.jpg)
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Weekly sermons from our Central Lutheran Church preaching team plus quick reflections from Pastor Ryan Braley.
Real talk, ancient wisdom, and honest questions — all designed to help you learn, grow, and find encouragement when you need it most.
At Central, our mission is simple: FOLLOW Jesus together, be a community where you BELONG, and LOVE our neighbors across the street and around the world.
Think deeper. Live freer. Share an episode with a friend and visit us in person anytime — you’re always welcome here in Elk River, MN.
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
The End, and How It All Connects with Pastor Ryan Braley
The resurrection of Jesus stands as the bedrock of our hope, promising that no matter what chaos surrounds us, we will ultimately be okay. This powerful conclusion to our Philippians series reveals how Christ functions as the cosmic glue binding all creation together—from quantum particles to human relationships.
Paul's tender description of the Philippian church as "my joy and my crown" (stephanos) offers a profound vision of what genuine community looks like. Rather than viewing church as merely buildings or programs, Paul shows us a community of people whose lives are beautifully intertwined, who have each other "hanging around their necks" like Olympic medals. This relationship was so meaningful that even from a thousand miles away in a Roman prison, Paul felt deeply connected to their struggles and triumphs.
When addressing the conflict between Euodia and Syntyche, Paul doesn't take sides or minimize their disagreement. Instead, he pleads with them to adopt the "phronesis of Christ"—to view their situation through the lens of Christ's self-emptying love. This approach recognizes that our conflicts affect the entire body of Christ, rippling outward like waves through quantum entanglement.
The letter culminates with Paul's assurance that "God will meet all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus." The Greek word for "meet" (pleraou) means to fill or complete, addressing the infinite longing within each human heart that only God can satisfy. When we experience this divine completion, we discover a peace that passes understanding—a profound assurance that whatever happens, we will be okay.
What relationships in your life need the lens of Christ applied to them today? Who are the people worth pouring out your life for, your potential "stephanos"? As you wrestle with these questions, remember that through Christ, everything truly is connected, and in Him, we will all be okay.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
and we ask that you would come and lead us and guide us as we close up this book of Philippians. Pray, god, that it would move us, that it would stir us, that it would spur us to action. God, may it shape how we think about you and the church and each other, and may the words of Paul resonate deep within us. Indeed, god, may you come and meet all of our needs according to your riches and glory, and this morning may you bless us, may you fill us up in all the ways we need it so badly, god, the ways we're empty. Would you fill us and give us your peace In Jesus' name, amen, and may you be seated. Good morning everyone. I'm going to use this later, so don't forget it's there. We're wrapping up our Philippians series. Hopefully you've enjoyed it. We've been working on this letter for a couple of weeks now. I really wish we had spent like a whole year in this book. This book is incredibly profound. It's very layered and there's a lot going on. I'm like man, we should have done it for the whole year, but here we are. I'm going to try to recap this whole thing this morning. So here's what I want to say. Oh, by the way, open up your Bibles, if you have them. To Philippians 4. I'm going to kind of do a whole cursory glance at chapter 4 and try to tie it all together, but here's what I'll say. So, philippians 4, I don't know what page it's on. If you know what page it's on, someone, shout it out. When you get there, you can just shout it out. What is it? 555?, 955. That's a niner, a fiver and a fiver for you on the radio. Okay, we're good to go. 955. You know, here's what I want to tell you. If you hear nothing else this morning, may you hear this If Jesus was truly resurrected, then we're going to be okay. We're going to be okay. If Jesus really rose from the dead and I believe he did, and I think many of you are kind of thinking something similar if you do believe that, then we're going to be just fine. I don't know how, I don't know what it will look like, but I believe that we will all be okay. And here's why Because Jesus' resurrection wasn't just a thing that happened 2,000 years ago, but the idea is that Jesus resurrects the whole thing and rebuilds and restores, renews the whole thing. In him, this kingdom has dawned and this new thing, it's new life, it's redemption, it's recreation, it's forgiveness, it's hope, it's a future that's a sure and present reality now. And so, if Jesus rose from the dead, we're going to be okay. Can I get an amen? You guys awake out there. This is good news.
