"Our Affirming Journey" (sermon)

On Sunday October 2, Worldwide Communion Sunday, Two Rivers Pastoral Charge had a special worship service (at both Long Reach United Church and Westfield United Church) where we celebrated being an Affirming Community of Faith and reminded ourselves that being Affirming is a journey rather than a destination.

 

The sermon/reflection was offered by Ross Sherwood – chair of the TRPC Official Board, our Mission & Service Enthusiast, one of our regular camerapersons for worship livestreaming, and a member of the Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Region Affirming Committee. He has given me permission to share his reflection here. These are his very powerful words.

 

 

Scripture Reading:  1 Corinthians 12:12-27

 

 

Good morning! First I would like to introduce Joel McElhinney, my partner, who will be accompanying me with some background music during the reflection. Thank you Joel!

 

Joel selected three pieces of music to share during the reflection. “Oceans” by Hillsong speaks of how we need to always lean to God, to keep above the waves from drowning and that becoming Affirming is to move to uncharted waters where God is calling us to the waters of acceptance, to always trust without borders. “It is Well” by Kristen DeMarco speaks of the seas that are stirred in our lives which with God can be calmed and that the mountains in front of us can be the hatred and intolerance that some people foster but through it all, with our eyes focussed on God, It is Well. And “Your Great Name” by Natalie Grant…well this song can speak so much but to summarize it, what I can is “GOD IS LOVE!”

 

I am sharing a reflection I created, with a few thoughts from 3 friends who I hold close to my heart, for last spring’s Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Regional Annual meeting.

 

May the words of my mouth and meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight.

 

A while back I was sitting reading an article on line ‘Welcoming, but not affirming’: being gay and Christian posted August 2016. (This was shortly after Two Rivers Pastoral Charge, our church, began a year long process of planting seeds, asking questions, sharing and working towards understanding just what it means to becoming ‘Affirming’.) This article is a conversation back and forth from the perspectives of a Gay Christian and the leader of a Pentecostal Charismatic church. I won’t get into the whole article but I would like to share some of the comments from the leader and the Gay Christian.

 

Leader: “At the moment our position is that if you’re going to volunteer here that we would hold to a fairly orthodox position of scripture…so yeah, we do have a line, and that line is drawn to just being a member of the church but because you are gay, you will not be able to take part in any leadership positions.”

 

Gay Christian: “Imagine, I not allowed to take up the offering! I was simply looking to be actively involved and become a member of the church…BUT because I am gay that was sufficient for (them) to turn around and say no. I thought to myself “That’s just not right”.

 

Leader: Being part of a Christian community is…The body, everyone’s got a part and a role to play, “Oh, but now you say you’re gay, you can’t do that anymore”.

 

Gay Christian: “I grew up in church, understanding that God created me and loved me for who I am BUT when I shared with my church that I am in a same sex relationship, I was told that I had to step away from my duties at the church, forcing me to leave, feeling so sad because for me it was my space for belonging. All of my formation happened at church. That’s just not right”.

 

Gay Christian: “There really is no self-respect in staying inside a community that holds up a banner saying ‘welcome home’, while simultaneously rejecting your very presence by silence. The silence was like thunder to me”.

 

Imagine being a part of a church that does not accept you for who God created you to be!!!!

 

Affirming Ministries seek to go beyond issues of gender diversity and sexual orientation to work for justice and inclusion for all people. In June of 2017, I am so very proud to say that we, Two Rivers Pastoral Charge, voted unanimously in favor of becoming an Affirming Community!

 

Through a process of discernment and reflection, Affirming Ministries discover what it means for them to be inclusive and justice-seeking. They prepare a statement of faith and vision that sets out their ongoing commitment to work for justice on issues of gender diversity and sexual orientation within their congregation, the wider church, and their community, and to support and participate in the Affirming Ministry Program.

 

Shortly after becoming an Affirming Community, Two Rivers created and adopted our Inclusivity Statement.

We the people of Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

publicly declare our commitment to create a

community that will celebrate the blessings of and

the support of one another in our diverse life

experiences; a community where all people are

welcome regardless of age, gender, race, sexual

orientation, gender identity, differing abilities,

ethnic background, life experiences, generational

culture, economic circumstances and others we

have yet to discern.

