JARED RARDIN is a local pastor with an extensive background in pastoral care and counseling. He serves on the staff of the well-known First United Methodist Church of Germantown, Pennsylvania, ministering to that particularly talented and dynamic congregation with duties in both care and counseling as well as social concerns and community involvement. The particular sermon in this volume was preached during the initial phase of his return to the Germantown parish after being gone for a period. In it he specifically offers an image to the congregation that helps delineate the nature of the work he intends to be about with them. The Gifts of the Left Hand offers a creative symbol for helping understand the potential and necessity of cultivating and valuing our underdeveloped, weaker sides.

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