Vessel Houston

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. The blessed pasture to which God calls us is not hidden behind four walls, it’s out in the world; the shepherd’s loving voice our constant guide. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 10:1-10Acts 2:43-37John 6:52-53

In an age where cynical charlatans perform certainty in the name of power and control, the true resurrection life travels directly through the honest, humble, faithful experience of doubt. Join us in exploring this illuminating encounter with fresh eyes. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 20:19-31

Seeing resurrection can be a complicated thing amid the ceaseless crises gripping our human family. But as we return in the dark of the morning with Mary to the tomb, we remember the enduring hope who emerged from that hopeless place, and the story still being written. It’s not a war story, and it’s not a horror story. It’s a love story. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 20

With Easter on the near horizon, we reflect together on another resurrection story as prelude. Divine Love is calling us ALL back to life; not merely for our own sake, but for the unbinding of one another. Also, why does Pastor Mike have a mustache? (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 11

We follow Jesus to a well on the “wrong” side of town, where radical, boundary-shattering love and the promise of living water upend our ever notion of “us” and “them.” A story we need now more than ever. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 4:3-42

“Can these bones live?” The season of Lent isn’t about self-improvement, but communal life renewal. We follow the prophet Ezekiel into a desolate valley, which becomes the unlikely, fertile soil of resurrection. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsEzekiel 37God simply keeps reaching down into the dirt of humanity and resurrecting us from the graves we dig for ourselves through violence, our lies, our selfishness, our arrogance, and our addictions, and God keeps loving us back to life over and over again-Nadia Bolz-Weber

Responding to the vaguest of invitations, four men become the first to follow Jesus. As we witness them suddenly depart from their families and livelihoods, we consider the “follow me” which that same Divine Love whispers into our lives today. Even now, he stands upon the shoreline… (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsMatthew 4:17-22

The long-awaited Messiah descends into the waters of the Jordan, God declares that belovedness precedes fruitfulness, and hope cascades outward as a ripple over all the nations. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsMatthew 3:13-17Acts 10:34-48

As this sacred season nears its culmination, we explore the compassion, trust, and faithful action of Joseph. From his unique perspective in the manger scene, we discover how God meets us in the midst of the stories we didn’t ask for. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsMatthew 1:18-25“The heart of this story is about a just man who wakes up one day to find his life wrecked: his wife pregnant, his trust betrayed, his name ruined, his future revoked. It is about a righteous man who surveys a mess he has had absolutely nothing to do with and decides to believe that God is present in it.”Barbara Brown Taylor

A pair of prophetic voices; one, a pregnant teenager on the margins. The season dares us to re-imagine holy gentleness in a world structured around disordered notions of power and strength. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsIsaiah 11:1-10Luke 1:39-56

Our entry into Advent marks the beginning of a new year in the Church. But before we step once more into the journey of anticipating Jesus’ arrival, we recognize the “end”… or rather, the One who makes a new beginning from every ending. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 23:33-43Luke 4:9-11John 12:24

The Apostle Paul pens a second letter to a freshly planted church within a diverse and prosperous city. Amid the countless idols of the empire, and a wave of troubling misinformation, how is this new and fragile people to discern and stand firm in truth? (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & Quotations2 Thessalonians 2:1-17

Between doubt and faith, exile and home, sorrow and renewal, what is and what is yet to come; God is here. The words of the prophet Jeremiah help us to maintain a vision of hope glimmering through the wrath of our age. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJeremiah 14:7-10,19-21Jeremiah 31:31-34…It would be more significant to say that, like us, Jeremiah lived in an age of wrath. - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel\…(a prophet) is someone who knows what time it is. - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Even in Babylonian exile, even behind prison walls, God the “Director” has cast each of us in this ever-unfolding human drama. Looking to the prophetic word of Jeremiah, and in Luke 17, a grievously afflicted group encountering Jesus on the road, we see how transformation happens when we draw near to God by fully inhabiting the space and moment in which we live, especially those we did not choose. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJeremiah 29: 4-7Luke 17: 11-19

A “religious” leader emerges through the dark, seeking to understand this mysterious, troublemaking rabbi. The two share a nighttime encounter illuminated by a universe shifting claim, one which our world of outrage and malice needs more than ever. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 3:1-17John 19:39-40God’s freely given grace is a humiliation to the ego because free gifts say nothing about being strong, superior, or moral. Thus only the soul can understand grace, never the mind or the ego- Richard Rohr, “Economy of Grace”

