Open with Pastor Ryan Braley

Good morning, everyone.

How are you doing?

Long time no see.

Before we jump in, we have a special guest all the way from Oregon.

I don't want to embarrass her, but Margaret is here.

Where's Margaret at?

Wave at me.

Where is she?

Oh, there's you give Margaret some love.

She.

Yeah.

She watches us every week, and she lives in Oregon, and she came down.

She's like, I gotta come to Central and see the place.

And so welcome, Margaret.

Anybody else here from out of town or for the first time that wants to be recognized, we can give you some love too.

My name is Ryan.

I'm the pastor, and it's so good to be with you guys.

Um, we are gonna journey through the book of Mark this fall.

So there are four gospels.

The gospels tell the story of Jesus, and they're Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in case you haven't heard of these before.

And they kind of come about two-thirds of the way through the Bible.

And there are four Gospels, and we'll talk about what that means in a minute, but they just tell the stories of about Jesus.

And so this fall, we're gonna journey through the book of Mark.

And uh, we'll start this morning.

But before we do it, I just want to say thank you so much.

Uh again, I I just got back from a three-month sabbatical, and it was incredible.

And I just feel like overwhelmingly uh just I feel full of gratitude for a number of reasons, but one of which is that you guys, I just felt so well loved and sent off and cared for when I left three months ago.

And uh I received a lot of really wonderful cards with nice notes and some beautiful text messages and emails, not during the sabbatical, I know it's strictly forbidden, uh, but after and before.

I actually had one of my friends, Jason, and I texted him about a week into my sabbatical, and I was asking him about the Elk River baseball team.

I go, hey, how's the varsity team doing?

He writes back, is this a test?

I was told not to talk to you at all.

No, no contact.

No, no, you're fine.

It's just okay.

It's okay.

You have a permission to.

But no, I felt yeah, very well loved and cared for.

And so uh, it's just extremely uh humbling and it's an honor to be the pastor here.

And I just I love and appreciate you guys.

I really do, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to go and do what I needed to do.

And part of that was I wanted to take this whole thing very seriously.

And so I I actually met with a spiritual director a number of times over the sabbatical just to kind of help me process what was happening and what I was thinking and doing.

And, you know, you can't make meaning happen.

Meaning happens to you.

And so when you have these encounters or experiences, it takes time to figure out what was that?

And what do you make of that?

How do you define it?

What do you how do you label it?

And so it might take me some time to figure it out.

So I appreciate your grace and your uh patience in that.

Uh I do want to share a few stories later on today, but but yeah, and and you know, so he was there to help me process it.

And before I left, he said to me, He goes, Ryan, what do you what do you want on this sabbatical?

What do you what do you hope for?

Like, that's a big question, you know.

What do you want?

And what do you hope for?

And I began to tell him some things and kind of riffing, and I was sort of like, but I noticed I was like kind of qualifying a lot of this, but also maybe you know, trying to soften the thing, and I don't know, and nothing really definitive kind of came out, and um, like I was kind of wandering you know, aimlessly to this destination of an answer.

And he goes, Let me stop you.

It sounded he goes, it sounds like, and this is what a good director does.

He goes, it sounds like you want an encounter with God.

It's like, yeah, I think I do.

Like, I want an encounter with God this summer.

And I realize that, or wonder maybe, if there's anybody here this morning.

I don't know why you're here.

You could be here for any number of reasons.

Maybe your friend dragged you here, maybe your mom dragged you here.

Maybe you came to ride the ponies or the donkeys or the whatever's out there.

I don't know.

Fair enough.

But maybe you could use an encounter with the living God today.

And so I'm not gonna have you raise your hand or come to the altar, uh, although you can if you want to.

But I want to just I'm gonna pray and I want let that be your prayer.

That you might encounter God today.

And maybe you will.

I mean, I don't know, I don't know.

I'm not God, I don't know if you will or not, yeah.

Maybe during the songs you'll experience or encounter God.

Maybe during the sermon, maybe outriding the donkey, you'll encounter God.

I don't know.

How would I know?

How would you know?

But I want to encourage you to be open to it.

And so as we pray, may that be your prayer.

Uh that you would be open to encountering God today.

Let's pray.

God, we give you thanks for your presence, which is live and well here in this place.

And living God, we ask that you would give us an encounter with you.

