Palm Sunday Questions

I think there are always (or almost always) gaps in biblical stories. Today I was reading Matthew 21:1-11. This is the entry into Jerusalem. Some questions came to mind:

• Jesus sends two disciples into Jerusalem to find a donkey and a colt. Do the disciples question this? It seems like previously they would question everything. "What do you mean we'll find a donkey and a colt tied to something? Where? Tied to what? Why do you need them? Will we be arrested for stealing them? Did they ask these questions? Or did they just silently go into the city?
• Were they surprised to find the animals? Or did they just think, "That Jesus, he knows what he's talking about!"
• Did anyone question that they were taking them? "Hey stop, those aren't yours!"
• Whose animals were they? And why would the owner be satisfied with "The Lord needs them."? Are we missing an angelic visitation to an animal owner?
• The crowds greet him as a conquering hero. What happened to that attitude during the week? Later they are shouting to "crucify him." Same people? A different crowd?
• Did the people know that the prophet they speak of is more than a prophet - he is the Messiah? Do any of them believe it? 

A Servant Girl's Prayer

On Monday, I posted a reflection about Mark 14:66-72. In this passage, a female servant encounters Peter and asks him, "You were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth."  I started wondering about her. What would she have been thinking after that encounter. Was she a Jew? What would her prayers have been like?

Before you read this, know that I don't pretend to know how a Jewish girl of that time would have prayed, but for this prayer, I try to place myself in her shoes to think about what she would have thought.

Holy God, Today I spoke to a man. I don't know his name, but he was sitting in the courtyard as I was working. Something was going on in the with the high priests - they were trying a man from Nazareth. I know I saw the Courtyard Man with him, so I asked him about it.

Oh, God, he was so afraid. I can understand why. I've heard they want to put the Nazarene to death. Maybe they will want to kill the man I talked to, too.

Forgive me God if my actions exposed him in some way. He seemed so concerned about his friend. My heart broke as he started to cry.

Who am I to question the actions of the high priests and elders? I am only me - they know such much more and ... well... I pray you will guide them, and that they will seek wisdom from you. Does you heart break when you hear people crying like this man? When a rabbi like the one from Nazareth is accused and threatened with death? Do you hurt for them the way I do?

Amen

 

In the Courtyard by the Fire

A few months ago - maybe last year sometime - I took a class from BeADisciple called Reading the New Testament with Fresh Eyes.  One of the Bible study methods we explore was an Ignatian Method.  At the time, I wrote a post about it here.

This morning, I spent some times reading from Rachel Billups' book, An Unlikely Lent. I'm on the second chapter; it focuses on the servant girl who accuses Peter of following Jesus. As I read that chapter, the Ignatian Method came to mind. There are a few questions in that method that I think can "take us into" the scripture. 

For this exploration, I'm reading Mark 14:66-72

Picture the scene....What is the setting? Who are the people in the scene? What can be seen, heard, or smelled in the scene?  It's helpful to read Mark 14's previous verses. Peter has followed Jesus to the courtyard of the high priest. While Jesus is on trial in front of the chief priests, elders, and scribes, Peter is in the courtyard, sitting near the fire with the guards. I imagine it is the time of day that is still night but poised on the edge of sunrise. The light would have been inadequate to make out details, but just beginning to hint at the day to come. The fire would have cast shadows around the courtyard.

Peter would be able to hear the guards talking and the conversations of anyone else who enters into the courtyard. Were they talking about what was going on? Was Jesus well known enough for their to be speculation among those gathered regarding what was happening? Could they hear the questioning? Jesus' answer of "I am"? Could they hear blows striking as they beat Jesus? What about when they condemned him to death?

The courtyard would have been full of the scent of the burning fire and of the men around it. I imagine they could have smelled the fear as Peter sat with them, sweating and afraid.  This man of action probably couldn't have set very still - his feet would have been shuffling and his hands would have been moving around each other and across his beard, clothes, and hair.

And when the servant approached him, and asked him if he were a follower of Jesus, would he have sprung guiltily to his feet? Or tried to maintain calmness by staying in his place by the fire? All those around him would have heard the question and his answer. Unless he had a "poker face" I think he would have looked startled and afraid.

