
“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.” —Luke 6:27-31
“Help us to live as those who are prepared to die. And…enable us to die as those who go forth to live, so that living or dying, our life may be in you… Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.” —United Methodist Book of Worship
What We Have Learned So Far about Resilience:
We want to be ready for God to use us to
To be ready takes a clear
“With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” —Martin Luther King Jr.
We want God to make us
“Resilience is not about becoming smarter or tougher; it’s about becoming stronger and more flexible. It’s about becoming tempered.” —Dr. Tod Bolsinger
Hardship + Relationship = Resilience
Never do ministry
“To lead alone is reckless and arrogant; it is foolish and dangerous to both self and others.” —Tod Bolsinger
We need teammates,
We need
We need friends and family members who care more about
If we want to be resilient in moments of stress, we have to
“At the moment of crisis, you don’t rise to the occasion, you default to your training.” —A Navy SEAL
We can be “ruthlessly realistic” and create a
This Week: We are called to be “ruthlessly realistic” about the
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” — Martyred Missionary Jim Elliott while trying to share Christ with the Huaorani tribe of Ecuador, October 28, 1949
The Problem: What we want is a pain-free solution, ease of life,
What we need is meaningful work, community, and faith that God will take care of us in the
We want
“So long as there is conflict within us, there will be a conflict around us. We have to resolve the tension in ourselves before we can do so for others.” —Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
Our calling cannot be born out of a desire to lead, but out of a call to
How do we survive the
God’s Answer: Love
Transformation flows not from a desire to achieve, succeed, or accomplish, but to serve at the point of a real
Change takes
“Stay calm, stay connected, and stay the course.” —Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
When you work too hard and you rest too little, you get
“Servants think about their work, not what others are doing.” —Rick Warren
The important, good work that God has for us to do will take more than one
Action Steps:
Meditate daily on the teachings and life of
Remember always that we seek justice and reconciliation – not
Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is
Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of
Seek to perform regular
Refrain from the
Strive to be in good spiritual
Follow the direction of the
My additional notes: