Podcast – Pasadena Mennonite Church
150 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsAn Anabaptist Community in the Los Angeles Area
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Episodes
Spirituality and the Profane
November 02, 2022 01:03 - 42 MBStanley Green described his first pastorate in South Africa, where his parishioners were menial laborers on farms producing ostriches and grapes. Stanley knew that the very religious white owners of the farms beat their workers. They were paid little, forcing them to buy on credit from the farm store half-way through the month. And at 13, children were taken out of school to work the farms. This history created an interest for Stanley regarding the topic of spirituality. The history of the we...
Jesus and Justice
October 18, 2022 21:02 - 25.8 MBOn September 11th, we were honored to hear from Sarah Augustine, a Pueblo (Tewa) descendant and author of "The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery" (Herald Press, 2021). This is the first week in a series called Anabaptist Academy, and centers around Jesus and Justice. The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal doctrine, a paradime for creating law. It is the current legal doctrine in the United States, defining reality for indigenous peoples, dating back to ...
Kujenga
September 23, 2022 23:07 - 35.1 MBJason T. Smith, gifted in weaving together cultural ideas and theological metaphors, spoke to us on September 4th. Kujenga means “to build” in Swahili. In Kenya, both Swahili and English are official languages. And Leslie Scott, an Englishwoman born in Kenya brought a derivative of the word kujenga to the western world: Jenga. After her family moved to Ghana, she packaged and sold the family game. Jason goes on to talk about a Mythbuster’s Jr episode tasked with whether the whole foundaion o...
Hearing Martha (Seek to Understand Rather than Persuade)
August 09, 2022 03:07 - 44 MBWe enter Luke 10:38-42 with Mary and Martha, and the topic of empathy. Mike Rewers empathizes with a rather unpeaceful Martha and her blindness in the moment. But when we can become aware of our inability to see clearly, we become more able to see the other with loving and accepting eyes, which is how God sees us — and them. We have to bump into others to become aware of ourselves. God lives in the space between us and the other, and calls us into healing.
The Power of God in Acts
August 04, 2022 22:11 - 49.5 MBAs the apostles wonder whether Jesus has returned from the dead to restore the kingdom of Israel, Jesus instead speaks of power that will come upon them in the form of the Holy Spirit. This was not a dominion over others, but the power of the Spirit of God. What if this is a power that allows us to bypass the offenses of others, that makes it possible for us to live in peace, to be able to be patient and kind to others, to trust in God despite adversity — the power to able to control our desi...
Discovery
July 14, 2022 22:32 - 23.6 MB“What a time in the U.S. to be asked to talk about conflict resolution,” says Kathleen Klompien-Wedberg as she begins her sermon relating to our Peaceful Practices Curriculum. She notes that the past few weeks have seen the world in a time of war and aggression on multiple fronts. Yet our passage in Matthew 18:10-22 about trying to reconcile, again and again, the the songs we sing about God’s love and seeing from one another’s point of view, the interactions with the children this morning — c...
Practicing Curiosity
July 05, 2022 23:36 - 31 MBLisa Thornton began our summer sermon series on “Peaceful Practices — A guide to healthy communication in conflict.” Lisa finds curiosity to be an intentionally chosen posture. Curiosity isn’t merely about inviting all opinions to the table and giving them equal value, but about looking at others around the table regardless of their opinion, and holding each person with value. It’s about working to start interactions rooted in empathy rather than judgement. Hearts and minds are changed only b...
Act 4
June 15, 2022 21:26 - 36.8 MBPentecost Sunday celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit in a new way following the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Rob Muthiah reviews how the Spirit of God is present in creation, throughout the Old Testament and in the life and ministry of Jesus. And so, Rob asks, what about today? He goes on to use a metaphor developed by theologian and vicar Sam Wells, of performing a play that is missing an act — which we are assigned to improvise. Improv involves following the preceding acts and...
Loving Conflict
June 09, 2022 00:26 - 19.9 MBLisa Danner talks about the challenges of family conflicts for those attempting to live a pacifist lifestyle. Some of our toughest conflicts involve issues where we feel forced to choose between articulating a deeply held value or “maintaining peace” by way of keeping silent. Lisa summarizes a key finding of Dr. Tania Israel’s research on dialogue across political lines and asks the congregation what feels applicable to their own family conflicts.
#BuffaloHonest
June 08, 2022 22:09Tim Reardon talks about Buffalo, NY as home, lamenting that it’s now used as shorthand for horrific, racist white violence following the shooting on May 14 at a Tops Friendly Markets store. And he goes on to describe the peace of Christ, in contrast to what the world has to offer.