A healing encounter on the Sabbath ignites a fury of backwards religiosity, reminding us that following Jesus often means embracing a holy disobedience in the face of injustice and neglect for those suffering under the many afflictions of our world. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 13:10-17... for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs. - Mary Ann Evans (“George Eliot”), Middlemarch

Our world will never be transformed from a place of endless conflict and worry through greater control, but by communities who move toward the rupture, joining God in co-crating the just, equitable, and loving alternative. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsIsaiah 1:10-20Luke 12:22-34- God is not impressed by our rituals- When life is only about what you have, everything becomes something to lose- The antidote to worry moving toward the other, where we generally find that our worry is small, or shared

We resist prayer to the same degree that we resist relationship. As a herald of hope to a world in turmoil, Jesus calls us the Church to a deeper embrace of both; each strengthening the other. Prayer is not a static set of words to parrot, but an invitation into loving and honest dialogue wherein we gain new sight for God’s activity in the world and within our own hearts. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 11:1-13“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”Søren Kierkegaard

Revisiting the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we are drawn once more into the simplicity and endless mystery of this story which Jesus chose to tell (and to whom). May the blessed actions of the outsider lead us to lament and rethink more than simply our conditional definitions of belonging on earth, but the ways that we allow fear, self-interest, and need for retribution to extend that distorted view even into the afterlife.Scripture & QuotationsLuke 10:25-37“There are… those Christians, who are earnestly attached to the idea of an eternal hell not just because they feel they must be, but also because it is what they want to believe. For some of them, in fact, it is practically the best part of the story. It gives them a sense of belonging to a very small and select company, a very special club, and they positively relish the prospect of a whole eternity in which to enjoy the impotent envy of all those writhing, resentful souls that have been permanently consigned to an inferior neighborhood outside the gates.”“…the bizarre idea that this fee was a price paid to the Father — the coin of some sublimely circular transaction wherein God buys off God in order to spare us God’s displeasure (rather like a bank issuing itself credit to pay off a debt it owes itself, using a currency it has minted for the occasion and certified in its value wholly on the basis of the very credit it is issuing to itself.”"“Love my neighbor all I may, if I believe hell is real and also eternal I cannot love him as myself. My conviction that one of us might go to such a hell while the other enters into the Kingdom of God means that I must be willing to abandon him — abandon everyone, in fact — to a fate of total misery while yet continuing to assume that, having done so, I shall be able to enjoy perfect eternal bliss… without the least hesitation or regret, to have surrendered him to endless pain.”- David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, & Universal Salvation

It was a thrill to have our friend Ericka Graham join as our guest preacher this weekend, inviting us into a dense and evocative story. Across the sea, Jesus approaches a man with a grave affliction; an encounter revealed to be more than merely an exorcism. Jesus guides us ever to the margins, rejecting the hollow power of empire, liberating the oppressed, and empowering us all to bear witness to God’s restorative goodness. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 8:26-39“Sometimes the terror we know is more tolerable than the peace we can’t imagine."- Evan Garner “Evil can hide in systems much more readily than individuals.”- Richard Rohr“Jesus liberates the captive by restoring him to his community.”- Isaac Villegas

On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came rushing down as wind and fire, reversing the “curse” of Babel, and calling all of humanity to the truth that we are made to exist in diverse and inter-reliant community. As lines of demarcation and othering, “US” and “THEM” continue to be drawn, and immigrant communities terrorized across the country, followers of Christ must be a part of proclaiming justice and choosing the vital messiness of embrace. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsGenesis 11:1-9Acts 2:1-18“That wind, that Spirit, created a new nation that was no longer subject to the constraints of the past and the boundaries that keep us apart. God’s salvation is the creation of a new society that invites each person to become part of a new age that the nations of this world cannot provide.” “At Pentecost God created a new language, but it is an embodied language of care. It is a baptism of fire through which we enter a community whose memory of its Savior creates the miracle of being a people whose very differences contribute to their unity and love for one another. We call this new creation church- Stanley Hauerwas, Jesus Changes Everything: A New World Made Possible

