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Foreign. Thank you for
engaging with the homily by Pastor

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Chill Will from Chapel Hill. I
hope this message encourages you,

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challenges you and moves you
to go deeper in your faith and enrich

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how you love God and love your
neighbor in your day to day life.

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Just a reminder. Like the
scriptures and gospels themselves,

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this homily was written for a
particular community in a particular

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context, time in history. And
yet, like our sacred texts, I hope

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that these words hold timeless
truths about God's unconditional

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love and grace. We hope these
words speak to you in a meaningful

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way. The Holy Gospel according
to Matthew, Jesus said to his disciples,

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if your brother or sister sins
against you, go and point out the

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fault. When the two of you are
alone, if you are listened to, you

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have regained that one. But if
you are not listened to, take one

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or two others along with you
so that every word may be confirmed

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by the evidence of two or
three witnesses. If that person refuses

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to listen to them, tell it to
the church. And if the offender refuses

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to listen even to the church,
let such one be one of you as a Gentile

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and a tax collector. Truly, I
tell you, whatever you bind on earth

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will be bound in heaven.
Whatever you loose on earth will

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be loosed in heaven. Again,
truly I tell you, if two of you agree

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on earth about anything and
ask, it will be done for you by my

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Father and heaven. For where
two or three are gathering in my

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name, I am among them. The
Gospel of the Lord may be seated.

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In the name of the Father, the
Son of the Holy Spirit, Men. Okay,

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I'm going to ask a loaded and
controversial question. I hope no

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one walks out this morning or
leaves the church. When should one

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put up their Halloween
decorations? When does a Halloween

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season start? I mean, I have
opinions. I'm sure Megan agrees with

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me. Right. Mid. Mid October.
Right? Right. Oh, gosh. Megan, Megan,

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Megan. Fall doesn't even start
until September 22nd, and we need

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to have this conversation so
that. I know, I know. Okay. Okay,

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I get it. You feel passionate
about this. Looks like we're gonna

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have to take this to church
council. Okay, another question.

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Probably a little easier. When
should Christmas decorations go up?

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November 1st. Right? Right.
Megan? Oh, gosh. Within our holiday

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and liturgical seasons, we
follow the Revised Common Lectionary

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that guides our Bible readings
each Sunday. While with the Revised

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Common Lectionary, there's a
three year cycle of reading through

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the four gospels in the New
Testament. And it guides us through

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the seasons and holidays, not
of Halloween per se, but of Advent

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and Christmas and Epiphany.
Lent, Easter and Pentecost. Year

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A is devoted to the Gospel of
Matthew. Year B is Mark. Year C is

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Luke. The Gospel of John,
being a little different from the

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other three Synoptic Gospels,
doesn't get their own year, but rather

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sprinkled throughout years A,
B and C. We are currently in year

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A, journeying through the
Gospel of Matthew. Bible scholars

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believe that Matthew was
written primarily for a Hebrew and

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Jewish community and audience.
So Matthew, knowing his target audience,

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leans heavy on the themes and
images from the story of Moses, the

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Passover, the Exodus. And he's
making connections between the life

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of Jesus and the life of Moses
for Matthew and the community he

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is writing. His story for.
Jesus is a new kind of Moses who

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is leading us through a new
kind of Passover, from death to life,

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with a new Exodus in
liberating people. The Sermon on

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the Mount in the Gospel of
Matthew is a new kind of Ten Commandments

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and a Torah giving direction
for living one's faith and living

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their faith embedded in the
life of community. You have heard

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it said, you shall not murder.
But I say to you, if you call your

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brother or sister a fool, you
are liable to judgment. You have

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heard it said, you shall love
your neighbor and hate your enemy.

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But I say to you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute

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you. And Matthew wants to be
clear. In chapter 5, verse 17, Jesus

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came not to abolish the law
and Torah, but to fulfill it. Often

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the default when culture
thinks about religion, faith and

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spirituality is that it's a
bunch of rules. And if you break

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those rules, the old man in
the sky is going to be unhappy. So

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you better watch out. That's
not the theology that we lean into

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or proclaim or promote.
Rather, we believe and place our

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faith that God is a God of
love, and that as we examine and

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follow and learn from Jesus
and how he lives and operates and

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postures himself in the world
and how he interacted with people

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around him, we see and it's
revealed to us, the true nature of

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God, who loves us with a
liberating love, a love that is stronger

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than death. As we look and
learn and listen to Jesus, we see

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what St. Paul articulates in
his letter to the church in Rome,

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love is the fulfilling of the
law. Leaning into this understanding

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of faith and religion and
spirituality, we, along with the

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Hebrew faith, see that the Ten
Commandments in the Torah are gifts

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and guideposts that open up
ways to love God and love our neighbor

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even deeper. For the Gospel of
Matthew, he is telling a story and

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trying to paint the picture
that through Jesus's life, death

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and resurrection we see that
Jesus is the Torah incarnate, that

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Jesus is love incarnate. Love
is the fulfilling of the law. We

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are relational creatures. We
are part of a vast ecosystem of relationships.