A Legacy of Abundance
May 31, 2022 20:37 - 25.6 MBRhoda Blough, our representative from Everence, a faith-based financial services group, references Exodus 16, about manna, and the Matthew 14 passage that describes Jesus feeding a crowd of 5,000. Along with these passages, she shares from a money autobiography and the realization that her parents had left a legacy of abundance to her family. From a blue-collar Mennonite family with nine children and a stay-at-home mom, she was unaware that they were poor. She asks, "What is a mindset of abun...
Art & Accounting
March 10, 2022 01:52Jason Timothy Smith describes himself as an accountant by day, and artist by night. He talks about a book called "Suma de Arithmetica," about Fra Luca Pacioli, an Italian Mathematician known as the “father of accounting,” who was also math teacher to Leonardo da Vinci. Pacioli also wrote "The Divine Proportion" about the Golden Ratio, or the Golden Mean, used by Renaissance artists in their painting composition. Pacioli was a Franciscan friar who saw theological implications in these mathem...
Testifying at City Council as Discipleship
February 24, 2022 01:35 - 45.3 MBBert introduces the Jesus of Matthew 4:23-25 as a sort of traveling pentecostal preacher: he’s preaching the gospel, healing people, casting out demons, and he gathers a large international following. Jesus was doing this in synagogues, which to us were religious spaces, but in first century Galilee these were the town governments, centers of self-governance and communal political and religious life. Synagogues were governmental bodies that attended to municipal matters — rather like a town ...
Creation Speaks
February 16, 2022 01:14 - 25.4 MBJoshua Grace and friends Dimitri and Rufo painted and presented a mural to PMC, representing the land that we at PMC meet on: the unceded territory of the Hahamong'na tribe of the Tongva people who have lived in and stewarded the land of the Los Angeles basin for thousands of years. Joshua has been working on a parallel project — a lenten daily reader — in collaboration with Randy Woodley of Eloheh, a Cherokee descendent. The reader is an introduction to settler colonialist Christians new to ...
Reflection on Responding to God's Call
February 13, 2022 00:33 - 11.3 MBSue Park-Hur reflects on God's call in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and the call to love as a whole in chapter 13. This is a reflection rooted in warmth as it was also an affirmation and celebration of God's call to ordination for Mariann Reardon as the service wrapped around this event for the congregation. This is God's familiar passage to us as an interconnected body. We are united in the person of Jesus, and we have been baptized by one Spirit into one body. And even more, this is a letter of ...
Reflection on Responding to God’s Call
February 13, 2022 00:33 - 11.3 MBSue Park-Hur reflects on God's call in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and the call to love as a whole in chapter 13. This is a reflection rooted in warmth as it was also an affirmation and celebration of God's call to ordination for Mariann Reardon as the service wrapped around this event for the congregation. This is God's familiar passage to us as an interconnected body. We are united in the person of Jesus, and we have been baptized by one Spirit into one body. And even more, this is a letter of ...
The Image of Jesus
January 26, 2022 00:47Rob Muthiah talks about icons: images intended to draw those who dwell upon them into deeper meanings, windows to the divine. They’re intended to disorient us — to invite us to encounter the reality of God differently. Conversely, given the racist realities of our culture, we have to reckon with a different image: the image of whiteness. This is not whiteness as a low melanin count, but whiteness as a way of seeing the world, and assigning value to people in relation to a color spectrum. It’s...
Great Expectations
January 15, 2022 23:47 - 33.2 MBOn January 9th, Tim Reardon spoke on Luke 3:15-22. Here we meet people out in the desert, who are filled with expectations, hopes… So what were these people expecting? It was a particular vision of the world — the vision of Isaiah 40:3-5 — of mountains being brought down, valleys raised up, and people seeing the salvation of God. This vision was a redefinition of the way the world is; a vision of a world of justice and peace. As we come into this year, what are the things that we are expecting?
God is Singing Over You…Yes You!
December 16, 2021 04:02 - 35.7 MBKathleen Klompien-Wedberg talks about the toxic positivity and consumerism of the typical American Christmas, and how it leads us to feel tired and jaded. In this week’s scripture, Luke 3: 7-14, even the unlikely hero, John the Baptist calls us back to what we ought to talk about who is left out of the typical Christmas—the othered, the neurodivergent, the unhoused, those whose path has not been in a typically straight line—and how God is rejoicing and singing over all humankind. Image by Kel...
