B45

AE Te

September 40, 1990

8:30 a.m. Worship Service
John M. Buchanan

First Presbyterian Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan

scripture
Exodus 53:17-21 a
a Luke 9: 26 _
“Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see
my back; but my face shall not be seen."
Lene “Exodus 43:23 — —,
Wha “ \ A Goa ¥
In John Updike's novel, Roger's Version, a =
Fu hercmeee

young computer whiz kid comes to a divinity school
| nna] re ere

professor with a peculiar request.) He wants a

bd

divinity school grant to prove the existence of God
i al

on a computer. \ He believes that if he can just
crunch enough numbers, ultimate mystery will be
Dern me Dy
revealed. {"God is breaking through, } he says.
( “They've been scraping away at physical reatity all

se centuries, and now the layer of the Yittle

jJeft we don't understand is so fine God’s face is

staring out at ) Ep. 203

|

The Professor, Roger, responds (0d
your whole idea aesxeesitz Ph arrretritatly
repulsive. -cmekiedeemtieee because it describes a

God who Tets himself be intellectually trapped, and
i,

ether because it eliminates faith from
religion, it takes away our freedom te believe ar
i

doubt. \" God you could prove lakes the whole thing

immensely, ch, uninteresting. Pat. Whatever else

God may be, he shouldn't be pat.” \

There is in religion an almost irresistible
OY De |

inclination to explain everything, |to reduce. the

/——eeeen,

infinite to finite, understandable terns; \to reduce
CCE en, re Fe

the great unknown, the unfathomable, mysteries of

our existence to manageable dimensions, | that 1s

the theme of a wonderful story in the Book of

The scene is Mt. Sinai in the middle of the

wi iderness. | The children of Israel recently have

Srmaderatentetanrncioenae

escaped from Pharaoh at the Red Sea.| Now they are

re,

on the move, wandering through the Sinai desert.

When they come to the mountain, God and Moses meet
and tak. For thirteen chapters or so Ged and

Moses converse and negotiate. \ Moses receives God's

Jaw in the form of Ten Commandments. | when he takes
the two tablets on which the Taw is inscribed down

to the people, he disc overs them worshipping an

idol, a golden calf.\ In a fit of rage Moses

dashes the tablets to the ground, goes back up the

mountaip_to Presume the conversation with God and

Makes a simple request: \ Give me some proof that

ar ans

I'm on the right track.) I badly need some

credibility with these people. \Bo something to

show how semigys you are and how legitimate I am.

At least tell me your plans. God's response to

Moses is, FI will go with you, and I will dive you

Ce

the victory.

That wasn't the cuestion.\ So Moses tries

again and gets an equally evasive answer. \Moses is

Fe aaaaeeieree

nothing if not determined so he tries again but

reduces his demands a pit. Tf you won't do

something to give yourself -— and me - some

credibility, at least give me samething to haid on

to, some certainty, Let me see your glory - which

_—————

the the translators tell us means(‘“the dazzling

Tight of God's presence.”) And then Moses gets an

a

answer - of sorts...

"T will make all my goodness pass before you,
and will proclaim before you my name, but you

cannot see my face." | And then this wonderful

Tittle vignette, which can easily be missed -
"there is a Place be my where you shall stand
upon the rk ae while my glory passes by

I wit] put you‘in a cleft in the rock, and

L will cover you with my hand until I have

passed by; |then I will take away my hand

and you shall see my back: hut my face

F esieentenann cme

shall not be sean." / CExedus 33:21-23]

It wasn't such an unreasonable request,

really. not unlike what we want from our

i_

revigion.\ A little certainty. | He simply wanted a

Seep ll er

clear picture of who he was following and obeying.
he wanted to be sure of himself at least before he
pushed ahead into the wilderness at the head of

that Jong column of sriping, whining, goiden caif-

worshipeing-people on their way to 4 promised land
Lae
none of them had ever seen. \rt wasn't to bes No

face-to-face encounters with God for Moses — yet.

Moses was going to have to settle for the back
side of God... a less than complete theology.

ee

Moses was going to have to be content with some

— rr

poor symbols of the reality of God instead of the
ee eins

real thing - the memory of a burning bush, two

tablets of stone, \a voice that was maddeningly

Silent when he wanted to hear it....

