1 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:11,480 So friends, our teaching scripture this morning comes 2 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:15,720 from Psalm 91 in the New Living Translation. 3 00:00:16,640 --> 00:00:20,160 It says those who live in the shelter of the Most High will 4 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:22,920 find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 5 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:28,480 This I declare about the Lord. He alone is my refuge, my place 6 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:31,560 of safety. He is my God, and I trust Him, 7 00:00:32,119 --> 00:00:35,760 for He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from 8 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:39,480 every deadly disease. He will cover you with His 9 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,800 feathers. He will shelter you with His 10 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,600 wings. His faithful promises are your 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,360 armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors 12 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:51,280 of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day. 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:55,240 Do not dread the disease that stalks in the darkness, nor the 14 00:00:55,240 --> 00:01:00,120 disaster that strikes at midday. Though 1000 fall at your side, 15 00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,920 though 10,000 are dying around you, these evils will not touch 16 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:06,920 you. Just open your eyes and see how 17 00:01:06,920 --> 00:01:10,000 the wicked are punished. If you make the Lord your 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:14,000 refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will 19 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,760 conquer you. No plague will come near your 20 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:19,360 home. For He will order his angels to 21 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:23,000 protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their 22 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,080 hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone. 23 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,040 You will trample upon lions and cobras. 24 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:32,880 You will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet. 25 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:35,960 The Lord says I will rescue those who love me. 26 00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:38,600 I will protect those who trust in my name. 27 00:01:38,960 --> 00:01:41,080 When they call on me, I will answer. 28 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:44,720 I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue and honor them. 29 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,960 I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation. 30 00:01:50,040 --> 00:02:00,480 This is the word of the Lord. Hello, I am Carl, we met earlier 31 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:05,000 about the work day thing. Seriously if you're going to 32 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,000 come out I would love to hear from you, especially if you have 33 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:11,520 things called skills. I don't like ripping weeds is 34 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,840 not a highly technical gardening task, but it could be that I 35 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,800 take out native species or something if you don't watch me. 36 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,320 So the Gauntlet Throne. I need your help. 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:28,920 Let's start with another little chunk of prayer so that I can be 38 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:30,960 ready and you can be ready. Deal. 39 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,800 OK. You know, I'll be mostly quiet. 40 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:38,120 I don't know. Shout out if you need to. 41 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:40,240 Holy Spirit. Calm. 42 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,040 All right, You guys good. It's quick for me. 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:47,240 I don't know. We're all right. 44 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:49,280 All right. We had a little silence earlier, 45 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,840 so I'm going to hope you're OK. If it wasn't long enough, you 46 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,720 know, text me. Not right now. 47 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:01,560 So OK, this is a series on the passions, right? 48 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,520 We started a couple weeks ago. Jared introduced a series. 49 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:09,040 He did a great job. If if you're new to the series, 50 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,040 like this is your first time here in a couple of weeks or you 51 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,120 just been totally zoned out the whole time, fair. 52 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:17,480 I get it. You might have heard of like the 53 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,720 seven deadly sins. This is like an earlier 54 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,960 iteration before that happened. So the passions comes from a 55 00:03:24,960 --> 00:03:30,160 list from a vagarius. We'll be quoting from him a lot 56 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:31,720 today. I forgot to look up how his name 57 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:32,800 is pronounced. Did I do it right? 58 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,120 Vagarius sounds good. OK, looking to the rest of the 59 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,280 teaching team. So. 60 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:40,800 But yes, passions, right? So what are they? 61 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,960 Passions, Jared's talking about are desires or attitudes. 62 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:49,680 These things are made by God. OK, So in Christianity, desire 63 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:52,160 is not bad. Some of you learned different 64 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:56,040 where you grew up. You were like secretly like a 65 00:03:56,040 --> 00:04:00,080 little Buddhist and that's OK. But but we, we desire things. 66 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,600 God gives us healthy desires, gives us healthy attitudes and 67 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,640 things like that. But these desires and attitudes 68 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:08,960 can become disordered. And we talk about the passions, 69 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,600 we're talking about disordered desire, disordered attachments 70 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,800 and attitudes. These are oversized reactions. 71 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,040 When we don't get what we want or when we overvalue something, 72 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,120 we make something bigger than it really should be in good order. 73 00:04:22,320 --> 00:04:24,880 OK. But again, this is a very 74 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:27,600 Christian thing. We believe in transformation, 75 00:04:27,680 --> 00:04:30,360 right? That we can, by God's grace, he 76 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,200 can work on us if we make ourselves available to take 77 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,560 these outsized passions and bring them into the correct 78 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:38,240 focus. So then we have these godly 79 00:04:38,240 --> 00:04:40,720 attachments, desires and attitudes. 80 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:43,200 So that's, that's the whole series. 81 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,480 That's what we're doing with this passions series. 82 00:04:45,920 --> 00:04:50,160 The passion that we're exploring today is acedia. 83 00:04:50,800 --> 00:04:52,760 Everybody knows the word acedia, right? 84 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,960 I didn't, I, I had never heard of it until we started the 85 00:04:56,960 --> 00:04:58,880 teaching team series. And so I immediately was like, 86 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:00,440 well, I want to do that one. I don't know what it is. 87 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:06,600 According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this word was like 88 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:11,920 super obsolete in 1930, like by 1930, like we're done with this 89 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,720 word forever kind of thing. In fact, the primary references 90 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,480 at that time that they're using because the English like to hold 91 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:23,040 on to old things, right, were from like the the 13th and 17th 92 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,120 century. Even then now when the world 93 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,800 wars came, suddenly we had a use for the word again. 