Jesus Sentenced to Death

In the lead up to Easter, Rev Richard Harris chat with Pastor Gray Knight about this weeks reading John 19:1-16a, where Jesus is sentenced to death.

#terrigal #church #john #reading 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

G'day everyone, this is another attempt at TUC Talks. I'm warming to the name, but I don't know, we could get something that has less internal TUC. You know, not even everyone in the church knows what that means. But anyway, this is TUC Talks. The name that I'm warming to. And today we have Pastor Grey Knight from Gosford Congregation. G'day, Gray. Hey Richard, how are you? Going well, thank you. Very good. Um, so this week we're looking at the reading from Sunday, which is John 19, 1 to 16A. I love it when they break up Bible verses into A and B. But this one is quite obvious why, because the A part is in one um is in one paragraph and the B part's in a completely different paragraph. Um, I think when they wrote, I think when they did the numbers, someone told me that it was actually a priest winding around in a donkey, sort of, you know, well, I'll put it there.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Quite possibly. Yeah, possibly. Anyway. Certainly the numbers aren't the inspired bit, are they? No, no, they're not.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

They're not. So we're looking at John 19 1 to 16A, and it is the second half of the trial before Pilate. And it's the the title in the passage is Jesus Sentenced to Death. Um, so great, you've had a look at this one as well. We're heading towards Easter. Um, what kind of tell me a little bit about what you've looked at in this passage, what you what you find interesting in it.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

I think the thing with this passage is it's what we're all reading at this point, coming into Easter anyway. And there's lots of thoughts floating around. And lots of thoughts for me floating around about politics, because although I'm interested in politics, not necessarily politicians. Yeah, the politics, and and politics loosely, very, very loosely defined, is the way we do things. Yeah. Um, so I'm interested in the way countries do things, the way people do things. And I read this passage uh that you gave me, and I thought, yeah, okay, this is uh a religious moment, it's it's a spiritual moment, but it's also a deeply political moment as I read through that, and um was absolutely fascinated by uh the parallels that came out from that to what's going on, not necessarily everywhere in the world today, but certainly in some of the western um areas of the world today, politically, um, as Jesus stands before Pilate and doesn't say anything.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

For me, this passage, one of the things I was saying to my congregation at the start of the sermon and at the end, I really like when there is a word of hope in the passage of scripture so that we can do the sermon and explore the passage of scripture and then hear is the word of hope. And I know this we're only a week or two out from Easter, but it's a dark passage. Like, and you're right, it's a very political passage. Like, I find fascinating that Pilate, who is the one that holds all the cards, actually is the one that is trying to get Jesus released, and he literally can't because the politics around him is actually forcing him into a situation where he wants to release Jesus and they go, No, crucify him. It's yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

I think there we've got the the two men standing there. Uh, you've got Pilate, as you correctly say, holding all the power. Um, and I think the passage started with Pilate trying to release him. He's trying to again and again he tries to release him, he wants to release him, blah, blah, blah. Keeps going on about that. Um, and there's Jesus standing him, standing there in silence. But I when I read that, I see that as a different kind of authority. There's the authority that actually I don't have to speak because I'm representing this is Jesus, I'm representing truth, I'm representing vulnerability, I'm representing non-violence, and that's where the authority is, not your imperial power.

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Isn't it interesting that, like Pilate in the conversation, he says, Look, don't you realize that I have the power to keep you alive or put you to death? But the passage constantly is saying, and Pilate was trying to work out a way to release him, and he couldn't. Like, you know, Pilate is declaring how powerful he is, but he is absolutely bound to this course because to hold power, he has to do what the people tell him to.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Absolutely, absolutely, and particularly where you've got this particular group of people, this particular cohort of people that are being wound up by religious leaders. Um, and I'm not making any parallels here at all, but in the context of uh Jesus is standing there, it's the religious leaders that want to get rid of one of their own, in a sense. Yes, and the occupying force that doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Yeah, yeah. And the crowd, one of the things that I was saying to my congregation today this week was really, in some ways, we're the crowd, you know, and we're and that's one of the challenges for us as Christians is to not get swept away by the crowd because this crowd, you know, they they are calling for him to be crucified, and they're calling out, you know, no, we have no other um king but Caesar. They're saying all these things, but do they actually believe it? Like one of the things I don't know if you realize this, I heard, I hope it's true. Um I heard that as a part of the liturgy, or you know, there was come the call and response for the Hebrew people in the Passover. One of the lines that is there is that we have no other king but God. And so I I do wonder if John is playing on the line from the Passover conversation of Hebrew people, and in a sense, they have thrown away the very essence of who they are in saying these things. Because in saying we have no other king but Caesar, they are ignoring their faith.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

And I think it's more than ignoring their faith. I think it's turning a back on their faith at that point. Yeah. Because I know I think you're right, that that that is this John plays with words beautifully throughout his gospel, and particularly in this area. Um, and so this whole thing about um we have no king but Caesar, it's why are you saying that? You've spent you've spent the whole of Jesus, the last three years, uh, not saying that, uh, but now you're saying it is because you want to get rid of him. And the whole thing, you know, I remember thinking when I was reading this, you know, why on earth is Jesus it's easy for us because we know the end of the story. Yes. So we're reading this and we're going, yeah, okay, yeah, he's gonna get crucified. But if you don't know the end of the story, if you know about crucifixion, why on earth would a group of people want somebody so brutally and publicly humiliated and killed? Why on earth would you want that when you know that they've been preaching against that, against that violence?

SPEAKER_02 7:47

There's there's actually a really interesting thing here because when they say we cannot put someone to death, the evidence through the rest of that script, through the rest of the Gospel of John is actually no, they can. Because there's a couple of spots where they are where they want to stone Jesus or they try and stone Jesus. There's another case where a woman's caught in adultery and they are prepared to stone her to death. They have the capacity to kill someone, they just don't have the capacity to put someone on a political trial and to kill them as a political leader. And so it's like the Pharisees and Sadducees here. They want to remove Jesus as a political action, not as not as uh just get rid of him. Yeah, they want it to be clear and and brutal. Yeah, so there's a I find that really interesting that there's an intentionality about the cross.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And I think it's it's to do with the fact that Jesus wasn't crucified because he was a nice guy. He wasn't crucified because of the good that he did. Well, he was crucified, and I think this is possibly why they're twisting this to make it political, is because he was upsetting the religious leaders, not necessarily we we think of religious leaders as Pharisees. I'm talking more in terms of uh the religious ruling class, the Sadducees. But they were the people who who were most threatened and offended by Christ. And so they're the people that are going, actually, we've got to make this political, right? He's he's upsetting us, he's he's turning what we're teaching, he's turning us, he's making us look like the bad guys. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

And they you're right, it there's sort of the ruling elite here always want to protect themselves. And is that there is there any change in history really? You know, the ruling elite here, they want to get rid of him because he's he's opening up the kingdom of God to all people, and that's the stuff that we as Christians hold to, that Jesus is opening the kingdom of God to us. We can actually meet with Christ, we can meet with God through Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

And I think that's what we call the politics of fear, isn't it? Not meeting Christ, uh God through Christ, but the whole essence of uh no, we don't want that to happen. It's the politics of fear that in even now what we're seeing from governments is the politics of fear. If we do this, what's gonna happen to us?

SPEAKER_02 10:19

And it's yeah, it does seem to be rising around the world that politics of fear, and and one of the things that I said, I think it was last week in the sermon, that everyone wants to pin something on one person here. Like so, so see, Caiaphas, about four or five chapters before this, Caiaphas the high priest, he's actually said when when um when Lazarus is raised from the tomb, the dialogue in the high court of the Hebrew people, the Jewish people, is um Caiaphas actually says at that point in time, it would be better for one man to die than for us to all suffer. And so Caiaphas is basically thinking, if we can pin the blame of everything on Jesus and then get rid of him, that might keep Rome side, right Rome on side. And and do we do the same? Do we actually pin everything on one person or a group? And I was in the sermon I was last week, I was saying, you know, baby boomers, they are the problem of society because they hold all the wealth and power, or is it young people because they're riding around on these e-bikes and annoying everyone? Or is it immigrants, or is it, you know, who who is it? Refugees, do we blame them because they're trying to escape oppression somewhere else and come into our nation?

