WEBVTT 00:00:01.229 --> 00:00:05.690 The word says, eremos topos. That's the Greek, 00:00:05.889 --> 00:00:11.169 a place of nothingness. Jesus went there to speak 00:00:11.169 --> 00:00:20.010 to his Father. Some folks think ordinary time 00:00:20.010 --> 00:00:21.449 is the part of the church here where nothing 00:00:21.449 --> 00:00:24.910 happens. No magi, no manger, no thunderclap miracles. 00:00:25.410 --> 00:00:28.980 But today's story says otherwise. Jesus walks 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:32.020 us into the quiet places, the closed door, the 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:35.719 hidden prayer, the unseen mercy, the steady faith 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:38.399 that doesn't need a spotlight. In Matthew chapter 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.439 6, he warns us about religion performed for applause, 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:45.380 and he invites us back to that secret place where 00:00:45.380 --> 00:00:49.960 the Father sees love becomes real again. So pull 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:54.119 up close. Imagine the candles flickering in the 00:00:54.119 --> 00:00:56.840 sanctuary. The coffee brewed a little bit too 00:00:56.840 --> 00:00:59.539 strong today, and a handful of saints who know 00:00:59.539 --> 00:01:02.219 your name, even if they've never met you, are 00:01:02.219 --> 00:01:05.200 here with you. It may not be Sunday morning where 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.980 you are, but in your earbuds right now, it's 00:01:07.980 --> 00:01:10.439 Sunday morning, and you've just joined us for 00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:14.659 church. So settle in now, let grace speak, and 00:01:14.659 --> 00:01:21.939 I'll see you on the other side. I want to begin 00:01:21.939 --> 00:01:25.079 this morning, first and foremost, just by way 00:01:25.079 --> 00:01:28.319 of explanation that we here, because we have 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.920 several newer folks that have been joining us 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:34.239 more regularly. So we here at the First Christian 00:01:34.239 --> 00:01:39.079 Church, the Disciples of Christ, I call us, we 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:44.099 are liturgically adjacent. And just to kind of 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:47.540 explain that. The liturgy, the liturgical years 00:01:47.540 --> 00:01:52.780 divided up into sections of specific focus during 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:56.239 the Christian year. And the changing of those 00:01:56.239 --> 00:01:59.159 times are indicated by, you see on the sides 00:01:59.159 --> 00:02:01.700 here, those are called banners. These here, these 00:02:01.700 --> 00:02:04.659 are called paramounts, right? And then I wear 00:02:04.659 --> 00:02:06.780 this stole and you see right now we're in green. 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:09.479 That indicates a liturgical time called ordinary 00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:14.039 time. That's the time between times of preparation 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.120 or waiting or celebration periods. We've just 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:19.199 come out of that. That's when we were wearing 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:21.800 the blue and then the white, and now we're in 00:02:21.800 --> 00:02:24.560 green because we've come out of that season. 00:02:24.680 --> 00:02:28.539 And it's cool because if you pay attention, and 00:02:28.539 --> 00:02:33.659 I hope to show you as we go around the sun, you'll 00:02:33.659 --> 00:02:37.500 see the rhythms of the church from its very beginning 00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:40.960 happening. right around you. It's not just something 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:42.699 that's ancient history. It's something that we 00:02:42.699 --> 00:02:45.319 could live. Now, I say liturgically adjacent 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:48.099 because I don't preach from the lectionary every 00:02:48.099 --> 00:02:51.120 Sunday. And if you don't know what the lectionary 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.180 is, you are in the right place. But we do pay 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:59.300 attention to the liturgical calendar of the year. 