I know y'all get tired of hearing me brag about our choir, but take a listen to this anthem; it's not sung by us, but it is the same arrangement, and we learned it in 15 minutes this morning and performed it a cappello. Then tell me we're not "way above average!" David rewarded us with a silent "Perfect!" when we finished and the biggest grin I've seen all day. We are blessed, truly blessed, and hopefully we bless others in return.

Locus iste a Deo factus est,

inaestimabile sacramentum,

irreprehensibilis est.

.

This place was made by God,

an inestimably holy place.

It is without blame.

.

Molly preached one of the best sermons I've heard her preach to date, on a Gospel passage she has managed to avoid preaching on for 27 years, she said.

.

Luke 12:49-56 (NRSV) "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law." He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, "It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, "There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

She presented the fire from heaven as "the father's passion" rather than a destructive force; God, not as indifferent to us, but rather caring for us passionately and wanting us to care for him passionately. I like that much better than the hellfire and brimstone sermons a lot of preachers like to preach on this scripture.