Rich Fools?

Here is the text of tomorrow morning's sermon (at 8.00am Communion)

Luke 12: 13-21: The Rich Fool

I had an unenviable duty this week...the task of conducting a funeral service for a young man, who lived just a few yards from here. He was an amazingly popular guy. Warblington church was packed to the gunwales with people from all over Emsworth - and quite a sizable number from his workplace in Chichester too.

Young Simon, 21 years old, was a Jaguar Mechanic - and he was accompanied on his final journey by a Jaguar hearse, and Jaguar limousines. He had been a hard working, popular lad - who had worked hard to establish himself in life. He had a good job, a lovely girlfriend. A lovely flat - about which he was so meticulous that his girlfriend described how he would long jump from their kitchen to the bathroom when his clothes were dirty, to save their lovely cream carpets. He had a beautiful car, with personalised number plates - and a motor-bike.

It was, in the end, the motorbike that killed him. Out for a ride on country roads, he took a bend too quickly, and was gone. Instantly. Just like that.

There is another funeral of a young person due to take place in the parish soon as well. I’m sorry but I don’t know the lad’s name - but I gather he was 18 years old - hale and hearty. He was playing football, had just scored a goal, when, without any warning, he just dropped to the ground. Dead. I gather that he wouldn’t have even felt the fall. Just one minute alive and celebrating his goal. The next minute, dead.

What none of us can know, with any certainty, is where these two young men stood in the their relationship with God. We can know, of course, that God loves them both - and that God has been continuously calling to them throughout their lives.

But these two events have struck me with some force this week. There seems to be a basic injustice at work here. We want to cry out with their families “Why God?” Of all the people in the world who we might think deserve to die, why should it be these two young men, in the prime of their lives. We want to cry out that ‘it’s not fair’. How could you do that to them?
And yet. And yet. To make such a cry - as heartfelt and real as it is - springs from a misunderstanding about the nature of the life that God has given us - and of his relationship with us.

It is, for example, a cry which forgets the suffering and death that Jesus himself endured for us. If there is one thing we cannot say about Jesus, it is that he doesn’t play by his own rules. If suffering and death are ordained by him to be an essential part of our life - we cannot say that he didn’t embrace them fully himself. His mother knew the very anguish that the mothers of these young men this week have felt. Jesus himself knows the reality of death.

God has not promised us a life free from pain - in fact pain, suffering and death seem to be integral to his plan for our wholeness - for our growth into people who trust HIM, and do not place our trust in exterior things, in our own health, or in the stuff that we gather around us.

This week we have heard in the news that there has been a 30% rise in the number of house re-possessions. My heart goes out to those families who have saved to get a foot on the rung of the madness that we call the property ladder. But isn’t it the case that this mad dash to acquire property is ultimately about a human need for the security of bricks and mortar. Isn’t it ultimately about the way in which we have taught this generation that their sense of security, and their sense of worth, are dependent on the size of their house, and the smartness of their possessions?

During the last few weeks we have, of course, witnessed the drama of the floods. We can be thankful that we have been spared the flooding here in Emsworth...and of course we should do all we can to assist those who have lost their homes. But I was particularly struck by the anguish of one woman I saw interviewed on the TV. As she shed tears over the destruction of her beautiful home, she said “I just can’t believe that everything we’ve worked for, for the last 20 years has all gone.” She went on to explain that making her home as beautiful as possible had been her and her husband’s project for the last 20 years. Every spare moment had been spent painting and polishing and installing.

And I found myself thinking “How very sad”. How very sad that hers was a life that had been spent entirely on building, and rebuilding, and gilding her nest. What a shame that she had not found other ways to express the image of God in which she was made.

For we are indeed made in the image of God - as the book of Genesis testifies. Our creativity and love of beautiful things undoubtedly come from him. But so do some very other important instincts - that we tend to ignore. We ignore, for example, that being made in the image of God means that, like the Trinity, we are made for community. God’s wholeness is expressed in togetherness - in the inter-relation between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We too, made in the image of God, are meant to live in community...sharing our love, our ideas, our talents, and our resources with one another.

The Parable of the Rich Fool, that we have just heard, underlines these thoughts - with great power. Here is a man who has built bigger and bigger barns to hold all his grain and all his goods. And God says to him..”You fool! This very night your life will be demanded of you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”.

