Episode 17: Isaiah 58:1-12

Translation: Common English Bible (CEB)

3 Questions:

What word, phrase or image strikes you in this text?

Toward what is God calling you in this text?

What is your fast before God?

Additional texts:

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Psalm 51:1-17

2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Transcript

00:00:01.58
Nathan Pile
Hey, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, Kevin.

00:00:05.37
Kevin Shock
It is. I, we, yeah, go ahead.

00:00:06.28
Nathan Pile
Sun. Sun out. Is the sun out in your neck neck of the woods?

00:00:10.83
Kevin Shock
it It is. It's it's yes, it is. It's a little cloudier than it was earlier, but, um, boy, it's, it's been nice even in this cold weather to actually have some sunshine to stream through the windows on a, on a day like today.

00:00:13.40
Nathan Pile
Good. Good, good.

00:00:22.29
Nathan Pile
It is. It is It is.

00:00:25.35
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:00:25.71
Nathan Pile
does make the woods pretty here at camp, but we still got plenty of snow down. So

00:00:33.09
Nathan Pile
after our weekend of whatever, they I think they were calling for two and we got eight. So, yeah. So it goes. So it goes. But it is a beautiful day. And we hope wherever you are, as you're listening, that it is a beautiful day.

00:00:53.16
Nathan Pile
for you as well Today we're going to tend our spirits by engaging in ah ah Bible passage from Isaiah, the fifty eighth chapter.

00:01:06.10
Nathan Pile
verses 1 through 12. Kevin and I are going to read it from the Common English Bible Translation. ah You can follow along with whatever translation you have close at hand, or you can look it up on Bible Gateway or use the Bible Gateway app and um find it in the Common English Bible Translation.

00:01:25.73
Nathan Pile
The three questions, two are familiar to us. What word, phrase, or image strikes you in this text? Toward what is God calling you in this text? And then our third question this week, what is your fast before God?

00:01:38.46
Nathan Pile
And that will come clear as we read the passage.

00:01:44.43
Kevin Shock
I hope it will.

00:01:46.99
Nathan Pile
I do too.

00:01:48.15
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Uh, so here's some information about your hosts, Kevin and Nathan. We are men married to women in financially stable households, white, firmly in middle age.

00:02:01.17
Nathan Pile
boom

00:02:04.47
Kevin Shock
I had to change the prep sheet to be accurate.

00:02:06.58
Nathan Pile
it's it's it's coming it's coming it's coming that's true yeah that's true it's true

00:02:09.93
Kevin Shock
Well, by the time this is out, it's already come. Uh, College and seminary educated, we work in the Lutheran Church and were born and raised in Western PA.

00:02:21.02
Kevin Shock
All this affects how we read scripture and discuss it, but none of this makes us better able to read and discuss scripture than anyone else. We believe that the wisdom of scripture is the whole community's compiled interpretation for life with God and with one another.

00:02:35.63
Kevin Shock
So we want to know what you hear and think from your life experience. As Nathan said, we're reading from Isaiah, the 58th chapter today from the Common English Bible.

00:02:50.60
Kevin Shock
Shout loudly, don't hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Announce to my people their crime, to the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, desiring knowledge of my ways like a nation that acted righteously, that didn't abandon their God.

00:03:07.69
Kevin Shock
They ask me for righteous judgments, wanting to be close to God. Why do we fast and you don't see? Why afflict ourselves and you don't notice? Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want and oppress all your workers.

00:03:21.32
Kevin Shock
You quarrel and brawl and then you fast. You hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn't fast as you are doing today if you want to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I choose? A day of self-affliction?

00:03:34.99
Kevin Shock
Of bending one's head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast? A day acceptable to the Lord? Isn't this the fast I choose, releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated and breaking every yoke?

00:03:55.19
Kevin Shock
Isn't it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them and not hiding from your own family? Then your light will break out like the dawn and you will be healed quickly.

00:04:09.23
Kevin Shock
Your own righteousness will walk before you and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help and God will say, I'm here.

00:04:21.41
Kevin Shock
If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger pointing, the wicked speech, if you open your heart to the hungry and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness and your gloom will be like the noon.

00:04:35.82
Kevin Shock
The Lord will guide you continually and provide for you even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won't run dry.

00:04:46.80
Kevin Shock
They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account. The foundations of generations past you will restore. will be called mender of broken walls, restorer of livable streets. you will be called mender of broken walls restorer of livable streets If you are meeting with a group or another person, you can pause the podcast and ah ask each other the questions on your own.

00:05:12.44
Kevin Shock
Nathan, for you, what word, phrase, or image strikes you in this text?

00:05:16.95
Nathan Pile
um I think to get started, I would just say that the the beginning phrases of this did exactly what the author intended, which was to get my attention.

00:05:29.13
Nathan Pile
Like, oh, like... what am I'm supposed to be paying attention here. um You know, that idea of raise, you know, don't hold back, shout loudly, don't hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet. I'm like, okay, Isaiah is, is, is setting us up to be listening for something.

00:05:47.31
Nathan Pile
So what is it? um And so again, that it's not ways that we would use it today. Those aren't, those aren't phrases that we would be like, play the trumpet.

00:05:58.26
Nathan Pile
Like that doesn't, in our In our culture today, that's not a... We don't use the trumpet to make announcements anymore. um

00:06:08.24
Kevin Shock
No, you're right. We don't.

00:06:09.71
Nathan Pile
It's not a thing for our culture. I don't know what our thing would be. um Maybe a ding of our cell phone um might be a common...

00:06:16.92
Kevin Shock
Oh my gosh. Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

00:06:20.29
Nathan Pile
you know if i was If I was Isaiah today writing, it might be... um pay attention for the ding, um you ding-a-ling, um, ah or something along those lines. But that idea of, so, you know, as, as you got started, cause I wasn't, I wasn't following along the words. And then of course you said those things and I was like, Ooh, I better be paying attention to what's coming. and so then I actually did pull up.

00:06:44.65
Nathan Pile
Um, like I was just, it was an interesting, like I heard your words and then I was like, Ooh, I better, i better pay closer attention to what's going to be said here. Um, and so then I felt like I had to have the words in front of me. Um,

00:06:55.99
Nathan Pile
it was like a organic response for me. So, um, so that was the thing that stuck out to me that was that this beginning part. And then, uh, as, as sometimes happens, um, people, uh, Kevin and I were talking for like an hour or two, maybe before we got started today.