As I write this, I am sitting in my living room, and I can hear a rooster outside. (The neighborhood rooster crows all the time - just annoying). They are not quiet birds, so that crow would have been loud and unmistakable. Peter would have remembered what Jesus told him about his betrayal. His fear would have been compounded now by the guilt that was just under the surface as he started to cry - maybe now leaving the fire to hide.

Book Review: A Way Other than Our Own

 Information about the book

A Way Other than our Own: Devotions for Lent by Walter Brueggemann.  Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2016. (Amazon)

Summary

From Amazon: Lent recalls times of wilderness and wandering, from newly freed Hebrew slaves in exile to Jesus' temptation in the desert. God has always called people out of their safe, walled cities into uncomfortable places, revealing paths they would never have chosen. Despite our culture of self-indulgence, we too are called to walk an alternative path - one of humility, justice, and peace. Walter Brueggemann's thought-provoking reflections for the season of Lent invite us to consider the challenging, beautiful life that comes with walking the way of grace.

Impressions

I read this book as a Lenten devotional practice. It is easily managed as a devotion a day, and it written in a way that it will work for any year. 

I found Brueggemann's writing to be interesting and engaging. He is a skilled word craftsman. More than that, though, the devotions were thought-provoking.  I found myself highlighting sentences and re-reading passages in order to soak in every detail.  It is an excellent Lenten resource.

Can the world be different than our own selfish ways would have it to be?

Posts about book

Posts that reference this book (and there are many) have this tag --> Brueggermann Way

Self-denial

I read this the other day in Walter Brueggemann's book, A Way other than our Own:

To deny self means that I cannot be a self-starter, cannot be self-sufficient, cannot be self-made or self-securing, and that to try to do so will end in isolation and fear and greed and brutality and finally in violence.

What do you think of that quote? I posted it on Facebook and had a couple of comments that surprised me.  It could be that my thoughts were different from theirs because I had the benefit of context.

I think it means that when we try to center our lives on ourselves, then we place priority on (and get our identity from) what we earn, what we have, what others see us as.  None of those are very good at defining who we are or why we are here.  Concentrating on ourselves, therefore, can lead to fear and isolation, greed and brutality, and eventually violence.

Alternatively, when we center our lives on God, we do get a sense of who we are, who we are meant to be, and what our purpose is. We know we are loved, and our self-worth can stem from that instead of what we own or what power we have.

I never thought of that as self-denial, but I can see it.

 

Traveling Mercies

I'm reading the book A Way Other than our Own by Walter Brueggemann during Lent.  The prayer at the end of today's reading says, "Self-giving God, call us to walk the road of newness - a new self, a new society, a new world, one neighbor at a time.  May we have traveling mercies this Lenten season. Amen"

If we consider the time of Lent as a journey, and we pray for traveling mercies, what are we asking for? Traveling mercies in a prayer usually means protection from that which might bring us harm - a car accident, an unexpected acute illness, or a plane crash - anything like that that will hurt us or even end our lives, right? So what would traveling mercies on a Lenten journey look like?

• Protection from our own selfishness so that we can be generous and not self-centered as we interact with others.
• Mercy from laziness, maybe, so that we can uphold any commitments we have made to spiritual disciplines during Lent. 
• A graceful nudge of correction when we stumble off the path God has set for us during Lent so that our paths are  made straight.
• Healing from the blindness of not noticing that God is near and traveling with us.
• A loving hug when we forget to love our neighbors as ourselves.

What Lenten traveling mercy would you ask of God?

 

Lent Photo-a-Day Challenge Week 1

I'm participating in the Lent Photo-a-Day challenge.  I'm going to post my previous week's images here on Mondays.  That will mean a juggle to my normal posting schedule.  My normal Perspectives Post on Fridays will disappear during Lent.  I'll post the two regular weekly posts on Wednesday and Friday.

Covenant

 

Living

Sign

Remember

Celebrate

Amazing Grace in Action

The following is a devotional I wrote for the West Virginia Annual Conference Lenten 2023 Devotional Ministry based on John 9:1-41.

