More - what is wrong about the Church

If you have been following me, I have to apologize for the delay as I have had to tend to more pressing business - that is, finding a job.  It's a long story.  One of these days I may take time to share the ugly details.

As I was considering what to write about I received an e-mail from The American Spectator and an article - The Loneliness of American Society, based on a report by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that was originally published in the American Sociological Review (NSR) and authored by three - obviously talented sociologists, at Duke and the University of Arizona.  They claim the study was based on 1,500 face to face interviews where the respondents - one in four, claimed to be bored with their life styles.  Well, that wasn't their words.  They preferred to use terms like "social isolation" and "significant decrease" in social connections to close friends and families.

I would have to believe that if we went to a few of the 100+ churches in our relatively small community, you might have uncovered similar thoughts.

I am 84 years of age and recently became a widower and I can easily understand such feelings.   I moved to this community to marry my wife and now, my in-laws have chosen to ignore me.  That was made worse by the fact my wife really did not enjoy making friends in our community and I was left, almost alone.  There were moments when I yearned to give up and hopefully join her, simply by not eating more than enough to just ease the pain in my stomach.

But I have been a Christian for over 39 years and the more I tried to pity myself, the more I was reminded of that scripture that reads:  "You shall be given power when the Holy Spirit comes and you shall be My witnesses,,,"  (Acts 1:8)  I decided to use that "power" to get up and walk and my life took on new meaning and purpose.  Whereas I only had 7-8 people I could call my friends when my wife passed on, I just counted and I have over 125 who I could call and talk to whenever I had something of interest to others.

I have to wonder if those esteemed sociologists had thought of questioning the others that they talked with, what contributions they to they offer that would appeal to the others?

Then the report turns to a Rabbi who suggested that "we are raising a generation of children who are (as he is quoted as saying) orphans in time."  "They are," he continued, "incapable of integrating their past and their future, living instinctively in an almost animal like fashion only in the present."  He offers an opinion that they wander about aimlessly without connections - physically, emotionally or spiritually.

I have to wonder where his synagogue is located.   Surely, not in the America that was to be the focus of this article.  I will admit that there are children acting as children and I would point to the fact that far too many of our children are getting pregnant and adding to the problem.  But I see an America that is beginning to awaken to the fact that a new day is dawning and proof of that can be found everywhere you see youngsters congregate.  They are holding in their hands, examples of technology that was not even imagined when my children were in their teens.

When I was their age, we had to make do with whatever was available as there was a war sapping a huge portion of our resources and technology was not a part of our education. And there were problems in our families - real problems, girls getting pregnant and boys being buried as casualties of a war that created a real reason for fear for most of us.

The real difference between then and now is that my generation went to church, regularly and if there was to be a community effort to draw us together, it was orchestrated by the churches and most of them were not even speaking to one another. 

Now we have multi-million dollar companies grinding out tons of literature on how to rear the children, teach the children, enthuse the children, employ the children and for the most part, most of it is not in tune with the times.  That not only applies to children in the church, but also to the parents, the married couples, the divorced couples, the middle aged singles, the seniors, etc., etc. and the glue that used to hold the church together is missing.

Do you recall the scripture I quoted earlier?  Acts 1:8   "You shall be My witnesses."

Ever been to court?  Ever been required to appear as a witness?  If you have you ought to recall the bailiff instructing you that you are to "...tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,"  You are help accountable for what you saw and often, just your opinion of what you had seen>

Therein is the real problem.  If there were witnesses going out from all of the churches we have in virtually every city and town in our country, into the community, telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, we would see the change that I would have to believe Dr. Crouse is seeking.

The word isn't in the Bible, at least those that I own.  It is accountability.  And it flows from the highest point to even "the least of these" - the subjects of the report I mentioned in the beginning of this article.  But why should we?  The article explains it in Biblical terms - "the fields are ripe for harvest."

What's Right about the Church I

If you have been following my thoughts - a few have admitted that they do, and I would expect that among those who have not admitted it, there are those who disagree with me. That is perfectly admissible.  We learn more by exploring our differences that we do when we merely accept opinions without ever challenging them.

Today, I am here to talk about  the many reason I like the church, pray for the church, and do what I can to promote it.  I don't particularly care for denominations, but they have their place.  I only wish they were on the streets where the rest of us live out our lives.

It was on those streets that I met the two men I want to tell you about today.  They are old friends of mine.  Of course I am not referring to their ages.  I am the old guy.  I met both of them on the pages of the newspaper I have loved every since I moved to Tennessee.  Of course, I am referring to The Tennessean.

Brad Schmitt used to be a regular contributor, a staff member of the paper if my memory serves me as well as it is supposed to do.  Now I learn that he has been, maybe still is, in "recovery".  He is writing about some of the people he has met through the meetings which are part of that process.  I am fortunate that I have never reached the point where I thought it would help me to get involved with recovery programs and I was fortunate enough to not have loved ones urging me to get involved.

I recognize, however, many of the people he refers to in his article.  I have known them in the many "meetings" I have "chaired" over the years, hoping to help people deal with their problems involving employment.  I recognize many of the symptoms Brad mentions.  And I completely agree with his most profound finding - that "needs" come in a variety of ways all connected to the personality of the complainer.  And far too often, that person serves to disrupt the reason for the meeting.  There is a solution and most of us don't recognize it.  It took awhile but Brad has taken a firm hold of it.

The basic problem is not with leader, per se, but stems from his/her willingness to recognize that he/he is the problem.  In the church, we are commended to love one another.  That is our calling.  It has little to do with the problems of organization, finances, location or any of the myriad problems that confound church elders.  It needs to be laid at the feet of all of the members, that there are people who are - in fact, hard to love.  We sit next to them in the pews, we meet them coming and going and when we are not listening to the most basic of all of the commandments, we try to ignore them.  As Brad suggests, it is a challenge, but challenges are typical in our daily life.  Ask anyone who has thought of excelling in sports.  There are "naturals" of course, but they are few and far between.  The big "money" goes to those coaches who can convince the "hard to learn" to become team players.  And so it should be with church members.  It is not the places in the hierarchy, we should seek, but the eternal friendships we create by the efforts we make to love others.

Turning to my other friend, he will have to remain nameless as I don't have his permission to remind others of his wisdom - as I write this.  His headline read, "Rejoicing at execution is a sign of spiritual sickness."  He was referring to the pathetic situation in Oklahoma where an execution failed to be carried out as programmed and led to the agonizing death of the prisoner.  No one wanted that, of course, but then if you read any of the numerous articles relating to this incident, you would have read of those who rejoiced at his agony,

I have personally known three murderers in my life.  One was a good friend at one time, another was an extremely talented artist and musician, while the third became a friend I met while visiting "death row" here in Tennessee.  All three were eventually released from their sentence and have gone on to live honorable lives.  They are the products of what the church calls, redemption.  Of course, those of us who believe in the Bible are destined for eternal life based on that same concept.

Based on my own experience challenging the death penalty, I have found there are those who believe it is legitimate based on what they have heard the Bible says, ..."an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."  Others are content to just remove another "bad" person from our midst.  I have challenged churches where I had a voice and am met with an attitude that life and death appear to be God's business and a lay person can only agree or disagree with the leadership of the church.  Which brings us back to the command for us to love one another.  Loving a murderer isn't easy, I know all about that, but when you see the benefits of actually loving others, you really want to fall on your knees and thank God for His wisdom.  I won't go as far as my friend in suggesting that rejoicing at the plight of others is a sign of spiritual weakness, but I will contend that the penalty for not loving others is far worse than any of the other transgressions.  It robs you of the possibility that you might learn from the experience,

My simple prayer for you is that you will think on these thoughts.   

The Problems with the Church IV

Every time I turn around it seems, I come face-to-face with the problems that appear to infest the Church, the "body of Christ" as many among us would proclaim.

Today, it was an established executive with a well known publishing corporation that specializes in ministry books and pamphlets  He titled his "blog" - Saints on the Lonely Walk of Faith.

Now I probably would not have had anything to say if he had used a word like "frustrating" or "confusing" as - in my opinion,  there is much to be said about the frustration in the church and that many of its followers are confused by what they observe along the way.

