Seeker Cycle 2005 August
1st Sunday in August (John 14:1 – 15:17 and Luke 13:18-19, 17:5-6)
The problem with air conditioning is that it removes one from the sense of participation that the rest of the world is enjoying. The environment is too isolated, too foreign, to the experience outdoors. Heat in the winter does something similar, but it’s winter out there! There is less going on, less movement, fewer sights and sounds and smells. In summer, it is hard NOT to feel like a participant in a carnival of activity. If you are stuck in air conditioning, you’re missing out.
Participation is a key word of Gospel writer John. He expresses it in many ways, in many metaphors, but the basic idea is that Christ “participates” in your life and you “participate” in Christ’s abundant life. The vital connection cannot be broken, and the mystical unity is your hope of salvation. You are bonded together in Christ. Where Christ goes, you go. If Christ goes around the block or around the world in mission, so do you. If you descend into sorrow or grief, Christ goes with you. If Christ goes to heaven, so do you.
It is not possible to “insulate yourself” from God’s presence. You cannot escape God’s presence by creating an artificial environment that is more comfortable. God may make you sweat, and God may make you shiver, but God will not leave you alone.
Team Meditation (Luke 13:18-19, 17:5-6)
Metaphors are funny things. They try to paint a picture of something beyond themselves, but a single metaphor often doesn't capture the fullness of what it's trying to express. Like faith. Jesus said faith is like a mustard seed: a little bitty, itsy bitsy seed that grows large enough to be a resting spot for the warblers, martins, and sparrows. Later Jesus used the mustard seed again to express that even a little bitty, itsy bitsy faith like the mustard seed has is enough to move mountains (though we must remember Jesus' description of the faith of seeds, i.e., they must first die before coming to life and fruitfulness).
Jesus used story and metaphor for any number of reasons, but I think primarily because they help illustrate, explain, and expand on things of the spirit so much fuller than a theological discourse. How do you describe your faith to your family? To your congregation? To your unchurched neighbor? What metaphors have you discovered that are helpful? And what ones might not be so helpful in your context today?
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (John 14:1 – 15:17)
When Jesus offered this upper room discourse to his apostles, he was addressing a group of his twelve closest buddies. They had shared most everything during the previous three years - food, wine, and dust. In some ways it had been a great three year camping trip with the best friend anyone could have had. In other ways, it was like three years of Army basic training with a former Green Beret drill instructor who sent the troops like lambs into a pack of wolves and on reconnaissance missions without food, money, or even combat boots. It had been a tough three years. It had been a grand three years. But it was all about to come to an end and Jesus offered words of encouragement - and he summarized what he'd been trying to teach.
He didn't quote Crocodile Dundee and tell his disciples, "Me and God, we be mates." Instead he told them, "Me and God, we be one." But then he startled them with by telling them that the point of this exercise was for them and God to be one. The problem with this is the image many people, both Christians and non-Christians, carry about Jesus. The image of Jesus in the Western culture is predominantly "Jesus: Tender, Meek, and Mild." From the portraits that hang in our sanctuaries to the cover of Time magazine, the image of Jesus has largely been feminized (Mel Gibson's Jesus could at least stand up under torture, but let's face it, this still isn't the predominant national image of the Son of God).
And yet, here's Jesus telling the boys that they would do everything that he'd done - and more. That they were to be one with God and with each other. And that they were to love one another as he'd loved them. For those who can step back from the meek and mild Jesus and look at what he stood up for as well as what he endured, they realize just how tall of an order that is. It's huge. It's like the soldier who's not only willing to take a bullet for the sake of the nation, they actually dive on the grenade to spare the squad. Dying to self, being one with God, and loving one another isn't for the faint at heart. And it wasn't modeled by a weak willed wimp either.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (John 14:1 – 15:17)
This week's micro culture is a true church micro culture: men.
Statistically, there are fewer men in church than there are women - for virtually all our readers that statement is going draw a great big "Duh!" With the way most of us have been trained and many of us preach, and this includes both men and women of the pulpit, an observer would almost have to conclude that the target audience for our messages is, by and large, women. But since this is the Seeker cycle, it would seem appropriate to actually devise a service meant to answer some of the diverse needs of the male "species."
