The wise woman from Park-run.

I was bemoaning my slower times at Park-run to a wise woman the other day. She listened patiently as I prattled on about the burgeoning time it took me to get around the lake. “Is it my age?” I wailed. “Is it my technique?” I moaned. I pleaded desperately. “Will new shoes make me go faster or a different breakfast?”

The wise woman listened compassionately to my pathetic tale of woe. She smiled graciously and incisively replied

“What if Park-run is not about the blood pressure or a personal best time? What if it is just about ‘doing and being’? What if it is just about putting  yourself in  the best possible place and just living the moment? Allowing everything else to just dissolve away. Would that be such a terrible thing?”

I thought about these astute and perceptive questions as I went to Evening Prayer later that day. Often it’s just mutter mutter, grumble grumble. There are no choruses of angels, bursting into glorious song. No beatific visions of St. Michael or Our Lady. The Archangel Gabrielle has so far declined to accept my generous invitations to show up and sit down beside me.

So what if I applied a similar philosophy to my prayers? What if prayer wasn’t having weird religious experiences in psychedelic colour with 5d surround sound, transmitted on the 7G network?

What if prayer was just placing myself in the best possible space and place and allowing the possibility of God to do His thing? Perhaps prayer is not about me trying to get a personal best while babbling through the psalms and scratching my head at the incomprehensible readings?

I shall always be grateful to the wise woman from Park-run. Maybe my personal best is actually when I am going slowly.

A reflection for Sunday 5th of December

Last week I gave a very skimpy overview of some of the themes that occur in Luke's gospel. One of those themes is repentance and forgiveness and I pointed out that only Luke has the story of the prodigal son. In his gospel Luke points to his pet theme. “John the Baptist went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Notice please where John the Baptist is preaching. He's not preaching in the city of Jerusalem, the top end of town, the plumb parish. No, he is preaching in the desert in the region of the Jordan. This is not salubrious and lush countryside. It’s hot, dusty, rocky stuff. No wonder he uses the imagery of Isaiah.

The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,  and the rough ways made smooth;"

It would have made a lot of sense to those who were listening to him because all around them would have seen wonky, rough roads that needed some workmen in high vis vests and lollipop signs. They would have walked over these wonky rough hot dusty roads in order to get to hear John the Baptist.

Now the imagery of the wilderness and bumpy roads operates on at least two levels. There is the outward physical dimension that we would see and experience if we were fortunate enough to go to the Holy land. But there is another dimension as well. The voice crying in the wilderness is often that still small voice within us which is easily ignored, overpowered and silenced by other distractions and procrastinations. You could call it our conscience, or the voice of the Holy Spirit but every so often we know that something needs fixing. The rough ways need to be smoothed. The valleys of our inadequacies and shortcomings need to be filled. The potholes need to be sorted and the tarmac sealed, shiny and ready. This is hard work that goes on at the deepest level within us. It is not always comfortable and pleasant. It is often confronting and disquieting for us. It can’t be just fixed in a day and then left and ignored. Just as our roads needed to be continuously worked on, upgraded and painted and a whole lot of other things I don’t understand, but expect to happen, so too the highway of our souls will always need to be worked on. Sometimes its good to have a chat with someone who is just a little ahead of you or walking with you. Someone who perhaps has fallen headlong into the ditches and can give you a bit of a hint as to what might lie ahead. And when you fall in the ditches as we all do, get up, dust yourself and begin the important work of making all things smooth and level and straight. And perhaps you might be able to reach out your hand and help someone else out of the same ditch. Perhaps you might look them in the eye and say “Courage. I know all about this ditch because I fell into myself last week and this was the 4th time I have fallen into this trap.

Two things that occurred to me while writing this homily. First, why did the crowds leave their home to venture out in the blithering heat to hear this crazy guy dressed in the latest camel hair caftan. Why bother? Surely it would have been much more fun to sit quietly under the cool of a palm tree sipping a refreshing beverage. I reckon it because John’s homilies were corkers. He preached a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. And this is just the best news ever. It is what we all crave for and long for deep down. We need to know time and time again that we are forgiven because time and time again we bungle it. We need the refreshing water of forgiveness poured over us to cleanse us so that we can set out again. To start again with hearts that are lighter and ready to love and in turn pass on that forgiveness to everyone we encounter. That's why they went out in the midday sun. They shared that same deep longing and if it took a  couple of days of rough sleeping and a bit of sunburn and tired sweaty feet, then the trek would have been well worth it.