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:02.340 And we, if you notice, the greenery is gone, 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:06.219 the chrismon tree is gone, and we're now in what 00:03:06.219 --> 00:03:10.909 we call ordinary time. Here we are. We have survived 00:03:10.909 --> 00:03:14.969 Advent, the candles, the longing, the slow burn 00:03:14.969 --> 00:03:18.030 of waiting for something we couldn't name yet, 00:03:18.150 --> 00:03:21.550 but we knew we needed. And we made it through 00:03:21.550 --> 00:03:24.830 Christmastide or Christmastime. Angels in the 00:03:24.830 --> 00:03:28.650 rafters, a baby in a feed trough, and that strange, 00:03:28.650 --> 00:03:32.250 stubborn feeling that God keeps showing up in 00:03:32.250 --> 00:03:35.229 places that don't have a stage or a spotlight 00:03:35.229 --> 00:03:40.210 or even indoor plumbing. We walked epiphany, 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:43.770 wise men following a star that didn't care about 00:03:43.770 --> 00:03:47.710 borders, weird gifts that smelled like a funeral, 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:52.050 and political danger breathing down the neck 00:03:52.050 --> 00:03:55.610 of every single mother in Bethlehem. And now, 00:03:55.750 --> 00:04:02.610 Ordinary Time. Which sounds like the church finally 00:04:02.610 --> 00:04:05.310 just threw up its hands and said, all right, 00:04:05.310 --> 00:04:09.050 folks, show's over. Everybody go back to work. 00:04:10.710 --> 00:04:14.530 Ordinary time is what happens when the nativity 00:04:14.530 --> 00:04:18.050 scene gets put back in the attic and the wise 00:04:18.050 --> 00:04:22.490 men finally arrive three weeks late because that's 00:04:22.490 --> 00:04:26.970 how Amazon Prime works in rural Oklahoma. Ordinary 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:30.490 time is when the Christmas music stops and you 00:04:30.490 --> 00:04:36.310 can hear yourself begin to think again. And when 00:04:36.310 --> 00:04:40.529 you hear the dryer buzzing, your inbox screaming, 00:04:40.709 --> 00:04:43.829 the ache of your knees from the January cold, 00:04:43.870 --> 00:04:46.850 and the same old argument you've been having 00:04:46.850 --> 00:04:52.050 with your same old anxiety since 2009. And here's 00:04:52.050 --> 00:04:57.100 the funny part. We think the holy stuff is the 00:04:57.100 --> 00:05:00.699 candlelight and the star and the gold. We think 00:05:00.699 --> 00:05:04.100 normal is the interruption, the thing that we 00:05:04.100 --> 00:05:09.339 have to endure before the good stuff. But scripture 00:05:09.339 --> 00:05:16.000 keeps insisting the opposite. Normal is where 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:21.980 God does most of his work. It's in ordinary time. 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:28.379 Jesus learns to be steady. 30 years of sawdust 00:05:28.379 --> 00:05:31.100 and splinters before one single miracle happens. 00:05:31.379 --> 00:05:35.439 It's an ordinary time. The disciples learn how 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:39.279 to be faithful, not when the nets are full, but 00:05:39.279 --> 00:05:42.319 when they're mending them empty -handed at dawn. 00:05:43.779 --> 00:05:48.220 It's an ordinary time that love stops being a 00:05:48.220 --> 00:05:54.629 feeling, starts being a habit. Because anybody 00:05:54.629 --> 00:05:58.329 can feel religious when the choir is swinging 00:05:58.329 --> 00:06:04.069 and the lights are low. But Monday morning? Monday 00:06:04.069 --> 00:06:09.170 morning is when our theology gets audited. So, 00:06:09.170 --> 00:06:13.370 tomorrow when you wake up and the world is back 00:06:13.370 --> 00:06:17.689 to normal, I want you to hear this. You're not 00:06:17.689 --> 00:06:21.379 going back to normal. You're going back to the 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:26.660 place where Christ actually meets you most. Ordinary 00:06:26.660 --> 00:06:32.060 time is not the absence of God. Ordinary time 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:39.980 is the workshop. Some of us are relieved to be 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.899 done with the big season. You're like, thank 00:06:42.899 --> 00:06:50.040 you, Lord. I am tired. Some of us are sad. Because 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:53.300 Advent and Christmas and Epiphany carry this 00:06:53.300 --> 00:06:57.300 emotional electricity like the world could change, 00:06:57.519 --> 00:07:01.500 like something holy might crack through the ceiling 00:07:01.500 --> 00:07:06.519 and pour through. You can feel it. It's in the 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:10.279 music, in the candlelight, in the way the sanctuary 00:07:10.279 --> 00:07:17.009 holds you different. And then it fades. And the 00:07:17.009 --> 00:07:23.329 fading scares us. Because it feels like God has 00:07:23.329 --> 00:07:29.490 left. But God didn't leave. The lights just changed. 