Multicultural christians

We are going to share the word of the Lord in First Corinthians, chapter 12. I feel that it is something important for our church to share the same thing that I shared in the 9 o'clock service because it is part of the mentality that God wants for our congregation, where you see here precisely this union of a Central Asian country, a South Korean sister, immigrants from different parts. León de Judá Congregation is an extremely diverse church, very rich in different nations, different sensibilities.

But that variety has a price and sometimes we want variety and diversity but we don't understand that there is a price to pay for it. but it is the most beautiful thing in the world, that multicultural experience.

I want to read to you in First Corinthians, chapter 12, a passage, verses 14 to 27, says the word of the Lord.

“For just as the body is one, the word of the Apostle Paul, and has many members but all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also Christ. Because by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free. And we were all given to drink of the same spirit. Furthermore, the body is not one member, but many. If I say the foot, because I am not a hand I am not of the body, therefore it will not be of the body?

You are speaking rhetorically. “And if I say the ear, because I am not an eye I am not of the body, for that reason it will not be of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would the ear be? If everything were heard, where would the smell be? – imagine someone coming this way, a 150 pound big ear sitting in a seat. It looks a bit weird, doesn't it? An ear.

“But now God has placed the members each one of them in the body as he pleased. – that Dominican language, as he wanted. – Because if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now the members are many but the body is one.”

He is talking about the current reality of the church, how the church should be, a united, coherent, organically unified body. The body is one but has many members.

"Not even the eye can say to the hand, I don't need you, nor can the head to the feet, I don't need you." The Caribbean cannot tell the Central American, I do not need you, and the Central American cannot tell the South American, you are not from the body because you are not Central American. We are all part of the body, a beautiful body with different manifestations, unified.

“Rather, the members of the body that seem weaker are the most necessary, and those of the body that seem less dignified to them we clothe more worthily. And those of us who are less decent are treated with more decorum."

This means that many times those parts of our body that are sometimes a bit unpleasant or that we do not want to expose, sometimes with those are the ones that we take the most care of and we treat them the best, and we dress them best. So it should be in the Kingdom of God too.

"Because those who are more decent in us have no need, but God ordered the body giving more abundant honor to the one that lacked so that there is no disagreement, there is no imbalance in the body, but rather that the members all care for one another so that if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. And if a member receives honor, all the members rejoice with it."

And here is the word of the Lord for all of us. "You, then, are the body of Christ and members, each one in particular." Amen.

Gregory preached a sermon that we couldn't savor with all the complexity with which he preached it at 9, because as you remember, it was a bit rushed at 12, but he was talking about Christ on the cross, speaking in the context of Ephesians , chapter 1, says that on the cross through his body, Christ killed enmities and created a single man, a single humanity, a new humanity that unified nations and groups that were divided and in conflict with each other .

And he talked about the diversity that is in our church. Right now if we were to count, there are at least 20 countries represented here. And when he spoke about that diversity that is in us, he inspired me to continue developing a little more that attitude of respect and love for the diversity that we represent and strengthen that in our church, and that you understand more and more what we aspire to. to do as a congregation because a church as diverse as ours is very rare and when you add the service in English in the morning the community we constitute is even more complex.

This passage from Corinthians chapter 12 is one of the most beautiful and noblest passages in all of scripture. And that passage arises in the context of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, what Paul is talking about in this passage is when he talks about how God does not want us to be ignorant about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the gifts are diverse, they are varied. God has gifts of healing, gifts of miracles, wisdom, science, healing, tongues, interpretation of tongues, discernment of spirit, different gifts that God gives to his people and distributes them as he wants.

But in the pagan context that Paul was preaching 2,000 years ago where it was worship of gods and all these things, people thought that each gift came from a different spirit. As today, for example, in the Catholic Church there are different saints, who specialize in one thing, there is the saint for truckers, there is the saint for women who want a husband, who want their husbands to return, there is the saint of firefighters, and there are virgins of charity, and there are virgins of this and that that specialize in different things.

So the pagan mind thinks that each one of the spirits specializes in one thing, and forget about Santeria, that's even worse. That idea that different spirits manifest themselves in different ways, in a way that each one is incoherent, Paul wanted to correct that. And then he says, the gifts are many but there is only one spirit that gives them, the Holy Spirit of God.

