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Episodes
The work of the people. Our weekly rhythm of being together as a larger community to worship and confess, to engage scripture and prayer, to celebrate eucharist, and to be sent back into the city with a benediction each and every week.
Episodes
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Thursday Nov 12, 2020
Weylin Lee reflects on how we are invited to live in the gap between what is and what could be, especially in a divisive season and political landscape [Psalm 70].
Reflection
- What is our lament in this current moment and season?
- How are we moving away from or toward God’s active presence as we live in this gap?
Resources
MWG Discussion Questions
- What is your tendency towards expressing lament during moments or seasons of struggle and challenge? How has your personal or faith upbringing impacted your practice and approach to lament?
- How do the images of consolation (moving toward God’s presence) and desolation (moving away from God’s presence) provide a framework for discerning your internal movements during times of distress? How might you describe what a movement of consolation has looked like in your own life? How about a movement of desolation?
- How would you describe the tension between effectiveness and faithfulness as you have seen it in your own experience? What might a practice of faithfulness look like for you right now in this moment and season of your life?
Tuesday Nov 03, 2020
Tuesday Nov 03, 2020
On All Saints Day, Scott Erickson reflects on how we connect to God through our vulnerabilities and the shame we house in our bodies [Luke 7:36-39, 44-50].
Reflection
- In what ways do you feel on the outside of a religious gathering?
- In what ways are you “seen” by Jesus?
Resources
Thursday Oct 29, 2020
Thursday Oct 29, 2020
Weylin Lee reflects on how Jesus reminds us to center ourselves and our lives around love especially in these divisive and heavy times [Matthew 22:34-40].
Reflection
- In this current season, what would it look like to shift from being right to being more loving?
- How might you practice fully loving both your neighbors and yourself?
Spiritual Practice
- Put on a lens of love. Take out our lens of judgement, or comparison, or critique. Use a lens of love to soften our gaze towards people.
- Explore love with playfulness. Incorporate playfulness in how you engage and connect with God this week. Consider the different ways God has made you to express love and care.
Resources
Video: Ted Lasso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u7EIiohs6U
MWG Discussion Questions
- What are the tensions we experience when we explore whether it’s more important to be right or be more loving with certain people in our lives? How are those practices opposed to one another and how might they be in alignment with each other?
- What does it mean to us when we hear that God invites us to love with all our heart, soul, mind and strength? If we adopt a more playful posture and perspective, what might be some expressions of love that we have not considered before?
- How have you experienced loving your neighbor and loving yourself? How might one come at the expense of the other and how has that looked like in your life? Which of these practices might you need to lean into more this current season and why?
Wednesday Oct 21, 2020
Wednesday Oct 21, 2020
James Alison reflects on how Jesus navigated the tension of rivalry between divine and human power [Matthew 22:15-21].
Reflection
- How might we re-imagine our obedience to God to be without rivalry to others?
- How might the tension of divine and human law invite us towards following God?
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Tuesday Oct 13, 2020
Insil Kang reflects on why we might turn down an invitation from God and how we might make space to navigate our response toward participation [Matthew 22:1-14].
Reflection
- What are the reasons I refuse an invitation to a party/event?
- How does the dynamic between an invitation by God and my response actually play out in my day? How is it affected by the dumpster fire of 2020?
Thursday Oct 08, 2020
Thursday Oct 08, 2020
Scott Erickson reflects on how not having it together allows us to connect with God and God’s grace [John 1:43-51].
Reflection
- What activities in your life seem to draw you to God? What activities in your life seem to pull you away from God?
- When or where are you most likely to be aware of God’s presence? When or where are you least aware of God’s presence?
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Wednesday Sep 30, 2020
Gena Minnix reflects on how learning to humble ourselves might help us live into our unique, authentic story as individuals and collectively as the church [Philippians 2:5-8].
Reflection
- What’s on the inside of the masks we’re wearing?
- How might our humble stories be a doorway to our authentic calling?
Spiritual Practice
- Benedictine practice of humbling ourselves. Connecting with the created world. Embodied practices. Small experiments.
- Reflect on your story. What is our unique story? How might we practice humbling ourselves and owning it?
Resources
- Video: The Masks We All Wear (Ashanti Branch)
- Song: The Last Leviathan (Fisherman’s Friends)
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Wednesday Sep 23, 2020
Weylin Lee reflects on how our generosity can more accurately reflect the divine generosity that God offers us [Matthew 20:1-16].
Reflection
- How might we practice generosity in a way that’s more expansive and inclusive?
- How does our value and desire for fairness impact our ability to receive and practice generosity?
Spiritual Practice
- Expand your circle of generosity. Examine who you already practice generosity with ease. Consider stepping outside your circle of generosity with one person this week
- Imagine being the late worker (Ignatian practice of reflecting on Scripture). Imagine standing in the marketplace all day waiting to be hired. Imagine being offered a job at the end of the day. Imagine getting paid for the whole day after working only an hour. How does that imagination impact your perspective and experience of divine generosity?
