|
Nov 14th
From: Donna
Dr. Keller,
In seeking to transform the culture, as Christians we look toward Christ and the models of the Bible. For women, in particular, are there any women in the Bible who we can look to for examples of cultural transformation through their obedience to Christ?
I look forward to your response.
- Donna
Reply:
There are three Biblical figures whose service and faithfulness enabled the Jews to flourish in Babylon and finally return and rebuild Jerusalem--Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. Ezra was a "clergyman" who taught people the Word of God, Nehemiah was a layperson who used his organizational skills to rehabilitate the physical infrastructure of Jerusalem, making it safe and inhabitable. Esther was another layperson, a believer who found herself in a position of influence in a pagan society and, at the risk of her life, used that influence to work for justice and avoid the destruction of her people.
Both Nehemiah and Esther offer models of laypeople who did not preach, teach, and evangelize, but yet used their skills to further the work of the kingdom. Nehemiah is like those Christians who rehabilitate homes and work to serve the needs in poor neighborhoods. Esther is like those Christians who come into places of influence in a secular culture and are willing to identify as a person of faith and to speak out or work for righteousness in the culture.
-Tim
Oct 24th
The Vision of the City
From: Brad
To: Redeemer Visionblog
Tim,
I had an interesting conversation with the pastor of an…NYC church this past week. I was discussing the need for churches in this part of the city and the vision God has placed on my heart to see churches planted throughout the city and my dedication to seeing one here, in Brooklyn Heights/Dumbo. I was frustrated and haunted by his focus on mere 'survival'. Not only that, but when I mentioned that I was attending Redeemer, he kindly insisted that Redeemer's success was the result of an advantage 'they' have over other churches. His response to my inquiry was, "Tim Keller". Naturally, I spent the next couple of days pondering his observation. Is Redeemer what it is because of Dr. Keller and his persona?
I mean no disrespect, but my answer is an emphatic 'no'…. It is the vision of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and the passionate embodiment of that vision that has allowed Redeemer to focus on things beyond mere survival. In the relatively short number of days that I have lived in New York City, I have lived beneath the banner of Jeremiah 29, and have found nothing short of Shalom. Numerous friends are amazed, even shocked, at the number of friends and acquaintances my family and I have made. I have no doubt that it is the result of our view of the city, largely influenced by this vision. If Redeemer's advantage is 'Tim Keller' then every church has the same advantage. There is an example to follow.
Living the vision,
Brad
REPLY:
Brad,
Thanks for a great letter, and for defending me against a “false compliment.” I get this a lot—“How are you going to start a movement—only you can do the things you do?” It’s very frustrating to me, especially because Redeemer-model churches have already prospered and grown in cities like San Francisco, Boston, Washington, DC, and many other cities, both in the States and abroad.
The distinctives of gospel-centrality, a balance of evangelism, community, justice and cultural renewal, and a concern for the whole city, not just our own tribe could be likened to an engine. The leadership and preaching gifts of any individual pastor, using this metaphor, would be the “fuel.” Naturally, some pastors have “higher octane” gifts than others, but the “engine” will run on just about anything. Thanks for realizing that it’s primarily the model and the vision that God is using, and only secondarily the giftedness level of the pastor!
Tim
Questions that have come up during the Campaign
1. “I always understood that Redeemer took the position that we were not going to own buildings. Are we now reversing that position? And if so, why?”
It’s true that we at Redeemer used to hope we might be able to rent, and not own, our worship sites forever. However, God’s leading unfolds—as we are obedient to what we know now, He will show us the next step further on.
If we had bought a building earlier in the life of Redeemer (especially if we had bought it before we had firmly established our four different worship sites) it would have forever identified Redeemer with a one neighborhood. We had to move out into different neighborhoods on both sides of Central Park and become a multi-site church, not a big, single mega-church, and that could only be done by renting.
But the next step toward that goal is now to begin buying buildings so that our four congregations will be able to inhabit their neighborhoods more fully, both now and in the future. If you consider the fact (and I assure you, we walked every block of Manhattan form 96th Street to mid-town!) that there are essentially no alternative spaces large enough for worship that would be available to us to rent on a weekly basis, then buying is our only option for stability. And if we want to begin 7-day a week ministries directed at our neighborhoods, again, buying is the next step.
