community

It is time (Sermon August 11, 2013)

Scripture: Luke 12:32-40

Our lives are often filled with choices. We are put into situations and we must figure out for ourselves which direction to go. These choices are often fall somewhere between bad, good, better, and best. The difficulty in this is figuring out which choice we want to commit to, is that we do not know exactly where the decisions will fall and how they will truly affect our current life. The spiritual art of discernment is difficult but probably the most rewarding discipline to develop.

The thing about the best decisions in life is that we know what we want in the end, it is the getting there is what is hard. Jesus says to the disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Have you ever really thought about that? It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Often we get caught in a web of trying. Trying, but trying what? We are trying to make things work all around us, trying to live right, trying to be right, trying to make our world a better place. In the process of all of our trying we can often lose sight of what is important, the pleasure of God giving us what we need and giving us what we truly desire.

Sin is often described as missing the mark, or falling short of the standard. We read through scripture and holy teachings trying to find the standard we should be aiming for, we strive to meet that standard and still miss the mark. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” We often miss the mark or sin because we are trying too hard in ourselves to catch hold of what God wants for us. In the story of the fall of humanity we tend to focus on the activity of Eve and Adam picking and eating the forbidden fruit, but if we were to examine this story closer that action was not the actual fall. The fall in many ways was a compound event that slowly crept up as they began to try to do things for themselves. To insure that they would not eat from the tree of knowledge, Adam changed the rules adding that not only should they not eat from it but also they should not touch the tree. They added rules, not from God but from their own mind. If only we keep away, as long as we stay so far away from the tree we can prevent the thought of sin. But in changing the rules they were not living in the pleasure of God, they were not living in the fullness of the Kingdom which then allowed another thought to enter their mind, again not from God but from human minds. They began to think that God did not desire the fullness of the Kingdom, and from that their mind became twisted to where the tree became more tempting because it was the one thing that was keeping them, in their mind, from enjoying the fullness of the Kingdom. The first sin was mankind’s attempt to reestablish their place in the Kingdom of God.

We sin, we try, and we miss the mark. We miss with all the good intentions, and we miss with blatant disregard of what we know is right. Do not fear, Jesus says, it is God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom. The failure of our first parents removed us from the pleasure of God and set us on a course of constant attempts to gain access yet again. These constant attempts are the choices we are trying to discern, these attempts can bring us closer to the Kingdom or allow us to fall deeper into the shadows.

Do not fear, it is God’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. To begin we must develop an understanding of what the Kingdom is that God wants to give us. I know that it is a very abstract idea to think of so early in the morning, but the answer to that is deep within each of our hearts. This is why Scripture so often tells us to guard our hearts, because it is in the heart where our true selves reside. We guard our hearts, but we also fear our hearts. We fear our hearts because just as deep within we know that if we were to follow our hearts it would mean that we must totally give up the façade we build up around ourselves as we try to move through the courses of life. To follow our hearts would mean we would need to leave all the things we use to define our lives and turn them over for something much different.

Jesus tells his followers to sell their possessions and to give alms. This is the beginning of something greater. The world we live in demands possessions. These possessions are often the things that are used to define our lives. Our possessions are the things that we gain through our various forms of labor. Our education, our businesses, our houses, and our property are all possessions that we must sell and give as alms. The things we gain through our labor the possessions that we hold so close are the product of our hearts, the more they mean to us means that it is through those that our place in the kingdom will emerge. Our spouses and families, though we do not like to speak of them as possessions are products of the heart and things that we labor for earnestly. It is through our families that we often get the first glimpses of the kingdom. Take a moment and remember those precious memories: a mother’s kiss on the sleeping brow of a baby, the laugh of siblings as parents play on the floor, the pride of seeing the success of the graduate. All are glimpses into the kingdom all around us. We guard these possessions, we hold them tightly to our hearts, they bring us pleasure, but when we hold them too tightly these very things that once gave us a glimpse of the kingdom run the risk of pulling us away from our hopeful goal.

