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Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
An Us with No Them with Pastor Ryan Braley
Picture a bustling ancient city with the vibrancy of modern-day New York, where historical divisions among its people were as tangible as its cobblestones. This episode transports us to Ephesus, where Paul's radical message of unity between Jews and Gentiles breaks down these barriers, inviting us to question the tribal lines we draw in our own lives. We reflect on how tribalism, deeply rooted in human history, still influences our daily choices, from sports teams to political ideologies, often clouding our perception of reality.
Imagine cheering for a sports team with undying loyalty, only to realize how tribalism seeps into every aspect of life, shaping our identities and biases. Through a light-hearted yet insightful exploration, we uncover how our allegiance to various "tribes" leads to both camaraderie and divisiveness. Join us as we laugh at the irrational behaviors this mindset incites and ponder the potential downsides of tribal affiliations, questioning whether these loyalties serve us or divide us further.
Uniting through love, we delve into Ephesians 2 and 3, where God's boundless love serves as a bridge over divides. We discuss the urgent humanitarian need for community action in support of refugees, inspired by the values of the kingdom of God. With heartfelt conversations and calls to action, we explore the profound connection between humanity and divinity, encouraging you to experience God's love through community. Don't miss this journey of embracing unity and the transformative power of love to reshape our world.
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Well, we are in our Ephesians series, and Ephesians is this wonderful letter that Paul writes to this church in this part of Asia Minor called Ephesus, and it's this vibrant, thriving community. It's sort of like an ancient world version of New York City. They have their own baseball team and everything and they're in the world. Or no, they got knocked out, no, no, they're still in it, yeah, and anyway, they have arts and culture and lots of gods Like a lot of these Greek and Roman gods are in the area and they worship these pagan gods. There's all kinds of bizarre ritualistic practices that I won't describe in full because they're kind of weird and that's kind of the culture that they were living in. And Paul goes there in Acts, chapter 19. He plants this church, and so you have this. In the middle of this, all this vibrant metropolis, you have this little fledgling, little community of Christians who are trying to live out the ways of Jesus in this part of the world. And now here's the deal, and I'm going to zoom, I'm going to rewind back a bit into Ephesians 2 for a moment, but Paul's writing at the end of 3. Here he gives this beautiful prayer that you heard. So, paul, this is the second time when Paul prays for the Ephesians and, by the way, this letter makes its way around all of Asia Minor. It becomes a circular letter, so it's really applicable to all these churches and maybe even perhaps us. Today, when he prays this beautiful prayer which we'll unpack in a minute, but he does so in a number of times he says to all of you, and what he means by that is there is no longer these lines of demarcation that were once dividing Jews and Gentiles. So for them he's writing to a predominantly Gentile area or Gentile people, but he's saying hey, the Jews and the Gentiles used to be separate, now you're together as one. And he says all the things I'm praying and talking to you about are for all of you. Does that make sense? So that's the background he's trying to tell them. Now, for us, of course, of course, there's no more Jew and Gentile and, if you know that scripture that Paul writes elsewhere, no more male and female slave for you, of course. But you guys, this is incredibly radical for this part of the world in this time, and for Jews and for Gentiles. They very much saw each other as like the outsider or we're not the same at all, and maybe you can relate on some levels. But Paul's like no, no, you are the same, you're now one in Christ, he tells him. So it's a radical thing to suggest in this letter, and he does it a number of times.
Speaker 1:So, and you should know, going even further back, human beings have lived for thousands and thousands of years in tribes. Some sociologists I guess maybe. For 30,000 plus years we have lived in tribes. By the way, my sermon is called An Us With no them. I have a picture of a tribe. I drew it myself. Let that wash over you for just a moment. I drew all my own slides this morning and it took a long time. Don't confuse length of time with quality either. Okay, they're not the same thing. It can be low quality. It still took me a long time. For example, that is a woman holding a baby in the lower left of the circle of tribe. There it's not a woman strangling a child, it's not a pet, it's her beloved child she's holding with love and care. There you go.
Speaker 1:So human beings have existed for thousands upon thousands of years in the context of tribes and actually it was very beneficial for them because it helped them in every way to survive. Think about like prehistory. So your survival in many ways depended on the tribe, your loyalty to the tribe and your movement within the tribe. They shared their food resources. That was helpful. They got to. You know, if one person gathered a lot, they would share with everybody. They were collaborative in their hunting efforts. They were also protective of the tribe against other predatory animals or even other tribes, and so they were very much shaped and formed within the context of the tribe. Their thinking was kind of tribal, their language was tribal and uh and.
