Breathing is Sacred

If you have been following my blog over the past year you will notice that every now and then I share poems by John Roedel* that I come across on facebook that resonate with me on a number of levels.

These personal conversations with God that John shares I’ve found quite relevant to my own journey of life and faith.

Especially today as I’m sitting in Hutt Hospital again having another infusion of Rituximab.

Because there have been moments in my life where I’ve struggled with breathing. That’s what Interstitial Lung Disease associated with Scleroderma can do to you – for the most part my lung capacity sits between 50-60%, occasionally, if I have any kind of inflammation in my body it can drop below 40%.

Think on that for just a moment – How would you cope if your lungs were operating at about 50-60%?

The thing is, breathing is one of the most basic functions of the human body as it not only fuels the body with oxygen, every system in our bodies relies on “the breath of life”.

Effective breathing provides you with the essentials of life, it provides a greater sense of mental clarity, it can also help you sleep better, digest food more efficiently, improve your body’s immune response, and reduce stress levels.

But when it is impaired through rare disorders and diseases such as Interstitial Lung Disease associated with Scleroderma, which is also seen as an invisible disability, it can affect you in a myriad of ways.
You can read about my health journey here.

Interstitial Lung Disease certainly makes you appreciate the importance of breathing.

However, I had never thought about breathing being sacred and that it can be a beautiful prayer.

Breathing is Sacred

Me: Hey God.
God: Hey John.

Me: My mind is such a mess right now.
God: It would probably be wise if you didn’t focus so much on your thoughts today.

Me: I know. I’m sure what you will say next is that you want me to focus on the beating of my heart.
God: That does sound like something I would say, doesn’t it?

Me: Yeah – but my heart isn’t much better.
God: I can see that. Actually, I was about to tell you that should focus on your lungs.

Me: My lungs?
God: Yes, your breathing. Focus on your breathing.

Me: I can’t. I think I’m having a panic attack. It’s hard to breathe.
God: Close your eyes. Inhale. Focus on the air in your lungs and the gift of life you have been given. Hold onto your breath for a moment and you will feel my arms wrap around you. I am with you here. This day is not yours alone to face. I am here. I am here. With every breath you take I am here with you. You will not have to endure your anxiety alone. Exhale and allow yourself to feel the peace of my presence.

Me: I don’t think I am going to make it through this whole day.

God: Don’t worry about your entire day. Just worry about the next breath you are going to take. Take another breath. Hold on to it. Remember that I have loved you since the first star was ever born. Then exhale and rest in Me. Keep doing that over and over until it happens…

Me: Until what happens?
God: The exact moment where stop taking breathing for granted and you begin treating it like the prayer it is.

Me: Wait – breathing is a prayer?
God: It can be if you allow it to be. If you treat breathing as sacred it will become one of the most beautiful prayers you will ever offer and you will hear My sweet song that I am constantly singing back to you.

Me: What’s Your song called?
God: Be still and know that I am God.

* * * * * * * * * * *

when my angry brain
is racing my poor heart
to see which one
will break down first

my lungs become
the eye of the storm
and I begin to inhale

grace
and peace
and a love that I cannot imagine

and suddenly I am not
alone in my dark room
anymore

God is here
and has turned my
jagged breathing
into an instrument
of mercy

playing the loveliest ballad
I have ever heard

God sings

“Be still.
Be still.
Be still.
I am here.
Be still.
All is well.
Be still.
I am God.
Be still.
Fall into My love.
Be still.
I am here.”

During my darkest
nights I allow God
to use my lungs as
a piano
and I know that
I will never be alone.

breathing in grace
breathing out redemption
breathing in grace
breathing out redemption

breathing is my new favorite prayer

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* John Roedel is a comic, husband and father of three boys based in Wyoming who began talking with “God” in 2015 on Facebook about his ongoing faith crisis.

What began as a flippant way of making light of his doubts in the Divine turned into something he wasn’t at all prepared for:

God wrote back.

Since creating the popular “Hey God. Hey John.” blog on Facebook three years ago, John has tackled such topics as his journey to mental health wellness, his lack of faith, the joy and pain of raising a child with autism, and grief, all in the form of a simple conversation with God.

