This week we celebrate St. Francis Day and the sacrament of Baptism. We explore the different ways that God might be heard and understood through the natural world around us. What voices in the natural world tell you about God, and how do they speak?

Readings for this week:

In today’s podcast, Blair Pogue explores what it means to live in the economy of grace as a follower of the Way of Jesus.

This week the podcast explored what wisdom means in a Christian context, inviting us to look for wise people in our lives.

This week, we encounter a fundamental teaching of Jesus: “Those who lose their life for the gospel will save it.” In this podcast, we explore how that teaches us about the paradox of unconditional love and the nature of discipleship.

In her sermon Blair Pogue explores how the Syrophoenician woman, a gentile and outsider, changes Jesus. She is desperate to have her daughter healed, and in her desperation, she expands Jesus’ understanding of God’s mission and Kingdom or Reign.

This week we are back in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus challenges some Pharisees who ask why he isn’t observing some important rituals. This passage invites us to ask hard questions about why we do what we do when we practice our faith, but ultimately offers good news about what God really wants of us.

Readings for the day:

In his letter to the Christians in Ephesus, the writer sees a cosmic battle taking place between God and the forces that work against God and God's people. But interestingly the "armor of God" is not military gear that destroys, but equipment that builds up: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and shoes that enable the wearer to proclaim the Gospel of peace. How might God be equipping us to be bridgebuilders, people who seek relationships and reconciliation with those from different backgrounds and even with different points of view?

Sarah Miller compares the Feeding of the 5000 to artist Theaster Gates’ Soul Food Pavilion, and considers how we can use material things to share God’s grace and love.

Descriptions of Soul Food Pavilion are drawn from Maria Reyes Fee’s dissertation "The Art of Theaster Gates and a Theology of Hospitality” and article "The Art of Theaster Gates: To 'Conjure the Symbolic.’” Learn more about Theaster Gates at art21.org/theaster-gates/.

In this week’s podcast Blair Pogue ponders Jesus’ statement “I am the  bread of life.” What does he mean, and how might God be inviting us to  trust God’s provision?

This week we begin to explore Jesus’ teaching on the bread of life.  Understanding how God seeks to be in relationship with us can help us  see and know where God is providing for us in our lives.

Readings for this week: