Alright it is 5:20 AM and I am getting ready to leave for the airport for Orlando for theCreative Ministries gathering of the ELCA…

My wife is due in 8 days, I am a liitle bit on edge, and wondering why I am doing this…

Let us see where this journey takes us!

Well isn’t life grand. We are in a place that is good, the house finally sold, and we are ready to welcome the third child into the world, and the van… Have mentioned the van to any of you. The longed after vehicle that will allow the five of us to go place as a family… Well we bought our van on December 22nd. And on January 15, before the first payment was made, we hit something, like a small sign. I roughed up the paint on the rear bumber and knocked the bumber loose… Probably not anything major, yet it is the first accident, the first dent the first ding…

We always joke about getting it doen early. So it is out of the way. Yet it does not make it any easier. And now we wonder if we should have it checked out or not… Life happens. We need to live and enjoy and know that the things we have are for us to use and are not the end all be all of our existance.

The van is no longer the “perfect” van we bought. It is still a wonderful vehicle to use and help us be a family, together.

Aren’t relationships grand!!!

They have their own beings and breath and live a life all there own. We get the great pleasure of taking part in them. Sometimes they are pluses to our lives and sometimes they drain us of everything we have. They are joys to us and they truly sometimes are pains in the _____!

But as bad as these relationships are think how it would be if no one was around. If you were the only person on earth… Might sound great when those relationships are sucking you dry, but how about when you needed to talk to someone about life, or love. Who would you love?

We are made to be in relationships, for the good and for the bad. We were never promised a rose garden, or a stink weed garden for that matter.

Relationships are the fuel for our days and times here, soak in the beauty of the wonderfulness of those around you who love you, and do not let the drain of bad times get you down, as the son will come again.

As I ponder the realativities of life and love and completion of assignment papers, I wonder if I have presented myself correctly. I wonder if I really know what I am getting myself inot with wanting to do mission development? Am I crazy, or truly gifted? Do I really want to put myself and my family out there on the line and risk everything for the sake of the call? Can I really do this thing anyhow? I mean really in the whole grand scheme of things who am I?
As I prepare for the first call process and await the coming of what the Holy Spirit has for me and my family, I am confident that the Spirit will move through the process and bring me to the place I need to be. Yet in my humanness I am struck by the fact that I am so insecure in my own abilities that I am having a hard time letting go and completely trusting in the process. I mean really who am I to think I am being called to mission development? Who am I to think that I can go out and start a congregation from the ground up? There are so many things I do not know, and do not have the gifts for…
My pastor told me tonight that I should listen to my wife, and follow her lead in this process, as she probably understands my gifts and sees how I have grown and trusts that I am able to do this. I want to cling to that which I have known, and not venture out to where I am the one to use the gifts and talents given by God to do that to which God has called me.
It is easy to say we trust in God. It is easy to say that Jesus Christ died for you and you are saved by Grace through Faith becaise of Christ’s faithfulness to go to the cross. It is quite another thing to accept that same grace for yourself, and to fully trust that God has brought you to this place and will give you the neccessary tools to see you through to the other side. God will not let us down, but sometimes it is hard to truly make this our own. It is easy to say it to others, and to believe it for them, but quite another to bring it to heart in your own life, and to accept that you are accepted and forgiven, and gifted by God to go and to do.
Why do I second guess myself so much? Why do I look for the affirmation that I am where I need to be, when I can look at my children and see the love that God has for me? When I can see the support that my wife gives me, even when she is left with all the house work for days on end, as I try to keep up with class work? Why can I not see the signs all around me of the wonderfulness of God that shines on me everyday and keep questioning my call, and keep second guessing where I need to be, or if I presented myself correctly?
So many things happen because they happen, and it is not because we did nto do our best, ir give it our best, or wrote the right thing in the paper work, but it happened because it happened…

