My friends, this week we continue to ponder just what “the Body and Blood of Christ” means to us, and as we said last week, viewing “the big picture,” it truly is about taking what we have received through our brother Jesus, at his last supper—his presence, into our bodies—physical food, along with his words and actions through Scripture—his showing us the way, and allowing ourselves then, to become that “bread,” his body really, for the world.  And we really do need a “big picture” idea to understand this gift that Jesus left us: His real presence, physical, and spiritual in our lives.

   I promised last week not to “rag on” our local bishop, Robert Barron, and his small notion of the Eucharist, therefore I won’t, but instead speak of another individual who was prominent two weeks ago at the Eucharistic Congress, in Indianapolis, Jonathan Roume, who plays  Jesus in the popular series, The Chosen.

   I was upset to see him sporting a tee shirt with the words: “If it is only a symbol, the hell with it!”  What was being uplifted on this shirt is the notion that the Body and Blood of the Eucharist is real human flesh and real human blood—in short, “the Real Presence.” Evidently, if one doesn’t accept that this is real human flesh, and real human blood, then the real presence of Jesus isn’t there either, and the bishops of this country, including our own, are very worried about this. 

   For whatever reason, the bishops of this country feel that uplifting this idea of “real presence,” as in real flesh and real blood, is more important than the fact that we who follow Jesus, the Christ become, his body and blood , physically, spiritually, and emotionally in our world when we try to “imitate,” rather than “adore” him, as the Eucharistic Congress’ attendees seemed to have been instructed to do—adore, rather than imitate. And again, this isn’t to say that these folks don’t in any way “imitate” Jesus in their lives, but clearly this wasn’t where the emphasis was placed. 

   So, the question must be asked and faced: If you are going to spend millions of dollars—28 to be exact, trying to get “faithful heads” to truly believe that what we have on our tables of liturgy is real human flesh and blood—is that all there is?  Wouldn’t it be better to stress that our brother Jesus is truly present when we say the words, and we don’t necessarily have to understand how that exactly is, instead of being boxed in, believing in a simplistic, magical view of “human flesh and blood” without any real connection to the “flesh and blood” of humanity needing attention in our world? I think it would be better, because I believe that is what our brother Jesus intended.

   But, as always, let’s turn to the Scriptures.  The gospel today from John zeros in on what I was saying above.  Jesus is trying to move his followers beyond the mere physicality of the bread, food for the physical body that is spoken of in the Old Testament reading from Exodus where the people are complaining to God because they have nothing to eat.  And being the merciful One that our God is, the people were fed with manna and quail. 

   Our brother Jesus commenting on this fact, that they were like their forebears—that those who followed him weren’t hungering for the “real bread” he longed to give them—his words, his way of living and giving that would ultimately fill their hearts, minds, and souls, but for food to merely quench their physical hunger. 

   I believe what Jesus found in the people, asking for “physical” bread, instead of “bread” that, [in his words] “gives life to the world”  –big picture, through his words and deeds, saddened him, as he wanted them to see more. 

   To me, that is why the over-the-top expense of the recent Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis saddens me so. Additionally, I believe it may have saddened our brother Jesus too, because it didn’t stress the “bread of life” that “gives life” to the world at all.  They that attended, and they that produced this event pretty much stayed on the surface, “adoring rather than imitating” our brother Jesus—something, by the way, he never wanted. 

   And, moving on to what Paul has to say today to the Ephesians, I believe we see someone who “gets” what Jesus was trying to convey in his lifetime: Paul says, to be a follower of Jesus means you must change your ways—look more like Jesus, and less like the world—in other words, if we are not about “justice” and “truth,” something is missing. 

   It would seem that if something truly “life-giving,” beyond the immediate adoration complete with all the “bells and whistles”  had happened at the Eucharistic Congress, it would have been more widely shared, like an announcement sending this 50.000 folks forth to find justice (the bread of life, the body and blood of Christ in the homeless poor, the imprisoned, especially falsely so, which has so much to do with race, the downtrodden due to gender and sexual differences and preferences beyond the norm, in those called to serve, but denied, and more.  We never hear any leadership on these issues—only rules and regs about who is included, but mostly who is excluded.

   Across town, at the same time, Roman Catholic Women Priests sponsoring a Eucharist of Equals advocated and prayed for all of the above. 

