What's something that you got really into for a period of time but eventually (perhaps more quickly than you hoped) lost energy to do? 

Attempts to control always fall apart. Always. This is where theology and our lived experience collide beautifully, because this thing that can be called sin is not just moral failure - it is foolish, unsustainable effort. Scripture repeatedly shows that human systems of control decay: Law multiplies rules. Power requires enforcement. Fear divides and  escalates. Control creates exhaustion, rigidity, fragility, and (eventually) collapse. Entropy, therefore, can be seen not simply as punishment, but as exposure. 

Now that you've answered the Icebreaker, here's another question - this one, about discovering entropy.

Hopefully that makes enough sense to get you started. As you continue into the Worship portion of the Spotlight, pray this prayer together:

Lord,
We see the exhaustion and decay all around us,
and we grieve for the pain
caused by desperate, human attempts at control.
Release us from our trust in these systems
that we might share peace and hope
with those around us.
Amen.

Reflect on humanity's addiction to and exhaustion from control and entropy with the audio reflection below. Near the end of the reflection, the full text of Psalm 2 will be read. It is provided below the audio clip so that you can follow along.

1 Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
7 I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”
10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 2 concludes: 
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

It feels, at least for a moment, like a controlling Lord making demands.

It is not.

Who is the Lord's son? What does he stand for and represent and bring?

Blessed are all who take refuge in him. 

Finish this Worship section by singing the Christmas hymn "O Jesus So Sweet, O Jesus So Mild." 

The news of the week was hard, enraging, conflicting, and very, very human.

Let's talk about it for a bit, together, remembering that our goal can be to grow as a community by listening, caring, and understanding, and that everyone needs people around them who will be honest while also being unconditionally caring. Your group has done things together, and hopefully the desire for unity is one of the reasons you're here.

If it helps, here are a few questions:

• When injustice and unrest rear heads in America, what is your personal response typically like? Has this been similar? 
• Is there anything in the discourse around this tragedy that you wish were being made clearer - that is, something you think might help? 
• Have you engaged with others in conversations about what happened? Have they mostly been people who feel the same way that you do, or have they been folks who feel differently? 

God of all that is and all that is becoming,
we come to you at the end of this time aware of how much we want things to hold together.
We want systems to work.
We want people to behave.
We want ourselves to remain steady and strong.
But we confess that we are tired.
Tired of maintaining appearances.
Tired of gripping outcomes we cannot secure.
Tired of pretending that with enough effort, enough force, enough control,
we could finally make the world stop breaking.
We see now how much energy that costs.
We see how control promises stability,
but instead accelerates collapse—
in institutions, in relationships, and in our own hearts.
Where we have believed the lie that everything depends on us,
release us.
Where we have blamed ourselves for not holding things together,
forgive us.
Where we have doubled down, tightened our grip,
and harmed ourselves or others in the process,
meet us with mercy.

God of grace,
you are not shocked by entropy.
You are not threatened by the unraveling of human systems.
You are not asking us to fix what cannot be fixed.
Instead, you meet us in what is breaking.
You dwell with us in what is unfinished.
You offer not control, but presence.
Not certainty, but faithfulness.
Teach us to tell a truer story—
one that does not deny loss,
but does not worship power either.
A story in which we can grieve what falls apart
without scrambling to dominate what remains.
Help us spend our energy on love instead of management,
on compassion instead of preservation,
on trust instead of fear.
And when the world feels unstable again, 
as it surely will, 
remind us that we are held,
even when nothing else is.
We place what we cannot control into your hands,
and we rest there.
Amen.

Close this Spotlight with the song "All Glory Be to Christ."