Merry Christmas

Six months ago, I began a journey to find a new house of worship. Living near Hollywood, and noting how many churches there are in the area, it seemed as good a place as any to base my search. I made my way through Hollywood itself, Los Feliz, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Little Armenia, North Hollywood, and even dropped by Downtown LA and San Diego. I visited churches backed by Presbyterians, Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Russian Orthodox, non-denominational Christians, Scientologists, and -- Lutherans, to name a few. I even tried (and failed) to visit two mosques. I never made it to a synagogue, but I did visit Canter's Deli a few times, and many of my Jewish friends have told me that suffices.

I had a few goals in mind when I began my quest, but first and foremost was finding a place where I felt comfortable giving praise and thanks to God. I decided to blog about the experience because I wanted to ensure I gave each church due consideration, and because I am always trying to find new and distinct ways of flexing my writing muscle.

Some would say there is a dichotomy between God and Hollywood, but I find more than a few similarities. The most glaring ones are that both feature the concept of faith and hope. A belief in God can be likened in many ways to the Hollywood dream. It can be a hard road, there will be obstacles and naysayers, and there are no guarantees. Yet I still maintain if you ever watch the sun go down on Sunset Blvd., then you know there is a magic and a mystery to Hollywood that cannot be explained. And I still maintain that if you have God in your heart, you can endure far more than if your heart is empty.

Christmas is upon us, and it means different things to different people. My godparents were missionaries in Africa back in the 1980s, and one year they sent me a gift for the holidays. It was a hand-carved Nativity scene, made of wood by the locals of their village, and in what some have described as blasphemous, obscene, or just plain wrong, the Nativity depicts all the major players as black. And I love it. I love that it offends; I use it as a barometer for who really understands Jesus at His core. God made us in His image -- why wouldn't a group of Africans carve Him as a black child? And why would any Christian lose sleep over it? Christmas is upon us, and it is the time of year we are most united in faith and compassion. It is the time of year when appearances do not count; action counts. Intentions count. Anyone who misses the action and intention of an African Nativity has missed a great deal more than that.

I sometimes hear people say, "I'm not a very religious person," but that makes no sense to me. You either are or you are not, the modifier has no place in that sentence. I am a religious person; I don't ram it down anybody's throat, because it isn't generally my style to do that. If you question me about my faith, politics, beliefs, etc., then I will likely respond and even debate you, but if you don't really care, I'm just as content to smile and move on about my day.

After visiting two dozen places, I have not yet found a church to call my own. I've made peace with that; I've actually made peace with the fact I might never find a church to call my own. A church should not belong to a person or even a congregation -- it is God's house, after all. Setting aside all the creeds that narrowly define who we are, we are all children of God. Christmas began as a celebration of the birth of Jesus, but it has expanded to become a celebration of life itself -- of giving, of family, of friends, and of love. This blog began as a means of deconstructing churches, but it expanded to become a place where faith is celebrated, hope is encouraged, and love is mandatory.

I wish everyone who reads this the merriest of Christmases, and I wish the very best for you and yours in the coming year. May God bless you and strengthen you, and may He fill your hearts with faith, hope, and love.

Amen.

St. Thomas the Apostle

Here is how a longtime member of the St. Thomas the Apostle congregation described his church to me: "We're the church of bells and smells."

We'll start with the bells -- according to the church literature, the organ features more than 4,000 pipes. That's a lot of pipes. It equates to a lot of bells. 

As for the smells, this church really likes incense. They use the shaky-shaky delivery system and spread incense whenever the priest walks and/or whenever the Bible is moved from place to place. Sometimes they spread incense for other moments, as well, such as when we pray or when we kneel or when we stand. That's a lot of incense. It equates to a lot of smells. 

Of course, the church is more than that, and I'd contend the reason these elements are the focus is because they call back to a series of ritualistic behaviors seldom seem in this age. The church boasts a well-balanced choir of voices capable of singing in Latin, a skill demonstrated several times throughout the service. I confess, I like elements in the original Latin. 

In this church there is a ritual for everything. All parts of the worship service are deemed of equal import, and the result is a focus on details other churches overlook. I have to admit, I found the experience to be interesting but exhausting. It felt like every few seconds you had to bow or make the sign of the cross or my doused with holy water or breath in the smoke from the shaky-shaky incense thing. There were several call-and-response portions of the service, a few in Latin. I can see how some people might be overwhelmed by it all.

