On Fostering Hope

by Dr Liz Young

(Based on Matt 9:35-10:23; Ro 5:1-8)

My sermons are often influenced by my current reading: this week’s New Scientist had a great article on why we should improve our mindset, and our book club book for this month is a junior mental health nurse’s reflections on her experience in the United Kingdom. It’s titled The Language of Kindness. Until recently, kindness was the only treatment we could offer the mentally ill: and still the most effective treatment for depression is cognitive behavioural therapy, where the patient learns to talk more positively to themselves and so improve their mood, though psilocybin, from magic mushrooms, can be a one off shot to reset our mood (but no good for schizophrenia).

What can we do to improve our community’s mental health?  How can we use our stress positively?
Offering kindness to others always improves our mood. I have appreciated the many kindnesses I’ve received over the past year, and our Op Shop radiates mutual kindness.

The other book I read (and cried over) – recently been released as a film – was the ultimate act of kindness: the story of the donation of a heart transplant to a terminally ill boy. The donor was brain dead after a car accident, and her younger sisters pushed her father to offer up her heart for organ donation, for transplantation, as she’d always been so giving in life. Because of the publicity about the boy who received the transplant, the donor family realised who their sister’s heart went to, and the families got in touch, although it was not current professional policy, for privacy reasons. The resulting friendship led to joint work on publicising the need for donors for the many parts of the body that we can donate, as we’ve been designed with replacements: something we need to work on.

Our mindset is our mood default button.

What is mindset?
It’s our intuitive, usually unspoken, internal ‘theory’, about how things work; a theory that shapes what we look for, how we make sense of things, that forms our expectations and our subsequent acts. The writer of the article I read in the Listener was a man – his father had Alzheimer’s, his wife was wanting to divorce him, and he’d recently left a steady job to be self-employed. He was stressed. But he wrote of two ways to respond to stress: he could get anxious, ruminate, dither … Or he could use the adrenalin to focus … if you view stress as enhancing, if you complete written exercises on the power of a positive mindset … your depression and anxiety levels can reduce.
Thinking of this made me wonder how to rewrite it in ‘gospel terms’.

Most of Jesus’s miracles involved altering mindset. In the feeding of the five thousand, for instance, everybody was hiding their food for the day from each other, until one small boy shared his loaves and fishes, and then everyone sat down to share with each other. What a lot of leftovers there were!  

Paul, in the reading from Romans, weaves together the themes of faith, love, hope and glory, noting the past work of God helping us, how Christ came to die for us, how we now stand as God’s children. (Jesus charged us to be like little children, and children are usually full of hope, or should be.) These Pauline perspectives give us reason to hope for the future. While we accept that the future for humanity is uncertain, especially at this time, we can trust that God has a plan for us and that he will give us the strength to cope with whatever life sends us. So we can live in hope.  

So, what can we do to improve the hope and happiness of those around us? Don’t moan; don’t let the news get you down; take time to enjoy the beauty around us; give thanks for our daily blessings; for friendship. And do something caring for one another each day. Amen

Romans 5:1-5:
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Te Pouhere Sunday

by Barry Pollard

(Based on Matthew 7:24-29; Acts 10:34-43; 2 Cor 5:14-19)

Like most things that have history, the Anglican Church has developed and matured over time. With its roots firmly in the Motherland, in our neck of the woods it has generally been known as the Church of the Province of New Zealand. A subset of its colonial past. But the church has developed and matured to acknowledge the unique cultures and traditions that make up its population in our country today. Not only developed and matured, but formally recognised in a covenant relationship between Māori, Pākehā and Pasifika, so that we walk together as equals in faith under Christ; the relationship referred to as “Te Pouhere”.  Like the beams of a meeting house, Te Pouhere is intended to hold people together while allowing each culture and voice its own integrity and strength.

In te reo Māori, Te Pouhere translates pretty much as ‘the constitution’ or ‘the guiding framework’. Pouhere is a compound word made up from pou (a post, pillar or foundation) and here (to bind, tie or tether). It is ‘a foundation’.

If a foundation is a basis, it is a point from which we start. It is a point from which we expect to grow, build and carry on.
So, as you might expect, today’s readings speak powerfully about unity, reconciliation, and that foundation. They invite us to ask: “What holds us together?” And, “What kind of community are we building?”  They help us examine and understand our place in the three-culture relationship.

