<html><body>Second part of the draft,<div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div><div style="font-size: 15px;"><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> But here’s an interesting thought. If the pianist is invisible, if the conductor and the other players cannot be seen by the player of the piano, then a way has to be found to coordinate the two so that the sound may blend into a complete whole. Nowadays, that’s done by having a camera focussed on the conductor and a screen in front of or near the pianist. Electronic gear is marvelous. But that may not always be readily available, so each must learn to be sensitive to the other. The conductor – God, if you will – has to give the signal, producing music from those who can see God. Meanwhile, the off-stage, invisible pianist has to listen and be able to react even in that instant before the conductor’s baton has reached its mark.</span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Obviously, we are not God. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say “obviously”, but it’s true, regardless of what some people may think. But we’re <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">NOT!</span></b> That means that are musicians, hidden or not, who have to learn to be so sensitive that we can respond at the speed of light, or faster.</span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> John Stott wrote that we as the church have to be aware of “the standards, the values and the priorities of the kingdom of God. Too often,” he said, “the church has turned away from this challenge and sunk into a bourgeois, conformist respectability. … Only when the Christian community lives by Christ’s manifesto will the world be attracted and God be glorified.” <sup>5</sup></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> The Gospel <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">IS</span></b> supposed to shock us as well as inspire us. It’s not intended to be comfortable reading and while, superficially, it may appear to be quite readily understood – like “unless you’re better than the authorities, you won’t get to live in the kingdom” – there’s so much with which we must continue to wrestle in order to find out, for instance, just what righteousness entails. Unfortunately, though, Jesus said that He didn’t come to tell us to put away all thoughts about the prophets. What we heard in Isaiah’s prophecy, then, is all too relevant. The ancient servant of God pointed out quite plainly, speaking for God “ … I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, …” We are “to share (our) bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into (our) home.” I mean, any more blunt than that and we might need to have a couple of physicians and medics on duty every Sunday morning.</span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Righteousness, according to God’s call, is to stretch us almost to the point of breaking, something we’re <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">SO</span></b> uncomfortable to address, because it seems so extreme.</span></p><p style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Jonathan Sacks, the retired Chief Rabbi of Britain, pointed out that Judaism is the rarest of phenomena: a faith based on asking questions, sometimes deep and difficult ones that seem to shake the very foundations of faith itself.” <sup>6 </sup>I’d say that Christianity is built on its share of questions too. Jesus waits for our questions, so that He can point out what it is the God requires of us. Yet, when we hear the answers, or wonder whether we hear the answers, we get vague. We look for ways to be less challenged. If at all possible, we want to slow down, whatever it is we may have to consider. </span></p><p style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> Which brings me to the second headline of last week: “<span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20); letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">The Unlikely Comeback of New Zealand's Weirdest 'Living Fossil'” <sup>7</sup> I thought the article </span></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20); letter-spacing: 0.25pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b>WAS</b></span></span><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20); letter-spacing: 0.25pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><b> </b>talking about the church, but then the word “reptile” turned up. Still, that might not disqualify it.</span><br></p><p style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">“Cold-blooded and slow-moving, the ancient reptiles—picture a sort of chubby, thick-tailed iguana about the length of your forearm—can only move at top speed for short bursts, after which they have to stop, winded and panting. Their hearts beat just six to eight times a minute, and they can go for years without eating. In the winter, they descend into hibernation so deep they seem dead.”</span></p><p style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Maybe I shouldn’t be suggesting this so soon after a pretty good Annual Meeting, but isn’t that how we respond to calls for righteousness? If we’re asked to take in the homeless, to give spiritual, emotional and physical help to folk whom we may not know or want to know.</span></p><p style="line-height: normal; text-indent: 0.5in;"><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">But then, it’s back to a matter of choice. Do we <b><span style="text-decoration: underline;">WANT</span></b> to enter the kingdom of heaven?</span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">NOTES:</span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 15.3333px; font-size: 10pt;">[1]</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255); font-size: small;"></span></a><a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Schnittke</a></span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37);"><span style="font-size: small;">(</span></span><a target="_blank" title="Russian language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_language"><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: small;">Russian</span></span></a><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37);"><span style="font-size: small;">: </span></span><span lang="RU" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке</span></span><span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">, Alfred Garrievich Shnitke; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998)</span></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">2</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Alfred Schnittke: Concerto Grosso No. 5 for Violin, an Invisible Piano & Orchestra</span></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/161251.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"></span></a><a target="_blank" href="http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/161251.html">http://www.classicalarchives.com/work/161251.html</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Concerto-Orchestra-Schnittke-Invisible/dp/B000001GH8"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"></span></a><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Concerto-Orchestra-Schnittke-Invisible/dp/B000001GH8">https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Concerto-Orchestra-Schnittke-Invisible/dp/B000001GH8</a></span></p><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">3</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;">Oxford English Dictionary, page 678</span></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">4</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(38, 38, 38);">At the Edge of the Enclosure, SoulWork Towards Sunday: Liturgical year as a Mystical Journey Epiphany 5 Year A 5<sup>th</sup> February, 2017 “Let Your Light So Shine” Suzanne Guthrie </span><a target="_blank" href="http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany5a.html"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"></span></a><a target="_blank" href="http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany5a.html">http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/epiphany5a.html</a></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">5</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><i><span style="font-size: small;">“Christian Counter-Culture”</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"> by John R. W. Stott InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois. © 1978, quoted by Suzanne Guthrie, Op. cit.</span></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">6</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i>“The<b> </b><strong><span style="font-weight: normal;">Necessity of Asking</span></strong><b> </b>Questions” Bo</i> – Covenant & Conversation 5777 / 2017 by Jonathan Sacks 1<sup>st</sup> February, 2017 <span style="color: rgb(63, 63, 63);"><a target="_blank" href="http://rabbisacks.org/necessity-asking-questions-bo-5777/"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">The Necessity</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); text-decoration: none;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">of Asking</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); text-decoration: none;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Questions (Bo</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); text-decoration: none;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">5777) - Rabbi</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153); text-decoration: none;"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Sacks</span></a> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 117, 66);">rabbisacks.org</span></span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> </span></p><p style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">7</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <i>“<span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20); letter-spacing: 0.25pt;">The Unlikely Comeback of New Zealand's Weirdest 'Living Fossil' </span></i><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20); letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">Meet the tuatara, a three-eyed reptile with a 200-million-year-old lineage.” </span><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20);">By</span></i><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20);"> </span></i><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20);"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/users/ameliaurry?view=articles"><span style="color: rgb(56, 44, 20);">Amelia Urry</span></a></span></i><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 1.45pt;">JANUARY 31, 2017 </span><span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><a target="_blank" href="http://trib.al/nsXxzT4"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"></span></a><a target="_blank" href="http://trib.al/nsXxzT4">http://trib.al/nsXxzT4</a></span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br></span></div></div></div><div><br></div></body></html>