The Call

The other day I was walking home from the church to the parsonage, and I thought, “Gee, this is great! It’s freezing out here, the roads are bad, but I’m going to get a chance in a minute to have lunch and then spend the afternoon at a warm desk writing a sermon about God’s Word. And that means I’ll spend an hour or more reading the Bible, commentaries on the Bible, good, thoughtful authors. And at the end of it all, I’ll feel like I’ve made an eternal difference in the lives of people. This is just wonderful!”

Song: "We are Called!" ;  Audio: Gospel Reading of Luke 5:1-11 Audio sermon: The Call

And then I thought of you. How many of you enjoy the work you do? How many of you would like to keep on doing that work for years? How many of you feel like you are making a difference in the world with what you do?

I’ve asked the emotional question, haven’t I? I’ve asked for your FEELINGS. But our God is not just the God of feelings, the God of our heart, but is also the God of our mind, the God of rational thought. So I’m going to use a very important word today. I’m going to ask you if you are following your calling...

Calling. Like most words that make sense in a Christian context, the world has taken over the word and watered it down so it means much more and yet much less than the word meant when it was first used in a Christian-only sense. So let’s see if we can narrow it down, to define it, to discuss it so we know exactly what it means for God to call you. 

 Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) ,· 1 Corinthians 15:1-11,  Luke 5:1-11 

Our readings today speak of two calls by God – first, the call of Isaiah to speak on behalf of God. Second, the call of Peter, James, and John to follow Jesus, stop fishing for fish and to start fishing for people. 

Isaiah was a man who lived in a time of trouble. After Solomon’s death, his kingdom was split by civil war. The area around Jerusalem stayed with the kings of Judah, while the northern territory split away and formed under the kings of Israel. After a couple hundred years, the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians. Isaiah saw this coming. And he saw the coming trouble from Assyria for Judah. Isaiah’s reputation as a prophet was so high that in the New Testament he is often referred to simply as “The Prophet”.

One day, when King Uzziah was king of Judah, a vision came to Isaiah. Now what is a vision? A vision can be a vivid dream or it can be a vivid daydream, a mental movie that is received from God. Isaiah had quite a few of these visions.

In this one, Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a “high and lofty throne.” His robe was so large and lush that it filled the temple. There were at least two seraphim standing above the Lord – these were six-winged creatures, possibly otherwise human in appearance – or not, it is always unclear when seraphim are mentioned in the Bible. The root word “seraph” is also used to describe serpents, so they could be holy serpents with six wings. Origen, an early Christian writer, says they are the physical manifestation of the Christ and the Holy Spirit in heaven. Unfortunately, there are no details that help us answer this question about who the seraphim are.

One of the seraphim called to the other – “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts’ His glory fills the whole earth.” Isaiah writes that “the foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices and the temple was filled with smoke.” Can you imagine this? The power of their voices, the smoke filling the entire room, and behind it all is God sitting there upon a throne.

And poor Isaiah realizes that Isaiah is NOT “holy, holy, holy”. On the contrary, Isaiah is a man who talks in a very unholy way and lives among people who are not holy, either, and poor Isaiah figures he’s toast because he has seen the Holy King, the LORD of Hosts and his sin overwhelms him.

And doesn’t that happen to us all on the day when we realize that God is so holy, so perfect, so good that our very presence in His sight would contaminate God. 

We don’t often think of that, but to get an idea, imagine that you are standing, looking at the throne room of God, awaiting an interview with God Himself. Everyone around you is dressed in fine clothing, everyone has perfect teeth like Hollywood actresses, there’s not a speck of lint anywhere to be found, not the slightest smudge of dirt, not a missing button anywhere. Everything glistens, everything is polished, not a fingerprint or footprint on the perfect glass floor, everything is golden unless it is made of perfect gemstones, everything is so perfect and so beautiful. 

Suddenly you realize that you are standing in front of God and you forgot to wash and comb your hair, brush your teeth, and use deodorant this morning. And you can smell your underarms. Plus, you also realize you are wearing your well-used work clothes, which are covered in mud, grease, and the hair from your pet puppy. And then you remember last week’s parable about the man who showed up to the king’s wedding feast NOT wearing wedding clothes, who was bound and tossed into the outer darkness. You believe - you know you aren't good enough to stand in front of a perfect God!

