Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Weekly sermons from our Central Lutheran Church preaching team plus quick reflections from Pastor Ryan Braley.
Real talk, ancient wisdom, and honest questions — all designed to help you learn, grow, and find encouragement when you need it most.
At Central, our mission is simple: FOLLOW Jesus together, be a community where you BELONG, and LOVE our neighbors across the street and around the world.
Think deeper. Live freer. Share an episode with a friend and visit us in person anytime — you’re always welcome here in Elk River, MN.
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Life That is Full of Life with Pastor Ryan Braley
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What if the most life-giving thing you could do this week is stop? Not “check out” or “treat yourself,” but actually cease, long enough to wake up to your own life again. Before heading into a three-month sabbatical, we share a message built around Jesus’ promise of life that is full of life and the ancient practice that protects it: Sabbath.
We dig into the roots of Sabbath and Shabbat, why the seven-day week isn’t grounded in astronomy, and how Israel turns time into theology with a six-and-one rhythm. We talk about the surprising first thing the Bible calls holy and why holiness isn’t only about places, it’s about setting apart time. Then we bring it straight into modern work life balance, stress, and burnout with a sticky metaphor: the rumble strip, the “sleepy bumps” that interrupt drifting and save lives.
From practical Sabbath habits like a weekly dinner, a phone-free lunch break, a walk, or watching the sunrise, to the deeper inner work of slowing down and hearing what constant motion silences, we keep coming back to three reminders: you’re not God, stopping exposes what’s underneath, and rest helps you become human again. If you’re tired of living on default mode, this is a simple and challenging place to start.
Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs permission to rest, and leave a review if it helped. What small rhythm of stopping will you try this week?
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Prayer For Baptism And Freedom
Thanks this morning for your presence. Uh thank you for Amy and for Will and their presence here. And uh pray bless them, God, this morning as they've been baptized. May they live as free people. I think often of Brandon Manning said there's nothing more maddening in this world than a free person. And so would you make them free? Make it all make all of us free, God, this morning. Would you wake us up in all the ways we need it so badly and desperately, God? And all the ways we've fallen asleep. Would you wake us up and uh give us life this morning in Jesus' name? Amen.
Sabbatical Farewell And Why I Pastor
You need me seated. Well, good morning. How are we doing? Oh man. Okay, this is my final sermon until I go on sabbatical for three months. So I will see y'all in September. And uh I'm gonna miss you guys. I you know, maybe you know this, maybe you don't, but the reason I do this is because for the longest time I've just I've loved people, I've always loved people and talking with people and sharing stories. And I'm like, this is incredible just to be able to do this with these two and to rally around these two and and love on them and baptize them. And uh what a gift this has been to just have our lives kind of brush up against each other. It's the same with all of you. And that's why that's why I pastor. Um yeah, and I've always loved talking about Jesus. I think there's something fascinating about this Jesus stories. Like they're they're so they're so wildly different. And he was a fascinating person. And uh the Bible, this ancient old book, it's just this wildly entertaining, I mean it is, but it's a wildly uh profound book that's super old and it reads like it, but it's this book that people still read and glean from today. And and so uh that's why I do it. And I and I and uh in the meantime, I've I've fallen in love with all of you. And so I'm going on sabbatical because I want to continue to sort of cherish this gift I've been given in pastoring you guys. And so uh that's what I'm doing. And so I'll be gone for three months. I'd love to say goodbye at the end if you have a chance. Um, but I am coming back in three months, uh, you know, so don't panic or or celebrate, whichever the case might be. I don't know, whatever. But uh, I'll be back in September. And um, you know, if you can't say goodbye today, that's so you can say goodbye later, but I'll be up front or whatever the case might be. But uh pray for me as often as you think of me. I'll do the same for you as
Life Full Of Life Roadmap
well. And but before I go, I wanted to just share one final kind of message before I go this summer and and then invite you into a couple of things at the end. So this morning, my sermon is on life that is full of life. Yeah, and Jesus said it can give you life and life to the fall. And so I want to talk about three things this morning. I want to talk about uh sabbatical roots. Like, where does this idea of a sabbatical come from? What does it mean? What does the word even mean? Uh I want to invite you to perhaps do one yourself. I realize that many of you, maybe most of you, can't take three months off of work, and I understand that. And um, you know, maybe many, maybe some of you are in the room thinking to yourself, oh gosh, must be nice. Pastor Ryan gets three months off of work, and it must be nice. To which I would say, yes, it is nice. Thank you very much. It's very nice. Thank you. I would also add, you could have had my job if you wanted it, you still can't. I can help you get to uh you have your job though, and you get benefits that I don't get. So uh anyway, stay in your own lane. Uh and uh but um yeah, but I do want to encourage you to like maybe you can do things like this in your life. And I want to share why I think you should. So that's the first thing. Number two, I want to share the greatest invention of the 20th century. Who yes? And I know you know what it is already. I know you know what it is, but save it. I'll give it to you in the middle of this sermon here. And then I want to end with three things that I want to kind of get or take from or pray for for myself on sabbatical, and that I think maybe you might resonate with a little bit and also maybe pray for these same things for you. Because while I'm gone for three months, you'll have your three months. And there's some things I want you to be invited into doing as well. Sound all right?
