Latest / Pulpit to Pavement / Podcast Episode #1 - What Happens After Sunday?
Transcript
- Kayla: Welcome to the Pulpit to Pavement Podcast, where we explore how the faith we proclaim on Sunday becomes the faith we live every day. As we begin, may God open our hearts, shape our thoughts, and help us hear what we need for the road ahead. May these conversations draw us closer to Christ and help us carry his love from the pulpit to the pavement. Hey everyone, and welcome to the very first episode of Pulpit to Pavement. I'm Pastor Kay LaRoe of Hillsborough United Methodist, and I am so excited and grateful to be on this journey with you. I want to start by telling you how we came up with the name Pulpit to Pavement, we considered a whole list of names, but this one just kept jumping out at me and not Just because of the alliteration, I hope I'm using the right verbiage there. Although that does make it catchy, right? But it really grabbed me because there can be sometimes a pretty big distance between the pulpit and the pavement. And what I mean by that is on Sunday morning we gather for worship. We have these meaningful experiences in which we sing, we pray. We wrestle with the scriptures. We talk about grace, forgiveness, generosity, loving our neighbors, trusting God. We pause from the busyness. You know, hopefully we can forget about all of that for just a minute. We enjoy some conversation with friends over a cup of coffee. But then we walk out the door. And Monday comes at us like a wrecking ball, right? The alarm goes off. Back to work, back to school, appointments, bills, relationships, deadlines, frustrations, and all the other stuff that makes up everyday life. And by the end of the day, Sunday almost seems like a distant memory. Can I get an Amen? So, how do we keep our cup full? How do we keep gas in our tank as we move from Sunday worship through the week? That's the challenge, isn't it? How do we make faith and discipleship something that shapes everything we say and do Monday through Saturday? And not just a nice idea that only feels real on Sunday. So that's Really, where the idea for pulpit to pavement came to life. the pulpit represents what we hear and learn: scripture, teaching, worship. The pavement represents where we actually live, our homes, our workplaces, our schools and communities, even our struggles and our decisions. There can sometimes be a pretty big gap between knowing what Jesus said and figuring out what that actually looks like in our everyday lives. And this, that's what this podcast is gonna be about. It's gonna be about closing that gap. We're gonna have honest conversations about faith and life. Sometimes we'll dig deeper into scripture. Sometimes we'll talk about questions people have about faith. Sometimes we'll tackle things like parenting, grief, doubt, prayer, money, mental and emotional health, or navigating difficult seasons. And sometimes I'll invite other friends to sit down with me and share their own experiences and expertise. Now, I won't promise you that the podcast will answer all your questions or solve all your problems. In fact, I think A lot of the best conversations begin when we're willing to admit that we don't. We don't have all the answers. But my hope is that every episode helps us ask one important question. What does following Jesus actually look like when our feet hit the pavement in our daily lives, Monday through Saturday? Because faith was never meant to stay inside the walls of a church building. What we believe should eventually find its way into how we live. How we treat people, how we make decisions, how we raise our families, how we handle adversity, and how we show up in the world around us. That's why the mission of Pulpit to Pavement is pretty simple: to make faith practical, accessible, and transformative in everyday life. This podcast isn't meant to replace Sunday morning worship or being part of a church community. Think of it more like A conversation for the road, a discipleship tool, a little something to carry with you through the rest of the week. And at the end of each episode, I want to leave you with what we're gonna call a pavement challenge. One practical way to take whatever we've been talking about and actually make it real in your day-to-day life. So wherever you're tuning in from today, whether it's your car or your work. On a walk, sitting at home. Thank you for spending a little bit of your day with me. Now let's talk about what happens after Sunday. There's something about Sunday morning that feels different from the rest of the week. Yes? Maybe it's the routine of getting ready for church. Maybe it's opening those doors and seeing familiar faces. Maybe it's singing a song that reminds you of something you desperately needed to remember. Maybe it's hearing a scripture that speaks directly into something you're going through. For an hour or so, we intentionally turn our attention to God. We pray, we listen, we receive communion, we hear the word. We remember there is something bigger than whatever has consumed all our attention this week. And then we say amen. We sing the last song. We receive the benediction. We shake hands and out the door we go. And right off the bat, we're thinking about lunch. We're checking our phones. We're rushing home to watch the football game. We're getting our household chores done in preparation for the week. Maybe you prepare a meal for your family to share together. That is awesome. And then Monday comes and a mountain of tasks awaits you. A list of things or people needing your attention. And we get sucked right back into it. The grind, the busyness. By Wednesday, we're tired and irritable. By Friday, we can't even remember what we heard on Sunday. Do you feel me? And here's the thing. We know we're supposed to prioritize. We know we're supposed to put God in the center. We know we're supposed to make the main things the main things. And yet every week we fall into the same defeating patterns. I think most of us have probably experienced what I would call the Sunday to Monday gap. It's that distance between what we believe and how we actually live. And listen, I don't say that judgmentally. I experience this too. You know, it's possible to sit in church and hear Jesus say, do not worry about tomorrow. And then I spend Monday consumed with anxiety about things that haven't even happened yet. It's possible to sing about God's grace on Sunday and then refuse to extend grace to someone who frustrates us on Tuesday. We can pray on Sunday, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and then hold tightly to resentment. We can hear Jesus tell us to love our neighbor and still barely know the person living next door to us because we're too busy to get to know them. We can say everything belongs to God and then make financial decisions as though everything belongs to us. We can hear about serving others and then. Walk right past someone who clearly needs somebody to care about them. That's the gap. And I don't think the solution is simply do better, be a better Christian. The deeper question is: how do we allow what God is doing in us when we gather for worship to continue shaping us when we leave? James gives us some pretty direct advice on this in James 1:22. He says. Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. That's pretty straightforward. James isn't saying listening doesn't matter. Of course it matters, right? We need scripture, we need teaching, we need worship, we need Christian community. But James says something is incomplete in us if all we ever do is hear and not actually put it into practice. It's possible to know a tremendous amount about grace without it. Ever really transforming us. You know, we can know Bible verses, we can know the Lord's Prayer by heart. We can know the hymns. We can even listen to other Christian podcasts all week long. But information isn't necessarily transformation. At some point, what we hear has to move from our ears to our hearts. To our hands and our feet, and that's where the pavement comes in. You know, sometimes I think we unintentionally treat Sunday morning like a spiritual gas station. By the time we pull into the church parking lot on Sunday morning, we're on E. Yes, we are coasting in on fumes. We fill up our tank and we hope that it's enough to get us through to next Sunday. And there is certainly truth in the idea that worship restores us, right? we need encouragement, we need to hear the gospel, we need to be reminded of God's grace. But Sunday isn't only about refueling us, it's also about forming us, not just hearing, but doing. When we gather for worship, God is shaping us into a certain kind of people. You know, people who forgive, people who show mercy, people who care for the vulnerable, people who practice generosity and seek reconciliation, people who love God and love their neighbors. And then God sends those people back into the world. And that's where following Jesus becomes very practical because most of us are probably. not gonna face an enormous spiritual decision tomorrow, right? We're gonna face a hundred tiny ones. Someone is gonna irritate us. How will I respond? Someone may need my attention when I'm busy. Will I stop and take notice? Someone might say something I disagree with. Will I listen before I react? I might have the opportunity to gossip about someone. Will I engage? I may find myself worrying about things that are out of my control. Will I take a step back and remember that God is sovereign and He is with me? I might notice someone who's lonely. Will I stop and lend near or a shoulder? And I'll make decisions about how I spend my money, how I use my time, what kind of words I use with my spouse, how patient I am with my children. I'll decide whether I pray about something or simply worry about it. And none of those things will probably feel like some enormous spiritual moment. But that is exactly where discipleship happens. Following Jesus is often less about. One huge decision and more about a thousand ordinary decisions shaped by Jesus. And that's that's what the pavement looks like. Imagine hearing a message Sunday about forgiveness. You leave thinking that was a good sermon. But Monday comes and you're confronted with the person you're angry with. Now we're on the pavement. Or maybe Sunday was about generosity. And you agree wholeheartedly that Christians should be generous. But then Tuesday comes and you have an opportunity to help someone, but doing it will cost you something. Now you're on the pavement. Maybe the sermon was about prayer. Thursday morning comes, you're stressed, you're running late, your mind is already racing. Do you take even two minutes to say, God, I really need you today? That's the pavement. This is where Christianity stops being theoretical and it becomes practical. Now, this isn't God gave you a list. Now go prove yourself. It's God has given you grace. Now let that grace keep working. The same God we encounter on Sunday goes with us through the week. Every time we talk about something on this podcast, I don't want us to stop with that was encouraging or that was interesting or I never thought about that before. I want us to ask, what am I gonna do with this? So your first pavement challenge, I want you to take one thing from Sunday into Monday. And if you couldn't make it to church, no worries because we put the message on this podcast channel. You can listen to the message in the same place, but take one thing. Maybe it's something from the sermon, maybe it's the scripture, maybe it's something you sense during your prayer. Whatever it is, identify it and then put it somewhere where you're gonna be confronted by it throughout the day. Something I've done, you know how you can change your desktop, whether you put a picture on there or some kind of background. one time I was really going through a time of anxiety, and I came across this graphic, I think it was like a Facebook post, and it said, Do you pray about it as much as you talk about it? And that statement really hit me when I read it. And so I took that and I put it on my desktop because I get on my computer umteen times a day. So I knew I was gonna see that every time I got on my computer. But find someplace you're gonna come across that so that it stays in the forefront of your mind. And then find one concrete way to live it before next Sunday. What happens after Sunday? A lot. A lot of life comes at you after Sunday, right? Hopefully, worship doesn't end when we walk out of the sanctuary. Hopefully, the sermon doesn't end when the preacher says amen. Hopefully, the scripture doesn't just remain words on paper. Hopefully, the grace we celebrate inside the church finds its way outside the church, into our homes, into our workplaces, into our schools, the way we speak. The way we forgive, the way we spend, the way we serve, the way we love. Because maybe the most important moment on Sunday isn't when we walk into the church. I think the most important moment is when we walk out. So until next time, here's the question I hope you'll carry with you. What does your faith look like when your feet hit the pavement? And let this podcast encourage you through the week. Let me pray for you. Now, if you're driving, please keep your eyes open, but let's pray, okay? Lord Jesus, don't let us simply hear your words. Help us live them. Take what you are teaching us and carry it into our homes, workplaces, relationships, and communities. May the faith we profess become the faith we practice. And when our feet hit the pavement this week, help us to follow you faithfully. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us today on Pulpit to Pavement. As you go, remember, faith isn't just something we hear about, it's something we live out. So take what God has placed on your heart today, carry it into your week, and put your faith into motion. Until next time, may God bless you, guide you, and use you wherever the road takes you. Keep the faith and take it to the pavement.