Speaker 1:My gosh Paul, opens up Philippians, chapter 4. By the way, I'm titling my sermon the End and how it All Connects, and if I had a subtitle, it would be this no, literally everything connects, it's all connected. So this morning I'm going to talk about a few things. I'm going to talk about how we're going to be okay, which I just did. We're going to talk about crowns and these two women, euodia and Syntyche, and then we're going to talk also about my corole and coral reefs, which, of course, you saw coming. And then, of course, last, we're talking about how God meets all of our needs and how that means that we are indeed going to be okay. Does that sound all right? Fantastic. So he opens chapter four, the end of the book, in verse one. I know that Sonia and Ben have both kind of danced around this chapter. We're kind of all over in this whole series, which is fine. He opens it this way. Therefore, my brothers and sisters, now the word, therefore, is referring back to chapter three.
Speaker 1:In chapter three, paul encourages the Philippians hey, have the phronesis of Christ, the same mindset, way of thinking, the way of believing this pattern of thinking and living and moving in the world. The lens of Christ is pouring out of yourself on the cross for others. Have that mindset, have that lens as you see the world in everything that you do, and live as though Christ died and resurrected. Live as though it were true, like practice, the resurrection.
Speaker 1:There were many people in this world and in this time that Paul knew that didn't live as though the resurrection was true. They didn't live as though the cross was a real thing, that God had given them grace and mercy and new hope and a new future and resurrection life. They lived focused on earthly things, paul says in chapter 318. Their mind wasn't on the things of God, their mindset, their phronesis, wasn't on the cross, their mindset was on earthly things. They had no bigger vision for life. Their vision for life was this myopic, small view and Paul's like no, have a bigger vision for life. See it in this big, christ-centered way. This phronesis of Christ, he says, even though they live like the cross isn't true. We're different, we're citizens of heaven. Paul writes.
Speaker 1:Now, remember that this is a Roman colony in Philippi he's writing this Roman colony where they were citizens of Rome. They were a mini Rome. All those people identified themselves as Romans. They lived like Romans, they dressed like Romans, they voted like well, they didn't vote necessarily, but they did all kinds of things like the Romans did, and their identity was to be Roman. And the word citizen had extremely intense political ramifications Because again, in the ancient world, in Philippi, the Roman Empire, you could worship other gods, but you couldn't worship other gods if it meant that you didn't worship the emperor as the Lord and Savior, the number one. And Christians didn't do that. They're like no, no, caesar isn't Lord, jesus is Lord.
Speaker 1:So when Paul says, hey, we are citizens of heaven, he was very much presenting an affront to the Roman Empire, as a threat and this could get you killed in the ancient world, especially in the Roman Empire, and in fact it did get many of them killed. But Paul says, hey, our hope is in Christ. It's a future reality that's present here and now. It's a sure and present reality right now that we are going to be okay. And then Paul writes at the end of chapter 3 that God will raise our mortal bodies to be these glorious bodies this is a great verse for funerals that somehow God will take our flawed bodies, our broken bodies, the broken systems of the world, the whole thing, and he will bring things back into proper harmony, as God intended. That's the whole verse, or the whole idea and vision of the Philippians. We can have joy anyway, because God is going to put things back together. I know it looks bleak right now I'm in prison, I'm in stone, but God will redeem and restore all things. This is the phronesis of Christ. I can see it the resurrection of Christ. Because Christ raised from the dead, we are going to be okay.
Speaker 1:So then Paul writes, therefore, my brothers and sisters, and in the Greek it's my brothers and my sisters. He says you, whom I love, whom I long for. Paul writes my joy and my crown stand firm. In this way, dear friends, this whole letter has a deep affection. It's got a warm tone to it. Paul's deeply engaged with the Philippians, like oh, my brothers, my sisters, whom I love, whom I long for. I don't think Paul's just being poetic. He has this deep sense of affection and compassion for the Philippians, for these people that are about 1,000 miles away. It's warm, there's a sense of trust in the whole letter and he calls them my joy, my crown. By the way, the word for crown in the Greek is the word Stephanos. We've been doing Greek lessons every week, so I figured I'd throw one more at you S-T-E-P-H-A-N-O-S.
