Episodes
Wednesday Jul 15, 2020
July 12, 2020: The Courage to Rest – Amanda Lum
Wednesday Jul 15, 2020
Wednesday Jul 15, 2020
Many of us find ourselves weary and worn out. Especially in this time of a world-wide pandemic. God’s invitation to us is to experience rest and restoration in our lives even in the midst of all the demands we face. God created for six days and then “God rested”. One of the commands is to keep the Sabbath holy. What does keeping a Sabbath have to do with rest? Why is it hard to accept that invitation to rest? What does it mean to rest? How do we rest? These are the questions we will pursue in this teaching.
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
July 5, 2020: Flesh & Blood – Dave Neuhausel
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Tuesday Jul 07, 2020
Explore how personal sin is merely the symptom of the much darker, insidious, and unseen diseases that are rooted in power and principalities.
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
June 28, 2020: Just This – Michael Hidalgo
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
Wednesday Jul 01, 2020
The Church in Galatia was in a theological bind. They were arguing about what was expected of those who were a part of the Church. Rules. Beliefs. Expectations. All of these things have the power to bind us, to imprison us and shackle us as slaves in the world of poor religion. It’s nothing new, we do the same thing today. What God wants is freedom for all people.
Into this context, Paul writes and says, “The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.” That’s it. It is that simple. Our faith is to worked out in our lives and through our lives into the world by love. What if this framed our theology? Our beliefs? Our thinking? Our religion? Our church? Phrased another way, if our faith when worked out is not love, it is dead wrong. It’s possible, this really is the only thing that matters.
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
June 21, 2020: Make It Real – Jon Gettings
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Thursday Jun 25, 2020
Here we have a description of love. It begs the question what does patience, kindness, joy, humility, honoring others, seeking good for others, not being easily angered, not keeping a record of wrongs, not delighting in evil, rejoicing with the truth, protecting, trusting, hoping and persevering look like in everyday life? If we can begin to form a response to this question we might come close to being those who put hands and feet on the idea of love.
While it may seem overwhelming, this long list has two things in common. First, they all describe the Divine. Second, they all insist we place others before self. So, it could be said, the practice of love is to imitate the love we see in Jesus, one who always placed others before himself.
Sunday Jun 14, 2020
June 14, 2020: The Most Excellent Way – Michael Hidalgo
Sunday Jun 14, 2020
Sunday Jun 14, 2020
Paul spills a lot of ink leading up to these verses. He addresses questions of lifestyle, worship, Eucharist, service and unity among the Church in Corinth. Then he points out even if all these things are in place - if there is no love - then not one of them is worth it. It is just noise. It is all nothing. It is worthless. Love, is the most excellent way.
This is important for us to consider for often we can be about all sorts of good things - speaking Divine words, spouting knowledge and wisdom, giving generously, even risking our own security for the sake of others ... but if any of these things are done without love it simply does not matter. Which means love must be the foundation of all we do - whether justice, generosity, teaching, acts of service, worship - everything must be grounded in love.
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
June 7, 2020: Do You Know Who You Are? – Bekah Stewart
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
Saturday Jun 06, 2020
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” That’s the mark. That’s how we can be identified as Jesus followers: by loving each other. This was the command Jesus gave to those who follow his way, and as disciples they understood that living life in imitation of their rabbi was what being a disciple was all about.
Jesus, later tells them what this love looks like when he speaks about laying down one’s life for their friends. Of course, in the immediate context, Jesus was about to lay down his life for everyone, not just his friends. But when we consider practicing love in the way of Jesus - what does it look like for us to lay down our lives for one another?
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
May 31, 2020: Get Off Your Ass and Do Something – Michael Hidalgo
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
Tuesday Jun 02, 2020
One of Jesus’ most famous parables is about The Good Samaritan. Most people know it well, but what is often missed is the set up to the story. Jesus is asked about the greatest commandment, and he follows up talk of loving God, with practicing love for our neighbor. It is then Jesus is asked, “And who is my neighbor?” In other words, “And who do I have to love?” Jesus then launches into the story of a man who gets robbed, beaten and left for dead. He is on the side of road looking dead when a couple of religious people walk past, and eventually a Samaritan helps the poor guy out. Jesus concludes by asking, “Who is the neighbor?”
In doing so he turns the original question around. Instead of asking, “Who should I love?” Jesus points toward the reality that the practice of loving others is what it means to be a neighbor. For us then, it is not a question of who we should love, but are we loving others? This is the challenge in this story - and the challenge we face in our context today.
Tuesday May 26, 2020
May 24, 2020: Love is God and God is Love – Scott Oppliger
Tuesday May 26, 2020
Tuesday May 26, 2020
The 13th Century mystic, Marguerite Porete, famously wrote, “I am God, says Love, for Love is God, and God is Love …” These are a few of her words found in her book, The Mirror of Simple Souls - a work, that because she refused to recant, led to her death on charges of heresy. Her observation recorded here points toward a mystery at the heart of the greatest command: Love is God, and we are to love God, which means we are to love, Love. More simply, we are to love what the Divine is.
Which raises the question: what does this look like? There is no singular response to that question, but it can begin with our simply response being a willingness to participate in the life of God. It is this Divine life that already sustains all things, including us, and we can embrace that reality or resist it. Should we choose to embrace love, we just may find ourselves loving God.
Monday May 18, 2020
May 17, 2020: The Engine of the Universe
Monday May 18, 2020
Monday May 18, 2020
When Jesus came screaming into the world from the womb of his mother, it wasn’t his first showing. He’d always been around, but this time he was showing up differently. He had put on flesh and made his dwelling among humanity. This is a deep truth attested to throughout the text. In him all things were made and in him all things hold together. This mysterious power, energy, force - the glue that holds our expanding universe together is something that still stumps the most brilliant scientists in the world. However, the biblical writers had no problem naming it - it was the life of God and that life was not made human. We can now see it, touch it and it has a name.
Jesus. The face of a God who is love. It is this realization that led Teilhard de Chardin to claim love at the heart of the universe. He recognized all things were powerfully drawn to one another in relationship. This, he observed, is love. If love, then, is the engine of the universe it’s possible when we participate in anything else we work against the very life of God.
Monday May 11, 2020
May 10, 2020: All for One – Michael Hidalgo
Monday May 11, 2020
Monday May 11, 2020
Paul is writing to a group of people who, like all of us, have religious, gender and social identities. And he argues none of that matters. All the labels, the divisions, the identities and classes are irrelevant, for all are in Christ. Which means, there is only one. There absolutely is NO them, there is only us. Whether Jew or Gentile, gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, far or near, liberal or conservative, male or female. It does not matter … in Christ, we are one.
What if we focused on questions that did not divide, but came together around the table? What if we asked, “Can we agree on Christ’s broken body and blood shed for the reconciliation and healing of the world?” “Can we agree on our need for the reconciliation and peace of Christ?” The answer, of course, is yes. We all need these things. And, in Christ, all the divisions cease.