Latest / The Wesley Word / [WW] Being Present
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Wesley Word.
- 0:15SPEAKER_01: Seems like it's been a long, long time.
- 0:18SPEAKER_01: Probably because it has been a long, long time.
- 0:20SPEAKER_01: But it's good to be back with y'all.
- 0:21SPEAKER_01: If we haven't met yet, uh first time here tonight, I'm Steve.
- 0:24SPEAKER_01: Steve Simone, I'm the campus minister here.
- 0:26SPEAKER_01: And it's just good to be back in worship.
- 0:28SPEAKER_01: I told Julie we had to run and pick up the pasta surprise that wasn't homemade, right?
- 0:32SPEAKER_01: It was from your pie.
- 0:33SPEAKER_01: But um I told her, I said, man, just walking in, hearing the band playing, um, rehearsal and such, it just felt like home.
- 0:39SPEAKER_01: Like it just felt right uh to be back.
- 0:41SPEAKER_01: And so um I always feel good and right when I'm back here, uh, Wesley Worship.
- 0:45SPEAKER_01: And so it's good to be back with y'all.
- 0:47SPEAKER_01: Uh and next week we're gonna kick off a two-week series, um avoiding Valentine's Day.
- 0:53SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be doing a relationship series, not just dating relationships, but all relationships I'm really excited about.
- 0:58SPEAKER_01: Um we're gonna be looking at the first week what do healthy relationships look like in general?
- 1:02SPEAKER_01: Like what makes them healthy?
- 1:04SPEAKER_01: And then a talk that I've been wanting to do for a while that I've never really heard before on February 6th is relationships, how to end well, ending well, because in honesty, almost every relationship you'll be in will end one day, right?
- 1:17SPEAKER_01: Um that sounds awful.
- 1:18SPEAKER_01: But uh, we're gonna talk about how to end well.
- 1:20SPEAKER_01: And so um again, not just dating, but friendships, family, all that kind of stuff.
- 1:24SPEAKER_01: So I hope that you'll be here for the next two weeks.
- 1:26SPEAKER_01: Tonight, briefly, um, want to share a little bit um one, a quick reminder, sort of who we are.
- 1:32SPEAKER_01: Um, not gonna spend a lot of time on this, but there's five parts of our mission statement, Clemson Wesley, right?
- 1:36SPEAKER_01: Five parts.
- 1:37SPEAKER_01: I mean you're like freaking out five.
- 1:38SPEAKER_01: Uh who can hit me a part?
- 1:40SPEAKER_01: Shout out.
- 1:40SPEAKER_01: What we got?
- 1:40SPEAKER_01: What's one?
- 1:41SPEAKER_01: Huh?
- 1:41unknown: All are welcome.
- 1:42SPEAKER_01: All are welcome.
- 1:43SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a pretty big one there.
- 1:44SPEAKER_01: Yep.
- 1:45SPEAKER_01: Treated like family from day one, right?
- 1:47SPEAKER_01: That's two.
- 1:48SPEAKER_01: Challenge to what?
- 1:49SPEAKER_01: Challenge to grow, yes, question mark.
- 1:51SPEAKER_01: Challenge to grow, right?
- 1:52SPEAKER_01: And one more or two more.
- 1:56unknown: Encourage to love.
- 1:57SPEAKER_01: Encourage to love, right?
- 1:58SPEAKER_01: Yes, so we encourage you to love, God, neighbor in concrete ways.
- 2:01SPEAKER_01: We want to challenge you to grow.
- 2:02SPEAKER_01: We want to all are welcome here.
- 2:04SPEAKER_01: Uh no matter who you are, where you're from, you know, where we got you.
- 2:08SPEAKER_01: We want to treat you like family from day one.
- 2:10SPEAKER_01: And there's one more that oftentimes we kind of forget to mention.
- 2:13SPEAKER_01: Don't always make the t-shirt.
- 2:14SPEAKER_01: Yes, we want to be a Christ in our community, right?
