We've got the end of the story of Noah and the Ark. This will be a broad, sweeping retelling of the story starting in Genesis 6. This is a conventional divine judgment story. God looks at the state of humanity and has some regrets - decides it's time to wipe the whole thing out - system reboot - clean slate. God decides to do what nearly all Near Eastern deities do - start over. But then, in Israel's story, something amazing happens. God has a change of heart. God notices Noah and his family and...
Aug 13, 2025•31 min
Speaker: Sara Nielson Scripture: John 4:10-15 http://bible.com/events/49472871
Aug 06, 2025•24 min
Speaker: Suzanne Vogel Scripture: Romans 1:18-32; 2:1-4 http://bible.com/events/49469584
Jul 30, 2025•30 min
This is the story of the Valley of the Dry Bones. To put it mildly - Israel probably felt like those dry bones - disconnected and isolated - alone and probably a bit dead inside during this time. Captivity, forced separation from loved ones, oppression, isolation in a new land. We know what those dry bones feel like. Then God asks a curious question: "Can these bones live?" Uh, they're dead, God. What are you even talking about? The bones can't do anything for themselves. All they can do is sit ...
Jul 23, 2025•34 min
The expert in the law wants to know how to experience life to the fullest. No, he's not talking about heaven when he asks about eternal life. He's asking about how to experience life deeply - now - in the present. Jesus turns the question around on him (we'll have a little fun with this here). He responds, "love God, love your neighbor." Jesus says, "good - do this and live!" Then the expert asks another question (again, we'll have a little fun with this), "Who is my neighbor?" Maybe what he's a...
Jul 16, 2025•35 min
Speaker: Brian Gelder Scripture: Jonah 3:10; 4:1-4 https://www.bible.com/events/49460035
Jul 09, 2025•30 min
A little different kind of sermon for Sunday. I'm gonna talk a little bit about what Jesus said about the heart - the idea is that it's the controlling center of people. You can tell a lot about where a person's heart is by the things they do - especially when they're tested. So we'll walk through the story of Naaman and leprosy and see if we might discern some things about each character. We'll start with Naaman - he's a four-star general in the Aramean army. He's normally the one in control - ...
Jul 02, 2025•32 min
Jacob wrestles with "God." So, did this one back in 2020 - now from a totally different angle. You could say I really "wrestled" with this one this week. A little background: Jacob's a deceiver - his life is a mess. He's on the run because his brother Esau wants to kill him 20 years after he stole the blessing. He finds himself alone on the banks of a stream - it's dark. He can't hide behind his wealth, his servants, or his family. Utterly alone in the dark when he's attacked by a stranger. How ...
Jun 25, 2025•33 min
In order to understand the story, we're reading 4:1-12 - I'll need to talk about why Peter and John are in prison in the first place. Essentially, they came across a guy who was lame from birth. The guy asks for money; instead, since they knew that Jesus lived his life with love and compassion and healing and justice, they decided to go deeper. They don't offer him charity - they offer him healing. They give him his dignity back, he no longer needs to beg. They give him his life back - now he ca...
Jun 18, 2025•27 min
It's Pentecost Sunday - the day we celebrate the arrival of the Spirit. Like we talked about last week, Christian means "follower of Christ." We can also understand it as meaning "little Christ." We're all little Jesuses. This happens with the indwelling of the Spirit. The Spirit is nothing more than Jesus moving from the outside to the inside. It's Jesus moving in. So here we'll walk a bit through the story in Acts 2. How do we know that Jesus has moved in? 1) There will be a renewed sense of c...
Jun 11, 2025•31 min
Speaker: Tony Vis Scripture: Matthew 3:13-17 http://bible.com/events/49443990
Jun 04, 2025•33 min
Yeah...I don't know about this one. As we start by retelling this story, we're going to focus on the line, "If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Why are we dealing with this idea just five weeks after Easter? Easter is like the most obvious proof that Jesus was and is the Messiah - and yet, the church assigns this story just five weeks after Easter. Already? We're questioning who Jesus is already? Well, maybe it's perfect timing. The life of faith, more often than not, isn't a simple moveme...
May 21, 2025•28 min
Jesus is the gate. Once you walk into a relationship with Jesus the gate, there's a transition that takes place. You go from one place to another - you walk across the threshold. This is like the story of when Saul turned into Paul. In Paul's words, "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come!" Walking into a relationship with Jesus the gate - there's new life ahead - a life that is abundant. This is where we can talk about what abundance means - it comes ...
May 14, 2025•31 min
These first 4 verses are a jumbled mess. It's really one run-on sentence with a bunch of dependent clauses at the beginning and doesn't get to the main subject and verb until what we have as verse three. In other words, John is really excited to write about what he's writing about. So instead of going verse by verse, we'll talk about the main things he's trying to convey. 1) This Jesus thing really happened. They saw it. Heard it. Touched it. It really happened. John is writing in the late first...
May 07, 2025•34 min
What is this story about? It's about failure and forgiveness - not one or the other, but both. The disciples spent three years with Jesus; in that time, they learned from him every day and spent all their time with him. After Jesus left them (after giving them his Spirit - his presence), they went back to the way things were - fishing. Sometimes we do the same - we experience the presence of God - we know what to do next, know the changes we need to make, know the conversations we need to have, ...
Apr 30, 2025•30 min
It's Easter Sunday! We're getting started here with a brief retelling of the story. Then we get to the part where the angel says, "Do not be afraid." I have trouble with this. Maybe we all have trouble with this. There's so much in the world that causes us fear. So what makes this angel think he can come into our place of worship, look us straight in the eye and say with all seriousness, "Do not be afraid?" After he tells us not to be afraid he makes an announcement and then a promise. An announ...
