WEBVTT 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.959 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:12.800 Let's pray together. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:21.039 Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:33.439 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. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:34.399 Amen. 00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:36.240 The Lord be with you. 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:38.719 Let us pray. 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:51.679 Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity, and that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:58.000 Through Jesus Christ our Lord, lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. 00:00:58.479 --> 00:00:58.960 Amen. 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:01.439 A prayer for Veterans Day. 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:13.439 God of peace, we pray for those who have served our nation and laid down their lives to protect and defend our freedom, asking that we remember their sacrifice and make right use of our liberty. 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:21.359 We pray for those who still bear the scars of their service, asking for healing for them in mind, body, and spirit. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:30.480 We pray for those who serve us now, especially for those in harm's way, asking that you shield them from danger and bring them home in safety. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:40.719 We pray for all those who govern, asking that you turn their hearts and minds to the work of establishing a peace born of justice and equity. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:59.840 We pray for all those caught up in conflict around the globe this day, civilians and peacekeepers and the poor who have no escape, asking that we have the courage to defend the defenseless, make room for those who flee for safety, and look to that day when we will train for war no more. 00:02:00.560 --> 00:02:07.680 Be the peace you gave us, the peace that passes all human understanding, be the peace that guides and sustains us. 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:11.199 Amen. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:40.800 Abigail, wife of Nabal, one of the boys reported, Look, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our Lord, and he screamed at them. 00:02:41.120 --> 00:02:44.080 Yet the men were very good to us, and we were not put to shame. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:48.800 We were never missed anything all the days we were with them, and we were in the field. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:52.159 They were a wall to us even by night, and also every day. 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:54.560 We were with them keeping the sheep. 00:02:54.800 --> 00:03:00.719 Now know this and see what you can do, for evil against our master and against all his house has been resolved. 00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:04.159 He is worse worthless, and no one can speak to him. 00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:20.240 Then Abigail hurried, and she took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred fig cakes, and she loaded them on donkeys. 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:25.439 And Abigail said to her boys, Go on before me, I am coming after you. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:31.120 And her husband Naval did she and her husband Naval she did not tell. 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.479 And Abigail saw David, and she hurried and got down from the donkey, fell before David on her face, bowing to the ground. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:42.879 She fell at his feet and said, Upon me, my lord, the iniquity. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:47.280 Please let your slave woman speak in your ears and hear the words of your slave. 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:53.599 Please, my lord, do not set your thought on this worthless man, Naval, for his name, thus is he. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:56.879 Naval, meaning disgrace, is his name. 00:03:57.120 --> 00:03:58.639 And he is a disgrace. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:02.560 Now I, your slave, did not see my Lord's voice, whom you sent. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:09.360 Then David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Holy One, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:16.480 Blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you who have kept me today from coming for blood and saved me from my own hand. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:25.199 Surely as the Holy One, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, Abigail, and there she had hurried and come to meet me. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:30.959 Truly by the light of daybreak there would not have been left in Abal anyone urinating against a wall. 00:04:31.839 --> 00:04:39.199 Later after Naval's death, Abigail hurried and got up and mourned, and mounted a donkey with five of her girls at her heels. 00:04:39.439 --> 00:04:43.279 She went after the messengers of David, and she became his wife. 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:49.279 David also married Abanoam over to Jezreel, both of whom became his wives. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.519 At the word of the Lord. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:04.720 Reading from Psalm 37, we will read responsively by the half verse. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:14.399 Be not angry on account of the wicked, for they will soon wither like the wild grass. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.879 Be still before the Most High and wait patiently for her. 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:31.360 Let go of anger and forsake wrath. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:36.800 For the wicked shall be cut off. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:45.199 And a little more time, and the wicked will be no more. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:52.879 But the humble poor shall inherit the land. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.439 Better is a little that the righteous person has. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:04.879 I have seen the wicked oppressing. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.920 They passed on, and suddenly they were no more. 00:06:15.040 --> 00:06:18.240 Regard the blameless and behold the upright. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:25.040 But transgressors shall be utterly destroyed together. 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:31.600 The salvation of the righteous is from ever-present God. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.959 The redeeming of God helps them and delivers them. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:27.680 For in a great trial of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:42.879 For according to their means, as I can testify, and even beyond their ability, voluntarily, with much exhortation, begging us earnestly for the grace of participation in this ministry to the saints. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.519 And not simply as we expected. 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:51.279 Rather, they gave themselves first to the Savior, and to us by the will of God. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:59.439 Thus we exhorted Titus that just as he had begun, so he should complete this work of grace among us you all. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:07.839 So then, as in everything you excel in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in zeal, and in love. 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.279 Ours for you, you, yours for us. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:15.759 So we want you to excel also in this act of grace. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:25.120 Not as a command do I say this, rather against the seal of others am I proving the genuineness of your love. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:38.320 For you all know the grace of our Redeemer Jesus the Messiah, that for you all he became poor, though he was rich, so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:40.639 The word of the Lord. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:19.279 Glory to you, Lord Christ. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:23.840 Look, there's an error in the bulletin, so here's the gospel for the day. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:28.879 Jesus asked, Now why do you all worry about clothing? 00:09:29.279 --> 00:09:32.159 Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:34.480 They neither labor nor spin. 00:09:34.720 --> 00:09:39.919 Yet I tell you all, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 00:09:40.399 --> 00:09:51.120 Now, if the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, God so clothed, will not God do much more for you, all of little faith? 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:56.320 Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear? 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:03.279 For all these the Gentiles strive, and indeed your heavenly provider knows that you all need all these. 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:10.080 But strive first for the reign of God and God's righteousness, and all these will be given to you all. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:14.399 So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has worries of its own. 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.440 Sufficient is the trouble of this day. 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:22.879 The gospel of the Lord, praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:51.919 Well, sorry for the whoops there in the gospel, but hope you get that church life is like regular life. 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:53.519 These things happen. 00:10:53.759 --> 00:10:57.360 Um and uh maybe you know this story. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:11:00.639 I think a face reading is like really tough, right? 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:08.159 I mean, keep in mind that Jesus is not talking to like people who are retired or from the upper middle class. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:17.919 He's talking to day laboring peasants, kind of like himself, and saying something like, Don't worry about what you're gonna eat, it's all gonna be fine. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:22.159 Don't worry about what you're gonna wear, God'll dress you. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:30.720 Well, God did dress us with our birthday suit, but in general, uh, we'll get arrested for going out in public in that, right? 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:41.840 And to be honest, I think it's really easy to tell somebody who uh is above a subsistence wage, I mean, don't worry about what you're going to eat, because of course you're going to. 00:11:42.080 --> 00:11:52.159 But somebody who is below a subsistence wage to tell them not to worry about their next meal, it's a little worse than ignorant. 00:11:52.240 --> 00:12:01.360 It's almost like you probably know Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution saying to folk, well, if they don't have bread, let them eat. 00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:03.039 But you know why she said that? 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:09.279 Because she did not understand that common people didn't have both of those things. 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:14.559 Marie Antoinette had never known a lack of luxury in her life. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:18.000 I mean, she truly was ignorant. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.600 So in her home, if the bread ran out, you would eat cake. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:24.480 She wasn't mocking the peasants. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.840 She just had no idea what a peasant was like. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:31.840 But look, Jesus is a day laborer. 00:12:32.720 --> 00:12:40.000 Don't think he's a museum-grade carpenter making only the finest commissions from a patron. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.320 Maybe he frames homes. 00:12:42.480 --> 00:12:43.919 Maybe he's a framer. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:47.120 That is still, frankly, a day wage job. 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:50.080 There's not salaries, there's no sick time, right? 00:12:50.240 --> 00:13:02.080 So when Jesus says not to worry, I don't think he's saying if you make plans for your food and your dress, you're wasting your time. 00:13:02.240 --> 00:13:07.039 I mean, our common life is predicated on our making plans. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:13.200 Everybody who does meal planning in their house, whether mother or in my case father, knows this. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:20.559 And I don't know if you've done this with kids, but I will say meal planning with kids is like terrifying. 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:30.080 Um because when you ask them what would you like to eat, because you actually care, what you get back 99% of the time is, I don't know. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:34.799 And then when you make that thing, what you get back is, I don't want that. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:37.919 Anyone have this experience other than me? 00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.679 Um, let me just say that like I don't even mind making the food. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:45.279 It's the planning that like hurts my soul. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:49.679 It's a deadly wound in my soul, right? 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:53.919 And so uh maybe this is a little bit of a word to me. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:55.440 I mean, maybe, right? 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:01.440 I mean, I think there's a difference between making plans and anxiety and worry. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:05.679 And maybe this is what Jesus is trying to tease out a little bit, right? 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:09.200 I mean, if we don't make plans, we won't be prepared. 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:09.759 Okay. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:16.879 Can we do that in such a way that we remove from ourselves anxiety? 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:19.679 I didn't know, that's a little bit tough, right? 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:25.840 Because uh the definition of anxiety I like is anxiety is an attachment to outcomes. 