94 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,080 We'll get to that in a minute. So it came back into some 95 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,600 fashion as a way to deal with some of the terrible malaise 96 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,720 that came from the world wars. And then at scene of resurgence, 97 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:46,840 as we have in recent modernity begun to re engage as a whole 98 00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:49,640 church with the monastic tradition because the word 99 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:54,760 acedia has a a strong link to monasticism. 100 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:03,440 OK, so if I had made slides, they would say this Acedia, what 101 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:05,960 is it? Do I have it? 102 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,120 What do I do about it? Acedia, what is it? 103 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:10,240 Do I have it? What do I do about it? 104 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,440 A quick side note, I wrote a whole section about why we 105 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,480 stopped using the word acedia, why it went out of fashion that 106 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:22,360 I'm like super interested in. But when I finished the sermon, 107 00:06:22,360 --> 00:06:26,200 it was a three-part sermon and they did not give me 3 weeks so 108 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:29,360 I had to cut that section. But I just have to tell you 109 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:31,520 about it if you ever want to talk about it. 110 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,840 Let's get coffee and talk about why it went out of use. 111 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,360 That will placate my word nerd and we can move on. 112 00:06:38,360 --> 00:06:46,800 OK, so acedia from the Greek, who knows the prefix A without, 113 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,240 not without. And then who knows the word 114 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:54,120 kados? No one kados is care. 115 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,800 So without care, no care, don't care. 116 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,480 That's acedia in the most literal Greek expression and I 117 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:04,080 had usage in regular Greek language. 118 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:09,280 In the Iliad, Homer uses it to describe soldiers that do not 119 00:07:09,280 --> 00:07:12,400 care about a fallen comrade, right? 120 00:07:12,400 --> 00:07:14,280 They're just, he died and they just leave him there. 121 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:17,280 Who cares? So we're we have some usage in 122 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:22,840 regular Greek life, but it finds special use in monasticism. 123 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:27,960 If you look through the Bible for the word acedia, you will 124 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,360 have a bad time. The word acedia is not in the 125 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:35,320 Bible at all. So we're going to turn to the 126 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:38,760 tradition of the church here to the monastics to to get a sense 127 00:07:38,760 --> 00:07:42,480 of what they were using the word for that the form us today in 128 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,840 the series. So yes, Evagrius, like I said, 129 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,080 he makes these lists of passions in the 4th century. 130 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,280 He's calling them the 8 evil thoughts, which sounds like a 131 00:07:54,280 --> 00:07:56,360 really great children's book to me. 132 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:58,400 Look at some of you and make it happen. 133 00:08:00,520 --> 00:08:04,120 And Acedia is something that when he writes it down, he 134 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:08,360 didn't make it up. He's he's bringing it together 135 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,360 at on the list. But it was already in use in the 136 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,920 monastic communities that had been happening in the deserts. 137 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:20,040 So what what they called it is the noonday demon. 138 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:25,800 Maybe like Aya novel there, but very interesting. 139 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:29,080 And it actually comes from, believe it or not, the teaching 140 00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:32,159 text that we use today. Now, you might have said, Carl, 141 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:34,039 I've listened very carefully because you're very tuned in. 142 00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:38,919 They did not say noonday demon. I would have remembered so the 143 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:42,600 early church mothers and fathers that the text that they're 144 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:46,520 working with got to remember the New Testament is not like fully 145 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:49,720 canonized for a minute. And so we're working with a 146 00:08:49,720 --> 00:08:54,240 document called the Septuagint. The Septuagint is a Greek 147 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:57,480 language translation of the Old Testament. 148 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:00,440 OK. And I'm going to read you an 149 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,480 English translation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old 150 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,440 Testament. And this is what we're going to 151 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:12,320 have. So in Psalm 91536, you shall not 152 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:18,640 be afraid of terror by night, or the arrow flying by day, nor the 153 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:23,680 evil thing that walks in darkness, nor of calamity and 154 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:28,280 the evil spirit at noonday, the noonday demon. 155 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,640 So when Avagrius is talking about these 8 evil thoughts, 156 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:39,160 he's playing fast and loose in an interesting way with sort of 157 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,320 a literal sense of a like a demon, a tempting spirit, but 158 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:46,160 also like a bad thought or a bad desire. 159 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:47,920 And we're sort of interchangeably moving through 160 00:09:47,920 --> 00:09:50,160 these things. Does it make sense to you that 161 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,160 have you ever had a thought that it's like this feels like a 162 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,800 temptation thought? Like maybe this is kind of maybe 163 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:57,560 it's kind of a thought, maybe it doesn't really matter how 164 00:09:57,560 --> 00:10:00,280 literal we are. That's what what kind of space 165 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:01,680 we're in here with the noonday demon. 166 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:04,560 But he describes it in this fashion. 167 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:10,480 The demon of Acedia, also called the Noonday demon, is the most 168 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:14,760 oppressive of all demons. That's a bold claim. 169 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:20,560 He attacks the monk about the fourth hour. 4th hour is noon, 170 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:26,000 so we're we're tracking and besieges his soul until the 8th 171 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:29,440 hour. First of all, he makes it appear 172 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:33,200 that the sun moves slowly or not at all. 173 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,440 So here for a modern we're saying he keeps staring at that 174 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:43,000 clock and are those hands moving backwards, what is happening and 175 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,520 that the day seems to be 50 hours long. 176 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:50,320 I love how caddy this like 50 hour day. 177 00:10:52,200 --> 00:10:55,000 Then he compels the monk to look constantly towards the windows. 