The second thing I wonder about. Why is this theme of repentance and forgiveness so important to Luke?

One day I will ask him but here’s what I reckon. I reckon Luke was a fallible, failing, sinful regular guy. I reckon that he might have fallen from grace in spectacular fashion. We know that he would not have actually met the Risen Christ, but he must have seen the good news in the message that was being handed down. Luke knew how much he needed it and of course he responded and wrote his message to us. Repent and believe the good news of forgiveness. So deep in your souls

Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Fill up all those valleys.
Flatten the hills and mountains
Smooth out the rough edges and then
You too shall see the salvation of God.

A very patient person kindly took my passport photo the other day. Tolerant and long suffering they led me gently through the necessary steps. Then they swiftly sent the image to my trusty email doodad.

Passport photos don’t capture you at your dazzling best. The image that looks back at me is unrecognisable.

The guy that I see is much more lined and jowly than I remember him. And the hair… The shiny brown locks have been subsumed by a curious shade of grey. It’s all a bit disconcerting.

This older bloke stares back at me unwavering and I have to ask ‘Who are you old man?’ I could answer him with things like rector, husband, canon, dad, uncle or husband. And each one of those is true, but only in part. None of them can tell the whole of ‘me’.

The same could be said of my childhood photos. They tell part of the picture. Brother, son, cousin etc. All of the photos leading up until now are an authentic but incomplete snapshot of the someone I am or was.

And there’s the rub! I have been many things to many people over many years; counsellor, priest, friend and client. To be any of those people and all of those people, is a rare, undeserved and unlooked for privilege.

But by far the most important thing is simply to be a child of God. A recalcitrant and rascally brat sometimes. A wilful, stubborn and stumbling juvenile who skins their knee on the same predictable rocks on the same erroneous path. But this is the fellow who looks back at me in the photo. And I might look disheveled and a bit worn round the edges but that can never diminish who I truly am and nor can the years steal who you really are.

A Reflection for Sunday 28th of November

You’re probably aware that the gospel reading on a Sunday works on a three year cycle. So in 2020 we read Matthew. This year we have been reading Mark. We get huge chunks of John during Lent and Easter. In fact, the gospel for Good Friday is John’s crucifixion story.  Today we begin a new Church year and it's Luke’s turn to shine. Here is a bit of background that I hope will be helpful for us.

First up, Luke wrote one work which included his gospel and the book of Acts as we know it today. Originally they were just one single volume. When the New Testament was beginning to take shape, the two books were separated so that all the Gospels could be put together at the beginning of the list.

Part 1 of Luke's work the Gospel tells us the story of Jesus from his birth to his ascension; Part 2 the Acts of the Apostles, tells the story of the early church from the ascension of Jesus to the preaching of the Gospel in Rome by Paul. As with the other gospel writers, we actually don’t know a lot about who Luke the person. We do know that he came pretty much top of the his class when he was doing Greek. His Greek is some of the best in the New Testament so we think that he was a well educated person, a gentile convert to Christianity. Luke is very passionate about certain themes and you will easily spot them in the coming year.

Theme one is universal salvation. Jesus came to save all people. The Gentiles and the Jews can be part of the Church of Jesus.

Theme two Jesus has great mercy and forgiveness. This is particularly focussed on Jesus' concern for the poor. Only Luke will have the story of the raising of the widow's son from the dead at Nain. Only Luke has the marvellous story of that recalcitrant, prodigal son who squanders his inheritance on unspeakable things and then comes bedraggled home to ask for forgiveness.

Theme 3, Luke is in touch with his feminine side. Women were often seen as second class citizens and this was the society in which Jesus lived. But Luke, bless him, goes to great lengths to include women in the Jesus story. For example the women Jesus meets on the road to Calvary, the woman who bathed Jesus' feet with her tears and the story of Martha and Mary.

