in the sky and so we can be assured that God also sees it and is reminded of his covenant with us.
What signs do we see every Sunday that also remind us of what God has promised or of what God has done for us?
As I look around the sanctuary my eyes are drawn to the cross. I remember that Jesus gave up his life on the cross for me. He took my sins as his own and willingly paid the price by dying on the cross for me. It’s at the cross that I know I can lay my burdens down and know that they will be lifted from my shoulders.
Right here we see the baptismal font filled with water. As we heard from the gospel according to Mark Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River as a sign for us that we all need to change our ways. John was preaching a Message of repentance and Jesus’ Message was very similar, “Change your life and believe the Message.”
In the words at our baptism we hear how God claims us, and seals us to show that we belong to God. God frees us from sin and death, uniting us with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. By water and the Holy Spirit, we are made members of the church, the body of Christ, and joined to Christ’s ministry of love, peace, and justice. We are asked to remember with joy our own baptism as we celebrate this sacrament.
Over here we see the joyful feast that the Lord has prepared for the people of God. When we hear the words of institution for the Eucharist we are asked to remember Jesus and all he taught and did whenever we eat this bread and drink this wine. They are signs for us of the sacrifice that was made for us so that we could enter into an intimate relationship with God, our Father. Every time we eat this bread and drink this cup we proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord, until he comes.
I believe that all creation is a sign of God’s love and power. Science can explain some things about our world but there’s a whole lot about this universe that can’t be explained other than to say it just happened. I don’t believe it just happened. I believe that God spoke the word and then it happened. And everything I see around me everyday just proves it for me. They are signs for me of God’s covenant.
But I’m reminded and come back to Jesus’ message as recorded in Mark. “Times up. God’s kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message.”
Friends, there are signs all around us. Some of them we notice and pay heed to and some we ignore. And so we pay the consequences of our ignorance.
In this season of Lent we are on the road with Jesus moving toward Easter. Not all of us travel the same road but I believe every road we travel will take us to God. All we have to do is follow the covenant signs and read the charted directions.
Thanks be to God for his gracious signs of love and peace. Amen.

Our Successors

Some Sundays I wonder why God has me up here proclaiming his word to whomever he brings to worship in this sanctuary. Sometimes I wonder if the words he gives me to speak make any sense to anyone. I’m just a farm boy who finally responded to God’s urging to be a pastor.
Most of the pastors who have preceded me did a pretty good job of leading this church through the years. Some were very good teachers and preachers and some provided just the right kind of pastoral care to this church’s members. And some were just plain good at doing both. That’s kind of intimidating.
Elisha had the opportunity to be an apprentice to Elijah. And just before the Lord took Elijah away Elisha was given a most wonderful gift by his mentor. Elijah asked him what he could do for him before he was taken away. Wouldn’t that be something to be given a chance to receive a gift from our predecessor(s) that would help us in the work we’re taking over from them? Opportunities like this aren’t always available to everyone.
I think that’s what Jesus was doing for the three disciples he took with him to the mountaintop. When Jesus was transfigured and Elijah and Moses appeared alongside him they saw him differently. They didn’t understand it all and it scared them.
Jesus had been preparing them by telling them he would suffer and die at the hands of the religious leaders in Jerusalem. And yet he continued his plans to enter the city. And his disciples didn’t understand why, when it would have been just as easy to avoid that confrontation.
I don’t think they really believed that he was going to be killed and would be going away. I don’t believe they thought that they would be left behind to carry on the work of proclaiming his Message. I think they believed or maybe strongly hoped that what he was saying wouldn’t actually happen. I think they believed that he was going to establish his kingdom here on earth right away and the Roman oppressors would be vanquished from Palestine. This is what the whole Jewish nation had been waiting for their entire lives.
They hadn’t been with him long enough to learn everything they needed to know to do this evangelistic work he was calling them to do. But are any of us ever really thoroughly prepared to go forth and evangelize. I’ve always been reluctant. I’ve often thought I’m ill-equipped and not prepared to speak the Message Jesus wants proclaimed.
Oh that we could all have the opportunity Elisha had, to be asked what we would like to receive from our mentor before they were taken away from us. Have you ever thought who you would like to be like? Elisha wanted to have a life just like Elijah’s. He wanted to be a holy man, a prophet just like Elijah. Who do you look up to and what would you say if you were asked that question?
But then we listen to what Paul wrote to the Corinthians and we remember that it’s not about us. We are messengers, gofers for Jesus, the Master. It all began when we accepted Jesus' invitation to be the light of our lives. When we committed ourselves to serving him then our lives weren’t any longer our own. We were changed and whether we realized it or not we were changed; we were transformed.
Maybe we weren’t born with the natural abilities we thought we had to have to be a teacher or a preacher or a minister or evangelist for Jesus but when we let the light of Jesus come into our hearts the Holy Spirit changes us and enables us to do many things we never knew we were capable of. Even Jesus struggled with his own doubts at times. Look at how many times he went away by himself to pray. Remember his trip to the wilderness and his last evening praying in Gethsemane. He never doubted in God or his abilities but he may have had doubts about whether he could go through all the suffering and pain. That may have been why he went up on the mountain. That may have been why it was important for him to talk with the greatest prophet Elijah and the man of the law, Moses. He may have needed to hear God say, “This is my Son…listen to him!”
Elisha didn’t want to let Elijah out of his sight. Peter didn’t want to come down off the mountain. We are afraid to be sent out into the world.
God’s Message for us today is this, just as he was in and with Jesus so he is in and with us in the power of the Holy Spirit enabling us to go out and change the world, to bring the light of Christ into someone’s life.
We may not feel any different when we leave here today but just by being here and listening to God’s proclamation we have been empowered to tell others what God is doing in our lives and what he is able to do in theirs all because he has a deep yearning to have an intimate relationship with all his children.
Jesus is the light of the world. God speaks and the darkness is made light. Friends, trust in the One who knew you before you were conceived to provide everything you need to do the work he has chosen for you.
Thanks be to God for the Light he brought into the world. Amen.

