River East Church Podcast

On April 26, Aaron explored the extended story of Paul's and Silas' arrest—and jailbreak—in Philippi (Acts 16:16-34). In this account, we see two disruptions of Roman institutions, but only one leads to ongoing transformation. How should we understand this?

On April 19, Mary Anne unpacked our guiding metaphor for Eastertide this year: the resurrection as a magnetic field. Using the conversion of Saul to Paul as an example (Acts 9:1-19a), we see how the twin 'poles' of Christ suffering and resurrection can create new alignment in us.

On April 12, Krista guided us through John 20:19-31, and the ways the first disciples reacted to the resurrection, and invites us to take another look at so-called 'doubting' Thomas.

On Resurrection Sunday, Aaron offered this sermon on plant intelligence, ghost forests, and Mary Magdalene mistaking the resurrected Christ as the gardener.

March 22 - John 19:1-16a. Mary Anne explores one of the meanings of why Jesus' death matters. Through a verse by verse approach she examines the story of Jesus’ trial through the lens of Violence, asking how Jesus' death helps protect us from Violence.

March 15, 2026 - John 18:29-47. Michael explores the dialogue between Jesus and Pilate and the conflict between God’s reign and this world's kingdoms.

March 8, 2026 - John 18:12-27 Aaron re-weirds the story of Peter’s denial and suggests this story of the tragedy of a commoner was maintained to confront the cosmic order of the ancient world.

On February 8, Mary Anne Isaak explores New Creation: Where Proximity is Redefined based on John 4:46 – 5:18. We ache to know that we are connected, grounded and headed toward hope and stability. We want to connect to a God with skin on.

Speaking from John 3:1-21, Doug re-imagines the implications of being born from above. January 25, 2026.

When Jesus cleared the temple as recorded in John 2:13-25, he was acting as the Banksy of Jerusalem. January 18, 2026.

Mary Anne Isaak will help us explore God's presence through the passage, John 1:1-18.

Gordon Matties explores God's presence through the passage, Ezekiel 37:1–14.

November 30, Lori Matties explores God's presence through the passage Daniel 3:1, 4-6, 8-20, 25-27.

November 16, we pray, “May We Taste Your Peace" as Mary Anne Isaak leads us through Isaiah 9:1-7.

October 26, Mary Anne reflects on 1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-13. Solomon's temple can be viewed as the symbol of Israel's golden era, and a sign of God being with them. However this also came with significant burdens - heavy taxation and forced labor.

October 12, Jeff Friesen, director of Leadership Ministries of Mennonite Church Manitoba, reflects on 1 Samuel 3:1-21..

October 5, Mary Anne reflects on Exodus 16:1-18, breaking the hoarder's spell, a reminder that God's abundance is sufficient for all.

September 21, Mary Anne drew our attention to the story of Jacob in Genesis 28, who, after a lifetime of scheming, had his own encounter with God. This third-generation believer's struggle highlights how God remains faithful, even when we wrestle with our own personal faith story.

September 14, Paul Doerksen spoke on the test of Abraham in Genesis 22. Earlier stories in Genesis showed that God could be trusted in the covenant he had made with Abraham, but Abraham often wavered. This time, even when faced with a deeply troubling command, Abraham trusts God completely. In response, God not only provides a resolution but also reaffirms his trustworthiness.

September 7, the start of a new series titled "God spoke first". Reflections on the idea that in the beginning, God spoke and creation followed. Today, artificial intelligence is also speaking—and creating—prompting new questions about its role in our lives. Mary Anne explores the importance of setting thoughtful boundaries around AI use, while emphasizing the need to prioritize and nurture human relationships in this rapidly evolving era.

On August 24, in honour of the Season of Creation, our worship took place outdoors so we could feel the sun on our skin, take in the flowers... and experience the WIND. As such, the audio quality for this sermon took a bit of a hit, but it's still worth the listen. Here, in his last sermon before heading off on sabbatical, Aaron offers a window into the narrative themes he's noticed among Gen Alpha, specifically regarding the climate crisis, holding them alongside the story of the Emmaus Road (Luke 24:13-35). What deeper story is the church telling in a time of impending climate crisis?

