1/12/2025 | The Values Behind Our Vision

good morning everybody um can we please

stand up to uh read this scripture

together it's coming out of uh Galatians

2

11-21 so you please just listen as I I

read the scripture for you

today but when sephus came to an Antioch

I posed him to his face because he stood

condemned for before certain men came

from James he was eating with the

Gentiles but when they came he drew back

and separated himself fearing the

circumcision party and the rest of the

Jews acted hypocritically along with him

so that even Barnabas was led astray by

their hypocrisy but when I saw that

their conduct was not in step with the

truth of the Gospel I said to sephus

before them all if you though a Jew live

like a gentile and not like a Jew how

can you force the Gentiles to live like

Jews we ourselves are Jews by birth and

not Gentile Sinners yet we know that a

person is not justified by works of the

law but through faith in Jesus Christ so

we also have believed in Christ Jesus in

order to be justified by faith in Christ

and not by works of the law because by

works of the law no one will be

justified but if in our Endeavor to be

justified in Christ we too were found to

be Sinners is Christ then a servant of

sin certainly not for if I rebuild what

I tore down I prove myself to be a

transgressor for through the law I died

to the law so that I might live to God

I've been crucified with Christ it's no

longer I who live but Christ who lives

in me and the life I now live in the

flesh I live by faith in the Son of God

who loved me and gave himself for me I

do not nullify the grace of God for if

righteousness were through the law then

Christ died for no purpose the word of

the Lord you may be seated

well good morning W we're in a our new

vision sermon series this month talking

about Vision you know talking about

where we have been and and where we are

going and where God is calling us as a

church and last week uh Pastor David

started us off with uh our vision and

our mission and he talked about uh what

our vision is here at this church do you

remember what it is do you remember the

catchphrase it's expanding the expanding

the tent right and so we you know if you

go to different churches they all have

different Visions different missions you

know a lot of churches feel that in

order to expand the kingdom they're

called to uh build up a bigger church

but we here at w feel that we have

specifically been called to fulfill our

mission by planting churches in fact our

mission or our vision is actually to

plant 10 churches in 10 years and this

is a daunting task and this is why we

need to make sure that our own internal

motivations and also our motivations as

a church is aligned both with God and

with each other in order for uh this to

even be possible and this is why we're

talking about our values today at w what

are our values you know what are the

things that corporately as a church

motivate us to do the things that we do

and if you're familiar with them we have

five here the first one is reconciling

Generations

the second one is relinquishing

perfectionism the third is honoring

Unity the fourth is advancing

multiplication and the fifth is leaning

forward those are the five values that

uh that that that are most important to

our church and we're going to talk about

them in a second today but before I jump

in I just want to make

sure that none of us are dismissing this

sermon or or even the values that we

have because it sounds like corporate

speak you know like when you go to a

corporation you see them on the wall you

know words like Synergy or leaning in or

or you know uh touching base or you know

whatever else that you you hear and you

just kind of tune it out because values

matter a lot they they they determine

who we are they determine who we commune

with you know um back in college

Christine and I we knew this guy and um

you know I don't know what he's doing

now but back then uh we knew that he ate

nothing but boiled chicken and broccoli

every single day he didn't even bake it

or grill it I'm not even sure he put

salt on it but uh that's all he ate was

just boiled chicken and you know uh when

you ask him why did you do this I mean

I'm sure he did it for a lot of

different reasons but I think one of the

things that he would say is I I do it to

look good you know my body is a temple

nothing gets in here but like the purest

fuel like that sort of thing and uh you

know if you looked at him he did look

good I mean he looked all nice and tight

and defined U you're not going to see

any of that underneath this suit over

here but um you know basically you know

that those were his values but really

when I think about it I'm not sure he

was all that fun of a hang because when

I go out I want to be with people who

are willing to eat a little sugar eat a

little deeply fried foods and laugh and

enjoy that meal

together and this is why values matter

because it's not just about your own

identity and and the way it affects your

life it affects the people that you hang

with it determines the people that you

partner with the people that you go

through life together with this is why

our values matter and this is why we're

talking about them today and before we

start I'm sure after you know thinking

about these values looking at these

values maybe some of you are thinking

yeah I saw those before I don't think

that they really relate to to

me and I just want to say one more thing

and that is values are not just defined

defining who we are today but they're

also

aspirational and this is why uh we're

looking at this uh particular passage

today because what this passage is

telling us is that our values as a

church especially in the midst of our

culture is not going to necessarily come

naturally and this is why there are

something that actually we're going to