Isaiah was terrified. Isaiah was terrified for it hit him how imperfect, how unholy, unholy, unholy he was.

But one of the seraphim flew to him with a glowing coal from the altar, touched Isaiah’s lips with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed and your sin is atoned for.”

What joy! All has been forgiven. Every unclean thing Isaiah has ever said is forgiven!

And almost all of us have all felt that joy of knowing that our sins have been forgiven and we are right with God!

And now, Isaiah heard from the throne the voice of the Lord saying:

Who should I send? Who will go for Us?
Who indeed? Who is ready to speak of the loving, forgiving king who has just allowed this terribly evil man to be forgiven, to be given a new life, to stand without punishment? Would you? You have also been forgiven by that king of all your unholiness, your crimes, your blasphemies, your sins against God and man. Would you step forward?

So Isaiah said, (and I imagine it in a weak voice.)

Here I am. Send me.

And the Lord gave Isaiah a message to take to the people.

That, my friends, is a vision! That is a calling!

But that is the blockbuster movie type of calling, with the special effects, the CGI seraphim and smoke, the Dolby surround-sound when the seraphim speak. It shakes you in your boots.

But there are also callings that are a bit more down to earth... 

Audio: Gospel Reading of Luke 5:1-11

One day, Simon, James, and John were minding their own business. They’d gone out fishing the night before, probably trying to attract fish to their boats and nets with a lantern. It had been a terrible night – no fish at all. And these guys weren’t recreational fishermen – they didn’t use a hook and line, they didn’t have a tackle box full of lures, carefully tied and selected. No, these were working men who made their living off of catching and selling many fish every day, men who supplied the nearby town with food and were in competition with other fishermen, men for whom a night without fish was like a day for a restaurant without a customer. It had been a terrible night for business.

So the three – and possibly Simon’s brother Andrew – had pulled the boats up to the shore, and taken the nets, cleaning and washing them, removing the mud and the sticks from the twine – this was far, far before monofilament lines were available. Can you imagine how much junk would get caught by a twine net? 

So Jesus, a man they had met before down in the Jordan Valley at John the Baptist’s camp, asked them if he could use one of the boats as a floating stage. Would Simon mind putting out just a few feet so He could teach from the boat and everybody could see and hear Him?

So Simon did so and Jesus taught for a while. When he finished, he turned to Simon and said, “Put out into deep water and ya’ll let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon was tired. He’d only let the man teach from his boat because he had talked with him down at John’s place and knew Jesus had some good things to say. But Simon was tired, and you can hear his almost complaint.

“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing! But at Your word, I’ll let down the nets.”
So they went out to the deep water, put in the nets, and so many fish came into the nets the nets began to tear. So they yelled to James and John in the other boat to come and help, and they lifted so many fish into their boats that they began to sink.

Simon – the man Jesus would later call Peter – Simon Peter fell to Jesus’ knees, much like Isaiah. “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” Simon recognized the power of God in Jesus – if he didn’t yet quite realize that Jesus was God Himself walking on the earth – but Simon knew that Jesus was responsible for perhaps the biggest day of fishing he’d ever had. Jesus must know God and God must listen to Jesus. Talk about a way to pay rent for a speaking stage!

Jesus looked back at Simon, and then, assuming Simon’s agreement, Jesus said to him. “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people!”

And the men brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed Jesus. They left the biggest catch in their life and followed Jesus. For they knew that this was what was important in life – being with the man who knew God was far more important than even the most profitable fishing day those fishermen had ever had.

And so, with these two calls as a basis, how do we know our calls?

First of all, there is the general call by God of Christians and Jews – indeed, of all people. This is found in Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God. (NIV)

This is a general call to all people. It is the basis for this song - We are Called!"

Then, there are the two great commandments and the great commission, which apply to all Christians. In Matthew 22, A Pharisee asked Jesus:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself.

And the Great commission of Matthew 28:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Make disciples of all people, baptize them, and teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded.

