Episode 49: Revelation 21:1-6a

Translation: Common English Bible (CEB)

3 Questions:
What word, phrase or image strikes you in this text?
Toward what is God calling you in this text?
What new thing are you longing for?

Additional texts:
Isaiah 25:6-9
Wisdom 3:1-9 (alternate)
Psalm 24
John 11:32-44

Transcript

00:00:01.56
nathanpile
You know, Kevin, when the leaves change colors, I'm inspired by God's design.

00:00:10.21
Kevin Shock
Hmm.

00:00:10.48
nathanpile
And it makes me want to tend. You know what I'm saying?

00:00:13.57
Kevin Shock
Hmm. That's, that's good. Yeah.

00:00:16.12
nathanpile
Yeah, thanks.

00:00:16.16
Kevin Shock
No, I yeah, I like that.

00:00:18.78
nathanpile
everybody Everybody listening, Kevin's eyes got like as big as his glasses lenses when I started, because I don't think he knew where I was going.

00:00:19.10
Kevin Shock
Um,

00:00:27.27
nathanpile
so just

00:00:29.45
Kevin Shock
but That's normally the case at the beginning of this podcast. um yeah ah ah There's a church in my little town where I live. um I don't even know what denomination they are. It's just called the Howard Christian Church.

00:00:47.85
Kevin Shock
and um So they're Christian, I know that. um But they have a sign out front right now that says something like, fall reminds us of the beauty of letting go.

00:01:01.85
Kevin Shock
And I thought, I really like that sentiment. But also, this is like, you can't think too hard about it, because it's about like, creation dying.

00:01:12.81
nathanpile
All right.

00:01:14.13
Kevin Shock
The life like, yeah.

00:01:14.63
nathanpile
but Yeah.

00:01:16.88
Kevin Shock
Anyway,

00:01:18.80
nathanpile
All right. Well, um it's good to be with you all to attend again today. The Bible passage we're going to look at is from Revelation. um talking about the end, Kevin.

00:01:32.37
nathanpile
um Revelation 21, chapter 21, verses one through six A.

00:01:33.39
Kevin Shock
Oh yeah, this is good stuff though.

00:01:41.70
nathanpile
And Kevin and I are going to read from the common English translation. um You can follow along with whatever translation is close by, or you can go to Bible Gateway, either on the app or on a computer.

00:01:53.16
nathanpile
and ah Biblegateway.org.

00:01:57.56
Kevin Shock
Com. Yeah.

00:01:58.44
nathanpile
com um And um you can follow along as we share the passage today. Our three questions. What word, phrase or image strikes you in this text? Toward what is God calling you in this text? And what new thing are you longing for?

00:02:20.77
Kevin Shock
That sounds like a good question.

00:02:22.37
nathanpile
It does. i i and When I read it earlier today, I already had a couple of answers, but then it hadn't been informed by scripture yet, so we'll have to see where where it takes me.

00:02:23.16
Kevin Shock
Um,

00:02:33.66
Kevin Shock
where it takes us. Yeah. Uh, this is some information about your hosts. Nathan and Kevin are men married to women in financially stable households, white in our late forties college and seminary educated. We work in the Lutheran church and we're born and raised in Western Pennsylvania.

00:02:51.27
Kevin Shock
All of this affects how we read scripture and discuss it, but none of this makes us better able to read and discuss scripture than anyone else. We believe that the wisdom of scripture is the whole community's compiled interpretation for life with God and with one another. So we want to know what you hear and think from your life experience.

00:03:11.46
Kevin Shock
um This is a reading from Revelation, and I just want to insert here quickly that this is a reading ah for what we in our tradition call All Saints Sunday. All Saints Day is traditionally November 1st in the Christian church, um but a lot of our churches and our congregations and our denomination observe it on the Sunday after November 1st. So we'll talk more about that later with additional text, but for All Saints Day,

00:03:45.65
Kevin Shock
Revelation chapter 21 verses one through six A and I'm going to try to remember to stop at A and not read B. The last two words of what I should be reading are the end.

00:03:56.47
nathanpile
Good, good,

00:04:01.24
Kevin Shock
So hopefully that will cue me. A reading from Revelation 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

00:04:15.51
Kevin Shock
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, look, God's dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

00:04:46.01
Kevin Shock
Then the one seated on the throne said, look, I'm making all things new. He also said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. Then he said to me, all is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. If you're meeting with a group or a friend or two, you can pause the podcast now and ask each other the questions on your own.

00:05:15.51
Kevin Shock
Which is what Nathan and I are going to do right now. Nathan, what word phrase or image strikes you in this text?

00:05:21.14
nathanpile
There were several as you read it, but I'm going to go with the word peoples this time. um They're in verse three and and because I was reading a section of a book last night that was talking about the difference between persons and peoples.

00:05:40.15
nathanpile
Um, and so when you you read peoples, it brought back my, when I was reading last night and the author that I was reading last night was kind of the, the point that the author was making was that in, in persons, they seem to be like, we can see individual faces.

00:05:57.43
nathanpile
that I don't know if it's actually, uh, you know, this was what he was trying to to make.

00:05:59.72
Kevin Shock
Hmm.

00:06:03.78
nathanpile
an argument with with his words. and you know i Kevin knows that me and words are on kind of a love-hate relationship.

00:06:17.58
nathanpile
um

00:06:19.16
Kevin Shock
Well, okay. What you're describing so far is what I, what I think of when I think of persons. Yes.

00:06:24.91
nathanpile
Okay, so persons, as as this gentleman was describing it, as the author was describing it, um is that individual, like when you say the word persons, you see individual faces.

00:06:25.74
Kevin Shock
In the difference between the two. Yeah.

00:06:37.95
nathanpile
When you see pet when you hear the word peoples, it's all people, all persons put together, but it comes a bit of a blur. um you You can see the different colors, you can see you know the you can see that there's differences in the crowd, but the crowd is

00:06:46.68
Kevin Shock
Mhmm.

00:06:55.21
nathanpile
is is peoples, it's big.

00:06:55.66
Kevin Shock
Mhmm.

00:06:57.62
nathanpile
um And so as as you read this and it hit peoples, you know again, the idea in my head, what went back to what this guy was, his argument last night of, that God will be with the peoples, God will be with the masses.

00:07:16.50
nathanpile
um all of those All of those peoples then have individual faces and and their persons,

00:07:18.14
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:07:24.83
nathanpile
But God isn't just with a few, but God is with the many. And so that's where it took me.

