Loving Your Neighbour, Even When You Don't Like Them

26 Jan

YouTube Video of the Church Service

The Command Nobody Wants to Hear

Be honest. When someone mentions "love your neighbour," do you immediately think of the person who makes your life difficult? The colleague who undermines you. The family member who always has something to say. The actual neighbour who seems determined to make your days harder.

This week at Crowd Church, Mike Harris tackled one of the most famous and most uncomfortable commands in the Bible. And he didn't pretend to have it all figured out. "I am on this journey with you," Mike admitted. "This is not something that I am anywhere near where I want to be."

And if we're being truthful, most of us find it easy enough to love people we actually like. It's the difficult ones that trip us up. And Jesus, as he often does, refuses to give us an easy way out.

More Than Just Being Nice

Our culture has watered down the idea of love to mean something like "don't be violent and remember to recycle." But that's not what Jesus asks of us. The love he commands is both incredibly challenging and deeply counter-cultural.

In Mark 12, Jesus is asked which commandment matters most. His answer brings together two commands from the Old Testament: love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbour as yourself. "There is no greater commandment than these," he says.

Mike suggested something worth sitting with: we demonstrate our love for God by loving those who bear his image. Every person we encounter carries the fingerprint of the Creator. Even the ones who drive us up the wall.

The Story That Still Shocks

Jesus told a parable to answer the question "Who is my neighbour?" And the answer was designed to make his audience deeply uncomfortable.

A man gets beaten and robbed on the road. A priest walks by and avoids him. A Levite does the same. Then a Samaritan stops, helps, pays for his care, and promises to cover any additional costs.

Now we read “Samaritans” and think of the nice people on the call line, or the charity shop. But at the time, Samaritans were the enemies of the Jews, the people Jesus was speaking to. This wasn't a heartwarming tale about a kind stranger. It was a gut-punch about loving people you'd rather avoid.

During Conversation Street, the question came up: who would the Samaritan be if Jesus told this story today? The answers were telling. Someone who's been cancelled. Someone from the "other side" politically. Someone whose association might cost you your reputation.

"The Samaritan was helping someone who had no hope of ever being able to help him. There was no sort of 'what goes around comes around.' It's gonna cost him something."

That's the kind of love Jesus commands. Costly love. Love that expects nothing in return.

Costly Love Isn't New

God built this principle into the laws he gave Israel long before Jesus told his parable. Farmers were commanded not to harvest the edges of their fields. Those crops were left for the poor to collect.

This was inefficient. It cost them something. And that was exactly the point.

The love God calls us to will cost us. Time. Money. Comfort. Reputation. Pride. There's no version of this that comes cheap.

How Do We Actually Do This?

Mike didn't leave us with just a challenge. He offered practical ways to open ourselves to God's grace in this process. Because we can't manufacture this kind of love on our own. Romans 8 tells us that God is using everything in our lives to slowly change us into the likeness of Jesus.

Look at Jesus looking at you in love. A psychiatrist named Kate Thompson said we're born looking for someone looking at us in love. That desire never fully goes away. Mike shared how he spent time at a quiet retreat simply focusing on this reality: the creator of the universe is looking at you in love. "When I walked out of the building, I really honestly can't explain it, but I did feel like God had done something in me."

Read about how Jesus treated people. Mike shared an uncomfortable confession. He was walking back to his gardening job, listening to a Christian podcast, when he saw a woman who looked like she might be struggling with addiction. His gut reaction? To give her a wide berth. "My heart is not where I want it to be," he admitted. But then he turned to scripture and read about Jesus touching lepers, moving towards outcasts, showing compassion to those society rejected. Reading those stories, Mike believes, slowly changes us.

Remember what Jesus has done for you. God saved the Israelites from Egypt before giving them the law. Their motivation to follow wasn't fear alone but gratitude. We love because he first loved us. Reflecting on the cross moves us from obligation to overflow.

Watch your reactions. Mike offered a helpful gauge: the people closest to you will notice when you're becoming more loving and patient. It's easy to be proactive about love. It's our reactive moments that reveal where we really are.

Conversation Street

Who would be the Samaritan if Jesus told the story today?

The panel didn't shy away from this one. Mike suggested someone who's been cancelled for moral issues—someone whose association might damage your reputation. Matt joked about football rivalries, but the point is, whoever represents "the other side" for you. Republican or Democrat. Labour or Tory. The person whose views you find hardest to stomach.

If you don't like your neighbour, how do you love them?

Jenny offered a starting point: pray for them. "If you haven't got any other ideas, you can pray for them." She shared how she's been praying blessing over someone difficult recently. Matt added that, with a troublesome neighbour, he would intentionally say 'good morning' with a smile, not to wind them up, but to break down walls. Mike suggested that sometimes love looks like not speaking negatively about someone when they're not present. "You are valuing that person as somebody who's created in the image of God."

Is it okay to pray for people without their permission?

Jenny acknowledged that this is an interesting question. For general prayers of blessing, she feels comfortable praying without asking. For more specific prayers, she tends to check first. The consensus was that praying blessing and God's goodness over someone doesn't require permission.

Where do boundaries fit in?

Jenny raised an important tension we have to deal with in that Jesus calls us to costly love, but there's also a need for healthy boundaries. The Good Samaritan helped, but he didn't become a full-time carer. He acted generously within appropriate limits. This is something to keep wrestling with and talking to God about.

The Butterfly Reminder

Mike shared a picture that stuck with us. A butterfly is only a butterfly for about the last 5% of its life. The rest is spent in earlier stages of transformation.

We're in process. The Bible says that when Jesus returns, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he truly is. Until then, we're being morphed—slowly, imperfectly, but genuinely—into his likeness.

That should take the pressure off. And it should motivate us to keep focusing on him.

Your Next Step This Week

Spend five minutes looking at Jesus looking at you in love. Put your phone down. Sit quietly. Let your mind wander back as many times as it takes. Something shifts when we receive before we try to give.
Pray blessing over someone difficult. Not "God, change them." Just blessing. Watch what happens in your own heart.
Read one story of Jesus interacting with an outsider. Matthew 8 (the leper), Luke 19 (Zacchaeus), John 4 (the Samaritan woman). Ask the Holy Spirit to help you become more like him as you read.
Choose one small act of love toward someone you struggle with. A genuine greeting. Refusing to speak negatively about them. A behind-the-scenes act of generosity they'll never know about.
Notice your reactions this week. When someone cuts you off in traffic or sends that annoying email, what's your gut response? Don't beat yourself up—just notice. And invite God into the process.