Sell all your possessions and give alms. When our possessions are used only for our own personal gain they distract our attention from the kingdom. Just as in the garden the one thing that connected us to God when used for personal gain can push us away. Jesus goes on to say for where your treasure is; there your heart will be also. If we treasure things for ourselves our hearts become trapped behind walls. These walls imprison our hearts keeping them from truly enjoying the pleasure kingdom as God created us to enjoy. We were made to be in community. We were made to share life with others to use the possessions we have to bring about a better world. To give what we have for mutual benefit and pleasure, but when our hearts are imprisioned behind walls of our own construction, we cannot enjoy the community in which we live. Instead we become bitter and fearful that the community will somehow sap the joy from our lives, and we withdraw deeper within the walls.

We fail when we turn from the community, we miss the mark when we neglect to use what God has given us to encourage others around us. We miss the mark when we put limits on other, when we hold tightly and try to control the world around us. But we experience God’s pleasure when we let loose and live. I encouraged us to remember the glimpses of the kingdom in our families. I would venture to say that the best memories that we have are in the areas where parents and children let loose and just lived free from the things that bind. Was it on vacation, eating with friends, or exploring the mysteries of the world around us? Most of our greatest memories are attached to the times we relinquished control in some way, where we encouraged others to lower the walls and let their hearts free.

These treasure cannot be taken away, they are permanently stored in the files of our lives. These glimpses of the kingdom are the very areas God wants us to sell our possessions to obtain. The sharing of life together in a community, encouraging each other, and releasing all we share life with to pursue their hearts desire is where the gates to the Kingdom are found. Jesus illustrates this by telling a parable. “Be dress for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.” Share in the pleasure. Be ready to celebrate at a moments notice. It is those that are ready to share life with others that will have the benefit of seeing a glimpse of the kingdom.

When the early Friends promoted a life of simplicity is was to be ready to share what they have at a moment’s notice. Because of this simplicity in speech, dress, and life they could quickly accept others into the community and encourage them into a better life. Because of this simplicity they were able to convert the fruit of their labor to things that could benefit and extend the Kingdom of God in their communities. Last week I mentioned Cadbury, most of us know the name because of the chocolate eggs we receive in our Easter baskets. But what really made this man great is that he devoted his business to the betterment of the community. He built factories and around the factories he developed communities and built houses where the workers could live, but he did not only give them a place to live he also made sure that each unit would have a garden or a lawn. He did this so that the workers in his factories could raise their families and develop memories with their children. He sold what he had and gave alms, and by doing so his influence grew and years after his death, his legacy remains. In a time when robber barons sought to line their own pockets, this man gave himself and his company for the good of community. People throughout history have made sacrifices in the short term to open the gates to the Kingdom. Be ready because the hour is unexpected. We do not know when God will call us into action, but we can get ready now.

We can prepare, we can encourage, and we can release and pray for the moment when God calls us into action. But in our preparation we also must be free to move any direction we need to go. We are getting ready. For the past three years we have step by step let go of things that we once held close and have released them into God’s hands and we have seen glimpses of the kingdom. We have seen members from our meeting go into a mission field; to serve in the ways God has led them. Sure it is not in the traditional form but we have a direct connection to ministry in Ireland. We have seen our community come together as we have made improvements to our facilities: making it accessible and increasing the technology. Yes, these are small things, but they are gateways that are preparing us for our callings. We have increased our ministries and in doing so we have built relationships with people in our communities that we were unable to build just a short time ago. We are preparing ourselves, but where do we go from here? The answer is already in present in the hearts of everyone sitting here today. It is a faint but growing yearning bubbling up in our hearts. We see glimpses every now and then, like when our younger members have a desire to use their skills to benefit other. We see glimpses in our visions and our dreams at night. We see glimpses, are we ready for the next step?

We are all faced with choices, choices that could result in many varying degrees of blessing. We have all sat in these pews and wondered if everything that we do is in vain. But in three short years God has presented us with challenges and we have looked to Him and have seen glimpses of the Kingdom. Today as we enter into a time of open worship I encourage each of us to dream with God, to let down the walls around our hearts and just let God dream with our hearts. There is something there, something that has been building deep down in our souls, something that we have pushed to the background saying that it is too big or too crazy for us, but I ask what is it? God is calling us use all that we have and to give the profits of our possessions to open the gates of the Kingdom, now is the time tighten our belts and to step out in faith, and to chase after the Spirit. We have prepared now is the time for us to begin to walk. Now is the time to become the people God has been calling us to become; a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others.

