Westview Christian Fellowship: Recent Episodes
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Westview is an inclusive learning community with an Anabaptist heritage where participation comes before perfection. Together we aim to develop a sensitivity to the call of love, peace, justice, reconciliation, hope, beauty, and in these, God. Assisted by dialogue and learning, we hope to orientate our lives to the “Good News” found in Christ’s life and teachings. During the week Westview is a community hub for women in the Queenston Neighbourhood. At Westview Centre4Women you’ll find the same guiding principles in practice as women from all walks of life are offered a safe place that encourages respect and dignity for self and others.
Recorded January 15, 2023There are four servant songs in and around Isaiah 49. According to the scholar Damon Garcia, serving God, for Isaiah looks like working for the liberation of the oppressed. The gospel of Mark reflects this idea in its portrayal of Christ as a suffering servant. In this message, Caleb takes the suffering servant motif a step further, comparing what servanthood looks like for Christ as opposed to Mary. Both, it’s argued, serve God by working for the liberation of the oppressed.
Whereas Mary is taking back the power taken from her by a system of oppression, Jesus is giving back the power he received from that same system.
Mary and Christ are engaged in the same project; one is a man, a prophet called the king of the Jews, while the other is a woman and a victim of patriarchy. Suffering takes on salvific power only so far as it can be transformed into an act that liberates the oppressed.
Recorded Dec. 11, 2022.
Content warning: this episode discusses sexual abuse and rape.
Whether you want to believe Caleb's reading, that Mary is a victim of sexual abuse or not, the fact is, she's living in this context where sex is weaponized. All five of Christ's mothers experience this violence against their bodies and humanity. A parallel between Mary, Tamar, Rehab, Ruth, and Bethsheba seem to be something Matthew wants to communicate.
If this is the case, Mary, like Christ's grandmothers, uses her body to rebel against the patriarchy. Rather than seeing the abuse as ending her story and genealogy, she calls the child and his birth a beginning -- "the salvation of Isreal." Like Tamar and Ruth, Mary takes for herself what is reserved exclusively more men; she becomes what she and all women have always already been — the source of her people.
Recorded Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. Over the last few Sundays, we've been working through a series titled "What, Where, When, Who, is the Church - personal reflections on what church means to us." In this episode, Caleb reflects on a lesson learned through this series. Specifically, Caleb talks about how Evangelicalism has inspired his foray into politics and to hold on to the belief that change is possible.
Recorded on August 2022: Luke 12
The rich fool in Christ’s parable takes the surplus produced by the earth and puts it in a barn. If having faith in God means believing that God is good and provides more than enough for even the wildflowers, then it’s hard to deny that the surplus produced by the ground is a gift meant to be shared with all.
When the rich man hoards this gift, he deprives others of it. Another way of saying this is that by hoarding the abundance of the earth, the rich man steals from all those for whom that gift was meant.
Grace moves in the other direction; it calls us, evident in the Lord's prayer and the splendour of the wildflowers, to believe that there is more than enough for all. There is no reason to worry, there is no reason to hoard wealth.
Recorded on July 17, 2022: Luke 10:38-42
Mary and Martha teach Jesus how to apply his teachings in the real world. Both teach Jesus what it looks like for the last to be first and the first last.
Mary does this by taking on the role of disciples, Martha, and all women through the centuries up to today who do double duty -- in the house and outside the home -- teach Christ what it means for men to follow Christ’s teachings.
Recorded on July 10th at Westview: Amos 7 and Acts 1
May we, like Amos and Christ, listen to the maladjusted of our time; may we listen to all those who refuse or are denied the ability to adjust to our economic system, a system defined by exploitation.
Recorded June 12, 2022: Acts 2: Let's not stop at rage but find places of safety, where we’re willing to be vulnerable for the sake of the marginalized, so that, with the power of the spirit, we might find the courage to imagine and build worlds where we all share in the abundance of our Creator.
Recorded June 5, 2022: Acts 2: Where is the holy spirit? The holy spirit is with those who are being persecuted and it’s there, it seems, to give them the power to say, "enough! We are done being abused. We deserve dignity, we desire salvation.”
