The New Testament Book of Galatians, Part 4

Seven Truths to Bring You Peace Today

Truth #1: I'm a sinner born into a dying human race oriented to getting its own way, no matter what the will of God.  

Truth #2: My sinful nature and the sins I commit because of it mean that I'm incapable of doing anything to save myself from death, the result of my sin.

Truth #3: God the Son, Jesus, has done everything needed to save me from myself. He offered His sinless life on a cross, in His death, taking the punishment for sin and I deserve.

Truth #4: Jesus rose from the dead, opening up eternity to all who have faith in Him.

Truth #5: Because having faith in Jesus is so foreign to my sinful nature, God the Holy Spirit works faith in me--gives me the gift of faith in Jesus--through means: the Word of God shared, taught, preached and the Word of God given in Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.

Truth #6: It's through these Holy Spirit-created, generated, executed means and not by anything I do, that God gives me saving faith in Jesus, faith that brings the forgiveness of my sins, a relationship with God today, and the promise of everlasting life with God ...and all His God-sainted sinners. (Note: "sainted sinners" aren't sinners who have physically died; they're sinners who have been made saints by God's grace in Christ.)

God's Word says that Baptism brings saving grace to the baptized (1 Peter 3:21), faith comes through hearing the Word about Jesus (Romans 10:17,) and that this faith isn't something we manufacture, but a gift from God (Philippians 1:29) 

Truth #7: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) If you believe that Jesus, the Lord, has covered your sin with His righteousness, the Holy Spirit has gifted you with faith.

"...no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Corinthians 12:3) If you trust in Jesus as your Lord, however imperfectly, live at ease in knowing that you belong to God forever. He has given you the gift of faith and you are His.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Romans 5:1)

God's peace to you.

The New Testament Book of Galatians, Part 3

To those without sin (or who suspect they're without sin)

“When they kept on questioning him, [Jesus] straightened up and said to them, ‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’” (John 8:7)

Jesus never denies that sin is real and damnable. But He has brought forgiveness and new life with God for we sinners. Live in and trust in Him and what He’s already accomplished for you through His cross and resurrection.

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Keeping the Law?

I read 2 Kings, chapter 2, as part of my quiet time with God this morning. It includes an account of Israel's King David on his deathbed, speaking with his son Solomon, who will succeed him.

David says, “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’" (1 Kings 2:2-4)

Now, if read in one way, this passage is almost laughable. If walking in obedience to God's Laws and commands means conformity to them, David himself failed. He notoriously committed adultery and murder.

But if obedience to God's Law means to turn back to God in repentance when that Law shows us to be the sinners we are, then David's words to Solomon are sensible and good.

We are all sinners. The Bible teaches that we all sin and fall short of God's glory. David himself admitted to having been born a sinner before having perpetrated his first sin (Psalm 51:5). Our entire inborn orientation is to ourselves and our own agendas. Recognizing that truth is important. It drives us to the God we meet in Jesus. Jesus, God AND human, was what C.S. Lewis called, "the perfect penitent." By His death on our behalf, He makes it possible for sinners like me to turn to Him in repentance and faith and be set free of the death I deserve so that I can receive the life only Jesus can give to me.

The only way we can keep God's Law is to recognize that it's right to condemn us and then hide ourselves in the gracious forgiveness of God.

That was true for David and the people of ancient Israel in Old Testament times.

And it's now true for all people today as we call on the God Who throws open His grace and forgiveness to all people in the crucified and risen Jesus.

You and I deserve death and condemnation. But Jesus has borne that for us. He has obeyed God's Law perfectly and covers the human race with the favor of God the Father earned by His perfect obedience.

Trust in that and live in freedom.

Please Pray for Us

 And, if you're able to attend, you're invited!

The Two Ways to Live

Below you'll find video of today's 11:00 AM worship service from Living Water Lutheran Church. It includes both the message, the text for which is below the video, and the children's message. Have a blessed week!



Mark 3:20-35

There are two ways we can live. We can live for the world. Or, we can live for Jesus.

The world, this fallen universe in which we all currently reside, has its benefits, of course. Go along with the world and we might experience things like acceptance, ease, money, comforts. There’s nothing wrong with any of those things intrinsically, of course. But they’re all the world can offer; they end at the grave. This world can do nothing for us when we die.

Jesus, on the other hand, can bless us is in this world and the next. All who have been saved by God’s grace given through faith in Jesus, live each day knowing that they walk with the Creator of the universe who loves and accepts them, sends them the Holy Spirit to guide them, and gives them life with God in an eternal existence in which things like death, terror, sorrow, pain, and need are no more.