The best part of the eulogy that I had to preach for young Simon Welstead this week was the part when I was able to focus on his qualities as a human being. The very fact that so many people came to his funeral was a testament to the kind of person that he was… outgoing, community minded, someone who (as his girlfriend told us) would literally do anything for anyone...as soon as they had asked him. None of the stuff that Simon had accumulated mattered. Not the car, not the flat, certainly not the motorbike which was the cause of his death. No, what mattered was that his Mother could call him her friend. And that his girlfriend could call him kind. And that a young man in the town, with learning difficulties, could count him as a best mate.

God has never promised us wealth and an easy life. In some ways, the floods of the past weeks, and these two recent deaths are seem almost designed to help us get our heads around that very fact. Jesus expressed his ministry through people, not through things. As he himself said, “foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head”. His disciples followed his example, travelling continuously around the known world, unshackled by a mortgage, or cart-loads of possessions. Sandals, a cloak, and a walking stick were as much as any of them required to set about the Lord’s work - among people...in their communities.

And I guess most of us know that, deep down, we don’t need anything like all the things we have. I know that when Clare and Emily and I go on holiday in our caravan, we invariably end up commenting to each other just how few possessions we need to be very content...for a few weeks at least!

So what does all this mean for us? I guess it means each of us taking a long hard look at where we place our sense of security. It is, for example, very sad when someone tells me that they don’t have time to enter into the life of the church because they have too large a garden, or house, ...and that it takes all their time to look after it. It is equally sad when parents I know spend every waking hour at work, in order to provide a large house and garden for their family - and which they only get to enjoy together for maybe one day a week.

Instead I find that I want to say to them...Stop! Don’t be the fool that Jesus spoke about in this very parable. Your security should lie in the love your share with your family, not the number of bedrooms your family has, or the size of their garden. Your security should lie in the relationship you have with God, and the rest of the community, not the relationship you have with your mortgage company or bank manager. Jesus’ words ring with clarity down over the centuries…”You Fool! This very night your life may be demanded of you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself? This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich towards God.”

Let’s pray:
Heavenly Father - we confess that sometimes we struggle to get the balance right between the things we are, and the things we own. Help us, Father, to get the balance right. Teach us to put our security in you, and not in the transient stuff of life. Help us to lead new lives that follow your example, and live your way. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Babel - and the real problem of Globalisation

There is something, I suspect, in most of us that is uneasy about the process of globalisation. Of course we recognise many of the benefits it brings - such as the ease of movement around the globe (if, of course, you hold the right sort of passport), improved communications, and the inability of despotic regimes to do their evil work without being noticed. Being part of a global community helps us to celebrate with 'hands across the sea' such events as this week's celebrations of 100 years of the Scouting Movement (whose local celebration I shall be attending in about an hour's time, here in Emsworth).

But with these positive aspects come many dangers. Anti-globalisation campaigners point out to us the problems of a 'McWorld' in which different cultures are watered down by the all pervasive power of the dollar, and in which poor people can quickly become wage-slaves to wealthy international corporations.

But according to Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, those are not the real problems of globalisation. In his profound and fascinating book 'The Dignity of Difference', Sacks outlines traditional philosophical views of the nature of humanity - beginning with Plato... and then compares them with the Hebrew Bible's (a.k.a. the 'Old Testament') wisdom on the subject.

According to Sacks, Plato (and all the western philosophers who followed him) sought to find universal truths about the nature of Man. Philosophy, he argues, "focuses on what we have in common: rationality (Kant), emotion (Hume), or our desire for pleasure and aversion to pain (Bentham)." (Sacks, 2002, page 56).

Against this universalism of western philosophical thought comes the striking realisation that the Bible resists such ideas. Instead, the Bible celebrates difference. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the story of the Tower of Babel - an illustration of which adorns the cover of Sack's book. "The men on the plain at Shinar make a technological discovery. They learn how to make bricks by drying clay. As after so many other technological advances, they immediately conclude that they now have the power of gods. They are no longer subject to nature. They have become its masters. They will storm the heavens" Like so many civilisations which came after it, the builders of Babel "attempt to impose an artificial unity on divinely created diversity" (Sacks p.52).

