(For our audio-only friends, this has been taken from our Good Friday Meditation and Reflection video, which was shared via Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube on Good Friday. If you do actually like videos, feel free to check it out in one of those locations as well!)

On this Good Friday, join us for a brief meditation and reflection on the crucifixion death of Jesus Christ. In this time, as we turn our eyes to Easter, let's not be afraid to take the time we need to sit in the discomfort, suffering, pain, and death knowing that, on the other side of it all, Easter is waiting to dawn.

Feel free to check out our website at pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished for more content. You can also join our Discord server too; we’d love to have you join us in conversation and fellowship!

Featuring a mid-sermon scripture reading from the wonderful Claire Van Antwerpen, today's sermon comes to us courtesy of Pastor Akiko Van Antwerpen of Kobe Union Church, whose Palm Sunday sermon entitled "Come thou Unexpected Jesus - Cognitive Dissonance in Our Faith" explores a particularly hard question: what do we do when we call for Jesus to save us, and Jesus starts by wrecking up our own hurtful beliefs and practices rather than going after our enemies? How can we turn our eyes inward, and see how Christ calls us to look within ourselves for the roots of our own misfortunes, rather tha heaping blame on others and expecting God to save us? Let's listen for the Word of the Lord!

As always, today's sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the whole thing. The conversation continues on our community Discord server throughout the week, and you're welcome to join in! No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome in our community. We'd love to see you in the conversation!

For the link to the Discord server, or for more information, check out our website at http://www.pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished. You can also find sermon manuscripts there, links to our YouTube channel, and more!

(Or send an email to [email protected], and I'll get you sorted myself!)

See you out there!

Today's "sermon" is less our usual walk through a particular bible passage, and more a discussion on the violent events of the past week, some of the history of racism in general (and American racism in particular), and what, just maybe, the great dysfunction at the root of it all might be. In the end, of course, (SPOILER ALERT!) the love of God is the solution, but understanding how to get there is important, and I hope you'll take that journey with us this week!

As always, today's sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the whole thing. The conversation continues on our community Discord server throughout the week, and you're welcome to join in! No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome in our community. We'd love to see you in the conversation!

For the link to the Discord server, or for more information, check out our website at http://www.pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished. You can also find sermon manuscripts there, links to our YouTube channel, and more!

(Or send an email to [email protected], and I'll get you sorted myself!)

See you out there! 

With scripture from 2 Kings 2:23-25 read lovingly by our own Courtney Fraley, today's sermon tackles one of the weirdest, most absurd passages in the Bible and, in tackling it, we talk about what it means to make false correlations as a means of covering our own backsides, justifying ourselves, and making ourselves appear a bit better than we are, and what the consequences of that can be sometimes. 

As always, today's sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the whole thing. The conversation continues on our community Discord server throughout the week, and you're welcome to join in! No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome in our community. We'd love to see you in the conversation!

For the link to the Discord server, or for more information, check out our website at http://www.pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished. You can also find sermon manuscripts there, links to our YouTube channel, and more!

(Or send an email to [email protected], and I'll get you sorted myself!)

See you out there!

One of the big questions us church folk often find ourselves asking is, "What are we doing wrong?" We wonder if we're making the right programs, preaching the right sermons, or inviting the right wealthy donors to our potluck fundraisers, all the while never questioning whether any of what we're building was what God really wanted built in the first place. Today (with scripture reading by Travis Love), we explore Jesus' cleansing of the temple through the lens of church potlucks, Easter Sundays, and all those warm and wonderful memories so many of us have of the church in its best form, and wrestle with the realization that our "Sunday best" often leaves the Almighty in a whippin' mood.

As always, today's sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the whole thing. The conversation continues on our community Discord server throughout the week, and you're welcome to join in! No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome in our community. We'd love to see you in the conversation!

For the link to the Discord server, or for more information, check out our website at http://www.pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished. You can also find sermon manuscripts there, links to our YouTube channel, and more!

(Or send an email to [email protected], and I'll get you sorted myself!)

See you out there!

