Latest / The Daily Ripples Podcast / May 28 - Choosing Inclusion

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May 28 - Choosing Inclusion · The Daily Ripples Podcast

• 0:03
  Hey guys, today I'm with Pastor Mike, but today is May 28th and choosing inclusion.
• 0:12
  The stone, judgment creates distance.
• 0:16
  Acceptance creates connection.
• 0:18
  The way I view others shapes the kind of world I live in.
• 0:21
  Ripple one practical.
• 0:23
  Today I will notice where I'm being critical or dismissive.
• 0:26
  I will choose patience over intolerance and curiosity over judgment.
• 0:32
  I do not need to agree with everyone to treat them with respect.
• 0:36
  Ripple 2 Spiritual
• 0:37
  Christ welcomed those others rejected.
• 0:43
  As I follow His example, the Holy Spirit softens my heart and expands my capacity to love.
• 0:51
  The Father shows no partiality, and as I grow in Him, I learn to see others with grace instead of comparison or pride.
• 1:02
  Yeah, that was a new word for me, as you could see probably.
• 1:08
  So when I look at this, I really like the part where it says curiosity over judgment.
• 1:16
  Because I come into a place of that, right?
• 1:18
  Like, cause maybe I need to be more, you know, Hey, why does this person view this like this instead of, Hey, you're not viewing it.
• 1:26
  Like I'll view it.
• 1:28
  Hey, that's, you know, and cause I come into that and I was talking to a guy on the phone about this today.
• 1:34
  He was, uh, he's kind of going through some, he's got a new, he's got a baby on the way and he's kind of, you know, nervous about the state of affairs and, you know,
• 1:46
  bringing a kid into this.
• 1:48
  And I was talking to him because, you know, not too long ago,
• 1:54
  just like I was talking on the other one about this same thing,
• 1:58
  I inventoried some things in the world, you know,
• 2:04
  kind of on the things that I should stay out of anyways,
• 2:07
  because that's not where I'm at.
• 2:09
  It's kind of an outside issue in my life,
• 2:10
  and that's what I came up to term.
• 2:14
  But curiosity, when someone has a different view of mine, you know, question, you know, hey, you know, I wonder why they have that.
• 2:22
  And then I come to see that they're just human, too.
• 2:24
  And I'm human.
• 2:25
  And we're all human.
• 2:26
  And they could be right or I could be wrong and I could be right.
• 2:28
  They could be wrong.
• 2:29
  It doesn't matter because that's not my intention.
• 2:32
  That's not my primary purpose.
• 2:34
  My primary purpose is to be a service to that human because they're God's kid.
• 2:39
  And I am, too.
• 2:40
  And when I come to that and think, you know, hey, curiosity, you know, I like, I really,
• 2:46
  because I circled that and I put underneath it, it says, find out all you can about them.
• 2:53
  And that's my job as someone, you know, finding a new person.
• 2:59
  I find out all I can about you and I get curious.
• 3:02
  Because when I get curious, you start talking, right?
• 3:05
  And then you get pumped up because, hey, it's about you.
• 3:09
  And I like it about when it's about me, you start doing what you're doing right here.
• 3:14
  And I like it because when I'm talking to you, you give me these head nods.
• 3:18
  And you know how to because you've done some practice in that area.
• 3:21
  Of course.
• 3:21
  And it gets me pumped up.
• 3:23
  So then when the head nod comes and I'm like, oh, tell me more, I get pumped up some more.
• 3:28
  And that's on the flip side that does that for another human being.
• 3:33
  So I think, you know, and that's a place of service as well.
• 3:37
  Well, and I was thinking about how grateful I am or thankful I am, whichever the case may be, that God definitely blessed me with an inherent sense of curiosity.
• 3:49
  You know, and everybody is curious to a certain extent, but I mean, similar to what you've talked about, curiosity about other people, and especially about people from other life experiences, other cultures, things of that nature.
• 4:01
  You know, you talked, it was either yesterday or the day before about, you know, sitting in jail and somebody in the cellar cross from you had the Koran that he offered to let you read and somebody next to you had a Bible he offered to let you read.
• 4:14
  And at the time, you just wanted to read whatever was going to get your butt out of trouble and out of jail, right?
• 4:20
  And I find those people from different, you know, cultures, backgrounds, even different faiths to be very interesting because we can learn from each other.
• 4:30
  We can grow, you know, together.
• 4:32
  We can grow separately.
• 4:33
  But, you know, choosing that inclusion is very important because we all have, and this is where there's the biblical concept of judging others, you know, kind of gets misused at times.
• 4:45
  Everybody likes to throw out the verse, and we call it proof texting, which is, judge not, lest ye be judged.
