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You And I Aren’t So Different

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 6 Comments

Here is my latest article for the Orange County Record.

It’s a common question.  It’s is a question that comes up in the most general and basic of conversations.  You could be at a party for a friend, meeting someone for the first or in the chair getting your haircut.  The question arises: “What do you do for a living?”  For most people when they answer question the response is one that is met with probing or clarifying questions, not when I answer.

You see when I tell people what I do it strikes fear in their heart, I tell them: “I am a minister.”  All at once a wave comes over their face as if they are shocked that a minister would come out from behind the pulpit and Bible commentaries to venture out into the world of sinners and commoners.  Eye contact lessens as if people don’t want me to peer into their soul and see them for who they truly are.

Generally people immediately begin to tell me about their religious preferences and experiences.  If the person I am speaking had not interjected what I call “God talk” yet, they promptly add it to the conversation.  They will tell me about their minister’s sermons from the previous Sunday to prove to me that they were listening and that his/her teaching was effective.  Someone actually turned on the Bible on CD while I was receiving a haircut.

Once someone inquired about my job and told them that I was a minister.  They told me about their lack luster church attendance.  This person in particular had stopped going to church because the service in the church she was attending was not connecting with her on a deep, spiritual level.  If she had just told me that part of the story I would have been fine and we might have continued our conversation about her religious experiences or maybe abandoned that track and began a completely new conversation.  Rather she began her conversation by informing me “I really don’t go to church that much, I mean I am not a devil worshiper or anything like that but I just don’t care for the service at my church right now.”   Since when did not going to church for Christians become devil worshipping in a minister’s mind? Is that the dichotomy that exist– Worship God or you are a devil worshiper?  Is this is perception that people have of ministers?   Do people really think that I am a perfect, pious, self-righteous, judgmental person who goes from place to place condemning people for their lack of faith and church attendance?

Sadly that is an accurate description of about one percent of the ministerial population, but not me.

Ministers are human beings; we are people just like you.  We go to the store, we shop online, and we try to make ends meet month to month.  Ministers have taken on as their call or duty to ensure that the message of Jesus Christ is promoted and propagated in the world.  Yes many ministers are educated in theology, divinity and pastoral care, but knowledge of the Bible and having good skills in the pulpit does not make one perfect.  Yes ministers are seen as the spiritual leaders of their congregations but to place the label of perfection places a great weight on minister’s shoulders.

Ministers don’t walk around singing “The Old Rugged Cross” and quoting scripture, rather ministers have to find a way to get the kids to soccer practice, homework completed, dinner on the table and make that two hour evangelism committee meeting on top of writing a sermon, making visits and calls.

Am I perfect? No, far from it and I don’t claim to be.

I listen to music other than gospel (gasp!)

I make mistakes just like everyone else. (double gasp!)

I sometimes don’t pray as often as I should. (heretical gasp!)

Does this make me a less effective minister?  I don’t think so, but it does make me human.  Christ came to the Earth to restore people to wholeness and mend people in their brokenness.  Nowhere in the Bibles does Christ command his followers to be perfect, rather he understands that humans are flawed individuals seeking completeness.

So the next time you see a minister tell him/her that you hope they are well and not too stressed, especially during the holy times (Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter).  Don’t try to impress them with your knowledge of Bible verses or church history.  Don’t treat them any differently than you would treat anyone else.

So as you can see, you and I aren’t that different after all.

Sermon- “What Does This Mean?” Pentecost 2012

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

Sunday (Pentecost 2012) I preached a sermon entitled “What Does This Mean?” based on Acts 2:1-12.  You can listen to the sermon by clicking the link below.

Sermon Link

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

And You Wonder Why People Aren’t Christians: Part III

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 1 Comment

I didn’t think I would be writing another one of these post for while.  But Christians are giving Christians a bad name… again…

For some reason unknown to any one but him, Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina took to the pulpit to speak on President Obama’s recent statements affirming same-sex marriage. Now North Carolina was in a big debate regarding this issue and in a statewide vote denied same sex couples the right to marry; no doubt that was fresh on his mind when he came to service.

