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<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Here is a draft of my
sermon for August 2 on John 6:24-35.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>A final version will be posted on our church web site at <A
href="http://sjnj.org">http://sjnj.org</A> on our Home Page early this week, God
willing.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Peace and
blessings,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Joe</SPAN><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">St. John's Episcopal
Church<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<H2 style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt"
align=left><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">61 Broad Street<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H2>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">Elizabeth,
New Jersey 07201<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The Ninth Sunday after
Pentecost: Proper 13B<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">DRAFT<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">August 2,
2009<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">A Sermon by the Rev.
<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:PersonName w:st="on">Joe
Parrish</st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B
style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 14pt">The Holy
Gospel according to<o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<H2 style="TEXT-ALIGN: left; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt"
align=left><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt">John 6:24-35<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H2>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Lord, give us the
bread that comes down from heaven, your Son, Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Amen.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A story is told about
a Jewish family who survived a Nazi death camp by observing the Sabbath
religiously, faithfully, week in and week out.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Despite their stringent conditions each
Sabbath they managed to find and light a candle, recall their Sabbath prayers,
and pronounce the Sabbath blessings every week without fail in the midst of this
camp of death.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Their captors gave
them each week barely enough food to survive—some water, stale bread, and a
spoonful of lard.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>One week they
found there was no candle to be had anywhere.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So when it was time for the Sabbath meal
the father took some of the lard, molded it around a sting from their tattered
clothing, and lit the makeshift candle while leading his family in prayers and
blessings.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His son was
enraged.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When the prayers were
over, he confronted his father: “How could you waste what little lard we have to
make a candle?”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His father
answered: “Son, without food we can live for several days.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Without hope, we can’t live for a single
hour.”<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What would you do when
there is little or no hope?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Most
Christians would skip church on a Sunday.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They would seek some place else to express themselves.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Many would attend to a feeling of some
urgent need to shop.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>If you don’t
believe me, just go over to the Garden State Mall sometime today, or to a big
grocery store in Elizabeth.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>There
you will see tens of thousands of people without hope, trying to fill in the
emptiness of their lives by shopping or looking for something that will make
them happier, or so they think.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They will spend their meager paychecks on some frivolity, or on something
they could just as well live without, and they will go home just as empty as
when they began their shopping and looking spree.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They are living without hope.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They live with a day to day
horizon.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I go
through the toll booths of the New Jersey Turnpike and the Holland or Lincoln
Tunnel each day, and I am amazed at how many people are living without enough
credit on their credit card to buy an EZ Pass.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>You can observe how many have to wait in
lines for up to an hour or more a day to pay cash for a six or eight dollar or
so toll.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And it’s not just New
Jersey; this week driving north to a Christian retreat I found exactly the same
thing happening in New York State, and Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and New
Hampshire.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>People are overwhelmed
with credit card debt, most paying up to twenty-five percent interest or more on
their maximum credit limit.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They
live from hand to mouth to spend all they can get their hands on for things they
really don’t need.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And their time
is worth essentially nothing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>They
will wait in line up to an hour or more a day to pay something less than twenty
dollars in daily tolls.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It is
incredible, but it is true.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It
shows how little they value their time, how much they have overextended
themselves, how little concern they have for their wellbeing on an ongoing
basis.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But at a mall or grocery
store, they will charge anything to get something that makes them feel they are
as good as or better than their neighbor, as good as the person in the car
riding next to them, until they hit the toll booths.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And the more clever ones will even keep
away from the toll booths so they won’t have to face the reality of their
precarious financial situation.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>America, in a word, is charged out.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>And until spending habits change, America will continue to be charged
out, and the financial doldrums will continue to haunt us.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So what is the
antidote for us?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I think it is to
get back to a true Sabbath observance, where at least one day in seven we don’t
spend what we don’t have.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Bill Hybels who heads
up one of the largest churches in America, the Willow Creek Community Church in
South Barrington, Illinois, says churches themselves need to focus more on what
is their mission, and to articulate their mission in a phrase that can be
written in large letters on one side of a t-shirt.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I must say, St. John’s and the Diocese
of New Jersey have both articulated their mission, our vision statement, in
seven sentences, not likely something that will go on the front of any t-shirt
that is smaller than the side of a very large tractor trailer truck.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I won’t even begin to tell you
this Vision Statement of the Diocese that we as a church have adopted as our
Mission Statement.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And let us not
quibble about what is a Vision Statement and what is a Mission Statement.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We all know we try to get the very best
“Christian angle” on what we do, making something that sounds very loving and
kind, and indeed the Visioning Group that has helped us articulate what we are
all about has spent enormous amounts of effort, and not inconsiderable money and
staff time and volunteer time, to develop this elaborate and beautiful Vision
Statement.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Every church has even
been given a DVD expressing their Vision ideas, and I consider that very
thoughtful and considerate.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But in
my humble opinion, having heard Bill Hybels express his growing church’s view of
a mission statement, I think we all may have vastly ‘missed the mark’.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Each year our Diocese gets less and less
money for its Fair Share pledges from the churches and missions.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And each year we have to cut back and
cut back.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And still the churches
are unable even to fulfill their meager pledges.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We are on a road to perdition, I
believe.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So how can we turn this
thing around?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Aren’t we all living
on money we don’t have?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Certainly
St. John’s has done this as long as I have been aware, at least since the 1950’s
when St. John’s was the richest church in the Diocese, and the Diocese was one
of the richest dioceses in The Episcopal Church.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And now as a result we are one of the