Two strangers encounter one another along the road. By all religious and social custom they are not to interact, and yet they depart as siblings in Christ. To understand why is to understand who we are as those who claim to follow Jesus in a world of man-made borders. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsActs 8:26-40Isaiah 56Perhaps Philip, on the basis of his experience in Samaria, was able to recognize that God was doing a new thing to widen Philip’s previous understanding of the boundaries of the people of God.- Christopher B. Hayes & Richard B. Hayes - The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story

In our first worship gathering since Resurrection Sunday, we reflect upon the conversion of a murderous zealot into one of the most influential figures in the early Church; Paul/Saul reminding us that the journey of renewal is ever unfolding. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsActs 9:1-22Galatians 1:13-141 Timothy 1:13-151 Corinthians 15:9-10“The convictions that form the background for Christian growth take the form of a narrative that requires conversion, since the narrative never treats the formation of the self as completed… Christians are called to a new way of life that requires nothing less than a transvaluation of their past reality — repentance…. Therefore, conversion denotes the necessity of a turning of the self that is so fundamental that the self is placed on a path of growth for which there is no end.”- Stanley Hauerwas - A Community of Character: Toward a Constructive Christian Social Ethic

Resurrection is far more than an abstract promise of distant reward, it is a new way of seeing and being in the world today. At a time in which many “Christian” voices are anything but Christ-like, may the light of Jesus’ new day transform judgement and condemnation into ever-expanding embrace. There’s a seat for ALL at the table of grace. Halleluiah, He is risen indeed!Scripture & QuotationsJohn 12: 1-8, 12-26John 13:1-20Mark 11:12-14“Mary Magdalene is the icon and archetype of love itself—needed, given, received, and passed on. She is a stand-in for all of us who seek an intimate and loving relationship with the divine. Jesus’ appearance to her first and alone is the clear affirmation of the wonderful and astounding message that we do not need to be perfect to be the beloved of Jesus and God.”- Richard Rohr

Given what little we know about Jesus’ precise activities preceding his unjust imprisonment, punishment, and death, we ought to take special note of the practices in which he engaged and especially those he repeated in his final hours. Through two consecutive stories of foot washing, the author of the stars embodied the humble servant, that we might do the same. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 12: 1-8, 12-26John 13:1-20Mark 11:12-14 “Mary Magdalene is the icon and archetype of love itself—needed, given, received, and passed on. She is a stand-in for all of us who seek an intimate and loving relationship with the divine. Jesus’ appearance to her first and alone is the clear affirmation of the wonderful and astounding message that we do not need to be perfect to be the beloved of Jesus and God.”- Richard Rohr

Jesus tells a story of a fruitless fig tree, and later encounters one along the roadside. In one case, we witness God’s boundless mercy, and in the other, see how the “performance” of fruitfulness ends in a withering curse. In this Lenten season, might we all give up the act? (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsPsalm 13:1-2Luke 13:1-8Mark 11:12-14“Calamity strikes and we wonder what we did wrong. We scrutinize our behavior, our relationships, our diets, our beliefs. We hunt for some cause to explain the effect in hopes that we can stop causing it. What this tells us is that we are less interested in truth than consequences. What we crave, above all, is control over the chaos of our lives.”- Barbara Brown Taylor, “Life Giving Fear”“During times of doom, people become what they never before imagined. Many are sucked into a black hole of shared, mutually confirming stupidity. Some become blamers, shamers, thieves, thugs, criminals, vigilantes, terrorists, traitors, escapists, hoarders, panic-stricken crybabies, cultic conspiracy theorists, scammers, or craven cowards. Others become heroes, saints, resisters, martyrs, organizers, problem solvers, protectors, community builders, non-anxious presences, leaders, healers, and old fashioned good neighbors. There may be times when we have to make our way alone, but finding or forming a little huddle of just two or three or five or fifty can make all the difference.”- Brian McLaren, Life After Doom: Courage and Wisdom for a World Falling Apart

