Soul Searching: The Church of the Nativity Podcast

Our seminarian intern, David Goodpaster, delivers a thoughtful reflection on the story of Jesus calling of Peter to be a disciple, which challenges us all to fish in deep waters.

Father Jason explores what made Jesus' neighbors and friends in Nazareth so mad after Jesus preached his first sermon in his hometown. Turns out we can't tell God whom to love, and that makes us mad.

In order to head John the Baptist's call to make the rough places smooth and the crooked paths straight, we must surrender all to Jesus.

In celebration of the Sunday after All Saints, Father Jason explores the role of the Saints to continually inspire us to hope. He dives into how our spiritual disciplines, especially the Eucharist and prayer, help us maintain hope like the saints from back in the day.

Fr. Jason ends the sermon with a prayer written by the 20th Century Cistercian monk and mystic, Thomas Merton. Here is the text of the prayer:

My Lord God,I have no idea where I am going.I do not see the road ahead of me.I cannot know for certain where it will end.Nor do I really know myself,and the fact that I think that I am followingyour will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me,and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Amen.

This week Father Jason explores Jesus' attempt to change the Apostles worldview from the system of domination to the kingdom of grace.

Father Jason elucidates on Jesus call for the community to be willing sacrifice in the pursuit of justice.

Rt. Rev. Brian Cole, Bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee, visited Nativity on September 9th and offered up this wonderful sermon on Jesus Christ opening our ears and our mouths to move beyond the artificial barriers we put up between ourselves and others.

Fr. Jason discusses what Captian Obvious, Juergen Moltmann, and the Holiday Inn Express can tell us about the bread of life.