Welcome to Real Talk , a podcast that creates a space for us to talk about our faith openly and honestly . I'm your host , thea , and I'm so glad that you tuned in today , where we welcome Reverend Reggie Clemens , who's going to share a little bit about his faith and what it means to be a Christian . Let's just jump in , reggie , would you introduce yourself and why you said yes to the podcast and why you said yes to today ?
Speaker 1Thea , thank you for allowing me to be here . What a joy it is to sit down and just have a conversation with you . I am the senior pastor at First United Methodist Church , pearland , and we are glad to be doing this . We're really excited about it . I am personally excited , and certainly wanted to be a part of it , to be able to share some of my story and who I am . I've been at the church for many years and recently actually within the last four years I've become a pastor here and just excited about what we're able to do and the things that we're able to share . I would tell you that the one thing that I really believe about this is the fact that you wanted to call it real talk . You know we've had a lot of conversations just about authenticity . To be able to have conversations with people that aren't necessarily religious people is a good thing . I certainly wanted to be here to be a part of that .
Speaker 2Yeah , well , thank you again for just supporting this venture and being open to something new for the church to do . I'm really excited that we're able to offer this space and hopefully it does create more and more honest conversations about what people believe , what they don't believe and what they might be searching for . Just dive in and just kind of share a little bit of your faith background . So how did you first get introduced to faith and when did you know you were a Christian ?
Speaker 1I can tell you my entire life has been one that's been involved in the church , from my mom taking me to church and my grandmother's influence over me . I've always told a story about my grandmother taking me to Pleasant Green Missionary Baptist Church in Longview , texas a very little small church that set up on cinder blocks . That was so full of the spirit that when God entered the building the church rocked on those cinder blocks . So it was great and I grew up as a member . We joined when I was three years old at Jones Memorial United Methodist Church and grew up in that church and certainly had a great experience there being a part of that church most of my life .
Speaker 1I can truly tell you that there is not a time that I did not believe in God . In my entire life I don't think I've really ever struggled with my faith . I probably had more struggles with my applications of faith than what I was supposed to do in life . So even from the standpoint of being a member of the church and a believer in religion , probably for a long time it was probably when I was in my early 30s that I would say . But then I really became a Christian because I really began to understand what we are required to do , compelled to do by God's word . So I truly think that I understood that distinction when that happened in my life , because now it became something that I need to do something about this and I need to do something with this .
Speaker 2Yeah , what do you think were some of those most influential pieces that led to that realization and that acceptance of ? Okay , this isn't just maybe what I was raised with and just what my family believes that this is now mine .
Speaker 1I think it's easy in a church to grow up thinking that , well , this is something that we do . It just becomes a part of your existence , like other things that you do . I was introduced to a Bible study called Disciple Bible Study and took that . And now and I will tell you that Bible study changed my life it actually changed my entire trajectory about faith , and there were four . It was really the first one that got me there . There were actually four or three other segments , so it was Cyple 1 through 4 . It's like four years of actually taking this Bible study that I did , and not only did I take it , and it changed my life . I actually then became a facilitator for that Bible study three times . So that's 12 years of doing that .
Speaker 1Because it had that much impact on me I think that there were . I grew up in a situation where you certainly heard Scripture and , in fact , even though people would read the Bible , a lot of people were probably afraid of the Bible because they didn't really understand it and you knew what it said , but you didn't necessarily know what it meant . And actually taking Scripture , beautifully written and truly to a point of understanding what it means and breaking it down to where . You see , it's not just those words , it's the impact that it has on your life . That was the game changer for me .
Speaker 2I actually also took disciple one of my first or second years in my faith journey and I remember being wowed by the stories in this holy text stories of murder and deceit and adultery and I remember thinking this is a soap opera . Why don't people talk ?
Speaker 2about this , and I've said before , you know , even recently , that people who tell me that the Bible is boring , I think you're not reading the right version . You're not reading , you're missing the stories that are in there . And for me , too , it was this year long commitment , almost every single week , meeting with a small group of people and willing to not only read these words but wrestle with them and talk about them and say what does this reveal about the truth of humanity , the truth of divinity wrapped up in between ?
