Esther 4 – “Examine and Purpose” – December 9, 2018

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Just a quick recap of the story of Esther: Esther is the young Queen of Persia. The King has recently married her and does not know she is Jewish. Haman is an advisor to the King who convinces the king to order the slaughter of all the Jewish people in the Empire. Mordecai is Esther uncle and challenges her to stand up for her people and use her new influence as Queen to save them. Yet, Esther knows that even as Queen she will be risking her life to confront the King. In his appeal to Esther, Mordecai utters these somewhat famous words, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape the slaughter. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

In the midterm elections this year, more than ever we had women running for office.

Habakkuk 1 & 2 – “Pace and Return” – December 2, 2018

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If you were here last Sunday you know that due to technical difficulties with a couple videos I had planned to show, I ended up not just talking about Jeremiah chapter 1 as planned but adding some reflection on Jeremiah 7 which were not planned. Chapter 7 has to do with the idea that we all have the power to prepare ourselves for a relationship with God. Yes, God is always with us and always loves us no matter what we do, but we do things that block us from having a more meaningful, joyful, empowering relationship with God. And we can choose to live in a way that removes those blocks.

After preaching somewhat briefly about that idea, it occurred to me that it is really the whole meaning of the Advent season. Advent in the Christian year is always a season of preparation. We are preparing ourselves for Christ to be born anew into our lives.

One of the most quoted verses during Advent is from the prophet Isaiah and from the Gospels where John the Baptist is quoting Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” The idea expressed here is that valleys and mountains and rough ground and rugged places are the things that hinder our relationship with God, so those things must be straightened and levelled in order to allow God’s Spirit to flow through us and into us with maximum power.

Well, then I thought since it is really a central theme of Advent, why not do a series on this idea of preparing ourselves for a deeper relationship with God. And perhaps make an acrostic from the word “Prepare”. So that’s what happened. You can see it in the bulletin announcements.
Pace
Return
Examine
Purpose
Angels
Reconciliation
Enjoyment

And all of that (getting to that point) makes me wonder if maybe God had a hand in the technical difficulties I experienced last Sunday. Maybe those technical difficulties were all part of an elaborate divine plan to get me to change my plan and instead talk about preparation, which helps us deepen our relationship with God, but also might have been helpful in avoiding my technical difficulties last Sunday.

So today we will do two letters: P and R. Standing for Pace and Return.

Pace could have just as easily been persistence or even patience, they all fit with our passage today from Habakkuk. In that passage, the prophet is complaining to God about the violence and injustice in the world. He says “devastation and violence are before me, there is strife, and conflicts abound.” He says, “How long is this going to go on?” Habakkuk is in a hurry for the world to be the way he thinks it should be. He is rushing things. He sounds like he is thinking of giving up.

God responds, “Don’t despair. There is a vision of justice for the future. Hold on to the vision. It is good vision. It will come at the right time.” Verse 3b says, “If it delays, wait for it; for surely it is coming; it will not be late.”

In other words Habakkuk, “Slow down. Hold the vision. Share the vision. Proclaim the vision. Keeping working for it. Be patient and persist.”

Important words for our society today, locally, nationally and internationally. Perhaps these are important words for our personal lives too. Are you despairing that God’s vision for you will come true? Are you rushing it? Or are you thinking of giving up? Slow down. Hold the vision. Proclaim the vision. Keeping working. Be patient and persist.

I ended up choosing Pace as the word instead of persistence or patience because I was thinking about how we can prepare ourselves for a deeper relationship with God. And I think that slowing down our pace really is critical. It is especially true this time of year, but it is really true all year, we run and run, we are frantic with business. We are perpetually grasping for something more than what we have. And when we run ourselves at that pace we leave little room for God.

One of the most helpful concepts for me when it comes to pace, and I have to remind myself of this regularly because I really do rush around a lot, is the concept of allowing wide margins our life. It is the idea of not scheduling every free moment, or when we have free moments not filling them up with activity. Smartphones are especially tempting for us when we have downtime, because we can always turn to them for mental activity. In any free, slow moment, we check e-mail, or texts of social media or news or just play a game.

