The Nexus Podcast

God on Trial (S14 Episode6)

Folks, you have been summoned to serve as members of a jury this Sunday at Nexus. As we explore the tensions we experience with God, this week we want to explore the question: is God cruel?

To do that, we are going to put God on trial for the cruel story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice (kill) his son Isaac. Is God guilty? The answer may seem obvious. Anyone, or any deity, that asks a father to kill his son, seems guilty of cruelty, at the least. Case closed.

And yet, this Sunday I will be acting as the defense attorney for the story. I intend to bring forward evidence that would suggest, beyond a reasonable doubt, that something is amiss here. Further, I intend to showcase that while the story may seem grisly on the surface, a closer look might reveal there is some actual good news to be found.

Now, you can thank Kristen for sparing you from my flair for the dramatic. I intended to show up in my best Columbo costume (raincoat, cigar, ill-fitted suit, and thick New York accent) but she thought the idea corny. While I disagree, she made me self-conscious, so you are just getting plain old Brad serving as defense lawyer.
You folks get to serve as the jury. Now, if you want to be prepared jurists, a simple reading of Genesis 22 should do the trick. As it reads on the page is all the prosecution needs to make their case. Can I prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that this grisly story on the surface might be good and welcome news about God? You be the judge. 

Wisdom in the Whirlwind (S14 Episode5)

For this Sunday, would you do me a favour and read parts of the book of Job? Specifically, Job chapters 1-3 and 38-42. The book addresses a specific tension in our relationship with God: why we find it hard to trust that God cares about our personal sufferings and stressors. To do that I want to examine the story of Job as a parable while showcasing a very different way to understand this cryptic, ancient story.

On top of that, I will need to tell you about why gamers love torturing Korok characters in the game of Zelda, how I got booed and heckled during my wedding speech this past weekend, and why we should never pick fights with entities bigger than us...unless that entity happens to be God. I can’t wait to be with you again this Sunday for Wisdom in the Whirlwind.

Life on the Strip (S14 Episode4)

I'm excited to bring some wisdom from Quaker teacher and activist Parker Palmer. I'll talk about our inner and outer lives and how we like keeping them separated in a world that values compartmentalizing. But is that dividedness serving us well as individuals, and communities? Is there a better way? What would that look like?

The Tensions (S14 Episode3)

It is time to finally enter The Tensions, our theme for the season. To do that, I want to take us into one of Scripture’s most well-known stories. It is a story that may be the “most accurate accounting of human psychology ever assembled.” It is the story of humanity’s exit from the paradise of the Garden of Eden.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a fun season intro without a few unexpected twists and turns. To start, I will need to tell you a story I have never told anyone before, because I simply do not know what to do with it. I will also intro my first book club of the year and explain to you how I got sucked into staying at the "World Famous Clown Motel". Not only was the experience predictably awful, but it also had me re-examining some of my own beliefs.

As an intro to the themes we will explore this season, we have a lot of unusual ground to cover: from uncomfortable stories about God we find in our own Scriptures, to addictions, relationships, time, and technology. I hope you will join us this Sunday at 10:30am for The Tensions.

- Brad Watson

The Blessings (S14 Episode2)

Well, a new season has arrived and with it we are holding a "The Blessing of New Seasons of Life Sunday." Not exactly a pithy title, so let's just go with "The Blessings." This Sunday we want to hold space and mark the various new seasons each of us are entering, some of them welcome, others perhaps not. It will also mean blessing and welcoming new children into our midst. I know this will be a meaningful Sunday for all of us, no matter what season of life you are currently in.

Sermon wise, well, if we are going to talk about blessings, one can't help but wonder about the kinds of people Jesus thought were blessed. So, to the beatitudes we go. And yet, for some of us, the beatitudes are overly familiar. Thus, I am bringing along a new translation of the beatitudes and I promise you won't have heard them talked about like this before. I am confident you will come away with a refreshed understanding of these curious announcements Jesus makes.

I am also bringing a handful of stories and conjectures to the morning as well. I need to talk about the coffee shop that doesn't serve coffee, a mysterious man I met on a dangerous hike, and why I imagine there will be no marriage in Jesus' coming kingdom. So, I hope you will join us on Sunday for The Blessings.