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Uh absolutely, and I think that's uh an ongoing underlying, well it's not so much underlying now, it's more overt, isn't it, in politics that um that's now coming out uh more and more. Who who do we blame? Yeah, who do we pin this on?

SPEAKER_02 12:01

And so in this, everyone is trying to pin everything on Jesus and almost as if the crucifixion will get rid of all of our problems. Like little did they know that the crucifixion gets rid of an awful lot of our problems today because it Christ dies for our sin. But for them it was about removing someone.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

It raises a good question, though, doesn't it? That who is informing public opinion?

SPEAKER_02 12:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

Is it is it politicians, is it media, is it the churches? Is it's not the churches probably, but is it is it I would say probably there's some parallels here between social media. Um this wasn't a this wasn't a a private trial, this was a very public event. And so people are being informed by uh what other people they're they're they're listening to Pilate, they're looking at Jesus, but there's also these voices amongst them telling them what they think is going on, yeah, potentially.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Yes, and so in this passage one of the things that I was playing with on Sunday was that we want to look at this and go, well, whose whose fault is this? Who whose fault is Jesus' crucifixion? Or we want to say, Oh, how terrible of the crowd to to say that, you know, crucify him, or we have no king but Caesar. How terrible of Pilate to be manipulated by everyone and to have hand Jesus over to be crucified, or or how terrible of Caiaphas to think if I get rid of one person, all of my problems will be gone and I'm happy to get to kill an innocent man. Or Annas, Caiaphas' father-in-law, who was the previous high priest, who is quite happy to try and find a way to get rid of Jesus, but then even if we go back a couple of chapters before that, Peter he denies that he even knows Jesus, you know, and so everyone abandons Jesus to crucifixion, everyone, even his close friends in Peter and the and the crowd who have followed him, and the politicians, everyone's abandoned Jesus. And my one of the things that I think is that we need to remember would we have been any better? Would we have abandoned Jesus? And and the scriptures use the term all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We would have been in the list.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

100%, 100%. One of one of the it's interesting you say that, and uh you mentioned something earlier about um where do we see ourselves in the story? And I've been encouraging, not necessarily with this, but in a lot of um narratives, a lot of sermons, been encouraging my congregation to look at where we are in a particular story, a biblical story. Yes. And in this context, and this story, I'm looking at this myself and and going, so who am where do I feel? Am I part of the crowd? Am I pilot? Am I somebody who would like to just stand back and say, no, not stand back and say nothing, but say nothing and use the authority uh of silence or the authority of Christ in that the non-violent approach? That's probably where I'd like to be. Am I there though? You know, and that's the message to me.

SPEAKER_02 15:24

And you know, we often will put ourselves in the crowd because they're the common people. But it really would be interesting to ask ourselves: are we like Pilate wanting to release Jesus but being manipulated by the world around us? Like, are we wanting to hold to Jesus as a Christian and be strong and confident, but the world around us deflates or depletes our faith, and we end up being like Pilate wanting to be strong, but failing to be.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

And I think that's the next question, isn't it? It's not it's it's where are you now? Okay, where do you want to be? So if I'm in the crowd, for example, I want to be like Jesus, I want to do what he did, or I want to be like Pilate, or perhaps I feel like I'm Pilate and I want to be like Jesus. So the next question from that is well, what do I need to do to get there?

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Yeah, how do I take that next step of faith? And and and that's really important because we could just look at this passage and see it as a dark, dark passage, because it is. Absolutely, but we could then ask ourselves the question: how do we take the next step to be more Christ-like?

SPEAKER_00 16:37

And what does that involve?

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Yeah, what does it involve for me to actually reflect Jesus in and particularly in the narrative of the world around us?

