Pentecost 2

By the Reverend Martha Frances

Year A, Pentecost 2, Proper 3

25 May 2008  8:00 only 

Text: Matthew 6: 24-34

Other Readings: Isaiah 49: 8-16; Psalm 131; I Corinthians 4: 1-5 

      A man riding in a taxi wanted to speak to the driver, so he leaned forward & tapped him on the shoulder.  The driver screamed, jumped up in his seat, hit his head, & jerked the wheel in the process.  The car ran up over a curb, demolished a street lamp, & came to a stop inches from a shop window.

      The startled passenger said, "I didn't mean to frighten you.  I just wanted to ask you something."

      The taxi driver replied: "It's not your fault, sir.  It's my 1^st day as a cab driver.  I've driven a hearse for the past 25 years."

      How hard it is for us to change a pattern of thinking & acting which has developed over our lives!  I have a relative whom we've all declared over the years we'll assign something for her to worry about because she isn't comfortable if she's not worrying about something or someone.  I'm convinced that she's lived late into her 8^th decade because she doesn't see how the rest of the family will manage if she's not there to help us, give us advice, & at least worry about us.  Her concern is appreciated, but her worry is, well, worrisome!

      When Jesus asks us not to worry about our lives in this passage, he isn't asking us to be Pollyannas in caring for our families, & I don't believe he expects us to forego buying life insurance because God will take care of our families if something happens to us.   Rather, Jesus forbids us from living in anxiety about things of this world—from being overly careful—full of care.  I have a friend who says we need to refrain from obsessing about the wreckage of the future.  How many of us spend valuable time concerned about possibilities which never actually occur?

      Nor does this admonition promise us that nothing bad will ever happen to us.  In fact, the passage concludes with a restatement not to worry but adds that tomorrow will bring worries of its own; today's trouble is enough for today.  Jesus doesn't promise us that we will avoid all hardship but rather encourages us to make faithful choices, beginning with our choosing FIRST the kingdom of God & all those things that we need for abundant life will follow.  Jesus himself didn't avoid the cross, but he tells us that if tomorrow brings a cross, God can & will send the grace & strength to bear it.  Though we may feel that we cannot possibly live through whatever next challenge faces us, our trusting God allows even our feebleness to be underwritten by God's eternal power & purpose.

      Isaiah's poetry provides an image which I often invoke when praying with someone who is hospitalized, especially before surgery.  The Jews have been in captivity in Babylon & Cyrus has just liberated them.  Now they have to change their ways of living, learn a new relationship with each other & with God.  Will God once more travel with them back to the Holy Land where the temple has been destroyed & life has to be built yet again?  Isaiah tells the Jews, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.  See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands." 

      Though this can be a comforting image to many of us, especially at times when our pain or concern for our own health makes it difficult for us to pray, I can assure you that this passage is even more poignant for women in prison who have often been estranged from loved ones as well as God.  When women  have been separated from their own babies, even when it has been due to their own poor choices, God's care for them which is even that intimate can be incredibly healing.  We have a banner we use on a Kairos weekend which depicts two large outstretched hands, & on each weekend, we place the name of each inmate who is going through the weekend in those hands.  For many of them, God's unconditional love becomes real to them when they see this scripture visually & hear it read.  May it nourish you when you experience frightening, lonely moments.  The psalmist gives us instructions for meditation on such an image:  ". . .I still my soul & make it quiet, like a child upon its mother's breast; my soul is quieted within me."

      As we enter into the summer & are separated from one another, & as we begin our evaluative work in discerning how God would have us as Hope parish fulfill our mission, may we be assured of God's never-failing care for us & allow faith in that promise to strengthen us so that God may do new things in us & through us beyond our parish into our community & world.

Trinity Sunday

By The Rev. Martha Frances+
Trinity Sunday
18 May 2008

Text: Matthew 28:16-20; Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Other: Psalm 8; II Corinthians 13:11-13


Explaining the Holy Trinity in logical rhetoric is sort of like trying to nail jello to the wall, but our scriptures appointed for today give us glimpses into the essential relationships of the Trinity which can inform our whole lives.  After all, we have tastes of the Trinity throughout the scriptures, but the Trinitarian doctrine only developed after 5 centuries, several ecumenical councils, and, sadly, much bloodshed.  

