More Toward and Away

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

I would very much like this parable to be about what happens when someone has way too much money.   I would like it even more if this parable was about how God smites the ultra rich for being selfish, greedy, and arrogant.  I would like it the very-most-bestest though, if this parable gave us all God’s blessing to launch the rich into space strapped to the top of their own personal rockets.  BUT… this parable is not about the rich.  Not about the greedy.  Not about the arrogant and not about the selfish.

The lessons today… both the one from Ecclesiastes and the parable from Luke… are here to simply contrast the directions we can choose to live our lives and remind us once again that living our lives in one direction leads to an abundant life filled with peace and joy, while living our lives in the other direction leads to despair and a soul sucking demand on our existence.  

Both lessons certainly use tremendous wealth as the foil.  The teacher in the first lesson is, after all, the King.  The kids who came to Jesus had an inheritance worth arguing about, and the guy in the parable had two, already full-to-the-rafters barns, AND could afford to pull them down to build bigger ones!  All of those are just as clear indications of tremendous wealth back then, as a personal space program is for today.  

But as tempting as it might be to launch the uber-rich into space… and it is!  The real message here is that when we choose to live our lives TOWARD the other… toward our neighbors, toward our community, and toward those who the world labels as least, the lost and the last in society…  When we live TOWARD the other, putting their needs before ours… this lesson and this parable, and honestly a giant chunk of Scripture, all make it clear that when we walk our lives in THAT direction we experience the fullness of life.  In that direction we will find ourselves truly alive.  Along that path is abundant life. 

If, on the other hand we are living our lives obsessed with the person in the mirror, or with our own accomplishments, wealth, power, prestige or image… then we are inevitably also living our lives AWAY from the other… away our neighbors, away from our community, and away from those who the world labels as least and lost and last in society.  When we live AWAY from the other, putting our needs before theirs… this lesson and this parable, and that same giant chunk of the Bible make it clear… that direction leads us into despair and drains the life we’ve been given right out of us.  

It’s the DIRECTION… not the dollars.  The first lesson catches the king in that realization.  It really isn't his money, work, or power that are his problems… It’s his vanity… his privilege… his self indulgent worry that keep him from living in the present and toward his neighbor.  His worry leaves him paralyzed and unable to move toward his neighbor and that leaves him sliding ever deeper into despair.  

Likewise in the parable, it isn’t the bumper crops that are the problem.  Rather it is his backwards notion that life is all about having the biggest barns.  But we see that worship of the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I only moves him farther and father AWAY from his neighbors, and walking this life in THAT direction drains the life from us, until that very night in the parable, the very last of his life is gone.

Real life, of course, is never as cut and dry as a parable or Biblical Wisdom.  Neither the Teacher, Jesus, nor the One who created us is expecting perfection.  Instead, all are trying to help us to live more often abundantly than in despair.  They are pulling for us to get the very most out of the life we've been given.  They are not out to get us!  That's why in Christ there is limitless grace and never ending love for us as we walk step by step through life.  

How do you do that?  Well, I've found there is no one single, universal practice that works for everyone but there are a few things I see people doing right around here that seem to work for more people than they don't.  Gathering here is one.  In person.  With others who are also walking the Way.  Going to coffee hour, believe it or not, and sharing with someone how the week went and asking them genuinely how they are doing.  Taking the flowers from worship to someone on your way home seems to work for those who do that, and anyone can do that.  And the one local practice that I've found that is actually the closest thing to a single-universal-works-for-everyone-practice... Sitting for a day in the tent on the Appalachian Trail.    

There is no best practice.  There's only a best direction.  So whatever you try, take time at the end of the day and honestly reflect and just notice the direction it moved you that day.  Was it toward the other or did it move you away.  Then just let that day go and in the morning try to do more of the TOWARD stuff.  That's it.  That is honestly the entire take home message for these lessons from today, and honestly from a whole giant chuck of Scripture as well.  Amen.  

Persistent Pestering Prayer?

 Luke 11:1-13

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."  He said to them, "When you pray, say:

  Father, hallowed be your name.

    Your kingdom come.

       Give us each day our daily bread.

       And forgive us our sins,

    for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.

    And do not bring us to the time of trial."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

"So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad… Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom.  Is this lesson saying badgering God makes God do what we want?  Can we… the created… MAKE God… the Creator… do what we want?  Is this saying that while God is all powerful, all present, and all knowing… there is this God level kryptonite that we humans can wield… called persistent pestering prayer that God is powerless to resist?  Yeah, I don’t think so either.  So if PERSISTENCE isn’t what this parable is really all about, then what is it about?  I think what’s going on here is a “lost in translation” moment where the people who translated scripture into English used “persistence” when a much better word to use here would have been SHAMELESSNESS.