Apr 23, 2025•33 min
A note: there are some audio issues in this one that are unfixable in editing. Our apologies! Palm Sunday! There's a connection between Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, and Palm Sunday, as the season of Lent draws to a close. Both will lead us into contemplating our own mortality - the fact that all of us will one day die. THAT always leads us to the realization that we live in a complex, uncertain, and sometimes unfair world. That's what makes Palm Sunday so odd. It starts wi...
Apr 16, 2025•30 min
Speaker: Tony Vis Scripture: Philippians 2:12-18 http://bible.com/events/49416767
Apr 09, 2025•34 min
The story of Jesus and Nicodemus. In order to understand this, we have to know a little bit about Nicodemus. John gives us some clues. He's a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. Smart. Well respected. His whole life was dedicated to understanding and living up to Torah - becoming as holy and righteous as can be in order to honor God. He comes to Jesus under cover of darkness. Perhaps he didn't want to be seen by his fellow Pharisees. Maybe his faith had become stale - like it was...
Apr 01, 2025•30 min
Jesus weeps over Jerusalem as a mother hen - calling her chicks back and yet, they were not willing. We're going to spend some time thinking about this image of the mother hen. What in the world could this story be saying to us? 1) Maybe this story is inviting us to embrace a vulnerability not often embraced in this world. Jesus doesn't offer to get rid of the "fox" (Herod). What Jesus does offer is his presence, his life, his very body to give protection, shelter, and warmth - even in the face ...
Mar 26, 2025•30 min
We live in a world that is obsessed with knowledge - which is a good thing. Knowledge gets you ahead. Knowledge is power. That's what we say. And we experience that, too. It worked for Paul. He really was THE MAN, when it came to all things God. For a lot of us who grew up in the Church, head knowledge of the contents and principles of the Bible was something that we valued highly. Memorization, then being able to recite on the spot, or at least be able to talk about it with certainty. Paul call...
Mar 18, 2025•32 min
It's Lent time, baby! It always starts with an examination of this particular story in Luke. Today we're talking about how we can approach it - from an individual perspective - how does this impact each of our lives? AND from a communal perspective - how does this impact us as a community? Temptation one is to go after the short-cut - to take the easy way - to go after instant gratification. We're always looking for instant gratification. But the slow, hard work of building relationships, establ...
Mar 08, 2025•35 min
This morning we are doing something a bit different once again, with a panel of therapists who are in our community. A huge thank you to Sarah Fleming, Holly Thompson, and Jason Stark for sharing their time and wisdom with us today! Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Psalm 13:1-6 http://bible.com/events/49399816
Mar 05, 2025•46 min
Luke's version of the Beatitudes - except he includes some "woes." The first thing we notice is that this is all backwards - Jesus has things all upside-down. What our world thinks of as blessed usually involves prosperity linked to wealth, comfort, no lack of possessions or materials to get what we want. Yeah, it's the opposite of what Jesus says. I'll admit that I don't quite know what to do with these things. I'm tempted to edit these things. I'm tempted to see them as metaphors. Poor? Hungry...
Feb 24, 2025•29 min
What does this story say about us human beings? I love how this story talks about failure so honestly. We've been out all night and haven't caught anything! I know nothing about fishing, but I do know what it's like to put a lot of time and energy into something important and not get anything out of it. And I love it that these are the people Jesus calls - they're just like us! What does this story say about God? God calls people. God calls people in a way that honors who they are. I love the ab...
Feb 19, 2025•33 min
This is the story of Isaiah's vision in the temple and his calling and commissioning as a prophet. At first, this story seems inaccessible. It's not like we're all seeing heavenly beings flying around all the time. So this raises all sorts of questions. And maybe we don't have answers to some, or all of those questions! But the story is still worth thinking through. So in examining it, we're going to notice some things. First, this story seems to be telling us that God is a God of encounter. God...
Feb 12, 2025•29 min
This week's all about deacons, elders, and how we are organized with those structures in place. Sound a little dry? Well, let's talk about why it's actually exciting, and why we already have those systems in place, even if we haven't been using those labels. We're walking through the responsibilities of those roles, as well as talking about how we can all participate within this structure we call ReNew. Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-16 http://bible.com/events/49385640
Feb 05, 2025•35 min
This week looks a little different! We spent the sermon time working on a practice from the book Praying In Color by Sybil MacBeth. Our own Sarah Fleming walked us through the practice and then we spent some time together in the room actively participating in this form of prayer. This is more of a visual activity, obviously, so head over to ReNew Ames on YouTube for the full experience. Speaker: Sarah Fleming http://bible.com/events/49382473
Jan 28, 2025•31 min
Jesus enters a synagogue and teaches with authority - the people are amazed. Next a man with an impure spirit recognizes Jesus and Jesus casts out the spirit. The people are amazed again and Jesus becomes famous throughout the land. What a weird little story. How much of this can we relate to? Well, if we use our imaginations - we can. We'll imagine what it was like for the people in the synagogue. They were amazed. They came to worship minding their own business and suddenly they have an encoun...
Jan 23, 2025•27 min
The story of the calling of Phillip and Nathanael - but mostly about Nathanael. This story is not about what Nathanael sees - it's really first about what Jesus sees. It's only when Jesus sees Nathanael for who he truly is that Nathanael experiences transformation. He tells him is is a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit. Let's unpack that here. Deceit is a concept we we get. Nathanael is a real one - he's an authentic one. But the first person to ever be called "Israel" is a guy named Jac...
Jan 15, 2025•27 min
