Awaken Bowness Podcast

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? 

Ephesians:Welcome Home Part 1

A POST- COVID SPECIAL!
As we learn to come together again (slowly and safely) after nearly two years in isolation from one another we are reflecting on Paul's letter to the Ephesians for a few weeks. This is  friendly dialogue (unscripted) between two pastors who love the church and much like the apostle Paul, long to see the church be a HOME to one another in the Beloved. The goal for this series, of course, is to empower you to ask even more questions and hold the sacred text with more curiosity, and be even more open to one another in the name of the God who is love. The mission flows from the COMMUNITY - so let's wrestle together with the depth, height, and width of Jesus' unfathomable love for us, through us, towards all of us.
 
 He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love.  He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,  to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. Eph 1:4-6
 

The He(art) of Forgiveness Part 3

Beloved,
Today we had a unique opportunity to hear some teaching from from two very wise and experienced individuals.
Donald Goertz is an ordained pastor with the CBOQ and for the past 25 years he has been Associate Professor of Church History and Director of the MDiv. Church In The City at Tyndale University where he also helped design and launch the Spiritual Formation major.
Over the years, this mix of experience has led to his being asked to consult with a variety of congregations and organizations in Canada and overseas as they wrestled with complicated histories and planned for next steps forward. He has two primary goals: to help the Church rethink its mission and creatively engage its wonderfully multicultural and diverse community and to actively prepare people to integrate their faith and their personal and professional lives.
Marion Goertz, DMin, RP, RMFT, CTTS
For over 20 years Marion has maintained a private consulting practice, first in the Greater Toronto Area, and most recently in Western Canada, specializing in psychotherapy, trauma treatment and corporate reconciliation
As you all may recall, Donald and Marion worked with Scott and I this fall to facilitate dialogue and reconciliation and they both brought such patience, insight, and thoughtful leadership to our little church.
Today they will be giving a sermon together to conclude our series on Forgiveness. Please consider bringing the warm Awaken welcome and I pray each of us can find our hearts soft in the hands of our gentle Creator who longs for us to know the freedom of true forgiveness.