00:14:27.279 --> 00:14:31.919 I'm really anxious, by the way, because I really like outcomes. 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.200 You know, like when I meet somebody, I want the outcome to be that will be a pleasant exchange. 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:40.799 We will leave all the wiser full of camaraderie. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:43.519 I'm attached to that outcome. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:50.320 I rarely think like, hey, I'm gonna be really sweet and kind, and you're gonna be a jerk, and I'm gonna leave in peace. 00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:52.960 Because that rarely happens. 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:56.320 Anxiety. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:15:00.720 Yeah, I have a little bit of anxiety about meal preparation. 00:15:00.879 --> 00:15:02.799 I know I'm gonna make something. 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:09.519 And I would like it to please, and that is not in my power. 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:12.799 I mean, so what do we start doing in my house? 00:15:12.879 --> 00:15:17.120 If I get a I don't care, then I just take that literally and I make what I would like. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:19.120 And if you don't like that, then make your own. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:20.639 I'm not making two things. 00:15:20.799 --> 00:15:26.559 And that feels a little bit mean to me sometimes, but it's a much better way to live than the alternative. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.120 By the way, I'm not recommending my course of action. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.639 I'm just saying that has freed me from a lot of anxiety. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:37.440 The only thing when I hear I don't care that I need to worry about is what do I want? 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:41.440 Because then at least one person will be happy. 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:42.879 Right? 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:49.759 I could risk it all with no success, but if you tell me you don't care, then I trust you. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.039 You don't care. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:51.919 Right? 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:55.840 Easy to talk about with food, prep. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:03.039 We could pretend like it doesn't matter how we dress, but we know it does. 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:05.759 We know it does for a number of reasons. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:14.879 There's cultural expectations, but we also know the way we present ourselves can communicate how we perceive the other people we're going to be around. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:15.440 Right? 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:27.679 And so if I'm going to your wedding and I wear my flip-flops and tank top, it is likely the wedding the message you'll receive from me is he doesn't care enough about me to dress up. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:34.720 Now that's very different, of course, from I have to wear what you think I'm supposed to wear. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:35.120 Right? 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:37.440 There's a lot of wiggle room in that. 00:16:38.320 --> 00:16:42.080 So what is Jesus asking us to do about clothing? 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:48.240 I don't know that there's specific guidance other than take the anxiety out. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:50.960 How do I take the anxiety out? 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:53.279 I don't try to make a fashion statement. 00:16:53.519 --> 00:16:56.639 I try to be myself, knowing the cultural context. 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:58.480 That seems to be the middle ground. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:06.799 Jesus reminds us that the lilies of the field, and then he goes on to call them grass, don't seem to do a lot of planning. 00:17:06.960 --> 00:17:14.559 And it would be really sweet to say, like, just be like the lilies, except we all know that the lilies don't have brains, and we have brains. 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:19.359 So I don't know how to be brainless like the lilies. 00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:27.359 It'd be great if I could just move on instinct sometimes, but that isn't our lot. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:45.279 So what is it that we're to do with this, whether it is clothing or food or self-presentation, or dare I say, and I was told not to say this, but look, I'm the priest, not the people who told me this. 00:17:46.240 --> 00:17:49.759 Living with election results that might make you anxious. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:57.599 And I'm gonna say that a couple of ways, because some of us woke up on Wednesday and were very disappointed. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:04.240 Some of us woke up on Wednesday and were very disappointed that other people were very disappointed. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.039 Did I catch everybody in the room? 00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:15.599 Either we were, or we were disappointed that other people were, because I'll tell you, I sure remember Bob Dole running against Bill Clinton. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:21.039 And in my family and in my church, we were all voting for Bob Dole, who we knew had no chance of winning. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:22.079 We knew that. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:29.279 And when he lost, we were kind of like disappointed because, you know, our church even came out, like you're supposed to vote for Bob Dole. 00:18:29.680 --> 00:18:39.680 Um, but none of us were surprised, and none of us felt like we were in a different country we didn't understand. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.559 Were you all around for that election? 00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:46.880 It just didn't feel the same when we didn't get our way. 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:50.319 This feels different now to me. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:53.599 I don't think I'm bringing politics into the building. 00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:55.759 I think I'm bringing a description in. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:58.000 Correct me if I'm wrong. 00:18:58.960 --> 00:19:13.119 So, in the middle of that worry, and that worry is actually predicated on two groups of people, and of course there's always more than two, completely being able to understand how the other person did that. 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:14.400 Right? 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:19.759 It's not like, well, I get it, and we just agreed, disagreed on one thing. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.559 I don't think that's the country we're living in right now. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.599 I think there's a complete surprise, like, how could you do that? 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:31.279 And there's even been this mistake. 