You can pick up a copy of John’s latest book ‘Upon Departure’, a collection of poetry that explores the concept that our grief is a natural wonder that terraforms the landscape of our world in increments, from Amazon (Australia) here.

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The Hopes and Fears of All the Years are Met in Thee

The following words have been written by a good friend of mine here in Wellington, whom I did a ‘Spotlight on Ministry‘ for a couple of years ago.

Colin has become a very strong and vocal advocate for a group of people who are often marginalised within our community, within the church, and even within society at large (although this is changing slowly over time). I was also privileged to be asked by him to contribute towards a Lenten reflection for the Salvos For A More Inclusive Church in the build up to Easter 2021.

Today we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent, which is a season of the liturgical year observed in most Christian denominations; a time of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas, and the return of Christ at the Second Coming.

Here are Colin’s random thoughts inspired by some of the Christmas Carols that we sing at this time of year as we approach the celebration of Christ’s birth.

The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.

With these words from “O little town of Bethlehem” (SASB #118), we are reminded that today is the First Sunday of Advent for 2022.

That means that around the world today, Christian congregations will be gathering to light the first candle of Advent, “Hope”.

When Phillips Brooks wrote the words in 1868, would he have any concept that we would be singing them 154 years later? Furthermore when The Salvation Army introduced the carol to our worship services, can we grasp just how new and fresh the words would have been for those early day Salvationists?

For us, we look back on words that may seem a little dated and question how are they relevant today. We understand that the message would speak of the hope of the coming Messiah and how that would dispel the fears of living in a world of governed by Mosaic law rather than days of grace.

You see, without the Christmas narrative, there would be no Easter Sunday story with Jesus conquering over death and His resurrection.

So I find myself asking some more contemporary questions.

“What are the hopes and fears from 2022 that you look forward to being met as you are reminded of the nativity story?” and “What are the messages about hope that you are passing on to your families, friends and your congregations?”

One of the major impacts that Jesus had here on earth was the way He taught people through parables. Stories that were contemporary, that had meaning, and would be understood by those hearing them.

A good example of this is how Jesus uses the imagery of being a shepherd looking after the sheep. In Jewish culture, this would have deep meaning as sheep were highly valued.

However when the story is repeated in other parts of the world, it would be seen as rather strange.

I remember an officer who had served in Papua New Guinea pointing out that talking about the “lost sheep” was meaningless, but if you refer to “the lost pig”, the people immediately made the connection. Here is a case of the story being adapted to meet the needs of the time.

Likewise, we can look back at words such as the carol quoted above and wonder how relevant it is today. I would suggest that the imagery the writer uses continues to speak to us and reminds us of the hope we have in Jesus. That is often the case with other well known and loved songs and carols, but I also question are we open to singing the carol with fresh insight through recrafted words?

Those who know me well also know that my absolute favourite carol is “Once in Royal David’s City”. I just need to hear the solo treble or soprano voice singing that opening line as in the King’s College setting and I’m immediately transported to the wonder of the Christmas story. The words by Cecil Frances Alexander are beautifully crafted to take us on a journey from the manger, through Christ’s youth and ministry, to the cross and then to the eternal hope that is ours.

The last verse in our songbook reminds us:

And our eyes at last shall see Him, Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle Is our Lord in Heaven above.
And He leads His children on To the place where He is gone.

But this is where things get interesting. Some years ago I attended a carol service which sang this carol, not using Cecil Frances Alexander’s words but a new 1987 version, written by John Bell and Graham Maule which is popular with the Iona Community. The words had been updated to deconstruct the sentimentalism and triumphalism embedded in the original nineteenth century lyrics by Mrs Alexander.

My initial reaction to this change was not exactly positive. I found myself wanting to hold on to that which was familiar. It was as if something sacred had been overturned.

There was a rawness in the language, in fact the first verse had me focusing on how prurient the words were.

The truth is, had I missed the point!

Then as I reflected on the words I began to understand that like the parables of Jesus, we need to be open to moving forward in our understanding, and our theology and if that means questioning a few sacred cows then so be it.

The same goes for how The Salvation Army is responding to the message of inclusion. For some, this is a pathway that is far too wide, while others are busy building bridges across the divide.