   It is understandable in the purely human sense that the Bishops of this country would choose to do the “easier” action, staying stuck on the surface, but it isn’t what Jesus, by his life called them to do.  They need to lead instead of serving themselves and their positions of power, finding a place at the table for all of God’s beautiful people.

   And for us my friends, the call is the same.  I heard someone recently say, “What good thing did you do today?”  Have we been about showing mercy, understanding, being just in our dealings with others, or better yet, have we done the “loving thing” when we had the opportunity? –and as you know, the “loving thing” isn’t always the easiest to do.  Following Jesus will every day call us to be “our best.”

   Today’s readings are about more than meets the eye for each of us—that is truly the meaning of being “bread for our world, seeing Jesus’ “body and blood” in the faces and lives of all that we meet, and in that light, whether we can get our heads around “real human flesh, and real human blood, doesn’t seem to be the most important thing, but,  responding by doing what is most needed, the loving thing, for the true, more real, body and blood of this world.   Amen? Amen!

My friends, as promised, today and the next several Sundays will be, big picture, about the “body and blood of Christ,” and it is important, thinking about the “big picture,” that when we speak of “Christ,” we don’t mean Jesus’ last name, but a concept that Franciscans, Ilia Delio and Richard Rohr, as well as other expansive thinkers, of the ilk of Diamuid O’Murcho in Quantum Theology, speak of as inclusive of all peoples, times, and places—in other words, Christ is for all. 

   So, my friends, the chosen readings for today are so good in that they indeed tell us how to receive Jesus’ body and blood, and what to do with it once received.  I believe these readings do tell us how to get out of the small boxes that our Church hierarchy have been, sadly, famous for putting us into. 

   The 1^st reading from 2 Kings gives us the prophet Elisha telling “a giver of bread” –20 loaves, to, “give it to the people.”  As we humans tend to do, we see the “small picture,” as the giver of the loaves says, “How can I serve it to 100 people?” 

   Likewise, in today’s gospel from John, we see the same phenomenon—too little food, too many people.  The prophets Elisha, and Jesus simply say, “Give it to the people.”  And miraculously, in both cases, while not enough to start with, there are leftovers!  So, what can we make of this?  Clearly, something beyond physics is going on…

   Psalm 145 gives us an initial clue:  “You open your hand and [you will] satisfy.”  It has been said by others that the small offering given, in both readings, became great because of the example given by one person that encouraged others to give what they had too when they saw that there wasn’t enough to go around. Or, one can simply believe that the “blessings” of the prophets, Elisha and Jesus, miraculously multiplied the loaves, and in Jesus’ case, the fish, to make not only enough, but more than enough. 

   I personally like the idea that both Elisha and Jesus initially, “showed the way” and others responded in kind…  Jesus, in my read of Scriptures was always “showing the way” to be our best selves. 

   Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, our 2^nd reading, fleshes out beautifully I believe, just how we are to be “our best” in our earthly existence:  He says, “I plead with you then…to lead a life worthy of your calling…” basically, treat others charitably, with unselfishness, gentleness, patience—doing all you can to preserve unity. 

   It seems then, that there is always the chance that when we “give what, as Saint Francis of Assisi said, is ours to give,” there is the possibility that more will be added to our gift by others.  We should never underestimate our personal power in this regard, to start the ball rolling, so to speak.  At the very least, we have the responsibility to, “show up,” –the Spirit will probably take it from there. 

   So my friends, we can’t really speak about the “body and blood of Christ” in the Eucharist without mentioning the extravaganza, to the tune of $28 million held by the hierarchy of our Church, in Indianapolis last weekend.  To be fair to our Winona/Rochester diocesan bishop, Robert Barron, I felt I had better listen to what he had to say at the Eucharistic Congress. 

   Bishop Barron is definitely what some would call, “a charismatic individual,” which can be a good, or not so good thing, and people needing perhaps, a strong message, are very much attracted to him—they in fact, love him, and his words. 

   In his talk he spoke about what is wrong in our world, and to him, it is that “love is not being addressed, or applied.”  He told those gathered that they need to be, “Lumen gentium,” light of the world, only he doesn’t ever say what that means. He does say in so many words that we as individuals have no right to, “listen to ourselves,” or act on our own desires—that is God’s to do—to tell us who we are, and how we should act, and interestingly enough, “God’s message” is exactly what the hierarchical Church teaches.  What was, as a good friend of mine says, “crazy-making,” to me, was his dialog about “not listening to our egos” –only his persistence on doing things by the rules and regs (his way, in fact), without any thought about listening to our own beings, made him sound quite egotistical, and arrogant, something he, I am sure, is totally unaware of.  I am always a little skeptical of someone who is so sure that they have the absolute truth. I always thought that God gifted us with free wills—but not so, it would seem in listening to Bishop Barron. 

