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This summer Im sharing a sermon series called heart-beat. The purpose of this series is to have our hearts beat according to the rhythm of Jesus. More specifically were looking at the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians and exploring how we can have our hearts beat according to these fruits. So far weve explored joy, patience, and peace. Tonight were looking at gentleness. As your pastor I want the hearts of everyone at Chain of Lakes to beat like this. Try this exercise. Close your eyes. Put your hands on your heart. Can you feel it beat? Imagine your heart beating according to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. This heart beat is not meant for us only as individuals. Try this exercise. Close your eyes. Put your hand on your heart. Imagine the heartbeat of your immediate family or your closest friends. Imagine the rhythm of that heart beat is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Tonight were exploring gentleness. Were just dipping our toe into this topic. If you want to go deeper, I encourage you to use this daily devotion that you have. Ive shared with you a Bible reading and devotion that explores gentleness. These sermons are meant to be conversational. During this sermon Im going to ask questions with the hopes well have conversation. At the conclusion of the sermon well have conversation around the table about the topic. I encourage you to take noteswrite your ideas down on the brochure or write them with your crayons on the paper table cloths. SLIDEFirst question What does it mean to you to be gentle?

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Let me teach you what the Scriptures share about gentleness. The Greek word that is translated as gentle is praus. Some synonyms for the word are meek, mild, humble. In Matthew Jesus said this about himself. SLIDE Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me and learn from me. For I am gentle (praus) and humble in heart and you will find rest for your soul. Matthew 11:28-30 This Scripture is often said as a welcome to the Communion. We come to Jesus because of his praus, his gentleness. We will find rest. I think one of the greatest examples of gentleness is the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem. This is the story that the church celebrates on Palm Sunday. Usually kings would enter a city with a huge entourage. Jesus chose a different way. He went into the City riding on a donkey. Jesus was under tremendous pressure from different groups who wanted to use him for their purposes. He stayed firm in his mission. The story doesnt even mention Jesus speaking as the crowds shouted Hosanna, blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna. We assume that Jesus was silent. I imagine Jesus with a determined look on his face. He was gentle, humble, determined. He didnt let the emotions of the situation overwhelm him. He was humble, meek, milddetermined. And he acted in a very powerful way. I dont think we would remember this story if Jesus had acted like a king normally acted when he entered a City. Because he was gentlewe still know the story. Theres power in gentleness. Jesus is not the only person in the Scriptures that was gentle. SLIDE QuestionWhich significant Old Testament character was described as the gentlest person on earth? Moses.

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I think this is a fascinating story. I included it in the devotion. Its found in Numbers 12. Aaron and Miriamwho were Moses brother and sisterwere very upset with Moses. They were so upset that they questioned his authority. Yahweh heard the complaints of Aaron and Miriam. Then this description of Moses was shared. SLIDE Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth. Numbers 12:5 For many years people were confused by this verse. People thought that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. It didnt make sense for Moses to write such a description of himself if he was truly humble. We know now that Moses didnt this verse. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek the word that was used for humble in this verse was praus or gentle. We could write this verse to say that Moses was very gentle, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth. SLIDEQuestionDo you think our culture values gentleness? SLIDEQuestionDo you think our political process values gentleness? Imagine one of our Presidential candidatessay its Governor Romney (it certainly could be President Obama) standing up at a campaign stop and saying I am going to conduct myself with gentleness during the campaign. Ill share the differences between President Obama and myself, but I wont attack him and wont be quarrelsome. Ill respond with gentleness. After we all got over the shockdo you think the response would be positive or negative to a Presidential candidate saying his campaign style would be gentle.

I think the media in general would be very critical of a statement like this. In general, the media wants controversy and division among candidates. They have the belief that attack ads

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generate interest among you and me. They believe in general that you and I wont pay attention if candidates are civil or gentle towards the other. One cultural stereotype about gentleness is this: if we are gentle then we are weak? Question Do you think that gentle people are weak or pushovers?

