Navigating Faith, Politics, and Presence: Lessons from Family, Spirituality, and Community

Have you ever wondered how you could truly be present in your relationships despite the chaos of everyday life? In this episode, we share personal anecdotes from our family adventures at Walt Disney World, revealing the unexpected moments that taught us the importance of presence and attentiveness. Through a touching story involving my son Oliver, we explore how easily we can get lost in our thoughts and miss what's right in front of us, drawing vital parallels to our interactions with loved ones.

It's no secret that faith and politics can be a powder keg of polarization, especially during election cycles. We dig deep into these contentious waters, challenging ourselves to adopt an "Outrageous Faith" that rises above societal discord. We discuss the delicate balance of allowing our faith to shape our political views while acknowledging that no political party fully aligns with Jesus's teachings. This episode is a call to thoughtful political engagement that is guided by our spiritual beliefs rather than divisive rhetoric.

Beyond politics, we delve into the transformative power of spiritual practices like Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer. Learn how to read and meditate on Scripture in a way that brings peace and clarity, and discover the profound benefits of constant prayer. We also tackle the significance of fasting and nurturing diverse friendships across political lines. By sharing personal experiences, like my friendship with Jud, we underscore the necessity of genuine community and support, especially in turbulent times. Join us to explore how we can all prepare our minds for spiritual growth and act with holiness in a politically charged world.

Chapters

• 0:00 Voices in My Head
• 7:28 Faith and Politics
• 10:21 The Intersection of Faith and Politics
• 20:53 Practicing Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer
• 31:59 Navigating Faith and Politics Amid Diversity
• 35:49 Preparing Our Minds for Spiritual Growth

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, welcome to Medicine Church Online. I'm Stephen Feith, lead pastor and just thankful you're joining us online and I want to invite you to join us at one of our gatherings in person sometime soon. Many of you know, every other year or so, my parents pay for a trip for me and my wife and my kids to go to Walt Disney World. They cover all the expensive stuff, the tickets, the resorts. I just got to get us there, which is relatively low cost and very doable, and so you know, I've been to Disney and the truth is somewhere between like 20 and 40 times. I don't know my family, not so much me but my parents are huge Disney nuts. They're part of the Disney Vacation Club, so they actually go more than twice a year usually, but we only go every other year.

Speaker 1: 0:45

But there is something really cool about just going there and just seeing your kids just be so excited for the whole week. I live vicariously through them. I get life, through them having life. They wake up super early because they're so excited. When was the last time you woke up because you were super excited about something? It has been a long time for me, I can't even remember, and then they don't even want to go to bed, and I just think how cool is that they enjoy life so much they don't want to go to sleep in case they might miss something. And it's like it's 11 o'clock at night. You're not going to miss anything, everyone is also sleeping. But that's the kind of life that I get by going on these trips with them, and we've gone around Christmas time a lot. Both of my boys both of them are born within a week of Christmas Day, and so we go around Christmas and it's like Christmas, it's birthdays, it's Disney World. I mean, this is like. I can only imagine how exciting it is for them. But around this time of year, everyone else has a very similar idea to us. They also want to be at the Magic Kingdom during Christmas, and so the Magic Kingdom can hold about 90,000 people 90,000 people in a space that's smaller than Central Park in New York, and so you are jammed. It is wall-to-wall people in front of you, behind you, next to you, everywhere.

Speaker 1: 1:56

It's easy to get separated. But the good news is I still have all three of the same kids I've ever gone to Disney with, and so that you know that's always. That's a perk and we've always come back home with them. And that doesn't mean that we don't get separated, though we absolutely get separated. But in the past all I've had to do is say one of my kids' names, so I'd say Oliver, and he would hear me, which is remarkable because there's like 45,000 conversations happening, there's music blaring, there's fireworks going off, there's rides twirling all around you. I mean, this is absolutely sensory overload, but all I would have to say is Oliver, and he would look and he'd find me and we'd get back together. And it's no surprise that Oliver or Elijah or Quinn would recognize my voice, because I've been speaking to them since before they had ears. When they were in the womb, I would talk to them, and then, when they were born, I would read them books, even though they had no idea what we were doing, and I would read them, and so I knew that they know my voice.