He answered, I do not now whether he is a sinner.  

One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see (John 9:25)

When I was a junior in High School, a friend invited me to her church.  I went that Sunday, and the next, and never stopped.  I always remember being a person of faith, and I remember being baptized as a child, but I had never had an experience like the UMYF would give me.  Among other ministries, our group spearheaded the “tape ministry” for the church.  Youth copied the service onto cassette tapes and delivered them each week to those we called “shut ins.”  Twice a year we would go as a group and visit all of the shut-ins.  I particularly remember going in one day to about 20 different homes, and joining as the youth sang Amazing Grace with each person we visited.  

In this chapter of John, Jesus heals a blind man.  He does so in a way that alarms the religious leaders because they think Jesus has broken the Sabbath.  They call the man to testify about what happened to him.  “I was blind; now I see.” Jesus healed a physical problem the man had had since birth, but Jesus also brings him to faith.  If you read the entire passage, and pay special attention to they way the healed man referred to Jesus, you can see that at first he called Jesus a man, then a prophet, then a man from God, and finally he tells Jesus, “Lord, I believe.” Amazing  grace in action.

Verse 25 of the 9th chapter of John is said to be the basis of the lyrics of the hymn Amazing Grace.  The lyrics were written by John Newton, who was involved in the Atlantic slave trade.  One day, a terrible storm threatened his ship, and he prayed to God for mercy.  Eleven hours later, they were safe from the storm.  He considered this his spiritual conversion, and though he didn’t end his work in the slave trade immediately, he did eventually change his life.  I imagine if asked, his words for Jesus would have echoed the healed man’s words: a man, a prophet, a man from God, and then Lord.  Amazing grace in action.

I know I wasn’t blind to God before a friend invited me to church, but her invitation started me on a path that would not just change my life, but shape it into what it has become.  I believed in God, but until I was a junior in high school, I didn’t understand what it meant to belong to a faith community – to find support and hope through other members of the church and to reach out to the world in service.  Amazing grace in action.  How have you experienced God’s amazing grace? Who can you invite to join you?

Prayer: Surround us with your grace and move us to invite others to join us.

Perspectives - Lent

Praying each of you has had a Lent that has brought you closer to Christ.
Praying each of you has a joyful celebration of the resurrection of Christ on Easter.

I am attending a conference next week and will therefore not be posting. I'll be back the week after that.

Grace,
Kim

The Next - Sermon, Part 4

Listen to verses 8 and 9: 9 For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it.

I think we might be tempted to believe that we can be good enough – we can do enough – we can be enough – without God. Without Lent, we might be tempted to believe it. Without Lent, we forget that we cannot jump to the moon. We forget we are dead in our trespasses. When we remember THAT – then the really meaning of grace – that is a GIFT of God – sinks into our hearts along with the spirit of God, and the realization changes us.

On October 29, 1972, I read scripture for the first time in church, using this Bible. I was eight years old. As a sidenote, I think when you ask children to read in church, you should give them the bible and let them keep it. This is a treasure to me.

I read John 3:1-16. I still remember it. The word Nicodemous gave me some trouble. It ends with the famous verse: God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Just like the Sound of Music, I thought the story ended there. It doesn’t. There is The Next:

Verse 17: For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.

Yes, God loves us. And that is a priceless realization. But it’s not ONLY that God loves us. God loves us even though we are worthy of condemnation. Even though we live in death. God loves us even though there is no way on this earth that we can, by ourselves, be holy and earn God’s love.

I think sometimes we think grace means that God forgives us when we disobey. And I won’t argue with that, but grace is a God who comes into our lives – who becomes who we are – and who makes us holy, saves us from death and brings us life. That is so much more than forgiveness.

It’s The Next. And we don’t understand it until we understand who we are and where we stand without God. That’s why we need Lent.

To become grateful for Grace.

The Next - Sermon, Part 3

But I said Lent is about The Next. What’s the Next? Listen again to verse 4-6.

“But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.”

That’s the Next. We are moving toward Easter – toward resurrection – toward the Next.