When put like this maybe, the choice between living for the world and living for Jesus seems obvious. The problem, of course, is that life with Jesus tells us to trust that the God revealed in the crucified and risen Jesus we cannot see will give us the blessings God has in mind for us, here and, perfectly, beyond death. But life lived for this world gives us the license to grab and grasp all that we can see and take from it, no matter how it destroys our character or alienates us from God and from the life only God can give. It’s easier for us to grasp and grab than it is for us to trust. The former aligns with our sinful human nature, our inborn desire to be like God. The latter--trust, faith in the God we meet in Jesus--is unnatural. Faith only comes to us through the supernatural means by which God creates it in us: the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, and God’s Word.

And it is so easy for Christians to fall for the traps of the world, to be ensnared by Satan and his lies, confusing their moral codes and their “family values” with discipleship. This is why you find so many Christians today identifying their political preferences with their faith. They’ve forgotten that Jesus isn’t a Democrat or a Republican or an American or an Israeli. People who once walked with the God made known in Jesus can, like lost sheep looking for the next reassuring patch of fresh grass to feed on, wander into living for the world, its agendas, its comforts, and its obsessions rather than living for Jesus.

Today’s gospel lesson, Mark 3:20-35, contains two interwoven episodes, in which two groups of people are confronted by Jesus for walking with the world rather than with Him. For them, Jesus’ ministry didn’t come as good news--that is, it didn’t come to them as gospel. Instead, for them, what Jesus came into the world to do was bad news, disturbing news. When people walk with the world, even Jesus’ grace is bad news because it undermines their pretended goodness and self-sufficiency or their “way of life.” We see this in the two groups Jesus encounters today.

The first group is Jesus’ own earthly family, His mother, Mary, and the brothers born to Mary and Joseph. The gospels of Matthew and Luke report that Mary knew well Who Jesus was--God in human flesh. She knew better than anyone that Jesus was born from her virgin womb. She had been there when the angels and wise men, Simeon and Anna, had all confirmed Jesus’ identity as Messiah, Lord, and Savior. She had experienced Jesus as a Son Who had been utterly obedient and sinless. And yet, Mark tells us that after Jesus has gone into a house with His disciples, the house being symbolic of those walking with Jesus, Mary and the family from Nazareth show up in Capernaum to condemn Jesus. Verse 21: “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’” Jesus’ family is intent on taking Jesus by force back to Nazareth and putting an end to this whole Messiah business!

Why? Two answers immediately suggest themselves. One is that Jesus is seen not fulfilling His family obligations. The oldest son was supposed to take over the family business and estate. Yet, here’s Jesus out in the world to save everyone from sin, death, and darkness. Another possible reason is that the family is embarrassed by Jesus. It would be OK for Mary and the family to think of Jesus as Messiah within the confines of their four walls. But there could be pushback for the family to face if He pushed His Messiahship in public. “He’s crazy!” they say, effectively abandoning Jesus and walking with the world. Friends, it will often be your families who give you the most grief for your faith in Jesus Christ.

The second group in today’s lesson to reveal themselves as walking with the world rather than with Jesus is the scribes. Jesus is giving signs of the Good News from heaven He came into the world to bring: He is casting demons out of people plagued by evil and the devil. These exorcisms are signs that Jesus is God, the One Who can deliver us from evil, sin, and death. In them, as Jesus says later in the lesson, Jesus is plundering the house of Satan, setting free human beings born in bondage to sin and incapable of freeing themselves. Every exorcism, healing, and raising of the dead Jesus performs in His earthly ministry is a preview of the freedom for life with God He can give all people because He died on the cross, accepting the death punishment for sin we deserve and because He rose from the dead, affirming His power to give life to all! But the scribes say that Jesus is driving demons out in the power of Satan. Jesus says, “if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.” (Mark 3:26)

As a pastor, I’ve always tried to be flexible with families whenever sessions of Catechism, which our young people are required to be part of before making public affirmation of their Baptism, sometimes interfere with young people’s schedules. But I’ll never forget the chill I got when a woman told me that the time for one Catechism class conflicted with her son’s basketball game could only mean one thing. “Catechism,” she told me, “is demonic.” When people are walking with the world rather than Jesus, up becomes down. They’d rather grab hold of the world’s passing rewards than the gracious hand of Jesus. 

In today’s lesson, after fending off the scribes’ accusation, Jesus turns again to His family’s accusation that He’s crazy. Still standing outside the house, rather than going in to be with Jesus, His family sends someone in to say, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” (Mark 3:32) Unmoved, Jesus asks, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” (Mark 3:34) In other words, Jesus is asking, “Who really is related to Me? Who is connected with Me?”