Several years ago, I preached on these same scriptures on the Island of Abaco in the Bahamas.  My friend who priested 5 churches there was thrilled for his congregations to experience a woman priest for the 1st time, and I was privileged to prepare the children for a group recitation of the Genesis reading.  When I asked the children how many readers we would need for each one to read about one day of creation, they all knew it would be 6.  The Jewish lad Jesus grew up hearing this creation story recited in the synagogue liturgy, & much of our approach to life as a faithful people is founded on what we hear in this first creation story.  My husband Bill who was an engineer loved the orderliness of this story, & as much as we humans want freedom, we're terrified of chaos & long for order.  Though we know life in this world is beyond our control, it gives us great comfort to be assured that God the Creator is running the show.  Here we see God bringing forth & then taming the feral elements one by one so they are eventually placed into the safekeeping, the stewardship, the crowning of God's earthly creation, humankind, whom God calls "very good."

God speaks the creation into being, seemingly effortlessly, calling forth each new element into the world, day by day.  Each step of the story cries out abundance, plants yielding seed, & animals reproducing plentifully.  At each day's end, God proclaims the creation good.  My mind's eye visualizes this great creator God breaking into belly laughs of joy at the goodness of the new creation.  I'm reminded of a line from last Sunday's psalm (#104) in which the psalmist addresses God saying, ". . . there is that Leviathan, which you have made for the sport of it."  Isn't it refreshing to think of God's creating a whale just for fun?

Then, perhaps out of loneliness, God brought forth humans, in God's own image; both male & female in God's likeness.  God created beings to have relationship with them, blessed them, & sent them forth with a mission.  Once again, we see God's overflowing abundance as the humans are told to be fruitful & multiply in order to subdue the earth.  Certainly, we humans have been fruitful & multiplied until we have over-populated the earth.  Today, we are changed with the responsibility of conservation so that my precious granddaughters & your wonderful little ones, too, might have sufficient & quality air & water & plants & animals.  The sense of "dominion" & "subdue" which we see in this passage carry the connotation of our being good stewards of all that we have been given so freely by God.

The story doesn't end with the 6 days of creation, does it?  We industrious Americans often forget that God finished the work of creation & rested on the 7th day.  I used to believe I had to finish all my work in order to deserve Sabbath.  Let me emphasize that the Sabbath is not a reward for work well done.  It's a natural part of the rhythm of life.  If God needed a hallowed day for rest, don't you imagine we need that, too?

Since I've become a priest, Sabbath rest is certainly not on Sunday when I do the most public work nor is it Saturday, preparation day for Sunday.  I try to take a day for Sabbath on Mondays, & as a sabbatical was proposed to me, I have been grateful that those who prepared my covenant here at Hope 3 years ago were wise enough to build in the provision for a sabbatical after 3 years.  God commanded us to take Sabbath time to rest & recoup & be re-created.  That's the background of the word "recreation," you know.  We all need time to be "re-created."  God the creator can do that for us, but only when we take time & have our hearts tuned toward God's work.  In addition to my daily prayer time & weekly Sabbath day, a spiritual director & another spiritual direction group help me discern God's whispers in my life & work.  I don't do these practices just because I'm a priest.  To a large extent, my becoming a priest was a response to the rhythm I established long ago as a lay person, & ever since I've been at Hope, I've encouraged such a rule of life to all faithful people as we're all called to lead God-filled lives.

       Remember that Sabbath Time is God's gift & command to all.  It's not "vacation," for neither you nor I is vacating anything.  I will be working on my own spiritual growth issues on my sabbatical, & Reb will be leading the congregation through similar re-visioning to prepare us all for more effective ministry & mission, so one of my prayers while I'm gone is for a large number of parishioners to avail themselves of this wonderful opportunity the Diocese is providing this congregation.

You might think that I've spoken an awfully long time about God the Creator, the 1st person of the Trinity, but in ways which once again defy logical explanation, we remember the prologue to the Gospel of John, "In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God."  From the very beginning of the world, Jesus the Logos, the Word was present as Creator along with the Father.  The phenomenal element of creation is that this God the omnipotent created God's very self in a relationship of three.  This relationship with all the universe begins with the relationship within God Godself.  What kind of arrogance for any of us to believe we're even supposed to try to live life or achieve alone!  People of faith, made in God's image, are created to interrelationship.

