Re-respecting the Dissed

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

There are so many reasons for dissing people. Though we don’t all have the same ones.

She’s just a Freshman. He’s a drop-out. She’s too intellectual. He’s a socialist. She’s an atheist. He’s a bigot. She’s missing teeth. He’s handicapped. She’s blonde. They’re Yankee fans.

So many ways to dismiss people as irrelevant. To cut them off. To close our minds when they start talking. To see them as somehow less than human.

Just recently I was involved in a big group discussion. I offered what I thought was a powerful point. The moderator waved me off with a few words, dismissed my point entirely, and I felt personally disrespected. I got over it and moved on. But it got me thinking about people who are regularly dissed, and how I sometimes do it myself, as hard as I try not to.

I feel awful when I spot my own prejudices, the ways I categorize people without intending to at all. And when they really start bugging me, I take those pre-judgments into my prayers and into my conversations with friends. Somehow, exposing them is the beginning of overcoming them. For me, it’s a journey of learning to respect beyond the lines, learning to see the way God sees.

This week many Christians around the world will be digging into the story from Mark’s Gospel where Jesus talks about the issue of divorce and then about how children are respected (or not) in his culture.

Take a look at this story: Mark 10:2-16  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2010:2-16&version=MSG

There’s so much to talk about as far as what divorce was like then as opposed to how it is now, and we’ll do that on Thursday night at Bread for your Journey, but I’ll just get us going a bit here… Jesus is talking about the kind of divorce that a husband could do simply by writing a letter of dismissal, leaving his ex-wife to fend for herself in a woman-unfriendly world. She’s dismissed, disrepected, and terribly alone. She’s damaged goods and will never live the label down… unless…

Unless someone breaks through old attitudes and prejudices and does something about it. Unless someone creates a new kind of community where the dissed can be re-respected. Even children, the most dissed of all, can be seen and held as people of worth we can learn from admire. Is that what Jesus was getting at?

How are you someone that is dissed sometimes and needs to be re-respected, re-connected, re-deemed? And what difference does it make that Jesus is working through us to restore respectful community? What needs to change inside of us for that to begin?

Let’s explore some more this Thursday night 7pm at the Crowne Plaza. And we’ll continue as well on here on the blog this weekend.

Whirling, twirling thoughts.

by Heidi Jakoby

Whirling, twirling, out of control. This is what I think of as I think about the evening’s readings and discussion. http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/
We began with the reading from Mark and talking about how sometimes we feel like we have failed and we see others who are succeeding and we might envy them, as it looks easy from the outside looking in. As we moved to the second reading we read the whines as a group out loud. You could really feel the complaining and how common their reasons for complaining were. I could really relate to this. Sometimes it seems easier to complain than to take action or make a different choice. What is really great about the reading from Numbers is that, at least for me I can relate and that God had an answer for Moses. The Spirit will be shared among a group of leaders. Moses' was no longer alone, in leadership. I believe that by sharing leadership people can be better served. Then the third reading although brief is packed with movement, taking listening which is often thought of as passive to something that helps energize and expand people causing growth. I truly agree with the thoughts expressed in this reading.


We had a lot of discussion about feeling out of control and how we seek help in these situations. Do we delegate some of our tasks, do we find a friend to vent too so our thoughts and actions can become clear, or might we retreat into ourselves which doesn’t help things to move forward or to get done. So many choices and each reading gives us a different way of reflecting on the times when we feel out of control.

During the discussion Kari also had us view this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jeca3isOoW4
This explanation of the Sufi Whirling Dervish was very enlightening to me. There is something so natural about spinning around. Children do it all the time for seemingly no reason. There is a sense of freedom when your twirl. In this video the narrator explains that this is a meditative process and as you whirl there is a point when your center becomes still. I love this idea. I think when you reach this point there must be such a sense of peace and hope that anything is possible. My personal twitter and IM name is “twirlingforfun” and this came from a very difficult time in my life when my husband and I were going through infertility treatment. I was trying to discover ways of coping with this process and the rollercoaster of emotions I was feeling (which is often equated to the feelings and emotions of dealing with a terminal illness). We attended a mind body program in which they introduced us to Loretta LaRoche (http://www.lorettalaroche.com/) who was very clear that you should laugh everyday and twirl everyday whether you felt like it or not. These actions help you to feel better. I have never forgotten that and when I am having a bad day my husband will often twirl with me in the kitchen.

