Westminster Talking the Text
A Lectionary Podcast at Westminster Presbyterian Church
Westminster Talking the Text
Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, October 18, 2026 | Isaiah 45:1-7, Matthew 22:15-22 | with Donovan Drake, Guy D. Griffith, Stephanie Boaz, and Sarah Bird Kneff
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Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, October 18, 2026 | Isaiah 45:1-7, Matthew 22:15-22 | with Donovan Drake, Guy D. Griffith, Stephanie Boaz, and Sarah Bird Kneff
Isaiah 45:1-7
An earthly ruler works God's will
45:1Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him-- and the gates shall not be closed:
45:2I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron;
45:3I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
45:4For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name; I give you a title, though you do not know me.
45:5I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me,
45:6so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
45:7I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the LORD do all these things.
Matthew 22:15-22
A teaching about the emperor and God
22:15Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.
22:16So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.
22:17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Caesar, or not?"
22:18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?
22:19Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius.
22:20Then he said to them, "Whose head is this and whose title?"
22:21They answered, "Caesar's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."
22:22When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.
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Well, welcome to another talking the text. We're looking at uh getting toward the end of the lectionary, the liturgical year uh in another month. We've got All Saints Sunday coming up in a couple of weeks. Uh and before us today are two texts, uh, the Matthew text from Matthew 22 and the uh passage from Isaiah 45. We'll read both of those in a minute, but let's open with a word of prayer. The Lord be with you.
SPEAKER_05And also with you.
SPEAKER_04Grateful God, we're thankful for the gift of this day and for this time as we wrestle together with these texts. Give us your spirit's guidance that we might see light because you are light. Give us hope in the midst of a challenging time and vision for how we might find your treasures in darkness. Hear our prayer in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. I'm Guy.
SPEAKER_01I'm Sarah. I'm Stephanie.
SPEAKER_04I'm Donovan. All right. And uh why don't we uh yeah, we need to spice those up with some emojis. And uh what do we do, Donovan? Just read them uh one after the other. Sounds like a plan. Uh let's read Isaiah 45 first, um through seven, and then I'll move right into Matthew 22. Isaiah 45, thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him, and the gates shall not be closed. I will go before you and level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel, my chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord and there is no other. Besides me there is no God. I arm you, though you do not know me, so that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is no one besides me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe. I the Lord do all these things. And then turning to Matthew 22, 15 through 22. Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are sincere and teach the way of God in accordance with the truth and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us then what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, Whose head is this and whose title? They answered, The Emperor's. Then Jesus said to them, Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are God's. When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. All right. It's always nice that they give us uh this text every three years, right? The uh beginning of stewardship season? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00So uh and almost election time.
SPEAKER_04And almost election time.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it is election time based on my phone.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, but based on the uh yeah, based on the calls I keep getting. Yeah, exactly. All right. Well, what do we do with it?
SPEAKER_05Well, what does Matthew do with it?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, what section uh is this in Matthew? So we've got a whole bunch of tests that Jesus is being put to in this section of Matthew. And this is sort of the first one, the final test.
SPEAKER_05And before that, there was a parable about a guy who was not wearing the proper dress for a wedding. And he is thrown out.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05Seems to be another guy is soon to be thrown out of the city.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05That's a different reading, isn't it?
SPEAKER_04That's a very different reading.
SPEAKER_05Didn't go along with the plan, did he?
SPEAKER_04And indeed, one of the uh the thoughts of one of the scholars that I've read is this text works a little bit like the raising of Lazarus and John. In that uh these folks who are trying to get Jesus to trip up or to answer the way they want him, he doesn't. And this is the stuff that gets him headed to the cross. That uh in their eyes, they don't he doesn't pass the final test. Um and I thought that was that was interesting. I don't think I've picked that up before.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that can that come at the end. Um is it at the beginning? There were a plot to kill him. Anyway.
SPEAKER_06What is that?
SPEAKER_02Well, he's just come, so you know, 21, he's just entered Jerusalem. He is um, we're coming to the long end where he set his face to Jerusalem. Now he's in the city. He's done the past, um, he's done the Palm Sunday thing, come in on the donkey. So he's already um getting under the Pharisee skin. I don't think I ever realized until I read it for this week that I didn't remember that the Pharisees and the Herodians were in this together. Um again, because they are it's one of those things where you're the easiest way to unite people is to give them a common enemy, right? And so the Herodians and the Pharisees disagreed about nearly everything, but they both were threatened by Jesus. Right. And for different reasons, which is really interesting.