In Acts 10 one of the themes is ‘God shows no favouritism’.  In Acts, Peter experiences a profound conversion. Usually we think of conversion as turning toward God. But Peter already believed in God. His conversion was deeper: he had to discover that God’s grace was wider than he imagined. Standing in the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, an outsider in Peter’s eyes, Peter finally understands that God shows no partiality. That realisation changed the Church forever. Until this moment, many believers assumed the gospel belonged mainly within familiar cultural boundaries. But the Holy Spirit shattered those walls. God’s love cannot not be contained within one people, language or tradition.

That remains a challenge for the Church today. It is easy to build communities around people like ourselves, with similar culture, similar politics, similar worship style, similar assumptions. But the Gospel should keep pushing us outward. The risen Christ is always larger than our ‘tribes’.

For us in Aotearoa New Zealand, this reading has particular resonance. Te Pouhere asks us to do something difficult and holy: not merely tolerate difference, but recognise Christ in one another. That means Māori spirituality and tikanga (customs) are not optional extras. It means Pasifika voices are not just guests at the table. It means Pākehā (Western) traditions are not the default setting for everyone else.

Peter learned that God was already at work in Cornelius before he, Peter, arrived. Sometimes the Church must learn the same humility: God is already present in people and communities we may not fully understand.
Think back to the arrival of the church in New Zealand. On Christmas Day,1814, the first church service, in the form of a Gospel reading and sermon delivered by the Reverend Samuel Marsden, took place at Oihi in the Bay of Islands. I imagine that sermons delivered at that time were not quite the same as the style we are used to these days. Despite what may have been an unfamiliar experience for those listening, it was the spark that ignited a Christian movement. Samuel Marsden may have walked away quite pleased with himself, but God had already gone before him to set the stage for his missionary work!

The Acts reading is about discovering that all people are included in God’s kingdom; and the Corinthians reading is about what happens next. Reconciliation – restoring relationships, resolving conflicts, aligning prospects.
In Corinthians, Paul is saying that in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. It didn’t apply just to individuals. It applied to the world. Paul reminds us, “And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.”  And then he presents the challenge: “And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”  He has entrusted the ministry of reconciliation to us.
This ministry is not about winning arguments. It is not about preserving comfort. It is not about protecting power. It is the ministry of reconciliation.

Reconciliation is costly work. We know that. Just look at the latest upsets as attempts are made to back-pedal on the status and authority of what many of us consider our nation’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi. We’ve been at it, with differing amounts of energy and progress, for more than 180 years!

Reconciliation requires honesty about our hurts, injustices and history. It also calls us to refuse to cave to cynicism. Because the legacy of colonisation, land loss, cultural suppression and economic inequity still shapes lives today. It means believing the Holy Spirit can still create something new between people. It should be filled with promise and hope. I think the Anglican Church can be proud of Te Pouhere. Some might say it is imperfect, but it was a courageous attempt to embody partnership rather than domination.

Paul reminds us that “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” Other translations refer to us being a “new creation”. Essentially, Paul is saying things are going to be different from now on. Not only different, but better!

The Church, made up of faithful believers, is meant to be a sign of that new creation. A place where former divisions do not disappear by magic, but are transformed by grace. When our churches genuinely listen to one another across culture and history, the gospel becomes visible. People should be able to look at the Church and say, “How is it that such different people remain together?” And our answer should be, “Because Christ holds us together.”

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus is reaching the end of the Sermon on the Mount, and says, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise.”  Because we are generally slow to understand, he provides a simple analogy. He describes two houses, two foundations, and one storm. In one case the house is flattened and in the other the house stands firm. Jesus is pointing out the dangers of not heeding his words. In his analogy, both builders ‘hear’. The difference lies in the fact that for one the words are not lived out. No attention is paid to them. A church can talk endlessly about unity, justice, bicultural partnership and reconciliation. But eventually the storms reveal whether those values are decorative language or solid foundations.