This little parable is meant to remind us that NONE of us can MAKE God get out of bed to open the door and none of us can MAKE God give us what we want no matter how much badgering, annoying, or praying we do.  But what DOES work is realizing, accepting, and confessing the truth, “God, I am completely lost without you.” “God, there is literally nothing I can do apart from you.” “God, without you, I’m dying here.” 

You see, it’s only when we are finally willing to DIE to the idea that we can “make God give it to us” or “we’ve earned it” or “we deserve it” or “we can win it” ... and finally give up the delusion that we are in control… it’s only when we stop and confess, “God, without You… We are DEAD!… It’s only then, in the DEATH of the me, myself and I, that we finally find ourselves in a spot where we are able to receive the gifts from God that have always been ours.  Those gifts are a life of “enough”… Enough peace, enough food, enough shelter, safety, dignity, purpose, and joy.

I know a lot of people have come to believe that dying to me, myself, and I is only something we do right before our own funerals.  They believe that peace, purpose, joy and the rest can only happen in the sweet by and by.  But with this parable, Jesus was trying to tell the disciples… those back then and us right now… that we weren’t created to just wait around until we die so that we can finally start to really live.  We were meant to live life right now!  And the way to do that is to die right now to things like pride, hatred, greed, fear, and all the horrible things that ooze out from those things.  Then, in the shamelessness of the death of our obsession with the person in our mirror, we will find that we are free to finally look around and discover that we have been raised up to a new and abundant life filled with love, generosity, compassion, peace, kindness and courage right now!  It is in prying ourselves away from our ego in the mirror that we can really see the gift of life we’ve been given... A gift we've been given to live to the fullest in each and every moment of the here and now.

That’s why Jesus taught the disciples to pray the way Jesus did.  He told them to pray like this:  God, You are amazing!  Transform the world from the way it is, into the way you created it to be and as that is happening, turn me to see the vision of what the world is becoming in You.  

Give me what I need each day… food, shelter, love, compassion, kindness, empathy, purpose, and dignity so I don’t get distracted… get sucked back into my mirror worship where I'll lose sight of your vision for the world by something toward the bottom of Maslow's hierarchy like an empty belly. 

Help me to die to the idea that I am alone… that my life is only about me, myself and I.  Help me instead to live for my neighbors, showing them, simply with the way I live my day in, day out life, how caring for others fills me and all of creation with abundant life!  

And help me not to be pulled back down into the world’s swirling toilet of lies.  Lies that are based in fear and scarcity that spiral inevitably down into the sewer of inequality, violence, dishonesty, and scapegoating.  All of which are vain attempts to quell our fears.  

Instead, give me strength and courage to live right into the face of this world, bearing the torch of your love, compassion, forgiveness, inclusion, hope, and peace so that we might experience for ourselves and at the same time also model for the world, a way to have an abundant, meaning, and purpose-filled life, eternally surrounded by your never ending, unconditional, grace and love in each and every moment I've been given. Amen… and Amen.

Three Hikers and a Tent

Genesis 18:1-15

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”

The Lord appeared to them by the maples of West Road, as they sat at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.  They looked up and saw three travelers standing near.  When they saw them, they hopped up from their chairs and went to the edge of the hill to greet them, motioned for them to come up and said, “My lord, if we find favor with you, do not pass by your servants.  Push that button to turn on the water pump and push it again to turn it off.  Take off your packs and your shoes and rest yourselves in the shade.  Let me show you some snacks and homemade blueberry muffins, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.”  Or something like that.  So the hikers said, “Do as you have said” And the volunteers hastened to the person grilling and said, “Make ready quickly three hot wieners, made from… well it’s best not to ask what they are made from…  grill them, and make hotdogs.”  Then they ran to the cooler and took out three hamburger patties, tender and good, and gave it to the griller, who hastened to prepare it. Then they took pickles and watermelon and the burgers that had been prepared, and set it before them; and they stood by them under the tent while they ate.

The Lord appeared to them at the park in Sheffield, as they sat at the entrance of the pavilion in the heat of the day. They looked up and saw three people standing near. When they saw them, they ran from the pavilion entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground and said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.  Let a program be brought, and let us take you to your seat, and rest yourselves under this pavilion.  Let me bring a seltzer and a snack, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Trudy hastened into the artist’s tent to Sarah, Rachel, Orlando, and Jorge and said, “Make ready quickly three movements of choice music, tune up, and make your entrance.” John-Arthur then motioned over the herd… I mean the audience… and called the pastor, tender and good, and he came to welcome the crowd and introduce the artists.  Then they took their gifts and their passion and the music they had prepared, and set it before the audience; and the others stood by them under the pavilion while they listened.