Speaker 1:Everyone say Stephanos, stephanos. Stephanos really means this wreath or crown, and Paul says you are my Stephanos, you are my wreath, you are my crown. Now, it comes from this image of athletics and in the ancient world there were all kinds of again crown and wreath. In the ancient Greece and ancient Rome there were athletics and sports all around them and the victor would be awarded this wreath or this crown, this Stephanos. So imagine an athlete who's dedicated themselves to their trade, to their sport, to their thing, and they pour out their blood, their sweat, their tears, they discipline their body, they beat their body, they train all day and they give it everything they have and at the end, the victor crosses the finish line and wins the stefanos, the crown or the wreath. Maybe it's like a medal.
Speaker 1:The closest thing we have in today's culture is the olympics. Any olympic fans out in the house today. Okay, yeah, some of you okay, yeah, for sure, yeah, you know I'm talking about. Then, like there's a couple of weeks every summer or winter, every you know four years, and we're like everything sort of grinds to a halt and and you will watch the Olympics for 10 hours straight and in many cases you'll see these stories of these athletes and all they've done and you start like a ball of like just tears and you're crying, like what is it? Why am I crying? And the best part is when you see them go up to the podium and receive this medal and they drape it around their neck. But before that, like right before the event, what they'll often do is to kind of drum up some more drama. They will cut away from the actual scene of the event that's going to come up next and they'll cut away to Bob Costas in the home studio and Bob will tell you all about this athlete.
Speaker 1:And what you didn't know about this athlete so-and-so, so-and-so, so-and-so is they grew up in Bulgaria as a poor farmer's kid and their brother raised llama. He only had one arm and he fed himself with the other hand. His aunt was blind. And you hear this backstory like, oh my gosh, before this moment, you didn't care at all about Bulgarian, greco, roman wrestling, but now you care about nothing else. Right, like I'm invested, I'm ready. And then you watch this athlete pour themselves out and you know their backs. You're like, oh my gosh, you're cheering on this Bulgarian, whatever he's doing, and you're like I didn't know. Bulgarians had a wrestling team.
Speaker 1:And when they get on the podium, they're given this wreath, this crown, this Stephanos or, in our case, this medal, and you can see the elation, the victory all over their faces. You know what they've poured into this. You know what they've done to sacrifice everything. Yeah, look at this guy, I love this one. I can feel his energy and they're awarded this medal, this crown or this wreath. In fact, in the Greek Olympics, they gave them wreaths. That was their medal. They gave them these Stephanos. Yeah, how about this one? Yeah, I love this. Yeah, you can almost feel the elation. Yeah, yeah, how about this one? Yeah, I love that. That's great. Yeah, that's some respect, isn't it Paul's saying I've given everything I have.
Speaker 1:I've poured out my life, I've gone sun up to sun down, I've been beaten, stoned, I'm languishing. I've given this everything I have. And when I die when I stand with God. I want, I want you to be what's hanging around my neck. You are my Stephanos. Paul has this deep sense of compassion and when he crosses the finish line, when he finally gets to the end, when he's done everything he's done, it's all worthy, because he'll have you hanging around his neck. You are my Stephanos. Paul is so intimately connected with this community in Philippi that, so far away, he calls them his Stephanos. He's been beaten, flogged, stoned, thrown off a cliff, imprisoned a couple of times, shipwrecked three times, and it's all worth it because at the end of the day, at the end of his life and his life is coming to an end pretty close, pretty soon at the end of all of it, he tells the Philippian church I want you to be what's draped around my neck, you are my Stephanos. I will keep going, paul writes. I'll keep going. I'll keep giving all that I have in order that you might thrive and see the hope of glory in Christ and forgive each other and live in harmony and figure your junk out and follow Jesus and have the phronesis of Christ. I'll give it everything so that you can do that, because I love you, you're my joy, you're my crown, you're my Stephanos.
Speaker 1:You know we talk a lot about what church is. Like what is church? And many of us get involved oh, it's this building and we got to have a building and okay, fair enough. And maybe it's programs. And like, hey, what programs are you running this summer? Do you have programs for my kids? And I get all that too and like, yeah, that's a great idea. Or maybe we argue about doctrines and what do you believe about the transubstantiation and what is your Trinitarian view on the great? You know like that's fine. And do you say the Apostles' Creed? Which creed is it? And do you say the? I get it. But maybe a more healthy definition of church is just a bunch of people who have each other hanging around their necks. You know what I mean. Maybe when we talk about church, it's like, hey, these people who have each other hanging around their necks. The reason I keep showing up every week and give it all that I have is because I see you guys.
