Zao MKE Church

On Palm/Protest Sunday, how do we join Jesus in gathering people power to stand up against the violence of empire?

When we allow our attention to be scattered and commodified, we find ourselves investing our time, energy, and even worship on things we didn't choose. How do we lay down the idols we've created as a culture, and cultivate and attentive intention where we choose what we love instead of being lured into someone else's attention trap?

In a world where numbing out sometimes feels like the only way of getting by, what does it mean to be fully alive? Spend the next 40 days of Lent with the Zao community fasting from distraction, dissociation, and detachment, and moving into a faith of intention, embodiement, and devotion.

We can't understand the teachings of Jesus without the cross and resurrection. Beyond individual salvation, what does that move from confrontation of empire, to death at the hands of the state, to resurrection in glory teach us about what it means to be free - for all of us to be free?

Jesus knew about scarcity - he was teaching in a desert, after all. But trust, surrender, and abundance were central to his teachings. How can we be open handed with what we've got, trusting that giving it away is the only way we all get what we need?

One of Jesus's most famous sayings, "turn the other cheek," seems to have gotten lost in the modern "christian" nationalist agenda of vengeance and retribution. What did Jesus actually mean by that, and how do we embody it as faithful Jesus followers without getting absolutely crushed? Turns out its the only reliable path to liberation. 

The Lord’s Prayer/Our Father is central to many Christian traditions and practices, but what does it really mean?

We’re kicking off a series focusing on the core tenets of Jesus’s teachings. Amid the rise of Christian nationalism and Christofascism, it’s more crucial than ever that we have clarity on what it truly means to follow Jesus. We’re starting with what Jesus identified as the foundation of all other teachings: Love God, and Love Neighbor as Self.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember what the Christmas season is about and why it’s supposed to be so meaningful to us as Christians. But we can also see how the life and ministry of Jesus provides hope in the face of the domineering power of empire. Guest sermon by Chris Chapman

A Christmas Eve message from Pastor Jonah.

This Advent, we’ll be deep-diving on some of the more unexpected or obscure ancestors in Jesus’s gospel genealogies, linking them with the four themes of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Today is Advent Week Three: Joy. Our focus is on Zerubbabel, who found joy with his community by building something new amidst the rubble.

This Advent, we’ll be deep-diving on some of the more unexpected or obscure ancestors in Jesus’s gospel genealogies, linking them with the four themes of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Today is Advent Week Two: Peace. Our focus is on Judah, as we look at his gradual process of being reforged into an instrument of peace.

This Advent, we’ll be deep-diving on some of the more unexpected or obscure ancestors in Jesus’s gospel genealogies, linking them with the four themes of Advent: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. Today is Advent Week One: Hope. But not the soft-focus, candlelit kind of hope we so often hear from the systems that benefit from the status quo. Today we’re checking in with Tamar, a trickster figure who show...

On opening weekend of Wicked: For Good, we're reflecting on those throughout history who have been labeled "wicked" for opposing empire and fighting for a better world. When we are called "wicked," how can we recognize our connection with those movements of resistance past and present?

It's easy to feel alone. How can we learn to be still and connect to the reality that God is always with us?

Pastor Jonah is back! When our nervous systems are continuously activated by the dangers and injustices all around us, what intentional practices can we cultivate to keep coming home to community, connection, and the love of God?

As we seek to push back on the powers of empire, it can be hard to know where to start. There are so many causes and movements that are worthy of our support, but we can only do so much as individuals. Let's remember that we aren't meant to do everything, but to discover who God uniquely made us to be. Guest sermon by Chris Chapman

What do you do when everything you thought you knew collapses? And what does it mean to start over? This week we explore the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, as we learn to listen to what our bodies can tell us about what is true and who to follow. Guest sermon by Tamice Spencer-Helms

One thing progressives and conservatives undeniably share is this: we all cherry-pick the Bible. It’s an unavoidable reality that we gravitate toward certain passages and stories while overlooking or even rejecting others. If that’s the case, then the question isn’t whether we cherry-pick — but how we do it. Can we acknowledge this fact and still approach Scripture in ways that are rooted in integ...

We live in a world that simultaneously gives us reason for immense sorrow and tells us to constantly stay positive and look on the bright side. It can be hard to look at the state of the world and have hope, but is that the whole point? What if our faith found room for both honest grief and reason to hope in the goodness of God? We will explore this through the lens of Lamentations, a book all abo...

God speaks through all of creation. In this special sermon, hear the voice of God as told by community members Bryan, Kian, and Liz: how God is showing up in their lives, how God invites them into transformation, and how God's love changes everything.

Many of us have become disillusioned with more conservative, fundamentalist expressions of the Christian faith. After we deconstruct, it can be challenging to find new practices and expressions that suit what our faith looks like now. What theologies and beliefs are you still holding on to that are keeping your faith from thriving? What practices can you return to and trust that God will still mee...