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June 11 - Ordinary Time 2026 with Anna Anderson · Abide In Me

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, I am the vine, you are the branches.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Abide in Me podcast.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: This summer, we will be hearing from different voices, each bringing you reflections, songs, and liturgy to help us stay connected to the vine.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: This week we are joined by our warehouse campus pastor, Anna Anderson.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Grace to you all who love the Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's that last sentence of Ephesians, a blessing for us.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: The word undying here means incorruptible, uncorrupted, immortal, a love that does not die.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm reminded of this promise from Ephesians 1.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: The promised future for all those who are in Christ is a bodily resurrection one day when we'll be completely restored and live with God in the new heavens and the new earth forever.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's the redemption of those who are in God's possession.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: That will be the ultimate expression of our undying love for God, when we're raised up on that day of resurrection, never to die again.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was discussing this passage with my mentor from seminary, Dr.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Todd Billings.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: He wrote a book called The End of the Christian Life, which is a theology of death and dying for the church.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: While researching for this book, I read another great book by Atul Gawande called Being Mortal.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And just last week, Dr.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Billings sent me this book in the mail, Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was complaining to him about how I couldn't fit into my life everything I needed to do.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Anna, you're gonna die.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: All these books point out the reality that we live in a death-denying culture.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're all gonna die.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: But we live in a culture that hesitates to talk about death.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: We use Botox to get rid of wrinkles.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: We we dye our gray hairs right away.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: We've started calling funerals celebrations of life.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: We're hesitant to say someone died, we'll say they passed.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: We no longer walk past cemeteries on the way into church like worshipers would have for most of Christian history.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: The elderly used to die at home, something children would experience as a normal part of life in the parlor of their house.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: But now it's usually at a hospital or a care center.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: We've made death something strange, something far away.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our culture is one that denies death until it becomes close to you, someone you love, something you experience up close.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: And even then it's awkward to talk about and hard to bring up.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: We're all going to die.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: And yet the encouragement of this last glimmering sentence of Ephesians is that we love Jesus with a love that never dies, an undying love.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: So how do we hold all of that together?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: What keeps our love from ceasing, from not dying, even though we'll die?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: The promise of resurrection and the seal of the Holy Spirit.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because of Jesus' resurrection and our future resurrection, anything done out of love for God is something that will last.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: You'll die, but one day you'll be resurrected, which means that no prayer is wasted, no act of love is in vain, and nothing done in love for Jesus will be forgotten.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna live forever and you will too, together, when the dead are raised and it's all made new.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's that paradox at the center of being human.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: You are so small and you're going to die.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: But God has loved you in Jesus Christ so deeply that he has made a way for eternal life and has made a way for the love you have for Jesus to truly be an undying one, a forever kind of love.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it's precisely because God loved you with his own death that you can love God back with an undying love.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's only the dying love of God that invites our response of undying love.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: God did this for us and for our salvation in Jesus.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I love this quote from a sermon by Frederick Bauerschmitt.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: The love that is God is crucified love.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: We know the depth of the mystery of love because God sent his only son into the world so that we might live through him.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: The cross of Jesus shows us that the love that gives itself for our life is love that ceaselessly, relentlessly, scandalously pours itself out.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And it is precisely in not holding itself back, not hesitating to give itself up, that this love is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: That is, it is the life-giving mystery that we call God, because there is no greater love than this.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: The dying love of God, of Jesus on the cross, makes a way for you to love God with an undying love.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: The undyingly generous love of God makes a way for you to love him with an undying love.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: God's relentless giving of himself for you invites you to respond with the kind of love that never dies.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Your love will waver.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it will be met with grace time and time again, this side of the resurrection.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then your love will truly be undying when we see him face to face.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's how much of a gift this all is.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: That your love for God will be able to be undying because he died, because of grace, because he gave it all for you.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions, comments, or would like prayer, we would love to hear from you.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: Reach out to us at abide at pillarchurch.com.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: And for now, if you're willing, receive this blessing.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_02: The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always.