Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III | "Disciplines of the Spirit" 6PM 02/13/26

1:02:45 Let me say it again. He is now being called the premier baritone voice in opera. Come on. Won't you give God praise for Brother Sankara and the marvelous job he has done. Man, we praise God. We proud of you, brother. My, my, my, my, my.

1:03:13 It is extraordinary blessing to see a young man who was singing in the choir, running around church when he's small, now is the premier baritone voice in opera. Come on, come on. Somebody ought to thank God again. And to God, be the glory. Amen.

1:03:40 Let us go to the Lord in prayer at this moment with every head bowed, with our hearts open unto the Lord. Search me, O God. Know my heart. try me and see if there is any destructive way in me when you discover what does not belong remove it let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight lord you are my strength and without a doubt you are certainly my redeemer holy spirit do thy will do thy will, Holy Spirit, in the mighty, magnificent, blessed, and liberating name of Jesus, who is the Christ, we collectively pray as a village on this day.

1:04:42 We thank you and we love you, and the people of God who love God may say, Amen. Amen. I want to invite everyone that we may take a look at Exodus chapter 14. We're going to begin with verse 10 in Exodus chapter 14. We invite you to read the entire 14th chapter. But Exodus chapter 14, we're going to look at verses 10 through 15 on today. beginning with verse 10, it reads this way. As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear, in great fear, the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?

1:05:49 What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt? Let us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians. Another translation, let us alone so we can stay servants. Let us alone so that we can stay slaves. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. But Moses said to the people, do not be afraid. Stand firm and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you will never see again.

1:06:46 The Lord will fight for you. And you have to only keep still. Then the Lord said to Moses, why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. Let's go back to verse 14. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still. Another translation is the Lord will fight for you. Your job is to be still. Another translation is even this. The Lord's going to do what the Lord's going to do.

1:07:36 Your job is to be still. May the Lord add a blessing to the reading and hearing of God's holy words. We are now in part three of our series entitled The Genius of Black People. that we have been looking at all month long under that heading of the stories, of the narratives, of what is passed down from mouth to ear, sharing these stories and looking at the Exodus story and how it connects to us today and how the wisdom of this ancient word speaks still in this moment. the genius of black people. We want to look at part three.

1:08:29 Part three today is just simply this, disciplines, disciplines of the spirit. Disciplines of the spirit. If you'd be so kind as to turn to your neighbor, look at your neighbor, don't say nothing, just smile at him, give him a nice smile. Amen. And say neighbor. Oh neighbor. Oh neighbor. Know this. Know this. The Lord. The Lord. Will fight for you. Will fight for you. Your job. Your job. Is to be still. Thank you. to be still. Amen. Find another neighbor. Say neighbor. Neighbor. Oh neighbor. Oh neighbor. It's time. It's time. To be still. To be still. The genius of black people, disciplines of the spirit. When you are covered in the residue of the empire, you will begin to believe lies are truth. And truth is nothing but a lie.

1:09:39 The empire will have you hating yourself and loving your oppressor. Let me say it this way. The empire will create such disorientation. A house negro, to quote Malcolm, will think he is part owner of the plantation.

1:10:03 When you are covered in the residue of the empire, you will begin to believe lies are truth and the truth is a lie. This past Thursday, I had the grand privilege and honor to participate in the inauguration of the 13th president of Morehouse College, my classmate, Dr. F. Du Bois Bowman. And for those not familiar with HBCU culture, it is a wondrous and, dare I say, magical experience to witness almost 2,000 young men of African descent who are pursuing a degree in higher education literally get OGs like myself and my father hyped about the leadership of our latest president.

1:11:06 I had never seen anything like it the way that they did this inauguration. They canceled the classes in the morning and had all of the men of Morehouse to line up outside as a processional into the Martin Luther King Jr. Chapel. And as we were processing in and our newest president was in the rear, we kept hearing a roar from the students. We turned around and we saw something that you're not going to get on Harvard or Yale's campus or the University of Chicago. The 13th president, my classmate, Dr. Bowman, President Bowman, kept jumping in line with the students and the students kept dapping him up and they kept hollering, yeah!

1:11:54 And it was a beautiful thing to witness. But beyond all of the pomp and circumstance, what really blessed me was witnessing another friend and classmate, a gentleman by the name of Dr. Ilya Davis, professor of philosophy at Morehouse. Dr. Davis is legendary on the campus. He's one of the most popular professors, not because he is easy, but because he is one of the most challenging professors on the campus. To walk out of his class with a B is extraordinary. To receive an A is rare. But students clamor to get in his class. He communicates to each student. He says to them that I want you to know this as you enter this class, that you are not special.

1:12:50 You are not some exceptional quote-unquote Negro. It is my job to dismantle your miseducation. So you do not see black genius, black brilliance, and black creativity as something unique, but you see it as the norm. This is the class where being extraordinary is required. expected and normative. I already know that you're the genius you have inside of you and this class is going to work what has already been put in your spirit. Dr. Ilya Davis reminds them excellence is in their DNA but if you are covered he says with the residue of the empire you will believe the lie is the truth, and the truth is the lie. Carter G. Woodson, years before Dr. Davis entered into communication with these students, set the paradigm for his teaching. It was Carter G. Woodson in the book, Miseducation of the Negro, where he said these words, to handicap a student by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the worst sort of lynching. It kills one's aspirations and dooms them to be a vagabond or a criminal. Miseducation is the enemy of liberation. And I should add that toxic theology is always looking to date miseducation. Miseducation loves to hang out with toxic theology.

1:14:43 When you're miseducated and theologically incarcerated, your imagination will always be colonized. Liberation requires spiritual discipline. Liberation requires radical commitment. And liberation requires a courageous choice to undo the process of miseducation and toxic theology. I believe that the scripture speaks what happens when you have toxic theology and miseducation living in the same household. And how the process of the disciplines of the spirit can lead one out of this particular destructive jail cell of miseducation. The scripture says this.

1:15:37 Pharaoh was drawing near. The Israelites looked back and saw that the Egyptians were approaching. In great fear, they call out to God. They cry out to God, saying, what is going on here? We should have stayed as slaves. Now, this is a strange thing to happen, if I may set this up. Because humanity is always appearing next to the holy, back and forth, that which is human and that which is holy. throughout Scripture and throughout our lives. But what is so peculiar about this is that the Israelites are worried, fearful, and full of anxiety, but God has already demonstrated God's power over and over again. This is after all of the plagues have landed upon the nation of Egypt.

1:16:33 This is after flies and gnats and the river has turned to blood, after the spirit of death has covered the firstborn in Egypt. This is after all of that, that God's hand, that God's power has demonstrated. But look at how God's power begins to move. God's power moves through creation. It is nature. Pharaoh thought that he had all power. He thought that he was the most powerful man upon earth. He even proclaimed that he was the son of God, a demigod. And so Moses says, let my people go. Pharaoh says, I'm not letting anybody go because I'm the most powerful person on the planet. And so Moses leaves and creation reminds him who's really got authority. because you will see here that the gnats show up and flies show up.

1:17:32 The water is turned to blood. That creation literally reminds those in power who really has the power. But what I missed many times reading this scripture is that I didn't realize that Egypt's economy was crippled as a result because of the decisions of the person in power who thought he had so much power and was so narcissistic that the economy was crippled by his immoral decisions in the process. And as a result of the economy being crippled, a crisis begins in the nation. Pharaoh refuses to release the Israelites. It says, because his heart was hardened. And I always had trouble with this. God hardened the heart.

1:18:25 Why didn't you just let the people go? Why do you have to harden Pharaoh's heart? Pharaoh is already arrogant. Pharaoh is already narcissistic. Why do you have to harden his heart? And it did not dawn on me that I realized that by hardening his heart, the economy is crippled. But then as I read closer, I realized what was going on in Egypt in this nation. As Pharaoh began to dig deeper in his narcissism and as the economy began to slow down because creation was reminding Pharaoh who's in power, the people who were supporters of Pharaoh began to move back and say, I don't think we supported the right person in the first place. they were so gung-ho for pharaoh when pharaoh was raised up at his inauguration but now that it's affecting them all of a sudden some of the egyptians had to get out in the street and say we didn't sign up for all of this you will notice when you read in scripture that those who are the most loyal to Pharaoh, all of a sudden say, I'm not sure about this. That even prior to the 14th chapter, that you will notice that the Egyptians even provide what would be called reparations to the Israelites. Some of you, it's right there in scripture. I invite you to go and read on, read home. When you go home and read, that you will notice that when the Israelites are about to leave they say you know we have been in bondage for over 400 years I think that we deserve some payment and the people say what do you need here's some jewels here's some gold whatever you need they are given the necessary resources to build a new nation by the reparations that are provided by the people who once held them as slaves and so and so I always struggled with this question but I realized

