Life on the Vine - Gentleness

Martin Chairez: Morning.

Good morning, OC Church.

Good morning.

Uh, let's give a hand here to our Spanish ministry worship team

for because we're up there, and every now and then we catch the

Holy Spirit and get a little louder.

Um, but no, it's been great to be here.

Speaking of the Holy Spirit, in Acts chapter two, as the Holy Spirit

descends on the young congregation and Peter is empowered, uh, to preach

to people who were from other lands visiting Jerusalem at the time.

There are these amazing signs, sounds, and sights, uh, that pull

the people to come towards Peter to hear the Gospel for the first time.

And it's interesting that the people in response to all the miraculous

things they are seeing, if you go back to Acts chapter two, what they

say is, "We hear you declaring the wonders of God in our native language."

Wow.

Signaling to us that even though those people were not from Jerusalem, they

spoke their own native language, it was important to the Holy Spirit.

It was a priority to the Holy Spirit to deliver the message of the resurrected

Lord in people's native language.

Amen.

The Spirit did not call them to assimilate to one dominant language,

but the Spirit embraced and spoke to everyone in their native language.

And that's a little bit of what God is up to in the OC Church, as we

are one church with three languages.

Amen?

Amen.

Our Korean ministry is at, upstairs having their own service, and maybe one day

we'll have a trilingual worship service.

Amen?

Amen.

Only if there's food after.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

Amen to that.

As we continue our study here in this, of the Holy Spirit life on the vine-

Let's read this passage once again.

In Galatians chapter 6 verse 22 it reads, "But the fruits of…

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness."

And you've done those studies, and today we will do gentleness

In a few weeks, we'll conclude with self-control, and Paul goes on to say,

"Against such thing there is no law."

Let's keep reading a little bit.

"Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other."

That's a no no.

And Paul continues and says, "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught

in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person

gently."

But watch yourselves or you may also be tempted.

And we can summarize that that possible temptation is whatever you've witnessed

that person do and you don't wanna…

Once you hear it, you may be tempted.

I guess there's room for that.

But in the context of gentleness, isn't it interesting that after the

description of these nine fruits, and the eighth one, gentleness, right

after that, he includes gentle again?

He says, "You should restore that person gently, but watch yourselves

or you also may be tempted."

And he continues to say, "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way

you will fulfill the law of Christ."

You ever been restored in your faith after a mistake?

You ever been corrected when you were off and you look back and you can say,

"Man, so grateful for that conversation.

It changed me.

Someone said it to me in a way that I needed to hear it."

Is that not true?

Yeah, that's in our past.

There's also other experiences

Where we may still carry a hurt or a wound because of the way that things

were done or expressed that didn't include the fruit of gentleness.

As a result of those experiences, we then end up picking different types of

habits as to how we encounter one another

And we'll either ignore because we don't wanna go there or we

don't wanna sound harsh, right?

Or we're just kind of sitting in seats of judgment looking for

what mistakes people are making.

Those are two extremes

I'm gonna need some help today.

So can I get you guys to pass me these, uh, uh, stools right here, please?

I wanna introduce you my, uh, co-partners in this lesson

Church, meet aggression.

Everybody say, "Hi, aggression."

Hi, aggression.

Let's be nice to aggression

And church, please meet passivity.

Everybody say, "Hi, passivity."

Hi, passivity.

Passivity's like, "Eh."

Aggression and passivity, two extremes.

Both make assumptions about what gentleness is, but they miss it.

Yeah.

But we're gonna help really see in scripture today what gentleness is.

Please turn your Bibles to Matthew 7:29.

Matthew 7:29

We'll get there soon, but first a little bit more dialogue in preparation for that.

One of the definitions in scripture about gentleness is gentleness

is a strength under God's reign.

Gentleness is not a weakness.

Gentleness is a strength that submits itself under God's reign.

And here's the kicker.

It is exercised with humility for the good of others.

So gentleness is a strength submitted under God's reign that

is exercised for the good of others

The way aggression understands gentleness is correcting others

because I feel worried for you.

So the protagonist for aggression in the correcting one another, in

the restoring one another, is the fears and concerns of aggression.

That's not gentleness.