But lonely, I'm sorry but after walking in faith for the past thirty-nine years - as of last Monday, the only loneliness I have found has been a figment of my own imagination.  It will be eight months tomorrow since my beloved wife passed away and I hurt, oh, how I hurt for awhile.  Then I would discover that her family who had always professed love for me during our marriage, no longer even cared for me.  I started to wait impatiently for their calls, at times hoping they might stop by to visit, but it would never happen.  One morning, I woke up to a feeling that I was all alone in a city I hardly knew and loneliness appeared to be an option.

Then, I opened my Bible for a word of comfort and there it was, Jesus' words, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another helper, that He may be with you forever, that is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him, or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.  (John 14:16-17)

The "He" of course was the Holy Spirit, the one with whom I had wrestled for awhile, confused by those who were fervently teaching about Him and eagerly employing the "magic" of speaking in tongues.  It sounded good, but it didn't work for me as they said it would work until that fateful evening as I sat between two sisters with a problem that they insisted I had caused.  One would say I had done "this" and the other would insist I had done "that" and I did not understand either claim.  Finally, I suggested we pray and they led and each fervently pleaded their case to the Father and I sat there amazed as what they were claiming in their prayers was not the same as when their voices were raised against me.  I started to pray, asking the Father to give me the words to say and to my amazement, the words that came out of my mouth were intelligible at best.  I started to stop and they urged me to continue as there were tears falling across  their faces and then, they got up from their seats and came and fell at my feet.

What had happened?  One thing that had actually happened was that both of these dear friends were now asking me to forgive them, while in my heart-of-hearts, I needed them to forgive me.  We made our amends quickly and would go on our separate ways.  It was not long afterwards that I received another job offer in another city and we would never meet again, at least here on earth.

I kept asking, what had actually happened, did I really speak in tongues, and it would be years before I would have that experience again.  What does it mean to me?  It means that God is true to His word, He had sent another helper and on occasion, He has demonstrated His power over my tongue.

But that it not the important past.  Awakening from my concerns that I host lost my dear wife and her references to me that I had been, her "rock", I began to fill my life with an understanding that I needed to get on with my life.  I forgave those who had confused me by their actions and I have to believe that it is God who reminds me to pray for each of them, daily.  They might not care.  I know, He cares.

Arising from the suggestion of loneliness I asked God to show me what to do on a daily basis, He has led me to uncover people waiting to express their love for others by loving me.

I would remind my friend that the walk of faith is not a lonely walk, but one filled with the promises we can find throughout the scriptures and all we are required to do is act on them.

I am reminded that on the streets where we each live, the houses were filled with people who need to know the truth that sets us free and the joys we will experience as we grasp the realities in His promises.

It will soon be my 85th birthday, God willing, and I am reminded of another old man's voice who I met within days of my "conversion".  He and the others were singing a song that lifted my spirit with these words, "It gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by, oh, what a love between my Lord and I."  I went over to see him as the services ended and asked, "Are those words that you were singing true to you?"

"Yes, son," he replied, "It gets even sweeter than that."   And so it has been in my life.

The Problem in the Church - I

An old friend sent the following to me in his daily blog and I want to repeat what he had to say as I believe it is important.  I am not including his name as some may recognize his past and discard what he has to say.  I repeat his words as now, he is the Pastor on a growing church in a major city and as I said, I believe they are important:

"People everywhere are experiencing aspects of themselves and souls at a level so intriguing that they can no longer ignore it.  Millions of us are considering what we believe about ourselves and why we believe it.  We are also shifting our world view, including what we believe about God, the Bible and the extreme mythologies of Christianity.  And we are doing this while maintaining our cherished experiences of transcendence and spirituality. These are exciting times.  Full speed ahead in self-realization and expanded consciousness."

I am the one who placed the emphasis on his words, these are exciting times, as I believe that is an accurate evaluation of the times in which we live.

Remember, I was born in the midst of a critical period in our nation's history.  Ninety days after I was born, the stock market crashed, I mean, crashed.  Men were known to jump out the windows because they could not face the future and deal with their embarrassment at having been so very wrong.  The "Great" depression followed and it was not long before we were engaged in World War II.  We talk about our victory as though it was common place but the fact is, Germany and Japan were well prepared to end our dreams of a democratic society where even the "man on the street" could achieve whatever he set his heart to accomplish.  Within a decade, we went from literal rags to riches beyond our wildest imaginations.  Happy Days were here again.