00:07:32.99
Kevin Shock
Yeah. I think of peoples as being synonymous with like, um, nations or cultures or ethnic groups.

00:07:38.07
nathanpile
yeah

00:07:41.93
Kevin Shock
That's what I think of when I think of peoples. So yeah.

00:07:44.78
nathanpile
Yes, groups.

00:07:45.81
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:07:45.92
nathanpile
and and but But I think it's, you know, and maybe we could, you could talk about this from your perspective, too. People's is a little bit more inclusive to me than nation or, you know, um like, because it's because it includes all of it.

00:08:02.05
Kevin Shock
Oh.

00:08:05.53
nathanpile
Like, if you're from a nation, you're that's ah that's a specific group. And yes, it's many people. But peoples, I guess, to me says that it can go beyond some kind of a,

00:08:12.47
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:08:18.72
nathanpile
um

00:08:21.84
nathanpile
sometimes it might be an invisible border in the in the terms of of like a nation, but sometimes it could be, if there there could be physical differences that make us, you know, that make us different.

00:08:25.39
Kevin Shock
Sure. Sure.

00:08:34.59
nathanpile
So because of, you know,

00:08:39.45
nathanpile
Gender or race or something like that that would cause us to be But people seems to be more inclusive in that way to me

00:08:48.08
Kevin Shock
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, looking at that verse, um right just before People's, there's there's talk of humankind. ah And um yeah, i think no, I agree with you. i think that I think that People's is a, I don't know if this is redundant, but a more her personal kind of descriptor. um Nations, ethnic groups, sometimes,

00:09:16.29
Kevin Shock
um that There can be things that we label people in order to differentiate. And and here, for me, people's sounds to me like this is this is allowing people to group themselves with whomever they want to be grouped with. um And god is seeing or yeah God is seeing them in that way. But I also think that this is this is a nod to nations in the in the Jewish sense of the word, um or peoples in the Jewish sense of the word, goyim, everyone who's not a part of Israel or Judah, um the Gentiles, as we as we would as we say it in our own language.

00:09:59.37
nathanpile
Hmm. Hmm.

00:10:07.59
Kevin Shock
But this is um but this is God saying, there is um I'm coming to dwell here with humankind, And there's no other distinction.

00:10:19.12
Kevin Shock
um We're not, God is not coming here to dwell with a certain subset of humankind.

00:10:21.95
nathanpile
Right.

00:10:25.27
Kevin Shock
God is coming to dwell here with every subset of humankind.

00:10:28.40
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:10:29.00
Kevin Shock
Yeah. So, okay.

00:10:31.95
nathanpile
How about you?

00:10:32.53
Kevin Shock
Good, thanks.

00:10:33.02
nathanpile
What word, phrase, or image sticks out to you?

00:10:35.23
Kevin Shock
The one that sticks out to me, and I don't even know why, there's something about the, um ah made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ah the I'm fascinated by these marriage um images that are in scripture that per personify,

00:11:02.39
Kevin Shock
yeah, anthropomorphize concepts or things that are not generally thought of as human. um And so here, the new the new Jerusalem, um a city, a ah dwelling place is adorned as a bride.

00:11:24.61
Kevin Shock
And and i kind of I have trouble thinking about who exactly is the husband it didn't this in this metaphor, but I don't think that, well, it's not a metaphor, it's a simile, like a bride.

00:11:38.07
Kevin Shock
um it For me, the marriage the marriage is between God's city, God's reality, god's it's between God's dwelling place and the dwelling place of human beings.

00:11:56.26
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:11:58.14
Kevin Shock
That's the marriage.

00:11:58.78
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:11:59.32
Kevin Shock
um And yeah, it's just, to me it's, I think I also get an image of it that here comes this,

00:12:12.43
Kevin Shock
bride adorned, you know beautifully adorned for her husband. And when when people in the human dwelling place see it coming, they're going to long for it. They're going to feel this attachment to it. um They're going to want to be immersed in it. um Yeah, so I just think it's a beautiful image. it doesn't It doesn't make a lot of sense. It make a lot of rational sense, but I think it's a beautiful image. Yeah.

00:12:50.65
nathanpile
Yeah. um

00:12:55.51
nathanpile
I appreciate your your reflection on those words because it does feel a little, um your sharing makes me feel better about that verse.

00:13:13.24
Kevin Shock
Oh, oh, well, I'm curious now to hear what your, what your thoughts on that first are.

00:13:18.31
nathanpile
Um, that, that the husband is, so you're saying the husband is God and God prepares the city for the people to live in it.

00:13:27.65
Kevin Shock
Oh. No, that's no. i know I don't know who the husband is. ah The husband isn't even mentioned.

00:13:34.27
nathanpile
Okay.

00:13:35.90
Kevin Shock
um So yeah, I don't know who the husband is. All I know is that it's gonna be a marriage between God's dwelling place and human's dwelling place.

00:13:45.18
nathanpile
Okay.

00:13:45.76
Kevin Shock
and And like a husband who sees the bride who has been beautifully dressed for him, the peoples are going to see the coming New Jerusalem and feel this great love and great sense of attachment to it.

00:14:04.50
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:14:07.58
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:14:07.86
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:14:10.12
nathanpile
Yeah, so. um

00:14:16.74
nathanpile
I again, I appreciate what you're having to say there, because for me. As. As you read it, the the that verse was a little bit of of a distraction for me of and and I think you probably

00:14:30.20
Kevin Shock
Hmm.

00:14:32.98
nathanpile
Have already kind of said it's interesting that we put these things and give human characteristics to things that aren't human Like a city being a bride um And so it just felt distracting to me I guess um but I appreciate that image of

00:14:43.22
Kevin Shock
Yeah, right. Hmm.

00:14:58.44
nathanpile
between the of what a ah ah bride and a groom experience that here, this new Jerusalem brings that level of love and commitment to that this part of the story.

00:15:18.21
nathanpile
Makes it a little bit better in that way.

00:15:18.26
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the other thing the other thing that I'm thinking of is you as you were describing ah your thoughts on it, you know, when you go to a wedding, what what what do all the guests do? They all stand up. That's the tradition as they're able. ah They turn and they look at the bride Well, again, this is very gendered language. they They look at the person who is coming down the aisle to see how beautiful they are. And then they immediately, in a in a marriage ceremony where someone is coming down the aisle and someone's waiting at the at the front, um and then they immediately turn to the other person to see what their reaction is.

00:16:06.72
nathanpile
Sure, sure.

00:16:07.81
Kevin Shock
ah and And I almost envision ah john of John of Patmos, who is the the one who scribed this book. It was the vision given to him ah when he was in exile on the island.

