Jesus taught primarily in parables. Short pithy stories that surprise us with Jesus' unique perspective on life. These parables centre around three main concepts. Kingdom, Grace and, wait  for it... Judgment. Over the last few years we have developed series to focus on the stories of kingdom, and of grace, and in this series we intend to face into the hardest parables, those that give us Jesus' unique perspective on judgment.

As pastors and friends, this is a question that emerges in conversation pretty regularly. We all have doubts about what we believe, questions about whether our beliefs are well-founded, and we struggle sometimes to find the rhythms and habits that support the faith we want to foster. At Commons, we think wrestling with these questions is an essential part of being a faith-full human. In fact, our journey towards understanding who Jesus is and what He teaches often brings us to a point where we must wrestle with our uncertainties, and hopefully do it together.

As pastors and friends, this is a question that emerges in conversation pretty regularly. We all have doubts about what we believe, questions about whether our beliefs are well-founded, and we struggle sometimes to find the rhythms and habits that support the faith we want to foster. At Commons, we think wrestling with these questions is an essential part of being a faith-full human. In fact, our journey towards understanding who Jesus is and what He teaches often brings us to a point where we must wrestle with our uncertainties, and hopefully do it together.

In the sermon, Bobbi discusses the leadership transition in ancient Israel, focusing on Samuel's story in 1 Samuel 1-4. We get the highlights of the contrasting characters: bad boy Samson from Judges and good boy Samuel, tracing how the latter becomes a prophet. We also explore themes of faithfulness, human agency, and divine intervention, using Hannah's story of barrenness. Hannah's faith and strength point us to the broader themes of perseverance and hearing God's call during times of change.

This week, we explore the complex narrative of Samson in the Book of Judges, a story of strength, weakness, and hope. Samson's life is meant to challenge Israel by reflecting its chaotic state and relationship with God, but also it is meant to challenge us, asking how we can embody a strength that heals.

Bobbi shares a story about praying to be better at banter and how, over time, she found herself engaging in joyful conversations that exceeded her expectations. Through these experiences, she came to see banter not just as witty exchanges but as a way to connect deeply with others and even with the divine. Bobbie sums up her learning like this: "I could have easily thought that banter wasn't for me – that I wasn't good at it, and I should just let it go. But there's stagnancy in staying comfortable in a story you think you know. No, it's better to find the edges of ourselves and to push past premature endings.”

This week, we celebrate Easter and wrap up our series on the Gospel of Mark. We look at the forces at play in Jesus's trial and crucifixion, the women who needed to find their voice to proclaim the good news, and the invitational, circular way the gospel of Mark is structured to help us discover Jesus and meet him in the places we already know.

Today we settle into the realm of conflict, new perspectives, and what it means to defile one’s heart.

This week we join the disciples in the storm to reflect on our experience of meeting the divine in the moments that rock our world.

This week we look at four parables in Mark 4 and again interpret them in their connectedness. The main point was that truth is being sown in our lives even now, and we need to explore how we hear it, where we make room for mystery of the divine in our lives and how open we are to give ourselves over to the way of things and see the kingdom in the things and life cycles around us.

This week we wrap up by talking about our sixth affirmation: “We desire to participate in that renewal by following the way of Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, trusting that this good news is even better than we can imagine.”

This week we look at the third affirmation from the journal: “Because of that we have abandoned the idea of an angry, violent God in order to fully embrace the good news brought forward by Jesus.” In the sermon, Bobbi explores what it is that we want to abandon and what it is that we want to embrace and the reasons for those choices.