- 2:16SPEAKER_01: We're not just showing to have a good time and like be like, you know, the um service club, right?
- 2:19SPEAKER_01: We actually want to be a Christ in our community.
- 2:21SPEAKER_01: Um, we want us to grow in our faith and that sort of stuff.
- 2:23SPEAKER_01: And so that's sort of who we are and who we strive to be.
- 2:26SPEAKER_01: And I mentioned that at the beginning of this semester.
- 2:28SPEAKER_01: Uh, one is just a reminder of who we want to be, who we strive to be.
- 2:32SPEAKER_01: Um, and it takes effort to get there, right?
- 2:34SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we didn't have the greatest football season last year that we wanted to have, right?
- 2:38SPEAKER_01: Um sometimes I think maybe the team woke up and like, we're gonna go to the national championship.
- 2:42SPEAKER_01: Well, they fell short a little bit, right?
- 2:43SPEAKER_01: These are our goals that we set that we want to be.
- 2:45SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we achieve them, sometimes we don't, but we lay them out there knowing this is what we're trying to hit and what we're striving for.
- 2:51SPEAKER_01: So that's sort of that one to kind of paint that picture to remind you of that.
- 2:55SPEAKER_01: But I have um one of my favorite pastors, uh Pastor Susan Leonard, who used to pastor Advent, is now in Bethel.
- 3:01SPEAKER_01: She spoke here before.
- 3:02SPEAKER_01: Um, some of you know her.
- 3:03SPEAKER_01: You went to her church uh when you were growing up, and she says something oftentimes in retreats and in worship services about this notion of getting here or getting there.
- 3:14SPEAKER_01: And one of the things she sort of struck me when she led a retreat for us one time, she stood up there, it was on a Friday night, and I've stolen this, and I use this almost every retreat I've gone on, um, not fall retreat, because I didn't get to go.
- 3:24SPEAKER_01: But she mentions all the time, she says, um, you know, as you begin worship, she says, what do you need to do?
- 3:30SPEAKER_01: What is it gonna take for you to go from getting here to being here?
- 3:36SPEAKER_01: What is it gonna take for you to go from getting here to being here?
- 3:40SPEAKER_01: And one of the things that we want to do at Clemson Wesley is not be a group that's that's all about getting here, but we want you to actually to be here, to be here and to be present as we seek to live out those goals that we have.
- 3:50SPEAKER_01: And one of the ways that that we that we do that, there's a cool story.
- 3:52SPEAKER_01: Um I don't I kind of knew about it, but I didn't really read it until this past fall.
- 3:56SPEAKER_01: Um this comes from Luke 8, and I want you to hear this this passage.
- 3:59SPEAKER_01: Um Jesus again is walking, doing his ministry like he does.
- 4:02SPEAKER_01: And hear this uh Luke 8, verse 43, and following.
- 4:06SPEAKER_01: Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years, and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her.
- 4:15SPEAKER_01: She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped.
- 4:19SPEAKER_01: Then Jesus asked, Who touched me?
- 4:22SPEAKER_01: And when all denied it, Peter said, Master, the crowd surround you and press in on you.
- 4:26SPEAKER_01: But Jesus said, Someone touched me, for I noticed that power had gone out from me.
- 4:31SPEAKER_01: And when the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, and she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how he she had been immediately healed.
- 4:44SPEAKER_01: He said to her, daughter, your faith has made you well, go in peace.
- 4:49SPEAKER_01: That's a cool story, right?
- 4:50SPEAKER_01: She reaches out, she'd been bleeding for twelve years, she reaches out, she touches the bottom part of Jesus' cloak, and she's healed.
- 4:56SPEAKER_01: What's equally cool, or what's interesting about the story, the few verses before that, uh, there's this leader in the synagogue named Jarius, and um, you know, wouldn't necessarily be a Jesus follower, but he was the leader of the synagogue, and his daughter was on the verge of death, right?
- 5:09SPEAKER_01: And he needed a miracle, he was seeking a miracle.
