September 6, 2025 • 50 mins
What if your prayers have been missing the mark all along? In this thought-provoking exploration of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, we discover how comparison creeps into our spiritual lives, corrupting even our expressions of gratitude.
"I thank you God that I'm not like..." These words reveal a mindset that separates us from others and from experiencing true divine connection. When we base our thankfulness on being "better than" others, we've already stepped away from love's embrace. Through powerful storytelling and theological insight, this message uncovers how genuine gratitude opens the door to generosity while comparison closes it.
The ancient Jesus Prayer—"Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me"—emerges as a profound spiritual practice that cuts through religious complexity. This simple prayer, described as "the prayer that is always answered," invites us into authentic relationship with God beyond performance and pretense. Discover why the Greek word for "sinner" actually means "one who has erred," removing the weight of moral condemnation and opening space for transformation.
A remarkable encounter in a Crate & Barrel store demonstrates how sacred moments appear in the most unexpected places when we remain aware of divine presence. A man questioning his faith receives an unexpected answer through a "chance" meeting that proves God hears our doubts and questions—even those asked from our beds rather than church pews.
This message challenges religious hierarchies and invites us into a new awareness: everything is sacred, every person bears God's image, and mercy flows through us when we recognize our connection rather than our separation. Like breath itself, prayer becomes not an obligation but the natural rhythm of life with God, awakening us to holy moments hidden in plain sight.
This podcast is made possible, thanks to the generosity of our donors. If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church you can donate at https://www.firstlovechurch.org/giving
In the service of LOVE,
Pastors Dennis and Heather Drake
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala Florida
.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Would you guys like to welcome my mom and dad as
they talk about God Cool.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Goodbye, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's rough sometimes when Tom preaches our whole
sermon Right before and nowwe've got to get up here and
just riff for a few minutes.
But thank you, tom, that wasvery powerful.
He gave me something a whileback.
I don't know if you remember it, but something you printed out.
I mean, this further confirmshis nerdness, but he printed me
this thing on his 3D printer.
(00:39):
There you go, but it's likethis little tree.
It looks like a tree but it'sspiral.
It fits like another tree, fitsinside of it perfectly, and you
can pull it out and put it in.
And so I'm there in my roomgoing, I'm supposed to be
working and it's just cool.
Every time it just goes rightback in place.
(01:01):
So who's the nerd?
All right, but I thought aboutthat when you were talking about
how, because that's reallyreally what.
Unless you talk to Heather, youknow that's what our message is
about Love and gratitude.
So you only stole the message.
Thanks, you know, but it is.
We hope today that yourtakeaway would be that
(01:25):
connection and how love andgratitude work together in such
a powerful way in our lives, ormaybe you might be able to find
out today why some things aren'tmoving and progressing the way
that you'd hope in our lives.
Maybe we've stumbled in someareas in that, and so we want to
just kind of connect you withthat today.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
We do and we just are so grateful again for the
presence that you brought thismorning, for the light that you
already have, and we're askingthe Holy Spirit this morning to
re-enchant the text, to be ableto expand your imagination or
the way that you've heard this.
I think something that happenssometimes to us, or possibly
could happen, is that we'veheard this beautiful text before
(02:03):
and so we decided that wealready heard it and we already
know everything about it.
And what we're invited into ismystery.
It's the beauty of thecommunion table that we
participate in every week.
It's the idea that we couldlook at stars and also look at
moss, and that everything cantestify to us of a creator who
is madly in love with us andinvites us into beauty.
(02:26):
And so this morning we areasking that you would in fact
open your own spirit and allowthe spirit of God to open the
eye of your understanding, thatinner eye to be able to say is
there something that I couldunderstand or be enlightened in,
that would equip me to be moreloving toward myself and toward
the world?
(02:47):
I want to read a few verses forus this morning.
In 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5,verse 17 through 19,.
Never stop praying.
I mean, if we just hung outthere, that would be a beautiful
invitation.
And the invitation is notstopping talking, because that's
not always praying.
We're not invited just to talkceaselessly, but to be in
(03:08):
conversation with God.
Be thankful for in all things,in all circumstances, for this
is God's will for you who belongto Christ Jesus, and do not
stifle the Holy Spirit.
This verse in inspires us andsays we don't use the word
stifle a lot, but it means kindof take the breath out of
something.
And so this invitation intospirit is into breath and into
(03:32):
even our own breath, payingattention to how we breathe and
what that does for us, inallowing us to relax into the
presence of God and us to justlive in the world around us in a
different state than in atension or in an anxiety.
And if you don't know how tobreathe, this morning Jen can
(03:53):
give you some directions.
She's certified in it.
So I'm so grateful again forthe community this morning.
I'm not even joking about that.
She really is certified in howto breathe properly and how to
breathe into relaxation and intofullness.
And one of the ways God tells usabout God's self is that it is
breath, the spirit of God, thebreath of God that is given,
(04:15):
that allows us to be fully humanand fully here.
I'm so grateful for that.
But I'm also grateful for whatit means to be a part of a
community, and as we read thistext together, there is a unity
for also grateful for what itmeans to be a part of a
community and as we read thistext together, there is a unity
for us in all thinking about thesame thing, all of us
considering the same thing thatthere is a spirit within us,
(04:35):
that there is a breath within us, that there is an invitation to
live completely differently.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, you know, I like how the Jewish people teach
that it's the breath of Godthat we breathe in and out, and
your first breath and your lastbreath still speak the name of
God.
Yah Yah, Yah, Yah.
That was your first breath,whether you realized it or not.
You were there as a baby andall of a sudden you popped out
(05:04):
and you went Yah, and on yourfinal deathbed you were.
There's a baby, and all of asudden you popped out and you
went and on your final deathbedyou lay there and every breath
in between is a gift from Godand I really hope that we would
kind of connect that just dailyconnection that you have with
(05:25):
breath to be the way that youand I could breathe in and out,
a relationship with God to justexist in that dependent way that
we are in our next breath, butnot in a desperate, striving,
confused way.
We just breathe.
The only thing sometimes thatstruggle is if you ever get the
(05:48):
wind knocked out of you andthat's like this isn't right
Until that comes back, and Iwant us to really think about
what, wonder if that's the waythat we could live in God.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Devote yourselves to prayer with an awakened mind and
a thankful heart.
This invitation by the apostleis to be awakened by the Holy
Spirit, not to live on anautopilot, but to live engaged
in the spirit that is around usand a thankful heart.
And we come here to Luke'sgospel and this is part of the
(06:24):
invitation we have during thisseason of Pentecost, where we
practice and pay attention andwe learn the role or how we can
connect to the spirit in ourlives at all times, that our
spirituality is who we are as aperson, our expression of our
own life and our connection toGod and to everyone.
(06:46):
And so we meet this portion ofthe text.
And Jesus has had a bunch ofpeople following him.
He has his own followers.
He's done miracles already.
And then Jesus told this storyto someone who had great
confidence in their ownrighteousness and scorned
everyone else.
So Jesus told this story topeople who thought that they
(07:10):
were good.
Jesus told this story to peoplewho were confident that the way
they believed was right.
These are people who wereconfident that their judgments
were the ones that aligned withGod, and Jesus knew them.
And Jesus told them a story,and I want to tell you the mercy
(07:32):
it is to be told the story thatcould change the way you look
at everything.
Again, we look at the patternsthat Jesus had, and Jesus
continually confronted hierarchy.
He continually confronted thisidea that some are greater than
others.
In fact, it is an inversion, andwhen you look at this text, you
will listen and you willremember the words that Jesus's
(07:54):
mother Mary said upon thispronunciation that the Holy
Spirit would come upon you andthat you would birth this
Messiah.
You would birth this other wayof living.
You would birth God among us.
And she said, oh, this is goingto be good.
I'm paraphrasing here, but thisis exactly what she said the
mighty are going to be throwndown from their thrones, the
(08:16):
poor and the cast out, they aregoing to be lifted up.
Remember?
This is his mother's song.
We go on in a minute and you'llhear, you'll remember.
Oh, he heard that from his mama.
A long, long time ago, jesustold this story to someone who
had great confidence in theirown righteousness and scorned
everyone else.
So, essentially, jesus toldthis story to me because I grew
(08:39):
up in the church and since atiny little girl, it was my
intention to live as Jesus lived, and that is for all of us,
hopefully, why we are even herethis morning.
We are all here to beapprentices of Jesus, that we
say that Jesus is the one worthfollowing.
When Jesus declared for himselfI have come, that you would
have life and have it to thefull Beloved.
(09:00):
This is why we gather thismorning so that we can learn how
to love the world well, so thatwe can learn how to love the
world well, so that we can learnhow to love each other well and
that we can learn how to loveourselves well.
But Jesus told the story tosomeone who was sure that they
were right and other people werewrong.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I wanted to look at that because you know, your own
righteousness is your own way ofexisting in good standing, and
so there are people that arereally trying to do what's right
, and I would say that, of mostall of us here, we want to do
what's right, but yet thesepeople that he's telling the
story to are scorning everyoneelse, and that sounds a lot like
(09:41):
religious behavior, doesn't it?
Have you been around thosepeople that are self-righteous
and think they're doing good?
And boy, they're rough to bearound.
They're quick to judge.
Now, look around, and are anyof those people here today Me?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I am.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Isn't that a bummer that you're just here?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I am here.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So I think sometimes, when we preach a good message
like this, oh man, wish allthose people that really need it
were here, but all of us herealready got it all right, so we
didn't need this message.
Or could it be that maybe weare these people and so I would
(10:17):
hate to miss this message.
You go, oh Jesus, oh yeah, thatwas for somebody else.
I can think of a few people.
I'll send them the link to thewebsite if you want me to.
Or could maybe this besomething for us that could be
transformative today?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
huh, I'm so grateful for this text this morning and
I'm grateful for the mercy ofJesus that tells us a better
story.
In fact, that's the reason thatJesus came.
We had an idea of God, but wehad gotten it wrong and Jesus
came.
Jesus is the perfect image ofthe invisible God.
Jesus did everything and saideverything the Father told him.
(10:53):
So once we did not know whatGod was like, but then we saw
Jesus and we did, and this isthe invitation for all of us to
follow this way of love.
Jesus told this story.
Two men went to the temple topray.
Now, there are some things inthis story that Jesus does not
confront and we should rememberthis.
In fact, when Jesus was talkingto his own disciples, this is
(11:13):
what he said If you're followingme, when you pray, this is how
you should pray.
When you give, this is how youwill give, and when you fast,
this is how you will fast.
And so Jesus was talking aboutthis way of practicing loving
the world and loving each otherand loving ourselves, that we
commit ourselves to things.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So two men went to the temple to pray.
When you said that when you goto the temple to pray when you
fast, those are not if go to thetemple to pray when you fast.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Those are not if it is an invitation An invitation
Not if you get around to it, butif you're following this way as
a follower, this is what yourlife will look like.
So two men go to the temple topray, one a Pharisee and the
other a despised tax collector.
Again, jesus loved to show usthe ways in which our culture
(12:10):
and our system, or our ways oftelling what is great and what
is not great, is inverted.
Jesus began to show us ouropposite way of actually seeing,
and Jesus came so that our eyeswould be healed.
One a Pharisee, the other adespised tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himselfand he prayed this prayer.
(12:31):
I thank you, god, that I am notlike other people, for you and I
, as we sit and listen to this,we're like, oh, you shouldn't
have said that, that should notbe how you start a prayer, but I
often wonder how much that isthe prayer that we pray.
We begin comparison, and thatbegins how we're thankful.
I'm thankful.
I don't have that idea.
(12:51):
I'm thankful that I don'tbelieve that.
I'm thankful that I didn't growup there.
I'm thankful.
And so this idea, right at thevery beginning, confronts
something incredibly powerful.
Something incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know we laugh about that, but I almost think
that's the nature of typicalChristian prayer, and it is this
very thing that he'sconfronting, because we may not
say, oh, I thank you that I'mbetter than them.
But you know what we do say ohGod, I sure am grateful that I'm
not homeless.
I sure am grateful that I dohave that I don't live in that
(13:26):
neighborhood.
And so we're doing it, aren'twe?
Maybe it's just got a littlespin on it, it's not as arrogant
, but I really I'm challenged bythis, because when we were
talking about this, I realized,you know, that's almost like the
formula for which we pray.
(13:47):
You look at a bad situation andyou go, oh Lord, deliver me
from that.
And I don't want to end up likethat, you know, and I'm so glad
that I'm not addicted to drugs,and so let's look, because
maybe some of you it's like well, what's wrong with that prayer?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
well, I think we might, might find out there is
something that needs to beadjusted in our lives I thank
you, god, that I'm not likeother people cheaters, sinners
and adulterers and again hestarts listing things that we
believe these things to be wrong.
We believe these things to makeus separate, and so this
(14:25):
invitation that Jesus isoffering to us is to re-examine
our own hearts and to look forthe gratitude and the mercy
that's here.
I am certainly not like thattax collector.
I mean so right ahead.
He makes this huge distinction.
I am not like that, and I'msure in his mind he was like
because I would never do that tomy people, I would never steal
(14:48):
from our own folk, I would neverand this becomes very political
as well, because these arebrothers and sisters who then
worked for this horrible,oppressive government that only
only took care of the wealthy,made people incredibly wealthy
and left the rest of the worldin dire straits.
(15:08):
And so he's beginning to saythings like, not like.
At least, I'm not like that taxcollector.
I want to tell you, the rabbisof this time also taught people
another prayer.
I'm sure that Jesus would haveconfronted it too.
In fact, the scripture tells us, if everything that Jesus said
and did were recorded, that theworld could not contain all the
(15:29):
books.
And so, again, we use our holyimagination.
But there is an ancient prayerand it is I thank you, god, that
you did not make me a Gentileor a woman, and the rabbis
taught people to pray that thisidea that somehow women were so
horrible that your prayer shouldbe.
Thank you that I am not likethat when I remind you that
(15:53):
women are made in the very imageof God.
When God wanted to set thingsright, he came to a woman named
Mary and said we've got to startover, you and me, we are
handling this and we're going toshow something.
And so this invitation is thisend of hierarchy, this end of
list of comparisons that lovecomes and love says God and love
(16:15):
is what we are all connected to.
But this person begins to saythis prayer and say at least I
am not like any one of thesethings.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
You know, the shift in this for me is that if I move
away from the how this affectsme or it's about me, like, oh,
I'm glad I'm not, then gratitudecan, love, can move in and be
to the place where, like Lord, Ithank you that, as you're
providing for me, you'll providefor that person, holding that
(16:47):
sign that you're the same Godthat feeds me everything.
Thank you that you haveeverything.
See the difference betweenfirst looking at that, oh well,
thank you that I don't have that, and so that's where our
gratitude begins and ends andjust that it was about me.
Or can we look at that and go,wow, that prayer is me.
(17:11):
Oftentimes, I am, I'm gratefulthat I'm just better than
somebody else.
Well, things aren't going great, but at least I'm not in the
hospital bed over there likesome of those people.
I mean, we say this all the time.
It's part of almost our culture.
And what is the shift is it'snot about me, that's a
revelation.
Write that one down.
(17:32):
It's not about me.
Got it Now, keep that one, andso my gratitude becomes oh, you
are the God of abundance, thankyou for your abundance for this
person.
And when you see that persondown the street.
How can I share what I?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
have.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Gratitude opens up generosity, and that love just
connects.
I know that sometimes it'sdifficult to hand money to every
single person you see, but whatif every single person you saw
were one of your children, orone of your siblings, or your
parents, or somebody that youdearly loved and miss?
Would you stop the car then?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
And the truth is everyone is our brother and
sister.
The truth is, we are all onefamily because of God.
If you listen to this prayerthat Jesus is saying, this
person said, you will also heara lot of I.
I am not like I did this.
I fast twice a week and I giveyou a tenth of my income, and so
(18:35):
he's talking about practicesthat bring us into formation.
And he's saying I fast, I dowhat I'm supposed to do, I give,
I have these things.
But the tax collector stood at adistance and dared not even
lift his eyes to heaven as heprayed.
(18:55):
Instead, he beat his chest insorrow, saying oh God, be
merciful to me, for I am asinner.
This prayer, in fact, is anancient prayer and it is offered
to us by desert fathers andmothers, and it's from the
beginning of our Christian faith.
This prayer that says, in fact,the desert fathers and mothers
(19:17):
mix this with another prayerthat is there and we offer it on
a regular basis.
It is a transformative prayerto us.
It's a beautiful prayer whenyou're practicing your breath.
Lord Jesus Christ, son of theliving God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.
This recentering of mercy,beloved God is merciful.
(19:41):
God is love.
Love is merciful.
If it is without mercy, it iswithout God.
It is just how it goes.
Mercy is in fact part of thisexpression, or this fullness of
God, and the tax collector doesnot even lift his eyes.
And this idea of contrition,this idea of sorrow I recognize
that what I have done has harmedsomeone else.
(20:03):
We see this personal reflection, this prayer that says I am not
better than them, at least I amnot like.
And then he's got his list ofeverybody.
He's at least not like.
He just looks at this and goesI have caused harm and I am
asking for mercy.
Be merciful to me.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
When we were preparing the study and we were
talking about.
You know what the actualdefinition of the word sinner is
in this verse?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Oh, yes, In the little program that I use
because I don't speak Greek, ittells you what the Greek word is
.
You could even read it if you.
That's what I mean.
I don't know the symbols, but Ihave a computer that does
really beautiful things and kindof helps with this, and it
flagged this particular word asa confusing word to translate,
and so I'm always looking atthings that are confusing.
It's like when you know therule but then there's an
(20:51):
exception, and so you kind ofhave, in order to speak the
language, you have to also knowthe exception on why it doesn't
work.
And in the Greek this idea ofsinner is a more understandably
translated I am one who haserred, I am one who has made a
wrong choice.
In the Greek it has no moralconnotation.
It doesn't mean I am a slob orI am less than I am a snail.
(21:14):
It doesn't mean anything likethat.
It means, in fact, I realizethat I have erred from the path,
I have made a wrong choice, andI think that that's so
important because it is a prayerof reflection.
I have made a choice that hasharmed someone else.
It is a prayer of payingattention to personal
(21:35):
accountability and to looking atwhat my actions have done, and
so, as he begins to pray, heoffers a prayer for mercy.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And I think it's important to note that because
you know, we look at thePharisee and that's supposed to
be the religious one and that'sthe one everybody would have
said in that culture.
That's the one doing it right.
And then we would say that, youknow, diametrically opposed,
then it's a sinner.
But this is a person whoclearly knew the prayer.
It's the same prayer that, uh,nicodemus said you know, when
you know lord have mercy on youknow when you know Lord have
(22:04):
mercy on me, you know that andit's, and it's probably the
greatest prayer.
You know you don't need to be aPharisee.
You can leave today from churchknowing the greatest prayer
ever.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
When this is the prayer that Jesus always
answered.
I had a little book when I wastiny.
I love books, I still havebooks, but this, the spine of
the book, said the prayer thatis always answered.
So, as a little person, I waslike I would like that book
please.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I would like to know the prayer.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I would like the magic.
I would like, whatever ishappening, could I please have
that book?
And I convinced someone to buyit for me and I was so
disappointed.
I just want to tell you I wasdisappointed because this is the
prayer that was in there LordJesus Christ, son of the living
God have mercy on me, a sinner.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
That's it.
That was the entire book, and Iwas like I don't want that.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
It was a marketing scheme beloved, but it was the
truth and I tell you today, itis the truth, this is the prayer
that is always answered.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercyon me.
This is the prayer that isalways answered.
If you want your prayers to beanswered, beloved, condense them
into this prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercyon me.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
And I think that we can get really convoluted in
dogma and doctrine.
And did I confess this rightand did I believe this?
I remember one woman came toour church and she was visiting
and she said while I'm here,pastor, I'd like for you to pray
for us because we can't seem tosell our house.
It's been five months and shewas a little old, sweet lady
can't seem to sell our house.
(23:27):
It's been five months and she'sa little sweet lady.
And she goes tell me where Ihave entered into sin, tell me
where I've missed God becausehe's not selling my house.
And it broke my heart because wedo, we teach those kinds of
things.
That boy, if you don't just getit just right, god's up there.
Check.
No, you know, like the IRS,you're not getting your money
back now.
You didn't fill that form outInstead of the God of love who's
(23:52):
just you know.
And so I think that for us toget that shift and so for us to
be able to just talk with thatwoman for a few minutes and say
I don't believe God's like thatat all.
In fact, sometimes it can feellike he's forgotten us and the
whole time.
You know, there's a plan that'sso much greater, like maybe
(24:12):
waiting until the market getsbetter or whatever, or maybe
just sometimes the market iswhat it is and you bought a
house and now you're going towait and it's not you know.
We tend to want to put some kindof blame on God or put you know
or give some kind of value andcredit to the devil, as if the
devil has all this power and hecan go around.
There's one devil and anomnipresent God, so I don't
(24:33):
think the devil is going aroundtrying to keep your trailer from
selling.
If he's one devil, he'sprobably spending his time at
the White House or the Kremlinor somewhere on a path in
between the two.
He's not in Dunnellan Church.
Come on, and let's don't givehim that kind of power.
Sometimes there's just a thingthat's going down, you know, and
(24:54):
it's a little struggle, and soin the middle of that, can I see
love?