A Question Worth Asking

What would change if you genuinely believed that every person you encounter—including the ones who frustrate you most—carries the image of the God who loves you?

This isn't about trying harder. It's about receiving more. More of his love. More of his grace. More of his Spirit transforming us from the inside out.

Because we love because he first loved us. And maybe that's the only way any of us can learn to love the neighbours we don't particularly like.

# CROWD Church on 2026-01-25 at 19.01.48
[00:00:00] Matt Edmundson: Hello and welcome to Crowd Church. Great to be with you this evening. Now, if you're a regular, you will notice that we didn't have the normal talky video at the start. That's because we're playing around with a new studio set up and that's not all set up yet. So, uh, it's great to be with you. For those that dunno me, my name is Matt.
Um, Crowd is an online church, which all sounds a bit odd and a bit bonkers, but it is, and it seems to work, which is great. So, whether this is your first time with us or your 50th, a very, very warm welcome to you, you can join in the conversation, uh, on your phone using the chat feature. Um, so do come and say hi to everyone.
Uh, it'd be great to see you in there. I'll be in there directly. I have to put my glasses on first, otherwise I can't see. Uh, but beside me is the beautiful Jen. Jen say hi.
[00:00:59] Jenny Mariner: Hi. It's nice to be here with everyone this evening. My name's Jenny and I am one of the leaders at Frontline Church, which is connected to Crowd Church
[00:01:07] Matt Edmundson: and just an all round legend.
So, uh, and to my left is the very talented Mike Harris.
[00:01:14] Mike Harris: Hi. Nice to be, what a welcome that is. Thanks. Mark, you are fully assaulted.
[00:01:21] Matt Edmundson: Uh, no, no. In different measures maybe and in different things. Uh, but very well welcome to you. So, yeah, so Mike's gonna be sharing tonight about, uh, love Thy Neighbor, what that's all about.
Jen and I are hosting, um, and we're gonna be chatting away about this whole thing, which makes excited 'cause Mike's just given us a, basically the whole talk it felt like before the, so we, we, I know what's coming up and we know it is gonna be good. So, uh, great to be with you. Right? Lemme check the comments.
Um, oh, Luna. Hey Luna. How's it going? A Sonya, very warm. Welcome to you. Great to have you. Uh, Luna, are you coming on Wednesday? Just let me know. Um, but yes, great to have you here. Great to have you with us. Uh, for those that don't know, actually one thing to say is at the end of the service, do we call it service?
Call it service call. What you want? I, I just don't care. Uh, at the end of the live stream, we do something called live lounge, um, which will happen, I'm guessing around court two ten two, somewhere around there, um, where we shut the live stream down and you can come join us on Google meets ordinarily, uh, Zoe, my very capable technical director, uh, over there.
We'll put the comments, uh, put in the comments, the link. I'm gonna actually have to tie it, try and type it in myself, uh, because that bit, the system's not working either. But a are we coming through loud and clear? That's the big question with this news app. So the mic's working. That's what we wanna know.
Uh, Luna is coming Wednesday. Great. We'll see you there. Uh, for any of you, um. Actually who want to come join us on Wednesday, we're running an alpha course. So if you're new to Christianity or you want, you've got questions about it, come join us online. It'd be great to see you. There's a bunch of us that connect on Zoom and we watched the Alpha videos.
Um, this week we watched Who is Jesus, uh, which is obviously a really important thing to understand for the Christian faith. Have you seen the Alpha videos recently?
[00:03:20] Jenny Mariner: Not the most recent ones. I hear that they just keep redoing them and making them better and better.
[00:03:24] Matt Edmundson: What happens is whenever you watch an Alpha video, right, have you seen them?
You must have seen them recently, right? Do you, when you watch them, do you, are you like, where are they, where are they gonna go to next? Because the two hosts, the fellow, there's a lady and there's a, a chap who kind of hosts the videos. Um, they seem to be in a very different location around the world.
They go from like Jerusalem to New York. You just, you just dunno where they're gonna be and it's like you're following them around the world and it's quite fun. You know, guess the country. Yeah. Uh, so yeah, should definitely watch them. Yeah. Yeah. The next one is, why did Jesus die? Uh, so a says, we are coming through loud and clear.
That's wonderful news. I'm very excited for a new setup. Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Without further ado, let's bring on the very beautiful, the very talented, like I said, uh, the extremely, uh, interesting and funny and brilliant dad, amazing husband all ran good at, we all wanna be like Mike, Mike over to you.
[00:04:26] Mike Harris: Wow. How to over promise, um, very quickly, under deliver. Um, it is great to be here. Um, it's a privilege. Uh, yeah, thanks Matt. Um, so what I'm gonna be talking about today is, uh, one of the most famous sayings in the Bible, and it's about love thy neighbor. So we are looking, we are in a, a season looking at biblical wholeness.
And today we are looking at love thy neighbor. And so just to begin with, um, I just wanted to say that the word love or biblical love, um, can be, our culture can believe that it is something that is quite different. For example, often it gets watered down to being, it's just about being a nice person. You know, basically if you're not violent and you, you recycle, then you're loving your neighbor and you are being nice.
But that's not what Jesus calls us to. The LU two is both incredibly challenging to do, um, almost impossible on your own and also, uh, very, very counter-cultural, both back then and in today's context as well. So, throughout this talk, over the next sort of 20 minutes, we are gonna look at two things we're gonna look at, um.
What we are commanded to do. Um, and we'll unpack that a little bit. And then also, um, how can we do this? Um, so they are the two things that, first of all, um, in one of the gospel accounts, the gospel account according to Mark. So it's a, an eyewitness account wrote by Mark, um, widely considered to be the earliest of the gospels.
Um, in his account in chapter 12, Jesus' asked, which is the greatest commandment? And so the, um, there was lots of commandments. There was 10 obviously given to Moses, and there was lots of, um, other different laws. And Jesus is asked, which meant, and he answers it by bringing together two commandments. So he is asked, which is the greatest commandment one.
And he responds with two. So this, this is how it goes. So Jesus, which is the greatest commandment, and Jesus replies, greatest commandment, is to, um, love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And the second is like it to love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment than these. So what Jesus has done there is he's taken one commandment from the third book in the Old Testament Leviticus, and he joined it to another commandment that is in the Fifth Book in the Bible Demy.
He's joined those two commandments together and responded to this question, which is the greatest commandment with these two? To love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. My suggestion is that it's love God and demonstrate how you love God by loving those that bear his image that were created in his image.
And your love for God is demonstrated in that. And so he highlights this as the greatest commandment to love God first, and then to love your neighbor as yourself in the Gospel of Luke. There's another story, and this, it's, it's actually only mentioned in Luke and it's about the Good Samaritan. And I'm sure many of you, um, will have heard this parable that Jesus tells.