And those gifts work in harmony with each other, not as each separate in a chaotic way. So, he wanted to illustrate this and by trying to illustrate that idea he ended up giving us, the church, one of the most beautiful images of what the church of Jesus Christ is or at least should be. And that image of the church as a body made up of different organs, but working together in harmony, has served many preachings and many meditations on what the church of Jesus Christ should be, a place that accepts others, that accepts differences. , a place of tolerance, of love, of kindness towards each other.

In the church, Paul says, it is one and many at the same time. it has diversity but it also has unity, it is like a body, very complex, composed of different parts and operations and yet they work in a harmonious, coherent and beautiful way. And the Apostle Paul adds that the different parts of the body have different levels of elegance, of nobility, play different roles and have different functions in keeping life running, and yet they are all important, even the smallest parts have their role and should treated with equal dignity. Nothing in the body is unnecessary or superfluous, everything has a place and a purpose.

I remember when I was younger, a few years ago, that in medicine it was said that the appendix had no role as it was just something that… and then I think that doctors have discovered that there is a role that it has to play. They said it was an offspring, a matter of when primitive beings needed an extra stomach, one of those crazy things doctors come up with. But everything in the body has a purpose, has a function. Nothing is there by itself.

And there are little things on your body that you don't even know are there but are necessary. There are metals, there are chemicals in your body that is only an infinitesimally small amount, however without that your body wears out and you have serious problems. There are little bones in the ear that maintain balance and if that little bone gets out of place or isn't working right you stagger and walk like a drunk and make life miserable. Everything has a function, even the smallest parts, everything has its place.

Pablo adds that even the parts that are embarrassing or intimate sometimes require much better treatment and value and that we should treat them with great care and dress them in a precious way. I'm not going to go into too much detail but you guys can do the math.

And I have been thinking about what kind of church we want to be in León de Judá, what we aspire to be and it is important that we all understand that all the things that characterize our congregation have intentionality, they have a purpose, they are the product of a reflection on our part, its leaders. They no longer happen by chance, by incident or accident, they are the product of great care and intentionality. We could do things differently but we have chosen to be a diverse church, a church of many different expressions because we believe that this is the way the church of Jesus Christ should express itself and manifest itself on earth.

Our way of being, what we are doing as a church, our aspirations as a Christian community, honor God's desire for his people. We could be a Caribbean church and recognize only the Caribbean and give place to the Caribbean or we could be a Central American church only or even more specifically, we could be a church of Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Salvadorans or Guatemalans, or Colombians, and the there is. There are very specific churches in this city, but we believe that in the body of God there is room for everyone, for all races, all socioeconomic classes.

For example, to build that beautiful ministry in English that we have, even for that English ministry if we could have chosen a different way, for example, to be a purely Pentecostal, charismatic church, with people dancing and dancing and open all the time, everything else a very prophetic church, but in English we are a more balanced church in that sense and also here in the ministry in Spanish. We could be from just a specific ethnic group, or just minister to people who are middle class, educated, and all that sort of thing, but no. we want to be a church where the businessman rubs shoulders with a homeless person, where the well-dressed lady sits next to a woman who has her suitcases in front of her because she has nowhere to put them.

This morning at the English service I ran into two beautiful women and when I went to greet them before the service began I noticed that they were sitting there with their legs tucked in with all their bags and bundles in front of them. they. They couldn't even move because they are homeless, but they come to worship the Lord here in the morning. And I told them, sisters, you can stay as you are, but would you like us to put your suitcases in another space so that you can be comfortable? And they said, of course. We took them there and they were able to leave their suitcase and come back and worship the Lord in a comfortable way. I feel proud when that kind of thing happens.

And I beg our hujieres and you, when you see a person... the other days I got outside, we entered the small lobby where the elevator is and there were 2 men sitting there that one sees them and many of us are inspired a little bit by afraid, but they came to the service and were there waiting for the Lord. I beg you, brothers, when you see people like that, never give them a suspicious look. Smile at them and treat them with the utmost care and great kindness. Resist the inclination to look at them with suspicion because they may be angels in disguise.

The Bible tells us to be hospitable because it says that many unknowingly hosted angels. And I sometimes wonder if any of those homeless people who come here dressed badly are angels of God, let's see how we treat them and when we treat them well, there is a special blessing for a church like that. Let us always be a hospitable church and do not worry that the Lord takes care of us and protects us. Always give him good looks, good treatment, be preferential, because what he says is that the members of the body that are less attractive we have to decorate them with more care and attention.

