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Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
How to End with Pastor Ryan Braley
What if embracing your weaknesses could reveal your true strength? Join us as we journey through the final chapter of our series on Ephesians, where we unravel Paul's compelling message on the transformative power of prayer. We'll challenge the cultural norm of self-sufficiency and explore how admitting our vulnerabilities can strengthen our connection with God. As we prepare for Advent, discover the simplicity of the "three here's" prayer model, designed to deepen your spiritual journey and foster a practice of being present with God.
In our discussion, we emphasize the metaphorical "armor of God," inspired by Paul's teachings and the prophet Isaiah, urging you to embody the values of truth, justice, and peace. Understand the essence of spiritual warfare and learn how to stand firm against the forces that oppose God's will. We share personal stories that highlight the natural ebb and flow of prayer life, reassuring you that it's okay to feel overwhelmed—prayer is about presence, not perfection.
As we conclude, embrace the Advent season as a time for intentional reflection and action. Carry the inspiration from our series into your daily life, using prayer as a tool to impact the world around you. We encourage you to dedicate a small part of your day to prayer during this season, trusting in its power to bring peace, love, and grace into your life. Let's embark on this journey together, seeking guidance and sharing our experiences with courage and clarity.
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Amen. Thank you, sarah. Let's pray, god. We give you thanks this morning for your presence here and we take a minute just to acknowledge that you are here with us in this place. We ask God that you would give us wisdom this morning and clarity and insight, and would you bless our time this morning as we wrap up our Ephesians series. And I ask God that all the folks who came this morning with whatever we came in with, with whatever burdens or stresses or pressures, god that you would come and take those from us. God that we could lay our cares down on you and that you would take them. So, yeah, here we are. Would you bless us this morning in Jesus' name, amen, amen, you can be seated. Morning everyone. How are we doing? Good, we are wrapping up our Ephesians series. I can't believe. We're already at the end, and that means next weekend is Advent already, so it's Advent. 1 is next weekend is Advent already, so it's Advent. 1 is next weekend. And today to wrap up our Ephesians series.
Speaker 1:The sermon, by the way, is called this, called how to End. Here's my slide for that, because we're at the end. So here's how we end. And you know, I know you're probably thinking to yourself oh, it's the Sermon or it's the Armor of God Sermon, here we go. But that wasn't what. That wasn't what kind of captivated me when I was writing the sermon. So oftentimes, when I'll prepare for a sermon, I'll read the text and I'll like this is maybe weeks in advance and I'm like looking for like what's jumping out at me or what's kind of like getting me kind of excited or inspired, and then I usually talk about that. I figure, if I'm excited about it, maybe you will be too, and I don't know. I've heard us, you know the armor of God sermon many times, and so I just actually that wasn't what jumped out at me. Rather, what jumped out at me was at the end, when Paul says pray, pray at all times, pray in the spirit, keep your eyes open, be alert and pray. This is how he wraps up the whole part about the armor of God, like yes, that's what I want to talk about. So I want to talk about prayer this morning.
Speaker 1:You might call this sermon how to End. You might also call it the Three here's. So you might have gotten a card that has here, here, here, take that out. You can take notes on here. I'm going to expand on each one of these, but if you did not get one of these, can you raise your hand? I? So keep your hand up, okay, awesome, so keep your hand up, we'll get you a here here here card. So we've got three here's One over here, thanks guys, and this one's called the three here's. So while they're passing those out, I do want to encourage you too. We have these awesome reflection journals for Advent, and so if you want to like experience I don't't know the magic or the mystery of advent, I I would love. Thanks, thanks you guys. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Um, grab one of these. There are two bucks out at the connect center. They're only two dollars. You can drop cash or you can, uh, there's like a little qr code. You can scan it and pay there. Or if you can't afford the two bucks, I get it. No problem, just tell them that, ryan, so I could grab one and take one for free, and they're on me also, I have two to give away.
Speaker 1:So is there anybody in here that would want? You want one? Okay, britney gets one. Anybody else want one? There is a? Um, there's a inside. There's a, uh, a card. Uh, yeah, I saw that hand. Okay, uh, there's a card in there too. You gotta pass it out to somebody. Invite them to christmas. So, okay, are you ready? Okay, so here, here, here.
