Cascade Church Portland: Recent Episodes
Cascade Church Portland
Scott Erickson talks about the shortest verse in the Bible, podcasts, Glen Hansard and the back of church signs.
Kurt Kroon shares about liberation theology, transitioning from spiritual warfare to mysticism and how empathy and curiosity can help detox us from consumerism and bipartisan politics.
Kurt Kroon talks through the New Testament passages that have been weaponized against members of the LGBTQ+ communities. We finish with an interview of John Simmons-Adkins.
Kurt Kroon shares about the language and translations in the Hebrew Scriptures and the ways they've weaponized against members of the LGBTQ+ communities. We finish with an interview with Matthew Castillo-Kohlenberg.
Kurt Kroon introduces our 3 part conversation on the church and LGBTQ+ inclusion. This first Sunday is a look at how we read the scriptures and an introduction into the next 2 weeks where we look at the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. Kurt is joined by Michael Dinter at the conclusion of service.
(we had some issues with our audio and this recording will sometimes be echo-y or faint)
Cara Bartlett shares about being the world's foremost expert on self control (jk), scriptural examples of self-control and 5th grade haiku's.
Scott Erickson shares about turd sandwiches, Caravaggio paintings and how the words of Father Greg Boyle that we are all unshakably good and we belong to each other can propel us into faithfulness.
Kurt Kroon talks about goodness vs. generosity and a study at UCLA about the connection of empathy and generosity.
Scott Erickson does his best (and it's very good!) Ira Glass impression to talk about kindness from the fruits of the spirit in several acts. Take a listen and see which act you connect most with as you consider the practice of kindness in our world.
Sarah Swartzendruber talks about road trips, smoking noses and the challenge of patience without a preferred outcome in sight.
Kurt Kroon shares about peace as a bringing together of all things, not cutting off the noisy parts of us, others and our world. Shalom.
Kurt Kroon explores the difference between joy & happiness and what can take you through the hardest moments in life.
Kurt Kroon shares about how love in the ways that Paul builds up his definition of love throughout his writings and how it starts with understanding God as the definition of love.
Kurt Kroon shares about sassy Paul, reading other people's mail and the ways the Fruits of the Spirit invites a better way of practicing Christianity than "right" belief.
Kurt Kroon talks about candy conventions, unrecognizable walks with Jesus and how we can be people beyond ideological labels and instead be people producing good fruit.
Scott Erickson shares about the 23rd Psalm, life in the shadow of death and meals with "enemies".
Kurt Kroon shares about dementors (not death eaters), trees without fruit and the ways we've obsessed about ideological identity over practical participation in spirituality.
Harriet Congdon shares about outgrowing shells for a life in the ocean, relational conflicts around religion, and finding new ways to belong.
Kurt Kroon talks about Mary & Martha and the ways that we can demonstrate hospitality and let the roles we accepted by choice or force pass away for more expansive roles.
Kurt Kroon shares about Marlboro Man Richard Hammer, Cheryl Strayed and the ways that we can let the independent dream die for a new dream of interdependence.
Scott Erickson leads us through a conversation about Zacchaeus, NPC's, Death and UAP's. This all helps us move our framework of faith from seeing the world as a simple fantasy to a complex reality.
Kurt Kroon shares about the ways that religion can be a crutch and how it can be a healing. A Karl Marx quote and a Jesus healing story frame this exploration.
Kurt Kroon continues the What is Faith For? by discussing our relationship to the Christian scriptures and the ways we've tried to pull out a few verses to follow instead of letting the whole of the scriptures shape us into people of wisdom.
Kurt Kroon kicks off a new series looking at the containers that are holding our reimagined theologies and how they need the same reimagining. This week looks at how we can use faith as a mechanism of control in the world and how that will ultimately let us down.
Sarah Swartzendruber finishes up our message series on the core values of Cascade with a discussion around intentionality, which we define as engaging in relationships a step beyond what is known or comfortable.
A party celebrating 10 years of Cascade Church existing. Kicked off by a prayer and check-in from Scott Erickson and a co-taught message from co-pastors Sarah Swartzendruber and Kurt Kroon. Come for the memories, stay for the places yet to go!
Kurt Kroon continues the series on Cascade's core values by looking at Advocacy, which is defined as fighting injustices by partnering with those treated insignificantly by individuals, systems or indifference.
Kurt Kroon shares about the Cascade Core Value of diversity by looking at our definition and reflecting on Paul's metaphor of the body of Christ as an instructive model for how diversity can function.
Kurt Kroon talks through our 5 core values starting with prayer. This unusual look through the lens of the Genesis story of Jacob (mistakenly identified as 27 instead of 28) exposes the ways in which prayer can help us commune with the unknown parts of ourselves and God.
Kurt Kroon shares about a dominant theme in the life of Jesus. This thread from Genesis to Revelation ties together a picture of God's invitation to co-creation and mutual participation that is the Kingdom of God.
July is Disability Pride month, where we look to celebrate and recognize the contributions of folks with disabilities to our world while also acknowledging the ways our society disables folks with poor access and design. This interview with Rob Schellert reflects on the unique ways the Christian Church intersects with the disabled community.
Harriet Congdon finishes up our series on Resilience with a keen insight from the story of Abraham, Hagar & Sarah while tying together all the previous messages on resilience.
Ian Durias shares this week as we continue our series on Resilience by talking about the ways we love ourselves and how we categorize our shortcomings as screw-ups, weaknesses or growth opportunities.
Chelsea Gerlach shares about a resilience that uses curiosity to better inform itself in addition to finding enjoyment in the midst of difficult journeys.
Sarah Swartzendruber shares about resilience as a learning space that is difficult to stay in and nobody would choose that has a way of working something out in us. Listen as we talk about how to stay in that learning space even when we don't want to as we look at the disciples' journey of resilience.
Kurt Kroon looks at Daniel 3 and how resistance can look in the face of fear-based and oppressive kingdoms.
Kurt Kroon takes a look at the dividing path moments in our lives that invite us into a practice of resilience.
Scott Erickson, Sarah Swartzendruber, Ian Durias and Kurt Kroon chat about the summer '25 message series on Resilience and how the Teaching Team works and collaborates on series just like this one!
Dr. Greg Peterson talks about mental health and some ways that our brains get in the way of our mental health and ways that we can find greater mental well being in the world.
This Sunday Ian Durias interviews therapist Malia Vasquez about how mental health and AAPI identities impact healing journeys.
Ian Durias interviews Daphne Auza and Jillian Mariano regarding their work with Malaya and organizing on behalf of Filipino workers around the globe.
Cara Meredith, author of "Church Camp: Bad Skits, Cry Night, and How White Evangelicalism Betrayed a Generation", shares with us about what belonging looks and feels like with a fresh look at the Philip & The Ethiopian Eunuch story from the scriptures.
Kurt Kroon and Scott Erickson share about adult friendships. The struggles, the joys and ways we can get curious about better way of engaging ourselves and others.
Kurt Kroon shares a message about the largest cross in the world and what that can tell us about how this symbol of Christianity has been and could still be used in our world.
In this sermon Harriet looks at the themes of prayer and perserverance on either side of some wisdom about integrity. Enjoy!
This is age appropriate theology specifically written for Pre-K kids that is fun and engaging while learning about Jesus. At the end, you will hear Sarah ask a line that is intentionally said at the end of every kids lesson at Cascade, "using your skill of curiosity, what are some questions you have from the story?" We hope this invites you to curiosity and wonder with your kiddo around the Christmas story.
This is age appropriate theology specifically written for Pre-K kids that is fun and engaging while learning about Jesus. At the end, you will hear Sarah ask a line that is intentionally said at the end of every kids lesson at Cascade, "using your skill of curiosity, what are some questions you have from the story?" We hope this invites you to curiosity and wonder with your kiddo around the Christmas story.
This is age appropriate theology specifically written for Pre-K kids that is fun and engaging while learning about Jesus. At the end, you will hear Sarah ask a line that is intentionally said at the end of every kids lesson at Cascade, "using your skill of curiosity, what are some questions you have from the story?" We hope this invites you to curiosity and wonder with your kiddo around the Christmas story.
This is age appropriate theology specifically written for Pre-K kids that is fun and engaging while learning about Jesus. At the end, you will hear Sarah ask a line that is intentionally said at the end of every kids lesson at Cascade, "using your skill of curiosity, what are some questions you have from the story?" We hope this invites you to curiosity and wonder with your kiddo around the Christmas story.
This is age appropriate theology specifically written for Pre-K kids that is fun and engaging while learning about Jesus. At the end, you will hear Sarah ask a line that is intentionally said at the end of every kids lesson at Cascade, "using your skill of curiosity, what are some questions you have from the story?" We hope this invites you to curiosity and wonder with your kiddo around the Christmas story.
Kurt Kroon talks through Nehemiah 2 and what we do with criticism. Do we internalize or reject it? What tools do you use to discern your areas of growth?
Kurt Kroon introduces the book of Nehemiah and talks about rebuilding in deconstructed spaces and what we do with power and privilege.
Kurt Kroon shares about pep rallies, Shamrock Runs and the ever present cycle of death and resurrection pulling us into the present.
This Sunday we hear from Harriet Congdon, Andrew Chang and Kendra Wenzel on their experiences with polarization and what has been helpful and harmful in that process.
Sarah Swartzendruber shares about a recent social media experience dealing with theology on her Parenting After Deconstruction Instagram page and how she processed it.