This week marks the beginning of our yearly pilgrimage through the “desert” of Lent. Jesus wasn’t the first biblical figure to spend forty days in the wilderness. Join us in considering Elijah’s fearful exile, and the multifaceted care God brings in the midst of his trial. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & Quotations1 Kings 19:1-16“These forty days are a sacred journey through the wilderness, which means there will be moments of challenge. Even if we live in the middle of the suburbs or the in the heart of the city, the wilderness becomes a metaphor for those places we need to wrestle and ultimately soften toward ourselves, bring lavish compassion to the things we struggle with, and listen for ancient wisdom to practice our way into a renewed way of being.”- Christine Valters Painter, A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent

To begin 2025, we are utilizing a series of Jesus’ parables as a lens through which we might better see and live into God’s Kingdom in the messy here and now; not a distant destination, but a present, parallel reality which we have a hand in cultivating. In this third entry, we look to the familiar story of a wounded stranger on the roadside and consider the responses of those who happen to be passing by. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 14:15-24Matthew 23:4-7“… this meal was supposed to be a sacred theater of Sabbath righteousness. Instead, it is really only a carnival of the prevailing culture’s prejudices, ambitions, and social barriers.” - Thomas G. Long, Proclaiming the Parables: Preaching and Teaching the Kingdom of God

To begin 2025, we are utilizing a series of Jesus’ parables as a lens through which we might better see and live into God’s Kingdom in the messy here and now; not a distant destination, but a present, parallel reality which we have a hand in cultivating. In this third entry, we look to the familiar story of a wounded stranger on the roadside and consider the responses of those who happen to be passing by. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & Quotations-Luke 10:25-37-Horton Hears a Who, by Dr. SeuessThe Christ comes into the midst of ongoing history, not at its end.- Eugene Boring, An Introduction to the New Testament: History, Literature, TheologyThe appearance of the merciful Samaritan on the Jericho road is not simply the arrival of another traveler, a despised enemy, or even a good example. It is, rather, the arrival of another world, an unexpected and life changing reality in which mercy overcomes alienation.- Thomas G. Long, Proclaiming the Parables: Preaching and Teaching the Kingdom of GodI imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But by the very nature of his concern, the good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to LoveI am not yet discouraged about the future. Granted, the easygoing optimism of yesteryear is impossible. Granted, that those who pioneered in the struggle for peace and freedom will still face uncomfortable jail terms and painful threats of death; they will still be battered by the storms of persecution, leading them to the nagging feeling that they can no longer bear such a heavy burden; the temptation of wanting to retreat to a more quiet and serene life. Granted, that we face a world crisis which leaves us standing so often amid the surging murmur of life’s restless seas. But every crisis has both its dangers and its opportunities, its valleys of salvation or doom in a dark, confused world. The kingdom of God may yet reign in the hearts of men.- Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Eulogy for James Reeb

To kick off the New Year we’ll be considering a series of Jesus’ parables, and how they invite us to see and live into God’s Kingdom in the messy here and now; not a distant destination, but a parallel reality that is always breaking through in glimmers and one which we have a hand in creating. In this second week, we look to mustard leaves and yeast to consider the explosive and surprising manner in which God brings certain things into growth. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & Quotations- Matthew 13:31-34- Amos 5:18-24  Mustard . . .  with its pungent taste and fiery effect is extremely beneficial for the health. It grows entirely wild, though it is improved by being transplanted: but on the other hand when it has once been sown it is scarcely possible to get the place free of it, as the seed when it falls germinates at once.- Pliny the Elder, Natural History

To kick off the New Year we’ll be considering a series of Jesus’ parables, and how they invite us to see and live into God’s Kingdom in the messy here and now; not a distant destination, but a parallel reality that is always breaking through in glimmers and one which we have a hand in creating. We pray that it would be a blessing to you, wherever you are in your journey. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & Quotations- Matthew 25:1-13EMILY: It goes so fast. We don’t have time to look at one another. I didn’t realize. All that was going on in life, and we never noticed. Take me back – up the hill – to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look. Goodbye, world. Goodbye my beautiful town ... Mama and Papa. Goodbye to clocks ticking, and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee, and new-ironed dresses, and hot baths, and sleeping and waking. Oh, Earth! You’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you…. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? I mean every, every minute? STAGE MANAGER: No. The saints and poets, maybe they do – some. - Thornton Wilder, Our Town