Um, and in this section in Luke, what happens is Jesus is asked, who is my neighbor? And Jesus responds with this parable. Um, so obviously he's already said The greatest commandment is to love God and to love your neighbor. And this question is, who is my neighbor? And Jesus responds with this parable. And the parable goes like this, that there was a guy traveling along the road and some robbers beat him up.
Bash him up till he is cut and bruised and leave him on the road. And first of all, a priest, a religious leader at the time you should know better, walks up, sees this guy lying on the road, swerves him, gives him a wide birth and walks on. And then you've got a Levite, another religious person who should know better, who comes up, sees the um, the guy who's beaten up and robbed on the floor, gives him a wide birth and walks on.
And then finally you have a Samaritan. Now a Samaritan was an enemy of the people who Jesus was talking to at the time. And the Samaritan looks at the guy, he picks him up, puts him on his donkey, carries him along to an inn. He tells the innkeeper to look after him, to, to give him whatever he needs. He pays the innkeeper and he says to the innkeeper, I'll travel back this way.
And if you've had to use anything else that's been costly, I'll pay for that as well. And then Jesus turns possibly to the person who's just asked the question and says, says Then, so who was the one? Who was the neighbor who was neighborly? And the guy, potentially the one who asked the question says, the one who showed him mercy.
And that word, mercy in the translation, 'cause obviously we've got it in English, but it wasn't wrote in English. The translation is compassion that moved him to action. So the Samaritan had compassion on this guy. It might have been, it's a parable we don't know. But it might have been that the, the Levite and the priest both had compassion, but their compassion didn't move them to do anything about it.
The Samaritan's compassion moved him to action, and that's what that word, mercy means at the end of that parable. And so what Jesus was saying through this was really, really difficult for the people to hear because he, he wasn't just saying that your neighbor was those who are like you or who are near you, that come from within your circle.
What Jesus was saying is your neighbor, the one I I'm calling you to love, might be your enemy, might be someone who is different to you from outside of your circle, your sphere, your community, and. In that day when Jesus was saying this, there was very much a tribal, very close community feel. You know, you had the Jews who were living in, um, occupied territory.
Um, you had the Romans and there was, you know, there was these groups of people and you could understand that. He might have thought, well, I'm happy to love people within my circle, but to love people outside, love my enemies. That's too far. That's too much. And so that, that's who Jesus is. Not just asking but commanding us to love, love.
This kind of love was gonna be costly. The kind of love that Jesus asks of us is a love that is gonna cost us something. And that's what he was saying to those, um, people in that time, in that place. But costly love was not something that was new to them. Um, God had already written this into their laws that they had been living by, and one of those laws was the law of gleaning.
And so farmers, um, back in those days would've, um, sewn a crop in a field, for example. And their law was that when they harvested the field, when the seed had grown and produced a crop, the farmers would harvest, but not the edges of the field. So the edges of the field were to be left for the poor who were within their community that could come and they were cared for by, they could take the edges, um, of the crop from around the field.
And so. This inefficient into their business plans, and this would've cost them something, but it was, it was part of, um, God's plan. It was part of God showing them that the love that I am calling you to is a costly love. Um, it's gonna cost you something. And so this is a challenge, isn't it? It is a big challenge.
And I, you know, I wanna say, um, from the beginning that I am on this journey with you. This is not something that I am, uh, anywhere near where I want to be when it comes to me demonstrating, um, love towards even those, those that I like. Um, I'm barely doing that. Nevermind being able to love. Um, my enemies and, and those that are different to me is something that I am on a journey with.
Um, and so, so, but how do we do this? How do we do this and that? That's what I just wanna have a brief look at. Well, the first thing is we do this with help, um, and we don't do it on our own. Um, Romans eight. Uh, so a letter that Paul wrote to the Roman, uh, the church in Rome, one of the chapters, uh, chapter eight.
It says this, in that chapter, it says, this is my paraphrase. Um, but for those who call Jesus Christ, their Lord, God is using everything in their life. It says this in verse 28. God is using everything in their life to change them into the lightness of Jesus day by day, so that Jesus might be the supreme, the first born among many brothers.
And so slowly God is changing us into the lightness of Jesus, and he's gonna use everything. He's going to use the highs and the lows of your life to slowly mold you into the lightness of Jesus. And so I've just got like a few ideas as what we could do to maybe open ourselves up to a little bit more of that grace from God, um, and just engage with that process of being, the word is morphed, um, like the mighty morphing power Rangers, um, being morphed, but not quite as quick, um, into the lightness of Jesus.
Um, so the first thing, the first example that I want to give, um, is that we can, I. Before I say that psychiatrist called Kate Thompson, psychiatrist called Kate tho Kate called Kate Thompson said this, we are born looking for someone looking at us in love. And so what he suggests is that as we are born, as we literally come out of the womb, our first response is we are looking for someone who is looking at us in love.
And that that desire never leaves us. And no matter how loving your mom, your dad, your brothers, your sisters, your friends, your grandparents, or however amazing they are, it's never actually fully satisfied. You go through your life looking for, for that to be fulfilled. And the only place that that is fulfilled, I believe, is when you see Jesus looking at you in love.
And so one of the things that I wanna suggest in this church, which I go to Frontline, uh, this, this weekend, they put on this, um, they put on this few hours, we call it Way Station, uh, where you could come and you could just sit and be quiet. And, um, and so I did, I, I came and I just tried to focus on that.
I just tried to focus on the idea of looking at Jesus, looking at me in love, because I know that as, as I do that, that amazingly in that process, God changes me. It makes me a little bit more like him. And it's really hard because you get there and you sit down and, and you start thinking, you start thinking and trying to focus on Jesus.
And you start thinking about, if you're like me, you start thinking about Mars bars and you start thinking about your food. You start wondering about whether you smell and things like that. And then you bring yourself back and you're like, no, no, no. And, and, and this sort of, uh, goes on for a little bit.
But, you know, by the end of it, when I walked out of the building, I, I did, I really honestly can't explain it, but I did feel like God had done something in me to, to change me. Um, which is amazing. So, so that is something that, you know, I just want you to think about and to dwell upon that the creator of the universe is looking at you today in love.
