Monday, September 26, 2016

God is Gracious

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae for Parish Retreat at Trinity Center & at Lay-Led1 Morning Prayer at
St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 19th Sunday after Pentecost, 25 Sept. 2016
Proper 21 Year C RCL: Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
God is gracious. Remember this.
Jeremiah remembers. His cousin is Hanamel, whose name means “God is Gracious”;2  so Jeremiah has strength to act in faith. He has courage to do something audacious: buy property while the city is besieged, about to fall, & he is under house arrest because the king is angry that Jeremiah speaks the truth about the coming disaster.
God is gracious, & people are blessed.
Jeremiah knows this. His secretary is Baruch, whose name means "blessed."3  Jeremiah knows that, despite the enemy at the gate, he can buy property & trust that God is gracious & by God's graciousness he & the people will be blessed.
God is gracious, & we are blessed.
We are partakers of God’s heavenly treasure. God calls us to share God's treasure. We have a foretaste of it at this Holy Table.
This reminds me of the story of a man who dies, & at the pearly gates St. Peter says he will show him what heaven & hell are like.4
They look way down & see people sitting around a sumptuous feast. They aren’t eating.
They are weeping & starving.
Their arms are strapped to large utensils, so that they cannot bend their elbows to feed themselves.
The man is really upset & asks to see heaven.
They look way up & see people sitting around a sumptuous feast. Their arms are strapped to large utensils, so they cannot bend their elbows to feed themselves.
These people are laughing & savoring the delicious food as they reach out their utensils & feed each other.

Our perception of situations drives our actions & makes all the difference between making life heaven or hell.
Our perspective of our material resources & of our abilities guides how we use or misuse our gifts from God.
The rich man Jesus talks about & the message Jeremiah gives challenge the prevailing perspectives of how things are & how they should be. They challenge the numbness5 the status quo counts on – numbness to the pain around them, which allows the rich man not even to see Lazarus’ suffering6, & allows the king to throw Jeremiah into prison because he speaks truth the king does not want to hear.
The rich & powerful do not want
their way of life to change.
People in the Bible are like us. Tending to work, to one’s own needs, they / we can overlook the far reach of God's love.
People don't usually turn their backs on God & intentionally leave this holy relationship. People drift away with a false perspective &, like the rich man, can’t see real pain on the doorstep.
We must guard against seeing what we want to see & failing to see reality.
Author Isabel Fonseca addresses false perspective in her book Bury Me Standing, which tells of her experience with Gypsies in several countries.
After visiting a slum, she talks about its filth with her guide, who is a scholar on Gypsies. The guide says the slum wasn't dirty,
“It just looked dirty.”7
This kind of denial is what Jeremiah deals with & what we hear in Jesus' parable of the rich man & poor Lazarus. As one bible commentator says: This self-indulgent rich man gorges on expensive food 7 days a week in a land where most people might have meat once in a week.8 In his day people eat with their hands...the wealthy wipe their hands “on hunks of bread (that are) thrown away (& this is) what Lazarus (eats).”9
Notice: The rich man does not have Lazarus thrown off the premises or object to his eating the bread...10 The rich man’s sin is doing nothing.11 He “(wallows) in luxury (&) accepts Lazarus' suffering “as...natural & inevitable...”12
You may recall from your Bible studies: wealth & health have been seen as God’s blessing good people, & poverty & sickness mean punishment for sin.
We hear this distortion of reality expressed in our world today.
Our Gospel says some people learn too late. The wealthy leaders in Jeremiah’s day learn too late.13 Our lesson from Jeremiah is during the siege of Jerusalem. The city is about to fall. So why does Jeremiah buy real estate? Property “is totally worthless…”14
Jeremiah buys it to obey God.
He & his cousin seal the deal with witnesses. This lesson gives us the Bible’s most detailed description of a business deal.15
It is fascinating to know: Documents have been found in jars “in caves near the dead Sea”16 & in Egypt,17 & a clay seal with the name Baruch son of Neriah was discovered in Jerusalem in a house destroyed in a siege, as the Jewish Study Bible notes.18 Today's lesson says Jeremiah gives the deed to Baruch son of Neriah. Remember: Baruch means “blessed”.

Signing the deed, Jeremiah expresses hope. He knows God promises: “Houses & fields & vineyards shall again be bought in this land.” Jeremiah trusts God’s redemption & the promised future restoration...19 Jeremiah trusts God's saving help.
God’s saving help is abundantly clear in Jesus’ story about Lazarus, the only parable in which anyone has a name: The name Lazarus means “God is my help.”20

Remember: God is our help. God's great love gives us new life & new work to share God’s liberating love in this hurting world. We do this work with God's help.
Remember: Because God is gracious, we can afford to be generous, to see our wealth, our resources, ourselves as gifts to be shared, to use for good, to have courage to do something audacious like Jeremiah does.
What audacious action is God calling us to do as the Body of Christ at St. Francis?