00:16:27.71
Kevin Shock
and and so There's a lot going on that we could, we're not talking about because there are 20 other chapters of Revelation leading up to this. um But ah what I envision is that John looks and sees, I mean, he says it here, i sees the holy city, New Jerusalem, and sees how beautiful it is, and then and then turns and looks at the peoples to see what their reaction is.

00:16:58.63
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:16:59.56
Kevin Shock
um And it also brings to mind for me that then in verse 4 ah We're told that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And of course, we're led to a place where tears are bad. Death will be no more. There will be no more mourning, crying, or pain anymore for the former things that passed away. But I also now envision, now now that now that you're making me talk about this image more, um that um that some of the peoples are are bursting with tears of joy.

00:17:33.75
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:17:34.47
Kevin Shock
that the New Jerusalem is is coming to them. And there's gonna be this beautiful eternal marriage between their dwelling place and God's dwelling place. And and and God is going to be their God and they will be God's peoples.

00:17:52.79
Kevin Shock
um

00:17:56.08
Kevin Shock
Yeah, I don't know. There's there's something,

00:18:00.55
Kevin Shock
ah there's There's just something endearing sweet about when, you know, a one one person in the in the marriage couple, ah you know, wipes wipes the tear away from another from the other one. um And in in that situation, in that scenario, it's usually, if not always, a joyful tear, a happy tear.

00:18:28.73
Kevin Shock
And and and i I don't know, there's something there's something comfortable comforting for me that um there are people that this that this coming of the New Jerusalem and this wiping away of the tears, is all it's all kind of together.

00:18:29.50
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:18:46.58
Kevin Shock
it's all There's no like, God's going to do this and then do this and then do this and then do this. it's All of these things are happening happening simultaneously because of this wonderful marriage that's taking place.

00:19:01.92
nathanpile
Now.

00:19:03.11
Kevin Shock
So, yeah. You said something, Nathan, earlier, ah that I want to visit just for um a moment, and that is, ah you said that you found the verse distracting.

00:19:18.74
Kevin Shock
ah And and I think that that's I think that that's a good I'm glad you said that because I think that can be a good lesson to lesson a good example to the people who listen to this podcast to that sometimes it's the distracting things that I think that the spirit can use distraction to pull us into something deeper and

00:19:40.74
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:19:41.08
Kevin Shock
and help us to consider it in a in a new way or a different way or even a way that is, ah why why is this distracting to me? What is it within myself or what is it within the text that causes this to be a distracting thing for me? um So I think that, yeah, sometimes sometimes distracting things we want to avoid, we don't want to question and sometimes I think it's good for us to question them.

00:20:04.47
Kevin Shock
so

00:20:04.89
nathanpile
Well, and and our conversation has helped me to understand, I think, and and you've said this, I think it's the gender, the gendering of but of bride and husband, that is, you know, as we talked about it more, that became, that like, that's the piece that sticks out of me.

00:20:15.96
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:20:23.30
nathanpile
Like, i again, i the the a rich image of you know, two partners coming together in that moment. um It is a special moment. And granted, this is written, you know, thousands of years ago.

00:20:36.21
nathanpile
So um it's not the same way that we think about people today or persons today, being able to see each other's faces um for who we are and and and and being able to be who we are.

00:20:40.89
Kevin Shock
Sure.

00:20:51.79
nathanpile
So that part of it I think and and yet the image is still can be a powerful one as as you have done um and kind of dug into this for me to to kind of ah make the distraction have deeper meaning.

00:21:09.76
nathanpile
So thanks.

00:21:10.60
Kevin Shock
Yeah, i think I think there's so much baggage that can come along with some of the language that Yeah, when whenever this is a simile used for bride and husband, I don't think it's, we're not we're not being asked to figure out who's who's the one who has control in this relationship. Because control in the way that we understand it as human beings is absent from this relationship.

00:21:40.33
Kevin Shock
um there's There's no, There's no force or influence. this is This is God delighting in the peoples and the peoples delighting in God. Now, God is certainly the one who is making this happen.

00:21:56.26
Kevin Shock
So in that sense, God is in control.

00:21:56.94
nathanpile
sure

00:21:58.80
Kevin Shock
But um yeah, but this is not, this is no more, this is a fulfillment too of that beautiful Jeremiah 31 text.

00:22:10.51
Kevin Shock
Uh, that we talked about in the last episode, not just we touched on it, um, that, you know, the law is written on their hearts. They, they don't have, they don't have to ask one another anymore about the law or God because they, they know, they know all this there. And in fact, I think that same phrase is used in Jeremiah 31, they will be. God, God will be their God and they will be God's people.

00:22:37.92
Kevin Shock
I'm pretty sure that that says that in Jeremiah 31 as well.

00:22:40.59
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:22:41.45
Kevin Shock
And that's yeah, to think of that as a marriage, I think is a beautiful image.

00:22:48.91
nathanpile
No.

00:22:52.19
nathanpile
All right, you ready to do this the second time?

00:22:53.61
Kevin Shock
Yep, let's do it.

00:22:57.98
nathanpile
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth from the former heaven and the former earth had passed away. and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, look, God's dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God.

00:23:33.28
nathanpile
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, look, I'm making all things new. He also said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. Then he said to me, all is done,

00:24:01.34
nathanpile
I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty, oh, no, no, no thirsty people.

00:24:10.18
Kevin Shock
No, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:11.88
nathanpile
The beginning and the end.

00:24:11.87
Kevin Shock
i was just I was just listening to you talk that I wasn't even paying attention to where you were. Yes, the beginning and the end, the end.

00:24:19.80
nathanpile
The a ah Kevin, toward what is God calling you in this text?

00:24:29.52
Kevin Shock
um i'm I'm drawn in by that word look. ah The one seated on the throne said, look, I'm making all things new. ah And and that for me, there's ah there's a look, not ah not a command, but an implicit, um maybe ah drawing the peoples so to look at the Holy City coming down to meet them.

00:24:57.39
Kevin Shock
um there's a lot of There's a lot of looking here. And I think looking is a, sometimes in the season of Advent, we talk about it being on watch.

00:25:11.30
Kevin Shock
for the wonderful things that God is doing. But this also, this begins November, which is ah not a season of itself in the church, but there is these these last weeks of the church year before we hit the new year of the church and go into Advent. um They kind of,

00:25:39.72
Kevin Shock
the The readings in November tend to point toward the the end of things, a a judgment um that will then lead to something new. And then in Advent, we really turn to the new thing happening. Some some people have argued that Advent should be like an an eight week long season instead of a four week long season.