And as you look at him, you are changed. Um, the, the second thing is, is very similar. Um, it's just to read about the way that Jesus. Acted in the Bible. Um, you know, I, I, this is a, a big confession of mine. So I was working the other day. I'm a gardener and I was working the other day and, um, I came out of the garden that I was working in and I walked over to my van.
And as I was walking back from my van to the garden whilst listening by the way to a Christian podcast, I saw this lady, this like lady, probably a similar age to me. And she looked like, she looked to me like she might have been like a drug addict or something. And my reaction, my gut reaction was to go ugh, and to like give her a sort of wide bath as I walked back into my garden, listening to my Christian podcast, thinking about the same and that I'm about to preach.
And you get back into the garden, you think, God, my heart is not where I want it to be. My, you know, I am not morphed yet into the likeness of Jesus. But I did open the Bible and I did not just not in the garden, but I did look at the way that Jesus reacted when he saw a leper, when he saw, there's a story in Matthew, in Matthew eight where Jesus, um, comes into contact with someone with a skin disease who's been an outcast of society, wasn't allowed anywhere near, uh, society.
And Jesus looks at this man and moves towards him and touches him and makes him clean. And as I looked at that story, and as I went over that story over and over again, I believe by that, that God is changing me. I and I, I honestly believe that that is happening. That, that God is using my, um, my reading of scripture and reading about what Jesus did to change me and to make me a little bit more like Jesus.
So that, so that next time when I meet someone, um, my heart will be a little bit more like Jesus's and I'll be able to show a bit more compassion, um, than I did, than I did before. Um, so look at Jesus, look at his face. Look at the fact that he's looking at you in love. Um, read the Bible, read about what Jesus did, and when you read the Bible, just ask Holy Spirit, just come and help me to be more like Jesus as I read about what he did.
The third thing is, is to remember what Jesus has done for you. So back. In the Old Testament, um, before Jesus' time, before Jesus was around, the Israelites were in captivity. They were slaves, uh, to Pharaoh and his his armies. And God saved them and brought them out from under the captivity and the harshness of Pharaoh and his armies, he saved them and brought them out.
And it wasn't until after then that God gave the Israelites the 10 commandments and the laws that he wanted them to follow in order to glorify him and to make them a people that were to contact with. And that, that's important to remember that God saved them first before giving them the law. So their motivation to follow the law was twofold.
They would've loved God because of what he'd saved them out of, but also they were aware of his power. And you know, as a Christian, we can, we can love because it is commanded of us, but we can also reflect on the fact that God has saved us. And when we look at Jesus and when we look at what he did and going to the cross motivate us, and again, to change us into more of the likeness of Jesus.
Um, so that is, um, done for you and as a gardener, sometimes I look at plants, um, and this is linked and I, I can sometimes I'm, I'm getting better at. Uh, being able to decipher whether a plant is growing healthily or not. So sometimes I'll look at a plant and all its leaves will have fallen off at the wrong time of year.
Or maybe I'll look at one of my house plants and all the leaves are drooped and I need to water it. Or the leaves are going yellow. Or maybe the flowers just don't look as healthy as they should. And one way that you can know, excuse me, one way that you can know that you are growing and becoming more healthy is by looking at your reactions.
And the best way to do that is, is usually the people who see that the best are the people who, who are closest to you, maybe your family or people you see every day. Um, I think it Tyler Stanton or Staton, um, was the first person who I heard who, who said he said this. Um. You know, when you're growing, when the people who interact with your reactions start to notice that you are becoming more loving and more patient.
You know, I like that story that I just told you about that you, you young lady who I saw when I was gardening. That was what one of my reactions. And sometimes it's quite easy to be proactive about the love that you show to people. But as you submit to God and as you maybe do a few of these things that I've suggested, open yourself up to, to more of God's grace in your life and as he changes your heart slowly, hopefully what you'll find is not just your proactivity, but your reactivity will become more and more in line with what Jesus will be like because of the work that doing in and through you.
There's a word in the, um, old Testament that is used for mercy, and I just want to finish with this. Um, and it's called heed. Heed means this, it is the loving fulfillment of covenant obligation, the loving fulfillment of covenant obligation. And it is used over 200 times, almost 250 times in the Old Testament.
And I think that summarizes, not particularly clearly, but it summarizes something of the heart of what I'm trying to get at. That, you know, we can be motivated to love because the creator of the universe commands us to do it, or we, and we can be motivated to love because of what he's done for us and the grace and the work that he's doing in our heart.
You know, it says in the Bible that we love because. He loved us first. Um, and so yeah, that is hopefully something to dwell on. Hopefully something that we can think about that has, you know, brought some questions up and, you know, if it has, by all means, put them in the chat. Um, and we can have, we can have a think about those.
Um, but yeah, so love thy neighbor. Have a go at it.
[00:26:20] Matt Edmundson: You need to, um, boom. There we go. I think your headphones are disconnected to my phone. Yeah, they kept on connecting.
It's like gonna be well outta sync. Thanks Mike. Thanks Mike. That's all right. Appreciate, appreciate that. Always love to talk about, um, or hear stories about the Good Samaritan. I dunno why there's just something about that parable, which I think is timeless. Yeah. Um, and so one of the questions I put in the chat, and I'd love to know your answer to this, uh, uh, Jen and.
Who would be the Samaritan if Jesus was telling the story today?
Oh man. Do you know what my first response was? And this is, it's a little bit naughty. I put a Man United fan.
[00:27:09] Mike Harris: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I was thinking of like somebody, somebody who is somebody who's been canceled for maybe moral Yeah,
[00:27:24] Matt Edmundson: yeah.
[00:27:25] Mike Harris: Issues. Somebody who you think, if I'm associated to them, that death is gonna rub off on me.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, something like that. Yeah.
[00:27:34] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:27:35] Mike Harris: That's, it's a good
[00:27:36] Matt Edmundson: point. What about you, Jim?
[00:27:37] Jenny Mariner: I mean, I was just thinking of like different groups that are just really hostile to each other. Yeah. So maybe in different scenarios, like, I don't know, the minute they sing in the Middle East, some Jewish and Muslim.
Just seen it. So at each other, we're in America, like literally on my newsfeed, I've got people literally face to face screaming at each other as agents and campaigners. And you're like, whoa. You know, there is actually a fair amount of that around. You could imagine Jesus retain the story and maybe different, different settings.