For the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we look to the elusive text of Revelation and discover an unlikely vision of Christmas hope. In our time of intense conflict and anxiety, how might the presence of an unexpected visitor to the manger help us to receive anew the gift of Christ’s coming as a warning to the powerful and hope to the hopeless? (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsRevelation 12:1-17Romans 16:20Matthew 2:2-18“It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God, and naturally I hope that my belief is right. I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God. I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not rare.”Thomas Nagle, noted philosopher and athiest

During what can easily become the noisiest, most chaotic time of year, how might we embrace an intentional quiet to center our attention on the enchanted power of God’s Incarnation? Considering an often overlooked portion of the Christmas story, we witness how the gift of holy silence prepared the hearts of a faithful couple to receive the new thing that God was preparing. (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 1:5-25Luke 1:57-80 “Sometimes when we speak before great things we shrink them down to size. When we speak of great things sometimes we swallow them whole, when instead we should be swallowed by them. Before all greatness be silent, in art, in music, and above all in faith.”-Baron Von Hügel

The season of Advent arrives once again to shake us from our spiritual slumber; to hear and respond to the desert call of our newborn King. Will our hearts prepare him room? (sermon begins at 01:00)Scripture & QuotationsIsaiah 43:18-19Galatians 2:20John 14:8-14John 16:21-22“The Church is not tradition. The Church is not the past. The Church is what we do next…” - Conclave (screenwriter Peter Straughan, adapted from novel by Robert Harris)

The corrupt systems of worldly power would like nothing more than for you to believe that the “other” is your enemy rather than your sibling. In a time of ceaseless division and upheaval, empathy is critical to develop if these fractures are ever to be mended. As Jesus arrives to meet friends in the midst of grief, what does his response reveal about the heart of God? (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 11”We will live as beautifully, bravely, and kindly as we can as long as we can, no matter how ugly, scary, and mean the world becomes, even if failure and death seem inevitable. In fact it is only in the context of failure and death that this virtue (hope) develops.”- Brian McLaren, Life After Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart

Reflecting upon several core values we hope to embody as a community, we consider generosity through the encounter of Jesus and a disgraced tax collector. Zacchaeus’ greed brought no satisfaction, only distance from relationship, until Jesus calls him by name into the unexpected possibility of reconciliation. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsLuke 19:1-101 Timothy 6:9-10Matthew 6:24“Salvation is not a mere change in our status, but a real transformation of our lives. Jesus brought salvation to a tax collector by simply alerting him to his true identity. At his core Zacchaeus wasn’t really a con and a cheat; that was a corruption of his true identity. Zacchaeus was really a wayward son of Abraham who needed to be sought out in love and restored to the table of fellowship. Zacchaeus was a real life prodigal son redeemed by love.”- Brian Zahnd, The Unvarnished Jesus

In a culture obsessed with performance and comparison, it is easy to be misread Jesus' parable through the lens of judgment, fixated on the condition and “fruitfulness” of the soil. But what if God has lovingly hidden a better, truer story in plain sight? The choice is yours. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsMatthew 13:1-23”What if it is not about our own successes and failures and birds and rocks and thorns but about the extravagance of a sower who does not seem to be fazed by such concerns, who flings seed everywhere, wastes it with holy abandon, who feeds the birds, whistles at the rocks, picks his way through the thorns, shouts hallelujah at the good soil and just keeps on sowing, confident that there is enough seed to go around, that there is plenty, and that when the harvest comes at last it will fill every barn in the neighborhood to the rafters?”- Barbara Brown Taylor, Seeds of Heaven

Humanity has always desired a “king” to swoop into the mess of the world and fix everything for us, rarely considering the oppressive realities which often occur as a result of placing our trust in earthly rulers. In the midst of a starkly divided, and deeply disorienting election season, we are reminded that our allegiance is not to any state or nation or party or hollow political promise. We pledge a higher allegiance.. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & Quotations1 Samuel 8:1-221 Samuel 15:35Mark 10:35-41Ephesians 2:12-22“What did come was the extermination of millions, the destruction of countries, and evil that has affected generations. The words were said to manipulate the audience whose longings the Third Reich understood well. Hitler deliberately deceived the people and drew them in, calling forth loyalty and service. And he got it, not just from the general population but also from the German church. Words full of promises that cloaked great evil were tailored for a vulnerable culture.”- Dr. Diane Langberg, Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church

