Reflexion Connexion

Podcast

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. John 17:14-16

Intro: I have been mulling over something this past school year

Two days a week I drove three of my grandchildren to school
– two of them attend school in what I refer to as a new suburbia
• the residents are almost exclusively young families
◦ everything is new – new expensive houses and condos
◦ and new apartments, a few of which are low-rent properties
• none of the houses, condos or apartments have much yard space
– there’s an obvious cultural distinction of two classes in new suburbia
• the basis for it is monetary – those with affluence put it on display
◦ the vehicles in line to drop off kids tell a story
◦ some drive the “family car” or truck, others drive expensive SUVs
• this is elementary school!
◦ yet kids coast in on electric bikes or mini-scooters
◦ or parents bring them in over-priced golf-carts

The late Christopher Lasch, a notable historian and social critic,
– observed a change in the way industrial tycoons viewed the masses
• their shift in thinking turned North American society a new direction
◦ it went from being a culture of producers to a culture of consumers
• but now they faced a new challenge
◦ to convince people they had needs they had never been aware of
◦ a product that would create the “illusion of prosperity and well-being”
Lasch described a form of advertising that “creates or exacerbates new forms of unhappiness—personal insecurity, status anxiety, anxiety in parents about their ability to satisfy the needs of the young. Do you look dowdy next to your neighbors? Do you own a car inferior to theirs? Are your children as healthy? as popular? doing as well in school? Advertising institutionalizes envy and its attendant anxiety.”

So–the question we will think about today is:

What has the world written into our brains’ owner’s manual?

When Jesus prayed for his disciples, hours before going to cross,
– he knew they would live with a specific and unavoidable tension
• he was leaving them in the world, but they were not of it
• and their lives in the world would not be easy
If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you (Jn. 15:18)
. . . whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God (Jn. 16:2)
In the world you will have tribulation (Jn. 16:33)
– but Jesus did not pray that God would take them out of world
• only that he would keep them from evil and set them apart
• although they would be in the world, they would not be of it

By “world,” Jesus did not mean the planet, or culture, or society
– it might make more sense if we used a term like world-spirit
• Jesus had referred to Satan as the ruler of this world
• he was talking about a certain, diabolical influence
– from the Garden of Eden, to Job, Jesus’ temptations, to Paul’s letters,
• we see that the devil plays head-games
• evil has always been a factor in influencing human minds
◦ even entire societies and nations

The Scriptures teach us to critique culture and critique ourselves

The Bible is aware of the persuasive and seductive powers of the world-spirit

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 Jn. 2:15-17)

– the world-spirit plays on our vulnerabilities
• taps into our insecurity, uncertainty, and unmet needs
◦ it creates the illusion that it has the answers–for a price
• of course, it cannot provide real answers
◦ if industries did that, they would cut their own throats
– world-spirit tells us,
You must be a certain kind of person, rise to a specific level of monetary power or social approval to count for anything. Your status in the world depends on your conformity to its values. If you fail to achieve that status, you must accept your lowly place in society. You will be an outcast.

Mean bosses and supervisors demonstrate the world-spirit
– they can make you feel like nothing
• especially when the pay and power differential is significant

I usually catch myself when I make snap judgments regarding a person, based on their appearance or one statement or action. When I do catch myself, I immediately admit that I know nothing about them and I am in no place to think badly of them. Then I ask God for forgiveness and the wisdom and compassion to do better.
One day I walked Kona, our yellow lab along a trail that borders a golf course. I spotted four men who were waiting to tee off. One of them in particular stood out. It was the set of his face, his bearing and mannerisms, and seeing him I immediately shuddered. I said to myself, “I’m glad I don’t work for that guy!” He looked like the kind of person who could make you feel like nothing. But then I went through my ritual of confessing and praying for forgiveness and wisdom. What did I know?
Later, as Kona and I made our way back to where I had parked, the same guy went past us in a golf cart. I’m familiar enough with the trail and course to know he had missed his turn, so when he drove by us, I said, “You missed your turn.” Without turning toward me, he just shouted over his shoulder in a gruff voice, “I did not!”
Then I got a really big smile on my face, and said to myself, “Now I’m really glad I don’t work for that guy!” Also, I knew we would see him again as he came back to where he should have turned.
Sure enough, up ahead I saw him blocking the trail, trying to make an Austin Power’s twenty-point-turn to circle back. But then he surprised me. When we drew up close to his cart, he nodded to me and told his partners, “I owe that guy an apology.” So people can surprise you–sometimes in a good way. (But I’m still glad he’s not my boss.)

Through the media, mentors and life experience,
– the world-spirit has written its values into our brains
• so if our realtor shows up in a clunker, our or lawyer in a cheap suit,
◦ we wonder, “Can this person be any good at their profession?”
• then we also feel judged in our old, beat-up car
◦ or wearing our thrift-store outfit

One other thought: the “world” that hated Jesus was a religious system
– certain denominations and their disciples try to sell their brands
• they may try to create discontent with what your church offers,
◦ or to make you feel guilty, or think you’ve been misled
• if you let them, they’ll lay a terrible burden on you
◦ their requirements and regulations, doctrines and traditions
– Paul fought hard against this in his letters
(see especially his letter to the Galatians and Colossians ch. 2)
• If we know what we already have in Jesus,
◦ we are immune to their manipulations

We cannot trust the world-spirit to tell us who we are

It knows nothing of the true self–and glamorizes the false self
– the world will tell you, you’re nothing without the latest technology,
• or if you don’t drive new model car, or don’t have enough education

Former president of Grey Advertising, Nancy Shalek said, “Advertising at its best is making people feel that without their product, you’re a loser. Kids are very sensitive to that . . . You open up emotional vulnerabilities, and it’s very easy to do with kids because they’re the most emotionally vulnerable.”
Johann Hari observes, “When they talk among themselves, advertising people have been admitting since the 1920s that their job is to make people feel inadequate–and then offer their product as the solution to the sense of inadequacy.”

– how well does the world resolve the negative feelings they create?
Psychologist, Tim Kasser’s research found that “materialistic people, who think happiness comes from accumulating stuff and superior status, had much higher levels of depression and anxiety.” Johann Hari adds, “What you really need are connections. But what you are told you need, in our culture, is stuff and a superior status, and in the gap between those two signals–from yourself and from society–depression and anxiety will grow as your real needs go unmet.”
• of course, we learned this already from Ecclesiastes
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is [emptiness] (Ecc. 5:10)
• the world-spirit does not keep its promises – it is bankrupt
◦ we do not want to leave our hearts in its hands

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . . For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. … No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on (Mt. 6:19-34)

Conclusion: I spent Friday with my grandson, Calum

He wanted me to watch a television program with him
– I explained to him that if we watched a cartoon show,
• what we watched would be from someone else’s imagination
• but if we just played together, we could use our own imaginations
◦ fortunately, that appealed to him, and that is what we did
– it turns out, Calum did not enjoy grandpa’s imagination as much as his own
• so I let him do all the heavy lifting
• but when I wanted to take a break, he said,
“C’mon, Grandpa, let’s use our imaginations!”