Where Sabbath And Shabbat Begin
So let's begin with sabbatical and its roots. So in the ancient world, maybe you know this, but time was mostly governed by astronomical phenomenon, by the natural world. So the day, there was no clocks back in the day. Uh they knew a day was a day because the sun would rise and fall, and then the moon would do the same, and then it would happen again. And that repetition was what they called a day. Now we know the sun doesn't rise and fall, the sun actually is we're we're rotating around it, but but that was they they knew a day was a day. It was governed by the sun. Months were similar, and that the month was governed by the lunar cycle. Uh the moon. In fact, month and moon come from the same root word. And so about 29 or so days is a lunar cycle, and that's about a month. So the ancients knew a month was as long as this lunar cycle was. Seasons were the same, or years. So the year was the repetition of the seasons, these four seasons, depending on where you live, um, or the the stars in the sky, and they knew that there was this uh repeated cycle of these seasons, and this is what they called a year. Uh, the people were very tied and connected to the earth. Like the earth dictated all the that they did, and uh, it marked their time. For us, it's probably a little bit different. I mean, the markings of time in the modern world are maybe a tad different. Like if you have little kids, your time is governed by your little kids. How they wake up, when they wake up. Uh, if you have teenagers, your your time is often dictated by the the mood of that teenager. Can I get an amen for any parents of teenagers? If you're a teenager, it's dictated by like whatever exam you have coming up, whatever your next test is, or the finals, or you know, whatever. Um, and I made this joke this morning because I'm like, well, maybe uh if you're here and you're retired, you have different things that govern your, you know, your time, like your and uh your weekly Thursday trip to the hardware store, uh, or your like 7:30 p.m. bedtime. Maybe 7.45 if you're crazy and have a wild night. You want to get 15 more minutes? Um, maybe it's your visits to the doctor's office. I don't know. I'm just saying. But there are these things that govern our time. And our seasons, of course, in the modern world are dictated by Target. You know, I didn't know it was Halloween already, but apparently I went into the Target and they have Halloween decorations, so it's already Halloween season. But in the ancient world, they had these sort of astronomical phenomena that dictated and governed time, except for one unit of time, and that was the week. There's no obvious natural occurring phenomenon that governs a seven-day week. Did you know this? Nothing happens in the natural world that dictates this time. You could say this way that there's no astronomical reason for a week to be seven days. Why are we seven days? Nobody really knows, except that maybe in ancient Mesopotamia, which is like modern-day Iraq, the Babylonians invent the seven-day week. And it begins to be used in this area. And of course, later the Jews, the Israelites, they began as Israelites, uh, the ancient Israelites, they adopted the seven-day cycle of a week. Now, for them, sevens were important, also for the Babylonians. The seven was a uniquely important number. But the the Israelites added a caveat, a wrinkle in their seven-day week that was unique to any other culture around them. They said, hey, on the seventh day, we'll stop doing anything and not work. So our seven-day week won't be seven days of just working. We'll work for six days and then we'll take one day and we'll stop. It's sort of like a holiday, but every week. This is the first ever invented holiday, this regular recurring day that's not based on a natural uh occurring phenomenon. It's wholly an Israelite invention, this six and one rhythm, working for six days and then stopping or ceasing for another day. And this rhythm of six and one was not governed by the stars or the sun or the moon or any astronomical things. It was governed by God. So for them, it wasn't an astronomical rhythm, like the day or the month or the year. It was actually a theological rhythm. Yeah, this was a theological idea for them. And they called this seventh day, they gave it a name. Did you know that in the Hebrew language, the days, except for that last one, they don't have names. They just