Have you ever unintentionally given an unfortunate first impression? 

The journey of reconciliation will always include change, including, very often, a change in perception. That perception change is especially noticeable when what we need to reconcile is simply differences (as opposed to wrongs.) The work that takes people from distant to together - unknown to understood - is daily, important work for humans that is very much informed by God's work toward humanity.

Now that you've answered the Icebreaker, here's another question - this one, about getting used to something different.

How would you teach a bee to use a door? 

It gets exciting to watch, doesn't it? The idea that the bee knows where it wants to get, but getting there is intimidating and confusing, that there can be a way to help the uncomfortable become comfortable and the known become known, is exciting not only for bees, but also for us.

When we are faced with things that are different and that we don't understand, and when those differences feel like they are irreconcilable, it isn't easy. This is a version of reconciliation that is not based on offense or harm, but is simply based on how different things can be.

This kind of reconciliation, where we are figuring out how to overcome differences, is a very common need for our daily lives. Let's talk about how we can step into that space and move from the frightening unknown to the safety of the understood. 

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 are confused, and confusion feels unsafe.
Prepare us, then, not to need mastery,
but to draw near with reverence.
Prepare us to be present to people we do not yet understand.
Give us the patience of wonder, the courage of listening,
and the gentleness that comes from standing on holy ground.
Amen.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father,[a] the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
12 And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” Exodus 3:1-12

Moses said, “I will go over and see this strange sight.”
A bush was on fire—and not consumed.

God of flame that does not destroy,
we turn aside from our hurry to look and listen.

Holy God,

You are not like us.

You come to us from a place we cannot manage or explain,
like a flame that burns without burning away.


You tell us to pause, to remove what does not belong here,
to receive this ground as holy.

We confess, not only our wrongdoing but also our limits:
that sometimes the first barrier to our love is not harm,
it’s that we do not understand.

A voice called his name from the fire: “Moses, Moses.”

And said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals.
The place where you are standing is holy ground.”

We set down our defenses, our categories, our need to control.
We perceive the ground we share to be holy.

This is not a moment of blame; it is a moment of awe.
The difference is too much for us, and it is exactly what we need.

Where we feel confusion more than comfort,
and wonder more than certainty
God, meet us there.

Name us. Speak to us. Teach us how to stand near you as we strive to stand near one another.

Holy God, draw us into your presence.
Make us present to each other. Amen.

Where did this difference and unknown-ness come from? This story suggests that the differentness is, at least a little bit, by design:

Genesis 11:1-9
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

• The story in the Bible that is often considered the opposite of this one is in Acts 2, when God sends the Holy Spirit on a day called Pentecost and the disciples are able to speak in such a way that every person of any language who hears them can fully understand. However, another day that came awhile after Pentecost is a just-as-good-if-not-better anti-Babel. 

Acts 10
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

• An angel appears to a person to announce some good news. Remind you of any other stories from the Bible? This story should be on-par with those in importance.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

• What can you surmise about the nationalities of the three people Cornelius sent to Joppa? How were they and Cornelius unique from most Bible story characters? 

9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

• Why do you think this would happen three times? 
• For Peter, in particular, what else has happened three times? 

17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three[a] men are looking for you. 20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests.

• It is significant that Peter accepts their invitation and significant that he invites them in - why? 

The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along. 24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”
27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. 28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. 32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

• Earlier, Peter was wondering about and thinking about the vision. Now, he gets what it means. What about Cornelius' story might have impressed itself on Peter, especially compared to the way Peter's vision went? 

34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism 35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. 36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. 41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

• The message of Jesus is not what makes this moment so special; they all already knew that. What is unique and remarkable about what's happening here? 

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. 45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues[b] and praising God.
Then Peter said, 47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” 48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

• After talking through this story, reflect on the process that it takes to go from something that is unknown to something that is understood. 
  • How is this distinct from going from "different" to "the same"?
  • A lot of Peter's change was in disposition. When we feel like polarization and identity and extremism are pulling things around us in two very different directions, what role are those who want to read and respond to this story asked to play? 

This video shows an experiment that was done to help people rethink their sense of aging and implicit biases about what it means to get old. As a group, design an event that would take place on a Saturday morning that would invite multiple generations to specifically confront, explore, and/or combat ageism.

Have one group member email your event concept to info@illume.church.