a Church Podcast

In a world that feels unjust and upside down, God is inviting us to be honest.  There is freedom and healing to be found when we speak out loud our lament, our complaint, and our truth.   Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1 and 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Support the show

The Gospel of John echoes the larger origin stories of the Bible to initiate a moment of change.   Within these stories of creation and re-creation there is an invitation for us to come together to make something new and good.   Support the show

When I was your age I had to walk to school in the snow.  In other words, "when I was your age kids were tougher because life was difficult."  In other words,  "why can't you be better?"  But maybe there's no going back to some version of "the good old days."  And maybe we don't really understand what others are going through. Support the show

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Just like that, everything can be gained and everything can be lost.  It's all smoke. No wonder Ecclesiastes resonated so deeply with Peter Seeger and the United States in the 1960's.  Turn, turn, turn!  Everything is changing!  In all of this volatility, what is the role of faith?   Support the show

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"Smoke, nothing but smoke... there’s nothing to anything—it’s all smoke."  So Ecclesiastes begins and we might wonder, "how did this get into the Bible?"  Or after the fall of Roe v Wade  we might be thinking, "How can women's rights so quickly go up in smoke?"  Or maybe you have a different take about all of this, to which the Bible says, "welcome to the co...

Why do we want to know God's name?  Looking back we know all too well that colonialism and slavery and all kinds of atrocities have been done in the name of God.  God's name will instead be given only when it will be used in the service of healing and liberation.  Thank you to Calvary Baptist for inviting us to worship together with you in celebration of Juneteenth. Support the show

Proverbs or wise sayings, work because they are short and memorable.  But because they are short they can at times miss the more nuanced complications of life.  Proverbs are most helpful when we stop asking them to feed us information that is true for all people, at all times and in all places.  Instead proverbs are meant to start us on the journey of wonder where we can learn to discover was is t...

Pentecost is a day each year when we celebrate God’s Spirit moving in and through the beauty and diversity of humanity.  But in Genesis 11 we hear that there was only one language, which sounds rather boring.  How will God's Spirit move us and our world forward with increasing beauty, creativity and love?       Support the show

What is the truth?  Is it moral absolutes that are true in all situations, for all people, and at all times?  Perhaps that would make life easier and less complicated.  But what about those times times when the right answer is the wrong answer or the wrong answer is the right answer? What if the truth is there to be discovered in the mostly subjective moments of real life with real people?  Suppor...

Jesus' inheritance to his disciples and to us is love.  Love is a gift and a commandment so that God's love might be experienced and passed down through the ages.  Support the show

Is there room in God's character and love for all of our embodied human experiences?  In proverbs 9, Lady Wisdom, invites us to widen our understanding of God and our embrace of one another.   Support the show

What do you do to get rid of hiccups?  Does it work?  Does anything work?  Our home remedies can all feel so foolish.   In 2 Kings 5 a brave warrior is looking for a cure, but the home remedy that he gets from a prophet seems so foolish.  But it's the foolishness that reveals the deeper wound and our need for healing.     Support the show

The resurrection of Jesus affirms the value and goodness of our physical world, but our world is in danger.  On this Earth Sunday, the Easter story invites us to open our eyes to the reality of the climate crisis and the hope that collectively we can make a difference.    Support the show

Happy Easter!  We come to the last chapter of the book of Ruth wondering if redemption is possible.   Support the show

Like basically every season of any reality tv show, this next chapter is the craziest and most dramatic yet.   Out of desperation, Naomi and Ruth set a wildly provocative scene.  In a similar way, Jesus sets his own wildly provocative scene as he rides toward Jerusalem on a donkey.   Support the show

Ruth goes out into the dangerous fields looking for leftover grain and wondering if there is any room for her in this world of fear and exclusion.  As it happens she comes to a  field with a few people who have intentionally left room as a reflection of God's inclusive generosity.   Support the show

If we're not careful we will read the story of Ruth as if it were one of our common sense formulas.  So when Ruth gets up to work, we might assume that this is a perfect illustration of hard work = success.  But it's not that simple for Ruth who is a single woman in a male-dominated world.  It's not that simple for Ruth who is an immigrant in a xenophobic world.  Life is just not th...