Are you with me right here?

The filter of passivity of gentleness is, "Pff, you know, everybody's got free will.

Whatever you wanna do.

No judgment here."

And that is standing in contrast to aggression.

These two are rivals.

They don't get along.

They don't like each other

Can I, can you just nod?

Can you, can you, can we engage here?

Like, don't leave me alone here

And so it is important for us to not miss what gentleness is.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because all of us lean towards aggression or passivity.

It could be a default.

Sometimes it depends on the context.

In certain spaces, there's a leaning towards aggression.

In other spaces, we're here again leaning towards passivity.

But what the Spirit is forming in the Christian community is a fruit,

these eight, these nine, but including gentleness, that we would be able

to restore one another gently, not with the posture of aggression and

that filter- Yeah … and not with the distance withdrawal of passivity

I'll just pray for you.

Sometimes it's, that's applicable, sometimes not, but the point is the

Spirit wants to form gentleness in us.

In our modern-day imagination or association of gentleness, uh, it's

definitely not viewed as a strength.

It could be viewed as a weakness, as someone is just a nice person.

And we'll s- use, uh, sentiments of charity of s-

there was such a gentle soul.

There, there's not necessarily something wrong with that, but what

I'm trying to recover is sometimes we can associate gentleness and remove

the strength that comes from gentleness

Amen?

So that's where we're at.

In the book, Life on the Line, this chapter is titled Cultivating

Gentleness in the Midst of Aggression.

And the author goes on to critique our modern-day culture, I would say

our modern-day cultures, 'cause there isn't one culture, there's multiple

cultures, and the glorification of these cultures of violence, all the way from

entertainment to our word usage, to our, you know, how we interact with one

another, how we wanna solve problems.

And so the author pins, uh, or describes this permanent tension

between gentleness, what the Spirit is trying to form in God's community and

God's people, and aggression, what the modern-day cultures are forming in us.

There is no violence in the Kingdom of God

There is no manipulation in the kingdom of God.

Amen.

There's no passivity that's embraced in the kingdom of God.

Amen.

So we need gentleness.

Now gentleness is not a halfway between aggression and passivity.

Gentleness is something completely different.

Wonderful.

It's the way of the kingdom.

Amen.

So Paul has described the fruit of the spirit, which includes gentleness.

Matthew…

And why Matthew?

Because in the Spanish ministry we've been studying out Matthew,

so that's the world that we're in.

Matthew uses gentleness as well, and it's the same word.

And so Jesus, in the Sermon of the Mount, He says, "Blessed are the meek," or

another word, humble, or another word, gentle, "for they will inherit the earth."

The filter of aggression hears that, "Meek people inheriting the earth?

What a waste

What's it gonna produce with a bunch of meek people?

What a waste of creation.

Because aggressiveness, aggression does not understand gentleness.

Passivity, I'm gonna get my steps in today,

here's that passage and says, "Great.

We don't have to do anything.

We're just gonna receive it," 'cause they assume they are gentle.

But gentle is not passivity.

Remember Paul?

Paul says, "Restore one another gently."

You can't engage with someone else's struggle in passivity.

So passivity sees itself as a recipient of the blessing.

Aggression sees itself as what a waste of that blessing.

But if we come back to Jesus, His intent in His kingdom is to

form a people that are gentle.

And th- that's just one of the Beatitudes, and He goes on, uh, uh, in

the Sermon on the Mount a- about other, uh, qualities that describe kingdom.

One of the things that we discovered in studying the Sermon of the Mount

was that everything that Jesus is teaching in the Sermon of the Mount

equals to two things: one, who He is.

Everything He teaches in the Sermon on the Mount is a description of who Jesus is.

Amen.

He is humble.

He mourns.

He is salt and light.

He doesn't judge.

He doesn't cr- create, d- do miracles and announce it to be praised.

He does everything for the glory of the Father.

So everything Jesus is teaching, He's also describing who He is.

Amen.

You with me?

Yeah.

He also, in the Sermon of the Mount, is describing everything

His ministry is going to be about.

So everything He teaches in the Sermon of the Mount, He then embodies it in His

ministry through the rest of Matthew.