As we turn to the Gospel lesson today, we're reminded of our call to authenticity as Christians in community.  Jesus' life—teachings, healings, relationships—& then his death, resurrection, & ascension all make up the New Creation of which we are all a part.  The 11 disciples go to the mountain, meet Jesus, & worship him.

Worship—that's the proper response to the Holy One, isn't it?  The 11 are beginning to realize that Jesus truly is divine, though some doubt.  Perhaps all doubt from time to time.  Jesus' love for the 11—& for us—encircles that doubt.  Working through doubt earnestly can lead one to deeper faith.  Problems deepen when we don't confront our doubt so it leads to despair.  I have a small group with whom I share & pray & work through such times , & I'm always amazed by the power of prayer.

Just in case the 11 aren't sure about Jesus' relationship to God, he tells them that "all authority in heaven & on earth has been given to me."  Jesus now holds the authority previously God's alone, & now Jesus sends the disciples out by that same authority.  They've not been in 3 years of discipleship training for them to just go back to their fishing boats & forget about it.  Jesus sends them forth—no ifs, ands, or buts.  Here, Jesus expands the mission for his disciples to all nations.  Barriers of race, religious background, country, & even economic status have all been broken down.  Here at Hope, we have been given a wonderful opportunity to be sign & symbol of an inclusive Christian community.  What sorts & conditions of men & women do we close our eyes to & not invite into this circle of Christ's community?

Jesus intends the disciples to go, make disciples, baptize, & teach obedience.  What an order!  This isn't about hiring the right clergy to get us through the narrow gate.  Each of us participates in bringing folks to Christ & preparing them to be disciples.  The Greek word is a verb:  discipling!  Comes from the same root word as discipline.  Oh, darn!  We have to be disciplined?  Yup, I'm afraid so!  We're supposed to baptize as the entrance rite into the community of believers—& we need to repeat those baptismal vows often just as we did last week.  We'll do so again as Bp. Wimberly confirms 4 of our own youth next Sunday.  Our making of disciples starts with our rearing our own church family in the faith.  Please be here next week to celebrate that confirmation with Fiona, Caeli, Jennifer, & Jessica.

Further, Jesus calls us to obey.  How many of us have to try to do it our own way before we realize Jesus really does have a better plan for our lives than we can manage or even imagine for ourselves.  We learn obedience in groups—praying, worshipping, studying scripture, seeing our life stories in light of the big Story of Jesus Christ.  We learn obedience when we make hard but right decisions in our business life or with our children.

And we are never alone.  Christ leaves us with that assurance at the end of Matthew's gospel when he says, "Remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."  Not one of us knows when the end of the age is coming, not even when the end of our own lives is coming.  But it doesn't matter.  Christ is present with us.

Which leads us back to the Holy Spirit, doesn't it?  We celebrate the Trinity this morning in part to help us remember & give thanks that God is with us daily, that Jesus does not leave us comfortless, that the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us humans to be in God's image as we go about Christ's mission in the world.  It is because the Holy Spirit binds us together as Christians that we are privileged to be together today.

Thanks be to God:  Father, Son, & Holy Spirit!  Amen!

Pentecost Day

By The Rev. Martha Frances+
Year A, Pentecost Day
11 May 2008

Text: John 20: 19-23; Acts 2: 1-21, 
Other Readings: I Corinthians 12: 3b-13; Psalm 104: 25-35, 37b


       As I began the reading in Spanish/As each reader read in another language this morning, I wonder how many of you sort of tuned us out, assuming that I/we didn't have anything to say to you since I wasn't/we weren't speaking your language.  Some of you returned to listening when I switched to English, the language most of us consider our first—& some our only—language.  Language is a powerful form of communication, but not the only one.  Some of you are speaking clearly this morning with your eyes, attentive & anxious to hear what I have to share.  Others—surely not anyone here—speak with bodies slouched against the pews, heads bowed & eyes closed.  Today's readings on this Pentecost Sunday 2008 are for all of us, "every race & nation," as we prayed in the collect this morning.  So we hear the story in the 2 most common languages spoken in our congregation.

