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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 Feb 25, 2021
Thursday Feb 25, 2021
Jennifer Cumberbatch reflects on how we wait as we wait in the liturgy of our lives during this season of Lent [Malachi 3:1-4].
Reflection
- What areas are you called to act as priest and mediator in your spheres of influence?
- What areas are you invited to expand the kingdom of God?
Resources
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
Thursday Feb 18, 2021
Weylin Lee reflects on how Jesus' transfiguration invites us to transformation and change as we enter this season of Lent [Mark 9:2-9].
Reflection
- How might you be invited to expand your symbols of God?
- How is listening to Jesus being embodied in your life?
- How are you being invited to sit in the paradox of wholeness and woundedness?
Practice
- Expanding our symbols for God. Use a different image or word to refer to and connect with God. How does this new image or word expand the container you’ve placed God inside?
- Listening to Jesus exercise. Read the Gospels during Lent and pay attention to what Jesus said and did. Use a different translation or listen to the text. In your listening, wrestle with and discern how to embody his words and actions.
Resources
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Thursday Feb 11, 2021
Judy Peterson reflects on how the incarnation of Jesus invites us to live our faith in an embodied way [Luke 7:11-22].
Reflection
- What do you long to see made manifest in this world?
- When was the last time you were moved from your innermost being and how did you respond?
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
Tuesday Feb 02, 2021
Title: True Authority
Kelly Cutbirth reflects on how Jesus modeled another way of authority and how we’re invited to embody this truer way of authority as we lead and follow others [Mark 1:21-28].
Reflection
- What ideas about authority am I being invited to let go of?
- How can I use my authority to care for and restore freedom to others?
Practice
- Authority grounded in love. Practice caring by writing a note to a leader whose authority has inspired you. Or, as a leader, write a note to someone who follows your authority letting them know you care about them.
- Authority restoring freedom. Next time you’re overwhelmed by an emotion, try taking three long belly breaths. See if you can restore some of your freedom.
Resources
- Video: Ted Lasso
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
Thursday Jan 28, 2021
James Alison reflects on how the good news of God is God’s own self and the invitation for us to repent which is meant to soften our hearts [Mark 1:14-20].
Reflection
- Why does the good news of God have anything to do with repentance?
- Why Galilee? Why fishers? And why brothers?
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
Tuesday Jan 19, 2021
Jane Patterson reflects on how we might practice courageous speaking and listening that makes space for discerning God's truth and guidance in these times of difficult conversations [1 Samuel 3:1-10, 11-20].
Reflection
- What do you know from your own experience of courageous speaking: what factors help others listen to you?
- What do you know from your own experience of courageous listening: what makes it harder to listen? What helps you listen?
- If you could write a letter to the future about the times we are living through, what wisdom would you want to hand down?
Thursday Jan 14, 2021
Thursday Jan 14, 2021
As we enter a new year, Weylin Lee reflects on what our invitation is toward a new way of being and experiencing transformation [Mark 1:4-11].
Reflection
- What area of your life is in need of truth-telling?
- How are you invited to consent to God's unconditional love in this year?
Practice
- Confession. Acknowledge your choice of deception over truth. Invite yourself to return to the original goodness God created you with. How can you sit in the tension of those two things this week as you reflect on what's happening in our world and what's happening within you?
- Examine your discomfort. Examine the moments and seasons of discomfort that you have encountered. Be curious about how the Spirit might be inviting us to change and transformation in that discomfort.
Resources
- Podcast: On Being (Louis Newman)
MWG Discussion Questions
- What facilitates spaces of truth-telling for ourselves? When have you experienced a meaningful moment of truth-telling?
- How might the experiences and seasons of discomfort be opening opportunities for change and transformation? Why might it be difficult to recognize the Spirit’s work in those moments?
- How has your understanding and practice of repentance and confession been driven by guilt and shame? How might God’s unconditional love and our invitation back to our original goodness change our experience of repentance and confession?
Wednesday Jan 06, 2021
Wednesday Jan 06, 2021
Jeff Chu reflects on God's grace and how our gratitude for that grace is the driving force for whatever work we do in the world [Isaiah 61].
Reflection
- Where do you see evidence of God's grace in your life?
- How can you cultivate a discipline of holy gratitude?
Practice
- Spend time in the presence of oak trees. Reflect on God's craftsmanship and grace that allows oaks to grow. Reflect on how oaks can survive in isolation, but they thrive in community and how that informs our invitation to live a life of righteousness and justice together in community.
Resources
- Book: The Hebrew Bible
Thursday Dec 31, 2020
Thursday Dec 31, 2020
Weylin Lee reflects on the hope of restoration as we come to the end of this heavy year through the contemplative practice of Lectio Divina [Isaiah 61:10-62:3].