00:26:06.54
Kevin Shock
and and include these texts so that we get the the ending and the beginning all take all lumped together.

00:26:11.71
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:26:15.02
Kevin Shock
I mean, we do get them lumped together, but not but not thematically. um

00:26:20.03
nathanpile
Sure.

00:26:20.61
Kevin Shock
So there's there's lots of, I'm sure that you and I have talked in this podcast at some point about biblical looking or spiritual looking or holy looking,

00:26:33.88
Kevin Shock
That is, or maybe I know we've talked about waiting. Maybe that's the other way to think about it.

00:26:37.62
nathanpile
no Yeah. No.

00:26:39.40
Kevin Shock
That it's not, it's not passive. It's, um, it's, it's, yeah, it's active.

00:26:44.14
nathanpile
active yeah

00:26:46.13
Kevin Shock
It's, it's not just like, Oh, Hey, glance over there. It's take a, take a good look at what's going on. And, and actually now that I'm looking at this text again, we hear look twice, look, God's dwelling is here with humankind.

00:27:00.02
nathanpile
right yeah

00:27:02.93
Kevin Shock
And then later on, look, I'm making all things new. There's there's that constant call to look. And wow, don't isn't it easy for us to forget to do that?

00:27:14.04
nathanpile
It's active.

00:27:17.34
Kevin Shock
when we're When we're caught off guard by something that's beautiful, we naturally look at it.

00:27:30.79
Kevin Shock
But sometimes we have to be reminded to look. And um and in the in the looking, in the in the deeper looking, we can find things that perhaps on the surface remain hidden, but we see them once we take a deeper look at what's going on. And I think that's what what I'm feeling being called to here.

00:27:58.85
Kevin Shock
Um, yeah, you know, um, just not, not, not unrelated, but, oh no, it's not unrelated. I just think of the example, i the, the current event example, which by the time people are listening to this will no longer be a current event. But, um, you know, last week, uh, as we record this in mid October, last week, there was a brilliant.

00:28:29.36
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:28:29.68
Kevin Shock
display of the northern lights and and Lisa and I were even farther north than a lot of the people that Would normally listen to this or that that we see because we were in upstate New York it was our first night on a little vacation away and um And we pulled into after having gone out to eat.

00:28:32.08
nathanpile
Mm hmm.

00:28:52.14
Kevin Shock
We pulled into The cabin where we were staying again and on the way home From the restaurant, we like you know I had the had the glass roof on my car. it It wasn't fully open, but you could see through it. And we both were just noticing, what look at all what is all this pink from? And and it was it was kind of one of those things where um we thought, well, maybe the maybe the sunset is catching the clouds at an odd angle or something like that.

00:29:27.43
nathanpile
Mmm.

00:29:28.19
Kevin Shock
and ah And then we pulled into the cabin and we just looked around and we were like, I think one of us even said to the other, this this can't be the Northern Lights, can it?

00:29:40.32
Kevin Shock
It seems like it's, for one, it seemed like it was too early from when they normally happen, ah but we were,

00:29:46.03
nathanpile
Mmm. That happened in August though, yeah. Yeah.

00:29:50.23
Kevin Shock
Well, no, but I mean, early in the night, it was like, it wasn't long after sunset, or at least it didn't.

00:29:52.77
nathanpile
oh

00:29:55.52
Kevin Shock
ah yeah We could still still see dusk on the on the far horizon. And um yeah, and we were we were looking and like, oh my gosh, this is, whatever this is, it's amazing.

00:30:07.84
Kevin Shock
And then um and then we we walked inside for a second to put our things down. And the, the host, the Airbnb host messaged me and said, go outside right now and look, look to the, look to the Northeast.

00:30:21.92
Kevin Shock
The Aurora is amazing. And I said, well, okay, that's what, that's what we, that's what we were seeing.

00:30:25.66
nathanpile
That's what it is.

00:30:27.28
Kevin Shock
Yeah. So it's something that was something that caught, caught us. So like it, it just, it, it caught our attention and we couldn't help but stand there and look at it and then fast forward a week and.

00:30:41.33
Kevin Shock
right now there's this amazing comet that's in the sky just after sunset that uh you know isn't going to show up for another 80,000 years and um and yeah Lisa and I were sitting in the living room last night and I said oh I think we missed that comet like we both knew in the back of our heads it was there

00:31:04.33
nathanpile
It's coming. Yeah.

00:31:05.29
Kevin Shock
We could we could like we would have a great view if we walked down to the to the um the edge of the lake where we live.

00:31:05.83
nathanpile
Alright.

00:31:13.54
Kevin Shock
It would be a great view in that direction. And yeah and it was like, well, OK, we missed it. ah To me, that's the that's the difference between having something amazing happening and being just being automatically looking at it, but then but then also needing to be reminded that there are other amazing things happening that you might not see at the surface, or you might not see if you stay in your own little world that that God here, the Spirit here, is calling us to look for.

00:31:43.74
nathanpile
Sure.

00:31:50.29
Kevin Shock
Look. um So yeah, that's that's what I'm being called to. What about you, Nathan? what To what are you being called?

00:31:59.30
nathanpile
Ah, ditto.

00:32:01.33
Kevin Shock
okay ah Okay. I just rambled on for 10 minutes, but I

00:32:03.65
nathanpile
Yeah, mine was mine was look, um and you took 10 minutes to talk about it, so I'm, no, I'm just teasing. There is something,

00:32:20.24
nathanpile
you know, in hearing this, um we have to look, ah we we're we're called to look with purpose.

00:32:32.30
Kevin Shock
Hmm.

00:32:33.07
nathanpile
God's dwelling here, God's making something new, look and see it. um And so,

00:32:40.09
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:32:48.55
nathanpile
how do I, with the beautiful story you've just told, how how do I make sure that I have the, the Energy the wherewithal to make sure I get outside and see that You know what God is doing How do I because I because I do think we live in a time right now that it's that um we're so busy we're so exhausted um and It's very easy to kind of collapse in our spaces

00:33:03.92
Kevin Shock
Mm.

00:33:20.66
Kevin Shock
Mm. Yeah.

00:33:31.15
nathanpile
when we feel like we get a break to,

00:33:38.19
nathanpile
you know, I don't want to say numb ourselves, but to to try to give ourselves a chance to recover, recuperate. um But how do we, how do we look? God is living among us. Look. um And like, cause if we don't, we're going to miss it.