 

As such we will continually seek to identify and

dismantle barriers that hinder the participation and

inclusion of marginalized groups and individuals.

 

All persons are welcome to take part in every aspect

of church life including memberships, leadership,

celebrating life passages and marriage.

 

We celebrate the richness that diversity brings to

our church, even as it challenges us. We pray for

God’s spirit to guide us as we work for

reconciliation and justice for all persons in both

church and society.

 

BUT…it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t mean “okay, that’s done!! (Sharing from Open Hearts: A Resource for Affirming Ministries in The United Church of Canada). “It is more than offering a welcome. Being an Affirming Ministry is not merely about welcoming gay, lesbian, and transgender people. Words like welcoming or inclusion suggest those on the inside have the power to choose to accept those on the outside. This makes it sound like an act of charity to welcome those who are different or marginalized. However, it is not our place to welcome anyone because church is not a private club and we are not the gatekeepers. As soon as one new person comes through the doors, the community becomes a ‘new’ community”.

 

I reached out to some members of Two Rivers to ask their thoughts on what it feels like to be an Affirming Church? What has changed? And, what are the challenges?

 

Bette Ashley shares… “ I believe it has brought our three congregations closer together. I think we are living out what God wants us to be. More welcoming, more understanding and to show love to all people.

Two Rivers has always been welcoming churches. I remember the first time I walked through the door at Summerville, I felt this is so right! The education during our time of becoming an Affirming congregation was well done, gave everyone valuable information and freedom of voting. 

As Jesus said ‘love one another as I have loved you’.”

 

Chris Patstone shares… “I’ve related it a lot to my call to share the good news about God, Jesus and faith. I like to think that myself, my faith and my church function and live to help bring others closer to God, closer to their own faith.  To help others discover that God is with us and God loves us and God is Love! This House of God (TRPC), is love, is support, is caring, is holy… and thanks to being Affirming, others are discovering this as well. 

Some of our church’s old teachings and practises raised barriers between people and the love of God. Our Church (us the people) being Affirming, in action and word, serves to lower barriers between people and God.  It can make the road easier, or even possible, for others to discover the life-changing love of God. After all, isn’t this what the church is suppose do, bringing people closer to God.

I get emotional when I hear the stories from others, about when they see the signs of welcome and affirmation on our website or outside our churches.  How, for some, who in the past have felt unwelcome or unloved by churches; now know with certainty, that this house of God welcomes, supports and loves them!  

God loves us no matter who we love he just wants us to love!!!   As Jesus reminds us, the most important of all commandments is to love God and love each other!”

 

Josie Pike shares… “I think we are now a much more 'open' pastoral charge....I believe we voted to become an affirming pastoral charge thinking that we were reaching out to those who do not sit in our pews (via our signage).....and indeed we were...but...

 

I have noticed so many changes 'within' our charge. We are more open and welcoming with ourselves.....many people have since shared their own stories....stories that perhaps they were not sure (before affirming) would be heard without being judged .  And how else do people become closer, by trusting enough to confide. 

 

I feel strongly that when stories are shared that there is acceptance.....of the story itself…..of the feelings of the storyteller.....of the subjects of the story.

 

And love.....there has always been love in our pastoral charge but I feel now that it has grown even bigger, even stronger....and we are loving the love that has changed us and embraced us . 

 

I believe that by becoming an affirming charge we have given ourselves a voice.....a quietly strong one that we can draw upon when we find ourselves in social situations where others question what the rainbow signage at each of our churches means (I had an opportunity to do just that recently...and I believe I did it with love).

 

The hard, perhaps challenging, part for me personally, is when I encounter people who do not think like I do.....like when 'jokes' about others are made....or when derogatory names are used to describe .......I have always avoided confrontation at all costs and kept quiet....but since our process of becoming affirming, I believe I have found my voice, because being quiet means I agree with what is being said, doesn't it? I may not always have the courage to speak up but I am working on it because it's important to me.....and I have my pastoral charge behind me”.

 

1 Corinthians 12:12 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” We are all created in God’s image, God created each of us for who we are! No matter our age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, our differing abilities, ethnic background, life experiences or generational culture. God loves us for who we are…God does not judge nor does he expect us to judge! For to know God is to know love!

