1 00:00:01,800 --> 00:00:05,000 Good morning. It's great to be with you all 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:06,760 today. It's cold outside, but it's it's 3 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,720 warm in here. I'm glad for I'm glad for heat 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,880 and I'm glad for community. This morning we are continuing 5 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:17,680 our series Rewired by Love. We're in week 4 of this series 6 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:22,080 in which we're getting super nerdy about how we change. 7 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,240 We're considering what transformation looks like in the 8 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:28,240 way of Jesus based on scripture and spiritual formation, but 9 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:31,400 then also bringing concepts from neuroscience and attachment 10 00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,760 theory. If this is like your first time 11 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:38,960 here, it's not quite this crazy. Every week we're I'm, I'm kind 12 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:40,720 of setting a new bar for nerdiness today. 13 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,360 If that's your thing, you're welcome. 14 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:46,840 If not, I'm sorry, but I'm super excited about this. 15 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,480 I'm excited to dig in and at its core, really what we're going to 16 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:56,080 be doing today is looking at the question of how community 17 00:00:57,280 --> 00:00:59,840 functions in the process of transformation. 18 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,680 Over the last three weeks, we've kind of looked at the problem, 19 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:05,640 which we'll be talking about more. 20 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,960 And in these next three weeks, as we kind of pivot in this, the 21 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:12,600 series beginning today, we're looking at what the solution is, 22 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,880 how we can, in the way of Jesus, experience a transformation. 23 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:20,640 This morning I'd like to start with a bit of a strange story. 24 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:25,720 In the 1960s, there was a psychologist by the name of 25 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,800 Michael Gazinaga who was invited into a very strange research 26 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,080 project. He was presented with a group of 27 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:35,080 people who had had a bizarre surgery. 28 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:40,400 They had suffered from severe epilepsy and in attempts to 29 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,160 curtail the seizures that they were having, a surgery had been 30 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,040 performed on their brain in which the two hemispheres of 31 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:49,880 their brain were literally cut in half. 32 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:54,160 The corpus callosum, which is attaches the the left and right 33 00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:57,480 hemispheres of the brain was severed in these patients to 34 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,040 help with the the epilepsy problem, which had largely 35 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,360 worked. But now this presented 36 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,840 researchers with a very unique opportunity. 37 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,160 There was an opportunity to look at at certain brain functions 38 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:12,720 and certain brain systems in independence from one another in 39 00:02:12,720 --> 00:02:15,240 a way that had never previously been possible. 40 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,000 So Gazinga designed these experiments and and brought 41 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:23,520 these patients together to to explore how the brain really 42 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,400 functions and and, and how does it function when the part that 43 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,720 is specialized for language planning and conscious thought 44 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:34,840 is separated from this part, that which governs much of our 45 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:39,200 relationships and our emotional life and our intuitions and 46 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,000 reflexes. In one experiment he used a 47 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:46,560 trick of the visual system to present information to just one 48 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,960 hemisphere of the brain at a time. 49 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:53,280 And so they would flash images on a screen again in a, in a pre 50 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:55,960 designed way that would only allow one hemisphere to interact 51 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,080 with it in a given moment. So for instance, there was an 52 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,680 image of a hat that was flashed onto the screen. 53 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:08,920 And if, if, if the patients in the experiment were able to see 54 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:12,920 this image of a hat with essentially their their their 55 00:03:12,920 --> 00:03:16,560 left hemisphere, the side that governs conscious thought and 56 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,280 language, they would readily be able to say in response to the 57 00:03:20,280 --> 00:03:22,320 question, what did you see? A hat? 58 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,960 OK, they saw it. They were the same as image. 59 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,320 The question, what did you see? The response would be nothing. 60 00:03:29,920 --> 00:03:33,520 I didn't see anything. But if you gave them a set of 61 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,400 flash cards and said, could you point out what it is that you 62 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,360 saw? They were able to do it. 63 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,480 The visual processing center recognized that, even though 64 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:48,400 there was not language for it. And why is this interesting? 65 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:50,360 All right, this is where it gets really fun. 66 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:52,480 If you're tracking with me, I get that this is kind of 67 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:56,320 confusing. All right, so there was then a 68 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,280 process, the next stage in the experiment where there was 69 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:02,720 actually a a command or a prompt given to the people such as 70 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,560 walk. And when the the the right 71 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:09,120 hemisphere, which again is governing some of this action 72 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:13,040 and response and reflex, but doesn't have the ability to use 73 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:17,160 language, was given this prompt, The patients would get up from 74 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,279 their chair and start to walk. OK, they would start to move in 75 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:23,000 response to the prompt. Well, this is really 76 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:26,000 interesting. They would be then asked, why 77 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,640 are you walking? Why did you get up just now? 78 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:35,400 Now the left hemisphere, which controls conscious thought and 79 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:38,880 language, didn't have any access to the prompt. 80 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:40,960 Their left hemisphere hadn't seen it. 81 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:44,000 Their left hemisphere did not know why they were moving. 