Month: May 2025

Great.

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Holy Life-Giver, Doctor of the desperate, Healer of everyone broken past hope, Medicine for all wounds, Fire of love, fragrant Strength, sparkling Fountain, Protector! In You we see how God goes looking for those who are lost and reconciles those who are at odds with God. We praise You. – Hildegard

John 14:23-29

23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine but is from the Father who sent me.

25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. 

28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur you may believe.

Love.  We talked about that last week didn’t we?  We also talked about God’s love that resides within and without, all around us…how we are called to love and how hard it is to do that.  I know this past month, there were several times I could point out that I simply wasn’t living into love very well…especially as I was hiking with my son and trying to keep up with him…we hiked 45+ miles in three days on our hiking trip recently…and he wanted to do even more!  At one point on the last day, I was getting frustrated as he wanted to hike to another canyon towards the end of the day.  I gave in but told him he could not pass me on the hike…he had to stay with me and even talk to me!  

In my journal and in my daily readings and meditations, I am reminded that love is always there though…and that I do have access to it as I practice presence with myself and others.  

Our passage this morning is in response to Judas by Jesus.  Judas (not Judas Iscariot..different Judas) is wanting to know why Jesus has revealed himself to the disciples, and not to the rest of the world.

Jesus responds by saying that love is the key.  And, it starts with loving yourself.  We’ve talked about what it means to live in Christ, to live as your “true self”, to be present with yourself that leads to presence with others.  Loving others starts with loving yourself.  That’s not being selfish, it’s knowing that love resides in you…that it’s often found in the darkness and the suffering we experience because that causes a break within us for love to emerge.  It’s also realizing that love, true self, presence are all terms for the Divine, for God.  And God sees God’s self in all of us, each of us!  That is communion friends!  And, eventually, it does lead to peace.  We want to be at peace with the love that resides within and without.  As that love emerges, as we embrace and cultivate it, a deeper peace does arise within us.  

We oftentimes try to deny that love, but God doesn’t.  God remains faithful because God is an intimate indwelling in humanity and God cannot deny God’s self in us…2 Timothy 2:13 says this:

if we are faithless, God remains faithful—
God cannot deny himself.

Jesus goes on to say that we have the Divine Presence, the very spirit or soul of God given to us.   

In Greek, the word is pneuma, in Hebrew, its ruach.  It means, wind, spirit, breath.  It’s Presence.  We’ve said this before, but this Spirit, wind, breath of God is everywhere.  It sustains life, it carries life, it reveals the work of God through creating life, and through the work of Jesus of saving life and redeeming it.

A few years ago, I walked into Ludllow Wines where my friend Mike is the owner.  On this day, we had a most wonderful conversation.   In that conversation, I found out that he’s Greek Orthodox.  We also talked a bit about the beauty of that language.  The greek word for “advocate” in this morning’s passage in John is beautiful.  Greek words often have many different meanings.  The word for advocate in Greek is “paraclete”.  It means to come alongside, to help, to counsel.  We are co-creating the experience of love for self and neighbor with God.  

Jesus knew that death was approaching.  Jesus also hoped and understood that death needed to happen before resurrection.  It’s a mystery, in theology, we often call it the Paschal mystery.  God died on Good Friday.  All was lost.  God had to experience everything we do, the violence, being humiliated and betrayed…as well as being the humiliator and the betrayer.  God had to experience loss and death.  

When all is lost, when nothing is certain.  That’s when faith comes alive, real.  We don’t understand it, but somehow resurrection happened.  And, not as we have been told in Sunday school most of our lives.  It is a wounded resurrection.  A Jesus, and a God, a universe, that has changed by being wounded.  The scars are still there, yet healed and given new meaning.  

2000 years later, we don’t always have faith.  Even as we see it written out scripture.  Jesus also knew that we would need to stay connected to each other and to him.  That’s the way the Spirit works, it comes alongside, it advocates for us, it helps us to see things about ourselves, others, and God that may not make sense at times, but always seems to work out for the good eventually.  It also reminds us that we are not alone, that the very power of God, the deep love of God that is radically inclusive of all of us in this room and outside these doors and windows, presides within us and all around us.