 

As Rev. Kate shared during a recent reflection and I quote “being Affirming is a journey, not a destination. It’s not just something Two Rivers did back in 2017 – it is something that is an ongoing commitment to be willing to have our barriers broken down. It isn’t always going to be easy – as our inclusivity statement reads, ‘we celebrate the richness that diversity brings to our church even as it challenges us’. There is no tension between the celebration and the challenge. God is always pushing us beyond our comfort zone, pushing us into a broader understanding of love and acceptance. For God’s love isn’t just for the ‘in-crowd’. God’s love is for everyone; and who are we to stand in God’s way?”

 

As a man of faith who is gay, I feel so very blessed to call Two Rivers Pastoral Charge, within the Region of Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters under the umbrella of the United Church of Canada…MY CHURCH…MY HOME…MY FAMILY!!!

 

Amen!

 

Since the time I wrote this reflection, I have come to learn that these churches also exist in the United Church of Canada. Just because our National Church is Affirming does not mean that ALL United Churches are following under this banner!!! In fact, there are many churches, in many denominations, that are still practicing Conversion Therapy today and even though the federal government has made it “against the law”. WE HAVE  LONG WAY TO GO!!! BUT WE MUST ALWAYS REMEMBER…GOD IS LOVE…GOD ASKS US TO LOVE UNCONDITIONALLY…WE ARE NEVER ALONE…THANKS BE TO GOD!

 

Amen and Amen!!!

 

 

 

A screenshot from the  worship

livestream at Westfield United Church

with Ross Sherwood preaching

and Joel McElhinney on piano

"What Field are We Going to Buy?" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

Sunday September 25, 2022

Scripture Reading:  Jeremiah 32:1-15

 

 

On Sunday mornings, we usually follow the Revised Common Lectionary – this is a 3-year cycle of bible readings that are used across many different denominations around the world.  Each Sunday, they give you a reading from somewhere in the Old Testament, a Psalm reading, a reading from the Epistles, and a reading from one of the gospels.

 

This week, I was listening to my favourite lectionary podcast, The Pulpit Fiction Podcast, and when they came to the Jeremiah reading, they said, “let’s be honest, no one is going to be preaching on this passage this week.  After all, you’ve got a beloved parable with Lazarus and the rich man, and you’ve got a great stewardship passage in 1 Timothy.  And then you have Jeremiah with a real estate transaction outlined in tedious detail.  No one is going to preach Jeremiah this week!”

 

And listening to this, my first thought was “don’t go dissing my favourite passage!”  Back in my first semester at AST, in my Old Testament Foundations course, we each had to choose a 15-20 verse passage to work on for our final paper, and we could choose it from anywhere in the Old Testament, and I went straight for Jeremiah, chapter 32, where Jeremiah buys a field.

 

I love this story, but I admit that it doesn’t make any sense without the background of what is going on at this point in the story.

 

Jeremiah is in Jerusalem, and the time stamp at the beginning of the story – in the tenth year of the reign of King Zedekiah – this tells us exactly when it was happening.  And any reader coming to this story after the fact will know the historic significance of this date.

 

Ancient Israel was always a tiny country surrounded by superpowers.  In the time of Moses, they had been enslaved by the Egyptian empire.  Just as they established themselves in the promised land, they were surrounded by the Assyrian Empire.  This empire was replaced by the Babylonian Empire.  Once the Babylonian Empire fell, it was the Persian Empire, and then the Greek Empire, and by the time of Jesus, it was the Roman Empire who was in charge.

 

In the tenth year of the reign of King Zedekiah, the northern part of ancient Israel had fallen to the Assyrians a generation ago, and Jerusalem had been filled with refugees from the north.  Then the Babylonians had made their move and had taken over most of the southern part Ancient Israel, and they made their way to the very gates of the city of Jerusalem.

 

In the tenth year of the reign of King Zedekiah, the city of Jerusalem was filled with people who had fled their homes outside of the city, and the city itself was under siege.  Within a couple of months, the city was going to fall to the Babylonians, the temple which was considered to be the home of God was going to be destroyed, and any survivors were going to be carted off to exile in Babylon.  They were going to be without their homes, without their community, without their city, without their God.

 

Things were not good at this point in time.  So what does Jeremiah, the prophet do?  God has told him that things are bad now, but they are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better; but God has also told Jeremiah that things will eventually get better.  And Jeremiah trusts God.  And Jeremiah goes out and buys a field.  Jeremiah doesn’t say, “Yeah, God, I trust you and all, but let me go and prepare my home and my family for exile.”  Instead, in the middle of a siege and on the verge of exile, Jeremiah goes out and buys a piece of land.  He trusts that a time will come when he or his descendants will be able to use this land.

 

To me, this is an ultimate act of hope.  It isn’t just a thinking hope or a feeling hope, but a doing sort of hope.  When life is good, we don’t need hope, but it’s when things are at their absolute worst that hope says to us, no matter how bad things are right now, they are going to get better.  Even if things are going to get worse before they get better, they Will. Get. Better.

 

And for Jeremiah’s people, things did get better – the story did turn around – but it took a couple of generations for this to happen.  70 years after going into exile, the people were allowed to return to their land and rebuild their cities and rebuild the temple.  Jeremiah didn’t have a chance to use the field that he bought, but his descendants did.

 

In the Revised Common Lectionary, this fall, there is a thread of hope woven through the readings, and that is the thread that we are going to be following most weeks this fall, bouncing between the Old and the New Testaments.  I think that hope is something that our world desperately needs to hear at this moment in time, and not the airy-fairy wishful-thinking sort of hope, but the living, active sort of hope that Jeremiah demonstrates for us this week.

 

Because when I look around the world, I see so many reasons to fall into despair.  I listen to CBC radio a lot, and on Wednesday I heard part of The Current in the morning.  The focus was on the war in Ukraine, and they played a clip from the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres speaking to the General Assembly.  Guterres said:

“Let’s have no illusions.  We are in rough seas.  A winter of global discontent is on the horizon.  A cost of living crisis is raging.  Trust is crumbling.  Inequalities are exploding.  And our planet is burning.  People are hurting, with the most vulnerable suffering the most.”

 

It's not a siege and exile, but between a war in Europe, 2 ½ years of global pandemic, out-of-control inflation, our country struggling to come to terms with our colonial past, and now a devastating hurricane on top of it all… the pain of the present moment, to me, has a lot of resonance with the pain of Jeremiah’s time and place.

 

Which means that the question I have to ask is – what is going to be our equivalent of buying a field?

 

Can we trust God when God promises us that even if things get worse before they get better, they will eventually get better?  Can we trust the Easter message that says that Good Friday doesn’t last forever but is always followed by resurrection?

 

And if so, how are we going to live out this hope?  What can we do right now to show to the world that we trust with every part of our being that things will turn around, even if, as it did for Jeremiah, it takes a couple of generations to do so?  What field are we going to buy?

 

 

 

“Meadow”

Ed Suominen on flickr

Used with Permission

 

"You've Been Served Notice" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

Sunday September 18, 2022

Scripture Reading:  Luke 16:1-13

 

 

I have to confess, I struggled with this week’s reading, and with what to say today.  It is a very challenging parable that Jesus tells here, and apparently I’m not the only one who thinks this – most of the scholars that I read in preparation began their work on this parable by commenting that it is one of the most difficult parables, if not the most difficult parable that Jesus told!

 

Some of Jesus’s parables are a “do like this” story – I think of the story of the Good Samaritan who stopped to help someone of a different religion, a different tribe, who was injured on the side of the road, and at the end, Jesus says, “Go and do likewise.”  This week’s parable, with a dishonest manager cheating his wealthy manager, doesn’t seem to fit that pattern – should I go and do likewise by acquiring lots of wealth off the work of others, or should I go and do likewise by cheating my boss in order to feather my own nest?  That message doesn’t fit with what I know about Jesus what he taught

 

Jesus tells other parables that seem to teach us about who God is – here I’m thinking about the parable of the Lost Sons, or the Prodigal Son, where the father in the story welcomes home both of his wayward sons, forgiving them before they ask for forgiveness, and throwing a party in their honour.  If the father in the story can be this loving, how much more loving must God be?!  But again, today’s parable doesn’t feel like that sort of parable – would God be like the wealthy man, becoming wealthy off of the work of others, or is God like the cheating manager in the story?  It doesn’t quite fit.

 

So what could Jesus want to teach us through this puzzling story?