Can I be grateful?
Oh, thank you that I'm in thishouse.
That I can't afford.
Thank you that somehow we'regoing to get to the next
paycheck and I know I'm going tobe all right, and I just thank
you that I can invite all thepeople that I love to this place
(25:16):
, because I have a roof, and sonow we're just going to enjoy it
and I miss that whole.
I wish I was like somebody elsethat won the lottery, or
someone else that maybe theypray better, and so now their
bills are met and we miss thatwhole thing.
Is is where I can stand rightnow is from a place of gratitude
and love, and it will beabsolutely everything that you
(25:38):
need for that moment.
You're not going to be lackinganything, not one of us and not
any situation, and it's thegrace and the glory of God, amen
, amen.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining
us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
(26:10):
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
Learning the Jesus Prayer canhelp in many, many ways and, in
fact, starting in September,we'll have it on the, in an
email, and then on Facebook too.
But we're going to start acourse in meditation and prayer
because we need to be remindedof what it means to be people If
(26:30):
we're devoted our whole livesto prayer.
If we are to never stop praying, then we need to learn how to
pray in such a way that allowsus to do laundry and to take
care of our babies, or to plantgardens or to go to work.
And how do you live fullyconnected to the Spirit of God,
to God who is love, god who iseverywhere, and how do you stay
(26:51):
in the consciousness of prayerand in this conversation?
And one of the ways is throughthe Jesus prayer, through this
prayer that says Lord JesusChrist, son of the Living God,
have mercy on me Whenever youfind your mind has been
somewhere else, probably in thepainful past or the fearful
future.
But when you can take a breathand you remind yourself I am
right here in the car right now,I am safe, and then you say
(27:14):
this prayer, you remind yourselfLord Jesus Christ, son of the
living God, have mercy on me.
You will begin to see yourselfand the world differently and it
will cost you something beloved.
I just want to remind you.
It will cost you something.
Jesus is speaking in this storyand telling us if you think that
you're just going to pray andyou're better than everybody
else.
Again, this story is very muchlike the story of the Samaritan
(27:34):
those that you think that aregood might not be the ones that
you should be following, thesepeople that are actually
demonstrating it.
In fact, I've talked about itquite a few times, but we had a
beautiful dog named Max.
That wasn't beautiful.
When we met him, he was in aterrible condition by the side
of the road, and when I saw himI was so horrified.
My prayer was Jesus, have mercyon that dog, send someone.
(27:59):
Thank you for laughing, becausethat is why we pray.
We watch the terror around usand we say do something.
We are the mercy, belovedEverywhere we go, we are the
mercy, we are the grace.
Now, we can't do everything allthe time, but we can do
(28:22):
something, and this invitationinto doing something might cost
you your yes, your dog free home.
Because I prayed for mercy andI did hear again within myself,
not audibly you are the mercy.
Oh, I was hoping for someoneelse's mercy.
(28:42):
I was hoping someone else woulddevote their life and take care
of that.
It is one of the reasons why wegather together as a church
community too, because we can bemerciful together.
This Wednesday, we will dooutreach together food outreach.
There are people in our citywho are hungry, beloved.
This should not be Now.
(29:02):
We cannot feed everyone, but wecan feed some.
And together, when we gatherour resources together, when we
go to these places and we saythis is the food that we're
offering today, it is in fact amercy and we are becoming people
of mercy.
The invitation, in hearing thatyou are the mercy, is that you
would also be merciful toyourself, that you would also
(29:27):
receive the mercy.
Like this person who prayed andsaid I need mercy, I am also
reminded.
There's a beautiful story andthere are so many.
All the stories kind of tiedtogether when you listen to this
invitation.
That thankfulness and that lovecause us to offer prayers.
I'm so grateful for Thomas'sbeginning of the service.
(29:47):
What he's reminding us thatthis is how thankfulness is
expressed is in love, in lovefor everyone.
This is the truth.
Beloved, you are separated fromno one.
Everyone is invited into thekingdom of God, into the family
of God, to the table that Jesusset for us, and so this illusion
(30:09):
of separation or the illusionof hierarchy, where some are
loved and doing better and someare not, jesus is inviting us to
heal our eyes and to say whatis mercy calling us to do, to be
merciful to ourselves, but torecognize there is no separation
you know, one of the greatestthings, I think, that uh moves
(30:31):
your, you know the, the, themark in your spirituality is
awareness.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
That first you just become aware that you have this
need, you know, and you kind ofbe awakening to what's going on,
because sometimes we just getin our path, we're doing our
work, we're doing our thing, wehave our interests, we have our
stuff and and so our heads,because sometimes we just get in
our path, we're doing our work,we're doing our thing, we have
our interests, we have our stuff, and so our heads so down, we
just miss this invitation towalk with God.
So there's this awareness thathas to come, and I think that
(30:56):
prayer without ceasing is notjust an exaggeration.
There could be a life that youhave, but we live a life outside
of God, and so we have ourkernel life, we have this, and
so you know the awareness thatit's not like, oh man, I got to
give up my fun and my stuff andthen have this God thing.
You know that really that'swhere the fulfillment of who it
(31:17):
is to be a human being lies, youknow.
But we have to have kind of theawareness that we need that and
that you know that our prayers,our breath can be just
throughout the day, and one ofmy favorite gifts I give to
Heather is the gift of beingable to pray in the car.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
I do that for her, that's so nice of you Because I
love her so much.
I'm so glad we're all aware ofthat.
That.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I will drive and sit your way.
That causes her to cry out tothe Lord.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Oh Lord, it's intercession on a regular basis.
I'm not sure it's a gift.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
She has an imaginary brake in the car and she uses it
and she cries out to Jesus andI go.
Thank you, lord, you're welcome.
No, I say that so many times intraffic.
Heather will go.
Oh, jesus, lord, bless them.
Oh, jesus, lord, help them.
And I'm going, oh, go.
Oh, jesus, lord, bless them.
Oh, jesus, lord, help them.
And I'm going.
(32:09):
Oh, those sons, you know, or Iuse the Lord's name but it's in
the wrong way, you know.
You know start damning peopleand whatnot.
And so I'm so grateful for her.
And it's brought an awarenessfor me that I have polluted,
destroyed, missed a holy moment,because I have been outside of
(32:30):
God and outside of any kind ofgratitude.
So I'm just how dare you get infront of me instead of thank
God that I'm not walking toOrlando?
I can't believe this traffic.
You know, on the turnpike, man,they're doing construction.
You gotta leave an extra 20minutes.
Do you realize that you can getto Orlando in an hour and a
half and then get on an airplaneand go all around the world?
(32:52):
Oh, poor you, you waited 20extra minutes.
But I mean, it's a perspective,right, because when we're
entitled, we get a little bit onthe outside of that that, and
then this guy's in my way andthen I've got and I just miss.
But if I can have an awarenessof god's presence, oh yeah,
(33:13):
god's present.
I better watch my tongue.
I better not, and not that he'sready to squash us, but that I
miss this.
Holy you know.
Are you going to bring thatstuff in the middle of church?
You better not.
And church can be in my car, solet's don't bring that stuff in
there.
But we have to first have anawareness that God's presence is
here and that we can bringGod's presence to traffic, we
(33:36):
can bring that to our jobs, wecan bring that to the places
that we get so frustrated in.
And just change my awareness.
Where can I be grateful?
In the middle of my new one?
Is man, I just?
It's so hot here in Florida.
Oh, I love you people and Ilove my calling of God, but
really I have to be in Floridain the summer.
(33:58):
You couldn't call me somewhere?
You know a little cooler, sofeel sorry for me.
It's so awesome.
Clothes are stuck to me.
And then somebody said somethingrecently.
Do you realize that?
You know the sun is, this is astar, and so there's a star out
in the universe and you'reyou're gravitationally stuck to
(34:22):
this rock that spins around itat just the perfect distance
where it makes life exist, andyou can be warmed and not freeze
to death.
If it was just a little furtherout, you'd freeze to death.
A little closer you'd burn todeath.
But we're right in this sweetspot that God placed us in, and
now a star burst with nuclearexplosions and doesn't melt my
(34:44):
face off but causes me to havewarmth when I go outside.
I am, I'm warmed, and lightcomes from stars for me.
Or I hate Florida, it'sfreaking hot around here.
I mean, lord, change ourperspective.
Right, and then we becomegrateful.
But I have to become aware that, oh, I am a sinner.
(35:05):
Oh, oof, I do have.
Nope, not me.
Praise God, I got it alltogether.
Oh, helpless, pharisaicalattitude.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
I tell you this this sinner, this brother who has
erred not the Pharisee returnedhome justified before God, for
those who exalt themselves willbe humbled and those who humble
themselves will be exalted.
Jesus is reminding us not tolook to power, not to look to
(35:37):
force, not to look to domination, but to look to love as the
ultimate power.
And for us to be able to sayhow do we engage?
That is, through practices ofour own gratitude, practices of
paying attention.
Pastor Dennis mentioned, youknow, the car can be church and
what is church?
Church is an acknowledgement ofthe sacred and beloved.
Everything is sacred,everything is sacred and the
(36:01):
difference in how we decidesomething is sacred or something
is profane is how we use it,the meaning we give to it.
I have bulls in my house thatare beautiful.
Some of them belong to mygrandmother and I have so much
memory and meaning to them andwhen I use them it brings me joy
that I can continue thishospitality and I love them.
(36:22):
And I have other bulls in myhouse and you have them too,
prayerfully, and they have alittle handle and you can flush
them and I am grateful for them.
But I do not invite the samekind and you know who decided
that those bulls were?
There were us.
We decide what is sacred andwhat is profane and for us, as
people of God, we must rememberthat everything is sacred, every
person made in the image of God, every beautiful plant and moss
(36:46):
and insect.
And that's a learning place forme, beloved, because I would
consider some insects profaneand some of them, I believe, do
not belong anywhere near me.
And again, I'm learning, we'reall learning this idea of what
does it mean to live in mercy,to live with each other and to
live in the presence of love.
It means paying attention tothe spirit and being awakened
(37:11):
and not saying I am better thanwe are going to soon go to the
communion table and just justthis past week I want to go
ahead I just want you to sharesomething because I'll put you
in the spot a little bit.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
But uh, just the other day we were in Atlanta
getting some business done forCatherine, and Catherine and
Heather wanted to run into thestore real quick to check on
some stuff for themselves andall of a sudden it opens up into
this opportunity.
And I see it over and overagain with Heather that she gets
(37:47):
these amazing opportunities,these stories, and we get to
hear them every week or everyother week when she remembers to
share them or whatever, butthey're happening all the time.
And the thing that repeatedlyhas happened over and over is
these individuals, will you knowlike?