Bibliography
Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke Revised Ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
“Baruch”. http://www.aish.com/jl/l/b/48967016.html. Accessed: 20 Sept. 2016.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Book That Breathes New Life: Spiritual Authority and Biblical Theology. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press. 2005.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2001.
Davidson, Robert. The Daily Study Bible Series: Jeremiah Vol. 2 and Lamentations. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1985.
Fonseca, Isabel. Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1995.
The Four Translation New Testament. Minneapolis: World Wide Publications. New York: The Iversen Assocs. 1966.
“Hanamel (Chanamel). http://biblehub.com/hebrew/2606.htm . Accessed: 20 Sept. 2016.
Handy Dictionary of the Bible. Gen. Ed: Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondrvann Publishing House. 1965.
Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Harper's Bible Dictionary. General ED: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers. 1985.
Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 2001.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. 1973.

1 Thank you to our 2 licensed lay leaders who read this sermon at our morning worship services so that we all shared the same focus despite our being apart.
2 “Hanamel (Chanamel)”. http://biblesuite.com/hebrew/2606.htm. Accessed: 20 Sept. 2016.
3 “Baruch”. http://www.aish.com/jl/l/b/48967016.html. Accessed: 20 Sept. 2016.
4 Note: I heard this story years ago and do not recall its source. Internet search says the allegory is told in several cultures, including Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_long_spoons
5 Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd Edition. P. 92. Note: Concept of numbness also influenced by
Brueggemann lectures & other work listed in bibliography below.
6 Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke Revised Ed. P. 213.
7 Fonseca, Isabel. Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. P. 104.
8 Barclay. Gospel of Luke. P. 213.
9 Ibid. Pp. 213-214.
10 Ibid. P. 214.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Matthews, Victor H. Social World of the Hebrew Prophets. P. 130.
14 Ibid.
15 The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. P. 956.
16 Davidson, Robert. The Daily Study Bible Series: Jeremiah Vol. 2 and Lamentations. P. 94.
17 The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. P. 956.
18 Ibid. Jewish Study Bible. P. 992.
19 Ibid. P. 992.
20 Ibid. Barclay.
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Sunday, September 18, 2016

Hope Serves as Balm to Heal Despair

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 18th Sunday after Pentecost, 18 Sept. 2016
Proper 20 Year C RCL: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1–7; Luke 16:1–13
Despair & hope, virtue & dishonor speak to us in our scriptures today.
We hear what sounds like despair when the dishonest manager in our Gospel learns he will lose his job. In an odd way we hear hope in God's lament in Jeremiah: “Is there no balm in Gilead?”....
....Yes, there is! God knows this!
Gilead is known for its trees which produce oils & medicinal resin1, which are processed to become this balm to soothe aches & pains. East of the Jordan River & south of the Golan Heights,2 Gilead is known for the major trade route through it3 on which caravans carried balm from Gilead.4
What is this balm like? My internet research reveals it has a sweet, heavenly aroma reminiscent of spring.5 Here are 3 kinds of balm I use for various aches. How heavenly & sweet do they smell? [Time for congregation to test & respond.]
We’ll be able to evaluate for ourselves how lovely balm of Gilead is after my order arrives this week! I held onto hope of finding it in Goldsboro to have it here today, but I have to wait, trusting it will arrive.
Life challenges God's people who have to wait, trusting healing balm will arrive in our lives in dire situations.
Despite the dire situation in Jeremiah's prophecy, God whispers hope for healing. In desperation about losing his job, the dishonest manager in our Gospel makes an honest analysis of his abilities & trusts for a positive result. Quickly he uses his craftiness to secure his future. What seems like despair turns into hope.
It's easy to overlook the virtue of the dishonest manager's honest self analysis. He admits he's too weak to do physical labor & too proud to beg. Being too proud to beg may be a virtue: His self-respect demands that he use his skill to earn a living.
In his case, his skill is manipulating the business world!
Notice: he's not the only one manipulating the system. The debtors make no protest about shaving something off their bills.6 As one Bible commentator says:
This “is a story about as choice a set of rascals as one could meet...”7
Jesus commends the cheat in our Gospel to teach the disciples [& you & me] about devotion. We are what we practice. We are where our hearts are. What we are devoted to reveals our values, our virtues.

