[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Welcome to the collective table where we celebrate the intersections of Jesus, justice and joy. This podcast is brought to you by Oceanside Sanctuary Church. Each week we bring our listeners a recording of our weekly Sunday teaching at Oceanside Sanctuary, which ties scripture into the larger conversations happening in our community, congregation, and even the podcast. So we're glad you're here and thanks for listening.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: Welcome.
My name is Larry Warner. I am not a pastor nor leader. I'm just a person they pick out from time to time to say, hey, would you do this for us? So happy to be here today. If you don't have one of these cards, could you raise your hand? So we know that because this sort of. This is the message, so you can take it home with you.
Get more than one if you want. I have a whole bunch of them in my garage.
So when Janelle asked me, Pastor Janelle asked me, hey, would you speak on the exam? I was like, oh, nice. Get rid of some of these cards. So thank you for helping me with that.
So let me start my timer. When the timer goes off, it doesn't mean I'm done. It's just a reminder to me that I should wrap it up in the next 20 or so minutes.
All right, so today we are continuing our series on spiritual practices, which I believe is critically important in this time in our lives.
In this time in our country, a time when things foundational to our country do due process, checks and balances are being ignored, when presidential edicts are usurping the rule of law, student protesters are being deported. People in our country are being snatched off the streets and taken to another country.
Even children, judges threatened and arrested.
Universities, law firms, world leaders, countries are being bullied.
The safety net for 10 millions of people who are on the edge of night is being threatened and compromised.
Has key programs lose staff grants and are canceled entirely.
And the list goes on and on and on.
In these crazy, chaotic and uncertain times, we need spiritual practices that can both ground us and keep us afloat. Practices that will help us stay grounded in the God of love who is with us and for us, grounded in the present moments, helping us to be in tune with ourselves and our surroundings as we image God as mother, as father, as divine parent, who roots for us, believes in us, and empowers us to live life in ways that are true to who we are created to be by this God, even if it's only an attentive, I believe, help me in my unbelief way.
This morning we will be exploring a prayer practice that is over 500 years old and I believe can be helpful for us in this day. However, before we jump in, let's pray together.
Mother God forever with us.
With a fierce tenderness, our mother, bear open our hearts to your presence, your wisdom, your nurturing ways this morning and each and every day help us to be aware of your presence surrounding us, indwelling us in ways that embolden us to love others.
Now, speak to us this morning with words that garner love, hope, belonging, and courage.
Amen.
As we begin our time together, I want to go back to two weeks ago, when Pastor Janelle shared with us an important verse. Romans 8:1. Sure, many of you have already memorized it, but just in case you didn't, it says basically this. Therefore, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Practices can be clubs that we use to beat ourselves over the head. That's not their intention. They're tools to be used to help us stay grounded in God, to stay afloat in the circumstances of life. If it begins to weigh you down or begins to garner condemnation within you, get rid of it. That's not intention. That's intention. These spiritual practices that we're going to be going over these next several weeks are not necessarily for everyone.
And also this one was created 500 years ago by some old white guy, European even.
And so it may not fit for you. That's okay. One of the reasons I like this prayer, it's called the Prayer of Examen. I like to call it the awareness examen, which more and more people are starting to call it in the last decade or so, is to help us to become aware.
And again, it was made by actually a man. I was going to say man made, because it is.
It's too structured. If a woman wouldn't have done it this way. So again, make it your own. It's the most adaptable prayer of all. Ignatius prayer. Ignatius was a. We call him Saint Ignatius. He started the Jesuits eventually.
He was born in 1491, right before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And this came out of his own experience.
Helpful for him. Helpful for, I guess, Jesuits to this day, but maybe not for you. So listen, and maybe something in this prayer may. Oh, yeah, I like that piece. You don't have to take the whole thing. There's five steps we'll be going through, and if you just do step number one, that'll change your life. If you just make that a practice in your life, it will change your perspective on the world and on yourself and on those around you. Even if you don't do any of the others.
