GYC Conference 2022: Break Forth

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Generation. Youth. Christ. (GYC)

Recharged: Finding Your Safe Place

Chantal Klingbeil

Gerald Klingbeil

01 The Root of Restlessness

All right, well, Chantal greets her oldest friends from South Africa.

Chantal, my wife of 32 years, is from South Africa.

We've been missionaries for the last 30 years, I would say.

And right now, we're missionaries in North America.

Chantelle is an Associate Director for the White Estate.

I'm an Associate Editor of Adventist Review, the oldest thing in Adventism and Adventist world.

Some of you may get, I mean most of you should actually get Adventist world.

All right, Chantal, this just for the recording and yeah, we need to of recharge finding your safe place and our names we already mentioned Chantal Klingbeil and Gerald Klingbeil and the first session is called the root of restlessness so we'll start right at the beginning.

Our great Heavenly Father what a privilege to be together this morning as we explore your Word, as we look into issues that touch us personally.

Please be with us and open our minds, open our hearts, give us insight, give us connection.

I don't know how you feel, but I feel that I'm living in a 24-7 on mode.

You know, I see most of you sitting, when I came into the meeting room this morning on your phones.

I'm on my phone a lot, you know, checking messages, trying to reach out to someone.

We constantly seem to be engaged, Chantal, and it's not always healthy, it seems to be.

In fact, most scholars tell us that this is really tiring exhausting emotionally and also physically You would think that with us being so connected.

It's just how many of you have 20 friends online how many of you have 20 friends online?

Those of you, I'm saying 20, who has 10 friends online?

Most of us have a lot of contacts, right?

So you'd think we would be more connected than ever.

And we should be less lonely, because we have a lot of people that we know.

That we connect with online, and yet, and yet, we are more lonely than what we've ever been before.

Even with all of this connectedness and a lot of us make up for it by busyness.

And we try to connect with people, we're always busy with something, to try to make up for the loneliness really.

Now the research that we have read, and my specialty is not in psychology or social studies, I'm an Old Testament scholar, so if you have a question about the Hebrew text of the Bible, come to me.

But the research has shown that loneliness affects basically all people.

I was surprised by the numbers that I found.

UK, 20% of the population, and there was a huge survey that did it, said they felt lonely most of the times or often, 20%.

In the United States, that number varied depending on survey between 20 and 65%, especially for people older than 50.

You think, okay, so loneliness, you think of old people being stuck at home, their family moved away, you think, okay, they'd be lonely.

But it affects younger generations and younger demographics as well.

A UK census, 1 of the most recent, says that loneliness is the number 1 fear of young people.

When they asked, what are you most afraid of, they say being lonely is number 1 It even ranks ahead of losing a job or finding a job or losing your house You would rather lose your house than be lonely So I think loneliness let me just move this out of the way here.

It's something that affects us, that affects how we feel about ourselves.

There's a lot of people that because of loneliness die.

There's a loss of connection that happens that makes us sick.

And we don't want to talk about bad things, but it is something that affects all of us.

Well, maybe you think, well, extroverts are probably less lonely, right?

Because at least it seems like it, that they're always having a good time, making a big noise in the center of things.

So, Chantelle, you would be much healthier then.

According to the statistics, no, actually the statistics tell us and the surveys tell us a different story.

It doesn't matter whether you're a real extrovert or real introvert, the rates of loneliness is about the same, even though it seems to mask more with an extrovert.

We're all touched negatively by loneliness.

Well, let's look at some of the numbers and the real life impact of loneliness.

Loneliness on our health is just devastating, equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day, reducing a life expectancy by about 8 years.

That's just by being alone, of having a sense of being disconnected.

The mortality rates for lonely people are significantly higher than people that are connected.

Well, there's an increased risk of cancer.

I think I always have to turn towards this so that it works.

And there's also, if you're lonely, you catch COVID much quicker.

Or a virus, a viral infection, you open yourself up to disease more.

There is also a link between loneliness and cardiovascular diseases, so heart attacks, anything in that field as well, if you are more lonely.

Chantelle, I think we need to start right at the beginning.

And the beginning for Christians is Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2, the creation story where God describes how he, you know, the Bible describes how God created the world.

And 1 of the key takeaways that I'm taking, I don't understand it all.

It doesn't, you know, I can't all scientifically explain it.

But what I can get there very clearly is that God creates us for community, because Adam is alone.

And he expresses that, and God makes Eve at that moment.

Well, it's a great beginning, but very quickly, of course, just recapping, we have sin enter.

And sin does a lot of things, but 1 of the things sin does is interrupt community right then in the beginning.

We have doubt, we have distrust, we have rebellion coming in, we have separation, Adam and Eve are separated from God.