sort of given numbers. So here's an example. Uh oh, yeah, this is the rhythm that they had: six days of work and one day of not working or rest. Now, the first day of the week was, of course, a Sunday. Now, the Sabbath or Shabbat was different for the Jewish culture. It still is. Their day began on Sunday, and their Sabbath or their Shabbat or day seven is actually on Saturday. Now, to confuse you even more, the days begin at sundown and they go till the next day at sundown, but that's just how they view their days. But day one is just called the first day. It's not given a name, it's just sort of like title, like where it falls in the order of its occurrence. Day two, which is Yom Shinnai, it's the second day. Uh day three, which is Yam Shali, by the way, Yah means day or period of time. Yam Shhlisi means like the third day. Then there's the fourth day, then there's the fifth day. It's just repetitive, like whatever order it's in. That's what the day we're gonna do. Sixth day. But day seven has a name. And they call it the Sabbath or the Shabbat. It's as though the day has its own identity, like its own juice, its own chutzpah, its own moxi. It's its own thing. This day was sort of unique and different, and they call it the Sabbath or the Shabbat, which by the way, uh, Shabbat or Sabbath literally means to stop or to cease. So for six days on day the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, they would work and do things and strive and put forth effort. And then that seventh day, the Shabbat, the Sabbath, they would cease or stop doing many things. And not just them, but their slaves or their servants and their animals and the land, everything got a break, even the foreigners that live in their midst. And here's where they get it from. Again, not any astronomical lunar or solar phenomenon, but it comes from God. In the story, the Hebrew story of creation, God creates it in six days, and then on that seventh day, he stops creating, he stops working. So he calls it holy because on it he rests, he ceases from working and uh stops creating all that he had created. Yeah, that's where it comes from. So this six and one rhythm, it's a day, one day to stop, to cease. And and doing so, just the act of stopping was in and of itself worship to God. So follow this. Many
Worship By Stopping Work
of us on our seventh day, like, well, we'll go and we'll worship God on the seventh day in a building somewhere. But for the ancients, it wasn't that way. They said, no, just by stopping working and embracing this rhythm of six and one, six and one, by doing that, we will worship God. Because we're saying, hey, hey, this thing, this day that we're gonna cut out and just use to stop working, this day is not governed by any celestial beings or solar, lunar phenomenon. It's governed by God. It's our day to remember that this day belongs to God and that God is above all the celestial beings because he created them and he governs them. And so this day that's governed by God as a gift for us to worship God. It's no wonder that in the scriptures, then, they often give the command of the Sabbath, which comes later when they become freed from Egypt. That command oftentimes comes in concert with the prohibition of idolatry. Because many times on day the first day, and the second day, and the third day, and the fourth day, and the fifth day, we sort of get into this lull and this sort of like uh rhythm, and we sort of forget what we're doing, and then all of a sudden we find ourselves like maybe worshiping other gods. And then on day seven, it's like, no, no, no, no, no more. Worship God and God alone. So on that day, that seventh day, they would stop and they would, in stopping, they would worship God. That was their worship to God. God calls this day, as you heard, holy. This is the first time this word holy is ever used. In the Hebrew, it's the word kadosh. Everyone say kadosh, not to be confused with skadosh, similar, kadosh, and kadosh means holy, which means the first time the Bible ever calls anything holy. It doesn't call it doesn't call the land holy, it doesn't call uh the temple holy, doesn't call people or the priests holy, it doesn't call sacrifices holy, or prayers holy, or bacon holy, or naps holy, which they are. I'm just saying, not first, they're holy though. Uh or Wi-Fi Chipotle with guac holy? No, it doesn't the first thing ever deemed holy in the scripture is time. Huh? Time itself, the