This spirit, as we cultivate our awareness of God and ourselves emboldens us and gives us confidence as it did the disciples.  Even when all is lost, love still wins.  

There’s a lot of talk these days about what it means to be “great again”…well, I’ve got news for you, YOU have always been great…there’s no “again”, because you are are and we are great and evolving in our awareness of what it means to be great.  And, being great is not divisive…it’s the opposite actually…it is being one with yourself and others.  This passage reminds us that Jesus and God are one, and that God is one with us, in all things, in all of life.  In that oneness, Jesus says the Father is greater.  Well, end the Trinity, in that oneness, the Father would say Jesus is also great, and that, we, humans, in our mutual love and suffering and joy…our communion, we are great as well.  The question is do we recognize it, are we aware of our eternal greatness?   It’s that glory thing….God’s glory is humanity being fully alive, and together as one.   I’ll end with the lyrics of this song by Bono, lead singer of U2 that sums it up:

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we’re not the same
We get to 
Carry each other
Carry each other
One…life

One

Love.

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Fire of the Spirit, life of the lives of creatures,
spiral of sanctity, bond of all natures,
glow of charity, lights of clarity, taste
of sweetness to sinners, be with us and hear us.

Composer of all things, light of all the risen,
key of salvation, release from the dark prison,
hope of all unions, scope of chastities, joy
in the glory, strong honour, be with us and hear us.
Amen.

-St. Hildegard of Bingen

John 13:31-35

The New Commandment

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 

33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Sermon:

Nothing you can know that isn’t known
Nothing you can see that isn’t shown
Nowhere you can be that isn’t where you’re meant to be
It’s easy

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need

The Beatles sang this back in the 60’s.  We all know it, yet it’s hard for us to understand it.  Love is a word that gets thrown around a lot.  But, at its core, it’s a relational term.  I believe it is embodied fully in Jesus’ actions and attitudes with each of us.

What does Jesus’ love look like?  Oftentimes I’m asked at weddings to read the “love chapter” found in 1 Corinthians 13.  It has beautiful poetry, but it’s not about love between two persons…no one can love that way except for God.  It’s a chapter describing perfect love, sit back, close your eyes, soak in some of these words as if God is speaking directly to you:

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Wow.  And, this is what Jesus is saying to us.  Live, or abide, remain in my love.  As my spiritual director reminds me, it is abiding love with us..Jesus isn’t going anywhere, as a matter of fact, Jesus is present with us in this room, right now, and is chasing after us…won’t give up on us.

Jesus was and is present with each of us through the universal presence of Christ and the flow of God’s Spirit.  It’s hard, I know, but when we begin to move towards understanding ourselves, asking the really hard questions and confronting the things in our lives that prevent us from experiencing the abundant life that we talked about last week, in knowing who we are and who God, we can begin to truly be present with ourselves, others, and God.  We begin to experience love.  

A couple of years ago, on my birthday during a COVID surge, I gathered with close friends from all over the world for a birthday celebration on Zoom.  It was fun, and then it got serious…one of them asked me what I wanted out of life, I simply said “presence”.  Apparently they wanted something more tangible in their minds…I’ve since realized how important presence really is…it allows me to love myself, others, and to grow in God’s love flowing in and all around me.  

One of the places I go to practice “presence” is the Abbey of Gethsemani as many of you know.  We’ve mentioned this before, but the monks there pray for three things every day:  stability, conversion, and obedience.  Jesus, in this morning’s passage commands us to love God.  An act of obedience is to love, and to love well.  As we do that, we begin to understand deeply that Jesus is truly our friend and that leads to other friendships.

Friendship means a lot to me.  As your pastor, I have made a commitment in my vows to be your friend, to love you.  And, in your vows when you called me here, you committed to be my friend, and to love me. 