00:07:14.65
Kevin Shock
good No, not quite too, but we were talking for an hour at least.

00:07:14.90
Nathan Pile
Um, not quite too, but we were, we were well over an hour. Um, and, and so it, it,

00:07:23.40
Kevin Shock
Well, we haven't seen each other for two weeks.

00:07:25.08
Nathan Pile
We haven't. We haven't. And um but the.

00:07:30.75
Nathan Pile
Some of our conversation hits nicely with this reading. So so but I'm going to talk about that more in the second time, so I'm not going to go there yet.

00:07:42.52
Nathan Pile
But um how about you, my friend? what What word, phrase or image struck you in this next?

00:07:48.69
Kevin Shock
Well, well, just, just a couple of things first. Um, I, I think you're, i think you're exactly right that, um, I, you know, a lot of times when you and I do talk about things before we read these, we, we hear echoes of there's, there's relevance to it.

00:08:03.72
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm. Yeah. There's relevance to it.

00:08:06.41
Kevin Shock
And so again, this, this just highlights why we think it's so important to engage scripture with one another, because we read things in there that, you know, that are, are relevant. i I mean, i'm I'm a firm believer that even though these these writings were recorded thousands of years ago, this human beings are human beings.

00:08:25.93
Nathan Pile
no

00:08:28.45
Kevin Shock
And and and there are there are things that are going to be in common with people who came millennia before us, ah even though the world is such a different place. the that's When we when we talk about the um the word of god being truth in in one respect that's what i really that's what I hold on to that that not only that god is uh god meets us where we are god is steadfast but that does not mean that god is uh i don't know that i don't want to say unchangeable but but but god meets us where we are so so god may come to us in different ways in different forms especially throughout history um

00:09:07.72
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:09:15.08
Kevin Shock
but uh but the other thing is that is that the the truth of the word of god also is steadfast in the sense that they human beings have things in common with other human beings throughout all of history and in scripture is really good at being the mirror that reveals some of the things that are true for all of us or have been true for all of us um so that was one thing the other thing

00:09:31.91
Nathan Pile
yeah

00:09:41.47
Nathan Pile
Yeah. They continue to be tendencies, like ten like that would be the other thing. Like, they're human tendencies. We still, they did them thousands of years ago, and we still do them today.

00:09:48.58
Kevin Shock
Right.

00:09:52.85
Kevin Shock
Right, right, right. People. And right. Even though, even though the world is completely different place, um, people have always been joyful or sorrowful or greedy or generous.

00:10:07.01
Kevin Shock
I, you know, that's the, the, the, that has not changed since the, since the beginning of humankind.

00:10:07.69
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah.

00:10:12.58
Kevin Shock
So, yeah.

00:10:13.40
Nathan Pile
Even though I think sometimes we think we have.

00:10:17.72
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:10:17.87
Nathan Pile
Like, I think I think a part of of American culture today is that we're were that we have done a better job than others. Like, it's a part of our...

00:10:30.39
Nathan Pile
The way we think about the way... we You know, ah the the way we think about the world.

00:10:34.76
Kevin Shock
thank

00:10:38.36
Nathan Pile
we We think that... um

00:10:44.16
Nathan Pile
but we've we've just done a better job of it. I don't know how else to say it other than and that that's that simplistically.

00:10:48.48
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah.

00:10:51.01
Nathan Pile
like Like, we, maybe I shouldn't say we, I should say I. When, oftentimes when I'm living life normally, going through life, we just think about the that life is better off today.

00:11:12.03
Nathan Pile
and The world is better, you know, um I live a better, you know, and and we have that um kind of baked in. Now I do, I do know that I hear that maybe this is the, the generations after our generation are struggling to feel like the future is, is brighter than, than what they've already experienced that, that, that I'm hearing that that's a challenge, but for, for many generations, we've always thought that the best days are ahead of us and that we continue to do.

00:11:41.85
Nathan Pile
And so whether it's because we're, We're wealthier. We're smarter. We're better read. We've got better technology. All of these pieces, I think, lead us to make the assumption that that were

00:11:57.02
Nathan Pile
this generation of people are better than people before us. And yet, I think the thing that scripture points out to us is, it's not really the case.

00:12:07.42
Kevin Shock
Yeah. And I, and I think you're astute enough to see that Nathan, that that's not really the case. I I think that it, it becomes easy to point to that. um but When we look at certain indicators, you know, like the stock market is higher than it's ever been before, but that does not mean that we are feeding the hungry better than we did before, or, or, um or, or housing people who are, who are houseless better than we ever did before, or, you know, that, that we've,

00:12:21.52
Nathan Pile
Right. Right.

00:12:27.94
Nathan Pile
right

00:12:35.84
Kevin Shock
done a good job in eliminating crime and promoting unity. you know None of those things is true necessarily. um

00:12:42.52
Nathan Pile
but

00:12:43.24
Kevin Shock
And also, I think it's important to point out that that the the American view is, well, not only, okay, there's there's not one American view, first of all.

00:12:54.38
Kevin Shock
ah People who reside in the same nation can have very different experiences about how their situation is.

00:12:58.58
Nathan Pile
That's true. That's true. Yep.

00:13:00.39
Kevin Shock
their situation is um But also for, you know, we always give the disclaimer at the beginning of the podcast for people who fit into the box like we do. And I think we're pretty open about the fact that we live in financially stable households and and things like that.

00:13:18.28
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

00:13:18.34
Kevin Shock
um that um That's an it's a narrow view.

00:13:23.12
Nathan Pile
but

00:13:23.39
Kevin Shock
it It only takes into account our own experience. So even if we feel that way, and I think this is a danger in the world today, and we we universalize our own experience. and just because we feel this way doesn't mean that everyone feels this way.

00:13:37.07
Kevin Shock
Um, and there are plenty of people who don't feel this way.

00:13:37.36
Nathan Pile
right

00:13:40.35
Kevin Shock
Uh, even as you pointed out, there's a, there's a generational difference. I mean, I can feel, i can feel even in myself, you know, when I, and people talk about like golden ages and I i often, now now that I'm 50 years old, Nathan, um, I often think back to, um you know, when I was in college in the mid nineties, like,

00:14:02.69
Kevin Shock
Oh my goodness. Everything seemed like it was just great. You know, i mean, there, there was this, there was kind of in, in, in our nation, there was this explosion of culture there you know, the economy was good. Like, um, uh, jobs were being, you know, the were being created. i mean, there, there was all kinds of stuff going on that I was in that generation where,

00:14:30.70
Kevin Shock
You went to college because you could make anything of yourself. And, uh, and, and then some things happened and things changed that I don't think that generations who are of that age feel that way anymore necessarily.