       The story of Pentecost is as multi-layered as it is many-languaged, so we'll look at 2 Biblical writers' versions of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the core event of the Christian celebration of Pentecost.  

       Notice that John's Gospel reading occurs on Easter evening, the 1st day of the week, we're told.  The 1st day of the week has been celebrated by Christians ever since the beginning since the distinguishing event of Jesus' life—his resurrection—occurred on Sunday morning.  Where do we find the disciples this very first Easter Sunday evening?  Locked in the upper room, of course.  Hidden & frightened of what will happen to them now that their master has been killed.  When Jesus appears, he greets them with a fulfillment of one of his promises:  "Peace be with you."  Jesus offers them the peace which comes from belief in him.  He offers his hands & side in proof that he is, indeed, the one who was crucified yet is alive again, bodily & not just as a spirit.  Only when they see his hands & side do the disciples rejoice.  Jesus gets right to the point, doesn't he, when he tells those gathered he is sending them out into the world.  We don't know how many disciples are hovered there, but it must be a larger number than just the 12.  He tells them they have to get up & get out & tell what they've seen & heard & touched.  Mary Magdalene has told them the same thing earlier this day, but they are too paralyzed to act on her words yet.  Anyway, she's just a woman, isn't she?

Then, Jesus breathes on them & gives them the Holy Spirit, right then on Easter evening according to John, for the express purpose of their exercising the gift of forgiveness.  Lots happens in this scene, but notice that the Holy Spirit comes with Jesus' breath. Remember God created the earth & all that is in it & breathed into all living being life—breath—spirit.  It's pretty clear that John's version of the Pentecost event is so the Holy Spirit can empower the disciples to do the work that Jesus expects them to do, & that's centered in forgiveness of sins.  

Eugene Peterson paraphrases this last verse, "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good.  If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"  One of the basic needs in most communities—or families, for that matter—is for us to learn how to forgive each other so that we aren't separated by old wounds & angers.  For those resentments which you haven't been able to let go of in friends or family or church family, what are you going to do with them?  Who is being hurt by them?  What good is it doing to hang on to them?  Jesus wants us to be relieved of all that, & he gifts us with the Holy Spirit to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves so we can get on with life as one body, one community.  

Luke, writer of Acts, gives us the story the Church has chosen to celebrate with Pentecost 50 days after Easter.  The disciples are in one place again together when God puts on quite a special effects' show—a rush of violent wind & then tongues as of fire rest on each of them.  God does have some pretty amazing ways of getting our attention when we least expect it.  

The first element through which God works in this story is wind.  In Hebrew, the same word, "Ruach," is translated wind, breath, & spirit.  The disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit just as we may be right here today as we breathe in deeply to be invigorated to sing or pray or praise.  

Second are the tongues of fire.  How interesting that the fire appears in the form of tongues, & we usually emphasize that the disciples are empowered to speak in various tongues, or languages!  These disciples—simple Galilean workers who have traveled with Jesus through his lifetime—communicate with people from all over the ancient Middle East who have come to Jerusalem for the Jewish festival.  Language is no barrier as they share God's deeds of power.  However, as we discussed with Eric Law last week in the adult Christian formation group, perhaps the miracle wasn't that the disciples spoke in various tongues but that those from throughout the known world could understand as if the disciples were speaking their language.  

As a matter of fact, in September of 1986, I was privileged to serve on team for the first Cursillo in Spanish in this diocese.  My Spanish was even more limited than it is today, but the team meetings were held in Spanish & those of us for whom Spanish was a 2nd language were blessed to have native speakers help us along.  I didn't give a talk but was a gofer, liaison to the kitchen.  When the weekend came around, I was amazed at the clarity with which I could keep up with the proceedings.  No, I wasn't able to understand every word, but familiarity with the outline & an abundant measure of God's grace allowed me to participate fully.  I was even Fr. Leo Alard's prayer partner during his talk—he hadn't become Bishop yet—& I found myself sometimes praying in Spanish!  That experience was surely a miracle of the ear, as this one must have been, at least to some extent.