A little over a week ago I posted an audio clip from Pastor Sean Harris who advocated to hit your children if they “acted gay.” You can read (or re-read it here).  While Pastor Harris’ comments were out of line, Pastor Worley’s comments leaves Pastor Harris’ comments in the dust… Why?  Worley advocates murder.

In the video posted below, Pastor Worley goes on a two-minute rant about homosexuals, the President and what his solution to the “gay problem.”  In the video he says,

“I had a way I figured a way out…a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. Build a great big, large fence 150 or 100 mile long – put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. And have that fence electrified until they can’t get out. Feed them and you know what in a few years – they’ll die out. You know why – they can’t reproduce.”

On a personal note, the video was extremely hard to listen to.  Not only does he advocate for a group of people to be killed he is doing it from the pulpit in a church which is supposed to be a holy place AND has the audacity to say this comes from God.  At one point he says that the Bible is “again” it and that God is “again” it.  Also, what is disheartening is that fact that members of his congregation were “amening” and agreeing with what he had to say.  Glad they are practicing that love of Christ… glad they love all people just like God loved them dispite their faults.  If (as some say) all sins are equal in the eyes of God then why are they stratifying this particular sin?  Which is it Pastor Worley and the members who agree of Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina?  Are all sins equal or does God have a “Top Ten” list of the sins one is not to commit with homosexuality at the top?  Why are you trying to make disciples in your image of God?

Pastor Worley I believe you and I (and millions of other people) are reading different Bibles.  Jesus Christ (the one you are supposed to be following) never called for the murder of a group of people just because they were different and didn’t think the say way he did.  History lesson: Hitler did that… so… think about that…

Christ being the compassionate person that he was sought out the ‘other’ to be in relationship with him/her to tell them that God still LOVES them for WHO THEY ARE.  Don’t believe me?  Check out your Bible… there are more passages about loving your neighbor and being the hands and feet of God than there are about homosexuality being wrong.

Trust me… actually don’t… look it up for yourself, you might learn something. 🙂

You can watch the video below… if you want… as well as a member trying to defend her pastor’s position on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

If You Want To See The Gospel Put Your House On The Market

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 2 Comments

2255 1936 DeSoto AirFlow For Sale
As I have written previously, we are in a transition point in our life here in Orange. The future is not as clear as we would like but we are optimistic. Part of this process is listing our house on the market to be sold. If you ever had to sell your home, there are a myriad of things that you put up with but a suspecting buyer might not. Some of things were small fixing a piece of carpet that was coming up to larger tasks like fixing a gate and laying sod over an area where our old above ground pool once resided.

My story though starts a few days ago. Knowing that the house was officially for sale, we knew/hoped potential buyers would want to stop by and take a peek. One of the biggest projects we have is laying sod in the backyard. One of the problems that we were having is that I no longer have a truck to haul the sod from the grass farm to the house. My neighbor who has a nice Silverado (Texas Edition of course) told me that if I ever needed him to pick up the sod he would get and drop it off at the house. I took him up on his offer. So last Thursday, he went to the grass farm and picked up a half pallet of Saint Augustine sod. There was one little problem, I had a doctor’s appointment that afternoon. Generally when I go to the doctor I have good luck and do not have to wait too long to see the physican, this time was not one of those times. I guess that since I had to be somewhere in a decent amount of time, the doctor’s office decided to make me wait and wait and wait.

My wife called me while I am playing the waiting game and told me that our neighbor had come to the house and was laying the sod down with three other neighbors. When I was finally relinquished from the bonds of the doctor, i made it home only to find that they had finished laying the sod, even though I didn’t order enough. My neighbors were still there, working on the fence post that was leaning which made it hard to open and close the side gate properly. They were digging and digging and digging, trying to get this post out. Since there were four people now trying to get one stubborn post out, one of the neighbors decided to go to his house and get his hedge trimmer. He began trimming the holly bush out front of the house and even began to weed eat under the bush. He mowed over the hedge clippings to make them smaller to fill in a hole from from pipe work in the front yard. And that was just the beginning.