00:07:32.209 --> 00:07:36.110 Ordinary time is the light over the sink at 6 00:07:36.110 --> 00:07:39.839 .40 in the morning. Coffee gone lukewarm, one 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:42.920 sock missing, your phone already mad at you. 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.600 And right there, right in that fluorescent honesty, 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:52.060 Jesus is just as present as he was under a star. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:59.139 We live in a world that seems to think loud is 00:07:59.139 --> 00:08:04.920 real. But ordinary time... is where we stop chasing 00:08:04.920 --> 00:08:10.560 the fireworks and start tending the coals. Fireworks 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.620 are for crowds. Coals, they're for kitchens. 00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:17.759 And Jesus spent a whole lot more time in kitchens 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:23.089 than he ever did in temples. So friends, Attune 00:08:23.089 --> 00:08:26.029 your ears this morning to the reading of the 00:08:26.029 --> 00:08:28.970 gospel word. This morning's word comes to us 00:08:28.970 --> 00:08:32.070 from the gospel account according to Levi, later 00:08:32.070 --> 00:08:35.470 Matthew. Chapter 6 of his gospel account, beginning 00:08:35.470 --> 00:08:39.389 verse 1. Beware of practicing your righteousness 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:43.009 before others in order to be seen by them. For 00:08:43.009 --> 00:08:45.950 then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 00:08:47.149 --> 00:08:50.950 So, whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:54.370 before you do, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues 00:08:54.370 --> 00:08:57.470 and in the streets, so that they may be praised 00:08:57.470 --> 00:09:01.889 by others. Truly, I tell you, they have received 00:09:01.889 --> 00:09:06.769 their reward. But when you give alms, do not 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:09.970 let your left hand know what your right hand 00:09:09.970 --> 00:09:15.100 is doing. so that your alms may be done in secret, 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:19.059 and your Father who sees in secret will reward 00:09:19.059 --> 00:09:24.600 you. And whenever you pray, do not be like the 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:28.080 hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:30.820 the synagogues and at the street corners, so 00:09:30.820 --> 00:09:34.860 that they may be seen by others. Truly, I tell 00:09:34.860 --> 00:09:40.740 you, they've received their reward, but... Whenever 00:09:40.740 --> 00:09:45.360 you pray, go into your room and shut the door 00:09:45.360 --> 00:09:47.419 and pray to your father who is in secret and 00:09:47.419 --> 00:09:50.960 your father who sees in secret will reward you. 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:55.299 When you're praying, do not heap empty phrases 00:09:55.299 --> 00:09:58.519 as the Gentiles do, for they think that they 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:02.820 will be heard because of their many words. Do 00:10:02.820 --> 00:10:06.139 not be like them, for your father knows what 00:10:06.139 --> 00:10:11.429 you need before you even ask him. Pray then in 00:10:11.429 --> 00:10:15.090 this way. Our Father in heaven, may your name 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:19.070 be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. May 00:10:19.070 --> 00:10:21.429 your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:10:22.129 --> 00:10:25.169 Give us this day our daily bread and forgive 00:10:25.169 --> 00:10:28.970 us our debts as we have also forgiven our debtors. 00:10:29.509 --> 00:10:32.730 Do not bring us to this time of trial, but rescue 00:10:32.730 --> 00:10:39.090 us from the evil one. If you forgive their trespasses, 00:10:39.190 --> 00:10:44.070 your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But 00:10:44.070 --> 00:10:47.149 if you do not forgive others, neither will your 00:10:47.149 --> 00:10:51.169 Father forgive your trespasses. And whenever 00:10:51.169 --> 00:10:54.309 you fast, do not look somber like the hypocrites, 00:10:54.389 --> 00:10:57.450 for they mark their faces to show others that 00:10:57.450 --> 00:11:01.289 they are fasting. Truly, I tell you, they have 00:11:01.289 --> 00:11:06.899 received their reward. But when you fast, Put 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:11.700 oil on your head, sorry, and wash your face so 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:14.279 that your fasting may be seen not by others, 00:11:14.340 --> 00:11:17.539 but by your father who is in secret. And your 00:11:17.539 --> 00:11:21.720 father who sees in secret will reward you. Thus 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:25.240 ends the reading of God's word this morning. 