He answers His own question. Pointing to those who surround Him in the house, He says, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:34-35) Jesus’ family is composed of people who are male and female, Jew and Gentile, of every nation, tongue, race, and tribe. It’s made of those who do the will of God. And what is that exactly? “The work of God is this,” Jesus says in John 6:29, “to believe in the One he has sent.” When we respond to Jesus’ call to daily repentance, renewal, and faith in Him, when we turn to Him,  we are living with Him. May you walk with Jesus always. Amen

The New Testament Book of Galatians, Part 2

Here's Part 2 of our Facebook Live study of the New Testament book of Galatians. It happens on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings at 9:00 PM ET. If you'd like to join us, leave a comment and I'll give you the contact information.

The New Testament Book of Galatians, Part 1

We began a new online study of the New Testament book of Galatians last night. Here's the video. We gather live on Facebook each Tuesday and Wednesday evening at 9:00 PM ET.

Two Gifts from the Holy Spirit

Here's worship from yesterday's 11:00 AM Pentecost Sunday service with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church. Seven young people affirmed their Baptismal covenant with God and the message addressed two major gifts that the Holy Spirit gives us disciples of Jesus Christ. Have a blessed week!

Living Impossible Love

Here, you'll find the video of in-person worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio for Sunday, May 2, 2021. Below that video, is the text from the message shared then.



John 17:1-8

Have you ever tried to do the impossible? 

When I was in the fourth grade, our teacher, Mrs. Everett told us that it was impossible for a human being to mark out a perfectly straight line across a piece of paper by hand. 

I went home that afternoon intent on proving her wrong. I pulled out a tablet of paper and drew a line across one page. I could see where I had gone off-course. I kept drawing and drawing lines until I was sure that I had created the perfect one. I placed a ruler next to it and found that I had actually swerved here and jumped there. That was no problem, I thought. I’d gotten close. I’ll draw another. 

But no matter how hard I tried, or how steadily or firmly I thought I held my pencil, unassisted, I could not, with a free hand, draw a perfectly straight line across the page. It was impossible.

Some people who call themselves Christians think that being a disciple of Jesus is a matter of being good. 

Such people fall into two broad categories. 

One category is made up of those who are sure they’ve got this whole “good” thing down, dismissing those who don’t measure up. 

Another category is composed of those people left miserable by the realization that they don’t measure up and either put on shows of righteousness or secretly give up on a life with God. 

But none of us is capable of being good. As Jesus, God-in-human flesh, said, “No one is good--except God alone. (Mark 10:18) 

Being good, that is, perfectly loving God and loving others, keeping the Ten Commandments, being righteous, is even more impossible than it was for me to draw a straight line across the page.

And yet, all Lutherans who have studied The Small Catechism know the Ten Commandments, the first three addressing our relationship with God (You shall have no other gods; you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy) and the last seven commandments addressing our relationship with every other human being with whom we share the planet (honor your father and your mother; you shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; and the ninth and tenth commandments that tell us not to covet what belongs to others). 

God not only wrote these commandments on stones for Moses and His ancient people Israel, the Bible says that He has also written them on our hearts. 

We’re all born knowing what’s right and wrong and having two fervent desires: to have everyone do right by us and to be able to freely do wrong to others. That’s why, as I’ve said before, one of the first words any child learns to say is, “NO!”

In today’s Gospel lesson, John 15:1-8, Jesus says that God--Jesus Himself--expects that every human being will bear fruit. “I am the true vine,” He says, “and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit…” (John 15:1-2) 

Anyone who fails to bear fruit is dead, forfeits life with God, and is condemned to separation from God for eternity. 

But what exactly does it mean to “bear fruit”? 

Paul refers to this when he speaks of “the fruit of the Spirit.” He says that “the fruit” that should be evident in our lives include “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23) 

The Ten Commandments say that these are the bottom-line behaviors--fruits--that should be present in every human life. 

Speaking for myself, I know that I do not measure up to these baseline standards. 

I might give evidence of some small measure of these “fruits” some days. 

Some days I love, but I don’t give my love to everyone every day. 

I live in joy, until my mood changes. 

And so on. 

I identify with that anonymous morning prayer, “Dear God, so far today, I've done all right. I haven't gossiped, and I haven't lost my temper. I haven't been grumpy, nasty, or selfish, and I'm really glad of that! But in a few minutes, God, I'm going to get out of bed, and from then on, I'm probably going to need a lot of help.” 

We know what fruit God wants us to bear and we consistently don’t bear it. 