As an ancient Jewish teaching puts it: "When a human being makes many coins in the same mint, they all come out the same. God also makes every person in the same image - His image - and each is different." (Sacks p.60)

Plato sought the universality of the perfect mathematical form, the archetype of all things...the perfect bird, the perfect leaf, the perfect political state (hence his book "The Republic"). But God creates 250,000 different types of leaves, and 9,000 different types of bird. He revels in diversity. As a Christian I would add to Sack's essentially Jewish thought that God himself reveals himself as diversity incarnate, in the form of the Trinity.

So the real problem of globalisation is that it assumes that there will be one way, one path, to world peace and world prosperity. By forcing the whole planet into an essential American/British understanding of the way things should be done (the 'McWorld' as Benjamin Barber has called it). Such a project utterly fails to build on humanity's greatest strength - the sheer wonder and potential of a diverse population.

Sadly - there is not space here to say more. I do, however, heartily recommend Sack's book for anyone who wants to think deeper about these things.

Tom

What is Marriage For?

Sorry - it's been another long period between blogs. In the meantime, I've been preparing for, and then helping to deliver, the annual mad-house/Summer Playscheme that we refer to round here as the "J-Team". It's been a hoot so far... I'll try to post a picture of me as "Mr Theophilus" the wise, but slightly barmy tramp-cum-prophet-cum-sage character that I'm playing throughout the week.

Anyway - onto other topics. As well as the J-Team, I have the enormous privilege this week of presiding at the marriage of three couples. It has made me think again about that fundamental question...what is marriage actually for?

You don't need me to trot out a load of statistics about the fact that marriage works... there's plenty of evidence around for that assertion... especially as far as the bringing up of children is concerned. But marriage is much more than the bringing up of children... not least for those who don't have, or can't have, children.

The Bible starts, pretty much, with the story of Adam and Eve. In that story, God declares that 'It is not good for the man to be alone' - and so sets about creating Eve to be man's 'helper'. As with all Scripture, the context here is vital. As Mark Greene (of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity) has observed, "the context is humankind's crucial role in the stewardship of the entire world and the creation of a community in which human beings can flourish".

The Hebrew word for 'helper' is 'ezer' - and doesn't mean supporter in that English sense of a subservient 'shouter from the sidelines'. It is much closer to the idea of someone who comes alongside another in the active solving of a problem.

The role of union, therefore, is to unite the couple in the God-given task of making the world a better place for human beings to flourish in.

That's a very outward focus - and quite different from the messages we so often here in our romantic-movie-soaked culture - a culture which has elevated 'couple-dom' as the new must-have accessory of life. Our young people have been taught, or have absorbed from Hollywood, the idea that marriage is the answer to all our personal and psychological needs. When I find 'the one', that One will satisfy my every mental, emotional, spiritual and sexual need. The 'One' will love me perfectly, soothe my worries away, heal my every hurt, intoxicate me in abandoned sexual union - always remember my birthday, and put the bins out without being asked.

Is it any wonder that so many marriages struggle when that kind of expectation is laid on couples?

Eve was not created to relieve Adam of his loneliness... he had God for that, who walked and talked with him in the garden. Indeed, as you look at the Bible overall, the emphasis is not on finding a soul-mate, or a substitute mother or father, but it is on community with God's people, and on building a community in which human beings can flourish.

The focus of the Bible's view of marriage is outward, not inward. That is why, at the introduction to the Marriage Services I will conduct this weekend I will read the following words from the Anglican Book of Common Worship: "In marriage husband and wife belong to one another, and they begin a new life together in the community. It is a way of life that all should honour"

So there.

Al Quaeda and Salman Rushdie: Free Speech Rides Again

SO, according to the latest bile to pour forth from the Mad Mullahs of Al Quaeda, a targeted attack is due on the UK because of the awarding of a knighthood to Salman Rushdie.

All major political parties have rallied behind the Government on this one - saying that the Sovereign's choices about whom she wishes to award an honour to must never be the subject of intimidation. "Freedom of speech is a fundamental freedom in this country," said Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis.

"Rhubarb and Rubbish" says I. If 'freedom of speech' means freedom to insult whoever I want, I don't want it. Jesus' disciple (and possibly half brother) James wrote in his short letter that the tongue is an extremely dangerous thing. And he was right.