But there is also the question of a special call from God. For these more general calls are pretty vague – the call of Isaiah was not vague. It was very specific and special.

How do we find out our call?

Part of this is something we can do on our own while we await the vision or the voice of God.

GPS. You know how a GPS system helps you find your way - except in parts of our state of West Virginia. There is a GPS for helping understand your personal call to ministry and purpose in life.

G – what are your gifts that God has given you? Scripture tells us that all believers are given gifts. What are your gifts? Ask yourself: What do I do far better than the other people I know. For example, I’ve been given two musical gifts – I play the piano well and I sing well. My wife has the gift of being able to talk and listen to people for hours. Debbie Moore has the gift of being able to teach children. Lynn Davis has the gift of organization, which makes her a wonderful treasurer and church secretary. I know a woman who has the gift of baking – another who has the gift of a healing touch. I knew a man who had a special, focused gift – he could heal rheumatoid arthritis through prayer and touch. Nothing else. Just rheumatoid arthritis. I know another man who has a gift when it comes to carpentry, another with making furniture. Still another has been blessed with the ability to make money and gives 30% of his income to charity. Another woman can paint; still another man can design anything. My son Andy can preach revival. What are your gifts? Ask your close friends if you don’t know. "What do I do well that other people have trouble with doing?" These gifts are the tools you bring to the mission of God.

The P in our GPS stands for Passion – what gets you worked up? What makes you angry or makes you cry? Is it old folks in the nursing home or two-year olds? Is it the poor or is it the child with Down’s Syndrome. Is it the homeless man under the bridge – or is it the brilliant child who is being picked on in class? Is it falling down houses or is it dead fish in a river? Where is your passion directed? Find out. This passion tells you what your mission is repairing of the Creation.

Finally, the S in our GPS stands for Style – How do you like to work? Are you a loner, sitting in front of a computer screen? Or are in happiest in front of a crowded room? Do you prefer to work outdoors with two friends on a project, or would you rather coordinate a world-wide project by email from your living room? Do you like the idea of being alone in a foreign country – or do you prefer going to an office where you meet with a twenty-person team? Do you like doing a project and completing it or would you rather just keep DOING, never finishing, but always doing, like the person who works the refreshment stand at a WVU game. Do you like meeting new people every day or would you rather work with two other people for the next ten years. Find out your working style and you will know how you will be happy.

The GPS – Gifts, Passion, and Style – helps guide us to our part in the Body of Christ, to our part in God’s mission.

But for some, God calls us directly.

We are minding our own business, maybe beginning to get involved in the church, when a thought or a dream or a vision or a voice comes to us that suggests we should completely change our course from what we were doing to something else, more radically involving us in God’s mission. Like Samuel, who as a boy was given by his mother to live and learn at the tabernacle under Eli the high priest.

One night, everyone had gone to bed, when Samuel heard the Voice: "Samuel, Samuel!" The boy got out of bed, went to the old priest Eli and said, “Here I am”. But Eli had not called the boy. He told him to go back to bed.

This happened twice more than night. Then Eli realized it was the voice of God calling to the boy Samuel. He gave him advice and the boy followed it. He went back to bed and when the voice came again, Samuel said, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”

And God gave instructions to Samuel that night. And Samuel grew up to be the prophet that anointed the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David. 

Did you notice that the Voice that called Samuel sounded to him like the voice of his friend and mentor Eli? Sometimes, God's Holy Spirit speaks to us through the voice of a godly friend, a Sunday school leader, a pastor.

Next, did you notice it was only on the fourth call that God and Samuel began to hold a conversation? If God is calling you, the call will not go away, but will come back time and again until you answer the call. Most of the pastors I know tell me they heard the call and tried to ignore it for five or ten years before finally answering it. God isn’t going away and God isn’t going to take your excuses. Remember the exchange that Moses and God had at the burning bush in Exodus Chapter 3. If you don’t remember, go read that this afternoon.

