Episodes
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A Bird's Eye View of Idolatry (S17 Episode8)
Friends, this Sunday I want to give you a parabolic sermon about idolatry, and it begins off the coast of New Zealand. Fifty years ago, conservationists began an ambitious project to restore a small island and bring back some of the wildlife it had lost. Their plan was unusual, painstaking,...
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Idols and the Art of Loosening Our Grip (S17 Episode7)
In the story of the golden calf (Exodus 32), the Israelites fashion an idol, making God furious. Every time I encountered this story in Sunday School, (which was frequently), I never understood why, since this was so egregious, it was so hard to avoid. Making a giant golden calf takes serious…
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Where Did the Snake Come From? (S17 Episode6)
Comedian Ricky Gervais poses a pointed challenge to people of faith: If God wants to prevent evil and suffering but can’t, what does that say about God? If God can prevent them but won’t, what does that say about God? And if God is able and willing to end them, why do they remain? These are tough...
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The Great Pear Tree Theft (S17 Episode5)
Hey folks, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. There’s plenty to be thankful for, even in these peculiar times. I’m not sure if your family does this, but every Thanksgiving my family goes around the table, and everyone names a few things they’re grateful for. Beyond the usual...
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When the Bible Deconstructs Itself (S17 Episode 4)
Friends, for the past few weeks, we have been happily hunkered down in the opening chapters of Genesis. At this pace, we should complete our journey through the Bible sometime around 2050. That isn’t going to work, so it is time to pick up the pace. This Sunday, we are going to take a soaring…
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Diamonds for the Poor (S17 Episode3)
Friends, we are back at it again, and the word is that we will be back in Iona Hall this Sunday, which feels like great news! But, as we continue our journey of learning the art of reading Scripture well, I want to ask this Sunday what it is that connects a diamond ring, the Working Centre, and...
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An Ontology of Life and Peace (S17 Episode2)
Friends, last week we stepped behind the plate to make some calls about the Bible’s strike zone. This Sunday, Genesis gets the umpire’s attention. What kind of pitch is its creation story? (I promise to end the baseball metaphors when the Jays finally end my misery). Anywho, beyond many of the...
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The Strike Zone (S17 EPisode1)
Trying to be a person of faith is such a strange assignment, eh? Frederick Buechner once wrote, “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen.” He certainly got that right. There is beauty everywhere, but also more than enough of the terrible to keep a person awake at night. How...
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Windows to the Wind (S16 Episode40)
Well, friends, just like that, we have arrived at our season finale. For our final Sunday together before the summer, I want to close with a question worth carrying over the next few months. When was the last time you experienced God? Not just thought about God, agreed with an idea about God, or...
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Into The Looking Glass: Anthropology (S16 Episode39)
This Sunday we’re doing something a little different: Into the Looking Glass: Anthropology Over the past several months, our Anthropology series has sparked conversations, questions, disagreements, insights, and more than a few stories. It’s been one of those series that seems to have stayed with...
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This Is Us (S16 Episode38)
Well folks, the end of our season is fast approaching, and so this Sunday represents a sort of epilogue to our anthropology series. Instead of bringing another teaching or abstract idea, I simply want to tell you a story that forces us to ask one of the oldest and most uncomfortable questions…
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The Spirit in Us - A Wild Goose Chase? (S16 Episode37)
n her well-known poem, “Wild Geese”, Mary Oliver says: Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -- over and over announcing...
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A Welcome for the Weary (S16 Episode36)
Well friends, this Sunday marks the final week of our anthropology series, and we’ll be wrapping it up by asking what happens when anthropology meets faith? Throughout this series, we’ve explored what it means to be human: limited, conflicted, self-centered, and deeply in need of mercy. But this...
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Politics Without Salvation (S16 Episode35)
When it comes to anthropology, the rubber hits the road in both relationships and politics. This week, we tackle what happens when anthropology enters the political arena. This won’t be easy, because our politics have a way of getting into the air we breathe. It shapes the news we consume, the...
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The Weight of Love (S16 Episode34)
This Sunday at Nexus, we continue our series on anthropology by asking what may be the most practical question of all: what do we expect from the people we love? Anthropology can sound abstract until you are married to someone, raising kids with someone, building friendships, joining a church...
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The Burden of Being Yourself (S16 Episode33)
Friends, this Sunday we keep moving through our anthropology series by asking a deceptively simple question: what if the "self" is not something to be found, but something to be formed? As we start to explore the real-world implications of the anthropology we hold, I want to explore the tension...
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The Beautiful Order of Things (S16 Episode32)
Where we begin makes a big difference to our journey and to our future. We don’t pick up a book and begin at Chapter 3. Why would we do that with Scripture? The Bible begins the human story in beauty and goodness, but so often, our theology and the stories we tell ourselves tend to begin with our...