One of my favorite quotes by G.K. chesterton is, Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.
Isn't that great?
Anything worth doing is. Is worth doing poorly. And what he's saying in that quote is, there's a freedom in being a beginner of trying something that you've never done before.
And so if you start trying this practice, don't get caught up on, are you doing it right or wrong. Can you say at the end of it, like, yeah, I did that poorly, because that's enough with God.
God is the God of the fish and loaves. Hey, here's what I got.
Sometimes it may feel like a lot. Sometimes it may feel like very, very little. But as long as we offer it to God, God takes it, blesses it, breaks it, blesses it, multiplies it. And this can be one of those things as well. So don't get caught up in doing it perfectly, because anything worth doing is worth doing right. Hey, you got.
You did that very well, by the way. So he could have done it a lot worse, and it would have been okay.
So don't even get caught up in that. But remember, in the back of your mind, there's no condemnation. This prayer is not to convict you, but to free you to be who God has called and created you to be, to free you to be in the moment that you're living in an aware kind of way. Another word we could use is mindfulness awareness. Mindfulness, because that's what it's really cultivating. Someone who's written about this prayer has called it, has likened it to rummaging through a drawer.
And that's how it begins. It sort of begins. I'll just give you an overview. Like, you're going through your day like it's a big drawer, and you're saying, okay, what do I sort of want to look at what was going on today?
And that's only the beginning piece. What happens if you practice this over time is you begin to be able to live in the present moment. You begin to be aware of what is going on within you and around you so that you can be proactive rather than reactive. So you can sense what is happening, even maybe before you know it's happening.
During COVID as with most of you, I worked from home, and so I meet with people online.
So I'm at my desk just listening to people online throughout the days, and I started noticing that all the dogs in the neighborhood would start barking, seemingly for no reason, just all of them. All at the same time. Which at first, like, well, that's sort of weird. But then, you know, day goes into day goes into day. It's like what would happen within a few moments is there'd be a siren.
See, they heard it long before I did.
And that became a picture of me, of what our body can do when we begin to be aware of it.
That sometimes our body knows before we know what's going on. Cause we feel it, we sense it. Just like those dogs could hear that siren. And as we cultivate awareness, it's not just awareness of what's going on. Actually, first and foremost, it's awareness of what's going on within us, not outside us. What's going on within us to pay attention to it. So we're not enslaved to it. So it doesn't carry us to places that we don't even want to go. Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living.
And that's really what this prayer is trying to do, is trying to help us become aware so we can live a life that's meaningful, that's purposeful, that is engaged with ourselves, engaged in the world in creative ways that love, that serve those around us.
So if you have your card. Well, let's read the verse. This comes out of a passage of scripture. So he's like, man, he's not even using the Bible. I am going to use the Bible. There it is up on the screen. And let me get my glasses on so I can read that even though it's giant. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any painful way in me and lead me in thy everlasting way.
This is one of the first verses I memorized. And it's really expressing a heart's desire. God, I wanna know what's going on.
I wanna know if I'm causing pain to myself or pain to others.
See, and this is where you can get, oh, man, I'm causing pain to others where condemnation can come in. Is this prayer about condemnation?
Cause that's very poorly answered. But that's okay. Cause anything worth doing is worth doing. Wow, you're doing that a lot better. So, yes, this is not about condemnation.
So if we're feeling that, it's like, no, that's not what this is about. Just let it go. It's like, no, this is about awareness. So we are free to live.
Live true to who God is, live true to who God has created and called us to be.
So we're asking God, God, show me what I need to know. Show me what I need to know about myself. About the world. And as we begin to develop this awareness, this mindfulness, we develop what I call a Spidey sense.
Anyone know about Spider Man?
He does anything a spider can. Is he tough? Listen, bud, he's got radioactive blood.
Well, I had an old gaming system back in the day because I'm old. And we. We used to play this. You know, nowadays you just laugh it off the screen. But the spider guy. And every time a bad guy would come in, there would be this thing over his head, his Spidey sense. There's something wrong.