   So, the more that I listen to him, the more I know quite clearly, why he won’t come and speak with us…

   But going back to his notion that what is wrong with the world is that, “love is not being applied, “ I would ask him, if that is the case, why does he never speak about, nor  encourage his followers to address climate change (talk about Word/World on Fire), poverty and hunger in our world, ceaseless wars, nuclear proliferation, the death penalty, acceptance of those who have struggled to live within the narrow confinements of gender okayed by the Church hierarchy, God’s equal calls to women and men to serve at our liturgical tables—to full leadership in our Church.  In my mind, it’s because he doesn’t understand the profound nature, and expansiveness of love as depicted by our brother Jesus.

   In conclusion then, Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire, that he hopes to ignite within his following, and spread throughout the world, I would say will not have the massive effect that he hopes for because it clearly, in my mind, is not about “love” in the grandest sense of the word.  It has no direction beyond its narrow scope of what is acceptable –it is exclusive, arrogant and small-minded. 

   I say “small-minded” because in its attempt to have us all spend our creative minds and energies merely accepting that “the bread and the wine of communion is human flesh and human blood,” rather than what Jesus’ body and blood transformed in us is doing, or should be doing in our world, extending acceptance, kindness, open ears and hearts, hearing individual and unique things our God is doing in the world, seems to me to have missed the point! Truly, I would say that when, “the Word, is truly on Fire, people will keep finding more and more ways, not less, different nuances of what love means.  And let me be clear, I am not saying that followers of this movement are not doing “good” things in this world, as I know they are, but if we are about love, in the memory of Jesus of Nazareth, then, no one can be excluded, everyone is worthy, and certainly, not, “a waste of time,” as Bishop Barron said of us! Amen? Amen!

   My friends, once again we come to celebrate in our time a woman, Mary the Tower—formally known as Mary, from an obscure town—Magdala.  True exegesis done in our time tells us that in fact there is no town of “Magdala,” and that is because the word, “magdala” is not a place, but an adjective for a woman maligned throughout our religious Christian history in order to keep her in a place where her call and mission, given by our brother Jesus would remain little known to the world going forward.

   “Magdala” in fact, in Aramaic, means “tower” and was given to Mary as testament to her “tower of faith.”  In our past celebrations of Mary Magdala, we have uncovered the recent work of women scholars demonstrating the tampering done with Scriptural texts by bishops, popes, and perhaps others to combine all the “Marys” in Scripture stories minus Jesus’ mother, into a composite labeling them in the person of Mary from the supposed town of Magdala as a prostitute, rather than her true identity of prophet and priest. 

   There is evidence as well that the persons and actions of Mary and Martha, usually connected with Lazarus, as one family, being switched over time and the words in Scripture voiced by Martha, after Lazarus’ raising from the dead by Jesus, proclaiming him, “the Christ,” were really Mary’s, the one who would go on to form a house church after Jesus’ earthly life. 

   We must remember that Mary’s words are the same ones uttered by Peter which ultimately christens him, “the Rock.”  And if Mary’s words are essentially the same, then we have a problem as the men establish the Church going forward—unfortunately for women claiming their God-given calls to ministry, our beloved Church was founded on Peter the Rock instead of Mary the Tower of Faith.  My friends, this is what happens when Scripture texts are, as Sister Sandra Schneiders says, “written by men, about men and for men!”

   In our past Mary Magdala liturgies I have quoted chapter and verse where changes were made over time and if you haven’t been here at a time when I did that, and would like to know more, I can supply them to you—it is quite a tangled web…

   This year, because there is so much happening in Indianapolis this week around two very different Church views on the gift and meaning of the Eucharist, I thought it would be good to use the selected Church readings for the 16^th Weekend in Ordinary Time to be in line as much as possible with the Church of us all. The readings as such have much to say to us about what the Eucharist truly is, in light of the prophets of old, including Jesus, and his desire of how we should minister in our world. 