82 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:46,920 But in the moment, they would immediately generate a very 83 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:48,720 plausible and coherent explanation. 84 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:54,000 Oh, I'm going to get a Coke. It was manufactured after after 85 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,160 the fact. All right, so This is why I am 86 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:02,440 explaining this. Our brains have both the default 87 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,640 reactions, but then very often they also have the meaning 88 00:05:05,640 --> 00:05:09,400 making Jonathan Height in his book the Happiness Hypothesis 89 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:13,600 describes these two brain systems in images of an elephant 90 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,680 and a rider. The elephant is the part of our 91 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:22,840 our is an image for the, the non non linguistic, reflexive, 92 00:05:22,840 --> 00:05:26,480 automatic, emotional, relational parts of our brain that that 93 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:28,520 operates on default. OK. 94 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,480 It's the part of our brain that shows up in the spaces when 95 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,280 somebody spills coffee on us and we're like, whoa, what do I do? 96 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:37,440 How do I react when somebody comes at us and says, Hey, I, 97 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,280 I've been wanting to talk to you about something. 98 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,040 Can we have a conversation about, and we get the sense that 99 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,600 I'm about to get impending feedback, right? 100 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:47,520 It's, it's the, it's the part of our brain that engages 101 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,000 automatically when somebody doesn't text us back and we're 102 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,200 sitting there wondering what's going on, right. 103 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:57,040 Our defaults, our impulses, our, our actions happen on automatic. 104 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,360 This is controlled by this elephant, so to speak. 105 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,000 But on the elephant, there's also a writer and a writer is 106 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:09,040 this image for the conscious part of our brain, the part that 107 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,480 does have language and explains things. 108 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,000 And this analogy is helpful because height explains that 109 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,040 although the writer has some level of control, we can direct 110 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:22,120 our willpower attention. We can direct our focus in 111 00:06:22,120 --> 00:06:26,000 different ways. The very often in our lives, in 112 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,840 our bodies, the elephant, if you will, we will be off eating that 113 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:35,000 bag of Doritos late at night. We'll be running on automatic in 114 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,480 the way that we responded to our partner, in the way that we 115 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:43,320 showed up under stress and and our bodies are already out 116 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,520 moving along the journey. And then our writer, so to 117 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,960 speak, starts to give an explanation for it. 118 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:55,480 Often times the problem is, is that in in the West in 119 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:58,520 particular, and in the church, very often we have an, an 120 00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:03,320 approach to transformation that that brings a, a, a that that 121 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:06,600 operates from an underlying philosophy that we just need 122 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:10,160 more information and more willpower to change. 123 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,720 Like if we just, if we just read our Bibles more, if we just 124 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,000 studied more, if we just attended more consistently, if 125 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:20,920 we just had more information or if we just tried harder, if we 126 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,800 just muscled up and worked at it more than surely we could get 127 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,880 there. The problem is, as we looked at 128 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,040 in week 1 of this series, God wants our change, not just at 129 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:34,480 the level of the mind, although that's very important, but also 130 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:39,720 at the heart, the soul strength. He wants all of us to be changed 131 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:43,160 by love, shaped by love, as we talked about here at the Garden. 132 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:48,000 So the question I want to look at today is so how are we 133 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:49,840 changed? How do, how does transformation 134 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:51,200 happen? What does the Scripture have to 135 00:07:51,200 --> 00:07:55,600 tell us about transformation in this embodied, wholehearted way 136 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,360 that gets not just at the rider but also at the elephant, not 137 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,320 just at our reflexes, not just at our beliefs, but also at our 138 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:10,000 reflexes? So in Week 1 of this series, we 139 00:08:10,000 --> 00:08:12,360 talked about the difference between knowing that and knowing 140 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,240 how. We explained that. 141 00:08:14,880 --> 00:08:18,200 You could know like facts such as where you live. 142 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:20,920 You could know facts such as Jesus rose from the dead. 143 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:23,840 And that's a good thing. But it's that different system 144 00:08:24,440 --> 00:08:28,320 from knowing how to drive a car or knowing how to respond when 145 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:32,039 somebody shows up with feedback. In in Week 2, we talked about 146 00:08:32,039 --> 00:08:35,360 our our attachment for filters, our instincts to how our 147 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:38,559 experiences shape the way that we show up in response to 148 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:40,960 things. That's the elephant, so to 149 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:43,440 speak. Last week we talked about how 150 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:48,280 our riders very often attempt to use shame and fear to get us to 151 00:08:48,280 --> 00:08:51,960 go where we want to go right. How often in our internal 152 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:55,000 conversations and also in the church, the very often we 153 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,840 leverage these tools of shame and fear, trying to prod, 154 00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,880 cajole, coerce ourselves in the direction of change. 155 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:05,320 We named the limits of that. Sometimes we'll get a a short 156 00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,120 term burst of pressure, but often wind up hiding in 157 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:13,120 performance or self protection. And we may even train our, our 158 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:17,600 bodies, our our elephant, if you will, to associate God or 159 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:22,120 spirituality with, with anxiety, with fear, with stress. 