Well, as we develop this awareness as part of our life, we develop a Spidey sense, but not just in terms of things are wrong, but things are right. Things that we need to say yes to or invitations from God that lead to greater things that we're not even aware of or dangers that we may not even notice at first. But something in our body says, wait a second.
Because we're now developing this holistic awareness of what is our body sensing? What are we feeling? And then what are we thinking?
I think that's actually the order we need to go in.
What am I feeling in this? So we believe in the incarnations. That means our bodies are important.
So are our bodies important.
Well, poor again. Very good. So I'm glad you're grabbing onto that quote.
Can I get an amen? Amen. I love when Joey says that. I never want to say amen, but I like when he says it.
So we develop this awareness within ourselves, but the body. What am I feeling? So next time. And I'll get to the handout in a moment, but see how I'm doing on time? Oh, yeah, right on schedule.
Next time you're feeling something, ask yourself, where am I feeling that in my body?
That's how it starts. And at first you probably won't even be able to, but eventually it's like, man, my neck's tense. Okay, what's that about? Or my gut. It's just uneasy. Okay, what's that about?
Our body is amazing.
But as Western individuals, we don't really pay attention to our body. Unless we hit it with something, then we pay attention to it. Unless our grandkids play with Lego and they don't put them away. Then we. Then we realize what it's like to step on a Lego.
But I digress.
Pay attention to your body. Like right now.
What are you feeling in your body? We're not going to answer out loud. What are you feeling?
What are you feeling in your neck?
What are you feeling in your back?
Your legs? What are you feeling?
And again, just to pay attention to that.
And when something changes, ask the question, what's that about?
Is that a dog barking? Because there's something coming. A siren is on its way. Okay.
Because that's how our bodies work. They're marvelous.
Let's begin to use them because they're great tools to interact with ourselves and in the world. And then ask the question. And some guys may have trouble with this question, some women as well. But I tend to see women doing a little better with this question.
What are you feeling?
What are you feeling?
And you might want to help you answer that. Go on Google. Google feelings and you will get these printouts of, like, 100 feelings. Because we tend to have a few. I am happy. I'm sad, I'm mad. But what it does is it has those categories underneath it. It says all these other words, like, that's it.
Because we don't have the voc. Many of us do not have the vocabulary for our feelings.
And so we're sort of lost. Like, I'm happy. Well, what's that mean again? As we develop this awareness piece, it helps us begin to at least know we're feeling something. And then taking a step and say, okay, what? What? How would I describe that? Where is it in my body? What words would I put around it? And then eventually, hey, what am I thinking about these things? But that's where we tend to rush, so I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time on that. All right, let's get to our handout.
So here we go. First one, gratitude. This is. Will change your life to be grateful. Like to get up in the morning and just say a few things you're thankful for, and then what a great way to end the night. Maybe as you're brushing your teeth. Oh, I still have all my teeth. See, that'd be good.
Or whatever it might be. But being grateful gives us a lens of seeing the world in a different place in a different way. James says, every good gift comes from heaven above. And so whatever I think is good, I just say I just thank God for. Did God actually give that to me? I don't know.
But God seems to be a good, good God. So I attribute it to God because God loves me. God loves loving me. God likes to love me. So, yeah, why wouldn't God give me good things?
And so like today when I was. Or actually yesterday when I was thinking about what am I grateful for?
Where did I write that?
Oh, here it is.
I am grateful for my small group.
I've been in small groups where it's like, oh, we have a small group. Do I really need to go? Yes. It's at our house.
I'm not in that boat anymore. It's not at our house. But what I found out is I actually like going to our small group. Like, even if I'm tired, I want to be there.
And that's a great gift, this church. I'm grateful for this church. And not this building necessarily, though I do love it, actually. It's pretty cool that it's so old and been here for so long. But you.
The people I get to see each week.