178 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,040 Hey, what's going on outside to watch the sun? 179 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:02,160 Has it moved to jump out of the cell? 180 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:06,080 So if you're not familiar monastics, well, bedrooms called 181 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:08,000 itself. So we'll come back to that. 182 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,880 That's where they stay and study and and and rest and stuff to 183 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:14,800 watch the sun, to see how far it is from the 9th hour to look 184 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:19,320 this way and that. Further, he instills in him of 185 00:11:19,440 --> 00:11:23,240 the the demon instills in him the monk, A dislike for the 186 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:27,040 place just to say the monastery and for the state of his life 187 00:11:27,040 --> 00:11:31,440 itself, a dislike for manual labor and also the idea that 188 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:34,440 love has disappeared from amongst the brothers and there 189 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:38,040 is no one to console him. OK, are we coming home to a 190 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,920 feeling? Now I'm stuck in this place and 191 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:43,640 you know what? Now that I notice it as the day 192 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:46,680 drags on, do you remember how nobody cares about me anymore? 193 00:11:46,680 --> 00:11:49,080 And like people used to talk and be nice to me and now they don't 194 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:50,960 and no one cares and no one takes care of me. 195 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:53,960 And also how much does it suck to hoe the garden? 196 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,520 OK and should there be anyone during these days? 197 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,840 So in a period of of the CD attack who has offended the 198 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:04,520 monk? This to the demon uses to 199 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:06,400 further his dislike of the place. 200 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:12,480 Wasn't Samuel such AI won't say swears bad man this morning to 201 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:13,440 me. So rude. 202 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,800 He leads him on the desire of other places where you can 203 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:21,880 easily find the wherewithal to meet his needs. 204 00:12:22,000 --> 00:12:24,280 Pursue a trade that is easier and more productive. 205 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:29,320 Man, if I could just get out of this monastery I used to be a 206 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:31,200 sail maker like that was awesome. 207 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,240 I could make a living at what am I doing here. 208 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,840 He adds the demon that pleasing the Lord is not a question of 209 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:41,120 being in a particular place for scripture says that divinity can 210 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,280 be worshipped everywhere. That's right, man, I learned 211 00:12:43,560 --> 00:12:45,200 like we worship in spirit and truth. 212 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:48,840 Why am I even here and I could I could do anything anywhere. 213 00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:53,920 Where's the word is hoeing holy like he joins these suggestions 214 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:57,080 with the memory of his close relations and of his former 215 00:12:57,080 --> 00:12:59,480 life. He depicts for him the long 216 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:03,480 course of his lifetime. The demon right the hey, you're 217 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:08,120 going to be in this self forever, doing nothing while 218 00:13:08,120 --> 00:13:10,640 bringing the burdens of asceticism before his eyes. 219 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:13,480 Don't you love getting up in the middle of the night to pray? 220 00:13:14,240 --> 00:13:18,200 Don't you love bearing with these rude, irritating brothers? 221 00:13:19,920 --> 00:13:22,880 And he deploys every device in order to have the monk leave his 222 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:30,520 cell and flee the stadium. So Acedia for Vagius is this 223 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,960 really important demon that yet seems to be some of the most 224 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:36,720 banal, right. If you think about the seven 225 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:41,200 deadly sins, lush and gluttony and greed and wrath, they they, 226 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:45,560 they're like the big deal ones. This one becomes sort of sloth 227 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,600 over the years. It's like, you know, when you 228 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:52,080 want to, you don't want to hang out like it doesn't seem like a 229 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:54,000 big deal. And yet for a Vagius, it is 230 00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:00,000 because, unlike so many of these other passions, this strikes at 231 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,200 the root of the willingness to do anything in particular. 232 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,240 All the other passions are more particular to a particular slice 233 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:13,400 of life and desire. This strikes at the the center 234 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:16,800 of all energy and capacity to do anything right. 235 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:20,040 And it has a particular importance that it finds its 236 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:23,760 home here in the monastic. Being a monk is hard. 237 00:14:23,760 --> 00:14:28,400 You guys, I don't know if you know, but like living in a cell, 238 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:32,120 the same routine every day, being under strong authority. 239 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:34,120 You have a rule of life, you have vows. 240 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:38,160 Like it's a hard life. And so it's easy to see how one 241 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:41,560 would become distracted in some other tellings of this, There's 242 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,640 a a student of a vigorous called John Cassian. 243 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:48,040 He talks about how how monks will think about different 244 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,240 monasteries, like, oh, we wouldn't do that one monster. 245 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,840 It's so much better than this monster, which I love like for a 246 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,240 month, Like that's as good as it gets, like totally better 247 00:14:55,240 --> 00:15:00,560 monasteries. So there's a ton of writing 248 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:03,480 about this in the monastic community all the way from a 249 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,480 vigorous in the 4th century all the way up through. 250 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:07,840 We'll talk about Aquinas later. We'll talk. 251 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,640 We're we're skipping over Gregory the Great. 252 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:15,080 We're skipping over mostly John Cassian. 253 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:19,080 Let's jump ahead to sort of a 20th century expression of this 254 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:22,240 Acedia concept. OK, so this is Roberta Bondi 255 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:32,080 from To Love as God Loves. I am sponsored today by Inner 256 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:37,280 Varsity Press or whatever Roberta Bondi says it is. 257 00:15:37,280 --> 00:15:41,720 It is a great book, though. In fairness, Acedia is restless 258 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:47,560 boredom that makes our ordinary tasks seem too dull to bear. 259 00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:53,800 Nothing seems right, life has lost its savour and it all seems 260 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:58,040 like somebody else's fault, so that the only alternative is to 261 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,400 leave everything and go off somewhere else. 262 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:04,600 We may experience it as a restlessness that makes us hate 263 00:16:04,600 --> 00:16:08,120 our jobs. Some experience it as a boredom 264 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:11,320 with a marriage that they may seek to cure with affairs. 265 00:16:13,840 --> 00:16:16,640 Others change residences at periodic intervals. 266 00:16:17,040 --> 00:16:20,720 Or, and I love this this this book is from the 80s, but it 267 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,200 feels modern to me, take up dangerous hobbies. 