Sojourn Grace Collective: Recent Episodes
Sojourn Grace Collective
Sojourn Grace Collective is San Diego's Progressive Christian Church. A grace-filled space for those looking to walk their spiritual journey with others in community. We believe you are a loved child of God, called to love yourself in a healthy way so that you may give that love away freely.
Pastor Colby reminds us what we’ve learned about GRACE over the past eight years, and why it’s our middle name. PLUS: hear two “Moments of Gratitude” as people from our Collective share why Sojourn has been so meaningful for them. PLUS PLUS: Original song from Wide Open Commons, “Good Day.”
The coronavirus pandemic fundamentally altered Sojourn Grace in ways we simply could not overcome or recover from. Therefore, our final Sunday service will be on October 30, 2022. We invite you to listen to the announcement from Sept 25th, shared by our founding pastors, Colby and Kate.
The coronavirus pandemic fundamentally altered Sojourn Grace in ways we simply could not overcome or recover from. Therefore, our final Sunday service will be on October 30, 2022. We invite you to listen to the announcement from Sept 25th, shared by our founding pastors, Colby and Kate.
In order for “it all belongs” to be true, and in order to truly know Wholeness, we must stop rejecting the parts of us that make mistakes and hurt people, and move to embracing those parts of us. For it is only through compassion and love that we find growth and transformation.
Pastor Kate loves to share the really pretty and alive photos of her garden… and not so much the dying ones. Yet the dying is all part of it. it’s normal. May we, too, live knowing that all the parts are normal.
It's not your job to change people. But people DO/CAN change. So let's talk about that, eh?
As coach, guide, and mentor, Coach Yeamah helps LGBTQ Christians make peace with their faith and sexuality. We here at Sojo love Coach (remember when she joined us last year? https://youtu.be/Cx-HsBvJRpU) and can't wait for her to join us for our PRIDE Speaking Series as she shares with us the gifts of being bisexual. Learn more about Coach here: https://www.yeamah.com
As an author, activist, and public theologian, Brandan Robertson works at the intersection of spirituality, sexuality, and social renewal.
Sojourn is thrilled to invite the TikTok preacher Rolling Stone once named to its HOT LIST of artists, creatives, and influencers. Learn more about Brandan here: https://www.brandanrobertson.com
He also used to pastor a progressive church here in San Diego, and is a longtime friend of our pastors, Colby and Kate.
Join us as we welcome Brandan for our PRIDE Speakers Series, and may we learn as he shares with us the gifts of being gay!
As the Founder of Gender YOUphoria--a social enterprise on a mission to shift the disempowering narratives about transgender people--Ashton Colby is a leader in transgender integrative health. Sojourn is PROUD to invite Ashton to share with our community about the ways in which being Transgender has been a gift to him. Learn more about him and his work here: https://www.ashtoncolby.com
June 5th is Pentecost in the church calendar, aka the birth of the Church. And what happened then? The Spirit of God, well, she took sameness and mixed it all up. Same thing God did at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. It’s almost as though God PREFERS difference and diversity (to that of sameness and conformity).
Special guest, author and activist Brian McLaren joins Sojourn this week to give a talk titled, “Jesus Beyond Dualism.” Brian shares ideas from his latest book, “Do I Stay Christian?” Which can be checked out here: http://brianmclaren.net/books-by-brian-mclaren
In many of our church-world’s growing up, we were taught explicitly to mistrust our heart. Join Pastor Kate as she leads us in a meditation designed to help re-write those old/bad ideas. PLUS: Music from Colby and Karyn (“I Know,” by Birdtalker) and Colby/Missy/Laura (mashup of John Lennon’s “Imagine” with “Amazing Grace”)
Pastor Kate shares a letter to all those who mother. All those who hold and support and nurture... within a society that does not often provide the same kind of support in return.
‘Round here we say that “Wholeness” is our Vision. And that’s cool and all, but it can sound a bit highfalutin at times. So this week, Colby connects four stories from the gospels (a Roman centurion, a bleeding woman, a pagan mother, and a woman known as “Sinner”) in order to show us where the journey toward wholeness must begin.
Pastor Kate loves gardening. And garden metaphors. And mushrooms? Well, she finds them endlessly fascinating. Listen in for a trip of a metaphor about a life of composting.
Happy Easter! For this year’s message, Pastor Colby wraps up our Lent series of writing letters to past versions of ourselves in order to prepare us for the upcoming death of our religious ideas. This week, hear Pastor Colby share what it feels like, nowadays, to “lead a church.” Plus, a celebration of what he now believes!
Pastor Kate writes a letter to her younger self who always seems perplexed by this earnest desire to hear and know God's will, coupled with the confusion at why it seems so unknowable.