00:14:46.03
Kevin Shock
Maybe some of them do, but not everyone.

00:14:47.92
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:14:48.79
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah. And, and I came from a I mean, what you could pretty much consider ah ah a lower middle class family. I mean, if even that, ah and and even I felt like there was a ton of possibility for me and for people like me, but I don't think that that's necessarily the case, or I don't think that's how people feel nowadays.

00:15:12.37
Kevin Shock
um The other thing that I just wanted to say in response to yours, I think the ding is the perfect thing. perfect ah the perfect ah simile or or parallel to the trumpet.

00:15:25.01
Nathan Pile
connector, yeah.

00:15:26.17
Kevin Shock
Yeah. yeah I'm I'm sure you've been in a public place where one person has their, their ringtone like turned way up and suddenly they ding and a dozen people pull out their phones to look at it because they all think it.

00:15:39.03
Nathan Pile
Let's see if it's, yeah.

00:15:40.08
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah. So it's, ah yeah, the ding is, or, or maybe a, maybe a pocket vibration. I don't know that, that ah that's like today's trumpet, but. Um, yeah, what, what jumped out at me actually, related to some of the things we were just talking about there is, um, first the the first part of verse two, ah they, they seek me day after day, desiring knowledge of my ways, like a nation that acted righteously that didn't abandon their God.

00:15:51.16
Nathan Pile
Yeah

00:16:10.52
Kevin Shock
oh my goodness.

00:16:11.27
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:16:11.85
Kevin Shock
What a, what a, what a, I don't even, don't even know how to describe it. Um, it's I don't want to say it's condemning. It is a it is a a harsh and accurate accusation or charge against the nation.

00:16:33.60
Kevin Shock
And and i think um you know we hear other places in um in Scripture where where you hear things like, there are there are people who honor me with their lips but not with their hearts.

00:16:52.36
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:16:52.85
Kevin Shock
And and that's that's exactly what I'm hearing in Isaiah here. um But for some reason, that that first sentence in verse two really cuts me to the core.

00:17:03.39
Kevin Shock
um and And I feel like there are, but there's there's been a lot of talk in the past in our own nation about how we're a Christian nation.

00:17:17.78
Kevin Shock
And, um but I think for a long time I have i have felt and I've have said publicly too in the church in some ways that um that we're we we might want to be a christian nation but there are some things that we do in some ways that we act in some systems that we have that pretty definitively show that we are not

00:17:43.74
Nathan Pile
yeah

00:17:44.95
Kevin Shock
and And not only just from a from ah moral or or faith practice standpoint, but even, I mean, as a as a an American citizen, I don't believe that we should be a Christian nation.

00:18:00.07
Kevin Shock
I think that think the American experiment is... all it's about freedom of religion and and freedom from religion.

00:18:07.22
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:18:08.64
Kevin Shock
And I, and I think that there is room ideally, I think that there is room in this nation for people to worship however they want to, and in whatever way they want to, um, as long as it's not harming other people.

00:18:23.40
Kevin Shock
Um, but also I think that, uh, the people who do call themselves Christian in this nation, um, and I include myself in this, ah can do a better job of doing things like caring for our neighbors and shining a light on the people who need assistance and um and loving one another.

00:18:50.53
Kevin Shock
I mean, those those are the things that would reveal us to be a Christian nation. And I only use that terminology Christian nation because that's That's what we hear. I recognize that we're reading from Hebrew scripture here, so i'm not I don't want to force Christ into this necessarily.

00:19:07.46
Kevin Shock
But but this is these are things that...

00:19:08.93
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:19:10.67
Kevin Shock
um

00:19:14.37
Kevin Shock
These are things, I don't know how much of what you can hear in the background on my microphone. um My dogs are going absolutely nuts right now. And I am so sorry the people who have to listen to this, but they have had something up their hind ends all day long and now they've decided to take it out on one another, which maybe is better than barking.

00:19:22.76
Nathan Pile
yeah

00:19:36.67
Kevin Shock
I don't know. um Oh my gosh. Anyway. ah

00:19:41.51
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:19:43.74
Kevin Shock
I don't even remember what I was saying. that I don't want to insert Christ into this, but I do. I do. This is. Hey, would you guys get out of here?

00:20:00.46
Kevin Shock
um I don't want to insert Christ into this, but. ah These are, I mean, these are the prophets that Jesus would know. I mean, these are the prophets that Jesus read from in the synagogue.

00:20:10.65
Kevin Shock
This is this is all stuff that was a part of is is his, up this this was a part of his his human and his divine DNA.

00:20:11.11
Nathan Pile
right right

00:20:20.23
Kevin Shock
So this, you know, but in that way, it is it's Christian in that sense, although it's very much, um it's it's I mean, it's Judaic.

00:20:22.64
Nathan Pile
yeah right it's our Hebrew te- that's a Hebrew text

00:20:30.92
Kevin Shock
It's it's Hebrew. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:20:36.41
Nathan Pile
Well, and and um when you were talking about it, you didn't use this word, but but it does feel a little passive aggressive to me. um

00:20:43.65
Kevin Shock
Oh yeah, no, it does. It does.

00:20:45.88
Nathan Pile
That God is a little like, what's going on, folks?

00:20:46.07
Kevin Shock
It's,

00:20:51.26
Nathan Pile
um In that that tail end of that second verse of, well, it's the whole second verse, but, you know, yeah.

00:21:03.32
Nathan Pile
Yeah, it felt a little... um

00:21:12.14
Nathan Pile
the Recently, i've I've seen the passive progressive TV commercials about the progressive insurance um pieces, and and it has you know it kind of struck me the same way. The first time I watched it, was like, what, did they just say that on TV? Yeah.

00:21:30.65
Nathan Pile
because the person is you know upset that people have saved money on their car insurance.

00:21:35.78
Kevin Shock
Yeah, right.

00:21:36.32
Nathan Pile
and And they're like, well, you should buy k cleats for everybody on the soccer team. ah was like, what? it' What are we talking about here? um But it's that same idea here. Like, um again, our um First Testament um

00:21:56.14
Nathan Pile
authors say, continue to show us God and give God human characteristics. And so here there is that piece in this, in this verse, second verse of, of God being a little, having a little bit of an attitude about the way the people of Israel have, have treated God.