Speaker 1:So I want to talk about a I don't know this model for prayer that I've been using very recently. It's called the three here's. I just made it up, so it should be really good. But that's what I'm talking about. But I'm gonna do some background info into why Paul says pray, so let's jump in. So here's how it ends.
Speaker 1:Paul ends this whole letter. He's been writing for a long time. Here's a long letter, six chapters long, and Paul ends with this word finally, finally, and one more thing, he says he's gonna give us one more encouragement. I imagine I'm like, oh my gosh, like Paul's already given us a number of theological statements, encouragements, things to remember. We've done a number of sermons on it. He's like, oh, one more thing, oh my gosh. It reminds me of one time we went camping with some friends and we were unpacking the gear and one of the people who will remain nameless two days we were gone, brings out one bag, a second bag, a third bag. I'm like, oh my gosh. He's like, oh, I got one more. And pulls out a bag that just has hair products on it and then puts it. One more thing, oh my gosh.
Speaker 1:I can imagine all the folks you know they would read these letters out loud. So whenever the letter would get delivered to the church in Ephesus, somebody would get up and they'd read the letter out loud and then, like at takers is taking like copious notes. And then paul's like fine, one more thing. One more thing, oh my gosh. But here's what he says. I love it how he ends. He's like hey, one more thing on top of everything I've said.
Speaker 1:Here's what I want to tell you guys be strong in the lord, be strong in his mighty power. Oh, by the way, this reminds me. Uh, speaking of being strong, congrats to the Elk River, elks state champions. Yeah, let's go. That's a good game. I got Brad Olson texting me this morning. Good job, so good job to the Elks.
Speaker 1:But hey, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. There's good news in here. The good news is this you don't have to be strong in and of yourself Many times, especially in our culture, our modern Western culture, our American culture, which sort of has championed itself. We're this great pioneer country. We're founded on this. We can do it all, which is wonderful. But we tend to buy into this lie that we have to do it all on our own and we have to manufacture the power or the strength in our faith lives and just do it on our own and be good enough, strong enough, white knuckle away through enough. And the good news is that you don't have to. The good news is that God is strong. God has enough power for you and everybody else so you can be strong in God and in his mighty power.
Speaker 1:Spiritual warfare this is, by the way, a whole section on spiritual warfare, like this cosmic battle between sort of good and evil, or the kingdom of God against the kingdom of darkness, these kinds of things. Spiritual warfare is not dependent on you being strong enough or holy enough or good enough or having enough passion or trying to just muster up. It's simply just being strong in God. That being strong in the Lord is not dependent on your strength or your goodness. I love how Paul writes it in 2 Corinthians. Paul just says it flat out like this he says hey, my grace is sufficient for you. This is what God would say. My power is made perfect in weakness. This is what God tells Paul. Because Paul has this weakness. And so God's like hey, don't worry about it, my strength, my grace is sufficient for you. And then Paul writes for when I am weak, then I'm strong.
Speaker 1:Some of you need to hear today Step one, you just need to hey, you need to just admit I'm weak and that's okay, because in your weakness you're made strong. It's sort of this upside down, counter-cultural, like spin the tables kind of a thing that the Bible and that Jesus is saying hey, in your weakness I'll be made strong, and so be strong in the Lord, paul writes. So the final thing is hey, be strong in God. And Paul would also say hey, when you're weak, that's actually a good thing, it's a good sign. Because when you're weak, that's actually a good thing. It's a good sign, because when you're weak, I'm strong. So it's okay, admit that you're strong.
Speaker 1:And Paul says you've got to be strong in the Lord because there's all this stuff at work On your journey, in your faith life. There's all these things at play, including what he calls these forces, these powers and principalities and evil things at work in the world. Here's a picture of them horrors and principalities and evil things at work in the world. Here's a picture of them. I go, olivia find me a picture of some spiritual forces and she, I got just the one. I love it, I love it. I actually is Olivia in here. Okay, I laughed out loud when I opened the email. I'm like, oh my gosh, that's great. Okay, I got some real spiritual forces. Here we go. This is maybe a little bit better. Go ahead for me. Yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1:But there are, there's these evil forces at work in the world that Paul would say, that push on you or push against you, try to knock you off your path. Maybe you realize that they're there, you feel them, you sense them, you hear them whispering to you. It's something like that. It's sort of this ambiguous thing. There's all kinds of metaphorical language, but it's something against or opposing the will and way of God in your life and in the world, in the cosmos. It's very, very real. It's not some imaginary, you know. Uh, it's actually very real.