As we moved into our time of reflection Kari offered us three different ways of reflecting on the theme for this evening. The first was a listening station where there were two songs one by Hoobistank called “Out of Control” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01ZA0xX6_g4

And the other called “Swim” by Jack Mannequin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sA8PaIw5gcE&feature=related 

These are both very different and caused me to reflect on being out of control but persisting.

The next station was a reading station and there were many things to look at but one particular poem I just loved from “Something BIG Has Been Here” by Jack Prelustsky. The poem entitled “I Should Have Stayed in Bed Today”. This poem just describes a very particular day of small annoyances that can really cause you to be discouraged. It made me smile with its silly phrases, “I squirted toothpaste in my ear” or “I knocked my homework off the desk, it landed on my toes.” Chaos can be little things but how we react can make all the difference.

The third themed area was called “pick your own metaphor” when life is crazy and out of control what are some of the metaphors you think of. There were a wide variety of options. Do you try to cling to an anchor? Do you spin out of control? Do you end up with the fuzzy end of the lollipop? to name a few. A couple of things others had written, spinning wheel – turns a lump of wooliness into a strong and useful yarn that binds things together; God is…a guest, a sympathizer, all around me, a loved one, an empathizer, a breaker of boundaries, an unknown, an energizer. What is your Safety Net or your Security Blanket? What about your, Uplifting Wind, or Swimming Buddy?

As you can see there was a lot to think about and reflect upon these are only a few of my wonderings. I hope you share some of yours and that you might join the conversation.

when life is out of control

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

There’s “out of control” and there’s “seriously out of control”. The first is when a few nasty things happen that get your head spinning, but there’s enough steadiness in your life that you can almost handle the craziness. You share your frustrations with a friend or two. They share their out-of-balance stories. You realize you’re ok. You might even be grateful to be doing as well or better than they are.

But then there are times when life has become practically unrecognizable. So many of your count-on-ables have crashed… that you can hardly breathe. Vulnerable, volatile, on the edge. How do you handle it? Lots of tempting, unhelpful ways to choose from…

Some pretend everything’s fine, and refuse to open up to others. Some dump it all out ad nauseum until their friends are tempted to disown them. Some turn a resentful eye to the world around them and blame everyone else for their out-of-controlness.

These temptations are nothing new, of course. Jesus’ followers had to deal with being out of control, too. And we get to learn from their unhealthy choices. Aren’t we lucky?

Picture this: Jesus’ disciples are sorting through some tough realities. They’d previously seen so many incredible healings happen, both by Jesus’ hands and their own. They knew what they were doing and they did it well. In control.

But then they tried to heal someone with a nasty demon, and it didn’t work. What’s going on? Are we losing it? Their teacher Jesus had to come in and take care of it. That was bad enough, to feel like you’re slipping, like the bad things are controlling you instead of you controlling them. But it got even worse, when Jesus got all gloom-and-doom, lecturing them about how it was his job to give up his power and die. Completely out of control.

In the middle of this, the disciples encounter someone who’s successfully healing people, using Jesus’ name to do it, but he’s not someone of their in-group. So here’s some uncertified healer doing something the disciples themselves couldn’t do yesterday! Geez, Jesus, what’s the deal? What can we count on anymore? Is it all falling apart?

See how John tattles on the do-gooder and how Jesus responds:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%209:38-41&version=CEV

There’s lots here to talk about… how the disciples resort to “us and them” thinking and how Jesus won’t let them sink into that… how we also are tempted to take things out on others when we’re frustrated… how God might be acting through all this to take us through our struggles to new places of insight… how Jesus knows what it’s like to voluntarily become out of control… and that he does it for us.

And how is it that we, as a community of Jesus that is both local and virtual, support one another in our out-of-control struggles?  Lots of good stuff to munch on...

