Awaken Bowness Podcast

The Body of Christ: It’s a Church!

Earlier in this series we talked about Jesus and Gender through the lens of asking, "If Jesus is God and Jesus is a boy - does being a 'boy' make you more like God?" and this sermon explores the idea that Jesus' body isn't a "boy" it's a "church"! WE are the body of Jesus and we are a diverse and complex system. So let's talk about what it means to be a part of the body of Christ and share the throne with Jesus as his body. 
 
Karen Keen gave this sermon at Awaken and you can find her blog at karenkeen.com 
 
Karen R. Keen is a biblical scholar and spiritual care provider at The Redwood Center for Spiritual Care and Education. She has taught biblical and theological studies in both academic and church settings. Trained as a spiritual director in the Ignatian tradition, Karen loves seeing how God moves in people's lives in subtle and unexpected ways in daily life. She is the author of several books, including The Jesus Way: Practicing the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, Scripture, Ethics, and the Possibility of Same-Sex Relationships, and a forthcoming book (2022) entitled The Word of a Humble God: The Origins, Inspiration, and Interpretation of Scripture. Karen earned her M.S. in education (counseling) from Western Oregon University, M.A. in exegetical theology from Western Seminary, and Th.M. in biblical studies from Duke Divinity School.
 
 

Body: Embodiment, Disability, and the Church by Pr Heather Morgan

 
 
Heather Morgan is a queer, disabled pastor licensed in the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and currently studying disability theology through her MDiv at Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto. Heather has a lifetime of lived experience as a physically disabled and neurodiverse woman as well as living in a neurodiverse partnership and parenting multiple children with disabilities. As well, she has more than two decades of professional experience walking alongside individuals with disabilities and their parents. Heather has passionately worked out her faith in the midst of her embodied reality for almost four decades, and loves nothing more than to pull up a fresh seat at the table for a dear sibling in Christ.
 
Listen to this beautiful sermon about the value of churches that are diverse! Hannah talks a bit about church history including Augustine and Gregory of Nazianzus  and their takes on the body and disability with a beautiful call to action from Luke 14 and the parable of the banquet! 

Body: Jesus and Gender

We apologize for the CRACKiLY sound quality - we are in the midst of sanctuary renovations and the cords were a bit stubborn. It's worth a listen regardless! 
 
Read Isaiah 56 and Acts 8. The whole earth is filled with God's glory - pay attention and stand in awe at the vast expanse of who God is. God doesn't fit in any of the boxes we'd like and it makes sense that not all of us would fit either. 
 
We recommend Transforming by Austen Hartke for further reading! 

Advent 2021: Home by Another Way

Thank you Adam Ayer for this beautiful Epiphany sermon. Your thoughts on the Babylonians coming to bring gifts back to the Temple and the body of Christ as a home for even the oppressor was truly awe-some. Enjoy this sermon and be challenged by the scriptures! 

Body: The Wisdom of Your Body

Embodiment has often not been a topic for inside of churches. Somehow we've gotten sucked into gnosticism where we think our bodies don't matter at best and are entirely bad at worst. Here we consider the incarnation and embodiment. 
 
If you enjoy this sermon please consider reading Hillary McBride's book The Wisdom of Your Body. 

Advent 2021 Sanctuary

This is a sermon by Pr Nikayla about making a home for one another - the power of finding sanctuary. We reflect on how Mary flees to Elizabeth's house and immediately finds sanctuary. From this place of knowing she's loved, safe, and WELCOME, she stands to proclaim the most revolutionary text in the New Testament. 
 
Have you ever received sanctuary?
Is there someone in your life right now you could give sanctuary to?

Advent 2021: A Home For All

Dallas Loewen invites to consider our "home" as a "home for all" this week. Thank you Advent Team for organizing this! 
 

Advent 2021: Homesick

Thank you to the Advent team for putting together a beautiful Advent season at Awaken. In this first Advent Sunday Nikayla unpacks Luke 21 and Jesus' apocalyptic warning. Jesus tells his followers to look to the Sun, Moon, and Stars and while he warns of fearful comic shifts to the current world order, he says that all of it is towards REDEMPTION. 
 
 

Legends from the Long Road Part 9: Mahlah,Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah, Noah

Dallas ends the Numbers series with this brilliant exploration of the story about land for the most vulnerable and what it is that we leave behind in the wilderness and what comes into the next land with us. Thank you Dallas!
This episode also contains a Land Acknowledgement with a challenge to renew our commitment the the Treaty for the sake of our descendants and the descendants of all who call this land Home. 

Legends from the Long Road Part 6

In this sermon Pastor Nikayla unpacks Numbers 20 which begins with the death of Miriam and ends with the death of Aaron. In between the death of the two important character is a strange event involving a rock that gushes forth with water after mysteriously drying up. Moses does something wrong and he's told he won't make it into the Promised Land. 
Nikayla walks us through some Rabbinical readings of the rock situation and the connection between Miriam and the water. Paul seems to know these Jewish traditions because he also thinks the rock followed the people around. 
 
Do you think that God abandons you or distances Godself from you when you're not actively seeking God? 
 
What would change for you if you knew that God was there regardless of anything you could ever do or say? 
 
Do you believe God is with you? Do we* believe God is with us*?