WEBVTT

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Our scripture this morning comes from Paul's

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letter to the church in Corinth, 1 Corinthians

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chapter 3, verses 6 to 11. Let us listen now

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for a word from God. Paul writes to the church

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saying, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave

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the growth. So neither the one who plants nor

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the one who waters is anything, but only God

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who gives the growth. The one who plants and

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the one who waters have a common purpose, and

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each will receive wages according to the labor

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of each. For we are God's servants working together.

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You are God's field, God's building. According

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to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled

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master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone

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else is building on it. Each builder must choose

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with care how to build on it, for no one, can

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lay any foundation other than the one that has

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been laid. And that foundation, friends, is Jesus

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Christ. This is the word of God for the people

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of God. Thanks be to God. Will you join me in

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prayer? Let us pray. Gracious and loving God,

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on this day that we set aside to say thank you,

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We pray that by the work of your Spirit you would

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set aside this time now. That through its working,

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O God, you would take the words of my mouth and

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the meditations of all of our hearts, O God,

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and form them as a bridge from an ancient word

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to our present living. We pray these things for

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we know that with you and you alone they are

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possible. For you and you alone, O God, are our

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rock. and our Redeemer. Amen. I gave a state

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-of -the -church type talk about a week and a

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half ago, looking ahead to what is in front of

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us here at First Prez for the next 12 or so months,

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and I also looked back to share some highlights

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from last year, this year that we have just turned

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the calendar page on. One of the things I talked

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about as a highlight was our chancel choir's

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trip, many of the faces you see here who went

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to Scotland for a 10 or so day tour. Now, I was

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by far and away the least qualified to be a part

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of this group. I have close to zero musical skill,

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much less aptitude. And so I was struggling with

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what my job, what my role could be on this trip.

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And Marsha and Holt Andrews, our esteemed leaders

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of the music ministry, they said, we know just

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the job for you. They said, you, Alan, you will

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be the page turner. Now, before then, I didn't

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know about this role, but they assured me it

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is one of the most prestigious roles you can

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have in a choir. And the job works like this.

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It's what it sounds like. My job was to sit next

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to Marsha on the bench at the piano for each

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of our concerts, and when she emphatically nodded

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her head, I was to turn the page on the music.

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It is a little bit of a mystery to me that since

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returning, Marsha hasn't had much need for page

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turners, but apparently over there, there's just,

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you know, much more of a need. They were very

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gracious. I love sitting at the bench and being

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with our choir at each of those performances.

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One of the things I noticed, though, by about

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the second performance was at the top of almost

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each of the pieces of music, by the title of

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the score, there was often a word or phrase just

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printed there off on its own. Some of these phrases

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said things like, with great expression. Another

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one said, joy and freedom. Another said, simple

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dignity. One of them even was just a single word.

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It said, movement. By about the second time,

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I asked Marshall, what do these mean? And that's

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when I learned the term expression marking. She

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said, oftentimes in music, you have these markings,

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and historically they have been in Italian, but

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contemporary composers have started putting them

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there in English, these words or phrases, and

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their purpose is to help the musician understand

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the ethos, the mood, the spirit with which they

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are supposed to play the piece of music in front

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of them. When we first started planning for...

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and for all the different events around it. It

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was decided very early on that we would call

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this celebration Sacred Stones and Living Faith.

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You've already heard us refer to some of this

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or imply it, but the purpose of calling it that

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was intentional because we wanted to make clear

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that this is not just a celebration about a place,

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about the bricks and mortars that make this sanctuary

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possible that we're sitting in today, but rather

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a celebration of the stories. of the ministry,

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of the music, if you will, that this place makes

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possible. Those of you who have been in worship

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the last week have already heard two musically

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themed sermons. You're going to get a third today.

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Last Sunday, one of our youth, Wade Neely, preached

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an outstanding sermon on the power of God in

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music. And then on Ash Wednesday, Pastor Leslie

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preached a sermon where she even brought the

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flute into the pulpit with her. I'm going to

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spare you that. You don't have to hear me attempt

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that. But today, I was finding myself reflecting.

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on each of those concerts and each of those expression

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markings, and I began to wonder to myself, what

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is the expression marking? What is the ethos

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of our song here at First Press? It's interesting

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to me, especially because I think Paul, Paul

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seems to be wondering the exact same thing when

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he writes to the Corinthians, right? He's writing

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to a very young church here. This is literally

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not just an early church, but the early church,

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one of the handful of early churches. It's only

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three or four years old at the time that he's

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writing to them. So when he writes to them, they're

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not thinking buildings or building campaigns.

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They're just trying to figure out what it means

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to be a community of disciples. What does it

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look like to worship a God who was living and

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dead and lives again? What does it look like

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to let that gospel creep into our lives and actually

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translate into how we go out into the world and

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serve and love others? Those are the things they're

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wrestling with. And word has reached Paul that

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the ethos of this early church in Corinth is

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off. They've missed some pretty important notes.

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And in some cases, they've just flat out ignored

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some important notes. We're not going to get

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into all the details today, but suffice it to

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say, the thing that troubles Paul the most are

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these reports that seem to indicate that the

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church in Corinth is going about the song of

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the Christian faith in the wrong spirit. They

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are not playing the song how Jesus Christ prescribed.

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And so he writes to them, he says, remember,

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remember church, some plant, some water, but

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only God gives the growth. What I hear Paul doing

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effectively in that verse is he's pointing them

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to the expression marking on their piece of music.

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He's pointing them to this place where I think

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it must have read something like, with humble

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trust. It gets me thinking about our own history

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100 years ago here as a church. There's always

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a temptation, a danger really, when churches

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celebrate days like this to slip into this just

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blanket applause for how great we are. Wow, look

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at us. We did it. Look at all these other churches.

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That's not the point, right? We have missed the

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notes, ignored the notes even as much as the

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next church. We have played the song wrong probably

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about as much as we have played it right. We

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are imperfect. We're broken. That's why we confess

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our sin every single time we gather for worship.

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But it is remarkable to me as I studied the history

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of this place and looked back a hundred years

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ago to when this space was dreamed up. It strikes

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me the humility and the trust of those saints

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who have come before us. Church member Frank

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Lee put together a remarkable series of videos.

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We're going to find a way to share them about

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the history of the church. Truly, they are remarkably

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well done. They could air on PBS. Incredible.

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But one of the things that he talks about in

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that history are the challenges. The challenges

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that Dr. DuBose and the saints of the church

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that he came to minister wrestled with when they

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were dreaming up the possibility of a new place.

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And even when they overcame those challenges

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to then dream up this, this sanctuary can sit

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about 1 ,000 people, at least 1926 people. I

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didn't say that at the early service. I don't

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know where that came from. Not just 1 ,000 people

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in this sanctuary. They had a chapel that's now

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been broken into a number of different spaces,

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but a chapel that could seat about 280 people.

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They approach this work with this humility, but

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also this trust that if they just planted, and

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if the disciples who came after were faithful

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in water, and then God, well, God would give

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growth. God would give growth to something like

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this here today. And of course, that music plays

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on. So friends, today we all turn the page. We

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turn the page to our next hundred years of ministry

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in this place. And my prayer is that those saints

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a hundred years from now will look back on us

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and they will say, here were people who were

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humble, who were trusting, who were bold in their

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love of Christ and in their love of one another.

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But more than anything, I hope that they will

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look back and say, here were people who were

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rooted. and the knowledge that some plant and

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some water, but it is God, it is God who always

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gives the growth. Amen.