A Cadbury Creme Egg World: Monday, April 18, 2011
Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke is reading the Gospel of Matthew and thinking about holy week. Give it a shot and join him. It’s just one week!
Monday, April 18, 2011
It’s Monday morning, time to get back to work. Jesus stayed over with friends in Bethany last night. (Mary, Martha and Lazarus by the way.) This morning he leaves bright and early and heads back in to the city.
Do you like the parks and greenways of your little town? Israel is a decidedly brown, hot, dry and dusty place. I know, I’ve been there. But Jesus finds a fig tree by the side of the road. Maybe he’ll find some refreshment there in place of the temple’s great disappointment of yesterday.
“No, Damn it!” And the fig tree withers away. The story is down at the bottom of the page again. Go ahead and read it whenever you want. It seems to me that this fig tree thing sort of weirds out the disciples. They want to know what just happened. Jesus tells them it’s a faith thing. I don’t think the disciples understand. I’m not sure that I do, either. Killing trees doesn’t seem very spiritual to me. Of course, neither does killing people, or a Cadbury Crème Egg society, or letting veterans stand by the side of the road with signs saying, “Anything will help.”
The religious people around Jesus don’t seem to care much about any of that, though. You’d think they would. What they want to know is where Jesus gets off saying “Damn it” in public. So, Jesus tells them a few little stories about respect. That was the point, wasn’t it?
Maybe. Maybe that was the point. But Jesus’ stories just seem to make people mad.
Bishop Dave
Matthew 21:18 In the morning, when he returned to the city, Jesus was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. 25 Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. 30 The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34 When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35 But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39 So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40 Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41 They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44 The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46 They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Baptismal Fire
49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided:father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
54 He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. 55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
“Well, pastor, God never said it would be easy. He said he’d be with us.” These are the words of Bea Gilmore, a history and wisdom-bearer in our community, as she took my hand leaving worship this past Sunday.
The fire that burns in Bea’s baptism is more akin to a blow torch or rocket boosters, closer to the Easter Vigil bonfire than a docile candle flame.
Thank God for saint Bea, as she reminds me that our baptism is the very same as the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth, our Spirit-fire the very same that burns in Jesus’ own heart, fueling him to Jerusalem, to the heart of oppression, to truth-telling and to truth-living, to rejection and to condemnation, to crucifixion, suffering, and death.
Bea and her husband, Rev. Rozelle Gilmore, were civil rights leaders in Portland. They founded churches and small businesses that offered hope and freedom, jobs and dignity to the community around them. Bea raised four strong, beautiful children. Three months ago, Pastor Gilmore died of cancer. One month ago, her son-in-law died of the same disease.
“Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, but rather, division!”
Bea Gilmore reminds me that Jesus’ Spirit-fire is our Spirit-fire. It’s a raging fury that causes conflict, not for conflict’s sake – not for fights over pew arrangements and worship styles – but for freedom from oppressive shackles, feeding of the hungry, reconciliation of the broken, and resurrection of the dead. It causes division, not because it yearns for separation, but because it cannot stand for injustice. It causes division because it is true, powerful, revealing, and threatens the status quo.
Bea Gilmore looked into my young, nervous eyes with wise eyes that know death and resurrection and spoke baptismal promise into my heart, stoking my God-given fire…the same that burns in you.
What Jerusalem are we headed for, brothers and sisters? It won’t be easy, but as Bea knows, we will not be alone.
+Peace and Amen,
Pastor Melissa Reed
Leaven Project, Portland, OR
Church Expectations
Luke 12:35-40
35 ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.37Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38If he comes during 
the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’
Imagine that you walk into church to find the baptismal font and altar nowhere to be found. Where did they go? How will Christ meet you today? How will you receive the Bread of Life?
As the church, we are taught to expect Jesus in the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Meal. Even if the sermon is awful on Sunday morning, the Sacraments preach God incarnate in the everyday through the meeting of the promise in the mundane – water, the same that makes up 60% of our bodies, wheat and grapes, the same that become the caloric energy that moves us.
Over this past week, I joined other ELCA mission developers in Minneapolis, MN to discern a very important question: How will we, the church, be the church today and into the future. I learned of the church meeting in a garage and praising God through the riffs of a rock band. I met a pastor covered in tattoos who podcasts his sermons on the internet. I worshipped in a suburban school cafeteria swarming with small children who knew every song by heart. I participated in lots of conversations about how to welcome people “in” and grow worship attendance. All very excellent.
But as I read the Gospel for this Sunday from Luke, I wondered if perhaps, in order to answer how we will be the church, we need to ask another question: Where do we focus our attention and energy most often? And then, turn in the other direction. As the church, where is it that we least expect Jesus? Because according to Luke, this is where and when the promised One will show up.
“Be dressed for action and keep your lamps lit… the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour!”
In baptism, God dresses us in Jesus’ own garments and lights our lamps brightly so that we may see beyond our own expectations. In the bread and wine of the Lord’s dinner table, our hearts are nourished with holy energy that turns us around and sends us in the opposite direction.