1:20:38 that God hardens Pharaoh's heart, and as a result, the people of Egypt no longer have this strong support of Pharaoh anymore because they are starting to see who he really is. And so in this initial moment, the people of privilege wanted the Israelites to get out. They wanted things to shift. You see, the moral choices end up crippling the economy. But yet, Egypt's relationship after Israel leaves changes. Because we notice that in Exodus, we always are seeing the framing of Exodus narrative as the Egyptians who oppress the Israelites. But after you leave Exodus and you read in Scripture, you will find that Egypt is always elevated and seen in a positive manner. Whether it is Egypt or Nubia or Cush or Ethiopia or whatever particular nation of that region and era, it is always seen in a positive manner.

1:21:43 That the Egypt after the Exodus is different than the Egypt before the Exodus. Because the Egypt after the Exodus does not want the mark of what happened with Pharaoh to stay upon their heart. It is elevated in Scripture over and over again. But these moral choices cripple the economy, and as a result, the Israelites end up leaving Egypt. But I do not want to dwell there. I want to focus in reference to the way in which the Israelites respond when they see the Egyptians on their heels. Look what Scripture says. It says, was it because there were no graves in Egypt? that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness. Why have you done this? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt?

1:22:45 Let us alone. It would have been better to serve as slaves than to die free. That's an interesting statement. It's a reverse statement of what our ancestors used to sing. before I be a slave I'll be buried in my grave and go home to be with my Lord. But it is Moses who responds to the colonized mind. It is Moses who responds to their miseducation. He says to the people, he says, now, do not be afraid. Stand firm. See the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you're never going to see again. The Lord will fight for you.

1:23:44 And all you have to do, your job is to be still. In order to be still, in order for us to ground and root ourselves, there is a particular practice that we must all engage, and that is the decolonization of our imagination. Decolonizing our imagination. The practice of decolonization is a spiritual practice because the residue of slavery still rests upon the people. The people do not know how to live free. They can't imagine freedom. They can't believe that they are brilliant. They cannot believe in their own genius and creativity because they believe somebody else's ice is colder than their own ice. Decolonization is a daily practice of reminding ourselves who we are and whose we are.

1:24:43 And if I may stop here momentarily and draw your attention to what is happening in the world today that many people do not even know that Ethiopia decided to do something that has rocked the entire planet. Ethiopia proclaimed not too long ago that they made a decision that they will print their own money. You must understand, it may sound strange to you, but of most of the countries on the continent of Africa, most of them do not print their own money. They have to go to Germany or France or the United Kingdom, and they tell them how much money they should have. In other words, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have a stranglehold on most of the economy in Africa. But Ethiopia said, no, we're not letting you print our money anymore. We have to pay you to print our own money with the picture of our own people on it.

1:25:42 No, no, we're going to do it ourselves. We're going to build our own bank and we will no longer have you determine how much money and how our money should flow in our own country. It has sent shockwaves across the world. And this is what the Ethiopian government said. We're going to continue the process of decolonizing our own imagination. we believe that we couldn't print our own money but the only reason we believe that is because we listen to you but when we listen to ourselves and know who we are and whose we are we know we are a great people and we're going to print our own money decolonization of the imagination requires that we see ourselves as capable This is the power and beauty of a historically black college and university.

1:26:43 Because I'm here to tell you that at an HBCU, you may have a professor show up at your door knocking, even though you may be failing, and say, even though you're not doing well, I expect more of you. When you are in a space where you see people just like you, that you are not the exception, but you are the rule. when we place ourselves in these kinds of spaces. And it is important that we share with our young people that they are brilliant and magnificent, that they have genius within them. We have to share it, but we also have to believe it. It is a practice of decolonizing our own imagination and not allowing someone else to tell our story. Decolonizing our imagination is one of the spiritual practices that we must engage in, but not only decolonizing our imagination, we must tell our story and not their narrative.