So the Sermon of the Mount is a lot of things, but two of those is

the description of God's self and a description of God's ministry.

Amen?

Amen.

And one of His formations is gentle.

Later in Matthew in chapter 11, guess how Jesus is gonna describe himself?

And if you've been around James Willis, he'll quote this

scripture every three days.

Jesus is gentle at heart.

Of all the things that God's self, that Jesus could have described

himself as, he says, "I am gentle."

So if you lean towards aggression, you may wanna reconsider

the strength of gentleness

And if you lean towards passivity, you may wanna reconsider that you

may not be embodying gentleness

In that same passage, what is Jesus doing?

"Come, carry burdens with me.

I'll carry them with you.

I am gentle at heart.

Let's do this together."

Aggression depends on self.

I gotta be the hero.

I gotta go make it happen.

I gotta do this.

That's the filter how aggression sees itself and others and

filters God and scripture.

Very dangerous

Passivity does the same thing.

It misses.

It just wants to be carried.

Let others do it.

It doesn't participate faithfully in the mission, in

the life of the kingdom of God.

Are you with me right here?

Yes.

And later in Matthew chapter 21-

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

A prophet is quoted as Jesus enters Jerusalem.

And of all the descriptions of this prophetic entry

Matthew chooses to describe Jesus as a gentle king.

Your king comes to you gentle, riding on a donkey.

During that time of Passover, people are, you know, in the city.

There's all, crowds all over.

You need more police.

You need more armed forces.

You, you need more of your Roman army.

And so on one side, here's Jesus riding gently on a donkey into the city,

and on the other side of the city, you have the Roman soldiers marching

in on foot, horses with weapons.

The contrast between kingdom and empire coming into the city

So gentleness is a strength.

Gentleness is who God is.

Amen.

And gentleness does not get along with aggression.

And gentleness interrupts deeply the posture of passivity.

Amen?

Amen.

And so let's go back here one slide.

I wrote this, it's God's way of

exercising authority.

Amen.

The Spirit forms us to reflect Christ's likeness.

Is that not what the Spirit's up to?

And so in Jesus, we witness authority exercise without

aggression and without passivity- Right … always for the Father's

glory and the restoration of others.

Amen.

Therefore, the Spirit forms a community marked by gentleness- Amen

that guides, welcomes, restores, and bears one another's burdens

rather than seeking self-protection.

What was the sermon about today?

This is the summary of my study of gentleness, the chapter on

Li- the book Life on the Vine, and the content for today.

So let's talk about our postures before we read Matthew chapter 7

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Which one do you lean towards the most, and why?

And how did you get there?

I'm going to assume that you're like me, which means I spend more

time in the posture of aggression and passivity than gentleness

But it's what the Spirit is trying to form in me, in you, in our homes, in our

family, in our fellowship, in our church.

I'm going to venture to say that in this new era of the OC

Church, that we are being led and ushered by God into something new.

Those could be just words, but I'm gonna choose to trust that God is

living, present, and active in forming the OC Church into one faithful

community, three languages, and restoring our relationships with God,

with ourselves, and with one another.

I'm gonna choose to believe that when I stepped into the space of

the OC Church and I interacted, the Spirit is already present and at

work forming us and forming the fruit of the Spirit, all nine dynamics.

And these are, these, the, these nine, uh, fruits, let's say, they're not

this checklist of self-help, you know, things that we need to do more of.

Rather, one, if it's the fruit of the Spirit, that's who God is.

Those are characteristics of God.

As we have already noted, gentleness is a characteristic of Jesus.

He embodies the true, full embodiment of gentleness.

Amen?

Amen.

And two, that He's creating, God's creating a new culture of how we

interact with one another, that we can get back to restoring one another gent-

The challenge for that is not gonna be God, it's going to be

our assumptions, our hurts, right?

And our dominant filters

Something about passivity

passivity

has chosen passivity because it's safe

Um, ch- passivity has chosen to disengage because

I used to be aggression

And I don't wanna be aggression anymore.

Because when I was aggression

I heard a lot of people

I use scripture

that judged people and I regret it

And I was so tired of just being this hero, hero, and ugh, and just

who's in, who's out, and all this, ah, that I got so burned out that

I chose a safe space, passivity

challenges with passivity is that now I miss being spiritual

I actually feel alone a lot 'cause I don't have true genuine

friends 'cause I'm guarded.