268 00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,840 Like so bored. It's time to start, I don't 269 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:28,880 know, parasailing or something. Maybe that's not dangerous and 270 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:32,480 I'm going to hear from the parasailing community or go out 271 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,880 and spend money. And I love this. 272 00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:37,160 I think that that Roberta is correct. 273 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,360 Whatever the attempted solution tried, however, the result is 274 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,320 the same. Restless boredom with life. 275 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,040 You cannot cure acedia by doing cool stuff. 276 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:52,520 It doesn't work. Can't cure a bad marriage with 277 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:55,440 an affair. Can't cure a bad job with the 278 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:57,560 good job. Now maybe a little bit, we'll 279 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:05,680 talk about that restlessness, listlessness, boredom, unease, 280 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:07,880 discomfort with what is before you. 281 00:17:08,359 --> 00:17:10,359 And I think I wanted to be clear. 282 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,880 One of the things that I think is lost in the sloth, laziness, 283 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:19,000 translation of this is acedia of the the working out. 284 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,839 The churning of acedia can be expressed in activity or 285 00:17:22,839 --> 00:17:29,360 inactivity. Either way, Kathleen Norris in 286 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:33,880 Acedia and Me says much of the restless boredom, frantic 287 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,800 escapism, commitment phobia, which I think is great, and 288 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,920 enervating despair that plagues us today is the ancient demon of 289 00:17:41,920 --> 00:17:49,160 Acedia in modern dress. So mostly I've been telling you 290 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:53,320 stories about this thing. It's really hard to pin down, 291 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:56,840 and I think that's why in part I said I wasn't going to talk 292 00:17:56,840 --> 00:17:59,720 about transition of the word, but why we haven't held onto the 293 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:03,840 word it. It holds a lot of concepts 294 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:09,120 within it. Andrew Crislip says none of the 295 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:12,680 modern and medieval glosses convey the semantic range of the 296 00:18:12,680 --> 00:18:14,440 term. The monk. 297 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:17,440 The seal says the word is so pregnant with meaning it 298 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:20,240 frustrates every attempt to translate it. 299 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:22,680 But what is it? What is acedia? 300 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:27,480 It is when faced with the the realities, the life that is in 301 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:34,440 front of you, a discomfort and incapacity to stick with it and 302 00:18:34,440 --> 00:18:38,960 be in that and a desire to find a way out. 303 00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,480 We're going to talk a little bit more about boundaries at the 304 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:43,640 end, but apparently I'm talking about it right now. 305 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,920 Don't misunderstand me to say that you've got to stay in a 306 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:53,200 dangerous or bad situation here. When I'm talking about 307 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,080 perseverance and I talk about staying, it does not mean 308 00:18:57,440 --> 00:18:59,760 staying in a place that is that is bad for you. 309 00:19:00,480 --> 00:19:03,240 Vital to understand. And in point of fact, staying or 310 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,200 going in many ways is not the thing. 311 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:10,960 The posture of the heart and the mind in the staying or in the 312 00:19:10,960 --> 00:19:13,080 going is what we're going to talk about. 313 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:21,320 Jesus, I think is tempted in the desert with acedia, right? 314 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:26,120 So some of you who grew up in the fish may remember after 315 00:19:26,280 --> 00:19:31,760 after being baptized, Jesus goes off into the desert and fasts 316 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,080 for a long time before going off to do the rest of ministry 317 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:38,760 right. And he goes through a series of 318 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,160 temptations from the devil's, what the text talks about. 319 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:45,080 Maybe somebody in one of the Sermon on Gluttony, we'll talk 320 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:46,880 about that passage. I don't know. 321 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:49,760 But the last, the last temptation of Christ, that's a 322 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:52,440 different thing. But in this particular sets of 323 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:58,760 temptations in Matthew 4/8 through 10, this is the last one 324 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:01,800 in this section. Again, the devil took him to a 325 00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,840 very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the 326 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,680 world and their splendor. All this I will give to you, he 327 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:11,600 said. If you will bow down. 328 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,880 And worship me and Jesus said to him, away from me Satan, for it 329 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:19,960 is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only then 330 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,640 the devil left him and the angels came and attended him. 331 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:27,440 It's important, I think, to understand what it, what's 332 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:31,400 what's at stake here. It's I think in a plain reading, 333 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,280 you just get a sense of like, oh, the devil's trying to get 334 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:36,640 Jesus to bow down to him. And, and that, that, that that's 335 00:20:36,640 --> 00:20:38,600 the thing. And it doesn't even really feel 336 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:41,680 particularly tempting. If you're God, why bow down to 337 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:43,960 the devil? Just like jog on, we're done 338 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:46,280 here. Like, what are we doing? 339 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:49,280 Where's the real temptation? Right. 340 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,720 And here's where I think the temptation is an Acidia based 341 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:55,880 temptation. What Jesus knows is in front of 342 00:20:55,880 --> 00:21:02,640 him is an incredibly hard road to be a a homeless wanderer 343 00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:06,640 teaching people who are mostly not going to get it, people who 344 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,160 are mostly in it for the miracles, right? 345 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:11,640 Mostly in it for the food and things like that. 346 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,840 With disciples that he chooses that are really not going to get 347 00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:17,360 it and are going to be terrible to each other. 348 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:19,600 And things bickering about who's on the right and left. 349 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:24,800 And at the end of it, the reward is death on a cross. 350 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,680 And that does not sound like a super great way to bring the 351 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:33,680 Kingdom of God, right? Seems like a dumb idea. 352 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:37,840 Boring is maybe not the right word, but there's a dullness to 353 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,440 it, A hardness to it. And So what? 354 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:44,280 The real temptation is here. It's like, hey, I, I'm the 355 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:46,200 devil, I'm the Prince of this world. 