On October 11, Aaron offered a view of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20) that goes beyond a mere list of rules or a symbol of the culture wars. Taking the lead from Jewish commentators, we instead can see this famous passage as a moment in the unfolding story of God that continues to this day.
On October 4, Mary Anne dove into Exodus 14, the famous story of God splitting the sea so the Israelites can escape from Egypt. This is a tale of transition—of God moving a people from slavery into somethin new—and Mary Anne invites us to see how God calls us to posture ourselves in our own times of transition. AUDIO NOTE: this recording missed the first few seconds of Mary Anne's message—she begins by introducing Martin Luther King Jr's use of this passage in the context of civil rights.
This Sunday we were grateful to welcome Jackson Nayaho among us—River East has a long history of supporting Jackson and the Ubuntu Clinic he started in Burundi. In this short meditation, Jackson reflects on how his life interacts with the story of Joseph in Egypt, and the ways God has remained faithful.
It's the jazz liturgy! On September 20, the service wove together spoken words (by Aaron Thiessen) with the musical talents of our very own jazz quartet (Karly Epp on vocals; Bryan Harder on keys; Karl Kohut on bass; Sam Robinson on percussion). Together we explored core values, Acts chapter 10, fourth century arguments about the Trinity, and the experience of God in our postmodern world. A note on audio: We record our services over Zoom, which unfortunately means the live band doesn't have the best audio fidelity. All the same, we chose to retain most of the musical aspects of the liturgy here on the podcast, as they were integral to the experience.
On September 6, Bryan Harder recycled two short meditations first written by his father, Helmut—a prominent Mennonite theologian who drafted the 1995 Confession of Faith. Though written in the 60s, these meditations highlight the timeless task of wrestling with what one believes... where to hold fast and where to move on.
On August 30, Mary Anne brought this recycled sermon from over the ocean, from her time in Germany. In it, Andrea Schwartz explores the Parable of the Sower, highlighting the wisdom of incompleteness.
On August 23, Gerhard offered a recycled sermon from his sister-in-law, Vernelle Enns Penner. The sermon re-examines the popular conception of 'Doubting Thomas' in John 20:19-29, articulating doubt as an expected—and even welcome—companion to faith.
On August 9, Edgar shared an edited chapter from Diana Eck's book, Encountering God: A Spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Banaras. The sermon grapples with a central question of interfaith dialogue: If we see someone from another faith fervently praying, is God listening? If we answer 'no,' what does that say about God? If we answer 'yes,' what does that say about what we are doing as Christians?
On August 2nd, Dr. Paul Doerksen recycled this address by Dr. Paul Dyck, first spoken at a Canadian Mennonite University chapel service. Offered at a time of transition for the university, the sermon enourages us to expand our understanding of worship in relation to the academy.
On August 16, Mary Anne offered this sermon from Sarah Godbehere, a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA). This sermon wrestles with our approaches to difficult passages of scripture, highlighting how difficult texts can actually be read in very different ways.