Many men in our culture have a lot of difficulty relating to a God like Jesus. Talking about the love and beauty of a man (even when the man is the Son of God) leaves them conflicted within. And yet, in this passage Jesus is inviting all of us to be one with him - to be just like him. For a guy to identify with this kind of God, we're going to have to explore what it means to be like Jesus...and if we're going to reach the men in our culture, it would be helpful to introduce the Jesus who is a man's man. Then we can invite them to take the huge step to become like Jesus.
To bring this home, begin with a video clip from the dark ages of film. Go to the video store and pick up (in the classic TV show section) Star Trek The Original Series (1966). Use episode number 5 "The Enemy Within." In this episode, the transporter malfunctions and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is divided between his compassionate side and his decisive side and they manifest themselves back and forth. The key clip to use is when Kirk is forced to make a life-and-death decision and is unable to because of his whimpering, sniveling, weak-willed "compassionate side" is unable to face the danger. Show the clip and point out that in many ways the Christian culture has elevated this side of compassion to be not only the norm, but as somehow desirable. Of course, we know that isn't the reality, but as John Eldredge (Wild at Heart) noted in one of his seminars, "Oprah and Dr. Phil ask 'Where are all the men' and I say to the TV screen, 'You've asked us to be women!'"
Spend the rest of the service trying to utilize the words that cultural males can relate to: loyalty, honor, duty, courage, discipline, and victory. Although these words are part of our everyday vocabulary, they have generally been purged from the faith. For this service, revitalize them and re-introduce a Jesus with some moxy.
Bill T-B
Video thoughts:
(caveat: this may not fit the microculture of the manly man.) There’s a great video clip from About a Boy. It’s the opening sequence and repeated again in the middle – related to “no man is an island.” The opening sequence talks about island living and later in the film when the sequence repeats, there’s a bit of melancholy because his world is changing and there’s part of him that doesn’t want the island any more. Like many of us, the main character has actually been pretty successful in “island living.” He has his days scheduled and compartmentalized. No disruptions, everything predictable and controlled. As a result, he struggles to understand new emotions/experiences he encounters as his relationship with an outcast, nerdy junior high age boy unfolds. As the boy forces Will to participate in his world, he finds that world changing – for the better. This clip provides an excellent opportunity to talk about isolation and disconnect of both the church (church as island/sanctuary/retreat from the world) and of human beings (me-first mentality, I’m in control, etc.).
Another clip might be something from Lawrence of Arabia – here is a true immersion experience – he participates so deeply in the culture that he is almost unrecognizable to the British. – Connect this to the change we can expect to experience when we participate fully in the life of Christ.
Worship thoughts:
(caveat: this may not be as easy to do in large congregations, but for those trying to break out of their box, it could be powerful.) Try changing the benediction to a participatory charge of one another. Make a commitment to participate in each other’s lives and in the life of the community. Invite folks to return next week with specific prayer concerns that have come from their active participation. Then, instead of sending with a blessing, make the sending be a kind of corporate passing the peace that is shaped as sharing signs of encouragement for the week to come.
There is an excellent book by John Bell of the Iona Community entitled He Was in the World: Meditations for public worship (GIA Publications, 1995). In it there are several guided meditations, reader’s theater, mini dramas/readings that could really help folks connect with the idea of participating in Christ as Christ participates in the world. Just about any of them could be adapted for this theme.
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2nd Sunday in August (Job 1-3 and 40-42; Luke 16:19-31)
June is fun, July is relaxing, but come August many people suddenly get serious. Perhaps it is the relentless health stories in the media; the tragic accidents; yet another hurricane, forest fire, or mud slide; or just finding the time to read and think. We have always found evil to be a problem … especially the meaningless, gratuitous, purposeless kind that seems to spare bad people and harm good people, or just indiscriminately hurts one person out of a zillion or all zillion at the same time.
