Crazy Faith Talk

As the Gospel writers tell it, Jesus dies loving others, just as surely as he lived and taught that same love.  As pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue to make their way through the Stations of the Cross, they now turn to events that happen once Jesus has physically been crucified, and how even these moments show remarkable mercy and grace.  After being mocked by soldiers, crowds, religious le...

Pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue their Lenten series on the stations of the cross, today looking at the journey Jesus took physically carrying the instrument of his own execution.  We'll take a look at what how the Gospel writers use this scene to convey something of what Jesus' death meant and did for us, but also how Jesus was aware of the disaster awaiting his people at the hands of the...

Looking for a way to stay engaged with your faith while stores are closed, schools are cancelled, and worship services are being suspended?  How about a podcast!  In this latest episode of "Crazy Faith Talk," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue looking at the stations of the cross.  Today, we look at Peter's denial of Jesus in the courtyard, the trial of Jesus before Pilate, and the scourging...

In this new series for Lent, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look at the first three moments in the "stations of the cross" progression, beginning with Jesus' prayer in the garden, and then looking at his betrayal by his disciple Judas Iscariot, and his trial before the Sanhedrin. And instead of rushing through these moments as stories we have all heard before, what if we paused and took a closer...

As they start a new series for the season of Lent, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve start the journey toward the cross looking at a faith practice used across several different Christian traditions, the stations of the cross.  Some folks, especially out of the Roman Catholic tradition, may already be quite familiar with these moments from the Passion of Christ, and use them devotionally throughout...

After looking at how different biblical writers talk about "justice," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve now find themselves asking, "Where do we go from here?"  After all, it's not enough to simply know "facts about justice," but rather to do justice in our actions, choices, and thinking.  So in this episode, the trio around the table starts to lay out the kinds of questions we'll need to keep askin...

Church folks have a way of getting stuck in technical theological jargon, with terms like "justification," "righteousness," "imputation," and "redemption." No wonder we have a hard time knowing whether it is good news or bad news to talk about "the righteousness of God" or even "God's justice."  A lot of folks over the centuries have heard the Bible's talk about "the justice of God" and been afrai...

As they continue to listen to different voices from the Scriptures for a clearer understanding of justice, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve turn to stories from the Gospels of Luke and John.  In a story Jesus tells about two neighbors, we get a reminder that all of the Scriptures command God's people to care for the neighbor in need at our door.  And in a well-known story found in John's Gospel, we...

Jesus' teaching about justice doesn't just show up in one passage or one parable--it's everywhere.  So in their ongoing series exploring biblical voices that speak of justice, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve keep digging through teachings of Jesus.  After having spent time in the Sermon on Mount in their last episode, the three friends around the table look at teachings and stories of Jesus that h...

For twenty centuries, people have been challenged by Jesus' teachings about turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, and offering cloaks and shirts to those who take them.  They are difficult, both on their face, and seen against the backdrop of the Torah's regulations about retaliation (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth).  And they definitely have something to say about the subjec...

The prophets were, let's face it, troublemakers.  They overturned people's expectations. They questioned the official decrees of kings and religious professionals with their own minority reports.  And they were willing to question whether God's priorities were the same as what everybody assumed they were.  And over and over again, the prophets--voices like Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah--called...

In their new series on how different biblical voices talk about the notion of "justice," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look to the first five books of the Bible, often called the Torah, the Law, or the Pentateuch.  And even though these books sometimes get a reputation for requiring brutal and bloody retaliation, we'll see that the picture is actually a lot richer and deeper than that first impr...

Justice.  It's one of those words that everybody throws around, but perhaps only rarely do we think about what we actually mean.  TV shows and pop culture use the word "justice" as a shorthand for getting even, getting revenge, or sending "bad guys" to jail.  But the chorus of voices in the Bible means something more when they say things like, "Let justice roll down like waters..." Maybe it's less...

After spending our last conversation telling stories around the well-known Christmas carol "Silent Night," in this new episode, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve each take a look at three other carols with some surprising twists--one with an unexpected name change, one written just in the last generation, and one that has been floating around for seventeen centuries!  Together we'll explore how we n...

Merry Christmas!  This week's episode of "Crazy Faith Talk" tells some stories around the much-beloved Christmas carol, "Silent Night," including the story of the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago, the story of the writing of the song itself two hundred years ago in an unexpected situation, and the truly remarkable story of the way "Silent Night" created a peace in the trenches of World War I...

Once again around the table, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve take a closer look at some of their favorite songs of the season--the Advent season in which we look not only to Christ's coming at Christmas, but also of Christ's promised coming in glory to make all things new.  Today we'll be looking at a new hymn to many English speakers, but one that is rich with imagery of new creation and of God's...

It's hard enough sometimes to remember that Jesus, and not Santa, is the center of Christmas.  But sometimes church folk stop there and say, "Christmas is about Jesus," without saying just why it is good news that Christ is born, or who this Jesus person is.  And one of the ways the church has answered thsoe questions over time is to write songs about Christ and his long-awaited coming.  So in the...

While the "Holiday Station" playing on your radio dial and coming through the speakers at every department store blares out the latest remake of "Santa Baby," or "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire," the church keeps time differently, singing a surprising collection of ancient and modern songs of hope.  Instead of rushing to be "Christmas-y" right away, the church marks off four weeks before celeb...

God is first introduced in the Scriptures as an artist, a designer, or a craftsman--creating the world and celebrating its beauty and goodness.  And then, in the very next thought, human beings are created "in the image of God," with some capacity of our own to create, to appreciate beauty, and to practice arts of our own.  That capacity for creativity isn't reserved just for "professionals," "mas...

In this concluding episode of our series looking at the different kinds of literature we find in the Bible, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve take a look at a kind of literature often called "apocalyptic" writing.  It includes the book of Revelation, parts of Daniel, and sections of the Gospels as well, and it's the kind of literature that often uses coded language that would have been clearly under...

Reading someone else's mail is like listening to one half of a phone conversation: you might be able to guess at what is being said on the other side, but you have to tease it out.  Reading the letters and epistles of the New Testament can feel like that sometimes: we hear someone like the apostle Paul giving counsel or directions for specific situations that his readers have asked him about, or h...

Part biographes, part movie directors, and part street evangelists, the writers of the four Gospels in the New Testament were doing something unique when they compiled the stories, sayings, and signs of Jesus of Nazareth.  They were, for starters, certainly recording the oral traditions that had been circulating by word of mouth by the earliest followers of Jesus, but they were also making choices...

They were less soothsayers and more truth-tellers.  The prophets of Israel and Judah were willing to speak a minority report over against popular opinion, the decrees of the market, and the official position of the palace. And they keep speaking to us.  In this latest episode of "Crazy Faith Talk," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue looking at the different kinds of literature in the Bible,...

Wherever you find yourself on any given day, and whatever is going on in your heart, the biblical book of Psalms offers the spoken and sung prayers of those who have gone before us that we can borrow and make our own.  The Psalms are indeed, part of the same Bible that Christians talk about as "God's Word for us," and yet at the same time, they are our words to God, too.  And in times of great joy...

The thing is... life is messy.  Sometimes it fits nicely into predictable patterns, like "Work hard in summer, and you'll have enough to live on come winter," or "Don't get too big for your britches and puffed up with pride, or somewhere along the way it could blow up in your face."  In times like those, we can use the collected conventional wisdom to learn the lessons of those who have gone befor...