Storms come: conflict, declining numbers, financial pressure, fear of change, cultural misunderstanding, revelation of abuse-in-care, and more. A church built on shaky foundations will struggle. But a church grounded in Christ, in humility, truth, mercy and sacrificial love can endure. These readings this Te Pouhere Sunday should remind us, however, that structures alone cannot save the Church.  Constitutions matter, but they are not really the foundation. Christ is the foundation. And Christ’s foundation is not uniformity. It is covenant love.
In a building, the structure depends on many parts working together. A ridge beam, rafters, walls, and floors, all have to be tied together. Remove one, and the whole building is weakened.

Look up! We are in a building that was weak. The steel ties were added to keep the walls upright and stop the roof falling on us. Remove them, and it likely will!
The Church is similar. We are strongest when each part contributes faithfully to the whole body of Christ. And we are the parts. What we do will make it strong, or let it fall. A weighty point to consider!

Almost an aside but not quite: another important point to consider in our church, St Francis, is building up our resilience and focussing on succession planning. What happens when our key people move on, or up? Are there willing others prepared to take their places, to ensure that we remain strong? Will we be able to look forward to a future where we build on the platform already laid?

I have spoken previously about our visits to Kalihi Union Church in Honolulu. I mention Kalihi Union again now because they are going through an adjustment brought about by the retirement of their Senior Pastor, Jonathan. Although they have gone through the sadness of losing a loved and valued leader, the church is not despairing. They are looking forward expectantly to the next chapter. They have confidence that the Gospel will continue to be preached, and acted upon. They have confidence that their missions and ministries will continue to enrich their congregation and the wider community.

We need to ensure we have that here!

We can think about today’s readings forming a movement:

  • In Acts: God breaks down barriers.
  • In Corinthians: Christ reconciles the world, draws us together.
  • In Matthew: Jesus encourages us to build our lives on his truth.

Te Pouhere Sunday doesn’t just celebrate our unique approach to church governance. It celebrates our gospel-shaped and gospel-inspired church community.

At the start of my reflection, I hinted that our readings would get us thinking about what it is that holds us together, and what kind of community we are building. More and more these days I am pushed to re-examine my life: my way of thinking, my motivations, my politics, and so on. More and more I feel I am being moved from observer to participant. So, in writing my notes for today I was asking myself, do I just want to admire the vision of reconciliation or do I want to help build on it?

Because we know storms will come, we need to know that, for all we are about to face, God has equipped us.
A few weeks ago we were celebrating the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the very power of Jesus within us. If that isn’t foundational, I don’t know what is! Christ truly is our foundation. Our differences need not divide us. Instead, by God’s grace, they may become a witness to the world that true reconciliation is possible.

Ascension and the Days Following

by Pat Lee

(Based on John 17:1-11; Acts 1:6-14; 1Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11)

Today is the ‘Sunday after Ascension’, when Jesus was taken back up to heaven. Suddenly the disciples find themselves on their own. But, are they?

In the reading from Acts it seems that the disciples still have missed the point of why Jesus came. They are asking him if he is going to restore the kingdom to Israel; but Jesus tells them that that is not for them to know, because it is the Father who gives that authority, not him, and, besides, he knows that he is about to leave them.
He has just been telling them in the previous few verses that they are to stay in Jerusalem where they will receive ‘the gift of the Holy Spirit’, which he had previously promised them – an indication that he will not be staying. So, it seems to me that they are still not aware that Jesus is about to leave them.

He tells them again that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them, so that they will be able to be witnesses there in Jerusalem, but also throughout all Judea, Samaria and right “to the ends of the earth”. (Which now includes us.) He’s not saying it directly, but he is telling them that they will be carrying on the work that he himself started here on earth, because he is leaving.

While they are standing there contemplating what he has said, Jesus disappears from their sight. I wonder how long it took them for the ‘penny to drop’? Well, it took two men dressed in white to come and stand before them and explain that Jesus had gone back to heaven. So, I wonder what was going through their minds then?

 I can imagine myself in a similar situation where my mind would have been working overtime with questions like, “What do we do now? How are we going to manage without him? Who is going to teach us?” So, the eleven disciples return to Jerusalem, to the upstairs room, and join with Jesus’s mother and various others, where they pray – the most sensible and logical thing to do.