And then remember when God confronts them, then we see that they were so tight beforehand.

Adam thought he couldn't live without Eve, that's why he actually ate the fruit, but suddenly they are not so tight anymore and they're accusing each other.

And this separation really affects not just God and man, or mankind, humanity, but it affects the relationships, how we deal with 1 another.

02 Restless Family Ties

And this title of the session is Restless Family Ties.

All right, but let's do the informal introduction, Chantal.

Okay, how many of you were at the other, our first seminar?

We hope you can manage with our funny accents I was so delighted.

I just met 1 of my students from Peru That I haven't seen for a long time So it's nice to where we always kind of mix and mingle and this cross connection.

Chantal is from South Africa, I'm from Germany.

We are both working at the General Conference right now.

Chantal is an associate director in the White Estate.

If you have a question about Ellen White, she's the right person.

And if you enjoy writing and reading, that's the person that's my area.

I'm the associate editor of Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines.

Let's begin with the prayer That sounds like a perfect you begin.

We thank you in a special way That's the restlessness that we often feel and that affect our families.

We can talk about this now and we can find solutions.

Thank you for the time that we can spend together.

So scriptures faith heroes didn't always have ideal relationships, in case you haven't noticed.

So, I found out all sorts of exciting things about this family, and I really, really enjoy my work at the White Estate.

And I said to Gerald, you better show me a time out here because I have so many exciting stories I can tell you.

But 1 story that probably you haven't heard too much about and that's the White family itself was not an ideal family, if you're looking for ideals.

They had their marital tensions, James and Ellen.

Which is very normal and actually very comforting, because despite her being a prophet, she had to work through the same marital issues that we have to, her and James.

And when it comes to child rearing, you know, 2 of their children died.

We have the oldest, Henry, who died at the age of 16, and then we had the little John Herbert, who died at the age of 12 weeks.

But the remaining 2 sons, Edson and Willie, were not always easy children, and particularly Edson.

He was a difficult child right from the beginning.

You think you wouldn't try lying to your mother when she was a prophet, but hey, he did.

And he grew up and he caused a lot of problems for his parents.

I mean, he marries young against his parents' wishes.

They don't have anything against the girl, but they say, you're far too immature.

First, he disliked being the child of Ellen and James White.

But after a while, something went ting, and he thought, you know, this could maybe not be a bad thing.

So he would go to a little town and, you know, the local Adventists that are there, he's like, I am Edson White, the son of James and Ellen, and everyone goes, whoa.

And he says, and I have this great missionary outreach idea.

It would invariably flop, and Edson would just skip town.

So the local Adventists would write letters to Ellen and James saying I want my 3 dollars back I want my 5 dollars back and James and Ellen were like, what do we do?

So they were ending up sending this money to cover the embarrassment of Edson.

That doesn't sound like a perfect Adventist family.

Oh boy, and yeah, it's interesting parental styles, too.

You wouldn't believe it, but Ellen is the softer of the 2, with the mother's heart.

She's like, well, we'll cover for him this time and we'll talk to him about it.

James is like, well, they should take it up with the authorities.

And so it causes stress amongst the 2 of them.

Okay, that's now the fast-forward section.

And by the time James dies in 1881, there's still a lot of friction between him and Edson.

But after James has died, he actually writes to his mum, who's then in Australia, and says, you know what?

I've decided I'm not religiously inclined anymore.

It's Very touching, the letters that Ellen writes back.

Ellen says to him, Edson, you don't want to do this.

How can I think of heaven without my boys?

Eventually, eventually, it's beautiful to see how Ellen goes on pleading with him, how she goes on writing these letters.

And how she doesn't cut off the relationship.

She doesn't cut off the relationship as hard.

Oh, he gets into a very public fight with the church.

03 Rhythms of Rest

Okay, so this is session number 3 of recharge finding a safe space and this Session is entitled the rhythms of rest and Chantel and Gerald cling my other presenters Okay, right.

So we did speak a little bit already about how we naturally wired for rest.

We have this rest at night seems to be the best kind of rest on a biological level for us.

I remember in Germany when I was younger, that was a long time ago, most males had to do military service, but most Adventists chose to be conscientious objectors.

So I worked for 2 years in a hospital, Working like somebody serving in the army, I was serving in a civilian capacity.

And I happened to do also some night shifts.

And I don't know if you've ever done a night shift, but it felt horrible because it really affects your circadian rhythm.

And apparently that research has shown that is something that has wide-reaching results.

And these are negative results on our health.

And more and more studies are also popping up, and more and more books you will notice as well in Christian libraries and Christian bestsellers where they talk about rest and the need for rest.

So this idea of taking a rest day seems to be catching on.

