Sardis was an unconquerable city that got complacent and was conquered on two different occasions. Among the people of the church community of Sardis, there were those who were around the worship practices of the followers of Cybele, the mother goddess. The goddess of procreation and productivity. Part of their worship involved cultic rituals, with people wearing robes in the temple and cutting themselves. Their robes would get soiled with blood and dirt, making them unclean. So Jesus says, "Wak...
May 25, 2022•27 min
To start this one, here's a little context on the community in Thyatira. It was a blue-collar manufacturing city. Lots of trades and trade associations. These associations were tied to the worship and temple practices of other religions. If you wanted a license for your business you would have to join one of these trade associations. That would have been difficult for these early Jesus followers. Apparently there was a woman - or group of people - who knew the answer. Jesus refers to this woman ...
May 18, 2022•33 min
This letter spends a lot of time in the context of the different religious temples and gods and goddesses, and certain practices that some folks in the community participated in. The Nicolations were a group within this church who chose to view other religions' practices as fine to incorporate into their daily life. Essentially a blending of other religious practices from their surrounding community and previous contexts, within their daily life as Jesus people. So the letter written to this chu...
May 11, 2022•32 min
Letter to Smyrna. Oh boy, here's a real pick-me-up. A summary of the letter: words from Jesus to a real church. "Hey, I know your afflictions and your poverty. I know things aren't going the way you would like them to go. I know it feels as though you've lost control, like you've lost everything - yet, you are rich! I know you're being marginalized. It's gonna get worse before it gets better...if it gets better. So hang in there and be as faithful as you can for as long as you live." Yikes. This...
May 04, 2022•33 min
Sometimes we like to think of Jesus people as the "hands and feet of Jesus." Or, we think of Jesus people as the presence of Jesus in a lost and broken world so loved by God. Those are good ideas. Scriptural ideas. But they can also be dangerous if that's the only way we think of Jesus. What happens when something goes wrong? What happens when people abuse power? What happens when Jesus people cozy up to power and make all kinds of compromises to integrity? Well, people look at that and say, "I ...
Apr 27, 2022•29 min
Easter is filled with hope and excitement and love. That's how Holy Week started for the disciples. After three years of walking the streets with Jesus and spending so many hours listening to him teach and heal and proclaim that the Kingdom of God was near, and that it would be here, they watched him ride into Jerusalem on a donkey with the crowd shouting "hosanna!" But it only took a few days for everything to turn towards darkness, as the crowds swayed in favor of executing the man whom they h...
Apr 20, 2022•31 min
We celebrate Palm Sunday as the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the people celebrate because they see Him as their soon-to-be triumphant conqueror of the empire they were living under. There are many groups of people who would have had different perspectives of this event, depending on their age and status in that society, but the overall mood portrayed is celebration. Because we know the full story of Holy Week, it's easy to quickly push through Palm Sunday t...
Apr 13, 2022•32 min
Paul speaks to a group in Athens, at a place called Mars Hill, and describes God in a way that intrigues the people. He uses apophatic theology, which examines what God is NOT, rather than describing what God IS. By highlighting what and who God is not, Paul further illuminates what and who God is. God cannot be contained in a building or an community. We can encounter God in spaces that are outside church walls, outside any construct of humanity. We are just as likely to find God in a moment on...
Apr 06, 2022•31 min
At the core of its theme and purpose, Lent is a journey towards the cross, or a journey of preparation. A key element of preparation is discipline. Knowing this, Lent is a journey into discipline, as we proceed forward through 40 days of preparing for the cross. There are so many spiritual practices that we can engage in; thinking specifically of the season of Lent, we can point our attention to these disciplines as we reflect and prepare for a time of recognizing Christ's sacrifice. Jesus uses ...
Mar 30, 2022•25 min
In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the social barriers preventing the tax collector from approaching the presence of God in the temple didn't deter him from recognizing what he had done wrong and coming before God in humility. While the Pharisee was taking every step to do things just the right way and go above and beyond to have his actions be visible, the tax collector was just asking to be shown mercy. In a time when we continue to seek to break down oppressive systems that...
Mar 23, 2022•33 min
The story that is traditionally labeled "The Prodigal Son" is mislabeled; a more accurate name would be "The Ridiculously Compassionate Father." Both sons in this story are the actual worst, from their deep disrespect and disregard for their father, to their continued bad attitudes and unrepentant spirits. But their father continues to extend love and acceptance, to the point of embarrassing himself in front of his entire community in order to extend grace and welcome his sons into his space. Go...
Mar 16, 2022•34 min
We've built our lives around the avoidance of suffering. When Jesus told the disciples that he would face betrayal and death, they were incredulous. But Jesus pointed out to them, "you're thinking of human things instead of divine things." Jesus said if people wanted to follow him, they would have to voluntarily suffer for the benefit of the world. We know that suffering can bring great things. We can see Jesus' example of suffering for the sake of justice and restoration in the world. So what d...
