Crazy Faith Talk

In this episode, Erica and Steve turn to a strange handful of verses from Matthew's Gospel that tell of seemingly random dead people coming back to life at the moment of Jesus' death on the cross, while darkness fills the skies and the temple curtain is torn.  It sounds like something out of a Halloween-themed zombie movie or an episode of "The Walking Dead," but there it is in the New Testament,...

?After having to say Godspeed to Drew, new conversations continue on Crazy Faith Talk with Pastor Erica joining with Steve to wrestle with some of the stranger, lesser-known, and weirder stories from the Bible. Why did they get remembered and written down in the first place?  What is going on in the parts we want to skip over?  And how might God have something to say to us from passages we have ei...

Concluding these four weeks, Pastors Steve, Drew, and our new friend Erica, round out the discussion which has progressed-Gather, Gather Around the Word, Gather Around the Sacraments, to this final moment of leaving the assembly. The thought process follows: those called in have been transformed by the acts and words in this place and are now sent out to be those words and actions in the broader w...

Continuing their four week series on "Living the Christian Life," Pastors Steve and Drew, joined by guest star Pastor Erica, discuss what it means to for the life of faith to meet and see Jesus in the sacraments (understood here as Baptism and Communion). Continuing the thought process of gathering as God's people, gathering around God's Word, and now seeing and participating with God in the sacra...

Last week, Steve and Drew discussed what it means to be "God's people" and provided those buzz words, "weird" or "peculiar." They explained that being God's people means that gathering together is not based on place but on people. Today, they explore further what the "gathered in ones" are to be and do when they gather around the Word of God: Jesus Christ himself. Listen carefully as they talk abo...

Today's episode marks the beginning of a short four part series focusing on "What does it mean to live the Christian life?" This series has been inspired by the strongly negative examples of living life with grace, humility, and welcoming that are far too commonplace on the news. Steve and Drew use the worship liturgy as a rubric for understanding how Christianity it to be practiced not just on Su...

On October 31, 1517 Augstinian monk Marin Luther nailed 95 points for argument to the church door and (unintentionally) began a 500 year trajectory that Christianity has followed. Today, Steve and Drew look back at what happened and what it all meant for the Christianity of its day. And then, they pivot the conversation to considering what does it mean for the next 500 years of church's life and f...

If you remember back to last week, Pastor Steve and Pastor Drew tried to explore the theological implications of natural disasters. As Steve said, the biggest take away is being the hands and feet of Christ in the midst of suffering...even suffering we cannot understand. This week, they open up the conversation on how do people of faith respond in faith to the needs of people 1,000 miles away...an...

One of our human and faith wrestling tendencies is to ask questions like, "If God is good, why do hurricanes happen?" or "Why didn't God just stop the hurricanes from hurting people?" when natural disasters occur. That's ok. Remember what Steve and Drew have said a lot: we're humans trying to understand divine things in human ways. And that's hard. We as people have a difficult time with making se...

In a world connected each day by the famous social media platforms of the world, we lose a lot in the process. Steve and Drew examine the implications of a world that communicates more and more through 140 characters or a post and picture and less and less through embodied human face-to-face conversations. While a technological world may be faster, it is not as effective and leads to bigger proble...

Steve and Drew are back at it and this time they're trying to keep you off that pink cloud of cozy Christianity after talking for six episodes about hope. While hope does give us confidence and assurance, Christian Hope does not create a fake world to escape to against the real world all around us. Instead, Christian hope gives us the confidence and the mold to live out our lives as ones who not o...

Pastor Steve and Pastor Drew share their final thoughts about the end of things (kind of a pun, right?) by putting the entire discussion into the context of, "Why does this all matter?" By understanding that Heaven is not something to be earned and that God is not destructive, the ideas of stewardship, hope, mission, and service are broached. Looking ahead is not a scary proposition, they'll argue...

All throughout this multi-stop journey, Steve and Drew have been keeping us close to the text. By starting in Genesis and Revelation, going to I Thessalonians, and now today in Matthew 24. This particular chapter, just as the I Thess. 4 chapter, are often used in the "Rapture Theology" argument that appears often in today's world. By looking again closely at the words, their original context, and...

Continuing today the ongoing discussion of "What is Christian Hope?" Steve and Drew take a stop off at Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. They explore and unpack chapter 4 which is often cited as evidence of "The Rapture." By looking at what the text says (and doesn't say) and considering the original Greek language and Paul's historical context, they hope you'll walk away from today feeling a bi...

When folks think about "end times" they often flip to the end of the Bible and read Revelation. And while Revelation is correctly placed in the discussion of eschatology (final things), it is often taken far out of its original context and understanding. Steve and Drew look at chapter 1, chapter 5, and chapters 21 and 22 to understand many of the keys to reading this text for all its worth and hol...

To continue their discussion of Christian Hope, Steve and Drew pause for a moment to provide a helpful and necessary lens through which to read the Bible's Apocalyptic Literature (Revelation and Daniel, for example). In our world of intriuge, scandal, and doubt, we often get caught in the trap of reading Biblical texts for more than what they're actually saying. By using tools that allow us to ent...

Last Things...Eschatology...Christian Hope. Many words, same ideas. Pastors Steve and Drew own their own traditions and show that they come from theological places that rarely speak or consider these ideas. However, they jump into the conversation because discussions and ideas of "last things" come up often in discussions of what it means to be a people of God. By starting at Genesis and weaving i...

Picking up where they left off last week with the warrior and gym teacher views of God, Steve and Drew this week look at two interrelated but wholly different other "popular" views of God: God the therapist and God the cosmic vending machine. These two have become broadly seen across the culture, in both the church and the broader society, which cause us to misunderstand and misdirect our thinking...

Steve and Drew address the misguided thinking that we sometimes have about God...that God is an evil, mean, bloodthirsty killer or God is an overly critical gym teacher for whom nothing is ever good enough. This is part I of two where our two resident theologeeks unpack, discuss, and redirect our often misfired views of God. Steve and Drew fully embrace the fact that many of these "missing the mar...

Today's episode takes a bit of a detour from our standard format as Steve and Drew try their hand at roleplay acting. By channeling his former agnostic self, Drew explores very valid questions that folks around us have: Why do I HAVE TO go to church? Why are church people often not at all like the God they worship? And many others! If you've ever heard these questions (or maybe even asked them you...

Since the time of the Ascension of Jesus, the Church has been arguing with itself about which group of Christians is most right and who is teaching the correct way. There have been battles and feuds. There have been wars and separations. So, it leaves which us all wondering...which group is correct? Pastor Steve and Pastor Drew jump into this conversation, with stories from history and the present...

While centuries of church history and people waaaay smarter than Steve and Drew have attempted to answer the question, "What does it mean for God to be three and yet one? To be one and yet 3" we are left with the grandest of grand mysteries. We find our metaphors and try to make sense out of something that isn't all that sensible. Tune in for another foray into the mist and trying to make sense of...

In this week's foray into the Christian world, Steve and Drew leave the Bible slighty to the side and try to explore and explain why there are so many festivals, celebrations, colors, and everything else associated with these in the life of the church. By the exploring the general notion of such festivals, looking to Biblical examples, and give a healthy dose of reminder that God is not impressed...

The familiar and spooky story of Pentecost from the New Testament Book of Acts leaves many people wondering and confused at what this all means. By leaving the traditional thinking and interpretations of this moment, Steve and Drew venture off in a new direction to explore the understanding of what it actually means to receive the Holy Spirit. They look at the ancient, old, modern, and future impl...

40 days after the Resurrection of Jesus comes this story (told both at the end of Luke's Gospel and the beginning of Luke's Book of Acts) when Jesus is described as "going up into Heaven." Pastor Steve and Pastor Drew explore what this actually means (while always keeping in mind the cosmic impact of Christ's raising from the dead) and how it impacts our present and future. While not often underst...