Speaker 1:But, as you can imagine, as their loyalties were for the tribe, because it meant to be loyal to the tribe, that meant that there was immediately following, several times or many times, a distrust in other tribes Because there were other tribes out there. So you had your tribe and there were other tribes, and those other tribes typically meant, oh, they're going to endanger us because they're going to infringe upon our resources or they might threaten us physically. So I drew a picture of the other tribe as well. There we go. It's all becoming clear now, isn't it, with these beautiful drawings. So this created what we call like inter-tribal conflict, and there was all kinds of tribal conflict throughout history. There have been these tribal conflicts where one tribe sort of wars against the other tribe because life within the tribe and being the same, moving the same, thinking the same, even looking the same, meant your survival and anything outside of that tribe threatened your tribe.
Speaker 1:Now, over the course of I don't know how long and many scientists and historians aren't really sure but over the course of time, they began to see it as important to mark out where their tribe ended and where it began. So they began to adopt certain ways of being within the tribe. So sometimes they began to carry banners or flags within the tribe. Go ahead for me, sarah. Oh, here's your conflict. There's your inter-tribal conflict. Dynamic, I know, thank you. So they would carry banners or flags in the tribe.
Speaker 1:Also, over the course of time, tribes began to sort of invent or began to speak in their own language. Anybody read that Are you a part of this tribe? How about this tribe? Oh, now I'm cooking with some gas, aren't I? Now, I got your attention. And also, over time, they began to wear the same kind of tribal sort of dress and mark their bodies in certain tribal ways To which many of the other tribes are like. Those guys are weird, but they do it anyway. They had their own language. They had their own dress, their own markings, their own flags. They had their secret handshakes and ways of doing things. They had their own ritualistic gatherings. They even had their own kind of inside jokes. This is classic tribalism. When you make inside jokes, you know, ha ha ha, tom, remember Tom? Oh, yes, ha ha ha. Meanwhile you're like who is Tom? That's tribalism. It's like this very you know inside jokes, the whole nine. This is what we're going to mark out that tribe against other tribes.
Speaker 1:Now, being loyal to the tribe, as I mentioned, was very, very important because those inside the tribe were safe, they were protected, they shared resources. It helped them proliferate as a tribe. Meanwhile, if you left the tribe, it almost meant certain death. So if you left and wandered off like the lone wolf would get eaten back in the day because it was very dangerous out there from other animals, other tribes. So you had to be a part of your tribe. If not, if you left your tribe, you would be in danger. So loyalty to the tribe, propping up the tribe was super important. In fact it was very much vital for your own survival. So all these selective pressures began to shape how humans thought, how they behaved. It created good things like collaboration and ideas of altruism and empathy and sympathy within the tribe, but also distrust and fear for those outside the tribe.
Speaker 1:One of the other bizarre phenomenons in the tribe was this thing called cognitive biases. You ever heard of cognitive bias? It's where those within the tribe all think a certain way, because why wouldn't they? It helped their survival. So everyone in the tribe began to think the same way. Go ahead for me, sarah. Now. It may be true, but it may not be true. But everybody within the tribe thinks the same. They have this bias, so they almost can create their own sense of reality. True or not true, it doesn't really matter. But they all agree because to be loyal to that idea or the tribal thinking is actually beneficial. It helps keep you within a good in the tribe.
Speaker 1:How about this example? That's funnier. Come on, I thought that was funny. I like that drawing thank you to the front row up here. That was fun. So this idea. I'll wait longer if there's more laughter out there. Anybody? Nope, okay, moving on. So we would think the same even if it's not true.
Speaker 1:Now here's the deal. No tribe is immune to this. Every tribe does this. So if you root for this sports tribal team over here, you do it. You have this cognitive bias, loyalty to support the tribe, sometimes a distrust in what might actually be the truth, but it doesn't matter, because the tribe dictates the truth. If you vote for this sports team over here, you do this. Sometimes it's true, maybe it's not true, but you adhere to the same ideologies. If you vote over here oh, now I got your attention you do this. Or if you vote over here, you do this Even though you think we don't do it, they only do it. Yeah, that's tribal thinking. If you worship in this stream or tradition or faith background and think that you have all the answers and nobody else does you think like this. Or if you're a part of this worshiping community across the street, that does it, just a little bit differently than you do it. You do it over there as well. This is one of the consequences of tribal thinking is that you tend to think the same, even though it may or may not in fact be the truth.
