The Nexus Podcast

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?

WhenYou Are Engulfed in Flames: A Brief History of Hell and Three Ways to Get There (S14 Episode8)

Well, I am excited for this Sunday! We are bringing the portion of our season around tensions with God to a close by exploring some of Jesus’ most frightening words. A casual reading of the gospels reveals that Jesus doesn’t always fit the common portrayal of him as a kumbaya hippie. He spoke at length about fire, hell, wickedness, and judgment. If we are going to come to trust God, we must reckon with what scares us most about this God—threats of fire and hell.

If you grew up in certain Christian traditions, this was THE reason we became a Christian in the first place. We didn’t want to spend eternity in a lake of fire! It is high time we replace cartoonish and medieval influenced portraits of hell with a deconstructed, and dare I say it, hope infused vision of hell!

I can’t wait for this one. There are plenty of pit stops to make along the way

Is God Angry? (S14 Episode7)

We are digging further into our tensions with God series by exploring the notion of God’s wrath and anger. It isn’t hard to find passages in Scripture that talk about divine wrath and punishment. What is that all about? Well, like last week, perhaps things are not quite as they seem. So, for this Sunday, there are stories to be told and plenty of nooks and crannies to explore. I hope it will be thought provoking, enriching, and encouraging.

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?