Ferrell family intro video!

Now for something a little different (and a bit of fun too, I hope)... here is a brief video to introduce folks to our household!

Meet The Ferrells

God's dwelling place - a sermon for August 26, 2012

A Sermon for the Proper 16 (RCL B) 8-26-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:             1 Kings 8:1-6,10,11,22-30,41-43; Psalm 84; John 6:56-69

Themes:        temple dedication, God’s presence, paradox of faith

Title:               God’s dwelling place        

“Happy are the people whose strength is in you; whose hearts are set on the pilgrims’ way” (Psalm 84:4, BCP).

My dear friends: what is a pilgrimage?

Have any of you ever undertaken a pilgrimage?

The dictionary officially describes pilgrimage as the journey of a religious devotee to a sacred site or a holy place as an act of devotion.

The idea of going on pilgrimage has waned in our American society, but it remains as one of the most important and powerful events in the lives of countless human beings throughout the world.

For instance, as many of you know, the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca is commanded for all Muslims at least once in their lives, if they are physically and financially able to do so. Millions of people gather every year for this pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

There are hundreds of Buddhist pilgrimage sites all over Asia where many millions travel on pilgrimage each year.

The largest gathering of humanity ever recorded is the pilgrimage that occurs every 12 years in India. It is called Kumbh Mela by Hindus, and at the last one in 2001, there were an estimated 100 million people who had gathered together along the banks of the Ganges River to pray and to seek spiritual cleansing and renewal.

Once Solomon completed and dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem – as we read a few minutes ago, that grand edifice gradually became the central pilgrimage site for all Hebrews.

Remember how, in the Gospels, we read of Jesus’ regular journeys to the Temple as an observant Jew. Even today, thousands of Jewish pilgrims visit the remnants of the Second Temple every single day at the site now known as the Wailing Wall.

  

And the practice of pilgrimage has been a long-standing practice among Christians throughout the world.

But consider the strange paradox that this idea of pilgrimage represents.

What did Solomon say in his prayer?

“Will God indeed dwell on earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).

We understand that God is omni-present: present everywhere at all times and in places.

God can be accessed in every place where matter exists. So how can we honestly speak of going to God’s house, or of meeting God in a special building, or of finding God in a holy place?

How can God be everywhere AND be present in a special way in a sacred place BOTH at the same time?

This highlights the bizarre and profound reality of being a Christian, of living as a follower of Christ: we are always holding two opposites in tension at the same time.

We are always living with paradox – on so many different levels.

Consider the following:

As baptized Christians, we are depraved sinners who are also – at the same time - God’s holy people.

The church itself is a collection of broken, damaged people, and yet she is also God’s instrument to redeem the world.

God calls us to rejoice always and in everything, while also calling us to be broken-hearted over our sin and over the brokenness of the world.

Scripture calls us to wait patiently upon the Lord, while also serving actively as the body of Christ in the world.

God is present everywhere in all things, and yet God can be found and met in a special way in holy places.

How can both of these opposites be true at the same time?

It is the same as saying that every human being is a child of God AND YET only some people are adopted into God’s family and filled with the Holy Spirit.

How can this be?

Let’s stay focused upon the “place” issue for now.

Is God present everywhere? Is God present in a special way in sacred places?

The answer is yes! Both of these realities of God’s presence are true at all times.

We all know that most Americans still claim to believe in God, and yet fewer and fewer of them think that God has any connection at all with churches – with consecrated buildings such as this one. How does that work?

These folks claim that they can find God on the golf course; that they can meet God on the beach or out on the water in their boat. And so there is no need for them to belong to any church community, no need to gather together into a building which is designated as a sacred space.

Have you heard people speak in this way?

Well, what do you think? Are they right?   Yes and no.

Of course, they are right! God is in fact on the golf course, as well as on the beach and in the boat and on the soccer field and in the bar and on the living room couch!

There is no place that we can possibly go where God is not. Remember Psalm 139? “Where can I go then from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

The answer is nowhere! Just as the air surrounds every living thing on the earth, so God surrounds every human being on earth. There is no escaping that presence!