In this ordinary place, may we in some ways encounter you today.

And I pray for those who are here that need it desperately, God.

Would you meet with them today?

Yeah, may they encounter you today.

In your holy and precious name.

Amen.

Amen.

Mark opens his gospel.

By the way, my sermon is called Open.

Mark opens his gospel, his book, his stories about Jesus.

By the way, I want to just pretend that we know nothing about this book, just for the just for the morning.

Uh, nothing about Jesus or John or Mark, so we're gonna just kind of pretend we go in blind.

And he opens this story like this.

This is how Mark opens.

This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus the Christ.

But the Christ is not his name, it's like a title.

It means uh the anointed one.

So there's this, this is the beginning of good news of Jesus the Christ.

Now we don't really know what the good news is just yet.

Mark doesn't tell us what this good news is yet, but there are two things we can infer and kind of deduce from this opening that are actually quite fascinating.

The first one is this.

Notice the words that Mark uses.

He uses the word good news, which is of course our English translation.

In the original Greek, the word for good news is this.

It's the word ewangeleon.

Everyone say, everyone say eugeleon.

It's where we get the word evangel, evangelism, evangelical.

Um, so this is the beginning of the eugeleon of Jesus the Christ.

Here's why it's interesting.

This is not just some random word he pulls it out nowhere.

It wasn't really a word used a lot by the Jews either.

This was a word used predominantly by the Roman Empire, Ewangeleon.

The Caesar would send out a Ewangeleon, a message of good news, a gospel message.

He would announce some things.

Usually it was like his birthday was coming up.

Good news if you're the Caesar.

Or he had conquered some new lands and his empire was expanding.

That's the Ewengeleon.

He would send an he would preach an announcement, a gospel, that was that our empire is expanding.

Now, if you're the Caesar, that's really good news.

If you're the one being conquered or living, you know, day to day, hand to mouth, it's not the greatest news that this empire was expanding.

Also, that Caesar would have sent out a Ewangeleon, an announcement of good news whenever there was a new Caesar enthroned.

So that would be the Ewangeleon.

Mark steals this word, I think very intentionally, as if to say this story I'm gonna tell you, this story about good news, is not the eugeleon about the Caesar having another birthday, good for him.

Not that the empire is expanding, not that there is a new Caesar, but this is a different gospel, a good news story.

And the second thing we can infer, so he's he's sort of co-opting this word, using it for something very differently.

That isn't the good news.

The good news is that he says it's about Jesus the Christ.

Now, if you're a Jew and you hear Jesus or in the Hebrew be the Messiah, so Messiah and Christ, same title, they were waiting for a Messiah, the people of God, and they were living in darkness, and they were waiting for someone to come and rescue them, redeem them, push back the forces of evil and save them from darkness.

And so Mark opens this story in a dramatic way.

This is the beginning of the Ewangelion, not of the Caesar's empire, but of the Jesus the Christ.

Now, we don't really know what it is still, just that it's just this gospel, it's good news about Jesus, and we don't know who that is really yet, but we're waiting.

What is it exactly?

Then a guy called John shows up.

So, John, we read in the in the uh Mark 1, 4, John the baptizer, we call him that because he like we baptize people.

So John the baptizer, fitting title, he appears in the wilderness proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and the whole Judean region and countryside, all the folks from Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him.

So there's this wild-eyed preacher, this prophet, who goes out into the wilderness.

And who shows up?

Who shows up?

Everybody.

The whole Judean countryside comes out to meet this guy.

By the way, this is like backwards.

When there was a move of God or something happening, it was in the temple.

The temple was like the religious and social economic hub of all of the religious people, uh the Jews in this time.

And this guy's out in the wilderness, he's out in the woods just doing dunking people underwater.

And everybody shows up.

So you get this sense there's like this stirring that's happening.

Can you see, can you feel it?

This commotion means it happened out in the wilderness.

And I'm sure those in the temple are like, where are they going?

What are they doing?

What's out there?

What are we missing?

What's going on?

Yeah, there's this stirring, this commotion, this beginning of this movement that happens out in the wilderness.

By the way, there's no priest out there overseeing any of it.

Like, who gave that guy permission to start dunking folks underwater and forgiving sins?

The priests were like, not me, dude.

And yet there is, there's this movement that begins to happen.

And it has something to do with this good news, but we don't know what the good news is just yet.