00:22:18.78
Nathan Pile
So,

00:22:20.40
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yes. I, yeah, I, I think I want to, I don't want to

00:22:28.11
Nathan Pile
I'm not saying that that's I'm not saying that that's how God he is. I'm saying that that that is how God is being conveyed by Isaiah.

00:22:31.54
Kevin Shock
know.

00:22:35.44
Kevin Shock
Yeah. and And I do think, well, i mean I mean, Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God. I mean, this is, you know, this is the verse one is all about you, Isaiah, go and say these things to people.

00:22:45.88
Nathan Pile
Going. Right.

00:22:48.04
Kevin Shock
um And I I really don't think based on the rest of the text, if nothing else, that God is um like God is feeling slighted by the nation.

00:23:02.68
Kevin Shock
or Or maybe God is feeling that way. I can't I can't speak for God, but but I don't think that that's the point. I think the point of this is um you are not acting like the people I made you to be.

00:23:16.65
Kevin Shock
And and so it's not it's not that. um

00:23:21.29
Kevin Shock
You know, we yeah i I think one thing I struggle with in scripture is whenever we have the. um The image of God being a jealous God. ah because I mean, what what role does jealousy have in a good, healthy relationship?

00:23:38.32
Nathan Pile
Yeah, not good.

00:23:39.77
Kevin Shock
I really

00:23:39.86
Nathan Pile
It's not a good one. No, it's not good.

00:23:42.94
Kevin Shock
No, it's not good. It's not good. but um but what But what God does want is God wants devotion. and i And I think that that's something that I think that's something that everybody in any relationship wants.

00:23:57.29
Kevin Shock
We want, we want to know that, um, our spouses, our significant others, our friends are, are devoted to us and, and care about us in that way it that they, at least we, we can, um, we can trust them and that, uh,

00:24:10.86
Nathan Pile
Right.

00:24:21.36
Kevin Shock
that also they will show up for us when we need it. Uh, and I think, uh, you know, I don't think of, I don't think of the jealous God thing in the sense of, um, well, God doesn't want you to worship other gods because God's going to get all worked up about it. If you do, it's like God has created these people to be a particular, to hold a particular witness for the whole world.

00:24:49.07
Kevin Shock
And, um, or rather God has created humankind, but then God rescued this specific nation to be a witness to the whole world about the life that we can live together, that is possible among us and, um, and the life that God intends. And so when, when this nation or any of God's people are not living up to that, I think God wants to hold them to task.

00:25:16.22
Kevin Shock
And yeah.

00:25:16.48
Nathan Pile
Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

00:25:18.10
Kevin Shock
Yeah. And so like the, um, I mean, I I appreciate that word, you know, that they they act like a nation that didn't abandon their God. um But it's not, it to me, it doesn't sound like an abandoning of God.

00:25:33.30
Kevin Shock
Like God is upset about the people forgetting about, like not paying attention to God. It's that the people have forgotten God's ways. and And there are people suffering because of it.

00:25:45.89
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:25:46.40
Kevin Shock
and And again, I get that from the rest of the text, if nothing else. You know, we see that when we get down to like ah verse three and four. um You know, your fast day you have your fast day, but you're still oppressing all your workers. You're still quarreling and brawling with one another. You hit each other violently with your fists.

00:26:07.54
Kevin Shock
What kind of fast is that? Yeah. Yeah. ah I mean, I think this whole text can be summarized in Uh, the, the nation, the people think that going through the motions has been enough.

00:26:24.04
Nathan Pile
Yes.

00:26:24.92
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:26:26.16
Nathan Pile
Well, and what is, and I guess the question that that that comes to me is, what is faithfulness? and and we and And Isaiah is saying to the to the people, this isn't faithful.

00:26:40.35
Kevin Shock
but You're right. Yeah.

00:26:41.58
Nathan Pile
This isn't faithful.

00:26:41.95
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah. yeah

00:26:43.45
Nathan Pile
um Kind of a thing.

00:26:45.80
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:26:45.75
Nathan Pile
So, yeah.

00:26:49.49
Nathan Pile
All right, let's do it a second time.

00:26:50.99
Kevin Shock
All right.

00:26:53.67
Nathan Pile
Shout loudly. Don't hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Announce to my people their crime, to the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, desiring knowledge of my ways, like a nation that acted righteously, that didn't abandon their God.

00:27:12.89
Nathan Pile
They ask me for righteous judgments, wanting to be close to God. Why do we fast and you don't see? Why afflict ourselves and you don't notice?

00:27:23.72
Nathan Pile
Yet on your fast day, you do whatever you want and oppress all your workers. You quarrel and brawl and then you fast. You hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn't fast as you are doing today.

00:27:37.82
Nathan Pile
If you want to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I choose? A day of self-affliction? Of bending one's head like a reed?

00:27:49.06
Nathan Pile
And of lying down in mourning clothing morning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast? A day acceptable to the Lord? Isn't that this the fast I choose?

00:28:02.92
Nathan Pile
Releasing wicked restraints. Untying the ropes of a yoke. Setting free the mistreated. And breaking every yoke. Isn't it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them and not hiding from your own family?

00:28:23.61
Nathan Pile
Then your light will break out like the dawn and you will be healed quickly. Your own righteousness will walk before you and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard.

00:28:36.56
Nathan Pile
Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help and God will say, I'm here. If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger pointing, the wicked speech, if you open your heart to the hungry and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness and your gloom will be like the noon.

00:29:00.87
Nathan Pile
The Lord will guide you continually and provide for you, even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. He will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won't run dry.

00:29:17.72
Nathan Pile
They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account. The foundations of generations past you will restore. You will be called mender of broken walls, restoral, restorer.

00:29:30.12
Nathan Pile
of livable streets.

00:29:35.77
Nathan Pile
Toward what is God calling you in this text, Kevin?

00:29:39.93
Kevin Shock
Um, to, uh, to, to live out what I confess.

00:29:49.66
Nathan Pile
Hmm.

