Be The Hope

 Hello!  ¡Hola!  It was another busy week, as I had a 3-day conference, but my youngest daughter and grandson's are in town now, so it's like a special reward.

With everything going on, I only had time to make a card for a friend, who recently lost his brother.  I was inspired by Just Add Ink Challenge #797 add 2 or more (Numbers, Letters and Stripes), The Paper Players Sketch Challenge PP809 from Christy, and Color Dare #726 (BTW Thanks for choosing my card as an Emerald Winner for Color Dare #723.)  I used the Altenew Quill & Inkwell die set; and the Sizzix Tim Holtz Handwritten Love Thinlits set, along with the French Script & Stripes embossing folders.

🥤T is for Tuesday 10/26/2026

🍳What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday 908

🔔 My Sunday Best #505

♰ Mosaic Monday No. 212

🤳Friday Face Off 10/30/2026

🦋 Saturday's Critters #672

These is my "This, that and the other" collection for last week.  The 1st🥤 picture is a mug I used during breakfast at Camp Capers, at our Diocesan Clergy Conference.  The 2nd🍳 picture is of a charcuterie board that 4 other priests and I helped assemble during free-time, led by the camp chef (See red bandana).  The 3rd🔔 picture is of the bell tower at the camp.  The 4th♰ picture is of the cross at the camp's amphitheater.  The 5th🤳 picture is a selfie I took when we took my grandkids on a hayride, at a pumpkin patch, at the Methodist Church in town.  The 6th🦋 is a video I took of some of the Monarch Butterflies that visited my garden this year.  I was ecstatic, as I hadn't seen any in a couple of years!

In closing, I'll leave you with a summary of my sermon, based on Matthew 22:34-46:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  This is the Gospel in a nutshell.  As such, these two commandments offer the primary guiding light for contemporary Christians as they did the moment Jesus proclaimed them to the Pharisees and Sadducees as the Greatest Commandment.  We can’t profess one without the other, for on these hangs all the law and the prophets.  I wonder what our world would look like if we faithfully held these commandments as the guiding light for everything we did.  It's not easy.  If it were, we wouldn't have a world that idolizes power, wealth, and control over others, instead of God.  We wouldn't have a world that judges people that don't look, think, act, speak, worship, love, or vote, the way we do, instead of serving God in all persons; and striving for respect, justice and peace for all people.  You may be asking yourself, where's the hope in this sermon?  The answer is us.  You and I are the hope, the light, and the firewood that can help ignite God’s Love, through the power of the Holy Spirit, starting in our own communities.

Thanks for visiting!  ¡Gracias por su visita!  Please leave a comment, and I'll be sure to reciprocate, so that we can get to know each other.

Shalom,

Arnoldo+