- 5:12SPEAKER_01: And so he went to Jesus right before this passage and said, Look, my daughter's sick, she's ill, she's gonna die, I need you.
- 5:17SPEAKER_01: Can you come?
- 5:17SPEAKER_01: Can you help?
- 5:18SPEAKER_01: Can you save her?
- 5:18SPEAKER_01: And Jesus is like, I got this, I'm the son of God, right?
- 5:21SPEAKER_01: And so he goes out, they says, I'm gonna do this.
- 5:22SPEAKER_01: And along the way, along that journey, is when the crowds start pressing in and when she reaches out and touches his cloak.
- 5:30SPEAKER_01: Now, if you're like an emergency situation, you're gonna try to help somebody that's that's dying, like that's what you want to do.
- 5:35SPEAKER_01: That's pretty important on your priority list.
- 5:36SPEAKER_01: We talk about in the fall, like list your priorities.
- 5:38SPEAKER_01: Saving someone from dying is pretty high up there, right?
- 5:41SPEAKER_01: But as they're going in there, someone touches and they say, Jesus stops.
- 5:44unknown: Right?
- 5:45SPEAKER_01: And the disciples are like, look, it's just a crowd, there's a lot of people, you're gonna feel things, just let's keep going, we got stuff to do, we gotta go do it, right?
- 5:51SPEAKER_01: And she says, No.
- 5:53SPEAKER_01: Someone touched me, someone stopped me, someone stopped me for a reason, and we're not going anywhere until we figure out what's happening here and now.
- 6:03SPEAKER_01: And what I love about this story is that it reminds us, even in Jesus' most pressing need to go and to save that young girl, spoiler alert, he's still saved today because of Jesus, right?
- 6:13SPEAKER_01: But even in that moment, he stops and he reminds the disciples that the present is more important than the future out there.
- 6:22SPEAKER_01: Or equally as important, that the present, where we are, where we are right here, or wherever here is for you in that moment, is just as important, if not more important, than whatever may be out there in the future.
- 6:34SPEAKER_01: And so he reminds us here is to be present, be present in any situation that we are.
- 6:38SPEAKER_01: And so as we seek to live in those five goals, as we begin a new semester and think about who it is that we want to be and who we're gonna be, I invite you to be present, to stop and yeah, you got the future, yeah, you gotta figure out what you're doing in your life and all that kind of stuff in classes next week.
- 6:50SPEAKER_01: But don't forget about what's happening in the very present, right here, right now, whatever space you may find yourself in.
- 6:57SPEAKER_01: And I invite you to be present.
- 6:58SPEAKER_01: I invite you to be fully present with God this semester, right?
- 7:01SPEAKER_01: And to spend time with God, being in prayer with God, simply soaking up, saying, God, I'm here.
- 7:06SPEAKER_01: However, you want to use me, use me.
- 7:08SPEAKER_01: However, you want to teach me, teach me.
- 7:10SPEAKER_01: You want to mold me, mold me, shape me, shape me, right?
- 7:13SPEAKER_01: Just pretend, not pretend, practice being present and asking God to work on you and to mold you and to shape you and to live a life of prayer, which simply just being abiding and being in the presence of God, learning to look around and to see God in the everyday.
- 7:29SPEAKER_01: And then once you begin to pay attention to God, it opens up two other areas that you can pay attention to, right?
- 7:33SPEAKER_01: Pay attention to God, but then also pay attention to yourself, right?
- 7:37SPEAKER_01: We also don't hear this a lot in the church, right?
- 7:38SPEAKER_01: But pay attention to yourself, right?
- 7:41SPEAKER_01: Examine yourself.
- 7:42SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, but I like Christmas is a long time for me.
- 7:45SPEAKER_01: Like it's like a good amount of break because like we're gone for a little while, we're good to come back.
- 7:48SPEAKER_01: But after about like four days of break, I go to this like midlife crisis every year since I was like 20, right?
- 7:54SPEAKER_01: It's too long of a time for me.
- 7:55SPEAKER_01: I started thinking about the whole world, I started reflecting on all my life, like, what do I do with my life?
- 7:58SPEAKER_01: I got these questions, right?
- 7:59SPEAKER_01: And I reflect upon what do I need to get rid of my life, what do I need to add to, what do I want to do?
- 8:02SPEAKER_01: Not resolutions, but I'm talking like real, real reflection in my life.
- 8:06SPEAKER_01: And I encourage you to spend some time being here, being present with yourself.
- 8:11SPEAKER_01: As you search through and think, you know, think about that wheel of wholeness that maybe you've seen in the past, right?
- 8:15SPEAKER_01: What areas of my life do I need to work on?
- 8:16SPEAKER_01: Do I need to get into better shape, uh, you know, physical, emotional, spiritual, relational, that I might be more whole?
- 8:23SPEAKER_01: Spend some time fully present with yourself as well.
- 8:26SPEAKER_01: Because oftentimes we want to pretend like we ain't got some broken spots and we just limp along.
- 8:32SPEAKER_01: And before we know it, because we got one injury that we didn't take care of, we got other injuries starting to pop up.
- 8:37SPEAKER_01: So spend some time caring for yourself and being present with yourself.
- 8:41SPEAKER_01: So that as you spend time with God, as you spend time with yourself, you can then do what we're called to do as a people of faith.
- 8:48SPEAKER_01: And that's to spend time paying attention to others and being present with them.
- 8:53SPEAKER_01: One of the cool things that I love about this and the questions I have, right?
- 8:56SPEAKER_01: They're like, what are you gonna talk about?
- 8:57SPEAKER_01: I was like, I don't know, that's what the question marks for.
- 8:58SPEAKER_01: I'm just kidding.
- 8:59SPEAKER_01: I had a plan, right?
- 9:00SPEAKER_01: Um, is what type of disciple do you want to be this semester?
- 9:04SPEAKER_01: What type of disciple do you want to be?
- 9:06SPEAKER_01: Because the disciples oftentimes in the gospels are really good about not being present, right?
- 9:11SPEAKER_01: Zacchaeus, right?
- 9:13SPEAKER_01: Jesus like finds him, the disciples, like, I don't know about this.
- 9:16SPEAKER_01: The story we read today, right?
- 9:17SPEAKER_01: They're like, Jesus, people touch you and people touch you all the time, we ain't got time to stop, we got to go, right?
- 9:21SPEAKER_01: Uh the Seraphonician woman, uh, she comes up to Jesus and they're like, no, look, just send her away.
- 9:26SPEAKER_01: She's annoying, we ain't got time for this, let's go, right?
- 9:28SPEAKER_01: The whole thing about the parable of the Good Samaritans, about the church people passing on the other side of the road and not stopping.
- 9:34SPEAKER_01: The disciples and the people of the church, for many, many years and for a good amount of time, even today, we are really good at ignoring our neighbors and not being fully present where the needs are.
- 9:46SPEAKER_01: We'd rather look the other way.
- 9:48SPEAKER_01: We'd rather go heal the sick girl that we know is sick, and we ain't got time to be present here now because I got stuff to do.
- 9:53SPEAKER_01: What would it look like if we decided to be the disciples that actually stopped?
- 9:58SPEAKER_01: That stopped as Jesus did and said, Who touched me?
- 10:01SPEAKER_01: Who has a need right now?
- 10:03SPEAKER_01: How can I help feel that?
- 10:05SPEAKER_01: Right?
- 10:06SPEAKER_01: In order to do that, right, there's a couple things that we have to do.
- 10:08SPEAKER_01: One is you gotta be approachable, right?
- 10:10SPEAKER_01: She was willing to come up and to grab Jesus' cloak because she knew that Jesus was approachable.
- 10:14SPEAKER_01: She had heard stories about how he had healed and how he stopped time after time for the people, even when he was on his way and he had important things to do, Jesus was willing to stop.
- 10:22SPEAKER_01: Are we approachable?
- 10:23SPEAKER_01: When you come in here on a Sunday night, right, and we gather, we see new friends, and you walk in that room, are you approachable there?
- 10:30SPEAKER_01: If someone's first time or second time coming in there and they see you by your, even just your body language, right?
- 10:35SPEAKER_01: When you come in this space, are you approachable?
- 10:38SPEAKER_01: Are you someone that people would say, you know what?
- 10:40SPEAKER_01: I'm kind of scared right now.
- 10:41SPEAKER_01: I think I'm gonna go work up the courage and say, hey, what's your name?
- 10:45SPEAKER_01: Are you approachable there and in that setting?
- 10:48SPEAKER_01: One of the things that we're called to do as we seek to be the people that we're called to be.
- 10:52SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and again, Jesus had huge crowds following because he was approachable.
- 10:56SPEAKER_01: And so I would encourage you to think about what you need to do in your interactions, the things that you say, not just in this group, but wherever you may be, to be approachable.
- 11:04SPEAKER_01: The other thing is we seek to live around each other, uh, not just be approachable, but also being willing to receive, right?
- 11:09SPEAKER_01: Because we're trying to be a community here.
- 11:11SPEAKER_01: And in the community, you not only um are approachable and help others, but you also have to be willing to receive, be able to receive help.
- 11:18SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, everybody's just a bunch of projects.
- 11:19SPEAKER_01: If you're the only fixer in the room, then everyone else is a project to you.
- 11:23SPEAKER_01: But you think about spending time here now and really growing in community together, are you willing to receive?
- 11:28SPEAKER_01: Are you willing to reach out?
- 11:30SPEAKER_01: Um, this morning I divine, I preached a sermon on um how I think it's wrong to say God won't give you more than you can handle, but it's correct to say God will help you handle whatever life has given you, right?
- 11:43SPEAKER_01: And in the midst of that, we have to be willing to say, Look, I got a lot going on, I got some heavy burdens, I got a lot of things going on in my life.
- 11:49SPEAKER_01: Or maybe I just got one thing in my life and it's really bugging me, but being willing to open up and say, yo, small group, I'm struggling, I need to help.
- 11:57SPEAKER_01: Yo, table people, look, I'm struggling with this, right?
- 11:59SPEAKER_01: Or find a leader here in this in this community and be willing to open yourself up to be vulnerable, to receive that help so that we can continue one to help you be whole and be better, right?
- 12:10SPEAKER_01: That we can also, once you find that wholeness again, then you can then go and sort of reciprocate that in other people, right?
- 12:17SPEAKER_01: So I encourage you this semester.
- 12:18SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna wrap it up.
- 12:19SPEAKER_01: Didn't want to speak too long tonight, right?
- 12:21SPEAKER_01: Think about those five things we try to be a Christ-centered community, to be a place where all are welcome, including yourself, right?
- 12:27SPEAKER_01: Um, to be a place where all are treated like family, and that means we're gonna be like family.
- 12:30SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we're gonna disagree, but we're gonna love each other through it, right?
- 12:33SPEAKER_01: We're gonna challenge you to grow in your faith, and we want to encourage you to love others.
- 12:37SPEAKER_01: And as we do that, right, the way that we do that is to focus on being here, wherever here is in that moment.
- 12:45SPEAKER_01: Being here and recognizing that you are a child of God, that you are in God's presence, being here and recognizing that um one, taking survey of yourself.
- 12:54SPEAKER_01: How do you need to grow?
- 12:54SPEAKER_01: Where do you need help as well?
- 12:56SPEAKER_01: But then also being willing to be intentional, is really what I'm getting at here.
- 13:01SPEAKER_01: Being intentional to look around, right?
- 13:02SPEAKER_01: We can't be a welcoming community if we're not intentional about looking outside of ourselves and seeing who's here, who's new.
- 13:09SPEAKER_01: Not even who's new, who's old when been here like two years, they walk in the door, we're gonna welcome them again, right?
- 13:14SPEAKER_01: Or who we had a fight with last week, but you know what, we're gonna try to find a way to make it happen.
