Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Sermon Notes for October 9th

October 9, 2005
“Rejoice in the Lord, Always”
Philippians 4:1-9, Exodus 32:1-14, Mathew 22:1-14

1. 4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Words from St. Paul to the church in Philippi 2000 years ago … which are also our words for today. Rejoice in the Lord always!!

But not everyone rejoices nowadays … for many, it seems, are invited to the party … to join in rejoicing … but choose to do otherwise …

For such is the message of the famous parable of the wedding party which was told by Jesus in the Gospels of Luke and Mathew:
There was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. 17When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, "Come on in; the food's on the table.'
18"Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, "I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.'
19"Another said, "I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.'
20"And yet another said, "I just got married and need to get home to my wife.'
21"So, the servant went back and told the master what had happened. And he was outraged and told the servant, "Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.'
22"The servant reported back, "Master, I did what you commanded--and there's still room.'
23"The master said,"Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! 24Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.'"
2. From this parable came a favorite church camp song which some of you may remember:
I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now. I have married a wife, I have bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum, Pray hold me excused, I cannot come!
Anyone remember that….?
Well, from it came another little ditty:
I cannot come to the banquet; don’t trouble me now.
I have bought me a wife; I have married a cow.
Well, we can all laugh, of course. And who doesn’t need a good laugh nowadays?
3. But, as the parable reveals, not showing up for the banquet, is no laughing matter for the master who threw the party.
What does it mean to throw a party? Have you ever put on a party … only to have someone not show up? Or, have you ever had people turn you down … or shrug off an invitation? How did you feel? Disappointed … no doubt …
After all, how much trouble does it take to prepare a party … a big meal … an entertaining event? Only to have people you have invited to turn you down. How do we feel in a situation like this when it falls short of our expectations?
This past Friday night I was with our confirmation students at Northern Pines for a little overnight retreat. For these young people, confirmation it is the beginning of understanding what it means as adults to understand just who God is all about. After all it is the very beginning of realizing their own adult spirituality.
As we were discussing what confirmation is all about, I told them, that the really big question is this: if we are to have a relationship with God … first of all, we need to understand who God is … it’s just like if you want have a friend … you need to get to know them. And, making friends takes time, doesn’t it? So, in the same way God doesn’t always reveal everything right away … any more than a person is apt to tell you everything about them … the first time you meet them. Isn’t that right? Getting to know God, therefore, is a long and gradual process.
4. Now there are many ways to learn about God. But, the major way for those of us who are Christian is obviously by learning about Jesus … and what he said and did. This is because we believe that Jesus is God’s primary revelation of himself to us …
And, so we have recorded many sayings of Jesus which tell us about God … one of which is the one about the dinner banquet.
So, obviously, in Jesus parable, the master in the story is God. It is God who is throwing a banquet.
And what is the banquet, after all? What is it? What do you think it is?
Well, one way to look at it is to say … that the banquet is life … life itself. That ought to be pretty obvious … don’t you think?
5. After all … what did God do … in the first place …?
Well, as we all know from the book of Genesis … God created the world … God created the banquet … God created life itself … that is what the party is all about. Do you get it?
It is all in the book of Genesis:

God created the Heavens and Earth--all you see, all you don't see. For the Earth was just a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness and God's Holy Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
Then God spoke: "Light!"He said, and light appeared.
4God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. So,
God named the light Day, and he named the dark Night.
And then, it was evening, it was morning—It was the end of Day One.
And, so on, … until it is all finished, and then it says:
31God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning—and
it was the end of day six.
And then God rested…
6. We all know the story … but how often to do we ignore it? How often do we take it for granted? How often do we get busy with other things … and fail to pay attention? And when we fail to pay attention, it is like not showing up for the banquet, isn’t it?
And, how often to we fail to show up?
Well, quite often. Isn’t that true? And it happens to all of us, doesn’t it?
I cannot come to the banquet; don’t trouble me now.
I have bought me a wife; I have married a cow.