Chelsea Gerlach shares some incredibly practical next steps for engaging in polarizing conversations.
In this conversation Chelsea references Loretta Ross, and you can find her work here
Kurt Kroon shares on the story of Jonah about the tendencies we have to idealize and demonize folks as a means of feeling safe and God's movement to reconcile all people.
Leroy Barber joins us to share about the US's history of reparations and how the scriptures talk about making repairs.
This Sunday Kurt Kroon interviews Alvin Hayes about the link he sees in the Civil Rights movement and Jesus Christ.
Kurt Kroon looks at Luke 8 and the parable of the sower within the context of how we interpret parables today and some of the context around what Jesus in his context.
Kurt Kroon discusses wisdom and how Jesus and John the Baptist are bringing this to us via radical inclusion through very different methods.
On this Sunday Kurt Kroon shared about how Jesus negotiates the sacredness of who each person is and the potential of who we can become. This comes with a look at Luke 13:11-17 and the healing of a woman in the synagogue on the sabbath.
Shelby Hanson leads us in a new message series that can give us fresh eyes on the parable structure and make unfamiliar what we've made familiar.
On Sunday January 29th Kurt Kroon talked about different lenses for viewing the Scriptures and how taking experiences from non-dominant folks and interpreting them through a dominant worldview can fundamentally change the message.
Chelsea Gerlach shares a message about the planet, our relationship with it and how we hear the voice of God to move towards the healing of the land and ourselves.
Kurt Kroon takes a look at comparisons between the story of Jesus birth and the origin stories of Horus, Romulus and Remus, Alexander the Great, and Augustus Caesar. We 'll see what the similarities and differences tell us.
Sarah Swartzendruber talks through the role of grief in Mary's song both as a look forward to the life of Jesus and a reflection after the death of Jesus.
Kurt Kroon talks about how our interpretation of Ephesians 6:10-17 is impacted by living in the world's largest military country and how that compares to the military factors in Paul's day.
Harriet Congdon discusses the history and harm created by Ephesians 5:21-6:9, while suggesting various lenses for liberative interpretation.
Kurt Kroon talks through sexuality, language and greed and the ways those topics can be shared for shame/oppression or freedom/liberation.
Kurt Kroon talks through the Paul's problematic "othering" language and how we can call one another forward to growth and liberation.
Leroy Barber, Sarah Swartzendruber and Kurt Kroon discuss the inherent problems with Christian calls for unity in a post-election climate.
Insil Kang closes our Acts series with an intersectional look at Paul and how that informs the good news of Jesus.
A message from Pastor Sarah Swartzendruber on Acts 19 and the way money and the church interact.
A message from Leroy Barber on Lydia's table and the foundations of the church from Acts 16.
Jason Fileta is with us to talk about Acts 13 and how people seeking after God can be led astray by letting their fear grab after power.
Pastor Sunia Gibbs shares with us a look at Acts 10 and what we can learn about human tendency to call assimilation inclusion and its consequences.
This week we take a look at Acts 3 and how history can connect us to ourselves and those around us.
We take a look at Acts 2 and how American individualism shapes our view of church community.
Here's an introduction to the book of Acts and why we're taking a look at it in this particular moment in history.
Kurt has a chat with Mike McHargue about how Spiral Dynamics functions in our world today.
This week we take the Spiral Dynamics model and look at what healthy and unhealthy relationships to all of the stages can look like.
This week we go into Spiral Dynamics, which is an emergent cyclical theory of adult human development (I know!). Take a listen as we hope to add this system to our collective tool bags in the hopes of growing in compassion, empathy and communication with people around us.
Dr. James Hawkins brings a fascinating perspective at the intersection of emotionally focused therapy and racism.
One of the best sermons I have ever heard. Effortless weaving together of the Biblical narrative and what is happening in our world right now. Give it multiple listens to let it all soak in.
in the previous message Krispin Mayfield shared on attachment theory and phew(!!) it was good.
Getting curious about the tactics we employ to feel connected to the people closest to us and how they are doing the same thing can be a game changer. We can start making choices instead of just reacting when we tune in to the frequency of connecting to others.
And how this relates to the narratives we've been handed about connecting to God? Shoot dang.
In this message Krispin builds on previous themes of attachment strategies to talk about yield states, self-evaluation and what communion with God and others can look like.
Krispin Mayfield (LPC) leads us on a journey through attachment theory, which is the science of emotional bonding, and how this interacts with our relationship with God. Enjoy!
For my first job at a church I worked at a nationally registered historical place.
I loved to joke that I was part-time youth director and part-time tour guide. People would stop by to check out a church building built in the 1860's and I would walk them through the building and share some of the stories that I had collected over the years.
Every building tells a story. It tells a story of when and how it was built. It tells a story about who labored to build it and who funded the building. It tells a story of design trends of the time and available resources for its construction.
We tell the stories of the past to remember where we came from and how it informs where we're heading. This Sunday we're going to be sharing the story of Cascade. The places we've come from and where we hope we'll be in the future. While we've held consistent values as a church, how we've demonstrated those values has evolved in really beautiful ways over the past 4 + years.
I hope you enjoy hearing from the folks on our board, from Sarah and me as co-pastors as we imagine what our future can be.
Have you ever partaken in a meal that felt like holy space?
Great conversations, a feeling of warmth and the abundance of options. For some, maybe that’s a family dinner, others that’s at fun restaurant in Portland. After my hip surgery, I was given a Sunday off and was determined to participate in Portland’s brunch scene after working most Sundays of my adult life.
Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. We waited in a long line that day at Jam with a big group of friends, drinking unlimited coffee which was necessary for those of us figuring out pain killers for the first time to stay awake, and attempting to navigate with my crutches. I found it thrilling being apart of what most people have a choice to do on a Sunday and declared it one of my favorite Sundays ever. The excitement, laughter and fun if that day are forever my scene of what the last supper thought it would be until pivotal statements Jesus makes about a betrayal and his presence no longer being possible. I’ve always wondered if anyone started stress eating or asked for more wine in the tension of the moment. Did anyone cry? Did anyone suddenly not feel hungry at all or desire to take a nap in their grief and confusion?
It’s this moment that we are talking abut this week as we look at Mark 14 and the first supper. No, it’s not lent, and it does feel a bit like we just got to the birth story as Christmas lights are still on our house as I write this (thanks Oregon rain). But the last supper is the story that much of our church history creates denominational decisions over who can or cannot take communion, when it’s the appropriate time and what to even do with the bread once you have taken it. For some, communion is a routine, a ritual, even a holy experience. For others, it’s just something we do.
Confession:: If I walk into a room where I just saw someone and they're no longer there, I will make a rapture joke. It's as involuntary as breathing or having my heart beat.
Growing up it wasn't uncommon to see "In Case of Rapture This Car Will be Unmanned" bumper stickers and to see copies of the Left Behind book series in homes. Images of piles of clothes on the ground from a rapture are locked in my brain from TV, movies or book illustrations (which begs some questions. Do we keep jewelry but not clothing? What about fillings? What's the policy on dental work staying or going?).
This obsession about the end of the world has created a complicated relationship with the Bible. We've been taught that when we read apocalyptic passages in the Bible (which is a literary form common to the ancient world) they are really clues for how the world is going to end. If we interpret the clues correctly than we will have a marked advantage over every other human being when the world really does come to the end. The Bible becomes less of a text about the heart of God and humanity, and more of a book of riddles to be solved (ie: Revelation)
In our series on Mark we reach chapter 13, which is very much apocalyptic literature. We're going to look at the cultural impact of interpreting these writings as a rapture event, walk through the history of rapture-esque readings of the Bible (hint:: not as ancient as you might expect) and what these passages could really be talking about.
Ever get a text from a friend about seeing a famous person or being at a place you share a mutual love for?
My favorite response is "Pics or it Didn't Happen".
I love the compounding aspect of disbelief. By asking for visual proof I'm agreeing that the thing they're seeing or doing is amazing. It feels playful and linked to my friend's experience.
The other side of that coin is that it can be construed as dismissive. That I fundamentally don't believe them and have placed a burden of proof on them to convince me that they're not a liar.
I wonder what the first century equivalent of this would have been? If you had been present to a miracle of Jesus would you have been met with a "Scribal Account or it Didn't Happen" from your friends? Would you have been believed or doubted and would it even matter?
One of the fallacies that influences us is the "happily ever after" nature of our modern storytelling. We can believe that we are one undeniably miraculous event away from being a true believer in God. I understand and validate the appeal of having a personal experience beyond just a learned experience, but what if you play that scenario out over decades?
Would you be compelled by a 70-80 year old's miraculous encounter in their 30's? I think it would make me sad for the 40-50 years of responding to a singular event. I'm more drawn to individuals with vibrant experiences that aren't just in the rearview, but are tied to this present moment. I think there's something that feels true about their engaged life here and now that isn't centered in the past, no matter how incredible it was.
If we can read the stories of Jesus while understanding the the truth of the narrative isn't centered on proving or disproving that these events, I believe it would better inform this present moment.
Kurt Kroon preaches on Mark 7 and the story of the disciples eating without ceremonially cleansing their hands.
Danielle Mayfield shares from Mark 5 and the ways that Jesus re-centers the narrative of who's lives matter on those who have been marginalized and excluded from public spheres.
This Sunday we're going to be talking about the Parable of the Sower, or as I knew it as a youth "AM I GOOD SOIL WILL I DIE TONIGHT OH PLEASE DONT LET ME SUFFER FOR ETERNITY".
