Awaken Bowness Podcast

Legends of the Long Road Part 5

The Wilderness is as far away from the Garden of Eden one could get. It's natural to long for that better place -- greener pastures -- for life to begin after this current place. In this sermon Pastor Nikayla explores the story of Aaron's staff and the possibility of Eden in our very midst. 
 
Are you waiting for your life to begin? 
 
Do you often long for something better? 
 
Have you ever seen LIFE in your midst when you anticipate death? 
 
Share a story of Good News from this past week

Legends from the Long Road Part 4

If this is your first Awaken podcast - you may be in for a shock! This sermon is part of a 10 week series on being in a wilderness space - spiritually and socially. In the wilderness you are forced to confront your deepest fears of scarcity, abandonment,  rejection, and death. It's a place for truth-telling. It's in this place that Jacob wrestles with God, Job cries out for justice, and Jesus cries out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" 
 
No one chooses the wilderness - no one has control over how long the wilderness lasts. St John calls it the Long Night of the Soul. 
 
Have you ever been in this wilderness place?
Have you ever been angry at or hurt by God?
In your tradition, are you allowed to be angry or hurt by God?
What would it feel like to fight God? 

Legends from the Long Road Part3

In this episode Dallas leads us in a sermon on Numbers 13 and the report of the spies. Some brought good news and others brought bad news. 
Do you find it difficult to hear good news in the midst of so much bad news? 
Sometimes we live as if we are in a sin-soaked world but what if we saw this place as soaked in Christ? 
 
What could you do this week to orient your life around Good News without ignoring the real dangers in this world?
 
This recording features a poem read by Phuc Luu called the Migratory God which can be found on theworkofthepeople.com 

Legends from the Long Road Part 2

This week Dallas leads us in a teaching on being critical but never cynical. He reflects on Miriam's complaint against Moses and the strange skin disease that results. He pauses to let us consider that although she was exiled from the community for a time, the entire community was unified in one way: they weren't leaving without her. In this wilderness, we are not alone.
 
Read Numbers 12 and consider: did Miriam actually do anything wrong? How did her exile unite the camp? What do you do with scripture that seems too weird or casts God in a less than lovely light? 
 
In your understanding, what is the difference between being critical and cynical? 

Legends from the Long Road Part 1

In this series we move through the book of Numbers. Nikayla kicks it off asking if the God of the Hebrew Bible is a wilderness God and what this would mean for this of us in between the no longer and the not yet. 
 
What do you sometimes wish you could go back to? 
Where do you long do be in your life?
 
What's it like being in this space in between? 

Welcome Home: Ephesians Part 6

The final episode! 
 
What happens when we put Jesus, Husbands, Fathers, Masters, and Military in the same category and then put sinful humanity, wives, children, and the enslaved in another? 
 
In this episode Dallas and Nikayla dialogue about the Armor of God text in Ephesians 6 and notice how this text may have sounded to the original readers and what the implications for us today. 
 
What disciplines could engage with to guard your heart against that which would divide us and harden us? 

Welcome Home: Ephesians Part 5

Ephesians 5 is a wild ride! There's prohibitions against sexual immorality (what does that mean? does anyone have an exact list of things that make something sexually immoral?) and a long passage about marriage and headship!
 
What was your parent's marriage like when you were growing up?
Did they live out the Eph 5 vision for marriage?
Does Paul's vision for marriage require a husband to have authority over a wife or do you think this text is about abandoning power and authority to take the posture of sacrificial love and humility?
What would change about how we read this text if we took his words seriously at the end of chapter 5 where he says he's talking about Jesus and the Church and not marriage?
Does marriage teach us about the gospel or does the gospel inform every.single.human.relationship? 
 
Have a listen and let Dallas or Nikayla know what you thought! 

Welcome Home: Ephesians Part 4

What is a life "worthy" of the calling? Before we jump to answer that question let's meditate on the words in verse two:
humble, patient, gentle, love, unity, peace
 
While the world is bent on death - Paul invites the Ephesians to turn towards the way of LIFE. 
 
Question: what is the difference between living as a Christian and living as a "gentile"?

Welcome Home: Ephesians Part 3

Ephesians 3 contains some of the most beautiful scripture in our entire tradition. Paul's heart to defend the place of the "outsiders" and then just speak the love of God directly towards them is the kind of pastoring our world needs immediately. 
 
How do you feel about "mystery"? Do you prefer certainty? Why or why not?
 
Where do you see God's radical love? 
 
 

Welcome Home: Ephesians Part 2

Here Dallas and Nikayla discuss Ephesians chapter 2 and both of us choked up once or twice in this discussion as the text unfolded in front of us. 
 
Describe a time when you felt fully safe and seen and loved in community. 
What would it take for you to know safety and belonging again or for the first time?