Speaker 1:In fact, in Eugene Peterson's version of this very same scripture, he writes this in the message like hey, this is no weekend war, because it's called spiritual warfare, a cosmic battle. It's no weekend war that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This, he writes, is for keeps a life or death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels. How about that for language? So there is something that opposes the will of God and the kingdom of God in the world and it's this evil one, the devil, something like this. And how can we remain strong in a time like this? Well, paul says, put on this armor, the armor of God. And then he goes on to describe it. But he says, hey, so that you can stand against the devil and his tactics.
Speaker 1:Now the Bible uses all kinds of language for the adversary, the enemy, the evil one. It's the devil, the Satan. Satan just means the adversary, the accuser, and so there's this enemy that's out there and it's the devil, the Satan, the evil one. The evil forces the powers and principalities, which means Paul also says it's not your next-door neighbor who mows at 7 am in the morning, right, it's not a flesh-and-blood person. We don't war against human beings.
Speaker 1:So, no matter what you think, it's not the person in your work email who gets the reply all button wrong and replies all the all you know thanks, got it, it's not that. Don't do that, by the way. Don't ever reply all. It's not the person who voted across the aisle from you in the political. You know it's not that at all either. You know it's not that at all either. It's not the person from that tribe over there. It's not a person at all. Paul makes sure we know again and again it's not a person. We don't war against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and spirits and evil forces at work in the world. So there's something out there. It's a very real enemy, very real thing.
Speaker 1:And in the bible it shows up in the garden as a serpent and then later on in the book of job he shows up in the garden as a serpent and then later on in the book of Job he shows up as the Satan of the heavenly council with God who kind of argues and barters with God. Later on go ahead for me, sarah he shows up in the desert with Jesus as this tempter, tempting Jesus. In the Gospels he's called the devil. He also shows up this is a weird story. He shows up in or around or influencing the person of peter. Peter was like one of jesus's right hand guys and he shows up sort of influencing peter as the opposition to the cross. So jesus like I'm gonna go to the cross, and peter's like no, you're not. And jesus says, get behind me. Satan like what does that mean? But he shows up there also. He shows up as a roaring lion looking for those whom he might devour. Later on he shows up in the book of revelation as a dragon. He's the thief who's come to steal and kill and destroy.
Speaker 1:There is a very real enemy out there. But it's not your neighbor, it's not flesh and bones and it's not a person. We don't war against human beings. Some days you have to remind yourself of that because you forget. But there is something else a very real enemy, the evil one, the devil, the Satan, the adversary, the accuser.
Speaker 1:Now Paul writes about this and how some of these evil forces do somehow influence or manipulate people and systems. They kind of get made manifest in systems or organizations or empires. So, for example, jesus is turned over to the powers to be crucified, and the powers in this case are like the Jewish leadership, the Roman imperial military. So these powers are made manifest in systems Think of Nazism or these kinds of things that sort of transcend people. So they're very much in the real world and moving around, they're in the air, so they're both material and spiritual, but they're not a person. There's an enemy behind the thing, if you will. That's very real and alive and at work in the world.
Speaker 1:And Paul says hey, be strong in the Lord, because these things will try to knock you off course. They'll try to get you to go the wrong way, or believe lies, or misuse or abuse your power, or to love or live in the darkness, or to whisper in your ear to put on that old coat. It's fine, it looks just fine on you. Put that old coat back on. They'll cause you to question your citizenship Am I really a citizen of heaven or am I something different? They'll get you to demonize the other person. That's what they're doing in your life, and so you would do well to recognize them, which means that, as Christians, we shouldn't be surprised if we experience opposition or pushback or distraction or temptation or hardships. It's part of the faith. There's this old African proverb, in fact, that says it this way If you don't meet the devil on your journey, it's maybe because you're going the same direction. Yeah, that's good, right.
