Welcome to a Birthday Party! One to which the whole world showed up 2000 years ago – and to which the whole world is invited today. This is the day we celebrate as PENTECOST in the Christian Church. The day that God’s holy Church became a reality in Jerusalem and from there spread throughout the world reaching down even to us.

Fasten your seat belts, dearly beloved. This morning we are going to talk about SIN. That’s right – S I N! Yes, sir, we got trouble – right here on Tybee Island. Yes, ma’am, we do! NOW. This is not going to be fire and brimstone – I am too old for that sort of stuff. This is going to be more like ice and glaciers. Still a bumpy ride.

Today is Father’s Day. Growing up in my household, my dad would have expected at least 2 neckties to be wrapped and waiting for him to unwrap. One, of course, to be worn later that morning to church. My dad liked nothing better than to get dressed up in a fresh white shirt with a beautiful tie and an elegant tie tack. Both my parents had grown up poor, so they took great joy in the ability to dress nicely – not expensively but nicely – anytime they left the house. Dad’s special affinity was for ties.

Our first reading from the book of 2nd Kings jumps right into the deep end of the pool without preamble. Let’s paint a broader picture so that we understand how this text fits with the Gospel reading about the loaves and fishes.