And yet, these people are also dead wrong! God is NOT present in every place in exactly the same way. There are what the ancient Celtic Christians called “thin places”, certain spots where the veil that separates the material and the spiritual worlds is thinner and less likely to blur our vision, to dull our senses.

Remember the discussion between the Lord Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well about where God is to be worshipped?  Is God to be worshipped in Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim? That was her question; that was the on-going debate in her community.

 The Lord suggests that the very question is misdirected. “God is spirit, and those who worship God must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

Spirit, by definition, is not bound by the restrictions of matter. The teaching seems to be that God can be – and is- worshipped in any place and in all places.

And yet, here in this sixth chapter of John, we hear Jesus speak of himself as the bread of life.

“Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:56).

However many different ways Christians have interpreted these words over the centuries, surely they suggest a distinct and particular means by which God touches the lives of human beings, distinct from the “general” presence of God everywhere.

So how do we answer those all around us today who suggest that our support of our local congregation is a waste of time? How do we respond to those who argue that we do not need sacred buildings at all, that they are a waste of land and vital resources?

Well, what do you think? Do we need temples – church buildings?

Do we still need sacred spaces where we can gather for worship over the generations?

The answer, of course, is yes – and no.

Of course, we do not NEED them. As we said, we can experience the presence of God without this building. We can eat the bread of life out on the grass, or on the beach, or in the bar!

But, in another sense, we do need them. The Psalms calls us to “worship God in the beauty of holiness.” It is right for us to use the best skills and arts that we have in order to create a beautiful act of worship in a beautiful space.

This honors God and is in fact consistent with the Gospel.

John Henry Newman preached these words: “The glory of the Gospel is not the abolition of [church] rites, but their dissemination; not their absence, but their living and efficacious presence through the grace of Christ” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, P. 1355).

The grace of our Lord is truly present in special ways in special places, through his promise and through the trust of his people who gather together – in remembrance of him – all throughout the world. Does God dwell in a temple made by human hands? No, and yes! Both are true, and God is big enough to handle that paradox.

As for us, let us continue to live with this tension, seeking to worship and to follow Christ whether we are in the church or on the beach or in the bar or in the hospital or on our living room couch! Wherever life takes us, we can know with joy and confidence that God is already there waiting to meet us. Thanks be to God.

But let us also continue our weekly pilgrimage to this house of worship, this house of bread, where we can taste the goodness of God in the bread of life. Amen.

The Value of Fear and Love - A Sermon for 8/19/12

A Sermon for the Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 8-19-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            1 Kings 2:10-12,3:3-14; Psalm 111; John 6:51-58

Themes:        wisdom, fear of the Lord, discernment

Title:              The Value of Fear and Love

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

My dear friends: What does it mean to be wise?

Think of someone you know whom you consider to be a wise person. Then consider what exactly it is about that person which earns them that title in your mind.

What does it mean to be wise? For most people in today’s world, I’ll bet that a wise person is someone with good common sense, maybe even someone who is street wise. Someone who knows how to survive, how to get by and maybe how to work a deal. Perhaps a wise person today is someone who understands money and how to maneuver it, how to manipulate it, how to multiply it.

But what does it mean to be wise in a biblical sense?

You know that Solomon is famously described in the Bible as being the wisest man who ever lived.

To be honest, that’s mostly royal propaganda! Yes, when he was young, Solomon was known to be wise. Here in this famous story, Solomon asks not for wealth nor long life nor for the demise of his enemies. Instead, Solomon asks for wisdom and discernment.

This is a nice tale, and it may have reflected some truth about Solomon when he was young.

But as a grown man, fully in touch with his royal power, he was known to all the Israelites as a tyrant, a ruthless ruler who taxed them without mercy and subjected the people to forced labor for grandiose building projects. In addition, the Bible clearly states that he paid homage to foreign gods and that he most certainly did NOT walk in the ways of his father’s God!

In fact, as soon as Solomon died, there was a revolt and the northern tribes declared their independence from the corrupt royal government based in Jerusalem.

