The Parish Podcast

This morning we are encouraged to examine anger, contempt, and fear through Jesus' words on The Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5, Christ quickly moves past outward anger and into the deeper roots of contempt and fear, and we are invited to participate in Jesus' desire for peace.

Jesus says we are the "salt of the land" and the "light of the world" in His Sermon on the Mount. This morning we are invited into a deeper understanding of those words and into a more Christ-like way of being in the world. Continuing our series through the Sermon on the Mount, this week we find ourselves in Matthew 5 & 6.

Jesus’ Golden Rule of Life, maybe his most famous saying of all, comes amidst lots of “do nots:” don’t judge, don’t worry, don’t make a vow. But in Matthew 7, Jesus at last gives us what we should do, a positive vision for righteous living: “do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law & the prophets.”

We begin a journey through Jesus‘ most famous teaching: the Sermon on the Mount. To frame the narrow path Jesus invites us on, we begin by exploring the Old Testament context in the background of the teaching. How does Jesus invite us to live in the rhythm of a more beautiful song?

This Sunday began our new ministry year! Listening along, you'll hear about the start of our year, the emphasis on community life and Parish House Churches, and the ways everyone can belong, participate, hurt, and heal.

The Parish is seeking an Executive / Associate Pastor to join our team. This pastoral leadership role is primarily organizational in nature, yet includes meaningful ministry responsibilities. The hybrid nature…

We explore the Christian tradition and practices of discernment, particularly in the vein of Ignatian Spirituality. How can we cultivate receptivity to hear the Holy Spirit, and how do we tend to disordered desires that keep us from being free to respond to the call of love?

This morning John Ott shares a homily with The Parish, and his message gives a glimpse into the stories of three people in our community who have lived with chronic pain. Hear about the long road they have traveled and the life they’ve found in the middle of unresolvable difficulty.

As we transition from focusing on Pentecost into Ordinary Time, we consider how Jesus sends his followers in peace to love and serve the Lord. Parishioners Kevin Soderman and Laura Boggs also share ordinary ways they have felt called by God to serve others.

From the gathering on June 23, we were led in an Imaginative Entry of Mark 4, and we shared a soft medley of Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus and Build My Life.

The classic stories of David & Goliath and Jesus calming the storm invite us to consider where our assurance and confidence is really located in life. How can we cultivate a spiritual imagination that sees God as a present and active participant in our lives?

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,” Jesus says. But what does power in the way of Jesus look like? What is the interplay between the cruciform power of Christ’s Spirit and the coercive powers of our age? We explore how power in the way of Jesus looks a lot like faithful presence and redemptive influence.

This morning we divide our time into two parts: First, Family Pastor Sarah Fetz shares some significant updates to our model for Family Ministry at The Parish. Then, Jordan shares a brief reflection on 2 Corinthians 4, asking what it means that God's all-surpassing power (the Holy Spirit) dwells inside fragile, frail jars like us.

Jared Ray offers a poetic reflection on The Parish gathering for Pentecost Sunday (May 19, 2024).

On the day of Pentecost, we consider how God's Holy Spirit is the giver of life – beginning with genesis of all things through the birth of the Church. How can we be a community inhaling the breath of God and exhaling it as passers of peace for the renewal of the world?

On Ascension Sunday, Jordan is joined by special guest Barry Grecu. We consider Jesus’ lived pattern of death, resurrection, and ascension known as the paschal mystery, and how we learn to live in light of the way we did.

The Holy Spirit falls on a household of unbaptized gentiles at Cornelius' house. This week, we reflect on what to make of the surprising Spirit, and the ever-enlarging sense the early Church was beginning to understand around who could be included in God's story. 

On a Family Sunday, Sarah Fetz speaks with the Stringer family, and we hear the background and practice of "storying," the unique way The Parish engages scripture in our kids spaces. 

In all four gospels, it is the faithful women in the company of Jesus who are the first to bear witness to the resurrection. They are sent with simple instructions: Go and Tell. Yet what exactly is this good news of a whole new world that we are to tell? And in what posture are we to go?

On Palm Sunday, Jesus is greeted by cheering crowds. But this is just the beginning of Holy Week. Christ’s final week before the cross gives us a pattern for the seasons of our own lives - through praise, loss, and renewal.

In this post, Jordan provides an important community update around the season of growth we find ourselves in as a church and asks members of the community to participate in an important survey.

In this podcast, Jordan reflects on the season of growth we find ourselves in as a church community. Every season of growing involves growing pains. Here we remember how the early church (Acts 6) responded to rapid growth by discerning their communal limits, grappling together with how to care well for all.

Central to the way of Jesus is his guidance to “deny yourself, take your cross and follow me," and John Ott begs the question, "What does this mean?"

Lent invites us to seriously consider the way of Jesus, which involves a necessary suffering and taking up of the cross.

On the first Sunday of Lent, we hear the story of Christ in Mark 1 and grow in awareness of the Kingdom of Heaven in relation to Christ's baptism and His journey into and out of the wilderness.