Together 4 Good: Making Sense of Life and Faith

This week's podcast features a special guest!  Pastor Nate invited his dad on to the podcast to talk about one of their favorite topics:  Time Travel.   Listen in as they discuss all the ways that theology and the life of faith connect with the idea of time travel. 

In this episode, Pastor Nate leads a deep-dive on Mark's version of the resurrection story and talks about how Mark's unique approach to telling this story is so interesting and valuable for our life of faith.  

Pastor Gary’s full sermon from April 18, 2021.  This sermon is based on Luke 24:36b-48.

In this PRAYER AND STUDY episode, we take time to dwell deeply in God's Word. Through readings, reflections, prayers, and music we will meditate on Luke 14:1;7-14.  Take 15 quiet minutes to pray, study, and grow in your sense of God's activity in your life and the world around you.

This SERMON episode is a recording of Pastor Nate's Sunday morning sermon from 4/11/21.  It focuses on the disciple Thomas and his experience of the resurrection as found in John 20:19-31.  

This episode is a Bible study on Luke 24:1-11.  Pastor Nate looks at  Luke's version of the Easter story and gives you an in-depth analysis of many of the smaller details and bigger questions posed by this Gospel reading.  

At the beginning of Lent, we shared a poem on this feed entitled "The Fall: A Poem for Lent".   As a way of adding a bookend to our journey from Lent to Easter, Pastor Nate shares another poem entitled "Bodily Resurrection" which is based on readings from Luke 24:36-49.   

In this episode, Pastor Nate and Pastor Gary sit down to talk about Holy Week, its theological themes, its liturgical worship services, and ways to further engage this most sacred week of the Christian year.   During this episode we mention a video where Pastor Nate makes Communion Bread with his family, you can find that video by following this link: https://youtu.be/MVofsb32Rk0  We als...

Pastor Nate discusses the gift of Rituals, Traditions, and Seasons and the ways that establishing these rhythms in our life can bring greater intentionality to our life of faith and greater connection to God.   

Listen to an audio recording of Pastor Nate's sermon from the Mid-week Lenten service held on 3/17.  This sermon is based on a strange reading from Numbers 21:4-9 and explores the ways that God sends healing into the broken and hurting places in our world. 

This episode is a recording from the sermon on 3/14.  It's part 3 in our series "Because You Asked".  Pastor Gary and Pastor Nate together preach a sermon that addresses questions about Heaven and Salvation.  

We are just about halfway through the season of Lent and so here is a conversation between Pastor Gary and Pastor Nate about the Lenten season.  Why is it important? How can it be of value to our journey of faith.  Is it too late to embrace the themes of Lent, now that we are halfway through?  We will answer these questions and more!  

This episode is an audio recording of Pastor Nate’s full sermon from 3/7/21.  This sermon is part 2 in our “Because You Asked” series.  Pastor Nate’s sermon looks at forgiveness and is based on readings from Psalm 130 and Matt 18:15-22

In this episode, we share an audio recording of Pastor Nate’s sermon from our Mid-Week Lenten Service on 3/3/21.   This sermon focuses on following Jesus and the ways that living out that calling can oftentimes cause us to change, adjust, and let go of certain parts of our lives and is based on Mark 8:31-38.

In this episode, we share the audio recording of Pastor Gary’s full sermon from our Wednesday Evening Lenten service on 2/24.  Listen as Pastor Gary explores the ways that temptation affects our life and how Jesus shows us the way to confront these difficulties.

In hopes of helping equip our listeners with new skills during this Lenten season, we will be recording several of these Spiritual Practice episodes during the next 40 days.  These episodes are designed to provide you with instruction and insight about different spiritual practices that can benefit your walk of faith. This Spiritual Practice episode explores the practice of the St. Ignatius E...

Pastor Gary’s full sermon from 2/28/21, the 2nd Sunday in Lent. This is the first sermon in a 3 part series we are calling “Because You Asked”. This sermon looks at the topic of evil and division in our world and how Jesus calls us to respond.  It is based on reading from Galatians 3:22-29 and Matthew 10:34-39.

In this PRAYER AND STUDY episode, we take time to dwell deeply in God's Word.  Through readings, reflections, prayers, and music we will meditate on Acts 16:19-34.  Take 15 quiet minutes to pray, study, and grow in your sense of God's activity in your life and the world around you.

In hopes of helping equip our listeners with new skills during this Lenten season we will be recording several of this Spiritual Practice episodes during the next 40 days.  These episodes are designed to provide you with instruction and insight about different spiritual practices that can benefit your walk of faith.     This Spiritual Practice episode explores the practice of L...

Pastor Nate's sermon for the first Sunday in Lent is based on Mark 1:9-15 and explores the topics of humility and stillness.  This sermon was preached at Bethany Lutheran Church on 2/21/21

Bethany’s Director of Communication, Laura Eaton-Ortega stops by the podcast to talk about social tithing, a unique concept she’s devised that encourages us all to think about the ways that we can use social media to support the church.

This episode includes further thoughts and insights about the nature of Stewardship from Pastor Gary.   How is stewardship linked to sacrifice and trust?  What does all this mean for our life of faith and relationship with God?  Listen in as Pastor Gary shares some additional insights into our life of generosity and giving. 

This sermon from Transfiguration Sunday was preached on 2/14/21.  We were pleased to welcome Vicky Daub as our guest preacher.  Vicky is a long time member of Bethany and a graduate of Luther Seminary. Texts for this sermon:  2 Kings 2:1-12 Mark 9:2-9 To see video of this sermon (and the image Vicky references) go to https://bethanydevos.tumblr.com/tagged/sermons 

As part of our ongoing exploration of Stewardship, Pastor Gary and Pastor Nate sit down to discuss their respective sermons from 1/31 and 2/7 as well as some further Stewardship themes that were not covered in their sermons.  

This episode is a recording of Pastor Gary's sermon from 2/7/21.  It's the second sermon in our series on Stewardship and is based on readings from 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 and Luke 13:18-19.