have to grow into and in order to grow

into them we have to do three things in

particular and the first is that we need

to be able to distinguish Christ's

values what they are compared to our

culture the second thing we need to do

is we need to prioritize those values

and then the third thing that God is

calling us to do is to share them so we

need to distinguish them prioritize them

share them you know first distinguishing

Christ's values you know this uh story

in Galatians very famous story if you've

been to church for a while you know you

probably heard it many times and you

know when you're reading this passage

obviously it's easy decide with someone

like Paul because Peter was obviously

wrong you but before we begin beginning

you know we begin I just want to say

that the reason why I love the story is

because I can relate to Peter and I'm

sure that many of you can too it it

starts by talking off talking about the

name sephus that's just Peter's name in

Aramaic and if you know anything about

Peter you'll know that he grew up in the

Jewish subculture he was a pure Jew

through and

through and so for Peter to eat with

non-jews it wouldn't have been very

natural for him it was due to a lot of

different reasons part of it was the

Jews thinking about the moral

uncleanliness when they were with

non-jews but

also part of this is about

food the Jews themselves had a very

strict diet and so for them to eat with

the Gentiles it would have been a very

messy thing for them and some of you

guys can relate you sit down to dinner

and then you find out that're they're

having Sashimi or sushi awesome except

you don't eat raw

food or you go to breakfast and you see

this pile the beautiful pile of Kachi

and donuts but you're allergic to

gluten and so when that happens

obviously food it's a it's a wonderful

thing it brings people together but it

can also separate people

too and this is why Antioch was so

special because in this particular City

the Believers in that city were

experimenting maybe even for the very

first time eating and fellowshiping with

people that were very radically

different from themselves you know one

commentator actually notes this about

Antioch he said that the church at

Antioch was actually a

laboratory for Jewish Gentile

relationships and we're told that a new

race of people that were neither Jew nor

Gentile was coming out of this culture

out of this

city this is what made Antioch so

special and this is why actually the

word Christian is known to have come out

of Antioch

and this is why Paul he was so bothered

by the fact that Peter when he looked at

Peter and what Peter was visiting he saw

that Peter was regressing because this

was the corporate culture that we wanted

to see so

badly people of all different

backgrounds and ethnic stripes and

different Stripes coming together eating

together at the table in the name of

Jesus this is what you wanted to

see but then when we es saw is Peter

dialing back we're told that before

certain men came from Jes he was eating

with the Gentiles but when they came he

drew back and he separated himself

fearing the circumcision

part now let's just stop right here and

just ask ourselves well what does this

tell us I mean what are the two things

that this tells us and and I would say

there's two things first it tells us

that creating a Christian culture out in

the existing one is always hard because

our culture is

powerful you think about Peter I mean

you know he should have had the least

issue of succumbing to this kind of

pressure he was the leader of the twel

Apostles basically he lived and breathed

life with Jesus and you know he he saw

Jesus resurrected and he ate with Jesus

after he was

resurrected and Peter himself after all

of that couldn't resist the cultural

pressure from his peers and notice Noti

that it wasn't just Peter I mean we're

told In this passage that the rest of

the Jews also acted hypocritically along

with them so that even

Barnabas Paul's Mentor someone mature

was led astray by their

hypocrisy and you know this is just a

brief point but the thing that I want to

point out to all of us is that it

actually although it's kind of

depressing it should be a comfort for us

too that God knows how hard it is for us

to challenge our culture the challenge

the to challenge the culture that we

live and that we breathe in it's

hard I mean it doesn't change the fact

that he's telling us to do it but I

think the story is here to remind us

that we have to prepare for the fact

that going out into the culture planting

churches it's not going to be something

easy so we do need to

prepare but you know not only that this

story shows us secondly that sometimes

the hardest place to be Christian is in

your own

subculture you know I know a lot of

people think that for asian-americans

going to an Asian-American church is

easier to go than going to like a

multiethnic one I I know that I used to

think that way um you know auxano which

is uh the consultancy that came and and

walked us through this values and

missions and visioning process what they

what they did was they would first ask

us why do you think people come to

W you know what makes it distinctive

what makes it

attractive you know I have to confess to

you my first thought was that well they

come here because they just like they

come to any other Chinese Church I mean

there's Chinese people there there's

Asian people there and you know the fact

is we need to admit the fact that we are

very Asian you know I was just reminded

of this fact that when I was talking to

one of our small group leaders here and

I found out that they were doing Alpha I

was like that's wonderful you know Alpha

if you're not familiar with it is a

video program that kind of helps ask Big

Life questions and and and they ask

these questions that are very very