   Let’s begin with Jeremiah, prophet in Old Testament times who speaks our God’s words: “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!”  Most, if not all of us, are not “shepherds who care for sheep,” but Jeremiah was speaking to folks who were shepherds, so this was most meaningful to them.  The transition is easy enough for us to assign the prophets words to “leaders” in our own time.

   Our “supposed” Catholic leaders, bishops from across the country are meeting in Indianapolis this week, along with 50,000 devoted Catholics, for a 5-day event costing $28 million, wherein they are hoping to revive the Catholic church through an exaggerated presentation of the “Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist,” with the special emphasis on this presence being actual flesh and blood. 

   They are being “hard-pressed” to justify this expenditure which includes a special monstrance (no doubt quite spendy as all Church religious articles tend to be) to house the sacred elements, when little attention, or any “real” deep concern seems to be spent on healing the thousands of victims of clergy sex abuse—this Body of Christ—this real presence has never received a true and sincere apology for the tremendous damage done to so many, and if that were truly seen as one of the most pressing activities that they as leaders need to do, I believe they might see more people in the pews, and it would not cost $28 million to do!”  “Woe to you shepherds…destroying and scattering the sheep in my pasture, the prophet proclaims today! 

   That same prophet also speaks these words of God” [Our God wants all of us] “to be fruitful and multiply.” 

   Indianapolis this weekend is also the sight of the “Eucharist of Equals,” sponsored by Roman Catholic Women Priests who are inviting those who attend to a wider, more expansive view of Eucharist, the one I believe is much more representative of how Jesus, our brother, envisioned this final gift to his followers. 

   At this liturgy and the liturgies of women priests across our country, and around the world, everyone who wants to be with us, and pray with us, is welcome to be there—no exceptions!  Our brother Jesus took his “liturgy” to the hillsides because everyone wasn’t welcome in the synagogue!  Unfortunately, with the Church men,

there are always “disclaimers and barriers” to their message.  The event at the Lucas Oil Convention Center (a curious place to hold this event it would seem) costs $300-350 to attend, not counting travel, food, and housing expenses, not something most, if any of the poor and disadvantaged could attend.

   One of the themes being uplifted by the women this weekend is of course “equality in ministry” –women too are called, and who are these so-called male “leaders” in our Church, to say, “women are not?”

   Looking at the other two readings for this weekend, we see more of the true nature and message of our brother Jesus.  Knowing himself how hard and physically, emotionally and spiritually draining, ministry can be, Jesus , in his compassion wants to take his apostles away for a time of rest, Mark tells us in today’s gospel.  The time of rest doesn’t happen in this story, but yet the counsel from Jesus to do so is there. 

   Paul’s letter to the Ephesians lets us know that “the Christ,” the only reality that Paul ever knew of Jesus, [will] “bring us all together.”

   I would say that in light of two very different views of Eucharist being presented in Indianapolis this weekend, it will be most important that we keep our eyes open, fully focused on Jesus’ actions and then he can more easily, “bring us all together.” As one of the banners that the women will be holding this weekend when they demonstrate outside of the Lucas Oil Convention Center says so well, “Jesus asks us to imitate, not adore him.” 

   So then my friends, we come back to one of the main themes of today’s liturgy—affording Mary Magdala, Tower of Faith, her true place in our struggle to be faithful witnesses to Jesus’ profound message of love and care for our world and all its many people in so many different stripes and colors.  Many women in our Church are already doing this—we aren’t waiting for the men to say it is okay! Amen? Amen!

   My friends, we shouldn’t be surprised that once again this week we hear the theme of being a “prophet,” as it is really part and parcel of being a follower of our brother Jesus.  Coupled with this theme to prophesy, is the most comforting, additional theme of a God who loves us mightily. 

   I will begin with this second theme of a “loving God” who wants only good for us as this knowledge of such a God gives us the strength to be prophets, when we might otherwise walk away from such a task.

   This desire of our God that we would strive to be our best is laid out beautifully by Paul in today’s 2^nd reading from Ephesians. He says, “God [wants] us to be holy and blameless—full of love.” It must be said that striving after such qualities in our lives will no doubt help us to become our best. 