Now, watch what has happened in the aftermath.  We got ourselves bogged down in a war in Korea that still is a threat not only to our nation, but all others.  If they started a nuclear war, the whole world be involved.  Then, there was Vietnam and we were embarrassed by the fact that our modern armies could not overwhelm an obviously, out manned group of patriots.  And worse, another group of religious zealots conceived of an attack at the heart of our most prosperous city and we suffered, 9/11.  Now, we are still attempting to extricate ourselves from wars that have seemed to have no end.  And they are not over.

Will it never end, we ask ourselves.  The answer - if you want to study your Bible, wars and the threat of wars will never end until, or if, we begin to embrace the teaching of the One who came, hailed as the Prince of Peace.

So what are we doing?  Look at what we have done.  The war in Vietnam was the beginning of the weariness that a nation suffers when justice is not served.  Count the casualties and you may be able to realize the effect it had on the families of those least prepared to lose their sons and daughters.  Listen closely and you may still hear - from centuries past, Rachael weeping for her children.

We had no sooner begun to forget the agony of Vietnam, than a voice came of of the wilderness from centuries past when God promised Abraham that he would become the "father of many nations".  Do you not recall that Abraham had a son by the hand maiden, Hagar, whose name was Ishmael?   Where were our foreign policy experts when nations like Great Britain were being embarrassed by groups of itinerant nomads, that we now respectfully acknowledge as, the nations of Islam.

A few of their zealots were gathered together in prison cells in Egypt and created their plans for retribution and one of them was named, Osama bin Laden.

There are those who would say our nation was asleep, while the greater truth is the reality that our religious leaders were gathering here and there across our nation and others with grandiose plans for the second coming of Christ.  Oh I know, many of these were as serious as a toothache, they realized that something needed to be done, but it is difficult to involve the people unless they can be prepared for war in the midst of peace.

One of my problems in referring to the immediate past is that the religious leadership of too many denominations have turned their people against themselves.  We witnessed the spread of a new disease, now known as AIDS, and when we realized that it was being transmitted by homosexuals, far too many of our own turned against them.  I was there, in the midst of the opposition as I was a "conservative" Christian and I have to admit, I was sickened by the efforts of those I had called my brothers and sisters.

I stepped aside and began to support organizations that promoted "human rights" and one day I was awakened to the realization that their objectives were no longer focused on the plight of the homosexual, but they had a higher goal, the legalization of same-sex marriage.

Is it any wonder that this on-coming generation is fleeing from the church.

The sin has been named, it is called hypocrisy.  The target is the church.  The future is bleak.  And sadly, those widely known as the leaders in our faith are vainly clinging to the ages old scriptures that were designed to address social problems in another age.

Easter Sunday, 2014

What a beautiful day.  Gorgeous, that's the appropriate word.  Open the door and you are in the midst of it.  Much of the thrill comes from the fact we have experienced a rough winter.  Not much snow in these parts, but cold, bitter cold, so often, much too often.  My thoughts often went back to those winder days while I was growing up in Michigan and yes, they were much colder.  I dressed appropriately and maybe that is why this past winter seem to be so cold.  I wasn't dressed properly.

Well today, I was and we had to be in church earlier than normal.  As part of the Council, we were having our monthly meeting.  The beauty of the day had me prepared to the various discussions on topics determining the functions of the church, aside from the ministry.  Or so I had thought, too often.

Today was different.  Every one was in a good mood.  Some were late in arriving, but that seemed to be alright with the rest of us.  As the program went around the room, those having responsibilities in certain areas all seemed to be very well prepared.  Everyone seemed to be attentive.  Usually, we end the session with the Pastor's thoughts and this morning, he had but a few and we all appeared to agree.

I make such comments as in my many years, I have attended lots of these meetings and it always seemed to me that there had to be at least one person, either disagreeing with a particular issue, or just being disagreeable.  That is why when some one would ask me to participate, I would offer an excuse and avoid being troubled by such people.

I must admit, I have often been scolded by my :better half" for having such an attitude that to her, at the time, did not appear to be the disciple I had often boasted as being.  Perhaps, I have changed.

