Life on the Vine

[music]

Good morning.

>> Good morning, OC Church. Uh let's give a

hand here to our Spanish mystery worship

team. [cheering]

I know you've heard them before 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 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

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 2, what

Acts 2 · chapter mention

they say is,

"We hear you

declaring

the wonders of God

in our native

language,

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.

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.

>> Our Korean ministry is upstairs having

their own service and maybe one day

we'll have a triilingual

worship service. Amen.

>> Only if there's food after. Can I get an

amen?

>> Amen to that. As we continue our study

here in the of the Holy Spirit, life on

the vine,

let's read this passage once again in

Galatians

6 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 want to

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 so 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 want to go there

or we don't want to 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 going to need some help today. So,

can I get you guys to pass me these uh

uh stools right here, please? I want to

introduce you my uh co-partners in this

lesson. [clears throat]

Church, meet aggression. Everybody say,

"Hi, aggression."

>> Let's be nice to aggression.

In church, please meet. Pacivity.

Everybody say passivity.

>> Pacivity is like

aggression

and passivity.

Two extremes.

Both make assumptions about what

gentleness is,

but they miss it.

But we're going to help see in scripture

today what gentleness is. Please turn

your Bibles to Matthew 7 verse 29. We'll

Matthew 7:29

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 and 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

you know everybody's got free will

whatever you want to 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

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

pacivity.

But what the spirit is forming

in the Christian community

is of fruits. 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

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 modernday 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 use uh sentiments of charity

of there is such a gentle soul.

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 because 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 want

to 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.

There's no passivity

that's embraced in the kingdom of God.

So we need gentleness. Now gentleness is

not a halfway between aggression and

passivity.

Gentleness is something completely

different.

It's the way of the kingdom.

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 on

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 on 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 going to produce with a bunch

of meek people? What a waste of

creation.

Because aggressiveness,

aggression does not understand

gentleness.

Passivity.

I'm going to get my steps in today.

>> [clears throat]

>> hears that passage and says,"Great, we

don't have to do anything. We're just

going to receive it." Because they

assume they are gentle. But gentle is

not passivity.

Remember Paul? Paul says, "Restore one

another gently.

You can engage with someone else's

struggle and passivity."

So passivity seats itself as a recipient

of the blessing.

aggression seats 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 that's just

one of the biatitudes. And he goes on uh

in the sermon on the mount about other

uh qualities that describe kingdom. One

of the things that we discovered in

studying the sermon on the mount was

that everything that Jesus is teaching

in the sermon on 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.

He is humble. He mourns. He is salt and

light. He doesn't judge. He doesn't

create 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.

You with me?

>> He also

in the sermon on the mount is describing

everything his ministry is going to be

about. So everything he teaches in the

sermon on 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 Godself

and a description of God's ministry.

Amen.

>> And one of his formations is

gentleness.

Later in Matthew in chapter 11,

guess how Jesus is going to describe

himself.

And if you've been around James Willis,

he'll quote the scripture every three

days.

[clears throat] Jesus is gentle

at heart. of all the things

that Godself that Jesus could have

described himself as, he says, "I am

gentle."

So if you lean towards aggression,

you may want to reconsider

the strength of gentleness.

And if you lean towards pacivity, you

may want to 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 got to be the hero. I got to go make

it happen. I got to do this. That's the

filter how aggression sees itself and

others and filters God in scripture.

Very dangerous.

Pacivity

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?

>> And later in Matthew chapter

Matthew 21 · chapter mention

21,

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.

And gentleness

does not get along with aggression.

And gentleness

interrupts deeply the posture of

passivity.

Amen.

>> And so let's go back here one slide.

I wrote this.

Gentleness

it's God's way of exercising

authority.

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 exercised

without aggression and without

passivity.

always for the father's glory and

the restoration

of others.

Therefore,

the spirit forms a community

marked by gentleness

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

going to 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 going to choose to believe that when

I step into the space of the OC church

and I interact that the spirit is

already present and at work forming us

and forming the fruit of the spirit. All

nine dynamics.

And these are these 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.

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

gently.

The challenge for that is not going to

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.

I've passivity has chosen to disengage

because

I used to be aggression.

And I don't want to be aggression

anymore

because when I was aggression,

I hurt 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

just who's in, who's out, AND ALL THIS

THAT I GOT so burned out

that I chose a safe space,

passivity.

The challenges with passivity is that

now I miss being spiritual.

I actually feel alone a lot because I

don't have true genuine friends because

I'm guarded.

Often I actually don't even know what's

happening

and that bothers me

and I want to blame people but ah

whatever. So I'm just withdraw and when

I hear aggression I just get triggered

and I and it reassures me passivity is

better. I don't want to do that again.

Aggression.

The dominant feeling for aggression is

fear.

Fear of passivity. [laughter]

Fear that you, me, all of us will become

passive. So I got to be full of

aggression.

We need to go back.

I don't want to 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 here's some of us. Here

we go again

and they're fighting off

one another.

And once pacivity says, you know what? I

got to get out of pacivity,

the misstep is I got to go back to

aggression.

And once aggression is burned out,

they're going to go to pacivity.

Oh, how the

tables have turned. Or to quote the

great Michael Scott, oh, how the

turntables have turned.

>> We got to get a office reference there

before it dies out.

>> Um,

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 going to treat people that way.

It's hard to pray because you the way

you treat others is how you're treating

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

because 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 want to

I don't want to be harsh so I say

nothing.

But thanks be to God for God

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, to have a strength

that's not self-reliant

or critical. and save, 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 it, 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, 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 because 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 Moses that comes

down the mountain, but now is 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 7:28 728 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 going to 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 going to show

us, Jesus is going to embody what this

authority, what this gentleness is like.

Amen.

>> Chapter eight.

When Jesus came down the mountain side,

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?

>> 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 going to take us

somewhere else with the story. Matthew

just leaves it like this to show us

Jesus just preached, "I didn't come 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 is

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 because 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 want to 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? [laughter]

Um, verse five, when Jesus entered

Capernium,

a centuring, 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.

Didn't Jesus not just preach, love your

enemies? And so, he's embodying

everything that he just taught.

Gentleness is willing to go.

Pacivity 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

because 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

because 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 une. 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 nashing

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 have 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 got a little more

energy here. Are we

>> 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

lifegiving into their homes where they

can faithfully participate in the

kingdom of God.

Let's close.

When evening came,

many who were demonpossessed

were brought to him. And he drove the

spirits with a word and healed the sick.

And this is where we're going to 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? 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.

>> 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

diseases. What is he doing? He's leading

us gently.

>> So, aggression,

don't wait for the big sign.

He comes to you in a gentle whisper.

>> Pacivity.

Life is short. Time is short.

>> Remember the L the love God has for you

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 going to say a prayer to take

communion here. I have three questions

for you to just think about as you take

communion. I'm going to 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 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 pacivity is saying 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 mystery,

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.

>> [music]

>> Hey, [music]

hey,

hey. [music]