COOS Love Podcast

Jesus not only suffers as a result of sin, in the Passion narrative he becomes sin. He takes on the unbearable burden of human wrongdoing and lets it destroy him so that it does not destroy us. The destructive power of sin is making us feel separated from God, but in Christ God embraces us fully, sin and all. The crucifixion of Jesus shows as dramatically as possible that God will not let anything...

The drama of Holy Week is not just a series of ancient events, but rather the story of God being intimately close to us in all circumstances. That final week of Jesus’ earthly life involved the whole panoply of human experience, from love and friendship to anguish and death. The story conveys God’s nearness to us. As we move through the liturgies of Holy Week, it helps us to be close to Christ and...

When hope feels out of reach, sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is let someone else hold it for us. From the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel to the grief-filled tomb of Lazarus, we encounter a God who meets us not with quick fixes but with presence. Jesus does not rush past sorrow—he enters into it, even to the point of weeping. And there, in that presence, we discover a hope that does no...

People have strong opinions about how to worship, but Jesus teaches that the purpose is to worship God in spirit and in truth. And we will know that we are offering genuine worship when it helps us to love God and love other people more. This is true regardless of the style or manner of worship. The way we worship at Church of Our Saviour may not be the best way for everyone, but it will be the be...

Human beings have a natural impulse to blame others for their problems, but Jesus shows us a better way. He never blames sinners who come to him. He reveals that God does not blame us for our sin, but that our failures and times of weakness are always opportunities to grow in love and faith. Rather than blaming ourselves, other people, or God, we can join with Christ and embrace every moment as a...

Jesus teaches us to love others, and that means being kind to them. Our society is filled with anger and malice, and it can be hard to practice kindness, but we have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us. The Spirit makes us one with God and allows us to tap into the infinite resources of God’s love so that kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness can flow through us. Watch the video HERE. Connect...

The longest recorded conversation Jesus has in the Gospels isn’t with a disciple or a religious leader. It’s with a Samaritan woman at a well. What unfolds there turns out not to be a story about scandal, but about being seen, known, and loved. Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 40:39) Read the sermon HERE Connect with Church of Our Saviour HERE    

While faithful living means using our gifts and taking positive actions for the sake of love, it also involves moments of feeling weak and powerless. Such moments, however, can lead to a deeper experience of God’s mercy and grace. Rather than run away from them or deny them, we should embrace times of weakness and ask for God to meet us in those times. Our powerlessness can become a way for us to...

What does it look like to say yes to the unknown when God calls you forward? Abram was changed by the going and Nicodemus by the confronting. How can we enter contested public spaces not just with strategy, but with humility, curiosity, and a willingness to be transformed themselves? We do it by staying rooted in the audacious, all-encompassing love of God, it is ultimately an invitation to advent...

In our Ash Wednesday confession, we repent of false judgments, uncharitable thoughts towards our neighbors, and our contempt towards those who differ from us. It’s a necessary confession because we all too easily judge and condemn others in our hearts. Doing so is toxic for us spiritually, however, and Jesus teaches us the path to health. We need to let go of such feelings and transform them into...

Temptation is less about bread or power and more about forgetting who we are. In the wilderness, Jesus confronts the temptation to prove himself and instead learns to live from the truth spoken at his baptism. We are invited to examine the voices that stir doubt in our own lives and to rediscover the healing, here-and-now salvation that comes from knowing we are God’s beloved. Watch the video HERE...

Following Jesus means growing up spiritually into the loving, Christ-like people God created us to be. Lent is a time to focus on that process of growth, which involves letting go of immature ways of being and moving beyond an egocentric way of living. Spiritual practices like prayer, fasting, and doing acts of charity can be helpful in this process, but only if we keep the goal in mind: moving be...

The most basic revelation of God that we all experience is the desire for God. Every human being deep down wants to be close to the divine nature which created us and loves us. One of the reasons we worship and pray is to stay in touch with that basic desire, which can be drowned out by the busyness and demands of daily life. The more we hear and respond to our yearning for God, the more God can m...

Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world, which means shining the light of God’s love in our current culture, which is cruel to immigrants. While we need to see the terrible way some are treated and stand against such behavior, we must do so with love and not anger. Rage will only obscure the light, so we must let go of anger with the help of the Holy Spirit. Watch the video HERE (sermon...

Psalm 130 talks about waiting for the Lord, and Jesus also teaches us to watch for God so that we can be prepared to receive God whenever and however God comes to us. One of our primary tasks as a people of faith is to stay spiritually alert and so be open to the various ways God comes into our lives. Prayer and worship are crucial in this: they help us stay awake and they remind us that the God o...

God is the Creator of all, and being out in nature is a great way to connect with God. Many prominent Christian thinkers down through the centuries have claimed that there are two books of revelation: the book of creation and the book of scripture. There are many ways nature can reveal God to us, but one important way is by reminding us of the big picture, that we are part of a vast reality that i...

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the whole world. Not only does God forgive us, but God holds us blameless. Accepting that Christ takes away sin and blame sets us free to live better and love more fully. That is good for us, and good for the people we impact. We can’t share what we do not have, so accepting the mercy and compassion of God helps us to be merciful and co...

Psalm 103 tells us that God remembers that we are but dust, but God does more than have pity on our frailty: God uses our weakness to draw close to us. When we realize our limitations and needs, we are humble enough to let God work through us. Paul says we have this treasure in clay jars because God wants to shine through us, and our weakness gives God an opportunity to do just that. Watch the vid...

When Jesus comes to John for baptism, John resists, certain this is not how the story is supposed to go. Jesus responds with an invitation: “Let it be so now”—a call to consent, to show up, stay present, and trust that God is at work even in the interruptions. Perhaps Jesus is offering us the same invitation. Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 36:40) Read the sermon HERE Connect with Church of...

Psalm 103 assures us that God understands the frailty of our human nature, but in Jesus God not only understands that frailty – he lives it. Christ embraces human nature in all its weakness and shows only compassion and love. When we pray to God for help of any kind, we are not praying to a deity who doesn’t understand our condition and who just wants to punish and condemn us: we are praying to a...

The Epiphany is a beautiful story about the love of Christ being revealed to all people. While powerful forces in the world resist that, people who are humble enough can both see the light of Christ revealed in mercy and compassion, and share that light with others. As Christians, we don’t own Jesus: we bear witness to his life, death, and resurrection as the full manifestation of God’s love for a...

Every Christmas, we return to a story we already know—angels and shepherds, a manger and a child, the message of God with us. We come back not because the story has changed, but because we have. Faith is not only about knowing the story, but allowing it to shape us, moving the good news from head to heart. In the midst of our changing lives, Christmas invites us to encounter the God who comes clos...

Saying yes to God bearing Christ in us creates permanent, biological, ontological change - and that's exactly what Advent is inviting us into. Mary and Joseph’s YES might not have made sense from the outside but was a deep and holy call. What could a YES in our own lives mean as we invite Emmanuel to be born into our own hearts. Watch the video HERE (sermon starts at 38:19) Read the sermon HERE Co...

Psalm 130 highlights one of the great themes of Advent: waiting for God. We remember how our ancestors waited for Christ, even as we continue to wait for the final coming of Christ. We also wait for Christ to come in our daily lives, which is paradoxical because we already have the Spirit of Christ within us. It is important to practice watchful waiting, however, so that we do not miss God when Go...

When John the Baptist finds himself imprisoned and uncertain, his question to Jesus echoes a familiar human experience: the painful space, the gap between what we hoped for and what we are living. Such unmet expectations can shake our faith – and Jesus responds not with simple answers, but with signs of God’s quiet, merciful work in the world. In this season of Advent, we are invited to see where...