00:29:50.61
Kevin Shock
Um, I think that's the, I think that's the simplest way to say it. uh, yeah, I, uh, yeah, i'm I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of, I mean, you know, there are,

00:30:07.16
Kevin Shock
for me I will I will fully admit that my my life of faith is not completely integrated i think that's a fair thing to say about myself and what i mean by that is uh you know i have i have certain ah i trust in certain truths uh when it comes to when it comes to god and and and particularly god in christ

00:30:21.29
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:30:36.34
Kevin Shock
Um, I proclaim those truths from the pulpit. I um, you know, there, there are things that, um, I don't have a lot of doubt about, or don't have a lot of worry about, but my life does not always reflect that. I believe those things or that I trust in those things.

00:30:58.63
Kevin Shock
Um, fear creeps in, uh, anger creeps in, um, i i I suffer from the temptation of wanting to ah divide people sometimes instead of unite them because uniting them takes a lot more work.

00:31:17.15
Kevin Shock
It's a lot harder.

00:31:17.29
Nathan Pile
Yeah

00:31:18.36
Kevin Shock
ah and and um and and even to the point where um I, you know, even even though I'm such an enlightened person with such a great gift of faith,

00:31:31.39
Kevin Shock
ah I definitely ah definitely judge people. I judge books by their cover. um I try not to, but but it I think there are certain things.

00:31:45.99
Kevin Shock
When when i read this, when I read this Isaiah text, I think, oh, things probably started off pretty good. and then And then over the course of time, there was a little bit of slipping in how we live out our faith here and but you know it was just a small thing so no one really noticed it and it wasn't even intentional it was just like now now we've slipped a little bit in this way so you know like i don't know i'm just i'm trying to look at some of the examples in here um

00:32:20.68
Kevin Shock
that, you know, we we, we used to share our bread with the hungry, but then we had a bread shortage. So we just kept it to ourselves. And, and, and now that has turned into a practice of no longer sharing our bread with the hungry, but, but we're still okay because we believe what we believe and everything's, everything's fine and, and everyone's still pretty secure.

00:32:31.05
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

00:32:38.01
Kevin Shock
So we're going to keep doing our fast and things like that. Um, but I think, you know, that a small thing, like not welcoming a homeless person into your house, um,

00:32:50.87
Kevin Shock
can then turn into, ah i'm it's a it's a day of it's a day of solemnity, it's a day of fasting, and I'm out in the field whipping my servant.

00:33:03.61
Kevin Shock
And somehow I justify that with, and and frankly, in our

00:33:11.48
Kevin Shock
in in the history of our nation, there were people of faith who justified doing that very thing. to other people.

00:33:21.56
Nathan Pile
Yeah

00:33:21.97
Kevin Shock
And, and so I think that there can be a, ah you were talking earlier about, you know, are we really better off? I think in some ways we are better off and that's one that, I mean, I, you know, I, I, things, that things are not perfect.

00:33:31.08
Nathan Pile
That's one of the ways. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Right.

00:33:35.92
Kevin Shock
Things might not not even be good, but, um, but at least we don't practice, uh, literal chattel slavery in this country anymore. Um, that's one small thing, a big thing.

00:33:44.03
Nathan Pile
and That's true. That's true.

00:33:46.49
Kevin Shock
I, yeah, I,

00:33:46.84
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:33:48.09
Kevin Shock
and I don't even have I don't even have the authority to speak on that really, but um thank God we don't anymore. That's all I'll say.

00:33:54.59
Nathan Pile
Yeah

00:33:54.67
Kevin Shock
um But that was something that was justified and and and people of faith justified it. And it was ah it it was something that was seen as normal.

00:34:08.51
Kevin Shock
um I think that ah it's easy to

00:34:17.75
Kevin Shock
it's easy to like, if we, if we do a slow sliding into a certain way of being, it's easy to justify anything we do, especially if we're still going through the motions.

00:34:28.94
Kevin Shock
And I think it can happen on a large scale. And I think it can happen on an individual scale. Um, yeah, yeah. uh, last week, uh, Lisa and I had an opportunity that I've been so grateful for.

00:34:46.99
Kevin Shock
um and I really didn't think I'd be grateful for it, but, uh, one of a, a former, uh, staff member at pause, um, is, is in college.

00:34:58.53
Kevin Shock
And I don't, I don't know what degree she's pursuing, but she's, um, she's going to BYU online. She's a Mormon. And so they have, you know, they have certain, they have certain ideas about marriage and family and things like that.

00:35:06.69
Nathan Pile
hmm sure sure

00:35:12.82
Kevin Shock
Uh, and, and she was, she's taking a course where throughout the, throughout the course, she has to interview people who have been married different lengths of time.

00:35:22.68
Nathan Pile
hmm

00:35:23.17
Kevin Shock
And so one of them was like between newlyweds and then like between seven and 15 years. So she asked Lisa if we'd be willing to be interviewed. and And the thing that I appreciated about it some of the There was actually one question where Lisa and I looked at each other and then we looked at Eliza and said, what does that question mean exactly? Because it it was kind of like you know coded Mormon language that we didn't understand. um but ah But it gave us the opportunity with you know almost 10 years into our marriage to to reflect on our relationship and and to talk about some things that are that are important to us and that...

00:36:03.19
Kevin Shock
um and that it's it, you know, and that we have part of the reason we have this partnership is because of the things that, um, the things that we do find important, we find in the other person and, and that, and the other person honors those things in us.

00:36:22.03
Kevin Shock
Um, so but at one point, one point, i don't know why I'm laughing because it's nervous laughter at one point during the conversation, ah Lisa did bring up a time that I had really hurt her.

00:36:37.09
Kevin Shock
And, uh, and it was, it was a, how do I say this? It was a, so it was a, the thing that I did was not against her necessarily. It was, it was, it was a very small thing. And because it was a small thing,

00:37:00.80
Kevin Shock
i felt at the time that it was okay to not be entirely truthful about her, about something with her, about something I had done because it was a small thing because it was a pretty inconsequential thing.

00:37:12.12
Nathan Pile
Mm. Mm.

00:37:16.13
Kevin Shock
Um, thanks be to God. I couldn't hold that inside for very long. And like only a couple of hours later, fessed up and, uh, and she was mad.

00:37:26.63
Nathan Pile
Mm.

00:37:32.31
Kevin Shock
And she was hurt. Not because I did the thing that I said I wasn't going to but because then I withheld it from her.

00:37:43.70
Kevin Shock
And I think of, I think of that scenario and I learned my lesson that day, that's for sure. um Not because of how she reacted, but because of what, well, I mean, yeah, because of how she reacted, but because I realized that I really did hurt her and I don't wanna do that.