Speaker 1: 2:51

But something odd has happened lately, which I knew was coming because parents of older kids warned me it was coming, and it has indeed come. Just last week Oliver and I were in the car we're going to our flag football game, and on the way there it's just me and him, and on the way there I was giving him a couple extra, like coach, dad, pieces of advice for the game. Like I'm competitive, I want to win this flag football game. I know it's for fun and make sure all the kids have fun. But is losing really fun? No, and so we want to win. So I'm giving him. And then I ask him a question and he doesn't respond.

Speaker 1: 3:24

Now, oliver, he's very thoughtful and so you know, maybe he just needed a second to think about his answer. But he didn't respond. And so I asked him again and he looked at me and he says oh, are you asking me? We were the only two people in the car. Okay, so let's just set the scene here Once again only two. Who else would I be asking son? Okay, so now I'm looking in the rearview mirror at him and we're making eye contact and I ask him again the third time. I ask him and he just stares at me and he says what Are you kidding me? Like, how did we go from, like being able to be at Disney World with all of these thousands of people, all of these things going on? Oliver, and he would find me. Now we're the only two people in a quiet car. I have a hybrid, so when we're stopped, everything shuts off. I mean this, dead silent. We're the only two people in the car and he's. What did you say? Now, hold on, I can't pick on him too much. Oliver, if you're watching this someday I love you, kid. But I think we can all relate to Oliver in this way, because I don't know about you, but I definitely can.

Speaker 1: 4:27

You get the voice in your own head. You start having a conversation with yourself. You get deep in thought and pretty soon you forget where you're at, who you're with. Somebody could be talking to you and you're like wait what? This happens to me. I think Megan would actually say Oliver probably gets this from me, because if somebody just starts talking, I don't start listening. Like I need to know you're talking to me, so say my name like three or four times, because there might be talking to another Steven in our house. You know, no, just me, but I need to hear my name. Then I get it in.

Speaker 1: 4:54

Now it's not just my voice in my head though I was thinking about this I was preparing for today it's your voices too. Like I scroll on my social media, my news feeds, and I see the hilarious memes you post or you send me directly. There's inspirational graphics, there's life updates, and so I have my own voice. But now I have your voice going into my head. We get together for coffee or drinks and we discuss everything going on in your life. We'll talk about sports news, we'll talk about profound and deep theology, things that no one could possibly understand. So there's a lot of voices in my head, and it's not just your voices, it's not just my voice, but then there's the other voices. Like I read a book about every week or every other week and I listen to an audiobook about once a month is where I'm at right now.

Speaker 1: 5:37

With that kind of pace, I'm slower listening. I listen to podcasts, I read blogs, I watch the news. I mean, sometimes the noise is so overwhelming that I find myself like Oliver in front of someone having a conversation. I find myself not listening. Like what are we talking about? And I got to snap back into it. Can anyone else relate? Just me? Oh, a whole bunch of you can relate. Now I'll be honest with you. What I'm about to say I'm going to say not because I'm a pastor, because I have thought this way. I've been deeply convicted about this since before I became a pastor, but the voice that I want to hear most in my life is the voice of God. This is just. I know you're at a church, I'm a pastor, you expect me to say that, but that's why I wanted to set the scene Before any of this. I wanted to hear God's voice loudest.

Speaker 1: 6:26

A couple of the things that I pray more than anything else in my life is not my will, but your will. I trust God's will a lot more than I trust my will. I'm just going to be honest with you, because I know what goes on inside of here and it's not great, and I just trust God that, like God, your will is great. I also pray God, help me to become the person you intended me to be. I'm deeply convicted that when I was created, god had a unique vision for my life, one that I can easily screw up, and so I try to get out of God's way a little bit and I'm just like God. I just want your will to be done and help me to become the person you wanted me to be, because that person's probably really amazing and I'm just not quite there yet. And yet I know, despite my good intentions, and maybe because you have all the voices in your head too, despite your intentions, and you nod and you're like, yeah, I'd like to hear from God. We have all of these other voices that sometimes God could literally be standing right in front of us talking and we would say hold on, what? What did you say?