   Paul continues, saying that [as] “adopted children…we were willed an inheritance.”  As we consider this fact of being “adopted,” it is good to reflect that as of July 1^st  of this year, in Minnesota, and many other states, birth records have become fully available to adopted children.  Even though many adopted children are interested in those records mainly to know their “origins” for medical purposes and perhaps, curiosity, many will say that even after coming to know their original stories and coming to understanding about why they may have been “given up,”  they continue to call their “adoptive parents” their “true” parents as they were the ones who raised, and loved them into adulthood. 

   Thus, it is from this most positive view of adoption, that I invite us to ponder our God’s gift of love to us, and an inheritance of eternal life one day.  Additionally, let us consider that, contrary to ages-old Church teaching that this Loving God sent our brother Jesus to make reparation for the sins of us all, our Loving God did rather, send Jesus to show us the “best ways” to live our lives, to make sure that our human experiences here led us back to God—as such was God’s love for each of us. 

   One of those “best ways” then, was that each of us, as Jesus’ followers, would shoulder the mission/the call to be a prophet in the times and places of our lives, just as he did in his.  Amos, like many other prophets doesn’t claim to be a prophet, thinking wrongly that this task belongs to others—he is only “a shepherd” after all. 

   We can perhaps say the same; I am only a teacher, a farmer, a mother/father, an ordinary laborer, and so on—who am I to prophesy?  And our God through Amos seems to be saying, “Who are you not to!”

   This then causes us to look at just what prophets are being asked to do.  The fact that a simple shepherd is being asked to speak, “God’s truth” says that the “call” comes to the lowliest among us, and on up the ladder, in their own way —where each lives and works.

   We have already established through Amos’ call that “being a prophet” is not something that folks generally seek out.  Our brother Jesus understands, most likely from his own human journey, that there is “fear and apprehension” in this call to sometimes “stand alone” in speaking the truth given by God. Perhaps this is why many choose not to speak their God-given truth.  But Jesus sends his faithful followers out in twos that they might support one another. 

    I was called upon this past week to accompany a friend, driving her to an appointment for a procedure in Lacrosse, and bringing her back again.  She mentioned several times, before and after her procedure, “I am so glad that you were with me!” 

   Mark tells us today in the gospel story of the apostles being “sent out in twos”—“they cast out demons and anointed many people with oil, and healed them.”  “Anointing people with oil,” speaks to a “priestly function,” which we might feel would disqualify some of us, but as we know from Jesus’ teachings, we must always go deeper in these readings, finding that there are many ways “to anoint and heal,” –through touch and kind, supportive words, through simply “being with another in their pain,” and so on. 

   In today’s gospel, Jesus wisely shares with his followers then, and now, that indeed, “this being a prophet” won’t always be easy! He tells us that we may have to “shake off the dust,” we encounter along the way, which would seem to align with what we heard last week, that we aren’t ultimately responsible that our words cause others to change, but we are responsible for at least speaking the words given us by God. 

   Another of the fine-tuning pieces that we need to see in today’s gospel is that Jesus is telling the apostles to preach “repentance of sin” as they went from town to town.  We have often heard in years past the emphasis of Jesus’ “forgiving our sins,” as opposed to “repentance” on our parts.  The two often, for Jesus, went hand in hand, “Your sins are forgiven—go now, and sin no more—or in other words, “be better –try not to do this again, which really speaks to our God’s desire that we try to be our best. If we stop at “God’s forgiveness” instead of our, “repentance” too, it is all on God, without any effort on our parts. Jesus was wise enough to know that we, and others in our world would be better if we “repented” our wrong-doing, vowing to be better. 

   We can probably sum up these thoughts today by thinking of how we operate in our own lives when we need help from others in accomplishing tasks in our lives.  Most, if not all of us turn to others that we know and trust, perhaps even love, to help us do what needs to be done. Our God does the same in asking us to be “prophets” in our own times and places.  No matter where we live, work, or share life with others, we are the best people, there, to speak God’s truth! Amen? Amen!

My friends, it would seem that even on a surface level this week, “being a prophet” is  the issue we are called to ponder.  I like the word, “ponder” as it suggests we are looking at any issue in more than a surface way. 

   As always, let’s look to today’s Scriptures to see what this means in our everyday lives.  The prophet Ezekiel in the 1^st reading today doesn’t seem to have a very pleasing task given him by God’s Spirit.  We learn in this short reading from chapter 2 that the people have been, “rebellious, defiant, and stubborn”—not encouraging words as a “potential prophet” enters in.  And additionally, we learn another interesting thing about being a prophet—it is not as important that the people change their ways as it is that the “prophet speaks.” 