If you are feeling a call toward greater involvement in leading ministries in the church, I encourage you to put Saturday April 6 on your calendar for the Basic Lay Servant Course. It is a course in church leadership, taught at Buckhannon’s Chapel Hill UMC. I will be your teacher – you need to come to Chapel Hill to get credit for the course. It is not a course in preaching – you will be asked to prepare and lead a 4-5 minute devotional to 4-5 other students like yourself. Most of the day-long course is spent in orienting you to the duties and roles of being a leader in the local church.

If you feel that God may be calling you to actually lead a church, this is the first step. After this, you can take several other courses in preaching, leading worship, grief counseling, Methodist doctrine, and such. But this course is the ideal course if you want to lead or develop a ministry in this local church.

But if you hear God calling your name, remember to do as Samuel did. Bow in prayer and say, “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.” And listen!

The Immortals Among Us

A few days ago, I was reading from C.S. Lewis’s book, The Weight of Glory. I love Lewis…you probably know him as the author of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the other Narnia books. What you may not know about him was that he was the professor of Medieval literature at first Oxford and then later at Cambridge. Particularly during WWII and the fifties, he wrote many excellent books and articles that will take a person from a beginning Christian into, if you will, a second stage Christian. His writing style is easy to follow – and he hates jargon.

Sermon Audio Version - Gospel Reading Audio Version

Well, I was reading from Lewis and had his thoughts going through my head, and then I stumbled across a painting that my wife did a couple weeks ago. Yes, Saundra likes to paint. She doesn’t think she is very good, but I do.

Song of Songs 2:10-14; 8:6-7; Revelation 22:1-5; Matthew 22:1-14

Have you even noticed watching someone paint, maybe Bob Ross, that the way the painting looks at the beginning is very different from the way it looks finished. "Hey! That's a tree!"And sometimes it looks good for a while, then it turns ugly, then a few brushstrokes later - beauty breaks out all over?

Anyway, this painting of Saundra’s got me thinking about the very different ends of paint in a bottle and paint on a canvas. The paint that stays in the bottle fairly quickly ends up in the trash and then in the landfill for centuries, useless to all, unseen, dried up, flaky, ugly, molding and decaying. Yet the paint that is put on a canvas may also have a lifetime of centuries in a different way as people look at the paint, the painting, the artwork that has been created by the paint, passing the paint from owner to owner, from location to location, being seen by dozens or hundreds, or even millions of eyes. It is all in whether or not the paint comes out of the bottle or not.

Well, as this mixed with Lewis’ ideas and I realized that I had missed my Valentine’s Day sermon, certain ideas began to crystallize.

For Friday was Valentine’s Day, a day devoted to love, but not necessarily agape, the self-sacrificing love of the New Testament. No, the love which Valentine’s Day is devoted to is described by the Greek word eros, the physical love of a man and woman for each other – passion, fueled by emotional energy, romance, and diamond rings. It is the emotion found in our first reading from the Song of Songs, sometimes known as the Song of Solomon, where two lovers talk of how beautiful they each are to each other. Believe it or not, reading the Song of Solomon to each other can be a wonderful romantic experience even with old married couples, especially if you use a modern translation. Yes, the Bible has romance!

But this leads to the question:

What is the purpose of marriage?

For much of history, marriage has been an economic contract, a way for two people to reduce the work of living by helping each other. Eve was created as Adam’s helper – And then marriage became a way to ensure the survival of children in a time when men worked the fields and protected the women and children from bandits. Economics and safety.

But what about today? What is the purpose of marriage in a day when a woman or man can earn a living alone, when dishwashers and microwave ovens, prepacked food and industrial farms have made it simple for anyone to prepare food, when Walmart provides ready-made clothing, when society has police and lands which are basically secure from bandits, when daycare providers and school systems raise most children? What is the purpose of marriage in the modern world?

Today's English, particularly in London, have mostly discarded marriage in favor of two single people living together for years or decades of time as “partners”. They aren’t even couples, but simply roommates with benefits, people who see themselves as temporarily living together until they move onto a different roommate. This is partially because the English tax system and the English health system provide no advantage to being married. So they have “partners” - not spouses, not even common law marriages, for there is no assumption of permanence.

