WEBVTT 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:14.960 Garmin's on vacation again, so uh hope you'll enjoy another time without him. 00:00:15.119 --> 00:00:16.559 Look forward, he'll be back next week. 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:22.960 But you're more than welcome to join in with Let It Be or just listen or look at the art. 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:34.960 When I find myself in times of trouble, other Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. 00:00:37.520 --> 00:00:59.200 In my outer darkness, she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, oh, let it be, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:18.800 Speaking of squares, let it be Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, speaking as will some, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.680 Whisper as twist, let it be. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:30.400 Praise for them, spring, fresh from the sweet from him. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.759 Sprung in company swearing speech. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:05:03.360 Praise for the sick name, praise for the mood, praise for them springing, fresh from the word. 00:05:10.160 --> 00:05:18.480 Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and blessed be God's family now and forever. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:19.439 Amen. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:21.120 Let's pray together. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:29.680 Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid. 00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:42.720 Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name through Christ our Lord. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:43.759 Amen. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:06:10.639 Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be worked with men. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:17.120 The Lord be with you. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:20.240 Let us pray. 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:29.199 Almighty God, who has given thy only Son to be unto us both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly life. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:40.720 Give us grace, that we may always most thankfully receive that, his inestimable benefit, and also daily endeavor ourselves to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:48.399 In the same thy Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:49.360 Amen. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:53.279 After being seated, our children are invited to children's chapel with Mr. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:54.319 Alex in the back. 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:11.279 A reading from Ruth. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:21.759 Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, am I not seeking respite for you that will be good for you? 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:26.480 Now is not Boaz our kin, with whose girls you have been. 00:07:27.120 --> 00:07:31.360 Look, he is winnowing barley on the threshing floor tonight. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:38.000 Now bathe and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:43.360 Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:52.639 When he lies down, note the place where he lies, and go and uncover his thighs and lie down, and he will tell you what you should do. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:58.079 Ruth said to Naomi, all that you tell me, I will do. 00:07:58.879 --> 00:08:03.680 Then Ruth went down to the threshing floor and did just as our mother-in-law commanded her. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:11.439 Now Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was content, and he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:16.319 Then Ruth came in secret and uncovered his thighs and lay down. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:24.079 At midnight the man trembled and turned, and right there was a woman, right there a woman was lying at his side. 00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.040 And Boaz said, Who are you? 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.319 And she said, I am Ruth, your slave woman. 00:08:30.560 --> 00:08:35.279 Spread your cloak over your slave woman, for you are a kin redeemer. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:40.159 And he said, May you be blessed by the most high, my daughter. 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:43.759 Your most recent act of fidelity is greater than the first. 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:48.320 You have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich. 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:50.720 And now, my daughter, fear not. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.679 All that you have spoken, I will do for you. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:08:58.159 For all the assembly of my people know you are a warrior-hearted woman. 00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.840 And now it is true that I am a kin redeemer. 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:04.639 There is a kin redeemer closer than I. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:11.360 Spend the night tonight, and when morning comes, if you will redeem as you as kin, good. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:13.279 Let him redeem you. 00:09:13.679 --> 00:09:21.200 If he does not want to redeem you as kin, then as the age of Scott lives, I will redeem you as kin myself. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:23.759 Lie down until the morning. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:30.480 So Ruth lay in his thighs until morning, but got up before one person could recognize a neighbor. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:36.399 For Boaz said to himself, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing for. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:41.120 And he said, Bring the cloak you are wearing and hold it out. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:47.440 So she held it, and Boaz measured out six helpings of barley, and put it on her back. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:49.919 Then he went into the city. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:56.159 And Ruth came to her mother-in-law, and Naomi asked, Who are you, my daughter? 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.360 And she told her all that the man had done for her. 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:08.879 Ruth explained, He gave these six helpings of barley to me, for he said, Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:19.120 She replied, Wait, my daughter, until you learn how the matter will shake out, for the man will not rest, but will conclude the matter today. 