The Lord appeared to them by the Maples of Main Street, as they stood in the entrance of Berkstock in the heat of the day. They looked up and saw three folks standing near them. When they saw them, they ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground and said, “My lord, if we find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.  Grab some water from that cooler, hydrate, and rest yourselves under these trees.  Let me show you the salad bar, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.”  So they said, “Do as you have said.”  Then they hastened into the tent to Don and Peter, and said, “Make ready quickly three hot tube steaks, made from… again, probably better to not ask… grill them, and make hotdogs.”  Hanna ran to the smoker and took some pulled pork, tender and good, placed it on a bun, and hastened to add some chips and a pickle. Then they encouraged them to take their food which had been prepared, and sit for a time and listen to the band; and everyone, the hospitality team, church tour guides, cooks and servers, welcoming crew and the raffle people all stood by them smiling as they ate and enjoyed themselves.  

Here's what I want you to hear today.  God shows up... and when God shows up the impossible is made possible.  That's Good News because there’s a lot of “impossible” around us these days.  Covid, racism, fascism, sexism, Christian Nationalism, rising costs, climate change, our divided world, our divided nation, our divided town.  An unholy host of impossibilities beyond our ability to fix.  It is easy to feel powerless.  But there IS something for us to do... Continue to set up tents and welcome the One who makes all things possible and trust, that in due season, the impossible will become possible.  Please, please, please, never underestimate what we do, sitting in our various tents, inviting folks into our corners of kindness, lavishing travelers with hospitality and sharing our spirit of generosity with our neighbors.  What we do is NO SMALL THING!  What we do is nothing less than Hosting the God who makes all things possible.  All things!  Amen.

P.S. - Some of you have mentioned the desire to make the impossibility of kids in church, possible again.  Just remember that’s what Sarah wanted long after “it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women” and she ended up having a baby!  If YOU want to have a baby that's fine.  Just keep that juju away from the Rectory!  You laughed.  Oh yes, you did laugh.  Amen.

Grumpy Butt Tries Something New

Luke 10:25-37

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 

Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

If you were to open up Netflix on that big TV out there in the fellowship hall you’d find yourself signed into our family account which now includes a profile for the church for movie nights and such.  The other profiles there are “Mum” not “Mom” but “Mum.”  Purinpoppu which is Japanese for Pudding Pop.  That’s Hanna.  Maggie is “Maggie I Guess” and under my profile picture, which is an angry looking cartoon chicken, my user name is … “Grumpy Butt.” 

I’m Grumpy Butt.  That’s because my family knows I’m often… well… a Grumpy Butt.  And the thing that most often makes me a Grumpy Butt is not getting an answer to WHY!  I want answers and I am forever getting only more questions.  For example, it’s not enough for me to simply be mad at the Supreme Court for taking away half the country’s freedoms instead of defending them.  I want to know how these people came to think the way they think?  What is it that has made them so afraid?  After all, no one takes freedoms away from others except out of fear.  I want answers and all I get is more questions… which is why Grumpy Butt and the lawyer in today’s Gospel have so much in common.  

People usually assume the lawyer was “testing Jesus” to try and find a loophole in the law he could slither through, but we really don’t know his true motivation.  What if he was testing Jesus to see if Jesus could give him some guidance for living in this insane world of ours?  As I sat trying to figure out this parable and what it might want to tell us this time round, it occurred to me that whether the lawyer was looking for a loophole OR was looking for genuine help to live a better life, the answer Jesus gave works for both.  “Go and do likewise".

Then I started wondering if that might be the answer to even more?  Could that be the answer for the lawyer, the disciples, for you, and maybe even for my Grumpy Butt?  Could the answer to all of it be “Go and do likewise?”  It was, after all, the answer for the lawyer either way.  If he was a nefarious actor looking to justify his place on the societal ladder… Looking for Jesus’s approval for him and the people who looked and thought like him to be on top, while the people who were different by gender, race, sexuality, nationality, religion, sub category of religion,  sinfulness, cleanliness, political party or class were all down below… Jesus’ answer for that was “Go and do likewise.”  In other words, there is no ladder.  There’s only this guy, right in front of you, left for dead in the middle of the street.  Remember the guy in the story?  Go and do likewise!  

If however this lawyer was a Grumpy Butt like me and was the type that thought they just needed to figure out what it was that caused so many people to live out of fear in this life, maybe he could help!  If this lawyer was genuinely looking to Jesus for guidance in finding a solution to help the bonkers humans who seem to run roughshod over each other and the world, then Jesus’s answer works for that one just the same. There is no figuring out why.  There’s only this guy left for dead in the middle of the street.  See what the guy in the story did?  Go and do likewise!

Is that it then?  Is it not in the creating of ladders or the wondering why people make ladders?  Is it simply in the “going” and in the “doing” that our fear… our fear that leads us to look for loopholes… our fear that makes life into a fight over our place on the ladder… our fear that has us constantly trying to figure out the inner workings of our bonkers human world.  Could it be that it is simply in the “going” and in the “doing” of showing mercy and kindness to whoever we happen upon next… could it be in the “going” to that person, and in that “doing” of kindness for them, that we finally have an ACTUAL answer to our questions and not just more questions?