There is in religion an almost irresistible
ri.

inclination to try to see God's face, \to reduce the
: aren

infinite to the finite.

Dr nee ell

Every SME

cruet
Ga“ fect Z $
yon’ ca om ane

Ni yee

One time Woody Allen and Bilty Graham were on
—— aes
the same television talk show.\ Allen was asked 1f
he might convert on camera.
"T'm open £0 it. ( Life, it seems to me, is

much easier if you're a believer. | You can always
Wer

come up with easy answers.” } [cited by Martin E.
Marty, Context, Feb..£74, 1989. from Free Inquiry]

But it doesn't work There is a mystery
al ere

about us that defies exelanation. \ If yOu have

been in Tove you know that the experience is not
Daa] Dn]

adequately described as rormanes calling ta

hormones.”) If you have been privileged ta witness

human birth er human geath you knaw that there ts a
el,

moment when science is no Tonger adecauate and that

you are in the presence cf mystery. \ugan nature,

capable of exquisite beauty and the grossest evil,

Sateen

cannot be explained simply. Pissstbaaglimemiaspa=

T was reminded of an entry in Robert Cole's
Harvard Diary, the point of which was that if

religion that “knows it all" isn't adequate to the

Ce

mysteries of Vife| neither is an absolute commitment

ta scientific objectivity.; Coles tells about

See

visiting a medical school classmate who was

terminally 771. [ He found his friend furious

because he had just been visited by the chaplain

vanicinieniceerr

who was abviously a skilled practitioner of the

latest psychological (and therefore scientifically

a

respectable} methodotogy. Cow was the patient
feet ing..| How was he 'managing' in view of the

‘stress’ he had to ‘confront.’ \Did he want to

‘talk about’ what was happening?” | ‘The priest,”

says Coles, “no doubt believed himself to be

tackful, respectful and considerate, but my friend

was apnoyed and Tater Eres | He had wanted to

talk with the priest about God and his ways,\ about

Christ's life and death | about heaven and hell —

only to be approached with psychological words and

phrases. (ere he comes with a Roman collar and

mi

offers my psychological banatities as God's word.

{p. 10-12]

The stuff of your life and mine is loving,

Leta all

yearning, hoping, dreaming, stretching, reaching

beyond our grasp, (sometines succeeding and

iad

Te

sometimes falling flat on our faces, suffering.

doubting, despairing, but also rejoicing,

celebrating, praying, dying...

——

mystery, all of it; fone of it able to be reduced

ree,

to simple, understandable formulas or platitudes.

Ce

God doesn't give Moses a gocd look for Moses’

Te

awn sake. } In the Bible, if you see too much of God

you die.} If there is no mystery eft you are na

longer human, it would seem. |If there is no

i

mystery Teft you no longer have the option of

faith.

e™ Follow the disciples up the mountain of
ed

transfiguration, where - if anyone ever had a

chance to Jook into the face of God it was them -

and know with a terrible finality that they didn't

do it either.) When whatever happened on that

mountain — Jesus’ face shining, \nis appearance

altered, \nis clothing dazzling white - whatever it

§

is Mark is trying to tet] us about Jesus, what he

ends up telling us is that the disciples were

a _—

distracted, bored, sleepy through most if it; fer

ee

what they catch of it they completely

misunderstand. | The mystery remains as a cloud - \>
descends over the whole scene. X yat wwe’
~ Gwe? Wi
And so it goes throushout,? until this one, wa das au
against all the common sense advice of his best Ws
, , , Soe Ly
friends, follows his sense of God's will and watks ¥
——- Ase

into the valley of the | Shaclow of death and

Titerally climbs up onte a cross and dies.\\ There,

we, at thet Final
mystery, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross,

there the reality of God is unveiled, the truth

about God and about us is disclosed.

a

In this life we may never see otearty.| St.

Paul, who was more sure of some things than anyone

- confessed the mystery with a paienancy and
integrity we have come to love...

"Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face

to fee. | hm I know in part; then I shall

g

understand fully, even as I am fully
understood." [7 Cor. 13:12]
The promise of the Gospel is not that we will

have answers to all our questions and that al? our

quandries and dilemmas will be solved. \ The promise

of the sospet is that ultimately we will see God...