In our society, our most common arrangement today is for two people to live together for a few years, then split up and try it with someone else. Children may or may not be involved. Marriage may or may not happen later. Our divorce rate has been falling – but that’s only because we have raised the bar so that only the most committed get married today. Our break-up rate is perhaps even higher than it was a few decades ago, because we simply don't get married until we are fully committed to it and "worn-out" by being single. So why get married?

We have to go back to an understanding of theology and ancient Jewish law to understand the true purpose of marriage.

In ancient Israel, the Law that Moses brought from God to the people of Israel included a rule about how to determine facts in a trial. All facts must be established by the testimony of two or three people. If you could not find at least two people to testify to a fact, then it wasn’t admissible evidence.

And it is from this that we find the real purpose of marriage.

In God’s eyes, marriage is extraordinarily special. We were created as two parts of a single creature – A man and a woman who form a couple. For years we search for the other half of ourselves and when we finally find that other half, we know it deep inside. And we marry.

Therefore, whenever you see each other, remember that it is like looking at part of yourself in the mirror. Whenever you touch each other, remember that it is your own body that you touch. Whenever you speak to each other, remember most supremely that you are speaking to yourself.

In the best marriages, over time the he and she disappear. After a few years, friends always refer to them as “them”, and the couple refers to themselves as “we”, for it has become impossible to remember that he and she can be found as separate from “them”.

And the magic that makes this possible is the Holy Spirit of God, which blends together the roughness of the he and she and gives them one purpose, blinding them together into the one “we”.

This is why it is important for married couples to find a church to attend together. It is because you, the couple, must to join together in love with a third member of your marriage – The God that created you and brought you together, the God that arranged the entire Universe so that you could be married. Always remember that in the best marriages, there is a third member besides the he and the she – there is the all powerful “I AM” that created all things. Without God, marriages become just business partnerships or worse, slave and master relationships. Without God, the love fades.

Invite God into your marriage. Find God and together ask Him for help each day. Find God and live together in peace and love until the day that you die – and then you will see God, the One that kept you together through the years of happiness.

Marriage was not created for the purpose of satisfying lust. It was created because under the Law that God gave to Moses, all truth is verified by the testimony of two or three witnesses. You are each the witness of each other’s life, able to speak at the end of time about the truth of the other’s life, able to testify about the truth of the other’s goodness, able to speak the truth that this other person was important and meaningful and loving to at least one person in the Universe.

And God the Son is the other witness Who sees both of you and testifies to the Truth of your lives, the importance of your lives, the existence of your lives. He is the necessary second witness, and the third witness when you two stand together against the evil in the world, against the Devil that accuses, God the Son is the Witness that will back up your testimony.

But there is even more…

We don’t think about this much, but every man and woman we encounter is immortal. Some will spend their eternity alone, separated from God and light, cast into the outer darkness because they did not choose to honor God, but wanted to follow their own path. Looking at our reading from Matthew 22, the parable is about a king who allows all people, good and bad to come to the marriage of His Son. But one man showed up not wearing a wedding garment. He did not honor the King or the King's Son. God allows that; God is polite, God accepts all people, good and bad. But those who do not honor God and God’s Son are cast into the outer darkness. Let me explain that.

In first century Israel, when there was a wedding, everyone brought their oil lamps and candles with them to the village square or other wedding venue. The party went on all night, sometimes for days and nights. If you were thrown out of the party into the outer darkness, it was DARK! There were no street lights, no window lamps, no glows from television sets, no city or industrial lights reflected on the clouds to give a glow. Remember, Israel usually has very little humidity and clouds. There’s no light except the stars and what moon there was that night to give you light. That is how dark it is in the outer darkness.

In the distance you can hear the music of the wedding feast of the Lamb, Jesus. You can hear the crowd laughing and singing. But where you are, it is dark, you are alone, and there are lions and jackals and bears roaming around. All you can hope for is to run into someone else who has rejected God, someone else who is equally as selfish and self-centered as you are, someone else who wants to be in total control just as much as you do. It doesn’t seem so bad until you realize that this includes people like Hitler, Pol Pot, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Saddam Hussein, Stalin, Billy the Kid - who murdered in cold blood for pleasure, and whoever else you can think of. They are out here in the outer darkness too. They have practiced and practiced their ruthlessness, their need for control, their evil, in some cases for a thousand years or more. And you will be here encountering them for eternity, for you will still live forever. This is the outer darkness where those who dishonor God and God's Son end up.

