Advent 2011: Angels

Angels2011.12.18 - Wendy Gritter - Advent 2011

Angels

Genesis 28, Ezekiel 1, Hebrews 1

The way you view the birth of Jesus depends a lot on where you’re standing.

For Advent this year we are going to look at the Christmas narrative from multiple perspectives, and ask the question: “how did each group view the incarnation?”

This week we look at the angels. What did the angels think about the incarnation?

Wendy Gritter returns to the Eucharist pulpit to help us become aware of the created connectors all around us, and the ways heaven and earth collide!

Monologue written by Alex Drumm and performed by Paige Louter

Music led by Justine Kormann - starts 53 min in

Advent 2011: Ox

Ox2011.12.11 - Kevin Makins - Advent 2011

Ox

Numbers 28, Leviticus 16, 1 Samuel 15, Amos 5, Hosea 6, Psalm 50, Genesis 22, Hebrews 10, Romans 12

The way you view the birth of Jesus depends a lot on where you’re standing.

For Advent this year we are going to look at the Christmas narrative from multiple perspectives, and ask the question: “how did each group view the incarnation?”

This week we look at the ox. What did the ox… think(?!)… about the incarnation?

The ox probably thought about the sacrificial system; all the stories he had heard about the altar growing up. He probably reflected on how so many of his friends ended up there, and wondered if this little child might change everything.

Apparently, the ox thought about all sorts of things.

Monologue written and performed by Alex Drumm

Music led by Andrew Huang - starts 1:03 in

Advent 2011: Magi

Magi2011.12.04 - Kevin Makins - Advent 2011

Magi

Matthew 2

The way you view the birth of Jesus depends a lot on where you’re standing.

For Advent this year we are going to look at the Christmas narrative from multiple perspectives, and ask the question: “how did each group view the incarnation?”

This week we move on to the Magi, who are in the east when they see a star and come to inquire about where the King of the Jews would be born. 

The man they inquire with? Herod… the current King of the Jews.

Understandably, Herod finds this troubling. 

Monologue written and performed by Alex Drumm

Music led by Allison Geleynse and Julia Soderholm - starts 48 minutes in

Advent 2011: Shepherds

Shepherds

2011.11.27 - Kevin Makins - Advent 2011

Shepherds

Luke 2, Isaiah 9

The way you view the birth of Jesus depends a lot on where you’re standing.

For Advent this year we are going to look at the Christmas narrative from multiple perspectives, and ask the question: “how did each group view the incarnation?”

We begin with the shepherds, and explore the way they received this grace.

Along the way we also talk about failure, success, guilt, singing the wrong words out loud, and when people catch you farting… 

Sorry about that last one…

Monologue written and performed by Alex Drumm

Music led by Joel Cumby - starts 54 minutes in

Soma: 1 Corinthians - The Coming Fire

Soma

2011.11.13 - Kevin Makins - Soma: 1 Corinthians

The Coming Fire

1 Corinthians 3:10-17, Matthew 19, Luke 20, Hebrews 12, 2 Peter 3

An hour and fifteen minutes! That means this sermon is either really boring, or we were talking about something really important.

What is the reason people should follow Jesus? Where is this whole thing heading? What did the prophets, Jesus, and the early church expect God would do?

This week was an endurance run through Jewish expectation, a woman with 7 husbands, shaking things, bees, the foundation on which we stand, and “y'all”.

Oh, and we set some stuff on fire.

Music led by Alex Drumm - starts at 1:05

Soma: 1 Corinthians - I fed you with milk, not solid food

Soma

2011.11.06 - Kevin Makins - Soma: 1 Corinthians

I fed you with milk, not solid food

1 Corinthians 3:1-9, Philippians 3

There are real challenges that come from intentionally moving with a community in one direction, over the long haul. It is hard work, requires sacrifice, humility, and grace. 

It’s hard to stay together when things aren’t awesome or sexy anymore. 

But that is exactly why Paul is writing the Corinthians - because a church is truly a church when it commits to working and serving together; even through jealousy and quarrelling and selfishness and bickering and gossip and slander and hurt.

Because even in the midst of chaos, God is able to hold his body together.

But it will require maturity. It will require that we grow up.

Soma: 1 Corinthians - And in the last days it shall be

Soma

2011.10.30 - Kevin Makins - Soma: 1 Corinthians

And in the last days it shall be

1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Joel 2, Mark 1, Acts 2

Paul has done a lot of “wisdom bashing” in the beginning of his letter, but he doesn’t want to suggest that the message of Jesus has no wisdom of its own - it has wisdom and power, but of a very different kind.

This wisdom is a secret to the powers and rulers of our time, it cannot be understood in terms of wealth or success - it is a secret wisdom, revealed to mankind by the Spirit of God.

And that Spirit has been graciously and generously poured out.

