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Dead Faith and Resurrection Values: James 2:14-18

  Ordinary Time What good is it, my sacred family members, if a man says ‘I have faith,’ but has no deeds to show for it?   Can that kind of ‘faith’ set him free and make him whole?   15 If a family member or any human being has no clothes to wear or no food to eat, 16 and you say, ‘Go in peace, stay warm, and eat well,’ but fail to give what is needed, what good have you done? 17 In the same way, without deeds, faith by itself is dead.   18 But someone will say, ‘Faith is what is needed,’ while another says, ‘Good deeds are what is needed.’   I say that both are needed.   You show me your faith without good deeds, and I will show you my faith by the good deeds I have done.   (First Nations Version)             In case you didn’t know, church folk are a tad dramatic.   We, like most people, want to be right, and to have everyone know we’re right, and for everyone else to agree with us because then they would also be right—which is, of course, not specific to the Church at all.  
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Rearranging Deck Chairs: 1 Peter 4:7-11

  Communion Sunday, Ordinary Time The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.  8  Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.  9  Be hospitable to one another without complaining.  10  Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received .  11  Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.  (NRSVue)             “The most notable fact in religion today is that ministers of all denominations are trying, somewhat desperately but with immense energy and imagination, to find new ways to carry God back into the everyday life of society and to make him, in the prevailing cliche of the day, ‘relevant.’ This is not primari
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Chosen Family: Mark 3:20-35

  Ordinary Time Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.  21  When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”  22  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”  23  And he called them to him and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?  24  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.  25  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand .  26  And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come.  27  But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. 28  “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter,  29  but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Sp
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Mission, Vision, Values: Matthew 28:16-20

  Trinity Sunday Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but they doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “ All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you . And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age .” (NRSVue)             A congregant said to a colleague of mine once that she clearly needed to have some extra training as a pastor because the congregation wasn’t growing.   My colleague asked what the congregant was doing to grow in their own faith and the person looked at her with scorn; the purpose of a pastor is to grow a church, they said, and to make sure there were people to step up to take over leadership roles when that person and their friends decided to s
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