As they continue to explore what it means to actually "do justice" in our lives today, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve take a look at what the communitarian practices of the early church in the book of Acts might say to us today. While their situation was much different from our own, and while there is no commandment in the New Testament that Christians must all share their possessions in common like the Jerusalem church did, there is something powerful about the way they faced troubling times b...
Apr 28, 2020•33 min
As they continuing looking at how to "do" justice (and not just to study Bible verses "about" justice), pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve explore some of the ways the Torah and other parts of the Old Testament speak to justice in our economics and finances. As they look at concepts like jubilee--with its cancellations of debts, freeing of slaves and indentured servanthood contracts, and restoration of land--and laws about leaving produce in the fields for those without land of their own, they'll e...
Apr 21, 2020•29 min
In a new series, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve start to explore what it looks like to do justice in different parts of our lives. Building off of their earlier series on Biblical voices of what justice looks like, now we turn to how to do justice in our relationships with each other, with different groups of people, with creation, and with our resources. And to start things off, we look at our role in doing justice with the created world, tracing back to the story of the garden at creation and...
Apr 14, 2020•36 min
As we make the journey this week with Christians all over the world in retelling the story of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection, our series on the stations of the cross comes to its end. Pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look at the meaning of Jesus' death and burial, as well as the hope we find in the story of Jesus' resurrection. And while many of us these days feel like we are caught in the middle of a dead season, during days of social isolation and coronavirus fears, we discover, too, t...
Apr 07, 2020•31 min
As the Gospel writers tell it, Jesus dies loving others, just as surely as he lived and taught that same love. As pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue to make their way through the Stations of the Cross, they now turn to events that happen once Jesus has physically been crucified, and how even these moments show remarkable mercy and grace. After being mocked by soldiers, crowds, religious leaders, and even the criminals being put to death beside him, Jesus extends mercy to a criminal at his ...
Mar 31, 2020•34 min
Pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue their Lenten series on the stations of the cross, today looking at the journey Jesus took physically carrying the instrument of his own execution. We'll take a look at what how the Gospel writers use this scene to convey something of what Jesus' death meant and did for us, but also how Jesus was aware of the disaster awaiting his people at the hands of the Romans, too, not long after his crucifixion. Sometimes we forget the sheer number of people crucifie...
Mar 24, 2020•26 min
Looking for a way to stay engaged with your faith while stores are closed, schools are cancelled, and worship services are being suspended? How about a podcast! In this latest episode of "Crazy Faith Talk," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue looking at the stations of the cross. Today, we look at Peter's denial of Jesus in the courtyard, the trial of Jesus before Pilate, and the scourging and mocking of Jesus. And as we do, we find ourselves drawn more deeply into the story of God's love f...
Mar 17, 2020•35 min
In this new series for Lent, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look at the first three moments in the "stations of the cross" progression, beginning with Jesus' prayer in the garden, and then looking at his betrayal by his disciple Judas Iscariot, and his trial before the Sanhedrin. And instead of rushing through these moments as stories we have all heard before, what if we paused and took a closer look at each of these scenes and consider the questions they raise. What does it mean that Jesus is ...
Mar 10, 2020•26 min
As they start a new series for the season of Lent, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve start the journey toward the cross looking at a faith practice used across several different Christian traditions, the stations of the cross. Some folks, especially out of the Roman Catholic tradition, may already be quite familiar with these moments from the Passion of Christ, and use them devotionally throughout their lives. And others might find this brand new, curious, or confusing. In this opening episode of ...
Mar 03, 2020•20 min
After looking at how different biblical writers talk about "justice," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve now find themselves asking, "Where do we go from here?" After all, it's not enough to simply know "facts about justice," but rather to do justice in our actions, choices, and thinking. So in this episode, the trio around the table starts to lay out the kinds of questions we'll need to keep asking about different areas of our lives, individually and in community, and how the biblical perspectives...