So, we aren’t reversing our former position, as much as we are building on it in order to take the next step in obedience to the role God has called us to in the city.
Tim
2. “What is the plan to finance the on-going operating expenses of the to-be-established or to-be-expanded ministries? The campaign funds will seed them but will not be enough to cover on-going operating expenses."
There are basically two strategies to address on-going funding of the new or expanded ministries. First, some of the ministries’ funding will be assumed by the growth of the operating budget of Redeemer (and the successor churches) over the next 3 or 4 years. We will have to make careful projections to be sure we can do this. However, second, some of the ministries’ funding will be assumed by them taking responsibility for raising their own money, perhaps even forming 501(c)3 corporations like Hope for New York.
Tim
3. "Is it really more cost effective to buy buildings rather than to rent them?”
On a short-term cost-benefit analysis it is almost certain that we will be paying more annually on a mortgage than if we continued to rent our facilities. But the primary reasons that we decided to buy a building are not financial. They have to do with future stability, greater development of community, greater flexibility for new ministries that we can't conduct now, and becoming neighbors and part of the fabric of the city.
Nevertheless, in the long run the purchase of buildings will be wise economically. The next generation of leaders will bless us that through our sacrifice they have both stability (meaning freedom from losing their rental facilities with only a few months notice, which is the situation we are in now) and equity. I know of Christian ministries in other major cities that are helped enormously by the fact they own multiple pieces of property. So in the long run the purchase of property will be good but in the short run it will probably cost us more money to buy than to rent.
Tim
4. “I wish you could tell us exactly which ministries will be started and what each one would look like. More details please!”
I personally love the process of putting teams of people together to brainstorm out the details of ministries, then to create both business and staging plans. But we have to remember our unique situation. In the average church Campaign, the people are giving to build a building. The location of the land and the blueprints are all laid out. Sometimes people know the color of the curtains! So everyone can know beforehand exactly what their money will purchase. But in New York City it is impossible to identify a building and then go out and spend months raising the funds for it. We have to raise money before we identify a building. This means we don't know the location, shape, or size of the building. And that means we don’t know which ones on of our list of ‘need-to-start’ ministries would be most appropriate to put in those spaces. So we can’t decide which ministries to start or what their details will be until the details of the first space become clear.
The best I can do is say, “Stay tuned! You’ll have the details as soon as we have the building!”
Tim
5. “Aren’t these plans just too ambitious? How can you be sure this is God’s will?”
When Kathy and I came to NYC 16 years ago to plant Redeemer, we were asked the same skeptical questions in almost exactly the same words. To our amazement (and presumably the amazement of everyone else!), Redeemer has become much more than even our most ambitious designs and goals for it.
And yet, when we were asked, “Are you sure this is God’s will?” we used to reply: “No, not totally.” When people blinked in surprise I would continue: “The only things I am 100% sure are God’s will are those things written in the Scripture. In all other plans we have to pray, get counsel, rely on what wisdom we have, check and re-check our motives, gain consensus (if possible) from everyone you know well around you—and then move out in the direction you think God is leading. Only time will tell what God’s will is for sure. Redeemer became more than we had expected and yet in many respects it took shapes that we could never have envisioned at the beginning. God continually ‘red pencils’ even the most godly and wise ministry plans. So—can I be sure the Vision we are laying out is God’s will? Not in every respect. I’m sure that at the end of the journey things will look somewhat different from what we are expecting now. But I am sure that it is God’s will for us to set out on this journey together.
Questions regarding Idols of the Heart
From: David
To: Redeemer Visionblog
Hi
I'm a big fan of John Newton having lived and worked in Olney for 25 years (and living opposite his old vicarage for 10 yrs!!). So it was great to find you referring to him in your Sept 22nd blog. I frequently read a JN letter, so this from Cardiphonia....'as ministers we are called to comfort the Lord's afflicted people...we must not wonder that he sometimes puts us in a way of showing, that we do not deal in unfelt truths, but that we find ourselves that solid consolation in the gospel which we encourage others to expect from it.' Great stuff on the motivating power of the gospel to work change.