Here are the refreshed words of the new setting:

Once in Judah’s least known city,
stood a boarding house with back-door shed,
Where an almost single-parent mother,
tried to find her new born son a bed.
Mary’s mum and dad went wild
when they heard their daughter had a child.

He brought into earth a sense of heaven,
Lord of none and yet the Lord of all;
and his shelter always was unstable,
for his mission was beyond recall.
With the poor, with those least holy,
Christ the King was pleased to live so lowly.

Can he be our youth and childhood’s pattern
when we know not how he daily grew?
Was he always little, weak and helpless,
did he share our joys and problems too?
In our laughter, fun and madness,
does the Lord of love suspect our gladness?

Not in that uncharted stable,
With the village gossips standing by,
But in heaven we shall see him –
Here as much as up above the sky –
If, in love for friend and stranger,
We embrace the contents of the manger.

And it is that last line brings it all together for me. Rather than repeat to the gospel truth of the original version, “And He leads His children on To the place where He is gone”, I want my life to reflect this new understanding;

“If, in love for friend and stranger, We embrace the contents of the manger.”

That for me is what “The hopes and fears of all the years, are met in Thee tonight” really means.

May you have a blessed Advent season as you rediscover the Christ child in the manger and share the message that he calls us to pass on.

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For your listening pleasure I have included below O Little Town of Bethlehem, as featured on Sounds of Christmas World of Brass Ensemble.

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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Spiramentum Ministries

Want some time out from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and / or ministry?

Do you need an opportunity to pause, relax, or decide what to do next? Maybe you need a place to refocus, rest, or even take a respite?

Possibly you simply need some time and space to get away from it all for a while and talk to someone who will just listen?

Then Spiramentum Ministries
might be right for you!

Spiramentum Ministries aims to provide Breathing Space, comprising faith-based life coaching, accountability partnership, mentoring, pastoral support and care, natural character development (NCD) and more.

Over the past few years or so I have grown to really appreciate moments in the day, week, month or year just to simply stop and take stock of all the things that I’m currently striving after.

For me, health issues and ministry stresses have compounded the need for the body and soul to slow down and concentrate on the things that really matter in life. I know I’m not the only one!

Many people also have moments where they just need to take time out and focus.

Unfortunately, many people don’t allow themselves the time and space to do this and they end up going from one issue to another, or one crisis to another and wonder why they don’t seem to be making any ‘real or true‘ progress.

As Christians one of the biggest travesties (the false, absurd, or distorted way) of looking at ministry and even faith in general, is that we need to be busy. Which is something that the Western Church especially has manifested over the past few decades or more – we fill our days with doing more and congratulating ourselves when we have worn ourselves out for God.

Busyness a challenge and a curse.

The trouble with this approach though, is that the more busy we get the less time we have for some of the more (if not most) important things in life, if we are not careful 😦

It is as if “we wear our busyness like a badge of honour, like an identity or proof of worthiness. But maybe, we’ve got it wrong.“

In our busyness we often neglect God’s goodness, His grace and His mercy.

You see, God’s goodness in the midst of everything is extremely important to focus on because it provides us hope in the darkest of times. Unfortunately though this appears to often get crowded out by the busyness of life and faith, and I know plenty of ministers that have stepped away from church and in some cases faith completely, due to the constraints put on them, and by the pressures of maintaining the busyness of church life.

They have started focussing on the wrong things in amongst the busyness and become more and more frustrated, and lost sight of the things that they need to remain true to.

How about you? Where are you at?

Are you coming to the end of the year and feeling completely drained of all life?

Are you hanging out for the holiday break, longing for some down time just so that you’re ready for whatever the new year will bring?

Are you struggling to keep your head above water as you approach the end of this year?

If you’re truly honest with yourself, are you just a little concerned about what new challenges the next year might bring and not sure if you can take another hit? Then Spiramentum Ministries may be able to help you in the new year and beyond. 

I am currently working on expanding a project that when up and running can potentially help provide you with some Breathing Space, which I hope you’ll want to be a part of and that you will grow to appreciate more and more as we each endeavour to do God’s work in whatever setting He has placed us in 🙂

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White Ribbon Day

Tomorrow is White Ribbon Day, a day when people wear a white ribbon to show that they do not condone violence towards women.