Speaker 1I mean , maybe what are some of those things that stuck out to you that it was the first opportunity for me to take off my church clothes and to truly be with people that were vulnerable , had real issues and were willing to discuss those issues amongst one another , to share in their own personal faith stories , to talk about their problems with faith , to talk about even their issues with the Bible , but yet to truly hear God's Word presented in a way that was palatable and understandable and , like I said , the main thing for me was the impact that it actually had on my life .
Speaker 1I'm like you actually read a lot , and when I began reading some of the stuff , I'm like , whoa , this is in the Bible or whatever . What are we supposed to learn from this ? But you do . I mean you kind of understand that the Bible is just full of people , real people and real stories . So I am probably certainly better for having done that and better for having continued to read to find answers to questions that I don't have the answers to . But I think from the standpoint of for me as a personal God , it's still the best book I've ever read .
Speaker 2Yeah , I love what you said . It was real people sitting around and talking about these other real stories of real people and it just made me think how we're both preaching pastors . We preach almost every week and we present our understanding of this text . I mean , we are biblical preachers , we preach the text every week and we take time to look at it and pick it out and say , okay , this is the best illustration in this and that is good . And there's something a little different when you just get some people in a circle .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2And say what are you seeing here ?
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2What is sticking out to you ? What piece is making you say what ? What piece is making you say wow .
Speaker 1I agree , I was just actually having a conversation today with one of our members and we were talking about reading Scripture and she talked about something that happens to her , that is , I certainly found it to happen to me over and over , through the disciple and through just reading the Bible . She'll read a passage , a passage that she's familiar with , that she knows that she's read forever , and then it'll all of a sudden say something different to her , speak to her in a different way , and she gets a new understanding and enlightenment about it . And I'm like saying , yeah , it'll do that , it will truly do that . I mean , I don't know if I have ever not read something that it didn't speak to me in a different way and actually give me a greater understanding or whatever , and to me . That's why I really like doing it , yeah , and that it's important to continue reading .
Speaker 2I think that's what we mean when we say this book is alive , that it's breathing , that it's continuing to offer new and deeper and different insights and just even reflections of again . I believe it's a reflection of humanity and the depths and greatness of who we can be , but also the reflection of the divinity of . God's relentless pursuit to be with us and amongst us to provide redeem , renew us over and over again .
Speaker 2But that's the truth , and more we can find those pieces , and I would argue too we need to keep reading it , because we need to be reminded . We have so much information that's thrown at us that tells us otherwise , and so we need to be reminded of who we are , but also who God is .
Speaker 1Well , I think again , one of the wonderful things about disciple was it wasn't presented in a way to have you graduate from the course that once you've actually gotten your grade and you can move on to other things in life . It was really more about what impact will this have on you the rest of your life ? And I think that was the approach . That was new . It was new for me and I think it was new for everyone that I took it , and I would truly tell you , every time I tried to facilitate a class , I would always try to impress that upon people , just like we do on Sundays . You know we're sitting there preaching and I think the critical thing is like what are we giving people that they can take away from here to use or whatever ? That's the important part of it .
Speaker 2Right , right , right . So would you say , to be a Christian you have to read the Bible , or how would you describe and define what is ? What does it mean to be a Christian ?
Speaker 1Well , I certainly do believe that it is an important .
Speaker 1Component of being a Christian is to read God's word , to understand what God wants from us and wants us to do and what the life that he wants us to live and how he wants us to be . I think that being for me , if you're asking me like , for instance , for me being a Christian and one of the reasons why this was important to me in my life was the fact that I really wanted to have an understanding of how can I be the best I can be , how can I truly grow and be the best I can be . You know you spend a lot of time listening to what the world dictates , and the world is not always concerned with you being your best . Sometimes the world is just more concerned about being what the world wants . That didn't really work for me .
Speaker 1There were certainly situations I mean , we've all been through stuff in life that we'd rather forget or ignore , act like never happened , and we've all been there . But to me , how can I be better about what I do ? And this was certainly something because of my background growing up in the church and things that I've learned subsequently that I truly think God does speak to us in a way to give us guidance in terms of how we can become better at who we are and , in fact , what I like to always say how we can become the people he has intended for us to be . So that's important to me . In fact , that's probably the lesson I try to impart on everyone that I talk to that it is important
.