What Must We Do? (Sermon July 14, 2013)

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

What must we do? This is a question humanity has asked from the dawn of time. It is even believed that the first sin of the world was that humanity began to ask this question, that we must do something to gain or achieve the love of God. The serpent in the garden convinced the first family that God did not create them perfect, that He did not give us knowledge. So the serpent suggested that maybe we should do something so that we could gain what was missing, eat something.

What must we do? It is a common question, each of us have probably asked it once or twice. We may have even asked that very when we woke up this morning. What must I do to gain the favor of God? We can come up with countless answers to this question.

Throughout history people have been trying to answer this question, yet the question remains. For millennia the greatest human minds have been working on this question, but it still remains. The answers vary throughout the cultures yet there is still one thing that remains, a fragment of the truth. Things like karma, is an answer that states what ever you do will come back to you, the good and the bad. Yes that is just some eastern spiritual gibberish but there is a fraction of truth.

For thousands of years the Jewish community, the community that had a finger on the pulse of the very breath of the universe, had come very close to the answer yet even they only had a fragment. We see this in the scripture.

The lawyer comes to test Jesus. He asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He asks the very question that echoes from the dawn of the ages. Jesus answers him saying, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”

The children of Judah can trace their roots back to a man that listened to a whisper in the chaotic world, a voice that asked a man to do one thing only, to trust. This man lived his life on the very breath of God. He put all of his faith on a whisper, “Go and I will make you a nation.” There is an answer in that, if one nation has their finger raised into the wind of the whisper of God. This one man listened to the whisper, and left all he knew to find all he wanted. A nation was built and that nation was given the book of the law.

Jesus answers the question by asking this man to look through his own history, what does the book say? The answer, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

This simple answer is the easiest and most difficult answer to understand. Jesus looks straight in the man’s eyes and says, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” I imagine he then turned away to begin walking. Leaving the man standing there just like each of us. We wonder as well. Just like that a simple answer leaves us wondering… what? What must we do? Just like that we again are thrown into a loop. Ever circling back over what must we do?

The man, a teacher, a lawyer who knows the law feels justified in his understanding. He has been living and teaching this law as long as he could remember, yet in a moment he questions Jesus and himself, “who is my neighbor?”

Throughout all of human history we have asked this one thing, what must we do? Jesus tells us a story that we have heard numerous times. A man gets beat up and robbed on the way to Jericho. He is left on the side of the road bleeding. Three people come across this man. The first is a righteous man, a priest, who has devoted his life to loving God. This man has dedicated his life, has stood between God and mankind for his entire life, the gatekeeper. The number one thing of the law is that it proves that we cannot make it on our own. The world leaves us broken and beaten; we need help to save us from ourselves. This man has stood in that place, the gatekeeper helping people to the promise. Providing the sacrifices that heal the wounds, yet there when a man is lying broken and in need he walks to the other side.

We wonder why this man did this, we wonder why a man that has dedicated his life to assist others in need would leave this broken man laying there on the ground, but we know the answer.

The second man was a Levite. Like the priest the Levite ahs dedicated his life to the service of God. While the priest stands before the alter, the Levite is the assistant. They are the ones that sing in the choir, they distribute the alms to the poor. The Levites are the ones that have given their lives to support the ministry of the priests. Yet even this man walks to the other side of the road, leaving the man still broken and bleeding on the ground. We wonder again why a person that volunteers their time to serve God would leave this man. We wonder but we know the answer.

We know the answer because we ask the question, “What must we do?” For the priest he must do much, the sins of the community are on his shoulders. He must listen to the prayers, hear the confessions, and offer the sacrifices. This man must stay above, separated from the world. It is easy for us to judge this priest but what would you think of a priest that would be found getting involved with such an unreligious and dirty situation? What would you think if a priest or man of God would be found in the news on the wrong side of a political situation? That is what this is; the bandits on the roads were often the freedom fighters trying to fund their war against the Romans.

But the Levite, this man is not a priest. The Levite is not held at the same level, but there are standards for religious people. Religious people should live a certain way, and not get involved in the things of the world. A beaten man, a man caught in the middle of the gang warfare, is one of those things that the religious people just do not get involved with. We would prefer to overlook these sorts of things, sweep them under the rug and forget about them. We wonder why they could just leave this man hurting on the side of the road but how often do we walk on the other side of the road?