SPEAKER_05And isn't it the last one, the Sadducees, Jim?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so we we have five different groups in early Judaism: the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Zealots, and the Essenes, the folks who hang out in the Dead Sea. Right. Um, and those are all different ways of being Jewish in that time and place. Uh and some of them are you know directly in opposition to one another. The zealous want to overthrow, the Essenes want to withdraw, they're sort of the Amish, the uh Pharisees were militantly holy, and other the Herodians were kind of cozy with Rome. It was all right for them. And of course, the um Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection. That's why they're Sadducee. Man, that's the best joke ever. That's the best joke ever. I love that.
SPEAKER_02It doesn't have to, but somehow somehow it does. You mentioned Palm Sunday.
SPEAKER_04There's a great Palm Pilate joke, but uh I won't I won't leave that here for you right now.
SPEAKER_05And the Sadducees are books of Moses people, right? Right. And isn't Jesus the new Moses in Matthew? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well, and the the the interesting thing is he doesn't align himself with any one of those five groups. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And so this is what I want to get to, is like this is what I want to get to. Right. Well, you're preaching. Go ahead. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Donovan is not preaching, ladies and gentlemen.
SPEAKER_05I'm not preaching, but I want to get to this.
SPEAKER_04This is Guy's text. Guy hasn't preached since the summer. He's not sure he remembers how to preach.
SPEAKER_00Yes, he will be.
SPEAKER_05Um I'm thinking about Matthew 1 and uh that uh you know, is Jesus outside the law uh with Joseph? Then, you know, you got uh Herod and the let me know where he is, then he flees into Egypt. Um so you've got these government things that he keeps escaping from. Magi come. Magi, yeah. They flee into Egypt after the killing of the innocents. Uh what you got, you know, John the Baptist in there, and and John knocks on Herod's door and gets killed for it. And Jesus withdraws. Knock down on Herod's door. Right. And then you know, at the end you got the and on the always, he's always on these mountaintops giving the mosaic things, right? And at the end, he's go ye into all the world. Um it's like there are governments and there are governments.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So wait, there are governments and there are governments.
SPEAKER_05Well, there are there are those that are ripe with uh sickness and grime and controlling. And then there's the government on his shoulders.
SPEAKER_02Then the government shall be shall be upon his shoulders.
SPEAKER_01To me, yep, I think that's a great point. I do, I feel a little more stuck right here in this passage with empire versus the kingdom of God. Uh-huh. Empire versus the kingdom of God, that ultimately the government on his shoulders is something in the fullness of what God is working toward.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. We can't see that.
SPEAKER_01Right. Not yet. But we can believe in it.
SPEAKER_02We can believe in it. I mean, I think that's the thing. The the whole, like, I mean, I just I just love love Jesus' speech. Like, what did he say? Um that you said that. No, he's just so uh I mean, he calls him out. Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? And then they think they've gotten him. Like, I mean, this is a really good plan. They've I mean, this is it feels like they've caught him between a rock and a hard place. And then he asks for the coin, which one of them has the coin. Right. Which is which is fascinating. So they have the coin. They have the um, and I had read somewhere, you know, the inscription, what is it like son of God or something that's around the edges of the point.
SPEAKER_06Tiberius, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Tiberius's face, and then he is the son of like this is blasphemy for you to even have as a as a Jew. Um, but he's asking, you know, whose head is this, whose title? And then give back to Caesar what is Caesar's. So that's one thing I saw that that's it's not just give to Caesar, it's it's a different Greek word. It's apodote, which is give back to Caesar, because it belongs to him. He made it, it has his face on it. So give it to him. That's justice. Give to God what is God's. And then that for me has always begged the question then okay, what is so what is God's? And then my response would be everything, including us and including our money, right? I mean, that's what makes this challenging to me is I'm like, this doesn't mean that we don't have to. Jesus talks more about money than nearly anything else, right? Like it's not like he's saying you don't have to surrender your resources to me as well.
SPEAKER_01But I think he is pointing out how tangled up we are when we live in an empire. And we all live in an empire. Everybody lives in an empire. Um, but how tangled up we are with the purposes of the empire and how the empire works. And there is no way that I know of for us to live in the United States without using the money that has other people's faces on it.
SPEAKER_05And it may say entangled in the empire.
SPEAKER_01Without being entangled in the empire.
SPEAKER_05No matter what the empire is.