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, which is so contrary to the cr the biblical teaching.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah, because one of the things I think we do need to remember is that there are going to be voices in the crowd that we could easily get swept up into that are opposed to Jesus Christ, like that are opposed to what Jesus wants us to say and do and be. And it's so easy for us to sort of to demonize someone, to get angry about something, to blame others, and to not do the actions of Christ within ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

And I keep coming back in my thoughts to the the non-violent approach of Jesus. Jesus is here, even with Pilate, surrounded with violence. Yes. And even though Pilate's trying to release him, he still says, I've got the power to crucify you, mate. Yeah. Um, but Jesus maintains the non-violent approach, and I think that that's a huge, huge, huge, huge challenge because I don't I'm not talking about necessarily overt physical violence, um, but just a violent, a violent mentality or a violent approach. It's it's quite a normal thing for us because I think that's what we're being fed a lot of. Well, no, I don't think we are, we're being fed a lot of this in in media um about the violence that's inherent in the system.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Yeah. And to actually then stand firm. Like because Jesus, Jesus last week in the first half of the tr Pilate's trial, he actually Pilate asks him about truth and and Jesus Jesus says that he is the truth. And then Pilate goes, Well, you know, what is truth? Pilate almost is prepared to abandon truth, but Jesus will silently or quietly hold to truth. And even if that means that he'll follow the pathway of death, you know, he will not he will not let go of his values even though the world around him is going to pot. And, you know, calling for his death, he will hold to his values. And and if the crowd had done that, it would have been very different, wouldn't it?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Absolutely. Absolutely. Interesting. To me, that that Pilate statement there on it was in the passage this week, but um, this is you know, what is truth? To me, that represents the start of a crisis of truth. Um, because Jesus then um there's now competing truths. Yes. There's Pilate's truth and there's Jesus' truth. Yeah, and then and there's uh, you know, what does it mean to stand for truth? How do we do that? What is that? Um, and um what are the competing truths anyway? Which one am I going to come down on here?

SPEAKER_02 19:38

You know, it's a because because Pilate's statement of what is truth, some scholars would say, is he just being all philosophical and oh let's explore what truth is. But others, and probably um you you'll probably get that I'm on this side, others would say he basically is saying, I don't care what truth is.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

I've got a problem, I've got a crowd out there that's angry, and I've got they want you dead. So that's what that's the reality that I'm playing with. I I don't care about truth.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Yeah, and the other thing is, of course, to keep in to keep in context, biblical context, um, is there's a very good case that says that Pilot had all was in that position simply because he'd stuffed up so many other things. He was thrown at that one because this was the least important in the Roman Empire. Get out to that backwater, mate, and stay there. So he doesn't want a big he doesn't want a big confrontation.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Apparently, um Dennis Towner last week was talking about it, and Dennis was saying that Pilate Pilate was an incredibly corrupt character in history, apparently. And so you're right, he he was he was given a backwater to lead um and and in that backwater, yes, he's trying his best to hold the little power he has.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yeah, yeah. The other thing that that speaks to me about is that facts are often secondary uh to narrative or loyalty. Yes. So people are uh where is Pilate's loyalty? It's got it's ultimately to Rome, not Christ, and not to the people.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

Um the truth is very different, truths often come secondary to where our loyalties lie.

SPEAKER_02 21:18

Yeah. In the long run, one of the things that I'm really looking forward to for a couple of weeks' time is to get away from this darkness to get back to the joy of Christ's resurrection and the hope that comes there. But we've got to live in this darkness for a little bit to prepare ourselves. I think some of the takeaways for me in faith is that centeredness of Jesus that while the world is in absolute chaos around him, he he can hold on to his he can hold on. On to God, and He is like He is God, He is He is God's Son incarnate, but He has this centeredness of in the midst of chaos around him, he can just hold to the path that he knows he has to live. And I actually think that is a really important call for us. Like when we've got this fuel crisis, and which it's actually becoming a bit panicky out there. Absolutely, it is. How do we hold to and live by Jesus Christ? So, in a sense, hold that bubble of this is my faith and I walk this path rather than the panic of the world around us.