Ok,maybe that was a little bit dramatic, but the parable really did fill me with a low level of anxiety.
The story Jesus tells is about someone throwing out seed on soil and only one particular patch of soil actually goes on to flourish while much of it never gets started or quickly dies. I was really interested in discovering how I could be good soil and how I could maintain my place in the "Good Soil Society".
The ultimate Christian aim in the world I grew up in was to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This is beautiful in so many ways and is still a reason we take the bread individually when we do communion at Cascade. There's a very personal aspect to our faith journey. One area of faith that can be ignored in that world is the communal nature of faith. How does my understanding of Christianity help me understand my place in this world and relationally to other people?
I'm starting to explore Jesus and Christianity in relationship to the social, corporate and political structures of our current context and of Jesus' context. What if there are structures in this world that serve as a kind of soil that we often don't choose but currently find ourselves in? Can these systems choke out a spiritual life that is all around us? Could God's design of the peaceful thriving of all people be compromised in certain systems in relationship to others?
I think about the spirituality many of us observed in the film "Harriet" this past week about Harriet Tubman. How did being a slaveowner impact your understanding of Christ vs your understanding as a slave? Maybe this rotates the conversation to include personal relationship with Christ as well as illuminating the cultural and societal impacts we're sitting in every day.
Just the other day I had a friend reference the story of Peter walking on water to Jesus.
I'm very familiar with the story. I grew up with images of a sinking Peter in the waves and a gracious Jesus reaching out a hand to lift him up. I remember dreaming of the ability to walk on water and hearing people snidely say, "So and So thinks they walk on water."
But as I return to the story I'm struck with how beautifully constructed it is.
There's the unexpected return of Jesus in a miraculous way. There's a devoted follower of Jesus who believes that this kind of miracle could be one of participation and not just observation. There's a thrill of joining Jesus and then failure when the insanity of the moment sinks in (fist pump - nailed it).
The story operates as a striking metaphor for so many aspects of faith, doubt, courage, success and failure.
How do we respond when hope joins us in a moment of struggle? Do we stand in awe or join in? Where are the places we're sure we don't belong? How can we be searching for proof we don't belong and allow that to sabotage us?
This story isn't one isolated example of the power of the Biblical narrative to help us reinterpret the world around us. There are so many stories that help us see God and ourselves in a new light. This impact can be lost if we spend all our time laboring over the events as either being literally true or literally false. It can strip the power from the narrative so fully that it's no longer worth engaging.
I hope you've been with us through this series and I hope the topic of Biblio-Idolatry has been one that offers freedom. This message finishes up with Harriet Congdon. I really hope you find a hand offered to pull you from a sinking relationship to the Bible to one of engagement and hope.
Talk a listen to this incredible message from Insil Kang as she draws the most graceful Bible and Keanu Reeves metaphor ever constructed.
In my late high school and early college years I listened to one album more than any other album in all the years before and since.
"Through Being Cool" by Saves the Day was on constant rotation day and night. 33 minutes and 22 seconds making up 12 songs of pure emo-punk perfection. I was sure it was the greatest feat of musicianship and lyrical content ever created.
What kind of transcendent lyrical content am I talking about? How about; "And my spleen is dripping from my pants." If you're not sold by that little nugget, I'm not sure what you're doing with your life.
If that album came out today exactly as it was back in 1999 would it still be the monolith of music in my life? Very doubtful. It's hard to be as angsty and driven by frustrated heartbrokenness when you have a mortgage, a minivan and you're coaching 6-7 year old soccer.
The reason that album holds such a special place in my life is due to it's timing and what I was experiencing. I'm not a static institution that remains unchanged throughout life. The ability of different kinds of art to deeply connect with us changes as we change.
Often we identify pieces of art for their transcendence without ever acknowledging half of the equation. We talk about the book, film, music or painting for all that it possesses without ever acknowledging that thing that it is being processed through. Us.
This message continues to go through our Biblio-Idolatry message series led by Scott Erickson. He helps us uncover half of the equation of the Bible's impact by posing the question, what do you want from the Bible?
I hope you enjoy!
(And yes, I did listen to "Through Being Cool" again while writing this)
When we attempt to make an argument one of the best strategies involves pointing out historical evidence to support your claims.
If I can find individuals or large groups of people who've "successfully" negotiated the world operating with an assumption I hold true, then my belief can be justified. And this makes sense when you think of humans as pack animals. Individual thoughts, actions or behaviors are inherently dangerous because that differentiation can threaten your survival. Wolves can easily take out one lone sheep, but a flock of sheep is much more difficult to attack.
This is why we dress, talk, and consume media in alignment with some number of people who currently or have previously existed. There can certainly be change in people's behaviors, but only when enough people move together to create it.
What makes this concept interesting in Biblical interpretation is that 2,000 years has created millions of ways to view the various parts of the Bible and what it is saying. Now, that statement probably doesn't feel true because people like to talk about the Bible with only one dominant lens of interpretation. When we grow up in one Biblical culture it doesn't even feel like a lens, but rather the Bible.
We want to zoom out of our last couple hundred years to see the ways that the Bible has been interpreted historically. The hope is that experiencing a diversity of Biblical lenses can give us all permission to acknowledge the lens we're using at any given moment.
When we gain awareness of how we've interpreted the Bible it gains a new voice that it hasn't been able to have before.
When I hear "The Bible says.." my ears immediately perk.
That's a pretty lofty claim regarding 66 books covering a 1,600 year span originating 3,500 years ago.
The Bible is the key sacred text of Christians, so it makes sense that there would be a lot of emotion and authority wrapped into it. Culturally, when we try and make a point or win an argument we often go to the highest shelves of language and thought.
Skipped breakfast? You're starving. Woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep? You're dead. Someone cut you off in traffic? You'll kill them. Step in gum? The worst.
Every conversation is prone to extremism to make a point, but all of this extremism takes a toll on our relationship with the things we place at the peak.
Our relationship with America gets strained when all political disagreements end with "Love it or Leave it." Our relationship with Justice gets strained when all issues are this age's holocaust. And our relationship with Faith gets strained when everything gets litigated through various interpretations of the Bible.
We want to explore our relationship with the Bible and the ways that we've elevated it beyond God.
Prophets and the prophetic voice exist throughout the entirety of the Bible.
There are prophets throughout the First Testament like Jonah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Amos and Hosea. Many of them got full books named after them.
The New Testament has the prophetic voice of John the Baptist, Paul, John and Jesus Christ.
The nature of prophets and has become a bit co-opted today to mean the people who are putting forward an ideology that we agree with. Across political and religious lines people would point to very different individuals as prophets of truth.
But one of the key roles of prophets throughout the Bible isn't just to call out injustice, but to remind the people how these injustices are the result of forgetting who we are. War, violence, pollution, exclusion and financial inequity are the product of losing sight of who we are and how we best operate in relationship with one another. The prophet holds up a mirror to illustrate the cost of participating in systems that benefit some at the expense of others.
So, who are our prophets today and what are the ways that we try and silence them? What are areas of reminding others who they that we're avoiding because of the potential costs?
When the tool of shame grows dull, the work of holding up a mirror to remind people of who they are is even more important. And this action begs participation that moves beyond simple critique.
For the past 6 weeks our church has looked at the topics of fear, grief & sadness and shame.
The summer of bummer.
Ok, I don't think those emotions are a bummer, but it definitely causes us to access a place that many of us put effort towards avoiding. And these are conversations that are desperately needed in the church, because they aren't likely to come up otherwise in our culture.
But this Sunday we're going to be exploring the tension we hold in the midst of tough emotions. We're going to be looking at the nature of hope.
Hope is a popular word in the Christian world, and for good reason. The Jesus narrative is all about hope in the face of suffering and injustice. That the difficulty of the current situation is not the forever reality. It was this hope that inspired the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and is resonant throughout his "I Have a Dream" speech.
What we want to explore is the complexity of hope and how to hold it in tension instead of a using it to avoid hard times. Hope is never meant to mask pain, but rather give us the strength to be in the pain.
Take a listen to a phenomenal woman willing to share her story of pain and the promise of hope she's been able to live into. I loved this conversation with Lisa Schmidt (aka The Sober Hipster)
One of the most destructive aspects of shame is it's baked-in certainty.
Shame can feel like a really squishy and uncertain emotion, but it has such a predictable outcome for every person who runs across it.
Some aspect of your being isn't enough.
You don't have enough intelligence. You don't have enough training. You don't have enough patience. You don't have enough love. You don't have enough discipline. You don't have enough physical strength.
Most of us structure our lives in such a way that we never have to face the areas of our lives that we don't feel "enough" in.
We don't speak or sing in public. We don't do games. We don't engage in conversations outside of our area of expertise. We don't speak up in our area of expertise in case we're exposed for not being expert "enough".
"Enough" is a myth. And when shame enters the picture "enough" always moves just out of reach to expose us for what we don't have.
So what if we heard the voice of God celebrating what we are instead of what we aren't? What if we felt a swell of joy for the way our brains, bodies and souls did operate when we faced the areas we don't thrive in?
The hope in acknowledging and releasing that repetitive voice of shame pointing to our "not enough-ness" is that we can enjoy and celebrate what is. On the other side of everything you're not is something that you are.
Your unique mix of skills, gift, insights and perspectives is desperately needed in this world and facing our shame can help allow that awesomeness flow more freely. To let the voice of shame paralyze those amazing gifts would be like a fish not swimming because it couldn't walk around on the land.