When I was a lad, they taught me that 'sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you'. More rhubarb and rubbish. Hurtful words can be some of the most hurtful things. If you punch me, I'll recover. If you insult me, put me down, tell me I'm useless - that could affect me for life.

Of course I don't for a second think that Salman Rushdie should be hounded by fatwahs for his writings. That's an extreme reaction to a minor issue. (Does is really matter what one writer says in a novel?). But to give him a knighthood, knowing full well that it would cause offence, and lead extremists to do extremist things - was just plain stupid.

There.

Sea Sunday

Last Sunday was Sea Sunday - a day when we remember all those mariners who ply the oceans to bring us the goods and food that we need from foreign shores - or who take our goods and sell them abroad.

Sea-farers are essential to our way of life - and always have been. Ever since the first primitive human decided to take what he had made or grown and trade it with someone across the sea, we have needed these people.

And yet, many sea-farers are among the most poorly paid workers in the world - and live in some of the worst circumstances. Many of them cannot even leave their ships to visit the ports they enter. Many have inadequate clothing for the temperatures in which they work. Others are cut off from their families for months, even years on end.

Here is a sermon which I preached on Sunday, on that topic - based around Luke Chapter 10. To read it click here.

God bless them.

T

What a Week!

What a week it has been!

First, I performed my one man show, "Rev'd Up" last Saturday. It seemed to go pretty well - around 250 came, clapped in all the right places, and between them have given over £2,000 to support the Ugandan charities that Clare, Emily and I will be visiting in October.

I've also launched my new album, "Songs of Life". If you are interested in hearing a selection of songs from the album, please click twice on the music player (at the top of this page on the right...looks a bit like an i-pod. If you are interested in buying a copy (please!) go to my music page for details of how to do so. I hope you enjoy it!

In the meantime, I've preached a couple of sermons which you might want to catch up with. The first is titled "Living By Faith" - which I hope is a self-explanatory title! (It starts with a most informative and useful section of quotes from "101 Things To Do During A Dull Sermon" by Tim Sims and Dan Pegoda.) You can read it by clicking here.

The second, from yesterday, is a sermon called "The Fruit of the Spirit". What's the difference between living by human nature, or by the Spirit of God? To get thinking about that, try yesterday's sermon, which you can read by clicking here.

That's all for now folks! Have a great week!

Tom

Retreating from the World

Sorry (again) that the blog has been silent for a while. I was away last week on a retreat at a Cistercian Monastery in Leicestershire. If you'd be interested to see where I went, here's a link to their website: http://www.mountsaintbernard.org/

I had a very pleasant few days, with my nose stuck firmly in a few books, sitting in quiet solitude in the monastery garden. I quite enjoyed worshipping in the Abbey at regular intervals, except that as an Anglican in a Roman Catholic environment, I was a bit lost at various points (a good lesson to me as a worship leader to make sure I lead people well during our worship!)

My favourite book of the week was a new one by Rowan Williams, called "Tokens of Trust". His thinking is far too deep to try and summarise on a blog - but I will share one nugget that I picked up. Williams tried to answer the question of what God's primary purpose is, in relation to us. He answered it, surprisingly succinctly, with two words: 'peace' and 'praise', which as well as being short, is nicely alliterative as well (starts with the same letter!). In other words, God's whole being bent on beinging peace between God and humans, and between humans themselves - and then on focusing our lives on him. Nice and simple I thought.

In the meantime, I've not been too idle. Here's a sermon I preached Sunday last, just before going on retreat. Have you ever wondered what the word 'Testament' refers to...(i.e. the 'New Testament or the Old)?. Well 'testament' is an old word for covenant (which in itself is a form of legal agreement). This sermon explored what God's covenants, or testaments, with human beings have been since the dawn of time.

Secondly, I preached yesterday a sermon which was the last in our local series on young people of the Bible. It was a family service sermon - so has some 'interactive' sections in it where I got our children to tell me how much they had understood of previous sermons - but I hope there's enough meat on the rest of the sermon for you to see what it was about! Please click here to read it - and as always, please let me know what you think!

Good to be back in the saddle. Don't forget that my One Man Show takes place this Saturday evening at St James' Emsworth...hope you can join us!

If it could happen to EMI...

