WEBVTT 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:54.480 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.079 Blessed be God's kin now and forever. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:05:59.040 Amen. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:00.560 Let's pray together. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:08.959 Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:21.519 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:22.480 Amen. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:24.399 The Lord be with you. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:26.879 Let us pray. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:33.600 O God, who wonderfully created and yet more wonderfully restored the dignity of human nature. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:46.000 Grant that we may share the divine life of Him who humbled Himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:47.040 Amen. 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:48.560 Feel free to be seated. 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:08.000 A reading from Isaiah. 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:14.800 God's near and wants to be found. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.040 Pray to God, who is closer than your jugular? 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:23.519 Let the wicked abandon their way of life and the evil, their way of thinking. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:27.439 Let them come back to God, who is compassionate. 00:07:27.680 --> 00:07:32.000 Come back to our God who is lavish with forgiveness. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:35.920 I don't think the way y'all think. 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:38.639 The way y'all work isn't the way I work. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:46.639 God's decree, for as the sky soars high above earth, so the way I work surpasses the way y'all work. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:50.079 And the way I think is beyond the way y'all think. 00:07:50.639 --> 00:08:11.040 Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don't go back until they've watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:17.360 They'll do the work I sent them to do, they'll complete the assignment I gave them. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:22.639 So you'll go out in joy, you'll be led into the whole and complete life. 00:08:22.800 --> 00:08:27.600 The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:32.960 All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:36.559 No more thistles, but giant sequoias. 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:40.080 No more thornbushes, but stately pines. 00:08:40.639 --> 00:08:48.399 Monuments to me, to God, living and lasting, evidence of God, the word of the Lord. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:53.759 Please join me in reading the Psalm antimately. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:09:03.840 To you, O Lord, I thought south, my heart, my mind, my strength, my soul. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:06.480 O my God, in you I trust. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:08.639 Deliver me from shame. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.679 Do not let my enemies get the best of me. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.120 Do not embarrass those of us who wait for you. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:20.879 Show me how you work, O Lord. 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:28.080 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.519 Be mindful of your compassion, O Lord, and of your steadfast love. 00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:42.240 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions. 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:50.879 God, you are fair and just. 00:09:56.399 --> 00:09:58.879 You lead the humble in what is right. 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:07.360 From now on, every road we travel will take us to God's steadfast love and faithfulness. 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:39.840 Reading from Philippians. 00:10:40.720 --> 00:10:44.720 Celebrate God all day, every day. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:47.120 I mean, revel in God. 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:56.399 Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:01.360 Help them see that the master is about to arrive. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:04.399 God should show up any minute. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:07.200 Don't fret or worry. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:10.399 Instead of worrying, pray. 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:18.480 Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:28.080 Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:35.200 It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:12:02.000 Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious, the best, not the worst, the beautiful, not the ugly, things to praise, not things to curse. 00:12:02.320 --> 00:12:09.600 Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. 00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:18.720 Do that, and God who makes everything work together will work you into his most excellent harmonies. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:13:12.559 The word of the Lord, it's a little bit more. 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:44.160 You are already pruned back by the message I've spoken, so live in me. 00:17:44.400 --> 00:17:46.880 Make your home in me just as I do in you. 00:17:47.039 --> 00:17:55.359 In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself, but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you're joined with me. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.519 I'm the vine, you are the branches. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:03.920 When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:06.640 Separated, you can't produce a thing. 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:11.440 Anyone who separates from me is dead wood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:19.599 But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:23.839 This is how my father shows exactly who God is. 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:31.839 When you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples, I've loved you the way my fathers loved me, so make yourselves at home in my love. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:35.920 If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. 00:18:36.160 --> 00:18:37.200 That's what I've done. 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:40.880 Kept my father's commands and made myself at home in his love. 00:18:41.039 --> 00:18:47.920 I've told you these things for a purpose, that my joy may be your joy, and that your joy may wholly mature. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:49.359 This is my command. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:51.839 Love one another the way I loved you. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:53.920 This is the very best way to love. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:56.160 Put your life on the line for your friends. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:59.200 You are my friends when you do the things I command you. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:04.640 I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:05.200 No. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:10.559 I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:12.880 The gospel of the Lord. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:22.559 Be seated as you're comfortable. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.079 But if the ghost is in you, you go ahead and stand up. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.640 Hey, so welcome to Fat Tuesday, right? 00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.079 And uh I'm not from New Orleans, right? 