Speaker 1It's important to read , to understand exactly what happened throughout our biblical history , how we got to where we are and how we can now use this moving forward . This is who we are , this is what we believe . So , and if we're not going to do that , then all you can do at that point is depend on what somebody else tells you , that you read it . You don't have an understanding on your own . You're dependent on someone else . How do you know they got it right ? So that's why it's important for me to read it for myself and to truly understand is , as I am on this faith walk , as I am truly trying to get more and more immersed in the spirit and immersed in the gospel and immersed in that calling that God has on my life , then I need to go somewhere where I can trust that is going to give me the right information and direction for what I need to do .
Speaker 2Well , and I ask you know what does it mean to be a Christian ? Because I think there's a lot of different ways that people can define that right .
Speaker 1Well , it means you go to church .
Speaker 2It means you read your Bible . It means you pray . It means you believe Jesus , Son of God . You said it once out loud and you're done , so how do you define that ? You know what does it mean to be a Christian ?
Speaker 1I think it does mean that you willingly want to do everything that you just said . But you do so not from the standpoint , again , of passing the test or checking off the boxes . You do this from the standpoint that it does become a part of your everyday existence . It becomes a part of who you are .
Speaker 1I think sometimes people get nervous about Christianity or whatever . I mean with a lot of people that say you know , well , I belong to a church , but that doesn't always necessarily make you a Christian . I think people may sometimes get nervous because they do realize that if you're going to truly say I want to accept Christianity , I want to truly follow Jesus as my Lord and Savior , If I do these things , then that means I'm going to change . Well , yes , it does . Christianity is about transformation . It is about becoming something different than what we are and then continuing to grow . It is not about the arrival as much as it's about the journey . So if people get to the point and understand that and relinquish that fear about it , then I think it makes that trip a lot more beautiful .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , I know I can get into like discussions and debates or even just over here People say , well , that's not a Christian thing to do , or he or she is not a good Christian , and it makes me wonder , like I wonder , if they even have a clear definition of what Christian really means and if we just take it back to the original word , I mean to be a Christian is to be a little Christ .
Speaker 2Exactly it's to be a reflection , to be a piece of , to be the light of , and that's less about doing , I think , all the right things , but more again about striving to reflect what Jesus was about when he was here on earth , right ?
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2His demeanor , his words , his actions , his behavior , his heart , his compassion , his kindness , his mercy , those types of things , and how often we do want to equate it , just to like following the right rules or the right outline or again checking out the boxes , doing these things . That makes me a Christian where it's like . Really , I think many of us seem to be diving deep every day and say where and how have I been like Christ today ? Where have I been a little Christ out in the world ? Where have I even shown up a little bit with this light of redemption and renewal , forgiveness again , kindness , mercy , mercy . Where have I done that healing ? Where have I done that today ? And , if I'm being honest , there's a lot of days where I , you know , I'm probably missing that . I'm missing that opportunity to be a little Christian , or maybe my little is teeny tiny today , because that's all that I have , because I'm so consumed right with all my own stuff .
Speaker 1And I think that's why you gotta look at this as a journey , because it's not where any of us wake up in the morning really and say , well , my whole day is patterned on being a Christian . It's patterned on seeing every opportunity that's presented to me . It's patterned on being the best I can be every minute of this day . That would almost be silly , because we all know life gets in the way . We all know that we've actually already been patterned for certain behaviors based upon experiences that we've had and things we've been taught and things we have chosen to believe over time . We all know that . The thing that I think that makes it worthwhile for me is that I think God certainly recognizes our effort . He recognizes our desire that we're going to do stuff and we're going to mess up at times and we're not going to be as faithful at sometimes or as we are maybe at other times . But I think God recognizes the effort that we give and , again , the desire that we have to truly be . Like you say , little Christ , because I think that's the key thing .
Speaker 1There's sometimes a feeling that people have , particularly about church people or Christians , that they are perfect or they see themselves as perfect . I can truly tell you , as a man that's been involved in a church for pretty much all of my life , I have yet to meet the perfect Christian . I have yet to meet the perfect church person or whatever . In fact , I would say , if we were all honest , there are more of us struggling with things than there are close to perfection from that standpoint . But yet I think the ability that we have to want to come together to truly work on those things to get us closer to Christ is , to me , that's the beauty of the church .