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Tilted Inwards (S16 Episode31)
Well, with Lent and Easter now behind us, we’re returning to our Anthropology series this Sunday after a six-week pause. I want to pick the series up again with one of the biggest questions beneath so much of life: what are human beings really like? What does it mean to be human, not just in…
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Easter Sunday (S16 Episode30)
On Easter Sunday, we gather again to step into a very different kind of morning. If Good Friday asks us to stay with what feels lost, Easter invites us to consider what we might be missing even when it is right in front of us. With poetry, song, Scripture, and reflection, we will move into a…
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Good Friday (S16 Episode29)
This Good Friday, we will make space for the weight of the story without rushing past it. Through Scripture, music, art, and reflection, we will linger with the cross as a place of sorrow, honesty, and difficult love. This is a service for anyone who knows that not everything can be fixed…
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Two Criminals (S16 Episode28)
Friends, we are about to enter Holy Week, and so, as we do, we’re turning to one of the most surprising exchanges at the cross. It is the dialogue between Jesus and two criminals also being executed beside him. I want to pair this moment with Andrea Mantegna’s painting Crucifixion (Louvre). There...
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The Cry (S16 Episode27)
Have you ever been left behind? I have been - at church, no less. And I must confess…I have also left a child at church. While I was probably 16 years old when it happened to me, our daughter was but 18 months. I know. Not a stellar parenting moment. But it’s surprisingly easy - it always…
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The Dry Place (S16 Episode26)
The Dry Place, from March 15th is avaialble by podcast: This Sunday in our Lent series, we’re going to focus on Jesus’ shortest, and easiest to skip, saying from the cross. In John, Jesus simply utters, “I thirst.” It isn’t a speech or sermon. It isn’t a lesson. It is two simple words that speak...
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An Order of Nearness (S16 Episode25)
This Sunday in our Lent series, we’ll be sitting with more of Jesus’ words from the cross. This one is less divine revelation and more communal and tender in nature. And I want to come to Jesus’ words as with one piece of art held up long enough for it to actually do something to us. We’ll be...
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Light Under Storm Skies (S16 Episode24)
Lent is now upon us, and for the weeks leading up to Easter at Nexus we’re slowing the pace down on purpose. Each week we’ll take just one of Jesus’ sayings from the cross and we’ll keep a single piece of art in front of us as a visual companion. This Sunday’s artwork is Karel Dujardin’s: The...
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The Conflicted Self (S16 Episode23)
Have you ever had a day, or week, where you sincerely wanted the good, and then things still unfolded opposite of all your good intentions? The invitation this Sunday is to take that strange, universal experience seriously, not as a quirky personality glitch, but as a window into what it means to...
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Judge not (S16 Episode22)
For today's sermon, we’re going to have fun with metaphors - we’ll return to the garden image, connecting that to Paul’s biblical image of the body. All of this is to explore the lens we use to look at the world. Consider - how much do you notice your thoughts…and how critical would you say they...
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Trees Walking (S16 Episode21)
Friends, what do FBI hostage negotiators have in common with Instagram, Netflix, and Spotify/Apple algorithms? Well, uncomfortably, they may know us better than we know ourselves. Which tells us something important about human nature. This Sunday, we’re continuing our Anthropology series by…
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A Consolation You Could Believe In (S16 Episode20)
Who are the people in your life that you can actually relax around? You know, the ones you don’t have to rehearse for, impress, or hold yourself together in front of? Hold that thought, and now, consider the moral, intellectual, or spiritual giants in your life that you look up to? Would you...
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A Tribute to Murray (S16 Episode19)
Today we pay tribute to Murray and the role he has played in our community over the past 15 years. We hope you will join us then as we remember one of the pillars of our community.
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Anthropology (S16 Episode18)
Nexus, we are on our way into a new series that will occupy much of our winter and spring, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. In a season where we are exploring the ways we are shaped and formed, the question behind this series is this: what if the way we talk about being human is quietly...
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The Criminality of Despair (S16 Episode17)
Happy New Year Nexus! I hope you had a meaningful Christmas and rang in 2026 in the best possible way (even if that was sleeping). Our new years arrive, for many of us, with equal parts hope and heaviness. We know that life doesn’t magically reset when the clock strikes midnight and what we…
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The Magnificat (S16 Episode16)
Christmas is just around the corner now friends, and for this final of Sunday of Advent, we are inviting everyone to bring some kind of “sweet” finger food for after the service. It should be a fun and meaningful morning. Also, don’t forget about our Christmas Eve service at 4pm at St. Andrew's.…
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Theotokos (S16, E15)
Friends, this week we’re stepping into the Advent story through the eyes of Mary, a teenager in a nowhere town suddenly asked to carry God into the world. It’s a beautiful scene, until you remember it was also terrifying, disruptive, and about as far from “silent night” as you can get. And...
About this show
A weekly podcast from Nexus Church in downtown Kitchener, Ontario.
Hosted by
Brad Watson
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