Often, I actually don't even know what's happening, and that bothers me.

And I wanna blame people, but, eh, whatever.

So I'm just withdrawing.

When I hear aggression, I just get triggered, and I-- and it

reassures me passivity is better.

I don't wanna do that again

aggression

The dominant feeling for aggression is fear

Fear of passivity.

Fear that you, me, all of us will become passive.

So I gotta be full of aggression.

We need to go back

I don't wanna be that.

That bothers me.

They need to change.

For aggression, the priority is you, not God

It's your feeling is what leads.

In fairness to aggression, it's very well-intended.

It wants the passive group to be faithful to God.

And they're active, they're serving, right?

You're caring, you're doing, and you're really frustrated.

Are you even a Christian?

And passivity hears those tones and reads between the lines, and hears some of us,

and, "Ugh, here we go again."

And they're fighting off one another

And once passivity says, "You know what?

I gotta get out of passivity," the misstep is, "I gotta go back to aggression."

And once aggression is burned out, they're gonna go to passivity

Oh, how the tables have turned, or to quote the great Michael Scott,

"Oh, how the turntables have turned."

We gotta get a Office reference there before he dies out.

Amen.

Can we make an assumption that most of us have been in this

Chair movement arrangement

Can we consider how dangerous it is when you read scripture

from a posture of aggression?

You're full of enemies

Everything concerns you.

It's a fear.

You're gonna treat people that way.

It's hard to pray 'cause you, the way you treat others is how you treat yourself.

You're just projecting

That's not a gentle…

That's not what the Spirit is trying to form

and passivity

is also very dangerous

'cause it lacks so much love

The opposite of love is indifference

In passivity, you see your friends hurting, but you already

said nothing for so long.

And then what it starts producing is a, just insecurity.

You cease to learn how to discern because all you do is, "Ah, I don't wanna, I

don't wanna be harsh," so I say nothing

But thanks be to God for God- Amen … that we have a king, that we

have a God who wants to move us out of aggression and out of passivity, and

not switch tables or chairs again, but to embody, to be formed, to be gentle.

Yes.

To have a strength that's not self-reliant or critical and safe, but a strength

that submits to the living, present God

That the motivation of gentleness is not fear, but it's genuine, and it's

not indifference, but it's genuine love for the sake of the other

I carry this.

I carry your burden.

I approach you.

I initiate this conversations, not because of my fear or concern, not because

I, I, this is the right thing to do.

No, it's because God calls me and you to be, to love one another

Because God is forming us to be gentle, to be meek, to have

that strength under God's reign

And if you have a role of leadership, of servitude, first and foremost, thank you.

But could you please consider and be attentive in the next 24 hours

How aggression comes out in the way you view others.

And then when you notice it, pray.

Identify.

Write it down.

What's the root issue?

Talk to someone.

Move into gentleness with the God who's leading you and inviting you.

And again, if you are in this role of servitude or leadership, thank you.

Pay attention to the next 24 hours, and if you notice passivity, withdrawal,

distance, indifference, cynicism, could you be attentive that the Spirit just

provoked you, interrupted you to wake up, oh sleeper, and come to gentleness?

Not go back to aggression, but to engage in a God-centered way.

Amen.

All for the glory of God and the benefit of others

Now to close, let's read how Jesus comes down the mountain

after the Sermon of the Mount

And it's very symbolic that He went up to the mountain like Moses, but

not Moses, because Jesus is God.

And so instead of Moses receives the law, 'cause he's human, Jesus sits

there and reinterprets, gives the true meaning of the law because He is God.

Are you with me right here?

And now there isn't a, a, a Moses that comes down the mountain, but now it's

God Himself, Jesus, that comes down.

And Matthew is very intentional to show us the first actions

of Jesus after His sermon.

And so in verse, chapter 8, verse…

Or we're in 7:28.

7:28.

When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were

amazed at His teaching because He taught as one who had what?

Authority, not as the teachers of the law.

Again, the filter of authority for aggression

I'm the boss

We need a boss.