poorest churches, and our Diocese can barely pull its weight among all other
dioceses in the land.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In April, our
single bishop will have to try to visit 160 churches every three years by
himself, and that’s impossible to do mathematically on Sundays since there are
156 Sundays in three years, assuming our bishop takes no Sunday off, and that’s
not going to happen.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So what will
happen is that our bishop will gradually be worked into the ground; he will be
making more and more visitations on a Wednesday evening when most churches can’t
get even a quarter of their parishioners to attend.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And finally we will have to admit we can
no longer fulfill our pledge to the national church.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Sooner or later reality will sink
in.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This very year our Diocese is
spending $400,000 it does not have, from so called, ‘prior investment
earnings’.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And those ‘prior
investment earnings’ will be depleted by the end of this year or early next
year.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What that means is that the
Missions Budget will be further curtailed—this year $100,000 was summarily cut
out of the Missions Budget just to keep us from invading our Diocesan principal
before December 2009.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Otherwise our
deficit spending would throw our Diocese a half a million dollars in the red
instead of only $400,000.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We have
cut out our Church Diocesan Deployment Officer already, and by April of next
year we will cut out our Assisting Bishop.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And for the ‘local
issue’ right here at St. John’s Church, sometime in mid November we won’t have
enough money to buy another tank of oil.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>The three quarters of a tank of oil we have now will be gone and the
church will be concerned about which pipes will freeze first.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We do expect some salvation from a large
bequest that will ‘tide us over’ for a year or so, but beyond that we have no
idea of how to keep this church going.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>A very simple solution
would be for everyone to double their pledge or their giving here at St. John’s
Church.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That would at least solve
our problem on a local basis; then our deficit would only be about $20,000 a
year, one fifth of the deficit we are currently running.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But without the help of the Diocese,
which is already greatly strapped for funds, this big building could get very,
very cold on a Sunday sometime in 2010.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>So we at least have to ask people now to consider doubling their pledges,
or simply pay twice what they pledged.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Our treasurer and stewardship chairs think no one is tithing anyway, so
doubling our pledges will still not actually require tithing for most
people.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We are probably far richer
than we admit.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But we don’t really
have tithing on the top of our personal or family agendas.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Now for our mission
statement, what would you say should be on our t-shirt?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What simple five or six words would
describe what we are about?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Jesus came up with
seven ‘words’.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Today we hear one of
them that would go on his t-shirt.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>“I am the bread of life.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Isn’t that succinct?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Isn’t
that very descriptive?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Jesus is
the bread of life.”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That could go
on our t-shirts.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Or what about,
“Jesus is the good shepherd”?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Or
“Jesus is the door”?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Or maybe,
“Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light”?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That’s nine words, probably longer than
Bill Hybels envisioned for a Mission Statement.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But we have to give Jesus some leeway,
don’t we?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>After all, Jesus Christ
is our Savior!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I guess even that
could be our t-shirt phrase…<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Thursday night I
attended an outdoor concert up in New Hampshire that was attended by at least
fifteen thousand other people, mostly Christians, I assume.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was the largest outdoor concert in
the state of New Hampshire, and has been for a number of years, I believe.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But what impressed me as I looked around
was that people were more or less divided up into sections of maybe fifty or a
hundred or so per section.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Most
were sitting on blankets on green grass.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>And, maybe you can see where I am going with this.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was a crowd about the size of what
Jesus and his disciples fed out there in the wilderness of Israel; and we were
in the wilderness of New Hampshire.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>And amazingly enough, we were all fed, spiritually perhaps, although
there were probably enough hot dog stands to feed most of us if we paid for
them, and many brought food from home to share with each other.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We were re-enacting the Lord’s Supper,
at least in a spiritual way.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And
the Bread of Life fed us, each of us, enough that we were satisfied by the end
of the night. The Holy Spirit was indeed there.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And we were
satisfied.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So think of what you
would put on your personal t-shirt to show the world.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Would you be willing to declare yourself
a Christian to the world?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Or would
you rather hide that fact from your next door neighbors?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Once I wore a button
to work that said, “I found it”, and I was fired by unbelievers.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It changed my life, actually.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I went from a nice salary to
nothing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I was told it was OK to be
religious, but that I could not ‘show it’.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>In a year my church had pity on me and hired me to do their business and
building things—that church actually had more money than the Diocese at that
time and had a commensurate staff of 65, pretty large for a church, wouldn’t you
say?!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’m not sure any Diocese in
The Episcopal Church has 65 employees.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>We have less than a dozen employees in the Diocese of New Jersey, I
think.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Of course our international
church headquarters in Manhattan had 180 employees up until our recent General
Convention, and now we are cutting about a fifth of them, about 30 are now
looking for other jobs.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So the
national church has this week and this year suffered significant
downsizing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I use the term,
national, but really The Episcopal Church represents 16 nations, it’s just that
the US is by far the biggest contributor.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>But in any event, the cuts are in.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>And of course we have had to make serious cuts here at St. John’s as
well, as has our Diocese.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>So what we need to do
is to figure out what our personal ‘t-shirt’ will say.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What would you wear on your
t-shirt?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Jesus is Lord”?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Jesus is my Good Shepherd”?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Jesus is the Bread of Life”?<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I sort of like that one, actually:
“Jesus is the Bread of Life”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wear
that to the Stop and Shop and see what comments we might
get!<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>But let us in all
seriousness decide Who is our Savior and why we think that.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>And come up with some small phrase we
should have here at St. John’s as our Mission and Vision
Statement.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Amen.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; FONT-SIZE: 14pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>