After the Transfiguration
By Kathy Coffey

Grinding up the steep incline,
our calves throbbing,
we talked of problems
and slapped at flies.
Then you touched my shoulder,
said, "turn around."
Behind us floated
surprise mountains
blue on lavender,
water-colored ranges:
a glimpse from God's eyes.
Descending, how could we chat
mundanely of the weather, like deejays?
We wondered if, returning,
James and John had squabbled:
whose turn to fetch the water,
after the waterfall of grace?
After he imagined the shining tents,
did Peter's walls seem narrow,
smell of rancid fish?
did feet that poised on Tabor
cross the cluttered porch?
After the bleached light,
could eyes adjust to ebbing
grey and shifting shade?
Cradling the secret in their sleep
did they awaken cautiously,
wondering if the mountaintop
would gild again-bringing
that voice, that face?

Jesus, You Can Cleanse Us If You Want To

The leper in Mark’s gospel came to Jesus and said, “If you want to, you can cleanse me.” All he wanted was to be made clean. His only desire was that he could be part of the community again.
Jesus felt compassion for this man. His feelings for him were so strong that he reached out and touched him, knowing that according to the law he would then be unclean himself. He touched him anyway. With his touch the man was healed of his skin disease. His body was smooth and healthy once more.
With something as simple as touching this man’s hand or arm Jesus gave him back his life in the community. He still had to present himself to the priest and be declared by him to be clean. He knew he was clean on the outside but the priest wouldn’t know it until he saw it with his own eyes. And then he would ask how did this happen.
Jesus gave the leper strict orders not to say anything to anyone. But we all know the priest would question him. How could he possibly keep this good news to himself? Could you? And so he told and the news spread like the wildfires in Australia.
Jesus couldn’t go anywhere without be surrounded by a mob of people clamoring for just a touch of his hand so they could be clean. And then away they would go, clean on the outside but what were they like inside?
Did they understand what Jesus had to offer them and did they really want that kind of salvation? What do you think the leper would have done if Jesus had just forgiven his sins and not cleared up his skin condition that kept him from being part of the community? Would he have gone around and excitedly told everyone what Jesus had done for him? I think sometimes we don’t really want what the saving grace of Jesus has to offer. We just want to be fat and sassy and enjoy the easy things in life. We want our lives to be without pain and discomfort, both physically and spiritually.
If Jesus is going to heal us we would like it to be something dramatic, something people would notice, something that would be worthy of our standing in the community. That’s what Naaman was looking for when he went to visit the prophet Elisha in Samaria.
Naaman, the general in the Aramean army, wanted the prophet of Samaria to heal him of his skin disease. When Elisha told him to go bathe in the Jordan River 7 times he refused at first. It was too easy. He figured at the very least that the prophet would come out and offer prayers to God and wave his hand over the diseased skin and it would be healed. But to go and bathe in the muddy waters of the Jordan River; how was that going to get rid of his disease?
We come to God every day and beg him to make us clean. We come to Him knowing he can make us clean if he wants to. But we don’t see any difference. Or what he asks us to do sounds too simple and we don’t do it, just like Naaman. Or maybe we are made clean and he says, “Go to the priest and be declared clean. And, oh by the way, don’t say anything to anyone how this happened.” We fail to follow instructions in either case. First it’s too simple and second the news is too good to keep to ourselves.
The things God asks us to do and the things he does for us just aren’t what we expect or want. They’re either too easy or they’re too hard or too ridiculous or they don’t’ make sense, you supply your own answer.
So here we are today sitting on these benches in church. Some of us are praying that no one will notice our uncleanness. Some of us are praying that we will be made clean but that God won’t ask us to do anything that might embarrass us. Oh my, wouldn’t that be just too terrible. We want to be clean but we don’t want to have to go out and tell anyone about God’s love. We just hope they will see us and somehow know that God is love.