Recorded on May 22th: Joshua 7: The story of Achan and Christ are similar in the end result: both are publicly crucified for the sins of others. The difference is primarily found in who is telling the story, who is the interpretive key - Christ/the victim, or the one doing the victimizing?
Recorded on May 8th: The Road to Emmaus: Mothers sacrifice their own bodies for the sake of the child they carry within them. There is a parallel here with Christ’s suffering on the cross. I wouldn’t say that the mother is a victim, indeed, this is probably the wrong way to characterize the experience, but she does sacrifice herself, her own body, for the sake of another.
What I think we’re asked to do when we participate in communion is to remember how we are all pregnant with each other. The more we live into this reality -- the reality that we are codependent on others -- the more we will find ourselves inevitably drawn to interpret the world, and the stories we tell to make sense of the world, through the eyes of the oppressed.
Recorded May 1, 2022. As Christ is rereading Scripture, the hearts of the two men on the road to Emmaus burn within them. They’re burning because they’re learning about themselves and what it means to be Jewish to a way that makes sense of the Easter event.
As we reread the stories we tell about what it means to be Christian through Christ's eyes, we shouldn't be surprised to find that the stranger or non-Christian has been the host all along. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, it us who are the recipients of the other's hospitality.
Recorded on April 10.
Who Does Christ Receive his Authority From? Answer: Mary of Bethany.
The supper with Mary doesn’t look great. We have a bunch of men sitting around a table eating being served by two women, and then one of those women washes the main guy's feet only to have Judas mansplain to her why what she’s doing is wrong. This is patriarchy at its worst.
How does Jesus respond to this patriarchy?
Recorded on March 20th at Westview. A few months back Patty Krawec tweeted a challenge to churches to have her speak on the table-flipping scene in the gospels. Westview and Silver Spire United took her up on the challenge. We were very grateful for the opportunity to hear and dialogue with Patty on Sunday.
You can find a video of her sharing on Silver Spire here and a transcript of her talk on her website.
Patty Krawec is an Anishinaabe/Ukrainian writer and speaker from Lac Seul First Nation. She is a current board member of the Fort Erie Native Friendship Center. She is the cohost of the Medicine for the Resistance podcast and cofounder of the Nii’kinaaganaa Foundation, which collects funds and disperses them to Indigenous people and organizations. Her work has been published in Sojourners, Rampant Magazine, and Midnight Sun. She also posts podcasts and essays about books on Substack. Her book, Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future, will be published in September by Broadleaf Books and is now available for pre-order. Krawec attends Chippawa Presbyterian Church and lives in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Find her on Twitter @gindaanis.
Recorded on March 13, 2022: As the Israelites celebrate Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, they do so hoping he will save them for colonial rule. The crowd, however, has forgotten what humble leadership looks like. When Christ does the work of a humble king, his humility makes him look more like a loser than a saviour and so the crowd rejects him.
Disturbing business as usual during Lent is done so that I better recognize the ways my life and actions parallel that of Rome, the colonizer. In this way, Lent helps me prepare for Easter. Lent, for me, is a time to disturb business as usual so that when I encounter the living Christ today -- in the world, in nature, in others -- I don’t hang that Christ on a cross I've helped construct.
Recorded on Feb. 26th 2022: Will Klassen talks about letting go so we can all participate in outcomes.
Recorded on Feb. 20, 2022.
I tend to believe that we’re all saved. Paul’s helpful for me because I believe that love calls to all, nothing we can do changes that fact: Jonah travels to the underworld, the teacher of Ecclesiastes losses the faith and blames God for all the evil in the world and yet the call to love finds them both.
In this sense, we’re all, from the beginning, regardless of our actions or beliefs, in the process of being saved.
Unfortunately, some chose not to believe the lie that they are not worthy of love, or they chose to believe that they and their religious cult are the only ones worthy of love and in so doing ignore the call of love by other means.
Submitting to the call of love is an ongoing process. Love is an open-ended invitation that is always in excess. It calls from mystery into mystery or in Paul's terms it is the eternal, or heaven or the spiritual realm that calls to be embodied in the earthly and concrete.
