Transcript
00:00:00:09 - 00:00:28:13
Rev. Trudy
Has the business of the church strayed too far from the mission of Jesus? That's what we're talking about. Stay tuned. Welcome to Perspectives, a podcast where the clergy women of the First United Methodist Church of San Diego share their music on Scripture, theology, and what it has to do with us. Welcome to this episode of Perspectives. I'm Reverend Trudy Robinson, and this is Reverend Dr. Brittany Juliette Hanlin.

00:00:28:13 - 00:00:56:06
Rev. Trudy
She rolled her eyes when I said, doctor, but hey, she is and she's amazing. And we are going to talk today. Share our perspectives today about mission. Essentially. This is week two of our sermon series and podcast series where we ask the question: what does this say about us? And it's an exploration both of the way in which Scripture tells us who we should be.

00:00:56:06 - 00:01:23:08
Rev. Trudy
And, and the church also weighs in on that. So that's what we're talking about. And today we're talking about the fact that we have a worthy mission. And that comes, I hope, not just from the Scripture, but also from our church. So glad you're listening. Glad you're here. Let's jump right in. Our Scripture comes to us from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 4, verses 16 through 21.

00:01:23:09 - 00:01:49:10
Rev. Trudy
And this is what it says: When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

00:01:49:12 - 00:02:20:09
Rev. Trudy
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’”

00:02:20:11 - 00:02:22:08
Rev. Trudy
I love this.

00:02:22:10 - 00:02:23:05
Rev. Brittany
It's a good scripture.

00:02:23:05 - 00:02:23:20
Rev. Trudy
It's a good one.

00:02:23:21 - 00:02:24:14
Rev. Brittany
It's a good scripture.

00:02:24:15 - 00:02:25:10
Rev. Trudy
It's a good one.

00:02:25:11 - 00:02:26:15
Rev. Brittany
It's a good one.

00:02:26:17 - 00:02:54:17
Rev. Trudy
The story of Jesus going to Nazareth and preaching is in all the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke. But Luke does something different with it. Something a little bit more. Yeah. Includes this Isaiah passage. Yeah. And he puts it at the very beginning of the ministry. Right. Yeah. So, from the get go, we know who Jesus is and what his mission is.

00:02:54:19 - 00:02:57:13
Rev. Trudy
And how people might react to it.

00:02:57:15 - 00:02:58:19
Rev. Brittany
Because these are his people.

00:02:58:21 - 00:02:59:22
Rev. Trudy
These are his people.

00:03:00:00 - 00:03:00:19
Rev. Brittany
He knows these people.

00:03:00:20 - 00:03:01:23
Rev. Trudy
He knows these people.

00:03:02:02 - 00:03:02:12
Rev. Brittany
He knows.

00:03:02:12 - 00:03:17:14
Rev. Trudy
But they do not give him a good reaction, which is different because the verses right before this say he has been talking to people throughout the region and people have praised him. He comes home. Not so much.

00:03:17:16 - 00:03:18:23
Rev. Brittany
Correct. Yeah.

00:03:19:03 - 00:03:26:03
Rev. Trudy
And it's all focused on this Isaiah passage. Yeah. I love it. So, what are you thinking about it?

00:03:26:05 - 00:03:56:22
Rev. Brittany
You know, maybe less about mission, actually, because that's who I am. Okay. But I am thinking about the complexity of going home. Yeah. To a place that is very familiar to you. But a place that you may need to remind them of who they are. Okay. Okay. And so, what's interesting to me, is that Jesus went to the synagogue as was his custom.

00:03:56:22 - 00:04:17:04
Rev. Brittany
So, he knows that synagogue. He knows his people. He knows that community. He grew up there. It's very clear in the Gospels that Jesus was from Nazareth. Right. So, this is his home. For him to get up and to read the scroll, to me, is a declaration of “let's remember why we're here.” Right. Because it's not enough for us to light the candles.

00:04:17:05 - 00:04:45:04
Rev. Brittany
It's not enough for us to, you know, read the Decalogue. It's not enough for us to have a Psalm. Like, let's get back to why we exist, so that we can remember the people, right? So that we can remember the mission. And I think that sometimes it's very difficult for people who are in culture, in a system, to be the ones who are the reminders of what the mission is, whether whatever the institution may be or the family or the dynamic or community.

