The Nexus Podcast

Life's Too Short To Pretend We're Not Religious (S14 Episode17)

Well, after making some rather bold and audacious claims last Sunday, it is time to settle into this Revisionist History series, and I am excited to get at it by looking at the rather curious case of “equality.”

I am hoping this Sunday will be lots of fun with much to chew on as we dive into some unsettling, but rather profound questions. To that end, we are going to need to talk about the whispered and hushed conversations we all had during COVID, why Lord Sumption landed himself in some serious hot water over some COVID remarks, why we can’t help but reach for the sacred when discussing the value of human life, what it might sound like to debate Plato on his philosophy of inherent human inequality, what Yuval Noah Harari (the atheist) has to say about human rights, and why I woke up rather confused after a dream about Taylor Swift.

Beyond that, we will need to examine why Sam Harris’ (the atheist) "water glass" analogy exposes both the good and ill of believing in God, what kind of water I can convince you all to buy and then drink, what losing Christian stories unleashes on the world, and why people stopped caring about threats of hell after a certain historic landmark. Oh my, so many interesting places to go. I think it will get us all thinking in ways we may have never thought about before.

Revisionist History (S14 Episode16)

Well, it is time to embark on a new series that will take us all the way to Easter. As part of our year in The Tensions, I want to take some time to explore the tensions we often feel with the Church and the history of our faith.

Those looking to cast stones at Christianity over the centuries have plenty of rocks to choose from: the Crusades, the Inquisition, Catholic vs Protestant wars, slavery, and sexism, to name but a few. Even today, the Church continues to be rocked by abuse of power and sex scandals, even as we come to terms with the Church’s role in residential schools here in Canada.

Is it possible to be Christian today without feeling a sense of shame? Has the Christian faith been good, or bad, for the world? For this series, I want to try out my best Malcolm Gladwell and do a little Revisionist History. I want to take us on a journey into the overlooked and misunderstood aspects of Christian history and how the cross has shaped our world, for good and ill. And so, into the good, the bad, and the ugly we go. My hope is that this series will be provocative, unsettling, challenging, but most importantly, full of hope!

For this Sunday, I want to start by examining Three Asinine Stories that Remade the World. These stories are familiar to many but have so radically altered the world we live in; it is sometimes easy to forget just how powerful they are. In fact, you may not even believe these stories to be true. Further, you might even think them silly, but what these stories spawned is now considered orthodoxy to the Western mind. So, off we go on what I promise will be a most fascinating journey!

Even Better than the Real Thing (S14 Episode15)

Continuing on with Jesus’ question, “What do you want?”, we’re taking the opportunity to step back and consider our wanting - a complex topic. Often, desires can surface when we look at others’ lives and we might turn a little green…what do we do about that? We’ll explore schadenfreude, what gives envy such a bad name, and how it can actually serve us well, inviting us into connection with ourselves, with others, and with God.

What Do You Want? (S14, Episode 14)

Friends, we are going to spend a few Sundays before Lent exploring some of the questions Jesus posed in the gospels. The first question, which Jesus poses at the beginning of the Gospel of John, is simply, “What do you want?” My, that is a good question. What do I want? What do you want? What do we want? Initially, the question isn’t hard to answer, plenty of ideas come to mind. But if you keep asking the question, and keep rolling it around in your mind, things start to get interesting. 

The Swords that Pierce Our Souls (S14 Episode13)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a thoughtful, meaningful, and restful holiday season. 2024 is upon us though and we are heading back Into the Tensions shortly here at Nexus. We are going to do that starting Sunday, January 14th, by focusing on the questions Jesus has for us. Oh my, I am excited to jump into that.

For this Sunday though, we want to spend time considering the song, poem, and word of prophecy that an old man named Simeon delivers to Mary, Jesus’ mother. Mary doesn’t get a lot of attention in Protestant circles, but I want to focus on her as an archetype for all who follow the Jesus Path.

