Spark Cast

What does the turning of the calendar year mean? How did we end up marking our years? Our seasons? In this talk, we will look at the human tendency to mark our time and calendars by powerful events in history that govern us, inform us, and inspire us in how we are to live.

Few carols or traditions of the Christmas season capture the full weight of the story of Jesus's birth. In the midst of our sacred and pagan rituals, there exists a haunting reality, the death of the babies of Bethlehem at the hands of a ruthless king. On this Sunday we commemorate the "death of the innocents," and remember that this truly is a story for all of us.

A brief devotional thought on light, in this Christmas season.

Good things. Bad things. Stuff happens in our lives. Seeing each event, however, as an opportunity for God to be at work could radically change our hopes and expectations of everything that occurs in our lives.

Drawing on the work of philosopher and social anthropologist from Stanford, René Girard, this talk attempts to dig deep into the fundamental roots of violence, its relationship with religion, and the lessons that those relationships teach all of us.

This Christmas season, we are faced with the beauty and celebration of Christmas juxtaposed to with the darkness and sadness of recent tragic events. From the hymn, "O Little Town Of Bethlehem," the lyric, "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight," will set the framework for this series, as we tackle difficult and challenging issues such as evil, violence, and how to find hope in it all.

There are two ways to live into this world. One is out of scarcity, a perspective of lacking. The other is out of abundance. Jesus has called us to live out of love, not out of fear, and that is especially true and important in times of uncertainty, and tragedy.

Omair is a Sparker who has studied deeply. In this message he illustrates the power of understanding the full scope of Scripture in light of the recent tragedies of terror.

So after several weeks of discussing the incarnation, what does this mean for us? How do we live "incarnationally?" One answer to that question is found in Philippians 2, and the idea of "humility." Through valuing others above ourselves, we "put love in the gap" of all of our relationships, just like God incarnated that love to us.

"Some glad morning, when this life is o'er, I'll fly away." This beloved hymn, while beautiful, fun, and traditional, speaks of a focus on the gospel that is about sometime in the distant future. Some "celestial shore," that will be made manifest when this life is over. In this message, we refocus our attention on what incarnation means to the phrases "heaven" and "kingdom of God," which is about the "then," coming to be made real, "now!"