WEBVTT 00:00:00.270 --> 00:00:05.230 Let us pray. God, as we approach Your Word, make 00:00:05.230 --> 00:00:09.390 our spirits quiet, make our minds attentive, 00:00:09.589 --> 00:00:15.429 make our hearts open so that You might make our 00:00:15.429 --> 00:00:22.050 lives fruitful. Amen. Our second reading is from 00:00:22.050 --> 00:00:25.410 1 Timothy chapter 4, starting with verse 6. Let 00:00:25.410 --> 00:00:30.550 us listen together for God's Word to us. If you 00:00:30.550 --> 00:00:32.670 put these instructions before the brothers and 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:34.590 sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ 00:00:34.590 --> 00:00:38.090 Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and 00:00:38.090 --> 00:00:39.850 of the sound teaching that you have followed. 00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:43.170 Have nothing to do with profane and foolish tales. 00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:47.789 Train yourself in godliness. For while physical 00:00:47.789 --> 00:00:50.490 training is of some value, godliness is valuable 00:00:50.490 --> 00:00:53.789 in every way, holding promise for both the present 00:00:53.789 --> 00:00:56.590 life and the life to come. The saying is sure 00:00:56.590 --> 00:01:00.270 and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end 00:01:00.270 --> 00:01:03.289 we toil and suffer reproach, because we have 00:01:03.289 --> 00:01:06.129 our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior 00:01:06.129 --> 00:01:08.930 of all people, especially of those who believe. 00:01:09.590 --> 00:01:14.930 The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. About 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:18.510 10 or 12 years ago, I started to do the responsible 00:01:18.510 --> 00:01:21.930 thing and see my primary care physician once 00:01:21.930 --> 00:01:25.409 a year for an annual checkup. I started doing 00:01:25.409 --> 00:01:27.829 this not because I am especially responsible 00:01:27.829 --> 00:01:30.569 or health conscious, but because doing so lowered 00:01:30.569 --> 00:01:35.329 my insurance premiums. And so ever since then, 00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:37.390 I've been making that annual visit, and each 00:01:37.390 --> 00:01:39.370 time it's more or less the same. There's the 00:01:39.370 --> 00:01:42.489 full interview, the full inspection, the full 00:01:42.489 --> 00:01:46.370 blood work, a few pats on the back if I'm lucky, 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:50.810 but always a checklist. Maybe there's a different 00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:54.189 lifestyle choice I need to consider. perhaps 00:01:54.189 --> 00:01:58.430 a new medication to try, a little more of this, 00:01:59.489 --> 00:02:03.290 a little less of this, and we're going to keep 00:02:03.290 --> 00:02:08.990 an eye on this. This might feel familiar to you, 00:02:09.050 --> 00:02:15.569 I imagine. We know that better health today most 00:02:15.569 --> 00:02:19.449 likely means better health tomorrow, and so many 00:02:19.449 --> 00:02:22.379 of us do. visit our doctor once a year and do 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:25.960 these kinds of things to ensure, as best as is 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:30.360 in our power, a healthy future, knowing that 00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.039 today's habits go a long way to determining tomorrow's 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:39.180 outcomes. We understand what is at stake, and 00:02:39.180 --> 00:02:41.580 we know that even if we choose not to follow 00:02:41.580 --> 00:02:46.590 the doctor's orders, that we are inviting possibly 00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:49.210 negative consequences down the road. And we do 00:02:49.210 --> 00:02:52.250 this in full knowledge. And this is just the 00:02:52.250 --> 00:02:55.009 tip of the iceberg. These annual visits, just 00:02:55.009 --> 00:02:58.349 the tip of the iceberg of the health and wellness 00:02:58.349 --> 00:03:02.509 industrial complex that exists in the world today. 00:03:03.110 --> 00:03:06.210 Of course, there are all of the diets and all 00:03:06.210 --> 00:03:10.069 of the fitness clubs. There's the newest superfood 00:03:10.069 --> 00:03:12.650 that we should be eating and the latest thing 00:03:12.650 --> 00:03:16.060 that we have been eating. that now we're learning 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:21.439 is slowly killing us. And there are books and 00:03:21.439 --> 00:03:27.580 trends and gimmicks all to keep the body healthy. 