WEBVTT 00:00:05.929 --> 00:00:09.050 Kia ora and welcome to the St Francis Church 00:00:09.050 --> 00:00:11.570 sermon podcast. We're so glad that you've joined 00:00:11.570 --> 00:00:14.970 us. Our prayer is that as you listen, you would 00:00:14.970 --> 00:00:17.910 encounter God's presence. Be refreshed in your 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:20.769 faith and equipped for everyday life with Jesus. 00:00:21.629 --> 00:00:24.289 As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow 00:00:24.289 --> 00:00:27.879 Jesus by practicing His way at His pace. For 00:00:27.879 --> 00:00:30.899 more info about who we are and what God is doing 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:36.799 among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:43.579 peace. Good morning everyone. But today as we 00:00:43.579 --> 00:00:47.020 come on this Sunday, it's really covering the 00:00:47.020 --> 00:00:49.380 last of the five weeks of the series of the rest 00:00:49.380 --> 00:00:53.140 and identity in Christ. And I want to share about 00:00:53.790 --> 00:00:56.509 What are the rest of our weeks like? By being 00:00:56.509 --> 00:00:59.890 sent into Monday to Saturday, and how the rest 00:00:59.890 --> 00:01:02.369 they've been talking about and trying to understand 00:01:02.369 --> 00:01:06.030 enables us to take up a cross in those other 00:01:06.030 --> 00:01:09.549 days. I want you to think about your between 00:01:09.549 --> 00:01:12.670 Sundays, your Monday to Saturday, and what that's 00:01:12.670 --> 00:01:14.810 like. Picture this. Picture it in your head, 00:01:14.930 --> 00:01:18.349 what your days are like. Not your Sunday because 00:01:18.349 --> 00:01:20.650 it could be going fine. Can't guarantee that 00:01:20.650 --> 00:01:23.090 it's going fine, but you're here. But picture 00:01:23.090 --> 00:01:26.049 your Monday and maybe where you are around about, 00:01:26.049 --> 00:01:28.489 say, 10 o 'clock. Whether it's the office, the 00:01:28.489 --> 00:01:31.829 classroom, could be in a hospital ward, the kitchen, 00:01:32.209 --> 00:01:35.250 could be in the rest home, the office with the 00:01:35.250 --> 00:01:37.129 cat that's walking on the keyboard. And when 00:01:37.129 --> 00:01:40.469 you're picturing that time, who's around you 00:01:40.469 --> 00:01:43.689 and what does it smell like using all your senses? 00:01:45.390 --> 00:01:47.569 Hold that picture because this whole service 00:01:47.569 --> 00:01:51.450 is about that place outside these walls. Five 00:01:51.450 --> 00:01:55.329 weeks ago, we began with why we rest, then who 00:01:55.329 --> 00:01:58.310 we actually rest on, and then what rest is for. 00:01:59.769 --> 00:02:02.310 Last week, the hinge of it was knowing that you 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:04.930 were named, that you were secure in yourself 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:07.450 before Christ, before you were actually sent. 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:10.189 Our identity actually precedes any activity that 00:02:10.189 --> 00:02:12.449 we have. And today the series does the only thing 00:02:12.449 --> 00:02:15.969 that a true encounter with God can do. It actually 00:02:15.969 --> 00:02:18.409 sends you. So let's go where there's a bush. 00:02:18.620 --> 00:02:22.439 on fire on a normal working day for Moses. Look 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:24.860 at what Moses is doing when the biggest moment 00:02:24.860 --> 00:02:28.240 of his life arrives. Moses was keeping the flock 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:32.039 of his father and Lord Jethro. He's a work -minding 00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:35.780 sheep. It's a Tuesday, let's say, as far as he 00:02:35.780 --> 00:02:40.139 knows. His 11 ,000th more or less identical Tuesday 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:42.259 caring for the sheep because he's been doing 00:02:42.259 --> 00:02:46.520 this for 40 years. Moses is 80. Whatever dreams 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:49.879 he had of significance died decades ago in Egypt. 