SPEAKER_00 22:56

Yeah. And I think that's absolutely right. Humanly, we do. Yeah, yeah. There's nothing wrong with being concerned. It it's worrying if you run out of petrol and there's none around. Um But you know, one of the things I keep coming back to in this passage is that Jesus took the non-violent approach, and even afterwards, he didn't go, you know, he gave Peter, Peter denied him three times, and after after Jesus' resurrection, when he appeared to Peter, he gave him three opportunities and three, not even opportunities, three times he confessed him, yeah, and and confessed his love for him. And all the way through this, he keeps coming back to the non-violent, don't blame anyone. That's not the way forward. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

And for us in this crisis that is around us, it will affect us. There's no there's no polishing that, it will affect us. But our faith, we we still need to be held grounded to the reality of what Christ would want us to do. Not rush around and blame everyone else, but hold to the reality of Christ and and show the compassion that we need to show to each other in the midst of this.

SPEAKER_00 24:17

And I think that is hitting the nail on the head totally because it's not just about making ourselves feel better, it's about showing Christ's compassion, Christ's way of dealing with it to the world.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

That it's it's a you know, we're not gonna go and preach on a street corner. But it's gonna be about showing Christ rather than talking about a lot about him.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Yeah. That this is And the conversation is also okay, but yeah, we live this thing out, you know, and and with the crisis around us, let's hope it doesn't go to the toilet paper crisis of COVID, you know. But the with the crisis around us, we still hold to Jesus Christ on that pathway.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

Yeah. Are there any other things that you found interesting in this passage?

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Um, I find it all interesting. One of the uh the whole trial thing, because it's a political uh event as well, um, and I'm interested in that. One of the things, uh, you know, I'm speaking in another context next, I think it's might even be this week, I can't remember, on uh Barabbas. Yeah. Which I know it's not this passage, but it's the one before. Yeah, it's a part of the same conversation. And I can't help thinking that I know you and I spoke briefly about it the other day, but it was about this whole thing with Barabbas. Everything in the Bible is there for a reason. And Barabbas gets like one line or two lines or something. We know nothing about him apart from the fact that he was a zealot, quite probably one of the dagger people. He's killed people. I think John describes him as a robber, which is really gentle. It wasn't just a tea leaf.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Revolutionary. Actually, Dennis Dennis Dennis Towner would call him a revolutionary.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yeah, absolutely. And his his whole life was about um getting rid of, in every sense of the word, the Roman occupiers. Yeah. Um and collaborators. Yep. So and here he is in prison. I think he is uh actually a really significant person in this. Um excuse me, because he's um he's the one who Jesus is put on a cross, and that cross was originally meant for Barabbas. And you can probably see from a Christian context where this goes, uh, that actually that's the cross meant for us. Uh, that the crucifixion was meant for Barabbas because he was such a nasty piece of work.

SPEAKER_02 26:33

Yes, so in a sense, Christ takes takes on Barabbas' sin on himself.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

And I've got this picture in my mind, and this one I'm going to speak on uh that when uh you know Barabbas wasn't there for the whole time, he would have been in a cell somewhere, so he would have heard the chance, he would have heard give us Barabbas, he would have heard crucify him, he knows he's gonna be crucified, so he now thinks the crowds are against him as well. Yeah, and he's dragged up, and I've just got this picture in my mind of when he's dragged up from a dark cell into the light of the trial, if you want to call it a trial, and he sees Pilate and Jesus standing together, and now there's three people there Pilate, Jesus, and Barabbas. And Pilate says, You're free to go. Yeah, like yes. And what then goes through Barabbas' mind? And we don't know anything about him after that, and I really wish I did.

SPEAKER_02 27:30

That's a really interesting point, because he is released for he is released from all of the charges pretty much that Jesus is going to death about. Yeah, absolutely. And Jesus has not actually although Jesus has I don't think he's got a great love for Rome, like that you know, that coin conversation of one time, give to give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God. I don't think Jesus is rushing around supporting Rome, but Barabbas has he's been a revolutionary, he's gone out against Rome.

SPEAKER_00 28:05

Yeah. For most of his life, probably most of his certainly adult life, and the extreme end of that.

SPEAKER_02 28:12

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:14

And you're right, yeah, Christ takes on Barabbas' crimes and the punishment of them.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

One of the things that I find I found interesting I was talking about on Sunday was that um the crowd are calling for you know that that Caesar is their king, uh and the soldiers are mocking Jesus for being a king. You know, so they're putting a crown of thorns on his head, they're putting a purple robe on him. The fascinating thing for me is that the thing that they are mocking Jesus about is actually what we would say is true. You know, we we uh we follow Jesus Christ as our king, you know, so Christ is our king and we back him as our king, and what these Roman soldiers are doing is they are trying to mock him for something which we would see as a truth. Yeah. Um, and I again I think that's John's clever layering of what's happening here. He's actually pointing out the irony of what the soldiers are doing.