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:30.899 Here is the lie that normal tells us. Nothing 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:36.700 is happening. But normal is just the place where 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:43.519 the happening is slow. Normal is where resentment 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:49.240 grows. One small bitterness at a time. Like mold 00:11:49.240 --> 00:11:52.679 in the walls you can't see until it's everywhere. 00:11:54.919 --> 00:12:00.500 Normal is also where healing grows. One forgiven 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:04.940 morning at a time. One breath that doesn't catch 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:09.659 in your throat like it used to. Normal is where 00:12:09.659 --> 00:12:13.940 marriages either get tender again or become brittle. 00:12:15.620 --> 00:12:21.220 Normal is faith, where it becomes a root system 00:12:21.220 --> 00:12:27.200 or becomes a costume instead you wear to family 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:33.340 functions. Normal isn't neutral. Normal does 00:12:33.340 --> 00:12:38.259 have a direction. Every ordinary day, you're 00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:43.960 walking somewhere. You're becoming someone. The 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:47.419 question isn't whether you're being formed. You 00:12:47.419 --> 00:12:53.559 are. The question is, what kind of person am 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:57.320 I becoming when nothing dramatic is happening? 00:12:59.830 --> 00:13:03.070 Let's talk about what back to normal actually 00:13:03.070 --> 00:13:08.070 means for most of us. It means the bills are 00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:12.850 still there. It means that your body still hurts 00:13:12.850 --> 00:13:16.090 in the same old places it's hurt in December. 00:13:18.110 --> 00:13:22.450 It means your kid is still your kid, still carrying 00:13:22.450 --> 00:13:24.769 whatever they were carrying before the Christmas 00:13:24.769 --> 00:13:28.779 tree went up. It means your boss is still your 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:33.139 boss. It means those old habits are still waiting 00:13:33.139 --> 00:13:38.240 for you like a dog at the door. It means your 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:41.220 phone still has opinions about how you should 00:13:41.220 --> 00:13:46.740 be spending your attention. And normal comes 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:52.000 with a kind of strange grief, doesn't it? Because 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.769 big seasons give us... An excuse to feel hopeful. 00:13:57.830 --> 00:14:03.289 Big seasons give us a script. There's somewhere 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:06.710 to stand, something to sing, a reason to expect 00:14:06.710 --> 00:14:10.970 that maybe, just maybe, this time it'll be different. 00:14:12.250 --> 00:14:14.909 But ordinary time doesn't come with background 00:14:14.909 --> 00:14:19.129 music. Ordinary time is mostly just you, your 00:14:19.129 --> 00:14:24.419 thoughts, and your patterns. So if you've been 00:14:24.419 --> 00:14:28.980 feeling this low -grade spiritual blah lately, 00:14:29.259 --> 00:14:34.179 like you're hungry but nothing sounds good, like 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:36.720 you want to pray but you can't find the words, 00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:43.399 like you love God but you can't feel him, it 00:14:43.399 --> 00:14:47.840 doesn't mean you're failing. It might mean... 00:14:48.649 --> 00:14:52.090 You're being invited into a kind of life that 00:14:52.090 --> 00:14:56.029 doesn't need a spotlight all of the time to be 00:14:56.029 --> 00:15:01.809 fateful. And that's scarier than most people 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:08.570 want to admit. Because if we're honest, we rarely 00:15:08.570 --> 00:15:14.259 are. We love the God we can schedule. We love 00:15:14.259 --> 00:15:17.080 a God who shows up on the big days, Christmas 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:20.139 Eve, Easter morning, funerals when we need comfort, 00:15:20.259 --> 00:15:25.740 hospital rooms when we need a miracle. But ordinary 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:28.139 time is where God says, I'll be here Tuesday 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:32.740 too. I'll be here when the laundry's piling up 00:15:32.740 --> 00:15:35.259 and your patience is thin and nobody's clapping 00:15:35.259 --> 00:15:40.399 for you. Tuesday is where most of us have trust 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:46.490 issues. Here's the exposure. Here's the thing 00:15:46.490 --> 00:15:50.929 I don't think we like to admit. We confuse intensity 00:15:50.929 --> 00:16:00.250 with intimacy. We think because we felt something 00:16:00.250 --> 00:16:04.970 holy, we must be close to God. We think those 00:16:04.970 --> 00:16:11.750 tears mean depth. We think the goosebumps mean 00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:21.259 Connection. But feelings are weather. Faith is 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:26.500 a house. Matthew chapter 6 is telling us the 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:29.179 truth about this. Three times he says the same 00:16:29.179 --> 00:16:34.679 thing. Your father sees in secret. Not because 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:40.340 God enjoys being mysterious, but because secrecy 00:16:40.970 --> 00:16:46.870 It's where love stops being performance. In the 00:16:46.870 --> 00:16:51.009 first century, public religion was social currency. 00:16:53.169 --> 00:16:56.450 They weren't hypocrites because they were monsters. 00:16:57.610 --> 00:17:02.470 They were hypocrites because they were visibly 00:17:02.470 --> 00:17:10.160 piety, piously paid. What I mean to say is, People 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:14.700 noticed them. When they did it, people praised 00:17:14.700 --> 00:17:21.940 them. And slowly the audience shifted from God 00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:31.059 to the crowd. And Jesus is saying, if your faith 00:17:31.059 --> 00:17:36.880 requires an audience, it will collapse the moment 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:43.309 that nobody claps for you. So he pushes us into 00:17:43.309 --> 00:17:47.130 these ordinary places. Prayer with the door shut. 00:17:47.549 --> 00:17:51.710 Generosity without the press release. Fasting 00:17:51.710 --> 00:17:57.470 without the sad face. Because it's in ordinary 00:17:57.470 --> 00:18:03.170 time where you learn whether you love God or 00:18:03.170 --> 00:18:10.180 just love being inspired by God. And here's the 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:16.319 harder truth. Normal is also when we return to 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:22.119 our old coping mechanisms. Some of us return 00:18:22.119 --> 00:18:26.460 to control. Some return to distraction. Some 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:30.460 return to numbing. Some return to resentment. 00:18:31.099 --> 00:18:35.099 Some return to hustling. Because if you stay 00:18:35.099 --> 00:18:37.599 busy enough, you don't have to actually feel 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:42.490 what's broken. Some of us aren't losing faith. 00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:44.990 We're just meeting the part of faith that doesn't 00:18:44.990 --> 00:18:54.829 entertain us. Ordinary time reveals what's in 00:18:54.829 --> 00:19:01.549 your hands. And sometimes, sometimes, when the 00:19:01.549 --> 00:19:06.569 lights come up, we don't actually like seeing 00:19:06.569 --> 00:19:11.470 what we're holding. Now, let me show you our 00:19:11.470 --> 00:19:14.410 scripture verse from this morning, Mark 35, 135. 00:19:14.650 --> 00:19:17.970 It says, Jesus got up very early in the morning 00:19:17.970 --> 00:19:20.829 while it was still dark and went to a deserted 00:19:20.829 --> 00:19:26.869 place, ermos topos in Greek, a wilderness place 00:19:26.869 --> 00:19:33.230 or an empty place to pray. That verse there is 00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:36.670 not to shame us because we didn't wake up at 00:19:36.670 --> 00:19:38.990 4 .30 in the morning and start journaling in 00:19:38.990 --> 00:19:42.750 Hebrew. It's there to show us that Jesus lived 00:19:42.750 --> 00:19:47.990 a life of rhythm. Because some of us don't need 00:19:47.990 --> 00:19:54.869 a new season. We need a new rhythm. Even Jesus, 00:19:55.069 --> 00:19:58.230 the Son of God, the Word made flesh, did not 00:19:58.230 --> 00:20:04.029 live on constant spiritual fireworks. He walked. 