When I read today’s readings, my first thought was, “Where to start … How do I find something new and challenging to say?” So, what was the most sensible and logical thing for me to do? Pray.

Writing, and especially reflection, does not come easily to me, to which my English teacher at school would very happily testify if he were here. I struggled at school with English, especially writing essays. So, how do I cope now? Through prayer. Because over the years of my Christian walk I have learnt that I can’t trust myself; but I can trust my God. It’s about knowing how to trust and depend on his help when you need it. It’s about what the disciples had to learn and to do, now that Jesus had left them.

In 1 Peter 4, Peter says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” This is a lesson Peter and the rest of the disciples had to learn, just as we do. Peter was an uneducated fisherman before he met Jesus. He had a lot to learn. He was hot-headed and often spoke before he thought. Jesus had to rebuke him several times, but in the Scripture I just quoted we can see how far he had come in those three years of guidance he received from Jesus. He learnt how to trust him and follow his example. He learnt that he had an ability he didn’t even know he had.
Peter became a great orator (which we will probably hear in the Acts reading next week). That would have been unthinkable three years before. He became “the Rock” that Jesus said he would be.

We need to remember these verses when the going gets tough in our lives, and when we don’t know where to turn or what to do. We need to pray just like the disciples did in that upper room when Jesus had left them. That was their best and only choice.

The Gospel reading has Jesus praying to his father. Interestingly, this is not at his Ascension, but is, in fact, at the Passover meal he shared with the disciples prior to his arrest and crucifixion. Jesus is praying out loud in front of them. He is praying for himself and for them. The things he puts forward in this prayer are those things he came to earth to do, and did.

Firstly, he prays for himself. This is not a selfish prayer but one that pointed people past himself to the Father.  Jesus’s work was the work of the Father, and was aimed at giving people eternal life. The Father and the Son enjoyed joyful fellowship before Jesus even came to earth, and that is what he was going back to. That is what he wants the disciples to experience as well, joyful fellowship with him and the Father. It’s in Jesus’s relationship with his Father that he is glorified, as we have seen in his ministry, because he did everything the Father asked him to do. The Holy Spirit was being sent to the disciples so that they also would be able to do the things that Jesus did, through the power of the Spirit.

Secondly, he prays for the disciples. Jesus’s prayer was that his disciples be instruments and reflectors of what came from the Father through him, and that they might enjoy the unity that he, the Son, had with the Father. Jesus did not count himself as being equal with the Father, but ’emptied himself’, taking on the form of a servant, having been born as a human being.

The relation of Father and Son as distinct persons was and is the model for unity. William Temple said, “This unity is something much more than a means to an end – even though that end be the evangelisation of the world; it is itself the one worthy end of all human aspiration.”

What does all this mean for us today? For those of us who have a personal relationship with Jesus, it means that we too can carry on with doing God’s work through the power of the Spirit. When opportunities arise, have the courage to speak about our faith and what it means for us. It means that when tough times come, we do not need to be anxious, worried or overly concerned about how to deal with them. We need to turn them over to God in prayer and ask for his help; because that is what he wants us to do.
It means that the prayer Jesus prayed for the disciples on that night of the Passover also applies to us. Jesus was asking the Father to protect us by the power of his Name because we belong to him too.

Bishop Bruce Gilberd put it this way in his book One Thought for Today: “We need to harvest meanings from our experiences. After Jesus’s resurrection, the first disciples did just this, they harvested fresh and profound  meaning from the three years they spent with their Master.”

Amen

The Spirit-filled life

by Barry Pollard

(Based on John 14:15-21; Acts 17:22-31; 1 Pet 3:13-22)

At the Men’s Breakfast last Saturday we had a session on ‘ecumenism’, looking at the division of Christ’s church into denominations, and what prevents it from being truly one church. In the session, a notion raised in Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis was used to encourage those of us who are still sorting out the direction our faith journeys need to take. Lewis uses a ‘hallway analogy’, which describes a hallway as being the common, shared Christian foundations of belief. In western housing design the hallway often leads to bedrooms, separating the living area from the resting area of the house. In Lewis’s analogy, branching off the hallway are rooms that open into specific denominational traditions. He views the hallway as a place for finding truth and waiting, but emphasises it is not a place to dwell permanently.  For fellowship and deeper commitment, believers need to step out of the hallway into a room (a denomination). 

