Episodes

  • Two Greatest Commandments and Social Justice

    Two Greatest Commandments and Social Justice
    Oct 31 2024
    Mark 12:28-34 “Next week is election week here in the U.S. Next week, many of us will be taking our civic (love of neighbor) responsibilities very seriously. You can’t say you love your neighbor and vote to put someone in office that will harm those you claim to love. So I’m thinking of my LGBTQ neighbors. I’m thinking all the women neighbors in my life and their rights to bodily autonomy and health care. I’m thinking of neighbors of a different race or culture than my own. I’m thinking of neighbors who have migrated here to survive and gain a better life for themselves. I can’t tell you how to vote. That’s not my place. But I can plead with you to engage your public life, your civic life, and not simply your private religious piety. This Tuesday, love your neighbor by getting out there and voting for love and justice. And no matter what the results turn out, that next morning when you wake, keep at it. Keep living love, keep taking action, keep choosing compassion as, together, we continue to follow Jesus in shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    15 mins
  • Bartimaeus and Christians of Privilege

    Bartimaeus and Christians of Privilege
    Oct 24 2024
    Mark 10:46-52 “We create so many lines based on social differences that we must learn to step across. Whether these lines are gender, social class, education, race or culture, or sexuality, when we choose to enter into relationship with those who are different from us, we experience that proximity which has the power to change the way we perceive and act. Proximity doesn’t guarantee change. But it does provide the opportunity for change. Crossing lines that we have created and defined by our differences is the doorway to relationship. Our relationships have the potential, if we allow them, to help us understand more of the experiences of others who are different from us. As these relationships grow, we learn how others live in our society and have experiences different from our own. If we choose to respond to this awareness with empathy, we begin to discern, perceive, and understand broader realities. We begin to look at our world differently.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    15 mins
  • Participation Not Substitution

    Participation Not Substitution
    Oct 17 2024
    Mark 10:35-45 “I too know something of what it means to stand up for justice and love. I know something of pushback from those who are benefitting from an unjust system, pushback that threatens your own livelihood and ministry. These days, I’m thankful for resurrecting life. My life looks nothing today like I thought it would twenty years ago. But that’s okay. I wouldn’t change the stances I’ve taken or the people being harmed that I’ve stood in solidarity with. I know it’s the same for many of you too. Standing up for love and justice sometimes involves drinking the same cup Jesus drank and being baptized with the same baptism he was baptized with. In those moments we are participating with Jesus in standing up rather than choosing to be silent. We are in the right story. We must remember, this story doesn’t end in death, dying, or a cross. This story, and our story, ends in resurrection. Love wins.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    17 mins
  • God and Money

    God and Money
    Oct 13 2024
    Mark 10:17-31 “Will Jesus followers today as a community ever return to these practices and teachings? We live in a very individualistic culture. The first step may be to create communities that make our hyper-self reliance obsolete. We have people in all classes in our communities. Some have nothing to give because their needs aren’t even being met. Others are living month-to-month and just barely getting by. Their needs are met, but they have no extra. Some in our communities have a little extra that they are saving for a future emergency. And others have so much extra they couldn’t possibly spend it all in multiple lifetimes, much less their own. So today as we read Jesus’ call to share our possessions with others, certain questions arise.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    19 mins
  • Divorce Just Ain’t What It Used To Be

    Divorce Just Ain’t What It Used To Be
    Oct 3 2024
    Mark 10:2-16 “Our practice of marriage and divorce in our culture today should be based on the ethics and values of the golden rule, the well being of all parties involved, whether abuse is taking place, and an egalitarian concern for justice for everyone. This is the spirit of the gospels’ teachings. People matter above institutions. Institutions were made for people not people for institutions. Even the institution of marriage. Justice and that which was life-giving were Jesus’ concerns in Mark. And that which is just and life-giving should be our concern today, too. Marriage and divorce are two sides of the same coin. We are not infallible. And when marriage becomes death-dealing, divorce as a life-giving option should be among the choices available to those seeking to turn things around. Whether people believe that they can work on and change their marriage or that their marriage should be undone, that is strictly up to them. It is not our place to shame or look down on them. It’s our job to life-givingly support them during such difficult choices. People who have been divorced or are going through divorce don’t need our judgement. They need our encouragement and our care.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    18 mins
  • Inclusivity and Taking Care of the Vulnerable

    Inclusivity and Taking Care of the Vulnerable
    Sep 26 2024
    Mark 9:38-50 "Love, inclusivity, justice, and liberation don’t impose extra conditions, nor do they require everyone to be alike in every detail. Jesus embodies an openness to diversity. In this passage, He speaks about our responsibility toward the most vulnerable among us—are we truly caring for them? We must be intentional in our rejection of being so 'heavenly minded' that we are indifferent to the needs of our world. Our mission is not just to save souls but to care for bodies and our material world. We must address the injustices and suffering of the present, rather than focusing solely on the afterlife. Otherwise, we lose our essence, our 'salt.' In Mark’s gospel, Jesus calls us to transform the world into a safe, compassionate, and just home for everyone, especially the most vulnerable."For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    16 mins
  • Servants of the Most Vulnerable

    Servants of the Most Vulnerable
    Sep 23 2024
    Mark 9:30-37 “Some may consider this to be a subtle difference, but it makes a huge difference. One way to tell the difference is to ask yourself who is being addressed: those in power and being corrected for how they lord their authority over others, or those being lorded over and encouraged to passively accept their experience? How we shape our faith communities matters. And these words offer wisdom in our justice work in our faith communities and in the wider society. When we vote for leaders, are we voting for leaders who have at heart the well being of even the most vulnerable among us? Do they care about the actual needs of the community they are seeking to serve or are they primarily concerned about themselves and what they want from whatever leadership role or office they are seeking? As I consider the political season we are presently in here in the Unites States, I hear wisdom calling to each of us from these words in Mark’s gospel. Consider the record of those seeking office from our local communities all the way to the Office of the President. Do they really care about others or do they only want your vote? Ask yourself, how do those asking for your support treat those who most vulnerable to injustice, subjugation, and exploitation in our society? Character matters! Is their character such that seeks to serve themself or to genuinely serve the people? “Anyone who wants to be first, must be servant of all.”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    16 mins
  • Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice

    Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice
    Sep 12 2024
    Mark 8:27-38 “Too often Christians in power have used “bearing one’s cross” to teach that to follow Jesus means to passively and patiently endure whatever abuse, injustice, or oppression one is experiencing with the hope that in the afterlife your suffering will be rewarded. Nothing could be further from the way Jesus describes taking up one’s cross in our reading this week. The cross is not passively enduring injustice. The cross is the threat abusers and oppressors make against us for our refusal to passively endure injustice. The cross is the threat intended to make us passive. When Jesus tells his followers to take up their cross, he’s telling them to keep refusing to be passive, even if you’re threatened with a cross for doing so. Jesus’ call is a call to courageously refuse to let go of your hope for justice, for change, for liberation, and freedom to thrive. Don’t passively endure suffering. Don’t give in when those who have privileges to lose seek to persuade us to patiently ‘endure pain, humiliation, and violation of our sacred rights to self-determination, wholeness, and freedom’ rather than speaking out”For more go to renewedheartministries.com
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    17 mins