As I practice friendship, sometimes in beautifully messy ways!  I find that our friendships leads towards common aims.  Many of my friends in this city and around the world are all working towards seeing goodness happen in communities.  And we are asl well, as our church is partnering with others for that goodness, out of love…we are being a place of generosity and momentum towards others and each other.  

Sometimes we may think that we’d like to simply shirk away from friendship, from being present.  Yet, Jesus reminds us that God’s glory is wrapped up in our glory, in our being fully alive.  And that Jesus is in that process with us…there are times when we have to realize that our view of Jesus changes, we don’t recognize him sometimes as he says in this passage today.  

Friends, a practical takeaway from what I’m sharing is this…YOU are loved, God is present with you, cultivate that understanding, and know that God desires for the best for you…and for this church.  As the Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh reminds us, “love is none other than understanding.”

I think that’s why I have a deeper trust here at Westwood First Presbyterian.  We will move towards a great story…we are on the crusp of amazing personal and corporate growth as a church, and as persons!  Trust it…accept it.  Receive this love and bear fruit!

And, remember these words:

All you need is love (All together, now!)
All you need is love (Everybody!)
All you need is love, love
Love is all you need
Love is all you need (Love is all you need)

Jesus embodies this love, Jesus is here, present with you through his spirit the Holy Spirit, that connects all of us and all of this…and ultimately keeps us firmly in the Presence of Jesus even as Jesus is present with us.

May we love one another and our neighbors (which means everyone) well!  And, as we do, as Jesus reminds us this morning, the world around us will know that we are truly the body of Christ!  

Voice.

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

“I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through.” – Hafiz

May the music of God’s expression come alive to us today.

John 10:10-18

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”

Whenever we go the UK, we visit with our close friends, the Kenny’s.  We bonded on a trip to England at a fundraiser for Oasis, an international community development organization that we’ve been a part of in different ways over the years.  At that fundraiser, we were sitting at a table with the speaker for the event, who was also the founder of Oasis, Steve Chalke, and his wife, Penny, and the Kennys.  I am a friend of Steve’s and we had a great conversation as he was sitting next to me…but, I would notice Debbie and the Kenny’s were laughing and engaged deeply with one another the entire night!  It was love at first sight and we spent the next several days together with the Kenny’s and have tried to visit one another consistently and keep in contact.

On that trip several years ago, through a wild chain of events, our family ended up staying for several days at an English manor house on the Penshurst Estate outside of Tonbridge, UK.  It was an amazing mansion overlooking an even much more expansive mansion/castle, the estate of the Sidney family since 1552.  

Side note:  the Kenny’s have since bought their own English manor house and castle…Embleton Tower.

At Penshurst, and Embleton, there are tons of sheep, all over the UK as you’d imagine…but, at Penshurst,  like four fields of sheep between our manor house and the estate house below…and the Kenny’s children:  Georgia, and her siblings Hannah and Phoebe, and our kids, McKenzie and Brennan were all very young at the time and spent the better part of a day and night running through those fields trying to catch a sheep.  They were not successful, but did step in a lot of yucky sheep stuff!

However, during the day, we’d notice someone opening up a gate from one field to the other, and those sheep would follow his voice.  

I tell you this because our passages this morning are about sheep and shepherds.  I read once that you cannot very easily approach sheep…they are sheepish if you will.  They aren’t easy to heard either, unless you are their shepherd.  Shepherds, especially in Jesus’ time, spent a lot of time with sheep.  Shepherds had a way of gathering sheep, by simply calling them out.  Sheep will follow the shepherd because they recognize the shepherd’s voice.  They trust that voice.

In this passage, we are sheep, you and I together.  It’s obviously a metaphor, but much like the beauty of the landscape at Penshurst, we are live together in a beautiful world.  We also produce a lot of smelly and messiness.  Again, our kids found that out pretty quickly as they stepped in a lot of sheep doo!  Our relationships with each other are filled with craziness at times, we don’t always follow or lead each other well.  There are voices  around us that want to rob of us our lives as they were meant to be lived, voices that can be thieves that lead us towards things like division, loneliness, selfishness, pride, or addictions, or folks not being the best version of themselves, or fully understanding themselves or others.  We often follow these voices and find ourselves stuck in some yucky stuff in the fields of our lives.  Voices that come in the middle of darkness as it says in John 10:10 that kill and destroy the lives that we were called to live.