Or there are those who will spend their eternity in the New Jerusalem described in Revelation 22, learning directly from Jesus. I read books such as the letters of James and I John, and I can glimpse the holiness of these Apostles. Can you imagine what they are like today, living with Christ for the last two thousand years? John Wesley was known in his day for being the kindest, most gentle man, full of grace – can you imagine how he has grown in the last two hundred and thirty years since his death? For that matter, take the nicest, kindest, most holy person you know and think about what they will be like after a thousand years of sitting at the feet of Jesus. What beauty!

We don’t realize it, but the holiest things we ever encounter on earth, apart from the blessed bread and wine of Communion are the people around us. Each is an unfinished portrait of God, an image of God, potentially so good and holy that they will be like those gold-framed portraits we find on display in a museum or in an ancient English mansion. Holy images, holy incomplete paintings of God walk by us every day, paintings that if we could see them in their complete, final stages, they would take away our breath with their beauty.

And there are also paintings of God who walk by which are destined for the outer darkness, the trashcan, to be buried forever in the landfills of that outer darkness, crumbling, flaky, molding, decaying.

We each have the opportunity to touch up these paintings, these people, the good ones, even the great ones – and especially the ones that have started poorly. We can speak a few words, and like God speaking in the Creation story, the painting becomes more beautiful. Or we can speak different words and it is like putting a blood-red diagonal slash over delicately painted spirals and flowers. We encounter the holy every day, every time we speak with someone.

Our paintbrush and palette is our mouth and our actions. Encouragement and hope are beautiful yellows and blues and violets – Sarcasm is black, insults are slashes of blood-red paint. Wonder is the golden tinge of sunlight on clouds while hugs are the green of springtime moss. Warmth and listening puts orange and the brown of deep piles of fallen leaves of a warm Indian summer forest walk in a person’s soul.

A child says something in Walmart – and we can speak back in many ways. What can we say that will make him more beautiful? "You are so smart! I know you always help your mother!" especially when she is not helping her mother.

A woman complains in ugly ways about her family to you. How can you help her move around the paint so the ugly goes away and beauty comes through? "It sounds to me like your daughter is simply looking for friendship and doesn’t know how to find a good friend. Maybe I could take her shopping?"

A man says something sarcastic about his wife. How can you remind him of why he married her, the beauty he once saw?

And this, my friends, is the real core of marriage. For in marriage, we are given a special relationship with a special portrait of God, a holy, immortal soul whom we have special responsibility for. How will you help that soul that is your spouse become even more beautiful and glorious in front of God? What will you say today that will lift up your spouse, help them cover up and remove the ugly streaks, add onto them the glory that is God’s words and deeds?

For our words and deeds each day affect the souls around us, none more than our husband or wife. You may say that you’ve always wanted to create something beautiful. Every single day, you put brushstrokes on the ones around you, making them beautiful or ugly with every word and deed. Take responsibility for the glory of another, working like a master painter, a Michelangelo, a DaVinci, a Rembrandt working to present your spouse to God, beautiful in soul, when you both walk in front of God at the end of time. Can you imagine the happiness in your marriage if you work to beautify your spouse’s soul through uplifting, positive words?

And as you go out to eat today or shop, look for other people, other portraits of God that you can touch up – just a dab of color here for the wait staff, just a brushstroke there at the checkout - so they will also walk in New Jerusalem at the feast of the Lamb, avoiding the outer darkness.

For your words and deeds can be spray cans of red and black, vandalizing God’s creations. Or your words and deeds can be a glorious palette of beautiful color – if you desire – to be used for God’s glory. It is your choice.

Lift up your friends and lead them to Jesus. Pray for your enemies that they may know Christ through your words and deeds. And lift up those who are different from us, yet worship Christ in their own way, that we may come to know them as friends.

Amen.