25.A, Ordinary Time 30, the 19th Sunday after Pentecost

"It leaves each generation with a new challenge: how do we speak about God in Christ in a way that communicates the essence of the good news to people in our culture?"
"First Thoughts on Year A Gospel Passages in the Lectionary," Pentecost 19, William Loader, Murdoch University, Uniting Church in Australia.

“Being a Christan is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Prayer

Drive from our hearts the idols this world worships, money, and power, privilege and prestige, that we may be free to serve you alone, and, by loving our neighbor as ourselves, may make your Son's new commandment of love the law that governs every aspect of our lives.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts: Matthew 22:34-46

I have decided that the world would truly be better off if people (including myself) would follow this very basic rule - this summary of the law given in this passage.

We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how we are to follow Jesus and what it is that we are supposed to be doing.  Truth is it is not that difficult.

We are to: love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

In Paul's letter to the Galatians he claims that the summary of the law is from Leviticus 19:18: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord."  This passage is the most often used passage in the Gospel of Matthew and here in Jesus' teachings we see it once again reflecting what was an essential ingredient in Jesus' own teaching and in the teaching of the early church. (Allison/Davies, Matthew, 247ff)  This statement fulfills the moral commands of the whole of the Decalogue from the rabbinic perspective and so we see that Jesus continues this teaching yet with a few changes.

 

Just as Jesus broadens the family of Abraham with a Gospel mission to all people; so too does he broaden the burden of the Decalogue's teaching beyond the neighbor who is family to include all people.  His command is one that is universal.  The Christian in fulfilling all righteousness (as did Jesus) must love all people and work for their well being.  This is the very core of what it means to be a Christian - to love others and work for their well being.  The mission of the Gospel is a message for all people and our love for neighbor is to be an action to all people.  Just as Jesus came into the world so we are sent with all power and authority to love all of his who are in the world.

 

The other piece of Jesus' teaching which is important is his understanding that the measure of our love for others is a measure revealed of our love towards God.  In other words, so connected is God to all the people of his creation, that one cannot measure your love of God without the measurement of your love for all people.

 

To love God with all that we are and all that we have is ultimately incarnated in our love for ourselves and the people in our lives and whom we meet. 

 

So why is it that the reality is that we can all name people, indeed we can convict ourselves (I can convict myself) for a lack of love of God based upon my lack of love for my self and my neighbor.  The reason is quite simple and that is that we just flat out don't love God and we don't love our neighbor more than we love our self.  The age old truth about human anthropology is this - we just are bound and determined to create the world in our own image, run things for our own self-service, and insure that we are cared for first and last over and above the needs of everyone else.  Sure on my best days I can do okay on this love others bit. We should cut our selves some slack...I mean we do a lot of good work as a community and I know a lot of saints of God who do amazing service in the name of God. That is true.  But mostly we serve ourselves. It is true. And, we should own it.

 

Our world and our church runs on the notion that we can create laws and ordinances, canons and policies, that will guide the human being into right action. 

 

We believe in our own needs so much that we universalize them pretending they are God's desires for us and God's desires for our neighbors.

 

What is the solution, like the pietist I say measure in the privacy of your own heart your life and actions and words (including emails) towards others.  Set a rule of life which offers opportunity to reflect on how you are doing.  Get into an accountability group of some kind and see a spiritual director or seek the guidance of clergy.  Your rule should also include confession.  Take stock and confess honestly how you have fallen short.  Only by doing this will you have the ability to reflect on opportunities to more carefully live into the virtue of Jesus' directions.  Only then will you rest upon the Grace of God and Jesus Christ for the strength to try again.  Go to church and place yourself in the presence of the God you love and see there in the community others struggling to love themselves, love others, and love God.  Join in a bible study and discern you ministry and what God would have you do. 