It was started in Canada in 1991 and has been officially adopted by the United Nations as its International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The campaign was introduced to New Zealand by UNIFEM (the United Nations Development Fund for Women) in 2004 and the Families Commission became the lead agency in 2006.

White Ribbon Day celebrates the many men willing to show leadership and commitment to promoting safe, healthy relationships within families and encourages men to challenge each other on attitudes and behaviour that are abusive.

Unfortunately, in New Zealand most violence by men against women takes place in the home – with an average of 14 women a year killed by their partners or ex-partners. Each year there are over 3,500 convictions recorded against men for assaults on women and one in five women will experience sexual assault or sexual interference at some point in their lives.

This years White Ribbon Campaign promotes healthy masculinity through adapting the phrase “Boys will be Boys“, where they’re taking back this phrase that excuses poor behaviour and flipping it on its head.

There are awesome things about being a boy that we need to celebrate.

• Boys have heart – encourage them to show it, not just in being tough or brave or strong but in showing that they care.
• Boys can and should cry – it’s part of being human and it serves a purpose, expressing your feelings allows you to work through them – bottling up emotions isn’t healthy.
• Boys can play sport, be part of a team, like fast cars and still stand up and speak out when they hear others being abusive.
• Boys are loyal friends and can call others in – have a quiet chat with a mate if he says something abusive or offensive about girls or women, don’t just let it go. Share your feelings, ask why they feel that way – you can help. Be the change you want to see in the world. Every person can make a difference.

Raise Awareness!

It takes strength and bravery to stand up and speak out in a world that too often wants to limit you to stereotypical gender roles.

We need to celebrate the good we see in our young men and change the script.

Men can be part of the solution!

Talk to your son or the boys in the team you coach, or at your school about being a good human and what that looks like in your daily life. Be an ally and help them make good choices.

So many of the hyper masculine stereotypes hurt men as well as women. If we look at violence, not just against women, but also between men, incarceration rates, mental health struggles and suicide statistics, it is obvious these perceived rules of masculinity are broken and hurt men.

We need to give our sons and all the boys in our lives the tools for a healthy violence-free life. Everyone feels angry, there is no shame in that – we just need to work on how we express these emotions in a way that helps not hurts us. Both men and women benefit from equality.

Check out the White Ribbon site and its download section for new online resources including posters, Facebook and Instagram resources, videos, Toolboxes and other helpful campaign tools or the campaign outline for more info.

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Cultivate Your Gifts and Abilities

All of us have unused skills, gifts and abilities. Maybe you’re still trying to figure out what yours are, or you’ve had to set them aside for a while so that you can concentrate on other things that you feel were more important up until now.

Possibly you’ve ignored them because of life’s circumstances and made a number of sacrifices throughout your life up until this point in time.

But now you have a desire to start using them, or you’ve even got a sense that something is driving you to change your focus and start fulfilling what it is that those latent skills, gifts and abilities were there for. You see, God has given them to you for a reason – He wants us each to use them to serve Him and others! 

Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life says that when we use our skills, gifts and abilities God smiles, “God intentionally gifted us differently for His enjoyment. He made some to be athletic and some to be analytical. You may be gifted at mechanics or mathematics or music or a thousand other skills. All these abilities can bring a smile to God’s face.”

Psalm 33:15 says “He has shaped each person in turn; now he watches everything we do.” (The Message)   

Below are three ways that Rick Warren* has shared to help us each start cultivating our gifts and abilities so that we can use them for good and for God’s glory. 

1. Estimate your gifts and abilities.

Do an assessment of your life, an audit of your gifts and abilities. Make a list. What are you good at? Know your weaknesses. Consider the capabilities God has given you.

2. Dedicate your gifts and abilities.

Commit them to God for the use He intended. Romans 12:1 says, “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him” (Good News Translation).

Pray this prayer, “God, you gave me these gifts and abilities. Now I’m going to give them back to you. I want to use them for the purpose for which you intended.”

3. Cultivate your gifts and abilities.

That means to practice, improve, sharpen, and develop. Any gift and ability that God has given you can be increased with practice.

The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10:10, “If the ax is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success” (New International Version).