Also unique to Luke is the entire saga of Junior Jesus. So the story of John the Baptist's birth, the archangel Gabrielle crashing Mary’s sewing session, the delightful story of Cousin Elizabeth and the Virgin Mary rushing to meet in each other, the children leaping around in the womb, and the two mothers to be swapping stories. The presentation of the infant Christ child in the Temple. Only Luke has the story of the naughty lad Jesus staying behind in the temple and teaching the scribes a thing or two while his bewildered parents go searching everywhere for Him. All these are recorded in Luke's gospel but are startlingly, puzzlingly absent in the other gospels. It begs the question… how come Luke has this stuff and the others don’t? Or… where did Luke get this material from?

Prayer is also an important theme for Luke. Luke associates prayer with the most important moments of Jesus' life. Jesus prays at his baptism (3.21), and after a day of working miracles. Before choosing the Twelve Jesus spends the night on the mount in prayer (6.I2). Before Peter's confession of faith and his first prediction of the Passion, Jesus prays alone (9.18;) Jesus goes to the Mount-of-the Transfiguration to pray (9.29). He prays with gladness and thanksgiving after the mission of the seventy disciples because of his Father's revelation to the little ones (10.17-21). His example leads the disciples to ask him to teach them to pray. Jesus prays during his agony on the Mount of Olives (22.39-46) and during his Crucifixion (23.34-46).So Luke has much for us to learn and relearn.

Two things from my muddy murky reflection.

Thing 1. The infancy narratives teach us that Jesus was once a vulnerable child; a child who did surprising and boggling things. He had a life before he began his public ministry and when we encounter him in others in a challenging way, we should not forget that this person before us has come along a road that sometimes has been rocky and uncomfortable and is always hidden from us. All of us here were once dandled on our parents' knees and all of us infuriated and delighted our parents.

Thing 2. Prayer is of the highest priority. The most important thing that I do each day is not putting things on Facebook, or trying to concoct homilies or, sorry to say it’s not the bonhomie at the Hamilton Hamper on Thursdays at 3pm, pleasant and sparkly as all that is. The most important thing I do is this wrestley, wriggly elusive prayer thing. Everything else, in theory at least, flows out of that and from that. I know that this is one of the many things that Luke will patiently teach us again. I wonder what else we will learn as we meet Luke again.

There are times in a priesty guy's life where he goes to a bedside with his heart in his boots because the person in the bed is someone who he has grown fond of. I wonder what on earth I will say. True the Church gives us formularies and books and prayers which are great, but often I think there is something more that needs to be offered.

Something else should be said. Surely the right words, spoken at the right time, in the right tones would make this all better. Sunshine and rainbows would ensue and there would be no more suffering, and every tear would evaporate. But no… I leave with an icky sense that I should have done more and said something else. Where are the prophets who can ‘up-skill’ me in priest craft?

Fortunately there are some leaders in the world today. People leave us inspired and hopeful. Every so often someone gets it right and for a time that is far too brief there is a chance for us. One such prophetess captured my angst exquisitely when she said to her weeping nation. “But even when we had no words, we still heard yours, and they have left us humbled and they have left us united”.

This ministry thing is a two way street. It’s not just about me trying to minister, it's about the person in the bed ministering to me to say nothing of their loved ones at the bedside who are … Well, they are simply magnificent! And even when the person in the bed is breathing their last, or has breathed their last, I am always left humbled and enriched. Perhaps the secret to this priest business is not just about trying to minister to others, but to begin by graciously accepting others' ministry to me.

Pilate asked Jesus “What have you done?”

It’s a good question to have a play with because it applies directly to us in all sorts of ways. Notice please that in the scripture the question isn’t answered.

Let’s start with what Pilate is not asking.

Pilate is not asking Jesus for his CV.

He was not asking for a comprehensive list of all Jesus miracles, wine making, storm stilling and teaching.

Pilate is not asking if Jesus  matched up to the KPI’s and job description of a Rabbi / Messiah / all time good guy / faith healer / teacher.

We are not looking in on a job interview here.

In fact I actually don’t think Pilate is really looking for an answer at all.

I do think Pilate is really asking himself…

Yikes! What are my options here?

I think Pilate is searching for a way forward. Looking for an escape hatch.

I think Pilate is asking

Do you understand the mess that you have got yourself in, and me as well. I am constrained by pressure from above, my boss Herod, and from pressure below the baying crowds. What have you done… to… me?

I wonder how Pilate spoke  the question.