Speaker 1:Tribalism, many folks suggest, is actually human nature. It's sort of innate into who we are because we've sort of we've progressed or evolved, whatever language you want to use into this way of thinking, because it's sort of kept us alive for for thousands of yeah, centuries, thousands upon thousands of years. So there's theological language for this as well, but sociologists call it tribalism. It's sort of this innate to human, human nature. Now here's the deal Many of these defense mechanisms because that's what it is you're defending your tribe against other tribes or predatory animals or the elements. Many of these walls are no longer necessary. They're just not. I mean, we still have tribes today. You must know this and recognize this, right? Here's some examples of some tribes that we have today.
Speaker 1:Your family's a tribe, right Like my family, the six of us. When they were little, we would just go everywhere like a little tribe, we would just do everything together. Your city is a tribe Elk River, let's go, no. Zimmerman Rogers, big Lake Okay, fair enough. My mom, your workplace is a tribe. Your sports team, many of you are wearing tribal colors. I see you out there with your tribal uniform on today. All right, fair enough, your religion can be its own tribe. Politics is certainly not immune to this. In fact, it's a great example of tribal thinking and tribalism. School, what school you went to.
Speaker 1:How about cars? I mean, do you know a Jeep owner? I mean, we get it, you own a Jeep, you're better than everybody else. We get it. Okay, fine, just kidding, I'm just jealous because I want one so badly. How about? Oh, costco. There's this great video of a young man at a college football game and he's trying to riz up this girl next to him. He's trying to put the moves on her and he shows her this thing out of his wallet and you don't see what it is. And she sees it and she goes, oh, she's super impressed. And then she flips it over and it's a Costco card. I guess it worked.
Speaker 1:I'm like, dang, I've got to bring my Costco. I mean, I'm married so I don't need to do that. But if you're single, bring your Costco card out. Maybe that's the. I'm a part of the Costco tribe. Any bulk items you need, let me know, girl. How about your diet? That's a tribe. How do you know if someone's a vegetarian? Oh, don't worry, they'll tell you. Just just kidding, but it's true. Crossfitters same thing. We get it. You do, crossfit, we. I'm the same way. I'm not immune to this either. I'm not. I'm just making fun of myself too.
Speaker 1:There's this idea of all these tribal us versus them. So we're loyal to the tribe. We have to be helps us survive. We adopt the emotions and the thoughts and the feelings of the tribe. It's good. We're invested in the tribal victories and their defeats. This is why grown men, adults, cheer for, get emotionally enraptured, cry or yell and scream at a TV that has a guy on it that they don't even know, who lives miles away from them, who doesn't know them. But they're so invested in some random strength.
Speaker 1:Why Tribalism? So I cheer for Bo Nix, for the Broncos, because he's my guy. When he wins I win Even though I have nothing to do with the game at all. He can't even hear me cheering. I live in Minnesota. That's goofy if you think about it. That's tribalism. We're invested. Even when one individual of the tribe has success, we feel invested. There's a tribal pride and also we will do anything we can to protect the tribe at all costs, at all costs. This is what we call tribalism.
Speaker 1:Now here's the deal, though. There's two glaring problems with this, if you haven't already kind of sensed them already. Number one is tribalism causes us to behave very badly on many occasions. I'm sure you could tell many stories, but I was at a baseball game at the Elk River Actually, Ryan, coach Ryan's here, but I was at an Elk River baseball game years ago and I had my team.
Speaker 1:We were like I think there were 12 at the time, so young boys and we were watching Coach Ryan and the Elks play against Rogers a tribal rivalry, are you with me? And we had shown up late and it was packed, a packed house, because all the fans came to watch this tribal warfare, go on on the diamond. And we, on accident, sat on the wrong side. We were in tribal territory, the wrong other tribe, wrong tribe. We had all the wrong tribal colors on. We were seeing all the wrong things. We were like, oh, we were very clear that we were on the wrong. We were on the wrong side of this tribal game here. And anyway, at one point the ump made a bad call and I don't know if it was good or bad or not, but and this guy next to me who was wearing the Rogers tribal colors and saying all the Rogers tribal things, he got really mad because it was against Rogers this call. Now you could substitute these two teams with any team.