We continue our Lent series, "Preparing for the Death of Your Religion," by writing letters to our past selves, preparing us for the upcoming death of our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations. Today, our favorite Drag Queen, Flamy Grant, shares a letter she wrote to her past self about how one day she won't need to keep herself hidden.
We continue our Lent series, "Preparing for the Death of Your Religion," by writing letters to our past selves, preparing us for the upcoming death of our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations.
Today, one of our resident music leaders, Karyn Gilmore, writes a letter to her past self to prepare her for the death (and re-birth) of how she'll come to understand and think about marriage.
We continue our Lent series, "Preparing for the Death of Your Religion," by writing letters to our past selves, preparing us for the upcoming death of our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations. Today, Pastor Colby writes a letter to his 20 year old self to prepare him for what is coming soon: a total reimagining of what the Bible is (and is not).
For our Lent series, we are writing letters to past versions of ourselves to prepare us for the upcoming death (and resurrection!) of our religious ideas, hopes, and expectations. This week, join our co-pastors as they each write a letter to their past selves to say, “Get ready, little Kate… little Colby… because church as you know it is about to end. But fear not, for it comes back even better.”
Lent is a season of reflection, introspection, and preparation. In this message, Pastor Colby suggests that perhaps Lent is a time to prepare for an upcoming death—specifically, the death of our religious hopes, ideas, and expectations. Join us this year for Lent as we write letters to our past selves in which we write, “Say goodbye to…” some particular aspect of religion as we once knew it.
This week, in light of several significant events around the world (the Russian invasion of Ukraine) and here in the US (the aggressively anti-trans legislature coming out of Texas), we made the call for a Soul Care Sunday. Included was this Mindful Moment from Pastor Colby, reflecting on what he does when things start to feel out of our control.
Pastor Kate opens her heart to share one of her hardest things: her journey with the idea/term “surrender.” Listen in as she takes us through the hardest, scariest parts of surrender, and then frames for us a way to embody it with power and grace.
Pastor Colby shares how he’s noticed a phenomenon lately: he’s more quick to judge others. After sitting with this, he connects it in part to how the Fundamental Attribution Error is more prone to happen in us when we are under heavy cognitive load. And things like “pandemics” cause massive cognitive load. So what can we do about that (to be less judgey)?
In this Mindful Moment, Pastor Colby explores a Psalm written by King David about our inability to escape the presence of God. However, this is only “good news” if being in the presence of the Divine is, well, a good thing.
Pastor Colby shares what has been the most helpful for him in learning how to love his enemies. From the teaching of the recently departed Buddhist master, Thich Nhat Hahn, first we seek understanding, which leads to compassion, which opens the pathway to love. PLUS: A guided Tonglen Meditation.
Pastor Kate reminds us that the pandemic has not “paused” our lives.
No, this moment—right now—IS our life. Let us do our best to live it to the full.
Happy New Year! In this, our first service of 2022, Pastor Colby explores the word APOCALYPSE.
As we consider Epiphany, and the idea of Invasion, and the anniversary of the riot on the Capitol on January 6th, it might be time we ask: Is this the end of the world as we knew it?
It’s absurd to think that God (whomever or whatever that is or means) would “become a human being.” But also, it’s absurd to imagine a God who never knows what it’s like to be a human. To love and to suffer.
In this message, Pastor Colby continues our series of auditing religions words and ideas by examining the word “Incarnation.” What if the only reasonable option for Love was indeed to put on human skin?
There is so (so) much wrapped up in the religious term “lost.” The church has used it for centuries to dictate who is in, who is out; who is near to God and who is far.
In this groundbreaking message from Pastor Kate, hear anew how being “lost” does not (and cannot ever) mean that you are cut off from God. When you are lost, it is then you are found.
Most of the time, if you ever get to a genealogy list in the Bible, you understandably skim it over. But this week, Pastor Colby, as part of our “Words of our Heritage” series, explores how these ancient genealogy lists (like in the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel) illuminate some deep truths about the human experience. Namely, how understanding (and owning) our past can increase our chances to be the kinds of people we want to be.
As we continue exploring the words, ideas, and practices of our religion’s heritage, Pastor Colby examines the idea of “blessings.” Many of us may have stopped using this word (for very good reasons). But might there be good reasons to bring it back?
Continuing our exploration of our religious words, ideas, and practices, Pastor Kate shares about her background in (and deep love for) “worship.” How might this word/practice still have value and benefit for us today?
We’re starting a new series called, “Words of our Heritage: Exploring the Words, Ideas, and Practices of our Religion’s Heritage.” Do these things still have value/benefit for us today? And if so, how?
