Following Jesus (Christian Basics: Week 2)

[Preface: Sometimes, we just need to let the Bible speak for itself. This is one of those times. "Following" is a huge deal in the Bible. Just think about these passages, which will be read by different readers from our church.]

Matthew 14:22-33 (SeongHwan) “Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.
Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, ‘It’s a ghost!’
“But Jesus spoke to them at once. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’
“Then Peter called to him, ‘Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.’
“‘Yes, come,’ Jesus said.
“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he shouted.
“Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. ‘You have so little faith,’ Jesus said. ‘Why did you doubt?’
“When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. ‘You really are the Son of God!’ they exclaimed.”



Numbers 14:24 (Chaplin) “But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 (SooHee) “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them," you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.”

2 Kings 18:5-7 (Ron K.) “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses. And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook.”

2 Chronicles 34:29-31 (Nick) “Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the LORD with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the LORD. The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD -to follow the LORD and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.”

Matthew 4:18-22 (Jocel) “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.
“Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
Matthew 9:9-13 (Amelia) “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. ‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
“While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’
“On hearing this, Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’”
Matthew 16:24-26 (Eve) “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?’”

Matthew 19:21-22 (Elizabeth) “Jesus answered, ‘If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

Luke 14:27-33 (Yoni) “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'
“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

John 1:43 (John) “The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’”

John 8:12 (Sevints) “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

John 12:24-26 (Terry) “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”

John 20:21-22 (Michael) “Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’”

Romans 15:5-7 (Hanna) “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 - 11:1 (Ben) “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God— even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

1 Peter 2:21 (SoonJung) “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”

1 John 2:3-6 (Lindsey) “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”


Being a Christian IS following Jesus. If you are not following Jesus, you are not a Christian. If you are not giving everything you have to learn to be like Jesus, you are not yet fully a Christian.
We have three basic trouble points when it comes to following Jesus. First, sometimes we don’t know what it really means to follow Jesus. Does it mean going to church? Does it mean reading the Bible? Does it mean being kind to others? Does it mean giving money to the church and to the poor? Yes, it means all of those things, but it means so much more. It goes so much deeper!
Following Jesus means living like Jesus. Following Jesus means loving like Jesus. So that raises more questions:
How would Jesus live if he were here today in the 21st century?
Would Jesus use the internet or Ipods or airplanes?
Would Jesus take the subway or the KTX? Would it depend on how much time he had?
How would Jesus work as an English teacher, as a factory manager, as a mom?
We have a lot of questions about following Jesus. We read the Bible, and it’s hard to make the transition from dusty sandals and donkeys to Nikes and Hyundaes.
Sometimes, I remember what I heard from an old preacher, Rueben Welch. He said, “There are a lot of things in the Bible that I don’t understand - a lot. Sometimes that bothers me. But what really disturbs me, what really keeps me up at night, is the parts of the Bible that I do understand.”
Questions are good. Questions are important. But we can get stuck asking questions. We can get so stuck in our doubts, that we miss the obvious truths. “Love God. Love people.” That is not difficult to understand. It may be difficult to DO, but it is not difficult to understand. Following Jesus means modeling our lives after the basics of Jesus life - wholehearted love for God and people. We live like Jesus lived. We love like Jesus loved.

Our second trouble point with following Jesus is that we don’t trust Jesus. Jesus’ way is counter-intuitive. Jesus said both, “Take up your cross and follow me,” and “I have come so that you may have abundant life.” So which is it Jesus? A cross or a blessed life? Jesus’ way seems upside down. “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” How can we get something by giving it away? It doesn’t make sense.
So we don’t trust Jesus. We hear Jesus’ telling us to give to others, but all we can think about is how we need to save our money for this project or how we have really been wanting that new thing. We hear Jesus saying that we should leave revenge up to God, but we know it will feel so good to say that little jab about that person who hurt us. We know that Jesus would invite that lonely person to lunch after church, but it’s so much fun just to hang with the same old friends. We don’t actually trust that Jesus’ way is the best way, so we don’t follow. Because we don’t trust that Jesus’ way is the way to true life, we keep living our old life.
During Lent, I challenge you to return to the basics. Trust Jesus. Trust Jesus’ way of life, and follow Jesus.

