For the generations to come, you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord, a lasting ordinance."

Well, good evening, Keswick.

It's good to see you.

And I want to start by telling you how I'm going to end so that it isn't a, a shock.

You don't feel as if you're pressured to make a decision you haven't thought about.

At the end of the talk, as we stand to sing, I'm going to give some of you a chance to come forward for prayer.

And I say some deliberately.

[laughing]

Why has so much bad been done in the name of Christianity?

I guess even before we jump in, it's worth just saying thank you to the people who took the time to ask these kinds of questions because it takes real guts, I think.

And the reason I say that is because so often when people ask these kinds of questions, they're not just academic, not just intellectual questions.

They're often born out of anger and personal stories of hurt.

And it's just worth acknowledging that, I think, as we begin to explore and to say, yes, Christianity is a faith that believes in truth, that truth matters.

But it also is a faith that believes that tears matter.

And I think of one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 13, which says, begins by saying, how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? And it's real about the struggle that we can face as we wrestle with life in a world where things don't always seem to be fair and to go right.

to to to come into the the church and by the church i don't just mean the building or this small community here but we want people to hear about jesus christ we had one question about um about who the church was for a couple of questions one of them said is the church just for the wealthy and i guess that just raises a kind of broader question who is the church for and i guess you might come into some churches and you think well is it for for everyone who's represented represented here who is the church for yeah thank