Speaker 1When church really works , that's what people are doing . They're recognizing their faults and failures in life and just existing day to day , and they're coming together with a group of people that are really in that same boat and they're actually saying let's work together on this in community . Let's actually help each other from this standpoint to truly grow closer to God . Let's recognize that none of us are perfect , yet we all know that what we do have is a perfect savior , so we can truly just really let's work to live like that or whatever , and know that there's still going to be people throwing rocks at you , there's still going to be stuff happening , there's still going to be situations where you're not agreeing or whatever , but yet we all know that we still serve the one , god , and that's the important thing for me .
Speaker 2Yeah , I firmly agree with that too . I also have never found any perfect Christians or churchgoers far from it and definitely don't claim to be the same .
Speaker 1Well , I certainly don't .
Speaker 2I think we both continue to strive to reveal our realness and our faults , because also there's a great detriment when people start to put us on a pedestal . Make us their lords or their idols of like . No , no , we have a savior . But then also thinking about that of you know to be a Christian yeah , it's in my mind sometimes , I define it it's to accept this love that God has for us .
Speaker 1Yes .
Speaker 2That God has poured into the real body and life , breathing Jesus Christ , who lived and died and rose again , so that we would see that there is nothing that we can do to stop that love right ? So there's also just a this acceptance of that , a receiving of that gift that's been given to us , and then a willingness to try and live that out , to not just hold that alone in a dark closet but to say , because of this , if I'm truly accepting this amount of love and redemption , renewal that's been given to me , well then I have to offer it .
Speaker 1And I think that's the key . I think that we we certainly know that people may have a willingness , more so , to say well , I can accept this gift , I can just accept this gift , but we , but you , can't just accept this gift of salvation , that , this gift that God gives us , this gift that God certainly gave us through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ . You can't just accept it and then put it on a shelf and let it sit there . It's all about the acceptance of it , but then actually the using of it . They're actually making it a part of who you are . And again , like we're talking about , transformation of being what God has called us to be , means that we're realizing that there's some things that we need to do differently in terms of who we are . And yet , even as I do that , I realize that my relationship with Christ , my relationship , is a very personal one , that Jesus may be talking to me about some things and talking to you about something completely different , because he's looking at all of us , where we are , all of us to arrive at the same place .
Speaker 1I take a lot of comfort in that that there is not , as even the world would think there's not , this cooker cutter process to Christianity or to a life in faith . There is this determining or discerning , rather , what is it that God is calling for you to do ? And living in that mode . That's what I think it is , and maybe sometimes that's where people get it twisted , because there's almost this expectation that you got to look a certain way or you got to be a certain way , or whatever you do these things . I try not to focus on that as much as saying there's a relationship that Jesus wants to have me , have , have with me , and he is going to to help me discern what that is and what that calls me to do in that relationship .
Speaker 1It's kind of funny when you talk about the being put on a pedestal stuff . I refuse to allow that to happen for me . I said no , we don't want to do that . I certainly recognize the calling in on my life . Even though I may have accepted it late in life , it's always been there . I know that now my grandmother tried to tell me that when I was five years old I even argued with her probably the only thing I ever argued with her about . But the fact of the matter is I certainly realized it and accepted it , but yet I didn't accept it from a standpoint of a status symbol or a different place that it put me . I accepted it more as a calling to be used to truly lead people to Jesus , and that does bring me a great deal of joy and excitement .
I use the term that to be in pastoral ministry is to be set apart , but not but it's set apart too , set apart from the world to the work of the ministry , set apart to the church , not set apart from . Oh absolutely and how important that is to make sure that that's clear of . Yes , we've been set apart for this specified calling , but it's set apart to you Absolutely .
Speaker 1Into this relationship . Amen to that .
Speaker 2And I would argue this is again what we see in Jesus . God chose to remove God's self from the heavenly throne and come and be with us , and so we need to be careful how much we try to distance ourselves and not just from other Christians , but from those who don't believe , from those who attack us and have every reason to point us out as as at fault .
Speaker 2We need to also be willing to be in those spaces too . So how talked to ? We talked a little bit about , like what does it really mean to be a Christian , but why ? What's the impact , you see , what's the influence it makes in your life ? What's what's the why behind it ? Why have you accepted this faith ?