In the meantime, (like Moses, we'll have to do

with the back side of cou \a glimpse of the truth,

a hint of the glory. \In the meantime, there is

this man who livedand loved and died for us| And

untt] that day when you and I see face to face, it

Ae

1s

him to Tove us, and te hold tightly to him.

Amen.

10
(6 ue Al aee Lo Kae ul Masten of
Gene
} Noman = & AONF \our Gm vs
Our MA
4 Couse yt ts (ta a

want Vas res
midsk A urine <

September 30, 1990
8:30 and 11:00 am. Worship Services

Jann M. Buchanan
First Presbyterian Church, Kalamazoo, Michigan

scripture
Exodus 33:17-23

MARK Gi. Q2 87 34

"Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back;
but ay face shall not be seen.” -Exodus 33:23

Among the wisest words ever said to me are these...
\ "what the Christian Church needs is more belief, not more beliefs." |

It was said to me by a retired Presbyterian
ad

minister on an auspic3 jon in my lite| I
Swnionere Was A. 4 Clue
had traveled from Chicagofto my home_in Central

to be

Pennsylvania adicsilmmnedblons

De aad t
examined by my Presbytery for apdination. { Among
the requirements ainemamenes along with

il
preaching a sermon to the Presbytery and presenting
by ee

@ papeto demonstrate that you knew something
about the Bible and how to use it, \was a statement

af faith which the candidate for ardination read,

and then defended orally - in front of the entire

Presbytery.| It was a harrowing experience.
ed

Preparing that statement of faith was a harrowing
Eee ee

experience,\realizing that at this point one had to
. peadwen, @udlessly dicots,

. studying, writing papers and

"stand and deliver." \ For the purppgses af showing

fitness for ordination, I did wnat most candidates

do, I have discovered -

Namely, cover,

Lae

from creation to human.sin and salvation, from
eT Eo, el

a lot of ground, touch every base

Bible. to Church History to Eschatology,
illustrating each point with a broad range of
historical references, from the early church

Oriaqew, Lraneus,
fathers -¢ Jerome and Augustine - to the big.B's of

the 60s - Barth, Brunner, Bultmann and Bonhoeffer.
Now the saints in Pennsylvania were pot at

al1_sure why I was preparing for ministry in the

Midwest. instead of Princeton or Pittsburgh. where
most of them had matriculated. Péedeaeauygigeiiheepesenec tit L. 4
ec |

nl

tinkaeeo] was more noted for John Dewey's

progressive ideas about education, | and Enrica
al = ves

2

Fermi's atomic bomb than for turning out

theologically sound preachers. \ I recall] hoping \
—_ Pale” CepuM ES TK hee
that I could dazzie them i jn fact, they were ta hes HK”

generous and did vote me in. \1 was feejing pretty

good when among the well wishers afterward there

was this retired minister who Tived in State

Collese and had taught a little philosophy at Penn
nee

State. \I have remembered what he said with more

gratitude than anything else that happened that

day, | He said he liked my statement of faith - but
thought it was actual ly ee v9h >. said that it

was his experience the longer he Tived, that he

believed fewer things but believed them more that

his life had been a refining and sharpening. Cvour
statement of faith was good.) he said, out YOu
don’t have to betieve all that. Focus on a few

al

things and really believe in then..\ What the

Christian Church needs," he said. ("is more belief
and fewer eters")

I have found his advice to be true. | There's

a sense in which I don't know nearty as much as [

did about a lot of things twenty-five on thirty

years ago. | to be twenty years Qld is to know
al

what's wrong with the world and how to fix it.
eee —— ah. ° .

There's a wonderful incident in Woody Allen@® movie

m2, in which a young man, passionately in
‘ernie

search of meaning and purpose wants to discuss the
Holocaust with his father. (“what does it mean?‘7 he

ae nie al

asks. { "How should I know?/his middle-aged father
alearcoaemaiaiin, Fal
answers. Cr cant even understand how to operate
the electric_can opener. How am I supposed to
understand the Holocaust?7 I read somewhere that

Saul Bellow moved from New York to Chicago because

La enema

Oe niateeemad

(‘re was fed up with intellectuals who had to have
an opinion on everything."f [See Leonard Sweety, in
Liberal Protestantism, Michaelson & Roof, p. 253.]

There is in religion an almost irresistible

inclination to explain everythings to reduce the

a

infinite to Finite Nf nderstandab le terms\ to reduce

the great unknowns, the unfathomable mysteries of
al

our existence to manageable cinensions.\ That 7s

—-

the theme of a wonderful story in the Book of
Exodus which is delightful in its playiiness but

profound in its humanness aad @tesieeeLly.
nil

The scene is Mt. Sinai in the middie of the
wilderness, \ The children of Israel recently nave

escaped from Pharaoh at the Red Sea. \ Now they are

on the move, wandering through the Singi desert.

When they come to the mountain, God and Moses meet

and taik.\ for thirteen chapters ar so God and
i ee

Moses converse and negotiate. \ Moses receives God's

Jaw in the form of Ten Commandments. | When he takes
Stee emiil AT

the two tablets on which the Taw is inscribed down

eel

to the people, he discovers them worshipping an

idol, a golden calf.\ In a fit of rage Moses dashes

ee ee

the tablets to the ground, ; goes pack up the
mountain to resume the conversation with God and
makes a simple request Give me some proof that
I'm on the right_track. \l badly need some
credibility with these people.\ Do something to

show how serious you are and how tegitimate I am.
ee Le |

5

ft
At least tell me your plans. | God's response to
~o act

Moses is (°I will so with you, and I witl give you

; 1, ~ Gods CSU Vow a Vice
the victory. a! q ir GL vad: Wok lack
a ey,

. - A
That wasn’t the quest ion. | So Moses tries Ya rea, Wade
again and gets an equally evasive answer. Moses is

al —

nothing if not determined, so he tries again but
a,
reduces his demands a pit. \IF you won't do
— Eee

something to give yourself - and me.— some

credibility, at least give ine something to hald on

Leal

to, some certainty Let me see your glory - which
‘te ec
the translators tell us means\"the dazzling light

of God's presence: then Moses gets an answer

- of sorts...
"T will make al] my goodness pass, before you,

and will preclaim before you my name, but you

cannot see my face."\ And then this wonderful
a el ——

little vignette, which can easily be missed —

ening,

"there is a place by me where you shall stand

meena

upon the rock;

——

and while my glory passes by I wil] put you

in acileft inthe rock)

Ray, and I will cover you with my hand untiy
[ have passed by;

then_f will take away my hand and you shat]
see_my_ back; but my Cone

€@% shall not_be seen." }texcaus 33:21-233

It wasn't such an unreasonable request,

realty. not unlike what we want from our

religion\ A little certainty, \ He simply wanted a

Clear picture of who he was following and obeying.
rae. SneTter ey, mnie mer

He wanted to be sure of himself at least before he

pushed ahead into the wilderness at the head of

that long column of sriping, whining. golden calf-
worshipping-people on their way to a promised land
none of them had ever seen.\ It wasnit to pe\ No
face-to-face ema hters with Godc_for Moses —yet.

Moses was going to have to settle for the back side
ER ao 72

of God..{ a less than complete theology. \ Moses was
Le

gaing to have to be content with some poor symbols
—

of the reality of God instead of the reat thing -
bel bn al

Owe vereuyes

the memory of a burning bush | two tablets of stone,
Dahil rine,

a voice that was maddeningly sijent when he wanted
i,

to hear it...
There is in religion an almost irresistible

inclination to try to see God's face,| to reduce the

infinite ta the Finite. \ In thealogy the name for OVA fer wk. “|

headend a!

it is “anthropomorphism' which means making God

Took ke a human being. \ Michelangelo painted the

Or ineataiainal

God of creation as a muscular Zeus stretched acrass

rc eS

the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel }| and the soaring

rhetoric of the Westminister Assembly which wrote

the basic theology of Presbyterianism back in the

casos’

rte

~ Gs
17th century ~<a came up with the rhetorical
—_

equivalent of the Sistine Chapel...( “There is but

one only living and true God,f invisible, immutable,
i,

aed
immense, eternal, and incomprehensibie,") etc.,

etc., as if the mystery of God can be contained if

we can just find art__ beautiful enough or words

super lative enough.
Reinhold Niebuhr once noted that there is
Cnn ed

more religious confusion generated by/"thase who

—

claim to know too much about the mystery of life

than by those who claim to know too Tittle.” ) {iee-

to eige Ly abe de
Man at a ETE a eet te

Zo/i1 Niebubr went con to abserve that people who

claim to know too much fal ] into two categories,

the scientific rationalists who don't beTieve

anything that cannot be weighed, measured, tested,

and proved in an equation and religious people
who know everything there is to know about eternal
mystery.