Then Jesus shows up, and we're told that he's from Nazareth.

Now, Nazareth is like a small town.

It's like a little dirt, you know, roadside dirt little village, not many people there.

And it's like a podunk little town, kind of like the Omaha, Nebraska of the Middle East.

Maybe the Toledo, Ohio of the Middle, of the Middle East.

I don't know.

Yeah, the Fresno, California of the Middle East.

By the way, anybody from any of those places?

Okay, this morning there was one guy from Roger was on my, oh no, sorry, but yeah, it's like this unrecognizable, you know, it's like a nothing town on a map.

It's barely even there.

And Jesus, this guy from Nazareth in the northern part of Israel, that's called the Galilee, this is where he comes out and he goes, he goes out to the wilderness to meet this guy, John, where there's like this stirring, this commotion, this movement happening, and he gets baptized by John, and John dunks him underwater.

Love it.

And then almost right away, John is arrested.

And I know that because in verse 14 it says, now after John was arrested.

It's my deductive reasoning there.

Pretty smooth, isn't it?

You're like, man, preaching is easy.

I could do that.

Yeah, he's arrested.

And then it says this after he was arrested, Jesus comes back to the Galilee, the northern part, this rural part of Israel, where not much is going on, and he proclaims the good news, the Ewangeleon of God.

What is it?

What's this good news?

And he tells him, here's what it is the time is fulfilled.

In other words, we ready.

And the kingdom of God has come near.

Notice he doesn't say the gospel is that you can go to heaven when you die.

He doesn't say the gospel is that I will make your life easier and you will be happy.

Notice he doesn't say the gospel is that uh your political party will win the election this year.

Although I hope it does.

I hope you do.

Just so you know, too, we have folks all across the aisles in this building, which is so may all of you, whatever, you know.

I love it.

He says the gut, now those things might be a part of it heaven when you die, and life and what, but like the gospel is that the kingdom of God has come near.

In the Greek, the word is engizo, every time engizo.

And it just means it means this to bring near, to approach, to join one thing to the other.

So the kingdom of God, which by the way, it's good to think about that.

It's like, okay, the kingdom of God, we don't really have kingdoms much anymore, but it's this it's like the rule and reign of God, the order of God, the divine order.

If God were in charge, how would things go?

How would God run the world?

Maybe the first might be last, and maybe there would be love for enemies, and I don't know, maybe blessed would be those who hunger and thirst, and they'd be filled.

Maybe there'd be no more tears or no more death.

I don't know.

I'm just saying, maybe.

But that kingdom of God, that order, that rule and reign of God has come near.

Near to what?

Near to you.

Somehow, this this divine order has come here.

And the the divine and the ordinary have been joined together one to the other.

And the spiritual and the transcendent have joined together with the material world.

You could say it this way: the the creator of the universe, the ineffable, the unnamable, has been joined together with Nazareth.

What does that mean?

What might happen if the kingdom of God is near, has come near?

Heaven and earth have been joined together in this moment, somehow in this person, Jesus.

Right under the nose of the Emperor, the Caesar.

I wonder if he knows it.

Or can tell or can see it.

And then Mark, for good measure, is gonna put this on display for us.

Show us what it looks like.

So watch from now until we end this series, watch how Jesus puts on display.

This is what the kingdom of God will look like.

This is how folks are treated in the kingdom of God.

It's how the order and rule is flushed out, it's what it looks like.

So watch for it.

And then he does this.

He goes and he he invites other people to join him.

I love it.

By the way, if if this kingdom of God is coming near, under the nose of the Caesar, there might be some tension to follow.

It's like a bit of a battle of the kingdoms, if you will.

So he goes, he starts inviting folks.

Hey, you want to you want to join this mission, this movement, this thing that's happening that started with this wild-eyed prophet out in the woods, and you want to you want to join this?

And who does he ask first?

A bunch of fishermen, local guys in the Galilee, like nobodies.

In fact, for all kinds of reasons, like you we know that these guys are not like star-studded men.

It's mostly men in the beginning, but women join it, of course.

But like these guys are fishermen, they're ordinary fishermen.

It's a tradesman job.

And these were not the star students.

We know that in when little boys go through school and uh Hebrew school, the best of the best get invited to keep going, and they eventually become rabbis or they you know disciples.