356 00:21:46,640 --> 00:21:53,480 Why don't you skip all of that crap and be the king Now you'll 357 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:55,760 save people, you'll help people out. 358 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,320 Now, today, you can do this. Now be the king, be the good 359 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:00,920 king. I'll, I'll let you run 360 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:04,160 everything. So there's a temptation to get 361 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,000 out of the churn, out of the hard stuff, out of the dull 362 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,160 stuff, out of the terrible stuff and skip ahead. 363 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:14,920 That's the temptation of a seed. It's like, hey, why are you like 364 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,840 in this thing? Why don't you just kind of round 365 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:28,480 it, Skip ahead, get out of it. Jesus turns to Scripture, the 366 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:35,040 truth of God and perseveres. And when he does, the devil 367 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,520 leaves him and he is cared for. More on that later. 368 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:45,080 Do you have a sense now for what acedia is making sense? 369 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,360 Some kind of, I know it's narrative, it's broad, it's 370 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:50,480 meant to be, it's a vague old Greek term, but I think we've 371 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,560 got something. OK, so next question, Do I have 372 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,200 it? Do I have the Acedia? 373 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:00,280 I miss that. This is a little silly. 374 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:05,680 I, I am a child of my age and Zoolander is a big movie for me. 375 00:23:06,840 --> 00:23:08,160 I love him. Zoolander, he says. 376 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:15,880 I'm getting that black lung pop. That's what I was thinking 377 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:16,720 about. Oh, I wrote this. 378 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:25,880 Do I have it for some of you? You know right now that this is 379 00:23:25,880 --> 00:23:27,000 something that you struggle with. 380 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,200 When we were talking through this stuff, it was resonating 381 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,440 with you. It was hitting beats for you. 382 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,120 It makes sense. You're like, yeah, I, I, I had 383 00:23:35,120 --> 00:23:37,120 it a while ago and you just kept talking. 384 00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:43,640 I know that to be the case because when I was preparing for 385 00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:52,040 this sermon, I was like, I got the Acedia pop, which is great. 386 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,920 It's like couple weeks ago I didn't know what ACD was. 387 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,760 Now I got it. I struggle with the CDA. 388 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:07,720 It's not the same as depression. I know because I've had that. 389 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:18,160 It's not the same as laziness. So I got that too and I want to 390 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,400 point this out. Maybe a small fraction of you 391 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:25,240 will be wondering about this. It's not the same as ADHD, OK, 392 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,040 Like when you read some of these descriptions, I cut some of them 393 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:30,320 out. They're like the figures is like 394 00:24:30,320 --> 00:24:32,320 they don't even want to read the scripture for 10 hours at a 395 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,680 time. It's like, well, it's not the 396 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:40,120 same as that. But there is an interplay 397 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,200 between all of those things. And if you're a person that 398 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,600 struggles with all of them, some of them you're going to find 399 00:24:47,880 --> 00:24:51,160 they talk to each other and they go back and forth and push you 400 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,040 from 1:00 to the other. But they're not the same as 401 00:24:55,040 --> 00:25:01,520 Acedia itself. For me, looking at like how 402 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:10,400 Acedia comes home, for me, it's like not so much about dullness 403 00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:16,600 or boredom as like a deep discomfort with the way that 404 00:25:16,600 --> 00:25:24,080 things are. And for me, I can be avoidant in 405 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,120 the way I pursue relief in Acedia. 406 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,440 We have the best technology in human history. 407 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:36,560 For Acedia, there is like more content available to you 408 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:40,560 instantly on your device than you could watch in 1000 409 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,680 lifetimes. Like unending stream and they're 410 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:50,160 always making new stuff. For me, it's it's the YouTube or 411 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:55,480 Reddit that is my go to when I, when I just shut off and not 412 00:25:55,480 --> 00:26:01,160 deal with what's in front of me or more insidious in many ways, 413 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:07,040 the way I manifest an active so as called escape from Assidia is 414 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:13,000 flights of fancy imagination. Oh man, I'm going to I'm going 415 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,880 to go and do this and it's going to be so great. 416 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:18,760 We're going to move to New York City. 417 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:23,440 I'm going to live in Sesame Street, right? 418 00:26:24,120 --> 00:26:26,800 Start making lists of things that will fix my life. 419 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,800 You know when I buy my 2 channel preamp for my computer? 420 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,600 Oh, then I can really record, right? 421 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:40,080 Lists and lists ideas, writing it all out of all the great and 422 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:41,920 awesome things I'll do. And then I don't do any of it 423 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:45,480 anyway. So the noontime demon wins 424 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,520 twice, getting me to be so-called active while actually 425 00:26:48,520 --> 00:26:52,400 changing and doing nothing. I don't even really flee, which 426 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:56,240 is in some ways a mercy. So you can leverage laziness 427 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:03,200 against yourself sometimes. But what it's all about is never 428 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:06,840 really sitting with what I'm really feeling and what's really 429 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:11,520 happening, doing anything to avoid that. 430 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,360 And definitely not inviting God into any of it. 431 00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:21,800 That's I think a great hint for you if you're trying to 432 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:24,520 determine, am I going through a discernment process? 433 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,920 Am I like considering what is good or am I lost in the CDA? 434 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,760 Who's invited to the party in the heart and mind? 435 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,840 Just you and your resentments or is God in there too? 436 00:27:36,360 --> 00:27:39,040 By the way, God is happy to come to a party with you and your 437 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:41,560 resentments. You don't have to kick the 438 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,640 resentments out to invite God. Super good with it. 439 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,280 Don't be afraid of that. But when it's just you and your 440 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,600 your parts that are trying to escape, probably acedia. 441 00:27:54,000 --> 00:28:01,360 This is where I wrote down about boundaries, context, so you can 442 00:28:01,360 --> 00:28:04,840 blow off steam sometimes, you guys, I'm not saying like if 443 00:28:04,840 --> 00:28:07,240 you're not studying or working every hour of every day, you've 444 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:08,920 got the acedia and you're in big trouble. 