Still Speaking with Ivanhoe Church

Pastor Kris and Shelley draw the Still Speaking journey to a close as they celebrate Vacation Bible School and discuss Pastor Kris's new call. The VBS Camp Firelight theme is Psalm 56:3, 'Whenever I am afraid, I put my trust in you.' As Christians, we seek to provide a safe community that fosters trust and sparks joy; a place where, whenever you are afraid, you are encouraged to place your trust in God.

In today's Still Speaking episode, roles are reversed, and Pastor Kris was invited to discuss the experience of Lent and the relevancy of our faith with the partners of Intentional Energy 3, Henrieta Ribeiro and Maryanne Kyle-DiPietropaolo. Henrieta and Maryanne have led workshops at Ivanhoe, creating safe spaces for learning, growth, and change. We pray that this discussion will illuminate the action of the Holy Spirit in your life. God is still speaking, and we are all listening to discern God's message for today and deepen our faith.

Pastor Kris and Shelley talked today about welcoming and hospitality. Shelley muses that she welcomes others by meeting them at their level or engaging those on the sidelines. Similarly, Christ is calling us, offering us to take his yoke and find our burden lightened.  From the many yokes we wear—career, search for financial security, family responsibility—we are offered rest, a cool drink of water, and a path to live in presence. 

Pastor Kris and Shelley take up the subject of Lent, a forty-day journey of seeking: for clarity, for wisdom, for love that makes us whole. Seeking requires asking honest questions; our faith community creates space to wrestle with profound questions fearlessly. May you journey bravely and trust your ability to listen for new answers.

Our Faith Journeys video series features ways the Holy Spirit has illuminated the lives of those who listen for God's Word. May you be uplifted through the story told through Lillian Mueller's faith. We pray that her story may resonate with yours and that the Holy Spirit may embrace you in hope, peace, and joy.

In today’s Faith Journey episode, Pastor Kris discusses intentionality as the foundation for leadership, creativity, and faith with the partners of Intentional Energy 3, Henrieta Ribeiro and Maryanne Kyle-DiPietropaolo. Henrieta and Maryanne recently led a workshop at Ivanhoe, creating safe spaces for learning, growth, and change. We are confident you’ll see the action of the Holy Spirit in their work and faith journeys.

In pairing Psalm 35: 1-10 and Ephesians 6: 10-18, Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss how we can fight for those we love when they are suffering. Explore spiritual practices from “See No Stranger” by Valerie Kaur, they find parallels in the teachings of Jesus Christ. We choose Love, and that’s how we fight; our struggle is life-giving rather than destructive, taking on the armor of God for the sake of others.

Pastor Kris and Shelley talk today about the correlation of perseverance in faith and marathons. Each requires training and fortitude, but no one succeeds alone. We draw our support from the cloud of saints, our community, and in the good word of a stranger along the journey. We are all—every one of us—given talents that we are called to use in both world and church.

Pastor Kris and Shelley invite Sandra Dwire into a conversation about Vacation Bible School. One of the year's highlights is our Vacation Bible School, based this year on the Lord's Prayer and how we see God cares and provides for us. One of the most important things we do in ministry is to help youth form a relationship with God. This discussion highlights our being drawn together by God's spirit when we are engaged in intergenerational, creative, joyful expression.

Today, Pastor Kris and Shelley take up the subject of prayer, drawing from Luke 1:11. Our prayer life shapes us and our outlook. Rather than the one-off request, we are called into prayer in its many forms with purpose and perseverance as a way of life.

Pastor Kris and Shelley are joined by Barry, Ivanhoe’s podcast editor, as we reflect on the third anniversary of this journey. These conversations have enabled our growth through hearing different perspectives. These podcasts give us the opportunity to reflect again, often in greater detail, on the scripture of the week, where we can find meaning and put our faith into practice.

