First I would like to say a few words about the Sunday Service in general. Muslims have on Fridays their main prayer meeting in which they listen to the word of God coming to them through the Imam based on the Quaran. In the Jewish tradition it is on Sabbath, Saturday, when the faithful meet for prayer and the study of God's Word as it is written in the Torah.

Christians have Sunday as the main day for worship, to come together to sing and pray and to listen to the Word of God. Such gatherings are called Sunday Service. The word "service" be understood as the faithful wanting to express their attitude as servants of God, to bring some offering to Him, while others may be motivated to attend such a worship service as an opportunity to meet with fellow believers and to show a heart of serve toward them. Surely the one who is giving the sermon participates in the main meeting on Sundays in order to serve the congregation by sharing God's Word with them.

How do we feel about participating in a Sunday Service? Do we go there to receive something or to use it as an opportunity to serve? Is it a time for us to get something or to offer our own contribution? What do we invest in order to make such a special meeting a fruitful one for us personally?

I wanted to mention this point at the beginning of my speaking about the given topic because I am convinced that it is very true what saint Francis of Assisi expressed in the simple words, "it is in giving that we receive." It is my firm conviction that in order to benefit well from a Sunday Service one has to participate with the basic motivation to give - ideally from the bottom of one's heart.

The theme I chose to speak about is "We, who have been called." Does each one of us feel called by God to accomplish something special in our life? Is it for such a reason that we take time on Sundays to deepen our understanding of what our Creator may expect of us?

If we go back to the Greek origin of the word 'church' we learn that it derives from the word "ekkl¨¦sia kyriak¨¦" community of the Lord" or "great (wonderful) community". The first word of this term means: "The ones who have been called" and the second "The Lord". In other words, the name church refers to the people who have been chosen.

If we look at the Hebrew roots of the word church we find the term "kahal jahweh". "Kahal" meaning 'call' (called) and "jahweh" -- the name of God as revealed to Moses. I wanted to mention this etymological root of the word which we are well familiar with in order to emphasize that to whatever church or denomination we may belong we are people who have been called together just as Muslims are called to gather for prayer or Jews meet in a Synagogue (a term referring to a gathering and leading one's life).

The person who is giving the sermon at a Sunday Service is the one who is called to speak on behalf of God to the congregation. Did we receive answers from God while listening to the preacher at one time or another? I think most of us will answer positively to such a question. But is it the case that we return after each Sunday Service happily back home with a concrete answer from our Heavenly Father?

There will be probably rather few among us who would be able to testify that this is a reality in their case. Why? Does the reason lie in a situation that God does not always speak through the one standing in front to reach out to the community of faithful believers? Or is the cause for such a reality rather to be found in our own attitude, that we are not attentive enough to recognize the word of God directed at us personally?

Whatever our individual answer to such questions may be, I am certain that we all realize that attending a Sunday Service means ideally to offer one's personal investment with a heart of wanting to serve God and one's brothers and sisters. How strongly is such an attitude present in us as we follow the tradition of attending our local Sunday Service or maybe the one offered via the internet like the one we receive as members of some e-groups into our home in the form we are used to already.

This time there is no link to a recorded sermon to which we could listen to maybe leaning back in a comfortable chair with our eyes closed to concentrate on the message but only a written text is provided and we are challenged to read through it? Are we disappointed about such a situation or do we see the advantages that by actively reading a certain text ourselves we may catch more of the content than by just listening to somebody speaking about a certain topic?

Undeniably there are many advantages to listening to a speaker in the atmosphere during the Sunday Service which has been created by the community but there are just as well the good points in reading personally a sermon which allows us to stop at any point to catch the content consciously by having a repeated look at what is being said while this is not possible when we listen to a live speaker. Of course modern technology enables us to record sermons and to listen to certain point repeatedly which is very helpful, but ultimately it is of course the amount of heart and attention which we invest from our side, that determines the outcome of whether we are inspired after attending a Sunday Service or not.

So the core question refers to our attitude, to which extent do we feel that such a concrete meeting with fellow believers or through the means of the internet by attending an e-Sunday Service is our personal meeting time with God, our Heavenly Father as a person who has been called. For me it is no question that we have each our own spiritual foundation based on the merit of our ancestors and according to such a spiritual base we are in a position of people who have been chosen.