Instead of living this way, having wide margins suggests we schedule things for more time than they might actually take. Discipline yourself to be less productive. And when downtime does come, use it to breathe and not surf online. Business really does block us from a deeper relationship with God. Slow down. Wait for it. Allow God to fill up the empty spaces. Hold on to the vision of something better and trust that with slow, patience, persistence it will come.

The second letter and word is R for Return. God tells Habakkuk to return to his vision. Return to his purpose. He has gotten off track with his worry and anxiety and he needs to come back to what is important. How many of us get off track and need to return to what is important. This is a very important concept for meditation and prayer. When we are trying to meditate or pray and focus our attention either on the present moment or bodies or God, we all get distracted. Our minds drift to 1000 different things. And so many of the ancient spiritual teachers tell us to then gently and loving notice that our attention has drifted and return back to our the object our concentration. And to do that over and over and over again without scolding ourselves or getting frustrated, but in fact it is the noticing and returning that is just as important as the awareness of the object. The practice of return is just as important as successfully staying focused on the object of our devotion.

Communion, the Lord’s Supper is also a way we practice returning. We return to this table month after month. We focus our attention on the bread and the cup, we focus our attention on Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, death and resurrection, then we go out in the world and usually forget about all that. We also forget about our connections to each other in the community of faith. But, then Communion comes around again and we return back to Table. Part of the practice of communion is the returning.

We prepare ourselves for a deeper relationship with God when we practice gentle loving returning to the object our devotion.

God is always with us. God always loves us. But, we do have the power to resist God’s love, the block God’s Spirit, to deny a deeper relationship. We also have the power to remove these obstacles that we put up and clear away the debris and make a path for God in our lives. Let this Advent season, be a time to slow down and make space for God to fill, let it be a time of returning to God, let it be a time of preparing the way of the Lord.

 

Jeremiah 1 and 7 – November 25, 2018

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Isaiah 2 – “Swords into Plowshare” – November 18, 2019

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Raise your hand if you get along great with all your family members. And I mean, brothers and sisters, parents and kids, aunt and uncles and cousins, and in-laws. Do you get along great with everyone? Now raise your hand if there is at least one family member whose close proximity to you is stressful.

Many people this Thursday will get together with family. Some of us will have family staying in our homes. And for some this will be a pleasant experience. For some it will be stressful. For most there will probably be a mixture feelings.

There is something about getting a bunch of family together that increases the probability of a fight. For some families it is politics. Republicans and Democrats. For some families it is issues about race or gender or immigration. For some it has nothing to do with the issues of the day, but old emotional wounds that have never really healed get easily re-injured in the presence of the person who created them. And yes, maybe you are fortunate and none of this happens at your family gatherings or maybe some people have stopped coming to your family gatherings because they are done fighting – so what looks like peace is actually voluntary segregation.

Well in our passage this morning from Isaiah we have a couple guys who are not at a family gathering, but they are coming together and itching for a fight. The guy from the Assyrian Emperor comes to the gates of Jerusalem and declares that everything in the media is fake news. He says that people should only believe the Emperor Assyria. He says, “Don’t listen to King Hezekiah who says you are safe, but listen to Assyria’s king who says, “Surrender to me and come out Then each of you will eat from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own land.” He says “King Hezekiah is lying to your about your situation.”

Apparently this really pushes King Hezekiah’s buttons because he tears his clothes and went off to pray. Kind of like when Uncle Joe gets up from an argument at the table and goes outside to smoke a cigarette.

Then Hezekiah sends his servants to ask the prophet Isaiah what should be done about the Assyrians and Isaiah says, “Don’t believe the Emperor of Assyria, believe me! God is on our side and is going cut down all the Assyrian armies with the sword!”

So Assyrians says, “I’m right. I’m powerful. Everyone listen to me.” And Isaiah says, “No. I’m right. God is powerful and on our side. So everyone listen to me.” Just typical Thanksgiving dinner conversation.

