Epiclesis

“Lord of the Rings, Politics, and What’s a Christian to Do?” That’s the theme for our annual Fall Retreat (October 17-18) with special guest teacher Rev. Steve Pearson.

Back for a third conversation in the series, Steve joined Pastor Chris to talk about the second movie in the trilogy, “The Two Towers.” Steve summarized the plot and characters, then he talked about themes in the movie through the lenses we've been using: power (the nature of); fellowship; and sovereignty and freedom.

Food for thought: The second movie's title is "The Two Towers," both of which are evil: The tower of Saruman, the wizard, and the tower of Sauron, the main antagonist. But in some ways, Tolkien could have used "The Two Fellowships" as the title instead. There surely is a good fellowship, but to what extent are the evil characters also in a kind of fellowship?

For more information about the retreat and Steve, please go here.

The Lord’s Prayer is very ancient-future. Why? It’s time-bending. It’s Body-uniting. It gathers up what has come before us, it focuses our minds on the current state of our situation in Christ, and it casts our thoughts into the future that someday we, the Body of Christ, will sit down at the ultimate eschatological banquet that will never end.

Are there some parts of the prayer, though, that confuse or trouble you? Say, the part about God not "leading us into temptation"? Join Pastor Chris for a close look at Luke's account of the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples.

The artwork associated with this pocast/sermon (viewable on the Epiclesis website but not in Apple Podcasts) is titled "The Lord's Prayer" and is by Darren Gygi (detail).

Here's another sermon from Rev. Robert Brown-- a look at a seemingly simple story of Jesus’ interaction with his dear friends Martha and Mary. Martha welcomes Jesus and sets about rushing around with meal preparations— a breathless hospitality with no time for anything, except building frustration, anger, jealousy, and self-martyrdom. All the while, Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus— a “right-hearted” disciple, soaking in the teaching of Jesus. Martha comes to Jesus, seeking his aid to get Mary to help her in the kitchen. Many have taken Jesus’ words to Martha as critical of her loving service and hospitality. One wonders whether Martha— and her fellow servants in the Church— have been overlooked in their concerns. Were Jesus’ words a critique of serving per se or were they words of healing for a harried, distracted server? The “answer” is “the one thing needful.”

 

Note: The painting associated with this podcast (visible on the Epiclesis website podcast page) is "Christ in the House of Martha and Mary" (detail) by Vermeer.

Join Rev. Robert Brown for a look at the parable of the “Good” Samaritan-- a very familiar text. But, sometimes forgotten, it's a parable that was Jesus’ response to a Jewish Scripture scholar’s question: “Who is my neighbor?” The scholar was not asking the question sincerely, seeking clarity with an eye to obedience, but to “justify himself”— to create the widest possible space between the Bible’s demands and the responsibility to obey.

Jesus’ parable portrays the hated and heretical Samaritan as the hero. He’s the one who demonstrates the lavish grace, compassion, and love of God and neighbor; the orthodox Scripture scholar seeks a comfortable, “correct answer” that can help him exclude people from his sphere of concern. But Jesus gets to the heart of the matter asking, “Who acted as neighbor?” To that, the scholar can only reluctantly reply, “The one who showed mercy.” “Go, and do likewise, Jesus says.”

Apparently, with Jesus, orthodoxy without orthopraxy is simply hypocrisy.

Note: The painting associated with this podcast (visible on the church website podcast page) is "The Good Samaritan" (detail) by Ferdinand Hodler.

Join Dr. Jay Dudley for an exploration of one of Paul's many metaphors for the relational reality of one's walk with God. A look at Galatians gives us, Jay says, a letter full of emotion, logic, scripturally-based reasoning, pointed questions, and personal appeals-- a case study in communication and a deep insight into our relationship with God. Here's a teaser: Listen for Jay's advice about how aggravation can become connection and intercession.

"Lord of the Rings, Politics, and What's a Christian to Do?" That's the theme for our annual Fall Retreat (October 17-18) with special guest teacher Rev. Steve Pearson.

Back for a second conversation in the series, Steve joined Pastor Chris to talk about the first movie in the trilogy, "The Fellowship of the Ring." Steve summarized the characters and plot, then talked about themes in the movie through the lenses we named in the first of our conversations: power (the nature of); fellowship; and sovereignty and freedom.

Food for thought: In his movies, Alfred Hitchcock used to talk about what he called a "MacGuffin," a thing that everyone was after that helped drive the story. He famously said that it didn't matter what the MacGuffin was-- that the thing itself was irrelevant to the plot. In Lord of the Rings, there is an object at the center of the story, but it's no empty, irrevelant object. Can you think of some reasons why?

For more information about the retreat and Steve, please go here.

Fire and altars. Feeding pigs. Growing decent vegetables: Just what might those things have in common? Pastor Chris made some connections to the fiery story of Elijah and Elisha that included an intriguing passage from C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength. Along the way we talked about what it means to build an altar and, also, the sometimes hard truth that the building of altars we do for God may not result in anything obvious to us.

The image associated with this sermon/podcast is titled "Fire from Heaven" and is anonymous.

Can you think of some transcendent moments in your life, spiritual or otherwise? It might just be that the gentlest ones are also (often) the most impactful. God is so often present, or at least uniquely so, in silence. Join Pastor Chris for a look at what happened to Elijah after that famous and dramatic showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. Along the way, Pastor Chris also shared two or three of the most transcendent moments of his life.

The photo associated with this podcast/sermon posting is of the interior of Burgos Cathedral by Atelier Coeln.

 

"Lord of the Rings, Politics, and What's a Christian to Do?" That's the theme for our annual Fall Retreat (October 17-18) with special guest teacher Rev. Steve Pearson. Join Steve and Pastor Chris for the first in a short series of conversations about Tolkien, his marvelous world of Middle Earth, and what that epic tale might have to teach Christians about the nature of power, true fellowship, and soverienty and freedom.

For more information about the retreat and Steve, please go here.

 

On this Trinity Sunday, Pastor Chris read a message written long ago to believers in Christ. And the message (which isn't nice at all) is posted, even to this day, in a surprising place.

How do we nail down—is it that even possible—what the Trinity means? What are the theological ramifications of the trinity? Especially in the second and third and fourth centuries, the saints of the church were trying to work that out. How can we learn from their wisdom and, of course, God's word. Join us for a Scripture-rich teaching on the truth that God is One. And God is Three.