What did Paul say we should do? We should train hard like those who are preparing to compete in the Olympics. We should run hard toward the finish line giving it everything we’ve got. Paul says that he was going to stay alert and stay in top condition. I don’t think he was talking about his physical body here. I think he was talking about his inner being. He wanted Jesus to make him clean and keep him clean.
I imagine that he did everything he could to keep his spiritual being in top condition. He spent time alone with God and continued to study God’s words and then listened for God’s Message for him. It didn’t matter what it was he knew he would do it until he died.
He was spreading the Good News of the Message and he wanted to be sure that he didn’t forget it himself. He had asked Jesus to make him clean and he wanted to be sure that he stayed that way.
Friends, Jesus can make us clean if he wants to. I believe he wants to. I believe his hands are reaching out to us to touch those deep, dark places in our hearts that we keep hidden from everyone. He wants to make us clean. He wants to heal us of our sins.
But unlike the leper in the gospel lesson I don’t believe he wants us to keep the good news to ourselves. I believe he wants us to share the Good News of God’s love with everyone we meet.
Naaman wanted to take all the dirt two donkeys could carry back to his home to remind that he is not ever going to worship any other god but the one true God. What are you going to take with you when you leave here today?
All of us require the healing touch of God all of the time. I invite each of you to silently write in tiny writing around the tear on your paper heart the healing that you are looking for. I will distribute band aids to everyone. You are invited to place them over the tear and the words on your torn heart. Let the mended hearts be a reminder both of the healing you have received from God, and the healing that you can bring to others.
Thanks be to God for his cleansing and healing grace. Amen.

Called to Be and to Do

This morning we will ordain and install those who have accepted the call to be elders for this church. They may think that they are here because someone on the nominating committee convinced them that they would be an asset to the session and that it wouldn’t require much of their time.
While some of that may be true they are truly here because they answered God’s call to be servants. They may be the ones who will move us into new territory in order to grow in faith and help spread the Good News of Jesus around. They may be the ones who will help us realize that we can’t and shouldn’t keep Jesus to ourselves. We all know it’s not about us; Jesus belongs to everyone. This work we are all called to is about all of us working together because we all need Jesus.
These five will be doing what God has called them to do and each member of this congregation has the responsibility to lift them up in prayer every day and minister to them in the same way Jesus ministered to his disciples.
Sometimes the work of the church seems just like the work of the secular world, taking care of the building and the finances and the personnel issues and on and on. The thing to remember is that it is important to the God’s mission for his church.
Every elder has different gifts that can be used to spread the good news and care for the body of Christ, the Church. Just as Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and she immediately began to serve her family and their guests’ dinner so we are called to serve when we have been forgiven of our sins and have given our hearts to Jesus.
Each elder will be something different to different people in the same way Paul was different things to the different people he encountered as he told the Good News to those he met.
They, as well as all of us, need to remember the lesson from the Prophet that is hanging on the walls surrounding the sanctuary. The LORD, our God, never tires or needs rest. He provides and cares for us even when we get tired and stumble and fall. He is always there and he knows each one of us. When we trust in him he will make us strong again and we will soar like an eagle in the sky lifted up by the wind of the Holy Spirit.
Friends this is the good news Jesus taught the people in the temple and in the streets. God’s kingdom is here. He is our salvation and our strength. God is everything to us. Because of God’s good grace we are all forgiven; we are all saved. Being saved we are all called to be servants and to do service to those Jesus puts in the path we walk everyday.
Thanks be to God for his wondrous saving grace. Amen.