Commons Church Podcast

What do your prayers sound like at this time of year? Please God, make time stand still so I can get ready
for Christmas. Please God, help me find a parking spot at the mall. Or, more seriously, Please God, turn this Christmas chaos into something calm.

Advent is a season of waiting, expectation, and hope. It doesn’t mean that all longings are realized, though.

And even as the story of Jesus begins with the angel announcing the birth
of the Saviour to Mary and the world, everyone in the story is given a voice. And those voices are heard in five prayers, traditionally called “A Pentad of Prayers.” Five prayers named after the Latin word for the start of each prayer.

The Fiat mihi - Let it be with me ...
The Magnificat - My soul magnifies ...
The Benedictus - Blessed be the Lord ...
The Gloria in excelsis - Glory to God in the highest ...
The Nunc dimittis - Now dismiss your servant ...

Which prayer will guide you through this season? Let’s find out, together.

What do your prayers sound like at this time of year? Please God, make time stand still so I can get ready
for Christmas. Please God, help me find a parking spot at the mall. Or, more seriously, Please God, turn this Christmas chaos into something calm.

Advent is a season of waiting, expectation, and hope. It doesn’t mean that all longings are realized, though.

And even as the story of Jesus begins with the angel announcing the birth
of the Saviour to Mary and the world, everyone in the story is given a voice. And those voices are heard in five prayers, traditionally called “A Pentad of Prayers.” Five prayers named after the Latin word for the start of each prayer.

The Fiat mihi - Let it be with me ...
The Magnificat - My soul magnifies ...
The Benedictus - Blessed be the Lord ...
The Gloria in excelsis - Glory to God in the highest ...
The Nunc dimittis - Now dismiss your servant ...

Which prayer will guide you through this season? Let’s find out, together.

In a world that, moves faster and faster each year, the season of Advent becomes even more important. Waiting, anticipating, lamenting and journeying these are part of the beauty that ultimately awaits us.

What do your prayers sound like at this time of year? Please God, make time stand still so I can get ready
for Christmas. Please God, help me find a parking spot at the mall. Or, more seriously, Please God, turn this Christmas chaos into something calm.

Advent is a season of waiting, expectation, and hope. It doesn’t mean that all longings are realized, though.

And even as the story of Jesus begins with the angel announcing the birth
of the Saviour to Mary and the world, everyone in the story is given a voice. And those voices are heard in five prayers, traditionally called “A Pentad of Prayers.” Five prayers named after the Latin word for the start of each prayer.

The Fiat mihi - Let it be with me ...
The Magnificat - My soul magnifies ...
The Benedictus - Blessed be the Lord ...
The Gloria in excelsis - Glory to God in the highest ...
The Nunc dimittis - Now dismiss your servant ...

Which prayer will guide you through this season? Let’s find out, together.

“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.”

—Henri Nouwen

We’ve all likely had the experience where someone made space for us.
A grandparent, a dear friend, a stranger who didn’t speak our language, or even someone we didn’t agree with.

Maybe they offered us welcome. They made us feel safe.
They chose to be vulnerable.
They extended kindness when they could have withheld it.

Whatever the case, these kinds of experiences show us how powerful hospitality can be. How embrace transforms us. How, in a world of tension, hostility, and boundary-making, we often come alive when we choose to open and hold space for others.

Let’s consider how the Scriptures show us a God like this, always making room.

“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.”

—Henri Nouwen

We’ve all likely had the experience where someone made space for us.
A grandparent, a dear friend, a stranger who didn’t speak our language, or even someone we didn’t agree with.

Maybe they offered us welcome. They made us feel safe.
They chose to be vulnerable.
They extended kindness when they could have withheld it.

Whatever the case, these kinds of experiences show us how powerful hospitality can be. How embrace transforms us. How, in a world of tension, hostility, and boundary-making, we often come alive when we choose to open and hold space for others.

Let’s consider how the Scriptures show us a God like this, always making room.

“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.”

—Henri Nouwen

We’ve all likely had the experience where someone made space for us.
A grandparent, a dear friend, a stranger who didn’t speak our language, or even someone we didn’t agree with.

Maybe they offered us welcome. They made us feel safe.
They chose to be vulnerable.
They extended kindness when they could have withheld it.

Whatever the case, these kinds of experiences show us how powerful hospitality can be. How embrace transforms us. How, in a world of tension, hostility, and boundary-making, we often come alive when we choose to open and hold space for others.

Let’s consider how the Scriptures show us a God like this, always making room.

“Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place.”

—Henri Nouwen

We’ve all likely had the experience where someone made space for us.
A grandparent, a dear friend, a stranger who didn’t speak our language, or even someone we didn’t agree with.

Maybe they offered us welcome. They made us feel safe.
They chose to be vulnerable.
They extended kindness when they could have withheld it.

Whatever the case, these kinds of experiences show us how powerful hospitality can be. How embrace transforms us. How, in a world of tension, hostility, and boundary-making, we often come alive when we choose to open and hold space for others.

Let’s consider how the Scriptures show us a God like this, always making room.

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most famous speeches ever given. This is Jesus at his most accessible. The intriguing phenomenon is, however, that the closer one looks the more one becomes fascinated with the beauty through which Jesus addresses each topic. “The experience can be compared with visiting famous old castles or cathedrals. Tourists may put in thirty minutes to walk through, just to get an impression, and that is what they get. But if one begins to study such buildings with the help of a good guidebook, visions of whole worlds open up. Whether it is the architecture, the symbols and images, the statues and paintings, or the history that took place in and around the buildings, under closer examination things are bound to become more and more complicated, diverse, and intriguing, with no end in sight.” –Hans Dieter Betz Our hope is that this familiar sermon can become just as intriguing again if we take the time to look closer.

The Sermon on the Mount is one of the most famous speeches ever given. This is Jesus at his most accessible. The intriguing phenomenon is, however, that the closer one looks the more one becomes fascinated with the beauty through which Jesus addresses each topic. “The experience can be compared with visiting famous old castles or cathedrals. Tourists may put in thirty minutes to walk through, just to get an impression, and that is what they get. But if one begins to study such buildings with the help of a good guidebook, visions of whole worlds open up. Whether it is the architecture, the symbols and images, the statues and paintings, or the history that took place in and around the buildings, under closer examination things are bound to become more and more complicated, diverse, and intriguing, with no end in sight.” –Hans Dieter Betz Our hope is that this familiar sermon can become just as intriguing again if we take the time to look closer.