I have a love/hate relationship with small talk.
I know that it's pretty popular to despise small talk, but I can't get fully on board with that movement. I've had too many great conversations and connections come from chatting about work, the weather and the location of people's current or former home to completely write it off. I'm also aware that it can actually inhibit true connection. Sometimes it's just a swirl of information swapping and never gets to anything people are passionate about.
One of my least favorite aspects of small talk is when it comes to vocation. I never quite know how to ask the question.
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I never want to assume that people are currently employed somewhere. It can deeply sting to have your identity reduced to employment and asking it as a first question can do just that.
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There is this strange dynamic in the U.S. where we assume that you need to be passionate about what you do for work. In small talk I'm trying to discover the other person's passion and talk about work can sometimes do the opposite. This can expose a strange guilt in people that they've done something wrong by not earning money via their greatest passion.
3. I don't want to keep reinforcing the narrative that people's value is found in what they do for work. If this is consistently one of the first things we ask each other, we are saying that what we do for work is one of the most important aspects of our identities.
One of the places that this becomes most evident is in the crisis of identity that people feel in changing jobs, losing jobs or being without jobs that financially compensate us. We've wrapped up our identity in our jobs, which has about as much to do with our identity as our clothing or vehicle choices. They are all areas where our identity can find expression, but they are definitely not to be confused with our identities.
This message is a transition in our Liturgical Flow message series from Grief & Sadness to Release of Shame. We have the great privilege of hearing from Lindsay and Koes Bong, who share so much with us about seeing and letting the shame within us go.
As human beings we sure are funny about routine.
If you sit in any public space long enough you'll hear someone complain about the monotony of life.
"Another day, another dollar" "Same stuff (or some variation of that word), different day" "I just want one day where I don't have to sit in traffic for an hour"
It makes sense. A lot of our television, movies and books center around ordinary folks being pulled into extraordinary circumstances. We long for aliens to arrive, super powers to be bestowed or portals to another dimension to appear. We want there to be some break in the ordinary and expected outcome of our days to remind us we're still alive.
But how do we (and the characters in TV, film and literature) usually respond when the regular rhythms of life break into a drumroll? We long for the boring! We want to be returned to routine and met expectations. We long for the mundane to remind us that life isn't just wild chance and chaos.
In the midst of these competing desires is a truth to sit with. We need to mourn the loss of our expectations and dreams. We need to observe their passing and sit with the hold they had on our lives.
Whether the things we lost were incredibly painful and really beautiful, there is still a loss. Whether we lost the regular routine of our days or the dreams instantaneous adventure. Life has a way of exposing our expectations and these moments require some reflection and hospitality.
One of my least favorite stereotypes is that only Type A personalities like control. Type A personalities might be more inclined to take charge, but they are not any more inclined than the rest of us to be in control.
Most every person is trying to gain control of their circumstances through their tool of choice.
Some use passive-aggressive avoidance Some use humor Some use others-focused service Some use effusive praise.
The desire to be in control is deep within all of us. We live in a wild and unruly reality and attempting to tame it is vital to our survival. It is the desire to control that leads people to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter those living outside. To surrender trying to control the world around us is to surrender to a passive fatalism that is equally problematic.
The error is to believe that we've succeeded. When our desire to control convinces us that we have control, we stop showing up to parts of our own reality. We start eliminating information that demonstrates that we aren't in control and we start surrounding ourselves with people, places and things that support our illusion of control.
All of this is ultimately in service of keeping our fear at arms length. Control feels like the antidote to fear and it works for long stretches of life. But what happens when events like broken relationships, natural disasters or grim doctors consultations occur? We are forced back into a wild and unruly reality we've convinced ourselves doesn't exist.
It was Father's Day when this sermon was preached.
For some of us the weekend is a flood of good memories and a happy childhood. For some of us it is loaded with harsh memories and deep wounds. For some of us it is a combination of them both.
What's tricky is that the emotions around our fathers gets attached to our picture of God as father. This can become a really helpful pathway to understand and engage with God, or it can become a barrier.
As far as barriers to God, this is one that is really common and entirely unnecessary.
Jesus talks about God as His father. There are parables where Jesus tells about the nature of God through the metaphor of father. There are reasons why we think of God in terms of an older man up in heaven. But what do we lose if we keep the parental metaphor and drop the link to gender? If God is a good and loving parent do we miss something because he's not male? Can we hold space for people who love God as father and for people who love God as mother and for people who connect with a God outside of gender?
Listen in to our new liturgical flow in action as we create space for grief, the release of shame and a celebration of joy.
((Some moments of silence have been edited out of the podcast to avoid confusion on if the podcast was still playing))
When I started officiating weddings I was shocked to learn that none of what we traditionally associate with weddings are necessary for people to get married.
Vows? Nope. 1 Corinthians 13? Nuh uh. I do's? You don't. "I now pronounce you"? Nein.
All that you need to do to make it official is fill out the paperwork with a couple of witnesses. You could wrap it all up at a courthouse in the time it takes any of our bureaucracies to stumble along.
It reminds me of what we do with our church services. We think that they have to look a particular way because of what we have seen or experienced before. While this tradition is helpful in many ways, it can actually keep us from getting to the heart of what we could be doing.
Hear this amazing reflection on Good Friday with Leroy and Donna Barber, Mark Charles, Sunia Gibbs, Andru Morgan and Treneil Washington.
If you've ever walked through the Home section in a Target then you'll probably recognize the collection wall decals and nick nacks that feature the "true enough" sayings. These are the quotes and sayings that have a sliver of truth in them, but require specific circumstances to be true.
On a number of occasions I've dreamt about hovering 4 feet by the power of my mind off the ground and it's yet to happen.
If how badly you want something is the key to unlocking life, I would have conquered eating an entire sheet cake by now.
There's still truth in both of these statements, so I'm not trying to invalidate the power of dreaming of realities that don't exist yet or the power of eliminating certain desires when I realize how weak the drive behind them is. The problem is that when we consume true enough, we usually end up deeply disappointed in the complexity of life. If we sit with deep wisdom we find truth that can negotiate this complexity.
I think the Jesus story and Easter Sunday is deep wisdom that's been packaged as true enough wisdom. We've been sold calligraphy on a wood pallet and a decal for our wall, when it's always been meant to expose the deepest truths of life, loss, fear and hope.
My hope is that we'll sit with deep truth this Easter Sunday in ways that illuminate the ways we individually and collectively have settled for the good news of true enough.
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. James 5:16 This one Bible verse filled me with so much hope and so much dread early on in my faith.
The hope was linked to the feeling that my prayers could be powerful and effective. Power and effect meant that I would have the ability to enact real positive change in the world. Cancer could be miraculously healed, relationships could be restored and pain could be avoided if I could unlock this whole "righteous" conundrum.
And that's where the dread came into the picture. There's a terrifying lack of specificity to being "righteous". What was I doing or not doing that could compromise this identification? Had I lied too often? Had I neglected to serve and help enough people? I was pretty sure I was a devout person that loved God, but the elevation to being righteous always felt just out of reach.
Honestly, I thought that if you had ever considered yourself righteous it would immediately disqualify you from being righteous. It was like being humble. The only way to be righteous was to be afraid you weren't.
The ultimate effect of this kind of relationship to prayer was that it all depended on me. If God was all powerful and was all good, than the only reason good things weren't happening was my lack of righteousness.
That's a real easy place to pray from, honestly. I was praying all the time because more prayer equaled more righteousness and this was the best path towards getting my prayers to be answered.
The content of my prayers is what was the problem. It was filled with fear and anxiety. My prayers cycled around trying to find the right combination of self-doubt to unlock the righteous achievement to get my prayers answered.
I think it's time to start declaring there are versions of prayer that shouldn't exist. Prayers to a petty and indifferent God shouldn't be prayed. Prayers that require anxiety to be answered can't possibly be prayed to a good God who created all things. This is such the antithesis to what we read about the character of Jesus who was demonstrating the nature of God in tangible ways.
When I was growing up yoga and voodoo were synonymous.
Anything Eastern was to be mistrusted and it was a way that the devil could infiltrate your soul. While that language sounds over the top, I can promise you that is a direct quote.
Where does this kind of fear come from? Why would people in relationship with the One God of all people be scared of other religious practices? If your faith requires isolation to be safe, then what kind of faith do you really have?
This isn't to say that I think that every idea is neutral or beneficial. I think there are very real dangerous thoughts that lead to all kinds of very real dangerous practices. The way that I know these ideas are dangerous is because we've seen the harm they've created in the world.
The key difference was that the mistrust of Eastern practices and ideas I was exposed to was rooted in ignorance. Could you really say that yoga and meditation has created harm in our world? This is the same culture that taught me to consume products at an unsustainable pace for sake of the economy, but people who focused on breathing while stretching were evil??
This message is the wrap up to our message series on prayer and contemplative practices. I think it's important to evaluate barriers in our history that are keeping us from helpful prayer practices for no discernible reason. I hope this message meets you ready to open to a wider definition of prayer to get the core of connecting with a good and loving God.
I was recently reading an article about stand-up comedians who were processing jokes they told early in their career that they now regretted.
Jokes have been a powerful tool for perpetuating harmful thoughts and ideas about people in our world. A joke allows you to share offensive stereotypes without taking any accountability. The person who is offended is the one who needs to "lighten up" and "take a joke". The typical response is to laugh or shake your head disapprovingly with a smirk.