first holiness in the story of God and the world in the creation is a holiness in time, which means that time, by the word holy, literally means to be set apart. It's unique, it's different. So maybe for God to be holy, doesn't mean that God is so clean and proper that He cannot look upon you and your thieving and lying ways, you dirty sinner. Maybe it's not that. Maybe it's just that God is unique and different and other than you. Of course, God is. That's why God is God and you're not. But that's what it means. So this day, this time, this maybe now in our case, a 24-hour period is a wholly unique, set apart day to be used for something different. So you have the first day, the second day, the third day, the fourth day, the final day, the second day. But on day seven, it's unique, different, used differently as worship to God. In the commandments, when God sets them free, he gives them the command. Now, as you leave Egypt, remember you're not slaves anymore. Remember that God made the world in six days and then rested, he stopped. So you should also then stop working. You can read it in Exodus 20. Uh, on that day, it's a Sabbath day. Don't do work. Neither you, your son, your daughter. Can I get an amen from the kids in the house in the room this morning? No work, mom, dad, sorry, it's the law. Uh, or your male or female servants, your animals. The animals couldn't even do work. Can I get an amen from the animals in the house today? That was unplanned. That also that was gold. I love it. Uh, where was I? Okay, uh, I'm out, I'm out the door in a couple hours. Let's just keep going. Um, okay, nor your foreigners residing in your towns. Whether the foreigners were this is not a political statement. I'm just saying in the ancient story, the outsider was always welcomed inside. That's the thing. So the outskirts should always be welcomed on the inside. So they should also get a Sabbath. They weren't even Jews. Give them a Sabbath, man. Everybody gets a Sabbath. Uh, for in six days you made the the world and on the seventh day. God, of course, rests. Do something different. It's wholly unique.
The Rumble Strip That Saves Lives
Which brings us then to the greatest invention of the 20th century. Do you know what it is? Of course, it's the rumble strip. Yes, you know the rumble strip. It's got many names, of course. I I Googled this, it's got a few different pseudonyms. By the way, there was a gentleman in the earlier gathering. He comes up, he goes, Hey, Pastor Ryan, I helped build those. And for 20 years, I've helped put those in the roads. In fact, on some websites, I'm listed as one of the inventors. I'm like, what? I'm like, why didn't you interrupt me? And he's like, I didn't want to interrupt you. So I'm like, well, the today the rumble strip gets its due. It's credit it deserves. It has a few names. You might know it also as the audible line. Or you might also call this the sleepy bumps. Remember the first time I hit these? I was a young man and I was driving on the road and I was falling asleep. Oh, actually, it was a friend of mine, a friend of mine was falling asleep. It wasn't me, a friend of mine was driving and he fell asleep. And sort of as someone, but not me, but someone might do, they went off the road, hit these. And it woke me him up and was like, dear God, what is that? He didn't he didn't know what these things were. He thought it was like an alien invasion. But it saved his life. Sleepy bumps. It also might be called in your house the growlers. Anybody call them the growlers? The website, the internet says it's true, so it must be true. I don't know. Also at the Waker Uppers, that's a good name for them. How about this one? The Ruffles strips. I think someone said, hey, those are ruffles chips, call them ruffles strips. Or how about, I think it's in New Zealand. In New Zealand, they just call it what it is, which is uh speed regulating strips. That's kind of boring. I'm going back to the growlers. I love these strips though. This thing has literally saved millions. Well, I don't know that for sure, but lots of lives. There's no data because it just woke you up and you but what they do is they they like literally they they interrupt your driving and they interrupt your drowsiness and they shake you awake from your slumber. And if you're going the wrong direction, they get you back on the right track. They're an incredibly innovative interruption that saves people's lives.