Sometimes I wonder what leads me to do the things that I do. I wonder how we can without thinking be so inhuman, so threatening, so out of control. I wonder if thinking realy changes this? I wonder how our being claimed by God as the children of the Kingdom, co-inheritors with Jesus Christ, and still do the stupid things that we do. Yes we as Lutherans believe we are simutaniouly Sinner and Saint. So we can be claimed and named by God and yet still be sinners, still do stupid things to our brothers and sisters. I struggle with this though. I struggle with my own sinfulness, my own humanness. I struggle with this in trying to understand how I can be called to be a leader of the church if I am so sinful. I struggle with how God could us me.
I know that God uses all of us, even those who may not believe in God. I can not put God in a box and say he can not have effect on anything or anyone. Or that we all are effected through others by God. I am this day struggling with how I can be a called leader and live in my sinfulness.
I struggle with this know that I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me strength. Yet I wonder where that strength is at when I act out in my sinfulness. Where is the strenght to live in the glory of God when I lash out in my sinfulness? God never leaves me, so how can I possibly lash out in sinful nature and still be with God? How do I live in this dichotomy, and continue to be able to be a leader in this church?
We are all leaders in the church, we are all gifted, we are all children of the same heavenly father. I am struggling this day with my place in this kingdom, I am stuglling with how his love can still be with me, through the lashing and sinful things I have done.

Open mouth insert foot….

Have you ever done something to someone that is just wrong? And then thought about what you did and felt really bad for it? Well that just happened to me. The family was over at some friends house having dinner, and we started talking about Easter candy. So I asked my fellow class mate what he was doing on Easter, because I was thinking of going to North Carolina on Easter to have the new offspring baptized, and Krista said that is something new, that is not what you said before, and I got all upset and started yelling. Everyone was saying fight fight, and I just kept going. I do not know what came over me, but I just let it fly. And I felt bad right after that. I knew I over reacted, but I did not know where Krista got that from.
Well I told her I was sorry, but I do not know if it did any good. I asked when I had said that we should not baptize on Easter and she said back in North Carolina. I am sure she is right, she usually is, but I for the life of me do not remember saying this, or ever believing this. Easter is the one time to have the children of God baptized, when Christ is resurrected, what a better way to be accepted as a co inheritor with Christ!
So now she is still mad, and she is right to be. I should have asked her first off when I said that and talked about it rather than jumping to conclusions. What is that: Hind sight is 20/20….
Why can’t we do things right the first time? At least there is grace, and I can hope that it will abound from my wife, who is usually always right about my ridiculous life.

I am wondering why it takes a natural disaster for us to rally and do something about the needy in the country, let alone the world. Sure as a church and a country we rallied when the tsunami hit and we sent aid and help to those in need, and now we are faced with about the same thing in our own country, but why does it take people being pushed out of their homes and living in sewage to get us to care about other lives?

Does their need all of a sudden over whelm our needs? Does the fact they do not have a home impact me more than the $500 I had to put out to fix a rental truck? This was money I could have easily spent on something else, but because of an accident I have to fix this truck. It was not a natural disaster, but why should I be moved to do something for those in New Orleans becasue they have lost their homes, and I have lost this money? It should not take a natural disaster to make us care about the rest of human life. It is our ethical responce to care for all life. We have a will to live, and as christians, this should push us to a reverence of all life.

I know we will rally and help those in needs, but we need to do this even in the best of times and bear each others burdens. Wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in the name of Jesus, he is present, and we need to love like Jesus loves.

Romans 8:12-25

Consequently then, Brothers and Sisters, debtors we are, not to the flesh to live according to the flesh For if according to the flesh you are living, you are going to be dieing, but if by the spirit, you are exterminating the works of the body, you will be given life. For as many as are lead by the spirit of God, these are the sons and daughters of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to go back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption when we are crying out, “Abba, father” The spirit itself is testifying to our spirit that we are children of God and since children, also heirs, indeed heirs of God, co inheritors of Christ, if indeed we are suffering with him, in order that we might be glorified with him For I believe that the sufferings of this present time are not equivalent to the glory that will come to be revealed to us For the eager expectation of Creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of the children of God For creation was subjected to purposelessness, not of its own free will but through the one who subjected it, on account of hope also that creation itself will be set free from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God For we are knowing that all creation is moaning and suffering together until now and not alone, but we who are having the first fruit of the spirit, we ourselves are groaning in ourselves for the adoption we are expecting, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we are saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who is hoping in what is being seen? but since we are hoping in that which we can not see, through waiting patiently we patiently wait