common to Common People but then after

they were done with it I found out that

the outfit that they used was actually

the Chinese version and I was like you

know that there's an English version

right and they said yes but we found

that the Chinese version was actually

something that resonated with our people

a lot more and that it actually spoke to

the problems and the issues that we face

and so in a very real way we have to

admit this church is attractive because

most of us are Asian and we're here

somehow related to the Asian

culture but at the same time what that's

also telling us is that that's what

makes being here

harder because you know the the

Asian-American subculture whether we

know it or not is always pushing in on

us always forcing its ideas on us and

that is not an easy thing

you know this wouldn't have been easy

for Peter either because notice what it

says In this passage it's subtle but

notice what's the circumcision

party you know who were

they a lot of people think that the

circumcision party oh it was just you

know they were Jewish right and they

made you do a lot of Jewish stuff and

yeah they were culturally Jewish but

they were also

Christian if you went into the

circumcision party you would have said

you know oh wow you believe in Jesus we

we believe in Jesus you believe that

he's the way of the truth and the life

yeah we believe that he's the way of the

truth and the life we we believe that

too Peter and Paul would have agreed

with a lot of the things that they were

saying but there was one difference

there was one

distinction and that distinction was

that they put their cultural values

first and of course their cultural

values were tied to their uh prior

religious values but they put their

cultural values first

first so what Jesus says to us is he

says people first people Grace love and

then the

law but then this party would have said

well law like circumcision diet that

comes first and then Jesus and then

people it was a Jewish faith seasoned

with a Christian flavor but you notice

that the the order matters a lot because

it makes all the difference in the world

it should have been the other way

around and what does this tell

us tells us that often the hardest

trickiest place to believer to be a

believer living out your Christian faith

is in your own subculture because it is

your subculture that is always going to

be pressing in on you in subtle ways

ways that we don't even

see and because at least most of us here

are Asian-American or related to the

Asian culture in some way we have a

double duty a double responsibility to

be able to sift through our cultural

values to determine which ones are

Asian which ones are American or

Western and which ones are

Christian I was going home or I was at

home and going through Netflix when uh I

noticed that the movie Rush Hour was

back I don't know how many of you guys

saw that but starring Jackie Chan and uh

Chris Tucker typical buddy cop movie

Opposites Attract you know that sort of

thing and you know it's interesting I

never noticed this when I was younger

but I actually noticed that they showed

a lot of respect to the Asian culture

you know there was this one scene where

um jackiechan first met Chris Tucker

Chris Tucker is just you know talking

incessantly and you know Jackie's

pretending not to know any English you

know Chris Tucker saying you know do you

know the words that are coming out of my

mouth you remember that famous uh phrase

and Jackie just doesn't say anything you

know he's stoic he's just smiling

smiling at them the whole time and the

only time that he does say anything is

when his life is in danger then he

starts speaking English and then Chris

tuer is like I can't believe you you

knew how to speak English oh you never

asked me and you know everyone laughs

and everything like that but you know

when you're looking at this movie you're

realizing oh yes it is sending a subtle

message that the Asian culture which

often shows so much restraint which

feels like the best thing to do in most

circumstances is just not to say a

word that's something to be respect

Ed and it is it's a wonderful

thing at the same

time when we do this in order just to

keep our relationships on the surface or

in order for us just to keep the

peace me I might work for a

while but at some point in time it's

it's going to

erupt and if you think about it if

you're talking with your parents and

you're arguing with your parents and

your parents aren't saying a word or

they're not expressing their feelings or

they're not showing that they understand

you or that they care about you and your

parents are thinking to themselves

that's the way the Eastern culture is

what are you going to tell them you're

going to tell them well here in the west

we like to you know say our feelings and

and just say what's on our hearts all

they're going to do is they're going to

say well that's what the West

thinks that's what you Western

Americanized people think but that's not

how we were raised in the

East and how are you going to

communicate with them

and this is why we are so blessed to be

in a church like this because in a

church like this you don't Point them to

Western values you point them to

Ephesians 4:25 which says therefore each

Ephesians 4:25

of you must put all falsehood and speak

truthfully to your neighbor for we are

all members of one

body what does this mean for us

practically it means this that of course

as a second generation please be

respectful to your elders love your

parents honor your mother and father but

at the same time the Cur the the culture

that we are aiming for here is neither

Eastern nor Western but a Christian one

and the good news is that we here at

this church have the power to do

that this is why our first value is

reconciling

Generations we Bridge relationships to