Sabbath As Wake-Up Call
Yeah, the Sabbath is just like that. The Sabbath is an interruption in our ordinary, repetitive, ongoing day one, day two, day three, day four. And then comes the Sabbath day. This holiness and time, this uniqueness, this day that's set apart, that's different from all other days. And maybe you and I should do something different. The Sabbath disrupts the monotony of any regularity in our lives. Let's face it, many of us in the modern world, thankfully, the technology and how advanced we are, and look, things are way better now than they were 100 years ago and 500 years ago, we're living like kings did a couple hundred years ago. But let's be honest, we wake up, uh, we have our coffee, we eat breakfast, we go to work, uh, we have lunch, we commute back home, we come home, we scroll on our phone, we fall asleep, we wake up and do the same thing the next day. And it's the same thing over and over and over. Uh David Foster Wallace calls it the day-to-day trenches of adult life. It's this highly, highly repetitive structure. And we're tempted to think, oh man, my day is the exact same every nothing changes. And there's a paradox though, because even though it feels like nothing changes, it's the same thing every day in and day out, everything's the same. Things are dramatically changing all the time. While you've gone through your week or your year, your kids have started to grow up. Old wounds have begun to heal for you. You want to experience new wounds. Your physical body's different than it was just then yesterday. You know, your body like regrows itself every couple of months or something like that. It's a lot. I mean, it's like it's crazy. You literally aren't who you were a couple of years ago. And the problem is it's not that not that things aren't changing. Uh that's not the problem. The problem is that that we things changed slowly and we never noticed it. Like we were absent from our own lives. How many of you can say, gosh, I'm just I'm not awake to my own life? This is why the days are long, but the years are short. And you wake up and go, how did I get to be 30? What am I doing here? Or now I'm 50, and or I'm retired, like, what am I? I don't even know how I got here. And it's as though we've sort of fallen asleep and we've gone on autopilot, like default mode. And trust me when I tell you that the world is all too happy to let you stay in that default autopilot mode. Because to the world, you're just another cog in the machine, spitting out production cubes. Get back in there, worker bee. We got more things for you to build and make for us. And our lives are and we're absent to our own lives, and we don't see it. And maybe along the way we've sort of numbed ourselves out and we've worshipped other gods along the way as well. Real life is freedom. Real life is life. See, the Sabbath isn't rest from life, it's like to be present for life, to wake up and see what's going on all around us. Yeah, this rhythm of six and one, it wakes us up fully. So, by the way, here's a quote that this one commentator says, I love this. It says, by following a pattern of living, the Jews, the Israelites, and observance and conformity with its intrinsic holiness, like following this rhythm of six and one, seven, Israel transforms its mundane existence into a spiritual experience one day a week. It wakes them up. It's a rumble strip. Right in the middle of their week. And this raises the question: could we not do this every day of the week? Wake ourselves up from our slumber? Be awake and present? Somehow, like realize that I'm driving off a cliff? I shouldn't probably do that. I'm glad I woke up. Or lift my head up. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize I was driving through the beautiful mountains and Colorado. I was looking down the whole time. I didn't realize there was wonder and beauty and awe and grandeur all around me. I was asleep. Yeah. What
Small Rhythms To Make Time Holy
might you and I create this summer? How might we create a holiness in time to wake ourselves up? Now, maybe you can't do a three-month sabbatical. Fair enough. Maybe you can, like, but maybe you could do like a daily thing. Like maybe I have a friend who wakes up every morning to watch the sunrise. To wake himself up, to be present, to not allow the days to just go on and on and on. And to see the world in wonder and beauty. Maybe there's a weekly rhythm you could have. Maybe once a week you could get together with your friends and family or your neighbors and have dinner together. Katie and I were invited to our friends Brax and his wife last week. They invited us to their house. They have a Sabbath dinner every Friday night. And they invited us over. We had pizza. And we prayed and had a dinner and just hung out and talked for a couple hours. It was like this unique, weird thing. It was awesome. And I don't, I don't won't forget about it. Because it was unique and different. Maybe you could do that. And then doing stop for a moment and create some holiness in time. Peter Deusman was like, hey, what like what about like if you're at work and you know you you get because of laws, you get like a 15-minute break in your workday or an hour lunch. What if, I'm just throwing this out there, don't stone me. What if instead of scrolling your phone for that whole time on break, you put the phone down and just talk to somebody? Or went for a walk, or looked at the birds, or touched grass, whatever your things are, you know, and create this whole missing time. Maybe you could create a rhythm this summer. What rhythms might you create? Well,
Sabbaticals From Harvard To Chipotle