When you turn on the news what do you hear? Murder, breaking and entering, robbery, death. Where is the hope to be found in our society today? Is there any good news to be found? If we live as Paul tells us in the spirit than we have hope in what will come, but how does that play out in our lives?
Let me tell you a few stories. There were a mother and a father that had a 4 year old boy. They were very protective parents and watched their son like a hawk. Well over this past 4th of July weekend, there was a lot of commotion and the father was trying to get some yard work done and was cutting the grass. And the mother was busy inside taking care of things that needed to be done. The boy did what all boys will do and went to play video games. Well the only problem with this is he got into a car that was all shut up. No open windows and he shut the door behind him. The father thought the mother was watching their son, and the mother thought the father was watching their son. And the son was in a car in the hot sun, playing video games, and was over come by the heat and died. Where is the hope in this situation? What do these parents have to cling to? Who is moaning and suffering with them in this time of great lose and suffering. Or how about another family, the parents of another 4 year old boy. This time the father is a doctor and usually does not take their son to the daycare center. But this morning is a different morning and for what ever reason the mother is just not able to take their son to the daycare center. So the father straps their son into the car seat and heads off as usual. Now the boy is just quite, maybe he fell asleep, or maybe he was just not very talkative, or maybe his father was busy talking to the office on his cell phone and the son just did not want to interrupt. For what ever reason though, the father got caught up in his usual daily routine and forgot his son was in the car. Remember it was not usual for him to drop his son off at daycare. The father went to work, and the son sat on the back of the car all day in the hot sun. This has the same tragic ending as the first story. The boy died, and here the father is charged with 2nd degree manslaughter. Where is the hope? Who is moaning with this father and this mother, who is groaning in their pain? And what about yet another couple who are trying to have kids, the time is right, we are ready for kids they say. And they finally get pregnant. But then 10 weeks in disaster strikes, and the baby is lost to a miscarriage. What did they do wrong, was it because they were out on the hot sun on the 4th of July at a picnic? They made sure they drank lots of water… Why did this happen, who is groaning with them? Who is suffering with them? The couple goes on with their quest for children, because the time is still right and they are still saying they are ready to have children. And within 8 months of the last miscarriage, there are issues that need to be checked out by her doctor, and they discover they had another miscarriage. Where is the hope for this couple? Who is moaning and groaning with them, and who is suffering with them? How can these three families live in the hope of the expected liberation of all creation, and not live in the fleshly suffering of their situation. Death, crime, violence it seems is all that permeates our news casts and fills our societies? How can we claim the glorious freedom of the children of God we are entitled to as Paul tells us?