How many times have we, in our righteousness, turned our faces from the ugliness of the world around us and simply walked away? In our quests to do the right things we too walk on the wrong side of the road. We overlook things and justify in our own minds that we are doing the right things. How can we judge the priest and Levite for leaving the man lying on the ground bleeding, when we ourselves drive on past the homeless man or woman sitting on the corner? How can we judge the priest and Levite when we too look away as children, women, and men are being exploited?

Jesus tells this story to a man that had dedicated his life to the law of God, a righteous and religious person. Yet it is not the religious person that is the hero of the story, but the enemy of God. The Samaritan is a man that comes from the people that turned their backs on the pure and true faith, seen through the eyes of the Jews. Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom, the kingdom that fled from the rule of Jerusalem after the death of Solomon. They left the kingdom and established their own nation, their own place of worship, their own priests and worshiped in their own way. Because of this they were seen as lesser humans to the pure and faithful.

This Samaritan, walks by the beaten man and has compassion for him. The righteous ones walk on the other side of the road, but the dog of the north has compassion. This man administers a healing balm to the cuts and bruises, pays for lodging and meals, and promises to come back to pay for more if it is needed. Jesus then asks the man was a neighbor to the man?

Which person loved God? Which loved their neighbor? Love is the first and only command of God. Love God and Love mankind. We cannot love God without showing mercy to those around us. We cannot love others without loving God. Love is the breath of God. What prompted Abraham to leave his family’s house to explore a life with God? It was the breath of God, giving a hope to a man that had no hope. His wife was barren when they left Ur, and Abraham was full of love to share. No other god gave him hope, but this God that whispers in the language of Love.

We miss the whispers when we are busy trying to do the things to make ourselves worthy of God’s graces. We cannot hear the whispers of God if we reject God’s language. When we reject the calls to give mercy to others because our minds are filled with the static of self-righteousness, we reject God. When we fail to give mercy to others because our minds are focused on personal gain we reject love and we reject the breath of God. When our lives are filled with the white noise of the countless things that clutter our minds and consume our time, we cannot detect the whisper. A while back I went in for a free screening to test my ears, it was a pretty thorough test. They did the traditional buzzing in my ears asking me to raise my hand when I heard the noise. Then they began to pump noise in one ear and asked me to detect the sound in the other; quickly I realized that I was unable to hear. I could not tell if the buzz was real or just my imagination. I then began to realize that that is what we do to God.

We turn the volume up on everything around us. We clutter our lives with distractions only to find that we can no longer detect the whispers of God. We think we are hearing Him, but is it our imagination? We over compensate by applying our knowledge of the scriptures or various doctrines of the faith, but are we listening to the whispers of God? We apply our worldly wisdoms and our personal philosophies of life to the things around us, but in doing so are we loving God and loving our neighbor? We judge, we draw lines, we close doors, and set standards but in doing so have we crossed the street leaving a broken hurting person laying in the ditch reaching out for help, all the while distracted by the doings of life to hear the whisper of God prompting us to reflect His mercy.

I stand up here and I speak these words knowing full well that I have crossed the road. Yet God still whispers. After all the times I have rejected Him, He still whispers and prompts change. Slowly one step at a time, one sin at a time, one distraction at a time His voice grows louder as I turn closer to Him. What initiates this change? Someone along the way did not cross the street when I was the one bruised and broken. Someone along the path saw my need and listened to the whisper of God. Which of the men was a neighbor to the broken man on the roadside, the one that gave mercy. Jesus looks the lawyer in the eyes and tells him, “Go and do likewise.”

What must I do to gain eternal life? Show mercy to the broken people in this world, help those in need, and sacrifice yourself for the good of other. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Love… That is what Christ did for all of us. We did not deserve His love, but He gave it to us anyway. Love so deep and powerful that He gave submitted to the pain and shame of the cross, taking our place. And He then says Go and do like wise.

As we enter into a time of open worship, let us just celebrate the great love that God has shown us. Love that he has shown us through the lives of those that have helped us when we were broken and bruised, and that great love of our savior who was born, lived and taught, died and raised from the dead to give us the greatest hope of all, life with God. 