Whatever wisdom Solomon did possess in his early years rapidly turned into narcissism – into an over-inflated sense of his own importance.

But the essence of what it means to be wise in the biblical sense is found in our Psalm appointed for today: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10).

Now I ask you: how do we square this up with the clear calling that we receive in the New Testament to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? (cf. Matthew 22:37)

How can you simultaneously fear the Lord and love the Lord at the same time?

Is that even possible?

Yes, I say! In fact, let me suggest to you that it is not only possible to fear and love God at the same time, but that in the Bible’s vision of a full and healthy life – these two are in fact the very same thing.

We fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

It is all about values and priorities and focus.

Some of you know that my family was blessed this summer with a new puppy. We found this puppy during our summer vacation up north.

Her name is Clare and she is a mutt – a mixed breed dog, with her mother being a pure Saint Bernard. So we can figure out pretty clearly that she is destined to be BIG!

Now, having a big puppy requires a lot of work!

You may then forgive me if my thoughts have invariably been taken up lately by thoughts of puppy training. And if any of you have ever trained a new puppy – especially a large dog, then you know the amount of work and vigilance that is required – that is, if, in fact, you intend to end up with a well-behaved and disciplined dog!

It is especially a challenge right now to walk this big puppy. She is so easily distracted!

Clare is not a good walker. Not yet! But we are taking her to puppy training classes

One of the things that we are learning about is to teach the puppy to watch us – to look at us, to pay attention to us as her owners.

Right now, she is so distracted that walking her is a major challenge!

Yesterday on a walk, she even started to chase after a few leaves that were blowing in the wind! Every car that goes by. Every dog or cat or squirrel close by. Every person. Everything distracts her and then she pulls, because she wants to check it out!

And all the while, she is not even looking at me! Not paying attention at all to what I am doing, where I am going, what my plans might be! This is a real challenge.

The goal in this training is that I will no longer have to hold her so tightly on the leash, and no longer fight with her to go for a walk.

More than that: the goal is that eventually I may even be able to walk her without any leash at all! You see, the goal is that Clare will be so attuned to me, be so in touch with me, so conscious of me as her owner and as the most important thing in her life, that a leash will no longer even be necessary!

I am sure that any serious theologian would be utterly disgusted by my attempt to draw an analogy between puppy training and our relationship with God, but it makes sense to me!

Remember: we fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

The analogy with puppy training breaks down at some point, of course, but consider that the goal of our training in Christ – our apprenticeship, our internship with the Master – is that we can learn to be so attuned to God, so in touch with God, so conscious of God as our leader and as the most important relationship in our life, that we can move with God in a synergy of motion, as a conjoined flow of energy working – and walking! – toward a common goal!

To understand how fear and love relate to value, consider this example. I love my wife, Erin. And because I love her, I also fear her. (But no, not the way that you are thinking! Ha!)

What I mean is that if I truly love her, then I treasure her. In fact, my love for her means that I place immense value upon our relationship.

Outside of my relationship with God, my relationship with Erin is the most important of my life! And that means that she has tremendous value to me.

And how do we treat those things in our lives that have the highest value?

We are afraid to lose them, aren’t we! We humans create all kinds of security systems to protect those things which we value the most, because we are determined not to lose them!

We love those things, and so we fear what might happen if they are damaged or lost.

I love my wife Erin, and so I fear what might happen if I damage her through my words or actions, or if I lose her because of my own stupidity.

Remember what Jesus taught us: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Because we become personally invested in our treasure.

We love it; we value it; we fear the loss of it.

This is how it goes with us: we fear God and we love God when we make God the highest value in our life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, because we allow God to become the center of our lives, the center of our hearts, the conscious focus of our energy.

We do this because we love God, and we know that there is nothing more precious and valuable than this connection with the living God, the Creator of all!

And we are afraid to do anything that might damage this relationship, severe this connection. We are afraid to do anything that might cut us off from God!

We fear the loss of God’s presence, because we know the power of God’s love.

Make sure that you do this, my friends, because there is nothing more valuable than this! Make sure that you place the highest possible value in your heart upon your relationship – your connection -  with God.

This is the beginning of wisdom, because this is the beginning of living fully into our new life in Christ. Amen.

Only God - sermon for August 12, 2012

A Sermon for the Proper 14 (RCL B) 8-12-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:            2 Samuel 18:5-9,15-31-33; Psalm 130; John 6:35,41-51

Themes:        the death of a son, waiting upon God, the bread of life

Title:             Only God  

My friends: I tried to come up with a good joke with which to begin my sermon this week.

I really did. I like to laugh; it’s good for you, too, you know! Good for your health.

But I couldn’t do it. After all, today we need to talk together about tragedy and pain and loss.

This morning, as we continue our journey through the saga of the first Hebrew kings, we are invited into David’s intense experience of grief and sorry at the death of his son.

Now, I could not read and meditate on this story of the death of Absalom this week without connecting it with the death of another man’s son a little closer to home.

For those of you who do not know the context, Absalom was David’s son. The Bible presents the rebellious and destructive behavior of Absalom as a direct consequence of David’s own rebellion and his own destructive behavior in the episode with Bathsheba and Uriah.

David had raped and killed and rebelled against God. Now his son Absalom, the one next in the line of succession for the throne, was also raping and killing and even rebelling against his own father, the King.

His rebellion leads to a decisive battle, and the young man dies.

In spite of the betrayal, David is heart-broken over the death of his son, Absalom. And he wept.

In Philadelphia this week, there was another father who was heartbroken over the death of his son.

In a way, Garrett Reid had also betrayed and rebelled against his father, who of course is Andy Reid, the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles since 1999.

Garrett Reid also followed a destructive path which led to his demise, even though he too – like Absalom – had been blessed with tremendous advantages and wealth by his father.

But wealthy or poor, king or peasant, we all experience grief and pain and loss at some point in our lives. Think through your own experience. Think about what you have seen and heard in the lives of those around you.

Now consider this question: why do some people fall apart and get crushed by this kind of grief, and never recover? And why do others come through grief and loss and actually grow from the experience, and become stronger as a result?

Why are some able to handle tragedy and grief and grow through it, and others are crushed by it?  What is the difference?

This is the question that was asked by Jim Collins in his latest book “Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos and Luck – Why Some Thrive Despite Them All.”

I had the privilege of hearing Jim present the findings of his latest research on Thursday at the Global Leadership Summit. Jim Collins is one of the brightest minds in the world of business management. This latest Collins book studied a number of businesses which had experienced the same amounts of uncertainty – what people call good and bad luck.

Some of these organizations had succeeded even in the midst of uncertain, chaotic and difficult environments, and others had not.

Why? What is the difference?

Of course, the research is too extensive to go over it all right now (you might want to read the book for yourself!).

But the groups that thrived in difficult times all had certain habits and traits which made them different from the rest.

These traits had to do with discipline, flexibility, and preparation.

I believe that it’s the same with us as individuals as well.

Those who are able to overcome and grow – and even become stronger when experiencing times of intense grief and pain and loss - are the women and men who have prepared themselves through spiritual disciplines, those who have been training their hearts to trust in God alone, those who are willing and able to place their lives into the hands of God and say “Your kingdom come, your will be done.”

You’ve heard the saying, “Practice makes perfect.”

I don’t know about the perfect part, but perhaps we could change this to say,

“Spiritual practice prepares one to overcome the trials of life.”

The other question that invariably arises when people suffer the kind of terrible grief and loss that David and Andy Reid experienced is this:

Why does God allow such tragedies to happen? Why does God not prevent such horrible things from happening?

There is no real answer to this question. How can any of us know what is in the mind of God?

Even if God were to tell us why, it is doubtful that we could understand the answer!

“God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways.”

Our minds are just too small and limited.

However, one thing I do know is this. God uses tragedy, grief and loss in our lives.

Hear me, loud and clear: God does not cause these things. God is completely and totally good, and no evil comes from the Lord.

God does not cause the death of a young man like Garrett Reid, nor that of any other who tragically suffers from illness or sudden accidents or violence.

