"It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view,
the kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
That is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they
hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our
capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of
liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along
the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace
to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the
difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are the workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own"

Happy Birthday, Church! And many, many more!