00:10:19.919 --> 00:10:21.440 The word of the Lord. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:23.279 Thanks be to God. 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:33.200 We will read responsibly by the half verse. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:37.120 To you, silence is praise, God in Zion. 00:10:40.960 --> 00:10:42.879 To you who answer prayer. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:56.399 When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us, happy are those whom you choose and bring nearer to dwell in your account courts. 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:08.240 Through wondrous deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:16.720 You establish the mountains through your might. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:22.639 The one who silences the roaring of the sea. 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:31.759 They who live at the farthest reaches are honored by your signs. 00:11:37.600 --> 00:11:39.360 You attend the earth and water. 00:11:40.080 --> 00:11:41.840 You enrich her greatly. 00:11:42.159 --> 00:11:44.559 The river of God is full of water. 00:11:50.480 --> 00:11:54.320 Irrigating the earth thorough, smoothing her ridges. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:02.000 You crown the air with your goodness. 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:08.639 The pastures of the wilderness overflow. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.000 The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys are raiding rain. 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:01.039 And the one who sows in abundance in abundance will also reap. 00:13:02.159 --> 00:13:13.279 Each one must give as decided in your heart, not out of reluctance or under pressure, for God loves a cheerful giver. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:29.200 And the power of God is able to grant you all, every gift abundantly, so that always having enough of everything, you all may abound in every good work, as it is written. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:37.360 God scatters generously and gives to the poor, but God's righteousness endures for ever. 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:49.519 The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:58.559 Enriched in every way for every kind of generosity, which will yield through us a thanksgiving to God. 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:11.600 For the offering of this ministry does not only supply the needs of the saints, but also overflows with many thanksgivings unto God. 00:14:12.559 --> 00:15:12.000 Through the character of this ministry, you all glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ, and by the generosity of your companionship with them and with the Lord Christ be alive, shine in our heart, shine through the darkness, Christ be alive, shine in your church gather today. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.160 Shining a heart shine to the darkness. 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:56.240 Christ fee a light, shine in your church, gather today. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:25.839 Glory be to thee, Lord Christ. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:35.759 Now after a woman anointed his feet, Jesus went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the reign of God, which were over with him. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:56.400 There were also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven unclean spirits had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod's servant Cusa, and Susanna and many others who provided for them out of their resources of the gospel of the Lord. 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:32.559 I am sure that I have shared this poem with you before, but I aim to share it with you twice, and hopefully it'll make sense to you like it does in my head. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:36.720 This poem is called Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:40.559 You do not have to be good. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:46.960 You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:52.240 You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:58.400 Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:01.440 Meanwhile, the world goes on. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:11.039 Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. 00:20:11.359 --> 00:20:17.200 Meanwhile, the wild geese, I in the clean blue air, are heading home again. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:35.759 Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over announcing your place in the family of things. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:49.759 This is our fourth Sunday on the book of Ruth, and I don't want to insult you by reminding you there's one pen on which the whole book turns that is really weird. 00:20:50.400 --> 00:20:53.440 And that's the concept called leverite marriage. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:56.160 You can find this described in the book of Leviticus. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:21:02.720 And look, we don't do anything like it today, although I will tell you it's how we ended up with the Episcopal Church, because Henry VIII did it. 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:04.240 Here's how it goes. 00:21:04.799 --> 00:21:05.599 Be prepared. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:06.720 It's super weird. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:11.519 I'm not advocating for the practice, but if you don't understand it, the book is nonsense. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:22.559 In the ancient world, land is more important than anything because land, even more than name, is how generations identify themselves. 00:21:22.720 --> 00:21:28.640 Now, the way land and name both are passed down is through the firstborn male son. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:31.920 So maybe you know this already. 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:41.759 If the firstborn male son dies without having a child, there's a major problem because the firstborn son's the one who matters. 00:21:42.079 --> 00:21:51.039 So if he dies without having a child, it is the next of kin's responsibility to have a child with his widow. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:56.640 That child becomes the dead son. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:21:59.680 This is very strange. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:04.480 So just to make sure you hear it in this story, Naomi had two boys. 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:06.880 Their names were weak and sick. 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:09.680 And two verses later they were both dead. 00:22:10.799 --> 00:22:14.160 They took foreign wives, Orpa and Naomi. 