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:52.900 And in the middle of this working day, which 00:02:52.900 --> 00:02:55.280 is a normal ordinary day for him, in the wilderness 00:02:55.280 --> 00:02:59.620 a bush burns and it's not consumed. And notice 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:02.639 a small hinge the whole story turns on. Moses 00:03:02.639 --> 00:03:06.960 said, I must turn aside and look at this great 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:10.599 sight. He turned aside and he stopped. The man 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:14.159 Moses paused. his work long enough to pay attention 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:17.300 to what was around him and only when the Lord 00:03:17.300 --> 00:03:21.039 saw that he had turned aside the text says, did 00:03:21.039 --> 00:03:25.599 God call to him. Now I wonder how many burning 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.699 bushes we drive past at speed. Not literally 00:03:28.699 --> 00:03:30.620 driving, walking or forgetting that we don't 00:03:30.620 --> 00:03:34.060 actually see them. This series over these last 00:03:34.060 --> 00:03:36.360 five weeks has been teaching us the disciplines 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:41.050 of turning aside. The morning verse, the 5, 10, 00:03:41.069 --> 00:03:43.590 15 minutes of silence throughout the day, the 00:03:43.590 --> 00:03:46.009 evening prayers. They're not religious hobbies 00:03:46.009 --> 00:03:49.370 to try and do better. They're to help us be better 00:03:49.370 --> 00:03:53.169 people. How you become the kind of person you 00:03:53.169 --> 00:03:55.969 notice when the ordinary ground starts to glow 00:03:55.969 --> 00:03:59.449 around you. And then we hear this voice, Moses, 00:03:59.610 --> 00:04:03.349 Moses. He's been called by name. Remove the sandals 00:04:03.349 --> 00:04:05.590 from your feet for the place in which you are 00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:10.060 standing is holy ground. Holy ground. It's not 00:04:10.060 --> 00:04:12.219 the temple, the temple's not even been built 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:15.159 yet. It's not a Sunday, there's no Sunday service, 00:04:17.019 --> 00:04:19.259 but it's a patch of working wilderness. He's 00:04:19.259 --> 00:04:22.399 out there with the sheep, made holy by the one 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:26.839 thing only, that God is there. Which means, and 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:29.199 to hear this, that your Tuesday at 10 o 'clock 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:32.040 or any other day can be holy ground. Whether 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:34.100 it's your classroom, whether it's out walking, 00:04:34.660 --> 00:04:36.600 whether it's the ward or your desk that you work 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.800 at, not because of what happens there. but because 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:43.720 of who is there. We hear these words from God 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:46.860 says, I will be with you. And that's the God 00:04:46.860 --> 00:04:50.439 promises that God gives Moses and it's the only 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:54.680 qualification that Moses actually gets. I will 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:58.459 be with you. Because look at the conversation 00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:01.660 that God says, I have observed the misery of 00:05:01.660 --> 00:05:04.879 my people. I've heard their cry. I know they're 00:05:04.879 --> 00:05:07.240 suffering and I've come down to deliver them. 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:12.379 So come. I will send you. You see, God's compassion, 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:16.720 God's mission, God's deliverance, and Moses actually 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.399 gets a part in it. And Moses, if you remember 00:05:19.399 --> 00:05:21.680 the reading or recall it, immediately starts 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.160 making excuses. Watch how honest this is, because 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:28.220 I suspect you'll recognise every one of them 00:05:28.220 --> 00:05:31.779 and then five of Moses's excuses. Let's go through 00:05:31.779 --> 00:05:36.480 them. Who am I that I should go? Now that's the 00:05:36.480 --> 00:05:38.680 first excuse from him. And it's the one most 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:42.500 of us reach for fastest. The sense that we are 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:45.660 simply not significant enough for this. An 80 00:05:45.660 --> 00:05:47.980 -year -old shepherd with a stutter and a murder 00:05:47.980 --> 00:05:50.360 charge in another country and God doesn't argue 00:05:50.360 --> 00:05:54.839 the point. He says, I will send you. He doesn't 00:05:54.839 --> 00:05:57.980 actually say, Moses, you're more capable than 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:02.660 you think. He says, I will be with you. Notice 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:05.709 that. I will be with you. God never answers, 00:06:05.870 --> 00:06:08.990 who am I, with a pep talk about Moses. He answers 00:06:08.990 --> 