To be honest, I don’t know for sure.  But I AM sure we’ve tried finding the loopholes and that’s not it.  We’ve tried justifying ourselves and that’s not it.  We’ve tried to figure out why our broken world’s gone insane and that doesn’t seem to get us anywhere so that’s not it.  If my friend Kevin Polk was here he’d ask us all at this point, "How’s all that working for you?”  Yeah, not very good really.  Then he’d ask us, “Is there something else you'd like to try instead?” And I'm beginning to wonder if what I'd like to try instead is to just go and do likewise. I don’t know if it will work, but this Grumpy Butt thinks it’s worth a try.  How about you?  Amen.    

Roundabout Peace

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’ “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Two weeks ago I went to the installation of a new Pastor who will be serving both Zion Lutheran Church and Reconciliation Episcopal Church.  The two churches are dating and they’re so cute together!  Anyway, Bishop Fisher presided and Bishop Hazelwood preached and he focused on the two things that Jesus commands us to do in the very middle of this passage.  The first thing he told us that Jesus said was, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’” Then the bishop told this story:  He had gone to the grocery store in a terrible hurry, running around grabbing what he needed and then up to the checkout.  The cashier was a very small, 300 year old woman, who moved VERY SLOWLY.  He danced around and tapped his card anxiously on the card reader while each item was scanned… VERY SLOWLY.  Finally the cashier handed him his receipt and looked up at him and said, “Honey, whatever it is, it’ll be alright.”  That three foot tall woman had just given our seven foot tall bishop that PEACE that Jesus had commanded the disciples to give!  Bishop Hazelwood said it felt like Julian of Norwich had just been incarnated into this tiny, 300 year old, grocery store cashier to reminded him that: “all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.” 

That woman had given him peace like the disciples were told to do… without any pre-qualifications… she simply gave it to the next person in line.  At that point my brain was zooming.  You see, just the day before I had seen one too many posts on the Great Barrington Community Facebook page, raging… saying it shouldn’t be happening, that they were doing it wrong, and prophesying doom and the end of civilization in Great Barrington because of the greatest injustice of our age… the new roundabout.  I’d had enough.  So I posted this:  “I've decided to be super excited for the roundabout!  After all, nothing I say will change it at this point and grumbling about something unchangeable will just make me grouchy and that grouchy will inevitably get on my family and friends and nobody needs more grouchy.  So I've decided instead to embrace it and hope it turns out better for all of us than even the designers planned.”

I didn’t realize what I had done when I posted that, but there in the pew in that little church in Oxford I suddenly got it!  I had given the Great Barrington metroplex PEACE!  Maybe the people on that page took it.  Maybe they didn’t.  It really didn’t matter either way, because what it did do is that it changed me!  AND in that unairconditioned pew in Oxford I suddenly realized… I could do it again!  So I did!  Each day since that sermon, I’ve posted some little thing on the Great Barrington, Egremont, and Sheffield Facebook pages giving people peace.  

Some have “shared in it” as Jesus says, and some have not.  Whether people took the peace wasn’t to be the disciple’s concern so I’ve tried not to worry about that either.  Our concern is supposed to be to simply give it.  To put it out there.  To share it in our words.  To share it in our actions.  To share it with whoever is next in line and then just let it do its thing!  The other thing Jesus instructed the disciples to do was to tell the people that the Kingdom of God had come near.  He told them, some people will get it, some people won’t, but either way don’t stress about it because no matter what they do, the fact remains… The Kingdom of God HAS come near!  

The Bishop preached longer than I want to today, so I’ll just cut to the chase.  The two things Jesus told the disciples to do go hand in hand.  You see, when we give out peace, it may or may not change THEM, but it absolutely changes US.  And the way it changes us is to give clarity to our vision so the more peace we give, the better we are able to see the truth… the Kingdom of God REALLY HAS come near!  And you see, as we give out that Peace, and as our vision clears, and as we see more of the Kingdom of God come near, the more we are able to take to heart the wisdom that little old lady at the register shared when she said, “Honey, I don’t know what it is, but it’s going to be okay”…. and the better we can hear Julian of Norwich say “all will be well, and all will be well and all manner of things shall be well” and the more fully we can hear John Lennon say “everything will be okay in the end and if things are not okay… it’s not the end.”  

Both the disciples then and us disciples now live in a “lambs among wolves” kind of time, but we are far from unequipped to live in these times.  God has given us two incredible superpowers that no wolf can overcome… the gift of God’s peace to share with the world, and gift of God’s Kingdom come near.  With those two super powers there isn’t any demon in the world that has a chance in hell of hanging on to us for long.  Amen.