 

We begin with a wealthy man, and his manager – the one in charge of all of the property.  If Jesus were telling this parable to us today, I wonder who these characters would be.

 

Let’s begin with a faceless corporation – let’s say a bank – let’s call it the Bank of New Brunswick, or Brunswickbank for short.  (Disclaimer: characters in this story are fictional and are not based on real people living or dead!)  So Brunswickbank has branches all over the province, and in charge of the day-to-day operations of each branch is a branch manager.  The branch manager is responsible for acting on behalf of Brunswickbank within their own branch.

 

Anyways, word got back to the board of directors and CEO of Brunswickbank that one of their branch managers hadn’t been doing their job well.  In a time when most branches were making a 15% profit for the bank, this branch was only making 2% profit.  And so the branch manager was called before the board of directors and asked to account for what was going on.  She was told that she had 30 days to provide a detailed account of her work, and if she couldn’t account satisfactorily for the low profit margin, she was going to be let go.  After all, there were CEO salaries and shareholder profit that had to be satisfied!

 

And so what did this branch manager do when she got back to her own branch?  Did she call a staff meeting and say that there was going to have to be a lot of belt tightening in the coming days?  Did she let the most recent hire go?  Did she cut back on branch hours and cleaning services?

 

No – she didn’t do any of this.  Instead, when a family in the community who was really struggling after one parent had to leave work on disability came in to the branch to see if they could re-negotiate their mortgage, the branch manager brought them in to her office and cut the amount of their mortgage in half.  When a local charity came in to ask for a bank draft so that they could give their support to another family who was struggling, the bank manager waived all of the service charges.  When a local hockey team came in to see if the bank could sponsor their travel to a tournament, she signed the bank up as a full sponsor without giving it a second thought.

 

At this point, since she figured that her days in the bank were numbered anyways, she was going to do all of the good she could possibly do for her community while she was still in a position to do so.

 

When I think of the parable this way, it maybe starts to make a bit more sense.  I wonder if we do a disservice to the manager in Jesus’s parable by naming him as a “dishonest manager.”  When we look at this parable from the perspective of the wealthy boss, the manager is squandering his money; but if we were to flip the perspective and look at the story from the debtor who had his bill reduced from a hundred jugs of olive oil down to fifty, or the debtor who had his bill reduced from a hundred bushels of wheat down to eighty – if we take that perspective, then it becomes as story of unexpected generosity.

 

Reading and researching this parable this week, it was Cuban scholar Justo González who opened my eyes to this understanding of this parable.  He writes:  “[The] steward has not actually been fired yet, but is certainly on notice. In this regard, he is in a situation similar to all human beings, who for the present have a life, goods, talents, relations, and time to manage, but are also on notice of our firing.  We do not know when we will be dismissed from our temporary management of all these things, but dismissed we will be.  The present order is not permanent, and our authority over life, goods, and all the rest is only temporary.”  (Justo L. González. Luke. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. 191.)

 

In other words, none of us is going to get out of here alive.  (That sounds way more ominous that I mean to sound.  I don’t mean that none of us will get out of this building alive – I mean to say that none of us will get out of life alive!)  In our life, we are stewards of what we have been given – we can choose how we use our money, how we use our time, how we use our skills – but this isn’t a permanent state.  Eventually it is going to come to an end.  As González writes, we are all on notice.

 

And so like the manager in the parable, we have a choice about how we are going to use this in-between time.  Are we going to use it to hoard more and more for ourselves; or are we going to use it to do as much good in the world as we can?

 

Jesus’s last line in the reading is, “No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

 

The original Greek is actually a bit more blunt at the end – a better translation might be you cannot be enslaved to both God and wealth.

 

For in the end, we do have to decide where our ultimate loyalties lie.  We have the opportunity to decide where we want to be enslaved, to choose who we want to serve.  Do we want to serve capitalism and wealth acquisition like the rich man in the parable or like Brunswickbank in my version of the parable?  Or do we want to serve God through loving and caring for all of God’s children like the manager?

 

For we are all on notice like the manager – we may not know just how long our period of notice is going to be – maybe we have 30 days, maybe we have a year, maybe we have 50 years – but eventually we are going to have to leave it all behind and step into our eternal home in the arms of love.

 

How are you going to spend your notice?