160 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:27,320 So this morning I want to look at this question of how do we 161 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:31,720 change in the way of Jesus, not just in our minds, but all the 162 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,520 way through. And this is where our passage 163 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:36,040 today, I think, is so significant. 164 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,240 This text of Scripture in numbers Here in Numbers chapter 165 00:09:40,240 --> 00:09:44,160 6, we find language which will be familiar to many of us in our 166 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:47,480 church community. We tend to recite this week 167 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,080 after week as part of our benediction. 168 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:56,160 And, and it says here we find in Numbers chapter 6 that that God 169 00:09:56,160 --> 00:10:00,600 tells Moses to tell the priests to give the people this 170 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:02,800 blessing. You'll have the priestly 171 00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:06,440 blessing as a, a header over this little section of Scripture 172 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:11,200 and many of your Bibles here. And, and the blessing goes like 173 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:12,960 this. It says, may the Lord bless you 174 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:15,680 and keep you. May He make His face shine upon 175 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:19,440 you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face towards you 176 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,760 and give you peace. All right. 177 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,200 And then we see at the end these final words. 178 00:10:26,880 --> 00:10:31,800 So they will put my name on the Israelites and I will bless them 179 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:35,600 in verse 27. Now there are two things that 180 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,560 both relate to community and both relate to transformation 181 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:40,760 that I think are embedded in this text today. 182 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:45,480 And admittedly this is not a prescription for training your 183 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,960 fast track system or training the elephant, but I think God 184 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,640 created us. He created our bodies, He 185 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,840 created our minds. And we also see much of this 186 00:10:54,840 --> 00:11:00,720 wisdom latent in Scripture. And so here we see in Numbers 187 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:06,640 chapter 6, the first thing that that God begins with our 188 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:10,080 identity. God begins with our identity. 189 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:15,800 He says, they will put my name on the Israelites and I will, I 190 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:19,600 will bless them. This is such a profound truth in 191 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:21,080 Scripture. It's a truth that we come back 192 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:25,000 to over and over and over again. It's the truth we talked about 193 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,480 last week. God doesn't begin in his 194 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,240 relationship with us with a list of demands and duties. 195 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,600 He, he doesn't give us a bunch of instructions to follow in 196 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:36,760 order to be good enough, in order to be worthy enough, in 197 00:11:36,760 --> 00:11:41,040 order to be accepted. God starts with blessing. 198 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:45,480 He starts with identity. He starts with this commitment 199 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,640 to the people. And we see this not only here in 200 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:51,960 Numbers, but throughout the Scripture. 201 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,000 In Exodus, we read the words, I will take you to be my people 202 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:00,400 and I will be your God. There's this adoption that 203 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:02,760 happens first into the family of God. 204 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:04,080 As the New Testament talks about it. 205 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,960 We first become family and then learn what it means to live as a 206 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,720 family. It's not about performing your 207 00:12:11,720 --> 00:12:14,560 way into the family or or being good enough that at the end of 208 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:17,640 the day you find out like, oh, I passed the test. 209 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:21,400 God starts with adoption. He starts with belonging. 210 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:26,040 He starts with blessing. He says these people are mine, 211 00:12:27,280 --> 00:12:32,160 and this is so important to us. As it turns out, God's pattern 212 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,960 of beginning with identity is important. 213 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:40,480 Neuroscientifically, brain science confirms that a huge 214 00:12:40,480 --> 00:12:44,960 part of how this, this elephant, if you will, is formed comes 215 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:47,760 from our most significant attachments. 216 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:49,800 Now let me talk a little bit more about this. 217 00:12:49,800 --> 00:12:55,600 So the, this, this, this, this elephant in your brain, if you 218 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:58,240 will, this, this implicit system that we've been talking about 219 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:04,040 it, it operates much, much faster than our slower verbal 220 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,360 system. In fact, it, it operates more in 221 00:13:07,360 --> 00:13:10,760 terms of pictures and images than it does in terms of words. 222 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:15,040 And one of the primary jobs of this system is to actually craft 223 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,400 our identity stories and to help make sense of who we are in 224 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:22,280 relationship to the world. So in the book, the other half 225 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:24,840 of church, Jim Walder and Michael Hendricks talk about how 226 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:31,440 this system in the brain 6 times a second is capturing a picture 227 00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:33,480 and presenting it to our brain 6 times every second. 228 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:37,400 And, and, and it's asking who am I? 229 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,040 What is the situation? How would my people show up in 230 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:43,520 this situation? Like what do we do here? 231 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:49,160 How do we respond to this? And so when it says my people, 232 00:13:49,560 --> 00:13:50,880 who is it? Who is it talking about? 233 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,400 Who's who's Wilder and Hendrix mean by this? 234 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:55,800 Well, they're talking about the people with whom we have the 235 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,880 closest attachment bonds, the people that we are most 236 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:02,840 connected to. Where do our reflexes come from? 237 00:14:02,840 --> 00:14:06,080 Where do our gut instincts of how to respond to conflict in 238 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,240 that moment come from? They come for the people we're 239 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,440 closest to. They come from those embedded 240 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:16,240 relationships. We look to them for a reference 241 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,800 point of of how do I respond? Right now I'm under stress. 