00:04:45:06 - 00:04:47:13
Rev. Brittany
Yeah. So that's what stuck out.

00:04:47:16 - 00:05:10:12
Rev. Trudy
Of course, that's exactly what you thought, I love it. So, what's interesting to me about that … When you've been raised in a place and it's all familiar and all the people who raised you are right there and around you, and you go, and you come back. You usually are waiting to hear what they want to tell you who you are.

00:05:10:13 - 00:05:28:15
Rev. Trudy
Right. Yeah. To talk about the system. Right. That will, you know, it's got a homeostasis. Yeah. And you've got to fulfill that role Jesus. And you're Joseph's son, the carpenter. And you were knee high to a grasshopper, and we know all about you. So don't be changing who you are.

00:05:28:17 - 00:05:29:05
Rev. Brittany
Correct.

00:05:29:06 - 00:05:40:20
Rev. Trudy
Right. And you have you have kind of flipped it. He comes there to remind them who they should be because of this text of Isaiah. Correct. Yeah.

00:05:41:02 - 00:05:57:18
Rev. Brittany
But I don't think it's like … I think that it goes back to what you just said about them putting him in his place. Yeah. Because Jesus goes on. Right. He sits down. But then the people are all looking at him and he goes, “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” That's a little … you know what I mean.

00:05:57:22 - 00:05:58:12
Rev. Trudy
That, that's.

00:05:58:14 - 00:06:09:20
Rev. Brittany
That's taken it a little … that's a little audacious, Jesus! Because it's now. It's not just him reading the scripture. That's right. Now it's really calling, right, to account what's going on.

00:06:09:21 - 00:06:11:14
Rev. Trudy
That's right. That's right. Yeah.

00:06:11:16 - 00:06:14:17
Rev. Brittany
And like, who is like, who are you? Who are you?

00:06:14:18 - 00:06:35:22
Rev. Trudy
Yeah. You know. All eyes were on him. Right. So, they were sensing something, don't you think? Of course. Yeah. Whether or not they were expecting him to say more, and he just sits down and. And, you know, I just can't imagine all eyes on him. And he goes and he sits down. And says “oh yeah.”

00:06:35:23 - 00:06:38:21
Rev. Trudy
“By the way, this is all done.”

00:06:38:22 - 00:06:40:01
Rev. Brittany
“It's done already.”

00:06:40:03 - 00:06:40:13
Rev. Trudy
“It is good.”

00:06:40:13 - 00:06:40:21
Rev. Brittany
“It's done.”

00:06:40:22 - 00:07:07:22
Rev. Trudy
What do you mean?! Right. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But so, so, I think, I don't know, this is probably my history and the experience reading into this, but there must have been something that they knew had come over Jesus. Something that was not there. You know, I can remember some girls in high school between junior and senior year took a finishing class.

00:07:08:00 - 00:07:29:23
Rev. Trudy
Oh, yeah. And they were standing up straight walking with the book on their head. They could have anyway. And before that, they hadn't. And they were dressed beautifully, and their hair was fixed beautifully, and they weren't always the most popular ones. But boy, when they came onto the campus after that finishing school, we took notice.

00:07:30:05 - 00:07:36:16
Rev. Trudy
Right. So, there was something that I think gave them the hint that things are different.

00:07:36:17 - 00:07:41:06
Rev. Brittany
Yeah. Well, I think if you're in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.

00:07:41:07 - 00:07:44:08
Rev. Trudy
Oh, was that it? He needed a shave, and a haircut, and a bath? [laughter]

Rev. Brittany
Know what I mean? It's like, but I think about, like, all of those things. But I think that when you are in a situation where, like you said, when you go and you come back, you are different. Even if you don't know that, you're different, right? Like now, Jesus is not just Joseph's son. He doesn't, he can't, just call on Joseph.