Recorded Feb. 13, 2022. Here Caleb gives an overview of Ecclesiastes, attempting to wrestle something meaningful from the meaninglessness of life.
All our actions are never enough. We eat, we sleep, we die, we're forgotten and it's God's fault.
Like the teacher of Ecclesiastes, Christ experiences alienation from God. It's possible to reread the ending of Ecclesiastes and a Christ-follower as follows: "What should we do when we're angry at God? When we’re confused and rightfully blame God for creating a world with overwhelming challenges? What should we do when we feel a weariness onto death caused by racism, sexism, war, climate change, and homophobia? The narrator calls us to carry on following Christ’s commandment - love one another as I have loved you, even after you’ve lost your faith.
Recorded on Feb. 6, 2022. On a systemic level, Jesus’ first followers are driven by oppression and subsistence living to leave everything and follow him. The first disciples don’t fully understand the practical consequences of Jesus’ life of abundance — life is a gift meant to be shared. Jesus’ teaching and fishing tips offer an alternative to the disciples’ politics of fear and scarcity. Such an alternative is more than enough to convince the disciples to leave their subsistence work and follow a teacher who will lead them places they may not have anticipated.
The Parable of Jonah and the Fish, Part 2 - a plagiarized sermon by Caleb Ratzlaff
Recorded on Jan. 23, 2022.
Caleb, using material from the podcast The Bible for Normal People, introduces the theme of justice in the book of Jonah. Specifically, Caleb asks along with the book, if justice looks more like punishment or mercy and what does repentance have to do it? By stressing mercy, the book of Jonah provides a counterbalance to other prophetic Old Testament texts that seem to lean towards punishment. That the Bible itself struggles with this tension within justice, between judgement and mercy, calls us to grapple with this same question. How do we judge well while believing that justice bends towards mercy?
Jonah Dies, Part 1 - a plagiarized sermon by Caleb Ratzlaff
Recorded on Jan. 16, 2022.
Caleb, using material from the podcast, The Bible for Normal People, introduces the story of Jonah as a parable, specifically a parable about Isreal. Jonah's ordeal in chapter one leads to a new appreciation for God's relationship with the non-Hebrew world. In chapter two, Jonah sinks down to Sheol, the underworld. With a giant fish, God reaches down to the land of the dead and brings Jonah back to life. Through the work of the natural world, Jonah is reborn.
Recorded on Jan. 2, 2022:
“In the beginning was creative love and the creative love was with God and the creative love was God.”
Love isn’t only transforming life into more life, but it’s also transforming death into life. Love seeks to transform those places of shame, anxiety, or oppression - such as crippling debt, the pressures of expectations, or the stresses of capitalism and the lie of scarcity. We discover the manger -- the word becoming flesh -- at night in moments of struggle.
To rest in the bosom of God looks like loving one another, discovering creative love as it takes on flesh among us.
Recorded on Dec. 12, 2021. Kathleen talks about ‘what is joy’ and ‘what gives her joy’. She proposes that joy is something deeper than happiness and can be an intentional act we carry out each day. Life isn’t easy but in its many experiences, we can learn to have joy and spread it effectively even during rough days.
Recorded on Dec. 5, 2021 at Westview. In this message, Caleb explores three movements of faith - blind acceptance, doubt, and grace. Both blindness and doubt have their place and can be life-giving when guided by grace. Caleb recounts how he's experienced these three stages of faith through his relationship to the Christmas story. As a child, he blindly enjoyed the season before doubt showed him that the story is primarily about opposition to oppressive power structures and is almost definitely not historically accurate. Nevertheless, he argues that Luke's emphasis on the manager affirms all our modern Christmas feels, mainly that peace on earth looks like warmth, safety, and care.
In part 2 of Knowledge and Certainty, Jared revisits the topic of epistemology, the study of the nature of knowledge, by giving a short history of western society’s ways of answering the question “how do we know what we know?” He discusses traditional, modern, and postmodern thinking, and, with that history in mind, once again addresses his own personal journey with apologetics. We often hold very different beliefs and values, differences that are further complicated by the fact that we don’t all agree on the nature of truth and knowledge.