00:20:04.049 --> 00:20:08.690 He ate. He got tired. He needed solitude. He 00:20:08.690 --> 00:20:12.049 needed prayer. He needed the ordinary discipline 00:20:12.049 --> 00:20:17.250 of withdrawing and returning. And we actually 00:20:17.250 --> 00:20:21.230 see a pattern often in Jesus' actions. Withdraw. 00:20:21.980 --> 00:20:27.920 Pray, return. And the return matters. In verse 00:20:27.920 --> 00:20:30.740 38, the disciples find him and say, everyone's 00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:35.740 looking for you. And Jesus says, let us go on 00:20:35.740 --> 00:20:38.240 to the neighboring towns so that I may proclaim 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:42.539 the message there also. For that is what I came 00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:46.740 out to do. Prayer doesn't make Jesus float away 00:20:46.740 --> 00:20:51.130 from real life. Prayer makes him re -enter it 00:20:51.130 --> 00:20:55.529 with purpose. That's ordinary time spirituality. 00:20:56.549 --> 00:21:01.069 Not escape the world, not get hyped once a year, 00:21:01.210 --> 00:21:07.049 but become steady. Paul does the same kind of 00:21:07.049 --> 00:21:09.569 thing when he writes his first letter to the 00:21:09.569 --> 00:21:13.380 Thessalonian church. In chapter 5 of that letter 00:21:13.380 --> 00:21:17.160 comes these small, almost annoying commands. 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:24.819 Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks 00:21:24.819 --> 00:21:29.579 in all circumstances. Do not quench the spirit. 00:21:30.490 --> 00:21:34.970 Paul wrote to this church in Thessalonica and 00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:39.549 it was tired. It was confused. It was grieving 00:21:39.549 --> 00:21:44.589 their dead and wondering if Jesus was going to 00:21:44.589 --> 00:21:49.230 return. And instead of giving them fireworks, 00:21:49.390 --> 00:21:55.410 he gave them a slow recipe. And then, here's 00:21:55.410 --> 00:21:59.990 the mercy part, verse 23, 24. May the God of 00:21:59.990 --> 00:22:03.250 peace himself sanctify you entirely. The one 00:22:03.250 --> 00:22:07.410 who calls you is faithful and he will do this. 00:22:09.410 --> 00:22:14.450 You, me, friend, we are not held together by 00:22:14.450 --> 00:22:18.289 our spiritual intensity. We're held together 00:22:18.289 --> 00:22:22.849 by God's faithfulness. Ordinary time is not proving 00:22:22.849 --> 00:22:27.349 we're strong. Ordinary time is God proving he 00:22:27.349 --> 00:22:33.789 stays. This is the workshop. This is that coal 00:22:33.789 --> 00:22:39.650 bed. So here's the exhortation. It's simple and 00:22:39.650 --> 00:22:44.809 it's annoying. And it's absolutely where the 00:22:44.809 --> 00:22:50.049 gold is buried. Stop waiting for your life to 00:22:50.049 --> 00:22:55.630 feel holy before you live holy. Stop waiting 00:22:55.630 --> 00:22:58.190 for the right mood, the right moment, the right 00:22:58.190 --> 00:23:01.930 worship set to move you. Stop waiting to feel 00:23:01.930 --> 00:23:06.910 spiritual before you act spiritual. Ordinary 00:23:06.910 --> 00:23:10.130 times, holiness looks like five honest sentences 00:23:10.130 --> 00:23:15.410 instead of 50 pretty ones. It looks like 10 minutes 00:23:15.410 --> 00:23:18.470 with the phone off, letting your soul catch up 00:23:18.470 --> 00:23:23.309 with your body. One quiet act of mercy that you 00:23:23.309 --> 00:23:28.049 didn't announce to others. Forgiveness you don't 00:23:28.049 --> 00:23:33.009 advertise. And refusing to let cynicism disciple 00:23:33.009 --> 00:23:37.730 you. Coming back. Not coming forward necessarily. 00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:41.990 Coming back. Because ordinary time is where most 00:23:41.990 --> 00:23:45.549 people quit. They don't quit because they hate 00:23:45.549 --> 00:23:49.410 God. They quit because nothing dramatic is happening. 00:23:50.410 --> 00:23:53.490 They quit because the spiritual high wears off 00:23:53.490 --> 00:23:58.589 and nobody told them there was a normal. They 00:23:58.589 --> 00:24:03.069 quit because they confused quiet with absence. 00:24:03.190 --> 00:24:07.190 But quiet isn't absence. Quiet is where the roots 00:24:07.190 --> 00:24:15.029 grow. Trees don't grow loudly. They grow slow 00:24:15.029 --> 00:24:19.539 and silent and deep. And the ones that last around 00:24:19.539 --> 00:24:23.000 here through that Oklahoma wind are the ones 00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:25.900 nobody noticed while they were becoming strong. 