00:34:00.18
nathanpile
if we're not looking. You know, John here of Patmos is telling us, god's god God is dwelling among you. Look for it, watch for it. um

00:34:18.10
nathanpile
And so yeah, so I think i think there's there's some, because I because i absolutely can, can get myself worked in such a frenzy that I'm just exhausted and I'm not looking well.

00:34:31.92
nathanpile
not I'm not looking.

00:34:35.05
Kevin Shock
Mm hmm.

00:34:36.06
nathanpile
With with purpose, I'm not looking i not looking to see God dwelling among me and like among us.

00:34:46.19
nathanpile
And so how do, ah you know to to continue to kind of be reminded, I need to be looking because God brings about the new. And if I don't know what God looks for, what looks oh God looks like in the indwelling, look for new.

00:35:05.61
Kevin Shock
Hmm.

00:35:07.41
nathanpile
What's that new thing that God is bringing life to?

00:35:11.75
nathanpile
So so so look is the is the piece of it, but it's but it's not just it's not just a whimsical look.

00:35:12.36
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:35:22.06
nathanpile
It's a it's that active, engaged,

00:35:22.79
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:35:30.60
nathanpile
that that will that when I do it, I will be washed over by the inspiration of God.

00:35:38.90
Kevin Shock
Mm hmm.

00:35:40.39
nathanpile
So.

00:35:41.19
Kevin Shock
Yeah, I'm ah I'm really taken by your description there and some of the things that you honestly name and that is. Sometimes we're too distracted, too exhausted.

00:35:54.67
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:35:55.74
Kevin Shock
To look. And I really there's something in me that bristles at the notion that look is just another thing on our to do list.

00:36:09.17
Kevin Shock
um you know i don't I don't think God intends us with this to you know have our list of 5,000 things we're trying to do today.

00:36:20.88
Kevin Shock
And then at the bottom, put look on there as well, ah so that we don't ever get to it.

00:36:24.04
nathanpile
Right.

00:36:27.75
Kevin Shock
Or if we do get to it, we're too exhausted to do it. This, for me, look is... Look, I don't know if this is off point or not, but look is a c call to Sabbath.

00:36:41.94
Kevin Shock
ah

00:36:46.17
Kevin Shock
Look is a call to put aside your exhaustion or or or pause pause the busyness in life um so that so that your eyes are opened and you can see.

00:37:03.24
nathanpile
Hmm. Hmm.

00:37:05.92
Kevin Shock
um And to think of look not as one more thing I have to do, but look as a rest from all of the things that I have feel like I have to do.

00:37:19.52
Kevin Shock
um

00:37:22.22
Kevin Shock
Yeah, I. um Yeah, I don't I don't have to. There's there's more I could add, but dont it's not. Yeah, it it won't bring anything new to the conversation so.

00:37:36.24
Kevin Shock
hu I just I really think maybe it's just where I am in my life right now I think it that look is a call to Sabbath and not and not the day but rest pause ah even if it's for five minutes in the morning or over the lunch hour or just in the middle of your day where you close the computer screen and Sit outside And then, and then go right back to all of the stuff that you have to do or that you feel like you have to do. Um, but it's really important to take that pause and to, and to look, listen, breathe and let God show you or remind you of the things that you have witnessed.

00:38:29.16
nathanpile
Yeah. and And just to take that a little farther off of, yeah you know, I said the first piece was the author last night about persons and peoples. His argument was how do we, how do we see the persons?

00:38:37.16
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:38:42.12
nathanpile
And so if we're looking at each individual face of those that we encounter again, you know, you go back to, you go back to Genesis, we're all image bearers.

00:38:53.35
nathanpile
We're all image bearers of God. Um, and so if I really look at your face, Uh, Kevin, and instead of just blowing by you in my hurry. So it just, you know, it's a change of practice, you know, maybe in some way, but if I, if I'm going to pass 50 people today, whether it be at the grocery store or at work, can I really look at the person in the face?

00:39:07.26
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:39:17.69
nathanpile
Cause we're really good as a society of not really, you know, walking past each other and not really interacting. Um, And his argument isn't that you even have to interact, it just you just have to look.

00:39:32.30
nathanpile
And so as we look at each other, we can see God.

00:39:33.21
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:39:35.63
nathanpile
not you know Nature is a beautiful place that we do that, but just looking at each other also helps us to see see God. It also will cause us to see worry and sadness and joy on the faces of the other, all of which also connect us to God.

00:39:50.97
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:39:56.56
nathanpile
so Something about that looking, being intentional about it. Whatever it is, wherever it is, wherever that five minute look can be for you today.

00:40:07.42
nathanpile
Can it be that five minutes of inspiration?

00:40:10.39
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Is, um,

00:40:15.23
Kevin Shock
Just something you said really catches me, Nathan, is is seeing sadness and pain in the face of some someone else.

00:40:30.38
Kevin Shock
it ah ah For me, um maybe, and ah maybe not everyone's like this, but for me seeing sadness and pain in someone else um brings forth empathy, which is it is a connective feeling.

00:40:49.57
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:40:49.70
Kevin Shock
And then also ah maybe gives me some hope that people see me in my pain and suffering too.

00:40:58.55
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:41:02.42
Kevin Shock
um i don't I don't know, there's something there's something almost in our in our very impersonal world, there's something almost even refreshing.

00:41:14.13
Kevin Shock
in not just seeing someone else's joy, but seeing someone else's pain and suffering. Or or or the burdens they're carrying. not i don't I don't mean things that cause them pain and suffering. I mean, looking in someone's face and seeing that they're carrying burdens.

00:41:29.62
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:41:29.62
Kevin Shock
is um Refreshing's not the right word. It's just as, like we need human connection and and companionship. And,

00:41:40.74
Kevin Shock
and pain and suffering ah can be causes for that as much as joy then and celebration can be. so ah yeah i ah something Something for me to ponder in the times to come. but yeah

00:42:03.09
nathanpile
Well, I think there there is something about the Holy that connects us to our humanity. You know you use the word empathy. I think anything that connects us to being more human, we need to listen to it, especially in today's world.

00:42:22.16
Kevin Shock
Mm hmm.

00:42:23.93
nathanpile
Empathy, ah sadness, being vulnerable are are things that are that we're talking about more. but it's still on the out as a culture rule, what's acceptable. And so how do we, to to be who God has made us to be as as human beings and God is dwelling in our midst,

00:42:55.66
nathanpile
how can we allow ourselves to be vulnerable so that Because you know God knows pain, God knows sadness, God knows all of those things.

