During this hybrid outdoor gathering, Leah and Jeanne give a joint teaching on the idea of "Sacred Space", and why it might be relevant to think about the ways that places can connect us with the Divine.
Listen to or watch the teaching below.
Sacred Heritage
In this teaching from the "Recovering the Sacred" series, Leah explores how we might handle stories and texts from our sacred tradition that we find problematic, and what it might mean to "include and transcend" as we seek to rebuild and recover our spiritual practices.
Review Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.
Sacred Vision
Photo by Dubwise Version.
In this teaching, we continued our "Recovering the Sacred" series with a conversation around "Sacred Vision". Leah joins with Ginny Prince to consider how God might impart encouraging vision to a community, which can be vital in the work of "reorder". The gathering included a collective listening prayer practice, but that has been omitted from the video out of respect for attendees' privacy.
Listen to or watch Leah and Ginny’s presentation below.
Recovering the Sacred (Introduction)
In this teaching, Leah gives an introduction to our new summer teaching series, "Recovering the Sacred". In this introduction, she lays the groundwork for exploring the part of the Biblical narrative about how a community rebuilt after a time of great disruption, and considers how Father Richard Rohr's framework of growth happening through the pattern of "Order, Disorder, Reorder" might be instructive for us in this season.
Read Leah’s notes here and watch the teaching below.
Exploring the Journey
The Labyrinth we drew at Washington Elementary.
In this hybrid Sunday gathering, Leah gave a brief teaching, reflecting on life as a journey and inviting our community into an ancient spiritual practice to invite God into that journeying. She introduced our community to the practice of walking a prayer labyrinth, which those gathered then had the opportunity to do.
Read Leah’s notes here and watch the teaching below.
Being Seen
During this virtual-only service, Leah shares a teaching inviting Haven to reflect on another element of cultivating intergenerational community: how we respond to the youth and young adults increasingly in the Haven space. She looks at what we might learn from Jesus in this area, with a story from early in the gospel John.
Read Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.
Reflections on Seasons
As part of the hybrid service on June 13, 2021, Jeanne led a reflection with the children on the seasons of the year. Leah followed it with a brief teaching about one of the places the Bible speaks most explicitly about the seasonality of life, and led us through a prayer experience to reflect on the seasons we find ourselves in now.
Read Leah’s notes here and view both teachings below.
On Wearing Masks and Eating Meat
In this teaching, Leah reflects a bit theologically about some of the complexity of gathering in this coming-out-of-Covid season, and considers what insight some instruction to the early church might bring.
Read Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.
Pentecost 2021
The group gathered for our first Hybrid outdoor service in 2021.
This brief teaching from Leah was part of Haven's first hybrid service held on 5/23/2021, Pentecost Sunday.
Review Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.
Rebuilding Intergenerationally
Leah and Jeanne lead another conversation in preparation for the return to in-person services. This conversation focused specifically on what it means to build a community that is intergenerational and supports the needs of adults and kids.
Planning to Rebuild
Leah and Jeanne open up a community discussion about the next phase of Haven life, as we look towards beginning to hold in-person gatherings outdoors, currently scheduled to begin May 23.
Envisioning Again
In this Sunday gathering, Lead Pastor Leah Martens and Connections Pastor Jeanne Wong lead a conversation around revisiting the vision of Haven as we prepare to begin meeting in person once again.
Breaking Down My Lens of Binary Thinking
Image by Alan Levine
In this teaching by Connections Pastor Jeanne Wong, Jeanne shares some of her story and her process in moving beyond dualistic thinking and the way it impacts the journey of faith.
Listen to or watch her teaching below.
Revealing Resurrection
On Easter Sunday 2021, Leah concluded our series on The Stories That Sustain Us. In this teaching Leah reflects on the way resurrection is revealed in the New Testament stories and what it might teach us about experiencing resurrection in our current circumstances.
See Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the video of her teaching below.
A Different Kind of Triumph
In this Palm Sunday teaching, Leah considers the spectacle of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and compares it to other traditions, with the hopes that we might better understand what Jesus was communicating engaging the day the way he did, and how that can sustain us now.
Between Loss and Hope
“Jesus Wept” by Tabitha Kaylee Hawk. Oklahoma City Memorial. https://www.flickr.com/photos/tabithahawk/14384061966/in/photolist-nV55uo-4CFZXW-pff7NE-7cf4p9-229Fs3-3VwEJ-81Gv6r-2ky5x2A-scgA6R-aYLHac-eeGMSC-23BWkof-4x5tHS-7V8K9y-9dsPvL-sd3AmR-gqXTxi-gqXzLE-e51Wer-eaLsz3-278q7bE-4iFh4w-7JJa8E-2iMtEnW-eaLqgL-eaLqBd-eaLr3L-a699p2-eaLrrm-CQhFc-LTV4x-eaLrHm-EDTAh-9y7kwb-ehBV1n-dsmDY7-8YXaNk-7aNp4M-bUadH-4d3Gs3-dKvrip-4S53DD-LTV96-4S53Cp-acqnBj-LTLpN-LTV7x-sctoM-i4P3W-5DH6d7
This is a teaching by Leah Martens to mark the anniversary of a year since the pandemic began. In this "Story That Sustains Us", she revisits a story about Jesus being present to two sisters in the delicate place many of us have been inhabiting this year between loss and hope.
Review Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.
Transfiguring Transcendence
Theophanes the Greek, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In this teaching, Katie Kay helps us pivot in Lent to the latter part of the Stories That Sustain Us from the gospels, by looking at one that has mystified and inspired Christians through the ages. Here she shares her thoughts on the Transfiguration, and how that story may connect with us and sustain us today.
Listen to Katie’s teaching or watch the video below.
Walking on Water
In this teaching on another famous Jesus story, Leah looks at Matthew’s account of Jesus walking on water toward his disciples. In doing so, she invites us to consider how God might be present to us in challenging seasons, and how we might respond.
Read Leah’s notes here and listen to or view the teaching below.
The Good Soil That Gives Life
In this teaching by Connections Pastor Jeanne Wong, we look at one of Jesus’ most famous parables - a parable about a sower, seed, and soil - as we consider how this story might speak to us about the beauty of faith in Jesus and the transformation it can bring.
Read Jeanne’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.
When We Emerge
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from Washington D.C, United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
This teaching by Pastor Leah Martens is the next in our "Stories That Sustain Us" series, looking at the life of Jesus through gospel stores. In this teaching, Leah starts by considering the recent performance of Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman (pictured above), and then turns to the story of Jesus preaching at his home synagogue in Nazareth. Her teaching considers how that moment can inform our own understanding of Jesus, as well as what it means to "emerge".
Read Leah’s notes here and listen to or watch the teaching below.