And obviously we don't always come every week, but. But when they pop in, like today I got to see Corey. I hadn't seen him for a couple weeks. Got to say hi to him, you know. That's so great.
And then I'm really thankful for Pastor Janelle and Jason.
Cause they're different from each other.
Like, they show that you don't have to be a certain way to be a Christian.
Like Jason. Some brainiac. I don't even know what he's talking about half the time, you know, and always likes to tell me I'm in a progressive church, which still bugs me. It's like, can't we just be at church?
And then Janelle, unless you're a tree in her backyard. She's very sweet and nice, and she has a spiritual sense to her. She's the one who came up with this series. Like, that's so great. That's sort of the yin and yang of Christianity. And because they can be who they are, the invitation is, maybe I can be who I am.
Like, so when I preach, I don't have to use big words that nobody knows.
I can even stumble over the English language. Because that's who I am.
I'm just a guy that they invited up here to do the best he can and say, oh, isn't that old guy sweet?
So. And what else? Oh, yeah. So what are you. We're not going to answer this out loud, but let's just take a moment. What are you grateful for? Sort of think of one thing, two things, three things.
Because there is a lot to be grateful for.
And a lot of it's in this room right here.
This space to be.
You know, this. I mean, if you look at the colors of our skin, you might say, this is not a diverse church. But if you Know the stories, the people in this room. This is a diverse church.
And that's so cool that this is.
This is a safe place for many, I think, for everyone, actually.
And that's great to be a part of that kind of community.
So, again, step number one, be grateful.
Step number two is basically saying God and self. Is there anything you want me to know?
Now, this is a disposition to life.
So it doesn't happen, necessarily happen. I don't think it happens that much at all when we ask the question during the exam process as we're working our way through it. But what we're saying as we say, this is God. Hey, I wanna know what's going on around me, within me, Help me to pay attention. That's really what we're saying.
God, do you wanna show me something?
And I found out that God usually shows us in real time, not an abstract, but as it's happening. Oh, you're being impatient right now. Or your anger is getting the best of you or whatever it might be.
And the cool thing is, is that about condemnation?
You're not too sure on that. Very. That was really poor. No, it is not about condemnation. It's about awareness. It's answering our prayer. It's saying, I said, hey, I want to know. So God's saying, well, here it is.
So it's an answer to prayer. Yes, I am losing it right now. Thank you, God. Because now we have a choice.
So we can't control how we initially respond to something because we're humans, but once we become aware of it, we can make some choices. Do I really want to say that?
Do I really want to, Whatever it might be? So it's not about condemnation. It's about awareness that leads to freedom. So we can live in life giving ways.
We can interact with people in ways that build bridges, that reach out, that reconcile.
Because we're aware of what's going on. We're aware of our body, we're aware of our feelings, and God's showing us something. And what's cool is when God shows you something. I believe two things are true. One is you're at a place where you can actually deal with that thing. See, God doesn't just. Some people have this idea that God's like, oh, you did this, you did this, you did this. Like, we care much more about sin than God does.
Now, for some of you, it's like, yeah, doy. But for those of you who are, you know, perfectionists, those kinds of things. Some people, sometimes perfectionists sneak into places like this God is not as concerned as you are with all that stuff because God knows God will complete what God began.
So to be patient with ourselves.
And so when we see something like that, God's saying, hey, let's. Well, first of all you're able to deal with and God's saying, hey, let's deal with this thing.
But as an invitation to freedom, not condemnation, but becoming more and more who God has created and called us to be.
So step number one, gratitude. Step number two, God, you want to show me anything? Usually no, the answer is going to be no. I'll show you when you need to see it.
But by saying that, we're saying God, search me, O God, know my heart, try me, know my anxious thoughts, show me if there's something you need to show me and that'll happen in real time.
Number three is sort of the rummaging, where they get the idea of rummaging. You look throughout your day, ask where, where have the interactions, circumstances of my life been taking me away from God or to God? When do I notice the love of God, how did I respond to God, what challenged me and when did I say yes to God or resisted God? And also you can just replace God with others circumstances.