Do come to this Thursday’s Bread for your Journey (7pm, Crowne Plaza, Nashua, exit 8) for more of these tasty morsels, if you happen to be reasonably local. Otherwise, come back to the blog on the weekend to continue the conversation. Feel free to comment here: Any thoughts you have, any links you’d like to share, are most welcome.

Peace in the storm,
Kari

Humility, Service, and Grace

by Heidi Jakoby

Last night was filled with discussions about serving, about humility, and about doing for others. We gathered as we usually do around a candle to remind us of God's presence and we could smell the warm bread.
We began with our readings and prayers http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/

 Humility, was our first topic. In Mark's lesson Jesus points our that it does not matter who is the greatest what matters is how you serve others. How do you encourage and serve others throughout your life.  This past week Kanye West stole Taylor Swifts moment at the Video Music Awards because he felt Beyonce was more deserving of the award. There was a great deal of coverage of this moment but not as much coverage of Beyonce's responce. So here is the link to it: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621540/20090915/knowles_beyonce.jhtml

During our discussion we noted that when Beyonce won for the Best Video of the year and when she came up to accept her award she spoke about her first award at 17 years of age and what a special moment that was so she wanted Taylor Swift to have her moment. Beyonce did not thank anyone but gave her time to Taylor.  What a gracious and classy action. She truly put Taylor before herself. In our third reflection the Mayor of New Orleans thanks the youth who came to serve and Bishop Hanson very eloquently explained that the youth came to be Gods hands in New Orleans and thanked all the citizens of New Orleans for all they taught the gathering participants. In some ways I think humility is as simple as putting others needs ahead of our own. It is also about meeting people where they are, listening to their story and walking with them. This is not always easy to do. How have you been God's hands today?

One of the stories shared was a simple way to serve is to share a smile and or a conversation with someone who seems to be having a bad day. When you are in a store making a purchase do you share a smile and some conversation with the cashier?  Do you notice the person before you and do you try and lift their mood if they seem down?

We know that serving others is not necessarily easy but as in Micah we are to "do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, and don't take yourself too seriously ." This brings me to Kenye West's apperance on the Jay Leno Show where Jay asks him the tough question, what would your mom say? check out the clip http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/09/first-leno-show-clip-kanyes-apology-video.html I give him a lot of credit for saying he needs to take some time to reflect on what happened.  He is a person who believes in helping others and you can see this is an upsetting situation. What do you think?

Many of my friends serve the community and the world in a variety ways; putting causes they are interested in on their twitter page, creating new organizations for groups that have been marginalized, helping on a Habitat for Humanity build, baking bread for others, or sharing a smile. Their are so many ways to serve some only take a moment. Please consider serving others.

Please share your thoughts and comments. I would love to hear how and why you serve other?

Humility and Grace

by Heidi Jakoby

Last Sunday at the Video Music Awards there were many actions that related to this weeks gospel lesson Mark 9:30-37  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark9:30-37&version=MSG .

It was interesting to me how much time and press was focussed on the actions of Kanye West versus the actions of Beyonce. This Thursday at Bread for your journey, I want to discuss, how Jesus asks us to see those that are overlooked, how we are asked to serve one another. I think the real story is how Beyonce handled the situation, check out this article and the video.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1621540/20090915/knowles_beyonce.jhtml

As I reflect on this Mark passage I am also struck by how the disciples often misunderstood Jesus how they focused on conversations that were unimportant; who is the greatest?, instead of delving into the hard stuff the stuff that is scarry, the fact that Jesus is telling them about his death.  How often do we choose the easy conversation or the easy way to serve? 

I do want to be clear that Kanye West did apologize in a variety of ways and on the Jay Leno Show he actually broke down when Jay asked the tough question: "What do you think she (your mom) would have said about this? (Kanye West's Mom past aways Nov. 2007)

http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/09/first-leno-show-clip-kanyes-apology-video.html

We all make mistakes and we all have choices. We can choose how to live our lives, who to notice, who to follow, who to learn from and how to spend our days.