00:43:04.49
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:43:07.51
nathanpile
In Jesus the Christ, God experienced all of those things.

00:43:14.42
nathanpile
And so it it you know makes perfect sense to me that God will connect to us in all of those ways. God came to earth so that God

00:43:24.67
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:43:28.34
nathanpile
could connect to us in deeper, richer ways. So, yeah.

00:43:35.92
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Huh, okay.

00:43:39.55
nathanpile
All right, now we're gonna do a third time.

00:43:41.27
Kevin Shock
Yeah, boy, we're getting really deep here, which isn't bad. Okay, reading again from Revelation. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

00:43:56.69
Kevin Shock
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, look, God's dwelling is here with humankind. He will dwell with them and they will be his peoples. God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying or pain any anymore for the former things that passed away. Then the one seated on the throne said, look, I'm making all things new.

00:44:32.08
Kevin Shock
He also said, write this down for these words are trust trustworthy and true. Then he said to me, all is done. I am the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Nathan, what new thing are you longing for?

00:44:55.00
nathanpile
um So, our conversation has influenced me in and that as God dwells among us, as God creates something new, um one of the pieces of this fall of my different readings and my different thinkings is about how we connect to each other. And so,

00:45:21.77
nathanpile
um

00:45:24.49
nathanpile
the idea of Jesus gathering with his disciples in a locked room, share, not in a locked room, in a Jesus gathering with his disciples, having a meal, sharing the first communion. God is doing something new in that moment in time um for those disciples gathered in that space. But But then they take it and share it with other people. So they've this idea of but all of them sitting at a table, again, different different persons, so all of them different from different walks of life.

00:46:14.29
nathanpile
being gathered, but God has brought them together and connected to them. And then they, that connection is so strong that they're then inspired and led by the spirit to go out and and live this new kind of connection and community with others.

00:46:32.32
nathanpile
So the outcasts, the lost, the lonely, the last are brought to sit at these tables and for this practice. that So there's this new thing that it happens 2000 years ago. It feels a little bit like, that that is that is deeply rooted for me in connection, in face-to-face one-on-one relationships, in a meal, I guess it's intimate in those ways.

00:47:01.62
nathanpile
And it feels like we need that new thing again. that that and Because really, when Jesus did it, it was a new thing, but it was it was something that they have done that humankind have done all of their life.

00:47:15.93
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

00:47:20.99
nathanpile
like We had to sit and eat all of the time. like we've all So it's an old thing that God does something new with to transform the relationships um and form different types of community.

00:47:25.42
Kevin Shock
yeah

00:47:35.47
nathanpile
And it feels today, you know in this technological age, in this um time when when when our young adults um are struggling with social and emotional and mental health pieces,

00:47:51.19
nathanpile
um how we see each other's face, that we accept each other, that that that that by seeing each other's face, we we know we belong.

00:48:08.02
nathanpile
yeah that that That's ah that's a something that we that all of humankind needs. But today, right now, it feels maybe more critical And so I guess that's the thing that I long for.

00:48:21.43
nathanpile
the The thing that I long to see is how God, and I believe God's doing it already. Like I believe that it's happening. um Maybe not happening as fast as I want it to.

00:48:32.75
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:48:35.02
nathanpile
and so me But that that's the thing that I'm longing for is is this new thing that God, the way God, takes that which is old, that which is common, and inspires us to to live into it, and and that living into it um brings you know drastic change to the world.

00:49:04.12
nathanpile
and so two two to that's that's That's what I'm looking for. That's what I'm longing to to see, like longing to look for, is how God will use that which is common to to shift our relationships, inspire our relationships maybe is a better word, that helps us to know that we belong, that we are loved,

00:49:35.42
nathanpile
that we are seen for who we are and accepted.

00:49:45.73
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what to say. ah

00:49:54.38
Kevin Shock
um

00:49:59.18
nathanpile
What are you longing for?

00:50:00.56
Kevin Shock
Well, I mean, the the same the same thing, really, Nathan. um I think about ah you know coming coming off a vacation. This is my first day back at work.

00:50:15.75
Kevin Shock
um There's just so much about, I'm a pastor. i I work with people. There's so much that feels so impersonal about that. What's wrong? ah I don't know. ah you know i I can spend my entire day just answering questions over email.

00:50:38.13
nathanpile
Hmm.

00:50:38.56
Kevin Shock
and and not seeing anyone face-to-face and feeling at the end of the day, even though I've communicated with a hundred different people, um that i'm I'm more isolated than I was at the beginning of the day.

00:50:52.22
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:50:53.01
Kevin Shock
ah it doesn't i don't I don't know how we've gotten to this point. um I mean, I do know how we've gotten to this point.

00:51:05.51
Kevin Shock
but no one no one's interested in hearing my my economic soapbox again. um i I just think what I think coming off vacation is that one thing I love about going on vacation, at least the way that Lisa and I do it and the way that it's been done, the way that it was done this past time, is that we we have time to connect with each other

00:51:34.35
Kevin Shock
that we don't, ah that we're often too exhausted or too busy to do in our regular everyday lives. And um and I love having conversations with people. And we get to hear, you know, ah we ah we went to, we love to go to the Finger Lakes. It's just such a nice little community of people ah with, you know, of course we both like wine too. So that certainly helps things.

00:52:04.39
Kevin Shock
But we're learning, you don't even have to you don't even have to like wine to you know enjoy the finger lakes anymore. that's yeah things Things have changed there. But I think of all of the different places we went, where one, we could look at people.

00:52:21.68
nathanpile
Mmhmm.

00:52:22.31
Kevin Shock
I mean, we we might call it, you know, in ah in a kind of passive term, people watching, but but you see the things that people are experiencing.

00:52:34.04
Kevin Shock
um But then you have conversations with people about the wines they make. ah But then whenever things aren't so busy, then you end up having conversations about, well,

00:52:47.74
Kevin Shock
you know, suddenly suddenly people who are standing behind the bar telling you about where they grew up and how they know this and how they got here and, you know, all of these really just interesting stories. And and it's refreshing to just sit and listen to people and share your stories with one another. And and i wish I wish that we had more time to do that on any given week than just you know that we have to take a vacation to do it.

00:53:16.70
nathanpile
Hmm. Hmm.

00:53:22.77
Kevin Shock
I can't i can't even imagine. um You know, there was ah the the one place that we like to go. um Lisa and I tend to go toward the off the beaten, well, not off the beaten path, but maybe the easily overlooked wineries. We do a lot of reading before we go up there. We've like we've gained our favorite places. And there is one winery that we do like to go to.

