Christianity is for all people

Good morning, Church. My name is James. It is good to be with you this morning.

My family and I have been doing a number of walks lately,

because it's about the only thing you can do to get out, and it's the only thing we've been doing to stay sane.

And one of the things that's happened for Alyssa and I is that we'll often have a location in mind.

We're going to go to this particular park. We're going to go to this playground.

We're going to walk down to the National Park.

And what will happen is that as we were walking there, I'll say to Alyssa,

why are you going to turn down that street? Go this way. This is the fastest way there.

I don't know what you're doing. And this has happened a number of times over a number of years,

so much so that I've coined a phrase for it, which is,

you're doing something different, therefore you are wrong.

What are you going to go down that path? That's the wrong way. You're doing something different to me.

Therefore, you are wrong.

It's a way of explaining a certain frustration that we can feel when people are doing things different to us.

I wonder if you've felt this kind of feeling in the past.

We see people doing things that are different to us,

and we can quickly jump to judgment and assumptions.

You use different utensils to eat food. That's different, therefore it's wrong.

You eat smelly cheese. Oh, that's gross.

You eat durian. I can't even understand that.

You value radical individualism. That's just wrong.

You value the collectivist family unit.

That's different to me, so you must be wrong.

What is the impact of God's command to love our neighbor when it comes to this?

Do we only love those who are like us?

Do we actually find it really hard to love those who are different,

because we can quickly jump to thinking that they're wrong?

I'm not sure how you felt yesterday as you saw the protests through Sydney.

I felt particularly frustrated that there would be thousands of people gathering

and wanting to get out of lockdown,

and yet seeming, in my mind, to be doing something that's just going to make COVID worse.

I was frustrated, and I was angry,

and I was quickly jumping to assumptions about these people.

I don't know their individual circumstances.

I don't know how desperate these people are feeling in this very difficult season.

And so for all of us,

it is easy to think you are doing something different,

and you are wrong,

and to judge people quickly.

We are in the second half of the book of Acts.

Jesus has been raised from the dead.

He has ascended to heaven.

He has sent His disciples out to spread the good news,

that Jesus is for all people.

And now, we are seeing that the gospel is spreading out from the ethnic base in Jerusalem.

But as it's spreading to different ethnic areas,

it's going to cause problems.

It's going to spread to people who live differently,

who eat differently,

who think differently,

and who are going to worship the same God slightly differently.

What's going to happen?

Will the church flourish and grow in a multi-ethnic way?

Or will there be conflict because people are doing things differently?

And will they just think you are wrong and have conflict?

As we follow the gospel spread out of Jerusalem across the world,

our challenge today will be for us to grow in awareness of our own cultural,

ethnic blind spots.

For us to be aware of how quickly we judge.

And for us to grow in love for our neighbors.

So why don't I pray as we have a look at Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Let me pray.

Heavenly Father, we ask that you would be with us this morning.

Give us an awareness of our own blindness to other people's differences.

Give us an awareness of how quickly we judge.

And Father, help us to be like you.

Help us to love people.

Love people even when they are different to us, Lord.

We ask this in your Son's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Three points today.

You'll be able to find those on the St. Paul's app.

First of all, we are going to see a conflict that arises

before we see the resolution and finally reconciliation.

So let's have a look at the conflict.

We've seen some of the church in Antioch in the last couple of weeks.

And it has been an exciting place.

Steve mentioned last week that the Antioch is the place

where a lot of the Gentile missionaries spread.

And, you know, we as a church in Chatswood can trace our roots back to Antioch.

It has been a flourishing church.

And some Jewish Christians who are misinformed

come down to Antioch and bring some problems.

Please have a look with me at Acts chapter 15, verse 1.

Acts 15:1

Now, there is two layers to this problem.

First, there is a theological difference.

And then there is an ethnic or a cultural difference.

And we need to carefully look between these two.

And it's just lazy to dismiss someone

because they are saying something different.

They're saying something that we don't necessarily agree with.

It would be very easy to think they're adding to salvation here.

Let's just ignore these people.

These Jewish believers have come down from Judea

and they're obviously very concerned for the Gentiles.

They want them to be saved.

They've come down.