Speaker 1:So there is this very real war thing happening, with the enemy and the evil, one who's working to distract you, to knock you off course, to get you out of line. And Paul says be strong in God, his goodness, his strength and power is enough. Stand in the victory of Jesus, that's already been won. And in your weakness, that's okay, because in your weakness you're made strong. Stand and put on the full armor of God, stand. He says this four times to stand, stand. That's not really a super hard thing to do, just stand, stand firm, stand against Paul Wright. I'm going to use this, by the way, next time I fall asleep or kind of doze out when I'm in line at Chipotle. Sometimes it's going so slow. I just, sir, move along. Oh sorry, I was just doing what Paul told me to do. I was just standing. Thank you for that laughter. Just stand. And then, in christmas, just stand.
Speaker 1:And then paul goes on to say put on this full armor of god. And he lists these several things and he's not making these items up. They're actually real parts of of army or of military uh armor, but also paul's drawing from isaiah. So if you go back to isaiah chapters 11, 21, 49 and 59, the in the in the prophet isaiah, prophecy in the uh in in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah's prophesying about the coming king, this coming Messiah, and he mentions all these elements of armor. And so Paul's not just grabbing out of nowhere.
Speaker 1:Paul is quoting from the prophet Isaiah saying hey, when you stand in the power of God, take on the attributes of the coming Messiah In this case he's already come. So embody the life and the teachings and the ways of Jesus, this Messiah. So be a person of truth, live a way and a life of justice and righteousness, have a life of faith and salvation and use the word of God as a sword and have peace in your life, work for peace in all that you do. So take on the attributes of Jesus Messiah. He's quoting Isaiah and when Isaiah's like, hey, when the Messiah comes, he will look like this and he'll have all these attributes, and he lists these armor pieces in Isaiah and Paul's like yeah, yeah, do that. Take on the attributes of Jesus. In other words, like mirror model, mimic, follow Jesus, let him be your rabbi, base your life off of him and then stand.
Speaker 1:Then Paul wraps up all of this, this whole letter, this section of the scripture and this part about the armor of God, by saying hey and pray, pray all the time. Pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayers and requests, which tells me there's no right way or wrong way to pray. Sometimes we think, oh, I'm not, am I saying the right thing? Or how do I say? What do I say paul's like, just do whatever. Pray, with all kinds of prayers and all kinds of requests. Just do it and, with this in mind, be alert, keep uh, always keep praying and pray for the Lord's people. So, in other words, keep your eyes open, be awake, be alert and pray. So I want to talk about prayer Because I just have felt in the last I don't know a little bit in my life that, like God is calling us I mean, go figure, to be people who pray. And look, I don't want to add one more thing to your agenda or your weekly schedule or one more thing for you to do or to feel like you have to be a good Christian. I'm not trying to do that, but I just feel like this real sense or call back in my own life to pray.
Speaker 1:I've told you, guys, I meet with these three young men once a week. We study the Bible together and we were just a couple weeks ago. We met for like over a year, I think, and these guys we hang out in my office on Wednesdays and read the Bible, and one of them, garrett, who's here. Garrett was like this is a couple weeks ago. We've been meeting for a whole year and about a few weeks ago Garrett goes hey, can we, just before we go, can we just pray for each other? I go yes, yes, I've been waiting for someone to say that. I've been thinking that there's a test for you guys to see if you would. Of course, pastor Ryan went a whole year without thinking let's pray together, golly. So we started praying together. I'm like this is good. And we were chatting and just what does it mean to pray, and how can we pray? And so I started using this model. So, three years, Take out your card, because here's the deal.
Speaker 1:Sometimes in prayer we can tend to think my gosh, this is just more heavy lifting, more things to do. I don't have time for this. I don't even have passion to pray. I get bored, I fall asleep, I don't know if I can even do it. I want to lower the bar this morning. If I can, all right. So if you're here and you're like I don't even know right. Good, this is for you. This sermon's for you. If you're here and you're a prayer warrior and you won prayer championships and tournaments, then you are not. This is not for you.
Speaker 1:So I want to open with this quote Roberta Bonney, this great theologian and professor, says hey, if you're praying, you're already doing it right. There's no right or wrong way to pray. My dad would say pray long, pray wrong, okay, but even that's not. There really isn't a right way. She says this is a professor theologian. If you're praying, you're already doing it right. I would say if you even want to pray, if you have this desire or an inkling to pray, you're over halfway there, so you're doing just fine. So today I want to just lower the bar for all of us in this room, because really Paul would say just don't stress about it too much, just be strong in God. Let God's enoughness be enough.