Eric asked us last week how the church would have been different had it seen this story through the centuries more as a miracle of the ear & less of the tongue.  Would we be more willing to listen to others more intently, to await their input, to pause during meetings in silence to await the breath of the Holy Spirit to inform us?  As we enter a new stage in our work with one another to re-envision how God would have Hope Episcopal minister in this diverse & changing world, I will make a commitment to anticipate the Spirit's guidance, sometimes through others & however else the Spirit choose to become manifest.  My prayer is that you, too, will be open to the powerful miracle of the ear awaiting us.

Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can these Galileans break down the boundaries of differentness to tell Jesus' story.  Don't you imagine the disciples are as amazed & astonished as those who hear them?  Peterson says they all were thunderstruck, & so we might be.  Of course, the rest of Acts describes the spread of the gospel throughout their world, in some cases despite persecution & in other cases because of it.  The Holy Spirit didn't descend on those early disciples of Jesus just for this one event of Pentecost, however.  We would assume far too little of the living God if we thought the Holy Spirit only present in that one time & place.

Indeed, the whole point of the story—whether the one John told or this one from Luke—is that this gift of the Holy Spirit is given to us today as the Spirit has been with Christians throughout the ages.  Further, the Spirit isn't given to you or me or the guy over there individually in order that any of us might be a super Christian who is to do Christ's work better than anyone else.  No, the Spirit & the gifts the Spirit brings are for the purpose of empowering the Church to do Christ's work in the world.  We all need the Spirit, & we all need each other to do the work we're called to do.  The passage from 1st Corinthians we read today reminds us that we all need each other for none of us is given all the gifts of the Spirit but the gift each of us is given is a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good, as Paul says.  

Paul's Corinthian passage ends thus:  "For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—& we were all made to drink of one Spirit.  To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to be baptized in the Spirit, & Pentecost is one of the traditional baptismal days in the church.  In 2 weeks, Bp. Wimberly will confirm 4 of our youth into the Hope community.  That day, we will support them in their maturing profession of faith by renewing our own baptismal vows.  Our youth need our support, but we ourselves need to be regularly reminded of the promises that guide us in our own continual spiritual maturity & in growing more fully into a totally loving & accepting Christian community.  I invite you to open the ears of your heart to hear the Baptismal Covenant anew for yourself & for this parish today & to meditate the next 2 weeks on how we can invite these & our other young parishioners to make the fulfillment of them the beginning of their life mission.

Easter VII

By The Rev. Martha Frances

Year A, Easter VII

The Sunday after Ascension

4 May 2008

Text: Acts 1:6-14; John 17:1-11

Other Readings: Psalm 68: 1-10, 33-36; 1 Peter 4: 12-14, 5: 6-11 

      "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven?" the two men in white robes said to those who had watched Jesus disappear into the clouds.  What an amazing sight they had just beheld!  In fact, the disciples had just spent 40 days experiencing the impossible: Jesus, whom they knew had been crucified, walking among them again:  appearing in the Upper Room where they huddled, too afraid to leave the safety of shelter & each other, joining them on the road to Emmaus & breaking bread with them, encouraging some to try again for a large catch of fish on the Sea of Galilee where they had gone back to their former occupation, & then broiling fish for breakfast for them on the shore.

      For 40 days, they had again lived with this rabbi, this teacher who had shown them a new way of life, who taught them about the Reign of God.  Jesus had once again engendered hope in their lives, had given them reason to live beyond the everydayness of fishing & tax collecting & keeping house.

      Even with the resurrected Jesus again in their midst, they still didn't get it, did they?  They asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore God's reign to Israel?"  They still hoped for a political solution.  They still yearned for him to be the Messiah whom the rabbis had taught them would come.  Surely now Jesus would mount the insurrection to throw the Romans out & restore Israel to its former glory.  Then they could at last introduce God's reign in Israel, for they would then be in charge.  Surely they would have high positions of leadership in the new government.

      Jesus had rebuked them once again.  And they still didn't get it.  They still weren't to know the time for God's reign on earth.  They certainly didn't understand what kind of reign it would be.  They were simply to wait there in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come upon them.  Waiting is something we don't do very well, do we?  We're usually too impatient to wait.  Perhaps it wasn't so simple for them either.  Jesus had said they were to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea & Samaria, & to the ends of the earth.