1:27:50 Look at the scripture. The scripture is saying that the Israelites are talking to Moses, saying, Look what you've done. It would have been better if we were slaves. Now, they are viewing the world through the narrative of the Egyptians. The story and the covenant theology within the Israelite tradition is an act of embedding this story in the lives of the people. Because they have a story that has been passed down from generation to generation. That I am the God of Abraham. I am the God of Isaac. I am the God of Sarah. I am the God of Joseph. I am the God of your ancestors. I am the God of the one who went before you. This is a story that is being passed down from generation to generation.

1:28:49 And it's important that this story becomes embedded in the hearts and lives of every person of the younger generation. That they do not take the narrative of Egypt. but they hold on to the stories that were passed down by their ancestors. And we are in a moment where there are those who want to remove our history. And they don't want to remove our history because they don't just like the stories. They want to remove our history because they are fearful of when we know our history that something powerful happens in the process. Because when we understand our history, we recognize that we are not trying to make America great again. Because every time I hear that, I want to know, what year were you talking about?

1:29:47 Were you talking about 1919? Were you talking about 1932? What year were you talking about before I could vote? What year were you talking about? No, no, we're trying to make America. These are the yet-to-be United States of America. And every time people of African descent begin to fight for their own rights, it always blesses other people in the process. We are always inclusive of everyone else. It is important that we tell our own story and not somebody else's narrative because there is power in learning your own story and knowing how our ancestors were rooted and committed unto God, that they had their souls anchored in the Lord. I'm reminded of one of my favorite stories of history on this Black History Month, a story of a woman by the name of Georgia Gilmore.

1:30:47 Georgia Gilmore from Montgomery, Alabama, was considered to be, Miss Georgia would say probably one of the best cooks in all of Montgomery, if not one of the best cooks in Alabama. Nobody could make peach cobbler like Miss Georgia. Nobody could make some pound cake and sweet potato pie like Miss Georgia. Nobody could make greens like Miss Georgia. Nobody could make sweet tea. They're still trying to figure out what did she put in the tea that she made. Nobody could cook like her. And Miss Georgia Gilmore was in the room when they were organizing what was called the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where they were fighting for their rights. It was none other than Joanne Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and others who were gathered together. But Georgia Gilmore was in the room. And they had a problem they were trying to solve.

1:31:42 They wanted to know, because we don't have enough money, how are we going to get all of these black folk out of jail? We don't have enough money for the bail. What are we going to do? And we don't have enough money to pay the lawyers. How are we going to do this? And Georgia Gilmore raised her hand and said, I got you. Everybody was trying to figure out because they knew Georgia Gilmore could make good sweet potato pie, but they were thinking that she had a trust fund somewhere. They said, Ms. Georgia, what are you saying? She said, don't worry about it. I got this. And they said, now, Ms. Georgia, how are you going to take care of all of the money, all of the bail and pay for the lawyers? She said, don't worry about that. I know I got this. Don't question me and don't question the Lord.

1:32:33 They were still trying to figure out, Ms. Georgia, what are you going to do? She said, I am the president. of the club from nowhere. She said, what is the club from nowhere? She said, well, I'm the president, but I cannot tell you who else is in the group because we've got to keep their identity secret. But I will tell you it's a group of the best cooks in all of Montgomery and in the county. Women all across this region, we're a part of the club from nowhere. Don't worry about it, we got you covered for bail And we'll pay the money for the lawyers. I'm telling you, we got to just trust me. If you can't trust me, trust in the Lord. And they said, all right, Miss Gilmore, we're trusting you. But come to find out, as historians dug, they found out what Miss Georgia Gilmore was able to do. She organized all of the chefs, cooks in Montgomery, Alabama.

1:33:33 The ones who knew how to make peach cobbler, sweet potato pie, and pound cake, and greens, and fried chicken, and everything you can think of. But they were working for families of the White Citizens Council. The White Citizens Council were the people who were for segregation and were pro-Jim Crow. and Miss Georgia Gilmore and all these women, many of them we do not know, went to their employers and said, you know, you like my sweet potato pie, don't you? Said, yeah, I do. You like my Pete's Cobbler, don't you? Yes, I do. Said, how about I make sweet potato pie and Pete's Cobbler and also pound cake for the next six months for you and your family? I'll deliver it every week on time right out of the oven. And the family said, ooh, that would be wonderful, Miss Georgia.