- 13:17SPEAKER_01: You don't sit at the same table, I know, all right, right.
- 13:18SPEAKER_01: But you can still at least, right?
- 13:20SPEAKER_01: Right, find some reconciliation there, right?
- 13:22SPEAKER_01: I'm not calling anybody out tonight.
- 13:23SPEAKER_01: That's relationships next week.
- 13:24SPEAKER_01: But um it's important that you be here, right?
- 13:28SPEAKER_01: And I've told this story before, and I hope this makes some sense.
- 13:30SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna end with this this story.
- 13:32SPEAKER_01: Um, is that it it does matter whether or not you're here or not.
- 13:37SPEAKER_01: It does matter, right?
- 13:39SPEAKER_01: And here's sort of the truth about it.
- 13:41SPEAKER_01: This is sort of cold hard truth, but I think it makes sense, right?
- 13:43SPEAKER_01: There's this awesome picture that hangs in my grandmother's wall, or did hang on her wall.
- 13:48SPEAKER_01: She moved to an apartment now, right?
- 13:49SPEAKER_01: But it hung there for like 30 plus years.
- 13:53SPEAKER_01: It's an awesome picture.
- 13:54SPEAKER_01: It's got all my cousins in it, it's got my grandfather, uh, it's got my uncles, it's got the whole, it's got all the men on the flagside of the family.
- 14:00SPEAKER_01: Like all of them are in there.
- 14:01SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
- 14:02SPEAKER_01: Every time I look at it, man, that's an incredible picture.
- 14:04SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
- 14:06SPEAKER_01: Except I wasn't in the picture.
- 14:09SPEAKER_01: Because while they were out there doing it, I was hiding and didn't want to be a part of it, and I was just hiding in the corner and thinking maybe somebody would come get me.
- 14:14SPEAKER_01: I don't know, they didn't came get me, right?
- 14:15SPEAKER_01: I was just stuck out there, and there's this awesome, beautiful picture of the entire family, and I was never in it.
- 14:20SPEAKER_01: And I was probably like six at the time, and I regret it.
- 14:23SPEAKER_01: I'm 39 now, and I still regret not being in that picture.
- 14:26SPEAKER_01: And here's what I learned as I got older, I started looking at that picture, right?
- 14:30SPEAKER_01: I realized that life was happening.
- 14:33SPEAKER_01: The picture was happening, and life was gonna happen whether I decided to be in it or to be not there, right?
- 14:39SPEAKER_01: Life's gonna happen whether you're here or not.
- 14:42SPEAKER_01: But it's a lot better when you are here.
- 14:44SPEAKER_01: It's a lot better when you are in the picture, when you are present with us.
- 14:48SPEAKER_01: And it's not a guilt thing to be here on Sunday night, but to just be present where you are.
- 15:06SPEAKER_01: Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for this time, uh, for a chance to come and to worship with old friends, with new friends, uh, to a place that for many of us feels like home, and hopefully for others, a place that will soon feel that way.
- 15:19SPEAKER_01: We give you thanks, oh God, that you are unapproachable God.
- 15:22SPEAKER_01: That when we struggle, when we have questions, when it's been 12 long years, it feels like, oh God, we can still reach out to you and touch you, and you stop and say, Who touched me?
- 15:31SPEAKER_01: Who's there?
- 15:32SPEAKER_01: How can I help?
- 15:33SPEAKER_01: Lord, help to burn that within our own hearts, that we might be the same people that look around, even when the crowd is pressing, even when we have other priorities, oh God, that we might stop and be fully present wherever we are, and that we might be your hands and feet to those in need.
- 15:47SPEAKER_01: We love you, we praise you.
- 15:48SPEAKER_01: We ask all this in Christ's name.
- 15:51SPEAKER_00: The Wesley Word is a production of the Clemson Wesley Foundation.
- 15:54SPEAKER_00: For more information about Clemson Wesley, check out our website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
- 15:59SPEAKER_00: Until next time, get out there and love your neighbor.