00:24:27.940 --> 00:24:31.420 If you'll let God train you in ordinary times, 00:24:31.500 --> 00:24:35.059 something changes in you. You'll start noticing 00:24:35.059 --> 00:24:38.839 Jesus in the small places. You'll start to see 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:43.920 the king wearing need. You start to recognize 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:47.779 grace in unglamorous forms. You start to become 00:24:47.779 --> 00:24:50.660 the kind of person who doesn't need a crisis 00:24:50.660 --> 00:24:57.000 to pray. That's readiness. Not readiness as panic. 00:24:57.059 --> 00:25:01.819 Readiness as formation. Who you're becoming as 00:25:01.819 --> 00:25:07.460 a follower of Christ. So tomorrow, when you wake 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:10.680 up and life feels ordinary again, here's a prayer 00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:13.240 you can pray without any spiritual fireworks. 00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:20.730 Lord, make... Today, holy. And then live like 00:25:20.730 --> 00:25:26.410 he answered it. May the God who met you in candlelight 00:25:26.410 --> 00:25:30.130 meet you in the fluorescent light. May the Christ 00:25:30.130 --> 00:25:33.029 who was revealed by a star reveal himself in 00:25:33.029 --> 00:25:35.769 your kitchen, your commute, your waiting room. 00:25:36.829 --> 00:25:40.509 May the spirit who moved in the big season move 00:25:40.509 --> 00:25:43.849 in your small moments, not as fireworks, but 00:25:43.849 --> 00:25:48.140 as coals. Not as spectacle, but as steadfastness. 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:53.140 Not as performance, but as presence. And when 00:25:53.140 --> 00:25:55.779 normal tries to tell you nothing is happening, 00:25:55.819 --> 00:25:59.819 may you remember the kingdom grows slow and it 00:25:59.819 --> 00:26:04.259 grows sure. So come back next week, same you, 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:08.720 same God, same Tuesday waiting on you. Because 00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:11.980 ordinary time is the workshop and the Lord who 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:22.839 sees in secret. is still there. Amen? Amen. If 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:26.759 you're walking back into the ordinary this week, 00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:28.859 back into the calendar, the commute, the dishes, 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:32.220 the same old conversations, hear me. The ordinary 00:26:32.220 --> 00:26:35.200 is not God's absence. It's often God's classroom. 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:38.619 Jesus doesn't just meet us in mountaintop moments. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:41.980 He meets us in the secret place, in the quiet 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:44.740 decisions no one claps for, in the mercy that 00:26:44.740 --> 00:26:47.539 costs you something, in the prayer whispered 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:50.579 with the door shut. And if today stung a little, 00:26:50.660 --> 00:26:54.220 that's not shame. That's the Spirit doing honest 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:57.460 work. Conviction isn't God rejecting you. It's 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:00.359 God refusing to leave you stuck in a smaller 00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:04.319 life than grace intends. Now listen, if something 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:07.099 today made sense, maybe for the first time in 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:10.240 a long time, If it put language to what you've 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:12.980 been feeling or gave you something to carry into 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:16.259 the next week, go on. Throw that like in the 00:27:16.259 --> 00:27:18.759 offering plate, not as a payment, just as a little 00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:22.000 witness saying, I'm still here and I'm still 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.160 listening. And if you want to keep walking with 00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:28.119 us through the workshop of ordinary time, then 00:27:28.119 --> 00:27:31.440 tie your subscribe. That way you'll know when 00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.099 we're meeting for church again. And until then, 00:27:34.099 --> 00:27:36.180 friend, be blessed.