Speaker 1You know , I think that I probably went through a a part of my life that was more in tune to well , this is what you're supposed to do . This is who you've grown up to be , almost to the extent that , from some standards , this is what's expected of you , and maybe I was fortunate or not fortunate , depending on how you look at it kind of growing up . From that standpoint , I know that it really became important to me when I said you know , I need to know Jesus for myself , not from what someone else told me or someone else's experience . I need to know Him for myself . Now , not necessarily saying from the standpoint of benefit , but realistically , what does this do to my life ? Well , me personally . I think it has given me a great deal of joy . It . Has it made my life without problems or challenges ? No , has it actually gotten any impediments to living well out of the way ? No , has it even truly created a situation where I don't have sad or sorrowful moments or moments of great despair or moments of pain and hurt ? No , but I will tell you this it has equipped me to deal with all of those things much better . It's equipped me to handle those things and to understand that there is a certain order to things . There is a certain way that things will happen . There were going to be , as you mentioned , there's gonna be people that are going to challenge you because everyone has not been converted at one time . So , even if many people have , there are a lot of people that have not , and I don't think that anybody . Sometimes , I think , people even get involved with a church or a situation where they have faith , that they think that there's gonna be this metamorphosis overnight , that all of a sudden , that they're just covered from and being protected from anything wrong happening . And I would assure you it does not work that way . But I do think it equips us to be able to deal with it from a different perspective . That's one thing .
Speaker 1Number two I do think deep within each and every one of us , we do want to be good people . There are different opportunities that some have to bring that out , or bring that to the surface or , again , as I say , to become those people God calls us to be . I think everybody's got that . I think there are different levels of being able to bring that to the surface . Some people have had greater opportunities than others . Some people may not have gotten there yet . I don't know .
Speaker 1I do know that for me , I feel really good about myself when I'm doing good . I have never done good and say , man , I really didn't like that . I've always felt good about that , to being the best I could be . I am not . I found this out about myself early in life .
Speaker 1I'm not necessarily a people pleaser or just doing something just because I want you to be happy and I get joy from that . I get joy from the fact that you're happy because I'm doing the right thing or I'm doing what I'm supposed to do . I remember my mother telling me she said if you're trying to please me , if that's what you want to do , that's not gonna work . Okay , because I'll see right through it . She always did .
Speaker 1But I truly know that it's that whole thing in terms of who I am and say , man , if I'm really doing this God thing right , if I'm really embracing Jesus Christ again as my Lord and Savior , and again , when we think about that Lord and Savior , you're not embracing something that's just a status symbol . You're embracing someone that is leading you in everything you do . This I recognize because Jesus died for me , he saved me and therefore he is the Lord of my life and that , being the Lord of my life , it's what leads me on the path that I want to be on . I stumble we all do but the fact of the matter is I still declare him to be the leader , and that is truly what brings me joy .
Speaker 1When people talk about the joy in the life that we live , I think that there may be this thing almost . It's not like the joy you have when you get to go to a birthday party or whatever , or something like that . It's greater than that . It's a joy that truly takes over your existence , because it becomes who you are . And one other thing too it is a joy that people see coming in you . They see you coming , and in fact I've actually had people . You look really awful happy today and I said you know what I'm striving to get to , that I look happy every day .
Speaker 2Okay , that you every time you see me there's a happy guy .
Speaker 1So I think it's that that's sometimes hard to get people to understand because they've been through so much trauma in life or they've had so many different things affect them in life , sometimes by church people . But I can truly tell you that One thing I do wish I wish folks would stop blaming some of the things church people do on Jesus , cause I would say Jesus would actually probably say if he was sitting in his room he'd say that's not what I taught them , that's not what I intended for them , that's not what I wanted them to do . So I said stop blaming it on Jesus . Let's just all get to a point where we can understand for ourselves , because of our own personal relationship , what is Jesus calling me to do . And if we get there I think we'll be a lot better off .
Speaker 2Yeah , I'm just thinking how we talked about how impactful , you know , reading the Bible has been , and when you read the life of Jesus , it is not one full of lack of difficulty , absolutely . You know , we were just talking recently how it's right after Jesus' own baptism he immediately has led into the , into the desert for temptation , right , it's right after his the final supper , where he makes it very clear that his body and blood will be shed for the forgiveness of all sin , that he is betrayed , turned over , faces , crucifixion . And I even think of when he returns and he visits those disciples in that upper room , fully resurrected , fully alive , fully real , yet still has the scars on his hands , still has those marks of the life that he lived . And the words he says are you know , this world will give you trouble , but take heart .