• 4:52
  And that type of judge or judgment is more akin to someone getting a conviction in a court of law kind of thing.
• 4:59
  It's not talking about using your God-given natural human judgment discernment to determine what gives your life meaning, purpose, and drive, and what does not.
• 5:11
  And so I have been blessed with a sense of curiosity as well as a lack of a desire to condemn or judge other people.
• 5:25
  I'm actually glad that I don't have the responsibility to judge anybody.
• 5:30
  I always like to say I can't condemn a single person to hell.
• 5:35
  Because it's not my job.
• 5:36
  It's not my role.
• 5:37
  That's part of, you know, that's one of the aspects of faith that, you know, for some people is very much the mystery of the faith is that, you know, how does salvation work?
• 5:47
  How does, you know, God's love work?
• 5:49
  Things of that nature.
• 5:51
  But the curiosity comes into play because I want to learn from other people, you know, and how they go through life, how they experience things.
• 5:59
  And that curiosity is one of the reasons why that sense of curiosity that I have, coupled with a lack of condemnation of others, it helped me.
• 6:10
  During the time, I was still struggling with my alcoholism, but I knew that something was missing in my life.
• 6:16
  And this was probably around 2010 or 2011.
• 6:19
  I knew that something was missing in my life.
• 6:21
  Now, at the time, I was active in my alcoholism, and I was also active in my atheism.
• 6:27
  You know, I would, you talk about liking to argue with people.
• 6:30
  I'd like to find, you know, Christians at work and argue with them about, you know, their
• 6:34
  lack of proof for anything and their lack of evidence and, you know, this, that, and the
• 6:39
  other versus, you know, what I've learned now is that, you know, my whole life is the
• 6:42
  evidence of the proof, but I digress.
• 6:45
  But at the time when I finally had a conversation with a coworker and, you know, she had asked
• 6:52
  me basically the same question that is posed in a different way in the big book.
• 6:57
  What she asked me was she said, well, what makes you so smart or so special or whatever
• 7:02
  that you think that you know more about it than billions of other people in the world?
• 7:07
  And I kind of equate that to kind of that crossroads question in the big book that said
• 7:13
  we had to decide either God was everything or God was nothing.
• 7:16
  You know, and up until that, I would have affirmed and argued and what have you that
• 7:21
  God was nothing.
• 7:22
  But because of that question, it sparked my curiosity.
• 7:25
  And it got through to me and it got me to thinking.
• 7:27
  So I started researching, you know, churches in the Memphis area, trying to find one that
• 7:32
  I might find, you know, acceptable to go and check out.
• 7:38
  And I discovered, you know, that it was Heart Song.
• 7:42
  And at the time, I didn't even know it was the United Methodist Church.
• 7:45
  It was just Heart Song Church.
• 7:47
  But they had been making the news around 2009 or 2010 because the lead pastor there, a gentleman
• 7:54
  named Steve Stone, had been working hand in hand and building a friendship with the leader of the
• 8:02
  Memphis Islamic Center, which built a facility and moved in right across the street, basically,
• 8:07
  from Heart Song. But when that Memphis Islamic Center was being built, they needed a place to
• 8:14
  gather for their prayers. And so Steve opened up their church, Heart Song, to allow the Memphis
• 8:20
  Islamic Center to come in for their prayers and for their time of worship in a Christian church.
• 8:26
  And at the time, and I still agree with it, I thought, well, what a cool thing, you know,
• 8:30
  the lack of judgment, the being a good neighbor, you know, all those things that I now know Jesus
• 8:35
  taught about extensively in the Gospels about, you know, who is a neighbor? Well, it's the good
• 8:40
  Samaritan, the guy who didn't look like everybody else, probably didn't even share the same faith,
• 8:44
  but he was the one who was of service and reached out helping those around him. And that's the type
• 8:49
  of inclusion that I have always aspired to. And it was through that church, through that connection,
• 8:56
  that a couple of years later, I found the recovery group that met there in that church,
• 9:01
  and that started my journey of recovery and my journey of faith. And it's because of that,
• 9:06
  you know, kind of what it says about, you know, acceptance of others and of their culture,
• 9:13
  and forming that connection and growing from that connection. And it carries on into even my
• 9:19
  pastoral career now. Starting in July, I'll have a second church that I pastor. You know, I pastor
• 9:25
  Braden Mason Church out in Braden, Tennessee, and I don't mind sharing that. And starting in July,
• 9:30
  I'll have a second church. And the second church is Wesleyan Hills United Methodist Church, which is
• 9:34
  in East Memphis. Now, Wesleyan Hills is right smack dab in the middle of a very Jewish community.
• 9:41
  It shares the property and shares an access road and part of their parking with a Jewish synagogue right behind it.