Speaker 1: 7:28

The struggle isn't just you and it's not just me. It's in our society and it's going to become real apparent the next few months as we head into another election cycle. I know the last four years just flew by. It was so much fun, wasn't it? But here we are again, as if the last election wasn't fun enough, the election before that wasn't fun enough. We're coming up to it again and you know, what has become increasingly difficult for me is figuring out who is a passionate American and who is a faithful follower of Jesus.

Speaker 1: 7:59

When I see social media posts, when I see talking points, when I read news articles, I mean sure, everyone cites Jesus, everyone claims that they have faith. But then why is there so much disagreement? And then, when they disagree with each other, why is there so much hatred and division? And you can't really sell those words. So we come up with a really cool word called polarization, which means we hate each other and are angry. We can't work together, we can't sit down at the table and get through anything. We're so polarized. Let's just call it what it is we hate each other. We hate each other this time of year, and that's why I want to do this series called Outrageous Faith.

Speaker 1: 8:41

Our faith should be outrageous, but not in the way it's been outrageous the last 8 to 12 to 16 years. Our faith should be outrageous, but not in the way it's been outrageous the last 8 to 12 to 16 years. Our faith should be outrageous in an attractive and a very good way. For most of us, though, if this election cycle, our faith resembles the faith of 2020 and the 2016, we are doing something wrong. It should not look like that Now, before we get going here too far this series.

Speaker 1: 9:09

I'm not going to advocate that you have a certain political point of view. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. I don't have any interest in doing those things but I do want to challenge you to reflect the intersection of your faith and your politics, and I want you to ask hard questions. Does your politics impact your faith more than your faith impacts and your politics? And I want you to ask hard questions. Does your politics impact your faith more than your faith impacts your politics, or the other way around? What is the filter in which you see the world? Does my faith speak into my politics or do my politics speak into my faith?

Speaker 1: 9:40

Now I came across an interesting study while I was preparing for this series, and it was who wants to hear their pastor talk about politics at church? I'm curious about that. Now, 50% of you 50% of you said yes, at least once a month, I want my pastor to speak into societal issues, which means every month, half of you are disappointed because I don't. So I just want to acknowledge you. You are seen, and this next month it's for you, okay. But that means there's 40% of you which were like never, ever talk about it. Okay, every other month of the year is for you, okay. So you're just going to have to stick this one out with us. For the other 50% who want us to speak into this, okay.

Speaker 1: 10:21

Politics and faith they are important. Why? Your neighbors are talking about it. Your co-workers are talking about it. They're reading articles about this Christian group who supports Trump, and they're reading articles about, and watching YouTube videos about, these Christians who support Joe Biden, and then they're watching videos about these guys who are saying, just be moderate, be in the middle, and they're watching groups of Christians who say just don't vote at all, and they're wondering where do Christians land on that? And that's not a simple answer, because we're not simple people. There is no one right way. But we're also talking about faith and politics, because Jesus spoke about them. He had no problem talking about the politics of his day and the Roman empire. When we don't talk about it, it hurts our witness to our friends and family. When we don't talk about it, it hurts our witness to our friends and family, especially when we're all pissed off about the same things in the same ways that everyone else is. There's no difference with you. You just waste an hour on Sunday morning going to church instead of sleeping in and you would say that's not my faith. So why do we act like it? Politics are important because they affect everything from healthcare to the economy to foreign policies. You pay taxes and those taxes buy missiles and we ship those missiles overseas and those missiles hit buildings and kill people. Politics are important because the people we put in power make those choices and, as a person of faith.

Speaker 1: 11:46

I don't think you have the luxury to step out on political conversations. Jesus has put you here in a certain time in a certain place and maybe you can't call the president on the phone. I know I certainly can't. I wanted to remind some people around 2020 who are blaming me for Donald Trump losing or blaming me for Joe winning or whatever it was. I wanted to remind some people around 2020 who are blaming me for Donald Trump losing or blaming me for Joe winning or whatever it was. I wanted to remind them, like if I could single-handedly get someone in the White House, I would not be here on Sunday morning. I would have a very different job.