There's quite a lot of it around, isn't there? There is.
[00:28:11] Matt Edmundson: I I And you, you, you do wonder who it would be, don't you? And, and I mean, I, I, obviously, I, I do, I have very good friends who at Mag United Pants just wanna point that out, but it's, it's an interesting one, like you say, because I think there is such a polarizing view in society now that if you're a Republican, you'd go, well, it would be a Democrat.
And if it was a Democrat, you'd go, let's be a Republican. If you're Labor, it'd be a Tory. And if you're a Tory, it would be whatever, the green party. I don't know. Do you know what I mean? It's gonna be, it's gonna be somebody that opposes your. Political viewpoint, your worldview, your belief system, everything that's sort of in antithesis to what you think hold and dear to be True.
That's who's in that ditch. Right? So we just hear Samaritan and we think, well, we phone the Samaritans when we're in trouble. They've got a lovely charity shop down on the high street. Do you know what I mean? But it's, I think we lose the, um, the horror, if I can put it that way, of Jesus using the Samaritan as an example, a sheer proportion, um, of Jesus picking on the Samaritan and saying that your neighbor, um,
[00:29:23] Mike Harris: yeah, I, I I suppose like I, I, I think one of the things that strikes me about the Samaritan is the Samaritan was helping someone who had no hope of ever being able to help him.
Mm-hmm. You know, there was no sort of. You know, the Samaritan was not gonna get anything out of this other than it's gonna cost him something. It's gonna cost him something. He's gonna help this guy get back on his feet and, and that's it. I think sometimes when it's quite, he, you know, you can make a good argument for loving people who are around you because that helps the atmosphere.
And there's this sort of, you know, if they're in and around me and I've helped them, they're now in my death. And at some point in the future what goes around comes around, they're gonna be nice to me. Yeah. You know, obviously there's some proverbs about that, but, you know, the, the Good Samaritan is, is is blowing that apart, isn't it?
It's like, and, and Jesus was quite good at doing that and quite often would, you know, do something like that. Yeah.
[00:30:34] Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it's one of those, isn't it, where the chap goes to Jesus wanting boundaries. Like, if I'm gonna love people, give me, you know, people that I like and gimme a boundary Jesus like yeah, there is no boundary.
Yeah. But it's interesting, isn't it? Because I guess the question is then how are you challenged about that in the modern world? Do I mean, what does that, what, how does that translate to you?
[00:30:59] Jenny Mariner: I think it's interesting that comment about boundaries, isn't it? 'cause that's something I've just personally been wrestling with a little bit about from the Christian walk and that there's so much in what Jesus says and is in like the later letters about the war being costly Jesus' thing, pick up the cross, you know, your enemy.
And yet I think boundaries, isn in a need for healthy boundaries. Yeah. But something I've been just really talking to God about recently is like, well, where do the tomb meet? Where is it okay for me to protect myself? And where are you actually asking me to, to do something that's actually really costly?
Yeah. And really painful. Um. So that's, that's a bit of an abstract answer to your question, though. A practical one. No,
[00:31:38] Matt Edmundson: it's, it's, it's a good point though, isn't it? Because again, there is this, you know, when the Good Samaritan in that parable, no way does he become a full-time carer. Um, no way does he become, um, like a paramedic.
He doesn't invite an into house. Do you know what I mean? It's like he, there was boundaries into how he, the fact was he helped, but there was boundaries in how he helped,
[00:32:04] Jenny Mariner: but he helped it cost didn't, like you said it, it cost him time was very unlikely to get anything back for that. And like, it is a challenge, isn't it, in terms of where are we doing that?
Where do we come across things in our lives that, where do we allow ourselves to be interrupted and think actually yes. You know, like maybe that woman that you bumped into, maybe in another scenario that's an opportunity to actually be interrupted. Yeah, I dunno.
[00:32:29] Mike Harris: Yeah, yeah, yeah. AB absolutely.
[00:32:31] Jenny Mariner: Where do we allow that and where can we be?
So, um, just focused on what we are doing that we're just not even thinking about it.
[00:32:40] Mike Harris: Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think the other thing for the Samaritan, you know, potentially he's, he's risking his reputation as well, you know, if others, other Samaritans were to see him, you know, what would they think? He's just, he's reacted as he, as compassion has, has, has made him do some, you know, something incredible.
Um, I, I was talking to my bro, one of my brothers today, and he was talking about the fact that, um, you know, when we, when we love God first, that helps us to be whole enough to be able to love people well and not. You know, and if, if we, if we get that wrong, which, you know, we do all of the time, um, then often the way that we love other people can, you know, is, is not always, um, the best.
And so, yeah. That, you know, that that's something, um, you know, something that I think about, um, you know, making sure that I, you know, that I am going to God first and helping, uh, hoping that he's gonna make me whole, making sure that I am aware of how much he loves me. Um, and because only then can I really help those that are, um, you know, that I'm gonna come into contact with and brush up against and yeah.
Things like that.
[00:34:16] Jenny Mariner: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'm just thinking again about practically, uh, what that can look like for us and, and how. Again, there can be a cost can't there to going across, across that cultural line, speaking to somebody in a different community or um, different school of thought or whatever that, that actually what that looks like.
Okay. Do you need it closer? Yep. You know, I don't know, like even I used to work in a really big workplace and the staff was definitely quite like grouped and you know, if you were, depending on how you were caught relating to other people, it might be a bit like, well I thought you were in our group. Why are you relating to that group?
You know? I mean like actually trying to live as somebody who's like, I'm gonna try and be kind and generous and careful with everybody. That's just like quite a small example. I dunno if either of you can think of other examples of, in our, um, in literally in our practical worlds, what does it mean to go across that boundary at some cost to you to love somebody else and other
[00:35:22] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
It's a big one, isn't it? And I, I, the first point is to say I don't always get it right. In fact, I think I probably get it wrong more than I get it. Right. Um, and those boundaries are, I think they're hard to, they're hard to cross if you don't like somebody. That's the fundamental thing, isn't it? Um, I, I always remember at Bible school they said that it's, um, the Bible tells us to love everybody, but the Bible doesn't tell us to like everybody.
And you can like, yeah, there are just some people that I just don't like, um, but they're still my neighbor. Mm-hmm. Um, and I remember, I remember a really interesting situation that came up a couple a little while ago, and there was a person that I didn't particularly like, um, we weren't getting on.
