Great words — as succinct a description as can be found anywhere of what we are called to be and do as God's people in the church ... compassionate, kind, humble, meek (or teachable), patient, forgiving, loving, harmonious, and peaceful. We will be learners and teachers, full of heartfelt song. And whatever we do will be done in the name of Jesus. Wow!

That is the way it is in churches, isn't it? Oh, David, you silly goose. Right.

Speaking of geese and church, the Danish philosopher and theologian, Søren Kierkegaard, grew up in the countryside surrounded by farms that reared geese (among other animals), and he occasionally used geese to illustrate some point. Among his papers is a story he wrote titled "Tame Geese" in which he asks us to imagine that these geese could talk and think and …