God's Work, Our Noses

You can hear audio of Bishop Mark S. Hanson's All Saints Day sermon here:

http://goodshepherdnwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/11-3-12S.mp3

Bishop Hanson had some outstanding insights in his message. Perhaps my favorite was the notion that the saints go where the stench is. The saints use their noses to smell out where things are dying and dead, then go and weep and minister there.

He also riffed on the current mission statement of the ELCA--God's work, our hands--indicating that perhaps it could be modified: God's work, our noses.

This was Bishop Hanson's first visit to Arkansas in his eleven years as bishop, and the first time he had been invited to a church not by synod staff or a pastor, but by the church youth group. We were honored to host him. Watch for an additional link soon of the audio of his Q&A time with us.