Speaker 1:So I'm not picking on Rogers or Alcremier, but he starts getting messages like swearing, like irately swearing, which I'm like that's also tribalism behaving badly. Come on, dude, it's just a high school baseball game. We're all going to go home after this and enjoy some pizza and relax and go to sleep. It's not going to be the end of the world, you know. So I go hey. So after like a long time of him like in front of the kids, like screaming, yelling, I go hey, dude, it's hey, it's fine. But you know, would you mind? There's kids around. Well, that was a mistake. I didn't know. You can't. If you're not a part of the tribe, you can't do that. Their own tribal members can, but not you, dude.
Speaker 1:So he turned all of his anger and vitriol on me, like oh my gosh, we're grown-ups here, you know, and started yelling at me, like swearing at me. I'm like you've got to be. What are we doing Now? He didn't know that I'm dangerous. I know, pastor Karate, he didn't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's pray. He didn't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's pray.
Speaker 1:You know, when you're 30 years old, there's only one, there's only one way to win a like a bar fight like this, and you realize you're 30, like we're not gonna fight, let's get out of here, let's roll on you. So I had to leave anyway. So but he's like still chirping and whenever and I'm like we gotta get going. So we left. I took my son. I think lo Logan was, were you there? Then, yeah, logan was there. So we left and the guy starts following me to my car, like come on, dude, you don't want none of this man, but there is a sense of even in me, like this tribalism, like you wanna fight. I'm not gonna fight the guy, but you know like there's that. But oddly enough, uh, our friend brian girdis, who was an elk river coach and now coaches for rogers as a son, he came over and like hey, ryan, and so he kind of intercepted it and nothing happened.
Speaker 1:But people behave badly when there's tribal warfare and tribal conflict and tribalism and scarcity kind of mentality. We behave badly. This great author says this. His name is stephen hop says hey, wars are always tribal. We think maybe they're economics or resources or politics, maybe, but most wars are tribal. So, number one we behave badly. Number two we think wrongly. So tribal thinking group think we start thinking wrong. Things are true. Did you know?
Speaker 1:For example, for a long time, doctors thought and professed that smoking was good for you and actually healthy. They thought it was Thank you, thank you. I had to draw one a few times to get it just right. I think he's French. It's totally healthy, you don't have to cigarette. I don't know why he's French, but they did. They would prescribe it for folks with sore throats. Even though there was data, it was like nope. But as the data began to get more and more overwhelmingly so, they're like oh, we changed our minds, but Groupthink had doctors prescribing smoking cigarettes for sore throats. Because here's the deal Within the tribe one of the media of the tribe, or mediums media of the tribe, is propaganda, and so tribalism always wields propaganda.
Speaker 1:All right, move on. And so the modern media feeds on this. Listen to it. The modern media exploits for profit our own tribalism. Many of them probably don't care too much, but they know it'll get you provoked to click their thing or to buy their thing or to buy into this madness of the crowds. And we do it because tribalism, and we're inclined to believe these wrong things even though there's proof, probably, that it's wrong.
Speaker 1:But because of tribal thinking and tribalism. And it's how we interpret things too. For example, oh, no, no, no, these are just peaceful protests. These are violent acts that will undo our very civilization Right Now. Before you think, I'm talking about Minneapolis, which you could apply, that for sure. There was a study done in 2012 where they had a group of people look at the same photo of a protest and they took them from both tribes and said hey, what's happening here? And one tribe without fail, every member was like oh, those are peaceful protests. The other tribes were like no, no, no, those are violent acts of destruction. They're undermining civilization, the West as we know it, or whatever, and it was entirely dependent on their tribal thinking. This is what the media does, this is what we all know. We kind of believe these things because of our own tribal thinking.