Famously, let's just put it that way. We, they, they and I were not friends at all. And in fact, I think, um, I, I didn't wish them any of harm, but you know, when there's just some people you just don't, you just don't click with. And this was one of those guys and their business went into a little bit of trouble.
And if you don't know, I run a business or run my own business, and I just felt, huh, I need to be generous here. Um, and so whilst I didn't get involved personally, 'cause it wouldn't have helped him for me to get involved directly, there was a mutual person that was involved that I could sort of get, I could be generous through the back door, if that makes sense.
To this day, they don't know anything about what I did or offered or didn't do in that scenario. Um, and they don't need to know, uh, if I'm honest with you. But it was just a really interesting scenario whereby I sh. I had to struggle with the challenge of being generous to somebody that I thought actually probably shouldn't be in business when their business was in trouble.
Mm-hmm. Um, did I do the right, oh, I did what I, I thought was right. I did what I felt God was saying, but it was not, um, it was not straightforward.
[00:37:36] Jenny Mariner: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:37:39] Matt Edmundson: Does that answer your question? Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. I, I guess one off on one there.
[00:37:42] Jenny Mariner: No, that's another thought as well, isn't it? Just that, I guess in terms of what Mike's saying about being close to God, knowing first that God loves you, gazing on that love, it can also help you hear those moments when he is saying and go, yeah, now go do that thing.
You know?
[00:37:58] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:38:02] Mike Harris: I also, one of the, um, one of, I heard a couple of people talking about, um. You know, the fact that they, they constantly get this wrong. And you know, I, I think when you look at that, the verse is about God changing us into the likeness of Jesus and how it's like a morphing process. It's gonna take, it's going to take a long time.
And they were talking about the fact that when you look at a butterfly, like the butterfly is usually only a butterfly for like the last 5% of it's life or something like that. And I just, you know, I just think, you know, one day at the end of the Bible, doesn't it, it says that, you know, in the end when Jesus returns, we'll be caught up and we will become like him because we'll see him.
Yeah. Like he is, and you know, it's only at that point that we're gonna be gonna be perfect if you like. And, um, but I do, but that. Uh, that convinces me more that, that what we, what we should be doing now. What I should be doing now is, is focusing as much as I can on, on him. Yeah. Um, and I think you're dead right, Jen.
I think like the more that you do that, the more he's able to, the more you are able to hear more clearly when he says go and when he says stay. And that's just gonna be something that we'll be all, all be battling with and, and, you know, encouraging each other with and, um, trying to do better.
[00:39:45] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:39:46] Mike Harris: And better.
[00:39:47] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, um, this whole thing, um, is deeply challenging on so many levels, right? Um, I mean, deeply changed. I'd love to know what you guys think out in the audience. Like how do you, how do you de, how do you get your head around this idea of living your neighbor? Um. We used to have a neighbor, I probably shouldn't say this 'cause it's been recorded, but we had a neighbor, um, God lover, um, who I, I, I used to say to Sharon about her, I said, you know what, um, when she goes into the next life, when they, when she passes and, and they, and, and she dies.
Um, I said, she's the kind of person you need to bury like 30 foot down, because deep down she's a really nice person. And it's like, it was just, it was my comedy way of trying to see the gold in somebody that was, that was a neighbor, an actual neighbor, but also a real pain in the backside. Right. Have you ever had one of these?
Mm-hmm. Have you dealt with them?
[00:41:00] Jenny Mariner: Oh, to be honest. We were quite lucky they weren't there for very long. So while I had the thoughts of like, oh, if this person's here a long time, this is gonna throw up quite a few challenges. Those challenges didn't, didn't realize themselves. They moved on.
[00:41:16] Matt Edmundson: Did did you pray them out the way?
[00:41:18] Jenny Mariner: Didn't but I certainly was quite thankful.
[00:41:22] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah. It's a tricky one, isn't it? When it comes to situations like that. I remember, um, again, this whole loving your neighbor thing. Um, I had a manager, I had a job, I used to, when I worked here, actually at Frontline, we're going back to 1995, right? So this is a while.
Um, and I worked here at church for a year, volunteered for a year, and I was working, um, down at a restaurant and the manager at that restaurant. And I, it was like this, right? I dunno what it is about me. Maybe I attract, maybe I, maybe it's me. I just need to focus on me. But I mean, we were butting heads man.
It was crazy. And um, I remember. This whole, you've gotta love your neighbor thing. And so I started to pray for them. I mean, you know, I earnestly pray for them, not like God smed them down. Um, as much as, you know, maybe I wanted to feel to do that. But I, I just pray. I started to pray God's God's blessing on 'em.
You know, where that whole situation turned. Mm. And that lady like owned a shop, like literally across the road. They're houses now, but they used to be shops across the road. So I'm pointing at the camera. It's behind that wall. You can't see. Um, and so when I worked here, um, after a couple months and we started getting on, I would go sit in her shop and I, that's how I got to meet all the neighbors.
'cause all the neighbors would go to sit and chat to them. She'd go, oh, this is Matt. He's the vicar from across the road. Mm-hmm. I'm like, well, I don't need to correct anything here. I'm just gonna say hi. Uh, and it's great to see you. It's great to be with you and it's great to connect with you. And it's funny how things get turned when you actually start to pray.
For people now, not all the time. Like the, the other lady, um, there was some restoration there, not loads with her. I mean, we, we, we started to break through hopefully at some point. Um, but yeah, it's, it's fascinating isn't it, dealing with this. Have you, have you always had good neighbors or have you not? Um,
[00:43:20] Mike Harris: we've, we've always had good neighbors in the house that we're currently in.
Right. Um, when I was, when I was growing up, we also had great neighbors, but on one side neighbor was blind, and sadly, she's no longer with us. Um, but I became a Christian in my early twenties. And this is a, this is a story about trying to act in love, but without, with zero. Compassion. Mm-hmm. So she was blind and I'd just become a Christian.
I'm Embarra telling you this, I can't believe I'm going. I can't believe I'm going down here. We want to hear nicely. Oh no. Um, and so I read in my Bible, the Jesus heals the blind. And so I decided that I was gonna go and heal this lady who'd been blind from birth. She was in her seventies. I was gonna go round and heal her of her blindness.
And so I went round, knocked on the door and said, hi, Helen, it's Mike from Next door. And she was like, oh, hi Mike. And I was like, yeah, I've come round to pray for you because I believe that God wants to heal you of your blindness. And she was like. All right. Oh, that's nice. How's, how's your mom? And I was like, I was like, well, my mom's great.
