Commons Church Podcast

The gospels contain a few uncomfortable stories of demon possession. How do we read these stories as modern audiences? Should we accept them at a surface level? Do we chalk them up to ancient misunderstandings of mental health issues? Or can we explore to uncover the sophistication of ancient storytelling and look for the parables hidden in these texts? ★ Support this podcast ★

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” –Eugene IonescoA good question is a superpower.So why don’t we ask more questions? Maybe we are a bit egocentric—eager to impress with our own thoughts and stories. Perhaps we are apathetic— thinking we might be bored by the response. Or perhaps we just worry that we’ll ask the wrong question and be viewed as rude or incompetent.But often the biggest challenge is that we simply don’t understand how beneficial good questioning can be. If we did,we might end far fewer sentences witha period—and more with a question mark.Jesus loved a good question.Sometimes they seemed pretty straightforward. Sometimes they seemed to come straight out of left field. But Jesus’ questions always seemed to find away to open up new unexplored avenues to consider. ★ Support this podcast ★

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” –Eugene IonescoA good question is a superpower.So why don’t we ask more questions? Maybe we are a bit egocentric—eager to impress with our own thoughts and stories. Perhaps we are apathetic— thinking we might be bored by the response. Or perhaps we just worry that we’ll ask the wrong question and be viewed as rude or incompetent.But often the biggest challenge is that we simply don’t understand how beneficial good questioning can be. If we did,we might end far fewer sentences witha period—and more with a question mark.Jesus loved a good question.Sometimes they seemed pretty straightforward. Sometimes they seemed to come straight out of left field. But Jesus’ questions always seemed to find away to open up new unexplored avenues to consider. ★ Support this podcast ★

“It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.” –Eugene IonescoA good question is a superpower.So why don’t we ask more questions? Maybe we are a bit egocentric—eager to impress with our own thoughts and stories. Perhaps we are apathetic— thinking we might be bored by the response. Or perhaps we just worry that we’ll ask the wrong question and be viewed as rude or incompetent.But often the biggest challenge is that we simply don’t understand how beneficial good questioning can be. If we did,we might end far fewer sentences witha period—and more with a question mark.Jesus loved a good question.Sometimes they seemed pretty straightforward. Sometimes they seemed to come straight out of left field. But Jesus’ questions always seemed to find away to open up new unexplored avenues to consider. ★ Support this podcast ★

In the Genesis poem of creation, God makes the world with words. God says light, night, sky, land, seas, sun, moon, birds, fish, animals, human beings. And it is all so good.Every day we make our world with words, too. Happy, sad, afraid, want, listen, hope, stop, heal. What we speak, we understand. What we want, we name. What we hope for, we shape with consonants and vowels. Words are powerful things.Faith is built with words, too. And if you have been a person of faith most of your life, you’ve spoken the language of faith, well, for what seems like forever. And maybe some of the faith vocabulary has become numb for you.But if you’re new to this Jesus story, maybe words get spoken around you and you find them strange, hollow, and opaque. So maybe you don’t feel numbness, just confusion.Let’s have a common conversation about the words of faith. Let’s speak Sunday all over again.  ★ Support this podcast ★

In the Genesis poem of creation, God makes the world with words. God says light, night, sky, land, seas, sun, moon, birds, fish, animals, human beings. And it is all so good.Every day we make our world with words, too. Happy, sad, afraid, want, listen, hope, stop, heal. What we speak, we understand. What we want, we name. What we hope for, we shape with consonants and vowels. Words are powerful things.Faith is built with words, too. And if you have been a person of faith most of your life, you’ve spoken the language of faith, well, for what seems like forever. And maybe some of the faith vocabulary has become numb for you.But if you’re new to this Jesus story, maybe words get spoken around you and you find them strange, hollow, and opaque. So maybe you don’t feel numbness, just confusion.Let’s have a common conversation about the words of faith. Let’s speak Sunday all over again. ★ Support this podcast ★

In the Genesis poem of creation, God makes the world with words. God says light, night, sky, land, seas, sun, moon, birds, fish, animals, human beings. And it is all so good.Every day we make our world with words, too. Happy, sad, afraid, want, listen, hope, stop, heal. What we speak, we understand. What we want, we name. What we hope for, we shape with consonants and vowels. Words are powerful things.Faith is built with words, too. And if you have been a person of faith most of your life, you’ve spoken the language of faith, well, for what seems like forever. And maybe some of the faith vocabulary has become numb for you.But if you’re new to this Jesus story, maybe words get spoken around you and you find them strange, hollow, and opaque. So maybe you don’t feel numbness, just confusion.Let’s have a common conversation about the words of faith. Let’s speak Sunday all over again. ★ Support this podcast ★

In the Genesis poem of creation, God makes the world with words. God says light, night, sky, land, seas, sun, moon, birds, fish, animals, human beings. And it is all so good.Every day we make our world with words, too. Happy, sad, afraid, want, listen, hope, stop, heal. What we speak, we understand. What we want, we name. What we hope for, we shape with consonants and vowels. Words are powerful things.Faith is built with words, too. And if you have been a person of faith most of your life, you’ve spoken the language of faith, well, for what seems like forever. And maybe some of the faith vocabulary has become numb for you.But if you’re new to this Jesus story, maybe words get spoken around you and you find them strange, hollow, and opaque. So maybe you don’t feel numbness, just confusion.Let’s have a common conversation about the words of faith. Let’s speak Sunday all over again. ★ Support this podcast ★

In the Genesis poem of creation, God makes the world with words. God says light, night, sky, land, seas, sun, moon, birds, fish, animals, human beings. And it is all so good.Every day we make our world with words, too. Happy, sad, afraid, want, listen, hope, stop, heal. What we speak, we understand. What we want, we name. What we hope for, we shape with consonants and vowels. Words are powerful things.Faith is built with words, too. And if you have been a person of faith most of your life, you’ve spoken the language of faith, well, for what seems like forever. And maybe some of the faith vocabulary has become numb for you.But if you’re new to this Jesus story, maybe words get spoken around you and you find them strange, hollow, and opaque. So maybe you don’t feel numbness, just confusion.Let’s have a common conversation about the words of faith. Let’s speak Sunday all over again. ★ Support this podcast ★

In the Genesis poem of creation, God makes the world with words. God says light, night, sky, land, seas, sun, moon, birds, fish, animals, human beings. And it is all so good.Every day we make our world with words, too. Happy, sad, afraid, want, listen, hope, stop, heal. What we speak, we understand. What we want, we name. What we hope for, we shape with consonants and vowels. Words are powerful things.Faith is built with words, too. And if you have been a person of faith most of your life, you’ve spoken the language of faith, well, for what seems like forever. And maybe some of the faith vocabulary has become numb for you.But if you’re new to this Jesus story, maybe words get spoken around you and you find them strange, hollow, and opaque. So maybe you don’t feel numbness, just confusion.Let’s have a common conversation about the words of faith. Let’s speak Sunday all over again. ★ Support this podcast ★