Commons Church Podcast

It seems like we have a bit of a problem.
St. James warned his friends that their words were like sparks that had the power to burn down a forest.
The Jewish poets noted that while our mouths contain the power to bless and bring life, they also have the ability to destroy and harm.
And the noted Persian mystic Rumi instructed his readers to shut up like an oyster shell because, well, their mouths were the enemies of their souls, he thought.
Which just means that long before the internet gave us a place to record and play back EVERY SINGLE word, long before social media gave us the platform to spew anonymous hatred, and long before we coined terms like “over- sharing” to describe our inability to keep quiet, we’ve had issues with our mouths.
So let’s open the text, and listen for a moment.

We’re here! Easter is the festival of festivals! The Queen of Feasts! This is the day we wait for. This is the day of new life. And with all we celebrate today, Easter is the day that shapes every day to come. So hear, repeat, and return to this prayer in the Easter season. It’s a beauty and it’s a benediction.
***
Beyond Easter we go singing.
Having been seized
by resurrection
we are full of tears and laughter.
The way ahead is unknown. It will always be like that.
but having danced in the light we will look for glory everywhere.
–Ruth Burgess,
The Iona Community

We are approaching Easter, seen as the greatest festival in the church calendar. But, we’re not there yet. We have a week to go and an ancient path to follow.
Egeria, a woman who was either a nun or an abbess from Spain or Gaul, left behind a diary from her time in the Holy Land (ca. 381-384). In it, she writes in detail about services
in Jerusalem. On Palm Sunday, worshippers celebrate and rehearse the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Then the children gather palm branches and the people walk the road that leads to the cross. Hundreds of years later, we still do the same thing.
This week, we celebrate with hosannas, but on Good Friday and Holy Saturday we will grieve. And our sorrow is the exact place resurrection comes. Thanks be to God.
After Palm Sunday, join us on Maundy Thursday to walk through the Stations of the Cross, for services on Good Friday and then to celebrate Resurrection next week.
Come and reflect on the season.

It’s not always easy to see ourselves as we truly are. But stories can help. When we listen carefully to a story that is authentic to the human experience, we come to know ourselves in new ways. 

The book of Jonah is one such story. Despite its rather fantastical qualities, the story of Jonah is a real human tale. A story of human failure and divine grace, a story of the interplay between duty observed and plain disobedience. A story of the internal conflict between authentic honesty and dishonest selfishness. It’s all here, all of the meaning and the mess of life. 

But the thing that makes Jonah’s story most helpful to us is how everything, all of it, is placed before God. And really, this is the thing most true about our humanity, the thing we most need to educate our imaginations with: there is no other kind of life except that which is lived before God. 

Jonah is not a children’s tale. It is a very grown up tale that ends with a very serious question: what kind of person will you be?

It’s not always easy to see ourselves as we truly are. But stories can help. When we listen carefully to a story that is authentic to the human experience, we come to know ourselves in new ways. 

The book of Jonah is one such story. Despite its rather fantastical qualities, the story of Jonah is a real human tale. A story of human failure and divine grace, a story of the interplay between duty observed and plain disobedience. A story of the internal conflict between authentic honesty and dishonest selfishness. It’s all here, all of the meaning and the mess of life. 

But the thing that makes Jonah’s story most helpful to us is how everything, all of it, is placed before God. And really, this is the thing most true about our humanity, the thing we most need to educate our imaginations with: there is no other kind of life except that which is lived before God. 

Jonah is not a children’s tale. It is a very grown up tale that ends with a very serious question: what kind of person will you be?

It’s not always easy to see ourselves as we truly are. But stories can help. When we listen carefully to a story that is authentic to the human experience, we come to know ourselves in new ways. 

The book of Jonah is one such story. Despite its rather fantastical qualities, the story of Jonah is a real human tale. A story of human failure and divine grace, a story of the interplay between duty observed and plain disobedience. A story of the internal conflict between authentic honesty and dishonest selfishness. It’s all here, all of the meaning and the mess of life. 

But the thing that makes Jonah’s story most helpful to us is how everything, all of it, is placed before God. And really, this is the thing most true about our humanity, the thing we most need to educate our imaginations with: there is no other kind of life except that which is lived before God. 

Jonah is not a children’s tale. It is a very grown up tale that ends with a very serious question: what kind of person will you be?

It’s not always easy to see ourselves as we truly are. But stories can help. When we listen carefully to a story that is authentic to the human experience, we come to know ourselves in new ways. 

The book of Jonah is one such story. Despite its rather fantastical qualities, the story of Jonah is a real human tale. A story of human failure and divine grace, a story of the interplay between duty observed and plain disobedience. A story of the internal conflict between authentic honesty and dishonest selfishness. It’s all here, all of the meaning and the mess of life. 

But the thing that makes Jonah’s story most helpful to us is how everything, all of it, is placed before God. And really, this is the thing most true about our humanity, the thing we most need to educate our imaginations with: there is no other kind of life except that which is lived before God. 

Jonah is not a children’s tale. It is a very grown up tale that ends with a very serious question: what kind of person will you be?  

It’s not always easy to see ourselves as we truly are. But stories can help. When we listen carefully to a story that is authentic to the human experience, we come to know ourselves in new ways. 

The book of Jonah is one such story. Despite its rather fantastical qualities, the story of Jonah is a real human tale. A story of human failure and divine grace, a story of the interplay between duty observed and plain disobedience. A story of the internal conflict between authentic honesty and dishonest selfishness. It’s all here, all of the meaning and the mess of life. 

But the thing that makes Jonah’s story most helpful to us is how everything, all of it, is placed before God. And really, this is the thing most true about our humanity, the thing we most need to educate our imaginations with: there is no other kind of life except that which is lived before God. 

Jonah is not a children’s tale. It is a very grown up tale that ends with a very serious question: what kind of person will you be?  

This is it.
Back in Rome for a final time.

Chapter by chapter, we’ve worked through this lengthy letter from the Apostle Paul. Along the way marking how his theology transformed as he grappled with the story of God in Christ.

Along the way, we’ve grown, and we’ve continued to let the gracious way of Jesus alter the way we think of the Divine.

How we look at each other. How we talk about faith.

So, if you’ve been with us since the beginning, come along as we jump in where we left off and see how Paul wraps things up.

And if you’re new to Commons, step a little closer to a text that’s shaped who we are and who we want to become.