March 12, 2019                                  Hebrews 3:1-11                      Donna Cook

Hebrews 3:4 “For every house is built by someone but the builder of all things is God.”

It was a wild and crazy dream those “mission trippers’ had. While sitting on the floor at the Calvin Center in Hampton, Ga, outside of Atlanta, they munched on cheeseballs and AirHeads and suddenly decided, “WE CAN DO THIS AT HOME!”. We had a house, we had volunteers. We had lived and worked in so many models of mission. How hard can it be?

Those “mission trippers” had faith and hope and love and a whole lot of patience and perseverance. They envisioned what would be come AMEN – Saint Louis, A Ministry Embracing the Neighborhood.

Inspired and driven by the Holy Spirit , those mission trippers, along with family, friends, and community renovated the space, planned a program, connected with area ministries and businesses, bought bunk beds and air conditioners. Those builders, used hammers and pry bars, drywall and plastic pipe. They wrestled with web sites and bulk mailing. They wrote checks big and small, and sold beer and brats at the stadium. Finally they bought t-shirts, learned to play human foosball, and opened the doors to middle school and high school seekers, college students on break, social justice activists seeking respite, intergenerational missioners, and the occasional Buddhist Meditation retreat. All came to learn, love, worship, serve and grow. Inspired by God. Built by God. To the Glory of God.

Prayer:Loving creator and builder of all things, help us to live Christ’s example, to live as he did, faithful, hopeful,  loving, and patient everyday, AMEN