But, then our lectionary text does something a little screwy. It sends us back 34 chapter to Isaiah chapter 2. And offers another perspective on all this squabbling. Isaiah 2 quote the prophet saying that God is still going to dominate the world, but this time not by might or by force, but by offering irresistible instruction and inspiration to all the earth. People will seek out God on their own accord. That in the presence of God disputes will be settled and relationships reconciled. Then we get the wonderful passage, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nations, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

A plowshare by the way is the metal part of the plow. So here is the question for us as we prepare to meet with family this Thanksgiving, “Are you going to show up to dinner with swords or with plowshares?” Are you going to show up ready for battle? Are you going to show up with your arguments honed? Are you coming in with a strategy to win the fight? Are you coming with a sword? Swords are a lot more fun by the way. They are pointy. They are sharp. You can swing them around. You can chop things in pieces. You can pierce people deeply. And most importantly you poke people with them. Many of us many never intend to chop or stab, but we are looking forward to some serious poking.

Or are you going to show up with plowshares? Are you going to come ready to listen to others? Are you going to try to understand their perspective rather than clearly articulate yours? Are you going to come ready to do the hard work of helping someone else express themselves? Are you willing to go deep even if the deep dark places are scary and filled with rotting manure? And yeah, plowing a field is not fun. Plows are heavy. They require a lot of effort to operate. And it is really hard to poke anyone with a plow. But, they do important work that ultimately makes things better for everyone. Plows are broad and when you operate a plow you have to be open to turning up some surprising things. Plows go deep like swords but by bringing deeper things to light plows make new growth possible. And there is a profound joy in a freshly plowed field. And yes they can be messy. But, do we want the mess of a massacre or do we want the mess of freshly turned earth.

So which will it be swords or plowshares?

As Christians the right answer here should be obvious. We should go into any situation seeking understanding and reconciliation. We should be trying to follow the Prayer of St. Francis.

“Where there is hatred let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon…
May I not so much seek to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life”

Christians should be armed with plowshares. If you are not there yet its OK. One person asked me if they could at least bring a shield to their gathering. Yes, that is fine. Bring a shield and a plowshare, but not swords. Our goal as Christians is to address our problems without swords. That is where we are going. Our orders are to beat our swords into plowshares. So ask God to help you if you are not ready to do it alone. “God help me beat this sword into a plowshare.” And if that prayer is too hard, ask God to help you be ready to do it or to want to do it. “God help me want to let go of this sword. Help me want to beat this sward into a plowshare.”

This Thanksgiving and beyond thanksgiving in all our relationships, is it more important to be right and to win or is it more important to understand someone and find compassion and peace?

People often bring a dish to Thanksgiving Dinner. You might bring green bean casserole or candied sweet potatoes. You might bring turkey or a vegan alternative. Or that critical question of pumpkin or sweet potato pie. But, the most important choice we make is whether to show up to any relationship with a sword or a plowshare.

2 Kings 5 – “Simple, Mundane, Repetitive Practices for Wholeness” – November 4, 2018

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With Communion and All Saints Day Observance I want to keep the sermon very short and to the point today. Fortunately, the story of Naaman has at least one pretty straight forward message. That message is our healing and our wholeness often come through very simple, boring, repetitive practices.

1 Kings 3 – Seven Principles of Faith and Ministry – October 28, 2018

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Note: I did not use a manuscript  for this sermon, but here are the Seven Principles of Faith and Ministry that I offer.

1. No one completely knows or understands who or what God is. Everyone has only a general concept of God and our concepts differ.
2. Despite our ignorance everyone can develop a life-giving, life-changing relationship with God.
3. In a variety of different ways everyone can receive direction from God every day.
4. Faith in God means experiencing a life-giving, life-change relationship with God and following directions from God even without knowing or understanding what or who God is.
5. Ministry is the daily practice of following God’s direction by helping others. Everyone in relationship with God is called to ministry.
6. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as narrated in the Bible is our model of faith in God and ministry in the world.
7. Our purpose as church is to encourage one another in faith and ministry studying together the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  

Two goals for the church based on these principles.

1. For every member to have a life-giving, life-changing relationship with God and to daily engage in ministry inspired by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
2. For every member to be so inspired by their faith and ministry that they enthusiastically invite others to similar relationship with God and ministry in the world.

Exodus 20 – Ten Commandments as Explained by the Animals – October 7, 2018

Greetings humans. On behalf of the rest of the animals on earth, thank you for taking the time to listen. You all seem to be having trouble with some basic ethical principles, so I have been asked to deliver this message explaining them to you one by one.