1:34:28 They said, all right, if you pay me ahead of time and give me the money now, I'll make sure you have all the necessary food every single week. She took the payments along with other women, and they took that money, and that money was the bail for everybody in Montgomery, but they paid for the lawyers that took this case all the way to the Supreme Court. We need to know our own story, decolonize our own imagination, and know the power that our ancestors had in trusting in God. That you have to tell your own story, and that you have to not rely on somebody else's narrative. Just like Miss Georgia Gilmore, she trusted in God and she decided that she was going to be rooted in the tradition she had been raised in. But I must give you this final thing as I've got to go is that you notice that the Israelites were afraid, but you need to hear the response from Moses.

1:35:37 Moses said, look here, I want you to know, do not be afraid. the Egyptians you see now you will never see again all you need to know is that the Lord will fight for you your job is to be still and be ready when God says move because in the next text In the next verse, it says, tell the Israelites to go forward. It's told by Moses, by God. And I believe that we see this discipline here, that we are called to be still, we are called to be committed, and we are called to be ready. To be still does not mean you don't do anything. It simply means you've got to center yourself enough so that you can quiet your spirit down enough to be able to hear the whisper of God. It will not come in a loud shout.

1:36:44 You've got to slow down enough. You've got to quiet yourself enough so that you can hear the whisper of God. Deliverance is not a simple or a solo act, but a progressive action. God doesn't just deliver today and that's it. God delivers over time. Because when you examine your life, you see how God has been inching us toward a particular direction. And sometimes it takes 10, 15, 20 years to realize that God has been delivering you. Not delivered, delivering. Meaning that God's not done with the deliverance process. Because scripture says that God is going to be delivering you. That God is not done.

1:37:38 And we must learn how to be still. But this is a part of one of the spiritual, the disciplines of the spirit. Be still. Take small steps. And so I'm reminded of this story that comes from the Talmud. Talmud is a book, Jewish literature, where rabbis write and give details around Torah, which we call the Old Testament. So they give the details in Talmud where in the Torah what we call the Old Testament gives you the direct moments of what is happening in the life of the Israelites. But in the Talmud there is a wonderful story about the Israelites coming to the Sea of Reeds, coming to the Red Sea. When they come to this moment, they look behind them and they see that the Egyptians are on their tail. And it is the Israelites who try to respond in four different ways.

1:38:41 And God rejects every response. The first response is they say, we're going to commit suicide. It's not worth it. We just need to kill ourselves. And God said, uh-uh, don't do that. Watch and wait. I'm about to do something. And then another group says, well, we should surrender and maybe they'll treat us better. And God says, nope, don't do that. You need to watch and wait. Be still. Another group says, pick up some knives. We need to shed some blood. And God says, nope, don't do that. You need to be still. Watch and wait. And then another group says, we need to scream in despair. Say that there is no hope. And God says, nope, don't do that. Just be still. And so as the people are trying to be still, there is the leader of the tribe of Judah, according to Talmud, by the name of Nishan. Nishan is the leader of the tribe of Judah, and he decides to be still.

1:39:39 He sees Moses communing with God, holding his staff up in front of the water. And so Nishan is trying to be still. And according to the Talmud, something moves in his spirit where he decides to step in the water. and he's looking at Moses and Moses has got his eyes closed communioning with God. He says maybe I need to step deeper into the water. Now he is knee deep in the water but there's still no movement from God. Then Deshaun steps in deeper waist deep and there's still no movement from God. He then takes another step and the water is up to his chest. He looks over at Moses and said, now look here, Moses. I know you praying. You need to tell God to hook something up. I'm already chest deep in this situation, and I need you to do something in this moment, but Moses is just holding the staff. Nashon is in the water to his chest, But then he takes another step.

1:40:54 And now he is almost up to his nose. And he can be heard kind of trying to talk to Moses. Moses, I need you right now to let me know what God's doing in this moment. But Moses is just standing there with his staff. And so Nishan says, I believe I heard the whisper of God. that if I am to see the movement of God, I've got to go deeper into this water. And he steps again, and the water is over his head. He's holding his breath and still no movement from God. And when he's about to get to the point where he feels as if he's going to drown, then all of a sudden the water begins to part and when he releases his breath he gives praise to God and he becomes one of the first to walk on dry land on free land as an Israelite.