00:53:49.67
Kevin Shock
that does a huge business and you know it's one of those places where you will pull up out front and you know there will be like a bus there or something like that normally we avoid those places but there's one that we just really we like their wine we've had good experiences there so we we put it on the list every year that we go up there and um

00:54:09.53
nathanpile
Mm.

00:54:11.90
Kevin Shock
And yeah, so we went there this year and it was, it was on a rainy day. So no one was outside. Everyone was inside. It was even more packed than normal. And this is a place where you walk in and there's a guy right at the door who says, Oh yeah, let me find, you want to do a tasting? Let me find you a place at the bar and and we'll get that started. And so, you know, we like packed in between these two other couples and, um,

00:54:34.98
Kevin Shock
And this guy comes over and he's just like, I mean, he looked, he's like a winemaker rock star. I mean, you know, I mean, he has like, he's like a shark's tooth necklace and this, and this almost like faux leather shirt.

00:54:45.33
nathanpile
ah Yeah.

00:54:48.57
Kevin Shock
And I mean, just looks like, you know, he like, you know, drives a sports car or something. And like, you know, and, and like, you just, it's one of those guys, you get the feeling he, uh, he's, he's, he's going to be a permanent bachelor.

00:55:00.81
Kevin Shock
Like one of those kinds of things, you know, and, uh,

00:55:05.50
Kevin Shock
and And I overheard him telling someone that, you know, he's a, um he doesn't normally work there, but his but his mom does. And this guy was probably my age, maybe a little bit older.

00:55:16.86
Kevin Shock
His mom works there and he's a, he he's ah I can't remember the real name, but he's a soil scientist. And and that's, and the Finger Lakes region is is the region that he is,

00:55:24.76
nathanpile
Oh!

00:55:31.39
nathanpile
The Soil Scientist 4.

00:55:31.41
Kevin Shock
like either ah assigned to, but also is most familiar with, most an expert in.

00:55:33.71
nathanpile
Yeah. Sure.

00:55:38.04
Kevin Shock
And it was just interesting hearing him talk about, you know, like, well, you know, the wine tastes this way because there's, ah you know, there's 18 inches of soil here with shale below it. You know, we're like, okay. But as he was like darting back and forth between people, Lisa turned to me and he and said to me,

00:55:54.61
Kevin Shock
i You know, if your hip weren't bothering you you, you would be great at doing exactly what this guy is doing. I immediately said, I would love to do what this guy is doing. This is like, this is my dream job, not but not because of the wine, but just because of like talking to people. You know, I mean, you're going in, you're giving,

00:56:18.99
Kevin Shock
you're You're a tiny bit of an expert on something. You're giving people information that they want. they're You're joking with them. You're talking to them. You're pouring them beverages. you know I mean, just like that, I don't know. There's something really life-giving about that for me. um and And of course, maybe it's the easy thing to say. you know like Everyone's going to be in a good mood when they come to see you. It's it's different than being a pastor. um But like that guy, when he's doing that work,

00:56:47.39
Kevin Shock
He does not have his email open.

00:56:49.91
nathanpile
a Right.

00:56:51.65
Kevin Shock
he's He's making face-to-face connections with people.

00:56:54.94
nathanpile
Sure.

00:56:55.56
Kevin Shock
And and you know i I don't even know what his name was. But ah but that's the thing I love about you know where where we were this past week is you just get to talk to people.

00:57:08.71
Kevin Shock
And and like they get to you know they get to know you a little bit. And especially if you go to a place more than once, um you know they like they take notice of repeat repeat customers, so to speak.

00:57:18.50
nathanpile
sure

00:57:22.66
Kevin Shock
and And you start to feel like you're becoming a little part of their community there.

00:57:23.13
nathanpile
Right.

00:57:27.27
Kevin Shock
um So yeah, I mean, you know of course, that's vacation is vacation because we would all love to be on it all the time, but but it's not possible. um But it does make me wonder, hu how do...

00:57:37.45
nathanpile
Sure.

00:57:43.30
Kevin Shock
Like, how do I incorporate some of that into my own call?

00:57:46.52
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:57:47.31
Kevin Shock
and and And what am I not, what am I either looking for and not seeing or just not looking for?

00:57:58.31
Kevin Shock
So i do I do long for when when humans are better connected to one another. And I think that here, a lot of times you read Revelation,

00:58:09.67
Kevin Shock
And, uh, I think people sometimes read revelation with the, with a person's view to harken back to what you were talking about early on, a person's view rather than a people's view.

00:58:19.20
nathanpile
Hmm. Hmm.

00:58:24.60
Kevin Shock
And they imagine that, um, everyone is going to be so focused on the lamb on the throne and on the coming kingdom of God that they're not even going to notice one another.

00:58:35.89
Kevin Shock
But that's, but that, that's not the, that's not the vision.

00:58:38.42
nathanpile
Yeah, it doesn't seem very god-like, right?

00:58:40.46
Kevin Shock
Well, no, right. it's not It's not the vision of all of scripture and it's not the vision of revelation.

00:58:45.44
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:58:46.30
Kevin Shock
it's you know the The thing that we have from earlier in Revelation is that people are singing together.

00:58:53.12
Kevin Shock
It's not a bunch of individual voices.

00:58:53.52
nathanpile
Yeah.

00:58:55.74
Kevin Shock
It's it's it's all one voice.

00:58:55.81
nathanpile
Right.

00:58:58.20
Kevin Shock
um We are taking notice of each other, probably in a deeper way than we had ever on earth. ah and and And at the same time, we're seeing, we're seeing God, not in some far off place, but God right there in those relationships between, between persons.

00:59:18.82
nathanpile
No.

00:59:19.45
Kevin Shock
And, um, yeah, that's, that's the new thing I'm looking forward to. I don't want to have to wait until I die to experience it.

00:59:29.65
nathanpile
Well, we could um we could shift the tend focus, and it could be tend with drinks. um No, I think that was the best part of your story.

00:59:36.78
Kevin Shock
does it but again but ah stop it ah ah no oh no

00:59:42.94
nathanpile
um the But there is, like like, I appreciate the vision cast. But you're right, it doesn't just have to happen in a winery someplace. So how do we, as God's people, tear down whatever preconceived walls we feel like exist to be able to to sit together and and be community, share stories together.

01:00:14.57
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah.

