Together With Kids

"Jesus didn't have kids; [he was] not a dad. But he seemed very fond of them. He seemed to really be into kids and he seemed to continually try to center the attention of his followers on them; on what was going on with them. Why was that? If we're gonna think about what it means to do life together, it's important that we think about what is the role all of us play - not just the parents, but all of us... in the next generation of what God is doing."

This teaching takes a look at how God seems to be inviting his people to think about life together with kids, by taking a broad look at the advice on parenting, child-rearing, and relating to kids given throughout the Bible. In this teaching, Leah makes the case that these are questions that are not just relevant for parents, but for all who seek to live out Jesus-centered community.

Review Leah's notes or listen to the audio below.

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Together With Immigrants

What did Jesus mean when he encouraged his followers to "welcome the stranger"? How might that encouragement inform our own perspective on the welcome of vulnerable immigrants in our communities, particularly in a time when those immigrants are at heightened risk? As our guest preacher Pastor Tita Valeriano shares, "Hospitality is not just about opening our door and being nice until they leave our house. For Christ, it is truly more than that."

Listen below for more of Tita's words on Jesus' view of hospitality and the implications of "Celebrate Together" on our inclusion of immigrants.

Together with Our Neighbors

"How might our faith open up helpful connections with our neighbors? (Like…our literal neighbors. Or our coworkers. The people we shop next to at Berkeley Bowl….) How might Jesus be inviting us to think about the places we actually inhabit and our connections to them?"

In this teaching, Leah invites us to think about life in our local communities, outside of church. Read the notes or listen below as she explores how an encouragement to the people of God in the Hebrew Bible, might have resonance for us today.

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Stars or No Stars?

Photo Credit: Sandor Weisz. Creative Commons license.

Dr. Seuss' classic children's story The Sneetches explores the arbitrary ways groups define themselves against each other. As Dr. Christena Cleveland points out in her book Disunity In Christ, sadly the church is not immune from this phenomenon. But is that the only way it has to be? Or did Jesus, and the early church intend something better? In this teaching Leah explores Paul's hope for the early church to be a community that could hold diverse unity, and considers how we might continue to live into that hope.

First watch the video (or read the book), then you can read the notes or listen to the teaching below.

A New Way to Relate

"All of us are wired for relationship. We’re wired to be with other people. We come from tribal ancestors who found safety, security, identity, and developed a plethora of amazing cultures that span the globe by associating in groups.

"We often feel the need to define and defend our group against other groups... But for those of us who are trying to live lives of Jesus-centered faith, hunkering down and only taking care of our own doesn’t really seem to be an option..." 

For Easter, we started a new series on all of the relationships in our lives, whether as group members, partners, parents, friends, or colleagues. What wisdom does Jesus (as well as thinkers of today) have for us about living well in the midst of all these relationships? Listen below or check out the notes here, and tune in next week for more! 

Jonny Leano: Addressing Identity in a Centered-Set Church

"Hawaii is a racially diverse place. Former Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle says that Hawaii is a place where the “racial and ethnic lines are often blurred or deemed irrelevant.” In other words, Hawaii focuses on racial diversity at the center. And racial diversity in Hawaii is a great source of pride that distinguishes us from the mainland.

"But for me, Hawaii was not a racially diverse paradise. I am part of a growing population of immigrant Filipinos in Hawaii, and as of 2010, Filipinos surpassed Japanese to become the second-largest racial group in Hawaii, just behind Caucasians.

"Yet I still felt racism and xenophobia growing up. I was teased for being Filipino. I also witnessed how neighborhoods were segregated based on race and class. And this was confusing. I thought that fellow Hawaiians celebrated our different racial identities… but sometimes I felt that Filipinos were the exception…"

This week, Jonny Leano shared with us his experiences growing up as a Filipino citizen in Hawai’i--and later participating in predominantly white churches in America. Listen in (or read his notes) for more on how we can become a spiritual community that allows people to live out their full identities and share their unequal experiences of race and class—yet still maintain a focus on Jesus as the one who brings us together.

Faith Is A Two-Way Thing

"When I was in middle school, I went through confirmation. I had been baptized as a kid in a mainline denominational church. And then around 12 or 13, I was told it was time for confirmation. Along with all the other sixth graders, I took a class. Now I always liked studying, but this was boring. I don’t remember really learning anything about what I’d now call the Christian faith. There was nothing about the Bible. Nothing about the trinity; no Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Nothing about connection to Jesus. Nothing about how to connect with God, but a lot about the history of my particular denomination.