I find articles like these interesting because even though there aren't a lot of pure apologies (a lot of justifying and caveating instead) there is an awareness that we change over time. I actually think Christianity should be leading the charge in these kinds of conversations. We're a community with a specific word and theology for changing ideas and behavior.
Repentance is one of my favorite phrases. It literally means to turn around and go the other way. It's already assumed that there will be times when we gain new insights and awarenesses and our reaction is supposed to be change. The idea of "doubling down" on ignorance or bad information is foreign to the language of the Bible.
This Sunday my friend Cara Meredith is going to be sharing about a shift in her life that was led by a relationship and how honoring the personhood of others is key to Christianity. I encourage you to come hear Cara's journey of change with new information and the freedom that comes from repentance. May we be the kind of people that model growth and utilize repentance in that journey.
In the midst of this message series I decided to explore a new prayer practice (which is also the subject of our new Sunday morning class). I've been using a drawing workbook (found here) as the centering activity for my prayer time.
Praying through drawing and art isn't something that I would have assumed I would ever do. In our culture of excellence and specialization we rarely pursue activities we don't demonstrate skill in. Drawing only has value if you can utilize it for financial gain, and I have never demonstrated even the tiniest skill in drawing.
But what if the value is found in letting new activities bring to surface beliefs about God, self and the world around you that you couldn't have accessed otherwise? I have been finding such freedom in activities that aren't centered on productivity. It breaks the spell of viewing myself only as a commodity that needs to perform tasks to have value.
I'm the same person who turned my nose up at the adult coloring books trend as a colossal waste of time. That judgement was all rooted in a worldview that values the most direct line to productivity.
While drawing has proven to be a helpful tool for prayer for me, maybe your activity is physical activity, baking/cooking, reading, quiet meditation, or praying through a Psalm. Whatever activity you end up praying through isn't as significant as what the prayer time is doing in and through you. One of the goals of prayer is to connect God and the spiritual realities of the world around us. Because God and spirituality are all around us, we can enjoy the freedom of exploration because there isn't just one way to get there.
So, what is your new prayer practice in the next few weeks or months? New insights or breakthroughs rarely come through old patterns, so what could be waiting for you on the other side of the risk of learning a new path to talk to God?
Prayer is weird.
I've heard enough stories about voices, visions, physical sensations and trances to know that prayer creates some real oddities. Even though I like to think of myself as a person who can accept the testimony of others while reserving judgement, I rarely do a good job of it. I think I know why.
There was a time in my life where people sharing spiritual experiences was an exercise in asserting spiritual dominance.
Had a crazy vision of swans swimming in the ocean and delivering fish to babies? You were a present day Joseph! You might as well get outfitted for that technicolor dream coat.
The voice of God told you personally to go tell that stranger that you've seen them surrounded by an orange light? You're probably the next great prophet, in the lineage of Elijah and Elisha.
These stories were shared at times with me to highlight a spiritual superiority that they had. It caused me to doubt my own relationship with God and deeply desire some kind spirituality oddity to call my own. I was stuck in a cycle of doubting and desiring weird spiritual moments.
While I've let go of a desire for unexplained spiritual experiences in prayer, I haven't let go of my doubt. I still hold onto a resistance to hearing and believing in the oddness of spiritual experience, even when the person sharing it doesn't do so from a place of power over my experiences.
It's strange to have so much resistance in the way that prayer has worked in someone else's life. We project our doubt onto other people's experiences and can even cause them to doubt or hide their experiences. I wonder if experimenting in prayer can help us all be more generous in our acceptance of the oddness of faith, without prioritizing it over the experiences of others. Let each person share what they've heard, seen, not heard and not seen in a way that is excited for the diversity of our paths to Christ.
Often when people talk about prayer they say that it "just isn't working anymore." We want to take a look at what "working" means and ways that we can confuse the form and function of prayer. This is a discussion about the ways that prayer can be a space for dreams, despair, remembrance and surrender.
Prayer used to be easy.
I can remember how quickly and easy conversations with God used to come. As a child I would talk to God every night as I fell asleep. I would climb up into my treehouse and talk to God. I would talk to God while I played with my G.I. Joe action figures or while I rode my bike around the driveway.
I would talk to God about my day at school. I would talk to God about what I hoped being a grown-up would look like. I would pray for my dogs or I would ask God to help me find a toy that I had lost. As the youngest child in my family by 8 years, God was like my invisible friend. God was my constant companion who would always offer an open ear for whatever felt significant to me.
Over the years everything has become a lot more challenging. I've prayed fervently for people in dire situations to be healed on mission trips that never happened. I've prayed for friends and family members who never recovered. I've prayed for signs and clear directions that have never come.
The simplicity of prayer has been replaced by the complexity of life.
Prayer used to feel like stepping into a warm bath and now it feels like stepping out onto a high wire.
It's enough to make me want to avoid it altogether. I'd prefer to read about God, talk about God and think about God instead of engaging with God. What used to feel so safe now feels really uncertain.
Over the years I've learned that my story isn't unique. Maybe some of you have had a similar journey with prayer. I truly hope it is a powerful and ongoing part of your life, but if it's not, have we got a new message series for you!
We want to acknowledge all the complexity and potential difficulties with prayer while learning more about the varied contemplative practices of people around the world and throughout time. I hope you'll join us with an open mind and an open heart for what prayer and contemplation could be. I know I'm preparing to be stretched and challenged for the 6 weeks we travel through this series.
When I was 18 years old my favorite activity was to go buy clothes at thrift stores.
Some of my favorites included; A shirt for "Ben Toilet Rentals" that had a bear and an outhouse on it (since it wasn't "Ben's" I liked to imagine there was a man somewhere named Ben Toilet) A shirt that had iron-on felt letters that read "I'm Going to be a Daddy" (I wore this shirt for my eldest son's birth) A shirt with several quilt pieces that read "The One Who Dies With the Most Fabric Wins"
I also found a shirt that read "Straight Pride" and had the classic male and female silhouettes from restroom signs holding hands. I wore it several times until an older friend told me to stop. I couldn't see what the problem was. The LGBTQ+ community could be proud of their sexual orientation, so why couldn't I be proud of mine?
He told me that being in the majority meant that you don't go around flaunting it.
This was new information for me and it started down a very slow path of wrestling with the explicit teaching from my youth that anyone in the LGBTQ+ community was living outside of God's best. After engaging in homophobic joking throughout high school and college I transitioned to indifference and avoidance.
For years I would have told you that I just didn't know what I thought about the Bible and the LGBTQ+ community. It wasn't until seminary that I started to see the privilege in this position. I didn't seriously wrestle with the conversation because I didn't need to. My close friends were heterosexual, so there was nothing urgent driving me forward.
With an understanding that Jesus pushes us past the conversations that impact us, I looked more closely at the the 6 (or 7) verses in the Old and New Testament that were said to deal with LGBTQ+ people. What I discovered in the process was that we should do as much study of how our culture of origin influences how we read the Bible as our study of the Bible itself. I found a path of love and acceptance that takes the Bible incredibly seriously. I found equality and justice.
In this message we look at 3 of New Testament passages (all written by Paul) that have been used to condemn the LGBTQ+ community. We study some Greek words, look at context and take Paul seriously. We also talk with some friends who have been seriously harmed by the church and these verses. Their stories help us hold together theology and humanity in the way that Jesus invited us to integrate.
Last week I sent out this newsletter with a "your" where a "you're" should be.
This is embarrassing, specifically because I put some real effort into these newsletters. I come up with the ideas, type it out, re-read and edit. There are times when I start with a premise that really captures what I'm trying to communicate and there are times I really stink up the joint.
Now, imagine you have something that you've written, you care about and it starts to take on a life of it's own. Imagine people take a work memo or letter you wrote and break it down into chapters and verses. Imagine they start quoting it and start putting sections of what you wrote on coffee mugs, t-shirts and inspirational posters. That may feel amazing, but it may also fill you with a deep sense of dread.
That level of scrutiny could take some of your thoughts completely out of context. Even within this email so far you could quote me as saying;
"I really stink up the joint" - 1 Kurt 3:6
Ultimately this doesn't mean that we don't read, study and enjoy things that are written, but that we always hold them in tension with where they were written and the larger themes that frame them.
Paul's writings were used to justify and prop up slavery for hundreds of years. Even though it isn't a debate we're waging today, knowing that Paul was part of that conversation can really cut the legs out of wanting to read and study his writings. In this message we want to put Paul's conversation back together and see how the trajectory of his writings inform the specifics.
This Sunday is the Super Bowl and I can really enjoy a game where I don't care about the two teams playing. I'm just here for the commercials, halftime show and the food!
If your watching the game with a lifetime of fandom for one of the teams playing it will likely be much different. You'll likely view every penalty against your team as a gross violation of justice. Fans of two opposing teams can watch the same play and have vehemently different interpretations of what happened, usually through the lens of their fandom.
The energy and anxiety levels of a person just watching the game for the love of the sport is hopefully more balanced and fair. They don't have the same lenses impacting their version of events and can really just celebrate the quality of the game and the impressive feats of any player. There's no reason to feel defeated by a great play by the opposition, because there is no opposition.
I wish I could say that this kind of anxious or defensive participation was just limited to sports. Sadly when it comes to any number of "teams" there is a lens that we carry that can impact our version of events, Whether these are the "teams" of country, ethnicity, gender or political affiliation.