In other words, each of us is the "fruit" of our ancestors' way of life up to our own parents, having inherited good and not so favorable aspects from them. As people of faith we have our religious convictions which are usually not clear in every respect but we have to work continuously on our inner development. We have to consciously expand our internal foundation which enables our Creator to reach us and to guide us in our understanding so that we may be able to live more and more swiftly according to the original blueprint or ideal for which our original mind and heart is longing.

No matter how different our individual level of development may be, we are all in a position that we are challenged to perfect our personality, to deepen our heartistic connection with God and our relationships with others, the ones close to our hearts and those whom we may personally prefer not to meet but have to deal with anyway for whatever external reasons. In other words, we advanced to various degrees in our heartistic growth, but there should surely exist no reason why we would look down on others who may have more personal problems than ourselves. We are all in the same boat and we do depend on one another as we strive to expand our ability to love.

We are the ones who have been called by God. But for which purpose have we been chosen? To be the first who will enter Heaven and reign there over the angels and maybe other people? Are we the ones who have been chosen out of the multitude to receive special blessings while others are not so fortunate?

What do we feel in this respect? Do we have the understanding that I have been chosen to be a sacrifice for others, in order to enable them to resolve their problems? Does each one of us feel a personal calling to invest ourselves totally into the building of God's Kingdom and his righteousness of love here on this earth. Shouldn't we seek to establish it more than anything else according to the words of Jesus?

Our personal answers to such questions determine so much of what kind of lifestyle we lead here on this earth. For example, there is the understanding that Jesus Christ saved men and only a few basic points like faith in him and inviting him into our life need to be followed so that our salvation is secured. On the other end of the scale there is the concept that everything depends on man fulfilling his responsibility so that even God Himself needs to be liberated by man to be able to be a True God for His children.

What are our own concepts in this respect? Is it the liberation of God a theory for us or do we feel the suffering heart of our Heavenly Father who cries out in desperate longing to be united with us as His children? Can we sense such a reality of the situation of the Creator of Heaven and Earth?

Personally I am convinced that this is the very core of our task as the ones who have been chosen by Heaven. We are the ones who should feel deeply the miserable situation of our Father in Heaven who has lost His children and is calling out to them most desperately day and night for them to return to His bosom of True Love. He cannot force us in any way to return to where we belong naturally, experiencing a loving relationship to God as our eternal Father and Mother, as our Divine Parent who created us to be born in love and to live in love for all eternity.

Of course this understanding goes far beyond historic concepts about God and religious dogmas but refers to a living God who depends on man to see His ideal fulfilled. It is not easy to grasp such an understanding but if we are really open to it then we will definitely come to feel such a reality deep in our hearts and from this point onward we will be naturally dedicated to respond to the longing of the eternal Parent of Mankind. Nothing will stop us to invest everything we can for His liberation from the bitter suffering of being separated from His sons and daughters who are more or less in hell due to their own mistakes.

Do we connect our attending Sunday Service to the content I have been speaking about here? Is there a deep longing burning in us in our desire to see the hearts of our brothers and sisters liberated to be able to love unconditionally which naturally leads to our Father in Heaven being free to love His children who have grown to manifest true love in their hearts?

The word religion refers to reconnecting with God. About what this means concretely and how it can be achieved, one can find many answers in the different religions while at the same time leaving a lot of questions unanswered. On a theoretical level one could discuss such questions endlessly with representatives of the world's religions without coming to concrete common conclusions. On the other hand when this question of reconnecting with our Origin is brought to the level of heart it becomes obvious that we are all ultimately longing above else to experience deepest love and that it is in this realm that our relationship with God has to be restored.

Therefore I would like to encourage each one of you to visit the deeper levels of one's heart often, to take time for deep prayer which will not remain without tears. It is in such realms of dealing with our innermost desires that we will find the ultimate true answer to what it means that we are chosen people, called to pioneer the restoration of the world of heart.

May each one of us feel a profound personal calling in this respect based on a clear understanding of our position as people who are separated from God through the Fall of Man but for whom at the same time the way is open to return fully to the heart of God in order to live under the dominion of His endless love.

May we be ready to support each other wholeheartedly on this most precious quest to search for the true Heart of God by bravely going ourselves into deeper realms of heart, not minding the tears of love which will flow as we walk along this most precious path.

This is my sincere desire for each one of us as people who have been chosen and who long to be faithful to your personal calling, as your brother on this path of restoring the wonderful realms of heart for which we are all undoubtedly longing for deep inside.

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