And these guys don't get that, they're not star students, they actually end up just following in their father's footsteps because they're not good enough.

So they're fishermen.

Yeah, so Jesus calls the B team, the JV squad.

Hey, come and join this movement.

And I'm sure, yeah, let's go.

And they drop everything, they go with them.

Why wouldn't you?

By the way, it's usually the other way around.

Usually the disciple will like apply to follow the rabbi, and the rabbi says, Yes or no.

In this case, the rabbi chooses them.

Remember, Jesus says, Yeah, you didn't choose Jesus.

Jesus chose you.

Remember that.

So he calls them.

Then he goes to this other guy named Levi, Matthew's name.

We know him as Matthew, and he's a tax collector, which means he's he works for the Romans.

So he's not a Jewish kid, but he like works, he works for and collects money for the Romans.

So he's not at home with his own people because they think he's a traitor.

Like, don't get out of here.

You work for the Romans, you don't work for us.

You're not you're not one of us anymore.

So, but he doesn't belong with the Romans either because he's a Jew.

So he's got no, he belongs to nobody.

He fits in nowhere.

And Jesus says, Yes, I'll take you.

Come hang out with us in this movement that we're starting, this thing that has to do with the kingdom of God coming near.

And I wonder if these men had any idea what might happen next.

If they had any clue what might, what might transcend, like what might what transpire rather in the next few days and weeks and months and years.

I bet they had no idea.

I bet that in every way these men got got more than they bargained for.

Yeah.

That there'd be highs to come and there'd be lows that would come, and these things would shape them and transform them.

That there would be beautiful moments, also painful moments, and these things would begin to mold them into the men they become, but they had no idea.

I wonder if at the beginning, Jesus just simply asks them to be open.

Like, hey, you don't know what's coming next, but I'm just telling you, be open and come.

And I don't know why they went.

And now there's all kinds of cultural reasons.

Maybe it was because this rabbi chose them, thought they were good enough, whatever.

But I imagine that they just Jesus just said, hey, why don't you just be open and come and see?

Yeah.

Yeah, be open.

And truly, anything from that moment on might happen.

Yeah, I mean, the kingdom of God has come near.

What if they took that seriously?

What might happen?

Jesus just sort of says, trust me.

And be open.

I want to be the kind of person that lives my life like that.

Like I really do.

I want to be open to the things of God, to encountering God and in all the moments of life, to like search for these magical moments and just to be open to God, that anything might truly happen, that the kingdom of God might just be here.

And maybe we're invited to be a part of it.

I don't know.

Who knows?

And to live my life like that might just be true and to trust Jesus and be open.

So I was on sabbatical for three months.

And at the beginning of the sabbatical, I knew I had three months to look forward to.

And I began to view this whole three months, not as like a time of rest, although it was good to get rest, but I wasn't tired.

I just I wanted to view it as a pilgrimage.

A pilgrimage, if you don't know, is like a physical journey you go on.

That also, as you're doing this physical journey, you might travel to a holy site or walk a road.

But also at the same time, there's this spiritual journey you're going on too.

And my friend Kent always said, hey, treat every part of a pilgrimage as though it's a part of the pilgrimage.

It's like be open all of it.

Whatever happens, be open to it.

And imagine that all of it is part of the pilgrimage.

So on the pilgrimage, if your car breaks down, it's part of the pilgrimage.

Not ideal, it's a hindrance, but hey, who knows what might happen next?

Who knows?

What might happen now?

Miss your train?

That's a bummer, but I don't know what might happen now.

Who knows?

Anything can happen.

Be open, it's all part of the pilgrimage.

Not that God ordains all things and is meticulously controlling everything, and he's the great puppet master, and we're just doing what no, not that.

But like, what if there's like meaning and magic and transformation to be found in all of it, as though it's all part of the pilgrimage.

So I, okay, I'll do that.

So I wanted to go into it open and act as though all of it, every interaction, every stranger in a coffee shop might be something, might be something there.

Let's talk to them.

I don't know, let's see what happens.

Where about this go?

The kingdom of God just might be here.

And be open to all of it and to trust in Jesus.

So I went to Iona for uh about a week and a half in July.

And here's where Iona is, if you've never heard of it.

It's a part of the Hebrides Islands.

This is this is Western Europe, in case you didn't know.

And uh that big red dot is kind of over the it's the UK, but it's sort of that big island is um it's in the in the north, it's Scotland, and in the south it's England.