It’s one thing for Job to exclaim in the depths of his suffering “I know that my redeemer lives!” It’s another thing to ponder with Jesus that Job would never have been able to say that unless he was already attuned to the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who promises redemption and always makes good on that promise some day.
It’s waiting for that day to come that is very hard. It is hard to be surrounded by questions, and wait seemingly forever for the answers. It is hard to be constantly beset by enemies, and wait for rescue. It is hard to suffer, and wait for a day of healing. Waiting was hard enough, even before the 21st century world of instant gratification. What do you do after the doctors, scientists, educators, soothsayers, and cultural icons say “I don’t know.”?
Team Meditation (Luke 16:19-31)
Amos said, "Let justice roll down like a river." It's a plea we make to God regularly in our corporate prayers, especially in the North American Mainline church. But we regularly forget that when Amos penned these words he wasn't writing a prayer, but a command. These are God's words to us, but we would prefer that God would just wave that magic wand and create justice - that the good would not suffer and the evil, well, although we're to love our enemies, frankly if they got a taste of God's justice we might smile just a little under our breath.
Jesus addressed this theologically in the parable of Lazarus and Dives (Dives is the Latin adjective for the word rich). There, the poor Lazarus literally waits a lifetime for justice (and mercy) as he lays at Dive's gate begging for table scraps. In the parable, both Lazarus and Dives are children of the covenant, but Dives apparently overlooked the commands to love his neighbor, to care for the widow and the orphan, and to make allowances for the poor. Jesus neither implies that Dives was evil or that he was anything worse than a complacent, duplicitous rich man who likely didn't even notice Lazarus laying at his gate. The tragedy was that Lazarus was due justice and mercy from Dives, but the rich man was either so busy or so calloused that he didn't make the effort. And so Lazarus had to wait.
Today there are millions - yea billions - of Lazarus's around the world who will wait for justice and mercy and receive it not in this life. And today we suffer from the same tragedy as Dives ... we live our lives complacent to their plight and worse, we are duplicitous in our consumer habits of expecting more for less (coffee and banana workers of Central America are almost universally poverty struck so we can get coffee at less than $10 a pound and bananas at less than 79¢ a pound). The psalmist reminds us to wait upon the Lord; but that charge is for those who await Divine deliverance. In most cases, those who wait are waiting for us.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (Job 1-3, 40-42)
Waiting for God to act isn't one of the church's strong suits. We live in a hurry-up world that demands quick solutions and responses even to age-old questions. We expect our leaders to make decisions right now, and if they pull the "Let's pray about it" they can reasonably expect to be accused of using spirituality to cover up procrastination. Jesus reminded his disciples that they should persistently pray for God's intervention and Paul reminded his readers to pray without ceasing. In both cases there's an inference that God will act in God's own time. Our expectations do not impinge upon God's timetable.
Initially, when Job's life seemed to fall apart he was able to say with conviction, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." However, with the intervention (read that as interference) of his "friends" and a less-than-speedy restoration, Job eventually misplaced his patience and subtly called God out, demanding satisfaction.
Arguably, the theme of the book of Job is an etiology (a story that answers a question) that explains why bad things happen to good people. But there is much to be learned about waiting and about persevering from the story. The story begs the question "Where is God in the suffering?" For many, the only way God can be seen in suffering is in its relief. But through Job's own confession we discover a different truth: "My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you" (42:5). Job found the answer of where God is in the midst of suffering ... the presence of God is found in the suffering. Indeed, God is never more present with us than in the midst of our suffering.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Job 1-3, 40-42)
In every congregation and in every community lies a micro culture of those who suffer and of those who see suffering. And running through the minds of each of these, consciously or subconsciously, is the question of where God is in the suffering. The answer of "Just wait" isn't very comforting in our culture, but for many that is the only response they get.
Wait.
Wait for justice.
Wait for mercy.
Wait for relief.
Wait.
It's not what we want to hear. What we want to hear is that God's going to make everything alright. Now. And we don't want to hear that maybe the happy ending isn't going to happen in this life - that the presence of God might be the "only" relief we're going to get.