When I was a young adult, one of the pastors at my church was Chuck Echols. I tell you his name in case you knew him. Chuck taught me lots of things. I’m not sure I would be standing here, doing this, if it hadn’t been for Chuck. For me he was a vehicle of God’s sanctifying grace. One of the things he said was that you cannot experience the tremendous joy of Easter morning worship without Ash Wednesday. Without Lent. Without Maudy Thursday. Without Good Friday. Without that dead and dark Saturday.

We do not understand The Next, without Lent.

The Next - Sermon, Part 2

Lent is the time when we take a look at where we are, so, where are we? In verse 1, Paul tells the Ephesians that, “In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins.” I think if we are honest with ourselves, the same can be said of us.

What does that mean?

My mother tells a story of when she was a teenager. She went to a revival at a church near her home. As she tells the story, “The preacher called for us to go to the altar to get “saved” as he called them pigs and swine. She never went back to that church, and rest assured, I’m enough of my mother’s daughter to say, “We are beloved children of God; not pigs.” I tell you that so you’ll know it’s not what I’m talking about today.

But if we look around at the world and we pay attention to our lives, then we know where we are. We know what we do – we are disobedient, and we are sometimes, as the Message version says, “Mired in that old stagnant life of sin.”

We say it – we say it at least once a week when we pray the Lord’s Prayer in worship – “forgive us our trespasses.” Lent is the time when the knowledge of our present state – our deadness – moves from knowledge to preparative, transformative, realization. And truthfully – it doesn’t matter how good we try to be, how hard we strive to be obedient – this is where we are.

There is a description of our need for God’s grace – written either by Philip Yancey or John Ortberg -- that has always stuck with me. To explain it to you, I’m going to frame it in a real story from my time in middle school. This was during the class we called “gym” – physical education – the teacher had split us into two halves and had each half line up on opposite sides of the gym. Each of the lines had girls on one end and boys on the other. We counted off 1 – 2- 3 -4 … etc. Then the gym teacher called three numbers – 1, 2, and 3 – and three people from each line went onto the court to play 3 on 3 basketball – playing until one side scored, and then moving back to their lines. She had arranged this so that girls played girls and boys played boys and she worked from one end of the line to the other and back and forth. At the end, she had one number she hadn’t called – so she called one number – it was for the person in the exact middle of each line. It was me. And the male basketball player from the other line. We went out to play one on one basketball until one of us – ha! Scored. He could play basketball – I so much could not. I was ever so happy to let him run down the court (following him) and let him jump up and score so that we could go back to our lines and end my embarrassment.

There was a vast difference in our ability to play basketball. He could jump up and drop the ball in the basket. I could jump. A very little bit. And that was it.

But – what if the goal of the game had been to jump as high as the moon? Neither one of us could do that. Would the fact that he could jump a few feet higher than me have made any difference? No.

None of us there that day could jump to the moon. None of us here, today, can be sinless. Some of us might be more obedient than others, but all of us are in the same place – dead in our trespasses. And it’s no good to judge others – it would be like my opponent that day laughing at my jumping ineptitude because he can reach a basket when the goal is to reach the moon. None of us reach the goal.

And Lent is the time when we come to terms with that.

The Next - Sermon, Part 1

Who here has seen the movie The Sound of Music?

Oh, good, Enough people so that my story is going to make some sense to you. Enough people so that if someone is looking puzzled at your table, you can help him or her along.

Anyway, The Sound of Music is my favorite movie, and it has been since I was very very young. Many many many years ago. The film was released in 1965 and by November of 1966, it was the highest grossing film of all time – at that time. Its release in theaters lasted 4 ½ years. I was probably in kindergarten when I saw it the first time. It was in a theater that had rocking theater seats. Like rocking chairs. It was many years later – watching the movie on TV – when I realized I had fallen asleep in the movie theater and missed everything that happened after Maria and the Captain got married. All those years and I thought the movie ended there.

It didn’t. If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll remember that there is a whole lot of important plot involving the Nazis after the wedding. What had come next was important – and I had missed it.

The next… is often important.