00:19:31.359 --> 00:19:41.039 We knew before the election, don't ask who somebody's voting for, but on Wednesday I've seen people who did that well now ask, did you vote for that person? 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:45.759 So that we could be, what, horrified or happy? 00:19:45.839 --> 00:19:47.359 It's a really weird thing, right? 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:51.759 It's a weird thing because now we're trying to figure out this conspiracy. 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:53.119 And I mean that on both sides. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:54.880 I mean that on both sides. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:59.279 Maybe you don't find yourself in this description at all. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:11.359 But I do think there is a real core anxiety we're facing, not just about what we're gonna eat or how we're gonna dress, but where do we live now? 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:13.680 Where do we live? 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.079 A lot of worry about tomorrow, isn't there? 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:22.000 A lot of worry about tomorrow. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:28.240 A lot of worry about 20 years from now, after this election. 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.200 And we live in a community that has all of these, right? 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:38.799 We live in a community in which once a month these people drive through who literally are worried about what they're going to eat tomorrow. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.720 It's not most of us, but we see it. 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:43.680 Right? 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:50.160 And with words like shrinkflation, some of us are worried about the 30% rise in groceries, right? 00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:52.000 And we can bear it, but we don't like it. 00:20:52.160 --> 00:20:53.680 Am I wrong about that? 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:59.920 I don't know what to say about clothing, but you know in the ancient world, on average, you owned one garment. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.240 One garment. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:11.920 Because it took a woman who was making the daily bread about six months to weave one garment. 00:21:12.559 --> 00:21:21.279 And when you've got multiple people in a family and you're working in the field, how long is that woven garment going to last? 00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:26.559 Hopefully long enough for her to make you another one. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:28.079 Right? 00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:36.079 Thanks to places like the Nearly New, we're able to benefit people who are that much on edge, right? 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:42.880 And say, we can take clothing, period, worry off, and we can do it fashionably for you. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:43.279 Right? 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:47.279 Many of our volunteers shop there because we get really good stuff. 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:59.680 Okay, maybe I'm telling you stuff that's not even that important, but it does occur to me that there's a couple of bits here that do matter for us as people of faith in a divine. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:04.319 I don't think I'm being controversial saying we live in a divided country. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:05.519 I don't think that. 00:22:05.920 --> 00:22:07.440 I think I'm just being honest. 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:09.839 So, what is it that we're called to do? 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:16.319 Well, you know, you've probably heard that in our reptilian brain there are these four core responses that we have to stress. 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:17.119 Do you know this? 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:20.319 Fight, flight, freeze, and reproduction. 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:22.720 So the four Fs is what we call those. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:29.519 But you know, there's a lot of work that says that those are the four responses of men. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.240 And do you know what one of the core responses in women is? 00:22:35.279 --> 00:22:37.759 The other F, friendship. 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:41.839 When women are in stress, they make networks. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:45.440 I don't know if that's your experience. 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:50.559 That comes from a psychology article that I found very interesting. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:58.160 I find it interesting because I don't see a lot that's going to help us with our anxiety in fight, flight, freeze. 00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:06.480 I don't actually find those very helpful given our current division, but I do see finding a network very helpful. 00:23:06.720 --> 00:23:10.720 By the way, you've already found a network if you're here in the building, I think. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:18.799 You found a network of faith, in which, in the middle of anxiety, what are we called to do? 00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:26.799 I don't want to beat you up with this regular sermon that you hear, like, even if you're disappointed, just go and make today the best day you can. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.160 I mean, there's some truth to that, but it isn't the whole truth, is it? 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:35.839 There's some truth to that, and it isn't the whole truth, because it doesn't leave room for things like grief. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:41.440 And it doesn't make room for things like, hey, today, you know, I just don't have the energy to do that. 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:43.839 Today I don't have the energy to do that. 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:53.440 Which is why I want to come back to networking, because the reason we say we believe when we say the Nicene Creed is because somebody in the room doesn't believe it today. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:55.440 Somebody doesn't believe it today. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:56.480 That could be you. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:23:58.160 That could have been you Wednesday. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:02.960 Good news, somebody in the room, I guarantee you, does believe it today. 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:05.599 So you don't, and we do. 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:09.440 You don't, but we do. 00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:17.359 Which means just like lilies and grass, right, that have fibrous roots and essentially do network with each other. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:27.519 We're called into a holy community in which we do network, in which somebody does get to carry us, in which, hey, maybe four years from now you carry them. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:29.839 And you carry them how. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:43.519 Well, I think the thing about lilies, right, and maybe I'm pushing this too hard, is that when they are able, they do open themselves. 00:24:44.480 --> 00:24:46.480 They do open themselves. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.160 Opening is really hard. 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:55.359 I think particularly in a time of anxiety and disappointment. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:25:19.119 And I have the spiritual director, and I've told you this before, who really works hard to say, you know, sometimes we get really confused between breaking ourselves open, which is arguably a good thing, and being broken apart, which is a bad thing that we're terrified of. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:27.359 I don't think it's easy to break yourself open in a context of mistrust. 00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:28.880 Right? 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:32.240 Because when you break yourself open, you might well be broken apart. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:33.759 Anybody been to middle school? 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:35.759 That's what middle school is all about. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:36.960 Right? 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:42.880 You're constantly worried you'll be broken apart because you like this thing that isn't cool anymore. 00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.759 Even though we all like it, we just don't want to admit it. 00:25:46.000 --> 00:25:46.640 Right? 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:48.559 That's the scary bit. 00:25:51.039 --> 00:26:03.759 But I do think the way that the lilies are able to do this, right, is because they're connected to each other, and in that moment of connection, they're able to find the support so that they can break themselves open. 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.559 Today may not be your day. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:13.680 Today you might need, frankly, to just draw some nutrition and support from the other lilies in the room. 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:15.680 I want you to hear that. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:19.279 I want you to hear that there's a time for mourning. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:21.680 And then there's a time for opening. 00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:25.119 I want you to hear that there's a time to withhold your gloating. 00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:33.839 And there is a time to say, you know, I don't even know why you're disappointed, but I know we're in this together. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:38.720 I hope that's okay to say and not that controversial. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.519 I mean, the truth is we all are worried about tomorrow. 00:26:41.680 --> 00:26:42.319 We all are. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:47.599 And then I'm reminded that when is my day to open up? 00:26:48.880 --> 00:27:06.960 There's this thing that happens in Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous when you think for 60 more years I am going to have to fight like hell every day of my life not to return to the drug of my choice. 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:11.119 And when you think like that, guess what happens next? 00:27:12.559 --> 00:27:13.839 You relapse. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:23.119 Because the pressure of 60 years worth of days, worth of hours of thinking about my grief or my loss. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:25.279 Oh my gosh, it's so much work. 00:27:25.359 --> 00:27:29.200 I barely made it yesterday, and I've got 60 more years of that. 00:27:29.359 --> 00:27:40.640 It sends people right back to the bottle, right back to putting their finger down their throat, right back to running two appers because they ate a brownie. 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:43.599 That's called exercise bulimia, by the way. 00:27:43.680 --> 00:27:44.960 That's an addiction. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:48.400 It sends people right back to their drug of choice. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:49.839 So what do you do? 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:52.400 What do you do in the AA curriculum? 00:27:52.559 --> 00:28:00.559 You say, God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:10.160 What I'm wearing, the way my body was designed by you, God, to be short, not tall. 00:28:12.079 --> 00:28:14.240 The election results. 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:17.440 Food prices being what they are. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:21.200 Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:43.519 The courage to change the things I can, how I talk to my adversaries, whether I am closed or choose to open myself up, whether I build a wall between my neighbor or whether we network and route to be a community. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.920 And above all, this is the hardest one. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:52.160 Give me the wisdom to know the difference between the two. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:29:03.920 The wisdom to know the difference between serenity and courage, between the things I can change and the things I can't. 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:08.240 I don't know how to do that as the United States, but I know how to do that in St. 00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:09.200 Thomas. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:21.039 And I trust the more we do it here, the more we'll be a mission and a respite and a community for the people who aren't here. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:32.160 So when it's your time, and until it is, draw strength from your neighbor because this is a healthy place. 00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:33.599 You're a healthy people. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:35.839 You treat each other well, you do. 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:39.599 I know that probably better than anybody. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:44.240 Dare to break yourself open. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:52.720 Dare to break yourself open and proceed with courage because what we say and how we say matters. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:56.640 What we say and how we say it will always matter. 00:29:57.119 --> 00:30:01.680 Who we invite, and that's everybody, will always matter. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:04.400 Especially here. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:06.480 Especially here. 00:30:17.440 --> 00:30:26.000 And I know this because I've been here now nine and a half years, growing the reputation that we were not here yesterday and gone today. 00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:30.640 That we were not kind yesterday, but tomorrow we will run out. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:39.200 We're growing the reputation that in fact we will continue to open and choose to bloom as best we can tomorrow and the next day. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:48.319 I thank God for that, and I thank God for you that we get to continue that legacy when the world really, really needs it.