Ground Up Faith

In this episode of the Ground Up Faith Podcast, we invite you to join in on my wide-ranging conversation with Bishop Timothy Smith about his life; what it means to be called; and what service to the church looks like including stories about facing off with James Worthy & Michael Jordan; smuggling money to bring down the Soviet Union; & and being the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's North Carolina Synod; these are just some of the stories you'll hear in this episode. 

This sermon, on Palm Sunday, reflects on the Triumphal Entry story from John 12. It invites us to wrestle with what our expectations are verses what God's reality is. In God's care for us, God meets us in our expectations and invites us to participate in the reality of life.

In this episode of Brewing Thoughts, we consider the role sleep plays in our lives from both a health perspective and a faith perspective. We consider current events like the time change and the shocking reports of working conditions at Goldman Sachs alongside the faith practice of sabbath rest and the work done by Dr. Matthew Walker and his book "Why We Sleep." I highly recommend you buy the book and read it!

Reflecting on Jeremiah 31:31-34 & John 12:20-33 this sermon uses Phyllis Tickle's Book "The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why" as a source of inspiration. These texts are often Reformation texts. Tickle observes that every 500 years something significant happens in the church. 500 years ago was the 16th Century Reformations; we find ourselves due for another one. How can we understand the changing reality facing Christianity, and COVID-19, as yet one more evolution in our faith and practice of following Jesus? Listen to wrestle with that topic. 

In this episode of Ground Up Faith Podcast, we welcome our first-ever guest,  Beka Forst. She's a full-time Youth and Family Minister, and Seminary student who is preparing for Ordination as a Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We sit down to chat about ministry today, what seminary is like, why deacons are an incredible gift to the church that everyone should know about, and more!

On the one year anniversary of our life with the COVID 19 crisis we reflect on how we measure a year. Inspired by the Tony award winning Broadway Rock Musical Rent's number "Seasons of Love," Nicodemus' late night conversation with Jesus, and Mother Teresa we consider how love may be the defining metric to use in measuring a year.

In this episode of Brewing Thoughts, we consider the power stories have to impact our lives while we hear the Story of Michael Scott Moore's two-year-eight-month captivity at the hands of Somali Pirates. Over the course of his captivity, he learned that forgiveness wasn't just something that would benefit his captors, but was also a life and death reality for him. His book on his experience is The Desert and the Sea.

This Sermon Reflects on John 2:13-22 - Jesus Cleansing the Temple. In comparison, Jesus's work is not dissimilar to the Herdman's participation in the Annual Christmas play in "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." Today we are invited to follow the work of Jesus in doing the serious interior work of cleansing our own Temple of the Holy Spirit. 

In this episode of Brewing Thoughts, we explore how the Hubble Space Telescope failure, Breast Cancer, Queen Esther, and J.R.R. Tolkien have to say about your everyday faith life.

A Sermon reflecting on what it means to listen to God. Beginning with selections from Psalm 22 & Mark 8 and 9 this sermon wrestles with God's invitation to listen to Jesus. Today's world is busy and hectic with many competing voices, loud cymbals, and noisy gongs. Yet through it all there is the voice of Jesus.