Crazy Faith Talk

We often assume that being a Christian means always following the rules and living a quiet, respectable life, out of trouble and without drawing bad attention to ourselves.  And... sometimes that's true.  But sometimes the followers of Jesus knowingly go into situations they know will be provocative or will end with jail, punishments, or even the specter of death.  And yet, in several different st...

If you spend much time at all reading the stories of Jesus, you come to expect that he's always helping, always healing, and always doing something creative rather than destructive.  That's why it is so jarring to see a story in the Gospels where Jesus comes across a fig tree without any fruit on it and curses it so that it withers overnight--and it's even more unsettling when you find out that it...

Do Christians believe in angels?  Sure.  Demons and other unclean spirits?  They show up in the New Testament for sure.  But what about the spirits of the dead--especially good and faithful people like the prophet Samuel?  We don't really know what to think about a strange story like the one where King Saul consults a medium (sometimes called a "witch" in some renderings) who conjures up the spiri...

In a new series, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve gather around the imaginary table to explore some strange stories from the Bible--what they mean, where they come from, why they might have been remembered, and what they say to us today.  Kicking off the series is a look at the story of Jacob wrestling with...someone... during the night at a key moment in his life, before being punched in the hip a...

In this final episode of their series highlighting children's resources, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look at two children's books that speak beautifully to God's love for the world and our ways of thinking and speaking about God, too.  And while we may often think about picture books as either only for preschoolers at bedtime or children's moment times in church services, we'll discover again...

In their ongoing series looking at media for children and young people, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve take a look at two offerings shared by Pastor Sarah: first, a book called Tear Soup, meant to explore grief and loss for young people, and then the Buck Denver series, created by Phil Vischer (also of Veggie Tales fame), which explores questions of faith and the Bible in an engaging and open way...

In the first episode of a brand-new series, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve start to explore and highlight different media they find useful for exploring faith with children and youth, whether resources for Christian education in churches, children's books for at home, or videos and authors that they find helpful for deepening their own faith.  As we start the series, we're introduced to the child...

In this final episode of their series highlighting voices of faith from outside their individual particular faith traditions, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve look at the contemporary voice of the late Rachel Held Evans, who made a profound impact on many millennial and Gen-Z Christians even though she only had the chance to write a few books before a reaction to medication took her life.  As a for...

The trouble with a word as big and broad as "love" is that we can all say we're in favor of it and still mean very different--even contradictory--things when we say it.  The church is no different. We know we're supposed to be a community grounded in "love" for God and neighbor, but all too often, the church has gotten swept up in the wider culture's assumptions that "love" is primarily about roma...

As they continue their current series listening to voices outside each of their own faith traditions, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve turn to a much-loved spiritual teacher in the Roman Catholic tradition from the twentieth century, Henri Nouwen.  Well known for titles such as The Wounded Healer, The Return of The Prodigal Son, Life of the Beloved, and numerous other works, Nouwen wrote extensivel...

Sometimes religious folks assume it's a new idea to say that Christians should advocate for sharing their resources and pursuing policies to help those most in need.  Sometimes you'll hear critics saying that's a recent invention called "the social gospel" but that "true" Christianity encourages people to get rich (or is at least silent about the goodness or badness of wealth, and indifferent abou...

Even in a high-tech, non-stop age like ours--or maybe especially in such times--we need wise voices who can point us to spiritual truth from the flies and the honeybees, and who can call us to simplicity of lifestyle and of faith.  That's a least part of what led one of our Crazy Faith Talk conversation partners to highlight the perspective and wisdom of Paisios of Mount Athos, remembered as a sai...

In this new series, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve each highlight voices from the Christian family from traditions other than their own.  Since Christianity spans two millennia, numerous spiritual traditions, theological perspectives, and denominational histories from around the world, there are a lot of people we can learn from, even while we own and claim our own traditions and heritages.  In t...

The ability to bring out the best in someone else--that's a gift of God!  The capacity to manage and organize without making yourself the center of attention--that's a gift as well!  Same with the ability to help someone make sense of their situation in light of the stories and images of Scripture, or the ability to be generous in just the right ways someone else needs--these are all gifts from Go...

Something amazing happened on the day of Pentecost, mere weeks after Jesus' resurrection--a band of former fishermen and tax collectors started speaking about Jesus, and they could be heard and understood in languages they did not know, as the Holy Spirit gave them the ability.  Since then, the community of Jesus' followers has experience the Spirit's presence in ways that have to do with language...

Say the word "prophet," and a lot of folks assume you're talking about Nostrodamus-type soothsayers or the oracles of ancient Greek mythology who would utter esoteric predictions about the future.  But honestly, the people we call "prophets" in the biblical witness were more often people called by God to speak to their present times and situations, to speak truth to power, to call whole societies...

Some folks are certain they have witnessed a supernatural healing in their presence, and some folks are skeptical about anything that can't be explained by current science.  And somewhere in between is the tension between healthy questioning and an openness to a God who is beyond our comprehension.  In their series exploring spiritual gifts, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve find themselves looking...

While our wider culture may think of knowledge primarily in terms of facts to be memorized or diplomas on your wall, the followers of Jesus dare to believe that there is another kind of insight that is brought forth by the Spirit and isn't reducible to collections of data or even years of life experience.  It's the spiritual wisdom that comes from centering your life around the character and prior...

When people talk about their "spiritual gifts," it can sometimes sound like astrology signs or personality types, or just a religious-sounding way of talking about talents.  But when the biblical writers like Paul talk about spiritual gifts, they see something given by God to one person for the sake of the whole community.  There is a beautiful diversity of gifts, but they also exist for the benef...

If you've ever been moved to tears by a hymn or song of faith, or been stirred up to live your faith out by a powerful sermon, or encouraged through a difficult time by someone who gave you strength with their presence, you know what it's like to be touched by someone else's spiritual gifts.  And if you've ever had someone come up to you and say, "You're really great at building up a group to work...

In this final episode of their short series on the meaning and power of Easter hymns, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve explore a more recent hymn, entitled, "The Risen Christ," which casts Jesus less as a conquering king but as the wounded, living One who comes behind our locked doors, meets us in our fears, and still walks through the darkened places of the world bringing healing, life, and restor...

In their new series for the weeks following Easter, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve are looking at songs that help us celebrate and share the news of Jesus' resurrection.  And one of the most well-known in a lot of American churches of all sorts of stripes is a famous hymn of Charles Wesley's known as "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today."  In today's conversation, we'll look at how our songs of faith...

Easter is usually the time for the loudest and brightest-sounding songs in the hymnal, right?  We break out the trumpets and choirs, and we sing in boisterous, barn-burning major-key melodies, usually.  But sometimes we need a song that speaks the good news of resurrection and also names the reality of the cross at the same time, so we might just need to dare to sing an Easter song in a minor key....

If you think about it, the central story in the Christian faith is about a transition--from death to resurrection--that rearranges everything else around it.  And as much as we know the story of Easter is a joyful one, it also brings with it bittersweetness, and the anxiety of learning a "new normal."  So as we conclude this series on transition in life and in ministry, pastors Erica, Sarah, and S...

The important work of leaving well is an art, not a science. There's no formula for getting it all right, and no one-size-fits-all approach.  But there are some ideas, practices, and mindsets that can be helpful, both in a congregational setting and in the other goodbye moments of our lives, that can help us to say our "Farewell and Godspeed" in ways that are healthy.  As they near the end of this...