I adore the Lord every time a person comes who doesn't look like me. And it is a privilege. Yesterday there was a young man in the service of the Global Summit of Leadership conference who was standing at the end of time in the afternoon and everyone was standing here, waving to each other and glad that the conference was over and all this, and he was there like a little wet chick, standing there, looking, the prettiest. He wasn't in crisis or anything, but when I was going to cross the Lord stopped me, I turned around because he wasn't well dressed, he was small in stature, humble, and no one recognized him. And as I say, he was not in crisis but I felt the Lord go to him and speak to him, greet him and affirm him and bless him. And at that moment I was offering the Lord a moment of adoration that pleased his heart.

And so we always have to do. Greet the less, not the more, and God will bless your life. We could be a church that served one type of person, straight-line Pentecostal or square Calvinists, 4 by 4, we could be many types of churches, just one group, just a very formal theology, that everyone falls for the monkey at the end of the service and they're hanging from the candlesticks and giving a…but there are other members. This place has to have people from other groups, we want to attract, we want to reach, we want to encompass, we want to express the kingdom in many ways and we have chosen to allow space for something more diverse where different groups that don't normally come together in a sustained way, can find space to worship the Lord in all his ethnic, theological, cultural and socioeconomic diversity.

We do this because that's what you see in the script. This is the idea of expressing the Christian community, this is at the heart of Jesus Christ. This glorifies God. This stretches out our humanity and makes us more like Christ. This is the best expression of what the Bible calls agape love. Do you know that there are different types of expressing love? In Greek philosophy, love was divided in many different ways, there is eros love, which is biological love, sexual love, physical love.

There is love filios, or edges, which is love for the country, for mother or father, filial love they say in Spanish, is love for the family, for the homeland. And there is agape love, which is the noblest form of expressing love, it is the love of God. It is the love that loves the one who does not deserve to be loved, it is the sacrificial love that led Christ to the cross. It is the love that led him to love Plunder and the Samaritan woman and the adulteress. It is a love that does not depend on human feelings and human emotions. It is an objective love that is born in powerful moral and ethical principles that does not simply require a person to provoke love, but that you choose to love because it is what God wants and what glorifies the name of Jesus Christ. And it is the love that we want to have in León de Judá, the highest love, the noblest love of all.

A key word for what we look for as a church is the word balance. At León de Judá Church we seek a balance, in many different directions. Let me explain that a little bit. A lot of churches, for example, put a lot of emphasis on social justice and social work and that's their passion and they talk a lot about social justice and that's it. And they have social services, they preach about social justice. And there are other churches that are all eternity and spiritual, they are very spiritual churches, they continually speak of spiritual warfare, of prayer and outcry, of Revelation and the second coming of Jesus Christ, of prophecy and prophetic things and everything is spirit, spirit, spirit.

We seek a balance between the 2 things. That's why we have social ministries, that's why we care about immigrants, about young people who have to go to university and we want to help them study at university, but we also pray for immigrants because we believe that prayer is important and crying out is Importantly, we believe in spiritual warfare, we preach about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we worship the Lord freely and with passion and ease, we preach about prophecies, we seek the gifts of the spirit, because we believe there has to be a balance between now and tomorrow. here, and eternity. So we are a church that confuses people because we do both.

Many churches aspire to have clear, theological definitions, we are Southern Baptists, we are Reformed, we are Calvinists, and no one can get us out of there and so what they are looking for is consistency. Not long ago a pastor invited me to preach to his church, an American church south of Boston and when the time came, I called him because they hadn't said that, it had been months, and then one of the brothers who is a member of our friend, member of their diaconate, told me, "Roberto, with great sadness I tell you that the pastor asked that we withdraw the invitation because he wants the church to be a truly Baptist church." Perhaps he was afraid that, since I am charismatic, I was going to make a mess for him in the church when I preached and I was going to leave the mess done for him. I didn't feel offended, frankly I didn't feel offended. I understood very well why there are people who want their church to be very strict and they don't like the idea of having theological diversity in their field.

And there are Pentecostals who are the same. If you're not solid, they won't let you preach. If you don't have your skirt measured how many inches is below the knee and you give what you have, you can't be in church. If you don't prove you have the Pentecostal seal, don't dress, you won't go. There are churches like this in the world and they limit the reach of the Gospel.

