Rev. Dr. Chuck Currie

UCC ups fundraising goal to $3 million for hurricane relief

Written by J. Bennett Guess

Tuesday, 06 September 2005

UCC leaders announced today (Sept. 6) that its members and congregations will need to raise at least $3 million to support longterm hurricane relief and recovery. “As this tragedy continues to unfold, we see the need for resources for longterm recovery,” said Susan Sanders, the UCC’s minister for the global sharing of resources. “Knowing the generosity of UCC members and friends, we are confident that we will meet our goal.” As of Sept. 5, online contributions to the UCC’s “Hope Shall Bloom” hurricane recovery initiative had surpassed the $100,000 mark. “As of yesterday evening, we had received a total of $100,434 in online contributions for relief efforts related to Hurricane Katrina,” reported the Rev. George Graham of the UCC’s financial development ministry. Graham and others worked over the Labor Day weekend to process church members’ web-based gifts. However, Graham expects the number of online gifts to grow even more significantly in coming days as UCC members and congregations begin to grasp the enormity of the disaster and contemplate how best to offer their support. In addition to the one-week tally of online fundraising, Sanders reported that on Sept. 6, the hurricane relief fund received $12,240 from contributions sent to the UCC's national offices in Cleveland through the U.S. postal service. Already, according to Sanders, the UCC has made significant pledges of financial support to: Church World Service, which is leading hands-on emergency relief and rescue. Slumber Falls Camp, the South Central Conference’s outdoor ministry in New Braunfels, Texas, which is housing evacuated residents of the Gulf Coast Region. The UCC’s Southeast Conference, at the request of the Rev. Andrew Young, which is providing food to evacuees in Atlanta through the Hosea Williams Feeding Program. The Amistad Resettlement Project of the Community of Faith Church (UCC/Disciples of Christ) in Houston, which is working to resettle 50-100 families. UCC-related Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, Miss., which was devastated by the storm and remains standing in 5-feet of water. The UCC's national setting is also wiring a portion of the donated funds directly to the UCC’s Southeast and South Central Conferences so that money will be available immediately as local needs arise, Sanders said.

German Christians Aid United Church Of Christ Katrina Relief Effort

People from all around the world are offering to help the victims of Katrina. Here’s the latest example from United Church News:

Germany’s Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and the Evangelical Church of Westphalia -- two of the UCC's longstanding ecumenical partner churches -- are contributing more than $67,000 to the United Church of Christ's “Hope Shall Bloom” hurricane recovery effort.

The Rhineland Church announced during a press conference on Sept. 6 that it was giving $30,000 to Gulf Coast relief. Meanwhile, the Westphalia Church relayed word that is was contributing 30,000 Euros (roughly $37,400 in U.S. dollars), according to Peter E. Makari, the UCC's executive for Middle East and Europe.

Click here to read the full story.

Click here to contribute.

Bush White House Tries To Blame Others For His Failures

The Bush White House – determined not to take responsibility for their failures over Katrina – is waging a political campaign to blame anyone else they can find. The Center for American Progress reports:

KATRINA
Rove's Finger Pointing

On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said, "This is not a time to get into any finger pointing or politics or anything of that nature." Apparently, Karl Rove didn't get the message. The New York Times reports that Rove and White House communications director Dan Bartlett have "rolled out a plan this weekend to contain the political damage from the administration's response to Hurricane Katrina." The core of the strategy is "to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana."

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL LIES TO WASHINGTON POST: The Washington Post, citing an anonymous "senior administration official," reported on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco "still had not declared a state of emergency." That wasn't true. Hours later the Post ran a correction, acknowledging that Blanco "declared an emergency on Aug. 26." (Read it here.) Newsweek also reported that, as late as Sept. 1, Blanco was "hesitant to declare martial law or a state of emergency, which would have opened the door to more Pentagon help." The magazine has yet to issue a correction.