Oh, and where did you get the material for the heart idols stuff? This is penetrating stuff.
David
From: Judy
To: Redeemer Visionblog
Tim,
I read your blog as you post. Thank you for putting your thoughts down. I have used your Newton/Idols piece with some women I am discipling. If I copy it, should I copyright the idols stuff to your credit, or did you get it somewhere else? Thanks again.
Sincerely in Christ,
Judy
David and Judy,
The Newton Idols/piece is a very, very heavily edited and paraphrased part of a letter that you can find in its original form in the Banner of Truth edition The Letters of John Newton. But the material is so heavily changed that you probably should credit Redeemer and me with it. The little chart of ‘power, approval, comfort, and control’ idols is based on material I learned from teachers at CCEF in Philadelphia a long time ago. Again, it’s heavily edited by me, so you might as well give us credit for it. If someone thinks this is too close to some other printed material somewhere, let me know.
Tim Keller
Oct 3rd
As a follow-up to this week’s sermon on “The City” and last week’s weblog entry about Jeremiah 29, I’d like to call your attention to a little known incident in Jeremiah 32.
Somewhere in the year 588-587 BC, after Nebuchadnezzar had already taken the professional classes of Jerusalem away for exile and (they hoped) cultural assimilation, and just as the Babylonian army was descending on the starving and plague-devastated city of Jerusalem (32:24) to finally destroy it, Jeremiah’s cousin came to him in prison (32:2; 33:1.) He urged Jeremiah to buy a field from him. What a ridiculous (and incredibly exploitative) request! The entire economy of Israel was collapsing. All real estate in Israel was now worthless. Anyone in his right mind should pick up everything of value that he could carry on his back and just get out. But ‘the word of the Lord’ came to Jeremiah (32:6-8a) and told him to buy the field! Why? “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says: Take these documents, both the sealed and the unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so they will last a long time. For….houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.” (32:15)
This is remarkable. What do we learn from this?
A) First, this shows that the Bible does not split off ‘spiritual’ claims and faith from the realities of public life. Jeremiah makes a real estate purchase based on something that can only be known by faith—that God was going to renew the city and establish the life of his people in it. We also believe God is establishing his people in the city. We are calling people to move into the city and/or stay in the city and raise families here. We should not split off our spiritual lives from our public life. We should invest in the life of the city whether the economy is doing well, or whether terrorism is making people very nervous at the moment. Indeed, Redeemer itself is finally purchasing property and investing in the life of the city. Walter Brueggeman expresses the meaning of Jeremiah 32 well:
“In the exercise of family economic responsibility, the prophet enacts the long-term fidelity of God as well. Jeremiah invests in God’s promised future exactly when that future seems completely closed off.” (A Commentary on Jeremiah, p.303.)
B) Secondly, Jeremiah is told to buy the land as a sign that God will restore the city and society—even though Jeremiah himself will not live to see it. Jeremiah is to base his economic transactions not on the so-called ‘realities’ of the present real estate market, but on the hope and promise of God’s future. So we here in NYC are laying the ground-work for a city-shaping Christian community 20 times larger and many times more mature and multi-dimensional than it is now. Many of us won’t live to see it. But we must get started. Phil Ryken puts the meaning of Jeremiah 32 like this:
“Do you have the faith to act on God’s promises, even if some of them will not be fulfilled until the end of history? Jeremiah…made a major life decision based on what God promised to do seven decades later….Some Christians move into the city. On purpose. Some Christians feed the homeless or tutor…Some Christians reach across ethnic and economic barriers to form friendships….Some Christians give away 10 percent of their income—or more….All these behaviors seem strange to the pagan mind. The strongest countercultural movement in twenty-first century America will be the church of Jesus Christ.” (Courage to Stand, p.159-160)
Sept 28th
Redeemer’s purpose in the city is ‘To build a great city for all people through a gospel movement that brings personal conversion, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal in New York City and, through it, the world.’