00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:18.400 And when I say took, I mean like put a bag over them and carry them away. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:22.079 They both die without sons. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:29.519 Naomi's supposed to give them another son who can give them a baby who will replace their dead husband. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:32.160 She doesn't have any more sons. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:35.519 So she sends them home. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.400 One of them goes home, Ruth stays. 00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:41.359 And now Naomi is making a plan. 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:48.000 How is it that Ruth can have a son that will replace her dead husband? 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:50.720 If that sounds weird, it's because it is. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:23:03.119 So this guy Boaz, you heard last week, Boaz was generous in sharing the reapings so that she could glean from the field and eat and not starve, right? 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:06.880 Because a widow had two choices, live with her dad or be a prostitute. 00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:11.759 So she gleans, Boaz is preventing her from both things. 00:23:11.920 --> 00:23:14.799 And now Naomi hatches an interesting plan. 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:24.160 Since Boaz is related, he can help Ruth have a baby who will become Naomi's new son. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:27.119 Are we all on the same page? 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:30.400 If it's weird, it's because it's weird. 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:34.319 But it's important that you hear that because otherwise the book doesn't work. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:38.480 Now, the plan is, are you following this? 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:43.680 I wouldn't talk about this publicly except we just read it, so I feel like I'm obligated to do this. 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.559 The plan is go into the threshing floor. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:52.240 The threshing floor in the ancient world is a place where you work hard and then you play hard. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:54.400 Hint, hint. 00:23:54.799 --> 00:23:56.640 Boaz has worked really hard. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:59.039 He has made himself merry with wine. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:00.319 Do you notice this? 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:08.240 And Naomi says, here's how you're gonna get Boaz to make sure you have a new son for me. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:10.799 That will not be your son. 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:13.200 It will be your dead husband. 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:18.559 You're going to go and uncover his thighs and lay down. 00:24:19.359 --> 00:24:25.200 Now, Hebrew has 10,000 words in the whole language. 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:29.759 English has 600,000 words, just to put that in perspective. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:38.480 And Hebrew, kind of like our Judeo-Western heritage, is a little prudish, uses a lot of euphemisms. 00:24:38.960 --> 00:24:46.319 Like in Hebrew, uh, when a couple gets together, it's called getting to know each other. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:53.599 Sometimes that means getting to know each other, and sometimes that means really getting to know each other. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:58.960 And only the interpreter can decide based on context how they render. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:00.799 I hope I'm not losing you here. 00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:06.240 And again, I wouldn't talk about this except we just read it, so I feel like I better talk about it. 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:11.839 So it turns out that the word Hebrew, in the word in Hebrew, now this isn't true in Greek. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:13.920 Greek has a hundred thousand words, right? 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:14.880 So a lot more words. 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:16.079 And Greek isn't shy. 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:19.519 It'll just go ahead and use profanity, it'll use body parts, all of that. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:20.799 Hebrew is shy. 00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.759 In Hebrew, the word is feet. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:26.799 Uncover his feet and lay down at his feet. 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:29.039 And it does not mean take his socks off. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.680 So she tells Ruth, uncover his feet, lay down. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:36.400 Then notice he'll tell you what to do. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:52.559 The assumption is, don't you see, that she is going to trick her nearest person of kin into helping her have a baby which will replace her dead husband. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:59.039 Now, this is interesting because, as you know, probably most people on the threshing floor don't need much help. 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:02.240 They probably don't need any trickery, but this is the case. 00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:12.960 What's interesting about this is this is a little bit, well, not how I was taught in Sunday school, though girls are supposed to act. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.920 Can we agree on that? 00:26:17.279 --> 00:26:22.160 Also, please notice, God doesn't give Naomi an imperative. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:26.880 Please also notice that Ruth will not benefit at all from this. 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:30.000 The baby will not be hers. 00:26:30.559 --> 00:26:33.039 It will be her mother-in-law's. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:35.599 It won't even be her baby. 00:26:40.000 --> 00:26:42.720 This is not how good girls act. 00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:45.279 Can we agree on that? 00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:51.039 But it is how women survive in a man's world. 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:52.720 Please hear that. 