242 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:21,920 How do I respond? We're having a conflict. 243 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:26,040 How do I respond? Like in this moment, do I resort 244 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,320 to to shame? Do I hunker down and freeze up? 245 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:34,080 Or do I operate in faith in this moment when somebody is bringing 246 00:14:34,080 --> 00:14:37,280 emotional intensity at me? Like can I stay regulated? 247 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:40,120 Can I take care of myself or do I need to lash out and fight 248 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:42,640 back? These aren't things that we kind 249 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:45,040 of in the moment when somebody's coming at you or cut you out in 250 00:14:45,040 --> 00:14:47,160 traffic, you're not having an internal conversation with 251 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,320 yourself. You're saying, Gee, I wonder how 252 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:51,600 I should respond in this moment, right. 253 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,080 The elephant is already down the road. 254 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:56,480 We've already responded before we had time to make sense of it. 255 00:14:57,040 --> 00:14:59,720 The writers not on board yet. The elephant is already out 256 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:01,960 front. Often times the writer has 257 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,560 relatively little control. But how does that that elephant 258 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:09,480 decide what to do? By these pictures, by our group 259 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,600 identity, by our group attachment. 260 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:19,440 And and so if we act like our people in these moments when 261 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,280 we're under pressure, when our character comes out, I think the 262 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,160 question is, who are we most deeply attached to? 263 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:31,880 If these relationships form us so significantly, What models 264 00:15:31,880 --> 00:15:35,560 are we learning? Who are we being discipled by? 265 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,200 And this is a, a point where I think we have to talk about a 266 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,280 problem that we face in our culture of what I would just 267 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:48,160 describe as thin church. In a thin church culture, we 268 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:50,960 don't have deep relationships, right? 269 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,560 We might not know the people who are next to us on a Sunday. 270 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:58,080 We show up for 90 minutes a week and we hear great sermon, 271 00:15:58,080 --> 00:15:59,360 there's some great worship music. 272 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,280 We have a cool experience, and then we return to our lives. 273 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:06,880 Thin churches is disembodied. It's it's the product of a 274 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:10,200 consumer culture in which we relate to religious goods and 275 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:13,720 services in the same way that we relate to so many other things 276 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:16,520 in our lives. Everything about our world 277 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:21,560 trains us in a posture that says like, if it fits you, great, and 278 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:25,040 if not, move on. Shop somewhere else, move 279 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:27,880 somewhere else, consume somewhere else. 280 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,840 It ought to be tailored precisely to you. 281 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:35,480 We live in a universe of incredible customization. 282 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:39,360 You can have dark screen or you can have locked light screen on 283 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:41,960 your phone. You could choose the font size, 284 00:16:42,280 --> 00:16:43,680 right? You can even make the widgets 285 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,480 exactly how you want. But when you show up in 286 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:48,880 community, as it turns out, one of the things that's very 287 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,320 difficult for us is you can't do that. 288 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:54,680 Other people show up and they're a mess. 289 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:57,480 So how do we, how do we navigate this? 290 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,360 How do we handle this? Well, it turns out the only way 291 00:17:01,360 --> 00:17:04,839 to grow new, to grow new neural networks in our brain, new 292 00:17:04,839 --> 00:17:08,680 patterns of attachment, new patterns of relationship, is if 293 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:10,920 we are in thick relationship with one another. 294 00:17:12,079 --> 00:17:15,200 That means if you're not vulnerably and consistently 295 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:18,319 showing up with other people, you can't have the kind of 296 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:22,560 experiences with other people that that rewire you in ways of 297 00:17:22,560 --> 00:17:25,920 Kingdom living. And this is a problem. 298 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:31,400 Our culture is so fast-paced. We're moving 100 miles an hour. 299 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:35,120 There's information everywhere, and it's so cool to get the 300 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:37,320 dopamine hit of an incredible communicator. 301 00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:39,800 Like there's a new clip on social media. 302 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,680 It's fantastic. There's a YouTube short. 303 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:45,840 But as my friend Dan White Junior says, discipleship is 304 00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:48,720 more than a solo endeavour surrounded by your favorite 305 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:51,200 books, podcasts and YouTube clips. 306 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:55,920 It's a local journey with others in availability and 307 00:17:55,920 --> 00:18:00,680 vulnerability. Friends, we have a a problem. 308 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:07,720 We can only transform the writer if we exchange and leave our our 309 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:12,040 leave our engagement with others at the level of ideas only as we 310 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,680 begin to share life with one another in a way where we're 311 00:18:15,800 --> 00:18:19,520 actually seeing how that person shows up when they have a 312 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,560 conflict with their parents. When we see how that person 313 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:27,480 manages their finances, we see how that person navigates things 314 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,280 when their boss is stressing them out, making unreasonable 315 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,000 demands. Can we begin to be transformed 316 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:37,720 in the way of Jesus, where our lives begin rewired in the way 317 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:42,000 of the Kingdom? Friends, we have to find ways in 318 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:46,320 our community to develop attachments with one another, or 319 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,280 at least with some people who are following Jesus at a level 320 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,800 where they can become primary, where we can actually be rewired 321 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,040 in love and learn what it means not just from our family of 322 00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:00,520 origin to show up, but actually from one another. 