She'll call somebody thatappears to be someone that is
(38:09):
unhoused and she'll call thembrother and they'll stop and
look.
Why would you call me brother?
Why?
Because people recognize whenthey receive dignity, and I
believe in this situation, ifyou don't mind telling the story
a little bit, but thisindividual just receives this
dignity.
Now you can either go well, I'mgoing to try that whole dignity
(38:33):
thing that Heather does.
I'm going to go and cry like abull, but I'm going to make it,
I'm going to try or I can justbegin to shift something in me.
You know that vessel thing ispowerful.
You know, because there'smixing bowls we have and we mix
our food in it but we're notgoing to go.
Well, those are dirty, so I'mgoing to use the toilet.
We recognize that bowl issomething else.
(38:54):
And what if you recognized?
I mean, I was so convicted whenyou said that, what if I
recognized?
Every single person is thatvessel, preciously, holding
their spirit and the spirit ofthe Lord and the value that
changes from that?
Because we treat people likethey're garbage vessels and we
(39:23):
dump most of the time on thepeople we say we love the most.
I had this early on in theministry.
Heather and the kids confrontedme.
They said why are you so niceto people at the church and not
to us?
And I was like, well, you know,you're my family, I get to be
real with you and they go.
Well, we don't want real, thenwe want Pastor Dennis from
(39:47):
church.
He's nice, come on now.
That ought not be.
But we miss and I didn'trealize, the precious vessels
that were in my home.
Help us, lord, be aware.
Do you mind sharing that,catherine?
We went to.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Atlanta.
It was unplanned, and I thinkthat every time there's
something unplanned not on yourcalendar, lord be aware.
Do you mind sharing that?
Catherine, we went to Atlanta.
It was unplanned, and I thinkthat every time there's
something unplanned not on yourcalendar, you should be aware.
Oh, there's possibly a sacredmoment coming up here and
interruption is really holy.
But we were in Atlanta, sothat's our usual stopping ground
and we had time before anappointment.
And so I said well, let's go inhere.
And Catherine needed a spatula,something very important, like a
spatula beloved, a particularspatula that wasn't going to
(40:27):
break when she used it in highheat, but she needed a spatula.
So we'll go into the store toget a spatula.
And so that was our intention.
We're going to go in the store.
And so I looked around and Ididn't see what I needed.
And so a clerk said how are you?
And I said oh, I'm great.
And I said I was confident thatyour store had them, but I
(40:47):
don't see them.
Could you help?
And he responded yes, so hecame back moments later and he
said I found it.
We don't have it in the store,but do you have it?
I'll send it to your house, andum, and then.
So I said, oh, thank you somuch.
We began to say something elseand then I said it's been one of
those weeks.
Now, at that point this is anintersection.
We can all go on or we can becurious, and the Holy Spirit is
(41:10):
curious.
How can I listen, how can I bea part of this?
And I said what kind of weekwas it?
And he said one of those weekswhere you doubt God, where you
doubt your relationship with theworld, where you don't know
anything.
That's right.
And I said, oh, I've had thoseweeks too.
And right there we made aconnection.
Not I'm better than you, I am,because I am not doubting God.
(41:34):
This week, and sometimes,beloved it is that it is this
week it was on days when webelieve this on days when we are
in agreement with this.
But he began to share a littlebit about his pain in the middle
of the store while we weregoing there for the spatula, and
he said I doubt God.
He goes, my life just is notadding up.
And he said it's painful todoubt God when that is what you
(41:56):
believed in.
I said I know, and we began totalk.
He said that he felt like hewas in a storm and I said I was
just reading this scripture.
So I began to tell him thestory where Jesus goes onto a
boat with a bunch of otherpeople and he takes a pillow.
And they had pillows in theirstore.
And I said I don't know how youdon't think about this all the
time, with all these pillowsaround here.
Well, jesus selected a pillowand took one for a nap.
(42:18):
Beloved, that's a good Sundaysermon for you.
Sometimes what you need is anap.
We see this even with theprophet Elijah, who's
complaining about everything.
And God said you know what youdo?
Go down to the brook, take alittle rest.
I'll send the birds.
They're gonna feed you, youknow, to take a nap and take a
rest sometimes.
There's just goodness in this.
But I said to this man here'sthe hope for us.
Jesus was on a boat with apillow and his friends said to
(42:42):
them aren't you, like, worriedthat we're going to die?
They woke him up.
He was having a nap on a pillowwith aren't you worried?
We're going to die.
And I began to think the pastcouple of weeks about this is
what humanity looks like.
We are so angry and frustratedthat it doesn't look like God
(43:03):
cares about us.
I mean, he's sleeping on apillow and I am in the middle of
a storm.
I don't like that kind of God.
I want a God who's up and aspanicked as I am.
No, we don't, beloved.
No, we don't.
But that's why they're angry.
They're angry that it doesn'tseem like God is doing what God
should be doing, when we're allgonna drown and they're
(43:28):
frustrated and Jesus gets up andspeaks to the wind and the
waves and the whole thing stops.
And I'm thinking he probablythought I could have gotten
another 20 minutes.
We're not gonna drown, I'm here, you know.
Jesus was literally in the boat.
So anyway, I begin to explainthis to my friend that I have
met at the Crate and Barrel andso we were there looking for.
And he goes.
(43:49):
That's good word, that's goodword to me.
And he begins to tell me alittle bit about his situation.
Again.
There's other people in thestore, we're all doing this.
And I said oh, I said I, I justknow that God is absolutely
fine with you doubting him.
I said it enters intoconversations.
Bring him your questions, bringwhatever.
And then he looked at me andgoes who are you?
Just a person in the store?
And he goes.
No, no, he goes.
I was asking God, laying on mybed, a whole bunch of questions,
(44:10):
and he goes.
And now you come to my store.
Where are you even from?
We'd already driven six hours.
And then he just looked at meand he said can you hug me?
In the middle of the crate andbarrel selling spatulas, he's
questioning God on his bed athome.
(44:31):
I drive up from Florida toAtlanta, we start talking and he
said can you hug me?
And I said absolutely, it wouldbe my joy.
And I touched the side of hisface and I said beloved.
And I touched the side of hisface and I said Beloved, god
loves you just as you are.
And he stepped back outside ofhis hug and he said why did you
(44:54):
say that to me and I saidBecause that's what the Father
said, and he hugged me like wehad been long lost, brother and
sister, and I just began tospeak a blessing over him that
in your doubt, you are welcomedto bring it to the father.
And that is the same for all ofus.
In our questions, we arewelcomed into the presence of
(45:24):
God, there is a feast preparedto us and every one of us is at
the table, welcomed at the table.
This is the hope for the wholeworld that God would gather us
in his arms and say welcome home, beloved.
There's food for you here,there's provision for you here,
there's hope for you here.
He asked for an email later andmy email is from a long time
(45:45):
ago, from 30 plus years ago.
My email is Pastor Dennis'swife, because that's what people
just referred to me as.
Years ago I didn't have a name,I was just Pastor Dennis's wife
but that is the email.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Well, they called you Hester sometimes.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Sometimes it was yeah , it was not my real name, but,
yes, pastor Dennis' wife, and helooked at that and he started
laughing.
He goes aha, I see it, I see itnow, and I said, this is the
hope of Christ for all of us,this invitation, Every one of us
recognizing the sacred,recognizing.
We all have questions.
All of us have questions.
Do I belong?
(46:22):
Is God going to hear me?
Have mercy on me, a son who iserred?
Speaker 2 (46:27):
He was struggling.
He shared about how his deaconsaid well, the place for you to
see God isn't on your bed andwhat else?
That's a bunch of weird doctors.
Yeah, they said that youcouldn't, you can't.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
His problem was when he was talking to God.
They said you can't ask Godquestions from your bed, you
have to be on your knees in thechurch.
And I was like, brother, don'tbring that to me, because I've
read it a lot and I've got totell you how many times.
In fact, even the psalmist saidI'm speaking to you from my bed
, I am talking with you, and howwill we be in continual prayer
(46:58):
if we can't ask God from thebest?
Well, your deacon just needs toread the Bible a little bit.
Yeah, that's all.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And she wasn't reading.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
I wasn't mean.
I was just like, yeah, justhave a read.
She needs to read a little bit.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
But I want you to know that religion tells you
that.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Here's how you create this sacred Right.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
And then the Spirit of God says oh, you want a
sacred, just give me a room inthe crate and barrel, just give
me an aisle, spatulas aisle, youknow, spatulas is where you'll
meet up with him.
And so the, the holy and thesacred for us can either be this
thing that you try to createand with your religious beliefs
and your behavior, that nevergets there, or you can just open
up god, and the message thatthat is is just so beautiful is
(47:38):
that you know what, what makesthat man cry?
The, the religious order thathe's got to do more.
He's got to do more and it'sinsurmountable.
Or the message that broke hisheart was your love, just the
way you are.
And the difference is one is sodisempowering that we're
paralyzed to do anythingdifferent, and the other message
is so empowering that in themiddle you just begin to change
(48:01):
from the inside out.
You know, and that is the powerof the living God.
And so let's remember that,that our gratitude.
And I'm going to tell you, youknow, I have entered stores with
a different attitude, like Ican't believe they don't have
the thing that I want.
I mean, I can't believe thatthe meeting we have is late and
(48:22):
now I got all this time.
Or you know, what am I going todo with all this time?
Or I don't have enough time, orwhatever, and we're all in this
thing.
But how many of thoseopportunities, sadly, we may
miss because we have our ownagenda?
We're just not aware.
So ask the Holy Spirit help mebe aware when there's a holy
(48:43):
moment here.
Help me be aware when you wantto do something fun.
I've been with people new to thechurch that share a message
like this and they go.
I was at work and they starttalking about God.
I started saying stuff I didn'teven know.
I knew they're like what's thatabout?
It was so amazing, it was sofun.
And you just see, there's a joywhen we hook up with the spirit
(49:06):
of the living god and there'ssuch a burden when we try to do
it in that religious spirit andwith that religious energy I
remind you from the verse ofcolossians and we're going to go
to holy communion.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Devote yourselves to prayer with an awakened mind and
a thankful heart.
Jesus said this to us Wake up,thou that sleepest.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
This was Jesus, who loves a nap, you got all King
James on us.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
I did.
Anytime you get an ist or athou, wake up thou.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
You got a King James every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Everyone who is living life on autopilot.
Engage.
That's what the Spirit isoffering to us.
Devote yourselves to prayer.
Jesus is reminding us thatthere will be times of fasting.
It should be a part of ourlives that there will be times
of giving and practicing.
Tithing and offering issomething that we do in taking
(49:56):
care of each other and in takingcare of the plan that God has
to bring the kingdom here.