We seek a balance because the Kingdom of God has so many different expressions, brothers. When these Greek Orthodox brothers come, for example, on Wednesday each year to seek a bit of Pentecostal warmth with us, I feel happy. You know that the Greek Orthodox Church has been in existence for 2,000 years in the world, hundreds of years older than any of us, and those traditions are beautiful too. They have their beauty, they have things that they need from us, but we need things from them too.

Some believe that God went to sleep in the 3rd century and woke up in the 16th century with Martin Luther's reformation. That is not like that. God has had testimony on earth for all the centuries that Christianity has been in this world. and we believe that we can bless each other. I love the Catholic Church, does it need renovation? Yes. Do you need revival? Yes. But it is also needed by many Pentecostal churches that believe they are the only tribe in the jungle, and by many evangelicals who do not even believe in electric light and do not know about the Holy Spirit and its power. We all need renewal and revival in one way or another, brethren. And we can all learn from each other.

That is why I draw a very uncomfortable balance in our church and many of you who are not used to that diversity sometimes feel a little uncomfortable. And I understand him, but we are stretching them for the glory of God. And I want that when they leave here and finish this experience they will be multicultural, cosmopolitan Christians, who can travel to any part of the world and feel comfortable because they have been exposed to the diversity of the Kingdom of God.

Many churches insist on holiness and biblical orthodoxy, one must serve, one must obey, one must behave. Other churches are grace and tolerance, God loves you just the way you are, so keep doing all the little shame because don't worry, because God accepts you just the way you are. The two extremes are bad, because one is self-righteous and kills the spirit of God and the other is libertine and also kills the spirit of God.

We understand that yes, that the 2 things in Christ Jesus coexist grace and justice, love and truth, righteousness and tolerance. The heart of Christ embraces everything and that is what allows Christ to forgive the adulterous woman and tell her, go in peace, I do not condemn you. But he also says, but look, sin no more.

That is what makes it possible to save and heal the paralytic in Bethesda without even making a profession of faith. The paralytic is healed in Bethesda and doesn't even know who Jesus is but the Lord heals him. The Lord approaches him with inexpressible grace and says, would you like to be healed? He doesn't ask, tell me the 4 spiritual laws, and then okay, now you accept me, now I'm going to heal you. No. He heals it for free. Now go over there. Then he finds him in the temple and tells him, look, don't keep sinning because something worse is going to happen to you, so take care, I'm checking you up. The 2 things, grace, goodness, mercy and justice and holiness and righteousness before the Lord.

That is why today the liberals and the libertines claim Christ as their patron saint and the Pharisaics also claim Christ as their patron, patron saint. Because? Because in Christ are the 2 things, righteousness and grace, love and firmness, justice and goodness, patience and judgment, all in one heart. And so we must be too, that our church preaches the totality, the subtlety, the richness of the Kingdom of God.

Let's live in discomfort, let's live in tension, brothers, people try to reduce to one, to one side, when the justice of Christ is manifested, they say, ah, the pastor is intolerant, this and that. When he manifests grace, oh, the pastor doesn't care about holiness. No, one lives that discomfort because that is what pleases the heart of God. God calls us to live in tension, in the agony of the heart of Christ.

Many churches like homogeneity, that everyone is the same, everyone is well dressed, everyone wears a tie and jacket on Sunday, the women are well painted and groomed. And there are churches that are only city, urban churches, everything is social justice, love for the poor, fight for the poor. And others are middle class churches. There are pastors who only aspire to pastor a middle class church and adjust their theology, their preaching and their style to the middle class. There are black churches and white churches, there are Pentecostal churches or 4 by 4 Reformed churches, there are holiness churches and grace churches, as I was saying.

There are churches that are working class and churches that are very high class. There are conservative churches or liberal churches, separate. The body each existing without recognizing the other parts. A schizophrenic body, one hand going one way and the other the other. A crazy, deranged body and so is the body of Christ.

Why this homogeneity? Why is it that churches grow along lines of homogeneity instead of lines of diversity? Because diversity is too much of a challenge, it requires too much effort. Your pastors believe and I hope that if you are here with us today, and you are a member of this community, you also believe and are thinking of staying, that it is worth going back and undertaking the effort of what it takes to be a church truly loving, tolerant church.

