Elements City Church
Unhurried ... Wk 4: The Practice of Cultivating Compassion
Following Jesus as an act of resistance to our cultural push toward hurry, hustle, distraction and shallowness. Most of our greatest mistakes tend to come when we’re in a hurry. Maybe the life Jesus invites us to is to move more at the pace of grace. We are not anti-work, we are anti-hurry. As followers of Jesus, we're called to walk in the way of love and one simply can not love in a hurry. Join us as we seek to slow down. We’ll lean into some practices and rhythms that help us live unhurried, so we can actually build up our life with God and others.
Locations & Times
Elements City Church
1825 N Alvernon Way, Tucson, AZ 85712, USA
Sunday 5:00 PM
Thanks for joining us...
Whether you're on-site or online, we are praying that tonight will be an encouragement to your soul. May God whisper to you and help you in taking your next steps in a journey with Him. If you're new, we'd love to have you fill out our connection card.
https://connect-card.com/yr4Y0g8VLBSqzKXeubjbQuote:
"As followers of Christ, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives." –Dallas Willard
"As followers of Christ, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives." –Dallas Willard
To live more unhurried...to move more at the pace of grace. To continue to put roots down into the practical nature of what it means to align ourselves with Jesus, his teachings and his rhythms/practices — SO THAT we grow to be more and more like him…
The practices of slowing, of simplicity, of solitude and silence — the more you lean into them will craft your soul and cultivate your heart to reflect more of Jesus - that’s part of that great invitation of Jesus...
Practicing the life rhythms of my Savior, with HELP from my Savior,
will actually enable me to live more like my Savior.
The practices of slowing, of simplicity, of solitude and silence — the more you lean into them will craft your soul and cultivate your heart to reflect more of Jesus - that’s part of that great invitation of Jesus...
Practicing the life rhythms of my Savior, with HELP from my Savior,
will actually enable me to live more like my Savior.
Quote:
“It’s because it kills love that hurry is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life. Hurry lies behind much of the anger and frustration of modern life.
–John Ortberg
Hurriedness leads us into reactionary living & selfish living, but living unhurried – frees us to respond intentionally and lovingly.
Q) Do you know the most described emotion of Jesus we see in the Scriptures?
Exodus 34:5-8
5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished…8 Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped.
Psalm 103:8
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.
Matthew 9:35-36
35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing everydisease and every sickness.
36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
if this is the most described emotion of Jesus — the real question must become: is this the most described emotion of his followers? Of you?
Exodus 34:5-8
5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished…8 Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped.
Psalm 103:8
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.
Matthew 9:35-36
35 Jesus continued going around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing everydisease and every sickness.
36 When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.
if this is the most described emotion of Jesus — the real question must become: is this the most described emotion of his followers? Of you?
WE see in the life of Jesus dazzling displays of empathy and compassion…
Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of another. Empathy is the ability to feel what someone else feels, to exit our own feelings and enter the experiences of others. Thus, empathy is the ability to see the world through others' pain.
Compassion is the outworking of empathy.
In a culture that cultivates empathy and compassion, people will not be made to feel invisible - they will be seen and heard. WE must become people and a church - a place where people are seen and heard. Where love notices and responds and that people feel it.
We must develop an “empathy radar” with an instinctive bias toward acts of grace, peace, mercy, and goodness for everyone.
Empathy notices
Compassion responds
Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of another. Empathy is the ability to feel what someone else feels, to exit our own feelings and enter the experiences of others. Thus, empathy is the ability to see the world through others' pain.
Compassion is the outworking of empathy.
In a culture that cultivates empathy and compassion, people will not be made to feel invisible - they will be seen and heard. WE must become people and a church - a place where people are seen and heard. Where love notices and responds and that people feel it.
We must develop an “empathy radar” with an instinctive bias toward acts of grace, peace, mercy, and goodness for everyone.
Empathy notices
Compassion responds
4 practices to grow in compassion:
Remembering the compassion we received.
Remembering the compassion we received.
4 practices to grow in compassion:
Remembering the compassion we received.
Listening
“Ask 1 more question” principle — listening might be the superpower the world needs more of…
Rejoicing and Mourning
(see Romans 12:15)
Serving
Acts 20:35
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
Remembering the compassion we received.
Listening
“Ask 1 more question” principle — listening might be the superpower the world needs more of…
Rejoicing and Mourning
(see Romans 12:15)
Serving
Acts 20:35
In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
We must become more like Jesus - deliberately cultivating Compassion
Don’t grow old and grow grumpy -- grow in compassion like Christ.
Truth:
The greatest apologetic for our theology is the way we treat people.
Unless, of course, we act like a jerk.
Then, the greatest threat to our theology is the way we treat people.
Don’t grow old and grow grumpy -- grow in compassion like Christ.
Truth:
The greatest apologetic for our theology is the way we treat people.
Unless, of course, we act like a jerk.
Then, the greatest threat to our theology is the way we treat people.
Quote:
"As followers of Christ, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives." –Dallas Willard
"As followers of Christ, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives." –Dallas Willard
Thank you for partnering with our mission...
Thank you for enabling us to be the Church in our city! Your gifts help fuel the mission of Elements City Church, as well as our capacity to share His love with as many as we can. You help us bring the HOPE and LIGHT of Jesus to our city! You can give online at the link below or through the Elements app.
http://elementscitychurch.org/giveWhether you joined us on-site or online, thanks for being with us tonight!
Let's make plans to get together again NEXT SUNDAY as we continue our series: UNHURRIED...living more at the pace of grace.
And join us for the After-Party next weekend March 19th - at the close of service. Stick around for food trucks, inflatables for kids and more!
Let's make plans to get together again NEXT SUNDAY as we continue our series: UNHURRIED...living more at the pace of grace.
And join us for the After-Party next weekend March 19th - at the close of service. Stick around for food trucks, inflatables for kids and more!