Aug 11th: Inside Out, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.
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Rev. Dr. Steven Koski
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Inside Out with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Re-Shaped A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Ephesians 3.16-17; Romans 8.28;2 Timothy 1.7.
Transcript:
Steven: Are you stressed? The definition of stress is when the perceived demands of life exceed your perceived resources to meet those demands. If the demands of life seem greater than our inner resources to meet those demands, we get anxious, worried, frustrated, sad, scared, in other words, stressed. And we add to the stress by focusing our energy and attention on the external demands, much of which is outside our control. Now, what would happen if we shifted our energy away from all that is happening outside of us and focused our energy and attention on our inner resources, imagine you’re stressed as a mountain that needs to be climbed. You know, it’s not really helpful to focus on how tall and foreboding the mountain appears. Instead, we need to ask ourselves, do I have the necessary resources in my backpack that will help me climb What resources can I add to my backpack? How can I draw from the deep wellspring of my faith to meet this challenge one of my absolute favorite passages of Scripture is a is actually a prayer. The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus in Ephesians, three Paul says, or Paul prays, I ask God to strengthen you by God’s Holy Spirit, not a brute strength, but a glorious inner strength, that Christ may dwell in your heart as you open the door and invite Him in. May you be firmly, firmly rooted and grounded in love. What a great prayer for us in these challenging times. You know, the only constant in life is change. There are changes in life that that we choose. I want to focus today on how to respond to the changes we don’t choose. Life happens, and sometimes what happens is it’s tragic, unexpected, painful, and we don’t often choose what happens. We get to choose how we will respond to what has happened. A friend of mine was a professional dancer in Chicago with the Hubbard Street Dance Company. I mean dance. I mean dance. Dance was her life one night returning home after a performance, Janet’s life changed in an instant when the car she was driving was hit by a drunk driver, she was left paralyzed from the neck down, never to walk, let alone dance again. I mean, in an instant, Janet’s life changed profoundly forever. She experienced just deep grief as she had to give up her her her passion, her dreams. I mean, she felt like she lost everything. Yet, Janet has this. She has this amazing faith. She never doubted for a second that God was with her. You know, friends would try to support her by suggesting that, you know, it’s somehow part of God’s plan. And she would get so angry, and she’d say, I don’t believe in any way that this was God’s will. God’s heart was the first to break. She said, I felt God’s presence always as I face the enormity of this loss, this tragedy, she said, is not part of God’s plan. I do believe, however, that it is God’s will that this tragedy will not have the last word in my life. You know, despite that popular phrase, you know, the phrase, everything happens for a reason. Everything doesn’t happen for a reason. Some things just happen. God doesn’t cause things to happen or our will things to happen so that, so that we might learn some divine lesson. I mean, what a cruel God that would be. Everything doesn’t happen for a reason. Them. But there is no situation, no situation beyond God’s reach, beyond God’s grace. Every situation, no matter how bad it seems, every situation holds within it hope and a blessing of some kind. The key is to hold our hearts open to that possibility. You know, Janet said, even even though it’s it’s really hard to see and and trust at times. She said, I know I will emerge from this tragedy stronger. She said, I know God will use what has happened for good. One of Janet’s favorite Bible passages is Romans, 828, where it says, In all things, God works together with those who love and trust God to bring about what is good. Notice it doesn’t say it doesn’t say God causes all things. It doesn’t say God wills all things. It says God is present and in all things bringing forth something good for those whose hearts are open to see it. You know, I really think part of finding that that glorious inner strength is recognizing that God doesn’t cause our suffering, but God is present with us in our suffering, and God will never allow our suffering to have the last word. It reminds me of those words from Barbara brown Taylor, where she said, new life always begins in the dark. Whether it be a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb or Jesus in the two new life always begins in the dark. Now, when that tragic accident happened, Janet, didn’t become bitter, you know, looking for someone to blame. You know, of course, she initially asked, as we all do at times, you know, why? Why? Me, Lord. But she didn’t stay stuck there. Instead, she faced the changes and the challenges in her life head on, and she found the courage and the faith to ask a different