Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Ben White

Location: 3800 Marlton Pike

About Talk: Mary’s “yes” was not coerced. She had the chance to say “no.” Her courage is our pattern for faith. We can deny our own lives and destinies too. God may want us to do something big (probably not as big as birthing the Son of God, but like that in other ways). How can you say “yes” to God this week? How can you say “no”? You can think of a way if you try. Naming the distinct possibility helps you to say “yes” instead.

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Rod White

Location: 2309 N. Broad St.

About Talk: Our pastors still follow one of the traditions of Advent in which the readings point to certain people in the story, like John the Baptist on this day. He needs more airplay and we need to be like him.

The word of God came to us in Philadelphia in the wilderness of postmodernity and vacuous expressions of the church. The same Spirit that moved John, Odo and Sundar brought us together

That Spirit also isolated us in ways. While it might seem normal to us, the reforms we instituted make us loved and resented in the BIC. A man is flying in from Kentucky to consult with us next month. But our bishops are never sure we are really team players. We don’t get along with Trump Christians, we ordain women, We welcome gay people, accept cohabiting people as married, we listen instead of fighting and think reconciliation is more important than being right. We love psychotherapy and believe black lives matter. We abhor war and suspect guns. We love immigrants, we talk about Jesus all the time to liberals and we celebrate Advent, practice contemplative prayer and don’t put men or anyone else at the top of a pyramidical structure. It goes on.

We are ambitious. We might go to your monastery or go to Tibet and tell you what God showed us. We might follow a rule, wear a yellow robe or baptize the Son of God right in your backyard. So we might get as isolated as John the Baptist, feared like Odo of Cluny or thrown in a dry well like Sundar Singh. That’s Advent. The unwelcome wind of change, reform that often isolates the reformers while they are bringing people together in Christ.

What is the word that Jesus wants to get out there now? Any John the Baptists in the wilderness out there? I know there are. Do not let anyone shut you up. Tell the truth no matter what it costs, love them even if they hate you. Give them what they need even if they throw it back in your face. The message is old. It came as a variation in the 900s and 1800s. But it always has a unique slant. What are you feeling? What does the wind of the Spirit blow into your mind and heart? Trust it!

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Rod White

Location: 2309 N. Broad St.

About Talk: Our pastors still follow one of the traditions of Advent in which the readings point to certain people in the story, like John the Baptist on this day. He needs more airplay and we need to be like him.

The word of God came to us in Philadelphia in the wilderness of postmodernity and vacuous expressions of the church. The same Spirit that moved John, Odo and Sundar brought us together

That Spirit also isolated us in ways. While it might seem normal to us, the reforms we instituted make us loved and resented in the BIC. A man is flying in from Kentucky to consult with us next month. But our bishops are never sure we are really team players. We don’t get along with Trump Christians, we ordain women, We welcome gay people, accept cohabiting people as married, we listen instead of fighting and think reconciliation is more important than being right. We love psychotherapy and believe black lives matter. We abhor war and suspect guns. We love immigrants, we talk about Jesus all the time to liberals and we celebrate Advent, practice contemplative prayer and don’t put men or anyone else at the top of a pyramidical structure. It goes on.

We are ambitious. We might go to your monastery or go to Tibet and tell you what God showed us. We might follow a rule, wear a yellow robe or baptize the Son of God right in your backyard. So we might get as isolated as John the Baptist, feared like Odo of Cluny or thrown in a dry well like Sundar Singh. That’s Advent. The unwelcome wind of change, reform that often isolates the reformers while they are bringing people together in Christ.

What is the word that Jesus wants to get out there now? Any John the Baptists in the wilderness out there? I know there are. Do not let anyone shut you up. Tell the truth no matter what it costs, love them even if they hate you. Give them what they need even if they throw it back in your face. The message is old. It came as a variation in the 900s and 1800s. But it always has a unique slant. What are you feeling? What does the wind of the Spirit blow into your mind and heart? Trust it!

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Rod White

Location: 2309 N. Broad St.

About Talk: Our pastors still follow one of the traditions of Advent in which the readings point to certain people in the story, like John the Baptist on this day. He needs more airplay and we need to be like him.