Sounds good—but where in the Bible do we see Christians called to such a purpose? This fall we are looking at Biblical texts every single week that explain different aspects of this mission. However, there is one single Scriptural passage that our entire purpose statement follows idea for idea. That is the letter God sent to the Jewish exiles in Babylon, in Jeremiah 29:
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." (verses 4 through 7)
The historical background to this message is important. The Jews had existed in their own nation-state, in which faith in the Biblical God was the official religion. When the Babylonian army sacked Jerusalem, they, as was their policy, carried off Israel’s professional classes and leaders to exile in Babylon. It was expected that within a generation or two, the exiles would assimilate culturally and lose their national and religious distinctives.
Their first response to the situation was to stay outside the city of Babylon and form a homogeneous enclave of believers. But to the horror and amazement of the listeners, God commands them in Jeremiah 29 to instead move into the heart of the pagan city, become involved in its cultural and economic life, and seek the common good of the Babylonian oppressors who had destroyed their homeland! God calls them to increase in number—they are not to lose their identity as a distinct and different people. Yet they are not allowed separatist withdrawal either. They are to minister to the whole city, to all the people, out of the resources of their spiritual and moral difference. Some have called this ‘nonviolent social resistance’ to the dominant culture. The Jews were to keep their distinctive beliefs and practices (surely offensive in many ways to the sensibilities of the Babylonians) but were to serve their neighbors and city anyway. This is the best possible way to undermine the themes and practices of the dominant culture. It is a corporate version of ‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them…overcome evil with good.’ (Romans 12:20-21.)
This could not be more directly relevant for Redeemer people. We too are mainly professionals. And, as Christians living between the first and second comings of Christ, we are ‘exiles.’ James 1:1 and 1 Peter 1:1 refer to Christians as ‘exiles’ and the book of Hebrews repeatedly calls Christians ‘resident aliens.’ In other words, Christians are dispersed among ‘the nations’ just as the Jews were during the Babylonian exile. Our relationship to culture is basically the same. Therefore we should apply the call of God to the Jewish exiles in Babylon to our life in New York City. Our purpose statement is lifted directly out of this challenge:
- We are to build a great city just as God called the believers to seek the “prosperity of the city—and pray for it.” (v7) God did not tell the exiles to just use the city to build up their own community, but rather to use the resources of the community to build up the city.
- We are to be a gospel movement. Just as God called the exiles to “increase, do not decrease,” so we want to plant hundreds of churches, so that the Christian community in New York’s center city increases 15-20-fold over the next generation.
- We are to bring personal conversion, community formation, social justice, and cultural renewal. God does not only call the exiles to seek the prosperity of Babylon, but also its ‘peace’—its shalom. The Hebrew word shalom is an extremely rich concept—it means full human flourishing in every aspect. When the prophets (like Isaiah) describe shalom, they assume it means spiritual conversion and true worship but also social justice for the poor and cultural products that glorify God, not ‘man.’ So God is calling believers to seek the full range of human renewal in the city—individual, spiritual, communal, social, cultural.
- We are to influence the world through New York City. Notice that God ends by saying, that ‘if [Babylon] prospers, you too will prosper.’ Cities have enormous cultural influence. Trends that capture the life of the city tend to flow out into the whole society. But God does not call the exiles to try a political or military takeover of Babylon. They are not to do to Babylon what Babylon did to them. Rather, they are to seek the prosperity and common good of the whole city. Yet, God says, ironically, this will give the community a great deal of cultural power and clout. Through their service to the city they will become attractive. Their ideas will matter. Their God will be honored. And whatever influences the city influences the whole culture. God here lays down an important principle: the way to power and influence is not to seek power and influence, but to seek to serve.
This is urban ministry—changing the world through serving. And this means that the ultimate urban missionary was Jesus. He did not commute in from heaven but moved into our neighborhood. And instead of taking power he gave it up and sacrificially loved and died for us. And as a result he is now the most influential figure in the history of the world—and this power-through-service will only grow until the world is completely mended and made new.
Sept 22nd
For those of you working on character change in light of the Colossians 3 sermon, here is an interesting exercise.
A. Read the following paraphrase of John Newton’s “Some Blemishes in Christian Character”.
“Austerus” is inflexibly and invariably true to her principles, but there is a harshness in manner that makes her more admired than loved. Her intimate friends know that she is no stranger to humility, but those friends are few. Others think her proud, dogmatic and self-important, with a cynical air.