ADMINISTRATION ACKNOWLEDGED RESPONSIBILITY FOR RELIEF EFFORTS: The White House effort to shift the blame for the response to Katrina contradicts its public statements before the storm hit. An Aug. 27 declaration on the White House website "authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts." The order specifies that "FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency." Jane Bullock, former FEMA chief of staff, said, "The moment the president declared a federal disaster, it became a federal responsibility.… The federal government took ownership over the response." This is consistent with the DHS website which states plainly, "In the event of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other large-scale emergency, the Department of Homeland Security will assume primary responsibility ... for ensuring that emergency response professionals are prepared for any situation. This will entail providing a coordinated, comprehensive federal response to any large-scale crisis and mounting a swift and effective recovery effort."

BUSH TRIES TO SHIFT BLAME: Now that things have gone poorly, the White House wants to pretend it wasn't in charge. President Bush said the magnitude of the storm "has created tremendous problems that have strained state and local capabilities. The result is that many of our citizens simply are not getting the help they need, especially in New Orleans. And that is unacceptable." Dan Bartlett told the Washington Post, "The federal government stands ready to work with state and local officials to secure New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. The president will not let any form of bureaucracy get in the way of protecting the citizens of Louisiana." The message from Bush and Bartlett is that state officials were "slow to call for outside help." The reality is that Louisiana state officials reached out to the federal government for assistance before the storm hit. On Aug. 27, Gov. Blanco sent a detailed letter to President Bush requesting assistance because "this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the State and affected local governments, and that supplementary Federal assistance is necessary to save lives, protect property, public health, and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a disaster."

Related Post:  America Left The "Least Of These" Behind In The Wake Of Katrina

Happy Labor Day!

Over the past week we've been in South Carolina visiting with family.  We spent a big chunk of time watching CNN and the coverage of Katrina.  But between all that we had a great time showing off the twins to my grandfather and other family members.  Here are just a few pictures.  Happy Labor Day!

Rock with his great grand daughters Frances (left) & Katherine.  The twins are dressed in University of South Carolina Gamecock outfits in honor of my mother and other family members who attended there.

Mommy and Katherine playing.

Daddy with Katherine (left) and Frances.

Roberts Unfit to Be Chief Justice of the United States

Statement by People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas

The death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and President Bush’s nomination of John Roberts for Chief Justice of the United States raise the stakes for the Court and the American people exponentially. The Chief Justice has unique power and influence as the nation’s highest ranking judge. And replacing two justices at the same time will have an enormous impact on the Court and on Americans’ lives and liberties for decades. People For the American Way opposed Roberts’ nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in large part based on his hostility to the laws and remedies that protect Americans from discrimination and his longtime efforts to restrict the role of the courts in upholding Americans’ rights and legal protections. To an even greater degree, that record makes him unfit for the position of Chief Justice, and we will vigorously oppose his confirmation. The events of the past week have only underscored that we need Supreme Court justices who value the role of the courts in protecting individuals’ rights and freedoms, who understand the nature of discrimination and its continuing impact on our country, and who will uphold the role of the federal government in preserving those rights and acting to protect the common good. John Roberts’ record makes it emphatically clear that he does not meet this standard. The attention of the Senate should be on the tragedies still unfolding in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. With the stakes now even higher for the nation, it would be irresponsible for the Senate Judiciary Committee to conduct confirmation hearings this week. The justices who are appointed to replace O’Connor and Rehnquist will serve for decades. There should be no rush to confirm them without the full attention of the Senate and the American people. Given these stakes, President Bush and John Roberts must be held to the highest standards of openness. President Bush must immediately provide documents he has been withholding from Robert’s tenure as principal deputy solicitor general in the first Bush administration. And Roberts must abandon the strategy of evasion that he pursued during his appeals court confirmation hearing and must be willing to fully answer senators’ questions about his approach to our Constitution. Excessive secrecy is an enemy of accountability and an enemy of representative democracy. Senators must be given the truth about Roberts’ judicial philosophy before they vote on whether to confirm him to the highest judicial seat in the nation.