Yet, Jesus tells us that he has come to give us life.  When we slow down, or get caught up in recognition of good things around us and the origin of that goodness, we can recognize the voice of the true shepherd, the voice of Jesus, through the universal presence of Christ that fills us and all things, and who has entered in the fields of our lives, who walks with us and towards us…walking through the messiness to call us towards new fields, new adventures.  

We often recognize the voice of Jesus through others.  Maybe we literally hear words from Jesus through others such as a speaker, or maybe even a preacher.  Or maybe we recognize the voice of God through something we read, or a song we hear, or being in thin places like this sanctuary.   Maybe it’s listening to our neighbors. Or, maybe it’s seeing someone else practice charity through actions or giving themselves away.

We know it when we see it and hear it though, especially as we train our eyes and ears to see and recognize the true shepherd and the voice of that shepherd.

Friends, we have said it before, we are living in a new place with church.  The old forms simply don’t work anymore.  The world is crying out for us, the church, to be an example of goodness, of the good shepherd, to be reflections of Jesus’ actions and to reflect and amplify the voice of the Shepherd who is calling us towards him, towards abundant life, towards being one flock.  This shepherd has overcome all of the messiness in our lives and is creating something new and beautiful as he leads us into new fields, filled with beauty and relationship.

So, let’s listen to the voice of the Shepherd, let’s love each other well, and let’s play in the fields of our neighborhoods, our congregation, and the world and be the diverse, yet unified flock God’s marked us out to be…we can do this and are doing this, we can believe and trust in each other as God does with us, trusting each other, loving each other, and changing the world in the process as we listen to the voice of God deep within and all around us and develop the wisdom to know that voice and not the many voices of the world that try to divide us and steal our joy and abundance!

Moxie.

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PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Bless to me, O God,
Each thing mine eye sees;
Bless to me, O God,
Each sound mine ear hears;
Bless to me, O God,
Each odour that goes to my nostrils
Bless to me, O God,
Each taste that goes to my lips;
Each note that goes to my song,
Each ray that guides my way,
Each thing that I pursue.
Each lure that tempts my will,
The zeal that seeks my living soul.
The Three that seek my heart,
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The Three that seek my heart.

– Ancient Prayers – The Carmina Gadelica

“I am a hole in a flute that the Christ’s breath moves through.” – Hafiz

John 21:1-19

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

21 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. 2 Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. 

4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6 He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.7 That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” 

Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 18 Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” 19 (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

Moxie, it’s a great word to describe someone.  I thought of that word this week as I was reading this gospel lesson.  Here’s a definition:  

One’s steadiness and courage in a demanding situation

Mental or physical vitality or strength

The knowledge and skill to be able to do something correctly or proficiently

As this is our Kirking of the Tartans Sunday, I also thought of my Clan, the MacGregors.  Growing up with my grandfather on my mom’s side, I heard great stories of one MacGregor in particular.  Rob Roy.  He lived in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s.  Was a rebel with the Jacobite uprising fighting for Scotland’s independence.  And, he was kind of like Robin Hood.  He took care of his family and friends, usually by “borrowing” cattle from other clans.  Now, before you think he’s a thief, one should understand that it was common practice in those days by clans to take one another’s cattle.  He was particularly good at it and had some ups and downs in his life, but he did live a long life and died of natural causes!  

But, I believe that he may have had a deep trust in himself and in others…a trust that was in something deeper than circumstances.  He seemed to face life with heart, with courage, and with some moxie.  Even in times when he may have felt a bit lost or unsure…and even made decisions that may have not turned out as he had expected.