Speaker 1I have overcome the world .
Speaker 2And when you talk about letting God be your leader , your savior , as someone who is a leader , who loves to be in control , who would like to make all the decisions all the time there is such freedom to also know I don't have to .
Speaker 1Exactly .
Speaker 2And in most days I don't even need to try that I can surrender that over , and that that is not a weakness , that is not a loss , that is a gain that I would not have to be in control of my own life , my own destiny , my eternity . That has already been taken care of . I think of you know , as we try to plan trips now as a family , I'm like can someone else plan it ?
Speaker 2You know I spend all my days planning , making decisions . Can please , like somebody , give me this gift of have it all taken care of for me ? And this realization that , on a greater scale , that God has already done that , has already decided that , no matter what happens , that I am loved , accepted , redeemed and renewed over and over again and again , offers this peace . That doesn't mean there is no problem , that there is no issue , that there is no pain , but that it is overcome With a joy and a trust that is even greater than the worst that we can imagine . And I know that for me . That's where I see the influence , that's where I see the difference . I do see those elements of peace . Does that mean that I'm never stressed out , that I'm never overworked or overthinking things and overanalyzing and overworking ? No , I do all the time . That is still definitely a part of who I am . And yet , when I wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep , the only thing that can help is that trust in that peace .
Speaker 2It's like God , whatever it is that is bothering me so deeply right now . I know you have it right , I know that you've got this and , even if my worst case scenario comes true , I have eternity with you .
Speaker 2Absolutely , I have this beautiful gift that at least can give me a moment to breathe and hopefully fall back asleep , because I think , like you said , that's really what it means to have Jesus as your savior , god in the flesh , full of love , compassion , mercy and redemption , that this would be the leader of your life and who you would trust with all things that will not fail you , like the world and people , including Christians , do all the time . You know , as I have gotten into church work and become a pastor and more and more it's like people can kind of surprise you with their behavior .
Speaker 2But there's also this piece that I'm always reminded yeah , of course they're people .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2They're just people who , yes , have the same faith as me . Maybe I've had it longer , maybe it sometimes looks like they have a deeper , but they're still just a person .
Speaker 1Oh , I don't think there's any doubt about that , yeah .
Speaker 2Yeah , so what are some struggles , though ? What are some struggles that you have seen just regarding your faith ? Where are the places , maybe , that you're not wrestling with your faith , but where this aspect of who you are can kind of create some difficulties ?
Speaker 1So I don't wanna say necessarily difficulties , I struggle certainly a good word and I can truly tell you what I probably struggle with . More than anything , it's like this aspect of when something good happens . You want everybody to feel the same thing , and my struggle , which I have to be very careful about , is that I feel so good about the things that I'm able to do to be on this walk with Christ and how I can truly see Christ impacting my life .
I so want it for everybody that I can sometimes get discouraged when I see people possibly not getting it or either not understanding it or not accepting it or whatever , and I can get really distressed by that . But yet I have to bring myself back to center to say that again , you gotta do this on your own . It's actually in your time and God's time . It can't be in my time . I can't be at a point where , interestingly enough , it's almost like you're trying to manipulate the situation . I got the joy of Jesus , so I want you to have the joy of Jesus , right , and I want you to have the joy of Jesus and everybody . If you're gonna be in here , you better have the joy of Jesus , and I'm like well , it didn't work like that . So that is what I really pray about a lot that if God's using me as a vessel to introduce and to lead people in that manner , then I am doing the leading , but they are actually doing the acceptance of that to be led , and they are actually . It's upon them , it's incumbent upon everybody . And so whenever I get to the point where I struggle with that and I remember that and I talk to myself and actually I always say I probably sometimes have a lot of sermons on a Sunday morning where I preach and I'll even tell the people that you know , actually I think I'm preaching to myself today because I think I needed to hear this . So that's probably the greatest struggle .
Speaker 1Other than that , I'll be honest , I don't really have any struggles in my faith and in terms of disbelief . There's nothing about it that really presents a struggle for me , even work related . I love everything I do . I really do think that I was born to do this . I feel that I know that , and so it's not really a concern about the time put into it or the different things or even dealing with people when they're unfortunate situations . I don't struggle because of those . I actually probably go the other way and embrace them , because there are more opportunities for me to truly say here's what he meant by that , or here's what we do in this situation , or here's what God is calling for us in this moment . So it's not a struggle , I think . If I have anything that maybe is distressed for or disconcerting sometimes is basically seeing how people sometimes deal with this great life we get to lead and this great opportunity that God has for us and that . But again , just to me it's very simple .
