WEBVTT 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:06.000 These words always seem so easy when we're reading it. 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:08.080 Let love be genuine. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:15.519 Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good, love one another with mutual affection, outdo one another in showing honor. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:24.160 These instructions that Paul gives us to live as followers of Jesus, not just individually, but as a church community, the living body of Christ. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:26.719 Bless those who persecute you, it says. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.640 Bless and do not curse them. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:32.719 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:34.960 Live in harmony with one another. 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:39.439 Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:42.159 Do not claim to be wiser than you are. 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:49.280 These instructions seem so simple, even basic. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:54.560 In some ways, it all sounds like common sense. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:03.359 In fact, they seem so common and basic that sometimes we skip over them as if we already know it all. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:07.200 Or we've oversimplified them and say, yeah, yeah, I get it. 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:10.480 Just be a good human, treat others the way you want to be treated. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:24.640 But I submit to you today, dear friends, that these instructions are actually not basic, not simple, and definitely not common. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:34.480 In fact, I want to make the argument that these may be some of the most complex and enlightened thoughts and behaviors of all humanity. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:38.480 Think about it this way. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:44.719 The simplest, most basic thoughts are our fight, flight, or freeze responses. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.680 Our primitive survival instincts. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:59.760 When we feel a threat or fear, whether it's an actual physical threat or uncomfortable emotions, the most primitive part of our brain tells our body to respond in one of these three ways. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:02.000 You all know these survival responses. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:03.840 I don't have to explain them to you. 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:10.719 But these responses show up in more ways than with physical threats, like facing down big scary animals. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:16.159 That fight response shows up when someone criticizes or insults you. 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:18.960 And your instinct is to insult them back. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:25.280 Something challenges your dominance, so you respond with more aggression. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.879 It's not just our personal safety that's challenged. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:31.360 Maybe it's our perspective or our understanding. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:37.120 When others try to destroy what we hold sacred, our instinct is to do the same to them. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:46.080 We see this in how animals respond to threats by making themselves look physically bigger than the threat. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:53.599 A bear stands up on its hind legs, a cat arches its back, the hair on a dog's back ridges up. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:55.039 We do the same. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:58.000 We want to look superior to the threat. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:12.080 But instead of making ourselves look bigger physically, sometimes we try to make them seem smaller with insults, criticizing, and dehumanizing them. 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:16.639 Paul calls this repaying evil for evil. 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:22.319 Or maybe we respond with flight. 00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:24.960 We run away from the danger or discomfort. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:26.400 Again, not always physically. 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:34.960 Sometimes something makes us feel uncomfortable, even emotionally uncomfortable, and our instinct is to make it go away as quickly as possible. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:41.120 We see this in times that it's hard to sit with someone in their grief. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:46.159 We search for something to say or do to make them feel better. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:50.080 And we want to get distance from the discomfort. 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:54.879 Or we can't handle it, so we just don't show up for them at all. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:02.879 The freeze response shows up differently than the proverbial deer in the headlights instinct. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:06.719 Maybe we get so overwhelmed and so overstimulated, we just give up. 00:04:06.879 --> 00:04:07.919 We do nothing. 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.240 And we fall into despair. 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:19.360 These instinctual primitive responses are what is most basic, simple, and common. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:28.000 So much so that Paul's instructions require a more complex, enlightened approach. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:40.720 Instead of our fight instinct to respond to threats with more aggression, Paul parrots Jesus' instructions to bless those who persecute you. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:44.480 Bless and do not curse them, he says. 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:52.800 Instead of trying to make yourself seem bigger or better than something, he says to outdo one another in showing honor. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.519 And do not be haughty, claim to be wiser than you are. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:07.680 Instead of our flight response to get away from threats and discomfort, Paul says to extend hospitality to strangers. 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:10.560 In other words, make space for them. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:22.079 And even if it triggers an uncomfortable emotion in you, he says, to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:31.759 Show up and be present for others, even if it sparks grief and sadness and discomfort for you. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:39.920 And when we freeze and give up, he says not to lag in zeal. 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:48.000 Be ardent in spirit, rejoice in hope, and be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 00:05:50.959 --> 00:06:06.399 All of Paul's instructions of how to live this way of Jesus boil down to things like showing empathy, having compassion, creating spiritual connection with one another. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:09.839 It's living with a sense of hope, not fear. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.319 It's seeking a way of love. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:28.160 Again, when we think of these things as basic or not hard or maybe not even serious, but these are actually the most complex and enlightened thought patterns we have. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:34.160 They require more cognitive thought and emotional intelligence. 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:40.000 They require us to use all the parts of our brains, not just the primitive parts. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:49.439 And so when we discount Paul's instruction as basic common sense, it's anything but it's really enlightened thought. 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:54.480 It's on par with the most complex mathematical and scientific thinking there is. 00:07:20.639 --> 00:07:34.720 Moving beyond our fear-based instincts and practicing these things like empathy and compassion and hospitality and forgiveness, and most of all grace. 00:07:37.680 --> 00:07:56.639 In fact, in a world where primitive responses like fear and insults and isolation and dehumanization and competition and greed are so prevalent, empathy and compassion and connection and love, those are superpowers. 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:03.680 They give us the ability to know and understand the world differently than most. 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:08.879 They tap into abilities that many don't have the capacity for. 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:12.000 And collectively we often reject. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:20.800 I'm not saying they make us superhuman, but they are definitely superpowers. 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:27.120 You all have heard me say it many times. 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:31.439 This is why we exist as a church. 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:38.240 To support one another through life, to ease one another's burdens. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:41.519 To share life together. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:46.960 Because life can be difficult for everyone. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:55.600 We all experience pain and loss and disappointment and failure and suffering and even death. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:00.879 And the only thing we really have in life are relationships. 00:09:01.039 --> 00:09:02.879 Everything else is an illusion. 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:14.720 And so when the only thing we offer one another are those basic fight, flight or freeze instincts, it makes life harder and more lonely. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:19.200 And it's what's sucking the life out of our world. 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:30.159 Yet the church exists to use these superpowers of love and empathy and compassion and connection. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:48.399 To let us know that we are not alone, that we are loved, that we belong, that life is beautiful, and that we are held by something that is superhuman. 00:09:51.200 --> 00:09:54.799 That's what we've come to celebrate today. 00:09:55.120 --> 00:09:59.759 Why we've come together in one united worship service and to have our block party. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:02.879 It's more than just a fun way to have lunch together. 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:20.000 It's to gather as one, as the body of Christ, and to stand in our mission field of downtown Little Rock that we have served for 195 years, and to proclaim the superpower of God's love. 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:35.279 To remind each other, and to remind the world that we are still committed to living in genuine and mutual love and holding fast to what is good. 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.759 That we are committed to honoring one another. 00:10:41.039 --> 00:10:51.039 And that when even life gets difficult, we will rejoice in hope and we will persevere through any suffering with patience and prayer. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:10:55.840 And that we will welcome and make space for the strangers. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:10:59.279 And that no one is alone. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:05.279 Because we rejoice with those who rejoice and we weep with those who weep. 00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:14.000 And as fractured and lonely as this world often feels, we will live in harmony with one another. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:20.320 I know it seems simple and common. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:29.360 But I promise you to the world out there, it's our superpower. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:31.600 Amen.