Speaker 1: 12:15

But the point in all of this being, politics are important. Jesus talked about it. Let us talk about it. But when we talk about politics whether it's the next six months, the next couple of years, whether you work in politics, you're watching, you're listening online you work in politics. Let's be reminded that the reality of Jesus's work in our lives and through our lives and around our lives, along with the empowering and the leading of the Holy Spirit, should make us fundamentally different politically. There should not be a political party you can absolutely 100% agree on. I'll stand by that. You can argue with me, but there should not. There's not one political party, not left, not right, not up, not down, not diagonal, not in front, not behind. That 100% reflects the values of Jesus. There's bits and pieces of it all and in the room I hate to break it to you, but you're probably sitting next to someone who doesn't agree with you. In case you didn't know, I probably disagree with you on some stuff too, and yet we can still be in community together.

Speaker 1: 13:22

Paul points this out in Ephesians. He's talking about what happens when we find Jesus. He says Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your own sinful nature, your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception, and instead let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature instead. Let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes, put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and holy. What he's saying for some of you, you're a new believer, you're an old believer. Paul is saying once you're a believer, once you're in this, you're following Jesus. Going backwards isn't an option anymore. You can't say God, I surrender everything to you except my political ideologies. God, I surrender everything to you except the way that I think about the world. Paul is saying no, no, no. Everything in the old life's got to go. There's a new life, and so my challenge for some of you today, if you are a new believer, if you're a new believer and you have the same political views today as you had in 2020, there's an area of your life you've not yet surrendered and released to God. They should be different, as God is working in, around and through us. Now, to be clear, I am not saying you should become more conservative or more progressive. Okay, just like. That is not my intent in doing any of this. Honestly, it's probably a little bit of both. If we're just being honest, there are probably areas in your life that need to become more conservative and others that need to become more progressive, and what I'm talking about is a word called a worldview A worldview.

Speaker 1: 14:52

And a worldview is a fundamental set of beliefs that inform how we see and engage the world around us. A worldview is to life's moral and social and spiritual elements what your eyes are to the physical world, so just as your eyes can see all of these things going on screens, lights, people. Your worldview affects how you see all of these other things. Your worldview affects how you vote, who you make friends with the church, you choose the news channels you watch the news and political commentaries and personalities you like the most, and countless other daily decisions that you are probably not even aware of. That is how important the worldview that you have is. It shapes our understanding of topics like justice, morality, purpose, and it guides us into giving responses to the challenges and opportunities of life that you face.

Speaker 1: 15:46

Now, the good news is, your worldview is not stuck. Your worldview continues to evolve and change, just as you do, which requires a ton of intentionality, because if my worldview is only impacted by CNN or Fox News or the local news or bloggers or YouTubers, if I have more of that coming into me than, let's say, the gospel or Jesus or my faith, then I promise you what's going to come out is more of whatever you're listening to. That's why your worldview is so important. It's not static. It's not static, it's not stuck, and so, as you consider your own worldview in the terms of faith and politics, and as you're following and pursuing Jesus, we should be shaped by the gospel in these topics. The gospel provides a transformative framework for understanding our reality. When you first follow Jesus, the growth in your life is amazing, because your worldview is shifting very quickly. You're taking new things on and you're taking old things off, and the longer you've been a Christian, it gets harder because those changes are happening a lot slower. They're still happening, but they happen a lot slower.

Speaker 1: 17:04

And in the middle of what will be like an unrestful, an unrestful election year, it's crucial that you and I rise above the outrage that we see happening in our workplaces and in our neighborhoods, and especially on social media. Your faith should guide your political views and discourse and not the other way around. We should strive to echo the voice of our shared faith and not the echo chambers of our political ideologies. And so for the next few weeks, we're going to talk about topics like how do we do this right? Like I'm saying all these things and you're like you probably have mentally agreed with me for a really long time and now you're wondering how do we do that? Well, jason and Sarah are going to help.

Speaker 1: 17:43

We're going to talk about this topic of winsome love, because not just enough to love someone. We're going to have some winsome love. We're going to talk about neighborly engagement. How do you engage the neighbor who has all of the Joe Biden signs or the big Donald Trump flag? How do you engage them? Because you have to engage them. And we're going to talk about online etiquette. I hope you'll join me for that one.