Within a span of three days- two posts were straightened and cemented, another half pallet of sod was laid, tiles were pulled up and news one were put down, boxes were moved, surfaces cleaned and numerous trips to Home Depot and the trash can– all done by a group of people seeing a need a acting on it. In the time since the intital work, smaller jobs have been completed around the house, all with the sole focus and intent of serving another human being.

This my friends is the embodiment of the gospel.

This is the essence of what Jesus Christ came to Earth to do, to be and promote. Christ came to start a new way of understanding and embodying the nature of God. No longer will God be somewhere in a distance place in the cosmos or even in the Temple in Jerusalem. No, Christ came to show that God is present in laying sod, moving boxes, cleaning windows, laying tile, pouring grout and the many many other things that needed to be done so that our house will be in tip-top shape for potential buyers.

Because of their actions my faith has been strengthen. A group of people over the span of a couple of weeks have shown me what it means to be the community of God. Not a word of Jesus Christ was mentioned, no prayers were said, no angelic choirs singing, but God was present.

I pray that I am able to show the gospel in such an impactful way someday.

May we all pray that prayer.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

(“For Sale” available under the Creative Commons Attribution License 2.0 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/bsabarnowl/3998894081/)

What A Difference A Year Makes

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 7 Comments

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of one of the most infamous end times predictions to date.  Harold Camping and his Family Radio called on Christians to prepare themselves for the end of the world, the date of this cataclysmic event?  May 21, 2011.

Camping stated he had figured out through numerology and probably some complicated algebra problem that the Bible predicted the end of the world and if you looked closely enough you would find the date.  This wasn’t Camping’s first trip to the rodeo when it comes to end times predictions.  In 1994 and 1995 he made similar predictions, but this one gained some momentum largely in part (I believe) due to the internet.

Any time a Christian minister makes bold predictions it garners national attention.  For days leading up to the fateful day, news organizations from around the world held interviews with Camping as well his followers.  On May 20, people waited with bated breath to see if anything would happen in Australia.  I thought this was interesting that the notion of the end of the world was supposed to start  across the International Time Line.  The International Time Line is a human construction; Camping was banking that God subscribed to the International Date and even Day Light Savings time to ensure the end of the world.

Of course, May 21, 2011 came and went and nothing happened, we are still hear.  Camping tried to revise his claim and stated that May 21 was the spiritual judgment and the physical judgement was to come in October.  That date as well came and went.  Finally Camping declared that humanity was not supposed to know when the end of the world was going to be and therefore we should stop worrying about it.

In the wake of the prediction, hundreds if not thousands of people spent their money and said their good-byes for nothing.  One report came out that a family in New York had racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt because they thought the end of the world was coming and no one would come calling for their payment. (Greedy?)

Time Magazine called Camping’s prediction one of the top ten failed predictions of all time.  (Read it here)

People have been trying to figure out when the end of the world is going to be for millennia, the newest craze is the Mayan Calendar which goes out sometime in December 2012.

The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t really matter when Jesus is coming back or when the world will end; what matters is what followers of Christ are going to do in the mean time.  Are we going to sit around and just wait or are we going to try to bring a piece of the “pie in the sky” Heaven here on earth?  Brian McLaren (not sure if he is the originator of this quote or not) stated that we needed to stop teaching the Bible as an evacuation plan, but rather a transformation plan.  This is was the fault of the May 2011 prediction.  While they firmly believed that the world was going to end instead of trying to transforms people’s lives by allowing them to experience the same Christ they had experience they posted billboards and ran radio spots.  No billboard, picket sign, radio commercial or even blog post will ever be as effective as personal, one-on-one, communication and contact.

Jesus was with the people.  He didn’t sit from a throne and bark orders or look smugly down his nose at the outcasts of society.  No, we got his hands dirty and mingled with people who most wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot pole.  He transformed lives with his presence.  We have ability as well.

It won’t be too much longer until we get another bold prediction and we will have to re-visit this.  But in the meantime, let’s start transforming the world.  It’s a big place and we have a lot of work to do.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

Misconceptions About Christians: Part Four

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 2 Comments

Here is my fourth installment of my “Misconceptions About Christians” series for the Orange County Record.

If you missed the first three misconceptions read them now!