What face does a kind and generous church have? It is a demanding effort, it is a dangerous effort, but it is worth it because it is biblical and because it is in the heart of God. A body with many members, with diversity. In a typical Lion of Judah service there may be times when we sound very Pentecostal, there will be people falling to the ground and others who are here on their knees, hands raised, and at another time we may sound very traditional and Reformed and after that an expression of something that may sound like social justice. We talk about justice for immigrants, a member of the Boston Council comes and greets us and one wonders what the hell this person is doing here if he is pro-abortion and pro-this and that, and why does Pastor Miranda allow the platform to go up? .

But they didn't count on my cunning, there's a reason one allows that. there are reasons why we are a complex church, we are a public church, we are a church that is involved in the machinery of the city and people give us more credit sometimes than we deserve, and they come and want to enjoy the warmth that this congregation offers .

At another time we may sound not like liberals but like conservatives and fundamentalists and self-righteous. At one point they hear us talking about social justice, at another time they hear us talking about genders determined by God at creation, man and woman created by God and that we have to defend the family, and that we have to defend biblical sexuality . And he says, no, man, these are a bunch of primitive, fundamentalist conservatives.

But it is a complex church. At another time we may sound like we are condemning fire and brimstone, and at another time we may sound like this is a church that invites kindness and tolerance and love. These are all the sounds of Lion of Judah. And they are also the sounds of the word of God, heart of Jesus. Because Jesus was all of those things and is and actually is beyond all of those categories.

Some churches like their pastors to wear jeans and a T-shirt and that's what they think a pastor should be. Others like to see the pastor with a tie and jacket inside and another jacket on top. The other days I was approached by a beautiful sister that I love very much in the service in English, and I had come without a tie that Sunday and she literally attacked me, with love, because she loves me very much and I love her. But I can tell you that he attacked me and he was close to forcing me to put on the top button because the pastor does not like to see the hair on his chest because his biology threatens them, I don't know. We want our pastors to wear a cassock, but in other cases we do wear a tie and I like to confuse people with a tie from time to time into thinking that I am holier than I really am. That's ok.

But we are an expression of God in different ways, and I give glory to God to that. the service in English is a little freer but sometimes also as in the case... I got into trouble with a wonderful and beautiful young woman, you have still heard me sometimes talking to the choir brothers and sisters, I know that we've had tensions at times that they should dress a certain way because even though all the men here are already sanctified, and I know they don't have a single bad thought in their mind, it's good for the little sisters to dress in a way that's not provocative .

I love the Catholic Church for that, that women are asked to wear a mantilla or whatever, that was before, I don't even think anymore... but that respect for the house of God is beautiful. Don't worry about what you see, I know that yes, that in other countries, in Colombia, in other places sometimes women get gangrene because of the narrow pants they are wearing, but brothers, let's not get along The others, let us be an example for others and it is not that we are sanctimonious, it is that I believe that there is a decorum that befits the church of Jesus Christ.

My sisters, I beg you in the name of the Lord, we men already have enough problems with our own mind, be merciful and help us. And how nice is a decently dressed woman. How beautiful that is, leaving a little room for the imagination. That is nice and suits the people of God. I told Meche the other days that, wow, we have to go back to those principles. Because that is why we have so many problems, I include myself in the body of Jesus Christ. It is because those cares that must exist between the genders have been abandoned. And there are signs that we have to give each other to help us.

Your pastor is not above such caution. And I believe that it is beautiful when the people of God go to the word for their models. But that's not to say we're sanctimonious either. I understand, we are not asking the woman to put on a cover like in Muslim countries, a burqa that they bring here to church, or that we have a full closet so that if they don't come like this we put one in so they can wear sit in church That is not what we are saying.

What we are asking for is a balance, a decorum, a consideration so that the people of God are different. I assure you, beautiful young women, that you are going to be blessed for that. and also older sisters who still have their charms, God will bless their efforts. I believe that there is going to be a beauty in that that God is going to reward greatly, greatly.

That kind of diversity to which we aspire requires kindness. Do you know that one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is goodness? We have to be kind to each other, generous to each other. You don't know how much I sweat many times before I get up here in the pulpit, and sometimes when I'm in the pulpit, I have to ask the Lord, Lord, give me a measure of grace so that I can preach, sincerely. Because sometimes one has so many things and so many emotional conflicts that to stop here to preach one has already sweated and lost days of life before coming up here.

