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Transcript

Transforming Our Own Hearts · The Holy Pause

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: A reading from scripture, Ephesians chapter 4, verses 25 through 32.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: after you've gotten rid of lying,
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor,
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: because we are parts of each other in the same body.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: Be angry without sinning.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Don't let the sun set on your anger.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Don't provide an opportunity for the devil.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thieves should no longer steal.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, they should go to work, Don't
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: let any foul words come out of your mouth.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: that it benefits those who hear what you say.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make the Holy Spirit of God unhappy.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: You were sealed by Him for the day of redemption.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Along with every other evil,
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: be kind,
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: compassionate,
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: and forgiving to each other in the same way God forgave you in Christ.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Winnie the Pooh.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Why does it feel like change is so hard?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: And why does it feel so impossibly slow?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I am an overthinker.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love thinking.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think I could spend most of my life sitting back daydreaming,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: internal monologuing, and winning imaginary debates in my head.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: But despite my long record of thinking,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: it has rarely led me to actually change, let alone transform my heart.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure you can change things just by thinking your way out of it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: At least for me, I tend to go in circles.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Still, in moments when I knew I needed a change,
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't too impressed with other people's methods of transformation.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Often I would see plenty of people who would talk
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: about how much they were transforming and being sanctified,
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: only to see them a year or so later hardly living up to the height of piety.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: Are we doomed then to a never-ending hardness of heart?
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the Bible teaches something different.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: One good example comes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 5.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy we hear the most important words of the Torah.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Essentially three ways of saying you must love God with your innermost being,
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: with everything you have.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: The last word in that verse,
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: which is translated as strength, is actually and strangely an adverb in the Hebrew.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if it was translated in a literal but awkward way,
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: the sentence would read,
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Love your God with all your very, or with all your muchness.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: How are you supposed to transform something like that?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Transform all your muchness?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: I can barely break a bad habit.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It seems impossible to change.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And at times in my life, I believed it was.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not so fatalistic.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that started this mind shift was when
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: a former pastor introduced me to liturgy.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Liturgy is the regular rhythms in a surface,
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: like the confession, or the assurance of faith, or the prayers of the people.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: These elements of worship are put in the same place every worship and build a liturgy.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sadly, many Christians have historically believed and presently frowned on liturgy,
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: but I think it is one of the few ways we can transform our hearts.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: It is a communal habit,
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: a way to form yourself to the ways of God,
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: not by thinking differently or faking it till you make it,
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: but exposing your entire self directly.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is as if you had a jagged rock that you wanted to smooth out, so you placed it in a river.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, the river begins to form and smooth out the rock's harder edges.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Liturgy is like this river.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: It is not really noticeable after the first, second, or even thirtieth service.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: But at some point,
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: when the pastor finishes reading the scripture and says,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: this is the word of the Lord,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: we all respond, thanks be to God, without even thinking.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: It is a strange thing, but it is one of the ways God forms a people.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: In a sense then, we form our hearts by placing them in the river of faith.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: This might mean opening up in a small group,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: or joining the choir to sing worship songs,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: or finding a charity that you can volunteer regularly with.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anywhere you can be fully embodied and participate in communal rhythms.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Begin to build a liturgy for your life.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: These are the small things that may seem meaningless to us in the moment,
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: but are the muchness necessary to transform our heart.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Don't ask, how can I change myself?
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: But instead ask, how can I invest in the people and places that can change me?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Write down where or who comes to mind and how they are forming you.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Join me in prayer.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Lord of Rhythms, we come to you asking to be transformed.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Bathe us in your river of faith.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Form us with your hands.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Give us patience for this long process.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Most of all, God, guide us to the places where our hearts can be transformed by your love.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Amen.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast was written by Cullen Capehart and recorded
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: by Reverend Elizabeth Troyer with audio engineering and editing assistance
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: from Jermaine Taylor.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: These podcasts will always be free,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: but if you would like to donate to our online ministry,
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can do so at wakeforestpress.org or using the link in the description.