00:08:03:11 - 00:08:19:04
Rev. Brittany
He can't just call on Mary. He's in the wilderness right before this, right? He's in the wilderness by himself, and he's being tempted by the devil. I think those moments of isolation and reflection really

00:08:19:06 - 00:08:40:20
Rev. Brittany
give you more of an understanding of who you are. Right. I think that if Jesus had not spent that time in the wilderness, then I don't think, one, he would have had the confidence—maybe this is all speculation. I wasn't there. Right. But I think that he wouldn't have had the confidence to know that what he was saying was valid and was worth saying.

00:08:40:21 - 00:08:54:08
Rev. Brittany
Right. Right. And I also think that they wouldn't have been so concerned about what he was saying, because he would have still been right. You know. Yeah. Just down the road. Yeah, exactly. Right.

00:08:54:09 - 00:08:54:19
Rev. Trudy
That's right.

00:08:54:20 - 00:08:59:03
Rev. Brittany
So, I think that there is something that happens to us.

00:08:59:05 - 00:09:21:15
Rev. Brittany
When we take a step back. Right. And so, if I'm thinking about the church, for instance, I think about people who were raised in the church. Right. And then they come. They leave for whatever reason, whether it's college, they're you know, they don't have the time or, you know, there's just there's some church hurt there or whatever that might be.

00:09:21:15 - 00:09:46:05
Rev. Brittany
They leave. And then when some of them come back, there is a reminder to us, like, do you remember why we do this? Like, this is what we should be talking about. These are the issues that we should be, you know, worried about. We should be talking about the oppressed. So, I think there's something about leaving and coming back and having eyes to see it a little differently.

00:09:46:06 - 00:09:46:15
Rev. Trudy
That's right.

00:09:46:16 - 00:10:03:13
Rev. Brittany
That's right. Even if it's just for a moment in time or you're still in it. But you went away for a weekend, a conference, you know, whatever it is. And then you come back and you're like, “oh, I have new eyes to see the same thing differently.” You know what I mean?

00:10:03:13 - 00:10:31:16
Rev. Trudy
Right. Right. Hold on to that thought, because I want to move that further on. Okay. But just to … I think there's something significant about what happens with younger generations when they come back for older generations. Right. There's so much we can learn from younger generations. You know, I remember learning so much during the pandemic with my grown daughter, you know, about life, about the things she really cared about.

00:10:31:17 - 00:10:58:23
Rev. Trudy
You know, we had the time to be able to have some conversations about that. And you know, I had to kind of just put my opinions to myself because I was learning more about what and how she saw the world. Right. And so, I do think the younger generations don't get enough listening hours from the church in terms of how they view the world and what they might be able to see.

00:10:59:01 - 00:11:05:02
Rev. Trudy
And a lot of it is y'all have maybe forgotten the mission.

00:11:05:04 - 00:11:05:18
Rev. Brittany
Correct?

00:11:05:19 - 00:11:08:11
Rev. Trudy
Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:11:08:12 - 00:11:42:08
Rev. Brittany
I think that's exactly it. Like that's exactly it. I think that, at least, I can only speak for my generation because that's the one I live in. Right. I have seen my friends, you know, leave church or go into very conservative churches because they are still looking for something. Right. Whether it's community, whether it's spiritual like guidance, but have found themselves disappointed by the ways in which the church has remained in stagnant water.

00:11:42:10 - 00:11:48:09
Rev. Trudy
Yeah. Yeah. That happens a lot.

00:11:48:11 - 00:12:19:17
Rev. Trudy
Fred Craddock, wonderful preacher, passed away but he had said, as I mentioned earlier, that this whole event, Jesus announces who he is and of what his ministry consists and what the church will be and do and what will be the response to both Jesus and the church. I love the idea of that, but I'm not sure the church has always figured this out.

00:12:19:18 - 00:12:51:22
Rev. Trudy
Right. I, Richard … sorry ... Rick Warren of Saddleback, the megachurch in Orange County, wrote The Purpose Driven Life. And one of the commentaries that I read mentioned that he never once mentioned this passage. Even though it's pretty clearly said by Jesus, this is what he came to do. And the Purpose Driven life wasn't, didn't consider it.

00:12:52:00 - 00:13:23:23
Rev. Trudy
Right. So, I think we have so many things as a church that people want us to be, that we feel we have responsibility for, you know, worship, having a building, maintaining the building, making sure it's pretty and adorned with all the right things in order to praise God and to give God the glory. Right. We pay attention to the numbers of, you know, how many people are giving and how many people are coming and joining.