Jesus tells us to look clearly & honestly at what we do with what we value, to look honestly at our relationships, including our relationship with wealth, with our material resources.
We cannot serve God & wealth.
We can reverse this & have our wealth – our resources – serve God.
As this poem in Celtic Praise says:

“When I give alms to the poor,
Let me not congratulate myself.
Let there be no pride in my act.
The wealth I possess is on loan;
God has made me its steward.
I am (God's) hands & (God's) heart...
Let my alms be received as (God's) gift.”8

Our priorities matter. Where our devotion lies matters. So many people try to serve two masters. (I know this. I've done it!) We earn our livings at 8-5 jobs, yet our devotion lies in the passion which comes alive on weekends, at night, in spare time as we play in a band, play with family, belly dance, travel, garden, create art, cook, work in the soup kitchen.9
In the parable about the dishonest manager, Jesus teaches us to commit to how we will live. As we center our devotion on God, we grow into a deeper relationship with God. We grow more grounded in God's love, which we know through Jesus' self-giving on the cross.
We do not deserve this gift.
God gives us this gift because God sees us as
beloved children.
As members of the Body of Christ, our prayers are mighty to transform bad into good, despair into hope, just as Jesus transforms us. When things don't seem to change from bad into good & we want to give up, we must see with God's eyes, see God's perspective, which we hear in Jeremiah.
Although it sounds like despair, Jeremiah expresses hope. He affirms God's love. We hear a whisper of God's hope when God says: “Is there no balm in Gilead?” God speaks this hope for healing, hope which grows louder as God says: “O that my head were a spring of water, & my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day & night...” God does not want to give up on us. Crying means there is hope.
Where there are no tears, people have given up, as we hear in this story Tom Long quotes in What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering & the Crisis of Faith. He shares this story of children in a psychiatric hospital:10

"[It] was a kind of warehouse of human misery. Hundreds of children with severe disabilities were lying neglected, on their cots. There was a deadly silence. Not one of them was crying. When they realize that nobody cares, that nobody will answer them, children no longer cry. It takes too much energy. We cry out only when there is hope that someone may hear us."11
We cry out only when there is hope
that someone may hear us.

God cries out in Jeremiah.

God KNOWS somewhere on earth someone

WILL hear.

God knows YOU will hear. YOU will respond.

You will provide balm from Gilead.

You will BE healing balm from Gilead.




Bibliography

Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke Revised Ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1975.
Dios Habla Hoy: La Biblia. 2da Ed. Nueva York: Sociedad Bíblica Americana. 1983.
Fonseca, Isabel. Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. 1995.
The Four Translation New Testament. Minneapolis: World Wide Publications. New York: The Iversen Assocs. 1966.
Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.
Harper's Bible Dictionary. Gen. Ed: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers. 1985.
The New Complete Works of Josephus. Revised and Expanded Edition. Translator: William Whiston. Commentator: Paul L. Maier. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications.n1999.
Holy Bible with the Apocrypha. New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press. 1989.
Jewish Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society Tanakh Translation. New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Long, Thomas G. What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2011.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition. New York: Oxford University Press. 1973.
Van de Weyer, Robert. Celtic Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion, Daily Prayers and Blessings. Nashville: Abingdon Press. 1998.
Websites checked re Balm of Gilead & listed in order accessed 16 Sept. 2016 are as follows:
http://learningherbs.com/remedies-recipes/balm-of-gilead/ “Make Balm of Gilead / Cottonwood Oil”. LearningHerbs. John Gallagher. Copyright © 2016 Accessed 16 Sept. 2016.
http://www.wildernesscollege.com/cottonwood-salve.html “How to Make Cottonwood Salve”. Jason Knight.
http://gnowfglins.com/2015/03/17/balm-of-gilead-the-do-it-all-poplar-salve-its-spring-in-a-jar/ “Balm of Gilead: The “Do-It-All” Poplar Salve {it’s spring in a jar!}”. Wardee Harmon.


1 Harper's Bible Dictionary. General ED: Paul J. Achtemeier. P. 90.
2 Jewish Study Bible: Tanakh Translation. P. 943.
3 Harper's Bible Dictionary. P. 348.
4 Ibid. Jewish Study Bible. P. 943.
5 Note: See sites listed in Bibliography.
6 Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke Revised Ed. P. 207-208.
7 Ibid. P. 207.
8 Van de Weyer, Robert. “Wealth As Loan.” Celtic Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion, Daily Prayers and Blessings. P. 13.
9 Note: Perspective influenced by Barclay. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke. Pp. 209-210.
10 Long, Thomas G. What Shall We Say? Evil, Suffering, and the Crisis of Faith. P. 147. Note: Long shares this experience described by Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche communities.