00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:34.319 But we are more than our bodies, right? We are 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:38.159 more than just an accident of evolution, more 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:42.319 than living machines wired together with tissue 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:46.990 and neurons. If that's the case, if we are more 00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:49.969 than our bodies, if there is a spark of something 00:03:49.969 --> 00:03:53.310 within us that transcends our biology, if what 00:03:53.310 --> 00:03:57.870 it means to be me is more than just my physiology, 00:03:57.889 --> 00:04:03.569 then there is more to our health than what a 00:04:03.569 --> 00:04:07.990 doctor can diagnose and prescribe. There's more 00:04:07.990 --> 00:04:12.150 to our well -being than diet and exercise and 00:04:12.150 --> 00:04:18.379 turmeric. A couple of years ago, during our Lenten 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:20.920 sermon series, I worked from a book called The 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:23.079 Life We're Looking For by Andy Crouch. And one 00:04:23.079 --> 00:04:26.160 of the central ideas of that book is that we 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:30.540 as humans are what he calls heart, soul, mind, 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:35.709 and strength complexes made to love. That is 00:04:35.709 --> 00:04:37.990 what we are as human beings. This, of course, 00:04:37.990 --> 00:04:40.329 is building off of the words we heard from Deuteronomy 00:04:40.329 --> 00:04:43.730 chapter 6, which is one of the most famous and 00:04:43.730 --> 00:04:47.230 often repeated prayers in the Jewish tradition. 00:04:47.569 --> 00:04:50.889 It's called the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord 00:04:50.889 --> 00:04:53.829 is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the 00:04:53.829 --> 00:04:57.250 Lord your God with all your heart and with all 00:04:57.250 --> 00:05:00.829 your soul and with all your might. And when Jesus 00:05:00.829 --> 00:05:04.189 is asked, what is the greatest commandment? He 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:06.709 quotes this one. He throws in the mind as well, 00:05:06.810 --> 00:05:10.550 and he also says, love your neighbor as yourself. 00:05:11.870 --> 00:05:16.949 We are not just a body, and we know that. We 00:05:16.949 --> 00:05:19.149 know that about ourselves. We know there's more 00:05:19.149 --> 00:05:23.250 to us than that. To be human is to possess these 00:05:23.250 --> 00:05:28.949 capacities, heart, soul, mind, strength, and 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:31.370 not only to possess these capacities, but to 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:37.089 choose how we direct these capacities. So a few 00:05:37.089 --> 00:05:39.990 weeks ago, I heard a podcast in which Andy Crouch 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:41.610 was interviewed, which is what got me thinking 00:05:41.610 --> 00:05:44.129 about this book. And he was being interviewed 00:05:44.129 --> 00:05:47.850 about artificial intelligence. And he was describing 00:05:47.850 --> 00:05:50.730 the technological age that we have been living 00:05:50.730 --> 00:05:54.509 in and the one that we seem to be entering into. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.300 And as he was reflecting on it, he presented 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:59.540 an interesting analogy that never would have 00:05:59.540 --> 00:06:03.339 occurred to me, but he likened it to metabolic 00:06:03.339 --> 00:06:07.360 syndrome. Metabolic syndrome in the medical world 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:13.120 is a kind of a catch -all diagnosis that represents 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:15.759 a constellation of negative health effects that 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:20.480 arise mostly out of inactivity. If we look back 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:24.579 through recent history to the Industrial Revolution, 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.300 and the invention of all kinds of labor -saving 00:06:28.300 --> 00:06:33.339 machines, we can see that we, as humans, are 00:06:33.339 --> 00:06:36.620 working a lot less hard than we used to. We're 00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:39.759 not toiling out in the fields for our bread to 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.660 put food on the table. We have machines that 00:06:42.660 --> 00:06:45.740 do that for us now. We subject our bodies to 00:06:45.740 --> 00:06:49.879 far less stress at a population level. than we 00:06:49.879 --> 00:06:52.800 ever have before. We live more sedentary lives, 00:06:52.939 --> 00:06:55.740 even when we're active, more sedentary lives 00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:59.540 than throughout the rest of human history. And 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:03.620 as a result, we experience higher weight, higher 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:07.699 blood pressure, higher blood sugar, higher cholesterol. 