We need a king

The filter of authority for passivity.

Nobody wants none of that.

They're all terrible.

I'm gonna do whatever I want

But the authority should not be condemned.

We should move away from aggression, filter of authority, or the definition of

passivity, but what is God's authority?

So very intentional, Matthew draws this question, "Okay, what

kind of authority does he have?"

And now he's gonna show us Jesus is gonna embody what this authority,

what this gentleness is like.

Amen?

Amen.

Chapter 8, "When Jesus came down the mountainside, large crowds follow him."

Here's number one, "A man with leprosy came and knelt before

him and said, 'Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.'

Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man."

I know you've read this before probably, but do you understand what's happening?

God comes down the mountain, and the first thing he does is what?

Touches who?

The leper.

God comes down the mountain, and what does he do?

He touches a man, a human being who is in need, who is isolated, who has likely

made some major mistakes in his life.

And because of this disease that he has, he's been isolated from his community.

So we see the authority of gentleness, the authority of

Jesus that says, "I am willing."

Aggression would interrogate the motives.

Passivity would be like, "I don't know if I'm the one.

Can you get some help from someone else?"

It's not that bad

Gentleness says, "I am willing," touches the man.

Jesus is embodying what Paul wrote before Matthew was written.

Yes, Galatians was written before Matthew

That Jesus is restoring this person gently.

And then he said, "Be clean."

Immediately he was cleansed from his leprosy.

Then Jesus said to him, "See that you do not tell anyone, but go, show yourself

to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them."

Mark is gonna take us somewhere else with the story.

Matthew just leaves it like this to show us Jesus just preached, "I didn't come t-

to abolish the law, but to fulfill it."

So He heals this man, and what does He say?

"Hey, go fulfill the law."

And if this man were to go to the priest after being cleansed, the priest would

examine him so that he's no longer a danger for himself, he's no longer a

danger for the community, and the priest would come out and shout and declare in

front of the community, "Clean, clean!"

And now everybody can welcome and feel safe around that person, and

that person's no longer in isolation.

That person is now back and restored into their community

Because that's what the authority of gentleness does.

Again, what if aggression were to meet this man?

Or what if passivity were to meet this man?

Guess what?

You and I are this man.

And if we're sitting in passivity and I recognize it, I hope you embody the

humility of this person who goes to God and says, "If you're willing, you

can help me be freed from passivity."

If your filter and dominant instinct is aggression, 'cause you think you're

in some kind of war and you're the main warrior, I hope you have the

humility to go to the true gentle King-

And be, and ask for help because you know you don't wanna be passive,

and you're right about that.

But you can't stay here

And you can be cleansed as well.

Jesus continues.

Verse eight, "Then the centurion replied, 'Lord, I do not deserve to have you…'"

Oh, sorry.

Uh, where am I?

Um, verse five, "When Jesus entered Capernaum, a centurion, a Roman

soldier, came to him asking for help.

'Lord,' he said, 'my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering ter- terribly.'

Jesus said to him, 'I shall come and heal him.'"

Say what?

What did Jesus say?

As a Jewish rabbi, I am willing to go into the home of a Gentile family.

Not only that, the home of a servant of one of the military leaders that's

hindering and hurting my people.

Mm.

Didn't Jesus not just preach love your enemies?

And so he's embodying everything that he just taught.

Gentleness is willing to go

Passivity says, "I'll get around to it.

I know, I know, I know I can do better.

I know

And three days later you're mad at something, disappointed and bored

'cause you've not engaged spiritually

waiting for the answer to come, for the program to be created,

for someone to carry you

Aggression, I don't even know if aggression would approach Jesus, 'cause

aggression tends to have all the answers, and it's usually someone else's fault

that they have to fix and repair.

But we see the embodiment of gentleness right here, the Jesus

that's willing to go, and then surprise

The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come

under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers un- under me.

I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and that one, 'Come,' and he comes.

And when I say to my servant, 'Do this,' he does it."

When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him,

"Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

I say to you that many will come from the east and from the west and will take their

places at the feast of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the, in the kingdom of heaven.

But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside into the

darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of the teeth."

Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go!

Let it be done to you as you have believed it would."

And the servant was healed at that moment.