Now back when I was in the bloodmobile business we were required to try to estimate in advance how many units of blood we would collect at each blood drive. This was a very important aspect of the job because we had over 12 blood drives a day that collected over 1,000 units of blood every day for over 150 hospitals and we had to now, if at all possible, how we were going to do … so we would know if we were going to be short.
Well, this was a bit of a tricky business … but we did have some general guidelines to go by … For instance …
We usually could estimate that in order to make a goal of say 100 donors we would normally have to call about 300 people on the phone … and that from that we would get about 150 to sign up in advance.
Then we would calculate that of the 150 who signed up there would be a certain number of no-shows and then a certain number who would be deferred for medical reasons … which would reduce the number significantly … and then, for unknown reasons, there would also be walk-ins … people perhaps who just saw a poster, or heard about it from someone or on the radio … and decided to come all on their own. Walk-ins sometimes made the difference. Like at our blood drive here in August. One of the walk-ins was TV reporter Stacy Christenson, who saw our sign on the main rode and “walked-in” and did an interview for Lakeland TV.
7. Well, I am not sure if running a bloodmobile could exactly be compared to God’s heavenly banquet … but I certainly think … we can understand … how disappointing it was for the volunteer coordinators who had just spent hours and hours recruiting volunteers and getting sign-ups only to have people say yes … and then not arrive. Let me tell you, it was very disappointing because many of these people were their own friends and neighbors. Many times I had to counsel first time coordinators that it was normal for people to not show up. Think about that … it was normal for people to not honor their commitments! a
Now, of course, there are always legitimate excuses … for everything we do … so, if we try to apply this to Jesus parable … we must realize that Jesus is not talking just about a one day event …
No, Jesus is not really talking about … just a one day event … What Jesus is really talking about is life … the big feast of life … which God has prepared … for us … In reality, Jesus is talking about the whole Creation of the World … the whole thing … the Big Idea … Jesus is really talking about LIFE ITSELF.
Well, you might say, how can we not show up for that? After all we are already here … we don’t really have a choice … do we?
8. Well, you see, it’s not just about our physical presence alone … what it really is all about is attitude. That is what it is mostly about. Attitude.
And attitude means “showing up” spiritually -- not just physically.
What does it mean to show up spiritually?
It means to “affirm life.” That’s what it means.
It means to join the party. To join the celebration. To rejoice, as Paul says. To be part of things. To celebrate. To not be half hearted. But, to put yourself into things. To give it your all. That’s what God wants. No excuses. Give it your all, today and everyday. Don’t hold anything back. That’s what it is about.
What it comes down to is that God doesn’t want us to be just half hearted. That’s what the party is all about.
After all, God created the world and saw that it was good and wants us to feel the same way. Does that make sense?
9. But what do we hear a lot of the time? What do people say and believe? What is the current attitude these days. Quite the opposite from joining the party – isn’t it?
In fact, in some eastern religions people believe that the world is all an illusion or that life is a veil of tears. For them, it’s all negativity.
And in some Christian religions things are just as negative … for all they want to do is talk about sin and how bad people are and point the finger and proclaim how the world is getting worse … and that Jesus is coming back soon … and the world is coming to an end … and there is nothing we can do about it … nothing we can do to make life better … in the parlance of modern business management these people are called “quit and stays.” They show up for work but they don’t want to be there. They would rather quit but they need the money or don’t have the mentality to look for a different job they might like better. So they stay and make like difficult for everyone because they complain a lot and drag down everyone’s energy level.
Are you a “quit and stay” about life? Are you just putting in your time? It’s a pretty cynical way to life, don’t you think?
And there is indeed much cynicism …and disillusionment today … especially about politics … and about the environment … about the economy …
Many people today … especially young people … despair … about the future …
But not everybody. Last week I was at a program at the High School about this new video coming about the Healing Walk to Red Lake last spring that you may have read about in the paper.
What was the message? … what was the answer? … to all the despair at Red Lake … it was a positive response … a small thing … yet a big thing … it was about showing up … it was about attitude … that in the face of tragedy … some people really cared and wanted to do something … and so they walked up to Red Lake … and when they got there they danced … even in the face of tragedy … they danced because it’s really about attitude … it’s about showing up …
10. Now, speaking of showing up, next Sunday, as you know, we will have a pastor here in church who is coming all the way from Oklahoma … and his trip is sponsored by the United Methodist National Board of Global Ministries … in fact, he is actually flying in from a meeting at the Methodist Global Ministry National Headquarters in New York City. And since we are in the midst of our stewardship campaign you should know that the church missions of Board of Global Ministry Headquarters are supported by our apportionment dollars here in this church and by the dollars of eight million other Methodist around the United States.

