Welcome to the starting line! Strange words perhaps with which to welcome you to church this morning. But the words are really quite appropriate for the occasion.

You've seen races run: the runners line up, and someone fires a gun or says, "On your mark, get set, go!" In Hebrews 12:1-2, we read: "Let us lay aside all the weights, and the sins which beset us, and run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus..."

Here this morning we start out on a new week of living. Here in worship we square off with life once again, pause to catch our breath and start over. So we do indeed welcome you to the starting line.

Let us put aside, then, all the things that weigh us down, that hinder us, that shackle us 'to where we are. And, looking to Jesus, let us be off! With unimpeded faith, with courage and a heart for running, let us be off into this next segment of the course which lies ahead.