Pastor Colby kicks things off by examining the word “salvation,” and how it means “to be made whole.”
In our final Sunday meeting here at Christ Lutheran, we invite you to join us for gorgeous music, connection via our Collective Conversation, and celebrating communion. And join Pastor Kate as she shares about the practice of holding of space and hospitality, and being HOME for one another.
Have you ever noticed that Sojourn kinda feels like a church (some days) and kinda not so much? And also, we're a "Christian" church, right? This week, Pastor Colby shares how our community stands in a long line of self-critiquing religion (you know, like Jesus did).
You know that moment when some reminds you of a past version of yourself? And all your insecurities and fear are triggered? Join Pastor Colby as he tells the story of Peter REACTING to Simon the Great--instead of RESPONDING. Spoiler alert: Don’t Be Like Peter.
Many of us have a visceral response when someone tells us to "just" do something: Just relax... Just let it go... Just move on. This week, Pastor Colby explores the unjustness of this word, and offers us a way to move through it.
Join Pastor Kate as she invites us to consider how we might still be living out old beliefs about God, and how this impacts our relationship to our own growth.
Listen in as Pastor Colby shares some thoughts about why life feels so hard and exhausting right now. And five helpful practices to move us out of the state of languishing.
Some days, some weeks, are harder than others. At Sojourn, we try to be aware and sensitive to those moments when we just need to pause, breath, and be together. Join co-Pastors Colby and Kate as they lead us through a series of guided mediations for when the world feels like too much.
We often can feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. But what if we were able to reframe that? What if we could hear the invitation from Jesus to come, rest, and take his light and easy yoke upon us?
You’re familiar with the saying, “Don’t just survive… THRIVE!” Well, Pastor Kate wonders if those two things aren’t all that separate after all. Maybe, sometimes, what we think is just surviving is actually thriving.
After 17 months of Virtual Church only (heeeey virtch church, we seeee you!), Sojo finally returned to in-person services on August 1st.
Listen in as Co-Pastors Kate and Colby share a bit about where we’ve been as a community and where we’re going.
Pastor Colby concludes his four part message on how faith communities can thrive in the context of religious diversity. In this message, he shows what a roadmap can look like for how to handle disagreements and differences of opinion. Though the concept is simple (ie, the strong defer to the weak), the process itself requires tremendous effort on all sides to ensure that everyone feels seen, heard, valued and respected.
When Paul dealt with diversity of religious beliefs in Rome, he insisted the onus was on the “strong” in faith to hold space for the “weak.” In this message, Part III, Pastor Colby finally explores what these two terms might mean, what the differences are, and how it is we shift from weak faith to strong. Don’t sleep on this series!
Last week we established the situation: faith communities will contain diversity of beliefs. This week, in Part II, Pastor Colby differentiates between diversity of doubtful matters (yay!) versus core values (not so much). Plus, depending on your posture of faith (weak or strong?) your path toward making peace will be different. This exciting three-part message explores how “It All Belongs” can make sense with regards to religious diversity within community.
When we say "It All Belongs" here at Sojourn, how can that extend to holding space for diversity of religious beliefs? In Part One of a two-part message, Pastor Colby shares how we might begin to imagine creating and sustaining such a community. To do so, he sets up why Paul’s letter to Romans (indeed, why Paul at all) might have something worth listening to.
Special guest, Coach Yeamah (LGBTQ Spirituality and Sexuality Coach) joins Sojourn Grace to give us a much needed message about how we are made to feel God. How God’s “will” is synonymous with God’s “pleasure,” and we—as beings in the image of God—are invited to joy and pleasure as well. What a way to kick off Pride Month! Follow Coach on Instagram: @coachyeamah
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ABOUT US
Sojourn Grace Collective is a progressive Christian church in San Diego, CA.
Our mission is fostering spiritual, social, and emotional wholeness.
We are a community fully affirming of LGBTQ persons, committed to the work of rooting out racism, and sold out to the idea that love can save the world.
Learn more about us at: https://www.sojourngrace.com
JOIN US IN THE WORK
If you appreciate the work we do and want to support our ongoing efforts at creating a safe place for people to heal, grow, and discover belonging, we invite you to donate toward our mission today: https://sojourngrace.churchcenter.com/giving
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For five Sundays we’ve been exploring this phrase, “It All Belongs.” For today’s service, we turned the microphone around (metaphorically speaking) and asked YOU the church what YOU’ve been thinking and feeling about this stuff. Your responses and interactions blew us away. Join co-Pastors Kate & Colby as they recap the series and engage with our live viewers.