I think the message will be sobering, but I hope it is also encouraging for us all as we set out together again on the Jesus Path for 2024.

Erika’s Eucharist Reflection - Nov 26

Mary’s Magnificat -Making Room (S14 Episode12)

The liturgical season of Advent, meaning “coming”, begins this Sunday, and so begins the season of waiting. As if aware of our theme for the year, Sarah Bessey says, “When people talk about 'living in the tension,' I always think of Advent. It’s the time when we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus while naming that we are still waiting here for every tear to be wiped away. I think of the waiting for the Christ child, yes, and I think of the still-waiting for all things to be made right, for our longing for Shalom.” There is a tension in this season - the tension of waiting for the good news to be here now, and seeing at the same time, that it is not yet fully realized.

As we move through the month of December, we’ll light the advent candles of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. We’ll be looking at four biblical songs - one each Sunday. This week, I’ll be preaching on Mary’s Magnificat - considering its revolutionary and subversive nature, and how it has brought both comfort and unease. It has been banned, truncated, simply ignored, yet also highly esteemed and used for political purposes. What does it say to people to cause all of that tension? What might it have to say to us? It’s full of good news - but is it good news for everyone?

Come explore the longest set of words spoken (or maybe sung) by a woman in the New Testament (a poor, young, unmarried pregnant woman at that!) and stay afterwards to enjoy the creativity of the Nexus community with our Maker’s Market.

Redeeming Time (S14 Episode11)

Everything is sped up in the cult of speed. We all feel it. There is never enough time. Ah, but time can be redeemed. This Sunday, that is where we are heading. A humble attempt to take back and redeem a slice of our time. It is possible.

To that end, well, we are going to need to talk about heaven (seems fair given how much airtime hell has had the past few weeks). That journey will take us from N.T. Wright, to Rob Bell, to C.S. Lewis and finally to the comedian, Neal Brennan. From there, we will need to discuss how citizenship and culture create calendars, why I struggled to play Lysander in my high school’s production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream, why we mistake weekends with Sabbath, and why, despite all its promise and potential, Sabbath is one of the hardest things to sell people on.

Zeitkrankheit and the Cult of Speed (S14 Episode10)

Friends, it is time to move beyond our tensions with God and consider some of the tensions we experience with ourselves. There are many, and we could spend an entire season looking into them. But from now until Advent I want to focus on the tensions we experience in our relationship with time and space.

For this week, I want to start with a story in the gospels about two sisters: Martha and Mary. I have come to see their story, and Martha’s dilemma, as indicative of our own time. To do that, we will explore how the acceleration of technology, social change, and the pace of life have coalesced into a unique plague of our time: zeitkrankheit (time, or hurry, sickness).

This feels like an important one to me. I have been chewing on this stuff for quite a while and am excited to dig in. There is a whole lot to discover and unpack along the way.

Pit stops will include a brief history of standardized time, the trickery of time saving apps, why those for and against action to reduce climate change share the same moral framework, and of course, online pornography, the embarrassment of being caught eating nachos and cheese at a pool, email auto responders while you are on vacation, and what smart phones and banana peels have in common. Oh, and some pre-Sunday homework. Watch at least one episode (or season) of The Office before Sunday. Sound good?

What Are You Hinting At? (S14 Episode9)

Nexus friends! There are moments when I hint at things in sermons, without fully exploring them. The trouble is that can make things more confusing than clarifying. This past week I had some questions about the way I ended last Sunday with my sermon on hell, how to get there, and the hope after that. Some have asked, Brad, what were you hinting at toward the end? Brad, are you a universalist? Is Nexus universalist? Some might be wondering, wait, what is a universalist? Ah, this Sunday I want to take us into all of that.

So, to all the big questions we go again. Sheep and goats, the meaning of obscure Greek words, Hitler and Dostoevsky, free will, and the open wound of life. I am looking forward to sharing with you once again as we try to finish out our introductory series on the tensions we experience with God. I hope to see you Sunday for, What Are You Hinting At?