Dallas ends the Numbers series with this brilliant exploration of the story about land for the most vulnerable and what it is that we leave behind in the wilderness and what comes into the next land with us. Thank you Dallas!

This episode also contains a Land Acknowledgement with a challenge to renew our commitment the the Treaty for the sake of our descendants and the descendants of all who call this land Home. 

In this sermon Pastor Nikayla unpacks Numbers 20 which begins with the death of Miriam and ends with the death of Aaron. In between the death of the two important character is a strange event involving a rock that gushes forth with water after mysteriously drying up. Moses does something wrong and he's told he won't make it into the Promised Land. 

Nikayla walks us through some Rabbinical readings of the rock situation and the connection between Miriam and the water. Paul seems to know these Jewish traditions because he also thinks the rock followed the people around. 

Do you think that God abandons you or distances Godself from you when you're not actively seeking God? 

What would change for you if you knew that God was there regardless of anything you could ever do or say? 

Do you believe God is with you? Do we* believe God is with us*?  

In this sermon Dallas unpacks the story of Balaam and the Donkey who can talk. It's a funny and profound story of God blessing God's people without them even knowing it - it's about God's desire to gather His people under Her wing as a mother bird and how often we miss out on the Divine Longing to connect and belong. 

Do you think you "deserve" divine blessing? Why or why not?

How does it feel to imagine God wanting to bless and show compassion regardless of whether you deserve it or not? 

In this podcast Pastor Nikayla talks about Numbers 21 and the Bronze Serpent staff. Poisonous snakes come and begin biting and essentially killing the Israelite people. They all come together and ask for Moses to pray for them. God asks Moses to lift up a staff with a bronze serpent on it and when the community looks upon the serpent, they are healed.

This is a strange story! They have to look, together, upon the very thing that they're afraid of.

Fear can scatter us, or fear can gather us. What if we faced our fears together and trusted God to join us and unify us and heal us together? 

Love casts out fear. 

How can you face your fears this week at Awaken? Who do you need to invite for a coffee or a walk? 

The Wilderness is as far away from the Garden of Eden one could get. It's natural to long for that better place -- greener pastures -- for life to begin after this current place. In this sermon Pastor Nikayla explores the story of Aaron's staff and the possibility of Eden in our very midst. 

Are you waiting for your life to begin? 

Do you often long for something better? 

Have you ever seen LIFE in your midst when you anticipate death? 

Share a story of Good News from this past week

If this is your first Awaken podcast - you may be in for a shock! This sermon is part of a 10 week series on being in a wilderness space - spiritually and socially. In the wilderness you are forced to confront your deepest fears of scarcity, abandonment,  rejection, and death. It's a place for truth-telling. It's in this place that Jacob wrestles with God, Job cries out for justice, and Jesus cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" 

No one chooses the wilderness - no one has control over how long the wilderness lasts. St John calls it the Long Night of the Soul. 

Have you ever been in this wilderness place?

Have you ever been angry at or hurt by God?

In your tradition, are you allowed to be angry or hurt by God?

What would it feel like to fight God? 

In this episode Dallas leads us in a sermon on Numbers 13 and the report of the spies. Some brought good news and others brought bad news. 

Do you find it difficult to hear good news in the midst of so much bad news? 

Sometimes we live as if we are in a sin-soaked world but what if we saw this place as soaked in Christ? 

What could you do this week to orient your life around Good News without ignoring the real dangers in this world?

This recording features a poem read by Phuc Luu called the Migratory God which can be found on theworkofthepeople.com 

This week Dallas leads us in a teaching on being critical but never cynical. He reflects on Miriam's complaint against Moses and the strange skin disease that results. He pauses to let us consider that although she was exiled from the community for a time, the entire community was unified in one way: they weren't leaving without her. In this wilderness, we are not alone.

Read Numbers 12 and consider: did Miriam actually do anything wrong? How did her exile unite the camp? What do you do with scripture that seems too weird or casts God in a less than lovely light? 

In your understanding, what is the difference between being critical and cynical? 

In this series we move through the book of Numbers. Nikayla kicks it off asking if the God of the Hebrew Bible is a wilderness God and what this would mean for this of us in between the no longer and the not yet. 

What do you sometimes wish you could go back to? 

Where do you long do be in your life?

What's it like being in this space in between? 

The final episode! 

What happens when we put Jesus, Husbands, Fathers, Masters, and Military in the same category and then put sinful humanity, wives, children, and the enslaved in another? 

In this episode Dallas and Nikayla dialogue about the Armor of God text in Ephesians 6 and notice how this text may have sounded to the original readers and what the implications for us today. 

What disciplines could engage with to guard your heart against that which would divide us and harden us?