Speaker 1: 18:06

I'll be teaching that, but today, before we do any of that, I want to talk to you about this worldview and having a gospel, a Jesus-centered worldview. When it comes to changing and molding and shaping our worldview that we want, it's not just about getting rid of bad things. So often we try to get rid of bad things and we don't fill it with anything else, and so then just more bad things enter into our lives and, as we talked about a couple weeks ago, sometimes you actually got to cut something good off so something better can grow in its place. And, as I mentioned, I'm deeply convicted that things that we need to cut are the things that are outside of God's will for our lives. I really believe God's will is best. So, as we're looking at our lives, everything we're doing pruning, shaping should be in the direction of what God is calling me to do and who God is calling me to be, and the solution for developing a gospel worldview is discipleship, and you probably have heard this word a lot, discipleship.

Speaker 1: 19:02

And let me just explain. When I hear the word discipleship and we're looking at the original language what do they mean by discipleship? I mean it's the process of growing to be like Jesus. So when he talks about being a disciple, we're talking about being a student, an apprentice, we're talking about becoming like Jesus. Let me throw that out if that's not explicitly clear. Not like Stephen, not like your favorite YouTube preacher You're to becoming like Jesus. You are responsible for that.

Speaker 1: 19:31

And let me point something else out Christian discipleship. It takes patience and perseverance, because you can't download it, you can't buy it and you can't win it. And I think that that's why a lot of us we start off in faith and we're doing really good because we're making all of these changes, and when it gets kind of hard, we tend to kind of float or move on to something that's a little bit more instant, a little bit that the happiness is right here in front of me. Discipleship is a very rewarding, profound and gradual journey and transformation. So it's important to understand that if you're in a discipleship thing. It's not a race, it's a process. It's going to take the rest of your life, and then some, to become like Jesus.

Speaker 1: 20:16

But today let's talk real quickly here about three practices that I think are immensely important in your own discipleship journey, that I think are immensely important in your own discipleship journey. And the first one and again continuing on with this theme of like I'm a pastor, you're a church, you expect me to say this but the first one really deeply believe that reading the Bible is an important way to grow in your faith. I think it's a very critical way. I think when that's missing, there's a huge practice and discipline missing in your life Then that's when it becomes easier, when you're hearing all of these other voices from the podcast, from the blogs, from the news, from the newsfeed. You're hearing all of those voices, but when do you allow God to speak into your life?

Speaker 1: 20:53

And I've mentioned frequently like there are a lot of right ways to read the Bible. One you're reading the Bible, so you're already doing it right. But how do you read the Bible constructively? And I want to share about one way that's resonated deeply with me lately and that's the practice of Lectio Divina. It's a way of praying and meditating on Scripture that profoundly transform us and so transforms us. It's not about reading an entire chapter. It's not about reading a book. It's not about getting through the New Testament in a year. It's about taking a segment, a passage of Scripture, and I've been going through Mark for like six months. I'm on chapter three. Okay, because I just read a couple verses every day, and what Lectio is all about is reflective reading, reflective reading, and so I put this up on the screen.

Speaker 1: 21:36

If you're curious about Lectio Divina, the first thing you do is that you read and listen. So, like I said, I pick a couple verses out of Mark, I invite the Holy Spirit to guide me, I read slowly, I read out loud and I repeat it a couple times just to let those words really sink in, and then I slow myself again. The second step is we're going to meditate on it. You're going to look for words or sentence or phrase that sticks out to you. Going to look for words or sentence or phrase that sticks out to you. Why does that stick out to you? What might God be jabbing you about when you read this passage?

Speaker 1: 22:11

You know, I remember we were doing this as a small group this spring and we were reading a passage and the word winter popped out in my mind, and you know it was really shallow. Why was I thinking about winter? Because we'd just gotten like three feet of snow dumped on us, and so that word really jumped out at me too. But other times it's a lot deeper than that and you meditate on that word and you write down God, what are you saying to me? We're going to reread the passage again. We pray and respond. We're going to pray the passage, what God is saying to me out loud, lord, let it be. And then we rest, we take time to continue to reflect. This isn't so much about quantity reading like trying to get a bunch of text in but rather it's about letting the text that God has for us really sink in deeply. But it will become like any other spiritual exercise if you don't do something about it. So the most important part of Lectio Divina is to resolve what you're going to live out. What are you going to resolve to live out? But through this practice we can navigate life with wisdom and grace as we grow closer to Jesus.