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:55.920 And if you're a woman, you probably get that better than I do. 00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:02.799 Virtues like chastity are really convenient when you control them. 00:27:03.519 --> 00:27:16.079 But when you can't hold property, drive a car, own a credit card, own land that was your husband's because you're a woman, you don't always get luxury of social virtues. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:18.480 Your luxury is survival. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:20.880 I don't think I'm wrong about that. 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:24.000 Which, by the way, thank God women can own credit cards. 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:29.440 Thank God for prenuptial agreements and child support in these things that we now rely on, right? 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:31.599 That allow women to leave when they need to leave. 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:33.759 Ruth didn't get any of that stuff. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:37.039 So this is way before we have options as women. 00:27:40.079 --> 00:27:41.599 But I do hope you're here. 00:27:43.359 --> 00:27:46.079 Naomi and Ruth aren't good little girls. 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:52.480 Then we get to hear, flash forward up to Jesus and the kind of people he spends time with. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:27:54.960 Now we know he's got the 12 guys around, right? 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:55.599 We know that. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:59.200 But did you notice he's followed by disreputable women? 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:04.880 Disreputable women, like ones that have unclean spirits, like seven. 00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:10.319 That may literally mean seven, but seven in the Bible is like a number for completeness. 00:28:10.400 --> 00:28:16.000 So she was like not just a little disreputable, she's like really disreputable. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:20.400 What kind of women are disreputable? 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:26.240 I think we all know the answer to that, don't we? 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:37.839 Because if we're honest, women live in a double bind, and they uh you don't be too prudish or you're too good, but if you sleep with somebody, you're a prostitute. 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:46.319 So, what mistakes these women made, we don't know, but please hear, they're not good little girls. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:50.720 And not only do they follow Jesus, they fund him. 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:56.400 Like they make Jesus, they empower Jesus to do what he does. 00:28:56.640 --> 00:29:03.039 Without them, he wouldn't have time to teach because he'd have to be day laboring to earn his income. 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:24.319 I hope you get what I'm going at, which is that there is this phrase I learned, and I didn't just learn it at home, I learned it in church, and I have some ambivalence about it, so I'm gonna push hard on it, and then I'm gonna say how I value it, and then hopefully we get somewhere good, which is that I was raised in a church that taught me how to be a good little boy. 00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:28.960 It turns out I'm a bad boy. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:34.640 It turns out I'm doubly a bad boy. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:45.920 Because so often we use the word good boy and good girl as social control when it has nothing to do with identity or righteousness of love or God or your neighbor. 00:29:46.480 --> 00:29:49.359 Good girls don't wear short shirts, shorts. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:51.680 Good girls don't show their midrift. 00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:53.119 Boys can do whatever they want. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.720 Good girls don't wear makeup until they're married. 00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:58.240 You fill it in. 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:05.920 Good boys don't move in church. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:07.759 They are still. 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:55.920 Isn't that interesting? 00:30:56.559 --> 00:30:57.759 Only God is good. 00:30:57.839 --> 00:31:00.880 But think about how we even talk about God being good. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:05.599 I got pulled over by the police and he gave me a warning for speeding instead of a ticket. 00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:06.960 God is so good. 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:13.359 My home flooded in barrel and the fence blew over, but the insurance covered it. 00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:15.119 God is so good to me. 00:31:17.759 --> 00:31:19.519 I got pulled over and I got a ticket. 00:31:19.680 --> 00:31:21.599 What is God doing to me? 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:27.039 We use good as an evaluative term. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:31.680 And to be honest, what good means is they did it the way I wanted it done. 00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:35.119 God is good when I get my way. 00:31:35.759 --> 00:31:37.440 That's when God is good. 00:31:37.759 --> 00:31:41.359 God is good when God hates the same people I do. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:46.799 God is good when people make their daughters dress the way I was told they're supposed to dress. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:52.799 God is good when we check the morality boxes that are part of my culture or the way I grew up. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:54.000 That is when God is good. 00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:54.720 And you know what? 00:31:54.799 --> 00:31:55.920 You better be good. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:31:59.920 Because if you're not good, God's making a list and checking it twice. 00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.240 And if you're naughty, well, there's hell to pay. 00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:07.440 Anybody else grow up like that? 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:12.720 You do not have to be good. 00:32:14.079 --> 00:32:19.519 You do not have to crawl through the desert repenting on your knees. 00:32:20.720 --> 00:32:27.200 Now I gotta tell you, the word good is still of primary importance to me. 00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:33.519 Like the thing I want to be in my life is a good man. 00:32:36.640 --> 00:32:40.079 Let me tell you what good men look like to me. 00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:45.200 Good men do not make jokes at other people's expense. 