When, when did I notice in my circumstances, love coming through or my interactions? So it's not just about me and God. Christianity is never about just me and God. It's about us in the Lord's Prayer, our parent, our mother, our father in heaven, not me, us. So it's never about just what's going on with me, but how is that impacting how I live in this world?
So gratitude, God, anything you want to talk to me about?
3. Rummaging through our day, God, what's been going on? And at first you do it through your day, but hopefully if you continue this practice, you begin to realize in real time what's going on.
The only place and time we can experience God is in the here and now. And so as we cultivate this way of being to this prayer, it helps us be grounded so we can hear from God, receive from God, interact with others, interact with ourselves and again, life giving ways that lead to flourishing, that lead to health and wholeness, not just for ourselves, but to those that we come in contact with.
And so we begin to grow to develop this ongoing awareness.
In February of 2024, I was sitting in the office at a school I was teaching at at the time and I was waiting for an appointment. I had one of the students and two people were teaching or were talking in the office, among themselves. And I heard something. They weren't talking to me at all. I was just sitting there listening. And when I heard what they said, I don't even know what they said. To this day, I knew that my time at that institution was over.
I'd been praying for a couple years. Like, when? You know, when, not if. It was a matter of when. And on that day in January, it became clear, like, oh, this is my last semester. I need to send an email and end this. My time is up here.
Now, it's almost a little over a year ago is my last. Last class.
But is that an awareness piece? I wasn't necessarily. Well, I wasn't praying about that at all. I was just waiting for my next appointment. But it's this ongoing, what we refer to as, remember, spidey? What?
Wow. Very good spidey sense. Is there any condemnation that comes from this thing? Okay, that's better. Thank you, Doug.
Yeah, it's our spidey sense that's alert to not just bad things, but good things, too. Of things we're praying about. Things that's like, okay, I go, what's going on? And then all of a sudden, boom, there it is.
A few weeks ago, hands off was doing a national day of protest. So I went online to see what was going on in oceanside in north county, because we had done a couple on Thursday and Friday nights just at the civic center, and there was nothing in oceanside.
And all of a sudden, it's like, you should sign up and do one in oceanside. Now, in hindsight, that was ridiculous, but in the moment, my spidey sense was, you need to do this. All right, so I did it.
You know, maybe we'll get 100 people, because you usually get a handful, so that'd be cool.
Well, I did it on a Thursday afternoon. By Thursday night, 300 people had signed up. Then 500, then 800, then 1,000, and eventually 1,200 people.
Did we have a permit? No.
Did I have any helpers? No.
And it's like, oh, my goodness, what happened?
Yeah. See, that's what I depended on. I can pull this off poorly.
But I contacted people in this church, and we had 20 volunteers that day.
And it didn't go poorly. It went well.
But it was that spidey sense that says, yeah, I think I need to do this. Are you qualified? No. Have you ever done anything like this before? No. When you were pastor of church, was it even ever near this size? No.
Then let's go, because it Just seemed like that was the thing to do. And that's the adventure that this opens up to us.
See, this life with Jesus is an adventure.
It's not about staying in the boat. It's about getting out and walking in the water with Jesus. And so here I am, 39 years old, and God's still challenging me with great things to do, 20 minutes to go, great things to do. That's the life. We don't know what's going to happen. But as we cultivate this awareness, this present, being present in the moment, as we're through gratitude, through God, what do you want to show me? What do you want to tell me? Through rummaging through our day, so we begin to pay attention to, oh, this is what it feels like when my life and God's life are going together. This is what it feels like when I'm coming. I'm living the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self control, those kinds of things. This is what it feels like. So then my body can be telling me, hey, you're on the right path, even as the wind and waves may be stirring all around me.
The fourth step is talk with Jesus. I'm a big Jesus person.