And she was like, oh, and how are your brothers and sisters? I was like, yeah. Like, yeah, they're all right as well. And she was like, alright, see you then. And closed the door. And I came home and I was thinking that didn't go how I was expecting that to go. And then I read my bible a little bit more and it said that when, when they were healing people, they took oil and I didn't have any oil.
So I went and I took my dad's. My dad was really into the fact there's more faster this, keep going. My dad was really into like getting, getting a, a really good tan. And so he had this, he tanning oil, he, he had this factor two amber sole. Basically cooking oil. And so I took that and I went back round to her house and I said, no, no, no.
Hi Helen, it's Mike from next door. I've come to pray for you to receive sight, but I've bought some oil, uh, which was just gonna put on your forehead before I pray for you. 'cause I believe God wants to heal you of your sight. And she was like, how, how? How's your dad? And I was like, my dad's fine Helen. I I was gonna pray for you.
And she was like, ah, that's lovely. Thanks Mike. And close the door. And that was it. And I like, I mean, and that is the end of the story. And the, the reason why I'm bringing it up is because you asked me about my neighbor and you strong armed me into it, but a strong arm. It was, but it was just like, there was absolutely zero compassion, zero.
Hmm. I was just do, I was almost doing this to just check that God existed. Yeah. You know? And that, um, you know, that, that, that he would do something really cool that I could, that I could watch and see and be amazed by brag about. Yeah. But there was, there was literally zero, zero compassion. And it just, just really challenging because that's, you know, that's not what the Samaritan did.
The Samaritan Compassion moved him to, to be gracious. And, you know, often in the Bible it says that Jesus was moved with compassion and what he did, the miracles that he did, were outta a heart of compassion. My miracle was, was not out of compassion, it was out of curiosity and
[00:47:20] Matt Edmundson: intrigue. I mean, I mean, good on you forever having a go dude.
Um. But I think we're all like that in our, in our early Christian war, aren't we? I mean, I've, I've got similar stories where it's just like, no, God's gonna do this. What's wrong with you? Why can't you accept that God's gonna do this? And actually, I'm the one that learns the biggest. I mean, we're getting into a whole new room now of does God heal?
Um, and yes, he does. And sometimes it's through using tannin oil as well. I'm not gonna forget that story in a, in a rhino hurry. Um, funny budgie antics has asked, if you don't like your neighbor, how do you love them?
[00:48:00] Jenny Mariner: Um, I think the point you made about praying for them is a really good place to start, because if you haven't got any other ideas, you can pray for them.
Mm-hmm. Can't you? And sometimes I just simply just pray blessing on them. Um, you know, in fact, I've been doing that about someone the last couple of weeks, just been like, I prayed blessing over that person. Mm-hmm.
[00:48:19] Matt Edmundson: Um.
[00:48:20] Jenny Mariner: I think that's a really good one. I think that point about actually seeking so many stories, but similar stories of enthusiastically thinking, I'm gonna do this.
And I remember someone, it was Dan Reynolds actually, who used to be around here saying to me once, he was like, Jenny, do you know if that person wants that thing? But you are suggesting you do. Do you know what I mean? It's like, what a great question. Um, but I think on one level there's keeping going isn't there in the face of, particularly if someone's difficult in the face of difficulty not putting up a wall.
I know I have a temptation to pop a wall and be like, if you're gonna be like that, then screw you. It's kind of my natural human reaction and trying to challenge myself to be like, well, however you are, this is how I'm gonna keep consistently being.
[00:49:04] Mike Harris: Yeah.
[00:49:05] Jenny Mariner: That would be some of my thoughts. I dunno what you think.
[00:49:08] Mike Harris: Yeah, I was just thinking as you were saying, it's, you know, there's, I wish I knew my Bible better, but the somewhere in the Bible we're, we're Jesus talking. Uh, I think Jesus is talking and he says that the love that you demonstrate to each other is, is a testimony to, to my existence. And you know, I think, you know, when we love people who love us, that's great, but when you love somebody who is, you know, who is your enemy or who is, you know, against you or not being very nice to you, when you, um, find the compassion to be able to love that person, that is an incredible testimony, um, to the existence of God.
You know, and I know that from, from one particular person who I know who, who, who comes to this church and they're not, they're not a Christian, but they recognize, and this is, they recognize that there's something different about the way that we interact with each other here. That is different to the way that people interact out outside of the church.
And I know it, it, it's not the same as, you know, loving a neighbor who's, who's being horrible to you. But sometimes even with the church, we have clashes and we have people who we don't get on with. But when, when people from outside see us finding the compassion to be able to forgive and to be able to get along and to be able to, um, build community together, it's incredibly powerful.
Far more powerful than I ever thought. It wa it, it, it was or it would be. Yeah. Um, but, but, but for this person, it's been the biggest testimony to the fact that God exists. Yeah.
[00:51:03] Matt Edmundson: I think it's, I think it's one of those things actually, when you look at what those outside the church, like about the church, and you look at the stats, what draws people in.
One of the key things is the community. Which is what you're talking about. Yeah. And it's John 1335. Thanks, mark. You're welcome. I, I googled it. I would love to claim superior Bible knowledge. Uh, but faster thumbs on Google, I think is the, uh, uh, by I and the, i I pulled up the verse. It says, by this, all people will know that you are my disciples.
If you have love for one another. I think that's the verse you're referring to. Mm-hmm. Um, AIDS put here, we can act with love towards those. We struggle to like, so there's a, it is interesting, isn't it? 'cause we can talk, we can pray for people. Um, but the, the Samaritan story would be really boring if he kind of went across and saw them and went, um, oops, I'm gonna pray for you.
Um, and he didn't actually act. And this goes back to the point that you made about, um, mercy being compassion, move to action. And so I think Prayer is an action, but I, I think also practically. What can you do? You know that, and so I, I know for example, with a neighbor that needed to be buried 30 feet down, I would intentionally say hi and good morning to them every time I saw them.
And I'd do it with a smile. Um, not 'cause I was trying to wind them up, but I'm trying to break down the, the wall so it can just be as simple as saying hi. Um, I think with the, the, the chap who, whose business has struggled, I actually, I actually poured money into something, um, and that, you know, put finances behind it.
Um, so I think there are ways practically that you can act, right. So with the Samaritan, he did do those practical things. Um, but I dunno if you guys have got any stories of action other than tannin oil.
[00:53:02] Mike Harris: Well, I think I sometimes, sometimes it's. I think Jesus, Jesus asks us to do things, doesn't he? And it's not just that we are, um, that we don't, we're not violent towards people.
It's, it, it's, it's more than that. It's what we do, isn't it? But, but I do think, like sometimes, especially like Jen talking about the workplace, and I know like when I was working in a big organization, you know, just not talking negatively about somebody when I'm not in their presence, um, is an act of love, isn't it?