But the invitation is to giveup hierarchy, to give up things
that will promote ourselveswithout promoting the whole
world.
This beauty and this invitationis that all of us thrive.
The table is made ready so thateveryone can meet.
(50:16):
This is the table of the Lord,this is for us.
This practice, this initiation,this reminding, this holy
embodiment, this is the tablethat has been set for us and
we're invited in.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
This is a collection of Sundayteachings inspired by the
Revised Common Lectionary andrecorded weekly in Ocala Florida
.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Would you guys like to welcome my mom and dad as
they talk about God Cool.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Goodbye, everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
It's rough sometimes when Tom preaches our whole
sermon Right before and nowwe've got to get up here and
just riff for a few minutes.
But thank you, tom, that wasvery powerful.
He gave me something a whileback.
I don't know if you remember it, but something you printed out.
I mean, this further confirmshis nerdness, but he printed me
this thing on his 3D printer.
(00:39):
There you go, but it's likethis little tree.
It looks like a tree but it'sspiral.
It fits like another tree, fitsinside of it perfectly, and you
can pull it out and put it in.
And so I'm there in my roomgoing, I'm supposed to be
working and it's just cool.
Every time it just goes rightback in place.
(01:01):
So who's the nerd?
All right, but I thought aboutthat when you were talking about
how, because that's reallyreally what.
Unless you talk to Heather, youknow that's what our message is
about Love and gratitude.
So you only stole the message.
Thanks, you know, but it is.
We hope today that yourtakeaway would be that
(01:25):
connection and how love andgratitude work together in such
a powerful way in our lives, ormaybe you might be able to find
out today why some things aren'tmoving and progressing the way
that you'd hope in our lives.
Maybe we've stumbled in someareas in that, and so we want to
just kind of connect you withthat today.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
We do and we just are so grateful again for the
presence that you brought thismorning, for the light that you
already have, and we're askingthe Holy Spirit this morning to
re-enchant the text, to be ableto expand your imagination or
the way that you've heard this.
I think something that happenssometimes to us, or possibly
could happen, is that we'veheard this beautiful text before
(02:03):
and so we decided that wealready heard it and we already
know everything about it.
And what we're invited into ismystery.
It's the beauty of thecommunion table that we
participate in every week.
It's the idea that we couldlook at stars and also look at
moss, and that everything cantestify to us of a creator who
is madly in love with us andinvites us into beauty.
(02:26):
And so this morning we areasking that you would in fact
open your own spirit and allowthe spirit of God to open the
eye of your understanding, thatinner eye to be able to say is
there something that I couldunderstand or be enlightened in,
that would equip me to be moreloving toward myself and toward
the world?
(02:47):
I want to read a few verses forus this morning.
In 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5,verse 17 through 19,.
Never stop praying.
I mean, if we just hung outthere, that would be a beautiful
invitation.
And the invitation is notstopping talking, because that's
not always praying.
We're not invited just to talkceaselessly, but to be in
(03:08):
conversation with God.
Be thankful for in all things,in all circumstances, for this
is God's will for you who belongto Christ Jesus, and do not
stifle the Holy Spirit.
This verse in inspires us andsays we don't use the word
stifle a lot, but it means kindof take the breath out of
something.
And so this invitation intospirit is into breath and into
(03:32):
even our own breath, payingattention to how we breathe and
what that does for us, inallowing us to relax into the
presence of God and us to justlive in the world around us in a
different state than in atension or in an anxiety.
And if you don't know how tobreathe, this morning Jen can
(03:53):
give you some directions.
She's certified in it.
So I'm so grateful again forthe community this morning.
I'm not even joking about that.
She really is certified in howto breathe properly and how to
breathe into relaxation and intofullness.
And one of the ways God tells usabout God's self is that it is
breath, the spirit of God, thebreath of God that is given,
(04:15):
that allows us to be fully humanand fully here.
I'm so grateful for that.
But I'm also grateful for whatit means to be a part of a
community, and as we read thistext together, there is a unity
for also grateful for what itmeans to be a part of a
community and as we read thistext together, there is a unity
for us in all thinking about thesame thing, all of us
considering the same thing thatthere is a spirit within us,
(04:35):
that there is a breath within us, that there is an invitation to
live completely differently.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Well, you know, I like how the Jewish people teach
that it's the breath of Godthat we breathe in and out, and
your first breath and your lastbreath still speak the name of
God.
Yah Yah, Yah, Yah.
That was your first breath,whether you realized it or not.
You were there as a baby andall of a sudden you popped out
(05:04):
and you went Yah, and on yourfinal deathbed you were.
There's a baby, and all of asudden you popped out and you
went and on your final deathbedyou lay there and every breath
in between is a gift from Godand I really hope that we would
kind of connect that just dailyconnection that you have with
(05:25):
breath to be the way that youand I could breathe in and out,
a relationship with God to justexist in that dependent way that
we are in our next breath, butnot in a desperate, striving,
confused way.
We just breathe.
The only thing sometimes thatstruggle is if you ever get the
(05:48):
wind knocked out of you andthat's like this isn't right
Until that comes back, and Iwant us to really think about
what, wonder if that's the waythat we could live in God.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Devote yourselves to prayer with an awakened mind and
a thankful heart.
This invitation by the apostleis to be awakened by the Holy
Spirit, not to live on anautopilot, but to live engaged
in the spirit that is around usand a thankful heart.
And we come here to Luke'sgospel and this is part of the
(06:24):
invitation we have during thisseason of Pentecost, where we
practice and pay attention andwe learn the role or how we can
connect to the spirit in ourlives at all times, that our
spirituality is who we are as aperson, our expression of our
own life and our connection toGod and to everyone.
(06:46):
And so we meet this portion ofthe text.
And Jesus has had a bunch ofpeople following him.
He has his own followers.
He's done miracles already.
And then Jesus told this storyto someone who had great
confidence in their ownrighteousness and scorned
everyone else.
So Jesus told this story topeople who thought that they
(07:10):
were good.
Jesus told this story to peoplewho were confident that the way
they believed was right.
These are people who wereconfident that their judgments
were the ones that aligned withGod, and Jesus knew them.
And Jesus told them a story,and I want to tell you the mercy
(07:32):
it is to be told the story thatcould change the way you look
at everything.
Again, we look at the patternsthat Jesus had, and Jesus
continually confronted hierarchy.
He continually confronted thisidea that some are greater than
others.
In fact, it is an inversion, andwhen you look at this text, you
will listen and you willremember the words that Jesus's
(07:54):
mother Mary said upon thispronunciation that the Holy
Spirit would come upon you andthat you would birth this
Messiah.
You would birth this other wayof living.
You would birth God among us.
And she said, oh, this is goingto be good.
I'm paraphrasing here, but thisis exactly what she said the
mighty are going to be throwndown from their thrones, the
(08:16):
poor and the cast out, they aregoing to be lifted up.
Remember?
This is his mother's song.
We go on in a minute and you'llhear, you'll remember.
Oh, he heard that from his mama.
A long, long time ago, jesustold this story to someone who
had great confidence in theirown righteousness and scorned
everyone else.
So, essentially, jesus toldthis story to me because I grew
(08:39):
up in the church and since atiny little girl, it was my
intention to live as Jesus lived, and that is for all of us,
hopefully, why we are even herethis morning.
We are all here to beapprentices of Jesus, that we
say that Jesus is the one worthfollowing.
When Jesus declared for himselfI have come, that you would
have life and have it to thefull Beloved.
(09:00):
This is why we gather thismorning so that we can learn how
to love the world well, so thatwe can learn how to love the
world well, so that we can learnhow to love each other well and
that we can learn how to loveourselves well.
But Jesus told the story tosomeone who was sure that they
were right and other people werewrong.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I wanted to look at that because you know, your own
righteousness is your own way ofexisting in good standing, and
so there are people that arereally trying to do what's right
, and I would say that, of mostall of us here, we want to do
what's right, but yet thesepeople that he's telling the
story to are scorning everyoneelse, and that sounds a lot like
(09:41):
religious behavior, doesn't it?
Have you been around thosepeople that are self-righteous
and think they're doing good?
And boy, they're rough to bearound.
They're quick to judge.
Now, look around, and are anyof those people here today Me?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
I am.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Isn't that a bummer that you're just here?
Speaker 1 (09:55):
I am here.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
So I think sometimes, when we preach a good message
like this, oh man, wish allthose people that really need it
were here, but all of us herealready got it all right, so we
didn't need this message.
Or could it be that maybe weare these people and so I would
(10:17):
hate to miss this message.
You go, oh Jesus, oh yeah, thatwas for somebody else.
I can think of a few people.
I'll send them the link to thewebsite if you want me to.
Or could maybe this besomething for us that could be
transformative today?
Speaker 1 (10:30):
huh, I'm so grateful for this text this morning and
I'm grateful for the mercy ofJesus that tells us a better
story.
In fact, that's the reason thatJesus came.
We had an idea of God, but wehad gotten it wrong and Jesus
came.
Jesus is the perfect image ofthe invisible God.
Jesus did everything and saideverything the Father told him.
(10:53):
So once we did not know whatGod was like, but then we saw
Jesus and we did, and this isthe invitation for all of us to
follow this way of love.
Jesus told this story.
Two men went to the temple topray.
Now, there are some things inthis story that Jesus does not
confront and we should rememberthis.
In fact, when Jesus was talkingto his own disciples, this is
(11:13):
what he said If you're followingme, when you pray, this is how
you should pray.
When you give, this is how youwill give, and when you fast,
this is how you will fast.
And so Jesus was talking aboutthis way of practicing loving
the world and loving each otherand loving ourselves, that we
commit ourselves to things.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
So two men went to the temple to pray.
When you said that when you goto the temple to pray when you
fast, those are not if go to thetemple to pray when you fast.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Those are not if it is an invitation An invitation
Not if you get around to it, butif you're following this way as
a follower, this is what yourlife will look like.
So two men go to the temple topray, one a Pharisee and the
other a despised tax collector.
Again, jesus loved to show usthe ways in which our culture
(12:10):
and our system, or our ways oftelling what is great and what
is not great, is inverted.
Jesus began to show us ouropposite way of actually seeing,
and Jesus came so that our eyeswould be healed.
One a Pharisee, the other adespised tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himselfand he prayed this prayer.
(12:31):
I thank you, god, that I am notlike other people, for you and I
, as we sit and listen to this,we're like, oh, you shouldn't
have said that, that should notbe how you start a prayer, but I
often wonder how much that isthe prayer that we pray.
We begin comparison, and thatbegins how we're thankful.
I'm thankful.
I don't have that idea.
(12:51):
I'm thankful that I don'tbelieve that.
I'm thankful that I didn't growup there.
I'm thankful.
And so this idea, right at thevery beginning, confronts
something incredibly powerful.