Waiting is not easy, but it is a necessary task. We don't get to live on our own timetable - we live on God's. There are a variety of ways to bring this home. The first way is to help the congregation experience waiting. Build in long periods of silence during the worship service. For instance, read a scripture selection and then allow for a whole minute of silence (don't announce it, just sit down and allow a time of silent reflection). Use silence in prayer. If you celebrate weekly communion, consider separating the bread and the cup by a significant period.
To add video to the mix, use a clip from Burt Reynolds' The End. In this movie, Wendell Sonny Lawson (Reynolds) is told that he has only six months to live and so he decides to end it all. Use the clip where he swims out into the ocean to die and then changes his mind. As he tries to swim back he has a conversation with God about the "deal" he'll make if he's allowed to get to shore. By the time he reaches the shore he's talked himself out of any deals since he "made it himself." The beauty of this clip for this week is that it is one of the longest scenes one has to endure. Certainly the dialog is clever, but the scene goes on and on and on - which is, of course, the point.
Bill T-B
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3rd Sunday in August (Phil. 2:1-18 and 3; Acts 16)
Philippians 3:12-17 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. …. 17 Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us.
It’s the middle of August, and already people are beginning to anticipate with a certain dread the “back to school days” that also mean “back to work, back to routine, back to frantic work schedules, and back to high stress.” Many start thinking about improving one’s life … and a few go deeper to speculate on what would make life really worth living.
The #1 thing you need to improve your life is the absolute desire to improve your life. No kidding around. No half measures. No empty vows. You have to want it. Put on your track shoes and run for it. Focus on it above everything else. Paul felt it, and I have a hunch that Lydia wanted it. That’s why she was so receptive to the Gospel.
And the #1 thing that will make life worth living is a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the goal of the desire, the prize of the race, the fulfillment you are looking for. That was faith in which Paul believed, and it was the message that caught the imagination of Lydia. In Acts 16 you read about facts about Philippi, but in Paul’s letter back the Philippians you read about the faith behind the facts.
Team Meditation (Acts 16)
What is the one thing the church is about? If your congregation is like most in the North American context, if you asked six lay leaders what their church was trying to accomplish, you'd get at least eight different answers. Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Church was one of the first contemporary books in the church that suggested that a church trying to go in multi directions tends to get stuck in a tug-of-war of competing purposes (see illustration). Although many good things can happen when church leaders, both formal and informal, vie for resources for their particular ministry interest, the collective body of Christ can only effectively go in one direction at a time.
In Acts 16 we read that Paul wanted to take the Gospel to Asia and then to Bithynia but the Spirit prevented him (6). But when the Spirit sent a vision for Paul to take the Good News to Macedonia, Paul didn't wait. He immediately made preparations to follow the vision God had planted. One vision, one mission, one purpose.
The church as the body of Christ must answer God's call and not get hamstrung by competing purposes. Like Jesus, we can accomplish nothing of spiritual worth on our own - we have to take a look at what and where God is doing mission and follow faithfully.
Bill Tenny-Brittian
Worship Theme (Philippians 2:1-18 and 3)
As Tom reminds us, the back-to-school craze is very nearly upon us. Indeed, in may of the US states, this week will actually see children returning to school. And, as Tom pointed out, it's not only kids who are going to be receiving self-improvement. Many adults kick the fall off by attending seminars, workshops, or night school. Others jump into reading self-help books. And many will make another stab at trying to revitalize their spiritual life - some by reconnecting with a church. It's almost like a second "New Year's" opportunity. Indeed, in the Jewish faith, the beginning of fall (1st and 2nd of Tishri) marks the real "New Year," not January.
However, like the "other" New Year, most of the attempts at self-improvement (think resolutions) will bear little fruit. Instead, the seminar workbook will gather dust in a closet and the self-help book will find its way to the Goodwill in a year or so. One of the problems is that we seem to be constantly trying to reinvent or recreate ourselves into some ideal image.
