Is the Christmas story just something that happened 2,000 years ago? Or is it happening now? In you? In us? Klarissa Oh invites us into wondering about where we find ourselves in this story. Do you have expectations and dreams that have broken? What needs to be acknowledged and grieved? Referencing Leonard Cohen's wise lyric: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in." Where has the light got in?

Graham has been working with men on deathrow in a Tennessee prison. During this season of Advent, Graham wonders about the gifts of Christmas, and how he has noticed those gifts showing up in the lives of those men.

What if "I Can't Breathe" is the title of 2020? With Covid-19, the continued taking of breath from BIPOC in this country, and wildfires polluting our air, our respiratory systems are under attack. Some scholars think the name for God "YWHW" is actually the sound of our breathing. What if we say the name of God each time we inhale/exhale?

When you were a child, how were you taught to be in your feelings? Were you rushed through experiences of anger or sadness to make you arrive at a more "pleasant" emotional state? In this message, Mark invites us to ponder the expectations we have of others, especially when it comes to their emotional responses. As we listen to the voices of BIPOC, how are we creating expectations that the only way we can be reached is if they tamper down their anger?

Klarissa Oh speaks about iconoclastic faith—a faith that breaks one frame and creates a new one.  Using the hermit crab as a metaphor for how we are pushed to step out of the homes we have created for ourselves, Klarissa invites us to explore how we might contribute to the shell-shedding and shell-building that nurtures that of God in us and in those whom society oppresses.

Gil George shares a message about self image in light of 1 Timothy 4:4, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude." What do I say to myself about what I see in the mirror? Are there things about myself I overlook when I am self-critical? What may hold me back from looking myself in the eye in the mirror and saying, "I am wonderfully made?"

Allyn Dhynes delivers a First Word about the bus he drives becoming a spiritual vessel.

Holly Dhynes shares her insights on the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus in John 3.  When Jesus says be born again and born with the Spirit from above, it sounds as if he is describing a spiritual practice of meditation and prayer.  Breathe the Spirit from above your head, into your heart, and through your body.  Cleanse your thoughts and your emotions with this spiritual breath.  Being born again is not a one and done process.  This is an everyday rebirth.  Sit and meditate and breathe. From the quiet of a daily meditation, from the spaciousness and solitude of the womb within, we slowly rise with that Spirit of Love animating us.

The story of Abraham almost sacrificing Isaac is disturbing. What kind of god requires the blood of a child to prove loyalty or devotion? Maybe the story of Abraham and Isaac answers that question... it is not Yahweh. For his message, Mark reopens the near-sacrifice of Isaac, examining a curious shift in the words used for God in the passage. Could it be that Yahweh is breaking into the madness of sacrifice and violence, and reminding his people that all he requires is mercy, justice, humility, and love?

The word apocalypse means "unveiling." Sometimes, what is unveiled is what sits at the heart of our closest relationships, a common enemy. Jesus said he came not to bring peace, but division. What could that really mean? In this message, Mark Pratt-Russum wonders if Jesus came to undo the healthy ways we build and sustain relationships, via a scapegoat, or a shared enemy. Sometimes, the unveiling is too hard for us to fix the relationships that have depended on certain expectations. But, might restructuring our relationships around compassion be possible?