connect more deeply to

Christ and what that means here at this

church at w is that we are called first

to reconcile all people to God and to

each other but we recognize that chc's

Chinese Heritage

churches in

general have the enormous task of

reconciling Generations including the

one that starts here our Asian-American

culture and this is not going to be an

easy thing but at the same time that's

what makes this church so special and

this is why we actually do have a very

specific role in our culture

we are called to reconcile Generations

particularly between the Chinese or the

Asian first generation and the second

gen and the third gen and however far

God allows us to go to reconcile our

families now I'm so glad I go to a

church that that cares about that you

see this in our parents camp that has

happened in the last few years you know

one of the most encouraging things to me

and to the staff and the leadership at

this church is just seeing God's

incredible incredible work in ouri

families that families are able to maybe

for the very first time talk to each

other because there was a camp like this

to allow them to come together and not

to to say this is the Eastern way or the

Western way but this is the Christian

way of being a

family you know what's amazing about

this Camp is that it's not just

something that we put together and you

just come and I mean it has been prayed

over it has taken every Camp takes at

least a year to

prepare but we get to see God do amazing

things things to live our our value to

reconcile Generations but we know that

this is not an easy

work but this is why we are called to

distinguish between Christ's values and

the values of the rest of our world

including our

subculture but not only that we're

called to prioritize Christ's values

because notice ultimately when Paul

confronted Peter he could have told him

like you know Peter you're not you're

not being

kind or or he could have said Peter

you're not helping our vision here you

know I mean we had a good thing going

you're

regressing but he didn't say that he

said Peter the mistake that you are

making is that I

saw that your conduct was not in step

with the

gospel and what that means is that the

gospel has a very unique ability to

break through our culture and that the

only way that the others will be able to

see and exper experience that kind of

identity is if we actually Elevate that

identity above everything

else and that's something only Christ

can

do you a dear sister in our congregation

she was ex uh sharing with me her

experiences with her own

parents and she said that growing up her

mom had a very traditional view of what

success should look like and she said

her mom wanted her to be a nurse or an

accountant or something similar

something stable like a respected

profession but when she chose a creative

field like music or video creation or or

acting it was hard for her mom to accept

this and to her her mom she said that

these were just hobbies and not real

jobs and she would often say to her

that's not real work and then she would

compare her to her friends that went to

good schools like uh like

UT and even when she was working good

jobs

she said that those jobs made her mom

happy but not proud and so at family

gatherings she would just tell everybody

around her all the relatives oh yeah

that's she's just doing that as a side

thing and so as this went on she said

that it made her feel unseen and

unworthy and so for for her she started

to fear questions like where did you go

to school or or or what are you doing

now these days what are you doing for

work she felt that she didn't measure up

she felt like she couldn't measure

up and she said that the only thing that

was able to get her past that was that

as she started coming here and as she

was growing here she was growing in her

identity in Christ and she was slowly

becoming someone that she was proud

of that she was no longer fearing other

people's judgments or reactions and she

learned that the path that she was

on was valuable and worthwhile and not

what other people think that should be

but what Christ thinks it should be and

who here can't relate to a story like

that trying to live up to the

expectations of our Asian-American

perfectionist

culture really the only way that we can

resist something like that is when we

make Christ at the center of our

identity and that's why this passage

here is so precious to so many of

us as we grow in our identity we can

freely say that it's no long longer I

who live but Christ who lives in me and

the life I now live I live by faith in

the Son of God who loved me and died for

me and this is why our second value here

is relinquishing perfectionism because

it's only in a place that a Jesus

worshipping Church where we can say that

we're imperfect

people but that's

okay because we're finding freedom in

God's story

you know even to tell a story like this

it requires us to say I'm not good

enough but even though I may not look

like what my Asian-American culture

tells me I should look like it's okay

because I have an identity that

supersedes my old ties and not only am I

not not only am I a new person but I'm

not called to go back to those old ways

of

thinking you know this is what Paul

means when he says for if I rebuild what

I tore down I prove myself to be a

transgressor we put the gospel on First

and we we get this new identity that can

withstand that kind of

pressure which means that we also must

resist going back to what our subculture

tells

us and when we do

that when we're witness to that notice

that in this story it's not just one

person's change but that there's two

people here because this sister also

also went on to say that as she saw God

working in her mom's life softening her

heart and helping her to accept her