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Even our church name is named
Holy Trinity. Right? We believe that

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God's own nature is a
relationship of a love as a father

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to a son, bound and flowing
through the spirit. Because we are

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relational and communal
creatures created in the image of

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a triune God, we have rules
and laws and boundaries that help

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navigate the complicated
relationships that we are a part

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of. While created to be in
relationships and community, we know

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because we live in an
imperfect and broken world where

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people disagree about holiday
decorations. It isn't always easy.

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In fact, it's almost never
easy. There's a reason, as I shared

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with the children, why we
start our worship service every Sunday

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with confession and
forgiveness. Being open and honest

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with each other and with God,
knowing that people are going to

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people. Being a part of
community comes with it. Intentionality,

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hard work, honesty, self
awareness. Today's gospel story is

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a part of Matthew's larger
vision of Jesus as a teacher and

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a rabbi and a Moses figure,
giving guidance to how we live in

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community with one another. It
echoes that hard and long journey

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that the Israelites journeyed
through in the wilderness. For 40

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years they journeyed with one
another, trying to get along with

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each other, trying to stick
together with one another, holding

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on to a faith that God is
journeying with them and that God

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is a God of love and
liberation. Most likely, Matthew's

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community and church he was
writing to was experiencing some

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conflict and they needed some
conflict resolution. Has Jesus set

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up these steps of how to get
along and resolve issues that come

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up when we do community
together? And notice the steps Jesus

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encourages us to take. Starts
off small, one on one. Before you

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go and talk behind someone's
back or gossip about what someone

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has done to you or against
you, go talk to that person first.

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Try to resolve it between the
two of you. If that doesn't work,

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bring in some others. Bring in
witnesses, people who know you and

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could maybe bring in a
different perspective. Perhaps they

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can help you see things from a
new and larger and different point

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of view. And if that doesn't
work, bring in the whole community.

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Because my relationship with
someone else and how we treat one

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another and how we get along
and understand each other and affects

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the whole community, the whole
ecosystem we are a part of. Also

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notice a key element Jesus
lifts up and brings attention to

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listening. What a gift that is
to the gift of community, the gift

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of listening. Something we've
strived to do, especially when we

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listen to testimonies and
witnesses and around our reconciled

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in Christ. Sundays listen to
one another's stories to hear their

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perspective and how they see
the world and experience the world

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and experience God's love.
Jesus then talks about a binding

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and a loosening of things,
binding and loosening things that

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are part of our lives and
relationships. And I think what Jesus

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is trying to say, similar to
what we pray in the Lord's Prayer

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when we pray, forgive me as I
forgive others. What we do and how

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we relate to one another on
earth matters in how we relate to

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others in heaven within God's
kingdom. What we do here matters

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with an eternal significance.
Last Sunday at the Faith and Science

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Forum on Anxiety that Pastor
Katie and Campus Ministry hosted,

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a big part of that discussion
was about being open and honest with

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one another and how we do life
as individuals and with one another.

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Together they share that
element of anxiety is this thing

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that we do called masking,
that we put up a mask or we put up

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that general how are you
doing? I'm fine. Because we don't

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really want others to see how
we are really doing, either because

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we're embarrassed about it or
we think the other person is fine

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and so they won't understand.
Or this notion is that they seem

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fine. So I guess I have to
pretend I have to be too. Social

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media feeds them that too. We
see everyone's perfect picture of

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their perfect meal and their
perfect vacation and we think our

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lives should be the exact same
way. Why isn't mine life that way?

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Oh my gosh, I'm not doing life
right, I guess. But what if we flipped

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that? What if we build enough
trust and compassion that I can be

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open and honest where I am in
my life and faith and we can be there

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for each other, building each
other up in love and support. What

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if we grew more comfortable
with the uncomfortable, growing in

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trust with one another and
where we are in life and faith? Perhaps

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we can continue to build each
other up. Love is the fulfilling

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of the law. This is a type of
community that I want to be a part

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of and this is the type of
community that we seek to be here

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at Holy Trinity Lutheran
Church in Lutheran Campus, Missouri

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over sabbatical. As I
reflected on my 26 years of ordained

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ministry and going on 15 years
here at Holy Trinity, I remain committed

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to the Jesus story and I still
want to grow in how that story shapes

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my life and how I live in
community with you and the relationships

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in the world that we are a
part of. Sure, the world is far from

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perfect or easy and so we have
a mission, a vision and core values

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to help guide us. Sure, there
will be challenges ahead of us, but

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there will also be
opportunities in how we grow and

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how we love God and love our
neighbors. Life isn't easy. Relationships

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easy. Community isn't easy.
They are gifts. They are gifts. Even

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if you argue about holiday
decorations, we do life together.

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Jesus doesn't promise that
everything will be perfect or comfortable,

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but notice that he promises to
be present where two or three gather.

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I am among them, Jesus is
among us and love is being fulfilled.

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Amen. Thank you for listening.
If there is anything that stood out

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for you, or if you have a
question or you just want to have

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a conversation, you are always
free to reach out and contact us.

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And remember you are not alone
and that you are loved with a love

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stronger than death. Sam.