 

Most of all act.  Do outreach. Serve the poor. Help your neighbor. Look for opportunities to do something good for someone every day and don't tell anyone about it.  That is one of the best take aways from my years in Alanon.  Do something good, help someone, and don't brag about it.  Begin to see that your life is better when it is focused on others and helping others with their needs. 

 

Allison and Davies write this about this passage, "Jesus' words fulfil the law and the prophets; religious duties are to be performed not for human approval but grow out of the intimate relationship wit the heavenly Father, out of love for and devoted service to him; and the neighbour is to be loved and treated as one loves and treats oneself." (247)

 

When I die I would hope the simple life of having loved my neighbor will be a measure adequate for my fellows to say I was a faithful follower of Jesus Christ; and for my God to see that I have worshiped him in all faithfulness. 

 

A Little Bit for Everyone

Oremus Online NRSV Text


General Resources for Sunday's Lessons


Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel

The Scripture:

Matthew 22:34-46

34When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38This is the greatest and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: 42“What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, 44‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? 45If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

The Lambeth Bible Study Method

This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.

The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.


Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question

Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.

2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.

3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.

4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.

5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.

6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.

7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"

8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.

9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."

Martin Luther, the great Roman Catholic reformer and first protestant, called John 3.16 the "heart of the Gospel" and still others have called it the Gospel in miniature. (For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.) So we might unravel this teaching of Jesus for us today as the short course in Christian virtue.

Proper 24.A, Ordinary Time 29, 18th Sunday after Pentecost, October 16, 2011

"But when Jesus says “give to God the things that are God’s,” we know that he can’t possibly be endorsing such a distinction—for everything is God’s! The whole conversation with the Pharisees is another one of Jesus’ dead-serious jokes. We have to see the subversive smile on his face, hear the irony (and impatience) in his voice. Jesus is talking about coins and taxes but he’s really talking about power and ultimate loyalty, about pledging allegiance not to Caesar’s economy but to God’s alone. He’s offering a tutorial on the economics of the Kingdom."Debra Dean Murphy at the Ecclesia Project

Prayer

Let those who exercise authority over others defer always to the primacy of conscience; and help us to use rightly the freedom you have given us, that we may fulfill Jesus' teaching, by rendering to others what is rightfully theirs but rendering to God alone the deepest loyalty of our hearts.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts: Matthew 22:15-22
As we have noted we are in the midst of a confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders of his day.
The passage for this week is the passage on giving to God what is God's.  The leaders in the story are trying to get Jesus to make a seditious statement, a revolutionary statement so they can accuse him and dismantle his ministry.

This is a masterful moment of play and humor. It is masterful moment of debate in which Jesus is seen outclassing his verbal opponents.  The reality is that all things are God's. So Caesar can think that coin is his and we should indeed give it to him. But the message is clear all things are Gods.

This is not an argument for a division about church and state. Surely, Christians over the years have understood that they have a virtuous citizen role to play in the world of government and politics.  But this text is far from being a text that offers a view on the nature of our current debate between religion and the public square.

In this passage Jesus is clear: all things are God's.  Even in the subtext as we see the plotting and the future revelation that Jesus is surely to die for his teaching and for his eating with undesirables (as taught in the previous weeks text and lived out by Jesus) we are sure that God will prevail. Even the person hood of Jesus is God's own possession.  The workings of the state may indeed crucify and torture but the kingdom will belong to God and to his son Jesus.

So this Sunday, situated in the midst of the fall, is located right in the middle of many a stewardship campaign.  And, I think the message Jesus offers his detractors and the people around him is just as applicable today.

Every week we proclaim through the Nicene Creed a particular kind of God. We proclaim and give voice to a God whom we have faith in is the very one who has created all things and for whom all things were made.  The whole of creation was ordered and breathed into that it might reflect the glory of God.  Our Gospel today reminds us that in fact all things are God's.

This flies into the face of our modern conception of stewardship.  We teach and we preach that God gave us all things and so we are to give back to God.  That is not the same thing though.  When we teach that we change the meaning of the whole text and the whole of scripture.