They've gone on a journey from Jerusalem to Antioch.

They've gotten out their soapboxes

and they're standing up in front of everyone and saying,

if you want to be saved, this is what you must do.

They're not doing it because they don't care for these people.

They're actually doing it out of love,

even if there is a problem with what they're saying,

even if there is big theological issues.

It would be easy to just dismiss them.

It would be easy to ignore them,

to think these Jewish Christians are wrong.

It's salvation by grace alone.

I'm going to have nothing to do with them.

But we need to just step into their shoes for a moment,

into these Jewish Christian shoes,

because it's not just a matter of them wanting people

to just follow very religious rules.

Because for these Jewish Christians,

it's a matter of identity and ethnicity.

To be saved meant to be part of God's family,

to be part of Israel.

And the way that happened in the Old Testament,

the covenant set up by Moses,

which we've seen in our series through Exodus,

it only happened through obedience to the Lord.

It only happened through circumcision.

Circumcision.

Other people have joined Israel in the past,

and this is what it looked like.

Circumcision was the external mark of the inward reality.

It was the mark that you were a part of God's family.

But now, entry into God's family is different.

Jesus has come.

He is the true Israel.

The one who could obey the Mosaic laws fully.

The one who came so that we would not just have a circumcision of the flesh,

but a circumcision of the heart,

so that we could love God.

And so, we see these Jewish believers,

they come with sincere love for these Gentiles,

these Gentiles in Antioch.

But Paul and Barnabas have good cause to have a conflict with them,

to have a dispute with them.

Because understanding their ethnic background is important,

but we also need to understand the theology, the issue at hand.

Because what we believe about God matters.

Have a look with me at verse 2.

This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them.

Conflict here.

I'm not sure how you feel about conflict.

Maybe you don't like having conflict.

Maybe you think conflict is equal to war,

and it should be avoided at all costs.

But here, conflict is actually quite important.

Because what these Jewish Christians were saying

was going to be deadly to the Christian faith.

It was dangerous to this young church,

and it ran the risk of taking all of the power out of the Christian faith.

Because what they were preaching was that it is Jesus plus something,

and that's how you get salvation.

It's Jesus plus obedience to the law, circumcision.

That's how you get salvation.

Whenever we add to the gospel, we actually destroy it.

Jesus plus anything does not equal salvation.

That's just being burdened with something else to follow.

And this is one of the wonderful things that sets Christianity apart from any other religion.

Religions say, this is what you must do to be saved.

Christianity says, Jesus has done it.

God's grace to us is Jesus came, he lived, and he died,

and he was raised so that we could be raised too.

We must be careful to not be like these Jewish Christians and add anything to the gospel.

Whether it's adding the sacraments, whether it's adding obedience to our family,

whatever it is that we add,

it takes away from Jesus dying on the cross.

As if I could add to God dying on the cross.

Now imagine you were this young church in Antioch.

You have been seeing people come to faith.

You've got Paul and Barnabas preaching there.

You are hearing the good news.

You are being encouraged.

You've changed your life.

And you've gotten rid of sexual immorality.

You've stopped sinning in certain ways.

You are growing in your knowledge and faith of the Lord.

And then people come down from Jerusalem.

These are people from the home church.

These are people who may have seen Jesus.

And they come down and you're excited.

And then they start telling you, you've got it all wrong.

You actually don't know how to get salvation.

You've got to do these other things to get salvation.

Imagine how you'd feel if you were the church in Antioch.

Maybe nobody here is actually saved.

Maybe I'm actually not good enough for this God

because I can't do everything required.

If I was in Antioch, I'd feel shamed.

Or maybe I'd just feel tempted to ignore these Jewish Christians

who'd come down because what they were saying was different to me.

And so I'm just going to completely ignore them.

This is the conflict.

This is the issue.

And we're going to see how it gets resolved.

And so what the church in Antioch do is they send Paul and Barnabas

back to Jerusalem to see this situation get resolved.

They get to Jerusalem.

They report to the elders and to the leaders there

everything that is happening.

They report the church is growing.

Lives are being changed.

There is real faith.

There is growth in the church in Antioch.

And the party that had started these issues gets up and speaks.

Have a look with me at verse 5.

Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said,

The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.

The Gentiles must be circumcised.

This is the Pharisees who stood up.

And I'm not sure how you feel, but as soon as I see the Pharisees come on, I'm just tempted to boo.

It's like the villains have come onto the stage and I want to throw tomatoes at them.

You know, the Pharisees, they're the ones who led Jesus to be crucified.

These are the bad guys in so much of the New Testament.

Paul himself was a Pharisee.

He was out there trying to kill Christians until he got saved.

I can't help but see Pharisees here and not like it.

And I want to see them get put in their place.

And it's really easy to demonize these people.

But Luke, the author of Acts, he doesn't do that.

Have a look with me again.

Verse 5.

Then some of the believers, some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up.

Luke actually describes them as believers.

They're Christians.

They are Christians who have converted, but they're also Pharisees.

They're not the enemies.

They're part of the same family.

They have some theological issues.

They need to continue to grow following Jesus,

to change their previous thoughts and understand how the gospel impacts their lives

and what it means and how Jesus is the one who has obeyed.

But Luke describes them as Christians.

And sometimes people in the family of God will disagree.

Sometimes there will be fights.

It's fights over what is important.

Disagreements sometimes need church councils and leaders of the church to gather together

to work on these issues.

In church, there might also be some disagreements about music

or styles of music or preferred seats or morning tea.

But most of these issues in the church come down to personal preference and pride.

Here there is conflict that comes from the Pharisees' background.

They have historically seen the Gentiles as unclean.

They need to be cleansed by obedience to the law.

They need to be circumcised so they can be part of God's family.

And these Pharisees have legitimate theological concerns.

And so Peter stands up in verse 7.

And the first thing that we see get clarified here is not the ethnic and cultural difference.

The first thing that gets clarified is the theological issue.

Have a look with me.

Verse 7.

Peter got up and addressed them.

Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you

that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

And believe.

God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them,

just as he did to us.

He did not discriminate between us and them,

for he purified their hearts by faith.

Peter reminds everyone of the vision he had in Acts 10

and his experience of Gentiles being converted.

God has showed that he is for all people.

The Pharisees, his concern, their concern is that the Gentiles would be pure,

that they would have pure hearts.

And Peter says God's done it.

God has made their hearts pure, not by obedience to the law,

but by Jesus, but by his blood, people can be cleansed.

Verse 10.

Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles

a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

No.

We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved,

just as they are.

The issue of theology is clarified first.

It is only by the grace of Jesus that we can be saved.

Not by what happens to a certain part of our body,

not by what we do, but only by Jesus.

This issue of conflict, while we might want to avoid conflict,

it's actually really important for the life of the church here.

It's really helpful.

Because there was a group that wanted to say that you had to believe in Jesus

and do these certain things,

but that was never going to work.

Because salvation is by God's grace alone.

So we have seen this conflict that has ethnic issues

and also a theological issue.

We have seen the issue be resolved,

but we're going to see reconciliation now.

We're going to see the reconciliation that comes from

the ethnic layer being dealt with as well.

What is happening now is, as the gospel is spreading out,

it's going from being an ethnic faith

and it's growing across the world and it's changing.

It's moving from just being ethnically Jewish

to being a worldwide religion.

But that doesn't mean there won't continue to be differences and issues.

It actually means there will be more issues.

As there are ethnically Jewish Christians

and different types of ethnically Gentile Christians.

How are these groups of people going to live together?

How are they going to grow as a church without splitting

and without having continual conflict?

Because keeping circumcision is neither good nor bad.

It doesn't save and so it doesn't actually matter.

And so for the sake of this growing multi-ethnic church,

James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, gets up.

He speaks and he goes back to prophecy from the Old Testament

that said that the Gentiles would come in.

The Gentiles were promised to come in.

And yet, being aware of that means that they need to be aware

that faith is going to look different for different people.

James is keen to see these Gentiles brought into the faith,

but he doesn't expect them to look like Jewish Christians.

And so he sets out a plan for the Gentiles.

It is for them to be culturally aware of their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters.

To not need to be circumcised, but to love those who are different.

Have a look at the plan James sets out with me in verse 19.