I am asking you to use your childhood imagination
to envision a different world,
a world that could really exist,
but must begin with someone who imagines it is possible
Then write that world into your brain’s owner’s manual

Paul makes an interesting statement regarding the world-spirit
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14)
– Jon Kabat-Zinn talks about stopping
• that is, to take a time-out occasionally in your ordinary day,
• to cultivate mindful awareness
Kabat-Zinn, “To take a few moments to ‘die on purpose’ to the rush of time while you are still living, you free yourself to have time for the present. By ‘dying’ now in this way, you actually become more alive now.”
– that is the sort of dying to the world we need to practice
• to liberate ourselves from its pervasive influence
• this is how we allow ourselves to hear the warnings of awareness
◦ when we’re being manipulated, following herd, or walking into danger

The dead-to-the-world silence we cultivate is:
Surrender – we silence our griping and our cravings
(Paradoxically) Revolt – a rejection of the world’s twisted values
Space – removing our hearts and minds every thought and feeling
that is not God
Allowing him to enter the room within us that is already his

Podcast

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herbs.
____
Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
____
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light.
and your justice as the noonday.
____
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!
____
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evil doers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land Psalm 37:1-9

Intro: Imagine this . . .

While you’re at work, out shopping, or on vacation
– a family parks a moving in front of your home
• they break into, and unload used, worthless furnishings inside
• then they redecorate your home with their junk
◦ and to make matters worse, they glue or nail everything in place
– ridiculous, right?
• but all of us have allowed others to do that with our brains
• by words, actions, and attitudes, others have dumped their junk on us
◦ tainting our sense of self and outlook on life

Psalm 37 tells us not to allow what others do get inside us

The poet provides a primer on the ABCs of self-regulation

Remember the books we read to teach us the alphabet? “A is for apple…”
– this psalm was written that way
• the English Standard Version has tried to mimic that structure
◦ by formatting the printing of the poem in couplets
• every two verses feature the letters of the Hebrew alphabet consecutively
– the message of the psalm is Don’t let the bad things people do get to you
• it begins by teaching how to dial down our frustration (1-9)
• the rest of poem relates a variety of scenarios to reinforce the lesson
◦ bad people may plot against the good, and for awhile succeed,
◦ but in the end, God brings down the bad and promotes the good

First, the general instruction, Fret not

The recent earthquakes reminded me of the uniqueness of that experience
– life is unpredictable – there are lots of ups and downs,
• but I take for granted that the ground beneath me is stable
• when it moves, I lose my reliable frame of reference
◦ an earthquake instantly robs me of my illusion of control
– we cannot control everything that comes at us
• neither can I control my reaction to what comes at me–if
◦ it is instant, unconscious, spontaneous, and automatic
• but if I could bring that unconscious process into awareness,
◦ it would reveal something new
◦ namely, that I have a freedom–freedom to choose my response

Robert Alter says “fret” comes from a root word “that means to ‘heat up’”
– to be emotionally charged–for instance, with anger, frustration, indignation
• Barb and I have been receiving phone calls telling us,
“Your Social Security number will be suspended if you don’t act now”
◦ someone is trying to swindle me – and I want justice
◦ no, I want revenge!
• it’s easy to get fixated on these aggravations
– Fret not yourself – fretting is something I do to myself!
• evil doers are out there–and they’re doing their evil
◦ but whatever my reaction to their evil, it is all mine
• what they do is their business, and God will deal with them
◦ how I react is my business–and can harm me more than they can
◦ their action may last a minute, a day, months
▫ but I could carry it for the rest of my life

This week I read a similar verse in Book of Proverbs

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
lest the LORD see it and be displeased
and turn away his anger from him.
Fret not yourself because of evildoers,
and be not envious of the wicked,
for the evil man has no future;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out (Pr. 24:17-20)

– does the word “enemy” bring to mind a specific person?
• someone may have hurt or insulted you, but not an enemy
◦ but you don’t consider them an enemy, but merely an annoyance
◦ there have been others, more aggressive, spiteful and abusive
• is it possible for you to move that person out of the enemy category?
◦ if not, can you think of them as the enemy Jesus told us to love?
(not that you have to be best friends or trust them)
– another thought, if any enemy of yours “stumbled,”
• suffered loss or humiliation, would it improve your life?
◦ would their fall add anything good to your circumstances?
• if one of them prospered, won the Lottery,
◦ would that in any way diminish your life with Jesus?
◦ if not, then don’t fret yourself over them
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil (v. 8)

Soul meds – to relieve fretting: the first one, Trust in the LORD

The poet adds, and do good – that is one way to activate trust
– don’t give into the temptation to “get even” (or even think about it)
• turn yourself in a different direction
– sometimes it’s irritating when God tells me, “Don’t think that thought”
• that is when I realize I’ve been relishing my revenge fantasy
◦ I call it a thumb-sucking activity
◦ if it consoles me, it also keeps me fixated on the offense
• trust means I have to let it go – I cannot dwell on it
◦ but I don’t just “let it go into the air” — I hand it over to God

The second soul med, Delight yourself in the LORD

There are two kinds of delight (different words are used in v. 4 and 23)
– one word means “to be pampered,” spoil yourself, enjoy yourself
• the other means to “to take pleasure in”
– what gets in the way of change? Fear
• of not being safe, or in control, or fear of an unpredictable future
◦ fear that I won’t be able to meet my needs, fulfill my desires
◦ or that I won’t be able to see the change through to the end
• if we can eliminate fear,
◦ it helps change to proceed smoothly and at a comfortable pace
– what promotes change? Passion (or, in scripture, zeal)
• what do I delight in? At what do I get outraged?
◦ what am I passionate about?
◦ use this energy to motivate change when the process gets difficult

Choice is a human freedom that we need
Change is a human possibility we must want

The third soul med, Commit your way to the LORD

Jon Kabat-Zinn says, here you are, in this unpleasant situation, so now “The important question is, how are you going to handle it?” His recommendation is that we “pause in our experience . . . to hold it in awareness and thereby come to know and understand it better.”
– apart from taking this time-out
• I am most likely to be driven by autopilot
◦ the habit written in my brain’s old owner’s manual
• my response will affect my mood, attitude, and perspective
◦ not only for the time being, but also for whatever comes next
– knowing there are options is God’s gift to us in each present moment

The fourth and fifth soul meds, Be still before the LORD… and wait

Holding the body still is relatively easy
– holding the mind still is the tricky part
• the rational brain wants to analyze, ask questions, interrupt
– also, if we try too hard to make something, we sabotage the moment
• we will be activating the wrong neural circuits
• that’s why the first thing we do in prayer is relax the body
◦ to wait is a spiritual exercise!
◦ learn to experience waiting as a pleasant experience
◦ explore the present moment

If I can take a moment in the doorway and re-collect myself,
– be aware that I’m standing in this spot for this moment,
• then a choice will come to me
◦ and that choice can determine the quality of my life
◦ the quality of my life in that day and in the days to come
• whether I live a long life is not up to me
◦ whether I live a full live is on me
◦ if I’m not conscious of these choices,
I may be losing some of my life’s richness

Conclusion: I’m old enough to say, “In my day . . .”