And at the BOFM they think it is important that David Wilson is coming here to show up and show some support for folks at Red Lake and Cass Lake and here in Bemidji … to demonstrate that our United Methodist church cares about what is going on …
So, I would also like for us to show up and show some support for him as well. Because I want us to all know we are all in this together …
For, I think it is so important; that despite all the cynicism and the feelings of hopelessness we all sometimes share … God still calls us to come to the party.
After all, let’s face it … if you think you and I have good reason to be despairing … how do you think God feels? Because, it’s God who is the one who originally threw the party.
Yet, in spite of it all … God always up … and the message of the Gospel … is that Jesus showed up, too … to show us the way … and to call us to join the party … and to become part of the kingdom of God … and to celebrate even in the midst of trouble and misfortune …
11. One of the great evangelists … of the Methodist Church in the past century … and one who didn’t give evangelism a bad name … was E. Stanley Jones …
In 1928, Jones was elected a Bishop in the Methodist Church … 24 hours later he turned it down because he felt he had an even greater call to be a missionary and evangelist and he went on spent most of his life in India.
Many years later, at the age of 87 he suffered a paralyzing stroke. But in the face of that disaster he even then wouldn’t give up. For during his 14 month-long recovery … and with the help of his daughter … he wrote his 28th book … entitled the Divine Yes …
In this, his last book, he wrote: “I believe God is saying to me, ‘I am handing you back your life for a demonstration period at the very end, so that a viewer looking on may see if there is anything in it.’ “
Stanley then went on to say these words in his first chapter which is entitled “To Preach a Sermon or to Be One?”
It may be, He said, that I shall fail. “Well,” I said to myself, “the cross of Jesus was a seeming failure which ended up a success.” So, apparently, God chose not to save Jesus from the Cross, but to save others through Jesus by the Cross.”
So I said to myself that I could fail. So what? Jesus used failure and made it the greatest success because through that failure, God showed his ultimate power. He overcomes evil with good, and hate by love, and the world through suffering.”
12. Good stuff, huh? Too bad we don’t have any evangelists like E. Stanley Jones around today. We could sure use some, don’t you think?
For even in spite of his stroke … Jones wrote “Nothing has changed! I’m the same person that I was. By prayer, I am still communicating with God. I still belong to the same unshakable Kingdom and the same unchanging Person. Nothing has really changed except my means of communicating with the outside world.
My faith was not shattered. I was not holding it; it was holding me. I could still put up three fingers and say, “Jesus is Lord!” Everything was intact. I can honestly say I wasn’t asking, “My God why?” I could still and I can face the future with him.”
So, even in these dire circumstances … Jones was still able to show up for the party. He still came to the banquet. He still had the right attitude. He was still spiritually alive.
How about you and me?



Can we all say, today, along with St. Paul:
4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Yes, it’s all about showing up!

Let us pray…

Sermon Notes for October 9th

October 9, 2005
“Rejoice in the Lord, Always”
Philippians 4:1-9, Exodus 32:1-14, Mathew 22:1-14

1. 4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Words from St. Paul to the church in Philippi 2000 years ago … which are also our words for today. Rejoice in the Lord always!!