SPEAKER_00 29:27

It's quite brilliant writing, it's without a doubt. It's incredibly brilliant.

SPEAKER_02 29:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:31

Um, and it's you know, this fascinating thing that all that takes place where the soldiers are not only mocking him, but I think it says they're beating him and they're spitting on him and they're doing all that. After Pilot says, I think he's innocent.

SPEAKER_02 29:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

He's innocent, but do what you want.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

Yeah, yeah. That Pilot Pilate declares him innocent and then hands him over.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Which is like that doesn't work, does it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Interestingly, we won't we're not here yet, and we won't see this until Friday or Sun, you know, good Friday, probably. But or we might see it in next week's reading, I've got to look at it. Um when Jesus is nailed to the cross, Pilate will put over his head the king of the Jews, and the Pharisees and Sadducees will go, No, no, no, change that, you know. Say this man He said he was said he was the King of the Jews, and Pilate said, No, it is what it is. Yeah, that leave that there. Like so, yeah. In a sense, the one person that is prepared to call Jesus a king is Pilate. You know, yeah, yeah. Any other bits or pieces?

SPEAKER_00 30:42

Oh, we could how how long have you got Richard? We could spend a long time with this, but uh I think uh that's been a really great discussion.

SPEAKER_02 30:49

It's a fascinating passage.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 30:51

For me, yeah, it is the last thing that I would say is that I mentioned it on Sunday, but I am amazed that these Hebrew people that that you know the people that have come to Jerusalem for Passover, they when they call out that Jesus that that we have no king but Caesar, they are throwing away everything that they believe. Like they're they're they're diminishing their faith in God, they're diminishing themselves as people that don't have other kings, like they're letting go of who they are.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

And they're in Jerusalem specifically to remember the life that God brings and the freedom that God brings.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

That's right. And is that the case? Is that something that is a massive warning for us in the midst of the crisis like happening around us now? That we don't throw out our faith in some kind of frenzy of rage or panic. That we hold to who Jesus is for us. Yeah. And and in a sense, in that holding, we can look towards the hope of a few weeks' time.

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Yeah, yeah. Don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow's got enough problems of its own, I think. I think there's somebody's somebody famous said that last time they're, yeah, yeah. I think he was talking about lilies of the field, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

Yeah, yeah. Um, so Grey, I'll let you know of a couple of things that's happening in the life of our church. Sure, do that. Um so one, this weekend we have the repair cafe if anyone's interested. So that's on Saturday. There's the repair cafe. Come along just for a coffee or a pizza if you want to, but if you've got something to be fixed, bring it along. Um, it's a great connection with the community. Sunday, we have three baptisms in our service. And so we're gonna have, well, actually, not in the service, we're gonna be doing the all the words to the baptism in the service, and then we're heading down to the haven after the 10 o'clock service. So for those that are eight o'clockers, just head down to the haven and find a park for about 11:30 quarter to 12, and you'll see people stagger down there, and you'll probably see me walking into the water with someone. Um, so we've got this is baptism.

SPEAKER_00 33:10

This is emotion, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:12

So we've got um we've actually got two adults that haven't been baptized before that are going to be baptized, and one person who is going to have a reaffirmation of their baptism because it's been quite some time that they've been away from God and want to actually reaffirm that. So we're doing those, and um then we've still got the church camp coming. Um, you know, Carissa Souli, the president, El Presidante, the president of the assembly is coming. So yeah, we're that's gonna be on as well. Um I think that's everything that's happened in the life of our church.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Excellent, good stuff going on.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Yeah, great. Thank you so much for joining us for TUC Talks.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

My pleasure. Thank you very much for your hospitality.

SPEAKER_02 33:53

Okay, everyone, I'll see you all at church on Sunday, hopefully, or I'll talk to you next week. God bless.