So, “In my day the taught typing classes in high school”
– our practice assignments were repetitive and boring
• but do you know what?
◦ my fingers now find the keys on their own
• I can type without thinking about typing

I receive God with my breath
because my mind is too small a portal
to receive all that he is
With my breath,
I don’t have to understand
how he enters me
or what he does in me;
I am able to simply trust that he is
and that is all I need

Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
(Psalm 46:10)

Podcast

Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth—
let Israel now say—
Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
yet they have not prevailed against me. Psalm 129

Intro: This short psalm tells a story

It is about a person who was abused as a child
– yet the child became an adult without being defined by abuse
• at least, that’s how the first line reads
◦ but the second line corrects our understanding,
let Israel now say—
◦ the poem is not about a person, but a people
• by creating the perception of one person’s story,
◦ the poet captures Israel’s collective identity
– reading it as the poem of an individual personalizes the psalm for us
• but it also reminds us that we belong to a community
• and we have a shared identity with that community

Reading this Psalm last week, here is what I saw

The scars of Israel’s affliction were like furrows on its back
– like a person whose back is scarred from the lashings of a whip

The plowers plowed upon my back;
they made long their furrows Psalm 129:3

• the graphic word picture takes us back to Israel’s “youth” in Egypt
[The Egyptians] set taskmasters over [Israel] to afflict them with heavy burdens. . . . they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service (Ex. 1:13-14)
• child abuse also leaves scars
◦ sometimes on their bodies
◦ almost always on their brains and nervous systems
– Bessel van der Kolk argues that such scars be recognized as PTSD
(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
• his suggested diagnostic label is “developmental trauma”
• he has also explained this can result from abuse or neglect
– Israel had been traumatized in its youth, but not defined by its trauma
• that is because God intervened
The LORD is righteous;
he has cut the cords of the wicked Psalm 129:4

My Mom and Dad were not terrible parents, but they were not perfect
– they were my folks, and I love them
• but I am not the person I would have become on their rearing alone
◦ as with Israel, God not intervened
• given the total environment of my youth, I imagine my adult self as:
An obsessive-compulsive germaphobe, torn between grandiose delusions and perceptions of abject failure; self-infatuated yet self loathing; isolated from others and socially incapacitated; perhaps in and out of mental institutions, and most likely dead by my own hand before my fortieth birthday.
– but God cut those cords, which I understand to mean,
• God removed me from the control and influence of my family
• I had to detach myself from my family for several years
◦ because I hated the person I became whenever I was around them

I read the remainder of the psalm as “a prayer of detachment”

May all who hate Zion
be put to shame and turned backward!
Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up,
with which the reaper does not fill his hand
nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
nor do those who pass by say,
“The blessing of the LORD be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the LORD!” Psalm 129:5-8

In the Hebrew Scriptures, “hate” is as much what a person does,
– as it is how a person acts toward someone else
• love and hate are seen in the way a person treats others
• so the prayer is that those who have hurt Zion would be shamed
◦ that the effect of their deeds would be turned backward
◦ as if erasing the affliction of the past
– the withered grass is an image of the vitality of trauma (or the abusers)
• the prayer is that it would be rendered powerless
◦ that the abuse would no have any effect on Israel
• that no one would pronounce a blessing on the abusers or their abuse
◦ is a request that no energy would be given to the abuse
◦ nor to the memory of it

Interestingly, Psalm 124 is the only other psalm that begins the same way
– using the same word formula
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side—
let Israel now say—“
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side
when people rose up against us,
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
when their anger was kindled against us (Ps. 124:1-3)
• again, Israel did not suffer the fate others intended for them
◦ because once again God intervened on their behalf
◦ as a result, neither Israel’s identity nor destiny was controlled by others
We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken and we have escaped (Ps. 124:7)
– these stories of intervention illustrate a truth we can trust
• God makes real and positive changes in our lives

Two important facts about the brain have come to light

The first is referred to as neuroplasticity
– it was once believed that the adult human brain did not change
• that brain development occurred early in life
◦ from conception through late adolescence
• but that the adult brain was fixed and unable to repair itself
– we know now the brain continues to learn and develop into old age
• that it can heal itself to a remarkable degree
• that it can shut off old neural pathways,
◦ and create new pathways (synapses between neurons)
◦ it can even produce new neurons in specific structures

The other big discovery was epigenetics
– the old idea was that children are predestined by inherited genes
• we know that holds true for a number of physical features (eye color)
◦ but it is not true of everything
• for instance, a parent’s mood disorder may go back two generations
◦ a child may carry the same gene, but not manifest the disorder
◦ the gene may predispose the child as a potential outcome,
◦ but it is not absolute that the child will suffer the same mood
– the way that a gene expresses itself can be turned on or off
• whether it is turned on, depends on environmental factors
◦ such as family life and other influences like health and school
Daniel Siegel, “When neurons fire together, the genes in their nuclei—their command control centers—become activated and ‘express’ themselves. Gene expression means that certain proteins are produced. These proteins then enable the synaptic linkages to be constructed anew or to be strengthened.”
• we can intentionally influence the expression of certain genes
◦ we can produce changes in the brain’s “structural connections”
◦ this has been the lesson of the last four weeks
◦ that to “repent” is to rewrite the brain’s owner’s manual

Specific factors that improve progress in changing the brain

Prayer – like the psalm we read, God intervenes
– trusting God has real value in reducing stress and anxiety
In How God Changes the Brain, Andrew Newberg and Mark Waldman state, “Our neurological findings have shown that different types of meditation and prayer affect different parts of the brain in different ways, and each one appears to have a beneficial effect on our neurological functioning and physical and emotional health.”
• when we trust God, we can envision a new future
• if we can trust so much that we feel the new future,
◦ it transforms our attitude now
◦ we can give thanks today for tomorrow’s blessing
(for instance, notice how Psalm 13 begins,
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
and ends,
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Being – to be aware of your “here and now” experience
– it is a waking up to life
• we can see that a blossom is beautiful, and know it is beautiful
◦ but we can also have a direct encounter with its beauty
◦ and, we can be aware that we are having that encounter
• enter your body:
◦ be aware of external stimuli and internal sensations
• enter your mind — ask, “What am I thinking right now?”
• enter your emotions — ask, “What is my mood right now?”
◦ if you cannot read your feelings, it may help to have a list:
happy, frustrated, relaxed, afraid, safe, uneasy . . .)
▫ labeling your mood helps to objectify it and not identify with it

Seeing – developing a trained eye
– catch your brain when it heads into a downward spiral on autopilot
• know your triggers and catch them in the act
Daniel Siegel, “One of the key practical lessons of modern neuroscience is that the power to direct our attention has within it the power to shape our brain’s firing patterns, as well as the power to shape the architecture of the brain itself.”