Paul says that we did not receive a spirit of slavery to remain constantly in fear, but we have been adopted as children of God, and if children then heirs to the kingdom, fellow heirs with Christ to the kingdom of his and our father in heaven. We will suffer with him, but we have obtained the inheritance of a life time. And Paul continues to say that the sufferings of this time, the things we experience now, be that pain and suffering, are in now way comparable with the glory that will be revealed to us in the liberation redemption of us in the coming of the kingdom of God. We hope in what we can not see, the heirs to the kingdom, hope in the kingdom that we can not see. If we could see the kingdom, and had already realized our inheritance would we need to hope in it? But even though we can not see it we can rest assured and trust in God to uphold his promises to us. Yet Paul also says that creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of the children of God, and is moaning and suffering, or is having labor pains. Creation itself is groaning for the coming of the children of God, creation is eagerly awaiting the liberation and redemption of the children of God and for the liberation and redemption for all of creation. The coming of the kingdom, but is creation moaning and groaning alone? No!! We are moaning and groaning and suffering with all of creation, and just why is that? Is it because the suffering is so bad, or this world is so corrupt and has lost all purpose? By no means Paul would say to us. Creation is moaning and groaning for the coming of the kingdom, not because life here is so bad, but because life then will be so good. We moan and groan for the coming of the kingdom of God, because there is no comparison to the kingdom to what we see now. The suffering will be so out done by the glory that will be revealed there is need to moan for the coming of the liberation and redemption of all creation. Yet Paul would say we moan because we have obtained glimpses and portions of the coming glory. We are already in the kingdom of God, yet we are not fully in the kingdom of God. We live in the already but not yet of the coming kingdom of God. The hope we have in the life in the spirit secures for us the salvation promised to us through the death on the tree and resurrection of our savior and brother. We have secured the promise that the spirit testifies to us daily. We our groaning heirs to the kingdom of God. Yet where is the hope all around us, every where we look it seems we see nothing but pain and hurt, suffering and agony. It is the hope we live in that helps us await the full coming of the kingdom. Paul said for I believe that the sufferings of this present time are not equivalent to the glory that will come to be revealed to us. And today I can stand before you as the husband of the woman who had 2 miscarriages within a years time and say that hope exists even in the darkest times of our lives, because the spirit continually reminds us that God is the one we belong to, and we are heirs to his kingdom and can trust in the promises made through Jesus Christ our savior. As Isaiah tells us in chapter 44 I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Do not fear, or be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? You are my witnesses! Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one. As Jesus explains to the disciples in the explanation of the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the angels of God will remove all suffering and causes of evil in the culmination of the kingdom of God. We are living with the weeds, yet we live in the hope that God will not renege on his promises. And we receive the same promise in Psalm 86 that even though the insolent rise up against me and ruffians seek my life, God will give us strength and is faithful in his promises. All creation groans and moans with us in our suffering, and we can hope in the promise the spirit reminds of us, we are heirs to the kingdom of God, children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus. Groaning heirs live in the hope and the promise that God will call us as Eddie Carswell says, “Arise my love the grave no longer has a hold on you, no more death sting, no more suffering, arise my love.” No more suffering as the glory overcomes everything we know. Groaning heirs, groan for the coming kingdom, and live in the hope the promises will be fulfilled. Amen.

How many of you can tell me where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001? If you were in school, you probably know what building you were in, what class room you were in and what was happening when the announcement came over the speaker. And if you were working, you probably know if you were at the office, in a conference room, or at your desk, out with a client, or maybe on a sales call. I know almost precisely were I was, I was on Southern Pines boulevard, in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was at work, on the phone with a customer working on a computer support issue. Soon after getting off this call, I called my wife and told her to turn on the TV, as I knew she was at home and would not have the TV on with Charis there. These events brought chaos into our lives. These events caused and still cause chaos to be all around us. And in this congregation where one of the planes went down really close, the chaos is ever present. This event effected me, as I was suppose to be going on a three day spiritual retreat which started on Thursday the 13th. We waited for most of the day after the attacks to see if the retreat would be canceled, as the leaders of the retreat spoke with the leaders of the Western North Carolina Via De Cristo movement. The decision was to move forward with the weekend, because if we were to cancel the weekend, that would be just what those who did the attacks would want us to do. On this weekend where we remove ourselves from the chaos of the world into a perfect peaceful time with God, I was to give a talk on what it means to be a friend and to bring a friend to Christ. This retreat was a wonderful time in God’s perfect created order. And away from the chaos of the world, in the ordered space with God, my life got a little more chaotic. You see it was on this weekend that I finally discovered that this is where I am supposed to be. Be that because the three spiritual leaders on the retreat were all second career pastors, or because away from the chaos of the world I could hear God more clearly. What ever the reason, in the perfect ordered peace of God’s creation, my world got a little more chaotic. So I came home from the retreat, and told Krista I think I, I think we need to go to seminary. She thought ok, in a few years we can go and that would be great, Charis is only 5 months old, and it will be better when she is a few years older. And I said no, we need to go in the fall. So we started planning for this. I began the candidacy process in North Carolina, where I was accepted as a candidate. I applied to the seminary and was accepted. We started to put our house on the market. And then my wife comes to my office, carrying a pink and blue balloon, announcing the coming of our second child. In the midst’s of preparing of preparing to go to seminary, trying to sell our house, do everything that needs to be done for candidacy, our lives got a little bit more chaotic, by the coming of our second child. A joyous occasion, which added to the stress of my and my family’s daily lives.
How do we live in the chaos of this world? Well we can see it is not all chaos. If we look at the snippet we got from Genesis this morning, from the creation story we can see the perfect ordered perfection that God has set into motion. In this creation God speaks it into existence, and then sees it, puts it in place and says that it is good and moves on to the next item that needs to be done. Perfect ordered perfection. God creates it and it is good. And it is in its place. If we read a little further into Genesis, we can see where chaos enters the world. We see where man and woman ate from the tree that God told them not to eat from. Sin enters the world and chaos over takes us. But in this chaotic world filled with sin is the perfect ordered creation of God destroyed? No, it still exists as an under girding for all of us. We were a part of that creation, and it was created for us, so even in the sinful chaos of this world, we still have the perfect ordered creation of God.
So as internship draws to an end, and we go back to seminary for another year of school, and then we wonder where in the world will first call be… We live in the chaos, and it seems to be all that is around us. Maybe the best thing would be to remove your self from the world. To go to that mountain top and live in the perfect ordered creation of God. Completely take yourself out of the chaos. But remember what happened to me earlier when I went to that perfect ordered creation of God, removed from the chaos. My life got more chaotic. We also see in the gospel reading for today, that Jesus tells the disciples to go. They can not be on the mountain top, only in the perfect ordered creation of God. The must go into all the world, making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything that I have commanded you. Yet even in the perfect ordered creation of God with Jesus on this mountain top, there is chaos. In the beginning of the reading, it says the disciples worshiped Jesus, but some doubted. The disciples doubted, chaos was there, and affected them. Even in the chaos we are told to go. We are to go out into the world and be the hands and feet of God. We are to go out and continue the mission of Jesus, the mission of God. But the one thing I think we forget when we look at the great commission is the final sentence. We always remember to go and make disciples, baptizing, and teaching all nations. The last sentence is I am with you always even until the end of the age. But even that really is not the whole last sentence. It is really and Remember I am with you always even until the end of the age. Jesus is telling the disciples and us, that in the chaos of the world, when it seems I am far from you, I am with, just remember. Remember I am with you always. In those moments where the dark world is closing in and chaos is over taking us, and you can not see me, I am with always. Paul told the same thing to the Corinthians, the God of Peace and love will be with you. Just remember.
As we go out into the chaos of the world and we come to those moments of decisions there are 2 things we can think about. One is the Robert Frost poem, Two roads diverged in the yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both and be one traveler so long I stood and stood I long and standing still for longer still, looking down one path as far as I could and it looked fair, and looking down the other path and it looks just as good. But the one thing I think Robert Frost forgot is there is actually three choices here, because there is the one to the right and the one to the left, but there is also the path behind you. But the other thing we need to remember is no matter which path we take, that Jesus is with us. As we go out into the world, living in the perfect ordered creation of God, we will be in the chaos of life and sin, but we must go and make disciples, and continue the mission of God, and know that we are not going out alone. As Paul said, the God of Peace and Love will be with you. And Jesus told us, Remember, I am always with you. Go into the chaos and remember. Remember. Amen.

