After a somewhat unsatisfying 'coming home' narrative last week, we do the better version here — by looking at Jesus. In this Easter Sunday special, Chris walks us through the entire story of the bible through the lens of exile, with a focus on the new home God is making for us... not in some far away place, but here on earth.

We're sort of at the end of our Exile series, so we get to talk about the happy ending... the triumphant return to Jerusalem!

Or at least we would be, except it wasn't entirely happy or triumphant, and it certainly wasn't the ending of the story. The Israelites returned to a complex web of generational, political, and social tensions they had to navigate as they rebuilt their city, temple, and culture.

So how did they navigate this tension, and what can we learn about walking the 'now and not yet' reality of our present reality?

Our next instalment of our journey through the exile lands us in Daniel 3. The mighty king Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden statue and demands everyone bows down to worship it, which everyone does... except for three Hebrews. After a fiery exchange, he tries to burn them alive, but joke's on him — they walk out unscathed.

We love to tell this story of defiance, and God's resulting deliverance, but the bit we often miss is the middle... our Hebrew friends' polite, yet courageous refusal to bow to the Babylonian gods (or more accurately, empire). How do we do the same in today's secular, post-Christian world? It turns out it's not by pointing fingers and judging—instead, the starting place is much closer to the heart...

If there's one thing we've learned so far in this Exile series, it's that we can readily identify with the Israelites in Babylon. Yet that raises the question — how do we actually respond to living in a world where we don't belong? There are at least three natural responses. It's only natural to want to resist, withdraw, or assimilate. Yet in Jeremiah 29, God encourages the Israelites to a radical third (or fourth?) way: faithful presence. Mandy unpacks what this meant for the Israelites, and how we can model them in our own time.

As we continue our look through the biblical theme of Exile, Laura unpacks one of the key outlets the Israelites had during this time — lament. Drawing from Psalm 137, she explores three key myths that come up again and again in Western church life, and in doing so, gives us permission to bring our grief to God and community.

Last week we focused on the question: 'why did Israel go into exile?' This week we turn towards the exile itself. What was the exile, and why did it matter so much?

It turns out the exile (which was more of a process than an event) is like a two sided coin. While it was a curse and a horrific trauma on one side, it was a blessing in disguise on the other. Importantly, however, we can't flatten that into 'it all worked out in the end'. Rather, we need to learn to see it as both...

Having finished up Genesis 1-11 last week, we're skipping just a little bit of the Old Testament and fast forwarding to Exile (in other words, the end of the Old Testament). Thankfully, Chris comes to the rescue with a brief summary of all the bits we missed.

In the second half of the message, Chris opens up to Amos 5 — a famous indictment on the Northern Kingdom's performative practice of religion. It's a helpful frame for why Israel went into Exile. But more than that, it's a powerful word to the church today who are struggling to be the 'blessing to the nations' we are supposed to be.

For our final foray into Genesis 1-11, we look at the famous 'Tower of Babel' narrative. For just nine verses, there's a lot to be said. Chris introduces the idea of 'turning the gem' as a way to study scripture, looking at three (and a bit) different ways to view this passage. While most of the ideas in this passage are big-picture, human-condition level lessons, there's an emotion driving it all that all of us can relate to...

Remember that story you heard in Sunday school (or that you heard about from the kids you knew who went to Sunday school) where Noah gets all the animals together and goes for a nice boat ride?

Well, the bit the Sunday school renditions of Noah’s Ark leave out is where God wipes out the rest of humanity.

The flood stories in Genesis are deeply troubling, but Mandy comes to the rescue by giving us a whirlwind tour of the literary style and historical context, which helps—at least a bit.

Back in 2022, we decided it'd be a good idea to build a church around Matthew 11:28-30—that passage where Jesus talks about 'rest for your souls'. It turns out this isn't a great way to create energy and momentum. But we're still convinced it's what God has asked us to do.

In this year's vision talk, Chris reminds us of Jesus' invitation to a life of walking alongside him, and how that works out in practice for a church community.