Savoring – make the most of positive experiences
– when something pleasant happens,
• when you receive an insight, an answer to prayer, or unexpected gift
• hold it for a few seconds – give it time to sink in
◦ we want our brains to memorize the feeling
◦ be with it long enough to form or strengthen neural connection

Doing – reinforce neural circuits by acting on your new thought
Jesus did not hand out certificates of discipleship simply because his disciples heard him teach or learned from his example. On the night he taught them about loving and serving others, he told them,
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (Jn. 13:17)
– doing adds new neural connections and keeps the brain healthy
• if you’re good at crossword puzzles, find something else to do
◦ the brain needs new challenges to continue developing
• sit at a piano or keyboard, write a short story
◦ be at peace with being a beginner – being clumsy at first

Integrating – place your effort to change into a total experience
– let the thought in your mind find a corresponding emotion
• notice the sensations the thought and emotion create in the body
• then do something – act out the new thought and emotion
◦ the more your spread an experience throughout the brain,
◦ the more power you give to rewriting its owner’s manual
– at this point the whole process can collapse–IF
• you’re not passionate about the changes your attempting
• passion makes a huge difference in writing change into the brain

Repeating – repetition is how we formed the brain’s current circuits
– practice praying, being, seeing, savoring, doing, integrating
• the more we use those new synapses, stronger the connection
• we become more effective and proficient in our new minds and actions

Conclusion: I want to you to leave with this truth

God’s Spirit, who enables and empowers our new life in Jesus
– will be with you this week – and will energize and help you change

Our prayer:
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right Spirit within me (Ps. 51:10)
God’s answer:
I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you . . . And I will put my Spirit within you . . . (Eze. 36:26-27)

Podcast

The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month.
Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the LORD said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatsoever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the LORD.”
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow,”
to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:1-11

Intro: In the Hebrew Scriptures, the prophet’s call was an important event

Each of the three major prophets tell elaborate stories of their initiation
– typical features of a prophetic call include:
• a God-encounter
• instructions regarding their ministry and message
• a warning of what they are up against
• an attempt on the prophet’s part to dodge the call
◦ they argue their disqualification
• God rejects their disqualification and “qualifies” them
• they then receive their first vision, word, or revelation
– Jeremiah begins with the story of his call and apprenticeship

Jeremiah appeared at a critical time in Israel’s history
– he would live to see his nation come to an end
• God was going to make a clean slate of Jerusalem and Judah
• then, after seventy years, he was going to start over
– before reconstruction there would be demolition
• before planting there would be a thorough weeding

Our summer project has been to explore “repentance“

So far we’ve seen, the changes God wants to see in our lives
– require us to change what goes on inside our brains
• neural circuits have been formed by habit to run automatically
◦ for instance, we don’t have to think about losing our temper
◦ in fact, usually we don’t think about it until afterward
• an owner’s manual has been written into our brains
◦ we have learned that it is important to learn how to read it,
◦ to identify what needs to be removed from it,
◦ and then begin rewriting it

The nature of Jeremiah’s ministry offers a familiar template
– old structures have to be pulled down
Break up your fallow ground, and do not plant among thorns (Jer. 4:3)
• fallow ground was the surface layer of soil
◦ it would bake in the hot sun and become like hardened clay
• this is a good illustration of how thought habits solidify in the brain
◦ we have to “break up” the negative, self-destructive circuits
◦ then begin to wire together new healthier circuits
– Jesus took apart a lot of the old systems
• he changed religion — the “old wineskins” (Mt. 9:14-17)
• he changed many of the rules — regarding the Sabbath (Mt. 12:1-8)
◦ Jesus changed people, and he wanted their participation
◦ there was the time in Jesus when Jesus asked the cripple,
Do you want to be healed? (Jn. 5:6)
Jesus was saying, in effect, Life did this to you, but now I’m offering you something else

Last week this meant to put off the old self and put on the new self
– Paul provides specific instructions for specific issues, like anxiety:
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Php. 4:6-7)
• he told the Philippians what they had to stop doing
• then, how to stop (bring everything anxious thought to God)
• and then what to use to replace their anxious thoughts
whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things (Php. 4:8)

What does this mean in terms of rewriting the brain’s owner’s manual?

We have to cut some wires
– we’ve seen how habitual thoughts, emotions, and reactions,
• are wired into our brain cells
◦ that neurons wire together to form circuits
• whenever the circuit is triggered, it produces the same response
◦ the same feeling, the same emotion, the same mood,
◦ the same unwanted experience
– the neurons in those circuits need to be disconnected
• that can happens naturally – we experience it as forgetfulness
◦ it is not difficult to let go of some things
one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal … in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way . . . . (Php. 3:13-14)
• other things are not so easy, and so require heavy artillery
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor. 10:4-5)

If we can stop our brains from using the same neural pathways,
– the connections between neurons will wither
• but there are two problems we have to solve:
◦ these circuits operate apart from our conscious control
◦ when we try to disconnect them we will experience resistance
• we’ll take these problems one at a time

The first problem: we are unaware of our brain is doing

We can be lost in a thought or feeling without being aware that we are
Daniel Siegel asks, “. . . how do we actually develop the ability to perceive a thought—not just have one—and to know it as an activity of our minds so that we are not taken over by it? How can we be receptive to the mind’s riches and not just reactive to its reflexes? How can we direct our thoughts and feelings rather than be driven by them?”
– his answer, is by developing a seventh sense
(the first five senses receive information from the world outside the body, the sixth sense receives information from the interior of the body)
• he refers to the seventh sense as “mindsight”
◦ the ability to observe what goes on in our minds
Siegel, “. . . when we develop the skill of mindsight, we actually change the physical structure of the brain. Developing the lens that enables us to see the mind more clearly stimulates the brain to grow important new connections.”
– anyone here can develop this awareness–after all, it’s your brain!
• my mind is engaged in thought, but I’m not aware that I’m thinking
• it seems more like I am perceiving something than thinking it
◦ so I mistake the thought for reality
◦ or I mistake what I feel for what I am
– Fr. Romuald said when he caught himself identifying with a thought or feeling, “I switch levels”
• that is, he would take a step back from his thought and look at it
◦ I can be aware of my thought, and aware that I am thinking it
◦ I can aware of what I’m reading, and that I am reading
• when we develop this kind of awareness,
◦ we begin to catch our brains in the act
◦ and in that moment, we have a choice
• if we continue with it, we reinforce the neural circuit that produces it
◦ if we move from our thought to the present moment experience of the body,
◦ we break the circuit and begin forming new circuit
(the new thought habit)