Something incredibly powerful.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
You know we laugh about that, but I almost think
that's the nature of typicalChristian prayer, and it is this
very thing that he'sconfronting, because we may not
say, oh, I thank you that I'mbetter than them.
But you know what we do say ohGod, I sure am grateful that I'm
not homeless.
I sure am grateful that I dohave that I don't live in that
(13:26):
neighborhood.
And so we're doing it, aren'twe?
Maybe it's just got a littlespin on it, it's not as arrogant
, but I really I'm challenged bythis, because when we were
talking about this, I realized,you know, that's almost like the
formula for which we pray.
(13:47):
You look at a bad situation andyou go, oh Lord, deliver me
from that.
And I don't want to end up likethat, you know, and I'm so glad
that I'm not addicted to drugs,and so let's look, because
maybe some of you it's like well, what's wrong with that prayer?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
well, I think we might, might find out there is
something that needs to beadjusted in our lives I thank
you, god, that I'm not likeother people cheaters, sinners
and adulterers and again hestarts listing things that we
believe these things to be wrong.
We believe these things to makeus separate, and so this
(14:25):
invitation that Jesus isoffering to us is to re-examine
our own hearts and to look forthe gratitude and the mercy
that's here.
I am certainly not like thattax collector.
I mean so right ahead.
He makes this huge distinction.
I am not like that, and I'msure in his mind he was like
because I would never do that tomy people, I would never steal
(14:48):
from our own folk, I would neverand this becomes very political
as well, because these arebrothers and sisters who then
worked for this horrible,oppressive government that only
only took care of the wealthy,made people incredibly wealthy
and left the rest of the worldin dire straits.
(15:08):
And so he's beginning to saythings like, not like.
At least, I'm not like that taxcollector.
I want to tell you, the rabbisof this time also taught people
another prayer.
I'm sure that Jesus would haveconfronted it too.
In fact, the scripture tells us, if everything that Jesus said
and did were recorded, that theworld could not contain all the
(15:29):
books.
And so, again, we use our holyimagination.
But there is an ancient prayerand it is I thank you, god, that
you did not make me a Gentileor a woman, and the rabbis
taught people to pray that thisidea that somehow women were so
horrible that your prayer shouldbe.
Thank you that I am not likethat when I remind you that
(15:53):
women are made in the very imageof God.
When God wanted to set thingsright, he came to a woman named
Mary and said we've got to startover, you and me, we are
handling this and we're going toshow something.
And so this invitation is thisend of hierarchy, this end of
list of comparisons that lovecomes and love says God and love
(16:15):
is what we are all connected to.
But this person begins to saythis prayer and say at least I
am not like any one of thesethings.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
You know, the shift in this for me is that if I move
away from the how this affectsme or it's about me, like, oh,
I'm glad I'm not, then gratitudecan, love, can move in and be
to the place where, like Lord, Ithank you that, as you're
providing for me, you'll providefor that person, holding that
(16:47):
sign that you're the same Godthat feeds me everything.
Thank you that you haveeverything.
See the difference betweenfirst looking at that, oh well,
thank you that I don't have that, and so that's where our
gratitude begins and ends andjust that it was about me.
Or can we look at that and go,wow, that prayer is me.
(17:11):
Oftentimes, I am, I'm gratefulthat I'm just better than
somebody else.
Well, things aren't going great, but at least I'm not in the
hospital bed over there likesome of those people.
I mean, we say this all the time.
It's part of almost our culture.
And what is the shift is it'snot about me, that's a
revelation.
Write that one down.
(17:32):
It's not about me.
Got it Now, keep that one, andso my gratitude becomes oh, you
are the God of abundance, thankyou for your abundance for this
person.
And when you see that persondown the street.
How can I share what I?
Speaker 1 (17:49):
have.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
Gratitude opens up generosity, and that love just
connects.
I know that sometimes it'sdifficult to hand money to every
single person you see, but whatif every single person you saw
were one of your children, orone of your siblings, or your
parents, or somebody that youdearly loved and miss?
Would you stop the car then?
Speaker 1 (18:12):
And the truth is everyone is our brother and
sister.
The truth is, we are all onefamily because of God.
If you listen to this prayerthat Jesus is saying, this
person said, you will also heara lot of I.
I am not like I did this.
I fast twice a week and I giveyou a tenth of my income, and so
(18:35):
he's talking about practicesthat bring us into formation.
And he's saying I fast, I dowhat I'm supposed to do, I give,
I have these things.
But the tax collector stood at adistance and dared not even
lift his eyes to heaven as heprayed.
(18:55):
Instead, he beat his chest insorrow, saying oh God, be
merciful to me, for I am asinner.
This prayer, in fact, is anancient prayer and it is offered
to us by desert fathers andmothers, and it's from the
beginning of our Christian faith.
This prayer that says, in fact,the desert fathers and mothers
(19:17):
mix this with another prayerthat is there and we offer it on
a regular basis.
It is a transformative prayerto us.
It's a beautiful prayer whenyou're practicing your breath.
Lord Jesus Christ, son of theliving God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.
This recentering of mercy,beloved God is merciful.
(19:41):
God is love.
Love is merciful.
If it is without mercy, it iswithout God.
It is just how it goes.
Mercy is in fact part of thisexpression, or this fullness of
God, and the tax collector doesnot even lift his eyes.
And this idea of contrition,this idea of sorrow I recognize
that what I have done has harmedsomeone else.
(20:03):
We see this personal reflection, this prayer that says I am not
better than them, at least I amnot like.
And then he's got his list ofeverybody.
He's at least not like.
He just looks at this and goesI have caused harm and I am
asking for mercy.
Be merciful to me.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
When we were preparing the study and we were
talking about.
You know what the actualdefinition of the word sinner is
in this verse?
Speaker 1 (20:29):
Oh, yes, In the little program that I use
because I don't speak Greek, ittells you what the Greek word is
.
You could even read it if you.
That's what I mean.
I don't know the symbols, but Ihave a computer that does
really beautiful things and kindof helps with this, and it
flagged this particular word asa confusing word to translate,
and so I'm always looking atthings that are confusing.
It's like when you know therule but then there's an
(20:51):
exception, and so you kind ofhave, in order to speak the
language, you have to also knowthe exception on why it doesn't
work.
And in the Greek this idea ofsinner is a more understandably
translated I am one who haserred, I am one who has made a
wrong choice.
In the Greek it has no moralconnotation.
It doesn't mean I am a slob orI am less than I am a snail.
(21:14):
It doesn't mean anything likethat.
It means, in fact, I realizethat I have erred from the path,
I have made a wrong choice, andI think that that's so
important because it is a prayerof reflection.
I have made a choice that hasharmed someone else.
It is a prayer of payingattention to personal
(21:35):
accountability and to looking atwhat my actions have done, and
so, as he begins to pray, heoffers a prayer for mercy.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And I think it's important to note that because
you know, we look at thePharisee and that's supposed to
be the religious one and that'sthe one everybody would have
said in that culture.
That's the one doing it right.
And then we would say that, youknow, diametrically opposed,
then it's a sinner.
But this is a person whoclearly knew the prayer.
It's the same prayer that, uh,nicodemus said you know, when
you know lord have mercy on youknow when you know Lord have
(22:04):
mercy on me, you know that andit's, and it's probably the
greatest prayer.
You know you don't need to be aPharisee.
You can leave today from churchknowing the greatest prayer
ever.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
When this is the prayer that Jesus always
answered.
I had a little book when I wastiny.
I love books, I still havebooks, but this, the spine of
the book, said the prayer thatis always answered.
So, as a little person, I waslike I would like that book
please.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
I would like to know the prayer.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
I would like the magic.
I would like, whatever ishappening, could I please have
that book?
And I convinced someone to buyit for me and I was so
disappointed.
I just want to tell you I wasdisappointed because this is the
prayer that was in there LordJesus Christ, son of the living
God have mercy on me, a sinner.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
That's it.
That was the entire book, and Iwas like I don't want that.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
It was a marketing scheme beloved, but it was the
truth and I tell you today, itis the truth, this is the prayer
that is always answered.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercyon me.
This is the prayer that isalways answered.
If you want your prayers to beanswered, beloved, condense them
into this prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercyon me.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
And I think that we can get really convoluted in
dogma and doctrine.
And did I confess this rightand did I believe this?
I remember one woman came toour church and she was visiting
and she said while I'm here,pastor, I'd like for you to pray
for us because we can't seem tosell our house.
It's been five months and shewas a little old, sweet lady
can't seem to sell our house.
(23:27):
It's been five months and she'sa little sweet lady.
And she goes tell me where Ihave entered into sin, tell me
where I've missed God becausehe's not selling my house.
And it broke my heart because wedo, we teach those kinds of
things.
That boy, if you don't just getit just right, god's up there.
Check.
No, you know, like the IRS,you're not getting your money
back now.
You didn't fill that form outInstead of the God of love who's
(23:52):
just you know.
And so I think that for us toget that shift and so for us to
be able to just talk with thatwoman for a few minutes and say
I don't believe God's like thatat all.
In fact, sometimes it can feellike he's forgotten us and the
whole time.
You know, there's a plan that'sso much greater, like maybe
(24:12):
waiting until the market getsbetter or whatever, or maybe
just sometimes the market iswhat it is and you bought a
house and now you're going towait and it's not you know.
We tend to want to put some kindof blame on God or put you know
or give some kind of value andcredit to the devil, as if the
devil has all this power and hecan go around.
There's one devil and anomnipresent God, so I don't
(24:33):
think the devil is going aroundtrying to keep your trailer from
selling.
If he's one devil, he'sprobably spending his time at
the White House or the Kremlinor somewhere on a path in
between the two.
He's not in Dunnellan Church.
Come on, and let's don't givehim that kind of power.
Sometimes there's just a thingthat's going down, you know, and
(24:54):
it's a little struggle, and soin the middle of that, can I see
love?
Can I be grateful?
Oh, thank you that I'm in thishouse.
That I can't afford.
Thank you that somehow we'regoing to get to the next
paycheck and I know I'm going tobe all right, and I just thank
you that I can invite all thepeople that I love to this place
(25:16):
, because I have a roof, and sonow we're just going to enjoy it
and I miss that whole.
I wish I was like somebody elsethat won the lottery, or
someone else that maybe theypray better, and so now their
bills are met and we miss thatwhole thing.
Is is where I can stand rightnow is from a place of gratitude
and love, and it will beabsolutely everything that you
(25:38):
need for that moment.
You're not going to be lackinganything, not one of us and not
any situation, and it's thegrace and the glory of God, amen
, amen.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining
us today.
If you're finding this episodemeaningful, would you take a
moment to share it with a friend?
This podcast is made possiblethanks to the generosity of
people just like you.