Part of what makes "it all belongs" such a challenging ethos to live in to is because we've been told our whole lives about opposites. About how (seemingly) opposing realities cannot co-exist. And yet the idea of paradox lies at the heart of all the great religions. Pastor Kate tells us why.
In order for us to truly embody this ethos of "it all belongs," we must consider what implication that has for our pasts. Specifically, the past versions of our Selves. What we used to believe. How we used to think. How we used to treat others. Does even THAT belong? Pastor Colby sure thinks so.
When we say “it all belongs,” what does that mean with regards to those parts of us that we don’t particularly care for? Pastor Colby begins this Spiritual Nugget by confessing some things about himself that he’s not a big fan of. Then, he shows how the practice of maitri (aka, unconditional friendship with yourself) invites us to show compassion and kindness toward ourselves, so that even our “issues” belong.
Pastor Kate shares her stories of experiencing death and giving birth, and how in neither instance did she understand or know the importance of curating the space, protecting it from factors that might cause harm. As we continue our series on “It All Belongs,” she invites us to consider that here at Sojo we are “Belonging Doulas,” curating spaces for authentic belonging to occur.
One of Sojourn’s most oft stated phrases is, “It All Belongs!” We say it when things go wrong. We say it when things feel clunky and tense. We say it as a way to make space for all sorts of diversity and difference. But what does it mean? And, what might it not mean? Co-Pastors Kate and Colby start a new series today exploring the ins and outs of “It All Belongs.”
Have you ever noticed that sometimes, when you’re in a space of fear or pain, you might sense that the path to healing is right in front of you, but something(s) is holding you back? Preventing you from seeing it? Pastor Colby sure can relate, which is why he got so excited (BLAMMO!) to share this Spiritual Nugget from Luke 24 about the two disciples walking to Emmaus and “not recognizing” the risen Jesus.
Happy Easter, Sojo! Christ is Risen, Indeed. This morning we receive the gift not just of the Universality of Resurrection, but also the particular truth that Christ's Resurrection has to offer us about the heart and will of God. Co-Pastors Colby and Kate share how the Resurrection is about redeeming life after "crucifixion," not just death. And that distinction makes a world of difference.
If disappointment can be described as the gap between what we hope for, and what actually happens, then how ought we manage such gaps? Pastor Colby offers this spiritual nugget as a way to choose a third path other than despair (it’s always like this!) or denial (it’s never like this!). That is, the Path of Christ.
You have heard it said, “Turn the other cheek,” but Pastor Kate says, “I think we’ve totally missed the point.” In this spiritual nugget, Kate insists that turning-the-other-cheek was a radical third way given to us by Jesus as means for demanding that one another’s dignity as beloved children of God is seen and acknowledged.
Psychology, biology, and ancient spirituality all agree: Human connection is vital to our well-being. In this spiritual nugget, on the one year anniversary of when we started doing church solely online, Pastor Colby shares how the practice of Connection nourishes our soul. We’ve been starved of it, and that’s not good. So let’s make a plan to connect with others and care for our soul.
Sojo turns Seven!
On this special Sunday, we look back at seven years of fostering Wholeness as we hear from the community how Sojourn has impacted their lives. Pastors Colby & Kate each share about seven insights they’ve learned these past years, as well as read letters from the community. (While the podcast is great, we highly encourage you watch the Livestream and catch all the goodness of this service!)
Pastor Kate explores three ways in which we used to think of or engage with prayer, what the triggers might be, and then invites us to practices on moving through them and discovering once again how prayer might be a powerful tool for transformation and soul care.
Often we fear the dark nights. We resist the unknown. We despair the chaos. In this Spiritual Nugget, Pastor Kate is joined by Karyn Gilmore and together they spark the imagination to consider God as a mother hen, brooding over the dark nights. Expectant. Patient. Protective. Trusting that new life is but moments away.
The old story told us we are not worthy of God’s love. Then, here at Sojourn, in reaction to such poor/wrong narratives, we swung the pendulum the other way to boldly declare you ARE worthy. But after years of doing this, Pastor Colby is wondering if we’re still missing the point. When it comes to being loved by God, does worthiness have anything to do with it at all?
Have you ever ignored part of yourself, or repressed something that makes you feel good and happy, because of other people's (or religion's) list of "shouldn'ts?"
Drag queen "Flamy Grant" blesses the Sojo virtual stage with her powerful story of (re)discovering what truly makes her happy.
(If you've got kiddos, we invite you to watch this together as Flamy has a special word just for them!)
When our souls cry out via anxiety and worry, one of the practices we can do to tend to our Soul is SURRENDER.