One of the great hopes we carry in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the elimination of a "team" mentality. We can instead experience the whole of humanity as God sees them and hear stories from other perspectives as necessary insights into the story of us.
When George Lucas first made and released Star Wars in 1977 it was a huge success, far beyond what anybody could have envisioned. It soon became apparent that a second film would need to build upon this success. In interviews that George Lucas gave around the time of releasing The Empire Strikes Back he stated that he actually had a trilogy of trilogies already created. Around this same time "Episode IV" was officially added to "A New Hope".
There's something that really captures our imaginations about someone creating a huge epic tale that we've only seen a part of. Game of Thrones and Lost are more recent examples of sprawling epics where we start to ask where things are heading and take some solace in the idea that the full story has already been completed.
I wish I could say that was true for Cascade when the church got started in June of 2015.
We didn't have a clear picture of where the church would be in 3 months, much less 3 years. There were key values that drove the creation of the church that focused on safety to ask big questions, not having to agree on every point of theology and moving towards engaged spiritual living in the real world. How that would look and who would resonate with that vision was totally up for grabs.
I don't think it would have served us then or that it serves us now to have the entirety of the Cascade story written, but it does require us to have regular check-ins as to where we'e at. We need to pause often and make sure the driving vision of Cascade is still what's leading us forward as a church.
I grew up with a mother who was an adult Sunday School teacher at the church we attended.
For some of you, this may not seem like anything worth mentioning. What's the big deal about someone volunteering their time at a faith community to share a gift they have?
Within Christian culture in the US some hold that only men should be allowed to teach at a church. This isn't a widely held teaching of the Bible. There are many stories of women teaching and leading throughout the Bible. The belief comes directly from some of Paul's writings (and I would note that it dovetails nicely with patriarchal society norms)
So, my Mom would share stories of men walking into the class and walking out when she got up to teach. I was baffled by this because of the unique view I had into her preparation and giftedness. My Mom woke up every morning and had time studying the Bible with her commentaries. She put countless hours into prayer, study and developing what she was going to teach.
How is it that because of anatomy my Mom shouldn't be allowed to teach? How is it that half of the population can only receive wisdom from the other half? In this message we look at the verses that helped create this worldview and at context and the broader teachings of Paul. The hope is that by looking directly at the verses that launched millions of exclusionary rules we can discover the heart of God for how we all relate to one another.
Whooooooooo's ready for a thought experiment!?!?
Ok, so imagine you are watching Wheel of Fortune and after a contestant solves one of the puzzles Pat Sajak tells them they are incorrect even though the answer appears obviously correct. He then tells them that while the answer was correct, they forgot to ring the buzzer and frame the answer as a question. Now, most of us would assume this is a classic Sajak and Trabek Face/Off situation, but the rest of us would lead a forceful revolt with pitchforks and flame at Stage 11 of Sony Picture Studios. The rules of Jeopardy cannot be allowed to govern the world of Wheel of Fortune! These are two separate realities and you destroy the fabric of the known universe when you mix the two!! In the words of the immortal bards The Offspring, you have to keep them separated.
In a much more subtle way this misapplication of the rules is how many of us were given the Bible. We're imposing the rules of Jeopardy on Wheel of Fortune, so to speak.
There were common assumptions about how you write, discuss and debate spiritual realities for the Jewish people during the time of Jesus. These assumptions create the trail guide we need to navigate the truths and conversations of Scripture and you are in danger of doing damage to the Bible, to others and yourself if you don't understand these assumptions.
Christians have had a complicated relationship with Paul and his writings. It’s amazing to think about the journey of a man who went from attacking followers of Jesus to becoming one of the heroes of the faith. It’s rare that people change that much in the course of their life.
But there are also parts of his writings that have been used to support patriarchy and homophobia.
We think it would be well worth our time to re-examine Paul and his role in Christian thought and practice. It might be possible that understanding context can shift how we view him and give us fresh eyes on his writings.
Take a listen to Michelle Lang sharing her message with Cascade about creation, worth and all the potential within you!
Take a listen to Pastor Sarah talk about the ways that we experience the love of God in real and mysterious ways.
The older you get, the easier it is to see the interesting dynamics of your family system.
I can vividly remember the feeling of trying to catch my brother in a mistake so that he could get in trouble like the rest of us. I was sure he was the golden child that never got in trouble.
I can remember baiting my sister into fights so that she would get in trouble once again. She was the black sheep who was pushing back on most rules and expectations.
I can remember retelling stories my parents wanted me to tell their friends about the funny thing that had happened. I was the comedy relief that could help lighten the mood.
What's so interesting about these roles and expectations is that all of them were true and untrue at the same time. All of those stories illustrate part of who my siblings and I were and there is also a lot that is missing from those stories and descriptions.
When we get older we can instinctually fall into these roles in our friends groups, work environments or faith communities. What's the impact of continuing to live into one version of ourselves from our families of origin to the family of God? What happens when something catastrophic makes our family of origin role crumble right before our eyes? Who are we and who is God in the context of God's family?
Ever see someone drop trash while they're walking down the street?
It's oddly satisfying to whisper "sinner" under your breath when it happens.
Sin is an intriguing word that alternates between meaning too much or too little in people's lives. It can be a huge burden that you carry in the pit of your stomach or a meaningless flick of lint that you pull off your shirt. It's a word we can dismiss because it's overuse has rendered it meaningless or a word that carries so much weight because of our fear that we're constantly sinning. It can also be an odd word that means nothing because it wasn't one we heard or used growing up.
We want to look at and through the word sin to discover some really powerful words behind it. Love and hatred are words that are used heavily in this section of scripture and we want to see the relationship to sin.
The hope is that we can reorient our understanding of sin by contextualizing it with love and hatred. When we see it in light of these other words I hope that it sticks with us in ways that invites us to both humility and purpose.
There are so many moments in any given day or week that make you question your handle on sanity.
I'm not talking about current events or politics. I'm talking about little moments each day that make you realize that your grasp on reality is a tenuous one.
Have you ever pulled out your phone to check the calendar, see a notification of a text message that sends you down a digital maze that will inevitably end with putting your phone away without checking the calendar?
Ever search your house in a panic looking for your glasses, wallet, phone or keys only to realize that they were on your person the entire time?
Have you ever searched the refrigerator repeatedly only to give up and tell whoever else is in the house that the item is gone only to have them walk over and immediately find it?
Have you ever sworn that a particular actor or actress starred in a movie and debated it vigorously only to Google it and discover that you were very wrong?
This world has a way of causing us to doubt ourselves and desire for some true things to hold onto. I take great comfort in knowing that the quest for something "real" in this world isn't something new. This Sunday we're going to look at Plato and Aristotle so we can really dive into 1 John. The author of the letter in the New Testament deftly uses the logic of the day to point to deeper levels of truth that are less known and more experienced.
People often use the words empathy and sympathy interchangeably. It's largely understood as the same concept, but empathy is just an improved version of sympathy.
Sympathy is the ability to hear about someone else's pain or struggle and to care about their experiences. It's incredibly useful when you hear someone else in pain and you don't feel anything other than, "suck it up." You pause for a moment and try to see the experience through their eyes.
This isn't an easy thing to do and many of us talk about sympathy like it's an easy thing to have or share. We usually mean that we understand they are saying something painful, but we've never actually done the work to understand what they are saying from their point of view. What we're feeling is most commonly understood as pity. Pity is the ability to recognize that someone else is suffering. While a vital step that moves us from being cold or indifferent, it's not much beyond that.
Sympathy requires that I see the situation from your perspective and I actually care about your pain. I move from receiving information to caring about the information that I receive.
Empathy is one step further to actually feel the suffering as if the experience was yours. It's probably best to visualize this so that you can see the progression between the 3.
Pity --------> Sympathy ------------> Empathy I see your pain I care about your pain I feel your pain
We overuse empathy without understanding what the word means and the time required to actually get to that place. We tell people we feel their pain when we actually just care about or see their pain.
One of the great hopes in Christianity is its ability to move us towards empathy. To feel the pain of others is a byproduct of not seeing a separation between ourselves and others. We experience the whole of humanity as one creation of God and suffering in the world matters to me because it's my suffering too. Jesus came to heal the whole world and my healing is connected to other people's healing.
While this can be an overwhelming idea, the hope is that identification with all people leads to an activated church that is working for the healing of all people.
The other day I walked into a Michael's looking for velcro.
That's like walking into a Safeway and asking where they keep the food.
There's not a section of the store that couldn't feature velcro and you have a lot of ground to cover. This overwhelming task could be made simple by asking one of the employees where they keep the velcro. That is what a reasonable human person who is familiar with how stores work would do.
So, naturally I wandered around the store for 10-12 minutes searching high and low. Within the first few moments a concerned staff member saw the look of confusion on my face and asked if I needed help finding anything.
"I'm all set, thanks!"
I found it eventually, but this experience exposes my deep and abiding inability to ask for help before the point of desperation. I think I have some ideas as to why I struggle in this area and I'm curious if you've ever felt similarly.
1. I Don't Want To Be An Inconvenience - Almost every time I'm asked to help someone I feel honored instead of inconvenienced (which reminds me of this great bit from Nick Swardson). I assume that asking for help is a burden to others, so I won't say anything that could be perceived as a problem to someone else.
2. I Don't Want To Appear Insufficient - Sometimes I think that asking for information that I don't have is a sign of weakness. The assumption is that I should be able have everything that I need in life to deal with every challenge that comes my way.