Imagine that you search the church building high and low for the font and the table with no luck. Giving up, you step outside into living waters of Oregon rain baptizing the garden across the street where a communion of neighbors’ hands work among collard greens and corn, berries and beans to feed one another. You are ready.
+Peace and Amen,
Pastor Melissa Reed, Leaven Project
P.S. A tidbit to add to the mix: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126977945&ft=1&f=1032
What Grid?
Some background: I’m the mission-developer pastor for an emerging ECLA ministry in NE Portland called the Leaven Project (check us out at http://leavenproject.org). At the heart of our approach to being church is the work of intentional relationship building through the discipline of sharing our stories. I have meetings with people in coffee shops and pubs daily for the purpose of reverencing our lives and our struggles, discovering our questions and our yearnings. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be with our Synod this August through these Book of Faith Reflections.
Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus,] “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.” Luke 12:13-21
Recently in a tea house on Alberta St. in Portland, a young “green” entrepreneur with a heart for sustainability and education (he built an RV that is totally “off the grid” – solar powered – for the purpose of teaching public school children about renewable energy!), shared that he believes most people don’t intentionally hurt the environment or contribute to global and local poverty through their everyday living – the transportation they take, the food they buy, the goods they purchase. “It’s just so easy to participate in the systems that hurt us,” he said. “But I believe,” he continued, “it’s possible to create choices and even new systems through which it is just as easy for us to do good.”
The person in the crowd from Luke is stuck, plugged in! He’s plugged into the economic grid system of his day. He cries out to Jesus to demand for him half of his brothers’ inheritance, an economic system that keeps some with too much and others with nearly nothing. We don’t know if this man is already wealthy or if he is destitute (recently laid off?). What we do know is that Jesus does no such thing and, instead, tells a story.
Here we go: The wealthy man’s farm in Jesus’ parable produces bountifully. At the same time the world is organized (by people) in ways that result in some having gross excess, so much so that they would need to build even larger barns and storage bins (think McMansions and personal storage, think corporate reserves). The crowd listening would have known intimately that at the same time, in the background of the story, there were many jobless, landless, and starving. Then Jesus drops the parable bomb that blows up the lie of the grid and blows open God’s reality…off the grid: “This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
the man: Jesus, plug me in deeper!
Jesus: Why?! Unplug!
Regardless of his societal status, the man in the crowd hearing this story is reminded that participating in systems that result in excess for some works against God’s reality come on earth. And, if those in the crowd are at all familiar with the prophetic tradition, they hear Jesus’ story as a critique of systems–of grids—that allow and even rely on such injustice. True wealth toward God, as the prophets preach, translates into actions and systems that provide enough for all.
Jesus to us: Unplug! You are already plugged into an inexhaustible life source!
God is rich toward us with abundance that changes everything and reveals God’s truth: there is no grid. As the church, whether we are wealthy or we are poor, a corporate executive or the woman losing her home to foreclosure – and we are all of it – because of God’s richness that cannot be contained and held up, we don’t need no stinkin’ grids! We are rich enough and blessed enough, free enough and powerful, graced enough to believe the reign of God is possible. We are enough to see the realities of the world as they are and unplug from the systems that cause them. We are enough to imagine and create relational systems–beyond grids–that do good. We are enough for the kin-dom come.
Peace and Amen,
Pastor Melissa Reed, Leaven Project
Galatians for Dummies – last
Paul often finishes his letters with just basic good, solid, practical advice. We’ve got a whole new gig goin’ here, says Paul. Don’t blow it!
Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16 NRSV
[My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor's work, will become a cause for pride. For all must carry their own loads. Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.]
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith. See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
How clear can Paul be here? You have to think as he does. It’s all about community, not just me and Jesus.
Don’t be tempted – don’t get all “us and them” about life! Pay attention to your own stuff, don’t judge your neighbor. Do your part. Don’t give up. Remember the whole family of faith. Keep your eyes on the bigger picture. It’s people who play the game of one-ups-manship that keep trying to get you to play it, too. It makes them feel justified. Don’t give in to it. None of that matters. What matters is the New Creation!
If you follow this rule Peace will follow in your footsteps, says Paul. Amen and Amen – let’s do it!
Bishop Dave
Galatians for Dummies 4
If you’re keeping up with our continuous reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians you need to read both chapter 4 and chapter 5 this week. Our Sunday morning readings jump ahead. What you’ll hear in church this week is:
Galatians 5:1, 13-25 NRSV
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:1 is probably my all time favorite Bible verse. For four chapters Paul has totally talked about freedom, unity, love and respect for others, acceptance, and how and why it is that we are different in the world – but all of this can so easily get twisted into a new form of superiority. NO! Stand firm. Don’t ever let that happen!!
This is the great temptation of life. Constantly we want to return to an “us and them” world. So, what are the sins that Paul fears most?
“Fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.”
These are all actions that fracture unity, respect, love and community. They are not personal, moralistic, sorts of things. NO! They are things that destroy the “us-ness” that needs no “them.”
