Word of Life Church Podcast

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Sacred Dreaming in a Secular Age Oct 02, 2015

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We live in a secular age with this consensus, the way things are is the way things will be. In this secular age, there is little room for dreaming. Dreams are seen as the practice of children, but what if we could learn to dream again? What new possibilities might open up before us as we embrace this sacred practice of the imagination. From the dreams of Isaiah to the visions of John the Revelator, we are invited to join in the long history of sacred dreaming.

Jeremiah: A Tragedy Sep 27, 2015

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The story of Jeremiah is a tragedy -- a tragedy that foreshadows the tragedy and suffering of Christ. Jeremiah, like Jesus, lived and preached in a tragic time as Jerusalem hurdled toward destruction. Like Jesus, Jeremiah protested the Temple, was arrested, and publicly scourged. Jeremiah described himself as a lamb led to the slaughter. But Jeremiah also prophesied of a better day built upon a New Covenant. In the life of Jeremiah we see the tragic elements of the gospel story, but we also find echoes of hope, because in Christ no story is left as a tragedy.

Jonah: A Comedy (2015) Sep 25, 2015

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Tucked away in the middle of the often bleak and sometimes scathing Minor Prophets we find a comedy: The book of Jonah. This reluctant prophet turns out to be the most successful evangelist in the Old Testament. But how it happened is funny. When God calls Jonah to travel five hundred miles East and preach to Israel’s despised enemies the Ninevites, Jonah buys a ticket on a ship sailing two thousand miles West! In his flight from God, Jonah accidentally converts a ship full of heathen sailors, is swallowed by a whale, and is finally spit out on the shores of Nineveh. After Jonah’s bleak doomsday sermon everyone in the great city of Nineveh repents. Even the animals repent and don garments of mourning. Imagine cats and dogs, cows and pigs wearing burlap to show sorrow for their sin. Yes, this is a comedy. What we find in the dramatic comedy of Jonah is an Old Testament theology of mercy — a theology that will eventually find full expression in the life and teaching of Jesus.

Isaiah of Jerusalem: "God Is With Us" Sep 20, 2015

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Isaiah of Jerusalem gave us three of the most important Messianic songs of salvation -- The Immanuel Song, The Prince of Peace Song, The Lion and Lamb Song. These songs all find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth as he brings God's presence, God's peace, and God's kingdom.

A Disorienting Story Sep 18, 2015

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The parables of Jesus are not nice and conventional stories with a moral lesson. Neither are they stories designed to simply get us to pray a “sinner’s prayer.” Anyone who thinks this is what Jesus’ parables are about has clearly not read them! There is nothing nice or easy, clear or conventional about Jesus’ parables. If anything, Jesus’ parables are crazy, confusing, and most of all disorienting. But why? Jesus’ parables are designed to disorient us from our conventional assumptions so we can be coaxed into the alternative and un-imagined universe that is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is nothing less than an alternative way (God’s way!) to arrange the world.

Hosea: Prostitutes and Prophets Sep 13, 2015

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The Prophets are not predictors or political activists; they are poets. These poet/prophets assume the role of pulling back the curtain in society to reveal how things really are and what God is really like. Hosea does just that with a bold prophetic performance. He reveals the truth about Israel's unfaithfulness while also revealing the truth about God's faithfulness. Are we willing to face our own brokenness, pain, and sin? Because in doing so, we will discover a God who is ready and willing to heal, comfort, and forgive.

Living Peaceably in a 9/11 World Sep 11, 2015

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The fear of global terrorism creates anxiety, no doubt, the question is what do we do with our anxiety? There is the response of anger, hate, and the compulsion to stand up and fight on one hand and the response to suppress how we feel, disengage, and live comfortably numb on the other.
Jesus shows us a better way.
Jesus does not call us to stand up and fight for what is right. He does not call us to hide and pretend like injustice and fear are not real. Jesus invites us to live peaceably in a world of terror. Paul gives us at least 20 things we can do to live peaceably in his instructions to the church in Rome in Romans 12. As we live peaceably we can have hope for peace in our world.

Amos: The Mad Farmer of Tekoa Sep 06, 2015

Show notes

What are the Hebrew prophets up to? What’s their agenda? The prophets call us to integrity—to wholeness of being. Religious people tend to build walls to separate the sacred and secular, but the prophets will not tolerate this bifurcation of being. The prophets use their poems like battering rams to break down the walls we build to separate the sacred from the secular. The poet-prophets thunder, "There is no secular! It’s all sacred!"
The Hebrew prophets simply will not tolerate the separation of worship and justice. Worship is how we relate to God and justice is how we relate to our neighbor. False religion says as long as we believe right and worship right, we can get away with treating our neighbor wrong, that our sins will be hidden by our worship. But the prophets vehemently disagree with this! All of them. This is a consistent theme throughout the Hebrew prophets.

Song for Someone Sep 04, 2015

Show notes

The bonus track in Finding God on Your iPod 2015 is "Song for Someone" by U2.
And I’m a long, long way from your Hill of Calvary
And I’m a long way from where I was and where I need to be
If there is a light you can’t always see
And there is a world we can’t always be
If there is a dark that we shouldn’t doubt
And there is a light, don’t let it go out
And this is a song, a song for someone
-U2
Check out the music video above.
If there is a secret to the Christian life, it's this: Just don’t give up, don't quit, don’t stop. Press on. We all stumble. We all fall. We don’t have to be perfect, we just have to press on. Perfectionism is the enemy of true progress. When imperfect people seriously aspire to perfection the results are disastrous. People who find themselves in a culture where perfection is expected are forced to pretend. To live in a world of pretense is to live outside of reality. And there’s another word for living outside or reality—insanity!
When we try to be perfect we find it impossible to be good. The pretense of perfection leads people to be legalistic, judgmental, proud, duplicitous, depressed and generally screwed up from the cognitive dissonance of an expectation that is cruelly contradicted by reality. “Perfect” people cannot be good. This why perfectionist groups always implode in spectacular scandal! If because of an expectation of perfection and a fear of rejection we can’t bring our sin into the light of confession and forgiveness, it grows in the dark until it becomes an uncontrollable monster! But the good news is, we don’t have to be perfect! The only perfection Jesus calls us to is perfection of mercy.

War in the Mind Aug 30, 2015

Show notes

Song nine in Finding God on Your iPod 2015 is "War in the Mind" by Lauryn Hill.
"The prophet knew that religion could distort what the Lord demanded of man, that priests themselves had committed perjury by bearing false witness, condoning violence, tolerating hatred, calling for ceremonies instead of bursting forth with wrath and indignation at cruelty, deceit, idolatry, and violence." –Abraham Joshua Heschel
"God needs prophets in order to make himself known, and all prophets are necessarily artistic. What a prophet has to say can never be said in prose." –Hans Urs von Balthsar

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