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Nuance is a podcast of The Collaborative helping Christians to faithfully live out their faith in their work. We recognize most of life is not lived in black and white but rather lived in the gray, lived in the nuance.
You can find more including complementary spiritual exercises at www.collaborativeorlando.com/nuance.
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Episode 3 for February 19th, 2024.
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We now come to the season of Lent. In Lent's embrace, we seek penitence, reflect on morals, our moral sense. Human bounds, our limitations clear. A savior sought to draw near. Self -denial, a sacred call. Preparation echoes Good Friday's fall.
Easter looms a promise bright in fasting's hush or spiritual light. Christian paths diverse in grace. Some in fasting find their space. Others, disciplines added, declare. The season's essence, a communal prayer.
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a reading from Psalm chapter 22 verses 22 through 30.
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I will declare your name to my people in the assembly. I will praise you. You who fear Yahweh, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him. Revere Him all you descendants of Israel, for He has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden His face from Him, but has listened to His cry for help.
From you comes the theme of my praise in the Great Assembly. Before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied. Those who seek Yahweh will praise Him. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him. For dominion belongs to Yahweh.
and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship, all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive, posterity will serve Him. Future generations will be told about Yahweh.
Ahem.
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Who are we to engage in the public square as Christ followers? Can we really begin to engage others, casting a vision, a vision for God and God's vision and speak without guile or hypocrisy?
Well, such questions lead me to a quandary. Yes, we are to speak out, to speak the truth and love about the various elements of our culture. But we are to start within before we go out. We are to start within before we go out. Lent is a season.
that allows just for that. Lent is a season of introspection, of confession of sin, a season of self -denial for the purposes of self -fulfillment by the Holy Spirit. May we be careful, oh so careful, to start within before we journey out. The right heart is one who is focused on God first and then others. God first.
His holiness and our sinfulness.
God first, His grace and mercy towards us in our sin through the work of Jesus Christ.
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God first, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and then, only then, do we ever so humbly share truth and love, reflecting the very penitent heart God has formed in us.
Ahem.
A reading from Galatians chapter 2 verses 19 through chapter 3 verse 6.
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For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?
Have you experienced so much in vain, if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? So also Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.
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Ahem.
Join me now for a special exorc...
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Join me now for a special exercise in prayer as we confess our sin in four unique ways.
Let us confess sin of the heart.
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Now let us confess the sins of our minds.
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Confess the sin of your tongue.
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and confess the sin of your hands.
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Let us continue again through the same four confessions. Confess the sin of your heart.
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Confess the sin of your mind.
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Confess your sin of your tongue.
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and confess the sin of your hands.
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One last time as we move through the heart, mind, tongue, and hands, let us confess the sins of our hearts.
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Let us confess the sins of our minds.
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Together let us confess the sins of that tongue that gets us in trouble all too often.
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And now let us confess the sins of our hands.
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in our final reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, beginning in verse 9.
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At that time, Jesus came from Nazareth to Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven, you are my son, whom I love. With you, I am well pleased.
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. The time has come, he said. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news. Friends, I repeat that. Repent and believe the good news.