Sometimes there are ways of serving and having fun, we want to continue to lift up ways of serving others so today I want to share this link for a new initiative called: Come Together to feed America, Macy's Department Store is matching every donation dollar for dollar until the goal of 10 million meals is reached. It is easy to participate especially if you enjoy gathering your friends together. Check it out and help Feed America: http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/battle-hunger/story?id=8563920

Please comment on some of my initial thoughts and if you can join us Thursday in Nashua, NH for Bread for your jouney at the Crown Plaza that would be great, we begin at 7PM.

Who do you say Jesus is in your life? 6 words or less?

by Heidi Jakoby


Thanks to Kari I had many great ideas for this week’s Bread for your journey. We have been talking a lot about who we are, as Christians, as job seekers and people trying to discern God's call to us. This week I took us back to some childhood characters, Tigger, Eeyore and the Velveteen Rabbit. What do these have to do with our text for this week Mark8:27-37? You can connect to the readings through this link.

http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com

Identifying who we are is a difficult process. When you join face book you are asked to put in a short bio. What I have noticed about these bios is that they are mostly positive. How would you describe yourself in the most positive way? But like all people we all have many layers to ourselves some positive and some not so positive. It is often easy for me to identify my positive traits and publish them to the world but it is difficult to publish my struggles and insecurities. I don't mind sharing them in small groups but not on my face book page.

It is interesting when Jesus asks "Who do the people say I am?" and he receives a variety of answers. Who would the people around you say you are? Would it be the same or different from how you define yourself? Would these insights help you to discover your real self?

Jesus goes on to say that "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way to saving yourself, your true self."

Can you know your true self without some suffering or struggle? I think it is difficult to know who you truly are deep inside and to be open and honest about all aspects of yourself. Part of this difficulty comes from the fact that all of our relationships and experiences influence who we are. We are always changing. The other two readings I selected speak to how we choose to live our lives.

Are you a Tigger or an Eeyore? (The Last Lecture) As we discussed this question I discovered that I don't necessarily want to be one or the other but to live in the tension between the two. In order to accompany someone in joy and in sorrow you need to have experienced both and be able to flow from joy to sorrow. Each new day presents us with a choice about what to do and whether to be optimistic or pessimistic. I believe as we serve and help others we learn more about ourselves and how we approach each day, and this awareness helps us to grow.

The idea of being real truly real flows from the children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit. In the reading from the Velveteen Principles Toni describes an elderly couple who see each other clearly they know who they truly are and know what it means to be real. They are not putting on airs for anyone they are present in the moment and in one another’s life.

So who are you and do you know your real self? If not think about 10 words you would use to describe yourself?

Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Don't forget to join us next week for Bread for your journey.

oh tell me, who are you?

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

“Tell me something about yourself,” says the interviewer, “What are your strengths and weaknesses? Who would you say you are?”

Like so many in our country these days, many of the people who make up the community that is by the way are in the process of interviewing for jobs. Or they recently have been, or soon will be. It can be a grueling business, finding a job… like placing yourself up on an auction block and trying to show your best side… over and over again. To keep it up, you almost have to have a supportive friend or two around, someone who will check in to see how you’re holding up, someone who understands what it’s like.

Who would you say you are? It’s tough to answer that. I don’t know about you, but who I am changes a lot, day by day even. I’m not the same person I was two months ago, in one way. In another way, there’s something about me that has been the same since my earliest memories.

This Thursday night's bread for your journey will be all about that process of identifying self. Identifying who I am can be stressful, but it can also be a release. When someone who really cares about you — the real person you are rather than the commodity you might be on someone’s payroll — then the question, “Who are you?” can be a gift instead of an nuisance.

Feel free, if you like, to use the “comment” section of this blog to tell all of us bytheway-ers who you are. What do you like? What are you passionate about? Who are you? I sincerely want to know. I’d love to know what it is that makes you you.