00:13:24:01 - 00:13:48:10
Rev. Trudy
We give time to the orthodoxy. Do you have the right belief? Do you really understand Jesus as your Lord and Savior? You know, there are cultural norms of what's acceptable and who's acceptable, who can come into the church. Right. The fight around LGBTQ queer community. And then there's the tradition. You know, we think the way the church is right now has always been.

00:13:48:12 - 00:14:07:07
Rev. Trudy
And so, we hold on to that tradition. There's so many things we hold on to. And Jesus comes and says, “This is why I'm here. This is why I came. This is who you ought to be.” Yeah. No wonder they ran him out of town!

00:14:07:09 - 00:14:20:10
Rev. Brittany
Correct. Correct. Yeah. And I don't think the part about what Jesus is saying. Right. Jesus is quoting Isaiah. So, they know this. Yeah. And the church knows it, too. Yeah. Right. Yeah. The church we know.

00:14:20:12 - 00:14:21:03
Rev. Trudy
Absolutely.

00:14:21:04 - 00:14:39:13
Rev. Brittany
There's no way. Right. If we, you know, said the church only exists so that we can sing the hymns that people would be like, yeah. That's it. Right. Right. But I think that there's something about the idea that,

00:14:39:15 - 00:14:45:06
Rev. Brittany
to bring good news to the poor, means that you have to care about the poor.

00:14:45:09 - 00:14:46:11
Rev. Trudy
Right. Right.

00:14:46:12 - 00:15:11:12
Rev. Brittany
You have to find yourself in proximity to those who are poor and not just to care about their life circumstances, but to care about who they are as people. Right. To release the captives means that you have to be concerned with those who are in captivity. You have to be interested in the prison industrial complex. You have to be concerned and concerned.

00:15:11:13 - 00:15:35:12
Rev. Brittany
You know what I mean. To bring recovery, recovery of sight to the blind. I don't think that he means that literally. But what ways in which have we are people closed off from the reality of what's going on around them? It's our responsibility to highlight those things, to let the oppressed go free. And to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

00:15:35:16 - 00:15:57:02
Rev. Brittany
All of that requires you getting uncomfortable. All of that requires you going to a place that may be familiar, may not be familiar. All of that requires you having to do something in the work. It's one thing for Jesus to have to do it. Yeah. Jesus is not here. Yeah. In the flesh anymore.

00:15:57:04 - 00:16:08:15
Rev. Trudy
Now what? You know. That's right. That's right. And there's something connected though. Right. Because this is the mission and Jesus came for all.

00:16:08:16 - 00:16:09:07
Rev. Brittany
Correct.

00:16:09:10 - 00:16:36:10
Rev. Trudy
And so, there's something in the closeness of being with the poor and being in relationship with those who are oppressed, with understanding the systems that we're all bound by and oppressed by. There's something freeing to be able to come to know those people, those systems, and recognize that that's not really working.

00:16:36:11 - 00:16:38:13
Rev. Brittany
It's not really working.

00:16:38:15 - 00:16:42:00
Rev. Trudy
And that we could do something about it. Right.

00:16:42:02 - 00:16:43:02
Rev. Brittany
For sure.

00:16:43:04 - 00:16:49:20
Rev. Trudy
What I love about this as well … Jesus doesn't read all of Isaiah, right?

00:16:49:23 - 00:16:51:07
Rev. Brittany
He left the vengeance out.

00:16:51:08 - 00:17:16:20
Rev. Trudy
That's the vengeance. Yes, he did. Isaiah says, you know, of all these other things that he is proclaiming, he's also proclaiming the vengeance of the Lord. Yeah. Right. Jesus leaves it out. Right. And so, that, I think, really does emphasize the togetherness of what he is trying to help us see and to embrace.

00:17:16:22 - 00:17:40:12
Rev. Trudy
It's not as a: we have it, you don't. You're right. You're wrong. It's not that the gospel is only for the poor and the oppressed. Correct. It's for all of us. So, my question for us is how do the people who are not poor, who are not captive or blind or oppressed, how do we hear this as good news?