Speaker 1:So this is the context when Paul shows up in the first century in Ephesus and you have Jews one tribe, if you will you have Gentiles another tribe, if you will and they're very much a part of this tribalism, tribal thinking oh, you're not really a part of the people of God. Oh, no, no, you're not really part of the people of God. We're doing this or we're doing this, and Paul dramatically says hey, you guys. Jesus came to end all of that. He's done something brand new. He's created a new humanity, a new oneness, a new family. I drew a picture of that. Oh yeah, divisions. Yeah, there we go. Yeah, yeah. Paul says hey, we're now one in Christ Again. We're like, of course, yeah, of course, no problem. But for these people, for Jews and Gentiles in the ancient world, this would have been an extremely hard pill to swallow. Like how could you say that that tribe is now a part of our tribe? And rather, what he's really saying is we're all a part of a different tribe, a new tribe in Jesus, a new humanity, a new way of being a human, a new creation, and Jesus brings us about in peace.
Speaker 1:So open your Bibles, ephesians 2. Turn to page 950, if you don't mind, 950. And I'm going to look back on chapter 2, and then we'll go to the prayer in chapter 3 to wrap it up. Here's what he says. I love this. This is incredible.
Speaker 1:So, chapter 2, verse 14, when you're there, say Sha-pow-pow All right, a couple of you are there, great. Here's what he says. For he Jesus, for he is our peace. By the way, in a Jewish mind, this idea of peace is not just absence of war, it's the word shalom. This is in Greek, it's written in Greek, but he's no doubt a Jew thinking about this Jewish idea of shalom wholeness, completeness in community. We all have enough, we're forgiveness, and harmony and love abound. It's the idea of communal togetherness and oneness. Jesus is our peace, he says In his flesh. He's made both groups into one, both tribes have now become one tribe and has broken down the dividing wall that is the hostility between us. He's saying hey, we are now an us with no them. We're now an us with no them. Yeah, jesus came to create an us with no more them. And for us to live as the church, we must adopt this way of thinking. We are an us with no them.
Speaker 1:So then Paul prays. Here's what he prays in verse four. So go down to sorry end of three in verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father From every family. Every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches and glory, this abundance, that God may grant you strength and your innermost being the very heart of who you are, with power through the Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you're being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have power to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth? And to know the love of christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with the fullness of god.
Speaker 1:Notices, he kneels before the father. Now, most jews prayed standing up. Sometimes they would lie down or they would kneel, but most would be praying up along with the greeks. The greeks would stand and they would reach their hands towards the gods or the statues, or the Greeks. The Greeks would stand and they would reach their hands towards the gods or the statues, or the seas or the heavens or whatever. They're praying to invoke that spirit.
Speaker 1:But Paul kneels this idea of submission and humility. He kneels before the Father. God's called the Father. Here I say all the time God is not a being. God is not a human with body parts and therefore a gender. God is not that at all. But they use the word Father, a ton for God. In the Bible there's some feminine language for God as well, because God, in Genesis 1 anyway, sort of embodies both the feminine and the masculine, which is beautiful. But he's called a lot by Jesus and by Paul, fathered. Because fathers in the ancient world were supposed to be and even today's world were supposed to be generative giving, sharing, generate, things, create. They were givers of life. In the ancient world they thought that the male gave life to the woman. That's what they thought biologically was happening. So God has called us he's the giver of life to the woman. That's what they thought biologically was happening. So God has called this he's the giver of life.
Speaker 1:And Paul uses another term that Jesus uses, the term Abba, which is this ancient word that really means it's more like a term of endearment for a father. You wouldn't use it for a stranger, but like your own father that you love deeply, father. It's a close, intimate name for your father. So if you had a father who was good, you'd call them Abba. Or if you didn't have a father who was good, but the father you would want to have, like you would call it like that would be Abba, this idea of this beautiful, loving father.
Speaker 1:And so Paul says I kneel before the father and he prays that through the spirit they would experience power, because the spirit was that which enabled people and you and I to do the things that were difficult and arduous and hard and led to long distance kinds of things. And Paul's like hey, we trust in the power of the spirit. The spirit was that which, like it was like electricity that gave power to the machine. That's the spirit and he's giving it to both of the Jews and the Gentiles. And then he says so that Christ may dwell in us. Yeah, that Christ would dwell. He says may you be rooted in and established in love, god's love to us, and in your response to others. May this give you power. Then he drops it again Together because of this. May you experience the power of God through the spirit which binds you together, both Jews and Gentiles. The tribalism is done, it's over, it's gone. Now you may be bound together in one spirit, all of you.
