Pod Be With You

Some more worship! Mark's singing some fantastic songs, and the scripture and sermon start at about 13:50. Thanks for listening!

Here's something new: audio of a recent worship service at FCC Dundee (Nov. 8). You'll get some music, prayer, sermon and more. For those looking for the sermon, it begins at about 16:10. Let us know what you think at [email protected] - thanks!

A little bit of everything this week (sounds like Thanksgiving already)! A conversation about the coming holidays,  the spiritual work to hold together grief and gratitude, and a remarkably contemporary spiritual diagnosis from the book of Deuteronomy . . . Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

We may think we know the Parable of the Talents, and what it's about. But do we? There is so much going on in the text about abundance, faithful practice, and risk. Now. more than ever, these are words we need to hear.

Welcome back, Paige! We've got a story with teeth this week. What happens when a moment arrives and you're not prepared? How can we stay vigilant this long, and what does it really mean to wait faithfully? 

Today, for many of us, light is easy - flick a switch, pay your bills. We don't have to think much about it or even know much about where it comes from; for the right fee, we can have it on demand. But for most of human history, that's not how it worked. Light was fire you had to make happen, plan for, protect, and nurture. Light was hard work, then - which made it a lot more like real faith, and real life. 

Nothing influences people like people. Sometimes, that means we get ourselves into trouble. But it may also mean that we have more power to change the world than we ever thought. 

Scared and bored is a dangerous combination. The people of Israel are tired of waiting, so they lose their patience and lose their nerve. And in the quintessential moment of idolatry, they make a golden calf to worship, and throw a huge party. How'd that go, do you think?

Soon, Pod Be With You will come to you both from FCC Dundee and the Congregational Church of Batavia. This is because Pastor Paige has accepted a call to be Batavia's next pastor - and while we're sad for us, we're happy for her. Here, we discuss all of it together: gratitude and grief, excitement and loss, beginnings and endings. 

Here in his letter to the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul encourages the member to live in unity together, as they are one in the Body of Christ. How are they to do this? Through the self-emptying love modelled by Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection.