From Your Pastor
By Jenelle Holmes
From Your PastorMay 08, 2022
A Foundation in Generosity and Creativity.
We explore our "founding myth" in Genesis 1 and it's message of God's creativity and generosity.
Resurrection: Change!
We explore how even Peter had to change.
Resurrection: Earth Day
The earth testifies to resurrection, but do we see it and participate in it?
Resurrection: A Reality or a Miracle?
With some guidance from Richard Rohr, we explore how resurrection is the way God works, not a one time event.
Easter Sunday: Resurrection Brain
We explore the negativity bias we all have and the ways we can sit alongside the Marys with our fear and our great joy.
Commonwealth of God: Week 5
The unnamed woman reminds us that life in the Commonwealth of God is also about ritual, celebration, and making space for grief.
Commonwealth of God: Week 4
Children (and all the unlikely others who teach us about God).
Commonwealth of God: Week 3
We explore the beloved story of the father and two sons (Prodigal Son alert!) to help us define the priorities of the Commonwealth of God.
Commonwealth of God: Week 1
Who's in charge around here?
Ash Wednesday
Gospels: Following Jesus through Death and Resurrection
Gospels: The Gospel According to Luke
Jesus sets an ever widening table in the kingdom of God.
Gospels: The Gospel According to Matthew
The "Church's Gospel" helps Matthew's people (and us!) create a community centered on Jesus. Also, brutal scapegoating of the Pharisees.
Gospels: The Gospel According to Mark
Gospels: What are the gospels?
Christmas Eve: Look at your very feet for God.
Christmas is a reminder that God's best work is done among us, not apart from us.
Advent Week 4: We are made (biologically!) for community and connection.
We challenge the negative narratives that drag us down, and we join Mary in celebrating how we're made for connection and care.
Advent Week 2: Wilderness Talk is Purpose Talk
John went to the wilderness (not Rome or Jerusalem) to get straight on his purpose and ours.
Advent Week One: Signs of the Apocalypse Are Signs of Potential
Do we see the hope that can be found in chaos?
Spiritual Practice of Labor
Work is love made visible! (Kahlil Gibran, obv.)
Spiritual Practice of Grief
We talk about helpful ways to play host to grief, that generative yet hard houseguest.
Spiritual Practice of Small Touches
Doing good things of a reasonable size.
Spiritual Practice in Crisis: Unlearning Helplessness
We explore what our faith in action looks like in the face of learned helplessness, so common in our global context.
Your Body Is Your Spiritual Entry Point!
We do away with the binary of body and soul. The only place to experience spirituality is right where you are--in your flesh!
Spiritual Practice of Keeping Time
We kick off our Fall sermon series "Spiritual Practices for Everyday People" with TIME. We've only got so much, how to use it (or not use it)?
Camp Curiosity: Chaos and Suffering
We lay some groundwork for a new understanding of God's world that is big enough for Rilke's famous "beauty and terror."
Camp Curiosity: Forgiveness
You asked questions about forgiveness...and now I think we also need to talk about good apologies, reparations, and reconciliation. Maintaining relationships is rewarding, but hard work.
Camp Curiosity: Prayer
For our week exploring prayer, we had different folks from the congregation offer their own testimonies about prayer--what they like to do, how they experience the Divine, what they've tried. To keep the pressure off our responders, we didn't record this. However, Rev. Jenelle offered a guided meditation at the end of service which we've recorded here for you. Find a comfortable place where you won't be interrupted and prepare yourself to be present to Presence!
Camp Curiosity: Church Hurt Is Real.
We take a look at church hurt through the lens of Family Systems Theory...and take some deep breaths.
Camp Curiosity: What is God's name?
This week we talk about how to talk about God. Is God close and cuddly? Distant and mysterious? A bit of both?
Camp Curiosity: Doubt (and a whole lot of Brian McClaren)
This is an advertisement for our July book read: Faith after Doubt by Brian McClaren. It's also a sermon about how when our beliefs are up for grabs that doesn't mean our faith has nothing left for us.
Camp Curiosity: H-E-Double Hockey Sticks
Camp Curiosity: The Kingdom of Heaven Is Like...
Starting with an apology. The recording is not ideal. In fact, it's pretty lame quality. Apologies!
Friend and fellow Candler Alum Christina Toney-Schmitt joined us this week to tackle the Kingdom of Heaven. Despite my phone garbling the recording, I think her wise words on the topic are definitely worth a listen.
Camp Curiosity: Bible Part II with Chris Holmes
The Rev. Dr. Chris Holmes (he's very cute, even if you can't see him on this recording) joined us for our second sermon on the Bible. Listen in!
Camp Curiosity: Bible Part 1
Basically a midrash on Peter Enns' book How the Bible Actually Works. What is in this Bible that makes it so unruly? Because it is.
Also, Jenelle's longest sermon to date. Ever.
Camp Curiosity: Being Queer + Christian with Laura Jean Truman
The wonderful Laura Jean Truman joins us as we explore your questions about being Christian and being LGBTQIA+. You can also find Laura Jean at her blog at https://laurajeantruman.com and on Instagram @laurajeantruman.
Eastertide: The kin-dom of heaven on earth.
Stop looking at heaven say the angels. Start looking at the world.
Eastertide: Failure Isn't Forever
A sermon one part Nickel Creek and one part Paul the Apostle.
Eastertide: We are deathly afraid of change.
Join us as we echo Rabbi Steve Leder: If you go through hell, don't come out empty handed. Also, I'm angry about gun violence.
Eastertide: Reclaiming the ancient creed "Jesus is our Lord and Savior."
The confession "Jesus is my Lord and Savior" has had some rough patches in recent decades. Can we reclaim it?
Eastertide: Getting to know Jesus.
From Peter's first sermon to the words of our children 2,000 years later: who is Jesus?
Steady the Boat: Easter is about love, not fear.
We explore the differences between approaching Holy Week in a frame of fear or a bedrock of love.
Steady the Boat: Rebuilding Faith Is a Group Project
We do not walk our faith journey alone. Jesus didn't. Moses didn't. No one does.
Steady the Boat: Mixed Reviews on Inherited Spirituality
We talk today about the complicated-ness of beliefs and behaviors that our ancestors and family have offered us.
Steady the Boat: Beliefs and Faith. The difference.
We explore the difference between traditions or beliefs and faith. If you set aside one, do you lose the other? Let's hope not.
Steady the Boat: Take a breath.
We explore how fear sidelines our faith journey and ways to breath our way through it.
*Also includes a bonus guided breathing meditation at the end.*
Steady the Boat: Deconstruction is a good thing.
We explore how the call to repent is a call to deconstruct. And God's got our back while we do it.
Presbyterian Flavor of Christianity: Jesus is a "revelation" of God.
We explore a great framework for talking about who Jesus is and what Jesus reveals about God.
Presbyterian Flavor of Christianity: Priesthood of All Believers
Your new identity, affection, and responsibility in Christ.
Presbyterian Flavor of Christianity: Our sexiest word--Predestination.
We've gotten bogged down in our tradition with predestination. Perhaps we got it a bit wrong.