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:47.920 That is goodness. 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:56.720 Good men do not give employees feedback unless doing so gives them room to grow and improve. 00:32:57.519 --> 00:33:06.160 They don't rant, they don't snip, they don't go off, but they target what they say to help the person they're talking to. 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:08.400 I want to be a good man. 00:33:10.559 --> 00:33:13.440 Fortunately, there are a lot of them here right now. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:16.160 Good women. 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:29.440 God, this room is full of good women who not only manage their social and their church and their family expectations, which is more than I can imagine bearing, they do it without becoming bitter. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.240 Good women. 00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:36.000 Has nothing to do with how they dress. 00:33:37.599 --> 00:33:40.799 Has nothing to do with whether they're made up. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:46.240 Has nothing to do with how loud they say the creed. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:34:11.679 I think sometimes we put such a premium on the wrong kind of goodness that we forget the goodness that God invites us to, which is really, isn't it, all about, well, compassion and empathy, and God's version of justice. 00:34:12.400 --> 00:34:17.199 Our version of justice is being about a good boy and a good girl that fits the norms. 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:20.400 Our version of justice is about obedience. 00:34:21.519 --> 00:34:29.119 God's version seems to be about honor, which is really different from just doing what we're told, isn't it? 00:34:29.440 --> 00:34:30.559 Sometimes. 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:45.599 I know I'm talking about some ambiguity, but I hope you're following me that we're invited to really consider being good like God is. 00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:48.159 I don't know how God dresses you. 00:34:50.159 --> 00:34:58.320 I know that sounds crazy, but why do we get worried about those things when we have no idea about what God does? 00:34:59.280 --> 00:35:03.280 What I know is that God is generous. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:06.320 Do you hear this scripture today from 2 Corinthians? 00:35:06.480 --> 00:35:08.239 God loves a cheerful giver. 00:35:09.119 --> 00:35:12.000 Do you know that God also loves a stingy giver? 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:15.440 Do you know God loves a non-giver? 00:35:17.840 --> 00:35:26.239 Yeah, and part of what the scripture says is each one of you should decide to give according to what's in your heart, not under compulsion or manipulation. 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:37.440 And so look, the lion's chair of my church life, I've been told, if you give generously to the church, God will see it and God will reward you. 00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:42.800 So really, tithing is the best financial investment you'll ever make. 00:35:43.280 --> 00:35:46.000 Because the more you give, the more you'll get. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:48.000 And that's how we operate. 00:35:48.719 --> 00:35:51.920 But that isn't how God operates at all. 00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:54.159 Because God understands something we don't. 00:35:54.239 --> 00:35:55.840 I know you've heard me say this before. 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:59.280 God understands the difference between gifts and investments. 00:35:59.519 --> 00:36:06.079 And God has chosen to give us love, which means God doesn't ever pull it off the table. 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:07.440 It is ours. 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:22.559 If we accept it, if we enjoy it, if we resent it, if we spit on it, it still is ours. 00:36:24.079 --> 00:36:28.719 Good little girls don't get more of God's love. 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:31.199 Neither do good little boys. 00:36:32.559 --> 00:36:40.159 But because God is able to give us love regardless of how we receive it. 00:36:41.119 --> 00:36:46.800 Because God understands, I think, that that is what giving from the heart means. 00:36:47.280 --> 00:36:52.400 Regardless of what you do, I was delighted to give it. 00:36:53.920 --> 00:36:55.440 Because I loved you. 00:36:56.159 --> 00:37:08.320 Now, I like being a good gift giver, which means if I give somebody a thing and they don't use it the way they were supposed to, I'm not going to give them that thing again. 00:37:08.719 --> 00:37:11.119 That's a good gift giver, isn't it? 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:14.000 Because you don't want to enable people to have bad behavior. 00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:17.360 Really, what that is, is a shrewd investor. 00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:24.480 But God delights in a cheerful giver. 00:37:25.280 --> 00:37:29.199 Can't you ever waste generosity? 00:37:33.280 --> 00:37:37.199 No, other people can choose not to enjoy your generosity. 00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:42.559 Generosity is never a waste when it comes from your heart. 00:37:43.440 --> 00:37:46.400 Even if people spit on it and resent it. 00:37:46.559 --> 00:37:47.519 What did you get? 00:37:47.599 --> 00:37:49.039 You got to give it. 00:37:51.360 --> 00:38:01.199 So I think this week, more than anything, I hear us having this opportunity to really think twice about what is good. 00:38:04.079 --> 00:38:05.599 Good socially. 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:12.159 And what is actually a praiseworthy good. 00:38:13.119 --> 00:38:22.320 And yes, we will always conflate those two terms, but I think the reason we get to do this at our ordinary time is to unwind them a little bit. 00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:44.079 Unwind them a little bit so that we start to say something is good precisely when it's authentic, when it's holy, when it's just, when it's compassionate instead of when it's ordinary. 00:38:53.920 --> 00:39:00.000 You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. 00:39:00.639 --> 00:39:05.199 You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. 00:39:06.320 --> 00:39:10.800 Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. 00:39:11.679 --> 00:39:13.840 Meanwhile, the world goes on. 00:39:14.239 --> 00:39:23.679 Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:29.679 Meanwhile, the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:51.840 Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world, God offers itself, God's self to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over announcing your place in the family of things.