00:17:40:13 - 00:17:42:13
Rev. Trudy
Ideally, yeah.

00:17:42:18 - 00:18:08:07
Rev. Brittany
Well, I would beg to differ. Okay. I think we are captive. We are captive to societal norms. We are captive to capitalism and all the other -isms. Right? I think that we are bound up in that. I think we're bound up in our own comfort. So, I think that the good news is that there is freedom for us.

00:18:08:09 - 00:18:11:06
Rev. Trudy
Yeah. We're poor in spirit.

00:18:11:08 - 00:18:13:03
Rev. Brittany
Poor broken down child.

00:18:13:04 - 00:18:20:18
Rev. Trudy
Yeah. So, is this all just about in some ways following idols. You know?

00:18:20:19 - 00:18:21:08
Rev. Brittany
I do.

00:18:21:10 - 00:18:28:07
Rev. Trudy
We've found the wrong things to invest in. Right. And I think we can say the same thing for the church.

00:18:28:10 - 00:18:36:10
Rev. Brittany
For sure. That's who I've been talking about my whole time. My bad, my bad. I guess I we went from. Okay. Yes. I, I was speaking on.

00:18:36:11 - 00:18:37:16
Rev. Trudy
Well, I meant ...

00:18:38:06 - 00:18:40:12
Rev. Trudy
I meant as an institution. Yeah. Right.

00:18:40:13 - 00:18:41:05
Rev. Brittany
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

00:18:41:06 - 00:18:58:09
Rev. Trudy
As well as individuals who fill the church. Right. Right. Correct. The church becomes a place where you can come and be and be fed spiritually. Which is lovely, but not to be reminded that we need to be looking for the poor and the oppressed.

00:18:58:11 - 00:19:06:23
Rev. Brittany
And what … the question is though, if not … this has always been a thing of mine and that's I think why I'm so ...

00:19:07:01 - 00:19:08:12
Rev. Trudy
Yeah.

00:19:08:14 - 00:19:15:01
Rev. Brittany
But if not.

00:19:15:03 - 00:19:38:00
Rev. Brittany
What does it mean to be fed spiritually if you're not paying attention to these things? Right. Like, what does that feel like? Right. Because for me, and again, for me, to be spiritually fed is to, one, remind, to be reminded, that I am a child of God. Right. And that God loves me no matter what.

00:19:38:01 - 00:19:44:07
Rev. Brittany
Yes. Yes. The other thing I need to know is that I have work to do.

00:19:44:09 - 00:19:45:14
Rev. Trudy
Yeah.

00:19:45:16 - 00:19:59:14
Rev. Brittany
There's compassionate work to do. So. And that's not a rhetorical. And it's like, what does it ... What are folks looking for in that being spiritually fed that is different … ?

00:19:59:16 - 00:20:19:22
Rev. Trudy
And those are so related. You know the idea that you are beloved. Yeah. Right. And you have work to do. Because I think a lot of people come to church wanting to hear an affirmation, wanting to feel like they're right, that they're okay, that they're, that things are going to be just fine.

00:20:20:00 - 00:20:40:01
Rev. Trudy
But I think in some ways we don't let that sink in. You know, we think, you know, “I have to do this.” And a lot of times it's our pressure to do something and to be successful or to do the right things. Right. And we don't “be” very well.

00:20:40:03 - 00:20:43:00
Rev. Brittany
Yeah. I have … I get it. I’m not a “be”-er.

00:20:43:00 - 00:21:09:05
Rev. Trudy
Yeah. Right. And so, if we were to come to church, I honestly, I think if we were to come to church and just hear that message that we that we are here to be, and to really take part in the community that is gathered. And once you look around, you're going to say, you know, “that woman drives me nuts when every meeting I'm in, she's driving me nuts.

00:21:09:05 - 00:21:30:21
Rev. Trudy
And here she is. She's being with me because she is loved, too.” And I look over there and I say, “oh, that youth is going to drive me nuts if he doesn't shape up or …” The point is, we are not perfect people, and the church itself, we don't spend enough time really looking around and seeing that.

00:21:30:23 - 00:22:00:08
Rev. Trudy
Much less those who might be poor in spirit or poor in reality, in material things. And so, we could do better at just seeing who's around us generally without even having to reach out to people who are in the worst of circumstances. Yeah. Yeah.