This is the fourth installment in the series “Misconceptions About Christians.”  So far I have discussed three misconceptions: that being a Christian one must read the Bible literally, that being a Christian means you have to go to “church” and that TV minister/evangelist are representative of all Christianity.  Today we tackle another misconception.

I was walking through a parking lot the other day and I saw a bumper sticker that made me stop to examine it more closely.  It was a blue sticker with white words and a yellow Christian cross; it read “Christian Democrat.”

Misconception #4- Being a Christian means that you have to vote for Republican candidates and conservative ideals.

Generally I shy away from mixing politics and religion.  It is of course the two things we are warned do not mix.  We are taught this adage for good reasons, people are passionate about their faith just as they are passionate about their ideals about how the country should be run and organized.  But somewhere along the way the two were interlinked and interconnected.

When did it become the norm that stating that you were a Christian meant in the same breath you were saying that you supported conservative ideals?

Christians for years have been reading the same Bible and yet due to their life experiences and personal understanding of God glean a completely different interpretation.  Christians for the most part have never been unified on much of anything.  Debates, often heated ones, are still raging today over women in ministry, homosexuality and contemporary music.  Debates and differences are nothing new to the church and the Bible has been at the center of most of them.  For the most part, the Bible has been used for and against war, used for and against slavery, used for and against accepting homosexuality and the list goes on and on– the same book at the center of all it.

Christians are free to express their understanding of God and Jesus Christ in the world in a variety of ways.  Some take to the streets and feed the homeless and needy, some fix up homes for those who are unable to do so, some go door to door inviting neighbors and strangers to church.  It is the same when it comes to government as well.  Some Christians believe that government should be as giving and caring as Christ was, some believe that charity should be the work of the church; herein lies the problem.

Most Christians would not object to some people living out the gospel by feeding homeless people, but once you start making statements about politics, then all bets are off.

Why do Christians who agree with the philosophies of other political parties than the GOP have to resort to bumper stickers to show that they are different?  Does the fact that some punched their ballot for a person with an “R” or a “D” by their name really matter?  How is this any different than having a different interpretation of the Bible?  For some people being a Republican or Democrat and Christian is fine, but there are some who believe that the Bible commands all of Christianity to come under the banner of the conservative movement.  This is not what Christ came to this earth to do. Christ did not come to start a political party or even support one; yes, Jesus was political in his time, but he did not ever want to be President of the United States of America.

With all of this said, this does not mean that our faith does not inform our political assertions.

If Christians are supposed to be about sharing the love of Christ in the world today, why bring politics into the matter?  Should politics be in the church house?  Maybe… but then again maybe not.  Does it matter if someone votes for a Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, or Green Party member and still calls themselves a Christian? No, it does not.  The church has bigger problems to worry about than whether or not a particular party’s candidate is in office come November.

“What Does Your Church Believe?”: The Beginning of a Series

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

I wrote this for my church’s newsletter and I thought I would share it on here as well.  I will be posting this series as they come out.   How do you respond to people when they ask you “what does your church believe?”

Enjoy!

As a minister I am often asked “what does your church believe”?  I try to explain to them that within the walls of our church (and more than likely theirs as well) we can have a wide range of beliefs on most issues.  Generally this is a bit puzzling for them.  The follow up question is usually “doesn’t that cause problems within the church?”  I usually smile and say “all the time, but that’s OK with me.”  I truly believe what I said.  Conversations about our faith and the questions that arise are vitally important.  People today are seeking answers to life’s biggest questions.  For many years people turned to the church to help ‘sort out’ their inquires but sometimes the answers they received were not good enough.  Today, for the most part, people do not want to be told want to think or what to believe.  They want to experience it for themselves and have a place to discern and evaluate their experiences.  This is where the church comes in.  The church needs to be a place of openness, a place where the questions are asked and the discussions are held.

As members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) we pride ourselves on being open and accepting of other belief systems and interpretations.  We want to have discussions about faith and practical matters.  That is why our founders believed in the motto “No creed but Christ.”  We are called to live out our faith in a way that is in accord to teachings of Jesus Christ.  If we are able to believe and affirm that Jesus Christ is the son of the Living God and offers saving grace to all of God’s children, everything else is just secondary.

