Friends,
One of my favorite sitcoms is Parks and Recreation. I have a few favorite characters and some I resonate more with, but by far the most interesting to me is April Ludgate. April is a dark-humored, sarcastic, seems-not-to-care about anything or anyone office manager. Her sullen tone seems at first to be all there is to her, but as you watch the show, we learn she cares quite deeply about her co-workers and comes around to being a helpful friend. Some of the best advice she gives is to the chipper and happy-go-lucky, Ann. When talking about trying to make a big decision in Ann’s life, April tells her some common advice: “Listen to your gut.” And Ann, like so many of us wonders, "How? “How do I get my gut to talk to me?” April replies with her so simple and so wise advice saying, “You don’t get your gut to talk to you, you just listen when it says something to you.”
The way our gut speaks to us can sometimes, or perhaps often, be the most truthful conversation we have in a day. Our gut tells us when something is right or wrong. Our gut tells us what to trust. Our gut pushes us in the right direction.
In the passage we will look at this week (Mark 6:30-34), Jesus feels it right in his gut. The word we read is compassion, but better translated it means to “feel it right in the gut.”
This Sunday we will explore some of how this feeling – this gut feeling – guides us and guides the way God relates to us, God’s people. I hope you’ll join me on Sunday as we explore this theme with great music at both services, connect with friends on the green, and pray for and with one another.
Come and invite a friend, I look forward to seeing you!