I liked it. 

I am prone to distraction, and I have had a lot on my mind lately. This church doesn't really allow for that. Congregants are active, not passive, and the rituals are things the people there clearly took pride in, not for themselves, but as a way of honoring God. By the time the homily was delivered, we were ready for it. 

The head priest, Father Ian Elliot Davies, is as British as his name implies. So not only were there all sorts of rituals dating back to the days of old, but the guy running the show had "ye olde English" accent. It was like stepping back to a time when people celebrated the details and took satisfaction in a good end result. Further, his sermon was more of a history lesson (I've noticed a lot of those lately) about the Council of Nicea and how they worked to structure what Christianity was (and what it wasn't). Immediately after the sermon concluded, all in attendance recited the Nicene Creed, which in this church included reverential bowing and signs of the cross. 

First-time visitors to the church are given a coffee mug and greeted with a round of applause; not a nod to any past tradition, but -- hey -- this is Hollywood so swag is a given. It is customary for many priests and pastors to shake hands and say hello to people after church. Everyone at St. Thomas the Apostle was hugged. And the conversations were not like the cliche stewardesses at the end of a flight. 

When deluged with as much ritual and tradition as this church has, there is a tendency to make the actions the focus, but I didn't feel that at St. Thomas the Apostle. I felt like the actions taken were a way of praising God and centering hearts and minds. I'm not sure I could realistically have that much focus every week, but I was appreciative of it in this instance. 

Amen.

_______________________________________________

Sunday Scorecard

This will be a regular part of my weekly reviews, a series of short-answer questions about the day's experience.

What is the contact info for the church?

St. Thomas the Apostle

7501 Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood, CA 90046

323/875-2102

http://www.saintthomashollywood.org

What was the denomination?

Episcopalian 

What Bible verses were referenced?

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Romans 16:25-end, Luke 1:26-38

What are the demographics of the congregation?

A good mix of ages, less diverse ethnically 

Was the atmosphere formal or casual?

Very formal in structure and tone

What was the music like?

Organ and choir who sang in Latin

How was the use of PowerPoint?

None, and there was much rejoicing

Being Hollywood, were there celebrities in the congregation?

Yes there were

The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood (fourth visit)

Yes, I went back to The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, and I did so for several reasons. Among them:

1. I wanted a place that would put me in the Christmas spirit, and I assumed the church would be nicely decorated. I assumed correctly.
2. I needed to focus more on the message instead of the aesthetics today. Not sure I can explain why, but today didn't feel like a day to be critical of the paint job, the music, or the size of the cross above the alter.
3. I wanted to pray.

I have not really focused on my personal faith over the last several months, largely because I still feel the sting of having been judged inferior by my former church. I am reluctant to share, but here goes.

I'm not big on praying in public. I'm not saying it is a bad thing; I'm just saying my words to God are generally private (one reason I'm not a Catholic -- I don't like the concept of middlemen in the prayer chain). I've been to churches where one is expected to hold hands with strangers while praying. I've been to churches where people gather around a person and -- well -- lay hands upon he or she while praying. Many people experience an energy from such a tactile experience. I'm just not a fan.

While it is true that one can pray anywhere, I have felt compelled to pray lately, and I wanted to do so in a church. I'm not one of those cheese-balls who will spout off about "the power of prayer." Sorry, that was less kind than it should have been. I just don't automatically assume prayer, for lack of a better word, works. But I have some friends going through some stuff, some family going through other stuff, and I had a few personal prayer requests of my own. When the list starts to pile high, I tend to go to church and, as the song says, "take it to the Lord in prayer." I don't know if it helps in every instance, but I know it has never hurt.

Today's service began with a prayer by the pastor that we be "participants, not observers" in worship. I propose the same needs to happen in life. I suppose that might be one reason so many prayers go "unanswered." In some cases like the illness of a loved one, there is nothing we can do except pray. But often we pray for something to happen, then sit back and wait around to see if it does -- we could be trying to make things happen, or we could be asking others for help. Instead we take no action other than prayer, and I'm not sure that is the correct approach.

Lately I've been more proactive regarding certain things -- things I also pray about. It isn't that I feel prayer is not enough. As an example, it is that I don't tend to pray for God to help others -- I pray to God that I can provide help to others... if that makes sense. I believe prayer is a part of a partnership or alliance, and both parties need to do their part. I may pray for my own happiness, but I'm really praying for the ability to make myself happier. I don't see God as a genie granting wishes. As the protest phrase goes, I believe we need to be the change we want to see in the world. I believe God wants us to make the changes, and it is perhaps asking too much of us to be asking/begging Him to do it for us.

The focus of the sermon today was "Trust God," and I do -- sort of. I believe that God is a sort of a "big picture guy," that he is looking at the whole universe at any given time. I trust that God is looking at the big picture; I just don't believe that means he's looking out for me as an individual. I also don't think He has anything against me. I just don't know if, as the saying goes, God is on my side. We don't see the big picture. At best, we see a microscopic fragment of it. We cannot hope to understand why bad things happen to good people (or vice-verse). And rather than try to find out, I choose to pray for wisdom or strength to try to lessen the number of bad things that might happen. I trust that God has the power to grant me the ability to become wiser and stronger.

Amen.

_______________________________________________

Sunday Scorecard

This will be a regular part of my weekly reviews, a series of short-answer questions about the day's experience.

What is the contact info for the church?

The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood

1760 N. Gower St.
Hollywood, CA 90025
323/463-7161

http://www.fpch.org

What was the denomination?

Presbyterian

What Bible verses were referenced?

Isaiah 7:9-14


What are the demographics of the congregation?

A children's choir sang, so there were more parents than usual

Was the atmosphere formal or casual?

Formal in structure and tone

What was the music like?

Organ and a voluminous choir

How was the use of PowerPoint?

Very little, just for the Bible verses and song lyrics

Being Hollywood, were there celebrities in the congregation?

I'm 99% certain one of my favorite all-time actors was near the front of the church, but I didn't want to intrude

Our Mother of Good Counsel

I had plans for the late morning on Sunday, and something I've done in the past in such instances is to locate a Catholic church so I can -- bluntly -- quickly burn through a mass and get on with my day. It is the absolute wrong approach to worship, especially during the holiday season. God, like Santa, knows if you're being bad or good, so be good... or He'll send you to a mass that seems to go on forever as punishment.

Our Mother of Good Counsel is, quite possibly, the only thing in Los Feliz with ample parking. It is also a Catholic church with a music program. Mass included a decent-sized choir, a pianist, flautist, and bass guitar player. Multiple hymns were sung, and the call-and-response portions of the liturgy featured an array of musical arrangements. The priest was dressed in the same color purple as the alter fabric and fabric of the ceremonial tapestries at the front of the church. In short, at times during mass the priest seemed to vanish. I found this more amusing than a should have.

The homily wasn't really centered on the quoted passages in the Bible. Instead it was a cultural history lesson of the Catholic church, all five branches... or maybe six (the priest himself seemed uncertain). By way of clarification, not all Catholics are Roman Catholics, and there are differences amongst the other branches. Some are identified by their cities of origin, while others are just -- well -- different.

Some Catholic priests are allowed to marry and do not need to remain celibate. That's one of those facts that often slips past laypeople. Then there is Christmas itself. Advent is not universal to all Catholics, and those who do count down the days have unique traditions. Some consider the weeks leading up to the celebration of the birth of Jesus as a somber time, a time not to be filled with parties and lights and song. Others have not agreed on when to celebrate Christ's birth, and reserve Epiphany (January 6th) as the day to sing happy birthday to the Lord.

When I lived overseas, I got to experience this up close and personal. Multiple branches of Catholicism, as well as other Christian faiths, celebrate different ways on different days. Only us westerners celebrated on Dec. 25th, while others celebrated on the new year itself, then there were those who celebrated on Jan. 6th. And as Christians, we were basically allowed to celebrate all of the above instances.