In this Spiritual Nugget, Pastor Colby invites us to consider what it might look like if we surrendered our IDENTITY (aka, who we are is not what we do), and our ESTEEM (aka, we are not what other’s think about us).
Plus, Pastor Kate leads us in a meditation space curated by Wide Open Common’s rendition of “Here I Am.”`
Co-Pastors Colby and Kate kick off a new series at Sojourn focusing on Practices we can do to tend to the well-being of our Souls.
Our souls, like our bodies, need constant care and attention, and will shout out in discomfort when neglected. May we be people who listen closely to the cries of our soul, nourishing when and where needed.
Join us LIVE at Sojourn, Sundays at 11am PST, and let’s Practice Soul Care together.
As we honor Martin Luther King Jr, Pastor Kate invites us to consider how we/the church have failed to fully and accurately represent the words and life of both MLK and Jesus.
Plus, a Lectio Divina meditation from Luke 4 led by Pastor Colby.
As we turn the page on another calendar year gone by, we spend time in reflection on what we LOSS in 2020, what we GAINED during the year of the pandemic, and then we look ahead toward 2021 for what we dare to HOPE. Join co-pastors Colby and Kate as they lead in these guided thought exercises and mediations.
PLUS: Music from Wide Open Commons, “Somehow it All Belongs”
Sojourn welcomes special guest speaker, artist Scott Erickson. Scott shares from his newest book, Honest Advent, about the ways in which “surprise” is the antidote for our assumptions. Listen in as we hear about the vulnerability of transformation, the scary proposition of loneliness, and the invitation to follow the leading of God.
Join Pastor Kate as she reads “All the Colors of Christmas,” by Matthew Paul Turner, and then reflects on how YOU are the reason for the season.
(Also featuring a meditation from Huck & Fable!)
The angels told the shepherds there was "good news." Their "Savior" had been born. Wait, a baby? That's the good news? THAT is their "Savior?" In this spiritual nugget, Pastor Colby explores how salvation (but not the "go to heaven when you die" kind) is sorta like a baby.
Keep your eyes open for signs of salvation this Advent season.
Special Guest Lauren DeLeary virtually visits Sojourn to share with us her insights in to restoring a spiritual connection to the earth.
Lauren is a former evangelical CCM touring artist who now resides in Nashville and hosts a podcast with her husband called “Deconstruct,” where they explore the spaces of deconstructing an evangelical faith heritage. Lauren is also a member of the Chippewa of the Thames First Nation & sheds light onto the ways we can decolonize & indigenize the future. Learn more at: laurendeleary.com
Beginning with our hunter-gather ancestors, up through medieval agrarian farmers, and to today's low wage factory worker, Pastor Colby explores our species relationship to "work."
We live in a world today that insists life is all about doing stuff and getting stuff, and key to the whole game is "work."
But our souls need Sabbath. Our souls need to value something different. Listen to this Spiritual Nugget and find rest for your weary (over-worked) soul.
As we come together to celebrate the recent election (and the loud NO THANK YOU to another four years of the current administration) Pastor Kate wisely calls us to the truth that true unity can only be found on the other side of Justice.
PLUS: a meditation from Pastor Colby inviting us to remember our ‘Shared Humanity.”
One of our values at Sojourn is to not only hear the stories of the people in our community, but reinforce the idea that our pastors/leaders are not the harbingers of all things truth and authority. You have fountains of wisdom and beauty and truth inside you, and so does everyone else. Joining our livestream this week was Jesse Hawkins—a newer Sojourner, since quarantine—sharing a Faith Formation Story that many in the Sojo community can relate to.
In this special edition of Sojourn Virtual Church, we set up a candle altar and move through four different segments offering prayers & meditations for: the Self, our Society, the Planet, and You (the congregation). The podcast here features some highlights of the morning, but to enjoy the full service watch the Livestream playback on our Facebook or YouTube page.
Do you ever have a voice in your head that tells you, “You’re not doing enough!” Pastor Colby sure does. Lots of times. In this Spiritual Nugget he shares two ways that he responds to this unique self-criticism, may they help you as well.
Plus, Pastor Kate leads us through an inner-child meditation, helping us practice self-love and compassion.
Jesus taught mostly via parables. Since Marshall McLuhan said, “The medium IS the message,” what does Jesus’ usage of parables tell us about the Kingdom of God? In this Spiritual Nugget, Pastor Colby suggest that the Kingdom (aka, experiencing the presence of God) is wild, unpredictable, and meant to be wrestled with. (Includes a Scripture meditation from Pastor Kate)
With the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, many of us not only mourn but despair what might come. In this Spiritual Nugget, Pastor Kate calls us to yes, remember and honor RBG, but also to embody her belief in the collective and our work to see humanity at its best.