 

• I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

 

“In other words, God is God. You are not. In fact, no animal is God.  Humans are just animals. If you want to imitate God then help liberate the oppressed, because that is what God did for the Hebrew people. But, even if you manage to do some liberating, don’t get too cocky. You are not God. No animal is God.”

2. Do not make an idol for yourself.

“This means, don’t pretend you know what God looks like. God probably doesn’t look like you. God probably does not look like any animal on earth. When you pretend you know what God looks like and you worship that self made image of God you are basically worshipping yourself. Don’t do that. It will not end well for any of us.”

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

“Yeah, just stop talking so much. Just because you have language doesn’t mean you should never shut up. And just because you can talk doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about. It certainly doesn’t mean you know anything about God. One thing for sure when it comes to God: if you can say it with words, it is completely insufficient.

4. Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.

“Right. Chill out. Please. Stop working so much. Take a break. For one thing, when humans work a lot they get hungry. When humans get hungry they start looking at the rest of us animals in a way that makes us uncomfortable. So please, stop being so busy, and rest. And while you are at it, give us a break too. We are not here to be your slaves. If you want the field plowed, plow it yourself. If you want protein in your diet, eat soybeans. For more on slavery and freedom refer back to Commandment #1 about liberation.”

5. Honor your father and mother.

“And not just your father and mother. Honor the wisdom of those who have been on earth longer than you. There is nothing new under the sun. So, those who have been here longer have seen it all before and can probably keep you from making stupid mistakes. And by the way, a lot of us animals (and plants too) have been around a lot longer than you. You might ask our opinions before you go ahead with your cockemame plans, like drilling for oil in the ocean floor, cutting down rainforest, blowing up shale to remove natural gas, or removing mountain tops to take out the coal. Seriously just stop all that.”

6. Do not murder.

“Let’s take it a step farther. Don’t kill. That’s right. Don’t kill. That means don’t kill animals either. We know you like to think this one says “Don’t murder” and maybe that is different than killing. But, this commandment is pretty important and if you don’t kill anything, you won’t murder either. So, stop trying to be smarter than you are. Just don’t kill. Anything. Period.

7. Do not commit adultery.

“This one is kind of special for you humans and it means more than you probably think. It means, if you make a promise, keep it.  We know you think this about something else, but if you keep your promises most of those other things will get sorted out. The rest of us animals don’t make promises. We just do what we do. But, you humans like to make promises and then you break them. Maybe you should stop making so many promises. But, if you do make a promise, keep it.”

8. Do not steal

“Don’t take stuff that doesn’t belong to you. But, this one is a little complicated. Because actually, nothing belongs to you. That makes it hard because we all need to eat, so we have to take some things some times like apples or bananas or broccoli. So how about this: don’t take stuff that belongs to future generations. Don’t consume so much that future animals (humans included) will have less than we all have today. And remember, animals don’t belong to you either. So don’t steal us. We want to be free. Please refer back to Commandment #1 about liberation.”

9. Do not bear false witness.

“Tell the truth. Another problem that comes with language. So refer back to # 3 about not talking so much. If you don’t talk, you won’t lie. But, when you do talk speak what is in your heart. Birds sing. Dogs bark. Cats meow. What does the fox say? Actually most of us make some kind of noise. We just take what’s within us and proclaim it to the universe. Maybe humans should try that more often. Maybe you don’t just talk too much, you also think too much.”

10. Do not covet

“Just what it says, “Don’t covet”. This one will help you stick with the one about not stealing. Nothing belongs to you. But, also everything belongs to you in the way that everything belongs to all of us. We all live on this earth together. Let’s live so we can all enjoy it together. If you try to keep some part of it just for yourself then someone else will not be able to enjoy it. But, when it doubt remember, nothing belongs to you.”

So let’s circle back around and summarize: God is God. Humans are not. No animal is God. You can’t imagine God. The best you can do is liberate the oppressed. Or if that seems too hard then just trying loving. Love the earth, and love the whole universe for that matter. Just love. With all your heart, soul and strength.

When in doubt. Love.

When you forget what to do. Love.

When you feel like making an image of God. Love instead.