slowly for who she is she no longer

Compares these career choices with other

people but she actually stands up for

her as a stay-at-home mom she even talks

about how hard that job is now and the

sister was saying that to see that it is

a beautiful thing to witness and she is

so grateful for how far that they have

come

and that's something amazing that's

something that only Christ can do only

Christ can change relationships like

this and isn't that what we need the

most individually we want to relinquish

this perfectionism but when we do this

as a community

together just think about how attractive

that is to the rest of the world who

don't have something like this how

distinctive it

is this is the how we can create a kind

of unity that can only be found in our

Christian

Community and this is what makes our

values also so different from other

corporate ones because you know some of

you might look at these values you might

think to yourself well you know these

values are nice and I I would love to do

them but I don't think that I can bring

them into my life and affect any sort of

change you know I used to think that way

myself I remember one time when I was

working in banking years ago and um we

were invited to go down to a boardroom

on 600 Travis downtown where I was

working to hear the CEO Jamie Diamond

speak to JP Morgan employees you know I

remember thinking dude this is amazing

it's Jamie Diamond everybody around us

was excited because you know everyone

goes to him you know banking genius you

brilliant business

mind you know all these people were

excited about going down there but as a

junior employee I remember thinking to

myself well you know I don't glad he's

talking about these

values I don't see how any of these

values are even closely relevant to me

how I can even embody them and what

difference can I make you know this is

what makes our values at w so different

because the values that we have here can

really only be displayed in

community you I think about this story

here I mean think about Peter and

Paul I mean how many religions would

have a story about their Founders

bickering

arguing how many religions would allow

one of their leaders to be reprimanded

by the other

leader it's only a faith that focuses on

reconciliation and humility and

relinquishing perfectionism one that's

focused on Unity rather than self that

would allow even a story to make it into

their holy texts like this

you know this is why our third value is

honoring Unity we team up together in

resilience and

transparency we know that our true Unity

doesn't come from our cultural biases

from the East where we just sweep

everything under the rug and not talk

about it or from the west where we just

have a tendency to just dump out all of

our feelings on people and we confess

freely to one another and yet we don't

ask for

forgiveness but rather we lean into our

Christian

values and into Jesus and what he's done

for us on the

cross this is what we're called to do

and this is what makes us distinctive

we're called to distinguish Christ's

values we're called to prioritize

Christ's values and we're called to

share his

values you know this is why W cares

about these values so much because we

have seen God work time and time again

again and given that all of these values

are deeply embedded in W's DNA we know

that this Mission can only be something

that we can do

together and this is why our fourth

value is advancing multiplication and as

many of you know a huge percentage of

our budget every single year goes to

missions we send out missions teams

every single year we support a bunch of

overseas Global

Partners but this um this value is a

little different from uh what you might

think you might be thinking yeah we just

we care about missions yes we do but the

tagline says notice it says we

prioritize sending

opportunities that mobilize more and

more of our

people and what that means is that for

certain people yes they're called out to

go overseas they're called out to do

amazing things things that are risky

things that are dangerous but God has

called them to do that but in the

meantime for us what that means me is

that we are called to mobilize people

here in the

city and this is why our life groups if

you're in a life group is uh designed

the way it

is yeah I know that a lot of people have

had an issue with the two-year

commitment that the life group asks of

you but the reason why that commitment

is there is because we know that in

order to create a true family an

atmosphere where we can be open and we

can openly confess the things that we're

struggling with what's really going

going on in our lives it takes time and

you can't just say oh I'm going to come

check it out and I'll I'll be in and out

you have to be there week in and week

out that's what families

do but one of the most amazing things

that we've seen God do is that he has

created families here and that we are

seeing our families grow in that

way but at the same time that two-year

commitment is is there to keep people

together but at the same time we're

trying to balance the tension between

keeping keeping people together and

knowing that we are also meant to send

people

out and this is why life groups are

designed not only to be family places

but they're designed to be

missional they're designed to be

families who fight and argue but

reconcile because of

Christ and because of that they are

built to be specific witnesses to a

non-believing

world this is why the plan for all of

our life groups is to implement out Al

and at the end of two or three years

begin to bring people in non-believing

friends and

family and by the way I know that not

all of our groups are comfortable with

that

yet but I do believe that that's where

God is leading us in our

church and also I just want to

personally say that I know that the