Here in the west, where Christian denominations have intertwined and meshed together, we often forget there are differences. Certainly, the atheists who actively campaign for the removal of God from our lives tend to lump us all together as one. And more often than not those TV punditry shows will list any believer merely as a Christian. That is not altogether bad. There is more that unites us than divides us, but there are times when it is important to recognize the differences. Just as not all atheists are out to close church doors, not all Christians are picketing at the funerals of soldiers. On a base level, regardless of whether we are talking about religion, we need to be able to embrace differences and celebrate similarities.

We also need to remember that praising God is not just another trivial item on somebody's "to-do" list. At least, I sometimes need to do a better job of remembering that.

Amen.

_______________________________________________

Sunday Scorecard

This will be a regular part of my weekly reviews, a series of short-answer questions about the day's experience.

What is the contact info for the church?

Our Mother of Good Counsel

2060 North Vermont Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90027

323/664-2111

http://www.omogc.org/

What was the denomination?

Catholic

What Bible verses were referenced?

2 Peter 3:3-18 and Mark 1:2-15

What are the demographics of the congregation?

Mostly Asian and Hispanic, mostly older

Was the atmosphere formal or casual?

Formal mass

What was the music like?

Decent choir, accompanied by piano, flute, and bass guitar

How was the use of PowerPoint?

No... I don't think Catholics believe in Microsoft

Being Hollywood, were there celebrities in the congregation?

None that I could see

Bel Air Presbyterian Church

It is not a surprise to people who know me, but I have mild obsessive compulsive tendencies. I happen to believe that it is not necessarily a bad thing because such leanings make a person more detail oriented. It doesn't interfere with day-to-day living if -- for instance -- I always shave from the right side of my face to my left side (unless I have a beard in which case I shave in the opposite direction, don't ask me why). Being blind in one eye, one idiosyncrasy I have is to kick the edge of a step with my heel when walking down a flight of stairs -- I do it without even thinking about it, and it helps me to orient myself and prevents me from accidentally walking off the edge of the next step.

One of my obsessions involves symmetry. I am a fan of symmetrical architecture where things are evenly spaced and in direct proportion to one another. Nowhere can such symmetry be more beautifully expressed than inside a church. Practically every famous house of worship can be evenly sliced in half, a mirror image of itself. Serene perfection.

It is impossible to deny the Bel Air Presbyterian Church is anything less than beautiful. What it is not -- however -- is symmetrical. And it is a jarring asymmetry. I understand the reasoning behind it; the church has one of the most amazing views in all of Los Angeles and the design of the sanctuary takes full advantage of that exterior beauty, with massive windows in all directions -- even behind the alter area. Note: There is a cross cut into the frame of the window behind the alter, but unless you are seated near the exact center of the room, the cross will be obscured by the pipes for the pipe organ. As compensation, they have erected a cross to the far right of the church -- to the right of the massive PowerPoint screen. For me, the asymmetry makes me feel unsettled and -- though I can't logically explain why -- unwelcome.

The result is a room that feels more like a quirky, high-end restaurant or coffee shop than a church. As I sat there, I half expected a waitress to come take my drink order.

While I found the music and multimedia in last Sunday's church to blend nicely with the quaint style of the sanctuary, in the hills off of Mulholland Drive it was just exploitative. The house band -- sorry -- the praise band did the majority of the singing; we served more as audience members than congregants. Splashed onto the screen was a comedy sketch produced in connection to the day's sermon about Nineveh. The video would have been a terrific way to provide background of the location to children, except the children were all downstairs in Sunday school.

The featured Biblical passages for this morning were from Isaiah and Jonah, both mentioning the town of Nineveh. It was in that place where the birth of Jesus was foretold -- and where Jonah got all worked up over a dead shrubbery, but that's not important right now.

I normally like to name the pastor of each church as I comment about the sermon, but his name was lacking in the day's bulletin as well as the PowerPoint screen, so I guess he doesn't want to be known. Though in looking up his name on the church's website, I see they have a "Pastor to the Entertainment Industry," so -- um -- there's that. As for the sermon itself, it was innocuous. I thought about what word best described it and none fit better than innocuous. For a casual church-goer, it was fine; how could something so watered down not be fine?