Recorded on Oct. 31, 2021
Recorded on Oct. 17, 2021, Caleb asks "what texts that call us to suffer, serve, or even to be a slave mean for marginalized people that have already experienced so much suffering?" How does this question inform our reading of Jesus' prediction of his death and explanation of the crucifixion?
Recorded on Oct. 10th Caleb discusses the story of the rich young man and what it takes to get into the neighbourhood of God.
Do not defraud: do not be afraid to stop the unjust accumulation of wealth even if such work comes with persecution, as Jesus says it will in Mark 10.
Our hope: learn to share and you will receive, Jesus claims, a hundred times as much — homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields — now in this present age as well as the age to come.
The following is a message shared at Westview on Sept. 5, 2021. Here Caleb gives a close reading of Proverbs. 10:1-22, arguing, with the help of his professor, Calvin Seerveld, that Proverbs can be read not as a collection of isolated sayings, but as cohesive poetic units. When read this way, the Proverbs sits more comfortably in the wisdom tradition and the trajectory that moves through Jesus.
Proverbs 10 is concerned with the heart rather than the right knowledge and doctrine or about working hard and being “successful”. Riches are not a measure of wisdom, in fact, wealth is a danger for the foolish. Proverbs 10 has a spirit of playfulness, care, and welcoming that calls for justice and love: a love that dresses all kinds of rebellious misdeeds with clothes.
Proverbs 10:1-22 translated by Calvin Seerveld
Cited:
“Proverbs 10: 1-22: from poetic paragraphs to preaching” In Reading and Hearing the Word: From Text to Sermons. Essays in Honor of john H. Stekedited by Arie C. Leder. Grand Rapids: Calvin Theological Seminary.
Jared shares some of his journey in coming to terms with ambiguity and the limitations of human knowledge, pondering how we know what we know, and how certain we can really be of it. He suggests some ways that we can address the issue, both in general as well as from a Christian standpoint.
"As Christians, our primary calling isn’t to be right, or to hold the correct doctrine."
In this episode, John reflects on Scripture, his own life, and how the spirit reveals God’s love in our ordinary lives.
Recorded on June 23rd 2021. In this message, Caleb explores the expansive and equalizing work of Pentecost, suggesting that the birth of the church is the beginning of the final judgement. As such, we are called to participate in the judging how to live in response to God's spirit of love and justice in the world.
In the Pentecost story we discover that the equitable distribution of wealth and the destruction of social hierarchy are the first areas of our life together that we are to seek to respond appropriately to God’s work of love amoung us. A work we are witnesses to in the life of Jesus Christ.
Will begins by introducing a story he wrote about heaven to the lectionary verses for May 9th 2021. Here he talks about finding the sacred in the ordinary asking us, like the angel asked the disciples at the ascension, why we look toward heaven? The important stuff, Will argues, happens in the substance of daily life.
Leaning on an insight by Casey Overton, an activist and contributor to enfleshed.com, Caleb reflects on how the song "Why Can't We Be Friends?" by WAR sheds light on the meaning of John Chapter 15.
In John 15 we read: “And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.” So how do we know that you’re abiding in love, living the love commandment? In this world, in Christ’s world, when essential workers ask for a living wage, they get it, when the homeless ask for better living conditions, they’d receive it, or maybe when addicts ask for a clean drug supply, it would be given to them.
Using the lectionary verses, Justin asks the question, “if we are to look within our own tradition to find the resources to love the land again, we must read the Bible with bent towards foundational teachings of harmony and care for all of creation.” Justin encourages us to find ways to include creation within our worship, not only as an representative for the divine, but as an active participant, guiding us into the love of Christ.
Cahoots Festival: https://www.cahootsfest.ca
Wild Church Network: https://www.wildchurchnetwork.com
Recorded on April 25th, 2021 Caleb discusses Acts chapters 3 and 4. Jesus replaces the question “Who is the Greatest?” with the question “Who is my neighbour?” In Acts we see the disciples continuing this story, embodying what it means to be Jewish followers of "the way." The healing of the cripple on the door step of the wealthy elite confirms Jesus’ authority to (re)interpret the Jewish story. Being an act of true charity that addresses the root causes of inequality, the healing also continues Jesus' story by challenging oppressive regimes.