Speaker 1:The original language there is y'all, all y'all Texans. They can't just do it simply. They don't just say y'all in Texas, any Texans in the house, okay, fair enough. They say not just y'all, which means everybody, but all y'all. Or if you're from New York, any New Yorkers in the house, okay, yeah. They say youse guys All, youse guys California, okay, yeah. They say used guys, a used guy, all used guys, california, any Californians, all you dudes, gender, male, female, it doesn't matter, you're all dudes if you're from California or Minnesota, folks all used folks.
Speaker 1:Paul's saying all of you, all of us. We're a part of this family where the Father is God, and we're a part of this beautiful family. God so loved the cosmos, the whole thing, the whole thing is now in us, with no them. So, even though we now exist, jews and Gentiles alike, which is really in the Jewish mind everybody, even those who are irreligious, we're all now in this one beautiful family that God has concern for the whole thing, for everybody. God's love reaches for everybody.
Speaker 1:He says hey, when you're together, may you experience the width of God's love. Yeah, how wide is the love of God? Well, it reaches from end to end and includes everybody. May you know the, the length of God's love. How far does it go? It goes on forever, it's never ending, it just goes. May you know the height of God's love, paul says the height that reaches the heavens, which in the ancient world they thought that's where the gods dwelled. So may it reach there the highest mountain, the skies, the cup out. May you know the height of God's love and the depth of God's love. How deep does that go? Well, the psalmist writes that even in Sheol, even in hell, the place of the dead, even in the valley of the shadow of death, even in your deepest suffering, your most shameful moments of your life, your depression, your anxiety, your loneliness, the things you're too afraid to admit to, even there, your deepest wounds that you don't even want to talk about, even there, may you know that God's love is in the deepest depth that there is. So, together, all y'alls, all you guys, may you experience the love of God.
Speaker 1:I think what Paul is saying is there's an element of God and the divine, the mystery that you can only tap into or touch, or feel or experience through being you guys, through all the folks, through all of y'all. I think it's great that you experience God on a boat up north, fishing all by yourself. Can I get an amen, fishermen? I think it's wonderful that you can experience God alone, in your prayer closet, with your Beth Moore devotional. It's great, I love it. That's wonderful too. I think it's great that you can. You know, there's these folks that run for pleasure. We call them psychopaths. These people run for fun. I don't get it, but when they do, they feel God's great. I'm glad that you alone, running in the middle of the night, can feel God's. But, friends, there's an element of God and God's love that we can only experience in and through and with each other. That's the church. The church is the place where the fullness of God fully dwells, and it isn't the building, it's us that, when you sit next to each other, some of you are experiencing God in each other.
Speaker 1:I was a part of a house church for many years and a good friend of mine was a part of this house church and she had lots of physical needs. She had a lot of sicknesses, things she was wrestling with and battling with, and she had a lot going on. And she would often say to me Ryan, I'm just so sorry, I'm such a burden. And I would say you are a huge burden. Because she was. She was a big burden man. She had a lot going on. I said but don't you ever apologize for that? Don't, because that's what we're here for. I'm a burden. And look at me, church, you all are a big burden. You can be a pain in the butt sometimes. You must have known this about yourselves, I hope. Yeah, that's what we're doing here. That's fine. We're all burdened, that's fine. But we're going to do it together because in doing so we can carry that burden for each other, somehow make the load a little bit lighter. That's the church, within the fullness of God, fully dwells. Don't ever apologize to me or to people here for being a burden. That's what we're here for. We signed up for it.
Speaker 1:Is Sam gone? I'm up. Where is he? Oh, there's my friend, sam. Can you wave Sam? Sam's our intern. He's brand new, fresh out of the wrapper intern at Central. He's in seminary. He's going to be installed next Sunday but he's a part of our Caring Ministries sort of team and Kirsten and I had him go visit some people last week.
Speaker 1:And I go hey, let's process this together. I don't think I ever asked permission to share this story. Do you mind if I share this story? Okay, good, too late at 8.30, man, and he came in. I go.
Speaker 1:How was it? It was heavy, man. There were some visits where it's heavy. You're visiting folks who are near death, folks who've lost their memory, who are near death, folks who've lost their memory, folks who can't really feed themselves, folks who are lonely. Their families have not really been around. You know it's heavy, you know, yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 1:But here's the beautiful thing, dude when you're there for that one hour if what Jesus said is true, then you're sitting with Jesus and somehow you're tapping into this beautiful, mystical part of the body of Christ and God himself. When you sit with somebody like that, and them too, you're experiencing God in some dynamic way that you couldn't have otherwise and you're carrying their burdens for an hour. That's what we're doing. We have Alpha every Tuesday night here at Central. It's been wonderful.
