Awaken Bowness Podcast

"In those last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your children shall prophesy."   This week as we continue our mediation on Acts 2 and the Holy Spirit Kathy Brown talks us through this assertion from Joel that our children will prophesy. We contemplate in this sermon what is means to be a prophet, what prophesy really means, and how this gift of the spirit connects us to one another thr...

"I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." Is the opening to the key text we are meditating on over the course of this Summer. The Holy Spirit is characterized by this image of a radical generosity that pours out onto all people. This is a self-giving generosity that is given indiscriminately and unconditionally, a pouring out of self onto all flesh.   This Sunday Mike Poettcker brings us into the...

We aren't really known for a fiery zeal for the Holy Spirit here at Awaken and with all the bad press our fellow Christians have given the Holy Spirit we can't blame each other for being guarded. Christians tend to cause more harm than good when we think of the Spirit as either a personal magic within us, validating our ego-driven desire to transcend, or as a liturgical lapdog who comes when calle...

Throughout this series we've explored how Sabbath is for all of creation - human creatures, non-human creatures, and the land itself. We either all rest and flourish, or none of us do. As we close the series on Pentecost Sunday, Dallas discusses how the pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh is an invitation, as Willie Jennings calls it, into the "risk of new relationships." This Spirit is not exc...

The Sabbath laws in scripture are insistent that a true Sabbath rest is not just for the head of the household, not just for the wealthy who can afford it, but for everyone, and everything. If the rest isn't for everyone, it isn't Sabbath. The Scriptures also constantly remind us that God is deeply concerned with they way we treat animals. No small part of the law is dedicated to what animals can...

We've considered so far in this series that man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath made for man. This week, Michelle Edworthy impresses upon us that the Sabbath wasn't made only for human beings, but for the land itself. The Sabbath is a sacred symbol of rest, and that rest is commanded not just for the people who live on the land, but for the land itself.    This week we are reminded t...

Jubilee is the antithesis to Capitalism. Jubilee is only possible in a gift economy. Jubilee is only possible among a people who have repented of their idolatry, who have denounced their allegiance to Mammon, and turned towards one another, viewing image bearers as being worth more than our possessions. Jubilee is only possible in a community that sees a God who made the world, loved the world, an...

As we continue our journey of exploration through God's dream of rest for the community of God, we are joined this Sunday by Wayne and Lydia Nelson, who will speak on Sabbath as Addiction Recovery. What does it mean to find rest and freedom from the bondage and burden of living with addiction. What is God's dream for us when we struggle with addiction, and what does Sabbath mean in this context?

God's sacred dream for rest and wholeness in our world does not mean rest from labour only, but rest from trauma, from indignity, and from the cycles of fear and ostracization that keep people from flourishing in the community of God. Christ offers a Sabbath rest that wraps us up in safety, empowerment, and connection.    The week pastor James Wheeler joins us to preach on the Trauma-Informed Sabb...