The Sent (Sermon July 7, 2013)

Portrait drawing of Society of Friends founder George Fox (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scripture: Luke 10:1-10, 16-20

Scripture is always interesting. Like I mentioned last week, we can read a passage one day and due to the various aspects of our current life, we can read it again a number of days later and it would move our souls in a totally different way. This is why it is often said to be living. But the words themselves are not what is living but the Spirit behind the words working within us. We can study the original language and know the history and cultural background to gain knowledge of what the writers might have been talking about, but even with this knowledge without knowing the Spirit behind the words they are just as empty as any other work of literacy.

The cycle between the knowledge of scripture and the mysticism behind the scripture has been running throughout history. We see it in the conflict between the Pharisees and Sadducees; we see it also throughout the ages of the church. This cycle was the difference that started the schism between the Church of England and the original Friends. Often the Quakers are seen as not having a high regard of Scripture because they would focus so fully on discerning the Spirit. George Fox in his journal said, “Yet I had no slight esteem of the Holy Scriptures, but they were very precious to me, for I was in the Spirit by which they were given forth: and what the Lord opened in me I afterwards found was agreeable to them.”

What that means is that both the Spirit behind the scripture and the words of the Scripture will be in agreement. At times we may not understand how they agree, like how last week the would be followers of Jesus could not say goodbye to the family while in the Old Testament Elisha was allowed to say bye to his family before following Elijah. In fact most critics of the Scripture look at these seeming contradictions and stop, not taking the time to really seek out the answers. Then there are others develop theologies around one reading and disregard the other, which is where we have most of the debates among protestant churches. For Friends we do not necessarily take sides in these debates but try very hard to harmonize what we read and also what seek discernment in prayer. It sounds like a lot of work.

Scripture is layered with various literary styles: humor, poetry, legal documentation, and story. We can read it with a literal or mystical eye and come to two very different understandings of what is being said and both could be equally correct or completely off of the mark. How then do we know what is right?

George Fox would go out into the fields with his scripture to pray and meditate. In many ways this practice mimics the practice of Jesus when he would withdraw from the crowds to the isolated places to pray. Then if you read Fox’s Journal you find that he would go from town to town meeting with friendly people just as Jesus would move around Judea speaking about the Kingdom of Heaven. I am equating George Fox with Jesus. George Fox is not perfect, in fact George could be a bit of a jerk, but I am showing that George Fox understood the spiritual rhythm that Jesus exemplified.

Jesus taught this rhythm, sharing it with his closest friends, who then taught it to others. Today we see that the followers of Christ have grown from a group of twelve to over seventy. Jesus first sent the twelve out in pairs and then he sends these seventy out in pairs. They once could draw people to Jesus’ ministry from six communities and now they can reach over thirty-five. The laws of multiplication are at work. The most interesting thing about this is how Jesus sends people out. He appoints seventy and sent them out before him, but when he sends them out he sends them in pairs. This should show us something very important.

The kingdom of God is one that is a community from the very beginning. The earliest stories of life with God written in scripture speak of man and woman, Adam and Eve. Creation was not good until there was a community. Mankind cannot live without a community because we are social beings. Our brains do not function without community, without some form of social even the strongest person will be driven mad becoming physically and mentally ill, to the point of death. We need others; we cannot truly be ourselves without others to reflect our personality off of, to be clearer we are not known until we build relationships with others. It is a mystery of science that flies in the face of the individualism that many of us hold as a core value. It is a mystery that has been proven countless times. Our greatest technological advancements have occurred not in the lab of a single individual but in collaboration. There is a reason the term “mad scientist” emerged because the isolation of a mind.

We cannot be alone. We cannot come to God by ourselves only. Yes, God interacts with us personally, but often we can be led astray by our own mind. That is why we need others to encourage and hold us accountable. Jesus sends them out in pairs. Alone they could be consumed by the power that Jesus bestowed on them. Alone they the conflict between the world, flesh, and the devil would run interference between the ability to discern the will of God. Even in pairs they had trouble keeping their mind fully directed on the mission they were called to.