This was an appropriate morning for change.  Easter.  Our celebration of Christ's once again, being alive in the midst of His followers.  It took me many years to be at peace with such thoughts.

I had attended two other churches services last week.  On a Wednesday evening, I met with others at a church close to where I live and heard one of their Pastors discuss the meanings of "blood moons" - a subject that seems to have overtaken the religious airwaves in recent days.  It was interesting as he spoke of the various passages in the Bible that made mention of moons and signs among the Israellites.
Friday, I attended a Good Friday service at a downtown church and I was amazed at the numbers of people who seemed to know me from the letters I write to the local newspaper.  Their introductions led to further discussions on the life of the church in our community and I was impressed by the numbers of people who really seemed to care for others; making reference to their Pastor's comments in his sermon.  I came away from both services, feeling good, as there seemed to be genuine interest in the state of our religious beliefs in this community.

So it was that I was eager to hear our Pastor offer his Easter sermon.  It was based on the gospel of Matthew, chapter 28, describing the response of the disciples upon learning that their Lord, and ours, was alive, in fact, and He would be meeting with Him.   It was here that Matthew ended his thoughts on the life of our Lord with these words:  "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing then in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you, always, even to the end of the age."

Perfect, those words made my day.  As the service was closing, I looked around at the people sitting nearby and realized how much each of them mean to me.  I took time to greet those I really do not know, hoping and praying as we parted, that we will join in the same kinds of friendship I enjoy with the others.  I know it is possible.  And my most earnest prayer as we departed is that throughout our community, our State, and our nation, we will be making disciples, in deed, so that the rancor and the division that appears to be so prevalent, would begin to fade away.

And wouldn't that be the perfect ending of a perfect day!

Let's talk about salvation, saving us from ourselves

I get a lot of mail from my religious friends.  Most of it I have requested and I have "deleted" more than just a few.  The reason is - as I have said before, I will say it again, I am deeply concerned about the future of Christianity as we know it.  Actually, I am even more concerned about the direction we are heading.  Sports fans know the term - momentum.  Take a well trained team and have them win a few games they were not supposed to win and you have momentum.  Now, they are hard to predict and the team is difficult to beat.

We have seen momentum in religious circles.  Our Bible records the work of the Apostle Paul in the days following the Crucifixion and the growth that could not be contained in Judea and Samaria, but crossed the Mediterranean to Italy and on to Rome.  That was momentum.  Recall what happened after Martin Luther broke with the Catholic church and Protestantism came into being.  More momentum.

And so it went for centuries, crossing the Atlantic Ocean to the new colonies and across this land that we love.  As the settlers, decided they would build a town on the prairies, the first thing they did was build a church.  Still more momentum.  And a case could be made for the growth of our Universities on the basis of religious momentum.  That was what some called the Age of Accountability and the rules were being written by the church fathers.

Then, momentum took a new course.  We had begin to enslave blacks who had been kidnapped from their homes in Africa and sold to farmers so that primarily Southern plantations would profit and that resulted in our going to a war against ourselves.   It wasn't that long before religious Mothers and Fathers, under the teachings of the church, realized their children were becoming wards of industry and we began to enact child labor laws.   A woman's right to vote was the next casualty to fall prey to momentum.  Then, we watched as our blacks began to sense they were not considered as equals in a nation that boasted that "all are created equal" and momentum again ruled the day.

Momentum requires the energies of those directing its course and by this time in our history, we were getting tired, not only by momentum, but by the wars that had sapped the strength of our young.

And so now, Human Rights has became the next focus of momentum.  This time it threatens the church.

Many of  their leaders opened their Bibles and realized that the sin of homosexuality could be used as a "just" cause in stopping momentum in its tracks.  They have made a terrible mistake.  There have been homosexuals as far back as the earliest pages of the Bible and apparently it was condoned by many facets of the church.  The first time I ever heard of it - in church, was when our choir leader was identified as "one of them" and he would continue in place because it was not a problem in society.

Now, we have a genuine war on our hands between the self-proclaimed righteous ones of the church and the increasing numbers of the young who were being attracted by this assumed to be, the new intriguing life style of the homosexuals.  The sad part of all of this is that homosexuality is not a new intriguing life style, it is older than most history books.  Its own history is replete with horror stories most of us would not want to read.  And because there are few who have ever seemed to earnestly cared to study the motivation of these citizens, most of us are ignorant as to now we might approach the matter civilly.