Speaker 1:Years ago, when I was asked if I wanted to be ordained, and Paul and the council came like, hey, ryan, would you want to be ordained in the Lutheran church and be a part of Central in a more permanent way and put your roots down and be an associate pastor. And I prayed and I thought about it a lot. And I remember asking a friend of mine and I was like, hey, talking about, I'm just wrestling with it. And he goes hey, let me ask you something, ryan, do you love those people? And nobody had asked me that before and I'd been here, I think, at this point for like I don't know 10 years and it was like it hit me like a ton of bricks and I'm not even kidding, I'm not exaggerating, I'm not trying to be weren't there back then. But I love you too. It's okay, you're fine, I do.
Speaker 1:I love this place. I love Elk River, warts and all. I love these people, warts and all. I'm looking at some of you I'm kidding, I love it here and I love you. And the reason I show up is I'm like, look, I want to be. I want to see you guys thrive. I want to see you forgive each other and live in harmony and follow after Jesus with all you've got, and I want to see you guys have this phronesis, the mind of Christ, and look at the world the way that God does. And I want us to be a people who are so intertwined that our stories are so invested in each other that people can see it and sense it and smell it and taste it.
Speaker 1:And it raises the question who do you have hanging around your neck? Whose life are you invested in? Their life is invested in yours. And who's your tribe, your community? Who has your back? Who do you love on? Who loves on you? Who gives you feedback? Who strengthens you and brings you coffee and tries to encourage you? Who do you love and who loves you? I have these friends in my life. I call them dark alley friends, and a dark alley friend is like somebody who you wouldn't mind going into a dark alley with. You know, in case you had to tussle and believe it or not, my wife is number one on the list because she's pretty tough when it comes to dark alleys. Ben's on my list. I'd take Ben into a dark alley. Laird Hamilton, jocko Willink, kyle's my name.
Speaker 1:But this is something even deeper. Whose life is your life intertwined with? Whose benefit, or whose outcome of their life is tied up with your outcome of your life? Who are you entangled with in the most healthy way? Paul says I love you. You're my joy. When I'm dead, I want you to be hanging around my neck. I'm so proud of you. I love you. You're my joy. When I'm dead, I want you to be hanging on my neck. I'm so proud of you. I love you. I long for you. Please keep this going. Have the mind of Christ, stand firm. In this way. Paul writes we are going to be okay.
Speaker 1:And then he shifts gears and he addresses this two women, euodia and Syntyche. It's hilarious. This is what he says hey, I plead with you, euodia, and I plead with Syntyche, to be of the same mind in the Lord, to have the same phronesis in Christ. Yes, and I ask you, my true companion. No one really knows who that was. I don't have time to dive into that, but you can Google it. It's kind of interesting. They think it might have been, but history companion. Help these women, since they have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the book of life.
Speaker 1:Now here's the deal. This was a letter read to the Philippians. It was read in public and Paul goes from these big ideas the phronesis of Christ, koinonia, all this stuff, scubala and so so on. Then he zooms in on these two women and this was a letter read in public, like in front of everybody. So like, okay, have the the mind of christ and all. By the way, you and you stand up. And they're like me now we're gonna do this here today I'm gonna have no, I'm kidding, I'm not gonna do that.
Speaker 1:But he calls out these two women who seemingly had this conflict, and it's like weighing on Paul. And he calls them out in front of everybody because everybody knows probably you know how everyone knows the stuff in the room and everyone kind of sense it and smell it and feel it, and oh, that's the elephant that no one talks about or whatever. And Paul addresses him. He's like, hey, these big ideas I'm gonna, we're gonna enflesh it, we're gonna do it in this case, in this conflict, here's what he's going to do. He pleads with them. He's like, hey, something's going down between these two women. And he pleads with them Look, we've been talking about God putting all things back together and that God will redeem and restore all things the mind of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, it's going to be okay, they've been talking about it. But something with you two is broken and I want to address it Now before I go any further. He and I want to address it Now before I go any further.
Speaker 1:He doesn't take sides. He's like God, you odia Syndicate is kind of crazy. I get it right. Right, you know he doesn't do that. Paul doesn't take sides, he doesn't really bother doing that. He also doesn't say that they were not justified. Perhaps they had a real grievance. There was real problems, real tension. Somebody hurt somebody or something happened. It was real. He doesn't like sort of just shove it under the rug. He doesn't say that. Lastly, he doesn't just say hey, guys, let's just hug it out, let's just kumbaya this thing and figure it out, we're gonna be fine, let's just hug it out. They will know we are Christians by our love. He doesn't do that.