Speaker 1:My own prayer life I'll just be honest sort of tends to ebb and flow. I have pockets where it just seems on fire, there's juice and it's just humming. Other times I feel like distracted, bored, like I don't know what to do and I get lost. And maybe that's you. If that's you, then you're in good company. I mean, even Jesus' own followers were praying the night before he was crucified and they all fall asleep. They're with the Son of God. So you're okay, take a deep breath. So here are the three here. So you ready, and we'll end with. This is going to take a little while, but we're going to. I want to kind of camp out here. So here's a three-word model for prayer. I want you to use this. We're going to practice it together this morning. So the three here.
Speaker 1:Number one when you, when you pray, simply just show up and say here, I am, here I am, I think prayer is maybe, first and foremost, just you saying to the divine creator of the cosmos, the creator and sustainer of all things, who loves you, just saying here I am, roberta Bondi, is Sam Roberta Bondi. She calls this, she has her own kind of thing. She calls it like five minutes with God. She says, hey, in the morning we all can spare five minutes. So spare one, two, three, four, five minutes. Get your tea, your coffee, your wine. She even says Maybe not in the morning, I guess, wine, I don't know Grab whatever and just sit down and just acknowledge that you are with and in the presence of God and just spend five minutes alert and awake to the fact that you are with God and that's it. That's prayer. Here I am, I've been doing this. I was telling these guys we've been doing it together, these three guys I meet with Just hey, here I am, and then I imagine God saying back to me here I am.
Speaker 1:For me, I think prayer in many ways is just simply being awake to the fact that God is here right now, in this place and in this time, and just saying to that God, here I am. See, prayer often feels like it's heavy lifting. I have to say the right words or the exact, you know ritualistic phrases or something to conjure up the presence of God. But the good news is that I don't have to do any of that to conjure up God. God came to us. That's the gospel. God come to you. It's his power and strength, not yours. You don't have to do anything to conjure up God. God's already done it In many ways. You're just resting in, acknowledging and being awake to the fact that it's already finished, all the hard work's been done, and you're just simply showing up on third base. Hey, here I am. Here I am and see what happens. Which means this you don't need to say the magical words, you don't have to be in a good mood, you don't have to be super holy or spiritual. You can simply say here I am and let God say back to you here I am.
Speaker 1:When we were younger, me and Katie just got married and we were like dirt poor and we lived as domestic missionaries in Colorado. We raised our own support from the giving of other people who wanted to support us. Hang on, not yet, sarah. That joke got ruined. Both services, that's all right. Some days you're the dog, some days you're the.
Speaker 1:Anyway, where was I? Yeah, so we were poor, like just dirt poor, and the people that support us were really gracious. But we didn't have a lot of money and every week we would save up money just to go out on a date once a week, and we didn't save up money to go to some fancy steak restaurant or even to some mid-level seafood restaurant. You know, we went to some Taco Bell. There we go, there we go. Remember back when they had the $59.79, $99 menu items. Yes, you could eat, you could feast like a king for like $6. It was incredible and we'd go everywhere to Taco Bell. Now, if we got some more money like if the Lord had been especially good to us and we got like a you know a windfall of money we might splurge and go to Burger King. But we didn't care where we went, we didn't care. We didn't care what kind of mood we were in, we didn't care that we were eating boiled meat or sour cream from a caulking gun. We didn't care about any of that stuff. You've been to Taco Bell, you know what's up, sliding on the grease on the floor. We didn't care, we just wanted to be together and we'd sit down and we'd say, here I am, yeah, here I am, and here I am and just see what happens.
Speaker 1:So I have a dog he's a poodle and every Tuesday and Monday, tuesday morning, I stay at home. Oh, I know I stay at home and I work from home because I get distracted pretty easily and so when I'm coming to the office it's sort of like I get kind of it's chaos. But so I'll work at home on Mondays and Tuesday mornings and just to get some like some distraction-free work and my sermons or whatever. But the morning, early morning at the Braley house it's just chaos. I got wives and kids. One wife I got one wife, one wife and kids running around. My bad One wife, kids running around, it's chaos, there's noise and everything. And then they all leave.