445 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,080 Scroll a little bit. Take a minute, like, chill out, 446 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,840 have some fun. You know, you can leave places 447 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:20,240 sometimes, whether that's to get out of a bad thing or to go to a 448 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,040 new thing. Maybe God says I want you to go 449 00:28:23,040 --> 00:28:27,080 live on Sesame Street. So far, no. 450 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:35,160 The key is your posture in it. Is it something that has a sense 451 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,880 of of peace and invitation? Is it something in the terms of 452 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:42,680 resting that brings genuine rest and new energy? 453 00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,600 I find in the CD of moments scrolling, it's like a stasis, 454 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:49,320 right? It's just like time freezes. 455 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,560 I went in anxious and then I wasn't anxious for 30 minutes 456 00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:54,960 while I was watching YouTube and then I'm anxious again. 457 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:57,840 Like nothing really changed. So that's not useful. 458 00:28:58,240 --> 00:29:01,080 Steam release, right? We want to look for things that 459 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:06,200 are genuinely restful, genuinely connecting to God in our 460 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:11,720 circumstance. God, God does know where you're 461 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:16,360 at in these things. He knows you and he will like 462 00:29:16,360 --> 00:29:18,640 help you with these things. And if you find yourself as a 463 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,120 person saying, I genuinely don't know, Carl, if I'm like in a 464 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,520 place of discernment or blowing off steam or what's going on, 465 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,600 this church is really this, this church has been working on how 466 00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:32,320 to do discernment together for decades. 467 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:35,600 Like we have been working on this stuff and we we've got 468 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:37,760 resource. So hit us up. 469 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:43,480 We'd love to help. All right, so some of you, this 470 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,240 is making sense. This is hitting for you. 471 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:49,800 There might be some of you here who have been nodding. 472 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:52,000 I have no idea what I'm talking about. 473 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:56,880 In your heart, God bless you. We'll get to your passion in a 474 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:00,840 minute, I promise. But if this doesn't make sense 475 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:02,800 to you, that doesn't mean check out. 476 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,080 Not that you would. Everyone's looking. 477 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,320 It's fine, but but it's an opportunity to learn what you 478 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,360 can so you can love the rest of the community. 479 00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,040 Well, right. And when, when we get to yours, 480 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:14,880 that one went for you and the people that don't get that will 481 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,120 listen and learn. And this a community thing. 482 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,520 We we do this together. I've been talking about this 483 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,840 solo a lot, but we work on it as a, a church body. 484 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:24,480 Amen. All right. 485 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:27,320 If you're on the fence, if you're like, some things make 486 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,480 sense, some things don't. Look for the ways in which you 487 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,200 find yourself unable to engage in the good work in front of 488 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:35,480 you, the good thought in front of you. 489 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,640 Look for the ways you distract yourself with activity or 490 00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,280 inactivity rather than deal with thoughts that are hard, 491 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,560 uncomfortable or boring, and see if anything makes sense to you. 492 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,760 OK, So what, Zidia? Do I have it? 493 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:55,240 What do I do about it? I so loved Jared's picture at 494 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,280 the beginning of the series about getting a massage. 495 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:03,240 Now I have to clarify, I personally loathe the concept of 496 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:05,960 massage. A stranger touching me is like 497 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,920 somewhere around getting shot. I think would be. 498 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,880 I've never been shot and I have been touched by strangers, so 499 00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:17,560 I'm not sure but but as a concept, I love it, right? 500 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:19,760 When you get a massage, you don't do the work. 501 00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:22,520 The good stuff that happens is not your stuff. 502 00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,360 This, this business does not get the job done, right. 503 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:30,760 So there the work is being done to you, but you have to schedule 504 00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:32,680 the massage. You got to show up for the 505 00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:33,960 massage. You got to get on the table, 506 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:36,120 right? So I love this picture when it 507 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:39,120 comes to letting God do the work, we do the work of showing 508 00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:41,600 up. So here's some ways you can show 509 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,960 up for the massage. When it comes to Acdia, there's 510 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:49,080 a great list. So Thomas Aquinas writes about 511 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:53,960 this later on in I wrote it down, 13th century. 512 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,560 And then Evangrius had a list too, of how to deal with Acdia. 513 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:01,360 And it's wild because they're, you know, hundreds and hundreds 514 00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:03,200 of years apart, like over 1000 years apart. 515 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:05,440 The lists are really like common. 516 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:10,320 Now, Aquinas might have been copying, I don't know, but but 517 00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,560 OK, we'll match up the list. Sorry, let's take a deep breath. 518 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:22,600 Some ways to show up for the massage for acedia #1 for 519 00:32:22,600 --> 00:32:25,280 Aquinas, he says reorder your thoughts. 520 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:28,800 Vaguerous here says meditate on Scripture, right? 521 00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,560 Which for you know a hardcore monk, that's how you reorder 522 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,760 your thoughts. Do not attach your thoughts to 523 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,560 worldly things. Focus on God with daily prayer. 524 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,920 Passions towards worldly things are not in and of themselves 525 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:47,360 worthy of blame or praise. Just having a passion, a desire. 526 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:50,600 That's OK, Aquinas notes. It's disordered passions that 527 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,760 are the danger. So one thing you can do, if you 528 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:57,040 can get your head together a little bit, however that works 529 00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:58,560 for you. Reading scripture can be great 530 00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,240 if you have a good access to scripture. 531 00:33:01,240 --> 00:33:02,360 If you don't, you can work on that. 532 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:03,800 Sometimes it's just sitting down and thinking. 533 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:05,760 Some of us are verbal processors. 