An Open Letter To The President From The Editors Of The New Orleans Times-Picayune

Dear Mr. President:

We heard you loud and clear Friday when you visited our devastated city and the Gulf Coast and said, "What is not working, we’re going to make it right."

Please forgive us if we wait to see proof of your promise before believing you. But we have good reason for our skepticism.

Bienville built New Orleans where he built it for one main reason: It’s accessible. The city between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain was easy to reach in 1718.

How much easier it is to access in 2005 now that there are interstates and bridges, airports and helipads, cruise ships, barges, buses and diesel-powered trucks.

Despite the city’s multiple points of entry, our nation’s bureaucrats spent days after last week’s hurricane wringing their hands, lamenting the fact that they could neither rescue the city’s stranded victims nor bring them food, water and medical supplies.

Meanwhile there were journalists, including some who work for The Times-Picayune, going in and out of the city via the Crescent City Connection. On Thursday morning, that crew saw a caravan of 13 Wal-Mart tractor trailers headed into town to bring food, water and supplies to a dying city.

Television reporters were doing live reports from downtown New Orleans streets. Harry Connick Jr. brought in some aid Thursday, and his efforts were the focus of a "Today" show story Friday morning.

Yet, the people trained to protect our nation, the people whose job it is to quickly bring in aid were absent. Those who should have been deploying troops were singing a sad song about how our city was impossible to reach.

We’re angry, Mr. President, and we’ll be angry long after our beloved city and surrounding parishes have been pumped dry. Our people deserved rescuing. Many who could have been were not. That’s to the government’s shame.

Mayor Ray Nagin did the right thing Sunday when he allowed those with no other alternative to seek shelter from the storm inside the Louisiana Superdome. We still don’t know what the death toll is, but one thing is certain: Had the Superdome not been opened, the city’s death toll would have been higher. The toll may even have been exponentially higher.

It was clear to us by late morning Monday that many people inside the Superdome would not be returning home. It should have been clear to our government, Mr. President. So why weren’t they evacuated out of the city immediately? We learned seven years ago, when Hurricane Georges threatened, that the Dome isn’t suitable as a long-term shelter. So what did state and national officials think would happen to tens of thousands of people trapped inside with no air conditioning, overflowing toilets and dwindling amounts of food, water and other essentials?

State Rep. Karen Carter was right Friday when she said the city didn’t have but two urgent needs: "Buses! And gas!" Every official at the Federal Emergency Management Agency should be fired, Director Michael Brown especially.

In a nationally televised interview Thursday night, he said his agency hadn’t known until that day that thousands of storm victims were stranded at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. He gave another nationally televised interview the next morning and said, "We’ve provided food to the people at the Convention Center so that they’ve gotten at least one, if not two meals, every single day."

Lies don’t get more bald-faced than that, Mr. President.

Yet, when you met with Mr. Brown Friday morning, you told him, "You’re doing a heck of a job."

That’s unbelievable.

There were thousands of people at the Convention Center because the riverfront is high ground. The fact that so many people had reached there on foot is proof that rescue vehicles could have gotten there, too.

We, who are from New Orleans, are no less American than those who live on the Great Plains or along the Atlantic Seaboard. We’re no less important than those from the Pacific Northwest or Appalachia. Our people deserved to be rescued.

No expense should have been spared. No excuses should have been voiced. Especially not one as preposterous as the claim that New Orleans couldn’t be reached.

Mr. President, we sincerely hope you fulfill your promise to make our beloved communities work right once again.

When you do, we will be the first to applaud.

United Methodist Conference Draws Few Protesters

The Ashville Citizen-Times has a write-up online about the Reconciling Ministries Network meeting taking place this weekend at Lake Junaluska, a United Methodist conference facility. Reconciling Ministries Network is a group of United Methodists working for the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the United Methodist Church. The conference has been opposed by the Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy and the Ku Klux Klan. The Citizen-Times reports that conservatives who planned to protest the meeting over the weekend were largely a no show. It sounds like the conference is going well.

