Awaken Community

This morning, we start with a question: "How can I trust the Bible when there are so many contradictions and discrepancies in it?" Maybe the answer is in how we read the bible and the fundamentalist Evangelical filter we've seen it through.

Have you ever seen those lists of names in the bible and proceeded to the next page to the "important stuff"? Been there, done that. Pastor Jenna brings another side to the lists that may make you want to go back and read them. Sometimes it can seem like a dry accounting of male figures in history. But there's much, much more to those seemingly endless lists.

Typically, our Lost in Translation series takes a difficult to understand or interpret passage and dissects is. This morning, we're doing it with an idea or concept - Justice. As a follower of Jesus, how should we define justice? It has often been misunderstood and construed. This morning, Micah takes a look at biblical justice, the Jewish definition of it, and the pledge of allegiance.

We're going back for more - round two on Psalm 137! There are more layers to this Psalm that we just couldn't fit into one teaching. This week, Micah looks at Psalm 137 from the view of the oppressed living under their oppressor. That filter reveals a completely different picture than what we talked about last week.

Psalm 137 pleads a case for honesty in our relationship with the Divine. It is a raw, unfiltered view into the lives of the oppressed. In exile, the empire did everything it could to strip the Israelites of their identities, everything that made them who they were; traditions, songs, language, religion, etc. In that context, the raw hatred is a lot easier to understand.

A time honored tradition at Awaken, we do our Lost in Translation series each summer to focus on parts of the Bible that may be confusing or difficult to understand. Our worship leader Melody kicks off this summer's series with Psalm 37. This Psalm somehow talks about justice and desire in one poem - how does that play out and in this case what do they have to say about each other? The answer adds deep, deep meaning to where we find ourselves right now.

How does bearing witness show up in the scriptures? It's a thread that winds its way through the people and parables of the Old Testament. And then Israel begins to worship idols and no longer bears witness of the love of God. Perhaps the stories of Acts is the way they find their way back to bearing witness to the good news of the love of God. 

This morning we take some time to lament the last week in the life of our city and also think about the prophet and the lament and the role they play in scripture and in our lives.

Our brains tend to want to put all of life into categories - good/bad, saved/unsaved, in/out. But God's heart pulls us beyond the categories into a world of inclusion and welcome through the particular and specific work of the life of Jesus.

Continuing in Acts, we read the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8 in a whole new light. It's as impactful now as it was then - a religious, ethnic, sexual outsider becomes the first named convert in the book of Acts. That's not by accident.