00:06:11.949 it by moving the weight of Moses entirely and 00:06:11.949 --> 00:06:15.930 saying, I will be with you. The question was 00:06:15.930 --> 00:06:19.110 never who Moses is, the question was ever only 00:06:19.110 --> 00:06:24.189 who is with him. Same as for us today. And then 00:06:24.189 --> 00:06:28.529 comes the second excuse. Now, if I come to the 00:06:28.529 --> 00:06:30.829 Israelites and say, the God of your ancestors 00:06:30.829 --> 00:06:35.389 has sent me to you, And then they ask me, what 00:06:35.389 --> 00:06:43.250 is his name? What shall I say? This is the theologian's 00:06:43.250 --> 00:06:46.290 excuse, or the disciples' Christian's excuse, 00:06:46.329 --> 00:06:49.009 the one that sounds like diligence, but is really 00:06:49.009 --> 00:06:52.649 delay. I need more information before I can possibly 00:06:52.649 --> 00:06:56.069 act. I need to be able to pray better, be able 00:06:56.069 --> 00:06:58.189 to speak better, be able to actually say who 00:06:58.189 --> 00:07:01.550 I'm going and being sent by. And God gives them 00:07:01.550 --> 00:07:06.329 the name I am who I am. Which is really less 00:07:06.329 --> 00:07:09.290 an answer than an invitation to trust a presence 00:07:09.290 --> 00:07:12.050 rather than a formula. And then we have this 00:07:12.050 --> 00:07:15.449 third one. It's back in chapter four and it says, 00:07:15.689 --> 00:07:18.689 but suppose they do not believe me or listen 00:07:18.689 --> 00:07:21.670 to me. This is a fear of rejection, of looking 00:07:21.670 --> 00:07:24.110 foolish, of walking into a room and having nobody 00:07:24.110 --> 00:07:27.029 take you seriously. Who's felt like that? God's 00:07:27.029 --> 00:07:30.649 answer is three small signs for Moses. It's a 00:07:30.649 --> 00:07:33.970 staff. It's a leprous hand and water turned to 00:07:33.970 --> 00:07:36.670 blood. Proof that God can work through Moses' 00:07:37.209 --> 00:07:40.290 actual hands, not some more impressive version 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:43.250 of him. He's saying, let me do this, Moses, and 00:07:43.250 --> 00:07:45.970 I'll show the people. And then there's the fourth 00:07:45.970 --> 00:07:49.529 one, the one I suspect is nearest to home for 00:07:49.529 --> 00:07:52.970 most of us in this room. I'm a Lord, I've never 00:07:52.970 --> 00:07:56.689 been eloquent, I am slow of speech, and I'm slow 00:07:56.689 --> 00:08:01.180 of tongue. I can't do that talking partly. Leave 00:08:01.180 --> 00:08:03.720 it to someone else. I'm going to fumble it. And 00:08:03.720 --> 00:08:06.240 I don't want to look a fool up front. Someone 00:08:06.240 --> 00:08:08.699 else would say, there's so much better than I 00:08:08.699 --> 00:08:12.060 would. And God's reply cuts right through all 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:15.240 of that excuse. He says, who gives speech to 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:18.819 mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seen or 00:08:18.819 --> 00:08:23.300 blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and I will 00:08:23.300 --> 00:08:25.699 be with your mouth and teach you what you are 00:08:25.699 --> 00:08:28.180 to speak. So in a simple way, don't overthink 00:08:28.180 --> 00:08:32.809 it. Just go. I'll give you the words. And finally 00:08:32.809 --> 00:08:35.990 the fifth excuse, which isn't really an excuse 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:39.250 at all, it's just the truth coming out. Oh Lord, 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:42.509 oh my Lord, please send someone else. Not I can't, 00:08:42.629 --> 00:08:46.029 just please don't make me. How often have we 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:51.230 said that? And that of all the five excuses that 00:08:51.230 --> 00:08:53.289 Moses is saying is the one that finding provokes 00:08:53.289 --> 00:08:56.750 God's anger. Not because Moses is weak, but because 00:08:56.750 --> 00:09:00.759 Moses is refusing a gift. that was never about 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:05.419 his strength in the first place. I recall back 00:09:05.419 --> 00:09:07.639 over the years of my life, and I'm most probably 00:09:07.639 --> 00:09:10.759 going to do it again, where I say, can you send 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:15.379 someone else? Where it provokes God's anger by 00:09:15.379 --> 00:09:18.120 saying that. Where he said, I want you to go. 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:23.460 You're the one for this task. Five excuses over 00:09:23.460 --> 00:09:26.980 two chapters, and God answers every single one. 00:09:27.019 --> 00:09:29.460 with some version of the same thing. This is 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:32.860 never about your advocacy of any of us or Moses. 