We know God’s Law and we don’t--we can’t--keep it.

Many people come upon these two facts and decide that they need to get busy. They act like I did when Mrs. Everett said it was impossible for me to draw a straight line across a page with a free hand. They want to prove God and His Word wrong. 

The atheist will say, “There is no God, but I can be a good person.” 

The agnostic says, “I don’t know if there’s a God, but I don’t need God to be a good person.” 

The evangelical Christian says, ”I have decided to follow Jesus.” 

To the disciple of Jesus, each of these approaches will ring false. And the reason for that is simple. After telling us we are to bear fruit, Jesus also says: “...apart from me you can do nothing…” (John 15:5) 

God’s Law, the Law that demands that we live good lives and bear fruit is meant to silence all our self-righteousness, self-will, and self-absorption (even our self-reproach) and turn instead to the only One Who can imbue our lives with goodness, the only One Who can make it possible for us to do the impossible, bear fruit.

The good news is that Jesus has already done everything necessary for you and me to bear the fruit God expects of every human life. “You,” Jesus says to His disciples, both of the first- and twenty-first centuries, “are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you…” (John 15:3) Through His cross and resurrection into which we are baptized, Jesus has cleansed us of the power of sin and death over our lives. 

Jesus is God’s answer to our David’s prayer, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:2) And, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right[b] spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) 

Jesus’ Word to you today is that all, by the power of the Holy Spirit are able to confess faith in Jesus, are clean. 

All who continue to turn to Him will undergo the sometimes painful and difficult process of being pruned, cleansed, of sin, so that, by the presence of Jesus in our lives, we will bear the fruit of a life filled with Jesus. 

Every day, Jesus calls on us as He did the first-century church at Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:20) People who welcome Jesus into their lives will bear fruit. They will be made alive by the only One Who can re-write our lives: making the proud repentant, making the guilty innocent, making the sinner a saint.

It’s impossible for us to make ourselves clean, good, or to bear fruit. But when Christ is living in us, the impossible happens. Jesus tells us, “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…” (John 15:5) Jesus is saying that as we remain in Him, as He lives in us as our daily invited guest, He will even fill our praying with His power. We will begin to ask God for the good that He wants to do and not just for the ease we desire. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” (John 15:7-8)

We bear fruit, we do the impossible, by abiding--remaining--in Jesus, the Vine, not by trying to be “good people.” Abide, remain, rest in Jesus each day. He will save you from sin, the devil, and the grave and He will make you a branch who bears His fruit so that, through you, all the world will know and desire the God Who has saved you by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen

The Gospel of Luke 24:32-53

The Gospel of Luke 24:13-31

The Gospel of Luke 24:1-12

The Gospel of Luke 23:26-56

The Gospel of Luke 22:63-23:25

The Gospel of Luke 22:35-62

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 22:14-34

Where Easter Faith Comes From

Acts 3:11-21
Luke 24:36-49

One of the features of modern American life is that people tend to pay attention to news sources that mostly tell them what they want to hear. 

We can be like the people of ancient Israel who told the prophets of God: “Tell us pleasant things…” (Isaiah 39:10) They didn’t want to accept that before they could experience the pleasant things of God--things like forgiveness, new life, hope, peace--they would first need to acknowledge their sin, turn away from it, and turn in daily surrendering trust to God. They thought that they were nice people in no need of forgiveness, descendants of Abraham genetically guaranteed easy treatment by God. Such were the false pictures of reality they kept in their minds.

The truth is that we all carry false pictures of the way life is. And even when God shows us that our pictures are wrong, we resist. 

Most of us have no idea that our picture of reality is wrong though. We can be bundles of false assumptions, half-baked anecdotes, and self-serving conclusions. And because of these false pictures, we refuse to be confused by the truth. 

Even the truth that comes from God Himself.

“I do the best I can,” more than one person has told me when I’ve tried to impress on them their need of forgiveness and new life through faith in Jesus Christ. But our best can’t make us good enough for God or His kingdom. As Romans remind us: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 

Those “no ones” and those “alls” include you and me. Without an acknowledgment of our sinful condition and impulses...without daily turning to the God we know in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and new life, we have no hope of eternity with God. Without Christ, we won’t understand or accept that life, death, and eternity are beyond our control. Without Christ, we can’t be righteous. Without Christ, we’re born and we live damnable lives. If these facts make us uncomfortable, it means that God the Holy Spirit is disturbing our false pictures of reality. And that’s a good thing.

In both our first lesson and our Gospel lesson for today, we find God messing with people’s false pictures of reality, including ours. 