There is second layer of this passage that speaks to me. Jesus sends out the seventy others in pairs, he also sends them out without any temporal provision. “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.” We can look at this as being a statement of stepping out in faith or we take a different view. On the surface it definitely speaks of how we should have faith that God will provide, I believe that that would be a correct interpretation. Could there be another layer, one that speaks about freedom and simplicity. Jesus is saying take nothing with you, he gave similar advice to others. The advice says that we cannot serve God fully if we are not free from the worries of the world. If we are worried about what we will wear or what we will eat, our focus is divided. With a divided mind we are bound and not free to serve. This is why simplicity is a core value within the Society of Friends. To have simplicity of speech, clothing, and finances leaves us free to focus our calling.

Jesus sent these seventy without the bondage of the world’s values. He sent them with the assurance that God would provide. He will provide. If we as a community are called to enter a new ministry, He will provide. If we are called to participate in a form of service as we discern the moving of the Spirit, He will provide. This does not mean that we should be unwise in our actions; it instead means that if we are called to act, we should free ourselves to act. If God calls us to build we build, to go we go. We go with God and as a community.

Why do I stress the community again? This is another core value of Friends. Community. We often think and speak of God being personal, that is true but God works through a community. Even in stepping out in faith there is a community aspect involved. Jesus tells them to go to houses and if that house accepts the peace given by the seventy they must stay there. He does not tell them to rent a room, but to immediately establish a community. If the house does not accept the message to preach the coming Kingdom then move on. A community is built on simplicity, peace, integrity, and equality. With in those core values, is a ribbon of love. We speak of a personal relationship with God but that personal relationship is only the beginning of the community that personal relationship with God brings us into a broader community, a kingdom. A kingdom that was established before time began and will continue beyond the end of ages. A kingdom of love, a kingdom of hope, a kingdom that is not satisfied with ourselves only but wants to expand.

The calling God gives us personally is given to expand the community, and the calling that God gives us corporately is given to expand the community. We are never alone, but always surrounded by friends, and to attract more friends. This attraction and calling is to bring those around us into a closer relationship with Christ. The seventy come back to Jesus excited about what they were able to do. They went out freely ministering. They were healing various illnesses, commanding demons to leave, and the community was growing. They cannot wait to tell Jesus what was going on. A community based on love, a community that is focused on encouraging others to draw closer to God one step at a time will grow, if it is free to do so. The community grows one step at a time, one issue at a time, healing one person at a time, and multiplying.

The seventy are excited the community grows, but there is also a warning. With power comes temptation. As a community grows we become excited and begin to think that we did things to make this happen. That in ourselves we have been able to bring about the changes that we see before us, but Jesus brings them back into reality. “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Even within a well-meaning community pride can seep in. Even when we think we are doing everything right, distractions emerge. God gave us the power to do what he calls, but if we need to keep things focused. We do not need to rejoice in the growth of the community, or in the miraculous feats occurring around us but our focus should always be on God.

This week in the prayer exercises in the spiritual adventure class, it speaks of spiritual indifference. This sounds like a very negative term, but in reality it means contentment. What if we are called to minister in way that the world around us is not excited about will we still have joy? A few months ago there was a day that was set aside to raise awareness of modern day slavery. Those that wanted to participate were encouraged to sport a red x for others to see. I drew an x on my hand and many asked what it meant, when I explained to them that it was to raise awareness of modern slavery, every person I talked to could careless. The same attitude existed when John Woolman began his ministry, and when William Wilberforce would raise the issue in the British Parliament. Yet each of these men continued their ministries, why because their joy was not found in acceptance of the world but in the calling. Each established a community that grew but even as it grew they stayed focused on the cause. Neither man saw a complete end to the slave trade. Obviously it still continues even to this day but each saw progress. Contentment, is simply taking joy in our calling, finding joy and meaning in our relationship with God individually and as a community.

Scripture is layered, it has a powerful living quality, but that life comes from our relationship with God. That relationship grows in community and we need the community to continue that growth. Our ministries grow out of the communal calling of the community and finding our place in that community. But the joy comes from the individual time we spend with God. It all boils down to Prayer, Worship, and Ministry or Loving God, Embracing the Holy Spirit, and Living the love of Christ with others.

As we enter this time of open worship I ask again what distracts us from God? What could we do to free our lives so that we can answer God’s call? How is God calling you and where is he sending us as a community? And where do we find joy in our life?