If you would like to supportthe ongoing work of First Love
Church and the continued work ofour podcast, visit us online at
(26:10):
firstlovechurchorg, remindingyou to like, follow and
subscribe.
Learning the Jesus Prayer canhelp in many, many ways and, in
fact, starting in September,we'll have it on the, in an
email, and then on Facebook too.
But we're going to start acourse in meditation and prayer
because we need to be remindedof what it means to be people If
(26:30):
we're devoted our whole livesto prayer.
If we are to never stop praying, then we need to learn how to
pray in such a way that allowsus to do laundry and to take
care of our babies, or to plantgardens or to go to work.
And how do you live fullyconnected to the Spirit of God,
to God who is love, god who iseverywhere, and how do you stay
(26:51):
in the consciousness of prayerand in this conversation?
And one of the ways is throughthe Jesus prayer, through this
prayer that says Lord JesusChrist, son of the Living God,
have mercy on me Whenever youfind your mind has been
somewhere else, probably in thepainful past or the fearful
future.
But when you can take a breathand you remind yourself I am
right here in the car right now,I am safe, and then you say
(27:14):
this prayer, you remind yourselfLord Jesus Christ, son of the
living God, have mercy on me.
You will begin to see yourselfand the world differently and it
will cost you something beloved.
I just want to remind you.
It will cost you something.
Jesus is speaking in this storyand telling us if you think that
you're just going to pray andyou're better than everybody
else.
Again, this story is very muchlike the story of the Samaritan
(27:34):
those that you think that aregood might not be the ones that
you should be following, thesepeople that are actually
demonstrating it.
In fact, I've talked about itquite a few times, but we had a
beautiful dog named Max.
That wasn't beautiful.
When we met him, he was in aterrible condition by the side
of the road, and when I saw himI was so horrified.
My prayer was Jesus, have mercyon that dog, send someone.
(27:59):
Thank you for laughing, becausethat is why we pray.
We watch the terror around usand we say do something.
We are the mercy, belovedEverywhere we go, we are the
mercy, we are the grace.
Now, we can't do everything allthe time, but we can do
(28:22):
something, and this invitationinto doing something might cost
you your yes, your dog free home.
Because I prayed for mercy andI did hear again within myself,
not audibly you are the mercy.
Oh, I was hoping for someoneelse's mercy.
(28:42):
I was hoping someone else woulddevote their life and take care
of that.
It is one of the reasons why wegather together as a church
community too, because we can bemerciful together.
This Wednesday, we will dooutreach together food outreach.
There are people in our citywho are hungry, beloved.
This should not be Now.
(29:02):
We cannot feed everyone, but wecan feed some.
And together, when we gatherour resources together, when we
go to these places and we saythis is the food that we're
offering today, it is in fact amercy and we are becoming people
of mercy.
The invitation, in hearing thatyou are the mercy, is that you
would also be merciful toyourself, that you would also
(29:27):
receive the mercy.
Like this person who prayed andsaid I need mercy, I am also
reminded.
There's a beautiful story andthere are so many.
All the stories kind of tiedtogether when you listen to this
invitation.
That thankfulness and that lovecause us to offer prayers.
I'm so grateful for Thomas'sbeginning of the service.
(29:47):
What he's reminding us thatthis is how thankfulness is
expressed is in love, in lovefor everyone.
This is the truth.
Beloved, you are separated fromno one.
Everyone is invited into thekingdom of God, into the family
of God, to the table that Jesusset for us, and so this illusion
(30:09):
of separation or the illusionof hierarchy, where some are
loved and doing better and someare not, jesus is inviting us to
heal our eyes and to say whatis mercy calling us to do, to be
merciful to ourselves, but torecognize there is no separation
you know, one of the greatestthings, I think, that uh moves
(30:31):
your, you know the, the, themark in your spirituality is
awareness.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
That first you just become aware that you have this
need, you know, and you kind ofbe awakening to what's going on,
because sometimes we just getin our path, we're doing our
work, we're doing our thing, wehave our interests, we have our
stuff and and so our heads,because sometimes we just get in
our path, we're doing our work,we're doing our thing, we have
our interests, we have our stuff, and so our heads so down, we
just miss this invitation towalk with God.
So there's this awareness thathas to come, and I think that
(30:56):
prayer without ceasing is notjust an exaggeration.
There could be a life that youhave, but we live a life outside
of God, and so we have ourkernel life, we have this, and
so you know the awareness thatit's not like, oh man, I got to
give up my fun and my stuff andthen have this God thing.
You know that really that'swhere the fulfillment of who it
(31:17):
is to be a human being lies, youknow.
But we have to have kind of theawareness that we need that and
that you know that our prayers,our breath can be just
throughout the day, and one ofmy favorite gifts I give to
Heather is the gift of beingable to pray in the car.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
I do that for her, that's so nice of you Because I
love her so much.
I'm so glad we're all aware ofthat.
That.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
I will drive and sit your way.
That causes her to cry out tothe Lord.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Oh Lord, it's intercession on a regular basis.
I'm not sure it's a gift.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
She has an imaginary brake in the car and she uses it
and she cries out to Jesus andI go.
Thank you, lord, you're welcome.
No, I say that so many times intraffic.
Heather will go.
Oh, jesus, lord, bless them.
Oh, jesus, lord, help them.
And I'm going, oh, go.
Oh, jesus, lord, bless them.
Oh, jesus, lord, help them.
And I'm going.
(32:09):
Oh, those sons, you know, or Iuse the Lord's name but it's in
the wrong way, you know.
You know start damning peopleand whatnot.
And so I'm so grateful for her.
And it's brought an awarenessfor me that I have polluted,
destroyed, missed a holy moment,because I have been outside of
(32:30):
God and outside of any kind ofgratitude.
So I'm just how dare you get infront of me instead of thank
God that I'm not walking toOrlando?
I can't believe this traffic.
You know, on the turnpike, man,they're doing construction.
You gotta leave an extra 20minutes.
Do you realize that you can getto Orlando in an hour and a
half and then get on an airplaneand go all around the world?
(32:52):
Oh, poor you, you waited 20extra minutes.
But I mean, it's a perspective,right, because when we're
entitled, we get a little bit onthe outside of that that, and
then this guy's in my way andthen I've got and I just miss.
But if I can have an awarenessof god's presence, oh yeah,
(33:13):
god's present.
I better watch my tongue.
I better not, and not that he'sready to squash us, but that I
miss this.
Holy you know.
Are you going to bring thatstuff in the middle of church?
You better not.
And church can be in my car, solet's don't bring that stuff in
there.
But we have to first have anawareness that God's presence is
here and that we can bringGod's presence to traffic, we
(33:36):
can bring that to our jobs, wecan bring that to the places
that we get so frustrated in.
And just change my awareness.
Where can I be grateful?
In the middle of my new one?
Is man, I just?
It's so hot here in Florida.
Oh, I love you people and Ilove my calling of God, but
really I have to be in Floridain the summer.
(33:58):
You couldn't call me somewhere?
You know a little cooler, sofeel sorry for me.
It's so awesome.
Clothes are stuck to me.
And then somebody said somethingrecently.
Do you realize that?
You know the sun is, this is astar, and so there's a star out
in the universe and you'reyou're gravitationally stuck to
(34:22):
this rock that spins around itat just the perfect distance
where it makes life exist, andyou can be warmed and not freeze
to death.
If it was just a little furtherout, you'd freeze to death.
A little closer you'd burn todeath.
But we're right in this sweetspot that God placed us in, and
now a star burst with nuclearexplosions and doesn't melt my
(34:44):
face off but causes me to havewarmth when I go outside.
I am, I'm warmed, and lightcomes from stars for me.
Or I hate Florida, it'sfreaking hot around here.
I mean, lord, change ourperspective.
Right, and then we becomegrateful.
But I have to become aware that, oh, I am a sinner.
(35:05):
Oh, oof, I do have.
Nope, not me.
Praise God, I got it alltogether.
Oh, helpless, pharisaicalattitude.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
I tell you this this sinner, this brother who has
erred not the Pharisee returnedhome justified before God, for
those who exalt themselves willbe humbled and those who humble
themselves will be exalted.
Jesus is reminding us not tolook to power, not to look to
(35:37):
force, not to look to domination, but to look to love as the
ultimate power.
And for us to be able to sayhow do we engage?
That is, through practices ofour own gratitude, practices of
paying attention.
Pastor Dennis mentioned, youknow, the car can be church and
what is church?
Church is an acknowledgement ofthe sacred and beloved.
Everything is sacred,everything is sacred and the
(36:01):
difference in how we decidesomething is sacred or something
is profane is how we use it,the meaning we give to it.
I have bulls in my house thatare beautiful.
Some of them belong to mygrandmother and I have so much
memory and meaning to them andwhen I use them it brings me joy
that I can continue thishospitality and I love them.
(36:22):
And I have other bulls in myhouse and you have them too,
prayerfully, and they have alittle handle and you can flush
them and I am grateful for them.
But I do not invite the samekind and you know who decided
that those bulls were?
There were us.
We decide what is sacred andwhat is profane and for us, as
people of God, we must rememberthat everything is sacred, every
person made in the image of God, every beautiful plant and moss
(36:46):
and insect.
And that's a learning place forme, beloved, because I would
consider some insects profaneand some of them, I believe, do
not belong anywhere near me.
And again, I'm learning, we'reall learning this idea of what
does it mean to live in mercy,to live with each other and to
live in the presence of love.
It means paying attention tothe spirit and being awakened
(37:11):
and not saying I am better thanwe are going to soon go to the
communion table and just justthis past week I want to go
ahead I just want you to sharesomething because I'll put you
in the spot a little bit.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
But uh, just the other day we were in Atlanta
getting some business done forCatherine, and Catherine and
Heather wanted to run into thestore real quick to check on
some stuff for themselves andall of a sudden it opens up into
this opportunity.
And I see it over and overagain with Heather that she gets
(37:47):
these amazing opportunities,these stories, and we get to
hear them every week or everyother week when she remembers to
share them or whatever, butthey're happening all the time.
And the thing that repeatedlyhas happened over and over is
these individuals, will you knowlike?
She'll call somebody thatappears to be someone that is
(38:09):
unhoused and she'll call thembrother and they'll stop and
look.
Why would you call me brother?
Why?
Because people recognize whenthey receive dignity, and I
believe in this situation, ifyou don't mind telling the story
a little bit, but thisindividual just receives this
dignity.
Now you can either go well, I'mgoing to try that whole dignity
(38:33):
thing that Heather does.
I'm going to go and cry like abull, but I'm going to make it,
I'm going to try or I can justbegin to shift something in me.
You know that vessel thing ispowerful.
You know, because there'smixing bowls we have and we mix
our food in it but we're notgoing to go.