Rather than false charity we, like Peter and John, need to pursue societal change that works to make poverty and oppression unimaginable. Acts of justice that challenges systems of oppression are always done in the name Jesus.
Recorded on April 11th, 2021: The ban is not widely practiced in our modern Mennonite communities anymore, but historically every Anabaptist group has practiced it in some form or another. Many of us might be inclined to see this history as irrelevant to our current lives. However, Tom looks at this and other histories that we might prefer to ignore and explores how our histories shape us. He shares his thoughts and experiences on how the historical practice of the ban is still relevant to our conversations about grace and accountability.
Recorded at Westview on April 4, 2021: The challenge for us is to recognize the resurrected Christ without the need to be confronted by the crucifixion, something the male disciples fail to achieve. We pray our eyes are opened to the ways we participate in systems that benefit some at the expense of others before this abuse brings our world crashing down around us. And we can start this work by putting aside our own expectations about how the world should look long enough to appreciate the complexities of addiction.
Rather than asking with the male disciples, "who is the greatest?" let's let the questions "who is our guest? who is not at the table? who is the one that serves?" guide the world we live in.
Recorded on March 28th at Westview's zoom service. Grazia shares from her heart, thinking through mystical hope, what it's meant to her this Easter, and how this Easter is different from others.
Recorded at Westview on Feb. 14, 2021: Mystic hope is difficult to grasp, but it’s more than simply a desire for good outcomes, it’s a way of being in the here and now that holds on to life, however fragile and vulnerable it might be. The woman who anoints Jesus for burial finds a way to hold on to life even when she knows it’s about to be snuffed out.
Recorded at Westview on Feb. 14, 2021 this episode featured Carol Penner. Carol Penner teaches and writes in the area of practical theology and after many years as a pastor in various Mennonite congregations, she joined the faculty at Grebel. Her research interests include feminist theology and Mennonite peace theology, and abuse issues. She has a popular blog of her worship resources at www.leadinginworship.com.
In this discussion, Carol asks “Why are Anabaptists so conservative when it comes to women?” In response, Carol outlines three aspects of Anabaptist theology that keep women in a subordinate role: suffering, obedience, and forgiveness.
“We need a peace theology that really does bring peace to people, not just peace to the people in charge or on top, but peace to the people who suffer the most.”
During the Winter of 2021, we're taking some time to reconnect and reevaluate our Anabaptist heritage. Caleb continues the series by talking about a central doctrine of the Anabaptist movement called "The Priesthood of all Believers." Caleb reflects on how this doctrine has the power to level hierarchical systems of power. And how in John chapter 21, we see the potential for this doctrine to reach beyond itself, moving from a Priesthood for all believers to a Presithood of call creation. All of creation is called to be Christ.
During the Winter of 2021, we're taking some time to reconnect and reevaluate our Anabaptist heritage. We want to honour this heritage by mining it for its moments of light and uncovering the times it has fallen short. In this way, we can dig deep into the fertile soil of our past while learning from mistakes. By exploring Anabaptism, we hope to better appreciate the diversity of the congregation at Westview.
John and then Ruth kick this series off with a historical overview.
During the Winter of 2021, we're taking some time to reconnect and reevaluate our Anabaptist heritage. We want to honour this heritage by mining it for its moments of light and uncovering the times it has fallen short. In this way, we can dig deep into the fertile soil of our past while learning from mistakes. By exploring Anabaptism, we hope to better appreciate the diversity of the congregation at Westview.
John and then Ruth kick this series off with a historical overview.
Recorded on Jan. 3, 2021, Caleb speaks on Luke 2:22-40, the story of Simeon and Anna. In this story, we find clues that Jesus will lead Isreal into a new way of being in the world but will diverge from the pattern set by David and Joshua. Jesus will listen to his parents and grow in wisdom and favour. We learn how Jesus’ life and mission are grounded on Mary’s sacrificial love. His life, like ours, rests on a mother’s sacrifice.
