Aug 2, 2026 · 37 min · 10 segments
What are you reaching for when life feels out of your control? In Week 7 of our Ordinary Holy series, Rev. Joël St. John explores Isaiah 44 and challenges us to consider how easily we turn good…
Joël St. JohnGuest
Jordan MelloHost
and the day didn't go the way you expected or wanted, and now you're lying in the dark and your mind just won't shut off.
And without even thinking about it or deciding to, your hand fumbles across the nightstand, hoping to find the smooth ergonomic shape of your phone.
And as the blue light washes over your face, the speed of your heartbeat slows down.
whether you're a Christian, agnostic, atheist, or maybe you're from a different faith, all of us know that feeling, right? We know that feeling when life kind of feels out of our control and we just need something to hold.
something to steady us, something to tell us that we're going to be okay, something to make us feel like we've got the reins of our life again.
We reach for it, and without even saying the words, we ask it to hold us together and to keep us safe.
that glowing piece of metal and glass, in that moment becomes a kind of sanctuary.
Something that's ordinary that we try to make holy just to mentally survive the night.
That's the tension at the very heart of our sermon series that we've been going through over the past few weeks called Ordinary Holy.
How do we experience the presence of God, not just in the mountaintop moments of life and when the music is swelling on Sunday, but in the mundane, repetitive cycles of our everyday experience? Paul sums it up like this in 1 Corinthians 10 31.
So whatever or whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
About 2600 years ago, there was a group of people that lived in a similar kind of moment, reaching for some kind of savior.
and the day didn't go the way you expected or wanted, and now you're lying in the dark and your mind just won't shut off.
And without even thinking about it or deciding to, your hand fumbles across the nightstand, hoping to find the smooth ergonomic shape of your phone.
And as the blue light washes over your face, the speed of your heartbeat slows down.
whether you're a Christian, agnostic, atheist, or maybe you're from a different faith, all of us know that feeling, right? We know that feeling when life kind of feels out of our control and we just need something to hold.
something to steady us, something to tell us that we're going to be okay, something to make us feel like we've got the reins of our life again.
We reach for it, and without even saying the words, we ask it to hold us together and to keep us safe.
that glowing piece of metal and glass, in that moment becomes a kind of sanctuary.
Something that's ordinary that we try to make holy just to mentally survive the night.
That's the tension at the very heart of our sermon series that we've been going through over the past few weeks called Ordinary Holy.
How do we experience the presence of God, not just in the mountaintop moments of life and when the music is swelling on Sunday, but in the mundane, repetitive cycles of our everyday experience? Paul sums it up like this in 1 Corinthians 10 31.
So whatever or whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
About 2600 years ago, there was a group of people that lived in a similar kind of moment, reaching for some kind of savior.
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