Speaker 1I'm a big , huge believer in Mark 12 , 30 to 31 . What are the greatest commandments Jesus called us to do ? Love the Lord , your God , with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind , all your strength . And the second is as important as the first love your neighbor as yourself . These are the two most important things . It's all on us to do . So .
Speaker 1If we all every morning woke up and said , if I just do that , what kind of impact is that gonna have on my day ? How is that gonna make me or allow me to get through the day ? If every situation , every decision , every person I meet , everything that I do , is gonna be predicated on hearing those two things and then doing that , how much different would we be ? We'd have to be different . I know it certainly made a difference in my life or whatever . It's sometimes very easy to dismiss people or dismiss situations or be able to say , well , I don't like you because I choose not to , or it's a lot easier . It's a lot easier to dislike people than it is to like people . I can tell you that . I think we all know that right . So I think that really embracing that and saying Jesus calls me to love , we love because he first loved us . So if I can just kind of lead from there , then man , what impact does that gonna have on , not only on ?
Speaker 2my life but on the life of people around me , yeah yeah , as you're offering this kind of really peaceful way to think about the love of God and the command to us , I'm just kind of running through all my struggles and if I'm being honest , there's well because other people don't do what I think they need to be doing .
Speaker 1Oh , there is that .
Speaker 2You know from people I deal with directly people . I have zero actual direct interaction with , to people I've never even met before , right , and if I'm just thinking like , okay , what a lesson for me to learn of again letting that stuff go and striving well instead of how do I change this person , how do I make this person be who I want them to be , even if I feel like I have every good reason ?
Speaker 1for how I want them to be .
Speaker 2If the question was turned to how do I love them ? How do I love them and accept them ?
Speaker 1where they are .
Speaker 2Right , right . And how might that transform them ? And actually way better than I could ever dream of changing them , you know , because I'm only gonna change them to please me , sure , sure . And my desires and my needs and as I just think about , you know my relationships where I have been loved for who I am how that has transformed me Not into some being that would please the other person , but would be more pleasing to be around and I would be more pleasing to accept , and so I really appreciate that good word .
Speaker 2What's one piece of hope you would offer to someone who is struggling with their faith , who's maybe afraid of , or still wondering what Christianity might be like , or have accepted okay , I wanna believe this , but I'm lost . What would you offer ?
Speaker 1If you really want to embrace hope , you have to let go of fear . We are probably more driven by fear today than almost anytime in history . Fear drives a lot of the decisions that are made . Fear drives a lot of the feelings that people have for one another . Fear drives a lot of the things we either choose to do or not to do . If we truly want to have hope , we've got to begin with letting go of fear , and then we've also got to realize that there are probably more people that are feeling exactly like you do than there are on the other side of that equation , that there are more people that truly do want to have hope . They truly do want to believe in something greater . They do truly do want to believe in that there is a power , a spirit that covers us all , and they wanna believe that . And yet there can be , let's just say , 99 people that believe that , but just one person that doesn't is the one that gets all the attention . Well , I think that's because of our fear . We're afraid that it might not work , and I can truly tell you that we gotta let go of fear . We've gotta truly not be afraid of one another . We've gotta be stop being afraid of whatever situations . We gotta be , stop being afraid of change , stop being afraid of being changed for things to be better or whatever . We gotta let that go .
Speaker 1And I would truly tell you that anyone that's struggling with that , that is where . And that's one of the reasons why I love that we're doing this , because , again , the whole concept of having authentic conversations about things , or even you listening to me or me listening to you , does not mean that at the end of the day , you're gonna look at what I said or I'm gonna look at what you said . I absolutely agree with that . I'm totally on the same page . It doesn't mean that . It means you're gonna get an authentic assessment of where we are and what we feel about things . And your life is gonna help me in my struggle . I would hope my life helps you in yours , but that doesn't mean that we're gonna agree on everything from that standpoint . It's just not . But what it does do it's . It lets us both know we're both in the struggle , right , I'm not isolating myself away from you and your struggle and you're not isolating yourself from me . We're both in it .