534 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,560 Talk to a a friend, get your thoughts out there to where we 535 00:33:09,560 --> 00:33:14,480 can move. Unjumble them a little bit. 2 I 536 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:18,080 love this so much. The modern church forgets about 537 00:33:18,360 --> 00:33:20,520 the bodies #2 take care of the body. 538 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:24,080 Vigorous Here he just says physical labor because for a 539 00:33:24,080 --> 00:33:28,400 monk like the GM is the whole peas and things, that's what 540 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:32,280 they do. So but Aquinas a little bit more 541 00:33:32,280 --> 00:33:35,480 broad the the needs of our body can tempt us to sin. 542 00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:40,040 The cure is to give the body what it needs, no more, no less. 543 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:43,960 So what's great about this one is sometimes you can trick 544 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:46,360 yourself into doing it when you're really lost in your mind. 545 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,120 Sometimes for some of us, we can have no sense. 546 00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:52,120 No, there's no way I'm going to get my thoughts under control. 547 00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:55,640 There's no way I'm going to get my emotions sorted out, but I 548 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:59,480 might be able to get myself to go on a little walk, right? 549 00:33:59,880 --> 00:34:02,960 Maybe I can do that. Maybe I can do a little chore, 550 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,880 you know, maybe I can trick myself into doing a little 551 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:10,120 something with my body that will begin to bring the heart and 552 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,040 mind in line. Maybe I can trick myself into 553 00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,120 drinking a glass of water. There are options here. 554 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:18,719 So it's vital that we take care of the body to avoid these 555 00:34:18,719 --> 00:34:21,400 things. And also the body can be a hack, 556 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:25,239 a kick start for dealing with the mental emotional part. 557 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,480 It's actually a YouTube has a great video on this from the 558 00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:31,800 pandemic talking about dealing with the body of sort of a hand 559 00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:34,679 crank to getting your systems working properly. 560 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:40,719 CGP Grey 3 rejoice in God's gifts. 561 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,639 This was just Aquinas. This is a strike against false 562 00:34:45,639 --> 00:34:48,320 humility. So it's easy to compare 563 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,239 ourselves unfairly to everyone else's holiness, material wealth 564 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,639 or status. So we, whether we want to put 565 00:34:53,639 --> 00:34:56,239 ourselves above or below, we love to compare ourselves to 566 00:34:56,239 --> 00:35:00,000 others. And either we can like flog 567 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,600 ourselves. I'm just the worst, you know, or 568 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,160 we can say they're the worst because they're so rich or 569 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:10,200 whatever it is makes us contemptuous of our own lives, 570 00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,120 contemptuous of the lives of others. 571 00:35:13,640 --> 00:35:16,200 It's a false humility. I mean humility. 572 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,800 So we, we want to learn gratitude. 573 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,880 Anybody in 12 step knows about this, right? 574 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,320 We want to find the ways which we be grateful for what's 575 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:28,840 actually in our life. It goes in line with reordering 576 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:31,680 our thoughts, but it's a particular flavor when it comes 577 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:37,560 to being grateful. This next one, Oh my goodness, 578 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,280 just from a vaguerus here, he says tears. 579 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:51,120 I love tears. Evagrius views tears as a vital 580 00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:54,080 part of the Christian's fight against acedia. 581 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:59,320 In exhortation to aversion, Evagrius writes Sadness is 582 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:05,520 burdensome and acedia is irresistible, but tears shed 583 00:36:05,520 --> 00:36:08,200 before God are stronger than both. 584 00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:16,240 Sadness is burdensome and acedia is irresistible, but tears shed 585 00:36:16,240 --> 00:36:19,360 before God are stronger than both. 586 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:23,840 Monks should pray for tears as a sign of repentance. 587 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:26,720 Make use of tears to obtain the fulfillment of your every 588 00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:29,600 request, for the Lord rejoices greatly over you when He 589 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,760 receives prayer accompanied by tears. 590 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:43,240 Acedia over time produces callousness in the heart, Right? 591 00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:46,520 Well, I can't. All I can think about is how I 592 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:48,640 don't want to be here, how boring it is, and how I want to 593 00:36:48,640 --> 00:36:51,200 escape. How I dull myself with 594 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:54,280 inactivity or run away inactivity. 595 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,560 What I do is I care less about everyone. 596 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:02,000 Ah Kados, I care less about myself. 597 00:37:02,120 --> 00:37:08,640 I care less about God. In tears, crack loose a little 598 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:14,360 bit of care. Cry the most self in Dalton 599 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:16,920 tears. You want to cry because at least 600 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:20,040 you're showing some care for yourself and the Lord will meet 601 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:24,240 you in that. And then cry tears for your 602 00:37:24,240 --> 00:37:28,120 brothers and sisters who suffer and let your heart be taught in 603 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,880 that and know that you cry with our Lord who cries. 604 00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,800 Amen. Last one from the list. 605 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:39,600 Be steadfast and you're resistant. 606 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:41,280 What am I supposed to be done? I'm so sorry. 607 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:49,720 Tomorrow, how many OK, it's we're going going long file 608 00:37:49,720 --> 00:37:54,880 complaint at the office. Vegas talks about perseverance. 609 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,240 Aquinas teaches that some sins are overcome by avoidance. 610 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:02,760 Others, like acedia can only be come overcome by perseverance. 611 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:05,920 Right. So there are some things in the 612 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,120 seven deadliest, right? The passions that you can avoid. 613 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:09,440 Like we're just going to stay away from that. 614 00:38:09,440 --> 00:38:10,720 We're just not going to be in that area. 615 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:15,680 There's no avoiding acedia. Acedia will come to you, will 616 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:20,040 come to your root. And so the only way to deal with 617 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:22,600 it is to go through. The only way out is through. 618 00:38:23,200 --> 00:38:26,520 OK. So perseverance, it's vital. 619 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:31,720 What they said as a saying back in the day was stay in your 620 00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:34,080 cell. Your cell will teach you 621 00:38:34,080 --> 00:38:36,400 everything. And so many of the writings are 622 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:38,680 about like, don't leave. Don't, don't leave yourself for 623 00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:40,040 a minute. Don't run off. 624 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:41,640 Don't leave the monastery. Just stay. 625 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,640 So there's a lot to be said here for a spiritual staying. 