We hope that this

word will meet you where you need it most.

We ask all of this in the strong name of your son, Jesus Christ, and all God's people said, amen.

Beloved, thank you so much for listening to the podcast of the Southeast Raleigh Table.

We hope the words have been life-giving and soul-affirming, and we don't take it for granted when you join us.

You can find more information about ways to get connected and ways to engage with us by visiting our website at www.southeastrallytable.org and clicking on the formation tab.

Thank you and God bless.

We hope

that this word will meet you where you need it most.

Amen and amen.

Beloved, thank you so much for listening to the podcast of the Southeast Raleigh Table.

We hope the words have been life-giving and soul-affirming and we don't take it for granted when you join us.

You can find more information about ways to get connected and ways to engage with us by visiting our website at www.southeastraleigtable.org and clicking on the formation tab.

Thank you and God bless.

And Reverend Raquel is going to bless you now.

God, we come before you this morning seeking to bless your servant.

but first thanking you for the blessing that she is and the blessing that she has been.

We give gratitude for her life, for her love.

We give gratitude for the ways in which she has filled in the gaps in the seen and unseen ways.

We celebrate her courage.

We celebrate her tenacity.

Yes, God.

And all God's people said, "Amen."

Amen.

Good morning, beloved.

Good morning.

As we're returning back to our rhythms for the month of August, we've been thinking about what it means to Gently ease, right, um, into the resets, into the rhythms, right, um, that sometimes the fall season can kinda pull us back into.

And when we begin to think about moving from rest to reset, it can be easy to think that all resets are easeful.

Last week, Pastor Lisa gave us a little g- Gen X wisdom, I guess.

[audience applauding]

I want you to think about some aspect of yourself, of your body, that you struggled to accept.

Some part of you that you struggled to love, struggled to like, struggled to enjoy.

Some of us have been told so many things about our bodies.

size of our bodies, the weight of our bodies, complexion of our skin, the coil in our hair, the wideness of our noses.

Some of us have been told that because our bodies are aging, that they're disposable in this society.

Some of us have spent so much time in doctor's offices, and on my chart.

Oftentimes when I would get off the bus after school as a child, I would run up on my grandmother who was on the porch and I would say, grandma, you sleep? She would say, no child, I'm just resting my eyes.

And so as we begin to practice the practice, I want to invite us to take a few moments this morning and just rest your eyes.

Close your eyes if you feel comfortable.

Take a really comfortable gaze if you're not comfortable with closing your eyes.

Do what feels good to your body.

Open your hands or your heart to receive this gift God wants to offer to you.

see, often at the root

of our trauma, which I've learned from Dr. Donna, is the removal of our choices.

When we experience an event that is traumatic, a loss that is life changing, a community that is harmful or toxic to us, we will often spend the rest of our lives trying to restore and reconnect to our own sense of agency and our own self-empowerment.

When you've been oppressed and marginalized and gone through crisis, a practice or discipline that might actually be good for you can feel harmful to you when it is opposed upon you without any choices.

And here in Matthew, we see a Christ who is not only incarnational, but deeply invitational because this Christ is trauma informed.

We see a Christ who offers an invitation to people who had only been met with impositions.

a jesus who offers a choice to people because he knows that in this life they have only been met with demands we see a christ who offers a request to rest to people who've been only met with a life of hustle and toil and labor that they didn't financially benefit from jesus invite these people to come Not ignoring their trauma, but being informed by it.

being