“Humanus” is generous and benevolent, but if you entrust him with a secret, you put it in possession of the public. Also, though in matters of great importance he has regard for the truth, in the smaller matters of common life, he often exaggerates for effect, or speaks surely when he is not sure, or says that which is very inappropriate for the occasion.
“Prudens” is very thrifty, and though she would not grossly wrong or injure another, yet the things that she will do to save or gain money is to her discredit. She is herself very punctual and conscientious in fulfilling obligations, but is hard, strict, and suspicious in making bargains. Beneath her severity is a heart that worries too much about what could go wrong.
“Volatilis” is sincere in all his promises at the time of making them, but for lack of discipline, he is always in a hurry, always too late, and always has an engagement on his hands with which it is impossible to comply. He accepts with insufficient thought proposals that are incompatible with each other. No one expects him until they see him. He excuses himself chiefly by alleging that the things in which he fails are not of the greatest consequence.
“Cessator” is not (like Prudens) buried in the cares of the world. Rather, she lives as if she had been sent into the world only to read, pray, hear sermons, and to talk to people about Jesus. She does not know that the means of grace were designed to shape and strengthen us for the duties of civil life, career, and society. She thanks God she is not worldly-minded, but this is an excuse for avoiding the hard work and discipline of being a full member of society.
“Curiosus” has a desire of knowing everybody's business, and then enjoys dropping hints about how much he knows. He constantly finds fault in others and thus leads those who know him to be constantly on their guard and to treat him with reserve. If he would notice the cold and evasive answers he so often receives, and the looks that accompany them, he might learn that he is considered a gossip and a critical spirit.
B. Read the following outline of ‘heart idols.’
Idol: COMFORT (Privacy, lack of stress, freedom)
Price We Will Pay: Reduced productivity
Greatest Nightmare: Stress, demands
Others Often Feel: Hurt
Problem Emotion: Boredom
Idol: APPROVAL (Affirmation, love, relationship)
Price We Will Pay: Less independence
Greatest Nightmare: Rejection
Others Often Feel: Smothered
Problem Emotion: Cowardice
Idol: CONTROL (Self-discipline, certainty, standards)
Price We Will Pay: Loneliness; spontaneity
Greatest Nightmare: Uncertainty
Others Often Feel: Condemned
Problem Emotion: Worry
Idol: POWER (Success, winning, influence)
Price We Will Pay: Burdened; responsibility
Greatest Nightmare: Humiliation
Others Often Feel: Used
Problem Emotion: Anger
Discussion questions:
- Which of the heart-idols underlies each character flaw?
- Which of Newton’s characters do you resemble? Why?
Sept 15th
This fall we’ve invited everyone to explore the Biblical roots of Redeemer’s vision—the reason we are in New York City. We aren’t here just to hold services or to inspire
people on Sundays. We are here to be a particular kind of community and serve the city in particular ways. Every week we are looking at a text that sheds light on one part of this
vision, and we invite everyone to come to worship and then to study and discuss in their small groups that Sunday’s Biblical passage in light of the sermon.
Last week we looked at what we call the parable of “The Prodigal Sons.” Many years ago I heard Ed Clowney, for many years president of Westminster Seminary, preach on this text,
and it was electrifying. (This sermon, “Sharing the Father’s Welcome,” is now available in his volume of sermons, Preaching Christ in All of Scripture, (Crossway, 2003.) Ed told
me that once when he was preaching this sermon, Billy Graham (who he had never met) slipped into the back of the auditorium and listened. Afterwards he met with Ed and said that
he had never heard preaching like that before.
Ed’s interpretation of the passage is based on the insight that the sermon is not simply about the younger brother. Rather both the elder and the younger brother are ‘lost.’ It
is common to see the parable as teaching, ‘God’s Love to the Outcast,’ but that overlooks the fact that the elder brother is alienated from the father as well, yet he is no outcast.