   Thus, the onus is not completely on the prophet to get people to in effect, “be better,”  but on the people themselves.  At the very least Scripture says, “they will know that a prophet has come among them.” 

   I believe it is good as we reflect on this passage, as well as on the 2^nd reading from Corinthians with Paul, and the Gospel from Mark with Jesus, to try and put ourselves in their places to understand, and appreciate what it truly means, “to be a prophet,” because as followers of our brother Jesus, we each are called to the same.  By spending time with each of these three prophets, Ezekiel, Paul, and Jesus, we realize that we are in “good company” first off, and we are able to find “our way” perhaps in acting likewise.

   We can only imagine that for each, a certain bit of “fear: was present, and perhaps some “reluctance,” to be “the one,” to speak out—there would be some who would believe, and others who would not.  Having others “believe and be accepting of” what we say that is perhaps new, even challenging can be a “heady thing,” and one has to always work toward a balance in “speaking the truth,” and letting that “ability” go to our heads. 

   There was the possible danger of that happening to Paul as he was given a [so-called] “thorn in his side” to keep that tendency in check.  Paul asked God to remove the “thorn” on several occasions, only to be told, “my grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” And it would seem that as Paul persevered in his call, “to be a prophet,” he learned a powerful lesson, saying, “when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong.” 

   I know personally, as I reflect on the privilege of pastoring this parish, that I am subject too, in my humanity, to letting it all “go to my head.”  Over the years, I have said to Robert, “If you ever see me becoming proud, pompous, and arrogant, please stop me!”

   This week we probably get our best advice, and counsel on the “gift of prophecy” from our brother Jesus. We see him “going home,” and finding more rejection than acceptance, saying to his apostles and disciples, then and now, “prophets [have] honor, except in their hometown and among their own relatives…”  Such was the case with me and my ordination—more who didn’t really know me were supportive, than those who did; some family members, and close friends were, as for Jesus, “stumbling blocks,” as I was, probably, in ways for them—“you are upsetting the applecart,” as we say in a more colloquial fashion—I was doing something, “out of the ordinary,” the status quo, something the Church fathers hadn’t sanctioned, and at that point, family and friendly connections for some didn’t matter—the law did.

   So my friends, as we ponder these Scriptures that really encourage us to be “prophets” in our world; a world that so needs those who will call a lie, a lie when they hear it, will challenge injustice when it is so blatant in minority groups of people, and who will simply strive every day, “to be their best,” even when there are few to model that behavior for them.

   I mentioned a few Sundays ago that I am reading a new book about Jimmy Carter, entitled, His Very Best.  Author Jonathan Alter no doubt named his work after a personal work by Carter, in his long life, entitled, in question form, Why Not the Best?

   This question for Carter came originally in his Navy days with a superior officer who asked him if, “he had done his best?” on a particular project, to which Carter answered, “No.”  His superior asked, “Why Not?”  Carter, it seems, has worked on his answer for the rest of his long life after, and I would guess will continue working on this challenge, “to be his best,” with whatever time he has remaining. 

   I have in the past addressed the Church’s Season of Ordinary Time, saying that it should perhaps be called, “Extra-Ordinary Time” because of all the challenge the Scriptures hold for us during these many weeks. And what I have come to these last years is that the “ordinary” things that each of us is called to “every” day of our Christian lives is the same challenge that Ezekiel, Paul and Jesus had in their lives; “to stand up, stand out, to be top-of-the-line—a real cutting edge!”

   As we look at our world, both in Church and State, we unfortunately don’t see much that is “cutting edge,” but more that I would humbly suggest are being, “stumbling blocks.”  Thus, we can’t wait for the “powers-that-be” in either Church or State, but must humbly speak our truth when called to do so, and this will be different for each of us.

   And if we aren’t always sure where to start, we can turn to Jesus’ words with the counsel, “check the fruits”—if you see peace, justice, and well-being happening—join in! If not, and the world picture looks full of distrust, chaos, self-centeredness, and injustice, speak from your hearts the truth that you hold there.  It has been said, “the heart is wiser than the head.”  And finally, when all is said and done, realize that like Ezekiel, you are not responsible for the ultimate change in people—but you are responsible for speaking the truth you know—perhaps your “speaking out” will plant a seed that will grow later—but again, you are responsible to do this much at least! Amen?  Amen!