00:09:33.580 --> 00:09:36.840 I am who I am and I will be with you enough for 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:40.600 us to do whatever we need to do. Now listen slowly 00:09:40.600 --> 00:09:42.519 because I know there are excuses that are in 00:09:42.519 --> 00:09:44.779 this room because that's who we are as humans. 00:09:46.379 --> 00:09:48.360 Excuses that we put up not just in this place 00:09:48.360 --> 00:09:50.980 but in our workplaces or homes or anywhere else. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.019 And I want you to hear your own voice somewhere 00:09:54.019 --> 00:09:58.960 in that list. Not significant enough. Not informed 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:02.759 enough. I'm not credible enough. I'm not articulate 00:10:02.759 --> 00:10:07.480 enough. I'm not willing enough. Every excuse 00:10:07.480 --> 00:10:10.740 we make on a Monday to Saturday morning is a 00:10:10.740 --> 00:10:13.600 hundred generations old already. And every one 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:17.799 of them gets the same answer. The mission runs 00:10:17.799 --> 00:10:22.480 on God's sufficiency, not yours, not mine. That's 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.460 why the rested people of God can be sent people. 00:10:25.769 --> 00:10:29.490 That's why surrender, not talent, is actually 00:10:29.490 --> 00:10:32.769 the doorway for God to actually work. We also 00:10:32.769 --> 00:10:35.070 have to practice losing our life on purpose. 00:10:35.450 --> 00:10:37.889 In Matthew 16, and it's the very next scene after 00:10:37.889 --> 00:10:41.570 last week's reading, Peter has just been named 00:10:41.570 --> 00:10:43.990 the rock and Jesus immediately begins to show 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:47.090 them that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo 00:10:47.090 --> 00:10:50.210 great suffering and be killed and on the third 00:10:50.210 --> 00:10:54.370 day be raised. And Peter, well freshly named, 00:10:54.889 --> 00:10:58.000 feeling built up and confident that this is what 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.419 he's going to be doing, takes Jesus aside and 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:04.659 he rebukes him. God forbid it Lord, this must 00:11:04.659 --> 00:11:08.840 never happen to you. And Jesus turns with the 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:12.940 sharpest words he ever speaks to a friend. Get 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:15.840 behind me Satan, you are a stumbling block to 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.460 me, for you are setting your mind not on divine 00:11:18.460 --> 00:11:22.559 things, but on human things. Peter Rock. to stumbling 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:25.019 block in five verses. How often there's been 00:11:25.019 --> 00:11:27.919 in our life too that we say yes Lord I'll do 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.279 that and then the next breath or five minutes 00:11:30.279 --> 00:11:36.279 or later that day we stumble. Why so severe? 00:11:36.299 --> 00:11:39.000 Because Peter is offering Jesus a cross less 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.460 mission. You can do all of this without dying 00:11:42.460 --> 00:11:45.720 and being and being killed. Glory without surrender 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:47.940 that's what Peter was more or less saying. The 00:11:47.940 --> 00:11:51.840 same often that Satan actually made in the wilderness 00:11:51.840 --> 00:11:56.279 and a cross less Christ can't save anyone. And 00:11:56.279 --> 00:12:00.419 Jesus from that rebuke turns to all of them and 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:03.460 he turns to us as well and he says if anyone 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:06.580 want to become my followers let them deny themselves 00:12:06.580 --> 00:12:09.960 and take up the cross and follow me. For those 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:13.220 who want to save their life will lose it and 00:12:13.220 --> 00:12:15.120 those who lose their life for my sake they will 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.759 find it. Here is the last and I think one of 00:12:17.759 --> 00:12:21.909 the deepest truths of this series, that rest 00:12:21.909 --> 00:12:25.370 is not the destination, not to find that rest 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:28.610 and just stay there. Rest is actually the wellspring. 