So I'll zoom in a bit more.

So in Scotland, there's these islands on the northwest coast.

You're kind of on the edge of the world.

It's it's amazing.

And they're called the Hebrides.

So I'll zoom in a bit more.

That little island I went to is called Iona.

It's very, very tiny.

And I spent about a week and a half there.

And to get there, I had to take a flight, then I had to stay in a hotel, then take another train, then take another hotel or stay in another hotel, then I had to take a ferry, then a bus, then another ferry, and then finally a little short walk up to this abbey, this monastery.

And here's a picture of it.

So this is the monastery I studied, this 1500-year-old monastery on the island of Iona.

A guy called St.

Columba founded this monastery back in 563.

And he shows up, he's an Irishman, shows up, he brings Christianity to the to this island, Scotland, and Iona, but to all of Scotland.

He's the first one.

He and 12 of his mates show up, they build this monastery and they live there as an order of these monks, you know, and and uh they spread the gospel.

The Ewingaleon, the The kingdom of God has come near.

And while I was there, I'm like, I want to be open.

I want to encounter God.

And I want to act as though all of it's part of the pilgrimage.

So one night, I'm like, what am I going to do tonight?

Because we had some open time and space.

It was the night when the World Cup, the championship game was on.

And I'm like, I'm going to, I'm going to go outside, hike this hill called Dunny, and watch the sunset.

Like, how magical is that?

I'm on the edge of the world in the Hebrides.

I'm going to hike this mountain, this hill.

And nobody's going to be out there because it's late at night and the sun sets at like 11 o'clock at night.

It's like very long days.

And the folks at the abbey with me, they're mostly older folks.

They weren't really out gallivanting around late at night.

So I'm like, I'll be alone.

And uh I couldn't wait.

Like, I'll go up there and I'll pray to God.

I'll have this encounter with the divine mystery and I'll pray and maybe sing or I'll dance or whatever I'm gonna do because I'll be alone.

It doesn't matter, it's fine.

And I'll encounter God.

So I walk out of the abbey, and it's like, man, the sun's getting lower.

It's just awesome.

I'm gonna meet God tonight.

I start walking up towards this hill, it's way in the distance.

And no one's out there.

Nobody's out there.

And as I'm walking, I hear this noise behind me.

And I kid you not.

I turn around and I look, and there's this teenage boy following me.

Like, oh, hey, man.

And so I was trying to be polite.

So I go, hey, what's up, man?

He goes, hey.

And he catches up to me.

I'm like, oh, okay, all right.

What are we doing here?

You know?

He goes, hey, what are you doing?

I go, well, you know, I've got to be honest.

I go, I'm hiking up to the top of a dunny.

I'm gonna watch the sunset and see what happens.

He goes, no way! Me too.

Now I know that murder is wrong.

But there are lots of places to hide a body on this island.

Just kidding.

I was like, you've got to be kidding me, dude.

Where'd you even come from?

Where'd you spawn in from, dude?

What a glitch in the matrix.

And I'm sure, I mean, I had like disappointment just wash over my face, which he would have seen, but he's a 17-year-old boy.

He's not looking for anything, he doesn't care.

Like, all right, man, let's great, let's go together.

And that that mantra came to my head.

Hey, hey, it's be open.

It's it's all part of the pilgrimage.

I'm like, fine.

So we start walking.

And we walked, and he's like, Yeah, my parents are not at the abbey, they're at a prayer meeting, but I'm not into any of that.

I'm not into that stuff.

I'm like, yeah, yeah, me neither.

Me neither.

I'm like, you don't know who I am, do you?

I didn't tell him until about halfway into this conversation.

But we're walking, and like, you know, time goes by, and he's like talking about his life back home, and his girlfriend now, he cheated on his girlfriend with this other guy, and he's like, Should I tell my girlfriend?

I was like, Oh my gosh, I don't know, man.

I just met you, I don't know.

I'm on sabbatical, I'm not talking, I'm not gonna talk.

I can't even do a ministry, bro.

And he told me his sister and his brother who's in the military, and his parents, and they're down there, and his grandma who lives on the and we walked for like over an hour and we got lost and had to climb these fences and like hike through these ravines.

And I was actually like starting to enjoy myself.

This kid's kind of cool, and I like it, you know.

