No Experts Allowed

Advent texts, particularly the Old Testament readings, often offer a glimpse into joy, peace, and justice God’s second coming will bring. In this week’s texts, Isaiah describes unlikely animals living in peace with each other. They’re neither dominated by their prey drive or fear. What unlikely pairings might be possible today? Who can we befriend for the betterment of the world God loves? What ho...

Are you a "prep-er"? Are you prepared for anything, running through scenarios and 'what-ifs' at work, in life, with friendships, and everything in between? To start the new liturgical year, Paul wants us to wake up and be ready. Jonathan, as someone who is ever-prepared, and Seth, someone who is moderately prepared, talk about what that looks like in the life of faith. They discuss being ready as...

Reign of Christ Sunday, or sometimes called Christ the King Sunday, ends the liturgical year. It asks who is ultimately in charge and worth worshipping. But to know that God is in charge and to act like it is much easier said than done. Jonathan and Seth discuss the challenge of the phrase, "Be still, and know that I am God!"  (Psalm 46:10) and what a faithful stillness might look like in our hurr...

Recorded on election day, November 4th, politics was in the air. In Virginia, the gubernatorial election dominated advertisements. In Pennsylvania, the option to retain state Supreme Court justices was on the ballot. All of this was happening during a government shutdown that was affecting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And the author of 2 Thessalonians - who may or may not...

What does a theology look like that has "good bones?" What does a theology rooted in care and concern for people look like? What are its hallmarks? How is it lived? In this week's lectionary text, the Sadducees ask questions about the resurrection. Jesus, however, speaks about resurrection as a way of life so that their question about multiple husbands is moot. Jonathan and Seth discuss this idea...

Do you crave praise? In this week's gospel text, Jesus talks about simply doing one's duty without expecting any additional reward. The job itself is the reward. Jonathan and Seth discuss why we might still want praise, but what it looks like not to need it. What does it look like to find contentment in what we're doing? How do we balance commendation and criticism? Is there anything that students...

Psalms express a particular feeling at a particular time to a particular audience. Because they are so... particular, they can serve as the basis for new psalms and poems. This week, Jonathan and Seth start with Psalm 14 and reverse it. It helps them see the psalm in a new light and to ask questions about professing Christians "do[ing] abominable deeds" (Psalm 14:1). This helps them explore the pa...

Approximately 1/3rd of Americans do not get enough sleep. They lack rest. God, on the other hand, never needs to sleep and yet rests on the 7th day of creation. When this week’s Hebrew Bible text picks up, Isaiah is extolling the benefits of the Sabbath. So, Jonathan and Seth talk about the importance of rest. They wonder what a sabbath practice might look like that isn’t overly strict, but is sti...

In this week's appointed gospel lesson, Jesus says, "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!" (Luke 12:51). Generally, Jesus has been seen as a great uniter, a unifying force among disparate groups with differing identities of every sort. It's what makes this declaration particularly challenging, at least for Jonath and Seth. So, they ask wha...

Do you have a lot of stuff? In this episode, Jonathan and Seth discuss the items they collect. Seth talks about his Uncle Joe, who was a hoarder (and we use that term seriously), and how he witnessed his uncle's attachment to his belongings, especially towards the end of his life. They talk a little about what we can do about all our "stuff", but more about what it means to be ready for Jesus' ret...

The temptation exists to read Ecclesiastes as fundamentally different from the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures. It's not history, not law, not like proverbs or the psalms, but a completely different genre altogether. There are themes, however, that echo throughout the entire Hebrew Bible that reverberate in Ecclesiastes as well. One of them is rest. The writer doesn't want their audience to toil con...

Jesus gives his disciples what is often called "The Lord's Prayer" or the "Our Father." Afterwards, he tells a story about persistence and relates it to one's prayer life. What happens, however, when our prayers go unanswered despite persistent pleas? What is the point of prayer if it is not a gumball machine, dispensing what one wants after they've paid? Who does prayer change, us or God? Jonatha...

Jesus has some difficult-to-hear words about following him, including seemingly telling a man that he should not even return home to bury his father. In the ancient world, family may have been more important than it is today; there were no retirement homes, so family had to take care of their members as they aged. If someone ended up in prison, food was not provided. Family or friends had to bring...

When a man is purged of his many demons, it seems like cause for celebrating (Luke 8:26-39). The townspeople who knew the man, however, "asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear" (Lk. 8:37). How do we let fear dictate how we see our future, how we see others, even how we see Jesus? Jonathan and Seth talk about this rather strange story that seems like a traditional healing,...

After celebrating Pentecost, the Church turns its attention to the Triune God. This Sunday makes preaching, teaching, worship planning, and children's sermons particularly difficult because the danger of heresy seems to lurk everywhere. What if we didn't let that stop us from dreaming and exploring what God was like? Jonathan and Seth attempt to unpack what is dangerous about heresies related to t...

As Target learned the hard way, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is the way forward. It's also the way of God in the world as evidenced at Pentecost. So, Seth and Jonathan talk about DEI. While we've occasionally spoken around it, referenced it, or advocated for an inclusive Church, this episode tackles DEI head-on. Why do we need DEI? What are its limits? How can we go further than DEI initiative...

Situated between Jesus' ascension and Pentecost, this is an odd Sunday. One of the oddities, at least for modern readers, is that a whole household is baptized together in the appointed Acts reading. When the patriarch of the family, a jailor, decides to be baptized, he decides for his entire family. Is this merely patriarchy at play? Could it tell us something about how households functioned in t...

When and how do we tell difficult-to-hear truths? In this Sunday's gospel text, Jesus heals on the Sabbath. In doing so, he does what isn't expected or accepted. Speaking difficult truths can be similar. Others may expect us to "toe the line" by parroting what others in authority have said. Likewise, our truths may not be accepted or could be viewed as harsh. Jonathan and Seth discuss how this app...

The seer John watches an entire city, a new Jerusalem, descend from heaven. While cities in the ancient world were much smaller than cities today, they were still hubs of economic and civic engagement. People lived closer to one another, interacted more frequently, and likely got into more spats. What do cities offer us that suburbs do not? What are some of their challenges? Can we develop a theol...

Do you know that God cares about you? We hope so! We also hope that you'll reflect that care by caring for others. That's much easier said than done, however. What does that care look like? How can it be concrete? What is so enticing about online activism that keeps others at arm's length? What are a few concrete ways to care? In this episode, Jonathan and Seth discuss how we care for others "up c...

Saul’s conversion, or maybe more accurately his call, is full of power imbalances and power reversals. Jonathan and Seth look at this well known story through this lens to ask: how does God use and confuse power? What might that say about who has power today? Who should we be listening to because they have power in God’s kin-don, but have been overlooked, drowned out, or outright disparaged?  Than...

The same reading follows Easter Sunday each year, the story of "Doubting Thomas" (John 20:19-31). In previous episodes, we've discussed how Thomas' reputation suffers despite being logical. When has someone risen from the dead, after all? In this episode, we explore how we might react. Do we lean into change quickly? Are we resistant to change? What makes change easier to stomach? Easter changes h...

Vulnerability exists in different forms. Scholars identify physical, social, economic, and environmental as the four main types. What makes being vulnerable so tricky? Why do we feel that way when we might embarrass ourselves or not get what we want? In this episode, Jonathan and Seth talk about those feelings of vulnerability. Jonathan leads an exercise that mimics it and may help us become more...

"Hosana," people cry as Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey. Hosana means "save us."  This reading, including the dramatic entrance and allusions to Caesar entering a city, bursts with political imagery. And politics is dominating the news again. This past weekend, potentially millions marched in the Hands Off protests. People on the opposite side of the aisle have seen Donald Trump as a sort of sa...

After Mary anointed Jesus' feet and Judas hypocritically complained about the price of the perfume not going to the poor, Jesus says, "You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me" (Jn. 12:8). Unfortunately, this statement has been used to justify not helping those in need. Jonathan and Seth talk about that history briefly but also about spending money on what matters. It's a d...