The Restoration Project Podcast

"The just will live by faith" or something like that.

the restoration project. Joshua James. 5 July 2020

Sermons sometimes have weird beginnings. This one was inspired (sort of) by a text message about Jewish interpretive practices ... and then fanned into flame by stumbling upon a modern Jewish reading of Habakkuk.

Like the prophet, we wait for those we love. All of them.

the restoration project. Joshua James. 21 June 2020

Ok, alright. Ok. Calm down.

This isn't exactly a "light" summer sermon series, but here we are.

The majority of Habakkuk is a conversation between the prophet and God, in which the prophet sort of goes nuts. "Violence!" he screams.

God responds (which is weird, and when we hear what God says, a bit unsettling).

In this talk, we are thinking about things from 30,000 feet: what about us? are we praying? are we lamenting? are we petitioning? And also, are we expecting God to act? Does that mean we don't have to? For us, is the message properly updated as "just get people saved and let Jesus fix it." (Spoiler: no.)

the restoration project. Josh James. 14 June 2020

This is Eric. he is guest speaking this week. He's a psychotherapist and ordained Baptist minister from Knoxville, Tennessee. We asked him to speak because he's funny. And smart. And he can coherently dissect what's typically going on in our brains as we post on Facebook.

the restoration project. Eric Minton. 28 June 2020

It's been a few weeks since the (global) unrest and cries for racial justice began due to the death of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. Things are happening, but things haven't really gotten *better yet. (Not that we would expect large scale changes to be instituted in such a short time.) People are, however, speaking up and moving to action.

Keep going.

the restoration project. Joshua James. 7 June 2020

Here we are again. Two weeks after a sermon on Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, we mourn the loss of George Floyd. And again, I'm sort of appalled by the majority reaction (or noun-reaction) from the Church. So we look at a parable, which hopefully will encourage us to do *something.

the restoration project. Joshua James. 31 May 2020

This week, in response to the tragic death of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, we’re talking about racial justice, and the tendency of white majority churches to avoid the issue altogether. It’s a beginning…

the restoration project. Joshua James. 17 May 2020

Maybe you’ve heard this one before. It’s definitely a meaningful passage for Josh (read: he talks about it a LOT). But here we are … needing some comfort again. And this passage is a good reminder.

the restoration project. Joshua James. 3 May 2020

How long do we lament? In this sermon, we do not try to move beyond our feelings. For many of us, we are still in the throes of lament. (And that is ok. Honor that.) But we do provide some encouragement in this teaching to the community to share their stories.

the restoration project. Joshua James. 26 April 2020

Ok, so I lied. We aren’t going back to John, at least not for our Sunday sermons. We’re going to keep hanging out in Psalms, as we attempt to find language for what’s going on. First up, Psalm 13. Hopefully, we can find ourselves in “the pause.”

the restoration project. Joshua James. 19 April 2020