But God often uses times of struggle and pain and heartache like this in order to bring us to our knees, to bring us to a place where we are at the end of our rope, where we know that we have nothing left in the tank and that the only thing left for us to do is to turn to God in trust and faith.

Remember David’s pain and loss – brought about not by God, but as the consequence of his own foolishness and greed and sin.

And do you remember also that place to which this pain and loss brought David?

We heard about it last week when we prayed together the 51^st Psalm, that famous psalm of confession and contrition.

It says this: “The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:18).

Some of you might be experiencing pain and grief and loss right now. Some of you have in the past. The rest of you will in the future.

Please know and understand that God does not want you to feel this, and God never causes it.

But, if you have not yet let go and given over the control of your life,

if you still trusting in your wisdom or your cleverness or your special tricks or your strength to get you through,

if you have not yet fallen down on your knees and surrendered your life – all of it! – to God, then the Lord will use your grief and your anguish as a tool in order to bring you to that place.

“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

It is impossible for us to answer the why questions of our life with any clarity when we lose those we love, when tragedies strike, when the pain of loss overcomes us.

We cannot know why these things occur.

But we can know where God is leading us, and where God is calling us.

And where God longs for us to be.

Like clay in the hands of the potter. Soft, supple, pliable, flexible, ready to be shaped and molded for God’s purpose, for God’s mission in the world.

Perhaps this is why David, in spite of his horrendous failures, was known as a person after God’s own heart.

We all fail at times, after all. We are all broken sinners.

But to deal with his broken heart, David did not turn to vices or to any other crutch, nor to his own strength and pride.

He turned to God and brought his pain and brokenness into the healing light of God’s presence. 

All of us experience hardship and pain and grief in our lives. All of us – even kings and the wealthy and powerful.

Will you be ready for it? Will you pray and study and strength your soul NOW so that you will be prepared when it next comes your way?

And will you allow God to use those things, to take you through them to a place where you could never get otherwise? 

Will you learn to trust in nothing else but the goodness and grace of God alone?

So may it be among all of us who are called by the name of Christ. Amen.

The Works of God - A Sermon for August 5, 2012

BACK from vacation and BACK in the pulpit! Thanks be to God!

A Sermon for the 10^th Sunday after Pentecost (RCL B) 8-5-2012

Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry

Texts:              2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a; Psalm 51:1-13; John 6:24-35

Themes:         David’s repentance and contrition, the works of God, individualism

Title:              The Works of God

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:11).

These words are attributed as sung by David after this fateful confrontation with the prophet Nathan., and after David’s conviction by the words of his own mouth. “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Now right there, my friends, is the understatement of the day. “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Do you think? Let’s see: in this horrendous episode with Bathsheba and Uriah, David coveted his neighbor’s wife with lust, committed adultery, raped a married woman, lied to his own loyal servants and to Joab, one of his life-long friends, and murdered an innocent and good man. What did I miss?

This is the odd paradox of King David. He is known in the scriptures as a person after God’s own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14); one whom God could entrust with the power of the monarchy to unite the disparate tribes of Israel into one national entity.

And yet, in that horrible series of events involving Bathsheba and Uriah, we see David acting entirely without compunction, seemingly with no conscience at all. David acts with no regard for the consequences of his actions, but those consequences will be dire and severe, as we shall see.

In fact, David’s sin unleashes generations of turmoil and recklessness within his family. Brothers killing brothers, brothers raping sisters, sons covertly undermining and also overtly attacking their father.

After his horrendous act of disobedience, David’s family is never the same again.

Consistent with the worldview of the Hebrews at the time, the text states clearly that God is the one who brings these consequences about.

“Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house” (2 Sam. 12:11).

For these early peoples, God was seen as the primary agent behind every event in life, so obviously God was the one who brought these ills upon the house of David.

That is one way to look at it.

For me, I tend to see such a situation as a normal process of cause-and-effect. If you act with such wanton disregard for human life, with such complete lack of respect for human beings, then it is not that difficult to predict that this same kind of behavior will be aimed at you, perhaps even in retaliation and revenge. 

