The Whitehouse Church Podcast

A retelling of the Sermon on the Mount for children and grownups alike based on the text of "TheBook of Belonging" by Mariko Clark Straton.

Fighting against empire will almost certainly lead to the death of your body but worse can happen, you can get caught up in vengeance and violence in a way that turns your life to trash and destroys your soul.

Jesus calls unlikely people to partner in his mission. His mission to bring good news. His mission to bring the restoration of all things. This is the way of the kingdom. Jesus calls the unlikely to lead the unworthy to something beautiful.

Remember, this is Matthew’s book. This story is the earnest testimony of a man who was facing a midlife crisis. He was socially sick and unclean, and this Rabbi had come and saved him.

If God is indeed a polyglot of the soul, then human beings have naturally developed distinct spiritual languages over the centuries. What follows are some of the highly observable ways that people — both throughout church history and right here in this room — instinctively come to experience and relate to God.

Today, here and now, or later when you have an opportunity, set aside your concerns and doubts and allow yourself to feel safe. Nobody is going to push you over, there is no expectation that you will behave in a certain way. Just relax with God and listen for his voice.

In this message Amanda shares from the Scriptures and her testimony about the gentle leading of the Holy Spirit.

"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." This is the theological centre of John's gospel and the centre of our theology as a community. We can’t get to the Father without Jesus, we can’t understand the Father without Jesus, the only way to truly comprehend the Father is to know Jesus. God looks like Jesus. God has always looked like Jesus. And if your picture of God doesn't...

When Jesus says, “I am the gate for the sheep”, he is saying he is their protector. Imagine the sheep in the cleft of a cave at night and the shepherd sleeping across the entrance to protect them from getting lost and from predators. But the leaders of Israel, king Herod and the Pharisees, and the revolutionaries that would challenge the imperial authorities, they are thieves and brigands. On one...

The road to Emmaus is not a one time event. It is the pattern of the Christian life. We walk with Jesus, even when we do not recognise him. We bring our questions, our doubts, our disappointments, and we invite him into our story. We listen as he shows us how the whole of Scripture points to his resurrection. And then, in the simple act of sharing a meal, of welcoming a stranger, of taking, blessi...

Rather than perceiving this woman as a prostitute, a harlot, or a sinner, there is a narrative here that can present this outspoken and theologically astute woman as an unfortunate victim of her circumstances that boldly steps into a place of faith and then chooses to go forth as an apostle to her people. Unlike the named and famed Nicodemus who cannot comprehend Jesus, we find the unnamed woman r...

The mistreatment of women in theological history is not merely a trivial academic footnote.  It has genuine consequences for real women right now. It has genuine consequences for our daughters, and our sons. When we uncritically read the Bible in a way that demonises, sexualises, infantilises, or diminishes women, we are not doing exegesis, we are doing damage. A plain reading of the text that doe...

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” This repeats the words from Jesus’ baptism (Matt 3:17) but adds an extra exhortation. If there is any confusion about whose opinion, tradition or practice is most valid it should be clear here that Jesus supersedes everything that came before him. “Listen to him!”

Jesus has just described what saltiness looks like in his Beatitudes. It means being a community that is pure in heart, expressing humility and mercy. Actively pursuing peace and comforting mourners. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Resisting violence and empire and speaking out in the tradition of the prophets for those that are being crushed under the tyranny of the world.

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. He took a deep breath and announced to the world that something new was about to happen. The holy space of heaven was going to take shape in the earth and transform it. Nothing would ever be the same.

From the very beginning of John’s gospel there are clues for readers that identify Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises laid out in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus is repeatedly presented as superior to Moses, and the narrative of Jesus’ life is placed over key events of the ancient exodus from Egypt. John’s gospel shows how the nation of Israel being saved out of Egypt finds it’s fulfillment in...

Jesus is not guilty of any crime, neither violence nor deceit, nor any act deserving the anguish now laid upon him. He is an innocent man condemned by fear, envy, and the blindness of those who fail to see truth nailed before them. Condemned by religious structures wedded to Empire. Above his crucified body are the words: “King of the Jews.” The words are meant as mockery and threat, but in them l...

There are many inspiring testimonies where the faithful are rescued and the imprisoned freed, or where the sick get healed. There are testimonies of answered prayers and victories. But here Jesus speaks to his followers about a much more challenging testimony of faith. A testimony of faith amid grief, amid doubt, and even perhaps faith amid betrayal and persecution.

Jesus consistently saw those who were unseen or marginalised as people worthy of respect and kindness. His interactions with people who were poor and sick come to mind, as does his countercultural treatment of women and children, and his civility and compassion towards gentiles and outcasts. Again and again, Jesus gives us a glimpse into the radically loving nature of our father in heaven.

In the context of Luke's gospel, Jesus is assuring his people that God hears them and sees them. God’s plan involves a radical restructuring of world systems so that injustice is ultimately overturned – and we should be relentlessly crying out for that. We should not be complicit with injustice and when we petition heaven for justice it is a bold proclamation of hope for the world. It is a dec...

The thing that separated this leper from the other nine was hisgratitude. And gratitude doesn't find it’s fullness until it isexpressed.

The Pharisees thought that Israel needed to be more holy in order for Yahweh to save them from the oppression they faced. This meant they needed to follow the rules more closely, purging all impurity from Israel, especially by excluding the people who fell short of their laws; the exact people that were so frequently drawn to Jesus. People like those reflected in the parables of chapter 15 about t...

Ritual and tradition that help us to transform our hearts can be incredibly beautiful, but tradition that only serves to make us feel morally superior is not beautiful. We should heed the warning that Jesus is sitting with those the institution has cast out and make more room at the table instead of missing the party.

For those in Jesus’ audience this message is a warning that they should set aside hubris and reconsider their self-appointed places at the table. But to the crippled man, the lame, the blind, and the poor this message is an invitation to a seat of honour. Sadly though, too often those who need to hear the first message do not have ears for it, and those who need to hear the second message often ex...

It’s saddening how many loud Christian voices use their influence to peddle fear and bigotry through biblical sounding arguments. Today, just as it was in the first century, it remains commonplace for the pious police to pick on people that they perceive are easy targets. Picking on women continues to be popular, so does picking on immigrants and the poor. Sexual and gender minorities, people of d...