Plus: a meditation practice called Tonglen, led by Pastor Colby. Plus plus: ‘You Will Be Found” from Dear Evan Hansen, performed by Wide Open Commons
What if the way you approach life has a real effect on how you experience life? In this Spiritual Nugget, Pastor Colby ties together Henry Thoreau, Rumi, Coach Taylor, and Jesus to explore the relationship between the way we choose to see the world around us, with how we then experience the world. Plus: A meditation from Pastor Kate titled, “It’s Okay.”
For this week’s podcast we are featuring a special prayer written by Sojourn member, Allison-Gil Sanford, called “Body Collective.” Led by Pastor Kate. (Most of this past Sunday’s service featured live, online interaction with viewers. We had a delightful time interacting with you all! If you missed it, you can watch on our FB or Youtube pages).
When “Inside Out” hit the big screen, audiences far and wide sighed with relief that they weren’t the only ones who felt like little voices in their head were dictating their every move. In this week’s message, we dig in to how a better understanding of our emotional reality can help us learn to love ourselves and others more effectively. (Includes bonus words from Sojourn member, Lilia Porter).
“Everything is illuminated by the light of the past.”
So says the narrator in this story of one young Jewish American man—together with a motley crew of Ukrainian locals—searching for clues to their past and discovering themselves in the process. Join Pastor Colby as he explores “Everything is Illuminated” (one of his favorite movies from the past 15 years), dealing with the power of story, death, and searching for truth.
In the film, “The Farewell,” director Lulu Wang tells the true story of how her grandmother was diagnosed with a terminal cancer yet the family decided to keep it from her. In this gorgeous cinematic experience, we witness the struggle between what is right vs what is good, the clash of values between the West (individualism) and the East (collectivism), and more. Pastors Kate and Colby tried to discuss it, but it really is a movie that must be experienced and not dissected.
“As you wish.” “Inconceivable!” “My Name is Inigo Montoya.”
And the list goes on. One of the most quotable movies of all time, this week “The Princess Bride” gets the MEANING IN MOVIES treatment. Join in as Pastor Colby extrapolates all sorts of interesting and personal nuggets of inspiration and meaning from the beloved cult classic.
Watch the message on our YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/c/SojournGraceCollective
Tune in for our Livestreams on Sundays at 11am
Mr Rogers was one of a kind (but don't call him a "saint," as his wife wisely points out). In this gorgeous film, we're inspired by all sorts of messages about forgiveness, kindness, patience and care. Join us as we ask our 6 "Meaning in Movies" questions about "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."
If you haven’t yet watched Onward, you’re only hurting yourself. Lol! We love this movie so much, and couldn’t wait to dig in to some of themes it explores. Our series, “Meaning in Movies,” invites us to ask BIG meaning questions about movies (aka, Meaning of Life type stuff) as well as SMALL meaning questions (aka, What did this movie do in YOU?). Join us as we explore the epic Quest of brothers Ian and Barley!
We explore our first movie in our Summer Series, “Meaning in Movies,” by re-watching Frozen II. Join us as we ask questions about the Meaning of Life, what we think the main character’s Enneagram numbers are, and how/why the movie meant so much to us. And a whole lot more. Then tune in next week for Onward!
Summer is here and while we can’t do much because of the pandemic (including going to movies) we CAN watch movies at home and then discuss them together! Each week we’ll pick a movie and explore the different themes that came up, how it relates to the meaning of life, and how we found it meaningful for our life. In this message we unpack what it means to find meaning. Plus, an important Sojo HOUSE NOTE from Pastor Kate… and… Huck and Fable return! Yay!
Learn more about Anissa's organization, "Re:Hope, Inc" at www.rehopeinc.org and support it financially at: https://gf.me/u/x6vfpk
Learn about the two other organizations Anissa mentions:
Nizhoni Institute of Midwifery https://www.nizhoniinstitute.edu
San Diego Community Birth Center, with Nikki Helms https://gf.me/u/x6tkbg
The ancient Jewish imagination taught that when God created everything, God called the Light “very good.” But why? What makes light good? Pastor Colby shares his thoughts on how light reveals contrast, difference, distinction… and THAT is what is GOOD.
Plus, a special message from our Board Chair, Elisa Holston-Arteaga. And a Faith Formation Story from Greg Phillips.
We continue our month-long celebration of: PRIDE, Faith Stories from people in our church community, and celebrating Communion virtually. Listen in as we share prayers courtesy of www.enfleshed.com, and a special Faith Formation Story from Lilia Porter.