• 9:51
  And so one of my first things that I have a goal of is, you know, as soon as I officially
• 9:56
  start that appointment, is to make a connection with their rabbi, find out what kind of work
• 10:00
  in ministry they're doing, and how we could possibly collaborate and kind of lead another
• 10:05
  group of, you know, Christians, if you will, into that, you know, cross or interfaith or
• 10:09
  what we call ecumenical type of mission work in the world.
• 10:13
  And that wouldn't be possible if I didn't have a drive and a desire through my faith and through
• 10:17
  recovery, to see the common humanity in all people, regardless of the things that we agree
• 10:25
  or disagree on.
• 10:27
  You know, when I was talking to this guy about that stuff today, I think about this because
• 10:34
  like, what am I willing to bring God into, right?
• 10:40
  Yeah.
• 10:41
  Well, am I willing to let God be into religious views of everyone?
• 10:49
  You were hitting it on the head of my thoughts.
• 10:53
  I was on page 53 as well.
• 10:56
  Has God everything or has God nothing?
• 10:58
  What would your choice be?
• 11:00
  And then it also hit on the head of the good Samaritan.
• 11:04
  I saw you chuckle when I mentioned it, so I knew you had thought of it.
• 11:07
  Well, and that kind of comes into, you know, because it says on page 97, and I know how you were talking about in the Bible of the Good Samaritan, but in the big book, the Good Samaritan says, it says, a kindly act once in a while isn't enough.
• 11:24
  You have to act a good Samaritan every day, if need be.
• 11:28
  And then it goes into this thing of sleepless nights, you know, upset family, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
• 11:35
  And it goes into that, you know, because, you know, I was thinking about this, you know, I only have one, man, I hope not a lot of guys, probably quite a few guys I work with on here that, you know, going, taking through the book is probably listening to this.
• 11:51
  But that's okay.
• 11:52
  You know, I only have one person that I, you know, really picked to, you know, sponsor him.
• 12:00
  I was like, man, I really want to sponsor him because I know him.
• 12:02
  And that's Paris because I knew Paris before.
• 12:06
  All the rest of the guys, I would have never picked them in my life to sponsor.
• 12:12
  I never get to sponsor the guys I want to.
• 12:15
  You know, and I'm so grateful for that.
• 12:18
  I heard a speaker talk about this and, you know, kind of related to parents.
• 12:24
  And, you know, he was talking about a letter that his daughter wrote about him.
• 12:32
  And the daughter had another dad because the wife had remarried.
• 12:38
  And the letter that she wrote, it was like through a school thing she wrote for her dad that she wrote about.
• 12:45
  But she said something to the fact, you know, I would never have picked you to be my dad.
• 12:52
  God picked you to be my dad.
• 12:55
  And, you know, the rest of it was really nice.
• 12:59
  But when you hear that first part, because, you know, my mom would never have picked me.
• 13:06
  Because I was adopted, right?
• 13:08
  You know, she would never have picked me out.
• 13:10
  You know, to say, hey, I might, you know, I'm going to have to go through this, this, this, this.
• 13:16
  Also this, this, this.
• 13:18
  Yeah, if she knew what all was going to be coming, exactly.
• 13:22
  Yeah.
• 13:22
  But, you know, man, you know, and I think about the program of Alcoholics Anonymous in that manner either.
• 13:28
  Because I would not have picked you people to be in my life ever.
• 13:32
  But God did.
• 13:33
  And God has saved my life through you people.
• 13:36
  And I'm so grateful for that.
• 13:39
  But, you know, I think it's cool that I'm telling you about this on here.
• 13:43
  But I want to make a prayer book.
• 13:45
  You know how I told you I write all my prayers down and stuff?
• 13:49
  And it made me think about, so on the front cover, I want to have on there, coming from page 87,
• 13:57
  and I talked to a buddy of mine, and as long as we don't make money from it, it's fine.
• 14:01
  On the front cover, I wanted to have, we ask especially from freedom from self-will,
• 14:09
  and are careful to make no requests for ourselves.
• 14:14
  So have that on the front or something of that nature,
• 14:17
  or we are careful to pray for our own selfish ends.
• 14:20
  I think that should be it.
• 14:21
  And then on the front cover, the front cover page inside the book,
• 14:26
  the third step prayer.
• 14:28
  And throughout the book, it'll have a person's name or name
• 14:33
  and prayer for that person, some room to write,
• 14:37
  and then just have that through there.
• 14:39
  And at the back of the book, have the seventh step prayer.
• 14:43
  So third step prayer at the front, seventh step prayer in the back.
• 14:46
  And what I was told through three through seven, you're safe and protected.
• 14:50
  So to me, that makes sense.
• 14:52
  You know, everything's safe and protected within that book.
• 14:56
  But I think it'd be cool to be able to do that because when I was looking for a prayer book online,
• 15:02
  and someone, you know, probably that can really search it out, will find it.
• 15:05
  But don't take thunder.
• 15:09
  You know, I think it'd be cool to have something of that nature.
• 15:13
  And, but anyways.
• 15:15
  Well, I think that leads into our question of the day for people to send us an email to
• 15:21
  wave at dailyripples.com.
• 15:24
  What is your prayer book or your daily devotional that you use on a regular basis?
• 15:29
  What recommendations would you have for us to look at to generate some more ideas for
• 15:34
  our own version of that as we continue to develop that concept?
• 15:37
  I think that's a great thing to put out there and ask.
• 15:39
  And here's the prayer also for today.
• 15:42
  Absolutely.
• 15:44
  Father, help me treat others with fairness and compassion.
• 15:47
  Through Your Spirit, remove judgment from my heart
• 15:50
  and teach me to love others as Your Son has loved me.
• 15:54
  Amen.
• 15:55
  Amen.
• 16:03
  Didn't get a chance to fit this in the main body of the episode,
• 16:07
  but I thought as I was just thinking about this,
• 16:10
  because you talked about staying with somebody,
• 16:16
  not just helping somebody one time and then going about life,
• 16:19
  but actually having the commitment to walk alongside somebody.
• 16:21
  You were kind of hitting on that.
• 16:23
  And that goes into that parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus said.
• 16:27
  So what I wanted to do was just kind of read the parable on here
• 16:30
  so that anybody who hasn't heard it recently can hear how that's connected.
• 16:34
  And this is out of Luke chapter 10, starting in verse 25.
• 16:37
  Says an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus.
• 16:40
  Teacher, he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
• 16:44
  And he said to him, what is written in the law?
• 16:46
  What do you read there?
• 16:48
  He answered, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
• 16:52
  and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.
• 16:55
  And he said to him, you have given the right answer.
• 16:58
  Do this and you will live.
• 17:00
  But wanting to vindicate himself, this is the religious leader.
• 17:03
  he asked Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus replied, A man was going down from Jerusalem to
• 17:10
  Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him
• 17:15
  half dead. Now by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on
• 17:21
  the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other
• 17:27
  side. But a Samaritan, while traveling, came upon him, and when he saw him, he was moved with
• 17:33
  compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him
• 17:39
  on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii,
• 17:46
  gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him, and when I come back, I'll repay you whatever
• 17:51
  more you spend. Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of
• 17:57
  the robbers. And he said, the one who showed him mercy. Jesus said to him, go and do likewise.
• 18:05
  So I wanted to read that because the point, Corey, is that our help of others is not a flash in the
• 18:10
  pan one time. The good Samaritan didn't just pick him up off the side of the road and get him somewhere
• 18:15
  safe. No, he took him somewhere safe and made sure that he was provided for until he could recover,
• 18:22
  So no pun intended there.
• 18:24
  You know, one thing, and I like that, you know, and then one thing I wanted to add in this judgment thing.
• 18:30
  Yeah.
• 18:31
  Or on the subject, because I had some notes and stuff, but I kind of got off this topic.
• 18:36
  On page 94 in the 12 and 12, and it's in step 10, it says, talking about, you know, we constructively criticize someone who needed it.
• 18:49
  And this is cool because when our real motive was to win a useless argument or the concern not being present, we thought we were helping others to understand him.
• 19:00
  When in actuality, our true motive was to feel superior by pulling him down.
• 19:06
  We sometimes hurt those we love because they need to be taught a lesson when we really want to punish.
• 19:13
  You know, how true is that, right?
• 19:16
  You know, I can come up in a place, you know, even spiritual superiority, you know?
• 19:22
  Oh, yes.
• 19:23
  And that's a, you know, judging somebody.
• 19:28
  And I think that's another reason that's really important for me to continuously go through this process because, you know, my ego will tell me, oh, look at me.
• 19:39
  Yeah.
• 19:40
  This post-credit scene or post-pod scene, if you will, after the prayer, turned into a mini extra episode.
• 19:50
  So it's only fitting that we now have to close out with the prayer again.
• 19:54
  So I thought we'd go ahead and close out with the seventh step prayer, because what you're talking about is living into the seventh step prayer.
• 20:00
  So let's pray that.
• 20:01
  My creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad.
• 20:07
  I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character,
• 20:12
  which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and to my fellows.
• 20:16
  Grant me strength as I go out from here to do your bidding.
• 20:19
  Amen.
• 20:22
  Good deal, buddy.