Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.08UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.08UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.65LIKELY
Sadness
0.55LIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.74LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0.69LIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.73LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.74LIKELY
Extraversion
0.19UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.45UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.5UNLIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Good morning and welcome to another week of Church here at the Bridge.
I am so glad that we are able to be here together this morning.
This week we will be continuing our look at the Spiritual Disciplines.
This morning though we have to talk about something that is culturally one of the most difficult things for Americans.
Food.
Food Abundant
The truth of the matter is that many Americans don’t ever experience a lack of food.
The access to food in our country is absolutely amazing.
If you take a moment and look at just the Bloomington area.
We have 5 Kroger, 2 Aldi, 2 Fresh Thyme, Target, Sams club, and Walmart all within a short drive from us right now.
That also doesn’t count smaller, local, and international markets that are in the area.
There are a lot of options in our town.
Now not everyone in our country has this same access.
There are areas of the country that can have no grocery stores at all to provide access to food.
Though even that is shrinking with the expansion of online food shopping though that does come with fees.
There was something else about our food situation that stands out to me though.
This became very apparent during the pandemic too.
The grocery store is filled not just with food but choices.
If you walk into a store and you go down any aisle you are going to be met with choices.
Have you ever wondered how to figure out what the most commonly bought items are in a grocery store.
There is quite a simple answer for this.
When you are looking for a product count how many options there are for that product.
Think about bread.
Bread is a staple in the American diet.
If you go to the bread aisle you will find multiple options for bread.
White, wheat, whole wheat, multi grain, low calorie, high fiber, protein, certified organic non gmo gluten free air, and the list goes on and on.
Bread has been customized for the consumer because there is such a high demand to meet the needs of anyone who walks into the grocery store.
I mean it used to be that the only products that didn’t have multiple versions was the fresh fruits and vegetables.
Now though we have figured out a way to distinguish that.
Organic or non organic if you please.
The connection this has to the pandemic is a lot of those choices started to become limited.
As we saw shortages the shelves were filled with a lot of the same product.
This left many people uncertain and lost because their choices were gone.
We face the challenge of plenty many people eat three meals a day and eat multiple snacks in a day and we never think twice about it.
Where is he going with this might be entering some of your minds.
For the most seasoned Christian you can see where this path is going.
We are talking about Fasting.
Fasting
Fasting as a spiritual discipline is one that I have always found difficult.
I enjoy food I won’t deny it but it is also a powerful experience in the Spiritual life.
If you aren’t familiar with this term or idea lets define it.
Fasting-is the deliberate, temporary abstention from food for religious reasons
It is important to note that a lot of people often associate Lent with Fasting.
This is not the same practice as that.
We are talking about a more specific abstinence of food for a day to yes 40 days of food.
Not just the limiting of one food, on Fridays for a season.
Yet, just removing food from our lives is not the entirety of what Fasting is.
Fasting is a natural adjunct to fervent prayer.
Fasting and Prayer
Fasting and prayer are connected together.
In fact Fasting is really a subsection to prayer.
Fasting without prayer is just hunger.
Lot of people in our world experience hunger but they aren’t fasting.
Fasting is designed to in the absence of food draw us to the bread of life.
To draw us to God.
Look at
Jesus quotes this passage from Deuteronomy to rebuke Satan while he was fasting in the wilderness.
The loss of food can be painful but for the person who is intentional in it uses it to focus the mind and the heart not on our earthly needs and desires but to channel their thoughts and focus into God.
To instead live on the guidance and the word of God.
Disclaimer
It seems like we have to put these in here inevitably when it comes to spiritual disciplines.
However, this is a very important one.
Fasting is an important spiritual discipline because it in connection with prayer is a powerful tool.
However, it is not a command of the Bible in the strictest of sense.
Do not ever let anyone tell you that you must fast in order to be a Christian.
Fasting is a practice that helps us go deeper but it is not required.
The reason i put this disclaimer is not to refute my whole sermon but because there are people who have physical reasons they can’t fast.
For some Fasting may be down right dangerous to their health.
If you have conditions related to your physical health that may limit your ability to fast i would highly recommend to talk with your doctor about options.
If those options don’t work out talk with your pastor.
I would love to sit down with someone and find a creative way you can experience fasting that isn’t related to something like food.
Fasting and Prayer
Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Jesus clearly was in favor of Fasting he did it for 40 days.
Yet, he doesn’t talk about it a lot or even really command it of his followers.
Fasting was something that for the Jewish people was a thing of sorrow.
It was in mourning of what they had lost.
It was also a sign of honor to be vocal about fasting.
To grumble and complain about fasting and to make sure everyone knew about the fact that you were fasting.
This is where Jesus in typical fashion flips everything on it head when it comes to fasting.
Fasting for Jesus became a private matter.
It became something that was between you and God.
It isn’t something to be proud of to brag about.
In fact, I have been torn about this all week because I have been trying to practice the Spiritual Disciplines that we have been learning about.
Yet, the challenge is do I talk about this one.
I don’t want to be like the Hypocrites and complain to you.
Or have by even saying this already shown my hand.
I can’t hide it but i have been fasting.
I am struggling right now because this isn’t for my glory, I share this because fasting is something I am trying to work into my Spiritual life.
Not for anyone else benefit but because i see the value of this practice.
I also share this with you because if you need guidance I want to share with you my experiences.
What is important though is while we are fasting we aren’t trying to do it as a symbol or badge of honor but to focus our hearts and minds on God.
To draw close to him.
To go deeper in our relationship.
Jesus and Fasting
There is one other story that i think is interesting to talk about related to Fasting that I thought was important to share with you how Jesus changed the conversation about a practice or topic.
This passage was a curious one to me because it shifts the view of fasting as a sorrowful event to one of Joy.
No longer was the act of fasting connected to one of pain and sorrow as in
or 1 Chronicles 10:12
Instead Fasting is now drawn to the image of a wedding.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9