Join the Joyride (S14 Episode1)

This past June, I told you that I had a sense that this season would be taking us to some hard places. Hard just didn't seem to work as a season theme, however, so instead, we are heading into The Tensions. Everything about this coming season is designed to stretch us, challenge us, and invite us into tension. It is in those places that we grow and learn best. It is in the tension that we discover more of who we are and what we are capable of.

And so, we want to wade into all of it: the tensions we feel about God and faith, the tensions we feel within ourselves, and the tensions we experience within our relationships. The easy path always tries to avoid tension. This year we are going to take the road less travelled and confront those tensions, enter them, wrestle with them, and hopefully walk away blessed because of it. Only three more sleeps until we get started!

For this particular Sunday, I want to ease us into the year with a reminder of why Nexus exists, what we are doing together, and how we are trying to do it. This will be a wonderful primer Sunday for those relatively new to Nexus or for those who have considered joining us. It will also be a great refresher for the rest of us. So if there is anyone you know who has wondered what Nexus is all about, this is the week for them. Perhaps invite them to tag along with you.

To that end, I will be taking us through Nexus' Path, Passion, and Practices. Of course, there are new stories to be told and plenty of fun to be had. I trust Sunday morning will be a worthwhile reminder of why we do this thing called Nexus together. So, I hope you will join us Sunday for Join the Joyride.

Summer Rhythms (S13 Episode39)

Friends, it is our final Sunday before the summer and what a year it has been for us! As we bring our season to a close, I want to help us explore the importance of timing, seasons, and rhythms in our lives. We will need to catch up with Jesus and Mary in the garden post-resurrection, what Paul teaches us about entering into new seasons of life, and how I lost my 100-meter-dash-sprinter-mojo. We will also be taking a look at the eight themes we will be exploring this summer: refresh, connect, savour, intention, service, remember, boundaries, and gratitude.

So Many Gifts (S13 Episode38)

Well, we have come to the penultimate episode of the season. And for this Sunday, and next, I feel as though I have important words to share with us as we wrap up our season together and move into the summer. This Sunday is all about the many, many gifts that are all around us. So, I want to start by explaining my nightly bedtime ritual and how it reminds me of an important truth. Then I want to take us into two incredible sentences we find in the book of James that can help us reframe the way we live. Of course, I will also need to talk about hugging trees, the unfathomable things we are discovering about the cosmos, the cruel vagaries of chance we encounter in life, and why Paul was uniquely qualified to speak about the nature of suffering. Finally, I want to explain why, despite everything, we can walk through life with a sense of joy and gratitude that most people don't possess. I am really looking forward to this one, so I hope you will join us on Sunday for So Many Gifts.

Bread & Wine (S13 Episode36)

Well, we are in the homestretch of our season here at Nexus. Only four Sundays left until our summer rhythms kick in. So, a final four-week series on the sacraments. Sacraments? Sounds like a stuffy, technical church word. I agree, but I have been excited about this series for months now. Throughout it, we are going to take a look at eucharist and baptism as official sacraments, but how music, and all of life, can function sacramentally as well.

So, for this Sunday, let's discuss Eucharist or communion or the Lord's Supper or the Table, whatever you want to call it. I want to examine how Eucharist functions as an important ritual, sign, and portal. And there are lots of fun and thoughtful places to explore — from the latest research on what rituals actually do, to some serious sign fails, to wildfires, to why I am a bit of a curmudgeon when it comes to wine and bread, and why community is so tough.

The Power of a Table (S13 Episode34)

A final week on power and this week I want to ask what seems like a very important question: how do we prevent abuse of power from happening within the Church, within our church, and within our lives and relationships? The answer, to me, is a bit startling. Yet, I hope the unsettling answer gives us at least a direction to head in.

So, for Sunday I want to explore the two subtle temptations we face in considering how to use power, what we can learn from Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus, why sociologists believe the dinner table has a quasi-sacramental power to it, why the first problem we see in the Bible isn't what we think it is, the big experiment I am afraid to try, and why we need to reframe the way we do summers at Nexus. I hope this week will be a meaningful one for us all.