Spark Cast

Where do we find hope in an uncertain world? Is God only found in times of prosperity and order or is God also present in times of difficulty and chaos? The grand narrative of the Bible is a powerful exploration of the human condition. In times of confusion, uncertainty, and exile, the Torah, the prophets, and Jesus speak of hope, justice, love and redemption. What is their reason for this hope? A...

Where do we find hope in an uncertain world? Is God only found in times of prosperity and order or is God also present in times of difficulty and chaos? The grand narrative of the Bible is a powerful exploration of the human condition. In times of confusion, uncertainty, and exile, the Torah, the prophets, and Jesus speak of hope, justice, love and redemption. What is their reason for this hope? A...

Where do we find hope in an uncertain world? Is God only found in times of prosperity and order or is God also present in times of difficulty and chaos? The grand narrative of the Bible is a powerful exploration of the human condition. In times of confusion, uncertainty, and exile, the Torah, the prophets, and Jesus speak of hope, justice, love and redemption. What is their reason for this hope? A...

Where do we find hope in an uncertain world? Is God only found in times of prosperity and order or is God also present in times of difficulty and chaos? The grand narrative of the Bible is a powerful exploration of the human condition. In times of confusion, uncertainty, and exile, the Torah, the prophets, and Jesus speak of hope, justice, love and redemption. What is their reason for this hope? A...

For Pastor Tom, Jesus is bigger and better than he ever thought.

Pastor Mark shares the nuts and bolts of his faith journey, and why his "Why Jesus" has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years.

Many of us on this Christian faith journey find ourselves in a season of questions, deconstruction, and doubt. These seasons can be unnerving, lonely, disruptive, and surprising. But what if they are actually central to our faith?

By wrestling with our reservations, embracing new scientific understandings, and moving forward into the mysterious unknown, we will discover a bigger and more mysterious God than our faith can actually grasp. This event was held at https://www.spark.church on April 23, 2023. Video of the main talk is here: https://youtu.be/aTJ--W1_oQ0. Video of the Q&R after the talk can be found here: https://yo...

By wrestling with our reservations, embracing new scientific understandings, and moving forward into the mysterious unknown, we will discover a bigger and more mysterious God than our faith can actually grasp. This event was held at https://www.spark.church on April 23, 2023. Video of the main talk is here: https://youtu.be/aTJ--W1_oQ0. Video of the Q&R after the talk can be found here: https://yo...

A very personal sharing of Danielle's spiritual and vocational journey.

The Resurrection is a clarion statement. This is not the end. This is actually the beginning. And there will be more beginnings to come.

Jesus begins the final week of his life by parading right into Jerusalem, the heart of power in Israel, during a huge festival. He rides in on a donkey, with a crowd of outsiders waving palm branches and championing him as their savior king. Within a few days, he’ll be arrested, interrogated, and executed. As we celebrate “Palm Sunday,” we explore why it all went down that way and what Jesus was t...

A very personal sharing of Kevin's journey, spiritually, vocationally, and philosophically, and Why Jesus continues to be not just compelling for him, but critical for the world.

In summary, this is the life of the Spirit.

Self-control is often thought of as just a perpetual “no” to our desires. But self-control is always about saying “no” to lesser desires in order to say “yes” to the greatest desire.

We have the choice to add to or subtract from the already existing conflict in the world. Gentleness is our choice to subtract from that conflict, a posture toward the world as a revolutionary strategy for transformation.

Faith as "belief" or "ascent to an idea" misses the mark of the faithfulness of God as our way of salvation. Faith as a follow-through can be seen. It is behavior, action, and trust.

From ancient Greece's Plato to Netflix's The Good Place, philosophers throughout the ages have debated the nature of what is "good." Is it an ideal for which we all strive? Is it a mere adjective? Perhaps it is actually not,...eh, "good" to want to pursue so much good? In contrast, the biblical narrative proposes that it is all, actually, very good.

The New Testament often calls on followers of Jesus to be kind, meek, humble, or submissive. But being told to be kind or submissive is often a tool used by those in power to maintain the status quo (e.g. against women, slaves, etc.). Is that Paul’s goal in encouraging kindness? To uphold the status quo? The kindness that the Spirit produces in us actually does the opposite—it subverts the status...

Patience is a much-needed trait in our world, and yet it is developed, not gifted. This fruit of the Holy Spirit comes not from awaiting a change in your circumstances, but through a change in us.

There may be no experience in the world that we want more, and have less of, than the experience of peace, of shalom. The word is everywhere describing something that is desired but missing – between nations, between people, between the good Earth and its inhabitants. What is peace as a fruit of the Spirit in a world so full of trouble, division, fear, and heaviness? What does it mean to be a pers...

We often think of Christian joy as feeling happy no matter what – Jesus has done so much for you, what do you have to feel bad about? That outlook jives neither with our experiences nor the experiences of the Biblical authors who wrote about joy. Joy, as a fruit of the spirit, is less about producing happy feelings and more about producing audacious judgments about the way the world is and ought t...

The ubiquity of the word “love” makes understanding difficult. Is love a “feeling,” a “commitment,” a “chemical neurotransmitter?” In trying to discern a definition of love, perhaps we ought to ask what this Galatians passage suggests about the "fruit" of love.

The letter to the Galatians—in which the "fruit of the spirit" is found—addresses a serious threat to the good news of Jesus. That threat will have serious consequences, not least of which it will promote a wholly "different gospel," one that is at odds with the love and grace of God.

Beginnings feel fresh and new. There's joy. But let us also embrace sadness as necessary for new creation. GROUP QUESTIONS: 1. Are we addicted to "joy" and "happiness?" Why or why not? 2. Does Christianity promote one over the other? What emotional experiences does Christianity prioritize? 3. What would life look like if we embraced the full scope of human emotions?