The Rev. Monica Corsaro of Seattle, a spokeswoman for the conference, said the event had less to do with changing the political structure of the church and more to do with fellowship and worship.

“But we are encouraged that there are seven bishops here and one who is traditionally conservative,” she said.

The United Methodist Church for decades has voted against allowing gays to become clergy.

Corsaro said the goal of Reconciling Ministries Network, the Chicago-based organization that hosts the conference each year, is to advocate for the inclusion of everyone in the church in an attempt to prevent a split over the issue of sexuality.

“We are not looking to leave (the church),” she said.

Bishop Richard Wilke was one Saturday’s speakers. He told the group that the use of the Bible to prevent people from being in the church is harmful.

“I’m so frustrated with people who take a prejudice and find a Bible verse to support it,” he said. “Controversy is no stranger to the church. But it is the cause of denominationalism. That is why we have to accept people as people, not categories.”

It just happened that I was in the Lake Junaluska area this afternoon. Liz and I sat by the lake with the twins and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. There were no KKK members in sight.

Please keep Reconciling Ministries Network and the people of the United Methodist Church in your prayers.

You can keep updated on the conference on the RMN blog.

Related Post:  Ku Klux Klan Joins Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy In Protesting Church Conference

William Rehnquist Dies; President Must Not Further Divide America

The late breaking news tonight that Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died is tragic news for a divided nation.  Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.  The president, facing a domestic crisis on one front and a foreign crisis on another front, should use this moment to appoint a moderate replacement.  Outgoing Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor would be an ideal choice.  If the president appoints another ultra-conservative it will further divide the nation during a time of crisis in which we need to be united.  Mr. President, don’t fail us again.

Related Post:  Rehnquist: "I am not about to announce my retirement"

UCC Blog Post:  America Must Have A Moderate Supreme Court Nominee

September 11, 2005 is "Compassion Sunday"

Message from the National Council of Churches

The Kentucky Council of Churches is planning a "Compassion Sunday" service remembering the victims of both the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the Gulf Coast hurricane of 2005. The service, at 3 p.m. EDT on Sept. 11 at Central Baptist Church in Lexington, will be broadcast via satellite and the Internet to congregations and homes across the country. It will include religious leaders from many faith traditions, including Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu communities. During the broadcast, information on organizations helping provide relief to hurricane victims will be provided. Information on how a congregation or individual can watch the telecast via satellite and/or the Internet will be available after the Labor Day holidays at www.kycouncilofchurches.org.

America Left The "Least Of These" Behind In The Wake Of Katrina

Anyone watching the coverage of New Orleans cannot help but notice that those left behind after the evacuation seem to be African-Americans, those experiencing homelessness, those living in poverty, the elderly, and the ill.

Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” – Matthew 25:45 (NRSV)

Wil Haygood wrote today in The Washington Post:

While hundreds of thousands of people have been dislocated by Hurricane Katrina, the images that have filled the television screens have been mainly of black Americans -- grieving, suffering, in some cases looting and desperately trying to leave New Orleans. Along with the intimate tales of family drama and survival being played out Thursday, there was no escaping that race had become a subtext to the unfolding drama of the hurricane's aftermath.

Would the chaos we’ve witnessed this week have occurred if most of those facing the crisis had been white and rich? Sadly, most of us can admit the answer is no.  The government would have gotten their act together and food and water would have moved into the area long before it has in this case.

America left the least of these behind again this week.

We do it all the time.

Related Post:  Hurricane Katrina: Has America Failed?

Ku Klux Klan Joins Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy In Protesting Church Conference

The Reconciling Ministries Network – a group of United Methodists that advocate the full inclusion of gays and lesbians into the life of the church – will hold a conference in the mountains of North Carolina this week. The Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD), a group opposed to basic civil rights for gays and lesbians, has been critical of the conference. It was announced this week that the Ku Klux Klan would be at the conference site to protest over the weekend. IRD is trying to distance their group from the KKK. Why bother? They share a similar agenda of opposing basic civil rights for gays and lesbians (though they use different tactics). The IRD and KKK were made for each other – at least on this issue.

