WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:02.720 So I start with a movie review. 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:05.120 Have you seen Disclosure Day yet? 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:08.640 I heard a couple of yeses out there. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:09.279 All right. 00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:13.599 I won't spoil it too much, but I will give a thumbs up. 00:00:13.599 --> 00:00:14.560 I did enjoy it. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:22.000 Steven Spielberg knows how to tell a tale as well as anybody in the film industry. 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:25.519 It was an interesting story. 00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:31.519 He's back into the alien world again and dealing with that kind of stuff. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:40.159 And again, I don't want to ruin it for you, but there was one statement that was made that I really appreciated. 00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:41.920 What are you guys laughing at? 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:45.039 Am I tingy? 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:46.880 What am I doing? 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:48.079 Don't spoil it. 00:00:51.200 --> 00:00:52.479 That's impossible. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:54.719 She's all don't sweat it. 00:00:54.719 --> 00:00:56.640 I'm in front of a bunch of people. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:57.679 Don't spoil it. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:59.359 Oh, don't spoil it. 00:00:59.359 --> 00:01:00.240 I will not. 00:01:00.240 --> 00:01:00.960 I will not. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:01.920 I get you now. 00:01:01.920 --> 00:01:02.799 Yeah, you're plugging your. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:04.079 I will not spoil. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.599 But there was one statement that I really appreciated. 00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:10.159 I'm not spoiling the story. 00:01:10.159 --> 00:01:13.519 I told you. 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.079 I am being honest. 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:18.799 I'm not going to spoil the story. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:22.239 But there was a poignant statement made in it. 00:01:22.239 --> 00:01:30.560 And the statement was, what if empathy is an evolutionary advantage? 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:36.239 What if empathy was an evolutionary advantage? 00:01:36.239 --> 00:01:38.400 Isn't that a curious thing to say? 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:41.840 Because it goes counterintuitive to what we think. 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.120 Empathy is the thing. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:46.159 Oh, that opens me up to vulnerability, right? 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:52.239 That get makes me weaker or that makes me uh more uh uh able of being conquered. 00:01:52.239 --> 00:01:56.319 And so to flip it, it was really, really interesting. 00:01:56.319 --> 00:02:00.719 So, bottom line, without spoiling, I enjoyed it. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:09.439 I would send you to disclosure day as not only a good story, uh uh, but some interesting thoughts going around. 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:11.680 Uh now, Romans 15. 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:13.840 Did you all read it before you got here? 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:16.319 Oh, come on now. 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:18.080 You're not doing any homework? 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:19.199 Good glory. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:22.879 All right, I'm gonna sum it up for you really quickly here. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:28.240 Uh, the bottom line of Romans 15, 1 to 7, Jesus came for others. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.080 Shouldn't we? 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:34.000 Shouldn't we be here for others? 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:35.840 Isn't that sort of the point? 00:02:35.840 --> 00:02:37.599 What's modeled by Jesus? 00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:40.800 Listen to the way Eugene Peterson says it. 00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:56.960 He is a pastor uh who did an interpretation of Scripture uh as opposed to a translation, so he took a little more liberties in the way that he uh um interpreted what was going on, but I really like the way he says it. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:06.319 Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.639 Strength is for service, not status. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:17.199 Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, how can I help? 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.759 That's exactly what Jesus did. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:26.000 He didn't make it easy for himself by avoiding people's troubles, but waited right in and helped out. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:31.840 I took on the troubles of the troubled, is the way Scripture puts it. 00:03:31.840 --> 00:03:35.840 Isn't that a nice way to restate that scripture? 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:37.680 I really, really appreciate it. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:47.120 Uh you know, when you talk about interpretations of Scripture, and you have to be a little more careful scholarly because they're taking more liberties. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:55.680 Uh, but sometimes you find an interpretation you really like, and it says it like you would reread it, and uh all the more better. 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:57.759 I really like that one. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:03.919 It really encapsulates that idea of, hey, this is what Jesus was here for. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:06.400 Why aren't we just doing it? 00:04:06.400 --> 00:04:11.840 And here in Romans 16, Paul does another interesting thing. 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:22.720 He invites everyone in this letter to this church in Rome to welcome the women in leadership. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:28.879 He even mentions three specific women into leadership. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:46.319 Now, Paul often gets accused of being not quite as uh uh affirming of women and and uh um uh not uh being a little bit misogynistic in that way, uh, but we sometimes fail to recognize the context for that. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:05:07.279 He lives in a time where there was clear hierarchy between the genders, and for him to say this was really quite provocative, very provocative to say you should listen to these women and let them run some things, let them run the church. 