Music during opening liturgy courtesy of Field Report Vol I: Oaks Bottom (Instrumental) by Chad Crouch
If you have resources, responsibilities, and power, your calling is to pay close enough attention that you notice who is not present, who is missing. If just one sheep is missing, you leave the 99 to find it. Dear church, America, are we paying attention? Do we notice who’s not there? May we Remember the Whole.
Plus, features a Faith Formation Story from Tito Escalante.
And original writings from Karyn Thurston and Kate Christensen-Martin.
The early church seized upon Jesus’ table-fellowship practice as a way to embody a new type of humanity. One where all people are welcomed as equals. However, churches both then and now have fallen short of this vision. Join Pastor Colby as he leads us in taking communion by calling us back to this vision of the Table.
Plus, a faith formation story from Damien “DJ” Jackson.
Follow these leaders with us, will you?
Austin Channing Brown: @austinchanning
Cleo Wade: @cleowade
Andre Henry: @theandrehenry
Joél Leon: @joelakamag
Latasha Morrison: @latashamorrison
Some versions of Christianity claim not only that they have the exclusively correct answers about all things, but that they're version of Christianity is also the most right. At Sojourn, we choose to come together over shared values and a commitment to our Mission, rather than asking everyone to believe the same things. As Jesus said, "If they are not against us, they are with us."
This week, Pastors Kate and Colby ditch the sermon notes and opt to have an impromptu (“ish,” I mean, we’re not animals) conversation about the intersection of Faith and Hope. For many of us our faith no longer involves a belief in a Big Brother Upstairs who will simply one day magically sort everything out. And yet, can we still maintain that “all shall be well, all manner of things shall be well?”
Pastors Colby and Kate both share how their faith used to have zero overlap with matters of justice, yet now the two are inexorably linked. To BE people of faith must also mean we are people who relentlessly pursue justice.
Last week we shared a working definition of “faith” that encompasses both its noun and verb aspects. Our definition included the word “choose,” to which some had questions about. Good questions. So in this week’s message we dig a bit further in to what it looks like to choose our beliefs and our behaviors.
The word “faith” holds two lexical categories: noun and verb. Most of us have probably been given and operated from primary a Noun-Faith spirituality (ie, faith is what we believe). Yet it’s important to add in the Verb-Faith dimensions (ie, faith is how we orient ourselves). Join co-Pastors Colby & Kate as they explore a deeper approach to the idea of “Faith.”
This week we start a new series title, “Considering Faith: Finding Our Way Together.”
Sojourn is a wonderfully diverse and unique faith community. Filled with people all over the “faith” spectrum(s?). We want to spend some time together talking about all the various aspects of losing your faith and/or finding it. Of deconstructing and reconstructing. Of finding new ways to think about and talk about faith. It’s gonna be good.
In this special quarantine edition of Easter Sunday, co-Pastors Colby and Kate bring a message of new life and hope. Resurrection is always happening, everywhere, whether we're privy to it or not, contributing to it or not. The invitation is to receive it as Grace.
For this message, Pastors Kate and Colby just sorta open their hands and say, "yeah, we got nuthin' today, peeps." Week 4 of this CovidQuarantine has really gotten to us. So maybe we all just need some permission to pause...
Each EnneaType benefits uniquely from different contemplative practices. Depending on your triad (Head/Heart/Body) you might need to practice more Solitude, Stillness, or Silence. Pastors Kate and Colby explore how the Enneagram offers insights into each types unique path to growth. Including personalized mediations and mantras for each type, written by Pastor Kate.
We all experience the world through three Intelligence Centers: our Head (thoughts), Heart (feelings), and Body (instincts). The Enneagram shows how each Type leads with one of these Centers more than the others. Join Pastors Colby and Kate as they explore the Head/Heart/Body triads, as well as lead each triad through a guided meditation.
It’s our third week in our Enneagram series, and our first as a Sojo Covid Livestream Virtual Church Experience (or, SCLVCE for short). Pastors Colby and Kate give a fun, interactive overview of all nine Enneagram types, plus a little introductory talk on what it means for the Enneagram to be a “useful model” even if it’s not exactly, precisely, 100% scientifically “true.”
Each Enneagram Type has its own unique paths that run along the spectrum of well-being, where one side is wholeness and the other brokenness. Further, each type borrows from another type as it moves toward health or unhealth. In week 2, Pastor Colby breaks it down for us.
The Enneagram is a synthesis of how a handful of ancient wisdom traditions understood human personality, organized into a modern system consisting of 9 types. It can be a powerful tool for transformation as it offers a map of the human soul, providing nine unique paths for growth. This is part 1 of our Lent Series on the Enneagram.