Mar 09, 2022•36 min
So let's recap real quick: Jonah took the message from God to the Ninevites, but delivered it halfheartedly. To his surprise, the entire city repented and changed their ways. This made Jonah angry; he believed that Ninevah did not deserve to be redeemed. That leads us to the end of the story, or rather, the open-ended question: what did Jonah do next? The Ninevites didn't matter to Jonah. He would have preferred that they be wiped off the face of the earth. And we understand that vengeful spirit...
Mar 02, 2022•27 min
Sometimes we hear the voice of God for a while and then it fades out of our awareness. But when we keep seeking that voice, when we stop and pray and reconnect with the Divine, that voice will return. And more than likely, the voice will tell us to "Go!" After all, the Divine is a God of action. This book of Jonah is a story about a God who does the unexpected, about a God who can't be measured, about a God who is full of immeasurable grace, unexpected mercy, and impossible outcomes. So what is ...
Feb 23, 2022•32 min
God appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah whole and keep him at the bottom of the sea for three days. The choice to use the word "great" to describe the fish is interesting because it is also associated with God so regularly. The great God commissions a great fish to help carry out God's great work in Jonah. The word associated with Jonah, however, is "down." When he is down at the bottom of the sea, down in the belly of the fish, Jonah is at his lowest point. And what does he do? He prays wor...
Feb 16, 2022•31 min
God calls Jonah and tells him to "Go to Nineveh." Nineveh is the last place on earth an Israelite prophet would want to go. Jonah runs in the opposite direction; he hires a ship to take him to Tarshish. Jonah's chasing after a fresh start, perhaps to build a new life and make some money. He probably spent all he had on that ship to Tarshish. He now wants wealth so that he can control his own future and create his own destiny. We like to think that these stories are ultimately about us. And they ...
Feb 09, 2022•29 min
We live in a world obsessed with the outside, with how things look. Jesus makes the point that we can look really good on the outside but be a train wreck on the inside. He redefines righteousness and redefines holiness, teaching us that faith isn't just about what we do, it's about who we are on the inside; in other words, our motivation for how we act. Some traditions lead us to picture God as an angry god; when we imagine God like this, we become obsessed with the outside. We care primarily a...
Feb 02, 2022•28 min
We all have this innate ability to look at the world and see when things just aren't right. We look at our own lives, in our own hearts and souls, and recognize the same thing. But that doesn't mean we are without hope. We come from a tradition that believes God is alive and active in the world putting things back together. AND God has invited us in on the project. The question is: how? What's God's strategy? One word: love. Love God. Love people. Love people on the inside, love people on the ou...
Jan 26, 2022•30 min
A foreigner approaches Jesus with honesty and humility, and in faith, she asks Jesus for healing. In a world where we are expected to hide weakness, we can approach God with vulnerability. God's grace, God's healing presence is open and available to anyone. When we come to the divine honestly and with humility and with faith, it opens us up to grace and healing. ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Mark 7:24-30 https://www.bible.com/events/48829815
Jan 19, 2022•29 min
Beginnings come with new questions, questions we may not have the answers to; in other words, beginnings come with a little chaos. The scriptures never call the chaos bad - or evil. The Spirit is hovering over the chaos. It's into the chaos that God speaks. God invites creation to create right alongside of God. We're all invited to create something beautiful - something good with God. ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Genesis 1:1-31; 2:1-3 https://www.bible.com/events...
Jan 12, 2022•29 min
This may not be the Christmas story we want, but it's the one that we get. And it might be the story we need. If God isn't willing to come to Bethlehem, then it's not going to do us much good. If God is going to save us, then God's gonna have to come down here to where we are, because we can never get there on our own. ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 2:13-23 https://www.bible.com/events/48822483
Jan 05, 2022•25 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Luke 2:1-20 http://bible.com/events/48815669
Dec 22, 2021•26 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Philippians 1:3-11 http://bible.com/events/48812586
Dec 15, 2021•25 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Colossians 1:3-20 http://bible.com/events/48808974
Dec 08, 2021•29 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Romans 13:8-14 http://bible.com/events/48805209
Dec 01, 2021•24 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speakers: Aaron Vis, Andrea Gronau, Lynn Owens-Hill https://my.bible.com/events/48801560 https://www.thebridgehome.org/ (Some rough audio around 8:50)
Nov 24, 2021•47 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Luke 12:13-21 http://bible.com/events/48797008
Nov 17, 2021•25 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-18 https://my.bible.com/events/48794166
Nov 10, 2021•27 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: 1 Kings 18:1-2; 17-46 http://bible.com/events/48790691
Nov 03, 2021•29 min
ReNew Community Worship Service Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1-16 http://bible.com/events/48786994
Oct 27, 2021•29 min
