Awaken Bowness Podcast

Advent Week 2: Impossible Peace

On this second Sunday of Advent we lit the candle of peace. We heard a very humble story of struggle, addiction, trauma, and impossible new beginnings from Kerry Gladue. Kerry works at the Simon House in Bowness helping men in recovery.
From the website:
Simon House guides and empowers men to achieve long-term recovery from addiction and all of its effects. Through our Core Values of compassion, acceptance, respect, integrity, accountability, and innovation, we will lead the way in addiction treatment and lifelong recovery. Our mission and core values are guiding principles which you will experience at all times while engaged with our program, whether as a client, family member, staff, donor, community stakeholder, or visitor
To purchase Kerry's book follow this link here:
https://bravecommunications.ca/products/kerry-gladues-book
https://www.facebook.com/KerryGladueSecondChances/
https://www.simonhouse.com/

Advent Week 1: Impossible Hope

Abraham fell face down and laughed -Genesis 17:17
 
But in the daylight God disappears,running here and there,contending with the desires of people,shaking with laughter,then weeping.
Which recalls to him this singular concern:to keep dancing her crazy cosmic congaand coax all the broken circles back to love.
 - Stephen T Berg

How and Why to Engage the Scriptures PART6: Paul's Letters

Amy R led us in a discussion on Paul's letters on Christ the King Sunday. She talks about how to read Paul and hones in on Ephesians 1. What does it mean that Christ is the King and how does Paul communicate this to his beloved churches? 
 
Listen to this sermon and then slowly read Ephesians 1. What stands out to you? 
 
Thanks AMY!!

How and Why to Engage the Scriptures PART 5: Parables as Puzzles

Eric Reynolds in one of the masterminds behind Mobile Escape and Escape Mail and so, as you can imagine, he has a mind for puzzles and imagination. He leads us through a workshop on how to read the Parables and encounter the God of mysteries and messianic secrets. This isn't really a sermon but more of a workshop and so it won't feel like the podcasts you're used to. To see the full video with the amazing diagrams he has put together, please check out the video on the Awaken Facebook page or find the prezzi here:
https://prezi.com/view/ozLOdL2VbL9LQ1wgbKM0/
 
Discussion: Why would Jesus speak in parables instead of just making the message as clear as possible? After listening to this workshop on puzzles and parables, what stands out to you about the parable of the sower? How about some of the small parables in Matthew 13?
 
 

How and Why to Engage the Scriptures PART4: The Wisdom Literature

Maddie McBlain gave this sermon on Nov. 8th and it was really thought provoking.
 
When we come to the Scriptures and ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" you'll find a different answer in Proverbs than you do in Job and another different answer in Ecclesiastes. The Bible never answers the question in a clear conversation-closing way. Rather, a colllection of diverse perspectives remain bound together in the wisdom traditions as if these Wisdom Books were different people sitting around a table having a debate, pulling up a chair for YOU and inviting you into the pursuit of wisdom. 
 
Thank you Maddie!
 
Homework:
Read a chapter in Proverbs and highlight a verse that seems to be objectively untrue in your experience. How would Job talk about that verse in Proverbs? Read Ecclesiastes 1 and consider how the author of Ecclesiastes would respond. 
 
What bad things have happened to you in your life and how have you reconciled that experience with your faith? If you could ask the authors of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes any question, what would you ask? What might they ask you in return?

How and Why to Engage the Scriptures PART 3: The Prophets

The prophetic speech is disruptive and piercing. His or her words are unbearable to King and Priest because you cannot serve both God and money, both God and power. You will hate one and love the other. 
 
So while we tend towards serving our own privilege and sacrificing to the god of the economy, the prophets weep and imagine a bitter end and yet, rather than revel in grief, the prophets have the tenacity to hope vigorously in an undoing of this world and the inbreaking of something radically new. 
 