Get to the top, and the sun sets that I'd been waiting for all night.

It set behind the clouds.

Didn't even get to see it set behind the horizon.

I'm like, hey, come over here.

Let's take a picture together.

Yeah, I don't know, you know?

Like, who knows what will happen.

Now I'll tell you, he didn't fall on his knees and scrouch at God and want me to baptize him.

That didn't happen, which I kind of like.

Nothing happened.

We went back down and said goodbye.

And uh I felt very moved.

I don't know why.

And uh he went back, I go, hey, if I see you tomorrow, I want to get you the picture because his phone had died.

Next day I meet him with his parents, and he goes, Hey, mom, dad, this is that priest I was telling you about.

I said, Well, never mind.

And I was so moved, I again, I don't know what these things mean all the time.

I texted my friend Corey, I go, Corey, this is what happened.

And I sent him a photo, and here's what Corey said back to me.

So uh, this is the photo you can see in the text message.

Corey goes, Oh, what a handsome young lad you've taken under your wing.

I suspect he'll be preaching to the masses by week's end.

I met this man on the road, we started talking, and now my life will never be the same.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who knows, man?

Who knows?

I don't know.

Anything might happen.

And perhaps I did, in fact, encounter God that night.

I don't know.

Next day I went out to the beach.

They had beaches there that looked like Florida.

Here's one, and this is the day the sun came out, the one day that I was over there.

You know, summer is a suggestion in Scotland, it's not a real thing all the time.

It most often means that just the day of the rain is a bit warmer.

But this day the sun came out, I'm like, I'm gonna go out there.

So I went out to the beach, it just felt very sacred.

So I took off my sandals and I heard this voice say, You're on holy ground.

It was a burning bush.

It was talking.

I'm just kidding.

So I sat down on the beach and I just sat there and I was like, man, this is incredible.

It's like mystical.

And just I'm on the edge of the world on the Hebrides Islands, and this 1500 year old monastery and Christianity came ashore here, and how beautiful is this! What a magical place.

And I'm like, what is this beach called?

And so I asked my dear friend and confidant and advisor, ChatGPT, I said, What is this place called, Chat?

Chat was like, Oh, I'm so glad you asked such a great question, Ryan.

You're so wonderful and magnanimous, Ryan.

You know how chat is.

Okay, chat, just get it to the point.

So chat was like, oh, it's called the White Strand of the Monks, which is a strand, it's like an old-fashioned word for a beach or a shoreline.

So it's called the White Shores of the Monks.

I said, Well, why is it called?

So I said, hey, chat, why is it called the White Strand of the Monks?

What does this name mean?

And here's what, and this is true.

You can look up the history of it.

Here's the answer.

Oh, well, this beach is called the White Strand of the Monks because during the Viking raids in the eighth and ninth centuries, invading warriors attacked the island and massacred the resident monks directly on the beach.

And then they added, right after that, right where you're sitting.

And I got out of there.

Yeah, not how I expected to encounter God in this place.

Not what I was expecting.

But there it was.

This dark shadow of history that loomed over this place.

And I wonder, I wonder, let me jump through these one more time.

I wonder this, you guys.

I wonder if um being open to God means being open not only to the beauty and the transcendence and the experiences that we hope for and long for and dream of, and the wonder and the greatness and the hilltops, and the but maybe also to grief and suffering and our dark histories and interruptions and disappointments, and 17-year-old boys who don't know any better, and shadows, and the realities that we wouldn't rather see.

Our arguments with our kids or our spouses or moments we get it wrong.

Yeah, maybe that's what it means.

Like the kingdom of God has come near.

Maybe it's we're gonna be open to all of it, as though it all is a part of the pilgrimage.

I believe I encountered God that trip on Iona, but I also think I encountered God in the absence of God and in the loneliness when I was at a cabin for two weeks on this creek up in Cross Lake.

I was extremely lonely.

But I think somehow in the absence of God, I felt the presence of God.

It's the weirdest thing, I can't explain it.

Maybe we can have coffee or burrito, and I'll explain it to you more later.

Yeah.

The beauty and the wonder and the pain and the suffering and the sorrow, it's all part of it.

So I met with Kent again to kind of close up shop last week.

And we were chatting.

I said, I'm just I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude.

I feel full.

And I'm sad it's over.

But I'm glad to be back, you know?

