Spark Cast

Personal Testimony: Kelly Gilbert Suffering is frequently understood through pithy axioms which only turn out to be half-truths. The fuller realties as found in Jesus are far more profound and beautiful.

Personal Testimony: Siddhi Sundar Athens & Jerusalem are cities that respectively represent science and faith, sense and soul, the empirical and the mystical, the West and the East. Why would Jesus and Paul use and leverage Greek ideas, terms, and images in their teaching and spreading of the Gospel? Rather than contention, perhaps there is harmony.

Personal Testimony: Rajesh Philipos Our introduction to our series surveys the "free market" of religion in America and how it has influenced our particular context of faith expression.

One of the reasons we celebrate Christmas during the darkest time of the year is because it is here that we are the most hopeful. Let us join with our ancient ancestors in bringing forth that hope from the dark.

The birth of Jesus, while unusual and strange to modern sensibilities, actually makes a lot of sense when considering the entirety of the biblical story. From the very beginning, God has been rebirthing the world, and people, out of chaos, out of injustice, toward salvation.

While we think of joyous feelings during the holidays, Mary's song is far more subversive and declarative than we perhaps recognize. It speaks to the profound levels of meaning found in the event that we celebrate and commemorate during our Christmas season.

How do we come to the end of Deuteronomy, and sum up, not just this book, but the entire Torah? In the end, we see woven throughout the text an invitation to participate in this kind of life, that we would be wooed, inspired, and drawn in to carry on the legacy of our ancestors.

Throughout Israel's history, there's been a choice. Toward the end of Deuteronomy, there is a clarion urging, to choose life.

Our question and response time with Rev. Ryan Eller after his talk.

Rev. Ryan Eller is the Executive Director of Define American (defineamerican.com). In this opening talk, he shares a call to all of us to consider a more compassionate and educated perspective on immigration.

This is a followup Q&R (question & response) with Professor Binford after her talk, "4 Days In Clint."

W. Warren H. Binford is an internationally recognized children's rights scholar and advocate who holds a tenured position as Professor of Law and serves as the Director of the Clinical Law Program at Willamette University. Professor Binford was a principal witness of the inhumane conditions of children at the detention center in Clint, TX, and helped to bring this issue to the media. Spark Church...

Chapters 19-26 of Deuteronomy is a long list of various legislation about a variety of topics. For many of us in the 21st century, some of these legal stipulations are ancient, and even barbaric, things like the death penalty, mutilation, bodily fluids, etc. But a longer historical and contextual view reveals that times have always been changing, and we are not immune. But woven into this text are...

When we think of "prophets" and "prophecy," we too often think of some magical clairvoyance or foresight into some radical improbability. The problem is that this is not how messianic prophecy worked in the ancient world. Neither should it work that way for us today. Rather, we are committed to fulfill the calling of the messianic prophetic voice today.

When we think of "judgment," we often think of negative condemnation. But the installment of a judiciary in Deuteronomy is truly about justice, the pursuit of what is good and right in a society. It is this kind of justice—unpersuaded, not bribed, not delayed—that we are to pursue.

Deuteronomy invites us into a reset. No matter where we've been, how we've arrived, there's always the opportunity to to start over. This kind of redemptive renewal is woven into the fabric of our faith.

Five Sparkers share their stories as reflections of our values. We end with a benediction for the next seven years.

Pastors Kevin & Danielle share a brief background on our story to this point, and what brought us through these seven years.

The "Great Barrier" is our psychologies, the biases, stereotypes, and fears we all have about our most important issues. Using empathetic listening and imagination, we can hopefully move from fright to productive conversations when it comes to discussing climate change.

The commands in Deuteronomy are predicated on a fundamental message, one of identity. God is teaching us to see ourselves first and foremost as Children of the Lord our God. Once we see that, everything else changes.

The top three things you can do about climate change.

All of us, including our spiritual ancestors, did better when they knew better. There are new behaviors for new lands, and we will continue to evolve as we move forward in the world.

In this second installment of the Green New Covenant, we discuss the biggest challenges facing the climate change crisis and how The Way of Jesus provides the direct response. Not only is the prophetic voice, a reconciled life, and a grand narrative view good faith, it may be the platform upon which we can, in partnership with God, bring salvation to our world.

God's covenant has always been with God's people in God's land. The relationship we have with the creation, our environment, is central to how we steward our identity and God's good world. In obedience, there are blessings. In disobedience, there are curses. Will we keep our end of the covenant?

What if God, in giving the Israelites the commission to speak and act boldly as His representatives in the world, is not just providing commands that they are to obey, but upending whole power structures? What if God is closing the gap of the "high power distance" that is accepted and perpetuated by both ancient and modern peoples?