The second problem is our the resistance of our addictions

How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God (see Mk. 10:17-23)
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do (Gal. 5:17)

Addiction may sound like a strong word and seem irrelevant to you
– but bear with me
• the reason opioids produce pleasure is because the brain has opioid receptors
◦ with thought alone we can release chemicals into the brain and nervous system,
◦ that reduce pain, comfort and soothe, or give us a feel-good kick
• demanding jobs that require lots of ongoing creativity,
◦ can create a natural adrenaline addiction
• jobs that give us the opportunity to nurture and care for others
◦ can also provide feel-good rewards
◦ but if we become addicted to the care of others, we can burn out
(in the field of healthcare, this is known as Compassion Fatigue Syndrome)
– if we can become aware of what triggers our addictive thoughts and feelings,
• then we can learn to become aware of when a trigger occurs
◦ this gives us the freedom to choose
◦ we can let go of our addiction to anger, greed, fear, ego needs, etc.
• the Bible doesn’t use language of addiction
◦ but it uses words with similar meaning, like bondage or slavery
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Ro. 6:16)
Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (Jn. 8:34)

Conclusion: I’ve printed a simple prayer exercise

It’s one of many ways to practice bringing our inner life into awareness
– simply closing our eyes and taking a couple cleansing breaths,
• instantly affects the nervous system
• making it easier to be more aware, to see more clearly
– there’s an extra energy and even joy in being in silence with God,
• both God and I observing my thoughts, feelings, and emotions
• in his presence, the process is less threatening, less discouraging
◦ and more loving and hope-filled

You can do this
All you need is the right perspective and attitude
and the willingness to practice and not give up,
even if at first it seems you are making little progress

The way of the sluggard is like a hedge of thorns,
but the path of the upright is a level highway (Pr. 15:19)

Do not get stuck obsessing over the thorns,
but look at the highway stretching ahead to freedom
With the old self in your rear view mirror,
begin to imagine the joy waiting for you on the horizon
God’s new creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he or she is a new creation.
The old has passed away;
behold, the new has come
(2 Cor. 5:17)

Silent Prayer Exercise

If you have not already found your own way of sitting silently in God’s presence, you may find the following exercise helpful.
When praying this way, we have no other goal than to bring our full attention to the present moment. Our hearts, mind and bodies are open and receptive to God.
We are not trying to do anything, rather our intention is to be still and know God’s presence here and now.

Preparation
1. Choose a time and place that assures stillness and quiet
a. Reduce or eliminate distractions (turn off cell phone)
2. Sit in an upright yet comfortable position
a. Rest your hands on your lap
b. Wherever you are, notice the space your body occupies
3. Release any muscle tension you feel in your body
a. If it helps, do a little, gentle stretching
4. Present yourself to God with a simple prayer
a. For instance:
Father in heaven, this moment is Yours.
Lord Jesus, my heart and mind are Yours.
Holy Spirit, awaken me to Your presence.

Begin
1. Take three deep cleansing breaths
a. Notice your breath entering and leaving your body
b. Notice the space inside your body that your breath fills
2. Beginning with the top of your head say,
“The peace of the Lord be with you”
a. Allow yourself to feel God’s peace rest on your head
b. Gently move your awareness down to your eyes and say,
“Peace”
i. Feel your eyelids and the muscles around your eyes relax
c. Move down and say, “Peace” to your nose and sinuses
d. Move down to your mouth, lips, tongue, teeth and jaw
i. Say, “Peace,” and feel those places relax even more
e. Move awareness to the side and back of your head
i. Say, “Peace” to your ears and neck
f. Continue to move down to your shoulders, back, etcetera
i. Speak peace to your entire body, one part at a time
3. Think of your busy brain and tell it,
“The peace of the Lord be with you”
a. Speak peace to your brainstem and spinal chord
b. Speak God’s peace to each of your organs or “systems”
i. For instance, nervous, respiratory, cardiac system, etc.

Settle in
Take a moment to enjoy your heart, mind and body at rest
1. Become a spectator of your present moment experience
a. What sensations do you feel in your body?
i. Do not attach any significance to them, simply notice them
b. What emotion do you feel?
i. If nothing, simply notice that you feel nothing
c. What thoughts come to you?
i. Ask, “What am I thinking right now?”
ii. Observe the thought without being dragged into it
2. If in your body there is pain, discomfort, the jitters,
Or your emotion is one of anxiety, discouragement, sadness
Or if your thought is negative, dark, or upsetting
a. Be aware of the unpleasantness
i. Acknowledge it for what it is
b. But do not judge yourself for what you experience
i. You are a spectator, not a judge
ii. Let God’s compassion fill you

Wrapping it up
1. Thank God for this time in his presence
2. As you stand up, be aware that you are standing up
3. Do not rush into your next activity
a. Move mindfully into the next thing

Podcast

Ephesians 4:17-24

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Intro: We began two weeks ago with the first word of Jesus’ message:

“Repent” – a change of mind that leads to change of everything
– the Bible uses other words for change: turn, convert, transform
• I’ve tried to point out, that this means changing our brains
• brain activity that has become automatic and unconscious
– Paul has an interesting way of illustrating this change, he says,
put off your old self and put on the new self

Paul had a majestic vision for the church in Ephesus

He saw a spiritually enlightened community living in unity
– every person building the community
and the community building every person
• as a result, they would “mature” to Christian adulthood
• they would “grow up” in every way into Christ (Ep. 4:1-16)
– the only thing that stood in the way of this vision was their old self

Their old self had been shaped by their history
– their former manner of life and and that life was corrupt
• in computer terminology, corrupt refers to a damaged file
◦ a file that cannot run its program as it was designed to do
◦ corrupt mental files can prevent people from living as God designed
• last week we saw that education and experience etches pathways in the brain
◦ every brain writes an owner’s manual that sinks into unconscious
◦ that becomes an internal belief system – a blueprint of reality
– to put on new the self is to have a new owner’s manual written for us
• the new self is
created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness
• today we will take another step in that direction

Have you ever seen a satellite photo of United States?