In his power, in his comfort, I suspect that David thought he could do as he wished. He was King, after all, and he held supreme power in the land.

And he could do as he wished, but not without suffering from the consequences of his actions.

Into this setting the prophet Nathan arrives with a godly message.

Now, it is common for people today to misunderstand the role of prophets in biblical times. We tend to think of them as predicting the future, giving an oracle that presages some event in the future.

But that is a gross misunderstanding.

The primary task of a prophet, my friends, is not foretelling, but forth-telling! Not predicting the future, but interpreting the present and imaging the consequences that are bound to come based upon the current reality, and then faithfully proclaiming – or telling forth – the truth of what their actions will produce.

With keen insight, Nathan confronts David with his parable and teaches him a vital lesson: what is done secretly, in private, can have enormous impacts for our future life and for the lives of those around us.

This makes me wonder: how often are you and I tempted to think in the same way as David? To think that our own private faults, our own personal failures will have no impact upon those around us?

That, my friends, is a lie.

One of the things that we learn about life from our Master Jesus is that we are all connected, and anything that we do in one sphere of life can have major impacts upon every other person in our life and perhaps upon far more even than that. What we do with the hours and days and years given to us can have an enormous impact upon the world around us – for good or for ill.

Never doubt that, my friends.

Martin Niemoller was a prominent German Lutheran bishop throughout the time of the Third Reich.

Bishop Niemoller was one who was called upon to negotiate with Hitler from time to time in order to protect the German church from being closed by the Nazis, who did not trust the preaching of the gospel coming from those pulpits.

Toward the end of his life, years after Hitler’s defeat by the Allied forces, Bishop Niemoller told of a recurring dream that plagued him. In this dream, he saw Hitler standing before the judgment seat of Christ, and then he saw the Lord Jesus come down from the throne, put his arm around Hitler and ask him: “Adolf, Adolf! Why did you do the ugly, evil things that you did? Why were you so cruel?”

In the Bishop’s dream, Hitler answered quietly with his head bent low and said, “Because nobody ever told me how much you loved me.”

It was at this point every single time that the Bishop woke up from his dream in a cold sweat, remembering that throughout the many meetings which he had had with the Fuhrer, never once did he pause to say, “By the way, Fuhrer, Jesus loves you! He loves you more than you will ever know. He loved you so much that he was willing to die for your sake. Do you know that?”  (reported in Let Me Tell You a Story by Tony Campolo, p. 108).

Consider it, my friends: would that message, faithfully delivered, have had any impact upon the heart of that man? Would it have altered the course of world events? I wonder.

I was away up in Canada when the shooting happened in Aurora, Colorado, so I have been slow to catch up on all of the news surrounding this sickening tragedy. But I have read some about James Holmes in the days since returning. And the same kind of question forms in my mind when I read about him, when I look at pictures of this young man.

Does he realize how deeply he is loved? Did anyone ever tell him about the love that God has for him? Did he ever open his heart to that love of Christ?

Don’t misunderstand me: I know that diagnosing and treating mental illnesses can be a difficult task.

And it seems clear that both Adolf Hitler and this James Holmes suffered from some form of mental illness. They must have, in order to perpetrate such atrocities with careful preparations.

But I also know that God works in people’s live with healing power and grace! I know it.

And I know that love is a powerful healing force, and I believe that there is no healing force more powerful than the love of God!

Are you with me?  Amen!

My dear sisters and brothers: like the prophet Nathan, you and I in the church today have that same prophetic calling given to us. To us!

That calling to embody and point out an alternative reality in which all of our actions are vital and important – in which nothing done in private stays “in private” – in which nothing done in Vegas stays in Vegas, as the saying goes!

Everything matters, everything is important, and we are all connected by the Spirit of God.

We’ve all seen how much harm can be done by one lost person acting in apparent isolation.

But who knows what impact you and I might have upon the world today by sharing a word of encouragement, by telling someone about the love of Christ, by giving generously to someone in need, by defending the innocent.  

This is why we are here, why we are fed with the bread of life. To do the works of God in this time and place - right here and now. Amen.