The rooms, he says, are where the “fires and chairs and meals” are located, representing active, communal faith and specific traditions like Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, and so on. His advice for choosing a room is that it should be based on conviction of truth (“Is it true?”), rather than personal taste (“Do I like it?”).

In our humanness, we tend to think that our choices are always the best, don’t we. Well, Lewis offers a little more advice based on Christ’s call for unity within the church. Despite advocating for finding a “room”, he says believers need to be kind to those still in the hallway or sitting in different rooms, as we are all part of the same house!

In the Acts reading, we heard Paul telling the “men of Athens” about the “Unknown God”, the one he has seen a shrine built to, but was unnamed. A god who was worshipped without being known! This verse has often caused me to stop and think. Have I been worshipping our God without really knowing Him? I think at various times I have!

What Paul was doing was offering the Greeks a way in. He had acknowledged their religiosity and then, in Lewis’s terms, opened the hallway for them. Paul meets them where they are, worshipping at the unknown god altar, then sets about proclaiming who the one true God really is: Creator, Lord, Giver of Life! And as Paul does, he calls for a response; their repentance and coming to faith, grounded in the risen Christ.

I’ve often thought Paul’s way was like a sledge hammer. When we first encounter him as Saul of Tarsus, in the Bible, he was a fervent Pharisee, dedicated to rubbing out the emerging Christian church. But by the time we get to know him in Acts, he is a gentler version of his former self. I reckon he was so effective in his Christian ministry because of his earlier life experiences. He knew scripture intimately, had encountered Christ personally, and had no fear of authority (other than God’s).
But, as we seek to speak out our faith in an inattentive world, are we suited to Paul’s new style?

The Unknown God altar reveals a human state, doesn’t it? The Greeks, as they catered to their spiritual natures, were dedicating shrines to a variety of imagined gods, even to the point of acknowledging an unknown one. Religious to the extreme, we could say.
These days, many people freely admit to having a spiritual dimension but are reluctant to be seen as ‘religious’. Many people say they’re spiritual but not religious. Then they talk about the Universe, Nature, ‘something bigger’, and often themselves. Everything except God! Have you heard, “I’m not into church, but I reckon there’s something out there”?

Well, our task is to not dismiss that sort of statement, but instead use it as an opener to start building a bridge: “Let me tell you what that ‘something’ is like…” Just like Paul.  It is a challenge, of course, to move anyone from vague spirituality to the knowledge of a personal God revealed in Jesus Christ!
I think we all tend to be wary of people who are pushy about their beliefs. Wary, may be, but we generally respect integrity when we encounter it.
In my working life I have worked with many genuine hard-working folk, and as many a shirker. One man stands out in my memory from when I worked as a packer at Forest Products during a university holiday. Albert, a big Samoan man, was quietly spoken, respectful in manner and speech despite often being denigrated by other workmates, and always strived for perfection in his work tasks. He stood out among all of our shift crew in that regard. I found that to work with him was a delight but, at the time, also a challenge!
Albert was a Christian who wanted to share his faith, with any, and all, he worked with. He was ever ready to give us reasons for the hope he had in Jesus and the life he was living. But he did it all with gentleness and respect. I can tell you it wasn’t loud preaching that engaged us, it was the way he was actively living out his faith in front of us that caught our attention. His approach to work, for me at that time, had more of an effect than his words.

Some on our shift mocked Albert for going to church, and talking about Jesus and the Bible. They shunned him in the cafeteria. They traded tasks with others to not have to work with him. But not once did I see Albert compromise himself in light of that treatment. He carried on, without defensiveness, without backing down, with calm and thoughtful questions and answers. A courage I would now say was shaped by Christ, certainly not by popular culture. Albert had integrity.