After Monty and I had decided on a date for me to preach at the Lenten luncheon, I asked him if he had a theme in mind for these noon sermons. He said, “Lent.” Thank you Monty, that’s incredibly helpful.

As I thought about Lent, I decided that Lent is about “The next.” It’s about what’s next. Just like a lot of things in Christianity, that doesn’t make much sense until you read the scripture, so let’s do that. This is from Ephesians 2 – verses 1-10, and I’m reading it from a Bible I’ve never used when I preached before – I’ll explain that later. Paul is writing this to the church at Ephesus:

In the past you were spiritually dead because of your disobedience and sins. 2 At that time you followed the world's evil way; you obeyed the ruler of the spiritual powers in space, the spirit who now controls the people who disobey God. 3 Actually all of us were like them and lived according to our natural desires, doing whatever suited the wishes of our own bodies and minds. In our natural condition we, like everyone else, were destined to suffer God's anger.

4 But God's mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God's grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. 7 He did this to demonstrate for all time to come the extraordinary greatness of his grace in the love he showed us in Christ Jesus. 8-9 For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God's gift, so that no one can boast about it. 10 God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus he has created us for a life of good deeds, which he has already prepared for us to do.

Perspectives: Lent

Where is your Lent jouney taking you this season? How will you get there? What tools will you use? What commitment will you make?

Where is God calling you?

Contrition

Contrition.

I feel it 

as the ashes placed on my forehead

dust down onto my face.

My sins.

Obvious to the world.

My faults.

Staining not just my skin

but the life I lead.

Oh, God, 

Our God,

My God,

Forgive me.

Clean the ash from my face

as you clean the sin

from my life.

And may you cover me

May you cover us

in your sanctifying grace,

so that tomorrow

we might say,

I am doing better.

Ashes to Ashes to Eternal Life

This is the view from my office window.  What this image (which isn't very good - sorry!) doesn't show is that when I left my house this morning, it was 0 degrees.  We've had much snow and now cold weather all week.

Our office is located in a Church building.  Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, and the church held a "drive by" imposition of ashes near the statue of the Homeless Jesus.  I was a volunteer from 11:30 to noon.

The pastor of the church was so excited by this ministry that he stayed outside with us.  It was a wonderful experience to watch up close as he imposed ashes and told the recipient that he or she was ashes, but is also created for immortality.  He told us that some of the people he met that day didn't know what Ash Wednesday was, and after he explained it to them, asked for the ashes to be imposed.  And then a few asked about a ride to church.

On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of our mortality, and through Monty yesterday, I was reminded of my immortality.  May it be so for you as well.

Lenten Evaluation

I have two more words to complete the Rethink Church lenten image a day exercise.  I'll get to them; maybe today.  But, today, back to regular posts.  I have enjoyed getting back to posting pictures -- I hope I can continue to do that.

A look back before moving forward....  What do you think about Lenten disciplines?  I've heard lots of opinions -- give something up, why bother to give something up, pick something up....  This past season of Lent, I tried to focus on a Lenten discipline that included both picking up and putting down.  I tried purposefully to make it complicated. 

What was my discipline during Lent?

1. Continue to do daily devotional readings -- not just on weekdays, but on all days.  I got back to that practice during Advent, and have kept it going.  I wanted to keep it going.
2. Use the Rethink church exercise to focus my mind on watching for God.  
3. Put down soft drinks for the entire time of Lent. 
4. Give up beef all days of Lent except Sunday.  I wanted to have a sacrificial practice that didn't apply to Sunday (which isn't really included in Lent) so that I could see if increased the Sunday celebration of resurrection that continues through Lent.
5. Don't eat meat at all on Fridays.

This post is already getting long, so let's skip why I chose to focus on meat and abstinence from it.  It came from a vaguely Catholic idea in my head.

So what did I learn?  Did it all make any difference? 