The reality is that all things are created by God and all things are God's.  So the question isn't what am I supposed to do with my 5% or how do I get to my tithe goal. 

The chief stewardship question I would challenge you to ask the members of your congregation is this: If all things are God's how does God want me to use everything?

That is a radical notion.  Yet it fits with the understanding of creation. It fits with the understanding of Christian stewardship in the New Testament. It is very uncomfortable and it is so culturally foreign to Americans that most people will not preach it and when it is preached most people won't be able to hear it.

If all things are God's how does God want me to use everything?

You see when we get this confused and we then adapt the stewardship notion (the idea that all things are God's and we are God's stewards) then what we get is the idea that the owner has actually given over the property to the steward. That really the steward is the owner.  When the steward becomes the owner then there is a new owner, and that owner is not God. 

It is a very subtle concept. Perhaps it is so subtle that our authorities challenging Jesus don't even get his joke.  You see we can pretend all we want. Yet as we are reminded on ash Wednesday and at every funeral: dust we are dust we shall return.  Yep. All things are God's, they are God's now, and they will be God's when we are finished using them. 

The very heart of stewardship is understanding that all that we have and all that we are is God's and purposed for God's use. The only stewardship question is how does God want me to use all this stuff!

There is another more sinister stumbling block in this text and that is the one that is sneakily portrayed by the emperor's image.  You see we, not wholly unlike the emperor, believe most days we deserve what we have. We deserve what we have, in fact we deserve more than what we have. Remember the one with the most toys wins.  That's right.  The reality is that most of us Americans are still firmly rooted in the false notion that if we work hard God will bless us, if we believe right God will bless us, if we do the right things God will bless us.  Therefore, all the stuff we have is because God blessed us.  No matter how you look at it the second most human way of life (behind it is all mine) is the notion that the more I have the better I am. 

In varying degrees all humans are hoarders.

We believe if we can have it, possess it, keep it, hide it, collect it, then we are good, safe, whole, and holy.

I love the wake up call that Charles Lane gives in his book Ask, Thank, Tell: Improving stewardship ministry in your congregation.  He writes:

Our American culture has trumpeted the "self-made man at least since the time of Horatio Alger. The rags to riches story of a person who has pulled himself or herself up by the bootstraps and made something out of nothing has a long-standing place in our nation's mythology. We tend to take a very individualistic view of "success," ignoring the multitude of complicated factors that have caused one person to achieve wealth and power, while others have not.  ...Countless forces over which we have no control have helped make us what we are. The brains and the hard work for which we want to take credit for are God's, and God entrusts them to us.

What we have should not focus our attention on how kingly, wealthy, or blessed we are, it should make us ponder and think about how God would have me help others with what I have been given.  How do I as a steward of God's stuff understand and enact the kingdom of God?

We are not unlike the Roman legions occupying the holy land who produced that coin Jesus held many years ago.  We occupy our fortresses and we think only of the small offerings we should make to the Lord our God who has created all things, gives them life, and by his hand has brought them into being.

We are invited into a sacred relationship with the gardener, with the vineyard owner, with the one who is God above all Gods, Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.  And we are given the privilege of serving as stewards for all things come from thee O'Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.  All things are God's and we have the honor as stewards to ask how God wishes us to use all things. 

Only when we begin here by opening our eyes to our faithful claim of a creator God and our role as stewards may we begin the journey of discernment about how to use God's stuff.


A Little Bit for Everyone

Oremus Online NRSV Text


General Resources for Sunday's Lessons


Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel

The Scripture:
Matthew 22:15-22

15Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. 16So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. 17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” 21They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.


The Lambeth Bible Study Method

This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.

The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.


Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question

Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.

2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.

3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.

4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.

5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.

6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.

7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"

8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.

9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."

