ReNew Ames Messages

This poem is so familiar to many of us, both in our personal faith practices and in pop culture. But it's not something we only have to read and hear at funerals. It's a poem that has deep meaning. It makes a declaration about what kind of God we're dealing with. It's also a poem about what it means to be human, to be vulnerable, to get lost, and ultimately about how to find our way home. So, what...

This is the story of Joshua, the new leader of Israel, taking the people of Israel out of the wilderness, across the Jordan to enter into the promised land. Another ancient, primal, foundational story that mirrors the crossing of the Red Sea. We'll see if it can mirror our own lives, or at least show us a way forward. What do we do when we believe God has something ahead for us but the path to tha...

We're all gonna die. One day. Life is precious. Let's not waste it. A question that comes up when we confront our own mortality is often is, what kind of person am I becoming? What kind of life leads to a life being called "blessed"? That's what this Psalm is all about. Three movements. 1) There are paths that shape us. Walk. Sit. Stand. It's like the Psalmist is watching a person sort of graduall...

This is the story about the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus: do we pay taxes to Caesar or not? Yeah, you thought you could trap Jesus. C'mon, man. Face Palm Emoji. I'll retell the story and then we'll work through three movements of the story. 1) There's always a struggle/battle over what has ultimate authority. Everywhere you went in the ancient world you were reminded who had the power and who ha...

The parable of the wedding banquet. This is the third parable Jesus tells to protest/critique his own religious tradition, or possibly all religious traditions. Here we enter into the wedding banquet parable. The invitation goes out, but the guests refuse to show up. I imagine the king was pretty angry. But what does he do with his anger? He turns it into grace, like Jesus turned his anger inside...

Another vineyard story - here we go! Triumphal entry. Peaceful protest against Roman Empire and the religious establishment. Religious leaders are piiiiiissed. "Who do you think you are? Where did you get your authority?" they ask. Jesus is all - the tax collectors and prostitutes are in better shape than you a-holes. Then he tells the story about the vineyard. The owner gives the vineyard as a gi...

Jesus is challenged by the authorities, "Who do you think you are? By what authority are you doing these things?" What things is Jesus doing? I'll give some background: it's the Monday of Holy Week. He's led a protest parade. Exciting! Crowds love it. Then he goes into the temple and clears things out; he's protesting the system of exploitation that keeps the poor out. Then he goes out into the ou...

Forgiveness is central to the message of Jesus, but Peter wants to know how much forgiveness that is. Is there a limit to grace? Jesus says, "Seventy-seven times." Or, seventy times seven times, depending on how you want to translate the ambiguous language of Jesus. Then Jesus tells the story about a king forgiving a guy his debts. The guy immediately goes out and demands another guy pay him his d...

This is the third in our series The Sage and The Son, where Aaron and Tony sit down to discuss topics of theology, social justice, and where they see the American Church heading (and where they hope it will go). Speaker: Aaron Vis and Tony Vis

Paul says these things are good and right and true and beautiful. They sound simple...until we try to do them. The church in Rome was the location this letter was headed, and Paul was writing to a deeply divided church. So where are we in the letter? We're about three quarters of the way through. The first part of the letter is filled with all sorts of theology: sin, grace, mercy, Jesus, life, dea...

This is the story of the beginning of the book of Exodus. It is one of our primal stories, a foundational one. So first, let's walk slowly through a retelling of the story and I'll comment along the way. Pharaoh has all the power. Yet he's afraid of people who have no power. He does what fearful people with power often do. Fear turns into policy, suspicion turns into laws of the land. He enslaves...

This is the story of the Canaanite woman asking for healing for her daughter. Okay, so this is another story, along with the version found in Mark, that I've preached several times. Here, we have yet another angle. The world is starving for good news these days. It seems like every corner we look in online, there's something bad or depressing to read about, and everyone we talk to could tell us a...

Here's the story of Jesus walking on water, but from a different angle than usual! There's an interesting relationship that Christianity has had with fear, especially over the last 50-100 years, maybe even longer. Don't know what to call it. Buff Christianity? No Fear Christianity? Instead of making a compassionate, gracious space for us to acknowledge our fears, fear has been used to manipulate a...

Speaker: Bev Modlin Scripture: Luke 7:36-50 http://bible.com/events/49645386

Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. Honestly? I kinda hate this parable. So we'll see what we can do. All of us have this sense of justice in our bones; we know right and wrong, and when something's wrong, we want to rush to make it right. We want the bad guys to get what they deserve and we want the good guys to win. So when Jesus tells this parable, it feels pretty unsettling. The weeds grow wit...

Speaker: Alexia Hanson Scripture: Haggai 1:1-15 http://bible.com/events/49639260

We're starting off here by talking about how many of us have this little voice inside our heads that asks the question: Am I enough? It sometimes gets louder after we've made a mess of things...and we've all made a mess of things. Since we all live with that voice I want us to sit with Paul's words, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." No condemnation. That isn't just...

Speakers: Aaron Vis and Tony Vis In part two of The Sage And The Son, Tony and Aaron answer more of the submitted questions from back in May.

Again, kind of an odd little episode in the life of Jesus. To what shall I compare this generation. Then he tells a weird little story about children playing in the marketplace, and doesn't really explain it, which leaves room for us to play and figure it out. Here's the gist: the people have become impossible to satisfy. John is too serious. Jesus is too joyful. John is too conservative. Jesus is...

We're going to start off talking about Christian coffee mugs. Have you noticed that most that fit this criterion are pretty specific types of Bible verses? Yeah, there are definitely some passages that don't end up on a mug, or a t-shirt. Like the passage we're reading today. Some of the things Jesus says here are hard to digest. They don't necessarily fit the image we have of a gentle prophet and...

Speaker: Bev Modlin Scripture: John 9:1-41 https://www.bible.com/events/49623691

Today we're slowly walking through the calling of Matthew. Jesus saw Matthew at the tax collector's booth; we have to understand some of tax collector culture to grasp why Matthew would have had a negative reputation amongst his people. He's basically an IRS agent working in collaboration with the Roman empire to extort money from his own people. So yeah, he wasn't liked. Yet Jesus calls him anywa...

It's Trinity Sunday! We're starting off with a VERY brief history lesson with an introduction to the Nicene Creed. Yes, I'm even going to quote from the creed. We're going old school. The creed clearly clears things up. Yeah, no. We all still have questions. All of these analogies seem to fall short. Maybe the Trinity is better NOT explained; maybe it's better if we experience the Trinity. Think a...

In this second iteration of Aaron and Tony chatting about faith and living a life that reflects Jesus, folks submitted questions and they answered them, mostly off the cuff. There are still more questions that didn't get answered this time around, so be on the lookout for another Sunday like this in the near future to finish up the list, if everything works out!

We continue on in the Farewell Discourses. This time, we finish with the prayer Jesus prays at the end of his long, difficult discussion with his disciples, before he says goodbye. We'll begin by remembering, again, the context. It's remarkable that Jesus intercedes with the Father on our behalf. I love the idea that God cares about my little life and loves me enough to talk to the Father about me...