00:37:59.63
Nathan Pile
Hmm. Don't want to do that. Sure.

00:38:01.79
Kevin Shock
um But I, like, i only I only share that because for me, that's an example of, I claim to uphold a certain standard.

00:38:14.85
Kevin Shock
And, and like even, and, and that was, and I, I didn't uphold that standard because I thought it was a small thing. So that's like, that's the perfect example for what I'm talking about is that we can take these small steps away from who God has made us to be and they can result in something big later on.

00:38:34.94
Nathan Pile
that we hurt somebody else.

00:38:36.41
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Right. Right. Right.

00:38:37.83
Nathan Pile
You know, you know, one of God's things is that we don't hurt each other.

00:38:38.80
Kevin Shock
And right. Yeah, sure. And, um, Yeah, and it it took us, I don't want to say a while, but like it was one of those things where, you know, I think I initially thought, oh, I can apologize. i can make amends and we'll get over this.

00:38:57.79
Kevin Shock
um But it was probably a few days that she was pretty upset with me.

00:39:02.42
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:39:03.03
Kevin Shock
and And at first I was like, oh, I mean, my very initial reaction was, why is she up so so so upset about this little thing? And then the more I sat with it and realized what she was actually upset about, I understood it completely.

00:39:19.00
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:39:19.23
Kevin Shock
And, um, and yeah, like I said, learned my lesson, but, uh, but that, that's just an example of like, that's not, you know, me lying to someone one else or withholding the truth from someone else is not something that I would say I'm comfortable doing, but In that situation, I found, I found justification for doing it.

00:39:43.16
Kevin Shock
And I, thankfully the consequence was right in front of me.

00:39:49.57
Nathan Pile
Sure.

00:39:50.14
Kevin Shock
And, and I, and, and I could say, oh boy, I, I messed up. I was wrong. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, yeah. To, to live into what I actually claimed to be, that's my answer.

00:40:05.00
Kevin Shock
What about you, Nathan? What towards, what is this text calling you?

00:40:07.99
Nathan Pile
Well, yeah um you've done a, I'm not any different. You've done a nice job of kind of being able to talk about that. It's, it is how, how do I live?

00:40:20.24
Nathan Pile
as a called child of God? um How do I live into that in my life? And your your personal story of like we all, um we're getting ready here at camp for a weekend retreat and um and the book that we're gonna be talking about and the author that we're talking about um talks about how we create um the first part of our life, we create this container that we live in, and that we're that we're cr- we're creating a structure to be able to hold life in it, is the way that he ah Richard Brewer kind of talks about this. and so

00:41:02.17
Nathan Pile
um we create this container from the things that we do and and the people that are around us and the experiences that we have. It becomes the way that we think we're going to live life.

00:41:14.97
Nathan Pile
um And it gets filled with things like, or or you know doesn't get filled, it gets formed by things like, I want to be an honest person. I want to, um I want other people to trust me. Like, so these are things that I want to be the way that the outside world connects and reflects on me. And so I make it a part of of the container that's going to hold my life and my first part of of life.

00:41:41.53
Nathan Pile
um and And then we come to realize a part of the second half of life is that the thing that we make is probably not as good as we think it is.

00:41:53.62
Nathan Pile
um And so it becomes broken because we're broken, sinful human beings. And so um and it's being able to be freed to live that that aspect of life, to to the the thing that we've created doesn't mean that we're not striving to be a good human being or to be loving, to be a good disciple.

00:42:15.16
Nathan Pile
It just means that that all of our planning is like at some point in time, it breaks down. thatre we're We're not perfect human beings.

00:42:30.79
Nathan Pile
And yet recognizing that we have a God who says you are loved. And I know that you're, I know, I i recognize this, this,

00:42:42.13
Nathan Pile
this brokenness in you and it's in, in, in, you're still loved as a part of that. And so this piece of, you know, hearing this passage, yes, I feel called to, to, to living into,

00:42:56.89
Nathan Pile
being the best disciple I can be, ah to living into being the best child of God that I can be, but also recognizing that part of who God is, is that God has also, has made space for when i you know, I I I flub up, I make the mistakes that are gonna happen as a part of life.

00:43:21.09
Nathan Pile
And that tomorrow's another day to try again. You know, that's a part of that. let Lutheran Christian um

00:43:30.23
Nathan Pile
theology that I've been taught and that ah that I claim is a part of my of who I am, a part of my identity, is that. Now, that's not all in this passage. that you know the This passage is is God calling God's people back to being faithful um in their relationship with God.

00:43:49.33
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:43:51.57
Nathan Pile
But ah you know in this passage, I hear that of, can I match, as you said, can I match my my actions with my words?

00:44:03.00
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:44:03.07
Nathan Pile
If I say I want to be this type of a loving disciple, how do I make that, how do i make those parallel um and and and live into that?

00:44:03.18
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:44:16.65
Nathan Pile
and And so, you know again some of that is part of my early first life container that i've created that that I wanted to do that as a kid you know you you had those dreams of being ah a good disciple of of of Jesus um and i and that you know Sunday school teachers taught you that parents and grandparents taught you that um but being able to kind of try and live into that recognizing that that what we we do fall short know forgiveness is there god's love is there but to to to quickly also say okay but how do we how do we continue to live into that um we don't let it destroy us but it's there's new life that comes out of that um um part for us and so being able to think about how do how do I

00:44:57.11
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:45:12.38
Nathan Pile
Because every, like, the reason this is important for me is because every day I fail at it. So every day I have to start again.

00:45:19.70
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:45:20.84
Nathan Pile
and But it doesn't mean that I'm not still growing from the things that I learned from yesterday. I'm getting better at it today because of the mistakes I made yesterday.

00:45:31.23
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:45:31.77
Nathan Pile
and and And that's an ongoing, constant process for us. And so in this passage, I hear that call to... um to match my actions with my the things that I say I believe.

00:45:48.83
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah. I really appreciate your, um, I think that you, you opened up for all of us, they the, uh, kind of a, a Lutheran understanding of,

00:46:02.87
Kevin Shock
how this reading works. and And hearing you talking, I realized that this is a this reading is a perfect ah example of the interplay between but what we in

00:46:18.46
Kevin Shock
who have been theologically trained in a Lutheran tradition call law and gospel.

00:46:23.53
Nathan Pile
Mm-hmm.