The Story We Live Into
December 15, 2021 18:13 - 71.9 MBStories are important because they color the way we view God. In Philippians 1:3-11, Paul is writing from prison to the church in Philippi — a loving letter, full of affection and joy. Hope is important for Paul — both in the way the world is structured and in where it’s going. The creation story in Genesis 1 is believed to be written while the Jewish people were exiled in Babylon. It is written for an exiled and subjugated people — yet contains none of the violence of other creation stories...
A Season of Waiting
December 07, 2021 01:15 - 32 MBLisa Danner talks about the season of Advent as a time to create space for waiting. She highlights that people seem to have a propensity to get distracted from things that matter and invites us to analyze what pressures, mindsets, or stressors might be let go in order for us to have experiences of wonder.
The Kindom/Kingdom of Non-violence
December 02, 2021 21:33 - 33.6 MBAdam enters into the week’s scripture passage of John 18:33-37 in light of Jesus' words to Pilate, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews." Adam's own understanding has come from his transition from prison guard to anabaptist seminarian and hospital chaplain — a transition that has led him from ideas of perpetuating to breaking cycles of violence.
The Little Apocalypse
November 24, 2021 23:42 - 29 MBMark 13:1-8, is known as the little apocalypse. This is a foreign genre to us, though common at the time of Jesus’ life. Surprisingly, these were originally texts of hope, written to provide another vision of the world for people suffering and oppressed. In apocalypse, worldly power is turned on its head, and God’s justice reigns, assuring the vindication of the oppressed. In Mark, Jesus seems to be speaking in realistic terms about what lies ahead for his friends and disciples, trying to pr...
Infamous Words
November 17, 2021 20:52 - 33.4 MBDavid Gist reflects on the meaning of the phrase “You will always have the poor among you,” or “with you.” It’s a rather famous phrase — or infamous, given how this passage has been used to perpetuate greed and capitalism. But what was the context for this phrase, initially from Deuteronomy? David was called to work with Bread for the World just over 20 years ago. It's founder decided to focus on the root causes of hunger concluding from Bible study that God not only cared about “the least of...
The Greatest Commandment
November 16, 2021 23:53 - 35.1 MBIn Mark 12:28-34, a religious scholar asks Jesus about Old Testament law — what the greatest commandment is. Jesus responds by quoting the Shema: a Deuteronomy passage instructing the Jewish people to love God with all their heart, soul, and might. Jesus adds “mind.” Secondly, he says, is to love one's neighbor as one's self. Jesus is confirming his identity as a member of this Jewish community. The Shema is the unifying message among the Jewish people. The scholars want to show that he’s an ...
A Seat At The Table
November 09, 2021 21:21 - 51.7 MBJason takes the passage of Mark 10:35-45, in which Jesus calls his disciples to divest themselves of power in order to serve, and weaves it together with stories of Judy Chicago and Sojourner Truth. Jesus continues to turn the tables on culture, and to call for the divestment of power and dominance in order that his followers might serve.
Testifying for Justice
November 03, 2021 01:27 - 41.8 MBBert Newton talks about how the early church spread the idea of God’s New Society in which all would be housed, how churches are attempting that today, and how the campaign to help churches build affordable housing continues that vision. He also describes how Jesus and his disciples spoke up in their city councils (synagogues) and how we can do that today.
Transforming Hearts
October 11, 2021 19:47 - 38.6 MBThe passage of Mark 10:2-16 has greatly impacted Susan Cameron’s growth and thinking about what God is trying to say to us through the Bible — particularly because of its abuse and misuse. Studying family systems in seminary at the time she was practicing family law brought light to Susan’s view of what Jesus was saying in this passage. Rather than words of bondage, these were revealed as words of liberation. Jesus’ words about adultery were shocking in his day because they included rights fo...
Confession that Brings Healing
September 29, 2021 00:25 - 31.8 MBAs a chaplain in a hospital context, Adam offers solidarity with those who need confession. His touchpoint with James is the call to “confess to one another … and you will be healed.” At a recent hospital event, a tea for the soul with hospital staff, one doctor remained behind to talk about the challenges his patients were carrying. Their need, and the need of this doctor, was for solidarity.
Creating Home
September 22, 2021 02:31 - 32.8 MBLong influenced by Yale theology professor Willie James Jennings, Frank Scoffield Nellessen spoke about God creating home: a place of safety, of love, of belonging, where we could provide for and take care of one another, get to know one another: a place of life. For “to be a creature is fundamentally to be a homemaker." The Word became flesh and made his home among us. —John 1:14. The word made flesh continues to unfold home among us. And so God’s home opens up to us, fully draws us in and ...
Ephphatha, Open Up
September 21, 2021 22:53 - 30.6 MBSam Bills was drawn to Jesus’ healing of a deaf and mute man — restoring him to community. It offers a gospel of hope, healing, hearing, restoration and expanded understanding for himself and for our community — all expressed in the word ephphatha, open up. But this is the second story of healing in our passage. The first is that of the Syrophoenician woman. Not only is she a woman, but one of enemy descent — an outsider of outsiders. Jesus has entered a house in an effort to be hidden, and ...
When Customs Become Harmful
September 08, 2021 00:47 - 51 MBTim addresses Mark 7:1-23, where the Pharisees come to Jesus asking why his disciples don’t practice ritual hand washing before meals. Jesus doesn’t get upset that the Pharisees are obsessively following laws, but because they are not sticking closely enough to the law. Their traditions are getting in the way of God’s commandments. The intent of these traditions was not harmful, and Jesus knows that. But while the intent wasn’t harmful, they were creating a hierarchy. The Pharisees want Jesus...
The Truth of Redemptive Love
September 08, 2021 00:08 - 34.4 MBLisa Thornton begins her encounter with Ephesians 6:10-20 by suggesting we do a google image search on “armor of God,” and see the resulting images of battle armor. This makes sense in the world we live in today. Paul, the author of Ephesians, uses this imagery because it was familiar to his readers; and though we don’t generally have soldiers marching our streets, we can easily envision someone in modern armor. Yet this is human armor. Paul is giving a new way to understand and redefine arm...
Journeying with Thanksgiving and Lament
August 31, 2021 01:06 - 78.9 MBMidway between gen X and millennials, Tim identifies more with a micro-generation: “the Oregon Trail generation.” This is the final generation with an analog childhood and an adolescence marked by a seismic shift to a digital world. Tim compares the slowness of the Oregon Trail game with the pressures of covid. In Ephesians this week, chapter 5:15-20, Paul talks alot about walking. Translated either live or walk in verse 15, we are to be active in the world. Paul asks the believers in Ephasus...
One Body
August 31, 2021 00:02 - 22.9 MBMelissa Spolar spoke about venturing out after improvements in COVID care post-vaccine. She participated in two mud & obstacle races. The first, “Tough Mudder,” was presented with teamwork as the spirit of the event. Next, a Spartan Race, was based on self-challenge, success and competition. Feeling covid isolation from church community, Melissa approached Ephesians 4:1-16 in need and with prayer. The passage calls for churches to live in unity, and an ultimate goal toward unity was knowled...
Reflections on Bathsheba and David
July 31, 2021 18:42 - 15.6 MBLauren Murtidjaja tackles this passage that we're almost too familiar with. Yet scripture is living, moving, breathing — so Lauren jumps in to share observations from her encounter with the text. What hasn't been said about this story? Why is David not at battle with his troops as a King should be? David catches sight of Bathsheba bathing, purifying herself to enter the temple — a ritual bath. She is in her proper place. But David inquires about Bathsheba, sends for her, takes her, and lays ...
Building the Temple
July 22, 2021 19:31 - 132 MB VideoTim Reardon contrasts a monument to the Egyptian pharoah Ramses II o the temple that God would build from the time of David through to the time of Christ. The poem, Ozymandias, is a comment on a monument to fallen power — a call to fear. Paul's description of the temple of God's people built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and the cornerstone of Christ Jesus. This temple is dedicated to Jesus, and inhabited by the Spirit. And the power of God in this temple manifests in mercy...
Three Flags
July 16, 2021 23:19 - 92.9 MB VideoJason Timothy Smith deftly weaves together the symbols of our nation's history, the art and life of Jasper Johns, the call of Ezekial as prophet to the nations of Israel in Ezekiel 2:1-5, and above all — the mercy of Jesus. See and hear as Jason calls us toward that mercy.
Taking Up Branches
June 28, 2021 22:25 - 84.5 MB VideoA sighting of bald grapevines led Tim Reardon to look into viticulture — both now and in Jesus' time. What he learned shed new light for him on Jesus' parable of the vine in John 15. He learned that there is a source vine — a trustworthy root. And next that there are two types of pruning — and not all branches are meant to bear fruit. How does this impact our life in Jesus the true vine? Our relationship to one another as branches?
Why Are You (We) Here?
June 28, 2021 22:25 - 84.5 MB VideoA sighting of bald grapevines led Tim Reardon to look into viticulture — both now and in Jesus' time. What he learned shed new light for him on Jesus' parable of the vine in John 15. He learned that there is a source vine — a trustworthy root. And next that there are two types of pruning — and not all branches are meant to bear fruit. How does this impact our life in Jesus the true vine? Our relationship to one another as branches? The post Why Are You (We) Here? appeared first on Pasadena ...