At the end of the class,  we'd all get up in front of the church, wear a nice dress and let the pastor put a bit of oil on each of our heads. It was nothing special for me. I was probably thinking about if we might go out for pizza afterwards, like most of my friends. But there was one girl who wasn’t like the rest of us; Kelly. Something different was happening for her. When she kneeled and the pastor blessed her with oil, she was weeping. She was shaking a bit. She was visibly moved. Something was clearly happening for her and it seemed to be real.  I knew Kelly. I trusted her. I didn’t know what she was feeling but I knew it was something genuine. Further more, I wanted it, but I didn’t understand where it came from."

Have you ever seen others have powerful spiritual experiences, but not felt them yourself? Have you wondered if experiences of the Holy Spirit are for just some people, or might be available to all of us? In this first teaching, Leah explores this question and how we'll be addressing it through the season of Lent, which we're calling "40 Days of Interactive Faith".

Listen to the teaching below or read the notes here. And check out our Daily Guide for ways to participate in this series throughout the week.

Sabbath as Resistance

As we continue our series "Soul Care for Seasons of Stress", Leah takes a look at the Biblical framework of Sabbath, particularly informed by scholar Walter Brueggemann's book Sabbath as Resistance: Saying No to the Culture of Now. In Brueggemann's words, "Sabbath is a bodily act of testimony to alternative and resistance to pervading values and the assumptions behind those values.” Listen below or read Leah's notes to learn more here.

After Leah's teaching on a Biblical framework for Soul Care, Celia Emmelhainz shares her Soul Care practice of Poetry. She shares how reading and writing poetry have helped manage highs and lows in her life. She points us to other poetry lovers as well, like Abraham Lincoln, and reflects on how their practices shaped them, too. Her portion begins in the audio below at minute 35. Celia's notes are also available here.

Even Jesus Needed a Break

Many of us are feeling the stress of this season not only in our own life, but in our country. Through sustained seasons of stress, how do we take care of ourselves so we can stay engaged in life for the long term? Is self-care even a valid concern, or simply an expression of privilege. 

Audre Lord was a leading activist in the 20th Century. She was a poet, a writer, a feminist, a womanist, a lesbian, and a civil-rights leader. She said the following on self-care, "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare."

In this new series, which we will come back to periodically, we will explore "Soul Care for Seasons of Stress". With a unique format, Leah will lead us through some Biblical frameworks for caring for our selves and our souls, and then other Haven-ites will take the time to share some of their own unique soul care practices, and help us discern if they might be something that could work for others of us, or inspire us along the way to finding our own rhythms and practices. 

In this Sunday's teaching, David Lai shares about his practice of meditation and Connie Barker shares about her practice of Bible Reading.

See Leah's notes for this week here. Listen to the entire teaching below. David's portion begins just before 23 minutes, Connie's at minute 36.

Communities That Don't Hurt

If Rene Girard was right in identifying that we are all mimetic, how can we channel our mimetic tendencies toward good? Is it possible to create communities that aren't ruled by rivalry and violence, but encourage collective flourishing? These are the kinds of questions Leah addresses in the last teaching in the series on Rene Girard, "Why We Hurt One Another".

Listen below and/or see her notes here.

Who Tells Your Story?

Jesus tells the story of a widow who kept going to an unjust judge, asking him to hear her case. And he kept ignoring her just case, again and again. 

What's a person to do in a time like that? This week, guest speaker Bianca Louie reflects on the widow's story in the context of her own story: 

"During those really rough two years... I didn't feel heard by the people around me. And as an Asian-American woman that feeling of being unheard is really familiar and fatiguing. I really wasn't sure if God heard me either.

And as I continued to face rejection and exclusion, yet continued to do what I sense the Holy Spirit was calling me to do, it all felt in vain a lot of the time. But what kept me going when I didn't feel heard..." 

Listen in below (or read the notes) to hear more of Bianca's thoughts on what kept the persistent widow going in Jesus' story... and what kept her going in the face of the setbacks in her own story:

Let's Talk About Jesus

Photo by Jonathan Weitz. Creative Commons License, 2010.

The stories we tell matter. Stories communicate how we see the world, what we value, what we look to, where our hope is. But sometimes, as people of faith, we have a hard time telling our story, particularly when it comes to the crucifixion of Jesus. What does Jesus' death say about the character God? Why would God require the death of his own son to save communicate His love?

A number of us in the Blue Ocean network have found the work of Rene Girard particularly helpful for the lens it gives us in understanding the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. In this teaching, Leah explores how Girard helps Jesus followers better understand and tell the Jesus story.