system itself has not been

perfect we've been doing this over the

past three years and it has been a work

in progress and I want to personally

apologize oliz for any confusion that it

might have caused especially for those

of you who have been visiting in this

last semester or this last year and you

found that no groups have been available

on the day that you've been looking for

and just to explain that very briefly

our are the reason we do the way the the

things we do is because we want to keep

our groups to around 12 in order that we

can not only protect our Shepherds but

also that we can create a family-like

atmosphere where people can share

and that means that our groups have to

remain small but at the same time we're

called to bring sojourners

in and so we found ourselves in a bit of

ATT tension because at the moment it's

been harder for us to absorb new people

and what that means is that our hope is

that if you are looking for a group

right now in this moment the next couple

of

months while we're trying to figure this

out we hope that you can join us in

Pathways or our welcome team events that

we're trying to put together and they

are are all in our

bulletin at the same time what this

means is because God is growing our

church right now we need new

leaders we need new

Shepherds and if you think that God is

calling you to this if you feel a

stirring in your heart and you see your

group and you're thinking to yourself

man maybe God's calling me to lead my

own group then I ask you to pray about

that and to reach out to your leader and

let them know that you're thinking about

this and we'll talk about this

more and please know that all of this is

challenging it's challenging for us and

like I said we apologize but in the end

this challenge is not just

logistical it's also

emotional because our desire to live out

these values in the very end of the day

it's not just a matter of the head it's

a matter of the

will because one of the most interesting

things about this passage in closing is

that in the first verse it says but when

sephus came to Antioch I opposed him to

his face because he stood condemned it's

very interesting in this verse because

if you look at it in the

Greek one commentator notes that that

butt is very specific it's suggests that

it was linked together with the previous

paragraph and if you read it Paul was

essentially saying at

Jerusalem Peter and I we agreed about

the essence of the Gospel

but then when we went to Antioch things

changed in order in other words what

this passage is saying is that Peter

knew what he had to

do he just lacked the will to do

it and this is why our last value is

leaning forward we learn and adapt to

embrace God's best for the future

because it's a reminder that no matter

where we are in our own personal lives

or where we are as a

church we push to do God's will even

when it's

uncomfortable and this is maybe even the

key because when we talk about planting

churches especially here in the English

congregation what I hear a lot about is

well you know I don't know if I can do

that because I'm

introverted or I don't know if I can do

that because all I'm really looking for

is just a place to to find

friends and that's good and that's

that's that's legitimate that's

important but that's the thing if you

take a look at our values and why it

attracts people in the first place it

doesn't make any sense because none of

them are

comfortable to reconcile hard

relationships to God and to people to

let go of our

perfectionism to be unified as one body

to send people out to dangerous

places and then to lean forward and to

be uncomfortable and to be comfortable

with being

uncomfortable none of that feels

good but as one Pastor once put it in a

statement that kind of changed my entire

view on Comfort he

said Comfort never died for

you comfort didn't take your place on

the

cross and what that means is that if

we're going to trust God to show us

great

things we're GNA have to be

uncomfortable I think that this is what

PD meant or sorry Pastor David meant

when he talked about the joy that he

experienced when he went out to Katie

the the the church that we planted many

years ago when he went out there for

their Christmas service because I can

imagine that to look

around and to see this church that

didn't

exist but exists only because of

faithful men and women who were willing

to go

out and to see that this church is now

planted in the heart of Katie and is

changing people's lives and fam's lives

there in

Katie and to think that it has changed

the trajectory of the neighborhood and

therefore history of the

city and to think that I played a small

part in

that I think that's the

dream so one of my dreams nine years

from now is that our congregation will

be able to say that because I leaned

into W's

values as they became my

own we also saw God do a

work only that God could do let's pray

you know father we

um none of us are worthy to be called

into your family and and yet you have

showed us so much

Mercy is why I think about my own

Journey Lord and just even being here at

w um W has been um a

home a place where I I feel like I could

be myself be the way that you have

called me to be and I know for many of

us we feel the same

way and Lord as we're wrestling through

what it means to be a church that

welcomes sojourners home and how to do

this in a way that is in accord with

your will and your

timing father forgive us forgive forgive

us for the ways that we have fallen

short father thank you for lifting us up

lifting our eyes up to a greater Vision

beyond our

own father I pray that if any of us here

are struggling with

this father you know where we're

at pray that you would help us have an

open

heart to the possibility of what you

might and what you will

do in Jesus name we pray amen