If any emotion has been in short supply this year, it's joy.

And yet Advent calls us to return to this central experience of the Christian life, whatever our momentary circumstances.

Today we hear from Banning Cantarini, a young and gifted preacher, who takes a look at how one of our most beloved carols of Christmas was written amidst serious suffering, and why coming to Jesus is cause for rejoicing.

This is no call to deny pain or paint a happy face on hardship. Rather, it is a reminder of grace.

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:

• Luke 2:8-15 (NRSV)

It was preached on December 13, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services! And know that we'd LOVE to have you join us for Christmas Eve worship! The service will go live at 4:30PM PST on Dec. 24th.  You can find it on the Canvas website or on our Vimeo page.

Want to hear more from Banning (I highly recommend it!). You can find more of his sermons here.

If you would like make a (United States) tax-deductible contribution to Canvas, please click here! And thank you!

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Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Peace is the theme of the 2nd week of Advent and one of the central promises of the Bible.

And yet for many of us, true peace - both inward and in creation - is very elusive.

How can we find inner calm when so much of the world is hurting? Would we not have to turn a blind eye to suffering? Indeed, is not the way to peace on Earth the labor of God's people?

Today we look again at Psalm 46 and a deep lesson on the nature of peace and and the means by which we can truly experience it (memory and faith).

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:

• Psalm 46 (NRSV)

It was preached on December 6, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

I truly do hope you will accept my invitation to join Canvas for some or all of our upcoming events. Just click here to see what's up next!

And here is the link to my Christmas at 2AM Spotify playlist!

If you would like make a tax-deductible (US) contribution to Canvas (thank you!), please click here!

Want even more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We begin Advent 2020 with a look (by our beloved Rev. Ian Farrell) at a Jewish official named Sosthenes.

Originally mentioned in the book of Acts, he took part in bringing charges against Paul in Corinth, charges that could have had dire consequences. And when the case is thrown out of court, Sosthenes is attacked by his own. Seems the last we’d hear of him...until he co-writes 1 Corinthians.

It turns out people can change - a lot! And that’s not a bad reason for hope in a broken world!

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:

• Acts 18:12-17, 1 Corinthians 1:1-3 (NRSV)

It was preached on November 29, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

As I mentioned in the intro (given that Advent 1 is the beginning of the Christian new year), now is the perfect time to begin or renew the habit of praying the daily office. If you'd like more info on the office, I wrote a short start-up guide here.  And there is much more about the practice in the Loving God 201, Part 6 episode (#101) on the subject!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

If you find yourself having to learn the same lesson of faith a thousand times, following Jesus closely and then wandering off aimlessly, believing and not believing, trusting and doubting...this is the episode for you. And you happen to be in good company - namely Jesus's first disciples!

Today we look at the general ineptitude of the original apostles and how clearly their impressive fallibility reveals the unconditional love of God.

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:

• Matthew 15:29-16:20 (NRSV)

It was preached on May 17, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Who truly belongs to the family of faith; how wide is the circle of God's people? 

This was one of the most contested debates in the early church, and remains so 2,000 years later. In this All Saints Day episode, we take up the question of inclusion and why Canvas has published a formal statement of our full embrace of those of every race, ethnicity, age, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, socio-economic status who call on Christ as Lord.

As I mention in the intro, Canvas is currently engaged in a Continual Learning series on the church and the LGBTQ+ community. To find the resources we are exploring and join in our Zoom conversations about them, please click here!

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: 

• Deuteronomy 10:12-22 (NRSV)

It was preached on November 1, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Continuing our look at the practice of being loved by God, we read the story of Jesus encounter with a young mother desperate for healing of her daughter.

Everything about their meeting is a violation of cultural expectations, and the scene is wrought with emotion. And in this meeting - where hope meets love - we see in stark relief the boundless love of God for each and every person, no matter how distant from God they may seem (or feel).

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: 

• Matthew 15:21-28 (NRSV)

It was preached on May 10, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Continuing our look at the practice of being loved - the work we can do on our side of the relationship to receive what God has already given us - we look, again, to Jesus.

But we do so not so much in an effort to follow or obey, but simply to (re)discover his heart: What drives Jesus? What motivates his action? If Jesus is God incarnate, what does his life reveal about the essential nature of the Lord? And how might insight into the depths of Jesus's love change us?

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: 

• Mark 1:32-2:17 (NRSV)

It was preached on May 3, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

That individual humans are dearly loved by God is central claim of Christianity. And yet many of us go through periods where we question even this foundational idea. Are we loved? Really?

And even when we believe - intellectually - that we are, coming to deeply accept and experience that love remains quite a struggle. But there are ways we can aid in the process of receiving love, practices that can undertake. For the next few episodes we will look at those, staring with hearing God say it again.

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: 

• Isaiah 43:1-7 (NRSV)

It was preached on April 26, 2020 at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Having established the content of Christian hope - the present assurance of God's ultimate salvation (see ep. 292) - we turn now to the Christian obligation to be instruments of hope to others. Amidst suffering, even suffering inflicted upon us, as followers of Jesus we are called to embody hope, to reveal the way to love and peace and rest.

Our means for accomplishing this? In a word: holiness - being distinctly Christian, distinctly loving.

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: 

• 1 Peter 1:1-16 (NRSV)

It was preached on April 19, 2020 (Easter) at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

For many of us right now, especially, hope can feel in short supply. Not just the amount of hope, but the content of hope. What are we actually hoping for? And what has Jesus got to do with it?

What constitutes "Christian" hope? That we won't suffer? That we won't grieve? Die? Clearly that is NOT what the gospel promises (see "crucifixion"!). Is hope, then, limited only to the age to come? I trust that God will win in the cosmic end? Is there true, meaningful hope for today?

Short answer: yes.

The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: 

• Romans 8:1-27 (NRSV)

It was preached on April 12, 2020 (Easter) at Canvas Presbyterian Church (Irvine, CA). If you'd like to see the whole worship service, you can find it here. Or subscribe to the Canvas Vimeo page for our video archive or to see future worship services!

Want more content from Jesus at 2AM? Check out the website, where you can also learn more about how to become a patron!

Up for connecting??? I'd love to have you send e-mail, or find Jesus at 2AM on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.