SPEAKER_01No matter what the empire is. Exxon or corporate, yep. Corporate capitalism, actual government. Um societal norms, you know, there are certain parts of town where you're supposed to live in certain kinds of ways. Right. That's all empire. That's all other than Jesus. I think Jesus on on one hand is saying there's I think there's some good news in this, in that you can give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God. And Jesus is saying, you can live faithfully in this if your focus is on God. I think there's good news in that. But but the bad news is we are tangled up in motives that we don't even realize are being lived out. And that's really challenging. That's more of a now experience. But even for even for the leaders that were pulling the money out of their pocket, you know, do they have another option because of where they live? And so there is this sense of we live here in this time, and there is what God is doing in the future, but there's also what God is doing now. And if we live more unto Christ than we do unto the Empire, then will we see more of what God can what God will do, what Christ can do?
SPEAKER_05I mean, I think it's that the hymn of Philippians too, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Okay. Just empty your, you know, if this is Caesar's, give it to him. Knock yourself out. You know, it's it's not my kingdom.
SPEAKER_06Mm-hmm.
unknownMm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05Now the problem is, as you say, is you know, so we're all entangled.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And I do think the challenge in the church is that we keep pointing fingers as to who's more entangled than that is such a great point.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I totally agree.
SPEAKER_05But I think I also read in this the parable of the ten talents.
SPEAKER_06Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_05Which I think, again, a different read is that the guy with the one talent says, I know this is corrupt, and I'm not playing any part of this. And I'm gonna bury it, and he gets you know I'm not gonna play this game. Right. And so is it playing the game or not playing the game? And the problem is we are so meshed in it.
SPEAKER_02Because the the Essenes at that point were the ones that were when you were mentioning the five groups, they were the ones that were trying not to play the game at all, right? They were going, they were leaving, and yet there was um people were there was controversy over that. Like, well, you can't just completely check out of the system. Yeah, that doesn't help, you know?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but the the the Jesus thing is this all this is coming because Jesus is a threat for some reason.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_04We uh I found myself as we were talking, thinking about neighbors Christ and culture, right? That they're different ways, and certainly I grew up in a part of Pennsylvania not all that far from the Amish and the Mennonites that you know was very much Christ against culture. And so we pull ourselves out of that. The Reformed tradition has always been, you know, Christ in culture and kind of transforming it from the inside, but uh we get so so enmeshed. I I think one of the readings of this, especially toward the end, um, you know, render to God what is God's. And part of what is God is to is to live an integrated life. Um, you know, on one hand, one reading is, well, you know, what what part of me is the government and what part of me is God's. And the greater challenge is that we are congruent, right, in in our authentic discipleship. What does that mean in in all areas? But uh what a tangled web we weave. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um when Mark Douglas was here a few weeks ago for Covenant class, he talked about um in in a similar vein, about like if you can see going to the polls as an act of worship. Like if what you're doing when you put participate in the political system, the way that you're framing it, the what you're thinking about when you're making that, but whatever it is, if you can kind of see it as a an extension of your worship in some ways, like I think that goes back to to trying to be congruent in all things. Um, not just, okay, and over here and this like this is what I want to have happen in my political side of my life. I mean, we're so good at compartmentalizing. That's one of, I mean, I think that's one of those things where I remember doing a wedding once. It was in Newport, Rhode Island, and it was uh like one of the on the cliffs, and it was gorgeous, and the couple was wonderful, and it was this whole weekend thing. And the wedding planner comes out for the rehearsal, and she's like, Oh, oh, are you the pastor? Are you in charge of the religious part of the service? I wanted to be like, I am the service lady. I'm not, I'm not the service lady. But like where you're coming from. The rel, you know, because it was like, okay, so you're gonna do the religious thing, and then we're gonna have the dancing thing, and then you're gonna do the music thing. Like this compartmentalized when I was like, no, this entire worship service is about praising Jesus Christ and celebrating this love, but it's supposed to point back to the savior over and over and over again. Yeah. And wedding planners don't always get that. She didn't get them. I stopped and I started trying to tell her about the gospel, and she was like, ah, we need the quartet to be here. She was busy.
SPEAKER_00She was hard for her to hear the good things.
SPEAKER_02But I do think that compartmentalization, like I think that's what you're saying.
SPEAKER_05But in a wedding, that's the only time I sign my name to a state document.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's true. Trevor Burrus, Jr.
SPEAKER_04By the authority vested in me as a minister of the gospel and according to the laws of the state, I now pronounce you.