Wrapping up our summer series of 'recycled sermons,' Julie Doerksen offers us a reflection by César García, General Secretary of the Mennonite World Conference. First preached at the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism, Garcia weaves together the stories of Naaman's unnamed servant girl (2 Kings 5:1-11), the early Anabaptists, and our present moment, in a call for courageous discipleship.

On August 10, Janna offered us a memorable sermon by Jeff Chu. Chu is a writer, teacher, former curator of the 'Evolving Faith Conference,' as well as a "pretend farmer," to use his own words. He wears all those hats in this sermon on the theological lessons of worms and compost.

On August 3 we were joined by Janessa Nayler-Giesbrecht, pastor of our sister church, Jubilee Mennonite. With Isaiah 42:1-7 in the background, Janessa offers a chapter from Niigaan Sinclair's book "Winipek." (Longtime listeners may remember we had Niigaan as a guest preacher some time ago!) This message is especially poingnant for those of us who live here in Winnipeg, and the complex history we thus inhereit.

On July 27, Gordon honoured the late Walter Brueggemann with this timely sermon on 'totality,' drawing on 1 Kings 10:26-29 (Solomon's extractive economy), Jeremiah 22:13-17 (Jeremiah speaks against the king), and Isaiah 19:23-25 (Isaiah’s alternative to imperial power politics).Unfortunately, we experienced a power outage that morning, which cut off the beginning of the sermon and dramatically affected the audio quality as we tried to get the equipment back on... Hang in there until about the 5 minute mark where it improves a lot.

Our recylced sermon this week comes from a book by Glenn Jordan and Pádraig Ó Tuama, entitled, Borders and Belonging: The Book of Ruth: a Story for our Times. Drawing on the chapter "Counter Narratives," Lori guides us into the more surprising aspects of the book of Ruth.

Continuing with our recycled sermons over summer, Mary Anne offers a sermon she received from Helen Paynter this past May at the Believers Church Conference in Amsterdam. Through Mary Anne, Paynter walks us through Isaiah 6:1-11, and how the call of Isaiah might address us as Christians today—and the honest ways we might respond.

River East is sister churches with Jubilee Mennonite Church, just down the road, and this summer we are populating our pulpits in partnership!This week we welcome Elfrieda Schroeder from Jubilee, who offered us a sermon she had once prepared but never had the chance to preach, reflecting on the Road to Emmaus story in Luke 24:13-35.

Rather than continue through the Narrative Lectionary, over the summer months REC is continuing our tradition of offering 'recycled' sermons. Rather than create something new each week, speakers are instead invited to choose a sermon that they have heard in the past that has stuck with them, for whatever reason. Then, at the pulpit, they share the story of why the sermon stood out for them, and then offer a 'recycled' version of that sermon once again, retaining the original author's voice as much as possible.This week, Aaron kicks us off with a heavily edited version of David Bentley Hart's "Confessions of an Irreligious Christian," which draws on the resurrection account in 1 Corinthians 15:4-8

In this final re-upload of 2022's "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son" series, Aaron shares a so-called "dark reading" of Jesus' famous parable. Drawing on author Kester Brewin, this strange interpretation is a warning of how our best revolutionary instincts can be pacified and swallowed whole by the comforts of wealth.

Continuing with the throwback series "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son," this time Aaron takes a look at the parable with the help of Jewish New Testament scholar, Amy-Jill Levine.

Happy Pentecost Sunday! At REC, our practice is to accept new members into the church in the Sundays surrounding Pentecost, which means our sermons are replaced by stories from new members' lives—which we do not record.Thus, for the podcast, today we are continuing our re-uploads of 2022's "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son" series, this time Aaron interprets the parable in a more medieval, Christological way, tracing the journey of the prodigal as the journey of Christ.

For the next several Sundays at River East—due to Table Sundays, new member testimonies, and the annual church picnic—we won't have new sermons to upload to our podcast. Thus, for the next month, we'll instead be uploading an old, 4-part series that Aaron preached in late 2022, entitled "Four Faces of the Prodigal Son." Each week, Aaron examined the famous parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) from a completely different angle, offering a completely different interpretation. Rather than seeing this as a problem, Aaron suggests that this surplus of meaning is is a feature worth exploring in any sacred text.

