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Transcript

Called to Be Different · Faith at Work

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  This morning we're going to be talking about
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  SPEAKER_00: an invitation by Jesus to not just believe differently about God,
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  but to behave differently in relationship to God and in
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  relationship to the world.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you want to follow along, there is an insert in your bulletin.
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  SPEAKER_00: You can use that or you can just enjoy listening.
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  SPEAKER_00: Or, you know, if you want to rest in the Lord and just take a little nap,
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  SPEAKER_00: That works too.
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  SPEAKER_00: In a world of copy and paste, here's a big idea.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus forms a people who are different.
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  Transformed in their minds,
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  woven into one body,
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  propelled by love,
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  and freed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Freed from worry to seek God's kingdom first.
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  SPEAKER_00: Family, Paul begins with worship.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not a playlist, not a place.
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  SPEAKER_00: but a body, your bodies, a living sacrifice every day presented to God.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then he says,
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  SPEAKER_00: "...do not be conformed to this world,
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  SPEAKER_00: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
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  SPEAKER_00: That word conformed has a sense of like being pressed into a mold.
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  SPEAKER_00: I grew up with butter molds.
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  SPEAKER_00: Did anybody grow up with butter molds with little turkeys in them?
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  SPEAKER_00: Some of you.
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  SPEAKER_00: Conformed.
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  SPEAKER_00: Butter conformed into the shape of a turkey.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nothing worse than that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Instead,
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  SPEAKER_00: he says,
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  SPEAKER_00: let God rewire your thinking so that you can discern what is good,
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  SPEAKER_00: pleasing,
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  SPEAKER_00: and perfect.
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  Our brethren heritage has always called us to this place of
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  non-conformity,
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  SPEAKER_00: of being called to be different.
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  Not for weirdness sake,
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  okay,
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  to make that clear,
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  but for Christ's sake,
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  okay?
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  SPEAKER_00: J.H.
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  SPEAKER_00: Moore,
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  SPEAKER_00: who was a Church of the Brethren theologian,
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  insisted that nonconformity relates itself to every single
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  phase of new and
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  SPEAKER_00: consecrated life in Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: To character,
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  SPEAKER_00: to business,
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  SPEAKER_00: to amusements,
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  SPEAKER_00: and as we are aware,
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  SPEAKER_00: those of us who have grown up in the Church of the Brethren,
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  SPEAKER_00: clothing.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's important to remember, it wasn't about legalism.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's about letting Jesus,
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  SPEAKER_00: not the market,
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  SPEAKER_00: not the world,
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  SPEAKER_00: not the algorithms of our day,
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  SPEAKER_00: to set our patterns.
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  SPEAKER_00: There was in 1996 a statement that was presented to annual conference.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was a statement on the simple life.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it says this.
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  SPEAKER_00: Simplicity is the way of Jesus.
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  SPEAKER_00: God's gift to us.
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  Simplicity is living not conformed to the world but transformed
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  by Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is Romans 12 in Brethren Grammar.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's important to remember that God's power is persuasive, not coercive.
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  always inviting us towards that next faithful possibility in
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  this choice or in this
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  SPEAKER_00: conversation or in this relationship.
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  SPEAKER_00: So our transformation that we're talking about,
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  SPEAKER_00: it's important to remember that it is relational.
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  SPEAKER_00: Relational with God,
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  SPEAKER_00: relational with one another,
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  SPEAKER_00: relational with the world,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it is always ongoing.
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  SPEAKER_00: Transformation is always ongoing.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a journey, not a place.
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  SPEAKER_00: If you want a different kind of fruit from a tree, what do you do?
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  SPEAKER_00: You change the root, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: Right?
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  SPEAKER_00: None of us would think,
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  SPEAKER_00: well,
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  SPEAKER_00: it might be cute,
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  SPEAKER_00: but it's not a very good idea to try to stave apples,
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  SPEAKER_00: right,
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  SPEAKER_00: to a thorn bush and call it an apple tree.
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  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't work like that.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Christ,
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  SPEAKER_00: God grafts us into a new life source,
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  SPEAKER_00: a new root,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you would like to use that analogy.
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  SPEAKER_00: The mind is renewed from the roots up.
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  SPEAKER_00: And, of course, that root is Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: Nonconformity isn't trendiness.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's trust.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trust.
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  Let God renew your mind so that your life becomes a living yes
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  to what is good,
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  SPEAKER_00: pleasing,
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  SPEAKER_00: and perfect.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's what Paul invites us to do in Romans 12.