Our third trouble point with following Jesus is that we don’t trust ourselves. Rob Bell talked about that in our video. Being a disciple is learning to be like the Master. When we become Christians. We are committing our lives to becoming like Jesus.
Peter stepped out of the boat. Peter was walking on the water - being like Jesus. But then he doubted. Whom did he doubt? My translation actually puts an extra word in Jesus’ mouth, “Why did you doubt me?” That’s how we usually understand that passage. We think Peter doubted Jesus, and so he started to sink. But the original Greek text just says, “Why did you doubt?”
So we have to ask again, “Whom was Peter doubting?” I don’t think Peter was doubting Jesus. Jesus was standing there walking on the water. Jesus had already proven himself. Their boat was “far away from land,” and Jesus had walked all the way out to them. Jesus wasn’t sinking. Peter didn’t doubt Jesus. Peter doubted Peter. Peter doubted himself. Peter doubted in his own ability to be like Jesus.
We are so like that! One of our biggest problems in following Jesus is that we just don’t believe that we can. We don’t believe that we really can be like Jesus, so we settle for so much less. We don’t believe that we can really love like Jesus, so we settle for a half-way love. We don’t believe that we really can give like Jesus, so we settle for just giving enough to keep us from feeling guilty. We don’t believe we can really befriend outsiders like Jesus, so we tell ourselves that way of life isn’t really realistic.
We don’t believe in ourselves, so we life half the life Jesus is calling us to live. We don’t believe in ourselves, so we give God half the space he wants in our lives. We don’t believe in ourselves, so we only go half way in following Jesus.
Here’s the thing. Jesus believes in us. Jesus chose us. Jesus calls us. Jesus has laid down his life for us, so that we can follow him. He knows we’re broken and messed up. He knows we’ve sinned. He knows we’re probably going to sin again. He knows everything about us, but he still calls us. He still believes in us. He still believes we can be like him.
And here’s the amazing thing. We can. We can be like Jesus. We can live like Jesus. We can love like Jesus. The same Spirit lives in us. The same Spirit guides us. The same Spirit empowers us.
Following Jesus is simple, really. Love God. Love people. This is the path to real life - even when it passes through death. Today, as we continue in Lent, let’s confess that we have not been following Jesus well, and let’s ask God to pour his Spirit into our hearts and help us to follow Jesus anew. We can. By his grace and by his Spirit, we can.

Gospel and Church

February 14, 2010
Josh BrowardThe Gospel and The Church
Gospel Series: Week 4
Isaiah 2:1-5; 1 Peter 2:9-12; Matthew 5:1-16

This week, we are finishing our series on the Gospel. Maybe this is a good time for a little review. First, we need to read the Bible forwards, not backwards. And when we do read the Bible forward, understanding each new step in the context of the building story, an amazing picture emerges. The Gospel is that God is on a mission to heal the whole world, and God is starting by healing us - even though we don’t deserve it. Amazingly, God wants us to help! We can become farmers of the Gospel. Through service to the poor, loving friendships, planting seeds of truth, waiting, and watering, we can help the Gospel grow and take root in our world.
This week we are exploring what it means for us as the Church to live the Gospel. To help us understand this, I need to describe two other communities first.

