We live in a world constantly bombarding us with messages about who we are, what the good life looks like, and how we can obtain it. In a culture carried by the whims of personal desire and comfort, we hear values like “follow your heart;” in a culture where we are constantly divided from one another, we start to believe that our spite is justified; in a culture that is constantly blaming others, we jump into the blame game. Yet each of these notions lead us not to life, freedom, or peace, but further into death, captivity, and anxiety. In Jesus’ ministry, He regularly spoke against all sorts of notions that we consider commonplace today, and in listening and applying His words together, we will find a lasting, peaceful, joyous life in the midst of a culture mired in anxiety, division, and hatred.
Listen as Pastor Clint explores our culture's epidemic of loneliness, and the way Jesus responds to the common notion, "I am alone."
Sermon Resources:
1. Vivek Murthy - 19th U.S. Surgeon General and author of "Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection In A Sometimes Lonely World"
2. Harvard study on American loneliness: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b7c56e255b02c683659fe43/t/6021776bdd04957c4557c212/1612805995893/Loneliness+in+America+2021_02_08_FINAL.pdf
3. “I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me; God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak for me, God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, God's hosts to save me…Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me. I arise today.” -Excerpt from the Prayer of St. Patrick
4. “The spiritual task is not to escape your loneliness, not to let yourself drown in it, but to find its source. This is not so easy to do, but when you can somehow identify the place from which these feelings emerge, they will lose some of their power over you. This identification is not an intellectual task; it is a task of the heart. With your heart you must search for that place without fear.” -Henri Nouwen
5. “What seemed primarily painful may then become a feeling that, though painful, opens for you the way to an even deeper knowledge of God’s love.” -Henri Nouwen
6. “The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to them. They need them again and again when they become uncertain and discouraged, for by themselves they cannot help themselves without belying the truth. We need our brother or sister as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. We need our brother or sister solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in our own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of our brother or sister; our own heart is uncertain, our brother’s or sister’s is sure.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together
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