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Isaiah 62: 1-5 A Sermon Preached by Dan Johnson on 1/14/07 We continue our Epiphany worship series inspired by a report from GfK Custom Research about a 2005 study of various values that Americans hold dear. The report was intended to inform marketing strategies for businesses, but the list of values are intriguing expressions of what Christian living can create and cultivate. So, in worship during the season of Epiphany we’re looking closer at these values in ascending order of rank: Stable Relationships, Justice, Friendship, Health and Fitness, Freedom, Family and Honesty. If these are the top seven values Americans are seeking these days, how can our faith and our church provide the mentoring and the means we need to develop these values in our daily lives?

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2This morning we conclude our worship series on top ranked values among Americans. The international marketing firm GfK Custom Research has been doing this survey of values annually since 1997 and for the first time, honesty was ranked #1 with the long standing top value of family dropping to the #2 spot. 79% of Americans now say honesty is an extremely/very important value to them, a 10% increase since the inception of this study. Interestingly, Brazil is the only other country of the 30 surveyed that also ranked honesty as their top value.

(BECKY FROM OFF-STAGE) From the beginning of time my creation was intended for the purpose of relationship. From wood ticks to woodchucks, from swordfish to swordtails, from pineapples to pine trees, from nursing babies to nursing homes I seek the interdependence of all and the desire of all to freely unite with me. Yet in their freedom to pursue their own desires, the very creatures with greatest potential for intimacy are the creatures that so frequently divide with enmity!