Thursday Sep 17, 2020
Thursday Sep 17, 2020
Gideon Tsang reflects on what our invitation is to be born and live as people of the Spirit [John 3:3-8].
Reflection
- Where have you seen the delightful breeze of God’s Spirit in your life?
- What might it look light to pause and listen for the breeze of the Spirit this week?
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Jason Minnix reflects on how we’re invited to live in a debt we’re never meant to repay [Romans 13:8-14].
Reflection
- How do I live in the debt of love I’m never meant to repay?
- Where do I sense invitation into the love that liberates this week?
Spiritual Practice
- Surrender to your debts of love this week. Let go of repayment.
- Where is my love for self and others asleep now? Where is it waking up?
Resources
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Scott Erickson reflects on our invitation to create a space of silence and solitude to hear and listen to God’s voice in our current season [Matthew 6:5-6].
Reflection
- Where have been the places, spaces or moments in this season that you feel like you can connect with God?
- What have been your experiences with silence and solitude? And what has come from them?
Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
Gena Minnix reflects on how Jesus' loving response to his enemies revealed that God is non-punishing and utterly trustworthy. [Matthew 16:13-18].
Reflection
- How does reflecting on God as Jesus help restore my trust?
- As my trust in God increases, how will that change the way I respond to my enemies?
Spiritual Practice
- Who is Jesus? What word or phrase captures the core of who Jesus is to you? Notice perceptions that are in us and open ourselves up to the possibility of Jesus revealing something surprising about who God is which we may not have perceived as clearly before.
Wednesday Aug 19, 2020
Wednesday Aug 19, 2020
Weylin Lee reflects on how we might be blocking the flow of mercy in our lives and what barriers we might have built that limit the flow [Matthew 15:10-28].
Reflection
- What expectations and hidden biases do we have that limit our flow of mercy?
- How might we practice mercy as a mutual flow that feeds the cycle of giving and receiving?
Spiritual Practice
- Journal Our Expectations of Others. Reflect on people we have difficulty extending mercy to. List out what expectations we’ve put on them. Examine which expectations are actually limiting your ability to practice mercy.
- Seeking Understanding. Life experiences or relational trauma we haven’t been through. Cultural backgrounds and upbringing we’re not familiar with. Being a different gender or ethnicity in the workplace.
Resources
- Podcast: Cancel Culture (NYT The Daily)
- Podcast: Mahzarin Banaji (On Being)
Wednesday Aug 12, 2020
Wednesday Aug 12, 2020
Virginia Cumberbatch reflects on the promises of God and how our calling and purpose invite us into living out “good trouble” [Psalm 85:8-13].
Reflection
- What is God calling you to in this moment?
- How can you show up in a meaningful way to be a purveyor of #goodtrouble?
Spiritual Practice
- Create time to meditate on what God has promised you and us as people of God (ex: peace, assurance, strength, vision, calling, etc.). Reflect on how those promises can and are manifesting in this moment, despite uncertainty, despite “trouble.”
- Prayerfully identify what gifts / resources God has bestowed to you that can show up this week in a meaningful way that pushes “love and truth to meet [one another] in the street”, in your community. Write down what God is unearthing in this moment for you around your purpose and your calling to bring shalom to your neighborhood, our city, or this country.
Resources
- Ideas and organizations to consider in being a purveyor of “good trouble”:
- Voting rights: The Poor People’s Campaign, She the People
- Racial justice: Black Lives Matter
- Just Policing: Austin Justice Coalition, Measure Austin
- Covid-19 impact on vulnerable communities: Community Resiliency Trust
- Education equity: Community Resiliency Trust
MWG Discussion Questions
- What are some of God’s promises that you’re reminded of during challenging and difficult times? In what ways to do we let those promises guide our choices? How might we have disregarded those promises?
- What does the image of righteousness and peace (or truth and love) kissing in the street bring up for you? How might they seem to conflict with each other? What meaning and invitation do they capture for you?
- How has our own faith experience encouraged us to participate in what John Lewis calls “good trouble” and how has our faith sometimes discouraged us from participating? What might be some practical opportunities for us to consider during this current season?
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Thursday Aug 06, 2020
Jason Minnix explores how new possibilities open up when we bring our real struggles into our connection with God [Genesis 32:23-31].
Reflection
- Where am I being called to pull away and be with my deeper work?
- How am I being invited to wrestle with God?
- Where do I sense a new day emerging?
Spiritual Practice
- Take an hour for solitude this week and meet God in your shadow. (Take any intense emotion or judgment you have of another person and see it as a mirror to your own healing and unfolding.)
- Forgive your life for being what it is.