Speaker 1So I would truly tell people that when you're struggling , you're not alone in that struggle and find a place where you can have , like what we're trying to do , have those real , honest conversations Not the opinionated conversations , but the real conversations about faith and then the fact that this journey throughout time let's just look at it from the standpoint of when the collection of books were determined to be the Bible , the authoritative word of God or whatever I think what we'd like to believe is that the church was this absolutely perfect
institution . From that point on , we know from our history it has not been . We know there have always been struggles . There have been a whole lot of things that have been horrible episodes of human history that have been done in the name of Christianity . So , yeah , I get it why people struggle . We're giving you reason to struggle .
Speaker 1The fact of the matter is , I like to believe we've also given you reason to have hope that we are going to truly become better at who we are , and this is a viable path . And I think the way you do that is have conversations with people . You know , I think we love worship , we have great worship and I love to preach , as I know you do . But I would truly tell you as much as I love that man , I love more just sitting in the room and talking to people or listening to people . I get more joy out of that because on a Sunday morning , with everyone looking at you , unless you say something that's totally outlandish , you don't really know where they are . Their faces don't necessarily show you what they're thinking or even if they agree with you or not . When we actually have conversations with people , to have real talk , is where I think you can truly flesh out where people are and then you can actually work on those things where they struggle .
Speaker 2And that whole idea of community and connection and conversation is something that would push , is really the reason for church , Whatever that word looks like for you , right , but it's an opportunity to gather with others who are somewhere close to you in their faith journey . They're at least paying homage and recognition to a risen Lord and Savior who you know again has come in the flesh to dwell amongst us and bring us a new life .
Speaker 2But then also that you would do more than just show up there , that you would let yourself be known , that you would get to know others , that you would dare to gather in a smaller circle just one other person , maybe 10 or 15 , and talk about this faith , share this faith and it's again what you see modeled in the scriptures with Jesus' life as soon as he comes out of that temptation in the desert he calls disciples .
Speaker 1He says come to me , yes , let's go .
Speaker 2In communities be in connection . Even I don't want to do this alone .
Speaker 1Right .
Speaker 2And so , yeah , I would agree to that , and there is no reason , there's no reason to do it alone except fear , right , and so to let that go and let someone get to know the real you and where they might really reflect Christ back to you , just as they're called to do as well . So what would you offer as a next step , or how someone could even connect directly with you ? They're inspired , they're encouraged , they want to learn more . How can they reach you ?
Speaker 1You know , I love the fact that we have taken on this demeanor and this aura of being open and available to anybody at any time if they need to talk , if they need to have a conversation , at least to have an opportunity to set up a time to do that or whatever , and we'll always do that as long as I'm there .
Speaker 1I would truly feel if anybody had any real questions that they really wanted to get into deeper and really talk about some issues that they have , just call us , just call me at the church office or email me or show up and we'll do whatever we can . But again , we welcome I certainly welcome these opportunities to have conversations with people and have them daily for the most part , not always in depth , but just being able to be open to folks to talk about what's going on in our life is so important to me and so important . And I will tell you , we have a lot of conversations with people about faith and about their struggles in life and things that are going on , and these people never come to become a part of our worshiping community or whatever , which is fine . That's not the point . The point is to get you on the path . It gets you better than where you are , and that's really what the goal is for me , so I'm thankful for that opportunity to do that .
Speaker 2And I do also value that we strive to create that space and we know that that's valuable time spent to be in honest and real conversation with people right where they are . I often say I do my best work at a coffee shop across the table from someone who's just willing to be honest about what's going on with them , and for me in Degree Rated Space , where I can be honest too .
Speaker 1Absolutely .
Speaker 2About our faith , and so we'll definitely have links in our show notes to connect for the church office , as well as to our emails . We welcome your input . We also welcome your feedback . So if you have questions , a comment you'd like to share that we can answer on the show , just send those to those links as well , and until next time we'll see you then . Thanks for tuning in . Real Talk Podcast is produced by first United Methodist Church Pearland in collaboration with Pearland Podcast Studios , recorded here in Pearland , Texas . We invite you to check out our website at fumcparelandorg to check out additional events and opportunities for you to engage in real talk about faith and relationships . Huge thanks .