I really like Jesus. Jesus likes me. So he liked me first. So, you know, it's like, all right, he liked me, I'll like him.
But I believe that we can have conversations with God, with Jesus.
So I'm sort of a mystic or slash insane, but that's how I live my life, and this helps me to cultivate that. So when we talk with Jesus, we just talk honestly, God, what are we doing here?
Sometimes it's to God, help me. Sometimes it's just size because I don't even have words.
Sometimes it's tears.
But all those are talking.
And God knows what I'm trying to communicate, even when I do not.
And part of this talking with Jesus is reminding me of who I am, that I am loved by God, that I belong to this triune God, that I have worth, that I have dignity, and that everyone else that I come in contact with does too. And that I need to be an ambassador of that to everyone I come in contact with and to love them and to share that with them as I interact with them. Not necessarily with my words, but just in how I interact with them as people of value, having dignity, having worth.
And then the last one is abiding.
It says in the Bible, you know, if we abide in Christ, Christ abides in us, that we are the branches he is divine. And so it's just staying connected to the divine one, the one who loves us. And one of the ways we do that is actually this prayer.
Gratitude, God. Do you want to tell me something?
Going through our day, what was going on? What was I feeling as these things were going on?
Jesus, let's have a conversation, unedited, honest conversation.
And then lastly, Jesus, I need you. But also we say to our community, and I need you because sometimes you need a Jesus with some skin on them. And that's who you are, Jesus with some skin on. So we can be hugged, so we can be seen, so we can be heard.
As we practice this prayer, it helps us to be present to the presence that surrounds us and indwells us. It helps us to live in the moment, which is the only place we can experience God. Not in the past, not in the future, but here and now. And the only place we can experience ourselves.
And as we begin to live this way, it frees us to live freely and lightly, to embrace the unforced rhythms of grace, to be a feather on the breath of God, allowing God to take us where God wants us to go.
Sometimes crazy places, sometimes just to the next door neighbors to ask how they're doing.
We don't know.
But as we cultivate this, we begin to hear and receive from God and we begin to hear and receive from ourselves because there isn't much wisdom in each of us and start paying attention to that.
Everyone in this room has a spidey sense, but are you using it to walk with Jesus, to love, to serve those around us, those here today.
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any hurtful, painful way in me and lead me in thy everlasting way.
That is the prayer that this is built upon. So I encourage you this week to give it a try. And remember, if you do, number one, that's great, that will change your life. And just try it, try it on for size. You know you can do it at the end of the day and see if that's helpful for you or not or parts of it might be helpful for you. You decide.
Let's pray.
Triune one unknowable, noble one, Ever changing, unchangeable one.
Mother Bear, we thank you for who you are.
We ask that you would help us to develop the ability to stay connected with you and to ourselves, to the world around us.
So our life flows from that deep connection with you, with ourselves.
So we can love, we can serve, we can be salt and light. We can lift Jesus in this world in ways that release prisoners, give hope, offer life.
It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Okay, I have a few announcements. Sorry, I mean, I'm really sorry.
I didn't ask Jason or Jill because sometimes they might say no.
But anyway, we're doing another protest this Saturday, so I have handouts so you can come and get me. Get. Get one from me from 10 to 11:30. This will be our third one. And what's really cool is we. Brian, who's one, that one of our helpers is a priest. He got permission from. I don't know if it was Jason or Janelle. Probably Janelle.
To do a science to make our own protest signs here at 2 on Tuesday from 6 to 8. So even if you can't go to the protest, what we do is we bring extra signs because people show up and then they go, hey, I don't have a sign. So we let people have those. So this would be great thing to bring kids to. Or you can come and just hang out and make some signs so that on Saturday, even if you're not there, your sign is going to go, you know, be, you know, held out like this.
Doesn't that sound great?
So anyway, now I pass it on to Joey.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: Thank you for joining us for this Sunday teaching, no matter when or where you're tuning in. To learn more about our community or to support the work we do, Visit
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