Today's episode marks the beginning of a short four part series focusing on "What does it mean to live the Christian life?" This series has been inspired by the strongly negative examples of living life with grace, humility, and welcoming that are far too commonplace on the news. Steve and Drew use the worship liturgy as a rubric for understanding how Christianity it to be practiced not just on Sunday, but through everyday. Tune in for all four part: Gathering, The Word, the Sacrments, Being Sent Out.

On October 31, 1517 Augstinian monk Marin Luther nailed 95 points for argument to the church door and (unintentionally) began a 500 year trajectory that Christianity has followed. Today, Steve and Drew look back at what happened and what it all meant for the Christianity of its day. And then, they pivot the conversation to considering what does it mean for the next 500 years of church's life and faithful witness. (Of course, they do not make predictions about what it will look like...or do they? You'll have to tune in and find out).

If you remember back to last week, Pastor Steve and Pastor Drew tried to explore the theological implications of natural disasters. As Steve said, the biggest take away is being the hands and feet of Christ in the midst of suffering...even suffering we cannot understand. This week, they open up the conversation on how do people of faith respond in faith to the needs of people 1,000 miles away...and equally to those living right next door.

One of our human and faith wrestling tendencies is to ask questions like, "If God is good, why do hurricanes happen?" or "Why didn't God just stop the hurricanes from hurting people?" when natural disasters occur. That's ok. Remember what Steve and Drew have said a lot: we're humans trying to understand divine things in human ways. And that's hard. We as people have a difficult time with making sense out of evil: humans doing evil; "natural" evil that seems to be done to us. We wrestle and struggle. And that's ok, too. Steve and Drew explore the biblical discussions of evil and God's presence in the midst of the mess and confusion.

In a world connected each day by the famous social media platforms of the world, we lose a lot in the process. Steve and Drew examine the implications of a world that communicates more and more through 140 characters or a post and picture and less and less through embodied human face-to-face conversations. While a technological world may be faster, it is not as effective and leads to bigger problems. Through more nerdy self-disclosure and their usual (bad) jokes, Steve and Drew work to steer us back to embodied, real conversations (even when we disagree).

Steve and Drew are back at it and this time they're trying to keep you off that pink cloud of cozy Christianity after talking for six episodes about hope. While hope does give us confidence and assurance, Christian Hope does not create a fake world to escape to against the real world all around us. Instead, Christian hope gives us the confidence and the mold to live out our lives as ones who not only look forward to the hopeful return of Jesus but leads us to live the truth of the hope in the right here, right now.

Pastor Steve and Pastor Drew share their final thoughts about the end of things (kind of a pun, right?) by putting the entire discussion into the context of, "Why does this all matter?" By understanding that Heaven is not something to be earned and that God is not destructive, the ideas of stewardship, hope, mission, and service are broached. Looking ahead is not a scary proposition, they'll argue. They go on to discuss the question, "So, what difference can I make now?"

All throughout this multi-stop journey, Steve and Drew have been keeping us close to the text. By starting in Genesis and Revelation, going to I Thessalonians, and now today in Matthew 24. This particular chapter, just as the I Thess. 4 chapter, are often used in the "Rapture Theology" argument that appears often in today's world. By looking again closely at the words, their original context, and even the meaning of the language of the original author, they expose that this passage shows us that being left behind is actually a good thing.

Continuing today the ongoing discussion of "What is Christian Hope?" Steve and Drew take a stop off at Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. They explore and unpack chapter 4 which is often cited as evidence of "The Rapture." By looking at what the text says (and doesn't say) and considering the original Greek language and Paul's historical context, they hope you'll walk away from today feeling a bit more assured of what the Bible says (and doesn't say) about Christian Hope and "Last Things" as part of God's ultimate work of redemption and restoration.

When folks think about "end times" they often flip to the end of the Bible and read Revelation. And while Revelation is correctly placed in the discussion of eschatology (final things), it is often taken far out of its original context and understanding. Steve and Drew look at chapter 1, chapter 5, and chapters 21 and 22 to understand many of the keys to reading this text for all its worth and holding back from reading more into the text than actually exists there.