In the last reading from Paul's letter to the church at Galatia, he addressed the ongoing feud in the early church and reminded the folks that salvation comes from faith alone, and not from working to follow some collection of man-made laws. This week's reading continues Paul's warning to the Galatians. But if he faced strong resistance over the issues of clean and unclean foods, and the issue of circumcision, it was just a dress rehearsal for the real battle he faces now. As we did last week, it might be wise for us to keep an ear tuned to the conversation, and see if Paul's words have any meaning for our attempts at church-building here today.

Let's begin by accepting the reality that the church was originally created by a group of good Jewish boys. I mean absolutely no offense in makin…