"They barrish the aystery.) he said. \ and

then, with a twinkle in his eye, I am sure, (They

Know the geography of heaven and hell. and the

furniture of one and the temperature of the otter)

There is, of course, great appeal to a
a el
rational rejigion which has an answer for
nena te | ehh el
everything.
In John Updike's novel, Roger's Version, a
young computer whiz kid comes to a divinity school

professor with a peculiar request. \ He wants a

divinity school grant to prove _the existence of God

on a computer.] He believes that if he can Just

CRs en,

crunch enough numbers, ultimate mystery wil] be

revealed. "God is breaking throush,"} he says.

Oe

“They've been scraping away at physical reality all

these centuries, and now the layer af the little

left we con't understand is so fine God’s face ts

staring out at us."/ (p. 20]
The Prefessor, Roger, responds G find your
vn an
whole idea aesthetically and ethically repulsive.
Aesthetically because it describes_a God who lets

i

himself be intellectually trapped, and ethically

because it eliminates faith from religion, it takes

away our freedom to believe or doubt. | A God you

could prove makes the whole thing immensely, oh,

uninteresting. \ Pat. \ Whatever else God may be, he

shouldn't be pat.”
Cut sir, think of the comfort to ali those

who want to believe but don't dare, because they've

been inteTlectually intimidated. \Think of the

reassurance to alt those in trouble or in pain and

wanting to pray." )
fp, 24} ~~

10

a rOMRON pure hy

There is enormous appeal to af ais with

simple pesolutiscns to comptex dilennas.| How lovely

Aborts Albata

if #82 Roe versus Wace seeeammaeaaseeedon would

submit to biological and moral certainty.| But it

mae

wit] not.\ People of gocd will, distinguished

people, disagree about the definition of even the

EET

most basic_terms Anite, conception, viability. | We_

are in the presence of mystery here and shouting

our position through a bull horn does not atter

thet fact.

There is enormous appeal to a religion that

reduces mystery, makes the infinite finite and — inclodms Ovf

encompasses the whole terrain of our humanness ina ev‘ \Aanat dese}

sequence of formulas everyone can understand,

, Wary » Subunit $s ™ ay,
mse V Stab. a be

One time Woody Allen and Biliy Graham were on
the same television talk show. | Allen was asked if

he might convert on camera.

eed

"I'm open ta it. \Life. it seems to me, is

=

much easier if you're a believer | You can always

came up with easy answers."/ Coited by Martin £.
Marty, Context, Feb. 14, 1989, from Eree Inquiry]
But it doesn't work. \ There is a mystery
a |

about us that defies explanation. \ If you have been

in love you know that the experience is not

Seen td ee
adequately described ag “hormones_calling to
hormones." ) If you have been privileged to witness

human birth or human death you know that there is a

moment when science is no Tonger adequate and that
ees, —_—

yOU are in the presence of mystery. Human nature,

capable of exauisite beauty and the grossest evil,

cannot be explained simply.

fascination with the Nazi era is\ that there is a

Coles tells about visiting a medical schgol “ -,
lassmate who was terminatly i11. \He found hi we eel
classmate whe was terminally 711. ound his -

friend furious because he had Just been visited by
De eee eT _e
the chaplain who was obviously a ski1ted
SE, fn renner |

practitioner of the latest psychological (and
eT,

therefore scientifically respectable) methodatogy.
(von was the patient feeling... How was he
see 7

‘managing’ in view of the 'stress' he had ta
al ee

‘confront.’ \ Did he want to 'talk about' what was

happening?) “The priest," says Coles, ( “no doubt
ba ren
believed himself to be tactful, respectful and
aimee Siro

considerate, but my friend wag annoyed and later

nraged e had wanted to talk with the priest

about God and his ways,& about Christ's life and

death, about heaven and helt - anly to be

bt

13

approached with psychological words and phrases.

eee

"Here he comes with a Roman coltar and offers me

psychological banalities as Gad's wore") [p. 10-

12]
My memory of the fast funeral I attended as a

a

worshiper and mourner, not as the presiding clergy,

is one of irritation at the minister, a friend of

lene nee

mine, for talking tco much.\ He Said $9 much more
than he had a right to say, I thought, much, much

——

more than I wanted to hear.\ What happened was not

si me tel The life we were remembering was anything

but Simp te. What the mourners were experiencing
was not simple. \it was offensive to be told that
it is all really uncomplicated ~ when oneJtcnows one
is in the presence of mystery.