The Spirit of Tabitha
June 26, 2021 20:05 - 34.2 MBLisa continues our reflection of the roles each of us uniquely play in the kin-dom work that our community has set out to do. Hopefully, our small efforts at righting the world add up and bring us closer to the kin-dom of God described and displayed to us by Jesus. The story of Tabitha in Acts 9 is one such story. We know that she devoted her life to caring for others. And like the widows in the first century, our communities are filled with people who are not protected by the system in whic...
Keeping up with the Joneses: Social Status and Desire in 1 Samuel
June 15, 2021 22:46 - 22.1 MBSarah Fuller takes on a tricky passage following the Israelites' demand for a king to lead them. Saul, a man of status, is annointed as king, but fails to obey God. God instructs Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse instead. The selection process reflects God's perspective: "...the Lord does not look at the things human beings look at; people look at the outward appearance ... the Lord looks at the heart." How do expectations of prestige and status affect our view of ourselves and others?
What do we memorialize?
May 30, 2021 23:45 - 35.5 MBThis Memorial Day sermon makes clear that what we remember and how we remember matters — for our understanding of the world, and for how we define ourselves. Memories are foundational for how we connect with our past and with others. They help build collective memory, social memory, memories that we all hold in common. To these memories we build monuments. They are our stories. Monuments not only tell stories, but they invite us to be part of those stories, whether for good or for bad. This w...
Life in the Spirit
May 23, 2021 22:46 - 46 MBLila Hunt went looking for something missing in her relationship with God, and found positive influence in the pentecostal tradition. And so as an anabaptist, she considers herself a hybrid. Pentecost in Acts occurred during Shavuot — or Pentecost in Greek. It commemorated the giving of the Torah by God at Mt. Sinai. The risen Jesus had instructed the disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they were given heavenly power — so they wait. In Acts 2, they pray, fast, and interpret all they had ex...
Witnesses to the Ascension
May 16, 2021 22:39 - 54 MB VideoWhat is Ascension Sunday? Resurrection part 2? “Why are you staring toward heaven?” two white-robed men ask. And for us as well, our focus is here. This king, this proclaimer of good news to the poor, this enemy of the state, this executed criminal, has been enthroned — and stands at the center of all that is. The Jesus community remains in hiding — but it is also marked by their eating together, a symbol of covenant. In this time Jesus teaches and commissions them as ambassadors, and pilgrim...
Organizing as Shepherds
April 30, 2021 23:34 - 18 MBBert Newton unpacks John 10:1-16, and asks, "How do we become shepherds in a society where often our official shepherds are much like the hired hands that Jesus describes?" What do shepherds do? They organize sheep. And in organizing, we are all both shepherds and sheep. Together, organized and using our diversity of gifts and talents, we can move mountains. We are not alone in our struggle to establish God’s justice, we not only have each other, we have other faith communities and community...
Moving as the Body
April 19, 2021 18:23 - 14 MBThis week Frank led us in reflecting on how we can be a community of action, by considering how we might find ways to move together as a body. Key to this common, community action is not the need to be individuals who do everything, but in recognizing our unique gifts and how we can contribute to a common movement. Along the way, Frank tells us a few stories of walking together in little things with big consequences.
Reach out and Touch Faith
April 14, 2021 18:36 - 7.99 MBIn this week’s sermon, Melissa Hofstetter reminds us of the power of connection, for those of us especially that may feel out of touch in this moment. As she considers Jesus’s offer to Thomas to touch his side, we are invited to consider the importance of touch, in Scripture and in our lives. As we focus on the wound, we consider the intimacy of woundedness and the importance of our ability to connect to one another in our woundedness and mutual reliance.
Resurrection and Overcoming “Innocence”
April 05, 2021 21:03Our Easter reflection focuses on a Jesus who comes and dismantles the stories of oppression, colonization, and death that we have been formed into and invites us into eternal life in the present. Where the powers of the earth are not Lord; where death is not the last word; but Jesus is Lord, who comes in life and forgiveness. The post Resurrection and Overcoming “Innocence” appeared first on Pasadena Mennonite Church.
Resurrection and Overcoming Innocence
April 05, 2021 21:03 - 15.3 MBOur Easter reflection focuses on a Jesus who comes and dismantles the stories of oppression, colonization, and death that we have been formed into and invites us into eternal life in the present. Where the powers of the earth are not Lord; where death is not the last word; but Jesus is Lord, who comes in life and forgiveness.