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? Watch the video to see. 

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.

Read Exodus 3:1-12, a story that illustrates the vast unknown-ness and difference between God and humanity. The journey from "unknown" to "understood" is a complicated one here, but you'll notice themes of consideration, humility, and grace are as present as they need to be in human-to-human reconciliatory moments. 

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.” 

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.

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.