Speaker 1:And then I sit down at my island in the middle of our kitchen and I pull out my books and this guy comes running into the kitchen with me and lays down on the floor or on the couch and just sits with me, because you know, dogs. I mean, he's not begging for anything, he's not asking, he's not bringing me anything, he just wants to sit with me. Dogs just want to be in your presence. You know what I mean. He's supposed to be present with me and so he's like my best sermon writing partner that I have and he just sits there. He's like hey, here I am, I see you, I see you. Yeah. Sometimes prayer is just saying here I am.
Speaker 1:The sons of Korah say it this way in Psalm 84. Go ahead for me, sarah. Yeah, I'm going to skip that one. Well or not, you can go back to it. Yeah, this is one of the desert monks says. Ceaseless prayer soon heals the mind. This is true for me. My mind is like I'm often all over the place and when I slow down and pray, just here I am God, I can slow down and it heals me. Okay, go ahead for me, sarah. The sons of Korah say this in Psalm 84. It says how lovely is your dwelling place, how lovely is your presence. O God, my soul yearns, even faints for your presence. My heart I love it.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 9, there's a woman who's bleeding and she just wants to get close enough to Jesus to touch him. If I can just touch him, I'll be healed. I know it and she does. She touches the hem of his garment just to be in his presence and it heals her body Physically. It heals her. If that isn't prayer, I don't know what else is. She just wants to be near him, to touch him. Here I am. I'm going to take 30 seconds. I'm going to have you close your eyes. If you're willing, if you want to keep them open, you can keep them open and we're going to just practice this. So I want you 30 seconds just to say to God, close your eyes or whatever, and just say God, here I am, amen. May you hear God say back to you here I am. Okay, number one, here I am. Then number two the second, here is my favorite prayer here you take this. These are my best prayers. Help, here you take this. I don't know what to do with this. You take it. Help me Somebody take this. I love it.
Speaker 1:In Matthew, jesus says this I love this verse. He says hey, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Anybody weary and tired, heavy burdened this morning, take my yoke, my teaching, my instruction, my way of life. Take it upon you and learn from me, for I'm gentle and I'm humble in heart, and you will find rest in me for your souls. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. I love it. First, peter, he writes Peter writes this Peter says hey, cast your anxiety on him.
Speaker 1:Sounds easier said than done. Right, but cast your anxiety, give your anxiety to God because he cares for you. Yeah, just dump on him. I know you might feel I don't want to take advantage of God's love. No, no, take advantage of it. He's saying to do that. Give me all your junk. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. Come to me if you're weary and tired.
Speaker 1:The gospel is for all those who are tired and worn out and burnt out. Have tried it on their own, are sick and tired of it and can't do it. Okay, now we're cooking with some juice here. So cast them all on God, because he cares for you. How about this one from Philippians? He says this is Paul. Again, don't be anxious about anything. Again, easier said than done, paul.
Speaker 1:But in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Just bring them to God here. Take this, take my requests, take my stresses, my burdens, my anxieties, my confession, my temptations, all the junk I've been carrying around all morning, all day, all week. Take it, I can't carry it anymore. Help me here you take it. And the peace of God. This is the response. I love this. The peace of God, which transcends or surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. I love that. Somehow, when you give your anxieties to God like this, blanket of peace will come over you. You can't even explain it, you can't understand it. It'll just come and wrap itself around you. So here you take this God. I can't do any more with this.
Speaker 1:When you're in temptation, when things are like pressing against you, like the evil, one's trying to knock you off course or lure you down this road. Hey, just here, god, you take this. I don't know what to do with this. I can't even here, you take it.
Speaker 1:When this whole news about van man came down a couple of months ago for me and sonja, she texted me late one night and this construction stuff. If you don't know what's going on, we'll tell you later. But it was very stressful and I remember just telling her I go, you know, I don't. I don't know what to do with all this. I have no idea how we're going to go forward with this. This is terrible news, it's stressful, and I said I guess all we have to do is pray, just pray. So here, god, you take this. I don't want it anymore.