EMI, the last British music recording giant, has just been sold and asset-stripped -- without a murmur of protest. (For more information see this link )

EMI has gone the way of all stragglers in a cultural revolution. Its collapse was probably inevitable. They were always several steps behind other music companies - the last to embrace 33rpm records, the last to embrace CDs - and their internet download facility is, frankly, rubbish compared to the likes of i-Tunes.

It occurs to me to wonder if our churches also remain stragglers in the cultural revolution. What will our collapse deprive Britain of?

What can we learn from the collapse of EMI?

Kevin the Teenager and Issues Facing Christians Today

First - an apology. It's been more than 2 weeks since my last Blog, and I do apologise to anyone who has sought out the Blog in the hope of some fresh thinking. It's been a particularly hectic time - and I'm afraid that in times of pressure, local needs have to give way - even to the Blog!

One momentous event has taken place in the meantime - I've had my 41st birthday...which, so everyone tells me, means I am now on the downward slope. That will give more impetus to one of the Songs of Travel that I'm going to sing at my concert on June 23rd "I have Trod the Upward, and the Downward Slope"!

Now - for a bit of thinking stuff. Yesterday, I preached two sermons. The first was a continuation of our sermon series on "Young People of the Bible". We thought about the story of how young David (the same one that fought Goliath and eventually became King of Israel) came to be called to the court of King Saul. He was invited to become a member of the court for three reasons:

a) He could play the lyre (in other words, he had developed one of his God-given gifts to the level that it was good enough for a king)

b) He was a brave warrior (in other words he was courageous about what he believed)

c) He spoke well and was a fine looking young man (in other words he understood the importance of communicating well).

From this I developed some ideas, for our family service, which I hope were inspiring to them. They start from the idea that Christian Young people should, ideally, NOT be like Harry Enfield's character, Kevin the Teenager - but should aim to be more like young David.

If you want to read the text of this sermon - appalling jokes included - then please click here.

My second sermon of the day was at our local Baptist Church, where I tried to rise to the challenge of answering the question "What is the greatest issue facing Christians today". There's some pretty contentious stuff in this sermon - so be warned! However, if you want to try to get inside my fevered brain, please grab a Bible (because you'll need one to follow the sermon), and then click here.

Please feel free to respond to either of these sermons. I'd love to hear what you think!

A Jailer Sees the Light

Acts 16 - 16-34 Paul and Silas in Prison

Preached this morning at Warblington Church

I want to focus, this morning, on the story of Paul and Silas’ miraculous escape from prison. But I’m not as interested in the escape itself, as in what happened to their guard.

The guard's reaction to the earthquake which tore down the prison wall is rather odd. In fact, when he thought that his prisoners had escaped, his first impulse was to draw his sword to kill himself. We might wonder why he had such an extreme reaction. I mean, you would have thought that the first thing he would do would be to run into the prison and see whether his prisoners had escaped - and perhaps kill them before they could do so. But no, as soon as the earthquake was over, he drew his sword - to kill himself.

The Bible doesn’t give us the reason why he did this. But it is fun to speculate sometimes. Perhaps he feared being executed or tortured for having been on duty when the prisoners escaped...and so thought that suidice would be the better opion. Perhaps it was because of his own religious convictions. I wonder if he saw the earthquake as a judgment from heaven - a judgment which condemned him for locking up two of God’s prophets. Most probably the guard was a pagan, who would have interpreted the earthquake as a form of divine punishment on him - and concluded that living under divine judgment was a fate worse than death.

But, of course, God has other plans.

The first thing to notice about this story is the circumstances of the earthquake itself. Paul and Silas have been imprisoned, very unfairly. But notice their reaction. Instead of getting depressed, and wondering whether God will help them, they spend their time praying and singing hymns.

A few weeks ago, a member of our Warblington congregation - whom I won’t embarrass by name - passed me an article about Terry Waite - a short piece about his time in prison. I was fascinated to read that the thing which sustained him most of all was his deep memory of the Book of Common Prayer. He found it an immense comfort to be able to recite those familiar words - to effectively hold his own Matins and Evening prayer, there in his cell.