The stuff of your life and mine ig loving) ;

yearning, hoping, dreaming, stretching, peaching
nary a

me)

beyond our grasp, |somet ines succeeding and

/

sometimes falling flat on our faces

eet

uffering,

none of it able to be reduced to simple,

understandable formulas or platitudes.

ial

And that is consistent with our religion.

-— The God of the Bible makes a pointofar. it

would seem.\ God doesn't give Moses a good Joo, for

M

oses' awn sake.\ In the Bible, if you see TOO AL much
ed

Dn tiered

of God you die\ If there is no mystery left you

are no longer human, it would seem. (If there is no
Neepenieisa Cn ad

Ti

a el

ystery left you no jonger have the option of
ema (Ee

faith,

[gud 0) sep reh ON jlich sesiz Aaa . + | / :

mystery, to approach the unanswerable questions
=e

f TVife ar fe and Jove and gina ancl aeatn ane and resurrection ~

he sheet mw eresagin, not in hopes that marae we") get

Mus grou?

t right and have the answers, because we wi ot.
oh EE

14

(Eu seed. sth, ees *
toad Bhi secur

We are invited ‘itmmdeget to approach the mystery

eee
because to de so is important.
|

rg the one who came as God's good and

[a

loving word to the human family - but always stood
pr Ee, Pe]

apart from_that that family, Na Ee fully understood.
; vends =
eS Fortow eienceismt up the

mountain of transfiguration, where - if anyone ever
Cd oy

had a chance to look into the face_of God it was

them - and to know with a terrible finality that

they didn't do it either. \ when whatever happened

on that mountain - Jesus' face shining, his

appearance altered, his clothing dazzling white ~
— ih

whatever it is Use is trying to tell ys about

Jesus, [hat he ends up telling us is that the

disciples were distracted, bored, \steepy through

most of it:\and what they catch of it they

completely misunderstand. The mystery remains as a
ee nner)

cloud descends over the whole joere.
nie te > wh
And so it goes throughout JAinti] tthe, —

against all the common sense advice of his best

friends “Por ows his sense of God's will and walks

ee

16

into the valley of the shadow of death and

Fiterally climbs up onte a crass and cies. | There,

this faith of ours proclaims, at that final
ary 7 cay
mystery, the death of Jesus Christ on the crass,
there the reality of God is unvei ted, \ the truth | There _ tu,

UL este yh -

b about God and aboutus is disclosed. y——# rt
ks Ree apercach the mystery... and at Gee My
the cross of Christ we stand in its presence... dee for us.
TLL
In this life we may never_see clearly. | St.
biel [eRe

Paul, who was more sure of some things than anyone
— confessed the mystery with a poignancy and
integrity we have come to love...

“Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face

to face. | Now I know in part;\ then T shall understand

fully, even as FT am fully understood." [1 Cor.
13:12]
The promise af the Gospel is not that we will

have answers to 417 our questions and that all cur

ee,

gquancdries and dilemmas will be solved. fine promise

af the gospel is that ultimate ly we will see God...

Gor \ows vs= out " a fader!
Net leat “A enue!” Gb lang You - beuvs

une Wawa - Ami be Math You =

See. Grd.

In the meantime, Tike Moses, we'll have to do

ie 7

With the back side of cout a glimpse of the truth,

a hint of the glory. \ In the meantime, there is

this man who lived and loved and died for us. | And

until that day when you and I see face to face, it

@nougan

ipcnceent teiceicmmammmene ieee ih aaeeaneeed simply to allow
Eee

him to tove us, and to hold tightly to fim. Amen.

iS a

Give us grace, 0 Lard, to live with the
mystery of our own humanity and the mystery of your
lave for us. Give us the will to believe and the
courage ta live in the midst of uncertainty, aged

2 as your faithful people:

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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