IRD staffer John Lomperis will be "reporting on the event" on the IRD web site.  Lomperis was a volunteer on the Bush re-election campaign last year (a fact he concealed when he was writing articles critical of progressive Christian groups and their involvement in voter registration campaigns).

Related Post:  Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy Tries To Keep Gays And Lesbians Out Of United Methodist Camp

UCC-related colleges rally with support, placement for Dillard University students

Republished from United Church News

Students at New Orleans' Dillard University are being offered support and placement at UCC-related colleges across the nation, according to Kimberly Whitney, the UCC's minister for higher and theological education.

Supportive schools are offering to house and educate students, while rebating tuition back to Dillard in a comprehensive effort to retain the college's student body and sustain its economic viability.

A conference call was scheduled for today (Sept. 2), when leaders of UCC-related colleges and universities will coordinate their offers of support to the United Negro College Fund on behalf of Dillard's students.

Dillard is one of the UCC's historically black colleges and was severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina, although the extent of damage to its urban campus remains unclear. Dillard's website (dillard.edu) is not presently operating.

"The colleges and universities of the [UCC's] Council for Higher Education, as they are able, are reaching out to offer students a place to stay and to study, while rebating tuition to Dillard," Whitney said. "This educational and fiscal continuity is important for the ongoing life and prophetic
witness of Dillard."

Already, UCC-related Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, Texas, "is at work at this time to accommodate between 50-75 students," according to an email from the executive committee of the UCC's Council for Higher Education.

Also, UCC-related Olivet College in Michigan has agreed to take 25 students immediately, including van transportation to its campus located about 30 miles south of Detroit. In addition, it plans to make room for 50 students from Dillard, starting in January, according to Mike Fales, Olivet's director of church relations and campus ministries.

"This is an extraordinary effort by our [UCC] affiliated college and universities to save a college that is an important part of our history," Fales told United Church News.

Founded in 1869, Dillard has nearly 2,200 students. U.S. News & World Report has consistently listed Dillard University as among the best comprehensive colleges in the south.

UCC-related Tougaloo College near Jackson, Miss., and Talladega College in Alabama also were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. However, at present, "there does not appear to be a need to host students from Tougaloo or Talladega colleges," Whitney said.

Related Post:  UCC Related-Dillard University Evacuates

Hurricane Katrina: Has America Failed?

Lots of questions are being asked in the wake of Katrina.

The Center for American Progress has one pretty tough question:

WHY WAS GULF COAST DISASTER PREPARATION SUCH A LOW PRIORITY?: The planning failures were not limited to the short-term emergency response. As Louisiana Rep. Bobby Jindal (R), one of three members of Congress whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, said yesterday: "If we had been investing resources in restoring our coast, it wouldn't have prevented the storm but the barrier islands would have absorbed some of the tidal surge." Unfortunately, the resources were not invested -- either in coastal restoration or the levees -- despite years of pleas. On June 8, 2004, the emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, complained about a lack of funding for the levees, a long stretch of which had sunk by four feet: "It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us." The money never came through, and last year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "essentially stopped major work" on the levee system that has now been breached. "It was the first such stoppage in 37 years." Additionally, federal flood control spending for southeastern Louisiana was "chopped from $69 million in 2001 to $36.5 million in 2005," Knight-Ridder reports, even as "federal hurricane protection for the Lake Pontchartrain vicinity in the Army Corps of Engineers' budget dropped from $14.25 million in 2002 to $5.7 million this year." The cuts were strenuously opposed by Louisiana representatives, who "urged Congress earlier this year to dedicate a stream of federal money to Louisiana's coast, only to be opposed by the White House."

The events of the past week represent a colossal national failure.

A failure of planning. A failure of leadership.