I'm glad to be back, but I'm sad it's over.

And he goes, Oh, Ryan, it sounds like you got way more than you bargained for.

Yeah, Ted.

And then he said this.

He goes, Hey, what uh I wonder what it would be like if you could live your life at this all the time.

Fancy that.

How about how about open to God all the time, as though the kingdom of God really has drawn near, and that changed everything.

And as though you and I, a bunch of lowly fishermen and women from Elk River, as though we've been invited into this kingdom of God.

Wow, what could happen?

Anything could happen.

Here's some practical tips for ways I think you can be open, but you might find your own.

Do it because here's what I want to encourage you.

I want you to I want you to hear the invitation for the next 24 hours to be open to God, to encountering God in ways you don't expect and ways you do expect.

I don't know, who knows?

I'm not God, I don't know what will happen, but be open to it.

Here's some ways you can do that, and you might have your own, and you can share them with each other.

But maybe you talk with a stranger, see where it goes.

Maybe the kingdom of God has come near, who knows?

Maybe you can pick up the lunch tab because maybe in the kingdom of God, uh generosity is a thing.

I'll be generous.

I'll share, I'll I'll buy lunch today, see what happens.

Maybe you could do this, you could uh lean into moments when you feel sad and just feel it instead of stuffing it down or or ignoring it like we Minnesotans and especially the men love to do.

Some of us.

Maybe you wander a bit more.

Don't take the road, take the path.

Wendell Barry talks about the pathway that's follows the contours of the natural landscape.

Do that.

Don't drive on a rope, just plow over the landscape, walk somewhere and wander and just go somewhere.

Maybe you can do this one.

Let the server choose your next meal.

Hey, you choose.

I don't know.

Maybe the kingdom of God is full of magic.

And I just don't, I don't know.

You pick my meal.

Maybe you could read a random book.

Because if the spirit is alive and well in you, the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, maybe just pick a book and trust that the spirit will, I don't know, just pick one out and read it.

See what happens.

I don't know.

Who knows?

Maybe you could learn a new hobby, have a beginner's mind do something just because you want to.

How about be five percent more silly?

This is easier for some of us than others.

I'm just gonna say that, man.

Yeah, be silly, because why not?

The kingdom of God has come near.

Let some of that shame, that imposter syndrome, the I'm not let it go.

Just for 5%, you know what I mean?

See what happens.

How about this one?

Maybe compliment somebody.

Hey, I like your haircut.

Nice outfit.

You're a very generous person.

You're very funny.

Be genuine about it.

How about this?

Forgive somebody.

Ask for forgiveness.

Sometimes you forgive others, you find that forgiveness isn't just about setting them free.

But when you forgive somebody, you set yourself free.

Maybe you can do this one.

Be open.

And anyway, so quick story I'm out.

Yesterday I got a text from my son, Gavin, and he went, uh, he works, he goes to North Central College, and he um he's learning Spanish.

And so he's practicing with a lot of these Spanish speakers that work at a school, because who knows what might happen.

And he made friends and friends with this lady who's got to be in her 50s, uh, and she's like the cook in the in the in the cafeteria.

And her name's Alicia, and they start talking and they've been friends for like almost a year now.

Well, she invites him to her house for a brunch.

He's like, Dad, what I'm like, go, dude, go.

So he goes, he has no idea what to expect, what he's getting himself into.

You never know what might happen.

And maybe the kingdom of God has really come near.

So he shows up, and it turns out it wasn't just a brunch with Gavin and this woman.

It was her uncle's 62nd birthday party.

Check this out.

This is so fun.

I died laughing.

Viva Mexico! Yes, he's the only white kid there.

It's all these Mexicans.

And by the way, yes, there was a mariachi band, and uh, that's Alicia there doing this.

And they invited him to her his birthday party.

Here's the mariachi band just in there they are.

I died laughing.

I go, dude, that's so good.

Who knows what might happen?

Be open, central.

May you know the you and Galeon that the kingdom of God has come, that two things have been joined together: heaven and earth, the divine and the ordinary, in Jesus, but also here.

Something magical is happening, and you and I are a part of it.

We've been invited.

How great is that?

Your sins have been forgiven.

We just did this a moment ago.

How great is that?

And you can be open, so central Lutheran church today, and maybe for just 24 hours.

May you indeed be open.

Amen.