626 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,280 Again, don't over read me in terms of you have to not change 627 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:52,800 anything about your life like but a spiritual staying in one 628 00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:58,920 place. Like I said earlier, it's not so 629 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,360 much the exact things that you do. 630 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:03,280 It's the way in which you do them. 631 00:39:03,280 --> 00:39:07,080 A posture of in the heart and mind inviting God. 632 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:12,040 And I want to make it clear, just as with the massage, I, I 633 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:16,360 just said persevere. No one will succeed on your own. 634 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,520 You can't persevere by yourself through the cedia. 635 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,640 It is irresistible, right? Even when you're but I cried 636 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,640 everything like you said, girl, you're just not going to make it 637 00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:27,600 on your own. These are good tools. 638 00:39:27,920 --> 00:39:31,880 Use them. But we have to find the key to 639 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:35,440 perseverance. The only way to do it is to take 640 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:39,960 our tears and our struggles and our suffering and our boredom to 641 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,800 our God who loves us as a father, who loves us as a 642 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,680 mother. And it's the hardest thing to 643 00:39:45,680 --> 00:39:48,480 do. I think taking these kinds of 644 00:39:48,480 --> 00:39:52,720 things, these unbearable things to God is like doing a trust 645 00:39:52,720 --> 00:39:56,120 fall into not knowing if anyone is there. 646 00:39:57,080 --> 00:39:59,960 You can't see God. You have had times when you took 647 00:39:59,960 --> 00:40:01,560 things together. It felt like nothing happened. 648 00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:05,120 So it's terrifying. I'm going to take this to God. 649 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:12,000 It's hard to do, but he. He does show up in ways. 650 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,480 He doesn't fix it. He just suffers with you. 651 00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,000 He goes through it with you. I want to return to our 652 00:40:19,000 --> 00:40:22,480 Scripture again with this in mind of looking for the ways we 653 00:40:22,480 --> 00:40:27,480 can persevere with God and we get Psalm 91 again. 654 00:40:34,030 --> 00:40:38,350 So here I am. I'm in untenable circumstance. 655 00:40:39,190 --> 00:40:41,350 I'm uncomfortable, I'm bored. I'm more than uncomfortable, I'm 656 00:40:41,350 --> 00:40:46,760 in agony. Those who live in the shelter of 657 00:40:46,760 --> 00:40:53,360 the Most High will find rest, real restorative rest, in the 658 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:57,880 shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord. 659 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:05,000 He alone is my refuge, my place of safety when I'm feeling under 660 00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,040 attack, when I'm feeling like I can't live with what's in front 661 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:12,960 of me. He is my God and I trust Him for 662 00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:15,240 He will rescue you from every trap. 663 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:17,280 Who's in the trap? You found your you have no 664 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:20,000 hands. You find yourself in life 665 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,320 trapped. You found yourself with a 666 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:24,960 figurative or real deadly disease. 667 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:34,920 He will rescue you next slide. Do not be afraid of the terrors 668 00:41:34,920 --> 00:41:38,000 of the night. How many of us have lived 669 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:42,520 through racing? Terrible thoughts in the night, 670 00:41:43,720 --> 00:41:45,520 though? The arrow that flies in the day, 671 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:52,200 someone who's coming for you do not dread the disease that 672 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:58,440 stalks in darkness malaise or and he says our noonday demon. 673 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,400 The disaster that strikes at midday halfway through the day 674 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:10,360 when you're just like, what the hell am I doing though 1000 fall 675 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:14,080 at your side, 10,000 are dying all around you. 676 00:42:14,080 --> 00:42:19,160 These are harrowing words for living through something that is 677 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:22,080 killing many. These evils will not touch you. 678 00:42:23,720 --> 00:42:27,120 Next slide. Just open your eyes and see how 679 00:42:27,120 --> 00:42:30,800 the wicked are punished. If you make the Lord your 680 00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:38,040 refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will 681 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:43,360 conquer you. So does it say no evil will 682 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:45,520 touch you and you will always be fine and nothing bad will ever 683 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:48,160 happen? It says conquer. 684 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:51,960 No evil will conquer you. If you can rest in God, you will 685 00:42:51,960 --> 00:42:54,600 not be conquered. No plague will come near your 686 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:58,520 home, for he will order his angels to protect you wherever 687 00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:06,480 you go. I take that to mean we can, in 688 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,600 practice of this perseverance, find ways to have a sense of 689 00:43:09,600 --> 00:43:11,040 God's presence with us all the time. 690 00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:15,200 They will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt 691 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,160 your foot on a stone. You will trample upon lions and 692 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:22,000 cobras. You will crush fierce lions and 693 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,960 serpents under your feet. Probably mostly. 694 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:36,680 Don't take that one literally, but know that in God's presence, 695 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:43,640 in our suffering, we can defeat. Lethal. 696 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:48,240 Enemies of the heart and mind. All right, Lord says I will 697 00:43:48,240 --> 00:43:50,720 rescue those who love me. I will protect those who I 698 00:43:50,720 --> 00:43:54,560 trust, who trust in my name. When they call on me, I will 699 00:43:54,560 --> 00:43:57,280 answer. I will be with them in trouble. 700 00:43:58,320 --> 00:44:03,120 I will rescue and honor them. The Lord honors us. 701 00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,280 I'll reward them with long life and give them my salvation. 702 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:17,080 Next slide, one more. No. 703 00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:23,440 OK, well, I think I have it here. 704 00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:28,680 No, that's it. Sorry, friends. 705 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:39,040 Let's let's stand, let's have the band come on up Parker, 706 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:42,560 you're welcome. You have stuff the the 707 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:47,840 invitation for prayer today is vivarious. 708 00:44:48,480 --> 00:44:52,600 If you are sensing in you that the Sicilia thing has some 709 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,480 purchase and you would like some help with that, maybe just 710 00:44:55,480 --> 00:44:58,960 naming it with another person and inviting someone together to 711 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,400 invite God into that, please come for prayer for that. 712 00:45:02,880 --> 00:45:08,200 If you're feeling really overwhelmed by particular strife 713 00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:10,320 in your life, please come get prayer for that, whether it be 714 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:14,600 physical, mental, or emotional. If you're feeling a strong 715 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,640 resistance, if this kind of made you mad and you wish I would 716 00:45:17,640 --> 00:45:21,640 have shut up a long time ago, if you're up for it, come and get 717 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:23,840 prayer for that. See what God meets you in that. 718 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:26,920 There might be some some resistance happening here today. 719 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:34,160 God loves you and He wants to meet you in these struggles and 720 00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:35,760 He will. Amen.