323 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,560 This takes availability. It takes a vulnerability to not 324 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:09,040 only be present, but also to allow ourselves to be seen. 325 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:12,480 This is what we see throughout Scripture. 326 00:19:13,040 --> 00:19:15,200 It's assumed in the New Testament that this kind of 327 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,960 thick community would exist. 59 times over the course of the New 328 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:24,160 Testament, exhortations are given to the body of Christ of 329 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:27,600 how they should show up with one another, love one another, 330 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,760 forgive one another, be patient with one another, bear one 331 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:33,680 another's burdens. They go on and submit to one 332 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,560 another, spur each other on. Here's the thing. 333 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,520 You cannot learn forgiveness without having someone who you 334 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:43,840 need to forgive. You cannot learn humility 335 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:46,680 without having someone close to you who irritates you. 336 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,320 You cannot learn patience without actually staying in 337 00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:54,840 community with somebody who moves slower than you like. 338 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,880 God wants us to be transformed, not just at an ideas level, at a 339 00:19:58,880 --> 00:20:02,480 wholehearted level. But it takes thick community. 340 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:08,520 In order for that to happen. We must be thickly attached to 341 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:10,800 one another. This is what it means to 342 00:20:11,080 --> 00:20:15,040 cultivate a rich group identity. It means developing the kind of 343 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:20,280 shared relationships, the shared vocabulary, the shared practices 344 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:24,000 that begin to change us. We do lots of things to try to 345 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,840 be intentional about that here at the Garden, because in a lot 346 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:29,560 of ways we're a diverse community and we want to be a 347 00:20:29,560 --> 00:20:33,000 diverse community. But you can't just be a diverse 348 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:36,600 community if you're just a diverse community in in the 349 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:39,000 sense that it's a bunch of different people who are all 350 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:40,440 hanging out in the same way as Ritual. 351 00:20:40,440 --> 00:20:44,160 Lotus likes to say you're just the same as a subway car, like 352 00:20:44,160 --> 00:20:46,400 you might be travelling somewhere, but it's incidental, 353 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:49,680 right? Diversity, unless it's locked 354 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,320 together, glued together by something stronger than the 355 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:55,920 difference, doesn't work. The good news for us is that we 356 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:58,320 have an invitation towards that. We have the gospel of Jesus 357 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:00,440 Christ, we have the family of Jesus Christ. 358 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:04,080 We have a shared destination together that we can move to, 359 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,160 that can hold us together across our differences if we'll allow 360 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,720 it to. Every week when you come into 361 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:14,120 the auditorium here, you pass a banner on the way in that has a 362 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:18,280 list of value statements on it. I invite you to take a a look at 363 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:19,720 that. Just notice it on your way out. 364 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:22,640 Now remember when our team was wrestling with these and 365 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:24,720 thinking about like, what are what are the values that are 366 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,600 defining for our family? What are the values that we want 367 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:29,040 to be defining for our community? 368 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:31,720 One thing that we did that was really intentional is we started 369 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,120 each of these values with a we statement. 370 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,360 It wasn't just like at the garden. 371 00:21:37,360 --> 00:21:39,440 There is a value for hospitality. 372 00:21:40,240 --> 00:21:45,040 It was we practice hospitality, we attune to the Holy Spirit, we 373 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:49,000 imitate Jesus, right? Because these are ways of 374 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,400 living. These are our practices that we 375 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,240 share that we want to walk out together as a community that 376 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:57,320 become defining so that in those moments of stress that we know 377 00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,200 what to do. We know that we're going to look 378 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:00,240 to Jesus. We know that we're going to 379 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:02,120 attune to Holy Spirit. We know we're going to stay 380 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,880 thickly rooted in community because this is what it will 381 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:10,640 take for us to be transformed, not just at an intellectual 382 00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,760 level, but at a wholehearted level. 383 00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,040 Friends, I have to ask this morning without any pressure or 384 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,200 shame, but I'd invite you to consider like, who are the 385 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:27,000 people that you are attached to this morning and how and how are 386 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,280 you attached to them? How are those relationships 387 00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:34,000 forming or shaping who you are today? 388 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,320 Jim Rowan famously said you are the average of the five people 389 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,080 that you spend the most time with. 390 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,680 If that were to be true, what is being formed in you? 391 00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:56,360 Because it it will be like if the people who are closest to 392 00:22:56,360 --> 00:22:59,720 you are operating under the assumption that that good 393 00:22:59,720 --> 00:23:03,080 parenting means a great education that sets up your kid 394 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:07,480 to be a high earner, you'll notice whatever you say on paper 395 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:09,400 that your values start to look that way. 396 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:16,680 If you notice that the people who are closest to you really 397 00:23:16,680 --> 00:23:19,520 think that the most important thing in life is to be able to 398 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:23,080 have awesome vacations, even if it means maxing out your credit 399 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,160 card to do it, you'll notice that you start to behave. 