- What kind of wrestling is meaningful to me now?
Resources
- Video: Sheena Melwani
MWG Discussion Questions
- How does the metaphor of our unaddressed struggles as a beach ball, forced underwater until they break out above the surface with equal force resonate with you? In what ways have you experienced this dynamic?
- If “shadow boxing” with God is where we learn to process the negative emotions that can be overlooked/buried/blamed on other people, how might this practice look like for you and how can solitude help in that process?
- If God seeing the dirty, messy, and undone parts of you is a sacred opportunity to build intimacy with him, what are the challenges that prevent us from engaging in this way (e.g. our need for control)?
- Wrestling with God can be as diverse as playful banter or cursing God out. Do either of these (or the other examples) feel particularly resonant to what you’re experiencing in your life right now? Are there any that make you feel uncomfortable? Are there ways you can bring more joy to your struggle with God?
Wednesday Jul 29, 2020
Wednesday Jul 29, 2020
Matt Inman invites us to reflect on where God’s love is working within our story during this season [Matthew 13:33].
Reflection
- How has love matured you in the last 5 years?
- Where do you sense love wanting to work in your life in this season?
Spiritual Practice
- Meditation. Consider where Love became active in your life. Spend time meditating in that mental and emotional space of love and enough-ness.
- Journaling. Journal through what facets of your life you struggle accepting or receiving in this current season. If you were to receive in Love into that internal space, what experiences might open up to you? (Rest? Repentance? Celebration? Good Trouble?)
Resources
- Framework: Johari Window
MWG Discussion Questions
- When was the kingdom/love first activated in your life?
- Matt asked, “the kingdom is not coming TO us, but INTO us. Not affecting us, but infecting us.” What does this call your attention to today?
- How does the Johari window help us conceptualize the kingdom working through all of our self/all of our present moment?
- Where might Love be speaking care and confrontation to our default settings?
Wednesday Jul 22, 2020
Wednesday Jul 22, 2020
Jane Patterson reflects on Jesus’ parable that invites us to discernment in the spaces of judgment in our lives [Matthew 13:24-30].
Reflection
- What is the difference between being discerning about someone's actions and judging them?
- In what ways have you been corrected in a way that was creative for you?
Resources
- Article: After a Trail of Tears, Justice for Indian Country
- Poetry: Joy Harjo
MWG Discussion Questions
- How do we hold the tension of embodying Jesus’ righteousness and mercy at the same time? What do we have a tendency to emphasize? How is that shaped by our own experience of faith?
- In what ways do we rationalize our judgment of others? What are the challenges of living in a way where our project is not one of sorting out, but of growing together so that all will flourish?
- When our communities are disturbed or disrupted, what does God’s invitation for us to stop look like because of what we do not know? What does it mean for us to practice discernment and not knowing at the same time (e.g. in light of divisions and conflicting values and perspectives of politics, racial justice, pandemic, etc)?
Wednesday Jul 15, 2020
Wednesday Jul 15, 2020
Jason Minnix reflects on what is really nourishing and giving us life right now. Dave Schwab also shares his reflections on this text [Isaiah 55:1-13].
Reflection
- How am I being invited to attend to my deeper desires?
- Where do I sense invitation into God’s expansive presence today?
- What is the nourishing love I’m being invited to sow now?
Spiritual Practice
- Practice noticing what’s inside this week. Take some time to be with the interior thoughts and feelings this week. Write out a stream of consciousness with as little judgment as possible.
- Take a moment to experience mercy today.
- What is the nourishing love I’m being invited to sow now?
MWG Discussion Questions
- What, if anything, is nourishing my soul right now?
- Why do we settle for something that does not satisfy?
- What within ourselves holds us back from experiencing the joy of being?
- In what ways can we experience God’s nourishment in mercy? Why is this practice so hard for many of us to remember?
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
Jason Minnix reflects on how Jesus invites us to experience levity in the midst of the current weights in our lives [Matthew 11:25-30].
Reflection
- Where am I being invited to release my assumptions and receive new eyes?
- What truth, if any, offers me rest and ease now?
Spiritual Practice
- Don’t ask Google everything and embrace the joy of being wrong.
- Take some time this week to have a direct spiritual experience (take a walk, pay attention to your body more closely, begin to experience the saturation of your life with God’s presence)
- Pay attention to the impact of any teaching/content on your body this week.
Resources
- Podcast: On Being (Jason Reynolds)
Thursday Jul 02, 2020
Thursday Jul 02, 2020
Weylin Lee reflects on what a meaningful posture and practice of welcome might look like for us in our current season. Autumn Barker also shares her reflections on this text [Matthew 10:40-42].
Reflection
- How might we be able to create brave space in our practice of welcoming others?
- How is welcoming others inviting us into vulnerability?
Resources
- Practice: The People’s Supper
- Film: Just Mercy