You could also use the comment section to tell everyone who you think by the way is. In a phrase or two, or a sentence or two, what does by the way mean to you? Who do you say we are?  Here’s why that would be really cool if you did that:

By the way almost has a website up and running. Last week, a bunch of people who care a lot about btw got together over dinner, and we worked and played with words and ideas to come up with an identity statement to put on the website. But we knew that statement would not be complete until everyone who is by the way has their say. And that includes you, even if you’ve stumbled upon this blog for the first time… whether you’re a local btw’er or a long distance reader.

You could do this anonymously or give your name and where you live. Something like this:

“By the way is a safe place for me to come and hang on a Thursday night.”  Ebeneezer Smith from Nashua, NH.
OR
“By the way is a blog I read when I can’t sleep at night and I need to know that someone is out there who cares about me and connects me to God”.  Delilah Jones from Cody, Wyoming.
OR
“I personally don’t even know if there is a God at all, but there’s something about btw that keeps me grounded when I’m off balance,”  Jupiter Johnson from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Get the idea? Then when we get the website up, we can have your input as part of our I.D. Which makes sense, because you all ARE by the way.

Ok, so all this identity stuff really does flow out of a story that shows up in the Bible’s book of Mark, the version of Jesus’ story that we’ve been walking through since June. Take a look. It’s an intriguing story: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%208:27-37&version=MSG

So here’s Jesus checking out his I.D. with those who hang out with him. They all give their input. Then he gets serious, saying that who he is involves some negative stuff that turns out to be positive. That God is all about giving yourself for others. And so that’s who we are, too.

Here’s a piece: “Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how...  Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you?...”

Do come, if you can, to get into this more. Btw will be at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua, as usual, Thursday 7pm. And if you can’t be there in person, come back to the blog on the weekend, and we’ll be here.

And thanks, in advance, for taking the time to comment on who by the way  is to you.

Peace in the storm,
Kari

wrangling with God when things aren't so good

by Kari Henkelmann Keyl

Are we really allowed to argue with God? Isn’t there something stupid or dangerous about fighting with the Highest Power?

And what about talking back to Jesus? Sounds sacrilegious, but I know someone who had the guts to do it.

Last night at Bread for your Journey, by the way’s weekly gathering, we talked about ideas of God that we grew up with. And none of us felt we had “permission” to wrangle with God. Talking, pleading, thanking… those are ok. But no fighting with the One who knows what’s best for you.

I think that turned out not so good for me to be taught that. When I was turning teen, I started fighting with my Sunday School teachers, and they didn’t like that. I questioned what they taught and what the Bible said, and my teachers made it seem like arguing with them (and with the Bible) was equivalent to cutting down God. That was the beginning of the end for me: the end of my simplified and stilted belief system, but the beginning of a deeper faith in God.

Go ahead and take a look now at the reflections and prayers that led into our discussion, and see where your thoughts take you. Please keep in mind that this blog can be a place where you get to air your opinions, too. There are no rules about not wrangling here, that’s for sure.

http://breadforyourjourney.blogspot.com/

So here’s this brazen woman who dares to spar with Jesus. Some look at this passage and wonder at the quite insulting words of Jesus, usually the compassionate one in the room. But I see a Jesus with a sparkle in his eye. He can see in the eyes of this woman that she’s got some fight and some wit in her. And he gives her the opportunity to show the snoopy people peeking in exactly what she’s made of. In a time when women weren’t viewed with much respect, certainly not in the intellect department, this little conversation in the book of Mark is pretty amazing.

Jesus had been trying to get some peace and quiet when this pleading person came in. He could have just healed her daughter and dismissed her. Instead he chose to engage her. And faith (that is: relationship) is the result. What could have been just a healing (which only lasts until the next germ or demon comes along), became an opportunity for a faith relationship which would likely last for all of eternity.

Then we have our Simon and Garfunkel song, Blessed. Not your usual poetry for holy conversation, you might say. But actually it fits in quite well with the Biblical poetry we call lament. So many of the psalms are like this. My wounds trickle down like a wound that I have no intention to heal. This poet is not budging. He’s going to stay in woundedness, questioning God, for a while.

And that’s ok. Sometimes that’s what we need. To sit in the muck for a while and get it all out. Someone holds out a hand to help get you out. You’re not ready.

