Awaken Community

This episode delves into the book of Nehemiah, exploring the history of Israel's oppression and exile. It highlights the importance of processing grief and the consequences of skipping this step. The speaker shares a personal story of missed opportunities within a church community and expresses hope for new growth.

Acts 15, Early christians meet as a council in Jerusalem to start the church in the book of Acts. They find that the spirit of God is leading them beyond the confines of their religious structure and are thus tasked with living as a people of God rooted in love and a new way forward.

Tom sheds light on the current worldwide refugee crisis and his engagement with it through the non profit organization, IAFR. He shares the significance of the Lord's Prayer in a world desperate for hope.

Ruth 1:6-18, Mary provides context for her experience as a refugee and invites us to consider the importance of support systems and staying proximate to people with different life stories.

Jeremiah 29:1-14 The people of God in Exile - even here God is with them in Babylon. Exile is the place where your entire conception of who God is and what God is like dies and you find out God is still with you in this place/iteration.

1 Sam 8:1-22 - God warns them of all the things they will become if they go in this direction. As the people go down this path, they forget where they came from and they become Egypt - the very thing they were liberated from.

Judges 2:16-23, The children of God in this book of the Bible are often portrayed as rebellious and forgetful of the ways of God. Micah invites us to consider the ways God is more patient, hopeful, and available to us than we might otherwise be led to believe.

Numbers 9:15-23, The Israelites follow a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night trusting that the spirit of God is in it. Micah recalls the journey of Awaken, the movement of the spirit in our midst and invites us to trust that God is present and guiding us through whatever wilderness lay ahead.

Exodus 2:23-25 - God hear, remembers, sees, and knows the people while they are enslaved and oppressed. Micah invites us to consider what ideas and realities we need to be freed and liberated from.

Genesis 32 - Jacob has spent his life running from God and his own name. Micah highlights that ways God relentlessly pursues us and seeks to bring us into a way of life that bears good fruit and wholeness  of self.