But not everyone rejoices nowadays … for many, it seems, are invited to the party … to join in rejoicing … but choose to do otherwise …

For such is the message of the famous parable of the wedding party which was told by Jesus in the Gospels of Luke and Mathew:

There was once a man who threw a great dinner party and invited many. 17When it was time for dinner, he sent out his servant to the invited guests, saying, "Come on in; the food's on the table.'
18"Then they all began to beg off, one after another making excuses. The first said, "I bought a piece of property and need to look it over. Send my regrets.'
19"Another said, "I just bought five teams of oxen, and I really need to check them out. Send my regrets.'
20"And yet another said, "I just got married and need to get home to my wife.'
21"So, the servant went back and told the master what had happened. And he was outraged and told the servant, "Quickly, get out into the city streets and alleys. Collect all who look like they need a square meal, all the misfits and homeless and wretched you can lay your hands on, and bring them here.'
22"The servant reported back, "Master, I did what you commanded--and there's still room.'
23"The master said,"Then go to the country roads. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full! 24Let me tell you, not one of those originally invited is going to get so much as a bite at my dinner party.'"


2. From this parable came a favorite church camp song which some of you may remember:
I cannot come to the banquet, don't trouble me now. I have married a wife, I have bought me a cow. I have fields and commitments that cost a pretty sum, Pray hold me excused, I cannot come!

Anyone remember that….?

Well, from it came another little ditty:

I cannot come to the banquet; don’t trouble me now.
I have bought me a wife; I have married a cow.


Well, we can all laugh, of course. And who doesn’t need a good laugh nowadays?

3. But, as the parable reveals, not showing up for the banquet, is no laughing matter for the master who threw the party.

What does it mean to throw a party? Have you ever put on a party … only to have someone not show up? Or, have you ever had people turn you down … or shrug off an invitation? How did you feel? Disappointed … no doubt …

After all, how much trouble does it take to prepare a party … a big meal … an entertaining event? Only to have people you have invited to turn you down. How do we feel in a situation like this when it falls short of our expectations?

This past Friday night I was with our confirmation students at Northern Pines for a little overnight retreat. For these young people, confirmation it is the beginning of understanding what it means as adults to understand just who God is all about. After all it is the very beginning of realizing their own adult spirituality.

As we were discussing what confirmation is all about, I told them, that the really big question is this: if we are to have a relationship with God … first of all, we need to understand who God is … it’s just like if you want have a friend … you need to get to know them. And, making friends takes time, doesn’t it? So, in the same way God doesn’t always reveal everything right away … any more than a person is apt to tell you everything about them … the first time you meet them. Isn’t that right? Getting to know God, therefore, is a long and gradual process.

4. Now there are many ways to learn about God. But, the major way for those of us who are Christian is obviously by learning about Jesus … and what he said and did. This is because we believe that Jesus is God’s primary revelation of himself to us …

And, so we have recorded many sayings of Jesus which tell us about God … one of which is the one about the dinner banquet.

So, obviously, in Jesus parable, the master in the story is God. It is God who is throwing a banquet.

And what is the banquet, after all? What is it? What do you think it is?

Well, one way to look at it is to say … that the banquet is life … life itself. That ought to be pretty obvious … don’t you think?

5. After all … what did God do … in the first place …?

Well, as we all know from the book of Genesis … God created the world … God created the banquet … God created life itself … that is what the party is all about. Do you get it?
It is all in the book of Genesis:

God created the Heavens and Earth--all you see, all you don't see. For the Earth was just a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness and God's Holy Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

Then God spoke: "Light!"He said, and light appeared.
4God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. So,
God named the light Day, and he named the dark Night.
And then, it was evening, it was morning—It was the end of Day One.


And, so on, … until it is all finished, and then it says:

31God looked over everything he had made;
it was so good, so very good! It was evening, it was morning—and
it was the end of day six.
And then God rested…


6. We all know the story … but how often to do we ignore it? How often do we take it for granted? How often do we get busy with other things … and fail to pay attention? And when we fail to pay attention, it is like not showing up for the banquet, isn’t it?
And, how often to we fail to show up?