The factory was a great melting pot! I worked with old and young men. I had to do boring, repetitive tasks for a couple of weeks that others were doing for the rest of their lives. I worked with bikies, drug addicts, family men, even a bigamist (if he was to be believed), and a huge variety of cultures. To get along with everyone you had to be on your toes. Sometimes I found it could be a lonely place. You know when you don’t quite fit into the team. Your experience doesn’t match theirs. You think about different things. You have different interests.
However, working with Albert taught me a few things. (Some of them I didn’t actually realise until I started thinking about this reflection.)
Thinking about John’s Gospel and the promise of the Holy Spirit, I liken my experience working with Albert to two blokes working in the same place, doing the same tasks, enduring the same conditions but each having a totally different experience. At the time, me walking alone and Albert walking with a trusted companion, the Holy Spirit.

Today’s second reading, from Peter’s first epistle, talks to believers who, living in communities that did not believe as they did, have been suffering abuse and persecution for their faith. Peter’s approach was to remind them of their precious hope in Jesus. A hope that outweighs any sufferings they may endure for their faith. They are urged to do good, even when suffering. They are reminded to honour Christ as Lord in their hearts and lives. They are reminded to be ready to give a reason for their hope when asked, but cautioned that this should be done with gentleness and respect.

Resonates with Albert’s approach, doesn’t it.

Peter is talking about believers giving credible witness to Christ’s call on their lives through their character and endurance, not just their words. A suggestion, these days, we would translate as ‘walking the talk’.

The Gospel of John brings a lot more weight to the cause. Jesus is talking about our being empowered by the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to walk alone. Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit will be with, and in, believers. We won’t be left alone. We will live in relationship with God. Jesus was explaining the inner source of Christian life and witness: God’s own presence, the Holy Spirit, in us.

An internet summary of the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives will help us understand His presence better.
The Spirit is all these things:
Indwelling and Sealing: The Holy Spirit takes up permanent residence in the hearts of believers, acting as a guarantee of their eternal life and a seal indicating they belong to God.
Convicting and Regenerating: The Spirit convicts individuals of sin and convinces them of their need for Christ, leading to a spiritual ‘new birth’ or regeneration.
Revealing Truth and Guiding: He acts as the ‘Spirit of Truth’, helping believers understand the Bible and leading them into truth, while also reminding them of Jesus’s teachings.
Transforming: The Holy Spirit works in believers to make them more like Jesus, producing ‘fruit’, such as love, joy and peace, and helping them overcome sinful behaviours.
Empowering for Service: The Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers to serve the ‘body of Christ’, the church, advance the gospel, and empower them to worship and live for God.
Interceding and Comforting: He acts as a ‘paraclete‘ (an advocate or counsellor) who helps in weaknesses and intercedes for believers in prayer, providing comfort and peace. 

I follow the daily devotional readings provided by the late Selwyn Hughes. Our focus this month is “God’s New Society”, which deals with the Holy Spirit in our lives. How appropriate, you might say! How Holy Spirit, I would say!
The other day Selwyn raised the point that if the Bible ended at the Gospels, Christianity would be without life and power! The significance of the events recorded in the four Gospels had to be understood by Jesus’s followers and conveyed to others in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel, Jesus was explaining that the Christian life isn’t only about trying harder. It is about knowing and walking with the Holy Spirit. Notice, I said ‘knowing’, not ‘knowing about’, the Holy Spirit. I read somewhere how we could understand the difference easily. The writer said there is a big difference between reading about Milford Sound and actually standing there in the mist and silence. In the same way, Christianity isn’t just ideas about God, it’s relationship with God through the Spirit. Jesus has promised that through the Spirit we will always know his presence.

So, what can we take away from our readings today?

I’d like to relate this back to C.S. Lewis’s hallway:
In Acts, we are encouraged to speak into a world that is searching, but looking in the wrong places. Our task is to invite the searchers at least into the hallway.
In 1 Peter, we are encouraged to live lives that make God’s message credible. We have to walk the talk. Our task is to provide examples of faithful Christian living and encourage the searchers to sample the rooms.
And in John’s Gospel, we are given the assurance that we do not have to do these things alone. The Holy Spirit is with us, providing spiritual gifts so we can serve the body of Christ, advance the Gospel, and empowering us to worship and live for God.  As believers, already in a room, we need to be kind to those still in the hallway (searching) or sitting in different rooms, as we are all part of the same house.

Remember, our faith rings true, not when it’s loudest but, when it’s clearest, kindest, and most real. We know God truly, we live that truth visibly, because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do so.