Of this we can be certain, their movement is gaining momentum.  In those states where the leaders are aware of the fact that homosexuals vote, their restrictions are falling away.

What do we do?  If we know anything about the Bible, we need to repent.  Acknowledge the hypocrisy that has prevailed in far too many churches and move on.  We have a pattern laid out for us by our Catholic brothers and sisters.  They have been dealing with his matter - at its most sickening level, and are working their way back to civility.

I was asked the other day, do I condone homosexuality?  I hope I left that person with the impression that I do not necessarily condone it, but I certainly understand it.  I have either known many who are either involved in it or are condoning it among their friends.  It my opinion, it is not a matter to be settled in church as unfortunately, many churches have a history of covering sin over rather than trying to deal with it as an individual issue.

We are instructed to go into the world, loving one another, and so we must.  And that must include all others, regardless of their sexuality.  Do this and the war is over, the momentum is halted.

It's Today and a peek at my day

These days, I get out of bed around 7AM and after the typical "chores" most of us are accustomed to, I switch on my TV and normally, I discover my "friends" on NBC are hard at "work".  Of course, it's work, it's the routine of their lives.  Most of the time, I get a little bored at the chatter and decide there are better things to do and I move on.

This morning, however, I was moved to tears after watching the lives of two young girls in a city I forget, as they dealt with a circumstance involving their individual lives.  One has cancer and according to the regimen prescribed by her doctors, her head was shaved.  It had to be embarrassing for her, but she was obviously dealing with it and then her best friend realized that others were teasing her, so she decided to have her head shaved as well, hoping to help others understand, they were bff's. "best friends forever".

There was a difference, they went to different schools and the school where the other girl attended chose to enforce their "no head shaving" rule and were about to refuse her admittance, until some of the "wiser" heads prevailed.  They chose to suspend this rule in this occasion.

As I reflected on this situation, I could not help but think of articles I received yesterday from those who have chosen to raise their voices in the ongoing debate as to whether Christians are supposed to love those among us who have admitted their sexual preferences are different from others.

One voice, a significant one, as he carries a substantial title as a "leader" of a leading denomination, referred to the "flawed moral vision" of those who those who chose to love others, regardless of their sexual preferences.  Of course, he would be referring to the Apostle Paul's words in I Corinthians to the effect that "..do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?"  There was more of that verse to follow, but his point is obvious.   It must follow that those who disagree with his point of view are lost forever, there is no hope for their salvation.

Then, there was another point of view, this from a mere Professor of the Old Testament, at a renowned seminary, and an ordained minister in another Denomination.  She refers us to the gospel of Matthew, chapter 23, wherein Jesus condemns "leaders" who ...."tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them."

Her point moved me as almost from the beginning of my own church life.  Over my many, many years I have known of people with "deviant" sexual preferences and have been known to be fellow members, but there was little of the antagonism that ought to be recognized in the previous leader's condemnation.

The other "voice" that I heard through my e-mails belonged to widely known - in this area, a religious teacher who refers to the constantly decreasing numbers of American Protestants.  In the '60s, they made up two thirds of the population, but today, they make up less than half.

There has to be a significant reason for this trend and I believe the answer does not come from the pulpit, but from the pew.  After a half century of serious church attendance, my response has to be centered on a simple verse that has been the back bone of Christian thought down through the centuries.

Jesus teaches in John, chapter 13, verses 34-35:  "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  But this all will know you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."

We must always remember, there were no "churches" then as we know them.  There were synagogues for those of the Jewish faith, but the Christian faith was developed in the hearts of those we know a the disciples and carried from home to home in all of "Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth" as was the Lord's commandment in Acts 1:8.

Those who came before us appear to have been more interested in the economies involved by calling people to the church - typically the denomination, rather than to the message of the One whose name we bear.

And proof of this takes me back to the relationship developed in the hearts of the two little girls I cited in beginning this blog.  It doesn't require a church, nor the leaders of the church, to extend the kingdom on earth of which Jesus spoke.  It merely requires that we hear of the love between the two mentioned earlier and extend that same kind of love to all others.