Now of course, in Christian circles, it seems to be kind of optional which rest day that is, if it's Sabbath or Sunday or probably even Wednesday, But we want to look a little bit at this day of rest and the specifics of which day and why.

So, we'll try to focus on the biblical Sabbath obviously and the reasons why.

Now I have a, I don't know, some of you were at the 2015 General Conference session in San Antonio, anybody of you?

It's right there, walkable, you know, very close to the convention center.

It was very interesting for somebody who's not American.

I wasn't born or lived really in this country.

And there was this 1 rallying cry, do you remember that?

That pulled a whole history along with it.

And it was really that battle cry that really spurred on the American army afterwards, the militia, to actually resist.

Because those that, the Alamo did eventually fall, But those that defended it, I believe Davy Crockett was there, and they fought so bravely with so little that this really became a very emotive cry.

And so when you said, remember the Alamo, you remembered that bravery and that inspired you to give your best as well.

So we'd like to start thinking about remembering.

Because if you remember, pun intended, The Sabbath commandment begins with the word, remember.

The Sabbath commandment in Exodus chapter 20.

What does this mean, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy?

Is that 1 of these commandments that is so different from any other commandment?

There's no other commandment in the Bible that says, remember, XYZ.

So remember we said at the beginning that we're going to be looking or working in groups this afternoon.

So with your group, here's a first warm-up question, a little discussion question.

What other aspects of our lives are influenced by remembering that God created the heavens and the earth.

Remember the Sabbath day because in 6 days God created the heavens and the earth.

Now, what more does that remembering involve?

If you're sitting alone, try to maybe go to 1 side or to the other and, you know, make some friends and listen to 1 another.

I see some of you are really getting to the spirit of things, others are still not so sure about the group discussion thing.

We just want to assure you that there aren't wrong answers here, so it's fine to chat.

Remember, When you say remember, it's really pulling on the end of a chain.

Because as soon as you pull out 1 link, it leads to another, it leads to another, it leads to another.

And this remembering that God created the heavens and the earth pulls onto a whole lot of things.

What other elements, aspects of our life are influenced by creation?

You know, when we are told to remember creation.

Anything that came to mind as you were discussing this?

So the remembering creation gives maybe confidence for even in chaos in the future, looking into the future.

Anything else that in your groups when you thought about what other elements?

We know the Sabbath, we talk about God's rhythm, but anything else that stood out?

And it depends how your father was or how our father experienced.

But The idea of the father is somebody who cares, who protects, who surrounds, isn't it?

As you said, Chantal, when we remember something, we start pulling and sometimes emotions wake up that we hadn't thought of for a long time.

1 of those, you mentioned there, we remember, when we remember the creation, we remember that we are created.

Because when we remember that we are created, we also remember that we are created in the image of God.

There's a lot of movements, you know, it's my life, It's my body, you shouldn't have any say in what I do." For a Christian who's remembering, we're going, no, wait a minute, wait a minute.

So this puts a whole different spin on it.

We realize that we aren't independent entities.

Here's another idea that, as we thought about what does remembering really creation still, you know, pull out of that chain, is stewardship.

Have you ever thought of that when we are created, we were created in his image, but then God says, but I want you to have dominion.

Now, having dominion is often misunderstood nowadays.

Many people think that means I'm in control.

But the biblical idea of dominion is very different.

It's an idea of a steward, somebody who stands in the place of God and is his representative there, his regent, if you want to use the language there.

I think this changes how we relate to nature around us.

How we relate to keeping animals in deplorable conditions for meat or for eggs or for whatever else over there.

How we interact with the environment around us.

We'll talk a little bit more about that later on as well.

Now we talked about already in our previous session that sin changed everything.

You know, it started out well, everything was good, and then after the Sabbath, very good.

But then chapter 3, sin enters this world and it really disrupts all these relationships.

It turns them upside down and somehow the Sabbath is that chain that God maybe wants to pull to remind us, as 1 of the church fathers has said, that there's eternity in our hearts.

04 Longing for More

This is the fourth session of Recharge, Finding Your Safe Place.

The title is Longing for More, and the presenters are Chantel and Gerald Klingbaum.

We're not repeating what we've done this morning.

But there's always a way to jump in there.

We're talking about rest, and we're not talking about the Sabbath, although we happened to talk about the Sabbath in the last session, but that was only 1 out of 5 because the concept of rest in the Bible is so much bigger than just a day and the rest day.

Our great Heavenly Father, thank you for your promise of rest, and thank you that it includes so much more than just stopping activity.

We pray for this refreshment and this opening of our minds during this time as well.

So what do you do when you've had a long, stressful day at work or at studies?

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Recharged: Finding Your Safe Place

02 Restless Family Ties

Transcript

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