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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable.

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In your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

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Amen.

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Just so you can get your bearings, this particular sermon is going to revolve around those verses

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that said, and he took her by the hand and lifted her up.

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Then the fever left her and she began to serve them.

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The fever left her and she began to serve them.

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I recently heard a story about a church not anywhere near here that deeply troubled me.

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Like many churches today, this particular church has been in decline numerically for

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some years.

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Unlike many churches in decline, this one happens to be in a growing part of the state.

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This growth has given way to new members joining, and these new members joining are

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many of them are younger.

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Certainly, this is an answer to prayer.

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Who doesn't want to have a growing church with younger members?

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Well, it's an answer to prayer unless and until these newer younger members wanted to

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serve on the governing board.

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At the annual meeting, when the board elections were to take place, where these newer younger

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members were running, they actually reduced the size of the governing board so that they

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didn't need any more people to serve on the board.

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This effectively squeezed out the younger members from service.

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Now, if I were one of these people, I probably would have started looking for another church

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that actually wanted me to serve, but to their credit, they stuck in there.

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I understand that church leadership is now intervened, and these newer younger members

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are serving in leadership.

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Now, I'll tell you this story because if we want to truly accept people into our community,

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then the best way to show that acceptance is to allow them to serve.

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At the end of the day, we all want a part to play.

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We all want to be useful and helpful to have purpose.

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We all want to contribute to the team.

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That's when we know we're truly valued and accepted.

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Speaking of teams, seventh grade saw the end of my baseball career.

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I was one of two seventh graders on a seventh and eighth grade rec league team.

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I'll emphasize rec league team.

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The other seventh grader was the coach's son.

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Up until the last game, I either played in one inning or none at all.

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Even if I did get to play one inning, I probably didn't get to bat.

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Over the last game, after we had wrapped up the league title, the coach said I could start

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and play anywhere I wanted.

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I told him I wanted to play second base and bat second.

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I don't remember the specifics, but I think I had a pretty good game.

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I got on base a few times.

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I know I scored a run.

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I got some outs.

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After about a week, I received a long note from the coach encouraging me to stick with

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baseball that next year I would be bigger and older and faster and get to play more.

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Damage was already done, I had already decided to quit baseball and focus on golf.

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You can't argue with the number on the scorecard.

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The we, once you won the team, but you have to sit on the bench, attitude doesn't work

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in little league sports.

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It's definitely not going to work in the church.

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Our goal isn't about winning, but about making sure everyone has a part to play.

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Make sure everyone feels like they belong.

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There's a saying in church circles, especially a young youth ministry circles that goes,

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if you don't allow them to lead, then you are giving them permission to leave.

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As you may have noticed, we're growing here at Church of the Ascension.

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We have about 25 people who are set to be confirmed in April, youth and adults.

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I think this might be the largest confirmation class since before I was born, which is like

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40 years ago.

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As for Paris leadership of our 12 vestry members or board members, nine are serving for the

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first time.

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Of those nine, five have joined in the last five or six years.

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And of those who've joined in the last five or six years, three are under the age of 40.

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Also stating the obvious, we are doing a good job of not only welcoming new members, but

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giving them a place to serve.

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Even more, our vestry is in a process of changing how we govern things.

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This is going to have some growing pains.

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So I invite you to pray for that.

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Pray for your vestry, your leadership, that we may make more space for people to get involved.

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That's the whole reason we're doing this.

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And so I invite those of you who've been here for a long time to pray and look for ways

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to engage those newer members.

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For those of you who are new, I invite you to make yourself known.

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Don't be afraid to raise your hand.

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We'll call on you.

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Show up at fellowship events so we can get to know you and your story.

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Now it seems to me that most people come to church because they are looking for a place

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to belong.

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And if the church had a television theme song to go with it, it might sound a lot like

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the one from Cheers, right?

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Yes, that TV show with Ted Danson in the 80s.

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I'm not going to sing it, I'm sorry, but it goes like this.

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Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came.

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You want to be where you can see our troubles are all the same.

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I really love that line.

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Our troubles are all the same.

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You want to be where everyone knows your name.

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And regardless of what side of the bar they're on, each of the characters in the show has

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a role to play when the community is gathered.

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And if one of those members of the community is absent, then that absence is notice.

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It's felt.

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And while the community here is much bigger than the one at Cheers, your absence is most

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certainly felt when you're not here.

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And I'm not trying to make you feel bad about missing church, but I want to emphasize that

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every one of you is a vital part of the community that God is gathering here.

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And if you don't feel like a vital part of the community, Emily and I want to know.

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We want to help you find a place where you can serve.

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And if we can't find one, we'll make one.

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Your sense of belonging in this community or any community is directly tied to your sense

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of purpose in that community.

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And Jesus knows this truth very well.

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Even in this first chapter of Mark, we see that Jesus is about restoring people to the

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life of the community.

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He's about restoring people to the life of the community.

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It's not just about their individual healing, but it's about returning them to the life

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of the community.

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When we get sick, sometimes the physical pain doesn't even begin to compare to the pain

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of isolation, social distance.

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We all know that from COVID, right?

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Last week, we heard the story of how Jesus restores a man to the community by driving

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out unclean spirits.

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This week, Jesus takes Peter's mother-in-law by the hand, raises her up, and what does

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she do?

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She immediately begins to serve the community.

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You'll notice that between last week's lesson and this week's lesson, there's a transition

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from public life in the synagogue to sort of a more private life, smaller group in the

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whole.

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In this transition, we see, I guess, the biblical argument for small groups, how small groups

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are vital in our communal life.

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Showing up to church on Sunday is really important.

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It really sort of, I guess, sets the tone.

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But so is being a part of a smaller group where everyone knows you.

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Again, as ascension grows, so does the importance of smaller groups.

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We have fellowship groups.

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We have service groups, outreach groups, study groups.

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We have groups for men and women.

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And if you need help finding a group, Emily and I can help, or we can make a new one.

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When I was in London for my learning from London course, we met with an Anglican priest

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named Michael, I should have figured out how to say his last name, Michael Mania.

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It's not good.

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Michael is a pioneer in the Fresh Expressions movement in England, you might have heard

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of it.

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Simply put, a fresh expression is a small group of people who create gospel communities where

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life happens.

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It could be in a local coffee shop.

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It could be in the break room at your office.

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It could be under the tree by the school while you wait for your kids for pickup.

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It could be at a bike shop.

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It could be at a tattoo parlor.

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It could be in the 19th hole at the golf course.

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I think you get the picture.

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Typically these expressions begin where people naturally gather for similar purposes.

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At some point someone might notice a need in their immediate context and a group starts

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to work to meet that need.

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At some point later down the road, someone might introduce Jesus to the conversation.

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People start praying together and eating together, studying together, being there for one another

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in good times and in bad times.

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It kind of sounds like a church to me, doesn't it?

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Most often these Fresh Expressions are lay led.

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They're led by people other than people with a collar, laity, non-clergy.

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Why is that?

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Well, that's because life happens.

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Lay leaders exist where life happens in a way that clergy are not privy to.

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The obstacle, of course, is getting lay people in the Episcopal Church to be comfortable

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about talking about what God is up to, what God is doing, comfortable praying out loud.

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But the good news is that we're going to do something about it in Alabama.

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Bishop G., or diocesan bishop, has invited Michael to come to Alabama to create what

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he calls greenhouses.

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These greenhouses are sort of like ministry incubators.

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They will empower and equip lay leaders to talk about God, to pray out God out loud, to

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build these gospel communities where life happens.

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Now, as a part of my debt owed to the bishop, she's put me in charge of one of these greenhouses,

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so stay tuned.

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Belonging or acceptance in Christian community cannot happen without community.

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But even more, it cannot, this acceptance, this belonging cannot happen when space is

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not made for us, for everyone to play a part, for everyone to have a skin in the game, so

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to say.

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Every Sunday as we encounter Jesus at this altar rail, as we gather around this rail,

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we are given a powerful image that says that Jesus wants us, wants to make space for all

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of us to live into our baptismal vows, to love and serve as he loves us.

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So today, after you receive communion, and when you begin to stand up again, assuming

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you kneel in the first place, when you stand up again, I encourage you to imagine that it

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is Jesus who's taking you by the hand and lifting you to life.

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And as you were lifted back to life, I pray that you were filled with that same kind of

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gratitude that filled Peter's mother-in-law and led her to serve.

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And when you stand to leave here this morning, I pray that you may hear with a renewed sense

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of belonging in person the words of the dismissal, words that say, go in peace, to love and serve

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the Lord.

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Yes, be to God.

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Amen.

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Now we are going to...