I'm going on a sabbatical, a three-month one. Sabbatical comes from this word Sabbath. And in the in the 1500s, in the in the English language, they began to use it as a way to talk about things that recurred in sevens or every seventh. So in 1880, Harvard began to give their professors every seventh year, they gave them a year off. I'm just saying. Just saying. Companies now do this. Modern companies that are not like Christian or Jewish, uh, they give them sabbaticals. Here's a couple of companies that do them. Adobe gives their employees sabbaticals. So does Patagonia. So does some company called Toggle, who knows what toggle is? Okay, okay. It's like the software company. They do like software things, you know. Right? Uh they give them also um Nike gives sabbaticals to their employees. And the greatest, the pinnacle of all godly companies producing wonderful things in the world that does it, Chipotle Mexican grill gives her people sabbaticals. Which does mean many of your friends who do this kind of stuff are participating in the rhythms of God without even knowing it, maybe. And while saying, I don't really believe in God, they're actually engaging in this beautiful life-giving rhythm that God ordained from the beginning of all things. I'm just saying. And that's what I'm doing. That's something I'm taking three months. They're gonna set apart this time and just be unique and different and to see
Slow Down To Hear Your Soul
what happens. And I want to, I wanna I want to like sort of pray for three things. I'm gonna give them to you fast. The first thing I hope for on my sabbatical that like happens or that I can like experience is I want to slow down enough to listen to what constant motion silences. I mean, you guys, we go a thousand miles an hour, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's kind of the nature of the beast. We're out there hustling and grinding, and good for us. But what happens is there are things just beneath the surface that are like begging for our attention, that they're hiding just down below there. And we don't hear them because constant motion and work and distractions and numbing out disallows us from hearing these things. It quiets the voices. Our own soul is begging for attention. The Spirit of God is asking, hey, come and be with me. Let me let me show you some things. Or I want to grow you in. And we don't because we're too busy. And you know how I know it? Because many of you drive down the road and something will happen, like a person just cuts you off barely, and you lose your mind. Oh I call this a level eight infract, a level eight reaction to a level two infraction, you know? Or you go home and for no reason you're just like you're mad at the dog. Stupid dog, what goes in the way? Or you yell at your kids? And you're like, I just got home, why are you yelling at me? Yeah, there's something down there that you have not paid attention to, and now it's coming out the side, and everybody knows it except for you. Yeah, so how can we slow down just enough to kind of see what's just beneath there? Because there might be sadness down there, might be grief, fatigue. You could be exhausted, tired. There could be some joy down there, celebrations you've never had. There could be anxiety, depression, fears. Who knows what's down there? But here's the thing those things are all a part of the contract with life. It's what it means to be a human, be alive. I know anxiety sucks. I hate anxiety. I don't, but it's part of life. I know there's like certain levels of these things and just get out of it, you gotta for sure, and treat it as you need to. But I'm just saying, for most of us, like our fears and our lows, like this is part of life. I hate being sad. But guess what? Being sad is a part of life. It's how you know you're alive. And when we numb out with drugs and alcohol and antidepressants, it just brings like this middle level of zero of grayness. It brings the lows up, but it brings the highs down. You end up in here, just blugh. And I'm not anti-medication, I'm just saying this is what happens when we like numb out and we quiet the voices and we just keep going. And the machine is happy to let us do it. Yeah, but what's down there? What if we slow down long enough to hear these things instead of avoiding them? Yeah, what things do you need to hear? The summer, what's down there? There's this beautiful story. Elijah, he has this incredible encounter with God. He defeats the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. You might know the story. It's in 1 Kings 19. I'm not going to go through it, but I'll just quickly. And incredible encounter with God. God shows up on display, like a mysterious magical display. He leaves like the man, he's the man, Elijah. And this queen, Jezebel, threatens to kill him. And suddenly Elijah freaks out and panics and runs and hides. He finds a desert, goes to the desert, hides under a bush, and he says, God, you can take my life now. Homie, five minutes ago, you were the king of the what happened? He crashes out under this bush. An angel comes, feeds him some food. He wakes up, eats it, he goes back to sleep. Angel comes again, wakes him up, gives him some food, he goes back to sleep. Third time, angel comes, wakes him up, gives him some food, he falls back asleep. Sometimes you just need a good nap and some food. Amen. Elijah had a bunch going on, he didn't even know it right beneath the surface. His own success masked it. He didn't know it was down there. He crashes out and he like and he needs to rest and slow down, and he does finally. And then the angel go to the cave and meet with God. Yeah, what rhythms can you create to slow down enough to make sacred holy this time and hear what your soul wants to say to you, or what God wants to tell you, and resist the machine, maybe even rage against the machine. Are you with me?
You Are Not God
Number two. Uh here it is. Number two, uh, I want to remind myself on sabbatical. Ryan, you are not God. You're not, dude. So calm down. In six days, God made the earth, and on the seventh day he stopped. But that tells me that God made the world, not you, Ryan. The universe existed before me and before you. Believe it or not, did you know this? That it existed before you. And it will keep going on after you and I die. Did you know this? And in the hundred years or 300 years, you and I will be a photograph on a wall somewhere, maybe, maybe on the cloud or wherever that is. That's it. Done. You and I are not that big a deal. What will Central do for three months without the Reverend Dr. Ryan Braille? I know I'm not the third William, but I'm God, it's pretty dignified, you know? What will you guys do without me? Oh, I don't know. The same thing they've been doing for years, Ryan. Calm down. What will your job do without you if you stop for one day? I don't know, it'd probably be fine. Now, look, I get that there are some jobs where you have to, like if you're living in a coal mine or whatever, whatever the thing like, but most of us, we can take a day and just stop. And if the machine won't let you, I would question that. That's not sustainable. It's not life that's full of life. It's not, it's not the rhythm of God. It's just, it's, it'll suck you dry. You are not God. Stop trying to be God. It's actually quite relieving. It's a good relief, and it's also like this humbling, like, okay, but it's fine. It's actually liberating. You can just kind of be yourself and do your thing. It's going to be okay. Many of us are addicted to being wanted and needed to our own significance. I'm so important. Without me, this thing will fall apart. Maybe, maybe not. The ego longs to be important. Notice me, see me. It's how we get, it's how we survive. It's this sort of uh, you know, this uh this thing that has sort of helped us live this long. Fair enough. But man, it's not sustainable. We we've we've become addicted to our own importance, and you and I are not God. Sabbath is an end of striving. It's okay, just relax. Like you'll know, because when you stop, some things will arise. What arises when you stop working? Guilt, the need to go check your phone, anxiety, fear. What am I? Who am I without this thing? Who am I with if I'm not preaching every week and they're laughing at my jokes? Who am I? I don't know. What comes up when you stop? You and I are not God. I love this. Someone says, hey, he who watches over you will not slumber asleep. You're fine. God, God will watch over you while you sleep. So you can sleep. Relax, take a day off, rest. Stop working.
Become Human Again Through Rest
Okay, lastly, I think this is my third one, right? Um, I want to learn to become a human again. I'm not a machine. My time shouldn't be governed by my job and by dictatorial sort of pro no. I'm a human first and foremost. That's who I am. That's what my that's what my sort of I'm the beloved son of God. In fact, Jesus says, I love it how he says, he says, hey, the Sabbath was made for humankind, not the other way around. Don't get it twisted. It's a gift for us to slow down and stop. And remember, I'm just, I'm just Ryan. I'm okay. It's all right. I want to be a human again. In fact, I love how Isaiah, Isaiah says it this way, the prophet. He's like, hey, listen, when you obey the Sabbath, if you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and you stop doing as you please on this holy day, this is God speaking through Isaiah. If you call the Sabbath a delight and you carve out a holiness in time, and in just doing that and doing nothing, you're worshiping God. When you do that and you honor it, and you don't go your own way, and you don't do as you please, and you hit those rumble strips, you wake up, oh okay. When you do that, then you will find joy in the Lord. Man, how many of you could use some joy? Maybe there's some reason to stop. Just stop. For five minutes a day, or for 10 minutes, or for one day a week. Maybe you take a week's vacation with the family and just go sit on a lake and fish and play board games and I don't know, pray together, eat meals. And in doing so is worship. Listen, you have my permission. If you skip church to do that, do it. That's what my prayer is for
Final Blessing For A Living Summer
you. As I go, I went too long, I apologize. Uh, I'll be around now if you want to hang out and chat. If not, it's okay, go. May you, Central Lutheran church, this this next summer, may you experience life that's full of life. May you carve out time to stop, to slow down, to cease, and to like notice like what's down there. Let it come up. It might terrify you. Good. That's what it means to be alive. So be alive. What's the alternative? To be a robot or to be dead? I don't want that. Man, let it come up and face them. It won't last forever, I promise. Your emotions get on the bus, they get back off the bus. It's you'll be fine. And also remember, you're not God. So it's fine. You're fine. You're not responsible for everything of your body. You're not God. Whew. And also, may you learn to be a human again, to live in this flourishing, this gift of life. May your life fully full of life. I love you guys. We'll be praying for you. Um, I'll see you in well, three months in a couple minutes, too, but I'll see you in three months. Uh pray for me as often as you think of me. And uh yeah, bless you guys. Peace.