      Having said this, he ascended into a cloud which took him out of their sight.  This last Thursday was the actual Ascension Day which we celebrate today.  In a beautifully-illustrated copy of the English Book of Common Prayer I own, the picture accompanying the Ascension Day lessons shows the disciples, male & female, Mother Mary prominent in the foreground, looking & even reaching up into the sky where only the tip of Jesus' robe & his bare feet remain at the top of the frame.  His bare feet remind us that he really was a man, human just like you & me, having walked among us & eaten that broiled fish & held little children in his arms to comfort & bless them.  Jesus had truly been among them once again.  And now he was gone.  Disappeared. Ascended.  Once again, a happening which didn't fit any categories for how a Savior, a Messiah was supposed to act.

      And what were they to do?  Where were they to go?  A friend of mine once called this Ascension time, nestled between Ascension Day & the Feast of Pentecost, a "waiting in the hallway" experience.  You know, we're often told that, when one door closes, another is bound to open.  But in the meantime, we're left waiting in the hall. 

      The disciples are left waiting in the hall.  Which door will open?  And when?  What are we to do in the meantime?  The hallway is not comfortable & pretty boring.  Nowhere to sit.  Nothing to occupy our time except to look at the family portraits hanging there—not very interesting to anybody but the family, & even for them, not for long.  Then, we have to trust that the right door really will open.  I don't know about you, but neither waiting nor trusting is my long suit.  Given the choice, I say, "No, thank you," to both.

      Several years ago at Ascension time, I was in a hallway & didn't even know it.  Pastoral assistant at St. Paul's Church down on Park Place, I had been approved for ordination, & I presumed—as did Fr. Jim McGill, our rector, & the whole congregation there—that I would spend my deaconate right there at St. Paul's.  I was happy at St. Paul's, & the people were happy to have me there.  Less than a week later, Bp. Payne called me into his office to ask me to go to Lord of the Streets.  LOTS was in some financial & leadership difficulties at the time, & I frankly didn't know whether I was up to the challenge.  I wasn't even ordained yet & had been asked to lead a new congregation.  Could I do the job?  Which door was the right one to swing open?  The LOTS' door practically knocked me down when it swung open.  Because I believed that God would equip me for the ministry there, I walked in that door. 

      Three years ago we were presented with the opportunity to bring together two congregations in joint ministry & reconciliation at a time when the larger church & much of society thinks in terms of splintering off into small homogeneous interest groups when things don't go as they hoped.  We've been about this adventure ever since.  The men in white robes are likely saying to us all now, "Men & women of Hope, why stand looking up toward heaven?"  Are we heeding the question which the men in white robes put to us?  How long will some continue to stand in the hallway?  How will Hope use the time when I am on sabbatical to revision who we are together?  How can we invite others to join us in walking through the doorway to a richer way of being Church with one another, all of us aware that each of us is needed to bring our gifts to the table? 

      The diocese is helping us financially & with a diocesan coach to move through new doors.  Jesus promised the disciples they would soon be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  We call that event Pentecost & we celebrate it next week.  In the Gospel reading today, Jesus' prayer to the Father to give the disciples—remember, that's you & I—protection as they & we go out to the ends of the earth to proclaim the new life through Christ.  Jesus recognizes that he & the Father are one & that the disciples are one with them if they follow Jesus' way of life.  Jesus asks God in today's prayer to equip us for ministry.  What responsibility, what ministry, are you ready, with God's help, to take on today?  You might say, "All by myself?  But I'm not ready.  I don't know how to begin."  Indeed, you're not called to go it alone.  You have a community of Christians around you to accompany you on the journey.  Also, next week, we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit to be among us, to walk with us, to be God-with-us every day of our journey.  If you choose, celebrate next week by wearing red, including red hats for the women.  Red is the color of the fire of the Holy Spirit, enflaming each of us, empowering us to become more who God calls us to be, & to be Christ's witnesses to all the ends of the earth. 

      Standing in the hallway is okay for a time, to rest & gain strength & listen for the wind & fire of the Holy Spirit, but we're called to go forth through the door, or the window, to live & witness in the light, along with our brothers & sisters in the faith.  What door is opening for you?  For Hope?