00:22:00:10 - 00:22:06:17
Rev. Trudy
You know, it's tricky because …

00:22:06:19 - 00:22:36:08
Rev. Trudy
I, as a senior pastor, as a lead pastor, there are decisions you have to make and doggone it, they are institutional decisions. And, you know, it's: “are we going to maintain the building or are we going to are we going to feed the poor?” Right. “Are we going to build affordable housing so that we can have perpetual income and the church will survive?

00:22:36:10 - 00:22:46:12
Rev. Trudy
Or are we going to sacrifice what money we might have so that we can do the most good, regardless of how much money we might get in return?”

00:22:46:13 - 00:22:50:02
Rev. Brittany
Yeah.

00:22:50:04 - 00:23:16:08
Rev. Trudy
Is it really right for me to spend all my time with the administration of staff, people, and planning worship and writing sermons? When I know that there are people in our community that are oppressed and I don't have time to go down to the courthouse and stand with the immigrant? Right. Yeah. Those are real true questions.

00:23:16:08 - 00:23:32:04
Rev. Trudy
And they're hard to focus on. And I don't have that reconciled except for the fact that I'll have more time on my hands eventually. And maybe I'll get it done then.

00:23:32:06 - 00:23:35:12
Rev. Brittany
For those of you who are listening, I just rolled my eyes.

00:23:35:14 - 00:23:37:12
Rev. Trudy
Yep. I heard them roll. I heard them roll.

00:23:37:12 - 00:23:43:04
Rev. Brittany
I’m surprised my retinas are still attached.

00:23:43:06 - 00:24:10:23
Rev. Trudy
But. But how? And at the same time, this whole movement followed Jesus. Because of this vision. Because of his mission. The whole world has known about Jesus. I'll be it, they may not know about this passage. I have been in a church where I preached on this and say it was Jesus' missions and, people were surprised.

00:24:11:04 - 00:24:34:04
Rev. Trudy
“We never heard that before!” Well, right. Yeah. But it is the mission and it ought to be the mission of the church, and it's complicated. And we do the best we can. And the whole chicken and egg: You got to be loved before you think you can do anything. There's a lot to it.

00:24:34:05 - 00:24:51:12
Rev. Brittany
I think the role of the institution that you were speaking of as a lead pastor and all that requires. Yeah. That all that is required of you. I think that the point of the institution is to prepare the people.

00:24:51:14 - 00:24:52:03
Rev. Trudy
Yeah.

00:24:52:09 - 00:25:10:02
Rev. Brittany
For the work of love. Yeah. So, the sermons are important. They're very important. Do I have to do them every week? That's what they say. Oh my God. That's what they say, is 52 weeks in a year. That's what they got. 52 of them. So, I think that, like, none of us are going to be able to do everything.

00:25:10:06 - 00:25:32:15
Rev. Brittany
None of us are going to be able to solve every issue there. You know, they're obviously ways in which our time is divided. But I think for the preservation of the institution, it shouldn't just, we shouldn't just exist to say that we exist. We shouldn't just exist because the building is pretty. We should exist so that the people who come into the doors are changed, right?

00:25:32:16 - 00:25:38:17
Rev. Brittany
Or are empowered even, rather than changed, to go out and care.

00:25:38:21 - 00:25:39:09
Rev. Trudy
Yeah.

00:25:39:12 - 00:25:47:13
Rev. Brittany
Right. To actually care. Right. And so, I think the church—big C—

00:25:47:15 - 00:25:54:15
Rev. Brittany
if we focused our attention a little bit more on reminding people.

00:25:54:21 - 00:25:55:19
Rev. Trudy
Yeah.

00:25:55:21 - 00:26:24:02
Rev. Brittany
Right. Yeah. That the work of the church is ongoing. It's forever. It's a constant. You know, the gospel keeps speaking to us. And so, it's our responsibility to continue to move it forward. Right. While giving people the tools and the hope and sometimes the jolting that they need. Or the … I don't wanna say jolt, but that's what I came up with.

00:26:24:03 - 00:26:25:11
Rev. Brittany
It's what it is.