How do you gain skill? Practice. God says a dull ax takes more energy; you need to sharpen your ax. In other words, work smarter, not harder. Sharpening your gifts and abilities—your aptitudes and skills—is a spiritual responsibility.

God has invested enormously in you.

First, God created you; and he shaped you with spiritual gifts and abilities, and personality.

He then sent his son Jesus to die for you. God has made a great investment in your life! And he expects a return on the investment.

He’s going to ask you one day, “What did you do with what I gave you? How did you use your gifts and abilities to honor me, serve others, make a living, and be an example? How did you use them to help other people?”

In Luke 12:43, Jesus said, “When the master comes and finds the servant doing his work, the servant will be blessed” (New Century Version).

The thing is, God wants to bless your life!

We each have a roll to play in this thing called life, God has assigned us with specific tasks to do and He has provided us with unique gifts and abilities to complete them.

And when God looks at you, he wants to see you using your gifts and abilities in the way that He intended so that you’ll experience His blessing.

The Ultimate Gift-giver

The thing is, God is the most generous gift-giver you can ever know. Think on that for a few moments.

He has given us so many things in life that when we take the time to acknowledge just a few of them we can be left feeling a little dumbfounded and in awe of all that He has done for us.

Psalm 145:3 says that the Lord is great “and most worthy of [our] praise; His greatness no one can fathom.” (New International Version)   

As human beings, we cannot even begin to comprehend the full extent of the glory of God and His greatness. He is our Creator, our King, Saviour and Lord. He is a loving, merciful, powerful, forgiving and awesome God.

God doesn’t just stop there, how about spending some time exploring some of the below gifts that the Bible says He’s given us:

Breath in our lungs (Genesis 2:7).
Family (Psalm 68:6).
Wisdom (James 1:5).
Joy (1 Thessalonians 1:6).
Freedom (1 Corinthians 1:30).
Peace (John 14:27).
Eternal life (John 3:16).

The ultimate gift God offers us is Himself!

The Bible tells us that God gave Himself to us in physical form in the person of Jesus. And when the time came for Jesus to return to His Father in heaven, He gave His presence to His followers to live within them — His Holy Spirit.

Spiritual Gifts

God gives us His Son as our greatest gift and He also equips and empowers us by giving us what we call spiritual gifts, or gifts of the Holy Spirit. When you intentionally develop and use these gifts for God, His own Spirit is working in and through you as you trust in Him.

“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” 1 Peter 4:10 (New Living Translation)

The Bible describes several spiritual gifts and the ways that Jesus followers should use them. All gifts are significant, and all come from the same Spirit. They are all meant to point people to God, and they are to be used for the good of His people.

Unfortunately, one of the largest issues and challenges facing many Christians and churches is that they don’t know their Spiritual Gifts. According to the Institute for Natural Church Development 80% of Christians that they surveyed had no idea what their spiritual gifts might be 😦 

So, if gifts come from God and are given to every Christian, how do you figure out which gifts you have? And how can you learn how to use them?

Natural Character Development has developed a trinitarian approach to identifying and developing our Spiritual Gifts which I can help explore with you 🙂

Identifying your spiritual gifts is one of the most significant discoveries you will make in your life.

Discovering your strongest areas of giftedness and how those gifts shape what you may be called to do in the world is one of the most important steps you can take to help reveal your purpose and calling in this world.  

Earlier this year I had the opportunity and privilege to complete some Natural Church Development (NCD) training to become a NCD Coach, which forms a part of the 3 Color Discipleship Series.

So, if you’d like to find out more about the NCD Spiritual Gifts Test and the coaching process drop me a line via email or leave a comment below – I’d be more than willing to let you know about the costs etc. and what is involved 🙂 

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* Originally posted on Rick Warren’s weekly Monday Encouragement, which is part of the Pastors.com ministry toolbox.

 

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“Well-Intending” Sentences That May Be Hurting the Church

I’m currently going through some posts / articles that I’ve had, either sitting in my draft posts folder, or flagged / saved in my bookmarks etc. which obviously at some stage throughout the past year appealed to me, or at least I thought would be beneficial posting at a latter date. 

I’m glad that I’m not doing this old school, going through physical folders and files, as we would have run out of room in the filing cabinet, let alone the office, a long time ago. 