I have heard it said that Disciples of Christ churches are the ‘best kept secret’ or ‘if people just knew what we stood for, they wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.’  Well for the next five weeks I am going to be discussing the some of the theological beliefs and practices associated with the Disciples.  This will be by no means an exhaustive account but it should give you a good foundation to build from.

We are never too old to learn, grow, change, think, rethink and think again about the issues of faith. Our faith is never stagnate.   I hope that this series will be one that is informative as well as challenging.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan

Misconceptions About Christians: Part II

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 3 Comments

 This is my latest article in the Orange County Record.

If you missed part, check it out now!  Misconceptions About Christians: Part I

This is part two in the series of the Misconceptions about Christians.  Last week I touched on the misconception that to be a Christian you have to read the Bible literally.  Today I will speak another misconception.

Misconception #2- To be a Christian means you have to go to “church”- While this might seem a bit counterintuitive for a minister to say such a thing, hear me out.  I like to remind people that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus Christ ever advocate or command that his followers go to church.  Christ’s message was about bringing the love and reconciliation of God to all people in all places.  Never did Jesus say “And on the Sunday gather together in a building for one hour and then return to your lives.”

The church at one time in the United States was the cultural center of a town.  The perception was that everyone in the town was a Christian and attended service somewhere on Sunday mornings.  It wasn’t ‘if’ you were going to church, rather it was “to which” church you were going to attend.

But over the years, the understanding of ‘church’ has changed and not everyone is on board with it—a conflict has arisen.  One of the biggest so called ‘worship wars’ is how church is supposed to look.  Some people want the ‘traditional’ way of worshipping: pipe organs, hymnals, wearing your ‘Sunday Bests’, etc.  On the other hand there are those who want a more ‘laid back’ or ‘contemporary’ approach- ‘come as you are’ mentality to clothing, praise bands, screens with images and song lyrics.  You can try to blend the two together which sometimes works, but more often than not, one side feels the other side has “taken over.”

These two different styles have literally split congregations.  But the truth is to be Christian does not mean that you have to attend a worship service in a stained glass windowed building on Sunday morning at 11am.  No, rather, worship is supposed to be an expression of gratitude and adoration to God, so how one connects with the Divine is up to them.  Don’t get me wrong I believe that fellowship and support of other Christians is vital to faith formation, but it is not limited to a building we call “church.”  More and more churches are finding that small group and house church ministries are reaching people that had never graced the door of a church before.  Why? Because these groups are generally smaller and more intimate.  There is something comforting about expressing one’s doubts about faith issues in someone’s home than in a church building.

The church grew out of a collection of people that wanted to get together and worship God.  In the early church, they did not meet in multi-story buildings rather they met in homes.  The church today is still the place where faithful followers of God come to worship, but what that looks like for the future is still unknown.  I believe that the Church may not look like it does today fifty years from now.  But one thing is for sure, I believe what Christ said about where two or more are gathered, there he will be also.  Whether it is in a home, 100 year old stained glass building, an old Wal-Mart or a strip mall, the church will remain.

Next week I will continue my series on the misconceptions about Christians.  I would love your feedback.


Misconceptions About Christians: Part I

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / 6 Comments

Below is my latest article in the Orange County Record.

Being a minister, I am often asked why more people are not Christians. Sometimes this question comes from a person struggling with the notion that there are others who do not believe in Christ. Others ask this question because they see the decline in the particularity of the Church.

Whatever their reasoning, the question is asked out of love for their faith.

To be honest there really is no clear cut answer; this is something the Church has struggled with for centuries. But it seems like today this predicament is on the minds of Christians of all walks of life. People leave the faith or are not interested in Christianity for various reasons. Maybe they had a bad experience with a particular minister, maybe they could not ‘wrap their brain’ around a particular theology, maybe they were told that their beliefs were wrong or that their questions were not valid. For whatever reason the fact of the matter is that the Church itself does not hold the cultural and societal significance that it once did. I do not know if it ever will be that way again—a sobering thought for a young minister like me.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Christians today and I want to explore some of them over the next few weeks.