400 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,000 You start to operate. You start to assume that same 401 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,600 thing. If you, if you notice that in 402 00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:40,240 your life that the ways in which you you show up are, are defined 403 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,680 by vocational attainment or educational attainment, look 404 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,400 around. I bet there are some factors in 405 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:48,360 your community that are shaping those things as well. 406 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:51,640 And look, I'm not trying to guilt trip anybody here. 407 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:55,080 There's not any mandated way to do this. 408 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:58,080 I'm not even saying that it has to be at the garden 409 00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:01,520 specifically. But if you want to grow in your 410 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,200 transformation, if you want to grow in your relationship with 411 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:09,200 Jesus, it's important that your relationships also are connected 412 00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:12,360 to people who are on that journey, who are pursuing him, 413 00:24:12,360 --> 00:24:14,960 who are loving him, who are growing in their ability to show 414 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:18,440 up like he did. I want to go back to Numbers 415 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,720 chapter 6 because before we close, there's another thing 416 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,640 that you have to see here. It's actually arguably at the 417 00:24:23,640 --> 00:24:26,720 heart of this. In Numbers chapter 6, not only 418 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:30,840 do we see that that God declares belonging before there's an 419 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:33,240 invitation to behaving. Not only is there this this 420 00:24:33,400 --> 00:24:36,880 group identity which is to be rehearsed and declared over the 421 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:42,120 people of God, but also he wants to remind them of something very 422 00:24:42,120 --> 00:24:46,040 important. We read here that God says 423 00:24:46,400 --> 00:24:49,920 declare this over them. May the Lord bless you and keep 424 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,160 you. May he make his face shine upon 425 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:58,600 you and be gracious to you. You know, I think again, God 426 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,560 knew what he was doing when he designed us. 427 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,960 God knew what he was doing when he wrote Scripture. 428 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:08,200 Neuroscience suggests to us that the face is one of the first 429 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:09,960 things that we pay attention to as kids. 430 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,120 In fact, that elephant that we've been talking about, the 431 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:16,400 elephant is all about paying attention to faces. 432 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,320 It looks at a tunes. You notice this whenever, 433 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:22,920 anytime you, some of some of us in here either are round babies 434 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,880 or have had babies and man, you just have this pole and the 435 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,840 babies do too, to just gaze into each other's eyes with warmth 436 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:32,880 and delight. Maybe you've experienced this in 437 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:34,720 a romantic relationship. When you're first falling in 438 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:37,880 love, everybody just wants to gaze deeply into each other's 439 00:25:37,880 --> 00:25:41,120 eyes. You're practicing attunement. 440 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:46,320 You're practicing connection. This is what helps to form and 441 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:50,840 forge these strong, thick relationships that shape us. 442 00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,920 It's what signals to the elephant part of our brain that, 443 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,480 hey, it's, it's OK. You're welcomed here, you're 444 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,160 loved here. I'm paying attention to you. 445 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,800 Your needs are going to be met. I'm going to take care of you. 446 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,000 And when God decides to give his people a blessing, something 447 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,640 that he wants to have repeated to them over and over and over, 448 00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:13,800 he says, even though theologically we know that we 449 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,920 don't like see the face of God, God says, hey, I want to give 450 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:24,360 the people that image, my face shining over you. 451 00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:31,080 Alan Shore talks about joy as being the experience of being, 452 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,680 quote, the sparkle in someone's eye. 453 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:39,480 How does it make you feel when you walk into a room or 454 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,320 experience a connection? And there's just that delight, 455 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,200 that joy. You can tell that this person 456 00:26:46,200 --> 00:26:51,800 just treasures you, that they're so happy to see you, that they, 457 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,800 they adore you, they love you. They want to be connected to 458 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:55,960 you. They want to be close to you. 459 00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:01,320 They're paying attention to you, God says, This is how I want my 460 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,280 people to feel. This is what I want them to 461 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:07,120 know. This is how I relate to them. 462 00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:11,840 My face shines upon them and is gracious to them. 463 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:16,800 My face turns toward them as a source of peace. 464 00:27:18,040 --> 00:27:22,280 Friends, when we feel the joy of God's shining face, when we get, 465 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,200 when we experience not just know in the rider, but when the 466 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,840 elephant really feels, experiences, encounters the deep 467 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:34,880 transforming delight of God, there's something in us that 468 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,080 just unlocks. We move out of protect mode 469 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,800 where we're working in our fear based strategies to try and keep 470 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:47,720 ourselves safe and we move into connect mode where we open, we 471 00:27:47,720 --> 00:27:51,880 can learn. God shines his face towards us. 472 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:57,120 He looks at us with delight and joy and invites us to to receive 473 00:27:57,120 --> 00:28:00,720 his countenance to soak in it. Maybe you've wondered at some 474 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,080 point why we don't just have a long sermons every week. 475 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:05,560 We do kind of have long sermons every week. 476 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,000 Why, why we don't why, why we don't just make the sermon the 477 00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:09,960 whole thing or Bible teaching the whole thing. 478 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:11,680 The Bible teaching is super important. 479 00:28:13,080 --> 00:28:17,320 Some of what we do up here in the worship moment is allowing 480 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,480 ourselves to not just hear, not just consciously process these 481 00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:24,600 things, but to allow our our souls to kind of soak in it, to 482 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,080 receive it, to imagine it, to connect with it. 483 00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,480 Because these truths aren't meant to just change our minds, 484 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,040 they're meant to change our entire being. 