When you feel like talking too much. Love instead.

When you feel like working too much. Love instead.

When you feel like doing something without asking those who came before you. Try loving.

When you feel like killing something. Love it instead.

When you feel like breaking a promise. Love the one with whom you made the promise.

When you feel like taking something that doesn’t belong to you. Love.

When you feel like speaking anything beside the truth in your heart. Find the love you have within and speak about that instead.

And when you start to think that something belongs to you and only to you and you want it really bad. Remember love and let it go.

With all your heart, soul and strength. Love.

Exodus 14 – God as Liberator – September 30, 2018

 

Biblical commentator Corey Driver writes that the Israelites must have been very confused as the events in this story unfolded. He summarizes the events this way:
“The Israelites were freed with gifts of gold and silver. (that is a part of the story we did not read, but it is correct).
And then they were pursued by an army.
And then Moses told them to be still and see what God would do.
And then God told them to stop standing still and move forward.
And then the pillar [of cloud and fire] that had been leading them moved behind them.
And then they walked through the depths of a sea on dry land.
And then the army pursued them.
And then the army was drowned.”

That is a good summary and he is correct that there are several points along the way that the Israelites must have wondered what God was doing and what could possibly happen next. Like I talked about last week with the question, “Is God with us in difficult times?” The answer is “Yes, God is with us, but God’s presence and leading may not look the way we expect it to look from moment to moment.”

Despite the confusion the Israelites may have experienced, this story, perhaps more than any other in the Bible is about how the Israelites and ultimately, all people move from slavery to freedom. And though all the ins and outs of the process of liberation may be confusing or even terrifying, the main point of the story is not confusing. The main point of the story is that as we seek to move from slavery to freedom, God will fight for us and if we remain steadfast in our quest for freedom, God will defeat those who or that which oppresses us. God desires liberation for us and will fight for us to help us achieve that goal. God is fundamentally a liberator.

Now you may be thinking, “Well that’s great, but I’m not a slave”. And it is true that we are not literal slaves, but let’s remember we can always look at a biblical text metaphorically. Because metaphorically or spiritually we are all slaves to something. Each of us is imprisoned by something. Dr. Williamson mentioned this when he was speaking about his ministry at Mercy Church in Little Rock and their attitude toward people who show up under the influence of drugs. Their philosophy is that such people are welcomed as long as they are not being disruptive. So, if a person is clearly drunk or high and they just need a place to come and sleep in a corner during worship that is fine, or if they are singing a bit more enthusiastically than the sober people in the service that is fine. The reason Mercy Church welcomes people under the influence is that they believe really all of us are addicted to something. Everyone is a slave to something. Some of us may have more socially acceptable addictions so we are allowed to function in the world and welcomed most anywhere despite being under the influence. But, we are no less addicted.

For instance, most of us are addicted to a standard of living that is not sustainable for our planet. Most of us think we need that standard of living in order to survive. Many of us are addicted to a diet that is not sustainable for the planet, either the amount of food we eat or the kinds of food we eat in large amounts. Some of us are addicted to drugs: alcohol, pot, cocaine, opioids, nicotine, caffeine, etc. Some are addicted to or enslaved by our smartphones, social media, or Netflix. Some are addicted to work. Some of us are addicted privilege. We are addicted to the privilege that is given by social institution of racism or sexism. Some are slaves to emotions, like resentment. There are many people who cannot make it through the morning without drinking heavily from a big bottle of resentments. Some of you are sneaking sips of resentment right now and my saying that caused you to take another sip. There are so many ways that we are not free. Everything I’ve mentioned has the power to control our thoughts and behaviors and has harmful consequences to us and to others. All these things keep us from being everything God calls us to be. We are all slaves to something.

And if you don’t know what you are enslaved to, what is keeping you from being truly free as a child of God in this world, pray about it. Ask God to show you what is holding you back. Or talk to a friend and see if they can see something you can’t. It is not uncommon for addicts to be blind to their addiction.

So then, if we truly are addicted, the reality of addiction is that we will not be able to stop, to change, to be free on our own. Real addicts need God’s help to find freedom from their addictions.