SPEAKER_05And to think of a wedding is a carryover from the Catholic Church as a sacrament. Sacrament, yeah. And then it's like, okay. Yeah. Do we I'm not gonna go there.
SPEAKER_01Trevor Burrus, but before that it was exchange of goods and services. So I think it's a worship service.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, but it could be for anything human, I suppose. We could have worship services for anything human. We could.
SPEAKER_02But I do think about that with that with the lady, because I was I mean, I make a joke about there couldn't be a worship service, but the legality of it hinges on my ability to sign that paper as the officiant.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, or or you know, somebody doing it online and getting it.
SPEAKER_02Someone else getting certificate online and coming over and Mack Hardcastle.
SPEAKER_05I hope you're listening.
SPEAKER_03How do you feel about that?
SPEAKER_06You're not allowed to say that.
SPEAKER_05If Mack Hardcastle can get can marry people, then you know, it's just it's not right. That's all I'm saying. Anyway.
SPEAKER_02In the eyes of the state, it is. I'm just not sure in the eyes of God.
SPEAKER_04It's so complicated. That's worth the price of admission today. Yeah, you got enough.
SPEAKER_02Do you have a sermon title? Wait, I should let Donovan ask it because I can.
SPEAKER_04In fact, not only that, I'm wrestling with uh I I have given Chris all of the liturgy, save the sermon title. Uh, but I woke up this morning thinking about this, and I think I'm gonna change what I had as the affirmation of faith. Um, I had picked out a passage from a declaration of faith that um looked at the church's relationship with the state that I felt was good and instructional and strong, but I'm tempted to go either to the opening paragraph of the Scots Confession. There's one God alone, only God. I mean, you can't swing a dead cat and not hit the reality that it's only God. Uh you didn't like that metaphor, did you?
SPEAKER_00I feel like you used it before. I've had a lot of cats in my life lately.
SPEAKER_05Or the other one possibly swinging the dead kid. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_04Or the other one is uh the Heidelberg Catechism. What is your only hope in life and in death? Nice. That I belong body and soul uh to my faithful savior. Um so I haven't quite worked that out yet.
SPEAKER_05But I think those who are listening would go for it the Heidelberg.
SPEAKER_04I think they probably would, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I love that. Because I think that's part of it, is if you're making that analogy of the coin has Caesar's image on it. We are image bearers of the Most High God. So like not that we're I mean it's not a direct analogy. We're not God's coins, but like we bear the image of God.
SPEAKER_03We're God's letters.
SPEAKER_02We are Yes, yes. Yeah. And that's and that that's like we belong, body and soul, to to God. And so that is our we're the image bearers, just like that coin is the image bearer for Caesar. And so we get to be used in the kingdom's work in that way. I don't know. I don't know if there's something there.
SPEAKER_04Colossians one, he is the image, the icon.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And that's the same word here. Mm-hmm. Icon.
SPEAKER_05So could be the question also be asked, you know, is it okay to put fertilizer on your yard? Is it okay to eat tomatoes out of Mexico? You know, I you know I I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I don't know where you're going.
SPEAKER_05Well, to me, I mean, there were all these issues that you know, even our denomination, you know, is it all right to drive a caterpillar? You know, is it all right, you know, all these things that the You know, how do we pull ourselves out again, how do we pull ourselves out and honor God? I mean, it's I just think it's we're so immersed and yet we so choose what we are holy about. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05And don't see the stuff that we're immersed in.
SPEAKER_04So we're talking about spec and log?
SPEAKER_05Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_05Right? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. That's a heck of a log you got in your eye, brother.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, right?
SPEAKER_03I don't have any logs in my life. Yeah. Just little specs.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_05But I mean, it's just I mean, it seems like we want to use this stuff for righteousness' sake. And I'm not sure it works that way.
SPEAKER_01Just thinking about the election coming up, I've I've been sort of wondering, like, I know that politics is a hard thing to be in. And a couple summers ago, we focused on how it could be really challenging to be a Christian and be in government. And to and because politics is in and of itself kind of a game, kind of a balancing act of I'll give you this and you give me that. Like that's sort of that's at least how it's been working. And um, how hard that must be. And and I was thinking about how do I find out which of these people I could vote for whose heart is gonna ache most of the time because they know they can't do everything, that they take their ideals and the things that they really believe, and their heart is gonna ache all the time because it's so big and they only have one part of it, but they're gonna be driven and reminded by that.
SPEAKER_02How do you I don't know?