When I read the text I imagine Pilate asking the question in a hushed sense of disbelief. For me at least it’s almost as if he can’t believe that Jesus would be so crazy as to place himself under the possibility of crucifixion. Do you understand that the consequences of your actions could leave you as a mangled corpse on a cross?

So when I read Pilate’s question it’s like… Do you understand the enormity of your actions and what must certainly happen now?

It's a rhetorical question. I don’t think Pilate really wanted an answer; it was a cry of exasperation. This  recalcitrant Jew was just one more complexity that Pilate didn’t need on his desk. The chief priests and Jews have handed Jesus over and Pilate doesn’t know why. He has no understanding of the Jewish theological nitty gritty.

To dig a little deeper it might help if we have a look at the previous sentence.

“Pilate says ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me”.

Your own people have handed you over Jesus. How is it that your own people can hand you over knowing what the likely outcome would be? How could they turn against one of their own?

What would inspire people who hate Roman rule to bring one of their own with demands for Roman judgement and death? You must have done something pretty jolly spectacular to make them so grumpy.

But dig a little deeper again. Jesus did not arrive out of the blue because the Jewish authorities got up one day, had a shower, brushed their hair, and decided that they had nothing else written in their diary. The question ‘What have you done?’ had been brewing for several years now. Both from the Pilate / Roman timeline and from Jesus’ own timeline. This encounter between Jesus and Pilate is where the two inevitabilities finally crash into each other.

But the question also applies to us and I leave you with some confronting stuff and some gooey stuff to finish with.

The confronting stuff.

“What have you done?”

I’m sure there are times in our life that we have asked this question of someone else.  And it is highly likely that we have had no understanding of the person, no understanding of  what has led them to this place, this time, this predicament, this future. Nothing happens in a vacuum. We ought to be very careful before we ask this question.

The gooey stuff which someone else wrote for me.

And Pilate’s question: “What have you done?” How is it to be answered in a few words? It is the story of Jesus from the moment of the Annunciation, through Bethlehem and Nazareth, to the public life of preaching and teaching, healing and liberating and finally suffering, dying and rising – out of love. Instead of answering, Jesus speaks of the nature of his kingship.

And us…

Your story, your life, what you have done cannot be answered in a few words. It is the story of you. Your own unique and fantastic story. From your parents, to your public life to your private life with all it’s triumphs and disasters. With all its tedium and dreariness, colour and sparkle. Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. We can never have a complete perspective to understand what it is that we have truly done in a holistic and multidimensional way.

When you reflect on your life, what you have done, you will probably realise that it is far more boggling than you ever believed possible.

And when God eventually reflects on your life with you, then you will discover it is far more richer, far more complex and even far more lovelier than you could ever have imagined.

There is an enormous sense of satisfaction when a guy can trim the edges and mow his lawns. You can see where you have been and the cathartic effect of turning unruly grass into a neatly manicured lawn cannot never be underestimated. My doctor would also argue that the physical exertion will help keep my girth at a respectable size and my blood pressure numbers where they should be.

I was contemplating all this other day, and noticed that there were a goodly number of black birds with bright orange beaks running about and digging into my neatly clipped lawns. They weren’t bothering me, I was just intrigued. I went to the fount of all wisdom (aka Dr. Google) and discovered that they were Eurasian blackbirds. But what on earth were they doing disfiguring my nicely cut lawn?

Dr. Google replied. “The birds are looking for tasty snacks; it means you have an insect problem. Basically, your lawn is the best restaurant around because it has so many bugs. Birds are simply foraging for grubs, worms, and insects. The good news about this is that the grubs and insects will actually do more damage to your lawn than the birds will, and the birds are helping you control the population.”

So when I mow the lawn there is actually a whole lot going on. It’s not just about getting things tidy and looking lovely. There is a whole ecosystem that is being enhanced and invigorated.

I’m sure that it's true for a lot of things. The outward gesture that we offer might seem insignificant and of little consequence, but for  someone else it might mean the world. Never underestimate the value of your work, your ministry, your thoughtfulness, your words, your actions. They are more potent and long lasting than you will ever know.

The year was 1990 and it was the year after our daughter Stephanie had died. I was going through a particularly dark time with my prayers and understandably I felt as if all the sparkle had evaporated from deep inside me. Instead of water, joy and light there was darkness, gloom and sadness. Instead of my prayers being chocolate and mangoes, it felt as if I was chomping on a piece of grey old chewing gum.