Speaker 1: 23:09

Paul highlights the importance of engaging God's word and God's will while engaging the world. He says don't copy the behavior and customs of the world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think, and then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So a lot of you nodded. You're like I want to hear God's voice. And Paul is saying the way to learn God's will is to let him transform you and not the world. And so we need to evaluate who is speaking into my life and where does God come into this picture? Now, reading the Bible is one thing it's an important thing but so is prayer. Reading the Bible is I'm listening to God speak, and prayer is still listening to God speak. But now it's me speaking back to God.

Speaker 1: 24:00

Paul tells us we should always pray. He says pray all the time or pray without ceasing. Now you go to sleep at night and you're not praying. Right now I don't think. And so you're like well, how do I follow? If Paul's telling me I should pray all the time? What does he possibly mean right here? And what Paul is saying essentially is you should have such an open communication with God. It should never be like the phone hangs up. So if your prayer life right now is like I get you know, right before I eat I'm going to hey God, me again with the spaghetti from the other night. Bless this food to my body, amen. It's kind of like, hey God, I'm here, and then we hang up and what Paul is saying is that's a shallow view of prayer, that's not a mature, disciple view of prayer.

Speaker 1: 24:42

That prayer should be ongoing throughout the day. It should be. You know you're going fast on the beltline and you pray. You know this is a common one for me. You're like, oh Jesus, please don't let him see me or have him seen someone else. Or, you know, give me grace if he pulls me over. You know what I'm saying. Like, I mean, I get really spiritual and pray a lot in those moments, but it should be throughout your entire day. It could be thanking God for the trees and for the plants. It could be thanking God for your job, for your health, for a pleasant phone call, for an unexpected text message. It should always just be a connection with you and God. And that does not necessarily come naturally, especially with all of the voices, as we have mentioned already in your life. And so this is the practice of praying and again, just like Lectio Divina, recently I've gotten into breathing prayer. That's been great for my. I have some mental health stuff with anxiety, and so it's not uncommon that I'll have that fun.

Speaker 1: 25:36

2 am panic attack. I know the rest of you who do, because we're all texting each other. You know like, hey, you up, yeah, I'm up, just another panic attack, I'll be fine. You know like what's? It feel like A heart attack, but I know it's not, because I've done this 20 times and what I've found is like, in addition to counseling and therapy and in addition to the medicine I take, breathing prayer has been amazing. And what breathing prayer is is you do this thing again where you find a word and you're going to breathe this in, and so for me, I started with John 3.30, which says he must become greater and I must become less, and so I would breathe in he must become greater, I must become less, and then eventually it just got shorter. I'd breathe in more of you, less of me, and then eventually it just became peace, because God is peace.

Speaker 1: 26:28

Anxiety and I've prayed that thousands of times since October, because when I have a panic attack it usually doesn't go away in five minutes, and so I'm just praying this out for an hour, for an hour and a half, and I'm telling you it is so much healthier than getting on my computer and working at 3.30 in the morning. And people appreciate not getting text messages from me at 2 in the morning, and you know my brain appreciates not watching a TV series at 3 in the morning, and so there are all of these other health benefits too, but there's a spiritual connection in which I'm anchoring my soul in the midst of a storm, to Jesus. I don't need a bunch of words, I just need God's peace, my anxiety, and it just moves on out. This short prayer, simple, it's transformative. I think it could really revolutionize your prayer life, especially if you're like I don't know when to pray, how to pray, what to pray. This is a pretty simple way and impactful way to get started, and by doing centering prayers. We're talking in the context of a political season a good. You might need to come up with a centering prayer for when you get on social media and someone blasts you with a message or with those memes that have been coming out this week and there'll be more memes as we get closer, but you might need to come up with a breathing prayer for your newsfeed when you see that, because if your answer is, I'm going to attack this person like that's not very Christ-like, and so we might need to pray through this election season in a very simple way. And so, yes, there's reading the Bible and it's hearing from God and me listening, and then there's prayer and it's interactive.

