Grace and Peace and Welcome to the newest episode of Hermenutics! Today Dr. Johanna has brought us the word Baptism. Listen as Jason, Johanna, and Todd discuss why Jesus needed to be baptised.

This week the pod is talking about blindness and what it means to see, not only in reference to the biblical text but to everyday life as well.

Johanna chose the word for today's episode so naturally it's both precise and obscure, bless her heart.

For laypeople: Within the sociology of knowledge, agnotology (formerly agnatology) is the study of deliberate, culturally induced ignorance or doubt, typically to sell a product, influence opinion, or win favour, particularly through the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data (disinformation).

Hermeneutics, the Crackers and Grape Juice Show, hosted by Dr. Johanna Hartelius is back. Once again, Johanna and the gang will work their way through the alphabet one stained glass word at a time. To kick things off Jason and Teer joined Johanna to talk about atheism.

The one and only Kara Slade will be joining Crackers&Grape Juice for a live pubcast next Wednesday (6/15/22) at 6:30pm in Hampton, VA at the St. George Brewing Company to help kick off Annual Conference. Her book "The Fullness Of Time" is a remarkable witness to the work of Karl Barth for the church today and we can't wait to hear what Kara has to share with us. All are welcome!

https://vaumc.org/grateful-for-the-service/

Veteran’s Day Weekend usually brings a lot of sales and commercial promotions. But this year, the Virginia United Methodist Church is asking you to join your fellow Methodists and shop for the Afghan Allies who have recently come to our Commonwealth after the fall of Kabul. These are Afghans who stood alongside our soldiers as translators, worked on U.S.bases in country, or served at our embassy alongside our diplomats. In the words of Bishop Sharma Lewis, “many of them have sacrificed and risked more than most of us will ever be asked to do.”

Most arrived in Virginia with little more than the clothes on their back. While some of the wishlists were prepared by organizations working to resettle the Afghan Allies, the most immediate needs can be found on the Amazon wishlist for refugees at Fort Pickett. As temperatures drop, winter clothing is needed, especially for women. I hope you will join me in shopping to meet the VAUMC goal of having a completely empty wishlist by November 14!! This can be our way of following the command set out in Matthew 25 by Jesus, himself a refugee. “I needed clothes and you clothed me, Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Thank you for showing Christ’s love to those who, like He was, are refugees in a new land.

https://vaumc.org/grateful-for-the-service/

The ubiquity of scripture’s contrast between commands and promises, how those who want a Christianity without the Cross are stuck with inconvenient scriptures, and a picture of grace as Jesus serving the best wine for a drunk world too far gone to notice or appreciate it. The gang at Hermeneutics continues our new series through the Gospel of John by taking a look at Jesus’s first “sign,” turning water into wine.

John 2:1-12

The gang continues their journey through John's Gospel by looking at part 2 of the first chapter of John.

John 1:29-39