And this went on not for days, but for months. Fortunately retreat came up and I went to the retreat conductor to seek advice.

He listened patiently to my sad little story, offered his condolences and then asked  ‘If your prayers just feel like grey old chewing gum then why aren’t you just offering that up?’

‘Because’ I explained, ‘I am embarrassed by my piece of old grey chewing gum. God deserves better and I want to offer something much more sparkly but I have nothing else to give. I would be ashamed to offer him my old grey chewing gum’.

The conductor again listened patiently and reiterated the obvious. “David, if a piece of mangled old grey chewing gum is all you have to offer then just offer that. If that is all there is then it will be an authentic and honourable gift of prayer and God will accept it gladly and joyfully. It is not a sin to offer something that we think is sub standard. The sin, if I may say so, is to become a bit self centred about our chewing gum and to pretend that we know what God wants from us. To cling to it or allow it to cling to you, will mean that that is all you ever have to offer.”

Point taken Fr. Retreat conductor. Maybe the grey old piece of chewing gum was exactly what God wanted to take from me.

And so I began. It was excruciating at first. It was embarrassing and I felt as if I could be doing better, should be doing better. It took several dark agonising months before I found something other than grey old chewing gum on my plate which I could then offer to God in my prayers. It didn’t happen overnight and it certainly didn't happen easily.

But the confronting truth I learnt was this. That in order to get rid of the grey old chewing gum I had to first offer it to God. To continue to hold it and guard it jealously to myself could only mean that it would be with me for the rest of my life to the exclusion of everything else and that is not what my daughter would have wanted and it is certainly not what God wants.

To be honest sometimes the bit of grey chewing gum is still there as a side serve and the trick is to offer it with just as much relish and just as swiftly as the mangoes, Tim tams and the glass of very good red.

Now I tell you that story for two reasons.

First, as a way of encouragement to you. It may well be that someone who is listening to this or reading this is going through the ‘old grey chewing gum phase’. If this is you, I encourage you in the strongest and yet most compassionate way to simply offer up your grey old piece of chewing gum and to do the same tomorrow and the next day and the next day and… you're beginning to see a pattern here right?

The second reason I tell you this story is because it fits very nicely with the widow’s mite in the gospel today.

Maybe the widow felt squeamish and embarrassed, particularly if she had to make her offering in front of everyone. Remember that our Lord and the disciples were watching people putting their cash into the plate.

Or maybe the widow was a little further down the track. Resigned to the fact that she was a widow which was at the bottom of societies scrapheap and while she was not cheerful and chipper she was tolerably OK, knowing this was what she had to do and she was just simply batting it out and seeing where this next little path of her life would lead her.

Or maybe… and this is what I would like to believe even though I have no proof of it… Maybe she was comfortable and joyful in offering her two coins to God. Yep, for the time being at least this is all I have and I know God rejoices in my gift even if it is not as much as the boys from the top end of town. These two little coins are all that I am and the rest is over to you God. There is a real sense in which these two coins are everything. It's my very self that I am giving over.  And aren’t you just the most marvellous God for accepting my two little coins or my piece of old grey chewing gum. You are the loving God who rejoices in what I thought was a little gift, but is actually worth more to you than anything else in the whole wide world.

Of Auld Lang Syne

What is it about Auld Lang Syne that stirs us with a bitter sweet nostalgia and poignancy?

John Green in his book ‘The Anthropocene Reviewed’ explored the potency of Auld Lang Syne.,

He wrote

“I think Auld Lang Syne is popular because it's the rare song that is genuinely wistful - it acknowledges human longing without romanticising it, and it captures how each new year is a product of all the old ones”.

As I read those words a memory came to mind of a special new years eve. It must have been in the late 1990’s for I can still remember the folk Jeanine and I were visiting. There was wine and good people, laughter and nostalgia. We were young enough for the bewitching hour not to have whittled us down.

Now with loved ones literally on the other side of the planet and a year that has gone so quickly and yet so slowly, Auld Lang Syne seems to be larger, more powerful and yet more tender than ever.

