Our Nostalgia for a World that never quite existed is a Nostalgia, a hoping for the Living and True World of the Living and True God, where God’s creativity becomes unrestrained by human sin and corruption, where we can live in fullness with Jesus, all the saints, the living, the imaginary, and the true.

For Chesterton, this life of joy begins in the simple wonder of being alive, but it ends in loving God and loving neighbor.

There is always a temptation to move beyond the simplicity of the Good News. In ancient Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel left the revelation of God for the illusions of surrounding nations. The Christians in Irenaeus’ day were tempted to leave the Gospel behind for a supposedly deeper spiritual truth. Even today, we are surrounded by ideas and lifestyles that call to us to leave behind the archaic Gospel truth in favor of supposedly deeper spiritual ideas.

The friends of God become people who enter into communion, into friendship with one another. And these friendships have stretched across the ages.

Song Across the Ages Pentecost 16A Rev. Doug Floyd (this is a transcript of audio) In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen. Throughout the season of Pentecost, we have been meditating in various ways upon the role of discipleship. Last week, had brought a convicting word about forgiveness…

You know, to forgive is divine. It is not human. Wherever forgiveness is truly practiced, there is peace. It's always the work of the Holy Spirit, whether it is recognized, or not. Whether it happens in the church, with a brother or sister, or done in the wider world.

When Paul writes about love in Romans 12, 13, 14, and 15, he is calling the people of God who have been taken up by God's love to translate that very same into their daily lives, into the life of the church, and into the life of the community.

I have been gifted just with living, and in one sense part of sharing the gift of God is simply showing up, is simply being present, bringing this body of mine into the presence of another, being ready to serve. There might be any number of ways that I might be able to serve.

To become the witnesses of Jesus Christ in any age is to walk in the way of the cross, but it is also to walk in the way of resurrection life. It is both.

The Good News of Jesus Christ is that there is a Lord who elevates us all to his table: black, white, Jew, Native, immigrant. Jesus Christ is the Lord, the great equalizer who conquers death, that conquers hell and opens his love to all, regardless of class and color.