Speaker 1:What Paul says hey, in the middle of your conflict, in this problem, have I plead with you my joy, my crown, have the phronesis of Christ. See this whole thing through the lens of Christ the outpouring of God in Christ on the cross, the emptying, the humiliation, the self-sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Think about this through the lens of Christ and adopt the Christ pattern of thinking, feeling and acting when you see this conflict put on the lens of Christ and adopt the Christ pattern of thinking, feeling and acting when you see this conflict put on the lens of Christ. I mean, by the way, I love Superman, he's my favorite superhero, he's the best but like, really Like, nobody can tell. Come on, have the lens of christ. Whatever's happening between you, you already understand. Okay, have the lens of christ. Not, it's no big deal, not just get over it, not hug it out, not none of that stuff. It's like, hey, I get it, this is a big deal, but have the framework of christ. And somebody has to behave like christ on the cross and adapt and adopt this way of thinking and everybody else. Help them, help them know what this looks like, give them thoughts and advice and feedback. You're part of the community, you're part of this tribe, this village. Help them to figure it out and to know what this looks like.
Speaker 1:Here's why, for Paul, everything is connected, it's all connected. I mentioned it already, but Paul's about a thousand miles away. This is ancient Philippi, which is not the same as the modern day Philippi, but it's close and that's Rome. Paul's in Rome. Now, to get there, you got to take the Orient Express train. Just kidding, you go on a boat and then land in a boat again. It's about a thousand miles, it's a little bit less than that, but it's a long ways away for Paul and he planted the church over 10 years ago. Why does Paul even care? Why is he so deeply filled with compassion? Why is his letter so warm? Why is he pleading and talking about joy, my crown. What is the deal here? It's so far away. Somehow, though, even though it's this far away, their junk is affecting him in prison in Rome, because everything is connected. It's connected.
Speaker 1:Colossians I love it says it this way. The book of Colossians says and, by the way, paul sees Christ as the connection point. So the book of Colossians says this he is before all things talking about Jesus, the Christ, and in him all things hold together. So Christ is like this cosmic glue that holds all things together. So he's pleading with you, audience. Okay, this is killing me. What's happening to you? This conflict, this fissure, this faction has kind of been created. Please have the mind of Christ, because it all is connected. Later in Colossians, paul writes this but Christ is in all. Sorry, christ is all and is in all. Everything for Paul is connected. There's this cosmic glue, this sort of harmony that undergirds the whole creation, the whole thing, and it's Christ. And so what happens to Euodia and Syntyche is affecting Paul, a thousand miles away in prison in Rome, and he's begging them please have the mind of Christ. See.
Speaker 1:In the modern world we like to take things apart. We love taking things apart. In the modern world we have gears and mechanisms and sinews and bones and tissues and atoms and quarks and mind and body. We separate and divide everything, but for Paul he saw it all as those all connected, not separated.
Speaker 1:I read this great study by Dr Ellen Langer. Anybody know Dr Ellen Langer. So she did a study about the mind-body connection. We often in the modern Western world want to separate mind from body. But here's the study she did. So she took a bunch of 60-year-old men this is back in the 80s, so back then 60 was like you were 80. It's like now people are living a lot longer. But back then a bunch of 60-year-old men and put them in this retreat center and surrounded them with all of the things that were in their lives 20 years prior. They created an environment that would have resembled 20 years ago, but right here now, and they put them in this retreat center and everything that they knew in this space was from 20 years ago in their life and it deeply affected their biology, their physiology. After a week of staying there, their vision improved, their hearing improved, their mental well-being improved.
Speaker 1:It's crazy why? Well, because, yeah, the mind and the body and the language we use, it's all connected. This is why you should be careful of the language you use. I have friends who are like in their 20s, like, oh, I'm so old. I'm like, shut your mouth, because the things we say impact our well-being as well. It's all connected. I heard a doctor one time say that she's like yeah, you'd be surprised, but sometimes I'll have someone come in with a stomach problem, stomach ache, and I'll find that they have marriage problems. Yeah, yeah, no wonder, because it's all connected. Everything is deeply connected and relationality is the fabric of existence.