1:42:05 You miss what I'm saying and you miss your shout. Sometimes in life you're just ankle deep. sometimes your knee deep sometimes your waist deep sometimes your chest deep sometimes your neck deep but until you get so deep that you are underneath the water and you are still enough to say Lord I trust you is when you will see the water part I'm talking to somebody here today there's a witness in here you have stepped in the water and you have seen God part the water in your life is there anyone in here is there a witness here today has God ever parted the water has God ever opened doors has God ever picked you up has God ever planted you on solid ground has God ever turned you around? Has God ever healed you? If God has ever done that in your life, then somebody ought to open up their mouth and give our God some praise for the Lord is worthy to be praised.

1:43:31 Wait a minute. I've got to tell you this because it messed me up. Is that Nishant was the first one to step on free land. He was the first one to step on the promised land. But here is a thing that I want you not to forget. Is that he first stepped in. It was only ankle deep. And some of us, because we are not still enough, will drown in shallow water. There is nothing more tragic than drowning in shallow water. Do you not know that a third of drownings are in shallow water? People who should have never drowned if they only knew how to stand up.

1:44:29 that often we get so anxious about the water, we forget that there's somebody trying to still us enough so we can hear the whisper. Stop looking for a shout. It's coming in a whisper. Stop looking for the thunder. It's coming in the silence. Stop looking for the noise and still yourself enough like a nashan so that you can hear the whisper of God and say that says trust me first step trust me trust me and get deeper and deeper and deeper and here is the thing once you've been in deep water you will never be fearful of deep water again you missed it once you learn how to handle the deep end the shallow stuff ain't gonna bother you no more once you've been in some you still missing what i'm saying there's somebody here you've been through hell and high water and people are wondering how do you look the way you look you say baby i've been through too much already what's going on right now ain't nothing in my life I've already been through the flood.

1:45:57 I've already been through the fire. I've been through too much already. Take a step into the water. But are you still enough? See, if you're not still, you will mistake the voice of your neighbor for God. Moses is trying to help them to say, I need y'all. Basically, he was trying to tell them to shut up without saying shut up. Y'all are being so loud, complaining about it could have been this way. Why didn't we stay?

1:46:49 And Moses just said, stand firm. Be still. Quiet down. And if you're still enough, that's when you will hear the whisper of God. And you'll begin to reassess your life. Hmm. I remember where I used to be. Now, I'm here. I shouldn't be here, but I am here. And now I am at a place in my life where I can witness the work of God. Let me just still myself.

1:47:49 Let me tune out the negative folks. I'm sorry I can't listen to you right now because you're too noisy in my life I need to be still because there's a river in front of me and there's some enemies behind me but there's a God surrounding me if I can still myself, quiet myself, and in that quiet, I believe, and it does not say this in the Talmud, it does not say this in Scripture, but when Deshaun, when he steps in, and was in that moment where he was underneath the water, there was a moment, I believe a first of panic, but then a moment of peace.

1:48:56 The peace not when the water parted, but when he said, I trust you enough that I'm stepping into this moment. I was panicking at first, but now I release myself in perfect peace. And when that peace settled, God parted and he made his way on dry land. Often in religious circles, we look for the noise, thinking the noise indicates presence. But often it is through the silence, the quiet, and being comfortable with yourself, your true self. Not the self other people have projected on you.

1:50:05 and not the self that you've been trying to project onto other people. But when your true self has a conversation with God, there is a peace that will overcome and your anxiety will begin to part and your panic will begin to leave because you can still yourself enough before God. I want to invite us all to stand at this moment. No music, no music. I want y'all to stand. I want you to just for a moment that we might close our eyes that you might be still in this moment. To inhale and to exhale.

1:51:15 Nashon stood on the banks of the river and had to close out all of the noise around him. The panic of his family. The anxiety of his friends. The fear of his father. the worry of his mother all of the hysteria coming from his children,

1:51:55 he had to quiet down and hear the whisper of God. How challenging it is for us to be still. the door of the church is open.

1:52:39 We welcome you today to be a part of this community, Trinity United Church of Christ, to become a part of this village, a part of this family. We welcome you on today.

1:53:04 This is an invitation for you to join this community. We praise God for you. Amen. All glory to God. Praise God. We welcome you. May you be still enough. God's voice, that you will hear the whisper of God's voice. We invite you. We invite you today. Praise God.

1:54:00 Doors open to you. Praise God. We invite you. The door is open to you.