11 Ibid. Long quotes from Vanier’s Becoming Human. Toronto: House of Anansi Press. 1998. P. 9. Emphasis mine on is.
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Sunday, September 11, 2016

“Amazing Grace: How Sweet the Sound”

Homily by The Rev. Marcia McRae
St. Francis Episcopal Church, Goldsboro, NC; 17th Sunday after Pentecost, 11 Sept. 2016
Proper 19 Year C RCL: Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; 1 Timothy 1:12–17; Luke 15:1–10
Jesus says: “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
It took a storm at sea to help slave ship captain John Newton to see that what we do matters, to see himself as a lost sheep & to repent.
God used the fierce storm & the religious classic, Imitation of Christ, which Newton was reading on board, to help him see anew.1
He tells us of God's amazing grace in the hymn he wrote in 1773.2
“Amazing Grace!
How sweet the sound that saved
a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.”3
Now I see differently his words about this sweet sound4.
As a ship captain, the “sweet sound” may not be a sound he hears. A sound may be an inlet he sees in the sea5, a safe harbor in the storm.
This amazing grace lets Newton see with new eyes that how he was living6 separated him from God, despite its being acceptable in his day.

God uses many ways to find & save the lost. We may help the lost one. We may misplace something valuable, like the lost coin, putting it where it accidentally falls into a dark corner. We may be the sheep mindlessly, merrily munching grass & getting lost. However unintentionally our lost-ness may happen, what we do matters – individually & to our brothers & sisters in the human family.

God uses people, including St. Paul, to help the blind to see. St. Paul sees with new eyes after his dramatic encounter with Jesus literally blinds him. He has been violently persecuting his fellow Jews who follow Jesus. Paul struggles to keep them in line with God's law – as he understands it.

When Paul sees with new eyes, he repents & returns to God in a new way. All Paul's learning, knowledge of scripture, devotion to God are transformed & useful in his new work teaching God's Good News of Jesus' saving life, death & resurrection.

We hear this Good News in Jesus' parable: God cherishes being in holy relationship with us. God seeks us for holy relationship. God holds back from breaking our relationship.
In our 1st lesson, Jeremiah’s poetic description of disaster may sound like hyperbole describing ancient troubles far away. Think of current news & pictures of earthquakes in Italy, Peru, Oklahoma & of destruction in Syria. Remember images from 15 years ago on Sept. 11th.

Remember the joy, the relief of learning someone special to you has survived a tough situation, perhaps missed it entirely by not being there, such as missing a flight that crashes. Think of people late for work & not in the Pentagon or the Twin Towers on 911.

I know the relief of learning loved ones in DC are safe & the grief colleagues in New York shared of friends who did go to work in the Towers & their own fear as they ran to safety in the city under those clouds of smoke.

I remember our joy of being returned to relationship when the earthquake in Mexico City separated my family & me when I was a child asleep upstairs & my family were downstairs playing. When the shaking stopped, Daddy tested the stairs, quickly gathered his scared lost sheep & returned me to the family.

Think of the joy we have seen as survivors have been pulled to safety from rubble in Italy’s recent earthquakes.
Imagine the delight when Romeo, the golden retriever, was rescued 9 days after the quake & the cat, Pietro, was pulled free 15 days after the quake.7
Such stories may help us understand what Jesus says about “joy...over one sinner who repents.”
If we feel such joy over the rescue of pets, maybe we have some idea of the joy in heaven when one more beloved child of God in the human family is pulled from separation in the rubble of sin & returns to full relationship.

Whether our choices are deliberate or inadvertent, God is ready to redeem us. “God seeks healing & wholeness [for us]...,not an end to (our) relationship.”8 
God extends grace to us AND through us.
God calls Jeremiah & Paul in their days. Now God calls you & me to find the lost sheep.

You & I are among the 99 sheep the Good Shepherd can leave. We are safe. We are in community. In this holy relationship, we help & protect each other. We promise this in our Baptismal Covenant. We are asked: “Will you...do all in your power to support these persons in their life in Christ?” We promise: “We will.”9

All in our power includes our prayers, our wisdom, sharing, listening, caring. This is stewardship, giving of our time, our abilities, our resources. We offer this in many ways, for example at the Soup Kitchen where we speak with our guests, & offering gifts to Dillard School, some of which we will bless today.

We know divisions exist, including in Goldsboro. Remembering the deaths & destruction on 911 & seeing continuing destruction & violence in in many places [including Goldsboro, Raleigh, Durham & Fayetteville] remind us of our divisions, anger, hate, prejudice.

Children who lost a parent on 911 & loved ones of people around the world killed by violence may help us overcome divisions.
These young people participate in a camp [part of Project Common Bond begun in 2008] at Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania.10

Participants who shared their stories & insights this year include:
◦ a Palestinian,
◦ an Israeli,
◦ a Muslim girl dressed in hijab,
◦ an American teen, son of a first responder who died at the Twin Towers,
◦ a war weary Middle East participant who wants to work for peace but feels discouraged,
◦ a participant from Northern Ireland says: “Don't give up...we've gotten there. It's not perfect; we didn't think it was going to happen but it did.”11

A therapist at the camp says, “sharing their stories & seeing across cultural divides” leads to better understanding to help “break the cycle of anger & violence.”12
Understanding someone more fully, we can think differently about them.13

“[These young people] recoil every time there is news of another bombing, another massacre...They weather each attack with empathy & wisdom. And a visceral desire to build a more peaceful world.”14
A participant posted on a bulletin board this note about peace:

“It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things & still be calm in your heart.”15

Peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work.
Peace means to be in the midst of those things
&
still be calm in your heart.


Bibliography
“Another deadly quake hits northern Italy”. Accessed: 09 Sept. 2016. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/9297715/Another-deadly-earthquake-hits-northern-Italy.html

The American College Dictionary. ED-in-Chief: C.L. Barnhart. New York: Random House. 1966.

Basu, Moni. Wayne Drash. “ Camp for young people touched by terror”. CNN Updated 12:20 PM ET, 8 Sept. 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/world/children-of-terror-camp/ Accessed: 9 Sept. 2016

Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to the New Testament. New York: Doubleday. 1997.

Brueggemann, Walter. Journey to the Common Good. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press. 2010.
Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. 2nd Edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 2001.
http://earthquaketrack.com/quakes/2016-09-10-10-08-19-utc-6-0-114 Accessed: 10 Sept. 2016.

Eberhart, Christian A. “Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:12-17”. Accessed: 08 Sept. 2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1768.

Hallelujah: The Poetry of Classic Hymns. ED: Anna Marlis Burgard. Berkley: Celestial Arts. 2005.

Harper’s Bible Commentary. Gen. Ed: James L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row Publishers. 1988.

The Hymnal 1982. New York: Church Publishing, Inc. 1985.

Jacobo, Julia, “Cat Pulled From Rubble 15 Days After Italy Earthquake”. Accessed: 9 Sept. 2016. http://abcnews.go.com/International/cat-pulled-rubble-15-days-italy-earthquake/story?id=41959208

Macpherson, James. “'Our cause is just,' says tribal leader in protest”. The News & Observer. 4 Sept. 2016.

Malcolm, Lois. “Commentary on Luke 15:1-10”. Accessed: 8 Sept. 2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1782.

Miller, Ken. “Quake opens new doubts on fracking”. The News & Observer. 4 Sept. 2016.

Wines, Alphonetta. “Commentary on Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28”. Accessed: 8 Sept. 2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1763.


1 Hallelujah: The Poetry of Classic Hymns. ED: Anna Marlis Burgard. P. 38.
2 Newton, John. Hymn #671. The Hymnal 1982. New York: Church Publishing, Inc. 1985. Note: Idea re this hymn for this week's lesson is from Christian A. Eberhart's “Commentary on 1 Timothy 1:12-17”. Accessed: 8 Sept. 2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1768.
3 Ibid.
4 Note: This perspective I discovered in a Daughters of the King study when we delved into the different meanings of familiar words.
5 The American College Dictionary. ED-in-Chief: C.L. Barnhart. P.1154.
6 Ibid. Hallelujah.
7 Jacobo, Julia, “Cat Pulled From Rubble 15 Days After Italy Earthquake”. Accessed: 9 Sept. 2016. http://abcnews.go.com/International/cat-pulled-rubble-15-days-italy-earthquake/story?id=41959208
8 Wines, Alphonetta. “Commentary on Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28”. Accessed: 8 Sept. 2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1763.
9 The Book of Common Prayer. New York: Church Publishing, Inc. 1986. P. 303.
10 Basu, Moni. Wayne Drash. “ Camp for young people touched by terror”. CNN Updated 12:20 PM ET, 8 Sept. 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/06/world/children-of-terror-camp/ Accessed: 9 Sept. 2016.
11 Ibid.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.
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