00:12:29.090 --> 00:12:30.750 We haven't spent five weeks learning to rest 00:12:30.750 --> 00:12:35.009 so we can settle into a comfortable well -boundaried, 00:12:35.210 --> 00:12:38.110 self -caring little life. We've been resting 00:12:38.110 --> 00:12:41.710 for the same reason Jesus rested, so that there's 00:12:41.710 --> 00:12:44.289 something to pour out for the people around us. 00:12:46.220 --> 00:12:49.100 Why, only rested people can hear this call without 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:52.679 terror. You can only afford to lose your life 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.299 if you've already been found. You're securing 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:58.559 your identity in Jesus, and you say, I'll go. 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:01.500 People still working for their identity can't 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:03.759 take up a cross. They're too busy carrying their 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.000 CV with them and saying, this is who I am. This 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:09.559 is what I'm about. But the person you know is 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:12.750 a name. beloved and human from the rock, fed 00:13:12.750 --> 00:13:15.610 at that free feast that Jesus sets for us, that 00:13:15.610 --> 00:13:18.490 person can spend themselves gladly for Jesus, 00:13:18.629 --> 00:13:22.029 for his people. Actually, what's the worst the 00:13:22.029 --> 00:13:24.330 world can take from someone who's already handed 00:13:24.330 --> 00:13:27.990 everything over to Jesus? Nothing. That's why 00:13:27.990 --> 00:13:31.210 people can be persecuted and be killed because 00:13:31.210 --> 00:13:33.610 of their life for Christ. They've surrendered 00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:37.049 everything and said, Lord, my life is your life. 00:13:38.909 --> 00:13:41.809 So what does this poured out look like on a Monday 00:13:41.809 --> 00:13:44.049 to Saturday for us? Well, if you want to know 00:13:44.049 --> 00:13:46.470 what this cross -shaped poured out life actually 00:13:46.470 --> 00:13:50.190 looks like for us to live it out on those days, 00:13:50.549 --> 00:13:54.149 it's not usually dramatic for us. Paul paints 00:13:54.149 --> 00:13:57.149 it in Romans 12 and it looks like a week and 00:13:57.149 --> 00:14:00.049 it's got these things laid out into it. Let love 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:03.409 be genuine. Be patient in suffering, persevere 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:06.710 in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints. 00:14:07.019 --> 00:14:09.940 and extend hospitality to strangers bless those 00:14:09.940 --> 00:14:12.340 who persecute you rejoice with those who rejoice 00:14:12.340 --> 00:14:15.879 and weep with those who weep associate with the 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:20.159 lowly and do not repay anyone evil for evil do 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:23.360 not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:25.759 good that's what you do during the rest of the 00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:30.879 week those things I invite you to read that slowly 00:14:30.879 --> 00:14:34.340 again at home and notice that almost every line 00:14:34.340 --> 00:14:38.000 happens outside the church outside these walls 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:42.399 today. Hospitality to strangers blessing the 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:44.960 difficult colleague sitting with the workmaid 00:14:44.960 --> 00:14:49.899 who's weeping, refusing to join the pile on in 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:53.460 the group chat and venting yourself and overcoming 00:14:53.460 --> 00:14:58.519 evil with good on the street or in the school 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:01.460 or anything else. This is our liturgy, the work 00:15:01.460 --> 00:15:04.440 of the people of Jesus Monday to Saturday and 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:07.570 every one of you is ordained to it by your baptism. 00:15:09.129 --> 00:15:11.370 It's not given to certain people, it's given 00:15:11.370 --> 00:15:13.970 to all of us. And I want to say clearly what 00:15:13.970 --> 00:15:16.210 that means for how we talk about ministry around 00:15:16.210 --> 00:15:18.070 here in the life of this church, because the 00:15:18.070 --> 00:15:20.690 church has often got this wrong and people have 00:15:20.690 --> 00:15:23.110 been hurt by it. We've sometimes behaved as though 00:15:23.110 --> 00:15:25.490 real ministry is what happens just on this site 00:15:25.490 --> 00:15:28.190 and everything else is just life stuff. As though 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:30.149 the teacher, the nurse, the builder, whatever 00:15:30.149 --> 00:15:33.289 professional thing that you do through the week 00:15:33.289 --> 00:15:36.279 doesn't really matter. and not real work. That's 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:39.879 exactly backwards. We gather on a Sunday to be 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:42.220 built up to go out for the rest of the week. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:45.899 For most of you, the primary place that God has 00:15:45.899 --> 00:15:48.500 assigned you is out there. You will spend perhaps 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:52.279 100 hours or so in this place in a year, and 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.820 you've got over 2 ,000 hours or so outside of 00:15:54.820 --> 00:15:57.820 here. Which mission field do you suppose God 00:15:57.820 --> 00:16:01.799 is more interested in? When you teach a class 00:16:01.799 --> 00:16:05.590 well? Why a house honestly if you're an electrician? 00:16:06.070 --> 00:16:08.850 Nurse a patient gently, run a business justly, 00:16:09.169 --> 00:16:12.230 raise a child patiently. With all your heart 00:16:12.230 --> 00:16:15.389 is working for the Lord as Colossians says, that 00:16:15.389 --> 00:16:18.970 is ministry. Not a platform for ministry, the 00:16:18.970 --> 00:16:22.590 thing itself. God cares about the good tables 00:16:22.590 --> 00:16:25.289 that we sit around, not just the good sermons. 00:16:28.950 --> 00:16:31.610 And there's a person who lived this, a better... 00:16:31.769 --> 00:16:34.470 that most people have in the 7th century monastery. 00:16:34.970 --> 00:16:37.009 He was a cook named Brother Lawrence. Anyone 00:16:37.009 --> 00:16:39.809 heard of him? He was born Nicholas Herman, a 00:16:39.809 --> 00:16:41.990 soldier and footman before he ever wore a habit. 00:16:42.769 --> 00:16:44.690 He entered the monastery as a lay brother because 00:16:44.690 --> 00:16:48.710 he judged himself unfit for anything grander 00:16:48.710 --> 00:16:52.429 and was put to work in the kitchen. He has no 00:16:52.429 --> 00:16:55.730 pulpit, no title. It was a lifetime of pots and 00:16:55.730 --> 00:16:59.590 pans, cleaning all them. hauling firewood, standing 00:16:59.590 --> 00:17:02.250 at a hot stove for men more educated and more 00:17:02.250 --> 00:17:05.130 esteemed than himself. And it was by his own 00:17:05.130 --> 00:17:07.569 account, he initially hated it. Kitchen work 00:17:07.569 --> 00:17:10.369 was noisy, it was repetitive. Clean the dishes, 00:17:10.750 --> 00:17:13.950 prepare it again, clean them again. And beneath 00:17:13.950 --> 00:17:17.109 the dignity that he might once have imagined 00:17:17.109 --> 00:17:20.109 for himself. But over those years, he began to 00:17:20.109 --> 00:17:22.250 practice something almost embarrassing and simple. 00:17:23.529 --> 00:17:25.849 Doing every task, however small, consciously 00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:29.339 in the presence of God. Now he wasn't stopping 00:17:29.339 --> 00:17:31.920 to pray between tasks but treating the tasks 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:36.359 itself as the prayer. He wrote in letters that 00:17:36.359 --> 00:17:38.940 would be later collected together as a practice 00:17:38.940 --> 00:17:43.019 of the presence of God. That he saw God so faithfully 00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:47.299 in the kitchen that he wrote this. The time of 00:17:47.299 --> 00:17:50.559 business does not with me differ from the time 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:54.380 of prayer. And that in the noise and clatter 00:17:54.380 --> 00:17:57.460 of of the kitchen or people were calling out 00:17:57.460 --> 00:18:00.279 for different things at once. He possessed God 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:03.240 in as greater tranquility as he had been upon 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:06.839 his knees at the Blessed Sacrament. He could 00:18:06.839 --> 00:18:09.039 work and pray at the same time. He was practicing 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:12.059 the presence of God while working and praying 00:18:12.059 --> 00:18:15.500 together. And he is remembered for saying that 00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:18.220 he did not need a lengthy prayer to be with God. 00:18:19.660 --> 00:18:21.799 That he flipped his omelette or whatever he was 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.220 flipping in the pan for the love of God. And 00:18:24.220 --> 00:18:26.460 when there was nothing to do he would prostrate 00:18:26.460 --> 00:18:29.579 himself before God in gratitude. And then he 00:18:29.579 --> 00:18:32.420 would rise happier than a king to go and pick 00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:35.000 