Our gospel lesson this morning finds the disciples after Jesus’ death and resurrection.  They are near the Sea of Tiberius, they have heard rumors about Jesus’ resurrection, Peter has even seen evidence as have others, but the new reality is still sinking in.  They have been living under a perception of what faith meant, they had put their hopes and dreams in a visible earthly kingdom, and the Jesus that they followed would bring about that earthly kingdom.  They were stuck thinking about some sort of nationalist ambitions and not about God’s Presence that permeates all of life…and even though Jesus may have risen, the images of him being crucified, and their shame in deserting Jesus was almost too much for them to process….they were lost.

So, what do they do.  They go fishing.  They grew up around it, it gave them fellowship, a source of income, and they were good at it.  

The fished all night.  They knew the right places, they had the right technique, they had the correct bait to attract fish, yet, they caught nothing.  All night, nothing.  

The next morning, they see this guy on the beach yelling something to them.  It’s interesting that our text says “children”.  Some texts use the word friends, but children could apply.  They had not reached a point of change or growth in their understanding.  Their faith was still maturing.  But, I also like friends.  Both work here.  Calling the disciples children wasn’t saying anything about their character, I think it was a term of endearment and empathy, as well as a desire for growth.

What else does Jesus tell them?  Throw your nets on the other side!  I’m sure they are thinking, how would that help?  We know these waters, we know how to fish…moving our nets a few feet won’t do anything.  Yet, they had fished all night with no results.  They were doing what they always did which got them something in times past, but nothing on this day.

So, they take a risk, trusted this guy on the beach, and threw their nets on the other side.  What did they have to lose?  And, what happens?  We all know, they caught more fish than they could pull in!  153 to be exact!  Now, here’s a thing about biblical numbers, this says nothing about goals.  I used to be on staff at a church that said we wanted to go out and “net 50” new families in the church during a fall.  It didn’t happen, nor was that biblical.  We can read too much into numbers, but essentially it a reporting of something that happens out of a deep trust, not a blind trust, but a donated trust that moves beyond circumstance… and deep, loving, honoring and unashamed relationships.

We see that happening here in this gospel lesson.  When Peter realizes that it’s Jesus, when his eyes are opened to his friend, he puts on his clothes and jumps into the sea to swim to Jesus.  Now, I’m not sure of the custom at that time about fishing without clothes, and I’ve read a lot of commentaries on this passage, and I’m still not sure on why you’d put on clothes to swim even…yet, that’s in the passage…and it shows Peter being Peter, impulsive and passionate…and showing some moxie…and a future leader that others would follow very soon.  

Which they do, they follow Peter and row back to the shore and Jesus invites them to cook breakfast together.  He doesn’t just hand them the food, they pull in their haul, start a fire, and cook together.  

After breakfast, Peter and Jesus have this wonderfully awkward and hard dialogue.  Jesus asking Peter 3x if he loves Jesus.  I believe that Jesus is restoring Peter.  Peter denied him 3x on the night before he was crucified, so he asks Jesus 3x.  It must’ve been somewhat hard for Peter as evidenced in the passage.  Yet, he eventually catches on, and Jesus gives him the charge to build up the church.

Friends, this passage can speak to us in our personal lives and in lives together as Westwood First Presbyterian.  There may be things that we’ve done for a long time in our lives that simply are not working anymore, we need a fresh perspective, a resurrection even, maybe we need to put our nets somewhere else, maybe even right outside our church doors.  We certainly need to slow down, and listen to the voice of God calling us to jump out of whatever boat we are in and swim towards this Jesus who continues to beckon us towards deeper relationship with him, ourselves, and others…and to continue to have that deeper, donated trust in one another and this God that our Celtic ancestors reminds us is in all things and all people…and that we we will move into a new future together that is good for us and for all of those who are around us.  And, as my friend Cormac Russel would say, we will move as an organization as fast as the speed of trust…good wisdom from an Irishman even!  

This church, our lives, all of us, myself included, are moving towards new chapters in our lives.  And we have some moxie don’t we?!  We may not be literally fishing, and we certainly are not stealing cattle, but we are moving forward with courage, trust, and authenticity!  That’s certainly good news for me, for us, and for all of those around us as we live in Christ!