Have you ever felt like you were doing it all wrong, because no matter how hard you prayed, no matter how much you dedicated yourself to living in a suitably "Christian" way, things never seemed to get better? Have you ever wanted to hear a pastor talk about the Holy Spirit yeeting people into the middle of nowhere? Then this week's sermon might just be something you could stand to hear!

With scripture readings from Mark 1:9-13 lovingly provided by Kate Mears, today's sermon lives in the tension between our transactional expectation that things will be "all better" once we join up with "Team Jesus" (TM) (C) (R), and the truth that the way to God's justice, mercy, righteousness, and love in the world goes through some pretty hard places for us. But nevertheless, God still believes in us, takes pleasure in us, and knows that we're up to the challenge

As always, this sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the entirety of one. We meet weekly in person on our community Discord server, every Saturday (10:30pm JST/8:30am EST) to talk it through, and start figuring out where we go from here. This week, we'll be talking about the role of community organization in Christian life, and how to work discerningly with people and organizations throughout the world.

No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome to join us. We'd love to have you there!

For more information, check out our website at http://www.pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished, where you can find the link to our discord server, sermon manuscripts, and much more!

Or send an email to [email protected], and I'll get you sorted myself!

See you there!

Would you like to participate in an Ash Wednesday service, but you can't go to a church because of the pandemic? Or maybe you're just interested to see what it might look like when a church does Ash Wednesday across multiple continents, without ashes, and also in the middle of a pandemic? 

If that's something that interests you, check this out!  It's the 2021 Ash Wednesday service for Unfinished Church!  

You can check us out at www.pastorkuma.wixsite.com/unfinished (you'll find the YouTube video version of today's prayer and meditation, and you can get the link for our Discord server there too!)   

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @pastorkuma.  

Or just reach out in the comments or something. We're not picky, and we're always glad to hear from you!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a community where it was safe to be authentically broken? With scripture reading from Matthew 18:15-20 provided by Steve Augustin, today's sermon wrestles with what it means to be an imperfect person, living in a community of imperfect people, holding each other accountable with grace and mercy even (and especially) when the leaders among us need to be held accountable. It's a challenging topic, and one I hope you'll sit with us as we work through it!

As always, this sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the entirety of one. We meet weekly in person on our community Discord server, every Saturday (10:30pm JST/8:30am EST) to talk it through, and start figuring out where we go from here. This week, we'll be talking about the role of community organization in Christian life, and how to work discerningly with people and organizations throughout the world.

No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome to join us. We'd love to have you there!

Just head over to https://forms.gle/iTFrq6x3Qi4BvVjw6 to let us know you're interested, and get the link to the Discord server. 

Or send an email to [email protected], and I'll get you sorted!

See you there!

With a scripture reading from Galatians 5:16-28 lovingly offered by Rev. Andy Nakajima, today's sermon talks about how we can move past reading the Bible self-centeredly, and use it not just to determine what qualities we should have in our own ineffable spiritual lives, but as a means of discerning the qualities God asks for from those entrusted with the service of community leadership.

As always, this sermon is meant to be the start of a conversation, not the entirety of one. We meet weekly in person on our community Discord server, every Saturday (10:30pm JST/8:30am EST) to talk it through, and start figuring out where we go from here. This week, we'll be talking about the role of community organization in Christian life, and how to work discerningly with people and organizations throughout the world. 

No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, you're totally welcome to join us. We'd love to have you there!

Just head over to https://forms.gle/8SXTP2CHa3mM5hPQ7 to let us know you're interested, and get the link to the Discord server.

See you there

For those of us who are Christian, taking time to pray is important. We may not be together, or even on the same continent, but we can share a time of prayer remotely, whenever and wherever we can. Prayer can be a difficult subject for some of us, so I hope that wherever and however this prayer finds you, that we might find a little light for the week together. Remember that no matter where you are, and no matter when you are, you are in our prayers, God is always with you!

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UPCOMING EVENTS:

Re-Forming a Christian Identity: Conversations about What Comes Next

Fourth Conversation: Saturday, February 6, 2021 (10:30PM JST/8:30am EST)

LINK: https://forms.gle/n2HU7izXBbUNTRbT7

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