Commons Church Podcast

Try this thought experiment. What moments in your life do you consider pivotal? Maybe it’s a big trip, grad school graduation, or the birth of a child.Now, imagine yourself taking ten minutes to write from memory what happened, how you felt, and who said what. Next, imagine someone else who was with you writing down what they saw, how they felt, and who said what.Can you imagine the differences? One story feels intimate, the other distant. One story catches a mortifying detail, the other only fondness. One stirs sadness, and the other stays upbeat. There are so many angles to the same story. It’s true in life, and it’s true in the scriptures.This Advent, we go back to the moments just before Jesus was born. We trace tragedy in a genealogy. We find comedy in Joseph's confusion. We see fairytale in Elizabeth’s late-in-life pregnancy. We stumble through mystery as Mary gets the news of a baby soon born to change the world. ★ Support this podcast ★

Try this thought experiment. What moments in your life do you consider pivotal? Maybe it’s a big trip, grad school graduation, or the birth of a child.Now, imagine yourself taking ten minutes to write from memory what happened, how you felt, and who said what. Next, imagine someone else who was with you writing down what they saw, how they felt, and who said what.Can you imagine the differences? One story feels intimate, the other distant. One story catches a mortifying detail, the other only fondness. One stirs sadness, and the other stays upbeat. There are so many angles to the same story. It’s true in life, and it’s true in the scriptures.This Advent, we go back to the moments just before Jesus was born. We trace tragedy in a genealogy. We find comedy in Joseph's confusion. We see fairytale in Elizabeth’s late-in-life pregnancy. We stumble through mystery as Mary gets the news of a baby soon born to change the world. ★ Support this podcast ★

Try this thought experiment. What moments in your life do you consider pivotal? Maybe it’s a big trip, grad school graduation, or the birth of a child.Now, imagine yourself taking ten minutes to write from memory what happened, how you felt, and who said what. Next, imagine someone else who was with you writing down what they saw, how they felt, and who said what.Can you imagine the differences? One story feels intimate, the other distant. One story catches a mortifying detail, the other only fondness. One stirs sadness, and the other stays upbeat. There are so many angles to the same story. It’s true in life, and it’s true in the scriptures.This Advent, we go back to the moments just before Jesus was born. We trace tragedy in a genealogy. We find comedy in Joseph's confusion. We see fairytale in Elizabeth’s late-in-life pregnancy. We stumble through mystery as Mary gets the news of a baby soon born to change the world. ★ Support this podcast ★

Try this thought experiment. What moments in your life do you consider pivotal? Maybe it’s a big trip, grad school graduation, or the birth of a child.Now, imagine yourself taking ten minutes to write from memory what happened, how you felt, and who said what. Next, imagine someone else who was with you writing down what they saw, how they felt, and who said what.Can you imagine the differences? One story feels intimate, the other distant. One story catches a mortifying detail, the other only fondness. One stirs sadness, and the other stays upbeat. There are so many angles to the same story. It’s true in life, and it’s true in the scriptures.This Advent, we go back to the moments just before Jesus was born. We trace tragedy in a genealogy. We find comedy in Joseph's confusion. We see fairytale in Elizabeth’s late-in-life pregnancy. We stumble through mystery as Mary gets the news of a baby soon born to change the world. ★ Support this podcast ★

Church tradition holds that 16th-century reformer Martin Luther despised the epistle of James, going so far as to say that it contained little to none of “the nature of the Gospel.” One of Luther’s biggest complaints was that this early Christian letter contains only the slightest mention of Jesus, which is why he thought it had so little to offer. But part of why we think the book of James deserves our attention is because, if you look close enough, it says some profound things about what it means to be like Jesus. And it doesn’t sugarcoat them in saccharine, theological language either. James speaks to the grit of our lives: yo what it means to be an everyday human, the struggle to have faith, the challenge of putting faith to work. Which, curiously enough, sounds a lot like Jesus.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Church tradition holds that 16th-century reformer Martin Luther despised the epistle of James, going so far as to say that it contained little to none of “the nature of the Gospel.” One of Luther’s biggest complaints was that this early Christian letter contains only the slightest mention of Jesus, which is why he thought it had so little to offer. But part of why we think the book of James deserves our attention is because, if you look close enough, it says some profound things about what it means to be like Jesus. And it doesn’t sugarcoat them in saccharine, theological language either. James speaks to the grit of our lives: yo what it means to be an everyday human, the struggle to have faith, the challenge of putting faith to work. Which, curiously enough, sounds a lot like Jesus.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Church tradition holds that 16th-century reformer Martin Luther despised the epistle of James, going so far as to say that it contained little to none of “the nature of the Gospel.” One of Luther’s biggest complaints was that this early Christian letter contains only the slightest mention of Jesus, which is why he thought it had so little to offer. But part of why we think the book of James deserves our attention is because, if you look close enough, it says some profound things about what it means to be like Jesus. And it doesn’t sugarcoat them in saccharine, theological language either. James speaks to the grit of our lives: yo what it means to be an everyday human, the struggle to have faith, the challenge of putting faith to work. Which, curiously enough, sounds a lot like Jesus.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Church tradition holds that 16th-century reformer Martin Luther despised the epistle of James, going so far as to say that it contained little to none of “the nature of the Gospel.” One of Luther’s biggest complaints was that this early Christian letter contains only the slightest mention of Jesus, which is why he thought it had so little to offer. But part of why we think the book of James deserves our attention is because, if you look close enough, it says some profound things about what it means to be like Jesus. And it doesn’t sugarcoat them in saccharine, theological language either. James speaks to the grit of our lives: yo what it means to be an everyday human, the struggle to have faith, the challenge of putting faith to work. Which, curiously enough, sounds a lot like Jesus.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Church tradition holds that 16th-century reformer Martin Luther despised the epistle of James, going so far as to say that it contained little to none of “the nature of the Gospel.” One of Luther’s biggest complaints was that this early Christian letter contains only the slightest mention of Jesus, which is why he thought it had so little to offer. But part of why we think the book of James deserves our attention is because, if you look close enough, it says some profound things about what it means to be like Jesus. And it doesn’t sugarcoat them in saccharine, theological language either. James speaks to the grit of our lives: yo what it means to be an everyday human, the struggle to have faith, the challenge of putting faith to work. Which, curiously enough, sounds a lot like Jesus.  ★ Support this podcast ★

One of Jesus' key ideas was that of the kingdom of God. An imagination for the world as it could be pervades not only Jesus' teaching but all of his interactions. In fact, this is a uniquely human ability to think in sequence and to understand meaning through the lens of past, present, and future. Simply put, we live in a storied world, and one of the most important questions for any story is, "Where is it going?" Jesus taught from these three aspects of reality: There is a past from which we live—an explanation for the way things are. There is a way to live in the present— our responsibilities defined by the story we are a part of. There is a future to live toward—a hope that motivates and comforts us. The Good News doesn't hold together without all of these and certainly not without a strong sense of where the story is going. Our question in this series is simple—what do Jesus' parables about the future teach us about how we should live today.  ★ Support this podcast ★