But what then? There comes a time when you realize that hand held out might as well be God’s hand. And God invites you to come out of your dead place, not back to where you were before, but to a new place of faith. A deeper, more experienced faith. Having been through this suffering, you have a new “authority” (see the third reflection), a new way to author life in yourself and in others.

There may be times when you need to go back to that lament place and just be sad and mad. Or just be nothing, numb… for a while. And when you’re ready to take the hand again, this time the hand is giving you something to eat… a chunk of bread, warm and tasty, washed down with a swig of sweet wine.

Every Thursday night at the Crowne Jesus is there feeding us. It doesn’t matter how many people come. Jesus is powerfully there. No matter what my week has been like, I am fed. And then I have the awesome opportunity to share that good stuff, as best I can, with readers like you who might not have been able to come. I hope I’ve been able to “author” some life, some hope, in you. But if not, please feel free to wrangle all you need.

Faith to Question God

by Dustin G. Wright, with a HUGE contribution by Crystal Mohrmann

The central passage of this week's upcoming Bread for Your Journey is Matthew 15: 21-28, the famous "Story of the Gentile Woman," who confronts Jesus and questions his calling:

21Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  22A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleading, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.” 
23But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”
24Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep—the people of Israel.”
25But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”
26Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”
27She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”
28“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.

Man, this passage is certainly a tough passage to preach on... there's so much go on here, and so much to question as humans.  In my undergraduate Old Testament class, my professor said that this story (and it's counterpart of the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospel of Mark) was besides Jesus's death and resurrection, the most important part of the Bible.  From a scholarly perspective, I'd tend to agree- it's the point where Christ saw his call to save as expanding from just the Jewish population to humanity as a whole.  As most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was written for a primarily Jewish-Christian audience, it really serves to highlight Paul's later argument that Christ was for all of humanity.

From a more theological perspective, this story is really important as well.

In all of the gospels (at the least the ones included in the Bible), we get to see very little of the human side of Jesus growing into his ministry and strengthening his sense of purpose.  Matthew 15: 21-28 definitely provides a glimpse into that process.  The persistence of the Gentile/ Syrophoenician woman, someone who would have been historically looked down upon by most Jews, had a faith strong enough to question Jesus, and thus she changed the world forever.  A second-class citizen, this strong woman encouraged Jesus to expand his ministry to all of humanity about 2000 years ago, and we're all saved by grace because of it.

Here's what Crystal wrote for this post:
The readings for this week’s bread for your journey are from Matthew, Chapter 15:21-28, and both discuss Jesus and his ability to heal.
Personally, I find this a particularly difficult scripture to reflect on because it is one among others that my family and I held on to when my mom was dying from cancer.  I held on to hopes of Jesus healing my mom, thinking that if anyone was worthy of a miracle, it would be her.  Unfortunately God had a different plan for her and one week from today, it will be five years since she passed away.
I share this personal connection to this scripture because I think it’s important to consider not just the many ways God answers our prayers through healing, but also the ways in which we are impacted when there is not healing and our prayers are not answered in the way we’d hoped they would be.
These people asked for healing for their loved ones and it was granted.  But, I wonder what their reaction to Jesus would have been had there not been healing.  Would they still say, “Everything he does is good!”?  Or would they back away angry and feeling forsaken?

I've lost my own mom in the last year, and I've certainly had some of the same questions that Crystal has... both of our mom's were great people.  It's easy to ask why good people die over people that we judge as not as good.  There's two final points I have to make.  First, this simply reflects that we're saved by grace and faith in God, not simply by our actions, no matter how great they may be.  Second, and in some ways I think even more importantly, God welcomes us questioning Him, strengthening our faith and understanding.

I'll conclude with one of my favorite songs called "Blessed," by Simon and Garfunkel.  Paul Simon's anguished questioning of God is really powerful here, and while some of the lyrics are challenging it really reflects on our Bible passage for the week... in the end, even the worst people can be saved through faith:



The last line is the only one I think Paul Simon got wrong... he wasn't 'tending his garden much to long' on his own... God was there with him, but he just might not have recognized it.

God's peace,
Dustin