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  SPEAKER_00: And then Paul moves from the mind to members.
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  SPEAKER_00: You are one body in Christ, he says.
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  SPEAKER_00: Individually members of one another.
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  SPEAKER_00: The weaker members are indispensable, he says.
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  The parts that we hide or that we dismiss or we lay aside are
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  often the ones that
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  SPEAKER_00: the Spirit wants to bestow the most honor to.
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  SPEAKER_00: Palmer Becker captures it in this way.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the center of our faith, okay?
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  Community is the center of our life,
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  and reconciliation is the center of our work.
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  SPEAKER_00: Friends, that is not a slogan.
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  SPEAKER_00: That is a way of being Christ-centered.
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  SPEAKER_00: For some reason, I'm coming across sports analogies these days.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure why the algorithm is...
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  SPEAKER_00: sort of bubbling those to the top as I tried to prepare for my sermons.
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  But I came across this interesting YouTube video of a guy from
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  the Bucs basketball team,
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  right?
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  SPEAKER_00: 2023.
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  SPEAKER_00: They lost.
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  And a guy was interviewing,
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  I'm going to try to get this right,
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  Giannis Antetokounmpov.
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  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I practiced a lot for that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Did I get it right even close?
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  SPEAKER_00: Yay, thank you.
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  SPEAKER_00: James is the only one who would know whether I said it right or not.
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  SPEAKER_00: Woo-hoo!
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  SPEAKER_00: So they lost, and this guy was interviewing them about their failure.
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  SPEAKER_00: And he said this incredible thing.
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  SPEAKER_00: He says, there is no failure in sports, only steps to success.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that is 1 Corinthians 12 posture.
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  SPEAKER_00: Growth as a team sport together.
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  SPEAKER_00: We stumble and then we learn together.
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  SPEAKER_00: Now,
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  SPEAKER_00: an interesting sort of side note here,
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  a piece of culture as I was learning about this imagery that
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  Paul is using.
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  SPEAKER_00: It was not something that Paul came up with.
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  at the time interestingly enough it came from this this fable
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  right so in Roman
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  times there was this fable and the Roman elites you know the
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  the big dogs the ones
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  that were in charge the ones that were trying to maintain
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  control of the polis of
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  the society at that time time they came up with this fable and
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  the fable said that
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  SPEAKER_00: the limbs once rebelled against the belly and the belly replied well
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  SPEAKER_00: We feed all of you.
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  SPEAKER_00: So the limbs should submit to the will of the belly.
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  It was a fable that tried to establish and reestablish this
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  justified hierarchy
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  SPEAKER_00: that was in the Roman polis.
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  SPEAKER_00: The privileged stomach at the center.
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  SPEAKER_00: And others serving the belly.
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  Paul borrows this metaphor interestingly for the church in
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  those Roman times but he flips it.
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  SPEAKER_00: He says, there is no pampered belly in 1 Corinthians 12.
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  SPEAKER_00: Instead, he insists the members that seem weaker are indispensable.
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  The less honorable ones are the ones who receive the greatest
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  honor in this new
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  SPEAKER_00: kingdom of Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: That was incredibly culturally relevant at the time,
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  SPEAKER_00: and it was boldly counter-cultural at the time.
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  A Christ-shaped body where honor,
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  respect,
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  and appreciation flow downward.
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  SPEAKER_00: And care is mutual, not focused just on the elites.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is, again, Romans 12, non-conformity with skin on it.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not conformed to the status gains, but transformed by Christ's justice.
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  SPEAKER_00: In Christ, belonging comes before outperforming.
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  The church is one body where weaker members are indispensable
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  and every single gift matters.
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  SPEAKER_00: We read the scripture where Jesus is asked for the greatest commandment.
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  SPEAKER_00: I guess the assumption was there would just be one, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus gives two instead, right?
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  SPEAKER_00: And he says they're equal.
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  Love God with all your heart,
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  soul,
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  and mind,
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  and love your neighbor as yourself.
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  SPEAKER_00: Dr. King said it this way.
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  SPEAKER_00: This is a beautiful, beautiful statement.
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  The love that I have towards God is the same love that directs
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  itself towards the neighbor.
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  In our simple life statement,
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  it's grounded in that devotion and stewardship.
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  SPEAKER_00: It says devotion to God makes us aware that the earth belongs to God.
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  SPEAKER_00: It is not ours to possess.
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  SPEAKER_00: And that is why love must show up in how we do business,
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  SPEAKER_00: in what we buy,
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  SPEAKER_00: in how we consume,
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  SPEAKER_00: and how we go about caring for creation.
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  SPEAKER_00: The statement also laments a widening gap,
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  SPEAKER_00: and this was in 1996,
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  SPEAKER_00: and I think it's only gotten worse,
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  SPEAKER_00: between the rich and the poor,
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  SPEAKER_00: and how consumerism despoils the earth,
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  SPEAKER_00: naming love as economic and ecological as well as personal,
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  SPEAKER_00: like we normally think of it.
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  And it also gives us a community test from a guy called Elder
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  Michael Franz.
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  He wrote this,
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  as long as there is abundance and want,
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  there is no pure,
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  genuine communion.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's a bold and uncomfortable statement for all of us.
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  But it reminds us that love crosses the street and equalizes
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  with the balance of love.
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  SPEAKER_00: God is, friends, always luring us towards the most loving next step.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not overpowering, but persuading our hearts to follow Jesus Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm into cover crops right now.
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  SPEAKER_00: Probably not something that you're very much into.
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  But with my new sunflower field and thinking about regenerative
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  agriculture and...
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  SPEAKER_00: Oh,
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  SPEAKER_00: some of you are laughing and smiling,
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  SPEAKER_00: so you know about this.
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  You know,
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  for the soil,
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  healing the soil,
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  all of that sort of weird kind of stuff.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm into cover crops, okay?
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  SPEAKER_00: So cover crops,
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  SPEAKER_00: if you're not aware,
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  SPEAKER_00: you plant them not for an immediate harvest or one at all,
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  SPEAKER_00: frankly.
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  SPEAKER_00: but to heal the soil.
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  SPEAKER_00: The cover crops, they fix nitrogen.
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  SPEAKER_00: They keep moisture into the soil.
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  SPEAKER_00: They crowd out the weeds that might grow and make the soil infertile.
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  SPEAKER_00: In the same way,
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  SPEAKER_00: practicing small acts of love as followers of Jesus Christ,
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  SPEAKER_00: the patient reply,
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  SPEAKER_00: the shared table where we might invite someone to eat with us,
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  SPEAKER_00: the forgiven debt that many of us have experienced or actually practiced,
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  SPEAKER_00: and our cover crops for your heart and our community.
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  SPEAKER_00: Big fan of Ted Lasso.
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  SPEAKER_00: Anybody watch Ted Lasso?
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  SPEAKER_00: Go home and watch Ted Lasso.
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  SPEAKER_00: That's your assignment.
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  The other four things that I say at the end of the sermon,
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  don't worry about this.
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  SPEAKER_00: Go home and watch Ted Lasso.
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  SPEAKER_00: Incredible.
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  SPEAKER_00: But Ted Lasso had this sign over the locker room.
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  SPEAKER_00: He was a coach.
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  and um and he had uh the sign that just said believe right and
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  it was it was a sign
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  in the locker room that inspired this team to do you know
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  incredible things right
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  SPEAKER_00: and uh it wasn't magic right it just named a shared identity for
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  SPEAKER_00: for this soccer team,
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  SPEAKER_00: football team,
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  SPEAKER_00: and they were English football team,
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  SPEAKER_00: and just transformed them.
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  SPEAKER_00: Church,
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  SPEAKER_00: our sign over our quote-unquote locker room,
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  SPEAKER_00: our worship space,
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  SPEAKER_00: our lives,
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  SPEAKER_00: our homes,
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  SPEAKER_00: is Jesus is Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: Jesus is Lord.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it hangs there,
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  SPEAKER_00: not as some sort of magic talisman,
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  but as a message and a reminder of how we are formed and how we
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  are transformed
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  SPEAKER_00: into the body of Jesus Christ.
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  We need to remember that the same love that adores God crosses
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  the street to serve
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  SPEAKER_00: our neighbor and stewards creation.
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally, Jesus says, don't worry.
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  SPEAKER_00: Not because life is easy,
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  and we've learned this morning that there's a lot of things in
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  life that are not
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  SPEAKER_00: easy and that we could worry about,
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  SPEAKER_00: but because we are seen in the midst of our uneasiness.
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  SPEAKER_00: Look at the birds, he says.
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  SPEAKER_00: Consider the lilies, he says.
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  Your father knows you need food,
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  knows you need clothing,
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  knows you need shelter.
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  SPEAKER_00: So turn your eyes towards God.
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  Seek first the kingdom of heaven and rest in being in the
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  seenness of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: New Testament scholar Eugene Boring says it this way,
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  SPEAKER_00: address each day's problems as they come,
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  confident your life is held by a loving Father who will bring
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  creation to a worthy
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  SPEAKER_00: conclusion.
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  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trust, seek first, one day at a time.
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  Again,
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  this 1996 simple life statement says this,
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  integration honors time as God's gift.
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  SPEAKER_00: Patient, forbearing, unhurried.
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  SPEAKER_00: It invites us to an unhurried faithfulness,
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  SPEAKER_00: to live today's obedience and let God hold tomorrow in God's hands.
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  And when temptation whispers,
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  it points us back to seek the kingdom of God.
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  SPEAKER_00: I read an interesting article last week in the Wall Street Journal.
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  SPEAKER_00: And someone,
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  SPEAKER_00: a researcher,
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  SPEAKER_00: has discovered a new way that people can experience joy and fulfillment.
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  SPEAKER_00: in their lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a third way they're calling it, interestingly.
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  And typically the ways to experience joy and fulfillment in
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  your life is either
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  SPEAKER_00: through happiness or having a meaningful life.
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  SPEAKER_00: And so somebody, I'm not sure exactly who it was.
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  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should have read it better.
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  But said this third way is characterized by people who have an
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  ongoing curiosity.
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  SPEAKER_00: They experience new things along the way.
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  SPEAKER_00: And they allow for perspective shifts in their lives.
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  SPEAKER_00: Often, it says, accompanied by discomfort.
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  SPEAKER_00: Discomfort.
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  SPEAKER_00: Sounds a lot like discipleship to me.
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  Sounds a lot like what happens when we say yes to Jesus and his
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  perspective of the
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  world and his way of living in the world that is many times
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  characterized by
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  SPEAKER_00: discomfort.
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  SPEAKER_00: And somehow, this life of discipleship
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  SPEAKER_00: You know, we experience incredible joy because of it.
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  SPEAKER_00: And when the life of discipleship feels costly,
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  SPEAKER_00: we need to remember that simple living is sometimes difficult.
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  SPEAKER_00: We came into this journey knowing those things.
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  SPEAKER_00: But we also came in this journey knowing
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  SPEAKER_00: knowing that God always provides joy and peace along the way.
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  SPEAKER_00: So,
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  SPEAKER_00: we practice trust without panic,
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  SPEAKER_00: action without anxiety,
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  SPEAKER_00: working the soil we have today,
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  SPEAKER_00: and leaving the sunrise for God tomorrow.
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  SPEAKER_00: Trust trades panic for participation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Seek ye first the kingdom today and let tomorrow be tomorrow.
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  SPEAKER_00: God holds you, friends, and the world in love.
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  SPEAKER_00: So, we are called to be different.
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  SPEAKER_00: And it's not a badge.
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  SPEAKER_00: It's a way of being.
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  SPEAKER_00: Where our minds are transformed by God's persuasive love.
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  SPEAKER_00: Our worship is lived, not just sung on Sunday mornings.
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  SPEAKER_00: As members, we belong to one body.
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  SPEAKER_00: And there are no disposable people.
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  SPEAKER_00: And honor is shared with everyone.
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  SPEAKER_00: Being called to be different is where love is enacted.
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  And that the same love that addresses and adores God crosses
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  the street and cares for creation.
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  And where trust is practiced,
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  unhurried,
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  faithful,
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  seeking first one day at a time.
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  SPEAKER_00: The simple life leads us in a prayerful posture.
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  SPEAKER_00: We repent of poor stewardship.
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  And it even warns us as a congregation that buildings and
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  budgets can obscure our
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  SPEAKER_00: vision of God and our neighbor.
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  So today we respond with our calendars,
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  with our carts,
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  with our clicks,
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  with our commitments.
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  SPEAKER_00: And this week I remind you, practice nonconformity of joy.
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  SPEAKER_00: Turn off the anxious loop and pray the lilies.
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  SPEAKER_00: Text someone who feels like a weaker member and honor them.
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  SPEAKER_00: Choose one cover crop practice of love at home or at work.
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  And ask before every purchase,
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  does this take the shape of Jesus in my life?
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  SPEAKER_00: And finally, hear this.
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  SPEAKER_00: You are not made to blend in.
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  SPEAKER_00: You were born again to stand out in love.
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  SPEAKER_00: The world does not need another copy.
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  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit is making you a living original in Christ.
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  SPEAKER_00: May we all embody that.
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  SPEAKER_00: Amen.