It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult

for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols,

from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

James sets out a plan for these different groups of people to work together.

The Gentiles were to love the Jews by not eating meat

that had been strangled, don't eat food sacrificed to idols, and don't eat blood.

These are all things that the Jews would religiously and also culturally find disgusting.

It's not a legal way to earn salvation,

but it was a love of those people who were different.

The Jews were moving from a long history of what it meant to follow God,

now that they had Jesus, these Jewish Christians,

but they would need love.

And so don't get in their face and eat meat that had been full of blood,

because it would be offensive to them.

It wouldn't be loving to someone that was different.

James here also mentions sexual immorality.

And this might seem strange as we're talking about ethnic differences,

but the Jewish people had a history of seeking to be sexually pure,

of seeing marriage as the place for sexual relationships.

It's in the Ten Commandments, it's in the history of the Old Testament.

But what's this got to do with ethnic concerns?

Well, the Gentiles were historically far more sexually immoral than the Jews.

The Christian gospel calls people to sexual purity,

just like the Old Testament.

But it is of so much cultural importance,

so much Christian importance,

that James really stresses it for this Gentile church in Antioch.

We saw that there was two layers of problems at the start.

There was the theological issue of what must be done to get salvation,

and it's only by the grace in Jesus.

That's the first issue that's been clarified.

James and Peter have clarified that,

but now the issue of ethnic difference has been dealt with.

The council has met,

they've confirmed that it's only the gospel of grace in Jesus,

but now the gospel is actually breaking down barriers

between different cultures.

Previously, Jews would have nothing to do with Gentiles,

but now they can have close relationships.

They can only do this when they love each other,

when they're aware of the cultural differences.

This young church in both Jerusalem and in Antioch

is learning what it's actually going to look like for them

to walk together in love,

to see the unity in Christ

and not their cultural differences which divide.

The Gentiles here are called to have cultural intelligence,

to understand the impact of their actions on other people.

American multi-ethnic church pastor, Mark DeMaz,

wrote this book.

It's called Building a Multi-Ethnic Church,

and he describes the lessons that these churches use

as different stages of cultural awareness.

The first stage is called cultural destructiveness.

It's effectively what the Jewish Christians had come down

to the Antioch church were doing.

They were saying,

you must become like me.

You must leave your culture,

and you must culturally become like me.

You must take on circumcision.

You must take on obedience to the Mosaic law

if you want to be saved.

That's cultural destructiveness.

The Gentile Christians were effectively

in a period of cultural blindness.

They weren't aware of their actions,

the food they ate,

that would cause issues to Jewish Christians.

And that is why James says,

be aware of these things.

Don't be culturally blind.

Be aware of these cultural differences out of love.

James is seeking to bring cultural awareness

so that there is not cultural destructiveness.

You must become like me.

You need to leave who you are at the door to church.

No, we can have cultural differences.

Don't be culturally blind,

but be culturally aware.

We, as ethnic Jews,

we find these things harmful.

So don't do these.

Be aware of them.

Out of love for us.

The step after this

is called cultural sensitivity.

The Apostle Paul shows this

in dealing with Christians

of different maturity levels.

In 1 Corinthians 8,

Paul talks about

that if it would cause a brother or sister

to sin or to stumble,

he would rather not eat meat at all.

He is saying,

I have freedom to eat meat.

I can do whatever I like,

but out of love,

I will not do that

because I don't want to hurt somebody else.

I don't want to cause them to sin.

He is aware of his actions on somebody else

and he will actually limit

his freedom

out of love.

Gentile and Jewish Christians

were to remember the gospel

that unites them

before their cultural differences

got in the way.

And so James sends a letter

and two brothers from Jerusalem,

Silas and Judas,

with these details.

And it's a really wonderful thing

as this letter is sent.

Remember how this young church in Antioch

could have been feeling.

Nervous.

What is the church at home

going to say to us?

Are we going to get in trouble?

Are we going to have to change

what we're doing?

Are we really saved?

And James sends this letter

with Judas and Silas

and the news comes back.

Have a look with me.

Verse 30.

So the men were sent off

and went down to Antioch

where they gathered the church together

and delivered the letter.

The people read it

and were glad

for its encouraging message.