00:46:24.35
Kevin Shock
that um it's it's not law or gospel, and it's not that the law came first and then the gospel replaced it. It's that those two things work in concert with each other. They live in tension because that's what draws us closer to God, both of them, not not just one.

00:46:40.20
Kevin Shock
And um I think that there's a there' is an easy critique of

00:46:49.21
Kevin Shock
when Lutherans talk about um God loves you even when you mess up. I think that we talk about it from a different understanding of what a lot of people have. And sometimes we don't do as good a job of explaining it as we should.

00:47:04.66
Kevin Shock
Um, and I think that you did a good job of explaining it. And that is that the, um, It's not as though, oh, God is god is up in heaven saying looking down saying, oh, Kevin, oh, you goofball, you messed up again, but it's okay. I love you. just Just keep going on with life.

00:47:23.58
Kevin Shock
but No, that's that's not the Lutheran understanding at all. what What we have here is an example of what the Lutheran understanding is, and that is you are You are condemned.

00:47:35.41
Kevin Shock
You have lost your way.

00:47:37.74
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:47:37.89
Kevin Shock
you ah you're like you are You are far from God, and there is there is no help for you on your own. and and then But then what happens?

00:47:50.41
Kevin Shock
if If you make the slightest move to indicate that you are turning back to God, that you are repenting, God is going to embrace you and God is going to transform your whole way of being your whole life.

00:48:09.13
Kevin Shock
And, and that's what I think that's what we hear when we get like verse eight and, and it's, and Isaiah says, you know, if, if, if, if you do one little, one little thing to make it, to make it seem like you're actually interested in changing your ways, you're

00:48:23.46
Nathan Pile
Thank

00:48:27.82
Kevin Shock
then your light will break out like the dawn. And this is the big this is the big thing for me. And you will be healed quickly. you're not You're not healing yourself.

00:48:38.87
Kevin Shock
You're not doing the work on your own. but But God is there always with that understanding of love. Love that sometimes speaks a tough word to us, like you're not being the people that I made you to be.

00:48:54.06
Kevin Shock
and then And then love that also, as soon as we give any indication that we are in the slightest way interested in being the people who God made us to be, God embraces us and heals us and repairs us so that we then become the repairer of streets to live in, the mender of broken walls.

00:49:17.01
Kevin Shock
And... um And I think this is a lovely example of law and gospel that you read this at the beginning and think, oh boy, we are, we're, we're beyond any help.

00:49:28.84
Kevin Shock
And then, and then suddenly we hear.

00:49:31.81
Nathan Pile
God's built us up and we're rebuilding the world with God.

00:49:34.45
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right. We hear God has given us a way and now not only has God given us a way, but. But now God is bringing us into that way and and making us the people who really can live this out.

00:49:46.35
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

00:49:49.69
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:49:50.07
Nathan Pile
Yeah. Yeah.

00:49:53.07
Nathan Pile
Let's do one more time.

00:49:54.63
Kevin Shock
All right. Should we look at a third time?

00:49:56.75
Nathan Pile
Yep.

00:49:59.81
Kevin Shock
Shout loudly. Don't hold back. Raise your voice like a text notification. announced Like a trumpet. an announced to my people their crime to the house of jacob their sins they seek me day after day desiring knowledge of my ways like an action like a nation and acted righteously that didn't abandon their god they asked me for righteous judgments wanting to be close to god why do we fast and you don't see why afflict ourselves and you don't notice yet on your fast day you do whatever you want and oppress all your workers

00:50:32.57
Kevin Shock
You quarrel and brawl and then you fast. You hit each other violently with your fists. You shouldn't fast as you are doing today if you want to make your voice heard on high. Is this the kind of fast that I choose, a day of self-affliction,

00:50:46.61
Kevin Shock
of bending one's head like a reed and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Isn't this the fast I choose?

00:50:57.80
Kevin Shock
Releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated and breaking every yoke? Isn't it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them and not hiding from your own family?

00:51:13.57
Kevin Shock
Then your light will break out like the dawn and you will be healed quickly. Your own righteousness will walk before you and the Lord's glory will be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer.

00:51:25.33
Kevin Shock
You will cry for help and God will say, I'm here. ah That's another line. If you remove the yoke from among you, the finger pointing, the wicked speech, if you open your heart to the hungry and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness and your gloom will be like the noon.

00:51:32.30
Nathan Pile
you

00:51:43.41
Kevin Shock
The Lord will guide you continually and provide for you, even in parched places. He will rescue your bones. You will be like a watered garden, like a spring of water that won't run dry.

00:51:54.31
Kevin Shock
They will rebuild ancient ruins on your account. The foundations of generations past of generations past you will restore. You will be called mender of broken walls, restorer of livable streets.

00:52:09.09
Kevin Shock
Nathan, what is your fast before God?

00:52:15.16
Nathan Pile
ah Well, there's a couple. This podcast would be one of them.

00:52:19.90
Kevin Shock
Oh.

00:52:20.21
Nathan Pile
um It's a way that I stay faithful. um

00:52:29.22
Nathan Pile
It's our conversations together and and the scripture that's here. And so um

00:52:37.88
Nathan Pile
kind of the things that remind me of, and I'm taking i'm understanding your question that way, right? Like, what is it what is it ah that I'm using as a fast?

00:52:48.81
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

00:52:49.37
Nathan Pile
Right?

00:52:49.91
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:52:50.08
Nathan Pile
Yeah. So um

00:52:50.97
Kevin Shock
Yeah. You took it a little different way than I anticipated, but no, but yes, this is right.

00:52:54.35
Nathan Pile
anticipated. Yeah.

00:52:55.57
Kevin Shock
Yes, this is good.

00:52:56.35
Nathan Pile
yeah Well, I was just making sure I understood your question. but um the

00:52:58.92
Kevin Shock
Oh, yeah.

00:53:01.91
Nathan Pile
but So this is definitely one of them, is is that engagement with God's word and wrestling with it with a buddy and um and and talking about how how we live this out in our life, how we reflect upon it.

00:53:16.79
Nathan Pile
You know, I think this desire of this passage to to match our are actions with our words means that we have to self-analyze.

00:53:31.61
Nathan Pile
And it's one of the things that I wonder if we do that well as the church right now.

00:53:31.97
Kevin Shock
ah

00:53:37.14
Nathan Pile
if we Have we taught ourselves how to do that as Christians?

00:53:40.61
Kevin Shock
Hmm.

