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The words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight

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and alert our strength and our redeemer.

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Amen.

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Good morning.

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It's so good to be back here with you all after much-needed three months

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sabbatical lesson.

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Some of you with name tags on, which is great.

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I'm probably going to need to wear one.

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So all you need people who's up here, but it's really great to be back in the pulpit again

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as I attempt to articulate the power of God's Word in our lives.

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And just reminded what an awesome and humbling responsibility that we preachers have

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when we get up here to proclaim God's truth.

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So please join me in praying that God's Word only be spoken and God's Word only be heard.

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And in a world that's inundated with all kinds of voices, from all kinds of places, from

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all kinds of people, it's hard to hear God's voice, to hear God's truth.

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Even the church, the institution that's supposed to know God's truth can have a hard time

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hearing and proclaiming that eternal Word.

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In case you haven't noticed, the church doesn't always get it right.

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We preachers don't always get it right.

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Lord have mercy.

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Help us hear.

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I believe a part of what hinders our ability to hear and proclaim God's truth is that we live

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in a world that's constantly presenting us with false dichotomies.

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We live in a binary world, either this or that.

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We live in a world that's constantly asking us to choose between this or that.

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We are being stretched thin by questions that wonder, are you a Republican or a Democrat?

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Are you an Alabama or an urban fan?

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Do you watch Fox News or CNN?

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Are you pro-life or pro-choice?

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Is gun violence a mental health issue or a gun control issue?

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Our society tells us that we need to pick one or the other.

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And your identity is writing on the answer.

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There's really little room for nuance.

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Similarly, we've created a world that doesn't allow a lot of room for common ground.

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Instead we dig trenches.

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We hide behind them and lob grenades over to the other side when we feel threatened.

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We are drawing lines in the sand.

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It makes us feel good and powerful.

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Jesus on the other hand is trying to draw a bigger circle.

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Today's lesson from Mark, Mark's, the gradual expansion of Jesus' circle and those who

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belong to the kingdom.

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The expansion of this circle doesn't come without controversy, though, whenever something

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is growing or changing, there's going to be some kind of controversy.

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That's not surprising.

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But what is surprising is the one who's the cause of the controversy.

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Jesus, the one who's supposed to be the answer to all of our questions about healing and salvation

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appears to get it wrong.

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And today's lesson.

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Instead of drawing a larger circle, it looks like he's drawing a deeper line.

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The very least he might be drawing a circle for the outsiders, just as long as they know

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that they're less than.

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It's not nice to call someone a dog.

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That's not nice.

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Regardless, the end result of this passage is the expansion of Jesus' mission to the Gentiles

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or the nine Jews, those outside the traditional circle.

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As we consider the implications of today's lesson, we shouldn't be too quick to pick

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one single interpretation.

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We shouldn't feel pressure to pick this way of looking at it or that way of looking

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at it.

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Because there are multiple.

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This isn't an either or lesson.

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Most of them aren't.

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This is a both-and kind of teaching from a Lord and Savior whose wisdom is beyond our understanding.

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So using broad strokes, I'll define two ways that we can look at this passage.

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Is Jesus taking this woman to school or is this woman taking Jesus to school?

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Who is the teacher?

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Who is the student?

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In Mark's Gospel, this is the only lesson where Jesus loses a debate.

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So it seems.

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One interpretation of this passage suggests that Jesus doesn't actually think the Gentiles

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or non-Jews or dogs.

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In this interpretation, Jesus is the teacher and he's using hyperbole to wake you up, to

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get you stop drooling on your desk.

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And when he uses shocking language to get you to do that, he got my attention when he

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said it's not fair to feed the dogs before the children.

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Others take this passage a little bit more literally.

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They're those who claim that this woman actually has to remind the son of God what he's

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supposed to be doing.

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The woman is the teacher and has to remind Jesus that even the Gentiles are a part of God's

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plan.

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God's leftovers are more than enough.

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And being the humble teacher that he is, Jesus concedes the point, how can our Lord and

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save your model how to be wrong if he's always getting it right?

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Now both interpretations have their pros and cons.

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However, both contain an element of truth that we need to pay attention to.

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To ignore or discard one or the other is to ignore or discard the whole truth.

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And James talks about this a little bit in his lesson.

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My experience half truths are more dangerous than lies because half truths can be harder

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to detect.

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I don't think I'm alone in this, but I have a really hard time watching network news,

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just news in general.

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Not because I think I'm being flat out lied to, but it's really more like I feel like I'm

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being manipulated by half truths.

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As you know, these networks tend to focus on the facts that support their agenda while ignoring

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those that don't.

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To be fair, you don't have to be in the news business to pick and choose which rules

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are important and which are not.

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We all do that.

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When we stick to half truth, we're drawing more lines in the sand.

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There's really no, this is really no different than preachers or anyone else who use the

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Bible to support their agenda while ignoring those verses that don't.

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See what happens when you ask someone who takes the Bible literally why they don't

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drink grape juice at communion.

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Which each news network or church, church, determination for that matter, has the unique

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point of emphasis that highlights their narrative.