But there's only one image worth striving for - and that's the image that we were created in. God's image. And that image is only clearly seen in the person of Jesus. It's not so much an image we have to reinvent ourselves into so much as it's an image already embedded within those who have committed their will, and their heart, mind, and soul to Jesus. When we focus our whole life's endeavor to being true to that which is born anew within us, everything else begins to fall into place.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (Philippians 2:1-18 and 3)
What would happen if the worship service was committed to achieving just one thing? What if the whole service was about worship rather than worship and discipleship and fellowship and business? What if it was about introducing strangers to grace rather than evangelism and membership care?
We live in a world of competing agendas and it's difficult for a church to help both strangers to grace as well as seasoned believers to have single-minded focus on the "prize" when the church itself is scattered. The point of this week's worship is to help those in the worshipping congregation to experience the "one thing." In doing this, your worship team may need to shelve several aspects of the typical worship service in order to focus on the one.
If the point of your Seeker Cycle Service is to the strangers to grace in your community, there is perhaps no better method than to offer real-life coaching events. The Seeker Cycle Service is meant to be practical if it is nothing else. The service should offer real-life experiences of the holy and real-life opportunities to experience a transformed life, i.e., a life that looks differently, behaves differently, and is different down to the very core. A transformed life is one that lives and breathes and has its being in the one thing.
Life coaching provides this opportunity every week. It answers questions like "How does a disciple of Jesus deal with insensitive people?" and "How does a disciple of Jesus handle disagreements with their spouses?" (or if you want to be real, how do disciples fight with their spouses?). Ultimately, every week it answers the question, "How does a transformed life behave like Jesus - in practical ways?"
To pull this service off, there really is only one film clip to use: Curly's "One Thing" scene in City Slickers. In this scene, Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) is a city slicker riding his trusty steed alongside the seasoned cowboy and dude ranch wrangler Curly Washburn (Jack Palance). In the scene Curly enlightens Mitch about the meaning of life - that everyone has been created for "one thing." The feat is to discover that "one thing."
As you design the service, keep the "one thing" experience in mind and eliminate every possible distraction including announcements, extraneous music or songs, extra scripture readings, and so on. Scratch anything that doesn't further the theme that there's only "one thing" that will transform a life - and that one thing is a fully committed relationship with Jesus.
Bill T-B
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4th Sunday in August (2 Corinthians 4 and 5; Luke 18:18-30)
17 Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
Many (myself included) have commented that Canada is further down the road in the emerging “pagan” world. I do not intend any denigration in this. I mean only that Canadian, western European, and Australian experience more of the diversity of spiritual yearning and alienation from traditional religious organizations than does the American context. These are culture in which there are “many gods”. What is interesting is that Canadian media and government have normally sought to remain skeptically aloof from religious speculation. Such is the public interest in spiritual matters, however, that it reflects on television ratings.
So, it is significant that in the recent near-tragedy of an Air France jet sliding off the runway on landing, the media actually gave national, prime media time, to speculation of divine intervention (Global Television Network). From the beginning of the news story, television correspondents were describing saying that over 300 people were involved, the plane totally destroyed by fire, and no fatalities or even serious injuries, was a “miracle”. Now, we have heard that word used before to describe extraordinarily lucky events. The difference is that this time the media actually ran a story about the probability of “divine intervention”. They interviewed the two airport chaplains, and one Jewish Rabbi, who all enthusiastically ascribed the event to divine intervention, and concluded with a noncommittal “not proven”.
What constitutes a “miracle”? To Paul and the early Christians, the only reliable mark of a true miracle is that someone becomes a “new creation” in Christ. We actually do not know how this incident with the Air France jet transformed individual lives to faith and commitment to Christ. If it did, then there is the miracle. Otherwise, even the happiest of events is just good luck.
Team Meditation (Luke 18:18-30)
What are you willing to give up for the sake of the Gospel?
That's the wrong question.
The church has done a huge disservice to North American Christianity. We've preached this story so many times that we've lost count. And each time, we pretty much teach that it's more important to be willing to give up everything. Jesus didn't really mean we had to give up everything. Besides, that particular story was for that particular rich ruler. It doesn't apply to everyone who follows Jesus.