 

 

Rich and Poor, or, War and Peace

17th Century, Anonymous

Used with Permission

"God's Party" (sermon)

Two Rivers Pastoral Charge

Sunday September 11, 2022

Church Picnic Sunday

Scripture:  Luke 15:1-10

 

 

There is a cartoon drawn by David Hayward, who goes by the handle, “Naked Pastor.”  It shows a sheep who has fallen over the edge of a cliff who is desperately clinging to the side.  The shepherd is walking towards the cliff, and the viewer can assume that he is going there to rescue the sheep who is in grave danger.  Behind the shepherd is a pen where the other sheep are safely kept behind a stone wall.  But the sheep are angrily glaring at the shepherd, and they are carrying signs that read, “All Sheep Matter.”

 

 

And while yes, I do agree with them that all sheep matter, the sheep who are safely inside the sheep pen aren’t in need of the shepherd’s attention at that particular moment.  If all sheep matter, then surely the sheep who has fallen over the edge of the cliff matters, the sheep who is in danger matters, and that is the sheep who is most in need of the shepherd’s attention at that moment in time.

 

Jesus liked to teach using parables or short stories; and while most of his parables seem like straightforward teaching stories on the surface, they are often very complex when you start digging just below the surface.  This parable reads very differently depending on whether you identify with the sheep who was in danger, whom the shepherd seeks out and brings to safety, or if you identify with the 99 sheep who are safely in the pen.

 

A story that seems simple on the surface can offer so many layers of meaning once you dive below the surface.

 

The parable of the lost sheep is the first in a series of 3 parables that Jesus tells.  We heard the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin today, and they are followed immediately by the story of the lost son… you may know that one better with the handle of the Prodigal Son.  In all three of these parables, something is lost.  In all three of these parables, something is found.  And all three of these parables end with a celebration, end with a party.

 

Often, if you want to understand what Jesus is trying to teach with his parables, it is helpful to look at the context.  Who is Jesus telling these stories to, and why is he telling them?

 

 Jesus had gathered a group of outsiders around him – people who weren’t part of the in-crowd; people who weren’t part of polite society; people who didn’t live strictly according to the laws given by God to Moses as interpreted by generations of teachers.  This group of outsiders listened to Jesus’s teaching.  They shared meals with Jesus.  This group of outsiders were insiders in Jesus’s world.  And the scribes and the Pharisees – the people who sought closeness with God through carefully obeying all of God’s commandments – they thought that this wasn’t right.  Why should Jesus eat with “those” people?  Is their sin contagious? Is it going to rub off on Jesus?

 

But all through the gospels, Jesus never follows society’s expected pattern of us-and-them.  He doesn’t put up borders and walls.  There were Pharisees among his followers.  There were women among his followers.  There were rich people and poor people among his followers.  Anyone could be a part of Jesus’s crowd.

 

And as Jesus tells these three stories, these three parables, I think that he is asking the question – who is invited to God’s feast?  The religious officials were questioning who Jesus was eating with, and so each of the three stories that he tells ends with a party, with a celebration, with a feast.  A lost sheep is recovered, and the shepherd calls together his friends and neighbours to rejoice with him.  A lost coin is recovered, and the women calls together her friends and neighbours to rejoice with her.  A lost son returns home, and the fatted calf is butchered and the whole household and neighbours come together to celebrate.

 

The party can’t begin until everyone is present.  The party doesn’t begin until all 100 sheep are present.  The party doesn’t begin until the lost coin has been found.  And while it is a bit more ambiguous in the third story, I don’t think that the party can truly begin until both brothers are restored to the family.

 

God’s feast – God’s banquet – God’s party requires ALL of God’s children to be present in order for it to be truly celebratory.  The party can’t begin until all of the sheep are gathered together, until all of the coins are back in the wallet, until all of the wandering children are safely home.  And then let the celebrations begin.

 

Whether you identify with the sheep who wandered away from the rest of the community; whether you identify with the coin that was separated from the rest through no fault of your own; whether you identify with the sheep safely within the fold as the shepherd goes out searching; or whether you identify with the shepherd or with the woman, working tirelessly to bring about reunion and reconciliation…. let the party begin, and let us make sure that no one is excluded or left out or forgotten or left behind.  Let the party begin, because God is with us, God loves all of God’s children, and when we are together, celebration is the order of the day!  Amen!