The other days I had to ask a beautiful little sister in the English service to leave the sanctuary, go to where she was and ask her to lower her voice because she was worshipping, shouting in an environment where no one else was shouting. If everyone was crazy and everyone was yelling, then that's what she had to do as well to join the group, but in this case it was a moment of some quiet and she was at a personal party, worshiping her head off. , and actually interrupted the service. So I had to get up from my seat, go up the stairs, go to her, and explain to her why she shouldn't worship anymore.

I know that many of the Pentecostals here are going to say, here goes the Pastor to grieve the Holy Spirit. That's why the people don't stay, that's why all the Pentecostals leave, because the pastor isn't really a Pentecostal. Devil's lie I believe in the word, what the word of the Lord says. If you read First Corinthians, chapter 14, the Apostle Paul says that the gifts have to be exercised in the context of the body of Jesus Christ and that the body, if my index finger wants to go in one direction, the rest of the body does not want to go. , they are not under control, that means that my finger is neurotic and it must be healed.

If one eye starts doing this and the other stays the same, I should be taken to the hospital immediately. The Lord rebuke that thought. Because everything has to work in balance. For example, in this service I would have loved to continue worshiping until midnight arrives, but there are other things to do, there are babies to present, there is an offering to take, there is a beautiful missionary to listen to, there is a beautiful young man who is going to worship the Lord with his special music, there are announcements to make, and everyone wants 20 minutes for his announcement.

But the pastor is always looking at the time, he is looking at the visitors, he is looking at the old lady who is already falling asleep and that I have to finish before she starts snoring, he has to look at everything. The pastor is thinking about 17 things at once, the choir member is thinking about his time alone, or the one giving the announcement is thinking that it is important that people listen well to the announcement and sign up for whatever.

But the pastor thinks globally, we think in terms of the body. The pastor thinks that all the children are already arriving and that he has to be finishing the sermon because otherwise he has to shorten the message and cut what God wants to say to the people.

We are one body and we have to be attentive to each other. And that is what this church does, something very special, very sui generis, as they say in Latin. If you don't know what it means, look it up later on Wikipedia. It makes us unique, singular. The custodian of this, God has given it to me as the main pastor and the leaders and I have to come before the Lord every time and say, Father, have I offended you by saying this, doing this, deciding this? Because my desire is that you prosper and that you grow in the Lord and that this church be a church that blesses the city as it already does.

It is expensive to do that. That is why there are not many communities like ours, because you have to pay a price, because you have to give space to different races, different socio-economic means, different genders so that the glory of God is manifested in this place.

And then what is going to happen is that we are going to like a lot of people and dislike other people. In a moment the Pentecostal is going to feel that he is in glory but the non-Pentecostal is going to think that he is among a bunch of crazy people. At another time, the middle-class person, upper-middle class, seeing the mayor of the city come here, will feel, wow, how good, look how good, the mayor is coming to visit. But another will be saying, why allow this liberal to get on the sanctuary?

At one point there will be a woman preaching here and the traditional person will say, why is there a woman preaching in the pulpit? And some other time we'll say, you know what, God does have lines of authority in marriage and other things, and they'll think we're crazy primitive conservatives too.

So, we have to be balanced and thank God for that experience that allows us to have as a diverse church, a church that reflects the love of Christ, that reflects the generous heart of God. Let's be a generous church.

And I'm going to ask my brothers to please come here. Come and help me, lubricate this meditation with music. We are going to finish and we are going to adore the Lord for a little while.

How many would like for this church to be possible? Amen. Come in. Let's stand up. Let's thank the Lord for his love and if I don't see you before Thanksgiving, work out before Thursday and after Thursday too. And eat lots of vegetables. We are going to be a healthy church too, not only taking care of the mystical body of Christ but also this body. Amen.

Praise God for his generosity to us. We do not deserve to serve this beautiful God that we have. The truth is that every day I feel less deserving of the grace that God allows me to serve this body of Christ. We love you. God loves you. God has a great purpose for you and your children, your homes.

Let's live enviable lives in the name of the Lord. Let's grab hold of all the blessings and virtues that are in the word of God and be an exemplary people for the glory of Jesus Christ. To my brothers of different races, different socioeconomic levels, different nationalities, different ages, different studies, the love of God covers your lives. You are a chosen part of the body of Jesus Christ and we thank God for this community that he has here in this city.

Father, we give your word to you and we bless you for it and we thank you that you make us worthy of something the angels still long to look upon which we partake of. Bless your people and send them away from this place with the blessing of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen.