Epiclesis

With the Day of Pentecost, we have another beautiful moment in salvation history where God comes down and draws near. And with the coming of the Holy Spirit in such a powerful and, in some ways, intimate and personal way— in tongues of fire— God re-rights and redeems two Old Testament stories. And those two stories involve both tongues and fire. Join us for Pastor Chris' final in a series of sermons focused on Jesus telling us plainly who He is.

The work of art associated with this sermon/podcast is "Pentecost" by Makoto Fujimura.

On this Ascension Sunday, Pastor Chris laid out a series of scenes in Scripture to show how the bolidy ascension of Jesus fits into God's big story. The Ascension of Christ is a centerpiece, or at least a big piece, of salvation history, but it sometimes gets overlooked in some denominational contexts. Why is it an essential tenet of our faith? Join us!

The painting associated with this podcast/sermon is Salvador Dali's "The Ascension of Christ."

Cristian Cazacu (ka-ZAH-koo) was our very special guest on this Sunday at Epiclesis. He came our way to share about his life and ministry, to talk about where God might be calling, and to learn more about Epiclesis. (He's been following us for some time, which is a wonderful story in itself). Ultimately, he is asking the question: Can there be Ancient-Future Faith in Romania?

Cristian is a Romanian songwriter, a seasoned worship leader, and performing artist for over 25 years. His passion is to see Christian artists engage their craft theologically, as an act of worship, and as a witness to the risen Christ. Cristian is the director of “imagoDei Romania,” an initiative designed to cultivate community among artists of faith by means of spiritual formation, theological reflection, and networking. Cristian holds an M.A. in Intercultural Studies from Fuller Seminary and is currently a student at the Institute for Worship Studies. He and his wife, Bella, have three sons.

You're going to hear several things in his presentation: You'll hear a humble, sweet servant's heart (with some sincere tears), a grateful guest, a man who's been called to some challenging things in his home country, and, at the end, you'll hear him play the guitar and sing an original worship song.

A high quality recording of that worship song, "If My People," can be found here.

 

Bestselling author Kathi Lipp was in the Chapter House (our forum for conversations) to talk about her upcoming appearance at the Epiclesis Women's Retreat. The title of the retreat, "Overwhelmed," is taken from Kathi's popular book of the same name and the event will focus on how to quiet the chaos and restore sanity.

In this conversation, Kathi talked to Pastor Chris about the parallels between the physical clutter around us and the clutter that we can carry in our minds and spirits. She says that feeling overwhelmed can become a pattern, a state of mind, and a spiritually sticky place where you cannot move forward. Want to hear more? Join us!

Kathi lives on her Red House mini-homestead in the Sierra foothills with her husband Roger, a dog, and eight chickens, and it’s where she holds cozy writer retreats for content creators.

Oops, one more thing: Want to learn more about Pastor Chris and Epiclesis, the church that Kathi is going to retreat with? Just click right here.

 

There are at least seven beautiful titles for Christ we can draw out of Revelation 21:5-6. Among them is one that's especially familiar, "The Alpha and Omega." As we continue our series titled "Tell Us Plainly," Pastor Chris looks at yet another passage of Scripture where Jesus does, in fact, tell us exactly Who He is. Along the way, we examined that "Alpha and Omega" title, and also finished up by thinking about that wonderful phrase where Jesus says, "It is finished." Just exactly what was it that was finished and completed? Join us!

Our theme for this Eastertide is "Tell Us Plainly," and the idea is this: Did Jesus ever come right out and say that He was Messiah or God? The scribes and Pharisees told Jesus on that occasion on the Temple Mount, "We're in suspense!"

So, did Jesus tell them plainly? Well, in a word, yes, He did. It just wasn’t the answer they were anxious to hear. Jesus did claim deity. The very Lord of Light Himself, the Light of the World, did claim to be God that day. And, during Hanukkah, the Feast of Lights, no less.

Join Pastor Chris for a look at John 10 and a very tense showdown between Jesus and the religious leaders who, the text tells us, were in suspense!

 

Note: The painting associated with this sermon/podcast is titled "Woe Unto You Scribes and Pharisees" by James Tissot.