In 1 Samuel, we find God’s people at Shiloh were in trouble. The Phillistines had defeated them in battle and they were desperate for a way to turn the tide against their enemies. So they took the Ark of the Covenant, their symbol of God’s presence, into the middle of the battlefield, assuming that God would not allow God’s own presence to be taken.

But the Ark was taken, and Israel lost once again. It is a reminder that our public, performative displays or demonstrations of faith are a far cry from the faithful lives we are called to live. As you listen today, consider the ways you see or experience the performace of faith without the actual practice of faith in your life and community.

_______

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

This week we are looking at Hannah’s story of faithfulness and persistant prayer even when everything seemed stacked against her. In a place that seemed barren and hopeless, she dared to believe that new life was possible, not just for herself and her family, but for all of Israel.

What holy longing keeps you returning to God even when nobody else understands? How is God’s grace meeting you in the waiting and uncertainty along the way?

_______

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

A bit of background on this new sermon series: Where Grace Meets Shiloh.

In January, Grace United Methodist & Shiloh United Methodist merged and became a single congregation at Shiloh.

The next four weeks, I’m looking at the historic “Shiloh” in scripture to see how the people of Israel encountered God’s grace in that holy place and what lessons their experience might still hold for us today.

This week we’re looking at God’s call for the people not to get too comfortable at Shiloh, and to keep going out to fulfill what God had called them too. In our case, it’s not about conquest, but about being a blessing to the community beyond our walls.

Just like he said to the people of ancient Shiloh, God still says to us, “What are you waiting for?”

_______

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

This week is a bit different and shorter than usual. Three or four times a year, we have “Breakfast Church” where a large portion of the service is spent in table conversations around the message topic.

This week, the topic is prayer.

This podcast episode offers my brief reflections on how our prayer lives change and adapt over time and concludes with the questions we disucussed at our tables.

I invite you this week to reflect on how your own prayer life has changed and to consider what is most life-giving in your current way of praying and what challenges you may still have with prayer.

The linked reflections offer a list of many different forms of prayer you may want to try to deepen your own relationship with God.

Enjoy

_______

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Half Truths - Part 5: Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin???

Week 5 of a 5 week series on “Half Truths”, or what I call, “Bumper Sticker Christianity,” debunking common Christian cliche’s that tend to do more harm than good.

This week, Rev. McKenzie Sefa returns to wrap up our series with the popular saying, “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin.” At first glance, it sounds reasonable. God hates sin. God loves sinners. So why shouldn’t we do the same?

Unfortunately it’s a bit more complicated than that. At the end of the day, we are all sinners in need of love. It is not our place to judge someone else as a sinner first. It is simply our job to love.

Jesus didn’t identify people by their sin, but by who they were as people beloved by God. That is the example we must follow.

For more, check out this week’s sermon from Pastor McKenzie.

Half Truths - Part 4: God Helps Those Who Help Themselves ???

Week 4 of a 5 week series on “Half Truths”, or what I call, “Bumper Sticker Christianity,” debunking common Christian cliche’s that tend to do more harm than good.

This week, we’re looking at the familiar phrase, “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves”. The witness we have in Scripture more often shows us a God who helps the helpless, the hopeless, and the vulnerable. Where might our own sense of rugged individualism being interfering with the grace of God in our own lives and in the lives of others?

__________

Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Half Truths - Part 3: God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It ???

Week 3 of a 5 week series on “Half Truths”, or what I call, “Bumper Sticker Christianity,” debunking common Christian cliche’s that tend to do more harm than good.

This week, my wife Rev. McKenzie Sefa reflects on the danger of using the “God Said It” line as a way of shutting down difficult conversations and manipulating Scripture to say whatever we want it to mean.

The Bible is a complex text that includes multiple voices wrestling together with how to discern God’s will in their context. Instead of taking random verses to use as weapons, perhaps we should first consider the larger narrative of scripture, and even more, how our particular claim aligns with the life and teachings of Jesus, the Living Word.

__________

Half Truths - Part 2: God Won’t Give You More Than You Can Handle ???

Week 2 of a 5 week series on “Half Truths”, or what I call, “Bumper Sticker Christianity,” debunking common Christian cliche’s that tend to do more harm than good.

This week we are looking at the saying, “God won’t give you more than you can handle?”

Join us as we explore how this saying takes the biblical text out of context and creates significant problems in people’s understanding of God when things are indeed more than they can handle.

The truth: God helps us handle everything we’ve been given. God’s grace is sufficient for us.

__________

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

Half Truths - Part 1: Everything Happens for a Reason ???

This week begins a 5 week series on “Half Truths”, or what I call, “Bumper Sticker Christianity,” debunking common Christian cliche’s that tend to do more harm than good.

This week we begin with the famous line, “Everything Happens for a Reason”, exploring the nature of God’s will, especially when it comes to suffering and evil.

How do we make sense of pain and suffering in a world where a good God is presumably in charge?

Join me as we reflect on the truth that not everything happens for a reason, but God can make meaning out of everything that happens.

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa

“It’s Complicated - Family as a Means of Grace” - Part 6

Spiritual growth isn’t about building something new, or adding more to our lives.  It’s a stripping away of everything in us that’s not of God.  The Spirit’s work in us is not to sculpt a masterpiece out of a human shaped pile of garbage and sin.  Instead, the Spirt gently restores us to the image of God that we were always made to reflect.

We work hard to build protective barriers around our fragile lives and hearts.  What if in our striving for self-preservation, we are actually resisting grace?  What if the Spirit is simply trying to uncover the firm foundation God has already laid for us?

What might God be gently washing away in your life — not to destroy, but to restore?

Podcast Intro recorded by Ariana Sefa