The below article written by Thom S. Rainer* on the Church Answers blog is one such article worth posting and thinking over. As it certainly makes me think what language / sentences I have used, or even that I’ve been subjected to of late which could be taken the wrong way, or a different way to what others intended. 

You see, several sentences spoken about churches today seem to be affirming on the surface, but they have a negative connotation. I try to give the person articulating these sentences the benefit of the doubt by calling them well-intending. But they may not be well-intending sentences at all.

1. “The church is not the building;
it’s the people.” 
This sentence is the most common of these five, and it seems to be coinciding with attendance declines. It is biblically true on the surface, but it usually means that fewer people are gathering in the building. It is also a convenient excuse for someone who does not gather with other believers regularly.

2. “Our church is a discipleship church rather than an evangelistic church.” 
In other words, our church and its members are not reaching people with the gospel. But we will pretend it’s okay and say our members are growing more deeply as believers. The New Testament clearly affirms that a maturing disciple is an evangelistic disciple.

3. “Jesus and I get along just fine by ourselves.” 
No, you don’t. Jesus wants you to get off your idle posture and connect with other believers. From Acts 2 to Revelation 3, the Bible is about the local church or written in the context of the local church. The local church is God’s plan A, and he didn’t give us a plan B.

4. “It’s not how many are attending; it’s how many we are sending.” 
Yes, sending people is important. Indeed, it is the mission of the church. But sending is never put in opposition to attending in the New Testament. It’s both/and, not either/or.

5. “We need to grow in our discipleship before we start a new church.”
The challenge with this sentence is that the level of discipleship growth needed is never articulated. Lack of discipleship becomes a convenient excuse for not starting a new church or a new site.

You are never fully ready to start a new family. You are likewise never fully ready to start a new church. You will have to depend less on yourselves and more on the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul was clear that the life of a Christian would be challenging, even painful. Among other things, Paul was beaten, imprisoned, confronted by angry mobs, shipwrecked, worked to exhaustion, forced to endure sleepless nights, and deprived of food.

2 Corinthians 6:3-10 expands on this and how we should respond:

“As far as we are concerned we do not wish to stand in anyone’s way, nor do we wish to bring discredit on the ministry God has given us.

Indeed we want to prove ourselves genuine ministers of God whatever we have to go through – patient endurance of troubles or even disasters, being flogged or imprisoned; being mobbed, having to work like slaves, having to go without food or sleep.

All this we want to meet with sincerity, with insight and patience; by sheer kindness and the Holy Spirit; with genuine love, speaking the plain truth, and living by the power of God.

Our sole defence, our only weapon, is a life of integrity, whether we meet honour or dishonour, praise or blame. Called “impostors” we must be true, called “nobodies” we must be in the public eye. Never far from death, yet here we are alive, always “going through it” yet never “going under”. We know sorrow, yet our joy is inextinguishable. We have “nothing to bless ourselves with” yet we bless many others with true riches. We are penniless, and yet in reality we have everything worth having.” (J.B. Phillips New Testament)

Thom finishes with the statement – Our life is to be one of obedience! and the five sentences above are usually clever verbiage to cloak disobedience.

The thing is, our words can have the power to take life or give life – they can be words of encouragement or they can cause distress – Therefore, the sentences we use are extremely important and the words contained within them are powerful. 

We live in interesting and challenging times and how we as Christians, Officers, Soldiers in our local settings (the ‘Church’) use our words, act and respond is constantly being critiqued by all and sundry.

Therefore, we need to be extremely careful and vigilant with both our words and our actions. As many people will reject, or even turn away from following the Lord based on how we respond in certain circumstances, and what words (language) we use – ascertaining if our actions align with what we say.

In essence asking, are we walking the talk, or simply just talking the talk!       

You see, the above five “well-intending” sentences may just be hurting the Church, along with many others I’m sure.  

So, food for thought for each and everyone of us in today’s world – What other sentences have you used, or been subjected to, which could be classified as “well-intending” sentences?

Blessings ’til next time 🙂

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* Thom is the author of more than two dozen books including; I Am a Church Member, Breakout Churches, Autopsy of a Deceased Church, Who Moved My Pulpit?, and Anatomy of a Revived Church.

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