Or perhaps flown across the country at night?
– points of light dot the East and West coasts
• large dark patches lie in between
• imagine that the brain looks something like that, only in three dimensional space
◦ here and there, active brain cells light up
◦ all the cells in a cluster of lights are connected to each other
– neural wiring is not confined to the brain, runs through the entire body
• a sudden panic produces an instant response in
◦ the heart, lungs, digestive tract, glands, muscles, etc.
• but the body doesn’t need panic to activate its systems
◦ every emotion and most every thought enlists all its parts to some degree

Habits are history recorded in the brain and nervous system
– if an event is repeated or its impact is strong enough (e.g., trauma),
• it is written into neurons affecting emotions
◦ and also the body’s biological response to those emotions
(heart and respiratory rate, release of adrenaline and cortisol, etc.)
• the memory of the event will also reproduce the biological response
◦ the same neurons are activated in the same structures of the brain
◦ the same chemicals course through the body
◦ the same sensations occur
– we know that repeatedly doing the same thing produces the same effect
• thinking the same thoughts result in the same conclusions
• this is one way we are controlled by our past

A few years ago, I needed help with an important decision

I confided in someone I assumed was a close friend
– about a year later, he leaked our private conversation
• his action was worse than a betrayal of confidence
• he used that information against me, to manipulate me
◦ in his mind, he was acting in my best interest
◦ but for me it was a shocking and left a deep wound
– at first, I tried to blow it off and remain friends — but I couldn’t do it
• seeing him was a reminder of the distress his breach caused me
◦ even when I heard his name, I knotted up inside
◦ praying the Lord’s Prayer,
forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
his face would pop into my head
• frequently, I imagined confronting him, trying to clear it up
◦ I wanted him to realize how he had wronged me – and apologize
◦ but I new that would never happen
(he is way too much of a narcissist to ever admit he had done wrong)

How did I get that stuck?
– when I discovered what he did, the emotional impact of it was intense
• and it got worse with time and the more his actions played out
• what I was feeling activated my entire nervous system
◦ millions of neural connections were formed in my brain and body
◦ the chemical effect registered in emotions and physical symptoms
◦ hurt, grief, anger – knotted stomach, tense muscles, loss of energy
– the intensity of it all created an instant and persistent memory
• so a year later, five years, eight years–whenever I remembered it–
◦ the same neural pathway was activated, the same chemistry
◦ I felt the same shock and pain, the same revulsion and anger
• it was as if with every reminder the offense were being committed again
◦ how could I forgive him, since what he did felt like right now?

The past is not just something we remember like a phone number

It is somewhere we can get stuck — the brain reproduces it, and we relive it
– that is why resentment anchors itself so firmly in our hearts
• to remember, we re-experience the abuse we suffered
◦ then, perhaps, we relish our “revenge fantasies”
◦ or we enjoy punishing the offender
(maybe shutting them out of our lives, slandering them, etc.)
• but we are the ones who replay–and recreate–the event
◦ maybe what the perpetrator did to us happened only once,
◦ we end up repeating the experience a thousand times
– each recorded event or habit has a trigger–or triggers
• regarding triggers,
Dr. Joe Dispenza says, “All it takes is one stray thought, or one reaction to some event in the external world . . . .”

How come we’re mostly unaware of the brain’s owner’s manual?

As we’ve seen, habits tend to slip from awareness
– but there’s another reason – has to do with 3 regions of brain

The first is the brainstem
• it descends from the base of the brain into spinal chord
• it’s a communication center for brain and the rest of body
Second is the limbic system — the interior of the brain
• the headquarters for emotions – including nurturing, empathy
• it interprets our experiences and feel; good or bad
Third is the cortex – the outer layer of brain
• in the front part of brain is the corner suite of executive office–
the prefrontal cortex (PFC)
• the rational part of brain – reasoning, analyzing, planning
• also, the part of our brain that is self-conscious

In crisis, the brainstem can take immediate control of body
– by activating the Sympathetic Nervous System (fight or flight response)
• this can happen not only before information reaches the PFC,
◦ but it can happen without information ever reaching the PFC
• as a result: no conscious memory of the event is ever recorded
◦ the body remembers–and can be reactivated
◦ but the person does not consciously remember the trauma
(for example, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
– the brainstem can be activated by external or internal triggers

Conclusion: I think we’re done looking at the neural challenges of change

Next week we’ll begin looking at changes we can begin making now
– but I feel it’s necessary to give you a little help for the time being

First, we cannot rewrite owner’s manual if we don’t know it
– my default setting is overwhelming oppression — what’s yours?
– the first and foremost challenge:
• developing and strengthening awareness
• of what is happening in our brains and bodies

Second, God has given us a different clock to run our lives by
– the clock we use now can trap us in the past–and future too
• the PFC can imagine and anticipate a horrible future event
◦ the problem is, the rest of the brain doesn’t know its imaginary
◦ so the limbic system produces worry and the brainstem activates the body
• with God’s clock, our lives run according to eternity

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen For the things that are seen are transient, but the the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Co 4:16-18)

– eternity intersects time as we live in it, to lift us out of it
• we are no longer haunted and controlled by the past
◦ nor are we afraid of the future
• at the intersection of time and eternity, we find rest in God’s presence
◦ then we are enabled to return to our time, relieved and renewed

When does eternity intersect time?
Well, if we’re not lost in the automatic habits of our brain,
but deepening our awareness of God’s presence,
we find that it may happen any time or all the time
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2)

Podcast

Ephesians 2:1-7

Intro: Has God answered your prayer this week

(Remember? We were going to pray the following verses all week

Search me, O God, and know my heart!
Try me and know my thoughts!
And see if there be any grievous way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting! — Psalm 139:23-24)

Last week we learned what neuroscience has taught us about repentance
– at a practical, biological level repentance means changing our brains
• the brain is control center for all the activity of the mind and body
• how do we repent? How are we changed, transformed?

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Ro. 12:2)

– why must our idea of repentance be more complicated than gospels?
• because our lives are so much more complicated
• they had lots of physical space and time to reflect
◦ we’re bombarded by massive stimulation and information
(imagine the difference between driving ten miles and walking ten miles — how many more sights, movements and decisions to be made at fifty-five miles per hour)
◦ we’re faced with thousands of choices they never dreamed of

I said before that every human brain writes an owner’s manual
– today we will learn how to read our owner’s manual
Daniel Siegel, Clinical Professor at UCLA School of Medicine, finds it helpful to patients in therapy if they can visualize the activity in their brains and know how to affect changes in it

In Ephesians 2, Paul is answering a question: How did we get here?