If you'd like to learn more about Seth Cardinal Dodginghorse or see the speech he gave on Oct 1st follow this link:
https://broadview.org/seth-cardinal-dodginghorse-interview/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/tsuutina-trail-opening-land-conflict-1.5746607
 
 

How and Why to Engage the Scriptures PART 2: The Violent Histories

This week Kara BH leads us through a sermon about the story of Deborah and Jael and invites us to be conflicted, unsettled, and awakened to the task of wrestling with the scriptures. Michelle E lead us in a beautiful time of communion and we were blessed together.

How and Why to Engage the Scriptures PART 1: The LAW

This is the beginning of a new series on How and Why (and for Whom) to engage the scriptures. Nikayla gave this sermon on how to read the Law or the Pentateuch and she talks about how God choose the least of these from out of the dominant and dominating culture. The dominant culture did not and DOES not recognize this God or know this God's name. The Pentateuch is the stories of the "least of all people" being chosen by God, rescued by God, and established by God as a treasured possession. The Law isn't only about morality or right behavior - it's about how to stay OUT of Pharaoh's throne, avoiding the trap of power, and how to stay within the shared  memory; connected to the community and to the land. The LAW needs to be read through a Kingdom Lens and it needs to be read because the least of these continue to be unnoticed, unnamed, unfavored here in our city. We read it so that we might avoid the temptations of power and be people who remember.
 
DISCUSSION: Read Exodus 1-5 and notice which characters have names and which characters don't have names. Who are God's people? Consider the gospels: Who are the people who recognized and trusted Jesus?
 
Anna lead us in Communion this week and her reflection and teaching on communion is shared here after the sermon recording. For this series we will post the communion time as well as the sermon for any who have missed out on the Sunday gathering.

ACTS Ep12: The Church is a Guest

This is the finale of the Acts series. I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Jon Coutts from Ambrose. Dr. Coutts is a devotee of Dr. Willie Jennings and has spent some time working in pastoral ministry so the book of Acts and the work of Jennings is a passion of his. We talk mainly about the sorrows and the surprises at the end of Acts. We ought not be discouraged in our many challenges and conflicts. The book of Acts is about the outworking of the gospel and it ends in further challenge and conflict. At the end, the work of the Church remains unfinished, the conflicts unresolved, the sorrow unrelenting, but it is in this 'in-between' that we encounter the power of the Gospel. Jennings' puts it like this:
"Paul lives between Jew and Gentile, speaking to both. Luke again reminds us of the tension that resides in the in-between space. This space, constituted by the body of Jesus, is ground zero for Christian existence. This is what public space means for a Christian. It is the space between commitments, allegiances, and alliances where we give witness to God’s sovereignty over flesh and blood, in space and time, and in the now. Public in this sense sutures inside/outside, native/alien, and Jew/Gentile through the bodies of disciples, like Paul. ... In the duration of time, opposition will rise up as some people begin to see the implications of this Jesus-message, that a new day of God’s reign has come that will bring together Jew and Gentile, diaspora concern and Gentile need, worshipers of the one true God and wayward worshipers of many other gods... This is the primal vulnerability that is church rooted in the new and uneasy social and political space created by the Spirit of God. This space requires disciples willing to live floating in baptismal water, their feet no longer held in place by the soft soil of kinship, empire, family, or even religion. These followers of the savior are held afloat by the Spirit working through love for one another." - Jennings (Acts, 185-194)

ACTS Ep11: Breaking Bread in the Storm

The book of Acts doesn't end in victory and celebration - there is less unity at the end of Acts than there was in the beginning. The struggle only increases and yet -- Paul is not pressed into despair. He boasts in his weakness, breaks bread with his enemies and holds onto his ancestral hope. Let's imitate Paul.
 
Discussion:
What are you 'waiting' for? 
What does it mean for us as believers that Acts ends in so much chaos and disunity among the believers? Has church unity been achieved more or less in the past 2000 years? 
 
In light of this, what does it mean to be known by Hope?