3. I Don't Want To Depend On Others - Asking for help is to need another person. No longer do you feel in control and you certainly don't have the experience to back up that what you're being handed is trustworthy.
Ultimately God gave us a whole world of people who have strengths where we are growing. Part of maturity isn't having everything already, but being aware of where we need to grow in maturity. The belief that we are complete already actually leads to greater amounts of confidently walking around in our own ignorance. There's a spiritual act in acknowledging what we don't have so we can receive what we need for our journey.
Have you ever made a decision in a moment and immediately regretted it?
There's this great trick where you can run up behind a person, place your hands on their shoulders while jumping and push yourself up and over the top of them.
When executed correctly, it's the perfect marriage of low-level danger and basic acrobatics.
One element that's really important in negotiating this maneuver is the awareness from the individual that is about to be jumped over that they are in fact part of this stunt.
When I was in my young 20's I was hanging out with some dear friends walking around downtown Sacramento. We had just had a great meal, spirits were high and we felt like we could conquer the world. I was drunk on youth, community and exuberance.
In this head space I decided to celebrate by executing the jump that I've discussed above. Now, my two friends walking ahead of me were very different heights. Erik is 6'3" and Carly is 5'5". I decided that jumping over Carly made a lot more sense and when the crowds in front of us cleared I broke into a jog ready to feel truly alive.
As I reached about 5 feet behind Carly and was engaging my stutter step to transition into a leap I realized that I maybe I should have told her a bit of my plan. She turned slightly to learn more about the stampeding feet rushing behind her.
What happened next could only be described by the people on the opposite side of the street as an awkward mugging from a disgruntled member of Cirque du Soleil's B-Team.
The laughing and chatting was replaced by a strained silence as I helped Carly up from the ground that I had just shoved her into. Instead of using my momentum to launch over Carly, it was all channeled into shoving her down and forward. I had then only been able to piggy back her into the ground like cowboy lassoing and wrestling a calf. I was facing a lot of really logical questions that had no good answers.
"What were you thinking?" "Were you going to warn her beforehand?" "Who are you?" "You suck." ((Not a question, but a fair critique))
I had failed in that moment and all the joy was replaced by questions from others and from within me. I had always considered myself the kind of person who makes fun times even more fun, but what if I wasn't? What if I was selfish and valued my experience over the experiences of others? What if I had ruined the night and drove a wedge in between my friends and me? ((My friends were very gracious and understanding and this story quickly became a hilarious part of our lives together))
Failure, whether big or small, brings about questions of identity. It almost always causes us to mourn the death of a version of ourselves that we don't believe exists anymore. These might be tiny deaths or they can feel like the complete death of self.
There are days when I feel fully mature.
I feel like I know myself. I feel at peace. I have hope when I think of the future. I am aware of the world around me`and I embrace it all.
And then I interact with another human being and it all goes out the window.
There are these illusions of being grounded in God and seeing the world from a divine perspective that get shattered when we have to put them in practice in the real world.
We're surrounded by people with different ways of engaging the world, from different backgrounds and different experiences. That's a recipe for confusion and division if we aren't intentional about engaging every person as a holy encounter.
This week we're going to talk about the stress test of maturity. How do we practice maturity through our conversations with others in a diverse world? How do we celebrate the image of God in others and see that lifted high so that a reality where all people can peacefully thrive comes to earth?
When I was a boy I couldn't WAIT to get older.
It felt like adults got to do all the great stuff that I wanted to do.
Grownups didn't seem to have limits on their candy intake, they got to watch whatever TV shows they wanted, they could drive cars and they made up their own bedtimes.
While being an adult has it's benefits, the processing of becoming an adult is exhausting. There's a lot of increased responsibility to go along with all of that increased freedom.
Last year a couple of friends and I came up with the idea of having a night completely themed around the dreams of being an adult we had as kids. Buy a birthday cake at the grocery store and eat it all Drink too much soda Play video games all night Watch a rated R movie.
I think one of the reasons we've never done it is because it sounds kinda terrible as an adult. I would definitely get sick from too much cake and soda and staying up all night sounds like punishment. Tom Hanks in "Big" is the only way to actually enjoy the kinds of adult experiences you dreamed of as a kid. You have to be transported into an adult's body with your kid brain.
This is because we change and grow over time. We don't still hold the same beliefs we used to hold. While age and maturity don't always walk in step, there is a process of maturity that comes with age.
What we're hoping to explore this week and for the 3 weeks after that is the process of Christian maturity. What does it look like to become more mature? How do we keep growing, even when our bodies stop? How is Jesus inviting us to deeper levels of maturity that bring God's plan and purpose for living to bear?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It's a big phrase that can carry a lot of weight for people familiar with Christianity.
The origins of the word "Gospel" is a lot of fun to unpack. The earliest followers of Jesus took it from the more common usage of "The Gospel of Caesar". Whenever someone would come into power in Rome a story would develop to validate the power of the incoming caesar. Usually these stories would use divine powers, abilities or events that justified the Caesars ability to hold onto their position.
There's a lot of parallels in our culture today. Almost every superhero movie has an origin story. It's the reason why you can trust their future actions. Spiderman needs the radioactive spider bite to be Spiderman. Superman needs to be an alien to be Superman. Batman needs tragedy and a billion dollars to be Batman.
This extends to our politicians and business leaders. The Gospel of Apple involves Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in a garage in Los Altos, CA building incredible technology with limited resources. The Gospel of Donald Trump involves building a real estate empire from a 1 million dollar loan from his father.
These stories are all meant to support the narrative of doing incredible things in the past to support the idea that they will continue to doing incredible things.
What's really interesting about the gospel of Jesus Christ is how subversive the whole concept was. The parallels between the gospel of caesar and the gospel of Jesus was intentional to demonstrate the power of a better story. What if power wasn't used to hold and protect greater levels of power? What if the point of the origin story was to share a new kind of worldview where power was given to the powerless and a misuse of power is held accountable?
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a wink at the audience because it's using a format we've seen repeated for several thousand years to tell a very different story. It's a good news for all people, not just some of the people at the top. I hope you'll celebrate and join this good news that turns the lights on power dynamics in our world then and now.
When I'm hanging out with people I'm just getting to know I have a fear that conversations are going to veer into subjects where I have nothing to add.
Have you ever had this happen to you when you're having dinner, hanging out at church or talking with co-workers? You try your best to participate, but you know nothing of the subject they're discussing. You stand or sit smiling and hoping that the conversation will head back into territory where you can find your footing once again.
I think at least some of the fears that get exposed in these situations is that your lack of value is finally being laid bare. You don't have any contributions. You don't have any knowledge. You don't have any reason to be there.
I usually find that these spaces create so much anxiety that I'm not even able to be present. I'm so in my own head wrestling with thoughts of inadequacy that there's almost no part of me that can remain to learn about these subjects. I'm not able to learn because I've believed the voice in my head that says that having insightful comments is equivalent to having social value.
So, I jump in when I think there's an opening and try and take the conversation somewhere I feel more informed in. I try to and use control to feel better about myself and the things I already know. This isn't usually a conscious decision, but something that happens naturally and without my control.
I wonder over the years how much I've missed out on because I haven't allowed myself to be led and informed by others. I worry that my concern about appearing informed has kept me from truly ever becoming informed. It's hard work to stay present to a conversation you don't feel in charge of or well-informed about.
Well, all of this is true for me, but I think that there are many of you reading this who have found yourself in this position all too often. You haven't felt that you had the ability to steer the conversation differently, so you listened and nodded your head and heard all about new things and ideas. Feeling like you can steer a conversation differently is a power.
This Sunday we're going to have a conversation about power dynamics and race. This has proven to be a difficult conversation for people who make up the majority race in the United States, which is white people (76.6% of the US population identifies as "white"). Being a part of the majority race means that there are insights into power dynamics and race that are really hard to experience or see.
It can feel like being in a conversation where you don't have much to add. My prayer is that you're able to be present to the conversation this Sunday and hear the ways that Jesus is inviting us to have eyes to see and ears to hear. If seeing the Kingdom of God come to earth involves the valuing of all people, then staying present to the stories we may not see or hear is vital. God works powerfully in these spaces to move us ever forward.
I have a verbal tic that I'm trying to break.
When I walk in a room and see a big group of people hanging out I'll reflexively say, "Hey guys!"
Now, I know from having asked people to help me be more aware of when I say it, that this is often brushed off as no big deal. Men and women alike will say "Hey, guys!" in groups of people, group emails and at the start of their Instagram stories. "I'm not talking about gender, it's just a helpful way to greet a large group.", they'll say.
I can understand that. If you're in that camp I would encourage you to walk into a room of people and say, "Hey, Gals!"
People would likely be confused, and saddest of all, some would interpret it as a slight or a dig at the men in the room.
When we normalize one gender over another we're describing where power is held. If it's no big deal to be referred to with masculine pronouns, but confusing or insulting to be referred to by feminine pronouns, you might be living in a patriarchy (I am preparing for my second career as the woke Jeff Foxworthy)
A patriarchy is simply a system where men hold a majority of the power. This would be shown, for instance, in a country where the highest level of leadership (the president) has only ever been held by males.
This power dynamic can be invisible to men and women because it's always been true in their lifetime and likely many lifetimes before their own. We all feel the impact of gravity every single day, but we may not have the language to describe it and certainly not the awareness of it at all times. Patriarchy is like a gravity that impacts one gender more than another. You may not be able to see it, but it's there and it's impacting our interactions on a moment by moment basis.
