Commons Church Podcast

Exodus 7+12***There are claims that Exodus is the essential book in the Bible. It's where we meet God by name, learn to trust a God who hears the cries of the oppressed, and experience awe for a God who guides wanderers.We can relate to Exodus. We wonder about who God is, we wonder about who God helps, and we know the feeling of waiting and wandering.It's a universal experience not to know the way forward but to press on anyway. Two steps ahead, one step back. Up a ladder, down a snake.Jesus' life follows in Moses' footsteps, making Exodus important for Christians. It's the story of liberation, and the way it defines freedom isn't something you can scribble on a sign.Exodus freedom is learned on a long walk with others newly set free alongside you, figuring out life and divinity as you march toward the promise of home. ★ Support this podcast ★

Exodus 3+4***There are claims that Exodus is the essential book in the Bible. It's where we meet God by name, learn to trust a God who hears the cries of the oppressed, and experience awe for a God who guides wanderers.We can relate to Exodus. We wonder about who God is, we wonder about who God helps, and we know the feeling of waiting and wandering.It's a universal experience not to know the way forward but to press on anyway. Two steps ahead, one step back. Up a ladder, down a snake.Jesus' life follows in Moses' footsteps, making Exodus important for Christians. It's the story of liberation, and the way it defines freedom isn't something you can scribble on a sign.Exodus freedom is learned on a long walk with others newly set free alongside you, figuring out life and divinity as you march toward the promise of home. ★ Support this podcast ★

Exodus 1+2***There are claims that Exodus is the essential book in the Bible. It's where we meet God by name, learn to trust a God who hears the cries of the oppressed, and experience awe for a God who guides wanderers.We can relate to Exodus. We wonder about who God is, we wonder about who God helps, and we know the feeling of waiting and wandering.It's a universal experience not to know the way forward but to press on anyway. Two steps ahead, one step back. Up a ladder, down a snake.Jesus' life follows in Moses' footsteps, making Exodus important for Christians. It's the story of liberation, and the way it defines freedom isn't something you can scribble on a sign.Exodus freedom is learned on a long walk with others newly set free alongside you, figuring out life and divinity as you march toward the promise of home. ★ Support this podcast ★

1 Cor 5-7***Some people – maybe you’re one of them – turn to pastors to make good choices. They want to know if what they think is acceptable to God, if what they do is pleasing to God, and if what they consider is in the will of God.There’s something blessed about want- ing affirmation from someone you trust. But what if your pastors don’t have the perfect answer and can’t give you the ideal guidance? Are there other waysto make good choices? Of course, there are. Wisdom is boundless like that.In the early church, apostles and leaders wrote to communities to help them make good choices. On the one hand, their words can feel overbearing and re- strictive, but on the other hand, they can feel a lot like love. Love that cares about where you get your information. Love that instructs you to steer clear of legal trouble – the courts aren’t made for your soft soul. Love that concerns itself with the food you eat and where it comes from. Love that inquires about who you’re sleeping with and if that heals or harms you. Again and again, when we turn to letters like 1 Corinthians, we walk away with advice that still speaks across centuries to help us make good choices. ★ Support this podcast ★

1 Corinthians 8:1–13***Some people – maybe you’re one of them – turn to pastors to make good choices. They want to know if what they think is acceptable to God, if what they do is pleasing to God, and if what they consider is in the will of God.There’s something blessed about wanting affirmation from someone you trust. But what if your pastors don’t have the perfect answer and can’t give you the ideal guidance? Are there other waysto make good choices? Of course, there are. Wisdom is boundless like that.In the early church, apostles and leaders wrote to communities to help them make good choices. On the one hand, their words can feel overbearing and restrictive, but on the other hand, they can feel a lot like love. Love that cares about where you get your information. Love that instructs you to steer clear of legal trouble – the courts aren’t made for your soft soul. Love that concerns itself with the food you eat and where it comes from. Love that inquires about who you’re sleeping with and if that heals or harms you. Again and again, when we turn to letters like 1 Corinthians, we walk away with advice that still speaks across centuries to help us make good choices. ★ Support this podcast ★