Have you ever wanted something really bad? Have you ever wanted something so much that you did not think you could live without it? Have you ever wanted something but not had the resources to get it? Or how about at Christmas or your birthday, have you made a list and checked about a billion times to make sure that everything you want is on there, and then you would go to everyone you know, and maybe a few people you did not know, to tell them your birthday was coming and here is a lit of items that they could get for you. These are the things you just can not live without. The things you have to have, and of course we are not let down when the gifts finally come in. We are built up with expectation and know that we will get just what we asked for, right?
Life is a gift. It is not always the gift we wanted, or the gift we expected. We might have asked for a really cool pair of jeans, oversized, low riders, with flames on the pockets, and everything that would make us be cool, and be a part of the in crowd. But instead we get a pair of sensible Khakis. Life is like this. Our time in this world is full of things we wish would never happen, with times we wish we did not have to go through, and things that happen out of no where. Life has a way of throwing us curve balls, and be what we did not expect, but still life is a gift. And all of life is not bad, there are a lot of times we get exactly what we want, and we can know that we are loved even in the bad times.
In our Gospel lesson for today, Jesus gives us 3 gifts. The first gift Jesus gives us is eternal life. In verse 3 Jesus says and this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus. What does it mean to know God, and Jesus? We can read the bible, and know about God and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit can help us know God, but what does it mean to “know”? The word for know in Hebrew and also in Greek, has a connotation of intimacy. There is an intimate relationship here. So how do we know God? We know God like we know pain. Most of us can speak about physical pain from an intimate standpoint. We know what pain is, not because we have read about it, we know what pain is, because we have experienced it. Be that from surgery, or breaking a bone, scraping a knee, slamming a finger in a door, these are things we have experienced. This is a knowledge that is not intellectual, but it is personal. We have had a relationship with pain. We know pain, and we can know God, through a personal relationship, and this is eternal life, which is given to us, by God, through Jesus, as it says in verse 2 since you have given the son authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. The second gift that Jesus gives us is the word. Jesus is able to give us the word, because the father has given the word to him. Everything that Jesus gives to us is first given to him from the father. Everything is given to Jesus, specifically in our passage: people, authority, the work, everything, the word, and God’s name. It is by his receiving these things he is able to pass them along to us. He is in a way the middle man, and this is one middle man you do not want to go around. He allows the grace and love of God to be showered over us, he is the restorer of the relationship that is broken by sin, and allows us to “know” God, and be known by God. Jesus is the one who brings us into relationship with the father, through is brokerage of the gifts given to him to give to those whom are given to him. Jesus emulates his relationship with the father, who gives everything to him, by being the giving agent for the community of faith. He even asks for us to be one with the father, as Jesus and the father are one. There is one interesting phrase in all of this discussion of the gift of the word. It actually comes up four times in our gospel lesson in various ways. To all whom you have given him. Jesus is able to give the gift of eternal life and the word to those whom God has given him. We are a gift to Jesus. We are the gift given to him by the father. Our lives are a treasure that has been given to Jesus, so that his work and mission which is the fathers might be continued, through us, the agents of Jesus who has given us what has been given to him, so that we might continue to give it to others. If we can equate this with something all of us will know about, choosing teams. God has chosen us to be on Jesus’ team. God puts us on Jesus’ team. God must think that we are valuable assets for Jesus’ team. However we must be one, as Jesus and the father are one, so there is no one of greater value than anyone else, and the other team is really hurting, because it seems there maybe no one on it. So we are a gift to Jesus, and can see that all things come from God, through Jesus, just as our faith is a gift, based in the faithfulness of Christ to go to the cross, and give us eternal life, and the gift of the intimate knowledge of God in the relationship he secured for us there. God gives us to Jesus, because we were God’s and he can give us to Jesus, and in turn Jesus gives us the gifts of eternal life and the word, which are only two of the three gifts I said Jesus gives us.
The gifts of eternal life and the word are mentioned in our text, but the third gift, is one that our text is. This gospel reading is part of what is called the high priestly prayer of Jesus. In this prayer he prays for himself, his disciples, and for all those who are yet to believe. In our reading for today we see Jesus praying for himself, and the beginning or the section on the disciples. The disciples in this section are all those who believe, including you and I. This can be argued of course that it is only the 12 whom Jesus picked, but that is not what is important here, because you see the third gift Jesus gives us, is the fact that he prayed for us. He prayed for you and for me. He went before the father and brought up your name. The power of pray is a wonderful gift. Jesus prayed for us. This means, first of all, that we are all in need of prayer. We can’t do it by ourselves. Secondly, we are guaranteed help from God. How could God refuse the Son’s requests? However, we may not always want God’s help that Jesus has asked for. We may want to be part of the world, rather than hated by the world. We may not want to be sent into the world where God would have us go. We may not want the unity that becomes our witness to the world. Do we want Jesus praying for us? If so, we need to listen carefully to what he has requested from God. We need to prepare ourselves for God to answer. Prayer will get us an answer maybe not one we want, just like the gift of life. I remember a time when Krista and I prayed for something near and dear to our hearts. We had wanted this for sometime, and it was just not working out on our own. Then one night she asked me if I had ever prayed for this gift to be given, and I had not, and neither had she. So that night we prayed, and grace was given. It may not always be the gift we thought we were asking for, but God’s grace is shining on all of us, in the wonderful gifts of eternal life, the word of God, and Jesus intercession or prayer for us all.
χάρις is given. Accept this gift of grace with the abundant joy with which it is given, be constantly devoting yourselves to prayer, and know that the God of all grace, who has summoned you to his eternal glory in Jesus Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you, as you are his witness to each other and to all the world. χάρις is given. So let your light so shine, that others will see God, and be touched by his grace.
Amen.