Aggression would've seen

This foreigner, centurion, who's profiting under the hardship of his people as

the problem that needs to be solved.

And yet Jesus sees the faith and the humility to the point he

says, "I have not even seen this kind of faith in all of Israel."

Again, passivity would have just let the paralyzed servant die

It's just a consequence of the system

Gentleness is different.

Are you with me?

You guys need a little more energy here?

Are we- Yeah.

We're almost done.

Okay?

You're good?

Verse 14, "When Jesus came to Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law

lying in bed with a fever.

He touched her and he, and the fever left her, and she got

up and began to wait on him."

So now it's a woman, an elderly woman.

And when you read this, that she's healed, it doesn't mean, okay, now,

you know, cook us some food, lady.

That's not what it means.

But it means when God helps us, we start serving God.

So in recap of these three very intentionally placed miracles as God

descends from the mountain is a Jewish man isolated from his community now

guided to be connected to his community

Two, Gentiles or foreigners that are what?

That are welcomed into the Kingdom of God and their faith is honored as they are.

They don't have to become a Jewish faith to have faith.

They can be Gentiles and have faith as Gentiles, and we see the

welcome of the foreigner by Jesus.

And the third most marginalized group in this society was elderly women, widows,

that are now restored into life-giving into their homes where they can faithfully

participate in the Kingdom of God

Let's close.

When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to

him, and he drove the spirits with a word and healed the sick.

And this is where we're gonna land.

This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah.

He took up our infirmities and he bore our diseases.

In other Gospels, this quotation of Isaiah 53 is mainly associated

with Jesus on the cross.

You with me?

Yeah.

But not so for Matthew.

For Matthew, He took up our infirmities and He bore our sins is not associated

with Jesus on the cross only, but mainly it's associated with the ministry of Jesus

Is Jesus on the cross right now?

No.

Is Jesus present, living and active in his ministry?

Yes.

Yes.

In fact, that's one of the main themes of Matthew, God with us.

So what is God up to right now among us?

He's taking up our infirmities and he's bearing our disease.

What is he doing?

He's leading us gently.

Yes.

Amen.

So aggression.

Don't wait for the big sign.

He comes to you in a gentle whisper

Passivity.

Life is short.

Time is short Yeah.

Remember the lo- the love God has for you Mm.

And the love deep down you have for God

You don't need to go back to aggression.

You can embody gentleness for the glory of the Father and for the

sake and restoration of others

We're gonna say a prayer to take communion.

Here I have three questions for you to just think about as you take communion.

I'm gonna pray, the questions will be up there, we'll play some reflection

music, you can take communion.

After that, we'll have, uh, our offering.

Gentleness is one of the fruits the Spirit is forming in us.

Gentleness is different from both aggression and passivity.

As you reflect on today's message, can you really think

about what interrupted you today?

Not from the speaker, but from the scriptures, from the message.

Two, where do you notice your own tendencies towards aggression or passivity

in contrast to God's way of gentleness?

Can you do some inventory?

And im- very important second question to this one is, what impact has that

contrast had on your relationships?

You lean towards aggression, what impact has it had on your relationship?

You lean towards passivity, same.

And finally, the Spirit is cultivating the fruit of

gentleness in our church community.

How might the Spirit be inviting you to participate in that formation?

Choose one of these questions, or like we like to say in the Spanish ministry,

which of these questions has chosen you?

Let's pray, let's meditate, and take communion as you finish your reflection.

God, we're so grateful that you are living, present, and active in our

lives, that you do not abandon us in our postures of aggression, that you do not

judge us or ignore us in our postures of passivity, but that you come to us,

and you call us, and you summon us, and you invite us to carry the burden with

you, to participate in this formation.

God, as we see the examples of the embodiment of gentleness in Jesus,

help us to see what true leadership is like in Scripture and how you call

us to restore one another gently.

As you have chosen maybe one of these questions for us, help us to take to

heart what you are saying, to be attentive to your interruptions in the next 24

hours, and to make decisions, God.

Thank you for the OC Church.

Bless this ongoing new era.

May we leave behind domination of passivity or the domination of aggression.

May we embody the courage and the strength of gentleness.

We love you, God.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.