Listen to the teaching below and/or check out Leah's notes here.

This Is All Your Fault

How does mimetic desire lead to rivalry and then to violence against a single victim? This is a pattern literary critic and anthropologist Rene Girard noticed throughout literature and ancient mythology, but interestingly in the Hebrew Bible, he saw something different beginning to unfold. Listen in this week as Leah describes Girard's theory of violence, how it manifests in ancient myths like the Oedipus story, and what clues God might be giving in the Hebrew Bible to address and undo the power of violence at work.

Listen to the teaching below and/or check out Leah's notes here.

Desire: It's Contagious

What motivates us to hurt each other? Actually... what motivates us at all?

This week, we look at Rene Girard's ideas on the origins of human violence, which he suggests come not juts from wanting what other people have--but also from seeing what they want and then wanting that thing ourselves. So we catch our friends posting about their vacation plans, desired purchase, or that new iPhone that they want, and pretty soon we're thinking... I want that too! 

So what do we do with all this wanting? And how do we channel it in positive directions, so that it doesn't lead to resentment or envy of others? For some ideas, listen to Leah's message below, or read her notes here. 

Longing for Intimacy

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me... (Hosea 11:1-2) 

Just as a parent longs for closeness with their child, the ancient writer Hosea says, God longs to connect with us as people. But how do we restore relationships in the midst of hurt, or betrayal, or misunderstanding? As we reflect on winter as a season of longing, listen to Leah's message below, or read the notes here. 

Longing for Justice

At a time when the prosperous in ancient Israel were flourishing, God sent a message to his people: Just because you are doing well, does not mean all is well. As the prophet Amos noted, 

"....because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops, and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted.

Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate" (Amos, 5:11-12) 

By calling out the successful in society for their clever dealing, their shrewd success, and their complacency towards the poor, God re-directs their attention away from their own profit and towards the poor and those in need. So at a time where the rich ascend in our own churches and society, how do we stand with the poor? Listen in for more of Amos' message, or read the notes here. 

Longing for Wholeness

You've heard the story of the Velveteen Rabbit--a beautiful stuffed animal run ragged by the loving attentions of a child. Yet through trying to find his purpose as a toy, the rabbit moves towards wholeness--towards being and feeling real.

But what does it mean to be real, and whole again? This week, we're thinking with the ancient writer Micah about what it means for the world to be made whole again--for broken people to heal and flourish, for communities to come together and countries to be at peace. Yet to get there, we need to pay attention to what we've been ignoring or pushing away--both in our own selves and in the world around us. Listen in below for more on moving towards wholeness, or read Leah's speaking notes here. 

Longing for Encouragement

By Liesel (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Don't feel much like Decking the Halls right now?  Too in touch with the pain, injustice, and fear this year has triggered? You're in good company. This Advent at Haven we will not paper over pain and lament with Holiday wrapping, but rather we will sit in the discomfort and longing, and call out to God to break into our world again. As we do so, we'll look to the Minor Prophets for inspiration, as they too lived in dark times but yearned and lamented for the Light of God to break through the darkness. 

This first week, we look at Habakkuk, and how he speaks into our longing for encouragement. Listen along or read the notes.

Living With the End in Mind

"Money, power and influence: three resources hold sway in our world today, much as they did in the first century Roman Empire. Is there anyone in the news these days who you think is motivated by these three resources in any way?

"Is there anyone in this room who is anxious about who in this country wields the resources of money, power and influence? Any of you scared about how those resources are going to be used for better or worse over the next few years?

"And are you yourself motivated by money, power and influence? Are you anxious about your finances? Do you enjoy positions of influence at work, in the community, in the church….?"

This week, Liz Milner considers the purpose of money, success, and power. When we have resources--or when we desperately want them--what do we use them for? Listen below for more on living with the end in mind, or read Liz' notes here. 

Get the Weed Whacker

"Historically, the church, like most other social groups, has a hard time with tension and a hard time with mess. We tend to do one of two things: 

We either withdraw from places of tension and mess and try to establish our own neatly-tended and weedless gardens...

Or we get sucked into the power game, the empire game. We start thinking, if we can just get enough control, we can tamp down on all these weeds for everyone. 

But God isn't like that. He wants to bring in as much good wheat as possible. And he is patient. He's willing to endure the mess now, for as long as it takes to get the most wheat..."

So what do we do with a messy, difficult, and at times painful election season? Listen in or read the notes for more on living and voting well, both during Election Day and afterwards."