Never again submit to that yoke of slavery! Do not let your personal freedom, God’s love and acceptance, Christ’s healing or the Spirit’s forbearance be used as an excuse to turn back in upon yourself. Through love become a slave to all creation. Never above it. Never below it. With it! One with creation, one with God, one with all humanity.
“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
How else would you wish to live?
Bishop Dave
Galatians for Dummies 3
Promise trumps the law. Faith rules where obedience fails. The Spirit is stronger than your personal righteousness – or anybody else’s for that matter. This is what Paul insists in Galatians chapter 3. This Sunday in church you’ll hear a little piece of this amazing claim. (But you might want to read all of Galatians chapter 3 just to keep up!):
Galatians 3:23-29 NRSV
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
The promise, the faith, the Spirit are all symbolized by the white robe of Christian baptism. It is with this that we are “clothed.” No longer are we imprisoned in pain. To be a Christian is to be creature of promise, embraced by what the Divine has always envisioned for our world. God sees us that way and, through the power of the Spirit, the rest of the world expects to see us that way as well!
No longer can we be a community of “us” and “them.” Human divisions no longer rule among us. We are not “Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; for all of (us) are one in Christ Jesus.”
Underneath the robe there is still division and pain. We all know that. I still look in the mirror at night and see more deeply into myself than I want others to go. I struggle with what is the “real” me. But Promise trumps the law. Faith rules where obedience fails – and the Spirit is stronger than your or my own sense of failure and falseness.
Repeat after me. “Promise trumps the law . . . we are no longer slave or free . . .”
Bishop Dave
Galatians for Dummies 2
Did you read Paul’s letter to the Galatians last week? Maybe just chapter 1? You might re-read the whole letter again this week – it’s not long. Or, if you like the paced approach, read chapter 2. What you’ll hear in church this Sunday is the following:
Galatians 2:15-21 NRSV
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
Paul is very passionate in his speech here. His world knew two groups of people – Jews who were “The Chosen” (Paul was a Jew) and Gentiles, who were basically everybody else and not “The Chosen.” They were sinners, unacceptable, distanced from God. These differences were maintained and articulated by the Jewish understanding of God’s Law. You could become a Jew, made clean and acceptable to God, but basically you had to become “us” and stop being “them.”
For Paul Jesus blows the whole system away! It is no longer the case that “you” have to become like “us,” but rather in light of Jesus now both “you” and “us” have to be transformed together. By the sheer force of God’s love we become the living presence of Jesus in the world today – something totally new and different.
The temptation is to fall back into my own personal sense of superiority. I want to hold on to at least something that makes me better than you – or “them” – but Paul will have none of it. “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” That’s totally radical! Mostly I feel like I’m glad to have Jesus as the table of my mind, but I still want to reserve the final say. Sorry, no sale there.
Our world is still full of a hundred and one variations of the “us” and “them” game. Now it’s Christians and moral reprobates rather than Jews and Gentile sinners. Or maybe it’s Conservative, Fundamentalist Christians and liberal, mainline denominations. It doesn’t matter how you define the “sides.” Paul’s point is the same. I nullify everything God is about in the world if I try to control, define or own Jesus. God will love whom God chooses to love, and that’s pretty much everybody – even me.
Bishop Dave
Galatians for Dummies 1
For the next five weeks our Sunday morning Bible lessons give us the chance to read into Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It’s worth doing! Why not read the whole letter right now? Or maybe just chapter 1 this week? What you’ll hear in church is the following:
Galatians 1:11-24 NRSV
“For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. 20 In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, 22 and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23 they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.”
Paul is obviously fighting for credibility here. Unlike the other apostles Paul never knew Jesus. He wasn’t one of the twelve and he’s breaking all the rules by letting Gentiles into the Church. Earlier in the letter, Paul writes that if anybody is teaching anything different than he is then “to hell with them!” (Literally, “let them be accursed” or “damn them.”) Something has Paul up and mad. And what is that? Well, read for yourself and see. Either he’s on the outs because he doesn’t have the right credentials, or because he hangs with the wrong people, or just because he’s doing Church wrong. Whatever it is, though, he’s not taking is lying down!
And what about you? Do you have the right credentials to be a Christian? Who cares!!
Are you official? Properly papered, ordained or commissioned by your bishop? As if Paul could be bothered!
Is your past a little shady? “No doubt you’ve heard …” says Paul. Well, people change. God has other plans. It doesn’t really matter. “In what I’m writing you I don’t lie!” Paul insists. Deal with it!
Deal with it indeed. And then let people deal with you. Paul didn’t hold anything back – and you?
Bishop Dave
New Sexuality Bible Study
Had a great time at Atonement Lutheran Church in Newport, OR last Wednesday. Shared a lecture/Bible Study there called “Where Hope and History Collide: Explosions of Grace.” We had 110-120 people from both the church and community at large. If interested, the multi-media study is available online at www.oregonsynod.org/bookoffaith/hopeandhistory
An earlier study, “What Does the Bible Say About: Hope, Homosexuality, Hospitality” is also available online at www.oregonsynod.org/bookoffaith/hhh
Enjoy!
Bishop Dave
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