The word of God came to us in Philadelphia in the wilderness of postmodernity and vacuous expressions of the church. The same Spirit that moved John, Odo and Sundar brought us together

That Spirit also isolated us in ways. While it might seem normal to us, the reforms we instituted make us loved and resented in the BIC. A man is flying in from Kentucky to consult with us next month. But our bishops are never sure we are really team players. We don’t get along with Trump Christians, we ordain women, We welcome gay people, accept cohabiting people as married, we listen instead of fighting and think reconciliation is more important than being right. We love psychotherapy and believe black lives matter. We abhor war and suspect guns. We love immigrants, we talk about Jesus all the time to liberals and we celebrate Advent, practice contemplative prayer and don’t put men or anyone else at the top of a pyramidical structure. It goes on.

We are ambitious. We might go to your monastery or go to Tibet and tell you what God showed us. We might follow a rule, wear a yellow robe or baptize the Son of God right in your backyard. So we might get as isolated as John the Baptist, feared like Odo of Cluny or thrown in a dry well like Sundar Singh. That’s Advent. The unwelcome wind of change, reform that often isolates the reformers while they are bringing people together in Christ.

What is the word that Jesus wants to get out there now? Any John the Baptists in the wilderness out there? I know there are. Do not let anyone shut you up. Tell the truth no matter what it costs, love them even if they hate you. Give them what they need even if they throw it back in your face. The message is old. It came as a variation in the 900s and 1800s. But it always has a unique slant. What are you feeling? What does the wind of the Spirit blow into your mind and heart? Trust it!

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Ben White

Location: 3800 Marlton Pike

About Talk: One aspect of John the Baptist’s spiritual genius was his willingness to express his doubt. After he saw heaven open up, heard God’s voice and told his disciples to follow Jesus, the One; he sends others to ask “Are you the one, or should we wait for another.” By acknowledging this nagging question he made a way for the Lord on the inside, and Jesus answered. Ben wrote a story from John’s perspective, imagining what he might have been thinking.

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Ben White

Location: 3800 Marlton Pike

About Talk: One aspect of John the Baptist’s spiritual genius was his willingness to express his doubt. After he saw heaven open up, heard God’s voice and told his disciples to follow Jesus, the One; he sends others to ask “Are you the one, or should we wait for another.” By acknowledging this nagging question he made a way for the Lord on the inside, and Jesus answered. Ben wrote a story from John’s perspective, imagining what he might have been thinking.

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Ben White

Location: 3800 Marlton Pike

About Talk: One aspect of John the Baptist’s spiritual genius was his willingness to express his doubt. After he saw heaven open up, heard God’s voice and told his disciples to follow Jesus, the One; he sends others to ask “Are you the one, or should we wait for another.” By acknowledging this nagging question he made a way for the Lord on the inside, and Jesus answered. Ben wrote a story from John’s perspective, imagining what he might have been thinking.

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Joshua Grace

Location: 2007 Frankford Ave.

About Talk: The prophet teaches us to empathize with the Pathos of God, to develop fellowship with God’s emotions. John the Baptizer serves as a fulfillment of the prophetic forerunner to identify God’s anointed one (the Messiah, Jesus) and to help us develop empathy for God. In that process, we can develop empathy for others―and sense God’s (and other’s) empathy for us. Connecting to God’s emotions catalyzes a return to harmony―fulfilled by the One whom John signals.

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Joshua Grace

Location: 2007 Frankford Ave.

About Talk: The prophet teaches us to empathize with the Pathos of God, to develop fellowship with God’s emotions. John the Baptizer serves as a fulfillment of the prophetic forerunner to identify God’s anointed one (the Messiah, Jesus) and to help us develop empathy for God. In that process, we can develop empathy for others―and sense God’s (and other’s) empathy for us. Connecting to God’s emotions catalyzes a return to harmony―fulfilled by the One whom John signals.

Season: The Subversive Baby Jesus

Speaker: Joshua Grace

Location: 2007 Frankford Ave.

About Talk: The prophet teaches us to empathize with the Pathos of God, to develop fellowship with God’s emotions. John the Baptizer serves as a fulfillment of the prophetic forerunner to identify God’s anointed one (the Messiah, Jesus) and to help us develop empathy for God. In that process, we can develop empathy for others―and sense God’s (and other’s) empathy for us. Connecting to God’s emotions catalyzes a return to harmony―fulfilled by the One whom John signals.