I think that gentle people can be the most powerful people we know. Think about a person who is firm in his or her beliefs and is gentle. That person doesnt try to persuade by being a bully or by using manipulative means. The person is outwardly calm. The power of the persons personality comes from their demeanor and gentleness. One way to understand gentleness is to think about the weather. Weve all enjoyed a gentle rain, or a gentle breeze. Or when the air is lacking humidity like the past two days the air is gentle. There is something calming, relaxing, and beautiful about the weather when it is gentle. When it is cold in Minnesota people often talk about going to San Diego. We want to go there because the weather is gentle70 degrees, sunshine, low humidity, soft breeze. There certainly are other places where the weather is gentle. The opposite of being gentle is to be quarrelsome or argumentative. A person wants to have a fight. They might keep picking and picking and picking at someone. Nothing can satisfy the person. When a person is quarrelsome everything is unpleasant. We can learn more from the weather. Last Friday my parents took Hannah and Hannahs cousins to Valley Fair. Every year my parents have a Grandma camp for their grandchildren. They used to go camping, but this year it didnt make sense to go camping. They did other activities. They had planned this trip to Valley Fair for a couple of months. I like Valley Fair, so I told them that I would go with them.

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Remember the weather last Friday? It was quarrelsome. When I left my house in Blaine at around 11 it was only 90 degrees. But in two hours it warmed up to 102. And the humidity. I normally dont mind the heat and humidity, but I havent been that hot in years. There was no escape. I wrote on my Facebook page that I felt I was baking. Just walking 50 yards was a chore. We went to the Water Parkalong with it seemed like half of the Twin Cities. It was crowded, and the water was heavily chlorinated, and we had a hard time finding a seat in the shade. We were all miserable For some of us gentleness doesnt come naturally. Were not wired this way. We feel strong emotions and we have a hard time containing our emotions. When were upset we might be aggressiveor for some of us Minnesotans we might be passive aggressive. If someone makes a comment that we dont like we either fight back, or we say Whatever. The intent of our feelings is very clear. Thats not gentle. I think part of the problem is we dont have healthy role models. Weve been conditioned to think that being gentle is being weak. We dont know of a lot of people who are wired with strong emotions and respond with gentleness. Weve come to believe that to be powerful or influential we have to act aggressively. Gentleness is a quality we have to cultivate. Here again nature provides some illustrations for us. Today I was over visiting with John & Juanita Thiessen. John is going to have his kidney removed at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester on Friday. We had a lovely visit at his kitchen table. We talked about the surgery and what will happen. Then we spent some time praying together. When we were done we went to their garden in the backyard. They have a very large garden. Onions and carrots and tomatoes and raspberries and rhubarb. The two of them have done such a terrific job of cultivating their garden that the rhubarb is overflowing.

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We all know that this rhubarb or vegetable or beautiful flower doesnt grow without intentional effort. The soil has to be tended, and the plants have to be watered and weeded. We wait for the bounty. The same takes place for these qualities of our heart. We have to cultivate them. They dont happen naturally. We tend them, we water them, we weed them. Were intentional. How do we cultivate gentleness? First of all we do this with Gods help. Pray. The challenge of the sermon is this. Try this prayer technique. Let me give you a challenge. As you pray this week review your day from the perspective of gentleness. If you pray at night, review your day with God. If you pray in the morning, like I do, review the previous day. Be honest with God about the times that you succeeded at being gentle; share with God the moments that you werent gentle. For these moments ask God to teach you. Ask about what you learned from the situation. Ask God for help in being gentle at all times during the day. Second find role models of people who are gentle. This is where a faith community is so wonderful. This is where being part of a new church is so cool. We can be intentional that gentleness is going to be part of our discipleship DNA. To be a disciple at Chain of Lakes means were gentle. The beauty of a community is we can learn from others. Think about who we know who displays this gentleness. Consider asking the person out for lunch. Ask the person how they are able to cultivate gentleness. Call the person on the phone. These are some of my thoughts on gentleness. What are your thoughts. During worship at Sundaes on Wednesday were intentionally having conversation around the tables. I am going to pose some questions for you to discuss. Were going to take ten minutes to have conversations around the table and then well have conversation as a larger group. I am going to move from

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table to table. My intent is to listen. My hope is no one will feel inhibited to share about my presence. Lets keep the conversation going.