485 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:40,960 That's what it means to be shaped by the love of Jesus. 486 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:45,240 When we're in shame based striving, our rider is just 487 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:49,760 bullying us, trying to push us, coerce us, make us do better, 488 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:53,200 work harder, be better in order to be accepted. 489 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:56,760 But when we're in this connection with God that He 490 00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:02,600 offers to us if we'll receive it, His face shining upon us 491 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:08,160 with delight and joy, His eyes sparkling at the goodness of who 492 00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:14,040 he has made, transformation becomes a natural outflowing of 493 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,880 who we are. It starts with receiving the 494 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:20,040 goodness of God. And this is what we see over and 495 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:21,760 over and over again in Scripture. 496 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,160 Jesus says, you are my people, He declares. 497 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,600 When creation happens to the first humans, he says, he looked 498 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,960 at them and it was very, very good, right? 499 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,760 He declares over his Son at his baptism. 500 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:39,680 He says, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. 501 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:42,880 Before Jesus performs or produces or preaches. 502 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:46,240 In fact, we see this in the epistolary structure of the New 503 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,400 Testament. Almost every epistle starts with 504 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:53,400 this deep theological treatise on who we are, our identity 1st, 505 00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,800 and then after chapters and chapters of who we are, it gets 506 00:29:56,800 --> 00:30:00,800 to and then this is how you should live, because both are 507 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,040 important. How we should live is important, 508 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:08,840 but we also need to receive this identity as one who is beloved. 509 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,360 I think, friends, that it's so important that God doesn't just 510 00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:15,240 give us these ideas in Scripture. 511 00:30:15,240 --> 00:30:18,120 He doesn't just model them to us himself. 512 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:24,320 But then he places us into an adopted family created by by 513 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,400 baptism in the blood of Jesus, where we get to walk this stuff 514 00:30:28,480 --> 00:30:32,840 out, where we get to remind ourselves who we are, where we 515 00:30:32,840 --> 00:30:36,080 get to practice these new ways of relating and showing up 516 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,680 because of what Jesus has done. There's a new family that's been 517 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:42,720 created. We don't need to hustle our way 518 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:47,360 into it, but once we're in it, we learn the ways of living in 519 00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,280 that family. And as we show up with each 520 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:54,360 other in the same ways that God shows up with us, not with 521 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,160 condemnation, not with judgement, not with anxiety, not 522 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:01,280 with pressure, but with joy, with delight, with care, with 523 00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:05,520 attunement, something in US begins to unlock and we can live 524 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:09,800 more fully and more deeply into the reality of who God has made 525 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,040 us to be. Friends, what does this look 526 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:16,320 like for us as a church community, as a family is trying 527 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:21,280 to walk this out together? Probably a lot of things. 528 00:31:21,280 --> 00:31:23,280 We're going to talk about some more of those things over the 529 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:25,480 next couple of weeks in more detail and point to some 530 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:28,120 specifics in Scripture where we see these patterns playing out. 531 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,360 But I think first of all, it means actually beginning to 532 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:38,480 relate to each other. Not as nuisances or obstacles, 533 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,520 not as people we have to find time to schedule with. 534 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:47,280 Like what if we really related to one another as beloved 535 00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:51,400 children of God? Like what if instead of just 536 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,880 rushing past each other to get somewhere, what if we allowed 537 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:58,880 ourselves to just actually lock eyes with the other person for a 538 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:05,000 minute and to appreciate them, to rejoice in them, to extend 539 00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:08,760 some of that that goodness that we have received from God to one 540 00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,720 another. Say, hey, you're, you're wanted 541 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:15,720 here, you're loved, you're cared for. 542 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:19,800 It sounds so cheesy, but it's so real. 543 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:23,000 Friends, God wants us to experience this. 544 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,880 And, and we don't experience this in some kind of solo 545 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:28,720 journey. We have to learn how to show up 546 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:32,040 with each other that way, and we have to learn to allow more and 547 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,960 more of ourselves to be seen so that we can be healed at the 548 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:41,240 deepest part of who we are. I remember one thing that's been 549 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,400 so significant to me as I was thinking about how this has 550 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,280 happened in my own life. This week was early in my dating 551 00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,200 relationship with Ali. I came into the relationship 552 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,320 with some pretty meaningful scars. 553 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:57,440 I'd had some big wounds, some traumas, I would say, and there 554 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:00,760 were some trust issues, some shame issues that were pretty 555 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:04,880 deeply embedded in the relationship and in my operating 556 00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:10,520 model for the world. And I'm not going to tell you 557 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:12,600 what they are because I don't know if you all are as safe as 558 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,480 Ali is. But I do remember in, I remember 559 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:22,080 specific moments in conversation where I named some things that I 560 00:33:22,080 --> 00:33:26,080 felt a lot of grief around, some things that I had done that I 561 00:33:26,080 --> 00:33:30,000 wish I had to take back on. Some moments in my story where 562 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,200 things had gone sideways and I'd been partly at fault. 