00:26:25:12 - 00:26:41:21
Rev. Brittany
Out of yourself to remember that, one, you are a part of a larger community, not just the church, but interconnected with other people. And what is happening at the church. Your experience of the church should also inform who you are out side of the walls of the church.

00:26:41:22 - 00:26:51:01
Rev. Trudy
Right. I take great comfort in knowing that Jesus started in the synagogue. To remind the people this is what we need.

00:26:51:01 - 00:26:51:18
Rev. Brittany
To correct.

00:26:51:21 - 00:26:52:08
Rev. Trudy
Right.

00:26:52:13 - 00:26:53:11
Rev. Brittany
He didn’t stay there though.

00:26:53:12 - 00:27:16:04
Rev. Trudy
He didn't stay there though. He didn't stay there though. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, I think part of the comfort I guess I get, is the idea that, you know, in all of our meetings that I am administering, I get to be the one to help remind us “how does this forward this mission?”

00:27:16:05 - 00:27:16:19
Rev. Brittany
Correct.

00:27:16:20 - 00:27:19:16
Rev. Trudy
Right. And how are we thinking of it?

00:27:19:18 - 00:27:31:02
Rev. Brittany
I think anything without a mission, and that's a person or an institution, is destined to just be stressed out and worried about the wrong things.

00:27:31:03 - 00:27:38:19
Rev. Trudy
Well, that's true. That's true. Jesus. He's a good one.

00:27:38:20 - 00:28:09:10
Rev. Brittany
He's a good one. I like my boy! He had some things to say and I respect it. I respect it and I also, this is the other thing I really appreciated, Jesus says like homiletics move by using Isaiah as opposed to saying like, “this is my mission,” right? But he gets up and uses those. Because I also think that there's this idea that when you are being challenged, that the traditions of old are supposed to be thrown out.

00:28:09:13 - 00:28:37:13
Rev. Brittany
Exactly. And that's not the case. Right, right. Jesus uses the prophet Isaiah because it was familiar. They knew the prophet's words. He, the prophet, was highly revered and thank God for it. Prophet Isaiah in all of his work and his teachings and so on. And so, I hope and pray that as the church as an institution moves forward that we don't feel like we have that, in making course correction, that we're throwing away the legacy that was.

00:28:37:13 - 00:28:47:12
Rev. Brittany
Right, right. But that instead of feeling that way, that we just realized that we are using that legacy to pull us and bring us to a different.

00:28:47:16 - 00:28:48:13
Rev. Trudy
Right.

00:28:48:15 - 00:28:52:14
Rev. Brittany
Stop or a different point than we were before.

00:28:52:16 - 00:28:53:23
Rev. Brittany
Yeah. That's my hope.

00:28:54:00 - 00:28:58:04
Rev. Trudy
Yeah, I like it.

00:28:58:06 - 00:29:07:02
Rev. Brittany
You know, I get excited about the prophets. You know what I mean. I’m usually not a New Testament girly, but I do like the prophets!

00:29:07:04 - 00:29:08:03
Rev. Brittany
Great conversation.

00:29:08:04 - 00:29:10:09
Rev. Trudy
Yes. Thank you. Thank you.

00:29:10:11 - 00:29:25:07
Rev. Brittany
All right. We have a few questions that we'd like for you to ponder and reflect on. You can reflect on them on your own. Or if you have a community of folks that you'd like to chat with, or if you join us on Sunday mornings for the Convergence conversation, we hope that you'll spend some time thinking about them.

00:29:25:11 - 00:29:53:19
Rev. Brittany
Our first question is: What role might you need to break free from to do what God asks? The second question is: What difference does it make that Jesus said “now” rather than not yet? And thirdly: In what ways has Christianity lived up to, and fallen short of, its mission of liberation, restoration, and hope? That was our perspective.

00:29:53:20 - 00:30:01:01
Rev. Brittany
We hope to hear yours and for you to share your perspective with those around you. Until next time, bye!

00:30:01:03 - 00:30:02:20
Rev. Trudy
Bye!

00:30:02:22 - 00:30:17:19
Rev. Trudy
This is a production of First United Methodist Church of San Diego. To learn more about our events and ministries and to access additional learning resources, visit fumcsd.org