Feb 25, 2020•30 min
Church folks have a way of getting stuck in technical theological jargon, with terms like "justification," "righteousness," "imputation," and "redemption." No wonder we have a hard time knowing whether it is good news or bad news to talk about "the righteousness of God" or even "God's justice." A lot of folks over the centuries have heard the Bible's talk about "the justice of God" and been afraid, assuming it meant only that God is looking to zap people for infractions against "The Rules." But ...
Feb 18, 2020•21 min
As they continue to listen to different voices from the Scriptures for a clearer understanding of justice, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve turn to stories from the Gospels of Luke and John. In a story Jesus tells about two neighbors, we get a reminder that all of the Scriptures command God's people to care for the neighbor in need at our door. And in a well-known story found in John's Gospel, we get Jesus upending our expectations about meting out punishment. One thing is for sure, though--when ...
Feb 11, 2020•30 min
Jesus' teaching about justice doesn't just show up in one passage or one parable--it's everywhere. So in their ongoing series exploring biblical voices that speak of justice, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve keep digging through teachings of Jesus. After having spent time in the Sermon on Mount in their last episode, the three friends around the table look at teachings and stories of Jesus that have to do with how we repair relationships with each other, how we take care of one another's needs an...
Feb 04, 2020•35 min
For twenty centuries, people have been challenged by Jesus' teachings about turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, and offering cloaks and shirts to those who take them. They are difficult, both on their face, and seen against the backdrop of the Torah's regulations about retaliation (an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth). And they definitely have something to say about the subject of "justice." So what do we do with these and other challenging teachings of Jesus, and how might it...
Jan 28, 2020•26 min
The prophets were, let's face it, troublemakers. They overturned people's expectations. They questioned the official decrees of kings and religious professionals with their own minority reports. And they were willing to question whether God's priorities were the same as what everybody assumed they were. And over and over again, the prophets--voices like Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah--called out the societies in which they lived when the powers of the day forgot about justice. To the prophets...
Jan 21, 2020•33 min
In their new series on how different biblical voices talk about the notion of "justice," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve look to the first five books of the Bible, often called the Torah, the Law, or the Pentateuch. And even though these books sometimes get a reputation for requiring brutal and bloody retaliation, we'll see that the picture is actually a lot richer and deeper than that first impression. We'll see how the biblical concept of "an eye for an eye" was actually meant to limit revenge...
Jan 14, 2020•32 min
Justice. It's one of those words that everybody throws around, but perhaps only rarely do we think about what we actually mean. TV shows and pop culture use the word "justice" as a shorthand for getting even, getting revenge, or sending "bad guys" to jail. But the chorus of voices in the Bible means something more when they say things like, "Let justice roll down like waters..." Maybe it's less about getting a required pound of flesh and more about restoring relationships that are out of balance...
Jan 07, 2020•20 min
After spending our last conversation telling stories around the well-known Christmas carol "Silent Night," in this new episode, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve each take a look at three other carols with some surprising twists--one with an unexpected name change, one written just in the last generation, and one that has been floating around for seventeen centuries! Together we'll explore how we need the different voices of different eras to bring the news of Christ's coming to light. Join us for...
Dec 31, 2019•32 min
Merry Christmas! This week's episode of "Crazy Faith Talk" tells some stories around the much-beloved Christmas carol, "Silent Night," including the story of the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago, the story of the writing of the song itself two hundred years ago in an unexpected situation, and the truly remarkable story of the way "Silent Night" created a peace in the trenches of World War I between two warring armies for a day. Look at how the story of Jesus' birth makes peace possible even...
Dec 26, 2019•27 min
Once again around the table, pastors Sarah, Erica, and Steve take a closer look at some of their favorite songs of the season--the Advent season in which we look not only to Christ's coming at Christmas, but also of Christ's promised coming in glory to make all things new. Today we'll be looking at a new hymn to many English speakers, but one that is rich with imagery of new creation and of God's path in the wilderness to bring us home, "Toda la tierra," and we'll learn that "hoping" and "waitin...