The book Alcoholics Anonymous also known as the Big Book in AA, has a kind of long section about the difference between moderate drinkers, heavy drinkers, and real alcoholics. They welcome everyone to their program, anyone who wants to stop drinking, but the book says a real alcoholic or for our purposes, we could say a real addict, cannot stop drinking by their own willpower, they need God’s help to stop drinking. That’s why Alcoholics Anonymous is fundamentally a spiritual program helping their members find a vital spiritual experience with God for that is the only thing that leads to real recovery from addiction.

So then back to the main point of the Exodus passage, if we desire to move from slavery to freedom, God will fight for us just as God fought for the Israelites in their quest for freedom from slavery in Egypt, so will God fight for us. They did the work of walking away. God did the work of fighting their oppressor.

Let’s look at the text using the summary from the beginning of the sermon with this perspective.

“The Israelites were freed with gifts of gold and silver.” When we first choose to walk away from whatever is enslaving us, it may seem like it is going to be easy. Life if good. We have a new life and we see things we didn’t see before. If you have ever taken a break from your cell phone you might know how this feels.

“But then they were pursued by an army.” So, we quit whatever it is that imprisons us, we walk free and suddenly our oppressor is right behind us. Pursuing us. Inviting us back to prison. Or demanding we go back to prison. And it is not coming gently with a force we can defeat on our own. It comes with an army. And we for our part in this situation often thing just like the Israelites, we may immediately start thinking, “Hey slavery wasn’t so bad and freedom isn’t so great”. These are the words of the Israelites according to the text, “It would have been better for us to work for the Egyptians (notice how they are diminishing their slavery, they were not slaves, they were workers); It would have been better for us to work for the Egyptians, than to die here in the desert”. It is normal to see the army of our unhealthy dependency coming and think that maybe surrender is the best choice.

“But then Moses told them to be still and see what God would do.” In other words, don’t panic. Stay calm. There is army coming to re-enslave you. Breathe. Remember if this is a real addiction you can’t defeat it by the force of your will alone. You will need God. Connect to God. Turn your life over to God’s care and protection.

And then God told them to stop standing still and move forward. It is an almost hilarious reversal in the text Moses says, “Be still and see what God will do” Then God says, “Don’t just sit there, get up and move.” But, the direction they are told is critical. They are not told to go fight their oppressors head-on. God is not going to fight with them. God is going to fight for them. They are told to walk toward the sea. And it is dark now. They are told to turn away from that which oppressed them and walk into the unknown, darkness. Remember a couple weeks ago, I talked about faith being like walking through an Ikea in the pitch dark with nothing but a flashlight and black arrows on the floor. The path to freedom means we connect with God, listen for God’s directions, and continue moving away from that which enslaves you.

And then the miracle happens: the pillar that had been leading them moved behind them and the sea was split and then they walked through the depths of a sea on dry land and then the army pursued them followed and God fought the army and then the army was drowned.

God desires our liberation for anything holding back. God will fight for us in that cause. Freedom from whatever holds us back doesn’t mean we fight it head-on. And it does not mean we fight it alone. We have things we need to do. We need to walk ahead in faith. But, we can do that, because we know God is behind us, fighting the battle we could never fight ourselves.

Thoughts on the methadone treatment clinic opening next door to our church

We recently learned a Methadone Treatment Clinic is opening next door to our church. The neighborhood is in an uproar. I recently attended two different community meetings and I’ve never heard the “Not In My Backyard” sentiment expressed so emphatically by so many. Up to this point in the process, I have not publicly shared my own thoughts for two reasons. First, our church board (the Session) has not met to discuss the situation. I don’t know if they would take a position on this, but if they did, their position would be the church’s official position and so far they have not discussed it. I have let them know what is happening and shared with them some initial thoughts. Second, even though as the Pastor of the church I some freedom to share my own thoughts, especially when it comes to ethical and moral questions, up to this point I have been trying to listen more than talk. Honestly, I did not know where I stood and even now as my thoughts are becoming clear, I’m trying to keep my mind open to new information or perspectives. I say “up to this point” because over the past few days, I have had some clear thoughts and I am writing now to share those.

Ruth 2-3, “Ruth Shows Us How To Work Out God’s Plan”, June 24, 2018

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