Speaker 1:Are there any biologists in the house? Okay, fair enough, then you won't be able to prove me wrong. Then, great, this is good. Look at biology. In biology, everything is connected. I mean from this mycorrhizal, which is this incredibly ornate system in biology, to the coral reefs. Look at coral reefs. They're all intertwined and connected. Animal biology, if you take, you know, this study where they put wolves back into, was it Montana and it changed the way a river flowed. Did you know this? It's crazy. It's all connected Down to the quantum level. You ever heard of quantum entanglement, paul? Do you know about quantum entanglement? Okay, fair enough. Even at the quantum level, particles that are living a long distance away, they're deeply entangled and they impact each other. These are particles that could be, I think Einstein called like a spooky distance, something he thought it was so weird, einstein, because even at the micro, the quantum level, everything is deeply connected.
Speaker 1:So when this church sends Paul this gift a thousand miles away, 10 plus years later, it affects him so deeply that he calls them my joy, my crown. He loves these guys. Nobody else helped him, he wrote. No one else supported his ministry, but these are partners in the ministry, that partners in the gospel. This was true, cornelia, a sharing, a partnership. Their gift was to god. He thought that god gave it to him and he's thankful. It's this beautiful, symbiotic relationship and they're deeply connected even though they're a thousand miles away.
Speaker 1:That's the whole point of this letter is that the Philippians hear about Paul in prison and then they send Epaphroditus to give him a gift, to help him, support him, sustain him. And he writes back a letter the Philippians letter that you have in your Bibles with Epaphroditus to say thank you for your partnership in the gospel. It's deeply moved me. I want you hanging around my neck and here's how I'll close then too. This is what causes Paul to say I know that my God then will meet all of your needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. How can he say that? I was experienced it Somehow this gift from Epaphroditus, from the Philippian church, a thousand miles away, and their love for him, their concern, their sharing in the gospel, their partnership, their giving and receiving. They're throwing their hat in the ring with each other's lives, their entwinement in the healthiest way, and all of this has led Paul to see something that's true of God, that maybe he didn't see before. I don't know, I'm reading the text here, but maybe this was a vision of God that he gets when Epaphroditus shows up. Oh yeah, god will meet all of my needs, and he used you guys, the Philippians, to do it. Oh, my joy, my crown. Their gift reveals something about God.
Speaker 1:You ever think that maybe what you do and how you live your life reveals something about God in the world or not. You know, like that time when you were in traffic and somebody cut you off and you didn't flip them off but instead you just waved. I don't know, maybe you were revealing a deep truth about god to the universe and to that person, even to yourself. We're all going to be okay by the time. You paid for the coffee of the person in line behind you and didn't want them to come to church because of it. Like, it's okay, this is a free gift. You don't have to get saved or come to my church, I just want to give you free coffee. And you drove off without telling anybody. Yeah, maybe you're revealing something about the generative nature of God in the universe.
Speaker 1:Maybe that time when you put the shopping cart back where it's supposed to go, this is a philosophical test for how human we are and how kind we are. It's a who puts the grocery cart back without being asked or being thanked. Yeah, maybe you're revealing something about the trinity of the world and God and his place in it. Maybe that time you listened to a friend as they cried and wept about their diagnosis, or their divorce or their child. That's sick. And you just sat there and listened and maybe you're revealing something deeply true about God to the world and to your friend and to yourself.
Speaker 1:And Paul writes God will meet all of my need. Yeah, I love this. By the way, the word for meet is the word pleraou. So we're gonna do one more Greek word. You don't have to say it, actually, no, let's say it. Everyone say play Ra'u. It's not bad. It means to fill or to complete.
Speaker 1:Now, Dave was the only one who responded to my email, so I appreciate Dave's engagement with my email, but in my email it's funny, the needs we have these days, right, Like I need my morning coffee and all the favored ones of God said amen, you're sleeping out there. You need your coffee too, apparently, good grief. Like I need Siri to understand me when I talk to her on my phone. I mean good grief, siri, what's wrong with you?