You know, you are, you are valuing that person as somebody who's created in the image of God. And therefore, I'm going to choose to talk positively or even I'm gonna choose not to talk negatively about this person. Um, I'm gonna choose not to join in with this conversation. Um. Yeah, that is all, you know, that Yeah.
That is a, that is an act of love, isn't it? Um, I, you know, and I, I, I don't know if this is, um, relevant, but also like, even just with, you know, bring close to home, even within my family, what I've decided to do now is that whenever my son or daughter walk into the lounge, I put my phone down to try and give them more of my attention.
Because what I've been finding myself doing is holding my phone and, and listening to them whilst, you know, being on my phone at the same time. So, yeah, so that's something else that I've only this week I've tried to do is just to, if they walk in, put my phone down, I will pick it up again once they leave.
But, you know, put down,
[00:54:46] Matt Edmundson: that's a fair point, isn't it? Because these things can cost you time and attention as well as money. Um, you know, it's that, that kind of thing, isn't it? Uh, Jen, question for you. Um. Uh, is it okay to pray for people without their permission?
[00:55:05] Jenny Mariner: Yeah, I saw that one on the chat. I'll be honest, part of it.
That's an interesting thought. I think being around church for quite a long time, there's an element of that that we do. I would usually try and tell someone that I'm praying for them if I can, or certainly the more specific the Prayer Yeah. The more likely I'd be like, is it okay if I pray for you? Yeah, definitely.
If I was actually gonna pray when someone was present, I would say the types of prayers I'm talking about are just praying, blessing and God's goodness over somebody. I would feel pretty comfortable praying that for anybody, without them knowing. But I guess it's an interesting question. I dunno if anyone's got any other reflections,
[00:55:43] Mike Harris: like, you know, if, if you are, if you're praying for somebody, yeah.
As you say, if you're praying for something quite specific, um, it's quite, it's quite good for them to know, you know, so that they can be aware of the fact that. That God exists. And you know that, that if, if the Prayer is answered in, in a way that glorifies God, then um, then that's great. Um, yeah, it's an interesting question.
Interesting question. I haven't, I haven't thought about it.
[00:56:16] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Very good. Very good. Uh, lady Bby said, we can decide to love someone and pray that our hearts will follow. That's an interesting one, isn't it? Because it's easy to pray. God changed them because they're a lunatic, but maybe God's trying to get through to you and you are the lunatic.
And just actually having that humble heart and going, I get that. There's probably something for me here. God, you need to teach me what can I own? Um, I think is a great Prayer actually.
[00:56:47] Jenny Mariner: It's probably a bit of both quite a lot of the time, isn't it?
[00:56:49] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:56:50] Jenny Mariner: Like I certainly had a colleague and I think if she ever saw this, she'd understand.
Because we joke about it now, but for a long time she would admit now she didn't like me and I made a lot of choices in terms of how I treated her despite the fact mm-hmm. That she didn't like me. But I also learned an awful lot through it. You know, it's like, it's a both and isn't it of like, I would love you to change the situation.
God, I'd also love you to soften my heart to her just as she is. Yeah. And in that particular circumstance, I would say both happened. Yeah. I'm a lot more softer and understanding of her and she's come to slightly like me, so I'd say more than slightly actually, if you are watching, I know you like me now.
It just took a while and that's okay. But it's good to be open to both, I think, isn't it? It is. Because I think sometimes we can just pray for a situation to change in a way that's not always helpful.
[00:57:38] Matt Edmundson: Yeah, no, that's true. That's really, it's a really interesting point, isn't it? Um, really interesting, really interesting point.
Um, funny tics, could it mean treat your neighbor as you would want to be treated? Uh, being kind even if you don't get on. And I think, yeah, actually, you know, we read that this morning in church, didn't we, uh, in Matthew seven, that, you know, to treat others as you would want to be treated. Um, in that scenario, I'm like, that's, that's quite helpful advice.
Mm-hmm. Um, that is quite important. But
[00:58:09] Jenny Mariner: in my school growing up, that was the golden rule. It was on yellow paper, shaped like a key when we were queuing up for lunch. Treat others as you wanna be treated. Like it's a basic humanity thing for me, isn't it? Yeah. Like, and you, I, yeah. Anybody, whoever they are, whatever they think, yeah.
Whatever they've done, you gotta treat people like you'd wanna be treated.
[00:58:28] Matt Edmundson: Matthew 2339 from AID says to love your neighbor as yourself. It doesn't limit it to nice people. Mm-hmm. Um, and actually there's a really interesting question there, isn't there? Because how much do you love yourself? Uh, but we won't get into that because we'll start singing Whitney Houston songs the greatest love of all, apparently.
No, it's not. Um, anyway. Think you might be on your own. I might. I think you might be singing on your own. Yeah. Did you not bring your singing voice today? Not today. Did you not get the memo? I forgot.
[00:59:00] Mike Harris: No,
[00:59:01] Matt Edmundson: I didn't. You're singing is out, Mike. Oh no.
[00:59:04] Mike Harris: Holy buggy was here.
[00:59:08] Matt Edmundson: Well, listen, thank you everybody for your comments, uh, on the old YouTube.
Um, thanks for joining us. Thanks Mike for the talk. Great conversation. Thanks Jen. Enjoyed that. Flew by a million miles an hour. Um, thank you so much for joining us. Um, we are gonna open up Live Lounge in about two minutes. Once I've disconnected the computer, we won't be in there long. Um, I put the link in the comments earlier.
It's goc Crowd Church slash meet, MEET. Um, go find that. Put that in your browser. It's a Google Meet thing. Um, it'll be lovely to see you in there. Come say, how's it? Um. Always nice to meet people. Uh, and just to chat. We'll be in there for like five or 10 minutes, um, whilst we sat down. But yeah, next week.
Do we know what's happening next week? Will? Oh, that's a good question. I, it is crashed anyway. Um, I dunno. It tells you hospitality, hospitality with Dan Orange and, uh, we'll stop Will hosting with Josh Birch. So that's what we're talking about, how to be hospitable. Um, following on from this Love your neighbor thing, which is gonna be great, Dan speaking Stoke.
Join us for that. That'd be great. Like I said, if any of you'd like to join us in the Alpha course, it's not too late. We're on week three this Wednesday. We tend to close it around week four, week five. Um, but this week we're looking at why did Jesus die? So if you'd like to know more about that. Email me, just go to the Crowd Church website, fill out the little alpha form and I'll send you all the information.
Um, so you can come join us. Um, but yeah, anything else from you, Jen, in closing?
[01:00:46] Jenny Mariner: No, but thanks for having me. Always an absolute pleasure to be here with you all.
[01:00:50] Matt Edmundson: Very good. Mike, anything else from you? Uh, no. Just, yeah, love being here. Thanks. Alright. Pair of legends, thank you so much for joining us. Have a phenomenal week wherever you are in the world.
I'll see you next time. Bye for now.