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Let's say there are 20 facts to any given story in those 20 facts add up to the truth.

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However, most of what we're watching is only given us four or five facts.

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And as much as I love the Episcopal Church, we don't have the corner on truth either.

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We have four or five facts.

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So we must never stop learning from other churches, other religious institutions, from

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culture itself.

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During this election season, I challenge you, avid news, watchers and social media

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bangers out there to click the other channel or page.

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Don't just click over for ammunition for later, but to gain better understanding of

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the other, to see the bigger picture.

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And maybe just maybe you'll see our common humanity.

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James reminds us many of our problems arise when we judge others for sinning differently

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than we do.

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One of the greatest lessons in today's Gospel lesson is that God is in a phrase to use

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outsiders to speak truth.

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God often uses those voices who sin differently than we do to speak that truth.

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God uses voices that we don't always hear in order to open our eyes and ears to his word.

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This is a thing that is far back as the Old Testament and continues today in the church.

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All institutions, especially the church, can get tunnel vision and grow insolent.

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But we need outside voices to expand our vision of what God is up to.

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A church planner from England when he was here this spring said that by its very nature,

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the church is exclusive, even the best churches are exclusive.

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He went on to say, and Jesus by his very nature is inclusive.

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Mike's answer to the tension was that the church should seek out and establish relationships

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with those who have been excluded.

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He went on to say that it's not enough to invite them onto our turf with our terms.

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We must meet them on their turf with their terms.

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Jesus after all was constantly meeting people where they were.

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In some cases, Jesus went out of his way.

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He crossed lines to get to the excluded.

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This past Wednesday we had someone come by the church for assistance with her rent.

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I'll call this person Pat.

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She comes frequently for help.

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Early in the day, she had asked for, finally, early in the day, Emily had told me that

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she had been by a few times a summer.

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I'd sort of prepare myself to say, no, we can't help you right now because more money

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is not fixing the problem.

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When she walked in the four-year I was all prepared to say, I'd probably said no, 10 times,

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but she would not be denied.

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She literally got down on her hands and knees and started begging for help and tears were

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running down her face.

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I just couldn't say no anymore.

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I was reminded that the church exists for people like Pat.

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Former Archbishop William Temple said it like this, the church is the only institution

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that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.

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Using the words of a clergy colleague, the church is for women in slaves.

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What she means by that is that the church is for whom society tends to deem less than or

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forgets about altogether.

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I'm convinced that God is using Pat's to remind you the bats of this world to remind

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you and me that one of our most important jobs as followers of Jesus is to pay attention

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to care for and lift up those whom this world has torn down.

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The church would do well to take the lead of the Sirefination Woman.

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The church is called to be a voice for the voiceless people like Pat.

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We aren't trying to make news headlines for our own sake, but for the sake of the gospel,

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for the sake of the gospel that has the power to save us all, rich and poor and everyone

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in between.

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So if we were to follow Mike Moenia, the Gafferman-England's advice, if we were to follow

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Jesus' advice, how can we meet the bats of the world on their turf and on their terms?

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To give you a hand-essential offer us a few ways to do this through some of our outreach

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programs.

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We get a first-light monthly to serve dinner to the women and children there.

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We go to the Abby every Thursday to hand out sack lunches.

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Some of you have participated in Cairoes where you literally go into a prison for a weekend

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to minister to the inmates.

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Yes, there might be an element of danger in getting outside of our bubble, but nothing comes

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close to the kind of danger Jesus and his followers face all those years ago.

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Before we can live for God, we must die to self, the ultimate act of humility.

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In his book, Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster talks about how service to others

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is the discipline where we can truly find humility.

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He says humility is one of those virtues that can never be gained by seeking it.

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He goes on to say, when we set out on a consciously chosen course of action that accents

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the good of others, a deep change occurs in our spirits.

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When we consciously choose a course of action that lifts up the other, we are in the business

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of turning those lines in the sand into circles.

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We might not be able to make one big circle, but maybe we can create a few overlapping

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circles.

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And where those circles overlap, we are given a vision of what is possible with God.

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A vision of the hope that is to come when Jesus comes again to judge the living in the

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dead, when Jesus comes together, all people from all nations around one throne and one

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God.

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With those of us who know the hope, this hope with the gospel, we can start to see those

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lines in the sand a little differently.

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They are not trenches to throw grenades over or to die in.

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They are not fixed in stone.

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Those lines in the sand are ready to be refashioned into circles by the one who died

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for us all.

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The one who died for Republicans and Democrats, Alabama and Auburn fans, pro-lifers and

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pro-choicers, mental health and gun control advocates, politicians and preachers.

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And the list goes on.

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So regardless of your earthly identity, regardless of how you answer these questions, you

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are beloved child of God.

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And so were they.

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We can all stop judging others for sinning differently than we do and start living on the

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common ground that Jesus is creating, or that God is creating through his compassion.

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And now that is the truth that we all long to hear.

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A truth that comes alive when we live alive with Jesus at our center.

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Amen.