Speaker 1:Many of you are a part of this and we're like four weeks in and I'm already hearing stories about people in these groups who are like in their group of about eight people, ten people, they're like pouring out their life to each other and crying and weeping and hugging and sharing stories, and I'm like dang, that's it. They're tapping into the divine in this mystical way. Together they're experiencing the width and the length and the height and the depth of God's love that they can only experience in that moment by themselves alone, talking to a mirror, they couldn't experience. I'm just telling you that's what they're doing. My friend Kelsey has taken this to heart. So this is my friend Kelsey. Can you wave, kelsey? She wants to partner with a group called Welcome Corps, and Welcome Corps is a ministry that's helping to relocate refugees in the world that are in dire straits or in need. So she sent me some stats.
Speaker 1:There's about 117 million refugees in the world who've been displaced through events and actions that are not their fault. So, for example, when the American soldiers left Afghanistan, there were lots of allies, afghan allies, who were helping the American military, and when the Americans left, they were left a bit high and dry. Their own people had like kind of divorced themselves from them because they were helping the American military, and now they're traitors to their own people. Many of them and the Americans have just pulled out for all kinds of reasons and whatever you think about that, they have nowhere to go. That's safe. So many of these folks, refugees, these ones and other ones live in these camp encampments for many, many years and have nowhere to go, and so this group called Welcome Corps is trying to help relocate a lot of these refugees who are in need of just basic human necessities. And if we are an us with no them, that sounds like kingdom of God kind of a thing to me. So Kelsey is like, hey, can we start a group at Central and just get some folks together to help relocate one of these families maybe probably we don't know yet, but probably one of these Afghan families that has helped the military and bring them here to Elk River, and I was like I don't know if Central's ready for this, but I think they might be. So I said, yeah, so she's going to be out there in the lobby and hanging out. If you want to be a part of that, if something kind of tugged on your heart there and I don't know, is Paul here? Oh, I was talking to Paul Novotny about it and Paul goes. Hey, paul Novotny, you maybe know Paul. He's like, hey, what would Jesus do, man, let's go for it kind of a thing. It was pretty cool, yeah, and help them probably. So if you want to help with that, talk to Kelsey, wave your hand again. See, here Also one more way to help If you're not a part of a journey group or a house, church or a community of people from here, I would strongly encourage you to get into one, because this is how we experience the love of God in a deeply profound way.
Speaker 1:So those alpha groups. If you're in alpha, we're going to try to turn those into some journey groups and small in-house churches. So just hang tight if you're in alpha. If you're not and you're not in one I would love for you to be in one. So this is my friend, peter, actually Kelsey's husband. Coincidentally, peter oversees our life groups and he'd love to get you into a life group. And I know, I get it. People are weird, don't point fingers, but I get it. And relationships are messy, they're hard, people bug you and they pick their nose and they say rude things. I get it, but that's what we're doing here. That's what we're doing. We're carrying each other's burdens. So I would love for you to be a part of one of those things. So talk to Peter, put it on your prayer card, we'll get you into a group. We'll help find some people with you that you're like, hey, maybe grab that guy, maybe Steve would be with me, and then we can put you into a journey group or a house church. Yeah, fair enough. Central Lutheran Church.
Speaker 1:May you know that Jesus has absorbed the hostility and violence of the tribes, the conflict, the pain, the suffering. He's absorbed it and has created a oneness, the body of Christ. He calls it. Somehow we are the body of Christ. It's the language Paul uses again and again, and again, and somehow we can experience God in uniquely profound, mystical but beautiful ways, in and through each other.
Speaker 1:How do we love God who we can't see? Well, we love our neighbors, we serve them and take care of each other. How do we love God who we can't see? Well, we love our neighbors, we serve them and take care of each other. How do we receive love from God? Well, some ways we receive it from our neighbors, who take care of us and love us and hug us. This is how we experience God. So may you know, central Lutheran Church, the width of God's love. May you know the length of God's love that goes on forever. May you know the height of God's love that goes on forever. May you know the height of God's love that reaches the heavens and the depth of God's love that reaches deep down into your darkest parts of your life, in your history. May you know the love of God. I mean know it through each other, amen.