We usually spend time with Sarah’s family in Iowa every summer. A few years ago, we visited the Iowa Living History Farm. Through volunteers and paid staff, they re-enact what life was like on farms in Iowa throughout history. It’s pretty cool.
We were overwhelmed with sensory experiences. We could see with our eyes what a village street was like. We could hear the sound of our own feet on the village board walk. We could go in and out of different stores: the drug store, the doctor’s office, the post office, the general mercantile, the lawyer’s office, and town hall.
We smelled the cookies baking in the oven. (But they wouldn’t let us have any cookies because then their 18th century kitchen would have to meet 21st century health code standards. That was torture!)
We could smell hay in the barn and touch the hot sweaty side of a horse after he plowed a field. We could stand in the hay and feel it poking at our ankles.
We could taste old fashioned root beer and rock candy.
We could go into the black smith’s work shop and hear the pounding of his hammer on the metal. We could feel the heat of his fires on our skin. Just standing in his workshop made us sweat!
We were also able to get even more personal through explorative action. We discovered that back in the day, one of Iowa’s biggest crops was broom corn. We actually got to use some of their 200 year old machines to practice making brooms. (It was fun, but I think I’ll stick to preaching.)
Speaking of preaching, we visited the village church. I stood behind the pulpit and tried to imagine what it would be like to preach to a farming community 200 years ago. [10] Emma even decided to get in on the preaching action.
Emma also discovered that milk doesn’t really come from boxes at Lotte Mart. It actually comes from cows, and she was able to milk a cow. That’s a whole new level of involvement. It gives morning cereal a whole new meaning!
Under a shade tree, we saw a volunteer and his grandson splitting wood for fence posts. Sarah’s dad and Emma and I all took turns with the axe or wedge to split some wood. I was very happy it was only a 10 minute stop and not a 10 hour work day! My next stop was to dunk my head under the water at the hand pumped well. And let me just tell you: well water is COLD!
Something really interesting happened as we walked through this community from a different time. Seeing and touching all of those old things, experimenting with hand tools and farm work - all of that led to stimulated education. It peeked our curiosity. It got us interested and wanting to learn more.
I have never had the desire to study the ancient art of black smithery. However, standing in front of a man hammering out a horse shoe, made me ask questions I had never imagined.
Who sits at home and says, “I think I’ll pick up a book about furniture in the early 1800’s” ? If you’re not a history major, you’re probably not going to tell your friends, “ I’d really like to learn more about household appliances on prairie farms in the last few centuries.” But standing inside a replica of a 200 year old house, we stopped to read the plaques on the walls describing the furniture and implements in each room.
Very few people would actually be interested in these things in a normal world setting, but the proximity and intensity of the Living History Farm inspires our interest. The experience stimulates our desire to learn more. We want to understand the why’s and how’s of what we are seeing and touching.
Iowa’s Living History Farms’ mission is to tell “the story of the changes in Midwestern agriculture and rural life.” They believe that “by showing authentic models of historical and modern farming, Living History Farms enables visitors to observe and participate in these processes and relate them to their lives.”1 The point of the Living History Farm is to help people understand through experience what life was like in another time and culture.

Many of us have done something similar here in Korea. Many of us have visited the Korean Folk Village (HanGook MinSokChon) in Suwon. If you haven’t been yet, I highly recommend it. It’s a great way to learn about Korean history and culture.
The Korean Folk Village also has lots of sensory experiences. Twice a day, there is a SaMul Nori music and dance performance with the traditional dancers with the twirly hats. I’m always amazed at how they can do that with out getting dizzy!
Right after the music, the acrobats are up, and I mean UP! Those girls can JUMP! I think I might look down and just crumple into a ball and that would be the end of the trick - SPLAT!
If you’re willing to pay the price, you can sit in a traditional Korean Tea House and experience Korean tea served the same way it has been served for hundreds of years.
Emma really liked the chicken house. She wanted to put her fingers through the cage and pet them. There was a little too much sensory experience for me - lots of clucking and lots of lovely chicken poop!