Well, quite often. Isn’t that true? And it happens to all of us, doesn’t it?

I cannot come to thew banquet; don’t trouble me now.
I have bought me a wife; I have married a co.



Now back when I was in the bloodmobile business we were required to try to estimate in advance how many units of blood we would collect at each blood drive. This was a very important aspect of the job because we had over 12 blood drives a day that collected over 1,000 units of blood every day for over 150 hospitals and we had to now, if at all possible, how we were going to do … so we would know if we were going to be short.

Well, this was a bit of a tricky business … but we did have some general guidelines to go by …

For instance …

We usually could estimate that in order to make a goal of say 100 donors we would normally have to call about 300 people on the phone … and that from that we would get about 150 to sign up in advance.

Then we would calculate that of the 150 who signed up there would be a certain number of no-shows and then a certain number who would be deferred for medical reasons … which would reduce the number significantly … and then, for unknown reasons, there would also be walk-ins … people perhaps who just saw a poster, or heard about it from someone or on the radio … and decided to come all on their own. Walk-ins sometimes made the difference. Like at our blood drive here in August. One of the walk-ins was TV reporter Stacy Christenson, who saw our sign on the main rode and “walked-in” and did an interview for Lakeland TV.

7. Well, I am not sure if running a bloodmobile could exactly be compared to God’s heavenly banquet … but I certainly think … we can understand … how disappointing it was for the volunteer coordinators who had just spent hours and hours recruiting volunteers and getting sign-ups only to have people say yes … and then not arrive. Let me tell you, it was very disappointing because many of these people were their own friends and neighbors. Many times I had to counsel first time coordinators that it was normal for people to not show up. Think about that … it was normal for people to not honor their commitments!

Now, of course, there are always legitimate excuses … for everything we do … so, if we try to apply this to Jesus parable … we must realize that Jesus is not talking just about a one day event …
No, Jesus is not really talking about … just a one day event … What Jesus is really talking about is life … the big feast of life … which God has prepared … for us … In reality, Jesus is talking about the whole Creation of the World … the whole thing … the Big Idea … Jesus is really talking about LIFE ITSELF.

Well, you might say, how can we not show up for that? After all we are already here … we don’t really have a choice … do we?

8. Well, you see, it’s not just about our physical presence alone … what it really is all about is attitude. That is what it is mostly about. Attitude.

And attitude means “showing up” spiritually -- not just physically.

What does it mean to show up spiritually? It means to “affirm life.” That’s what it means.

It means to join the party. To join the celebration. To rejoice, as Paul says. To be part of things. To celebrate. To not be half hearted. But, to put yourself into things. To give it your all. That’s what God wants. No excuses. Give it your all, today and everyday. Don’t hold anything back. That’s what it is about.

What it comes down to is that God doesn’t want us to be just half hearted. That’s what the party is all about.

After all, God created the world and saw that it was good and wants us to feel the same way. Does that make sense?

9. But what do we hear a lot of the time? What do people say and believe? What is the current attitude these days. Quite the opposite from joining the party – isn’t it?
In fact, in some eastern religions people believe that the world is all an illusion or that life is a veil of tears. For them, it’s all negativity.

And in some Christian religions things are just as negative … for all they want to do is talk about sin and how bad people are and point the finger and proclaim how the world is getting worse … and that Jesus is coming back soon … and the world is coming to an end … and there is nothing we can do about it … nothing we can do to make life better … in the parlance of modern business management these people are called “quit and stays.” They show up for work but they don’t want to be there. They would rather quit but they need the money or don’t have the mentality to look for a different job they might like better. So they stay and make like difficult for everyone because they complain a lot and drag down everyone’s energy level.

Are you a “quit and stay” about life? Are you just putting in your time? It’s a pretty cynical way to life, don’t you think?