Judas and Silas,

who themselves were prophets,

said much to encourage

and strengthen the believers.

After spending some time there,

they were sent off

by the believers

with the blessings of peace

to return to those

who had sent them.

This issue of conflict

has actually been really wonderful.

It's brought gospel fruit.

The conflict through dispute

taken to the council,

it's brought clarity

on the good news of Jesus.

But not only that,

coming back,

it's actually encouraged

the believers.

Believers are strengthened.

There was peace now

between these two churches.

Now, we might be tempted

to think that conflict

is only a bad thing.

Conflict over theological differences

are actually a hindrance

to good and close relationships.

But this shows that

conflict can actually be good.

Conflict is important

because there is a close connection

between our theology

and fellowship.

We are only connected

because of what we believe

about our God.

As we continue to learn

more about our God,

as we read in the Bible

throughout the week,

we learn more about our God,

it brings us to greater worship of Him.

It doesn't need to harden us

to each other.

But it can be like here in Antioch,

where we are strengthened

and encouraged

to love one another.

For us,

as a multi-ethnic church

full of people

of different backgrounds,

different theologies,

we all think different things

about God,

we are all growing

to learn more

and more about Him.

we are going to face

many of these

two issues.

Cultural differences,

theological differences.

The person that

thinks differently to me

and therefore they're wrong,

is that going to be

our first thought?

You think differently,

you think differently,

you've got different practices,

you've got different theology to me,

therefore you're wrong.

Is that how we are going

to first think and act?

A community,

a church here,

is united by Jesus.

We are people

made up of many

different ethnicities.

This is expressed

in the flags

that you can see

to my sides.

But we can all suffer

from similar issues

to the church

in Jerusalem

and Antioch.

Some from the church

in Jerusalem

had a culturally destructive view.

You must be like me.

We can have that view too.

You must do

exactly what I do.

You must think

exactly like me.

You must leave

who you are

at the door

and become like me.

We can be culturally

destructive to others

instead of celebrating

our differences

and that it is Jesus

that unites us.

They were also adding

to Jesus' work

for salvation.

But thankfully,

this council in Jerusalem

clarified the gospel.

The letters sent back

to Antioch

make sure

that the Gentile church

don't have

cultural blindness.

But we can walk

with cultural blindness too.

We can be driven

by these same issues.

We can be driven

by pride

in our own cultural way

of doing things,

in our own theology.

All cultures

want to emphasize

different things.

Western culture

emphasizes radical

individualism.

Asian culture,

Asian communities

emphasize

communal collectivist culture.

And there are impacts

both inside

and outside the church.

Inside the church,

we would talk

about the importance

of a person being saved.

So from a Western view,

we would talk about

the importance

of you

following Jesus.

The importance

of you

repenting.

repenting.

The importance

of you

as an individual

turning your life

around and following God.

That is what

the Western culture

is going to identify

and emphasize.

An Asian community

might emphasize

that it is we

as a church

who follows Jesus,

that we

need to repent.

And the individual

can think,

oh well,

I'm going in the same direction.

Now there is

positives and negatives

to both of these.

I am not saved

because of the faith

of my parents.

Both of my parents

are wonderful Christians.

But their faith

hasn't saved me.

It's just like

my faith

and Alyssa's faith

is not going to

save my children.

But what we do

as a family

and what we do

as a church

is that we

teach our children.

And so I'm not saved

because of my family

but they certainly

took me to church.

I certainly bring

my kids to church.

I'd love if they were

here at church today.

But we've been

sitting with them

and reading the Bible

with them.

It's not just

I will leave you

to choose

as an individual

whether you will

follow God.

No,

I value this so much

that I will teach you

and disciple you.

I want to have

other people

in your life

as well.

And so we can

easily go down

one side

and emphasize

Western values

or Eastern values

to the detriment

of having both.

We do need to take

individual personal

responsibility

for the faith

that we have

but we are also

a family

of believers

a community

encouraging each other

calling each other

to continue

to follow the Lord.

We can't expect

to put all Christians

in the world

into the same box

and say

you must worship

exactly like me.

You must think

about faith

exactly like me.

Because the Bible

doesn't do that.

