Commons Church Podcast

We believe in a God who wants us to know that we are welcome. The narrative arc of the gospel—from creation to a restored earth—keeps expanding to include individuals, families, tribes, kingdoms, and finally, the multitudes of nations. God never stops making more room. Last year we talked about different ways our hospitality reflects our room— making God. This year we want to build on that conversation and explore God’s vision for what we create as we gather. How we move from isolation into connectedness, from caring for some to caring for the whole. Peter Block writes that the hard part of building community is that it is always a custom job. It is born of local people, with unique gifts, deciding what to create together. How do we show up for each other, you and I? How do we build relatedness one room at a time? God, how can I make a bit more room?  ★ 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 a way to open up new unexplored avenues to consider. ★ Support this podcast ★

Rather watch? Here's the youtube link https://youtu.be/3q_9qh0OV8I ★ 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 a way 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 a way to open up new unexplored avenues to consider. ★ Support this podcast ★

The church was vandalized a few weeks ago which was unfortunate but it did give us a good reason to talk about where our popular fascination with the number 666 comes from and why we should all stop worrying about the Antichrist. Revelation is not about the end times (it's about the end of time) and it is certainly not about anything as small as a one world government. If you want to read all of the footnotes head over to Academia.edu to read my work. Be warned it's kinda long and boring. https://www.academia.edu/36173393/A_GIRARDIAN_READING_OF_VIOLENT_IMAGERY_IN_REVELATION ★ 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 a way 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 a way to open up new unexplored avenues to consider. ★ Support this 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 ★