Recorded on Dec. 20, 2020, Victor speaks on Matthew 2:13-23 sharing about Joseph and his own relationship with tradition in the Mennonite church.
Recorded at Westview on Nov. 29, 2020. In this episode, Caleb Ratzlaff discusses Luke 1:38-56.
In this passage, Mary consents to partner with God in a very specific way, she says yes to being Jesus’ mother. Caleb discusses the implications of the vulnerability inherent in the incarnation. Mary could have said "no."
Mary says yes to God and for her, this means committing to raising a son who is willing to give his life in an effort to transform society into the type of world described in Mary's Magnificat. It is the possibility of this world, a possibility growing in Mary and Elizabeth's wombs, that fills them both with joy.
This episode's feature picture is by Ben Wildflower
Recorded at Westview on Nov. 22, 2020. Victor Ratzlaff reads Matthew 25:31-46, the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. This is Victor's first episode and our 20th!
Like all parables, the parable of the sheep and the goats aims to shake us from our complacency and get us to think about what it means to embody Christ's teachings. In our context, as we move into Advent, this parable talks in concrete terms about how the incarnation, how Christ, is found in food, water, clothing, strangers, sickness, and prisons.
Recorded at Westview on Nov. 15, 2020. Caleb gives rereads the parable of the Talents, arguing that we've read it wrong, very wrong.
At the end of the podcast today, Rosilee Sherwood shares a beautiful reflection on peace that was composed by her 7-year-old students. If you only have 3 minutes, skip to minute 17.
Recorded on Nov. 8, 2020, at Westview Christian Fellowship. In this episode, we are honoured to hear from Heather Morgan. Heather shares parts of her life story, particularly her learning from LGBTQ+ Christians with groups such as Generous Space and https://wildgoosefestival.org/. These relationships invited Heather to wrestle with her reading of scripture and the world that told her she can't celebrate her trans child. Heather provides for us a grace-filled reading of scripture that has been emerging from her wrestling with the Bible. You can find Heather at https://poweredbylove.ca/
Heather Morgan's Bio:
Heather has spent 17 years working with thousands of pregnant and parenting individuals through issues including general parenting skills, neurodiversity (autism/ADHD), trauma, physical/developmental disability, mental health issues (for parents or children), and parents who are learning to support their LGBTQ+ child/youth. She has experienced infant loss herself as well as raising two children, each with multiple disabilities, both of whom identify as LGBTQ+.
Professionally, Heather has worked as the Founding Support Director for the Trisomy 18 Foundation and has attended over 50 births as a High Risk Doula. She has trained under Penny Simkin on Childbirth After Sexual Abuse, under Leah Kuypers on Zones of Regulation, under Dr. Karyn Purvis on The Connected Child, and with the Gilbert Centre’s Family Support Team. Heather is a trained Life Coach with thousands of hours of clinical experience.
Recorded on Nov. 1, 2020, at Westview Christian Fellowship. In this episode, Ruth shares some of the insights she gleaned through her experience of Advent and the readings she’s been doing this year. Ruth focuses on the incarnation and the trinity, arguing the desire for a relationship built into the Trinity itself is expressed in the Incarnation and is something that’s always been.
Be warned, the audio in this episode is poor, we need to get a new microphone for the pulpit.
Recorded on Oct. 4, 2020 at Westview Christian Fellowship. We are honoured to have David Hall share with us about his experience as a Christian who is also a member of the LGBTQ+ community. David also walks us through some of the steps Silver Spire United Church is taking to become a more affirming community. After sharing his story, David answers questions members of Westview have about what it's like to be both a Christian and a gay man.
It was a gift to hear David's story and we hope it can serve to inspire other faith communities.
Recorded at The First Mennonite Church in Vineland on Sept. 27, 2020, Caleb Ratzlaff discusses how his perspective has shifted from seeing himself as a fixer to the receiver of help from the oppressed. In the process, Caleb shares with The First a little bit about life at Westview, while once again emphasizing the necessity of listening to the stories of addicts, sex workers, and widows as we allow them to lead us to the cross.