Except that it does. This passage reminds us that wealth is a hindrance to the kingdom, but that the faithful are expected to give up even their family. Harsh words, but remember, it's really about willingness. Surely Jesus didn't mean what he said. Right?
As leaders, we know better. Or at least we should know better. But do we practice it? Are we leading by example or by words alone? What are we actually living without? And before we North America Church Leaders get too proud of ourselves, do a quick comparison with what Christian leaders in, say Togo, Africa are doing without for the sake of the Gospel. But it's really easier to ask, "What are we willing to give up for the sake of the Gospel?" But it's still the wrong question.
The right question is, "What have you given up for the sake of the Gospel?"
Oh, and by the way, in Luke 14:33 Jesus makes clear his expectation for all his followers: "Any of you who does not give up everything cannot be my disciple." Funny, the word willing isn't there even in the Greek.
Bill T-B
Worship Theme (2 Corinthians 4-5)
(2 Cor 4:7-16 NIV) But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
We live in a demanding, fast-paced, stress-filled society of our own making. Long ago, the Silent generation tight-lipped and grim-faced lived through the Great Depression scrimping and scratching just so their children, the Builder generation, could survive. The Silents taught the Builders to work hard and to save. But the North American economy boomed during the Second Great War, so economic survival wasn't a concern for the Builders - so they invested in their children. The Builder generation committed themselves to giving their children every advantage that they didn't have when they were young. And so they birthed and raised the Boomers, probably the most indulged generation in North American history. The Boomers took advantage of every advantage their parents (and society) offered. Survival wasn't a concern to the Boomers. And since they were terribly self-absorbed, they didn't invest in their children much. So, they birthed Gen X, but mostly they didn't parent them. Gen Xers were largely ignored by their parents, so mostly they raised themselves. Actually, to be more precise, television raised them, school trained them, and they created their own families with their friends.
Each of these generations have one thing in common: they all want more. The Silents wanted more just to survive. The Builders wanted more for their kids. The Boomers just want more. And Gen X want what the television, their friends, and society tell them they want. Together we've created a demanding, fast-paced, stress-filled society. We all want more, so we invest in more "stuff," never mind that one of North America's fastest growing industries is self-storage units that store all the "stuff" we can't stuff into our homes. And we've wanted more "stuff" so badly that we've burned our life-candle at both ends to get it.
But today we're starting to see the generations questioning the values of the collective society we've created. We're looking around at all that "stuff" and asking, "Was it worth it?" The simplicity movement is slowly, ever-so slowly, gaining momentum and perhaps we're starting to learn that we're burning out for the not-so-important.
But if more isn't the reason for life, what is? What is worth giving their lives to? What's worth burning out for? Two, three, or maybe even four inquiring generations want to know.
Bill T-B
Worship Design (2 Corinthians 4-5)
Ask someone what's worth dying for, and you'll get a variety of answers. Freedom. Family. A good friend. And so on. Ask someone what's worth giving the rest of their life for and their answers often become less sure. We were taught it was stuff, but people aren't so sure anymore. There's a restlessness in our spirits that's asking that same key question.
Jesus knew what was worth dying for. Paul knew what was worth living for and he shared it with a conviction that's uncommon in the church today. Paul told the Corinthians that the Gospel was worth sacrificing everything for. Freedom. Family, A good friend. And so on.
To get the point across this week, begin with a clip from Million Dollar Baby. Use the clip where Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) convinces the gym owner and trainer Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) to train her (chapter 10, timestamp 10:32). In the scene, Maggie pours out her not-so-pretty pedigree and then admits that boxing is the only thing she had. End the clip with her question, "Is that enough truth to suit you?" Use the clip to illustrate our own desperation to find something worth living for.
The hard sell today will be totality of commitment the Jesus demands. He doesn't just demand our beliefs. He doesn't just demand our tithes. He demands everything, including our ultimate loyalty and devotion. The North American church has largely been brainwashed that it's enough to be "willing" to give up everything, we don't really have to do without. Perhaps it's time to do some corrective teaching. And perhaps you'll have to be the first to model it in your congregation before anyone will take you - or Jesus' demands - seriously.
That will get the point across.
Bill T-B
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