01:00:15.10
nathanpile
Again, I i get it. du We don't need to have drinks. That's fine. um But the important piece of it is is that but face-to-face, seeing one another, um coming to know each other's stories,

01:00:27.29
Kevin Shock
Right.

01:00:31.39
nathanpile
ah And you know one of the ways this technology works for us is that we can you and I can see each other. Everyone else can't see you and I because we're using podcasts and it's just the way we started this.

01:00:40.49
Kevin Shock
right

01:00:48.50
nathanpile
But how do we as God's people figure out ways to meet face-to-face and and and look even in our own lives use our eyes to look at the at humankind surrounding us. So yeah, I think it's, yeah,

01:01:16.28
nathanpile
it's something that I long for. And I don't think we're alone in that longing.

01:01:20.47
Kevin Shock
Oh, I don't think so either.

01:01:20.98
nathanpile
um and so And so if we're all longing for it, how do we deconstruct and then reconstruct?

01:01:21.74
Kevin Shock
No.

01:01:29.71
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:01:30.56
nathanpile
um

01:01:30.79
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:01:31.79
nathanpile
You know, we're we're in that, um

01:01:37.86
nathanpile
um Richard Rohr calls it order, disorder, reorder is his three things. It's the same idea though, that idea of we're in this time of disorder, it feels like, and we want it to be better.

01:01:44.83
Kevin Shock
Yep.

01:01:51.69
nathanpile
Well, then the the the next phase of that is ah is the reorder phase of it. And so, but that means,

01:01:57.14
Kevin Shock
yeah

01:02:01.41
nathanpile
doing the hard work, again, of being vulnerable, of of engaging in conversation, of going deeper, because you know yes, there's one level of of talking about wine and soil, but then there's another level that is much deeper, and that's where the really good growth happens.

01:02:01.55
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:02:15.99
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Oh, yeah.

01:02:23.18
nathanpile
And so we have to have those first conversations to be able to get to the second conversations.

01:02:23.26
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah.

01:02:28.62
nathanpile
And so how do we do that?

01:02:28.91
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:02:29.89
nathanpile
That's God's people, yeah.

01:02:30.02
Kevin Shock
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I will say like ah faith community is a natural place for it to happen. And it does happen in faith community. ah But for a lot of people it happens at most once a week in faith community.

01:02:43.40
Kevin Shock
I think part of the reason I'm thinking of this is that because ah I just came off of like four days of being like every day was filled with this.

01:02:52.36
nathanpile
Hmm. Those kind of interactions.

01:02:55.73
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah.

01:02:56.48
nathanpile
Yeah.

01:02:56.81
Kevin Shock
So, and and it definitely can happen in everyday life, but I also know that there's a lot that distracts us in everyday life and a lot that occupies our time or that we let occupy our time.

01:02:57.46
nathanpile
Yeah.

01:03:13.17
Kevin Shock
So, yeah.

01:03:18.87
nathanpile
oh Well, ah some additional texts to continue to um hone your skills of looking. um Uh, Isaiah 25 verses six through nine, uh, the banquet of the Lord.

01:03:35.99
nathanpile
Again, that idea of peoples and persons, um, like, uh, yeah, we'll be there.

01:03:38.93
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, one of my favorites, yeah. all the All the nations flocking to the mountain of God to eat well with one another.

01:03:45.91
nathanpile
Yeah.

01:03:50.28
nathanpile
And there's probably wine. So Kevin's in Kevin's in everybody Kevin's in.

01:03:52.40
Kevin Shock
They're well aged wides. Well aged wides. ah ah

01:04:00.35
nathanpile
oh Wisdom, the third a chapter of Wisdom, verses one through nine.

01:04:01.20
Kevin Shock
ah

01:04:06.73
nathanpile
It looks like that's an alternate reading for the Old Testament here in your notes.

01:04:09.59
Kevin Shock
It is yeah.

01:04:11.75
nathanpile
ah the righteousness The righteous are with God. And so that idea again that we heard in our passage of God dwelling with, but here the righteous are with God. Psalm 24, they shall receive blessing from God, from the God of their salvation. And John, gospel of John chapter 11, verses 32 through 44. And this is the raising of Lazarus. So again, Kevin said earlier, all saints um Sunday. And so,

01:04:45.02
nathanpile
um the the belief that the saints are are a part of God's claiming us in eternal life, but here we have in Jesus' life story, God raising Lazarus to be to be reconnected, renewed and and with his family, to be you know a part made new again.

01:05:13.90
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:05:17.09
Kevin Shock
um Nathan, ah before we wrap up, I i promised that i would we would publish a correction to something ah that I said a few episodes ago.

01:05:18.36
nathanpile
yeah

01:05:25.88
Kevin Shock
I um and was reminded from our listener, Jen, that I said that Ralph Fiennes was in the movie Taken. And it was, in fact, Liam Neeson, who is in Taken, not Ralph Fiennes.

01:05:40.46
Kevin Shock
Ralph Fiennes was Voldemort, which I did know in the back of my head.

01:05:41.35
nathanpile
Hmm.

01:05:44.88
Kevin Shock
but um ah So thank you, Jen, for pointing that out. I don't know if I should apologize to Ralph Fiennes or to Liam Neeson for that faux pas.

01:05:56.39
Kevin Shock
ah I guess it all depends how you feel about the movie taken. But I ah but i said that i would we would publish a correction.

01:06:00.79
nathanpile
yeah

01:06:05.55
Kevin Shock
and ah Oh my.

01:06:06.97
nathanpile
Now, a word of thanks to Sam, who ah made a recent donation for our 100th episode of, so thank you, Sam, that was very kind of you um for thinking of Sequenota and PAWS as

01:06:20.39
Kevin Shock
Yeah, thanks, Sam. Yeah.

01:06:31.80
Kevin Shock
Yeah, yeah, special, special thanks to Sam for her extra special kindness to in making a couple of donations.

01:06:37.18
nathanpile
Yeah, so.

01:06:39.63
Kevin Shock
Yeah.

01:06:40.50
nathanpile
Yeah, so. Well, as always, my friend, it is good for my spirit to talk and, you know, that piece of longing that felt a little vulnerable having to share it.

01:06:55.56
nathanpile
I do think it is something that we, as God's people, probably need to get comfortable doing with one another. recognizing what we are longing for, what we can dream about doing and being a part of with God and with one another as God brings about the new.

01:07:06.00
Kevin Shock
Yeah. No.

01:07:14.51
nathanpile
So um so thanks for your reflections, my friend, um and we hope to tend our faith with you again soon. Grace to you.

01:07:24.62
Kevin Shock
And peace.