The New York Times said in an editorial that:

George W. Bush gave one of the worst speeches of his life yesterday, especially given the level of national distress and the need for words of consolation and wisdom. In what seems to be a ritual in this administration, the president appeared a day later than he was needed. He then read an address of a quality more appropriate for an Arbor Day celebration: a long laundry list of pounds of ice, generators and blankets delivered to the stricken Gulf Coast. He advised the public that anybody who wanted to help should send cash, grinned, and promised that everything would work out in the end….

While our attention must now be on the Gulf Coast's most immediate needs, the nation will soon ask why New Orleans's levees remained so inadequate. Publications from the local newspaper to National Geographic have fulminated about the bad state of flood protection in this beloved city, which is below sea level. Why were developers permitted to destroy wetlands and barrier islands that could have held back the hurricane's surge? Why was Congress, before it wandered off to vacation, engaged in slashing the budget for correcting some of the gaping holes in the area's flood protection?

It would be some comfort to think that, as Mr. Bush cheerily announced, America "will be a stronger place" for enduring this crisis. Complacency will no longer suffice, especially if experts are right in warning that global warming may increase the intensity of future hurricanes. But since this administration won't acknowledge that global warming exists, the chances of leadership seem minimal.

What we cannot do now is fail to take care of those who survived Katrina or to learn the lessons so harshly taught.  It is not clear tonight that we are even now living up to our national responsibility to assist those in need.

UCC leaders announce $1 million relief goal following Katrina devastation

Written by J. Bennett Guess

Thursday, 01 September 2005

A goal to raise at least $1 million from UCC members and supporters was announced today (Sept.1) to collect much-needed funds for relief and rehabilitation following the devastating wreckage and havoc caused by Hurricane Katrina. The benchmark was announced in a letter to be distributed to congregations and members from Susan M. Sanders, the UCC’s minister for the global sharing of resources. "We are facing an unprecedented catastrophe," Sanders said. "In a 'normal' disaster, we would be well into the relief operation by now. Instead, we are still in a search and rescue mode which is complicated by security concerns.  New Orleans is now being evacuated, and some 80% of the city is flooded. The Gulf Coast area of Mississippi has simply been obliterated." Already, donations from UCC congregations, members and supporters are pouring in from across the country and beyond, according to the Rev. Craig Hoffman of the UCC’s financial development ministry in Cleveland. Within the past 48 hours, nearly $30,000 in contributions had been received online, said Hoffman, who is working extended hours to download and process the large number of web-based gifts.  "For many of our donors online giving has become the preferred method of supporting relief efforts as quickly as possible," Hoffman said. "We've seen a remarkable response of caring and generosity in both the number and dollar amounts of gifts received online - and the magnitude of Katrina's devastation is still being realized." Also, on Sept. 1, the United Church of Christ was one of a handful of organizations singled out by Cleveland’s Plain Dealer newspaper as an appropriate source for area residents to channel relief dollars. The newspaper pointed its readers to the UCC’s online fundraising efforts. Just after Hurricane Katrina blew across Louisiana and Mississippi, the UCC made an initial gift of $25,000 to Church World Service from funds collected this past March during the denomination’s annual One Great Hour of Sharing special mission offering. However, that amount is only a tiny beginning with respect to how the UCC’s members and congregations will respond in the coming hours, days and weeks, Sanders said.

World Council of Churches Statement To Victims of Katrina

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia expressed today the compassion and solidarity of the member churches of the World Council of Churches with all the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which US officials fear has claimed thousands of lives in recent days.

"The whole fellowship of the World Council of Churches unites in prayer for the people, leaders and churches of the United States as you come to grips with the tragedy brought to your shores by hurricane Katrina. We pray for those who mourn, who suffer, who search for meaning. We pray the time will come when even those who are now most troubled in spirit will rediscover the hope of resurrection. We pray for those who have perished and are already safe within God's eternal keeping. And we pledge our solidarity with those who have begun the task of rebuilding broken walls and restoring stricken lives. In particular, we hold in our prayers all the church relief agencies, workers and volunteers who are struggling to assist those in need.

"May the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good, that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight; through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21).