00:53:42.07
Nathan Pile
you know is that like When I think about the church you know Sunday school and stuff when I grew up, we we weren't we weren't analyzing. like We learned certain stories about the Bible.

00:53:57.17
Nathan Pile
um we We talked about what it means to be a witness. um in catechism, you know, and and some of those early Sunday school classes.

00:54:10.75
Nathan Pile
But I'm not positive. It wasn't until seminary that I really took on the role of of kind of self-analyzing and and I guess I did some of that check that some of that questioning in college, but I was also a religion major in college. So, um you know, had some professors that but like we would read books on theology and and tear into them and ask those kinds of questions. so

00:54:37.86
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:54:37.89
Nathan Pile
So I was being taught that as some of my class stuff. um and and And I think any of our questions can be good questions, but I'm wondering if if, you know, one of the things I encounter a lot, not all the time, but a lot with our young adults that I work with at camp is that they feel like they can't question their faith.

00:54:57.76
Nathan Pile
But boy, I think those questions help us get to the the core of it a little bit.

00:55:03.60
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:55:04.10
Nathan Pile
and it And it helps us to to match our our actions and our words.

00:55:05.85
Kevin Shock
but

00:55:09.51
Nathan Pile
And so, like, you know, I tell them questions aren't bad in faith. Like, ask them. You know, God's bigger than that our question. that It's going to be okay. We can't, we're not going to poke a hole in God because of our questions.

00:55:23.20
Nathan Pile
um And so being able to to have that opportunity, uh, both of, of your, um you know, my, me taking time and divide diving into scripture, but having conversations with other people, um, are ways that help me

00:55:43.15
Nathan Pile
to stay connected to God, to help that help me to seek out, to um,

00:55:48.97
Kevin Shock
Good you.

00:55:52.28
Nathan Pile
um in the light of, of God to be, to to be a part of light in darkness,

00:56:00.07
Nathan Pile
which is, a well, that's another thing, but I'm trying to reduce the amount of time I talk about light and dark in my language. It's not always, it's not always inclusive, but but it is an image in the Bible that we use a lot.

00:56:09.45
Kevin Shock
good for you yeah

00:56:14.91
Nathan Pile
And so I got caught caught there. I said it and then I was like, oh how else could I say it differently? So, so but to shine in the world um

00:56:28.33
Nathan Pile
would be a way of of of thinking about how how how how I live each day. And so being able to have questions, be able to self um analyze my own words and actions and and those pieces, I think those are all things that,

00:56:48.95
Nathan Pile
and teaching that to the next generation to help them, um, or the next generations, um, so that they too can match their, their words with their actions, um, as we do that.

00:57:06.50
Nathan Pile
So, so that'd be two of my answers. What about you? What is your fast before God?

00:57:12.61
Kevin Shock
Yeah, I am. Uh I, I confess that my thought immediately went to, what do I refrain from? Um, but, but I know that that's not, I know that that's not necessarily a complete picture of what fasting is.

00:57:21.10
Nathan Pile
Mmm. Mmm.

00:57:27.25
Kevin Shock
So, um, I mean, obviously even this text, um, but makes that clear. um I do think that, ah but because I was already thinking that vein,

00:57:39.15
Kevin Shock
um

00:57:41.70
Kevin Shock
I think my fast before God is refraining from reacting. um I, I feel like that's, for me, that's a spiritual practice in the sense of it.

00:57:55.58
Kevin Shock
um Refraining from reacting helps me to listen to people. and um and it and it also helps me listen to god i think uh

00:58:12.68
Kevin Shock
yeah i i think over the course of time i have gotten i've really tried to i've really tried to practice um not not just rushing to judgment and and not letting things that perhaps are intended to offend me or hurt me do that.

00:58:36.07
Kevin Shock
But, um, but, but to sit with it for a little while. And, um, I think that that's something that helps me. Yeah. Like I said, it helps me not just to pay attention to other people, but it helps me to pay attention to what God might be saying in that situation too.

00:58:55.32
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:58:58.37
Kevin Shock
that's kind of the quick answer, but also I realized that that's, that's kind of a passive thing. Um, like there, there could be some, and probably if I thought about it for a little more, if we had more time to talk, I, I might come up with one or two active things to do as well, but, um, but you did a good job of giving us active things to do.

00:59:19.10
Kevin Shock
So yeah, yeah, right.

00:59:19.13
Nathan Pile
Yeah, that's okay. That's good. It could be both. so ah so Some additional texts to um look at.

00:59:22.85
Kevin Shock
It can, it can be both.

00:59:27.97
Nathan Pile
Joel chapter 2 verses 1 and 2 and verses 12 to 17.

00:59:31.02
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm.

00:59:32.75
Nathan Pile
um Here again we hear that return to the Lord a language that that is a part of this Isaiah text. Psalm 51 verses 1 through 17.

00:59:44.68
Nathan Pile
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20b through chapter 6 verse 10.

00:59:55.70
Nathan Pile
um And now is the day of salvation. And the gospel is Matthew 6 verse 10. verses 1 through 6 and 16 to 21. um And here we're talking about the practice of faith.

01:00:08.57
Nathan Pile
um So again, can see those themes guided through all of those different passages, passages that Kevin and I talked about, or this passage Kevin and just talked about.

01:00:19.46
Nathan Pile
You can see that some of those themes in those other readings for this week's additional texts.

01:00:23.84
Kevin Shock
Yes, and and I think it's important to lift up what day these texts are appointed for. And that is Ash Wednesday, the day when the church is called to focus on such things.

01:00:38.20
Kevin Shock
Yeah, and on on fasting, but but really fasting as a means to ah becoming, living into the people who God made us to be.

01:00:38.98
Nathan Pile
Yup.

01:00:48.29
Kevin Shock
not just Not just performative fasting, not just ah as Jesus talks about Matthew 6, not just praying loudly on the street corners so that people see how holy we are, but actually living out the faith that we that we profess, that we confess.

01:00:50.84
Nathan Pile
Right.

01:01:03.70
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:01:04.00
Nathan Pile
Yeah.

01:01:07.91
Nathan Pile
Well, ah Kevin, as always, thank you for your reflections and sharing here today. um Those that are listening, we encourage you to share with us your thoughts, either through email or on social media.

01:01:22.27
Nathan Pile
um We hope to tend our faith with you again soon. Grace to you.

01:01:27.51
Kevin Shock
And peace.