1. There are those who think giving something up, like soft drinks or meat, is silly.  Why focus on something like this that has no really meaning.  What I learned is that while my giving up soft drinks is giving up something meaningless, it did end up having meaning for me.  Giving up requires discipline.  It is a practice -- a rehearsal -- for giving up something that does matter.  It's stretching and building the control muscles for when they are really needed.
2. Making it complicated meant that each day I had to remember what I was doing.  I had to remember why I was doing it.  The practice brought God to my mind each day.
3. What do you do when you go to a spaghetti fundraiser on a Friday to raise money for homeless veterans and you're not eating meat on Fridays?   You eat meat.  Grace -- the giving of the meals to benefit those who have no homes -- always trumps anything else.  Grace wins. 
4. It's harder to pick something up than to put something down.  Sounds counterintuitive, doesn't it?  Even though choosing what to give up was a long process, especially because my main question was, "How much will I miss that?  How inconvenient will that be?"
5. Now, after having given up something for six weeks, it's easier to no pick it up now.  I can do without.

Happy Easter!

Rejoice

The word for today is rejoice.

It's kind of an odd word for the beginning of Holy Week.  Tulips, symbols of new life, might be an odd picture for the beginning of Holy Week.  I even feel guilty about posting them.

We haven't yet shared the last supper, or witnessed the trials, or overheard the conversation with Herod, or walked the road to Golgotha, or felt the pain of the crucifixion, or the known the loss of Holy Saturday.  Why post tulips?   Why even whisper the word rejoice?

Because we live on this side of Easter, and even the experience of Lent does not separate us from being post-resurrection Christians.  It's a gift to us that no matter how dark it as, how much pain we anticipate, or how many trials are coming our way, we are still children of the resurrection.  Tulips are our flower.  Rejoice is our byword.

God is with us.  Even in the darkness.  Rejoice and anticipate new life.

Roots and Storms

Take a look at the picture to the left.  Do you see the palm tree roots, just hanging up in the air?  The sand around them has been eroded away, and all that is there are the roots, dangling in the air.

The tree is standing high up in the air, as if it is firmly grounded.  I wonder, though, when the next storm comes through or the next hurricane, even, if the tree will still be standing.

Is that an analogy for our lives?  Do we sometimes kid ourselves, believing that we are firmly grounded, when in reality, our situation is tremulous, as best.  When the storms come and then go, will we still be standing?

My goal in Lent is to return to firmer ground through study and devotionals.  My hope is that I will read every day, and that my roots will be prompted to grow deeper and stronger.   And whether there is a storm or not, I hope I end up more firmly rooted in God.

Signs of the Covenant

(Published also as a Lenten Devotional in our church's Lenten Devotional Ministry)

Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you,…When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature in all flesh that is on the earth.” God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.”  (Genesis 9:8, 16-17)

Imagine Noah standing on dry ground with his sons, having experienced the flood, hearing the Word of God spoken, and being told that God has made an everlasting covenant with him and all who will follow him.  Noah is shown what will be a sign – a reminder – of the promise God has made to his creation.  For all the days of his life, and his sons after him, the sign of that covenant must have allayed their fears and brought them comfort.  I imagine without the promise, they would have cringed at every raindrop.

Through the scriptures, we hear over and over again God’s words of steadfast loyalty, and we see signs of his covenant.  We find it in God’s conversations with Abraham, in God’s delivery of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, in his leadership of Moses, and in their arrival in the promised land.  Signs of the covenant are found as judges are raised and kings are anointed.  Believers sing about it in the psalms, and Jonah fights it as he descends to the belly of a fish.  Jesus is born, lives, dies and lives again, becoming the ultimate sign of the covenant.

My challenge to you during this period of lent is to open your hearts to the signs of the covenant around you every day.  Do you see God in the rising of the sun?  In the sight of hungry men and women eating a meal?  In the nods of understanding as you teach Sunday school? Then open your eyes and watch for God.  Do you hear God in the giggles of children?  In the hymns of praise sung on Sundays?  In the sound of righteous indignation voiced against injustice?  Then tune your listening ears for God.  Do you know God because of the strength God provides to you during times of distress?  Are you certain of God’s presence when you taste communion or touch the baptismal water?  Then remember to recognize God.

And then, when you are steeped in the certain hope of the presence of God, become a sign of the covenant.  Work to convince others of what you know – that we are all beloved children of God, precious in God’s sight.

Shine, like the light you have been created to be, a sign of the covenant.