That is, here to being “blessed with every spiritual blessing” (Ep. 1:3-14)
– we did not start here
• when God’s light first shined on us, we were dead
– in verse 2, Paul mentions three causes of spiritual death:
1. The world – a spiritual alternative to kingdom of God
◦ opposed to God – in rebellion to God’s will
◦ the world presents our brains with thoughts, images & suggestions
2. The prince of the power of the air (the devil)
◦ tempter, adversary, accuser, “liar,” and “murderer”
3. Our flesh – our natural self apart from God
◦ the part of us that is capable of being tempted, seduced, mislead

But even when we were dead, God made us alive (v. 5)
– dead: a static condition – motionless – no change, stuck
• alive: dynamic, moving, changing
– obviously, this isn’t something we can accomplish on our own
• God involves himself in our repentance – our change
• he is with us every step of the way

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (vv. 8-10)

A few years ago, as Christmas present Barbara gave me a brain

It’s plastic and came with a guide that labels various structures
– the human brain contains billions of cells – neurons
• similar cells run through entire body
◦ these activate every muscle – legs in walking, pupils in dilating
◦ shifting your weight in your chair requires that activation of millions of neurons
• neurons are the basic building blocks to every thought, feeling, action

Neuron consists of a cell body – various shapes and sizes
– it communicates with other neurons through minuscule fibers
• a central fiber, the axon, sends messages (bipolar, etc.)
• multiple fibers, dendrites, branch out from the cell body to receive messages
◦ dendrites connect with axons, other dendrites, or the cell body of other neurons
◦ neurons do not actually make contact with other neurons
– there is a tiny gap between contact points – the synapse
• the neuron sending a message releases chemical molecules into fluid between contact points
• neuron can connect with thousands of other neurons
◦ neurons with shorter axons connect with neurons nearby
◦ neurons with longer axons connect with other the neurons of other structures in the brain

What causes neurons to fire?
– incoming messages from other neurons create a minute electrical charge
• by itself, that charge is not strong enough to affect a response
• it takes thousands of messages arriving from other neurons
◦ all of them arriving within a millisecond to produce an “action potential”
◦ this electrical charge runs down the axon from the cell body, releasing chemical molecules
– the brain’s chemistry set is fascinating
• the brain utilizes at least 100 different “neurotransmitters”
◦ to speed up activation, neurons receive glutamate molecules
◦ to slow down activation, neurons receive GABA molecules
• neurotransmitters affect all mental activity
◦ they are frequently implicated in mood disorders

An action, thought, or memory is not contained in one brain cell

Every thought requires thousands of brain cells
– if a thought is repeated, it utilizes the same cluster of cells (mostly)
• this is how our brains form habits
• a repeated thought or action is imprinted on the same neurons
◦ Hebb’s Law, “Neurons that fire together, wire together”
– as a boy, I lived in rural communities
• frequently, the shortest distance between two points was a diagonal line across an empty lot
◦ I would trample the weeds my first time across the field
◦ after enough people used that same route, the weeds died, leaving a clear and compact dirt path
• that trail became the fastest, easiest way to reach the other side
◦ it became, in fact, the only path across the lot
◦ this is similar to the way habitual thoughts and feelings form in connecting neurons in the brain

Habits are helpful, but they tend to dull awareness
– the value of a habit is don’t have to think about it when doing it
• your brain has all the movements memorized
◦ your body acts on its own, leaving you free to think about other things
• but what we miss with our habits is the experience of living
◦ there’s a certain pleasure in riding a bike
◦ but I can lose that enjoyment if I am only in a hurry to get somewhere
– habits sink into the unconscious–that is, we are not aware of them
• there’s a lot our brains do that we’re not conscious of
◦ all the “involuntary” functions of our nervous system
• there are also a lot of thought habits
◦ they are present even if we’re not conscious of thinking them

Suppose a child is made to feel like a jerk by a teacher, playmate, or parent
– that feeling is real to the child
• if reinforced, then the same neurons of that real feeling will be activated
• and every time those neurons fire, they will produce the same chemical reactions in the child’s brain and body
◦ the same neurotransmitters will be released
◦ the same hormones will be launched into the blood stream
◦ the child will feel the same emotion – embarrassment, shame, guilt
(even when he or she is twenty, thirty, or forty years old)
– a record of this repeated is etched into the brain’s owner’s manual
• a person’s “inner belief system” consists of these neural habits
◦ repeated thoughts, feelings, attitudes, judgments, etc.
• we do not doubt our unconscious belief system, because it is deeply embedded within us
◦ our belief system forms our perception of reality
◦ and any little mistake seems to confirm our negative beliefs
◦ with even a little mistake, a voice within says, “See! You are a jerk”

I once shared with Fr. with Romuald my mental self-abuse

He said he was surprised, and told me,
“Well, I suppose we all have those self-deprecating thoughts. I do, though probably not to the degree that you have described. But I don’t see why you would want to identify with them. I am not my thoughts, and I am not my feelings”
– there’s a world of difference between saying,
• “I did something really stupid” and “I am really stupid”
• but my identity, formed in my belief system, tells me “I am”
– are you getting an idea of why repentance is so difficult?
• basically, God is telling us,
“You’re not who you think you are, and reality is not what you’ve thought it was. All of that has to change.”
– but haven’t we tried to change?
• through will power – through happy thoughts
• but since we haven’t changed it is most likely because we have not gone deep enough
◦ we have not entered the inner chamber of our brains
◦ repentance is not about having new thoughts, but becoming new persons

Conclusion: Going back to the path we created in a field

Suppose one day we attempt to take our usual shortcut,
– but when we get to the field, someone has put up a fence
• or the whole lot has been graded for development
• we can no longer follow that path
– one part of repentance (change) is to put up fences
• to stop thinking the same thoughts, believing same things
◦ that’s the turning from part of repentance
• the turning to part is trusting God for his grace to assist us

To fully repent, we need to bring our belief system into awareness
We will continue with that project next week
In the mean time,
start paying attention to your daily habits
Notice what your body is doing when walking,
opening a jar or can,
drinking a glass of water,
or reading a book
Pay attention to what it feels like
and you will begin to enter awareness
of some of those unconscious processes
that drive our daily actions

Podcast

Psalm 147
Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.
The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names.
Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure.
The LORD lifts up the humble;
he casts the wicked to the ground.
. . . .

Intro: C. S. Lewis, book, Reflections On the Psalms is short but insightful
– he addresses some of difficulties modern readers have with the Psalms
• in the introduction he said,
“Most emphatically the Psalms must be read as poems; as lyrics, with all the licences and all the formalities, the hyperboles, the emotional rather than logical connections, which are proper to lyric poetry. They must be read as poetry if they are to be understood . . . . Otherwise we shall miss what is in them and think we see what is not there.”
– I chose Psalm 147 because I want to talk about worship
• but first, a little history

In 1975, a home Bible study I taught for two years became a church
– Calvary Chapel of Dana Point (now Capo Beach Church)
• when we started meeting Sundays, I knew how to “do church”
◦ I wore a suit and tie and we sang hymns
(accompanied by an organ and piano)
◦ in our home meetings, one person with a guitar led songs
• one night I realized our music and prayers had become stale
◦ it wasn’t what I felt worship should be
◦ it got so bad, one night I got a strong impression that God’s Spirit was about to leave the building
– I talked with our song leader until I had him completely frustrated
• one time, exasperated with me, he asked, “What is worship, anyway?”
• “I don’t know,” I answered, “but this is not it!”