Reflection
- In light of this past year, what are the things we hope for in this coming year?
- How might we be open to a new way of being?
Resources
- Photos: Year in Photos (NY Times)
Wednesday Dec 23, 2020
Wednesday Dec 23, 2020
As we continue in the Advent season, Matt Inman reflects on the Christmas story from the perspective of Mary and how we are invited to be grounded and not overlook the divine in our lives [Luke 1:26-38].
Reflection
- Where in your life does love tend to get overlooked in your life?
- What memory of Christmas sticks out to you as loving and intimate? How did love grow in your life to help make such a beautiful moment come into being?
Practice
- Where do you find yourself managing acceptance and reflection in your life right now? Notice what stories and emotions come up for you.
- Pick an aspect of life you struggle accepting and work through Tolle's suggestion of doing on oof the three actions: 1. Remove it (let it go) 2. Change it 3. Fully embrace it (accept it)
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
Wednesday Dec 16, 2020
As we continue in the Advent season, Weylin Lee reflects on the things that God is and has been revealing about ourselves and others and God this past year [John 1:6-8, 19-23].
Reflection
- What are the glimpses of divine light we have seen even in our moments of darkness?
- How might we live more from our authentic self and embrace who God has made us to be?
- What are the voices we are hearing that are crying out in the margins for God's justice and mercy?
Practice
- Lighting candles. Gather some tea light candles. Remember the glimpses of hope and comfort and guidance that you experienced in darkness. Light a candle for each glimpse of comfort.
- Reflection of personal actions. Examine an action or choice or decision that involved other people. “Was I living out of my ego or was I living out of my rooted and fully loved authentic self?”
MWG Discussion Questions
- What has this past year revealed to you about yourself and the world around you? What was expected? What was unexpected?
- What has been a glimpse of divine light in your experiences this past year? How have you seen God’s comfort, guidance and hope in the moments of darkness?
- How has the pandemic removed the exterior layers that we tend to live from? What parts of your authentic self has been revealed to you this past year? How have you been holding the tension of living out of who God has made you to be?
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
Thursday Dec 10, 2020
As we continue in the Advent season, Nic Acosta reflects on what it means to experience the deep comfort that God promises [Isaiah 40:1-5].
Reflection
- What kind of comfort do we long for?
- What would it take to live as though our lives are God’s home, and to consider God as the most hospitable, comforting host?
Practice
- Compile a list of what God’s comfort means to you. List reflections under one column for “What is comfort in God like?" and another column for "What keeps me from this comfort?
Resources
Thursday Dec 03, 2020
Thursday Dec 03, 2020
As we start the season of Advent, James Alison reflects on what the Holy Spirit is seeking to prepare us in this season [Mark 13:33-37].
Reflection
- What did Jesus mean by talking about a “coming” and then setting up a parable about a “going”?
- Why is it so difficult for us to understand the ancient Hebrew way in which the Prophet is not so much asking for some blanket forgiveness from God, but begging God to make possible a human way of finding ourselves able to forgive and be forgiven – even blaming God for God’s failure to do that so far?
Monday Nov 23, 2020
Monday Nov 23, 2020
Virginia Cumberbatch considers a reframing of what a radical and relentless grace is asking of us especially in the season we are living in [Ezekiel 34:11-16].
Reflection
- How can you extend grace to yourself in this season and in reflection of this year, as a part of your healing?
- As we navigate discord, challenge one another in love, and continue to disrupt injustice to work toward shalom / equity what does active, radical grace look like this week and in the weeks to come for those I’m in community with?
Resources
- Song: Love is a Miracle
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Wednesday Nov 18, 2020
Judy Peterson reflects on how Jesus invites us to love our nearby neighbors with whom we have conflict with [Luke 10].
Reflection
- You are sheep and not a wolf. How would you approach your nearby neighbors with whom you have conflict differently if you believed not only that you are sheep, but also that there is a Good Shepherd involved?
- How might you consider letting Jesus turn your "Fire" into "Woe"?
MWG Discussion Questions
- Who are the nearby neighbors in our lives that we have conflict with? Who do we hold a grudge towards and how holds a grudge against us? What is the source of the conflict that comes between us and our nearby neighbors?
- When Jesus invites his disciples not to take any possessions with them as they are sent out, what would it look like practically for us not to take our ideologies, theologies, and loyalties to defend when we interact with others? How might that impact our conversations?
- If the one who shows mercy is a true neighbor, what would showing mercy look like with our neighbors we have conflict with? How might we begin to break down barriers that have been put up over time? How can we rely less on their response and more on our invitation to love and extend peace?
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?