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:39.359 But you know, in New Orleans, my understanding is this is a day where you just gotta get it all out, right? 00:19:39.680 --> 00:19:43.519 Because tomorrow, tomorrow is when you're gonna be giving it up. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:45.839 So today you just gotta get it out. 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:55.759 And a lot of us think about this like, hey, it's fat today, because tomorrow is gonna be thin, so we're gonna binge before we purge. 00:19:56.640 --> 00:20:03.519 That's what you do in New Orleans, but that's not what we're doing here, because what we're here to do is bury the skinny God tonight. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:06.799 Yeah, that sounds rough, right? 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:09.599 Because we like to fat shame people in the United States. 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:13.440 I'm talking about burying the skinny God. 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:17.440 What's the skinny God like? 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:21.200 The skinny God's got really thin margins. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:26.400 And if you don't get it right, the skinny God's gonna be real mad at you. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.720 The fat God's not like that. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.400 That's awful, isn't it? 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:35.519 God is fat. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.440 No, no, we're afraid of being fat. 00:20:37.680 --> 00:20:40.880 God is so fat, the universe fits in the palm. 00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:46.880 God's love is so thick, if you don't like it, it's nothing to God. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:49.599 God's gonna love you anyway. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:52.000 There's no skinny love with God. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:55.839 It is hecka-wide. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:03.359 We're celebrating. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.960 Because, like Isaiah said, God's love isn't like ours. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:08.960 God doesn't give like we do. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:16.079 God doesn't give because God wants that ROI, a return on investment. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:19.839 God gives because God's thick with love. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:24.960 I mean like corpulently, morbidly obese. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:41.200 Like so thick, there's room for you, and there's room for the political party you hate, there's room for your neighbor, there's even room for me. 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:42.720 That's a big God. 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:46.079 And that's what we celebrate. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:53.359 Not that we're gonna binge and purge, but no matter what we do, God's love is fat enough to hold every single one of us. 00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:59.599 We celebrate that no matter what you do the next 40 days, God ain't gonna love you more. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:05.119 No matter what you don't do the next 40 days, God isn't gonna love you less. 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:09.119 We celebrate that God's ways aren't ours. 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:16.319 I was talking to somebody today who said, I haven't been to church in five years, and you know, like I just feel a little bit sad about that. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:18.720 Glad you're back. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.920 Glad you're back because you want to be back, right? 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.000 But there's no shame. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:25.920 There's no shame. 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:28.880 That's why I want to talk about fat God. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:31.200 That sounds shameful. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:33.119 No, it's glorious. 00:22:33.759 --> 00:22:39.279 The breadth and the width and the girth of God is not shameful. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:40.799 It's glorious. 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:46.640 And it's our chance to turn fat shaming about love into fat praise. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:54.000 And it's our turn to turn our skinny margins into wide ones for each other. 00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:55.839 So what do we think about? 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:59.519 We don't think about petty things like in Philippians, right? 00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:00.799 We got that reading today. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:11.119 We don't think about, oh God, you're so mad at me and I'm no good, and God, I've got to earn this, and God, only 144,000 of us are gonna make it, so I'm gonna be one of the ones. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:15.839 No, we think about God, you love me no matter what I do. 00:23:17.039 --> 00:23:28.400 God, like even my weird stuff, like God, even though I thrash around in my sleep and my breath is bad, like you're okay with that. 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:37.680 We think about glorious things like that, because when we think of God that way, then we can love our neighbor that way, and we can love ourselves that way. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.160 That's fat kind of love. 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:43.039 And Jesus reminds us, hey, don't be worried. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:45.759 You're not a branch that's gonna get thrown into the fire. 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:49.200 The whole point of land is to pull the branches off you. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:55.200 It's not that you are a branch that's bad, it's that we've all got dead branches. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:57.759 And why does God want to pull that off of us? 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:00.799 So we can be fat with fruit. 00:24:01.519 --> 00:24:03.039 Not bitter fruit. 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:08.400 Not sour fruit, fruit that actually tastes good. 00:24:09.920 --> 00:24:11.200 Why is all of this here? 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.559 Jesus said, I came so your joy would be complete. 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:22.400 Not so your misery would be complete, not so your earnings would be complete, not so you'd made Santa Claus's niceness. 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:24.400 That's not why I came. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:28.160 I came so your joy can be complete. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:30.960 So what do we gotta get out of us? 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:33.200 Probably what we're afraid of. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:36.160 What do we gotta let hang out? 00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:41.599 Our fear, our shame, our anxiety. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:43.440 What do we get to let go of? 00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:50.079 All of that so we can do like God is put on the weight of love for the next 47 days. 00:24:50.319 --> 00:24:52.720 So we got a couple more songs with the band. 00:24:52.799 --> 00:24:57.119 I'm gonna nourish you with some food so you got energy to live into some fat love. 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:00.160 When the band plays, you do you, right? 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:06.240 You do you, but this is meant to be a celebration because we know no matter what we do, God's got us.