Dec 17, 2019•26 min
It's hard enough sometimes to remember that Jesus, and not Santa, is the center of Christmas. But sometimes church folk stop there and say, "Christmas is about Jesus," without saying just why it is good news that Christ is born, or who this Jesus person is. And one of the ways the church has answered thsoe questions over time is to write songs about Christ and his long-awaited coming. So in the weeks before the celebration of Christmas, Christian communities often sing hymns and songs that dig d...
Dec 10, 2019•21 min
While the "Holiday Station" playing on your radio dial and coming through the speakers at every department store blares out the latest remake of "Santa Baby," or "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire," the church keeps time differently, singing a surprising collection of ancient and modern songs of hope. Instead of rushing to be "Christmas-y" right away, the church marks off four weeks before celebrating the birth of Jesus to observe the season of Advent, which is as much about hope for the hopele...
Dec 03, 2019•21 min
God is first introduced in the Scriptures as an artist, a designer, or a craftsman--creating the world and celebrating its beauty and goodness. And then, in the very next thought, human beings are created "in the image of God," with some capacity of our own to create, to appreciate beauty, and to practice arts of our own. That capacity for creativity isn't reserved just for "professionals," "master artists," or "experts," but is fundamentally human, which means that there is something intrisical...
Nov 26, 2019•35 min
In this concluding episode of our series looking at the different kinds of literature we find in the Bible, pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve take a look at a kind of literature often called "apocalyptic" writing. It includes the book of Revelation, parts of Daniel, and sections of the Gospels as well, and it's the kind of literature that often uses coded language that would have been clearly understood by it first readers, but which can be confusing to us twenty centuries later. Apocalyptic liter...
Nov 19, 2019•27 min
Reading someone else's mail is like listening to one half of a phone conversation: you might be able to guess at what is being said on the other side, but you have to tease it out. Reading the letters and epistles of the New Testament can feel like that sometimes: we hear someone like the apostle Paul giving counsel or directions for specific situations that his readers have asked him about, or he has to answer a particular question they have written to him about, and we have to infer from what ...
Nov 12, 2019•26 min
Part biographes, part movie directors, and part street evangelists, the writers of the four Gospels in the New Testament were doing something unique when they compiled the stories, sayings, and signs of Jesus of Nazareth. They were, for starters, certainly recording the oral traditions that had been circulating by word of mouth by the earliest followers of Jesus, but they were also making choices about where the story moved, what was important enough to include, what scenes and vignettes did or ...
Nov 05, 2019•39 min
They were less soothsayers and more truth-tellers. The prophets of Israel and Judah were willing to speak a minority report over against popular opinion, the decrees of the market, and the official position of the palace. And they keep speaking to us. In this latest episode of "Crazy Faith Talk," pastors Erica, Sarah, and Steve continue looking at the different kinds of literature in the Bible, and today they look at the prophets. Even though we regard them today as authoritative and inspired vo...
Oct 29, 2019•31 min
Wherever you find yourself on any given day, and whatever is going on in your heart, the biblical book of Psalms offers the spoken and sung prayers of those who have gone before us that we can borrow and make our own. The Psalms are indeed, part of the same Bible that Christians talk about as "God's Word for us," and yet at the same time, they are our words to God, too. And in times of great joy and deep heartache, in personal crisis or national emergency, in moments of fiery rage or aching desp...
Oct 22, 2019•28 min
The thing is... life is messy. Sometimes it fits nicely into predictable patterns, like "Work hard in summer, and you'll have enough to live on come winter," or "Don't get too big for your britches and puffed up with pride, or somewhere along the way it could blow up in your face." In times like those, we can use the collected conventional wisdom to learn the lessons of those who have gone before us. The biblical book of Proverbs is great for giving those pithy, memorable generalizations for how...
Oct 15, 2019•36 min
Conventional wisdom says that the "great" leaders are the ones who expan the size of their nations' territory, increase their wealth, or help the markets climb to record heights. But the voices in the histories of the Hebrew Scriptures (like the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ruth, and Esther) see things differently. They offer a minority report: that true "greatness" has less to do with military might but with covenant and character, and that it doesn't matter if markets are booming when i...
Oct 08, 2019•33 min