The first lesson comes from the New Testament book of Acts. It’s Luke the Evangelist’s account of roughly the first forty years of the Church’s life. Our lesson, Acts 3:11-21, takes place shortly after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven and the first Christian Pentecost. Peter and John have gone to the temple in Jerusalem. There, they encounter a paralyzed beggar. In the name of Jesus, Peter proclaims God’s healing to the man, who proceeds to walk, leap, and praise God. 

When this happens, people run to Peter and John, treating them as heroes. Peter is horrified. People should be giving thanks to God, not to Peter and John! But people, you know, would rather applaud a human being they think they can manipulate than applaud God Who is beyond human manipulation.

The crowd is then shocked after Peter tells them this miracle has been wrought in the name of Jesus and then goes after them. “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” (Acts 3:14-15) 

The people in this crowd likely thought of themselves as good souls, doers of God’s will. But Peter tells them they’re party to the killing of Jesus, God in the flesh! That doesn’t fit with their picture of themselves. 

Does it fit with your understanding of yourself? 

Do you understand that it’s our sin--yours and mine--that Christ had to bear on the cross to save us from ourselves? 

Until we take that truth in, we won’t be ready to hear what Peter says later in our lesson from Acts: “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.” (Acts 3:19-20)

Our Gospel lesson, Luke 24:36-49, is set on the evening of the first Easter Sunday. The disciples of Jesus discuss that some of their party have seen the risen Jesus. Suddenly, Jesus’ appears. 

But, despite the risen Jesus’ presence, Luke says they thought “they saw a ghost.” (Luke 24:37) 

No matter the reports of Jesus’ resurrection they’d heard or the promises that Jesus had made that He would rise or the fact that the risen Savior is standing before them, they can’t shake their picture of reality that said dead don’t people don’t rise again. 

In verse 38, Jesus asks why they’re agitated and trying to explain away His appearance among them. He’s no ghost and He offers two proofs that He is bodily resurrected: He shows them His scars and He eats some broiled fish. Jesus goes on to show how the entire Old Testament had pointed to His death and resurrection.

But it’s one thing to know facts. It’s another for those facts to change the way we view reality. Accept God’s truth, His true picture of reality, and you need to accept that you’re a sinner in need of saving. You have to accept that only God can do the saving. You have to trust that only the God revealed in Jesus can give us the righteousness that qualifies us for life in God’s eternal kingdom. You have to accept that there is nothing good or meritorious about us, that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. 

We are stubborn creatures though. How do we lay aside our self-serving, self-righteous, self-congratulating, self-aggrandizing, and even self-pitying pictures of reality to embrace the vision of God that calls us to see both our sin and God’s grace in Christ?

Luke shows us how in verse 45 of our Gospel lesson. He writes: “Then [Jesus]  opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.” God’s Word comes to us both as a mallet that shows us that we’re sinners in need of salvation and as God’s gift of the repentance and faith in Jesus that frees us from sin, death, and darkness! God’s Word breaks open our minds, helping us to see the truth that we are sinners and that Jesus Christ died and rose to save sinners! Jesus told the first disciples and He tells us, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations...” (Luke 24:46-48)

This is the God-given picture of reality that is so foreign to our sinful natures that we won’t believe--can’t believe it--unless, as Jesus did for the disciples on the first Easter Sunday evening, God opens our minds to see the truth that comes from God alone.

Martin Luther explains this in The Small Catechism: "I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith."

A man I knew grew up in an unchurched family. He married a Lutheran girl and, initially just to placate her, began attending worship with her. Later, he got involved with a Bible study and took an adult catechism class. Imbued with an analytical mind and being one of those people who could do anything, making him self-sufficient, the Bible’s picture of reality that we are sinners in need of saving and that God alone gives salvation through Jesus, was completely foreign to him. But as God’s Word did its work and opened his mind, his view of reality changed. Never have I known a more joyous Christian disciple! After God opened his mind to repentance and faith in Jesus, he challenged people he knew to set aside six consecutive Sundays to participate in Christian worship. “If you can make yourself miss the seventh Sunday, I’ll never talke with you about Jesus again.” He knew that God’s Word has the power to open up minds and hearts to the love and new life Jesus wants to give all people.

God’s Word has that same power today, friends! May God’s Word give you a true picture of reality. May you see that your desperate need of forgiveness and new life has, in Jesus the crucified and risen One, been met by the God Who desperately loves you: Loves you passionately, unswervingly, completely. And may you, like my friend, the early Church, and generations of faithful Christians, share the picture of the God we see in Jesus. Jesus is God’s Word of love for the whole human race. Amen