Even with the compassion of Jesus directly in front of him, Peter cannot help but let his attention be drawn into comparison with the so-called “beloved” disciple now arriving to the scene. “What about [them]?” is a question we all navigate to some degree, as though certain that others must experience a greater divine favor. Join us as we seek to dismantle that destructive lie, and allow yourself to receive the boundless love of God meeting you precisely where and as you are. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 21:20-23Psalm 139:13-18“You (and every other created thing) begin with your unique divine DNA, an inner destiny as it were, an absolute core that knows the truth about you, a true believer tucked away in the cellar of your being, an imago Dei that begs to be allowed, to be fulfilled, and to show itself. “You were chosen in Christ before the world was made—to stand before God in love—marked out beforehand as fully adopted sons and daughters”. This is your True Self. Historically, it was often called “the soul.””- Richard Rohr“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit…”- C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

Having been part of a crowd of five thousand fed with only a few loaves of bread, a group crosses the Sea of Galilee in search of Jesus, as their hunger has now returned. Jesus’ response echoes the deliverance of Exodus, and a renewed invitation to abide in the promise of daily provision. In a relentless world of FAST and MORE, rhythms of Sabbath and sanctuary help to restore our humanity and humility as finite beings. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 6:22-40John 6:56-58“Our lives can easily take us to the brink of burnout. The pace we live at is often destructive. The lack of margin is debilitating. We are worn out. In all of this, the problem before us is not just the frenetic pace we live at but what gets pushed out from our lives as a result; that is, life with God.”- Rich Villodas - The Deeply Formed Life: Five Transformative Values to Root Us in the Way of Jesus“Ultimately, nothing in this life, apart from God, can satisfy our desires. Tragically, we continue to chase after our desires ad infinitum. The result? A chronic state of restlessness or, worse, angst, anger, anxiety, disillusionment, depression—all of which lead to a life of hurry, a life of busyness, overload, shopping, materialism, careerism, a life of more…which in turn makes us even more restless. And the cycle spirals out of control.”- John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World “We hear the refrain “I’m great, just busy” so often we assume pathological busyness is okay. After all, everybody else is busy too. But what if busyness isn’t healthy? What if it’s an airborne contagion, wreaking havoc on our collective soul?”- Comer, ibid.

In the Creation story, God empowers humankind to a shared vocation of care and service, which Adam rejects by separating himself from Eve in an act of othering and blame. Power over the “other” has divided humanity in conflict ever since. Jesus upends this dynamic with his disciples, granting them shared power to join in the collaborative work of his New Creation. How will we as a community embody that renewed call to mutuality and shared stewardship? (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsGenesis 2:15-21Genesis 3:8-13Mark 6:7-13“What we have has been gifted to us to use as stewards of his glory on this earth. We are not to use that power to feed our egos, demand our rights from others, build our own little external kingdoms, and establish our reputations. It has been given to us so that the world might see something of the glory of God in the flesh—full of grace and truth. That glory is evidenced in humility, love, sacrifice, and death to anything that is not like Jesus Christ.”- Dr. Diane Langberg, Suffering and the Heart of God: How Trauma Destroys and Christ Restores

When Jesus heals a blind man in Bethsaida, it doesn't happen all at once, the full restoration of his sight only coming after a second pass. We either settle for the blur of "walking trees", or look more closely, discovering perhaps that when God's presence comes into focus, hope for everything else seems to as well. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsMark 8:22-30“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. ”- Howard Zinn - You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train

As we inhabit a time of civilizational turbulence, the individual and communal experience of worry is inevitable. As Jesus shares wisdom from a hilltop, he invites the gathered crowd to consider how deeply their (our) anxieties are rooted in control and isolation in the face of challenging and unjust realities. What might a practice look like to respond to anxiety with a humble awareness that begins to draw us out of ourselves and into connection and active hope? (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsMatthew 6:25-34Philippians 4:6-7“Today we excavate the ruins of collapsed civilizations from the past and display their artifacts in museums, but few of us ever take seriously the possibility that our civilization will follow their pattern of rise and fall.”- Brian McLaren - Life After Doom: Courage and Wisdom for a World Falling ApartGod, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.- Serenity Prayer - Multiple SourcesSolvitur ambulando - “It is solved by walking”- St. Augustine“To make bread or love, to dig in the earth, to feed an animal or cook for a stranger—these activities require no extensive commentary, no lucid theology. All they require is someone willing to bend, reach, chop, stir. Most of these tasks are so full of pleasure that there is no need to complicate things by calling them holy. And yet these are the same activities that change lives, sometimes all at once and sometimes more slowly, the way dripping water changes stone. In a world where faith is often construed as a way of thinking, bodily practices remind the willing that faith is a way of life.”- Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar In the WorldYou are going to spend 10000x more time in the 5 blocks surrounding your house than the cool neighborhood a 10-minute drive away.- Phil Levin, LiveNearFriends“There is a hole, an emptiness in us all, that we strive to fill. If it doesn’t get filled with something noble and elevated, modern society will quickly pump it full of garbage.”- Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