On May 25, Aaron took a look at the political turmoil behind the letter to the Galatians, and the emotions it seems to be stirring up in the Apostle Paul. What does love look like when our understanding of God's story clashes with other people's... especially people we care for?

On May 18, Charlotte used the image of a quilt as a way to enter the text of Acts 15:1-18—how both the early church and us today are being woven and re-woven into God's tapestry.

On May 11, Aaron stretched the metaphor of "Love makes the world go 'round" to include Newtonian physics, and then mapped it onto the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26-39.

On May 4, 2025, we were pleased to welcome Niigaan Sinclair to speak with us on Acts 6:1-7:2a, and 44-60. Niigaan is an Anishinaabe writer, editor, and activist in Winnipeg and heads the Department of Native Studies at University.Stay tuned for our next upload, which will feature Niigaan's Cross Training session with us.

On April 27, Mary Anne kicked off our exploration into Love this Eastertide—one of the Christian names for God, as well as one of the Seven Sacred Teachings of the Plains First Nations. Here we see how the theme of sight is intertwined with story of the Emmaus Road from Luke 24:13-15.

On Easter Sunday, Mary Anne reflected on the ways that collective 'ruptures' affect our public life together. Be it the bombing of Hiroshima, 9/11, or the discovery of the residential school graves here in Canada, these 'ruptures' almost ialways involve violence of some kind. But Easter is a rupture of an entirely different sort... How will we let it shape us today?

It's a short one this week.At River East, it's our tradition to commemorate Christ's washing of the disciples' feet as part of our Palm Sunday service. This is the short meditation Mary Anne offered to guide us into this practice this year.

On April 6, Jon Isaak took us through the story of Zaccheus, the "wee little man in a tree." Beyond seeing this story as a charming tale for children, he invites us to see the deeper questions lurking beneath the surface. Who is really lost? Who is really saved, and how?

On March 30, Aaron offered an unorthodox interpretation of the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)... which didn't get recorded because all our audio systems went down that morning. Presented here is a re-recording.

On March 23, Mary Anne tackeld the trio of parables in Luke 15—the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son—picking up on the theme of celebration that connects three stories together.

Given all that's going on these days, on March 16, REC chose to forgo a formal sermon during our worship service and instead focus on the practice of lament.Thus, this week we bring to you the 'Cross Training' session from that morning, where Dr. Dan Epp Tiessen shared with us his experience of travelling to Palestine and Israel this past November. His slides were impactful—it is unfortunate they cannot be shared in a podcasting format.

On March 9, Aaron took another look at the famous parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Rather than assume we already know this story is simply about "helping others," we might instead see this parable as a challenge to break our internalized cycles of violence—something that can be terribly difficult to do in our current day.

On March 2nd, we welcomed Jamie Howison to once again join with our in-house jazz quartet and guide us in a jazz liturgy. This time we used the medium of jazz to explore Christ's Transfiguration, as depicted in Luke 9:28-45.

Since this past worship service was our regular Table Sunday gathering around a communal meal, we are once again diving into the archives for this week's episode.In anticipation of our Jazz liturgy on March 2nd, here is a sermon drawing on John Coltrane's famous tune, "Giant Steps," and how it relates to Acts 10 and 11. Originally offered by Aaron on July 10, 2022, it was recorded at a time when we were exploring what it might mean to be in the 'boarderland' of our our faith traditions.

On February 16, we were grateful to have Darryl Loewen—the Executive Director of MCC Manitoba—speak with us on Luke 7:18-35.

On February 9, Aaron took a look at Luke 7:1-17, paying special attention to the editing present in the passage. Beyond the words themselves, what meaning is generated when Luke deliberately places two stories side-by-side?

On February 2, 2025, Paul Doerksen explored many questions present in Luke 6:1-11. Is the Sabbath about rules, rest, or something else? Why is Jesus so willing to make things awkward? And why does Jesus heal the person in this story, but not others?