Some religious messaging teaches us to fear the flesh and diminish the physical world. Here, Pastor Kate shows how the season of Lent provides us opportunities to remember that our bodies are good, the physical world is good. May we come back home to ourselves this Lenten season.
The prophetic tradition invites us to critique where religion has gone off the rails and to cast a vision for a new way forward. Listen in as Pastor Colby shares how the work of Transcending and Including has shown up in his life, as we continue to explore what to retain of our religious heritage and what to leave behind.
Where did the idea of religion come from? And how has it evolved over time? It’s a remarkable time to be alive because we have the novel privilege of holding religion out at a distance to evaluate and critique it. Join Pastor Colby as he continues our exploration of what to transcend (and include) when it comes to religion.
Pastor Kate kicks of a series-within-a-series as we explore what it looks like to transcend religion. Join in as she shares from the heart what religion has meant to her, AND, how it can also function to hold us back. There are many ways to rock the boat of religion, and we need them (ie, you!) all.
Tribalism (the phenomenon of grouping together with others to create us & them) was a necessary adaptation for our ancestors. However, today we find ourselves drawing the edges of our Moral Circle in ways that might be leading to more division and fear. Pastor Colby offers insights in how we can return to our shared Oneness as humanity.
The outrage response (a blending of anger and disgust) developed in human tribes as a way to maintain the guardrails for what helped/hindered the tribe. Yet today, in our culture of constant-outrage, such a response is adding to untold division and conflict. In this message, Pastor Colby offers five suggestions on how we might transcend our instincts of outrage to respond more mindfully and peacefully.
War is on most people’s minds at the moment. As people who orient our lives around the way of Jesus, seeking to be agents of love in the world, how do we think about war and about violence? Join Pastor Colby as he wonders if our only hope for peace in the world is by opting out of the cycle of violence. But that takes different kinds of thinking, which might very well need different kinds of thinkers.
The story of the Magi (Matthew 2) offers two incredible invitations as we embark on 2020. Pastor Colby explores this ancient story to challenge us to BE the Magi (follow a star) and RECEIVE the Magi (be open to the gifts of Other).
Join Pastor Kate as she gives us a vision for a hope beyond hope, a deeper type of hope that takes us beyond the world’s understanding of it. May we reimagine what it means to be hope-filled people.
Stories have the power to help us grasp — as much as we can — the vastness of the Universe and the mystery of our existence. The story of Christmas gives us a particular way to understand the universal truth of who we are: loved Children of God. In this message, Pastor Colby pushes past a baby in a manger and invites us to see the Christ all throughout the Christmas season.
“Do you want to get well,” Jesus once asked to a man who had been sick for 38 years. We live in a society torn between two binaries: either it’s the system's fault for our condition, or people should just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Maybe it’s both/and? Oppressive systems exist AND it’s our responsibility to say “yes” to our path of healing. Join Pastor Colby in this (possibly) provocative and (definitely) personal message about the healing power of Love.
If “love” is about nourishing spiritual growth, then we should probably try and define “Spiritual Growth,” right? This is exactly what Pastor Kate does in this message as she calls us back to truths that it’s not about becoming better people, as much as it is about aligning with what is most real — that we are love(d). Listen in as she unpacks how this plays out in our closest relationships.
How conscious are we of how often we use material acquisition and consumption as a replacement for (or a means to) getting our emotional needs met? This is the lie of Greed, and it is antithetical to the truths of Love. Greed tells you that you lack something, and then it convinces you to fill that lack with consumption. In this message, Pastor Colby furthers our study of Love by offering four antidotes to help inoculate us from the poisonous toxins of Greed.
Sure, we might consider using Love as our guide in some of our closest relationships, but what about other dimensions of life? Politics? The workplace? In this message, Pastor Colby offers a glimpse into a life guided by love — instead of the usual recipe of fear, shame, and control.
We typically treat others far better than we treat ourselves. In this message, Pastor Kate not only challenges us to take an honest look at where we might need to grow in Self Love, but walks us through an extended time of Maitri meditation where we can nurture unconditional friendliness with ourselves.
In this brutally honest message, Pastor Colby opens up about his complicated relationship with truth/lies. It’s not always simple (especially for Enneagram 3’s). Plus, Can love exist in the context of dishonesty? And how does a society begin to course correct when it’s built upon so many lies? Join our continued exploration of Love with this week’s message, “Loving and Lying are Mutually Exclusive.”
“We learn about love in childhood.” This is how chapter 2 of All About Love begins, and in this message Pastor Colby talks about how hard Love is, especially if we are raising the bar on what is/isn’t love. The reality is, whether we’re talking about our home growing up or relationships today, it’s almost always some wild combination of “sometimes yes” and “sometimes no” when it comes to whether or not real love was present.