In this audio podcast, Maclyn Peat, lovingly known as Mac, joins Pastor Kris and Shelley in our Faith Journeys series. We believe that every life offers a unique, invaluable story and that stories bind us in community. As you experience stories of those who have discovered faith in God through their encounter with Jesus Christ, may you discover insights that inform how you respond to God’s calling in your life. This podcast is avaibable in video our YouTube Channel, at ivanhoechurch.org/youtube.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss forgiveness, guided by reading the story of Saul’s transformation. Jesus came to embody God’s grace, calling into service the least among us. As with Paul, God’s forgiveness calls us into a new faith relationship and we are likewise called into transformative forgiveness of others. Even as a one-off response to an incident or action, forgiveness is one of the most difficult acts of faith. Yet our faith calls us to consider that, as Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. noted, forgiveness is not an occasional act but a constant attitude.

In this audio podcast, Phyllis Warne joins us in our podcast series, Faith Journeys. This is an audio podcast, excerpted from a video podcast that can be found on our YouTube Channel. As you experience stories of those who have discovered faith in God through their encounter with Jesus Christ, may you discover insights that … Continue reading "Episode 71: Highlights of Faith with Phyllis Warne"

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss how Mary’s anointing of Jesus’s feet is challenged for its extravagance. In the freedom of Mary's gift, let us emulate her exemplary love just as we receive God’s extravagant love for us. Be gracious with yourself, be kind to others. Live in Christ's call to forgive yourself as you forgive others.

Pastor Kris and Shelley consider this second anniversary of a world transfigured by covid, and how our sense of control has been changed. Yet, grieving corporate and personal losses, the truth of the Good News is that through all turmoil, Christ gathers us underwing. The church has found new ways to remain connected and explore faith in absence. Online services engage new explorers and we are finding new devotional practices. Spirit-led, we find new ways to draw closer to God.

Discussing the transfiguration of Jesus in Like 29, Pastor Kris and Shelley suggest our Lenten focus be the ‘practice’ of our spiritual practice, expecting some discomfort in the course of growth. Seek micro-faith actions over mountaintop experiences, such as adding a moment of reflection or journaling to your morning coffee routine. In so doing may you find new practices that draw you closer to God.

Pastor Kris and Shelley consider how Luke’s version of the sermon to the multitude is set on level ground, metaphorically recognizing that, made in the image of God, we are intrinsically good and universally equals. In our blessings, we are called to be the conduit by which God’s love flows to others. Grace is not a mountain-top experience but an invitation to share our gifts with the vulnerable.

Pastor Kris and Shelley consider how Luke 4 can be seen as a mission statement for the church, sharing the news of the Gospel and helping people find freedom and healing. This scripture’s verbs are about unbinding: bringing Good News, proclaiming release, offering recovery. May you find new and good ways forward, inviting others into community.

Pastor Kris and Shelley consider how the story of the Maggi relates to our own. Are we searching in the right places for this Christ child? Have we missed a turn and need to lift our eyes to the distant star? Is it through our very restlessness that we find peace? Perhaps this year, the gift of the Maggi is to offer you another way home.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss the welcome Christ offers us and how we each have a place of peace at his table. We consider Philippians 1: 3-11 and of letting go of things, allowing Advent to refocus our attention on what truly matters: making decisions through the lens of this overflowing, enfolding love.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Mark 12, familiar as the Widows Mite. We come with different abilities, and, whether grand or tiny, our gifts create a ripple that makes God’s love in the world apparent. Fatih is love in action; sharing God’s love requires no treasure beyond hope and compassion. Even our mite empowers might through gratitude.

Drug overdoses tragically struck our community twice this year; Pastor Kris and Shelley share a faith-based conversation about how we approach problems by considering God’s love for us. We believe the church is a caring and healing community and God is calling us to put faith in action to end overdoses and the criminalization of people who use drugs. Through education and advocacy we aim to inspire hope and a commitment to a drug-free lifestyle.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Psalm 1, which teaches that people who delight in the teachings of the Lord are like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding fruit in season. Like a tree, we need good soil where our faith roots are nourished by interconnections and given strength.