Speaker 1:This is the prayer for those who can't do it any longer, for those who are worn out at the end of their ropes, who are tired, who have tried and just can't do it any longer, for those who are worn out at the end of the ropes, who are tired, who've tried and just can't. And the good news is, you don't have to do it on your own, because you can't save yourself. You can't do that. Jesus is going to do it for you. He's already done it.
Speaker 1:Frederick Buechner says this about prayer. I love this quote here he says this. He says hey, what is prayer? Prayer is ripping open your ribcage so your heart can breathe. It's anger, rage and joy, euphoria. You name it, speak it and give it words so that it's not churning down there in the depths of your being somewhere. You want someone to be healed, you want someone to suffer for what they've done, you want some clarity for a decision of destruction, for an enemy, or you're grateful for the breath you just took.
Speaker 1:Prayer is the practice of ruthless honesty about what's going on inside of you the good, the violent, all that you want, all that you're grateful for and all that you don't want anyone to know about. You drag it all up, you vent it, you confess it and you give thanks for it. You rant about it and you express it in all of its ragged reality. Of course, this changes you. How could it not? Yeah, that's good, here, you take this. So let's take 30 seconds. Whatever you've been carrying around into this morning, whatever's coming to mind as I'm talking, just here, you take this. Take 30 seconds, just close your eyes and just tell God here, god, you take this. Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Tomorrow morning, take a minute. Tomorrow morning, the next day, three minutes. The last one is where do we go from here?
Speaker 1:I love the story of the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus takes Peter, james and John atop a mountain and he's like transfigured. His face starts to shine right there and they're like holy smokes. Moses shows up, elijah shows up Like what is that? It's this weird, mystical, magical moment. And they're like transfixed, like this is beautiful and brilliant. And Peter speaks on behalf of all of us when he says let's stay here forever. This is legit great. I just want, I don't want to leave. I love it. Wouldn't you want to do that forever? Let's just stay in this presence of God, the divine, who just took all my burden. Let's just stay here forever. But here's the deal we can't. Jesus is like no, we've got to go back down the mountain, we've got stuff to do.
Speaker 1:In fact, one morning, in Mark 1, jesus goes out to pray and he's well, it's still dark. He goes to pray, he leaves the house and he's out there praying to the Father. And it's dark, it's still early. And then Simon shows up like Jesus, where are you? Everyone's looking for you. So I'm jesus like I don't care, I want to just be here with the father all morning. That's quiet, I'm not distracted. I got my dog here. I don't know if jesus have a dog or not, but you know what I mean. But he has to go. There's things to do. So he travels throughout galilee. He's like that's what I came here to do. I've come to preach, so go throughout galilee preaching and driving out demons. Yes, there's more to do.
Speaker 1:We got work to do so you can close up your prayer After you say hey, here I am God. God says here I am Okay, here, god. Take this. Okay, god, where do we go from here? The gospel, it said, always comes to us on its way to somebody else. That means the goodness you've received from that mountaintop experience, from the love of God, the presence of God. You've got to share it. That's your job.
Speaker 1:We don't just gather in here to feel good about ourselves. It feels good in here. We don't stay here all day, that'd be weird. We got to leave, we got to go. The world needs us, our salt, our light, our goodness. It needs us. You've got to go out there. There's work for you to do, so I want you to try this this Advent for 30 seconds a day, a minute a day, I don't know five minutes a day, whatever you can spare. And remember, if you're doing it, you're doing it right already. Don't stress about just here. I am God, here, god, you take this and then where do we go from here, god, and let me know how it goes for you.
Speaker 1:And then Paul closes with this. I love it. He says this. He says, hey, pray also for me. And I want to ask you this as your pastor, I want to ask you this too Pray for me also. So he says, whenever I speak the words that may be given to me, that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel. I'm going to ask you to pray for me also. Would you pray for me? Please stand, we're going. Paul closes the letter with this benediction I'm going to bless you guys using Paul's words so if you would open your hands up, we'll close, we'll get the band up here to sing us, sing us, sing to us. I don't know where that came from, but, yeah, peace to all of you, to the brothers and sisters, and love to all of you, with faith from God, the Father of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Grace to all of you with faith from God, the Father of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Grace to all of you who love the Lord with an undying love. Keep going, amen.