You might like to bring to mind your own Auld Lang Syne wherever, and whoever that might be. Allow the song to stir that something special in you all over again.

Where were you, who were you with, what was said, what didn’t need to be said, but was actually spoken more powerfully than words? Where will Auld Lang Syne send you in 2022?

Perhaps John Green might help us again.

“I think about the many broad seas that have roared between me and the past, seas of neglect, seas of time, seas of death. I’ll never again speak to many of the people who have loved me into this moment. So we raise a glass to them - and hope that perhaps somewhere, they are raising a glass to us”.

A Fete like last year

Whose image is it anyway.

Bishop Morrie is a fictional character created by columnist Michael Leach. This is one of Bishop Morries homilies.

If you haven't done your taxes yet, you better get a wriggle on. Money is a symbol of love, and some of your tax dollars will go to feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and give security to widows and orphans. Sure, most of it won't, but who are we to contend? We have to pay our taxes, whether we like it or not. Isn't it saner to see the gift rather than the cost?

Jesus understood taxes better than anyone ever. In today's gospel a bunch of Pharisees, those holier-than-thou politicians of his time, cornered Jesus with the question, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

Like all Pharisees, first they buttered him up: "We know you're honest. You don't play favorites. You teach the way of God." Then they gave him the gotcha question: "Does God want people to pay taxes to the emperor? Whose side are you on, God's or the government's?"

Of course, their issue wasn't taxes. It was about tricking Jesus into an ageless, go-nowhere argument and making him look the fool. Jesus was direct: "Show me a coin you use to pay the tax."

One of the Pharisees held out a coin in his palm, with Caesar's face staring right up at him like, well, like the ruler who built the roads and bridges and fed the foodless and led the armies and levied more taxes on the rich than the poor, and, if you didn't pay your taxes, could have you arrested -- that guy. Oh yeah, Caesar used taxes for welfare, too, and even the people from the top end of Jerusalem felt they somehow had less because those who had nothing got to lick the pot.

"So then," Jesus answered the Pharisee, "give the government what you owe the government, and give to God what is God's."

The coin was two-faced, just like the Pharisee himself.

The only kingdom Jesus was interested in was a spiritual one. A denarius bore the image of Caesar, who demanded denarii in return. The Pharisees and everyone else wore the image of God, who asked for nothing but love and compassion for those who had little. That's what Jesus was talking about. He couldn't care less about taxes, one way or another. "Be interested only in the kingdom of God, which is not of this world," he taught, "and all these other things will be added unto you."

He was neither a politician nor a pundit. He voiced no opinions and taught in parables. Can you imagine Jesus on one of today's talk shows?

"Mr. Jesus, you're not on Facebook but you have more than 2 billion followers. That said, do you really think a camel can get through the eye of a needle? Really?"

See Jesus laugh, stand up and walk away. "Come follow me," he says, "and I will give you rest."

"Huh?"

Jesus also gave joy. "In this world you shall have tribulation," he said. "But be of good cheer for I have overcome the world!"

A sure way to experience tribulation is to whine about taxes. Why get yourself sick? And, after all, if you're rich and pay a lot of taxes, you're still going to have the most toys on June 30th. What's the big deal? If you're affluent enough, you'll still have all you need and a little bit more. And if you're struggling or poor, you may not have to pay taxes at all.

Have you ever heard people argue that Jesus told individuals, not governments, to help the poor? Well, aside from the fact that charity just caresses the edges of human woes, let's just remember, Jesus tells us it's right and just to do both: If we're rich, he asks us to give away some of our toys before and after we pay taxes. If we're affluent, we can always share a little more of our "more," can't we? And if we're poor, our widow's mite is worth more than all the amusements in the world.

A sure way to overcome the world is to live for God 24/7, be able to put in an honest day's work for money that provides a healthy and comfortable life for ourselves and our family, and to pay our taxes without complaint and become a cheerful giver.

Jesus made it clear: "It's easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for someone with too many toys to enter the kingdom of heaven anyway.”

The issue really is about who we belong to. And he belongs to us.

Paying taxes? Petty change.

Following Jesus? Priceless!

Homework questions.

When you look at a coin whose image do you see there?

When you look in the mirror, whose image do you see?

Does your money belong to you or do you belong to your money? Whose in charge?

Does God belong to you, or do you belong to God?