Recorded on Sept. 27th, 2020, at Westview Christian Fellowship. Caleb Redekop shares about his experience working with people who use drugs. He connects the experience of the stigma he witnessed in this community to Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. For Caleb, connection is the opposite of addiction.
Recorded on June 28, 2020, Grazia Shepard shares her story on how she found Belonging at WC4W in the midst of her journey with mental health.
Recorded on August 9th, 2020 Kyla imaginatively recreates the Book of Hosea from Gomer's perspective. Pointing out problems with Hosea's marriage metaphor, Kyla makes Gomer the central figure of the text, renaming the book, the Book of Gomer.
Recorded on August 23, 2020, Jon Willms asks us to reflect on what we're searching for and helps us apply this to Hosea chapter 6. Leaning on contemplative exercises, we practise learning to listen differently and hear more with silence.
Recorded on August 9, 2020, Caleb Ratzlaff reads Hosea Chapter 2. Here, Caleb reads the text asking who are the oppressed, the weak and the needy; what are they doing, how are they being treated? And then, he evaluates whether or not the narrative is liberating those who are suffering.
As we read the Bible or consume any media for that matter, it's good to ask the questions - who are the vulnerable and the oppressed and; is this story helping or hindering their struggle for liberation?
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on July 19, 2020 - John Derksen gives us an introduction to our series on the book of Hosea. John introduces us to the structure of the book, its major themes, and 4 reasons why it is significant to the history of Isreal.
In this episode, Rosilee Sherwood discusses the characteristics of a prophet, someone who amplifies the call of justice and love while calling out the powerful and systemic oppression. Using the backdrop fo Amos, Jesus, and Martin Luther King Jr. Rose asks us to consider three modern-day prophets that she's encountered in her life: Greta Thunberg, Alok Vaid-Menon, and Ursula LeGuin.
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on July 5, 2020 - Caleb Ratzlaff continues the series of Amos, finding three commonalities between Amos and Martin Luther King Jr.'s Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Both Amos and MLK criticize the church, condemn complacency, and call out the perversion of the law.
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on June 28, 2020 - Caleb Ratzlaff continues the series of Amos, revisiting the issue of God's punishment in the context of Chapter 7.
In Chapter 7, Amos convinces God to relent from punishing Israel with famine and drought. Unfortunately, Amos is not able to convince the religious, political, and business elite to relent from trampling the needy. The leaders of Israel exile Amos before he can persuade God to spare them from punishment. There will be bodies, many bodies says the Lord.
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on June 7, 2020 - Caleb Ratzlaff introduces a series on justice in the book of Amos.
Amos is a colourful Apocalyptic prophet of the type that inspires much of Christ's words and actions. While exploring this theme Caleb also suggests three ways of grappling with a vindictive and punitive God.
Ted Grimsrud, a professor at Eastern Mennonite University, has a very helpful post on this topic up on his blog that can be found here: peacetheology.net/restorative-just…nt-justice-amos/
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on May 17, 2020 - Caleb Ratzlaff discusses Acts 15 - the moment the church affirms uncircumcised Gentiles.
Inspired by the experience of LGTBQ Christians, Caleb finds parallels between Westview's journey to be an affirming church and the early church's struggle to affirm uncircumcised Gentile Christians.
Spoiler: there's more biblical grounding for affirming LGBTQ Christians than there is supporting Paul's argument that circumcision wasn't always necessary.
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on March 15, 2020 - Caleb Ratzlaff discusses Luke 16, the parable of the rich fool, the lilies of the field, and the dishonest manager.
Inspired by Hollis Philps' book, "Jesus and the Politics of Mammon," Caleb finds two competing mindsets in Luke 16: a mindset of scarcity vs. a mindset of abundance.
Recorded at Westview Christian Fellowship on Feb. 16, 2020 - Caleb Ratzlaff discusses Matthew 5:21-37.
Using two commandments -- do not murder and do not commit adultery -- Jesus elaborates on what he means when he says that his life and works fulfill the law and the prophets while offending the powerful.
The end discussion has been edited for sound quality and length.
Sermon and discussion at Westview Christian Fellowship Jan. 5, 2020
Here Caleb discusses why he doesn't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.