up straw from the ground for the love of God. 00:18:35.859 --> 00:18:39.900 Everything was done for the love of God. The 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:42.759 kitchen became his cathedral. Not because the 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:44.819 work changed but because he knew who was standing 00:18:44.819 --> 00:18:47.099 beside the stove with him or beside the cleaning 00:18:47.099 --> 00:18:49.799 place with him. And visitors began seeking him 00:18:49.799 --> 00:18:52.079 out. They weren't seeking the abbot of the monastery 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.539 but they were seeking him. their old brother 00:18:54.539 --> 00:18:57.059 among the pots because they could feel that what 00:18:57.059 --> 00:19:01.059 he had found was something that they wanted and 00:19:01.059 --> 00:19:03.519 something that they needed. And that's the ground 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:06.940 prayer 300 years early and is available to every 00:19:06.940 --> 00:19:09.980 one of us from our Monday to Saturdays as well. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:13.119 Whatever your version of the kitchen is for you, 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:17.460 the classroom or just the home or wherever you 00:19:17.460 --> 00:19:20.319 are. So here's the final track and it's simply 00:19:20.319 --> 00:19:26.230 called Go. and it is a daily part and a decision 00:19:26.230 --> 00:19:29.009 part for each one of us. The daily part is a 00:19:29.009 --> 00:19:32.670 ground prayer, is to remember as we begin our 00:19:32.670 --> 00:19:36.109 day to pray this, Lord this is holy ground because 00:19:36.109 --> 00:19:40.170 you are here. Send me into this day and go with 00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:44.690 me. You don't have to physically take off your 00:19:44.690 --> 00:19:46.529 shoes or your sandals as you walk through the 00:19:46.529 --> 00:19:49.230 day, but recognise that wherever the ground is 00:19:49.230 --> 00:19:51.869 that you are it's holy ground and He is with 00:19:51.869 --> 00:19:56.809 you. Then in the evening, you practice this. 00:19:57.170 --> 00:20:00.309 Name one place you saw God at work in your Tuesday, 00:20:01.029 --> 00:20:03.769 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. 00:20:04.670 --> 00:20:07.869 Train their eyes to turn aside and thank Him. 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:10.309 And the decision part is in your hands right 00:20:10.309 --> 00:20:16.269 now. One of them is in this place and also outside, 00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:18.329 the ministry booklet that's been around for a 00:20:18.329 --> 00:20:21.170 few months. Here's how I want you to think about 00:20:21.170 --> 00:20:23.849 it. Everything that's in that booklet, the welcoming, 00:20:23.990 --> 00:20:26.430 the morning tea, kids teams, practical crews, 00:20:26.769 --> 00:20:28.890 the community facing work like the white table, 00:20:29.029 --> 00:20:32.029 the opt shop and daily bread, none of it is helping 00:20:32.029 --> 00:20:35.930 out at church. It is one Sunday expression of 00:20:35.930 --> 00:20:40.130 a seven day calling. The same serenity life gathered 00:20:40.130 --> 00:20:43.829 and scattered today as it is Monday to Saturday. 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:47.279 So I encourage you as a household or a single 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:49.240 or a couple or whatever, open it together and 00:20:49.240 --> 00:20:51.900 choose one way to serve as a family this season. 00:20:52.259 --> 00:20:55.200 And then if your season of life means that what's 00:20:55.200 --> 00:20:58.119 in the book and for this place isn't right now, 00:20:59.500 --> 00:21:01.579 your Tuesday place is your ministry placement 00:21:01.579 --> 00:21:05.180 as always was. Serve there. But this week and 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:08.500 this season, go because He is with you. Always 00:21:08.500 --> 00:21:12.940 will be and always has been. Let us pray, Father. 00:21:13.079 --> 00:21:17.440 We know that the word go can frighten us, and 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.140 we can often say like Moses, can you send someone 00:21:20.140 --> 00:21:25.259 else? We forget that you are with us, and you'll 00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:28.519 always be with us. May we live our life to serve 00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:33.200 you, lose our life so we can gain it. And we 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:36.500 thank you that you died for us, you rose again, 00:21:37.099 --> 00:21:40.720 and you give us a life that is for freedom.