Over the next 12 weeks we are going to try something difficult.  We are going to try and unlearn some things together.  Learning is hard, but as we all know, unlearning is even harder.

“You’re wrong” are probably two of the most difficult words for anyone to hear.  And yet sometimes they are true.  Sometimes we are wrong.

And it is painful to be wrong.  Because when we just need to learn something new, it can be difficult, but it feels achievable.  But when we are wrong, we need to unlearn what we have learned.  Our assumptions.  Our perspective.  Our nature.  Our upbringing.  Our understanding.  Everything needs to change.  Because we are wrong.

To unlearn is to reverse direction.  To unlearn is to undo.  To unlearn is to take what we know and no longer know it.  To unlearn is hard.

Yet it is crucial that we unlearn.  Because there are so many pieces of life up until now that we have been wrong about.  And if we are honest with ourselves, there are many more areas we don’t have down.  We need to unlearn.

And so we are going to look our life, our relationships, and our world and examine the areas where we might need to unlearn something.

Because what you have always known
what seems obvious
what your parents taught you
what you learned in school
what you read in a book
what the media broadcasts
what your therapist told you
Even what you may have heard in church might just be something you need to unlearn.

"Half of learning is learning. The other half of learning is unlearning. Unfortunately, unlearning is twice as hard as learning. It’s like missing your exit on the freeway. You have to drive to the next exit and then double back. Every mile you go in the wrong direction is really a two-mile error. Unlearning is twice as hard, and it often takes twice as long. It is harder to get old thoughts out of your mind than it is to get new thoughts into your mind.

If you study the teachings of Christ, you’ll realize that learning wasn’t his primary goal. His primary goal was unlearning. He was reverse engineering religious minds. And those can be the toughest minds to change. That is why two phrases are repeated over and over again in the Sermon on the Mount. “You have heard that it was said…”, “But I tell you…”

from In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson

Order of Service for July 1, 2008