OK, I'm being nitpicky, but he was wrong in his definition of "advent." I know my Latin roots and I know what adv means and I know what advent means as a result of that. And even if I didn't know, there are dictionaries to assist me. Clearly, the pastor wanted to use the word "receive" in his sermon, and it did, indeed, fit nicely into what he was saying, but advent does not mean receive. Advent deals with arrival, not reception. Even the blasphemers of Nineveh knew that. So, yes, we should take the next few weeks -- a.k.a. Advent season -- to prepare to receive Christ into our hearts, minds, and lives. However, that ain't what advent means. Advent refers to the arrival of the King of Kings, regardless of whether we are ready to receive Him. Because ready or not, here He comes.

My advice to the church if it wants to attract people like me would be to strip away the ephemera. I realize that, in doing so, there would be very little left to the church (for starters, they wouldn't need a "Pastor to the Entertainment Industry"), and from the sizable congregation I am in the minority view here. However, if you were to take a poll of those who attended, I'd wager they will recall the comedic video about Nineveh and probably recall the handful of jokes the pastor told. But I wonder how many of them walked away with the message that Christ is coming.

And that is what Advent is all about, Charlie Brown.


Amen.

_______________________________________________

Sunday Scorecard

This will be a regular part of my weekly reviews, a series of short-answer questions about the day's experience.

What is the contact info for the church?

Bel Air Presbyterian Church
16221 Mulholland Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90049
818/788-4200
http://www.belairpres.org/

What was the denomination?

Presbyterian

What Bible verses were referenced?

Isaiah 7:10-17, Jonah 3, Matthew 1:18-25 (anyone who doubts the differences in versions of the Bible, read the account of Joseph in Matthew 1 from the KJV then look at it in one of the modern translations... completely alters his character)


What are the demographics of the congregation?

Mostly young, white, hipsters.

Was the atmosphere formal or casual?

Very informal. People kept getting up and leaving.

What was the music like?

Praise band. 'Nuf said.

How was the use of PowerPoint?

An overwhelming amount of PowerPoint which distracted from the message

Being Hollywood, were there celebrities in the congregation?

Yes. A pretty minor actress sat next to me for five or ten minutes before receiving a text and leaving.

Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles

As an avid viewer of "This Old House," I like the concept of taking something old and restoring it to its former glory. However, too much modernization can corrupt the original (remember what the Deetz family did to the house in "Beetlejuice"?). The same can be said whenever a church attempts to ultramodernize. Throw together a drumset. huge TV screens displaying PowerPoint slides, and an entire set of A/V gear inside a classicly designed sanctuary and you've got yourself the makings of a disaster. For this sort of infringement on tradition, unless a very delicate balance can be maintained, it makes the entire worhsip experience feel like a happy-clappy pep rally led by the world's worst glee club.

Someone finally found the right balance.

I confess, the Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles was a last minute choice for me. I'd done little to no advanced research on the place other than identifying the start time of its Sunday worship service. As I arrived, the rain was pouring down in the Los Feliz district of Hollywood, and -- as usual -- there was no parking available. I drove up a side road, finally finding a spot, then got out of my car and slid my way back to church.

The place was packed. Aside from a few funerals and Christmas services, I don't think I've ever seen a church filled to capacity. This church was standing-room only. A couple hundred people who had an energy I am frankly not used to seeing in the aisles. A guy in the second row was dressed like Huggy Bear, complete with fur coat, which is neither here nor there but something I've never seen inside a church before -- and it was awesome.

Screens were positioned to either side of the altar, and the front of the church was packed with singers and musicians. And when the music kicked in, small remote controlled cameras transmitted the service live via Ustream. In reviewing the video from this morning's service, it does not do justice to the audio, which is a shame, because unlike so many worship services I've attended lately, the congregants did not merely phone it in; they made quite a joyful noise. (Note: That is me in the screen-grabbed image next to the minister as he delivered the benediction at the close of worship)

There was a double message to the day's worship. The first dealt with thanks -- an obvious topic considering the week we are in, but less obvious when you consider the pastor's accent is a dead giveaway that he is from somewhere across the pond. The second topic is less well-known to many people, and one that many in the Christian community would rather not celebrate, and one upon which this church is based. Today is a day in the LGBT community when they remember those whose lives were lost as a result of having been discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. As I later learned from reading about the church on its website, the church was founded in the '60s by a radical minister who believed -- as the song goes -- that Jesus loved all the children of the world.

It is a point so trivial that I cannot believe it gets so much attention, but despite your race, gender, or sexual orientation, God loves you. Anyone who believes in God and claims otherwise is operating from a place of pure evil. Anyone -- and I'm looking at you Westboro scumbags -- who claims to speak for God and incite hatred or violence against anyone is operating from a place of pure evil. And as a guest speaker mentioned this morning, anyone who would murder someone in the Hollywood streets because of their gender or sexual orientation is operating so far from God's path they might be the devil incarnate.

MCC today is an eclectic mix of races, ages, genders, and -- one assumes -- sexual orientations. But they all come to Sunday worship to praise and sing to God. They all come to give thanks and to pray. And anyone who might deny them that honor is operating from -- you guessed it -- a place of pure evil.

Before I conclude on a positive note (perish the thought), I do have a few criticisms about MCC. For starters, for the love of God and for the love of my ear drums, bagpipes are not to be played indoors! And if you are going to do some indoor bagpiping, do not funnel the sound through a solid speaker system. What were you thinking? Come on. Have mercy on us all!

My final criticism relates to preaching politics from the pulpit. This occurred inside the first church I visited in Hollywood, and it occurred again today. In both cases, I happen to believe in the sentiment behind these political statements. However, I fervently disapprove of them being spoken as part of a worship service. As much as I detest the motives and actions of the so-called 1%, I want them to feel welcome inside God's house, just as I want the LGBT community to feel welcome inside God's house. In fact, if anybody is in more desperate need of God's word than the amoral billionaires of this nation, I'd like to might them. I support Occupy Wall Street and marched with Occupy Los Angeles, but those debates need to happen outside the confines of God's house. I'm not suggesting religious people should not engage in the debates and dialogues, but they should not be a part of a worship service. What I hope is such political speech occurred on this day because of what this day represents to the LGBT community, and that it is not a regular part of worship at MCC. As the service (yes, even the modern music) was otherwise full of positive energy and a genuine sense of welcome, my intention is to revisit this church again in the weeks to come.

Amen.

_______________________________________________

Sunday Scorecard

This will be a regular part of my weekly reviews, a series of short-answer questions about the day's experience.

What is the contact info for the church?

Metropolitan Community Church Los Angeles
4953 Franklin Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323/669-3434
http://www.mccla.org/

What was the denomination?

MCC

What Bible verses were referenced?

Matthew 25:31-46

What are the demographics of the congregation?

Redefines diversity in a congregation, and the house was packed

Was the atmosphere formal or casual?

Informal but there was still a sense of reverence

What was the music like?

Praise band... and a bagpipe

How was the use of PowerPoint?

Perhaps the best use of PowerPoint and video I've ever seen. Professional and unobtrusive, though the audio needs to be better on the live Ustream feed.

Being Hollywood, were there celebrities in the congregation?

Yes.

Happy birthday King James Bible

My favorite translation of the Bible is 400-years-old. The King's book contains the Queen's English... the English of Shakespeare's era. It isn't perfect, but it gets the job done.

People tell me I ought to embrace the newer translations. I tell them "Thou art a fool, and I bite my thumb at thee." I was raised listening to and reading the KJV, so when the time came for me to study the Bard's classics in school, there was no learning curve for the language. I could simply focus on the story while others around me struggled. But more importantly, a point I keep stressing is that traditions connect us to the past. When I read a passage from the newer translations, they tend to feel colder, sillier, and much more removed from the source. Jesus shouldn't sound like a surfer; His words should sound authoritative. God should sound like James Mason.

Probably my favorite verse in the Bible comes from Psalm 30. Here it is from the King James Version:

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning."

Contrast that with ASV's, "Weeping may tarry for the night..." Tarry? Seriously?

Then there is the dreaded NIV's bland, "Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" which not only sounds like an accountant wrote it, but joy and rejoicing are distinctly different things. 

Lest we forget the version known as "The Message" which tells us, "The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter." This version increased the crying jag so your face will now be buried in a pillow over multiple evenings, then it dropped joy altogether in exchange for fits of hysterical laughter. 

The KJV told it beautifully and simply. You'll have a bad day, but joy will come. On a day like today, it is a verse I needed to read. Have patience. Have faith.

Happy birthday King James Version.

Amen.