Jesus brought us a vision of humanity that holds differences among genders as equally necessary parts of the whole. We collectively need women to hold power as much as we need men to hold power. Jesus featured the role of women in the resurrection story (Mary with her perfume, and the Mary's discovering the empty tomb) as much as any of the male disciples. This is the kind of reality that God is inviting us into and Christians get to be at the forefront of this story, instead of lagging far behind.
When I was growing up my image of God was intimately linked to the pastor of our church.
This wasn't something that I could have articulated to you. If you had asked me if I thought my pastor was God, I would have said "no". Nobody needed to pull me aside and set straight a belief that this man was divine.
But when I look back and consider the potential damage if my pastor had told me I was doomed to hell or if Jesus didn't love me (thankfully these things didn't happen), I can see that there were some real problems in their connection. I knew that my pastor wasn't a member of the Trinity, but being the voice of God and being God is so closely tied together that distinguishing between the two was just semantics.
If you grew up in the church and can relate in any way to what I am saying, is it any wonder that we have church trauma in our world today? We need religious teachers in all their forms to be representatives of God or we can carry a deep dread that God is against us.
Jesus knew this deeply and nothing drew out his anger like spiritual abuse. Our confusing systems of church blend too much power of people with the power that rightly belongs to God. In Matthew 21:13 Jesus condemns those selling the sacrificial doves as those who have turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves. Think about that reversal! They have taken something that God meant for relationship and grace and turned it into a mechanism for profit.
And we are still in danger of these same kinds of abuses today. We're capable of them at Cascade. So how do we proceed as a church understanding the power dynamics at play and be on the side of relationship and grace? That's what we're trying to figure out, and we're so glad that you're along for the journey!
Can you remember your first time in elementary school realizing that there are waaaaaaay more kids than teachers?
What a rush!
It's a whole awakening experience to feel that kind of power. You're out at recess and the bell rings to come inside and you start playing the "what if?" game. What if we don't go back inside? They can't catch ALL of us, and we know some good hiding spots.
It starts to fall apart when you consider the power the teachers have to contact your parents, keep you in for future recesses and give you additional homework. But if you banded together, you could create a whole day of absolute anarchy.
This week we're going to start new message series all about Power Dynamics. It's the use of power between people or systems. It has huge implications for all of our relationships and how we move through the world.
Jesus had a lot to say about power. Jesus taught us a lot about how we use power and how we respond to power in our world. It's going to be a great series that will impact how you look at the world and how you interact with people around you.
When's the last time you've identified yourself as a Christian to a stranger or acquaintance?
It's a tricky situation because you have no idea what their experience or definition is of Christianity. Are they incredibly conservative or liberal politically? Are they from the West Coast, Midwest or South of the US? Do they have a very religious family member or a parent who's a pastor? It feels like the term "Christianity" requires so much explanation that it's not even useful in expressing faith anymore.
I don't know if this is a new phenomenon or not. I do know that when I was younger I had no qualms about telling a stranger or acquaintance that I was a Christian and I had no doubts that they knew exactly what I meant by that.
Maybe it was youthful ignorance. Maybe it was a product of the rural part of California I was from. Maybe it was a different time in the history of Christianity in this country.
Whatever it was, this shift for me personally has led to larger questions about the nature of Christianity and the nature of Christian churches in the United States. How did the "Good News" of Jesus become an identifier that required further explanation?
The easy answer is that it's a cultural problem with people who don't understand who Jesus is and they hate the good news we have because of the devil inside of them.
The harder answer may be that American Christianity has distorted the "Good News" to the point that's it's only good for some people. The reason why identifying yourself as a Christian can require qualifiers is that people wonder if your practice of Christianity is one more marked by violence than peace.
This week we want to reflect on an ancient story of rebuilding an old wall to ask about the value of reclaiming something that was, instead of starting over somewhere else. The hope is that we'll learn something new about Cascade, Christianity and journey's of faith.
Ever read a study on "Cities of Refuge"?
Me neither.
This week I started studying and can't tell you how many times I thought, "is this real life?"
Sunday we are attempting to define the "who, what, when, where, why" on Numbers 35 to wrap up our summer series on Numbers. We'll have a conversation about where you find safety, a unicorn named Sparkles (that is sometimes called Sprinkles) and the challenging of complicated systems. What happens when churches, historically considered places of safety, miss the mark?
I'm currently writing this note at a Starbucks.
I have my headphones in, but I've turned off my music, because I am TRANSFIXED by the conversation happening next to me. A man is being laid off from his sales job unless he agrees to take another position in the company. It's high drama that's been going on for the last 15 minutes where the person who is being fired is fighting for his job.
I'll keep you updated.
This Sunday we're looking at a story that has some similarities to the situation on my right.
Five sisters come before Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the assembly to ask for something that's never happened before. They think they should be able to inherit the land of their deceased father, but in their society that was only available to men. Think about the bravery it requires to stand before a collection of the most powerful people in your system and ask them to change the way they've always done something. Imagine asking these powerful people to see a situation from your point of view when there isn't a single person like you making the decision! Sadly, I know that many of you don't need to imagine, but just remember your own experiences.
((He's currently exploring other positions in the company and weighing the pros and cons. It's amicable, but tense))
Questioning authority and the way that thinks have always been done is one of the bravest acts anyone can ever engage in. With few exceptions, the people who have enough power to change the systems are in their positions because of the existing rules. They have no incentive to change anything. It's a wonder that anything in our world ever changes without a revolution!
((He's currently reiterating that they really don't want to lose him as an employee, but talking up the value of the severance package. There's some mixed messages.))
What we really want to look at this Sunday is the response of God to the questions of the five sisters. In this drama of the leadership and the challengers, where does God fit? God quelled the Korah rebellion dramatically earlier in the book. Is God always on the side of the existing power systems? What will God say this time and what do we learn about God's nature through this story?
Don't miss out this Sunday! We'd love to see you.
((Ok, no firm resolutions right now, but I'm going to do some edits of the newsletter and give this another 10 minutes before pressing send. I think he should take the severance package. I think he can land on his feet at another company given his relationships in the business.))
((I think they worked out a solution! He suggested a different position that they hadn't considered before and he could keep his same salary! Everyone wins! This is like an episode of "Full House"! But not an episode of "Fuller House". Enough with the reboots already.))
One of the best stories in all the Bible involves a non-Israelite chatting with God, delivering blessing on God's behalf and getting schooled by his donkey. Take a listen!
If I were to tell you that it will start raining lemonade tomorrow, most (all?) of you wouldn't start setting out pitchers to collect all the coming lemonade.
This doesn't have much to do with your perception of my trustworthiness or your general amount of faith. It's more basic than that. Our brains are wired to notice patterns in the world around us. If you bang your head on the top of your car when you get out of it, you'll start adjusting the way you get out of that car. We notice patterns because they keep us safe and avoid unnecessary pain. We expect things to happen much the way that they have happened in the past.
This is good and healthy behavior for all people. If you saw someone try and jump through the windshield of their car to get inside, you wouldn't say, "Wow! Look at the faith on them!"
While this logical way of engaging the physical world around us, sometimes it can really hold us back.
Here's what I mean. What if you're asked to try something that you've never tried before? What if you're given a new task or role in your home, work or school? The pattern recognition system in your brain will come back empty. You're likely to resist or avoid it unless there is a significant benefit you can identify for trying this new task.
This can mean that we see ourselves today and into the future in the same way we saw ourselves yesterday.
This week we're going to be looking at Moses bring water out of a rock in Numbers. It makes me wonder what unexpected things are ready to be set free in you, regardless if you or others have ever seen in the past.
The accusations that cut us the deepest are the ones we have already aimed at ourselves hundreds of times before.
In the desert Moses faces the accusation that he's lording his power over the rest of the community for a job he tried to talk his way out of from the very beginning. He never wanted to be in charge in the first place.
Have you ever felt like an imposter and no amount of success or time has ever caused you to shake that reality? That's because feeling like an imposter gets worse with success and time, not better. How does God want us to face the idea that we're not worth our current life in the desert? What can be set right when we're willing to step out of feeling false and into the truth that God has made us enough for the life we live?
Have you ever traveled with a loved one to the town they grew up in, but they haven't been back in years?
It usually isn't too long before they start regaling you with stories of an aunt who one time got into a fender bender at a particular intersection. They can tell you the name of the families who used to live in every house. They can tell you the spots that they used to hang out in during high school. They are being flooded with memories by being back in this space and it's almost like they're not in control of their stories. They just flow out of them. Some are profound and some are completely mundane.
It's like you are with the outline of the person you know, but their mind and soul is transported back to whatever time their memories exist in. They are like an explorer bringing back tales of travel from a distant land.
The stories they tell you and the stories they tell themselves shape their beliefs about who they are and who others are. Taken to its extreme this can be used to say that we just need to change our stories and we can change the realities of our pasts. That's not what I'm talking about.
Rather, I mean that our stories are both what has happened and our interpretation of what happened. Over the course of our lives we can view certain events charitably until we start to realize more of the abuse that was present. And we can also view parts of our own story fearfully only to one day have a triumphant relationship over them.
This week we're going to look at an experience of some scouts coming back to the people of the Wilderness and tell them a story about their future. It's a helpful reflection on the stories we tell ourselves and the places that our relationship to the events around us take us.