SPEAKER_01I don't know how you do it.
SPEAKER_02Are there politicians like that anymore?
SPEAKER_01I mean, sorry, that's I have to believe so. Exactly. I have to believe that there are, though, because because people get into politics because they're wanting to make a change. They do. Um and uh there are people who do get into politics because they want to make a change. I definitely believe that. Um I think it's a really hard game to be in. And it's more than a game, even though I think it gets treated like a game. I think it's real easy to forget the actual people in it.
SPEAKER_03My dad was an elected official.
SPEAKER_04He was a judge and sat on the bench for 16 years, so he was three terms and um didn't quite finish out his last term. He died while he was still in office. Um I've never given up or allowed uh myself to be ultimately despairing because of, you know, knowing people who do go in for the right reasons. But you know, corpor it's a it's a hard system.
SPEAKER_05The problem is you have to compromise. Right. Right. You can't have your, you know, you can't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. In the church, we really do at our best say that our decisions are to be made by people who have been elected. It's their turn to sit with their wisdom and their faith. Right. To sit together, face a question, and follow the guiding of the Holy Spirit. Right. And yes, they vote their conscience, but they're not just voting, they're not just voting their views. There's a difference in conscience and views because something can happen when the elders come together and they're faced with a question, they can be completely divided. And the number of times that I've seen a group of seven or twelve or thirty-six come out of a room with a hard question fully aligned and surprised. That is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_02Hashtag Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01Hashtag Holy Spirit. And that is, that's what we believe happens here with us. But in the government, not everybody shows up with the same playbook anyway. And so that's really hard.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, there have been times where, and I guess that's you know, trying to figure out all this, but um, you know, in COVID, you know, that was the first time really I've had split session meetings.
SPEAKER_01Really?
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And it was exhausting.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05And to say you're gonna make this decision based and we're gonna leave one third behind. You know, who don't agree with this.
SPEAKER_06That's hard.
SPEAKER_05It is really hard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Something about the upper room, about being together in a space that really makes a difference.
SPEAKER_04I'm gonna have to bail for a class here in a minute. Um but uh I I've always liked this text out of Isaiah 45. It's uh second Isaiah, and uh the folks are um in Babylonian captivity, but uh surprise, surprise, Cyrus of Persia um comes and is a deliverer of the people. And this verse uh three um that I've always liked I will give you treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, called you by name. And one way of reading that is um Cyrus is given the keys to the storehouses of the Babylonians where they have ransacked the ancient world and all the glittering gold pieces are there, and now it's Cyrus's. And part of what Cyrus does is he gives it back to the Israelites and says, Go rebuild your temple. Uh I mean i it's an amazing way to run an empire.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Um but I think spiritually, you know, what what treasures do we learn about in the darkness of our own lives? Um and, you know, in our own political life? Are are there seasons when we think historically things have been particularly dark? And what can we learn? I I think about the McCarthy era. That was a dark time. Yeah. Um I I think about Jim Crow and Reconstruction, and you know, there have been some dark seasons. Um do we look at that and say there are treasures we we learned in part that you can't treat people like that, and that there are values that we have that are greater than that. Um I heard a guy at Chautauqua this summer who was teaching on how the separation of church and state is one of the great American ideas. And I was, you know, thinking, is that something that I want to try to bring into this sermon this Sunday? I I mean, I'm I'm like I said, I'm like a Waffle House breakfast scattered, covered and smothered today. So I don't know what uh the sausage is gonna look like by the time Sunday gets here.
SPEAKER_02But uh I feel like that analogy broke down real quick.
SPEAKER_04But it was all breakfast food, and I'm here for it. Yeah. So well Donovan, anything else?
SPEAKER_05Oh, there's lots of things there. I know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02We went for 45 minutes last week. I feel like we should give the people a break. Give them a break.
SPEAKER_01Stephanie, you want to close us in prayer? Yeah. The Lord be with you. Lord, we come before you, praying that you will help us to see you, praying that you will help us to hear your answers, praying that you will help us to bear your image in this world. It's hard to imagine that your people could be bigger than the coins that we trade around so readily and hoard for ourselves. But Lord, this is how you intend to bring about your kingdom by marking your people as your own and by helping us to live out what that means. So, Lord, guide us as we read this scripture together this week. Be with Guy as he brings the message for Sunday, and help us, Lord, to recognize that even though we are tangled, that when we belong to you, things become more clear, even if only for moments, so that we know that we are following you. Let that be our secret treasure. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