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:18.879 So all of this gives way to an overall invitation from Paul for us to be welcoming to all Gentiles. 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:22.480 And for those of you who don't know, Gentiles are non-Jews. 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:25.279 So basically everybody. 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:26.399 Right? 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:42.240 There's this obvious implication, the larger call is inclusion of others, not just neighbors, like he said in Romans 15, and not just women, like he says in Romans 16, but all. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:45.920 Now, here's where it gets a little interesting too. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:56.480 Paul's language for these passages uh for this inclusion, the language he uses is circumcision. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:06:01.040 Right? 00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:03.600 That is the language that he uses. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:10.000 Now, the first five books of our Old Testament, they are full of laws that were to be followed. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:18.639 And if you were living out the faith, that's what it meant to follow, to live out the faith, was to follow these rules. 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:31.439 But for some reason, Paul picks out the one law and uses that to encompass all that it means to follow Judaism, circumcision. 00:06:31.439 --> 00:06:43.680 If you know men, you probably know why Paul picks that one out to be the thing he sums it all up in. 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:52.160 You know he's got in his ear a bunch of guys going, hey, is that part, you know, really necessary? 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:58.720 Do we really need to, you know, so he's got to reinforce that a lot. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:06:59.519 Yes, yes. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.199 Oh, I shouldn't have done that move. 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:02.879 We gotta reinforce. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:09.439 We got to reinforce that the importance of that, right? 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:18.000 Now, if you are a woman, I'm assuming you know any man at all in this world. 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:31.680 And so you understand why Paul picked circumcision as the way to define Judaism as well, because that's the one that's making us guys go, oh, okay, that's the big test that's going on here. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.720 Um anyway, I'm having a little bit of fun. 00:07:34.720 --> 00:07:53.040 Uh, but that was the way Paul would often describe being a non-Jew, and he was inviting us, encouraging us, feeling like God was commanding us to include people who were not Jewish, meaning the circumcised, right? 00:07:53.040 --> 00:07:56.720 For him, though, it was symbolic language. 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:05.839 And it was referring to or making the argument that we're supposed to include Jews, but also Gentiles, but also Christians. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:09.040 Remember, Paul's right at the beginning of this Christian movement. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:17.920 He's trying to help shape everything, and we've got people who have lived the Jewish faith, who have followed all that law, including the big law we just talked about. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.399 But then you've got other people who didn't have to go through that door to get in. 00:08:22.399 --> 00:08:28.160 And so there was bickering and dickering, I'm sure, about whether or not that was important. 00:08:28.160 --> 00:08:38.799 But the result was he's talking about everybody, those who are Jews, those who are not Jews. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:48.320 In other words, a message of inclusion, including everybody. 00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:52.559 This is from Paul 2,000 years ago. 00:08:52.559 --> 00:08:58.320 We still wrestle with inclusion, right? 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:10.720 It's still a challenge, especially for people of faith, because we feel like, well, all right, so there's a certain understanding of what the faith is, and I'm trying to do this, and if people aren't doing it, am I supposed to welcome in? 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.879 And other people saying, well, wait a minute, where are we making these rules? 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:22.480 Jesus himself said there are higher rules, love God, love neighbor, but we so we wrestle with that. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:32.720 Our denomination just recently, somewhat recently, wrestled with inclusion over the LGTBQ issue. 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:43.200 We had a conflict and it resulted in 25% of our churches and people left the United Methodist denomination. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.639 We're still wrestling with that. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:54.720 This particular congregation might be almost an exact model for what happened with the rest of the denomination. 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.799 25%, we lost some folks as well. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:16.480 You know, we still wrestle with inclusion, and I'm not even gonna enter into our wrestling with the immigration issues and the challenges around immigration and what we feel like we owe folks. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.279 But that's coming in August. 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:24.879 Social concerns is gonna be putting it in front of us, and we're gonna be learning a little bit about that. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:30.879 But this idea of inclusion is something that was important to Paul. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:38.399 He's trying to grow the church, and yet we still wrestle with it, all being all. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:51.120 Sometimes I think we struggle even with the simplest inclusions, just the idea of being willing to share our faith with somebody else. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:57.759 Anybody get a little bit nervous with that term evangelism? 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:04.799 Are all y'all comfortable talking about your faith with other people? 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:08.799 All right, I want some confidence out here and some honesty. 00:11:08.799 --> 00:11:15.200 If I told you to go be uh evangelical, would you let that roll off your back? 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.960 Raise your hands. 00:11:16.960 --> 00:11:18.559 Confession time. 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:23.600 Oh, okay, I got two honest people in the room. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:26.720 The rest of you oh, oh boy. 00:11:26.720 --> 00:11:41.919 It feels a little weird, potentially because of the way it's been done in our society, people being a little bit more oppressive and making it feel like it was some sort of imperative. 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:53.200 And yet, talking about our faith, were any of you oppressed by my movie review I started with? 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:59.519 Anybody feel uncomfortable or or put in a weird spot? 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:02.480 No, we're we're usually pretty comfortable with that. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:08.399 Isn't it weird that I can do a movie review and talk about how I really like this movie? 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:13.840 But if I talk about my faith, hmm, that's a little more weird. 00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:16.799 Cactus patch there, briar patch. 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:33.519 Why is it that we are more comfortable talking about things like that, and yet faith is something that uh something that enriches our lives, and yet we're hesitant to be comfortable sharing it. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:45.440 You know, it might be a pastor thing, but I believe that our vibrancy in our individual faith and our communal faith comes from sharing it. 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:50.159 I think that is a key part of living the life of faith. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.399 That's why the United Methodist Denomination added that last one little bit, right? 00:12:54.399 --> 00:13:07.600 Uh promised to support with my prayers, my presence, my gifts, my service, and all right, me and Nancy are the only Methodists in this room. 00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:14.080 Prayers, presence, gifts, service, witness, okay. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:15.279 Some of you are all right. 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.440 Witness that was added later. 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:18.799 What is it, 20 years ago? 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:22.559 Pastor Lanny, when they add that 20-ish, right? 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:29.919 That we said, you know what, it's important for us to share it too, to witness to our faith, right? 00:13:29.919 --> 00:13:42.559 Uh uh and I tell you what, I think vibrancy comes from that, not just because we're engaging with our faith and thinking about it, but it sharpens our understanding of our own faith. 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:56.320 When you have to craft why it is that you come here and put it into words that might make sense to somebody else, that's a real sharpening of your own faith. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:00.320 You might shape that conversation. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:05.120 It shouldn't be imperative, it shouldn't be judgmental. 00:14:05.120 --> 00:14:10.879 You wouldn't want to leave somebody thinking you were fearing for their soul. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:15.679 Not good evangelism, at least not Methodist evangelism. 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:19.919 We're not sharing that sort of understanding. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:25.919 We're sharing something that's uh a little more meaningful, at least in the way we understand it. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:34.960 What we're sharing is that we uh realize that we have found a way of living that enriches our life. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:53.840 We found a guideline for helping us make meaning in our life, not just through like loving relationships, but also an opportunity to be in service to other people, to be able to show God's love to other people. 00:14:53.840 --> 00:15:01.360 Not only that, but we also get a context for understanding the more difficult parts of living in this world. 00:15:01.360 --> 00:15:03.039 Right? 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:15.519 Our tough times, they become a little bit more manageable because we can more easily see the love that is all around us because we've practiced at it. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:25.279 We've trained ourselves through regular uh uh gatherings here where we look for that love and think about that love and understand how that love comes. 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:34.879 And having that understanding, having difficulties be more manageable, it's a little easier to work our way through it. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:42.000 That conversation about your faith doesn't have to be much more difficult than that. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:50.320 And isn't it awesome to think about the way faith and church might bless others? 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:53.919 To know what that might do in their life. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:05.600 And not only that, but isn't it kind of nice and cool to think about the way the church might be blessed by those people you invite? 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:08.639 What gifts are they bringing? 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:14.720 What has God put inside of them that's gonna add some fruit to our journey? 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:21.679 Yeah, that's my encouragement coming from Paul to go share that faith. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:26.879 You know, one more thing I'll say about sharing. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:34.399 I think sometimes our difficulties about being inclusive are not always about our intent. 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:41.759 There are times when we want to be inclusive, we just don't know how. 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:48.000 Have we done things and we put it together exactly the way it was done for us? 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:53.200 What brought us into the faith or made us feel like we were most comfortable? 00:16:53.200 --> 00:16:56.720 And others didn't seem to be into it? 00:16:56.720 --> 00:17:07.119 A couple of churches ago there was a uh a woman in the church, and I tell you what, she was a pillar for this church. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:17.759 And one of the things that she would do for all the special events was a pimento cheese sandwich. 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:24.400 Pimento cheese sandwiches. 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:31.279 Now, I know y'all don't like to raise your hands very much, but we'll see if this one you have the confidence. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:36.480 Tell me how many of y'all like a good pimento cheese sandwich? 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:38.400 Okay, okay. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:39.680 Whoa. 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:42.160 We only got Tom over here. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:48.640 The rest of you are like, oh, who pimento, oh Maria, pimento cheese sandwich. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.640 Nancy is what, right, right? 00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:54.720 All right, y'all with your hands up, you're not gonna like anything I'm gonna say now. 00:17:54.720 --> 00:18:05.920 Just letting you know early on, I think there was a time where pimento cheese sandwich was a new thing. 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:15.519 And it was like, oh my goodness, this is great and so flavorful and oh, and so easily cut into the triangles, right? 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:20.079 And they're out there at all the big events, and oh, it's so special. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:29.440 And so my friend would make these pimento cheese sandwiches, and they were known traditionally in this church as being the thing that came out at the special events. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:30.720 And you know what? 00:18:30.720 --> 00:18:39.599 If you were 40 and younger, you had no desire to eat a pimento cheese sandwich. 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:43.599 Squeeze cheese with something red in it. 00:18:43.599 --> 00:18:45.680 Is that the pimento? 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:49.759 That's all they would see, right? 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:53.359 And well, squeeze cheese, it's not the healthiest for you. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:54.079 I don't know. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:57.039 I don't want to step on any toes. 00:18:57.039 --> 00:19:04.720 Sorry, I told you you weren't gonna like me after I talk about a pimento cheese sandwich. 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:11.039 What I'm getting at is that there was this miss that was going on. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:19.440 There was this culture of church and this woman who's had her heart in exactly the right place making these pimento cheese sandwiches. 00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:26.960 And the people that she kind of wanted to reach the most were these young families to build up the church. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:33.200 Well, that pimento cheese sandwich didn't mean to them what it meant to her and to the rest of that church. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:38.640 Oh, that's uh kind of a processed thing that comes on the white bread. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:40.319 Do you know what they do with white bread? 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:43.599 Oh right? 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:46.720 You can you see the miss that was happening? 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.920 A room full of good intentions that just didn't happen. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:20:01.599 I think sometimes some of our sharing, our inclusiveness, gets stopped just because we don't a hundred percent know how to best share our faith. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:09.119 We haven't figured out how to put it together in a way that somebody else might go, ooh. 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:23.200 You know, I like to think that uh um our best step to show people uh the love of God is to figure out some sort of need that they have and to fill it. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:32.720 And to fill it without any requests back, just to fill it because you love them and you want them to know a greater way. 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:38.960 You want them to know that there's a God of love and it's coming through me, and I want to share it with you. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:48.880 And it takes sometimes us doing the work to figure out what that need is and then to fill it in the best way we can. 00:20:48.880 --> 00:20:55.039 I'm gonna round third here because we're getting close to the end. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:21:07.359 I want you to know I'll be the first to admit as we talk about inclusion and we talk about inviting people to our faith, our church is not for everyone. 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:16.319 We wouldn't want to set ourselves up in that way, that any invitation that doesn't come through means we have failed in some big way. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:37.200 No, we are a church here on the corner of Hampshire slash Agoura and Westlake Boulevard who has specific gifts from God that we can share with the world, but they're not all the gifts, and so we need to find the people who would identify with our particular journey. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:53.200 So we might not be for everybody, but you cannot convince me that there aren't people in this community who wouldn't be blessed by a journey with this community of people in this room. 00:21:53.200 --> 00:22:00.640 We found a directory from 1976 this week. 00:22:00.640 --> 00:22:04.319 1976. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:09.519 You may not know this, but the world was black and white in 76. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:14.640 We were just figuring out how to give color to it. 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.279 It's 1976. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:23.599 You would be shocked how many of those people are still here. 00:22:23.599 --> 00:22:29.680 Shall we do it? 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:33.200 We'll let you there are a lot in the prayer group, so I brought it to them. 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:38.160 Go ahead, raise your hands if you were here in 1976. 00:22:38.160 --> 00:22:40.079 There we go. 00:22:40.079 --> 00:22:49.039 All right, this is officially the 1976 section on Polly. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:50.799 You're gonna have to move next week. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:51.599 All right. 00:22:51.599 --> 00:23:01.359 Hey, if we're talking about has this church blessed anybody, talk to the people who have been here for 50 years because they've been blessed. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:03.920 They wouldn't have stayed that long otherwise. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:08.640 They've been blessed, and there are others who would be blessed. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:17.359 So let's not be afraid to ask the question: who is missing from our table here? 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:22.000 Who is it that needs what we have to offer? 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:31.759 Our special form and shape of the love of God that is ready to touch their hearts and enhance their lives. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:34.960 And let's make sure to invite them. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:36.720 Amen.