Episodes

  • Spirit, Love, Justice and Truth

    Spirit, Love, Justice and Truth
    Jan 9 2025
    Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 “Establishing justice on Earth is the result of the Spirit. In our reading, that Spirit descends in the bodily form of a dove, which many today take as the symbol of peace arrived at because universal distributive justice has been established. At the core of Jesus’ message, the heart of Christianity, is the call to love our neighbor. And loving one’s neighbor is what we call today social justice: making sure we and all of our neighbors have what they need to thrive, not just barely survive. Social justice is rooted in love, specifically love of one’s neighbor. It calls us to engage our civic responsibility toward one another. It calls us to take inventory of how we are sharing space with others we live alongside with on our planet. Justice is also deeply tied to truth-telling. It is difficult to practice justice as a society when we don’t share the same reality, and when some have been misinformed and convinced through appeals to their own bigotries and fears that the reality is different from what is genuinely happening.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    19 mins
  • Wisdom and Understanding Give Birth to Social Justice

    Wisdom and Understanding Give Birth to Social Justice
    Jan 2 2025
    Luke 2:41-52 “Any Christian teaching, action, or movement that disparages, discourages or prevents adherents from caring about social justice rejects Jesus’ central wisdom and teachings on loving one’s neighbors. Any form of Christianity that inhibits your pursuit and practice of social justice denies the central tenet of the gospel that the Jesus of the stories taught, for the work of social justice is merely the act of applying the ethic of loving one’s neighbor. Social justice is the practical fruit of loving one’s neighbor. Therefore, to say that Christianity is rooted in love of neighbor is to also state that genuine Christianity bears the fruit of social justice out of love for our neighbor. Whatever form of Christianity we subscribe to, our faith should not disconnect us from our world, from our community, from our society. It should propel us to lean into and be more deeply connected to our world, community and larger society.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    15 mins
  • Mary’s Magnificat and the Intersection of Faith and Social Justice

    Mary’s Magnificat and the Intersection of Faith and Social Justice
    Dec 19 2024
    Luke 1:39-55 “Few stories in the gospels’ narratives of Jesus’ birth demonstrate the intersection of faith and social justice as much as Mary’s Magnificat does. The social locations mentioned here matter. Pay attention to who is doing what. These stories aren’t about those whose character or personality exhibits humility. It is about those who are living in more humble situations and stations of life. They will be lifted up. This is a precursor to such phrases as mountains being brought low, and valleys being raised, the first being made last and the last being made first. And all of this is in accordance not with the hope of escaping one day to another world or retreating into inner peace. It answers the promise made to the ancestors. At the time of Jesus, the Jewish prophetic hope was not to one day become a disembodied soul in some far distant heaven, but that one day all injustice, violence and oppression in our world would be put right, here and now. For those with the awareness to notice these themes, where liberation and social salvation is emerging in these stories is inspiring for our context today.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    16 mins
  • Advent and Justice Toward One Another

    Advent and Justice Toward One Another
    Dec 12 2024
    Luke 3:7-18 “Advent isn’t about escaping to somewhere else or about escaping inward either. Advent is about the arrival of justice where we are. And that’s what we want to be about. We may have deep anxiety over what the next four years is going to bring, still we can choose to focus on what we can do about it. Some of us can do precious little while others, closer to the powerbrokers of our society, can do a lot. Wherever we find ourselves on that spectrum we are called to do what we can. Advent is about establishing justice on Earth and shaping our world into a just, safe, compassionate home for everyone. Let’s be a part of that kind of advent community, the people who bring about the arrival of that kind of world. This year, during our Advent season, let’s stop looking for someone or something else to show up. Let’s rededicate our commitment to showing up in whatever ways possible for each of us for the sake of justice.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    17 mins
  • Salvation from the Margins

    Salvation from the Margins
    Dec 5 2024
    Luke 3:1-6 “This is the theological and political point of the “wilderness” in our narrative this week. Change, liberation, and social salvation has historically come from voices on the outside of unjust systems. It’s comes from the grassroots, the outside in and bottom up. Outside is where John shows up in our story. It’s where Jesus shows up in our story (cf. John 1:46). The wisdom for us as we rededicate our efforts to resistance and harm mitigation in the years to come is to look to the margins. Listen to the voices of those on the edges. Look for the good that is already happening in justice efforts on the margins and get with that! Throw your energy and solidarity alongside that! What work was taking place on the edges in this week’s story? Even in the face of deep harm and the social and economic devastation of vulnerable communities, a path for change was being prepared in the wilderness. The way was being smoothed out for justice’s arrival. In that first season of Advent, even when things looked most bleak, a way was being made out of no way on the margins. “For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    17 mins
  • Advent of Us

    Advent of Us
    Nov 28 2024
    Luke 21:25-36 “This Advent season I’m reminded that Advent is about something finally showing up. We are the ones, especially at this moment, who must show up. We are the ones we are mutually depending on right now. Jesus taught about the power of community to survive and transform the world around us even in the most difficult of times, shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone. Jesus taught us not to isolate and rely just on ourselves, but to come together. No matter what the future brought, we could get through it together, knowing we had each other’s back. And, once again, this is now the time to renew our commitment to making sure everyone is taken care of. I know from the last time that what is coming won’t be easy. But this Advent, I’m choosing to hold on to the hope that resistance and survival is possible as we renew our commitments to each other. We are the one’s we’ve been waiting for.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    16 mins
  • Give Us Barabbas

    Give Us Barabbas
    Nov 21 2024
    John 18:33-37 “Again, this kind of language has led to some deeply problematic interpretations. Some Christians completely disregard the injustice, oppression, violence, and therefore concrete suffering people are experiencing now and focus solely on saving their “souls” for postmortem heaven later. Honestly, I’m struggling a bit this week. In the wake of the recent election, I sincerely wish Christians were less involved here and now. If Christians’ civic participation is going to result in harm for women, my LGBTQ and immigrant friends, and so many others, I would rather they do just focus on heaven. Please stay out of the affairs of our world! If Christians do engage this world, we must ensure our actions make our world a safe, more just, more compassionate place for everyone or we end up doing more harm than good. So much is here in this story for us to painfully unpack and explore. So many lessons for our present movement, and I’m not rushing to positivity and hope. Our work to shape our world into a safe, compassionate, just world for everyone just got a lot harder.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    16 mins
  • The Beginning of Birth Pains

    The Beginning of Birth Pains
    Nov 14 2024
    Mark 13:1-8 “I think of the economic stress so many are under presently. I think, too, of the political divisions that continue to grow here in the U.S. I think of the acknowledged and unacknowledged radical and misogynistic biases so many of us still have inside ourselves in the country. I think of the ecological damage we cannot continue to perpetuate. Add to all of this the recent gut punch of the recent election results and what those results reveal about who we are here in the U.S. and how far we still need to go toward a multicultural democracy. This is not the end. If we choose it, all of our present challenges now could be the beginning of us giving birth to something new. We don’t have to give up hope. We can look at the world around us and still imagine a world that is a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone. The current loss and anxiety, our energy and concerns, can be channeled into a renewed commitment to resistance giving birth to the kind of world we want to live in, a world where there is room enough for all of us thrive. Things will be different this time. But we are different this time, too. We are more organized, and we are ready. We are not alone. Our community of resistance is still here.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    18 mins