I believe that the “Achilles heel” of the Church are Christians themselves. Mahatma Gandhi is quoted to have said “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” If we claim to be followers of Christ, then why aren’t people experiencing the presence of Christ when Christians are around them? There seems to be a disconnect between what is professed in sanctuaries around the world and what is actually followed through with by fellow Christians.

So what are the misconceptions about Christians?

Misconception #1- Christians have to read the Bible literally. – The Bible is the foundational document of the Christian faith and has been the focal point for millennia. However, the way that it has been read and interpreted varies greatly. The Bible has been read by billions of people and each person has taken something different from the text.

How much are we limiting the Bible and the power of God to reveal Godself through the pages of scriptures if the Bible is limited to one interpretation? If there was one way to read the Bible then all of the churches should be on the same page. But the last time I checked this is not the case at all. Many people who believe in the literal interpretation of scripture often do not all agree on how that looks in actuality. First Corinthians states that women should cover their heads in worship, but a small fraction of Christian women actually do this. If the Bible is to be taken literally then how to do you know what to take literally and what not to take literally? Obviously one cannot take Jesus’ parables literally because they are stories in help get across a main point. What about the commandments on how to treat slaves? What about the dietary laws in the Old Testament? Not many Christians have ever sold all they had as Christ stated was a requirement to enter the Kingdom.

Does this mean that the Bible is unimportant? No, but the way that one person interprets the scriptures may be completely different than the way another person interprets the scriptures and the shocking part is they both might be in the same congregation. Too often all Christians are labeled as literalist and this is flat wrong. Some of the most famous and prolific Christian thinkers did not take the Bible literally. Maybe some people believe that women should not hold a leadership position in the church, others do. Some people believe that world was created in six days and others do not. They are both reading the same scripture, following the same Christ but see the Bible in completely different ways. Does this mean that one is wrong and the other is right? No, it just means that they see the experiences of the faithful of God printed in the pages of scriptures in ways that speaks to them.

Next week, I will continue this series on the misconceptions about Christians. I would welcome your insight and feedback. You can contact me at evandolive@att.net.

So Now What?

/ Rev. Evan Dolive / Leave a comment

Lent is over.  We have sung our Easter hymns, celebrated the risen Christ, and heard the story once again about out God conquered death.  Easter Day has come and gone.   I often wish that Easter was not in the Spring time but rather in the Summer.  It was only four months ago that we celebrated the birth of Christ and now Good Friday where he has died and Easter when he was resurrected.

For some people Easter is the highlight of Christian calendar.  Jesus Christ has come and has lived and was unjustly killed, but through the miraculous power of God humanity has seen what God can do.

So now what?  What do we do now?  What are followers of Christ to do in the interim between Easter and Christmas (the next High Holy Day in the Christian calendar)?  In most churches during the summer attendance is lower due the busy summer months.  Families go on vacations, grandparents go to visit children and grandchildren and our calendars begin to fill up with picnics and gatherings.

Since the Christian calendar is defined so much by Christmas and Easter what are we to do this in between time?  The story of God does not stop because Christians do not have a reason to party and exchange gifts.  The message of the gospel does not continue to serve as a model of love and forgiveness for humanity because we are busy with other activities.  By muting the story of God to just Christmas and Easter, we greatly restrict the story of how God moved in the lives of people for centuries.  The gospels writers took those experiences and put pen to paper for all of humanity to have.   They did not limit the story of Christ in the world to his birth (which only two gospels even mention) and his death.  Most of the New Testament is about how the followers of Christ responded to the teachings of Christ after his resurrection.   If we believe that God is continuing to world in our lives then we have to tell the story.

How can we continue telling the story? How do we continue to tell people that Christ is risen?   It doesn’t have to be standing in front of a group of people and reiterating how God has moved in your life.  Telling the story doesn’t have to even use words.  One’s actions can serve to tell the tale of impact that God has had on one’s life.

Whether it is through service to others, care for a loved one, making a phone call to someone in need, all of these actions (and many more) reflect the message that Christ is alive in the world today and we have been transformed because of it.

Let’s not wait until Christmas to feel the presence of God and to share God’s love with everyone.

In Christ,

Rev. Evan