Proper 23.A, Ordinary Time 28, 17th Sunday after Pentecost, October 9, 2011

"The parables of Christ, even the innocent, pastoral, tender, innocuous-seeming ones, conceal just below the surface a whiplash, a shock, a charge of dynamite. The stories set conventional expectations, whether concerning God, religion, politics, vocation, status and class, utterly off kilter."

"A Parable for Today, If Not Tomorrow - The Parable of the King's Banquet," Daniel Berrigan, National Catholic Reporter, 2001.

Prayer

Open our community to all who seek you, and adorn it with the rich diversity which is your Spirit's special gift. Let our assembly on each Lord's Day bear witness as a living sign to the banquet of eternal life where all will be welcome.

From Prayers for Sunday and Seasons, Year A, Peter J. Scagnelli, LTP, 1992.


Some Thoughts: Matthew 22:1-14

So the reality is that this parable continues themes from the preceding lessons in the Matthean text.  One of those themes is greatly defined by Jesus' own mission in contrast to the authorities of his own day; and the contrast between the growing Matthean community and the religious authorities some sixty+ or so years after Jesus' resurrection.  We can do a great deal of harm if we are not again careful with how we set up this parable.  The danger for the preacher is that the divisions of the past can easily slip into hatred for others today. I would think that no good preacher wishes to (intentionally or unintentionally) create hatred for any ethnic or other religious group. Moreover, when we focus on this one aspect of the text we completely miss what the text is saying to us today.

The second them is the one that I think has the most traction from our pulpits today in our particular context.  We are a church that is in the midst of a great and diverse global society. We are a church that sits ethnically divided and does not typically represent the community around us.  It is easy to see this when we graph out the ethnic diversity of our church or the age diversity of the church.  For instance:

From the Episcopal Church FACT pdf you find this information from 2010:

Participants and Members

The median Episcopal congregation had 160 active members in 2009, down from 182 in 2003.The median Episcopal congregation had 160 active members in 2009, down from 182 in 2003.

The membership of the median Episcopal congregation was 60% female.The membership of the median Episcopal congregation was 60% female.

The majority of Episcopalians are white/European American (86.7%). The second largest racial/ethnic population is African American or Black (6.4%), followed by Latinos (3.5%).The majority of Episcopalians are white/European American (86.7%). The second largest racial/ethnic population is African American or
Black (6.4%), followed by Latinos (3.5%).

In 94% of Episcopal congregations one racial/ethnic group predominates. 86.2% of Episcopal congregations are mostly white, 5.6% are multi-racial, and 4.9% are predominantly Black.In 94% of Episcopal congregations one racial/ethnic group predominates. 86.2% of Episcopal congregations are mostly white, 5.6% are multi-racial, and 4.9% are predominantly Black.

Regarding age the FACT pdf has these statistics:

The large majority (69%) of Episcopal congregations report that more than half of their members are age 50+.

Age Structure of the USA and TEC: 2010

Episcopalians tend to be older than the general population. Overall, 30% of Episcopal members are age 65+, as compared to only 13% of the U.S. population.

The Episcopal Church has proportionately fewer children, youth and young adults.

Episcopalians tend to be older than the general population. Overall, 30% of Episcopal members are age 65+, as compared to only 13% of the U.S. population.

The Episcopal Church has proportionately fewer children, youth and young adults.

Episcopal parishes and missions with greater proportions of older members (age 65+) tend to be smaller in average attendance and are more often found in rural and small town settings.Episcopal parishes and missions with greater proportions of older members (age 65+) tend to be smaller in average attendance and are more often found in rural and small town settings.

You can download this information (pdf file) and other interesting facts about our church at this website. 

I bring this all up because the second theme of the text is that the kingdom of God is passing from one generation to another. The kingdom of God was once something that meant belonging to a particular group but now through the ministry and mission of Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit, God's fuller plan of inviting the whole world into fellowship and kinship is underway.

The parable tells us first and foremost that the kingdom of God is the (will be in the end) a fulfillment of a universal mission.

