This podcast is a recording from our interfaith lunch with our Jewish friends from Beth Shir Shalom.  Our special guest is Tasneem Noor who taught about some of the foundational aspects of her Muslim faith.  

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Tasneem Noor is an award-winning author of “The Faith Connection: Your Journey Starts with Knowing Yourself.”   She received her Masters in Education in Student Affairs from UCLA and is the Program Director for NewGround: A Muslim Jewish Partnership for Change.  She specializes in communication across differences especially on difficult and charged topics.  For Tasneem, authenticity and courage are her most cherished values in building stronger relationships and sustainable communities.

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Happy Easter!  Christ is risen!  The final resurrection photo in the gospel of Mark is beautiful.  But, of course, the pictures we hang on the wall rarely tell the whole story.   The same is true for the young man at the tomb who is fully dress and sharing a message of courage and resurrection.  

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According to Psalm 1 it matters where we walk, stand, and sit.  In the gospel of Mark where Jesus walks, stands, and sits matters.  Jesus location and movement is a part of the message.  Where we've been and are also matters.  Some of us need to hear the message of service, while others need to hear the message of rest.  Some us need to hear the message of give, while others need to receive.  

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Good news in a story about pigs and demons?  Our guest, Jeff Chu, takes on a story that most preachers and pastors avoid.  The story is, no doubt, weird, but the message, as Jeff articulates it, is indeed good news.  

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Jesus heals a blind man, but not entirely at first.  He goes from blind to blurry and then from blurry to full clarity.  Why didn't Jesus get it right the first time?   

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Eating together is complicated, divisive and healing.   In three separate scenes in the gospel of Mark we see how eating at the table is all of these things.

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Internal love and justice creates greater capacity within us for external love and justice.   

Rev. Dr. Kikanza Nuri-Robins is a long time friend of First Pres.  She is a member of the Presbytery of the Pacific and also serves as consulting minister to Unitarian Universalist congregations.  When she is not at church, she works as a consultant to non-profit organizations like Heal the Bay and First Five LA, helping them to close the gap between values and practice.  She is the author of many articles and several books, including Cultural Proficiency and Fish Out of Water.  www.KikanzaNuriRobins.com

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It was a dark and stormy night... AGAIN.  Jesus will come walking on water, but this storm and the disciples fear isn't the same as before.  The storm is less catastrophic and the fear of the unknown is gradually giving way to the light.   

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"It was a dark and stormy night..."  As long as humans have been telling stories rainstorms set the stage for whatever is wrong or will go wrong.   The Bible is no different.  

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