There is space

for difference.

I liken it

to eating.

All cultures

across the world

eat food differently.

And there isn't

necessarily

one right way

to do it.

Imagine you had

a table

even eating

at a table

is a cultural

assumption.

Imagine you've got

a group of people

eating together.

You've got a person

from England

they've got a lovely

set of cutlery

silver

knife and fork

wonderful.

You've got a Chinese

person with chopsticks.

You've got a Kenyan

sitting at the table

and they're eating

with their right hand

and they're scooping up

ugali with a curry

and you've got an Indian

also using their right

hand to use naan

to get curry.

You can say

that they all have

to do the exact

same thing

but it is not

being aware

that there is

good cultural

difference among us.

Celebrating

what is different

remembering that

it is Jesus

who unites us.

This is a really

important word

for us

for when we return

as a church.

But I've hardly

been seeing

anybody.

I'm sure

it's the same

with you.

I would almost

love to have

had cultural

conflict or

theological conflict

with someone

because that would

mean I would be

in relationship

with people.

Church, I miss

you.

I miss all

of you.

But the challenge

for us in this

season of lockdown

is that as we

stay at home

we tend to do

what is easiest,

the things that

we prefer

and what is

most comfortable.

This is not

what a multi-ethnic

church does.

A multi-ethnic

church doesn't

do what is

easiest for us.

In this season

we are not

getting a chance

to love each

other,

to love across

cultural differences.

You know,

we saw Paul

choose to put

aside differences

out of love

for somebody

so he said

he would never

eat meat again

if that was

what was required.

The Gentile

Christians were

to practice

love for their

Jewish brothers

and sisters,

the Jewish

Christians,

by not eating

meat that was

strangled to idols

and those things

by being culturally

aware.

When we come

back from lockdown

it's going to be

easy to think

that church,

you know,

it's not as

convenient as it

used to be.

You know,

I've gotten

used to sleeping

in and watching

the service at

2.30 in the

afternoon.

I'm going to

keep doing that

instead of going

back when church

opens up.

I've gotten

used to walking

out halfway

through and

getting a coffee.

You know,

I'm at home

and so I've

gotten used to

watching the

Olympics during

church.

I've gotten

used to being

distracted.

We will all

have gotten

used to doing

our own

personal

preferences.

We need to

be prepared

for when we

come back as

a church,

whenever that

is,

hopefully very

soon,

to do the

hard thing

of loving

across differences,

across our

comfort zone.

It will be

hard when

we return

to church.

We will

go back

with the

four square

metre rule,

we'll go

back and

not be able

to sing.

These things

aren't to

my preference.

They're not

my preference,

I'm sure

they're not

your preference,

and it can

just be easy

to think,

oh,

I'm just

going to

stay at

home.

But we

will miss

out on what

the Gentile

church had.

they had

joy from

being encouraged

by people,

encouraged by

people who

were different

to them,

but united

in Jesus.

Being able

to love

and to be

loved by

each other.

Maybe we

weren't particularly

good at either

of those things

before lockdown.

Maybe we

weren't good

at loving

across cultural

or theological

differences.

But when we

return,

we will have

a chance

to do that.

To be a

community that

doesn't say

you're different

and so you're

wrong,

but a community

that sees past

cultural and

theological

differences,

to be a

people loved

by Jesus.

When we

carefully work

through differences,

whether they're

theological or

ethnic,

because of our

unity in Jesus,

we become

a community

who love

each other.

Let me finish

with a quote

from German

theologian and

pastor Dietrich

Bonhoeffer.

He said,

the person

who loves

their dream,

the person

who loves

their dream

of community

will destroy

community,

but the person

who loves

those around

them will

create community.

Let us be

that church.

Let me pray.

Dear Heavenly

Father,

I thank you

so much

for Jesus,

that because

of him,

not only

are we

forgiven,

not only

do we have

salvation,

but that we

can have

unity with

people who

are different.

Father,

give us

slowness to

judge,

give us

awareness of

differences,

but fill us

with love,

fill us

with love,

your love,

your sacrificial

love,

that we

would be

people who

choose to

limit our

freedom out

of love for

other people,

Lord.

We pray this

in your

son's name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.