And there is indeed much cynicism …and disillusionment today … especially about politics … and about the environment … about the economy …

Many people today … especially young people … despair … about the future …

But not everybody. Last week I was at a program at the High School about this new video coming about the Healing Walk to Red Lake last spring that you may have read about in the paper.

What was the message? … what was the answer? … to all the despair at Red Lake … it was a positive response … a small thing … yet a big thing … it was about showing up … it was about attitude … that in the face of tragedy … some people really cared and wanted to do something … and so they walked up to Red Lake … and when they got there they danced … even in the face of tragedy … they danced because it’s really about attitude … it’s about showing up …

10. Now, speaking of showing up, next Sunday, as you know, we will have a pastor here in church who is coming all the way from Oklahoma … and his trip is sponsored by the United Methodist National Board of Global Ministries … in fact, he is actually flying in from a meeting at the Methodist Global Ministry National Headquarters in New York City. And since we are in the midst of our stewardship campaign you should know that the church missions of Board of Global Ministry Headquarters are supported by our apportionment dollars here in this church and by the dollars of eight million other Methodist around the United States.

And at the BOFM they think it is important that David Wilson is coming here to show up and show some support for folks at Red Lake and Cass Lake and here in Bemidji … to demonstrate that our United Methodist church cares about what is going on …

So, I would also like for us to show up and show some support for him as well. Because I want us to all know we are all in this together …

For, I think it is so important; that despite all the cynicism and the feelings of hopelessness we all sometimes share … God still calls us to come to the party.

After all, let’s face it … if you think you and I have good reason to be despairing … how do you think God feels? Because, it’s God who is the one who originally threw the party.

Yet, in spite of it all … God always up … and the message of the Gospel … is that Jesus showed up, too … to show us the way … and to call us to join the party … and to become part of the kingdom of God … and to celebrate even in the midst of trouble and misfortune …

11. One of the great evangelists … of the Methodist Church in the past century … and one who didn’t give evangelism a bad name … was E. Stanley Jones …

In 1928, Jones was elected a Bishop in the Methodist Church … 24 hours later he turned it down because he felt he had an even greater call to be a missionary and evangelist and he went on spent most of his life in India.

Many years later, at the age of 87 he suffered a paralyzing stroke. But in the face of that disaster he even then wouldn’t give up. For during his 14 month-long recovery … and with the help of his daughter … he wrote his 28th book … entitled the Divine Yes …

In this, his last book, he wrote: “I believe God is saying to me, ‘I am handing you back your life for a demonstration period at the very end, so that a viewer looking on may see if there is anything in it.’ “

Stanley then went on to say these words in his first chapter which is entitled “To Preach a Sermon or to Be One?”

It may be, He said, that I shall fail. “Well,” I said to myself, “the cross of Jesus was a seeming failure which ended up a success.” So, apparently, God chose not to save Jesus from the Cross, but to save others through Jesus by the Cross.”

So I said to myself that I could fail. So what? Jesus used failure and made it the greatest success because through that failure, God showed his ultimate power. He overcomes evil with good, and hate by love, and the world through suffering.”

12. Good stuff, huh? Too bad we don’t have any evangelists like E. Stanley Jones around today. We could sure use some, don’t you think?

For even in spite of his stroke … Jones wrote “Nothing has changed! I’m the same person that I was. By prayer, I am still communicating with God. I still belong to the same unshakable Kingdom and the same unchanging Person. Nothing has really changed except my means of communicating with the outside world.

My faith was not shattered. I was not holding it; it was holding me. I could still put up three fingers and say, “Jesus is Lord!” Everything was intact. I can honestly say I wasn’t asking, “My God why?” I could still and I can face the future with him.”

So, even in these dire circumstances … Jones was still able to show up for the party. He still came to the banquet. He still had the right attitude. He was still spiritually alive.

How about you and me? Can we all say, today, along with St. Paul:

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Yes, it’s all about showing up!

Let us pray…