As the Savior departs, and his people await the promised arrival of the Spirit, this newly empowered community faces its first big decision “on their own”. How they handle it is a peculiar and perhaps liberating glimpse into the improvisational nature of our call to faithful engagement within the complexities of the spaces we inhabit. (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsActs 1:1-26“Blocking undermines the other. It refuses to share space and time. It denies outcomes from which all can benefit. It assumes rivalry and enacts conflict in which there cannot be two winners, and most often all are losers. It is at least subtly, and sometimes overtly, aggressive. It presumes violence.”“Accepting offers builds community by acknowledging, encouraging, and accommodating the other. It recognizes the dependence of all parties concerned upon one another. It requires the sharing of space and implies a conversation about how to go on doing so.  It shares time and assumes only the kind of outcomes that can benefit the other.”Samuel Wells, Improvisation: The Drama of Christian Ethics

Through this series, we have engaged with several encounters initiated by Jesus in the days following the Resurrection. Peter bears the weight of shame following his denial on the night of Jesus’ arrest, only to discover that his “failure” was unknowing preparation for the next chapter of the story… (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 21:15-19Mark 14:19-21Exodus 3:9-12“The most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection—and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth. ”Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

A fishing expedition comes up empty until the stranger calls from onshore, proposing that they think differently. As a people called to cultivate communities of care and belonging, are we “casting our net to the other side,” or sticking with what we think we know? (Sermon begins at 1:00)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 21:1-14Matthew 6:5-6John 20:30-31“…To enter is to enter into life, for those who enter find at last what it is to be loved and to be filled with love — not with sentiment, but love — for all people, regardless of whether they too are members of God’s family or not. Love, like other attitudes and virtues, cannot be taught. It can only be caught. You can teach people that they ought to love, but not to love.”Dallas Willard - The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus

Thomas needed to see with his own eyes, and is met with grace and understanding. Jesus comes back bearing the marks to remind us that ours need not be hidden either. When we abide in the love of God, tending to the wounded (ours included) in community, we participate in the ever-unfolding resurrection story. (Guided Practice begins @ 27:42)Scripture & QuotationsJohn 20:19-29John 15:4-5“Braving public transit for your morning commute and being with Jesus…changing another diaper and being with Jesus…. Sorting through your inbox yet still being with Jesus… Cooking dinner for your family or friends and resting your heart in Jesus…”John Mark Comer - Practicing the Way: Be With Jesus. Become Like Him. Do As He Did. “Nobody escapes being wounded. We are all wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not 'How can we hide our wounds?' so we don't have to be embarrassed but 'How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?' When our wounds cease to be a source of shame and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.”Henri Nouwen - The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society

Two followers walk the road away from Jerusalem in grief, and a stranger joins them on the road. In the midst of story, hospitality, and the breaking of bread, Jesus appears for a glorious and fleeting moment. We ask: how will we embody the resurrection life as a people always looking for the face of Jesus in that of the supposed stranger? Scripture & QuotationsLuke 24:18-35Psalm 42:1-5This is our story. Jesus keeps doing this, becoming present with us even as we lament his absence. He keeps showing up, showing us things, walking beside us, making our hearts burn within us. We might not recognize him at the time. That often comes later. Mark Buchanan - God Walk: Moving at the Speed of Your Soul

Scripture & Quotations1 Corinthians 15:3-11Mark 16:1-8Mark 1:1

Scripture & QuotationsMalachi 3:1-2Psalm 35:1-4Joel 2:5Matthew 10:34-35Mark 11:1-10Luke 22:35-53