Music led by Joel Cumby and Dan Leythem - starts 32 minutes in.

Soma: 1 Corinthians - I Follow...

Soma2011.10.09 - Kevin Makins - Soma: 1 Corinthians

I Follow…

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

It’s Thanksgiving Sunday, and we went to the park!

While there we looked at the divisions in the Corinthian church and how to stay united by Jesus. What is unity? What is it not? Are there some things worth splitting over? Are there some things we all hold in common?

How can we be “perfectly united in mind and thought?”

Bread & Wine 2011 - F(e)asting

2011.09.25 - Kevin Makins - Bread & Wine 2011: F(e)asting

Mark 2; Zechariah 8

We kick off year two of Eucharist Church by revisiting our first series: “Bread & Wine.”

The Christian has to know how to lament, and how to praise. How to mourn, and how to celebrate. How to recognize both exile and home.

This week was our attempt at a liturgy combining feasting, fasting, and maranatha.

Music led by Tim Selles and Jeff Wynands.

Bread & Wine 2011 - Juice, Not Wine

2011.09.18 - Kevin Makins - Bread & Wine 2011: Juice, Not Wine

Luke 11; John 4, 17; 1 Corinthians 12

We kick off year two of Eucharist Church by revisiting our first series: “Bread & Wine.”

As the table grows and grows, we find that we are surrounded by people with radically different backgrounds, stories, and convictions; which will naturally cause tension. 

War and peace, spiritual gifts, style of music, time of gathering, sexual ethics, colour of carpet, end of times, alcohol, dancing, playing cards, and dress code - churches fight and divide over all sorts of issues. 

But what if it was possible to be united at the table? What if there was a better way? What if we were eucharistic? 

What would happen if we took Jesus’ prayer seriously?

Because coming to the table is easy, but staying is hard. 

Music led by Joel Cumby and friends - starts 50 min in.

Special thanks to Scott Aasman for bringing his piece “Altarpiece for a Suburban Church”

Bread & Wine 2011 - We Need Bigger Tables

2011.09.11 - Kevin Makins - Bread & Wine 2011: We Need Bigger Tables

Deuteronomy 16; Matthew 11; Luke 14; Galatians 3; Colossians 1; Revelation 7

We kick off year two of Eucharist Church by revisiting our first series: “Bread & Wine.”

If asked what the central image of the Christian story is, most of us would respond with “the cross.”

That would be a pretty good answer.

Certainly the cross is crucial, and absolutely key to the Christian story, but there is another image that is perhaps just as significant as the cross. That image in the table.

From beginning to end, the biblical story points to the table as the place where salvation and new life is found. And the table keeps getting bigger.

Music led by Joel Cumby and friends - starts 43 min in.

Imaginarium: Imagining a Better City

Imaginarium2011.07.03 - Kevin Makins - Imaginarium: Imagining a Better City

Isaiah 65, Zechariah 8, Jeremiah 29, Philippians 3

The third and final sermon in our series on creativity and imagination. 

Christians can sometimes think that our ultimate hope is non-physical, other-worldly, and more or less disconnected from our experiences here and now. But the God of the bible is constantly reaffirming this world as good, sacred, and worth rescuing. 

God is always concerned with place - and specifically, with cities. If we are going to work for the good of our city, we are going to need to learn how to see it with fresh eyes.

And this will require imagination.

Music led by Joel Cumby and a rocking band - starts 45 min in.

Imaginarium: The Most Resilient Parasite

2011.06.26 - Kevin Makins - Imaginarium: The Most Resilient Parasite

Exodus 2 & 4, Isaiah 52, Luke 10

The second sermon in our three week series on the theological imagination examines the power of ideas to shape, form, and change us. 

How has God used ideas to create new worlds? Why did Jesus, throughout his life, choose to teach through stories and parables? 

And what is so “theological” about the theological imagination?

Music led by Joel Cumby and Alex Drumm - starts 52 min in.

Imaginarium: The Theological Imagination

2011.06.19 - Chris Cuthill - Imaginarium: The Theological Imagination

Mark 14

The first sermon in our three week series on the theological imagination. Chris Cuthill, who holds the Art Chair at Redeemer University, explores the idea of imagination as it intersects with faith, hope, and life in the Kingdom.

Music led by Joel Cumby - starts 41 min in.

both God and money: Dollar Dollar Bill Y'all

2011.06.05 - David Barker - both God and money: Dollar Dollar Bill Y'all

Leviticus 27, Numbers 18, Deuteronomy 14 & 26, 1 Corinthians 16, 2 Corinthians 8-9, 1 Timothy 5

Finally; the money sermon! 

How should the Christian give? What should we give? When should we give? What does the Bible say about giving to your local church?

What if I’m poor? What if I’m rich?

A sermon all about cash-money, and what it means to give to your community. 

Music led by Alex Drumm.