Speaker 1: 28:03

But one of the things that we don't talk about a whole lot is fasting, and fasting is when we give up something that we consume usually food to focus more intensely on God. Jesus discusses fasting in the same breath as prayer and giving, which would suggest theologians. Scholars agree that he thinks fasting is just as normal of a spiritual discipline as prayer and giving. Jesus says when you fast in Matthew 6, 16. Fasting is more than abstaining from food, though. Remember I said you can take bad stuff out, but if you don't fill it with something, something bad might just move in anyway. So with fasting, yes, you're giving something up, but it's not just giving up food for the sake of giving up food. We're fasting to have a deeper, more intense moment with God, and I'll just admit it, right now, fasting is really hard for me.

Speaker 1: 28:51

I wish it was easier. I know it's not supposed to be easy, I know it's supposed to be hard, but it is devastatingly difficult for me to fast from everything or from anything, and it's probably because I lack self-control and I need to grow in that area. I do recognize that. But I do fast every year for Lent and it is always a deeply rewarding time for me. In the last couple of years I've fasted from alcohol.

Speaker 1: 29:13

I love bourbon. If you didn't know this about me, I love bourbon. I love bourbon. If you didn't know this about me, I love bourbon. I love having my friends over and we taste new bourbons and we've gone on like the bourbon trail and we just enjoy it. We enjoy the way it tastes and we enjoy the conversations. But I give it up because it hurts, because, like, I want to sit down and drink socially with my friends and I want to try these bourbons they're bringing over. I want to go out and when everyone else is buying a cocktail at the bar, I also want a cocktail. I don't want the mocktail, I'll just take a soda. Like, really, this is me. But that pain, which isn't substantial, but that pain reminds me of what I'm doing. No, I'm not drinking the bourbon right now because I want to get closer to God.

Speaker 1: 29:51

That's a good time for me to stop and pray, right, like that's what it is. It's a good time for me to stop and pray, right, like that's what it is. It's a reminder that every time I'm like, oh, I want the lunch, I want the food, I want the treats, I want the social media, whatever it is you choose to fast from. When you're like, oh, I want it. That's like your body's way of saying, no, it's time to pray. And fasting is a reminder, as Jesus said, that we don't live on bread alone. And fasting has the incredible power to transform our understanding of faith and politics. By abstaining from worldly comforts and focusing on God, we are reminded of God's sovereignty over our lives. God's kingdom is more important than this nation. It should not be controversial. I understand it is King. Jesus is more important than whoever the next president is going to be. Again, I know it's not controversial, but it is at the same time. Fasting helps us be reminded of that God's kingdom, god's lordship.

Speaker 1: 30:48

And so some practical tips for fasting. If you've never fasted before, there are alternative ways to fast. You can give up social media screens, driving a type of food. If you have a medical or health issue and you got to eat, I'm not telling you to stop eating. Okay, let me just clear that out. Keep eating if you have a medical thing. Start slowly, begin with a partial fast, maybe missing one meal a day or skipping something for a week, and then gradually build to longer fasts.

Speaker 1: 31:14

Because if you do this, often I've talked to friends who do enjoy fasting they say it can become like anything else in your spiritual lives. It's like, oh yeah, I just don't eat on Wednesday. Why, well, I'm fasting. And it's like, oh, so you pray on Wednesdays? Nope, I just don't eat. And so there's the warning, right. So we have to continue to push ourselves, plan intentionally up one day and be like I'm going to fast today. That might be a little too reactive, but maybe plan a day out in the future and say this is the day I'm going to do this and monitor your attitude. Monitor your attitude. You're going to get hungry, and I talked about that a few weeks ago, all the things that go on with the brain when you get hungry. Okay, there's going to be a reaction. You're not going to like it. You're going to want to tank.

Speaker 1: 31:59

Fasting reminds us that, while politics are important, politics are significant. I've already laid the groundwork for that, but fasting reminds us it must be viewed through our faith in God. It helps us reprioritize what's most important in a world that has a lot of really important things. And as we conclude and I wrap this up, it's vital to underscore the importance of nurturing diverse spiritual friendships in your life across political spectrums. And I know this is really hard. It's definitely not for the faint of heart and many people would rather just not do that, and they try and they throw in the towel.

Speaker 1: 32:30

But what I'm saying is a mark of discipleship, is a willingness to continue to show up and engage with people, even when you disagree with them. It means being present to listen, and if you're someone who's on the left, that might be hard to do with someone who's on the far right. And if you're someone who's on the right, it might be hard to do for someone who's on the far left. And if you're just someone who's like apolitical and you just do not care who wins, it's going to be hard to listen to anyone talk any politics of any kind. But that's exactly what we're called to do.