563 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:37,040 And I remember she held that in a way that was probably more 564 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:39,760 representative of Jesus than anybody I'd countered up until 565 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,600 that point. Instead of judgement or 566 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:49,520 condemnation or disgust or alarm or incredulity, condescension, 567 00:33:49,520 --> 00:33:51,520 I'd experienced all of those things. 568 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:58,800 She just had deep, genuine care. She had curiosity. 569 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:01,080 She showed up with an open heart. 570 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,920 And that experience for me was, was deeply transformational. 571 00:34:07,880 --> 00:34:10,800 Because there were some things that I, I already knew in my 572 00:34:10,800 --> 00:34:13,440 head that like the writer was already aware of the good 573 00:34:13,440 --> 00:34:18,080 theology. But my body carried the wounds. 574 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:21,080 I held the score of some of these these things that I had 575 00:34:21,080 --> 00:34:24,280 been through. And when Ali honestly just 576 00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:30,000 modeled Jesus to me, it allowed for me to begin to just breathe 577 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:34,000 a little deeper, to feel a little freer, to step a little 578 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,080 further out of hiding, to be a little bit more honest. 579 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:41,520 It created more profoundly more intimacy in my life, not just 580 00:34:41,520 --> 00:34:45,120 with her, but with my dad in in, in relationships of friendship 581 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:49,520 with Caleb, with others. She showed up with me like 582 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:54,280 Jesus, with compassion, with care, with delight, and there 583 00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:57,320 was something in me that was healed through that experience. 584 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,560 Friends, how often do we do this with and for each other? 585 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:06,160 Like being a community is all about reading Scripture 586 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:07,440 together. It's all about praying together. 587 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:08,880 Those are good, important things. 588 00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:10,240 We talk about those things all the time. 589 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,360 We need to keep doing those things, press into those things. 590 00:35:14,520 --> 00:35:17,920 But it also means being a community that can like confess 591 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:21,280 together. They can care for each other 592 00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:22,840 when we're in freeze or shut down. 593 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,120 They can show up for one another in ways that demonstrates the 594 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,920 belovedness that is real because of Jesus. 595 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,000 As we wind down this morning, I want to invite you just into a 596 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:39,320 brief practice. It's going to be by way of 597 00:35:39,320 --> 00:35:43,680 response today. I just want to invite us to to 598 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:48,400 take a chance to risk getting in touch with the way in which God 599 00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:53,880 delights in US. And I say risk because like for 600 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:57,720 some of us, actually allowing ourselves to feel delighted and 601 00:35:57,720 --> 00:35:59,760 feels intensely vulnerable, doesn't it? 602 00:35:59,760 --> 00:36:04,000 You know what I mean? We like almost feel this, this 603 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,040 irresistible urge to like crack a joke or to look away. 604 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,120 If you don't believe me, try to like maintain really intentional 605 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:12,880 eye contact for 30 seconds after this. 606 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:15,040 It's weird. It will mess you up. 607 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:21,000 OK, like we, it's hard to tolerate being seen because it 608 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:24,800 it generates all that vulnerability for us like, but 609 00:36:24,840 --> 00:36:27,080 but if I'm really, if I'm really seen, if I'm really known, if 610 00:36:27,080 --> 00:36:29,200 they really get what's true about me, will they reject me? 611 00:36:29,680 --> 00:36:33,440 Will they push me away? So I want to invite you this 612 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,200 morning as we move into a time of response to actually sit with 613 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:41,040 a verse of Scripture. And this is just about making 614 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:45,880 space to notice God's love. You're free to to listen, to 615 00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:48,440 imagine, to rest. Whatever comes to mind is 616 00:36:48,480 --> 00:36:52,120 enough. This is a verse that that speaks 617 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:57,320 of God's joy and delight. So if you don't need to generate 618 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:00,800 some profound theological insight here, but I want to 619 00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:03,760 notice, I want you to notice how it actually feels to be in your 620 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:07,520 body as you sit with this truth in a personal way. 621 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:11,080 So as we begin, I want to invite you to just go ahead and take a 622 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:14,160 deep breath in and a long breath out. 623 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:22,440 One more time. A deep breath in and a long 624 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:27,760 breath out. If you're comfortable, you can 625 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:30,640 close your eyes or lower your gaze to the floor. 626 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,040 There's no right way to do this exercise. 627 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:36,800 Just come into the present moment. 628 00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:39,200 I know I'm feeling a little bit of anxiety in my body just from 629 00:37:39,200 --> 00:37:41,880 being up here in front of a bunch of people and thinking 630 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,160 about things. So just notice what's true for 631 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,000 you right now. Pay attention to your feet on 632 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:48,920 the floor, your body and the chair. 633 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:51,680 Any sensations that you're feeling, you don't need to 634 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:54,840 change anything. Just notice. 635 00:37:54,840 --> 00:38:02,320 How am I in this moment? My tense calm somewhere in 636 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,560 between. And as you listen this morning 637 00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,160 for the first time, I want to invite you to allow the words of 638 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:10,280 this verse to just wash over you. 639 00:38:12,000 --> 00:38:14,720 You might begin to imagine what's being described in your 640 00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:17,880 mind, almost as if it's playing on a movie screen. 641 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,440 I'll pause after each reading for a moment of silent 642 00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:25,560 reflection. I'm going to read Zephaniah 643 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:32,760 chapter 3 and verse 17, which says the Lord your God is in 644 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:36,720 your midst, a mighty one who will save. 645 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:40,760 He will rejoice over you with gladness. 646 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:48,560 He will quiet you by His love. He will exult over you with loud 647 00:38:48,560 --> 00:38:49,160 singing.