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:12.319 And 90 % of the United States population, 90 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:16.839 % has at least one of these markers of metabolic 00:07:16.839 --> 00:07:19.850 syndrome. which means that a person can be quite 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:23.769 healthy by today's standards and still be dealing 00:07:23.769 --> 00:07:27.509 with one of these issues. I'm grateful for machines. 00:07:28.089 --> 00:07:30.430 I'm grateful I'm not working out in the fields 00:07:30.430 --> 00:07:33.589 every day. Human society has developed in wonderful 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:36.410 ways because of these advances, and most of us 00:07:36.410 --> 00:07:40.370 no longer bear that daily burden of hard labor. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:45.060 But there are very real consequences when we 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:49.279 cease to use the core capacity of our physical 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:54.459 strength. Ten years ago, I had surgery to repair 00:07:54.459 --> 00:07:58.480 a torn tendon in my ankle. And through this process, 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:01.839 I learned that tendons heal very slowly. And 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:04.180 so while I was given a boot that was designed 00:08:04.180 --> 00:08:07.379 to be walked in, I was not allowed to put weight 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:11.149 on it for eight weeks. Two months without being 00:08:11.149 --> 00:08:13.290 able to put any weight on my left foot. So I 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:15.769 got one of those knee scooters, which are not 00:08:15.769 --> 00:08:20.029 as fun as they look. And every door and every 00:08:20.029 --> 00:08:23.069 stairway was an insurmountable challenge for 00:08:23.069 --> 00:08:26.269 me for eight weeks. Over the course of that time, 00:08:26.350 --> 00:08:28.490 at one point, I remember looking at my upper 00:08:28.490 --> 00:08:31.089 legs and realizing that five or six weeks in, 00:08:31.269 --> 00:08:34.029 my left leg, which wasn't that strong to begin 00:08:34.029 --> 00:08:37.129 with, had grown very weak compared to my right. 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:40.740 In just that short amount of time, the atrophy 00:08:40.740 --> 00:08:44.820 in my leg muscles was visible, and a good deal 00:08:44.820 --> 00:08:47.379 of the physical therapy I had to do afterwards 00:08:47.379 --> 00:08:50.299 was not just to get my ankle working again, was 00:08:50.299 --> 00:08:54.799 to get my whole leg working again. Atrophy is 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.860 what happens when we don't use our capacities, 00:08:57.960 --> 00:09:02.980 when we don't cultivate our capacities. And if 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:08.440 our strength is not our only human capacity, 00:09:08.700 --> 00:09:12.559 then the body is not the only thing that can 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:16.259 atrophy. Andy Crouch said in this podcast interview, 00:09:16.419 --> 00:09:19.299 we are living through a 100 -year -long atrophy 00:09:19.299 --> 00:09:22.580 of the four things we are meant to love with, 00:09:22.740 --> 00:09:28.000 heart, soul, mind, and strength. The machines 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:32.029 have allowed our strength to apathy. Computers 00:09:32.029 --> 00:09:34.090 and digital technology have allowed our minds 00:09:34.090 --> 00:09:37.129 to apathy, and artificial intelligence, a technology 00:09:37.129 --> 00:09:41.230 that mimics thought and creativity and even relationship, 00:09:41.269 --> 00:09:44.710 may just take care of the rest and allow our 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:52.190 heart and our soul to atrophy as well. And this 00:09:52.190 --> 00:09:54.789 is, to my mind, one of the great dangers of this 00:09:54.789 --> 00:09:58.309 age that we are now entering into, and it raises 00:09:58.309 --> 00:10:00.950 one of the great questions that we have to ask 00:10:00.950 --> 00:10:04.250 ourselves, and that is, what will prevent the 00:10:04.250 --> 00:10:12.830 atrophy of our heart, our soul, our mind? Now, 00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:14.990 the way I have framed this in the context of 00:10:15.320 --> 00:10:17.759 Modern technology makes it sound like a relatively 00:10:17.759 --> 00:10:20.639 new problem, and maybe it is a relatively new 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:26.200 problem, but the solution is very old. The solution 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:30.679 is the intentional cultivation of all of our 00:10:30.679 --> 00:10:35.019 God -given capacities, our heart, our soul, our 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:39.100 mind, our strength. The solution is to engage 00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:42.399 in habits and practices that draw our whole being 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:45.679 into the pursuit of the sacred dimensions of 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:49.940 life. And lucky for us, the Christian tradition, 00:10:50.019 --> 00:10:53.720 over its 2 ,000 -year history, has developed 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:56.240 a wide range of disciplines that are designed 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.080 to do just that. So for the next several weeks, 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:02.919 we will be looking at these disciplines, what 00:11:02.919 --> 00:11:07.159 I'm calling holy habits. But today I think it's 00:11:07.159 --> 00:11:10.779 worth making the case for discipline itself. 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:14.759 Discipline sounds harsh. It sounds unpleasant. 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:19.419 It calls to mind punishment. It makes us think 00:11:19.419 --> 00:11:24.360 of being constrained or limited. And in a culture 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.720 that values individuality and absolute freedom, 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:30.799 the very idea of discipline feels backwards and 00:11:30.799 --> 00:11:35.929 even detrimental. When I was in middle school, 00:11:35.970 --> 00:11:39.350 I think I was participating probably in the last 00:11:39.350 --> 00:11:43.470 gasp of an older era of public education because 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:47.049 in eighth grade, I was able to take... two wonderful 00:11:47.049 --> 00:11:50.509 classes one of them being home economics in which 00:11:50.509 --> 00:11:53.429 we got to bake cookies and eat them and make 00:11:53.429 --> 00:11:55.789 cinnamon rolls and eat them and yes we had to 00:11:55.789 --> 00:11:57.789 learn table manners and stuff along the way but 00:11:57.789 --> 00:12:00.250 we got to eat cookies at school and the other 00:12:00.250 --> 00:12:04.789 class was what we called industrial arts or shop 00:12:04.789 --> 00:12:07.830 class right and so i was in eighth grade and 00:12:07.830 --> 00:12:10.070 i was in shop class and one of the things that 00:12:10.070 --> 00:12:15.990 we learned in this class was the process of manufacturing, 00:12:16.409 --> 00:12:18.789 right? And the techniques that are used to mass 00:12:18.789 --> 00:12:21.049 produce something. And we were going to mass 00:12:21.049 --> 00:12:25.169 produce wooden clocks where you take a piece 00:12:25.169 --> 00:12:27.669 of wood, flat piece of wood, no bigger than a 00:12:27.669 --> 00:12:31.350 sheet of paper. And, you know, you round off 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:34.289 the corners and you drill a big hole at the top 00:12:34.289 --> 00:12:36.470 and bottom to create a kind of a decorative look. 00:12:36.610 --> 00:12:38.529 And then you drill a hole right in the center. 00:12:38.710 --> 00:12:40.610 That's where the hands of the clock will go. 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:44.539 And so we were receiving the instructions for 00:12:44.539 --> 00:12:46.379 this, and we eighth graders just assumed that 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:48.740 we'd get our piece of wood, and we'd get our 00:12:48.740 --> 00:12:51.480 set of directions, and then we would be sent 00:12:51.480 --> 00:12:55.159 off to do our work. But that actually is not 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:58.000 how it happened. We set the blocks of wood aside, 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:00.620 and the first thing that we had to do was construct 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:05.419 jigs for each step of the process. A jig is a 00:13:05.419 --> 00:13:08.120 device, or it can itself be a kind of process, 00:13:08.220 --> 00:13:11.700 that allows you to do a repeated action over 00:13:11.700 --> 00:13:15.539 and over again exactly the same way every time. 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.480 So, for instance, for this project, on the drill 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.559 press, which we were going to use to drill that 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:23.440 hole in the perfect center of our lovely clocks, 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.179 we had to create from scrap wood a simple jig, 00:13:27.340 --> 00:13:32.009 affix it to the table of the drill press. so 00:13:32.009 --> 00:13:33.809 that when it came time to drill, all we had to 00:13:33.809 --> 00:13:36.429 do was slide the wood into place, move our hand 00:13:36.429 --> 00:13:40.330 out of the way, drop the lever, and every single 00:13:40.330 --> 00:13:43.250 time, a hole in the perfect center, and they 00:13:43.250 --> 00:13:48.210 all look the same. The jig, in a sense, took 00:13:48.210 --> 00:13:51.870 away our freedom as craftsmen in eighth grade. 00:13:53.000 --> 00:13:56.200 We did not have the choice, sadly, to put that 00:13:56.200 --> 00:13:59.120 hole wherever we wanted. Maybe I and my great 00:13:59.120 --> 00:14:01.960 artistry wanted a hole that was off -center for 00:14:01.960 --> 00:14:05.820 my clock, but instead we were putting them all 00:14:05.820 --> 00:14:09.279 in the same place. So, it did limit our freedom 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:14.480 and our individuality. Certain options were just 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:19.460 not available to us, but it also guided our effort, 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:23.470 and it guided our effort toward a particular 00:14:23.470 --> 00:14:26.750 end, a desired end, a clock that mom would actually 00:14:26.750 --> 00:14:30.970 want to put on the wall. And it allowed us to 00:14:30.970 --> 00:14:33.549 do it so that we didn't have to sweat each step, 00:14:33.730 --> 00:14:36.129 each and every time, measuring both dimensions, 00:14:36.370 --> 00:14:39.289 lining it up just right, holding it in place, 00:14:39.409 --> 00:14:42.049 and then getting close enough but holding one 00:14:42.049 --> 00:14:45.230 up to the next and realizing that everyone is 00:14:45.230 --> 00:14:48.629 now different. The jig reduced my freedom, but 00:14:48.629 --> 00:14:53.190 it also reduced the burden of the task. It stabilized 00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:58.029 and it directed my effort. In his book, The World 00:14:58.029 --> 00:15:00.149 Beyond Your Head, Matthew Crawford takes this 00:15:00.149 --> 00:15:03.750 idea of a jig from shop class and extends it 00:15:03.750 --> 00:15:06.809 out to the world as we experience it, and he 00:15:06.809 --> 00:15:12.019 calls it a cultural jig. an aspect or an institution 00:15:12.019 --> 00:15:16.500 or a norm out there in the world that constrains 00:15:16.500 --> 00:15:21.059 the way we act and the way we live. An example 00:15:21.059 --> 00:15:25.460 he uses is the Protestant work ethic that governed 00:15:25.460 --> 00:15:28.519 so much of the culture of early colonial life 00:15:28.519 --> 00:15:31.799 in certain parts of our nation. It was a jig 00:15:32.559 --> 00:15:36.620 that encouraged industriousness, hard work, frugality, 00:15:36.740 --> 00:15:38.740 so that these things didn't really have to be 00:15:38.740 --> 00:15:41.899 literally taught to children. Instead, they were 00:15:41.899 --> 00:15:45.320 just accepted as part of the world that we live 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:48.600 in. The culture was itself a kind of jig, which 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:52.320 of course now is long gone with consumer debt 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:56.159 and all of those things that now govern our financial 00:15:56.159 --> 00:16:00.639 lives. Another example might be marriage. Marriage 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.909 is a formal set of rules. It's also a set of 00:16:04.909 --> 00:16:09.289 informal norms. But marriage functions like a 00:16:09.289 --> 00:16:13.490 cultural jig through these rules and through 00:16:13.490 --> 00:16:17.049 these norms. It facilitates family formation. 00:16:17.309 --> 00:16:20.769 It solidifies and it preserves economic stability. 00:16:20.929 --> 00:16:24.490 It promotes virtues of love and sacrifice and 00:16:24.490 --> 00:16:29.360 empathy and care. The family dinner table could 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:34.080 be a jig of sorts. It is a routine, a ritual 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:37.240 that brings the family together, that fosters 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:41.299 connection and communication and unity and eye 00:16:41.299 --> 00:16:47.980 -rolling. Both of these examples limit freedom, 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:52.179 right? Young men will sometimes derisively speak 00:16:52.179 --> 00:16:56.379 of marriage as being tied down. And our teenagers, 00:16:57.210 --> 00:16:59.990 They would rather be out with their friends than 00:16:59.990 --> 00:17:02.789 stuck, and they would use that word, stuck at 00:17:02.789 --> 00:17:05.690 the table with dear old mom and dad and little 00:17:05.690 --> 00:17:11.329 brother. But these constraints help direct us 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:16.369 toward higher goals, toward higher goods than 00:17:16.369 --> 00:17:19.190 we in our total freedom and autonomy and independence 00:17:19.190 --> 00:17:22.549 would probably be likely to choose. And even 00:17:22.549 --> 00:17:25.940 if we did in our freedom choose them, We may 00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:29.220 not have any idea how to achieve them or where 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:34.259 even to begin. And this, I think, is how spiritual 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:36.880 disciplines work. They're like jigs for the heart, 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:42.259 for the soul, for the mind, even for the body. 00:17:42.900 --> 00:17:46.640 Routine practices that constrain us in a way 00:17:46.640 --> 00:17:49.700 that lifts the burden of having to choose in 00:17:49.700 --> 00:17:53.759 each moment how to reach life's highest goals. 00:17:54.619 --> 00:17:57.920 how to make contact with life's deepest mysteries, 00:17:58.299 --> 00:18:01.400 how to discover the presence of God in a confusing 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:06.460 and noisy and distracting world. Worship, for 00:18:06.460 --> 00:18:11.660 instance, is a jig that gives us sanctuary from 00:18:11.660 --> 00:18:15.920 the world, a language to articulate and to practice 00:18:15.920 --> 00:18:19.059 our faith, and then sends us back out into the 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:21.859 world with renewed compassion and even hope. 00:18:22.900 --> 00:18:28.480 Prayer. is a jig, a routine practice that opens 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:32.359 our eyes to things that cannot be seen, that 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:36.359 opens our stubborn hearts little by little to 00:18:36.359 --> 00:18:40.420 transformation. Christian community is a jig 00:18:40.420 --> 00:18:43.559 that cultivates honesty, humility, and vulnerability. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:47.740 It promotes service and sacrifice and support. 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:54.660 Spiritual disciplines do constrain us. But they 00:18:54.660 --> 00:18:57.859 also free us. They free us from having to make 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.559 every single measurement for every single cut, 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:04.039 from wandering aimlessly from one strategy to 00:19:04.039 --> 00:19:06.720 the next, from being pulled this way and that 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:12.299 by the latest trends. We know when it comes to 00:19:12.299 --> 00:19:15.400 our bodies that the choices we make today will 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:20.039 have consequences for our health tomorrow. So 00:19:20.039 --> 00:19:23.960 why would the heart be any different? Why would 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:28.799 the mind or the soul be any different? In 1 Timothy, 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:33.400 it says, train yourselves in godliness. For while 00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:36.220 physical training is of some value, godliness 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:39.619 is valuable in every way, holding promise for 00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:44.500 both the present life and the life to come. Each 00:19:44.500 --> 00:19:48.240 and every day, we are being shaped. We're being 00:19:48.240 --> 00:19:52.509 formed by the choices that we make. by the habits 00:19:52.509 --> 00:19:55.410 that we choose to adopt, by the practices that 00:19:55.410 --> 00:20:00.910 we pour our energies into. And if we are opting 00:20:00.910 --> 00:20:05.329 for freedom from constraints, freedom from discipline, 00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:10.049 then we are still being shaped. We're just letting 00:20:10.049 --> 00:20:14.950 ourselves be shaped by the default settings of 00:20:14.950 --> 00:20:17.210 the world, the currents, the incentives of the 00:20:17.210 --> 00:20:20.369 marketplace, the ever -shifting norms of our 00:20:20.369 --> 00:20:25.680 culture. but we're still being shaped. We are 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:35.099 heart, soul, mind, and strength. These are our 00:20:35.099 --> 00:20:40.740 God -given capacities given to us to tend, to 00:20:40.740 --> 00:20:45.799 cultivate, and to put to good, fruitful, faithful 00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:52.170 use. So let's not let them atrophy. Let's use 00:20:52.170 --> 00:20:55.309 them and cultivate them, and let's direct them 00:20:55.309 --> 00:21:00.130 toward what is good and true and right, toward 00:21:00.130 --> 00:21:09.309 love. Let us pray. God, form in us the habits 00:21:09.309 --> 00:21:11.910 that will shape us into the people You've called 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:16.450 us to be and to become, that our lives might 00:21:16.450 --> 00:21:20.009 bear witness to Your love for this world. In 00:21:20.009 --> 00:21:22.069 Jesus' name we pray. Amen.