Latest / Eurasia Region Podcast / S1-E30 | Everyday Eurasia | Kristin Burchfiel

Transcript

S1-E30 | Everyday Eurasia | Kristin Burchfiel · Eurasia Region Podcast

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  Welcome to the special advance series of the Everyday Eurasia
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  podcast, Inspiring fate for every day.
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  In the coming weeks, we'll be journeying together toward
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  Christmas, a season of anticipation, reflection, and
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  light in the darker days. During this special season of
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  Advent, we will journey through the Advent themes of hope,
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  peace, joy, and love. This second week of Advent, we
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  will join Kristen Burchfield. She grew up in Medford, OR USA.
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  She spent her life surfing both locally and globally.
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  Kristen serves now on the Eurasia region where she and her
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  family have lived since 2020, first in a Mount Jordan and now
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  in Lisbon, Portugal. Kristen, we'll speak this week
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  about the team Advent Peace. Greetings everyone and welcome
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  to our last day exploring the Advent theme of peace together.
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  It has been a joy to journey with you.
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  I'm excited today to talk about seeking peace in our places
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  where God has us, and to jump into one of my favorite passages
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  of Scripture, one that has been a real guide to me and my
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  ministry for many years. And that is Jeremiah's letter to
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  the Exiles in chapter 29. And I'm going to read verses 4
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  through 7. This is what the Lord Almighty,
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  the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from
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  Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and settle down.
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  Plant gardens and eat what they produce.
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  Marry and have sons and daughters.
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  Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage
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  so that they too may have sons and daughters.
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  Increase in number there. Do not decrease.
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  Also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which
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  I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because
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  if it prospers, you too will prosper.
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  So in this scripture, those in exile are instructed to put down
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  roots in the place that God has them in for now, and they are
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  encouraged not to give up, but to multiply and also seek peace
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  and prosperity in that place. God has not given up on them, so
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  they should not give up on God or themselves.
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  And not only that, while they are making a new start and a new
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  home for themselves, they can do so in a way that blesses the
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  place and the people where they now reside.
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  We see here that true peace, the kind of peace that we are
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  talking about during this Advent season, is found in faithful,
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  hopeful living in our present circumstances, as we have been
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  talking about this week, the Prince of Peace brings peace
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  that is not only the absence of conflict or in passive waiting.
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  It is in living a thriving, full life as we join God in
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  transforming the world. And I know that churches all
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  over our region are doing just this.
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  Many of our churches are made-up of people living outside of the
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  country that they were born in. I'm thinking about my friend in
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  Jordan who came to Jordan from a neighboring country to seek
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  refuge. Not only did she find a more
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  peaceful place, she found a church caring for their
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  neighbors and through them she found Jesus.
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  Her life was transformed from one of just being someone from a
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  Christian family, heritage and background to a life of living
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  and true relationship with Christ.
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  And for the last decade she has poured that out into her family,
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  her faith community and her neighborhood.
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  I am thinking about so many of our pastors here in Portugal who
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  though not originally from this country, are pastoring multi
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  ethnic, multi generational churches, seeking to be relevant
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  faith communities, engaged in their neighborhoods, meeting
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  both tangible and spiritual needs.
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  And I know there are countless other stories like these.
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  So I wonder, as we wrap up this theme of peace together, what
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  has God been speaking to you about this week?
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  Where have you been challenged? What is the next step you are
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  being called into? How can you be an instrument of
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  peace in your place? I pray that God will lead and
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  guide us as we seek to be peacemakers even in the most
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  challenging of circumstances. Let's pray.
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  Holy God, thank you for the gift of this time together, for the
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  chance to pause and reflect on what it means to live as people
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  of peace. Thank you for Jesus, the Prince
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  of Peace, who not only brings peace to our hearts, but calls
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  us to live it out in the world around us.
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  Lord, as we come to the end of this week, we are reminded that
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  your peace isn't something we simply wait for.
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  It's something we practice, something we join you in
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  creating. By your grace, you invite us to
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  be part of your work of reconciliation and renewal.
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  So today, God, we ask that you would fill us again with your
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  Holy Spirit. Shape our hearts to reflect your
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  peace. Make us more like Jesus so that
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  our words and our actions bring healing and hope wherever we go.
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  We lift up to you those places in our world where peace feels
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  really far away, where conflict and fear seem to have the last
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  word. We pray for your people who are
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  working for peace in these places, for pastors, churches,
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  and all followers of Jesus who are being light and dark and
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  difficult places. Give them courage and strength,
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  Lord. And for each of us, wherever
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  you've planted us in our neighborhoods, our workplaces,
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  our families, help us to seek the peace of those places.
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  Help us to build, to plant, to serve, and to love in ways that
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  point to you. Send us out now, empowered by
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  your Holy Spirit, to live as peacemakers, as ministers of
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  reconciliation, and as witnesses to your transforming love.
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  We pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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  May you go in peace and serve the Lord.
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  Thank you for listening to the Everyday Eurasia podcast,
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  Inspiring Fate for everyday. For more Everyday Stories,
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  subscribe on this podcast channel, follow our socials,
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  For our newsletter and further information about the Eurasia
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  region, visit our website, eurasiaregion.org.