1 Corinthians 6***Some people – maybe you’re one of them – turn to pastors to make good choices. They want to know if what they think is acceptable to God, if what they do is pleasing to God, and if what they consider is in the will of God.There’s something blessed about wanting affirmation from someone you trust. But what if your pastors don’t have the perfect answer and can’t give you the ideal guidance? Are there other waysto make good choices? Of course, there are. Wisdom is boundless like that.In the early church, apostles and leaders wrote to communities to help them make good choices. On the one hand, their words can feel overbearing and restrictive, but on the other hand, they can feel a lot like love. Love that cares about where you get your information. Love that instructs you to steer clear of legal trouble – the courts aren’t made for your soft soul. Love that concerns itself with the food you eat and where it comes from. Love that inquires about who you’re sleeping with and if that heals or harms you. Again and again, when we turn to letters like 1 Corinthians, we walk away with advice that still speaks across centuries to help us make good choices. ★ Support this podcast ★

1 Corinthians 1***Some people – maybe you’re one of them – turn to pastors to make good choices. They want to know if what they think is acceptable to God, if what they do is pleasing to God, and if what they consider is in the will of God.There’s something blessed about want- ing affirmation from someone you trust. But what if your pastors don’t have the perfect answer and can’t give you the ideal guidance? Are there other waysto make good choices? Of course, there are. Wisdom is boundless like that.In the early church, apostles and leaders wrote to communities to help them make good choices. On the one hand, their words can feel overbearing and re- strictive, but on the other hand, they can feel a lot like love. Love that cares about where you get your information. Love that instructs you to steer clear of legal trouble – the courts aren’t made for your soft soul. Love that concerns itself with the food you eat and where it comes from. Love that inquires about who you’re sleeping with and if that heals or harms you. Again and again, when we turn to letters like 1 Corinthians, we walk away with advice that still speaks across centuries to help us make good choices. ★ Support this podcast ★

Dawn is breaking. Darkness fades away.And in the light of Easter morning we awake to find that resurrection has come to find us.Slipping into everyday moments.Seeping into the dried out and forgotten places of our hearts.Showing up to surprise in unexpected ways.So, we celebrate!Christ has been raised to life, and with him all creation too.Life and love burst into full bloom.Decay and despair release their grip.And as they do, we give in to hope. We look forward with fresh expectation. We come together in praise of all new begin- nings.Celebrate with us this Easter Sunday. ★ Support this podcast ★

Things weren’t going to end well.Even after doing so much good, sharing so much love, and bringing so much hope, Jesus kept telling his friends that his enemies would get the best of him. And then, in the final moments of his life - With his body taken and broken by violence - Jesus seemed to pause as death approached.He turned his face to heaven, and taught his friends a prayer for broken hearts. Simply asking, “Why?”Which is the question we bring with us to the end of Holy Week.Carried from all the places of our sorrow - our loss - and our helplessness.Here we ask our whys, and remember that God spared nothing to make all things new. That Jesus gave himselfover to death to lead us into life. That in his final words Jesus revealed how God knows the language of our doubt and fear. Showing us the road to resurrection, dark as it may be. And we that we don’t have to walk it alone. ★ Support this podcast ★

Palm Sunday: JOHN 17 + 12A Gospel’s structure is a roadmap – a way to get your bearings in a story.John structures his Gospel in four parts (stay with me). There’s the Prologue, the Book of Signs, the Book of Glory, and the Appendix. This Lent, we’ll work through the Book of Glory (John 13-20).But maybe you’re like, “So what?” And you’re right about something there. That word “glory” doesn’t mean much to most of us. It feels stodgy and strange. But what if we replace it with its definition? A word we are more fond of – Beauty. Book of Beauty.As we make our Lenten journey – these forty days toward Easter – what beauty will we find in the story of Jesus as John tells it?These beautiful stories guide us like roadmaps to live as friends of God. The stories here are about service, Spirit, belonging, union, heartbreak, and new life.Glory includes so much. It’s beautiful like that. ★ Support this podcast ★