You can also do some explorative action at the Korean Folk Village. Emma’s favorite part was riding a horse. She wanted to keep going round and round. When the ride was over and we got off, she begged and begged to go again. We said, “We’re sorry honey, but it costs money.” She said, “I have 3 beg won coins. Is that enough?” She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just keep riding all day.
Here are some middle school girls exploring the history of corporal punishment. I think she’s imagining her teacher down there: “More homework? Take this! Quit sleeping in class?! Well, take that!! Next, time let us watch a movie!”
I bought a Yut Nori Game at the folk village, and we took it on our mission trip to Tanzania in 2008. This is Evie Gardner, one of the missionaries. Notice how she just kind of drops the yut (sticks). John was a master of the good luck rub: “Come on ... Come on ...” And even though, I’m not Korean, I know you how to have the proper intensity for a Yut Nori throw! We were having so much fun screaming and shouting with every throw of the Yut! Our neighbors came over to tell us to be quiet - not once but twice! You might not believe me, but I think Kim SuJa was the loudest one of all of us.
Do you recognize these people? That’s Josh Whiteside and Lee EunJin. They actually decided to get married (for real) at the Korean Folk Village. That’s what you call making a personal connection with history!
Just like the Living History Farm, the Korean Folk Village also stimulates education. The experiences make us interested to see more and to learn more.
I like reading books about Korea. I’ve probably read 5 or 10 different books on Korean culture and history, but I have never been very interested in the history of Korean herbs. However, when I was standing there in the herb house, looking at the herbs hanging along the walls, and confronted by the aroma of 50 different aromas drying herbs, I was more than happy to read the plaque explaining the life of a Korean herb merchant in the late Joseon Dynasty.
When you are riding the bus or subway, you probably aren’t thinking about what inspired 17th century Korean architects to build wealthy homes with a large courtyard. However, when you are standing IN the courtyard of an exact replica of one of those homes, you just might look down at that brochure in your hand and find out more about these courtyards and why the different components are situated as they are. The experience inspires our education. Exploration propels us into learning.
The Korean Folk Village wants to give people the chance to experience Korea, to feel ancient Korea with their own hands. The community of staff and volunteers want to convey the wisdom and memory of Korean history to people living today.2 The point is to help people understand through experience what life was like in another time and culture, and the Korean Folk Village beautifully accomplishes that goal.

The Church is a Gospel Living Future Farm or a Gospel Futuristic Village. The point of the Church is to help people understand through experience what life is like in the Kingdom of God. The Church is a living demonstration of God’s future reality. Instead of helping people understand a time long dead in the past, we are helping people understand a time that is still being born. We are living a way of life from the future. We are helping people step into a futuristic way of life for a moment in time, so that they may be enticed into this future. Our mission is to help people make God’s future our present reality.
So, we love in God’s ways. We serve in God’s ways. We forgive and ask forgiveness in God’s ways. We give and receive in God’s ways. We are living the future redemption of the world into this present broken world. How? We offer the same three opportunities that the Living History Farm and the Korean Folk Village give.
First, we offer sensory experiences. We sing because we need more than words. We need to feel the music in our bodies. Music touches something deep within us. Music goes places in our hearts that words alone can never touch.
For many of the same reasons, we - as the Church - need to do art and embrace beauty. God is the author of beauty. God is the first artist. When we do art, we are inviting people to get in touch with something deep inside them - a place that draws us to the heart of God. As much as possible, in as many ways as we can think of, we need to give our artists the freedom to call us toward this other world that God is creating.
We also touch. We hug. We shake hands. We sit together. We tickle and cuddle and tease the little kids. The Gospel gets physical through our loving arms. I once read about a church that says that part of their vision is to be “fleshy.” They don’t want to just talk about the Gospel. They want to put flesh to the Gospel. They want their bodies to be living demonstrations of the gospel.
One of the best ways to put flesh to the gospel is to serve. I’ll never forget the trip I took into the mountains of Guatemala. I was tagging along with a medical missions trip. A group of Nazarenes from New Mexico bought an old school bus, and then they remodeled it as a rolling hospital and dental clinic. Then, they drove it all the way through Mexico to Guatemala. I was with them on their first day seeing patients. On that first day, the dental clinic saw about 75 patients and pulled more than 100 teeth. One man walked for three days to see the doctor about a snake bite on his foot. The day after we left, several families from the village went to the pastor and said, “If that’s what Christians are like, then we want to be Christians.”