Well, those are dirty, so I'mgoing to use the toilet.
We recognize that bowl issomething else.
(38:54):
And what if you recognized?
I mean, I was so convicted whenyou said that, what if I
recognized?
Every single person is thatvessel, preciously, holding
their spirit and the spirit ofthe Lord and the value that
changes from that?
Because we treat people likethey're garbage vessels and we
(39:23):
dump most of the time on thepeople we say we love the most.
I had this early on in theministry.
Heather and the kids confrontedme.
They said why are you so niceto people at the church and not
to us?
And I was like, well, you know,you're my family, I get to be
real with you and they go.
Well, we don't want real, thenwe want Pastor Dennis from
(39:47):
church.
He's nice, come on now.
That ought not be.
But we miss and I didn'trealize, the precious vessels
that were in my home.
Help us, lord, be aware.
Do you mind sharing that,catherine?
We went to.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Atlanta.
It was unplanned, and I thinkthat every time there's
something unplanned not on yourcalendar, lord be aware.
Do you mind sharing that?
Catherine, we went to Atlanta.
It was unplanned, and I thinkthat every time there's
something unplanned not on yourcalendar, you should be aware.
Oh, there's possibly a sacredmoment coming up here and
interruption is really holy.
But we were in Atlanta, sothat's our usual stopping ground
and we had time before anappointment.
And so I said well, let's go inhere.
And Catherine needed a spatula,something very important, like a
spatula beloved, a particularspatula that wasn't going to
(40:27):
break when she used it in highheat, but she needed a spatula.
So we'll go into the store toget a spatula.
And so that was our intention.
We're going to go in the store.
And so I looked around and Ididn't see what I needed.
And so a clerk said how are you?
And I said oh, I'm great.
And I said I was confident thatyour store had them, but I
(40:47):
don't see them.
Could you help?
And he responded yes, so hecame back moments later and he
said I found it.
We don't have it in the store,but do you have it?
I'll send it to your house, andum, and then.
So I said, oh, thank you somuch.
We began to say something elseand then I said it's been one of
those weeks.
Now, at that point this is anintersection.
We can all go on or we can becurious, and the Holy Spirit is
(41:10):
curious.
How can I listen, how can I bea part of this?
And I said what kind of weekwas it?
And he said one of those weekswhere you doubt God, where you
doubt your relationship with theworld, where you don't know
anything.
That's right.
And I said, oh, I've had thoseweeks too.
And right there we made aconnection.
Not I'm better than you, I am,because I am not doubting God.
(41:34):
This week, and sometimes,beloved it is that it is this
week it was on days when webelieve this on days when we are
in agreement with this.
But he began to share a littlebit about his pain in the middle
of the store while we weregoing there for the spatula, and
he said I doubt God.
He goes, my life just is notadding up.
And he said it's painful todoubt God when that is what you
(41:56):
believed in.
I said I know, and we began totalk.
He said that he felt like hewas in a storm and I said I was
just reading this scripture.
So I began to tell him thestory where Jesus goes onto a
boat with a bunch of otherpeople and he takes a pillow.
And they had pillows in theirstore.
And I said I don't know how youdon't think about this all the
time, with all these pillowsaround here.
Well, jesus selected a pillowand took one for a nap.
(42:18):
Beloved, that's a good Sundaysermon for you.
Sometimes what you need is anap.
We see this even with theprophet Elijah, who's
complaining about everything.
And God said you know what youdo?
Go down to the brook, take alittle rest.
I'll send the birds.
They're gonna feed you, youknow, to take a nap and take a
rest sometimes.
There's just goodness in this.
But I said to this man here'sthe hope for us.
Jesus was on a boat with apillow and his friends said to
(42:42):
them aren't you, like, worriedthat we're going to die?
They woke him up.
He was having a nap on a pillowwith aren't you worried?
We're going to die.
And I began to think the pastcouple of weeks about this is
what humanity looks like.
We are so angry and frustratedthat it doesn't look like God
(43:03):
cares about us.
I mean, he's sleeping on apillow and I am in the middle of
a storm.
I don't like that kind of God.
I want a God who's up and aspanicked as I am.
No, we don't, beloved.
No, we don't.
But that's why they're angry.
They're angry that it doesn'tseem like God is doing what God
should be doing, when we're allgonna drown and they're
(43:28):
frustrated and Jesus gets up andspeaks to the wind and the
waves and the whole thing stops.
And I'm thinking he probablythought I could have gotten
another 20 minutes.
We're not gonna drown, I'm here, you know.
Jesus was literally in the boat.
So anyway, I begin to explainthis to my friend that I have
met at the Crate and Barrel andso we were there looking for.
And he goes.
(43:49):
That's good word, that's goodword to me.
And he begins to tell me alittle bit about his situation.
Again.
There's other people in thestore, we're all doing this.
And I said oh, I said I, I justknow that God is absolutely
fine with you doubting him.
I said it enters intoconversations.
Bring him your questions, bringwhatever.
And then he looked at me andgoes who are you?
Just a person in the store?
And he goes.
No, no, he goes.
I was asking God, laying on mybed, a whole bunch of questions,
(44:10):
and he goes.
And now you come to my store.
Where are you even from?
We'd already driven six hours.
And then he just looked at meand he said can you hug me?
In the middle of the crate andbarrel selling spatulas, he's
questioning God on his bed athome.
(44:31):
I drive up from Florida toAtlanta, we start talking and he
said can you hug me?
And I said absolutely, it wouldbe my joy.
And I touched the side of hisface and I said beloved.
And I touched the side of hisface and I said Beloved, god
loves you just as you are.
And he stepped back outside ofhis hug and he said why did you
(44:54):
say that to me and I saidBecause that's what the Father
said, and he hugged me like wehad been long lost, brother and
sister, and I just began tospeak a blessing over him that
in your doubt, you are welcomedto bring it to the father.
And that is the same for all ofus.
In our questions, we arewelcomed into the presence of
(45:24):
God, there is a feast preparedto us and every one of us is at
the table, welcomed at the table.
This is the hope for the wholeworld that God would gather us
in his arms and say welcome home, beloved.
There's food for you here,there's provision for you here,
there's hope for you here.
He asked for an email later andmy email is from a long time
(45:45):
ago, from 30 plus years ago.
My email is Pastor Dennis'swife, because that's what people
just referred to me as.
Years ago I didn't have a name,I was just Pastor Dennis's wife
but that is the email.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
Well, they called you Hester sometimes.
Speaker 1 (46:01):
Sometimes it was yeah , it was not my real name, but,
yes, pastor Dennis' wife, and helooked at that and he started
laughing.
He goes aha, I see it, I see itnow, and I said, this is the
hope of Christ for all of us,this invitation, Every one of us
recognizing the sacred,recognizing.
We all have questions.
All of us have questions.
Do I belong?
(46:22):
Is God going to hear me?
Have mercy on me, a son who iserred?
Speaker 2 (46:27):
He was struggling.
He shared about how his deaconsaid well, the place for you to
see God isn't on your bed andwhat else?
That's a bunch of weird doctors.
Yeah, they said that youcouldn't, you can't.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
His problem was when he was talking to God.
They said you can't ask Godquestions from your bed, you
have to be on your knees in thechurch.
And I was like, brother, don'tbring that to me, because I've
read it a lot and I've got totell you how many times.
In fact, even the psalmist saidI'm speaking to you from my bed
, I am talking with you, and howwill we be in continual prayer
(46:58):
if we can't ask God from thebest?
Well, your deacon just needs toread the Bible a little bit.
Yeah, that's all.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
And she wasn't reading.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
I wasn't mean.
I was just like, yeah, justhave a read.
She needs to read a little bit.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
But I want you to know that religion tells you
that.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
Here's how you create this sacred Right.
Speaker 2 (47:15):
And then the Spirit of God says oh, you want a
sacred, just give me a room inthe crate and barrel, just give
me an aisle, spatulas aisle, youknow, spatulas is where you'll
meet up with him.
And so the, the holy and thesacred for us can either be this
thing that you try to createand with your religious beliefs
and your behavior, that nevergets there, or you can just open
up god, and the message thatthat is is just so beautiful is
(47:38):
that you know what, what makesthat man cry?
The, the religious order thathe's got to do more.
He's got to do more and it'sinsurmountable.
Or the message that broke hisheart was your love, just the
way you are.
And the difference is one is sodisempowering that we're
paralyzed to do anythingdifferent, and the other message
is so empowering that in themiddle you just begin to change
(48:01):
from the inside out.
You know, and that is the powerof the living God.
And so let's remember that,that our gratitude.
And I'm going to tell you, youknow, I have entered stores with
a different attitude, like Ican't believe they don't have
the thing that I want.
I mean, I can't believe thatthe meeting we have is late and
(48:22):
now I got all this time.
Or you know, what am I going todo with all this time?
Or I don't have enough time, orwhatever, and we're all in this
thing.
But how many of thoseopportunities, sadly, we may
miss because we have our ownagenda?
We're just not aware.
So ask the Holy Spirit help mebe aware when there's a holy
(48:43):
moment here.
Help me be aware when you wantto do something fun.
I've been with people new to thechurch that share a message
like this and they go.
I was at work and they starttalking about God.
I started saying stuff I didn'teven know.
I knew they're like what's thatabout?
It was so amazing, it was sofun.
And you just see, there's a joywhen we hook up with the spirit
(49:06):
of the living god and there'ssuch a burden when we try to do
it in that religious spirit andwith that religious energy I
remind you from the verse ofcolossians and we're going to go
to holy communion.
Speaker 1 (49:18):
Devote yourselves to prayer with an awakened mind and
a thankful heart.
Jesus said this to us Wake up,thou that sleepest.
Speaker 2 (49:28):
This was Jesus, who loves a nap, you got all King
James on us.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
I did.
Anytime you get an ist or athou, wake up thou.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
You got a King James every once in a while.
Speaker 1 (49:35):
Everyone who is living life on autopilot.
Engage.
That's what the Spirit isoffering to us.
Devote yourselves to prayer.
Jesus is reminding us thatthere will be times of fasting.
It should be a part of ourlives that there will be times
of giving and practicing.
Tithing and offering issomething that we do in taking
(49:56):
care of each other and in takingcare of the plan that God has
to bring the kingdom here.
But the invitation is to giveup hierarchy, to give up things
that will promote ourselveswithout promoting the whole
world.
This beauty and this invitationis that all of us thrive.
The table is made ready so thateveryone can meet.
(50:16):
This is the table of the Lord,this is for us.
This practice, this initiation,this reminding, this holy
embodiment, this is the tablethat has been set for us and
we're invited in.
We hope you've enjoyed thisweek's sermon.
If you would like moreinformation about us, visit us
online at firstlovechurchorg.
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