question, not why me, but what now, Lord, because Janet embraced the enormous change in her life With courage and shifted her question from why me to what now, an opportunity actually opened for her that is now her, her new passion. She now goes to high schools and talks to students about the strength and the resiliency of the human of the human spirit. So picture it with me. Janet wheels herself on stage in her wheelchair. Again, she’s paralyzed from the neck down, using using her mouth to control her wheelchair. Can you see it now? She has every student’s attention. I mean, before she even opens her mouth and she begins every talk the same way she says to those students, life Life isn’t fair. Life is hard. Life Life doesn’t always go the way you want it to or expect it to. Change happens, and you don’t always get to choose the change that happens. You get to choose how you respond. You get to choose your attitude. She tells the students that the one thing that is certain in life, you know, the one thing that you can count on is that life is going to knock you down, and you get to choose whether you get back up again, and how you will move forward. She tells them, pain, disappointment, obstacles, loss, they’re inevitable, part of the human story, but it never. Has to be the end of the story, or the whole story. Janet tells those students that there will be times when it seems like like pain and and problems consume and define your life, but they never have to confine your life. And she goes on to quote another favorite Bible verse of hers from from Second Timothy one seven, where it says God has not placed within us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love and strength and self determination. Janet then takes this this long pause, she looks across the auditorium and slowly says to them, you are stronger than you think you are. God has placed a spirit within you that is bigger and stronger than the circumstances outside of you. Now, Janet told me that she never, ever thought that that she would ever experience anything more joyful than dancing. That was until a 14 year old girl with tears streaming down her face told her that she felt helpless and that she was planning to take her life until Janet helped her find a strength inside of her she didn’t know that she had. I wonder Is that what that Bible verse means that God is present in all circumstances, in all circumstances, bringing forth something good. As Janet wheels herself on stage, radiating, I mean, just radiating, this spirit of joy. She’s a living witness to the truth. There is a Spirit inside of us, a glorious inner strength that is stronger than the circumstances outside of us. You know, contrary to popular belief, our faith doesn’t promise us that the circumstances of our life will be easy. Our faith promises us a strength beyond our own strength, a spirit of love stronger than any circumstances I this several years ago, I was in a hospital room with a with a frightened family as their loved one had a brain tumor that required really, really risky surgery, and I was praying with the scared patient and the family when the When the neurosurgeon confidently strolled in to explain the procedure, and then he left the room to scrub before surgery. And I was really surprised when he he actually returned a few seconds later, you know, striding in as assuredly as before, but motioning for me to follow him into the hallway. Now, I know you prayed with the family. He hesitated, and then got a little closer to me, and he asked, I was wondering, would you pray with me? I was a little shocked. It wasn’t my words the neurosurgeon wanted. He was confident, skilled, but he knew he needed strength beyond himself, even in his considerable expertise, he understood he needed not a brute strength, but a glorious inner strength that comes from beyond himself With a challenging surgery that was ahead of him, friends, asking for help is not weakness, but really a desire to be strong. The surgeon was asking for what we what I believe we all need, but don’t always have the courage to admit we don’t. Always have the courage to admit that we need more than ourselves. We need that strength beyond our own strength. We need the presence of that spirit of love that is stronger than any of the challenges we will ever face. Yes, we are much stronger than we think we are. At the same time, no one is as strong as we need to be to face life’s challenges. There is a strength, a strength greater than our own strength that we can depend on, that we can lean on. I invite you to try this spiritual practice this next week, each day, maybe several times during the day, face, your palms outwards, like this, symbolizing your focus, your focus and attention on, on the external circumstances of your life. And when we do that, you notice it’s it’s almost like we’re giving away our power. Now open your palms, changing your focus to your inner resources, humbly ready to receive the gift God is offering you. And pray, May God strengthen me by God’s Holy Spirit, not a brute strength, but a glorious inner strength, that Christ will dwell in my heart as I open the door and invite Him in. May I be firmly rooted and grounded in love. May it be so i.
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