Around that time, I asked my friend Jack, a church consultant,
– to help me develop a better organizational structure for our church
• we went over staff, finances, facilities, and our various programs
• after spending a couple months covering all the business items,
◦ he asked if there was any other area that needed help
◦ I couldn’t think of anything at first, but he kept prodding
◦ finally I said, “Well, our time of worship sucks”
– Jack invited me to his church, Calvary Chapel of Yorba Linda
(which later became The Yorba Linda Vineyard)
• at first I declined, I had lots of exposure to Charismatic worship
◦ and it did not interest me
◦ he said, “This is different. I think it’s what you’re looking for”
• so the following Sunday I went
◦ and for the first times in years, I experienced God in worship
◦ I also began mourning over the death of worship in our church

The following week I gathered the elders and church staff and told them
– for the next month we were shutting down all our programs
• no men’s group, no women’s prayer meetings, no youth meetings, etc.
• also, they were to visit the Yorba Linda church on a Sunday night
– on Sunday mornings I began teaching through the Bible,
• examining everything it had to say about worship
– Rick Founds and Todd Collins had recently been attending our church
• they had been singing before Christian audiences for many years
◦ I asked them to consider leading worship for us
◦ we would borrow the music and format of the Yorba Linda church
• they agreed, so we prayed over them and the change was underway

We soon experienced the most important turning point in our history
– our little community came alive
• we were a more vibrant and healthier group of believers
• we expected God to show up every time we worshiped
– I felt that if we invited people into that environment of worship,
• they would experience God and be moved to open their hearts to him
◦ we kept the focus on God
◦ we emphasized the importance of the Spirit’s inspiration
◦ we sought to develop music that was our own
(the kind we enjoyed listening to when not singing “church music”)
◦ and we wanted to make our music the best possible quality
• in time, that form of worship became our “tradition”
◦ and like most traditions, people developed a loyalty to its form
◦ there were other problems as well

I still believe in the essence of what we did, but its form was not perfect
– some parts of worship were missing and other ingredients were added
• creative artists need freedom to exercise their gifts
◦ however, if the music gets too complicated or too excellent,
◦ it tends to draw attention to itself and become and entertain
◦ it performs for an audience rather that create participants
• music is unique in the way it reaches and stirs emotions
◦ such is its value in engaging the whole person
◦ but worship must reach deeper than emotions to affect change
◦ people may assume their experience was spiritual when it was only emotional
. . . [your people] say to one another . . ., “Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.” And the come to your as people come, and they sit before you as my people . . . behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it (Ezek. 33:30-32)
– music was an add-on to Israel’s worship centuries after Moses
• music was King David’s innovation (1 Chr. 15:15-16; 2 Chr. 23:18)
• some Christians think worship is the musical part of the service
◦ music is important, but it is not everything

For awhile, I’ve been wondering what worship looks like for us

Perhaps the first question to ask, is what are we missing?
– Psalm 147 does not tell us everything we need to know
• but it does contain some important elements
– I see the poem as an R.S.V.P. (respond if you please)
• its structured pattern is obvious, and repeats three times:
◦ an invitation (or imperative)
Praise the LORD (v. 1)
Sing to the LORD (v. 7)
Praise the LORD (v. 12)
◦ reasons are given (note the verbs — what he does)
The LORD builds up . . . gathers . . . heals . . . etc. (vv. 2-4)
He covers the heavens . . . prepares rain . . . etc. (vv. 8-9)
For he strengthens . . . he blesses . . . etc. (vv. 13-19)
▫ what he does for the nation, the person, and in nature
▫ from healing broken hearts to giving names to the stars
◦ an observation is made (regarding God, especially who he is)
Great is our Lord . . . (v. 5)
His delight is not in the strength of the horse . . . (vv. 10-11)
He has not dealt thus with any other nation (v. 20)

Worship celebrates our everyday environment

He determines the number of the stars;
He gives to all of them their names. (v. 4)
He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares rain for the earth;
he makes grass grow on the hills.
He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry (vv. 8-9)

Most of us know how close God feels in mountains and forests
– something catches our attention — a sight, sound or scent
• as we observe and enjoy, thoughts come to us
◦ if we remain aware, we begin to see more
◦ our experience goes beyond the thing that is seen to its Creator
• it is quite natural for a prayer or sense of gratitude to stir within is
◦ these are the initial inner movements of worship
– it’s possible to develop a sensitivity to God as his presence is revealed in the world,
• so that ordinary things begin to speak to us
• a bar of soap or a table set for dinner

Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD
Praise the LORD

Creating rituals can help us develop a habit of noticing
– Sue Johnson encourages couples to turn small gestures into rituals
• rituals that tell the other person, “You matter to me”
She says, “Rituals are an important part of belonging. They are repeated, intentional ceremonies that recognize a special time or connection. Rituals engage us, emotionally and physically [I would add, spiritually], so that we become riveted to the present moment in a positive way.”
• last week we saw that Jesus ritualized his greeting when he met with his disciples
◦ three times he greeted them with, Peace be with you
◦ Paul encouraged Christians to ritualize their hellos and goodbyes
Greet one another with a holy kiss (1 Cor. 16:20)
– Brother Lawrence, in Practice the Presence of God,
• encourages us to do every chore “for the love of God”
• and to say this to ourselves as we go about our day
◦ for him it may have been, “I am washing and peeling these potatoes for the love of God”

Worship is enhanced by music

Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre (v. 7)

Neuroscientist and psychobiologist, Jaak Panksepp, encouraged therapists to use music to stimulate “the rhythmic motor impulses of the body.” He noted that “Marathon organizers, recognizing the power of such motor rhythm facilitators, are beginning to ban iPods so that music listeners will not have undue advantages over the silent plodders. Clearly, music and the other arts need to be incorporated into all therapies that are clearly concerned with the human spirit.”
– we enhance the potential of worship to be a source of healing when we sing our prayers, praise and thanksgiving

Worship fulfills one of God’s purposes for our lives

It is not the sole purpose for our lives, but it is a central purpose

Paul wrote, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you (1 Thes. 5:16-18)

In heaven, angels and saints sing to God,
Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things
and by your will they existed and were created (Rev. 4:11)

– worship is not what we do in church
• it is how we live every day of our lives

Conclusion: Would you consider writing yourself a reminder

To consider ways that worship can become a way of life

And pray for Reflexion,
– that God will reveal to us our own unique expression of worship
• an expression that shares rituals in common with all Christians
• and at the same time has the flavor and aroma
of our own, unique spiritual community