The Church also provides people with the chance for some explorative action. You don’t have to be a Christian to come to church. That surprises some people. You also don’t have to be a Christian to sing worship songs or to pray or to read the Bible. Just being here is a form of explorative action for many people. People go to a worship service to test Christianity like they would test drive a new car or try on a new dress: “How do I like the feel of this? Could I see myself doing this for the rest of my life? Is there anything to all of this hype?” That’s OK. Experimenting is more than OK. It’s good - very good.
Our potlucks and celebration are explorative actions. We are inviting people into the life of our community. We give people the chance to experience the joy and friendship that is natural among people of the Kingdom. Don’t miss out on our Fat Tuesday Pancake Supper this Tuesday at 6:30 pm. It’s on the 7th floor of the Chang Hakwon Building just up the KNU road on the right hand side. Invite your friends! This is a great way to help them experiment with Christianity.
As we live and serve, we in the Church need to make space for others to live and to serve with us. I told you a while back about Trinity Family Church in Kansas. They have a ministry to strip clubs, and they have done a series of joint service projects. Church people and strippers and bouncers paint and garden and mop together. Service is a key activity where God’s Spirit is especially present. As a church (and as the Church), we need to learn more ways to let non-Christians and seekers experiment with the way of Christ by joining us in service opportunities. This is a key way that people learn that loving our neighbors is a great way to live!
During Lent, our church is going to be fasting in several different ways. We’re limiting our snack time to green tea - only green tea. Instead of spending that money on coffee and snacks, we’re going to give it to our Village for Widows and Orphans in B. Also, we’re inviting every person in our church community to do a “B. Fast” at least one meal a week. Instead of having your regular meal, just eat rice - one bowl of gonggibap. Don’t have rice and 17 side dishes. Just rice ... and prayer. Pray for B. Pray for our church. And save the money and give it on Easter Sunday as we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection by giving new hope to widows and orphans in B. I’m really proud of our youth group. They decided to fast their regular food and snacks on youth group nights so they can do a “B. Fast” every time they meet together. Way to go guys! All of this fasting is a great way to experience in our own lives what Jesus said: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it” (Mark 8:35).
If we are really being faithful as the church, giving people lots of sensory experience and opportunities to experiment, then we will have one more task: explaining all of this. After seeing and touching and tasting and trying on the gospel, people are ready for some real teaching about the who, what, when, why, how of the gospel. Just like the Living History Farm and the Korean Folk Village, personal experience leads to stimulated education. After experiencing this new world we are bringing to life, they are interested in learning more.
Why do you do church like this?
How does Christian community work exactly?
Why do you take mission trips instead of fancy vacations?
What is the story behind this action? What is the story behind that story?
Ah, so you enjoy serving at the Single Mom’s New Hope House? Do you know why it’s called New Hope? Let me tell you how God has giving me new hope.
That song sticks in my head, and I find myself singing it during the week. So I went online and looked up the lyrics, and I watched the video on YouTube. Then I just went from one worship song to another.
What does it mean to be a Christian anyway?

In our new Wednesday night worship services, starting in March, we’ll be studying the book of 1 Peter. One of my favorite verses from 1 Peter is: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (3:15). Peter assumes that people are going to ask us questions. Peter assumes that our lives will be noticeably different, so different that we stimulate a hunger to understand more about this gospel that reshapes and redirects our lives. We have to live in a way that causes people to ask questions about our hope. Then, we can start explaining this new world that is being born through God’s activity in the world. Then, we can explain the gospel to an interested audience. Once we have engaged learners, we can plant seeds that will grow and flourish, we can tell them the why’s, how’s, and what’s of the gospel.

The point of the Iowa Living History Farm is to help people understand through experience what life was like in another time and culture.
The point of the Korean Folk Village is to help people understand through experience what life was like in another time and culture.
The point of the Church is to help people understand through experience what life was like in another time and culture. We are God’s Living Future Farm. We are Heaven’s Folk Village. We live the ways of the Kingdom of God and invite people to experience the future in the present. We invite people to taste, to see, to touch, to experiment, to learn, to help, and to be transformed just as we ourselves are being transformed. We are the womb of God’s Future waiting to be born!
This is the Church. This is the Gospel. God is healing the world by healing us. May God make us faithful representatives of his Kingdom Way. May people among us and around us truly experience God’s future here in our present. May his Kingdom come. May his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.