Speaker 1:The other night I was laying in bed with my wife. We're reading our books and I'm like I need to set a reminder. Like I'm like I need to go to bed in 20 minutes. I'll put a reminder on my phone to go off in 20 minutes to go to bed. So I'm like, hey, siri, I'm holding my phone with a lamp, I'm holding my book, my phone's where I go. Hey, siri set a timer for 20 minutes. Siri goes what do you want me to remind you of? Go to bed? She goes what do you want me to remind you of? I said to go to bed in 20 minutes Sorry, I can't understand you, siri. And Katie goes. Ryan, you are lying in bed talking to your phone and your phone is talking back to you. What a great world we live in. You're going to be fine. So I picked up my phone and set the timer by hand.
Speaker 1:I need to go on the perfect vacation that will solve all of my family's problems and melt my worries and troubles away and maybe forget about all the things in the world that cost less than $300. Can I get an amen for that one? What are our needs? What are our needs? Well, paul says that God will meet them all. If this is what it means to meet them, to fill or complete the question could be asked where are you empty?
Speaker 1:There's this great idea in theology that I deeply resonate with it and I debated whether not to say it up here, because I don't know if you do too, but for the three or four of you who resonate with this, this is for you. But I believe that human beings are created with this deep vacuum in our lives like this, this infinite hole that, no matter what we shove down there, cannot be filled. It can't. And so part of your life is like, ah, I just always feel empty, I feel like there's something missing, and you get glimpses of it, you get pockets of it, you kind of grab on it. Yeah, that's part of what it means to be human, and that emptiness, that deep vacuum, can only, I believe, be filled by God. And Paul writes God will meet all of my needs according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus, we're going to be okay. And because it's an infinite longing deep in my soul, I need the infinite to fill it. And all these other things are not so much needs, as Dave astutely pointed out. They're more like something else that I try to shove into that hole and they just don't fit.
Speaker 1:I want to end with a story. My friend Jenny told the story at Journey Group the other night and we were all like whoa. She threw it out there like it was just like a quick story and we're like whoa, what was that? I'm like I want to tell that story on Sunday. Can I tell it to you? Yeah, no problem, this is what I mean that God will fulfill all of our needs. Here's the story, and I'll end with this.
Speaker 1:A few years ago, I traveled to Florida to be with my family as my dad underwent open-heart surgery. Janney writes. After a successful procedure and an emotional week, I said goodbye and headed to the airport to fly back home to my husband and my kids, who are back here in Minnesota. It ended up being a day that I could never have prepared for and I'll never forget. My brother dropped me off at the airport in the departure area, I grabbed my bag and I said a quick goodbye.
Speaker 1:As I attempted to head to the airport or into the airport, I was encountered by a heavily armed officer who was quick to tell me that I wasn't allowed to enter. I was confused as to what was going on and I asked a bystander what was happening. She told me there had been a shooting and we were not allowed inside. My been a shooting and we were not allowed inside. My brain tried to make sense of what was happening. And the next thing I knew, the police came flying up and officers were ushering us and shouting active shooter, get inside. The next thing I knew I was. If you remember the shooting in Florida a couple years ago, this is the one at the airport.
Speaker 1:Next thing I know, we dropped all of our stuff. We ran inside. I wasn't there, but it makes me emotional. It was an awful movie. It was like that. People were jumping behind ticket counters, hiding behind things. We made our way to the bathroom as everyone was afraid. As I hid in the stall, I could hear the quiet sobs of my fellow travelers and the stalls beside me.
Speaker 1:I had no idea what was happening or what was going to happen. I texted my husband, jeremy, and I told him what was happening and what I knew of the situation and tell our boys I love them. And my mind wandered to the thoughts of our boys and how would they grow up without a mother? How would this shape them in their life? How would they navigate life with all the things they have to wrestle with their father who's a good dad, by the way. He's a good dad. And I wrestled with all these things and I said goodbye to my husband and my boys over the phone.
Speaker 1:But I had this sensation that I'd never experienced before in my life and it strongly took over. A peace washed over me that I'll never be able to explain. That reassured me that I was going to be okay. I knew deep within me that, no matter what was going to happen, I'd be okay. Whether I lived or I died, I was going to be okay In the end. I knew I'd be okay and I suddenly didn't feel so alone At that moment. I knew my sons would be okay even if their mom didn't come home, and that my husband was going to be okay if he was left to raise them on their own. Thankfully, in the end, I was fortunate enough to be able to be reunited with them. They got set free and they caught the shooter, but she knew that she was going to be okay and this, my friends, is how we can have joy anyway. Amen.