The article was part of a passionate plea from Mr Waite to make sure that with all the various choices that the new Anglican book of Common Prayer gives us, we shouldn’t lose the ability to memorise prayers and psalms, learned by repetition and familiarity over the years. It was a fascinating article - with which I’m sure many of our parishioners would agree!

But that aside, the key point here is that while Paul and Silas are waiting for God to act, they do what every exemplary Christian should do while waiting for God to act - they continually pray, and worship God. Their constancy in prayer and worship means that when the earthquake occurs, the other prisoners who have been listening to their witness, and indeed the jailer himself, immediately give the credit for the earthquake to God.

As Christians we affirm that God is continually at work in our world. Our prayers and worship are not only a way of co-operating with God in bringing the Kingdom to fruition...they are also a witness to the world - a way of making a clear link in people’s minds between their circumstances, and God’s action. That’s why it is important to tell people that we are praying for them. If people know that we are upholding them in prayer, they will be much more likely to see God at work in their lives, and turn to him themselves.

But let’s focus down on the Jailer. His reaction to finding that Paul and Silas have not escaped, and at having witnessed the earthquake during their prayers and singing, is to fall to his knees, and ask “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Do you see what I am saying? It is Paul and Silas’ faithful waiting on God which succeeds in convincing the Jailer that God was at work in the earthquake.

Its interesting to note, I think, that the Bible doesn’t say that God sent the earthquake - as a specific answer to their prayers. Not on this occasion anyway. The text simply says, “suddenly there was an earthquake”. But as in modern days, we can see God at work in every circumstance of life - even in natural disasters. We can see him at work in the cry for justice on the part of poor people, living in sub-standard housing in earthquake zones, thrown up by corrupt builders in corrupt countries. We can see him at work in the acts of mercy carried out by rescuers. We can see him at work in the acts of charity from those living outside the earthquake zones - sending money, blankets, shelter, food.

However, what I really want to focus on is what happens next. A sequence of events takes place, following the Jailer’s question “What must I do to be saved?”.

1) First of all, Paul and Silas make a very simply evangelistic statement: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household”

2) Secondly, Paul and Silas are invited by the Jailer to speak the word of the Lord to everyone in his household.

3) Thirdly, the jailer and his family are all baptised.

4) Finally, they share a meal together, during which the Jailer is described as being ‘full of joy’. His whole being has been transformed through these actions from one of suicide, to one of joy.

And it might profit us to think about that sequence of events - to see what led him from suicide to joy. The events, as they are laid out, sound rather like our own lives as Christians - compressed down to a short evening of activity.

First of all, comes the question: “What must I do to be saved?”

The answer comes in hearing the Word of life preached to them. Through Paul and Silas’ teaching, their Christian instruction if you will, the Jailer finds the answer to his question. That’s why preaching remains such a vital part of all our services. It is not enough for us just to meet and pray and worship - we need to hear Christian instruction - teaching that will help us to plant our feet firmly on the path to salvation.

Next comes the jailer’s response: he and all his family are baptised - in obedience to Christ’s command. Baptism was then, as it remains for us, a sign of new life...a sacrament of grace that initiates people more fully into their new live with God.

I wonder if you’ve ever thought about what the word ‘sacrament’ means? One way of describing it is “an outward and physical sign of an inward and spiritual gift”. Baptism is the outward sign that our sins have been washed away, and that God is filling us with his Holy Spirit. We baptise children, as well as adults, to follow, at least partly, in the tradition established by Paul and Silas. See verse 33: “Immediately he and all his family were baptised”. It is not just adults whose sins can be washed away by God, and in whom His Spirit can dwell, but whole families.

Finally, the jailer invites Paul and Silas into his home, and they share a meal together. Caring fellowship is being exercised here...as well as a hint of the Eucharistic rite of gathering around a table to remember our Lord.
So, we have four actions...a sequence of events, which are very recognisable to us. A question. A response from the word of God. Baptism. And then the caring fellowship of a family meal - believers together, gathering in joy around a table.

Being a Christian, then, is much more than believing in Jesus. It is, as the Jailer discovered, about belonging to a community...in which God’s Spirit is alive and at work, where instruction and teaching is faithfully given, where baptism is exercised to young and old, and where regular caring, joyful fellowship takes place.

That is the template for church which is suggested by this story.

May God grant us the grace to remain faithful to his call to be members of the body of Christ together.

Amen