Speaker 1: 33:01

We're called to do this the author of Hebrews reminds us. He says let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works and let us not neglect our meeting together. Let us not neglect our meeting together as some people do. You see, people just kind of fading off into the background and disappearing from Christian community isn't new. It was happening 2,000 years ago. And the author of Hebrews says don't let that be you, don't fade to the background. So when you're having these political debates and these arguments with one another, don't fade away into the background, keep engaging.

Speaker 1: 33:31

This is a sign of a mature believer is in the engagement of the conversation, and it happens through diverse friendships. Use this as an example. One of my best friends, judd. You guys know, so many of you know Judd and me. We're best friends. And I'm telling you, politically, judd and me could not. We agree on probably 4% of everything. God's my best friend. We golf all the time. We spend countless hours together. We talk about politics. We've never agreed, ever, but we still continue to be friends.

Speaker 1: 34:01

And I'm not saying be like me, but I'm saying have friendships in your life like that where you can hear from the other side and you can hear different perspectives and don't think this is a right or left thing. It's a lot more complicated than right or left. Think more forward and backward, and up and down and left and right. So, with me and Judd, we need community. We need people to speak into our lives to remind us that you know what, not everything we believe politically is right. Not everything we believe with policy is Christ-like. Not every interaction we have with someone who disagrees with us is the right way. We need people to push us to apologize and to be better. And this is why we need community and not just digital content. And if you're watching or listening online, I'm so glad that you are, but I do want to continue to extend the invitation to be a part of Christian community.

Speaker 1: 34:47

Algorithms will feed you what you want to see or what you can't look away from. Those are your choices, what you love or what you hate. And what it does is it turns real people, it turns you against you and it turns you against you. And I don't see people anymore. I just see bots. I see profile pictures and all of a sudden you're not a human anymore and that is the anti-gospel. Everyone is a human, no matter how screwed up their political views are in your opinion. And so we got to get involved in Christian community.

Speaker 1: 35:23

Each of these practices are designed to help us become more like Jesus, to have that gospel worldview throughout a tough political season and I know it's tough. I'm calling you guys to dig in deep, to stand firm. And you know it's June, it's not even as hot as it's going to get from a political standpoint temperature. It only gets worse until about three or four weeks after that first Tuesday in November, because there's always the hangover, right. Okay, so there's that.

Speaker 1: 35:49

But Peter reminds us, for moments like we're in right now, prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. It's a good time for us to prepare our minds and exercise for self-control that we're gonna need later this fall. Put all your hope not into a presidential candidate or not into an incumbent president, but in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Christ Jesus is revealed to the world. So, because of all of this, you must live as God's obedient children. Don't slip back into your own ways, living to satisfy your own desires.

Speaker 1: 36:24

I have acknowledged extensively what I'm asking you to do today is very difficult. It is very difficult, but Peter's also imploring you don't go back to the old ways. He said you didn't know any better then, but you do now. You must be holy in everything you do, just as God, who chose you, is holy, and holiness is a status, holiness is a being. You see, you're not holy necessarily because of what you do. God has made you holy. He has set you apart. So what Peter is saying is you have been set apart, so act like it. Is what he's saying.

Speaker 1: 37:03

So this political season, when we're going through all of this, remember Peter's words. You are set apart, act like it. And if you find yourself just mimicking and parroting all of the talking points from your side of the aisle, we're going backwards, in the wrong direction. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to you when that happens, not if, because it's going to happen to me and it's going to happen to you when the issue that you care the most about is challenged or ridiculed online. But I'm going to pray, god, help me be better.

Speaker 1: 37:39

So, as we leave here today, let's commit to one of these practices. Maybe for you there's growth. I need to cut something out so I can engage the Bible and have God's voice speak into me, not just Tucker Carlson or Rachel Meadow. Maybe that's what you need to do. Maybe for you, I need to quit something so I can pray. Maybe for you I need to take a day off so I can fast, but do it together in the context of community. Let's prepare our minds for action and embrace the hard work of spiritual growth and support one another in love. Let's live out our faith in a way that reflects the goodness and the holiness of our God.