Galatians 3: 26-28, emphasizes that we are called to see all people as beloved. Paul says there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are our siblings in Christ. To bring all people into community is the fundamental work of Christ. As Christ revealed God’s love for us, we must see that racism is a sin that separates us not only from our brothers or sisters but from God.

Our prejudices affect our understanding of the world and, lamentably, our God. In Mark 3: 20-35, Jesus calls us family in its most inclusive meaning, challenging the limit of common understanding. If we set aside our prejudices and celebrate our different perspectives, we can better help each other and do the will of God.

This week Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Pentecost, a thanksgiving celebration fifty days after Passover, where the gift of the Spirit empowers understanding among diversity. As a church, we are foundationally called to value the diversity of voices. A year of pandemic separation informs this profoundly, calling us to celebrate in great joy, without reserve, our God-given differences.

Pastor Kris and Shelley continue discussing John 15, the abiding bonds of friendship, and today, the joy God intends for us in community and friendship. Jesus, in pastoral care for his disciples, calls them friends. Jesus's command to love one another in friendship is central to our faith; our ministry is about relationships, and Jesus walks with us in expressing care, concern, and support of others.

God is love: 1 John 4 centers this discussion, where Pastor Kris uses the word abiding–an uncommon, peculiar word in an acquisitive, active world–to highlight the steadfast love that God reveals to us in Christ. The author of John winnows God's holy essence to love, abiding love. Love to be seen and shared in our kindness, compassion, care, and listening. May you find abiding joy in loving your brothers and sisters as you love God.

Today, Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss how the familiar story of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem at the festival of Passover compares with Pentecost as the birth of the church as a political body where Jesus's followers publicly rose to endorse Pax Christi over Pax Romana, setting in motion the events of two millennia.

A year after the pandemic’s official declaration, Pastor Kris and Shelley Groh invite Dr. Allison Salituro to discuss the pandemic’s effects in the brightening light of hope. Amidst the distribution of vaccines, we confront what may be long-term effects. Things will be different. Notably, we may be surprised how mental health concerns linger on and … Continue reading "Episode 53: One Year Later"

Many of us quietly fear we are unworthy of God's love for who we "really" are. Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss gifts of emptiness as a place of accepting God's love in times of darkest mystery. The scripture highlights that it is within Jesus's forsaken cry from the cross that we find the gift of emptiness: not that Jesus found God but God found Jesus, remaking the story of humankind. Lenten emptying gives space for God, who loves us beyond our wildest imagination, to find us.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. Assured that God's love for us never ends, can we accept the gift of life's uncertainty? In our Lenten journey, can we receive mystery as a gift, not a problem to be solved? Can we then fill the void of certainty with trust? In faith and gratitude, can we find the gifts of this dark wood?

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss 'thin places' in Celtic tradition where the veil between heaven and earth is most ethereal. Christ's transfiguration in Mark 9 is one of those places, a place we want to inhabit. Yet Lent is active: about our intention to draw closer to Christ. As you descend the mountain during Lent, God is blessing you, preparing you for your journey; you are a part of this dazzling blessing, sharing it with others, using your gifts to sustain others in their darkest moments.

Led by Mark 1, Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss how we can know our calling. The Bible calls us to serve others, doing the difficult work of justice. So, do we listen for our call with foreboding? What if these fishermen dropped their nets so quickly out of an immediate, overwhelming sense of joy? Frederick Buechner notes that we find our calling where our greatest sense of gladness intersects with the world's needs. Can you find your calling in knowing Jesus, following Jesus, and sharing Jesus?

As our nation remembers Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Shelly and Pastor Kriss speak about how people of faith may see how these early justice movements began with the church. Rooted in action by non-violent disciples of Christ willing to go to any length to restore God’s community, they call us yet toward a … Continue reading "Episode 48: Come and See"

We believe in the power of the Word. Jesus, the Word born in flesh, is the way and the truth and the life—at its very genesis, our faith tells us that words and truth matter: words bring worlds into existence. Today, we wrestle with a Christian response to a national crisis of violence where it is expressly evident that what we say will encourage, engage, disengage, or enrage. As people of Advent, members in the body of Christ, we are called to do the will of God. Through our words of lament and hope, we can become a part of God's divine connectivity in a world that experiences adversity.

Our church began 2020 by sharing slips of paper containing a word to spark a year's meditation. Shelley's was 'light,' and as we reflect on this very dark year of isolation, illness, and death , we enter advent with renewed appreciation for the unfolding story. The Light of the World is constantly being born in us, and amid our covid-fatigue, we are called to be lighters of candles that bring others welcome and peace.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss the comfort spoken of in Isaiah 40:1-11, and how this dispossessed people were called to be messengers of hope. We may live in imperfect times but we are called to be the herald of good tidings because, not only is another world possible, it is on its way.

Dr. Alli Salituro joins our conversation on compassionate community. Absence and loss are intensified during this pandemic-estranged holiday season. Recognizing that we need witness and presence more than answers, we can practice open listening for our friends and neighbors, using rhetorical techniques like ‘yes, and,’ or ‘tell me more,’ to help them draw strength in … Continue reading "Episode 44: Compassionate Community"

Pastor Kris and Shelley speak of the lessons in following the way of Christ found in Hebrews 10:19-35. Jesus showed us a way of life perfectly committed to love for God and neighbor; through Jesus we hold fast to hope, that best anchor of the soul. We are called in this passage to inspire and encourage each other, together lifting our sight to find that certain good.

Today, Pastor Kris and Shelley talk about the grief we bear, the losses we have incurred, and how our deep rooting in faith allows us to bend but not break under this strain. This taproot of faith feeds our growth. May you find God's presence surrounding and nourishing, offering you space and grace for change.

Just when we feel we haven't done enough, we can be surprised by thanks. Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss 1 Thessalonians 1, a thank-you prayer for "your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." As the church is renewed in this pandemic moment of crisis, and we go with Christ in our hearts to reach people where they are. Even amidst worldly chaos, God is still speaking, the risen Christ's message ever more relevant.

In the seventh month of these difficult times, Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Paul’s message to the Philippians affirming, thought the power of resurrection, that God’s love is more powerful than anything else, even death. As the scripture asks us to forget what lies behind and strain forward to the good that lies ahead and … Continue reading "Episode 40: Okay To Not Be Okay"

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss the love spoken of in 1 John 4, which calls us into community. When we read scripture, we can say with conviction and courage that all people are created in God’s image, and therefore they all have value, all matter, and are all beloved children of God. The scripture challenges us to embody God’s inclusive love with boldness.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Jesus’s entreaty on forgiveness in Matthew 18. If we ask what kind of community God desires us to be, Pastor Kris proposes we consider how failure to forgive one another can lead to disruption and degradation in our community. Forgiveness becomes a courageous act when Jesus upends the limit in Peter’s query.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Romans 12 and how this prescription for living a Spirit-filled life can offer hope in our times of significant stress and change. They pose how building these acts of love into your daily routine can be transformative.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss the Genesis 45 story of Joseph's reunion with his brothers, the complex nature of mercy, and the boldness that it often requires. Comparing the Genesis story with a modern account of grace, Pastor Kris underlines how bold forgiveness can elevate us to find God's compelling unity for our humanity.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Genesis 32:22-31, in which Jacob finds himself alone, soon to spend the night in a pitched night wrestling match that will leave him with a limp and an extraordinary blessing. We live in a pandemic time of exceptional isolation, wrestling with many present concerns. In your quiet moments may you find God is with you, going forward with blessing.

Marking a year of podcasting, we conclude a six-week worship series that offered new opportunities to find beauty in our lives, refill our' spiritual tanks,' and explore what we are called to do next. Pastor Kris offers this from Howard Thurman: "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Shelley offers one way to discern what makes you come alive is to think about what you loved as a five-year-old. Spend some time with us this week, nurturing your inner child!