The Rev. Alissa Newton
text: Luke 14:1, 7-14

"I want us to notice how radical this idea is. Jesus does not say to the room full of haves that they should do charity work for the have nots. Jesus does not say that what they really need to do is stop having parties and start investing in job programs or housing projects or to figure out a way to help the blind, sick, poor, and outcast find a way to earn status and privilege for themselves. No, Jesus says keep having parties, but change your guest list. "

The Rev. Alissa Newton
text: Luke 13:10-17

"Sabbath is any practice that aims to set human beings free. Sabbath is anytime we recognize the intrinsic value of people who our world wants us to ignore, or punish, marginalize, or fear."

The Rev. Meghan Mullarkey

Text: Luke 12:49-56

James Wyatt

Text: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20, Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16, & Luke 12:32-40

"That’s the hope I cling to, that taste of God’s glorious future, that conviction that the way things are now is not the way they have to be, not the way they will always be. That hope is not just wishful thinking or naïveté. It’s messy, it’s tough, and it’s hard work. Because once we see the Promised Land, even as a glimpse from afar, we can’t be satisfied with the status quo, and that means we’ve got work to do.”

The Rev. Meghan Mullarkey

Text: Luke 12:13-21

The Rev. Alissa Newton
text: Luke 11:1-13

"Harborview taught me a few reliable things about pastoral care. For instance, I learned that even those who are not religious at all may want someone to hold their hand and pray with them when they are hurt and afraid. I learned that it is not a good idea to give someone in the middle of a psychotic break access to the book of Revelation. And, I learned that if all else fails and I don’t know what else to do there is always the Lord’s Prayer."

The Rev. Meghan Mullarkey

Text: Amos 8:1-12 & Luke 10:38-42

"Women in the room hear me when I say the answer to your exhaustion is not to simply do less. The system we live in currently simply won’t allow it.  Childcare is too expensive and too difficult to find.  The labor you do around the house and the emotional labor you do to to keep so many people’s lives together is way too often made invisible, often times even to yourself.  I know that is true for me. 

But so many of us are exhausted. This goes for women, men, and nonbinary people a like.  Exhaustion touches all of us.  So many of us do need to do less, crave to slow down, pause, and take a deep breath.   So many of us do desire to sit before God.  And women, especially need to be liberated from the toll that being told we don’t need a day off and that showering is somehow a form of self care has had on our bodies.

What does it take for us to hear Jesus words as the words we’ve been waiting to hear, come sit and listen to words of liberation, of compassion, of love, of a new kingdom, a new way to live."

And a credit to Kimberly George (https://www.feminismschool.com/) and all the feminist scholars who have gone before and spoken to women's invisible labor and our need for liberation, so all may be free. 

Listen now!

The Rev. Alissa Newton
text: Luke 10:25-37

"Who do I have to love, with this fierceness and wholeness that I also apply to myself? It’s a great question. It is a much more interesting test."

The Rev. Alissa Newton
text: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

"Whether the people welcome Jesus’ vulnerable followers or not, the offer of relationship is made. Peace is extended, and the kingdom of God has come near. That’s the job. That’s work these seventy are sent out to do – not to convert or change or win or dominate, but to relate with vulnerability, to offer healing and peace no matter how that offering is received."

"There must be an umwelt, for God. God must have a way of perceiving the entire world, the universe, that is so much bigger and wider and so much more complete than ours is."

The Rev Alissa Newton
text: Luke 9:51-62