In imaginative prayer we invite God to meet with us and speak to us as we allow our mind’s eye to be directed by the Spirit, often as we allow ourselves to be saturated by a biblical image and explore how God wants to connect with us through it. It can be fun and creative, and a powerful way for us to engage our responsiveness to God. (This is a re-release from 2019)

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This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

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The last year brought so much change, and provoked so many questions. Throughout God has been leading and speaking, so we’re joined by our lead pastor and lead elder - people who listen to God for our church a lot! We look back at what God has been teaching us, how he’s been shaping this church, and what we’re sensing he has in store coming up. 

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review, subscribe, and share with someone.

And if you have a question you’d like us to chat about, please let us know!

Our final Advent installment: the Prince of Peace. This is a ubiquitous phrase at this time of year, but it doesn’t mean “it’s Christmas, chill out!” Instead it is a call to find our place in God’s cosmic project of shalom making. Today we focus on peace-training as part of discipleship, and some of the things that can derail being people of the prince of shalom.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

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And if you have a question you’d like us to chat about, please let us know!

It’s week three of Advent – time to consider our Everlasting Father. Join four dads as we take a look at what type of father God is, and especially how being a dad has brought things into focus and challenged us. We chat especially about a father’s role in comforting, encouraging and exhorting. We also talk about exploring this aspect of God if you either cannot have kids, or did not have a good father yourself.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

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And if you have a question you’d like us to chat about, please let us know!

We continue our Advent conversations by exploring Isaiah’s “Mighty God.” We focus especially on Mary, whose deep appreciation of God allows her to worship with profound prophecy and to navigate following God’s work in her life with astonishing humility and grace. Mary is definitely in the ‘trust zone’ with a mighty God - and we talk about how we can join her there.

Here is a link to Molly’s very useful list of emotions that you can use in the recommended practice: https://images.app.goo.gl/qWu4qYR5d7mCosvz6 

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

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Advent is here! Our first pitstop: Isaiah’s announcement of a wonderful counsellor (not a therapist). We drill down into how we can overcome some of our cultural and personal barriers around submitting to authority to relate to God in this way, and step into the freedom that having a wonderful counselor brings.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review, subscribe, and share with someone.

And if you have a question you’d like us to chat about, please let us know!

We’re called to rest and sabbath… but adding it to your to-do list can feel like the opposite of creating space! We dive a little deeper into what the call to sabbath is, and talk practically about the obstacles to this special God-given rest.

Westside had a season of pressing into sabbath, with some great meditations and interviews to inspire creativity as we try to grow in this practice. You can find these resources at westsideajc.org/sabbath 

We’ve got a couple of book recommendations if you want to dive into learning more:

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer

What’s it like when the Holy Spirit’s power shows up? Does it come with sparkles, or does it feel ‘normal’? Being empowered by the Spirit shows up all over our lives, so we can expect a lot more than we think. Join us as we try to chat through some of that variety.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

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After chatting about unanswered prayer last time… there’s an elephant in the room: disability. Once we’ve reshaped our expectations of unanswered prayer and healing, our attitudes and practices towards those with disability in their story ought to be our next question. So, we caught up with Shelbi and Ryan (in the past) to revisit the topic of theology and disability.

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

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The Bible has some dramatic healings and answers to prayers… but our experience is not that it always goes that way. Why does this happen? Are we praying wrong? Do we need more faith? Is God out to lunch? Everyone wrestles with these questions sometimes - so join us as we do just that!

Thanks for listening to this episode of the House of Learning podcast.

This podcast is produced by Westside: A Jesus Church in Portland, Oregon.

If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review, subscribe, and share with someone.

And if you have a question you’d like us to chat about, please let us know!