The cautions of the text are well put by the scholars Allison and Davies who write in there third volume on Matthew:

The evangelist was all too aware that criticism of others as ell as the doctrine of election are both fraught with moral peril; for the former tends to nourish complacency -- censure of our enemies always makes us feel better about ourselves -- while the latter can beget feelings of superiority...the two things can foster illusions...Thus it is that Christian readers of 22:1-14, who necessarily identify with those at the king's banquet, cannot read the text and feel self-satisfaction over the wrath that overtakes others. They must, as the homilies on this text throughout the centuries prove, instead ask whether they are like the man improperly clothed, whether they are among 'the many' despite profession to be among 'the few.'  God's judgement comes upon all, including those within the ecclesia.  The author of 1 Peter well understood this when he wrote that judgement begins with the household of God. (p 208)

In this light and in light of the particular reflection of the kingdom of God we offer as a church we might readdress the parable and ask ourselves the following questions.  Are we going out on behalf of our householder? Are we going out and inviting all to come to the banquet feast?  Are we accepting the invitation to sit at the table and to invite others? Are we willing to invite and/or to sit at the table with both the good, the bad, and the ugly?  Are we really interested in sitting in a filled banquet hall?  Are we prepared for the feast?  The question is not so much are you wearing the right clothes but are you  ready to invite, connect, and welcome the people God intends to gather around for the wedding feast?

This Sunday many a sermon will focus on the violence of this parable. Some will focus on the "us and them" reading. Some will speak out only to make the insider feel better.  The truth teller will challenge their community gathered to go out into the streets and gather in God's people, the sacred people of God, created by God, a diversity of ethnicities and beliefs. Yes the preacher this week who speaks the truth will be the preacher who challenges our church to a missionary imperative of sharing the Gospel.

No, we do not intend to preach a Gospel that does violence to others but a Gospel of love which binds us together in the harmony of God's community. We shall invite with our actions of care and hospitality. We shall gather God's people in through actions which incarnate the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I do believe in judgement; it happens every day. But I will tell you that I wish to be judged on the love and the kindness I show to my fellow man. I wish to be judged on the Gospel of love which invites all into God's heavenly embrace. I wish to sit at the table with the good and the bad, the old and the young, people of every color and people of every language.  After all...aren't those always the very best dinner parties?

A Little Bit for Everyone

Oremus Online NRSV Text


General Resources for Sunday's Lessons


Textweek Resources for this week's Gospel

The Scripture:

Matthew 22:1-14

22.1Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ 5But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14For many are called, but few are chosen.”

The Lambeth Bible Study Method

This Bible study method was introduced by the African Delegation to the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Church. It is known by both names: "Lambeth" and "African." This method is derived from the practice of Lectio Divina. The entire process should take about 30 minutes.

The Kaleidescope Institute has reworked the questions somewhat and can be found here.


Question #5: "Briefly identify where this passage touches their life today," can change based upon the lesson. Find lesson oriented questions at this website: http://www.dcdiocese.org/word-working-second-question

Opening Prayer: O Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning. Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

1. One person reads passage. This person then invites a member of the group to begin the process.

2. Each person briefly identifies the word or phrase that catches their attention then invites another person to share.

3. Each shares the word or phrase until all have shared or passed using the same invitation method.

4. The passage is read a second time, preferably from a different translation. The reader then invites a person in the group to begin the process.

5. Each person briefly identifies where this passage touches their life today, and then invites someone who has not shared yet.

6. The passage is read a third time, also from another translation, and the reader invites a person to start the process.

7. Each person responds to the questions, "What does God want me to do, to be or to change?"

8. The group stands up in a circle and holds hands. One person initiates the prayer “I thank God today for …” and “I ask God today for…” The prayer goes around the circle by squeezing the hand to your right.

9. When the circle is fulfilled, the person who initiated the prayer starts the Lord’s Prayer, “Our father..."