#11 - Zim Zum {Reflections}

What is up everybody?

My name is Ryan Braley.

I'm the pastor at Central.

I almost forgot where I was the pastor, mike Central.

What's up, mike?

How's it going, buddy?

Hey, we are once again in Mike's Beats Laboratory here at Central and this is our weekly podcast we call it Reflections, where I just take a few minutes and reflect on really anything and everything, and we were just reflecting on how bad our Denver Broncos are.

They're bad, they're bad Either way.

Hey, mike, it was my.

It was mine and Katie's 23rd anniversary last week.

Congratulations, thank you, man.

Can you believe that?

How in the world?

And I was talking to another friend of mine, my friend Richard, and I said listen, I would never encourage a young man to get married in order to fix some of the problems that he has, but for me, as a young 20 something who I feel like in a number of ways didn't have a clue about life Marrying Katie was like the best thing that ever happened to me, and not just because she's beautiful and kind and good and all those things, but she really helped me grow up and mature, I think mostly because up and until then, I was.

I don't know if this is like atypical or not, but I was a super selfish young man, and when you get married, in order to make the thing work, you cannot be selfish.

If you are, it won't work.

And that reminded me of this, this ancient Hebrew idea that I learned about from a great German theologian named Jürgen Moltmann.

Jürgen Moltmann, jürgen Moltmann is a wonderful theologian and if you can read anything you can by Jürgen Moltmann, he's awesome.

But Moltmann talks about this Jewish idea.

It's not new to him.

I mean, it sort of predates him, obviously, but it's this ancient idea called the Zimzum.

If you're listening, let me hear you say Zimzum, zimzum At a boy.

So according, according to Jewish thought, before anything existed, like, close your eyes for a moment, unless you're driving.

If you're driving, keep your eyes open, but if you're not driving, close your eyes and imagine, if you could, what would, what would this look like if, before anything was created by God, before anything existed, there was only God?

It's really quite unfathomable, like who knows what, what it looked like, and it's hard to even imagine.

But before anything existed, there was only God.

This idea and Jewish thought suggests and so when God creates, like God creates the, the whole cosmos, the earth, the stars, the sun, the mountains, rivers, guitars, football, starbucks, burritos from Chipotle and all these things will out trees, you and me.

Before he creates any of that, god has to make room with within himself for these things, because the Bible teaches that we exist in God but also that we are not God.

So somehow, I and you and Mike and Chipotle burritos, we exist within God but we are not God.

And so how in the world can we exist within God but not be God?

Well, the answer is Zimzum, that God makes room for us within God's own self.

So God recedes or slides over on the proverbial couch, kind of creates space within himself for us to exist and also to be ourselves.

I'm not absorbed into the sort of the being of God.

I still exist in my own sort of being, in in way, but I exist within God.

It's this beautiful move of self limitation in order on God's part, in order for us to exist and even flourish within God and also have a relationship with God himself.

And so we exist, we have life, we can flourish because of this act of humility that we call Zimzum, or the ancient Jewish people called Zimzum of God, which creates space within himself or the other.

It's beautiful, and so I you know, I actually talk about this quite a bit here and there, at weddings, but also just in general with people in relationships, because our relationships both romantic, marriage ones, but also friendships or just strangers even they should have a certain quality of Zimzum to them that I mean we are.

The Bible says we're created in the image of God, and this is the God who makes room for the other in order to allow them to flourish and have life and be vibrant.

And so when we have relationships, you and I should also kind of aim to do the same thing that as we engage in relationship, we should also make room for the other person.

Like I, when I married Katie, I didn't stop being Ryan and she didn't stop being Katie, but as we both made room for each other, like actual literal, physical space room, I made room for her clothes in the closet, you know, for her decorations in the house, and she did likewise.

But also, like, just in the relationship itself, like I make room for her, and in doing so we create a brand new thing, this relationship that we know as Katie and Ryan, that's lived on for now 23 years.

And so today, may you know that this is what real love, I would argue, looks like.

Real love looks like Zimzum, and we can take our example from God himself who, according to Jewish sort of thought, makes room for us in order for us to flourish and have life.

And so may we do the same thing.

May our love look like self-sacrifice, scooting over, making room for other people, their thoughts, their philosophies, their ideas, their personalities, just their place in our lives.

May we lovingly and kindly move over and allow for them to have space in our lives, and then vice versa.

So today, may you know what real love looks like.

And in first John 3.16, I'm always reminded that it says this is how we know what love is that Jesus Christ came down and died for us, and now you guys go to the same thing for your brother and sisters.

So this is what real love looks like like Zimzum, like Jesus on the cross.

So today, may you know the Zimzum of God, and may you experience that kind of love and that kind of moving over for others in your life today.

All right, catch you later, guys, peace.

Hey, if you enjoy this show, I'd love to have you share it with some friends.

And don't forget, you are always welcome to join us in person at Central in Elk River at 8.30, which is our local gathering, or at 10 o'clock, our modern gathering, or you can check us out online at clclgriverorg Peace.