Root + Branch Church

Root and Brancher, Chels Harvey shares a brief testimony (a story that bears witness to something) about gender identity, the feeling of God, and the multiplicity of existence. 

May 2016, we are talking about spirit, Spirit, Holy Spirit: what is it? what's it do? how do we get it? This week's talk: spirit is a bunch of stuff that is best exemplified in the image of dancing and throwing up. 

Pastoral Intern Virginia White, completes our series on Doubt with some thoughts on doubt as a crossroads to life or death (very serious stuff).

Part 3 on our series on doubt: On the Lord as shepherd, trust falls, and listening to those who have said its gonna be ok. 

Part two of our sermon series on doubt: Co-pastor Tim Kim tries to take a stick and poke around at the roots of our doubt. Also there are references to Ludwig Wittgenstein, the movie Hook (top 5 greatest), and how Jenga is whack.  Reading: From the Gospel of Matthew: Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he h...

Co-pastor Neil kicks of a sermon series on doubt. Listen, cuz its interesting.  Doubt Month: At Root and Branch, we like to talk a big game about how we’re a safe religious space to question even the most central tenets of religion. And simply because we’re trying to put down roots of commitment and to branch out with faith, doesn’t mean we won’t have moments or months where we feel like we’re tre...

Co-Pastor Tim talks on Easter Sunday about asking the right questions and hearing God call our names. Reading: John 20: Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out...

Pastoral Intern Virginia White tackles Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus triumphantly rides a donkey into Jerusalem while people cheer. Jesus' triumph, however, might just be a story about how we may be empowered to reconsider the worst fears we have in our lives.  Reading: From the Gospel of Luke: After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. When he had come near Bethphage and B...

Co-pastor Neil Ellingson offers a meditation on the story where Jesus' friend Mary washes his feet with expensive perfume and everyone loses their minds.  Reading: John 12: Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pou...

Root and Branch Co-Founder, Andrew Packman, returns to talk about how we might figure out what God wants us to do (if God even has such a desire) with our lives. Andrew helped start Root and Branch as a pastor and is stepping down from that roll due to circumstances in his life. What circumstances? Listen and find out!!!

Longtime Root and Branch-er, Justin Bloesch, shares some thoughts about what outrage over police violence has to do with hearing the voice of God. Officially, this is part of our beatitudes sermon series, so keep these two in mind: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven....

Pastoral Intern (from the University of Chicago Divinity School) Virginia White on Christianity's long obsession with bodies and ways that might be helpful for us to think the about our fleshy selves today. Reading:1 Corinthians 12:12-20 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were...

A continuation on our series on the beatitudes:Blessed are the meek, and Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Aren't these in contradiction? Which is it- are we to be meek and patient and gentle in the face of a world that has hurt us and will probably do so again, or are we to be honest about our dissatisfaction with so many things? Don't tell me the truth lies somewhere in...

Co-pastors Neil and Tim begin a sermon series on the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are some of the most memorable and quoted lines from the New Testament. They distill a vision of new ways of living. They only make sense if you can see within and beyond this reality into another one - an upside-down, outside-in, bizarro reality that Jesus of Nazareth not only imagined but saw as if he were rocking co...

Co-pastor Tim Kim on why new years resolutions are GOOD and why each year is an opportunity for us to start over again. Reading: Mark 1:4-11 4John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan,...

Co-pastor Neil Ellingson on the uniqueness of incarnation, seeing the face of God in toast, and how the birth of Christ is God's asking us to take care of others. Readings: Denise Levertov - Annunciation We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, almost always a lectern, a book; alwaysthe tall lily.       Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering...

Co-pastor Tim talks about the anxiety of waiting, the rawness of Christ, and what it might take to see God coming in the distance. Readings: Matthew 3:1-3 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”[a] 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wildern...

Co-pastor Tim talks about the sin of racism, the way it infects everyone, the way it separates us, and how we might begin to overcome it.  Reading:James 4:7-10. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep. L...

Co-pastor Neil Ellingson offers a real talk reflection on the complications surrounding the recent birth of his first son and being angry at a God who returns that anger. This week's passage was from the book of Job, which is a story of tragedy, questioning, theodicy, and the search for answers.  Reading: Job 38:1-7 1 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: 2 “Who is this that darkens cou...

Keron Blair, a longtime Root and Brancher by night and community organizer by day, talks about the Black Lives Matter movement, the particularity of blackness in America, and what it means to do something about racism as a church.

Co-pastor Tim Kim concludes the sermon series, "Could've Moved Mountains," about faith, doubt, and what it takes to move mountains in our lives. This final talk tries to make the case that it is indeed possible to move mountains by faith, but that it is so hard, it is basically impossible. If that makes any sense, you're good. If not, listen!  Reading: “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you...

This is part two of our series "Could've Moved Mountains" in which we examine faith, doubt, and the possibility of doing the impossible. In this sermon, guest preacher Rich Pak talks about the difference between us having faith in God and God having faith in us.  Reading:Romans 5:1-55 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through who...

Co-pastor Tim Kim starts a series called "Could've Moved Mountains" about faith, doubt, and what it takes to move mountains in our lives. This first sermon is about Jesus' teaching that if you truly believe then what you pray will happen, the difficultly of that formulation, and the differing types of faith we might find in ourselves. Reading:“Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to thi...

Liz Bajema frames a discussion about the ambiguous relationship between religion and violence using examples from the bible and the slave rebellion of Nate Turner. Liz is a longtime member of Root and Branch and spends her days conducting experiments on unsuspecting elements from the periodic table (a chemist as it were). Readings: Ephesians 6:10-20 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the stre...

Co-pastor Neil Ellingson:  This week we turn to the Lectionary, which saves us from the crippling anxiety of having always to decide what to talk about on our own. Every week there are readings from the Older Testament (or the Book of Acts), a Psalm, a reading from the Epistles or the Book of Revelation, and a reading from the Gospels. So there's still some room to choose your own adventure. This...