He is as moral and upright as they come. This insight began to shake me loose from the common assumption that Christians were good people who obeyed the father and non-Christians
were bad people who did not. The parable showed me that matters were much more complicated than that! It made me ask the question, “well then—what is the gospel?” Ed’s sermon
was extremely important both to my experience of God and my theological understanding of the Bible’s message.
Over the years New Testament scholarship has provided much support for the way Ed read the parable. Kenneth Bailey’s two books, The Lost Cultural Keys to Luke 15 (Concordia, 1992)
and Jacob and the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel’s Story (IVP, 2003) support the idea that the elder brother, for all his morality and obedience, is just as alienated from the
father if not more. Bailey entitles the parable “The Good Father and his Two Lost Sons.” The formidable N.T.Wright seems to follow Bailey closely in his reading of the parable
in Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001.)
And Henri Nouwen, in his The Return of the Prodigal Son follows Ed Clowney in seeing Jesus as the True Elder brother. Jesus has done for his father what the elder brother
in the parable would not do for his—he has brought us prodigals home at infinite cost to himself.
This coming week we are going to look at Colossians 3. I originally preached on this text just after Redeemer began services in the fall of 1989. When people first hear
that the gospel means free, unconditional acceptance, they wonder what will then motivate believers to live distinctively Christian lives? The text shows how our lives and
practices change because of the extreme freeness of God’s love, not in spite of it. Anyone who says, “Well, yes, God loves us unconditionally, but you still have to live
a distinctly Christian life,” doesn’t understand the inner dynamics of the gospel. There is no ‘but’ between the freeness of God’s love and changed life. There’s a therefore.
That’s the point of Colossians 3 and the whole Bible.
Let me put it in a nutshell. If, after removing all fear of condemnation, you lose all incentive to live a holy life, then the only incentive you really had was fear.
And if you change your life out of fear rather than because of joy, your moral life is basically motivated by selfishness, not love. That is what Jonathan Edwards says
in The Nature of True Virtue, and what Paul says (among many other things!) in Colossians 3.
More on this in the sermon!
Sept 8th
The word "vision" is a modern word for the old Biblical concept of "calling." In Genesis we see that God speaks or calls every created thing into being.
We see God calling light to be light, the sun to be the sun, and human beings to be human beings. At Mt Sinai we see another creation through God’s speech
and calling. Israel was called into being as a distinct people by the Word of God. They were called to walk before God and live in the world in a particular
way. That ‘particular way’ was spelled out in the Law.
Throughout their history, Israel was repeatedly required to remember its calling. Biblical scholars
call these seasons of ‘covenant renewal,’ in which the people corporately returned to their foundational documents to re-discover who they were. In Joshua 9
and in Nehemiah 8, Israel renewed their calling, vision, and covenant with God only after extensive reading and exposition of the Scriptural texts that were
the foundation of their identity as God’s people. “Ezra opened the book…and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God;
and all the people lifted their hands and responded, ‘Amen! Amen!’ Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground…..They read from
the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read.” (Nehemiah 8:5-6,8)
So why does Redeemer exist? What has God called us to be and do in the city? The only way to renew our calling and vision is to do the same thing that Israel did.
We need to open the Scripture and hear its message for us as a people. This fall I will be preaching from seminal texts that lay out each aspect of Redeemer’s
vision for life and ministry in the city. At the beginning and the end of the fall, I will take very familiar texts which have shaped Redeemer from the beginning—Luke 15
on the Prodigal Sons, Colossians 3 on finding identity in Christ, 1 Peter 2 on being a new ‘ethnic,’ and John 2 on the Wine of Jesus’ love. In the middle of the fall,
however, I will go to the book of Isaiah, to many texts we have not publicly studied before as a church. But they are so rich! And they will shed some new light on
old themes that lie at the foundation of Redeemer’s vision.
For the first time in our history, we are inviting all small groups to discuss the Biblical text of the sermon for that week so that we can truly listen to the Word
as a community, and not just as an aggregation of individual auditors. We are also inviting those not in an existing small group to join a Vision Group that will
meet 7 weeks for the purpose of discussing the Isaiah texts and their implications for our church. Participate in this season of vision renewal.
If you are not in any group—join a Vision Group! If you are in an existing small group, agree to discuss the texts each week that we are covering in the sermons. Participate |
